#the. rude and reno one has been haunting me for a while i had to finish that too

[luckymeryl]

A new Fic!

Yes, still working on the Reno/Rude fic. Even updated it the other day. And still need to get back to Outlaw. But I have a new obsession as well. The Magnus Archives. So here is a statement I wrote that is featured in the first chapter of my new fic: Save Our Somewhere.

Fic summary: Jon and Martin have made their Somewhere Else into a home. However, Jon has discovered that the Entities have done the same. His guilt won't let him leave it alone, despite Martin's hope for a normal boring life that they both deserve. So with the help of a blog, Jon starts gathering statements to try to find out what the powers are up to in their new world. He just hopes he can do so while keeping Martin safe.

Read on AO3 Here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/39336504

Statement begins under the cut:

I’m not easily scared. Haunted houses, both the gimmicky kind at Halloween or the type that someone will challenge you to enter that has you risking a trespassing charge, neither will have my heart racing. Scary movies are kind of a bore. I don’t mind being in the dark. I don’t mind crowds. I don’t mind being alone. I like heights. Bugs, spiders included, are nothing more than irritating at their worst. As a kid I had natural fears, like the monster under the bed or the scary stories the older kids told, but as I got older, I just kind of…grew numb to the fear.

That’s not to say I was incapable of fear. I worried for others. I feared for my safety when it was natural to. If I’m almost in an accident of course I will get nervous, but, in no way, would I be considered a jumpy person. Or at least, I didn’t used to be. That was until they started following me. I’m still trying to figure out what they’re going to do. It’s…nerve-wracking. It has the hair on the back of my neck constantly raised, and my heart always racing.

Okay so let me start at the beginning of who “they” are.

I always go to the same sandwich shop on Wednesday. They have a Wednesday special that I can’t pass up and sandwiches are buy one get one free. So that means I can get one for lunch and have one for dinner or for lunch the next day. I have been going there for lunch every week since I found out about the promotion three years ago. But the week I saw “them” the shop was closed. There wasn’t a sign on the door saying why. I don’t know if they were remodeling or if they were shorthanded, or maybe the owners were on vacation. Either way, they were closed, and I needed a sandwich fix. Promotion or not, it was sandwich day.

I went to another café nearby. Some place I’d never even noticed before a block or so from my apartment, squeezed between a bookshop and fitness center. It looked old. Maybe family run, but there was a pleasant smell, like freshly smoked meat, coming from inside, and it seemed promising. Sometimes the hole-in-the-wall places are the ones that surprise you, you know? So I decided to give it a try.

The inside looked better than the outside, admittedly. Like it had been freshly remodeled. The chairs and tables were new, the floors were polished, the paint on the walls was pristine. I took a seat at one of the tables, unsurprised at the lack of customers, considering how uninviting it looked before you came in. There was only one other occupied table.

It was a group of women, all elderly, each with what looked like the same exact meal. A sandwich, an apple, and a salad, along with a cup of tea. Though none of them seemed to be eating. Not a single bite was taken out of any of their food. At the time I just assumed that they’d just gotten their meals, but the entire time I sat there, none of them ate. They just sat there, mumbling quietly over their sandwiches.

I just ignored them at first, ordering my own food, my regular roast beef on rye and a water. The food came out rather quickly. I wondered if it was made to order or if they had premade food in the back, but it tasted good, so I didn’t concern myself too much on the specifics. In fact, it was better than my regular place. I considered coming back. The prices were comparable, even without the buy one get one promotion. I thought I was right about trusting the hole-in-the-wall method of dining experience.

As I glanced over to the other table again, however, the flavor began to sour. The women were looking at me now. They weren’t even hiding it. They were all just watching me eat and they were…they were smiling. As if they were excited. My stomach turned. I was only half done with my food but my appetite was spoiled. I took the check and paid immediately. Like I said, I don’t scare easily. I normally would have been annoyed at the starting, but something about the way they smiled. It was like they were almost proud of something and I didn’t know what it was. I didn’t want to find out.

As soon as I bolted out of there I let out a breath of relief, but I felt like I was going to vomit everything I’d just eaten. I couldn’t get rid of the feeling of their eyes on me. I felt them on my skin and it itched. I knew it was just in my head. They’d spooked me and it was unusual and I just got lost in it for a second. I needed to get home, take a breath, maybe have a drink, and relax. That’s all I needed.

I fast-walked all the way back to my apartment, trying to ignore anyone on the street, all the while assuming the mumbling came from the strangers I passed and not from the ladies I felt like were following me and watching me around every corner. I was practically running up the stairs to my door and my hands fumbled with the keys. I slammed the door behind me and locked it. My heart was pounding in my chest.

I don’t know how many things I tried to convince myself was wrong with me. A first-time panic attack. Food poisoning. A stomach bug. Just simple over-reacting. But no matter what, I couldn’t get myself to leave my apartment for three days. I kept hearing the mumbling outside my door and I knew it was them. It was those women again, waiting for me to come out. My skin itched, my stomach hurt, and I didn’t know what was wrong with me.

My coworkers started calling to check on me. I wasn’t even calling in, so they were worried for my safety. I told them I’d caught a virus and just been too sick to be on the phone. I apologized and told them I’d be back into work shortly. I knew I couldn’t stay in my home forever. Life had to go on. The ladies weren’t there. No one was there. It was just me. It was just in my head. Maybe I just hadn’t been scared before and it was a new experience.

So on the fourth day I finally got dressed, trying to ignore the discomfort under my skin and the ache in my stomach, and made my way to work. I still felt eyes on me throughout the walk and tube ride. Even at work I could feel someone watching me. I looked like hell so maybe it was my coworkers just judging me and talking about how sickly I’d been. I tried to ignore it.

On lunch, I stayed at work. I wasn’t hungry. I hadn’t been hungry since that sandwich. My stomach starting hurting more. I was sweating from the pain, but I was trying to make it through work. Anything to just pretend to be normal. I had a few colleagues check on me as I doubled over with my head against the cool table in the breakroom. When I started dry heaving and couldn’t stand, they called an ambulance.

At the hospital they diagnosed me with malnutrition, food poisoning, and dehydration. They took me out of work for another week and gave me some medicine for the pain and nausea. The whole time I was there, I felt like someone was watching. It never went away. The pain stayed. The feeling of being watched stayed.

The entire way here, I could hear them mumbling. I don’t know what they’re talking about. I don’t know what they are waiting for or watching for. Something is going to happen to me and I don’t know what it is. Something is happening to me. I might be dying. I don’t know and I’m terrified. They won’t even reveal themselves to me but I know they are there. I’ve yelled at them, made a fool of myself in broad daylight. They won’t come out, but I know they are watching. They are still smiling at me somewhere, so proud of their work. I’m just waiting for it to be over. I am so scared. I’m so tired of being scared. I have never felt fear like this before, and I don’t like it.

#the magnus archives #the magnus pod #tma #jonathan sims #martin blackwood #rusty quill tma #rusty quill fanart #jonmartin

[arqinnovations]

10 things that I want from FF7 Remake 2

Some of these are a given, but just for fun, others are a bit of a long shot. Spoilers abound, so turn back now if you're still making your way through Midgar as we speak. In no particular order:

Jessie. I'm going to be honest, it took some self-restraint to not make this a 10 things I'd like to do to see from Jessie list. One thing that Remake did incredibly well was flesh out the Avalanche crew, and Jessie was undoubtedly the one who benefited the most, going from ponytailed plot device to forward and fiery courter of Cloud. I absolutely dreaded her inevitable death scene, and nearly jumped out of my chair at the suggestion that she may have actually survived this time around. I won't ask for a pizza and chill side quest, but I would be thrilled to just see her alive and well in the next chapter.

Gold Saucer. It's not a question of if it'll be in the game, but of how it will be presented. I'm expecting that a lot of love and care will be put into this locale, and I want everything: Chocobo racing, roller coasters, a beefed up haunted house, battle square, a potential date with a pissed off Barrett...all of it. Saying that I'm excited to see an updated Gold Saucer would be a massive understatement.

Open world. Or not. I'm fine with either. I remember how massive the FF7 world seemed to me as a kid while playing the original game, and I just can't see how something of that size will scale to the table that Remake has set so far. I loved - loved - roaming forests and taking long road trips with the boys in FF15. But Remake has a completely different world with different stakes. While the idea of a free-roaming epic is indeed attractive, there will inevitably be other games that have done an open world on a far grander scale, and it'd almost be a shame to see Remake try to draw from Skyrim when the reality is that it doesn't have to. Midgar was linear in nature and it was still beautiful and felt massive in its own way. I'd be fine with a series of mostly contained villages and towns with the second installment.

Playable Turks. This one falls into the long shot category, but you can already feel how badly the creators are itching to turn the Turks into good guys. We know that this timeline has forked off into a direction different from the one that we grew up with, so perhaps we can get a few missions with Reno and Rude running point? I'm not holding my breath, but it would be awesome.

Bahamut. And not just one, I want all three back. Vanilla Bahamut, Bahamut Neo, and Bahamut Zero! Heck, give us even more. Omega Bahamut! Ultima Bahamut! Bahama Bahamut! Nobody goes into battle without a Mut!

No more squiggly dust ghosts. Yeah, enough of those guys. I can go as far as to say that I appreciated what the Whispers provided the story, but now that our heroes have apparently ripped through the threads of fate and are playing with a freshly shuffled deck of cards, I could do without seeing them again.

The Highwind. I don't think there's any doubt that we'll be seeing the Highwind, given it's importance to Cid's character and the fact that the airship becomes the party's main mode of transportation towards the latter half of the story. What is in question is to what degree players will be able to control the massive aircraft. While we had the ability to manually fly exactly where we wanted to in the original, there's understandably some doubt as to how this will work in Remake with the game's open world status still very much in question. I'd bet on control being limited to the bridge of the ship with the option to select predetermined destinations from a world map. And I'd be fine with that. Just give us that sweet Highwind music.

More of Rufus in action. Seriously, look at that pimp. A character this cool deserves to be seen in battle more than once.

And less of Zack. Assuming he's alive and well in this reality, I could go without seeing too much of the guy. The original FF7 was such a fantastic story about life and identity because Zack passes on and symbolically entrusts his hopes and dreams to Cloud (who somewhat hilariously takes things way too literally). That story doesn't work quite as well if Zack is just hanging around being...uh, alive and stuff. And if he is, what has he been doing all this time while Aerith was getting harassed by Turks every day? Swell guy, that Zack. Or are we to assume he's alive, just not in this reality? Honestly - and it might just be me - I thought the reinsertion of Zack into the fray was one of the few missteps Remake made.

Aerith has a chance? Square knew what they were doing when they opted to establish a new timeline. I'm not saying that Aerith surviving would make the story better. On the contrary, I'm not sure if it works at all without Sephiroth jumping in and making her into an Aerith-kabob. What I do know is that there's now some definite intrigue to that moment, and they've effectively put all the suspense back into a scene that we had assumed would end in a familiar, heartbreaking fashion. It's a smart move, regardless of what eventually does happen.

#final fantasy 7 #final fantasy VII #final fantasy 7 remake #ff7 #aerith #cloud #squaresoft #ff7 remake #sephiroth #Final Fantasy #rufus shinra #jessie rasberry #video games #tifa lockhart

[turktwostep]

𝚃𝙷𝙴 𝙳𝙴𝚂𝙲𝙴𝙽𝚃 ; [ 𝙳𝙾𝙽'𝚃 𝚈𝙾𝚄 𝙶𝙴𝚃 𝙴𝚇𝙷𝙰𝚄𝚂𝚃𝙴𝙳 ? ]  𝚏𝚝. 𝚁𝚄𝙵𝚄𝚂 @radhalaus​​       𝚁𝙴𝙽𝙾 @getturked​​       𝚃𝚂𝙴𝙽𝙶 @qiianze​​       𝚁𝚄𝙳𝙴 @turkthis​​

licking his wounds like a dog for his master. hands are stained with crimson & bathwater shines red. he's careful with the man, both physically and emotionally. no questions, no talking. no words are shared between them even still. reno hadn't said anything other than a panicked intrigue of his physical state when he had found rufus in that dank basement. even as he carried him to the chopper. even as they were up above, hovering over civilization —- waiting. for what? an answer. any answer. rufus was unresponsive, reno had no other support; he had to continually glance over at him from where he was slumped over while also paying attention to the controls so that they didn't crash. it was a shit show and a half, but he had to stay strong despite not knowing what happened.

who could have done this? why? and the main question on his mind: where was tseng?

questions waited for answers that reno never in his life wanted to hear. he wanted to deny it, to scream in their faces —- the grunts who offered him a more eye-witness account upon reaching the ground. not tseng, he breathed out as if it would be his last exhale, it couldn't have been tseng.

oh, but he knew better.

after all, he had been the one to warn rufus in the beginning. he was the one who endured the president screaming in his face, dismissing him with venom in those pretty fangs of his. he never took a bite, but now reno was wishing he had. death would have been better than this gruesome reality. remembering the hints, the cryptic way tseng spoke of his life and his own future and shrugging it off with a kind smile when approached about it. reno knew better, but he didn't want to. still, he went to rufus each time he had a bad feeling.

he wondered, as nimble fingers wash away the blood caked on his skin, if perhaps rufus had been thinking about it too. all of those signs: ignored. reno wouldn't dare ask, but he wondered.

"rude went with him." reno speaks at last. it wasn't what he wanted to say, but it was the one thing at the forefront of his mind. "s'what they told me, at least." hard to believe, and the thought alone made him choke, but anything was possible now. tseng made that perfectly clear, and so he had to wonder if he and rude had been planning it all along.

oh.

that thought hurt him more than the act itself.

"wouldn't doubt if they had more eyes too, y'know. probably seen me escape with you." it's not what he wants to talk about, but the president's safety was his number one concern now. he was tseng now.

oh, that made him flinch away, grimacing at his own thought. no. he was nothing like tseng. tseng was a fucking traitor. all the honor and bullshit he spoke about all the time —- what honor is there in betrayal? no, he wasn't tseng. he was reno. but now his primary focus was making sure rufus was okay. making sure he would live, making sure he was safe. now until the day he died —- now until the end of time. he would be dammed if he let another thing happen to him. he would make it right. he would make all of it right. tseng be dammed.

then, there's a quiet noise. the first noise he's heard out of rufus since getting him into the tub. it's subtle, what he assumed was a gasp and then he pretends to ignore the tears brimming his eyes. oh, that certainly changed things. reno wanted to leave, not in general of course —- just the room. to give him the privacy he deserved, to grieve in silence.

he thinks back again. breaking down the door, walking down the creaking stairs, smelling nothing but mildew and blood —- turning on the light had been a bad idea. it was like opening the door to his worst nightmare. as if he had merely been dreaming —- he had seen this before, after all. this exact scene. this nightmare becoming a reality, and as he sped to the president, a piece of metal caught his attention. on the table in front of where he had been tied, a plethora of different bloodstained tools sat, but near them was a piece of jewelry. a ring, gold in color. expensive.

sentimental.

and without thinking, reno swipes it up and shoves it into his pocket.

now, back to the present, he fiddles with it in his pocket as his other hand reaches up again to clean the blood from rufus' hair. he begins to scrutinize a little harder now, eyes trailing along every inch of him until his hands are in view. ah, that's where he had seen it before... the matching rings. sentiment.

suddenly, he feels even worse for rufus, but he continues to remain stoic. strong. if only for rufus. if he could, he would erase tseng from his memory. he would go back in time and end his life before it even truly began —- why did tseng deserve life? why did he deserve to live and leave everything he ever knew in shambles? to destroy it all without a second thought. to hurt everyone who had ever loved him in any way; why?

"gods, fuck him." he doesn't mean to vocalize the thought. he doesn't want to do this, not now, not in front of rufus. so, he purses his lips and removes his hand from the pocket with that damn ring in it in order to pay more attention to the man in front of him. with both hands now, reno runs his fingers through hair, uncaring of the blood caking it and now his digits as a result of the action. "s'gonna be okay, boss." who knew the next statement spoken would create such sudden animosity: "i gotcha, don't worry."

rufus tenses at the words. muscles contract, fingers squeeze into fists. his gaze haunts reno —- it's full of something new, at least in relation to him. his eyes fill reno with such a fear, he has to distance himself the slightest bit. hatred. it's a fire in his eyes, a fire in his belly. he wants to scream, and for once, he decides: why not.

"did you know." it's less of a question, more of a statement. a demand.

dark brows nearly meet in the middle of his face, he's scrunching them so damn hard. reno says nothing in return. the look on his face alone should have been answer enough.

"did you know?" his voice is weak yet still full of such authority, reno feels a certain unease when he, yet again, doesn't answer. he's almost offended at the notion, but he has to keep in mind that rufus certainly isn't in his right mind. despite that knowledge, reno still keeps his mouth shut, right hand shoving back into his pocket to fiddle with that cursed piece of jewelry.

"reno. did. you. know." each statement punctuated with the same hatred in his eyes. he stares at reno. straight through his soul, as if he wants the man to hurt, to feel every ounce of everything he himself had been feeling. as if he wanted reno to suffer.

"no." he answers gently, despite his own anger rising behind his ribcage. the anger wasn't directed at rufus, it was tseng, and that damn hold he had over them both. it wasn't fair. how could he keep such a tight hold on them while also plotting to destroy them at the same time?

but there's a look on the president's face. a look that jabs a knife right between his ribs —- reno releases the smallest gasp. a sneer. features are screwed up into something terrible, something that makes reno feel so suddenly, alone.

"no?" the question is asked and venom seeps from those deadly teeth, that sharp tongue. he looked upon reno as if he were nothing more than an old toy, a machine that stopped functioning correctly a long time ago. perhaps rufus had just been sentimental, too much that he couldn't throw out the old and replace it with new. something better, something shiny. at least, that's how he looked at reno. what had actually been going through the president's head —- well, that was yet to be seen.

"i told you what i thought, sir. i had said that -." reno's interrupted by the sudden rise of rufus' hand from the red bath water.

"i know what you told me, reno. that isn't what i asked."

"what the fuck do you want me to say then?" he doesn't mean to snap back. he knows that rufus is in a vulnerable situation right now, made even more-so by the ring still settled in reno's pocket. he can't stop fidgeting with it. had they been engaged? he had never heard anything about it, but then again, the both of them were secretive men to a fault. they didn't announce much unless it had to do with all of them.

reno hated to think about that.

a betrayal in every sense of the word. no wonder he was so damn on-edge.

"i want you to tell me the fucking truth, reno." volume of voice rises and reno swallows hard. there's an attempt to swallow back every emotion fighting to rise to the surface before it explodes in a fit of rage. the last thing he wants to do is get into a screaming match with him. not now ... not ever.

"i'm gettin' y'out of the tub, mr president. i told ya i ain't know shit." reno reaches back to grab the towel hanging from the rack before offering a hand that rufus begrudgingly takes. after all, there's no way he could do it on his own. not yet, at least.

after draining the tub and turning on the shower head for a moment or two in order to rinse the remaining blood away, reno drapes the president's arm around his shoulder and lifts him out of the tub. with every hiss and pained noise from the man, there's a new rage rising in his stomach. sure, he was angry with tseng. he had been angry with tseng since understanding that he had been the one to cause all of this, but he never really got the chance to think about it. it was just a chaotic anger, an impulsive anger. now, hearing noises he never thought he would hear fall from the president's lips, reno suddenly feels the need for revenge.

and gods be dammed, he would get it.

but for now, his focus needed to be on rufus. even if the president didn't want him or his company, reno wouldn't give up on him. he wouldn't leave his side, even if he screamed and yelled and told him how much he hated him, reno would stay loyal and devoted, just as he promised all those years ago.

what the hell was a promise to rufus now? tseng broke that entirely, for anyone and everyone. this was something reno would have to deal with, going forward. was it fair? no, absolutely not. did he understand? to a degree. he wondered if he would be the same in the president's situation.

ah, a thought best saved for later. especially since it seemed as though rufus had more to say.

"reno." rufus speaks his name but it doesn't bring the red-head any joy as it usually did. instead, it's spoken again with absolute disdain that makes reno's stomach turn. if he weren't sitting in front of rufus, he probably would have been physically sick just from the way his name is spoken. "i'm going to ask you again, and you are going to tell me the truth."

he already wants to yell the answer despite rufus not even asking yet.

"did. you. know." sure, the words falling from rufus' mouth were calm enough, but the disgust behind every single one stung reno in a way he had never felt before. what the hell was he supposed to say? what was he supposed to do?

the two of them are on the bed. reno had dressed him in a light yet comfortable robe and if he were being honest, he was already starting to look like himself again despite the ordeal happening mere hours before. the scene is nice. it's comfortable, but the feel of it is anything but. the room is heavy with tension; reno can't stop fidgeting with that fucking piece of jewelry in his pocket. tseng did this. he ruined everything, and he would never forgive him.

"no," reno answers again, in his own calm tone, "and if i woulda known, i woulda told ya." he can't sit on the bed anymore. he can't just sit there as if they're two lovers engaging in simple conversation. no, they weren't lovers and this wasn't simple conversation. the possibility of lovers was thrown into the sewers, and that burned reno. again, a thought for another time ...

"you're a fucking liar. you never were good at lying." rufus attempts to stand, but he's wobbly —- unstable -— and falls right back down on the bed. despite the venom, reno nears him, an attempt to ask him what he wants, where he wants to go, but hands quickly grasp clothing and rufus is pulling reno down so that they're at eye level. against his better judgement, reno sits against the bed again and rufus releases the grip he had on his reno's shirt.

"i'm just as broken up over this as you are, mr president." alright, maybe that wasn't the right thing to say. there was no way in hell he was even on the same plane of hurt that rufus had been on. "why would i keep that away from you?"

"because you're a fucking turk, reno! that's what you do. that's what all of you slimy bastards do."

"are you kidding me?" reno's voice shakes as he speaks. it wavers and falls, and he can't help it. he doesn't want to show weakness in front of rufus, especially not now, but the accusatory statement nearly has him choking. "until now, every single one of us has been loyal to you —- as a matter of fact, if i remember correctly, you were the one who sided with the enemy at one point in time for your own selfish cause." he can't stop the words, as much as he wants to. all he wants to do is take his abuse, apologize for every accusation, tell rufus that he's right. even ask him what right he has to live? but he can't. in every other sense, reno can roll on his back and show his belly, except for when he's being accused of betraying not only rufus, but the rest of the turks as well.

no.

where the hell were they? if reno was the slimy bastard, why was he the one to patch rufus up and wash away the blood from his wounds? dress him as if he were incapable, and now ... sitting with him, his own mind spinning one-hundred miles a minute. "it fucking hurts me too, rufus. i trusted him, y'understand? i trusted him with my fucking life, just like you did. rude too. i—." he stops at his own mention of rude. oh, he hadn't thought about him since the initial realization and now his chest tightened. suddenly, he can't breathe. "rude went with him..." the words are a whisper, tone crushed by the overwhelming weight of despair.

pick yourself up, red. when in the presence of the president, your thoughts and feelings come last —- he's your concern now. always has been, if honesty is welcome.

but now it's too late to take back those words he flung back at rufus, his own venomous tongue playing a part. he's on the receiving end of the president's hungry stare —- and it wasn't the type of hunger reno was used to -— no, rufus wanted blood.

"if you didn't want your tongue, all you had to do was tell me." he says with a cool air about him, eyes still trained uncomfortably on reno. "speak to me like that again, and i will assure you go without."

all reno can offer is a nod; if he even chances opening his mouth, he might not be able to stop whatever comes forth. at least for the time being.

"now, i'm going to give you a choice here. you can tell me the truth and i'll give you a head-start to get out, or you continue lying and i kill you without a moment's hesitation the moment i learn the truth." he smiles a villain's smile, eyes still burning their way into reno's very soul.

"y'should already know my answer, boss. i ain't goin' no where cos i ain't done nothin'." he shrugs lazily. there's no more fight in him. the only thing he can say is that he never lied, he never hid it from rufus. hell, he never hid anything from rufus. the moment he felt something was even a little bit off with tseng, reno went to the president immediately to tell him that perhaps there should be some extra eyes on the director. but he didn't listen. oh, how he wanted to bring that up so bad. he wanted to throw that in his face, how the hell can you call me a liar when i was the one who came to you first? instead of heeding reno's warnings, rufus turned a blind eye. even yelled at him to shut up. how dare he even suggest such an idiotic notion.

'fine, fine!' he would say, with hands up in surrender. and he would say nothing more on the subject. it upset rufus so —- he wondered how bad it would kill him if reno's speculations ever came true ... well, now we have our answer, don't we?

"get out of my sight."

reno wants to argue, to tell him that he really shouldn't be alone, considering his current predicament, but the president's face is still so full of pure, unadulterated hatred, reno would honestly rather be anywhere else.

"get the fuck out of my sight, and don't you dare show your face until you're ready to tell me what i want to hear." he doesn't bother looking at reno as the words leave his mouth. only raises an arm to motion at the door, and like the good dog he is, reno obeys without argument.

"see ya never i guess, boss." and with that, rufus is alone once more. the silence, at first, is a relaxing embrace that he falls into without issue. but as time continues on, the silence twists into something damming, something despicable. how long has he been sitting there in his robe, allowing the silence to consume him?

and outside of his door, there's a certain redhead standing careful watch. his head is empty, his heart too. his body is numb and then he finally wonders if this is all perhaps a really fucked up dream or maybe it's some crazy ass training simulation. you know, to create some kind of action plan should the worst occur. but he shakes his head, a clipped chuckle falls from those pretty lips, "this ain't no dream," he says to himself, clapping his EMR against the side of his leg in slight anxiety, "so keep your head up, red."

#𝚅𝙴𝚁𝚂𝙴 ➟ #𝐈 𝐊𝐄𝐏𝐓 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐒𝐄𝐂𝐑𝐄𝐓𝐒 & 𝐈 𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐆𝐇𝐓 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐖𝐎𝐔𝐋𝐃 𝐃𝐎 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐀𝐌𝐄 #tw long post #long post #drabble. #yeehaw #sorry but i don't use read mores #because one time #it ate a post of mine #and i was really upset #so i don't do it #i'm sorry i'm sorry i'm sorry !!! #tw torture mention #this has been a few days in the making

[blackjack-15]

Hauntings, Messages, and the Mansion — Thoughts on: Message in a Haunted Mansion (MHM)

Previous Metas: SCK/SCK2, STFD

Hello and welcome to a Nancy Drew meta series! 30 metas, 30 Nancy Drew Games that I’m comfortable with doing meta about. Hot takes, cold takes, and just Takes will abound, but one thing’s for sure: they’ll all be longer than I mean them to be.

Each meta will have different distinct sections: an Introduction, an exploration of the Title, an explanation of the Mystery, a run-through of the Suspects. Then, I’ll tackle some of my favorite and least favorite things about the game, and finish it off with ideas on how to improve it.

If any game requires an extra section or two, they’ll be listed in the paragraph above, along with links to previous metas.

These metas are not spoiler free, though I’ll list any games/media that they might spoil here: MHM, TRN, SAW, non-spoiler quote from CAP, non-spoiler mention of GTH.

The Intro:

Message in a Haunted Mansion is the first “real” Nancy Drew game in that it a) isn’t hard to run on a new computer, unlike the first two, and b) it introduces things that would become staples of the Nancy Drew games: a historical plot/characters foiling and echoing the real life events (or at least giving context to them), a cast of characters who are there for more than just reciting their motives, important phone friends, hauntings both real and fake…the gang’s all here, folks.

We’re finally home.

Along with all of those wonderful things, MHM has a frankly incredible atmosphere that scared me back when I first played alongside my sister and scares me to this day, 18 years later when I play it with my friends.

It’s also the first game that establishes one Perennial Truth in the Nancy Drew world: there are supernatural forces at work, and they are real. Sure, most of the hauntings can be explained away easily — but not all of them can be, and this is reinforced by game after game (most pointedly in TRN and in GTH, but in other haunting games as well).

In the Nancy Drew Universe, ghosts are real. Sometimes people fake their specific ghosts, some use the rumors for their own benefit, and some ghosts “don’t have to be real to haunt to haunt you” — but there are ghosts, and they can haunt you.

MHM is an incredibly solid game, and is widely held as a fandom classic for good reason. Nostalgia might make this game a bit better for a lot of us, but that’s not what makes it good.

If you’re starting the series for the first time — or starting a friend or partner on it for the first time — MHM is the best starting point, bar none. It works on most computers, its sound card doesn’t have issues playing the audio, and it’s not SCKR. It’s the quintessential classic Nancy Drew game — maybe not intuitive, modern, or overly difficult, but it’s the one that all other games are based off of.

The Title:

It’s a very effective title…that unfortunately doesn’t describe the plot at all. The titular “message” is a note warning Nancy to “leave the mansion NOW”, but it doesn’t really affect Nancy, nor is it an important part of the game.

The central piece of the game is actually a poem hanging in Nancy’s room, but “Poem in a Haunted Mansion” just doesn’t have that alliterative appeal, nor does it sound like a very spooky game. Her Interactive wanted to sell this game as the spooky little masterpiece that it is, not evoke visions of Lord Byron plopping down next to Nancy and reading Don Juan aloud.

If I had been naming it back at the Turn of the Century, I probably would have gone with “Terror in a Haunted Mansion”…but the audience for Nancy Drew games was significantly younger back then, and “terror” might have spooked some parents into avoiding it.

Plus, the acronym would have been THM versus MHM, and MHM looks so much better that it’s hard to argue with it. Mythos in a Haunted Mansion? Meandering in a Haunted Mansion? Money in a Haunted Mansion?

Those are horrible, wow. “Message” it is. 

I guess if you really stretch, the poem could be a “message’….or the “message” from Valdez…or maybe “gum bo fu”? Lots of messages, one mansion, a few hauntings, here we go.

The Mystery:

Hannah’s friend Rose has sunk her entire life’s savings into an old Victorian mansion in San Francisco and is trying to renovate it into a Bed and Breakfast.

Unfortunately, strange incidents keep happening to delay progress and raise costs, so Hannah sends Nancy down to ostensibly help with renovations, but also to snoop around and figure out what’s going on.

Nancy does a bit of reno work, but mostly spends her time poking around and asking intrusive questions (not to mention sneaking into people’s rooms while they’re elsewhere and invading their privacy), and seeing the various “hauntings” that the house has to offer.

The secondary mystery (we’re now advanced and confident enough to handle two plot threads! Huzzah!) is discovering the secret of the house and its treasure, which requires Nancy to do a bit of historical digging into the original owner of the house, Elizabeth “Lizzie” Applegate, a famed actress, business owner — and the suspected lover of El Diablo, a notorious outlaw who pulled off a heist on Christmas Day of hundreds of gold coins.

As Nancy digs deeper into the mystery of who’s haunting the mansion, she finds out more and more about El Diablo (whose real name is Diego) and Lizzie’s romance and the treasure they hide together, leaving behind the vital clues to the treasure in a poem hanging in the Chinese room in the mansion.

In the end, in a bit of a “twist” for the Nancy Drew games (perhaps even a retroactive twist, since this is only the third game), it’s the B plot that solves the A plot, as Nancy loses total interest in the main mystery to focus on the historical treasure. Finding that treasure exposes the person behind the “accidents”, who has been causing the accidents in order to find the treasure.

Yes, this does confirm that the only person focused on the B&B is, in fact, Rose. Poor Rose.

The Suspects:

Rose Green is the first suspect you meet, as she’s Hannah’s old friend and the one in charge at the Golden Gardenia. She’s poured an obscene amount of money into the old mansion and likes to make comments that make it seem like she’s Super Guilty.

We’re at the stage in Nancy Drew games where subtlety isn’t a right, it’s a privilege.

Rose is one of our two main suspects, and keeps to herself and her spot in the dining room, ensuring that Nancy can never snoop through her stuff. She also has a mile-long to-do list and never does anything on it over the course of the 3+ days that Nancy’s there, so we have that to be skeptical about as well.

Ultimately, Rose isn’t evil — she’s actually the only one not doing anything suspicious — but I have to think that she’s not a very good businesswoman. As a character, Rose is barely 2D, a trait she shares with Louis. It’s no wonder they’re the two most suspicious characters — we’re not given any help in understanding them.

Abby Sideris is Rose’s second-in-command and helped her afford the mansion in the first place. She’s also the one who insists that it’s haunted by ghosts unable to Move On who cause the clattering and sobbing and moaning in the night. It is, of course, Abby who’s causing the more ghostly hauntings, but she insists the mansion is haunted anyway, and she’s simply helping it along.

She’s the only the only character with business sense, knowing that they have to drum up business for this bed and breakfast, not wait for people to come to then. No wonder Rose needed Abby’s money — she obviously comes by it with a heap of common sense.

Her sizing-up of Nancy shows she has talent as a cold reader, as does her distrust of Charlie, who really is being suspicious, albeit for different reasons than she thinks. She’s got the business smarts and the people smarts…wait, what does Rose bring to this partnership?

Speaking of Rose and Partnerships, there’s a fan theory — and it’s got some evidence in canon — that Abby and Rose are romantically involved.

Nancy asks Hannah about Rose and Louis, and Hannah laughs it off, which is a point in favor of this theory — how would Hannah know that Rose isn’t interested in this specific man who just came into Rose’s life? An easy explanation is that Hannah knows Rose isn’t interested in this man because she knows Rose isn’t interested in men.

Abby also invests her whole life into this bed and breakfast, moving out with Rose to California from Illinois at the drop of a hat. It’s a choice that would make sense if she was just as passionate about the bed and breakfast…but none of her dialogue nor her role in the game shows us that passion. Thus, the other thing that would make sense is that she moves with her partner to help support her.

As far as fan theories go, this is a fairly solid one — it’s not contradicted by canon, which is always a plus. It serves to deepen Abby’s character, giving us multiple motivations and heightens the stakes for the bed and breakfast to succeed…but it doesn’t do anything for Rose.

Charlie Murphy is Rose’s (or Abby’s? He says he works for Abby, she says he works for Rose) handyman, helping to fix up the mansion for rock-bottom pay.

He’s also secretly living in the mansion’s basement through a secret door and using the mansion to write his term paper, and thus doesn’t get much done handyman-ing-wise. 

There’s a point very early on in the game where he won’t talk to you if you haven’t talked to Louis. Louis can sometimes be difficult to make appear/catch, and is really easy to miss, so this is a frustrating facet for Charlie’s character.

Charlie’s a bit shifty for a character who’s literally doing one (1) thing wrong (slumming it in the basement without asking), but he’s also super rude to Nancy. Nancy doesn’t even deserve it this time, so it’s a bit odd that they chose him to be the “innocent but mean to Nancy” character when Abby the Spiritualist is the logical choice.

He’s also voiced by Scott Carty, the perennial voice of Ned Nickerson, so it’s a bit weird to hear him telling Nancy to piss off when Scott-as-Ned worships the ground she walks on and makes any problem between them his fault. 

The variety’s nice, but the variety’s weird as well.

Other than his shifty and sort of mean notes, Charlie has no character. He’s not a bad character, he’s not a good character — he just has no character at all. It’s like the developers had no interest in him other than “fourth suspect to make it an even number and harder to tell who the culprit is”. He’s 3D, but just barely.

Finally, Louis Chandleris a man specializing in antiques and history, who is helping Rose to sort through the hundreds of vintage items left behind in the mansion.

He’s actually mentioned as someone who showed up on the doorstep wanting to help and, well…I know 2000 was a different time, but I knew enough in 2000 to distrust someone like that, and I was a kid. Rose is a grown adult, and has no excuse for accepting this weird man.

Louis is a know-it-all, lying little son of a gun, and is there to run Rose et. al. off the premises so that he can search for the gold in peace and quiet. He, instead, stumbles upon Nancy with the gold coins, and decides to knock her out and steal them, not taking the basic precaution of tying her up or anything.

He’s easily foiled by a chandelier to the face — though, in his defense, I’m pretty sure that would foil anyone.

There isn’t a lot of meat to Louis’ character, but more than the rest of the cast because he has a slightly bigger role in the game. And even though Abby’s the one responsible for most of the spooky noises and the things that go bump in the night, it’s Louis who delivers one of the creepiest moments in the game.

It’s that moment where you’re on the phone asking Emily about gum bo fu, and the door opens for a bit, then shuts again behind you. It’s implied that Louis is checking in to see what you know, and it’s honestly terrifying the first (and second, and third…) time you play the game. It’s a rare moment where you may actually be in for bodily harm, and there’s nothing you can do about it — not even look around for the threat.

So kudos to Louis about that, but the rest of him doesn’t deserve much praise at all. Except maybe his line if you fail to stop him: “So long. Losers!”

How very turn-of-the-century of him. Heh.

The Favorites:

There’s quite a lot to love about MHM, as it’s obvious how much time and effort and heart was put into it to make it a really great game.

Even though there’s not a ton of the historical story, it’s very well done, and gives you just enough characterization of Lizzie and Diego to really care about them and to be…well, charmed by their love for each other. As a story, it feels really earnest, and while it’s not the Ultimate Best Historical Love Story that Her Interactive will ever do in its 30-odd Nancy Drew Games (that honor rests on a future game), it’s good enough to rank in at least the top 5.

Most of the puzzles are fun and engaging, whether it’s discovering hanzi that lines up with the Poem, chipping away old wallpaper to reveal a hidden attic, or solving a puzzle that took Abby and Rose two hour to place two pieces in under five minutes.

My favorite “puzzle” is definitely the hanzi, but figuring out the secret room in the library or the secret room in the basement or the secret attic (the Victorians loved their secret rooms) are definitely up there too.

One of the biggest pluses of MHM is the Haunting part. Abby’s responsible for a lot of them — the odd sounds, the projection of the woman in both the séance and in the mirror outside her room, and the incredibly creepy “I see you~” that can play while you’re in the hallway upstairs.

There are a few that you don’t discover as being her, but that could reasonably be chalked up to Abby’s attempt to market the mansion as haunted: the inflating/deflating cushion (which could be remote-controlled), the shadows at the doors/windows (projections or cardboard cutouts), and even the painting who blinks could theoretically be Abby (though that one’s a little harder to conceptualize).

However, the wooden phoenix/swan/winged creature in the parlor is wooden, and thus can’t move the way it does through human power. There’s also no evidence of Abby ever messing with it — no speakers, no motion sensors, no nothing — which makes it stand out even more.

Above, I mention the fact that in the Nancy Drew Universe, ghosts exist. This isn’t a debatable point; it is fact. The phoenix is just one of the many proofs that the series gives us. What makes Nancy special as a skeptic (which Abby calls her out for) isn’t that she’s a skeptic; it’s that she’s a skeptic in a world where ghosts exist.

As a character who has to be right for the game to end, this is a fascinating trait to have, and I love the relationship it gives Nancy with her world — an almost antagonistic relationship, versus what you expect: a Nancy who “bring[s] order to a scattered world”, to borrow a phrase from CAP.

My other favorite thing is the mansion itself; in quite a few Nancy Drew games, the location itself is almost a character, and MHM is one of the best examples of this. The mansion almost seems like it doesn’t want to divulge its secrets, like it wants to protect Lizzie and Diego, and will only let the worthy discover them and their treasure.

You’ll feel slightly unsettled throughout the whole game, picking one or two “safe spots” (usually your room) that you can run to when things get a bit too creepy, and that’s one of my favorite things as well. This unsettled feeling is independent of Abby’s hauntings, and really reinforces the house as a character unto itself.

The Un-Favorites:

There are a few things that do bug me in this game, though none are really game-breaking.

Once again, the culprit is obvious from the 1/3 point on, even though all of the characters say things that are supposed to incriminate them (Rose honestly says that the mansion might be worth more “burned to the ground”, which is a Bit Yikes and Very Incriminating).

You can write off Abby right away, as she’s obviously causing a lot of the hauntings, but she’s also the secondary investor and isn’t (per her and Rose’s conversation about the fire clause in the insurance claim) the beneficiary of the insurance agreement on the house. Once you know that — and it happens early in the game — she’s off the list.

Charlie’s the other suspect that’s cleared basically right away. It’s set up so that he has absolutely no reason for wanting the mansion destroyed or destitute — it’s providing him money and housing – and Abby mentions that, though she suspects him, it’s due to his straight-up incompetence, rather than any malicious intent.

So you’re left with Rose and Louis almost immediately — a character who never leaves her post, and a character whose stuff you can snoop around in and has a password-locked computer. 

Yeah, no prizes for figuring that out.

My least favorite puzzles are the slider puzzles (though that’s true in any game) and honestly the staircase “Diego” puzzle, as it bothers me enough to just pull up the walkthrough rather than trying my hand at it. I wouldn’t say these puzzles are bad puzzles, just that they’re the type that I hate (and that I suck at majorly, which doesn’t help).

The Fix:

MHM isn’t a game where a lot of fixes are needed, honestly. Updated graphics/other QoL improvements, widening the screen, etc. might be nice, but they’re not necessary at all to enjoy the game. The only thing I can think of interface-wise that would be nice is a journal/notepad that you carry around with you, rather than the one in your suitcase that is No Help At All if/when you get stuck.

Emily — a phone friend who Nancy apparently once solved a case for, as per the little booklet that comes with the game — is another spot that could be tightened up. While she gives you info that you desperately need in order to progress, her relationship to Nancy is never mentioned in the game, giving most players no clue who she is or what kind of information she can provide

Charlie is a character who just wasn’t done with any care, honestly. He’s a college student, putting him roughly at Nancy’s own age in a house full of people decades older than both of them, and yet no mention nor reference to this fact is ever made! She’s not the closest to Charlie; she doesn’t speak to him any differently — in short, even though he’s the one she should feel the strongest kinship to in a house of a suspicious antiques dealer, a psychic medium, and, well, Rose, Nancy has nothing unique to her dealings with Charlie.

This is especially egregious as you look at Nancy’s relationships with other suspects her age/who are the youngest in the game as the series goes on; she’s noticeably more playful and warmer towards them, or agrees to help them/let them help her in situations where she’d suspect an older person.  Charlie’s somewhere between about 18 and 25 (probably closer to 18 than 25), and not only does Nancy not treat him differently, but Charlie doesn’t seem to notice her age either.

Charlie’s age would have been a great way to tie him to Nancy, to give him an actual character (or at least an actual characteristic), and possibly to give a reason why he’s snappier with Nancy than anyone else — he’s worried this girl his age will see what those who are older overlook, or possibly that she’ll out-do him and Rose will find out that he’s not really a great handyman and has been spending him time researching rather than fixing things.

These fixes aren’t necessary to make a good game, or to make it ‘more playable’ — they’re just “fixes” to make the game a slightly different experience with a stronger focus on characters. 

Luckily, as time went on, Nancy Drew characters became deeper and more complex, and so MHM’s characters come across as full of potential and ripe for fandom headcanons, rather than seeming flat like SCK’s or STFD’s characters.

#nancy drew #nancy drew games #clue crew #message in a haunted mansion #MHM #video games #nancy drew meta #my meta

[revivedxfighter]

Red Balloon

@redheadedsonofabitch

Leave a “Mourn Me” in my ask, and I’ll write a drabble about my character mourning your character’s death.

This is another attempt in writing an emotional piece. I hope you like it.

“Careful! Don’t trip over yourself.” Harmony laughs when a toddler stumbles. The little girl takes her mother’s hand. “Don’t rush now. We’ll see him soon.” Harmony adds with a gentle smile. She rarely smiles now. Usually it’s to pretend to be happy, not for her own sake. The loving smile of a mother reserved for little Aurora. It’s the smile that she uses to hide the pain, so her daughter wouldn’t worry. 

Aurora turned four years old two days ago. The girl asked to go see her father again. They visit him as often as they can. It’s been two months since Harmony managed the time and strength for another visit. Guilt weighs on the young mother for not coming to see him. She never wanted Reno to be alone. 

That was how he-

“Will Daddy like my present?” Aurora asks, her blue eyes, the same shade as her father’s, look up at Harmony. The question shatters Harmony’s train of thought. “Yes honey. I know he’ll love it.” Harmony would think so. The little girl’s eyes light up. She lightly tugs on Harmony’s hand to go faster. The brunette couldn’t help but laugh. Aurora is as lively as ever. Sometimes it got the child into some mischief, just like her father. “Careful, keep a strong grip on your balloon.” Aurora nods, holding the ribbon attack to a red balloon tightly.

Harmony smiles for her child, but the pain in her heart sharpens with each step closer to Reno. 

  Harmony keeps a secret, and that secret is her pain. She cried and cried when she was alone at night the night, long after Aurora went to bed. But Harmony wouldn’t cry at work, and did what she could to appear cheerful in front of her daughter at home. It was always for Aurora’s sake.  The child is her precious treasure, her reason to fight to live, and not surrender her life to grief. 

But Harmony can’t hide her pain for long. These visits are one of the few moments when she can’t pretend anymore. 

“Daddy would be so proud of you. You’ve grown so much since you last saw him.” Harmony is sure it’s not a lie. She often told Aurora that her father loves her, always proud of his little girl. 

Aurora smiles, which widens when they made it to the top of the hill. She lets go of her mother’s hand, running to her father. 

“Daddy! Daddy! Here I am! I’m back!” She stands before a headstone with Reno’s name carved in shining marble. A wilted bouquet rests before the stone. A reminder that Harmony has been away for too long.  

“I got a present for you! My present is here! Mama , hurry mama! Let’s give it to him.” 

“Just a moment, love. I’ll be there.” Harmony takes the bouquet away from Reno’s grave, only to replace it with a fresh bouquet of red roses. A tradition during the visits. Aurora jumps in excitement, her head tiled back to see the sky. Harmony returns to her daughter’s side and gets down on one knee to be eye level with the girl.

“All right, give me your present.” Aurora takes a sheet of paper from her jacket pocket and shoves it to her mother. She can’t help it with her excitement, Aurora wants her father to get it and fast. It’s late afternoon, and Aurora fret in not coming on time. She thought her father would be asleep at dusk.

 The paper a little crumpled, but Harmony managed to smooth it over. It’s a drawing of three stick figures. One has red spikes for hair and red marks under the blue dots that are his eyes. Aurora knows how Reno looks from the pictures hanging in their house. The other stick figure has one gray eye, the other one bright green and dark hair. A small stick figure stands between them. Long dark hair and blue eyes. All three figures at holding hands and smiling with flowers around them. Blue words scrawled in crayon fills the space above the family. 

“I LUV U DADEE MAMA LUVS U 2 WE MIS U”

Harmony carefully folds the drawing and slips it into an envelope.The envelope has a hole punched in the corner and it’s addressed to “Daddy” on the front. She seals it and her gaze returns to her daughter. “Now give him a kiss.” Aurora pulls out a heart shaped stick, placing it over the back of the envelope and she kisses the sticker. 

“Okay, now it’s time to send him his present.” The  child squeals in delight and gives her mother the balloon. Harmony ties the letter to the balloon. She hands it to Aurora. The girl lets the balloon go, watching it ascend to the sky. 

It gets smaller and smaller, drifting further into the heavens.

“YOU’RE WELCOME!” Aurora shouts to the sky. Harmony’s lessons in good manners shining through. Harmony smiles, not aware that she has tears in her right eye. There were times when Aurora would ask where her father is. That question would appear a few times in the past. She couldn’t lie to the little one. 

“Daddy had to go. He’s with the Lifestream, always watching over you.” Her only answer to these questions. When Aurora asks if he’ll come home, her mother gives the same answer: “I’m sorry, honey. He has to stay put. He’s your guardian angel.” She could never bring herself to tell her child that her father got taken away.

 His illness got the best of him. The Legion of demons that haunted him finally claimed their prisoner. Ugly memories returned. The monster called addiction got him again and at that time, it refused to let him go. It took Reno away from Harmony, away from Aurora. His sickness was the murderer.

Aurora was eight months old, fast asleep and unaware of the heartbreak that shattered the small family. Tseng and Rude were at Harmony’s door that night. They gave her the news. 

Reno lied. He wasn’t coming home like he promised. The pain over the ignorance of her lover’s fight never healed.  He stopped talking, stopped talking about his worries and inner troubles since Aurora came to their lives. Help came too late.

He got to see Aurora’s birth, even held her close to his heart. Harmony had hope that night. She hoped that everything would be all right. They were a family and they were happy for a little while. 

Happy ever after never lasts...  

Small arms wrap around Harmony’s neck. She blinks the tears away to find Aurora quietly hugging her mother. She’s a child and may not understand how things are yet. That comes with growing up. Yet, Aurora knows. She knows her mother misses him. 

It’s rare to see the child without a cheerful smile. It breaks Harmony’s heart to see that Aurora is hurting too. She misses her father. 

“I love you, mama.” 

Harmony loses control. Tears roll over her cheek and she gathers her daughter in a warm hug, kissing her child’s hair. “Daddy will love your present.

“He loves you, and mama loves you too. No matter what, that will never change.” 

#redheadedsonofabitch #1 out of 2 drabbles done #hope it's okay ;u; #death m #tw: death #tw: death m #tw: drugs #drugs m #I'm a horrible person for writing this