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cleoluvrr · 5 months

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high school sweethearts (rafe cameron x reader) III

these are the requirements, if you think you can be my one true love

WARNINGS: mature content; dark!rafe, dub!con, corporal punishment, domestic violence, substance abuse & addiction, controlling behavior, coercion, manipulative behavior, stalking, toxic relationship, attempted suicide, kook!reader

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in spite of your refusal, rafe decided that the two of you were going shopping. it was the last thing you wanted to do, but rafe had an obsession with showing you off to everyone who had working eyes.

ironically, he didn’t hate when men looked at you–at least not while he was around. he loved it. he got a rush from watching other guys ogle you and know they could never have you. you hated public affection, but he loved to kiss you or walk around with his hand dangerously low on your back wherever you went just for wandering eyes.

fancy dinners, midsummers, the country club, charity events; anything that he got parade you around like a prized showhorse. you were sure rafe only took you to those things just to rub it in his father’s face. the child with a reputation of being a drug dealing deadbeat had a smart, well-mannered, soft-spoken girl hanging off his arm everywhere he went. one with reputable parents and was pursuing a college education. it made ward red in the face to know that someone like you was committed to his son, and it made your boyfriend feel overjoyed.

today was no different–not at first.

the last place you wanted to be was in a shopping center filled with rich kids and tourons, but rafe insisted that he wanted to buy you new clothes for the rapidly cooling weather. fall was in full swing and he refused to have his girlfriend walking around town in out-of-season fashion. it made no sense to you; rafe never cared about fashion being in or out of season, but you didn’t feel like putting up a fight.

the exhaustion of pulling your clothes on and off repeatedly was starting to overcome you. your skin was sticky and itchy from the hot fitting rooms, your feet were aching from the mary janes squeezing against your toes, and all the noise was overstimulating you.

usually, you wouldn’t complain. you would just suck it up until rafe decided to take pity on you and bring you home with pounds worth of shopping bags that you didn’t even want in the first place. it was just something you had to do and there was no use in fighting him on it.

this time, however, you weren’t in any mood to be pulled around by rafe beneath the fluorescent, sterile lights of a crowded mall.

after the second hour you began huffing and dragging your feet. you were sure rafe noticed, but he said nothing; you were still going along with it enough for him to leave it alone. it was hour three that you actually began to put up noticeable resistance. still he said nothing.

you hoped that your incessant whining would annoy him enough to take you home, but it was of no assistance.

your shoes clicked against the linoleum floor loudly as you stomped behind your boyfriend, jaw clenched and lips jutted out in a glossy pout. rafe’s fingers laced through yours as he led you around, paying no mind to your silent tantrum. you exhaled again, feet planting firmly into the ground as you tugged your hand away from him.

that was what made the blonde finally turn back to face you.

“i wanna go home, rafe.” you folded your arms across your chest as you said it, eyes wide and glaring up at your boyfriend just a few steps away.

he rolled his eyes in response, tongue in cheek. he was clearly annoyed, but you continued pushing anyway.

“we can leave soon, baby.” he reaches for your hand again but you step back to avoid his grasp. a pair of blue eyes squint at you in reaction to your act of defiance.

“don’t ‘baby’ me.” you snipped at him. “i wanna leave now, rafe. i’m tired–i didn’t even want to come here in the first place.”

he reaches for you again silently, his silent response only managing to irritate you further. you smacked his hand away before it landed on your waist.

“don’t fucking touch me!” a few people nearby turned their heads in your direction, your raised volume capturing the attention of passerbyers. “you’re not even listening! i just said i wanna go home now, we’ve been here long enough and i’m fucking irritated.”

rafe hardly seemed moved by your outburst, but his calmness was deceiving to the average onlooker. looking down at the hand you smacked away, his head slowly raised to meet your eyes with a look that had you struggling to collect saliva to wet your dry mouth.

the two of you held the tense contact for what felt like an eternity but couldn’t have lasted more than a few seconds. nodding at you, he moved to walk in the opposite direction towards the mall’s entrance. his strong hand snatched you into his hold as he passed by you, long legs leaving you stumbling behind him as he stalked through the center.

rafe’s anger was radiating off of him in waves, so strong that anyone passing by could feel the heat filling the air. he never looked back at you once, but you felt as if he had a second pair of eyes in the back of his head that left your skin boiling.

though his demeanor was calm, the bone-crushing grip he held on your hand as he dragged you through the mall was enough to know you were in for it.

you, on the other hand, couldn’t help the chill that ran through every layer of your being. it was hard to tell if your heart had stopped beating completely, or if it was beating so fast that you couldn’t differentiate each thump of it against your chest. your mouth had gone completely dry and the irritation that once filled you was now replaced with a heavy cloak of dread.

reaching his dark colored truck, rafe opened the back door to place the shopping back in the back seat before slamming it shut. the harsh sound made you flinch but rafe paid it no mind as he dragged you to the passenger’s side. your lips were tucked into your mouth tightly as you eyed him warily, the blond man tugging at the handle to reveal your seat in the car.

the drive to his house was as uncomfortable as you thought it would be. he didn’t turn the radio on like usual, forcing you to sit in silence as you traveled to your destination. it was five minutes in that you realized you weren’t going to your own house like you requested. the realization made your stomach drop. you knew that it meant nothing good was going to happen once you stepped out of the car.

the driveway was empty when the two of you arrived at tannyhill, neither rose or ward anywhere in sight as you approached the large estate.

your footsteps were light and hesitant as you trailed behind your boyfriend, shoes barely making a sound as they landed against the old floors of his family’s house. the feeling of dread intensified the closer you got to rafe’s bedroom. you weren't sure what would happen and the feeling of unknowing unsettled your stomach.

“y’know…” rafe finally broke the silence between you two as his bedroom door clicked shut. “i do so much for you.”

sitting the shopping bags down in the corner, rafe takes slow steps towards your frozen figure. you sniffed nervously and cleared your throat in response. he places a warm hand on your face when he reaches you, the soft gesture not matching the fire in his eyes.

“i do so much for you. all i ask you to do for me…is show some respect.” his pink tongue pokes out the side of his mouth to wet his lips before retreating. “isn’t that right?”

“yeah…” the single word came out just as wobbly as you felt. he nodded at you, eyes flickering down to your bobbing throat as you swallowed dryly.

“‘yeah…’” he mocked your unstable voice. “so–tell me why you think it's okay to talk to me like that? is it ‘cause you don’t respect me?”

you shook your head against the palm he held against your warm cheeks. his gaze was unrelenting and you felt like you were gonna be sick.

rafe already had you on thin ice from going to the cut last week. he was still mad about you blatantly ignoring his request, and this was only another stroke of a hammer to a frozen lake. he hated feeling like you were questioning his authority, but it felt ridiculous to you that your boyfriend thought he had any authority over you as a grown woman. that never mattered to him though; what he says is law in his eyes and if you disobeyed that then you had to deal with the consequences.

cursing at him in public had to be one of the dumbest things on planet earth, but your overstimulated mind couldn’t handle thinking about what could possibly happen. it didn’t quite dawn on you until he started dragging you through the mall, but by then it was too late to fix it.

he had a short fuse and you’d lit it with your thoughtless actions.

“i was just tired, rafe, that’s all.” you pouted up at him in hopes that he’d feel some sympathy for you rather than whatever had his bright blue eyes turn a dark shade of navy. “i didn’t mean to disrespect you. i just wasn’t thinking and it came out mean, i’m sorry…”

“you wouldn’t have to apologize all the time if you just…started thinking, huh?” his hand retracted from your face just a couple inches before reconnecting harshly. his palm stung against your skin, not enough to leave a mark but enough to serve as a warning. “fucking answer me.”

“no, i wouldn’t. you’re right,” the warm tingling of your cheek let you know there was no pouting your way out of this. “i was being dumb. i’ll do better, rafey, i promise…”

manipulation was wrong, but what choice did you really have? despite rafe being quick to anger, his soft spot for you was a weakness you’ve learned to use to your advantage over the years.

when you looked up at him with pitiful, teary eyes and used that cute nickname for him in that little voice that pulled at his heartstrings, how could he stay mad at you? how could he reprimand you when you were being so sweet, so docile?

you knew very well that he was wrapped around your finger even if he did have the upperhand in the relationship, and you would absolutely play on that when you needed to.

like right now.

“baby…” rafe sighed at your wet eyes, demeanor softening at the sight. he thumbs over the skin of your cheek where he struck just you moments earlier in a soothing manner.

looking down towards the floor you begin picking at your nails, the glossy french tips occupying your line of sight instead. it was something you always did when you were nervous, but this time it was only for show.

“i’m really sorry.” if rafe were so close he wouldnt have heard the words leave your mouth. you prayed to whatever deity was watching over you to let the act work; rafe’s punishments were nothing you wanted to be on the receiving end of at the moment.

rafe exhales again before removing his hand from your face. pulling you into his chest, he leans down to place a kiss to the top of your head amidst your embrace. if it wouldn’t completely jeopardize the situation you’d jump for joy. you melt into his arms, your own limbs moving to wrap around his lean torso. his hand reaches up to stroke over your head sweetly as he speaks into your scalp.

“go lie on the bed.”

you tilted your head up at him in confusion. his softened eyes started down at you expectantly before glancing pointedly at the bed a few feet away. your feet carried you to the frame hesitantly, brows coming together as you pulled yourself up on the mattress. you’d barely settled before rafe was right there with you, his soft lips capturing yours in an embrace.

a sound of surprise on your end was swallowed by your boyfriend as he kept your lips connected. his hand came up to cup your jaw, using his thumb to pull your chin down and give him access to the pink of your mouth. you felt his tongue roll over yours gently a few times, the wet sound of saliva mixing filling your ears.

there was nothing rough about it. even when he nipped at the flesh of your puffy bottom lip, he would take it in between his own and take away the sting of it. his air mingled with yours, and the taste of him almost distracted you from what got you here in the first place. he was good at that–distracting you.

so good, that you don’t notice the sneaky hand traveling between your bodies.

you jolt when a pair of fingers lands between your legs, ones that were not your own, and traces over the thin fabric of your underwear. rafe stopped you from pulling away, the hand on your chin moving to the back of your head to keep you in place. it was hard to focus on reciprocating the kiss when you were trying to stop yourself from pushing your hips up into his slow moving hand.

the feeling of him ghosting over your panties had you whining involuntarily, face heating up with embarrassment after the sound escaped your dry throat. rafe pulled away at the noise, a small smile grazing his lips as he watched you from above. you didn’t even notice that you were grinding into his barely there fingers, desperate for him to give you something more. it had been weeks since you touched yourself, and the last time rafe touched you was before you tried to break up with him.

“you’re so cute…” rafe spoke softly against your parted lips. a breathy chuckle escaped him when you frowned at him frustratedly. “stop pouting, it’s not gonna make me go any faster.”

despite him saying that, you feel him apply more pressure to your now pulsating clit. the friction of the fabric separating his fingers from your bare skin felt good, but not good enough to satisfy you for long. he stroked you from the bottom of your clothed slit all the way to the very top of your pussy before traveling back down and repeating the action.

the slow, tantalizing circles around your attention–seeking bud made you feel just as miserable as you felt desperate for him to continue.

rafe’s eyes scanned every inch of your face; the way you trapped your lip between your teeth to keep yourself quiet, the way your big, glossy eyes stared up at him, how your breath hitches when he applied the smallest amount of pressure. there was no hiding anything from him, not when both of you could feel the arousal leaking through the thin, pink fabric that kept your modesty.

he chuckled breathily when you brought a hand down to meet his wrist. you were sure if you wanted to push him away or pull him in closer.

“what is it, baby?” rafe asks curiously. he raises a dark blond brow at the soft whine that slips from your mouth, the answer not satisfactory enough for him. “know how to cuss me out, right? your mouth works just fine–use it.”

you blinked at him slowly, the snippy response on the tip of your tongue being forced down with the saliva gathering beneath the pink muscle.

“can you…” the words were shaky as they left you, partially due to the teasing fingers spreading your wetness through your underwear. “c-can you touch me…please?”

rafe never made you ask him for anything. he always knew what you wanted, and he was more than willing to give it to you. you were a shy person and that timidity didn’t suddenly disappear when you two started being intimate with each other. it was hard for you to open up to him in that way, and he always made sure that you felt comfortable with him.

if he asked what you wanted, it was normally just teasing. he never really expected an answer and your mousy whimpers were enough for him to keep going. this was not something you were prepared for.

the blonde tilted his head to the side, feigning confusion. the way his digits were pressing into your entrance over the material made your lips part to allow a puff of air to escape.

“touch you?” he said. briefly his eyes flicker down to the hand between your legs being hidden by the fabric of your skirt before returning to meet your eyes. “am i not touching you?”

“but–i…” he was touching you, so you couldn’t argue against that, but he knew that wasn’t what you meant. “you are but th-that’s not...i mean really touch me.”

“but i am ‘really’ touching you?” you pouted at him, eyes straining as you tried your hardest to prevent them from rolling. “you want more?”

rafe made no moves to oblige to your request when you started nodding your head frantically. instead he squinted at you, blue eyes burning against your skin fueled by his irritation.

“y’know, you’re being kinda…ungrateful, don’t ya’ think?” his tongue sneaks out to moisten his pursed lips. “i’m being so nice and you aren’t even thanking me?”

the hand not occupying the space between your legs travels to take place on your face, his strong fingers pushing in on your cheeks to squish them together roughly. you could feel the pads of the digits digging into the hardness of your teeth and it made you wince from the pain.

his fingers hook beneath the fabric of your panties and move them to the side. the cool air blowing against your newly bare skin was barely noticeable when all of your focus was on your boyfriend sliding through your slick folds. rafe’s face remained stoic even when you released a borderline pornographic moan from the sudden skin to skin contact, his grip on your face preventing you from hiding the sounds of pleasure.

he’d barely touched you and you were practically leaking; it was embarrassing. it’d been forever since you felt relief and he could tell, especially when the sticky mess was all over his fingers. you wanted so badly for them to sink inside and graze against your sensitive, gummy walls, but they never went any deeper than grazing against the entrance.

“i know what m’girl wants, what she needs–” rafe’s voice is soft but he looks the very opposite. the one-eighty almost gave you whiplash; he was being so sweet just a few minutes ago and now he looks just as agitated as he did on the ride home. “i know what you want, baby, i promise…”

you have to force yourself to not chase after his retreating hand with your hips. the loss of contact brings your mind out of its fuzzy, dazed state, bare pussy exposed to the blasting air-conditioning.

his thick digits are glistening in the light and covered in your arousal, strings of the sticky substance connecting his fingers together as he examines them in front of your face. with the hand on your face he forces your mouth to open wider, the flavor of your excitement coated the pinkness of your tongue. the sudden intrusion makes your mouth water reflexively and a sound of protest makes its way out.

“but what you need, is to learn how to be fucking grateful for what i give you.” rafe drags his fingers in and out of the moist coven of your mouth, making sure to thoroughly cover your tongue in the slick that was collected on his fingers. “you should be grateful that i even touched you at all instead of shoving my cock in that nasty fucking mouth.”

you almost gasped at the vulgar language but it was interrupted by his fingers shoving themselves deep into your throat. he was unmoved by your gagging, his face getting so close to yours that your noses touched. you could feel stray tears starting to run down your face and leave wet trails in their wake.

watching as he gathers a pool of saliva in his cheeks, you could do nothing to stop him from allowing it to fall into yours. you feel it land in the back of your throat where his fingers were and flinch. the taste of him joins your pre-release in being fucked down your clenching throat by his fingers, your incessant coughing and gagging no deterrent to him.

in fact, he finds some joy in it. he chuckles at the sound of your struggling, eyes focused on the wet mess created by your mouth.

“but you don’t even deserve that…my dick is too good for you. filthy ass mouth needs to be cleaned before i’d ever give it to you. ” his blonde locks fall in his eyes as he shakes his head in disapproval. “you know what–get the fuck up.”

pulling his fingers out of your mouth completely and releasing your face, he snatches you up to your feet. he drags you to his bathroom, one of his hands flicking on the lights while the other digs into the flesh of your bicep.

you watch as he opens the medicine cabinet above the sink and slams it back shut, a white box visible in his hand from the mirror. he releases you for a moment to rip the packing open and reveal a brand new bar of soap. a state of paralysis overtook you from where you stood, eyes following him silently as he cut on the faucet. his gaze is fixated on you through the reflection of the mirror as he allows the bar of soap to foam up underneath the water.

rafe pulls you close, not giving you any chance to escape as he traps you against the bathroom counter with his back against your chest.

“open your mouth.” he says sternly. when you don’t follow instructions, his free hand reaches up to force your jaw open. “i said open your mouth!”

the bitter taste of dial disturbs you, the oval shaped bar scraping against your teeth as it’s shoved into your mouth. a muffled sound of rejection is silenced by the soap occupying all of your senses. you watch in the mirror as rafe holds both you and the foamy bar in place.

“‘i just wasn’t thinking, rafey, i’m sorry.’” the mocking words were a repeat of what you said earlier. “yeah, you are sorry–but i bet you’ll start thinking now.”

it felt like an eternity that he held the bar between your lips. when he finally pulled it away, you immediately leaned forward to spit out the substance. rafe was quicker than you, though, his large hand smacking against your lips to prevent you from ridding your mouth of the residue. your hand flew up to his wrist in an attempt to remove it but he doesn’t budge, his palm firm in its placement.

“no, you’re gonna keep it in that dirty fuckin’ mouth.” his voice was harsh in your ear, more annoyed than empathetic towards your desperate squirming. “you think some tears are gonna save your ass? not this time, baby…bet you’ll remember to watch how you talk to me, huh?”

nodding frantically, you plead with your eyes in the reflective glass before you. it was getting hard not to swallow the saliva pooling in your mouth and you weren’t sure how much longer you could handle the harsh taste of filmy, anti-bacterial suds.

you filled your mouth with handfuls of water as soon as he released you. no matter how many times you brought the liquid to your lips to rinse the residue away, it was all you could taste. rafe remained stiff at your back, the heat of his body radiating against yours as he observed you judgmentally.

“remember how that shit tasted before you ever talk to me like that again, alright?” rafe all but spits the words out at your hunched frame over the faucet. “next time…i won’t be so nice.”

you glance up into the mirror and follow his back as he exits the bathroom. straightening up to your full height you’re met with the disheveled state of your reflection, dry tear stains over your cheeks and chapped lips left behind to show for the mercilessness of your boyfriend. the counter beneath fell victim to the crushing pressure of your fingers as your knuckles strained from the tightness of your grip.

sniffling, your tongue lolled over your chapped lips to moisten them before retreating back to its place. your throat bobbed as you forced the saliva down your throat, the sound of your gulping audible in the silent bathroom. you could hear rafe was shuffling around the bedroom a few feet away, footsteps traveling back and forth as he went through the shopping bags to presumably separate his stuff from yours.

rafe hadn’t done something like that in…in forever.

the last–and only–time it happened was because you called him out of his name. you could suddenly remember the taste of lavender scented hand soap being scrubbed across your tongue by his angry fingers as he cleaned the words out of your mouth. the way your stomach turned when you would accidentally swallow the liquid every time he pushed too far down your throat. how he treated you like a petulant, misbehaving child deserving of corporal fucking punishment like it was the 1950’s.

you’d nearly forgotten that even took place–maybe because your brain decided it was a memory that had to be blocked out in order for you to stay with rafe after it occurred. you wish it had remained at the forefront of your mind so you wouldn't end up in the position again.

splashing water onto your tearstained face, you wipe away the mess before warily joining rafe in the bedroom on the other side of the doorframe. the end of the mattress was occupied by his body, the back of his head being the first thing you see.

“come here.” his voice was softer than it was earlier but it still startled you, heart beating through your chest as he beckoned you towards him.

you were suddenly reminded of the wetness between your thighs as you approached him. the way your folds slid against each other beneath your ruined underwear as you took hesitant steps in his direction. it made you feel dirty–even after being gagged with a bar of soap.

pulling you between his legs, rafe rests his arms around your waist as you stand before him. he stares up at you apologetically, almost, eyes soft and bright as he toys with the hem of your sweater. your arms hung awkwardly by your sides, stiff and unsure of where to go.

“you know i just want you to do better right?” he asks. “i’m going to marry you one day, y/n, and my wife can’t talk to me like that…especially not in public. you understand why i had to do that right?”

you say nothing. it feels as if you’re on autopilot the way your head nods, the movement almost a reflex you’d learned just to appease him.

“i can’t keep letting it slide anymore, baby. you’ll just keep doing it and i can’t let everyone think i’m–i’m a pushover…’cause i’m not. i don’t want people thinking i can’t handle my girl–you get that, right?” he nodded his head and you followed his movements, still on autopilot. “you help me be better too, y’know…i just wanna do the same for you, okay?

“okay.” the single word came out so softly you weren’t sure if he heard it. your hands came together to pick at your nails, the slightly grown-out french tips falling victim to the nervous habit.

rafe unwrapped his arms from around your waist and pulled your hands apart as he took them into his own. the warmth of his palms thawed out your freezing fingers, blood rushing back into the tips. his lips ghosted over your knuckles as he blew hot air over them and rubbed the coldness out of them. your body had focused on keeping your organs warm over your extremities, poor blood-circulation a symptom of the persistent anemia you just couldn’t seem to get rid of.

“i love you so much that…th-that i don’t even know how….” he stumbles over his words. his adam’s apple bobs as he swallows, collecting his thoughts before speaking again. “i do what i do because i love you, not because i wanna hurt you. i’d never do anything to hurt you on purpose, so don’t ever think that…okay? do you understand?”

you believed him, even though it was the last thing you wanted to do.

truly, you believed he didn’t do anything to hurt you. you knew that he never really had any bad intentions with his actions. rafe was irrational, short tempered, and had never seen what a healthy romantic relationship looked like in his life.

even with all of his flaws, has never hurt you just for the fun of it. he was mean sometimes, sure, but he was like that with everyone. actually hurting you has never been on his agenda, which is probably why you allowed yourself to stick around so long before. however, most of the things he did were reactionary to losing control. it was one of the few things he lacked in his life and he hated when the little he had was taken away from him.

you were, quite frankly, the only stable thing he had.

if anything were to threaten that stability he would lose his mind. he would do whatever it takes to eliminate that threat; even you. he couldn’t lose you, not when you were all he had. his dad treated him like a disgrace, sarah barely liked him, and sure he had friends–but if he didn’t have money or status, would they stay with him?

you’d seen rafe at his absolute worst, but you never left. when he barely treated you like a human you stuck around because you saw something in him that no one else did. he knew that even if he left, you’d still take him in with open arms and love every part of him. you understood him in a way nobody else could, and he so desperately needed that.

violence and wealth is what his father uses to maintain control over him and everyone else, so that’s all rafe knows how to do. that’s what he was taught, and it’s hard to unlearn when it works so well.

you’ve seen the things he has done to other people that have crossed him, and though he loved you to the ends of the earth, he would have no problem doing the same thing to you. he made good on his threats to the people that have done him wrong. you knew this first hand because it was you that washed the blood of his hands and bandaged his knuckles. you’d seen the dents in his golf clubs and the scratches in the paint of his car that looked an awful lot like fingernails. you never question it because getting involved in the world of drug dealing rich kids isn’t something on your list of priorities, but you were well aware of what he did to people.

he knew scaring you would keep you around, so that’s what he does. keeps you in a constant state of fear. even if it meant giving you a mouthful of soap.

“i understand.” you dropped your chin lower to look him directly in the eye. his long lashes brushed over the tops of his cheeks as his eyes fluttered open and shut. “i know you’d never hurt me on purpose, so don’t worry about that. i love you…and i’m sorry.”

rafe sighed heavily–out of relief or exhaustion? you weren’t sure.

opening up your hand to reveal your palm, you watched as he brought it close to his face to place gentle kisses over the skin. you felt him press his lips against each section of your hand from the bottom to the top, no area left untouched. turning it over, he repeats his previous actions. each knuckle on your right hand is left tingling by the pink, pillowy flesh.

“you’re so perfect for me…my perfect girl.” he whispers loud enough for you to hear, eyes opening up to stare back into your watchful gaze above him. “you’re gonna be my perfect wife, too; i know it. gonna put a ring on this finger right here–”

taking a hold of your forefinger, he places a kiss there in the same manner he did your other fingers. he keeps his lips there longer; the intimate action makes your stomach do a flip and your heart swell. you’d felt so many emotions today that you wanted nothing more than to turn your brain off–but he made it so impossible.

“and make you mine forever.” rafe finishes the sentence after pulling away. he laces his fingers into yours and pulls you in with his freehand on your lower back. “everyone’s gonna be so jealous because they can never have you–could never be you.”

even though it killed you to admit it; you wanted it just as much as he did. well, probably not as much–but you’d be lying to yourself if you said you couldn’t see yourself with him forever. the idea of him putting a ring on your finger put a smile on your face even when you tried your hardest to suppress it.

fear wasn’t the only thing keeping you around.

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mysterious-moonstruck-musings · 1 month

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Closed Position: Week 1 (Introductions)

Closed Position Masterlist ||| Main Masterlist Dieter Bravo x OFC (Katarina)

Series Summary: Dieter Bravo, now sober, was looking to change his bad boy image after hitting rock bottom. His team hoped that having him join the nationally televised family friendly dance competition would be a good first step, if they can keep him out of trouble.

Katarina Stamos expected her last season as a professional dancer on Dancing with the Stars to go the same as it had for the past thirteen seasons. That all changed when she was partnered with the infamous Dieter Bravo.

Dieter and Katarina are reluctantly thrown into their partnership and must learn to work together to succeed in the competition. In the process they form a deeper connection beyond the dance floor that neither anticipated.

Chapter Word Count: 7.1K

👉 Warnings: Themes dealing with intimate partner violence, past alcohol abuse, and past drug abuse. There will be fluff, tears, spicy language, and smut. This will be a slow burn. Read at your own risk. Dieter Bravo comes with his own warnings.

Week 1 Quote: "Fuck. I might be in trouble."

Dieter’s POV

“Lenny, have you seen this fucking schedule? It’s seven days a week for twelve weeks. When do I get a break?”

Lenny, my agent, sighed through the speaker phone, “D, I told you this was going to be a lot of work before you agreed to do it. You shouldn’t be surprised…and besides, that’s only if you make it to the finals.”

I scoffed, “Thanks for the vote of confidence…asshole.” Lenny chuckled on the other end of the line. We both went quiet for a moment as I continued to flip through the packet of paper that Lenny had sent over for review, “I don’t even get to have any say on the wardrobe or music. Such bullshit…sucking all the fun out of it. Did you at least drop a bug in their ear about who I’ll be partnered with? If I get stuck with someone I don’t want, I’m gonna be fucking miserable.”

“I did, but the producers said they always do the partner matching themselves. They have a formula…or something. Maybe bring it up again at this morning's meeting and explain why. They may listen to you on it.”

I huffed as my eyes continued skimming over the weekly schedule, “I have to get a fucking spray tan every week? You have GOT to be kidding me…Lenny, you know I don’t like using carcinogenic chemicals on my body.”

“Uhhh, no comment on that…Look, I’ll put in a call and see if they can use something natural for that.”

I relaxed some, “I would appreciate that. Thank you. Tell them I have an allergy or something…just make it happen.”

I tossed the packet onto the table and picked up my phone, taking it off speaker and putting it to my ear - now pacing as I spoke, “Well, it looks like I’m gonna be pretty busy for a bit. That’ll be a nice distraction. It beats being locked inside the house at least.”

Lenny hesitated, but still asked, “How are you doing with everything? Still managing ok?”

I sighed, “Yeah, I mean I’m going to therapy and all the meetings still. I’ve been doing ok…just trying to keep the stress levels down. That’s what gets to me the most.”

“How long has it been?”

I looked at the date on my watch, “Eight months today…actually. It’s the longest I’ve ever been clean, and I plan to stick to it this time. I’m feeling good and I want to keep it that way.”

“Everyone is really proud of you, D. You know that, right? Keep at it and we'll have you back on top in no time.”

I pinched the bridge of my nose, knowing that it was an uphill battle, “I appreciate that, but good luck getting people to change their opinion of me. I’m not sure if my reputation is salvageable at this point. Everyone seems to think my sobriety is some sort of joke. No one is taking it seriously.”

I could hear Lenny inhale deeply on the other end of the phone, “It’s just going to take time, D. Don’t give up yet.”

I pursed my lips in thought, “Yeah, I guess. Anyway, I need to get ready for this meeting. We’ll talk later, yeah?”

“Yeah, definitely let me know how it goes.”

Once I hung up the phone with Lenny, I took a quick shower, then spent longer than I should have staring at the clothes hanging in my closet - trying to pick something that says I have my shit together. My therapist kept reminding me that if I dressed like a slob, people were going to treat me like one. So, I was putting more effort into making myself presentable before I left the house these days. Since it was a work meeting, I went for a business casual look, figuring I couldn’t go wrong with that. After styling my hair and getting dressed, I grabbed my keys, phone, wallet, and sunglasses and headed out the front door.

As I approached my car, which was parked in the driveway, I noticed there was a dead bird on the hood. The fluffy gray, brown, and white stray cat that had been hanging around my house was sitting next to it, looking rather proud of himself. I sighed, “Come on dude, really?” And this is why I need to get the garage cleaned out. I hit the clicker to open the garage door so I could get a broom to knock the bird off the hood. As I waded through the mountain of empty boxes from my move six months ago, I cursed myself for taking my sweet time getting that stuff out of the house. Finally finding the broom, I quickly moved to get the dead bird off of the car and shooed the cat away. He didn’t look happy about it as he moved to sit on the pathway in front of the house, watching me until I was finally on my way to Television City Studios to meet with the producers of Dancing with the Stars.

When I arrived at the studio, I was met by the two executive producers, Stacia and Joe and led into a conference room. I let them do their spiel about what’s expected and the schedule. Nodding along in all the right places, being as polite as possible even though I hated how little say I had over anything. Once they moved on to the topic of how they choose partners, I spoke up for the first time, “I would really like to have input on my partner.” They both moved to speak before I held up my hand to signal that I wasn’t finished talking.

“Look, I know you all have your formula or whatever, but I have a legitimate reason for asking. As I’m sure you’re aware, I’ve been trying to clean up my image. I’ve been sober for eight months and I would really like to be placed with someone that doesn’t have a reputation for partying…someone who isn’t gonna be a negative influence on me. It’s actually really important to me because I’m actively avoiding being around anyone who is into that kind of lifestyle.” Which is why I spend most of my time alone.

Stacia and Joe looked at each other, obviously surprised at my reasoning for the request. They were actually stunned into silence. Since neither of them said anything, I continued, “I had my team check into the dancers, and based on their recommendation…I’m requesting that Katarina Stamos be my partner. She has a good reputation and I’m also told she’s very professional and isn’t judgmental…because that’s been an issue here lately that I’d really like to not have to deal with.”

Stacia’s brow furrowed, “Are you looking to actually win? Because Kat hasn’t won a single season that she’s been with us.”

I narrowed my eyes on her. What an asshole thing to say about someone. “Well, maybe that’s because you keep giving her shitty partners.”

I gave Stacia a sarcastic smile. She had the audacity to look offended by that statement. I had watched the show and seen the people Katarina was partnered with. It was always the older guys that could hardly move. Stacia’s attitude made me more determined to have Katarina as a partner just to prove a fucking point on her behalf.

Joe interrupted the silent standoff that Stacia and I now seemed to be having, “Alright, let’s think about this…” He turned to Stacia, “Physically, they work together. Their height and proportions are a good match…and Kat is very patient. She would work well with him. Also, if he wishes to be with someone who isn’t into partying, Anika is not the person he needs to be with.”

Stacia looked frustrated and unwilling to give in as she glared at her counterpart. Joe smirked, “If you're worried about the change in narrative, it’s possible there may be other options we haven’t considered.”

What the fuck does that mean? I leaned forward on my elbows, “What narrative?”

They both turned to look at me, Stacia now had a sly smile on her face. It was Joe who answered, “We always consider the possible narratives that could come up between partners. How they’ll interact and get along personality wise. It’s an important factor for the show.”

I felt a crease form between my brows, “So basically, you try to manufacture drama for TV.”

Joe shook his head, “Not exactly, I mean ultimately, yes. We just take personalities and such into account when we pair the dancers with their celebrities. I mean, we do want everyone to get along with their partner, obviously.”

So, you’re fucking meddlers. Got it. I arched my brows, giving them a tight smile as I nodded, going along with what they were telling me. I now realized I would have to keep an eye on these two. I didn’t feel like they had my best interest in mind. Especially if they were initially planning to put me with the known party girl.

I cleared my throat before speaking again, “So what does that mean…do I get to work with Katarina or not?”

Stacia looked at me, now smiling, “I think that may actually be a good match now that I think about it. So yeah, we’ll let you work with Kat. Hopefully you’ll both make it through to finals.”

What is this woman’s deal? Geez Louise. I eyed them both suspiciously for a moment, “Ok, good. Now I’m finally a little excited about this.”

They went over a few more details about the schedule before taking me out to meet with a production assistant, who was tasked with giving me a tour of the building and showing me where my dressing room would be. This part of my day couldn’t end soon enough…

Katarina’s POV

As I was pulling into the Television City Studios parking lot for the first day of my last season on Dancing with the Stars, my phone pinged with a text from Alec, my fiancée.

Alec: I finished up my meeting with production. Are you here? Have you had yours yet?

I leaned my head back against the seat. What the hell has he been doing? I know his meeting was over an hour ago.

Me: Just parked, I have mine in 10 minutes. I’m on my way in…Meet you in the lobby.

A few minutes later, I found Alec in the lobby. He seemed more excited than he normally was on the first day as he greeted me with a quick kiss on the cheek.

I leaned away from him, “What’s got you so smiley this morning?” I could tell he was trying to temper it down and have a more neutral expression on his face as he shrugged, “I didn’t realize I was. Guess I’m just excited to see you.”

He smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. What are you hiding now you asshole. He didn’t know how well I could read him at this point.

I arched a brow instead of returning his smile, “So, I assume you found out who your partner is gonna be?”

He continued his attempts at a neutral expression, “Yeah, Lana Thompson…she’s an actress, I think. There was apparently a last minute change to the lineup this morning. You know her?”

I gave him a tight smile, “Yeah…I know her. She has a bit of a reputation…”

He feigned ignorance, “Oh? I don’t know anything about her. I’m sure she’ll turn out to be one of those stuck up, bitchy types like the rest of ‘em. Ya know, you’re lucky it’s your last season so you don’t have to deal with these people anymore.”

And there it is. He doth protest too much. He was excited to be paired with her, I could tell. He saw it as an opportunity. As far as I knew, he hadn’t strayed to another woman in some time, but that didn’t mean he had changed. He still hadn’t earned my trust back and his current excitement only made me more suspicious of his commitment.

Alec could sense the tension taking hold of my body as he rubbed at my lower back, “Everything ok, baby?”

I gave him a half-hearted smile, “Yeah, just peachy. I’ve gotta go or I’m gonna be late. I’ll catch up with you after.”

As I was walking down the hallway toward the conference room, I saw Lana Thompson exiting the bathroom. I suspected Alec had already met his partner and liked her more than he let on. Which probably explains why it took him as long as it did to text me.

When I entered the conference room, Stacia and Joe sat huddled together. They seemed to be engrossed in whatever they were whispering about, but abruptly stopped talking once they realized I was lingering in the entryway. They both smiled, almost over enthusiastically as they welcomed me and motioned for me to have a seat. They studied me for a moment before Stacia finally spoke, “How are things going with you?”

That’s an odd question and an odd tone. I wasn’t sure what kind of answer she was looking for, “It’s going good, why?”

She gave me a small smile, “I know it’s your last season because you have things going on…but do you think you’re feeling up to the possibility of making it to finals?”

I gave her a confused look, “What is that supposed to mean?”

Joe leaned forward, “What Stacia is trying to say is…the person we have you partnered with this time is going to be a little more physically able than your usual partners. So, you may be in it for the full twelve weeks…if you can pull it off. Are you physically able to handle it?”

Should I be offended by that? It’s not like I can’t function. It was just painful some days, especially when there were a lot of rehearsals. My joints couldn’t handle the Latin dances like they used to - the jerky movements exacerbating the inflammation and discomfort. That didn’t mean they had to treat me like a fragile porcelain doll though.

I narrowed my eyes at them, “Of course I can handle it. I could handle it this entire time…which is why I’ve been asking for more capable partners.”

Joe smiled, “Well, good. Maybe you can go out with a bang this season.”

What the fuck was this about? I dug my teeth into my bottom lip as I tried to figure out their angle. There was always an angle with them, “Why do I feel like you’re trying to sell this to me?”

Joe grimaced slightly. “We’re not trying to sell it, but we do worry you won’t be happy about it.”

I crossed my arms over my chest and leaned back into the seat, “Who is it?”

Stacia smirked, “It’s Dieter Bravo.”

I looked between the two of them, “You’re joking?”

They shook their heads in unison. This didn’t make sense. Wouldn’t he be better suited with one of the girls that enjoyed a lifestyle similar to his?

“What makes you think he and I will work well together? I know I have a lot of patience, but it does have its limits.”

Joe chuckled, “His people requested you specifically. He’s actually eight months sober and they want him with someone who isn’t going to get him into trouble. He’s trying to clean up his image.”

I scoffed, “I thought you didn’t let the celebrities have any say in who they’re partnered with?”

Joe leaned forward onto the table, “We don’t normally, but given his request and the reasons for it, we felt we should make an exception. We were thinking of putting him with you anyway.”

I shook my head, “You are aware of his reputation, right? Alec is gonna lose his shit over this.”

Stacia smiled, “It’s not your or Alec’s choice. We run the show.”

It dawned on me then. Alec had said there was a last minute lineup change this morning and that’s why he was put with Lana. I had somehow managed to fly under the radar when it came to the producers' manufactured bullshit, but now I was right in the middle of it. They were making moves to create an underlying narrative for the show.

“Who was he partnered with originally? I know it wasn’t me.”

Stacia looked surprised by my question, “He was never partnered with anyone else before you.”

Stacia was lying. She couldn’t look at me directly when she answered my question - it was her tell. I knew how their minds worked. Dieter Bravo had a reputation for causing trouble and they were looking to exploit it. I’m sure his request caused a hiccup in their plans, so now they were making adjustments to cause drama surrounding him any way they could.

My eyes shifted between the two of them, “I don’t know what your endgame is here, but I have no intention of playing, just so you know.”

Stacia and Joe sat expressionless, not giving anything away. I assumed they expected this sort of response from me. My tendency to push back at their plans was one of the reasons I wasn’t a favorite of theirs and most likely part of the reason they always worked to get me off the show as soon as possible, every season. Which sucked for my bank account. To add to their reasoning, I wasn’t interesting enough since I never had issues with my partners or whirlwind romances that made for good TV. However, this season they were taking a chance, throwing two bombs in the form of Lana and Dieter into my already tumultuous relationship with Alec. Hoping for an exciting outcome that would play out behind the scenes to stir up tabloid fodder and result in free promotion for the show.

Joe sighed, finally speaking to break the tension in the room, “For what it’s worth, we met with Dieter earlier this morning…he was actually very pleasant and agreeable. I don’t think he’ll be an issue for you, so long as he continues to stay sober.”

My brows furrowed, “It sounds like you have a lot of faith in him. Good to know.” I moved to stand, “Well, if there isn’t anything else you need from me…”

Joe smiled weakly in my direction, “No, I think that’s it for now…just make sure you review the schedule and let us know if you have questions.”

I gave them a sarcastic smile before moving to leave the conference room. As I rounded the corner in the hallway, looking down at the floor lost in my thoughts and frustration, I ran into someone. I started mumbling my apologies as I looked up at the stranger. I was met with a mess of curls, piercing dark eyes, and a dimpled lop-sided grin. It was Dieter fucking Bravo looking like he just stepped out of a GQ magazine.

“Hey there, sweetheart,” he said through a chuckle with his hands on my shoulders to catch me from running head first into him. We stared at each other in silence for a moment. You’ve got to be fucking kidding me, he can’t call me that.

He had a slight smirk on his face now, “Katarina, right? Looks like we’re gonna be dance partners.”

I shook my head, my lips set in a tight line, “Don’t call me that.”

His brow furrowed, “What? Katarina?”

I scoffed, “No, sweetheart. I don’t want anyone getting the wrong idea. It’s inappropriate. You can call me Kat like everyone else.”

He was obviously taken off guard by my cold demeanor as he gave me a confused look, “I didn’t…mean anything by it, I-I call everyone sweetheart.”

I nodded, “Well, you're not gonna call me that.”

He chewed on the inside of his cheek for a beat, “I guess I’ve earned that. Sorry, I won’t do it again.”

I inhaled deeply, biting my bottom lip as I did so. It didn’t go unnoticed that his eyes shifted down to my mouth. “Look, this is my last season and I just wanna get through it without any drama, ok?”

A crease formed between his brows as his jaw ticked to the side, “What makes you think I’m gonna cause drama?”

I shook my head, now realizing how big of a jerk I was being, “Umm…I…”

He continued to stare at me with a burning intensity, “Just so you know, I’m sober…have been for eight months. Drama is not my thing these days…”

I gave him a tight smile, “Good…hopefully you can stick to it.” Fuck. That did not come out how I meant for it to.

I could see his jaw muscles flex before he let out a small laugh. His eyes finally shifted downward. He almost looked hurt by that comment.

I sighed, “I’m sorry…I didn’t mean that the way it sounded.”

His brows arched as he peered at me through his lashes, “You know, I requested to be partnered with you because I was told that you're professional and wouldn’t be judgmental about my past…I guess I heard wrong. I suppose I should just expect it at this point, right? Maybe I shouldn’t have such high expectations of others.”

My mouth fell open as I shook my head. I’m such a fucking asshole. He didn’t give me a chance to say anything before he spoke again, “I guess I’ll see you at rehearsals tomorrow. Have a good afternoon.” He gave me a sad smile as he brushed past me. I stood there with my mouth hanging open like an idiot watching him as he walked toward the exit. That was a great first impression. Good job, Kat.

“Who was that?” Alec asked from behind me.

I turned, running my fingers through the top of my hair out of frustration, “That was my new dance partner.”

Alec squinted toward the figure standing near the exit, now stopping to look at his phone, “Is that Dieter Bravo?”

I could feel my jaw tighten as I took in Alec’s expression, “Yes, it is.” Alec’s head snapped toward me, “I don’t want you working with him.”

I smiled sarcastically, “Really? And you think I have a choice in that? They made it clear, there is no other option. I asked.”

Alec shook his head, “You could just not do this season. You're quitting anyway. Why not go ahead and drop out?”

My eyes widened at his suggestion, “Because I need the fucking money, you know that.”

He chuckled, “Right, for the dance studio.”

I scoffed, “Yeah, for the dance studio. I don’t understand why you can’t support me on that.”

Alec didn’t acknowledge my question, “This guy is a known womanizer. I’m not comfortable with this.”

My head tilted to the side, “So you don’t trust me. That’s rich coming from you. You know…I’m not excited about your partner either, but I didn’t tell you to drop out. If anyone has a right to be concerned, it’s me.”

Alec moved in closer, causing me to back up against the wall as he got in my face. His eyes were blazing with anger, “You’re never gonna let that shit go, are you? That was ten months ago, and I have been loyal to you ever since. Yet here you are…still throwing it in my fucking face.”

I had a sudden defiant streak hit me, “You’re the one who brought it up by insinuating that you couldn’t trust me. I’m just reminding you who the problem is in this relationship.”

Alec moved to put his hand on the wall next to my head as he leaned in further - his nose nearly touching mine as I turned my stoney face away from him, “Don’t you ever talk to me like that again,” he spat out.

I could feel his eyes drift over my face for a moment before he pulled away and walked off.

I huffed out a quiet “Fuck” as I exhaled a shaky breath and watched him walk toward the dressing rooms. When I glanced back toward the exit, Dieter was still standing there, frozen in place with his phone halfway to his ear. Once he realized I was looking his way, his head dropped downward, and he slowly turned to exit the building.

Dieter’s POV

As I walked out into the scorching afternoon sun, I ended the call to check my voicemail, deciding I wasn’t in the mood to hear it. I was frustrated by my first interaction with Katarina. It didn’t go how I expected, and honestly, she had hurt my feelings. Based on everything I had heard about her, I didn’t think she would throw my past up in my face like that. At least not immediately, if at all. She did seem a little flustered, maybe she was just having a bad day?

What followed after our exchange was even more bizarre. It looked like she was having a tense conversation with the man that I assumed was the one she was dating. Lenny had mentioned she was engaged to one of the other dancers. When the man first leaned in, I initially thought they were just having a private moment, but then I noticed the look on Kat’s face as she turned away from him. Something about it was unsettling and for a brief moment, I considered interrupting them. Luckily, I didn’t have to. However, I was left feeling that I had witnessed something I wasn’t supposed to.

Even though our conversation didn’t go as well as I hoped, I was still struck with how beautiful Katarina was in person. Pictures and TV didn’t do her justice. It was probably a good thing she was seeing someone, otherwise I would be in danger of making a fool of myself. Then again, I probably would anyway. My sober self didn’t seem to know how to act around a pretty lady. My confidence and self-assurance definitely weren’t on the same level these days.

When I got home, I spent more time than I would like to admit staring at my reflection in the mirror - trying to remind myself that I was no longer the piece of shit that everyone still saw me as. It was still hard for me to accept that the old me and the new me were two very different people. Some days it really did seem like it was easier being the old Dieter Bravo, because he didn’t care about how he was perceived by others. I often longed for him to come back, just to quiet the thoughts of self-hate and inadequacy. Those thoughts really could be suffocating and hard to overcome. It was near impossible living with myself on those days.

The anticipation of how our first rehearsal would go was starting to get to me. So, I decided to spend the rest of the evening trying to relax and take my mind off things. With classical music blaring from the sound system, I moved through the house to check in on my plants - watering, misting leaves, and pruning. It was a new hobby I had picked up since rehab. It started with one succulent plant that had seen better days. My neighbor had left it sitting next to the trash bin on garbage collection day. For some reason, I had an urge to attempt to save the shriveled mass. After a few weeks, it was showing new life as the deep purple hues started to form on the leaves. My plant obsession bloomed from there. Now I wasn’t even sure how many I had. I was fairly certain my housekeeper was going to quit if I brought any more home.

After I was finished with the plants, I spent some time painting until I couldn’t hold my eyes open any longer. It was nearing midnight by the time I had showered and crawled into bed. Even though I was completely exhausted, I couldn’t shut my mind off. The anxiety was now building to problematic levels. It was always at this point that I thought about using the most. By now, the old Dieter would be a couple lines in and a few drinks deep to block out the thoughts. The new Dieter suffers through it as he lay in bed alone, staring into the darkness. I drug both hands down my face and huffed loudly before moving to switch on the lamp beside the bed. I reached for my latest self-help book and began reading.

I was startled awake by my 7 AM alarm. I groaned as I felt around next to me on the bed for the shrilling phone to shut it off. I sat up, still half out of it, causing the book that had been lying on my chest to fall to the floor with a loud thump. I got up from bed, wiping the sleep from my eyes as I walked toward the bathroom to splash some water on my face. I stood staring at my reflection again, “You look like shit, Bravo.” It was clear I hadn’t gotten much sleep from my dark circles and puffy eyelids. I threw a warm rag over my eyes for a few minutes in hopes that would help.

Standing in my closet staring at the pile of gym clothes my stylist had picked up, I selected a random pair of shorts and a t-shirt, then pulled the tags off. We weren’t allowed to wear anything with brands or logos on filming days, so I had to break down and buy more clothes. It was probably for the best, my old gym clothes were looking a little ratty anyway.

Once I was dressed, I grabbed my backpack that had a few essentials in it and headed toward the front door. As I stepped out onto the porch and pulled the door shut behind me, I was greeted by my furry squatter who had left another gift near the steps - a dead mouse. I sighed, “Well, at least it’s not on top of the car this time…” The fluffy menace meowed at me as he rubbed against my legs, as if to say, “Look what I did!”

I was determined to not give in to the furry intruder, so I disregarded his attempts for pets. “Don’t you have a family somewhere to annoy?” I muttered to him as I continued toward the car. He followed me halfway down the pathway before sitting down and flicking his tail around as he watched me get into the driver's side and shut the door. He didn’t look happy about being ignored.

I gave myself a quick glance in the rearview mirror, reaching to comb down my hair with my fingers. I hadn’t bothered to fix it, knowing it was going to turn into a mess no matter what I did to it. Then, I started the car and drove in silence to the dance studio, not even really sure how I got there as I pulled into the parking lot. I found myself wondering if I had run any redlights as I walked through the main entrance. I felt like I was in a haze as the camera team talked to me in the lobby to fill me in on the plans for filming.

They wanted to do a brief interview with me before I went into the studio with Katarina. They wanted me to give the whole spiel about how excited I was to be here and working with my dance partner. Truth is, I wasn’t excited. I was nervous as hell, and I was supposed to act like this was the first time I was meeting her. I was unsure of how to act toward her, so when the time came for me to walk through the door to greet her and act excited, I turned on the Dieter Bravo charm the best I could and pretended like yesterday’s conversation never happened.

I was surprised to find how well Katarina did the same thing as she came over to greet me with a smile and a hug and gushed about how excited she was to work with me. However, we were both avoiding looking at the other directly. Clearly there was still some lingering awkwardness between us. After they filmed the introduction, they wanted to get some quick shots of us rehearsing.

These first few days of rehearsal were meant for learning the basics. We were not actually getting into the first routine yet. We started with some simple stretches and moved into learning the proper frame, the different types of positions, and spacing for the different types of dances. It was all very high level and fast, but Katarina had promised that we would go over it in more detail once the film crew left for the day. The quick pace was mostly for the benefit of the film crew so they could get what they needed and move on to the next couple.

Once filming was done for the day, we took a seat on the floor for a water break as the crew gathered up all of their gear to leave. We mostly sat in awkward silence until we were finally alone. I could feel Katarina’s eyes on me as I stared at the water bottle in my hand. She spoke first.

“I feel like I should apologize about yesterday…I was having a shit day and kind of took it out on you. I’m sorry. I honestly didn’t mean what I said.”

I pursed my lips and shrugged, “It’s fine. I’m used to it at this point.”

She reached out and grasped my wrist with her left hand, the heat of her touch raced through me as I looked at the glittering ring on that finger for a moment before meeting her eyes, “It doesn’t mean that it should keep happening though. It’s not right and it’s not fair to you. Everyone deserves a second chance.”

I huffed out a small laugh, “Yeah, except I’m on like my tenth chance. I understand why no one takes me seriously. Really, it’s not that big of a deal.”

Her face softened as she stared at me for a beat, like she was trying to decide what she wanted to say next. Then she shifted her body to face me as she crossed her legs, “It is a big deal. It’s a big deal to me because I know better. You know…”

She paused, appearing to gather her thoughts. I moved to lean back on my hand and face her more fully with my legs stretched out to the side. My teeth bit into my bottom lip as I watched her face shift to a somewhat pained expression. It was brief, but I still caught it before she gained her composure.

“My uhh…my dad was sober for about 14 years before he passed. I know how hard it was for him in the beginning…with everyone doubting him and not giving him a chance. It’s one of the reasons he relapsed the first few times. It can be hard when you don’t have any support from the people around you. I know that…and I don’t wanna be one of those people. You haven’t given me any reason to doubt you, so I wanna make sure I’m giving you a fair shot and support you as long as you’re actively trying to better yourself. I know first-hand that people do change.”

Is she fucking serious? I couldn’t move or speak. She had stunned me again for the second day in a row. I never would have guessed she would share something so personal, especially on our first day together. She seemed sincere in her apology.

I finally managed a curt nod before I reached to rub at the crease between my brows, “Thanks…I uhh…I appreciate that.” I let out a small laugh, “I appreciate it more than you probably realize, actually.”

She gave me a tentative smile, “Does that mean I’m forgiven for being an asshole then?”

I chuckled, “Of course…and I didn’t think you were an asshole. Not really. I had a feeling you were having a bad day.”

“Whew…ok. Good. I was worried I had already fucked this whole thing up before it started.”

Ok, it’s kind of hot when she says fuck. I smirked, “Does this mean I get to call you sweetheart now?”

She narrowed her eyes on me and shook her head, “No. No sweetheart.” She laughed quietly, “But, I might consider a different nickname if you come up with a good one.”

My lips spread into a cheeky smile, “I think I can come up with something.” She laughed into the top of her water bottle as she took a sip with a slight flush creeping up her neck. Am I flirting right now? I don’t even know what I’m doing. Geez. I looked away in an attempt to reign myself in. I can’t be doing that.

We were soon back at it, now with a more relaxed atmosphere. We again started with getting my frame right. I stood in place as she moved my arms to the proper position, pushing in between my shoulder blades to straighten my posture. After several minutes in the position, I couldn’t help the groan that slipped out, “This is gonna do a number on my back muscles, isn’t it?”

She snickered, “You will definitely have better posture by the time I’m done with you. Now, elbows up, you should have a horizontal line from elbow to elbow…and hold it there.”

She then stood in front of me, taking in my form for a moment before manipulating my hands into the proper position.

Smiling, she nodded in satisfaction as she stepped closer, “Ok, now let’s go over the hold. The hold is important because it’s how we connect…how our bodies communicate movement to lead and follow.”

As she spoke, she moved closer, placing her arm along the top of my right one and clasping my left hand in hers. She was very matter of fact with her words as her eyes bore into mine. It was almost distracting.

“I need you to make sure there’s no space between our arms…here, so keep your elbow flush against mine.” She bounced her arm against the top of my right one to emphasize what she meant. “This is an important connection point because I can feel the pressure from your arm, which will tell me how to follow. As for your left hand, keep it at my eye level. We apply pressure here as well for another connection point.”

All I could do was nod along with her words, completely mesmerized by her intensity. Once she felt we had the hold down, she began to explain the differences in spacing for standard ballroom versus Latin dances.

“So…in Latin style dances, we’ll have more space between us…like we are now. It gives us more room to move. We’re gonna be slightly offset from each other while maintaining this closed position. Got it?”

I nodded again as I chewed on the inside of my cheek. I wanted to look at her directly, but I couldn’t. Between her eyes burning into me and the tingling from her touch, I felt like my skin was on fire. I didn’t know what to make of it and it was sort of fucking with my head.

Then she stepped even closer, the front of our bodies nearly flush as she slightly adjusted the position of our arms. I swallowed hard over her proximity and the tangy citrus scent that was now invading my senses. Fuck. I might be in trouble.

“For standard dances, like the Waltz and Foxtrot, we’re gonna be closer…like this. Our frame will be a little wider and our arms will be positioned slightly lower. We’ll both be looking off to our left instead of directly at each other.”

I cleared my throat, stepping back slightly, “Sooo…umm…do we look off to the left for Latin dances?”

Her brows arched as her eyes widened, “Good question. I should have mentioned that. There’s typically more direct eye contact in the Latin dances. It’s actually another form of connection…another way for us to communicate without words.”

She moved back into the Latin dance hold, now making direct eye contact with me. I couldn’t help how my eyes roamed over her face, taking in the minor changes in her expression as she spoke. I wasn’t sure if the close proximity of the standard hold or direct eye contact with the Latin hold was worse. They were both a little overwhelming.

“Alright, let’s try some steps. We can start with the Rumba.”

She broke away for a moment to show me the foot movement, then had me give it a try. After a successful attempt, she positioned us back into the Latin hold and we began moving together. Once it seemed we had the footwork down, she backed away with a smirk on her face.

“You’re actually really good at this, you know. We do need to work on eye contact though.”

I smiled nervously as I looked down at my feet and rubbed the back of my neck, “I’m sorry…I know. Direct eye contact is a little weird for me.” I glanced up at her through my lashes, slightly embarrassed by the admission.

She smiled and arched a brow in my direction, “Really? I never would have guessed that based on your love scenes.”

My eyes widened. I do not need to think about her watching me dick someone down on screen. Focus, Bravo. I chuckled nervously, “Yeah, I’m not usually looking directly into their eyes during those. I tend to stare between their eyebrows.”

She gave me a sly smile now, snickering, “Oh, is that why you usually look cross eyed then?”

My brow furrowed as I gave her a mock look of offense, “I don’t look cross eyed. That’s rude.”

She cackled over my response, “I’m joking. I don’t think I’ve ever actually seen one of your love scenes to know how your face looks.”

I scrunched up my nose, “Ouch, ok…so you don’t watch my movies. Got it.”

Her laugh had simmered to a quiet chuckle now as she lightly smacked my shoulder, “I’ve seen some…just not any with a love scene. So don’t be so offended. I’ve seen those TikTok videos though…they gave me a good idea of what I’m working with.”

I rolled my eyes, “Ugh…those fucking TikTok videos. They’re so bad.”

I had to admit, it was nice to be joking around with her after all the tension that had built up from yesterday. I took it as a good sign that this might actually go ok. What I didn’t expect was the attraction that I was starting to feel as our day went on. However, the obnoxiously sized engagement ring she wore on her finger helped keep that in check every time I saw it sparkling in the light when she moved. As long as that shiny reminder was there, I would be ok...

Right?

Next: Week 2

✨FUN FACTS: All cast members on Dancing with the Stars are in fact required to get a weekly spray tan. They also do not get to choose their partners, costumes, music, or themes. They can make recommendations obviously, but the producers do not have to honor the requests. When it comes to pairing partners, the producers do have a "formula".

A/N: I wanted to take a quick minute to welcome all of my new and old readers! So happy to have you all with me for my next adventure with Dieter Bravo. For the new folks, I'm a sucker for predictions and theories. If you have them, drop them in the comments so we can discuss. Now on to my normal nonsense...how are you guys feeling about the first chapter? How do you feel about Dieter and Kat's first couple of interactions? What about all the characters that were introduced? I'm curious to know who you want to throat punch more, Alec or Stacia? I'm already in love with these two and I can't wait to share more of them. This Dieter is...something else. I love sharing things from his point of view. He is going to be a good time, as expected. Kat is...kind of a mess, but also not? It's been interesting being in her head. How do you see things progressing with these two? Lastly, a quick thank you to @maggiemayhemnj for giving this first chapter a quick read through to make sure all these plot points were introduced in a way that made sense...because seriously, there is a lot going on here. She also found the perfect disco ball looking dividers for this...and I fucking love them. 😘 👉 I did a fun post about Dieter's plant hobby and his furry visitor. Check it out HERE. 👉 In case you missed it, I also did a character introduction post, which you can find HERE. Until next time, 💜 Mysty

Taglist: @secretelephanttattoo @titlee78 @maggiemayhemnj @legendary-pink-dot @linzels-blog @morallyinept @survivingandenduring @wannab-urs @harriedandharassed @hisandsnakes @misstokyo7love @readingiskeepingmegoing @runningmom94 @sin-djarin @cakipy-blog @missladym1981 @guelyury @weho2kcmo @alokaerza @girlofchaos @trulybetty @rhoorl @bitchwitch1981 @madnessofadaydreamer @darkheartgatita @jazzloveslatte @timpletance @musings-of-a-rose @samiamproductions @myloveistoolittle @for-a-longlongtime @copperhalfcent @auteurdelabre @drewharrisonwriter @burntheedges @stevie75 @pedrostories

If you would like to be added to the tag list, let me know in the comments or shoot me a DM.

Credits: Support/MDNI Dividers: @cafekitsune Disco Divider: @deadbranch

#dieter bravo #dieter bravo fic #pedro pascal #pedro pascal characters #pedro pascal fanfic #dancing dieter #closed position series

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midnightkolrath · 4 months

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Oh boy, its thinking time again.

Though this time, I'm thinking about Mainline Dante and the "Black Sheep" for most fans, DmC Dante. Personally, I don't mind him and he grew on me in some cases. As much of a mess DmC is, playing through it recently after several years....I've seen crumbs of what could've been better than what we were given.

Of course, there's other things about the game that fairly rubs off on hardcore fans and I'm not gonna excuse the bad parts...[ahem] but there's things I like. The world building, parts of the lore....what they were trying to do with Dante as a character in the world setting...alas, I'll probably go on a talk about that stuff another time.

On topic of what I was going to talk about though. I was thinking back on the common reception of DmC and the fanarts of Main Dante beating the shit out of DmC Dante and I got to thinking...what if they actually DID meet each other? Would they respond similarly to these fan vent interpretations accordingly to their characters?

The answer, I think, would be a yes.

Not in the violent and aggressive "I hate you immediately" way, though. For this, I'm going to use DMC5 Dante for Main Dante, for the sake of how I've proccessed this inner question for myself.

For those who've played DmC and know of that Dante (and have paid attention to the story despite the icks), we know he's a fighter. He's been raised in the world that way due to his tragic and shitty upbringing. Same with him having anger issues amongst other things. He shares the impulsive nature Dante used to have back in Pre-DMC1 and DMC3, but cranked up abit.

He'd likely see Main Dante and purposely try to start shit cause he is a little shit like that. He's a teenager who's been through so much shit that he does not meld with people at all at first. He hates authority, is full of spite...yeeeeah....

I think Main Dante would entertain him and be willing to throw down with him because hell, man also loves a good fight and knowing this kid is another version of him? He'd be all over that to see just what the kid's made of.

Though I'd take this fight as Main Dante also trying to help the kid let off some steam, similar to how he handled Nero back in DMC4 when he was steamed and keen to rescue Kyrie and helped him regain a cool head before continuing on his quest.

The big difference between Nero and DmC Dante though, is that DmC Dante has even BIGGER anger issues. He's more violent. More spiteful. Fueled by how much worse he had it growing up. Had to watch his mother's heart get ripped out by Mundus, got seperated from his twin brother and had his memory sealed away....then he also had to deal with being in an orphanage ran by demons, in several foster homes and correction facilities (also, no surprise, ran by demons) so he went through alot of abuse growing up. Its how he knows the usual procedure of being detained and tries to give Kat advice as she's being arrested later on in the game.

He spent his entire life basically having to fight for it with no other choice.

As much of an edgy mess DmC is, it had so much messed up backstory for Dante himself...like aside from all the painfully forced edge of the setting most of the time....I can appreciate what they've molded in the cracks for the setting. Its fucked because the world he's in is fucked.

Anyway. Main Dante would probably let him get so much venting out through fighting, maybe try and try and help him work out his issues. Especially if this is seasoned DMC5 Dante. He's done it with Nero, he would do it again. It'd take alot and I mean ALOT of time I'd feel and I think Main Dante would even snap at DmC Dante over a few things, buuuut....I also feel like it'd eventually simmer down to a mutual understanding. Hell, Main Dante would likely see abit of his Pre-DMC1 and DMC3 selves in him. Kid's just abit more messed up and would need things drilled in more, but it IS stated that DmC Dante has a big heart buried beneath all that he displays. Hell, he shows it a few times in the game. He has a few moments.

I won't try and change minds on how people see him because I know DmC is a touchy subject for most hardcore fans and I get it, but you know. Personally, with it being an alternate reality at this point now that's still recognized by Capcom officially, I see it as harmless nowadays. We got mainline DMC swinging back, so its pretty much just there, haha.

I won't go into powerscaling (because that's a whole other beast of a rabbit hole I don't wanna poke into yet, even if I do think our Mainline Dante would win...the details of it will be thoughts for another time), but considering the circumstances of their characters and how situational it may be.....its just a thought. I dunno, the braincells just decided to think about this topic tonight, lmao.

#devil may cry #dmc devil may cry #leo's DMC analysis #dmc #YUP I'm talking abit about DmC Devil May Cry tonight for once #pardon if I repeat a few times and stumble abit I'm running on low sleep and sickness atm #Might talk more about DmC devil may cry one day but here have some crumbs of thoughts

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thealtoduck · 2 years

Text

009’s Story

Stranger Things: Season 1 Episode 1

Stranger Things x Male OC

(No decided pairing)

Warnings: Blood, death, child abuse, if you’ve seen the show which you probably have you most likely know what your up for…

Summary: A boy and a girl both with buzz cuts escape a lab together and get caught up in a bunch of weird shit…

(A/n: Am i ever gonna finish this series? Probably not, but i’m gonna write it anyway? Yes, yes i am.)

(Not proof read, there is probably spelling and grammatical errors)

——

Nine started seeing the light more clearly from behind Eleven as they both crawled through the pipe that would supposedly get them out of the lab. Eleven carefully climbed out the pipe but ended up ripping a small piece from her hospital gown while doing so.

She held out her hands out to Nine and helped him climb out of the pipe. The two then started running further into the forest trying to put as much distance between themselves and the lab as possible.

The two soon got tired and stopped. Nine leaned against a nearby tree to rest, meanwhile Eleven walked forward and through some bushes, she looked around. She then waved Nine over.

There was a small building in front of them. The back door opened and a man stepped out, he was taking out the trash. Eleven looked at Nine and said ”Food” in her quiet tone. Nine gave a small nodd to let her know he knew what she meant.

The two brunette kids entered through the wooden back door and snuck through the storage. They saw the man serve food to his cutomers. The two of them then opened the kitchen doors and walked inside looking for something edible. Eleven saw some fries and shyly started taking them one by one.

Nine found a small plastic plate with some yellow-ish-brown thing (chicken nuggets) on it. He picked one up and smelled it lightly, he then bit in to it catiously. He loved taste and shoved the rest of it in his mouth chewing it quickly and then swallowing.

”Hey!” he heard a loud voice yell and he saw the big man they’d seen throw the trash look their way. Nine and Eleven started running taking their food with them. ”Come here” the man yelled after them. They had almost reached the door when Nine felt his left arm being harshly grabbed from behind him making him drop his food.

The man forced him and Eleven to turn around holding them by the collars of their gowns. ”Think you can steal from me? Boys” but when he got a closer look at the two specifically Eleven, he then spoke quietly in shock ”What in the hell?”.

The man who caught them sat the two down in the kitchen, gave each of the brunette kids a yellow shirt that said ”Benny’s Burgers” and waited for his customers to leave before making each of them a hamburger and sitting them down in the main dinning area where they hungrily dug in to their hamburgers.

”Gee… your parents forget to feed you? Is that why you two ran away?” he asked curiously but was only met with silence from the starving kids. ”They uhh-… They hurt you?” he asked with slight worry in his voice.

”And… you went to the hospital and you got scared, you ran off, wound up here is that it?” he theorized but the two continued to ignore him and devoured their food.

”All right” the man said and took their burgers from them. ”I’ll give this back and you two can have as much as you want. All right? Maybe even some ice cream. But you two gotta answer a few of my questions first, all right?” the man said while the two kids stared quietly at him.

”We got a deal?” he then asked the two but they just continued staring. ”All right, let’s start with the easy stuff, my name’s Benny, Benny Hammond” he said and held out a hand towards them.

”See? Like this. Here.” he said and took Eleven’s hand into his, Benny could see Eleven got nervous and said comfortingly ”I got you, don’t worry. It’s okay”. He shook it gently and said ”Nice to meet you, yeah. And you are?” he asked Eleven while Nine just stared between the two of them. Eleven still said nothing. Benny sighed but then his eyes landed on something on Eleven’s arm, her tattooed number.

Eleven then pulled her hand from the table, Benny sighed again and asked ”Eleven?…What’s that mean?… What’s it mean?” Benny looked at Nine for help and but also tried to glace at his arm to see if he had a tattoo as well. ”No” Eleven then told him. ”Well, i’ll be damned. She speaks” Benny said with a small smile.

”No? No what?” Benny asked but was again only met with silence from the two. ”All right, i guess no more food then” Benny declared and took their plates with the burgers. Eleven then quickly said ”Eleven”. ”Yeah, what’s it mean?” Benny asked, Eleven then pointed at herself and said ”Eleven”. ”All right, then… and you?” Benny then turned to Nine expectantly.

Nine felt shy being adressed personally but quietly uttered ”Nine” and showed his own tattoo. ”Okay, Here you go” Benny said and gave them back their burgers which they both started to inhale as soon as they got them. ”Take it easy, take it easy” Benny said as he watched them eat.

”You two siblings?” he continued, Nine shook his head in response and continued stuffing his face in the burger. Benny gave Nine and Eleven some fries as well that they were now eating quickly while he was off making a phone call.

Eleven as growing annoyed with a noisy fan and used her powers to shut it off. Nine elbowed her lightly making her look at him and Nine shook his head at her, telling her not to use her powers.

——

Later…

——

Nine and Eleven were sitting on top of a table while they watched Benny do the dishes, he had given them something called ”Ice cream” Nine’s ice cream was something called ”Mint chocolate chip ice cream”.

”You guys like your ice cream, huh” Benny asked and Nine nodded shyly with a gentle smile. ”Smiles looks good on you two” he commented. ”You know smile?” Benny said and gave them a goofy grin which made the two short haired kids laugh.

Then there was a knock on the door making Nine and Eleven look nervously at each other. Benny noticed their frightened and stated ”All right, you two just sit tight. Whoever it is i’ll tell them to go away real quick, all right?”.

He then went to open the door and Nine could hear their voices from the other room. It was a woman who had knocked on the door, there was something ominous in her voice that Nine didn’t trust. Benny then invited her in and Nine heard him say ”Sorry again for trying to turn you away earlier”. Nine saw the woman and used his powers to enter her mind and he heard her thought process ”Time to eliminate target”.

Nine let out a gasp and just then the woman pulled out a gut and pointed it at Benny’s head and shot him. Eleven grabbed Nine’s hand and the two ran out of the kitchen and ran the same way they first had snuck in.

But before they reached the back door two of the bad men came inside and pointed their guns but Eleven used her powers to incapacitate them. Nine and Eleven then ran out the door and straight in to the forest.

Nine realised tears were running down his cheeks. Benny had been so kind to them and given them food and now he was dead because of papa and his guards. Nine then he also felt something wet on his head, a drop of water, it had begun to rain. But the two continued running far in to the forest.

——

Soon after that…

——

Eleven and Nine watched from behind a tree as three people carrying lights were walking through the forest. Eleven stepped foreward towards them, Nine tried to pull her back but Eleven wouldn’t let him so he followed close behind her.

The three boys turned around and were met with a girl and a boy that was hiding behind her peaking over her shoulder, both had brown hair that was buzzcut and were wearing yellow t-shirts that said ”Benny’s burgers”…

——

(A/n: Rip Benny, honestly wish we could have seen more of him)

#my oc #oc: nine #oc: noah lane #my oc: nine #my oc: noah lane #male oc #oc #my ocs are my children #stranger things oc #stranger things x male oc #ocs #my ocs my beloved #oc stuff #stranger things #tw child abuse #tw violence #oc fic

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alwaysahiccupandastrid · 2 years

Text

Stranger Things Season 4 Volume 1 - Live Thoughts + Reactions

I wrote all of my thoughts and feelings in a notebook down and copied them here in case anyone is interested in my thoughts and feelings on S4 so far. It’s taken me a while because 1) the season is LONG AS FUCK, 2) I’ve been ill and 3) I’ve been at work, so… anyway, here it is!

SPOILERS BELOW FOR SEASON 4 VOLUME 1 (MEANING EPISODES 1-7)!

Episode 1 - The Hellfire Club

Oh damn, that opening 8-10 minutes though :O They made it look like Eleven straight up slaughtered all the other “numbers” (the kids at the lab) as well as all the orderlies

My theory at this point: Eleven was possessed by Vecna and he killed the kids/orderlies through her

It showed Will painting and I was like “oh that’s so for Mike” even though it didn’t show what it was exactly

I love Eleven, Will and Jonathan being siblings

“We’re all time travelers if you think about it”

Her visual aid for her school project was Hopper and the cabin :’)

Eleven saying Joyce enjoys her new job (seems that she’s a telemarketer???) and it showing Joyce just shouting “PRICK” down the phone

JONATHAN IS A FUCKING STONER

Let’s be honest, “California Dreamin’” may be the obvious music choice for this but it’s the perfect song so I ain’t mad

NO BUT I CAN’T BELIEVE THE BABIES ARE IN HIGH SCHOOL I FEEL OLD

Eleven saying she’s good at maths but “grammar is getting good also” kind of just proves that no, it’s not XD

NO BUT WHY ARE THEY BULLYING ELEVEN WHAT THE FUCK >:(

Not Dustin getting Suzie to change his Latin grade :’)

*looking at Jesus statue* “... I will repent later” LMFAO

STEVE AND ROBIN BESTIES CAN I GET A FUCK YEAH

As soon as they mentioned Vickie, I was like “that’s Amybeth McNulty’s character” and “SO SHE IS ROBIN’S LOVE INTEREST”

“You ask out a girl, she says no - big deal. Nothing happens. Maybe your ego’s a little bruised.But I ask out the wrong girl, and BAM! I’m a town pariah” - OOF TRUE

BOOBIES! B O O B I E S! BOOOOOBIES!

“I like boobies, you like boobies... Vickie likes boobies” - I WAS WEEPING WITH LAUGHTER

Nah but I ship Robin and Vickie already ngl

Max seems so depressed, which I wasn’t actually expecting. It makes sense given that she saw Billy (her stepbrother) die in front of her, but at the very end of ST3 (which was 3 months after his death), she and Lucas were laughing and joking around and teasing Dustin over the Never Ending Story thing, so I guess I’m still kind of surprised

I was trying to figure out why Jason Carver, the basketball captain, seemed familiar... turns out it’s because he was Chris Dollanganger in Flowers in the Attic in 2014... aka the guy who slept with his sister

My first impression of Jason is that he seems cute but like he’s probably gonna be a douche

Max wasn’t happy at all watching Lucas play :(

Is... Is Jason seriously using the mall disaster AND Barb AND Hopper to pep up the team/game???

“You’ve been on the bench all year” OOP

Me: *sees a box* // also me: WHAT’S IN THE BOX?!?!

A Russian Doll??? That’s all that was in that big ass box??? A creepy Russian doll?!?

The presentations El/Will are doing at school are on heroes... :( HOPPER IS ELEVEN’S HERO I’M CRYING-

NOT THAT GIRL TRYING TO PLAY FOOTSIE WITH WILL 💀 HE’S GAY HON HE AIN’T INTO IT

No but STOP BEING FUCKING MEAN TO ELEVEN WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS LITTLE BLONDE BITCH’S PROBLEM

Also, Will’s presentation board was on Alan Turing... 👀

Oh Max went straight up full on depressed emo :(

Chrissy came out of the counselor’s office looking super upset... interesting

Max says that her mom is drinking and working 2 jobs, also Billy’s dad has fucked off and left them... On the one hand, that’s actually good because Billy’s dad kind of came off as an abusive dick bag. On the other, this poor family is broken :(

The counselor really said “it’s okay to not be okay”, she really used that line

“Maybe you should find something you care about too” - LUCAS SHUT UP BRO

“It’s like you’re not even here” “a ghost or something” - she’s literally depressed dude

Max and Lucas broke up?!?! Bad time for LuMax fans...

Oh no, she’s taking pills as well

A theory I had was Chrissy the cheerleader was pregnant because Max sees her being sick in the bathroom, she was upset coming out of the office, she’s in a relationship with Jason... IDK

WAAAAIIIIT WHO THE FUCK IS THAT WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT WITH THE GNARLY ASS FEET

Not people trying to say D&D is the devil’s game and a cult

I won’t lie though, the Hellfire Club kinda scares me

So Eddie keeps flunking his senior year, am I right?

I love that Joyce and Murray are still in touch, that’s nice

WAIT NOT MURRAY STRIPPING

Joyce: *looking at the doll* Jesus... she has nipples // Murray: *sliding into the bath* *cheering and whooping* — I’M-

So... Jonathan thinks Nancy isn’t coming for spring break, but she was hoping to go but hadn’t told him?

Okay so it seems that Jancy still really love each other but they’re not communicating and it’s driving them further apart :/

Nahhhh, newspaper dude (Fred) is fucking WEIRD. He gives me a weird creepy rich preppy boy incel vibe

WHY DOES NO ONE WANT TO PLAY FUCKIN DND >:( I WOULD LOVE TO PLAY DND BUT NO ONE WANTS TO FUCKIN PLAY IT WITH ME

Now why is Chrissy wandering into the woods???

... why is there a clock in a tree???

NOT THE SPIDERS FUCK THIS SHOW I HATE FUCKING SPIDERS

Oooooohhhh okay, it’s a vision, that makes sense

Eddie and Chrissy in the woods together... he was straight up selling her weed I think

No but they seem cute, they apparently knew each other when they were younger and they had a nice little scene together

“...Do you have anything stronger?” - at this point, because I was convinced she was up the duff, I was like, “is she trying to get super high or terminate a pregnancy???”

Not El getting an F :( I couldn’t see what subject the paper was on but I think it was Math?? Meaning she was lying to Mike about being good at math as well as having friends and her grammar getting better

NO, STOP BULLYING EL I’M BEING FUCKIN SERIOUS NOT THE DIARAMA

THESE FUCKING HIGH SCHOOL ASSHOLES MAN

El is still missing her powers but she seemed to forget because she tried to use them on Angela and just ended up looking weird

Ooooh Angela’s in trouble :D Good on El for not saying “nothing happened”

“We’ll fix it together” - Will is such a good brother to El, oh my god

Okay but did Joyce REALLY need to drop a fucking bucket on the doll from a tree?!?

We already knew this but HOP IS ALIVE

Not Steve dating high schoolers after he’s graduated

TAMMY THOMPSON??? THE MUPPET SINGER??? THE GIRL WHO WANTS TO BE ALL NASHVILLE AND SHIT???

Steve: “Told you... muppet” // Robin: “Okay, she does sound like a muppet” - THEIR FRIENDSHIP URGH I LOVE THEM

VICKIE AGREEING WITH ROBIN I’M-

Vickie: “Totally sounds like Kermit” // Robin: “I was thinking more like Miss Piggy” - I FUCKING CAN’T

“I used to think she sounded good ‘cause I had this massive crush--” OOP ROBIN CAREFUL YOU NEARLY OUTED YOURSELF THERE

Brenda (girl Steve is with): “Wow, she sounds AMAZING, doesn’t she??” // Steve: O_o

Robin, sweetie, you have always been able to do better than Tammy Thompson, gurl

No but the Tammy Thompson thing is ten times funnier after reading the Rebel Robin book that’s set before S3 XD

ERICA YESSSS QUEEN JOIN THE NERD CLUB

Erica wearing the America flag is an iconic moment... “You can’t spell America without Erica” in-fucking-deed

Damn, Erica did NOT come to play around

Oh no, Lucas is playing in the final game but Mike and Dustin aren’t there to see it because they’re playing D&D, and Max didn’t show :(

MAX WAS LISTENING ON THE RADIO THOUGH ASDFGHJKL;

I just know Will would have been in the Hellfire Club and living his best life

Dustin and Erica team up for the win!

Jason missed bUT LUCAS SCORED THE WINNING BASKET JUST AS ERICA ROLLED A 20, SINCLAIR SIBLING EXCELLENCE

Max seeing Eddie and Chrissy... O_O

Is Special K cocaine or...?

Is Vecna making her see things again???

NOT THE MOUTH STITCHED TOGETHER WHAT IS WITH TV/MOVIES THIS YEAR AND STITCHING MOUTHS TOGETHER????

Is Vecna trying to possess Chrissy or...? Like, playing mind games with her to weaken her? Because in reality she’s standing in Eddie’s trailer just staring/blinking but in her head she’s seeing everything else???

NOT THE NIGHT KING LOOKING MOTHERFUCKER

SHE LEVITATING NOW

WHAT THE FUCK HER LIMBS JUST TWISTED AND HER EYES LEAKED BLOOD WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCKING FUCK

NAH MAN THIS IS FUCKING HORROR I’M NOT OKAY

Episode 2 - Vecna’s Curse

I knew Hopper was still alive because he was in trailers etc, but it’s interesting to see how he somehow survived

Ah hell, they all gonna think Eddie fucking killed Chrissy now

So... IS Chrissy dead? She’s not gonna rise as a zombie or some shit?

I feel like Will is excited to give Mike the painting but Mike is only gonna have eyes for El.... :/

No but why does Mike look like a fuck boi in that outfit?

I have no idea why I don’t like Mike anymore, I like Finn but Mike kind of irritates me and I don’t know why

“Just this painting I’ve been working on” - GIVE IT TO HIM WILL.

Why is it so awkward :(

Also Nancy didn’t show up to California for Jonathan :(

Argyle hugging Mike though lmao

“I heard a lot about your sister” - LMAO

I’m just convinced Will is in love with Mike :O

MURRAY IS IN CALIFORNIA TOO

“But I’m having this problem where it’s like, I should stop talking. I have said everything I need to say. But then I guess I get nervous, and the words keep spilling out, and it’s like my brain is moving faster than my mouth, or... or rather my... my mouth is moving faster than my brain. And it’s like I’m digging this hole for myself, and I want to stop digging, I’m trying to stop, but I can’t. And I’m doing it right now, aren’t I?” - Robin is a fucking MOOD I LOVE HER

Not Lucas drinking and being hungover, you’re like 15 dude

This town truly IS fuckin cursed, jesus christ

Dustin: Mike and me, no one was nice to us - no one except Eddie // Max: Okay, I mean, they said the same shit about Ted Bundy. Yeah, he’s like a super nice guy but then he’s murdering women on the weekends. // Dustin: So you’re saying Eddie is like Ted Bundy???

Oh no, not the Russians! 👎

“the elephant” - NO, I wish it was a real elephant THAT MASK IS FUCKED

Poor Will third-wheeling :(

Not El lying about having friends and partying

Ewwww Mike put some damn socks on ffs

Oh no not Angela turning up

Not the basketball team using Benny’s to drink and party tho >:(

Jason has got some anger issues like holy shit

Not Dustin and Max using the video store computer as their base of operations though

Fred was really sitting there dunking on Jonathan and I’m not here for it

FRED KILLED SOMEONE?!? IN A CAR CRASH????

Ooop, Fred’s about to get posessed, I can tell

JONATHAN GOT INTO THE SAME COLLEGE AS ARGYLE

.. but he hasn’t told Nancy :/ TELL HER DUDE!

I feel like Jancy are about to break up tbh

“Got me stressed and it ain’t even my girlfriend” - lmao I like Argyle

Oh no not Angela interrupting the date :(

WHY DIDN’T MIKE AND WILL HELP HER IMMEDIATELY AS SOON AS THE BULLYING PRANK STARTED-

NOT THE DUDE FUCKING FILMING IT

At least Mike tried to get them to turn the music off I guess?

NOT THEM THROWING THE MILKSHAKE ON ELEVEN I’M SO FUCKING ANGRY

How do these Russians know Hopper has a trust fund for Eleven? But also it has $40,000 in it??? Damn, Hop

Who the hell is this “Enzo” dude???

What the fuck is Kamchatka? They said “hell”??

NOT CHRISSY’S BODY LOOKING LIKE SOMETHING PUT A DAMN HORROR FILM

Lucas pretending he only knows about D&D because of Erica >:(

“LET’S GO HUNT SOME FREAKS! FOR CHRISSY!” - I can promise you that she wouldn’t want that, my dude

Steve: Someone has to attend to the customers // Robin: Especially if they’re babes, right? *winks* - LMFAO

Robin is a certified GENIUS, of course she found Rick through the video store computer

No but if anything happens to that trailer park dog, I will be suing Netflix

Yes for Nancy telling the uncle’s side of the story!

Oh I just know Fred about to die

Victor Creel, hey?... sounds like lore time!

So apparently Victor Creel lost his mind, killed whole family, took their eyes/cut them out... and he’s in an asylum. Interesting

Kamchatka is basically a Russian concentration camp?

It’s the prison guard who sent the package to Joyce?!?

“I’ve been a total third wheel all day, it’s been miserable, so sorry if I wasn’t smiling” - poor Will :( I’m sick of seeing him third-wheeled by Mike and Eleven tbh, like if they want to date then fine, but stop third-wheeling literally anyone around you

Basically since S3, Mike has been kind of a shit friend to Will and he’s still a shit friend

Poor Eleven :( I wanna punch the kids who did this to her

I need Eleven to actually beat them up, especially Angela

OH SHIT, ELEVEN SMACKED THAT BITCH IN THE FACE WITH A ROLLER SKATING SHOE

Angela fucking deserved that lmfao, fuck that ratched raggedy ass bitch

No but Eleven has been SUPER violent this season, even without powers??

I SCREAMED WHEN EDDIE POPPED OUT BEHIND STEVE HOLY FUCK I LITERALLY DID SCREAM

Robin and Eddie were in band together???

Dustin: I swear on my mother // literally the entirety of the rest of the gang: yeah, we swear on Dustin’s mother -- LMAO

So... did Fred get in a car accident that killed someone, and he ran away instead of getting help, and then someone died? Is that what happened?

I DID NOT NEED TO RESEE CHRISSY’S BONES SNAPPING OR HER EYES POPPING AWAY

.... yeaaaaah, Hawkins is definitely fucking cursed, my god

This season is just one big fucking horror film, holy shit

So... is Vecna Victor Creel or is Victor another victim?

Oop Fred levitating, not again-

NOT THE LIMBS AGAIN NO NO NO

Sooo... Vecna is in the upside down world, right? Not ours?

Episode 3 - The Monster and the Superhero

... Now we’re in Nevada??? We’ve got Hawkins, California, Russia, and now Nevada??? We sure are travelling this season

OH IT’S DR OWENS, THAT DUDE FROM S2

“Everything that’s happened in Hawkins has been due to Brenner’s little pet” - NOOOO NOT THEM BLAMING ELEVEN

No but that makes ZERO fucking sense, the thing with Victor Creel was in the 50s??? And Eleven was born in the 70s I think???

LMFAO I GOT NO FUCKING SYMPATHY FOR ANGELA FUCK THAT BITCH

JONATHAN IS FUCKING HIGH MAN

Yeah, I don’t think Jonathan and Argyle were helping with the situation tbh

Jonathan waving, “Hi Murray!” :D

“...Why? What’s going on?” Oh, he’s fucking baked like a cake

Mike: She didn’t look fine -- oh fuck you, Michael

DEMOBATS NOW??? DEMODOGS AND DEMOGORGONS AND MIND FLAYERS AND RATS WEREN’T E-FUCKING-NOUGH

Not the fuck boi basketball team -__-

NOT LUCAS HELPING THEM

NOT FRED’S BODY FUCKING HELL I’M HAVING NIGHTMARES FOR WEEKS NOW I CAN TELL

Oop Nancy about to team up with the Dustin-Max-Steve-Robin gang

Mike put eggos out for Eleven at breakfast :(

El thinking she doesn’t belong anywhere kind of broke my heart, I won’t lie

On the one hand, I get where El is coming from, Mike seems super aversed to saying he loves her... on the other hand, these kids are like 15??? They’re fucking kids???

Not the police arresting El :( All she did was slap a bitch smh

Jonathan and Will being protective brothers of El is GOD tier content and I wish we had more of it

The guard is actually helping Hopper... but for a price of course

“Serial killers stalk their prey before they strike” - God, Robin is so smart

Robin: I don’t have a license // Steve: Why don’t you have a license? // Robin: I’m poor. -- LMFAO MOOD

Max: I can drive! // Steve, clearly thinking about waking up in S2 in the car whilst Max was driving: NO. NEVER AGAIN. ANYBODY BUT YOU

RO-NANCY RIGHTS I’M HOLLERING

I ship Robin with both Nancy and Vickie, she has two hands after all <3

Steve: ALWAYS THE GODDAMN BABYSITTER - and you’re always amazing at it, bby <3

Ohhhh there was some DARK shit going on in Hawkins when Vecna was choosing his next target; “I’ll tell them I slipped again” as a woman puts make up on over a bruise, “I can’t say no, he’ll leave me” as two teens get it on... jesus

NOT VECNA TARGETING PATRICK, ONE OF THE BASKETBALL BROS

Not Lucas lying again and being all anti-DND, smh you’re better than this Lucas

JASON IS AWFUL FUCK

They can’t seriously arrest Eleven just for smacking a bullying bitch?!

You know, I think El is a little too honest with some of her answers, and yet she’s not admitting that Angela was torturing her

NOT EL BEING SENT TO JUVIE?!?!

Murray being the worst airplane seat neighbour tho

Nahhhh Airplane food looks fucking NASTY, I’m glad I haven’t used a plane in like 20 years 💀

How’s Hop supposed to get away if he’s got a broken leg though???

NOT THE LEG BREAKING SCENE

“I don’t really have a filter or a strong grasp of social cues” - Robin is giving off that autistic vibe this season and I’m here for it

Do NOT tell me Steve has still got a thing for Nancy for fuck sake

Also, said it before, I’ll say it again: STEVE HASN’T TOLD ANYONE ROBIN IS GAY. He knows if he told people, it would upset her and lead to people harming her because it’s the 80s and Hawkins is homophobic. He could have because Dustin thinks he’s a coward/refusing to ask Robin out, and Nancy thinks he’s dating Robin, but he hasn’t. It’s a super low bar but given how Steve USED to be... we love to see the character development.

Lucas coming through and radioing Dustin to warn him

Max: Lucas you’re so behind it’s ridiculous - LMFAO

NO LUCAS DO NOT TELL THEM FUCKING SHIT I SWEAR

OH NOW WHAT THE FUCK-

Dr Owens again??? And they’ve taken El?

Murray and Joyce arriving in Alaska: “OH GOD, THIS IS SPRING???” LMFAO

Oh god, was Hopper trying to force his broken leg out of the cuff???

Is Nancy seriously jealous of Robin, thinking she’s dating Steve???

“ELVIS CLONED BY ALIENS” - LMFAO I NEED TO SHOW THAT HEADLINE TO MY MUM

Robin is a fucking genius for pointing out that ofc conspiracy theorists would have been the ones to document Victor Creel / Vecna

ROBIN CALLING NANCY A GENIUS??? <3

Robin: “We leave them alone for TWO HOURS 🙄”

So both Chrissy and Fred were seeing Ms Kelly... is he targeting kids in counselling? Is she working for him??? Or is he just using her and she’s totally unaware of any of this???

Of course they could make the rollerskate incident go away...

Wait, did Lucas misdirect the team to Hopper’s cabin?!?

YES, Lucas, leave the frat boys!

A way to bring Eleven’s powers back??? How??? But if it fails, she’ll never see her friends again???

So symptoms pre-Vecna-trance are headaches, nightmares, past trauma... MAX HAS HAD THOSE SYMPTOMS TOO :O

Noooo she heard Vecna’s voice????

AND THE TICKING CLOCK IN THE WALL???

If ANYTHING happens to Max, I’m sueing Netflix for emotional damage

Episode 4 - Dear Billy

So Eleven wrote a note to Mike but NOT her adoptive family???

Stop showing the twisted eyeless bodies, I’M-

They’ve got less than 24 hours to save Max??? No, Ma-am-

It took me a while to realise but is Jason’s name a Friday the 13th homage?

Not Jason stopping Erica from shutting her own front door and Erica calling Jason and Lucas boyfriends

Robin teasing Nancy over her Tom Cruise poster lol

Also Robin geeking out over Nancy’s stuff is so cute

Robin: *sees blouse* Please tell me you’re joking -- no but sAME

“It was you guys who saved me” - AND BOB! DON’T FORGET BOB, WILL

Max wrote a letter to Billy

SHE WROTE ALL OF THEM GOODBYE LETTERS, EVEN STEVE

“the armpit that is Mike’s basement” - LMAO

Max threatening to prosecute Steve if he stops her XD

Robin struggling to walk in high heels and hating her blouse/skirt is a fat ass mood lmfao

“This bra is pinching my boobs” - SHE’S WEARING NANCY’S BRA???

Ladies, is it gay to share bras with other women? XD

Robin spitting straight up facts and bullshit to get the asylum to let them see Victor Creel

“My boobs hurt” “may I call you Anthony?” -- LITERAL TEARS

“Because nobody takes girls seriously in this field, they just don’t. We don’t look the part or whatever” - DAMN SHE ON FIRE

NO BUT THAT ACTUALLY WORKED

Robin and Nancy’s little secret Low-Five was ADORABLE

As soon as Yuri said bears got into cockpit, I knew he was joking XD

Is he seriously going to handcount $40,000

Russians in this show are either plain evil or pretty chill lol

Hopper blowing up the tool shed and stealing a snow plough is icon behaviour

“Things got batteries in it?” “... I’m not even answering that question” LMFAO

The scene between Max and her mom :(

NO NOT THE VISION

WAIT SO HER MOM WASN’T EVEN THERE SMH

Oh, Robin slipped up with the name of the professor :O

No but why am I so nervous about this omg

Why are these prisoners in fucking jail cells though

OH NO NO NO HIS EYES ARE GONE, HIS EYES ARE STITCHED, HOLY FUCKING FUCK

No, Will, you haven’t been a total jerk???

“Hawkins is not the same without you” - damn straight, Mike, maybe fuckin act like it

WILL BRINGING THE PAINTING

OH SHIT THAT’S NOT ARGYLE

“Oh my god, why’s that guy holding a gun?” “DRIVE!”

Hopper’s going round with no shoes on, how’s he not got freaking frostbite

OH YURI YOU DOUBLECROSSING LITTLE DICK HOLE

HE’S TURNING JOYCE AND MURRAY AND THE GUARD IN?!?

HE DRUGGED THE COFFEE FUCK

I KNEW IT COULDN’T BE THAT SMOOTH, FUCK THIS SHOW MAN

The cemetery... to see Billy, I assume

How is Max so chill about being close to death, omg

Creel: “Survived? Is that what you call this?” = ... Ooof.

FLASHBACK LORE TIME

So to sum up the bullet points I wrote in my book: Victor, his wife Virginia and their two kids - son Henry, daughter Alice. NOT THE SPIDERS AGAIN. Demon using a wheelchair??? What was up with the baby crib on fire??? Cursed home, town AND family. Killed wife first, so he tried to save kids; not the baby burning to death in his vision; both kids died?

So with his whole family dead, he tried to join them by gouging his eyes out and OH MY GOD NOPE NOPE NOPE NIGHTMARE FUEL

This season is so fucking dark omg

Interesting to note: all he said about Henry was he was a sensitive child and that Henry was in a coma for a week before dying, but the flashbacks show more Victor/Wife/Alice than Henry... hmmmm

Ooop Ronance have been caught

Max reading her letter to Billy had me crying

I’m still not sure how I feel about Billy because he kind of redeemed himself at the end of the last season, but also he was definitely abusive to Max... I feel sorry more for Max’s sake I think

“We could’ve become good friends like a real brother and sister” “maybe we could try again”

“for a while I tried to be happy... normal”

“love your shitty little sister, Max” - oh I was crying BAD

TELL ME MAX WON’T DIE PLEASE

NO NOT HER GOING INTO A TRANCE

IT’S NOT REALLY BILLY, RUN MAX

So music is the key/lifeline...

Also it makes sense that Robin, someone who’s in band and who’s said her ears are “little geniuses” was the one to figure that out

“It took me six months longer to walk than all the other babies” OMG ROBIN SAME I THINK???

All the people Vecna killed are in the upside-down-mindscape-place just rotting

Noooo he’s levitating Max

Max hearing the music and thinking about Lucas/Eleven/her friends :’( and it snapping her back/helping her

“Running Up That Hill” about to top the charts again, I can tell 👀

Max is okay thank fUCK

Me, seeing the credits: ROBERT ENGLUND??? FREDDY KRUEGER DUDE??? (he played Creel)

Nahhh not me crying over this episode

Again, Max’s storyline feels like a metaphor for depression/suicice/recovery and it made me emotional

Episode 5 - The Nina Project

“We’ve gotta get him to St Mary’s” “I don’t think a prayer is gonna help” “I MEANT THE HOSPITAL”

Who the fuck is Nina

Argyle: *panicking over dead dude in his van* // everyone else: GET OFF THE ROAD

Oh no they found Eleven’s note to Mike… why’d that idiot throw it away anyway, boyfriend of the year huh 🙄

I’m not sure if I trust Dr Owens or not tbh

Massive door in the middle of the desert is hardly conspicuous tho

Ohhhh Nina is a machine

DR BRENNER?!? That dude’s still alive???

Eleven rightfully running away from him, 🤦 also, not the “papa” “daughter” comment

Yeah no I don’t trust this plan of theirs to get her powers back, it might work but they’ll make her their puppet again

Wait were they using a mace on Hopper?!?

The gang all asleep :’)

Dustin fell asleep on “Max Watch”

Ted: Could try sticking together at a different house for a change — LMFAO HE’S RIGHT THO

Max and Holly having a crayon morning is so adorable though

Not Dustin scaring Holly by telling her about Freddy Krueger 💀

Max using drawings to show what she saw, just like Will has in the past

It’s the Creel house?!?

DID THEY RESHAVE ELEVEN’S HAIR? After she’s spent like 3 years growing it out?!?

(I’m aware MBB didn’t shave her head again, it’s probably something like a bald wig cap or whatever)

She’s clearly having a vision about being back in the rainbow room so maybe… ?

JAMIE CAMPBELL BOWER??? VOLTURI CAUIS I THINK??? YOUNG GRINDELWALD??? (I knew he was in it but I still got excited seeing him)

Yeah no this is a vision

Argyle panicking/flipping out is a mood

Will talking about how scary it is to open up to it if they don’t like the truth… he’s totally gay for Mike, I’m sorry-

The number was in the pen???

Everyone calling Joyce, Hopper’s “woman”

Hopper fought in a war… Vietnam? And he’s talking about how a bunch of guys he fought with went sterile or something because of the chemical agents??? “crooked spines, eyes popped out” - like Vecna victims, holy fuck

Hopper talking about Sarah :( And then also talking about El and Joyce :’(

“Everyone I love I hurt” - HOPPER STOP

Hopper saying he wasn’t cursed, he is the curse T_T

I’m not being funny but at this point I don’t trust any of the cops, agents, special forces, doctors etc.

Chrissy’s funeral :/

Ohh Patrick’s having visions now

NOT THE DND = CULT SHIT AGAIN

Steve: (at the Creel house) ...yeah, that’s not creepy

Robin just chucking a brick through the window of the door though

Dustin to Steve: Do you need to be told everything? You’re not a child.

Nahhh but why they all dunking on Steve :(

Murray fighting only kids in karate though lmfao

Tiny Eleven T_T

Oh the switching between current and baby El though

So the Nina project is named after an opera I think?

Sooo they’ve basically put Eleven in a giant sensory tank?

The only hacker they know... is Suzie

Come on, someone help Eddie :/

Dustin’s British Sherlock accent XD

NO NOT SPIDERS IN JARS AND ON STEVE I’M FUCKIN DONE

“Platonic with a capital P” :D

Bless Steve, he’s trying so hard

The chess set in the Creel house kind of looks like the chess set in the Rainbow Room

So there��s a “002″... What about “001″?

It’s honestly just depressing seeing all these kids aged like 3-18 with shaved heads and going “me me me” wanting to impress Brenner

WTF WHY ARE HER HANDS SO BLOODY

“She’s going into arrest” - SO FUCKING PULL HER OUT THEN JESUS H CHRIST

Not Murray doing a whole Kung Fu monologue T-T

Oof the plane fight scene though, Murray actually beat the shit out of Yuri omg

Oh no, the plane’s gonna crash?!?

Vecna’s in the Creel house but “on the other side”...

Steve is just so fucking done and I don’t blame him “we won’t be able to see if we turn out our flashlights???”

Robin: It’s an attic... of course it’s an attic

Eddie paddling on the boat to try and escape the basketball guys

Not Jason swimming to the boat???

Ooh the upside down transition from House to Vecna

Oooh he’s got Patrick!

And yep, NOT THE TWISTING/EYES THING AGAIN HOLY FU-

Eleven smacked Brenner, like he deserves

Wait, so they DID shave her head???

RIP Eleven’s hair

HER POWERS ARE BACK???

... Nevermind.

Noo not her going with him, not the “papa” “daughter” crap again >:(

Episode 6 - The Dive

Will Jason believe Eddie is innocent now or...?

“Eddie’s a vessel for Satan” - ... nevermind

DID VECNA JUST KILL A FISH

Now who the fuck they torturing- oh wait it’s the agent from the California house

Why is Brenner comparing El to a stroke victim? I mean I get his analogy but also the hell??

I feel so bad for El, guys, I wanna hug her - just let her live a normal life ffs

The gang don’t even know Eddie had to run :(

Noooo not them all blaming Eddie T__T Poor Eddie

Argyle: I can’t feel my butt

THAT KID FIRING AN ARROW AT MIKE LMFAO YOU GO TINY LUNATIC CHILD

What IS this place? Suzie lives HERE???

Argyle has a thing for Eden???

You know, when they said that Suzie comes from a super religious Mormon family... this wasn’t exactly how I imagined them

Welp, at least Joyce and Murray are still alive

LMAO they tied Yuri up

Murray mocking him XD

LMAO at them threatening to leave him to freeze to death/get eaten by animals-

“This is it, American, I hope you’re ready”- FOR WHAT?!

For...a meal? Is it poisoned??? Fattening them up???

Ohhh fattening them up for a fight (with a demogorgon?)

OH SHIT THEY ARE DESCRIBING A DEMOGORGON

Hop: So enjoy, boys. This is your last meal -- DAMN

Not Jamie Campbell Bower jumpscaring me AGAIN

“You remind me of someone I used to know”...001? Brenner said he didn’t exist but the orderly JCB is playing was with him...

THEORY: THE ORDERLY IS 001

Another Theory: 001 IS HENRY CREEL

Okay but why exactly is he telling Eleven all of this? What is he hoping to gain from this? I’m getting bad vibes from it

No but Steve saying he made Skull Rock a popular make out spot is so funny

Lucas said that Patrick was abused - Vecna is definitely targeting those with something in their lives haunting/traumatising them

Robin calling birds beautiful

Is Robin really trying to get Steve and Nancy back together? -_-

I still ship Robin and Nancy tho lmao

They’re “officially” friends :)

Hawkins getting mad at the police, fuck the police

Jason gatecrashing the town meeting with his cronies

Ohhhh he’s telling them it’s satan/cults/sacrifices and that Eddie is leading them, blaming all bad things on a cult

Erica: THAT’S BULLSHIT! THE HELLFIRE ISN’T A CULT, IT’S A CLUB FOR NERDS - YESSS ERICA

Mike, Dustin and Lucas’ parents seeing their kids in the club “cult” photo: O__o

That one dude leaving the town hall truly didn’t waste time, he went straight away

So they’ve told Suzie it’s a video game console...?

She knows Dustin’s birthday to the exact day/exactly how long it is until then 💀

Oh her dad took her computer away because she’s dating an agnostic

Erica: Yeah, no, they lied to you - lmao

Now why is Karen calling the cops on their kids???

Surge of energy = Vecna attacks

Steve: Cursed? No, he’s fine. Just mental.

Dustin: I was right, Skull Rock IS North! // Steve: ARE YOU SERIOUS RIGHT NOW???

Oh, it’s the compass/magnet/field thing!

“So either there’s some super big magnet here, or--” “There’s a gate!”

“I say you’re asking me to follow you into Mordor... which, if I’m totally straight with you, I think is a really bad idea. But, ah, the Shire... The Shire is burning” - HE’S SO NERDY, THE LOTR REFERENCE ASDFGHJKL; I LOVE IT

Dustin’s excited bouncing XD

Steve: What is Mordor?!? - LMFAO

Damn, these number-kids straight up beating each other to win this game

So 002 is the big bad bully of the group - I’m assuming he’s the oldest (since 001 is “a myth”) and most developed powers-wise

Oh, Eleven kicked 002′s ASS

Murray: Oh Jesus // Yuri: Hey, not in a church

Joyce: You’re gonna be Murray... // Murray: And I’m gonna be Yuri -- OMG

Oh, a prison brawl! All so Hop could pick the guard’s pockets and get a fuel and lighter

“My ribs are broken, don’t make me laugh” LOL

Oh they snuck into Suzie’s Dad’s office

“Holy sh- HECK!” LOL

Jonathan: What’s the internet? // Suzie: Don’t worry, it’s just gonna change the world

Damn, Suzy’s parents got a lot of kids

Mike: Can you print this? // Suzy: No, my skills end at IP Geolocation -- LMFAO

ARE ARGYLE AND EDEN GETTING FUCKING STONED TOGETHER

Is the gate in the lake???

Dustin: Who put her (Nancy) in charge? // Robin: I did -- ICONIC

Steve done with being a babysitter lmfao

WTF WHO’S SCREAMING IN THE LAB- THE ORDERLY??? WHY THEY DOING THAT TO JCB ORDERLY

Why are they bullying her in the Rainbow Room??? 002 super nasty

Ohhh it’s the thing from the opening

I NEED to know what happened

“I killed them, Papa, I killed them all” - Jesus Christ

“Wonky with a Waaaah” - LOL

NO STEVE DO NOT RISK YOUR LIFE BRO

Not Robin smirking at Nancy looking at Steve stripping lmfao (same tho nancy)

Lucas: Urgh, since when did Steve get so hairy??? / Dustin: Right? I keep telling him he needs to tame that jungle but he claims the ladies dig it -- AND STEVE IS RIGHT, LET MEN BE HAIRY

Max going “let me see it” and taking the binoculars followed by the silence... SAME

Steve’s not even THAT hairy????

Dustin: You guys realise there’s a gate down there....it’s technically a watergate” - NOT THE PUNS

You know, I’m not sure Steve needed to be shirtless but... not complaining. Also, it would have made more sense to strip ALL his clothes, no?

Damn, how long can Steve hold his breath for

HE FOUND THE GATE GOOD FOR STEVE

NO NOT THE TENTACLE FOLLOWING HIM UP

Steve jumpscared me coming out of the water lol

JESUS IT DRAGGED HIM UNDER

NOT STEVE AND NOT IN THE UPSIDE DOWN

IF HE DIES THEN I AM ACTUALLY FUCKING SUING NETFLIX

Nancy jumped in after him :O

AND ROBIN TOO YES

AND EDDIE OMFG YES YES YES

DEMOBATS HOLY FUUUUCK

HE BEING STRANGLED AND ATTACKED

NOOOO YOU CANNOT END THE EPISODE THERE FUCK OFF FUCK RIGHT OFF

Episode 7 - The Massacre at Hawkins Lab

IF STEVE DIES I FUCKING SWEAR-

Yesss RoNancEddie to the rescue!

STEVE STRAIGHT UP PULLED THAT BAT APART JESUS IM FUCKING WET

“Only took like a pound of flesh” I’m-

Omg Steve ACTUALLY winning a fight???

Robin: Great... More running -- SAME

The episode title… 👀 also it’s 1hr40???

Who’s really the worst here - Americans or Russians? They’re both torturing people so 🤷🏻‍♀️

“Cause you missed your daddy-daughter time” - OOF YEP HE REALLY CAME FOR BRENNER LIKE THAT

At least Dr Owens feels bad and says she’s traumatised/frightened… ?

“You talk of monsters and superheroes… that’s the stuff of myth and fairytales” - I mean, she literally had superpowers and fights monsters, my dude

I want to know what happened during the massacre but also I’m sad, leave Eleven alone :(

I have to appreciate how bad the whole gang are at lying lmao they can’t get their stories straight even sitting next to each other

Erica calling them out for lying XD

Questioning them one at a time and they go for Max first when she isn’t even in the Hellfire Club :/

Is Steve going to stay shirtless because… I mean… I’m not complaining

Robin rambling when Steve collapsed and was losing blood 😂

Steve’s “Robin… I kinda wanna punch you” as she was rambling and saying shit about how he can tell her “shut up I wanna punch you” if she starts rambling 😂 Besties

I think Steve and Nancy were both enjoying her treating him a little bit too much… 👀

Steve: I highly doubt the Hawkins PD has grenades — 😂

Nancy: And a revolver // Steve: you almost shot me with one // Nancy: you almost deserved it — is this show really trying to push them back together I’m-

Not Eddie throwing Steve a shirt “for your modesty, dude” 😂😭

NO BUT HIS CHEST IS STILL SHOWING

“It must be hardwired into us to reject our fathers” - OOF

“That monster is part of something that wants to kill El” 😭

“Maybe I can still help El - even if it’s the last thing I do” — BRB IM CRYING

Murray pretending to be Yuri is comedy gold lmfao 🤣 he got the annoying “I’m joking” mannerisms down tho

“Anymore headaches? Nausea?” - VECNA SYMPTOMS ALL OVER AGAIN, and this is BEFORE, this is in the rainbow room???

Not a lesson about rules for the kids…

Eleven got a concussion from 002 and the others???

002: She must have fallen. You’ve seen her, Papa, she’s clumsy, stupid” - NAHHH KILL HIM

“Collar him” - the fUCK?!

Does the collar subdue their powe- IT ELECTROCUTES THEM?!?!

Oh shit Brenner keeps turning it up 😭

Eddie comparing Steve to Ozzy Osbourne 😂😂😂

DUSTIN WORSHIPS STEVE OMG OMG OMG

“These ladies came straight in after you” - of course, he’s worth it :3

Not Eddie also trying to set Steve and Nancy back up??? Saying it’s true love??? No thank you?!

Robin: “okay, second on my list of least favourite things: earthquakes! I’m unsteady on my feet as it is” - LOL

“Here’s the deal, either you tell me what’s happening - or I tell Dustin what I found under your bed” - WAIT WHAT DID ERICA FIND UNDER LUCAS’ BED-

Erica raised an essential question: who opened the gate? El opened one, the Russians opened another… who opened the water gate?

Also why does Vecna kill people? For what purpose?

He’s making a powerful psychic connection with each kill… enough to make more gates…

So Demogorgon = foot soldier, Vecna is 5 star general to mind flayer??? Who can open gates and shit???

“Might be time to get a maid, Wheeler” — OMFG

No but did Nancy REALLY think her guns from the normal world are in the upside down-

“There’s a six year old in the house, I know where I keep my guns” - I guess at least she’s careful but still…???? Maybe don’t keep guns in the house with a 6 year old running about

Her study cards from S1, the wallpaper, stuff she threw out…

November 6 1983… when Will went missing in Season 1! 🤔

So they’re not in the present, they’re in the past??? The upside down past???

Just like Will found a way to speak through the lights, the teens do too!

Ohhh Eddie knows SOS / Morse Code - it’s just pure luck that one of the gang in Mike’s house also knows morse code 💀

“Hey, remember when I said they wouldn’t be stupid enough to go through Watergate? I overestimated them” — LMFAO

“…and you have many screws loose” - I laughed more than I probably should have

JOYCE SEEING HOPPER

Not the other numbers glaring at El 🤨

Wait so 002 is in the infirmary but when he’s out, the numbers are going to kill El and “papa” will let it happen?!! “He wants it to happen” — yIKES

Not being funny but the Jamie Campbell Bower orderly giving me the bad vibes. “You must do exactly as I say” - ummmm???

No but did the lab security/CCTV not see him give her the damn keycard?!?

Not the kids stealing Holly’s toy to communicate with Steve/Robin/Nancy/Eddie 😭

Robin calling Dustin a “genius child”

There’s a gate at every murder site… so 1) Eddie’s trailer, 2) the road where Fred was killed, 3) the lake?

Steve (about Dustin): Jesus Christ, this kid’s got to get his ego in check — LMFAO

No but I kinda hate the current Hawkins police, especially Officer Callahan 💀

The upside down transitions are super cool omg

Nooo the demobat saw them 😶

Okay so now we’re on the day of the massacre… oof let’s go

Okay so 011 was colouring in that opening in E1, and I went back after this episode to see if you can see her colouring in the opening of E1 and there’s not focus on it obviously but yes, she’s in the background/briefly seen colouring!

The orderly said “still hurting her” — they hurt her before? Is this to do with Vecna choosing traumatised victims?

Nahhh Jamie Campbell Bower STILL jump scaring me 😭

He mentions lab vents that lead to the woods… is this how she escaped in season 1?

Wait, why would Brenner put a tracker inside the orderly???

“What if I made it go away? You help me, I help you” - OOF

Aaaand back to Hop and the Russians

DEMOGORGON TIME

Not Hop getting the fire and fuel ready… only for it to not work 💀

Dmitri(Enzo guy?): tElL mE tHaT’S nOt oUt oF fLuId

WHY DOES THE DEMOGORGON STILL MANAGE TO JUMPSCARE ME ARE YOU SERIOUS-

YESSS HE GOT THE FLAME LIT

Oh shIT THAT DEMOGORGON TOOK THE GUY’S FUKIN HEAD CLEAN OFF

THAT FIRE WONT LAST FOREVER THO WILL IT LETS BE HONEST

Joyce got the doors open!!!

Oh shIT ITS STRONG AND MANAGED TO STOP THE DOOR CLOSING WHAT THE FUCK-

HOPPER THROWING A SPEAR DOWN ITS THROAT JESUS CHRIST

The Jopper reunion 😭❤️ they hugged I’m-

Wait, isn’t the Upside Down air toxic??? How are the four of them still fucking alive???

Oh thank got it’s just Dustin on the other side, I thought the agents would be there in Eddie’s trailer

Eleven really pulled the tracker out of the orderly’s leg like she did that piece of mind flayer that was in her leg in S3

…oh, I don’t like the way the orderly suddenly just looked evil, like he was smirking almost

“Who knew something so small could cause so much trouble” — UMMMM 🚩🚩🚩🚩

THE ORDERLY HAS POWERS, HES FUCKING 001, I FUCKING KNEW IT

HES THE ONE WHO KILLED THEM ALL, I’M-

Eddie: Those stains are… I don’t know what those stains are — UMMM?!? O_o

OMG THE PHYSICS OF THE ROPE THROUGH THE GATE THATS SO COOL

The climbing up to sliding down is super cool omg that kinda looks like fun

NO NANCY FELL INTO A VOID/TRANCE ARE YOU SERIOUS

NOT BARB’S DEAD CORPSE

THE POOL FILLING WITH BLOOD

OOP massacre flashback time again

YEP, 001 really killed them all

All of the bodies look like Vecna’s victims’ bodies… is 001 also Vecna???

SOMEONE PLAY SOME DAMN MUSIC FOR NANCY

“How was old, dumb, blind Victor? Did he miss me?” - OH FUCK I HAVE CHILLS

WAIT WAIT WAIT… JCB’s Orderly = 001 = Henry Creel = Vecna???? DAMN

NOT THE BLACK WIDOW NEST FUCK THIS

NOT HIM WORSHIPPING SPIDERS, HES FUCKED, that’s immediately a sign he’s evil beyond help

So all the numbers at the lab - including 011 - are copies of 001/Henry Creel/Vecna???

So Eleven got blood on her outfit from being thrashed about on the floor, NOT from murdering other kids

He tried to kill her/twist her limbs/made her eyes bleed… Vecna victim signs AGAIN

ELEVEN SENT HIM TO THE UPSIDE DOWN JESUS

HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT

SHOWING HIM TURNING INTO VECNA IM-

So just to make sure I’ve got it right: Henry Creel (Victor’s son) didn’t die, he was the original (001) with natural born powers, he killed his family/did some weird spider-and-Satan worship, the doctors at Hawkins lab said he died but in actuality used him to create copies (002, Eleven etc), he ended up massacring the entire lab/including the children, he thought Eleven was going to join him but she was disgusted so he tried to kill her, but she’s so powerful that she sent him to the Upside Down where he became Vecna???

THATS WHERE VOL 1 ENDS ASDFGHJKL NETFLIX WHY IM DESPERATE

Overall, I love this season so far! I have a few continuity issues/gripes but other than that, I’m living for it! I love the horror turn this season has taken, it’s definitely a lot darker than the last three series I think. I think I need to see the last two episodes before I pass judgement though!

#stranger things #eleven #max mayfield #mike wheeler #steve harrington #robin buckley #nancy wheeler #jonathan byers #will byers #lucas sinclair #erica sinclair #dustin henderson #jim hopper #joyce byers #eddie munson #I’ll add more tags later I’m exhausted lol

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thegeminisage · 3 years

Text

john abused both dean AND sam, just differently. in this essay i will

prove that the abuse manifested in different ways for each of them because that’s how abuse works in real life. this is based on the fact that john saw dean as mary’s surrogate but once he found out about the deal and sam having demon blood he blamed sam for her death. ok let’s fucking go

dean as mary’s surrogate

there are loads of parallels made between dean and mary in early season spn and late season spn. in season 12 dean directly calls himself sam’s mother, but even earlier than that we see him doing the cooking and child rearing. compare that to all the parallels made between sam and john (both of them losing their blonde woman significant others in a ceiling fire) and it’s clear that dean was meant to more resemble mary. it’s not a stretch to say that if we can see it as viewers this is how john saw it in his actual life. i do think john loves dean for being dean but he loves him more for being mary.

sam as the reason behind mary’s death

i think once john learned that sam had demon blood, some part of him must have always been waiting for the other shoe to drop with sam, not ever fully believing this kid was human, and maybe not even knowing if this kid was HIS. a popular theory back in the day was that YED fathered sam (something they had to actually address in season 4 to stop the speculation), and if WE speculated that hard, surely john must have too. i’m sure he loves sam as an extension of mary, and keeps and raises and protects him BECAUSE he’s mary’s, but similarly (or maybe inverse) to dean, i don’t know if he ever fully gave himself permission to love sam for being sam. in fact, i imagine john harbors a lot of self-loathing for failing to save mary. if we directly parallel john and sam, that means by some extent he would also hate sam.

john trusted dean with far too much, and sam with far too little

dean knew about monsters; sam didn’t. dean had memories of their mother and the night she died, and shared that trauma of watching her die with john; sam didn’t. dean knew when john was supposed to be home and who to call if he wasn’t; sam didn’t. dean was given the money and the guns and the CAR ITSELF; sam wasn’t. dean was taught to drive; SAM WASN’T.

dean was expected to do everything john was supposed to have been doing in his absence - he was to be a mother and father to sam, he was supposed to protect sam from evil, he was supposed to see to sam’s meals and homework and getting to school on time. and he was put under an EXTRAORDINARY amount of pressure not to screw this up even a little bit, despite the fact that he was only a kid. sam on the other hand was kept on a strict need-to-know basis for his entire life, right up until season 1 when they reunite at last. john didn’t trust sam with ANYTHING, and sam knew it. this contributed to his lifelong anger issues because he didn’t DO anything to warrant that kind of mistrust and probably got gaslit about it a lot of times either by john himself or dean (unknowingly, by parroting/believing the things john said). even in the pilot sam says very casually of his mother “she’s gone,” because her memory doesn’t hold the same place of reverence for him - best guess is that john didn’t talk about her much to sam because he didn’t trust sam with emotional stuff either. in s14 we learn that dean was the one who told sam stories about mary, including her terrible casserole - and their attempt at recreating it infuriated john to the point of him throwing the entire concoction in the trash.

john relied on dean for everything, and refused to rely on sam for anything

canonically dean was the one who comforted john after a bad hunt, looked after and fed his brother when john wasn’t around. dean knew how to use a shotgun; sam didn’t. dean knew who to call in an emergency; sam didn’t. dean knew about monsters; sam didn’t. this was done under the guise of “protection for sammy” but turn it around and it’s also protection FROM sammy. think of how angry john gets when he learns sam has been having psychic visions. he’s not just angry that dean didn’t report it to him, he’s angry that the demon’s plans for sam are coming to pass, and that sam is becoming less human. again, he can’t TRUST sam if sam’s not human, and it proves to john that he was right all along to keep sam in the dark as much as possible.

john gave dean too much freedom, and sam no freedom at all

“watch out for sammy.” sam was under constant supervision by either dean or john; john made sure of it. again, it’s protection FOR sam but also protection FROM him, in case he did something inhuman or evil. dean on the other hand was left alone without any supervision at all for days or even weeks at a time - he resorts to stealing bread and peanut butter and (according to jackles) turning tricks for money. he had to make it work and got up to whatever the fuck he wanted when john wasn’t looking. sam had to LITERALLY run away from home before he got the simple pleasure of eating pizza and having a dog by himself, independently. dean was given too much independence and freedom but sam was kept on such a short leash he had none at all.

john made dean feel unworthy, and he made sam feel unclean

when dean fails to protect sam from the shtriga in the season 1 flashbacks, he says his dad looked at him differently after. he also implies that john physically beat him when sam ran away in flagstaff. whether he meant to or not, john made it abundantly clear that his love for dean was not unconditional; it depended very much on how well dean performed the multitude of tasks john assigned him. dean grew up believing that his only worth was in what he could do for other people. he demonstrates this an an adult over and over and over, from letting his possessed family members beat him up to refusing to take care of his own needs, emotional and otherwise, and snapping at people who try to talk to him about his own feelings.

on the other hand, sam talks in season 8 about how even at a very young age he felt impure and unclean, even before he knew that he had demon blood, even before he knew that there was any such thing as monsters. kids aren’t stupid, and sam picked up on the vibes john was putting off - that john didn’t trust him, might not have loved him, and might not have considered him human or even his own child. without even knowing why, he spent his entire life feeling unclean and inhuman, not worth of being loved by his own family. even dean, who we all know loves sam unconditionally, admits in season 14 that he often took dad’s side on arguments because he had “his own stuff,” further leading to the alienation that was sam’s constant companion growing up.

AND, MOST IMPORTANTLY:

JOHN’S ABUSE PITTED SAM AND DEAN AGAINST EACH OTHER

john saved dean after their shared trauma of mary’s death. dean says in season 1 that the reason he stopped talking was that he was scared. iirc john’s journal implies he was mute for over a year, and dean in season 2 says that when he was 6 or 7 his dad took him shooting for the first time. if mary died just before dean’s fifth birthday, the timeline works out to dean talking again because john took him shooting. i believe that dean hero worships his father because after mary’s death, and dealing with the terror that something like that could come in and take his family away by killing them horribly at any time without any warning, john learning to fight back against the darkness - and teaching dean to do the same - is what gave dean his voice again. BOTH of them saw and carried the memory of mary burning on the ceiling for the rest of their lives. “watch out for sammy” and “get the thing that killed mom” were dean’s reasons to get up in the morning, because they were john’s reasons to get up in the morning. these things were LITERALLY his reasons for living. john gave dean a way to fight back against fear and gave him a cause to keep him going. abuse or not, dean never stopped being grateful for that, and he was the only other person in the whole world who understood the unique horror of what john went through that night. even all the way into season 10, he tells other people that john did right by him. it’s borderline brainwashing. part of dean’s self-worth will always be based on how good of a son he was to john.

on the other hand, knowingly or not, john did everything possible to alienate sam. he kept him on a short leash while also keeping him at arm’s distance. he didn’t trust sam with emotional things like the memory of mary, he didn’t trust sam with the truth about monsters and what they did for a living, he didn’t trust sam with his plans, he didn’t trust sam with the truth about demon blood. canon STRONGLY suggests john knew YED bled in sam’s mouth as a baby, but instead of telling sam or even dean about that, sam had to learn about it in a horrible flashback recreated by YED himself. when sam wanted to go to school, john told him no, and when he left anyway, john told him not to come back.

this is an equal but opposite kind of abuse. john totally fucked up BOTH his kids in complete inversions to each other.

which means that, no matter what john did, it caused sam and dean to fight. this isn’t an interpretation. this is straight up canon.

again, dean says in s14 that he frequently took dad’s side in arguments because he had his own stuff to deal with, and he was trying to keep the peace. dean, a victim of emotional (and implied sometimes physical) abuse himself, was not able to shield sam from all of john’s bullshit. he could stop sam from getting hit and having to see john during the worst of his drunken rages, but he couldn’t trick sam into thinking john loved him unconditionally, because john didn’t love either of his kids unconditionally.

when john acted in a way that was not befitting of a parent, sam rightfully took exception, which forced dean (who was ALSO BEING ABUSED, almost brainwashed) to jump to his defense. that led to john getting to do whatever the hell he wanted and sam and dean arguing about the effects. when sam ran away in flagstaff, DEAN was punished, leading dean to resenting sam for that incursion, even though sam was perfectly right to want to get away from an abusive household. when sam did a normal thing wanting to leave for college at age 18, he left, and dean resented him for that because that meant he was alone to bear the brunt of john’s anger.

sam repeatedly made logical, emotionally healthy choices in attempting to break the family dynamic, but because of JOHN’S BEHAVIOR, not sam’s, those choices wound up causing dean harm. JOHN HIMSELF was the ultimate wedge between sam and dean growing up and beyond.

and let’s not forget the biggest sin - john spent 22 years impressing upon dean that taking care of sammy was EVERYTHING, and then without any explanation at all, he asked dean to kill him, and then he DIED, which meant dean had to carry that weight by himself (because again, he’s been trained not to trust sam with things). like of COURSE sam got angry when he found out - that’s fucking fucked up! once again sam is being treated like a ticking time bomb for absolutely no reason - he didn’t ask to have demon blood or psychic visions or a dead mom or an abusive father. nor did dean ask to be saddled with the upbringing of an entire human at four years old who he then might have to kill. because dean will always feel gratitude towards john, and sam will always feel resentment, and because based on john’s treatment of them BOTH OF THESE FEELINGS ARE JUSTIFIED, john continues to cause fights between sam and dean long after he’s dead and gone, and that will never change.

on a final note: i’d like to bring this around to season 13.

after cas, mary, kelly, and crowley all die (or are presumed dead in mary’s case) in the season 12 finale, season 13 opens with nobody but sam and dean and jack. dean directly blames jack for these deaths. he says so multiple times. he says where jack can hear him that he knows jack is evil and impure and cannot be saved and calls jack a freak. when jack tries repeatedly to kill himself dean says to jack’s face not to bother, because WHEN jack does go bad, dean will be the one to kill him. dean does NOT see jack as castiel’s child - he sees jack as someone who brainwashed cas and kelly both and got them killed. dean does not even see jack as a human person worthy of life. from the get-go, all he wants is to put jack down. jack is born into a world shaped by pain and grief and anger, where people hate him simply for what he is and who died to get him here.

and again, sam identifies hard with jack. he justifiably protests dean’s treatment of him. jack is a kid and didn’t ask for any of this. jack is terrified of dean. sam reminds dean that john said all these things about sam that dean is saying about jack. john is still causing a rift between his sons over a decade after his death.

eventually, after jack uses his powers and brings back cas from the empty, dean pulls his head out of his ass and admits that he was wrong. he calls jack his kid more than once, and jack refers to dean as one of his dads. but the damage has already been done. jack struggles multiple times with his powers, accidentally hurting people and then wishing himself dead after. he also struggles without them; even when using his powers means using up pieces of his soul, he does it, because dean taught him that he’s only worthy of being loved and trusted if he’s “good.” even when he has NO SOUL, when jack does something bad he panics about it and seeks to undo it at any cost. that’s how deep the damage runs.

i see a lot of people remarking that in the arc of 13.01-13.05, dean became john, and i agree that he did. but dean didn’t do to jack what john did to him. dean did to jack what john did to SAM.

[spn masterpost]

#supernatural #dean winchester #sam winchester #john winchester #jack kline #liz watches spn #liz's meta #liz's spn stuff #YES YOU CAN REBLOG THIS PLS DO I WORKED HARD ON IT.#WHEW. glad i got that off my chest #this is why u can't call it the widow arc #sam revisited a WHOLE childhood of trauma here #the arc is about all of them!!!!!#backtagging to add #broken road #brcu

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jess-the-vampire · 3 years

Note

Sooooo whatya think of the new episodeee?

Oh it’s definitely my favorite episode of the series so far, i was having such a good time at every turn. I’m glad i went out of my way to avoid spoilers, cause i was glad to actually be surprised by some elements on first watch.

I think this had by far the best opening for an episode so far, we finally get back to the villians, we meet the coven heads, we get insight on belos’s plans-

and then belos gets constipated, which starts getting into the more character driven lore, which is the best part. You instantly can tell GG and Kiki have some bit of tension between them to be Belo’s favorite, though granted i wonder if hunter is the only one to know belos is cursed and actually just always insists to help belos with his fits to prevent others from seeing them.

Including kiki.

It’s honestly unclear how aware anyone is that belos is cursed, like him eating pailsmans is apparently not something he hides, but like....i feel him being cursed is something that people would know universally if it got out...so i’m left wondering if anyone knows besides hunter.

Regardless, belos turns into a goop monster with an angry side, and i guess his mask doesn’t transform with him compared to the rest of his body so he breaks it again because i guess he goes though masks like crazy.

Hunter turns away in this scene from his outburst and even though he’s masked here i can already tell he’s most likely pained in these scenes. Like he’s probably seen this happen so many times, and i can’t imagine it gets any easier for him, it’s probably awful to watch belos suffer like this for him (Regardless of the abuse)

And to be honest, it seems pretty painful for him, i think this ep seems to at least confirm whatever this thing is that takes over belos’s body.....belos never actually wanted it in the first place.

Yeah so after Hunter tells belos there’s not enough trees to medicate him anymore, we’re hit with the “UNCLE”. Which, when i first watched it i needed a second to even process the fact they confirmed their relation.

and i was like “CLOSE ENOUGH”, not his kid but uncle still works just fine for me, i’m just happy my assumption they were related actually came to ahead.

And i rewatched this episode a few times, and on second watch i realized more what happened in this scene. Hunter was talking about his interest in wild magic, and making more pailsman to help belos, and some method that could heal him and as soon as belos looked at him he instantly shut down.

He was clearly rambling about wild magic cures for belos because of his interest in it, and then suddenly remembered his uncle hates wild magic and felt super awkward.

It seems highly likely his interest in wild magic came from trying to cure belos and spending a lot of time reading up on the stuff.

And then we get hit with the whole “Our family is dead because of wild magic” line, which.....i’m curious to know what happened there. But it does at least explain why belos feels how he does, if wild magic both killed his family beside hunter AND cursed him in the first place. We’re just gonna need more info on what exactly happened.

Also while Belos is def abusive and does not treat hunter how he should, this scene actually does read off to me like belos does care about hunter to some degree. If belos is cursed and his curse works in similar ways to how Eda’s curse works, then it’s worth reminding ppl that eda mentions early this season how stress can amplify the curse even more.

And sure enough, belos goes goopy on hunter’s shoulder all of a sudden when he grasps him. Which could be considered a sign of stress and that the idea of hunter dying or being in danger actually does stress him.

You could very much also assume this is just due to his curse not being fully handled and just getting worse, or that belos only cares about hunter for selfish reasons....but i’m not taking anything off the table here.

Belos can still be a shitty uncle, and still care about hunter, these aren’t mutually exclusive traits. But we need more episodes for now on this.

But anyways he asks hunter if he can rely on him, kiki is pissed......and we move on.

So i’m glad luz’s impulsiveness is addressed a ton in this episode, they actually bring up a lot of good points. That luz has no plan, that the time she’s spending here might render moot if she goes back to earth, ect ect.

Hunter even calls her out a lot later for not thinking things through, it’s a whole deal in this episode. I’m glad it was brought up cause it’s actually worth asking a lot of these things.

the set up here works, they actually made a good reason for why a pailsman didn’t bond with her. Speaking of which the adoption thing is cute and i love it, it’s a great idea. The designs are all very cute and fun.

Bump face reveal was a lot for me to process, but i find the idea of his pailsman being a pet that can help with his disabilities a good idea.

Also like, i did find it odd that they got staffs so early because we’ve never seen kids their ages with them before, but i guess it’s a new tradition? Does everyone at hexside now have one?

Honesty not sure why batqueen left the nest there overnight, i meant i guess she assumed they were safe with that shield but in context i dunno why she didn’t take them home after the school day was over.

but whatever, luz stays there overnight hoping a pailsman will bond with her and GG just kidnapps them cause of pure luck on his part a bunch of pailsman were in a vulnerable spot tonight.

So GG continues to be charming, by whistling the theme song and then being blasted off his ship hilariously, before cockily teleporting himself right back on it seconds later. Like he and luz have great banter, he’s so extra like this it’s so funny, and god he’s so FAST with that staff it’s scary but so awesome.

Yeah so then hand dragon crashes them and i was so excited cause it meant face reveal. Poor dude looked so in pain and then we find out kiki tried to effing murder him because of course she did. But like, i think killing your boss’s nephew is the WORST way to get a promotion tbh.

(Also i got confused for a bit cause his mask has always been drawn as a mask, but now it’s a helmet in this scene for whatever reason but-)

Anyways, face reveal, Like honestly ppl weren’t too far off with their guesses, really the only thing people didn’t get was the tooth gap (That was fair tho, we couldn’t have guessed that). But it did make him even cuter.

like the banter is funny, he licks her hand, she slaps him, he looks SO pissed at her for this mess.

and i guess that outfit is his under armor apparently.

He’s lucky she didn’t run away immediately and followed him, but maybe he assumed she would since she had no where else to go.

Also his expressions in this ep are glorious, these had to be fun to draw.

Also we find out that the coven team members have never seen his face i guess? They just assume he’s a silly kid and are awful to him, so i guess he’s not only the youngest member of the coven but he never really shows his face much.

(”Call your parents”, ha ha.....whose gonna tell them who his uncle is?)

He is however, REALLY good at parkour and he’s fast even without his staff, so he’s well trained alright.

And then they reveal he’s not magical and i was SO happy cause i was so sure something was up when he wasn’t doing magic like the other witches despite his pointy ears. So they outright confirmed what i thought.

Hunter is pretty smart tho, like he can tell luz wouldn’t hurt him and wouldn’t flee so he knows he has the high ground here. Like he might be being a bit of a dick, but to be fair luz has been nothing but a dick to him throughout the whole episode (Everyone in this episode has been a dick to him tbh)

They team up and i get excited cause i love this kinda stuff and it gets more wholesome because hunter is super interested in her magic, he thinks it’s cool and you can tell how much he actually loves wild magic but then again...shuts himself down because of belos making him fear the stuff.

An then because luz asks, he tells her his backstory.

honestly with how this world treats people who aren’t magically powerful, living and growing up in a world that would find you useless sounds....awful. Hunter must be an anomaly around here, human blood or not.

Luz coming here to learn is different then growing up in a world and being the only one with no abilities and no future without them. Belos provides him with magic and a future, it’s no wonder he stays with him despite everything.

the whole “Found me” thing is weird, cause belos implies they’re blood related and hunter makes it sound like belos semi-adopted him. Which....if he did i dunno why “Uncle” and not “Adopted dad”, but ok....guess that’s for later.

Apparently hunter is important for something tho with the “Titan has big plans for me” thing, not sure what, but-

But yeah as soon as Hunter talked about wanting to make his own future and Rascal tried to land on him i knew EXACTLY where this was going, it was so cuteeeeee. The lil birb wanted to be with hunter, that’s so wholesome.

And he’s so terrified because of belos and what wild magic did to him, the poor bab.

But yeah, luz then trusts him with his staff back, because again....impulsive. But hunter does actually ask if she’s sure, so he might as well be asking if she trusts him.

The plan goes ahead, and hunter nearly betrays her.

though granted, hunter never promised her he’d stop and let her take them away, the truce was supposed to last till kiki was stopped and they were gonna fight out who got the pailsman. But it does bother luz cause she was hopeful he was better then this.

But just like he did before, she calls him out and he doesn’t betray her, because he’s ALSO too nice to do it, just like he said she was. He says his name (Which also took a moment to process), and then beats the crap out of kiki while letting luz get away and protecting her like a badass.

He might not have magic, but he’s good at fighting

like he can easily teleport to luz and take the pailsman, but he doesn’t, he lets them get away and luz knows this. Even though she also knows hunter has to go back to the emperor too and they have to separate.

It’s only slightly bitter terms, because in the end he came through for her and she knows it.

honestly, the worst part is i can’t even be mad at hunter for it, i’m sure he was terrified to fail belos. Both because he loves him and doesn’t want him to suffer....but also because of well...being punished. Really says something when his near betrayal doesn’t even make me mad at him, and i can understand why he nearly did it.

He let her go, knowing he’d be in SERIOUS trouble and that it would hurt someone he actually loves, so....ouch.

so yeah at this point i knew rascal wanted him so it was only of matter of what happened next.

Which was, luz getting the wood, which i like more anyway. Eda and King doing this offscreen and coming home like this is actually very funny, and honestly i appreciate the message of it being ok to wait.....means a lot to me.

yeah so belos is like...being an ass, like the kid tried his hardest, you don’t need to hit him with the “Is this the thanks i get?”. He’s a kid and he’s trying to cure you you dick, give him a break he doesn’t remotely have to help you like this.

Also apparently belos has not even told hunter HOW this happened, like...dude. Hunter is trying to be entirely reasonable here and belos spikes at him, which does imply some physical abuse though the only reason hunter doesn’t get a new scar is because he moves.

but how he reacts implies this has happened before, he is bracing for impact and he flinches. It’s pretty sad tbh, especially since hunter loves him and belos’s respect means something to him.

Belos is such an idiot, like c’mon dude, hunter is trying to help you and you don’t listen to him you dick. Kid shouldn’t have to say sorry for anything he did nothing wrong, he was just trying to help.

Anyways, he gloats at kiki (So at the very least she knows what he looks like under the mask), which he deserves a chance to do anyway. So i guess he didn’t rat her out for trying to kill him, personally my guess why is blackmail.....he was gonna hold it over her head to keep her from doing it again and threaten to tell belos.

But kiki quickly tells he LET the pailsman get away since he was the one to fight her (Curse his cute loose hair strand). So i guess now they have dirt on each other, so that’s fun.

His room is adorable, though the med kit by the bed is concerning.

Rascal comes for him and it;s so cute....though you can tell hunter nearly hurts him on instinct because of force of habit, but it’s so cute how he cares and how the birb loves him and is his new staff.

it was well hinted to as well, it’s so subtle, but the bird being cheery, curious, and his constant habit of escaping boundaries was perfect for hunter. He represents what hunter wants to be and why they got matched is done so well, all without explaining anything.

Hunter indirectly stated his deepest wish, to make his own choices, and rascal resonated with that.

can’t wait to see where this goes.

great ending shot, love me some conflicted shots looking out of windows like trapped birds.

also this title was a pun the whole time i can’t-

#the owl house #toh #toh spoilers #golden guard #toh golden guard #the owl house golden guard #the golden guard #the owl house luz #emperor belos #kikimora

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edgeofpanic · 3 years

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@yangsbandana ranked her top 10 bees moments and then i got in my feelings about them so fuck it!! here's my top 10 after the cut

10. that little eyeroll and smile blake does in v1 when yang picks up the chess piece in the emerald forest and says "how about a cute little pony?" they've only been partners for about for 30 minutes at this point, and blake has spent multiple episodes practically screaming "I DON'T WANT TO GET CLOSE TO ANYONE, I AM A BAD PERSON WHO DOESN’T DESERVE HAPPINESS." and still yang gets the prickly ex-terrorist to smile. gay.

9. yang's reply to blake at mountain glenn. blake is still so torn up about running away from home, her actions while with the white fang, running from adam, her present, her future. and all yang says is that she knows she won't run away from a challenge. that she's strong enough to face it and come out on the other side better than she was. the utter faith of it all!!

8. all of v4 lmao. but i have narrow that down so it's when yang looks at the pile of books in her very first scene in that volume and then turns away with the saddest look on her face. she misses just blake so much even though she left!!! and she doesn't want to because missing someone has never brought back the people she cares about, but she is anyway! bees angst is usually not my favorite but when it hits it hits and v4 and v5 were it

7. the dummied out cherry stem yang ties with her tongue while staring directly at blake in v2. she is extremely gay and she is trying so, so hard to show the girl she likes that she's interested. bless her. crwby, yall are cowards for taking this away from us

6. nora at the rally going "friends? just friends? i think they have more going on". nora is easily one of the most emotionally intelligent characters on the show so when she says two people wanna kiss i believe her. it's also notable that this is the first time anyone in-show has acknowledged blake and yang have something happening, even if they aren't necessarily together. praying that there's a followup to this in v10 where she outright asks what the deal is now that they're back from survivor island in the Time Pit

top 5...god i suffered for ages over this and i still think i forgot something

5. "i'll destroy everything you love...starting with her." cw for this vid: dismemberment, abusive relationships

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i'm a relatively new fan having only picked up rwby in late 2019. my friends who were into it kept telling me it was pretty gay and one friend routinely sent bumbleby fanart because she knew it would entice me to start the show faster. and sure i thought they were cute, but i was still unsure if this was for real or not. but this scene. this one right here is the one where i went, "oh. oh, we're actually doing this.” there is no real way to read this as other than romantic. the framing, the timing, like.... man.

i’m also a sucker for devotion in ships and if sacrificing an arm to save the one you love and not even blaming them for running away isn’t devotion, i don’t know what it is.

4. burning the candle.

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if number 5 convinced me, burning the candle was the one that got me on the train. here was my reaction from a friend sending gifs of this without too much context

and then i finally watched and got hella emotional. it’s a lot of firsts: yang opening up about her past, disagreement, blake allowing herself comfort. but they still manage to talk, work through how they feel, and leave better than they were. and i think it’s what i love about them the most? regardless of what happens, they have each others backs and always work toward a compromise. ugh. god.

also that stupid flirty wink is fooling no one, just say you’ll meet her under the bleachers

3. "what if I needed her there for me"/"yang was strength"

yes it’s kind of cheating to put two different scenes in one spot but they share real estate in my brain. these are the pinnacle of v5 bees angst, for me. there’s a lot left unsaid and literal continents between them, but they’re both saying the same thing. “i miss her a lot. i really wish she was here.” and at this point they haven’t been in the same room for almost 2 seasons. they have a lot of emotional ground to cover when they see each other and even more healing to do.

regardless of it all, they can’t stop thinking about each other. someway, somehow, they want to make their more-than-friendship work.

speaking of seeing each other again

2. beeunion 2.0

blake walks into the battle at haven at the most bizarre time. weiss has a big giant wasp summon (and it looks like she’s been stabbed???? but she’s fine???????), her friends are here, all the bad guys are also here, there’s some random kid fighting a juiced up dude with a cane. everything is fucking happening at once. and all blake can say is "yang?" In that little scared, hopeful voice

and like. the look on yang’s face as she sees blake for the first time is of utter awe. this person she never thought she’d see again singled her out in a room of utter chaos looking just as amazed to see her.

also there’s this gay little moment after yang comes out of the vault

1. “we’re protecting each other.”

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to this day, this is the only scene in rwby that has almost brought me to tears. it really is all about both of them realizing they don’t have to face their ordeals alone ever again. they’ll be each others’ pillar with unwavering faith.

just! fuck me up!!!!!!! JUST FUCK ME UP

quick honorable mentions:

blake's gay little skip in v6

sun saying that yang would never blame blake for what happened with adam

bumblebee the bike ramming into adam at high speed

yangs gay meltdown over the haircut

“do you think...she thinks less of me?”/”you could always try calling yang...”

beeunion 3.0

actually all their moments in v7 (the talk in the truck, the moment in the airship, getting ready for their totally a date but not a date before the election)

#rwby #bumbleby #otp: we're protecting each other #i went feral

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nothing-more-than-hot-leaf-juice · 4 years

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Hi fren! Been following ur blog for a while and honestly I love it! I was wondering if I can get ur thoughts on something :)) remember in sozins comet when Iroh refused to fight ozai becuz “history will see it as more violence, a brother killing a brother to gain power” but then cue to Azula and Zuko who are fighting for the throne and it’s fine?? with them?? doesn’t that count as more violence as well? Thank if you ever come across this :D

Okay, first off, I think it needs to be clarified what Iroh actually said in that scene in regards to sending Zuko to defeat Azula because the two situations are very different and everyone involved knew that. The exchange went as such:

Zuko: Uncle, you’re the only person other than the Avatar who can possibly defeat the fatherlord.... we need you to come with us.

Iroh: No Zuko, it won’t turn out well.

Zuko: You can beat him. And we’ll be there to help.

Iroh: Even if I did defeat Ozai, and I don’t know that I could, it would be the wrong way to end the war. History would see it as more senseless violence: a brother killing a brother to gain power. The only way for this war to end peacefully is if the Avatar defeats the Firelord.

(dialogue, etc.)

Iroh: Zuko, you must return to the Fire Nation, so that when the Firelord falls, you can assume the throne and restore peace and order. But Azula will be there waiting for you.

When I see the argument that Iroh sending Zuko after Azula was hypocritical, I think it ignores the reality of the situation and the pragmatic approach. Because Iroh was absolutely correct throughout this whole exchange. Here were the facts as of this point:

1. Iroh and Zuko were declared traitors and could not legally assume the throne once Ozai was defeated, meaning Azula would assume the throne by default.

2. By this point in the series, Azula had shown at every point that she was just as enthusiastic about waging war and had shown no remorse for the suffering of the Earth Kingdom at the hands of the Fire Nation. She was particularly enthusiastic about the two major affronts against the Earth Kingdom: conquering Ba Sing Se and using Sozin’s Comet to burn down the Earth Kingdom.

3. Azula was the one who had the idea for the ‘let’s use the comet to burn down the Earth Kingdom’ plan in the first place and was proud of that plan. If Ozai was defeated, she would have used her position to go through with the plan anyway.

Realistically, this situation is in no way ideal, but the reality is that Azula did need to be stopped from assuming the throne. Make no mistake, if she had the opportunity to do so, she would have been at Ozai’s side burning down the Earth Kingdom instead of staying in the Fire Nation. She was dangerous and needed to be stopped and that was evident from her actions throughout the entire series.

And the situations of Zuko defeating Azula and Iroh defeating Ozai are completely different, mainly because it was never Zuko or Iroh’s intention for Zuko to kill Azula like everyone else was planning with Ozai. The intent with Zuko going after Azula was to stop her from being crowned, which was a thing that needed to be stopped, otherwise, the war would have continued. And Iroh was absolutely correct in his assumptions: Zuko and Katara arrived in the Fire Nation just before Azula was crowned Firelord. And in the end, as we all know, they didn’t kill her, they just removed her as a threat so Zuko could assume the throne. There is a difference between taking out an actively harmful force in a position of absolute authority (Ozai) and stopping a harmful force from taking a position of absolute authority (Azula).

There’s also the facts that 1. Iroh had his own history as a general who held siege on Ba Sing Se for 600 days, allegedly committed war crimes, and wasn’t exactly well regarded in the Earth Kingdom. 2. Like he said, a fight between Iroh and Ozai was not one that had a clear victor. Iroh was not the right person to defeat Ozai, Aang was, for many reasons. (There’s also the fact that Iroh’s arc came full circle as he freed the city he once laid siege on, but that has less to do with the pragmatic rationale behind the match ups and more to do with thematic purposes.)

And this is a thing that also bothers me. There’s an argument that Iroh failed Azula and that part of the reason she was how she was fell on him and I don’t think that’s fair. And this post by @withyoutilltheendofthecredits articulates why:

the ideas “azula was a victim of abuse who was manipulated and hurt by ozai” and “azula had a hand in a lot of trauma for zuko due to her awful treatment of him” can and should coexist

I think it’s important to keep in mind whenever we talk about Iroh, Azula, and Zuko how their dynamic was in season 2. Firstly, Iroh’s priority through this show was to keep Zuko safe. In season 1, he wasn’t so much there to actively help Zuko find Aang (and on multiple occasions seemed to work against Zuko’s mission), but rather was there to stop Zuko from making stupid decisions that would get him killed while offering emotional support and training him to be a better firebender. Does he actually want Zuko to kidnap the Avatar and return to his awful, abusive father? No. But he does want Zuko to have something that gives him hope, something that keeps him going. And Iroh’s priority is to be there to make sure this kid doesn’t do anything too reckless.

In season 2, Zuko technically no longer has his mission as he’s deemed an enemy of the Fire Nation and Iroh more explicitly works to help his nephew mentally and emotionally extricate himself from the family members that hurt him. At the beginning of the season when Zuko is excited about going home after Azula lies to them, Iroh voices his suspicion because unlike Zuko, who’s still holding onto the idea that he can win his father’s love, Iroh is able to look at the situation objectively and knows that if Zuko goes home, he’s not going to be safe and he is not going to be met with any sort of love.

Zuko: Did you listen to Azula? Father’s realized how important family is. He cares about me.

Iroh: I care about you!

And through the rest of the season, Iroh tries his best to take advantage of their new freedom by showing Zuko that he does deserve control of his own life, happiness, and unconditional love. He’s trying his best to help him through this difficult time because part of Zuko’s emotional struggle in this is reconciling with the fact that no, his father doesn’t want him, at all. When he was banished, he had the ‘if I get the Avatar I can go home’ thing to cling onto, but Iroh and everyone else knew that Ozai never actually intended for Zuko to succeed or return. So Zuko has to deal with that in season 2 and doesn’t get to that point, he still tries to capture Aang and he still joins Azula in Crossroads of Destiny because he’s not ready to let that little bit of hope that he could return home go. It isn’t until he takes a stand against Ozai with the “it was cruel and it was wrong” speech that he really discovers who he is and what he wants and the main reason he’s able to come to that conclusion is because of Iroh’s treatment of him in season 2.

In season 2, Iroh not only protects Zuko from physical harm and takes care of him in regards to sickness, food, and water, but tries to drill into his head that he didn’t deserve the treatment from his father and shouldn’t throw his life away trying to please him. That he can have and deserves a peaceful life. And Zuko keeps going down the self destructive path because he’s been convinced for so long that him proving himself to his father is more important than his personal safety or happiness. Iroh just wants him to put himself before the man that abused him. He hates it that Zuko almost gets himself killed multiple times for the sake of Ozai. There’s their talk in The Avatar Day and their fight in Lake Laogai that bring this to the forefront:

Iroh: Even if you did capture the Avatar, I’m not so sure it would solve all our problems.

Zuko: Then there is no hope at all

Iroh: No Zuko, you must never give into despair.

Iroh: And then what?! You never think these things through. This is exactly what happened when you tried to capture the Avatar at the North Pole. You had him and then you had nowhere to go.

Zuko: I would have figured something out.

Iroh: No! If his friends hadn’t found you, you would have frozen to death!

Zuko: I know my own destiny.

Iroh: Is it your own destiny? Or is it a destiny someone else has tried to force on you?

And as Iroh acts as Zuko’s protector and tries to break him away from his self destructive mentality, how does Azula fit into that? Here are the interactions between Azula, Zuko, and Iroh in season 2:

Azula trying to take Zuko and Iroh as prisoners to the Fire Nation with no remorse

Azula attempting to shoot lightning at Zuko in the first episode of season 2 and Zuko only being saved by Iroh redirecting it at the last second

Azula shooting Iroh and seriously injuring him (it could have been lighting, but I think it was just fire)

Azula trying to capture Iroh and Zuko in Ba Sing Se and succeeding

Azula manipulating Zuko into going back to Ozai

Objectively, Azula is a threat against Zuko’s safety and there’s a good chance she would have killed him in the first episode of season 2 if Iroh hadn’t stopped her. He knows exactly how dangerous she is and made the decision that he was going to do what it took to keep Zuko safe, which he did. With this exchange in Bitter Work.

This isn’t Iroh saying ‘I have no sympathy for my niece whatsoever and am choosing to ignore her’. This is Iroh saying ‘Azula has proven herself to be an objective and real threat and I need to keep Zuko safe from her.’ And he was correct. I feel like this stance is reasonable when the last two times she saw them she tried to shoot Zuko with lightning and actually shot Iroh.

And the reality of the situation is that Iroh shouldn’t have had to be the one to raise Zuko or Azula. He wasn’t their parent and he shouldn’t have had to be responsible for them. Ideally, Ozai should have been the one to do that, but that wasn’t the reality of the situation. And Iroh was faced with a choice: go with Zuko who was banished, injured, and lost, or stay with Azula who was not in a good home with a good influence, but who was still the favored, prodigy princess. He had a choice of which kid to stand behind and I think it’s fair to say that Zuko needed Iroh more when he was banished.

Ideally, there shouldn’t have been a choice for Iroh. Ideally, Iroh shouldn’t have had to raise his nephew. Ideally, Azula should have had a better parental influence who didn’t encourage her violent streak. But it was by no means an ideal situation. Azula was dangerous and remorseless and Iroh was entirely correct when he saw her rising to power and realized ‘if she isn’t stopped now, there is no telling what she’s going to do’. Because he knows exactly who raised her.

#hot leaf meta #atla #avatar the last airbender #azula #iroh #zuko #tw: abuse #the babes are asking

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rachelbethhines · 3 years

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Tangled Salt Marathon - The King and Queen of Hearts

The existence of this episode just baffles me, as it undermines so much of what season three was trying to accomplish.

Summary: Rapunzel continues to try and restore the memories of her parents, King Frederic and Queen Arianna, and hopes to use the journal of Herz Der Sonne to remind them, but they do not understand the significance. Arianna still lusts for adventure, while Frederic cannot get over his obsession of egg collecting. Rapunzel recruits her friends to try and set up the perfect date for them and while they cannot find anything in common personality wise, they share a mutual love for Rapunzel. However, King Trevor arrives with the intent to woo Arianna using an ocean crystal he found.

So What Exactly Is the History Here?

We have no context for this sudden love triangle. All we know is that Trevor hates Frederic because he’s still in love with Arianna who wound up marrying him instead.

But like, I don't know why Arianna married Frederic. I don’t know why Trevor is still hung up on her years later. Did she actually choose Frederic or was it an arranged marriage cause that’s what royalty did back then? Was she having an affair with Trevor this whole time but couldn’t/wouldn’t leave because of duty? Was she and Trevor pining star crossed lovers, or is Trevor just an incel?

I know what the story wants me to assume; that Arianna deeply loves Frederic and that Trevor is just a jackass loser; but the series has done such a poor job of making Frederic likable and giving him and Arianna any sort of chemistry that I’m inclined to side with Trevor.

For all we know, he may be trying to rescue Arianna from both her memory loss and her abusive relationship while at it. Especially now that she’s no longer needed as a ruler and has no reason to stay in Corona.

Why Not Just Use the Potion from Rapunzel: Day One?

While any Varian cameo is appreciated, it doesn’t add thing to the story. In fact it only raises more questions. We already had a cure for the memory loss, why aren’t we using it?

Even if we write it off as Rapunzel no longer having that particular Saporian spellbook on hand, she still has a whole dungeon full of actual Saporians who know magic that she could gain information from! There’s also Xavier, who already knows everything under the sun about Saporian/Coronian history and magic and owns spellbooks galore. You’re telling me he just has mood potions lying around but can’t brew up a cure for memory loss?

Then there’s also the fact that the amnesia spell doesn’t work on Rapunzel’s parents the same as it did on Rapunzel and we’re never given a reason why. Like just some basic consistence is all I ask show.

I also can’t figure out what Varian is even trying to do here. Where’s is the science to this? What does strawberry goop and lighting have to do with memory? It’s just a cheap reference to Frankenstein and nothing more.

We’re Already Pass Seven Months Since Rapunzel’s Return.

Ok, I have gotten into frequent debates with people about the timeline of season three. Many a story board artist and writer on the show have came forward and stated that season three was only one year. But the very existence of this episode disproves them!

If you remember season one, Hearts Day took place after the Goodwill Festival, but before Queen for a Day. Even when putting episodes back into their intended production order that still remains true.

Hearts Day has to be at least seven months past Rapunzel’s birthday, if not eight months, because the Goodwill Festival is six months past and her parent’s anniversary (QfaD) is nine months past.

Now Rapunzel’s Return has to be Rapunzel’s 20th birthday because season two was a full year, and even if you say it’s not, then that still doesn’t explain Once a Handmaiden (the Goodwill Festival) coming after this episode.

And no you can’t move the episodes around, Once a Handmaiden has be the second to last episode of the series and Under Raps always comes after Rapunzel’s Enemy in any order you watch the series in.

No matter how you slice it, we’re missing a birthday episode for Rapunzel and season three has to be more than a year; a year and a half at the very least, if not two full years.

Look I’m not trying to be disrespectful of the talented artists who worked on this show, but their word isn’t law. The very fact that they’ve had to tell us the timeline after the series was over with indicates bad writing, and the very fact that the show itself contradicts them indicates either a lack of communication behind the scenes or a lack of editorial oversight. Either option is just poor management.

We Have Yet Another Failed Narrative Promise!

Are we seeing a pattern yet?

This is the third time in a row where the episode flat out states that Rapunzel needs to learn something and then, just, never has her learn it; four if you count her non-apology to Varian. Instead the show rewards her for her bad behavior by just giving her want she wants on a sliver platter for no adequate reason.

In fact, one could argue that this episode is the worst offender in the show because divorce is a real thing real kids have to go through. Children that will undoubtedly watch the series.

How upsetting would it be to such a child to watch Rapunzel force her parents back together with zero consequences and realize that they can’t do that in real life? It can potentially feed into misplaced delusions or make them even more bitter, either way it’s unhealthy and super irresponsible to tackle such subject matter in this way. Even Sesame Street handled the topic of divorce better than this supposedly ‘mature’ show.

It’s a Castle! Why Can’t Frederic Get His Own Room?

Frederic is the king. He still technically owns everything even if he’s not the one still in charge. He could have his pick of any room so why is he forcing himself on Eugene? Hell he doesn’t even have to stay in the castle. As pointed out during The Return of the King review, there’s other accommodations within the kingdom that’s suited for royalty. Why not head up to that mountain retreat?

This is a Really Bad Message

I understand that this is meant to be a joke, because of how ridiculously over the top it is, but because the series gives Rapunzel what she wants in the end without ever having her acknowledge how she is wrong here, it winds up validating her toxic world view anyways.

Divorce is not inherently a bad thing. We should be working towards both normalizing it and promoting healthy coping mechanisms for those that go through it, adult and child alike. What Rapunzel is doing here is just repeating puritanical fearmongering. And while I can understand why she might behave in this way, I don't understand why the show refuses to call her out on it. Or any of the other million bad behaviors she displays repeatedly through out the show... like the example below for instance...

Why Am I Suppose to Like Rapunzel Again?

It’s like the writers don’t understand that a joke can damage a character, especially if it’s overplayed. Super sweet upbeat Rapunzel snapping because she finally met someone who was annoying or a situation she couldn’t just solve with a positive attitude was funny maybe like the first time; but we’re three seasons in and this is supposedly her closest loved ones.

Look at them! They’re fucking terrified of her! All they did was point out that she maybe should do her job and deal with real problems instead of poking her nose into her parents business where it doesn’t belong! And this brat is now the ruler of the whole kingdom!? No one can legally stand up to her.

Like where’s the Eugene that stood up to her in Under Raps for trying this same bullshit? Why hasn’t she learned her lesson? She also pulled this same bullying tactic on young Lance and teen Eugene two episodes. Cass left her ass, supposedly, because of her bossy thoughtless ways. And this is also the same woman who abused a child back in season one and still has never acknowledged it.

Yes characters should be flawed, but they should also face real consequences for their actions, and if they’re a protagonist they need to learn and grow past their flaws.

I actively started to dislike Rapunzel after this scene. I already felt something was off way back in the season three opener, but this is the point where I stopped and went “What the fuck?” She used to be my second favorite character behind Varian. I didn’t go into this wanting to hate her, even after this episode I still held out hope that they were trying to purposefully lead up to some sort of falling out with everyone and with Rapunzel having to own up to her bullshit in order to win. You know like a classic third act “the hero is now alone due to their past mistakes” type story. But Nope!

There’s no pay off for any of this. Rapunzel is just mean for the sake of being mean in season three, and no one is aloud to call her out on it. She’s now the same type person as Frederic, a tyrant. That’s not a good development!

She’s Literally Bullying Her Own Parents Now, and I’m Suppose to Find that Funny?

Yes, Frederic is her abuser, and yes some people might find this scene cathartic if they hate him. But this isn’t actually calling out his past abuse. It’s just Rapunzel treating a now powerless old man with that same abuse and denying him bodily autonomy. An old man who has both less political rights and less power within the relationship than her; since due to his memory loss he is now dependent upon her.

In the real world it’s the equivalent of picking on an Alzheimer's patient who is in your care. I don’t give a shit how much of dick they were before the illness set in, you don’t fucking do that!

Why Should I Want Arianna and Frederic To Be a Couple?

The show has done nothing to sell this relationship. In fact one could argue that the show is trying to purposefully sabotage it.

Before the memory loss Frederic was proven to be abusive, to the point where even his own wife was afraid of him and wouldn’t stand up to him. Meanwhile Arianna was shown to be a shell of her former self who’d all but given up upon the things she actually enjoyed in life. And now that they both have had a second chance they have even less motive to stay together.

Look at Arianna up there? She’s clearly not enjoying her time with him. While he doesn’t want to engage in anything that she likes. I mean a couple doesn’t have to share their interests in everything, but there still has to be some sort of connection and the series just does not give us that connection.

There’s no reason why they should stay together. They no longer have any commitment or duty to fulfill as rulers and their daughter is fully grown. Contrary to what Rapunzel says, the kingdom isn’t going to fall apart if they separate. It actually would probably better for everyone, including Rapunzel, if they got divorced. At least then she’d have to grow up somewhat and stop being a controlling asshat.

Why is Attila Here?

I thought Attila got a job running his own bakery and that it was Lance who became the new cook at the Snuggly Duckling? Even if you argued that Attila was just doing Rapunzel a solid that still wouldn’t explain who is running the place when Lance isn’t there.

If you’re going to set up developments like that then you need to either stick with them or give an on screen reason for why these previous developments are no longer relevant. Flat out ignoring them like this is just lazy.

Lance’s New Outfit is the Best Thing About the Episode, and It’s Also a Complete Waste.

Lance deserved a new outfit because the team was too lazy to give him one for season two, even during the island arc. This however is a waste because it doesn’t add anything to the narrative. People were paid to make this thing for it to only show up for a few seconds of screen time.

This Whole Exchange Is Gross.

Oh let me count the ways in which this is so, so stupid.

Neither Rapunzel nor Frederic has ever proven themselves “thoughtful and responsible.” In fact both of them being irresponsible is intentionally a plot point in the main story arc.

How would either Frederic or Arianna know any of this? Not only have they lost their memories, but they didn’t raise Rapunzel themselves and those traits aren’t inherited; they are taught.

Gushing over your grown daughter isn’t a point of connection!

Why would anyone be compelled to kiss a practical stranger, that they previously didn’t even like, just because they both admire some woman they also barely know and happen to be related to? What is the thought process behind this? “Oh we made that? Then lets make another one!” What the fuck show? I’m ace and even I know that’s not a normal thing to get titillated over.

The Series Turns Frederic Into a Literal Baby In a Last Ditch Effort to Make Him Likable

The whole point behind the amnesia plot was to absolve Frederic of his past wrong doings. You can’t call out an old man with Alzheimer's for being a dictator, I suppose. (not like that’s ever stopped me from criticizing Ronald Reagan, tho) But from there the series then takes it one step further and actually infantilizes both Frederic and Arianna, because Chris assumes that if he makes Fredric as pathetic as possible the audience won't hate him any more. Well guess what, it didn’t work. Frederic isn’t suddenly a poor woobie just because he’s useless now. That’s not how that works.

Rapunzel Literally Physically Assaults a Person, Kidnaps Them, Threatens Them With Even More Bodily Harm, and Causes an International Incident; All Because They Asked Her Mom Out On a Date!

You can’t hear it in the screen shots, but there’s very clearly a clanging sound to indicate that Rapunzel just wacked Trevor upside the head and knocked him out.

Let me repeat, a Disney protagonist just committed armed assault against a guy, simply because she doesn’t respect her own mother.

What the Fuck!!!???

Arianna is fully grown woman. She is perfectly capable of making her own choices and she agreed of her own volition to go out with him. In fact she’s the one who asked Trevor if she could come along on his sea voyage. It’s not Rapunzel’s place to interfere with that.

Secondly, Rapunzel shouldn’t get a free pass to attack people just because she’s doesn’t like them. And she most assuredly shouldn’t get to write off her cruelty as justice because she's royalty! What the hell? You just turned one of your official princesses into a literal tyrant for the sake of a joke, Disney!

Where the fuck was the oversight on this show!?

And to top it all off, Trevor is a ruler of a competing kingdom. This could easily have been deemed an act of war. Thankfully for everyone involved Trevor has far more sense and compassion than Rapunzel and doesn’t push the matter.

Yes that’s right! The intentionally annoying prat and comedic antagonist is a more upstanding person than the main heroine! Let that sink in!

Wait, If Laws Don’t Apply Out In the Ocean, Then Why Did Eugene and Max Have Jurisdiction to Arrest Lady Caine in Peril on the High Seas?

Max shoved this same rule book into Eugene’s face when Eugene rightfully questioned if it was his job to arrest the mutineers. This book said that it was not only his job, but that he was also legally required to stop any and all ‘wrongdoing’ no matter where he was at nor whether he was on duty or not. While also failing to specify what ‘wrongdoing’ entailed.

Now that’s very problematic and ridiculous for a whole host of reasons that I’ve already covered back in my review of Peril on the High Seas, but this scene now adds a whole new layer of stupidity to the mix.

If zero laws apply out in open waters than yes, Eugene and Max were acting out of their jurisdiction. Not only that, but the pervious dumb rule regarding their duties is also now null and void. So, Justice For Lady Caine!

Oh, but were not done yet, cause it gets dumber.

If laws, including marriage don't apply, then getting married while out at sea also would not apply. Thereby rendering Trevor’s plan useless, unless they got married back in Equis. Which if they did that, it would bypass the entire pointless rule book completely because Equis is not subject to Corona’s laws anyways.

There’s not even any ‘inter-kingdom’ laws that they would be subject too because Equis isn’t a part of the seven kingdoms. Any treaty they did previously have with Corona would be something else entirely, and Trevor would be within his rights to end such an agreement.

Also Trevor is a king. He can do whatever the fuck he wants. Same goes for Arianna.

Ummm, No You Don’t Rapunzel

Trevor can’t marry Arianna without her agreement to it. It’s already been established that she’s physically capable of taking care of herself and she’s also mature enough to make her own decisions. If she did wind up marrying him it’d be because it’s her fucking choice to and Rapunzel has zero right to interfere with that.

There’s no one to rescue here. Rapunzel has no reason to go chasing after her mom. All this is doing is denying a grown woman agency over her own life. Why should I or anyone, root for Rapunzel here?

You Do Know That Arianna Has More Than Just Two Choices Here, Don't Ya Show?

Arianna doesn’t have to be in any relationship. That’s also an option. While I personally like Trevor, this shouldn’t be a choice between him or Frederic. The show should be asking what Arianna, as a character, would want for her life, instead of just shoehorning her into just being a wife for someone else.

I still don’t know what Arianna really wants in life, but I do know that being a domestic housewife and a queen does not suit her. She doesn’t actually like being tied down with commitments and responsibilities. She’s repeatedly indicated over and over again that she feels uncomfortable in her role.

But the show reduces her into trophy to win and turns her into a damsel in distress multiple times. Then it further neuters her so that she complacently walks back into that life over and over again for no logical reason. She’s treated not as a person but as a prop.

Really, Arianna? Are You Really Sure About That?

These aren’t Arianna’s words. They’re Chris’s.

Arianna has shown zero interest in Frederic up to this point. The closest they got was during that creepy boat scene where they just jumped to almost kissing for no real reason. While before now Arianna was making actual goo-goo eyes at Trevor earlier, before Raps stepped in and broke them up.

They actually do have things in common and had a genuine point of connection. They even almost kissed themselves until Raps started being a dick. No forced and icky conversations about their grown children needed here folks!

While I still firmly believe Arianna should just be single, the show does far more to convince me that she and Trevor should be together more so than her and Frederic. Everything about this scene on the boat feels forced and hollow because it doesn’t ring true to what was previously established.

This just isn’t good writing. It’s the animation equivalent of a six year old smashing their Barbie dolls faces together and shouting “now kiss!”, all because a middle aged man couldn’t get over they fact people didn’t like his self insert.

No, wait, I apologize. That’s being mean to six year olds. They usually have more interesting plots and established characterization than this.

Hey, Remember When the Series Villainized an Orphan For Stealing This Stupid Book?

Yeah, stealing the book was treason and the mains ruined a child’s life over it, but apparently it just doesn’t matter any more cause no one seems to give a shit about Trevor taking it. Like, yes, as the king of another kingdom, Trevor isn’t beholden to Frederic’s bullshit, but you would think that the characters would treat this as a bigger deal than what they do, given how they responded previously to it being taken.

Unless Rapunzel was just talking out of her ass back during The Alchemist Returns. That’s also quite possible.

This Literally Has Nothing To Do With You Rapunzel

Just because Rapunzel herself is a woman, doesn’t mean that stealing the agency of another female character isn’t misogynist. Especially when their both written by primarily men.

Every guy who was involved with the writing of the episode, should be fucking ashamed of themselves!!!

So What Exactly Has Trevor Done Wrong Up To This Point?

Yes, the story board artists and voice actors do a lot of heavy lifting here to try and make Trevor seem like a creep. Arianna’s body language and tone of voice when dealing with him here will be very familiar to a lot of women, I’m sure. I know what it’s like to have a stalker and not know how to turn them down because you’ve been trained all your life to ‘be polite and nice” to people, and I’m not unique in that regard.

But here’s the thing, it’s not set up properly. There’s nothing backing this sudden shift in the characters’ dynamic. Up till now Trevor has been a perfect gentlemen. Sure he was over the top as always, and you could call it an act when regarding his politeness to Frederic, but he seemed to genuinely respect and admire Arianna and clearly desires genuine affection in return from her. Why would he suddenly stop behaving in a way that worked for him and start talking over her instead?

Also why wouldn’t Arianna just tell him no to begin with if that’s what she wants? She had no trouble speaking her mind before now. But that begs the question why she wouldn’t return his feelings as well, because as stated above, she clearly showed interest in him previously.

This is So Fucking Forced

Yeah, okay, you’re daughter has no reason to be here to begin with, disrespected your wishes, and attacked Trevor first. At this point I’d argue he has a right to retaliate. Especially since, if Rapunzel was allowed to board, you know she’d just attack him again, because she knows no other way to resolve conflicts other than to hit people very hard.

Arianna’s actions here only make sense if she’s kept in the dark about what an awful human being her daughter really is. That’s poor writing.

Also, having a woman just punch people while denying them actually agency and choice within the plot is not ‘girl power.’ It’s fucking misogyny!

How Does Doing the Bare Minimum, and Just Showing Basic Human Decency Count As ‘True Love’?

What was she suppose to do? Let him drown? I mean I wouldn’t, and I despise the man. Not to mention anyone else could have done the same thing. They’re all right there. If Lance had jumped to the rescue would Trevor have proclaim them lovers too?

Trevor Is Still the Better Man Here

Here he is rescuing Rapunzel even after she treated him like shit.

Best. King. Period.

This Still Doesn’t Redeem Frederic

So through out the episode Frederic has inexpiably shown an obsession for eggs. He now collects them even though this was never an established trait before now. But whatever. He’s just been through something traumatic and looking for something to ground himself. Far be it from me to make fun of someone else’s special interest. If you like to collet eggs than good for you. Go live your life to fullest.

That’s more respectful than how the show handles it, as everyone dismiss his interest and it’s treated like a joke through out the episode. Only to have said obsession save the day. But this isn’t here to teach the others about respecting other people’s hobbies, oh no, it’s here to try and give Frederic a big hero moment so you’ll cheer for him.

Except one nice thing does not erase his past actions! I don’t care what your hobby is, if you deliberately try to cause grievous harm to people you’re and asshole! And you will continue to be an asshole until you can admit what you’ve done wrong and try your best to make up for it.

I Hope You Made Back Up Copies of The Tunnel Maps

A bunch of people are more upset over this development than I am, because it is a historical artifact and preserving the past is important. But the only story function the book held was a map to the tunnels, and said tunnels were never utilized properly through out the entire show.

To this day people still don’t understand that they’re meant connect the island to Old Corona or that Herz Der Sonne is the one who built them into order to invade Saporia because the show is so bad at its world building. And come season three, they’re all but irrelevant anyways. Such a wasted concept.

Once Again the Whole ‘Memory Loss’ Subplot Is a Copout

Ok that’s not how the spell worked previously, but that’s not what I’m taking issue with here.

If the whole point behind the amnesia plot twist was to sweep Frederic’s awfulness under the rug, then I expect his past actions to be addressed once he’s regained his memories. They are not.

This episodes reverses the very thing that the season was trying to achieve and just hopes the audience is too stupid/attention deficient to notice. Well guess what, we noticed and we’re far smarter than you Chris.

Conclusion

I don’t understand the point of this episode. It shoots everything season three is trying to do in the foot. It screws up the timeline, makes Rapunzel even more of an irredeemable dickhead while preventing her from learning yet another needed lesson, undermines Arianna as a character once again, and it puts Frederic back in the crosshairs of the audience’s scrutiny.

Oh and look, it’s written by the same guy who wrote Rapunzel’s Return. Why am I not surprised.

Anyways another one down and only 15 more to go. You can support my continued marathon by dropping a tip in my ko-fi if you wish. I’m currently back to job hunting yet again and anything you can give is appreciated.

https://ko-fi.com/rachelbethhines

#Rapunzel #rapunzel's tangled adventure #anti-tangled #anti-rapunzel #ferderic #arianna #tangled #tangled the series

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meowmeowmessi · 3 years

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Was Dean really so abusive towards Sam through out the whole series?

I have been seeing some Dean hate a lot 😔 about him being oh so abusive to Sam. I know most of it probably because of season 9 gaslighting. That was so in character for him tho, like he will do anything to prevent Sam from dying. His whole character is protecting Sam, I’m not sayin what he did right in anyway, but I understand... he was desperate. And all the violence was when he was under the influence of the mark. I can’t seem to recalll anytime when he was downright abusive towards Sam. Was he?

Aw nonnie, don't feel down -- there's still plenty of Dean love to go around! *hugs*

Since you brought up s9, I'll start from there! Personally, I agree with you. I know it's a horribly unpopular opinion and Sam stans will crucify me for this one (which is something I find myself saying a lot lately.......), but I wasn't at all shocked or offended by what Dean did in s9. I mean, was it horrible? Yes. Fucked up? Oh yeah, definitely. Probably the most fucked up thing one brother has done to another in the whole show imo. But what were you expecting? It's Dean. Dean NOT stuffing an angel inside Sam to keep him alive and instead letting Death reap his soul would've been ooc as hell??? Jensen said so himself, Sam is the brother who has the strength to live on without Dean, not Dean (not that it means Sam loves him any less, ofc not. Just that they love in different ways). Once again, Dean gaslighting Sam was pretty horrifying, I won't deny it, but spn isn't a sunshine and rainbows kind of show. Sam and Dean's codependency is fucked up, but it's FICTION, so you can't apply your everyday logic to them. Now an argument can be made that the narrative during that arc was pretty skewed by being quite partial to Dean. Having Dean realize what he'd done wrong and apologize would've been nice and restored balance to said narrative, but we didn't get a chance to see that bc Dean went and took on the Mark, and the rest you know pretty well. Honestly? I kind of don't care anymore bc it's clear that after s10 (aka starting from s11) Dean has improved SO MUCH and I think his extra protectiveness of Sam in s11 was partially a result of the guilt Dean might have felt over the whole MoC deal and turning-into-a-demon-and-nearly-killing-Sam business. My humble opinion is that post s10 Dean has had significant growth and trying to hate on him by bringing up shit he did in the previous seasons is pretty juvenile.

For example: I stumbled upon a meta once about what a dick Dean is bc in s15 he tricked Sam into eating bacon by telling him it was actually veggie burger and equating it with the whole Gadreel mess and I was like ?????????? Are y'all high???????? I agree that a person's dietary preferences should be respected without question, but maybe take off your Literature Student Glasses for one goddamn second and try to see the scene for what it is? A big brother joking around and messing with his little brother to cheer him up? It's not that deep dude. Idk what to tell y'all, but siblings do be like that.

The Gadreel thing and the MoC issue aside, another thing bitter Sam stans bring up to paint Dean as "abusive" is the panic room incident of s4. Which is... pretty iffy, ngl. Bc when I was watching s4 I myself hated Dean (and Bobby) for putting Sam in the panic room without even telling him. It was pretty cruel. And while I STILL have gripes about it, I think it's just another example of how the show is fucked up, Sam and Dean's dynamic is fucked up (said with affection), and how Dean treats Sam like his possession. Sam is his. He gets to decide Sam's fate. He will revive Sam, he will (almost) kill Sam, and the authority to make those decisions is his, not Sam's. Bc once again, in Dean's eyes he pretty much owns Sam. After all, he's his little brother. Fucked up, yes, but you're kind of an idiot if you expected anything healthy out of these two.

And there's Dean hitting soulless Sam in s6 when he tells him there's something wrong with him. The thing is, Dean didn't give a shit about soulless Sam. None. Once he realized that Sam's soul was missing he was hell bent on getting it back, and he didn't give a flying fuck about the soulless version of his brother. And soulless Sam knew that. Imo Sam at that point was just an empty shell to Dean and he didn't care about hitting him and hurting him. Bc the one he really cared about was the Sam WITH his soul intact. Dean was positively BEAMING when Sam got his soul back and was acting like his usual empathetic self again and not the cold soulless one. And he was so so careful with him after Death erected the wall in his head. Hell, Dean temporarily died to make that deal with Death. How could you possibly say that Dean doesn't love Sam?

Other minor things that bitter Sam girls/Dean haters use to prove that Dean is "abusive" include: Dean punching Sam in s2 (in the episode where they meet Gordon for the first time. Can't recall the name of the episode rip). Dean was hurt and angry and grieving John, and yeah, maybe that's not any reason to hit Sam, but he's human. He's more prone to violence than Sam is. Doesn't make him abusive. Siblings hit each other all the time, dude. It ain't that big of a deal. And Dean even apologized afterwards. And Sam FORGAVE HIM. Same goes for Dean punching Sam in s7 imo. Anger born of worry and all that.

And lastly, one meta madness I've seen is how Sam flinches whenever Dean has an outburst of anger. Some people use this as proof that Dean (and throw John in the mix too why don't you -_-) abused Sam as a kid and that's why he reacts that way. Which is such utter bullshit lol. Sam has PTSD. He flinches at the sound of closing doors, when he hears sudden footsteps, and just any abrupt noise in general. It has nothing to do with Dean aBuSiNg him as a kid and everything to do with the trauma he suffered throughout his life as a hunter (and then there's the Cage. And the multiple times he's been sexually assaulted. And on and on and on...) (and the reason why Dean doesn't have the same reaction as Sam is bc the symptoms of PTSD are different for everyone, bc rest assured, he too has trauma).

This is just my personal opinion tho! You can think whatever you want, but for me, Sam and Dean's relationship really can't be judged based on our standards of "normal". The things they do to (and for) each other are all part of their codependency. So no, I don't think Dean is abusive to Sam. He's done shit that can be called abusive, sure, but Sam and Dean operate on a moral compass that's completely different from our own, and we have to consider their actions with that in mind.

#asks #also if anyone brings up demon!dean telling sam that it's his fault mary died I'll personally kick their ass #bc dean was a DEMON??? DEMONS LIE???? HE WAS LIT RALLY AIMING TO HURT SAM WITH HIS WORDS?????? BC HES A D E M O N????#DO U REALLY THINK DEAN WINCHESTER WOULD BLAME SAM FOR MARY'S DEATH #DO YOU REALLY #IF SO YOU DON'T KNOW DEAN #anti dean hate #bro I'm lucky I'm not popular otherwise I'd get cancelled so hard by those dean hating sam stans #not that I care bc if you hate dean but claim to love sam you're not a real fan of sam OR the show *shrug*#I'M SLOWLY -- PAINFULLY SLOWLY -- GETTING AROUND TO ANSWERING ASKS #also once again: these are just my opinions and you don't have to agree if you don't want to haha #sorry this is all over the place and rambley orz #ella learn to organize your thoughts challenge #dean winchester #sam and dean

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rbbalmung · 3 years

Text

Pokemon SwSh GPL AU: Get to know ______ P3

It’s time for THE BOYS. My biggest conclusion from putting this together is that while Raihan enjoys pushing everyone else’s buttons, Leon is the only person that can fluster the hell out of him. Please enjoy.

Get to Know: Leon x Raihan (TrueRivalShipping)

1: Who spends almost all their money on the other? Leon. He feels like the type of person whose love language is gift giving (ex. giving Hop Wooloo and Grookey, giving Gloria Scorbunny, Yamper, and Charmander, ect.). That being said, he’s terrible at getting gifts. He can tell exactly what type of Pokemon a person would want and catch it, but presents? He once got Raihan a charmander watch made for kids without even considering it wouldn’t fit him.

2: Who sleeps in the other’s lap? Leon. They’re both tall, but Lee’s the smaller of the two.

3: Who walks around the house half-naked and who yells at them to put on some clothes? Raihan would definitely strut around just to get a reaction out of Leon. Half the time his intentions are to get him into bed, but the other half? Embarrass Leon when he’s on Rotom calls with his mum (don’t worry, he wears pants for those instances).

4: Which one tells the other not to stay up all night and which one stays up all night anyway? They’re both night owls. They stay up either playing video games or watching Netflix (or whatever the pokemon equivalent to that is). They had to invest in a bigger couch due to how often they have passed out on it. (When I say bigger couch, I definitely mean a futon. They just straight up by the closest thing they can to another bed).

5: Which one tries to make food for the other but burns it all by accident and which one tells them that it’s okay and makes them both cookies? Hop inherited their mum’s cooking skills. Since Leon spent most of his young adult life as a champion who never really had time to stay at home and cook a real meal, it is up to Raihan to provide. Lee was permanently designated to cleanup duty after nearly burning the apartment down.

6: Which one reads OTP prompts and says “Oh that’s us!” and which one goes “Eh, not really”? Leon would say,” Oh, that’s us!” and Raihan would say,” Eh, not really?” just to spite him. There is a lot of teasing and playful banter in their relationship.

7: Which one constantly wears the other’s clothes? Raihan, but only because he would literally murder Leon if he borrowed one of his designer sweatshirts. There’s also the added benefit that Lee’s clothes are a lot comfier.

8: Which one spends all day running errands and which one says “You remembered [thing], right?” Leon isn’t allowed to run errands by himself because he’d get lost, so Raihan is usually the grocery-getter. Raihan will be in the checkout line and almost always get a last minute text from Leon asking for one more item. It drives Raihan bonkers.

9: Which one drives the car and which one gives them directions? Leon is the driver, and Raihan is the “direction giver” (let’s be real, he’s more focused on what song they play next than getting them to their destination). If it’s a group road trip, neither of them are allowed in the front because they’ll just end up getting everyone lost.

10: Which one does the posing while the other one draws? Ok, so I don’t really think one of them would draw the other. They’re much more of an “active, sporty couple” than an “artsy couple”. That doesn’t mean it hasn’t happened, though. During one of their dates, they decided to doodle each other on their napkins to help pass the time. They were both terrible and it got really heated when the waitress chose Leon’s drawing as “slightly less worse”.

11: If they were about to rob a museum, which one does backflips through lasers and which one is strolling behind with a bag of chips? Are you kidding? They’d both try to out-do each other. Both backflippers.

12: Which one of your OTP overdoes it on the alcohol and which one makes the other stop drinking? I feel like even though Leon has more body mass than Raihan, he’d be the lightweight of the two. Both have been in the League since they were in their late teens, but Leon’s public image had a lot more specifications than Raihan’s. That meant Raihan got to go to a lot more college parties on his nights off and build up his tolerance. Leon’s public relations manager didn’t let him even look at alcohol until he stepped down as champion. He had to “set a good example for his young fans”. (Sufficed to say, Gloria quickly got a new PR manager when she filled his role).

14: Which one keeps accidentally using the other’s last name instead of their own? Raihan learned that if he used Leon’s last name, he could get special treatment. It’s an abuse of power! Especially when they’re having dinner at the Hoffman house and Raihan casually slips in that he’s planning on taking Lee’s last name once they marry. Leon’s convinced his grandparents like Raihan better than they like him at this point.

15: Which one screams about the spider and which one brings the spider outside? Raihan, though he’ll go to an early grave before admitting that. He just doesn’t want them getting webbing on his new shoes! Yeah...that’s it.

16: Which one gives the other their jacket? Leon. It was mentioned above, but Raihan has to be in a really good mood in order to let Leon borrow his stuff. It isn’t that big of a deal, thankfully: The Hoffman boys are like personal heaters.

17: Who keeps getting threatened by the other’s overprotective older sibling? Ok, ok, ok: Raihan is slightly intimidated by Hop. He just wants the best for his big bro! If that means calling Raihan out of his shit from time to time to keep him in line, so be it. Raihan can’t fight back either, because that’s his boyfriend’s little brother! One of the only things Leon gets testy over is people bullying Hop, so Raihan has to do it when he isn’t around.

18: Who’s the first one to admit they have feelings for the other? Leon. It wasn’t one of those things where they’ve always liked each other, but after being friends for so long, their feelings blossomed into something new. Lee is a big flirt and never officially came out, so Raihan just figured he didn’t mean it whenever he complimented him. Leon literally confessed to Raihan at least five time before it sank in that he was serious.

19: How good would your OTP be at parenting? I think they’d actually be pretty good! Leon helped raise Hop and he definitely has the dad act down, so adopting children would be something he’d be super interested in. Raihan may struggle a little bit at first (especially with where the line of what he could and couldn’t post on social media was), but he has a big heart. They would always be there for their kids. If Gloria and Hop are the cool parents, Leon and Raihan are the embarrassing ones. Would tease their kid lovingly.

20: Which one types with perfect grammar and which one types using numbers as letters? Leon has sent a lot of professional texts because of his former position as champion, so he’d win by default. If they’re texting each other, it is all in numbers, emojis, and abbreviations. Sonia, Piers, and Nessa hate being in group chats with them.

21: Who gets attacked by a bully and who protects them? Lee is the more protective of the two, especially when it comes to people bullying Raihan online. Raihan tries to tell him that he doesn't have to do it, but he’s secretly very flattered.

22: Who makes the bad puns and who makes a pained smile every time the other makes a pun? Leon makes the worst dad jokes in the world. Sometimes he does it just to embarrass Raihan.

23: Who comes home from work to see that the other one bought a puppy? They take turns. Raihan will catch a Hakamo-o to beat Lee’s Aegislash, only for Lee to catch an Azumarill from the Isle of Armor a week later. It’s a never ending game of trying to one up the other.

24: Which one gives the other a piggyback ride when they’re tired? Leon. He’s pretty buff, so carrying Raihan around is nothing. He usually does it without asking if his boyfriend looks tired and flusters the heck out of him.

25: Which one competes in some sort of activity and which one does the overzealous cheering? Ever since Leon left he league, he makes it a priority to go to every one of Raihan’s matches. He often dons ridiculous disguises in order to not get recognised, but he always gets recognised. There is an online forum just made up of pictures of him in different, weird attire. He might’ve even been able to slip by public notice if not for the fact that he tries to make AS MUCH NOISE AS POSSIBLE to cheer his boyfriend on.

26: Who takes a selfie when the other one falls asleep on their shoulder? Is there even a possible different answer than Raihan? The man takes selfies as a living. You better believe he has 8 different folders of pictures of Leon.

27: Which one would give the other a makeover if they asked? Raihan. Leon is so close to having style, but then he’ll throw on his signature snapback and a cape and ruin everything. You know the cape isn’t even a requirement for the champion to wear? Yeah, Lee just chose to wear it. He counts it as a small victory whenever Leon decides to buy something at one of Rai’s favourite stores.

28: Which one owns a pet that the other is absolutely terrified of? Raihan tries not to get between Leon and Charizard. It’s a similar situation to the Hop one: Charizard is Lee’s baby, which means Raihan isn’t allowed to tease them.

29: Which one holds the umbrella over both of them when it rains? Raihan, but he purposely will move the umbrella out from above Leon to get him soaked. It’s payback for all the other stuff he does.

30: If your OTP went on vacation, where would they go and what would they do? Who would take the pictures? Like Gloria and Hop, I think they’d travel to all the regions. They’d have to do it on off seasons and couldn't stay long due to their duties in Galar, but they like seeing the new types of pokemon. Once again, Rai would take millions of pictures. He has a photo album per vacation, not just vacation in general.

#GPL AU #pokemon #pokemon sword and shield #pokemon au #pokemon swsh #swsh #swsh leon #pokemon leon #champion leon #swsh raihan #pokemon raihan #gym leader raihan #leon x raihan #truerivalshipping #The banter between these two would be unbeatable #half the time people aren't sure if they even like each other #best boyfriends ever

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razorblade180 · 3 years

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Overall thoughts on V8? Assuming you didn't answer this already.

I meant to do a volume wrap up review but I got incredibly busy and it fell to the waste side. The thing about me judging RWBY I have to come at it from two angles or I won’t feel like I judged it appropriately. There’s the casual, first time seeing the episodes and seeing this through the lens as a casual watcher who probably only sees the episodes once or twice. But then there’s the other side to that coin. I review these episodes, write aus, theorize, check extended lore, listen to the music, etc; that means I have to go back and watch episodes several times for any given reason and that’s when you start noticing the holes or picking up on things you didn’t before.

As a casual watcher, I’d give this an 8/10. There’s plenty of moments where characters do things that got me excited and plot points I wanted explored. This volume actually gave a decent amount of things I wanted for quite some time and some things I didn’t know I needed. Certainly there are things I don’t like in this but I’m open and curious to see where RT takes their storie because it’s their story.

Okay, now as a someone who’s had to deep dive and take a step back multiple times for a variety of reasons. 6.5/10 maybe a 7/10 if I’m being generous. A lot of my problems with this volume are problems that aren’t new to RWBY and that’s just how surface layer portions of arcs are and how a variety of choices/bonds don’t exactly make sense with what we were previously shown, or they only make sense because the writers don’t want introduce other complexities even though they should be there realistically. I’ll give a couple examples of these and yes, I’m aware what I say doesn’t bother everyone but it bothers me.

Qrow was never angry at or brought up Robyn being the reason their airship crashed in the first place because she started the fight; which aids in Clover dying.

Emerald follows Cinder, not Salem. Even if Cinder is working under Salem, why would Emerald be so willingly to complete shift to the side that actively goes against Cinder? There’s been no grand revelation to make Emerald believe Cinder doesn’t give a damn about her. Leaving made sense because she was about to get tortured. Going full turncoat right now doesn’t. No change happened. Emerald always hated being near Salem but adored Cinder no matter the crimes and the show hasn’t done anything to switch that view point.

I’m happy Whitley and Weiss had a touching sibling moment that implies they’re okay and making/made up, but there was never a conversation about the actual problem and thoughts that had them at odds in the first place. Weiss saving his and Willow’s life shouldn’t be the thing that smooths things over. It would’ve been terrible if Weiss do something to save their life. Whitley helping Penny is okay I guess because he really had no reason to contribute but did anyways. Even so, a person doing a morally correct thing doesn’t automatically warrant the conflict between him and Weiss’s resolved.

We got Cinder’s backstory; it didn’t tell us anything about how she eventually came into contact with Salem. Honestly her back story felt more in line of her main goal through the series was an absolute freedom by the means of breaking down the systems that trapped and didn’t give a damn, rather than her quest for power. Yes you can argue gaining power means it’s easier to maintain her freedom to do whatever she wants but I personally think that’s a little off the mark when you gave her a story that involves her trapped by rules and time rather than being too physically weak to gain freedom.

This show has built up that the Schnee family has suffered various types of abuse because of Jacques and uses Weiss as a medium to build towards breaking free from that. Not just overcoming but confronting the abuse by cementing it’s place below you. We don’t really get that. There will never be a moment where the siblings and mother truly get to break out of Jacques grasps emotionally and then put him in his place because he’s dead! Yeah they never have to worry about him again but even last volume they showed Winter still having turmoil and being able to get strung along by him. We don’t even really know how Whitley perceived his father. It feels so lackluster. Then they care to mention how it’s Weiss’s idea to save him like it’s an empowering moment when in actuality, it would be against her character, values of a huntress, and morality to let a person die in cell when you’re the reason they’re in a cell! Letting him die in there would just terrible. I don’t even know why he wasn’t let out in that scene! He’s a coward! He’d follow their orders to save his skin. All he has to do is shut up and walk through a portal.

Ironwood and Oscar both knew they could remove that staff to use it and Atlas wouldn’t drop immediately. Why did nobody have any kind of compromise with one another since there’s nothing stopping them from using the staff for something and then putting it back? They had this morally gray thing going on which I liked but then they decided to make Ironwood go full evil. I’ve never had to say this before but the song he got in V7 and the character they made him be in V8 just don’t connect. I got upset listening to that song recently because I liked that Ironwood.

Clover’s importance. RT tried making a character who had no more than 9 minutes in the series and one meaningful line of dialogue into the cornerstone of a side plot. Clover is such a nothing character. Vine did more than Clover. They try to make him have such a profound impact to the people around him but we never see him bond with his team; Harriet specifically. We get one scene of Clover telling Qrow the kids are fortunate to have Qrow even if he doesn’t think so. First, I doubt Clover knows Qrow decided to get drunk in a ghost town and the kids nearly died and cellar while he did it so that compliment doesn’t hold much weight for me. Second, We see nothing meaningful between the two. V7 has a time skip and just expects viewers to be on board with Clover being this influential change on Qrow without showing anything outside of a witty remark and Clover flexing his semblance. I would’ve bought it more of Qrow almost relapsed and Clover stopped him then had a real meaningful conversation.

Ruby goes against Ironwood only to then want to do a plan that’s aligned to longer term thinking than even his, talks about how everyone should be working together, but then adds a part in her video to actively antagonize and vilify Ironwood. Afterwards, she wonders where everything went wrong and doesn’t think of a plan or do anything to immediately help either kingdom until the final hour between the ultimatum being made, to everything getting destroyed. The inciting incident was disagreeing Mantle should be left in favor of Atlas but the main character didn’t do anything to help Mantle 90% of the season and hindered Atlas’s safety up until the final plan.

Yang is used to be the devil’s advocate in a bunch of situations, but she’s wrong most of the time or her lines just don’t make any sense. They weren’t doing just fine before Atlas. They almost died every step of the way. The team didn’t beat a Leviathan; silver eyes and a robot take credit for that. Why would Blake think less of Yang for wanting to go save people immediately? Blake was never mad at anyone to begin with. Yang consistently calls out people for following orders as if it’s objectively wrong, but is never called out on the fact she hasn’t followed anybody’s orders but her own and added discourse to every situation. I get RT is making her ask questions because that’s what Raven told her to do, but all she’s really doing is picking fights and disobeying every order. Yang states to Ruby they accomplished more than they expected. That’s false, getting Oscar back is correcting a mistake caused by her own plan that she didn’t even complete.

It took 6 volumes before Yang had anything to do with the Summer Rose subplot again and 7 volumes before her and Ruby had a sister to sister conversations; 5 if you wanna count Yang telling Ruby to leave at the end of volume three. The reason I bring this up is because in V8 , they treat their argument as if it’s a big deal but then have every character say it wasn’t that big a deal; but then have two circle back to that conversation later after having neither character discuss to anybody that the argument actually did weigh on them. Yang doesn’t think about Ruby until she sees her again and the closest we get with Ruby is Blake reassuring her that people need her and how Blake admires her. I like that scene but it’s not the same as Ruby actually airing out the specific point that Yang said something that Ruby found hurtful. Vol8 in general people trying to comfort others but nobody ever actually addresses what made them uncomfortable to start with. Except Ren.

This one is a nitpicking but I’ll say it anyways. Penny getting hacked only served as a purpose to go to the vault, a thing Ironwood already wanted them to do. Nobody got her because she was hacked. You can’t even say her getting hacked is the leading factor to her actually dying because Penny became a vulnerable human afterwards that can’t be rebuilt. Pietro was gone, and already stated last volume he doesn’t have the aura to build Penny again. If she died as a robot then it’s still permanent death. No core, no Pietro, and no aura; hacking her was just to create a Hound reveal situation and make them go to the vault on a different set of terms. I’m not exactly upset with this, but I don’t understand why the extra steps. The Hound was hunting her anyways. I would’ve brought some kind of value if she hurt a friend and it caused them to potentially hinder the plan later on or remove them entirely. Penny could’ve rekt Yang and it only adds value to Yang getting one shot later. I don’t know. I’m rambling.

I think I’ve wasted enough people’s time. Honestly, I do like this volume. I’ve enjoyed a bunch of it. But there’s things that legitimately make me think it’s not as good others and makes V7 even worse.

#rwby #rwby volume 8 #ask me stuff

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akahana · 3 years

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Bird in Paradise

Keigo Takami (Hawks) Fanfic – Bird in Paradise (fluff)

Your beau had been neglecting you for almost a month now. He’s been using his busy pro-hero schedule as an excuse. But you bought every one of them, despite how disappointed you are. Hawks is not that clingy, but during this time of the year he’d always be distant. Nowadays, he always came home late or he doesn’t even come home for days at all. You decided to text him and see what he’s up to. But he hasn’t even replied to your last message. It was delivered but not seen. Maybe he’s already dead. You laughed at the thought of it. Oh- maybe he really was. You got off the messaging app and opened twitter, you thought maybe he’s trending. Your eyes fished for #ripHawks but there was none. Then something got you even more upset (yes more upsetting than the thought of him dead), the hashtag saying #hawksxmiruko. You checked the hashtag and found pics of them together, Miruko’s arm on Keigo’s shoulder and vice versa. The tweets said what good couple they made. It made your flames ignite. Your relationship with Hawks isn’t known by the public. Although, it was a mutual agreement. You were a pro-hero, but you didn’t want to be known. You were in the top 50, but standing didn’t matter to you since you didn’t want your hero achievements be known. Let alone your relationship with the no 2 hero be known to the public. It was risky. Too risky to be recognized by him. By your father. The no 1 hero. You did not want to reunite with the abusive scum. You’ve struggled enough in the streets after running away from home along with your twin, who chose to be a villain. But that’s another story.

Going back to knowing about what your birdman was doing, you scrolled further and found pictures of him goofing around with his fans. “So this is what you call hero work? Bitch can’t even bother to send me a reply.” You thought. You finished your night patrol and went home. You’ve showered, cooked dinner, watched a movie and all. It’s already past midnight, but it was only another night spent on waiting for nothing. Hawks didn’t come home still. And it made you more upset. As if you weren’t already so upset since the past few days.

Morning came and there still was no sign of Hawks in your apartment. Then came a knocking on your door. Readying the emotionless façade and the silent treatment you’re going to pull off for a week, you opened your door thinking it was Keigo. But to your dismay, it was a smiling Miruko. Great. Day ruined.

She let herself in like she normally did and sat herself on the counter. “Calm down”, you told yourself. “She’s just a colleague.” You kid yourself once more.

“What is it Miruko?”

“Damn you ain’t wearin’ a bra (y/n)-chan. Hot. If u weren’t hawks’ id-“

“Just get straight to the point.” you were impatient. You noticed you were getting more and more impatient nowadays.

“Chill, miss girl. You’re so cranky. I just kind of wanted to ask a favor.”

You groaned internally.

“I’d appreciate some help on this mission in Bali, here’s the plane ticket. Ok thanks girlie, gotta blast” And with that, she left before you could even say anything. Sighing, you picked the ticket up, and saw that it was supposed to leave this morning.

“What the fuck?”

“WHAT THE FUCK?!”

You thought. You literally had one hour to pack your things, get ready, and head to the airport. You cursed the damn rabbit and went on with it.

Luckily, you made it on time just before the gates closed. You arrived and when you were about to head out of the airport you read a sign with your name on it. Takami (y/n). The man holding it looked at you and then back to what he held which seemed like a picture of yours before escorting you to a coaster. You were wary before getting in, but you knew how to fight anyway so fuck it. After god knows how many hours had passed, you found the van you’re in driving inside a secluded forest. High trees, you saw different animal species, birds of different colors of feathers, and various species of greenery. The trees in the area were so high, and the sun is already starting to go down. You’re getting more suspicious of the vehicle you’re in, of the guy and the bodyguard seated just in front of you as well. You waited for gases to come out of air vents, or someone to strangle you, or inject something in your body, but nothing happened. Then the vehicle came to a halt.

“We’re here Ma’am.” The guy in front of you stated, and the bodyguard led you outside. That was when you were able to take a clear look of your surroundings. You gasped. You were looking at greenery that very much astonished you. The ombre glow of the sunset hit the forest perfectly that made it marvelous. You felt euphoric. You heard waves. Were you close to the sea? You followed the sound and you were faced by the front of a loft. It seemed like it was built on an edge of a cliff. You were standing on the edge of a cliff.

“Please go inside. He’s been waiting for you.” Were the last words the men who brought you here told you before drifting off and were already out of sight.

“He?” You said to yourself. You were curious of who was waiting for you. Must be the head of Miruko’s agency. But the only head at Miruko’s agency was Keigo. You laughed at yourself for thinking Miruko had another boss-

Wait. Keigo?

You ran into the house and searched for the man. But to your dismay, the last room you went to search had no one in it. No signs of the bird man. They bluffed. Maybe you were lured into this place by villains. But you didn’t care. You felt jetlag. Time was too precious to be spent over worrying in this paradise. Oh no, it still wasn’t paradise. There still was something missing. The love of your life.

You felt very tired so when you noticed the wonderful bed overlooking the sunset and the sea through a glass wall, noticing how the pillows and blankets were formed into somewhat like a nest, you let yourself fall into it. You found the nest very comfortable. Too comfortable, even. And it reminded you of the last time you cuddled with your red-winged angel. The sheets beneath you felt and smelled familiar. It brought you nostalgia. It smelled like home. It smelled like-

Keigo.

Oh no. You’re missing the man again. Nonetheless, you relaxed yourself and tried to imagine him being there with you, then you felt something tickle your nose. You scratched the itch away. But it’s not leaving. You opened your eyes and only to be shocked by-

a red feather dancing in front of you. Could it be?

You looked up and found a half-naked blonde with golden eyes, trailed by a pair of scarlet wings on his back, perched on the wooden plank in the ceiling.

“Keigo!!!” you called out his name as you felt hot tears stream down the sides of your face. You don’t exactly know why you cried. Maybe because he was finally in front of you after missing him so much, but it was clear to you that you felt so happy. Now you are finally able to call this place paradise.

He chuckled while he got down and sat on the bed, sitting you up.

“You found me baby bird. HAHAHA good job.” He said while taking you in his arms.

“What are you doing here?” You sniffled.

“I am a part of this mission of yours.” He said, shrugging.

You noticed his scent, it was stronger and bolder. Nails extra sharp. And wings extra flappy. All signs of his avian side going into breeding season.

Then it struck you. it was spring. That explained the nest covered with his scent. And that’s why he’s been busying himself with work, and spending lesser time with you. It was THAT time of the year.

“I can’t run away from you anymore, I can’t control myself anymore...” he took a whiff of you, and put his chin on the top of your head, tightening the hug “I can’t let you deal with me avoiding you during this month every year, and as I grow closer to you, I can’t handle the pain of you not being by my side during this season. I need you to be with me always. Marry me.”

More tears streamed down your face as you were only able to listen to his heartbeat, unable to find your words. So you did the first thing you could think of; pull him into a kiss.

He pulled away, chuckled, pulled out a diamond ring with a feather engraved inside of it from his pocket, then asked one more time. “Mon Angel, will you be with me… for the rest of our lives?”

You finally found your words.

“

(It’s for you to decide. ;)))

#takami keigo x reader #hawks #hawks imagine #wing hero hawks #hawks fluff

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sepublic · 3 years

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Eda the Beast

Well, a horrible thought just came into my head- But imagine Eda transforming into an Owl Beast the first few times, the first few years into her curse. And in addition to all of the horrible stuff she must’ve gone through… Imagine her turning into an Owl Beast and getting out into public; Being mistaken for just a regular beast, and having Animal Control called on her! Imagine Animal Control abusing and mistreating Eda not as an actual person but as a creature, throwing her into a cage, locking her up… Imagine Eda reverting back inside a cage, scared and traumatized... Terrified by the other animals, especially if she’s put into the same room as some! And then they get harsh towards her, and Eda retains injuries from her time as an Owl Beast, having no idea what happened or what’s going on with her…

Imagine Eda having to deal with almost being put down, or captured and sold to some zoo, or Lilith having to rescue her! Imagine Eda recognizing her situation, dimly, and desperately trying to convey that she is a PERSON, not a pet, not a wild animal to be euthanized or experimented on… Imagine some bullies at school, snidely telling Eda that her sleeves should be orange like her hair; Because an animal like her would surely recognize other creatures and be a wonderful Beastkeeper! And any time she does well with beastkeeping magic, this kind of snide remark of, “Of COURSE the Monster Girl knows beasts well!” is made, discouraging Eda and making her feel self-conscious about her skill there, until she just straight-up forgoes beastkeeping magic, with it ruined for her… And don’t consider bullies sneering and suggesting that Eda could be ‘tamed’ with beastkeeping magic, as the animal she really is! Maybe a few bullies from the beastkeeping track try to pull a cruel prank- And of course Eda still wrecks them, but still.

It’d be so humiliating, dehumanizing, and really reinforce Eda’s insistence on being free and not beholden to anyone, least of all Belos…! Maybe it’d give new background to Eda being King’s friend, because she actually sort of gets and understands that feeling of being treated like a mindless animal to own or do away with, and not as a legitimate person. King wouldn’t know how Eda understands, he wasn’t aware of the curse until rather recently- So then it just leads to him wondering why this random Owl Lady is so considerate, what could she POSSIBLY know about his situation?! Perhaps Eda ends up feeling sympathy for some animals and creatures who are abused, because like it or not, they were right to an extent- Being cursed DID give her some perspective on what it’s like for beasts, and grant some very involuntary and dehumanizing solidarity with them.

Maybe people compare Eda to the Greater Basilisk or whatever, as a monster pretending to be a witch, rather than a witch who sometimes turns into an Owl Beast… And how Eda might get mistreated; The apprehension and distrust towards Demon Hunters, of being killed and maybe even chopped up and eaten by them… Objectified and treated like some exotic piece of meat, or some rare pet to own?! The idea makes me sick. Especially since we’ve seen basically what I’ve described almost happen in Escape of the Palisman… And then King taking advantage of Eda’s cursed state in that episode could’ve come across as a real betrayal to her. But on the other hand, King still tried to treat her with some respect, and you can argue that he tends to command and boss around actual people too, so the treatment may not be all that different; Still, it was NOT a good thing, but at least King apologized and legit changed his behavior.

I can see a lot of people who captured Eda realizing their mistake, but then blaming Eda for ‘tricking’ them or whatever! That kind of victim-blaming and gaslighting would really force Eda to affirm her self-confidence, while recognizing her dignity and where she’s been unjustly insulted and hurt, and to step up for herself- Especially after her and Lilith grew more distant, she really had to learn to handle the curse on her own, and probably with Hooty and Owlbert’s help. Thankfully, I can see Hooty being VERY adept at handling Owl Beast Eda… Then again, she DOES attack and disable him in The Intruder; So maybe not.

Maybe he was just caught by surprise, maybe Owl Beast Eda still attacked Hooty, because he’s just THAT aggravating, y’know? Maybe his voice is really irritating to OBE, so while he has the force to handle Eda, he doesn’t have enough of that sisterly, soothing reassurance that Lilith did. Also, Hooty may have been made a while into Eda’s curse, when she’d already figured out how to handle it with elixirs and not transform as often, whereas Lilith would’ve been alongside her for most of the trial-and-error. Regardless, Hooty is recognized, but he hasn’t done much to earn Owl Beast Eda’s love and affection, either…

Still- Let’s not imagine Owl Beast Eda having to go through the dehumanizing fear of being hunted at night, shall we? Let’s not think of some crowd or vigilantes trying to track down Owl Beast Eda into the woods, or worse- Some people try to lynch her! Of course Eda as a witch could protect herself and even kill in self-defense, but as an Owl Beast, not so much… A lot of bias and prejudice could lead to people doubting if Eda was acting in self-defense, or if she was just giving in to her ‘primal urges’ as a violent, savage beast. Don’t imagine Eda having to be REALLY mindful of how she acts or fights, until eventually she goes screw it, I’m rightfully defending myself and I’m a recluse criminal anyway… And really, I can see this kind of prejudice contributing to her being a recluse, alas. Possibly to get away from the torment, and also to protect herself- And maybe OTHERS, in Eda’s mind…

And it just leads to this idea in her head of separating from others to protect them, which culminates in the Season Finale when Eda tells Luz to abandon her to her petrification- Until Luz very much teaches Eda that she helps and heals and doesn’t hurt, by fighting on, while Lilith’s change of heart no doubt means a lot to Eda and impacts her- As does the crowd’s protest for her freedom. I imagine some people in the crowd recognized that there was a divide between Eda and her Owl Beast form- Or at the very least, this wasn’t something she could control and not something she should be killed for, especially if she can handle it with elixirs. A lot of people likely recognized that Owl Beast Eda’s threat to them was being greatly exaggerated, both by local rumors and the Emperor’s Coven. And that teaches Eda that people aren’t scared of her- Or at least, not enough to let her be executed, which means a lot because it shows that others also recognize the worth and rights of others, even if they don’t like that person.

Did Eda feel self-conscious, about people being afraid of her? And how she handled this in trying to sell things to people; How they eventually realized over the years that despite being a criminal, she hadn’t really hurt anyone who didn’t have it coming? Amidst enjoyment of her wares, Morton appreciating her business… Still, after that brief scene in Grom, I can see some kids regarding Eda with fear as the accursed Owl Beast, and it ends up REALLY getting to her, because the opinions of children tend to feel way more substantial than that of adults. Maybe Eda was a little hurt on the inside when Luz ran away from her in fear, because Eda didn’t immediately recognize that Luz was just a human and everyone in the Boiling Isles is scary to her- So it means a lot when Luz calms down and recognizes Eda as not a monster…

And even when Eda DOES turn into a monster, Luz still acts to incapacitate Eda, not kill or escape her; And Luz doesn’t even bat an eye at Eda when she wakes up. Obviously she was also focused on her first spell, but still! Her medical encouragement and tips towards Eda show that this is something that Luz has normalized, thanks to her open mind and influence from Camila; So it no doubt helps Eda REALLY feel like a person, and feel like normal in the proper way… Not in that conforming manner, but in the “Yes you deserve to live you are not an abomination nor a freak, you are VALID” manner. I’m just imagining Eda having once worried about looking scary to people, questioning her own appearance… And that leads to her learning to REALLY appreciate how she looks, and love her body, reclaim it on her own terms and not let others define it for Eda!

Maybe she had a phase where she tried to look more approachable, or changed herself up so people wouldn’t recognize her as the Owl Beast, before Eda just went screw it and fully embraced the Owl Lady aesthetic! Eda wouldn’t let anyone ruin anything for her, so after a period of avoiding beastkeeping magic, for fear that she’s validating and proving the insults that others say- As the feral Owl Lady, she embraces those kinds of spells as well! And I can see her even playing into that fear and apprehension by others, turning it against them- With Eda seeing a bully make a cruel remark about her being an animal or an infectious werewolf, before she bares her teeth and suggests that she really IS; Scaring off her bullies as Eda plays her own messed-up pranks that relate to her status as the Owl Lady.

#the owl house #owl house #the owl house eda #edalyn clawthorne #the owl house king #the owl house luz #luz noceda #angst #meta

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