Thread by @StringsCut

CUT THE STRINGS - A Neibolt Adults AU

Set in 2017, we follow the Neibolt manifestations of Eddie, Beverly, Bill, Richie, and Stan as they navigate their newfound demonic freedom together as NYC roommates.

(Ben, Mike, and the rest of the real Losers will eventually all appear.)

NOTE: any artistic photographs used in this thread (and there will be many), will be credited/referenced in the updates and sourced within a separate thread that will feature the update number + links to the original art or artist.

IMPORTANT INFO: while this story is loosely based on What We Do In The Shadows and several other horror movies that vary in gore and fear factor, it is largely going to be treated as a comedy. TWs will be provided accordingly.

CONT'D:
- the Neibolt Manifestations are 40 years old just like their counterparts, except for Stan, who is somewhere inbetween
- please QRT instead of replying
- Reddie-centric, with Benverly, StanPat, Hanbrough, and some others introduced later
- No major character death(s)

BRIEF CHARACTER SUMMARIES:

1. Kicking the story off with some monumental events from their first year together. Baby's first group chat!

Bill's 📲

2. Baby's... second or third eviction. Who's counting anymore

Bev's 📲

3. Bev's 📲

4. Fuckin' narc

Eddie's 📲

5. Let's evict ourselves before any authorities can

Eddie's 📲

6. There he is!

Eddie's 📲

7. Let's just poke holes at this whole premise shall we?

Richie's 📲

8. Did he say something wrong?

Richie's 📲

9. The 'Hey there demons' BFU episode came out the day before. Richie will not stop re-appropriating it, which is well within his rights.

Richie's 📲

10. Their first one-on-one conversation... ever? I wonder how it goes.

Richie's 📲

11. I'm like dropping hints that Richie is a grotesque puppet

Bill's 📲

12. Eddie's icon for Bev will be uploaded to the art ref thread in a bit! He took it of her he's very proud

Eddie's 📲

13. Eddie took this photo of Bill too. He's proud of it not because it's good, but because Bill (rarely smiles) looks really dumb

Eddie's 📲

14. That same day, on the West Coast.

And that's day one of this AU folks!

[MUSICAL INTERLUDE]

Here's a playlist inspired by this story if you wanna see what the author listened to until 6am last night. Updates will resume soon!

open.spotify.com/playlist/2tCuJ…

15. F is for Friends who commited arson in Jersey together

Bev's 📲

16. She instinctively rolls her eyes at all those adjectives

Bev's 📲

17. Use pop culture references to establish dominance

Eddie's 📲

18. Thea strongly related to that Ocean's 8 quote about becoming a criminal to make more female friends

Bev's 📲

19. The next day

Richie's 📲

20. Me 🤝 Bill
having a throbbing headache

⚠️ Brief and slightly flippant mention of addiction and depression ⚠️

Richie's 📲

21. The call that broke the demon's back for some reason.

⚠️ DOG/PET DEATH AND GRIEF DISCUSSION ⚠️
Last post of the day.

22. I think it's safe to assume it takes a billion hours to get from one place in NYC to another even or maybe especially if you have a car

Bev's 📲

23. Bev's 📲

24. This is what happens when you start shit with Dad after he had a bad day at work

Eddie's 📲

25. Eddie is still upstairs so just picture the three of them sitting at home on their phones riling each other up while Stan snores softly in the background

Richie's 📲

26. Richie after applying concealer to the worst of his scars and removing all the worms from their little underflesh nooks: Am I hot now? :D
Bill: I'm gonna hurl

Richie's 📲

27. The author realizes Westerners are probably unused to military time timestamps. The author doesn't care.

Bev's 📲

28. Thea: So no murder? [snaps phone in half]

Bev's 📲

28.5. Here's a song I omitted from the playlist because it felt spoilery, but can now comfortably go add

29. She could smell the rancid vibes from the doorway

Bev's 📲

30. Bill gets off a devastatingly good one!

Bev's 📲

31. Bev's 📲

32. Last post for tonight! Going to source everything you see here in the links thread (piece by piece).

Eddie's 📲

33. NCFR (nice clothes for richie)

Richie's 📲

34. Richie's 📲

35. Bev's 📲

36. Eddie's 📲

37. Not saying Richie got hired by Amаzon but I'm also not NOT saying that.

Richie's 📲

38. Bill in photos has Mike Wazowski syndrome

Bev's 📲

39. Richie's 📲

40. Bev's 📲

41. Note that it took slightly LESS than an hour for Eddie to get there. He runs quite fast.

Richie's 📲

42. Bev's 📲

43. One more update after this and I'll let everyone breathe.

Bev's 📲

44. Last update for tonight! 🌳

Richie's 📲

45. Only update for the day 😈

Bev's 📲

46. Bev Sad :(

Bev's 📲

47. Richie's 📲

48. A smidge of Thea lore

Bev's 📲

49. Cont'd (a smidge of Neibolt lore!)

Bev's 📲

50. Richie's 📲

51. Richie's 📲

52. Richie's 📲

53. Cont'd (Last post for today!)
Richie's 📲

53.5 Here's another song that no longer feels too spoiler-y for the playlist

54. The next day. Richie is 3 minutes late for work because he keeps hanging out on his phone like some sort of millennial. What could be so important.

Richie's 📲

55. "What do I say, what do I sa–HEYYY man where can I find the stuff that's obviously in the back?"

Richie's 📲

56. Today is shaping up to be very Richie-heavy but I don't see anyone complaining

Richie's 📲

57. Meanwhile, back at the apartment.

Eddie's 📲

58. Bill's braincells are working in overdrive right now.

⚠️ Obituaries, death mention. ⚠️

Bill's 📲

59. Tentatively the last post for today.

Richie's 📲

60. I lied. This is the last post.

Eddie's 📲

61. It's been a little over a week.

Richie's 📲

62. Shitty mood gang

Bev's 📲

63. :)))))

Eddie's 📲

64. ⚠️ HUGE warning for suicidal ideation and a possible attempt. ⚠️

Remember, I promised no major character death(s).

Richie's 📲

65. Richie's 📲

66. Richie's 📲

67. Bev's 📲

68. Earlier that same day, a reporter for Fox smugly peppered The Social Network references into their latest manifesto.

69. Nice.

Bev's 📲

70. Richie's 📲

71. Eddie's 📲

72. Richie's 📲

73. Bev's 📲

74. Richie's 📲

75. Stan said "don't tell Bill". He is now officially part of the family.

Richie's 📲

76. The next day.

Yes Eddie did just have a sensible conversation with someone. Don't ask me how that's possible. Stan's impact probably.

Eddie's 📲

77. Probably the last update for today.

Eddie's 📲

78. Eddie's 📲

79. [PHONE ACTIVITY INTERLUDE]

Part 1/5 (reuploaded, sorry!)

Stan's 📲

80. You may recognize the phone background from Charlie AUDumpster's 10yr reunion AU! It will be linked in the resources thread.

Part 2/5

Bill keeps track of "coincidences". Green is for shady days. Orange is for Very Shady days.

⚠️ Implied self harm ideation ⚠️

Bill's 📲

81. ⚠️ Heavily implied flashbacks to traumatic memories of abuse ⚠️

Part 3/5

Bev's 📲

82. Part 4/5

Richie's 📲

83. Reminder that the search results so far were bottom (older) to top (newer), while the camera roll is bottom (newer) to top (older).

Part 5/5

Eddie's 📲

84. Guess who!

85. A few hours earlier.

Eddie's 📲

86. Eddie's 📲

87. Mike's 📲

88. Eddie's 📲

89. Mike's 📲

90. Eddie's 📲

91. Thanks for caring about my lore, guys! Gonna take a break from it after this and hopefully get the plot moving again.

Mike's 📲

92. Mike's 📲

93. Mike's 📲

93.5. If you wanna vibe along with Mike:

94. Bill's 📲

95. Richie's 📲

96. Goo demons blush like Vulcans.

Richie's 📲

97. Richie's 📲

98. In which two smart depressed people have a very strained chat.

⚠️ Subtle reference to Stan's suicide and misplaced guilt over the attempt ⚠️

Bill's 📲

99. Richie's 📲

100. Happy one hundredth update I guess!

Richie's 📲

101. Richie's 📲

102. Richie's 📲

103. Last post for tonight! Hope you all enjoyed the double farm date!

Richie's 📲

104. Richie's 📲

105. Richie's 📲

106. Chiwawa

Bill's 📲

107. [Bill voice] Yes I'm an empath no I don't possess any emotional intelligence we exist

Bill's 📲

108. Richie's 📲

109. Cont'd.

Richie's 📲

110. I'm like dropping major hints that this is important moving ahead.

Richie's 📲

111. Eddie's 📲

112. The next morning.

Eddie's 📲

113. Richie's 📲

114. Richie's 📲

115. Richie's 📲

116. Richie's 📲

117.

118.

119.

120.

121.

122. Last update for today.

123. Bev's 📲

124. Richie's 📲

125. Richie's 📲

126. Bev's 📲

127. Richie's 📲

128. Eddie's 📲

129. Bev's 📲

130. Eddie's 📲

131. Tentatively the last post for today.

Eddie's 📲

132. A week in pictures.

(Thank you for your patience during the month-long hiatus everyone! This is the only post for today. Updates resume tomorrow.)

Richie's 📲

133. Bev's 📲

134. Alan stands for All Landlords Are Nbastards

⚠️ Mention of drug use.

Bill's 📲

135. Richie's 📲

136. Richie's 📲

137. Richie's 📲

138. You knew it was coming.

Richie's 📲

139. Last for tonight!

140. Mike's 📲. He's a heavy sleeper.

Tentatively the only update for now because SocialDummy is being impossible today.

141. It's barely 5am. Richie's 📲

142. Richie's 📲

143. Eddie's 📲

144. Finally.

Eddie's 📲

145. Texts from last night.

Mike's 📲

146. Richie's 📲

147.

148. One more update left after this.

149. Last one for today.

Eddie's 📲

150. Communication? In MY demons?

Bev's 📲

151. Eddie's 📲

152. Eddie's 📲

153. Eddie's (burner) 📲

(the texts are Eddie-Jay-Eddie)

154. Cont'd, texts are Jay-Eddie-Eddie-Jay.

Bit of Jay lore: he's very tech-smart and doesn't trust smartphones at all. Count on me to introduce a character like that in a social media AU.

155. One more after this.

Mike's 📲

156. Last update for today!

157. ⚠️ Discussions of Stan's suicide and Adrian's death ⚠️

158.

159. Richie's 📲

160. Yes, the junkyard hand touch was literally that very morning. This day lasted 500 years for everyone involved.

Richie's 📲

161. Bev's 📲

162. Richie's 📲

163. Sorry to everyone that thought Richie would somehow manage to find cute clothes in under 3 hours. He's a big dude so he can't borrow anything. And fairy godmothers haven't been introduced to the CTSCU just yet :(

Richie's 📲

164. Bev's 📲

165. Richie's 📲

166. Bev's 📲

167. Last for today! Happy pride!

⚠️ Same type of self harm as the whole palm-splitting friendship ritual thing the Losers did in 1989

Richie's 📲

168. Eddie's 📲

169.

170.

171.

172.

173. I didn't write the rest of the interview because it's pretentious nonsense and Eddie zoned out and browsed the photo gallery anyway.

174. [slaps roof of twins] You won't BELIEVE how many texts can fit in these

175.

176. One more update after this!
⚠️ Emetophobia, blood mention.

Flo's 📲

177. Flo does some Googling.

Last post for tonight!

178. I nearly died of caffeine jitters getting these out on time. Enjoy.

Bev's 📲

179.

180. Nice! Clothes! For! Richie! alsotheahadaneardeathexperience:)

181. For the casual readers only here for the fashion show, Beverly is asking so many questions because IRL, Stan just showed her that his eyes glow just like Thea's.

182. Last for tonight!

183. MikePat dream team is Patty cautiously texting instead of making any noise and Mike taking photos of her and the tree with the flash on

184. Soon!

185. ⚠️ They address Stan's suicide pretty directly in this one.

186.

187. I did say soon.

Still Mike's 📲

188. Last for tonight!

189. A day and a half later, in a very different group chat.

⚠️ Mentions of weed and self medication.

Richie's 📲

190.

191. We're picking it up from here tomorrow!

192. Richie's 📲

193.

194.

195. Still Richie's 📲

196.

197. Bill's 📲

198. ⚠️ Blood ⚠️

Eddie's 📲

199. Only these two for today. Tomorrow's a big one!

Eddie's 📲

200. Two hundredth update! Here, have a celebratory song that may or may not also be the theme for today: open.spotify.com/track/1XuccRAB… [Title: Alone Again Or by Love]

Richie's 📲

201. *Gets called a himbo in ASL*

202.

203. Yeah I wrote this from Bev's phone so I could finally use that contact pic what about it

204. Painfully normal.

Richie's 📲

205. "Aw man Richie good luck kids are scary" - Eddie while parkouring around NYC looking for his friend who might be dead

206.

207.

208. Stan's 📲

209.

210.

211.

212.

213. Last post for tonight.

Bev's 📲

214. Bev's 📲

215. ⚠️ There's discussion of depressive episodes and (not) medicating in this update.

216.

217. Bill's 📲

218. Eddie's 📲

219. Last for tonight. Here's a song. open.spotify.com/track/1l5lKWHR…
[Title: Sleep Forever by Portugal. The Man]

220. Bev's 📲

221. Bill's 📲

222. Bill's 📲

223. Bill chose the "I miss my wife" photo because all his empath hunches are just imppecable today

224. Bill's just having a very cathartic [checks 2017 calendar] Saturday evening

225. Sorry Thea you gotta give Bill meltdowns on a daily basis for several months for him to finally grace your chat with a contact pic

226. Helping people feels... good? (Yes, he already had the contact pic.)
Last for tonight!

227. ⚠️ Mentions of Stan's suicide.

Patty's 📲

228. Bill's 📲

229. Last for today!

Patty's 📲

230. Mike's 📲

231. Bev's 📲

232.

233.

234. Somewhere in Manhattan, one of the only remaining payphone booths in the city comes to life. After several rings, a very grimy, very annoyed-looking man pops up from a nearby manhole and goes to answer.

235. Eddie's 📲

236.

237.

238. Last post for tonight!

239.

240. Bev's 📲

241. Just these for today. See you tomorrow!

Eddie's 📲

242. ⚠️ Suicidal ideation. ⚠️

243. It is indeed 5am. Bev's 📲

244. Richie's 📲

245. Bill's 📲

246. Bev's 📲

247. Eddie and Richie? Women?

248. Richie's 📲

249.

250. Last for tonight!

Bev's 📲

251.

252.

253. Richie's 📲

254. Richie's 📲

255. That is indeed Richie's first hug. Eddie had no way of knowing that though.

256. Last for today.

257.

258. ⚠️ Insect mention.

259. Last one for today!

THREAD TWO starts here with update 260.

https://twitter.com/stringscut/status/1295813848205791235?s=21

https://twitter.com/StringsCut/status/1295813848205791235