#like no i know how annoying i seem for just building up this ominous event that i had without ever sharing what it was | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

imnotwolverine · 4 years

Text

Comic con relief

Henry Cavill drabble

Disclaimer: bit of strong language

Author’s note: For all my fellow dorky cosplayers who can’t go to events right now - I feel you. In this drabble you are stuck in an elevator with some of your nerdy friends and ..ehh..one very cute Mr. Cavill?

Tagsquad: @tumblnewby @magdelen69

(Link to my Masterlist)

Henry. Was. Tired. He blinked as the elevator doors slid open and 4 Nazgûl strolled in, their hoods hiding the people beneath, animated chatter echoing through the small cell as soon as the elevator doors closed again. They didn’t even seem to notice him through their hoods, their bodies turning away from him as one of them peered at the buttons, face hovering mere inches from the buttons, before hesitantly selecting one - they probably could see very little through the gauze of their hoods. Henry stifled a sniffle as he managed to get a better look at them. They weren’t common Nazgûl, their arms clutching happily coloured pool noodles and candy-shaped floaties. Original, he had to give them that. Hehe.

Even after visiting at least a hundred comic cons, he could still savour these moments. There was nothing more enjoyable than to just be able to watch people as they were just so fully engrossed in being themselves that they didn’t even have time to throw themselves at Henry’s feet. Right now, Henry was just another regular man. A regular man standing in an elevator with the pool-ready ring-servants of the dark lord Sauron, like it was just another Wednesday.

Well.

Actually, it really was just another Wednesday.

And this situation wasn’t out of the ordinary for the Wednesdays Henry had been having.

Henry was currently on a tight scheduled press tour and today’s comic con was one of the many events he was attending to promote the new season of the Witcher. The rush of such a tour was a bit of a double edged sword. He loved to meet his fans, but he was only but a man of flesh and blood, a mere mortal. And mortals..well..they get tired.

Leaning heavily against the back of the elevator wall, he observed the Nazgûl as they pressed another one of the buttons, their voices discussing their plans for the night. From the sounds coming from their mysterious hoods, Henry recognised them to be men. Probably brits just like him. One with a deep baritone voice and two tenors. The fourth one quiet.

The elevator started to move up, the Nazgûl quick to widen their stances before it would be a sea of fallen over black robes. Henry smiled again.

‘Ooph I can’t wait to get this off. It is the freaking Anduin river down my butt crack.’ The baritone voice chuckled.

‘Dude! Grossss. But agreed. Next time we better build in some cooling system. WEW.’ One of the tenors said.

‘Well you guys go ahead and fix that, you’re the techs in here!’ The fourth one spoke. A ..a woman? Henry looked in mild confusion, his eyes gliding down her shapeless black robes, trying to learn more about her but failing miserably. She was quite tall, but other than that there was no saying what she’d look like. It intrigued him, his eyes resting on her for a longer moment then was probably socially appropriate. He was glad they hadn’t realised yet that he was here with them.

‘Ey and we gotta take some last pictures guys. For fun!’ A tenor said, his hand already digging down his robes to pull out a smartphone. This whole scenario was getting more amusing by the second, especially because the dangerous looking gauntlets were obviously not very practical to take pictures with. Henry grinned, deciding to remain quiet.

‘You and your darn pictures. You could practically plaster your whole bedroom with the whole photo report you’ve made today.’ The other tenor sighed, his complaint falling on deaf ears as the tenor leaned into him to make a selfie, his gloves turning up into a “we will rock” sign.

‘Can you blame me though? I mean..look at us! We’re like the sexiest Ringwraiths of the waterpark!’ The tenor laughed, wobbling his head with a sass. A sassy Ringwraith, but of course.

‘Poooolll partyyy…’ The baritone whispered with an ominous tone.

‘Aren’t we just..dreadfully moist.’ The woman said, a dry humour dripping through her words.

Henry decided to step in.

‘Hey, if you want I can take some pictures of you guys?’

With comical spins on their heels, the four quickly turned around, obviously surprised by the fact there was a 5th person in this elevator. They were properly startled, the elevator quiet as the cabin zipped smoothly through the elevator shaft. Henry smiled awkwardly, shrugging.

‘Woa…’ One of the tenors finally managed, his hand quick to move up his hood and reveal the face of a chubby ginger man, his chin hidden behind a thick beard. ’No effing way…eh.. Sorry we didn’t see you there Mr. Cavill.’

The other two men also took off their hoods, looking quite flabbergasted. ‘Oh..I should not have talked about my ass crack…’ The baritone muttered.

Henry laughed, shaking his head. ‘Oh no really, it is fine. You are amongst friends. Do not contempt yourself.’ His eyes quickly slid towards the woman, but she did not take off her hood, her hood only turned so she could see him. Or well..maybe could see him. Perhaps she only saw a vague blur right now.

‘But eh..want me to take a picture of you guys?’ Henry asked again. The men quickly started to nod their heads, hands pulling back their hoods. ‘Yea man! Thanks. That’s very kind of you.’

‘No problem, no problem.’ Henry carefully took the smartphone from the evil looking gauntlet that was stretched out to him, then stepped as far back into the corner as he could. Holding the phone up close to his nose he could just manage to get you all in the picture.

‘Alright. Great! Love your costumes by the way.’

‘Thanks! Oh can we have one picture with you too? I mean, if that’s not too forward. We understand if you -’

‘Oh no please. Sure! I’d love that. Could I perhaps take one with my phone as well, for my..Instagram? Is that okay with you guys?’

‘Heck yes! Woa..’

The men were obviously enjoying how easy going Henry was, and Henry was glad they didn’t go to overboard on the fangirling department. Henry squatted down in front of the Nazgûl squad and first made a selfie with their smartphone, before taking out his smartphone and shooting some selfies with that too.

It was then the elevator came to a very sudden, shaky stop.

The group wobbled dangerously uncoordinated, gauntlets gripping shiny railings and steadying against the walls as it appeared the elevator had gotten stuck, the doors not opening like they usually would. The woman shrieked in slight panic, her body stuck between one of her friends and the corner of the small elevator cabin, her hooded face probably having stopped her from grasping a railing in time.

‘Dudee!!’ She groaned, pushing off her friend.

The friend laughed, moving away before reaching out an arm to pull her back up. ’Sorry darlin’. Looks like you should have eaten less of that buffet..’

‘Very funny.’ She invisibly rolled her eyes.

‘Hehe. Went to that big toe again I’m sure. Gotta lay low on those chocolates dear!’ One of the other men chuckled, the last of the group now peering at the buttons on the panel.

‘Oh just give it a moment.’ Henry said, touching the man’s shoulder to alert him. ‘It’s probably just a little hiccup. It happens more often than you’d like to imagine.’ He smiled.

They all sighed, Henry’s eyes turning up to look at the ceiling. He chewed on his bottom lip in silent frustration, his fingers gripping with aggravation around his phone.

UGH…really? Could this day get any more frustrating?

He wished he could just wind down for the day. He had been up since 7 o’clock and he maybe, accidentally, accepted to join his manager to an after party event tonight. Standing here, stuck in an elevator, he realised it really was the last thing he wanted to do. He wished he could just pull on a robe just like theirs and disappear into the comfort of just being Henry for tonight. To really..relax.

‘Had a long day?’ The woman asked, tilting her head in Henry’s direction. He looked at her, her face still hooded and cloaked. Alright, she probably could see him, otherwise she hadn’t noticed his quiet sulking. Henry sighed.

‘Yea. And no end in sight unfortunately. I halfwittedly agreed to join this after party. So perhaps the almighty gods are just sending me a sign by stopping this elevator.’ He smiled a tired smile.

‘Can’t you just..cancel?’ She asked, shrugging.

‘Perhaps. But perhaps the decision to go has already been made by this elevator.’ Henry shrugged in turn.

‘Hey! You could join us for drinks if you want. Just gonna relax in our room. Play a quick D&D campaign with some beers.’ The baritone said, his hand once more moving to remove his cap. He offered Henry a comforting smile, making Henry realise these were really rather nice people. And fun people too.

He sighed. He wished he could say yes. But he ...he promised. He wasn’t one to break promises.

‘Well I promised my manager..can’t really disappoint him. But thanks for the offer -‘

The lights flickered and everyone instantly looked up, hands moving back to the railings to steady themselves for any sudden movement of the cabin. But…nothing. Still no movement.

‘Hmm, looks like they’re trying to fix it.’ Henry said.

‘Any idea how long that usually takes?’ One asked.

The other men once more removed their hoods, faces hot and slightly annoyed, brows furrowing.

‘Could be a few minutes. Could be half an hour. I don’t know really. Just prepare for it to take a while.’

‘UGH. It’s too fucking hot.’ The woman groaned, her hand finally moving to lift her hood. Henry’s eyes instantly moved to see her, his eyes taking in the bliss of recognising soft skin and blushing cheeks as her black hood pulled away.

She was…very…pretty.

He quickly looked away from her, not wishing to seem rude, but his stare did not go unnoticed by the other men, their mouths curling in knowing smiles.

‘Well looks we might be here for a while.’ A very slender faced man with receding hairline said. One of the tenors.

Henry nodded, chewing his lip.

‘Got any tips on what to do? You said this happens more often?’ The woman asked, Henry’s eyes not hesitating a moment to look back into hers. Gods she was far too pretty to be a nerd. He scolded himself for staring at her again, his brain not managing to process the question she just asked him.

‘Earth to Henry, earth to Henry.’ She waved her gauntleted hand in front of his face and he quickly blinked, a blush brushing over his chiseled cheeks.

‘…I am..so..sorry..I just..’ He shook his head and smiled awkwardly, the knowing grins on the faces of the other men growing by the second.

‘I guess I really should take a night to unwind haha. But, to answer your question; there’s not much we can do. Just wait.’

‘Our offer still stands!’ The bearded ginger said, winking. The woman rolled her eyes, but also shrugged in agreement.

Henry looked at the group hesitantly, before quickly checking the floor sign that was now blinking erratically. It didn’t look like he was going anywhere anytime soon. Perhaps they wouldn’t even make it out of this elevator. Could you imagine? Stuck in an elevator with 4 Nazgûl? He sure had another fun story to tell after today.

‘Thanks..’ Henry smiled.

Could he cancel his manager? Should he..join these people? They seemed fun. And another night alone in a hotel room was probably not going to do him any good either. He chewed his lip again - he did that too often, he admitted it -, his hand suddenly buzzing. Or no actually it was the phone in his hand that was buzzing.

Like the devil.

His manager had just texted him.

“Henners. I’m afraid I can’t make it. Feeling a bit iffy and gonna hit the hay early. See you tomorrow.”

YES.

Henry sighed in relief, the weight of the world slightly less heavy on his shoulders just now. He didn’t have to spend his night entertaining others, striking up polite conversation and try to keep his composure while a hundred fans wanted to take pictures with him. He didn’t have to pretend to be this hot shot superstar. He could..

He looked up from his phone, the group of Nazgûl already conversing again about this D&D session they just spoke about. Hmm..Should he? He never…well..maybe?

‘Hey. UH..before I say..yes..is it like..okay if I’ve never played D&D before? I mean I don’t want to..-‘

‘YES MAN! Oh and don’t worry. We’ve had plenty of virgins.’ The skinny man quickly interjected, immediately realising those choice words were…well..less convenient.

They all burst out laughing.

‘Good ol’ cherry poppin’ murder hobos, we are.’ The woman chuckled, poking the skinny man in his side. He groaned, the sound drowning in the now very loud laughter reverberating from Henry’s chest.

‘What?!’ The woman shrugged, acting playfully unabashed.

‘Nothing, nothing. I just..never..ever..heard a pretty woman say something like that..ever.’ Henry chuckled, his laughter making him cough slightly. ‘Sorry about that.’ He grinned, offering her a cheeky wink.

‘Oh..’ The woman started to blush profusely, her hand quick to pull her cap back on.

Cute, Henry thought.

’No, no, please. No need to..’ Henry stepped in closer, his hand carefully lifting the hood back from her face, her flushed cheeks appearing from beneath the pool of black. Gods she was pretty. She looked up into his eyes, her breath coming in short, pupils dilated. Ah..she…liked..him..too? It must be Henry’s lucky day…

The elevator jolted.

And suddenly Henry had her in his arms, his body pressing her back into the corner. Oh she was shapely too. His breath choked as he blinked a bit, his brain short circuiting for the longest moment as his hands safely held her against his chest, perky breasts squished against him. Ooph..okay..take a hold of yourself Henry. Don’t be an idiot now.

One of the man stood up from his awkward half-tumble and sniffled in amusement, looking at the way Henry held on to his lady friend.

‘WELL. Looks like we found ourselves a knight errant for tonight’s campaign!’

The woman blinked, still somewhat overcome by this strange turn of events, the feeling of being wrapped in the arms of one very hot Henry Cavill, the very man not making any attempt to let her go. And then her lips curled up in a smile, her shoulders starting to shake, a heart warming laugh bursting through her full lips.

‘Just…hahahaha..wiew okay..so you know..I play a very fat old wizardess. Not really likely to be saved by any knight errants..any day.’

‘Well..maybe this Wednesday is different?’ Henry tried, finally stepping back and joining them in their laughter, his lips turning up in an amused grin.

He liked these people and thanked the elevator gods for interfering on his night.

—

And what a fun night it was. It was about 3 o’clock when he finally made it back to his hotel room, his cheeks tired from laughter, his head slightly buzzed from the beer and his heart warm, hands clenched around his phone. His most prized possession right now, because it held her number. Her friends had quickly given it to him when she had gone to the bathroom. And he felt like he was the luckiest man in the whole wide world right now.

A nerdy girl? With humour? And that attractive? Stuck with him in an elevator? He would have said no way, had you told him he’d meet a woman like her this morning. But right now, all he could say was; yes way. Sighing in happy relief, he sank down into his pillow, his heart beating with giddy joy. Today, was perhaps the start of many very good, good days.

#henry cavill fanfic #henry cavill fanfiction #henry cavill drabble #drabble #hc fanfic #cosplay #nazgul #pool party #costume #elevator #D&D

144 notes · View notes

ieatmypizzawithaforkandknife · 4 years

Text

MAG 019 - Confession (part 1)

Summary: Jonathan reads the first half of the statement of Father Edwin Burroughs, regarding “his claimed demonic possession.”

Our first two-parter! Not that I realized that when I listened to the episode the first time, despite it being right there in the title, because I have the observational skills of a blind muskrat...but I’m excited because I know there will be more multi-parters in the future. I like the episodic format right now, but I know that as Things Begin To Happen, I’ll appreciate the increased breadth and depth of longer stories.

89 Bullingdon Rd is the third street address featured in the series so far, the other two being 93 Lancaster Rd in episode 5 and 105 Hill Top Rd in episode 8. Unlike the first two, however, this one actually exists - kind of. According to google maps, the house numbers on Lancaster Rd in Walthamstow run from about 1 to 85, and the numbers on Hill Top Rd in Cowley run from about 1 to 75. But 89 is right in the middle of the range of house numbers on Bullingdon Rd in Cowley, and while google maps says there’s an 89A but not an 89...it’s close enough. On one hand it’s super cool that these locations are relatively real (the towns are real, the streets are real, it’s just the exact buildings that aren’t). On the other hand 89A is a little too close to 89, and I wish Jonny had picked a number completely outside the range of addresses like he did with the first two, just to avoid crazy fans descending on real people’s houses.

It is definitely worth noting the proximity of 89 Bullingdon Rd to 105 Hill Top Rd. They’re only about half a mile (or about a kilometer, since this is in the UK after all) away from each other as the crow flies. And for both of them, the location itself seems to be tied to the paranormal happenings of the episode(s) they’re featured in. In episode 8, Ivo Lensik feels that unnatural burning start when he’s alone inside 105 Hill Top Rd, which stops as soon as Father Burroughs arrives. In this episode, Father Burroughs feels that same unnatural burning start when he’s alone inside 105 Hill Top Rd, and it only stops when Ivo uproots the tree. And in this episode, Bethany claims her problems are being caused by the Bullingdon Rd house itself, though she doesn’t explain what made her think that. But it’s very concerning that she can’t seem to see the only creepy thing about the house that we’re aware of: the old Latin word written in faded blue paint on the exposed wall.

The word “mentis” is Latin alright, but Father Burroughs translates it as “mind” which...isn’t quite right. “Mentis” doesn’t strictly mean “mind”, it means “of the mind”. The endings of Latin nouns change based on how they’re used in a sentence, so if you’re talking about the word “mind” as the subject of a sentence (or as the word in general) it is “mens”. “Mentis” is specifically the possessive form of the word. I don’t know whether this was deliberate or accidental on Jonny’s part, since if you look it up the dictionary entry shows “mens, mentis”. (It’s standard practice to include both the “subject” form and the “possessive” form in the dictionary since they’re different.) It makes me wonder if this word was part of a phrase and if there were other words hidden under the wallpaper. (Also, small shout-out to anyone reading this who is also a Latin geek, and I hope I explained it well enough that the non-Latin-geeks also understand that explanation.)

On the subject of language, this isn’t the first time Latin has appeared in connection with the paranormal. Ex Altiora, the Leitner found in episode 4, was written entirely in Latin (including the title), and the Lord’s Prayer was written in Latin on that long strip of singed paper found in the second trash bag in episode 5. It’s interesting that the same constellation of details from the trash bag incident are also in this episode: Latin, Christianity, and burning.

Latin isn’t even the only dead language to make an appearance this episode. When describing his experiences performing exorcisms at the beginning of the episode, Father Burroughs recounts: “I was once cursed at in Sumerian by a young man who was illiterate.” In episode 12, the phrase muttered by the hospitalized man that seemed to summon the “lightless flame” contained the word “Asag”, which is the name of a Sumerian demon that could boil fish alive in their rivers. Father Burroughs doesn’t appear in episode 12, but if he had been at that hospital, I think he would have pegged that guy as possessed and wanted to have an exorcism performed. So is there a connection between Sumerian and possession and burning? And how do all the different dead languages that have appeared so far (Latin, Sumerian, and Sanskrit) fit together?

I am also very interested in that nurse, Anna/Annie/Anne Kasuma/Willett. (Seriously, how many names does one person need?) For my purposes, I’m going to call her “Annie” because she seems to go by that. In this episode’s statement (made in 2011), Father Burroughs gives her surname as Willett, and in Jonathan’s wrap-up at the end of episode 8 (which he recorded in late 2015 or early 2016), Jonathan gives her surname as Kasuma. As an older, fairly conservative Catholic (she was a member of the congregation at Father Burroughs’ church, fully believed in demonic possession, etc.), it is highly unlikely that she changed her name for any reason other than marriage or divorce. Ivo Lensik described her as “Malaysian”, and Kasuma is an Indonesian name, whereas Willett is found overwhelmingly in predominantly white countries (the U.S., England, Australia, and Canada are at the top of the list of countries where the name is found). So it would make the most sense to me if Kasuma were her maiden name and Willett a married name. BUT when Jonathan mentions her in the wrap-up to episode 8, he calls her “Mrs. Kasuma”. Since everything else fits with the idea that Kasuma is her maiden name and Willett her married name, I’m thinking Jonathan just messed up the honorific, since he also referred to “Miss Popham” at the end of episode 15 when “Popham” was very clearly Laura’s married name. (This overly detailed surname analysis brought to you in part by my ongoing obsession with genealogy. If anyone reading this has anything resembling a passing interest in the subject, feel free to hit me up about it. I will gush.) All of that nitty-gritty was not without purpose: I think she’s important somehow. I could be reading too much into things, but why would Jonny give her a name change if it weren’t somehow important? Even I realized the nurse from episode 8 and the nurse from episode 19 were the same person on my first listen-through, when I missed or forgot 90% of the details in any given episode, so I don’t think he was trying to trip us up. And she has a direct connection to 105 Hill Top Rd: she grew up on that street, and had a lot of information on the property’s history dating back to before she was born, possibly indicating her family lived on that street even longer. But we haven’t met anyone else with either surname, so for now that’s where it stands: possibly a lead, muddled with a probable mistake.

I was so glad when Father Burroughs made the differentiation in this episode between perception and will: “Bethany told me that her will was still her own, but she could no longer trust her senses, and had found herself doing much that she did not understand.” She tried to eat a small slab of slate, and she apparently couldn’t perceive the word “Mentis” that was literally written on a wall. This might be the first time that the author of the statement calls attention to the recurring theme I’ve been calling “altered reality”. This “altered reality” is a heavy presence in the second part of this two-parter, but I’ll wait to talk about that in that episode’s post. Coupled with this “altered reality” is the “eating of something you really shouldn’t be eating”. In this episode, it’s Bethany trying to eat a slab of slate before being abruptly pulled back to reality by Father Burroughs, only then realizing what it was. Hinted at in this episode, and shown in more detail in the next one (minor spoiler, I guess?), is Father Burroughs eating human flesh and only realizing what it was when the police arrived. The only other time I remember these two themes working in tandem is in episode 3 when Graham Folger ate a notebook. No one stopped him or made him realize what he was doing, so we don’t know for sure that his reality was altered, but it makes the most sense to me that he, like Bethany and Father Burroughs, truly didn’t realize what he was doing. I’m not convinced that the events of this episode (and the next one) are actually related to the notebook incident in episode 3, but it’s an interesting parallel.

On a completely unrelated note, I’d like to talk a bit about Father Burroughs’ “possession” itself. First off, I get that Bethany saying “I’m so sorry...it wants your faith” was supposed to be an ominous line, but why is that the only thing she said throughout the entire attempted exorcism at the hospital? She couldn’t even say, “Hey, man, this isn’t working”? All she could do was look at him with pity and say that? I’d be OK with those being her only words if whatever was “possessing” her also affected her speech the way it did to Father Burroughs later...but she specifically established that she was free to speak and act as she wished, it was only at certain times that her perception of reality was altered. So I’m a little annoyed at her for not giving Father Burroughs (or us) any kind of useful warning or helpful information during the failed exorcism.

I was really confused by the apparent theft of the sacramental wine, too. What was the significance of that? Was it just an example of something weird Father Burroughs noticed that keyed him in to the fact that All Was Not Well, or was there something more to it? (This is only a semi-rhetorical question - if the answer to this was said outright or implied in this episode and it isn’t a post-S1 spoiler, please do fill me in. I sometimes miss stuff that’s super obvious to other people.)

I also find it interesting that he can say “God” towards the end of this episode. He stumbled over it, but by contrast he was completely unable to say “Lord” and “Jesus” at the very beginning. Not sure if this is significant, since there’s no real difference between the words “Lord” and “God” in my estimation. Jesus is specifically Christian, and while “Lord” tends to be associated with Christianity, it’s not exclusive. “God” is the most general of the three terms, yes, but in context he is very obviously referring to the Christian “God”, so his difficulty with getting certain words out isn’t based solely on their contextual meaning. Jonny could have written it without him getting out the word “God” at the end and I think most people listening would have understood that’s the word he was going for. It’s either some kind of clue, or Jonny just got sick of stuttering.

Father Burroughs’ call for protection is the point at which he knows something is Very, Very Wrong, as he feels his lips move even though he himself isn’t moving them. But, as with so many of these stories, Things Were Bad Long Before You Realized It. Bethany told him “it wants your faith” years before the Hill Top Rd incident. He himself admits that his pride led to his downfall, since he initiated an exorcism/blessing on Hill Top Rd when he wasn’t supposed to be doing them at all. But it wasn’t just his pride - it was something taking advantage of his pride. I think that, as much as any person can be, Father Burroughs was a victim of whatever possessed him. He made mistakes in his life - his sins, if you’re looking at it religiously, as he did - but he never wanted to be evil or commit crimes like cannibalism. Like the characters in so many of these stories, I don’t think he deserved what he got, and I mostly just feel bad for him.

His call for protection, he says, was answered by something that was not God, and when Jonathan reads the words that Father Burroughs’ lips were forming (“I am not for you. I am marked.”) we once again hear that creepy static or interference. And I still can’t decide if this is supposed to be some kind of clue or if it’s just to make things creepier. It feels like a clue, but I can’t figure out what exactly it’s supposed to mean. Most of the times I’ve noted it appearing (probably not a complete list - I’m working on it) it appears during a specific quoted phrase or instance of someone speaking: “Can I have a cigarette?” in episode 1. “Isn’t it funny, Amy, how you can live so near and never notice. I’ll need to return the visit someday” from not-Graham in episode 3. “Some hungers are too strong to be denied” from Angela in episode 14. Laura’s sister Elena asking her “how lost I was, in a low, grating voice” in episode 15. If the examples were limited to things like this, then I’d say that it occurs whenever some as-yet-undetermined otherworldly monster is given a human voice to speak through. But it also occurs the first time Ex Altiora is said in episode 4 and the first time The Boneturner’s Tale is said in episode 17, as well as two different moments during the recounting of the story inside TBT. So how is it connected to the Leitners? It didn’t occur when Jonathan read the title Key of Solomon in episode 4, which is implied to be a Leitner. And there’ve been a few other occurrences where something obviously supernatural is happening but that doesn’t involve speech or quoted words at all: When Laura describes the light changing from appearing like an approaching candle to sunlight (which it still wasn’t...) in episode 15, and when Jonathan reads the description of the bleeding books in episode 17 (”red dripped and pulsed from the cart”).

I don’t know what to make of the creepy static yet. But my specific concern with the most recent instance, when Father Burroughs “said” “I am not for you. I am marked” is: Who are the “I” and the “you” referring to? Is the “I” supposed to be Father Burroughs, or the thing “possessing” him? And who on earth is the “you”?

This post is part of a series where I write my thoughts about each episode and obsessively connect dots in an effort to figure out The Big Mysteries of the series. All posts in this series are tagged “is this liveblogging?” Comments and messages are welcome but I have only listened to season 1, so I ask that you not spoil me for anything beyond episode 40. In the words of Jonny Sims…thanks for listening!

#personal #liveblogging #is this liveblogging?#The Magnus Archives #guys this took me so long to write because I CANNOT BE SUCCINCT #nor can I leave anything out because IT'S ALL SO INTERESTING #I am so sorry

16 notes · View notes

dukeofonions · 4 years

Text

Deceit’s Somewhat Acceptance Arc (And Why It Feels Off)

So I was gonna do the video game post first, but then I remembered I’d started this one before I left for the weekend and decided to finish it. As a result, it’s kinda messy and my thoughts are all over the place, I had to delete and rewrite is several times, but I think I managed to get my overall thoughts there.

As always, this is just my opinion. You are free to agree, disagree, or feel completely indifferent towards a random person who spends their free time dissecting fictional characters.

We all good? Let’s go then.

I won’t lie, Deceit was the best part of this video. I didn’t think he’d be included as much as he was. Originally, I thought he’d be content to lurk in the shadows and let Thomas deal with the repercussions of not heeding him in the first place and leave him to sort through the mess himself without his help. Possibly having a cameo in the end, foreshadowing some major event that’s soon to take place, but I was completely wrong and he got the best freaking entrance and completely owned the episode.

It was great, seeing him take on his role of self preservation and defend Thomas, who was being harmed unknowingly by Patton with how far he was taking things. He encouraged Thomas to start taking better care of his mental health, was given a seat at the table, and even showed they could trust him by revealing his name: Janus

It was wonderful, beautiful, and I have a lot of issues with this.

Let me explain, on its own, the whole scene building up to Deceit revealing his name, and the following aftermath, is perfect.

What feels off to me is Janus himself, he feels like a completely different character compared to the Deceit we met in Can Lying Be Good? and saw in action during Selfishness vs Selflessness

To start, let’s briefly go over Deceit’s character throughout the first 5 episodes we see him in before we get to POF.

In his debut, Can Lying Be Good? He spends a majority of the episode disguised as Patton. Pushing Thomas to lie to his friend in order to spare their feelings and to avoid the possibility of Thomas being hurt. He’s shown to enjoy the distress the others are going through as the situation becomes more and more uncomfortable, and even gets close to being aggressive when Thomas decides he needs to be honest in this situation. Once it becomes clear Thomas won’t listen to him as Patton, he drops his act and reveals himself.

Immediately, we are given the impression that this is not someone we can trust. From the music, to Deceit’s entire demeanor, even the Sides’ reactions to him are enough to enforce that idea, as well as Deceit’s reactions to them.

With Logan, he immediately silences him, growling almost as if he’s annoyed and has had to do this before. He doesn’t really pay Logan any mind after his reveal and ignores him for the most part and Logan is more than eager to expose him for what he is.

Roman states that he “Hates this guy and his creepy snake face” while adding that he’s “Very kind” which Deceit responds to by giving him a false compliment. Showing right away that this has also happened before with these two (Logan is about to comment on the exchange but decides not to bother)

Virgil clearly has some deep rooted animosity towards Deceit. With the glare he shoots him and the two immediately throw insults at each other which comes back to play in almost all of their interactions.

We don’t really get much in terms of what Deceit’s character is really like with this first episode. We know he can be a threatening presence, but also has a bit of a goofier, dorky side to him as well. At this point, we’re not sure what his goals are or what his relationships with the other Sides are like (It’s obvious they all don’t like him) but for a while, this was all we got.

His next appearance was a brief cameo in Logic vs Passoin where he showed up after Logan exclaimed “I won’t have you lying to yourself!” Where he gave an evil chuckle, flipped Thomas off, then sank out without a word. This still didn’t give us much in regards to Deceit’s character, other than enforcing the fact that he didn’t like Thomas and showing that he had a bit of a mischievous side as well. It did, however, show that Thomas was easily distressed by him and wasn’t entirely on board with having Deceit for a Side yet.

After that, he disappears for 2 episodes before showing up during the end card of Embarrassing Phases, which is one of my favorite scenes in the series, and one that now causes a bit of problems which I will get back to later. Just note that this scene once again reinforces these things about Deceit: He is a threat, he can’t be trusted, he still has a bit of a goofy side, and on top of that his rivalry with Virgil is expanded upon and the idea that these two have a history is put up front and center.

Then finally, we get our first official episode that takes all we’ve learned about Deceit and amplifies them in Selfishness vs Selflessness. What we get is a character that can be cool and charismatic, but can also be silly. It’s still unclear what his overall goal is, and he delights in being proved right and winning against the others.

An interesting thing to note here is that all of the interactions Deceit has with the other Sides in CLBG Come back into play here.

He ignores Logan and keeps his input limited, he uses flattery on Roman to sway him to his side, and of course him and Virgil still have their rivalry, revealing more and more just how much Virgil hates Deceit. We also finally get to see his relationship with Patton, and see that he seems to hold almost the same amount of animosity towards Deceit as Virgil does. Thomas himself isn’t as frightened by him anymore, and is willing to hear him out, but he still doesn’t trust him.

Throughout the “trial” Deceit openly mocks the others, discredits them, and when he “wins” he rubs that victory in Thomas’ face and is shown laughing and celebrating while the others are at the lowest they’ve been. Things then take a turn when Roman decides to sentence Thomas to go to the wedding and give up the callback, which clearly distresses Deceit to the point where he nearly has a breakdown due to the others not being able to comprehend what he’s trying to say. Which is basically, selfishness isn’t always a bad thing, which he articulates a lot better in POF, but we’ll get back to that.

He leaves the episode shortly after Logan shows up, but not before delivering this rather ominous line: “It’s clear you all don’t want to listen to reason (while the embodiment of Thomas’ logic and reasoning is standing right next to him) but hear this: I’ll always be a part of you. I’m not going anywhere, and there are smarter ways to get people to do what you want anyway.”

Does that sound like a threat to anyone else? Or is it just me? Keep in mind at this point, everyone is still very much against Deceit, and he clearly is about to change tactics when it comes to dealing with them and getting what he wants. Another important thing to note is that this is the last time Thomas sees and deals with Deceit directly before we get to POF.

I should probably bring up Dealing With Intrusive Thoughts because while Deceit isn’t in the episode, he is mentioned a couple of times by Remus, who implies that it was Deceit himself who’s responsible for sending Remus out to antagonize the others. While this can’t be confirmed, Remus claims that Deceit said “You’re wanting to be more honest and be direct dealing with your issues, no longer will you deceive yourself about the ugliness within you.”

(Admit it, you all sang that and added the little “Neat!” at the end. If you don’t, I’ll know you’re lying.)

This shows that Deceit is switching things up and making good on his “promise” that he made at the end of SVS by forcing Thomas to accept yet another part of him that he doesn’t like. One that, by comparison, is much worse than anything Deceit could bring to the table.

His next actual appearance is another cameo in Are There Healthy Distractions? where all he does is take his hat back from Roman and berates him for it. The only significant thing to happen here is Virgil’s reaction to seeing him, which again, I’ll get back to in a moment.

This was the last time we saw Deceit for awhile, we were then subjected to a long drought between episodes as people waited to see the aftermath of the wedding that was the main conflict of SVS. Keep in mind again that so far, Deceit has remained relatively the same mysterious, slightly villainous character that we’ve seen throughout his 5 appearances thus far in the series.

So you can see why some people would be shocked when he suddenly does a complete 180 and is going about promoting mental health while acting silly around Thomas and befriending Patton, the Side he went head to head with during his last main appearance, and is now being offered a seat at the table while showing genuine concern for Thomas and aiming to protect him, which goes to show that he cared all along.

Right?

Uh, yeah, I’m not buying it.

Well let me clarify, do I think Janus is evil? No. Is it impossible for him to actually care about Thomas? Of course not.

And do I think it’s possible for him to change from his villainous persona to a more friendly one? Absolutely.

The problem here is that it doesn’t feel earned. We’ve only had one full episode with Janus before this, and even in the brief appearances we got his character remained consistent throughout them all. It’s almost like there’s a piece of this puzzle missing, and I have a theory as to where it is.

In short, Janus has not been fully accepted yet. Thomas trusts him, and even Patton does now, but does Roman? Don’t make me laugh.

Logan? He was once again removed from the discussion by Janus, which is a running theme with these two, so I doubt he’d be quick to accept someone who continuously silences him unless it benefits him.

And the biggest factor of them all, Virgil.

He hates Janus, every interaction these two have had is filled with insults, glares, and Virgil becoming more aggressive than he’s ever been towards anyone in the series.

Just look at him in ATHD, when Janus shows up hardly anyone pays him any mind. Heck, Remus has continuously popped up throughout the episode and no one has batted an eye, not even Virgil. But as soon as Janus shows up he goes feral, hissing at him while Janus pays him no mind.

What is going on here?

It’s glaringly obvious that something has happened between these two, something that won’t be easily swept under the rug when it comes up.

For one thing, just compare Virgil’s relationship with Janus to his relationship with Remus. We see at the beginning of DWIT that, of course, Virgil is hostile towards Remus and hates him, while being distressed by him. The two know each other and seem to have a bit of a history of their own.

What’s the difference between Remus and Janus?

Well, Virgil gets over his fear of Remus in just one episode. By the time it ends, he isn’t bothered by Remus anymore and tells him as such. Remus even seems to be kind of fond of him as well. And when Remus appears again in ATHD, Virgil doesn’t acknowledge his presence at all. Yet when Janus shows up just to retrieve his hat from Roman, he goes into fight mode and probably would have attacked if he’d stayed for even a minute longer.

And if you need further proof, look no further than the end card of Embarrassing Phases and Janus’ parting words to Virgil: “Just be sure to keep up that personal growth Virgil. Who knows? Maybe soon you could be rid of us all.”

Again, does that not sound like a threat to anyone else? And why would he say that to Virgil? Is he implying that Virgil is trying to escape from them? Actually get rid of them? There’s so much that this could mean in regards to Janus’ character and what his motivations are, but then POF comes around and suddenly this doesn’t line up with his character at all.

Don’t tell me you could look at Janus at the end of this episode and say that this is the same guy. He’s gone from leaving an episode with a threat: “You’ve seen the last of me” “You could be rid of us all” “There are smarter ways to get people to do what you want anyway”

To this: “Take some time for yourself, Thomas.”

As well as rejoicing in being told he was right and advising Thomas to stop overthinking everything since, as we’ve now seen, it does not help him in the slightest.

So… What are we missing? What the heck is going on?

Well, I said it before and I’ll say it again: Janus hasn’t been fully accepted yet.

Really, only one Side out of the four main Sides has accepted Janus. This Side just happens to be Patton, Thomas’ morality, and the one thing that stood in the way of Janus getting his voice heard. Because as long as Thomas viewed lying as wrong, he’d never listen to him.

Now that he’s proven that isn’t the case, and that he can help, Patton (and therefore Thomas) no longer sees him as evil.

But again, Roman, Logan, and Virgil have yet to do so. We know how Roman and Virgil feel about Janus, but we have yet to get Logan’s clear view on him since every time Janus has shown up, he’s been left out of the conversation. Though it’s safe to assume he’d be somewhat bitter about that.

The main thing is that something has been set up between Virgil and Janus. Something happened to make them enemies and that can’t be ignored, and I believe this will be addressed soon.

Because if it isn’t, and Janus is accepted immediately by Virgil, then all this would just be explained through bad writing. Which, again, I don’t believe the team is incompetent by any means. However, I do think that this all happened way too fast.

Let’s look at Virgil for a moment, we got plenty of time to know him throughout season one. We got to see him in more of a villain role, and saw him gradually become closer with the group. We saw hints of him wanting to get along with the others and be a part of them, but ultimately, decided for himself that he was doing more harm than good and so, ducked out.

We had 12 episodes to get to know Virgil before Accepting Anxiety came out. 12 episodes as opposed to Janus’ 5, two of which were nothing more than brief cameos and one his introduction where he was only truly himself for the ending.

Really, Janus only had 3 episodes where it was relevant to the plot, and only 1 of those was a full episode, which was immediately followed by him being accepted and acting more like a good guy who just has a bit of a chaotic streak in him as opposed to the mysterious, charismatic Side who works in the background.

Now, the way I see, there are two ways to justify this sudden change. The first is what I said before, that Janus hasn’t been fully accepted yet and needs to be accepted by Roman, Virgil, and Logan first before this can be achieved.

And the other thing, which I hate to consider as a possibility, would be that Janus is putting on an act.

Think about it, Janus realized at the end of SVS that his methods were not working. So he changes his approach, ditching the villain and becoming a hero. He literally appears at the end during a boss battle and puts himself into the role of a protector, defending Thomas from Patton’s harmful behavior. He acts more silly, loosening up, showing genuine care for Thomas.

Then the biggest red flag, his name reveal.

As I watched the scene I couldn’t help but find it oddly reminiscent of Virgil’s own name reveal. From the build up, to the delivery, it all felt strangely familiar, almost as if it’d been rehearsed. Manufactured to get the exact reaction from the others (in this case Thomas and Patton) that he wanted.

Virgil revealing his name was a sign that he trusted the others, and I believe Janus knew this and thus, used it to his advantage.

And guess what? It worked like a charm. Thomas and Patton immediately began trusting him, Patton even went to him for advice after Roman left. Could you see Patton doing that at the end of SVS? I certainly couldn’t.

Now I’m not saying this is actually what happened. For all I know, Janus was being completely sincere when he shared his name, and it really was a personal moment. The only reason I have such a hard time accepting it as genuine is because, as I keep saying, none of it matches up with how Janus was before POF.

Until this point, his character has been consistent and stayed pretty much the same, but now he’s completely changed. And I know it’s normal for characters to grow and change as a story progresses, but again, it just happened way too fast for this character in particular.

This isn’t helped by the fandom’s complete 180 in regards to Janus. Before this episode, it was still pretty common for him to be seen in a mostly negative light. People outright hated this character, and attacked people who liked him. Then Remus came and wasn’t shown nearly as much hate or negativity as Janus was. Now all of a sudden Janus is a “Good uwu boi” and everyone loves him. I haven’t seen one person doubt Janus’ change of heart. Which is surprising because given the fandom’s treatment of him in the past, I’m surprised this hasn’t been more common.

But then I remembered that another Side is currently being thrown into a negative light, which is Roman. He’s been thrown under the bus after his recent actions at the end of POF, all while Janus is now being held up on a golden pedestal.

Honestly, I’m debating ending this post right here because this next part delves way too much into conspiracy territory, but since this would be kind of an awkward ending I’ll go ahead and just throw the idea out there anyway.

So, it’s been established that the Sides are aware that what they’re doing is being viewed by an audience. Roman, Logan, and Patton have all addressed the audience directly before. Virgil has given direct glances into the camera, and of course Thomas greets the audience in every episode and closes each one out with a message at the end of every one.

In Crofters: The Musical Roman outright addresses the fact that Logan has become more popular than him. Implying that somehow, he has access to that information. So if Roman does, then why wouldn’t Janus?

Why wouldn’t Janus be aware of Roman’s insecurities? Why wouldn’t he use this to his advantage and spend the entirety of SVS boosting his ego since he knew that’s what he wanted?

What if Janus, being aware of the audience and how they view the Sides, knew that all he needed for his plan to succeed was not only to convince Thomas that he could be trusted, but the audience. He knows that they don’t like him, so what does he do? He puts himself into a much more positive light, while Roman is put into a position where he’s made out to be the bad guy?

And if this was the case, then it worked. A majority of the fandom now loves Janus while Roman is being left behind. He’s the perfect scapegoat, a distraction from the real plans Janus has in store.

But that idea is so far out there and paints Janus as more of an actual villain when really, I don’t think he is at all.

What’s most likely is that we’re going to learn what happened between him and Virgil, and then watch as Thomas and the others rethink their decision to trust him.

I don’t think Janus is evil, this series is constantly pushing the message that everything isn’t all black and white. Janus, like everyone else, just wants what’s best for Thomas but has a different way of achieving that goal.

My hope is that the writers are aware of this and have a plan for Janus’ character to develop more. Because if that isn’t the case and Janus remains a “good guy” from here on out then all of Janus’ previous appearances would be rendered meaningless.

He’d might as well be a completely different character at that point, because the Deceit that I (and many others) became invested in and loved since his first appearance would be gone. Replaced with a softer, less complex, less engaging “uwu soft boi” that now seems to be the fandom favorite.

Which makes me curious, if Janus is revealed to be lying to some degree, and was tricking Patton and Thomas, would everyone go back to hating him again? Would they give him a chance to explain himself and grow, or would they go right back to seeing him as nothing more than the evil villain they believed they were introduced to back in CLBG

Okay, that’s pretty much all I’ve got on this topic. It’s kinda messy by my standards and I’m sure I repeated myself a lot. So you are more than welcome to critique my points and debate them with your own. Just to clarify, I still love Janus. And I stand by the fact that he was the best part of this new episode. I just hope that this isn’t all the development he gets and that he continues to have his ups and downs.

And come on, how could they possibly pass up the opportunity to do the “Liar revealed” trope with the literal embodiment of Deceit?

#sanders sides #janus sanders #virgil sanders #patton sanders #roman sanders #remus sanders #fandom criticism

187 notes · View notes

ashesonthefloor · 4 years

Text

baby, you’re a haunted house (ot4)

summary: Michael really wants to go to Sydney’s most famous haunted house. He may or may not get super startled by one of the actors, and may or may not hit them in the nose by accident. And, after that, he might keep coming back to to try and apologize properly. And the haunted house might just have a never-ending supply of cute guys working there. (That’s a lie. There’s only three he cares about). ao3 found here

prompt: “I’m working as an actor in a haunted house and when I scared you, you punched me in the nose. Now I’m bleeding and someone had to get me an ice pack, and you won’t stop apologizing. You’re lucky you’re cute” (except i changed the POV because i wrote the prompt and i can do what i want thank u <3)

word count: 12,433

content warning: blood! there is nothing too graphic, but, as depicted in the prompt, someone is accidentally hit, and there is a nosebleed. it is all handled and fine, though, and it isn’t too detailed. lots of pining :)

A/N: whew! i’ve worked on this baby for the last two months and only just finished her this week but i am PROUD! i actually really love the way it came out, and my plot! please let me know what you think, i’m a slut for feedback! this was done for my sexy, sexy halloween event that is happening right now! massive shout out to @mikeycliffords and @glitterblazercalum for beta’ing this! maddie ur comments gave me endless validation and i adore u, and iba u caught all my sexy grammatical errors and i love u for it (and ur reaction to luke’s major <3). and to both @calumcest and @clumsyclifford for having to listen to me scream and not know what i was writing. unfortunate shoutout to Mr. Gerard Way for the vibey Halloween song i named this after. baby, you’re a haunted house slaps.

Michael loved Halloween. He was pretty sure it was his absolute favourite holiday, and would say that to almost anyone who dared to ask, though most people who knew him knew not to. It was in Fall, so it was nice and chilly, and he had an excuse to bundle up in hoodies and stay there until spring. And he was an absolute slut for horror movies of any sort. He absolutely adored them, no matter how cheesy and poorly-produced. If he had any talent in it at all, he said fairly regularly to his few friends, he’d be an SFX artist. But he didn’t, and he was stuck working as a barista and getting his degree in film studies.

So when his best friend in the whole fucking world landed a job working with Sydney’s infamous haunted house - known for being realistic, and terrifying, and all the makeup being technically perfect - and invited him to come see it, insisted he can get him in, who was he to say no? He absolutely couldn’t refuse - didn’t even want to, and he’d wanted to go for years, so this was the opportunity of a lifetime - and that was that. It was most of his favourite things all rolled up into one, with the bonus of it being sort of exclusive. Because it was so well known, they always ended up having to open a month early, and the line still wrapped halfway around the block every night. Michael was going to get a backstage pass to all sorts of shit.

He dressed fairly warm for the occasion, even if it wasn’t quite cold enough yet to justify it, with his hoodie on, oversized so he could cover his hands with the sleeves. Sue him, okay, it was comfortable and warm and he liked tugging on the sleeves or his hoodie strings when he was anxious. Not that he ever wanted anyone to know he’s anxious. Michael worked fairly hard on keeping that part hidden away, so no one else could ever see it. It wasn’t that he was embarrassed, exactly. He just...didn’t want anyone knowing. It took level eleven Michael friendship to unlock his insecurities, thank you, and even then, there weren’t many he'd really disclose.

Sydney never got properly cold, so the hoodie was more than enough to keep him warm in the chilly end-of-September breeze. He made his way to the haunted house, queuing up in the line with the rest of the people preparing for the best fucking scares of their lives.

The waiting process was the worst part of the whole thing. It was just him standing by himself in line, bouncing slightly on his heels every so often and worrying with his sleeves, from excitement, nerves, and maybe it was actually slightly chilly for once. He texted his friend a few times, only to get no reply. He frowned at his phone after twenty minutes of trying with no success. He was supposed to come get Michael at some point. If he was waiting to show him around at the end, wouldn’t he want to know which group he’d be in, or when he was going through the haunted house? Or at least answer him and tell him what his plan was? Apparently fucking not, though, since he made it up to the front without a single stupid text.

His jitters weren’t helped at all by that, but he eventually just jammed his phone into his hoodie pocket and hoped it didn’t fall out in the house. Michael and the people around him were finally let into the haunted house and given the long list of instructions. It was all the usual shit, that everything inside was fake, and to keep that in mind. To remember that the actors were just actors. And to go over the last few warnings - like that the actors would jump out, target people to scare them, ask questions, and generally, you know, act. Everyone agreed to the rules with varying degrees of excitement, and then they were all corralled into the waiting area.

Michael was back to bouncing slightly in place, hoodie sleeves fully over his hands at this point. The decorations weren’t too scary yet, just meant to keep the haunted mansion theme going. The premise was something about a doctor and his torture chamber and all his patients gone wrong or something. Michael has forgotten a couple of the details, but he remembered the gist of it. He couldn’t make out anything specific, really, not through the awful dim lighting and the light fog rolling in close to the ground, thanks to the hidden fog machines, only adding to the chill in the cold building.

One of the women in front of him was murmuring quietly to her boyfriend, gripping tightly to his hand. She didn’t seem much like she really wanted to be there. Michael hoped, for her sake, she’d remembered the safe word. Which was a nice touch, making sure everyone could yell it if needed. That rule was burned into his brain: if you yelled the safe word - mercy - any actor nearby would drop their act and escort you to the nearest exit, and you would absolutely not be allowed back in. Michael wanted to make sure he remembered it, but this was practically a once in a lifetime chance, and he really didn’t want to blow it.

Finally - finally - they were allowed into the actual haunted house. The first room wasn’t too bad, just the doctor guy’s living room with some narration about who he’d been and a little about his ‘abominations’. Michael got enthralled in the story pretty quickly, gaze lingering on the (fake) family portraits on the (equally fake) mantle and on the walls.

Room two brought a couple of scares, but he still wasn’t doing too badly. They were easily moved from room to room, sticking together in a clump. When the narration ended, basically, that was their cue to move on. Or for some sort or scare to jump out.

But, of course, the greatest horror house in Sydney wouldn’t stay predictable. After room number three, the smooth transition was broken up by a long, dark corridor, with the sides pressing in on everyone as they went through. Michael curled in a little on himself, shuffling forward so close to the next person in line that he accidentally stepped on their heels. They didn’t even have time to be annoyed before they were in the next room.

After room number four was worse. They went down an equally dark staircase, Michael’s grip on the handrail white-knuckled, pale skin almost luminous even in the pitch black. He shuffled forward once he managed his way down, unable to see anything, but didn’t bump into anyone. Which was...odd, given how tightly packed they’d all been up to this point. He took a gamble and swallowed his pride, sticking both arms out and stumbling forward, completely blind in the dark. Only then did the awful strobe light kick on above him, even fucking worse than the dark. He only got vague glimpses of where he was, and he couldn’t even see anyone around him in whatever room he was in. Fucking great, he had the best fucking luck in the entire world. Which he mumbled to himself as he continued his blind zombie-shuffle forward until his outstretched hand brushed a wall. Finally.

He kept that palm pressed against the smooth (fake) stone, moving in one direction he chose to believe was forward. He was pretty sure it was the opposite direction from the staircase, at least. Hopefully he’d make some progress that way. This was so fucked. Where had his group gone? He was very, very sure he’d been with them. They’d filed down the staircase with him, hadn’t they? Where the fuck were they? Where the fuck was he? This certainly seemed like a fucking dungeon.

He kept going until the shadows seemed to stay in one corner. He stretched out his unoccupied left hand, fingers brushing against another wall. He let out a frustrated groan, quiet and under his breath, even though he was pretty damn sure he was alone. He pressed his hand against it, palm against the cool stone, and he felt it open with a soft click. And he really didn’t care what was on the other side, he just wanted out of the stupid fucking strobe lights.

And, of course the strobe lights turned off as he stepped towards the open door. His luck was so fucking perfect today, wasn’t it?

He stepped through the hidden door (or whatever it was, Michael really didn’t care at this point), letting it slowly close behind him with the same soft click that definitely wasn’t ominous at all. This room, at least, wasn’t completely pitch black. There were lanterns hanging from the ceiling, and fake torches along one stone wall, that provided dim lighting. He skirted over to the side of the dungeon that was lit, gaze lingering on the shadowy side. His eyes still hadn’t really adjusted to the lighting, still absolutely fucked up from the stupid fucking strobe light. He would enjoy this a lot more if he knew this was intentional - if it was intentional - or if he was with his fucking group. Sue him, okay, maybe this shit was slightly better with company.

He heard something shift from the direction of the door, gaze sliding over there. The room really wasn’t that open, and was pretty small in size. He felt something brush his left shoulder and jumped, stumbling forward toward the shadowy side of the dungeon room - backward, now, maybe, since he definitely whirled around to look at whatever the fuck had poked him, only to find nothing but the stone wall. What the fuck was this fucking place? He knew that wasn’t a bat. Maybe it was a bat? He really, really didn’t know.

There was a weird sound from the shadowy side of the dungeon, which he was way, way closer to, now. He turned to look at it, only to flinch back when something lunged at him, snarling. Michael whirled around to look and let out an absolutely dignified shriek, reacting entirely on instinct, which was the only reason he realized, seconds too late, that that horrifying crunching noise had been his fist colliding with the thing’s nose.

The thing, that he was now realizing, was an actor, chained to the wall with long chains. They’d made the noise earlier, scraping against the floor, as the actor had shifted. Probably. “Oh, fuck,” Michael said automatically, eyes widening. His knuckles fucking hurt, sure, but he was more focused on the poor actor.

The makeup was, as promised, spectacular. He was a half-turned werewolf, shirtless and covered in gruesome patches of fur and deep, gory claw marks. He had some sort of fangs in, too, and weird orange contacts that definitely made him look feral. What Michael was most focused on, though, was the blood dripping from his nose that was definitely not stage makeup.

The actor had a small frown on his face, two fingers coming up to gently touch his nose. He let out a soft hiss, frown pulling more at his lips. “Damn,” he murmured.

“Oh, fuck,” Michael said, ever so eloquent. “Oh, fuck. Dude, I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry. I don’t- I’ve never hit someone before in my life, I don’t know what the fuck-“

The actor shook his head. “It’s alright. It happens.” He gave him a small smile, one corner of his lips pulling up, before it dropped right back into a frown. Probably aggravated his injured nose. That Michael had done. Fuck. “Hazard of the job, you know? I told them not to activate the strobe lights and then put a jump scare after them. They make people jumpy since they fuck with your vision. They put people on edge. And then to have someone jump at you out of the dark….” He just looked sort of amused. Vindicated, too, maybe. “I figured it would happen at some point. I just got lucky until now, I guess.”

“Fuck, I’m so….I don’t even…..I’m so sorry,” Michael said again, brows drawing together. He really hadn’t meant to. Had he made that clear enough yet? He hadn’t meant to. His panic wasn’t helped by how fucking cute the werewolf was.

The werewolf just ran a hand through his brown curls, pushing them back out of his eyes. “It’s alright. Really. It happens.” He eyed Michael, amusement in his eyes despite Michael’s clear panic. “I’m Ashton, by the way.”

Michael felt like he was still a few steps behind. Shouldn’t the werewolf be mad at him? Or kicking him out of the haunted house or something? “Oh. Uh. I’m Michael.” Ashton was a pretty name. And Michael was pretty sure it suited him, since it was clear Ashton was pretty attractive, even under all the makeup. And the blood. His nose was definitely bruised.

Speaking of his bloody nose, Ashton pressed two fingers right below it again, frowning as they came away covered in blood. “Well, Michael, you can definitely pack a punch.” He looked almost amused again before it gave way to concern. “Are you okay?”

Michael’s internal monologue still hadn’t shifted from ‘fuck. Fuck. fuck. Fuck. fuck. Fuck. fuck. Fuck.’ on loop in his head, so it took him a second to register the question. He still felt like he was short circuiting, adrenaline from the scare and the acute embarrassment immediately after still tingling up his spine and all the way to his shaking hands, fingers trembling a little where they were uncovered by the hoodie sleeves. “Wha- me? I’m- yeah? Fine, I- yeah, uh, think. I think, I mean. I mean I am, I’m fine. Okay. Yeah. Good.”

Ashton raised an eyebrow, stepping just a little closer. Michael was pretty sure he could hear his own heartbeat, too loud and too fast, echoing in his ears. Not loud enough to cover the unsettling scrape of metal against stone as Ashton’s chains moved with him. He focused on breathing, pretty sure he’d stopped for a second, inhaling the stale taste of the synthetic fog, permeating through the entire building, though the air lacked the telltale haze of a fog machine, and the equally stale, dank smell of the room itself. It was grounding, sort of. He was definitely not freaking out, though. Not at all. Not with Ashton right in front of him now, gaze fixed on him, Michael’s right hand still tingling, knuckles still aching. This definitely wasn’t social anxiety nightmare fuel. He was definitely perfectly fine.

Ashton reached for Michael’s hand, Michael numbly letting him take it, unable to do much more than watch. Ashton leaned forward a little, chains scraping again against the floor to make the worst sort of unholy noise, grating on Michael’s frayed nerves, thankfully on the edge of what he was paying attention to. He was too focused on how warm Ashton’s hands were, fake blood splattered over them like he was supposed to look like he’d been clawing at himself. “You’re bruised,” Ashton said, inspecting Michael’s knuckles where they’d made contact with Ashton’s nose. “Or, you will be, at least. You didn’t hit as hard as you could have, so I think you’re okay.”

With Ashton tilted forward, it was easier to see that he was definitely still bleeding - which, fucking duh, it hadn’t been that long since he’d punched him - dripping slowly but steadily onto the floor. Noticing Michael’s gaze, probably, Ashton took a few steps back out of Michael’s space, head still tilted forward a little. He lightly pinched the bridge of his nose, giving Michael what was probably supposed to be a lazy half smile.

“Should you- do you need help?” Michael asked lamely. It was a pretty fucking stupid question, since he’d literally just punched Ashton in the nose. And he was bleeding.

“It’s not that big a deal,” Ashton said, as calm and collected as he’d been the whole time. And fantastic, at least one of them was. “I’d go tell someone, but I’m a little bit stuck.” He raised his free hand, chains rattling a little bit. “I’m actually chained to the wall. Someone comes by and lets me out between every couple groups or every couple hours so I can use the bathroom and grab a drink and all that shit. I can’t get myself out on my own.”

“Oh, fuck.” Michael frowned. “That seems like a pretty big fuckin’, like design flaw. Who the fuck came up with that?”

Ashton laughed, short and sweet before he cut himself off, probably because his nose hurt. Which sent a jolt of regret and embarrassment through Michael. “There’s a lot of stuff like that for the sake of ‘authenticity’. Don’t tell anyone I told you, they’d have my head. I don’t mind too much, though. Only lasts two months every year, and it’s fun. Well, except for the occasional scare that goes too well.” He gestured at his face to prove his point, smile tugging slightly at his lips again before it dropped.

Michael didn’t get a chance to reply before someone came in, freezing at the sight of Ashton slightly tipped forward, nose still dripping, but much slower before, and Michael standing stiff and shocked in place. “Oh, fuck,” the stranger said, echoing Michael’s sentiments. “What the fuck happened?”

“Well, Michael here got so startled when I jumped out that he hit me.” Ashton answered for the two of them. “We’re all good, he didn’t mean to. He’s been keeping me company.” He winked at Michael, making Michael’s face heat up, especially noticeable in the gloomy chill of the fake dungeon room.

“Fuckin’ hell, man,” the strange guy said, immediately moving forward to free Ashton from the stupid chains. “So, you mean, the same shit you kept saying was gonna happen, happened?”

Ashton let out some sort of noise that was probably meant to be a laugh. “Yeah, pretty much exactly.”

“Fuckin’ hell,” the stranger said again, succeeding in freeing Ashton. He leaned in close to look at his nose, frowning. “Well. You definitely need to be cleaned up. You’re out of commission for tonight, we’ll just leave the room empty and the supervisors can suck my dick. Come on, let’s clean you up and get you an ice pack or something, and you can sit down for a while.” He wrapped an arm around Ashton, hand splayed out in the middle of his back. They were clearly comfortable with each other, and had the easy familiarity of close friends. Or something. The stranger nodded his head at Michael. “You, uh, Michael, was it? You can come with us, we’ll get you out.” He paused. “Unless you want to finish the house..? But I’m gonna take a wild guess and say probably not, after that.”

Michael startled a little at being addressed, temporarily forgetting he had a corporal form. “Oh. Uh. No, not really. I”m- that was enough, I think.”

The stranger nodded his head. “Makes sense. You kind of got separated from your group, it looks like. Usually people are in groups of two and three. You sort of had shitty luck tonight, huh?” He said it kindly, though. Like he was sympathetic. “My name’s Calum, by the way.”

“He’s not usually the responsible one,” Ashton teased, shooting Calum an amused look, only making Calum roll his eyes.

“Yeah, yeah. Ashton. You’re always Mr. Responsible. That’s why we’re going to patch up your boo boo.” Calum patted his back consolingly, shooting Michael a grin. “So is this your first time here?”

Michael glanced up, fingers pausing mid-tug where he’d been fiddling with his hoodie sleeves. “Oh. Yeah, it is. Uh. Always wanted to come but it’s hard to get in and last year I got stuck closing most days and couldn’t make it early enough.”

Calum nodded, like it was a solemn affair, or he was thinking. Michael’s ability to figure things out - he was pretty sure it was called perception, but it just proved his point - was absolutely shot through with his adrenaline. He was still waiting for someone to get pissed at him, to kick him out and ban him for life. “It’s a fun place, yeah. I can’t remember if I actually ever went through it before getting to work here and see ‘behind the scenes,’ but we get pretty good reviews.” Calum grinned. “I’d say a bloody nose means you’re pretty fuckin’ scary, Ash.”

Ashton let out a half laugh. “Yeah, I guess so. Or people scared shitless and blind in the dark don’t like jumpscares. One of the two.”

Calum had led them through a couple dark, narrow back hallways, clearly meant for the employees, the whole time they’d been chatting. They get to the doorway of a brighter-lit room and hear a woman gasp. “Oh, Ashton! What happened to you? Oh, god, it wasn’t those dicks from last night again, was it? I swear I’ll hunt them down-”

“No, it wasn’t,” Ashton consoled, stepping into the room where the woman started fawning over him, leaning up to inspect his face and make sure he was okay. Calum, letting her take over, gently nudged Michael out of view and stepped back into shadow with him.

“Look, Ashton’s a trooper, he’s okay,” Calum murmured, nothing but soothing sincerity in his eyes and coating his voice. “I promise. You seem pretty worried but, uh...The floor managers might not be too happy, you know? We’re missing our werewolf for the rest of the night, so the room will be empty...No one else gives a shit, I promise, I just mean that if you want to come back, you might want to leave before anyone figures it out, you know? Not personal at all.” He gave him a sweet smile that probably would’ve rendered Michael incoherent and weak-kneed any other time, but with his nerves as wired and burnt-out as they were, it only tugged at his anxiety-ridden heartstrings.

“Actually,” Calum continued, tilting his head, “I can get you a ticket or something for another night if you want to do this again.” He gave him a lopsided smile. “You know, as long as you don’t hit another actor again.” Michael assumed he must’ve looked panicked, because Calum was quick to console him. “Hey, hey, I’m kidding. Sorry, too soon.”

“Holy, fuck, Ashton, is that real?” Someone else asked, entering the room behind them.

Calum looked back at Michael, expression apologetic. “I’ve gotta- I’ll have to run damage control, Alisha - the girl - is nice but he’ll need, uh, help. Uh...The exit’s right through there, down the stairs, to the left. If you can get back before we open sometime, cut the line and ask for me. Uh. Calum. That should get you in.” Michael only realized Calum had put a hand on his arm at some point when he squeezed it gently and let go.

With another hasty apology, Calum had to return to Ashton and the whole mess Michael had caused. Michael stumbled on nerve-numb feet through the dark employee back-passageways, hearing the occasional shriek from the haunted house proper. He couldn’t help but berate himself and wish he’d done the entire fucking thing differently. And where the fuck had his friend been? Maybe he wouldn’t have been so nervous to begin with if the fucker had actually texted him back at some point.

This whole thing had been social-anxiety massive-fuckup nightmare fuel. Seriously, Michael thought as he finally managed to make his way out of the stupid house into the city, shivering in the much-cooler nighttime air, this was going to haunt him for years. Let alone punching anyone in the first place - his hand still sort of hurt, though not a proper hurt, more like the vague ache wrapped in the anxiety-spiking memory of what he’d done - but punching an absolutely gorgeous guy in the face? Fucking hell. Worst thing he could think of.

It was still fresh on his mind as he tucked himself into bed, fresh from a shower as he’d tried to scrub the stupid memory off his skin. He just hoped he managed to actually get over this and it didn’t haunt him forever. Though, he’d been pretty fucking haunted when he’d gone to grab pizza and when the guy had said “enjoy your meal,” he’d said “you too, thanks, mum.” He hadn’t even realized his mistake until he’d gotten outside with his prized pizza. In his defense, he’d been texting his mom, and gotten mixed up. There wasn’t really a defense here.

Fuck. He really hoped this didn’t haunt him.

-----------------------------------

Well. It haunted him. That first night had really, really sucked. Like...really sucked. It had taken ages to manage to fall asleep after that, since every time he tried, he was painfully reminded of the moment he hit Ashton right in the nose, and how awful that had felt. And everything afterward had just been an anxiety-fueled mess.

He had class the day after, too, which really fucking sucked, but it meant he didn’t have to sit and dwell on every single mistake he’d ever made in his life. The biggest one was obviously his birth, followed very closely by hitting Ashton. He decided, though, by the end of that day, that he definitely wanted to go apologize again. Just because it hadn’t felt quite like enough just saying he was sorry. He needed to actually prove it somehow. Maybe. Or he was just an idiot. Only time would really tell.

He got a gift card for the coffee shop where he worked, because he got a discount on it, and everyone liked coffee. Did Ashton like coffee? He really hoped he did. He was still kicking himself for not getting his number so he could make sure he was okay and apologize, but, in his own defense, everything had gone upside-down topsy-turvy really, really fast.

He got down to the haunted house, still a while before it actually opened. He went straight to the front of the line, remembering Calum’s promise to get him in. Hopefully he could use the advice to apologize properly to Ashton. The guy at the front of the line was kind of a dick towards him, but Michael managed to find a worker in one of the designated t-shirts for the house.

“Hey, uh, is Calum or Ashton here?” Michael asked, praying he didn’t seem near as awkward as he felt. He just wanted to apologize and leave before he embarrassed himself any further, that was all. Everything was fine. It was fine.

“Oh, yeah. Are you one of their friends or something?” The guy glanced at him before shrugging. “Calum’s working customer service and merch. Come on, I’ll show you.”

Michael followed the guy into the house, down a hallway that wasn’t super obvious, to what was clearly right after the exit of the house. There was a booth set up, shirts dangling from the top and displayed in the back, along with magnets and other sorts of merch along the table. Calum was sitting behind it, earbuds in, focused solely on his phone. The guy Michael had been following tapped on the table to get his attention, making Calum’s eyes snap up. He grinned over at Michael, pausing his music and tugging his earbuds out.

“I’ve got to get back to the front, but this guy was asking for you and Ashton. You know him?”

Calum’s smile didn’t dissipate. It didn’t do much to sooth the suddenly overactive butterflies in Michael’s stomach. “Yeah, I do. I’m good, you can go.” The guy nodded and left, leaving Michael alone with Calum.

“Hey,” Calum greeted, grinning again. “I wasn’t sure you’d come back. I was hoping you would. Are you here for the house?” His smile went coy. “Or for me?” He was clearly teasing, but Michael’s face flushed.

“Uh. I- well. Uh. I came- well, I’m here to apologize. Yeah. To, uh. To Ashton. Again. For hitting him. I mean, by accident. I didn’t mean to.” And wow, way to be smooth. Michael just didn’t know how to function around cute guys at all. Especially not when they sounded like they could possibly be flirting with him, if they were on another planet, where people actually flirted with Michael.

Calum just gave him another sweet smile, standing and leaning against the table. Michael definitely didn’t pay attention to the way Calum’s back arched, or the way he tilted his head sometimes without meaning to, or how good his jeans looked on him. He didn’t see any of that at all because he was a good person. He just..wasn’t blind. And Calum was cute. “Ashton’s fine. I think he’s working tonight, but I can shoot him a text.” Michael didn’t even have to reply before Calum was pulling his phone out of his back pocket and sending a text, presumably to Ashton.

“The house opens soon,” Calum continued, “but we’ll see if we can get him up here.” He smiled a little. “You know, after you hit him by accident, they tested out some fake chains. They thought it worked great - until they did a test run, and Ashton broke them when he moved forward. Guess even plastic couldn’t hold up to his upper body strength, huh?” He smiled, eyes squinting a little when Michael flushed darker. Everything was absolutely, perfectly fine.

Calum’s phone vibrated again and he checked it. “Oh, shit. He’s a bit hung up right now. You want to stick around for a minute and see if he can swing up here? I can give you a bit of a behind-the-scenes tour.”

Michael considered but nodded. “Yeah, uh. That would be great.” His friend - who still hadn’t fucking gotten back with him, it had been two days, asshole - was supposed to do that when he’d originally come to the house. Better late than never, at least, even if he’d never gotten to actually make it through the haunted house proper. He just had to survive spending time with a super cute guy in the stupidly narrow employee hallways.

Calum grinned again. “Great!” He slid over the top of the table, knocking a couple magnets to the floor. He glanced at them before shrugging. “I’ll deal with that when I’m back. Come on.” He grabbed Michael’s wrist, his hold warm and gentle, and lightly tugged him towards another hallway. “So what do you want to see first? How we put everything together? How we make a couple of the rooms function? Where we keep all the fog machines?”

“Uhhh……” That was….a lot of options. Michael honestly wasn’t sure where to start. The last comment earned Calum a laugh, short and a little nervous. “Anything?”

Calum nodded sagely, like Michael had made some interesting comment that could be considered, instead of fumbling over his words. “I’ll just start with the basic tour then.”

Calum tugged him into another room, launching into an explanation of how they put it together, and how it matched up with the other rooms in the house. He talked about how they had speakers in each room, and made sure the haunted house genuinely felt like an old rundown mansion with a stone basement. The next room was every bit as interesting, if a bit colder.

“That,” Calum explained, “would be because we keep one of the fog machines in this false wall.” He knocked on it, the sound hollower than a real wall would have made. “It adds to the vibe.”

Michael just agreed that it did, in fact, add to the general vibe of the haunted house, unsure what else to say to that.

“You know,” Calum said, eyes lighting up a little when he smiled, bright and mischievous, “I’m pretty sure they spent most of the decorating budget on the fog machines. In order to get the light fog in the dungeons, we had to keep one every couple rooms. And then the one in the front room, so people know we’re spooky.” He wiggled his fingers with his free hand, his other hand still warm on Michael’s wrist where he hadn’t let go yet.

Michael laughed, earning another triumphant smile from Calum. “That sounds right,” he said honestly. The basement - or what little he’d seen of it, at least - had definitely been neat, with the very light fog swirling around his ankles. He just hadn’t really made it that far.

And, like Calum was a mindreader, he almost immediately said “Hey, you didn’t finish the house, right? Want to get a tour of the basement? I can show you where I had to use Klorox wipes to get Ashton’s blood off the floor.” Another grin, clearly amused with himself.

“Uh...Yeah, okay, that sounds good,” Michael said, ever so eloquent. Being in the presence of a pretty guy did not help him at all, only serving to shut down any critical thinking skills he’d ever had.

“Great! This way-” Calum started to gently lead him out of the room, hand still warm on Michael’s wrist in the chill of the room, before he was interrupted by his phone buzzing. “Fuck, what now?” He pulled his phone out of his back pocket, which Michael found impressive given how stupidly tight they were. Calum let out a huff, letting go of Michael’s wrist so he could send a text back. “Fuckin’ hell. I’m gonna have to go.” He gave Michael a look that really looked like apologetic puppy dog eyes, but Calum somehow pulled it off. “We’re letting in the first group soon. I’ve gotta go back to my booth.”

“Oh, shit.” Michael was pretty sure that was the right response. He was still distracted by the smiles Calum had flashed him just moments before. Sue him, his weakness was cute guys, okay? And social interaction. Especially social interaction with aforementioned cute guys. Like Calum.

“I’m sorry. I guess Ashton will be wrapped up in that, too.” Calum frowned, thinking for a moment. “Are you free tomorrow?”

Michael flushed, a natural reply to being asked that by A Cute Guy. “Uh. Yeah. I have class in the morning, but I’m free after.”

Calum grinned again. “Great. Swing by here again? You can ask for either me or Ashton. We’ll get you taken care of, don’t worry.” He winked at Michael, smile still on his face. Michael felt himself flush deeper, praying it wasn’t too visible in the dim lighting of the haunted house.

“Yeah, uh, okay. I can...I can do that.” Maybe he was reassuring himself a little bit. But it would be fun. Calum led him back out of the room, his hand going to the small of Michael’s back, warm even through his hoodie. If Michael’s blush had faded, that brought it back full force. Calum’s hand dropped once they were back in the hallway, but his hand brushed Michael’s on every other step as he led him back to the front, to the area where Calum’s merch booth was.

“Here we are. I’ll see you tomorrow?” Calum asked, expression earnest. He squatted to pick up a couple of the magnets and buttons that he’d knocked to the floor earlier. Michael definitely didn’t glance at his butt, because he was a very nice person, and very good at resisting things.

“Yeah, I’ll, uh, I’ll be here.” Michael was completely fucking incapable of going one sentence without stumbling over his words. It was annoying. It was like being near any attractive guy whatsoever made his brain completely short circuit and stop working. He was pretty sure he just suffered from Dumb Bitch-itis or whatever. It was fine.

After a quick goodbye, Michael made his way to the exit and started the walk back home again. He couldn’t say that excursion was really a failure but he still hadn’t done what he’d meant to do. How many cute guys could work there, anyway? That had to be it. So hopefully he’d function properly next time he had to go, even if Calum and Ashton both completely shut his brain down. The gift card was still in his pocket, even as he reluctantly shucked his outside-hoodie to switch to his sleeping-hoodie. At least this time he didn’t have too much to haunt him before he fell asleep.

Except punching Ashton, his brain helpfully supplied. And with that, his hopes for some peaceful sleep went out the window, just like his critical thinking skills had earlier when he’d had to talk to Calum.

-----------------------------------

Michael prayed that this was the last time he’d have to go to the house. He didn’t dislike it, honestly, it was interesting and incredibly well put together. But he really just wanted to apologize to Ashton and have the whole thing be done with. Or, half of him did, at least. He hated when things got drawn out like this, and something hung over his head. He didn’t like feeling like he owed any debts at all. The other half of him, though, kind of didn’t want it to be over. Because then he wouldn’t get to see Calum or Ashton again. And alright, maybe he was a bit of an emotional masochist knowing that they wouldn’t like him but it was...nice, kind of, hanging out with people. And he wasn’t going to complain about getting to hang out with cute guys. Like...ever.

The thing was, though, it wasn’t like he could really be friends with them. He’d fucking punched Ashton right in the face for fuck’s sake. The friendship ship had long since sailed, and he’d lost any chance of talking to him like a functional person as soon as he’d panicked and hit him. Which sort of destroyed any chances he had in befriending Calum. And maybe he was a little bit lonely, and tired of spending all his free time by himself. The cute guys at the haunted house were a no-go, though, so he wanted to be done with them as soon as he could be.

Michael tugged his hoodie back on, and made his way back out into the outside world, where people weren’t so kind, and there were cute boys to accidentally hit and regret your entire life over. He didn’t want to think about having to talk to Ashton again, or Calum, doing his best to save all of his brain power for actually having to socialize, rather than wasting it on indulging his anxiety now.

He cut through the line again, though it was a bit earlier this time, so it wasn’t as long as it had been, and made his way to the front of the house. One of the workers, in the same haunted house shirts he’d see the others in the days before, stopped him.

“I’m here for Ashton?” Michael said, still not entirely sure of himself, like this wasn’t the second time he’d come back to the house and had to ask for them. “Or Calum.”

The girl glanced Michael up and down quickly, seeming to assess whether or not he was telling the truth. And really, why the fuck would he bother lying? He wasn’t even really trying to get into the house, but apologize fully to Ashton so he could hopefully stop being haunted by the memory of his major fuck-up.

“Alright, come on,” she said, turning on her heel and leading him inside. He followed her back through the room Calum had been stationed in the day before, the merch booth left empty, now, no cute guys with equally cute smiles there to drag him through the maze of the house.

The girl led her down a couple hallways Michael definitely didn’t remember, but he really hadn’t been paying as much attention to the hallways of all things the last time he’d been there. But he was pretty sure he didn’t remember any of this. Which was only reaffirmed when she stopped in a doorframe. “Luke,” she called in, hand on the doorframe. “This guy’s asking for Calum and Ashton. I’m busy downstairs. Can you try and track them down for him?”

Michael could see over her shoulder, but couldn’t see who she was talking to. Luke gave her some form of affirmative, he guessed, because then she was turning back to look at him. “Right. You stay here with Luke. He should be able to find Calum and Ashton. You can wait with him. Good luck.” She turned and headed off back down a couple narrow hallways, leaving Michael more confused than he had been before she’d tried to help.

“Come in, I don’t bite,” came a guy’s voice from the other side of the room. Michael reluctantly shuffled in, already tugging his hoodie sleeves down over his hands. How many times was he going to be shuffled from person to person before he managed to actually give Ashton his stupid gift card and go back to his life of reclusivity, hidden away in his single dorm room. Then he’d finally get to forget how massively he’d fucked up, and not have to think about all the stupidly cute boys that worked at the stupid haunted house.

The room had several chairs set up, with a couple of tables cluttered with a bunch of weird bottles, makeup palettes, and gallons of stage blood. It was empty, except for a girl sitting in one of the chairs, and a guy working on her makeup. He was tall, with ridiculously long legs, and his blond curls pulled back into a small bun, messy, with flyaways wisping around his temples and a couple strands of hair in his eyes when he flashed Michael a quick smile. “Alright,” the guy said, pulling back to inspect his work. “You’re good to go. But maybe try not to fuck up your chest wound next time? It’s not so easy to fix.” She murmured some sort of agreement - and what sounded like an apology - before heading back out, probably to wherever she was supposed to be stationed.

The guy turned to Michael and flashed him a smile, tucking his brush behind his ear and wiping his hands on his thighs before offering one to Michael. “I’m Luke. But, uh, I think you already knew that.” His smile went a little sheepish. Michael just shook his hand, internally cursing himself for having cute boys as a major weakness. Because Luke was definitely cute.

“I’m Michael,” he said, because he was pretty sure he hadn’t yet, and it seemed like the proper time for an introduction. His brain might short circuit a little bit around cute boys, but he didn’t completely forget everything. Usually. Not yet, at least. He was just hoping to keep at least a fraction of his critical thinking skills. So he didn’t end up hitting him in the face, his brain supplied helpfully, even though that had only ever been the one time, and under very different circumstances. It didn’t make him feel much better.

Luke broke into a smile almost immediately, letting out a laugh - more of a giggle, really - that made his nose crinkle. “You’re the guy that punched Ashton,” he said, eyes crinkling a little with amusement. “Holy shit. You’re a legend.”

Michael flushed, feeling his whole face heat up, even though the room was just as chilly as the rest of the haunted house. “Uh. Maybe just a little. The one time.” He scuffed the toe of his sneaker against the ground, suddenly a little nervous. Or...more nervous. Luke was just as cute as the others had been, stray glitter stuck to his hands (and Michael’s palm, now, after he’d shook his hand), and his hair in that stupidly endearing bun. And apparently he knew about the biggest fuck up in Michael’s entire life, which really wasn’t all that good for his already not so fantastic self esteem.

Luke nodded, still looking only a couple seconds from laughing. “The one time. Yeah. Ashton thought it was hilarious. It worked out, though, he got the rest of the day off, and convinced them to fix his position so it hopefully wouldn’t happen again. Well, I mean, they mostly agreed that he could keep his phone on him as long as it was silent so he could call Calum or something to come get him if something happened. But he counted it as a win.”

Luke leaned against the table, hip causing a couple bottles to fall over. Luke flushed, pink covering his pale skin, as he rushed to sort everything out, right all of the bottles. He knocked one of them off the table, squatting down to grab it and smacking his head against the edge of the table on his way back up. It knocked the brush from behind his ear, which hit the floor with a quiet clatter. Luke managed to stand up properly, though, his face red, and clearly flustered. “Um. Anyway. So you- Uh.” He shook his head, more curls coming free of his bun and dancing around his temples when he moved. “Ashton wasn’t upset, you’re okay. He’s kind of hard to rattle. Calum and him have been joking about it, mostly. They just didn’t mention you were cute.”

Michael had watched Luke’s moment with the bottles, eyebrows furrowed in concern, but he hadn’t wanted to overstep. He’d gotten it sorted, anyway, and his head seemed fine. So he didn’t ask, just watched him with the same slightly cautious expression. Luke’s last sentence threw him off, though, and it was Michael’s turn to flush, staring at Luke a few beats longer than socially acceptable. “Oh, uh- you think- I’m not- I’m pretty, just, you know- uh. Thank you. You’re- the same. Cute. I mean.”

Luke laughed, soft and gentle and warm, meant to be with him rather than at him. Michael’s blush darkened, but he didn’t feel quite so bad about being an absolute idiot. “Thank you,” he said, head tilting a little to the side, smile back on his face. Luke was tall. Taller than Calum and Ashton had been, enough to make Michael aware of the difference. No wonder he’d been clumsy, though he’d seemed to have reclaimed his grace now, lanky limbs seeming only to add to his charm and poise rather than detract from it now that his footing was stable and no bottles were falling on the floor.

“So why’d you come back, again?” Luke asked, yanking Michael out of his reverie. He’d moved to straighten some of the bottles and makeup palettes cluttered on the table. He glanced at Michael before his eyes shifted back to what he was doing. And yeah, that was definitely stray gold glitter stuck to his hands, front and back.

“Oh. Uh. I wanted to say sorry to Ashton again. I just...haven’t been able to catch him. Came back yesterday and same thing.” Michael tugged at one of his hoodie sleeves, watching Luke’s long fingers tighten what looked like a tall bottle of latex. And okay, maybe he’d watched a few too many behind the scenes videos of his favourite horror movies, and wasn’t completely brand new to SFX stuff.

Luke glanced up at him again, interest in his blue eyes and all over his face. His hands paused where they were. “You were here yesterday?”

“Uh. Yeah? I was just with Calum for a while but then he got some text and I didn’t get a chance to see Ashton before I had to leave.” He didn’t know what about that was so interesting, but whatever. At least he wasn’t tripping over his words now and could talk to Luke like a proper functioning human being.

Luke hummed but didn’t offer an explanation for asking. “Do you want me to do your makeup or something while you wait?” He asked, as random and out of nowhere as anything.

“What?” Michael asked, brows drawing together again. He was pretty sure Luke hadn’t said what he thought he’d said.

“Do you want me to do your makeup while you’re waiting?” He repeated, gaze as earnest as ever. He wasn’t lying.

“I mean, holy shit, yeah,” Michael said, maybe just a tad too eager. Get his makeup done by a makeup artist at the haunted house that had won awards for SFX? Hell fucking yeah! He wasn’t turning that opportunity down. Hopefully it went better than attending the haunted house had.

Luke beamed, looking absolutely pleased with himself. “Okay, come over here and sit down and I will. Do you want, like, a cut or something? I have a couple spare prosthetic injuries I could use. I know I can’t do the missing eye one on you, you can’t really see in that one. I have a couple of the small claw ones, like I think I used on Ashton? If you want some of those.”

“Uh. Yeah, that works.” Michael made his way over and sat down in the chair, shifting a little bit. He’d never really had his makeup done before, but he was more excited to get to see someone do SFX up close. On him.

“Can you pull the hoodie off?” Luke asked over his shoulder, starting to sort through his supplies. “I need more space. I can do it right below your collarbone, I think. That’s enough space. With Ashton, I think I slotted some at the top of one of his pecs and then some on his ribs, on his side.”

Michael flushed but tugged his hoodie off, getting his head stuck in the stupid thing only momentarily, before it was off and he could ball it up in his lap. Luke turned back to look at him, humming softly to himself. He tugged his hair free from the bun, curls falling freely to frame his face, before pulling it right back again. Just like before, curls too short to fit in the bun curled around his temples and his ears. Luke ignored it, stepping closer with the small prosthetic in hand.

He hummed a little again, eyeing Michael’s collarbones and chest. He tugged the neckline of Michael’s shirt down a little bit, holding the prosthetic up, just below his collarbone as he’d said. “This should work pretty well. Has anyone ever done makeup on you before?” Luke turned to grab something else, probably his adhesive, before turning back and frowning. “It might be easier, since I’ll need both hands for this. You can put it back on afterward, it’ll sit right above your neckline. Right here.” Luke tapped a finger lightly where he planned on putting the prosthetic.

Michael flushed. “Uh. Yeah, okay, I guess.” He really wasn’t used to this. Going shirtless in front of a cute guy? Yeah, that really didn’t happen. Like, ever. He reluctantly tugged his shirt off, though, still not about to turn this opportunity down. The shirt joined his hoodie, both balled up in his lap. He was rewarded with a sweet smile from Luke, before he was surveying the area he wanted to stick the prosthetic, which did little to help Michael’s blush.

“This might be a little bit cold. It’s room temperature, kind of.” Luke started applying the adhesive, completely in Michael’s personal space. “So did you like the house?” He asked, fanning the adhesive with his hand, gaze shifting to Michael’s face. “When you came? Before the thing with Ashton, I mean.”

“Yeah, I did. Uh. I’ve been wanting to come here for years, and I finally got to get a look. I really, really like horror shit, and thought about being an SFX artist but I don’t have the talent at all.” Michael resisted the urge to shift in place, or bounce his leg. He didn’t want to fuck up whatever Luke was doing. “It’s, uh, really well put together. No wonder it’s won awards and shit.”

Luke hummed, tapping the adhesive before grabbing the prosthetic and leaning down, tongue sticking out a little in concentration, as he carefully stuck it down. He held it in place for a moment, pulling back to inspect his work. He moved to grab one of his makeup palettes. “Yeah, it’s a lot of work to pull it together and get everything set up properly. But I can get out of some of it sometimes, since I do makeup.” He grinned at him before starting to add colour to the prosthetic. “You wanted to do SFX?” His gaze flickered up to him again, before again it dropped to what he was doing. “I could always show you some stuff, if you wanted. I’ve been doing it for a couple years, so I think I’d probably be okay at that.”

“Didn’t you guys win something last year for your makeup?” He asked, tilting his head a little bit.

Luke turned pink. “Well, yeah, but that wasn’t just me, that was the whole team. But, um. If you wanted that, I definitely could.”

It was then that it really clicked what Luke was offering. This was a chance for Michael to actually get hands-on experience with SFX and get to see it up close. Not only that, but he’d get the chance to actually do it himself, with someone else’s guidance, and see if he was actually shit at it. And that someone happened to be award winning. And really cute. “Fuck yeah, I definitely want that.” Okay, he needed to curb his excitement. Just a little.

Luke let out another one of his giggles, still working on the colouring of the prosthetic. “Okay. I’m happy to show you. I’ll get your number when I’m done? So we can set up a time?”

Michael definitely didn’t turn pink at that or anything. He was totally suave, totally used to getting cute guys’ numbers, especially while he was shirtless in front of them. Obviously. And maybe that was a little bit of a lie, and this was brand new. And maybe he was a little bit pink. “Uh. Yeah, that sounds good.”

Luke hummed, attention mostly back on the prosthetic. He was silent for a few moments before he spoke up again. “You said you wanted to do SFX. So what do you do instead?”

“Oh, I’m a film student. I work at, uh, Great Awakenings? The coffee shop a couple blocks down from here on campus.” Michael, again, had to resist the urge to shift around in place. Not because it felt weird, but because he didn’t know what to do with himself, or his nervous energy. He couldn’t even tap his foot or anything on the ground, for fear of fucking up what Luke was doing.

“Oh, that’s neat! I’m doing philosophy right now. Ashton’s doing English. Focusing on literature, I think. And Calum’s doing psychology,” Luke flashed Michael a bright smile before going back to his work, still carefully adding pigment to the prosthetic.

“Oh, that’s, uh...pretty cool. What made you choose philosophy?” Michael asked.

Luke hummed a little to himself. “I dunno. Just thought it seemed interesting. I’m pretty happy doing this, but I don’t know if I can make a career out of it. Or if my skills are even enough to try.” He paused. “I know I’m good enough to work here, I just don’t know about beyond that,” he corrected, fingers stilling where they’d been working. It only took a moment before he was back at it again.

Michael understood that, honestly. “Yeah, I know what you mean. That’s why I’m in film. I don’t know how far I’ll make it, either,” he said honestly.

Luke gave him a frown, more adorable than it had any right being. “I’m sure you’ll be good at it, Mikey.”

Michael flushed at the nickname, but didn’t have any time to add anything before Luke was turning around to face the table. “Okay, I just have blood and then I’m done.” Luke grabbed the bottle and a tiny brush, turning around to face Michael yet again. He gave him a tiny smile before he was back to work, tongue poking slightly from between his lips in concentration.

Luke was pretty. Michael was struggling to think about anything else, even with how desperately he wanted to do SFX, and how much he’d wanted to visit the haunted house. It only took a few minutes before Luke pulled back slightly, surveying his work. Good thing, too, Michael was starting to get chilly. “Okay,” he said, eyes still on the prosthetic, forehead creased slightly, lips pulled into a small pout. He looked thoughtful. Michael refused to admit it was adorable. “I think I’m done.” He gave Michael another smile, nose crinkling slightly with this one.

Michael’s number one weakness was definitely still cute boys, because his brain short circuited immediately. He was saved from having to say anything, though, when a girl poked her head in the door, knocking twice on the doorframe to get Luke’s attention. “Hey, house’s opening in a few. Stand by in case of any fucked up makeup.” Luke just nodded, and then she left.

Luke frowned a little at Michael. “Okay, you’ll probably have to go before we officially open and groups start coming through. I might get busy, and we aren’t supposed to have visitors.” Luke chewed at his lip, thinking. “Okay. Uh.” He pulled his phone out of his pocket - Michael didn’t know how he fit anything in his pants pockets, they were stupidly tight and didn’t look all that comfortable - and offered it to Michael. “Give me your number? I’ll text you and figure the whole Ashton thing out so you can say sorry to him or whatever. And then I can show you how to do makeup.”

Michael nodded, taking the outstretched phone from Luke and obediently putting his number in. “That, uh, sounds really great. Thanks, Luke.” He passed his phone back and earned another smile from Luke that definitely didn’t make his stomach flip. Michael went ahead and tugged his shirt back on, careful not to fuck up his new prosthetic.

“Okay, sweet. Can you find your way out or do you want me to show you?” Luke asked, as sweet as he’d been the whole time.

Michael shook his head at the offer, though. “I’m okay. I can get out. Thanks, though. I’ll...I’ll catch you around?”

Luke gave him another smile. “Yeah. See you, Mikey.”

Michael made his way out of the haunted house for the third time, hoodie balled up in his hands despite the evening chill so he didn’t get fake blood on it. And maybe he stopped in front of the mirror once he got home to look at his makeup, stupid grin on his face remembering Luke (and the other cute boys that worked there). And maybe, just maybe, that was the first night since he’d punched Ashton that he didn’t seriously struggle to sleep.

-----------------------------------

Michael had almost forgotten the whole dilemma, when he woke up to a text from Luke. The phone screen was stupidly blinding in the darkness of his bedroom, and he cursed himself for bothering to check his phone in the first place. To be fair, though, he’d only wanted to see the time - he slept with his phone on do not disturb for this very purpose - he hadn’t expected the text.

Luke H: hey, r u free 2day? :-)

Michael stared at the text, blinking sleep out of his eyes, before he managed to get his brain to function enough to reply. And of fucking course Luke added a nose to his emojis. He might have only met the guy once, but it definitely seemed like a Luke thing to do.

Michael: yeah I should be. y?

Michael didn’t have a chance to even roll over before Luke had replied, phone buzzing again in his hand. Did Luke have nothing better to do? It had to be fucking early in the morning, and Michael’s main priority was going back to sleep. Though, in Luke’s defense, it usually was.

Luke H: no reason

Luke H: can u meet me at that coffee shop @ 1 later 2day?

Luke wasn’t making any more sense, even with his clarifications. And Michael was way too tired to think too much about his cryptic messages. So he just agreed.

Michael: yeah

His phone buzzed again, seconds after he’d hit send. Did Luke have nothing better to do than text Michael at fucking nine am on a Saturday morning? Didn’t he know how to sleep in?

Luke H: great :-)

Michael tossed his phone to the side with a sigh, resolving himself to being awake way, way too early. This wasn’t usually how he spent his mornings; normally, he slept in until noon if he didn’t have work, and spent the day catching up on homework he didn’t feel like doing during the week, and finished the day with pizza and a few rounds of FIFA. He didn’t usually meet cute boys at the coffee chop, for god knows what reason, and he usually didn’t wake up so fucking early.

The rest of his day passed slowly, starting with two cups of coffee to try and keep himself awake and functional. He could hear his mum in his head, reminding him that nine am isn’t even that early, that most people were already awake and functional by that point. So he just shook his head and told his imaginary mum to piss off, and that he wasn’t most people.

He managed to waste most of the day away until he was already running late to meet Luke. He tugged on a hoodie that he’d only worn once that week, making it objectively cleaner than most of his other ones.

By the time he made it to the coffee shop, he was a couple minutes past one. Which was fine, it was pretty standard for Michael. He never really knew what time it was, but he tried his best. At least he was only a couple minutes late this time. Hopefully Luke didn’t mind too much.

Speaking of the devil, Luke had taken a seat in the corner and, when Michael spotted him, was mid-laugh at something Ashton had said to him. Ashton, who was sitting right next to him, grin on his lips. Oh, fuck. Had Michael just been invited to fucking third wheel them or something? You could third wheel a friendship. Michael knew that, from trailing after a pair of best friends when he was a kid, before he’d just decided to be a loner for the rest of his life. But they seemed awfully cuddly now, too. Maybe they’d just invited him to laugh at him.

Or, the much smaller rational part of his brain pointed out, maybe Luke had invited Ashton since Michael had wanted to apologize to him again and had never gotten the chance. Maybe Luke was just being nice.

Michael just did his best to shove all those thoughts aside. There was no point in freaking himself out now that he was already here. Better to just figure out what Luke had planned and get it over with. Or enjoy it, maybe. Maybe.

Michael made his way over to their table, awkwardly taking his seat in front of them. Luke turned and gave him a bright, happy smile. “Hey, you made it!” He greeted, clearly pleased. “I went ahead and brought Ashton, I hope you don’t mind. You said you wanted to apologize, and we both think you’re pretty cute, so-” Ashton smiled fondly, but nudged Luke anyway.

“Don’t freak him out right after he gets here,” Ashton chided gently. He gave Michael that warm smile, shifting in his chair. “Hey, Michael. Good to see you again.”

Michael nodded a little, socialization abilities immediately leaving him. “You look good,” he said, before flushing. “No, you don’t. I mean - fuck - I don’t mean that, I mean you look good now that you’re not covered in blood. Or, you looked good then too. Well, not really, because I hit you in the nose-” Michael snapped his mouth shut. “I mean, it’s good to see you too.”

Ashton just laughed, good naturedly, but Michael was pretty sure he was one fuck-up away from them hating him. Still, though, his laugh managed to calm some of that built-up nervousness he was holding on to.

“You look good too, no worries,” Ashton said, corner of his mouth pulling up into a smile.

Michael just nodded a little, steeling himself before he spoke. “I’m, uh. Really sorry about hitting you. I didn’t mean to at all, and still don’t know how I managed to fuck up that badly.”

Ashton gave him another smile. Luke was busy fiddling with one of his curls, clearly only half paying attention to the conversation, if at all. “It’s okay. Really. You didn’t do any lasting damage, and you didn’t mean to. I’m fine now, and it made the managers have to reconsider the position. Besides, it just meant Calum and Luke were a little overprotective for a few days. I’m fine now, but they were worried for a couple days about bruising and possible lasting damage. You should really be apologizing to Luke for having to deal with blood.” Michael must have looked confused, because Ashton continued. “I don’t know why, but it freaks him out. He’s fine with all the SFX shit, he’s okay with gruesome fake injuries and fake blood, but any time there’s real blood? He freaks out.”

Luke abandoned his curl, tucking it behind his ear, to pout at Ashton. “Hey. I just don’t like it.”

Ashton gave him another stupidly fond smile and draped an arm over the back of Luke’s chair. “I know.” Michael felt like he was third wheeling, again. Which, okay, Ashton and Luke were cute, but he couldn’t help the way his stomach dropped a little. He’d thought they were pretty cute, and he hadn’t deluded himself into thinking anything would happen with either of them. But it didn’t really make it feel much better to realize he was third wheeling.

Sometime into his quiet sulking (which only could’ve lasted a minute or two at most), Calum had come up behind him, because now he was pulling out the chair next to him. Michael was effectively caged in now by attractive guys. Which, okay, was manageable. If his brain would stay functional. At least now he wasn’t third wheeling Luke and Ashton by himself anymore.

“Hey,” Calum greeted all of them, smiling in the way that made his cheeks squish up and his eyes squint. And okay, yeah, Michael definitely needed to get back into the dating world.

“Hey,” Luke said, brightening a little again at the sight of Calum. “Michael came.”

Calum nodded, giving Luke the same fond smile Ashton had. “I can see that, babe.”

Luke reached his hand across the table, towards Calum. Calum took it, gently squeezing his hand. And fucking great, had Michael gone from third wheeling to fourth wheeling? Was fourth wheeling even a fucking thing? It clearly was, if what he was thinking was correct. Because Calum, Luke, and Ashton seemed awfully fucking close - Calum had just called Luke babe, for Christ’s sake - and he was pretty fucking sure they were all dating. Or involved together in some way. So why fucking bother inviting Michael if they were going to act like that? It wasn’t like he thought it was a date or anything, but it seemed...rude to just be all couple-y with a fourth person there.

“I’ve gotta take a call,” Michael said, and the excuse to step out sounded lame even to his own ears. But it had seemed like they’d been...maybe not flirting with him, but flirty, and he felt pretty fucking awkward fourth wheeling them the way he was doing. So he wanted an excuse to step outside for a moment and breathe. He pushed his chair back, wincing at the noise it made, and awkwardly stumbled outside of the door. The bell above the door chimed as he did, which did nothing for his annoyance.

He took a few steps to the side, so he wasn’t in anyone’s way if they tried to go into the little coffee shop. He leaned back against the wall with a sigh, forgetting his excuse, and completely forgetting that he should probably at least pretend to be on the phone. Even if his phone hadn’t been ringing in the first place.

His melodramatic inner monologue of suffering was interrupted by the stupid bell chiming again. It earned enough of his attention to look up. And none other than Luke was standing there in front of him, apologetic smile on his face. “Hi,” Luke said, making his way a little closer.

“Hey,” Michael said, a little unsure.

“I just, uh...I’m sorry,” Luke said, fidgeting a little in place. His gaze shifted down to his feet, where he was absently scuffing the toe of his converse against his other foot. “I should have warned you about us. We just...it’s still kind of new, telling people, and we all...well, we all thought you were really cute, and I thought the rest of it would be easy if I managed to get you here. But life isn’t really like the movies, and I was kind of a dick to not at least warn you. Ashton said I should have, and he was right. I should have.”

Wait...what? Michael was left reeling a little. At least he wasn’t fucking crazy, and he’d been right about the three of them being together. Or, that was what it sounded like, at least. But the rest of it? What did Luke mean by them thinking he was cute? What the fuck? Why did Luke have to be so cryptic? “What?”

Michael was pretty sure Luke blushed. He just scuffed his toe against the ground again, before making eye contact. “I’m dating Calum and Ashton. Or, we’re all dating each other. Um...and we thought you were cute. We think you’re cute. And I fucked up and should have explained all of that earlier. So you didn't, uh...get blindsided by it when you got here.”

Well, that was...a lot. And unexpected. “So...is this a date or something?”

Luke shrugged. “It is if you want it to be.”

Michael considered that for a moment. Did he want it to be? He’d never dated more than one person before - hadn’t really dated many people in general, honestly. But he didn’t dislike the idea. He had gotten along with all of them individually pretty well...and they were already established, right? So maybe it would be easier for him to just join that. Maybe. “I think so, yeah.” He nodded a little.

Luke grinned, shoulders sagging a little with relief as. “Great! I’m sure we’ll talk about everything soon. Like, boundaries and limits and telling other people and the future and stuff like that. Ashton and Calum are pretty good about all that.” Luke reached for Michael’s hand, and he took it, letting Luke lace their fingers together. “For now, though, let’s go get coffee.” Luke tugged him back into the coffee shop, a triumphant grin on his lips. Michael couldn’t help the smile he gave him, just as fond as the ones Calum and Ashton had worn earlier. Something about Luke’s happiness was just...contagious and sweet. It made you happy to see him so happy.

-----------------------------------

The relationship ended up working out like a fucking dream. Michael had never felt so supported in his life, and he was pretty sure his boyfriends felt the same way. After the initial coffee date, they’d gotten themselves established, and talked about what they wanted and what they wanted the relationship to look like, and the future, just like Luke had said. And, to absolutely no one’s surprise, the conversation was guided by Ashton.

Telling his mum had arguably been the hardest part, but even that was made a little easier with their support. Answering her questions hadn’t been fun - he’d deflected the over-the-line questions, as anyone else would, and flat out refused anything rude - but they’d gotten it taken care of, and she’d been about as accepting as Michael could have hoped.

As promised, they managed to get Michael a job at the haunted house the following year. One of the managers had gotten fired after the incident with Ashton - not that that had been the cause, but he’d been a massive dick about it, according to Calum and Luke, and it hadn’t been a good look, so he’d gotten canned - which let Calum get a promotion. Ashton was happy to stick with being an actor. As long as, he’d said when they’d broken the news to Michael, stupid grin on his face, no one else punched him in the face. He didn’t want another boyfriend. It had earned him three eye rolls, and three fond smiles, from each of his stupidly indulgent boyfriends.

But it had meant there was an opening for the merch stand, and Michael would get three glowing reviews. So they’d managed to get him the job. And, Calum had reminded them at the time, pleased smile on his face, they had a lot of sway with one of the managers.

So after everything got settled, Michael’s life was the best it had ever been. He had three loving, supportive, wonderful boyfriends, a job he loved, and date night every Friday. Even if he was working, they were happy to come sit and entertain him until he was off. He didn’t feel left out with them anymore, either; after that first time, they’d gotten it sorted, and were quick to comfort and console him.

Ashton never fucking let him live down the way they met, though. He made dad jokes about it as often as they let him - “watch out for Michael, he packs a punch,” “ah, Michael’s got quite the feisty personality,” “Michael’s really got a nose for this sort of thing. He fucked up mine, so it’s only fair, I suppose” - which was way, way too often, given how bad they all were. Michael couldn’t even bring himself to care, though. Not when accidentally punching him in the face had been the one thing to pull his life together. Ashton’s dad jokes were definitely worth all of that.

#5soshalloweenevent2020 #5sos fanfic #ashton irwin fanfiction #luke hemmings fanfiction #michael clifford fanfiction #calum hood fanfiction #my writing #queue #yall i am BUZZING im so excited for this and that i wrote PROMPTS and people are WRITING THEM #like i DID THIS SHIT!! and people participated!!#VIBRATING w excitement...#i mean this is scheduled #but its likely that im around when it posts #i need instant gratification u see #i will b getting ready for virtual halloween tho <3

38 notes · View notes

dweetwise · 4 years

Note

ok lowkey. that spirit thing was mweh😘 how strange yet oddly interesting. if you dont mind doing something similar... could you ... maybe write something where Zarina befriends the Nurse? like the nurse is getting bullied by all the other survivors and Zarina is just like 'bruh why?'. this happened once in a match and i cant get it outta my head😤🤡 love LOVE your work. keep it up

[thanks anon ily 😳😳😳 hope this is ok! there’s a special place in my heart for baby nurses, they are so pure <3]

zarina never had to deal with op old nurse bless her

Zarina befriends the Nurse: ficlet

Hearing yet another wail from the Nurse echoing across the map, Zarina looks up from her generator into the misty grounds of the asylum. The match had surely been going on for nearly ten minutes already, and the teleporting killer had yet to down any of the survivors.

Finishing up the repairs on her generator, Zarina starts navigating towards the sound of the screeches. On her way, she doesn’t spot a single one of her teammates on any of the generators, and frowns in irritation that the killer had apparently decided to farm with the others without anyone deeming it necessary to inform her.

“Forgot about the new chick again, huh?” she mutters to herself, already having had some trouble fitting in with the rowdy group of survivors and their already established dynamic.

Zarina finally reaches what seems to be the center for the commotion, arriving at the shack where Feng, Nea and David are running around in circles with the killer teleporting through the structure, landing a hit on David who the girls then immediately begin patching up right in front of the killer’s face. Zarina huffs out an annoyed breath that her assumptions were correct, turning away from the spectacle and fully intending to go elsewhere and refuse to participate in the others’ dumb little game, when...

“Oi, over ‘ere ya cunt!” David taunts, causing Zarina to clench her fists and whip around, ready to give the asshole Brit a piece of her mind for insulting her--

Only to see the still injured David pointing his flashlight in the Nurse’s face, prolonging the killer’s already painful looking fatigue state. Zarina swallows her misdirected anger and takes a more thorough look at the events unfolding at the shack.

She sees Feng Min get right up in the killer’s face, doing her stupid butt dance, while Nea chain blinds the killer with her own flashlight, rendering her useless for a few more seconds. The killer takes a wild swing in Nea’s direction, but the street artist sidesteps.

“Ooh, big swing!” Nea mocks, clicky-clicking her flashlight and moonwalking around the Nurse while the killer recovers from her miss.

“Baby killer, baby killer!” Feng’s high-pitched laugh echoes through the area as the gamer feigns vaulting the shack window, causing the Nurse’s bonesaw to uselessly hit the wood with a dull ‘thunk’.

“Couldn’t hit a cow’s arse with that aim--” David taunts from the shack entrance, making the Nurse quickly blink to him. David dashes through the pallet, avoiding the hit and proceeds to throw down the piece of wood on the killer, flashlight at the ready and already pointing at the Nurse. “Baited ya, bitch!”

“She’s so boosted!” Nea laughs, moving into position to reset the pallet in the blinded killer’s face while Feng injects a healing syringe into David’s shoulder. When the Nurse finally recovers from the combination of the fatigue, stun and blinds, only to have the now upright pallet be slammed right back in her face, Zarina decides enough is enough.

“What the hell are you doing!?” Zarina demands, approaching the scene. “Hey Zarina! Look at this baby killer!” Feng says, obnoxiously spam-pointing at the stunned Nurse. “Shouldn’t you be doing gens?” “Don’t get yer knickers in a twist, we’re just horsin’ around,” David grunts, rolling his shoulder from the sting of the syringe needle. “But why, though?” Zarina asks, shooting a glare in Nea’s direction where the Swede is once again blinding the killer with her flashlight. “Haven’t you done enough?” “No offense newbie, but maybe you should go find a gen and leave this to us, yeah?” Nea says, a cocky smirk on her lips.

That moment, the Nurse manages to get control over her movements and executes a precise teleport to an injured David, only to have the syringe take effect a split second before the hit and fully heal his wounds, merely causing him to get injured again. Zarina thinks she hears the Nurse groaning in defeat, and she doesn’t blame her. With Nea sprinting right back up to the killer, flashlight in hand, and Feng running after David ready to tank a hit, the Nurse readies another blink and, to everyone’s surprise, teleports away in the direction of the main building.

“LMAO she gave up!” Feng laughs, the sound grating on Zarina’s nerves, as she begins patching up David. “Let’s go after her!” Nea suggests. “NO!” Zarina yells, absolutely done with her fellow survivors’ bullshit against the clearly struggling killer. “You’ve already won! Don’t you have any empathy?” she scolds the trio. “Oh I’m sorry princess, is the taaxic flashlight against your wittle journalist’s ethics?” Nea mocks, fake pouting. “We’ve put of with ‘er shite for years, least she can do is take a couple pallets in tha face,” David grumbles. “Yeah you try versing a five blink Nurse with a mori and tell us how fair and balanced that is,” Feng says, hands on her hips. “Whatever, that’s your problem,” Zarina says, not about to entertain the trio about whatever grudges they seem to be holding. “Just do the fucking gens and leave.”

With that, Zarina makes her way to the main building, thankful that the others seem to stay behind, at least for now. She feels compelled to apologize to the killer on her so-called friends’ behalf, once again trusting her strong moral compass to guide her to the right decisions. Before long she finds the Nurse in one of the rooms on the second floor of the asylum, sitting on a windowsill with an old photo frame in her hands.

“Umm... miss killer? Excuse me?” Zarina makes her presence known, peering in through the door frame. “You didn’t have to intervene, girl,” the Nurse says with unexpected softness and clarity in her voice. She looks almost serene, ominous heartbeat gone, sitting primly in front of the window and torn dress flowing gently with a breeze from the derelict wall.

“I know, it’s... I couldn’t just watch. I’m sorry about them, they’re--” “It’s fine. Truly. I understand,” she says, looking down at the photo again. “I haven’t exactly shown them mercy in the past, I would not expect them to act different.” “Are you... okay?” Zarina asks, cautiously approaching. The Nurse sighs. “This place, it... brings back memories I’d rather forget. I feel my focus slipping and my head is just not in it today.” “The others said you used to be more powerful--or p-perhaps just more ruthless, before...?” “I suppose that’s true,” the Nurse chuckles. “There was a time where I lost myself completely, the entity filling my mind with hatred. Now... I’m weaker, more often a disappointment to it, but... perhaps it’s for the best.” “Umm... not to point out the obvious, but--don’t you think it might help to take the bag off of your head so you could see better?” “You’d offer advice to me, an enemy? A rather peculiar survivor, you are,” the Nurse says, fondness in her voice. “As for the matter, I am able to see just fine, courtesy of the entity. Hiding my face is a choice, one of the few I still have. I--” her voice cracks. “I-I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to bring up a touchy subject.” “What a curious one you are. Never give up that fire,” she says. “As for covering my head... he always loved seeing me smile,” she says, fondly stroking a finger over the picture, before handing the frame to Zarina, taking her completely off guard as she fumbles to grab the item.

In the frame is a picture of a happy couple on their wedding day, both smiling brightly and embracing each other. The man looks like a proper old-time gentleman, complete with a top hat and silly mustache. The woman is gorgeous, her pale skin and white gown a stark contrast to her fiery red hair and deep emerald green eyes.

“Is this you?” Zarina asks, slightly taken aback, reminded of the fact that the killers probably used to be normal people, just like her. “It was the happiest day of my life,” the Nurse says wistfully. “That was his favorite photo. He said it brought out my eyes, he--he loved my eyes, said they were a reflection of my soul, of our happiness. Which is why I can’t let anyone see my face.” “Because now you’re... unhappy?” Zarina asks, trying to understand. “Because I don’t want anyone to look into my eyes and see the madness that consumed me,” the Nurse whispers.

Zarina is at a loss for words, intrigued about the remorseful killer’s past but not wanting to pry further. She stares at the photo and tries to imagine how the cute, carefree woman in the picture could have ever turned into a bloodthirsty killer.

The sound of the exit gates being powered snaps her out of her thoughts, finally handing the frame back to its owner.

“Thanks for telling me all this,” Zarina says. “Can’t have been easy, what you’ve went through.” “I should be thanking you, for indulging a silly woman her tales,” the Nurse says. “Feel free to stop by, should you happen to wander into this realm from the campfire. I don’t often linger here, but... maybe it would not be so bad, had I company.” “You know, I might just take you up on that offer,” Zarina says, offering a small smile. The sound of a gate opening and the end game triggering reminds her that she’s on a time limit. “Shi--shoot, I’ve gotta run. See you around, uh... ms. Nurse?” “Please, call me Sally,” the killer says, primly bowing her head. “Zarina, was it? Do be careful out there. Your kindness might just be the end of you.” “Doesn’t sound so bad, as far as causes of death go,” Zarina quips, offering a cheeky grin before sprinting off the find the gate.

[sally is precious fight me. and lmao i didn’t even try to be subtle about who toxic nea is inspired by]

#zarina kassir #sally smithson #dbd nurse #dbd #dbd fanfic #request #dweetwrites

40 notes · View notes

chartreuse-gale · 4 years

Text

Dragon Warrior/Quest ramblings/collective review

I rant about the Dragon Quest franchise a lot.

Two of my video game pet peeves are when people laude the original Dragon Warrior/Dragon Quest as ground breaking (it’s not, see Wizardy/Ultima), or the great grandfather of JRPGs (it’s not, see Hydlide/Dragon Slayer/Fantasian/) I’m generally not a fan of silent protagonists. I rarely identify enough with a character to feel like I’m “in” the game, so I prefer to be playing the role of a character with some kind of dialogue and a personality. Every dragon quest (that I’ve played) has a silent protagonist. That said, I do have some love for the series. I’ve suddenly found myself interested in giving Dragon Quest XI a spin, but instead I went back to Dragon Warrior IV. I remembered liking it as a kid and I’m happy to say I’ve been having as much fun playing it now as I remember having back then. Here are my thoughts on the dragon quest games separated into the ones I’ve finished and the ones I haven’t (mainline only).

Games I’ve Finished

Dragon Quest: This is grinding the game.

Strategy is almost nonexistent in the battle system outside of “Grind XP to LVL UP/Gold to buy better equipment”. You have 1 character and you never fight more than 1 enemy, so all fights are one-on-one. There isn’t any equipment with special traits or functions (just better Attack/Defense). You get access to a total of 6 spells in the game: Heal Heal More Heal Most Hurt Hurt More Hurt Most (these last 3 are usually a waste of MP) The plot is linear (except for potentially at the very end of the game). At least there’s a decent amount of exploration. Worse than Final fantasy I and Phantasy Star I by far, but to be fair, Enix did better with Dragon Quest II, which beat both of these competitors to the punch. Dragon Quest II: So much better than the original.

The grind is mediated by choices that matter in regards to equipment and combat. Also, you have an actual party this time (of 3), Also, Also, you can fight multiple enemies at the same time. Dragon Quest II added a much wider variety of spells (buff, debuff, and elemental damage spells); Equipment that had special functions when used as an item in combat (e.g. the Lightning Staff can cast whoosh), and a smidge more plot. Many people say more grinding is required in II than in the original, but I would argue that Dragon Quest I is nothing but grinding whereas Dragon Quest II breaks up the monotony with a dose of strategy. Comparable to Final Fantasy I. Far worse than Phantasy Star I. Dragon Quest V: Decent.

Also the first game originating on the Super Famicom (although we didn’t get an official English translation till the DS remake)

Allows for a party of 3 (4 in the DS remake). Considered groundbreaking by many for it’s monster recruitment system but it wasn’t the first game to have one by any means (Megami Tensei beat it by 5 years and Wizardry IV by 4). The game is divided into sections based on time periods as you grow from a kid to a teen to an adult, which is a cool way of pacing the games content, and gives you a little more perspective on the setting than you typically get in a Dragon Quest game. Characters are mostly boring outside of one (or two) of the love interests. Did I mention this game has love interests? I think I would have liked it better if there was only one, because it punched me in the heart for not picking the one it leads up to as the primary love interest (who also happens to be the canon one). Has really frustrating setting/plot-gender dynamics with two characters late in the game who I won’t name because spoilers.

Games I’ve Played but haven’t finished

Dragon Quest III: My least favorite game in the series (out of the ones I’ve played).

This time you have a protagonist and you can hire adventures to join you on your quest. They are all nobody characters. Their personalities are assigned at random, and (from what I can tell) only effect their growth. There’s no fucking dialogue with them (which is something I expected after DQ II). Personalities and seeds are fucking annoying, because both of them are random, have huge differences in their effects, and their effects make a huge difference in character capabilities, so it makes me want to spend hours saving/reloading until I get the effects I want. Fuck this game for introducing seeds to the series which appeared in many Dragon Quest games after this (thankfully I haven’t run into personalities again yet). Often lauded for having the “groundbreaking” option of changing character classes/jobs. Yes this came out before Final Fantasy III (Japan), but I would like to make the following points: - Final Fantasy I let you pick your character classes (which came out beforehand) - Final Fantasy III had a class change system you could actually make use of throughout the game (unlike DQ III where you need to get about halfway through the game first) - The original Wizardry came out 7 years earlier and also had a much more accessible class change system than DQ III I played very little of Dragon Quest III (I dropped it before even getting to my 2nd town). Two great thing about this games: It’s the first in the series to give you the option of playing as a woman, and I heard it’s the game that introduced the casino/mini games to the franchise. Dragon Quest IV: This game is Great! Also, Unlike the first three games in the series, Dragon Quest IV might actually be groundbreaking. You ever play Wild Arms I, II, or III? Did you enjoy playing through the prologues that introduce your early party members? Well Dragon Quest IV does a similar thing: The game is divided into chapters. Each chapter has a different protagonist. In their chapter you play them as silent protagonist, but when you encounter them later in the game they have dialogue. This does a lot to develop much of the cast, because you can see how people react to/talk with them and later on you can see how they engage with the player character (who you’re actually introduced to last). The cast is great and falls into a mix of both very old school and very uncommon tropes for a JRPG: You have an aging knight who goes on a mission to rescue children and then goes on a journey to find more about the ominous forces behind their kidnappers (Ragnar). Then there’s a princess who wants to go on an adventure against her fathers wishes so she kicks a hole in the wall of her room and jumps out of the castle (Alena); she’s joined by a young priest (Cristo) and an elderly mage (Brey) employed by her father, who give up on bringing her home and instead ask to travel with her to help her out. Next you have a merchant who wants to raise enough money to buy his own storefront (Taloon). After that you play a Fortune Teller (Nara) who travels with her dancer sister (Mara) on a quest to avenge the death of their father (an alchemist who was murdered by his apprentice). Each chapter ends on a climax related to motivations/goals of its lead character and each chapter shows more of the world/gives out more info on what is going on behind the scenes. While you actively control the primary characters of a chapter other characters are either controlled completely by AI (in chapters I-IV), or loosely follow a tactical strategy you select (chapter V). I’ve been getting on fine with it, but this might be a deal breaker for some. The music is better than any of the Dragon Quest games I’ve finished (and what I’ve heard from any of the ones I’ve played, but not finished). A remake of this game has an interesting flaw: they cut all the party chart dialogue from the foreign language versions of the DS version; so if you don’t know Japanese, you’ll probably miss out on a lot of character interaction with that version. (I heard this had something to do with concerns that the game wouldn’t make enough sales to cover translation costs of the party chart [which was reputedly two thirds of the game’s script]). Dragon Quest VI Honestly I’ve barely played this one. You have actual characters for party members (a big plus in my book). I’ve heard there’s a job system as well. Plot/setting seem decently interesting on first glance. I might come back to this one later. Dragon Quest VIII I got about halfway through this one.

They included a character-specific skill tree system which is cool, except that there are objectively best routes to take for some (possibly all?) characters and these best routes are not even close to obvious from the outset. It introduced a pretty fun crafting system.

There’s a decent cast of characters, but they don’t have quite enough going on for my tastes (my fave is Yangus). Plot has an interesting premise, but feels very barebones, and the environments/towns/npcs aren’t very interesting (maybe about as good as DQV, but worse than IV).

This game gets lauded for the 3D models of characters/enemies, but honestly I’ve never been a fan of the character designs of Dragon Quest (especially the monsters), so I feel pretty “meh” about it outside of being able to see your party members in combat (for I think the first time in the series), which is very nice. The music is very ambient a lot of the time. It does a good job of fitting melancholy moments, but doesn’t do such a great job of building excitement during battles and high-tension events. Dragon Quest IX This game feels a lot like Dragon Quest III.

You don’t have any actual characters, you just recruit them and use them in battle (no meaningful intraparty dialogue, character development, etc.) I think I played around 10-20 hours before dropping it.

Final Thoughts

Dragon Quest games vary from game to game in terms of gameplay mechanics, but they vary a great deal more when it comes to characters.

If you like having a lot of control over your party composition and don’t care about having characters with personality, you might like Dragon Quest III, V, or IX.

If you want a party comprised of characters who interact, have personalities, and might even develop over time, you might like Dragon Quest IV, or (sort of) VIII (I haven’t played much of VI, or any of VII or XI, but I heard they also fall into this camp). If you want to play an old school, 8-Bit JRPG that launched a spectacular franchise, might have actually been ground-breaking for its time, and is still fun to play today, check out the original Phantasy Star. . . . . . . (at least, for me it’s still fun to this day) [notes: - edited some typos, and mistakes most notably regarding the Hurt series of spells in Dragon Quest I - Revised some word choices - Added a comment about being able to see your party in combat in Dragon Quest VIII]

#Dragon Warrior #Dragon Quest #Dragon Warrior IV #Dragon Quest IV #Dragon Quest II #Dragon Warrior II #Dragon Quest III #Dragon Warrior III #Dragon Quest V #Dragon Quest VI #Dragon Quest VIII #I'm generally not a fan of silent protagonists

7 notes · View notes

sassy-pelican · 5 years

Text

To Infinity: Part Four

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Reader

Warnings: Language, fluff, angst, sadness, humor, time jumps, canon typical warnings, a bit of everything. You may not read this story if you are under 18.

Tagging: @holyhumorliteraturelight @crushedbyhyperbole

2014

It was cold, you knew that much. Between the weather – New York in January isn’t the best – and the fact that the news was sending shivers down your spine, you felt cold in a way you hadn’t in years. HYDRA. You thought it was gone, of course, you would have known better if you had taken Steve up on the offer of becoming an Avenger, or even an agent really.

You didn’t, and for that, you could kick yourself. But at the time, the small café and bookstore you own and run seemed like a good idea. It got you away from everything, let you process your past in a way Steve didn’t seem to understand. He came to visit, sure, but not as often as you would like. Fortunately, his friends seem nice enough, when he brings them.

He told you about Peggy; you have yet to visit her. A part of you hates yourself for it, but you want to remember her how you knew her – young, vibrant, full of life, and seeing Steve has to be hard enough. Still, every Sunday you leave three hours open in case you decide to visit.

The early rush has quieted, the people on their way to work have stopped already, to-go cup already in hand and sitting on their desks, most likely, while the late-comers are starting to straggle in. Maybe it’s those years with Peggy, in the war that led to believe your gut feelings, but today feels different.

Five hours later, the afternoon sun just starting to lessen, Steve walks through the door, scowl on his face. Except, this isn’t his normal scowl, his annoyed-with-work look, this is his devastated look. “Y/N.”

“Steve.” Setting your own book down, along with the mug of coffee, you walk over to him. “What’s going on?”

“I can’t …” It’s then that you notice the tears in his eyes.

“Steve?” It takes you back, to all those years before, to forty-five. The look is eerily similar, too similar. “What the hell is going on?”

“J – B – he …” The unshed tears start to spill now. Without thinking you wrap your arms around him. “The Winter Soldier.”

“Steve, come on, you can say it.” You whisper, almost afraid to hear the words.

“The Winter Soldier, he’s … he’s Bucky.”

“No … no.” You start to cry now, the realization that you left him there, in the cold, all those years in HYDRA’s hands, hitting you. “James … for this long?” You ask, not really sure what the question is, but asking it, nonetheless.

“Yeah.”

“Oh god, Steve.”

You started reading the history books, the theories by people you always assumed were crazy. You even read most of the more classified SHIELD files that Natasha released to the public, the ones pertaining to the Winter Soldier in particular. Everything seemed surreal, too horrible to be true, but then again, only the good seemed to be lies.

To your surprise, there were old files of you there too, the records of what you were, what happened. You always thought that experimentation done on you was off record, not that you minded, but it would have been nice to know.

The bell above the door, one in which you repaired after Steve’s last visit, rings, signaling another customer. “Welcome to – Sam.”

“Hey, got a minute?”

“Sure.” You sigh, going over to lock the door and flip the ‘open’ sign. “What is it?”

“I assume Steve filled you in some …”

“If by filled in you mean that my husband is the Winter Soldier, then yes, he did.” You twirl the ring on your finger, one that hold no monetary value, but still held so much weight.

“Yeah … that.” He takes a deep breath, obviously preparing to tell you more. “We’re going looking for him. Steve doesn’t want you to come.”

“Oh. I suppose not.” Still, the tears welling in your eyes are enough for Sam.

“Will you be okay, here?”

“As good as I can be.” You pause, wiping the few stays from your cheeks. “Be safe, both of you. I’ll kill you myself if you aren’t.”

“Of course.”

It’s late, almost closing, the moon high in the sky and the last of your regulars all gone. The files are open, sitting on a table in the back, strewn across it, your eyes trying desperately to find something you didn’t see before. You don’t know why, it won’t change anything, will probably only make you feel more guilty, but you need something. The coffee in your hand, the only thing keeping you awake at this point, almost spills when the bell above the door chimes. You sigh, hoping that this person has a good reason for coming in five minutes before you close.

“Hello and welcome to Connie’s Corner. What can I help you find?” The cheerfulness in your voice is noticeably fake, but you don’t care.

“Do you have any history books on World War Two?” You know that voice, even if it sounds a bit different than before.

The coffee mug drops form your hands, shattering on the ground as you stare at the face you dreamed about for so long. He freezes, his fight or flight instincts kicking in, you don’t notice. You can’t move, can’t seem to get your brain to function, but neither can he.

“James?” The name is a question coming from your lips, barely above a whisper, but he hears it. He doesn’t respond, the panicked look only deepening. Your too lost in your own head, memories playing back in your mind and tears staining your eyes to notice when he runs.

As you drop to your knees, pieces of the mug digging into your legs, you cry, you sob. Perhaps harder than you did when Steve told you, but it hurts. It hurts to see the man you loved so fiercely run from you in fear, in panic. It hurts to have proof, with your own eyes, that he’s alive, but so far from it at the same time. It hurts enough that you don’t notice the blood now staining the floor.

2016

Steve explained everything, after the fact. The entire battle, what Bucky went through, the Accords, the disbandment of the Avengers, everything. You cried, even if you didn’t know them very well, you knew them, and knew what they meant to him.

You hadn’t seen him since Peggy’s funeral, and even then, you didn’t stay long. You had the shop, and he warned you of the dangers of associating with him after his refusal to sign the Accords. Many times, you told him of your opinion, neither for nor against them, still you assured him that he could count on you if he needed to.

You wait for updates about Bucky weekly. You’ve grown to think of Shuri, despite never actually meeting her, as a little sister. However, each update is much the same, she is working on him, slowly to make sure she doesn’t damage anything but the trigger words and the rest of his Winter Soldier conditioning. It keeps you up at night though, the not knowing, the inability to see him, to hold him again. The two years when Steve and Sam were looking for him were bad enough, but this is worse.

T’Challa, Steve, everyone, has told you that a plane ticket to Wakanda after the events following the bombing will look suspicious, especially since technically, you and Bucky are still married. It eats at you though, even if you know the reason is good. You miss him. You miss the laughs, the simplicity, the comfort, the passion, the sheer rightness of everything. Still, you wonder if anything will be the same, even close to it; the two of you are different people now.

It’s been months now, with nothing. Shuri assures that everything is working, but it’s far more complicated than she had anticipated; the Winter Soldier is far more than just trigger words. She told you that he made her promise to keep him under until there was no chance of him ever fulling slipping back into that persona, trigger words or not. You understood it, truly, that didn’t mean you had to like it.

Now though, long after she told you that you could visit, no word has been sent back, either to deny or okay your request. Part of you worries that it’s him, that he’s worried about seeing you for the first time in so long. The thought has crossed your mind more than once, still does, but you’re still eager to see him again. It comes in the form of an encrypted email the following week. Ominous in nature and it breaks your heart. ‘He needs you. – S’

“Rose!” You call to your employee. Her head pops out from behind a shelf moments later. “I need you to cover the shop for a week or so, family emergency.”

“Y/N … I’ve known you for years, and numerous times you’ve told me you have no family. What is it?”

“I can’t tell you.” It’s the best you can come up with in your stupor. You’d completely forgotten that you had never lied to Rose, omitted a few things, but never lied. At the time, you didn’t have any family.

“Did you get mixed up in something?” She asks, her warm brown eyes looking at you intently. It makes you want to tell her.

“Yes, but not like you’re thinking.”

“Alright,” she sighs, “be safe, okay?”

“Always.”

Shuri instructed you to wait for transportation at an old abandoned building on the outskirts. It seemed weird but figuring that everyone was on the run and Wakanda’s protective nature, it seemed within character.

A sleek black jet-like thing comes into view, almost silent before your eyes. It was cloaked, far better than anything you’ve ever seen before. “Hello?”

“Y/N!” The girl of the hour screams, bounding off the thing right at you. “I’m sorry for the hysterics, and I had to threaten my brother, but I’m here.��

“I get it. I wouldn’t want the smartest mind wandering around either.” Your quip seems to ease her spirits.

“Oi! That one hurt!”

“What’s going on?” You ask, far more serious than before. She calms almost instantly.

“I’ll explain on the way.”

Grabbing your bags, you follow her. It’s nice, far better than flying commercially. Even as you stow your things where she directs, the unease sits like a rock in your stomach. “Shuri, what happened?”

“Barnes, he … isn’t taking recovery well.” Her words are sad, and it worries you. “I was able to get everything possible, without damage out, but there are things left that bother him. He tried to explain it, as did I, but he refuses to see anyone. He isn’t a danger, not to others.”

“What do you mean, there are things left?”

“Parts of him that he thought were part of his conditioning, weren’t. They were already there, the darker parts of him that the war woke up. He’s having trouble coming to terms with it. I thought that maybe, having you there would help.”

“He doesn’t know I’m coming does he?” You ask, almost scared of the answer.

“No. He doesn’t.”

By the time you land hours later, you’re a nervous wreck. The thought of surprising your husband doesn’t sit well with you, not with who you both are at this point. Nothing to be done about it though. You know you’re so much more than just his wife, but the moment, that’s what you’re hung up on. Does he even remember you?

Steve and Shuri have told you, numerous times, that he remembers most of his life, all the important bits. What you don’t know, is if he remembers you the way you do him. Does he remember the little things; the quirks about you that he used to love? Will he still?

“He’s called White Wolf here.” Shuri explains, breaking you from your head as she leads you to what she said was his hut. “Me, I just call him Broken White Boy.”

“Really?” You look to her, and the humor in both your eyes is a nice distraction.

“I truly am sorry about this being a surprise.”

“I know. I just hope it doesn’t backfire on us.”

They two of you don’t speak while you walk. She had warned you his place was far from the city, but you didn’t think she meant this far. Although, as much as you loved the city, what you saw of it, you see the appeal of being out here. It’s quiet, vast, secluded, everything you picture James needing.

“Sergeant Barnes!” Shuri yells, approaching a one-armed man tending to what look like goats. It makes you smile.

“Yeah?”

“You have a visitor.”

“Tell Steve I don’t want another one of therapy sessions.” He calls back, not even looking your way.

“I’m offended,” you reply, “I didn’t realize I looked that masculine.” The second he hears your voice he tenses.

“You shouldn’t be here.” He says. You ignore him, waving Shuri off as you walk closer.

“So, you remember who I am?”

“Yes.” The word is barely above a whisper, but you catch it, and it hurts.

“Then why shouldn’t I be here?” He doesn’t answer you. “Dammit James! I’ve been worried about you for months!”

“Don’t. Don’t worry about me. I’m not worth it.”

“Of course, you are!” His words hurt you, far more than you care to admit.

“No, I’m not!” He yells, his one arm flailing around. “You know what I did, what I was! Hell, part of him is still there!”

“No, he’s not James.” You mutter, tears in your eyes. “There’s nothing left but you.”

“How do you know?”

“Because I’m your wife Bucky! I fell in love with every part of you, good and bad. There was always a darkness in you. That doesn’t mean you aren’t a good man.”

“But I’m not! I’m not good!”

“James Buchanan Barnes! You are one of the best men I know!” You yell. “Present tense. Not knew, know.”

“But-”

“No buts! You were brainwashed! They broke you! For seventy years you were a prisoner of war, under various forms of mind control too. What you did under their rule wasn’t you.”

“They could never fully take you away from me. You and Steve. You guys were the only people that were still there, slightly.” He’s crying and it takes everything in you not to throw your arms around him and cry too. “All I could think of those first few years was how you and Steve would be disappointed in me. How you’d hate me for letting them win.”

“Bucky … I would never hate you. Steve would never hate you.” The words coming from your mouth are low, whispered, filled with tears.

You watch, unsure, as Bucky’s own tears roll down his face. This time, you don’t hesitate to wrap your arms around him. He tenses, but lets you hold him. Minutes pass before he wraps his arm around you as well.

“I made dinner.” He looks up from his position, eyes staring at the feed he’s scattering. Your words barely seem to register.

“Okay.”

“Are you going to eat?” Silently you add ‘with me.’

“Yeah.”

You nod, only allowing yourself to smile once you turn away from him. It unsettles him, how you’re so relaxed in his presence, so you pretend, for him, for now. You feign indifference, if only to get him used to the fact that you’re not going anywhere. The act breaks your heart though; you want nothing more than to hold him in your arms and love him until he can’t take anymore.

It’s silent as you eat. Uncomfortable in every way. Both of you can feel the unsaid words between you, the truths that neither of you want to speak of. His pleading look is enough for you to sigh, knowing you have to break the silence.

“Tell me.” He knows what you mean, even without you saying it.

“It was cold, too cold. I think I laid there for days, bleeding, in and out of consciousness. I remember these men coming and dragging me away. I thought it was you guys, that you’d found me. It wasn’t. I thought later that I saw Zola, but I know it wasn’t him. Steve said you captured him after I fell. I don’t remember much on the arm, only after I woke up with it.”

“Bucky …”

“Everything was hazy, out of focus. It took them years, years of that chair to get me where they wanted me, mentally. They couldn’t erase the feelings of you and Steve though. Not completely. I remember someone saying that they could never send me after either of you, unless I was the only choice they had.”

“Buck-”

“I could’ve killed you! If they had found out where you were, I could’ve killed you.”

“No, you wouldn’t have.”

“How do you know that?”

“Because you didn’t kill Steve. You didn’t kill Steve, even when you had the chance. Even when he was already half dead, you pulled him from the water.”

He stares at you, a hard look on his face. One that makes you think he doesn’t believe a word you just said. Even as he helps you into his room before he makes his way to the makeshift bed on the floor, you know.

“I love you.” You whisper it, hoping and yet not, that he catches it. It’s true, just as much now as it was when you first said it. You never stopped.

“You shouldn’t.”

2017

Once a month, for a week, you’ve gone to Wakanda to see Bucky. Each time, he seems better, more like the man you married. The domesticity of each visit is something new, something the two of you never got seventy-three years ago. It seems surreal now that you were married far less than a year before he fell, before he was taken, before you went under.

He barely touches you now, even in passing. Hardly even a friendly touch. He’s scared of hurting you, of only having one arm now, you know it; that doesn’t mean his brushing off of you doesn’t hurt. You so badly want it to be like it was before, but it can’t, never will be. The two of you are different people, have been through far too much to go back to the way you were. However, at least these past few visits, he has greeted you when you landed. A big step for him.

“You’re back.” He says with a bright smile on his face as you step off the jet.

“Of course. I said I would be, didn’t I?” Your tone is teasing, but you both know your serious. He needs to hear it, that you didn’t leave him.

“You did.”

“How’ve you been?” It’s casual, but even you know that you mean it far more deeply than it seems.

“Good. The goats miss you.” You hear his unsaid words, hear the ‘I missed you too’ even as he doesn’t say it.

“Steve come to visit?” You try to make idle conversation as he starts walking back to his home, to your home now.

“Yeah, left a few days ago. He loved the kid’s names.”

“You tell him they were inspired by him?” You laugh.

“Of course.” You hear him chuckle, truly for the first time in months. “He too offence to Rahat and Prost though. Said he was never shit nor a dumbass.”

“Says the dumbass.”

“I told him as much.”

The banter is easy, normal. It feels almost too good to be true. As much as you want to believe Bucky is really doing this good, you know it’s only a good day, or week. It never lasts long. You grab his hand, the warm feeling of it encasing you makes you smile.

“How’ve you been, really?” You ask, knowing the answer from before was only half.

“Good, mostly.” He sighs. “I’ve been working on accepting that the darker part of me, is well, me and not him. It’s hard though.”

“Tell me James.”

“I hate them. HYDRA, the people that took me, everything. I want to kill every single one of them. Steve keeps telling me their gone, but I know better. As long as one believer is still alive, they will grow again.”

“I hate them too,” you admit, “for everything they did to you. For everything they did to others. I hate everything about them.”

“I just … everyone now is about forgiveness, letting go of the past. I can’t. I can’t forgive them for what they did, for everything that they did to not only me, but so many others. I can’t let go of what happened.”

“Normally, I’d agree with them, tell you to forgive and move on. But no about this. This, what happened to you, what HYDRA is, it’s not something you forgive. And you’re right, even if they have an unplanted seed, it will grow. I have grown to truly dislike fighting, but this James, this I will gladly support you in. This is one instance where I think revenge might just help you heal.”

“I’m not even sure if I want revenge. I just want all of them dead, so that they can’t hurt anyone else.”

It’s the harshness of his breathing that wakes you up months later. The quiet moans and groans coming from his lips that alert you something’s wrong. Even in the forties, he was never a vivid dreamer, not unless they were nightmares. The sound of him thrashing around almost makes you cry.

“Bucky?” You ask, sitting so you can see him on the cot. “James, wake up.” He doesn’t respond.

“No.” It’s a whisper, barely audible, but you hear it. Without thinking, you jump up and rush to him. Placing your hand gently on his shoulder, you squeeze.

“James … Bucky … wake up.” Still, he continues to move around, sounding almost like he’s in pain. It breaks your heart. “Shh, it’s okay. It’s just a nightmare.” You whisper, trying, even fruitlessly, to calm him in his unconscious state.

For what seems like hours you lay there, whispering and murmuring reassurances in his ear. He calms, finally, and you continue to hold him, running your fingers through his hair. “Y/N?” You can hear the tears in his voice.

“Yeah?”

“Are you real?”

“Yes Bucky, I’m real. I’m here.” He doesn’t respond verbally, only pulls you tighter with his arm and hold you.

“I’m sorry.” He mutters, tears wetting your hair as he pushes his face into your neck.

“C’mon, get up.” Slowly, you pull him up from his cot. “You’re gonna sleep next to me tonight.”

“I don’t want to hurt you.”

“James,” you stare at him with a bored expression, “you won’t. I promise. You didn’t hurt me earlier, and you won’t now.” Reluctantly, he nods and settles himself on one side.

You fall asleep to his even breathing, arm slung over your waist, his breath tickling the back of your neck slightly.

You were ready. You wanted him, badly. Despite the fact that it has been over seventy years since you last had sex at all, Bucky looking like he does, well, it doesn’t help matters. For months you’ve known not to push it, not to push sex and intimacy on him too quickly, but this week, your patience has been running thin. Maybe it’s the hot weather, maybe it’s the lack of shirts while he’s working, maybe it’s the fact that the last few visits, you’ve been sleeping curled up against his chest.

Even now, you know you shouldn’t push him, but you can’t help it. It’s subtle, the hints your dropping, ones he doesn’t seem to catch onto at all. You’ve been wearing your nicer underwear, shorter shorts, tighter tank-tops, you’ve even used some of that perfume Natasha gifted you the last time you saw her. Even Rose commented on it when you wore it to the shop. Still, nothing. Not even a lingering glance that sets your panties aflame.

“Bucky,” you start as he comes in the door, sweat dripping down his chest, “we need to talk.” His face drops.

“You want a divorce.” As soon as the words leave his mouth you gape at him.

“What?” You yell, positive that the sound echoes in the fields. “What the hell gave you that idea?”

“I’m not the same. I’ve only got one arm, I’ve done terrible things, I haven’t exactly been a good husband, you name it.”

“Is that it? You think I want a divorce because you’re not the exact same person I married over seventy years ago?” Disbelief colors your words. “You think just because you only have one arm and have done horrible shit – which we’ve had a discussion about – under brainwashing, that I suddenly don’t want you anymore!”

“Yes! And you should!” He yells. “I was a monster Y/N, and I’m not the person you married, you don’t deserve to put shackled to me.”

“Shackled? You think that’s what I really feel, that I’m shackled to you? Bucky … that’s not it at all.” It hurts that he doesn’t think himself worthy of being loved, by you most of all.

“Then what is it?” He asks.

“I – I …” Suddenly, even with all your bravado, you can’t seem to say it. Sighing, you go to start into the bedroom.

“Doll?” He asks. It melts your heart.

“I wanted to know why you won’t touch me.”

“I do touch you.” You want to laugh; it seems he’s gotten clueless with his old age.

“No. I wanted to know why you wouldn’t touch me.” This time, you do chuckle. “I’ve been dropping hints all week.”

“I don’t …”

“I want to have sex with you! I want to kiss you, I want to hold you, I want to love you. More than anything I want to make love to you again. I want to feel you.”

“Why didn’t you say something?” He asks.

“I didn’t want to push. I knew you needed to be comfortable with me, fully, but dammit James, it’s been over seventy years and I want to fuck someone! I’ve been wearing the skimpiest clothes I own in the hopes you might look at me. I even have on the perfume Natasha gave me; one she claims makes men go wild. I’ve been sitting closer to you, hugging you tighter, sleeping closer, everything I know how to do.”

“I don’t even know how anymore.” He admits. “I don’t know how to do any of this anymore, sex, intimacy, love. It’s all so foreign.”

“Kiss me.” You interrupt.

“What?”

“Kiss me. We can figure the rest out as we go, just please, kiss me.” You’re pleading now, practically begging. He nods.

Both of you step closer to one another, and then it goes to shit. Apparently, neither one of you remember how to do this. Your foreheads bang together, noses bump, you step on his toes, and then, you’re laughing. You’re laughing harder than you have in a long time.

“I told you I don’t know how to do this anymore.”

“Oh, shut up Bucky.” You’re still laughing. “Apparently, you’re not the only one.”

“No, I guess not.”

“Okay, let’s try this again.” You look up into his eyes. “You, just, stand still.” He nods. Slowly, you move upwards, leaning in, and tilting your head, meeting his lips with yours.

It doesn’t take long before instinct kicks in and the two of you are kissing like old times. A little sloppier and a bit more awkward, but still better than before. Your hands move hesitantly to his shoulders as his hand does the same to your hips. You tongue teases his bottom lip and you feel him tense slightly.

“Just go with it.” You whisper, breaking apart for a much-needed breath.

“Right.” He says, this time leaning in before you do.

It feels like the old Bucky now. Tongues feeling each other, lips moving in sync, hands squeezing whatever it is they’re holding, at least yours are. His hand it just resting, grip a but tighter, but not moving. It feels good.

“I love you.”

“So, you don’t want a divorce?”

“No. I don’t”

You wanted Rose to be in the loop. She was your best friend, one of the few you had outside of the Avengers and Wakanda. She deserved to know why she was covering for you in the little store you owned.

“Shuri?” You ask tentatively from over the secure line she has set up a few months ago.

“Huh?”

“I want to bring someone with me next time I come.”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” She asks.

“No, but Rose deserves to know.”

“Do you want me to warn Barnes?”

“Yes. This isn’t something that should be a surprise.”

“Alright, what’s going on?” Rose asks as soon as you tell her you want her to come with you for a few days.

“I want you to know what I’m doing when you cover for me.”

“You’re seeing a man hon, I thought that was obvious.”

“It is, but you need to meet him, and everyone else.”

“Look, you know I love you, but if this is gonna get me arrested, leave me out of it.” The slight bit of apprehension in her voice doesn’t ease your nerves.

“Rose … please.”

“Fine. Fine. I’ll go.”

“Thank you.”

Unfortunately, you didn’t tell her who would be picking you up, you mentioned it would be by private aircraft, but forget to mention that three former members of the Avengers would be your escort.

“Stevie.” You smile at him, his bearded face and darker hair a bit of a shock, but not a bad one.

“Y/N.”

“Hold the hell up!” Rose calls from behind you, just as you were about to hug your old friend. “You mean to tell me you’ve been hanging out with Steve Rogers and company for how long?”

“A long time and an ever longer story; one I tell you on the way.”

“Who are you?”

“Y/N Y/LN, first female super-soldier.”

The stiff movements and shock from Rose as the three of you board the jet don’t ease you any. You knew you should’ve warned her, but you didn’t.

“I think you should’ve told the poor woman something Y/N.” Natasha says from the cockpit, her now blonde hair swinging as she turns to face you.

“Nat,” you say, “you’re probably right, but it’s too late now.”

“Not only Steve Rogers then.” Rose mumbles.

“Rose, meet Natasha and Sam.”

“Um … hi?”

“Hello!” Sam yells, although the extra volume isn’t needed, from his own seat.

“Where are we headed?” She asks.

“We are going to Wakanda, so that you can meet my husband, James Buchanan Barnes.”

#bucky barnes #steve rogers #avengers #bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes fluff #bucky barnes angst #bucky barnes fanfiction #infinity war #avengers infinity war

23 notes · View notes

aion-rsa · 4 years

Text

Hamilton: Ranking Every Song from the Soundtrack

https://ift.tt/2YTCryx

Imagine the experience of being one of the first individuals to see Lin-Manuel Miranda’s now-classic Hamilton: An American Musical live.

The first thing you notice is the spartan, largely empty stage. Then as Leslie Odom Jr. takes the stage as Aaron Burr followed by Miranda’s Hamilton, you realize that this production about America’s founding fathers is made up almost exclusively of People of Color. That’s a lot to take in from the start. At a certain point, however, you’re bound to realize that the play is about 40 minutes in and The. Music. Has. Not. Stopped.

In addition to its many ingenious quirks and hooks, Hamilton is truly a musical musical. Miranda’s book and lyrics about one of the country’s most colorful and impressive founders has a lot of ground to cover. And it does so at a musical sprint with almost no expository time-wasting in-between.

As such, the Hamilton soundtrack is a staggeringly impressive piece of recent culture. At 46 tracks spread out over nearly two and a half hours, this album closely replicates the experience of a show most could never get a ticket to live. A passionate, thriving Hamilton fandom rose up out of that soundtrack and it continues through to this day.

Now, with Hamilton about to be more accessible than ever by joining Disney+, we decided to rank all 46 of those tracks.

46. Hurricane

The hurricane that ravaged Alexander Hamilton’s Caribbean island home of St. Croix was a crucial part of his life and led to him securing passage to the United States. But the song “Hurricane” uses the storm late in the play as a tortured metaphor for his turbulent public life. It’s undoubtedly the least energetic and weakest full song on the Hamilton soundtrack.

45. Farmer Refuted

“Farmer Refuted” does well to capture a young Hamilton’s rhetorical brilliance early on in the play but doesn’t hold up well against other, more fully crafted tunes. Hercules Mulligan mumbling “tear this dude apart” is certainly a soundtrack highlight though.

44. The Story of Tonight (Reprise)

What would any Broadway musical soundtrack be without a reprise or two? “The Story of Tonight (Reprise)” is certainly fun. But, ultimately, tales of Hamilton’s legendary horniness would have been better suited with a full song.

43. Schuyler Defeated

Just about every line of dialogue in Hamilton is sung… including heavily expository moments like Burr defeating Hamilton’s father-in-law in a local election. The subject matter and lack of true musical gusto makes “Schuyler Defeated” one of the least essential tracks in the show.

42. We Know

It’s a testament to how strong the Hamilton soundtrack is that a song like “We Know” could appear this low on the list. This account of Jefferson and company informing Hamilton of what they know is quite good; it just pales in comparison to the song in which they uncover Hamilton’s misdeeds.

41. It’s Quiet Uptown

This is sure to be a controversial spot on the list for this much-loved ballad. “It’s Quiet Uptown” is indeed composed quite beautifully. It also features lyrics that seem to be almost impatient in nature – as though the song is trying to rush the Hamiltons through the grieving process to get back on with the show.

40. Take a Break

Part of the miracle of Hamilton is how the soundtrack is able to turn rather mundane concepts and events in Hamilton’s life into rousing, larger-than-life musical numbers. “Take a Break” is charged with dramatizing the notion that Hamilton simply works too much with a sweetly melancholic melody. It does quite a good job in this regard but naturally can’t compete with some of the more bombastic songs on the list.

39. Stay Alive

Set in the brutal dredge of the Revolutionary War, “Stay Alive” is a song about desperation. And between its urgent piano rhythm and panicky Miranda vocals, it does quite a good job of capturing the appropriate mood. It also feels like one long middle with no compelling introduction or conclusion.

38. Best of Wives and Best of Women

Talk about “the calm before the storm.” “Best of Wives and Best of Women” captures one last quiet moment between Alexander and Eliza before Aaron Burr canonizes his one-time friend to the $10 bill. It’s brief, lovely, and effective.

37. The Adams Administration

Hamilton wisely surmises that the best way to introduce audiences to new eras of its title character’s life story is through the narration of the man who killed him in Aaron Burr (Leslie Odom Jr.). Odom Jr.’s real flare for showmanship turns what could be throw-away intros into truly excellent material. It also features a hilarious nod to Sherman Edwards’ 1776 musical when Hamilton says, “Sit down, John” and then adds a colorful, “you fat motherf***er!”

36. A Winter’s Ball

Again: Burr’s monologues are always a welcome presence in these tracks. And in “A Winter’s Ball,” he does some of his best work by setting up Burr and Hamilton’s prowess… “with the ladiessssss!”

35. Meet Me Inside

Despite a brief running time, “Meet Me Inside” is able to establish George Washington’s general bona fides and Hamilton’s daddy issues in equal measure.

34. Your Obedient Servant

“Your Obedient Servant” is Hamilton’s loving ode to passive aggression. In just two minutes and thirty seconds, you’ll believe that two grown men could somehow neg themselves into a duel via letter-writing.

33. The Reynolds Pamphlet

You know that old adage of “he could read out of a phonebook and it would be interesting?” Well Hamilton basically does that with “The Reynolds Pamphlet.” The ominous music injects real import into the simple act of writing that would upend the Hamilton family’s lives.

32. That Would Be Enough

Eliza’s refrain of “look around, look around at how lucky we are to be alive right now” recurs at the beginning of “That Would Be Enough” in a truly touching way. This song is a real tonal whiplash from the revolutionary battles and duels that precede it, but it is ultimately strong enough to bring the focus back to Alexander and Eliza and not just the hectic world they inhabit.

31. The Story of Tonight

“The Story of Tonight” is both a clever drinking song among bros and a subtle setup for the show’s larger theme of one’s story being told after they’re gone. The song is both affecting and effective, just a little too short to stand out and make big waves on our list.

30. Blow Us All Away

“Blow Us All Away” is a fun, jaunty little ditty from Anthony Ramos’ Philip Hamilton. It rather ingeniously incorporates the young Philip’s own musical motif before ending in tragedy.

29. Stay Alive (Reprise)

It’s hard for any song to emotionally contend with the death of a child in under two minutes but “Stay Alive (Reprise)” does a shockingly good job. There’s a real sense of urgency to the music before it settles in for poor Philip to say his final words.

28. Burn

Musically, “Burn” is not one of the better ballads in Hamilton. Lyrically, however, its power is hard to deny. Phillipa Soo does a remarkable job communicating Eliza’s pain at her husband’s betrayal. More impressive is how she communicates the only way to work through that pain, which is through burning all of his personal correspondences and writings to her.

Movies

Hamilton Movie: Meet the Original Cast

By David Crow

Culture

Hamilton Movie Censors F-Bombs for Disney Plus

By David Crow

27. The Election of 1800

Hamilton is the rare musical where one character can sing “can we get back to politics please?” and the audience’s response is “hell yeah!”. The show is uncommonly good at dramatizing boring political processes, and “The Election of 1800” is no exception. The song builds up to a pseudo-reprisal of “Washington on Your Side” in a shockingly effective and cathartic way.

26. History Has Its Eyes on You

“History Has Its Eyes on You” is a powerful recurring phrase through the entirety of Hamilton. Each and every time the concept comes up in a song, it truly stands out. Strangely though, the song that bears its name is only in the middle of the pack in terms of the show’s numbers. Perhaps it’s because it occurs near the middle of the first act, before we can properly appreciate its heady themes?

25. Aaron Burr, Sir

One of Hamilton’s most charming traits is how readily it acknowledges what an annoying pain in the ass its lead character can be at times. “Aaron Burr, Sir” is literally the second song of the entire musical and helps establish its playful tone as much as the bombastic opening number establishes a deadly serious one.

24. Guns and Ships

Ballads are nice. “I want” songs are nice. Recurring motifs are nice. But sometimes you need a song that just goes hard. Thanks to “America’s favorite fighting Frenchman” that’s what “Guns and Ships” delivers. Lafayette actor Daveed Diggs faces an enormous challenge in Act One by filling out the character’s growth in bits and pieces. “Guns and Ships” is the reward, where a fully unleashed (and English-fluent) Lafayette makes it very clear what hell he has in store for the British army.

23. Washington on Your Side

Thomas Jefferson is such a dynamo of a presence in Hamilton that one could be forgiven for forgetting how infrequently he turns up. Jefferson (and Daveed Diggs) is operating at an absurdly high capacity in “Washington on Your Side.” Meanwhile the music has a ball keeping up with the increasingly incensed backroom scheming of Jefferson and his “Southern motherfucking Democratic-Republicans!”

22. Right Hand Man

Thirty-two thousand troops in New York Harbor. That’s uh… that’s a lot. While the second act of Hamilton has to work a little harder to capture the drama of the inner-workings of a fledgling government, the first act is able to absolutely breeze through some truly epic and exciting songs covering the Revolutionary War. “Right Hand Man” is one such ditty that really captures the frenetic urgency of a bunch of up-jumped wannabe philosophers trying to topple the world’s most powerful empire.

21. The Schuyler Sisters

Honestly, “The Schuyler Sisters” deserve better than its placement on this list. It’s just that everything that comes after is such a banger, that it’s hard to justify moving up the dynamic introduction of Angelicaaaa, Elizzzaaaaa… and Peggy.

20. Ten Duel Commandments

Imagine how insane you would sound in circa 1998 explaining that there would one day be a musical about the founding fathers that uses the framework of Notorious B.I.G.’s “Ten Crack Commandments” to describe the duel between Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton. Then imagine how insane you would sound when explaining that it was great. “Ten Duel Commandments” doesn’t cover the “big” duel of Hamilton. It’s a teaser for what’s to come. Thankfully it’s a hell of a good teaser.

19. Cabinet Battle #2

Hamilton’s two cabinet battles run the risk of being the cringiest part of the show. Every concept has its stylistic limit, and a rap battle between Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson should absolutely fly past that limit. Somehow, however, the novelty works and the creativity of Miranda’s writing shines through.

18. Cabinet Battle #1

The two Cabinet Battles are pretty interchangeable on the list. #1 gets the nod because of “we know who’s really doing the planting.”

17. What Comes Next

The trilogy of King George III songs is some of the most purely joyful songwriting on the Hamilton soundtrack. We can dive into the specifics of what really works about the songs in a later entry. For now, know that “What Comes Next” falls the lowest on our list due to featuring only one round of “da-da-da’s.”

16. I Know Him

“I Know Him” also features only one burst of “da-da-da’s.” But it still gets the nod over “What Comes Next” for King George III calling John Adams “that little guy who spoke to me.”

15. Dear Theodosia

Perhaps more so than any other character in Hamilton, Aaron Burr works best on his own. The character (and the man he was based on) plays things close to the vest by design. It’s only through his musical soliloquies that we get a real sense of the guy. That’s what makes “Dear Theodosia” so powerful in particular. Burr wants the same thing for his daughter that Hamilton wants for his son: “Some day you’ll blow us all away.”

14. One Last Time

George Washington owned slaves. Yeah yeah, you can bandy around the usual “bUt He ReLeAsEd ThEm AlL lAtEr In LiFe” all you want. At the end of the day, it’s an inescapable fact for the country to confront. It’s a hard thing for Hamilton, however, a show realistic about America’s flaws but still reverential to its founding story, to deal with. Hamilton presents the George Washington of American mythos for the most part and he strikes an undeniably impressive and imposing figure. To that end, “One Last Time” is one of the most unexpectedly moving songs in the show. Washington is committing one of the most important and selfless acts in American history by stepping aside. Yet there’s a real sense of sadness as the cast chants “George Washington’s going hooo-ooo-ooome.”

13. Non-Stop

“Non-Stop” is an extremely atypical choice for an Act-ender. Hamilton could have just as easily chosen to wrap up Act One with the rebels’ victory over Great Britain. Instead it takes a moment to process that then deftly sets up the rest of its story with “Non-Stop,” which is simply a song about Hamilton’s insane work ethic. The key to the track’s success is how relentless it is, as if it were trying to keep up with and mimic the title character’s pace. Then there are all the usual exciting Act-ending reprisals and recurring motifs to boot.

12. Say No To This

Just as was the case in Hamilton’s life, Maria Reynolds has only a brief role in the show, but her influence casts quite a long shadow. “Say No To This” is a real showcase for both Miranda and Maria actress Jasmine Cephas Jones. This is a devastatingly catchy jazzy number about marital infidelity…. as all songs about marital infidelity should be.

11. Alexander Hamilton

“How does a bastard, orphan, son of a whore / And a Scotsman, dropped in the middle of a forgotten spot / In the Caribbean by providence impoverished / In squalor, grow up to be a hero and a scholar?” our narrator Aaron Burr asks in Hamilton’s superb opening number. A play with so many moving parts, and such a high-concept needs an indelible opening track to convince audiences that the madness that is about to follow is worth waiting for. “Alexander Hamilton” is more than up to the task. This is an exhilarating starter that introduces its audience to all the important characters, themes, and sounds of the show. It also has its lead character spell out his full name in a rap, which somehow ends up being awesome and endearing rather than corny.

10. Wait for It

Just like the rest of us, Burr is the main character of his own story. And the show allows him to tell that story in songs like “Wait For It.” “Wait For It” is an exciting, downright explosive bit of songwriting. It’s every bit the “I want” song for Burr that “My Shot” is to Hamilton. And just like Burr and Hamilton are two sides of the same coin, so too are these two songs. Burr is alone once again in this powerful number. And he uses that privacy as an excuse to loudly… LOUDLY exclaim his modus operandi. He comes from a similar background as Hamilton and he wants mostly the same things as Hamilton. The difference between the two of them is that Burr is willing to wait for it all.

9. The Room Where it Happens

Bless this musical for having a song as brilliant as “The Room Where it Happens” only just being able to crack the top 10. There are hundreds of musicals in which “The Room Where it Happens” would be far and away the standout number. For Hamilton, it’s ninth. “The Room Where It Happens” is another example of the show taking a seemingly bland topic (backroom deal-making) and turning it into something transcendently entertaining for its audience and something transcendently illustrative for its characters. This is the song where the borders between Aaron Burr: Narrator and Aaron Burr: Vengeance-Seeker come down. Burr starts off as a patient observer of what kind of nefarious negotiations go into the building of a country before his frustration slowly builds into the recognition that he needs to be in the room where it happens.

8. Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story

Truly there is no more fitting ending to Hamilton than “Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story.” At its core, this is a play not only about legacy but about the fungible nature of legacy. Alexander Hamilton is gone and we know his story lives on. But who will tell that story? Like any good closing number, “Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story” knows the importance of bringing back many of the play’s core concepts and characters. And none of those are more important than Eliza’s assertion that she is ready “to write herself back into the narrative.” In the end, it’s not the revolutions or the pamphlets but the love. And that’s how one finds oneself in the absurd position of crying over the guy on the $10 bill.

7. What’d I Miss?

Lin-Manuel Miranda has described Thomas Jefferson as the show’s Bugs Bunny. Nowhere is that more apparent than in the ludicrously jaunty track that opens up Hamilton’s Act Two. There might not be a more joyful or outright hilarious three minutes in any of the soundtrack’s 46 songs. After several years spent living it up in France, Daveed Diggs’s TJ returns to the United States. The rest of his fellow revolutionaries have moved on to R&B and rap, but Jefferson is still stuck in full on jazz mode. “What’d I Miss” serves as the perfect introduction to a crucial character and the themes of the show’s second half.

6. The World Was Wide Enough

If “Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story” is designed to make the audience cry, then “The World Was Wide Enough” exists to make them gasp. This penultimate song is a truly stunning piece of work. This is a sprawling performance that brings back “The 10 Duel Commandments” in expected yet still emotional fashion. Then at the play’s climactic moment, it cuts out the music entirely to make room for Hamilton’s internal monologue – his one last ride through all the pages he won’t write. Finally it covers the grim aftermath of Burr and Hamilton’s duel as the survivor grapples with what he has done. There is a lot packed into these five minutes of song and each moment is more compelling than the last.

5. You’ll Be Back

If absolutely nothing else in Hamilton worked – if the characterizations were off, if the costumes were too simple, if the “Founding Fathers rapping” concept couldn’t be executed – the play’s two and a half hours all still would have been worth it for this one, tremendously goofy song. King George III (portrayed by Jonathan Groff in the original Broadway production) pops up three times throughout the show to deliver pointed little reminders to the American colonists about how good they used to have it. The first time around is by far the best, in large part because it’s so charmingly unexpected and weird. By the time King George III gets to the “da-da-da” section of his breakup song with America, it’s hard to imagine anyone resisting the song… or the show’s charms.

4. My Shot

While “You’ll Be Back” may go down as the most enduring karaoke song from Hamilton, “My Shot” is almost certainly the play’s most recognizable and iconic tune. Every musical needs an “I want” song in which its lead articulates what they want out of this whole endeavor. Rarely are those “I wants” as passionate and thrilling as “My Shot.” This was reportedly the song that Miranda took the longest to write and it’s clear now to see why. Not only is “My Shot” lyrically and musically intricate, but it does the majority of play’s heavy lifting in establishing Hamilton as a character. Just about everything we need to know about Alexander Hamilton and what drives him is introduced here. And the work put into “My Shot” makes all of its recurring themes and concepts hit so much harder in the songs to come.

3. Yorktown (The World Turned Upside Down)

In many ways, “Yorktown” benefits from the precedent that earlier songs like “My Shot” established. This is a song that puts energetic renditions of previous lines like “I’m not throwing away my shot” and “I imagine death so much it feels like a memory” to grand use. But for as much as “Yorktown” deftly invokes Hamilton’s past, what makes this song truly special is how solely focused it is on the present. To put it quite simply: “Yorktown” goes hard. It is fast, harsh, chaotic, and thrilling. This is the song that captures the moment that American troops defeated the British empire and “the world turned upside down.” It’s to the song’s immense credit that the music and lyrics capture the enormity of the moment. Also, there’s “stealing the show” and then there’s what Hercules Mulligan (Okieriete Onaodowan) does here in “Yorktown.” We’re in the shit now, and Hercules is loving it.

2. Helpless

“Helpless” might be pound for pound the best musical moment in all of Hamilton. It’s a simple, seemingly effortless love song that, even removed from the context of the show, would sound beautiful coming out of anyone’s car radio on a lovely summer day. Within the context of the show, it’s even better. It acts as a rare moment of celebration for all the characters involved before the Revolutionary War really gets churning and before a young America needs capable young Americans to guide it. What makes “Helpless” truly great, however, is the song that follows it…

1. Satisfied

Wait, wait… why is Angelica saying “rewind?” Why do we need to rewind? We had such a lovely night! The transition between “Helpless” and “Satisfied” is Hamilton’s greatest magic trick. The former presents a night of unambiguous love and celebration. Then the latter arrives to teach us that there is no such thing as “unambiguous” in Hamilton. In a truly remarkable performance, Angelica Schuyler (Renée Elise Goldsberry) teaches us what really happened the night Hamilton met the Schuyler sisters. Angelica will never be satisfied, and it’s because she’s “a girl in a world in which (her) only job is to marry rich.” Hamilton and Eliza’s story is a love story. But it’s also a story of Angelica’s loss. “Satisfied” imbues the musical with a sense of subtle melancholy that it never quite shakes through to the very end. “Satisfied” is the emotional lynchpin of Hamilton, and as such also its very best song.

The post Hamilton: Ranking Every Song from the Soundtrack appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/2ZFRzyW

#aion-rsa #Den of Geek

1 note · View note

invitedeath · 5 years

Photo

SEPHIROTH — relationship & plotter call.

hello lovely isolians! a new year means new plots and ideas, hence why i’m reposting this mammoth of a plotter once again!

so liking this post means that you are 100% down with interacting with me in some fashion! ways this might happen may be... → me sending you im’s / tumblr asks to plot or chat! i can be quite a talkative person as a forewarning, as i love discussing rp things as well as getting to know my rp partner! → if we are already friends on discord or twitter, i might message you that way to ask you about plots or ideas! → exchanging ask memes / meme day things that might be a bit more personal than a general sentence meme → possible random starters or musings dedicated to your muse, sometimes i get sudden inspiration for these things! → general tomfoolery and shenanigans in character ( and ooc if you like )

you can contact me via the im system here, by the /ask feature or you can ask for my discord/twitter if you prefer those. just let me know.

FRIENDS.

↪ honestly friendships aren’t typically on the agenda for him. he is arrogant beyond belief and considers everyone to be weaker than him or to some degree unworthy of his time or energy. he really does not have any interest emotionally in anyone besides himself, instead he is far more likely to use and discard people when they are no longer needed.

↪ however! i am down to... vague villain-alliance type deals with fellow power players here. he wont consider your muse a friend, but rather a pawn or even a means to an end, that end being his goal of generally using this island for his means, apologies. preferably the intellectual, over-powered, edgy types will probably gravitate towards him more, but i’m willing to throw anything at the wall to see what sticks. he’s not a nice guy, by any means, but it would be interesting to see how he has to play the game here to his advantage until he regains powers.

↪ there are some cases where he might engage in conversation with non-villain types and these would likely be far more dialogue-heavy threads including metaphorical topics or debates. the conversations of life, death, mortality, good vs evil, frailty of existence, legacy, power and corruption, calamities, birthright and betrayal are just some of the topics possible to arise in discussion. that being said, whilst these topics would be of interest to him, the character themselves must meet his standard of what he considers worthy of his time eg. those just willing to argue with him will bore him whereas someone curious to his nature might be treated to an actual conversation

↪ warriors, outcasts, villains, intellectuals, fellow puppet-master type villains especially, those he ‘befriended’ in past events, perhaps even neighbours to his house would all be likely connections. friends of those he has worked alongside or met, or those wishing to seek great power and know of his existence might seek him out also, but yes... ““““friends”“““ is a very difficult term for him.

→ his most recent developments see him as a far more casual version of his canon self, over a year of living as close to a “domestic life” as possible have meant that whilst he is aloof and cold, he is also far more likely to be out and about, buying wine at some creepy gas station at 4:30am for example. he chats when he’s in the mood and might even stick around to cause some chaos for the sake of boredom eating him alive. so whilst he is still very much a dangerous inhabitant here in spirale, sephiroth is currently Domesticated somewhat as he buys his time... for something...

ENEMIES.

↪ heroes of all shapes and sizes might feel threatened by the ominous presence of a monster who seems inclined to side with chaos as opposed to peace. he’s not outright starting fires here but he is present in the more morbid moments of isolian discourse, an omen of death lingering on the sideline. he has his plans and he may just mock you with them, but in general since he does and WILL cut down npcs ( or players ) alike, he makes for the perfect villain. BE WARY he has a few unlocked powers and knows the island well. fighting him would not guarantee your victory.

↪ he has traumas. plenty of them. some of them originate from white labs and white coats, meaning he might just view you as an enemy if you’re a scientist or someone who dabbles in human experimentation. his reasons are his own, but let’s just say that if you consider him a good candidate for poking and prodding with scientific equipment, you may just lose an arm.

↪ i LOVE fight threads especially really gritty, bloody types. i would prefer to plot these out so we know what’s going on beforehand, but feel free to develop these with me honestly i love a good old classic villain hero showdown. i determine winners based on the powers unlocked or a random generator. i don’t want to win every fight, but i also don’t want to unrealistically lose unless the odds are 50/50. i only write fights that both you and i are comfortable with ending!

↪ be a human. that’s it, you’re officially the enemy. a cocky, arrogant, interfering one would be oh so annoying. he wont attack because you’re a human, exactly... but the attitude that goes with one. considering yourself the top of the food chain, for example, might just end up being the defining reason for you own self becoming the meal.

→ police/law enforcers/general crime stoppers might try and get involved when they see him stabbing someone with that great big sword of his. typically he’ll turn the sword on them too, but if you’re interesting enough, or maybe aren’t as pure as you seem, he may just put it down long enough to chat. typically though you will get stabbed. sorry.

LOVERS.

↪ for the last year i’ve pretty much tried to stay away from developing anything too romantic. besides one sort of amusing game he has with a character currently in the group ( lanque bombyx ), sephiroth has avoided love or relationships or even flirting really. that being said, once he has ranked up and my development for this current “arc” of his character in isola comes to a close, i will be opening him up more for shipping potential!

however for the meantime...

MISC.

↪ pawns and such would be a fun dynamic later. his general presence is pretty terrifying, so it wouldn’t be a stretch if you have an appropriate muse for them to be fearful enough to carry out some little tasks for him. this might be more common later on, but i’m down to discussion for it currently!

↪ places you may find him can include: ↪ near his residence ( personal housing; castle in the mistwood ) ↪ fibonacci ward ( levels 3 and 4 especially due to the museums and things. but also the lowest levels, he tends to wander around there as if searching for something... feel free to try and figure out what it is ) ↪ cotes ward ( perhaps wandering by the castle when there aren’t people there, reading alone there or writing is also very likely. ) ↪ golden ward ( the university if only to borrow books from the library, he can read there for days at a time without sleep or food. he reads all kinds of things, both fiction and non fiction. ) ↪ archimedes ward ( pretty much everywhere in this ward, it’s my favourite. he enjoys music and art sometimes. hit me with that biblical shit. ) ↪ the mistwood ( 100% down to be that cryptic creature that leads you from your path to your likely doom ) ↪ the city of yesteryear ( typically the underground areas, just investigating really. any strange occurrences would likely draw him there as would any presence of a strong power. ) ↪ atop skyscrapers, looming at the ‘edge’ of the world we can currently explore, typically more active at night, perhaps at the scene of a murder / attack ( plotted ), if he’s feeling extra ballsy he might be found in a bar but its very rare. very VERY rare, wandering broken buildings, invading scientific facilities or buildings. he’s not going to be found in busy, socially strained areas basically.

↪ i’m down for any ideas you might have too for plots so feel free to just message me if nothing here caters!

STATS PAGE | APPLICATION | PLOTTING PAGE

#isola plotting call #「 LIFESTREAM ; OUT OF CHARACTER 」#long post

6 notes · View notes

writerlyhabits · 6 years

Note

7 and 63 for the Tenth Doctor please!

I know this took me forever, but can I just say that I actually had a lot of fun with this?? Holy cow, most of my time was spent thinking of how to do it, but once I had an idea I took off!! (thanks to my roomate, she kept reminding me to write for you guys😅) Anyway, a bit of fluff, bit of alien invasion, and some sweet moments with the Doctor. Thanks anon!!!♥️♥️

7.“Is that blood?” “No?” “That’s not a question you’re supposed to answer with another question.”

63.“Only a fool would fall in love with someone as deadly as me.”

“The Doctor in an antique shop … you’re finally where you belong,” you giggled playfully.

“Oi, watch it!” You continued to giggle at him, earning a half smile, half pout from the tall man as he continued examining the objects on display. Donna had insisted on dropping by at home for a bit so she could see her Grand-dad and catch him up on their latest adventures. And of course, when they walked through town and happened upon an antique shop, who wouldn’t want to drag a group of time-travelers in there?

“It’s so strange to see these all old and rusted now,” you sighed as you picked up an old camera. “Remember the one we got in 1903?” The Doctor beamed at you.

“Oh, how could I forget!” He came up very close behind you to look over your shoulder at the device in your hands. “We took some lovely photos. I know for a fact I took a nice one of you in that short blue skirt, that sure turned heads. You were being splashed by a wave at that little beach we found,” he grinned down at you.

“That’s because you failed to tell me it was there! I was busy entertaining you, looking at that damn camera, I didn’t even see it coming!”

“Maybe cause I did that on purpose … You’re cute when you’re surprised.” You turned away to examine the camera because there was definitely a pink haze across your cheeks, and you didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of seeing it. “Well, that and the fact that I had to get back at you for throwing me under the bus at lunch.” You burst into laughter, the Doctor joining you.

“Alright you two, stop your flirtin’ let’s get a move on,” Donna smiled, earning a chuckle from Wilfred, as she beckoned for the two of you to follow her out the door of the little shop. Glancing at each other, you set the camera down and did as you were told.

Walking down the street beside the Doctor, the other two distracted in their own conversation, he nudged you with his shoulder. “You’re awfully quiet, you alright?”

“Perfect actually, I like having a relaxing afternoon, I don’t get much of those following you around the universe,” you mused.

“I wouldn’t speak too soon, you might just jinx that relaxing afternoon of yours.” Just then as you walked past a little alley, you heard a scream. Nobody else seemed to notice it, and the Doctor was quick on his feet, lurching into action. As Donna and Wilfred had disappeared into another shop, the two of you ran to investigate, happening upon a pool of deep red—almost purple—liquid.

“Is … is that blood?” you asked him as he approached it.

“No?” he answered hesitantly.

“That’s not a question you’re supposed to answer with another question.”

“Well it could be many things,” the Doctor explained, pulling out his brainy specs and his sonic screwdriver. You waited anxiously as he examined the substance, hoping that he wouldn’t try and lick it, as he was apparently prone to do. He stood back up, seeming to have come to a conclusion, so you prompted him again.

“So mister perceptive, is it blood?” He looked at you with the faintest trace of a smile.

“Nah love, only the usual,” the alien told you, trying his very best to keep his excited grin contained.

“The usual? Oh, do explain Doctor.”

“Oh you know, something alien, a little ominous … probably dangerous,” he smirked at you, a look that you thought made him look very handsome. Quite the wrong time to be having those kinds of thoughts though, isn’t it?

“Well, that can only add up to an adventure.”

“I told you that you jinxed your relaxing afternoon.”

“We both know this is going to be more fun,” you smiled. The Doctor unashamedly allowed himself to grin from ear to ear.

“Oh we were made for each other,” he claimed excitedly as he, rather abruptly, planted a kiss on your cheek. Before you had any time to question his affection let alone process it, he had grabbed your hand and took off, you doing your best to keep up with his long legs.

Clue after clue, strange event after another, you were following close behind the Doctor as he approached an old building you believed would lead you to the culprit. Sure enough, the two of you happened upon a group of pig-looking aliens, the Doctor releasing your hand only to put his in the air in response to the many weapons that were being pointed at you.

There was talk of the Shadow Proclamation, which you still didn’t quite understand, and spreading the weird alien goo all over Cardiff, but the creatures just roared with laughter. You noticed out of the corner of your eye that one was taking aim at the Doctor and you panicked. “No you don’t,” you muttered, reaching down beside you to throw a crystal looking thing in its direction. You managed to knock the blaster out of its hand, the Doctor making an impressed noise that was just barely audible. However, in a flash one of them grabbed you, turning you to face the Doctor and held yet another blaster to your head.

“Okay, so that was a bad idea,” you murmured sheepishly, “It was a good shot though, didn’t expect that.” The Doctor gave you a look telling you to be quiet, and he continued to negotiate.

“Alright look, let her go, and we can sort this out like civilized adults, right?” The one who seemed to be in charge of the lot gave another chuckle.

“No, I’ll tell you exactly how this is going to go; you’re going to hand over what you’ve taken from us, or we’ll blow her brains out. Now you wouldn’t risk the love of your life now would you?” The Doctors expression became somewhat intimidating, but you could see a sad look in his eyes.

“Only a fool would fall in love with someone as deadly as me.”

“We don’t have to go calling names, that’s not nice,” you murmured half-heartedly as the blaster was pressed more firmly against your head. You realized what you said, cringing, hoping desperately that he hadn’t heard you.

His expression changed as fast as a flash of lightning, his eyes growing wide as he turned his attention back to you. Well … he definitely heard you.

“Right, well … We’re going to talk about this later,” he stated firmly, though looking quite flustered. You looked away sheepishly and let him continue with the pig-people. “Look, I’m only going to give you one more chance, that’s all you get; let her go and leave this planet alone, or suffer your own consequences.”

There was a moment of silence, the head pig tapping his … fingers … against the desk he hid behind, contemplating.

“And is your little pet worried about your intentions?”

“Actually, quite the contrary,” you voiced. “I’m doing fine, just a bit worried about your fate because let me tell you, when the Doctor offers you a second chance you should take it, otherwise … well, let’s just say the alternative isn’t exactly a treat.” The pigman only laughed again. Seriously, these guys had to be delusional, nothing was getting through their thick pig skulls.

“Then why don’t we find out what exactly the Doctor has in store for us.” With that, he flipped open a glass case and pushed down on the trigger to release his master plan. You were harshly shoved back towards the Doctor, who caught you in his arms.

“Sorry about that, I didn’t exactly think their master plan could just be activated by pushing a button,” you explained, watching what was unfolding in front of you. The leader went to push another button, the Doctor murmuring an “I wouldn’t do that” to no avail, causing some sort of electrical force field to short-circuit and hold all the pig men where they were. The Doctor stood to his full height and looked at them all.

“See, the thing about this little device I’ve taken from you is not that it was gonna stop you,” he started, pulling a tangled ball of wires out of his pocket, and the head pig’s eyes got wide. “All I’ve done is mess with your controls. Which means for us, my dear,” he looked down at you and grabbed your hand, “is that we should run!”

The aliens yelled as you left them behind you, stuck by their own doing. You and the Doctor weaved in and out of the halls, bursting through the doors of the building, and sprinted out to the field in front of you. The building exploded, the blast sending you and the Doctor into the grass.

You picked your head up and looked behind you, seeing nothing but rubble, the Doctor standing up and offering you a hand. Taking it, you smiled at him and asked: “So let me guess, your bunch of wires messed up their machine so much that instead of blowing up London, it was like a self-destruct?”

“What did you mean when you said I shouldn’t call names?” You hadn’t been expecting that question. Usually, it annoyed you when he ignored your questions, but now that it was the other way around you had figured that maybe he would have at least waited a bit.

“I’m not gonna get an answer to my question am I?” you tried.

“No, because you already know the answer; now what did you mean?” he snapped. Not angrily, more confused if anything, but it still wasn’t a conversation you’d planned on having.

“Oh use your head Doctor, you know what you said, there’s only one thing I could’ve meant by that.” You started to walk away from him, wanting more than anything for Wilfred and Donna to show up and save you. He grabbed your wrist before you got too far and pulled you back towards him. He stood very close, looking at you with so much emotion you didn’t even know how to gauge a response. Luckily, you didn’t have to.

Before you could even think of something to say he had crashed his lips into yours, which told you exactly how he felt, and that was an emotion you knew how to respond to. He moved his hands to hold your waist gently, and your body reacted immediately, grabbing his tie and pulling him down closer to you. His mouth moved this way and that, kissing you from a handful of different angles as you draped your arms behind his neck and he held you close.

When the call for air became incessant, he rested his forehead against yours, never relinquishing his hold on you. When the both of you opened your eyes to look at each other, you were reduced to nothing but giggles.

“Somehow all of this just makes sense,” you murmured contentedly.

“Mm? And why’s that?”

“You’ve always got aliens and explosions in your wake. I don’t know, it’s just very … you.” He was grinning from ear to ear, the soft look in his eyes being replaced very quickly by his usual, playful, eager one.

“Speaking of aliens and explosions, as sweet as this is,” he paused, leaning in to steal another kiss from you, “we should probably go find Donna and tell her what’s happened, make sure she’s alright.” You moved to do just that, but the Doctor kept you close for one more kiss. Satisfied for the time being, he released you, his hand falling into yours, and the two of you made your way back onto the street where you had left the rest of your party. Donna, of course, had missed everything. Her and Wilfred had been in and out of shops and had been testing out noise-canceling headphones when the explosion had gone off.

“And the both of you didn’t even realize we were gone?” you asked, not knowing whether to be amused or offended. Donna looked at her grand-dad guiltily, following his gaze when he nodded toward you and the Doctor. Seeing a hand around your waist for the first time since your little reunion, she beamed.

“Well, I’ve gotta be completely honest with you, after seeing the two of ya in the antique store we wanted to see if, maybe if we left you alone, that something’ might happen,” Wilfred explained, nodding towards the hand on your waist. As if realizing his own actions the Doctor was quick to retract his hand, a blush coming to his cheeks. It was kind of cute if you were honest, you’d never seen the Doctor blush.

“And judgin’ by lover-boy here, I’d say we were right!” Donna laughed, giving her grand-dad a very proud high-five. The tall man beside you rolled his eyes.

“Okay, if the two of you are done then, I’m headed back to the TARDIS.” He turned on his heel and walked out of the shop. He grinned to himself when he heard the door open again, and saw you appear out of the corner of his eye.

“I can’t believe them,” you sighed, finding your spot by his side again. “From Donna I expected, but Wilfred?” The Doctor giggled.

“He’s certainly got a few tricks up his sleeve, always a surprise when he’s around.” The two of you laughed, and the Doctor put an arm around your shoulder as he made his way back to his blue box, placing a kiss on the top of your head.

#prompt request #anonymous request #request #my writing #Tenth Doctor #tenth doctor x reader #10th doctor #10th doctor x reader #doctor who #the doctor x reader #the doctor #I really like this one #like I'm shocked that I actually wrote that #its got a whole alien invasion and everything

522 notes · View notes

comicteaparty · 5 years

Text

November 18th-November 24th, 2019 CTP Archive

The archive for the Comic Tea Party week long chat that occurred from November 18th , 2019 to November 24th , 2019. The chat focused on Daemon by Akreampuff (Alyce Sarich).

Featured Comment:

Chat:

RebelVampire

COMIC TEA PARTY- WEEK LONG BOOK CLUB START!

Hello and welcome everyone to Comic Tea Party’s Week Long Book Club~! This week we’ll be focusing on Daemon by Akreampuff (Alyce Sarich)~! (https://tapas.io/series/Daemon-Akreampuff)

You are free to read and comment about the comic all week at your own pace, so stop on by whenever it suits your schedule! Remember, though, that while we allow constructive criticism, our focus is to have fun and appreciate the comic. Below you will find four questions to get you started on the discussion. However, a new question will be posted and pinned everyday (between 12:01AM and 6AM PDT), so keep checking back for more! You have until November 24th to tell us all your wonderful thoughts! With that established, let’s get going on the reading and the chatting!

QUESTION 1. What has been your favorite scene in the comic so far? What specifically did you like about it?

QUESTION 2. Who or what do you think caused the fire at Billie’s house? What do you think the motive was behind it, and can Billie even find the culprit? Even if Billie finds the culprit, what do you think will happen then?

mariah (rainy day dreams)

1. I'm not sure if it counts as a scene, but I really love the Zeke Magical Girl transformation joke page. It gave me a good chuckle. http://daemon.smackjeeves.com/comics/2603823/bonus-comic-zekes-alternate-transformation/ Besides that, I also really enjoyed the kind of world building, creation of the different worlds mythos section. I thought the dialogue and visuals in that section were really well done and communicated the ideas really clearly.

mariah (rainy day dreams)

2. At this point I'm kind of suspicious of everyone as the possible fire starter X') I feel like it probably wasn't Zeke, but I also wouldn't be surprised it he was revealed as the culprit later. He seems like a good boy, but I could also see him having done it if a higher up had ordered him to. I definitely think Satan had some hand in the fire happening in general though I don't think she personally set the fire. Generally I feel like the motive for the fire was to trigger Billie's transformation. Since the hybrids are supposed to be the key to fighting the angels, Satan stands to profit from having one more soldier. Especially since Billie has strong Chosen One vibes. But also, now I'm super suspicious of Jess since on the most recent page she has the daemon's protection sigil behind her door. http://daemon.smackjeeves.com/comics/2858373/page-147/ Either way, I think at some point (probably soon?) the culprit is going to come to light. I feel like that reveal is going to come along with some kind of good, dramatic betrayal, but I guess I'll just have to keep following to see! XD

RebelVampire

QUESTION 3. At the moment, who is your favorite character? What about that character earns them this favor?

QUESTION 4. What do you think happened to the daemon who disappeared to somewhere Zeke doesn’t know? How are they involved with events in the story, and how will this effect Billie’s opinion of daemon’s in the short and long term?

mariah (rainy day dreams)

3. I don't know if I have a favorite character yet, but Billie did score some big points for basically telling Satan the whole angels vs demons war is dumb. http://daemon.smackjeeves.com/comics/2791188/page-127 Part of me hopes that she end up fighting against both sides and forms some kind of Earth Defense Squad.

RebelVampire

QUESTION 5. What has been your favorite illustration in the comic so far? What specifically about it do you like?

QUESTION 6. What do you think the story has to stay about destiny and fate given Billie’s desire for one was somewhat fulfilled? How do you think Billie will balance her newfound destiny as a hybrid with her free choice to pursue a normal college life?

RebelVampire

1) My favorite scene right now at least is probably when Billie meets Satan. So many expectations thrown out the window, and I kind of like how gray Satan is. I couldn't really get a feel for what she was aiming at, and I could really gel with Billie's uncooperativeness. There was a good amount of do I trust her or not, and I like scenes like that that really keep you on your toes. Plus, I also like Satan's design. 2) I sincerely think it was either a) the missing daemon or b) In agreeance with @mariah (rainy day dreams) Jess. I'm especially leaning towards Jess right now, cause this whole situation screams betrayal to me. There was too much ominous warnings about humans sucking. As for motive, I also think it was to trigger Billie's transformation, cause like, Billie clearly needed some inspiration there. As for what will happen if Billie finds the culprit, probably go overboard trying to hurt them, get stopped by Zeke, and then cry and cry cause no amount of revenge brings people back from the dead. ;_;

3) My favorite character is definitely Zeke. I like I don't know whether I should trust Zeke or not. Not that I think he's done anything bad persay. But I think he's been brainwashed/biased towards daemons so much he'd turn a blind eye to awful shit they do. And I like that despite his seeming toughness, there is this underlying vulnerability to him where I feel like he gets easily taken advantage of. Long story short though, he has a lot of complicated and interesting dynamics that I like. 4) The daemon who disappeared is probably up to no good. Maybe they're some sort of spy for the angels and they left to report that whoops, it seems another hybrid has awoken. Either way, I am waiting for some sort of bombshell hear that vindicates Billie's opinion that daemon's can't be trusted and that she should convince the other hybrids of this as well.

5) My favorite illustrations are Billie's transformation/de-transformation scenes. Love the facial expressions in those moments, cause you can really feel Billie's pain. I also love just like the effects and how the transformation is shown in steps in a way. It makes the whole thing look really gruesome without needing to be super graphic. So even without Billie's expressions, I cringe everytime thinking how I would never want that to happen to me ever in a million years. 6) I feel like the story, at least so far, says that destiny isn't great when it's just handed to us. I really like the irony that, right before Billie finds out she has some grand destiny, she was complaining that she wanted it. But the story really turned that on its head immediately and showed us and Billie that nah, destiny can kind of suck and you're probably not gonna get a destiny you expect or want. And that at the end, we are dealt circumstances in life and have to make our own destiny. I feel like Billie is, down the road, gonna give up her pursuit of a normal college life. I feel like Billie is gonna discover that college is pointless if you don't actually have an aim with it, and will instead find new pursuits. Not necessarily with the daemon's, but new pursuits none-the-less. Although I kind of feel like she's gonna end the war first, but we'll cross that bridge later. XD

snuffysam

I really really like Billie. Like finding out you were born to be a soldier and are "special" among your peers may be comforting to some people, but completely rejecting it is a natural reaction too. Like sure, she doesn't have many friends, but that isn't enough to reject her humanity. And why would she want to fight in a war she just found out about? It's why I also really hope that Billie just keeps trying to stay on her path to a good college, even if she's pushed away. Like why should Satan get a say in her life?

Jess is pretty suspicious, especially with that symbol in her house, but on that same page I also see a bunch of moving boxes. Maybe this house used to belong to Zeke's partner or someone else aligned with the daemons?

mariah (rainy day dreams)

I second Rebel, Satan's design is great I'm looking forward to more of her. 5. I really liked the page that showed the goddess pulling her body apart and all the different worlds spilling out. I thought it was a super cool way to show the idea of multiverse creation. The De-transformafion page was also very cool. Like Rebel said, it was really effective at showing how painful switching between forms is.

RebelVampire

QUESTION 7. Which characters do you enjoy seeing interact the most? What about their dynamic interests you?

QUESTION 8. Who do you think Billie’s father is considering he was not unknown when Billie first arrived? Do you think Billie will meet him? If she does meet him, what do you think will happen? How will having a father in her life affect her given her mother is gone?

mariah (rainy day dreams)

7. I enjoyed watching the development of Billie and Zeke's relationship so far. I like seeing characters stuck together in less than great circumstances move past that and start to get along with each other. I'm looking forward to seeing how their relationship continues to develop.

snuffysam

Yeah I second mariah on that dynamic. Like, Zeke starts out kinda annoyed by Billie and Billie doesn't like the idea of following Zeke, but they have no choice but to move past that. And that leads to a lot of interesting interactions.

mariah (rainy day dreams)

8. I feel like Billie's dad is someone important. Honestly, I wouldn't be super surprised if he was like, the Apollyon or something. But I could also just see him being an influential warrior or something. Assuming he isn't dead, I figure he'll show up at some point. Or at least I hope he does. I feel like it's one thing to keep having female daemons and hybrids talk about the whole breeding program, but I for one really want to hear an actual participant answer for it. I feel like Billie would, rightfully so, have a lot of anger towards her father. I for sure don't see them having any kind of parent-child relationship the way Billie and her mom did, but honestly I don't imagine he really wants one given that he didn't stick around to be in her life up until this point. But yeah, if the two of them do end up meeting, I'm really looking forward to what I can only assume will be a good, drama filled, "I want answers!" time

RebelVampire

QUESTION 9. What sorts of art or story details have you noticed in the way the comic is crafted that you think deserves attention?

QUESTION 10. Why do you think the war between the angels and the daemons started? Do you think the hybrids can tip the balance? Also, what do you think the angels are like compared to the daemons? Lastly, is violence the only answer here?

RebelVampire

7) I am thirding the sentiment that I like seeing Billie and Zeke interact the most. I find their dynamic to be super intriguing, especially during the scene where Zeke completely bashes down Billie's biased view of how every hybrid's life was. I feel like we're going to see a lot more of that where they both challenge each other's world view, and I love when characters do that for each. 8) From the reaction, I can only assume Billie's dad is a high rank. Maybe the former Satan or something. But assuming he's alive, yes. I will weep if the two of them don't meet, cause that is so much drama potential. And I also picture it being like an unexpected meeting where someone is like "BTW BILLIE THIS YO DAD." But I really think it needs to happen, not just for story drama, but because I feel it'll be important to Billie's emotional development as a whole. Especially as she probably discovers her father is not super evil, but instead a lot like her. And I feel that's gonna give Billie lots of things to think about in regards to how she views everything again.

9) I really like the details paid towards power balances. I love this concept that the daemon's have super forms, but it comes at a cost and is super duper painful. I love when stories pay attention to make sure those sorts of things have actual consequences. So you don't have to pull a LOTR moment later and ask why they didn't just use the eagles use the super forms. 10) I feel like the war probably started due to a misunderstanding more than anything. Cause I feel when we meet angels, were gonna find out they view events as totally different than how daemon's see it. And probably it doesn't even matter how it started. It might be one of those things where its so old, nobody remembers. All they remember is grrr angry grrrr. I actually don't think the hybrids are gonna tip the balance that much tbh. Not to say they won't be effective for a time, but I think the angels will easily come up with a counter. What I do think the hybrids will provide is a different non-grrr angry grrr perspective. Where they can sit both parties down and slap sense into them for being stupid. And I think it has to be them since they are humans at the same time they're part daemon.

mariah (rainy day dreams)

10. I agree with Rebel for pretty much all of this X') I feel like it's like in the Great Divide episode of Avatar the with the two feuding clans where they both have slightly different stories for how the feud started but it was so long ago fighting is just tradition at this point. I don't see the hybrids tipping the favor so much as complicating things. Like, part of me does kind of hope Billie just rallies all the hybrids into a third faction but also I'm kind of hoping for angel hybrids. I feel like when we do finally meet angels they're going to just as complex and grey as the deamons are compared to the classic idea of what an angel is. I don't think it's too far of a reach for them to also have had the same hybrid idea. And I'm also kind of hopeful that there'll be some half-daemon half-angels XD that's probably just my inner 7-grade oc maker talking, but I think more types of hybrids generally speaking would be cool. I could totally see a twist where the war was actually sparked by a Romeo-Juliet style deamon-angel romance that's been covered up for thousands of years. I don't think that violence is the only solution and I definitely second the feeling that hybrids could actually be the key to opening up diplomacy. For the moment that seems like things are still too tense for talking so I'd imagine there will be more violence to come before the characters reach that point.

RebelVampire

QUESTION 11. What do you think are this particular comic’s strengths? What do you think makes this comic unique? Please elaborate.

QUESTION 12. Given what we find out about Zeke’s past history, what do you think life was like for some of the other hybrids? Do you think Billie will meet these other hybrids, and if so, how might that change her world view?

mariah (rainy day dreams)

11. I think the writing does a really good job at building suspense and tension. Like I said in one of my first responses, I'm super paranoid that any of these characters surrounding Billie could be about to stab her in the back.

RebelVampire

11) I'm gonna second Mariah a bit here. I think the comic really shines with suspense and how you really don't know any characters real intents. Like I want to trust Zeke and Satan and all the others. But I don't know if I should cause Billie's life has basically already shown to be 90% a lie in a lot of ways. But this creates a really tense read cause at any moment, whoops, maybe betrayal. 12) Honestly, I think most of the hybrids probably had a much shittier childhood than Billie. If not just for the fact being a single parent is hard and just frankly not everyone can do it. Although I'm sure there's at least one other hybrid who probably had a good childhood, maybe even a step family. And if such a hybrid exists, I think they could play a big role in showing Billie daemons aren't so bad. I do think Billie is inevitably going to meet them though, and find out that there's a lot of reasons to go around about why humans suck. And I think Billie will have to tackle some real world issues that there are worse issues out there than not having friends at school.

Q @CecilieQMT making WAYFINDERS

1. I liked Billie's transformation scene a lot. That pain felt real. I also quite like the explanations scenes; the ones that explain aspects of demon-angel politics or how the worlds work. That stuff is easy to mess up, but it works fine here, I think! 2. I think since Billie suspects Satan and her goons, it probably wasn't them. The culprit is whom you would least suspect, right? Perhaps it was Billie herself, accidentally? Or a third party we have yet to even meet? 3. Currently, I quite like Billie. She has some good reactions to the problems around her. Also like the blond lady, even though she's very over-the-top. She seems fun! 4. I'm not sure about this one, sorry. ^^' 5. I actually super liked the gag comic of Zeke's magical girl transformation.... but also I really liked Billie in the bathroom with the surprise from-above angle. Very fun! 6. I don't think Billie will get to do normal college life at all. I think she has been thrust on her hero's journey and that's what we're gonna see from now on. She won't have time to balance the two lives at all, is my prediction.

7. I mean, Satan is great to watch interact with anyone. She's so fun, but you sense there might be something hiding under the surface. I like her the best in relations of all the other characters. 8. Billie's dad was probably the former Satan, right? Or at least her former watch-daemon. There's gonna be some complicated feelings when she meets him (and she will meet him) for sure. I predict some yelling from Billie's side. 9. Billie's train of thought-passages makes a lot of sense to me and cements her uncertainty in all this. I hope that style will continue, because there's something lovely about reading the "I can't trust anyone" and knowing where that feeling comes from in Billie and how that affects her. 10. So, I was thinking, since this seems to anchor itself in the humans' myth... Is Lucifer, aka the first Satan, a big player here? They say "an angel started trouble", but what if that angel was Lucifer and what they did was turn sides or do like an angel genocide or something? I think both sides have hybrids and it's only a matter of time before we meet more. I think the demons have ulterior motives and the angels are just as human as the demons are; normal when they need to be, scary when they want to be. No. Violence is never the answer. Except in Lord of the Rings.

11. I think the world building is nice and thought out. We've seen "angels vs demons" before, but this comic has built some structure around that premise, which I think works nicely. 12. I think Zeke is right and Billie is one of the lucky ones. I can't imagine hybrids having easy lives. And if we look at, say, the blonde girl, who is probably a hybrid, she seems very untethered and possibly troubled. I think Billie will definitely meet more hybrids and I think they'll all have individual perspectives, which will be interesting to read about.

RebelVampire

QUESTION 13. What are you most looking forward to in the comic? Also, do you have any final thoughts to share overall?

QUESTION 14. Do you think Billie will find companionship and understanding in the human world, or was Satan right about her inevitably return to the daemons’ world? What events do you think will influence her choices? Do you think Billie can trust Satan?

RebelVampire

13) I am looking forward most to finding out who Billie's dad is. As I said earlier, that's gonna be some fun and interesting drama, as well as character growth moments for Billie. So I intend to thoroughly enjoy it when that happens. 14) I think Billie could find companionship among humans, but not right at this very second. I think there's a lot more character growth she has to go through, including returning to the daemons, before she is properly able to pursue any form of companionship. As for events, I think it's gonna be betrayal and the overall realization event Billie will have that she doesn't really have a concrete life direction any more. And thus she'll go on the journey that allows her most able to self discover her purpose in life. I think Billie can trust Satan in some regards, but not every regard. Like I trust Satan enough not to let Billie die, but I don't trust Satan to tell Billie the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

RebelVampire

COMIC TEA PARTY- WEEK LONG BOOK CLUB END!

Thank you everyone so much for reading and chatting about Daemon this week! Please also give a special thank you to Akreampuff (Alyce Sarich) for volunteering the comic and creating it! If you liked Daemon, make sure to continue to support it via some of the links below!

Read and Comment: https://tapas.io/series/Daemon-Akreampuff

Akreampuff’s Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/AkreampuffArt

Akreampuff’s Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/akreampuff

Akreampuff’s Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/au/shop/AkreampuffArt

Akreampuff’s Redbubble: https://www.redbubble.com/people/Akreampuff

Akreampuff’s Amazon Books: https://www.amazon.com/Alyce-Sarich/e/B07DH62T8X

Akreampuff’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/Akreampuff

#ctparchive #webcomics #comic #indie comics #comic chat #comic discussion #book club #bookclub #webcomic bookclub #webcomic book club #comic tea party #ctp #daemon #akreampuff #alyce sarich

2 notes · View notes

eponymous-rose · 6 years

Text

Best-Laid Plans...

We had a great arc-ending session last night, so I thought this might be a fun chance to share how I prep as a DM... and how things inevitably changed in the game itself!

(If you’re one of my players stumbling onto this, hi, and also thank you again for the amazing scotch. Please let me know you’ve found this account so I can be careful about what I give away in these posts in the future!)

Basically, the entire goofy premise of this arc was, “Hey, so bards have access to the spell Modify Memory. With carefully targeted concerts, a boy band could secretly be changing the fate of nations.”

This campaign’s set (mostly for my convenience in early-game worldbuilding) in CR’s Tal’Dorei campaign setting, during the year gap that happened toward the end of their first campaign. The party started in Kymal, since it was a good-sized city in the middle of everything that hadn’t really been explored too much in the show.

As the campaign begins, the monster-hunting guild from the show, the Slayers’ Take, are expanding their operation into Tal’Dorei’s Dividing Plains (in large part because Vanessa wanted to get Lyra out of Vasselheim for a while), and their first round of advertising for potential new recruits has pulled in a pretty good crowd. Under Lyra’s eccentric delegation, the players get grouped together for a job that involves checking out the mysterious disappearance of a bookish elf in town, under the assumption that some monstrous beastie has devoured him, and that beastie should probably be hunted. Instead, they find a lot of deep-dive research into the Feywild, along with a weird portal in his basement that takes them to a strange pocket plane where they fight some sentient plants and talk to an extremely creepy entity that offers them protection from scrying eyes in exchange for an ill-defined favor.

After getting jumped by a group of kobolds (one of whom they sort of accidentally befriend via cookie-related bribes and implications that they may be some sort of deity), the group decides that avoiding whatever’s trying to take them out is a good call. They head back to report a modified version of their findings to Lyra... and find her standing over the corpses of all the other Slayer's Take hopefuls, badly shaken and completely baffled as to why she'd do such a thing. They opt to hang out and wait for the authorities to take her into custody, which results in a bit of confusion and a night spent in jail with their kobold pal.

The city watch eventually opts to let them go, but offer the party a job joining their security detail for the city's charismatic but not-terribly-effectual margrave as he does a meet-and-greet tour of the local casinos. The group agrees to meet at the margrave's mansion that evening to help out... and they promptly spend the day smuggling illegal materials across the city wall for a friendly local tavern owner. As you do.

The meet-and-greet is fairly uneventful until the margrave enters one of the largest casinos in town (the two largest are, of course, fronts run by the Clasp and the Myriad crime organizations, respectively), at which point the party's recollection of events starts to diverge. The druid and the fighter see mysterious black-robed figures attacking from an upper balcony of the building, and are about to chase after them... when the other two members of their party suddenly collapse, unconscious and bleeding. The sorcerer and the ranger saw something very different. After succeeding at a wisdom saving throw that the others failed (the results of which were kept secret from the rest of the party), they managed to shake off the effects of a Modify Memory spell and see what really happened: a single black-robed figure stalking up to the margrave and shooting him in the head with a crossbow. They attempt to engage the attacker and are quickly cut down by the attacker's allies.

In the chaos, the party are joined by one surviving hopeful of that first night at the Slayer's Take, who'd disappeared before the carnage started: a human woman named Zo, who manages to smuggle them out through a passage underneath the casino. Once the injured party members are patched up, she reveals that she's a Spireling working for the Clasp. She's very careful to dance around most of the group's questions, and is very curious as to how they survived the attack on the Slayers' Take, which the group manages to avoid answering as well. It's all very tense, but eventually Zo strongly requests that they venture into the nearby mountains to find a powerful and ancient creature that once pledged its aid to the Clasp. When they hesitate, she casually threatens their families. Thieves' guilds, man. Often helpful, but definitely not nice. She smuggles them out of town through the Clasp's web of sewers and tunnels.

The group does a little meandering outside the city, makes some friends, has a good old-fashioned dungeon crawl, helps patch things up a bit between a devil and a deva (the most awkward of ex-girlfriends)... and everyone occasionally gets pulled into the Feywild for tests and trials, apparently being administered by an underling (a deeply sarcastic satyr woman who delights in her surreal brand of middle management) of the same entity that contacted them way back at the beginning. There's a lot of near-death experiences, an attempt at befriending a blink dog, and everyone winds up assigned a particular symbol. It's all very mysterious, but the party's getting stronger as a result.

Eventually, the group finds the Clasp's protector, a bronze dragon, killed with a dire warning written in its blood on the wall behind it.

They very nearly decide to make a run for it, but after some deliberation, they instead sneak back into Kymal to find that things are... pretty much normal, for the most part. According to the inhabitants of the city, the margrave's fine and dandy after the assassination "attempt". The party tries to head back to chat with their pal the tavern owner, but find his tavern abandoned and in the middle of being robbed... by a group including their old kobold buddy. The kobold cheerfully switches allegiances to their side (the fighter has a bag of infinite cookies), helps them chase off the robbers, and introduces them to a fastidious street-cleaner friend who witnessed a body being removed from the casino during the assassination "attempt".

The party finally decides to go poking around the margrave's mansion, where they run into their tavern-owner friend who seems to be doing the same thing. He admits that his relationship with the Clasp may be a little more friendly than he first implied, and says he's sniffing around on Zo's orders. He's startled when an ordinary-looking toolshed appears, covered in chains. The party realizes that the fighter's symbol from their Feywild excursion is a link of chains, and as soon as he touches the chains, they vanish.

The party, plus the tavern owner (a gold dragonborn monk from Marquet named Orshi), wind up in a strange sequence of puzzle rooms running under the margrave's mansion that generally require them to leverage the symbols they were given in the Feywild to solve - for instance, the solution to one puzzle can only be written in a book by the druid (whose symbol was a feather) using a feather quill, and the ranger (whose symbol was an eye) is the only one who can see the correct path through a maze.

And right in the middle of all those puzzles is where we left off!

So here's my preparation:

I had a set of things that needed to happen in this session:

Finish up the puzzles with something that leveraged the symbol of a glowing star.

Reveal that the Fantasy Backstreet Boys (mentioned in passing at least once per session as passing through Kymal on tour) are an illusion created by a powerful group of magic-users to get them access to (and the ability to modify the memories of and/or get away with assassinating) important figures in towns across the Dividing Plains and beyond.

Answer some of the party's extant questions, because they'd been in the dark long enough and deserved some closure.

I set it up with seven brief (1-2--page) documents, laid out as follows:

Recap of the previous sessions (we hadn't played in a few months).

Puzzle rooms! The first puzzle was a play on a moving tile puzzle from an Uncharted game, where the hints leading to the correct path could only be found by having the sorcerer (with the symbol of a glowing star) be the one to light the room up. I decided at the last minute to be a jerk and also do the classic countdown puzzle room, where the doors lock behind the party and an extremely ominous countdown from 20 starts, which can be reset by pressing a button in the middle of the room (the idea being that the party's own paranoia will keep them mashing that button while they search every inch of the room... but it turns out that the countdown is just until the door opens and means nothing more; it's a great test to see how convinced your players are that character death is a possibility, because if they hesitate a lot you're probably pushing it too hard, but if they don't hesitate at all to let the countdown run out they're probably feeling a bit immortal). These puzzles are being manufactured by an entity with a vested interest in just plain annoying the group, so it seemed like a good call.

Description of the final cavern, where they see a single yuan-ti in a blue robe practicing his illusion of the Fantasy Backstreet Boys while on a conference call with his boss (whose voice is the only thing present, coming from the form of a floating silver orb). This one took some rehearsal, because I had the ominous dramatic background music slowly fading out to "Backstreet's Back" to time up with the reveal. That was a real “what is my life right now” moment.

Two documents with different dialogue possibilities based on whether the group is detected or manages to stay stealthy (if they stealth, they can potentially overhear a long conversation between this yuan-ti and his boss; if their approach is noted, they're likely to be attacked on sight).

Stat blocks for the yuan-ti (essentially a warlock) and two clockwork snakes he keeps under the stage, as well as a stat block for Orshi, who's likely to be fighting alongside the party to help make up for the extremely lopsided CR of these enemies. In addition, the room has some fairly poorly built security features in the form of statues scattered around the room - at initiative count 20, roll a d12 to pick the effect the statues have on everything in a 10-foot radius. Ideally, they're supposed to have negative effects (the yuan-ti is smart enough to do anything to avoid getting caught in those radii) like a stun, a brief application of the Confusion spell, sleep, etc., but they're malfunctioning and occasionally result in positive effects like a brief application of the Haste spell or a small pool of temporary hit points. Strategy-wise, Orshi will fight as long as the group does and will generally try to help them out where he can; the snakes are unintelligent and will often attack random enemies if surrounded instead of strategizing; and the yuan-ti is extremely smart and ruthless and will target one enemy until it's dead before moving on to the next.

The aftermath of the fight: in the middle of any looting (some fun potions and a store of trade bars of gold and silver that were being used to help bankroll this operation), Zo comes in through a hidden passageway with some of the Clasp's people. She reveals that she'd sent Orshi poking around the tool shed explicitly as a distraction so she could get her people into the margrave's mansion to poke around. They found some of the margrave's very confused staff, but no sign of the guy himself, and eventually stumbled across a secret passageway leading from his sleeping chambers down here. They'd come down ready for a fight (and if the party had delayed another day in starting this whole exploration, that fight would've happened without them), but they missed the excitement. Zo answers a lot of the party's questions (I have six or seven potential questions listed along with some point-form answers she'd give) and helps them piece together that it looks like this yuan-ti and his boss are part of a larger cult that's been pulling in mercenaries and ne'er-do-wells across the continent to quietly usurp the leadership of cities and towns for some unknown purpose possibly related to one of their snake gods. The Clasp sent Zo to the Slayer's Take to make sure they weren't trying to make a bid for power in the city (which, surprise, was Vanessa's alternative motivation), and she coincidentally got caught up in this mysterious cult's more permanent way of dealing with this upstart organization that could pose a threat to their plans. She apologizes for the earlier brute-force tactics in getting them to comply, arranges to meet Orshi at his tavern the next morning to figure out how to proceed, and invites the party to join that meeting as well. Orshi invites the party to stay at his tavern free of charge.

As they're leaving, the party are briefly pulled into the Feywild by their very excited middle-manager satyr friend, who explains that, given their performance, she's been authorized to answer some of their questions. I wrote up a series of potential questions and answers about their employer (some unknown but immensely powerful Fey creature seeking to extend their influence into the Prime Material plane - essentially, the entire party is getting a bit of a Pact of the Archfey warlock vibe), the satyr (a minor dignitary with the Seelie Court who got herself into potentially fatal trouble and had this mysterious employer to thank for pulling her out of that situation), and the place where they've been training (not actually the Feywild, but a pocket dimension made to look like it). If they ask about the elf whose disappearance started all this, she reveals that he was doing research into the Feywild, made contact with their employer, and they'd been working together to start bridging the planes, which resulted in the portal they'd stumbled into. The yuan-ti cult got wind of his research and had him killed, which accidentally drew the attention of the Slayer's Take, which got them killed (with Lyra - an extremely powerful wizard - framed via Modify Memory spell to wrap up the loose ends). Once the questioning's done, she congratulates them again, and we leave it there for the night.

I also write something up for the possibility that the party is defeated: they have a different Feywild encounter immediately, where a more subdued satyr tells them that they've been revived/healed and are currently prisoners of the yuan-ti. She assures them that their mutual employer will be looking out for them, answers some of their questions, then regretfully leaves them to their fate. Whereupon, as it turns out, Zo is about to spring her attack...

So that's the preparation I had for this week's session! Very linear, without a lot of branching paths, but I also had to be very sure about every faction's awareness, motivations, and willingness to share certain information, so it wound up being pretty involved. It also felt really contrived on paper to have these info-dumps, but I suspected it would feel more natural to the players given how badly they were looking for those answers.

And... here's what really went down!

The party solved both puzzles fairly quickly (which was a good indicator that they may be getting a bit complacent vis-a-vis potential character death, which is Good To Know for ominous reasons). The stealth check into the main chamber was only DC 13, with a group check (so all they needed was 3/5 members to succeed), but they failed hilariously with a couple of natural ones, so the yuan-ti was ready for them when they arrived. The Backstreet Boys reveal was very funny.

Before the yuan-ti could just straight-up attack them, though, the party started taunting him mercilessly. He had snakes for arms (as you do), so they started asking how he did a whole variety of everyday tasks, causing a bit of an existential crisis. They pointed out the statues and asked if he really felt like he had to build an audience for his pretend band. The druid started flirting with him aggressively, which he was kind of into? This whole back-and-forth was being yelled across a cavern, so there was a lot of "WHAT? WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY? Seriously, I missed it, say that again." and at one point a couple people just got really amused by the echoes off the chamber walls and started yelling random words, adding to the chaos. The yuan-ti's employer was just listening to all this in confusion, and when the yuan-ti turned to explain what was happening, the ranger took the moment of confusion to attack.

The battle was really heated, with the fighter nearly dying a couple of times (the yuan-ti latched onto him with Vampiric Touch and kept leeching his life), Orshi taking an impromptu nap, and the sorcerer getting viciously downed by the yuan-ti after she managed to hit him with a Witch Bolt. Eventually, though, the clockwork snakes were dismantled, the yuan-ti was surrounded and out of spell slots, and he was down to 1 HP and extremely desperate. I was about to have him attempt an escape by transforming into a snake, but the party instead demanded that he surrender. I had the newly healed sorcerer roll a Persuasion check... natural 20. He compliantly went down on his knees and raised his snake hands in surrender; he's definitely smart enough to know it's best to live to fight another day.

The party tried to interrogate him, but he generally ignored what they were saying in favor of being a creep (quietly cutting in while the sorcerer was speaking to ask her what it had felt like to be so close to death, if she enjoyed the feeling, if she'd like to feel that again). The druid, in dire wolf form, responded by licking the side of his head until his hair was thoroughly messed up and he was coated in drool. They didn't get much information from him, and the group eventually decided to knock him out again.

A big debate followed: the sorcerer thought it would be best to help clear things up if they took him prisoner, but the druid argued (via replies to Message, since she was still a dire wolf) that nobody in this city would be competent enough to hold him prisoner and that it would be best to kill him. Lots of discussion followed while the group split up to do some looting, and eventually Zo's name was brought up, and it was decided that it might be best to bring him to the Clasp.

It felt like way too much of a coincidence to have Zo pop up at that moment, even thought that’s what I had planned, so I let them explore the cavern for a while, coming up with some great loot here and there, but also missing some very powerful items with slightly-too-low investigation checks. The conversation turned to the yuan-ti and the burning question that occupies everyone's minds if they think about it too much: if his arms are snakes... what other parts of him are snakes? The debate came to a head (sorry) when the druid, in dire wolf form, decided to try to pull off his pants and find out. I had her roll a general Dexterity check because she was, you know, a dire wolf.

Natural 20.

Biggest laugh of the night: the look on my face as I tried to mentally work out the logistics for a giant wolf pulling someone's trousers off Extremely Well, followed by "Okay. So. You know the tablecloth trick?"

We all learned something about snake anatomy that day, and the new catch-phrase of our D&D group became "Sorry about your browser history, DM." After cry-laughing as a group for several minutes straight, I finally had Zo wade into this mess and start answering questions.

She was startled that they'd managed to keep the yuan-ti alive and contained (as was I, honestly, since that wasn't a possibility I'd planned for) and agreed to have the Clasp take him into custody. I am Extremely Delighted that this villain is alive. The group was very concerned about Lyra, and Zo agreed to pull some strings with the city's guard to get her released. The party brought up the death of the Clasp's protector dragon in the mountains, and Zo fell silent for half a minute, processing what that meant. Finally, they all agreed to meet up at Orshi's tavern the next day. Orshi offered to let them stay, whereupon they revealed that his place was kind of ransacked and they may have left a severed head on one of the shelves in his back room. As you do.

They were on their way back, had their interaction with the satyr, and managed to hit nearly every answer I'd prepared for, and we called it a night from there.

Next session: wrapping up this plot, downtime, and a little fleshing out of backstories while everyone paints minis!

#eponymous d&d tag #long text post

64 notes · View notes