This is a small thing, but I find it so interesting that the lyctors wear iridescent white robes. The text describes them as being the color of an oily sheen on water, and there's symbolism there of course, but a thing I've discovered (while trying to do a TLT cosplay) is that white iridescent fabric is always polyester. Plastic-based, terrible-for-the-environment, beloved-of-fast-fashion polyester. It doesn't breathe. Every time you wash it, it leaves behind microplastics in the water (which is maybe something to be examined about the Mithraeum's water recycling system). It's a major product of the oil industry, an industry which is heavily contributing to, if not spearheading, climate change.
And I think it's just so incredibly in character that John - the man who was given the power to save the Earth but instead started WWIII, trapped Her soul in the body of a Barbie, and has used Her as his personal power source for a myriad without a care for what She wants - picked a polyester fabric as the symbol of the First House.
Likely, he didn't even think about it.
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TAZ NC Day 3: Three!
Magnus was never good at sleeping. He was too— too restless for that. His legs could never quite stay still, his mind would never shut up. And he got overwhelmingly hot far too quickly. And then overwhelmingly cold after he threw all the blankets off. His ma used to tell him that he slept like a puppy, thrashin' around and chasing things in his sleep. When he told Julia that, she had laughed and said that just about summed it up.
His sleep had gotten worse since he lost Julia. A lot of things had gotten worse since then.
Magnus sighed, turning over. The tarp he had laid over the ground didn't do much to soften the various rocks and sticks, and his sleeping bag wasn't any help either. Next to him, Merle snoozed away. He had lost his pants somewhere since he had laid down and Magnus didn't even want to think about that. On his other side, Taako was propped up near a tree, snug in his sleeping bag. Magnus knew he was fucked when Taako fell asleep before him. Taako wasn't even supposed to sleep, he was pretty sure.
He turned over onto his back this time, looking up at the starry sky. It had been… Gods, had it been six years already? Nearly six years, at least, since he lost Julia. Since he lost Steven and Raven's Roost and the little budding hope he had in his future. He felt like it had barely been half that time and, at the same time, it had been twice as much. Time didn't mean much to him after that. Nothing really did.
He had wandered aimlessly for a while, brushing off housing offers by those who survived the bombings. They still saw him as a hero back there. How could he be a hero if he hadn't even properly got rid of their villain? How could he be a hero at all? He supposed it was that kind of thinking that got him into the advertising business. At the very least, he was helping someone. And if he got Got while trying to fight some stupid thing? Well, that was no one's fault but his own.
In the adventuring business, there were very few places to mess up. And Magnus had made his fair share of mistakes, but he always got the job done. No one really cared until Merle.
Here's the thing about Merle: He just kept popping up every time Magnus thought he was gone. That man was a disaster in a way that even Magnus wasn't, but gods-damn, he had great timing. His shitty healing had gotten Magnus out of a few of his worse spots, even as Magnus had begged him to leave. After one particularly nasty wound (turns out taking on a pack of hellhounds— hellpuppies, really— wasn't the smartest thing to do alone), Merle had practically glued himself to his side.
"You don't get to die on my watch," he had said. As if saving people who would much rather just deal with the consequences of their actions was an everyday occurrence for him. When it became obvious that Merle wasn't leaving, Magnus stopped complaining.
And they roped Taako in eventually. Well, Magnus saved him from some kind of demon bear— it's— it's a whole story by itself, but the point remained: Taako got roped into sticking with them and suddenly Magnus was very aware of what his actions looked like from the outside.
They weren't— they weren't exactly your standard adventuring group. Hell, more often than not they got more injured on the way to the monster than they did actually fighting the thing. But for once, it was okay. For once, Magnus felt… a part of something. In a way that mattered. It wasn't just him anymore. He had two people on his side once more.
Three was a pretty good number.
Hammer and Tongs had three bedrooms attached to it. Two upstairs and one downstairs near the shop. Magnus used to have the downstairs room until it became obvious he and Julia weren't going to be spending the night in their own rooms anymore. Steven had not so much traded as he just decided to move all of Magnus's things into Julia's room and all of his own things downstairs. That left an empty bedroom of course, and they had plans to— for—
"Mags."
Merle's voice startled him. Magnus jumped, reaching for his ax, but Merle sat up very quickly, hushing him.
"You're gonna wake up Taako," he hissed.
"Taako isn't asleep, homie," Taako said from the depths of his sleeping bag.
Magnus exhaled, trying to get his heart rate back down. Merle reached over to take his hand, squeezing tightly.
"You okay?" he asked.
Magnus had to squint to see him in the dark— Merle was squinting too, but that was probably because his glasses were off. Taako's eyes just about poked out of his sleeping back, looking at them both with what could either be disdain or worry. It was hard to tell with Taako sometimes, but Magnus got the message anyway.
"I…" Magnus glanced between them. He swallowed back some tears. "I will be, I think."
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Eddissy Canon Confirmations
All the canon confirmations for Eddissy in Vol. 2 of Stranger Things still have me on a high. If Eddie and Chrissy did not die, they would have ended up together, no ifs, ands, or buts (this has also been confirmed by the Duffer Brothers, Joseph Quinn, and Grace Van Dien, but I want to focus on only Vol. 2 for this).
1. “Make him pay.”
This is a profound moment because Eddie cares that people are being hurt by Vecna, but Chrissy was the one he experienced first hand, the person he knew. He got dragged into everything with the Upside Down because he wanted to help her, and then he watched as this loving and sweet person, who treated him like a human being, not a freak, gets murdered. And he couldn’t do anything about it, but now they can. This is Eddie explicitly saying he wants Vecna to suffer for what he did to Chrissy, and I love it.
2. “Chrissy, this is for you”
This is the moment I for sure knew that they’re canon, or at least would have been. It most definitely confirms Eddie’s feelings towards her. He is risking his life for Hawkins, but in the end, he’s doing it all in the memory of Chrissy. He is dedicating all his efforts to Chrissy. He wanted her to watch him play guitar because he invited her to his show, but she never made it, so the last time he ever played his guitar was for her. If that isn’t canon confirmation about eddissy, then I don’t know what is.
3. “If Chrissy wanted help, she would have come to me. Not Eddie, not that freak, not ever!”
Hearing this line made me gasp, because it confirmed what we thought about Jason, and his and Chrissy’s relationship. People kept trying to play off his actions as though he was a caring boyfriend that just loved his girlfriend so much, but then we learn that his man hunt of the group was all because of his own possessive selfishness.
It was never about losing Chrissy, it was about her going to Eddie instead of him. It was his jealousy at the fact she went to the freak for help. This showcases how their relationship must have been very shallow and more for appearance than anything. I think Chrissy was stuck in it, which led to more of her suffering.
Chrissy didn’t feel comfortable telling (usually) the most important person in her life about what was happening to her, but she opened up to Eddie right away after meeting him for the first time (since Chrissy didn’t remember the middle school talent show till later). It shows their comfortability with each other, their chemistry. This line shows (even more) that Chrissy laughing and feeling safe around Eddie was something special. Their connection was very real and important.
4. “I just ran, and I left her there.”
As Eddie begins to make his escape from the bats, he stops and it goes into slow motion as he remembers about how he ran from Chrissy. A big aspect of Eddie’s character is how he runs when things get hard, but when he thinks of Chrissy and how she deserved better, he goes back and fights the bats to give everyone more time. Not being there for her, even in death, is his biggest regret. Although, I wish he knew that most people would have run out of that trailer way sooner than he did. He did what he could with what he knew at the time. The memory of Chrissy is what reminded him of why they’re doing all of this, to save the people that cannot save themselves. He went out as a hero in Chrissy’s memory.
He did it for her, all of it was for her.
And then the Upside Down took his life, too. Star crossed lovers.
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