What if I made a sticker sheet of Claudia’s feminine rage..?

"Crown of Thorns" gonna make you finish this one so I can read it lol three sentences at a time if I must

Coming right up.

“Mrs. Henderson,” Agent Stinson said, “I think you understand the strict need for secrecy regarding these events. It’s not only a matter of national security, but we are trying to prevent wide-spread panic. I believe you’ve recently witnessed how normal people react when confronted by the terrifying unknown.”

Claudia let out an angry snort and sat down on the end of the couch closest to where Steve was standing. “I’ve got some choice thoughts on that kerfluffle, too,” she said. “Your lot has some nerve coming in after the eleventh hour and trying to tell everyone that you’ve got it under control now.”

Finders Givers | Part 2

“STEVEN MARION HARRINGTON.”

“Not my middle name.” Although Robin had made several valiant attempts in guessing it every time she needed to burst into his office all guns blazing. Which was unfortunately… often. She still hadn’t managed to crack it.

He didn’t actually have a middle name. He wasn’t going to tell her that though, this was funnier.

She slapped a sheaf of papers down onto his desk, a brief flick of the first page told him they were call logs and transcripts “What did you DO?! Claudia’s been getting calls all morning asking about renovations?”

“Okay, so, in my defence. It was Nancy’s idea.” That was his whole defence. It was Nancy’s idea. His idea had been worse.

“Explain.”

“You know, most people in my position don’t have to explain themselves to people who work for them, their people just respect them, and do as they say without argument.” He mused, mostly to himself, but he could see the woman’s eye twitch in annoyance and so he sighed in defeat, it’d only wind up with him having those papers whapped around his head. “Remember the wallet I found?”

“The one that was bumming you out?”

“Yeah! Well, when I went out for a walk, I found the guys work address and—”

“You know we have guys who do that sort of shit for us, right? You can’t be stalking people, Dingus, what the fuck?” That sheaf of papers was dangerously close to hitting him. She’d picked them back up an everything.

“Just listen! He was at work, I didn’t talk to him or anything I’m not stupid, but... his manager made this girl cry so he just decked him, laid him out, one punch an he was down, then he just quit his job, right there, shit was spectacular.” Steve could appreciate a good bit of muscle, could appreciate a scrapper. Plus the guy was hot so, that helped. “Doesn’t look like his photo either, he’s got so much hair, Robs, it’s... wow, he’s just—”

“Ew, I don’t wanna hear about your crush on some random guy, what’s this got to do with these renovations Claudia’s being spammed over?”

“Okay so, guy lost his job.”

“Quit, quit his job.”

“Defending a ladies honour, something I thought you’d appreciate.” She raised a single unimpressed brow “but, I... I was gonna just send him rent money for a few months, y’know, cover a few bills, charity!” His heart was in the right place, his head however, his head was in space.

“That’s not charity that’s stupidity, but go on.”

“That’s what Nance said! Apparently it’d be suspicious if I were to be found sending large amounts of cash in nondescript envelopes to an apartment block notorious for drug activity, so she suggested that since I’m already buying that bar nearby, it’d look less conspicuous if I just... bought the building the guy lives in and claim I was developing it, make it seem like I have an interest in building up local problem areas.” She frowned, silent in her thoughts as she processed.

“... And what about the rent forgiveness?”

“I was gonna pay for his rent, might as well just not have him pay rent, y’know? An it’s gotta be building wide or there’ll be questions, like why is he so special, it’d put him under scrutiny. So Nance suggested putting a stop on rent as we ‘renovate’ as a sort of, we’re disrupting your life so here’s a break for you kinda deal.” Honestly Nancy really was a life saver, he really ought to give her a raise, he’d have been fucked over years ago had he not pulled her into the fold.

“So that means we’re actually going to have to renovate this block then?”

“I mean—”

“Were going to have to renovate this block, Steve. We can’t just forgive the rent forever, that’s bonkers, that would raise eyebrows, and we can’t afford eyebrows being raised at us right now. So you’re going to have to have professionals go in and survey the apartments inside for renovations.” This was now an actual thing he’d have to do.

“Ah well, gives me something to occupy my time with. Also I was thinking—”

“Never a good sign”

“Shut up, I was thinking of putting Argyle in there as a plant, like... the drugs being peddled out of that block are just trash, at least we could get a solid dealer in there and get Argyle out of the Wheelers basement.” He’d only been staying there because Joyce didn’t have a basement and Jonathan didn’t have room for him.

He was Jonathan's friend, and Jonathan came with Nancy, Steve didn’t have any reason to help him out. Now he did! And that reason was getting those poor people better weed.

“Are you not worried that the existing dealers will start shit with him for moving into their turf?”

“They touch him they deal with Hargrove, he's been particularly irritable lately, anything could set him off, pretty sure he’d be jazzed to break a few legs.” Release some of that pent up rage he seemed so good at bottling up in tiny easily burstable bottles. “One visit from that nut job and they’ll settle right down.”

He didn’t like Hargrove, but he had to admit the guy was a useful enforcer. Indebted to Steve too after Jane had taken a nail imbedded baseball bat to his old employers head in a bid to help her friend Max escape the debt her stepdad had racked up with him. Billy had also been freed, being Max’s step brother, left unmoored and in danger of a jail cell.

Steve had taken them both in after getting rid of Creels corpse. It was Hopper’s idea. Billy wouldn’t have survived in jail, too many enemies in there.

“It only takes one hit to hurt Argyle beyond repair though, maybe get rid of the dealers in there already, then give Argyle one of the apartments.”

“See you’re already on board!” And there was the whack round the head with the papers, his sharp objection going ignored.

“Fine, I’m on board, but only because it’s Nancy’s idea.” She was retreating as she spoke “Yours was a trash fire, like, not just one of those little oil barrel fires I mean like a whole dumpster fire. Argyle stays out until it’s safe though, I mean it Steve, I will get Hopper involved.” She opened the door, ready to go.

“You can’t threaten me with my own Chief of Police! That’s so mean!”

“Watch me, dingus. Also you have two people downstairs from your little block purchase wanting more information, do you wanna deal with them or should I?”

“Do you think I could actually spin a good idea to explain this that won’t get immediately reworked by either you or Nance?” She paused, a thoughtful expression on her face that answered his question more than any actual answer would have. “Exactly, you deal with it, you’re better at timelines an stuff anyway.” He was more the big idea guy.

“Yeah but you’re better at people.” It was true, Steve was more the people person out of the two of them. “Fine, I’ll deal with it, and I’ll ask Nance to find some decent contractors to do the work for us. Maybe… drop into my office in like, ten minutes? Considering you let your dick lead you to places I wouldn’t even go with a gun, you should at least make an appearance for these people whose lives you’ve interrupted.”

“Ngghhh fine. Fine. I’ll be there in ten.” And she was out with a tiny salute as her goodbye.  

Part 4

In Everything But Blood

Alright, I finished the giant paper I had to write (40 pages jesus christ) and then grad school kind of kicked my ass for a while BUT I AM HERE, back from a months long hiatus to finally write the claudia henderson thing I wrote weeks ago. Enjoy, there will be more but this was so long and I only got to like halfway through it but I wanted to post this.

TW!!!! Seriously TW, graphic descriptions of gore and injuries, medical talk, THIS IS NOT FOR THE SQUEAMISH IT IS SUPPOSED TO BE GRAPHIC ON PURPOSE

~~~~~~~~~~

Steve wasn't fully aware of how he was still moving but he wasn't going to question it as he sprints into the hospital behind Nancy and Robin, Eddie draped over his back and getting blood everywhere, Dustin limping as fast as he could behind them. He would probably be panicking more if he couldn't feel the little puffs of air Eddie was breathing out every few seconds against his neck.

The nurses all turn to the doors when Nancy slams them open and while there are already plenty of people who look worse for wear in the waiting room, no one looks quite like the group that just walked in. They're all covered in dirt and ash and sweat and lake water and blood blood bloodbloodblood-

Okay, maybe Steve is starting to panic a little.

Nancy yells for help when no one immediately moves and the gun she's holding definitely helps encourage any nurses and doctors to get over any issues they have treating Eddie.

Robin has to pry Steve's hands off of Eddie's pants. He didn't want to let him go, too scared that he would die and Steve wouldn't be there to help. She manages to gently guide him away from the doors they took Eddie through and she sits him down in a chair before sitting next to him and leaning her head on his shoulder.

"He'll be okay, Stevie. We got him here, he's okay."

Steve knows that she's only saying it to help calm him down, and probably to calm herself down too, but he appreciates it all the same.

As they sit there Steve feels the adrenaline starting to fade and he gets a very stark reminder of how his sides are stinging and every breath makes his shirt rub against the scrapes on his back and arms. If he hadn't been in a state of panic already, worried about Eddie and Max and Lucas and Erica and-

He takes a deep breath and leans into Robin's weight at his side. He can't get help yet, not until he knows everyone else is okay.

(If he were feeling braver he might also admit that he's been a little scared of doctors since Scoops, but he's not feeling very brave at the moment.)

A little while later Steve sees Lucas and Erica and forces himself to stand, hurrying over to check on them, to find out where Max is. He instantly knows that something went wrong when Erica slams into him and holds on tight. He only gets more concerned when Lucas leans in to hold onto Erica and Steve at the same time. And then the pit gets bigger when he feels tears hit his shirt.

"Lucas, hey, you're alright. Hey, look at me- hey. What happened? Where's Max?" Steve stares at Lucas's face as he speaks, trying to get an idea of how he's feeling.

Lucas takes a shuddering breath in before he answers, "She-she-.. it was going fine and then... Jason-Jason fuckin'- he crushed her Walkman and I couldn't-she was floating and Jason had-had a gun and I-She was-was dead, for a minute, and then she-she just started breathing again and I dont-"

Steve pulls Lucas closer again, a hand on the back of his neck to give him support as he spoke quietly. "Okay, alright, you did good. She's here, right? She'll be okay. She's gonna be okay." Steve stayed there with them for who knows how long, only separating when he heard a familiar voice gasp from the door.

"Oh thank god, Erica, Lucas!"

Both of them turned to see their mom in the waiting room and ran at her, where she met them in a crushing hug. As Sue held her children close she looked up, tears falling and made eye contact with Steve. Steve saw her mouth 'Thank you' to him and it made his stomach fall to his feet. Sue had always adored Steve for protecting her kids, first from Billy and then in the "fire" at the mall. But this time, Steve was the reason they got hurt. He let them go off on their own and they got hurt.

He nods and walks back over to Robin and Dustin where they're sitting, suddenly remembering his injuries again as he moves away from the Sinclairs. He has to force himself to walk normally just to make it to the chair, only to nearly collapse back into it.

~~~~

"Alright, time to go, Dust. Now that your foot's been treated I really need to get you home. Claudia is going to start calling morgues if I don't," Steve grunts out as he helps heave Dustin out of his seat and get settled on his crutches. Robin stands once Dustin is steady and she follows them out of the hospital and climbs into the passenger of Steve's car. (Nancy had left once Eddie was taken to stash the RV somewhere and she came back with his beemer. Steve isn't going to ask.)

The ride to Dustin's house is quiet, Steve can tell each of them is silently asking anything out there that the Henderson house was spared. Thankfully when they pulled into the driveway the house was in one piece and only seconds after parking Claudia is yanking open the front door and running out to meet them at the car.

She runs up to Dustin who had managed to stand up using the car as support and they both cling to each other in tears. Steve watches them for a moment before he has to look away or he'll start crying. He spaces out for a bit, just holding Robin's hand when he get startled by the harsh knocks on his window. Looking up, he locks eyes with Claudia and he can't quite read her expression but he can hear her say, "Get your butt out of that car, Steve, I need to look at you. You too, Robbie."

He and Robin make eye contact for a split second before hurrying to comply. As soon as Steve is standing fully he finds himself being yanked down into a hug, Claudia's arms wrapped around his shoulders.

Steve has to take a deep, shaky breath and blink very quickly to stop any tears. He loves Claudia's hugs, they feel like birthdays and Christmas and being wrapped in a fuzzy blanket with hot chocolate all at once. When he hears her mumbling about how glad she is that he's okay, well, maybe he cries a little.

After he and Robin are both fully looked at by Claudia and then each given at least 3 hugs, they climb back into his car and pull away form the Hendersons.

"Am I taking you home or are you coming with me?" Steve glances over at Robin as he says it. He knows the answer without he responding, just because her face pinches in the way it does when she's afraid of making Steve sad.

"I know last time we went to yours but I just... I need to see my parents. I'm so sorry-"

"Robs, it's okay to want to check on your parents. I'm not upset. Can you just.. keep your walkie on our channel tonight?" Steve glances at her again, getting hit with another Robin look that says she can see right through him.

"Always, Stevie. I am sorry though, I hate the idea of you in that house alone."

"I'll be okay, Robbie. I'm just gonna sleep as soon as I get home anyways."

Robin stares at him for a moment longer and then nods, grabbing one of his hands to hold in hers for the last half of the drive. She only lets it go to give him a tight squeeze before hurrying out of the car to her front door.

Steve waits until she's safely inside before he pulls away and goes to his own house.

The moment he shuts the door behind himself it feels like all of the energy in his body has been drained away. He can barely keep himself standing, only the pain that shoots down his spin when he leans back onto the door keeps him upright.

He forces himself to trudge upstairs and goes right to the bathroom. He starts with getting the clothes off, deciding to just cut them off so he doesn't have to lift his arms.

Then comes the cleaning. He first tries to shower but he can only handle standing with pressured water pelting his back and soap stinging his feet for a minute at the most. When he gives up on the shower he figures he should at least try to clean the bites.

One second he's standing in front of the mirror and reaching to pull off the fabric, the next his whole body is covered in sweat and he's sitting on his ass on the tile floor. His hands are shaking at he wants to vomit from the pain.

No changing the bandage then.

Steve forces himself to at least wash his face and hands with a washcloth before he collapses directly into bed and falling asleep in seconds.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Claudia is worried. She had already been a little concerned when Steve showed up two days earlier for lunch with a flushed face and too pale skin. She watched him and he didn't act any different but she kept note of it so that she could watch him. But then, when they were supposed to have lunch at 12 and Steve still hadn't shown up or even called by 1, well, Claudia was concerned. Steve always insisted on being on time, claiming it came from all the sports he had done (but she had heard him mumble about his parents harassing him about being late before when he had a head injury, so she just nodded along to his excuses). Being an hour late was entirely out of character and something in her gut, the same feeling she had experienced multiple times over the past few years about her Dusty, told her that she needed to go see him, and soon.

Dustin was thankfully not at home, spending the afternoon with the Wheelers, so she didn't have to tell him what was happening before she got into her car and drove to Steve's house.

What greeted her when she parked only made her more nervous. Steve, she had noticed, had strange habits relating to many things. He had to sit close enough to touch the person next to him, he tried to hide it but he never kept alcohol in the house anymore, he kept the curtains closed facing the backyard, and he always, always leaves the porch light on.

But that afternoon in early April, the porch light was off.

Claudia parked quickly and hurried to the front door, not even bothering with knocking. Instead she pulled out the key Steve had made for her and Dusty after the previous summer and let herself in.

The dread that had been growing in her gut only intensified when she entered the house and a very familiar smell hit her nose.

Body odor, sweat and salt and morning breath.

Bodily fluids, urine and vomit. And blood.

Infection, sickly sweet rot mixing with something like ammonia.

Time seemed to freeze as Claudia ran up the stairs, calling Steve's name all the while. She knew those smells, she had dealt with them at work too many times to not know them, and to smell them in relation to Steve made her blood run cold. She needed to see him, this boy who cared for her Dusty so much, this boy who had wormed his way into her heart, this boy who was her son.

Rushing into Steve's room she was greeted by her worst fears. Steve was lying on his bed, the sheets clearly kicked off and tangled around his ankles. He was only wearing his boxers and they had clearly not been changed in a few days, stained with his sweat and urine. His skin was covered in sweat, his chest and cheeks were bright red and the rest of his skin was a waxy yellow. He was shirtless, vomit covering his chin and chest and staining the pillow and sheets below him. He had what looked like scraps of a sweater or shirt wrapped loosely around his stomach. It was filthy, saturated with sweat, blood, dirt and pus. The smell in the room was much stronger than by the front door, her eyes watering briefly before she forced herself to focus. She was a nurse, she could handle this.

Claudia moved to the bed and gently kneeled onto the mattress. As she moved closer she could hear Steve mumbling to himself but it was so quiet and so slurred that nothing was legible. Claudia placed a hand on his forehead and jerked back in shock at how hot his skin was. Glancing around frantically for anything to help she saw the phone at his bedside table and grabbed it, punching in 911 before cradling the receiver between her ear and shoulder as she continued to check over Steve.

The next moments all passed in a blur for Claudia as she explained who she was and where she was to the dispatcher before they hung up and she waited for the ambulance to arrive. The ride to the hospital passed in what seemed like a blink of an eye and suddenly Claudia found herself in the empty waiting room at Hawkins General and she became aware of two equally important facts.

Her sweater and hands were saturated with Steve's sweat and blood.

She needed to call Robin.

The blood would have to wait, because she knew that Robin would want to be there for Steve so she managed to wipe her hand with some tissues before dialing the Buckley's house.

"Buckley residence, this is Robin," Robin's voice came through the receiver and Claudia let out a loud sigh.

"Robbie, honey, thank goodness you're home. I have some bad news. I'm at the hospital right now sweetie, it's about Steve." Claudia paused after she finished speaking, waiting to see what Robin would say. Unfortunately for Claudia, rather than saying anything, she had to listen to a gut wrenching gasp and sob from Robin, so she chose to keep talking. "I went to his house and found him in his room. I think he had been hurt and it got infected. If your parents are home, I think you should come here, he would want you here."

Robin mumbled a few okays, clearly through tears before she hung up. In the silence after Claudia had no choice but to go clean herself up, allowing herself a minute to collapse onto a toilet seat and cry. Her boy was hurt and she couldn't help him, he was so hurt he didn't even know she was there and she didn't know what to do.

Robin arrived about 10 minutes after they ended their call with a surprise in tow.

Jim Hopper, thinner and without a mustache, but somehow alive and marching into the hospital like he was going into hell. Knowing about his daughter, he probably felt like he was in hell.

Robin spotted Claudia first and ran over to her, arms open and Claudia pulled her right into a tight hug, rocking her back and forth the way Steve always loves. Robin held back just as tight and cried into her shoulder while Claudia whispered to her, "He'll be okay, he's going to be okay."

Jim didn't say anything, just nodded - as if she hadn't thought he was dead until that moment - before he collapsed into a chair, head in his hands and knee bouncing with anxiety.

Hours passed, Robin had curled herself up in a chair next to Claudia and was leaning into her side. Jim had moved to sit on the other side of Robin and surprisingly she reached out and held his hand.

After ages of sitting there in silence a doctor walked through the doors. Claudia recognized her immediately and knew that she had been lucky to find Steve alive if she had been called in. Dr. Graham was one of the only wound specialists they had at the hospital and she focused on the worst cases.

Claudia straightened in her seat, her two companions also coming to attention as Dr. Graham came to sit with them.

"Hello, Claudia. I'm sorry you had to come in on your day off but you got very lucky. If you hadn't brought him in today he may have gone into sepsis. Thankfully he has you listed as his emergency contact so I can fill you in on everything. I want to start by saying that he is currently stable and on heavy medication. He had multiple heavily infected wounds, primarily on his abdomen but there was also apparent road rash across the back of his arms and upper back. We were able to debride the wounds from the rash relatively easily but his abdomen was more difficult. The bandage he had been using was extremely dirty and not made for wound coverage so many fibers had been imbedded into the open wounds. Luckily there had been little necrotizing fasciitis but there was enough that we had to remove the dead tissue. I do want to make sure you understand that he was very seriously injured and delayed treatment made it worse. We are going to test the pus we collected for different bacteria to narrow down the treatment for him but I'm thinking it may be leptospirosis, since he is visibly jaundiced and the injures are obviously animal bites. We have him sedated currently and on heavy antibiotics in the ICU. If you wear protective gear you can visit him for a little bit, but only people on his emergency contact list can come."

Claudia's head was spinning, she was hearing the words being said and she was following the doctor down the hall to the ICU. She was putting paper scrubs on over her clothes and donning a mask and gloves, but it was all in a daze. She needed to see Steve, she needed to see him breathing, then she would be okay.

She was not okay.

Seeing Steve only made her collapse into a chair in tears. He looked so small in the hospital bed, wrapped in wires and tubes. But he was breathing. Robin collapsed onto the foot of his bed and bent over his shins while she sobbed and Jim stumbled into the wall by the door with a hand over his eyes as his shoulders shook with silent anguish. They knew he wasn't out of the woods yet, but he was breathing and he had to be okay.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Alright that was part one, I'm working on the next half but wow that ended up being really long

Taglist

@maya-custodios-dionach @ape31 @eldtritchlizardblast @y4r3luv @devondespresso @zerokrox-blog @disrespectedgoatman @finntheehumaneater @estrellami-1 @jonesn4coffee @whatexactlyismyhoohah @lingeringmirth @my-hyperfixations-hell-blog @spectrum-spectre @steddieasitgoes @puppy-steve @frankenstein-ate-my-left-shoe @nburkhardt @sllooney @princessstevemunson @yellowdevilkitten @emchant3d @steddie-island @afewproblems

We live in a country where Americans assimilate corpses in their daily comings and goings. Dead blacks are a part of normal life here. Dying in ship hulls, tossed into the Atlantic, hanging from trees, beaten, shot in churches, gunned down by the police, or warehoused in prisons: Historically, there is no quotidian without the enslaved, chained, or dead black body to gaze upon or to hear about or to position a self against. When blacks become overwhelmed by our culture’s disorder and protest (ultimately to our own detriment, because protest gives the police justification to militarize, as they did in Ferguson), the wrong-headed question that is asked is, What kind of savages are we? Rather than, What kind of country do we live in?

Claudia Rankine, “The Condition of Black Life Is One of Mourning," in Rebellious Mourning: The Collective Work of Grief, edited by Cindy Milstein (AK, 2017), p. 29.

GIVE CLAUDIA A GUN !!! pt. 3

[Auditore home]

Desmond:[making his own custom shelf]

ezio: Desmond.

desmond: [turns around and see ezio holding a paintball gun]

Ezio: get on your knees

Desmond:.... Why?

ezio: I'm 10 feet away, you have safely glasses and were outside.

Desmond: Ezio...

Ezio: todays the day.

Desmond: ezio...

Ezio: todays the day

Desmond: will you back up a little?

ezio: no. 10 feet. That is the exact and I just measured from where you are and to where I am... Is 10 feet.

Desmond: okay but only on.

Ezio: [preparing his paint ball gun] uh huh

desmond: with that paintball gun-

Ezio: [still preparing his paint ball gun] mhm

Desmond: w-we know it's more powerful...

Ezio: we don't know

Desmond: we do know

Ezio: how?

Desmond: because you tested it and it was so much more powerful!

ezio: in what way?

Desmond: because it was so much louder...

Ezio: so what do you want? Another few steps back?

Desmond: I don't know... what I want..

ezio: you don't know what you want?

Desmond: I don't know what I want.

Ezio: listen, Life comes out as fast ... We don't know what life is going to give us... and today it's going to give you a PAINTBALL.

Desmond: we don't know how fast that one shoots.

Ezio:... It shoot this fast [ezio fires the paint ball gun at Desmond forehead]

ah, one of Mark's memorable moments.

but honestly yes, and I could also see Claudia doing it to Ezio 👏

there was a tiktok video I saw the other day that made me laugh, it was this little kid probably like 7 or 8, and he was drinking something and as he was drinking it his eyes were going different directions. the mom was like "use both your eyes" and they went back to normal, and I cannot get out of my mind that kid being like Jacob. example.

Jacob: *grabs a jug of caprisun and drinks directly from it*

Ezio: what the hell are you doing?

Jacob: his eyes looks like that

Arno who just walked into the room and sees Jacob's eyes looking all weird;

Arno: use both your eyes you fool.

Jacob: *straightens his eyes back to normal*

Ezio:

Cotton In My Ears

***EDITED 9/5 for clarity and accuracy***

“Steve,” Robin sing -songs as she walks into Family Video. He’s got his back turned away from the door, and he doesn’t even flinch when the bell jingles, signaling someone's arrival. She arches her eyebrow at the notion that her best friend is ignoring her. “Steve!” She says a little louder, clearing her throat for good measure, and once again, Steve doesn’t respond. She grumbles to herself and punches Steve lightly on the shoulder, “Quit ignoring me, asshole!” 

Steve jumps so hard when she does this, she almost feels bad, did he really not hear her? “Robin! You scared me, I didn’t hear you come in!” He said, clutching his chest, showcasing his dramatic self. “I said your name like a hundred times!” She says exasperatedly, and Steve just shakes his head, smiling fondly at her. “You did not, Rob.” He laughs, and walks away, moving to another display to resume his restocking duties. 

Robin clocks in and tries not to think about the odd interaction for the rest of the day, but as she watches Steve during their shift, she can’t help but get a little curious. Is Steve really deaf? After all this time… Can he not hear? How did it go unnoticed all this time? Surely his parents would have noticed? Robin decides to keep an eye on the elusive boy, she’s determined to get to the bottom of his strange behavior.  

Over the next few days, she doesn’t notice anything strange about Steve, he’s just… Steve. But he always prefers to face people when they’re talking, and he doesn’t respond all that much when she speaks to him on his left side. These aren’t new things though, is it possible she’s missed these things? Brushed them off like everyone else? The guilt weighs heavy in her chest, she needs to bring out the big guns.

Dustin Henderson.

She dials his number, having gotten from Steve after their “just incase” phone number trading session, for someone who can be a little bit of an airhead, Steve is pretty smart, considering everything. Just that though makes her heart break, maybe he just couldn’t hear all those things he was being taught in class. “Fuck,” she says to herself while listening to the phone ring. “Hello?” Claudia Henderson answers the phone, “Hi! This is Robin- I’m uh. I'm friends with Dustin!” She rambles out quickly, itching to start the conversation. “Oh, okay. Give me just a second, dear!” Robin hears some rustling, and she pulls the phone away from her ear as the cheery lady shouts on the other side of the line. “Dusty! Phones for you!”  There's a pause and more rustling, she can hear Dustin, “Yeah, thanks mom. -Okay, okay! Yes, okay! I won’t take too long. Okay. Yeah, I’ll be at the table for dinner right after this- Okay! Mom, please.” 

Robin giggles at the bickering on the other side of the call, but she’s reminded of the task at hand when Dustin’s voice crackles over the speaker. “Hello? If this is Steve just meet me at our talking place,-” Robin cuts him off, “Dustin! It’s Robin- Wait. you and Steve have a talking place?” 

“Well- Yeah. He can’t hear over the phone y’know?”

“Yeah, that’s actually what I wanted to talk to you about! What is all this about Steve not being able to hear?”   

She hears Dustin sigh and shift the phone from one hand to the other, “I'm really not supposed to tell anyone about this but,”

There's a pause and Robin listens intently. “Steve is hard of hearing, always has been, with the trauma and everything… It just got worse. Look, Robin. I'm only telling you this because you noticed, it’s not surprising how long it’s taken… He’s really good at hiding it. Too good.” There’s a beat of silence as Robin takes in the information, everything has clicked into place. “Hey, I gotta go, my mom wants me for dinner. You should really talk to Steve though. He’s more open about it now…” He trails, and without waiting for her to respond he hangs up, leaving Robin in the quiet of her room. 

She thinks back to Ms. Click’s class, how he always talked really loud, even when he was “whispering” and he always looked at the person's lips while they were speaking. She attributed all these things to Steve being a douche, or a huge flirt but she was wrong. Her whole world view came crashing down at this moment, how many views had she made herself believe out of hate for another person? Sure, Steve did some dick things, but maybe… Maybe it wasn’t always just his horrible personality. She knows this doesn't excuse some of his actions, like the whole thing with Jonathan, but… But, maybe the traits she's come to hate the most are things he can’t help. And suddenly she felt guilty for how mean to him she was his first couple of weeks at scoops, she just thought he wasn’t paying attention, she thought he was being dense on purpose to make fun of her. 

Tears pricked at her eyes, in her quest to avoid assholes and douchebags, she almost became one. “Fuck.” She whispered again, she was still holding the phone and the dial tone rang out from the speaker, she set it back in its rest and scrubbed a hand over her face. She really needed to talk to Steve. 

The next day she walks into their shared shift, running her speech through her head over and over in preparation for the conversation, but the plan flies out the window when Steve turns to her with a look and says, “We need to talk…” Robin gulps, she doesn’t mean to, but her throat feels like it’s closing and her heart is speeding hum. Steve must notice her change in mood because the next thing out of his mouth is, “Oh god. That sounded scary, I’m sorry- It’s. I just need to tell you something.” He rambles, and she smiles at him, letting her shoulders drop in relief. “I thought you were mad at me.” She says, eyes casting down at the floor, and Steve makes a confused noise, “Mad at you? I thought you were mad at me!” He says, punching out a breathy laugh.

“What? Why would I be mad at you?” She says, returning the exasperation. Steve looks sheepish, “I know… Sometimes it seems like I’m ignoring you… But I- I promise I’m not!” Robin knows what's coming, next but she lets Steve take a shuddering breath and continue telling his story.

“When I was younger, my parents hated me… They thought I wasn’t paying attention but… I just couldn’t- I couldn’t hear them, and. I when I told them that they said I was lying… So I figured they were right. When I was in fourth grade the school did that… Hearing test thingy and I failed it.” He pauses, eyes shifting, he runs a hand through his hair and sighs. “Well, they found out I wasn’t lying and that was almost worse. They didn’t do anything, they just lived life like it was normal, and then they started leaving me alone not long after that.” Robin’s eyebrows furrow as she listens to Steve recall his childhood. “I worked really hard by myself to learn how to read lips, and I tried to learn sign language but- It’s really hard without a teacher and,” Steve takes a deep breath, pausing for a second. “I couldn’t- It’s Hawkin’s, you know? I didn’t know anyone else who’s deaf or whatever and I just. I didn’t want to be the odd one out. So… I tried really hard to fake it, you know?” And yeah, Robin knows.    

Robin frowns, opening her mouth to say something, but Steve continues before she gets the chance, “So… So, long story, trauma dump short… I’m deaf. Well hard of hearing technically, but. I just. I wanted you to know that I’m not ignoring you. If I was, you’d know it,” He jokes, trying to lighten the somber mood, but Robin isn’t letting him change the conversation just yet. “Steve, your parents suck, and I’m sorry, you deserve better. And as for your hearing, we can think of ways to let each other know were here so I don't accidentally sneak up on you.” She says, and Steve cracks a watery smile at this, “Thanks, Rob.” He says softly, pulling her into a tight hug, which she gratefully returns. 

—--------------

From then on out, they have a system that works, it works great, so she passes it on  to Dustin too. And it works so well that Steve lets them share it with everyone else. And now there's lights that flash when someone walks in the door at Family Video, and when people are approaching Steve, they know to walk a bit heavier, so he can feel the vibration. And when they’re somewhere they have to talk quietly, they take the small notebooks Joyce bought for everyone and write back and forth. Eventually, Steve and Robin learn sign language together, Steve being a little more advanced having known a few signs already. That too catches on, and soon Steve’s family knows it too. His parents… They can’t be bothered, but his family, his real family, they care. And they learn because they want to, not because they feel obligated.       

NOTES: If there is anything I can do to make this more accurate to the deaf experience please let me know.

i think when viren finally hits the dust as a trauma response Claudia is gonna blame rayla for everything and be out for blood

I’m sooo late answering this one, Nonny but considering how that season finale went… yeeeeeah, Claudia has many reasons to want Rayla specifically to suffer.

Spoiler cut in case you still haven’t seen the new season, Nonny!

Obviously, it was a combined effort of Rayla and Callum to distract and incapacitate her, but she had the upper hand until Rayla cut off her leg/tentacle. If she knows Rayla is the one who tackled Viren off the Storm Spire and now her actions also led to Claudia ultimately having to give up on her attempt to get to Aaravos’ prison, she is going to be gunning for our girl.

What I’m also interested in is Aaravos response to this information. He very much saw Rayla on the top of the Spire, and if he finds out that same Moonshadow elf was instrumental in stopping Claudia, he may well view her as a threat that needs to be eliminated.

2023 books read

updated reading goal: 150

1) nancy drew: the curse → micol ostow (audiobook, reread) / (jan 1) 2) all the dangerous things → stacy willingham (arc) / (jan 2) 3) lunar love → lauren kung jessen (arc) / (jan 3 - jan 4) 4) death by dumpling → vivien chien (audiobook) / (jan 6) 5) where echoes die → courtney gould (arc) / (jan 4 - jan 7) 6) the no-show → beth o’leary (audiobook) / (jan 6 - jan 8) 7) 6 times we almost kissed (and one time we did) → tess sharpe (arc) / (jan 8) 8) a fatal thing happened on the way to the forum: murder in ancient rome → emma southon (audiobook) / (jan 8 - jan 9) 9) this appearing house → ally malinenko (audiobook) / (jan 9) 10) spare → prince harry (audiobook) / (jan 10) 11) hell bent → leigh bardugo (audiobook) / (jan 10 - jan 12) 12) have i told you this already? → lauren graham / (jan 12 - jan 13) 13) partners in crime → alisha rai (audiobook) / (jan 13) 14) always the almost → edward underhill (arc) / (jan 14) 15) a room of one’s own → virgina woolf / (jan 5 - jan 14) 16) icebreaker → hannah grace (audiobook) / (jan 15) 17) the companion → e.e. ottoman / (jan 15 - jan 16) 18) feel your way through → kelsea ballerini / (jan 16) 19) comfort me with apples → catherynne m. valente (audiobook) / (jan 17) 20) a strange loop → michael r. jackson / (jan 21) 21) maybe in another life → taylor jenkins reid / (jan 23) 22) the fraud squad → kyla zhao / (jan 23 - jan 25) 23) the family game → catherine steadman (audiobook) / (jan 25 - jan 26) 24) the six deaths of the saint → alix e. harrow / (jan 28) 25) these fleeting shadows → kate alice marshall (audiobook) / (jan 28) 26) better than fiction → alexa martin (audiobook) / (jan 30 - jan 31) 27) this is not a personal statement → tracy badua / (jan 28 - feb 1) 28) nine liars → maureen johnson / (feb 2 - feb 4) 29) the nanny → lana ferguson (arc) / (feb 6) 30) finlay donovan is killing it → elle cosimano (audiobook) / (feb 7) 31) finlay donovan knocks ‘em dead → elle cosimano (audiobook) / (feb 8) 32) finaly donovan jumps the gun → elle cosimano (audiobook) / (feb 8) 33) someone had to do it → amber brown & danielle brown (audiobook) / (feb 12) 34) daisy jones & the six → taylor jenkins reid (reread, annotation) / (feb 8 - feb 12) 35) wuthering heights → emily brontë (audiobook, reread) / (feb 13 - feb 14) 36) practical magic → alice hoffman (audiobook) / (feb 16) 37) delicious monsters → liselle sambury (arc) / (feb 11 - feb 17) 38) the world cannot give → tara isabella burton (audiobook) / (feb 18 - feb 19) 39) this time it’s real → ann liang / (feb 14 - feb 19) 40) partners in crime → agatha christie (audiobook) / (feb 20) 41) the glass menagerie → tennessee williams (reread) / (feb 22) 42) missing clarissa → ripley jones (arc) / (feb 22 - feb 23) 43) the reunion → kayla olson (audiobook) / (feb 23) 44) twelfth night → william shakespeare (reread, annotation) / (jan 15 - feb 23) 45) the summer i turned pretty → jenny han (reread, audiobook) / (mar 1) 46) it’s not summer without you → jenny han (reread, audiobook) / (mar 1) 47) we’ll always have summer → jenny han (reread, audiobook) / (mar 1) 48) the late mrs. willoughby → claudia gray (arc) / (feb 23 - mar 2) 49) the appeal → janice hallett / (mar 2 - mar 3) 50) fatal throne: the wives of henry vii tell all → candice fleming, m.t. anderson, jennifer donnelly, stephanie hemphill, debrah hopkinson, linda sue park, lisa anna sandell (audiobook) / (mar 4) 51) a quiet life in the country → t.e. kinsey (audiobook) / (mar 6 - mar 7) 52) leave it to the march sisters → annie sereno (arc) / (mar 7 - mar 8) 53) wild is the witch → rachel griffin (audiobook) / (mar 9) 54) no exit → taylor adams / (mar 9 - mar 10) 55) julius caesar → william shakespeare (reread, audiobook) / (mar 15) 56) last violent call → chloe gong / (mar 10 - mar 15) 57) the witch and the vampire → francesca flores (arc) / (mar 15 - mar 16) 58) what lies in the woods → kate alice marshall (audiobook) / (mar 17) 59) the writing retreat → julia bartz (audiobook) / (mar 18 - mar 20) 60) spells for forgetting → adrienne young (audiobook) / (mar 23) 61) anne of green gables → l.m. montgomery (reread) / (mar 21 - mar 24) 62) an elderly lady is up to no good → helene tursten (audiobook, translated work) / (mar 27) 63) murder your employer: the mcmasters guide to homicide → rupert holmes (audiobook) / (mar 28 - mar 29) 64) fake dates and mooncakes → sher lee (arc) / (mar 29 - mar 30) 65) the sweetest connection → denise williams (audiobook) / (apr 1) 66) immortal longings → chloe gong (arc) / (mar 16 - apr 1) 67) lost in the never woods → aiden thomas / (apr 2 - apr 3) 68) that wasn’t in the script → sarah ainslee (arc) / (apr 3) 69) tell me what really happened → chelsea sedoti (arc) / (apr 3) 70) shakespeare in love → lee hall / (apr 4) 71) the golden spoon → jessa maxwell (audiobook) / (apr 6 - apr 7) 72) hamlet → william shakespeare (reread, annotation) / (mar 4 - apr 8) 73) anne of avonlea → l.m. montgomery (reread) / (apr 4 - apr 9) 74) anne of the island → l.m. montgomery (reread) (apr 9) 75) of human kindness: what shakespeare teaches us about empathy → paula marantz cohen (audiobook) / (apr 7 - apr 10) 76) ophelia → lisa m. klein (audiobook) / (apr 12 - apr 13) 77) anne of windy poplars → l.m. montgomery (reread) (apr 10 - apr 13) 78) women of will: following the feminine in shakespeare’s plays → tina packer (audiobook) / (apr 14 - apr 17) 79) juliet: the life and afterlives of shakespeare's first tragic heroine → sophie duncan (arc) / (apr 5 - apr 18) 80) your guide to not getting murdered in a quaint english village → maureen johnson, jay cooper / (apr 20) 81) when the reckoning comes → latanya mcqueen (audiobook) / (apr 21 - apr 22) 82) laertes: a hamlet retelling → carly stevens / (apr 23) 83) the broken girls → simone st. james / (apr 21 - apr 26) 84) the night swim → megan golden (audiobook) / (may 1 - may 2) 85) when you wish upon a lantern → gloria chao (audiobook) / (may 3 - may 4) 86) chloe and the kaishao boys → mae coyiuto / (may 2 - may 7) 87) ghosted: a northanger abbey novel → amanda quain (arc) / (may 2 - may 7) 88) happy place → emily henry / (may 7 - may 9) 89) the mad women’s ball → victoria mas / (may 9 - may 11) 90) the fiancée farce → alexandria bellefleur (audiobook) / (may 14 - may 15) 91) the strange case of the alchemist's daughter → theodora goss (audiobook) / (may 18 - may 19) 92) the weight of blood → tiffany d. jackson (audiobook) / (may 19 - may 20) 93) the twyford code → janice hallett / (may 18 - may 21) 94) never vacation with your ex → emily wibberley and austin siegemund-broka / (may 22) 95) the dos and donuts of love → adiba jaigirdar (arc) / (may 23 - may 24) 96) european travel for the monstrous gentlewoman → theodora goss (audiobook) / (may 22 - may 25) 97) one jump at a time: my story → nathan chen (audiobook) / (jun 1) 98) death of a bookseller → alice slater (audiobook) / (jun 1 - jun 2) 99) a treacherous tale → elizabeth penny (audiobook) / (jun 3 - jun 5) 100) chapter and curse → elizabeth penny (audiobook) / (jun 5) 101) julieta and the romeos → maria e. andreu (audiobook) / (jun 5 - jun 6) 102) a far wilder magic → allison saft (audiobook) / (jun 7 - jun 11) 103) meet me at the lake → carly fortune (audiobook) / (jun 11 - jun 12) 104) foul heart huntsman → chloe gong (arc) / (may 25 - jun 17) 105) rules for vanishing → kate alice marshall / (jun 1 - jun 19) 106) little thieves → margaret own (audiobook) / (jun 15 - jun 21) 107) the last word → taylor adams / (jun 19 - jun 21) 108) the three dahlias → katy watson / (jun 5 - jun 24) 109) painted devils → margaret own (audiobook) / (jun 25 - jun 29) 110) reign → katharine mcgee (arc) / (jun 25 - jul 1) 111) the chateau → jaclyn goldis / (jul 1 - jul 4) 112) a most agreeable murder → julia seals / (jul 2 - jul 4) 113) the shadow sister → lily meade / (july 4 - july 5) 114) if we were villains → m.l. rio (reread, audiobook) / (jul 6) 115) something is killing the children, vol 1 → james tynion iv / (jul 7) 116) something is killing the children, vol 2 → james tynion iv / (jul 7) 117) something is killing the children, vol 3 → james tynion iv / (jul 7) 118) you’re not supposed to die tonight → kalynn bayron / (jul 8) 119) something is killing the children, vol 4 → james tynion iv / (jul 9) 120) lock every door → riley sager (audiobook) / (jul 8 - jul 9) 121) something is killing the children, vol 5 → james tynion iv / (jul 10) 122) the sun down motel → simone st. james / (jul 9 - jul 11) 123) the only survivors → megan miranda (audiobook) / (jul 13) 124) at home with the horrors → sammy scott / (jul 16 - jul 21) 125) one of us is lying → karen m. mcmanus (reread, audiobook) / (jul 31) 126) bring me your midnight → rachel griffin (arc) / (jul 21 - jul 31) 127) one of us is next → karen m. mcmanus (reread, audiobook) / (jul 31 - aug 1) 128) the summer of broken rules → k.l. walther / (jul 30 - aug 1) 129) one of us is back → karen m. mcmanus / (aug 1 - aug 3) 130) what happens after midnight → k.l. walther / (aug 4 - aug 6) 131) the narrow → kate alice marshall / (aug 3 - aug 6) 132) night of the living queers: 13 tales of terror delight → edited by shelly page and alex brown (arc) / (aug 9 - aug 15) 133) the death i gave him → em x. liu (arc) / (aug 17 - aug 19) 134) heartstopper, vol 1 (reread) → alice oseman / (aug 19) 135) heartstopper, vol 2 (reread) → alice oseman / (aug 19) 136) heartstopper, vol 3 (reread) → alice oseman / (aug 19) 137) heartstopper, vol 4 (reread) → alice oseman / (aug 19) 138) the only one left → riley sager / (aug 19 - aug 21) 139) the getaway list → emma lord (arc) / (aug 21 - aug 22) 140) a good girl’s guide to murder → holly jackson (reread, audiobook) / (aug 23 - aug 24) 141) good girl, bad blood → holly jackson (reread, audiobook) / (aug 24 - aug 26) 142) as good as dead → holly jackson (reread, audiobook) / (aug 26 - aug 27) 143) five survive → holly jackson (reread, audiobook) / (aug 27) 144) one for my enemy → olivie blake / (aug 31 - sep 5) 145) business or pleasure → rachel lynn solomon / (sep 5) 146) maybe meant to be → k.l. walther (audiobook) / (sep 6 - sep 7) 147) yellowface → r.f. kuang (audiobook) / (sep 10 - sep 11) 148) going bicostal → dahlia adler (audiobook) / (sep 19) 149) teach the torches to burn: a romeo and juliet remix → caleb roehig / (sep 16 - sep 23) 150) none of this is true → lisa jewell / (sep 24) 151) the girls in the garden → lisa jewell (audiobook) / (sep 29 - sep 30) 152) a very lively murder → katy watson / (oct 3 - oct 4) 153) she is a haunting → trang thanh tran (audiobook) / (oct 4 - oct 5) 154) murder and mamon → mia p. manansala / (oct 5) 155) in these hallowed halls: a dark academia anthology → edited by marie o’regan & paul kane / (sep 14 - oct 7) 156) hallowe’en party  → agatha christie (audiobook) / (oct 8 - oct 9) 157) the second death of edie and violet bond → amanda glaze (audiobook) / (oct 9 - oct 11) 158) the fall of the house of usher → edgar allan poe / (oct 12) 159) home before dark → riley sager (audiobook) / (oct 13 - oct 14) 160) a haunting on the hill → elizabeth hand / (oct 7 - oct 16) 161) the lost coast → a.r. capetta (audiobook) / (oct 14 - oct 19) 162) murder in the family → cara hunter / (oct 18 - oct 21) 163) starling house → alix e. harrow (audiobook) / (oct 22 - oct 25) 164) the unmaking of june farrow → adrienne young (physical and audiobook) / (oct 23 - oct 28) 165) when ghosts call us home → katya de becerra / (oct 28 - oct 30) 166) a christmas carol → charles dickens (reread) / (nov 5) 167) the fall of whit rivera → crystal maldonado (audiobook) / (nov 9 - nov 10) 168) iris kelly doesn’t date → ashley herring blake (audiobook) / (nov 11 - nov 12) 169) fair rosaline → natasha solomon / (nov 8 - nov 14) 170) the dead romantics → ashley poston (audiobook) / (nov 20) 171) if we were villains → m.l. rio (reread, physical and audiobook) / (nov 8 - nov 22) 172) the ballad of songbirds and snakes → suzanne collins / (nov 23 - nov 25) 173) i hope this doesn’t find you → ann liang (arc) / (nov 27 - nov 28) 174) the hunger games → suzanne collins (reread, annotation) / (dec 1 - dec 2) 175) the christmas appeal → janice hallett (audiobook) / (dec 6) 176) enchanted to meet you → meg cabot (audiobook) / (dec 8 - dec 10) 177) catching fire → suzanne collins (reread, annotation) / (dec 3 - dec 17) 178) mockingjay → suzanne collins (reread, annotation) / (dec 18 - dec 23) 179) none shall sleep → ellie marney (audiobook) / (dec 15 - dec 23) 180) little women → louisa may alcott (reread, physical and audiobook) / (dec 25 - dec 28)

I honestly can't imagine Rayla not dooming the world for Callum if the situation required it. She literally called going to dark places an "act of love."

I mean, there's a few things:

The opinions of anyone working on the show (cast, crew, etc.) are not gospel and not the default, nor do they need to be treated as the be all end all. You can disagree and that's more than gouda

People will give misleading answers and/or answers that are true in the moment (i.e. would S5 Rayla doom the world for him? Maybe not. Would S6 Rayla after some development? If the answer's yes, that's gotta stay under wraps) to avoid potential spoilers

I was actually honestly pretty surprised 1) someone asked such a direct question and 2) even more surprised that it got directly answered, since it feels like it could skirt into spoilery territory potentially for next season given the possession plot line. (I was personally gunning for a "what do you think Rayla and Claudia would think of Callum's S5 dark magic use, if they knew?")

I will admit Paula's response was, admittedly, what I've leaned to for Rayla as a whole in terms of that World vs Loved One binary. One of the things that makes Ezran and Rayla interesting to me was the uncertainty of "would they risk [insert thing here] for their immediate circle of loved ones" routinely being a "I don't know." Not that they necessarily 100% wouldn't, but just that I was genuinely 50-50 split on whether they would, or leaned towards No or Yes but could see the other way being plausible too. That uncertainty paired with the certainty I had that Callum would, and that contrast, has always been one of my favourite things about the Trio as a unit and Rayllum as a duo. It's one of the reasons that Heart vs Duty conflict for Rayla as a character has always been so compelling to me and why 4x07's introduction of the "You have to kill me" conflict was so (and is) exciting!!

But I digress.

I don't think that Rayla's letter is the best example of what I think you're trying to illustrate (I'll raise something I think that is perhaps more indicative in a moment) purely because the whole reason Rayla ultimately left was to protect the world. I've talked about this before in my "Priorities in Through the Moon" meta from ages ago, but Rayla does not go into the portal because she's primarily concerned about finding her parents. Callum researches the portal and helps recreate it and his whole side of things because he wants to help her with her parents, even being the one who brings them up when they resolve to go ahead. Rayla's concerned primarily with Viren, stating her reason for going into the portal even after finding out it requires facing water:

"Listen, Callum. Soren was worried about Viren too. Worried that we never found his body. We need to know what happened to Viren. He's a threat to the whole world! This might be the only way to be sure he's actually gone."

This is in line with how Rayla operates and references her parents in her letter to Callum, given her goodbye exchange for her parents:

Rayla: Surprised you even noticed, considering you've got more important things to do. Lain: Nothing is more important than our favourite child. Rayla: I'm your only child, and you're still leaving me behind for the Dragonguard. Tiadrin: We have to leave, Rayla. For you and for all the other Moonshadow children as well [...] This is our duty that we're doing for Xadia. For you. Someday, I hope you see that.

Just as trust and love are not necessarily synonyms to her, duty and love are not necessarily exclusives. Her parents left out of love for her and for the world, even if that meant prioritizing the world over her in the immediacy of their choice. Rayla leaves to go kill Viren out of a similar mutual desire to protect Callum, yes, but that's mostly there in the fact she left alone and didn't want him to stop her. Not necessarily that she went to hunt down Viren in and of itself, but that she went by herself ("I was trying to protect him. I knew I had to be strong alone"). Protecting the world - and a Viren-less world being one Callum would be safer in by proxy - was worth blowing up her relationships to her.

Going to dark places wasn't what she was doing just to protect Callum - that played a part, too, but her primary goal was to hunt down Viren (going to said dark place) alone and by leaving Callum behind, hence the "Stay safe, and stay in the light. Don't look for me, and don't follow me" - a sacrifice she was making on her own so that Callum wouldn't have to, but still for a collective cause that she deemed meaningful: "I have to make sure Viren never hurts anyone ever again." (Which is also why she goes after Viren again in 4x09, tbh)

That doesn't mean leaving in TTM wasn't also an errorful, self-destructive choice to leave (see like every other TTM meta I've written) but that the goals she could conceptualize was to protect the world, full stop. Anything else along the way (getting closure with her parents, protecting Callum) were extra stops and bonuses to help her have the courage to go through with it, maybe.

This is also in line with how we see Rayla treat other scenarios where it's a choice between individuals / individual relationships vs the potential to help or harm the greater good

Prioritizing the world / new mission of stopping the assassination mission > her relationship with Runaan ("This is a miracle, a chance for peace!") in 1x03

Being willing to and convincing Callum to let Ezran search for the egg under the ice in 1x06

"Then it's time to go. War's coming like the world's never seen, unless we get the wee dragon home to his mom" (2x01)

"Callum, I know you trust them, but by the time we know the truth, it'll be too late. Do you understand? We'll lose everything" (2x03)

"So please, allow him to pass into Xadia and help bring the Dragon Prince home. Because I don't think I can do it without him" (3x01)

Do I even need to specify 3x09? Or TTM?

"I hate it too, but we have to keep moving [...] We can't save everyone, Soren. There's too much at stake. I'm leaving, and you better be right behind me" (4x05)

"If I threw the coins in the lava, would it release their spirits? Or would they just be trapped in some of eternal burning agony? Let's trade. You let him go, and I'll give you the coins." "I'm not making a deal with you!" (4x09)

"I love you, and I haven't forgotten about you. But I can't help you yet. Because right now, the world needs me. Callum and Ezran need. There's a great evil trying to return to Xadia, and we have to stop it, at any cost" (5x01)

"It hurts me to know they're trapped like this. It's agonizing. But I know our mission comes first. The world is in danger, and you can trust me to stay focused" (5x04)

This is, arguably, the strongest core trait she has in common with Viren, just for the record, especially in arc 1. He's very greater good centric as well, just with the push of his own ego and thirst for power + he only considers humanity's concerns, whereas Rayla has minimal pride and arguably not enough ego, and she wants to improve situations for everybody on a collective scale post-1x02 onwards.

The exceptions to this consistent behaviour is largely 2x07 and 3x08, which I've talked about more in my Dragon Quartet meta (from Dec 2019 good god??). These are arguably two of the times, in addition to TTM in some ways, where Rayla is operating the most out of her emotional core ("My allegiance is to my heart" —Tales of Xadia) and what feels 'right' on that level. For better or for worse.

"That dragon was defenceless, and I just left there." / "So I have to stay, and defend the Dragon Queen."

I say Rayla is at her most emotional largely because in each scenario she's abandoning the mission of keeping Zym safe (and thereby her own identified "world's best hope" for peace) in favour of protecting a different individual dragon. This seems to go completely against the "mission first" if indeed, like in 1x03, Rayla can abandon one mission she's devoted herself to in favour of another one just like that [snaps fingers]. If she cares about the world first, why prioritize these individuals, neither of whom she particularly knows or personally cares about? BH also spells this out for us, since it's likewise a mirror to her offering to go up into the tower with Callum to defend Harrow even though the egg should technically be her first priority:

But to Runaan and those like your parents, love is rooted in all families, all creatures. Souls like that feel called to protect everyone as fiercely as those they hold close.

In 2x07, Rayla is at her best, if least logical, whereas in 3x08 she is at worst (until arguably S4) and likewise her least logical ("I know you feel guilty, but you're not thinking straight"). In each scenario the boys stand a Much better chance of survival and of accomplishing their mission with her from just an objective point of view (they don't know Xadia's terrain at that point and circa 2x07, neither could really be combatants in a fight since Callum didn't have a weapon or primal magic). We could slap an easy "you're being a dumbass and dooming the world" label on it and be done with it. But not only does Rayla think the boys are fully capable of completing their mission without her ("I believe in you") but 'the world' as a stake never enters her mind.

Instead, Rayla looks at each as an individual last stand where the only neck on the chopping block is ('rightfully') hers. Whether she's right or not to do so regardless of how she frames it is debatable (I personally view it as understandable, admirable, but more than a little short sighted or guilt ridden considering The Stakes), but that very much seems to be the thought process.

She's not risking the world, in her mind. All she's risking is herself.

And that's perfectly acceptable to her as a trade off. It always has been. It's one of the perfect kind of microcosms of the cognitive dissonance she lives under, where why should she care about herself when there's bigger fish to fry ("Don't worry about my hand; the egg is all that matters now") ignoring the fact that 1) she can & arguably should let herself care about two things at once and 2) she's going to be much less effective as a team member / dual wielder if she's recovering from a messy at best recent amputation.

This path of "Rayla works to save Callum because she doesn't care about what happens to herself" is admittedly probably the option I leaned towards most when it comes to Rayla in S6, even if I do wonder how it might be streamlined time / arc wise cause it does elongate her arc further. Either way, this is the route that lets her not kill Callum, working free him instead while also being able to justify trying to free him to herself, because she's not conceptualizing the Big Picture. She's narrowing it down to him and her and deciding if one of them has to get hurt in order for him to be freed, it's gonna be her.

It's not the Character Development route as I call it, but it sure is consistent.

TLDR; While I still lean towards Rayla having an ultimately positive impact (i.e. breaking Callum free from potential brainwashing) in s6, it would not surprise me at all if from her perspective it is framed as a self-sacrificial move on her end > a big picture risk to the world, even if that's how Callum may see it.

More thoughts on Rayla + the possession plotline in S6 here, here, and here.

One of the things that gets me about Interview with the Vampire is Anne Rice’s take on the downside of immortality. I’m especially thinking about this after reading Dracula Daily, currently reading Carmilla Weekly, and considering other vampire media. The vampire should both horrify and fascinate you, and so there should be enough of a tradeoff between a normal, human life and vampirism to make you question if you’d really want that immortality if it was offered to you.

I say if you could choose to be any type of vampire, you’d want to be a Twilight vampire. It’s literally impossible for a human to kill one. Sure, you maybe can’t go out in daylight all the time because your skin sparkles, but that doesn’t mean you can never see the sun again. You’re also fast enough to catch and kill any human unlucky enough to see you out in the middle of the woods or wherever you risked going out during the day. And as long as word doesn’t get out, the Volturi won’t come after you. Twilight also goes very easy on the obvious drawback of watching everyone you love get old and die. I don’t remember the backstory of every single Cullen, but Edward was dying, Alice literally has no memory of her previous life, and Rosalie was brutalized and left for dead by her fiance. They had no life to go back to. Bella might lose her parents eventually, but children ideally should be the ones to outlive their parents. She didn’t have any other close relatives or friends. In giving up her human life, she gets to marry someone she loves and a new family. They can also live just fine on animal blood, so you don’t have to deal with the moral implications of killing humans. And you get your own superpower! Twilight vampires don’t even have to sleep.

Compare this to earlier vampire stories. The vampires in Dracula and Carmilla lose their connection to God--which was a much bigger deal to the Irishmen writing these stories in the late 1800s than it is to a modern audience. Dracula vampires also lose their humanity and have the significant weakness of needing to return to their coffin to sleep during the day and being vulnerable while doing so. They also can be warded off by garlic and have their sanctuaries destroyed by Eucharist wafers. Dracula couldn’t even move his own coffins--he had to pay other people to do it for him, and that meant he had to leave very quickly when the poly band started destroying them. Carmilla/Mircalla/Millarca is restricted by only being able to use different spellings of her name. Her eating habits raise suspicion in any area she stays in for too long, with so many people dying of a strange “fever”, and she also has trouble going out in the daylight. 

Buffy vampires lose their souls, burn up dramatically in sunlight, and have a vampire slayer (or, by the end of the series, many vampire slayers) gunning for them. Most of the vampires in From Dusk Till Dawn are stuck in an eternal position of slavery or servitude and also burn up in the sunlight, essentially forced into a new society where they have very little power and any disobedience would be punished by death. Vampires in Supernatural can survive sunlight, even if it hurts, but they have hunters to contend with, many of which won’t hesitate to cut their heads off even if they stick to animal blood and mind their own business. Increased speed and strength and eternal life might be nice, but you either become an evil, blood-hunting animal or you get to spend that eternity living in fear.

The drawbacks of vampirism per Interview with the Vampire differ a little between the book and the 1994 movie, and a lot between both of those and the 2022 television series. In the book, and save one scene in the movie where Claudia gets out of her coffin during the day to join Louis in his, Anne Rice’s vampires literally cannot be awake during the day. As they age, sunlight does lose its power over them as Armand says in the series, but they cannot be awake to experience it. New vampires are burnt to ash by the sun, older vampires are only burned by it, and the oldest and most powerful can sleep in the sun all day and come out with a nice tan. The movie does a good job of showing this with Louis, holding his lantern close to the waters of the Mediterranean at night because he wants to see it as blue as he’s always heard about. But his light isn’t enough, and the water stays black. It’s a significant drawback of vampirism that the show loses: the sun may eventually lose its ability to hurt you, but you will never experience sunlight or what the world looks like in the daytime again.

One thing the Interview with the Vampire series does keep and did do well with in the first season is showing how vampires are incapable of change. Not only that their bodies are the same forever and that Claudia will never grow up, but that they have essentially lost the human ability to grow and change as people. In the book/movie, Louis was in his early twenties and had already lost his brother (book) or wife and buried his newborn child (movie). Alone in the world save for the slaves he owned at his plantation--who rightfully hated him. He wanted to die, and Lestat jumped him and gave him what he wanted, but he also preserved Louis like that forever. He is and always will be suicidally depressed--he is both dead and wanting to die, existing in limbo. In the series, Louis will always be exactly who he was when Louis turned him. Alienated from his family, but feeling an obligation to support them. Hating the life he leads and the way he earns his money while also viciously defending it. Paying someone to sit in a room and listen to him talk, whether that person is a prostitute or reporter. Louis is stuck as who he was in his weakest moment, when he gave into Lestat, which is why he will always give into Lestat, which is why, after more than a century, he is still whining!

It’s also why aging up the reporter is a great move, because over the course of fifty years, Daniel went from a young addict to a world-renowned reporter, from an idealistic idiot to a cynical asshole. This means he’s done the one thing Louis can’t (besides go out in sunlight): he’s grown and changed as a person. That’s why Louis is fascinated by him, and why he called him decades later to complete their interview. It also calls into question if you, the viewer, would want the “dark gift” Louis offers him. Twenty-year-old Daniel, like most people that age, had no idea how much life can change you, and had no idea what he might be losing to ask for Louis to turn him at that age. Seventy-year-old Daniel knows very well what he would have lost and what he still very well might lose by letting Louis turn him, even as Parkinson’s slowly starts to take its toll on his body. Would you want to live as who you are right now, forever? Do you like who you are enough that you would give up your ability to change, to know who you might become? Would you always want to be that person who, when the vampire bared his teeth and made his offer, gave into a moment of weakness and said yes?

hello guys! i'm going to post this starter call and also a plot call for the event. feel free to ask the starters that you like or just like to plot, for the starter call, there is no cap. i'm going to put under this read more who is there willingly and who is there not and also the ones that are open for death has an asterisk so you can see <3

willingly went in:

alice cullen

edward cullen (characters encounter a pit trap, so obvious they almost want to explore) kaiden (monster: werewolf)carlisle cullen (monster: masked murderer wearing the Ghostface mask)laurent da revin (monster: minotaur) kate denali (characters enter a portion of the maze to find it completely dark.)

*anna of arendelle

*betty cooper

*beverly marsh

*buffy summer

*caitlin snow

*caroline forbes

enzo st. john (though relatively empty the plant life whispers threats and warnings to people in this portion of the maze. It tells them to give up on their progress)

claudia

emma swan

patia por´co (monster: masked murderer wearing the ghostface mask) killian jones (monster: giant spiders)

*hermione granger

hagrid (though relatively empty the plant life whispers threats and warnings to people in this portion of the maze. It tells them to give up on their progress) harvey hufflepuff (the area is just absolutely full of croaking frogs. they aren’t dangerous but they are loud and difficult to step around) james potter (monster: a hoard of geese)

*hope mikaelson

rebekah mikaelson (monster: living scarecrow) klaus mikaelson (characters wander in to a giant feast, long empty tables piled high with food, with chairs much too high for anyone human to sit in.) josie saltzman (monster: skeletons)

*isabelle lightwood

max lightwood (monster: ghosts) leia organa (monster: skeletons)

jill roberts

tatum riley (the area is just absolutely full of croaking frogs. they aren’t dangerous but they are loud and difficult to step around.) stu macher (characters wander in to a giant feast, long empty tables piled high with food, with chairs much too high for anyone human to sit in.)

kara danvers

lexie grey (characters are greeted by two beings the size of children but with pumpkins for heads arrive with a cart, gesturing for characters to get in) alex danvers (monster: living corn attempting to eat characters. It is still the size of regular corn.)

katara

korra (characters enter a mud filled portion of the maze, where their footsteps feel heavy, and every push further seems to sink them farther and farther into the mud.)

lila pitts

diego hargreeves (monster: a swarm of bats)

*lissa dragomir

isaac lahey (monster: ghosts)

*nancy wheeler

rapunzel corona

*samanha carpenter

kirby reed (monster: gelatinous cube) billy loomis (monster: masked murderer wearing the ghostface mask) feng xing (monster: stormtroopers)

sara lance

sheila hammond

kevin snipe (monster: minotaur)bloo regard (monster: a rat with a gun)marco del rossi (monster: murderous clown)

usagi tsukino

madoka kaname (characters walk into this portion of the maze to immediately be caught in a giant spider web, trapping them.)

wednesday addams

dragged in:

*annabeth chase

*annie cresta

*bianca di angelo

bree tanner

choi nam ra

*daenerys targaryen

drogon (monster: dementors) aelin (the husks of corn emit a poisonous gas, making characters weaker the longer they breath it in)

daphne bridgerton

eloise bridgerton (monster: a rat with a gun) edmun bridgerton (monster: living corn attempting to eat characters. It is still the size of regular corn.)

*effy stonem

*elizabeth midford

*hanna marin

heidi volturi

yoon chi woo (monster: a hoard of geese) victoria sutherland (characters encounter a pit trap, so obvious they almost want to explore)

intouch chatpokin

*jane

*jean grey

jessica riley

malia tate

peter hale (the area exists as a zone of truth, making characters incapable of lying. characters are aware of this when they enter the space)

*manaow

team siriyothin (characters reach a dead end, full of pollen spores, which when inhaled make characters feel drunk for the next hour)

*mary stuart

lola fleming narcisse (characters enter a mud filled portion of the maze, where their footsteps feel heavy, and every push further seems to sink them farther and farther into the mud)

*melinda halliwell

piper halliwell (monster: living scarecrow)

myrcella baratheon

*narcissa black

rabastan lestrange (monster: skeletons) lily evans (characters encounter a pit trap, so obvious they almost want to explore)

*rhaena targaryen

lucerys valeryon (monster: a rat with a gun)

sharon carter

daisy johnson (characters walk into this portion of the maze to immediately be caught in a giant spider web, trapping them) peggy carter (the area is just absolutely full of croaking frogs. they aren’t dangerous but they are loud and difficult to step around.)

*victoire weasley

fred weasley (monster: minotaur) fleur delacour (characters enter a portion of the maze to find it completely dark) teddy lupin (monster: dementors)

win wanichakarnjonkul

*yelena belova

I do like complaining about t*en w*lf, it’s a hobby honestly. I’ve been thinking a lot about the parents lately, so I decided to give my brutally honest opinions about each of them. In case you don’t want to read all of my opinions, TLDR I don’t like most of the parents.

If you do want to hear my reasonings, I’ll put it under the cut because there is a lot of negativity.

These are my opinions and I’m explaining why I feel the way I do. You are by no means obligated to agree with me, and I’m not saying your opinions are wrong, all I ask is you are respectful.

This is my interpretation of the characters and their actions (as parents, not every single decision they’ve ever made). My interpretation may be influenced by my own experiences. If you disagree, I welcome you make your own post. If you really hate what I have to say, block me.

I do try to look at good and bad parenting decisions from each parent, but depending on what the act itself is, some hold more weight than others, as well as the number of good vs bad.

Let’s start with the dads

Noah Stilinski

Good

Said he would burn the sheriff’s station to the ground to protect Stiles

Was frantically looking for him when he went missing (on multiple occasions)

Pointed a gun at Chris when he thought he was going to shoot “Stiles”

Tried to help him get out of the train station

Stopped drinking (this is twofold, it was good for Stiles and for himself)

Bad

In regards to the first point, he followed it up with ‘a good way to forgive yourself is to forgive someone else.’ He made it all about Scott. I know he wasn’t aware of what Scott said, but Scott doesn’t need to be forgiven

“I don’t want to feel worse by yelling at my son” this sounds to me like he blames Stiles for getting fired. He shouldn’t have been fired, but he also shouldn’t be blaming Stiles

Stiles comes to him with XYZ and Noah doesn’t believe him. Scott comes to him with XYZ and he believes him. Not cool to believe someone else over your own kid, especially when they said the same thing. This happens multiple times

Edit to add: He basically calls Stiles a liar and never apologizes for it

Noah agreed to let Stiles to go Eichen. Even if he tried to back out later, he still let him go through with it

This one seems more minor, but not telling your kid who you’re going on a date with. Kinda awkward that it’s his crush’s mom

He leaves Stiles with Claudia. He thinks his job is more important than to support his son and his dying wife. He also did this knowing that Claudia assaulted Stiles. That’s not a great way to say you care about your kid (Noah, not Claudia, her too though)

“Thank you, son I should have had.” This is not funny. I don’t give a fuck what Stiles said before this. That’s not funny. You don’t joke about wanting someone else to be your kid. My dad made it very obvious he loved my step-brothers more than me and that shit is painful. (Additionally I’m sick of seeing “if you think that’s bad parenting, you had good parents.” I think that’s bad parenting and I had a shitty parent. There are real people in real life whose parents don’t like them and wish to trade them for a different kid. I think this is one of the most hurtful things spoken in the show)

He doesn’t know where Stiles is (in "Fury”) when the gun goes off and he calls out for Scott first. Before Stiles. He cares more about Scott’s than Stiles’s well-being. Even if he did know where Stiles was, you call out for your kid first to make sure they’re okay

Yelling “I’m the dad, you’re the son!” Obviously Stiles does not feel like a child in this relationship. He’s too busy being an adult

Additional note: I have no problem with Noah acting like a father figure to those who don’t have dads or good dads, but he should really focus on being a good dad to his own kid first. So far he’s not doing a bang up job.

Chris Argent

Good

Allowed her to take mental health days come season 3

Bad

Told Allison she was responsible for the deaths of everyone if she didn’t tell him who the kanima was. Even if that was true, saying that to your kid’s face and showing them a corpse killed by the kanima is not a good move

Kidnapped his daughter, probably traumatizing her, and implied he would be forced to kill her if she were to change into a werewolf (the last part screams conditional love. And don’t come at me with “that was season 2, he changed later.” No, he didn’t. Chris is not an ally to werewolves, only Scott, and I will fight you)

Emotionally manipulated her into not seeing Scott again by threatening to kill him. (He’s also a hypocrite because in season 1 Kate also held a gun to Scott’s head and he said that wasn’t okay. Doesn’t matter if he wasn’t going to shoot Scott, unlike his sister, threatening it is bad enough)

Allison tells Scott not to laugh when she talks about archery, she also tells Jackson not to laugh before she confides something in him. This sounds like Chris and Victoria blow her off. She still has a box of art she produced from over her life claiming all of it was terrible. It sounds like Chris and Victoria said that to her. If she really truly hated it, she probably wouldn’t keep it. At least not in her room, maybe in storage, but at the moment it’s sitting there as a reminder she’s not good enough

Hid a lot of information from her (the truth about Victoria, the hunter thing – if she was meant to carry on the job, he waited an awful long time to get her into it, but whatever. The fact that he knew about the telluric currents and Gerard being alive)

This is the big one. This is it for me. She told him she loves him and HE DOESN’T SAY IT BACK!!!!

You tell your kid you love them, especially if they say it first. He kissed her head and fucking walked away. I don’t care what your familial love language is, if you can’t tell a person that you either helped make and/or raised or whatever that you love them, don’t be a parent. That shit hurts

He didn’t go to her when she died. She died in Scott’s arms. Chris stood there and watched. Maybe he was in shock, but that doesn’t sound like very good CoMpArTmEnTaLiZiNg. That would have been a good time to say you love your kid, but no. (If you believe the unreliable narrator theory, I certainly do, maybe he did go to her, but this isn’t what we saw in the episode.)

Peter Hale

Good

Wanted to connect with his child when he found out he had one

Was willing to do a big favor for Lydia just to get the name of his child (which was a big deal to him)

Spent thousands of dollars (and we all know how stingy Peter is) to get information on her

Was willing to get burned alive again to see his daughter (6.05)

Used himself as a distraction for the Ghost Riders to save Malia. Twice (the first time was when they were in the tunnels, and then fought them again in the library)

Similarly Peter, who just got done saying he wasn’t sure how Malia could be his daughter since she lacks self-preservation instincts, is willing to potentially sacrifice himself and tells her to run

Her calling him “Dad” snapped him out of the trance

The Anuk-ite used her voice against him, meaning his greatest fear was something happening to her

Bad

Wanted Malia to kill Kate (why? He could do it. Actually, Chris should have done it but he doesn’t have the balls)

Additional notes: The show implies Peter helped out Malia during the brown out in season 5 (through a flashback in season 6), but I never understood what the significance was, so I’m ignoring that until someone can explain it to me.

Ken Yukimura

Good

Was willing to sell out Noshiko, in a way, to help Kira (“Are you sure about that?”)

Was willing to go to prison for Kira when she was (knowingly) wrongly accused of murder

Bad

Didn’t tell her about her kitsune powers until they started to manifest

Didn’t tell her they were planning to go back to New York

Dr. David Geyer

Good

Supportive of Liam and helped him work through his anger

Doesn’t blame him for getting assaulted by Scott (”Are you mad at me?” “No, of course not.”)

Clearly cares about Liam, and his friends

Additional notes: We don’t get to see him enough. I’m mad about it.

Rafael McCall

Good

Tells Scott it’s safer for him to get out of town than stay when Monroe has her army

Bad

Pushed his kid down the stairs. Doesn’t matter if he was drunk or not

Didn’t really apologize to Scott for this incident, instead he pushed the blame to Melissa

Said he would come back soon and then didn’t

Not to mention he doesn’t seem to pay child support since Melissa is struggling and he offers to have dinner with Scott so Melissa can work more shifts instead of just giving her money. But I digress

Proceeded to not spend time with Scott. No phone calls or emails were mentioned (but I guess that doesn’t necessarily mean they didn’t exist. Still didn’t spend time with him, though)

Henry Tate

Good

Was gutted when his family died

Thrilled to find out Malia was alive

Bad

Sent her (?) to Eichen to readjust. That is what therapy is for, not a mental institution. (And who gave her the go ahead to go to high school with a third grade education? The fact that she graduated eventually with the academic success of a nine-year-old tells me she’s hella smart. What 9 yo wouldn’t struggle with pre-calc if they skipped all the stuff in between?)

Mr. Lahey

Bad

Abuses Isaac

Mr. Stewart

Good

When a lot of people (Natalie) didn’t believe Tracy had a real condition or problem, he did

Got her help for the problem (the psychiatrist)

Did everything he could to ease her mind (the dreamcatcher, boarding up the skylight)

Mr. Martin

Good

Went to the hospital to see Lydia

Bad

Tells Lydia she needs to choose who she lives with in the divorce

Presumed she had more problems than successes in school

Went to the hospital to see her, though he seemed a little eager to offer her help with a shower, which was creepy to me

Never to be heard from again. He likely abandoned Lydia

Elias Stilinski

Bad

Abusive and openly mocks his son and grandson (not sure how he remembered someone who was taken by the Ghost Riders)

The Moms

Melissa McCall

Good

Supports Scott no matter what

Bad

Except that one week after she found out he was a werewolf. She didn’t apologize for that either. Much like Chris, she did not express her love for her kid during that time even if she was struggling with his identity

(^ Saying forget everything I said before, if you can do something, do it is not an apology)

Her punishments are empty threats or nonexistent. She doesn’t ground him for sneaking out past curfew, does not punish him for assaulting Isaac (that’s not boys will be boys, that’s straight up assault), or stealing money from the Hales (she only demanded he give it back, no punishment ensued), took away his car keys/Stiles but then seemed to drop the punishment when she thought he was acting out because of his father)

^ Also, no Stiles is not a punishment you can follow through on

Instead of trying to have a conversation about the lone condom she found in his room with him, she goes to the MOM of the girl she ASSUMES he’s fucking. She could have been way off

She told the drunk to get out of the house, not the dad to get out of his life. Wrong. If your spouse hurts your kid, get rid of the whole man. Toodaloo motherfucker. Your stuff is in the trash

Instead of telling her son to get out of town for his safety, she tells him to stay. There is an entire army out to kill your child. He’s always going to be followed and hunted, yes, but it just seems irresponsible

I’m positive this is because the writers didn’t think it through that far or they simply forgot, but fact of the matter is it still happened. Melissa let Scott live with the man who pushed him down the stairs. Why? How are you certain it won’t happen again? How are you certain something worse couldn’t happen? I’m not giving up my kid, not for anything, not for any amount of time. If Melissa has primary physical custody, why would she let this happen?

Natalie Martin

Good

Wants Lydia to see a therapist

Electrocutes Tracy to save Lydia

Bad

“Lydia! What did you do to yourself?” sounds judgmental. Perhaps, upon seeing her daughter has cut her hand by punching the mirror, asking what happened would be more appropriate

Lets a strange boy into her house to be alone with Lydia while she’s drugged up and in negligee. Lydia can wear whatever the hell she wants, especially in her own house, but to let some rando into her room is not a good idea. And she left them alone

Says in season 4 she will do whatever she can to help and then turns around and absolutely does nothing (though this may be less of a parenting thing and more of a terrible person thing)

Sends her to Eichen House for the “best medical care.” Excuse me, ma’am, that is a mental institution, not a medical facility. Also, according to the flashback in Season 5, she saw what happened to Lorraine. I’m not sure if she’s cruel or stupid, but given everything else we know about Natalie, I’m going with both

She doesn’t care when Stiles points out Lydia has a hole in her head. She tries to justify it medically. You remember what happened to your former mother-in-law. Do you believe Lorraine did it to herself?

When Noah tells her what’s going on in Eichen, she waits all day to get Lydia out of there

When Tracy injures Lydia and Lydia tells Natalie to run, she does. She doesn’t risk her own safety to be with her child. She saves herself

Victoria Argent

Bad

“What you want doesn’t matter!” Tracks

She’s unnecessarily hard on Allison it seems (of course you shouldn’t be hard on your kid at all, but I feel Vicky was over the top)

Additional notes: I really don’t remember much about her except that she was a psycho. Some of her points are tied in with Chris.

Noshiko Yukimura

Good

Wants to get Kira help controlling the fox spirit

Bad

Hides Kira’s powers from her until they started to manifest

Sends her to the skinwalkers possibly forever (and then changes her mind)

Doesn’t tell her about the plan to move back to New York

Talia Hale

Bad

She didn’t seem like she was a comfort to Derek after he killed Paige. She told him his eyes were pretty and there was nothing wrong with them. There are definitely other things she could have said such as “It was a mercy kill, that doesn’t make you a bad person” or “She was suffering, you helped her” IDK

If Talia and Laura evolved in the same way Derek did in season 4, how come he didn’t know what was happening to him? I’m assuming Talia didn’t tell him

Additional notes: There’s no information about her as a parent, and these are mostly assumptions

Corinne

Bad

Tries to murder her daughter

Claudia Stilinski

Good

Based on Claudia pre-dementia, she would’ve believed Stiles

Additional notes: And this is according to Stiles who wanted to (rightfully) make his dad feel bad for not believing him. Which he never does. (He also yelled at Stiles unnecessarily)

Freezer Burns Masterlist | Steddie AU

based on this post

AU where Robin and Gareth are cousins and both live with their grandma because Robins a Lesbian and he's Trans and they both got kicked out by their parents. So Gareth always has his band over and Robin always has Steve over and Eddie and Steve meet that way. and they're instantly intrigued with each other and sneak off to the kitchen for "a drink" just as a chance to run into each other and flirt but Robin and Gareth don't suspect a thing Read on AO3 | Total word count: 31k

Chapter 1: Safe Haven

summary: Robins Grandmas' house is where all the Freaks in Hawkins feel safe.

warnings: parental abuse, bullying, sexually confused steve, friend issues, coming out, mutual pining, slow burn

Chapter 2: Eddie the Infatuated

Summary: Eddie has a sweet tooth

Warnings: mutual pining, Eddie's past, parental death, mentioned transphobia and bullying, his mom had cancer, Grandma Beth and Eddie are besties, steves sexuality crisis, background Gareth x Jeff,

Chapter 3: Kissing in the Kitchen

Summary: The title says it all.

Warnings: Slight Angst, mentions of Mean Girl/Bully Steve, homophobia, The Upside Down mention, gun mention, past violence, Steve's trauma, mutual pining, tooth-rotting fluff, too many Taylor Swift references, coming out (kinda), first kisses and a million more

Chapter 4: Pianos in Pools

Summary: Eddie goes to Steve's house for the first time

song used: The Winner Takes It All - ABBA

Warnings: Steve's dad is a dick, Mutual Pining, Idiots in Love, lots of kissing, Eddie's mom's cancer mentioned, internalized homophobia, touch starved steve, virgin!eddie, STEAMY makeouts

Chapter 5: Garage Party

Summary: 1 drink and everyone knows

Warnings: coming out, (outing if you squint), bonding with each other's friends, weed mention, underage drinking, side Ronance, lots of fluff

Chapter 6: Ugly Truths

Summary: Karma gives and karma takes

Warnings: Love Confessions, Smut, hand jobs, grinding, angst, fights with parent figure, rape mention/suggestion (it'll make sense when you read it but it's not a big part of the story) unhappy ending

Chapter 7: Meet Me in The Afterglow

Summary: Mean girl Steve makes a comeback

Warnings: implied/referenced rape (past), Angst with a happy ending, Eddie moves in with Grandma Beth, Steve has a panic attack, First Fights, Toxic reactions, suicidal ideation,

Chapter 8: Forever Family

Summary: Coming Home.

Warnings: Fluff, implied Smut, flirting/suggestive content, implied/referenced past sexual assault, apologies, Wayne/Claudia POV, happy ending for everyone

Tagged by @xirayn, with the following:

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. Let’s spread the self-love!

(lol self-love)

Okay, five favorite fics of mine:

Of Empires, Queens and Builders. Dragon Quest Builders 2. Pre-relationship Malroth/Female builder. This is a continuation of the game wherein the Isles merge into the world of Dragon Quest 2 some X-hundred years after the events of the game. The characters start exploring and make contact with another kingdom, and Malroth gets to enter a tournament. I liked writing it because I love world-building and it let me write cool action scenes. Someday, I'll write the next part.

War of the Broses, Supernatural, Destiel, HS AU. This was the first fic I finished and published on AO3. It's a prank war between high school seniors Dean and Cas. There are a bunch of footnotes that I did html jumps for, and lots of entertaining comedy and side characters. It was fun. I wrote it at work.

Is This a Kissing Fic?, Dragon Quest Builders 2, Malroth/Female Builder. Closest thing I get to PWP. It's just porn, it's to the point, and it's relatively short. 10k-ish. I don't write short fic so this feels like an accomplishment.

Crown of Thorns, Stranger Things, Steve/Eddie. WIP. Continuation of season 4. Eddie's dead... for now. Ensemble cast, because I love exploring the lives of these characters. Depressed Steve, Will gets powers, Eddie (despite being dead) gets powers, Druid!Eddie, Give Claudia Henderson a Gun, epic last battle (eventually). Will's powers are not what they appear at this time, but I'm not up to that point yet. It's pre-relationship Steddie, because Eddie's dead and that makes a relationship difficult.

The Prophetic D&D Game, Stranger Things, WIP. The Hellfire Club is about to start the Cult of Vecna. When one player can't make the first session, Eddie decides to try a different game that he came up with on a whim. He's already made characters for the players to use, and he's got an idea of where it's going. Some of his freshmen are a little weirded out about story. Evil mirror-dimensions, murderous psychic attacks, and characters inspired by people they know are just standard fare in his games. They'll get used to it. I like writing this one because, so far, it's a one-room kind of game and it's all an exercise in character interactions.

Trying to decide between tagging and sending asks, and settling on tagging: @2btheanswertothequestion, @inairbinad, @i-less-than-three-you, @loveinhawkins, @riality-check