Imagine Robert going through that. He gets trapped in a lab/base underground with a quantum 3D printer and makes alternative versions of himself to run the base to get back above ground and it turns out all of his Alters had a fully realized relationship with Chad. Or someone else or multiple people on the Z team if you're a multi shipper.
And there would be versions of him who knew Bobby or knew his mom or had a normal life and like damn, the angst potential. Do you see the vision?
He went to the gym and lifted something very heavy until the pressure left his chest.
———————
When he came back to the break room there was a to-go cup of something that smelled like ginger and lemon with a post-it note stuck to the side.
The drawing on it was a stick figure with a low ponytail and flames off the shoulders and legs hovering in the air with jagged lines coming at it from every direction and an expression that was mostly just thick eyebrows and the words SORRY YOU GOT SINGED written underneath in Robert's handwriting.
Chad looked at it for a moment.
Couldn't help but smirk.
He looked through the breakroom doorway and across the bullpen. Robert was at his desk with his headset on, typing something, not looking over.
Robert did this on slow days. Quick sketches on post-its, left on lockers, vending machines, monitors or taped to the break room fridge.
Beef in various heroic or food related situations.
Caricatures of calls that had gone badly or well or just funny.
The team had a small collection tucked somewhere they'd never admit to.
Visi kept hers in her locker. Colm's were folded in his wallet. Chad had seen Janelle slide one into the back of whatever she was reading with a small smile.
Malevola and Victor had a small collection in their apartment.
Bruno stuck his wherever he stored things inside himself.
When Robert left Herm something it was makeshift laminated in tape — Still didn't last long in his hands.
Nobody told Robert. It would have ruined it.
Chad drank the tea.
He kept the post-it.
——————————
Note: Workshopping a scene for the upcoming Chapter 5 for Vampires will Never Hurt You and thought it would be cute to share here.
Robert looked across the conference table at the three men sitting. He looked at the files on his desk.
He picked up the first, looked to the twitching man on the far right.
"Johnny the Homicidal Maniac?"
The man looked at him, hunched, eyes wild and hair even more so. "Nny."
"I'm still not understanding exactly what you do that's—" Robert said.
"I must feed the wall." He all but hisses. "Must find more assholes and jack offs to paint the fucking wall."
His eyes looked side to side, as if listening to invisible beings. He loudly slurped on a cherry brain freeze that he produced from nowhere.
"Okay. I see on the chart you're good with knives. We kinda already got that covered."
Robert picked up the second file. Looked to the man in the middle.
"Okay, kind of getting there. You're a consultant for the FBI?"
The man looked at the rim of his glasses like he was in pain. Swallowed, his jaw tense, "Not anymore. You could say we had a disagreement." He had sharped his tone on the consonant.
"Okay. So what's your power —"
"I have a very good imagination." He looked to the side, back to Robert but still not looking at him, "I see their design."
Robert looked at the man standing behind him, apparently a packaged deal.
"And this guy?"
"He eats the rude, mate." Said the third man seated to the left.
"Cool. Cool. Cool." Robert took a big breath and sighed. "We already got a cannibal."
He picked up the last file.
"And you're —"
"Constantine. At your service." The blond man looked him up and down, "You look like you're more dangerous in the dark, mate." He lit up his cig, winked. "Let's go get a pint and find out."
I’ve rambled about what Fears I think the Dispatch cast would be avatars and victims of in this post, but I rambled further about Flambae on discord, so here’s that.
Hopefully this is seen by the small crowd of people that make up the intersection of the Venn diagram between The Magnus Archives fandom and the Dispatch fandom.
