heading straight for the castle.

[ghculking]

Hunter wasn’t made for small towns like this. He was a larger than life person, someone who craved neon lights on a way larger scale than the one on the diner, clubs and cars and people, filthy downtown areas with miles and miles of shady clubs and bars and uptown streets with shops so expensive that only the top ten percent could afford. Instead, he was stuck here, in a tiny hick place, always craving something bigger and better, places where you could get away with navigating the streets with that ‘anyone who doesn’t want to bump into me will move out of the way’ mentality - a concept people here didn’t seem too familiar with. Hunter realized that when he crashed into someone hard, sending him stumbling back with all the grace a drunk baby giraffe before meeting the ground. “God damn, watch where you’re going,” he snapped automatically as he picked himself up and shuffled back to his feet, clearly pissed as if that wasn’t totally his fault.

[ghculking]

cincphilia:

Upon spotting his best friend making his way through the store, James’ expression quickly changed from the usual neutral boredom to genuine surprise, then to the a lot more characteristic annoyance, complete with an eye roll and everything. “I’m not emo.” Grunge, maybe. He’d even take greaser these days, the thick 50s vibe the whole town was coated in clearly rubbing off on him and the way he popped the collar of his leather jacket. Emo, however, was still just as much as an insult as it was in seventh grade. Not like he wasn’t emo back then, he just didn’t like people calling it that. 

Still, he walked back to the back room with hardly any protest, just assuming Hunter would follow him because that was usually what Hunter did. “Black and white movies are art, you cretin,” he added, still annoyed, as he plopped back down on the sofa and started rewinding the movie he was already watching. “We’re watching Beetlejuice.” 

Barking laughter ripped from his lungs, sounding like James just cracked the joke of the century. “Whatever you say, Gerard Way,” Hunter teased with a cocky wink, feeling all smug about his witty joke-rhyme combination. He doubted that one could even wear all black every day, dye his hair black, wear beanies like it’s part of some hipster religion, listen to obscure indie, pop-punk, and classic rock only, and watch Beetlejuice by choice and not be emo, but he knew that they’d never come to agree on that, so he just took it.

“Sure. Why not. Why would we watch something that was made after we were born anyway?” There was a hint of a scoff, but still, he followed suit and plopped down on the sofa, immediately getting comfortable. It was routine for him to show up here, especially since this place had - for whatever reason - had become some sort of second home to James. Of course, that didn’t stop him from complaining. “Do you have anything to eat around here? And can we watch Mad Max instead?”

[ghculking]

scoutwest:

Scout looked a little surprised as Hunter called fighting with her a fight Dex couldn’t win. She’d expected the guys to laugh at her, as many had done before, and given her a reason to give them a few punches but apparently, the other guy wanted to avoid a fight. She did too, deep down. She hated it when her violent side came out, it had cost her a lot and she didn’t want it to continue happening. It just seemed to just… do. It always bubbled up. It was like she had a dark side of sorts.

She still wasn’t going to just let herself be called a dyke without any reprecussions. She clenched her jaw. “First of all, I am no one’s darling. Second, homophobic slurs aren’t a joke. Not to me.” She said, but the bite was out of her voice, just a little.

Considering Scout a friend was stretching it perhaps, but he knew her well enough. They had long bonded over music and hitting on girls, spending time in her flat was fun for all kinds of reasons, one was liking to spend time with her, annoying her roommate another. One way or another, it was probably better to get her out of this fight - and get his boys out of it, too. One on one, Hunter didn’t even doubt that Scout could take Dex easily, but underestimating the pack mentality of a group of drunk guys was a dangerous mistake to make.

“Scout, come on,” Hunter said, voice lowered with deliberation. He wasn’t even sure why I did that if it was to calm her down or for his friends not to hear him. Whatever way she’d take it, he was sure she’d have a point. “He’s an idiot, okay? Just ignore what he says.” Gently placing a hand on her arm he raised her brows at her. “I’ll talk to him later, it won’t happen again. No need to get your hands dirty over this.”

[ghculking]

scoutwest:

Scout was standing outside of The Coop with her latest girl-for-one-night. She was leaning with one hand against the wall, while the girl was pressed up against the wall and holding onto Scout’s back.

She never used to be a player like she she is now. Until she got with her fiancée, she had one previous girlfriend. Sure, when her and Georgia broke up, she had another relationship but it was all monogamous and not just sex.

Ever since Georgia left, with good reason, she knows, she just wasn’t coping very well. She’d upped her drinking, to forget how much she’d messed up and could only stop loathing herself when she was distracting herself with some pretty young thing. She wasn’t proud of it but then again, pride in herself was long gone. She had nothing to be proud of.

As she was kissing the woman, she suddenly heard the whistling and yelling of a group of what seemed to be drunk guys. She pulled back from the kiss she was engaged in and looked over at them. “Hey, dykes, just one night with me and you’ll be straightened out!” One of them yelled. It made her blood boil. “Oh, I dare you to say that again.” She told him, balling her fist. She was trying to remember her anger management classes, but it was hard with these assholes taunting her.

It was a typical Friday night with the lads. Out on the town, having drinks and causing mischief and picking fights. It was nice, one of the few things that had remained consistent despite the threat looming over the town. Of course, with so much euphoria over a night spent clubbing, things could get out of hand easily and when Hunter didn’t pay enough attention to keeping his boys in check. It only took a second for one of them to pick a fight with someone they really shouldn't be fighting with. 

“Dex, heel. Let me take care of that,” Hunter demanded quickly, his signature smirk on his face but firmness in his voice. “But-”, his friend wanted to argue, but Hunter’s grip on his shoulder only tightening, his town becoming sharper while the grin stuck to his features like glue. “I mean it, buddy. You don’t want to pick a fight you can’t win.” 

Leaving his friends behind, every step towards Scout felt like taking a step on a battlefield and knowing her, it might turn into just that any second. “Scout, darling. You know it was a joke right?”

[ghculking]

cincphilia:

The perks of living in a town like Canaryville were few and far between, but the necessity of a video store for nothing other but aesthetic’s sake was clearly one of them for a cinephile like James. As far as jobs went, one with night shifts, minimal human contact and plenty of time and space and movies to watch, this was a pretty good one. 

Of course, that hardly was enough to stop James from groaning as he heard the bell above the door chime, giving him the cue to get up and out of the backroom to deal with whatever customer had stumbled in this late. “So, what do you want?”, he called out, the disdain over having to pause his movie for this heavy in his voice as he made his way to the front. “Lighthearted comedy flick as distraction or teen slasher to really get in the serial killer mood?”

Nights out on the town had always been relatively bland just because of the kind of place Canaryville was, but now that people assumed locking themselves up in their little townhouses watching The Price Is Right all evening would somehow keep them safe from their impending doom and death by serial killer, it was deadly boring.

Hunter, of course, as a small town veteran knew exactly where he could get his next fix of simple entertainment when no better opportunity presented itself, so he waltzed into the video store, intent to pay his best friend a quick visit. “I don’t know, how about you pick?”, he called back, the smile on his face so wide that you could hear it in his voice. Before James could even reach the counter, Hunter had already jumped over it, just because that was what cool and handsome young rebels did in movies to demonstrate that they were cool and handsome young rebels which was something that Hunter found to be very relatable. “As long as it’s not another black and white movie. They suck and deep down you know that, emo boy.”

[ghculking]

totallyautumn:

To say Autumn was having an awful day was an understatement of the year. Everything at home was bad and then work was just stressful. She worked at  Marie’s Diner and normally it wasn’t a bad spot to work but with everything else weighing on her mind the job only made it worse. She was glad to be off and in the park. She just needed a break for awhile. She needed to not think or do anything. She just needed to turn off her brain for awhile. She thought she was alone when began to speak aloud to herself,”God, I’m an awful person.”She muttered to herself still thinking she was alone. “Who the fuck thinks like that?” If anyone was in her brain in that moment they’d think she was twisted and messed up. 

It was rare enough for Hunter to run into other people on his regular walks, rare enough for it to actually catch his attention. Now, moping girls sitting on benches alone were usually best left alone, that much he knew from experience. When she started speaking, he quickly changed his mind. “News at fucking eleven. Everyone’s an awful person, doll,” he pointed out, sounding bored and cold like usual even as he sat down next to her, cigarette hanging from the corner of his mouth. His eyes relaxed, staring at the plains of green in front of him. “But do tell. What’s your crime?”

[midsommars-deactivated20201109]

Samuel Larsen in Recovery (2016)