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aww-canon-no · 1 year

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Steddie Fic- 9 Stops

9 Stops

Steve Harrington/Eddie Munson

Rated: Everyone (but with kissing)

Deaf Eddie, newly deaf Steve, meet cute, modern fic, no upside down

Summary: And holy shit this might be his chance because…Yeah. Yep.

Yes.

Steve is kissing him. It’s warm and better than he imagined, and it’s really, really scary because Eddie has never liked someone so much in his entire life and God, if he wakes up and this is a dream he’s going to fucking lose it.

Note: You have all been so nice? Im crying? This fandom is so soft. Posting one more Tumblr one-shot tonight. This time with kissing.I gave you Deaf Steve so now have Deaf Eddie/deaf Steve (big D little d, not an innuendo)

Word Count: 2400

***

The train is quiet. In a literal sort of way, everything is quiet for Eddie Munson who was born deaf and remained deaf despite all the praying and laying hands and shit that adults were always doing at his parents’ church when he was little.

That was before CPS got involved and Wayne stepped in and made things better.

But in a more metaphorical way, the train is quiet because—what most people don’t understand—the Deaf community is loud. And he means that in every way it’s possible to mean that. Everything is turned up to max volume so they can feel it. When they get together it’s big gestures and faces all twisted up in expression and wagging tongues and stomping feet and…it’s a lot.

It ain’t your momma’s sweet little interpreter at Sunday Service kind of deaf.

He doesn’t regret the job working at the center, but he takes the train home instead of carpooling with the other guys because it’s going to get loud again when he meets up with the rest of Corroded Coffin for band practice. They met at school when Eddie was finally allowed to leave the nonsense of mainstream education he couldn’t actually understand behind him.

Garret wanted to call the band something like Deaf Devils which Eddie flat out refused because he will not—under pain of death or torture—ever be obvious or predictable.

Also why he takes the train.

At least, why he used to.

Now he takes the train because he takes the train. The Hair, Eddie’s been calling him. It’s a sign name that Steve Harrington doesn’t actually know about since he doesn’t interact with Eddie. Eddie doesn’t do intake or adult shit. He mostly works with newly deafened teens, or teens that have come from hearing homes and are finally allowed to get more involved in the Deaf community.

They call it socializing but it ’s mostly a way for Eddie to be able to run the most badass DnD campaigns known to man and get paid for it. It’s maybe the sweetest job he’s ever had and there’s no chance in hell he’s ever giving it up.

But he noticed Steve when he showed up—looking like a scared, lost little lamb the way they all do when their world has been flipped upside down. And Eddie does feel sympathy for him. Steve looks like the kind of guy Eddie hate. The kind of jock that liked to push Eddie into trash cans and lockers because—surprising absolutely no one—Deaf school had preppy jock assholes too.

So Eddie mostly avoids Steve and his polo shirts and his annoyingly glorious hair for a really long time. And he definitely doesn’t get soft on the inside whenever he sees the look of frustration on Steve’s face when he comes out of the ASL level one class.

Eddie remembers it pretty well, but not well enough to relate. He also never lost a sense so he’s not quite sure what Steve’s going through.

But he’s not a monster. He feels.

He feels too much sometimes.

He kind of wants to tell Steve that it gets not just a little better, but so fucking much better. That it’s a big deal that Steve came to the center because most people his age just get some metal and magnets slapped inside their skulls and hope for the best and move on without realizing they don’t actually have to choose between one or the other.

They don’t have to lose one to gain.

Or something poetic like that.

He needs to write that down. It sounds like it could be a pretty decent song lyric.

Anyway, Eddie used to take the two o’clock train, but now he pushed it to three because that’s when Steve shows up at the station with his head down and his hearing aids off and his fingers all twisting in his lap like he’s trying to quietly practice everything he learned that day. Eddie notices the shaking, and he notices the dark bags under Steve’s eyes.

Steve doesn’t notice him though. He’s not quite there yet. At that place where sight replaces sound naturally, and he starts noticing everything around him without waiting to hear it.

He can’t help but keep his eyes on Steve, even squashed between two dudes—one of whom is eating legit an actual to-go box full of fettuccini alfredo.

And of course that happens to be the moment Steve finally looks up and sees him. After six weeks, Steve finally notices.

His lips twitch. Eddie braces himself because he expects Steve to be maybe angry. It’s obvious Steve recognizes him.

Then Steve raises a hand—a small and subtle thing. ‘Hi.’

Eddie snorts. ‘Hi.’

Steve goes on a face journey which Eddie reads like one of his favorite novels and in spite of himself, he smiles wider.

‘You think this guy would freak out of I took a bite of his food?’ Eddie chances.

There’s no way in hell Steve’s that far along in his lessons, but he watches as Steve’s lips curve around a couple of the words he knows.

‘Don’t understand. Sorry,’ Steve finally signs, back—still subtle like he doesn’t want to be noticed. Then he yawns, the kind that Eddie knows probably cracks his jaw.

He stands up without realizing it and moves across to sit beside his not-friend. He sticks out his fist and they knock knuckles—a fairly safe greeting.

Steve sighs. ‘Sorry,’ he signs again.

‘I know,’ Eddie tells him. ‘Give it time.’

Steve must have learned that one from his teacher saying it over and over to his students. It’s not your average ASL class. It’s not hearing people trying to get a credit, or start a new job or something. It’s all people in Steve’s shoes trying to learn how to communicate again without making their brain feel like it’s full of static electricity.

‘You’re tired,’ Eddie signs.

Steve nods, then remembers to respond with a fist. ‘Yes’

Eddie laughs and shakes his head. ‘What’s your stop?’ He signs it slowly and fingerspells some so Steve will understand. Train-STATION, yours, which?

Steve licks his lips, then lifts a hand, pinky touching his thumb. ‘Sixth AVE.’

Eddie nods decidedly, then shuffles so close their thighs touch. Steve startles, but Eddie just reaches over and tugs Steve’s head until it falls against him. ‘Sleep,’ he tells him. They have nineteen stops to go—and that’s nine past Eddie’s. But he’s done worse things than ride the train all evening.

Steve stiffens like he’s going to put up a fight for a second, and then his body relaxes. He’s asleep before stop four. He’s snoring so loud that Eddie can feel it rumbling against his side by stop seven.

By stop sixteen Eddie hates himself for what he has to do.

At stop eighteen he gently prods Steve who wakes up with a jolt and stares around like he doesn’t know where he is. Their gazes lock, then his shoulders sag.

‘Thank you,’ he signs. His fingers are nice. Lovely, in fact, the way they tip from his chin. Watching him blossom into the language will be a real treat.

If Eddie’s invited in.

***

So.

Train naps become a thing.

Eddie meets him at the entrance to the station, and Steve tells him one or two facts about his day with his growing vocabulary—and he probably picks up some colorful commentary and slang—and some of Eddie’s home-grown home-signs which is alright by him. Just…hopefully he doesn’t get yelled at in class for using them.

Because then Eddie will get yelled at later. Scott Clarke will definitely know where they came from. But it’s kind of hard to care because Steve scrunches up his face when he’s processing something new.

And Eddie’s halfway in love and he’s not interested at all in pumping the brakes, even if Steve seems pretty goddamn straight and will only break Eddie’s heart in the end.

***

It’s twelve weeks now and Steve’s starting to look better. A little more rested.

It’s a Tuesday the first time Steve doesn’t fall asleep, but he also doesn’t put space between them, either. He stares at his hands for a while, then he looks up at Eddie.

‘I,’ he starts. ‘Went deaf overnight.’

That…’sss a surprise. That’s not super common to just randomly go deaf. At least, not in someone as young as Steve who can’t be more than twenty-five. Not that Eddie hasn’t seen stranger things, but still.

He can tell Steve’s not done with his story.

‘Dr told me I had three tumors and I would go deaf eventually,’ he signs it Deaf-future-later like he’s not sure which one is right and Eddie just lets him have it. His brain’s interpreting it juuuust fine. ‘I was sad, but okay.’

Eddie nods. That-that.

Steve smiles and bites his lip before letting it go and it’s all spit-slick and shiny and Eddie wants to taste it so badly. ‘I fell,’ he signs.

Eddie clarifies that he means he physically fell.

Steve touches the back of his head. ‘Nineteen STITCHES. CONCUSSION.’

Eddie winces. He’s has his fair share of head injuries from mosh pits and other stupid shit, but those were injuries he all-but chose to have. Steve looks devastated.

‘Dizzy,’ he signs. ‘VERTIGO.’

Eddie shows him the sign for that and Steve copies it.

‘I couldn’t walk. Tried everything. Fail.’

Eddie winces again. ‘Sorry.’

Steve shrugs. ‘They removed tumors. Hearing was gone.’

Eddie tries to think about what life might be like if he just woke up one day and lost a sense. And okay it would be different since he was already Deaf but he still gets it. As best as he can, anyway.

He sighs and turns, cupping Steve’s cheek. Steve leans into the touch like he’s starved for it, and God knows Eddie is, so he’s not in a hurry to pull back. He grazes his thumb under Steve’s eye. ‘Sleeping better?’

Steve laughs. Eddie has some—what the doctors call residual hearing which seems a little ridiculous since Eddie was born this way, but whatever. It’s enough to hear—just barely—the rumble of Steve’s laugh over the faint noise of the train. Mostly he feels it against his hand though.

‘Yeah. Better,’ he repeats.

Eddie sighs, but before he can mourn the loss of their routine, Steve shuffles closer and lays his head down. Eddie knows he doesn’t sleep, but this is good too.

***

For the first time in six months, Eddie doesn’t come to his ASL class. And it’s not like Eddie’s waiting…

Which is a lie. He’s definitely waiting.

The kids give him epic and endless shit for being distracted—to the point he gives up and lets Mike start his own campaign while he paces the room and feels all kind of itchy all over and he hates it. He hates it so much.

The kids all go home eventually and Eddie gets on the train at three and he stares at the empty seat that Steve should be in and it feels like there’s a sudden canyon or maybe a dark hole that leads into some alternate dimension that stole these moments away from him.

His stop comes and he almost doesn’t get off until he remembers he doesn’t need to wait nine stops past, and nine stops back. His knees are kind of shaky as he brushes past people and feels the silence kind of profoundly for the first time in maybe ever.

And then the world rearranges.

Steve’s there, leaning against the wall near the stairs with his arms crossed and a pissed off look on his face that’s both terrifying and really, really beautiful. Eddie feels like he might choke on his own tongue as he stumbles to a halt.

‘Nine.’

Eddie stares at Steve’s hand thinking maybe he’s got the wrong sign.

Then he does it again. ‘Nine.’

Eddie looks behind him, then at Steve again.

‘Your stop is before mine.’

Eddie flushes. Hard. So hard he gets a little dizzy. ‘Yes.’

Steve swallows hard. ‘Why?’

Eddie flops his arms and his whole body kind of moves with it, and he wants to pace and be loud with his body but they’re in public. Like, hearing public. Someone will definitely call the cops and tell them he’s on drugs, especially since he tends to vocalize a little loudly when he’s uncomfortable and it unsettles hearing people’s delicate little ears.

He takes a breath. ‘You were tired.’

Steve blinks at him kind of incredulously. ‘I was tired,’ he repeats. His face doesn’t give Eddie any indication that it’s a question but…

Maybe it is?

‘You were tired,’ he repeats.

Steve pushes away from the wall. Stalks a step closer. Then suddenly his hand is on Eddie’s cheek bare and warm and soft, and he mirrors that gesture, swiping a thumb under Eddie’s eye. ‘Where is your shoulder?’

‘My—’ Eddie starts. Stops. His hand hovers in the air. His shoulder. His own Eddie? ‘I don’t need one.’

‘Bullshit,’ Steve shoots back at him. It’s an older, more archaic sign he definitely got from Scott, but it hits the mark.

Eddie sighs and shrugs again. ‘You were tired,’ he just repeats. He needs Steve to get it.

And oh. Maybe he does, because he’s pushing in closer again and his hand has fallen to the back of Eddie’s neck and there’s absolutely no signing space between them now. Steve’s lips move like maybe he’s talking to himself—probably a habit he’ll never totally lose, but Eddie likes it. He likes the way Steve’s lips dance and he wants to feel them.

And holy shit this might be his chance because…

Yeah. Yep.

Yes.

But when it ends, Steve is still warm, and still perfect, and still touching him.

‘Nine stops,’ Steve manages to sign.

Eddie laughs. ‘Eighteen, if you count the ones on the way back.’

He feels Steve’s groan as he rolls his eyes, then he grins as Steve surges back in to kiss him.

Kiss him.

#Steve Harrington #Deaf Steve Harrington #Eddie Munson #Deaf Eddie Munson #Stranger Things fanfic #Steddie #Steddie Fanfic #steve x eddie

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plum-pitt · 3 months

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Holy shit. I just realized i’ve never even yapped about my headcanons for the rise guys. This is a criminal offense on my part! Must be rectified immediately!!

Disclaimer: Don’t think there’s a lot of hot takes here, but feel free to disagree and talk about your own interpretations if you’d like!! Headcanon is fun and i love discussing it. it’s all fictional and since the text doesn’t give us much concrete shit on these topics we’re all free to make our own, equally valid readings of it. :3

Leo- Transmasc He/Him, gay as fuck who here could’ve guessed, ADHD haver, definitely smokes weed. Fluent in spanish from watching telenovellas as a child. Wants to be a flirty whore/aff so fucking bad but whenever he sees someone he’s legitimately attracted to any charisma he might’ve had gets thrown out the window and into a woodchipper in favor of helpless stuttering. His portalling mishaps early in the series have led him to silly sidequests all over the world that he just,,,, doesn’t really talk about. This won’t come up until they’ll end up in some random ass place and find out just how well travelled and connected he actually is. He’s also got a job at Hueso’s for fun and extra cash to fund his addiction to pot and ordering stupid shit he doesn’t need online. He’s a server, wears rollerskates to “move faster” on the job, just ends up running into shit more often than not. Great with the kids tho, performs little sleight of hand magic tricks and tells jokes to make them happy, never had a fussy kid he couldn’t calm down in a snap. Calls himself Hueso’s nephew and nepotism hire, ignoring the fact that he’s actually a decently competent and well liked employee outside of the several skating related accidents. Shell was cracked badly in the invasion, when they sealed it up, he asked Mikey to paint the healed cracks gold, mimicking the japanese practice of Kintsugi.

Mikey- Definitely queer but not into labels ;3 He/Him is what he defaults to, but any pronouns work for them. Semi fluent in italian, don’t ask me why, just feels right, let chef boy speak italian dammit. One of those mfs on instagram who insists on posting pictures of the food he makes, except his actually looks good and not painfully mediocre so they get a pass. Has been tagging walls in hard to reach spots all over the city for years at this point, after Raph confronted her abt it, fearing that he’d get caught someday, he told him that he’d stop. Yeah, that was a lie he kept doing it, just sneakier now. Makes money off of art commissions, still broke as hell tho cuz he spends it all on bougie ass ingredients and art supplies. Post canon definitely delved more into mystics and spirituality, trains with draxum but also took up meditation in his free time. Fucks with weed and the occasional psychedelic when working on art, says it helps get the creative juices flowing. Considering asking donnie to forge some documents for him so he can attend college online and earn a psych degree. His speech patterns flip on a dime between vague, wise fortune cookie therapist man and typical gen-z slang so abruptly it gives anyone not already familiar with him total whiplash.

Donnie- NonBinary They/He Bisexual but i can’t decide if they’re the kind that can’t stop pulling or can’t pull to save his life. Fluent in several languages, ASL, French, Russian, Japanese. Actually one of their few acedemic endeavors that he doesn’t typically show off and gloat about, makes it all the scarier when his siblings hear him muttering vaguely threatening sounding shit in russian when shit doesn’t go their way. Has tried most substances for “research purposes”, ultimately decided he doesn’t like the feeling of their big ol brain being hindered under the influence, this has a few exceptions tho, mainly when it’s with Leo. Has John Bishops IP address and threatens to drop it on 4chan to “see what happens” every time he tries messing with their family or stopping him from “borrowing” material resources from the US government. Almost considered bs-ing his way into college before they used a cloaking broach to shadow april at school for like 2 days. It was there they learned that the education system fucking sucks and he probably knows more than most professors about his topics of interest anyway. Does freelance work for cash, as far as their brothers know they’re not building and selling anything dangerous (which is code for probably arming both sides in a far away military conflict with deathrays). Spends his free time cyber bullying children on roblox and twitter, and caring for their greenhouse of plants that all have names. (yes he grows weed. his GeniusGrown™️ zaza is known far and wide for its consistently excellent quality. and no, Leo does not get a family discount. Mikey does tho.)

Raph- Someone please send the big man some help😭 he/him(?) Definitely queer in some way shape or form but refuses to confront any identity crisis because he’s just so busy keeping his dumb ass siblings outta shit. Tried weed once and will never touch a substance again, makes his anxiety spike real bad when he doesn’t feel in full control of himself. Runs around with Cassandra and sometimes Jr to do vigilante justice on the side of he and his siblings’ usual patrols. Living garbage disposal and i mean that quite literally. He has and will eat anything, rocks, toys, silverware, sometimes on accident, sometimes on a dare, and sometimes just because he wants to. He grew up gnawing on the legs of furniture, rusty sewer pipes, really any nonliving thing that he could fit his choppers around (unlike donnie who just bit any living creature within a 5 mile radius of his location). Since the invasion made Leo step up as leader Raph has been able to step back a little bit and not have everything in a chokehold, he has a mini crisis about his place in the family and his sense of identity without being a leader. Tries to hide how much it’s affecting him but ofc, living with mikey, this does not last and his ass FINALLY gets chucked (very lovingly) into therapy. Loves to knit, definitely in some kind of old lady facebook group centered around it (he has so much nursing home gossip floating around in his brain hehe)

Alright that’s all for the teetlez. lmk if yall wanna hear about my thoughts on the rest of the main cast, or some of the side cast! Can’t promise i’ll have this much to say on all of em but i’ve definitely got thoughts lol. I might even make a post diving into different character dynamics. idk tho, my fingies are tired typing all that shit😭

Anyway i hope u enjoyed my ramblings, have a lovely day :3

#rottmnt #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #tmnt #rottmnt donnie #rottmnt leo #rottmnt raph #rottmnt mikey #thoughts from the pit #save rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #save rottmnt

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konigenblobbity · 10 months

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Hii the non-verbal reader x hobie prompt was amazing, you're insanely good, do you think you can elaborate more on that? I just wanna see how he would be with reader and all that stuff. It's okay if you don't.

Headcannon: Hobie Brown x Non-Verbal Reader

A/n: I’m happy to! I’m glad so many of you like how I write these type of readers, and feel like it’s accurate and relate to how I write them <3

As I mentioned in my works with a non-verbal reader, Hobie does not let that keep him from immediately introducing himself to you.

Even when he does realize you’re one for a lack of words, he really doesn’t care. He doesn’t see you any differently and even finds it rather intriguing.

Seeing as you weren’t one for ‘words of affirmation’ when it came to showing your affection, he always made sure to give you ample opportunity for physical touch and quality time.

Asking if you want to join him for lunch or even just want to come with him while he runs a small errand. Loving how excited you get every time he asks you.

Invites you to any of his concerts and even says he’d make sure you get the best spot there, wanting to involve you in that part of his life, knowing you loved the offer.

He’ll keep his arm around you shoulder when you walk together through HQ. He noticed how once you wrapped your hand around his belt slightly, immediately letting go thinking it made him uncomfortable.

Now whenever he sees you fidgeting with your hands, he grabs the one closest to him and places it on the side of his belt so you can slip your fingers into the belt loop.

He loves to do the same to you, his arm wrapped around you waist and then hooking two of his fingers through your belt loop.

Even if you weren’t very vocal, he loved to hear you any way he could.

Making jokes for the sole purpose of hearing your laugh, how sweet it sounded… so genuine and angelic he couldn’t help how an ear to ear grin grew on his lips.

Popping out of corners or grabbing your shoulders from behind to scare you. The way you’d shriek and jump lifted his mood so easily. Even if you’d hit his chest and scowl at him for it, the blush on your cheeks and your small murmurs made it all worth it.

Hobie knew you wouldn’t ask him for any help, even when you needed it. This meant he became very observant.

He’d watch you so intently. Making sure to learn every small sign of your discomfort or fear or anger or even joy.

Even the slightest shiver of your shoulders would have him placing his jacket over you. And if he didn’t have one on him, he’d wrap his arms around you and pulling you to his chest. Loving your soft hum when you began to warm up.

The smallest glances to his plate when he ate, the way your tongue just slightly traced over your lip. He’s immediately sliding the plate closer to you. “Go ahead, take as much as you want” your smile filling up his stomach with butterflies anyway.

The way you’d run your thumb across each of your fingers in succession when someone was irritating you or scolding you. He’d step right next to you and place a hand on the small of your back to softly graze his fingers against your skin.

When you’d be eating lunch with everyone, sat across or next to him at the table and your eyes would be looking at the table, lips in a fine line, and breathing softly. He’d softly nudge his ankle against yours under the table. Checking in on you in his own way. Looking at you and raising his brows as if to ask if you’re okay. When you’d nod softly he wouldn’t press further. However he continued to caress your foot with his own, just a soft bit of physical touch so you know he’s there.

The more time you two spent together, the more small signs and symbols you created to have full conversations without saying another word. The others couldn’t even learn sign language because you two had made it up yourselves, only taking parts from actual ASL/BSL.

He loved that only he understood you in that way. Others trying to interpret it and failing miserably.

When it was Miguel you were trying to explain something to, Hobie wouldn’t leave your side. He knew how irritated Miguel would get that you just didn’t SAY what you meant.

“Slow down. I don’t understand! What are you even trying to say?” He’d say through gritted teeth. When your shoulders tense at Miguel’s growing rage Hobie steps in. He sees how you swallow the lump in your throat, not liking when Miguel got mad at you.

“Hey. Take a breath mate” He says and tilts his head up to look down at him. Ignoring how he immediately scowls at Hobie’s words.

Hobie then goes on to translate everything, not missing how afterwards Miguel mumbles “could’ve just said that…”. Hobie shooting him a glare before walking away with you.

Trying to explain something to Miguel always left you defeated. Feeling extra insecure about yourself as you walk with slouched shoulders and a soft pout. Hobie wraps his arm around your shoulder as you both walk.

“Hey. Don’t listen to him. If he really wanted to know he coulda made the effort to be patient. And actually try for once” your eyes looking at him with doubt, which he immediately picks up on.

“He’s always acting so much better than me. And yet he can’t do simple charades?” He scoffs and then leans down kissing your cheek. You give him a soft smile and he pulls you closer to his side.

“Don’t let him get to you. Ever” you nod and he gives you a pointed look. “Nah cmon. I need more than a nod” and you chuckle, wrapping an around around his waist and leaning your head on his shoulder. “Good girl”

Others often ask him how he knows you even like him. Seeing as you rarely said anything along those lines. He wouldn’t even entertain them with an answer, simply snapping at them for asking such a daft question. Especially if you were right there when they asked it. That was a true sign of disrespect to both him and you.

He knew you liked him. You didn’t need to fucking say it. Of course not!

He felt it in how you massaged his scalp, how you traced your thumb over his knuckles whenever you could, how you’d stick by his side all throughout meetings and HQ, how you always asked to be paired up with him for missions, how you laughed at his jokes, even the bad ones, how you picked up every. single. time. He called you.

Since that’s how you showed him you liked him, he made sure to do the same. Humming softly and thanking you when you massaged his head, going to hold your hand when your traced his knuckles, dragging you everywhere with him around HQ, saving you a seat next to him during meetings, already telling Miguel to pair you two up before you have the chance to ask, making sure to call you whenever he had time, always a FaceTime so he can see your face listening intently to whatever the hell he was rambling about. Locking eyes with you every. single. time you were telling him a story just so you know he’s really listening.

It’s safe to say. Your lack of words was something Hobie loved about you. Never ever doubt that. That man is resilient and determined if anything else… he would never give up on a relationship with you - friendship or dating - no matter how little you spoke.

#konigenblobbity #fanfiction #hobie brown #hobie brown x reader #hobie atsv #fanfic #hobie x reader #non verbal reader

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douglysium · 1 month

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Episode 11 TMP Quick Thoughts

Housekeeping and Prologue

Hello, this is Douglysium and you might not know me as that guy who wrote over 100 pages of analysis on the Eye (which can be read on Tumblr here (https://douglysium.tumblr.com/post/735599414228484097/the-relationships-between-the-dread-powers-the) or Google Docs here (The Relationships Between the Dread Powers: The Eye- Knowledge is Fear and Ignorance is Bliss)) or as that guy who wrote an article on the Extinction (which can be read on Tumblr here(https://douglysium.tumblr.com/post/717929126195003392/what-would-avatars-of-the-extinction-be-like-a) and Google Docs here(What would Avatars of the Extinction be like?: A TMA Speculation)). Suffice to say I might be a bit of a TMA fan. Also, spoilers for TMP up until episode 10. You can read my ramblings on the last episode here (Episode 10 TMP Quick Thoughts).

However, Protocol offers a very unique opportunity and experience for me because I didn’t actually get into TMA until after it was over and I binged all of it. So this is my first time experiencing something even remotely similar to what the original TMA fans probably experienced when waiting for each episode week by week and slowly having to put everything together with the limited information they had. So I decided to throw my hat into the ring since this might be my only chance to do something similar. However, I’m working on some longer form TMA content so I can’t spend as much time on these articles giving a bunch of super detailed thoughts. I will try to keep these short and that inevitably might mean some could have questions about why I think or predict certain things and in those cases I would probably recommend you read at least some of the two articles I mentioned above to get a better idea of where I’m coming from. This also means I won’t be giving you a play-by-play of every single thing that happens in the episode so I encourage you to listen to or read them yourselves and feel free to comment if you feel something is important.

These reviews are probably going to end up focusing mostly on the Entities and their manifestations as they are what I have thought about the most and spent the most time interpreting and there’s been a lot of… interesting theories floating around about how the Entities are manifesting that I want to go over.

Finally, I’m just going to say it right now, spoiler warning for all of The Magnus Archives. I know that Jon and co said one could start with Protocol and be fine, and while that’s probably true, media like this tends to be made in conversation with or take into consideration what came before it in the irl chronology in order to connect them. While I’m sure you could skip The Magnus Archives, I don't really see the point of skipping over it when we are already getting characters from TMA showing up in TMP in Protocol. So to me it’s pretty clear that if we want to understand the full picture of TMP and all the things it is trying to say then we can’t just try to pretend TMA doesn’t exist or scrub it away. Just because you could understand what’s happening without the context in broad strokes doesn’t mean you're getting all the nuances.

These articles are meant to be quick and short so sorry if there’s typos and if I don’t address every possible question or possibility. I don’t want to repeat myself too much in this series outside of the prologue so be sure to skim some of my other articles.

Episode 11 “Marked”

And we are back, baby. I’ve actually started writing this literally the second after I finished listening to the episode. I was originally planning to wait until the weekend to write this but I’ve become so excited I can’t help myself, and Rusty Quill has been on top of posting the transcripts when the episodes comes out.

As always, the episode is being told to us through some sort of device. In this case we cut to Celia via her phone. The transcripts make it clear what’s happening “A busy motorway nearby. CELIA is asleep on grass. She starts to make slightly distressed noises as she stirs. A lorry roars past nearby and she awakes with a start.” She obviously seems frustrated upon realizing something has happened again but she realizes something as she begins to pat herself down looking for her phone or some other (most likely communication) device.

CELIA

“(to herself) Yes! Ok, phone in the pocket works. She starts tapping the screen.”

CELIA

“(to herself) If it had signal. She sighs in helpless frustration.”

CELIA

“Shit.” She stretches and starts trudging off towards the motorway.

CELIA

“Hold on, Jack, I’m on my way.”

Celia probably comes from or has some relation to the TMA universe but what this entire situation has to do with it, if anything, is beyond me. I don’t know who Jack is and Celia implies that this entire situation has happened before. It is once again confirmed however that whatever is listening through all the electronic devices in TMP doesn’t need said devices to have wi-fi or internet connection to be able to do so. Which was further emphasized by the fact that it was capable of listening through a tape recorder last episode.

Now that I think about it, did Celia need the phone for communication or some other thing. It’s possible that she was trying to access something like a GPS or online map to figure out where she was or where to go but it’s unclear. I can’t say if Celia implying this has happened before means she has woken up at this exact spot or random areas in general. Considering her questions to Sam about multiversal and time travel I wonder if she attempted some sort of experiment which led to her appearing in this location. Is Celia trying to get somewhere in particular? Maybe she’s trying to get back to the TMA universe or maybe she’s trying to get somewhere new?

We cut to the OIAR offices via one of the computers. I consider the interaction we witness in this scene to be another enlightening one about some of the possible dynamics at play in the OIAR workplace. Alice clearly cares strongly about Sam and they like to tease each other a lot. Sam seems a bit down about finding no clues about the Magnus Institute and Alice tries to cheer Sam up. The two talk about where Celia and Gwen are but neither knows where they are. It makes sense that they would wonder since Gwen seems like a stickler for rules and it seems weird that about half the people working in this office have disappeared with no notice. Gwen brought Sam and Celia coffee while also mentioning “I’ve got a mocha for Celia and I was really looking forward to pretending I “accidentally” forgot to order Gwen anything.” Once again, highlighting how antagonistic their relationship is and how Alice can go beyond just simple teasing and towards just being outright hostile or mean toward Gwen.

Alice seems extremely nervous and mentions “ just… I dunno. When I left the coffee shop, it felt like someone was following me.” Sam jokes “Sounds like maybe you were more bothered by that “soggy ruin” than you admit.” but Alice asks him not to joke about it, which shows that she’s extremely rattled. This level of fear from being watched sort of parallels the Institute in TMA with how Jon was scared from a feeling of being watched in the Institute. In MAG 39 (Infestation) Jon says “Because I’m scared, Martin!. Because when I record these statements it feels… it feels like I’m being watched.” However, it’s clear that what Alice is probably feeling is related to whatever escaped from the Institute in the last episode. I wonder if that being is somehow connected to The Eye. It is an Entity connected to both the fear of being watched and even followed or stalked. Not to mention the creature came from the Institute, a faction that was at least aligned with The Eye in TMA.

However, there’s an argument that this could just as easily be something related to The Spiral, Stranger, Hunt, or some other Entity entirely. The Institute had dealings with all kinds of Entities, not just The Eye. The most obvious example of this is their Artifact Storage, which collected objects connected to various Entities. So it’s possible this is some other Entity’s Monster or Avatar that was being sealed and / or researched. Considering all the alchemical undertones I even have to wonder if it’s some sort of artificial creation like some kind of homunculus.

Sam offers to walk with Alice home, to which she appreciates, and they get to work categorizing their statements. We follow the statement that Sam is listening to as exposited by CHESTER.

This statement comes from emails being sent from Gordon J to Alison Leshi regarding “Padstow civil cemetery exhumations.” In case you don’t know, an exhumation is “the action of digging up something buried, especially a corpse.” Gordon starts off by explaining to Alison that everything is going as planned, despite the sudden cold snap, due to proper planning. He also says “We also did some load testing of the ground near the cliff edge, and it looks like there’s only a few graves where the erosion means we won’t be able to use the Bobcat, and that’s few enough that my boys can do that by hand.” The first few days of this project have gone smoothly and David, their medical examiner, seems happy with their precautions.

Gordon mentions “with all the precautions we’re taking, and while we’ve certainly had our fair share of lookie-loos, there’s not been any sign of the protestors you were so concerned about stirring up. I guess it helps that no-one’s been buried here for over a hundred years, so it’s not like we’re pulling up granddad. The sailors sleeping here haven’t seen mourners since Queen Vic.” I think Gordon raising the possibility that there could be protestors is interesting. I wonder if it’s simply the fact that people might be upset at the destruction of these graves or if there’s some other reason? For example, someone might see it as an important historical site or maybe they view this project as harming the environment in some way? If you want a more supernatural reason, it could be that someone is afraid that disturbing the site could anger someone / something?

Gordon gets more personal and talks about how this job means a lot to them. They say “I know we can’t have been the cheapest company to put in a bid, but as local lads we’ve been coming to this graveyard all our lives (even if just to sneak some booze as stupid teenagers), and now that the cliff’s finally giving up the ghost (if you’ll pardon the pun), it feels right for us to be the ones taking it apart.” I looked up the phrase “giving up the ghost” and it seems like it can refer to “to stop trying to do something because you know that you will not succeed.”

Gordon says they’ll get back to Alison when the job is done but they send an email earlier than expected due to some unforeseen circumstances, and apparently David told Gordon to update Alison on the circumstances despite the fact that Gordon thinks it shouldn’t throw off their current schedule. They encountered some human remains that seem like they are in quite good condition. “...for context, the containers they’re buried in are of really varied quality. I’d say just under half were buried in decent coffins that are still in good enough shape to remove and transport unopened. For others though, the wood has rotted to the point where it’s pretty much impossible to keep the boxes together and some were just wrapped in oil cloth. This means we’re seeing, touching and moving a lot of human remains directly. Don’t worry, this isn’t about a health and safety thing – we have all the right gear and David’s making sure we follow procedure. It’s just that one of the graves had a body in that was too well-preserved for the age it should have been. Or at least, most of the skin was in extremely good condition. The back was completely covered in this complicated tattoo of a ship sailing across an open sea towards an open horizon. It was really impressive.” Take note of the tattoo since this isn’t the first time we’ve encountered a complex and very visually impressive tattoo in TMP and it’s going to come up again in this very episode.

David says that they need a second opinion and some tests since if the bodies have been buried more recently than 1908 it would mean that the cemetery is technically a crime scene for legal reasons. Gordon also mentions that the graves have been getting to him with “I’ll be honest though, I’m glad of the break. Taking up all these graves is starting to get to me a bit. I almost feel sorry for doing it. The waves are so close and getting closer. If I were a sailor buried here, I’d take some comfort in that. As you can see I’m getting morbid. Short break will do us all some good I think. Will update you when I hear word.” These feelings seem like they could relate to either The Vast, The Buried, or The End with the themes of coffins and being buried in a grave potentially tying into The Buried or End but the vast ocean possibly connecting to The Vast. But let’s keep going.

David starts acting weird and Gordon asks Alison to give David a nudge for the sake of the project. “He’s still working on that body we found and he’s stopped responding to my emails. I got him on the phone, but to be honest he doesn’t sound like he’s in any real rush to complete the job and while he’s worrying about salt water and tattoos, we’re out here sat on our hands and I’m paying the lads by the day. It’s almost enough to make you dream of sailing away for real. Like that poor fella’s tattoo. Saying that, I had another look at the photos David attached and I’m starting to think I might have been wrong about it. When I first looked, I thought it was hopeful, a crew sailing towards the sunrise. But looking again, the sun is lower than I thought, and there’s a shape in the water behind the ship. I think they’re being chased by something. Creepy eh?” So Gordon’s dream of sailing away could potentially point to The Lonely, especially given that the Entity also has a connection to the ocean and ships with Peter Lukas and the Tundra, but the whole being chased could relate to The Hunt. While Entities do chase things all the time I could see the fear of sharks or some large sea creature attempting to chase you as potentially relating to The Hunt. However, it could also potentially relate to The Vast with the idea of something massive lurking in the water, like a kraken or whale. There’s also an argument for something like The Dark with something emerging in the night as the sun sets. Well, assuming that the sun in the tattoo is setting and not rising.

And here’s where the tattoo thing comes up again. Gordon says “Oh, and speaking of tattoos, you remember you wanted an update on local sentiment about the move? Well, I don’t know if this counts as resistance – hell, I don’t even know if they’re local – but there’s someone started poking around the site asking questions. Big snake tattoo up their arm and a bunch of other ink. Wouldn’t give their name, but claims to be a big deal “online”. Don’t really know what that means, but they’ve been asking questions about the body.” The person with the “big snake tattoo” up their arm has a description that almost perfectly matches Ink5 from episode 2 (Making Adjustments). When Daria describes Ink5oul (Pronounced Inksoul) she notes that they had “an absolutely gorgeous floral serpent design running up their arm and into their neck that was so vivid it looked ready to slither off their skin and onto the chair.” It’s clear that Ink5 probably has an interest in tattoos, like the one Gordon saw on the body. This person also mentions that they are a big deal online, which would be true if this is Ink5 since we know that Ink5 is a famous tattoo artist online and even does streams. This could even explain why the person in question didn’t give their name since if it was Ink5 we are only aware of their online username. Gordon even mentions that Ink5 said “...the tattoo is an “Oscar Jarrett”, and that’s a big deal to some folks in that community – something to with Sutherland Macdonald whoever that is. Dunno if that’s quite what you were worried about but thought you’d want to know.”

`I did some light research and Oscar Jarrett doesn’t seem like a style or type of tattoo. Which points to the idea that Oscar is a person. Considering all the tattoos we are saying Oscar might be comparable to Smirke in some ways. In the sense that in the same way there was special Smirkean architecture there could be special Jarettian tattoos if that makes any sense. Tattoos that are designed to have supernatural effects of some kind. It’s also possible that Oscar simply learned and taught some kind of supernatural technique, kind of like the techniques that The Boneturner’s Tale could grant someone in TMA or how Martin sort of ended up learning how to “disappear” by following Peter Lukas’ attempt to connect him to The Lonely. Oscar Jarrett and Ink5 are definitely people to look out for in the future. Sutherland Macdonald surprisingly did yield actual search results. He is apparently “a prominent English tattoo artist in the late 19th century and early 20th century, and the first tattooist in Britain with an identifiable premises open to the public.” This makes Sutherland notable for the same reason someone like Smirke might have been in TMA. A historical figure who somehow learned and / or spread knowledge about the Entities. Again, it’s possible that there are Macdonald style tattoos in the same way there is Smirke style architecture. It could also be that the Oscar Ink5 is referring to is in fact the body with the tattoo that Gordon found and Gordon just doesn’t know what they are referring to. It could also be that there are multiple tattoo artists or Oscar is some student or follower of Sutherland in the same way people like Jonah, Maxwell Rayner, and Mordechai Lukas all had a connection to Smirke via being students or associates. In some characters even explicitly got the idea of possible rituals from Smirke and his research, despite the fact that most weren’t concerned with Smirke’s ideals of balancing the Powers.

Gordon considers calling the police on Ink5 due to how much the tattoo artist seems to be creeping Gordon and their team out but Gordon decides not to as to avoid potential backlash from the public. Gordon’s next email involves him giving condolences in regards to David, which implies that the reason he was taking so long with the reports was due to an untimely death at some point. I wonder if David’s death was related to something he came across on the bodies? It could be that there was some artifact or one of the bodies was actually alive? It could also be that if something is indeed up with the tattoos then the tattoos themselves may have had some sort of effect on David? Did Ink5 kill David? Was David the person Mr. Bonzo was sent to target in order to create some sort of opening for Ink5?

Gordon apologizes for the perceived unprofessionalism and says “My thoughts and opinions on maritime matters will no longer be included in my emails. In addition, I should be most grateful if you could see fit to provide myself with appropriate authorisations to contact the medical examiner’s offices to follow up with the cadaver that has been causing such consternation.” Based on Gordon’s next email it seems like Alison thought Gordon was making fun of them or acting condescending since Gordie states “Look, I was not “making fun of you” but I’m not sure what you want. I’m emailing an employer about my work and am getting accused of my emails being “unprofessional”. That’s the best I can manage. I haven’t been sleeping much recently. Weird dreams. Shapes in the water and that. And before you say that it’s “unprofessional” to tell you that I’m just giving an explanation, That’s all. I need you to contact the examiner again, he’s dragging his feet. Besides, I want to see the body again. I dug him up, he’s my responsibility. I just need to see it. I need to know what’s in the water.” Considering the possible change in behavior I wonder if Alison encountered something that made them scared and afraid of people not taking them seriously. I wouldn’t be surprised if Alison and / or David get their own statements in the future.

Gordon also mentions a lack of sleep due to “Weird dreams. Shapes in the water and that.” and also mentions “Besides, I want to see the body again. I dug him up, he’s my responsibility. I just need to see it. I need to know what’s in the water.” This desire to know and see something actually parallels an Entity like The Eye. The Eye, as I end up saying in every article, isn’t merely the fear of being watched but also being the watcher or seeing something you don’t want to. In MAG 200 The Eye is mentioned as having been born from the fear of one’s eyes showing them too much, and Gertrude mentions that The Eye is connected to a desire to know and understand even if in trying to do so you get hurt in the process. These themes also explain why Jonah can force information into the heads of people like Melanie and Martin. It’s the idea of knowing too much or being forced to witness things. Due to this The Eye also has a connection to, and tendency for cultivating, curiosity. Jonah mentions doing so to Jon with certain statements and we know he purposefully left files and information out to stoke Rosie’s more “nosy” personality traits. The Institute itself also sort of acts like bait for The Eye by attracting people looking for answers or closure via the information in its Archives or statements. Jon can also force people to give statements and thus make them relive and recount terrible events so that he can listen to them.

I’m bringing this up now because while I don’t think that what Gordon is going through is connected to The Eye the themes I am talking about will come up later anyway. Entities like The Eye also like to try to prey on the curiosity of people. I’m not saying Gordon is unjustified in being curious (even if I do find some of the behavior obviously strange) but that certain Entities have a precedent for preying on certain emotions or behaviors (like the desire to chase for The Hunt or anger for The Slaughter. No matter how justified that behavior may or may not be doesn’t always matter). You could also potentially relate some other parts of the statement to themes of The Eye. Most notably, the fear that protestors or other people might be observing the dig site, and the fear of being judged by the public. You could even point to Gordon sharing “too much” info to Alison with all the weird thoughts he’s having. Well, Alison seems to not like it, I’m not trying to say Gordon is crossing any sort of technical line or is even unjustified.

Gordon’s next email is titled “Examiner’s office break in” and Gordon insists that it was not him who broke into the examiner’s office and that Ink5 did it. “I saw them hanging around the office when I was waiting. Waiting so long just to see it, just to know what’s in the water. And they took it. They think they’re smart, but I saw them I know where they’re staying and if they think they deserve it they’re wrong. It belongs to the deep. I’m going to go get it and I’m going to find it and if they try and stop me I swear the ocean will claim us all. I can taste the salt and spray. It’s waiting in the water.” Once again a desire to know what’s in the water and the fact that Gordon is defensive of the idea that they might have broken into the office shows that Gordon is afraid what they said earlier about wanting to obtain the bodies might paint them as a suspect. The statement ends with

To: Alison Leshi ([email protected])

From: Gordon J ([email protected])

Date: January 20th 2020.

Subject: Re: Re: Examiner’s office

break-in

There was a problem delivering your

message to “[email protected]”

This email address is no longer in

service.

This statement is a little interesting because it feels like a lot of the stuff is more passive or in the background. For example, while Gordon is perturbed, Ink5 doesn’t attack or tattoo them directly. Gordon’s thoughts and feelings about the water could connect to various Entities. Most notably, all the water stuff could connect to the Vast, Buried, or Lonely. All 3 of these Entities have a notable connection to either water or the ocean. The Vast via the fear of large things with the immensity of the ocean as well as the things the could be in it, The Buried with the feeling of drowning or being trapped / crushed underwater, and The Lonely via boating and how isolated being alone on the open ocean can make you. Gordon’s desire to sail away could relate to The Lonely or The Vast while his comment about wanting to be Buried in the graveyard could be connected to well… The Buried. Not to mention his desire to put the supposed corpse back where it belongs, in the grave, could also relate to The Buried.

If I had to pick the most likely Entities here I would argue The Buried and Vast. If I had to chose between the two I would have to say the Buried. The Vast does have an emphasis on the depp ocean, and Simon Fairchild even attempted to perform a ritual using a submarine and the deep ocean, but Gordon’s desire to bury the bodies seems at least somewhat similar to Hezekiah Wakely in MAG 152 (A Gravedigger’s Entity) and his desire to make sure that people stay in their graves. In the statement Hezekiah mentions “To my mind there are far worse fates. But he has in his head an idea to begin fitting the graves I dig with these new “safety bells” that he has heard of, so that any as might be alive below ground might signal us above for rescue. I dread the idea. If it had been me in that coffin, destined for the peace below ground, I can think of little that I would hate more than the jarring, clanging of a bell pulling me from my rest.” and he also mentions weird dreams with “I had a dream, then. I dreamt a rain had come. A terrible bitter rain that chilled my bones and turned the soil around me dark and sodden. The walls grew damp and slippery, their firm shape lost as they began to slip and crumble. And then all at once they collapsed, the grave filling in a moment with a wave of mud and wet dirt. In a single terrible moment of utter terror, it was atop and around me, covering my face and filling my lungs with its awful choking sod.”

While the emphasis on the deep could easily relate to The Vast, one of The Buried’s nicknames is actually “Forever Deep Below.” So someone referring The Buried as “The Deep” or something similar would not be without precedent, especially given its connection to drowning, being trapped underwater, and deep water in general. Gordon also says “It belongs to the deep. I’m going to go get it and I’m going to find it and if they try and stop me I swear the ocean will claim us all. I can taste the salt and spray.” which could imply that in a way they believe the ocean will bury everything. You could easily relate some of this to The Vast with the idea that the ocean has existed longer and will outlast the erosion of the land.

One part I actually really liked in TMA, despite how little it came up overall, is all the different names people would use to refer to the same Entity(s). So I wonder if, assuming the existing Entities are around in some capacity, Entities like The Buried will be referred to with different names in the Protocol universe. It wouldn’t surprise me if people started referring to an Entity like The Buried as “The Deep” for example due to the idea of being trapped deep underground or in the ocean.

Like always, there are some overlapping themes that seem similar to other Entities. The tattoo possibly depicting sailors getting chased could relate to The Hunt, I already mentioned some possibilities with The Eye, and the emphasis on graves, and dead bodies could parallel The End.

Ink5's appearance in this statement is forcing me to consider some things. I maintain that the statement in episode 2 screams “This is The Flesh”, or at least something similar to that Entity, and I believed Ink5 to be connected to The Flesh. But I remember someone also raising the idea that the effects of Ink5 tattoos could vary, which I considered a very likely possibility since Ink5 doesn’t start tattooing until they are inspired by Daria mentioning that they are an artist. Implying that Ink5 was working off of inspiration and what they make and potentially even the effects of the tattoos could vary from person to person. If this is true that could mean Ink5 is more like Smirke and isn’t directly connected to (or loyal to) a single Entity, or Ink5 could be connected to multiple Entities somehow. Maybe the specific tattoo they gave Daria was connected to The Flesh in the same way Smirke’s architecture was connected to the Entities in a way Smirke himself wasn’t always. It’s still very possible that Ink5 somehow is connected to The Flesh but is also capable of interacting with aspects of other Entities somehow.

We cut back to the OIAR office and Sam also notices the topic of tattoos having come up again and asks Alice if there is a way to cross reference cases.

ALICE

“And? You already know the page to check the scores.”

SAM

“Yeah… but I just thought it might be worth noting somewhere that they might be linked. There’s this tattooist, and I think they might be”

ALICE

“What have I told you about thinking?”

SAM

“Don’t?”

ALICE

“That’s right.” Alice sighs.

ALICE

“(cont.) I don’t think there’s any way to mark cases as connected. They all come in standalone, that’s just how it works.”

Once again Alice’s whole “don’t think about it” vibe. I would argue the whole idea of “ignorance is bliss” and how knowing too much can hurt or scare you often relates to The Eye. I would argue that the OIAR or the computers are probably connected to The Eye, given all the statements and other stuff I mentioned previously, but I’m not saying Alice or Sam are secret Eye Avatars or something. What I'm trying to say is that The Eye likes to prey on certain behaviors, such as curiosity or a desire for answers, and Alice and Sam might have these traits. We know, for example, that Jon and Tim both ended up at the Institute because they were looking for answers about an encounter they had previously.

Alice sighing and then proceeding to honestly indulge Sam’s question is interesting and I think is another implication that Alice is probably more curious than she lets on. Realistically, she has probably been burned from having a similar mindset to Sam or seeing someone else asking too many questions but she consistently ends up indulging Sam’s curiosity or giving honest answers anyway, instead of simply shutting it down and moving on. There have also been times where Alice is noted as listening to something in the transcripts “despite herself.” Implying that sometimes she can’t help herself or her curiosity gets the better of her.

All the cases being sent in standalone sort of parallels the Institute in TMA and how disorganized the Archives were when Jon was using them (due to Gertrude). Even in TMA the statements would sometimes have recurring characters but they weren’t organized by topic or people involved in the case. The most we tend to get about the organization system of the statements is that it’s usually just sorted by date (which could be confusing if two statements have the same date) and sometimes follow-ups on cases were performed for more info and context. So obtuse organization systems that make it harder to connect various details or events aren’t unusual for TMA.

I also once again have to wonder if Sam is being shown certain events on purpose in order to stoke his curiosity or to get him to do certain things. I find the idea that literally every statement is random to be dubious but that doesn’t mean literally every statement is handpicked. Which makes me wonder, once again, what Sam and co’s jobs are meant to accomplish. Are they just supposed to be “an archive of fear” and witness terrible events or someone someone / something doing anything with the information or statements they are given or categorize?

Gwen enters the room and she seems to be in pretty bad shape since Alice says “Christ on a peddlebike, what happened to you?” and Gwen says “(setting up at her desk) Tube was delayed. Points failure.” Gwen also mentions that she had trouble sleeping, but Alice doesn’t seem to waste any time making fun of Gwen despite Gwen’s sorry state. Alice doesn’t seem to spare Gwen any of the concern she has shown characters like Sam and Colin. Sam tries to get Alice to ease up on Gwen but Alice doesn’t seem to let off the ribbing. Gwen eventually notices the third coffee Alice had gotten for Celia but mistakenly assumes that the third cup of coffee was for her.

GWEN

“(cont’d) (surprised) Hang on, did you get me a coffee?”

ALICE

“Uhh…

SAM

“Yeah. You like mocha?”

GWEN

“Yes. She takes the coffee carefully.’

GWEN

“Thank you, Alice.’

ALICE

“I… Sure. Whatever. Don’t get used to it. A slightly awkward silence.’

This interaction makes me wonder about some of the aspects of their relationship. Celia bursts into the room and Gwen grills her for being late (despite the irony of Gwen herself running late).

CELIA

“Sorry, sorry! I know, I know – there was an emergency at home I had to I’m sorry I’m late!”

GWEN

“Do you have any idea what the time is?”

ALICE

“I’m sorry, are you joking right now?”

GWEN

“I have responsibilities now, Alice. I need more of an explanation than just a “home emergency”.”

ALICE

“You arrived literally one minute ago!”

GWEN

“And I gave a full explanation for my lateness. Which, I might add, I didn’t actually need to do for a subordinate.’

CELIA

“It’s fine really’

ALICE

“No, it’s not. You don’t owe her anything! In fact, you should take her coffee as reparation.’

CELIA

“One of my radiators sprung a leak and flooded the lounge.’

GWEN

“I see. Well that’s understandable but don’t let’s make a habit of it shall we?”

CELIA

“Of course.’

GWEN

“See, that wasn’t so painful, was it Alice?’

Alice takes a breath for a devastating putdown.

SAM

“Let it go.”

ALICE

exhales and sips her coffee instead.

GWEN

“Luckily, I don’t think Lena’s noticed, so you should be ok. She’s not as laid back as I am.”

Alice chokes a little.

CELIA

“Good to know.”

GWEN

“Great, well if that’s everything you all really should get to work otherwise you’ll never get out of here. Don’t let me keep you.”

ALICE

“(muttered) I’d like to see you try…”

GWEN

“(already departing) I’ll be in Lena’s office if you need me. She walks off.”

CELIA

“You ok, Alice? It honestly doesn’t bother me.”

ALICE

“I can’t believe she drank your mocha!”

So it kind of seems like Gwen is immediately letting her new promotion go to her head a bit and has already taken the role of a stern boss. However, based on Gwen’s reaction when talking with Lena later and how shaken she is from Mr. Bonzo, it’s very likely that this is Gwen’s way of coping or trying to deal with stress and fear (not that it’s at all healthy). Gwen’s behavior seems to rub Alice the wrong way, especially since it easily comes off as hypocritical since Gwen was also running late. The only difference being that Gwen is now Celia’s superior. This whole situation makes me wonder if any particular person is specifically at fault for Gwen and Alice’s sour relationship. Sure, Alice does come off as extremely mean to Gwen but I wonder if Gwen did something in particular, tried to strong arm Alice, or something else.

Gwen does appreciate the hypothetical gesture of Alice buying her coffee and it’s weird that despite all their bickering Gwen seems to immediately assume that the fact the coffee is for her and from Alice is a likely possibility. I wonder if Gwen has a different view of their relationship or just doesn’t care? In a previous episode Gwen mentions that Alice left “talkers” on to mess with her but I wonder if Alice simply left the statements running so she wouldn’t have to listen to the voices talking and Gwen merely assumed it had to do with her. This could point to the possibility that Gwen has a bad habit of assuming things are about her sometimes or even being a bit self-centered but I’m not sure. It is still possible Alice did in fact leave talkers to mess with her. I wonder if they had a more amicable relationship in the past? I also if Gwen does genuinely think of herself as being more lenient or forgiving than Lena and, by extension, sees herself as tossing Celia a bone.

Gwen leaves the others to their work and goes to talk with Lena. Gwen is clearly upset by her encounter with Mr. Bonzo. Gwen insists that the thing she saw couldn’t have been Mr. Bonzo because Bonzo is just a character played by a guy in a suit. Not to mention that the Mr. Bonzo at Nigel’s house apparently had skin, and appeared both sagging and sweaty. Lena assures Gwen that this was in fact Mr. Bonzo by saying “...He is one of our Externals” and “I’ll grant you that Mr. Bonzo is one of our more… obviously grotesque Externals but I assure he is a valued asset.” This implies that not all the Externals the OIAR works with are as monstrous as Mr. Bonzo. Which could mean that the organization works with various Avatars and Monsters, or at least some of the Monsters they do work with are more humanoid (similar to how the Distortion took on the appearance and personalities of people like Michael and Helen).

GWEN

I thought he was going to kill me!

LENA

“But he didn’t, which means you’ve passed the first part of your probation. Congratulations. Did you scream?”

GWEN

“What? No!”

LENA

“You should. It really helps one cope with the more affronting aspects of the job. And they usually like it.”

GWEN

“What was in that envelope I gave him?”

LENA

“A name and an address.”

GWEN

“But for who?”

LENA

“I’m sure you’ve already worked that out. But just in case you haven’t, keep an eye on the case loads over the next few days. It should become abundantly clear.”

GWEN

“I don’t understand.”

LENA

“Yes, you do.”

GWEN

“But… why?”

LENA

““Why” comes later. For now, it’s best you try to process the “what”. I’ll let you know when I have another liaison assignment for you.”

GWEN

“(defeated) I… Ok.”

Gwen opens the door.

LENA

“Oh, and Gwen?”

GWEN

“Yes?”

LENA

“Get some sleep. You look dreadful. Gwen closes the door.”

So here, Lena outright admits that Gwen could’ve died. Last episode I wondered if Nigel apologized to Gwen in case Gwen ended up hurt or killed. Lena’s comment about screaming confirms once again that the Entities are probably still feeding off of fear. We know from TMA that while a lack of fear can keep you safe, displaying fear only for it to wane overtime can cause the Entities followers or monsters to get bored or unsatisfied and just attack you directly if they know that doing so will make you scared.

The fact that Lena says that Gwen should know who’s address and name was in the letter given to Bonzo makes me wonder. It’s possible Lena knows that Gwen simply checked the letter out of curiosity or came across some statement with clues. It’s also possible that at least some of the statements the OIAR gets are somehow related to the organization’s Externals. Lena even says “I’m sure you’ve already worked that out. But just in case you haven’t, keep an eye on the case loads over the next few days. It should become abundantly clear.” Which could imply that at least some of the statements Gwen and her coworkers (I mean subordinates) sift through could have to do with the OIAR’s externals. Maybe it’s the OIAR’s way of following up on their agents or checking the results of their assignments? Or maybe it’s how the OIAR decides where and when to send their Externals? It could also just be The Eye feeding off of the fear present in statements again (something we know it’s prone to do). It could be that the Externals do their job and The Eye or some other Entity squeezes some extra fear out of what they do by archiving things related to the job. Is the OIAR working with others to try to start another mass ritual, or is it trying to stop possible rituals? Maybe their goal has something to do with some of the alchemical symbols present in TMP (such as the logo)?

Lena comes off as extremely cold in this interaction and it’s clear that Lena’s earlier assessment of Gwen might be right, Gwen is not at all prepared for this and doesn’t exactly know what she’s getting into. But this also makes me wonder what happened to the previous Externals Liaison. Did they die? Did they get promoted / demoted? Are there other Liaisons Gwen hasn’t met yet? If there aren’t who was communicating with things like Mr. Bonzo before Gwen took the position? Was Lena just delivering the letters herself? As always, there’s a lot of questions.

Conclusion

There’s a lot of stuff up in the air but currently whatever is going on with the Externals has grabbed my curiosity the most. Mostly in regards to what they could be doing and why. Is Ink5 an External? Was Mr. Bonzo sent to take care of David to make an opening for Ink5 or was Mr. Bonzo sent somewhere else that will show up in a later statement? Most of the stuff I say are possibilities I’m raising but my current guesses about what’s going on are 1. Smirke’s 14 is still around in some capacity (The Extinction could be too, but there’s no evidence one way or the other for that Entity being around) and these Entities are probably the same ones from TMA (if not they are extraordinarily similar) 2. Celia is probably from the TMA universe or at least has some connection to it 3. The OIAR is probably connected to an Entity like The Eye 4. For whatever reason the OIAR (and potentially other parts of the government) are working with various factions tied to the Entities. Whether they are using these monsters and people to fight more dangerous threats or for some other reason I cannot say. Maybe they are trying to set up a new ritual where all the Entities hold equal power? Or maybe they are actually trying to stop future rituals / threats? Who knows.

#TMA #TMAGP #The Magnus Archives #The Magnus Protocol #Theory

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ferciul · 4 months

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Hello! Have you read Lookism, Chapter 433? In this chapter, after seeing Daniel's original body's new look, his family gets surprised. I wanted to request headcanons for Daniel, where he takes his girlfriend with him to introduce her to his family. Can you please write headcanons about his family's reaction after seeing that he has a beautiful (she is more beautiful than Crystal, and she never judges people based on their appearance) and sweet girlfriend, because they never expected that?

Of course I have ! Though a little warning.. i don't exactly know how to write some of the characters . .

─── THEIR REACTIONS !?

Daniel Park's family reaction.. to you; Daniel's girlfriend !! Headcanons, and if it was not obvious, fem reader .

Characters !!

Daniel's Mother

David Park

Dylan Park

Sarah Park

───Daniel's Mother

I just know that she would start complimenting your beauty. She would be a little surprised but brushes it off and starts advising Daniel on treating you well. Would keep smiling at you, happy with how gentle you treat her son. (tbh i dont know exactly how to write this one.. up to your interpretation ! !)

───David Park

mfka would start getting nervous.. both him and Dylan would start looking at you; i mean, the kid they bullied for being a short stack now has an extremely beautiful girlfriend, before any of them do. Probably would try to flirt with you but he gave up once he remembered that Daniel is literally beefed up now . David's parent would be surprised, but since they don't want to to look like losers, they would start bring up some weird achievements David got . . like how he got into a ton dating reality shows but never became official with any of the participants..

───Dylan Park

Would try to act cool in front of you (he looked weird asl) . Due to you being higher than literally almost everyone (except for Daniel), Dylan gave up on trying to be cool and starts going behind the house to hide himself so you don't see his losercore behavior . . as for his parents, again like David's, they would bring up on how he's literally famous bla bla bla for some type of boring stuff, etc..

───Sarah Park

Is not surprised. She already guessed that Daniel was gonna get a girlfriend anytime soon so, this was great news for her. Why is it great news to her? Because there's another girl that is similar to her, beautiful, and she can talk about things that she can't usually talk about when it's only Daniel, Dylan, and David around. Likes you a lot due to how she doesn't have to deal with an obnoxious personality like Dylan's or David's. Would also immediately start asking for username on every socials .

i have a terrible stomachache.. this was extremely lazy imo 😭 maybe I'll extend this in the future once I'm better . . .

#lookism webtoon #lookism #lookism manhwa #lookism headcanons #daniel park #headcanon #my headcanons #hcs

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gay-disabled-characters-showdown · 1 month

Text

LGBTQ+ Disabled Characters Showdown Round 1, Wave 2, Poll 16

A character being totally canon LGBTQ+ and disabled was not required to be in this competition. Please check qualifications and propaganda before asking why a character is included.

Check out the other polls in this wave and prior here.

Wayne Terrisborn-Mistborn

Qualifications:

He's canonically disabled in that he has PTSD and kleptomania, which are quite evident in the text and confirmed by word-of-god anyway. He's also very neurodivergent coded in other ways--headcanons for autism, ADHD, and BPD would all have lots of supporting evidence. He isn't canonically queer in a cut-and-dry sense, but saying he's queer wouldn't just be fanon either (though it generally is that); basically, he's canonically gnc and likes to crossdress sometimes, and for various reasons the way he thinks and talks about that is more 'I decide to be a woman sometimes' than 'I decide to dress as a woman sometimes'. Also, in fanon he's bi/pan, on the canon basis that he loves his ambiguously gendered girlfriend however she's presenting at the moment. Long story short--I wouldn't submit someone as queer if it were simply fanon, regardless of the rules, but I think what he's got going on is quantifiably queer enough that it doesn't matter if there's concrete confirmation of it or not.

Propaganda:

In addition to the above, I would like to note that he's chaos incarnate.

Amaya-The Dragon Prince

Qualifications:

1- Deaf, uses sign language 2- Sapphic, married to a female elf

Deaf and not straight (I don't know if they've mentioned her suxuality in canon, but she's dating a woman)

She is in an explicit relationship with Janai (also female, very very gay) and is deaf.

Amaya is a general of the Katolis army. She is deaf since birth and communicates in sign language. She's the best warrior in the human lands and she is a raging lesbian.

She's Deaf and a lesbian Canonically deaf and engaged to a woman

Propaganda:

Amaya is so cool. This is the only time I have ever seen a memorable Deaf/HOH person on a children's tv show. Her disability is dealt with really well. She isn't pitied for it. On the contrary, she's a fricking general! Did I mention she's cool? In terms of queer stuff, she's married to a literal queen (actually I haven't seen the show in a while, so its at the very least a queen-adjacent figure), and they're so cute together and every time I see them it makes me stim. Also she's just a really great character in general (no pun intended). Like, she will hunt you down and kill you if you so much as give her nephew a papercut. She's such a badass like genuinely.

She's a knight and a cool aunt and I love her!

Amaya and her partner, Janai, are the classic enemies-to-lovers couple. Amaya, although deaf, does not let her disability stop her from being the best soldier of her kingdom and has rightfully taken the position of general. She's so badass, but also kind and loving. She's just amazing.

As I said before, she is a raging badass lesbian who is engaged to the queen of Sunfire Elves, who is also the best warrior in this elven nation. Her fiancee is learning sign language for her. They are so in love it physically hurts!!!!

I'm bad at the propaganda thing but I'll give it a try She uses ASL and has an interpreter she's close to. She's also a General of her home kingdom... up until she gets captured by an enemy princess and falls in love. Now that princess is a queen, and as of the last episode they're engaged to be married. Also they share a bed and multiple kisses onscreen.

Is a badass fighter, determined, fiercely protects those she loves

Anything Else?:

I LOVE HER SO MUCH

The qualifications and propaganda paragraphs correspond, @yurayuramiharin is the fourth submitter, the anything else section is the first submitter.

#polls #poll #disabled characters #lgbtq characters #disability #lgbtq #lgbtq dcs round 1 #lgbtq dcs wave 2 #wayne terrisborn #mistborn #tdp amaya #general amaya #the dragon prince #tdp

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shockwave-princess · 2 years

Text

South Park Concert Night 2! Spoilers + Long Post

The second we got through the main gates to get into the amphitheater - we practically ran into Dian. We were so focused on getting good seats though, we both quickly greeted him and speed walked away 😭. Would have loved to talk to him/get a picture but we were so out of it.

We saw Boogie and Betty again and exchanged waves from across the stage :)

Both nights, Trey would get up and call on a girl named harper or heather or something (it was Betty lol) during the Colorado Farm song. Its a cute moment!

Second night big changes: Governor Polis (Colorado Governor) came out to present Matt and Trey with a certificate declaring August 10th 2022 South Park Day - I might be wrong on the date bc he stuttered on that part lol. But prior to announcing that, he read off of a long script of a bunch of south park references that were tied to Colorado

Other big change: Rush!! Matt was/is a huge fan or Rush, so Trey and the rest of the crew surprised Matt by making him learn a Closer to the Heart. They made him think they were just doing a cover, but then brought out Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson. By far my favorite part of the show, and I am sure I will write a lengthy post when the footage drops bc I have a lot I want to say

Trey gave a shoutout to Anne Garefino, who played a massive part in planning. Unfortunately she has COVID and was unable to come :(

They cut Man Up and a few other Primus/Ween songs they played last night :( Not sure if it was a time issue to make room for the Governor/Rush, or if I heard Matt correctly and they decided to alter the setlist for the crowd. It was mostly rock fans and hippies, so it kind of makes sense that maybe something from Broadway would miss - but I’m just speculating.

It was awesome to see Trey (and other performers) stop every now and then and acknowledge how cool this whole thing was. There were more touching moments tonight, and I think it was great for them to have their whole families, friends, and crew right there.

The backup vocalists killed it! I wish their mics were turned up more when they were supposed to be featured, but they all had great stage presence and were fun to watch. The ASL interpreter was great too!

It’s still so wild to me that I was there!! Like with Matt and Trey?? I am so psyched for the videos. They were both so nice and said they had the best fans in the world - and they gave so much love to Colorado.

#south park concert #south park spoilers #sp spoilers

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deadsh33p · 2 years

Note

I'm very shy about sending asks but do you wanna talk about your version of the Batman rogues? If you don't is fine.

Decided to not do what you asked for and just tell you my batman universe. Since there are many characters, I'll just give a sad abstract for ya.

-I imagine the Batman universe timeline like how Gotham portrayed it: a mix of multiple different years. In this case I focus more on the 1920s, 40s, 90s and 2000.

-Look I understand why Bruce acts playboyish but I love my men goth and pathetic. He is goth and pathetic.

-Even though there were many conflicts, in the end batfamily becomes CANON. They all love each other very much (yes this includes Jason and Damian) (Damian acts like how the batfamily webtoon portrayed him aka not a piece of shit)

-Hyperempathetic Bruce Wayne my beloved.

-Yes Batman spanks the living shit out of his rogues but he has a list of who he thinks has more chance of reabilitating "sooner". Seeing how Harley is getting better, his hopes for Harvey leaving crime comes back AND STRONG.

-Batman and Harley are friends. In their own way.

-Harley acts similarly on how she acted in TNBA: nicer. Though she swears alot.

-She gets along pretty well with the Batfamily (said prior), but with the rogues too. The majority of them.

-She goes to Oswald's house to escape the cops every now and then.

-Obviously she's incredibly close with Ivy, but she gets along really well with Edward. Before Harley met joker (and became Harley Quinn) she was Ed's therapist, til he broke out of arkham. But she feels alot of sympathy for him. Ed is grateful for meeting Harley but he absolutely HATES that she knows everything about him, for obvious reasons.

-Edward dislikes Ivy alot. She hates him too so no probs.

-He streams on twitch and they can't legally ban him because it helps finding where he is.

-Ed avoids killing now. But in his first years as riddler he would do much horrible things. You can say he's "getting better" (he still commits crimes though)

-Kristen is canon here, though she doesn't die.

-The first years being the riddler, he was in an incredibly bad moment in his life. Batman once found him having a breakdown close to his own traps.

-Has autism, OCD, anxiety and schizophrenia. Though this has nothing to do with his crimes.

-The reason why he loathes attention SO MUCH is because of the extreme neglect he suffered through his entire life. Unconciously he is kind of showing in the face of every abuser/bully that he has power now.

-Works with The penguin.

-Oswald is kind of the dad of the rogues, if you interpret it that way. Everyone goes to him for help, being either advice on their personal life or the "please let me hide in your house Batman is going to break my femur" kind of help.

-Adopted Martin (gotham). Learned ASL to understand him better. Martin is a horrible child to everyone (future arsonist) EXCEPT Oswald (he genuinely loved his dad hell yeaah).

-Oswald used to be more aggressive (like in gotham) but over the years he's become more calm. Though if you push him over the edge he WILL put an UMBRELLA over your THROAT.

-For some goddamn reason he's close friends with Ivy.

-Victor Zsasz works for him.

-All of the rouges hates Joker. Every single one. Joker used to be less extreme but he's pushed too farz even fir the villains.

-Batcat canon idfc

-Selina's literally the most chill out of them all. All of the rouges be commiting terrorism and my girl really be here simply stealing pearls like😭 (/lh because my girl IS TALENTED)

-She doesnt gets along much with the rogues in general.

If you have anything specific pls feel free to ask ;)

#long post #text #batman #we reslly be changing info with each other😭im so happy for sharing some stuff #there is more but i dont want this post to get to 10k words yk #ty ty #literally talked abt my faves so i didnt include some like harvey or victor fr//ies #if you havent noticed i simply pick my fave parts of multiple comics/shows and just mix them all together #im a horrible writer bte #*btw

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enigmasong · 1 year

Text

Okay, Film Red: certainly was a lot.

Starting with the negative, because it's easier to quickly articulate than positive:

The fighting choreography was not there - a few nice panels, but otherwise it was bad. But that's okay, because that was Stampede's thing.

I didn't like the pacing of it. But I never like the pacing of movies (full stop), so that's very much just a me problem.

Uta's death at the end just kinda rings hollow to me. Sure, it's sad, but this isn't canon while she. Even if Uta never comes into the manga proper, we can assume she's still basically fine.

Coherent positive thoughts:

Our baby boy, Koby, is all grown up and taking charge! I'm so proud of him.

Uta still does things to me.

---

There are a lot of Things specifically around Luffy that really makes me Think. Basically things that lean towards my current theory that there's a deeper trauma in his past before Shanks that's currently unexplored.

Like, that final scene with him and Uta in the dream world where he's incredibly gloomy to the point where the scene refused to show his face (there doesn't seem to be any indication to me that he knows Uta's dying, but to each their own on that interpretation).

And the lyrics to the World's Continuation, which are made clear to be specifically for him, speak to calming some kind of hidden pain in him as much as it holds hope of her seeing him again.

Also, we saw from the filler episodes how traumatic Uta not returning was to Luffy, to the point where it really seemed to me that he really thought she was dead. And yet here he can barely recall that same moment. Really shows the dark side to his jolly, in the moment vibe - where it can be more of a trauma reflex to avoid thinking about the bad things.

And, I had noticed this with the filler episodes, but chose to wait till I watched this in case it contradicted this, but has anyone else noticed that we've never seen any other children in Windmill village from when Luffy was a child living there?

Like, we see children there now and we even see children there Luffy leaves the village to start his first voyage (in the flashback to it at the end of the ASL arc, there was a kid who asked who Ace was), but none around Luffy at that age.

Now, I get that other children aren't necessarily important to Luffy's storyline at that point, but I'd still expect to see some in the background and at no other island do we feel this lack; Oda even always seems to make sure there is some tangible presence of children in every place that should have them.

It's almost like something happened to all the children of Windmill Village that Luffy wasn't there for. And, assuming I'm right, there's a lot of questions wrapped up in that.

---

And, finally, seeing how Tot Musica actually works with how it's explained in the movie for myself (instead of through a, quite frankly, sub par wiki explanation) does rather solidify my opinion that it could've been another ancient weapon from around the void century apart from the known three.

Like, the only information we actually get on it was how to use and defeat it on the stone relief (and not even fully correct information at that) and the modern people's interpretations of it.

(Also, shout out to this movie putting architectural culture above written records - in this case quite literally - in regards to anthropology. Yeah, books are dandy, but to call them the end all by all of human records is reductive and a mentality that exists purely to push the brain rot of white supremacy.)

I lyrics of the song are full of revolutionary fervor and the relief itself looks very similar to Shandoran stone culture. Not, like, one to one, but like tangential cultures.

And the fact that the relief doesn't just have the information on how to defeat it, but also how to start using it the first place, is certainly very hmm inducing - almost like its framing it as just shutting it off rather than overcoming it.

Edit: oh, and also, it and the Uta-Uta no mi got linked to a particular family name that the Ass-hats 5 said Uta was a blood member of and that was never brought up again in the movie. And, I don't know about you, but that sounds mad sus to me.

Anyway, this is all very speculative. Take it or leave it as you wish.

#one piece #op logs #film red #why make a review when i can jump straight to analyzing and theory crafting?

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nbstevonnie · 10 months

Text

went to see spongebob the musical (in the uk) and i really enjoyed it but i had my suspicions that the broadway / us version was better and i'm watching the pro shot now and it for sure was 😔

thoughts below the cut

i want to be clear that the uk spongebob actor was very good! i was actually uncertain when i saw them in the poster (i thought he might be playing the role too wacky, rather than whimsical), and they totally brought me round. that being said... i'm sorry to say the us guy also TOTALLY blows him out of the water. i won't go into detail but it kind of boils down to, the uk guy "got" spongebob, but the us guy just embodied spongebob down to his core

also again not to be mean (i actually generally make a point of not commenting on specific people cause i wouldn't want them to stumble on it, slim chance though it may be, but. it really was a factor), but the us sandy also blows the uk sandy out of the water. uk sandy definitely did go for a bit of wacky vibe and i just... didn't really buy it as sandy :/

on the flip side, the uk plankton (performed by a drag queen) smashed it so hard. the us plankton is v v v good! if i hadn't seen the uk plankton' y'know? but uk plankton was honestly one of the best parts of the show. the uk costume is also better imo. on the other hand, i think the us show plays a bit more with the smallness of plankton (e.g. the little plankton toy), and it was a shame the uk didn't so much (it really only featured in one moment i can think of)

also, nothing wrong at all with the us patrick, but i did prefer uk patrick (who apparently was on eastenders in the 80s according to the people i was sitting next to?? i was like bro if that's true, they must have been a young kid then cause otherwise they're looking good for their 50s!!)

relatively neutral bc i really enjoyed both versions, but i liked in the uk version how they spelt out B-F-F with their bodies, so i was surprised (and a little sad) it wasn't in the us version. but i liked the us version's letters dancing in the background too. also the uk version spelt out B-F-F in BSL on one rendition (now that i think about it, i think the theatre had one day where they'll do a BSL interpreted performance?) and i really liked that. i'll admit to not being familiar with ASL but i don't think that happened in the us one :(

not a simple sponge amazing in both version - go brendan!

sardine costumes better in uk for sure - much more visually interesting

no night falls joke in the us :(

the sounds in the uk show were really fun (it looks like they went more into the comedy of showing the sounds - a hand just appearing by the microphone to squeak a hamburger dog toy for example 😂) but i'm realising that the us show went more in depth with them - looks like every *single* time spongebob (or another character) moves, the sound effects are right there (which was not the case in the uk - tho it did happen for the big movements).

the uk nailed gary's 'MOW' - the US is a little off tonally imo

mrs puff's outfit in the us is a bit more appropriate i think - you get more of the sense of a pufferfish with the us outfit

the electric skates ON SKATES

the "my leg!" joke (which my sister lamented the lack of in the uk)

i think the spongebob patrick song was more emotional for me personally in the uk - perhaps just because i liked the uk patrick more (subjectively)

i did actually ike the uk avalanche gun more - it blasted air and looked like it actually could cause an avalanche (it was pointed at the audience at one point and it was just to the left of me and i felt this huge blast of air go by me - quite alarming (in a good way!))

the us top of the volcano set - YES

the us mini-sets 🥺 i was sad this wasn't in the uk

the set flowers!!

gary on skateboard!!

#spongebob #spongebob musical

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invisibleraven · 2 years

Note

Fridayyyyyyy

"I dreamt about you." Peterpatterlina

Julie grinned as she looked about her dreamscape, anxious and bouncing on her toes as she waited by the towering willow. This was where she agreed to meet her soulmates last time, so all she had to do was hope they showed up.

"Hi darlin'," came the twangy voice.

"Hi corazon," Julie replied, breathless.

"What, no hi for me?" came the other voice, a chuckle following.

"Hello mi vida, good day today?"

"Better now that I'm with you cherie. And you mon petit chou," he said.

"Man I need to learn another language," the first voice complained. "ASL is no good when you can't see each other. Maybe Morse code?"

Julie giggled at that. "I think we both would rather hear your voice corazon, not try to interpret dots and dashes."

Julie wished she could see her soulmates, could hold them in her arms, but the rules of dream sharing were hard set. You would met when you were meant to, and until then, your mates were a mystery. No names, no personal details, just disembodied voices in a shared locale.

So Julie contented herself with listening to their voices as she stared out on the dahlia field. Sometimes they just caught up on their days, sometimes they were content to sit in silence, just knowing they were together. A lot of the time, they sang together. Julie wondered what her mother would think of her falling in love with musicians.

It had been a bit of a surprise to have her first soulmate dream and have two voices waiting for her. But the dreams were never wrong, and the three of them quickly found themselves falling in love with each other without really knowing each other. She knew all the important things; how kind they were, their fears and troubles, and they knew hers. That was what mattered, not where they lived or what they looked like.

The thing with dreams though, was that you had to wake up. Every dawn, there would be a sound of a blaring alarm, the three of them debating whose it was before wishing each other a good day. "Talk to you again tonight!" Julie would call before opening her eyes and getting on with her day.

It went on like this, and every morning Julie would ache for her soulmates, hoping that today would be the day. But it never was.

Frustrated by the waiting, Julie decided she needed some fun, and saw that Eats and Beats was having a Open Mic night, and decided to go check it out. Maybe even perform. It had been ages, so she put her name on the sheet. Played her heart out, swiping the tears away as the last song her mother ever wrote her rang out in the air.

She walked up to the bar, intent on getting herself a drink when a very handsome looking man approached her. "Hi," he said. "Julie? My name is Luke."

"Reggie, my name is Reggie. Hi," the bartender said, blushing a bright pink.

Julie stopped, their voices familiar and a smile broke out on her face. "I dreamt about you," she said, her eyes tearing up. Luke and Reggie each took one of her hands, and held onto each other. "I just never dreamed... god I'm so happy right now."

"Me too," Luke said. "I had to stop myself from rushing up to the stage once you started singing."

"Your voice... it's even more angelic in person," Reggie remarked. "I could hardly believe that it was you, but my heart started pounding when you opened your mouth, and I knew."

They spent the night getting to know one another, filling in all the details they couldn't share before. And they still dreamed of each other that night, singing at their tree, finally able to see one another as they did, smiles bright and wide on their faces.

But the best part was that when the alarm blared the next morning, there was no debate as to who it belonged to, because they woke up to each other, a literal dream come true.

#filled prompts #ficlet #rukebox #peterpatterlina #julie and the phantoms

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welcometophu · 2 years

Text

The Meaning of Home: Chapter 34

The Meaning of Home Chapter 34

Tags for all Welcome to PHU novels will be available at the PHU tag list on Pillowfort. This list is under construction as of Sept. 5, 2021.

[ Previous | First | Next ]

It’s been several days, and Pawel has yet to decide what he wants to do about Chelsea’s request to take Emma and Conor into the Dreamscape. They don’t need to answer right away; Chelsea is trying to ensure that she and Del can successfully bring people in and leave with them again. Pawel is thankful to know that every effort is being made to make sure it’ll be safe, but he still doesn’t like to think about his child entering the Dreamscape.

So he doesn’t think about it. There’s no point in discussing it with Leo and Colt yet. He simply throws himself into everything else, enjoying the summer with the kids. Camp is exhausting enough that Conor begs off going to watch the teen class on Thursday, but Pawel finds himself bringing Nevaeh, Liz, and Hannah along with Duke. The girls throw themselves into class, and at the end, Pawel shows them how to tie their brand new white belts, so that next time they can wear uniforms and match the class.

“Ice cream?” Nevaeh asks as she slides her feet into flip-flops.

“I’ll treat,” Liz offers. “I’m saving so I’ve got spending money for fall semester, but I budgeted some of my summer job money for having fun.”

“I can cover it, and yes, ice cream sounds fine.” Pawel waves at Duke, who is still on the floor with Lucas. When Pawel manages to catch his eye, Duke pats Lucas on the shoulder, then flies over, settling on the ground to pull on his shoes.

“I’m still treating Nevaeh.” A warm flush tints Liz’s cheeks.

Nevaeh slips her arm around Liz’s and she leans in, guiding them both to the door. “It’s a date,” she says cheerfully.

“It’s always like this now,” Hannah mumbles. The words are dry, but she’s smiling as she watches them go, her gaze fond. Hannah doesn’t let them get far before she dashes out the door after them, calling for them to wait up.

They’re cute. It’s that light, easy affection that teenagers have, flush with the energy of new love. He’s seen it hundreds of times on campus, and he enjoys seeing that brightness in Nevaeh’s eyes. He wonders if she’s told Colt and Leo yet.

Duke scuffs his sneakers against the carpet, shooting Pawel a grin when the noise catches his attention. Duke holds his right hand in a fist, moving it in front of his mouth as if it were an ice cream cone. Pawel might not be familiar with the sign, but it seems easy to interpret.

“The girls have gone ahead, but yes, we’ll walk down for ice cream,” he agrees. “It’s probably busy.” Once they’re outside, he can spot the girls far ahead of them, moving at a swift clip. Nevaeh and Liz are holding hands now, and Hannah walks on Liz’s other side, gesturing as she speaks.

Duke touches Pawel’s shoulder. When Pawel looks over, Duke signs something too quickly for him to catch.

“I’m not fluent in ASL,” Pawel replies quietly. “Although it’s obvious you are, even though you haven’t said much about it before. I’m not going to be able to understand what you’re telling me.”

Duke scrubs his hands through the air, which Pawel interprets as his protest not mattering. As he starts to sign, his expression is closed off. Strangely silent compared to the videos Pawel’s been watching to try to learn how to better communicate. When Pawel starts to speak, Duke stops mid-sign and holds a finger up in front of Pawel’s lips.

Fine, he can stay silent and not interrupt.

They move slowly down the sidewalk, Pawel’s attention on the movement of Duke’s hands, trying to pick out words. He catches fly, and punch, and kick. He thinks he catches car several times, and then he just gives up. He can’t follow the narrative, and he’s not sure Duke wants him to.

“This is the first time you’re talking about it,” Pawel says. Duke’s hands stutter mid-air, and he returns to the story as Pawel watches.

Duke is fourteen years old, and he’s been with Colt and Leo for just over a year. They all know that something traumatic happened, and that both of Duke’s parents are dead. Duke was the only survivor. Investigators had no more information than that, and Duke hasn’t said a word.

Until now.

Pawel wishes he’d thought to take a video, but he suspects that if brought out his camera, Duke would stop. Duke seems to want it this way: him speaking to someone who has no idea what he says. So as they move slowly towards the ice cream shop, Pawel focuses intently on the movements Duke makes, as he can gain some information from the story being told.

When Duke finishes, he stands there, his hands in loose fists, and his eyes closed as he pauses mid-step. He exhales, grinning when he opens his eyes.

“Yeah, I didn’t understand a thing,” Pawel admits. “There was a car. You flew. That’s about it. And you already told me that back when you started here for taekwondo. Still.” He pauses a moment to make sure Duke is listening. “Thank you for telling me. For trusting me. Do you think you’ll ever—” He isn’t sure how to ask this in a sensitive way. “I’m not saying this because you have to. I’d just like to know, and it’s okay if the answer is no. Do you think you’ll ever speak again?”

Duke shakes his head slowly, signing a clear, “No.”

“That’s fine. Do you… we could find you a therapist,” Pawel suggests. “If you want someone to talk to who isn’t part of your extremely large extended family. Do you think you might be interested in that?” At Duke’s slow, wry smile and nod, he adds, “So, we should—”

He cuts off at another, “No,” from Duke.

“You want me to talk to Colt and Leo for you?”

Duke nods, signing, “Please.”

“I can do that,” Pawel agrees and Duke flashes a grin at him before dashing down the sidewalk to catch up to where Liz and Nevaeh have claimed one of the picnic tables.

Hannah is already in line outside the window, and Pawel joins her. Together they get ice cream for everyone—Hannah knows all their orders, but Pawel refuses to let her pay for any of it. When they carry it back, Duke is doing something on his phone, while Liz and Nevaeh sit with their heads bent close together and fingers tangled on the table between them.

Pawel coughs and they break apart, Liz’s cheeks brightly flushed. “You’re fine,” he says, handing a cone to Duke while Hannah distributes the ones she holds.

“Disgustingly cute,” Hannah mutters again, before taking a bite out of her ice cream.

The girls start chattering as they eat, and Duke is focused on his phone. Pawel takes the time to tap out a quick message to Colt and Leo. I’ve got something to talk to you about when I get home.

Sounds serious, Colt replies. Are you proposing?

If it’s about Liz and Nevaeh, she talked to us the other night, Leo says.

Pawel glances at the girls. That was one thing, yes. They’re currently talking about another sleepover this weekend. I’m not the parent here, so I figured you two really needed to know.

Who says you’re not the parent?

I think at this point you have almost as much say in their lives as we do, and Nevaeh at least listens to you more.

Colt’s and Leo’s replies roll in on top of each other. Pawel isn’t sure how to feel as he looks at the words, takes them in. He exhales in a huff.

“We totally need to get going.” Hannah pushes back from the table, crumpling up her napkin and dabbing chocolate ice cream from her face. “We promised Mom we wouldn’t have the car out too late.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow, maybe.” Liz presses a light kiss to Nevaeh’s lips.

Duke signs something quickly, and when Pawel motions, he does it again, slightly slower.

“I think I saw home in there somewhere,” Pawel replies.

Duke points down the street, where Liz and Hannah are heading back to their car, which is parked near Pawel’s.

“Yeah, we should probably get back, too. I want to talk to Dad and Papa about the weekend. Papa said something about maybe Liz and Hannah could stay with us, but like, where the hell would we put them?” Nevaeh spreads her hands and shrugs. “Like. I guess we could sleep in the playroom, but that floor isn’t comfortable unless we put out air mattresses or something, and then someone will just run through too early in the morning. It’s so much better sleeping at Liz and Hannah’s house, even if their parents are kind of weird about things.” She lowers her voice. “We haven’t told them Liz and I are going out because they try really hard to be supportive, but they kind of fail sometimes. We’re not sure they’ll understand.”

Pawel has no idea what Duke is signing—it’s like a damn’s broken loose, and now the expressions as he signs are becoming more fluid—but he suspects it’s sarcastic. “You should definitely talk to Leo and Colt,” Pawel says, and Duke signs an emphatic, “Yes,” in agreement.

They are both quiet in the car, so Pawel turns up the radio, smiling as Nevaeh sings along to a Phoenix Rising song. He barely manages to park in the driveway before she’s out of the car, racing towards the house and calling for Leo and Colt. Duke just shrugs and follows her in, dumping his gear in the entryway before heading back to his room and closing the door.

“I didn’t say no.” Leo sits with Colt in the living room, Nevaeh standing over them both, hands on her hips and looking down. “I said we need to think about it, and we should probably talk to her parents—”

“You can’t, that’s what I’m trying to say! They don’t know she likes girls! They’re still dealing with her being a girl.” Nevaeh throws her hands up. “Do you want to get her in trouble? I swear, like, we aren’t going to do anything. It’s her and me and Hannah, just like it’s always been. I’m going to kiss her, probably.”

“Assuredly,” Pawel says. “They’re adorable.”

“Fine. I’m totally going to kiss her, but I swear we aren’t going to do anything you wouldn’t approve of. Hannah’s right there. We, like, totally have a chaperone.” She ends with a huff, crossing her arms. “Friday night at her house. Saturday we can stay here and do a long movie night with all the kids upstairs. You guys can even go out if you want on Saturday.”

“I think she’s bribing us,” Colt says.

“Is it working?” Pawel asks. “Conor attempts to bribe me sometimes, but it’s usually with something he should be doing anyway, like completing his homework without arguing about it. That never works.”

“We’re going to talk about it, and we’ll let you know tomorrow morning,” Leo says firmly. “I promise. And we won’t be unreasonable, but you have to accept that sometimes we need some time to adjust to the new things in this whole parenting gig. First semi-serious relationship is definitely new.”

“You were young once,” Nevaeh mutters. “Don’t you remember what it was like to want to hang out with your person?”

“Yes,” they all say in unison, and after a startled moment, Nevaeh laughs.

“Fine. I’ll wait until tomorrow morning.” She crosses her arms, lower lip stuck out in a pout that makes her seem younger than she is. “But this is highly unfair and makes it seem like you don’t trust me.”

“We haven’t said no yet,” Leo points out. “And if you want us to get to a point where we’re ready to say yes, you’ll wrangle the kids tonight while we head upstairs to talk.”

“Is that what we’re calling it?” Colt murmurs after Nevaeh leaves. He comes to his feet as Leo pulls him up, and Pawel slides in closer to both of them, winding his arms around them in a group hug.

“Talk first,” Pawel says. “I’ve got a few things I’ve saved up. We should get through them all.”

“Any of it have to do with Chelsea reappearing, and Conor freezing her out?” Colt asks.

“Upstairs.” Pawel’s pretty sure there is nowhere they can go in the house and be absolutely certain there are no prying ears, but the bedroom is the best they’ll get. “Come on.”

As they pass by the kitchen, there’s a clatter and a rat races out, dragging a bag of donuts, while a larger rodent chases it. Jennie’s voice rises cheerfully from within the pantry, “It’s okay! I saved the cookies!”

“I’ll go shopping again tomorrow,” Pawel says softly, as Leo laughs. He’s only been twice already this week.

As soon as they are upstairs with the door closed, Colt strips off his shirt and sits down on the edge of the bed to yank off his socks. He glances up. “Don’t tell me you don’t want to get ready for bed, too. C’mon, let’s at least get comfortable while we’re being serious.” When Pawel hesitates, Colt’s brow furrows. “Whatever you want to talk to us about, it can’t be worse than discussing whether our teenager daughter can have sleepovers with her girlfriend.”

Oh, Pawel is pretty sure it can. He’ll start with the easy one.

“Duke talked to me today.” He yanks his sweaty t-shirt over his head so he doesn’t have to see the way they look at him until it’s off. “Not—not speaking out loud. But he’s fluent in ASL, and I get the feeling he’s known it since before he came to you, or else he’s been learning really fast.” Which makes things tick over in Pawel’s head and he muses, “I’m not sure if he’s mute because of the accident, or if it’s something else. I’m beginning to get the feeling that it’s not trauma related.”

“Pawel.” Leo rests his hands on Pawel’s shoulders, nudging him closer to the bed. Colt reaches out and pulls him down so he sits between them both on the edge. “What did Duke say?”

“I don’t know,” Pawel admits. “He’s fluent in ASL, but I’m not. Are either of you?”

They both shake their heads. “Not any more than I’ve picked up since we learned he knew something,” Colt admits. “I’m good at ‘come to dinner’ and ‘stop yelling at your siblings’ and ‘I love you’ but that’s about it.”

“Unsurprisingly, I’ve picked up taekwondo terms,” Pawel says. “There was something about a car, and flying, which is what he’d said before. Punching. Kicking. The trauma is definitely related to a car accident, and he definitely fought his way out. Or. That’s what I’m getting out of it. The thing is, he offered this. He didn’t want me to interrupt, and I’m pretty sure he’s fine that I didn’t understand more than a few words of what he said. So I asked after if he’d be interested in seeing a therapist.” He looks between them. “He said yes.”

“I’ve got resources,” Colt says quickly. “We have plenty of resources, specifically for Talented kids in trouble, but we can find a therapist fluent in ASL.”

“There are some people at the station who might have references, too,” Leo suggests. He slides an arm behind Pawel’s back, pulling him close and kissing his forehead. “You’ve gotten further than we have. Thank you for that.”

“Eh, it’s all taekwondo.” Pawel’s certain that without that shared interest to bridge the distance between them, Duke would have remained as silent as he had been all along. “Besides. That’s the good news. The rest is… well, there’s good. But it’s not all good.”

Colt stops moving where his hand was sliding over Pawel’s thigh. “I was just getting ready to celebrate, too.” He leans his head on his shoulder, knocking into him gently. “Hit us. What now?”

“Chelsea,” Leo says.

“Chelsea,” Pawel confirms. “She thinks she’s found Emma’s parents living in the Dreamscape. I know you have questions, just… give me a minute here to explain. There are people who live there. Mostly people who got sucked in because of an Emergent Dreamwalker, but some of them are born there. People from… all over, which is a much weirder thing than you even know. She didn’t see Emma’s parents directly, but she heard of a couple—recently arrived, for whatever that’s worth in a place where time is built out of Dreams—that fit the right description. They’re Weather Witches, but he’s a Dreamwalker, too. She doesn’t know if they don’t remember home, or don’t know how to get there. They might have forgotten everything, even Emma.”

“What do we do?”

Direct and to the point. Leo’s a problem-solver, and Pawel appreciates that. “Chelsea says she wants to bring Conor and Emma into the Dreamscape to go get them back. She thinks I should come along with them as a guardian, and there’s—there’s something she’s not telling me about why she wants Conor and me there. She says it’s because Conor would keep Emma grounded, and Conor also has something to return for with Alan. But that’s not everything.”

“I think we should go with them,” Colt says. His words press into the skin of Pawel’s shoulder, his fingers tight on his thigh. “I don’t know what’s involved, but Emma will be safer if we’re all there. And we can carry them out bodily if we have to.”

“We’re not taking the kids into the Dreamscape,” Leo says.

“I meant us. The adults.”

“No.” The word comes out in a rush as Pawel shakes his head. He pushes off from the bed, standing so he can pace away. He shoves his fingers into his hair, pushing it back from his face as he turns to look at them. “The Dreamscape is dangerous. We can’t all go and leave the rest of the kids here alone. Chelsea was gone for weeks. This could take five minutes, or it could take months.” He leaves out the part where it might not work at all. “I’m not even sure I’m on board with the idea of Conor and Emma going in. But she thinks that if they have forgotten who they are, seeing Emma might spark that memory.”

“We’ll have better strength in numbers,” Colt protests. “You say it can fuck with your head. Fine. The more of us there are, the more likely one of us will be fine, right? I’m pragmatic. I’ll haul you back.”

“Pawel’s right. We can’t risk that.” Leo pats the bed, and Pawel takes slow steps towards them. As he crawls onto the bed, they both bear him backwards until they lie together, legs tangled.

“You will,” Pawel realizes, speaking the thoughts aloud as he works through them. “Haul me back. If Alan is an anchor for Conor, you two would be mine. I don’t want to leave you behind.”

“I’ll find something for you to take with you to remind you,” Colt mumbles, burying his face against Pawel’s chest. “We just got you back. We are not losing you again.”

“I think we need to talk to Emma,” Leo says. His fingers card through Pawel’s hair, soft and soothing. “I’m sure I know what she’s going to say, but I think she also needs to know. She’s just a kid, but—I don’t want to keep this from her.”

“She and Conor are glued to each other,” Colt points out.

“That was Chelsea’s reasoning.” Pawel’s phone is in his pocket, but he can’t reach it, tangled up as he is. “You get the kids to come up here. I need to let my dad know I’m not coming home.”

“I’ll get them. You two get dressed again.” Leo heads out through the playroom, and the rumble of his voice comes from somewhere just beyond the door. Pawel hears thundering steps on the inner stairs.

Colt pulls a shirt on, his expression still sour. “I want more information,” he says quietly. “I want to know from Chelsea exactly what’s involved, and I want to meet that other girl you mentioned.”

“I’ll get them all to come here.” Pawel dashes off a quick text to his dad, then finds a clean shirt for the evening. His phone buzzes quickly.

Perfect timing. Don’t worry about it. I’m all fine here and enjoying my peace and quiet.

At least Dad’s doing well.

The door clicks open, Conor and Emma coming in with Leo behind them. The children hold hands tightly, their expressions drawn and serious. “Leo said it’s about my parents,” Emma whispers.

“It’s about your parents,” Pawel confirms.

Leo herds the kids onto the bed. Emma wraps her arms around a pillow, hugging it close to her chest. Conor leans his shoulder into her, nudging her until she leans against him. She worries at her lower lip and stares silently at Pawel.

“This is because of Chelsea,” Conor says. “Right?”

“It’s not—she didn’t do anything other than try to find them,” Pawel says. “She’s not to blame. But the way she was gone for weeks—that part might be important.”

“Chelsea thinks she’s found your parents living in the Dreamscape,” Leo explains, his voice low and even. “She thinks you should go with her into the Dreamscape to help bring them back, because she also thinks that they may not remember you.”

“Or themselves.”

Leo glances at Pawel. “Chelsea specifically asked for you, Conor, and Pawel to go with her, is that right?”

Pawel nods.

“I think you should choose the adult, or adults, you’d most want to have with you,” Colt adds. “We’ll figure it out, and no one is sending you into a dangerous situation alone.”

“The Dreamscape is dangerous?” Emma’s voice is small. She picks at a thread on the pillowcase.

“The Dreamscape is why she wasn’t my mother,” Conor says. There’s a sharp bite to his words, but he ends on a sigh, resigned. “It’s why Dad disappeared. It’s why your parents disappeared. So yeah. It’s dangerous.”

“I have to wonder if those are coincidences or evidence,” Colt murmurs.

“And you think that maybe, if I go with her to get them, we can bring them home?” A soft hiccup, and tears well at the corners of her eyes. “I want to go get them. I want my parents. I like… I like being here. I like you. But I want my Mom and Dad.”

Leo holds his arms open, and Emma dives in close, burrowing her face against his chest as he holds her. Pawel looks over at Conor, patting the bed, then lifting an arm to invite his son to do the same. “Are we going to get stuck in the Dreamscape?” Conor whispers.

“Not if I have anything to do with it,” Pawel replies. “Remember. Chelsea and I both disappeared, but we also both came back. And we’ll have Del with us. We’ll be able to do this and rescue Emma’s parents and return quickly.”

He’s lying. He has no idea how long it will take. But he does know that nothing is going to keep him in the Dreamscape. He will keep Del on course, and he will make it back to the real world. He’s not sure how, yet, but he will.

“There are a lot of arrangements to be made,” Leo says quietly, rubbing a hand over Emma’s back. “Pawel knows more than we do, and Colt and I don’t want to agree to anything without a full understanding. We haven’t met Del. We want to know how this will work, and how Del and Chelsea plan to guarantee bringing you out safely when it’s done.”

“But they’re safe for now?” Emma asks.

“They’re safe for now.” Pawel is at least certain of that. “There are people who live in the Dreamscape, and your parents are safe with them.”

Emma sniffles and rubs a hand across her face. “Okay. Tell me when we’re going to go. We should go before school starts again. Or before we move. And I don’t want to miss the field trip to the caverns next week.” There’s a wobble in her voice, like she’s trying to keep some control over the situation.

“I don’t think it’ll be that fast,” Leo assures her. “We’re not going to just arrange this without you knowing what’s going on. It’s scary, but I think it’ll be better if you know.”

“Okay.” Emma wiggles out of his embrace, and slides off the bed, grabbing Conor’s hand to pull him with her. “We’re going to go watch a movie now.”

“We could call Alan and talk to him,” Conor points out.

Emma nods solemnly. “Okay, let’s do that.”

Colt gets up to follow them to the door, closing it carefully behind them. “The whole house will know in five minutes,” he predicts.

“I’m taking my kid to the Dreamscape.” It’s a real thing, now that he’s talked to Leo and Colt. Now that they’ve brought the kids into the decision-making process. “I’m taking your kid to the Dreamscape.”

“Our kids,” Leo says, pulling Pawel down to lie next to him on the bed.

Pawel could point out that the whole issue is that Emma isn’t theirs. She has to be returned, and he wants to do that. He wants to give her back her parents, and erase that bit of tragedy from her life.

When Colt slides in close on his other side, Pawel is wedged between them. Colt presses kisses to the nape of his neck. “Just promise. Whatever it takes, you will come back to us. All of you.”

“I promise.” Pawel isn’t going to give this up. Now they just need a good plan.

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