final girl

Laurie Strode fc: lili reinhart indie roleplay | 21+ written by grim

[thexbabysitter]

❀ main ❀ bio ❀ face ❀ muse ❀ starters ❀ wishlist ❀

about:

This is a sideblog, and I follow back from my main @grimmusings. Please direct IMs there, since it's easier for me to keep all my messages on one blog. It's also easier to start interactions with me there, where I regularly post open starters and meme prompts. For a full list of rules, see my main. Honesty hour questions will largely be answered IC and treated as anonymous unless signed by a muse.

All details vary based on verse, but in general Laurie is a canon divergent interpretation that picks up after the events of Halloween II (1981). Unless specifically requested, I don't acknowledge the rest of the films for her, although I'm happy to plot an AU based on those. Her timeline has been updated so the events at Haddonfield happened only a few years ago, and Laurie travels the country doing research for her podcast, Final Girl. It started as part of her therapy, researching what happened to her so she'd have a better understanding of it, and then expanded into telling the story in her own words, before eventually branching out into seeking other survivors to tell their stories.

While it's largely a true crime podcast, it does occasionally dip into the supernatural. In Laurie's main verse (so far), there is no proof that those things exist, but after witnessing Michael's almost superhuman power, she couldn't help wondering if there might be something more to him. She's happy to interview people who do believe they've encountered something supernatural and to let them tell their stories, while she provides what facts can be verified and a safe, non-judgmental space for them. Ultimately, her listeners are encouraged to decide for themselves what's real or not.

wanted connections:

Final Girl Support Group: Sidney Prescott, Nancy Thompson, Julie James, Grace Le Domas, Charley Brewster (Final Guy), or other canon/OC Scream Queens would be awesome! I love the idea of all of them supporting each other. Slashers: Michael Myers, Billy Loomis, Carrie, other antagonists. I like terrorizing my muses. Supernatural: Fandom crossovers from other horror universes like Supernatural, It, Stranger Things, The Lost Boys, etc. would be really fun, whether she comes across those muses in her research or they find her.

default verses:

final girl: Following the events of Halloween II, Laurie travels the country researching stories for her podcast, Final Girl. May or may not include crossovers with other horror or paranormal fandoms.

halloween!verse: Any events that take place during the timeline of the first two Halloween movies. May or may not be canon divergent.

verses by request only:

I'm happy to write these, but since they're more specific AUs, I don't default on them for asks/memes. Please feel free to request them.

multiverse!madness: Somehow, Laurie is transported from the 70s to the present day in an alternate universe, where her story has been turned into a popular film franchise. (Or reverse: your muse is somehow transported into the events of the film, which are suddenly all too real.)

[thexbabysitter]

🎃 @amarvelousmencgerie liked for a starter

It was like one of those nightmares where the car was underwater or a tornado was dropping out of the sky. Laurie kept expecting to wake up gasping in her bed at any moment. Distantly, she realized this was her mind trying to protect her from everything she’d seen tonight. The chilling white mask, the gleaming knife, her friends’ lifeless bodies streaked in gore.

They’d sent the kids across the street to get help and then run upstairs to distract the killer and hide. In hindsight, higher ground seemed like a bad idea. Unless they were willing to jump out a window, they’d effectively cornered themselves. She was giving serious consideration to the window idea as his heavy footsteps came up the stairs. Maybe they could climb down and get to safety?

She hurried to the bookshelf, gesturing frantically for Rin to join her. She pressed her shoulder against it, a harsh breath escaping as she pushed it away from the wall. "Get ready," she whispered, eyes on the door. Her plan was for them to push it over on the intruder. Laurie didn't think it would kill him unless they were very lucky, but it might slow him down long enough for them to escape.

[dciisymoved-deactivated20260220]

@grimmusings. LAURIE STRODE ft. CARRIE WHITE.

the young adult folded her arms over her chest, her azure hues flickering around briefly before they landed on the older woman. ❝ so a man in a mask, chased you down to kill you and he has yet to kill you.... fascinating. and very lucky of you. ❞ she responded simply with a curt nod of her head.

[thexbabysitter]

"Lucky," she echoed with a faint smile. Laurie had a complicated relationship with that word. Watching all her friends die hadn't felt very lucky, but when she had to explain how she'd escaped from Michael, luck was all she had to fall back on. She wasn't smarter, better, more deserving than anyone else. She'd just gotten lucky. "I guess it was. But everyone's luck runs out eventually, right?"

[thexbabysitter]

@alwaysxinxtrouble

Her body ached from falling down the stairs. Her arm burned from the slash of the knife. Her mind was still reeling from the sight of all her friends' bodies upstairs. There had been no time to even try to come to terms with that, if such a thing was even possible. Somehow, the appearance of the masked boogeyman had made it both more and less real to her. More because Laurie grasped immediately the kind of danger she was in, that this was no dream or prank. Less because there was no time to process the loss while she was fighting for her life.

She whimpered softly at the pain in her leg as she forced herself to stand, hobbling into the living room. She tripped over the lamp and fell hard again, her mind screaming a warning as the figure pursued her down the stairs. She crawled to the kitchen, slamming and locking the door. She didn't realize it was already occupied. She backed away slowly, screaming when she hit another body. This one was warm and alive, and she whirled, eyes widening at the unfamiliar face. Was he here to help? How had he known where to go? She hadn't even had time to find a phone, let alone call the police.

"Please, he's here! We have to get out-- The… the--" Laurie couldn't quite bring herself to say the boogeyman out loud. It sounded outrageous. The boogeyman wasn't real. She'd assured Tommy Doyle of that many times tonight. Except, it seemed, he was real, and he was here. As if to punctuate that thought, she screamed again when the center of the kitchen door exploded as though it had been hit by a powerful force, the masked face appearing through the hole.

[alwaysxinxtrouble]

Clint sprinted after her, boots pounding the pavement, lungs burning with adrenaline. He nearly ate it on the porch steps when she tripped, steadying himself on the railing as his eyes darted around the dark street. Every nerve in his body screamed that Michael Myers should be right behind them—but when he looked, the street was empty. His heart thudded in his ears, louder than the ragged pull of his own breath. He knew this movie. He knew this scene. And that made it worse.

“Oh, nope nope nope nope—this is the part where he just appears out of nowhere!” Clint hissed, scanning the shadows with an arrow-ready tension even though he had no bow in sight.

Laurie’s voice cracked behind him, panicked and small. Where did he go?

Clint’s laugh came out half-hysterical, half-sharp. “That’s the million-dollar question, isn’t it?” He pressed his back against the door, eyes sweeping frantically across every patch of darkness. “He doesn’t just go, Laurie. He’s Michael Myers. He lurks. He stalks. He—” Clint’s words faltered as a chill swept down his spine, senses screaming at him to move.

“—Okay, okay, I’m voting we don’t wait to find out where he went. We stand here long enough, he’s gonna Kool-Aid Man right through the wall, and I’m not sticking around for it,” he said quickly, reaching to yank Laurie closer to him. “Come on! Pick a direction, any direction—left, right, I don’t care. Just move before Captain Creepshow decides to make his big dramatic re-entry!”

[thexbabysitter]

"What are you talking about? Do you know him?" Her voice cracked with fear, her eyes scanning desperately back and forth across the street, seeking movement, but all was still. Her hands shook as she knelt on the porch, fumbling around in the dark for the key, but it seemed to have vanished into thin air. Should she wake Tommy? Get him to let them in? Or should they run next door and have the neighbors phone the police? She didn't want to lead the masked man right to the kids…

Her mind was racing, and she straightened, giving up on the key. "S-Stalks?" she echoed, eyes wide. She had seen him earlier. More than once. She'd tried to tell her friends, and they'd laughed at her, convinced her she was imagining things. "Why-- Why is he after us? How do you… how do you know all of this? Oh my god… He killed my friends." Tears burned her eyes and slid down her cheeks, and she hastily wiped them away, trying to get a grip on herself. She couldn't afford to fall apart right now. If what he said was true, then they weren't safe now, even with the masked man--Michael--nowhere in sight.

She drew a shaking breath, glancing either way down the empty street again. It wouldn't help them to go running blindly through the neighborhood. They needed a plan. "Okay. Okay… The Carpenters are out tonight, but the Johnsons should be home… That's only two houses down. We can call the police?" she suggested, a hopeful lilt at the end of her sentence because that was what people did in a crisis in Laurie's world. They called the police and let the professionals handle it.

[thexbabysitter]

"Even without any supernatural elements at all, that sounds… evil. True evil." It would take someone genuinely corrupt to inflict that on people, especially innocent people like the ones who'd played. She'd read the news coverage, or what she could find of it. The victims were all teenagers, children, people who didn't yet have the tools to defend themselves. The game was designed that way specifically, to target the vulnerable. Laurie didn't need to believe in the boogeyman to see that humans could be just as wicked all on their own.

"You did more than that, though. You helped stop it?" It was an educated guess. The newspapers and online blogs didn't tell her how it ended, just that it had. A small, wry smile twisted at her lips. She was intimately familiar with that thing he was describing. Walking into a house and discovering the dead bodies of all her friends had been like slipping into an alternate reality, one where the boogeyman was real and a masked man with a knife could bend the world to his will. "I've never heard anyone describe it so well. I don't think anyone who hasn't been through something like that could really understand it."

Her nod was understanding. There were similarities to her situation, but it wasn't the same kind of thing. "It's a different kind of fear. A killer can be unmasked, brought to justice, maybe even killed. But something that lives and preys on your mind isn't as easy to get rid of. I think that's why it should be talked about though, in both cases. The truth might be terrifying, but it's powerful. Information is our best weapon sometimes, so that when things like that do happen again, we're prepared."

She paused. She wasn't often the first to bring up Michael, but Jughead had shared a lot with her. Being equally open seemed like the least she could do, and he seemed trustworthy. She trusted her instincts. "I… for all my research, I still don't really understand Michael. I was there. I saw him in action. And I still can't explain everything I saw. I'd like to think there are neat answers to everything, but reality isn't like that. There isn't an answer to every question, but they're worth asking anyway."

[rayofsunshinc]

Jughead’s fingers tightened around the mug, thumb worrying the rim. Her words were calm, measured, but edged with something raw. ❝Yeah.❞ He murmured, eyes flicking down to the dark swirl of coffee. ❝It was evil.❞

Her guess made his jaw tighten, a quiet flicker of pride and bitterness moving under his expression. ❝I wasn’t some kind of hero — ❞ He looked up at her then, a small, grim smile at the corner of his mouth. ❝But I couldn’t just sit there and pretend like it wasn't happening. I never can.❞

His face contorted in a little confusion as he recalled how the defeat of the supposed Gargoyle King happened. ❝When we finally exposed Penelope ... yeah, it was for revenge, but the motive was weak in my opinion.❞ For the briefest moment, he got stuck in thought, in his memory, in that awful night where Penelope had brought him and his friends for a final quest. Out in the woods, running for his life.

He looked up at Laurie. ❝The sick and twisted part was, she rounded up my friends and I, and tried to kill us out in the woods. She’d built a whole gauntlet of tests out there. Poison, traps, and at the end of it … she meant for us to die. A final ascension.❞

He huffed a breath through his nose, a sound that might’ve been a laugh if there was anything funny about it. ❝But for what?❞ He took in a deep breath, shaking his head. ❝I know that people can be evil. It felt like more than that. I know it sounds crazy, but ... sometimes I think this whole town has something wrong with it.❞

He fell silent for a beat, studying her face. There was a look he knew all too well, that thin layer of composure stretched over a wound no one else could see. ❝You’re right. The truth is the only thing that makes the dark less … absolute. Doesn’t fix it. But it’s something to look toward.❞

He didn’t flinch, but his eyes softened. ❝What happened to you is different, but ... it's the same in a way. You can’t ... unsee something like that or unknow it.❞

[thexbabysitter]

And evil took its toll. Laurie couldn't help empathizing, the way she did with so many of the people she talked to for the podcast, both on the record and off. They'd survived something terrible, something unexplainable, and now they had to live with it. It wasn't an easy thing.

"Not to disagree with you, but I think that might be the definition of a hero. Someone who can't just sit by," she pointed out with a small smile. "I know what you mean, though. Survival doesn't feel heroic at the time." People said that about her too, and Laurie was just as uncomfortable with it. She hadn't done anything heroic. She'd just fought back with what she had at the time. She hadn't saved anyone, except for herself. It didn't feel heroic to be the last girl standing, just lucky. That was all it was. Luck. She didn't deserve to live more than her friends just because she'd been lucky enough to escape.

"Aren't they, usually? People do horrible things for the most banal reasons." She fell quiet, listening to his story, cold fries forgotten on the table. She'd almost forgotten they were in a public restaurant, too absorbed in the conversation to pay much attention to her surroundings. It was dangerous, but somehow, despite all the horrors she knew had happened here, it didn't feel dangerous in Pop's, with the warm lighting and the cozy atmosphere.

"That's… horrible, to plan it all out like that. Was everyone okay?" The only question that really mattered, in the end. Laurie peered into darkness on purpose with her podcast, but her stories were primarily about the survivors. Evil didn't deserve more of her attention. "Cursed. That's interesting. Some places do feel different after something like that, almost like the horror lingers there. I guess it's not so far-fetched to believe it leaves a mark."

She nodded, absently tracing the rim of her milkshake glass with a finger. "We'll always carry it with us. But we decide what we do with it. I don't think it has to be a burden."

[riverdalecentral]

betty in her laurie strode costume (requested by anonymous)

[thrall-of-the-hill]

open - michael - any connection welcome

The normally gentle giant had put down the lesson of the witches, sworn off the evil and rage they tried to bestow him with. The same gifts he had used to kill so many; their screams haunted every dream even as the years went on. An outsider looking in might even mistake him for a pacifist, just as the figure before them had- a fatal error in the wrong place.

Thankfully, the crowded bar had enough bodies between them to keep Michael at bay. The gaze he cast, however, spelt the violence he wanted to inflict. “Stay away from them,” or else had been implied well enough in his tone.

[thexbabysitter]

"A water, please. And can I get another soda?" She spoke to the bartender despite his obvious lack of attention and hoped he'd get to it eventually. Though she occasionally drank socially with her friends, she'd never particularly warmed to alcohol either. She didn't like feeling out of control of her own body. It didn't make her feel relaxed, only amped up her anxiety.

"No, I'm not from here. Are you?" There was a slight hesitation in the answer, Laurie noting her own awkwardness in it. She didn't like to tell strangers where she was from. Too many people knew Haddonfield by name, and she hated that flash of recognition when they realized who they were talking to. It wasn't comfortable being famous for something she wished had never happened.

He had an intense stare. It made her pulse speed slightly, a danger warning she'd learned not to ignore, but it wasn't entirely uncomfortable either. She found herself more curious about him than frightened. "I was supposed to be meeting someone for work… But I don't think she's coming." She pulled her phone from her bag and lit the screen to check the time, but there were no new messages. It was like that sometimes. People reached out to her about the podcast and then changed their minds or chickened out. "Are you here alone? I hope I'm not keeping you from your friends."

[thexbabysitter]

"Maybe I can help. I've gotten pretty good at uncovering mysteries." Her smile came a little easier, the mood lightening briefly, but she didn't want to make too much light of what had happened here. People had died. It was no joking matter. Most mysteries, Laurie had discovered, didn't have straightforward solutions. Real life was too complicated for that. There were always loose threads, things that didn't add up, questions that would never be answered. Her best strategy for dealing with the uncertainties was to research, talk to people, collect as much information as she could find, and present it with as little bias as she could. What conclusions people drew from the facts were their own business.

"That's terrifying. What kind of minds dreams up a game like that, to make people want to hurt themselves?" She paused, realizing that was exactly the question that had led Jughead to start playing, and she made a soft sound of surprise. "Oh. I see why you started. I think I would have done the same if it were my friends. I would have wanted answers. That's so… insidious of the game, to pull people in like that."

Her head tilted thoughtfully, glad he was the one to bring it up. Something more. "Strange as it sounds, I understand. When you're in the middle of something like that… it feels almost otherworldly. All the natural rules of the world seem suspended." She'd witnessed it with Michael too, in the way he'd killed all her friends so quickly and so easily, without sounding any sort of alarm. In part, she thought it was because nobody expected something like that to happen, and evil took advantage of that. It preyed on those expectations and subverted them, and that gave it power. Power that, caught in the middle of it, looked greater than human.

"That's good. I hope your friends got justice." She didn't ask who it was. It was either a matter of public record and she could find out for herself, or it was a secret too big for him to tell. In either case, she would respect it. "In this case, it sounds intentional. Someone brought it back for a purpose. It's not unreasonable to think someone else could in the future, once people start to forget what happened-- or it turns into Riverdale's very own urban legend."

[rayofsunshinc]

Jughead leaned back slightly with a creak of the worn diner booth. His fingers wrapped around his coffee cup, the steam curling between them. He watched her for a beat, his gaze steady and unreadable, then softened, just slightly.

❝You get it.❞ He said quietly. It still surprised him when someone did. ❝Most people, they hear the story and they think it’s just another messed up chapter in Riverdale’s history. But it wasn’t just a game. It was ... deliberate. Designed to prey on curiosity, fear, desperation. It manipulated pain.❞ His lip curled in a half-grimace, more tired than angry.

He glanced out the window for a second, watching the neon flicker against the darkness outside, then turned back to her. ❝And yeah, I had to understand it. Even if it meant putting myself in its path.❞

Jughead tilted his head slightly, thoughtful now. ❝You’ve seen it too. That shift. When everything starts to feel off, like you’ve slipped between the cracks of reality and something is watching from the dark. That’s not just paranoia. That’s evil knowing it has the upper hand.❞ He offered a small, dry smile. ❝And it’s always quiet. Makes itself at home.❞

He paused for a moment. ❝But you’re right. These things, they never stay buried. All it takes is the right person, the wrong motivation, and suddenly it’s not history — it’s happening again. But that's the problem. It's something that people don't want to talk about because there is a history. It scares them. I think there's a reason people are so scared. It's not the same as being scared of ...❞ He hesitated, knowing her history and not wanting to make light of it. He's been through a version of it. ❝A killer ... I mean, that's tangible, makes sense, you can see the evidence. Usually.❞

[thexbabysitter]

"Even without any supernatural elements at all, that sounds… evil. True evil." It would take someone genuinely corrupt to inflict that on people, especially innocent people like the ones who'd played. She'd read the news coverage, or what she could find of it. The victims were all teenagers, children, people who didn't yet have the tools to defend themselves. The game was designed that way specifically, to target the vulnerable. Laurie didn't need to believe in the boogeyman to see that humans could be just as wicked all on their own.

"You did more than that, though. You helped stop it?" It was an educated guess. The newspapers and online blogs didn't tell her how it ended, just that it had. A small, wry smile twisted at her lips. She was intimately familiar with that thing he was describing. Walking into a house and discovering the dead bodies of all her friends had been like slipping into an alternate reality, one where the boogeyman was real and a masked man with a knife could bend the world to his will. "I've never heard anyone describe it so well. I don't think anyone who hasn't been through something like that could really understand it."

Her nod was understanding. There were similarities to her situation, but it wasn't the same kind of thing. "It's a different kind of fear. A killer can be unmasked, brought to justice, maybe even killed. But something that lives and preys on your mind isn't as easy to get rid of. I think that's why it should be talked about though, in both cases. The truth might be terrifying, but it's powerful. Information is our best weapon sometimes, so that when things like that do happen again, we're prepared."

She paused. She wasn't often the first to bring up Michael, but Jughead had shared a lot with her. Being equally open seemed like the least she could do, and he seemed trustworthy. She trusted her instincts. "I… for all my research, I still don't really understand Michael. I was there. I saw him in action. And I still can't explain everything I saw. I'd like to think there are neat answers to everything, but reality isn't like that. There isn't an answer to every question, but they're worth asking anyway."

[thexbabysitter]

@alwaysxinxtrouble

Her body ached from falling down the stairs. Her arm burned from the slash of the knife. Her mind was still reeling from the sight of all her friends' bodies upstairs. There had been no time to even try to come to terms with that, if such a thing was even possible. Somehow, the appearance of the masked boogeyman had made it both more and less real to her. More because Laurie grasped immediately the kind of danger she was in, that this was no dream or prank. Less because there was no time to process the loss while she was fighting for her life.

She whimpered softly at the pain in her leg as she forced herself to stand, hobbling into the living room. She tripped over the lamp and fell hard again, her mind screaming a warning as the figure pursued her down the stairs. She crawled to the kitchen, slamming and locking the door. She didn't realize it was already occupied. She backed away slowly, screaming when she hit another body. This one was warm and alive, and she whirled, eyes widening at the unfamiliar face. Was he here to help? How had he known where to go? She hadn't even had time to find a phone, let alone call the police.

"Please, he's here! We have to get out-- The… the--" Laurie couldn't quite bring herself to say the boogeyman out loud. It sounded outrageous. The boogeyman wasn't real. She'd assured Tommy Doyle of that many times tonight. Except, it seemed, he was real, and he was here. As if to punctuate that thought, she screamed again when the center of the kitchen door exploded as though it had been hit by a powerful force, the masked face appearing through the hole.

[alwaysxinxtrouble]

Clint was pretty sure this one was on him. One minute he was in Tony’s lab – not at all doing things he wasn’t supposed to be doing – and the next thing he knew he was on the floor of a kitchen. Maybe Tony hadn’t been exaggerating when he said not to touch the ominous looking button. But how could he not when it was put like that?! It was far too tempting. Now that he was stiffly pushing himself up to his feet with a groan, a quick look around the space and he realized it was oddly familiar, though he couldn’t put his finger on just where.

There was no chance to figure out why he recognized the room before a blonde woman burst into the kitchen and locked the door behind them, backing right into him. Jumping at her scream, Clint put his hands out in front of him to show he meant no harm to her, which she quickly seemed to understand.

“Woah, slow down! Who is-“ As if on cue, the center of the kitchen door exploded, and a face appeared in the hole. The woman screamed as a chilling sense of dread fell over the archer. He suddenly knew why he recognized the kitchen; he had seen it hundreds of times while watching one of his favorite movies. The mask - Michael freaking Myers hunting down Laurie Strode with a supernatural sense of determination.

"Nope! I’ve seen this movie before and that is a fuck no!” Tearing his gaze away from the door, Clint began to push Laurie towards the back door. "Back door! Back door! Go go go!" He hurried her towards it, glancing over his shoulder as he fumbled with the locks, horrified to see Michael bursting through more of the door. The last lock softly clicked, and he threw it open, grabbing Laurie by the arm to push her through. "Please run now!"

[thexbabysitter]

Laurie couldn't begin to process a comment like that right now. She didn't have any particular feelings about scary movies. They were nice around Halloween or at parties with all her friends jeering at the TV and throwing popcorn, and Tommy had seemed to enjoy The Thing earlier that night, but otherwise she didn't go out of her way to watch them. She was more of a book person. She certainly never imagined he meant it literally, as in they were actually in a movie. Nobody thought of their life as fictional.

She didn't need telling twice, stumbling around a chair as she moved toward the back door, afraid to tear her eyes away from the looming masked face. She couldn't look and run at the same time though, so as terrifying as it was to let him out of her sight, she had to decide if she was going to die there staring like a deer in headlights or run for her life. She ran, down the back porch steps and around the side of the house, glancing back only to make sure the mystery man was still with her.

Her footsteps pounded across the street, and it was pure instinct that sent her rabbiting back toward the Doyle house. She stripped on the porch steps and almost fell but righted herself, grabbing the doorknob and twisting. It was immobile under her hand, and she groped in her pocket for the key, the other hand pounding on the door. "Tommy! Tommy, open the door!" She fumbled the key out of her pocket and dropped it in her haste, hands shaking. She glanced back at the street, her breath stalling. It was empty except for them, the masked figure nowhere in sight. "W-where did he go?"

[thexbabysitter]

🎃 @piinkviscera liked for a starter

Laurie had witnessed a lot of strange and terrifying things since that fateful Halloween night, but Purge night had to be among the worst. The fact that it was legal just made it more sickening. She'd considered returning to Haddonfield for the night, but she'd seen firsthand that just because it looked like a safe, sleepy little town didn't mean that it was. It wasn't even just Michael. She'd seen the townspeople come together like vigilantes with pitchforks and torches to drive out perceived evil, and… no. She really didn't need more of that in her life.

She'd resigned herself to white-knuckling it in her apartment for the night. The windows and doors were reinforced with steel plating, and she had more weapons than she'd ever had against Michael, but Laurie didn't fool herself that it was completely safe. Nothing was completely safe, and nothing would keep out indefinitely someone who truly wanted to get in. She hadn't counted on herself being dumb enough to leave, but she should have. Laurie wasn't the kind of person who could ignore screams anymore. Instead, she found herself checking her weapons, unbarring the door, and running toward them, her biggest fear not that something would hurt her but that she would be too late to help.

[thexbabysitter]

"Of everything that's happened here, it seems like that one has the fewest concrete answers," she explained. Unmasking a killer--usually--meant obvious conclusions. Jason's murder had been solved, the Black Hood had been unmasked, but Gryphons and Gargoyles was too widespread and nebulous for such a clear explanation. The other aspect of her interest in it, that it seemed to blend reality with the supernatural, she wasn't quite ready to admit. It reminded her of Michael, how he seemed almost superhumanly strong. But Jughead was taking her seriously right now, and she didn't want to end that by speculating on things that couldn't be real.

"So you had an insider's perspective, and a peek at the control room." She smiled, brow arching slightly in return. It didn't sound nerdy to Laurie at all. From what little she'd managed to uncover about it, it sounded horrifying, the kind of game she would have been too frightened to try if her friends had been playing. She quieted, hands folding in front of her while he settled into his story. He had a natural storyteller's flair for it. She almost felt like she could see it unfolding in front of her as he spoke.

"I'm so sorry," she said softly. "Were they friends of yours?" Laurie had never been a part of something like that, but she'd observed how easy it was for people to get caught up in their fictions. Haddonfield lost its mind any time they thought Michael might be returning. She'd seen crowds gather with makeshift weapons that were almost as terrifying as the boogeyman. She could only imagine how much worse it would be if someone were purposely channeling that energy to frighten people and hurt them.

"It's difficult to tell what's real and what isn't when you're in the middle of it. Do you know who was behind it all, even pulling the Gamemaster's strings?" Another little smile, soft and understanding. She didn't believe for a moment that it was Jughead using the game to manipulate people. They'd only just met, but with the way he spoke about it… it was far too personal to him.

[rayofsunshinc]

❝I hope that I can fill in some of those blanks, but no promises. I still have a few questions of my own.❞ Namely the original source of the game, how it started circulating beyond the Sisters of Quiet Mercy, and who was the original Gargoyle King?

Jughead nodded. ❝Thank you.❞ He murmured quietly, the memory of his classmates, forever teenagers and forever remembered as the kids that got too caught up in a silly game. ❝Yes, we were friends. I started playing because I was trying to figure out what happened to Dilton and Ben. Why would they commit suicide over a game? But as I became immersed, I almost lost myself in it too. It never reached that level for me, but I understood how it could've for them.❞

Being constantly immersed in storytelling, and having a bit of an addictive personality, Jughead felt that he was lucky that it hadn't. He almost didn't want to say the next part, but felt he could trust Laurie. She was a fellow story-teller, after all, trying to make sense of the evils of the world. ❝It felt like ... something more than simply the gameplay had a hold.❞

Despite that, Jughead managed a slight smirk. He was guilty of guiding the game along, yes. But he had never been the Gargoyle King, luring vulnerable kids to their death. ❝Our Gargoyle King was revealed. Or at least, the one who was impersonating him.❞ Penelope Blossom had been revealed as the person beneath the costume and the schemes, motivated by grief and resentment toward a town that she felt had let her down.

The facts were there. Jughead had seen it unfold in front of his eyes, and yet, ❝I've wondered if there might have been a larger figure-head that was organizing this. It's almost like any other trend that dies out for awhile, then comes back. I'm just hoping that it's gone for good this time.❞

[thexbabysitter]

"Maybe I can help. I've gotten pretty good at uncovering mysteries." Her smile came a little easier, the mood lightening briefly, but she didn't want to make too much light of what had happened here. People had died. It was no joking matter. Most mysteries, Laurie had discovered, didn't have straightforward solutions. Real life was too complicated for that. There were always loose threads, things that didn't add up, questions that would never be answered. Her best strategy for dealing with the uncertainties was to research, talk to people, collect as much information as she could find, and present it with as little bias as she could. What conclusions people drew from the facts were their own business.

"That's terrifying. What kind of minds dreams up a game like that, to make people want to hurt themselves?" She paused, realizing that was exactly the question that had led Jughead to start playing, and she made a soft sound of surprise. "Oh. I see why you started. I think I would have done the same if it were my friends. I would have wanted answers. That's so… insidious of the game, to pull people in like that."

Her head tilted thoughtfully, glad he was the one to bring it up. Something more. "Strange as it sounds, I understand. When you're in the middle of something like that… it feels almost otherworldly. All the natural rules of the world seem suspended." She'd witnessed it with Michael too, in the way he'd killed all her friends so quickly and so easily, without sounding any sort of alarm. In part, she thought it was because nobody expected something like that to happen, and evil took advantage of that. It preyed on those expectations and subverted them, and that gave it power. Power that, caught in the middle of it, looked greater than human.

"That's good. I hope your friends got justice." She didn't ask who it was. It was either a matter of public record and she could find out for herself, or it was a secret too big for him to tell. In either case, she would respect it. "In this case, it sounds intentional. Someone brought it back for a purpose. It's not unreasonable to think someone else could in the future, once people start to forget what happened-- or it turns into Riverdale's very own urban legend."

[thrall-of-the-hill]

@thexbabysitter

The blood was turning tacky as he rolled his shoulder, the stale smell of metal and earth filled the air around him. He felt thankful how quiet the house had become. The screams had stopped long enough for him to take stock of the carnage. Whoever these people were Michael found them to be little of a challenge, the jock had been an issue. He was the one that knocked Michael’s shoulder out of place, moving to the kitchen he pressed it against the door frame. A satisfying pop follow and a small groan echoed from behind the mask, the pain was brief.

Walking through the house Michael knew he was missing one more, a brunette girl. In a cheerleader outfit- out of the corner of his eye he saw movement. A blonde. Turning on his heel he moved toward the window to peer at her from the front yard, she was young. Like them. It was only a moment later the brunette surprised him jumping from the back porch into the yard, “Laurie!”

With that the hunt was on again, he wasn’t about to have a loose end. The coven would not be pleased. Hurrying toward the back door Michael opened it in time for the brunette to scream, “HIM!” A few large steps from the back door he lifted the knife above his shoulder, “Laurie run!”

[thexbabysitter]

Laurie wasn't surprised when her friends dumped Lindsey on her in addition to looking after Tommy. She didn't even mind. It was no more difficult to watch two kids than one, and they kept each other entertained. After the movie, she'd put them both to bed, and then she'd started to worry. They should have been back by now, and nobody was answering their phones.

She locked the door to the Doyles' house behind her and headed across the darkened street. Trick or treating time was long over, and the neighborhood looked deserted. It was even a little spooky, but she tried to push those thoughts away as she headed down the street. She'd freaked herself out enough already tonight with imaginary stalkers and Tommy's talk of the boogeyman.

She'd cut through the houses and reached the back yard when Annie suddenly appeared. Laurie's scream echoed hers, as much startled as she was frightened, and then she screamed again when the door flew open on a masked figure. "W-What?" No, this had to be a Halloween prank. That knife couldn't be real. Still, she didn't resist when Annie grabbed her wrist and tugged her back around the house, breaking into a run as they reached the street.

"What's going on? Who is that? Where are Bob and Lynda?" Annie was sobbing so hysterically that Laurie almost couldn't make the words out, but she gathered enough to understand that their friends were dead. If this was a prank, it wasn't a funny one, and Laurie might kill them herself for their insensitivity. She reached the Doyle's door first and slammed into it, scrambling in her pocket for the key.

[thexbabysitter]

muse: Laurie Strode (Halloween) limit: 18+ only please, mutuals and non-mutuals set: a library, any town open to: other horror muses, multifandom crossovers, OCs, whatever! triggers: canon-typical, nothing specific

When they asked Laurie what she wanted to be when she was a little girl, she'd never once imagined she would put podcaster or true crime investigator on her list, but to be fair, she hadn't known those things existed when she wrote down things like teacher or ballerina (a pipe dream that met a swift end when her first and only ballet class ended in tears). She liked the work she was doing though, giving people like her an avenue to tell their stories, and traveling the country made her feel safer than sitting in one place waiting for Michael to find her. And, hey, she got to visit a different library in practically every town she stayed in. If that wasn't the dream job, Laurie didn't know what was.

The podcast had risen naturally from researching her own experience and others like it. At first, she'd just wanted a way to organize it for herself and make it public in case it could help others, but as Final Girl got more listeners, it started trickling in a fair amount of money too. It helped pay for gas, food, and motels, anyway, and that was enough for now. The stories in this town were vague, and she didn't hold out a lot of hope for it. She'd come to talk with a forest ranger who agreed to meet with her about some suspicious attacks in town, and while she didn't get much out of the interview that hadn't been in the news, she was still dutifully recording her impressions in her notebook after he left. There probably wasn't enough here for a story, but Laurie was nothing if not meticulous.

Call it experience in having been stalked for one horrible Halloween, but she knew when she was being watched. The hair on the back of her neck prickled, although her pencil didn't waver in her note-taking. She could swear there was a shadow standing just on the edge of her peripheral vision, but when she looked, it was gone. Probably just another library patron, but… she didn't just sit around and wait for things to find her anymore. She set the pencil down and stood slowly, coming to stand at the edge of the rows of bookshelves. "Hello? Is someone there?" she called softly. The light buzzed and flickered overhead because of course it did.

[thrall-of-the-hill]

The coven had ran the town from the shadows for years, sheriffs didn’t answers calls on their residence when the folks complained. Judges ignore cases brought against them. Even the odd disappearance was ignored by its people, though they all knew what likely happened. Their dog had gotten a hold of them. No one knew quite when the witches had arrived or how the town had fallen prey to them. All most knew was the woods was no place to wander after dark. Even the rangers avoided anything but their post when the sun went down.

Though most imagined their ‘protector’ to be some disfigured creature born of ichor, they couldn’t be further from the truth. Jason was but a man. A gifted one, but at the end of the day a man. Most only knew him as a the quiet boy from the coven house, only in town for errands or the odd job. He was kind enough, though he never offered a passerby a kind smile or nod. The townsfolk had gotten used to ignore the oddities around them, often pretending the whole group didn’t exist.

When they heard of the famed ‘final girl’ visiting to investigate the disappearances Jason was sent to sort the problem out. Kill her, don’t bother to reason with her. She’s the last thing we need here. Erica’s words rang in his ears as he waited outside, the library was just off the main road. Too many eyes. Putting out the cigarette Jason decided to get a closer look, doubting she’d leave before the library herded her out. He knew the her type well enough.

It took a few circles before he found her nook, watching her a few moments he was gone from sight before she lifted her head. Not soon enough it seemed. Moving down a thin row of shelves Jason stuck to the darker parts of the room, his feet making a quiet shuffle. He did not respond.

[thexbabysitter]

She listened hard, her head tilted slightly while she strained to catch a sound. Was that the shuffle of a footstep, or just the quiet hush of the ever-present heater running? Stand there long enough and she'd be overcome by paranoia. She had to remind herself that it wasn't paranoia that had gotten her up in the first place. It was a feeling deep in her gut, the kind she'd learned not to ignore.

She had the sense that someone was standing just out of her range of vision behind the shelf. She'd taken a tentative step forward, lifting onto her tiptoes to try to peer between the rows of books, and then she checked herself. If she did happen to find someone down there, and they did happen to wish her harm--both huge assumptions, no matter what her instincts whispered--then she had nothing to fight them off with. Laurie had proven she could be creative in a pinch, but it was much, much better to be prepared.

Her footsteps were silent on the thin carpet as she moved back to her table, slipping the small pocket knife she kept in her bag into her pocket and picking up her umbrella. Admittedly, not the best weapons, but she didn't just carry around the real thing with her when nothing had even threatened her yet. She had no reason to believe there was anything real going on in this town yet anyway. Gripping the umbrella tightly, she stepped between the shelves and moved cautiously down the row. Her mind was playing out how it would go when she reached the end, how she would probably just startle some random innocent library patron, or maybe there would be no one there at all. She drew a breath, her heart fluttering when she turned the corner at the end.

[thrall-of-the-hill]

open - michael - any connection welcome

The normally gentle giant had put down the lesson of the witches, sworn off the evil and rage they tried to bestow him with. The same gifts he had used to kill so many; their screams haunted every dream even as the years went on. An outsider looking in might even mistake him for a pacifist, just as the figure before them had- a fatal error in the wrong place.

Thankfully, the crowded bar had enough bodies between them to keep Michael at bay. The gaze he cast, however, spelt the violence he wanted to inflict. “Stay away from them,” or else had been implied well enough in his tone.

[thexbabysitter]

Surprise flickered across her face as she watched a shadow pass over his. Laurie had witnessed all forms of darkness, enough to recognize it when she saw it, yet it had been this man and no others who had come to her aid. It just proved again what she already believed, that people didn't have to be ruled by their demons. "I didn't see anyone else stepping in," she admitted, glancing around as everyone settled back into what they’d been doing. It wasn’t a criticism, since Laurie still had her own optimistic streak, but it was true.

"You didn't start it." She gave his arm a gentle pat and took her hand back, reaching for a handful of napkins to dry herself off some. At least whatever he'd spilled on her wasn't sticky. "I'm okay. Are you? He didn't hurt you, did he?" She worried about the same, wondering if it was really over. Her aggressor didn't seem like the sort of person to let things go. She took the seat he pulled out for her, settling her bag by her feet. "No, I never saw him before tonight. Will you let me buy you a drink as thanks?"

[thexbabysitter]

She would. Of course she would. Laurie always did what she said she would do. She was the nice girl, the avid student. Even Michael hadn't been able to change that. She looked forward to looking up his stories later and having a "voice" to go with the face. There was nothing like reading their writing to slip into another person's head for a while.

"It never really stops being less surreal, does it? No matter how many things you go through." Her smile was small and full of understanding. Obviously, Halloween night stood out most vividly to her. She'd been able to combat some of that sense of unreality with research and facts, with putting her story into her own words, but parts of it would always feel dreamlike, not quite real.

"Really? That's perfect." She couldn't help brightening at the words, at the broad smile on his face. Not everyone appreciated her nosing around into their personal lives, and Laurie tried to back off and be respectful when that happened. She accepted that not everything was her business. She had a long list of questions she wanted to ask--Jason Blossom, the Black Hood, the Gargoyle King--but she considered carefully. These were sensitive topics and, admittedly, one of them called to her more than the others, the one with the least concrete answers, the one most shrouded in mystery even after it was over. "Okay. What can you tell me about Gryphons and Gargoyles?"

[rayofsunshinc]

❝Yeah, that's exactly right.❞ He agreed. It was nice to talk with someone who understood, and to know that Riverdale wasn't the only place where bad things happened. Not that he wished bad things on others. It was less like misery loves company, and more like it was nice not to feel alone.

❝Wow — of all things?❞ Jughead laughed lightly. He was willing to talk about it, just wasn't expecting that to be the topic of interest. But the game had been hellish enough. After all, a cult had used it to recruit people.

❝I used to play. I was the Game Master.❞ Jughead admitted. ❝Hellcaster too.❞ He added, raising his eyebrows playfully. He knew it sounded like some nerdy board game that losers got together to play in their mother's basements. But no, Jughead knew better than that.

He sighed softly, becoming serious again as he tried to sum up the game. ❝Picture this: a group of teenagers in a town that's anything but ordinary — Enter Gryphons and Gargoyles, a role-playing game. We’re not talking about your average dice rolls and quest adventures. No, the stakes are life and death.❞ His brows furrowed as he recalled learning that Dilton and Ben had died playing the game.

❝The quests? They’re not just fantasy; they’re real and chilling, forcing players to confront their deepest fears and darkest secrets.❞ He shook his head. ❝But here’s the kicker: Gryphons and Gargoyles isn’t just a game. It’s a tool for manipulation, a way to exploit the vulnerabilities of the lost and the lonely.❞ He looked down, recalling what it was like to get caught up in the game. ❝It felt like ... the line between the game and reality was blurred. People died playing the game.❞

[thexbabysitter]

"Of everything that's happened here, it seems like that one has the fewest concrete answers," she explained. Unmasking a killer--usually--meant obvious conclusions. Jason's murder had been solved, the Black Hood had been unmasked, but Gryphons and Gargoyles was too widespread and nebulous for such a clear explanation. The other aspect of her interest in it, that it seemed to blend reality with the supernatural, she wasn't quite ready to admit. It reminded her of Michael, how he seemed almost superhumanly strong. But Jughead was taking her seriously right now, and she didn't want to end that by speculating on things that couldn't be real.

"So you had an insider's perspective, and a peek at the control room." She smiled, brow arching slightly in return. It didn't sound nerdy to Laurie at all. From what little she'd managed to uncover about it, it sounded horrifying, the kind of game she would have been too frightened to try if her friends had been playing. She quieted, hands folding in front of her while he settled into his story. He had a natural storyteller's flair for it. She almost felt like she could see it unfolding in front of her as he spoke.

"I'm so sorry," she said softly. "Were they friends of yours?" Laurie had never been a part of something like that, but she'd observed how easy it was for people to get caught up in their fictions. Haddonfield lost its mind any time they thought Michael might be returning. She'd seen crowds gather with makeshift weapons that were almost as terrifying as the boogeyman. She could only imagine how much worse it would be if someone were purposely channeling that energy to frighten people and hurt them.

"It's difficult to tell what's real and what isn't when you're in the middle of it. Do you know who was behind it all, even pulling the Gamemaster's strings?" Another little smile, soft and understanding. She didn't believe for a moment that it was Jughead using the game to manipulate people. They'd only just met, but with the way he spoke about it… it was far too personal to him.

[intcthatgoodnight]

OPEN STARTER! [ nancy thompson ]

setting: after the events of the first movie, before the third. nancy is in college. could be set in the 80s or in present day.

"I'm fine, I'm just..." Tired. It was almost her permanent state of being. But how was she supposed to have a normal sleep schedule after...everything. She did her best and was honestly doing better, but still, nights were hard. "I stayed up all night cramming for the upcoming test. I'll go to bed early tonight to make up for it."

[thexbabysitter]

"I don't think that's how it works, but I get it." Laurie's smile was gentle. If nobody could understand exactly what she'd been through on Halloween, Nancy came closest. She sometimes thought the other girl had it worse. Laurie only had to worry about one night of the year, not every time she fell asleep. "Feel ready for the test?"

[thrall-of-the-hill]

open - michael - any connection welcome

The normally gentle giant had put down the lesson of the witches, sworn off the evil and rage they tried to bestow him with. The same gifts he had used to kill so many; their screams haunted every dream even as the years went on. An outsider looking in might even mistake him for a pacifist, just as the figure before them had- a fatal error in the wrong place.

Thankfully, the crowded bar had enough bodies between them to keep Michael at bay. The gaze he cast, however, spelt the violence he wanted to inflict. “Stay away from them,” or else had been implied well enough in his tone.

[thexbabysitter]

Despite years and experience separating Laurie from the mousy bookworm she'd been in high school, she still wasn't the sort of person who thrived in a bar atmosphere, for reasons just like this. Some people didn't know how to take no for an answer. The guy had been lowkey pestering her all night, and it finally culminated in a small scuffle and him spilling his drink all over her.

She hadn't expected a stranger to come to her rescue. There were bodies between them now and the harasser was walking away, disgruntled, but the air was still thick with potential violence. She laid a hand on his arm, her smile gentle, hoping to defuse the tension. "Thank you. That was kind of you to step in."