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solarmorrigan · 1 year

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See, just because Steve lets Eddie and the kids play D&D at his house now doesn't mean he's really interested in the game, just the same as even though El and Max sometimes tag along, they're really there to hang out, not play. They each bring their own things to do, and one night El brings a ball of yarn and a shiny little metal hook and a vaguely rectangular yarn-thing that she focuses very hard on while the boys shout in the background.

Steve has no idea what she's doing; he'd say she's knitting, except he's almost certain that involves some kind of sticks, not a hook. But since he's not really doing anything himself, he sits down next to her and asks what she's up to.

"Joyce has been teaching me how to crochet. She says it will help with my hand-eye coordination." El holds up her project with a proud smile. "I am starting with a scarf."

It's not the world's most attractive scarf, but it's not like Steve could do better. He's still not entirely sure what crocheting is, to be perfectly honest. "Is that different from knitting?" he asks.

El nods gravely. "It is," she says, and takes to showing him how she loops the yarn over the hook and pulls it through the stitches in her scarf and adds a few more inches to the row she's working on.

When Steve's attention doesn't completely wane during her demonstration, she pulls a second ball of yarn out of her bag and presents it to Steve.

"Oh, I don't–" Steve tries to demur, but El is determined, and Steve has seen entire dimensions pale in the face of her determination.

This is how he finds himself crocheting a little chain of stitches with just his fingers, the same way Joyce had apparently started El off. El beams at him and returns to her own project, occasionally checking on his progress. The chain is a few feet long by the time everyone needs to be driven home, and Steve decides it actually hadn't been a bad way to pass the time. Kind of relaxing.

The next time everyone is over, El sits down with her scarf, and after a short while, Steve sits down next to her. He compliments how much longer the scarf has gotten (and it does seem like the shape has evened out a bit as she's been going along). She smiles and pulls another ball of yarn out of her bag. This time, she has an extra hook and seems intent on showing Steve what to do with it.

Almost involuntarily, Steve's attention flashes to the group clustered around the table, hesitating to take the yarn from El, and she frowns.

"Joyce says these types of skills are important for everyone to have," El says firmly, and, well– Steve's not really going to argue.

He learns how to crochet a chain with the hook. It feels odd in his hands at first—the shape too small, the metal a little too slick, the yarn not wrapping naturally around his fingers the way it does El's—but he gets the hang of it. When El is pleased with his progress, she shows him the stitch she's been using: a simple single crochet. It's tougher than it looks, and Steve understands immediately why El's scarf is so uneven; neither of them have ever done anything like this before.

Still, he doesn't hate it.

In fact, he really kind of enjoys it.

He enjoys it enough that he asks El to show him more the next time she's over. She's still new herself and is really only working with pretty much the same couple of stitches, but she proudly teaches him what she knows, and Steve picks it up as fast as she's able to lay it down.

Steve goes out and buys his own supplies, no longer content with mooching off of El's. He hadn't realized there were so many different kinds of yarn, and resigns himself to awkwardly asking one of the craft store employees what type might be best for beginners.

The employee—a woman about his mother’s age with a much warmer smile and far less judgement in her eyes—explains with great enthusiasm what all those different types of yarn might be used for, and how the size of the hook affects the outcome of the project, and shows him so many different pattern books his head spins. He realizes that she probably upsells him on a lot of shit, but he leaves with a few different sizes of hooks, some new yarn, and more excitement for a hobby than he's felt probably since high school.

El and Robin are the only ones who know about his new hobby, of course. It's not really that he's ashamed to tell the others, he just knows how teenage boys work and he's not keen on giving a bunch of fifteen-year-olds another reason to bully him. Maybe in a few months. In the meantime, he crochets at home while he's listening to the radio or watching TV, and he crochets at work during down times. Robin finds his newfound hobby morbidly fascinating, but vehemently denies any and all offers to teach her.

("I will find a way to damage myself with that hook and I think we both know that," she says. "It's just kind of wild to see you with a grandma hobby."

Steve threatens to tell El she called it that, and Robin shortly finds a new label for it.)

Fall rolls around and the air acquires a chill sometime in mid-October. Steve's been making practice scarves for a little while now (largely because he really only knows how to make rectangles at this point, but he doesn’t have the attention span for a whole blanket just yet), and he even considers wearing his least heinous attempt despite the fact he's never really wanted for good winter clothes. Then he notices Eddie.

Most of their little group has begun dressing appropriately for the weather, but Eddie doesn't do much more than add a pair of fingerless black gloves and maybe a heavier leather jacket to his ensemble. Steve's not even sure it's because he can't afford it – he's pretty sure it's because Eddie is committed to his aesthetic. Nancy had tried to force an extra scarf on him one day after a little cold snap, when they'd woken to frost on the ground (the scarf is blue, patterned with white snowflakes; it's actually Mike’s, but Mike is also refusing to wear it and Steve suspects Nancy doesn’t want to hold it, but also doesn’t want to get in trouble for letting Mike lose it), but Eddie had declined, insisting it doesn't match his vibe.

Steve can respect this. He himself has a certain aesthetic going on. However, he can also see that Eddie is definitely cold, and that just won't do.

He picks through the scarves and other various wooly things he's accumulated so far, but decides none of them would suit Eddie and, besides that, none of them are really warm enough. If he's going to make Eddie a scarf, it ought to be a good one.

So Steve sucks it up and heads into Melvald's one day when he knows Joyce will be on shift, hoping she won't be too busy for a quick chat.

When he catches her, Steve explains that El had shown him the basics of crocheting but that his ambitions have outgrown his skills and maybe if she isn't too busy sometime, Joyce would be willing to show him a little more?

Joyce, because she’s a saint, says she would be delighted, and invites Steve to come over on their next shared day off.

When he gets there, she tries to ask him who he's making the scarf for, and the best he manages is, "...someone."

Joyce bites down on a smile. "Someone?"

"It's a surprise," Steve finally declares.

"For everyone?"

"Yes."

Joyce bravely manages to not laugh at Steve and instead asks him what kind of scarf he thinks Someone would like.

Steve decides that it needs to be thick, but it should also be soft. It should also be textured, because Ed– because Someone really likes fiddling with things. He can't get too ambitious with colors or patterns, but he decides that black and grey stripes will be perfectly suitable.

(He doesn't kid himself into thinking that by the time their brainstorming session is over, Joyce hasn't figured out exactly who he's talking about, but she's kind enough not to say it out loud.)

Steve's always been good with repetition and patterns—it's probably one of the reasons he’d found crocheting so relaxing in the first place—and he picks up the new stitches with ease under Joyce's deft instruction. She sends him home with the practice piece he'd made with some of her scrap yarn, and after a quick stopover at the craft store on his way home (he briefly gets stuck between shades of grey, but eventually decides on the silvery one over the steely one), he's ready to begin.

He expects making the scarf to be tougher, but once he gets into the rhythm of it, he sails right through. It takes him less than a week (albeit devoting a few solid hours to it every day, possibly more on his days off) to end up with what is, if he may say so himself, a pretty fine scarf.

The challenge comes in actually giving it to Eddie.

Christmas would be an excellent excuse for presenting it to him, except that's a little over a month away, and Steve doesn't want Eddie to go cold until then. Instead, he takes to keeping the scarf in his glove compartment just in case the perfect occasion for giving Eddie a scarf arises.

And much to Steve's surprise, one actually does.

It's right after the first real snow, and Steve has insisted on driving to pick Eddie up so they can hang out (Steve has nightmares about Eddie's driving when road conditions are optimal, never mind when the roads may be icy). He can see Eddie shivering under his jacket, blowing warm air into his cupped hands (Steve wonders if he could learn how to crochet gloves at some point, too. Ones with full fingers), so he ever-so-casually gestures to the glove box and tells Eddie, "Hey, if you're cold, I've got an extra scarf in there."

He's possibly not as casual as he hopes he is (or maybe Eddie just sees through him, like he always seems to), because Eddie gives him a look. "You do, huh?"

"Yep."

Steve concentrates very hard on the road in order to avoid Eddie's eyes. It doesn't stop him from hearing the little laugh Eddie lets out before popping open the glove compartment.

"Oh," Eddie says quietly as he pulls the scarf out, likely having been expecting another castoff piece of outerwear. "This is... actually really nice."

For a moment, Steve can't help but glance over to see the way Eddie is fingering the crocheted ridges of the scarf, running a thumb over the bright silver stripes picked out of the black, and he immediately looks back up at the road.

"Yeah. You should– you can, uh. Keep it. If you want," he says, and wonders what happened to the days when he was smooth.

"No, man, this is, like, for real nice. I couldn't take this," Eddie says, though he's still holding the scarf in his lap.

Steve draws a breath in. "I mean, I was kind of hoping you would, since it's for you."

"Seriously?"

They have unfortunately arrived at Steve's house at this point, and there will be no avoiding the conversation now.

"Yeah," Steve says. "I, uh. Made it for you. So you should take it. Don't let my hard work go to waste, yeah?"

"You're shitting me," Eddie unfolds the scarf and holds it up in delighted scrutiny. "You made this?"

(Distantly, Steve appreciates that the emphasis isn't on "you made this?" Like Eddie doesn't immediately doubt he's capable, only that he's holding a handmade item at all.)

"Yeah. No big deal." Steve shrugs.

"You made this for me." Eddie looks at Steve, and it sounds like that had been meant as a question, though it comes out in flat uncertainty.

"Yeah. Just noticed you were cold, but you won't wear anything that doesn't match your aesthetic," Steve tries to tease, wiggling his fingers at Eddie's outfit, but Eddie doesn't say anything in return.

He doesn't say anything for just long enough that Steve gets insecure all over again, reaching hesitantly for the scarf.

"But, I mean, if that's weird, or whatever, you don't have to-"

"Nope. Fuck off, I'm wearing this forever." Eddie loops the scarf quickly around his neck and squeezes the ends in his hands. "Jesus, this is soft."

Steve grins. "I'm not sure it'll last forever, but I can make you another after than one wears out."

"You'd better," Eddie says, and he's grinning too. "So, what, you knit?"

Steve points a very serious finger into Eddie's face. "Crochet. There's a difference," he says sternly.

Then, because he can't help it, he bops the end of Eddie's nose before getting out of the car, leaving Eddie to scramble out behind him, laughing and calling him a dork as he goes.

(The kids, incidentally, don't tease Steve nearly as much as he'd thought they would when they find out.

This is possibly because they're more mature than he gave them credit for, but more likely it’s because El is standing beside him and daring them to say anything unfavorable about their shared hobby.

Mostly they just let it slide, though Dustin demands to know why Eddie got a scarf and he didn't. Then Lucas wants one, too, because Mike and Max have already received various bits of outerwear from El, and he's not about to be left out. And then Robin, of course, will want to know why Steve hasn’t made her anything, once she finds out that he’s making things for the kids.

Steve resigns himself to a busy winter spent under a pile of yarn.

It's not really a hardship.)

[Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Epilogue | Ao3]

#steve & eleven #steddie #steve harrington #el hopper #eddie munson #stranger things #wanted something wintery before christmas hit #I'm sorry if something about the yarny aspect of this is wrong or awkward #I haven't crocheted in years let me live #solar wrote #eddiesteve

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crybaby-bkg · 1 year

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……wanna be bullied by the BakuSquad soooo badly…..

They just push you around so much, disguise it as a little teasing and fun, even though you cry and whine for them to leave you alone. It’s apart of the game, they always tell you once they’ve cornered you into empty rooms, that’s the whole point of playing with such a pretty thing like you.

And you think Mina is better, doesn’t associate herself with those stupid assholes, that you can find comfort in a, hopefully, female friend. But she’s just as icky, as slimy as the rest. She asks you to join her, come spar with her so she can perfect this one move she’s been trying, only for all four boys to already be there in the empty gym.

They all push you around, stand over you and laugh when you sit there and cry, Mina pinching your cheeks when you blubber up to her that you thought she was your friend.

Friends give each other favors, don’t they? She’ll ask you, already slipping her leggings down, already pushing you flat on your back, already stuffing her cunt in your face.

Friends offer themselves up, because they always want everyone around them to feel good, don't they? You hear her ask when you're pushed on your knees and there are too many fingers stuffing your cunt. When there's a weighty cock slapping at your cheeks, a hand squeezing at your face until your mouth drops open. When she comes around and shows you the right way to take a cock down your throat, before she's shoving it down yours next.

Friends like to get used as toys, don't they? She asks you as she sits back to play with her cunt while watching you get used and tugged and manhandled. Like some doll that too rough boys play with and fight over, pulling you and your mouth and your hole every which way they can. You can hear Kirishima and Denki fighting over who gets to fuck your ass first, Sero telling them to just double stuff you as he lazily fucks your mouth, Bakugou snarling from under you that its technically gonna be a triple stuff.

Friends take it all, don't they? She whispers to you, cheek to cheek, as she holds your mouth open to catch the sticky white all the boys shoot on your face. She grins when you nod enthusiastically, attitude turned around and adjusted when you realize that she's right, that she only has your best interest at heart, that this is truly what friends are for.

#I wrote the first few paragraphs in early December wooooowwwieeeee that's so crazy #what is wrong with me #anyway I wanna be bullied by them sooooo so so so so bad okay #they're all so hot and so strong and so mean but so condescending bc they're actually all obsessed with u #and her as the ring leader to lure you in mmmmmm I hear something purring #LMFAO im sorry okay I YAM #—new treat in the streets! 🍫#tw: bullying #bakusquad treats! 🍬

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fruitbythefoot7 · 3 months

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hi this is your friendly reminder that all of the endgame ships (jancy, lumax, byler, jopper) have a very clear parallel between all of them that mlvn very clearly does not have.

in s1, nancy gets stuck in the ud, calls out for jonathan, and is pulled out and into jonathan’s arms.

in s2, will is stuck in one of his ud episodes, calls out for mike, and is pulled out and into mike’s arms.

in s2, hopper is stuck in the ud tunnels, and inevitably gets saved by joyce (who had been calling out his name)

in s4, max is in a trance, calls out for lucas first, and gets pulled out by lucas’s knowledge of what her favorite song is and falls into his arms.

and in s1…el is stuck in the ud, calls out for mike, and gets out completely on her own.

so. what does that say about them?

#sorry if this isn’t coherent i wrote this immediately after waking up #ANYWAYS #tell me i’m wrong #LOOK ME IN THE EYES and tell me that i’m reaching #like????#AND THE WAY THAT THE MLVN AND BYLER PARALLEL WERE IN THE SAME EPISODE????#sorry but if this isn’t proof idk what is #sorry i don’t make the rules byler is gonna be fucking canon #and if it isn’t something is very wrong #byler #jancy #lumax #jopper #anti mileven #byler proof #stranger things #lia talks

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tyrasanege · 10 months

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Sometimes Pinterest it's just like:

they creating shadowpeach theyself

OK, ok Bye~

#monkie kid #lego monkie kid #lmk #monkie kid sun wukong #liu er mihou #monkie kid macaque #sun wukong #six eared macaque #shadowpeach #lmk shadowpeach #secret hashtag #*pff*#Lmao #I've had this for a few weeks now and just now decided to post it.#Sorry if I wrote something wrong in English

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littleseasalt · 5 months

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"forever is a bad dad to richa-" SHUT UP!!!!!

#qsmp #qsmp forever #qsmp richarlyson #id also add in the book he wrote for the egg museum where he talked again about forever being the one who took care of him the most #but i dont have the patience to find it in vods to screenshot it #also sorry but. some people on twitter have been stressing me out A LOT over their opinions on their relationship #ive literally been stressing about it since i woke up i needed to release this stress somehow #< also im thinking of doing a long post talk about what their relationship is and isnt #bc whenever theres angst/fight between them people take it as an opportunity to mischaracterize BOTH forever and richas #in a way that makes it clear that the person 1. doesnt keep up with forevers pov #and 2. only knows richas through one pov #like. ok #disagree with forever however you want youre free to do that #i myself think he was in the wrong in multiple situations (like the tallulah fight day)#BUT SURPRISE!! SAYING HES A BAD DAD IS LITERALLY SO WRONG!!#PEOPLE CAN MESS UP!! PEOPLE CAN MAKE MISTAKE!! NO ONE IS A PERFECT PARENT!!#NO ONE ALREADY KNOWS HOW TO BE THE PERFECT DAD AND THERES NO SUCH THING AS BEING A PERFECT DAD!!#PARENTHOOD IS SOMETHING YOU LEARN ALONG THE WAY!!!#AND LEARNING HOW TO BE A DAD IS A CORE TRAIT OF FOREVERS CHARACTER SINCE DAY ONE!!!!!!!#saying hes a bad dad literally goes against canon statements from richas #saying richas is uncomfortable with forever goes against canon #“oh but i mean in the emotional way” ok so you never watched a forever stream before #because when they fight. richas ALWAYS opens up to forever later on how he felt #the fights HAPPEN because richas is comfortable making drama in front of forever #if richas' didnt feel comfortable he would literally just “suck up” his jealously and not show it often but he does shows it often #if richas was uncomfortable after fights he would just apologize and never talk about his feelings #but after the tallulah fight? he told forever about how romero richas affects his body and how he feels #after the armor fight? he told forever about how he felt towards his own life #to which btw BOTH of these times where he opened up #he had never talked about that with anyone before

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vigilskeep · 4 months

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[ID: reply from @fade-into-dawn saying “Are Keir and Malcolm close?”]

in some ways! they’re very alike, people endlessly said so, and keir always tried to be very like him. he was a good kid, all ser yes ser! he thought the world of his father and his father thought the world of him. but malcolm didn’t say that

keir’s malcolm’s not verbally expressive and he’s not even physically affectionate the way keir is. (you get sort of, like, pats on the back and a firm hand on the shoulder and an arm around his wife, but not a hugger or a hand holder. when keir wordlessly kisses a friend on the cheek as a casual greeting or crushes them into an embrace when he hasn’t seen them in a while, that’s not malcolm at all.) malcolm bottles all that up, circle trauma being what it can sometimes be, making him in some ways more of a true red hawke than keir, who gets significantly bluer talking to people he loves. malcolm didn’t like getting emotional or vulnerable ever, and he didn’t really approve when keir did, even as a kid; he expected him to learn to brush those things off and keep getting up again, because in malcolm’s head he would be exposing himself to danger if he didn’t

it’s hard to exactly call yourself close with someone like that, who doesn’t express affection in more than approving nods and high expectations. especially when they’re a strict authority figure that you put on a massive pedestal, whose approval you want so badly, and who quickly has this idea of you taking up his role of being strong for the family. malcolm liked when keir was tough and independent and handled things himself without coming crying to anyone, because that’s who he thought keir needed to be. so not the kind of closeness where you can share your worries and be comforted

#that still affects keir later. he cant stand himself crying for instance #theres this scene going into something else i wrote where anders justice tries to tell him its fine #nothing wrong with it etc #and he snaps something like ‘take it up with my father’ i forgot the actual line #which is really REALLY jarring and takes them aback more than the crying because under ordinary circumstances pre legacy dlc #keir NEVER ever breathes a word that might be construed as criticism of his father #it gives anders the quite idealised perception of malcolm that he has in canon i think #so its startling to be like hey wait what the fuck #anders and keir’s malcolm is so funny because in anders’ imagination he really admires him #and i think if they actually met they’d get in a pathetic mage fistfight #sorry for giving my boy so many daddy issues btw. i think it’s funny.

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oopys · 10 months

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𝗍𝗁𝖺𝗇𝗄𝗌 𝖿𝗈𝗋 5.1k 𝖿𝗈𝗅𝗅𝗈𝗐𝖾𝗋𝗌 ૮˃̵֊ ˂̵ ა

br : muito obrigada pelos 5k+ de seguidores, fico feliz que gostem do meu conteúdo e me apoiem, sei que ando um pouco inativa por aqui, mas vou tentar a ficar mais frequente e fazer mais post com frequência, peço perdão pelas ask q ainda não respondi. obrigado/a por ler e eu amo vcs <3

eng : thank you so much for the 5k+ followers, I'm glad you like my content and support me, I know I've been a little inactive here, but I'll try to be more frequent and post more frequency, I apologize for the ask that I haven't answered yet. Thanks for reading and i love you <3

𓈒 ˙ ❀ blogs ilsm <3 : @koosuvi @croissantis @minguukie @d-iorpjm @ourphria @iluvrei @rkivsfe @jkoobam @yoonitos @clarihy @chaegute @wonflirtz @webzzo @vmstv @star-koos

#( note : sorry if i wrote something wrong ^^)

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millocutfish · 1 month

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Buddy... You seem to be obsessed with Mychael you know? And do you like fish too? Or is this just decoration?

Maybe I'm a little obsessed with Michael at the moment, but in general, I've never been obsessed with any other character hahaha so there's a first time for everything!

And no, I really like it, or better said, I LOVE FISHES❗It's not just a decoration! (⁠◡⁠ ⁠ω⁠ ⁠◡⁠) I can say that overall I love marine life!

And you'll probably see me drawing myself like a fish soon, as soon as I start posting things other than Mychael fanarts(⁠ ⁠╹⁠▽⁠╹⁠ ⁠)

#Answering questions about myself #I love fish!#ask me anything #This blog is not just dedicated to Mushroom Oasis #Sorry if I wrote something wrong!#my English is rubbish #about me

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st4rstudent · 4 months

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Never trust anyone who has "active in discourse" or some variant in their bio like a badge.

#clemramble #sorry i wrote out a big thing about this specific situation on another website but honestly it is never that serious #an honorable mention. also do not trust people who brag about how many people have them blocked. always something up with them #my biggest tip to enhance your online experience is to BLOOOOCK PEOPLE! BLOCK THEM!!! HIDE THEM AWAY FOREVER!! NO MORE!!!#DO NOT BE TEMPTED BY THE EVILS OF BACK AND FORTH NOWHERE ARGUMENTS. MUTE THEM!! GET THEM OUT OF YOUR SIGHT!!!#THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH BLOCKING OR MUTING THINGS. YOU ARE NOT LOSING IF YOU BLOCK SOMEONE.#(imagine im yelling that directly at the viewer so hard that theres wind motion going on)#“if you block i win” YOU ARE A MISERABLE FIEND AND I HOPE YOU FIND JOY IN LIFE WHERE YOU CANNOT NOW #ok thats all. smiles and sparkles gleam and a squeaky noise is played

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potatobugz · 1 year

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??!?! HOW DO YOU WRITE BRITISH PEOPLE

#rambles #half joke #dear pip pirrup i am sorry for butchering the dialogue so so so badly heellpp #i already want to rewrite the first two chaoters i have written but im debating on it cuz i also dont want to take forever #idk. i guess its my house i can take however long i need 2 to write but idk. i dunno #maybe i can . not post something i wrote at like 1 in the morning hevsjsvsjv #not thag theres anything wrong with that hut also i need to sleep too #sorry i am rambling so much abt this i am . so lost

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salmonseagull · 7 months

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So, I was just thinking… what if Yasha is Viola’s half sibling?

Hear me out, I think it might be a possibility that Leopold is Yasha’s dad. For one Kadia divorced him like right after they had Viola, and, you know, it might’ve just been because he sucks, and that would make perfect sense too, but what if Leopold was cheating on her with another woman and then Kadia found out and that’s why they got divorced so soon after having Viola. I’ve always just found it a bit odd that they divorced right after having her. And then to state the obvious, Yasha has blonde hair and (I think, correct me if I’m wrong) so does Leopold. That is a very loose tie, not everyone with the same hair color are related, obviously, but it could be something that was done on purpose. Anyway, all that could’ve happened and Yasha’s mom went to/back to the Tundra.

WARNING: this is where it gets a bit crazy and unbelievable, but it could connect some things.

This could explain how Audrian found Yasha, since it could be some sort of revenge thing against Leopold. I’m assuming that CAR knew about the affair but not the baby and Leopold obviously didn’t know she was pregnant. Audrian might have been looking for the woman for something against Leopold but found out she had Yasha. This is where it gets a bit fuzzy lol. Maybe Yasha’s mom didn’t want him or something?? Or she died? Idk. But somehow Audrian ended up with him and is using him now as a weapon against Leopold.

Back to Viola and Yasha being siblings. All I’m gonna say is one of their only conversations, and their first, was about Leopold in TWT. Yasha asked about him having three mythic beast and stuff like that. Nothing they talked about there was pointing to being siblings but the fact that they did talk, and about Leopold, is the important part.

But that’s just a theory, a Wilderlore theory. Thanks for reading.

#wilderlore #I’m sorry #I’m aware this is an absolutely insane theory #I felt I had to say something #some of the things matched up too well #this will probably not happen #but you never know…#if anything I said is contradicted in the books please tell me #i wrote this all with a headache #idk what’s wrong with me

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bardinthezone · 1 year

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Night Vale and the Power of Stories

So I’ve been losing my mind about this latest arc. Full hyperfixation. Studying for finals? Calling my parents? Enjoying other hobbies? Eating?? Who’s she, never heard of her. There is only the “#wtnv spoilers” tag.

Anyways, inspired primarily by this post, this post, and this post, I have been thinking about Night Vale as a place of stories.

Night Vale is a deeply weird place. It is a place where all the crazy conspiracies and contradictions and creepy crawlies can coexist (try saying that 5 times fast), and it is built on stories.

We know from “109: A Story About Huntokar” that Huntokar singlehandedly saved the town from nuclear destruction in 1983. This in and of itself is beautiful, tragic, terrifying and wonderful (I could write a whole essay on the lasting effects of the Cold War on the American psyche and how that’s impacted our media, but that’s not what this post is about). But what Huntokar says in describing this moment is fascinating: “ The people of Night Vale huddled, waiting for the end to their story.” The use of the word “story” here is so poignant and poetic. This was her town, a narrative she had lovingly followed since its inception, with an ever rotating cast of characters, finally seeming as though it would come to an end. And yet she managed to continue their story. The people of Night Vale, of every alternate universe Night Vale, are kept alive because Huntokar wanted to keep the narrative going. It is a town kept alive-- inverted and shattered and bizarre, but alive-- because someone saw the tale coming to an end and wasn’t satisfied with that. Night Vale is a place of stories.

And Cecil. Cecil Gershwin-Palmer is such a wonderful enigma. He’s a deeply troubled man, he’s the town’s beloved radio host, he is the voice of Night Vale. As the town’s only (?) regular source of news, he carries incredible weight in shaping the public’s perception of reality. It is his radio show that keeps the people informed through all of these earth-shattering events-- it is Cecil who, for as goofy and cringefail (thank you @bigcommunist for that phrase) as he can be, has been responsible for keeping his citizens safe. In “227: A Word With Dr. Jones,” Dr. Janet Lubelle notes that one of his traits is “town leadership.” When Cecil speaks, things happen. He rallies the people, against Strexcorp or the Beagle Puppy or Steve Carlsberg and his dry, dry scones. Hell, he says “weather” and everyone stops, or sometimes (Like in “204: Audition”) it literally saves his life. @lostboywriting raises a fascinating theory about Cecil having inadvertently brought the Faceless Old Woman into existence through his repression of his complicated relationship with his mother-- and while this contradicts with the backstory presented in "The Faceless Old Woman Who Secretly Lives Inside Your Home," who’s to say that both origins can’t be true, with how splintered and fractured Night Vale’s existence (and especially relation to time) is? Perhaps Cecil, as the Voice Of Night Vale, is capable of changing the world more than he knows.

Either way, this is why Dr. Lubelle’s Explaining of the town has so much of a tangible effect on it-- because she’s coming in and using something “empirical” to change the narrative. That is why she’s so threatening-- because how do you argue with the facts? How do you argue with science? She is using logic to insist that her reality is right, that these stories and poetics used to keep the town alive are meaningless. That it would be better for them to not exist than to exist outside her narrative. She said it herself-- she cannot imagine that anyone thinks differently to herself about anything, and she is all to happy to provide any who disagrees with an Explanation. No matter the cost.

In 227, Cecil remarks that “Science is not good or bad, as language is not good or bad, as religion is not good or bad, because humans are not inherently good or bad.” This sets up a fascinating play between science, language, and religion that I think is perfectly encapsulated by Dr. Lubelle, representing science, Cecil, representing language, and Huntokar, representing religion. Whether she knows it or not, Dr. Lubelle is directly undoing all of the hard work of Huntokar, and attempting to use Cecil as the most powerful tool at her disposal.

And this works in conjunction with my distinction of the What vs. the Why. We can take the incursion point of November 7th, 1983, and view it through both lenses. From Huntokar’s perspective, we get the Why: Night Vale was in danger, and it needed saving, so she saved it. But from Dr Lubelle’s perspective, we just get the What: Night Vale was the target of a nuclear missile. Nuclear missiles are unstoppable by any force known to science. This is a town that should have been empty for 40 years.

I posit a world in which Dr. Lubelle reduces Night Vale to what it “should be:” A town ruined by nuclear destruction. The empirical facts, the anchors that held Night Vale down to reality, the threads that Huntokar broke-- Dr. Lubelle is seeking to tie them back together. And with the Voice of Night Vale on her side, Explained and ready to share the Truth, of course she can make that happen. Perhaps Huntokar takes center stage again to show that science is not the end-all-be-all. Perhaps Carlos steps in to replace Dr. Lubelle as the Scientist in this equation, to provide a good alternative to her callous methods.

Or I could be totally off-base with that prediction. I imagine the bodies being dug up in the sand wastes and the murals of flesh will play a major role in the finale. Maybe she’ll uncover the splintered realities of Night Vale and won’t know how to explain them away. Hell, people keep hyping up a Desert Bluffs return, what with the Sandstorm tapes and the talk of doubles-- Maybe Kevin and Lauren will be the “religion” in the triumvirate, and drive Dr. Lubelle mad with their unrelenting fervor. Who knows? I have my theories, but I’m just excited to see where this all goes.

Also from a meta perspective, this is 100% harkening back to all those early-days fan theories that “Night Vale is a normal town and Cecil is just off his rocker” (Thanks @maxgicalgirl for that one!). Welcome To Night Vale is a show that has never been about continuity and tight lore-- it’s about spinning a fun narrative, it’s about the poetry, the music, the aesthetics; it’s about everything that Dr. Lubelle HATES. From a meta perspective, Dr. Lubelle is every theorist who tries to ruin the magic of a story, who nitpicks it endlessly because it doesn’t adhere to how the “real world” functions. She doesn’t care about why story elements are included, she just needs what’s included to adhere to her worldview. And I can’t wait to see her get taken down, no matter how it happens.

Thanks again to @maxgicalgirl, @lostboywriting, @eclipse-song, and everyone who’s been sharing their thoughts about the latest arc on tumblr. I would not be writing this without y’all!!

#im sorry to everyone who says shes hot but shes basically a colonizer #''im new to your community but your culture is backwards and wrong''#''let me fix it with my superior science and reasoning''#shes so evil i hate her /pos #finknor wrote her so well #and janet varney is an incredible VA #i cannot express how much I love this arc so far #i really hope we get more on the 1983 storyline because that is just positively fascinating #a town that should have died long ago #that should have been reduced to ashes #and yet here they are #lubelle would fucking hate that if she found out #also WHATS GONNA HAPPEN TO EVERYONE WHO GETS EXPLAINED???#cause if cecil is getting explained i dont think itll be permanent #but #ough its just so GOOD #also carlos. my man. where are you. when are you gonna show yourself #when will we get to know your tragic backstory cause there is SOMETHING going on there #i swear she was just trying to get to carlos and the rest of the town was an added bonus #wtnv spoilers #wtnv 227 #wtnv #welcome to night vale #welcome to night vale spoilers #cecil gershwin palmer #dr janet lubelle #uowii #huntokar

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