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sopxhiea · 4 years

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Acrimony

Alfie Solomons X Reader

| Prompt

“stop trying to act like you’re not bleeding out in front of me! this is serious!”

The wooden walls were illuminated by the low light put in the corner of the room, it was neither dark or bright but just enough to get some reading done. The flowers were long gone, some of them had been pressed inside a book that was laying around in the office space and some had been simply discarded. The space didn’t smell as nice before, although the vanilla scent coming off of the candle resolved it just by a tad.

It had been a long day, it was barely Friday but she already felt like she needed a week of rest just to get through another day like this. Her feet were bruised, she had been walking around all day and the comfortable shoes weren’t so comfortable anymore, she would throw them away in the morning. That was, if she ever left the office. She had too much to do, it always got busy to a point she felt blurry all the time. Both her head and her vision were out of it today.

She had dealt with three immature men in the morning, getting sexist remarks because of her gender and the fact that she was younger than anyone else in the room. It didn’t bug her, she was used to that kind of treatment but what bothered her was the fact that they talked about her relationship with Alfie. She had worked hard for what she had and she didn’t want anyone saying she got where she is because of a man, she simply hadn’t. She also knew that the word had gotten around after that one time Alfie had taken her to a party and they’d danced, a little too intimate which would confirm the already existing suspicions. And it had certainly done that.

There was a pile of paperwork waiting for her, still undone because she’d been too busy all day and Joe hadn’t gotten around today, he was busy with his girlfriend and Y/N had let him go for the day, which had been a mistake. She leaned back on the comfy chair, trying to pause the moment by taking it all in but she had a headache and finding peace was never an option for her, not when a million thoughts ran through her mind each second of the day.

Out of every million thought she had, half of them were about Alfie. Sometimes she would replay the moments in her head, trying to ease the pressure for the day by knowing he was what she’d come home that night. There were also times where she’d just kiss him a lot that morning, wanting to savour the taste and the warmth he’d provide which would hopefully last a little longer than the last time they’d kissed. She remembered him visiting her office twice everyday for four months, simply because he wanted to see her and also because he would bake something, or buy something or make something for her and she’d welcome him with open arms.

She sighed, not hearing the backdoor open while she typed and wrote and annotated. Her hands were covered in ink and so was her white shirt but her maid was a sorcerer when it came to getting out stains so it’d be fine. There was a content smile on her lips that suddenly arose when she saw Alfie’s face, getting through the door with a loud thud. She shook her head, trying to digest the sight before her while he gave her an apologetic smile.

She wanted to punch him, to make sure he sat home all the time even if it meant that she needed to tie him onto a chair. He had fresh wounds all over his face, his tried eyes were even more blurry than usual. He wasn’t going to cry but he felt anger towards himself for letting it get to that point, it wasn’t supposed to go the way it did and now he had three blade wounds on his body, and in front of the woman he loved.

She sighed, her mouth open in both shock and disappointment. There had been many times when Alfie would come home and pieces and she would have to put him together, many nights where she spent the night waiting for him to fall asleep after he’d gained a fresh wound so that her heart would be at rest. She had begged him to stop doing such dangerous things, she was also in the same line of business but managed to get things done by not killing a couple men so she knew it was possible to do things that way. She wanted him safe and in one piece.

She shook her head but opposed to her usual attitude when she saw him in such a state, she didn’t walk towards him. The last time she had patched him up, she had told him that it’d be the last one where she’d be her usual self when he showed up with deep wounds. It took everything from her, to just stand there and keep her promise to herself, she wanted to hug him and feel his touch and to make sure he was feeling okay, he was her Alfie after all.

“I...” she spoke, finding it hard to form sentences while every place she looked at, there was blood or a scratch. “I don’t-” she said, a low sob coming from her throat that cut her sentence in half.

He had a bleeding wound that could potentially kill him but seeing her cry hurt him much more than a cut in the flesh. He hadn’t intended to get bruised all over, the men who’d done it were dead anyway but he had gotten some serious damage which he knew would upset her but he had forgotten what she had said about cleaning him up last time, she would do it either way, that much he knew but she was now mad and sad because of him. He hated seeing her like this and knowing the reason why was him made the whole thing even worse.

“Luv, I just need a little bit of alcohol on ‘em.” he said, signalling the wounds with his hand while the other held the cane. She laughed in disbelief. “And I’ll be fucking fine..”

She cried when she was angry, she hated the habit of doing so and he knew she was angry by the gathering tears in the corners of her eye. She wanted to throw the chair into his face and punch him until she lost all her power but he was already wounded bad enough. Another part of her wanted to wrap him layers of thick blankets, give him tea and some soup and stay with him till he was feeling his absolute best.

She hated how much she cared for him.

She opened her mouth to speak but words escaped her, he was being stubborn again, acting like he was just alright when he was potentially on his way to see the bright light that night. She shook her head, feeling Alfie’s discomfort while he stood there, standing in front of her but a little more far away than she usually liked him to be. “I can’t fucking see the logic in all this.” she said at last, expressing her disbelief not only with her words but also with her face.

“Look, luv, ‘t was just an inside job, yeah..” he spoke, his voice was becoming hoarser by the second. “..wasn’t supposed to go this way but I’m fucking okay..” he said, smiling at the end of the sentence but the more he talked the more she wanted to throw that chair into his beautiful face.

“Stop trying to act like you’re not bleeding out in front of me! this is serious!” she shouted, she never shouted at him but he’d deserved it. Her hands pointed towards him, shaking while she cried her anger out with sad eyes. There was fire in her gaze but he knew what was behind the spark, it was sorrow.

“You can’t just...show up here, bleeding your heart out in front of me!” she said, tears flowing down her face, she was so scared for him to the point where her anger didn’t matter so she walked towards him and pulled him down roughly to sit on the big sofa he usually sat.

“I’m fucking sorry, yeah..” he spoke to her when she came back with supplies and bandages to patch him up for the day, her anger was visible still but she needed him to not bleed at the given moment. “I am, pet.” he said when the alcohol met his skin, he didn’t wince because she was always gentle with him.

“Shut up.” she said, cold and loud. She didn’t want to hear any of his sweet words because she knew he’d lure her in. He would make her forgive him in a tiny second if he needed to with the skilled words he’d use and she truly didn’t want to hear him.

She slowly patched up the biggest wound around the side of his ribs, stitched him up skilfully as he watched her with love in his eyes, she was his home. She sighed, looking around his face that was decorated with scratches and cuts. She straddled him with the shake of her head, positioning herself on top of him as their lower bodies met, he grunted in approval while her expression remained a cold one, even with the warmth of his body and the hands that rested on her legs.

“Stop moving.” she ordered while cleaning a cut right above his left brow. His fingers caressed the sides of her thighs while he hummed, nodding his head as to say that he was still there and listening.

The next hour involved her going through every wound, scratch and cut he had and treating them. She was being extremely careful with her touch even though she was super angry. His hands found her body most of the time, sometimes it was her thighs or her hand, he had kissed her cheek more than once was she was busy with his face as to say that he was thankful, not only for cleaning him up but also for being there.

“Okay..” she said, finally separating her body from his and throwing sheets of cotton away, all of them colored with his blood just like her hands. She hated this part of cleaning up. Disappearing into the bathroom around the place, she scraped her hands, washing them more than once to get rid of the red color while tears joined the water running down the sink. She didn’t want to see him this way.

She knew these kind of interactions were usual in the line of business they had, she had no problem with that. The problem, as she saw it, was that sometimes Alfie’s anger would take over and he’d go places he knew were dangerous, places he knew would get him hurt and not just physically. He enjoyed the pain in some parts, he wouldn’t have been doing this in the first place if he didn’t but sometimes, it got too much.

She found him staring at her while she called for her car, gathering her things and waiting for Alfie to feel a little better so that she could help him walk to the car. She sighed, shaking his head as his eyes followed her clothed figure slowly make its way to him. She sat on the floor next to his legs, her hand rested on one of his thigh while his hand found her arm, gently stroking her soft skin while she felt her anger fade. She was his.

“I don’t want to have to put your pieces back together every time this happens, Alfie.” she spoke, lowly and he enjoyed her calm voice, it was his favourite tone of voice when it came to hers.

“I know, luv.” he said, planting a kiss on the top of her head while she shook her head, tears coming back into her eyes again as she found it silly just how scared she was for him. “I’m alright, yeah?” he said, hands coming around her cheeks to make her look up to him. Her eyes refused to meet his even when he was wiping her tears away.

“Yeah..” she nodded, knowing that he would heal soon and probably get himself beaten up again. “But what If you’re not?” she asked, meeting his eyes this time. “What if you can’t make it next time?” she asked the question she was dreading.

There was a pinch of doubt in her eyes, if he would really live but she needed him to. She wanted a life with him, something that would be worth the books she’d read about romance. She wanted to see him age and succeed and she wanted to travel with him, see him in every imaginable scenario just because she knew it would make her fall even harder for him. She wanted to join souls with him, learn everything about him and memorise the creases around his eyes but that would be hard to do if he was in another world.

“I won’t ever leave, yeah?” he said, reassuring the worried soul in front of him. She needed to know what he was thinking. “I won’t leave you no matter what the fuck happens..” he said, lowly into her ear and it made her sigh, she knew this but she got worried.

She nodded, giving him a sad smile. She knew he was right. Alfie was always the one to make it out, he would plan things and usually have a back up plan as well but It was her right to be angry at him for coming all this way with a wounded body, she had told him to be careful. She looked into his eyes, finding comfort and love this time. She sighed and shook her head with a chuckle, she hated to give in but it was Alfie out of everyone.

“I want you around..” she spoke, not looking into his eyes but she could sense the confusion the sentence caused by his body language. “..not only for now or next week but for as long as you’re willing to stay and I do not want to lose you because you had an argument with a gang leader..” she said, looking right into his eyes when her words were out of her mouth.

He could only chuckle at her words, the sound of her voice a mere melody to is ears. He knew he wanted to marry her, he had been carrying the ring in his pocket for the past month but he just needed the moment to be perfect. She was his muse, the person he wanted to spend the rest of his life with and he knew she’d say yes, he knew she wanted him around, too but hearing it from his lips made him the happiest man alive.

He leaned in, ignoring the slight pain from his wounds and capturing her lips in his. It was a velvet kiss with small touches from him, caressing her cheek and neck while she melted into his touch. They had their problems but their relationship was the one for the books, maybe not as smooth as she’d planned once she had started dating him but she knew it would be a good life as long as Alfie was there to share it with her.

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canyousevmyheavydirtysoul · 7 years

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*Halloween* I Lost A Bet To A Guy In A Top Hat. (Josh Dun x Reader)

Request: a user on Wattpad : ‘5. Corn Maze. Josh Dun X Reader. So Josh, Tyler and the reader dress up as things from Panic!. Tyler is the Ringleader/Brendon Urie from Sins, Josh is Brendon from the ballad of Mona Lisa, and the reader is the demon from emperors new clothes. They bet whoever finds the center first, (which is marked by a chalk X) and the three split up and go into the maze and the reader and josh eventually find each other. I don’t know how they get into this situation, but they kiss and some panic! fan sees them and screams, “ GUYS BRENDON IS KISSING HIMSELF!” Yeah if you would do that for meh, that would be snazzy!’

Prompt 5: Corn field/maze

“A corn maze?” you cocked an eyebrow in skepticism as you got your costume ready. “Really, Tyler?”

“Yeah!” he spoke into the phone, giving Josh a thumbs-up in approval of the costume he was trying on: ‘Mona Lisa Brendon’. The three of you thought it would be cute to coordinate your costumes this year, and eventually decided on going as the different eras of Panic!. Well, eras of Brendon, if you’re being technical. “There’s this really big one not too far out of town that I’ve been waiting to visit for a while.”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” you opened your closet and reached to the top to grab the supplies you needed to turn yourself into 'Demon Brendon’, letting out an 'off’ when one of the packets fell onto your head. “I mean,” you continued, rubbing your scalp, “wondering aimlessly through rows upon rows of tall plants with no idea whatsoever about where we’re going sounds very anxiety-inducing, if you ask me.”

“I didn’t ask you,” he sassed and you rolled your eyes. “Just come. It’ll be fun.”

“Yeah, that’s what you always say. And surprisingly, most of the time, it is not fun.”

“Most of the time,” he pointed out, a smirk playing on his lips. “What if this is one of those times where it is fun, and you’re gonna miss out on it?”

You ran your tongue over your teeth and narrowed your eyes. “I hate you.”

“Love you too. We’ll pick you up at 7,” he blew a kiss into the phone before hanging up, leaving you to turn yourself into a demon.

“Wow,” Josh said in amazement, his eyes widening in awe as he looked around at the maze, “This place is huge.“

You nodded in agreement as you gazed out at the enormous field.

"Pretty impressive, huh?” Tyler sidled up to the two of you, having just payed.

“Not exactly the word I would use,” you chimed, “but yeah, sure.”

Tyler made a face at you while Josh turned to him. “So, where do we start?”

“I start over here,” Tyler pointed at an opening a few steps away from him, “you start over there,” he pointed at another opening further down the line, “and (Y/N), you start all the way over there.”

“Hey, woah, woah, woah, hey,” you stepped towards Tyler, frowning, “Are you telling me we’re not all doing this stupid thing together?”

“That’s exactly what I’m telling you,” he gave you a sly smile, “It’s a competition. Whoever reaches the center with the big 'X’ first, wins. Didn’t I mention that?”

“No!” you yelled, “No, you did not!”

“Oh. Oops.”

You let out a low growl, making Tyler chuckle and Josh place a hand on your shoulder in an effort to calm you down. “There’s no way in this life or the next that I’m going in there alone,” you linked your arm with Josh’s, “I’m going with Josh.”

“Okay, first of all,” Tyler pointed a finger at you, “get your own fren. Second, you can’t partner up. It’s against the rules.” He turned his nose up into the air.

“What rules?”

“The rules that I made up two minutes ago.”

Groaning, you stomped a foot on the ground. “I’m not going in there alone.”

“Not even if we,” he tapped a finger on his chin in mock contemplation before shrugging, “I don’t know… Bet on it?”

You gasped, narrowing your eyes at the older boy while he simply cackled evilly. “You wouldn’t.”

“(Y/N)….”

“Tyler, please don’t.” He knew you never stood down from a bet, so to do this was pure evil.

“I bet you that you can’t reach the center before either Josh or myself.”

Josh kept his tongue, watching the exchange between you and Tyler with bated breath, his head moving from one of you to the other as if he was watching a tennis match. He wanted to say something, but he was too scared of pissing either of you off.

You gasped, frowning at Tyler as he raised an eyebrow, challenging you.

“What’s it gonna be, (Y/L/N)?” he cocked his head.

“You’re going down, Joseph.”

“Stupid, stupid, stupid,” you scolded yourself as you pushed your way through the hanging leaves of the corn, cursing as you stumbled over a rock in the path for what seemed to be the fifth time. “Well done, (Y/N). Good job. Yeah, just go ahead and make a stupid bet with a stupid bean without thinking of the consequences first.”

“Uh, are you okay?"

You whipped your head around, and you were met with two pairs of wide eyes, full of concern. Two girls, one dressed as Sam Winchester and the other as Dean, were watching you with a worried expression; it was then that you realised that talking to yourself while stumbling around a corn maze probably wasn’t what a sane - or at least a sober - person would do.

"I’m not crazy,” you reassured them, and they nodded slowly, “or drunk. But I am pissed at myself for agreeing to this, because I’m really lost and I don’t know what to do.” Your breathing got heavier as you started to have a mini freak-out.

“Hey, it’s gonna be okay,” the girl dressed as Sam stepped forward and placed a reassuring hand on your shoulder. “We can show you the way out. We’ll even go with you, if you want.”

You shook your head violently. “No! No, I have to win! There’s no way I’m letting Tyler have the satisfaction of me giving up.”

“Wait a minute,” the Dean narrowed her eyes and tilted her head to the side while she studied your face, no doubt trying to picture what you looked like without all the demon make-up. When it finally hit her, her face lit up. “Oh! You’re (Y/N) (Y/L/N)! You’re friends with Tyler and Josh.”

“Oh my god,” Sam muttered as she gaped at you.

“Well, that’s not exactly a true statement. I’m friends with Josh. I hate Tyler.” The girls sniggered. “I’m not joking!” you insisted, “He’s the reason I’m in this situation. He’s such an idiot; I told him this wasn’t good for my health, but did he listen? Noooo. I mean, a slightly confined space, at night, with no definitive way of getting out… this is the worst! I have anxiety, you know!”

“Me too!” both of the girls perked up in unison, and you chuckled.

“Both of you?” you raised an amused eyebrow.

“Yeah. We’re basically the same person,” Dean shrugged.

“It’s quite scary sometimes, actually,” Sam nodded in agreement. “We even have the same name.”

“Which is?”

“Alex,” Sam answered, “But she goes as 'Visser’ - it’s her last name - ,” she pointed at Dean, who waved, “And I go as 'Lex’.”

“Nice to meet you, Visser and Lex,” you smiled at the girls. “Would you girls be interested in helping me crush Tyler, by any chance?”

They shared a look before turning to you and smirking evilly. “Absolutely.”

You tapped your foot on the ground along to the melody in your head as you stood and waited for the girls to get back from their little expedition.

Hearing two pairs of footsteps fast approaching, you straightened up and sure enough, the girls came running over.

“Okay,” Visser panted, waving a piece of paper in the air, “I got a map of the maze, complete with extra direction annotation.”

“How did you even manage to get this?” you asked as you took the paper, in awe of her abilities. The workers usually keep the map under lock and key.

“I had a little help,” she smiled coyly, readjusting her t-shirt.

You laughed incredulously as Lex tsked. “Anything with a pulse,” she quipped, patting Visser on the hip.

“I found Tyler,” Lex announced, and you clapped your hands happily as she pulled out her phone, opening the tracking app, “I’m also tracking him as we speak.”

“Wh-HOW?” you spluttered.

“I asked if I could have a hug and then I slipped my second phone into his pocket.”

“You’re amazing,” you marvelled, and she bowed her head, “But why do you have two phones?”

“Long story,” she waved a hand dismissively, eyes glued to her phone’s screen, “Tyler isn’t moving that fast.”

“Cocky bitch probably thinks I’m lost and he has all the time in the world,” you snarled, crossing your arms. “I mean, he’s right, but still.”

“Ah,” Visser raised a finger, pointed it at the map and smiled, “he was right. Now, he’s just stupid.”

Josh leisurely strolled his way through the maze; he knew that the competition was in actual fact only between you and Tyler, so he wasn’t making too much of an effort to reach the middle any time soon.

He rounded another corner, ducking under some plants as his thoughts drifted to you. He knew how bad your anxiety could get, and because he suffered from it himself, he was often the only one who was able to calm you down when you had a pretty bad case. His stomach dropped at the thought of you having an anxiety attack while getting lost somewhere in the maze, and he gulped when he realised that if that did happen, he wouldn’t be there to help you through it.

He suddenly felt achingly angry at himself for allowing you to go in alone; he should’ve told Tyler off and just gone with you when you wanted him to.

Stopping in his tracks, he furrowed his eyebrows while he thought, eventually deciding on trying to find you instead of trying to get to the middle of the stupid maze.

Josh loved you, and if anything happened to you while he wasn’t there, he’d never forgive himself.

With the help offered by the map and your two new friends, you were able to navigate your way through the maze quite easily, and you were sure that you would reach the centre in no time.

“And then we take a…” Visser glanced down at the map, “right, here.”

Right when the three of you rounded the corner, Lex’s phone rang.

“Oh,” she said, pulling it out of her pocket and checking the caller ID, “I have to take this, it’s my mom.”

“That reminds me,” Visser piped up, pulling out her phone too, “I have to check in with my parents too.”

“(Y/N), the centre shouldn’t be too far from here. You should keep moving if you wanna beat Tyler. We’ll find you when we’re done here,” Lex said, before stepping to the side and answering the call.

“Are you gonna be fine on your own?” Visser asked worriedly as she handed the map to you.

You nodded. “Yeah, like Lex said – the centre isn’t too far from here. I’m sure I can manage.”

“Shouldn’t have gone off. Should’ve just waited for the girls,” you whispered to yourself as you apprehensively took small steps through the maze.

You’d gotten lost again – despite having a guided map. You weren’t sure where you went wrong, and when you tried to retrace your steps, it only made things worse.

The moon was beginning to disappear behind a bunch of thin wisps of cloud, and it had taken any surety you had about getting out of this place with it.

After about five more minutes of aimless wondering, you swallowed your pride and decided to call Tyler to tell him that the bet was off, and demand that he find you and take you home. But in a sick twist of fate, when you reached for your phone, you saw that the battery had died.

That did it.

From the moment you’d set foot in this godforsaken maze, your anxiety had flared up and it only increased more and more with each passing second you were stuck between the corn rows. You’d managed to fare pretty well, considering the consequences, and had so far managed to avoid an anxiety attack, but the moment you’d realise that you were essentially stranded – lost in a 15 acre maze with your only means of communication in non-working order – you slowly started slipping into that all-too-familiar state of panic.

Your body began to feel tingly; it was as if ice was running through your veins. Your head spun from dizziness, your chest contracted and your knees gave out, dropping you to the ground with a dull thud. Gazing up at the sky, your vision started to become spotty, and you couldn’t see straight. Every muscle in your body was screaming at you to move – to run – but of course, you couldn’t. You wanted to cry out for help. You wanted to cry out for Josh. But your voice caught in your throat, and all that escaped was a hoarse whimper.

Shallow breathing.

Heart racing.

Total panic.

“(Y/N)?”

You heard your name being called; it sounded like Josh, but you weren’t sure whether or not your brain was just playing tricks on you.

“(Y/N)!”

The voice was clearer this time, a tone of fear and the sound of fast-paced footsteps accompanying it.

The next thing you knew, Josh had taken you into his embrace, holding you as close to his body as possible and whispered soothingly into your ear.

“Hey, hey, it’s okay. I’m here. I’m right here. Just breathe, beautiful.”

Your tense muscles relaxed tremendously, and you tried as best you could to regulate your breathing, using the rise and fall of Josh’s chest as a guide.

After a minute, your breathing had slowed down but it still wasn’t at a normal rate.

“(Y/N),” Josh gently took one of your hands in his and squeezed, while he hugged you closer, pushing your head into his chest over his heart, so that you could hear his heartbeat, “listen. Just listen. I’m here.”

Soon enough, after listening to Josh’s heartbeat while he whispered reassuringly in your ear, you were able to overcome the attack, and you were now ‘back to normal’ albeit still clutching onto Josh as if he was your lifeline. Which, in a way, you suppose he was.

Josh pressed a kiss onto your forehead. “You okay, beautiful?” he murmured against his skin.

“Y-yeah,” you breathed, sighing into his chest and shutting your eyes tightly. “Because of you. Again.” He smiled. “I seriously need to learn how to get over these things by myself; you’re not always going to be there to help me through it,” you frowned.

“What do you mean?” he returned your frown, “I’m always gonna be there for you. Forever.”

“Not always in person, though,” you chuckled.

“Well, I mean, there are ways that we could change that,” he scratched the back of his neck nervously.

“Like how?”

“Like this.”

The next thing you knew, he had slammed his lips to yours and nearly knocked all wind from your lungs.

He kissed you and the world fell away. It was slow and soft, comforting in ways that words could never be. His hand rested below your ear, his thumb caressing your cheek. You ran your fingers down his spine, pulling him closer until there was no space left between the two of you and you could feel the beating of his heart against your chest.

“LOOK!” Visser gasped, pointing at you and Josh with a shocked face, “BRENDON IS KISSING HIMSELF!”

You and Josh grudgingly pulled apart, turning to face the intrusive voice.

“VISSER SHUT UP, YOU IDIOT! YOU’RE RUINING THE MOMENT!” Lex scolded, hitting her best friend across the arm.

“I know and I’m sorry but come on, Brendon is kissing Brendon! This is gonna break the internet!” she exclaimed, snapping a few pics.

“I’m so sorry,” Lex apologised, mortified by her friend’s awful behaviour. “I’ll make sure she doesn’t post anything. Oh, and congrats! You two are adorable!”

“Wait,” you called after them as they started to walk away, “give me your numbers. You were a major help tonight; the least I can do is score you some tickets to see Fall Out Boy or something. You like them, right?”

“We fucking love them!” Visser beamed, as they both rushed forward to exchange numbers with you.

“Thank you, (Y/N),” Lex said sincerely, “You’re amazing.”

“Right back at ya,” you shot the girls a wink and waved at them as they walked off.

Shortly after they left, Josh’s phone went off with a text notification. He opened it, and you both sighed; it was a selfie of Tyler – a smug smirk on his face while he stood on the centre of the ‘X’.

Josh turned to you with a sad look. “I’m sorry you lost, (Y/N).”

“Don’t be,” you giggled, “I got to kiss you. I’m the real winner, here.”

_______________________________

Thank you for reading x

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ciathyzareposts · 5 years

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Game 319: Lord of the Rings, Vol. II: The Two Towers (1992)

Vol. II lazily re-uses a lot of the artwork from Vol. I, including the title screen.

Lord of the Rings, Vol. II: The Two Towers

United States

Interplay (developer and publisher)

Released in 1992 for DOS, 1993 for FM Towns and PC-98

Date Started: 5 February 2019

I remember approaching Lord of the Rings, Vol. I with some trepidation, not much of a fan of the source material, not looking forward to a game that recapped a plot that everyone already knows. Role-playing a defined character with a predestined fate, I reasoned, removes any sense of player investment in the character. Meanwhile, if the game simply follows the plot of its source, there’s no fun in exploration and no surprises; but if it allows all kinds of diversions, the player is jarred by the dissonance with the source.

The game starts with a recap of the story from the beginning.

I was thus surprised to find most of my worries unfounded. Vol. I plays like an alternate-universe execution of Fellowship of the Ring–one that begins at the same location as the books but is then free to go off in its own directions. The player can make any character in the Fellowship the ring-bearer. All kinds of non-canonical NPCs can join the Fellowship, including some created just for the game. Even Gollum can join. The open world is full of side quests that Tolkien never envisioned. And it’s completely non-linear: a player can exit Moria, turn around, and walk all the way back to the Shire. He’ll even encounter new situations and quests if he does so. And it turned out that none of these departures from the book bothered me at all–although we must remember that I wasn’t much invested in the book in the first place.

The opening to Vol. II makes me wonder if the developers retained this admirable freedom. The backstory makes this game more of a sequel to the original material than to Vol. I. The first game ends with a non-canonical episode in which the Witch King kidnaps Frodo and Sam (or, I guess, whoever has the Ring) and the rest of the Fellowship has to rescue them from the fortress of Dol Guldur (and keep in mind, depending on the player, the “rest of the Fellowship” might include none of the canonical members). The game thus ends on a triumphant note, before the betrayal and death of Boromir, who might not even be with the party.

The intro screens elide some unpleasant events.

The backstory told in the opening screens of Vol. II omits the business with Dol Guldur and jumps ahead in time to a point past Boromir’s death, the kidnapping of Merry and Pippin, and the division of the Fellowship. It begins with Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas (who wasn’t even in my Vol. I party) on the plains of Rohan, following the trail of the orcs who kidnapped the hobbits.

The game begins.

I didn’t expect the developers to emulate Crusaders of the Dark Savant and offer a different opening for every potential end state of Vol. I, but I was surprised that the game doesn’t even import the save file or offer any concessions to the variances in the plot. As I began, I hoped that didn’t mean that it wouldn’t feature the same spirit of open exploration and side quests that we found in its predecessor.

The manual does suggest that Vol. II is more interested in adhering to canon. Among other things, it makes a distinction between canonical members of the Fellowship (Frodo, Sam, Pippin, Merry, Gandalf, Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli)–who can die but will otherwise never leave the party–and “temporary NPCs” who might join for a little while, but only until their personal missions are fulfilled. There were some of those temporary NPCs in the first game, too, but generally you trust that anyone who joined your party would stick around to the bitter end.

There is thus no character creation process. Characters come with preset levels in certain attributes: dexterity, endurance, life points, strength, luck, and will power. They also come with a variety of active skills, combat skills, and lore. “Active” skills can be directly employed by the player and include such options as “Climb,” “Detect Traps,” “Hide,” and “Boats.” Combat skills are used automatically in combat, and lore–including orc, dwarf, wizard, and elven lore–are similarly passive. Skills and lore are binary; you either have them or you don’t.

The main interface and its various commands are activated with the SPACE bar.

You may recall that Vol. I was reissued in 1993 on CD-ROM, with artwork created specifically for the game replaced with scenes from Ralph Bakshi’s 1978 animated film. It also improved several aspects of the interface. (I started with the earlier version and finished with the later version.) Vol. II, developed in between the two releases of Vol. I, benefits from some of the interface improvements but not all of them. The party cannot move diagonally, for instance, but the main actions on the bottom of the screen–attack, view, get, inventory, skills, magic, talk, set leader, and game options–are easily called by keyboard commands. There’s also an automap, which reveals itself in large squares. When you turn the interface off, the exploration window is completely uncluttered, which I like a lot.

The automap fills in by large squares.

The game begins with the three companions locked in battle with half a dozen orcs. Combat hasn’t changed from the first game. You select “Attack” then specify the target from the list, with wounded and near-dead enemies annotated with special symbols. Enemies get their turns after the Fellowship members, and sometimes the Fellowship gets a free turn. I’ll have more on combat later once it comes back to me.

In the midst of a melee.

My party destroyed the orcs handily, after which Aragorn did some tracking and noted that the trail of the kidnappers leads north and that the hobbits needed to be rescued at once. So naturally I decided to make my way north via east-west sweeps of the area. (Hey, I was trying to spare Aragorn a broken metatarsal as long as possible.) The eastern border of the opening area is water–I guess the river Isen–and the western border is the uncrossable Misty Mountains. The southern border is open, and you have to be careful not to cross it because the game forces you to switch parties, with I-don’t-know-what consequences for the initial trio.

Walking alongside the Misty Mountains.

As you walk, events and combats are triggered as you enter their appropriate areas. You often don’t see anything in advance, which is one of the oddities (and, I think, weaknesses) of this interface. Some of the things I ran into on the first map include:

Remains of an orc encampment with some rations and ale.

A party of random orcs. Once I killed them, I found a sigil with the white hand of Saruman on their bodies.

Note that there are no actual orcs on the screen until after I get the message.

Athelas, which Aragorn can use to heal wounds.

A Rohirrim warrior named Dorlas, hiding in the bushes, claiming to be hunting orcs who burned his town of Estemnet. He told me that a wizard has been seen on the edge of Fangorn Forest and suggested we look into it. In follow-up questioning (you talk by typing keywords, probably one of the last games in which this is true), he told me that the King of Rohan is “all but dead” and that a “craven council” rules in Edoras. He spoke of Saruman as an enemy, so his betrayal is clearly already known. Dorlas popped up several times. It got kind of annoying.

This doesn’t seem to be this Dorlas.

A man named “Walcnoth” who just stood there and wouldn’t say anything to me.

Three uruks trying to capture a black steed. They attacked as we approached. There were two such encounters.

The ruins of Estemnet. A warrior named Bregowine gave us a meal, which healed all our accumulated wounds. Most of the other citizens were angry and bitter about the failure of their king, Theoden, to protect them. The leader, a woman named Leofyn, said that the town wouldn’t be helping anyone until “a weregild is paid to compensate us for our losses.” Specifically, she wanted her husband’s sword, a bag of gold, and the return of her son, who had taken off, vowing to avenge his father. The sword and gold had both been stolen by orcs, with a camp to the north.

This was the same portrait they used for Galadriel in the last game.

A warrior named Heof. He offered to teach us the “Riding” skill (how is it possible that Aragorn doesn’t already know it?) if we solved a sub-quest to destroy a shrine that the orcs placed in a sacred pool used by the mearas (cool horses). The shrine couldn’t be harmed during the day, and at night it’s guarded by “spirits of evil.” I left this for later because I wasn’t yet sure if the slight darkening of the sky that happens every few minutes is “night.”

That seems pessimistic.

A group of horsemen led by Eomer. He said that they had slaughtered a group of orcs, didn’t know anything about hobbits, and not all was right in Edoras. Basically the same as the book.

Eomer says nothing about being banished.

In a burned area north of Estemnet, I found the orc encampment. The game warned me that there were too many to fight, but I bungled my way into it anyway. I defeated the first party of attackers but died at the hands of the second.

If we all die, Satan gets the ring.

After my defeat and reload, I changed my exploration pattern, going all the way north along the River Isen to Fangorn Forest. A path led into the forest–which is anything but dark and brooding–and it wasn’t long before we found Gandalf. Saying his name snapped him out of his reverie. He explained that Merry and Pippin were safe with Treebeard and that our priority should be to stop a trio of “messenger orcs” on their way to Saruman (perhaps the same party I already killed as above?), then see about helping Theoden.

Fangorn! What madness would make us hesitate to go in there?

At this point, the game decided it was time to switch the action, and it loaded up Frodo and Sam on the edge of the Dead Marshes. There doesn’t seem to be any way to manually switch between the parties, so I guess the game will do it automatically when certain plot points occur. I wonder if there’s any way to artificially unite (or even switch!) the parties. I guess I’d have to find a way across Isen first.

I don’t care what’s canon; I’m glad the films didn’t make the hobbits look like goofy old men.

The game had us distribute the gifts from the elves (two cloaks, magic rope, lembas bread), after which Frodo recommended that we approach Mordor via the marshes to the southeast.

The Dead Marshes, Frodo. Yes, yes, that is their name.

I think I’ll wrap up here for the first entry, but a few miscellaneous notes before I go:

The exposition with Leofyn was delivered via a written paragraph in the manual. Vol. I had these, too, but the re-release put all the text in-game. This has to be just a copy protection exercise because the game certainly hasn’t been shy about long in-game paragraphs otherwise.

Flashbacks to Pool of Radiance!

I’m not really sure how experience and leveling work. The manual assures that your statistics will increase with experience. I forgot how it worked in the first game.

The screen trades between dark and light every minute or so. If that’s a day/night cycle, it happens very fast. I don’t think my DOSBox cycles are too high, though, because if I lower them it’s sluggish to respond to commands. Are those periods of momentary dimness “night,” or just cloudiness? (If the latter, I haven’t experienced night at all, yet.)

Sound effects are sparse except during combat, when there are about three: a thunk of connection, a whoosh of missing, and a scream of death.

The manual devotes a lot of space to the History of Middle Earth and a glossary of characters and places, enough that I learned quite a bit despite having been exposed to this material before. The manual also philosophically questions whether Tolkien himself would have approved of a computer game based on his work.

I’m not going to have a lot of patience for this.

The events of the opening area ultimately assuaged my concern that Vol. II would be too linear and plot-driven. I look forward to seeing how it develops. I suspect I’m due for an encounter with Gollum soon. Can I be smarter than Frodo and just kill him?

Time so far: 2 hours

****

Non-sequitur: I had this dream the other night that the nation of Denmark hired me to create an official Danish tabletop RPG (this despite my lack of experience with tabletop RPGs). The scenario was to be that the melting ice sheets in Greenland were slowly uncovering an ancient civilization. I invited several of you to be a part of the team, and we had a very contentious meeting in Amsterdam (yes, I know that’s a different country–I’m just telling you what my dream was) where some of you wanted to make it a pure exploration/archaeology RPG while others wanted to have, like, ice giants awakening in the melting glaciers.

Lately, I’ve been in the habit of writing down dreams that I think might lead to good song, story, or game ideas. I don’t always hit a home run. The other night, I wrote (I have no memory of this): “Bacon-wrapped chocolate coin. The coin has an image of a woman on it, and you have to convince her to submit before you can eat the bacon.” That one doesn’t seem so promising now. But the idea of an RPG set in an ancient civilization slowly uncovered in Greenland actually seems like a good one. Anyone has my permission to use the idea.

source http://reposts.ciathyza.com/game-319-lord-of-the-rings-vol-ii-the-two-towers-1992/

#retro games #dos games #retro #crpg #adventure #amiga #oldcomputers #8bit #16bit #blog #repost

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