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lesbianrobin · 3 years

Note

What do you think are the good and bad aspects of each season of ST?

ok 1. thank u for this question omg and 2. this answer may or may not be a mess, but either way it’s long (almost 7k words lmao) bc i’m insane, which is why it’s under a cut. it’s still by no means an exhaustive list but these are the things that just kinda came to mind.

also i realize you asked “good and bad” and i wrote this whole post as “strengths and weaknesses” which um. is not Exactly what you asked. but close enough <3 i also ended up including a lot of au ideas ksjdckmn bc like i personally hate when people say a certain plot or whatever was bad without suggesting anything that could have improved it yknow so whenever possible i tried to provide Some idea for fixing the issues i had with the show!!

season 1

strengths (this is probably gonna be the longest section but that’s because a lot of these strengths also apply to s2/s3 by default)

nostalgia and authenticity

this one’s pretty simple, but i think that season one did a good job of blending classic eighties media homages (such as the many many e.t./el parallels) with explicit pop culture references (such as mike’s yoda impression, mentions of the x-men, etc) to create a show that’s essentially dripping in early eighties nostalgia without it feeling too forced. before st, i think the most popular depiction of the eighties in mainstream media was that overly exaggerated neon scrunchie aesthetic from the mid to late eighties, and it was usually done in a comedic sense first and foremost. st took a different approach, instead focusing on the early eighties, a time that’s often ignored in favor of going either Full Seventies or Full Eighties, and i think that this choice likely resonated with adults who lived through the eighties and hadn’t yet seen something that felt quite so accurate to their own adolescence. a lot of young people who watched st were totally unfamiliar with this period of time, unfamiliar with books/movies like “stand by me” that st borrows from heavily, and i think st lent more seriousness to the eighties than most young people had experienced so far, and this was refreshing and interesting!

the use of dnd in the show is also quite genius in a way i’m not sure i can articulate?? it isn’t something Everyone would have played at the time, but it’s something that existed within a different context back in the eighties than it does today, and it really lent a sort of authenticity to the naming of the show’s sci-fi elements. like, of course these kids would name parallel dimensions and monsters and superpowers after these similar things in their favorite game! it just feels so real and it grounds st in our reality moreso than you might expect from the typical sci-fi or horror universe.

utilization of existing tropes

almost every single character in st clearly originates from some popular trope. the plot itself is riddled with classic eighties movie tropes. almost every single element of stranger things can be clearly traced back to some iconic eighties film or just to, like, overused horror/sci-fi/mystery/coming-of-age movie tropes in general. this might sound like a bad thing, but it really works in st’s favor! starting off with familiar tropes gives st the ability to easily create a lot of complexity and make a big impact by selectively deviating from those familiar, comfortable tropes!! while el’s whole plot, hopper’s character, etc, are all examples of this in action, i think the steve/nancy/jonathan plot is the greatest example. even from the start, the fact that good girl barb dies while nancy is off having sex with her asshole boyfriend is an incredibly thorough inversion of the most well-known horror movie trope in the book. how often do girls in horror movies have sex for the first time, walk home alone in the dark of night, and live to tell the tale? nancy and jonathan’s dynamic at first glance is a sort of classic “good girl meets boy from the wrong side of the tracks, discovers he’s actually got a heart of gold” thing, but instead of following this well-trodden path, st diverged. nancy is brash, impulsive, and at times downright insensitive. jonathan is angry, bitter, and actually a bit of a creep at first. while they have the capacity to emotionally connect and support one another, they can also bring out each other’s darker side, which is not what we’ve come to expect from that initial tropey dynamic.

in addition, steve, the popular rich asshole boyfriend, is actually... a human being! unlike the cartoonishly evil jocks that we’ve come to expect (especially from eighties movies), steve has complexity. despite his initial immaturity and selfishness, he’s also kind to barb, he backs off when nancy says no, he’s gentle and sweet when they sleep together, his first big Dick Move of the season is in defense of nancy, he realizes the error of his ways after the fight and does what he can to fix it, he’s worried about nancy when he sees that she’s hurt at jonathan’s house, and to top it all off, he ends up saving both nancy and jonathan’s lives when he could have just walked away, and the three of them all work together to fight the demogorgon. like... steve began as the most stereotypical character of all time, and by the end of the season, he had one of the most compelling and unique arcs among the whole cast!

finally, at the very end of the season, instead of dumping steve for jonathan as expected, nancy ends up getting back together with steve, and they’re both on friendly terms with jonathan. i realize that i just kinda. summarized s1. but my POINT is that i don’t think the dynamics between the monster hunting trio would be nearly as fun and interesting had the characters of nancy, steve, and jonathan not been set up to follow certain paths that we already had charted in our own heads. like, within the first couple episodes of s1, it’s pretty obvious that nancy and steve are gonna break up, nancy will get with jonathan, and steve will either die or go full evil or just never be seen again. like, duh! you’ve seen this story a million times! you know that’s how it’s gonna go! so, when the story DOESN’T go that way, the impact of each character’s arc and the relationship dynamics become stronger due to their unexpected complexity and authenticity.

distinct plotlines separated by age group

this one’s rather obvious, but the way that the adults in s1 were essentially in a conspiracy thriller while the teens were in a horror flick and the kids were in a sci fi power-of-friendship story and all three converged at the end... wow. brilliant showstopping etc. not only was it just really well done and unique, it also gave stranger things near-universal appeal. like, there’s genuinely something for pretty much everyone in season one!

casting

obviously this applies to every season sorta by default, but when i think about what made season one So successful, i always think about the cast, and not just winona ryder. yes, she’s absolutely amazing in the show and it’s very doubtful that st would be as big as it is today without her name being attached to it from the start!! however, i think the greatest determining factor in st’s success is the casting of the kids, particularly millie bobby brown. like... el is just absolutely incredible. she’s amazing. this has all been said many times before so i won’t harp on it, but millie and the other kids are all So talented and charismatic and i think their casting has been instrumental to the show’s success.

strong visuals

the way that multicolored christmas lights which have been around for decades are now kinda like. a Stranger Things thing. jesus christ. those lights are probably the biggest stroke of stylistic genius on the show.

atmosphere and setting

this is probably like. the least important one here for me sdjncdsc because i think s2 and s3 both had like Even Better atmospheres and shit but s1 was good too and it laid the groundwork!! i know a lot of people would have preferred st be set somewhere more Spooky with lots of fog or giant forests or whatnot, and while i do enjoy thinking about alternate st settings and how they might alter the vibe, i think hawkins indiana was a good choice. as the duffers have said, placing stranger things in a fictional town allows them more flexibility than if they’d gone with their original plan of using montauk, new york. besides that, i think the plainness and like... flatness... of small-town indiana just Works. like, the fact that hawkins is never really scary on the surface is a big part of the horror in the lab’s actions and their impact. hawkins isn’t somewhere that people just disappear all the time. it isn’t somewhere known for strange occurrences (prior to s1, that is). it isn’t somewhere shrouded in mist and secrecy. hawkins on its surface seems like the sort of place with no secrets and nothing to fear, and that’s the point! the lab is out in the open! it’s right there! everything is so close to the surface, yet so far out of the public eye, and i think that really works.

the byers family’s whole deal (specifically the joyce/jonathan dynamic)

this is going here bc i miss it so bad in s2 and s3. i’m not one of those people who believe The Byers Are The Whole Point of the show, because st is and always has been an ensemble, and el, hopper, and the wheelers are just as instrumental to the plot as the byers, but ANYWAY, i do think the byers were one of the most interesting aspects of s1. joyce’s difficulties with supporting her sons as a poor and (implied mentally ill) single mother, jonathan’s stress as a result of having to earn money, care for his brother, and keep the house in order when his mother is unable to do so, and the resulting tension between them when will’s disappearance and supposed “death” brings the situation to a tipping point? holy shit! it’s so good! that argument after they see will’s “body” is just incredible and gut-wrenching. their relationship feels so real and messy and i think it’s just... good. also winona ryder REALLY acted her heart out and she carried a lot of s1 which i think people often forget to mention so i’m saying it here.

weaknesses

pacing/timing

ok so pacing is probably going to go in each season’s weaknesses, to be honest, because i think they all had a blend of some good and some bad pacing. good pacing is invisible pacing, though, so i probably won’t be putting it in any of the strengths sections and will only be focusing on it in the weaknesses. i’m also probably not going to talk about weird day/night cycle things, just because i don’t want to get nitpicky on timelines because that would require going back and rewatching things to double check timing which i don’t wanna do at the moment lmao. anyway, when i think of bad pacing in season one, i primarily think of two things: nancy’s little trip into the upside down and subsequent sleepover with jonathan, and the sort of staggered nature of the climax in the final episode. the latter is simple so i’ll explain it first: while i understand that each group’s respective climax is like part of a chain reaction and that’s why each big moment happens separately and at different times, i think that st is strongest when the whole group is together, and i think that makes the stakes feel higher too, so i’m not In Love with the way s1 separated everyone and gave each group their own climax.

okay, now on to the nancy/upside down thing! idk if i’ve ever talked about it before, but i think the worst decision made in s1 by far is the inclusion of nancy’s brief trip into the upside down, wherein she dives headfirst into another dimension with absolutely no backup, watches the demogorgon chow down, freaks out and runs around for a minute, and then leaves. like... what the fuck? even putting aside what an idiotic decision this was (because i do think nancy’s tendency to rush into things headfirst is an intentional and consistent character trait), it just kind of destroys any remaining suspense surrounding the demogorgon and the upside down, and it accomplishes basically nothing besides scaring nancy enough to have jonathan sleep over, which is lame. i will break it down.

like, first of all, nancy just getting to waltz in and out of the upside down and get a good, long look at the demogorgon makes the entire thing far less mysterious, and by extension far less scary. like... before this scene, we the audience haven’t got a good look at the demogorgon. we’ve seen its silhouette briefly and we’ve seen a blurry picture of it, but nothing more, and i think that is far more effective at building fear than this jaunt nancy goes on which gives us a full view of the thing and makes it into less of a horrifying nightmare and into more of a humanoid animal. like, maybe this is just me, but i found the demogorgon far less intimidating after that scene than before. it also lets nancy and jonathan know For Sure that they’re right without providing any crucial information that they need to fight the demogorgon (aka it’s unnecessary to the plot), which removes a very compelling story element (the faith nancy and jonathan need to have in order to keep going against a vague and poorly understood enemy, the doubt they might have about each other and their own sanity, the possibility that they might be wrong, the trust they need to have in each other) a bit earlier in the plot than i believe is ideal. at the end of episode 5, nancy goes into the upside down and jonathan doesn’t know where she is and it’s intense!!! you’re thinking like, oh fuck, not only is nancy missing and fighting for her life now too, jonathan might be implicated in her disappearance!! some people already think he’s the one who killed will and people know that he took creepy pictures of barb and nancy before they both disappeared, maybe this is gonna cause some serious problems for him!! maybe nancy will find will in the upside down and she’ll help him survive!! fuck, maybe she’ll actually die!! this is huge!! and then episode 6 starts and they’re immediately like oh nevermind jonathan found the tree and got nancy out and she’s fine. my point with all of this is that nancy entering the upside down could have done A Lot in the grand scheme of the plot, but all it did was just... get jonathan to sleep over so he and nancy could have some awkward romance moments and steve could see them together and pick a fight. which could have honestly happened at Any point while nancy and jonathan were working together to hunt down the demogorgon, without ruining the demogorgon’s and the upside down’s mystique. so yeah <3

weird behavior and dumbass decisions that make no sense (aka the whole camera thing)

gonna go off about the teen plot again sorry but: why was nancy so unbothered and quick to forgive jonathan for taking those pictures? girl what the fuck are you doing? why wasn’t that a bigger deal? why was jonathan’s motivation for doing it so weak and why did they just kind of forget about the whole thing? why did nancy TRACK HIM DOWN AT THE FUNERAL HOME while he was PICKING OUT HIS BABY BROTHER’S CASKET to be like hey can you tell me what’s in this creepshot you took? it’s insane. it’s so insane. i mean i think the funeral home thing is hilarious and i don’t mind it being in the show necessarily but like my point here is that i think a lot of character decisions in s1 just kind of.. happened because they Needed to happen for the plot. like, they wrote this plot that required jonathan to be secretly taking pictures of the party and required him and nancy to work together after seeing something odd in the pictures, but they didn’t like... really consider what that event would mean for their characterization and relationship. the whole thing was sort of just dropped with minimal discussion and i think it did both nancy and jonathan’s characters a disservice and was really mishandled.

lighting and saturation/color grading

i am literally begging horror/sci-fi shows to let me see shit. i GET IT okay i understand that when you’re doing cgi effects it helps to keep the lights down and i’m not mad at any of the lighting in the demogorgon/upside down scenes!! i’m really not i think the demogorgon scenes in s1 all look sick!! but like... dude. the colors. where are they. why does everyone look like a vampire. i know blah blah this was probably an intentional stylistic choice intended to mimic film at the time blah blah but dude a lot of old movies are very colorful!! please just let people have color in their faces so everyone doesn’t look like a sheet of paper!!! also i’m white and not a professional lighting designer so yknow grain of salt but i think lucas was kinda poorly served by the lighting sometimes in s1. not Hugely so, not to the degree that i’ve seen poc be poorly served by lighting in other shows, but there were some times where it felt kinda like the lighting setup was just not designed with darker skin in mind.

horror

i just personally don’t find s1 very scary like... ever. i don’t think they were really Trying to be extremely scary yknow so i’m not counting this as a big deal, but i do think that each season has improved on the horror aspects. i think s1′s horror lies more in the mystery and the unknown than in what’s seen onscreen, and as i’ve said already, i think s1 kind of fumbled that suspense ball.

season 2

strengths

the possession plot

i’ll warn u rn this whole s2 strengths section is probably gonna be really short bc idk like. how much there is to really say i feel like it’s all so self-explanatory skjncmn. anyway yeah the possession plot!! eerie as fuck, and noah OWNED. so did winona tbh and finn and sean etc but like. noah. wow! i think the possession plot helped the show maintain a good amount of tension and suspense throughout the season, and a lot of scenes with possessed!will are flatout disturbing to watch. in a good way. i think the mindflayer and will’s possession were far more genuinely frightening than s1′s demogorgon, and it provided a new layer of depth and intrigue to the antagonist besides just “bad monster want eat people.”

tone and aesthetics

halloween season... literally halloween season. halloween season. that is all.

actually i will elaborate a bit and just say that i think s2 did a good job of having the sort of foreboding vibe that s1 was often going for, but without the annoying darkness and desaturation. so points for that.

also st2 is like one of the best Autumn pieces of media ever like it just. like steve and dustin on those train tracks with the fallen leaves all around them.... god. god the vibes are unparalleled. all of the halloween stuff also really contributes to the nostalgia st runs on yknow it makes you think about childhood and trick-or-treating and you kind of get transported like damn... i remember going to the rich neighborhoods to score the good candy..... idk i just think the whole thing is incredibly effective.

“babysitter” steve

by sending nancy and jonathan off together, the show created a problem: what to do with steve? this problem pushed them to create the unconventional and unexpected duo of steve and dustin, and the world is so much brighter for it. seriously though we all know steve and dustin are great i don’t need to argue that point. all i’ll add is that i think allowing steve to grow in this way, serving as a mentor figure and becoming genuine friends with someone so unexpected, really took the originality of his character to the next level. no longer content just to defy his archetype, in s2 steve begins branching out in ways that never would have been considered in s1, creating an incredibly complex and interesting person from the sort of character that most shows would have simply written out or killed off for convenience’s sake. and it works and steve and dustin are such a joy to watch and i love them. <3

the lucas/max plot

so first of all max mayfield is the most perfect baby girl on god’s green earth and idk what i would do without her but anyway. i think lumax is the best romantic relationship in the show and not just because they’re the only ones with like an age-appropriate approach to the whole thing. it’s also because their relationship accomplishes more than just putting the two of them in a relationship!! lucas and max spending time together motivates billy to do his evil shit, providing more conflict in the narrative, and it also helps establish max as part of the group in a relatively natural way while giving both her and lucas a great subplot. lucas (and dustin) has a crush on the new girl, they start spending some time together, and lucas ends up needing to decide whether he’ll keep the secret of the upside down and lose her, or risk both of their lives by telling her the truth. that’s a pretty big, character-defining decision that he gets to make!! max has to choose whether to trust this boy she barely knows and endanger herself, or to walk away and stay safe, yet another great character-defining choice that also contributes to the sense we get as an audience of max as somebody who’s incredibly lonely and desperate for love and connection. this post is way too long already and i have a ton more to say so i’ll stop now but yeah i think lumax really Works in the show without ever distracting or detracting from the overall plot and narrative in the way that some other ships (coughjancycough) often do.

balance between the normal and abnormal

s2 i think did a pretty solid job of melding daily life with more fantastical sci-fi horror elements. i enjoyed seeing so much of the kids at school in the first few episodes!! you really get a strong sense of where they’re at in life, what their daily lives are like, and you get a sort of gradual shift into madness that makes everything feel more grounded than i think it would if they had just leapt straight into the horror shit, yknow?

the el and hopper dynamic

go back and rewatch s2 and tell me that’s not one of the most moving portrayals of parenthood and trauma and growing up that you’ve ever seen. you can’t. or well you can but i won’t listen. i really can’t imagine stranger things without el and hopper’s relationship, and it’s my absolute favorite part of s2. their whole dynamic is so beautiful and complex, and gives them each amazing personal arcs in addition! the black hole scene is literally one of the show’s greatest moments of all time. any given scene between the two of them in s2 is just guaranteed to be heartwarming as well as heartbreaking, and i think that makes for an incredible show.

weaknesses

flashbacks

okay this applies to Every season they All have too many flashbacks but in s2 specifically... please stop showing me shit from season one. i watched it. i know what happened. you don’t need to spoon feed everything to me!! flashbacks can be a really helpful way of delivering information to an audience, but st has a bad habit of not only being kinda demeaning in how often they flash back to shit that the audience already knows, but they also have a bad habit of using flashbacks almost as a crutch to avoid having to deliver information subtly and naturally.

you know i gotta say it... the lost sister

this is so sad. the lost sister really is like a great concept for an st episode, and i’m not mad about the idea of st taking a break from the normal action to focus on one story for a full episode, but the execution of it was just dreadful. kali and her crew feel very over-the-top and stereotypical, and its placement in the season totally kills the tension and excitement that was built in “the spy.”

i think the lost sister honestly could have gone over far better, even with the stereotypical fake-feeling gang kali has, if they had just swapped it with “the spy” like... ok, the end of episode five has el setting off to find kali and will collapsing on the ground seizing. right? imagine if, instead of immediately following will to the lab, we’d followed el. we don’t know what’s happening with will, but it’s a very simple cliffhanger that leaves us on edge without making us feel cheated by the show cutting away. we follow el on her little journey, everything happens much the same as canon, and then at the end, el sees hopper in scrubs. she sees mike, screaming, sees that they’re both in danger. holy shit!!! what the fuck!!! what’s happened since we left will seizing on the ground??? we feel el’s fear and confusion. she decides to go home. and then... boom. “the lost sister” is over. now, we rewind, right back to will seizing on the ground, and “the spy” commences. we learn how they got into the danger that el saw in the end of “the lost sister,” and we sit on the edge of our seats all through “the spy” and “the mind flayer,” KNOWING that el is on her way back to save them but not knowing when she’ll arrive!! idk i don’t think that would have necessarily saved lost sister but i think it may have alleviated some of the issues that i and many others have with it, timing-wise.

the nancy/jonathan sidequest

once again, the idea of nancy going off on her own little mission to find justice for barb after s1 is like. amazing. genuinely i love that plot for her and i can’t imagine anything better for her to have focused on in s2. unfortunately though i think her and jonathan’s little trip to see murray was just kind of... lame. the whole thing just felt like an excuse to get the two of them alone together, yknow? which is fine i guess people contrive all sorts of situations to get characters alone together for romance reasons but in this case i think it just really doesn’t work for me because of what it’s juxtaposed with. like, will is POSSESSED, and jonathan is just off on a mini road trip and sleeping with his bestie, and jonathan never seems to communicate to joyce/will that he left town, and joyce never like... thinks to tell him that will is like sick and fucked up and they’re looking at him in the lab??? like it’s so weird i know joyce always forgets about jonathan when shit’s happening with will but jfc you’d think at some point in that like... 72-ish-hour period where jonathan was out of town she would have thought about him. like at least once. maybe i’m forgetting something and she mentioned him sometime and i missed it but even still, i hate the juxtaposition of nancy and jonathan just like cheers-ing at murray’s place and sleeping together and whatnot while everyone else is dealing with possession or trying to hunt down dart yknow? it feels really boring in comparison and i think it could have been done far better. like it was SO insanely easy for them to get into the lab and get an admission of guilt and escape with it!! i think it might have been a lot more engaging if maybe someone from the lab tailed them to murray’s place and they had to like lose the tail and race to get the recording out to as many news outlets as possible before they got caught, or something like that. the tension in their plotline is completely resolved in episode four!! episodes five and six are just them screwing around and addressing envelopes. while there were a lot of strong ideas in this plotline (i really enjoy nancy going out of her way to get justice, and the fact that they have to water down the story to make it believable), i just think the focus on nancy and jonathan getting together hindered it a lot without adding a ton to the plot or their individual characters.

season 3

strengths

starcourt mall as a setting

while i don’t think the mall was utilized quite to its full potential (something i could make a separate post about if anyone’s interested), i do think that starcourt was a genius addition to the series. i’ve said this before, but building a new mall is a literal Perfect in-universe justification for a significant leap forward in fashion and aesthetics, and it provides a great location for characters to just... be characters. idk how else to articulate this i just think that the mall is a great setting to let people interact with each other and to bring people together who may not have been otherwise (i.e. scoops troop). not to mention how sick it was to see the mall get wrecked toward the end kdjncdkm like they were able to do so much more with the mall in terms of like The Finale than they could with just the byers house or the cabin or the school or even the lab. i love all the back tunnels they run through it’s such a fun like acknowledgement of how this glitzy eighties mall is just a real place where employees get shipments and take out the trash and shit idk it’s all about the perfect facade and what’s hidden what’s underneath what’s hiding in plain sight etc etc i’m just saying words now. anyway.

willingness to experiment and go against expectations

gay robin. neon aesthetics. giant fucking meat monster. i know some people hate both the neon and the meat monster but i personally think they were kind of amazing and like. yknow regardless of personal tastes i think it’s impossible to deny that s3 had a lot of incredible visuals, and they’re all visuals that just wouldn’t have been possible if the show were too afraid to stray from its s1 aesthetic. robin being canonically gay (and her resulting friendship with steve) and the season’s striking visuals are two things that most everyone (besides like homophobes skjncdknm) can agree were great, right? and they were both departures from where the show began and what we all expected!! so yeah i think while some of the experimentation in s3 wasn’t ideal it was also that experimentation that allowed for some of the season’s strongest elements to come about.

the hospital sequence (and the season’s action/horror scenes in general)

this one is fairly self-explanatory. while they may have underutilized the “body snatching” element of the season, the hospital sequence with nancy and jonathan fighting off their possessed bosses did an amazing job of building tension and creating a genuine sense of really intense and personal danger.

in general i think that s3 melded action and horror rather well, particularly in the sauna test, the hospital, and when the mindflayer busts through the roof of hop’s cabin. horror can come from many things, and in this case, st elicited horror largely from the feeling of helplessness, and it was really effective for me personally. i think it worked better for me than s1′s brand of horror because it doesn’t rely so much on a lack of knowledge or a sense of suspense that inevitable disappears upon a second viewing.

the body horror we got in s3 was also really fun! that’s it i just think all the blood and guts and slime were fun and i would like more of them. once again, the impacts of body horror are less dependent upon the viewer being in the dark or unsure as to what’s happening, and as such i think it tends to be a little more effective at eliciting reaction in the long term.

timing and mechanics of the battle of starcourt/finale

i think the battle of starcourt is just fucking awesome, and beyond that personal opinion, i think it’s the most high-stakes and intense finale of all three seasons, and this is for two main reasons! 1. el is out of commission, and 2. (almost) everyone is in the same cental location. this means that (almost) everyone is in danger all at once, and they are all working together at the same time to fight the same threat. s1/s2 have their groups more fragmented for the finales, and while i understand why in each case and i wouldn’t call either season’s finale necessarily weak, i do think the centralized nature of the s3 finale just Works on another level. in s1 and s2, large segments of the cast are already perfectly safe by the time el dispatches the primary threat. in s3, however, everybody save for dustin and erica is still in danger up until the last moment, and el is seemingly (you can def debate how much power she still had in her when she peeked into billy’s mind and whether the memory broke the mindflayer’s hold on him or if she was actually controlling him to some degree) completely vulnerable. this increases the tension and raises the stakes, making the finale a real crescendo to fortissimo as opposed to a series of little mezzo forte moments. i hope everyone reading this knows music idk how else to phrase that my brain is stupid.

emphasis on friendship and adolescence (but in a different way than s1/2)

this is definitely a controversial one but i think that s3 really did like... show a side of friendship that had been more or less unexplored thus far in the show. el and max were amazing, and i think it’s really nice that we got an opportunity to see the kids have some growing pains as well as see them support each other through Normal Adolescent Stuff like boyfriends and breakups instead of just like. death and trauma. this is maybe just a personal preference, but i think it can be really enlightening and provide a lot of depth when you get to see how characters respond to normal everyday conflict and not just how they respond to giant world-ending conflict!! letting el use her powers for goofy teenage shit like spying on boys and messing with mean girls at the mall is not only fun for her and the audience, but it also really emphasizes just how much those powers are a part of el, making it that much more devastating when she loses them at the end of the season.

weaknesses

tonal dissonance

so this is like. obvious. but it must still be said! i won’t go on and on about it since we all know this so i’ll try to like talk about it from an angle people don’t usually? anyway. it seems to me like they were maybe a little worried about s3 being too dark. while the choice to really lean into humor was definitely driven by the sorts of eighties teen films from which s3 drew inspiration (like fast times at ridgemont high), i think it was also done in an attempt to alleviate the more troubling implications of some events in the season, particularly the russian bunker plot. like, yeah, st can be incredibly dark, but if they’d played the whole “children being stuck inside of a foreign military base, tied up, tortured, and drugged” thing completely straight without the humorous elements that exist in canon, it had the potential to be like... disturbing on a new level. steve and robin don’t have powers like el yknow their kidnapping/torture doesn’t have any sci-fi elements to sorta soften the blow. they’re just innocent teenagers being brutalized and traumatized by grown men. so anyway yeah i think maybe the writers were concerned about this storyline coming off as too dark and they wanted it to be a little more whimsical but they ended up pushing way too hard in that direction and creating extreme dissonance at times. this goes for joyce/hopper/murray/alexei too, but to a lesser extent. i think the ridiculousness in that group felt a lot more like... realistic. but still.

newspaper plot

once again i feel like i don’t even need to say this skjdncmn we all know it was insane how the show basically ended up delivering the message “while misogyny is a serious problem poverty and classism are not” and i’ve said it on this blog a million times so i don’t need to repeat myself. i’ll focus on another weak point of this plot: the fact that it completely separates nancy and jonathan from everyone else. once again, the show’s preoccupation with j/ancy held them back! like... can you imagine a version of s3 where nancy and jonathan both worked in the mall? i have a lot of ideas about this possible au and like how the plot could play out differently if they worked in the mall but first of all it’s just more realistic, second of all it further utilizes the mall as a central setting, and third of all, it would bring everyone together. as it is in canon, nancy and jonathan were unnecessarily isolated from the rest of the group, and this isolation was detrimental to both of their characters. like, they only ever get to interact with each other! if they’d gotten summer jobs in the mall, they could have had more interactions with the kids/steve/robin, and they absolutely still could have had a similar argument! maybe in this case, nancy notices the rat thing (or something else odd) herself when taking out the trash behind the mall, and she wants jonathan to ditch work with her to check it out bc she thinks it may be related to the lab. jonathan doesn’t want to ditch work because he needs his job, nancy argues that they’re working shitty mall jobs anyway and who cares if they get fired, and we get more or less the same thing as s3 without the cartoonishly over-the-top misogyny. i mean honestly i think the rat shit could have been cut entirely it didn’t rly... accomplish much of anything. in my opinion. like imagine s3 without the rat plot you literally would not be missing anything except it would be more surprising when the dudes melted into goo at the hospital. so yeah i think it would have been better if nancy and jonathan had jobs at the mall, weren’t isolated from everybody else, and were maybe absorbed into the party’s plot or the scoops troop’s plot from very early on, allowing them to interact with more characters and have a less... dumb.... plot. like god splitting up nancy and jonathan between the party/scoops troop would have been So Much better i just. sdkjcnksdmn anyway yeah.

briefness of group reunion/separation of groups

remember in s2 at the beginning of “the gate,” where mike and hopper had a confrontation and max and el met for the first time and el hugged everyone and steve and nancy had their sad little moment together outside... where’s that energy? obviously the s2 reunion wasn’t that long either, but it made space for some significant emotional moments to take place. s3′s reunion had some hopper/el/mike resolution, but besides that... there was nothing, really. i just think that the whole group getting together in s3 was SO exciting and powerful the way they did it (with both the scoops troop and the adults having their own Big Moment reconnecting with team griswold family), but the emotional potential was more or less squandered.

i also think in s3 at times they were really stretching to keep everybody separated even though it made no sense. and like... in s1 the separation worked bc nobody else knew that (x group) was experiencing weird shit too, and beyond that, each group (as i mentioned in the s1 section) was sort of operating within their own genre and bringing something unique to the season. they’ve stopped doing that though! now, the groups aren’t separate bc each plot is tonally/structurally different, the groups are just separate bc... they need to be, because it’s a big ensemble cast and you can’t just have them all be together for a whole season or it would be way too difficult to coordinate things and keep the show dynamic. all this is to say that i’m excited for s4 because the location differences make it so there’s a Reason for each plot to be separate at the beginning, and i think that’ll work better.

general ridiculousness

i dont mean like i think it’s bad that they made jokes this is just me lumping in all the dumb shit like hopper not worrying about el and not wanting to check on the kids, him and joyce bickering long after they both know they and their children are in danger, max seemingly forgetting that billy is a racist abuser, etc etc. i think many of these are just a symptom of the show 1. trying desperately to keep the groups split up a certain way even though it may not make any sense, and 2. trying to fit into a certain genre/trope mold when their actual characters are more complex than the tropes they’re imitating. this is so fucking long already i am not gonna elaborate further rn but i trust u all know what i mean.

soooo... yeah, that’s about all! i mean it’s not all there are definitely many more things i could talk about and i know i focused sorta disproportionately on the teens which is my bad :/ but i’m done for now. thank you for asking, and apologies for the delay in responding!! i’m sure some people reading (if anyone read this far) will disagree with some of what i’ve said and that’s alright like i’m not The Authority on st or anything i’m just trying to talk about like my own thoughts yknow? so yeah luv u all i hope someone enjoyed reading this!!

#asks #em talks #lesbianrobin.canon #stranger things #if u actually read all this i love u and im sorry #these r just my opinions!! and im sure i misremembered some shit my brain is swiss cheese #i did my best tho

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halzore · 3 years

Note

Cody + 16??

Snippets of Time

Characters: Cody x Reader

Note: Thankyou nonny for this request, I was having a little bit of trouble of how to encapsulate the kinda vibe i wanted to go for, not sure if it landed. But i decided to do a few snippets of a little friendship with our lovely commander and a reader throughout the Clone Wars. Let me know what you think! I love when people do that! Also, fair warning, kinda gets a bit sad, but thats chill.

Prompt 16: “That you will be by my side to see me through” ~ You and I, Jacob Collier

A little bit about this song: This is some classic Jacob Collier arranging, very spooky, also uplifting and got them good jazz chords. Listen to it here

Tags: @a-lil-perspective @thegoodbatch @leias-left-hair-bun

Introductions

Cody had met Obi-wan proceeding the battle of Geonosis, easily getting along, Obi-wan’s cool quick wit complimenting Cody’s serious but loyal nature. Obi-wan and Cody got along well, but the Marshall Commander had a softer spot for his own Jedi Commander.

He remembered the time that Obi-wan had brought you with him for the first time, a strong senior Padawan, who had already lost one master, but still seemed jovial and effervescent. He watched with skepticism as you gazed at the vastness of the the hangar bay of the Negotiator, looking around as if you had never been outside the temple. Obi-wan was quick and cool, but you seemed different, somewhat of a mystery to the Clone.

In the beginning, Cody stayed out of your way. After all what would a Jedi want with the likes of him. Plus he had a quarter of an army to run, but your paths crossed every now and then, each time more of the mystery of your character unfogging.

The light of the holo-table cast a blue hue over your stern features. Cody could see the stern lines deepen as the council outlined the battle strategy. Cody did not much like it, the plan was too risky, but he let it go. This was not his time to speak. Master Mundi finished speaking, opening the up the floor for questions. There was a slight pause as the heads, both real and holographic panned around the room. You took the slightest step forward.

“This plan, while it would achieve our goal is irresponsible” You voice was matter-of-fact, leaving no room for doubt.

“Is that so?” Master Windu turned to you, dissatisfaction clear. “And why would that be?”

“Too many lives lost, lives we have a duty to protect.” You put it simply

“But the civilians would be saf—“

“Clone lives” you clarified.

The silence spreading throughout the briefing room was deafening. Obi-Wan took a deep breath and pinched his nose, the council members looked at each other in irritation, their nonchalance being called out. Cody smiled inwardly. A Jedi commander who would go to bat for his boys. Maybe you were something he could get behind.

Medical Mischief

He was beaten, he was bruised. Yet he limped with resolve to the one place he could hurt in comfort: His quarters. One foot in front of the other, the commander’s attempt to look uninjured was laughable. He heard giggling from behind him and the Marshall Commander turned back to see you, hand over mouth, trying to cover you snickering. Cody groaned.

“What’re you laughing at?”

You tried to regain your composure. “You.”

“No shit.” Cody was not impressed, bothered at the interuption to his escape plans.

“You see the boys had mentioned something,” You began to stroll over casually, mischief in your eye. “You know, I didn’t believe them when they told me, I always thought you were such a good example for your men.” You had Cody’s undivided attention now, “They said you hated the medbay, never go when you’re supposed to. And I thought to myself, ‘Hmmm not on my watch.’”

Cody hadn’t noticed that you had slipped an arm around his and had began to shepherd him in the direction of his favourite place on the ship.

“Hey, stop! Let go!” He tried to wriggle out of your grip, but you ploughed on, resolute in your gait, easily overcoming the poor limping man.

“No can do Commander, you have an image to uphold.”

Interlude

Time went on, the war continued to wage in the furthest corners of the galaxy and you and Cody found your rhythm. You became an inseparable team on and off the battlefield. Both leading from the front, you managed to get the 501st through some of the most risky of assaults.

You balanced each other out.

You learnt a lot from Cody over the years. How to punch a droid sucessfully, how to patch up a bruise after you had punched a droid. He showed you how to be a good leader and helped you grow in your confidence as a Commander. But you, in turn, showed him things.

He always made sure that you were okay after a campaign, and so you developed a little ritual. You taught Cody how to meditate. You would bring him into your quarters and practice your deep breathing together, centring yourself in the moment. It became a staple in both of your routines and it was the way you both aired out your grievances and let them go to the universe.

You grew close, everyone could see it.

You were like family to Cody, and maker help the galaxy if anything ever happened to you.

Knighting

He wasn’t allowed to go to the ceremony. It was for Jedi only. You had been so nervous leading up to your trials. He knew you could do it, and he was not surprised in the slightest when you came bounding into his quarters, barreling him over in a bear hug, screaming that you’d passed.

But he couldn’t go to the ceremony.

He sat staring at his boring grey walls, wondering what was going on. Was Obi-Wan there? What were you thinking about right now? What things happened in a Jedi Knighting ceremony? His contemplation on these questions was half-baked at best, his mind wandering to the future.

The war was at a critical point, the senate’s order for new clones was ready, Cody knew they needed more Jedi Generals, and none came with better credentials than you. You would be a credit to any battalion, they would be lucky troopers. But they were not Cody’s troopers.

He didn’t hear his door open.

“Cody?” Your face cast in shadow as you were outlined by the glow of the ship light. You voiced pulled Cody from his questionings.

“Hmm?” He looked up. “Ah, how did it go?”

“Good,” You walked into his room and sat down next to him on his bed. “I have something to say to you.”

“I know.”

“I’m gonna miss you.” The emotion cracking the edges of your voice. Cody wrapped an arm around you. “You’ll never be too far away.” Cody managed to give you a bit of a half-smile. You sat there together taking in each other’s presence for what you knew would be for the last time for a long time.

“I have something for you.” You broke the silence by reaching back around to grab at something. It was a small wooden box. You shoved it at the Marshall Commander and he opened it.

“Your padawan braid?” Cody looked at you, a mixture of confusion and awe.

“Something to remember me by, you’ll always have a little piece of me with you no matter how many light years apart we are.”

Cody smiled, and pulled you into a hug.

Aftermath.

You couldn’t remember the name of the planet you were on when you felt it. It was like all the energy in your body being forcibly pushed out of you. Your ears rang with the screams and it was almost as if the ground began to lilt under you feet.

Something was wrong, but you didn’t know what.

You hadn’t clued to the first signs, comms going unanswered, whispers around the native colonies. It was when you saw the Holonet report of the Jedi betraying the Republic when you knew you were in trouble.

At first it wasn’t so bad, you kept a low profile and no one really bothered you, you looked like any other traveller passing through. But then the troopers started to show up, but not in the armour you were used to. Similar enough to go unnoticed by most people, but strange enough to send your survival instincts into overdrive.

But it wasn’t safe.

Especially on the day you saw your picture, a smiling Jedi Knight, plastered on the wall of an unassuming business, labelling you as a traitor and offering a reward.

That’s when you began your new life, with a new appearance, a new name, never staying in one place for more than a few weeks. It was tiring, but it was what needed to be done.

….

You had been watching the holo waves weeks now. Imperial propaganda rife. Disgust had made its home in the back of your throat as you looked upon the force fed narratives on the web. But everyday you checked it religiously, looking for information about what happened at the end of the clone wars, why you were being hunted down.

Talk of a legendary clone wars commander coming to your planet to recruit piqued you interest.

It was dangerous, if it was the man you thought it would be, if the empire found out you were there. But you had to go.

You kept your distance from him. But you knew, without a doubt it was him, his scar, his gait. But the warmth was gone from his eyes. You tailed him, following him away from the carnival and back to his room before you confronted him.

“Cody.”

His shoulders stiffened. He slowly turned around to see who was in the door.

“CC-2224 now” His voice was proper, like when he gave an order. You brow furrowed in confusion, you didn’t quite know what has happening.

“Cody, what’s happening?” You were desperate and confused, in front of the one person who could help you make send of the mess. You moved to hug him around the middle as you dissolved into tears.

You didn’t register it in time.

The hard barrel of Cody’s pistol pressing into you side. You felt the heat of the blaster bolt and looked up at your Best friend, your brother, with pathetically wide eyes.

“I’m sorry Y/N, but good soldiers follow orders.” There was no remorse in his voice, almost the slightest hint of pleasure.

It was the last thing you heard, before your vision frayed, the pounding in your ears became too much and your world faded to black.

#commander cody #cody x reader #tcw #the clone wars #clone wars imagines #halzore writes #and also answers #Crazy wolrd #commander cody x reader #commander cody x you #this is my first time writing for codes #i love him to bits #but I d K if I nailed this one #My brain is a choppy mess #going at 150000 miles an hour

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beautifulterriblequeen · 4 years

Text

Impressions from TTM

Spoilers, spoilers everywhere. Just a big bulleted list of thoughts as I read through the graphic novel. Not a lot of detail included, so it’ll make a lot more sense if you’ve already read it yourself!

looks like Moonshadow elves cross the arms of the dead... when they have a body to bury

it’s nice to see that Rayla imagines Runaan with all his shirts, the way she last saw him

kinda looks like Rayla changed into her jammies right on her bed and dumped her clothes on that little table. maybe she’s afraid of letting the few things she actually possesses out of her sight

listen we get one little panel of Opeli in here and it’s great

Soren’s cape smacking Callum in the face, 10/10

Lujanne’s appearance out of nowhere, along with Allen’s is just adorable, she’s so sparkly. And also she can apparently just turn totally invisible with an illusion spell? Even at a new moon? Probably because of the Nexus I guess

Lujanne’s “Big strong man with big strong feelings.” She and Runaan have exactly the same type and I support them

Allen’s face when Lujanne says it aches to miss Phoe-Phoe

Callum eating off Rayla’s plate and wondering how Lujanne suspected they were a couple, hmmm

Soren and Allen bonding

Rayla warning Lujanne about hand disguises, as if that was something Runaan made very sure she knew

Rayla’s cute chaos grin when Callum’s Aspiro spell goes off is my favorite pic of her in this whole graphic novel

Lujanne’s “Oh.” afterward is my fave pic of her, too, she does not seem to handle reality well!

Bait’s tongue will never get old

Lujanne’s whole speech during Phoe-Phoe’s rebirth ritual is so touching and beautiful, my heart

Lujanne putting the newborn Moon Phoenix into Ezran’s hands, like she knows he’ll have the best connection with her

Callum’s tears as he reminds Rayla that Runaan killed Harrow, he’s trying to move on, but it hurts

Rayla’s self-soothing behavior when she has her second nightmare in the book--she must have these most every night :((((

the big symbol on the Moon Temple doors looks like a stylized Moon staff, like it’s a building for mages

Lujanne saying Rayla might not want or need the truth right after Callum mentions Runaan’s name to her, he sassily asks about her husbands and she turns it into a compliment

Callum’s big reaction to the moon opals is adorable. The only other one he’s seen was part of a pair of treasured gifts between long-time spouses, so it kinda looks like he’s all “uhh we just started dating”

also Ethari must’ve made cute metal swirly covers for the pair he and Runaan wore, since these two are undecorated--maybe he got his from Lujanne?

listen Lujanne is a hoot and all but she’s both an ally and an antagonist. Her actions are trustworthy but her advice is generally terrible. It’s an interesting parallel to how Runaan says a lot with his actions too, but he talks a lot less than Lujanne

Rayla yeeting herself into a fight just to ask Soren for a talk is 10/10 Moonshadow assassin goals

but her hood is up when she’s lurking in the trees--she might not have known where she’d find Soren and was anticipating something less fun on the feels-o-meter

Rayla in the mud again. Soren keeps making people fall in the mud

Allen’s grumpy squiggle

Callum, I love you, but you have no respect for moon opals. It’s like they wronged you in a previous life or something

that dancing elf has very long hair and shoulder pauldrons, and they start off dancing with six kneeling, watching, hooded elves around them--Moon Druids wore hoods even before they were assassins. Considering what Lujanne said about why the portal was sometimes opened, maybe those six kneeling elves are waiting under their emotion-hiding hoods to farewell a loved one who’s recently died?

can’t tell for sure but maybe the elf is dancing along the lines in the stone like they mark patterns for ritual dances, which would be the bomb

Soren and Rayla’s conversation is pretty wrenching. Seeing Soren have to struggle with what he did because it’s tangled up with Viren is rough because as a Crownguard it should just have been his duty to defend his king and he’d have nothing to feel weird about

Rayla dissociating herself from the term “assassins” and Soren dissociating from calling Viren “my father” in the same conversation is 10/10 excellent growth

Soren must know what happens to prisoners his dad gets a hold of, even if he doesn’t know the details :(((

“we captured him” and “Viren took him” seem to be talking about the Crownguard and Viren, not the brodigies and Viren

Rayla having a wooden sword at the end of the day bc she played swordfighting with Allen and Soren all day long

the panel where Rayla doesn’t say anything at all after telling Callum that she asked Soren about Runaan actually says so much, you can hear it

every time Lujanne’s white lies idea gets repeated, things get worse

Allen’s reading glasses, there must be one optician in the human village and he caters to soft kindly gentlemen of a certain age

in the moon phase montage, baby Phoe-Phoe is flying next to Ezran after one week at the Nexus. Maybe he’s paying her back by helping her learn to fly after she helped him teach Zym how to fly! Did they bond as tightly as Ezran did with Zym? I support Ezran just bonding with the most powerful flying creatures in all the land.

the irony of Callum using Lujanne’s tactics against her is amazing, but really the white lies thing is a giant ball of chaos in this story and it does not play favorites

Bait on the stone pillar during rebuilding

all the noises the Moonhenge makes are 10/10

Rayla dancing with Callum even though there’s almost no chance she’s ever done that dance before

Lujanne’s pupils going white, that is a cool effect, what’s it mean?

the black moon in the pink sky is so spooky! Is it just me or does the color scheme here kinda vibe like the space outside Aaravos’s library?

the smoky assassin squad, 10/10 creep factor, I love it

the lightning being a literal crack of doom with “CRAK-DOOM” as Katolis Castle appears, “echoes of thunder” indeed, very nice

Lujanne being mad but she can’t decide if it’s at Callum or herself

when she says pulling Rayla out now will leave her soul on one side and her body a husk. After the Insta live stream last night where we learned that soulfang serpents are Moon primal creatures, that’s... super interesting

smoky assassins go tssh in the rain like they’re still hot from being cremated, thanks I hate it

Andromeda finds Rayla first and seems closest/most aggressive so I wonder why she might hate Rayla more than the others

the assassins’ wrist bindings have gone red but they’re still attached and seem to trap the souls where they are. But all they need to be free is to perceive that Rayla completed their task, even though we know otherwise. So... would that work for killing any target? If you’re certain that you did it, does your binding fall off even if you’re wrong? eyes Pip

this must not be the actual afterlife since the spirits kind of mist up toward the moon and vanish, it’s more like a lobby, no one stays here unless they get stuck

portaling around just by shouting at villains, excellent

Rayla literally dropping a sword at the sight of the pod Viren’s in, yeah, it’s that creepy, I agree

Viren’s eyes are so black I think they’re Aaravos’s. I got a whole headcanon on Good Viren and Evil Viren for S4 now, wow

Phoe-Phoe pulling out a feather for Callum, awww my heart! This is why Ezran had to come, to bond with her so together they could save Callum and Rayla, it’s so sweet

so these humans are from the Storm Spire battle, bc that’s the Storm Spire behind Rayla and Callum on p108, with the rune-written arch. Did they die hating Rayla and Callum from the battle? Did they even know Rayla was up there? Or is pod Viren/Aaravos actually making them attack out of hatred for Viren’s death? One of these is definitely creepier and more awesome

Rayla’s confidence that Callum can and will boost her at the right moment with his magic, my heart, I love battle couples

that one panel that mirrors the Ghost Feather key art, hhhhhh

Rayla being the better swimmer, such precious irony, thanks Runaan

them holding hands and swimming upward together on the full-page panel is blessed

Lujanne pulling Rayla out of the lake with both arms gives me feels bc my grandma saved my life once

Lujanne being super soft over Rayllum, she is indeed a hopeless romantic

Rayla says “gone” about her parents and Runaan, and that’s the word Ethari used too, and I’m suddenly wondering if Ethari reached right into that pool and has always known that the lotus is half-submerged and if the sword he’s been making is for himself

I’m so glad Rayla told Callum what she saw of Viren

Rayla deceiving Callum and heading into danger alone because his life is more valuable to her than her own is exactly what Runaan did for her the night of the full moon in Katolis. I’m leaning toward her having thought this over and doing it on purpose bc she believes it’s a sign of deepest love--that Runaan’s actions and Lujanne’s words match up in her head, so she thinks it’s the right thing to do bc the mage and the assassin agree. Alas, Callum doesn’t understand the Moon arcanum yet, so he will have a different opinion. That mage and that assassin do not agree!

Rayla’s cloak has that Moon Temple symbol on its back. Is it Lujanne’s cloak? Any Moonshadow who sees it will probably know where she got it and who helped her. That could be fun!

#through the moon #through the moon spoilers #rayla #callum #rayllum #tdp allen #lujanne #ezran

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cbspams · 3 years

Text

ONEUS - Come back home (MV on YouTube)

Yooooooooooooo aight, ONEUS, I see you!!

So I had to watch the MV first because I didn't know this song prior to performance and I wanted to see if this was a different arrangement as they've done for the performances but it's not and that totally makes sense all things considered. An arrangement gives you an opportunity to change the story and the vibe but at its core, the live broadcast is meant to show the true colors of the group.

NGL I'm kind of shook they filmed the MV (or at least part of it) right after Round 3 (pt 2). But it's pretty cool! And just plain pretty.

So since the live broadcast was a bit like a comeback performance in ONEUS's case, all the thoughts listed below will also be commentary on the MV. No one get mad at me, these are just personal thoughts and perspectives.

First just on the song itself: that beat is literally so good. I'm definitely adding this song to my usual playlists because it's just so powerful. I already knew this from before but Hwanwoong's voice is so uniquely cadence and pitched, I could probably pick him out easily in any song because it sounds so different. Same with Leedo's deep voice and once again, screams over Leedo's sheer duality.

Dance wise this is also really fun and eye-catching. There's a couple stunts which, as always, are so incredible to watch and I'm always impressed by the kind of physicality idols have! You can tell they work so hard to perfect the formations and choreo. In particular I really liked the way they used chains and ribbons to signify bindings and holding back. It just looked cool as hell!!

The neck roll with the body lean is mmph, sexy as fuck. Just like. Yeah.

Anyways--

I have to say I know ONEUS isn't well know for their synchronized dance but they did pretty well! Maybe it's because I've been watching Verivery but I can pick out a lot of little differences now and it's sort of off putting when I see one member go too fast or too slow compared to everyone else. Still, ONEUS did a fantastic job of matching up to each other enough that I didn't mind the slight deviances.

ALSO that portion when Leedo and RAVN dance together and one of them is on the floor as a shadow!!! Really interesting! The coordination for that must have been really fun, since you have to think of yourself as a mirror image. As someone who struggles with that kind of spatial thinking, I give props to both ONEUS and their choreographer.

Once again I also love the way that groups are developing to use the stage more. The light flare, the galaxy, the burning wolf in the high (!!) note, all super cool and potentially additive to the story of the performance.

Unfortunately this story didn't make a lot of sense to me? Maybe I'm missing context but as far as I can tell, there's three key aesthetic/sections of the MV. One is the clean stage with the grand proscenium style theater. White shirts, black pants, red velvet curtains. Genuinely didn't understand what that was but like I'm here for aesthetics! Second was the military style gear in the midst of battle. This one made a bit more sense considering the story is ONEUS protecting a child. Is it just me or does anyone else really like the kind of scratch/injury makeup idols use?? The last section is the one the live performance used as well which is the more royalty based outfits, the capes and gold cords and such.

They mentioned in a snippet that their idea was to be vampires protecting a child from some kind of zombie (?) enemy and while that's a good concept and I fully support it, I don't think it was executed all that well? As far as story goes anyways. I see the child, I see the warfare, all that makes sense, but I don't really see how vampires fit in and I definitely did not see the reason why the theater bit was included (outside of usual kpop MV aesthetics).

In the RTK live performance, there wasn't a lot of allusions to vampires or anything either but I suppose there's a little more dedicated to the aesthetic as the stage was set up with a graveyard, barren trees and the moving graveyard on the screen. (Sidenote the screen was p cool and gave a really paranormal spooky aesthetic with the red/blue anaglyph. Very techno-horror). But then that bit with the light tossing and the starry explosion like?? I guess if I think about it I could connect it to a lull in the night, safety in darkness which would make sense since the members are vampires (creatures of the night) defending a child. But then what's the point of the fiery wolf during the high note?? Aren't y'all vampires not wolves??

(Another shoutout to Seoho for that high note!! Holy shit!!)

Going back for a moment, I mentioned I liked the ribbons which I do. Individually. As part of the performance, it doesn't really make sense because there hasn't been more indication of struggle so then having the ribbons doesn't exactly play into the story. As just purely performance, it's amazing. As part of story telling, it's just confusing.

I feel similarly about the synchronized dance portion. Are y'all a tree now?? What's with the sudden references to Christianity?

Okay but the dance break is pretty bomb. And that bit with Hwanwoong (I think) tackling someone down, that leads back into the story bit about being in battle and defending. Also just a really neat stunt!

ENDING. Okay so hi child first of all, you're so little. Second, them chasing off the backup dancers and raising their capes again reinforces defending, but then ??? Why they gone?? Why only the capes remain?? What happened?? What tf is the child looking at, an amulet? A necklace? ???????? Theory building wise, I could potentially connect it to them being controlled by the necklace and vanishing, only appearing when called on. Or they could have been illusions in some way? But I don't have a lot of story to go off of so I can't really guess. But just on the perspective of theatricality, it was a good way to go out with an attention grabbing moment.

Last note tho can I like, get more information on that kid?? What's going on there??? They mentioned it in the video at the beginning of the RTK performance kinda but I need more clarification please.

Score: 7.5/10

#admin talk #rtk commentary #rtk performance comments

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ofhoneyandrosepetals · 5 years

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Spooky Little Stories - Halloween special series (Tale III - Hvitserk)

Pairing: Modern!Hvitserk x OFC

Description: in this Halloween special series you’ll follow five tales, which one of them with a different Ragnarsson and a different pairing! A group of five friends travel to Kattegat in the last week of October to see if what people tell of that little town is true…

Every week a new chapter!

Warnings: swearings.

Word count: 3,246

A/N: due to Tumblr’s links problems, I’m not going to put here the link for my masterlist and my ask, but you all can keep up with the link for my masterlist in my bio!

The last thing I wanted to do was going to the camp, but Jule had a point: we couldn’t leave our friends behind, we couldn’t abandon them. We had to warn them, but the whole thing was this huge absurd - how could we make them believe us?

Me and Jule agreed that the first person we should focus our attention was Sam - because of Bjorn.

“Of course we have no evidence of what we think, and maybe we’re just nuts, but just in case…” Jule opened her backpack, taking a long and thick necklace from there.

“What does that mean? What is that?” I asked her.

“Silver,” I laughed. Jule gave me a sidelook.

“What? Do you- do you really think that this is a thing? For real?”

“Like I said: just in case.”

“And what do you expect to do with it? Melt the silver and make a bullet?”

“It wouldn’t be a bad idea - you see, in the It book…”

“I know, I know - I’ve read it too, Jule.”

“That was a long summer,” she said in an explaining tone, like if I would judge her by the fact that she read a long horror book that, I gotta say, wasn’t very much her style. “But I can’t make it, so maybe…” She was opening the necklace, handling it like if it was a chain.

“Jule, this is just a necklace - if you think that you can tie him…”

“Maybe if I use it to choke him…” She said, seeming to be completely inside her own head.

“Oh god,” I sighed. “I get that this necklace looks very strong, but I don’t think it can take Bjorn out.”

“Maybe just the good amount of time,” she looked at me, as if looking for support.

“I think we should just leave, Jule. Halloween is coming in five days, we can’t stay here.”

“I know,” Jule put the necklace around her neck and got up, kicking her backpack under the bed. “Let’s go for a walk,” she suggested with a smile on her face.

Arm by arm, I was walking through the trees with Jule, both of us quiet, thinking about all the strangeness of this trip.

I was thinking about Ubbe and his behavior, the way he talked with us about his brothers. I was thinking about the tale.

The tale, and Odin, and Fenrir, and the Ragnarssons.

Ubbe seemed so different than Bjorn… Bjorn was so confident that it was annoying, while Ubbe was chill. They had the same vibe, I thought, that savage, predator thing, but even like that, Ubbe still seemed chill.

If he was a werewolf, I wasn’t sure he would be defined as the bad one.

Maybe, if Ubbe is indeed a werewolf, he’s the good one. He seemed nice, controlled - and, when that word came to my mind, I remembered how his hands were shaking of anger, how his skin was red and then, all of a sudden, he was calm, simply by June’s touch.

It’s in his nature to be angry, a little voice said in the back of my head. But he controlled it, beautifully, I said back to the little voice.

“What are you thinking about?” Jule asked.

“Ubbe.”

“Me too. He looks like a good guy, doesn’t he?” I nodded. “Maybe he is. Maybe he can help us,” I stopped.

“No, Jule. We can’t put this man against his own blood.”

“Why not? He doesn’t seem to like his brothers, anyway - they don’t seem to get along; in fact, the impression I had it was that they’re a mess!”

“Do not interfere with blood, Jule.”

“I think he’s a hunter,” she said, completely plain. I choked.

“Excuse me?”

“I think he’s a hunter. Yes!” She said when I shook my head in disbelief. “Look what he said! That his brothers won’t help, that they do whatever they want and that is all just a mess! And his younger brother! Do you remember? He said that he helps Ubbe with all that stuff, but Ubbe would pretty much rather know what and how he’s doing instead of only getting results… I think Ubbe is trying to take his brothers down but he can’t accomplish it because they’re out of control, and his younger brother, doing whatever he wants without Ubbe knowing, even though that it helps him, it’s not much a help.”

“Jule, you’re tripping,” I said as I turned over to go back to the cabins. “All of this madness is just… too much for you.”

“It’s too much for you too,” Jule said, following me. “We need to find his other brothers.”

“No, we don’t.”

In the distance I heard Kimmy’s voice, calling for us.

“Hey, are you back already? Where did you go?”

“We’re just back from downtown.”

“Oh, speaking of which,” Kimmy was breathing hard, like if she was running. “Bjorn said that there’s a party, like a fair or a festival, in downtown tonight. We’re going,” I didn’t said a thing and Jule kept quiet too. “You’re two going, right? Because this was supposed to be a fun trip and we’re supposed to be together, but you two sneaked out to downtown to do whatever you did and… and I just wanted to travel with you guys,” I could feel in the air how Kimmy was upset with that.

“I’m so sorry, Kimmy,” Jule started to say

“It’s too much for me being here, I’m sorry. I didn’t want to go deep in the woods where Bjorn took you guys, so I kinda grabbed Jule with me so I could take a breath for a moment.”

“But we’re all here - together. If you talked to us, we all could be together, and it would be so much better for you, wouldn’t it be? All of your friends with you?” I could see that Kimmy meant it.

“I… I just thought that Bjorn was more interesting than my traumas,” Kimmy laughed without joy.

“No man is more interesting than my friend,” she grabbed my hand. “It makes me sad that you didn’t reach out to us because of that, but I’m here now. Do you want to go to the party?” When she saw doubt in my face, she added. “It will be in downtown,” she said, emphasizing that it won’t be in the woods.

“I don’t wanna be alone,” I confessed.

“You won’t be!” Jule grabbed my other hand. “And I bet that Halston won’t leave you.”

“But what about Sam?” Jule understood 100% what I meant, and she looked at Kimmy.

“I have no idea what’s going on with her. I get that sometimes women are all over men, but this… this is different. She looks like a servant, like a puppy. I don’t like that,” Kimmy said and I exchanged looks with Jule.

I had no knowledge on werewolves, but that looked pretty much like the result of that gone scar that was on Sam’s back.

“I’ll go the fair,” I said, sounding decided. Kimmy gave me a big smile and Jule gave an eye support. We need to find Ubbe, I read in her lips, and I nodded slightly.

I had to give that folk what to say, because I had no idea where they were hiding the whole day - the festival was crowded.

You could barely walk without bumping into someone’s shoulder - when you had space where to walk.

The music was loud and the smell of food being cooked in fire was taking place.

I wasn’t giving a shit about what Kimmy was going to think, and at that point I wasn’t feeling like hiding anything from her.

“We need to find Ubbe!” I said out loud, trying to be heard over the music. Jule nodded and started looking around.

“Who?” Kimmy shouted back.

“Ubbe! We met him earlier today, he’s Bjorn’s brother!” I answered. I knew Kimmy, and I thought that she would straighten herself, interested in a guy that she had never seen before, but I think that whatever was going on with Sam, it made her more serious about it.

“Do you think he can help?” I nodded positively to Kimmy’s question. Okay, I read her lips.

“We should walk around, see if we can spot him. Maybe he’s near the bar,” Jule suggested. I was in the middle, holding hands with Jule and Kimmy so we wouldn’t separate.

From afar, a guy was staring at us. I looked at him and immediately got shivers all over my body. The spider tingle, I thought. He ignored me and his eyes went straight to Kimmy. I looked at her.

It was no surprise that she was looking back at him, amazed - not because she was Kimmy, but because, nowadays, I was taking for serious my spider senses. Whoever that guy was, I’m sure he was one of Ubbe’s brothers. I squeezed Jule’s hand and pointed with my head to the new guy - she looked at him.

“He was the guy who Ubbe threw that towel at the bar,” Jule whispered in my ear or, well, screamed in my ear.

“How do you know that? I didn’t see that guy!” I answered.

“I have a good eye. I don’t have a good feeling about this, we need to keep Kimmy away from him,” I nodded.

“Kimmy, let’s go,” I said to her and pushed her. I could hear her saying what, starting to ask something.

“There!” Jule pointed forward, near the bar. At the tip of my toes I could see Ubbe’s head, his blonde hair glowing with the night light. He was over his bar’s door, drinking from what looked like a horn. Jule pushed me and I took Kimmy with me.

“Girls!” Ubbe complimented when we got close. “I didn’t expect to see you here. How ya doing? Who’s your friend?” He looked at Kimmy, genuinely curious.

“That’s Kimmy, she came with us,” Jule said.

“Pleasure to meet you, Kimmy. I’m Ubbe.”

“Hi,” she said, sounding dizzy. Ubbe frowned.

His frown meant something, and I looked at Jule. She was studying him, as he was studying Kimmy. It was obvious that he knew what was up with her.

“Was she with you all the time?” He asked.

“Yeah.”

“Good. Keep it that way. It’s not safe here,” Ubbe said and opened the door, signing for us to get in. Jule entered without a second guess. I guided Kimmy inside and Ubbe entered before me, looking outside before closing the door.

The lights were dim and the music was muffled. It was warm inside. Ubbe guided Kimmy to one of the toolbars and lift her face by the chin so she would look up at him, avaliating her eyes.

“You guys think I’m crazy?” Ubbe asked, looking over at me and Jule.

“You would think we’re crazier than you, then,” Jule said, and that said it all. Ubbe understood us and we understood him. A silent understanding. He nodded only once before he started to talk.

“I think your friend made eye contact with one of my brothers. I mean, it’s not that our eye contact is dangerous - only when we want to.”

“Are you saying she’s under some kind of spell?” I asked.

“I wouldn’t put it in those words, but…” He tilted his head. “In lack of words, yes. She’s enchanted. We need to keep her inside until this fades away - with all that people, maybe she’ll be lucky and it will come back to normal soon enough.”

“And what is it?” Jule asked. “The… this magic thing.”

“We’re predators,” Ubbe said and went inside the bar. “So we have powers,” he came back with a wet towel. He pressured it against Kimmy’s forehead. She seemed somewhat catatonic. “I still don’t know which of my brothers it was, but this was a way to keep her in his tracker - among all those people, he wants to find her. It’ll keep her close to him, like a magnet.”

“It was the one from today earlier,” Jule said. “He left through the back door. I recognized the hair.”

“Hvitserk,” Ubbe said his name and shook his head. “He was a good guy, good-intentioned. After our father’s death we broke apart and Hvitserk just… I think he just lost himself. He didn’t get along with my other brothers, but he did start acting by himself. This town is just a mess. I’m sorry you got involved in all this shit.”

“I’ll take care from here,” Jule grabbed the towel from Ubbe’s hand, touching his skin. If I was Jule I wouldn’t trust Ubbe to make eye contact with him, but it was clear that he wasn’t a bad guy. He was one of the good werewolves. Maybe he was a hunter, indeed. Just like Jule said.

“I haven’t seen Sam after we met with Kimmy,” I pointed to Jule. “Or Halston,” I bit my lip, clearly worried with my oldest friend.

“Sam is the girl that Bjorn has?” Ubbe asked. I hated how he put it - has -, but he was right. If what Kimmy said was right, then Bjorn had Sam. I nodded.

“I don’t want to frighten you girls, but Bjorn’s dangerous. He’s the oldest, so he’s stronger than all of us. The first born is always the stronger.”

“And what does it say about the younger?” Jule asked.

“Usually that they’re the brains. They would combine their strength with their intelligence, but… my younger brother have some conditions. Maybe that’s why he’s so absent and doesn’t let me know what he’s doing. We would be so much stronger together,” Ubbe closed his eyes and clenched his jaw.

“Those errands that you run,” I started.

“They’re really errands, in part. We do have a lot of business to take care,” Ubbe recomposed himself. “Like I said, after my father’s death, my brothers just went in an euphoria state. They lost control. They fight for territory and Kattegat has never seen so much death before. It’s a sad, terrible thing. I try to stop them, but I can’t. It’s way too much for me, alone. I’m not strong enough,” Ubbe was staring his hands, feeling probably incapable.

Then, someone screamed outside.

And that scream led to complete mess.

Outside, everyone was screaming and running, trying to get away from whatever that caused the panic.

“What’s going on?” I heard Kimmy asking, slowly.

“This is an ambush,” Ubbe said.

I was looking through the window, trying to spot Sam or Halston, until I recognized her. Halston’s hair was something that I could never miss, and there she was, hoping up on someone’s bike and leaving.

“What the fuck?! Is that Halston? Halston! Oh my god what the fuck what the fuck what the fuck?!” I panicked. My best friend, in the middle of that mess, in a town full of werewolves, taking off with a guy on a bike? This was bad news. “Does any of your brothers ride a bike?” I asked Ubbe in a urge.

“All of us,” he answered simply, looking for something.

“That’s great.”

“Are you sure it was Halston?” Jule asked. I nodded.

“One hundred percent.”

“Halston?” Kimmy asked. “Halston… Bjorn got her a date tonight.”

Slowly, processing her words, I turned around. Ubbe stopped looking for whatever he was looking.

“Can you elaborate more of that, please?” I asked carefully.

“Bjorn… We were talking about music, and everyone knows the huge crush that Halston has on musicians… Bjorn has a brother that plays the guitar…”

“That’s great!” Ubbe slammed the bar.

“That son of a b-”

But, before I could even finish my sentence, something stormed inside the bar. Broken glass took place in the air and I covered my face, trying to get under one of the tables.

“Jule?” I called for her over all that messy sound. People outside were still running and screaming.

“Ubbe!” Called a hoarse voice, decided. “You have something of mine,” that voice made me reach my alarming state. It scared the shit out of me. It wasn’t a human voice - I mean, it was clear that belonged to a man, but not a man on complete human form. That voice belonged to a man who was somewhere into his wolf form.

Under the table I had no view of what was happening, and I hate to admit that I was too scared to take a peak, so I just stayed there.

“Is that just you or are you all involved?” Ubbe asked.

“Why do you care, brother? You’re too weak. Without Ivar, you can’t do shit,” the man laughed. “Gods, not even with Ivar you can do shit. Ivar’s a broken man.”

“Hvitserk, cut that shit out.”

“It’s true! Look, brother, I don’t want to fight - all I want is my belonging.”

“The girl isn’t yours,” Ubbe said firmly.

“Oh, isn’t she? Watch me.”

I don’t know what happened because I wasn’t looking, but I heard the sound of something being cut and Kimmy scream. After her, Jule screamed too, and only then I left the place I was hiding, because I couldn’t bare hear my friends screaming - I had to do something.

Ubbe was fighting with Hvitserk, breaking glasses and beer bottles. I went to Kimmy - Jule was so afraid that she couldn’t move from the corner where she was.

“Don’t touch her!” I heard Ubbe screaming. I stopped, my hands raising in the air in front of me.

“Why?”

“Do not touch the blood!” It was all Ubbe gave me. I looked over them, and Hvitserk gave me a pointy smile that was so terrifying that I had no control over the tears that came out.

And it was there, with me standing halfway to Kimmy that a big and dark wolf stormed in, growling to Ubbe and Hvitserk. Both brothers looked over the animal, but only Hvitserk seemed a bit scared. The wolf attacked Hvitserk, throwing him away through the window, at the alley.

Once Ubbe was free he came to me and Kimmy.

“Don’t touch her, Ella. The blood that comes out from a werewolf wound has properties. Only the Gods know what can do to a human…”

“I know,” I answered, connecting the dots in a second. “When I saw you the first time I felt something, I knew… you were somewhat related to Bjorn. I felt the same with Hvitserk when I saw him out there…”

“When he enchanted Kimmy?”

“Yeah. I already knew he was one of you.”

“I need to take care of her and make sure she will be very distant from Hvitserk.”

“Who was that?” Jule asked, coming slowly closer to us.

“What do you mean?” Ubbe asked, clearly trying to dodge the subject.

“The werewolf, Ubbe. Who was that?”

“That’s not important, not now,” Ubbe shook his head. He lift Kimmy on his arms. “You two, please go upstairs. It’s safe there. I’ll prepare the room for Kimmy where we can take care of her and you can rest. Just, please… don’t make questions now. I’ll answer all of it tomorrow, but first we need to focus.”

We agreed to those terms and went upstairs, but I couldn’t stop thinking about Halston getting away with a werewolf, and if that would be the last image I had of her.

Taglist: @mblaqgi @akamaiden @dangerousvikings @oddsnendsfanfics @deepdarkred @irishhiggins @tinypuppysoul @kingbouji3 @i-war-s-boner @capitanostella @loothbrok @noaor @thehuntress26 @sassymcgonagal1651 @hoodirwin5 @attorneyl @collecting-stories @certainobservationwasteland @dreams-in-different-colours @3x5gurl @readsalot73 @action-adventure-and-cheesecake @titty-teetee @cutiedaij @austenkingmylady @ivarthesweetheart @golden-pickaxe @lokis-sunflower-anna @bill-istvan @cynthianokamaria @slut4hazeleyes @chinduda @hallowed-heathen @cherryblossombaby69 @paintballkid711 @bisexual-dane @fuckthatfeeling @youbloodymadgenius @huffelpuffers

#hvitserk's heathen feast #hvitserk #hvitserk fic #hvitserk fanfiction #hvitserk fanfic #hvitserk ragnarsson #hvitserk ragnarsson fic #hvitserk ragnarsson fanfic #modern hvitserk #hvitserk imagine #vikings fanfic #vikings fic #modern vikings #elle writes

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danetobelieve · 4 years

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Tooth Hurts || Skylar and Winston

Winston let out a shuddering breath as their hiking boots crunched through a trickle of loose gravel and dirt. Spray from the ocean behind them erupted into the air and left the air thick with tiny drops of water. Winston pulled their coat tighter around them and wiped a raindrop off of the lense of their glasses, inevitably making it worse in that moment. Their quarry was close, they had been playing Pokemon go for just under an hour now but this was part of White Crest that they had yet to come across before. The cave that their phone was apparently leading them towards was ringed by a mound of loose rocks and jagged spiky outcroppings. It was obvious that the sea had been eroding the cliff face away for some time now but Winston was too busy trying to get the ever so coveted Galarian Weezing that had been taunting them in their for hours. They knew it must be close and continued towards the entrance of the cave. That was when they spotted her light brown hair. She stood with her back to Winston and apparently hadn’t noticed them. But there was something familiar about her. They weren’t sure if they were going to be able to place her straight away.

Skylar frowned to herself as she poked around the cave, the cold ocean breeze cutting through her coat. But, it wasn’t anything she wasn’t already used too. Life in Maine wasn’t as different from Seattle as she had originally thought it was, just with more sunshine and more… odd things around town. She’d noticed some weird things while she was out and about, shadows that seemed to appear from nowhere, a creepy feeling like she was being watched, but Skylar had brushed it off as just first move jitters. But, while she’d been out on a walk around Hanging Rock, she could have sworn she’d seen something-- someone-- on the beach below. She’d wandered down here, trying to find whoever it had been, but no dice. Just a lot of loose rocks, ocean noise, and a spooky cave. It wasn’t as dark as she thought it would be, but the place definitely gave her weird vibes. Tucking her hair behind her ears, she tried to focus on the sounds around her. It almost sounded like the cave was… groaning? But that was probably just the wind.

For the moment, Winston completely forgot about Pokemon Go and almost instinctively slid their phone into the inside jacket of their pocket and pulled off their glasses to polish the sea spray off of them. Drying them with the edge of their shirt, they squinted through the dimly lit cave. Moving forward, they called out. “Hey, are you okay? Here for the good pokemon too?” they grinned and pulled their phone back out. Pleased to see that the pokemon that they had come chasing afterwards had finally appeared, they tossed a ultra ball -- refusing to take the chance that they might not catch it -- and watched it suck up the pokemon. Looking away, they glanced at the figure. “I honestly didn’t think there would be anyone else down here… usually I wouldn’t come down but this was too good to miss.”

The sound of someone talking wasn’t what got Skylar’s attention so much as the movement and light of the phone. Looking up, she was surprised to see… oh, that nice person with White Crest PD. Winston, that was it. With a smile, she held up a hand to wave at them before walking over to them, picking her way carefully through the rocks. “Oh, Pokemon Go?” She said, pointing at their phone’s display. “Nice! I didn’t think other people would be into that around here. But, um, no. I wasn’t here for the Pokemon.” Skylar said, her fingers wiggling restlessly at her sides. “You’re Winston, right? Sorry, names can get tricky for me sometimes.” She said as she faced them, her back to the rear of the cave and the darkness that filled it.

In the dim light, Winston recognised the other. They knew immediately why they had been familiar. After all it had been Winston who had called her for her help. She had put flyers about sign language lessons around town and when a little girl who was severely hard of hearing had lost her parents at a state fair and had been brought into White Crest Police Station, Winston had come up with the idea to bring her in. “Oh yeah …” Winston always wondered what went through people’s minds when they realised they still played pokemon go, “I love it,” they admitted nervously, suddenly conscious at how dark it was down here. Not to mention how sharp all the rocks were. And slippery. So slippery. Why did the water all look so dark? “I feel like it is just me, after it got stupid popular a few years ago then kind of dropped off I feel like no one else is into it.” They paused as they locked their phone and slid it away again. Their body was still sore from the knock they took from that animal a few nights ago and they hadn’t gotten to the bottom of the bright light but they were doing what they could to keep busy. “Yeah I’m Winston and you are … Skylar?” they asked with a smile as her name clicked into place, “You helped out down at the station a few weeks ago?”

Skylar wasn’t too terribly bothered by the darkness-- in fact, it really didn’t seem all that dark to her. She had no problem reading Winston’s lips in the cave, even without the glow of their phone. “Oh, I feel the same way. But, the game’s gotten really good with the latest updates. It’s a lot more fun than it was a couple years ago.” Skylar said with a slightly awkward smile. She wasn’t really used to talking about Pokemon Go, mostly because it was just another one of her weird nerdy hobbies. “Yes!” Skylar said and winced, as she was suddenly aware that she was almost shouting. “Sorry. Yes, that was me. I’m glad I was able to help.” She said as she stuck her hands in her coat pockets.

Swallowing gently, Winston nodded pleased that their opening gambit had worked. Then they realised that they couldn’t really think of anything meaningful to say to follow up other then I agree. No one wanted to be told they didn’t look like a Pokemon Go fan because what does one of those look like, not to mention verging on weird territory with the whole fake fan debate. Winston decided they were over thinking it and forced themselves to snap back to reality. “That’s really cool,” Winston said, unsure whether they meant it about being glad to be able to help or Pokemon Go, “I’ve got to admit … uh,” they paused for a moment looking for the right word, “uh this isn’t where I thought I’d see you again, do you come to caves often?”

Still slightly taken off guard by Winston’s appearance in the cave, Skylar scuffed her boots against the rocks, kicking a small pebble into one of the pools next to her. Interacting with people still wasn’t one of her strong suits, even if Winston seemed nothing but nice. “I, um… Ha.” She said and rubbed the back of her neck as she tried to figure out how to explain just why she was in the cave. She didn’t really want to say that she’d seen something weird from Hanging Rock. “I’m new in town. I was just kinda curious. I’m from Seattle, I’ve been to ocean caves that remind me of this, so… yeah.” She shrugged. It wasn’t entirely untrue. But, it wasn’t true either.

Nodding Winston wondered why they had never come down here before, they had lived in White Crest their entire life and they were pretty sure their school had even given some talk about this place. But they’d never really ventured into the great outdoors before Pokemon Go came out. “I didn’t know that they had caves like these in Seattle,” Winston admitted impressed by Skylar’s apparent adventurous nature, “I guess that you learn something every day right…” they trailed off immediately regretting saying what was perhaps the most cliche thing anyone could have possibly said in that moment. “How do they compare to-” Winston was cut off by a loud splash, they weren’t entirely sure what had caused the noise, but their hand immediately reached for their phone to see if it’s flashlight could give them a better view. “I think something fell in one of those puddles maybe?” they had to admit. This was all getting a bit much for them.

If Winston hadn’t reacted they way they did, Skylar would have brushed off the sound of water as just another crash of the waves around the outside of the cave. “Huh?” She asked, turning around to get a good look through the darkness. There wasn’t anything in particular that stood out to her, but… hang on. “Those rocks… did they--” Before Skylar could finish her sentence, something shoved her forward, hard. She attempted to catch herself before she fell to the ground, but the effort was in vain. Skylar hit the rocky ground hard and a sudden shock of cold rushed across her skin. Her eyes instinctively shut as her face was submerged into one of the many pools of water in the cave. Bubbles streamed out of her mouth as she struggled to pull herself free, but something was holding her down. Winston? Were they doing this?

The sound of the ocean hung in the background, spray slammed against the coast as waves pound the rocky beach. Winston hadn’t been expecting what had happened next. The truth was that Winston had never really been that brave. Contact sports had been ruled out because they were always worried they might get hurt. But when a shadow collided with Skylar and drove her face first into a relatively shallow pool, Winston found themselves rushing forward. There was a ghoulish creature that had apparently bounded out of the darkness and had managed to force Skylar to her knees and was attempting to drown her. Bubbles of air perforated the surface of the pool as Skylar struggled to escape -- whatever the hell this animal was. Hurtling forwards, Winston collided with the creature, briefly knocking it off of Skylar’s back but sending themselves splashing through a puddle and grazing their arm.

The pressure on her back increased for a moment as whoever it was continued to try and drown her, but Skylar fought hard to keep her face from sinking any lower into the puddle. If her entire head was submerged, her hearing aids would be ruined-- she wasn’t going to let that happen. Suddenly, the pounding force on her back was gone and she threw her head back in shock, blinking rapidly to dispel the icy water from her eyes. “Wha-- what the fuck?!” She cried out as she watched Winston shove some grotesque thing away from her. Even in the lowlight, she could make out the horrible rotting, decaying nature of the shambling creature in front of them. “WHAT THE FUCK?” She screamed, the sound only alerting it to her presence. With a snarl, the thing lunged at her again, graying hands extended in an attempt to throttle her.

As water soaked through their jeans and into the rest of their clothes, Winston’s mind raced. They had never been religious, but they were racking their brains for anything blasphemous that they may have done which may have upset a deity who was making their life a living hell. This was the umpteenth attempt that something had made on their life and Winston was not enjoying it. But Skylar was apparently the victim here and for the first time in their life Winston had to do something otherwise someone else was going to get hurt. With blood dripping from the graze in their hand and onto the floor of the cave, Winston groaned in pain as their body cried out against their movement. They’d obviously hit the cave floor harder then they had thought but now wasn’t the time to think. “Fuck, we should probably run!” Winston shouted as they race back over to try and wrestle this ghoulish creature off of Skylar. It’s thin mottled fingers were wrapped around her throat and Winston was concerned about her breathing. “Once I get this thing off of you.”

While the creature attempted to choke her out, Skylar did her best to beat against it, punching with balled fists into its body. The hands around her throat hurt and the pressure was incredibly painful, but the lack of air… didn’t bother her? She didn’t have time to think about it, though. While Winston did their best to free her from the horrible thing, Skylar raised her hands to pry the fingers free from her grip. “Rghh ghrg!” She gurgled before winding one of her legs back to kick the monster square in the gut. The thick sole of her boot landed hard and the creature let out a shriek, its grip loosening just enough for her to wriggle free. “We should run, we should definitely run!” She shrieked, grabbing hold of Winston’s arm in an attempt to hurry them out of the cave.

The pressure that the creature -- whatever the fuck it actually was -- must’ve been applying to Sklyar’s throat must be causing real damage, Winston could see her skin turning red as it throttled her. Winston wrapped their arms around its slimy armpits and pulled as hard as they possibly could, but the creature didn’t budge until Skylar managed to lodge one of the heavy soles of her boots in its stomach. The creature let out a feral moan as Winston once again stumbled backwards, but managed to stay on their feet this time. Skylar was suddenly on her feet and tugging at them. “Fuck … fuck fuck!” Winston wasn’t speaking to anyone in general as the panic and fear began to set into them. The creature was already scrabbling back up and seemed to have locked eyes on Skylar. “I’m right behind you,” they said, pushing Skylar’s back and trying their best to run out of the cave without slipping or tumbling over. They couldn’t help but think that if their hands were going to turn into glowing flashlights then there couldn’t be a better time for it to happen then now. But almost as if on queue, their hands remained normal for now. Great. Maybe they were just crazy after all.

Skylar’s heart pounded in her chest as she hurried across the rocks, doing her best to avoid the small pools and craggy stones that littered the cave floor. Thank god it wasn’t too dark in here, otherwise she would have been toast. As she ran towards the mouth of the cave, she noticed movement from the corner of her eye and flinched instinctively as the creature seemingly appeared out of nowhere, hands outstretched again. This time, though, she managed to duck out of the way. The monster’s hands missed her throat, but as it hurtled towards her, the creature brought its elbow up and managed to clock her across the mouth. Her head was snapped sideways and she felt her veneers loosen and then fly out of her mouth, splashing into a puddle. Winded and stunned by the blow, she grimaced at the creature and her sharp rows of teeth flashed in the darkness.

Mind racing, Winston scrambled through the cave at what felt like a painfully slow speed. There was moss and damp and wet everywhere. Winston had already collided with the cave floor and they were not relishing doing it again. But once again they found themselves in a life and death situation and they were not keen to repeat it if it could be helped. But apparently they were too slow, because suddenly the creature was leaping out of the darkness once more. This time Skylar was able to dodge it, but just barely and it still clattered into her jaw with surprising force. Something skittered across the cave floor but it was too dark for Winston to see what it was. “Shit, Skylar,” Winston swore as they realised they’d over taken their newly made companion, “are you okay?” they asked as the creature rounded on them. “We need to get out of here!” they exclaimed, pulling her to her feet once more and dragging her towards the cave exit as quickly as they possibly could. Winston reached into their pocket and grabbed their phone, hoping to call for help or something. But they weren’t getting any signal down here. Maybe once they were in the daylight they’d be able to get some signal and call animal control or something.

“Mhm-- Mhm hm!” Skylar hummed in agreement, hoping that it sounded affirmative enough. She followed their lead and allowed them to tug her out of the cave. Whatever it was that had attacked them seemed almost… startled by her teeth? As though it hadn’t thought she would be so difficult to deal with? As long as it wasn’t attacking them, she was okay with that. When Winston pulled out their phone, the screen lit up and filled the cave with a small beacon of light. A loud screech echoed in response and Skylar chanced a glance back to see that the awful creature was hanging back away from them now. What..? She didn’t have time to question it, though. “Run, run, run!”

With the very faint light of their phone screen guiding them, Winston hurtled towards the entrance of the speed. They wished that they were sprinting. But the truth was that at best this was a light job. This cave was very slippy and Winston’s hand still throbbed gently at where all of the skin had been torn away from the palms of their hands. “You don’t need to tell me twice,” they responded as they broke out into the sunlight. They were wet. They were bleeding. They were sore. But they had managed to get them both out of there alive. That was something. Was this adrenaline that Winston was feeling? Maybe this wasn’t so bad. They weren’t sure though and as they stepped out into the sunlight they kept running, slowly making their way down towards the shoreline, turning just in time to see the creature reach the mouth of the cave and stop where it was. Apparently it didn’t have a problem with them exiting the cave. Maybe whatever weird kind of sea otter that had been was just incredibly territorial? As they pulled to a stop, they pulled off their glasses to clean them and wheezed, placing both their hands on their knees as they tried to get their breath back. “... What … the … fuck … was that?”

As the two bolted out of the cave, Skylar did her best to hide her mouth behind her shaking hands. But, between her dripping face and wet hair and the water getting way, way too close to her hearing aids, it was hard for her to keep her hands up. Oh Jesus. Oh god. What in the actual fuck had just happened? She tried to process what she’d seen, tried to rationalize it, but there was no getting around what she’d seen in that cave. It looked like a fricking dead person, like a really fast, World War Z level zombie. “I-- I have no idea.” She said, voice muffled from behind her cupped hand. “A… A person? Did you get a good look at it in there?” Skylar asked, looking over at Winston with concern. “Oh God. You’re bleeding.” She said, pointing at the gashes on their hands, her hands falling from her face in shock.

Straightening up as they managed to catch their breath a little bit, Winston took a moment to glance at the cave to make sure that there was definitely no chance that they were being followed. Finally confident that they were at least semi-safe, Winston shook their head. Skylar was completely drenched, it was the middle of January and hypothermia killed. “I didn’t see what it was, not really, everything … everything just happened so quickly back there and it was trying to suffocate you and you were amazing, you just kicked it off o…” Winston fell silent as they finally caught sight of the row of sharp teeth in Skylar’s mouth. Embarrassed (though they weren’t sure why they were embarrassed) they looked at their shoes before glancing back up to Skylar. “My hands are fine ….” they tried to work out whether maybe Skylar’s teeth had been broken in her fight with whatever that was, “did it break some of your teeth?” Winston asked sheepishly, hoping they weren’t embarrassing Skylar after everything she’d already been through.

Skylar was so caught up in everything else that had just happened. “I--!” Her hands came up to cover her mouth again, her face burning bright red in shock and embarrassment. “Um. Yeah-- I mean… No, they’re not broken, I’m fine, I just. Um…” She pursed her lips together, her fingers tapping against her cheek nervously. How could she explain this to Winston without freaking them out? Everyone who’d ever seen her teeth had usually turned tail and run away, so they were handling this better than most people. Letting out a long sigh, she rubbed her forehead with the back of her hand, eyes closed. Fuck it. Skylar was going to have to go back into the cave to get her teeth and it would be better if Winston was around, even if it was just to call an ambulance from the beach. “It knocked out my teeth? Not my real teeth, um…” Dropping her hands, she gave a grimacing smile. “I wear these, erm… caps? Cuz my teeth are kinda… fucky?” Skylar sighed. “They’re custom and they’re expensive and they fell in a puddle and I guess I have to go get them back now.” She said, shoulders slumping as she peered warily into the cave.

Swallowing Winston felt their mouth slide open. They attempted to shut their jaw, but apparently that was beyond their capacity right now. They looked from Skylar, to the mouth of the cave, then to Skylar, then back to the cave, then back to Skylar. “Uh, I uh…” Winston wasn’t really sure what to say right now. But they were meant to be training towards being a forensic specialist so that they could help people. The universe had given them a chance to help someone and here they were stammering, gawping and seriously considering putting their life in real danger in an attempt to retrieve Skylar’s teeth. That was a sentence they never thought they’d think. “Sorry, it, uh, it, your teeth fell out?” They stood their for a moment eyes wide. This was too much. Whipping their glasses off their face they polished them vigorously and looked left, then right, then pushed them back up their nose. “I guess ….” they couldn’t believe that they were about to say this, “fuck I can’t let you go back in there alone, I guess we can’t just replace them either…” they swallowed and sighed. “We can’t just go after your …. Uh your teeth. I mean, what I’m trying to say is that we need a plan.” They had an idea. The thing … sea otter … wild rabid creature intent on throttling Skylar, well it was obviously not a fan of the light. It hadn’t liked the light of their phone and it definitely hadn’t liked the sunlight. “Have you got a phone? Or a flashlight? We could use our lights to try and disorientate it or something?”

Skylar’s hands fidgeted at her sides, fingers rapidly going through letters in the alphabet, as she waited for Winston to respond. As they polished their glasses, she kept her mouth shut tight. If they were going to freak out, now was probably the time it was going to happen. But, to Skylar’s immense surprise, they were okay with it? Blinking in surprise, Skylar tilted her head. “You want to help me?” She asked, still not sure if she was hearing things right. “A plan. Right. Um, I don’t know if this helps, but I definitely saw that it was like… human shaped? It had hands, I know that for sure.” Skylar said pulling down the collar of her coat to point at the reddened spots around her neck where the creature had attempted to choke her. “Um, Yes. I’ve got a flashlight on my phone. Do you think it’s like… a bat or something? A bat-man?” She laughed anxiously, trying to use humor to diffuse the tension.

“Want is a very strong word,” Winston replied with a nervous chuckle. “I really don’t want to go back into that ….” they were really digging deep here. “But you seem determined to go back there and it isn’t your fault that your teeth aren’t entirely … uh … perfect.” They paused. Proud of themselves for being so tactful. “Anyway I would definitely get told off by my police-father, I mean, my dad’s a police, I…” they paused for a second and shook their head, “my dad’s a cop and he’d want me to help.” They swallowed their fear, hating every moment of this but they forced themselves to take a step towards the cave. “So it’s definitely a weird animal, maybe this is something that hasn’t been discovered, or maybe a monkey escaped from the zoo?” Whatever wild animal had found itself in this cave was probably pretty scared. Winston would contact animal control personally once this was resolved. “Maybe a bat… a bat-man? Who knows?” It definitely wasn’t a bat-man. But Skylar was going through a lot and Winston wasn’t about to just belittle her. “Here’s the plan, we get to the cave, you use your flashlight to find the teeth, I’ll flick my flashlight on and off over and over again in an attempt to distract it from you. When you’ve got it we run like hell?”

“They’re pointed and terrifying, I know how they look.” Skylar said with a sigh. But, she wasn’t going to bash Winston for offering to help. It honestly meant a lot that they were willing to do this. “Well, thanks. You don’t have to do it because of your dad, but thanks.” She listened as they walked her through their mental thought process. She knew for a fact it wasn’t an escaped monkey-- it wasn’t hairy like monkeys always looked in pictures. It straight up looked like… a dead person. But she couldn’t tell them that. “That sounds like a good plan. But here,” Skylar handed her phone over to Winston, “It’s honestly not that dark in there? I think I can find my, erm, teeth without my phone.” She said before fiddling with her hearing aids. “I’m going to put these in my case just if it tries to drown me again, okay? If my hearing aids get wet, I’m toast. I’ll still be able to hear some things, but you might need to shout.” Sighing, she rolled up the wet sleeves of her coat and steeled her nerves. “Ready?”

“Oh they’re not that bad,” Winston lied, through their teeth, they were that bad, “I’m sure that a good orthodontist could make them less pointy and more…” they fell silent. “I’m not making it better am I?” Pausing for a second they swallowed and tried to convince themselves that they weren’t being an idiot. After all, it wasn’t too late to run away. But they stayed. “You’ve never met my dad,” Winston replied, “but it is the right thing to do. That should be enough of a reason for anyone.” Pausing, Winston looked at Skylar’s phone and then at her. “It is that dark in there,” they replied with a shake of their head, but they took the phone anyway. Two weapons were better then one. Not that they were sure that phone flashlights counted as weapons. Not that they were even sure that this was going to work. Nodding, Winston brought the flashlight apps on both phones, readied their thumbs, cracked their necks like the tough guys did in movies and nodded. “As ready as I’ll ever be.” They stepped forward into the cave, turning their phone flashlight on and sending it in a wide sweeping arch of light. “Hey, I’m over here, come get me.” They said, their voice trembling with fear.

Skylar let out a wry laugh and shook her head. “No, not really. But thanks for trying.” She said with a tight-lipped smile, so as not to freak them out any further. As Winston readied the phones, she took her hearing aids out and slipped them into the waterproof case that she kept with her at all times. Rubbing the back of her ears, she glanced over at Winston in acknowledgment. She could make out their voice, but the words weren’t as distinct or pronounced as they were when she had her hearing aids in. As the two of them wandered back into the cave, she immediately began to scan the area for the pool of water she’d lost her veneers in. Leaning down to get a better look at the water, she noticed a flash of movement in her periphery before letting out a loud shriek as the horrible monster attempted to pounce on her again. “Back off!” She yelled, hoping that Winston knew she was shouting at the thing and not them.

“You didn’t pick them is more what I mean.” Winston was sure that was a safe bet. Unless she’d had some pretty intense dental body modification. Was that a thing? With White Crest you could never tell. Winston wasn’t sure that any town this size had any right to the goth population that White Crest had managed to accrue. They were all so pale. As they stepped further into the cave, Winston saw a scramble of movement before hearing Skylar’s call. Swallowing, they took a slow trembling step forward and raised the beam of the flashlight to intercept the creature’s path. It slowed briefly, taking a moment to recoil back in surprise. But Winston knew it wouldn’t last long. Flicking the light off, they took a step forward and pressed down on Skylar’s phone, their finger missed the button and they inhaled sharply. Trembling they forced themselves to take a breathe and tried once more. Flashing the light just in time to see the Ghoul make it ten more meters before being deterred. There was a little distance and Winston forced themselves to run between Skylar and whatever the fuck that was. “Hey, she said back off!” they tried to shout, but their voice caught in their throat and it didn’t sound nearly as impressive as they would’ve hoped. Flashing the light once more, Winston watched the creature back off, looking more confused then hurt. But it was working for now.

Skylar ran her hands through the pools of water, sifting through sand and rocks as quickly as she could. Winston was buying her time with the flashlights, somehow, and she was glad that it was working. She honestly wasn’t sure how much more of this either one of them could take. She chanced a glance up to make sure that the monster wasn’t bearing down on her and was startled to see that the thing had backed off, its eyes blinking as though it had been stunned. “The light! Yes, keep using the light!” She said, hoping her tone sounded at least somewhat encouraging. She hurried over to the next pool of water and stuck her hands into it. Her fingers bumped against the rocks painfully, but Skylar ignored the pain as she continued to sift through the water. “I need more time, I don’t-- I’m not finding it!” She called out, panic filling her voice.

Though they had entered this cave convinced that whatever the hell this thing was, was some sort of wild animal or escape zoo animal or something that was an animal. Winston could unequivocally tell now that they had never been further from the truth. Though they were flashing their lights every second or so, even with a strobe effect they’d been able to discern a figure that had ashen grey skin, yellow eyes which looked almost similar to a cat’s. They had limbs that dangled down to their knees and powerful hands that looked like they were made for crushing. Hunched over they shuffled towards Winston, pausing almost dazed everytime they flashed the lights on and off, alternating between one and the other. “I’m doing the best I can!” Winston shouted back, panic rising in their own chest. They could just run. New fake teeth couldn’t cost that much. Winston would help. They didn’t want to get killed by satan and gollum’s love child. Not if they could help it. The … whatever the fuck it was, stepped towards them once more and Winston felt their hands shake in fear as they flicked both the lights off and flicked them both on at the same time, hoping that maybe this would slow it down a bit more. “Anything!?” they asked, praying that Skylar had found it. After everything that had happened in the last week, they didn’t know what had caused this week from hell, but they hadn’t imagined they’d have to face down a walking … well there was only one word for it, this was clearly some kind of monster.

Skylar squinted as Winston began to strobe the flashlights, the flashes going on in the background as she continued to search. Thank goodness Winston was here, she honestly had no idea what she would do without them. The evil looking… thing had turned its attention away from her and had started to shamble towards Winston. Moving to the next pool, she plunged her hands in and felt the smooth, familiar curve of her veneers. “I got them!” Skylar yelled triumphantly. She pulled her hand out of the puddle and scrambled to her feet. “Time to run, let’s go, let’s go, let’s go!” Skylar said, grabbing hold of Winston’s shoulder with her free hand.

Winston felt the contact on their shoulder and was startled back from reality. The … whatever the hell it was, was meters away from them now and Winston felt a hand swipe through the air, grazing their left ear as they sprinted out of the cave. “Ah fuck shit fuck fuck run run run run run run!” they exclaimed. Without the lights to keep this thing away, Winston wasn’t sure that they would be able to get out in time. But Skylar took the lead and they sprinted towards the light. Maybe they were going to get out, maybe they were going to make it. The light at the end of the cave was only meters away.

Skylar ran across the rocky cave floor, doing her best to pick an easy path for Winston to follow her. Everything about this situation sucked-- her neck hurt, her hands were freezing, her hair was drenched, and the big fricking cherry on top was they were being pursued by some crazy fucking zombie thing! She could hear Winston yelling, swearing probably, but aside from that, all she could hear was the dull crashing of the ocean waves outside of the cave. They just had to get out of here, they just had to run. “Almost there, c’mon!” She panted, lungs burning as she tore out of the cave. The sunlight washed over her and she collapsed on the ground, exhausted. Her shoulders heaved as she struggled to catch her breath and she looked over at Winston. “Y-you…. You good?” She asked, offering a thumbs up.

This was no fun. Winston made a mental note not to go into dark caves looking for pokemon. Although in hindsight that should’ve been pretty obvious. They were cold. They were wet. They were pretty sure they’d scratched their already old glasses and Skylar looked just as bad as they felt. The light of the cave enveloped them and they felt relief flood their body. They didn’t stop until they were a good few meters away before collapsing into a heap on the floor. The cold air frosted in front of them as they rolled onto their back and sucked in deep breaths of the sea breeze. It was a few moments before their breathing had calmed enough for them to speak. Sitting up, they looked at Skylar and nodded. “I’m okay, but … what, the actual fuck, was that?” They didn’t know if Skylar had any answers, but they kept going all the same, “I was convinced that was some kind of … I don’t know animal, a monkey from the zoo or some giant otter, I don’t know, but, but … that was a fucking …” they didn’t have the vocabulary to describe it, “what?”

Skylar stuck her head between her knees in an effort to catch her breath-- running wasn’t her thing. Then again, getting killed wasn’t her thing either, so it seemed like running might start to become her new thing. Once the world stopped spinning and everything looked more or less normal, she tucked her veneers into the pocket of her jacket and stuck her hearing aids in. The world came back into focus once more, the crashing of the ocean became sharper and words distinct again. “I… You saw it too, though, right? Like something that looked like if Gollum had died and come back again?” She said, very aware of the way her sharp upper row of teeth felt against the veneers that hid her bottom teeth.

Glancing at Skylar, Winston was reminded once more that there was something off here. Skylar was nice. Really nice actually. They’d made it through that. Despite being completely incompetent and facing potential death. Why they’d agreed to participate in this Winston wasn’t sure. “Yeah…” they said their voice trembling from a mixture of cold, fear and the fading effects of adrenaline, “I have never … ever seen anything like that before,” they swallowed and pulled their glasses off, rubbing their eyes. They could hardly believe what they had just seen. It made no sense. “This is meant to be real life, y’know, IRL. I didn’t sign up for a fantasy setting.”

Letting out a long exhalation, Skylar watched as Winston fiddled with their glasses and rubbed at their eyes. Jeez. They probably both looked awful. She glanced down at herself, at her soaked coat and her sand covered jeans. “Great. I mean, not great that we went through,” She gestured at the cave off handedly, “All of that. But, I’m glad I wasn’t just imagining it?” The way Winston phrased that sentence made Skylar keenly aware of the fact they were probably lumping her into that “fantasy” setting. “I know what you mean. I didn’t ask for… any of this.” She said as she stared into the depths of the caves.

“Great that you’re not going insane and hallucinating what could easily be the stuff of nightmares?” Winston replied sadly. In hindsight, maybe it would be better if they were actually going crazy. Then they wouldn’t have to consider the fact that there may well be monsters in the world. First the fire breathing dog thing, now this gollum-like creature. Neither was ideal. Getting to their feet, they were about to try and dust the dirt, mud and sand off of them, but then saw the amount of it which had stuck to their body and realised that there was almost certainly no point. “No, I’m starting to think that neither of us deserve this,” ten minutes ago and she was just the cute sign language interpreter that had helped Winston get brownie points at their internship, suddenly they were beginning to wonder if they were something more, “do you have a way home?” they asked, offering Skylar a hand.

“Pretty much, yeah.” Skylar said and shook her head tiredly, strands of wet hair falling around her face. She pulled her veneers out of her pocket and examined them closely-- on the bright side, they weren’t damaged. That was a big relief. What with her cutting contact with her parents, she didn’t exactly have the funds to drop a couple thousand dollars on new ones. But, she wasn’t about to go sticking them in her mouth after they’d been chilling in some nasty not really dead thing’s lair. “Oh. Hrm.” Skylar pondered their question for a minute as she got to her feet. “I doubt a Lyft would want to pick me up looking like this. I’ll probably just wind up walking home.” She shrugged. A strong ocean breeze blew in, making her shiver in her wet coat. Ugh. It was going to be a long walk back.

Swallowing, Winston considered what they were about to offer. Their car was only ten minutes walk from the cave of voices. The trail that lead up to the Hanging Rock would eventually wind it’s way towards a small car park where their battered car was parked. They’d inherited it off of their siblings, who had all learned to drive in it and made their own fair share of mistakes in it. What was left barely ran but Winston was too cheap to buy a new car and they needed a way to get to college and back. “You can’t walk home like this, unless you live around the corner, you’ll catch pneumonia, hypothermia or consumption if you don’t get somewhere warm and dry soon.” They stood and looked out at the ocean as a wave tumbled into the beach. “Where do you want me to drop you off?”

Startled, Skylar held up her hands shaking her head. “Are you sure? You really don’t have to do that. I mean, I’d really appreciate it if you did, but, um, don’t feel obligated or anything.” She said. Winston had already been really helpful-- they’d helped her fight off some wild fricking murder gollum in the cave, twice. That was more than she could ever ask… anyone, honestly. “If you’re sure you don’t mind, though, that would be amazing.” She did her best to smile as much as she could without showing too much teeth. “Erm, I’m not great with street names, but I can direct you?”

“I’m sure,” Winston replied with a shrug, “I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself if we managed to make it out of the cold if you were to get really ill and die, besides, White Crest is tiny. It’s hardly like I’m driving hours out of my way.” Making their way up the steep track that lead from the Cave of Voices to the top of Hanging Rock. Winston was thoroughly out of breath once they had finished the climb, but at least they were as far away from that cave as they had been in the last hour. Each step they took away from it was slightly more encouraging and they felt somewhat safer. “No problem,” Winston said in reply to the question, “White Crest isn’t exactly the clearest town to navigate, and I’m sure some of the street names change at times, I’ve lived here for more than twenty years and I still get lost myself sometimes.” They didn’t know why they were rambling, but after what had happened and what they’d seen with Skylar it felt better than silence.

“I’m not that squishy, I think I’d be fine.” Skylar laughed before covering her mouth quickly. Winston really was doing her a big favor, even if they weren’t making a big deal out of things. Skylar followed them up the trail that led up from the beach and back towards Hanging Rock, focusing on just putting one foot ahead of the other as they made a quick exit from the creepy cave. “Oh, so you’re like a super local? That’s pretty cool.” She said as they walked through the parking lot. Skylar brushed off as much sand and crap from her clothes while they walked; she wasn’t quite sure which car they drove, but she didn’t want to get it too messy. “I just moved her. Which, erm, you probably already figured out.”

“Squishy?” Winston asked, a grin slipping across their face gently as they struggled not to be too impressed by what they could only assume was a nod towards gaming. The wind battered them as they made their way to their car. Pulling their keys from their back pocket, they slid them into the driver’s side door. Slipping into the car, they began the arduous process of leaning across the passenger seat and unlocking the door from the inside as the central locking mechanism had long ago broken. “It isn’t much, but she gets me from A to B,” Winston finally said with a shrug. They’d always been a little embarrassed by their trash heap on wheels. “I guess, I’ve kind of always just been here, my parents never moved away, some of my brothers and sisters did though. But now it is just me, at least for the moment.” Nodding gently, Winston shrugged. “I didn’t recognise you from school and I haven’t seen you around college, how are you finding the town when you’re not being terrorised by … whatever.” They were really having to work hard not to stare at Skylar’s teeth. But they didn’t want to be rude.

Face turning red at her lapse of nerdiness, Skylar shook her head, “Sorry, sorry. Silly thing to say.” She followed Winston towards their car and waited patiently while they got the side door open for them. “Don’t worry about it. Seems like a much loved car.” She said politely. Her own car was sitting back in the parking lot of her apartment complex and she was glad it was there. The cross country drive from Seattle to White Crest had been… tiresome to say the least. The whole experience had put her off driving for a while, which is why she preferred to walk around whenever she could. She really needed to buy a bicycle or something, just to have the option. “Good powers of deduction, it makes sense that you’re an intern with the police.” She said with a grin that didn’t show her teeth. She’d noticed the way they were glancing over at her, it was the least she could do to make them feel at ease.“I’m from Seattle, so White Crest is pretty different. I’d thought it was just a quiet, cute town until all of that happened.” Skylar said and gestured to the cliffs of Hanging Rock.

“Don’t be sorry,” Winston laughed, “I just didn’t expect that. Internalised prejudice I guess.” They needed more friends that really got what was going on. “Much loved, by many people, before me. My dad got it first, then my mom, then each one of my four older brothers and sisters, and then me.” They were honestly surprised that the mismatch of duct tape and love was still holding this together. But if they were honest they probably wouldn’t change the car for something else even if they could afford to. They just weren’t about to admit that. Not out loud at least. “I’m a regular Sherlock Holmes,” they retorted, still in shock frankly. They wondered if they should really be driving. They didn’t know enough about medicine to tell if their reactions times would be affected but right now they wanted to get as far away from that cave as they possibly could and they didn’t care how they managed that. “Me too,” Winston lied, it wasn’t a complete lie, they had thought that this was just a quiet and cute town until a week ago when they had experienced … whatever the hell they had. “Why did you choose White Crest over Seattle?” they asked, making idle conversation and trying not to overthink things until Skylar got out of the car.

Skylar nodded along as Winston talked. A big family, though she couldn’t say much. But, as the oldest child, she’d never really had the experience of hand-me-downs. Not that her parents even really believed in that kind of thing. They were very much in love with the idea of better, faster, newer. “Well, I’m impressed she’s still up and running.” She replied. “Erm, sorry. I didn’t mean to joke about that.” Skylar said, pushing her hair back out of her face as she kept an eye on the road. “You’re going to turn right up ahead, I’ll let you know when the next turn comes up. And, I moved here because I was offered a job.” It wasn’t entirely untrue. There were just many other reasons behind why she’d left that Winston really didn’t need to know.

“There has been a lot of work put into making sure that she doesn’t give up just yet,” Winston said with a nod before snorting with laughter at Skylar’s joke as soon as it clicked in their head. “That’s a good one,” they replied with a gentle shake of their head as they gripped the wheel with and took indicated that they were going to turn, before pulling on it and slowly rolling down the road. It was getting dark and Winston was glad that they had gotten away from there before the sun set. Who knew what would happen then. Winston didn’t want to think about that thing maybe discovering where they lived. Not to mention where Skylar lived. But they were miles away now and there was no way it could track them. Was there? They weren’t sure but decided that for now it was best not to think about it. "I saw your flyers for the language sign lessons everywhere, is that why you moved? Or do you have more then the one job?” Small talk felt incredibly dull compared to screaming at each other and running for their lives.

Swallowing, Skylar bobbled her head from side to side, weighing her options on how to respond. “Mmm. Yeah. I applied all over the country, but the job here in White Crest really appealed to me. I like working with kids and I remember being their age trying to get through school. But, no, just the one job. I do interpreting for the school system.” She replied. “I lived in Seattle my whole life and I just wanted a change of pace.” Which again, wasn’t untrue. She’d just also wanted to get away from her family. And Maine was about as far as she could get away from them without applying for a work visa. Clearing her throat, she glanced over at Winston, “You mentioned the college, do you study there?”

Winston had to admit that they hadn’t ever felt that passionately about anything. Maybe it was different for Skylar. She had faced true adversity. The hearing aids alone were a testament to that and whatever the deal with the teeth was. “That’s actually really cool…” Winston wasn’t really sure how they were going to complete that sentence, “I just mean school sucks, y’know, for everyone, but you’re helping a bit.” Winston tried to focus on the road and not talk. “Well, this must really be a different pace, much slower unless Seattle is a sleepy town too.” A light drizzle sprinkled down on them and Winston reached up and flicked the windscreen wipers on. “Yeah, I’m doing a masters in cyber forensics and security, I’m also helping out at the station as one of their interns. It’s good experience. I want to work for the police after college.”

“Thanks.” Skylar said with a small smile. “It’s helpful to have community when having these,” She tapped her left hearing aid, “makes it hard to find friends as a kid. But, I think kids today are a little bit nicer than they were when I was little.” She said. When Winston told her what they were studying, Skylar had to blink in surprise. She’d heard the words and read their lips without a problem, it was just something she never in a million years would ever do herself. “Huh. So, do you wanna be like that guy from that old TV show… Numbers, I think?” She asked, intrigued. Computers, numbers, math, programming? None of that was her speed.

“No problem,” Winston hadn’t expected the smile and immediately snapped their eyes back to the road. Despite the fact that it was the middle of winter, the road was still littered with leaves that had fallen at the end of the previous year. “I think people are beginning to realise the truth about somethings that they hadn’t thought to question before.” After two events in the last week, one moments ago and the other earlier in the week. Winston found themselves questioning the very reality of their world. “Numbers?” Winston asked with a frown, “I don’t think I caught that show. I’m good with computers, and I like helping people, but I’m not exactly cut out for police police work and I don’t think I’d enjoy it. So this seemed to be a good next step.”

Skylar grimaced when she watched Winston’s eyes jolt immediately back to the road. Ugh. The sooner they got to her apartment the better. Then she could clean her veneers and just soak in the tub for a while. And hopefully she’d be able to forget all this crappy stuff had happened-- both the evil gremlin thing and scaring poor Winston with her teeth. “I hope so.” She said quietly. “The next light, you’ll make a left. And then the first road on the right, that’s where I’m at.” She directed them before continuing the conversation, “Mhm, that makes sense. So, you’d be like the person behind the screen, making sure everything’s all good?”

Swallowing, Winston had to admit that they really weren’t enjoying how this must be for Skylar. It was just a little off putting and Winston wasn’t sure what the hell was going on, but after being attacked by a gollum-esque creature, they weren’t sure that they were quite ready to deal with this too. What on Earth was going on? White Crest was a nice, normal town. It always had been. “Sure, no problem.” Pulling left, Winston followed Skylar’s instructions. “Kind of, I could do any number of things really like it could be looking through and analysing technology in criminal investigations so that the information can be used as proof in court, or I could be working to analyse trends, or I could actually be working to stop crime over the internet like identity theft, fraud. That sort of thing.”

“That sounds really cool. Super important, what with technology being used for more crime and stuff.” Skylar nodded before glancing out the window of Winston’s car. Yep, this was her place. Apartment, sweet apartment. And, honestly, after the day she’d had, she was really looking forward to going home and unwinding. Lying down sounded like heaven right about now. “This is me. Thanks again for the ride, I really appreciate it. Erm,” She rummaged around in her pocket for one of the spare fliers that she kept on her and ripped off the little tag at the bottom with her number on it, “If you need to talk about what happened today, let me know? Well, text, actually. You know what I mean.”

“It’s gonna be a job, but it will probably actually help people and that’s important to me.” Winston could psychoanalyse themselves all they liked. Both of their parents had dedicated huge amounts of time and energy to helping other people and Winston couldn’t help but feel that perhaps it was their duty to do the same. They reached their destination and pulled over on the side of the road. “That’s cool, honestly don’t worry about it, I’m sure that you’d have done the same.” Winston was somewhat shocked when she handed over her phone number, normally it didn’t go this well. Though this wasn’t exactly how they normally got girls numbers. “Uh, thanks, really, that’s, that’s cool of you. I’ll… yeah I’ll uh text you.”

#wickedswriting #tooth hurts #p: skylar #chatzy para #para #POOR WINSTON

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