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ratmom819 · 11 months

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okay but imagine a snake gets into grimmauld place somehow, and sirius is so confused when everyone calls for, not an adult, but harry. sirius is especially confused by fred and george, who are calling for "the heir of slytherin" for some reason. and then sirius is even MORE confused when harry comes in and starts speaking parseltongue to the snake, and then picks it up as it hisses back, even sirius is like 90% sure it's a venomous species, which is confirmed by the horrified look on remus's face when he walks in.

harry looks up and sees their faces and is like, "oh, it's fine, he's just looking for a place to cool off. hey, we don't have any mice around here do we? he's a little hungry."

all the kids are going back to what they were doing like this is somehow normal.

"you're a parselmouth?" sirius asks.

harry looks confused when he responds, "skeeter literally reported it in the prophet a few months ago."

"I ASSUMED SHE WAS LYING?"

fred and george are now calling harry variations of "heir of slytherin," including "lord of slytherin," "mightiest lord of all snakes," etc, until finally sirius has to ask about that too, and that's how she learns that her godson defeated a basilisk at the age of 12. this is both utterly terrifying and extremely impressive to sirius, who then has a parenting crisis because she doesn't want to encourage harry to go out and fight giant snakes but she's also so fucking proud of him.

harry, meanwhile, is now trying to convince hedwig to catch a mouse for the snake, a suggestion she is clearly offended by, and fred and george are conjuring magnificent green carpets in front of harry's feet as if he's royalty. and so now ginny is trying to use the carpets to trip people, and when she successfully trips ron they get into a shouting match, which means pig is flying around their heads screeching.

sirius is pretty sure it's the loudest grimmauld place has ever been, and he can't help but think back to their summers at the potter mansion, and when they catch a fond look in remus's eye as he backs out of the room, sirius knows he's thinking the same thing.

#migrated from twitter #with some edits #lightning era #sirius and harry #sirius black #harry potter #remus lupin #fred weasley #george weasley #grimmauld place #fifth year #rat writes #parseltongue

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khwxbeeda · 3 months

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Date Ideas: Desi Edition

I'm in my TS Lover Era and I need some Pune date ideas so uh.. enjoy my thinking process ig

A proper date: dinner and drinks. Proper manners and polite conversation over good food and good beverages/drinks. You and your date pretend to be very serious adults with very serious jobs, and when you walk out of the restaurant you share a secret laugh as if you've pulled the greatest prank ever.

Chaha date. Standing on the side of a road under the insufficient cover of the chai stall with your fingers gripping the edge of plastic cups or mud tumblers, taking a deep sniff and closing your eyes at the smell of veldoda that wafts up. Looking up and catching their gaze already fixed on you, and looking back down, feeling the heat spread over your cheeks. You attribute it to the chaha's steam, but you know that's a lie. When you look back up, they're wating for you. They wink, and you nearly drop your cup, making them stifle a giggle.

Kulfi date. It's a crowded lane and you cram into the little hole in the wall kulfi parlour that's been there since your parents were children, excited smiles on both your faces. You order laal peru and request them to sprinkle chilli powder on top. Your partner gives you a dramatic scandalized look that has you cracking up and orders a sitafal kulfi without the chilli, please and thank you. With a lot of whining and teasing and mischievous smiles, you finally get them to taste your kulfi, and it ends with them ordering it for themself. You lean back in your chair and grin smugly even as they roll their eyes.

Book thrifting. Hands held, you walk into your usual book shop, a smile lighting up your face at the familiar smell of mogra and yellowing pages that hangs in the little room. It's a tiny shop in the basement of a shady old plaza, but it always has the best second hand books. The idea is to buy a book you think the other will enjoy, and then discuss them when you are done reading them. You pick up Ruined by Paula Morris, because you remember the three M's that your date swears by: Magic, Murder and Mystery. This is a perfect blend of all three, and you rather think they'll enjoy it. When you meet them at the counter, they have Nashtaneer by Rabindranath Thakur in their hands. You both grin at each other.

Juna Bazaar is as crowded as always. You giggle as they grip your wrist and drag you from shop to shop, rambling about their lecture in college. The sonchafa that you had tucked behind their ear is still there, and it makes something warm settle in your heart. You keep your mind on the mission though: buy three of the most interesting things you see, and then explain why you think it is interesting. They gasp and snap up a beautiful crystal vial like a magpie. It turns out to be kajal, made the traditional way. "You have to!" they insist, "it'll look so good with your pretty eyes!" You turn red and accept the little wand, dragging it between your eyelids. When you're done, your partner stares at you with their lips parted. Just as you're about to wave in front of their eyes and ask if they're okay, they lean forward and steal a lightning-fast kiss. "Too darn pretty for your own good, you are."

Camp area date! You two take a whole day to just stroll through Camp, pulling each other into random shops and cafés, looking at everything and eating from restaurants and roadside stalls alike. Your partner drags you deep into a sketchy looking plaza, and you find a clothing shop that sells the most random fashion items. You go to an ittr and perfume store. You visit Pasteur Ice Cream, Cafe Peter, the chaat stalls near Clover Centre and the barbeque corn stalls a little ways from Kumar Plaza. At the end of the day, you go home and show each other all your purchases; they bought you a bejewelled purse that goes with that one pair of your heels and you squeal over it, you bought them a chandan attar because you remember them mentioning it being their favourite smell and they immediately rub it over their wrists with a bright smile.

The two of you are tucked into a little corner of the garden. Sitting on an old bedsheet with several lunchboxes filled with bhel, samosa, kaju katli, shrikhand, slices of mango and watermelon and a bunch of green grapes. Your phone plays a familiar tune— Ishq Wala Love, and you're mouthing the lyrics in the most dramatic style that you can, revelling in the laughter of your partner. There is a mogra cha gajra braided into your hair and three roses tucked behind their ear; your little gifts to each other. Their eyes gleam bright with mirth, lips curved upward into a wide grin, and you can't help but lean forward and press a soft kiss to their lips. This picnic date is the best idea you've had in a while, you think, and the late spring flowers in bloom are the perfect addition.

Tag list: @mad-who-ra @yehsahihai @natures-marvel @musaafir-hun-yaaron @hum-suffer @h0bg0blin-meat @orgasming-caterpillar @wyvrens @kanha-sakhi

#amrut writes #amrut rambles #desiblr #desi tumblr #desi aesthetic #desi academia #indian aesthetic #indian academia #desi tag #romance #date ideas #desi date ideas #maharashtrian aesthetic #pune aesthetic #romantic #romantic aesthetic

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hotvintagepoll · 2 months

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Propaganda

María Félix (Doña Barbara, La Mujer sin Alma, Rio Escondido, La Cucaracha)—Maria Felix is still possibly the most well-known Mexican film actress. She turned down multiple-roles in Hollywood and a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Meyer in order to take roles in Mexico, France, and Argentine throughout the 1940s, 50s, 60s. She was so famous and so respected as a dramatic actress that she inspired painters, novelists and poets in their own art--she was painted by Diego Rivera, Jose Orozco, Bridget Tichenor. The novelist Carlos Fuentes used her as inspiration for his protagonist in Zona Sagrada. She inspired an entire collection by Hermes. In the late 1960s Cartier made her a custom collection of reptile themed jewels. She considered herself to be powerful challenger of morality and femininity in Mexico & worldwide--she routinely played powerful women in roles with challenging moral choices and free sexuality. But even still, years after he death, she is celebrated with Google Doodles, and appearances in the movie Coco, and holidays for the anniversary of her death.

Maureen O’Hara (The Parent Trap, The Quiet Man)—They called her the Queen of Technicolor. That right there should help introduce people to the fiery, wonderful, stunning Maureen O’Hara. She was from Ireland, born in 1920, and started in theater at the age of ten. At 15, she was winning drama awards, including one for her performance as Portia in the Merchant of Venice. At 16, she was the youngest pupil to graduate from the Guildhall School of Music. By 18, she transitioned to film, starting off with a bang alongside Charles Laughton in Hitchcock’s Jamaica Inn, and proceeded to work steadily up through the early 1970s. She was in adventures and comedies and romances, spent a lot of time in westerns giving merry hell to John Wayne (and less merry hell to the indomitable John Ford — she held her own even when he was verbally abusive and demeaning to her). She was in The Quiet Man, which was the first American-made film entirely filmed in a foreign country. She helped make American Christmas what it is with Miracle on 34th Street. She played a lineup of headstrong, forthright women second only, perhaps, to Katharine Hepburn. She was married three times, lived for a while with a boyfriend in Mexico, sued for custody of her daughter in the 1950s, AND sued a magazine for libel in the same era. After mostly retiring from acting, she edited a magazine. She eventually sold the magazine to spend more time with her grandson, but even then ran a ladies fashion store. She was an outspoken, brilliant, passionate lady, with amazing red hair, a career to envy, and — well — that face!

This is round 2 of the tournament. All other polls in this bracket can be found here. Please reblog with further support of your beloved hot sexy vintage woman.

[additional propaganda submitted under the cut]

María Félix:

She's Thee Hot Vintage Movie Woman of México. She's absolutely gorgeous and always looks like she's about to step on you. you WILL be thankful if she does.

"María Félix is a woman -- such a woman -- with the audacity to defy the ideas machos have constructed of what a woman should be. She's free like the wind, she disperses the clouds, or illuminates them with the lightning flash of her gaze." - Octavio Paz

María Félix is one of the most iconic actresses of the Golden Era of Mexican Cinema. La Doña, as she was lovingly nicknamed, only had one son, and when her first marriage ended in divorce her ex-husband stole her only child, so she vowed that one day she’d be more influential than her ex and she’d get her son back. AND SHE DID! María Félix rejected a Hollywood acting role to start her acting career in Mexico on her own terms with El Peñón de las Ánimas (The Rock of Souls) starring alongside actor, and future third husband, Jorge Negrete. She quickly rose to incredible heights both in Mexico and abroad, later on rejecting a Hollywood starring role (Duel in the Sun) as she was already committed to the movie Enamorada at the planned filming time. Of this snubbing she said, quote: “I will never regret saying no to Hollywood, because my career in Europe was focused in [high] quality cinema. [My] india* roles are made in my country, and [my] queen roles are abroad.” (Translator notes: here the “india” role means interpreting a lower-class Mexican woman, usually thought of indigenous/native/mixed descent —which she had interpreted and reinvented throughout her acting career in Mexico— and what abroad was typically considered the Mexican woman stereotype, with the braids, long simple skirts, and sandals. This also references the expectation of her possibly helping Hollywood in perpetuating this stereotype for American audiences that lack the cultural and historical contexts of this type of role which would undermine her own efforts against this type of Mexican stereotypes while working in Europe) She was considered one of the most beautiful women in the world of her time by international magazines like Life, París Match, and Esquire, and was a muse to a vast number of songwriters (including her second husband Agustin Lara,), artists, designers, and writers. Muralist Diego Rivera described her as “a monstrously perfect being. She’s an exemplary being that drives all other human beings to put as much effort as possible to be like her”. Playwriter Jean Cocteau, who worked with her in the Spanish film La Corona Negra (The Black Crown) said the following about her, “María, that woman is so beautiful it hurts”. Haute Couture houses like Dior, Givenchy, Yves Saint Laurent, Balenciaga, Hérmes, among others, designed and dressed her throughout her life. She died on her birthday, April 8, 2002, at 88 years old, in Mexico City. She was celebrated by a parade from her home to the Fine Arts Palace in the the city’s Historic Downtown, where a multitude of people paid tribute to her. Her filmography includes 47 movies from 1942 until 1970, and only two television acting roles in 1970. She has 2 music albums, one recorded with her second husband, Agustín Lara, in 1964 titled La Voz de María y la inspiración de Agustín «The voice of María and the inspiration of Augustín», and her solo album Enamorada «In Love» in 1998. Her bespoke Cartier jewelry is exhibited alongside Elizabeth Taylor’s, Grace Kelly’s and Gloria Swanson’s. In 2018, Film Director Martin Scorsese presented a restored and remastered version of her film Enamorada in the Cannes Classics section of the Cannes Festival and Google dedicated a doodle for her 104th birthday. On august 2023 Barbie added her doll to the Tribute Collection.

Maureen O'Hara:

I thought she was one of the most beautiful women in the world when I was a kid and I have yet to really change my mind. Always loved her temper and her red hair. Plus she was kind of a MILF in The Parent Trap

Haughty, red hair, hot.

I would have to give up my passport if I didn't submit Maureen O'Hara but also have you seen her? Not only did she look like that (she was called the Queen of Technicolor, though she wasn't a big fan of that sobriquet), she was also very funny and tough as nails. She faced off against Walt Disney in a contract dispute and the legend goes that when someone mentioned her at his deathbed, he sat up and said 'That bitch!'. Her comment on that story is "At least he didn't think of me and say, 'That wimp'." She struggled to get serious roles for a time, saying ""Hollywood would never allow my talent to triumph over my face," so she plays the sexy princess/pirate/harem girl in a LOT of early movies that she referred to as "Tits and Sand" films, she being the tits in question. She also turned down so many leading men and studio bosses (Errol Flynn and Howard Hughes are among her rejects) that there were rumours spread that she was a lesbian. Many egos were battered it seems. I'm including the infamous Lady Godiva scene in the photo propaganda for the sheer Moment of it [link] . It was a bit of a flop critically, but it was one of Clint Eastwood's first film appearances and she said he told her later that he was very glad of the money at the time.

She was a very proud Irish woman and when she went for her American citizenship they insisted on referring to her as British (the timeline of Irish independence is a bit wibbly wobbly, we won't get into it here). She refused to accept American citizenship under that condition and argued her way through every level of US immigration she could find, supposedly saying "I'm not responsible for your antiquated records here in Washington", until a judge finally gave up and said "Give her what she wants, just get her out of here". This made her the first ever person seeking US citizenship to be proclaimed Irish on the record!

The hair. The accent. The figure. The acting chops. The perfection.

#maureen o'hara #maría félix #hotvintagepoll #fuck that old woman #ladies 2

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skyfallslayer · 14 days

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Should We Stay or Should We Go? || Chapter Two

-A ST Rewrite Feat. Steve Harrington x Henderson!OFC-

Main Masterlist || Series Masterlist

🎲Summary: On the night of November 6th, 1983, Stephanie Henderson decided to walk her little brother’s friend, Will, back home. However… they never arrive. Now, Dustin, Mike and Lucas, and soon the exception of the girl’s ex-best friend, Steve, must band together to find out what happened. Meanwhile, Steph and Will must fight for their survival in this nightmarish version of Hawkins, Indiana.

🎲Chapter Summary: Lucas, Mike and Dustin try to talk to the girl they found in the woods; And Hopper questions an anxious Joyce about an unsettling phone call; Steph and Will must continue to survive; And Steve’s eyes get opened in a way he never saw coming.

🎲Pairings: Will x Platonic!OFC; Dustin x Sister!OC; Slow burn! Steve x Henderson!OFC (Ex-bestfriends to Lovers); Slow burn! Byler

🎲Rating: Teen-Mature

🎲Word Count: 11,024 (Oh, my lord)

🎲Date: 5/16/24

🎲Warnings: Angst; Swearing; Implied Broken Friendship; Talks of Kidnapping; Mental Strain/Breaking Down; Implying Sex; Lying; Implied Suicide; Death/Killing; Talks of Corpses; Blood; Gun Use; Steve's 'Asshole Era. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!

(And let me know if I missed anything)

🎲A/N: Jesus. This was a tough one to write and edit (Hopefully I didn't make too many mistakes). But, geez. Writing different POVs, everyone's thought was a tough one. But hopefully y'all can understand 😅. Also, I am NOT a D&D player, so some of lore just comes straight from the wiki. Hopefully that's reliable enough. Anyway, sorry for the delay. Enjoy!

|| THE NIGHT BEFORE ||

“What the fuck are you?!” Will heard her scream as the creature tried to outmatch her. The light above them grew brighter and brighter, and he squeezed his eyes shut while gripping her jacket tighter. He prayed this was just another nightmare. Maybe… Maybe he’s getting his wish when he hears the silence. Does he dare open his eyes and see the truth?

He’s scared, trembling, and it heightens when he hears the girl heaving for air. So much so he clenches his grip on the fabric tighter, the strange smelling air going through his nostrils causing him to gasp himself. When his eyes snapped open is when his coughing fit started.

He hears his name being called, and hands coming around his shoulders. He almost jerks away, afraid, until his orbs settle on the silhouette before him.

“S-Steph?” He croaked, a sense of relief flooding his veins. “What just happened?” He could see the confusion on her face, looking around for clues. He followed her eyes, nose crinkling at the sight. “We’re still in the shed. But it’s… gross.”

She swallows. “Stay behind me.” She tells him, and guides herself through the door. They both shivered at the sudden drop in temperature. “Jesus, It’s freezing.”

Will and her looked around, the outside world seemed to be encased in a blue hue, the places around seemed to be tangled with vines and covered in something sticky. There was also a white powder that looked like snow, raining down from the dark skies above. A sky that didn’t even have moonlight like it did a few minutes ago.

“Did you hit your head when we crashed?” She asked after getting his attention away from the sky.

He shakes his head, almost sadly. If that had both just hit their heads, would the situation have been better? He frowns, worriedly thinking away as the older girl tries to stay calm.

“Come on.” She says, gesturing to him to follow. “Let’s go inside. I want to see something.”

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

|| PRESENT ||

The rain was coming down more intensely than before, followed by the grumbling of thunder and lightning. Somehow, miraculously, the boys, mostly Wheeler, managed to convince the strange girl they found in the woods to return home with them, and hid her in the basement.

“Is there a number we can call for your parents?” Mike asked, worriedly as the girl looked between the three boys, all scared and confused.

“Where’s your hair? Do you have cancer?” Dustin spitted out, genuinely curious.

“Did you run away?” Lucas asked, skeptical.

“Are you in some kind of trouble?” Mike says, just as his friend questions a red sustain on her shirt. He slaps his hand away quickly. “Stop it! You’re freaking her out!”

“She’s freaking me out!”

“I bet she’s deaf.” Dustin suggested, before taking a quick half step and smacking his hands together. The sound makes the girl flinch, and he frowns apologetically. “Not deaf.”

“That’s enough, all right? She’s just scared and cold.” Mike said, silencing the two before running over to the laundry basket and grabbing some clothes. “Here, these are clean. Okay?”

The girl takes them, taking a second to be grateful before she starts stripping– The boys freak out, Mike running up to stop her while the other two look away.

“See over there?” He points. “Th-That’s the bathroom. Privacy. Get it?” She nods and he shows her inside. Just when he was about to shut it behind him, she grabs it forcibly. “You don’t want it closed?”

“No.” She finally says, surprising him.

“Oh, so you can speak. Okay, well… Um, how about we just keep the door…” He slowly moves it until there’s about three inches of space. “Just like this. Is that better?”

“Yes.”

Mike smiles and leaves her be, rejoining the group who were having a conversation of their own.

“This is mental.” Dustin said, freaking out.

“At least she can talk.” Mike points out, with Lucas shaking his head, replying,

“She said ‘no’ and ‘yes’. Your three-year-old sister says more.”

“She tried to get naked.” Dustin adds.

“There’s something seriously wrong with her.” Lucas said, touching his temple. “Like, wrong in the head.”

“She just went like…” The Henderson boy makes a motion of taking off shirt (and even knocked his own hat off his head).

“I bet she escaped from Pennhurst.”

“From where?” Mike said, eyebrow raised.

“The nuthouse in Kerley County.”

“You got a lot of family there?” Dustin teased, getting a dirty look.

“Bite me. Seriously though, think about it. That would explain her shaved hair and why she’s so crazy.”

“Why she went like…” He does the shirt motion again. In his mind this was helping him and Lucas’ case.

“‘She’s an escapee’ is the point. She’s probably a psycho.”

“Like Michael Myers.”

“Exactly! We should’ve never brought her here.”

“So you just wanted to leave her out in that storm?” Mike asks, irritated.

“Yes! We went out to find Will–”

“And Phanie.” Dustin pressures.

“And Steph – not another problem!” Lucas agrees.

“I think we should tell your mom.”

“I second that.”

Mike holds his hand up. “Who’s crazy now?”

“How is that crazy?” Lucas scoffed.

“‘Cause, we weren’t supposed to be out tonight, remember?”

“So?”

“So if I tell my mom and she tells your mom and your mom–”

Dustin’s eyes widened. “Oh, man.”

“Our houses become Alcatraz.” Lucas frowns.

“Exactly. We’ll never find Will, or Steph.” Mike says, seeing Dustin make the shirt motion once more, silently asking the question about the girl. “All right, here’s the plan. She sleeps here tonight.”

Henderson perked up again. “You’re letting a girl–”

“Just listen! In the morning, she sneaks around my house, goes to the front door and rings my doorbell. My mom will answer and know exactly what to do. She’ll send her back to Pennhurst or wherever she comes from. We’ll be totally in the clear. And tomorrow night, we go back out. And this time, we find Will and Stephanie.”

Lucas and Dustin share a look, until one of them finally shrugged. “I guess that works.”

“Great. We’ll start again tomorrow. Goodnight, guys.” Mike bid them as he went off to start making the mysterious girl a place to rest.

“This is crazy, man.” Lucas said, once they had snuck back out. “What the hell is Mike even thinking?”

“I don’t know. Do you think his plan will really work?” Dustin asked, as they headed over to where their bikes were hidden.

“I’m giving it less than a fifty percent chance of success.” He sighs. “I better get home.”

“Yeah, I guess so.”

“Hey, don’t look so sad.” He pats his curly haired friend on the back. “We’ll find them.”

“I just want my sister back. You have no idea.”

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

In the following morning, in the Byers house, the eldest seemingly was keeping it together, making the morning meal like he always does and hoping his worrying mother would have just a bite.

“All right, Mom. Breakfast is ready.” Jonathan said, while placing the plate down in front of her, her thoughts being interrupted.

“What?” His mother said, before moving some papers. “No, be careful of the poster.”

“Yeah, okay. All right–”

“I can’t eat.”

“I just need you to eat, Mom.”

“Listen, listen. The Xerox place opens in, like…” She looks down at her watch. “30 minutes–”

“Mom–”

“And I don’t want you to go alone–”

“No, I know. I told you, I got it.”

“So I’m gonna have Karen take you, ‘cause I should be here.” She gestures around, all jittery. “Claudia will meet you there, b-but if she’s not, she’ll reimburse us for the copies of Stephanie, I–”

He shakes his head with understanding. “Okay.”

“We need to make, what, 200, 300 copies?” He nods again. “How much is a copy?”

“Mom?”

“Ten cents?”

“Mom?”

“If we– ten cents”

“Mom, Mom!” Jonathan stops her from counting the cash she had laid out, and squeezes her shoulder with her other hang to calm her. “Y-You can’t get like this, okay?”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” Joyce replies, taking a shaky inhale of nicotine.

“No, it’s okay.” He reassures her softly, just before someone comes knocking on their door. The mother rushed over with her son on her tail, busting the door wide open for the exhausted police officer.

“We’ve been waiting six hours.”

“I know, I came as soon as I could.” Hopper replies, nearly dead on his feet.

“Six hours.”

“A little bit of trust here, all right?” He slides his hat off. “We’ve been searching all night, went all the way to Cartersville.”

“And?”

“Nothing.”

Joyce made a choking sound and looked away. “God…”

Hopper frowns, sadly. “Flo says you got a phone call?”

“Oh, yeah.” Joyce nods and shows him their phone.

He picks it, examining the speaker part of it which was charded black. “Storm barbecued this pretty good.”

She took a step back in surprise. “The storm?”

Hopper looked at her like she had two heads. “What else?”

“You’re saying that that’s not weird?”

“No, it’s weird.”

“Can we, like, trace who made the call? Contact the–”

“No, it doesn’t work like that.” He shakes his head, and then looks at her with all seriousness. “Now, uh, you’re sure it was Will? Because Flo said you just heard some breathing.”

“No. It was him, it was Will... and h-he was scared. And then something–”

“It was probably just a prank call. It was somebody trying to scare you.”

“Who would do that?” Joyce questioned, face full of confusion and sickness.

“Well, this thing’s been on TV. It brings out all the crazies, you know. False leads, prank calls, uh–”

“No, Hopper, it was not a prank. It was him.”

“Joyce.” He begins, as she denies him again

“Come on, how about a little trust here?” She laughs dryly. “What, you think I’m– I’m making this up?”

“I’m not saying that you’re making it up.” Hopper looks at her with concern again. “All I’m saying is it’s an emotional time for you.”

“And you think I don’t know my own son’s breathing?”

“Joyce–”

“Hopper, my son’s missing. A-And not only that, someone else’s daughter is missing.” She nervously takes a puff of her cigarette. “And you know what the mess up part about that is? Stephanie didn’t have to! She didn’t have to be the sweetheart she is and take my son home. She could have just drove past him, but she didn’t! She didn’t, Hop. And now I have to live with the thought that I made someone else’s kid go missing because I. Was. Working!”

She ends with an emotional sigh, tightening the heavy tension it the room. Jonathan worriedly looking at his mother before, locking eyes with the police chief who was trying to find the right words to say.

“You hear from, uh, Lonnie yet?” Hopper asked after the small silence.

“No.”

“It’s been long enough.” He puts his hat back on. “I’m having him checked out.”

“Oh, come on!” She sighs loudly, watching him leave. “You’re wasting your time.” Then the door shuts, and rubs her temple. “Jesus. He never listens!”

Jonathan ponders for a moment, before asking, “Mom, how likely is it that Will would actually go to Lonnie’s?”

“I…” Joyce runs a hand through her messy locks. “It’s possible, but he lives a long, long way. Especially on foot. But… I don’t– maybe he would! I…” She sighs again, overwhelmed. “However, I don’t think he would have gone with Stephanie. He’s… W-Will knows your father’s not the best man, and Will, you know, has that heart of gold.”

That got a chuckle out of both of them. “Yeah.”

“I don’t think Will would have risked Stephanie like that.” She shakes her head. “No. She’s an older kid, and older sister. As much as this sounds messed up, she would have done anything to make sure Will was safe. I know it. So… my question is…” She locks eyes with her son. “What would a girl her age think is a safe place for a young boy?”

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

|| TWO NIGHTS AGO ||

Stephanie flipped the lightswitch on in the kitchen out of curiosity, but finds herself still submerged in darkness. “Just what I thought. There’s no light.” She says with a frown.

“The flash of light we saw–” Will looks up at her. “Do you think it was a power outage?”

“I don’t think there’s light here, I mean-” She starts walking around, rubbing her shaking hands together. “Look at this place. I don’t think we’re in Hawkins anymore.” She shivers just a smidge. “At least it’s a little warmer inside here.” Then she hears a distressful sound. “Will?”

The boy was pale, pupils blown wide and had a small tremble. “W-What do you m-mean we’re not in Hawkins anymore?” He asked, lip quivering with a slight pant. “B-But th-this looks like my house. D-Did w-we get taken somewhere else? Can we even g-go home? I–”

“Shit… Will–” She rushes over, hands coming up to his shoulders while she gets on one knee. “Will? Hey, bud, listen– hey.” She makes sure his gaze meets hers. “Don’t freak out. I know it’s scary, but we’re going to figure this out. Once we do, I’m going to get us home, I promise.”

The boy sniffles into his shoulder, fighting back tears. “You promise?”

“I promise.” She says it without realizing the fate of those words.

He swallows and extends out a certain finger. “Pinky promise?”

Her breath was nearly taken away by that certain question, taking her far back into a distant memory. But… like hell she’s going to let that memory change her judgment. She interlocks hers with his and repeats, “Pinky promise.”

That got him to crack a smile. “So, what next?” He asks, making her rack her brain for a plan.

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

|| PRESENT DAY ||

He woke up again to his cat’s crying. The young Henderson frowns, heart clenching at how Mews was wondering where his sister was at. For the urban legend of how cats had no emotions, he’s certainly not seeing it. He rubbed his eyes and wandered aimlessly around, the thought of calling sick into school was still fresh in his mind. Should he? I mean it made sense, and it wasn’t like the school won’t understand, so….

Was that a yes?

He walked through the hallway, curls in his eyes as slows in front of his sister’s bedroom. His cat locked eyes with him, sadness and confusion filled the slitted pupils. Mews meows again.

“She’s not back yet.” Dustin says, getting a chirp. “We’re trying. She’ll be back soon.” He starts walking away, hearing him make a sad sound once more.

“Dusty-bun, I’m going to make some posters.” Claudia said, who were gathering her belongings by the door. “I left you breakfast on the stove.”

His nervous fingers gripped his t-shirt as he tried not to sound so down. “Hey, Mom?” Her eyes meet his gaze. “Is it okay if I… stay home today?”

Claudia’s face softens bittersweetly. “Of course you can, sweety. If you leave the house for whatever reason, just leave me a note where you’re going, that’s all I ask.” She gives him a kiss on his hairline, and is one foot out the door before adding, “Oh! And be back before dark. Okay? Your Mama doesn’t need to worry about another kid.”

“Can do.”

He watches her smile and closes the door, locking it. He frowns at that action, I mean they’ve never locked their door before, and now it was becoming second nature. He was even surprised she told him he could leave the house. Or… did she not expect him to leave this place in the state he’s in? Sounds like something she would do.

He sighs and heads for the kitchen to make himself a plate. He didn’t have much of an appetite, really, but he didn’t want to hurt his mother’s feelings or make her beg for him to eat – he didn’t want to call ‘pot kettle black’ since he was the one that had to convince his mourning mother to eat last night. But it was hard, his fork just picking at the food, cutting it into smaller pieces to stare at before dropping his utensil onto the plate.

Steph… His fingers dug into his pocket and pulled the gold chain out, letting it sprawl out in his palm. He stares at it intensely, thinking. Come on, Sis, give me a sign. What happened to you and Will? What caused you to go off road and run? Run with Will’s shotgun out of all things?

What had got her so scared that they needed a weapon to protect themselves? Both her and Will were the last two people that would resort in violence, so the fact that they decided to arm themselves with a weapon tells him that something sinister was up.

But what? Dustin lays the necklace down next to him, pretending that she was here to eat with him like she always does, before deciding it was time to munch on what was left on his plate.

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

Hopper struggles to keep his mind clear after that conversation with Joyce. His thought always going back to this particular moment:

““Stephanie didn’t have to! She didn’t have to be the sweetheart she is and take my son home. She could have just drove past him, but she didn’t! She didn’t, Hop. And now I have to live with the thought that I made someone else’s kid go missing because I. Was. Working!””

Of course the woman felt guilty about everything. I mean, your kid goes missing, who else are you going to blame other than yourself? But she also was chipping away at the idea it was her fault that that poor girl was missing too. Blames herself for working later than usual, and wasn’t the one to come across her own son on the road and pick him up. That’s a lot of guilt for someone who’s holding the family together on her own.

He listens to the volunteers shout the children’s names, hoping that they would shout back. Hopper wishes that too. He prays that one of them would yell back for help and get this nightmare over with.

“Hey!” He shouts at the two officers. “Anything?”

Callahan shakes his head. “You?”

“No, nothing but a dead phone.”

“Joyce?”

Hopper nods. “About one step from falling off the edge.”

“She’s been a few steps for a while now, hasn’t she?” Powell asked, as he’s met with a stern glare.

“Kid’s missing, man. Show a little class.” Hopper snaps, making them avert their eyes.

“All right…”

He exhales and takes off with the rest of the group, shouting, “Come on, let’s go! We got a lot of ground to cover.” He keeps his fingers crossed that this would be it. That this would be the search that brings them home.

For their mothers' sake.

For his sake.

For every goddamn person out of here’s sake.

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

|| THE NIGHT BEFORE ||

Stephanie shifted through the last cabinet and frowns. “Well, we can’t cook anything because there’s no electricity. But we can eat the dry goods. Unless we can figure out how to start a fire” She sighs, and wrinkles her nose. I mean, they can go a few days without eating if they didn’t want to touch the box of crackers covered in goo. But water? How were they supposed to have water if the faucet comes out with something they probably shouldn’t drink.

She rubs her temples, thinking. “I guess we’re going to have to look for some bottled stuff to drink.” She makes contact with the boy who just entered the room. “How you feeling?”

“Fine. I got a bit of a chill, but we can still grab clothes out of the closets if we need it.” Will replies, hugging his walkie talkie close.

“And the call?”

“Nothing. I mean I could hardly ever get reception over here anyway, so maybe we can try finding a different spot.”

“That wouldn’t be a bad idea." She says with a sigh. “Where’s the shotgun?”

“Oh, uh– Mom’s room.” He points behind him.

“Alright, maybe I’ll take a peek outside. If it seems clear, maybe we can try to find some reception.”

Stephanie leaves the room with Will looking back at his walkie. He had to remain strong, hopeful. He has to get through to someone. His friends, his family, one of them has to be able–

Wait.

Was he hearing things? Was his mind playing tricks?

His eyes trail to his living room where he swears he heard someone talking. It was faint, but you can’t miss it.

It sounds like… His chest tightens at a thought, his brown orbs blown wide as he looks at the yellow phone on the wall. It was probably hopeless, stupid even, I mean… the damn thing didn’t work when Stephanie tried to call for help when they were being chased. But that was the real world, this was… fake? Maybe it different, maybe it’s—

Oh, shit.

Maybe he’s just grasping at straws at this point and hopes it turns out okay.

His fingers latch around the phone, pulling it off the receiver and dials his home’s number, praying with all his might that this ridiculous idea would actually work.

Come on, come on, come on, come on, com–

Oh, he felt like crying when someone picked up.

[ ‘Hello?’ ]

His mother’s voice broke through and poke him in the heart. He couldn’t breath as relief washed over him like a storm.

[ ‘Hello? Lonnie? Hopper? Who is this?’ ]

Say something, say something, say something– His lip quivers as he swallows. “M-Mom?” He can’t wait till Steph hears about this. “M-Mom, I-It’s me.”

She can hear me right? She has to.

[ ‘Will? Will? It’s Will!’ ]

[ ‘Mom, it’s Will?’ ]

He could cry upon hearing the second voice. “J-Jonathan? Mom? M-Me and Stephanie are tr-trap in some weird place! I-I don’t know what t-to–”

Then he was cut off by the dreadful sound of the monster. Will watched as its claws wrapped around the corner, almost like it was pulling itself into the kitchen. He doesn’t even know where it came from. He didn’t even hear it freaking come in!

He froze on sight, his mother shouting something he couldn’t make out as the beast with no eyes looked directly at him. He wanted to scream but it was stuck in his throat. Is this how he was going to die? Die by listening to his mother’s pleas to answer her?

It shrieked and seemed to get bigger, ready to strike him down before it took a bullet to the face. The shot made it fall against the wall, and Will drops the fried phone and backs himself away. Stephanie looked half scared to death too as she cocks the shotgun again and fires one more when it stands up, sending it flying to the living room. As quickly as her buckling knees could hold her, she rushes over to Will, pulling him behind her as she aims the barrel into the direction the beast was. Shaking intensely, she carefully peeks around the corner to find that it had completely vanished like it did earlier. She gasps in shock before sliding to the ground herself, mentally drained.

“Steph!!” Will calls out with worry. He could see her eyes glassing over, her skin becoming paler as she shouts,

“Where the fuck are we?!”

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

|| PRESENT DAY ||

Steve strolls into school, head in the clouds, and an aching feeling in the pit of his stomach. His sleep went to complete shit after the conversation with his girlfriend last night. He still doesn’t understand why it was affecting him so much. It’s not like him and Steph hung out anymore. So why is he losing sleep over this?

You’re not even friends anymore, Harrington. He mentally slaps himself. Get your shit together–

“Boo!” Tommy yelled, jumping out from behind the corner, startling him.

“Jesus, Hagan.” Steve said, holding his chest while the other teen laughed.

“That was so easy.”

“So–” Carol’s arm snakes around him with a grin. “Did you tell your little girlfriend about your party?”

“I-I… not yet.”

“What? You didn’t tell her at her house yesterday?”

“N-No. Never got the chance to.”

“What?!” Tommy scoffs. “Stealthy Stevie didn’t get to use his skills last night?” Him and his girlfriend laughed, but then grew quiet seeing how distant the King was being. “What the fuck’s going on with you, man?”

“Um…” Steve’s gaze gets caught onto someone else, spotting a certain person posting a certain flier up on the bulletin board. He swallows, and masks a fake smile. “You guys go ahead to class. I got to grab something out of my locker.”

“Oh, we can go with you.” Carol begins, trying to follow him but he shakes them off.

“No, no. Go ahead. I’ll meet you there.” Steve ignores the strange looks they gave him before walking away. Deciding this was the ‘only’ way, he rushes over to the oldest Byers kid, ‘accidently’ pushing his shoulder into his, knocking the papers out of his hand while he was leaving. He scoffs, while saying, “Watch where you’re going!”

Jonathan says nothing as he bends over to collect the rest, oblivious to the other teenager sliding a paper away with his foot. Once he leaves, Steve retrieves the flier from under his shoe, reading it over.

HAVE YOU SEEN ME? Stephanie Henderson Age 16, 5’4” Brown Hair, Blue Eyes, 110lbs. Last seen wearing a brown work uniform, black jacket, white sneakers, and a baseball cap. Reach out to Claudia Henderson or Joyce Byers at #### or ####

Steve stares with a distant look in his eyes, thumb brushing over her picture. Such a gentle smile for a gentle person. God… why did they have to use that picture? It was right before he–

He frowns, throwing his head back.

Fuck…

What the hell was he supposed to do now?

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

Back at the Wheeler’s house, Mike decided to stay home, his parents totally unaware of him doing so. He showed the new girl around his place, acting a bit giggly when they finally got to his room. He was so excited to show off his action figures, and comic books, and anything else that he holds close to his heart. He didn’t even realize she was starting to wander off to where a collection of trophies were. Her brown eyes grew with fascination by them.

“Oh, these are all my science fair trophies. We got first every year.” Mike’s smile drops just a tad. “Except for last year when we got third. Mr. Clarke said it was totally political.”

Yeah, it totally was that. He expected some kind of reaction from her, except for the one where her eyes widened and she slowly pointed to the picture of Will in their fair picture together.

Mike perked up, hopeful. “You know Will? Did you see him? Last Night? On the road? Did–” He pauses. “Hang on a sec.” Maybe he’s getting his hopes up as he grabs another photo after shifting around in his drawer. It was a picture of his friends’ families at the lake, posing nicely for the camera.

He points to the girl in the right hand corner. “This is Stephanie. She’s his sister.” He points to Dustin who’s hanging out behind her. “She supposedly gave Will a ride the night he disappeared, and we can’t find her either. Did you see her too?”

The girl studies Steph’s face, slowly the same reaction she had from seeing Will returned as she pointed again. “I–”

Her answer was cut short when they heard something from outside. Mike gets up quickly, peeking through his curtains to see his mother’s car pulling into the driveway. He pales.

“Shit.” He rushes to grab her by the hand and strings her along. “We gotta hide!”

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

|| HOURS BEFORE ||

Of course the eldest stayed awake for most of the night, the two of them tucked away in the far corner of Will’s room, her eyes trained on the door just in case that wretched monster appeared again. She kept a good grip on the shotgun, one foot planted on the ground for a quick pop up if needed. Adrenaline was pumping in her blood, she was fighting off her exhaustion and hunger, while a tune played on her dry lips.

“♪ Here we stand

Worlds apart, hearts broken in two. Two. Two

Sleepless nights.

Losing ground, I’m reaching for you. You. You

Feeling that it’s gone

Can’t change your mind

If we can’t go on

To survive–♪”

Will stirred beside her, his head resting on her shoulder that was starting to fall asleep, but she refused to jostle the kid. God knows he needs his rest. Well… so does she, but she’ll get around to that.

Her mind wanders back to the conversation they had last night, the one where Will admitted he spoke to his mother on the phone. Shock wasn’t the right word, especially when she examined the phone that had been burnt black, and when asking again if he heard that right, the youngest Byers swears he did.

Is there actually a way to communicate to… well… ‘our world’, I guess. She ponders on that thought, wondering if it’s possible to do so without frying your phone to death. Not to mention Will swears he heard people talking before calling his mother. Can we only communicate to the people we ‘hear’?

She scolds herself. This hurts my head too much.

“♪ –The tide

Love divides

Someday, love will find you

Break those chains that bind you

One night will remind you

How we touched and went our separate ways

If he ever hurts you

True love won’t desert you

You know I still love you

Though we touched and went our separate ways– ♪”

Will stirred again, this time waking up slowly with a groan. “Was it a dream…?” He whispers, his eyes opening at a snail pace.

“I wish.” Steph says, sadly.

“Did you sleep okay?” He asks, rubbing his face.

Her heart skips a beat and a lie slips out. “Uh, yeah. It was fine.”

“That’s good.”

“We shouldn’t stay here.” She says, surprising him. “We should probably move around, maybe lose that monster for a while. And you’re probably hungry too, I know my mom keeps cans and bottled water down in our basement for emergencies. That should tie us over for a little while.”

“Is it even safe to go out?” He wonders, yet intrigued. He’ll admit… he is a bit famished.

“I don’t know. But we got to try. Right?”

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

“Whoa, whoa. Careful, careful.” Hopper says as he snags his partner by the collar. “I need you alive for the next few days, at least.”

Callahan smirked and scoffed as he gestures to the Quarry below. “Oh, hell, I could survive that.” He said, making his superior laugh. “What? George Burness made the jump. And he was drunk as a skunk. He did it on a $10 bet.”

“George is a liar. You make that jump from this height, that water turns into cement. Hits you like a ton of bricks.” Hopper smacks his hands together. “Break every damn bone in your body.”

The youngster pondered on that for a second before shaking his head. “Nah.”

[ ‘Chief, you copy?’ ]

Hopper grabs his walkie from his belt. “Yeah, Flo, talk to me.”

[ ‘Hey, Chief, we got a call from over at Benny’s. I think you need to get there right away.’ ]

And those were words he didn’t want to hear. So he and his team rushed over there as quickly as they could, and the first they were met with was the smell of a rotting corpse.

“Ugh, Jesus!” Callahan said, covering his nose.

“Suicide?” Powell asked, after a moment of silence.

Hopper hummed and stared in disbelief at the man laying on the table, pistol in hand and a bullet wound straight through the temple. There’s no way this can be real.

“Missing kid, suicide.” Callahan frowns. “You must feel like a big city cop again, huh, Chief?

“Well, I mostly dealt with strangers back then.” Hopper replies, this particular moment he almost broke down. “Benny was my friend.”

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

|| HOURS BEFORE ||

Stephanie peeked outside before gesturing to Will to follow. The two of them had backpacks on that they found lying around, going to use them to fill up with anything they could find – But the task that lay ahead was going to be hard. The task was…

Walking back through Mirkwood to the Henderson home.

No lights, just a few bullets to spare, and their pure will to survive (Or maybe it’s the fear that’s fueling that will).

“I don’t like this.” Will mutters, only a few minutes after they left the Byers’ driveway and down a few feet on the road. “What if that thing spawns in front of us again?”

“Then we shoot it and book it again. That’s all we can do now.” Steph replies, carefully looking around. But what if he’s right? What if thing actually just spawns out of thin air? Then there’s not telling where and when not to go.

He stays silent, shaking a tad as they make it further down the road. It took a hot minute for the older girl to notice this and stop briefly, the twelve year old’s eyes confused just as she held out her hand. Without missing a beat, his clammy hand takes it, squeezing it tight. She smiles just a tad, reminding her of Dustin before they started walking again.

She felt him hang on to dear life as they strolled into the darkest part of Mirkwood, the eeriness that was silence was making their hearts race. She came to a conclusion after facing the monster last night that she had to be the strong one here. She has to act like the older sister again, and remain calm, and to keep him safe.

I made a promise. I don’t know how to fulfill it just yet, but I’m going to get him out of here. Steph casts a glance down at him, the poor boy’s face looked so cold. Does hers look like that too?

She grins after a quick thought. “Hey–” His eyes locked with hers. “What does a ‘Ranger’ do in D&D? That one sounds intriguing to me.”

His face lights up. “You actually want to play D&D?”

“Hey, you suggested it, I might as well. So, the Ranger? What’s that like? The lore?”

“Well, Rangers are warriors that explore different civilizations, and they hunt down the deadliest of monsters. They’re trained in many different combat techniques, survival skills, and even some magic.”

“Magic? I like the sound of that.”

“They mostly reside in the forest, or anything ‘nature-y’.”

She chuckles. “I don’t like the sound of that. What else? Aren’t there like… classes… or different types?

“Oh, yeah.” He nods. “I guess it depends on what you prefer. Do you want me to tell you?”

“I’m all ears.” Steph said, making a motion. I’m just glad he’s stopped shaking.

“Well, there’s a lot. The most common ones are ‘Beast Masters’, which are accompanied with an animal companion. Then there’s ‘Hunters’, which are mainly just professional assassins that take down monsters of all sorts. Now, even though all Rangers have the capability of taking monsters down, Hunters are strictly made just to do that.”

She hums. “Interesting.”

“Then there’s ‘Gloom Stalkers’, who live mostly in dark realms, and take down the shadowy beasts roaming the territory. They’re pretty good at ambushing their opponents.” He smiles. “Personally, I find that the coolest.”

“Well, I can see why. What else? Do Rangers get weapons?”

“Of course! The most common is a two-blade or archery.”

“Archery sounds cool.”

“See, I agree. But I know Lucas always says it’s ‘stupid’, so–”

Steph shakes her head with a sigh. “Oh, well. I guess I’ll have to prove him wrong when I play.”

“So you are going to play with us!” Will said, joyfully, like you just told him Christmas was coming early.

“If that’s how I prove Lucas wrong, then so be it. So how does one newbie play D&D?” She asked, hopefully this will keep him occupied. At least I can keep him distracted until we get there.

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

|| PRESENT ||

“Are you out of your mind?” Lucas said, as soon as Mike was done with his explanation for them being here.

“Just listen to me.” Mike pleads.

“You are out of your mind–”

“She knows about Will and Steph.”

Dustin perks up after being the silent one here. “What do you mean she knows about them?”

Mike grabs the pictures from earlier and holds them up. “She pointed at them, at their picture. She knew they were missing. I could tell.”

“You could tell?” Lucas asked, looking between the pictures and the girl who was on the bed.

“Just think about it. Do you really think it was a coincidence that we found her on Mirkwood, the same place where they disappeared?”

Dustin nodded, agreeing. “That is weird.”

“And she said bad people are after her.” Mike said, with a frown. “I think maybe these bad people are the same ones that took Will and Steph. I think she knows what happened to them.”

“Then why doesn’t she tell us?” Lucas asked, glaring at her direction before stomping over. “Do you know where they are?” He grabs her by the shoulder. “Do you know where Will and Stephanie are?!”

“Stop it, you’re scaring her!” Mike pulls him away, as his friend brushes him off.

“She should be scared! If you know where they are, tell us! This is nuts. We have to take her to your mom.”

“No! Eleven said telling any adult would put us in danger.”

“What kind of danger?” Dustin asked, his thoughts from earlier about his sister and Will taking a shotgun with them crossed his mind.

Lucas gives him a weird look. “Her name is Eleven?”

“El for short.” Mike clarifies.

“Mike! What kind of danger?” Dustin pushes, his stomach turning.

“Danger danger!” The brunette makes a finger gun and points it between Henderson’s eyes before moving over towards Lucas who demises quickly.

“No, no, no!” Sinclair snaps, rushing for the door. “We’re going back to plan A. We’re telling your mom.”

He pulls open the door only for it to slam shut automatically. Not even batting an eye at that, he tries again, for it to not only to shut with more force but to even lock itself. The boys look back at the only explanation, and they see El standing on her feet with a drop of blood coming out of her nose.

“No.” She said, with a tone that told them not to push it.

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

Back at the station, Hopper was questioning an anxious friend of Benny’s. Earl was his name, and he was sitting in a chair, eyes full of disbelief as he lit a cigarette.

“Just doesn’t make any sense, Chief.”

“You, uh, notice anything odd about him the last few weeks?” Hopper asked, trying to keep it professional (even though this case was hurting him the most).

Earl shakes his head. “No, we’re fixin’ to go fishing down the Etowah next Sunday. I mean, he was lookin’ forward to it. I know that.”

“He got any enemies you might know about? I mean, people who might not want him around?”

“The exes didn’t like him much. That’s for sure, but… nah.”

“When was the last time you saw him?”

“Yesterday. Lunch, same as always.”

“Just you and the boys?”

“Yep. Me and Henry and…” He pauses. “Well, there was this, uh, this kid. No kid did this.”

“Kid?” Hopper nearly perked up hope. “What are you talking about?”

“Yeah. At lunch, uh, there was this boy that, uh I mean, he was trying to steal food out of Benny’s kitchen. Can you imagine that?”

Hopper locked eyes with Callahan who got the silent message. “This kid what’d he look like?”

“Well, he was about yea high.” Earl raises his arm up and out. “You know, tiny like. I didn’t get a good look at him, though. He was back in the kitchen.”

“He look like this?” Callahan asked, coming back with a missing kid poster of Will.

He takes the flier, and immediately shakes his head. “Oh, no, that’s… that’s Lonnie’s missin’ kid. No. This was a different kid. This one had really short hair. I mean, it was buzzed nearly down to the scalp.”

Hopper tries not to let his composure break, and continues to hold on to the slimmer of hope. “Yeah, well, let’s… You know, let’s forget about the haircut. I mean, if this kid had a buzz cut… could it be Lonnie’s kid?”

“Well, I-I… didn’t get a good look at him. About the right height, though. I mean, could’ve been. Yeah, that’s… Could’ve been.”

Hopper frowns, taking the poster back from him. “And, you only saw the boy right? No girl? Teenager? Dark hair?”

“No.” Earl shakes his head once more. “No. I didn’t see a girl.”

The Chief mentally sighs. This is not good.

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

[ ‘A party?’ ]

Finally! Steve thought, pumping his fist. She finally sounded intrigued. He was hoping this would make up for his weird behavior at school.

And, no, no, no, It wasn’t because of– well… ‘you know who’. Totally not because of her. Totally, totally, totally not–

[ ‘Steve?’ ]

Nancy’s voice broke through his totally not clouded mind. “Uh, yeah, sorry. Yeah, a party. Well… kind of. It’s just going to be me, Tommy H. and Carol. No parents for the whole weekend, so we wouldn’t have to worry about them coming in and ruining the mo-jo.”

Just my friends and my girlfriend. Just having fun, no worries about–

[ ‘Not much of a party with just four people.’ ]

He laughs. “Okay, I’ll admit, it’s a little sad. But you know, it’s better this way. And, you know, if you want to, you can invite Barbara. If it makes you feel more comfortable. Or not. Or you don’t have to come–”

[ ‘Steve.’ ]

“Yeah?”

[ ‘I’ll totally come. But I’m going to try to convince Barb first if that’s alright.’ ]

“Yeah, Yeah. Totally. It starts at seven.”

[ ‘Starts at seven. Got it. I’ll see you then.’ ]

He smiles. “See you then. Bye.”

[ ‘Bye.’ ]

“Yes!” He said, once he hung up the phone. “Finally.” He feels his spirits get lifted again. “This is going to be perfect.”

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

|| HOURS BEFORE ||

“Welcome to Mi Casa.” Stephanie said, upon entering her home. Just as gross and dark as Will’s.

“You said the basement, right?” Will asked, the thought of eating something sounded nice.

“Yep.”

They thought navigating below “sunlight” was going to be hard, but I guess living in darkness for nearly twenty-four hours had its perks. Finding the tote where the emergency supplies were easier than they thought, their stomachs growing when they saw the cans of food.

“Hang on second.” Steph said, disappearing back up the stairs for a sec, and then coming back with some forks and a can opener. She uses her shirt to wipe it clean the best she could before using. “Pineapple or Peaches?”

“Pineapple, please.” Will said, drooling as she placed the open can in his hands. The two of them plop down criss-cross applesauce, sighing with relief that they could finally take a rest.

“We’ll have to take what we can, but don’t make your bag too heavy in case we need to run again. Got it?” She replies, sliding over a bottle of water to him too. He nods, and takes a second to chug some liquid too.

One can was enough for now, since none of them had any clue how long they’ll be here, they’ll need to ration what they can find. Food, water, a first aid kit, some mittens and hats, an extra jacket, socks (And Will was proud to find a half box of matches laying around).

“Do we need anything else?” He asked, making her think.

She hums, and feels around her pockets. “We need more ammo. Or another gun at least.”

“Do you have any?”

“No. I don’t.” She closes her eyes. Now where could we get more nearby?

But the more she thought about it, the more she dreaded. She does know one place they have a gun, and hopefully still does since it’s been so long.

She sighs. “I know… one place that has a gun. It’s far though. Really far. It’ll take us a couple hours to get there on foot. But it’s closer than going to town.”

“If that’s what we have to do, then let’s do it.” Will said, sliding his backpack back on, ready to start their journey again. He flashes her a goofy grin. “I hope I can count this as PE for school.”

If that was a joke to cheer her up then it totally worked.

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

Now that they might have a lead, the police and its volunteers spread out in the woods behind Benny’s diner, hoping to find some good news (For Hopper’s sake he really hopes so).

“Hey, you think Earl really saw Will?” Callahan asked, trying to keep up with his Boss’ speed. “I mean, what’s he doin’ with a shaved head? And stealing food from Benny?”

“Tell you what, when we find him, we’ll ask.” Hopper replies, with an attitude.

“Can’t ask a corpse questions.” Powell said, getting a glare. Suddenly, one of the volunteers blew a whistle.

“Hold up! You got something?” Hopper shouted and broke into a sprint. “Hey, what do you got?”

“Not sure.” The person said, crouching down next to a drain. “Maybe nothing. I found this. In there.”

Hopper takes a piece of fabric from his hand, before shining his flashlight through the drain, still hopeful that maybe he was lying in there, scared but safe.

“No way a kid crawls through there.” Powell said, in denial.

“I don’t know… a scared enough one might. His brother said he was good at hiding.”

“Yeah, but, just Will?” Callahan asked, conflicted. “What happened to Stephanie? ‘Cause there ain’t no way a teenager’s going to fit through this drain pipe.”

“Maybe they separated?” Powell questioned.

“I’m not so sure about that. Claudia said her daughter would never leave anyone behind.”

“Willingly that is.”

“Come on, you two.” Hopper said, jogging again.

This time, they decided to follow the drain pipe that led them further into the forest. Just as their knees were about to give out, they’re met with an electric fence and a keep out sign for the one and only…

Hawkins Lab.

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

“El?” Mike announces his arrival into the basement. He had just finished having dinner with his family, and even convinced his mom to let his friends stay the night. All part of his plan to figure out what was happening to his missing family.

“No adults. Just us and some meatloaf.” He continues, placing a tray down in front of the makeshift fort, letting her know to come out. Her eyes trail to him and then to the two boys falling behind. “Don’t worry. They won’t tell anyone about you. They promise. Right?”

“We never would’ve upset you if we knew you had superpowers.” Dustin said, before getting hit in the leg by Mike. “Ow!”

“What Dustin is trying to say is that they were just scared… earlier. That’s all.”

“We just wanted to find our friends.” Lucas admitted, feeling a tad guilty for his actions.

“‘Friends’?” El asked, confused by that word. It was so foreign to her. What does it even mean?

“Yeah, friends. Will? Steph?”

“What are ‘friends’?”

Lucas gave her a weird look. “Is she serious?” Henderson shrugged. “Um, a friend–”

“Is someone that you’d do anything for.” Mike cuts in.

“You lend them your cool stuff, like comic books and trading cards.” Dustin adds.

“And they never break a promise.”

“Especially when there’s spit.” Lucas also puts in, making sure she was getting it.

“Spit?” El said, tilting her head.

“A spit swear means–” He spits into his palm. “You never break your word.” He holds his hand out for Dustin to take and shake. “It’s a bond.”

Mike nods in agreement. “That’s super important, because friends… they tell each other things. Things that parents don’t know.”

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

Barbara finally pulls the car over to the side after her friend insisted they stop here. She looks over at the brunette with a strange look. “What are we doing here? His house is three blocks away.”

“We can’t park in the driveway.” Nancy said, making the ginger roll her eyes.

“Are you serious?”

“Yeah, the neighbors might see.”

“This is so stupid.” Barb shakes her head. “I’m just gonna drop you off.”

“Calm down, Barb. Come on. You promised that you’d go.” Nancy pleaded with her ‘baby doe’ face. “You’re coming. We’re gonna have a great time.”

“He just wants to get in your pants.”

Nancy chuckles with disbelief. “No, he doesn’t.”

“Nance… seriously. He invited you to his house. His parents aren’t home. Come on, you are not this stupid.”

“Tommy H. and Carol are gonna be there.”

“Tommy and Carol have been having sex since, like, seventh grade.” Barb cringes at the thought. “It’ll probably just be, like, a big orgy.”

“Gross.”

“I’m serious!”

“All right, well…” Nancy takes her seat belt off and starts unbuttoning her sweater. “You can be, like, my guardian. All right? Make sure I don’t get drunk and do anything stupid.”

“Ugh.” Barb said, shaking her head. She watches as her friend takes her top off and starts fiddling around in her purse for another one. “Is that a new bra?”

Nancy pauses. “No.”

“So, obvious, Nancy…”

“Hey.”

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

“What’s the weirdo doing?” Lucas asked, watching her sit at their D&D table and close her eyes.

“El?” Mike said, as they gathered around, waiting.

When she opens her eyes, she slowly gravitates to one of the pieces and picks it up. “Will.” She replies, showing it was the Wizard piece, the one that the boy always plays as.

“Superpowers.” Dustin said, as Lucas rolled his eyes, still not convinced about this whole thing.

“Did you see him? On Mirkwood? Do you know where he is?” Mike asks, just before she brushes the rest of the figures off the board and flips it over. She places the wizard piece on the board. “I don’t understand.”

“Hiding.” She replies, the boys looking at one another. She then places another figure down, surprising them.

“Who is that supposed to be?” Lucas asked, as Dustin perked up.

“The Ranger. Is that Stephanie?” He asked, as she nodded. “Are they hiding?” She nods again. “Together.” Another nod.

“From the bad men?” Mike asked, but she shakes her head in disappointment. “Then from who?”

And without saying another word she places another figure down.

It was a beast with two heads.

The Demogorgon.

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

|| NOW ||

It took a while like she said, and luckily they had no trouble getting there, but what was troubling the young boy was that she wouldn’t tell him where they were going. Was she embarrassed by this place? Did something happen? He doesn’t know, but it’s gnawing at him.

“We’ve arrived.” She said, as they were coming up to it.

It was… a pretty big house, much bigger than his and even his friends’ houses. He wonders if this was one of the rich neighbourhoods or something like that. And sure enough… his questions would be answered when he happened to catch the name on the mailbox.

Oh.

Now he understands why she didn’t say anything.

“So this is the…” Was he choosing his words correctly? “The King’s house?”

“Yep.” Stephanie said, hand on the doorknob which miraculously opened. She rolls her blue eyes. “They still keep it unlocked.” They stepped inside, still gloomy and covered in vines and goo like the last two. “Let’s go upstairs.”

Will follows behind, observing everything that seemed a bit foreign for him. “I knew they were rich but I didn’t know they were that rich.” He said after observing art piece after art piece that he knows isn’t locally made.

“Yeah, they got crazy money.” She said, and her pace seemed to quicken without her noticing. She hustles into the parents room, opening the closet to find a safe. “Shit.” She forgot about the lock. “Where did that bastard put the key?”

Stephanie starts running around the bedroom, pulling open drawers, looking through trinkets, his wife’s jewelry box too – A curse word after every failed attempt.

“Steph?” Will said, worriedly.

“Just give me a second.” She snapped, and left the room. She starts opening the drawers from the tables in the hallway, visibly getting more annoyed with each second. “For fuck sakes–”

“Stephanie!”

“What?!” She slammed it shut, rattling everything that was on. The force and her tone seemed to shock him, and even take a small step back. She grips the table, closing her eyes to calm herself. “Fuck. I just…”

And when she opens them she finds herself staring at the boy she wanted to forget about. It was a picture of him on his swim team, the frame saying: Championship 1981. She just stares at with emotions the youngest Byers couldn’t figure out what they were.

“Steph?” He asked, slowly.

“Yeah?”

“What happened to you and Steve?”

She continues to stare at the photo for another minute before pushing herself to stand. “I think he still keeps that knife in his room.” Was what she muttered before heading in the opposite direction to another room.

Will could only wonder what really happened to them…

Just as the lights started to flicker.

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

|| PRESENT ||

Inside the most “fabulous” party of the year, Barb laid back in one of the pool chairs, listening to the terrible music that’s blasting in her ear as her best friend watches her boyfriend slice a hole into a beer can and start drinking it all in one go.

“Is that supposed to impress me?” Nancy asked, as he sat down and lit a cigarette.

“You’re not?” Steve asked, genuinely surprised.

“You are a cliche, you do realize that?”

“You are a cliche. What with your– your grades and your band practice.”

“I’m so not in band.”

“Okay, party girl. Why don’t you just, uh, show us how it’s done, then?” He hands her the knife and a can.

“Okay.” She says, all giggly.

“You gotta make a little hole right in–”

“I got it.”

“Yeah, she’s smart, you douche!” Tommy said, as he crushes his own can on his forehead.

Soon, everyone was chanting “Chug” as Nancy down a whole beer in under thirty seconds. Everyone cheered and laughed, proud at the achievement.

“Barb, you wanna try?” Nancy asked, holding the blade up.

“What? No. No, I don’t want to. Thanks.” She said, shaking her head. But after a quick back and forth badgering she finally gave in. She rips the items out of the girl’s hand, clearly upset. It wasn’t long before her judgment was clouding her mind and accidentally nicks herself.

“Whoa, Gnarly.” Tommy said, impressed by the deep cut.

“Are you okay?” Nancy asked, worriedly.

“Yeah.” Barb said, trying to push her away.

“Barb, you’re bleeding.”

“I’m fine. Where’s your bathroom?”

“Oh, it’s– Steve stands up, and starts taking her over to the sliding door. “It’s, uh, down past the kitchen, to the left.” He frowns. Shit of course.

But before he could say anything, Tommy had pushed Carol into the pool and then jumped in after her. Steve then shrugs, and lets a smirk play on his face as he does the same to Nancy before doing a cannonball.

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

|| NOW ||

Steph tries to contain herself as she enters his room. It was taking a lot of strength not to just start flipping things over, and tear those stupid pendants off the wall.

Stupid fucking house. Stupid fucking room. Stupid fucking Harrington. She grits her teeth, fighting back the tears in her eyes as she desperately tries to remember where he hid the blade.

She lets out a groan. “For fuck sake’s, man! Where did you put it?!” She yells, and kicks whatever was near her. She swears something must have fallen out from it, but she doesn’t even want to look.

God damn you, Harrington. She scolds, and rubs her face. How can he–

That’s when the light in his room flickered on and off scaring her half to death. “What the–”

“Stephanie!” Will’s voice shouted, kicking her into high gear.

“Fuck.” She mumbles, and races to find that blade.

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

|| PRESENT ||

As soon as Barb comes out of the bathroom, she immediately spots a certain someone heading up the stairs. “Nance! Nancy.” She shouts, getting her to stop. “Where are you going?”

“Nowhere. Just… upstairs. To change. I… fell in the pool.” Nancy said, feeling like she was on cloud nine. “Why don’t you go ahead and go home. I’ll just… I’ll get a ride or something.”

“Nance–”

“Barb, I’m fine.”

“This isn’t you.”

“I’m fine. Just go ahead and go home, okay?”

And then Nancy leaves her all alone, confused and heartbroken by her friend’s actions. But despite being hurt, she couldn’t just up and leave her drunken buddy like this. So…

She decides to wait.

Meanwhile, upstairs, Steve had found her some clothes she could change in, and he was grinning like a kid upon the thought of seeing his girlfriend in his clothes.

I’m such a dork. He tells himself as she calls out his name. “Yeah?” There was a look in her eyes that he’s never seen before, and honestly was turned on by it.

But ‘Fuck that’, says the universe, and the home phone starts to ring.

He groans, irritated. “Hang on a second–” He proceeds to run out of the room, and shouts, “Hey! Turn the music down in case it’s my parents.”

Nancy chuckles, cheeks flush because she was ready to lose her– wait. Did something just touch her leg? She looks down to find that a box was tipped over and had opened, and wonders when that happened. Did she accidently kick it without realizing? Or was it already like that? Frankly, curiosity got the best of her as she crouched down to try to fix it. But then, her actions slowed when she saw something.

The Wheeler picks up a paper – a flier – to her surprise was the missing poster of Stephanie Henderson.

“What?” She says, quietly, confusedly. Why was he keeping this? And that’s when she puts two and two together. She starts shifting through the small pile which was made up of photos, movie tickets, receipts from a record store, arcade tokens and– “Oh, my god.”

Suddenly, Steve comes jogging back in, relief on his face. “False alarm. It was just–”

“So who is she to you?” Nancy asked, standing up and flashing the memorabilia at him.

His face falls immediately. “Hey, that’s–”

“Is she the person that was rumored you pushed away?”

“It’s nothing.” Steve replies, trying to take the stuff away from her, but she ain’t budging.

“It’s nothing, or she’s nothing?”

“It’s– W-What? You jealous?” He asked, trying to play this thing off cool, but his girlfriend wasn’t stupid.

“I’m not jealous. I’m just curious.” Nancy replies, honestly. She takes another look at the photos in her hand before looking back at him. “I mean, if she isn’t your friend anymore, then why do you hang on to all this stuff? Or better question–”

“Nancy, stop, it’s just–”

“Why did you break it off?”

His brain short circuits again. “What?”

“I said, ‘Why did you break it off?’ I mean…” She flips through some of the photos he has, memorized. “From what I see, you two remind me of Barb and I. You two look like you were tied at the hip. So why break it off?”

“I…” Why couldn’t he fucking talk all of a sudden? “I didn’t, I–”

“So, she broke it off?” She said, eyebrow raised.

“No. I-I broke it off, she didn’t do anything–”

“So… why did you?”

“Nancy–”

“Look, I just want to understand you. I mean, every time I think I have you figured out you throw me through a loop.” She gives him a reassuring look as she picks up the box, shuffling whatever was remaining around. “I mean, from what I see, you seem like a completely different person then. I just wonder if it’s a good thing or a bad–”

Now it was her turn to look lost (and for Steve to lose all the color in his face). She frowns, slowly pulling out a small casing. “Is this a… bullet?”

“That’s nothing!” He manages to snag at least that away.

“Why do you have a bullet in the box?!” She asks, eyes blown wide.

He swallows. “Nancy–”

“Did you shoot her or something?”

“What?!” He scoffs. “No! Why would I shoot her?!”

“Well did she shoot you?”

“No! Nobody shot anybody, it was just–”

“Then why do you have a stray bullet cas–”

“‘CAUSE IT WAS MY FAULT!! OKAY?!” Steve snaps, startling them both (He can’t believe he just lost his cool like that). He swallows again, head spinning at the memories (Why did he fucking leave the box right there?). “I just… there was an incident and… it… shaped my decision, okay? But it didn’t involve me or her with a gun, it was… s-someone else. Someone I know. I don’t know why I’m holding onto it, I…” He sighs and grabs the box, holding it out for her to put the stuff away.

It takes her a moment to process it all, and she does put all the stuff in her hands away, but she remains silent the whole time. She’s never seen him act this way before.

It honestly concerned her.

Nancy breaks eye contact, and only reverses it when she gathers the right words. “Look, Steve, I’m sorry I intruded, I probably shouldn’t have but… I’m just trying to understand you.”

Steve shakes his head, still confused. “I-I…” He shrugs, and crosses his arms defensibly. “What’s there to understand?”

Nancy gestures to him and says, “Well, for starters, you’re an airhead and–”

“So?” He cuts in, as she holds her tongue and continues.

“And you’re arrogant, snarky, and sweet–”

“Sweet’s fine.”

“Of course. Sweet’s fine. I love how nice you are to me, Steve.” She then frowns for him. “However, that gets overshadowed by your… insecurities.”

He pauses, now it was his turn to take in those words (What the hell did she mean by that? He’s not… no). “I don’t… I don’t have any… any–”

“Steve.” Nancy takes a step closer. “I don’t know why the kid in these pictures decided to change into the one I’m seeing before me, but if that doesn’t have to do with any insecurities, then I’m not sure why you decided to make that change willingly.”

“I… W-Willingly?” He scoffs again. “What do you mean? I never change willingly? What are you even getting at, Nance?” He hasn’t changed. He’s never changed. What is she even getting at?

But Nancy looked at him with eyes full of pity and took another step closer. “I don’t know what the reason was for you two to stop being friends, but all I know, from what I gathered, she wasn’t the one to end it.” She places Steph’s flier on his chest that he subconsciously grabbed, and said one last thing before leaving his room. And that was,

“Maybe there was a good reason for you to end it, but that’s not an excuse for you to stop being who you really are.”

And Steve’s left with an epiphany he’s not sure he can decipher.

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

|| NOW ||

As soon as the lock was broken, she retrieved the gun from the safe and frantically told her companion to get down the stairs. Will and Steph’s hearts were in their ears, and it sped up when the light above the front door flickered.

“Shit–” She pulls the boy to a halt, and redirects them to the back door. “Go, go, go, go, go.”

She throws open the sliding door, and out into the backyard, but as soon as they step foot onto the ground, the lights around the empty pool start to flicker. The two of them stopped immediately and held their breaths. They weren’t sure where the beast was at, but it was definitely nearby ready to snatch them up.

They were afraid to even breathe or twitch. What if this thing really does appear out of thin air?

They both jolted when a loud growl came from somewhere inside the pool. Wasting no time, Steph taps Will on the arm and makes a shushing gesture, then waves him to follow her. The boy understood completely, and the two of them move slowly, so carefully that there’s not way–

The both of them screamed when two human hands grabbed onto the top of the pool ladder.

A girl’s head poked up, face battered and covered in grime, her glasses shattered and splattered with blood. The girl looked so fam–

“Nancy!!” She shouts, as something growls behind her, scaring all of them to their core. And when her eyes landed on the two of them, she desperately yelled for help just seconds before the beast’s claws wrapped around her head and pulled her back.

Will and Steph matched the girl’s scream, and the beast roared in delight that his prey was just right in front of it. Its claws could be seen grabbing the ladder, like it was trying to crawl out and feast.

That’s when the two of them booked it.

The guns rattled in their hands.

The tears in their eyes.

Whatever this place was, they knew…

This couldn’t get compared to hell itself.

-Taglist is Open-

@ladygrey03 @poppet05 @tooearlyforthis @lovesfics @lordzzz

@mirkwoodshewolf @sadbitchfangirl @olivewisp

@emsownuniverse @unspecifiedvisitor @smaryamsstuff @kitty49646

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theguildawards · 30 days

Text

Term 1 2024 Winners!

Thank you to everyone who participated in the first term 2024 hosted by The Guild Awards! The mod-team is excited to see so much amazing fanwork and their creators recognized, as well as the love shown for this fandom!

Without further delay, here we are!

Winners of The Guild Awards for Term 1 2024

Best Action/Adventure Fiction: "Molten Steel" by @mavikiu (tumblr/AO3) Best Alternate Universe/Reality Fiction: "Bull In a Crystal Shop" by Buniibebe (FFN) Best Canon Fiction: "Taming the Beast: Living Nightmare" by @dawnwynters (tumblr/AO3) Best Angst Fiction: "Finding Hope" by @creaticare / ChaoticKori (AO3) Best Dark Fiction: "Power of the Underworld" by @genavere (tumblr/AO3) Best Drama Fiction: "Even the Dragon King Has Feelings" by Don_Cheadle (AO3) Best Humor/Parody Fiction: "Fairy Tail Textfics" by @multi-verse-mania (tumblr) / Multiverse_Mania (AO3) Best Oneshot (tie): "what does it all come down to? (love? love)" by @forwantofacalling (tumblr) / Fireflower34 (AO3) and "once upon a time, five" by Ostensibly_Functional (AO3) Best Character Portrayal: "Making Friends" (Gajeel) by FairyDell (AO3) Best Romance Fiction: "All Treats, No Tricks" by Be_dazzled06 (AO3) Best LGBTQ+ Romance Fiction: "Every Good Thing in Life (Leads Back to You)" by allayrose (AO3) Best Serial Fiction: "Heart Shaped World" by Myahud (AO3) Best Ficlet: "untitled" by @caissa-scribbles Best Friendship Portrayal: "once upon a time, five" (Team Shadowgear + Gajeel) by Ostensibly_Functional (AO3) Best Completed Fiction: "The Era of Shadows and Sunshine" by RomanticHawthorn (AO3) Best Action/Adventure Artwork: "Super Late But Happy Gruvia Day!" by @hollie-artz (tumblr) Best Alternate Universe/Reality Artwork: "It's Lisanna's turn to be badass" by @pencilofawesomeness (tumblr) Best Canon Artwork: "dan lucy your bobbies" by @boxonarock (tumblr) Best Angst Artwork: "manga redraw🫣" by @azriaann (tumblr) Best Dark Artwork: "rogue on the battlefield" by @celestialrayna (tumblr) Best Humor/Parody Artwork: "Happy Valentine's Day!" by @riveluart (tumblr) Best Kiss Artwork: "happy february to them" by @lav3nder-bees (tumblr) Best Romance Artwork: "Untitled" by @bakutenshi (tumblr) Best LGBTQ+ Romance Artwork: "untitled Fraxus Week prompt" by @bluessom1 (tumblr) Best Character Artwork: "Levy bout to fuck shit up" by @phoenix-before-the-flame (tumblr) Best Duo/Pairing Artwork: "Gajeel + juvia = besties" by @anniechuuu (tumblr) Best Group Depiction Artwork: "Levy and her boys" by @riveluart (tumblr) Best Manga Coloring: "Fire & Lightning" by @fairy-edits (tumblr) Best Redraw Artwork: "Screenshot Redraw of the Raijinshuu + Laxus" by @sheltered-uno (tumblr) Best Overall Artwork: "Levy all soft and glowy" by @mavikiu (tumblr)

Congratulations to all the winners! Your awards are ready! Please send one of the mods or our ask box your preferred email address so we can send them to you!

And thank you to those who voted for the Roulette Category for next term! The Roulette fanfiction category for next term will be: Best NSFW Fiction. This will be defined as: Sexual Content/Smut with plot. Both one-shots and specific chapters from multi-chapter fics are accepted in this category. If coming from a multi-chapter fic, a link for that specific chapter is required and must include content depicting an act of sexual nature. (i.e.: intercourse, masturbation, heavy petting - etc.

As this term comes to a close, The Guild Awards will be taking a short hiatus. This time is always spent reviewing the process and seeing what can be revamped for the next term. We also love hearing from the fandom (ie: YOU!) for suggestions regarding any changes or additions.

We will officially be back in full swing on October 1st! We will still be around in case you have questions or concerns, but please take this time to read new fanfiction and find new fanart.

Want to stay immersed in all things Fairy Tail? Join our Discord! It's open to everyone!

You can also keep up-to-date with all current fandom events by checking out the @ftguildevents page!

As the day gets closer to the start of the next term, we will be keeping everyone in the loop when it comes to changes and updates. We hope everyone has a lovely summer! Thank you again for making this such a fun experience! See you soon!

~ The Guild Awards

#fairy tail #theguildawards #ft awards #tgat12024 #fanfiction #fairy tail fanfiction

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linked-through-the-centuries · 2 months

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Here’s a bit of an intro to the Links in this au!!

Feel free to shoot me an ask if you have any questions or wanna know more about any of them :)

Warriors (Hero of Warriors)

- He/Him, Asexual Biromantic

- 27 years old

- Games: Hyrule Warriors

- Good friends with his Zelda

- Not a real blond, dyes his hair regularly to keep up the appearance that he is. He has no one fooled

- Absolutely fantastic at doing eyeliner, everyone’s jealous

- Knows Mask and Tune from the War of Eras

- Natural born leader, acts a bit over the top to cover up insecurities

- Bad food anxiety from being poisoned a lot but he’s doing his best

Tears (Hero of the Wild)

- He/They, Bisexual

- 24 years old (124 years old)

- Games: Breath of the Wild, Tears of the Kingdom

- Married to their Zelda (recently)

- Rebuilding Hyrule slowly after everything that’s happened

- Missing an arm, wears a prosthetic. Has startled several of the others by just removing it at random because they forget it’s a prosthetic sometimes

- Very friendly, selectively mute so they use sign to talk sometimes

Wolf/Twilight (Hero of Twilight)

- Currently stuck in wolf form so Tears just calls him Wolf because no one knows he’s a hylian, they just think he’s a really odd wolf. Will eventually be called Twilight once he can turn back into a hylian

- He/Him, Bisexual

- 24 years old

- Games: Twilight Princess

- Assisted Tears on their first journey when Tears was 17-18 and Wolf/Twilight was 23. He has been stuck as a wolf ever since

- Lives with Rusl and Uli, but has been missing for a whole year

- Quiet and anxious, incredibly loyal

Sky (Hero of the Skies)

- He/Him, Bisexual

- 22 years old

- Games: Skyward Sword

- Chronic pain, lightning scars (look up lichtenberg figure), tattoo of wings that wrap around his wrist in honor of his loftwing

- Plays his harp as a way to relax

- Very friendly and talkative. Good person to go to if you need a chat

Tune (Hero of the Winds)

- He/Him, Pansexual

- 19 years old

- Games: Wind Waker, Phantom Hourglass

- Didn’t loose his eye, he just wears and eyepatch “for the aesthetic” (that’s his answer when people ask him why he wears it) but also so one of his eyes is always adjusted to being able to see in the dark so if he has to go below deck quickly for an emergency one of his eyes is well adjusted and he isn’t disoriented. His right eye is also extremely sensitive to light and the patch protects it

- Wears dark eyeliner under his eyes

- Curly, shoulder length hair that he ties up and has several small braids weaved into

- Knows Warriors and Mask from the War of Eras

- Very talkative, misses his boat

Hyrule (Hero of Hyrule)

- He/Him, Aro/Ace

- 18 years old

- Games: The Legend of Zelda, Adventure of Link

- Pretends to be a lot more shy and quiet than he really is

- Loves people but is very cautious around them

- Looks a bit frail because his clothes are a bit big for him, but is actually quite strong. He is not someone who should be underestimated

Past (Hero of Legend?)

- He/They, Pansexual

- 18 years old

- Games: A Link to the Past, A Link Between Worlds, Link’s Awakening, Edit: And the Oracles games

- Dyed Pink hair, has the longest hair of the whole group

- Happily lives with Ravio

- Loves apples

- Has a rabbit form he can shift into to squeeze into tight spaces

- Friendly but cautious, isn’t the most trusting

Calamity (Hero of the Calamity)

- He/Him/They/Them (usually prefers He/Him), Bisexual

- 18 years old

- Game: Age of Calamity

- Mute, doesn’t speak at all, only uses sign

- Doesn’t trust Tears at all, in fact at first Tears makes him extremely uncomfortable. Calamity makes Tears sad because they’re reminded of all the trauma the both of them went through, but Tears recognizes they’re two different people

- Looks up to Warriors a lot

- Very facially expressive

Mask (Hero of Time Masks)

- He/Him, Bisexual

- 17 years old (physically)

- Games: Ocarina of Time, Majora’s Mask

- Refuses to tell anyone his mental age, that’s between him and Hylia

- No one knows he is the Hero of Time, he’s scared to admit it because the others hold the Hero of Time up on a pedestal and he’s scared they’ll be disappointed to realize it’s him

- Has the Fierce Deity markings on one side of his face and one of his eyes is completely white but he can see out of both of them.

- Shy, quiet, reserved and mistrustful. Extreme abandonment issues have left him to expect everyone will leave. He only trusts Warriors and Tune, it takes him quite a long time to warm up to the others

Spirit (Spirit Tracks Link)

- He/Him, bisexual

- 16 years old

- Games: Spirit Tracks

- Friend of the birds

- Sees spirits and talks with them occasionally

- Absolute gremlin

Minish (Hero of the Four Sword)

- He/Him, straight

- 15 years old

- Games: Four Swords, Minish Cap

- Selectively mute, uses sign sometimes to communicate

- Very sweet, a little shy at first but quickly warms up to the others

- Misses his grandpa very much

- He and his Zelda are childhood friends

#linked through the centuries #links meet au #lttc warriors #lttc tears #lttc wolf #lttc twilight #lttc sky #lttc tune #lttc hyrule #lttc past #lttc calamity #lttc spirit #lttc mask #lttc minish #lttc #jes talks

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kikker-oma · 5 months

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Me again! :D

Sky and Wars - who will totally not get hurt. As requested :D

(Hopefully, I got all the edits filtered through.)

"It's just us now chosen."

Warrior's smiled. Circling his sword in his hand. They'd been in his Hyrule for a while now and had decided that they would spar in groups, as a training exercise for the new army recruits.

The rest of the group had gone already, with various techniques being used to show the troops just how many different styles of fighting existed across the eras.

Sky nodded, Twisting the blade that Twilight had lent him in his hand.

"you guys better make it quick, there's a storm rolling in." Someone behind them said, turning Warriors eyes met with Impa's. He turned back, spotting the dark clouds on the horizon.

"We won't be long, will we Sky?"

Sky shook his head.

Odd.

"Ready position."

Sky settled wordlessly, his eyes looking to warriors.

Then they looked to the side rapidly as the sound of thunder echoed through the air. It was far, but was approaching. He seemed to tense at the sound.

"So, When facing an opponent one-on-one you need to be mindful of how they attack. I know how Sky fights. But say I didn't." He too settled into a ready stance. Sword facing forward towards the chosen hero. "How would I proceed?"

"With great care." A voice from the crowd shouted.

"Correct. Sky, can you go through the movements for Naydra's waters please." He looked to the chosen as he spoke, his eyes seemed focused for now. But flicked to the side again as the storm approached.

Right. Sky was afraid of storms.

The chosen nodded, Flicking his wrist outward before beginning to slowly approach.

He'd get him in a blade lock then. Then could give him an out to get him inside.

Sky lunged at him, Sword directed at his arm. Warriors blocked the attack with ease as the slow movements of a slower version of the form began to work through the chosen movements. He flowed like the tide as he worked around him. Warriors blocking and jumping around the blade.

But something was off.

Sky, Sky's fighting was different somehow. Movements became firmer as the spar continued. Every time he caught the chosen eyes he could see the flicker. He could see the flinch every time a clap of thunder echoed through the sky.

Keep the others distracted. Get closer.

"Take your time with a single opponent, Learn how they move. Learn how they fight. Learn the quirks that may make them dangerous." His captain's voice, as they all called it, was firm and strict as he took Sky into a blade lock. Pulling Sky towards him.

"Are you alright?" Concern filtered through as he whispered the question so only the chosen could hear.

Sky didn't answer. But his breathing was faster than it should be. His eyes are wider than they should be. Pupils are more dilated than they should be.

Panic attack.

Was he going into a Panic attack?

He needed to get the chosen out of here.

"Each opponent will have different weaknesses. Each opponent will have..."

A strike of lightning cut him off.

The chosen's body became rigid, as fear filled his eyes. Eyes flickered from side to side as he shook his head.

Fear makes every man dangerous.

Sky's own words echoed through his head.

But the fear of a Godslayer was a recipe for disaster.

Not good.

Sky lunged again, fear burning through his eyes.

"Sky?"

This time, It wasn't the waters that flowed, the fire raged as strikes hit hard and fast. Warriors skilfully blocking each attack as they hit home. Every time the chosen was close enough he made an attempt to reach him.

He couldn't yell for him. Battle fear was dangerous. It could scare the new recruits. Lower morale.

But Sky... Sky needed help.

"Sky, It's alright, The storm isn't close enough to hurt us." He said as he pushed against the flames that threatened to burn away at him.

He felt his eyes drift to Impa as she begain to usher the others away. He didn't need a distraction. He needed time to break fears hold on the chosen.

He blocked and blocked and blocked. Not allowing the chosen to get a hit off on him. He didn't want to find out what would happen if the chosen tried to hit him while he was down.

He found himself moving backwards. Sky's eyes were glassy as he wordlessly attacked. Every clap of thunder made him flinch.

that was it

An opening would occur with the storm's call.

As their spar continued, the thunderclaps became louder. Until...

Crash!

Sky froze for a moment, allowing him to back off and then press the attack himself. Sky broke his frozen state as he tried to attack back. Completely wordless.

He twisted and turned before finally a strike hit home.

Sky flew to the ground, blood dripping from his cheek. As his eyes came back into focus. His hand raised to his cheek as he pulled it away, seemingly shocked at the blood on it. "Wars? Wars what... What happened?" He looked around confused.

"Oh thank Hylia." Warriors threw his sword down and knelt beside Sky. Wrapping him in a hug, blood on his tunic be damned.

"I dont... Im so confused." Sky pulled back, looking up at the captain, with a pained expression mixed with confusion.

"Thats alright. I'll explain later, let's get you inside." He responded, offering down his hand.

Sky nodded, taking the hand offered to him, standing, he followed the captain inside. One hand pressed firmly against his cheek. Swords abandoned to the storm.

Hope you enjoyed it! And happy birthday again beloved! /pl

MAJOR!!!! you big brained lovely soul, this was sooo gooood😭😭❤️❤️❤️ I READ THIS LIKE, 3 times before reblogging hehehe

I ADORE sparring scenarios!! And something about the Warriors and Sky dynamic makes me so haooy☺️☺️ I love how concerned Wars is. He's trying to get sky out of his blind panic while maintaining moral and sparing sky's dignity, tho getting hit in the face may have done the opposite lol🤣 it was necessary, wars didn't wanna be on the other end of sky's blade while he's panicking!!

Ugh, they're brothers your honor😮‍💨😌😌

THANK YOU LOVELY FRIEND

#sweet Majorproblems77 #why are you so talented!?#*shakes you lovingly*#pssssttt #btw you're next on my whumptober comic list of people to make fan art forrrrr #but you didn't hear that from meeeee

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satashiiwrites · 4 months

Text

Sleepless in LA

being chaotic tonight and choosing to re-edit/rewrite sections of an old fic instead of ya, know, working on a new one. Only the first chapter edit is posted thus far (just replacing chapters as I go)

Title: Sleepless in LA, Chapter 1: March

Fandom: 911

Pairing: Endgame Buddie, assume all other canon ships may make an appearance or not. Lena Bosco/Lucy Donato

Fic summary: Navigating the aftermath of Shannon’s death, Eddie never thought he’d be a widower by age thirty-two and raising a kid on his own without any help. When Christopher calls into one of those late-night talk radio shows asking how to help his Dad, Eddie realizes that he needs to try and move on for Christopher’s sake, so he reluctantly starts dating what everyone tells him is the perfect woman for someone like him. It turns out Christopher, and he have much different ideas of just who they need. Buck has had a terrible year. His physical injuries from the truck bombing were bad enough but having Ali leave him seems like a sign from the universe that he’s always meant to be alone. Listening to the radio at night, he hears the most adorable kid ever talking about how his Dad is sad and needs a new partner—LA kids are pretty progressive, and this Christopher kid isn’t particular if his Dad ends up with a woman or a man. It almost gives him hope, but who would want to date a firefighter who can’t help anyone? A chance encounter on a pier, a tsunami, and a promise to meet up at the Griffith Park Observatory on Valentine’s Day brings together two soulmates who, in another life, would have met very differently.

Tags/warnings: slow burn, semi-fusion/mashup of Sleepless in Seattle and An Affair to Remember. Romance. Eddie makes poor decisions ™️. Alternative universe. Tsunami-era.

They bury Shannon on a Tuesday. She’d died the previous Thursday.

Everything has moved at lightning speed since then, except when time slowed to a painful crawl designed to hold Eddie in this new hell he finds himself in. His parents had arrived Saturday, and his mother has a comment about every little detail, like an unfixable leaky faucet.

Drip.

How could Shannon leave him again?

Drip.

Well, Helena says, Shannon had abandoned Eddie and Christopher first, and this was just a pattern of bad behavior.

Drip.

It is terrible that all of Shannon’s family is dead and won’t be at the funeral to mourn her.

Drip. Drip. Drip.

His mother’s words are a continuous, poisonous litany that makes Eddie want to scream in rage at the world until everything stops hurting.

Read chapter 1 here on AO3

#Sleepless in la #Buddie #buddie fic #re-write/editing in progress #evan buckley #eddie diaz #Inspired by sleepless in seattle #911 #911 fic

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desultory-novice · 6 months

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Clearing out the backlog~ with another lightning round~ [REALLY OLD ASKS EDITION!]

-Which planet did Magolor really want? -Nightmare and Hyness and portal magic -Marx's Wings and Mistelteinn -Music: The Last Strike Comparison

Correct! In Japanese, he goes from suggesting he wanted to rule Halcandra to declaring himself overlord of the entire universe! In English, he does seem to state that Popstar will be first!

(Of course, in the Japanese, he ALSO states that he'll go ahead and rule Popstar first. So it all ends in the same place. I do wonder if this was a case of the translators having to translate the games cutscenes with no context. If they didn't realize this scene took place on Halcandra and not Popstar, it would have been perfectly logical to assume "this planet" was referring to Kirby and the gang's planet. Not that rare of a mistake in the world of video game translation!)

But there is that indication that his original (?) goal was Halcandra. Of course, post DX, we know he himself isn't Halcandran, but he seemed to have staked a lot of his hopes and dreams on discovering something there, so it's not too farfetched that he would have been mainly interested in acquiring the cradle of Ancient civilization.

...Or was that the crown already manipulating his mind?

I meant to answer this one ages ago and I am so sad I didn't...

Anon, if you're still around, I'm sorry I got it wrong but yes, you are ALSO so very right! And wow, I did not realize the exact same portal is used by both (Parallel) Nightmare and Hyness!

...And in both cases, it's to summon Galacta Knight! It really makes you think they were definitely connected. To use the same kind of magic like that? (To even KNOW that magic!) There's just got to be something up with these three. I'm sure of it...

The portal Parallel Nightmare uses to summon D-Mind is still a bit unusual, looking like a twisted dimension rift though

Of course, even a year after this ask, I'm still trying to puzzle out the mystery that is King D-Mind and the Mirror World and if it has any relationship to the Parallel Worlds. My current hypothesis is that Dark Mind may not just be a Nightmare/Dark Matter fusion but something...even more powerful?! Stay tuned for more!

And yeah, Marx's is not the SAME but close. Of course, it wouldn't be that weird for this to be the case since I'm also almost 100% that the majority of his powers including the wings and the goop and the splitting in half came from Nova ie: the Ancients.

(The question is, as you bring up, is this Elfilis magic or something the "magic-using Ancients brought to the table on their own?)

It took me forever to answer this but welcome to the era where Dess refuses to shut up about Marx's wings being a creation of the ancients!

I've already made my post about the wings going haywire (like...the...master crown...) but they're just like the Master Crown! Marx's wings are just like the Master Crown!! The question is... how? How was Galactic Nova able to grant Marx something that was just like the Master Crown? (Albeit, flawed. Or are they flawed... since he's able to maintain more control over them than Magolor was?)

Since the Master Crown brought forth Magolor Soul, this also helps explain that curious flash during Marx's moment of empowerment when we seem to see a vision of Marx Soul.

Seriously these two are SO alike in every other way. Why would this be the place in which they're different? I'm going to become obsessed with this now, I swear...

I have only fanon-heavy theories on why Marx has not been taken over fully by the....hmm, the Master Wings(?) while Magolor was. Mostly relating to the difference of Marx being a "magician" (a creature naturally in tune with magic) versus Magolor being a "wizard" (someone who learns to manipulate magic.)

Or heck, if we go full Dess fanon mode, you could assume that Marx's nature as a Noddy and Noddys being tied to the Fountain of Dreams (another Ancient artifact) is why he's not been consumed by them? ...Yet. But as I've been thinking about this, I can also see the Master Wings as another reason why Marx Soul might still be a lingering part of Marx while Magolor Soul was defeated...

I have discovered something since joining this fandom...

I'm TERRIBLE at recognizing musical motifs and references!! I can barely tell when one song is a remix of another (; _ ; ) and I tried to listen to these two in order to hear it but in the end, my brain got too caught up in the flashy colors and effects...

However, I think this is neat and most definitely intentional! (After all, even if I can't make all the work that does into the songs, we all know that the HAL sound team puts a lot of work into it, Kumazaki too with the detailed naming and such.)

The more we discuss things, the more plants and hearts and more become key symbology throughout the series, and the fact that the Dreamstalk is like Jack and the Beanstalk meets the Yggdrasil and Mistilteinn is well.. Mistilteinn I wouldn't be surprised if the connections continue to, ahaha, grow! (And I know we're both going to be there pouring over them! So excited that the new HAL recruitment notice means we'll be seeing another Kirby game!! ...Even if it'll be a 2~ish year wait!)

#Dess Quick Asks #Long Post #I wanted to answer more of these but asks are hard!#It feels like some weeks its either all writing or all art #But chipping away at the backlog is always good!#Only 35 left to go as of this post...!!

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futureseaempress · 3 months

Text

hi friends time hasn’t been real between my birthday and week long work event but I’m back and alive and happy to be here 🥳

HAPPY WIP WEDNESDAY!!!! without further ado descriptions of my wips for Red, White & Royal Blue The Eras Tour! next month

self titled

Alex was diagnosed with ADHD a year ago and seeing improvement every day. Henry is where lightning touches down and provides the quickest way for him to calm his ever buzzing nerves, but medication helps too. Now it’s time to get Henry’s mental health affairs in order.

fearless

Alex and Henry meet in the waiting room of their shared, new, endocrinologist. Alex is recently been diagnosed as type one diabetic, while Henry has been out as transgender since he was fifteen so injections, tests, and doctors offices are an old hat, but Alex is still getting used to being “sick.”

speak now

a continuation of echoed through my mind years in the future… another baby, ding dong the queen is dead, and MORE???

red

HISTORICAL VAMPIRE AU… Carmilla meets Twilight meets vampires being cool

1989

Couple to Throuple (Charity Edition) feat. Pez as our illustrious host, June as our on sight couples counselor, Henry & Hunter as couple contestants and beautiful ACD as a single ready to mingle.

reputation

more drag au/like look at you continuation wherein Henry finally steps out as Bambi, we meet Pez’s drag persona, as well as Nora’s. more history about Alex and Liam as well.

lover

a continuation of say it with your hands… they were in paris!! angst between brothers! only one bed!

folklore

this one is my least thought out to be honest. it’s just a three part foire through Alex and Henry’s sex lives before they met and after.

evermore

Alex & Henry meet at a honky tonk bar on Coney Island. The western theme is a little dated and a little out of place, but Alex just can’t seem to let her go. Henry hasn’t been out since his sister got sick, just his luck he’d meet the most beautiful man— with his own hefty baggage— his first night out in a new country.

midnights

SVU CROSSOVER. Inspired by season eleven episode five ‘Hardwired,’ ADA Alex Claremont-Diaz needs the FBI’s Special Agent Henry Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor, MD to solve this case and prove that MAPS have no leg to stand on.

tortured poets department

coworker au where Alex avoids the HR department like the plague, he can’t keep H. Fox and H. Forrest straight, and while one of them is an absolute delight to work with, the other sends him nonsense emails all day asking him how to complete the most menial of tasks.

thank u to everyone who’s been tagging me in Wednesday & Sunday’s writing games I’ve just been out of my gourd since February 20th trying to get my life in some semblance of order 💜💜💜

I’m tagging @hypnostheory @firenati0n @anincompletelist @inexplicablymine @happiness-of-the-pursuit

#rwrb #rwrberastour #rwrb fanfic #first prince #firstprince #first prince fanfic

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ratmom819 · 11 months

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tw: forced dieting, hunger, sneaking food, restricting a child's food

it's summer 1994, dudley is on a strict diet on his doctor's orders, and harry is forced on the same diet on petunia's orders. everyone is fairly miserable because none of them are eating enough.

harry is honestly used to it, because the dursleys never really gave him enough food. harry is also fairly sure that vernon and petunia are eating normal food after harry and dudley are sent to bed. but dudley has never been hungry before, not like this. harry can't help but feel a little sympathy for him, because harry understands better than anyone what it's like to be hungry.

of course, harry has never settled for hunger, intense self preservation instincts baked into him from the time he was one. he sneaks out of his room one night after he's sure vernon and petunia are asleep, choosing the right pattern on the steps so they won't make a noise.

he's not in the pantry long before the sound of someone creaking down the stairs meets his ears. he panics, leaves the pantry, but realizes that he has no good hiding places without crossing the view of the stairs. the best hope he has is hiding in the dark pantry and praying that whoever it is will only open the fridge.

he listens at the door, hearing the unmistakable sounds of someone trying to be quiet and failing spectacularly. probably vernon then, because petunia is frighteningly good at moving quietly when she wants to. harry hears the fridge open, hears some jars rustle around, and he has a glimmer of hope that maybe he'll get away with this.

but then he hears footsteps come towards the pantry door, and he braces himself for whatever punishment vernon will dole out for this. probably locked in his room for the rest of the summer. he backs away from the door as it opens, and someone flicks the light on.

"dudley?" he says, just as dudley says, "harry?"

it's quiet for a moment as they both process what to do, both of them caught sneaking food. harry can't help but feel nausea at the thought of dudley running up to tell his parents that he caught harry out of his room. but dudley looks as nauseous as harry feels, probably some combination of extreme hunger and fear of harry's magic. that strange sympathy wells up in harry again, for the hunger, mostly.

"i'll tell," dudley says, attempting confidence, but there's a shake to his voice. "you'll get locked in your room again."

it strikes harry, oddly, as absurdly brave. dudley's only experience with magic is a twisted combination of his parents' lies and traumatic bodily injury in the form of a pig tail and a ballooning aunt. he would have no defense if harry used magic against him, but he's threatening harry anyways.

dudley has been horrible to harry for the entirety of their relationship, has never done anything but hurt him, and yet harry also knows that dudley has vernon and petunia for parents, and that, even as he looms in the pantry doorway with clenched fists, he is a hungry kid. and so harry extends an olive branch that dudley probably doesn't deserve.

"don't take too much of one thing," he says.

"what?"

"when you take food, don't take too much of one thing, or they'll notice."

"...okay?"

"and if it's something like a pack of biscuits, shake them forward a little so it looks fuller than it is."

dudley is staring at harry with the most peculiar expression on his face.

"why are you helping me?"

harry shrugs. he doesn't have a coherent answer to that at 2am. he tells himself it's just because if his aunt and uncle realize someone (other than them) has been sneaking food, he'll be the one in trouble regardless of guilt. but harry knows that's not really his reason.

harry doesn't say any of this out loud. he takes a step forward to leave the pantry, and dudley skitters back into the kitchen, eyes wide. harry puts his hands up in surrender, slowly steps out of the pantry. they're both standing in the kitchen now, still staring at each other, unsure how to end this odd encounter.

"well," harry finally says. "night dudley."

"yea, night harry."

harry follows his usual path up the steps, thinking about how that's probably the first time that he and dudley ever wished each other good night.

harry lies in bed, expecting vernon or petunia to come knocking on his door at any minute, but they never come.

#migrated from twitter #with some edits #tw forced dieting #tw hunger #tw sneaking food #tw restriction #tw restricting a childs food #lightning era #harry and dudley #harry potter #dudley dursley #fourth year #rat writes

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sunnydaleherald · 11 days

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The Sunnydale Herald Newsletter, Saturday May 18th

GILES: Would someone please rip that bloody bell off its hinges? XANDER: Would that involve moving? WILLOW: My feet are numb. XANDER: I'll see your numbness and I'll raise you a lower back pain.

~~No Place Like Home~~

[Drabbles & Short Fiction]

See You Yesterday by all_choseny (Buffy/Spike, R)

violence and denial by teenageapocalypsetrilogy (Buffy/Spike, E)

[Texts between Willow and Buffy] by scooby-group-texts

F*cked by Holly (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)

[Chaptered Fiction]

Sunnydale Serenade, Chapter 16 by TheRealJeanGenie (Buffy/Spike, T)

Bloody Hell: A Hellmouthian Dissertation, Chapter 9 by HuonParticlesAreHarmless (Buffy/Giles, M)

Keep You Ghosted, Chapter 8 by hydranjenna (Buffy/Spike, M)

I Don't Want to Be the One, Chapter 13 by pommedapi (Buffy/Spike, T)

A Different Path, Chapter 12 by Anaxilea (Buffy/Faith, M)

Breaking the Code, Chapter 4 by Buffyworldbuilder (Ensemble, Star Wars crossover, G)

In the Company of Witches and Slayers: Chapter 39 by VladimirHarkonnen (TheLightdancer) (Willow/Tara, E)

In the Dark of the Night, Chapter 10 by norik23 (Buffy/Spike, M)

I hate the way, Chapter 11 by DancingAngel0013 (Buffy/Giles, E)

Greatest Love Story - Prelude, Chapter 3 by FalseGinger (Angel/Spike, M)

Quantum Entanglement, Chapter 1 by Senneres (Spike, Harry Potter crossover, E)

Dawn Before the Sun: The Doomsman’s Daughter, Chapter 1 by Luna_delCielo (Dawn, Tolkien crossover, T)

No Matter What, Chapter 1 by Xyex (Buffy/Willow, M)

Rewind (Pt 4) by Enigmatist (Spike, not rated)

Stab in the back, Chapter 22 by MelG_2005 (Buffy/Spike, Adult Only)

Surviving Together, Chapter 20 by ionlylikebadboys (Buffy/Spike, Adult Only)

Early One Morning, Chapter 44 by all choseny (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)

Meow, Chapter 8 by CheekyKitten (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)

Afterburn: In The Dark, Chapter 10 by Melme1325 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)

A Ripple In Time, Chapter 33 by CheekyKitten (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)

Secret Obsession, Chapter 25 by Maxine Eden (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)

Exquisite Chaos: Part 1, Chapter 4 by yellowb, JayeMaru, bewildered, DeamonQueen, ClowniestLivEver, VoronaFiernan (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)

Lightning in a Bottle, Chapters 13-14 by violettathepiratequeen (Buffy/Spike, PG-13)

Dawn Before the Sun: The Doomsman’s Daughter, Chapter 1 by Luna (Dawn, Tolkien crossover, FR15)

Love Lives Here, Chapter 64 by Passion4Spike (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)

The Kitten That Killed Slayers, Chapter 12 by Desicat (Buffy/Spike, PG-13)

When the World Went Cold, You Were Brighter than Gold, Chapter 4 by Harlow Turner (Buffy/Spike, R)

[Images, Audio & Video]

Fanvid: Buffy + Spike -Stripped by all_choseny

Manips: Buffy the Last Slayer by all_choseny (worksafe)

Manip: Hustler by honeygirl51885 (Buffy and Spike, worksafe)

Manips: Buffy and Spike in bath by All Choseny (worksafe)

Cartoon: “Did you run into any trouble on the Enterprise yesterday?” by Paul Gadzikowski's The Hero of Three Faces (worksafe)

Puzzle: A Very Buffy (Connections) Puzzle by nicodemusfleur

Fanvid: Buffyverse | Difussion by Jess Wilson

Fanvid: buffy summers | who's afraid of little old me? by Moon Edits

Fanvid: willow rosenberg | who's afraid of little old me? [preview] by ImagineDragonlords

Fanvid: BTVS | Thrift Shop by xxLowkeyTrashxx

Music: Buffy The Vampire Slayer Rescore: Season 1 Episode 12 "Prophecy Girl" by David Müller

[Reviews & Recaps]

BTVS/Angel Rewatch Chronicles: Seasons 6/3, Part Three by QualifiedApathetic

Rewatcher's diary: Season 2, episodes 15 to 18 by jonaskoelker

video: Angel vs Spike: Who's the love story Buffy deserved? by Ryan B Talks TV

Video: The Body: An Outstanding Episode of Television by Darth Nerdus

Video: Buffy Season 6 Review! Spoilers! by SundayScariesReview

Video: No "apology" needed for Buffy Season 1! And Buffy's place in the era of "Prestige TV" by Ronald Off the Record

Video: Buffy Review - 5x14 Crush by Reverse Angle

Video: Hells Bells-Slayer Sunday by Jane Talks Buffy

Video: Buffy The Vampire Slayer Season 2 REVIEW | Ft. @Sisnerdly by George Alexander

Podcast: Slaying the Charts: The Musical Legacy of Buffy the Vampire Slayer by A Girl, A Guy and A Buffy Podcast

[Fandom Discussions]

There's actually so many missed opportunities with Fred and Gunn by AmmoniteFlesh

Spike said Dracula owes him 11 quid by Aphony Cree

One of Buffy’s nightmares in season one was being buried alive by reality-schmality

One of the things I disliked most about canonical Spuffy was how much they wound up hurting each other BECAUSE OF HOW STATIC THE CHARACTERS FELT by deadthingu

Buffy and Spike in Smashed by Joan the Vampire Slayer

Buffy and Willow by Joan the Vampire Slayer

What If: Buffy had joined the Cordettes instead? by nightshade

Was Angel a good father? continued by Stoney

Who did Buffy hate? by The Whirlwind

Do you think Spike deserves to be seen as heroic for not giving up Dawn? continued by multiple posters

Who did Spike hate? by The Whirlwind

Would you watch this show [the "Cordy" sitcom] if it were on? by AndrewHeard

How would Buffy had reacted to Wesley's decision in [AtS] season 3? by jdpm1991

What if Jonathan was the one who was redeemed in season 7 instead of Andrew? by george123890yang

Behind the Scenes BANGEL ❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥 by figinmyteeth

Was Riley looking to get turned? by Tuxedo_Mark

My top 30 Buffy episodes by fabe1haft

Question for Buffy Hard Cover books by nodakskip

[13/22] What's your favorite episode 13 across all seasons? by jonaskoelker

If you could erase one character from the show, who would it be? by VegasGirlAlex

What Faith lines or scenes did you find a bit cringy? by foreseethefuture

The Real S6 Big Bad by Glum-Substance-3507

Does anyone else thing that Nathan Fillion as Caleb in the Buffy was his best role? by BigDongForever

The opening credits power pose by Reviewingremy

do you prefer the earlier vengeance demon version from s3 or the one from s6-7? by melaniemoth13

Is it just me or does Angel appear kinda... different "Angel" than on Btvs? by BoredYogiOnHere

"You're a creature of the darkness, just like me" by sushibananawater

[Articles, Interviews, and Other News]

Video: Bonus Episode - We Interviewed a Buffy Background Actor! by The Sunnydale Diaries - A Buffy Podcast

Submit a link to be included in the newsletter!

Join the editor team :)

#buffy the vampire slayer #btvs #angel the series #ats

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accio-victuuri · 1 year

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CPN : Web’s ins update 😎😎😎

today, 3/8 zan bo day, yibo updated his instagram account sharing a gift he got from ugg. a collaboration between ugg and his wardrobe staple brand - palace. this boy is really so predictable with what he shares tho, it’s either shoes, skateboard or moto gear. but i’m not complaining, as long as he posts for us international fans to see.

the message on the note reads: Dear Yibo, presenting to you UGG X Palace global limited edition collaboration, letting fashion to be whenever and wherever for you to freely discover" - UGG China Team

I’m cackling cause turtles are rushing to instagram. not that they didn’t already with how XZ was updating on there for the past days. Is this the instagram era? lol.

Tho I don’t think they will be too active there to the point that it would seem like they are promoting ig. It’s not like they can risk being seen as a personality who encourages their hoards of fans to access this site that they ( technically ) shouldn’t.

Anyway, let’s see the CPN bits that we noticed from this. ⬇️⬇️⬇️

1. The fact that WYB is suddenly posting on IG. I mean it’s still a brand post and he is their Asia-Pacific spokesperson. So maybe this is for him to reach a wider audience? but he can do that with Weibo or Oasis too. It’s just nice that his “personal post” shows up on IG when ZZ is active there too. Also knowing that ZZ’s overseas activities are over and he is preparing to go home soon— it’s like Bobo is trying to match him before he goes back and has to use Weibo/Oasis/Douyin again. Lol.

2. The trend of them posting two sets of everything. In pairs. This one has two boots. Go ahead and feel free to measure if it’s the same shoe size. Lol. Or the explanation may be he was given both since he is their spokesperson.

Adding more fuel to the “why” is this only being posted now is that this collab was teased late January. So why is this only being posted now? Maybe because this for their Spring 2023 release and Bobo can officially reveal it.

But still. Why on IG? What’s so special about it? We were guessing that when he updated his profile picture, he will share some Hidden Blade content. Especially because of it’s success and release overseas. But he didn’t. So again. Why now?

3. WYB’s use of emoji, following ZZ on instagram. Same brain cell all around.

4. The electric blue lightning bolts design is a nice touch and something we can connect to their affinity to the lightning symbol. ⚡️

5. The act of showing off his shoes “xiezi” / xz / xiaozhan could be a clue that we will see them at an event together. Maybe this is WYB being the messenger of good news again. I’m with everyone in hoping they both go to the ever problematic weibo night on 3/25. Let’s see! 🙏🏼

sources: one & two

-END.

PS : Do not repost this CPN outside of tumblr without a credit to me and a link back to this post. Do not steal my words. Do not screenshot. In short, do not steal content that i made and claim as yours.

#yizhan #bjyx #there is no science here folks im just clowning like i always do #all of this is cpn

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anim-ttrpgs · 2 months

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Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy Prerelease Patreon Update March 21st 2024

Changelog

CHAPTER 1

Have started working on replacing the examples of play with updated ones that actually fit the current and slightly more stable version of the rules. These will be found in various chapters. You can see them in the table of contents.

Fixed a pretty bad typo in a sidebar “Sometimes, citizens are innocent despite being proven guilty in a court of law. A quest to prove the innocence of a convicted criminal makes a great mystery-solving motivation.”

Changed “Collaborative Storytelling: Players are not their Investigators” to “Players are not their Characters”

Changed the heading “Not An Excuse for Bad Faith Play” to “No Excuse for Bad Faith Play”

Changed header “Expect to Fail Risky Rolls” to “Expect to Fail Rolls”

Investigators’ Truth is now a MUCH cleaner and easier to understand section. Holy crap that was a mess.

Made it so comforting and exacerbating factors for composure rolls no-longer stack. Made it so that two stressors happening at the same time just count as exacerbating factors rather than clunkily combining the modifiers.

Changed skipping a meal from -2 composure to -1 composure

Changed “Total Composure Loss (Optional/Legacy Rule)” to be “Portraying Composure Loss” and completely redid it as guidelines and suggestions rather than really being rules.

Changed a lot of stuff about Jumpscares. Made the choices more potent.

Combat and Chases are no-longer considered Scenes.

Created a new section just for defining scenes

Overhauled Ticks

Added a new section: Adventure Modules, How to Use Them, and Why

Started marking the sidebar stuff in such a way so it will be easier for readers reading the beta version before the fancy corkboard formatting is applied to see what sentence each sidebar is referencing.

Added multiple new sections underneath Role of the Narrator, full of GM advice tailored specifically for Eureka.

For Tick consumption in travel times, added 4 different starting values based on the size of the era the adventure is taking place in. Made other changes to how Ticks work with traveling, and also added a mechanic for speeding and getting pulled over by the cops. Made it more clear how Ticks work and how they are supposed to be used.

Sports cars no longer take less time getting to places and are counted as regular cars for tick cost of traveling.

Moved the rules for how to restore Composure with a Comfort roll into the Composure section rather than being under the Comfort skill, more like how the HP-restoring rules are found in the section about damage and HP rather than under the Medicine skill.

Way better clarified how the Manipulate skill is supposed to work.

Copy-edited all the way to Interpersonal Consequences.

CHAPTER 2

None

CHAPTER 3

None

CHAPTER 4

None

CHAPTER 5

None

CHAPTER 6

None

CHAPTER 7

None

CHAPTER 8

Added a new Mage Trait, Lightning Powers

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literalite · 10 months

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literally just me talking about edit stuff because im in a mood

these r what i would call like my base level of ingame edits (i dont reallyyyyyy count my cas screenshots as edits unless i spend an actual amount of time actually working on them rather than my usual blur+chromatic aberration+sharpen combo) theres usually very little? or like no actual basis in the characters "canon" or lore like its just done to make them look nice. right. or like its fun lighting practise for me really. theyre usually pretty simple in execution like in the two examples there its just plain yellow background for sunny and the neon cross for vin so i have to put a little extra oomf into it because the backgrounds are like not super detailed so theres less of an "interest" factor from that so the sims themselves have to look REALLY good to make up for it. the ones i end up happy with though usually look really dynamic so it balances out

so these are more sort of abstract edits to me bc they have a basis in the oc lore or themes or whatever and most of my ocs have at least one or two visual markers (in the examples lucari or even just ari specifically gets a fair amount of celestial/sky imagery, i handled the colours here a bit sloppily but its meant to be blue and purple which are ari and luca's text colours, heiya's emphasis being on her muscles and scars and the clouded solar eclipse, redacted gets a lot of water/reflective surfaces/birds/rainbow flares?? and also lightning but that isnt being used in this specific one and sunny gets a fair amount of fire/smoke stuff as well as emphasis on primary colours like his more blue toned edits r usually in his darker stages of his life while warmer yellows means more positive stuff, red usually is just for uhhh violence oriented stuff) and like none of these are Actually happening. right. redacted isnt actually ever in that position with that era of hair in the water with the birds and sunny was set on fire at 13 not as an adult and they certainly never had a portrait of his family like that. but its symbolic, it means Something even if you as the viewer doesnt know it yet 😅 or ever aha

OKAY LOL I PRESSED POST BY ACCIDENT LOL but these are my full lore edits or something likr theyre totally rooted in the background of the ocs. like these are scenes from their lives for real. obviously i fiddle with lighting angle composition a tinyyyy bit to make for a more pleasing or dynamic image at the end but if my ocs all got dedicated like. movies or shows these would be ripped straight from the scene. i take creative liberties with some stuff but in essence these could be story posts (like the 3rd example with idris/redacted is literally in the story itself in one of the posts) the difference is usually amount of images in the post and orientation of said image/s. to me an edit stops being an edit when it has more than likeeeeee 4 images and then i will usually keep that bulk all in landscape or maybe one as portrait for emphasis. edits will be 4 or less and mostly in portrait because i want the less images to take up more room on the dash. the backgrounds for these will usually be way more complex like ill build a mini set or use existing sets for each one. i just think that ingame edits have a lot more capability than you might think (u dont have to go into blender for every little thing promise 🙌🏼) its just like. u can do a lot with this game i swearrrrrr just treat it like an art medium. im serious

ALSO the song almost always is sooo relevant to the edit i swear its not enough to sound good. i have to be unwell about it as well and it has to make sense with what im showing u

ok thats my random unrequested ted talk for the day im going to go home now bye thank u for reading if u did that 😁

#seph.txt #dances about in a circle this is more than pretty sims on a pretty background. to me. ok #EDIT: i hit post before i finished talking about my final set of edit categorization oops aha

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