《Don't Leave me (Stranger Things) (Stranger Things character X Reader)》3. The Flea and the Acrobat
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Dustin's POV
We heard into the church afterwards. We grabbed some snacks.I grabbed some vanilla wafers. They didn't taste the same. Mike went over to Mr.Clarke. "Mr.Clarke?" "Oh, hey, there. How are you guys holding up?" "We're... in... mourning." Lucas responded. "Man, these aren't real Nilla Wafers." I said. Lucas looked at me and rolled my eyes. Y/N laughed. It's been a while since I've seen her laugh or smile. "We were wondering if you had time to talk?" Mike asked him. "We have some questions." Lucas added. "A lot of questions."
We went and sat down. "So, you know how in Cosmos, Carl Sagan talks about other dimensions? Like, beyond our world?" Mike asked. I kept eating the off brand wafers. "Yeah, sure. Theoretically." "Right, theoretically." "So, theoretically, how do we travel there?" Lucas asked. "You guys have been thinking about Hugh Everett's Many-Worlds Interpretation, haven't you?" What? I looked at Mike, Lucas, and Y/N they were confused as well. "Well, basically, there are parallel universes. Just like our world, but just infinite variations of it. Which means there's a world out there where none of this tragic stuff ever happened."
Uh were talking about the opposite of that but I guess you could think positively like that. "Yeah, that's not what were walking about." Lucas said. "Oh." "We were thinking of more of an evil dimension, like the Vale of Shadows. You know the Vale of Shadows?" I asked. "An echo of the Material Plane, where necrotic and shadow magic-" "Yeah, exactly. If that did exist, a place like the Vale of Shadows, how would we travel there?" Mike questioned him. "Theoretically." "Well..." Mr. Clarke grabbed a plate and drew something on it. "Picture... an acrobat... standing on a tightrope. Now, the tightrope is our dimension. And our dimension has rules. You can move forwards, or backwards. But, what if... right next to our acrobat, there is a flea?"
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He drew a flea next to the acrobat. "Now, the flea can also travel back and fourth, just like the acrobat. Right?" "Right." Mike nodded. "Here's where things get really interesting." He pointed. "The flea can also travel this way... along the side of the rope. He can even go... underneath the rope." It was starting to connect. "Upside down." All of us said. "Exactly." "But we're not the flea, we're the acrobat." Mike said. "In this metaphor, yes, we're the acrobat." "So we can't go upside down?" Lucas asked. "No."
"Well, is there any way for the acrobat to get to the Upside Down?" I asked him. "Well... you'd have to create a massive amount of energy. More than humans are currently capable of creating, mind you, to open up some kind of tear in time and space, and then..." He folded the paper plate and jammed the pencil in it to make a hole. "... you create a doorway." "Like a gate?" I asked. "Sure, like a gate. But again, this is all-" "Theoretically." Lucas blurted. "But... but what if this gate already existed?" Mike added. He had a point. "Well, if it did, I... I think we'd know. It would disrupt gravity, the magnetic field, our environment. Heck, it might even shallow us up whole." Oh no. "Science is neat. But I'm afraid it's not very forgiving."
Y/N POV
After the long talk with Mr.Clarke, we left and went to Mike's house in his basement. Mike explained to El about the flea and the acrobat metaphor. "It would take a lot of energy to build up a gate like this. But that's got to be what happened. Otherwise, how'd Will get there, right?" "Right." El responded. She looked scared. "What we want to know is, do you know where the gate is?" Lucas asked her. I looked over to Dustin and he was fooling around with a compass. I turned back to the others. El shook her head. "Then how do you know about the Upside Down?" Lucas had a point that was a bit suspicious. We looked at her. She said nothing. We all turned toward Dustin. "Dustin, what are you doing? Dustin?" He continued circled around. "Dustin!" We all called out.
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He turned and looked at us. "-I... I need to see your compasses." "What?" I was confused. "Your compasses. All your compasses, right now!" He demanded. We took our compasses out and layer them on the table. "What's exciting about this?" Mike asked. "Well, they're all facing north, right?" What was his point. "Yeah, so?" Lucas was confused as well. "Well, that's not true north." "What do you mean?" Mike asked. "I mean exactly what I just said. That's not true north. Are you both seriously this dense?" Lucas shrugged. "The sun rises in the east, and sets in the west. Right?" Which means that's true north." He pointed past Mike. "So what you're saying is the compasses are broken?" Mike said. "Do you even understand how a compass works? Do you see a battery pack on this?" We shook our heads.
"No, you don't. Because it doesn't need one. The needle's naturally drawn to the Earth's magnetic North Pole." "So what's wrong with them?" "Well, that's what I couldn't figure out, but then I remembered. You can change the direction of a compass with a magnet. If there's the presence of a more powerful magnetic field, the needle deflects to that power. And I remembered what Mr.Clarke said. The gate would have so much power-" Mike interrupted him. "It could disrupt the electromagnetic field." "Exactly." "Meaning, if we follow the compass' north..." Lucas said. "They should lead us to the gate." It made sense now. "Oh my gosh Dustin! That's brilliant!" I said. "Thanks." He smiled.
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Tunnel Rat
Milo lives in a steel cave within a man-made mountain of steel and concrete. He spends his days repairing the machinery that keeps the habitat livable and tinkering with the prosthetics that help his twisted body move about through the small tunnels and air shafts that are his world. He's as much a piece of discarded machinery as the equipment he keeps running. Given a chance at being someone different will he become a hero and live in the sunlight? The light beckons, but there are secrets buried in the ground. Ancient mysteries left by races that delved deep and stayed below. Maybe only a tunnel rat culd find them?And thanks to the artist of that handsome rat for inspiration. Find more of her work here: https://www.deviantart.com/watch/memymine/deviations
8 284A Beginner's Guide to Napping, Sunbathing, and Slaughtering Your Prey
Fang is a simple cat. Fang likes napping in the sun. Fang does not like being called Chairman Meow. Fang likes his belly being scratched for precisely 17.329 seconds. Fang does not like being punted between dimensions. Fang likes hunting and killing defenseless wildlife. Fang does not like mysterious blue boxes that appear out of thin air. Fang is having a Very Bad Day. A few things to note: Fang is a cat soul in a cat body, and that's not going to change any time soon. No cat girl evolution or possessed puppet or any of that. The slice of life tag is there for a reason. There is no epic tale here, only a cat doing cat things in a (hopefully) interesting setting. The game elements are pretty light, mostly there for flavor, so don't expect a huge amount of crunch. Nature is cruel, and cats are crueler than most.
8 160Hunter Or Huntress
A human engineer named Tom accepts a deal to travel to a Fantasy world with the mission of changing it forever. He is given a week to prepare before setting off. Once on the other side, he is greeted by a fantastical world and its inhabitants. his original mission to change this world and have some fun while doing it quickly turns into him making a home for himself and defending it and his new family against whatever ends up coming their way. The story will also follow the POV of Sapphire a local woman who Tom encounters early on in his travels to yield a closer insight into our local population. The story focuses mainly on the interactions between the characters with intermittent action, romance, and the technical side of trying to bring a medieval-high-fantasy people up to speed with more or less modern technology. There will be discussions of mental illness, immense loss, and joy, ranging from the truly heartbreaking to the properly heartwarming. The first chapters are on the short side but eventually escalate to the 3000-5000 word range. especially the early chapters suffer from poor grammar and I am sorry. they are slowly going to be brought up to spec. The story is originally posted on Reddit r/HFY https://www.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/jfgpie/hunter_or_huntress_chapter_1_the_offer_oc/ If you can't remember a character or just wanna see what's what. there is also the wiki here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1sqP9B7Mqh2D1tpboFHqpk6f0284wX-HE?usp=sharing Cover art by the amazing Uwnycorn: https://www.deviantart.com/uwnycorne If you want to support this odd little project I do have a patreon. You don't get anything for supporting except gratitude though. https://www.patreon.com/HunterOrHuntress?fan_landing=true
8 76Undetermined
Death and Taxes. The two insurpassable laws of the universe. So long as humans exist in this world, these things will remain. However, there is a 3rd law which has always, and will always implement itself on people. Suffering. Reincarnated in a new world, five people are forced to learn this the hard way. Placed on 'Nightmare mode' and being reincarnated as monsters, they are forced to survive under incomprehensible conditions. However it is only through suffering, that we grow as people. And it is only through suffering, that we truly become monsters. "Nightmare mode.... eh? Tell me, what exactly was this mode supposed to mean again? Were our lives supposed to become nightmares?" Without suffering, there is no change in anything. "Or were we supposed to become the nightmares?" This is the story of the antiheroes. [participant in the Royal Road Writathon challenge]
8 334Corrupted
Insanity runs deep, a corruption of the mind and soul. Follow the blood and toil of two individuals, a soldier's son who searches for his brother's corpse, and a noble girl who lost everything except her little brother. One path leads to strength and madness, and the other leads to self-discovery and heartbreak. Author Note Weekly Release.
8 79Majestic Fiend
There are many creatures and monsters inhabiting this magical world. Nanza-cats, gremlins, dwarves and so on, they come in a wide variety. Some are big and strong while some are quick and agile. Some possess intellect to match or surpass human level and some live for hundreds of years Yet, at the peak of creation throned the humans, disdainfully looking down on the rest of the world. During a night chase, the animal Ssyba is poisoned, assaulted from the cover of darkness and left dying in the streets. But as consciousness streams from the head wound, she is met with a destiny that she can't deny. With meticulous methods and great ambition, Ssyba will stop at nothing to achieve her own ends and overcome the many enemies along the true path to heaven.
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