#paladinstales

[witchyxwoo]

@paladinstales // closed starter from holly wheeler

holly didn't mind spending time home alone these days, but wanting to have a little fun she grinned as she quickly slid off her bed. she grabbed the cassette from atop her dresser and began to peruse the tapes nearby. an audible aha! sound left her lips as she found the duran duran Rio tape. with what she needed from her room in hand she pulled her door open and ran downstairs into the kitchen. maybe mom would be happy and dad would probably shrug and be happy to see something on the table to eat. at least she hoped so. she wanted it to be a surprise.

to allow herself some more fun in the process, holly opened the case and pulled out the tape. she pushed open the cassette player, put the tape in, and then excited pressed the play button once it was closed. as soon as she heard the familiar beat of Rio start playing she felt glad that she had put side one in correctly. the text had been smudged a little anyways. with that in mind she turned up the volume and then began to excitedly gather all the ingredients and pans. boxed cake for the win, she thought to herself as she danced around to the beats.

[thesearetheirstcries]

@paladinstales liked THIS for a starter from El

The words were swimming in front of her, and she found that maybe school wasn't as fun as she thought it should be. A small sigh left her knowing that thinking that way was not fair, she was actually enjoying school. Tests were just the worst part. "Can we take a break?"

[hawkinsingenue]

@paladinstales liked this for a starter

Things after the mall had left Ally feeling both numb and too much all at the same time, but she knew that on top of all the trauma that had occurred, there was some sadness too. Nancy had mentioned that El and the Byers' would be moving, and so Ally figured that with everything that had happened, Mike was probably sad too. She didn't really know what to say, but she did know that this wasn't the time to all be ignoring each other and while she might just be one of his sister's old friends he hasn't actually seen around the house in years, Ally did care.

She cared more than she admitted to most, and she did smile a little bit when she saw that look on Mike's face when she handed him a pan full of brownies. “What? I can't care about you too?” she jokes, but honestly, if she was him she would think she that she had come to see Nancy as well. Not like she doesn't want to spend time with Nancy, of course, but she and Nancy have all the time in the world to reconnect after everything that happened. She just wanted to make sure that everyone was okay and doing that meant she didn't have to focus on herself, or on wrapping her head the rest of the way around all of this stuff.

“Max loves my brownies, so I promise, they're good. They have been vouched for by someone with good taste.”

[ner0tic]

@paladinstales | ( liked. ) ; mike

" YOU'RE NOT DRIVING ..! "

[hawkinsown]

@paladinstales liked for a starter <3

↯ .ᐟ the palace arcade is loud enough that nobody really pays attention to everything else around them. steve's never actually been inside since it opened, but he notices this almost immediately. electronic noise creates waves of overlapping chirps and buzzes, the lights flashing against the dark carpet as the sound of quarters dropping into machines repeats over and over. loud chatter surrounds the entire place, the occasional shout of victory cutting through every now and then. 𝐡𝐞'𝐬 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐢𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐬 𝐰𝐚𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐫. nancy had asked to stop at the record store across the street, claiming 'it'd only be a minute!' as she left him to sit in the car idly. from experience, this usually meant one of two things: it would take a quick five minutes or up to half an hour. so he's wandered over with the jangle of quarters in his pocket and nothing better to do with himself.

it's a mistake. because now he's one machine down from mike wheeler, absently pushing buttons as the screen in front of him flashes 'GAME OVER', as if he can't read it himself. he quirks a brow over to the machine in front of mike as it happily blinks along with his movements on the joystick. he lets out a breath through his nose. ❛ statistically speaking you should've run outta luck by now. ❜ steve knows nothing about statistics, but the words come out with a stupid confidence. the score climbs higher, of course, and he reaches up to drag his fingers through his hair, squinting at the set of pixels that explode under mike's handiwork.

then, just because he knows it'll prick at the younger boy's patience, he continues -– ❛ seriously, how many hours do you spend in here a week? ❜ steve pauses, thinking. ❛ actually - don't answer that. i feel like it'll just make me sad. ❜ he drops another set of quarters into the machine in front of him, adjusting his position in front of the screen as it whirs back to life.

[feminemacabre]

@paladinstales liked for a starter!

"Surprise!" Nancy exclaimed, rolling down her car window to smile at her brother. "Your taxi service is here~!"

When she found out her Spring Break week aligned with Mike's, she thought she'd surprise him by making a pit stop at his college and driving them both back home to Hawkins. She could be a good older sister when she wanted to be! But also a part of her did actually miss him she guessed. And she figured they could use the time together in the car to catch up a bit.

[elhoparc]

@paladinstales asked: “i think being truly understood is a far rarer thing than people realize.”

She watched him for a long moment, quietly. The sort of space she only took up when she was trying to fully understand what someone was saying to her. She thought about the lab and people looking at her like she was a weapon, or a monster, or their little miracle. She thought about all the staff members she had killed. She thought about Hopper, who has seen all the angry parts of her and accept her as his daughter anyway. She thought about Mike, who had looked at her when she could barely talk and still somehow knew she was more than what had been done to her.

“I think…” Her brow furrowed, searching. “I think I only want some people to understand me.”

“Because...” A small breath left her. “I know I'm not bad but I've done many bad things. Not everyone is like you.” She swallowed, glancing away before the hurt in her face began to show too much. “But you understood me,” she added, quieter now. “Before I understood myself. How?”

[callbullshit]

“it's  okay.”   in  truths  lacked,  he's  not  alone.  “i  didn't  say  anything  either…”   the  thought  trails  off.   the  pad  of  her  thumb  continues  to  rub  against  her.   ANXIOUS.   the  blood's  been  washed,  still  the  red  stain  remains.   her  mother's.   their  mother's.   truth  be  told,  she's  unsure  if  it's  physically  there  or  if  she's  imagining  it.   the  images  so  embedded  in  her  head.

there's  a  helplessness,  stuck,  waiting  for  news.   the  hospital  waiting  room  otherwise  cold  and  empty.   “do  you  think-”  she  pauses,  glancing  over  towards  the  younger  wheeler,  seeking  the  hopeful.   “-do  you  think  it  would  have  mattered?”   the  justification  begins.   it's  hard  not  to  crack  some  semblance  of  a  smile  at  the  thought.   “i  mean…  knowing  mom  she'd  have  marched  in…  guns  blazing-   stopped  this  whole  mess  before  it  could  even  begin."   &&   here  they  were,  thinking  they'd  been  protecting  her.

"i told the truth. just not all of it." @paladinstales / accepting.