#casper crew

Been wanting to make this particular post for awhile now and I’m finally getting around to doing it. There’s something about the way that the grabber HATES Finney by the end of the movie… there’s a look in his eyes that says he’s going to Relish killing him…but not for his usual reasons. This thirteen year old boy was so annoying, was so bad (not in the ways he wanted) and disruptive that the Grabber just wants to be rid of him. He skips the games , the pop and circumstance and moves straight into buying a tarp to burry him. He’s done! Something about it is mildly amusing in that he bothered him so much he just…gave up. The rest is actually fairly interesting. I’m going to try and dive into that.

CW!-

Referenced canonical CSA

Manipulation/abuse tactics

Generally predatory behavior

He won’t let him play pretend-

There’s something about the way Finney acts from the moment he gets in the basement. He never visibly cracks. Despite being alone, hurt, and in the dark. There’s no whimper, cry or shaking. He just stares at the man barely able to see at all. Finney is never… vulnerable. The only time he is , is when he’s asleep with his back to the door and the grabber takes this opportunity to watch him.

There are tears in his eyes, his voice is soft and fragile. He seems supprimer Finney is upset at all but… the kid won’t go along with it. Short, strick, to to point answers, and he questions him! Drills holes in the mans story over and over again… and again! Only shows vulnerability when the door closes and he shutters and backs against the wall absolutely mortified. I just wanted to look at you…

It’s that Finney never believes or play into his act! He’s not disarmed by the soft voice, teary eyed version of the man who promises never to hurt him or make him do anything he won’t…like. The man that tells him nothing bad will happen here. Finney doesn’t play the game from the very beginning, the whole act the other boys fell for.

Finney won’t let him be the good guy. The nice man who brings food or would like to know his interests. The nice man who promises to take him home. Finney never lets The Grabber play his other game, the game of many faces. Many roles. Nice, mean , sad and bad. Finney forces them all to be the same person when he just keeps pushing! He keeps with the questions, wirh the lack of belief and annoys him- placing cracks in his mask, in his act. Making the soft voice go deep or the normal voice go dark. Forcing the growls, the anger, the bad to the surface.

Finney won’t let him play pretend.

Manipulation, dissociation and abuse-

Oh the grabber has multiple personalities! The grabber has this or that dissorder the grabber- please shut. Shut. No no no. Shut.

It’s simpler and far worse then that. What I prepose, is that he is just simply like that. No greater cause, no rhyme or reason. He’s just a crime of passion killer who happens to be deeply disturbed. He may have some trauma in his past but to paste all of his stuff onto this just feels wrong.

No, I prepose that the grabber is mentally sound. it makes it all the more scarier that he is doing it out of his own fruition, he knows what he’s doing- in fact he’s great at it! It’s not multiple personality’s it’s textbook emotional manipulation abuse tactics!! His goal is to get the boys to separate the part of himself who is nice to them and the part that does all the bad things to them.

He wants trust. He WANTS them to sleep wirh their back to the door, or sit right on the mattress like a good little boy when the door opens… or he wants them to go upstairs, wants them to be bad. He does everything to get them in the palm of his hand… they may think they’re doing everything by their own free will but really they’re doing exactly what he fucking wants. They’re playing his game. 

The different masks are a physical representation of the roles he puts on for the boys. Each one has a different purpose. Depending on the face and what part of it he’s wearing. He’s doubling down on the “that wasn’t me it was someone else” by having them not only associate the voice changes but the literal face changes as well.

No mouth- capture. Likely kill as well. Faceless, nameless, no association besides being the first and last thing you see.

Smile(full)- general. Good mood. Brings you food and other things, asks a question here and there, curious and bubbly. Trustworthy/nice

Smile(bottom only)- vulnerable. So you can really see his eyes. That connection of actually seeing his eyes, seeing his tears or his brows furrow, gaining trust. Being “honest”. The kind that gets information out of you…likely more

Frown(full)- disappointment, anger, violence, punishment. Ranges from childish upset to… well…guess.

Frown (bottom only) - rage, panic , his own fear translated into many things

Top only- well this one,,, is special like finney.

I’m even more inclined to believe it’s an act and a tactic rather then disorder from how easily Al shifts out of his voices or attitudes. After getting finney back to the basement after his escape, he snaps at his brother in a voice we’ve never heard before. His regular, although irritated voice. For the first time we hear him not putting on any front, just— annoyed, tired and defeated. Finney didn’t play, he didn’t talk and now he’s escaped! He’s done. No more games. Just annoyance from this point on and I-

From today-Friday (10/9-10/14) anyone who wants a request, pls do it on my page. Meaning vote for who you want and at the end of Friday I’ll look at them all and base my next work off of that.

Vance Hopper

Robin Arellano

Bruce Yamada

Billy Showalter

Finney Blake

^ Those are the choices. (In the order of number of requests I have for them rn). But pls vote lmao^

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1332aq8l0ZOWiZVQK0ZKadwD9qjqRzGHxYvePtHvAwJk/edit

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/10bNbEXMs6UlzO0H3y-01yvG9XHy0ONGMpmnbZBTKBQk/edit

When he went to Hawkins

After the grabber incident, Terrance decided all the bad shit happening in Denver is getting to him so he decides that they should leave for a town in Indiana, almost across the country

Finney thought it wouldn’t be so bad since his father had been laying low on the alcohol since the whole grabber stuff

Finney wasn’t over the incident, he could still feel the electric wire in his hand flowing up and down

He could still hear the boy's whispers and after he got something from each single one of their bodies they could speak to him as if they were right in front of him 

Finney eventually got used to the boys that attached themselves to him, telling him test answers, interrupting class with loud bangs, getting things for him off tall shelves, and other abnormal things

Slowly Finney could see their outlines and soon the boys clearly and even other ghosts but they were very much faded since he had no connection to them but he could if  he made contact 

Finney had Griffin’s bike lock, Bily’s letterman  jacket, Vance’s vest, Bruce’s baseball cap, and Robin’s bandana and necklace

Finney had gotten emotionally connected to each one of these objects

Vance, Billy, and Griffin are the strongest of the ghosts and can do the most like moving objects (people too), speaking to others, messing with electronics, and manipulating emotions. The others struggle with doing it but still do it but once they run out of energy they don’t speak and do nothing but float around Finney

Robin can remember the most out of everyone and told them about themselves so they remember but over time he’s forgotten what his cat looked like the only thing he remembers is that he has a cat and not its name or anything 

Finney eventually made books for the Casper crew on themselves, about who they were specific details that they have forgotten and all he could find out from their families, he made an excuse that it was a memorial sort of thing. All the Casper crew had to do was ask and Finney would take it out and they could flip through it

Finney still plays baseball and actually even practices fighting and is helped by Robin and Vance, he even got a sandbag

He carries a knife and brass knuckles with him always because of the grabber and the feeling of safety that comes with them

Finney can’t handle sudden noises and touches, especially the sound of doors opening, the sound of a belt whipping, or glass breaking, and when someone grabs him suddenly, he goes into flight or fights and it's usually fight

Finney has scars from abuse and from home and from the kidnapping, he also has some from practicing with his knife as well as rope burn scar on his hands. In conclusion his hands are scarred and the opposite of soft

Finney naturally takes out his hand while in the kitchen and a mug or can falls in his hand because he needs it and one of the Casper crew obliges and just pushes over it

Finney had long accepted that he is not normal and he doesn’t mind it because he’s not alone even if he had a choice, he likes being able to ask for a cup of water and getting it without a second thought or when he has too much stuff in his hands and the door closes on its own, it's fine 

When he makes it to Hawkins he noticed how many ghosts there were and even sees one in the middle of the road wandering. It made him think that Hawkins was hiding something, much more than it was letting on

Finney had met a boy named Will Byers who kinda sat on his own so Finney decided to talk to him, Finney told him how he had just come from Colorado and was looking for someone to show him around

Will practically lit up and accepted immediately taking Finney by the hand, Robin whispered how friendly this guy was for just meeting, Griffin whispered at how the boy looked a bit sick, Billy did not say a word and only observed, Bruce noticed how skinny he was for a boy their age and wondered if this sickness was affecting him and if it was infectious, Vance didn’t comment on the boy and only said to Finney how he should try for the baseball team at the school painting to a flyer on the wall

Finney held Will’s hand and let go when he pointed at something subtly

After school Will invited Finney to his house to play a game and Finney asked what it was, he answered D&D and Finney hadn’t played so he asked Will to explain it. It took some time to explain how D&D isn’t a nerd game but really cool and how to play it. Finney said it sounded cool but asked if he played any sports. Will said no and asked if Finney played any sports which he said yes, he also said he played baseball and would probably join a team in Hawkins

Finney and Will walked together as they talked, finding out each other’s interests and disinterests, and Will scheduled a meet up for Wednesday after school where he’ll teach Finney how to play D&D and Finney would teach Will baseball on Thursday

Though they didn’t hang out too much they hang out sometimes after school, Finney found clicks in his baseball team and Will sometimes went to his games where he met Gwen who he didn’t expect to call him scrawny bowl cut but she did and Finney apologized profusely but Will just put it behind him since she is younger than him

When Will is at Finney’s house some stuff happens.

“Hey could you get me a glass of water?” Will was in the living room of Finney’s house and Finney was in the Kitchen at the moment getting snacks 

“Sure!” Will could see Finney since it was an open kitchen that let the living room look into the kitchen

Finney reached for a glass that was too tall for him but slowly the glass was pushed off and Finney caught it, “Thanks” Will didn’t believe his eyes as he saw the glass cup move on its own

“F-FINNEY YOU HAVE POWERS!?” Will immediately stood up as he stared at Finney

“No I’m just haunted by helpful ghosts” Finney put it plainly as if he was talking about taking out the trash

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN HAUTED!? YOU JUST MADE THE CUP FALL INTO YOUR HAND!” Will walked over with wide eyes and tried to rationalize what happened, was Finney an experiment like El?

“I know it's hard to believe but really I can just talk and see ghosts that’s all, I don’t have powers even though that would be cool sadly I don’t I have to rely on Casper the friendly ghosts to help me” Finney tried to downplay himself so Will would chill out

“Then you’re not an experimented kid with superpowers?” Will kinda chilled out as he asked calmly trying to understand

“Yes, I’m just some kid with Casper the friendly ghosts as friends…. even though it sounds crazy I can prove it if you would like?” Finney was willing to help Will understand and Will was down for

“Yes! I would love to!” Will was excited since this was kinda like magic and since the only “magic” he knew tried to kill him he wanted to know how Finney did it

Finney took a book from his bag and placed it on the floor in between him and Will, “Go to the one with your family” the book somewhat violently turned pages to a page with numerous pictures of a boy with long curly hair with others who looked similar 

At the top right of the page with big letters in marker had the name “Vance Hopper” and with small pen said “Pinball”

“Now go to your interests” Finney said as the pages flipped quickly to a page that had in blue marker  “Interests of Vance” Finney smiled as he closed the book taking it back in his hands

“What do you think? Interesting isn’t he? If you couldn’t tell his name is Vance” Finney smiled as he explained and Will looked in awe

“So that’s your ghost’s name, Vance?” Will was amazed but kinda concerned, if Finney had a ghost does that mean he is technically haunted?

“I said ghosts Will, there's more than one” Finney said in a cheeky tone 

Love- Bruce

Brain- Finney

Heart- Robin

Control- Vance

Caffienate- Billy

Melatonin- Griffin