Dustin: are any of you straight ?

Robin:

Nancy:

Jonathan:

Argyle:

Steve:

Eddie:

Lucas:

El:

Max:

Will:

Mike: *raises hand slowly*

Will: *grabs Mike's hand, interlocks their fingers and brings it back down*

OR

Mike: *raises hand slowly*

Will: *walks in* hey, everyone

Mike: *lowers hand slowly*

As much as it isn't fun to hear Jon yelling at Martin, the end part of Mag 56 is so hilarious to me.

Listen, there is NO evidence to support Martin's claim about lying on his CV, and frankly it's kind of a weak cover story. You are required to show proof of your qualifications when you get a new job on the strength of them - not to mention ID - and even though on a relisten we know Martin's telling the truth and that Elias has his own reasons for hiring Martin, Jon doesn't know any of that. There's nothing to back up Martin's story and given how paranoid Jon's been since Prentiss, not to mention the fact that his specific concerns about Martin were that he might be hiding his own cunning behind the image of someone bumbling and soft (Jonathan "right for the wrong reasons" Sims strikes again) it is wild to me that he accepts this so quickly.

It's almost as though he's eager for Martin to be innocent, even though everything he's previously said about him would indicate that he'd rather it was Martin than Tim or Sasha, the assistants he respects professionally and likes on a personal level. It's so easy to picture him just blue-screening while poor Martin sits there expecting to be fired/screamed at again.

Martin: Okay, that's the truth, do your worst. Jon? Jon??

Jon, internally: Martin's innocent Martin lied to Elias but not me Martin didn't kill Gertrude Martin's safe Martin's still my friend Martin doesn't want me dead

Martin: Jon?

Jon, internally: MartinMartinMartinMartin

“supplemental: i feel i’m being watched.”

(image ID below the cut.)

[image ID:

the kombucha girl meme.

the first panel depicts a woman scrunching up her face in disgust. edited above her head is "my boss when i wear a regular shirt to work" in sans serif, black font.

the second panel depicts the same woman but with her head tilted to the side, her expression pleased and considering. edited above her head is "them when i seduce the police for info" in that same sans serif, black font.

end ID.]

Favorite Character Meme [5/5 Relationships]: Shawn & Turner

"Turner took care of you, he loves you. And you love him."

#argyle moments that make me bark like a dog

being into multiple things that involve main characters that are morally grey in very different ways is so interesting because. sure, jonathan sims isn't perfect but hannibal lecter and will graham are literally called "murder husbands." in the show. in comparison, the man is practically a saint.

Kylie appearing on the Jonathan Ross Show in 2018.

Stranger Things spoilers ahead but I need to talk about Jonathan Byers.

Jonathan, who took it upon himself to organize his baby brother’s funeral because his mother wasn’t doing it.

Jonathan, who dropped everything to *save* Will when he was presented with evidence that he wasn’t dead.

Jonathan, who could not physically bear to watch Will in pain even if it was necessary to free him from the mindflayer, and had to turn away so he didn’t have to see him suffer.

Jonathan, who never treated Will like he was annoying like Mike and Nancy or Lucas and Erica.

Jonathan, who truly *saw* how Will was acting around Mike and knew what it meant.

Jonathan, who admitted he had been distant and chose to be the one to reach across the distance and tell Will he would always love him no matter what.

Jonathan, who gave Will acceptance and reassurance without asking anything of him.

Jonathan, who realized in 1986 that his baby brother was queer and made sure he knew he was explicitly supported without outing him before he was ready.

Just. Jonathan Byers y’all.

He’s a pathetic little wet cat, he’s a poor little meow meow, he’s aspec, he’s genderqueer, he has an eldritch being in his head that has a vested interest in him not dying, he is the reason the people closest to him have died, he’s an orphan, he’s completely alone, he’s killed people and would do it again, he’s killed people and seen his reflection in their corpse, he’s a monster, he’s so achingly human.

With hindsight tma season one is hilarious because Jon is constantly criticising Martin for being crap at his job but actually neither of them know what they're doing and neither of them can afford to admit it because Martin is terrified of drawing too much attention to himself in case people realise all his qualifications and experience is bullshit and Jon is so stubborn he's determined to be good at a job he has no idea how to do that he got through a promotion he knows he didn't deserve and isn't even sure he wants. But it means that half their interactions are presumably just:

Jon: Martin, I need you to follow up on this statement by harassing this witness/breaking into a person's house/digging up further information on them through morally dubious means.

Martin:

seeing ppl go "lol jonathan why are you admitting you found them hot what will mina think of you when she reads it!!!" has me go "*shakes you* you are going against the thesis of the book!!!"

I know some of why is dependent on knowledge of future events, and so people new to Dracula Daily won't be aware of it. But to be honest, Jonathan admitting his attraction to the vampire ladies is so, so important to me. On several different character levels, even outside of the entire book proving over and over again that sharing knowledge is absolutely vital (and is also an expression of deep love/trust/support).

Let's just stick the quote in here for reference:

There was something about them that made me uneasy, some longing and at the same time some deadly fear. I felt in my heart a wicked, burning desire that they would kiss me with those red lips. It is not good to note this down, lest some day it should meet Mina's eyes and cause her pain; but it is the truth.

Firstly - he needs to keep an accurate record. This is his only place to speak freely, his only opportunity to be precise about what he is going through. It is vitally important for him to keep his sanity intact that he be clear and try to remain logical in this diary. We see him fact-checking again and again. We can extrapolate from other statements that he doesn't always mention everything he suspects unless he feels it relevant or possible to prove. For example, repeatedly noting Dracula himself doing things before ever getting around to voicing the theory that the Count has no servants (he collected evidence first, didn't speak his suspicions until they were proven). Or putting the crucifix above his bed and taking the opportunity to sleep elsewhere, thus pointing to feeling unsafe and possibly experiencing bad dreams in his own room (he mentioned what he does about it, but not the feeling on its own or whatever nightmares he may be having). Jonathan works very hard to keep his diary focused on a few things above all: what the Count/ladies are, what everyone does, what Jonathan observes or learns, his actionable plans. He of course expresses his fears and emotions at times in his diary, more than he can out loud, but never going all the way down the rabbithole of fear, hopelessness, etc. He tries to calm himself by sticking to facts (all the harder when something strange is happening), which is in itself a soothing process for him so that's helpful too. His goal is to make this diary useful to himself and to others, if he ever gets the chance to share it. There is a goal here.

And what that means, is that the things Jonathan writes in great detail are things that feel relevant to him. The entire encounter with the vampire ladies was extremely important. It revealed a ton of new information to him, as well as being a truly horrifying and traumatic thing to go through. Jonathan's feelings are as relevant as his observations/actions here, because both are directly affected by the presence of the vampire women. Jonathan can't move. He feels dreamy. He feels attracted to them. He cannot resist and in the moment a large part of him didn't even want to. These are all effects they are causing, at least to some extent. I know mileage can vary a lot on how much of Jonathan's attraction is just coming from him, but honestly, I can't agree with any version that doesn't have a natural attraction at the very least being exacerbated by supernatural vampire abilities somehow. If not caused or called forth by them in the first place. The way he narrates, with so much obvious fear and revulsion mixed in with the desire, makes that clear to me. He sounds like he doesn't fully understand his own feelings at the time, at least where they all came from or why they were so strong. It goes along with all the other symptoms he is experiencing, and the other abilities they demonstrate. And so, to keep his record accurate - it has to go in. He cannot leave it out. It might become very relevant later.

Secondly - Jonathan is honest with Mina, specifically. I love this about their relationship. I don't think it's so much 'I noticed they were attractive' that he fears might hurt her, because Mina isn't particularly shy herself about noticing both women and men as good-looking, and even admiring their looks while on a date with Jonathan (poor Pretty Girl in Piccadilly). He also called local women pretty in his first entry as well (though he did say "except when you got near them" so it felt a bit backhanded to me), so again it's not the noticing that's an issue either way. It's more that he felt actual desire to act on an attraction, or rather for them to act. This is unusual, this is a separate matter from noticing people are hot, this is something that comes much closer to cheating or at least wanting to, and he feels very guilty about it. There's no real sense that he is worried Mina will be angry at him, and there's no sense that he will ever outside of that one moment ever want to act on any attraction he feels for someone other than Mina (or someone Mina also approves of, varying depending on your polycula headcanons). I personally do kind of tend to view Jonathan as some form of demisexual so how much he even tends to feel attraction to other people is often a little wibbly to me, but that's kind of irrelevant for the point of this. We can also set aside the shared language of "kiss" between Jonathan and the vampire ladies, and how this may point to a desire to become available for being drunk from, rather than necessarily sexual desire specifically, even if that's the type of language used. With regards to Mina: he's not worried about being caught, because he is choosing not to hide. He feels bad talking about the attraction because it might hurt her feelings, but he'll admit to it regardless because it's more important to him to be honest with her. Jonathan hates hiding things from Mina. This actually becomes plot-relevant later on. Even when she herself expressly forbids him from telling her stuff, he feels anguished about it and is certain to ensure that records are kept which she can read later. He trusts her completely. Embarrassment, shame, bad behavior, or whatever else - he will still share that with her. The only times he doesn't confide in Mina are when he's trying to repress everything because he thinks he was crazy (and possibly may even have some PTSD-related memory loss as well), or when he and the other men are trying to make sure she isn't exposed to danger (which is wrong in several ways but this post isn't about that so I won't get into it), and of course when she tells him not to. Every single time he feels upset about it. So yeah, he's going to regret that she may feel hurt, but deliberately hiding things from her would be worse.

Thirdly - Jonathan admitting his attraction here is a huge comfort to Mina later on. I truly believe this. I've talked about it before actually, but let me try to rephrase a bit to keep it on the same post. By being open about his own attraction and experience with nearly being drunk from, he provides precedent for Mina's October 3rd trauma. It makes it easier (though obviously still not easy) for her to admit to the same kind of desire:

"I was bewildered, and, strangely enough, I did not want to hinder him. I suppose it is a part of the horrible curse that such is, when his touch is on his victim."

Mina never blamed Jonathan for expressing such thoughts. She wasn't concerned about the issue being another woman when she came to him in the hospital, and when she read his diary she never mentioned any hesitations or misgivings about this scene at all. But even if she had secretly felt upset before (I personally don't see her thinking that way at all, but for the sake of argument), I think that experiencing something similar would make her grateful for Jonathan's candor. In a moment when she's already feeling deeply unclean and complicit, Jonathan's earlier honesty here relieves her from a little bit of the guilt she is feeling. It lets her recognize her own lack of desire to stop Dracula as something he did to her, just like Jonathan experienced with the vampire ladies when he couldn't/didn't want to move away. It's possible even that Mina felt more explicit desire for Dracula's 'red lips to kiss her' but didn't feel comfortable saying quite that much - even if so, again Jonathan's account would be a comfort.

And having that account written down long ago means she has already internalized this. If Jonathan had kept it hidden only to try and ease her mind later, well... first off, Mina too might have kept her reaction hidden out of guilt. And even if she didn't or he told her then, a confession at that time wouldn't mean nearly as much or carry the same kind of weight, I don't think. It would feel like he's making excuses for her, like he didn't trust her enough to tell her earlier, just... bad stuff mixed in, which are all avoided by having Jonathan be truthful from the start.

sometimes i still think about the fact that nancy is one of the most powerful, plot-critical characters in stranger things, and how she has led her own arc every single season--from driving the search for barb to taking down the lab to figuring out the flayed to being a fucking general by the end of season 4. and about how she was taking care of the kids during the last half of s3 and how she was the leader of the hawkins group in s4. like, i really cannot emphasize that enough. once the main character with superpowers and the actual war veteran chief of police are out of town, nancy is the unquestionable leader. the person everyone turns to without thinking twice. i’m serious. nancy is a teenage girl who has her every move questioned and doubted and still the only people more powerful than her in the show are a girl with superpowers and a war vet.

and when danger--physical danger--shows up, she doesn’t fucking hesitate. she’s diving straight into the upside down. she’s leading the older group to safety again. she’s shoving aside the 5 different traumatic experiences she just witnessed to put together a multi-step military operation and she’s taking point to go shove a shotgun in vecna’s face. and yeah, they end up not being alone when they face vecna because el is there, but nancy doesn’t know that. she’s fully intending on going to kill an adult man who has control over an entire dimension and has been murdering people with his mind, even though she has no backup, no superpowered el, no hopper and his government contacts, nothing.

and yet.

AND YET

the vast majority of natalia dyer’s press for s4 was about a love triangle. and i get it, a lot of interviewers can’t get away with not asking those questions, but you know what else you could ask about? nancy’s growth over the last 4 seasons. how it felt being the leader of the hawkins gang. how she thinks nancy feels after losing another friend. what was running through her head when vecna had her. what her thoughts are regarding nancy’s plan, or what’s going through her head during that final scene when she’s *checks notes* standing behind the show’s protagonist and looking at The Plot as it rises from the ground.

or, i don’t know, ask her what it’s like being the person handling guns on set. what those upside down night shoots were like. what her thoughts are on nancy’s choice of college! what she thinks about the perm! for fuck’s sake there are only a thousand different questions that would’ve been far more interesting or at least personal to her character. but no. every interview boils down to team steve or team jonathan, as if a tired, already resolved love triangle is anywhere near as interesting as literally any other part of her character

back at it again, gays and cool people :))

(image ID under cut.)

[image ID:

two screenshots of Cunk on Earth. a woman with auburn hair pulled into a ponytail and dressed in a pale blue collared shirt beneath a purple-gray plaid patterned blazer is standing in front of a glass case. the background is blurred, but it is clear there is museum paraphernalia is behind her. the original caption is in blocky, yellow sans-serif font, but black boxes with white san-serif text are edited on top in various places.

the panels combined say, "Millions of people died due to horrors, but fortunately my boss discovered a new horror, they're all liars."

end ID.]

does this count as fandom

So, after season one, Nancy and Steve don't get back together for like a month, right? Okay, what if they reconciled by Steve approaching her and telling her that he wanted to give her space, that he didn't want to push her, but he wanted to make sure she was alright after Barb. He told her how he wished he had gotten to know her, and if she was up for it, then maybe she could tell him about Barb. I have a hard time believing that no one acknowledged Nancy and her grief for Barb. (I mean, did Hopper even think to check on her?) To me, I think that this would explain why she was holding on to Steve for so long even though she had feelings for someone else. In her darkest moment, Steve was so sweet to her. Jonathan was busy with his own family, and that's understandable, but you're telling me that he couldn't pick up the phone? I think it's also why Steve went to the dinners because he did feel guilty, and he did feel guilty about not getting to know Barb. I think if she and Jonathan hadn't gotten together in that moment, then she would have found her way to actually talk to Steve about Barb to get closure. It's one of the things that annoys me about Jancy. That and the photographs. I wish they had written Jonathan better. Anyway, I just wonder how they reconciled after that month, and I think this is it.