#arren!steve

How about ~1.1K words for now?

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FIRSTLY, Erathia is @eskawrites ‘s, and I’m continuously thankful that Eska lets me play in the sandbox with her action figures. SECONDLY, Eska, jump in at any time to add thoughts or critiques to this au of an au about an au.

This long and I go into ideas about mental health. So if that doesn’t suit you, then this post isn’t for you today and that’s okay :) I will add a break when I get to mental health stuff.

WTF is going on?

Fall of Erathia

NOTE. I wanted to yank the ST void, MindFlayed!Will, Vecna’s curse from Duffer’s >:( while still acknowledging the source material to echo or showcase a multiverse. insert my personal headcanon of Nancy’s chin scar that I find a way to include in every au here.

Flayed!Tenar is a combo of ideas from Vecna’s curse and Flayed!Will and stuff I will discuss later. Unlike Erathia 4 where Moss is mind flayed and gets some intermittent control, this E4 variant doesn’t give Tenar that grace. Vecna HAS to fully imprison Tenar. 

He doesn’t enact the curse right away and she might get a curse mark or a nasty wound that won’t heal. But thought about the idea when Vecna activates the curse, Tenar has this really bad feeling a locks Lark in her chambers with her sword during the night. Then loses control and proceeds to slaughter those with Vecna’s summons and creatures or whatever. Lark wakes and knows something is wrong when she see’s Tenar’s unseathed sword on the bed and the Kingdom is on fire. Then has to escape the castle find the Moss, Ged, and Arren. She has be physically dragged away from the kingdom when she realizes the attack is being led by Tenar.

WINTER 

Eska likes winter for Erathia, so feck it, we ball. The kingdom is scattered and faces a cruel winter. Lark is kind of a revolution leader to get Erathia and her Queen back, and defeat Vecna. Lark carries Tenar’s sword around despite it being heavy af and often in the way. Lark does a lot of brooding and tracking Flayed!Tenar with Moss. Flayed!Tenar is like Vecna’s Nazgûl. Often appearing emotionless and brutal. She doesn’t sleep or eat much, and Vecna heals her enough to keep her on her feet. I just associate her with the sound of heavy armor approaching and dripping blood. So nice :)

Reunited

Lark and Company devise a plan to confront at least Flayed!Tenar and get Vecna to deploy Flayed!Tenar alone and or with a few grunts (after Vecna proves his control over Tenar by cutting her face [I have to continue the chin scar legacy in every universe okay?]). They need to put as much distance as they can between the two. Lark is bait and has to fight Flayed!Tenar long enough for Moss and Arren to capture her. Ged is casting counter spells and barriers to aid in the separation from Vecna. I like to imagine Lark almost dancing bc she knows Tenar’s moves so well but it feels stripped/void of Tenar’s spirit. Lark is talking most of the time trying to trigger reactions or get memories through to Tenar. I can also imagine Flayed!Tenar shrieking, screaming, and being feral to scare and stun everyone. She is still smol and wears heavy armor afterall. It’s a last resort action. If you tire & slow her down her enough you can overpower her. 

Breaking the Curse

Once the Company can separate Flayed!Tenar from Vecna physically and shroud her presence from Vecna she is pretty docile. Still cursed but won’t be receiving commands from Vecna. Everyone keeps her tied up and watch rotations just in case. She doesn’t sleep, she mainly stares and specifically whoever speaks to her. Tenar’s body will occasionally jolt. Not because Flayed!Tenar is being aggressive but Tenar is fighting internally for control. 

Ged, Moss and Lark are able to patch Tenar’s body up quite a bit. But certainly not 100% 

To break the curse they don’t need heat or special spells they just need to reach Tenar, and let her do the rest. Tenar in mind prison has be legitimatly sitting in the dark. If she tries to get out/past Flayed!Tenar, IT, fights back. Tenar is at a huge disadvantage. It’s dark as hell, she only gets bits of outside sounds, and she’s stripped down to her basic self. That is until Lark and Co. are able to break through to her and produce light, clarity, and a way out…

Recovery & Final Battle

Tenar’s return isn’t a huge thing. Her eyes return to normal and passes out. This scares the hell out of everyone but she needs rest severely. Lots of recovery stuff. Tenar sobs when Lark reveals she in fact kept Tenar’s sword, its wrapped and has Tenar’s ribbon tied to it, with her all this time. Tenar knew and trusted Lark with her sword, but with all that’s happened, Tenar crumbles truly. Once more Tenar being in somewhat of a fragile state lets Lark, "queen consort", take lead for a while and ease Tenar back into her role of Queen over time.

Arren, Moss, Ged, and Lark secured everything for the final. Fancy badass armor potentially with a restored Erathia flag as a cape (?)

5v1 Battle. 

Deeper ideas…

(tw: general discussion and questions related to mental health in relation to art I made)

(@eskawrites Erathia) Flayed!Tenar thoughts...

After Lark and Co capture and separate Tenar from Vecna.

Lark and Moss can get unconscious Tenar out of her armor to realize how injured Tenar is. Vecna was healing Tenar enough to keep her standing.

The Co sleeps in shifts but Moss purposely takes Lark's to make sure she rests. Unfortunately, she signs herself up to be stared at and freaked out by Tenar jolting randomly (it's not, let me cook) for hours.

*laughs, rubs faces, gets up to stretch* YOU already know this hehehrsshdjf

Alright, I take it back these are not simple. I am sorry.

My Erathia 4 nonsense -

OG Erathia 4 feat. Flayed!Moss w/ Tenar backstab, in post cfdau - For this film, intense method actor, Henry Creel is cast to be the EVIL BIG BAD VECNA. Everyone hates him, he's creepy, often wears the stupid bucket on his head, and if not that he finds some one-eyed mask. Nancy and Henry have an amazing tension, are competitive, and push each other's skills. They take learning to sword fight seriously and it's kinda scary to watch. In the big final battle between Tenar & Ged vs. Vecna, it's the crew Dustin, Nancy, and Henry. Robin, Steve, and Max have the day off since their characters are deliberately kept from helping Tenar and Ged by Vecna. With this being the last scene between Tenar and Vecna, the two just go all out, 110%. Unfortunately, this leads to Henry accidentally cutting Nancy's face with a dulled but still real sword. There is a moment when they realize what's happened, but from all their practice, they developed subtle nonverbal cues, and signals to continue the scene. Everyone is stunned and just lets the two get to a good break in the duel before intervening. Nancy fusses to leave her face be for continuity. Ultimately lets her face scar as a feck you to the media and tabloids. She's tired of trying to maintain being perfect and everything they push onto her. Insert cfdau Nancy POV angst about reconnecting with the character and seeing a stronger woman in the mirror, something something. Robin is FURIOUS upon hearing this. The battle turns out amazing but Robin seethes whenever she sees the clip of Nancy getting hurt.

Erathia 4 VARIANT 1/? (FLAYED!Tenar AU AU) - A what-if that I LOVE. I really have committed crimes against Erathia and her people for this one. ANYWAY, a key difference between Moss and Tenar being mind-flayed is that Vecna lets Moss have some control and puppets her as needed. Whereas with Tenar, Vecna has one shot, and KNOWS he has to lock her down. He must have absolute control bc he's awful. I imagine poor Tenar gets basically put in a dark mind prison (think the void Eleven goes in the show). Her body becomes Vecna's Nazgul. Brutal, emotionless, too quiet (only heard by her armor), is always staring, always watching, just creepy as hell. When Lark and CO go to confront and begin their plan to separate Vecna and Tenar, Vecna decides to give a show of power. Using a knife he cuts Tenar's face and receives no reaction from her. (GOD I HATE HIM. I LOVE TO HATE HIM).

@eskawrites ': Tales of Erathia (lineart version)

Here is the lineart for the fictional 4th film within the celebrity fake dating au of Eska's fic "this story that we found ourselves in". I am not done yet, so stay tuned!