bc of this post from @insertsanity529 and idk if the concept will make it into my fic
@thatboysgotwoah hey so. hereŹ»s a thing. a very loose thing but it is, nonetheless, A Thing. (a thing i didnŹ»t realize was 1k until Just Now WTF)
there is also a part 2 in the rbs :)
& an ao3 link with little bits added to it here and there
~
Hob is done with war and violence and terror and death and the blood on his hands, especially after that world war. (not The Great War. There never is anything great about war) Gods is he ready to put it all to rest.
He gets caught up in the arts, in preservation, in working for museums and its ilkā and some of those are old money heirs who, in addition to having taken their refuge in the arts, are connected to the occult and those old money circles. Some are young and their tongues are loose, their need to be useful and worth something presents in their pride of their heritage and what they come from, something already Grand.
So Hob hears about the Devil in Roderick BurgessŹ» basement, about the lavish parties that are held at his manor in the countryside, about the cult Burgess has. And as he dusts off a sculpture, gloved fingers trailing down smooth marble, there's a likeness to the statueŹ»s half-worn face that reminds Hob of somethingāof someone. His stranger. Hob remembers asking if his stranger was the devil, if Shakespeare had given his soul, and a thought blooms in the back of his head. What ifā¦.?
But he shakes his head, finishes his restoration, cataloging, and storing. His stranger is enough to handle himself, Hob is sure, and he hardly thinks some fake occultist would be the one to containā¦whatever his stranger may be.
He pats the young starry-eyed manŹ»s shoulder, before leaving, with a look backward too complicated to decipher by one so unknowing of war and death. Hob doesnŹ»t wish he knew of death and war and violence, would rather no one did, but it is separate things to glorify the thing you run from and to step back, searching for peace. Hob goes home and does not sleep until twilight, fitfully resting for a handful of hours.
The months pass. He hears of The Captured Devil occasionally, he goes to work, he cares for what was lovingly created in years pastāmuch like himselfāand he lends a hand when he can, to pick up what is left of boys and men with hazy eyes and empty hearts, knowing he was once the same (or still is, only buried deeper than one would think possible). He walks around town, for hours, looking almost kin to those plagued with sleeplessness, and he thinks, for a handful of moments, that death, life, and the in-between are all cruel in their own way.
Hob cannot stand the joyous life much anymore, too burdened with the reminders of death and those hanging between, and maybe that is why he does not go to a Burgess party. Maybe it is one of many excusesāhe hasnŹ»t been invited (which has never stopped him before), his stranger is not the devil (people will call anything the devil these days), he needs to take care of himself damn it because no one else is and he doesnŹ»t ever let himself waste away after something like this if he can bloody well help it.
Then it's the weekend after Christmas of 1926, and Hob has finally found solid ground. HeŹ»s laughingly invited to the Burgess House by a very proud son of BurgessŹ» group, their department out for drinks. Hob, who has always turned down invitations with a distracting call for another round on him, actually accepts the invitation, asking for details while the lad is half drunk and everyone is booing him, their unclever ploy for more drinks waved away. Hob buys that round anyway, but he does leave with the details written upon a formal invitation.
He goes, fashionably late and fashionably dressed, a simple deep blueāalmost black, reallyāwith silver detailing of the cosmos on the outside of his jacket, those stars falling to scatter on the upper half of his pant legsālike the sky is dripping to the earth. Hob blends in, smiles and drinks lightly, meets with the head of house with a boisterous introduction from his coworker who has obviously drank from a fair few cups already. The man, Roderick Burgess, stares at him, eyes like polished steel.
Something HobŹ»s coworker says, about Hob not believing in The Devil in BurgessŹ» basement, makes Burgess tilt his head and raise an eyebrow. Hob only tilts his own just so in returnā what of a supernatural devil when humans are devilish enough? War is man-made, and man-taking.
His words make Roderick Burgess study him intently, and thereŹ»s a flicker of what Hob knows to be a decision of kinship in those eyes. Hob doesnŹ»t like that one bit. Burgess nods and waves to follow him, passing off HobŹ»s coworker to be sat down by his father.
Hob is led into the basement, cold and wet. He stays one step behind the manāa child moreso than his green coworker in HobŹ»s eyes, playing with things not meant to be disturbedāand is grateful for it when he sees what is in the middle of the room.
Hob wants to retch on the spot, remembering the paper his coworker had brought in last week that said Burgess has had his Stranger in this basement since 1916. Yet Hob goes deathly controlled, calm, and intensely observant.
He drops his jaw and gasps, letting the man crow and tell him what he hopes to get from his prisoner, of how Hob must understand, he saw the loss in his eyes. Hob goes up to the marble, eyes searching for an exit as he walks around the binding circle heŹ»s been forbidden from crossing. He finds a hairline square at the back of it, with the tiniest notchāa door. His eyes shine, and he lets Burgess think it's from wonder, from the chance of reviving a lost loved one.
He hopes his head shake lets his Stranger know that heŹ»s crying for him, that he will get him out, he swears. Hob takes in the way Burgess laughs at his Stranger for being curious to a newcomer, turning in his glass prison. Catching his strangerŹ»s eye, he speaks his first language, something old and forgotten by nought but himāhis grandmotherŹ»s tongueāand makes that promise, saying it was a phrase of wonderment and appraisal. Burgess puffs his chest out and waves him away from the prison, chuckling good-naturedly. Hob shakes BurgessŹ» hand, clapping him on the back on the way out, casting a long glance backward before he has to ascend the stairs.
Guilt is tearing at his throat, chewing at his stomach and knotting his intestines, but Hob can deal with that after his Stranger is free, and the Burgess Manor is burned to the ground.
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ādonāt apologize.ā āsorry.ā āname.ā with jilypad, maybe? :0
oh, yes, i love this!! thank u for the ask <3
x
The silence was thundering in the wake of Jamesā words.
Lilyās mortified gaze was fixed firmly on her feet as she replayed them in her mind.
āIāve seen the way you look at Sirius.ā
Lily shouldāve laughed it off. James didnāt even mean it as an accusation, had said it casual-as-you-please like they were discussing the weather, or perhaps their upcoming Charms assignment.
Hell, she couldāve waved it off even if it was an accusation After all, Sirius Black was an exceptionally gorgeous human being and there wasnāt a human on Earth who could refute that. He attracted admirers like it was his job.
But no, sheād frozen. Her reaction the biggest indicator of guilt she couldāve given.
āJamesāā she started, before realising she didnāt know what to say. There was an expression on Jamesā face sheād never seen before and it was scaring her a little.
āJames, Iām so sorry, I didnāt mean toāā
āDonāt apologise, Lily,ā he tried to say but she wasnāt listening. All she could focus on was the tremble in her boyfriendās frame and her own horror that sheād driven him toāto tears.
āSorry, James, Iām soāā
āLily.ā The sharpness in his voice brought her babbling to a sudden halt. Lily kept her mouth shut, but her mind was still racing. James doesnātāheās not crying, like sheād thought.
Instead, there was a smile slowly taking over his entire face. Baffled, Lily watched as he burst out in giggles, wondering if sheād entered an alternate dimension without realising it.
Sheād just basically admitted she was crushing on his best friend and her boyfriend wasā¦laughing?
āLi-Lily,ā he said, hiccuping a little as this laughter tapers out. āArenāt you wondering how I knew?ā
She could only shake her head. That hadnāt even been close to the top five things sheād been worried about.
āI know how you look at Sirius because I look at him the same way.ā
Oh.
x
āSo, Pads.ā Sirius stared suspiciously at his best mate trying to act nonchalant. He was, quite frankly, terrible at it. His fidgeting became even worse and he couldnāt maintain eye contact to save his life.
āHm?ā
āLily and I wereā¦talking.ā
āRight.ā
āAnd weā¦resolved a few things.ā
āWhichāinvolves me how?ā
āEr, yeah, about thatā¦,ā James trailed off, chewing on the corner of his lip. Sirius kind of wanted to do the same. He quickly averted his gaze lest he actually acted on his desire.
āCome on, James, spit it out,ā he prompted, when nothing else came forth.
James gulped, and this was really getting too weird. Sirius hadnāt seen him this nervous in a long time, not sinceā¦heād beenā¦tryingā¦to ask Lily out.
Thatās notā
He wouldnātā
Nah, he mentally shook himself. Not Possible. Lily was standing right there, steadily biting down on her nails and staring between the two of them. It had to be something else.
āWe were hoping you would give us a try?ā
Sirius was ashamed to admit his mouth fell open at that. It was most undignified.
āGiveā¦youā¦a try?ā And his voice came out embarrassingly high pitched. Wonderful.
āWhat heās trying to say,ā Lily finally cut in, exasperation taking over the previous nervousness, ābut is finding it hard to because youāre entirely too distracting for your own good, is that we really like you and were hoping you might like us too.ā
Siriusā eyes bounced between her and James, who had turned a delicious shade of red that didnāt stop him from nodding vigorously at his girlfriendās words.
He gave it a second of thought, just enough to consider the possibility that this might be a prank before promptly discarding it in the trash where it belonged. Even if Lily wanted to pull something like this, he knew James would never go along with it.
So it was only with the slightest bit of hesitance, of fear, that he nodded, still looking between the two people heād previously considered out of his reach.
An excited whoop reached his ears just as he got picked up and twirled by James, deposited right in front of Lily who raised on her toes to press the sweetest kiss to his lips. Almost immediately, James wrapped himself around him from behind as Lily pressed into his front.
Sirius was helpless to do anything except close his eyes, letting himself melt into the embrace.
Send me a hesitant love prompt for any ship!
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guess who? it's me with hcs!
..Evelyn hcs? Hah, nope!
TWITCH HCS JUMPSCARE- /J
Ok ok, so first off I like to imagine since Twitch was never born with a real voice, she replicates everyone else's! Like Peppino, Gus, Stick, Gerome, etc.
She also has nicknamed many of the folks! Here's most of them:
Peppino = Mr. Pizza
Gustavo = Gnome boi
Mr. Stick = Oncelers cousin
Brick = Remy
Gerome = Short cousin!
John = Tall cousin!!
Pepperman = Apple
Vigilante = the cow guy.
Noise = Noid
Noisette = Cheesecake
Fake Pep/Bruno = The Thing (like the movie)
Pizzaface = food...
Pizzahead = that guy (..or malewife /j)
Evelyn = Mama!
Aaaand itself!/Twitch = ruoy tsrow eramthgin
It also has a pretty strong bond with the noise due to both of them wanting to cause CHAOS-
Also, whenever it manages to take control of Evelyn's body for a long period of time, other people would clearly be able to see its mannerisms, like biting at its own fingers, scratching its arms, often twitching in random parts of it's body, it's walk seeming more janky and jittery than usual, foot tapping and fidgeting with its hands or objects around itself.
Oke that it 4 now byebye-
Twitch is such a chaotic little shit-
I love this character and I absolutely love the names it gives the others š NO SERIOUSLY ONCELERS COUSIN MADE ME CACKLE WHEN I FIRST READ IT- šš
Also replicating others voices are cool but also CREEPY. Like what if it tricks you?ā¦and not in a fun wayā¦.UGH SO MUCH TO THINK ABOUT-
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