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orionsangel86 · 14 days

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Lucienne/Lucien - How the Librarian Became the Chief.

In The Sandman Netflix adaptation Lucienne is a stand out character and second only to Morpheus in importance, screen time, and centrality to the story. Lucienne is Morpheus's loyal Librarian, second in command, ruler of the Dreaming in his absence, and often times a voice of reason and advice for our dutiful King of Dreams. She is so well respected in her position that the other castle residents consider her their boss and would rather go to her for guidance and command than Morpheus himself. She takes care of Dream's ravens and even appears to have the power to create new ravens from newly deceased mortals like she did with Matthew. She is clearly extremely close to Morpheus, and is one of very few people he seems to actually listen to and trust. Lucienne's role in this story can not be underestimated.

So it may come as a surprise to any fans of the show who haven't read the comics to learn that Lucien (as he is called in the comics) is afforded very few of the above traits. In fact Lucien is no where near as close to Morpheus even by the very end of the story, as Lucienne is at the beginning. It is this difference that has fascinated me since I first started diving into the comics after falling in love with the show, and its something I view as extremely important when considering how the story is being adapted into a kinder, more sympathetic universe surrounding our central protagonist.

Lucienne's role is expanded greatly from her comic counterpart, and her relationship with Morpheus is shown to be much deeper. This is evident practically right away at the end of episode one when Lucienne comes to greet Morpheus upon his return to the Dreaming following his escape.

The way she runs over to him as soon as she realises he is back, and lovingly takes his hand and is so pleased to see him is a far cry from the comic where the first thing Lucien does is bow.

So right at the start we see a very different form of relationship here. Where Lucienne is already displaying a level of care and devotion beyond the expectations of a servant, Lucien however, is exactly that.

The servant thing has caused a bit of contention among fandom in the past. I think the confusion could come from whether or not you see Lucien or Lucienne first. Lucien IS a servant of Dream. Lucienne is more like a vice president and royal advisor. Those are two very different things after all and that difference only becomes more obvious the further you go into the story.

Lucienne accompanies Morpheus throughout his return to his crumbling kingdom, helps him as he attempt to repair the damage, follows him to Cain and Abel, and watches over his meeting with the Fates. She is by his side from the moment he returns until the moment he leaves again for the waking world to begin his quest to recover his tools, and she is responsible for Matthew's reincarnation as the new Raven and instructs Matthew to stay with him because of her concern for Morpheus's wellbeing on his quest.

I cannot stress enough how much none of this is in the comics. Lucienne shows a level of care towards Morpheus that just isn't present in Lucien in the comics. After the first meeting with Lucien at the gates of the Dreaming, Lucien doesn't appear again until he is instructed by Morpheus to conduct the census of the Dreaming. He only appears again in the Doll's House very briefly and has no involvement in Morpheus's decisions during that arc, which takes place very rarely in the Dreaming.

That's not to say that Lucien isn't a very trusted servant of Morpheus. He is the closest to Morpheus of all the residents of the Dreaming except only Matthew. But I think a lot of what we see in the show of Morpheus and Lucienne's dynamic is inspired by much later in the comics. I also think that it speaks loudly to the change in Morpheus as a character. Show!Morpheus has people almost right away who care about him and want to help him, whereas comic!Morpheus is extremely isolated. It is clear in the early comic stories that comic!Morpheus keeps himself at arms length from basically everyone. He does not have a bond with Lucien, he did not have Jessamy, and at that early stage, he didn't even have Matthew. All of this of course was primarily to make show!Morpheus a more sympathetic and likeable character - you gotta give your protagonist people who care about them, it helps raise the stakes after all.

Taking Charge - Lucienne is the real boss

One of my favourite parts of the Dolls House episodes in the Netflix show is the conflict between Morpheus and Lucienne due to the other residence and Dreaming servants going to her for advice and instruction first rather than Morpheus. Bearing in mind this only takes place less than a year after Morpheus's return from imprisonment, it speaks volumes as to how Lucienne has taken the role of leader of the Dreaming in her stride.

But it also indicates how Morpheus' change in the show is coming at lightening fast speed compared to the comic. In the comic, Mervyn doesn't make these observations until the Brief Lives arc, and this is indicated at that point to be a very new thing - triggered by several years post fish bowl of having to face his past decisions and mistakes (and a string of scorned ex lovers one after the other ending in a horribly matched rebound relationship with a murderous witch that subsequently rejected him and triggered him literally seeking out destruction). Lucien was only put in charge of the Dreaming when Morpheus left to go on his trip with Delirium. It is during that trip that Morpheus realises how competent Lucien is and capable of running things without problem in his absence.

Mervyn's insights are made clear here:

This is the only time in the comic that anyone dares mention that someone other than Morpheus might be the boss - and it is in no way as directly spelled out as it is in the show. "You're practically running the place" and "you secretly run this place" are quite different statements. The first only makes an observation about Morpheus's current lack of interest (in Brief Lives) in actually running his realm. It implies that Lucien is doing Morpheus' job for him, but does not go as far as to outright call Lucien the boss. Whereas in the show, that's exactly what Mervyn does.

In the comic, Morpheus overhears Mervyn's speech and immediately points out his reasoning for leaving Lucien in charge, for promoting him and giving him more authority.

Because no one ever technically undermines Morpheus in the comic, there is no conflict here. Morpheus trusts Lucien as his loyal servant and gives him the power to rule in his stead (but only when he is absent) and there is no "secretly report to Lucien first" attitude among Matthew and Mervyn. We can perhaps interpret that this might be happening behind the scenes by this point in Brief Lives, or even just before the BL arc when Morpheus was distracted by his rebound murderess, but it is never actually directly stated that this is going on.

The tension between Morpheus and Lucienne in the show is born out of the conflict over Lucienne's position and Morpheus feeling undermined by his subjects, and its storytelling gold. But the only reason such a story works in the show is because Lucienne is so important to Morpheus in the show, because their relationship goes so much deeper than the relationship in the comic. Lucienne is not a servant, she's his god damn vice president and she knows it, and he knows it too. Throughout episodes 7 and 8 specifically he reaches out to her for her opinion and advice on the Vortex situation. He talks things through with her and seeks out her guidance. It is clear that he relies on her and it is only at the end of episode 8 when Lucienne disagrees with his punishment of Gault, that in his anger, he dismisses her.

Lucien/ne the Royal Advisor

Where Morpheus in the show seeks out Lucienne's advice and opinion frequently especially during the Doll's House arc, I have to stress that this never happens in the comic. Comic!Morpheus just does not have that kind of relationship with Lucien and does not seek his counsel at all, even though Lucien does try to give it on occassion, usually when Morpheus is about to do something extremely stupid and probably damaging to himself and the Dreaming. To name a couple times:

Season of Mists - before Morpheus returns to Hell:

Brief Lives - before seeking Destruction:

You'll note that in both these times Lucien's words of caution are completely ignored.

You'll also notice that in both times Lucien is taking a path of polite caution. Lucien very rarely speaks his mind to Morpheus, because he knows it won't get him very far to do so. The only time Lucien truly loses his cool and speaks freely is in The Kindly Ones (spoiler alert)

At this point in the comic story Morpheus has basically all but given up and accepted his fate and its fucking depressing AF. Lucien is well within his right to shake the bastard HARD and snap him TF out of it. I STILL think he was too restrained here tbh!

My point here is that Lucienne already speaks her mind quite freely around Morpheus in the show. She expresses her opinions and thoughts and gives him her advice. This is such a well established dynamic by the point of the argument that it is clear that Lucienne is offended by Morpheus's dismissal of her.

Take this exchange from episode 9:

Lucienne: "Rose is weakening the walls between realms" Matthew: "You gonna tell the Boss?" Lucienne: "No." Matthew: "No?" Lucienne: "It's none of my business." Matthew: "Er, since WHEN?" Lucienne: "Since Lord Morpheus reminded me that I'm merely a librarian and should concern myself with my books from now on." Matthew: "He said that?! What's wrong with him!" Lucienne: "Nothing is wrong with him. He's always been this way. He's just been away so long I'd forgotten. He's determined to deal with the vortex and the missing Arcana by himself. Without anyones help. So any news must be reported directly and exclusively to him."

It's worth pointing out here that whilst this is framed as Morpheus being a stubborn idiot, in the comic, he does in fact deal with the vortex and the missing Arcana by himself mostly and is not so much helped but saved at the last moment by Unity Kinkaid who realises what is happening in a dream and goes to save Rose, which also saves Morpheus from Desire's trap.

In the show, Morpheus has people who care enough about him and his realm to want to get involved and help him, not out of a desire to undermine him, but simply because they care about him. That is a drastic change from the comic at this point. Morpheus in the comic is constantly shown to be struggling under the burden of his own responsibilities and this is highlighted by the fact that he doesn't really get any support or assistance, and is far too prideful to ask for it. Lucien gets the promotion and chance to rule in his absence, but it is never framed as a job he shares with Morpheus - at no point does Lucien take the burden of his responsibilities off of him. This is no Samwise Gamgee "I can carry you" moment unfortunately. Lucien does not have the power nor the bond with Morpheus to undertake such a task because Morpheus keeps him at arms length throughout the comics - but Lucienne? Well, time will tell how that may change.

An Apology from the King

In a shock horror twist that comic!Morpheus would sooner die than do himself (ha) the great emo King of the Netflix universe gives Lucienne an apology for his behaviour (sort of).

Episode 9 displays the tension between Morpheus and Lucienne following their "break up" perfectly. Morpheus is clearly in the wrong, and Lucienne is clearly hurt by his dismissal of her support. Yet even after the fight, he still seeks out her advice in determining the cause of the disturbances in the Dreaming. He goes to her first before investigating himself (something that comic!Morpheus wouldn't even consider doing) and is surprisingly capable in swallowing his pride here even though it is clearly a struggle for him.

Later in the episode, once he realises that Lucienne was right about the disturbances, he seeks her out to tell her so, and to confirm that she was right and he was wrong. This is again something that I can't fathom comic!Morpheus doing, even nearer the end of the story I don't believe he does so, certainly not to Lucien. Fiddlers Green drums this point home when he says this:

Fiddlers Green: "... still his time there appears to have changed him as it has changed me." Lucienne: "How so?" Fiddlers Green: "Lucienne, he came to you and told you he was wrong. It was very nearly an apology. The Morpheus I knew was incapable of that."

This further reinforces not just how much Morpheus has changed in a short time, but also how much he respects and cares about Lucienne and their continued relationship.

Platonic Life Partners? Co Ruler and Closest Confident of the Dream King

When I set out to write this meta, it was with the aim to highlight Lucienne's elevated role from her comic counterpart. To try to stress the importance of her character in the show and what this means for the future of the story in the show. By the end of the last episode, Lucienne is practically granted co-ruler status of the Dreaming while Morpheus works on his creations. He asks her if she can "take care of things while he works" which she agrees "with pleasure".

I just... I can NOT stress ENOUGH how much comic!Morpheus needed this person in his life. Even though Lucien looks after the Dreaming whilst Morpheus is away in Season of Mists and Brief Lives, it is always as a last resort with Morpheus continuing to check in on Lucien during Brief Lives as if he expects trouble, and he always seems a bit confused when Lucien tells him all is fine. As if he can't quite understand how the Dreaming could be okay without him there (and I mean, after the trauma of watching your realm which is also technically a part of you crumble to dust I suppose you would be a bit attached to it!).

Comic!Morpheus constantly struggles under the weight of his responsibility. His entire thing is that he is desperate to step away and not be who he is but he simply does not have it in him to do that. He is far too bound by his rules and responsibilities. For Morpheus in the show to be given someone to support him in his rule as King and assist him with the burden of his responsibilities is actually a hugely mindblowing change to the comic, and could honestly have huge repercussions on the story going forward. Not only that, but the Morpheus in the comics is painfully lonely. He desperately needs companionship but he keeps everyone at arms length. He never allows his subjects to get too close to him, even Lucien. Even Matthew isn't afforded the same level of closeness in the comics as he is in the show. In the comics, the ONLY character who Morpheus is close to is Death. Which says a lot by itself. The second character he gets closer to as time goes on is Delirium. Which also says a lot. Think of the characters in terms of their concepts. Morpheus has no close friends in the comics (even his relationship with Hob Gadling in the comic doesn't have half the impact it does in the show) and keeps all those he interacts with at arms length except for Delirium and Death.

But show!Morpheus? He has a Matthew who is already so very devoted to him, a Hob Gadling who waited an extra 33 years on hope alone that he would return to him, and a Lucienne who rules by his side, offers him support, guidance, counsel, companionship and probably a good helping of love. How can this Morpheus possibly carry the same deep loneliness as his comic counterpart? How can this Morpheus be buckling under the weight of his duties when he already has his Samwise Gamgee right there by his side? It poses an interesting question for how the show will handle future story arcs, though it could all prove to simply make for a much more painful story, where we happen to have many more characters to react and show the deeply painful grief that we all feel at his eventual passing - or maybe, just maybe, this is a universe where Hope never died...

#the sandman #dream of the endless #lucienne the librarian #lucien the librarian #sandman meta #sandman analysis #sandman comic spoilers #sandman speculation #dreaming librarian day #lucienne the sandman #this got away from me a bit #and it is 1am and I am posting it #even though it prob needs an edit #but i set out to post today and i damn well will #well its still today in america anyway #I hope you all enjoy this #now i plan to go visit the dreaming #goodnight and sweet dreams zzzzzzz

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steventhusiast · 11 months

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IM LATE BUT LIKE WHATEVER i just decided im gonna try and commit to @steddie-week so DAY 1: somebody to love by queen

when steve and eddie first tell the party about their relationship, a lot of them are a little confused. especially nancy. at first glance, the pair makes no sense at all.

steve is a soft soul that really enjoys basketball. he was a jock in high school, and doesn't really have any higher ambition in life than to make enough money to live and be with his loved ones. his favourite artists are the likes of tears for fears and abba. the hobbies he's most committed to are baking sweet treats and watching reality tv with claudia henderson.

and then there's eddie, who in a lot of ways is the antithesis to that.

he almost exclusively wears dark clothes that look three days away from falling apart, he despises sport. he was an outcast in high school, and even though he barely made it to graduation (a few years later than he should've) he is full to the brim of ideas and big ambitions. he's pretentious about music, hates pop and loves metal music. and he's a nerd.

they don't have much in common, so nancy's surprised they work as friends let alone as a couple. then again, she doesn't know eddie too well past what she's already said.

so her and a lot of the party don't really get it at first. until they're having a party over summer break, and everyone's out in the hopper-byers backyard watching hopper grill burgers for everyone and there's music playing through speakers somewhere.

the younger party members are all excitedly chatting amongst themselves, and the teens are sat leaning back on the grass. eddie and steve aren't cuddling for once, settling for linking pinkies as they lean back on their hands.

the song that was playing ends, and a new song starts. freddie mercury's voice starts singing, and nancy doesn't think she's ever seen steve move so fast in all her years of knowing him.

"can anybody find me somebody to love?"

freddie mercury is barely on the second word of that first line when steve and eddie's heads whip around to be facing each other. twin grins are on their faces, and they've jumped up together by the time the first line's over. steve seems to lose steam as he realises a lot of the party are now looking at them incredulously, and his cheeks suddenly have a red tint to them.

eddie immediately grabs steve's hands and starts dramatically serenading him. if nancy thought eddie was a little dramatic from overhearing mike retelling hellfire club anecdotes, she thinks he's extremely dramatic now she's seen his antics in the flesh.

he's gently swinging his and steve's hands as he encourages steve to dance with him. steve just smiles at his boyfriend, a little shy and a lot fond, but eddie's not put off in the slightest. he keeps gently pulling at steve's hands until steve gives in and starts moving to the music with him.

by the time the first verse is over, steve's almost as into it as eddie is, and nancy has never steve like this.

"i work hard, every day of my life." eddie sings along loudly, and steve sings the other part.

"he works hard." he sings softly with a smile.

his confidence amps up as the song goes on, and his dance moves get more and more ridiculous and less restrained as eddie encourages him and laughs with him as they sing. by the time it gets to the instrumental break, the entire party is watching them with smiles and singing along in some way.

the steve nancy dated would never be caught dead doing something like this, but here current steve is, back to back with eddie as they both dramatically play the air guitar. nancy looks toward robin to see if she's as shocked as she is at this display. but robin is just rolling her eyes, like she sees antics like this on the daily. she shakes her head at something dustin says to her, and then yells at the couple.

"i thought you promised to stop doing this every time this song came on?" she tries to look annoyed as she yells over the song, but fails massively.

steve stops his dramatics for a second, and points at her dramatically.

"you asking us to do that is exactly why i am doing this in front of everyone." he claims, and gets a (subtle, because everyone respects joyce) middle finger in return from robin.

"his pettiness knows no bounds, buckley, you should know this! you can only take so much of the mean girl out of the jock." eddie adds on, and that gets the pair another middle finger.

steve throws his head back as he laughs, and nancy smiles at him. he looks a lot happier than she's seen him in a long time. probably happier than she's ever seen him, actually.

"find me, find me, find me love."

as the last little bit of the song plays out, and steve and eddie dramatically fall on top of robin to dog pile her, nancy decides that maybe steve and eddie do make sense.

even in seemingly polar opposites, there is common ground.

-> day two

#this got away from me a bit #queen means so much to me on a family gathering level #we have traditions of bohemian rhapsody being the last song we play and everyone has to dance together #so that inspired this #steddie #steddie week #steddieweek2023 #steddie ficlet #steve harrington #eddie munson #stranger things #mywriting

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soars22 · 2 months

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Chayanne can feel his body trembling as he crouches inside the hastily carved pumpkin. His father- no, Him, not his father, not anymore-steps closer and closer to his hiding spot.

“Chayanneee…. Where are yoouuu….???”

There’s a venom in his voice that Chayanne has never heard before and it’s all he can do to keep still, to keep quiet. For whatever reason, Endza can’t see him in here but if he moves or makes a sound, it’s over. He has to keep quiet and still or it’ll be too late.

“Chayanneee… come out come out wherever you are… you can’t hide from me forever, you silly little egg…come out and play with your dad!”

Chayanne bites the meat of his hand to stop himself from crying out. He’s never been this scared before, not from his Nightmare, not from the code attacks, not even from the weeks he and the others spent on their own on Egg Island. This is a different kind of fear, because this is supposed to be his dad-this is supposed to be the one person who will always keep him safe but it’s not him anymore. Chayanne isn’t sure he ever will be again.

Endza pauses beside the pumpkin where Chayanne is hidden and draws in a deep breath. “Chayanneee….” he growls and lets out a hiss. “Stupid fucking egg.”

Chayanne closes his eyes as he hears Endza’s footsteps slowly fade away. Just to be safe, he counts to a hundred and then counts to a hundred again before he finally lets out a shaky breath and clambers out of the pumpkin. He’s safe for now. He’s safe and now he just needs to find Tallulah-

“Found you-“ a horrible voice hisses behind him and Chayanne screams as a dark, clawed hand seizes the back of his neck. And then the world goes dark and he knows no more.

#qsmp #qsmp chayanne #qsmp philza #Endza #enderking #tw implied child death #this got away from me a bit #uhh… sorry….#everything I write is angst I don’t understand

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formosusiniquis · 1 year

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Role Swap AU where Chrissy Cunningham is the queen bee of Hawkins High. She’s bitchy and a little cruel and she runs around town with Tammy Thompson and Tammy’s boyfriend Jason. Everyone hates her, they love her, they want her, they want to be her. And Chrissy has set her sights on Jonathan Byers, the only guy in school who seemingly does not even remotely care about who she is or what she’s doing, she’s obsessed. She’s not used to having to make the first move, usually boys come to her and she decides who is worth her time, it’s a process this change in dynamic. So when Jonathan’s friend Nancy’s little brother goes missing she has her opening. She invites Jonathan and Nancy and Nancy’s friend Barb -- that she never goes anywhere without -- to a party, just to get their mind off of things. It’ll be fun.

Nancy doesn’t go, “She just doesn’t know how to let loose and have a little fun Jonny,” is Chrissy’s answer, “it’s so sweet that you brought Barb though I bet she never gets invited to parties like this.” Cause mean girl shit is always just a little different than mean boy shit. Barb still goes missing. Chrissy and Jonathan don’t sleep together but he does stay the night.

Meanwhile Will Byers has a lot going on. His best friend is missing, his mom just got remarried and now he has a sister that people keep calling his twin, and Max found a boy in the woods with a number tattooed on his arm. He likes Jane, they were friends long before Mom started dating her Dad but he doesn’t like that all of a sudden he’s supposed to act like they’re some big happy family. Luckily his Mom is still adjusting to housing and feeding two more people and Dus(ten) can hide out in the attic and Will can sneak food up to him without it being too suspicious. Dustin has weird powers, keeps tapping into the radio his Mom leaves on or accidentally making his walkie talkie pick up Hopper’s police radio.

Karen Wheeler is on her last fucking leg. Her son is missing, her baby boy, and Ted’s only suggestion for help is to keep plying her with uppers so she can stay awake longer wondering when her son is going to be home. Things come to a head when she faints in the grocery store, she’d been light headed all day and something about reaching for Mike’s favorite cereal had her giving way completely. When she comes to, she's staring up at Claudia Henderson, such a lovely woman, a nurse at Hawkins General she set Mike’s arm after he’d had an accident playing with Ted. She asks if she can go with Karen to search the woods again for Mike. Rounded curves, rounded smile, Karen can’t believe that someone believes her that something has taken her boy.

Nancy Wheeler just won’t stay out of Chrissy’s fucking way. She’s asking questions and poking her button fucking nose into everything. And what’s worse now she’s stealing her fucking boyfriend. Maybe it’s wrong. Maybe she’s let Tammy get too far into her head, but it’s a little satisfying ripping up her stupid little notebook.

Dustin can feel Mike Wheeler. Can feel that boy in the bad place who loves his friends and his dragons and his Mom. Dustin keeps trying to get to him, and his new friend Will keeps telling him to stop making all the radios in the house scream and fuzz.

Her head aches. She’s tired. Coffee is safer than those little pills that Ted keeps giving her. A new bottle every time he finds something he doesn’t like in the house. Dinner is late, more pills. The pillows in his chair are flat, more pills. They stare at her but they leave her unfocused and jittery. She has to be focused. Mike is so close, she can feel him. Claudia doesn’t judge her, but Karen can see the way she looks at those little bottles. So different from the way she looks at the lite-brites that are spread across the basement.

It’s not a smear campaign. Not when perfect little Nancy Wheeler is cornering her boyfriend in the dark room. It’s just the truth, Chrissy knows the kind of stuff she’s gotten up to in the dark room, or the kind of things she wanted to get up to if she weren’t worried about getting called a slut. Maybe Nancy should have worried a little bit more about optics and a little bit less about getting to the bottom of things, she’s a reporter shouldn’t she know how vicious the rumor mill can be. The sight of a pistol tucked into a pocket book, the feeling of well manicured nails against her cheek make her think for the first time that maybe she shouldn’t have let Tammy convince her to write rumors on the bathroom wall.

Dustin says he can get Mike back. That the body they saw in the quarry wasn’t real. Will believes even if Jane and Max are skeptical.

Chrissy goes to the Wheeler house, she’s turned the tides of the rumor mill. Tammy has become a tonedeaf, jealous bitch -- and one of those things is true -- and Nancy has become the victim. Jonathan is there, and she tries to convince herself that there was nothing to worry about until he’s shoving her out the door telling her to run to get out. She does. She doesn’t. There’s a monster in the Wheeler house, it crawls from the basement.

And so it goes.

Then Claudia finds a rain soaked boy in the woods. He’s so small. She takes him home.

Then the Sinclairs move in down the road from Chrissy. A sweet family, it’s hard though to see a family with two small children moving in when she knows there are monsters in the world now. She tries to pretend that everything is normal, but the strain is there, and whether it’s her or Jon things are going bad. It’s hard to blame Nancy Wheeler for it this time.

There’s something wrong with Mike. Something is wrong with her baby. It’s so fortunate that Claudia is a nurse. She’s been cutting back on her shifts at the hospital, but she had told Karen that she could call anytime.

The shoe drops. Jonathan is sweet when he ends things, but Chrissy has never been one to let things go without a fight. She’s prepared to apologize. To ask for one more shot. When a red head with an attitude grabs her. She’s pretty sure her dog ate her step brother and Chrissy seems more capable than Hopper. Next thing she knows she’s got the Byers-Hopper kids, Max, and the neighbor kid from up the road hiding in the back of a bus while she tries her best to backhand spring her way into knowing how to swing a softball bat. Max’s dog looks an awful lot like the monster from the Wheeler basement.

And so it goes.

The summer comes and Chrissy needs to get away from her mom. She gets a job at the mall, but she’s waited so long the only places hiring are in the food court, absolutely not happening, and the record store. The record store where she ends up working with Eddie ‘the Freak’ Munson.

Eddie didn’t plan to work at the mall, he didn’t want to work at this neon colored capitalist hellscape, but if he gets busted for possession one more time he’s not sure that Hopper is going to look the other way. The record store is hiring at least, he plans on taking full advantage of the employee discount this summer. Then Queen Chrissy walks in in all of her Ralph Lauren Gap glory.

Chrissy was not a good person in high school, she knows that, but she put her head so far down last year that she managed to graduate early. The hostility coming off of her new coworker is a lot more than she expected. He’s started a board to count the number of times a guy comes in to hit on her and critiques each one ruthlessly. Nerd, jock, and tragic each category has several tallies in it. Maybe it’s the popular kid solidarity or maybe she is becoming a bigger person through the power of babysitting, she feels bad that Steve Harrington is the only one who ends up getting included in the Tragic category. He comes in a lot in his tiny blue Scoops uniform but he hasn’t tried to talk to her once.

Unexpected as it seems, Queen Chrissy is apparently the founding member of the Hawkins chapter of the babysitters club. It’s a never ending parade of children marching through the door and demanding to see her. The Byers boy is his favorite, but the Wheeler kid that had gone missing a couple years ago always has a haunted look on his face. The little curly haired one with the gap teeth seemed to startle her when he came running by, he’s loud and has no sense of what should be an inside thought and not an outside thought, but once he assures her that his mom knows where he is she’s letting him and the oldest Sinclair in through the back to sneak into the movies.

Something weird is coming in through the radio Dustin tricked out with his powers for her. It’s picking up a lot more than the rock station from Indianapolis. Max knows Chrissy will be able to help, she doesn’t expect her new neighbor to be working with her babysitter but she’s heard the shit he gets into at night he should at least be able to figure out if she’s just picking up a radio station all the way in Russia. She brings Erica with her, Lucas has been weird lately hanging out with Dustin a lot lately and ignoring her. She’s not jealous but if he’s gonna hang out with other people she can gossip with his younger sister.

And so it goes.

She’s got no right to be jealous. She is though. Who the hell does Robin Buckley think she is, stealing her kids. All Max can talk about is how cool Robin is. How she doesn’t care what anyone thinks of her. How she’s in the band. How she’s going to teach Max how to play the drums. Oh Chrissy, did you know that Robin speaks three languages? Chrissy, Robin’s gonna teach us how to say Italian curse words. Robin stood up to Jason for us. Robin, Robin, Robin. Who the fuck is this girl who can just swoop in an make her kids fall all over themselves to sing her praises. They don’t even like Eddie this much and he’s a DnD playing rocker with an unlimited stash of weed. But somehow a band nerd whose only friend is second year senior Steve Harrington has her kids wrapped around her stupid finger.

The last thing Eddie Munson ever expected was to stumble on Steve Harrington lurking at skull rock. Or at least not lurking alone. He startles when he sees Eddie, not fear, just surprise. There’s something desperate and haunted in his eyes when he looks up at Eddie. And then the captain of every team of Hawkins high is begging, begging for Eddie to hand over anything he’s got that will make him forget he’s even a person. He doesn’t deal anymore, not really. He’s promised Wayne and Chrissy and Red and even Karen fucking Wheeler that he would stop. Sticking to stuff that nature provides doesn’t feel like lying. Eddie really doesn’t want to leave someone as fucked up as Steve here alone. It doesn’t hurt that he’s pretty and that shaky little laugh that Eddie manages to pull from him. It’s only a little lie when he tells Steve Harrington to meet him at the trailer park after the game.

One more thing Chrissy can’t stand about Robin, she’s somehow got Eddie attending a basketball game. They’re all there to support Lucas but normally it’s a fight to get the nerdiest of them in the stands. Sure he’s spending more time looking at Steve Harrington, warming the stands with the rest of them now, than he is at Buckley but she knows the band geek is at fault here somehow. She’s really trying to not be a bitch about it but maybe jealousy like her hair and her eyes is just one more wretched thing she got from her mother.

Steve Harrington is floating, and not in the way people usually claim to when they come to Eddie. His eyes are blank and unseeing and Eddie is sure that he’s about to watch the once captain of the basketball team die right in front of him. Then Robin Buckley, screaming and inconsolable and inexplicably in the passenger seat, bumps the radio in her frantic rush to get to her best friend. Bowie starts blaring from the speakers, the neighbors dog starts barking, Max comes out of her trailer and screams. Then Steve Harrington falls out of the sky.

If she could get one thing out of life it would be to finally be free of the Upside Down. But instead she’s in a fiery red hellscape with her ex boyfriend, her platonic soulmate, her arch nemesis, and the human embodiment of a golden retriever. Insult to injury, injury being the giant fucking chunk missing from her side -- maybe now her mom will lay off for a bit, surely now she’s at goal weight -- and the insult being how hot Robin looks covered in the barest hints of demo blood. Even if she won’t shut up about rabies.

Steve is handling this much better than Eddie did the first time. Bouncing around literal hell, sticking very close to his side. It makes him feel a little braver, this beautiful boy looking at him like he’s an action star. He just hopes they all make it out this time. He’s got a bad feeling.

And so it goes.

Steve Harrington is probably going to be hard of hearing for the rest of his life, blood leaking from his ears and left arm broken in two places by the time they take care of Vecna. Robin lost a chunk of her large intestine -- and half a tit, let’s really focus on the important things here Cunningham, I was already only a B cup. But they’re both alive. They’re all alive. Eddie’s been posted up by Steve’s bedside, slowly and patiently teaching a prep sign language, something he wouldn’t have even thought about doing a couple months ago.

Chrissy, the most oblivious bisexual that Eddie has ever had the misfortune of trauma bonding with, has fallen ass over tit for Robin Buckley and refuses to do anything about it. It’d be sweet if it weren’t so goddamn sad. They’re holding hands on Robin’s hospital bed, laughing at a soap that’s playing on the TV. Until Steve screws his face up into the most intimidating little jock scowl he can, a look that doesn’t work as well outside of the locker filled halls of Hawkins High, and demands she stop stringing along his best friend. Robin looks mortified but the challenge lights something up in the late Queen Cunningham. She sets her sights on Robin now. Chrissy Cunningham may not be queen anymore, but she’s still a little bitchy and she always gets what she wants.

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tangerinequeen19 · 11 months

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waitttttt what are your thoughts on common people 👀👀👀

Well my thoughts per usual are not very enlightened lol. But! I feel the song has…friction to it, like it’s not a totally straightforward nice lil ode of back-home wistfulness. Every time I hear it, the phrase “act like you’re one of us” clangs and gives the whole thing a more complex undercurrent. Like ‘wait, what? why?’

I like that it’s not totally clear who is saying this line. Depending on when I listen, I could understand it being Louis speaking to the listener, or the hometown talking to Louis/others…or tonight when I heard it I thought of it also as the world at large telling Louis what he would need to do to make it big (“you’ll hear strangers singing your name/if you act like you’re one of us”). So needing to fit in whether it’s growing up or trying to make your own way. [This is a tangent but since I first heard this song I think of Tan France speaking about his experiences growing up in Doncaster and how he had a really traumatic time.] Anyhoo maybe it’s more clear-cut than this but that’s my vibe. And I do think Louis is skilled at being intentionally ambiguous. It really is a lovely and interesting track and he sounds great on it.

PS I remember there being a good post by @ialwaysknewyouwerepunk about the messaging of this song…I will see if I can find that too.

#you can see why i don't usually post ab song details lol #this got away from me a bit #but thx for the ask!!

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garina · 1 year

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So. I made a terrible mistake. I started watching 'Stranger Things', and now my brain is just full of Thoughts and Feelings after only two episodes.

I managed to sidestep it completely initially, but then when series 4 came out certain people whose blogs I enjoy reading lost their minds over Eddie Munson (looking at you @kedreeva!) And I enjoyed reading meta and fan things and looking at gif sets.

Then I thought 'I would have loved this as a teenager.' And then I realised that my tastes haven't changed all that much in 20 years, and maybe I should check it out. (New stuff can be hard for me to get into).

I'd already been spoiled for a lot of things, and because I don't deal well with horror elements I went and spoiled myself more so I knew if/when not to look.

However, how I managed to miss that Winona Ryder was in this is a mystery.

Feels:

Joyce is an amazing character and I love her. I especially liked the fact that she realised how much her initial reaction to Will's disappearance (before they realised something was really really wrong) of blaming Jonathan was unfair, AND made sure he knew that and that she was wrong to say it.

I love the boys. They seem very very real to me, the way they slide from silly kids to almost sensible, and the conflict between the right thing to do if things were normal (tell a responsible adult), and the right thing to do in the actual reality of their situation.

Nancy and Mike's dad is a prat. Why isn't he helping to look for his son's friend? Grr. I do love the sibling dynamic between the older Wheeler kids.

Hopper really interests me. I look forward to to seeing more.

Millie Bobbie Browne is making her 'troubled waif with psychic powers' distinct from the many others and I am impressed.

My opinion of Nancy took a bit of a nosedive at the party. If you drag your best friend to a party she doesn't want to go to, you don't join in with applying peer pressure, you stand up for her. I really felt for Barb, being the odd one out sucks, and Nancy ditching her was bad behaviour. (I am not completely writing her off for a lapse of judgement, it's far more interesting having nuanced characters)

The sheer unfairness of this world: of all the inhabitants of Hawkins that I've met so far, the two that seem to least deserve being taken by monsters are the two that are (if we ignore the toddler). Things being supernaturally unfair on top of regular unfairness (deadbeat dads, bullying, Hopper's daughter) is a LOT.

The flashback showing Jonathan and Will listening to music was adorable. Will needs all of the hugs, and I was getting some definite ND feelings from him. I'll see if I was right later on. I really really want to see more of him.

Steve is hilarious, and a wonderful example of how dorky supposedly cool guys get when their emotions (and hormones) get involved. I await his character growth (and the Scoops Ahoy uniform) with great interest.

Mr Clarke is an awesome teacher. AV clubs weren't really a thing in the UK when I was at school, which I think is a shame.

I have run out of steam. Clearly more episodes are in order...

#stranger things #flailing #spoilers #this is kedreeva's fault with their meta and things #long post #this got away from me a bit

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regina-cordium · 1 year

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I need a dreamling selfie au, like, yesterday

Hob, seven years old and living with a great aunt and uncle after his parents died, meeting this weird kid on the beach by his house, like seriously who plays outside wearing just a weird fur jacket, but also Hob doesn’t have any friends his age so he just goes with it

Years and years later, he’s inherited the house and uncle malcom’s pub. Listens to all the stories he doesn’t really believe about tears and seals and magic, the local gossip (turns out old sailors are the WORST gossips, Hob is DELIGHTED) when one of them tells a story that Roderick Burgess, the local billionaire who lives on the edge of the village that everybody categorically hates, has stolen himself a selkie. Again, Hob doesn’t believe the whole selkie business, but there’s truth to every story and sorry, burgess kidnapped someone????

The man leaves on some business trip or other, nobody knows what he does besides be a stain on the village. So Hob and his very best friend Jo do, perhaps, a little breaking and entering and find……well, burgess’s son, for one (were it not for the laws of the land, Hob would kill the guy, he really would). Alex Burgess, who asks if they’re there about the man in the attic, the one his father says is going to bring back his brother. And Hob and Jo just look at each other and BOOK IT upstairs and chained in a corner is……the boy. Well, he’s grown now, obviously, but there is Hob’s one-time friend, bony and exhausted and naked, and Hob’s decides laws don’t matter when Alex pipes up “his cloak is in the study” and Hob’s torn between helping the man — the selkie, selkies are real, this may as well happen, and getting his cloak — when Jo has Alex lead her to it and Hob helps his old friend. Hob’s just gotten him to his feet, barely, when they return with the cloak. Hob wraps it around the man’s shoulders, and he completely collapses, and Hob just carries him back to his place, jo and Alex trailing behind

Insert epilogue where the villagers chase out burgess (and ignore the stain on the rocks near the outlook, they’re so slippery, no one would go walking there, must’ve been a poor bird or something) and Hob gets a weird selkie husband and a new son because the village looked at Alex and went “ours now” like they had with Hob so many years ago. And Jo can’t even make fun of him LIKE A GOOD FRIEND because he just turns it back on her and her crush on the new bartender. What a waste of a friendship.

#this got away from me A Bit #the sandman #sandman #dreamling #selkie au

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mugwot · 3 months

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someone

#act 5 my beloved my beloathed #at this point in the game i think my brain was a bit fried cos i legit forgot how stories happen and was like yep this is how i die #made it so i straight up exploded afterwards lol just inconsolable #mal du pays #is me when i fucking gets you #cracking open a boy with the cold ones #oh to have your head grabbed in a vice grip by your inner demons <3 #isat spoilers #like kinda big ones #isat siffrin #isat mal du pays #in stars and time #some pose practice kinda got away from me #turns out if you change up how you sketch it can make you a bit looser with it which was nice c:#in this case i sketched with light colour on a dark background #my art

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purpleminte · 2 months

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Sparkly AND Soft™

#my art #artists on tumblr #corinna #swoobat #pokemon #pokesona #furry #fursona #🦇#yes it’s nearly five in the morning for me #no I don’t care if nobody sees this #mostly because it’s nearly five in the morning and my brain is running at 3%#I did actually try shading a bit on this one #was definitely one of those ‘kinda got away from me’ kinds that I just kept working on until it was way better quality than it had to be #passing out immediately after this #and her dress still fits #who’d have thought

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juicywizards · 1 month

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modern day saint sebastian

#the whole idea was ''what if st sebastian but cursors instead of arrows'' and i will be the first to admit it got away from me a little bit.#my art #original art #i forgor how to tag original art uuuuh #webcore #sure #2000s #digital art #yeah ok lets go #nervous abt this one!#st sebastian #saint sebastian

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dreamofbecoming · 1 year

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listen i know we all love steve “completely ignorant of queer culture to the point that bisexuality is a surprise” harrington being roasted and educated in turns by robin and eddie, yadda yadda, good stuff. i read “they made a horror version of rocky?” in a fic recently and cackled. also a big fan of “he knew he was bi from the start and just never talked about it” as a trope, love it excellent well done

but what about steve who realizes after starcourt that the most important person in his life now has this thing that’s a major part of her life that he knows nothing about, and what if he fucks it up? what if he says something ignorant or rude by accident, and hurts her? what if he loses her because he didn’t know the right thing to say? what if he can’t keep her safe because he doesn’t know what to look out for? absolutely fucking not, this steve says

and listen she’d never say anything, because she can tell that he can tell how much she likes teasing him and teaching him things, so he plays dumb, and she thinks it’s very sweet. but she notices when the zines she keeps under her bed that she buys at that one secret bookshop in indy when she can sneak away on family trips start going missing, always one at a time, and replaced in a few days with another disappearing. and she finds the new ones he must have gone to buy the weekend she was at her aunt’s house hidden in the back of his closet when she goes to steal one of his sweaters. and she notices when he slips more of her queerer movie recommendations into his personal take home pile rather than the movie night stack when he thinks she’s not looking.

she doesn’t notice when he drives to indianapolis after she tries to explain to him why she can’t just ask out a cute girl, tries to impress on him the fear attached to every moment of attraction that he simply has never had to feel, but later she finds a crumpled receipt from a diner in one of his jacket pockets when she’s looking for his keys, and the address is across the street from the bar the gorgeous woman at the bookstore told her about, the one she memorized the address of but hasn’t worked up the guts to think about visiting, and she knows he must have gone looking for a place like that, must have been trying to understand, must have been scoping it out to make sure it was somewhere she could feel safe, after she told him she never had.

so when eddie nearly pops a blood vessel when they clock each other and she mentions that steve is the only person she’s ever come out to before, her hackles come up. because she gets it, she does, he’s only known king steve until recently, so it makes sense that he would be afraid, be concerned for her safety.

but steve is her person, and no one- no one- has ever made her feel as protected or as cared for as he does. no one has ever tried as hard to understand her, no one has ever put so much work into making her feel safe and seen and loved. and she thinks maybe even if no one else ever does, that’s ok. because she has steve, and more importantly steve has her, and that means no one gets to question his ally credentials in her presence without a dressing down to remember, no matter how well they mean or how recently they helped save the world.

(and maybe she’s not as surprised as she could be when he figures out bisexuality all on his own, because she’s been reading all the same pamphlets he has, after all. and she’s seen the way he looks at eddie, i mean come on. maybe no one else has noticed, but then, nobody knows steve harrington like she does.)

#stranger things #steve harrington #robin buckley #platonic stobin #steddie #(if you squint)#this got away from me #i just really love love giving steve a bit more credit yk?#like yes he’s very stupid and he has a history of being self absorbed #and we love that about him #he’s very flawed and that makes him interesting #but i really feel like one of his defining traits is his need to be useful to the people he loves #combine that with his abandonment issues and i really feel like he would be scared of fucking up and losing robin #and yeah he would play dumb like he does with dustin and d&d #but i don’t believe he knows nothing about d&d after all this time and i don’t believe he would let himself know nothing about queer culture #i’m just so so attached to the idea of steve who knows that teasing him for being dumb is his friends’ love language with him #so he pretends to be dumber than he is so they have chances to explain things to him #also stobin sharing clothes is so so so important to me just putting that out there #anyway i just think they’re neat #my writing

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