#> daisy lore: part one (interrogation)

[lycanlovingvampyre]

MAG 107 Relisten

Activity on my first listen: putting up a new fence (now moved to a different part of the property though!).

JON: "Also, I’m definitely being followed. There’s a police officer, I saw him at the airport as well, he stood out a bit because he wasn’t immigration, or TSA or anything like that. He just, he just looked like a Chicago beat cop." Probably a coincident, since the Stranger is an Entity that gets a lot of screen time, but Jon's always getting paranoid for a longer period of time when there’s a Stranger after him (see Not!Sasha and S2paranoia-machine!Jon, nothing with Daisy though).

JON: " I managed to track down the arresting officer, one Jay Rebecks, who said that she’d been found over the body of Gerard Keay reading from a large, strangely-shaped book. They’d been unable to determine if the mutilations on Gerard’s body had been done by her, and in the end she somehow managed to talk them out of pressing charges." I couldn't quite follow MAG 4 and MAG 62 so I had no idea what this meant when I was first listening XD For someone paying attention to the lore of the Keay family I think this was... an open book! *badum tss*

JON: "Elias has, um… I, I, got a letter, well, an envelope… it’s, it’s a statement. There’s, there’s a note, “to tide you over,” and, uh…" At this point we already know that being away from the Institute too long will make you sick (see MAG 90). But this is not was this is about... I wonder how long Jon has been dependable on statements. And what happens at this point, if a fledgling Avatar stops reading them. Will he also starve? Either way, from my first listen I remember this point very clearly, thinking "Wow, this is... not good...".

I don't know, which of the described scenarios in the statement is scarier. Seeing this burning ghost train with people inside, the interrogation by someone clearly up to no good or knowing that they will take everyone and everything you love one by one.

JON: "But, as usual, he chose to keep this very useful information to himself." Elias is clearly doing this, this withholding of information, to keep Jon in a scared state. Loss of control is a factor for anxiety disorders.

JON: "there’s a woman here in the cafe, the diner, whatever. I’ve seen her car, I think she’s following the bus. She’s early 30s, I think, dressed nondescript: hard-wearing denim, old leather. And she is… definitely watching me." Okay, now there's a Hunter, but that paranoia was very brief.

JON: "So… kidnapped. Again." A TMA S3 classic!

JULIA: "Weirdest thing, really. Didn’t mean to spill half of it, but… really helped me put the pieces together. You know?" I just love how TMA gives canon explanations for things which are just necessary for a working narrative but make no sense in rl (I know, this lore has already been established by now, I just like this so much I simply cannot not point it out).

It wasn't hard for me to recall "Mustermann" as a name of the Anatomy Students from MAG 34, since this is the placeholder name we use where I live (btw, "Muster" means "exemplary" and "Mann" is just "man". So a exemplary man. Yeah, sexist much... For females they sometimes use "Musterfrau", "Frau" meaning (you guessed it) "woman". German is such a binary language it hurts me everyday...)

@a-mag-a-day

#a-mag-a-day #mag 107 #tma #tma spoilers

[daisylore-au]

1/5 - PUFFY INTERROGATION

the kids decide to ask their teacher first, and angel, as puffy’s kid, decides to take up the lead role of questioning !! puffy has always been open to talking with them before about different matters: this won’t be any different, right?

read under the cut for the beginning of the fic and your first choices!

“You sure you can do this?” Daisy whispers to Angel at the end of the school day. “Like, you think it’ll work?”

Angel gives her a cheerful thumbs up. “I hope so,” he says, confidence in his words, “I mean, we talk about everything, to be fair. This’ll probably be the same. It’s just like when I asked her to tell me if Santa was actually real, and she did!”

“Right,” Lissie says, a little dubiously, “just like that.”

Helga lets out a boisterous laugh, swinging back on her chair. “Yeah, if Santa was a ghost and kinda awkward sometimes and covered in flowers and also dead. Exact same thing!” Thumping Angel on the back, she adds a bright, “You’ve got this, trust me.”

“Okay!” Puffy’s voice sounds over the kids’ chattering, and she claps her hands, smiling at them all affectionately. “That’s us finished for today, okay? Get your bags and jackets and get ready to leave. You’ve all done amazing today, by the way - I’ll definitely bring in cake on Friday for you all,” she winks, grinning at the whoop James lets out and the high-five between Michael and Daisy, “thanks for being so great! See you tomorrow.”

This is it. This is his time. Taking a deep breath, readying himself, Angel heads over to his mom, resolve stiffened after a reassuring nod from Darian, and Puffy’s smile broadens when she sees her son, picking him up and giving him a hug. Normally, he’d squirm away, squeal an embarrassed not in front of my friends!, but this is exactly what he needs from her right now. The better mood she’s in, the better this will go. Right?

“Mom, can I talk to you?”

Puffy looks briefly concerned, setting him down on the edge of the desk so he can swing his feet over the edge. He feels young again, like a toddler, feels a flicker of childish anxiety and fear, because, when he thinks about it, this is a pretty grown-up topic to have to try and talk about. He wishes he was a kid again. Wishes he didn’t have to ask his mom about murder and one of his friends getting hurt. 

“Sure, duckling,” Puffy says, warmth in her voice, “about anything. What do you wanna talk about?”

Angel hesitates. Does he bring up Dream directly, or does he try to be discreet about it? Which would be best?

-------

asks for this choice will be open for 20 minutes (21:15 BST) !! send an ask 1 or 2 (or reply to this post with a number!) and after those twenty minutes have passed, i’ll write the next part !!

1 - BE OPEN, MENTION DREAM NOW.

2 - BE SUBTLE, MENTION DREAM LATER.

#> daisy lore: writing #> daisy lore: angel #> daisy lore: puffy #> main story !! #> daisy lore: part one - interrogation #> interrogation (angel + puffy)

[centaurianthropology]

The Magnus Archives ‘Hard Shoulder’ (S02E21) Analysis

It’s the return of Section 31, and a bit of follow-up on one of the few largely standalone stories from the series.  Is everything connected?  Who are the drivers of Breekon and Hope?  And … are we ever going to get any sort of emotional payoff for last week’s revelations? Come on in to hear what I thought about ‘Hard Shoulder’.

Okay, going to get this right out in the open.  This one didn’t click with me.  At all. I found Daisy’s reasons for visiting the archives to be suspicious at best, and potentially utterly nonsensical.  Her statement was vaguely interesting, but her character was a total blank for me, and the whole Section 31 plot is definitely the least interesting of the subplots to me.  So if you adored this episode and want to give this analysis a miss, I wouldn’t blame you in the least.

Let’s start with the initial revelation, which I both like and I don’t: Basira only helped Sims because she thought he’d murdered Gertrude and wanted to … I really don’t know.  Do some sort of undercover sting operation? I mean, that does make better sense than her showing up conveniently with tapes, claiming that somehow the police couldn’t find a tape deck.  And frankly, it makes her a better professional, who actually did trust her partner, and used Sims to try to either solve the case or reveal himself as the killer.  I like that bit a lot, actually.

What I like less is the explanation for why he’s going to keep getting tapes: because she likes him. Um, sorry, what?  She’s willing to break protocol for a guy who’s been mentally unstable the entire time she’s known him, who she thought was a murderer? I don’t care if he was as smooth as Tim, I can’t believe that she would share evidence in a case with a potential suspect just because she liked him.  That she would share information because he might have unique insight, or because she was being stonewalled by both her department and the Institute? That I could buy.  But this explanation skirts dangerously close to ‘shoehorned love-interest’ territory.  I really hope that what’s actually happening is some clever subversion of that, because I would really hate the only super professional female character recurring in this show to be violating professional conduct because she likes someone.

Of course, I must acknowledge that this information is coming from Daisy, who seems shady as shit. She comes to the Institute to bring a tape of her own, for no reason.  She doesn’t send Basira, but comes herself.  She then proceeds to blow their entire undercover operation by telling Sims about it, and then when he asks her to give a statement, she just … does. Just like that.  Nothing in this setup makes any sense to me.

The story itself was fine. It didn’t raise any hairs, but I did appreciate it being a follow-up to ‘Do Not Open’, and perhaps even tying that story in with a few others.  Out of everything that happened in this episode, I think the actual story of it worked the best.  

For one, the driver of the van was named ‘Tom’, a man with the sort of face so ordinary you couldn’t remember it?  The sort that might look an awful lot like a stock photo?  I do have to wonder if Not-Sasha’s new boyfriend is also a driver for Breekon and Hope.  And if that’s the case, how does he fit in?  We’ve only ever heard about the two big fake-Cockney guys.  

Speaking of Breekon and Hope, I also appreciated that we got a more physical description of them. Hitting them is like hitting a wall, and their skin is like rubber.  Whatever they are, I really don’t think they’re human.  They pass for human, and probably work for both human and horrific elements of this world, but perhaps they properly belong to neither.  

We also get to find out what exactly was in that coffin from ‘Do Not Open’, or at least we sort of find out. It turns out that the coffin contains a staircase descending into impossible depths.  It’s likely this is where John from ‘Do Not Open’ went, and Daisy’s partner followed suit, walking calmly down the staircase as though he was sleepwalking.

So, yeah.  The story was fine.  We got some potentially interesting information about Breekon and Hope, and about Tom.  I think that this is one of two potentially really interesting things to come out of the episode.  The other was the only reason I can think of to explain why Daisy would suddenly decide to tell such a personal story—something she’d never told anyone—completely out of the blue.  A few people have speculated that perhaps the Archivist can detect lies.  I wonder if it can compel statements.  It was a little difficult to tell with the voice performance, but I think that Daisy was genuinely surprised and upset she told the story after she was done, and she was completely ready to leave, but when Sims asked about vampires she immediately info-dumped again.  To this complete stranger, despite being a hardened cop.  The only explanation I can think of why this would happen that remains consistent with that characterization is if she didn’t intend to tell it until prompted, and then had to tell.  

That, to me, could be very interesting.  Not only could it be interesting for Sims, but it might have fascinating implications regarding Gertrude.  Sims is flailing around in the dark as far as what being the Archivist means, but Gertrude had 50 years to master it.  What could she do by the end?  What if she started using her ability not to passively record, but to hunt and to interrogate?  

I’m interested to hear what’s on next week’s tape, delivered by Daisy for an unknown reason.  Because to me, the only way I can square the complete not-explanation for her appearance, her revelation about Basira, and everything she did in this episode (except perhaps the statement itself, and its potential coercion), is that it’s a trap.  She gave Sims a tape that is going to contain answers, but more than that, will actually harm him.  At that point, I think I could forgive a lot of what seem right now to be glaring flaws in this episode.

I guess I should dig into those flaws, shouldn’t I?  I’ve tried to put it off, and dig into the few implications I found genuinely interesting, but in truth, I thought this episode was really frustrating.  While Basira’s all-too-convenient appearance earlier is now explained, Daisy’s appearance isn’t.  If she’s setting Sims up for a trap, awesome, but why blow their investigation to him? Why the explanation about Basira?  It doesn’t serve to help Basira in any way, and sort of comes straight out and says that she’s breaking procedure for a stupid reason, making her look unprofessional. 

And if Daisy’s statement was compelled, why wasn’t she more shaken?  Why wasn’t she pissed that she’d told a very personal story against her will? The only other explanations are that she just randomly decided to tell a very private story to a complete stranger, or that she intended to tell it all along.  And neither of those actions make any logical sense whatsoever.  

I will put my hand up to not being overly excited about this episode in the first place.  The first Section 31 episode didn’t grab me at all, and the entire subplot has left me unmoved.  I find conspiracies dull, and have yet to find either Basira or Daisy particularly compelling characters.  I was hoping this was going to be an interesting twist in Basira’s story, and with the opening, I felt like we were getting somewhere.  Her working undercover, as I said, actually worked really well for me, but that got ruined with the whole ‘she likes you, so she’ll break with procedure to pass you tapes and risk getting fired’ thing which immediately made her look incompetent.  

The plot, and the motivations of everyone involved, were entirely opaque.  Normally I love a bit of vaguery, since filling in details with your mind is a huge part of what makes audio horror so scary.  But this episode was vague for no reason I could discern, and wasn’t even frightening.

I don’t want to be Debbie Downer here.  I hate listening to an episode and finding it uninteresting and confusing.  I felt like there were two elements to this story that could potentially blossom into something very cool indeed, but I couldn’t make any connection to the characters or the plot.  And a connection, after last week’s revelation, was what I really wanted.  I may be alone in this feeling, but after some factual closure last week, I wanted genuine emotional fallout.  I wanted at least a confrontation with Tim, if not a discussion with Elias or Martin about everything that’s happened.  I wanted a focus on the team that’s been put through the ringer this season, and instead we got the sub-plot I find least interesting.  

I feel like we’re on the cusp of certain answers and certain revelations, and that this story might have advanced it, but only in the smallest and most tangential way.  I was hoping for some hint of character advancement after everything that happened last week, and there wasn’t any.  Sims doesn’t seem changed.  He’s still doing precisely what he was doing before the CCTV reveal.  No one is confronting him, and after all that buildup and what felt like the beginning of payoff last week, I will now admit to a bit of frustration.  Even a small acknowledgement that things are shifting would have been something, but this was totally disconnected.

Conclusions

I may look on this episode more favorably later, once certain facts are laid out and better explanations are given.  But right now this one is on the list of I’ll-listen-to-it-if-I-have-to-check-lore-and-the-Wiki-fails-me.  There aren’t many episodes like that for me, but this one didn’t click.  Sigh.  You can’t like them all.

#The Magnus Archives #analysis

[daisylore-au]

5/5 — TOMMY INTERROGATION

part five (?) !! this was another close one, but between 10 to 8 votes, “was dream alone?” won !! here’s a fun choice coming up.....

It’s easy to picture the scene: she’s always had a wild imagination. If she closes her eyes, she can feel the spittle of dirt and dust on her face, can feel her muscles burning from overexertion, can hear the shouts of others nearby. The fight would have been intense: the fight would have been terrifying.

The fight would have been worse with nobody on your side.

“Was he really just by himself?” Henry asks quietly, fidgeting with the cuffs of her sleeve. “Just— fighting and escaping alone? And then he died alone too?”

Tommy shakes his head, propping his chin up with his hands. “Nah, nah, he wasn’t entirely alone. He was out of prison for.... a couple of days, tops, and had a couple of allies. He called in favours, he found people that helped him.”

“Who?”

“Technoblade.” Tommy actually laughs at her incredulous expression. “Yeah, he fuckin’ sided with Dream, believe it or not. I mean, kind of backfired on him, but...” He shrugs. “Someone helped him escape, too. If Techno had been there? Fuck, I don’t think we woulda won, I’ll be honest.”

Henry wrinkles her brow. “Why’d he leave?”

“Busy tying up... loose ends with some people. He arrived later. Too late.” Tommy pulls a face. “Arriving fashionably late was always going to fuck him over. Stupid fucking pig.”

His voice is fond, if guilty, and Henry doesn’t sense bad blood between them. Sitting back on her hands, she lets the silence hang for a long few minutes, pondering all she’d learned and trying to figure out what to do with that information. And then—

“He’s still here, isn’t he?”

Henry jerks at her brother’s soft question, staring at him. “Huh?”

“He— Dream, I mean.” Tommy looks a lot younger, suddenly: like he’s a teen again, hunched over, vulnerable. “He’s fucking here still. Hanging around as a ghost. That’s why you’re all asking about him. That’s why you’re doing all the...” He waves his hand vaguely. “The questioning and the bringing up the past and everything. He’s still here.”

Fuck. Shit. Dick. Piss. Vikkstar. Henry runs through all the curse words Tommy has taught her over the years in her mind, panicking internally. Does she tell the truth? Does she dare?

——————

what does henry do ?? does she lie, or does she tell the truth ?? let’s keep in mind ranboo’s words too maybe if you want >:) you got until 00:15 (14 minutes)!!!

1. LIE.

2. BE HONEST.

#> daisy lore: writing #> daisy lore: part one (interrogation) #> main story !! #> daisy lore: henry #> daisy lore: tommy #> daisy lore: part 1 day 5

[daisylore-au]

5/5 — TOMMY INTERROGATION [end]

part seven (?) !!!! final part of this whole event !! out of 28 votes, 25 of you voted to let tommy see dream (and this will be a side event in the future), so that’s the option we go with here !! after this, there will be a few days break between events, where i plan the next one and answer general asks and sort out the summary/story-so-far for this blog. i rlly hope you enjoyed, and tysm for sticking with this !! <3

Henry takes a deep breath. This might be a bad idea, but hey, she’s full of bad ideas. It runs in her blood. “Yeah, I think he’d like to see you,” she says, and watches something like hope and fear flicker over her brother’s face, “he likes seeing new people. You might even help him remember!”

Tommy swallows. He doesn’t look like he’d expected that answer. “Like he’d want to remember his death.”

“Prob’ly not,” Henry admits easily, “but maybe you’ll remind him of his life more.”

There’s a long silence for a while, where Henry yawns and Tommy looks pensive, like he’s thinking about something he’s never dared consider before.

“Okay.” He sounds a little strangled when he speaks. “Okay, I might go to him, I might go see him. At some point. I... Yeah.” He clears his throat roughly. “Flower fields, yeah?”

“Yup.”

“Right.” Silence falls again, and Henry thinks the conversation had gone well. Better than well! She’s surprised at how nice talking to Tommy like this had been: she’d been worried it would be a lot harder. And her brother looks more at ease too — troubled, deep in thought, but less burdened, somehow. Like he’s got a second chance at something.

And then she yawns again, and their quiet little moment is broken when Tommy shoots her an offended look.

“You’re bored of me,” he whines, and Henry smirks at him, “you’re yawning because you’re bored of me, aren’t you?”

“Yes,” Henry answers plainly, “yes, you’re boring. You’re having a big main character moment and I’m just sat here. You’re gonna make me fall asleep.”

Tommy yelps, faking offence, but he’s grinning. “What the fuck? I’m literally going through character growth, and you’re being mean to me. That’s not on.”

Henry gets to her feet, shooting her brother a grin. “Well, have fun having growth,” she sings, picking up the book and handing it to Tommy with care, “I’m gonna go to bed. And you’re old, so you should too. ‘Cause being tired will make you wrinkly.”

“I’m not old!”

“Well,” Henry allows, “not as old as—”

“Philza Minecraft.” Both of them say in unison, grinning, and all feels right in the world as Tommy stands too with a snort.

“Okay, yeah, I’ll get to bed too, then. I’ll clean all this up in the morning. Come on, you.”

They reach the door, and Tommy switches the light out — Henry takes a dramatic moment to look back at the axe and whisper goodnight, my beloved to make her brother laugh before following him upstairs, feeling satisfied. That had been probably the best outcome: and maybe Tommy would visit Dream! She’d have to tell the others, but Tommy is cooler than the other guardians anyway, and they all know it, so she’s sure they’ll be fine with it.

Probably, anyway.

“Night,” she says brightly to Tommy, opening her room door, “sleep tight.”

“Don’t let the bed bugs bite,” Tommy answers with an eye roll, but he’s smiling, and Henry takes it as a win as she climbs into bed, eyes heavy, exhausted after her late night.

She dreams of cliff fights that change to building a structure with a friend and shrieking with laughter at his jokes, the sun setting on them both as they work. She’ll forget the name Church Prime in the morning — it’s long since been torn down, but in her dreams, she helps build it, and feels like her happiness will never end.

(In his own room, Tommy stares at the photos on his bed, eyes red-rimmed and throat tight. There’s a photo of the original eight server members, from Sapnap to George to Callahan to Alyssa, all of them grinning from ear to ear and looking delighted to be there. In the middle is Tommy, perched atop Dream’s shoulders with a shit-eating smirk, while the man below him looks equal parts amused and disgruntled. Tommy’s heart aches, and he tucks the photos back under his mattress, choosing to deal with them another night.

Because the more he looks, the more his old mentor and friend and brother figure’s eyes look like Daisy’s green one, and it hurts too much to think about right now.)

#> daisy lore: writing #> daisy lore: part one (interrogation) #> main story !! #> daisy lore: henry #> daisy lore: tommy #> daisy lore: part 1 day 5 #tw trauma

[daisylore-au]

5/5 - TOMMY INTERROGATION

part god-knows-i-fell-asleep !! apologies for last night kbfknfkds, but you’ll be relieved to know this is the last night of the event !! i hope you’ve all had fun bc i have :] in a groundbreaking number of votes (that i’m sure were spammed by one anon a couple of times so if that’s true pls only vote once KJBFKSDNFK), number two - tell the truth - won !!! and now, without further ado, let’s find out tommy’s reaction >:)

Henry swallows, and Tommy finally meets her eyes.

“Yeah,” she says quietly, “he’s a ghost. Dream is a ghost out on the flower fields. That’s where I go after school sometimes. I lied. I don’t go to Michael’s. Don’t be mad.”

Tommy is silent, uncomfortably so. With exaggerated calm, he gets up, turns away, and begins to pace, back and forth, a hand raking agitatedly through his hair. He doesn’t look mad, Henry thinks optimistically, but he also doesn’t exactly look pleased.

“Fuck,” Tommy whispers after minutes, voice choked up, “fuck this.”

“Tommy?”

“This was all supposed to be over,” he replies, eyes clenched shut, “this was- Henry, this was meant to be how we all moved on from all that. From- From the L’Manburg days, and the Prison era, and the Red Days - this was supposed to be us moving on. I hoped so much...”

Henry gets to her feet uncertainly. This is the most troubled she’s ever seen her brother. “He’s not a Monster anymore,” she ventures uncertainly, “he’s changed. He’s really nice. He doesn’t remember a lot - doesn’t even remember being alive. We all play with him in the fields.”

Tommy buries his head in his hands. “In the fields, of all places!” He chokes out. “The fuckin’ flower fields, where the nuke-” He cuts himself off, and takes a deep breath, before looking Henry squarely in the eyes. “You talked with him. You- talk with him.”

“Yeah, I talk with him a lot,” Henry says, loyally, “he’s lonely. None of us want him to be lonely. He’s been alone for so, so long.”

“Seven years,” Tommy agrees, and then looks despairing at his own words, “seven fucking years, and he’s-” He sits down suddenly, eyes focused on the decapitated smiley face dummy in the corner. “He’s just there. He never actually left.” 

He sighs, dragging a hand down his face.

“I don’t know how to feel about it. I’ll be honest, man, I- this sorta feels like the worst and best news at the same time.”

Henry winces. “I didn’t wanna lie to you. Sorry.”

“No, no no, I’m glad you didn’t.” Tommy’s voice is rough, but not in annoyance: it’s just upset, Henry knows, because Tommy has never been actually angry at her, and never would be over something like this. “I feel better that I know for certain, rather than just suspecting, but it’s... It’s a lot.”

Scooting closer to her brother, Henry hugs him tightly, uncharacteristically, and Tommy hugs her back, burying his face in her shoulder. Henry thinks he might be crying. “You don’t ever have to talk to him or see him or anything,” she reassures him awkwardly, “I know you guys kind of don’t like each other.”

��I hate him, actually,” Tommy mumbles, but he doesn’t sound like he’s sure of this, “he’s a dickhead.”

“Well,” Henry says wisely, “he doesn’t remember you or anyone, so if you told him that, he’d probably apologise to you. He apologises a lot.”

Tommy pulls back, scrubbing fiercely at his eyes and scoffing. “I don’t want a fuckin’ apology from him, I want...” He trails off, indecisively. “What’s he like? Apart from ‘lonely’? Is he- I mean.... D’you think if I wanted to see him, that he’d let me see him? Would I be allowed to?”

He sounds so uncertain. Henry hesitates. On one hand, it could help Dream remember things, and could help Tommy feel better and move on, which would be good! On the flip side, though... She knows Tommy isn’t the fondest of Dream. She doesn’t know whether she trusts him enough not to run him through with a sword. 

What does she do?

-------------------------------

last choice of the event !! which should henry pick ?? :0 you have until 9PM BST (15 minutes) to choose !

1. TOMMY CAN SEE DREAM.

2. TOMMY CANNOT SEE DREAM.

#> daisy lore: writing #> daisy lore: part 1 day 5 #> daisy lore: henry #> daisy lore: tommy #> daisy lore: part one (interrogation)

[daisylore-au]

4/5 - RANBOO INTERROGATION

part five !! NGL I FUCKED UP THE ADDITIONAL INFORMATION SPOT LAST PART SO I INCLUDED IT HERE AS AN UNLOCKED OPTION ANYWAY !!!! sorry :’) plot twist though: even though it’s unlocked, i’m not telling you which is the unlocked answer !! you have to just pick what you think is best >:) a loooot of information here, but no more additional information!!

“So what did he do to you?” Michael asks, and watches Ranboo’s eyes flicker colours uneasily in a way that used to entrance him so much as a toddler. “Did he try kill you, too? What happened?”

Because there has to be something, right? Because Ranboo’s been using that voice, his I’m-Not-Lying-I-Promise voice that Michael knows is really his I-Am-Definitely-Lying-Right-Now voice, and he’s become awfully transfixed with the water in his cup, tilting it to one side until it almost spills over. Michael watches it too, with bated breath, but it doesn’t spill - Ranboo rights the cup. “Uh- Yeah, no, he didn’t try and kill me. He kinda... left me alone, mostly? Well...” He amends, faltering, “it was complicated.”

Michael brightens. This feels like new knowledge. “You can tell me.”

Ranboo’s tail flicks anxiously. “I don’t know where to start. I don’t know what’s... right to tell you, either,” he confesses, “it’s a lot.”

“A problem shared is a problem solved,” Michael says wisely, and Ranboo seems to cave.

“So... So the Monster and I- Well, firstly, his name was Dream.”

The light flickers above them. Michael feels static current twist through the air: Ranboo, looking like he’d pushed a weight off his chest just by saying the name, doesn’t seem to notice it. “Dream,” Michael repeats, as if he hadn’t known.

“Yeah. ...Dream.” Ranboo’s lips twist slightly, almost smiling sadly. “We were.... kind of friends, for a bit. Sort of. It’s so complicated. Everything was complicated back then. He was friends with me, and I was friends with him, but I... forgot it, a lot of the time. I pushed it out of my memory.” He lets out a breath, swirling his finger round the water idly. Michael stares at his father, entranced by the story. “I kind of had two opinions about him. One half of me was scared of him and hated him, like most other people did. And... the other half... Thought he deserved better.”

He chuckles, regret etched into his face.

“The server kind of blamed him for a lot of things he didn’t do. Called him a lot of names that he just- wasn’t. By the time I actually got to the server, he’d sort of accepted that he was the Monster. He didn’t think he had another choice.”

“But he wasn’t really?” Michael asks eagerly. 

Ranboo winces. “Not... Not for a long time, no. But just before we locked him up? That... wasn’t the same Dream I’d befriended. He was different. Like I said, he really hurt your dad. Really hurt a lot of people - really hurt a lot of people who had hurt him, and hurt a lot of people who hadn’t, too. Like I said, it was complicated. Really complicated.”

Michael frowns, struggling to take all this in. 

“But he didn’t... Nobody deserved to be locked up like that,” Ranboo confesses, glancing uncomfortably towards Tubbo’s direction again, “and the second half knew that. The second half was a lot more honest, hah. The second half - the “awake” half, I sometimes call it - thought he deserved to be free.”

---------------------

let’s go !! question time !!! you’ll have until 9:30PM BST !! :D

1. “AWAKE STATE?”

2. “DESERVED BETTER?”

3. “DESERVED FREEDOM?”

#> daisy lore: writing #> daisy lore: part one (interrogation) #> daisy lore: michael #> daisy lore: ranboo #> daisy lore: part 1 day 4 #> main story !!

[daisylore-au]

3/5 - PONK AND SAM INTERROGATION

part five !!

slowly coming up towards the end now, at least with darian and his parents - this is the second last choice (i think) !! next up are tubbo, ranboo and michael, which should be fun, and they’ll be coming tomorrow at 7PM BST !! :D

for now, we got almost unanimous three votes, so let’s go !! well done for whoever picked up on the TWO info points in the last one: the prisoner being dehumanised to “it” and to ponk’s arm !! darian now knows his father blames himself for whatever happened to ponk (he won’t bring that up but he will remember it), and Also is about to ask about the prisoner >:) all the information points have been found for ponk and for sam :))

“Didn’t you mention Helga an’ James’ dads having something to do with this?” Darian asks before he can stop himself, and Wil’s eyes light up, something igniting behind them. “What do they have to do with anything?”

Wil grins at him, giving him a thumbs up as he stalks closer to whisper in his ear. Darian hears looks like they actually made a good choice, but doesn’t quite know what he means, but he’s used to hearing Wil speak nonsensically, so turns back to his dads expectantly instead.

“They... were kind of involved with keeping the prisoner locked up,” Ponk answers carefully, when Sam can’t, “well, one of them was. Quackity. The one with the beanie, you remember him?”

“Yeah.”

“Your dad was too.” Darian’s dads share a glance. Sam looks exhausted. “Him and Quackity were in charge, I guess, of keeping the prison running and the prisoner... inside. And that’s why he feels it’s his fault for Tommy dying.”

“Objectively, it was my fault,” Sam murmurs, but tries to push past the conversation, clearing his throat and forcing his expression neutral as his son looks at him curiously, “but- Yeah. Yeah, I used to be the Warden of the Vault.”

“You did?” Darian asks in surprise, eyes widening. “So you were there when it was built?”

Sam exhales through his teeth, and it’s almost a sad laugh. “I built it,” he says, “so yeah, I was there.”

“You?!” Darian tries to picture the building in his mind from the pictures Wil had shown him in the history books, incredulous. “But it’s huge!”

“Well, he’s a great builder,” Ponk says with some pride, knocking his arm against Sam affectionately, “he was the only one who knew completely how it worked. Not even Quackity did.”

Wil purses his lips. Darian frowns. “Then what did he do?” He asks curiously.

Ponk falters. Sam, getting to his feet, takes over, a note of finality in his voice.

“He was in charge of... of the prisoner. Of getting information out of it. It knew powerful magic, and Quackity tried to... talk... the prisoner into giving it up. He got it eventually. That’s all there really was to it, in the end.” He turns away, posture stiff, tired, just before something like regret crosses his face. “I think this conversation is over for now, okay? It’s- It’s getting late, and I think you know the whole story now, really.”

Darian doesn’t think he does. But he watches with a scrunched nose as Sam leaves the room, feeling disappointed, and watches Ponk get to his feet with a deep sigh.

“Sorry,” he says apologetically, “but at least we answered your questions. Pandora’s Vault was a prison for people put in there, and your dad ran it. He took his job quite seriously - really seriously - so he doesn’t like talking about it much.” A rueful smile crosses his face. “Is that alright?”

1. “THANK YOU FOR BEING HONEST.”

2. SAY NOTHING.

[UNLOCKED] 3. “WHY DID HE CALL THE PRISONER ‘IT’?”

#> daisy lore: writing #> daisy lore: darian #> daisy lore: ponk #> daisy lore: sam #> daisy lore: wilbur #> daisy lore: part one (interrogation) #> main story !!

[daisylore-au]

4/5 - RANBOO INTERROGATION

part three !! ooh, interesting, one of you JUST picked up an additional information point, which was honestly kind of vague so i’m glad someone picked it up or i’d have felt rlly bad KBFKSBDFJ !! i won’t actually tell you what the point is, though, because it’s going to crop up again in a few days time: but congrats on the one anon who pointed this out, because you unlocked something !! as for the next choice, number on got 14 votes and number two got 5 jhsbfkdv, a clear winner there, so number one it is !! good choice !!

“How long was he in there?” Michael asks, shuffling up taller in his chair. “Was it a long time?”

“Two years,” Ranboo answers, watching Michael’s mouth drop - two years is a long time in his mind, two years stuck in one building, no matter how big it had been, is a long time, “it was supposed to have been forever, but...” Uncomfortable, he clears his throat, teleporting to the kitchen and pouring a glass of water, before coming back, while Michael sits, too busy trying to comprehend two whole years to care about his father moving about the room as always. “But I suppose death is a little more permanent, so it... doesn’t really matter, in the end.”

“Two years...” Michael pushes the nuke spaghetti around his plate, imagining it crashing into the side of the prison, imagining it blowing half of it up and saving Dream from inside like a real hero. “That’s still so long. What did he do in there?”

Ranboo laughs, but it sounds uncertain. “Not a lot, I’ll be honest. There really wasn’t a lot to do in that place. It would’ve gotten really really boring after a while.”

Yeah, Michael bets. Making a mental note to bring Dream more fun things to play with to stop him ever getting bored again, he turns to his dad just as he appears back in the room. “Why was he in there for so long?”

There’s a hesitation, and something passes through Ranboo’s eyes, too quick for Michael to place. “Do you remember the Story?” He asks evenly, trying to gauge Michael’s knowledge already. “About... What he did?”

Michael pauses. He remembers lots of different versions of the story. 

------------------------------

your time to vote !! you have until 23:00PM BST (15 minutes) for this one !! what does michael remember about the story??

1. “HE WAS EVIL.”

2. “HE HURT EVERYONE.”

[UNLOCKED] 3. “HE HURT DAD.”

#> daisy lore: writing #> daisy lore: michael #> daisy lore: ranboo #> daisy lore: part 1 day 4 #> daisy lore: part one (interrogation)

[daisylore-au]

1/5 - PUFFY’S INTERROGATION

part five - final !!!

17 of you chose to keep pushing puffy for information: here’s what that choice gave you !!

i really enjoyed this :] tysm for playing along- tomorrow we’ll do a similar thing, this time for quackity, james and helga, so that will be fun !!

“Just normal people do bad things too,” Angel says, unfazed, “we do bad things all the time. And,” he adds, feeling rather smart, “if people turned into Monsters every time they did something wrong, the world would have an awful lot of monsters.”

Puffy frowns. Even not looking at him, there is something defensive in her posture, something uncomfortable in what he can see of her face.

“There’s a line,” she says firmly, “sure, we do bad things sometimes. But there’s a line that some very very bad people cross, and that line makes them Monsters.”

Angel isn’t convinced. “What line did the Monster cross?” He questions. “‘Cause he did bad things, but which one was the one that made him a Monster?”

Puffy doesn’t reply. She doesn’t reply for a long, long time. Angel’s anxieties over upsetting his mom grow and grow, curling in his chest and weighing heavily on his shoulders.

“I’m sorry,” he says, tripping over himself to fill the silence, “I’m really sorry. I didn’t wanna upset you.”

Looking tired, his mom turns to him with a faint smile. “I know. It’s just... hard to talk about.” She pauses, shoulders slumping. “The Monster... the Monster hurt me. The Monster hurt people I care about. I don’t like talking about it.”

“You don’t think I’ll ever cross the line, do you?” Angel asks, skipping a couple of steps to catch up, relieved his mom isn’t mad but also suddenly worried about the possibilities of his own monstrosity. “I stole chocolate from Uncle Techno and Phil’s house a few weeks ago. Is that near the line?”

And Puffy bursts into laughter, shaking her head fondly at her son.

“Nowhere near,” she says, teasing, “but if you help me farm tonight you’ll be even further away from it.”

Angel, satisfied with this, notes down the information he needs in his head, and happily agrees.

The rest of the evening passes in a warm haze of laughter and farming, and Angel doesn’t bring up the Monster again.

(He looks out to where Pandora’s Vault would have been before he sleeps that night.)

(He almost fancies he can see someone — something — staring back.)

END.

#> daisy lore: part one (interrogation) #> daisy lore: writing #> daisy lore: angel #> daisy lore: puffy #> main story !! #> interrogation (angel + puffy)

[daisylore-au]

4/5 - RANBOO INTERROGATION

part six !! option three - “deserved better?” - won by a Landslide NKSNFKDS, so this will not only be the last choice, but i can also reveal that yeah, this was the one that was unlocked that i messed up last time !! sorry again ksfkdjf, didn’t consult my plan close enough and skipped A Vital Sentence lolol

warnings: torture, violence

“Deserved freedom?” Michael asks, heart racing - is Ranboo saying what he thinks he is?

Ranboo looks incredibly uncomfortable, shifting in his seat and abandoning his glass of water in favour of fidgeting with his hands. “I don’t think anyone really should go through... whatever he went through,” he answers evasively, “I guess hindsight is a beautiful thing, but... When I visited him... He wasn’t- I don’t know, in a good state.” 

Suddenly reminded of Helga’s description of Dream that day, worry sweeps over him, dismissing his previous hope like a dark cloud. “...What d’you mean? Was he sad?”

“...No,” Ranboo says, uncertainly, “not sad. He, uh... By the time I visited, he wasn’t... much of anything. He wasn’t really sad or happy. I don’t really think he knew where he was.”

“He was being hurt.” Biting his nails, Michael meets his father’s eyes for a flash of a second - it’s all the confirmation he needs before they both look away, knowledge obtained, misery settling over his shoulders. “He was being hurt in there. By someone.”

“Yeah. Yeah, he was.”

“Who would do that?” He searches his memories, helpless, for any adult he thinks would be capable of hurting anyone - none come to mind. “Why would anyone hurt him if he was already being locked away inside a building?”

“Information,” Ranboo murmurs, a million miles away, “people will do a lot of things if they’re scared of the information someone holds, Michael. Information is a powerful tool. It’ll make people do... desperate, desperate things.”

His eyes flicker to Michael for a second, bright green, before he sighs.

“I think I’ve probably said too much. Uh... It’s not something I really like speaking about much. I don’t like thinking about what I did back then. Or- Well...” His fingers creep to a scar on his throat, a rueful smile appearing on his face fleetingly. “But I also don’t like lying. Or keeping things from you. So yeah. I wanted him to be free. Because he was my friend, at one point. Because he was always happier outside. Because nobody deserves to be stuck in there, especially not for as long as he was.”

His father gets to his feet again, tail swishing, but he looks calmer, less burdened - it’s a weight off his shoulders to be honest, Michael can tell that much, and so, when Ranboo offers his hand, he takes it, smiling up at his dad. They don’t have to say it out loud for Michael to realise that Ranboo had tried to give Dream a chance at escaping: whether he’d meant to or not.

[ Michael gained TRUST in Ranboo! ]

[ Ranboo gained TRUST in Michael! ]

“I woulda done the same, I think,” Michael says quietly, and Ranboo raises an eyebrow, “I don’t like being stuck indoors like I was as a kid. I like being outside more.”

Ranboo frowns for a second, eyes suddenly darkening. “Don’t tell anyone what I told you today, okay?” He says firmly. “Especially not the... You know, the last part. And please, please don’t let anyone know you would’ve tried to help him.”

“Why?”

He hesitates. “Remember what I said about information,” he says, “it’s the most powerful weapon you can have. It’s also something you have to keep close to your chest. The less people that know, the less people can use it against you. Lesson 14-”

“Trust yourself before you trust anyone else,” Michael says, nodding emphatically, “I remember.”

Ranboo smiles again, relief crossing his face. “Okay. Good. That’s really good. Now, c’mon-” He tugs Michael’s hand, lightening up as another shriek comes from the living room. “Before the Exorcist keeps Tubbo up all night and none of us get any sleep from his nightmares. Let’s go save him, huh?”

Beaming, Michael follows.

(He holds his father’s words close.

Trust yourself before you trust anyone else.)

#> daisy lore: writing #> daisy lore: part one (interrogation) #> daisy lore: michael #> daisy lore: ranboo #> daisy lore: part 1 day 4 #> main story !!

[daisylore-au]

4/5 - RANBOO INTERROGATION

part four - picking up from where i left off yesterday !!! well done on everyone who noticed ranboo using ‘he’ instead of ‘it’ for dream - you unlocked a third option !! it definitely raises questions about how they knew each other, that’s for certain...

“There was.... a huge fight, right?” Michael squints, trying to remember what he’d been told. “A huge huge one. Mega huge. Between the Monster and the Heroes... And Dad got hurt.”

He remembers the thick scar on Tubbo’s shoulder, remembers Tubbo telling him it had been from an axe embedding itself in his shoulder through armour - remembers tearing up and Tubbo shushing him gently and promising him he was alright. Michael had believed him. But from the weary look on Ranboo’s face, Tubbo... hadn’t been alright, at one point.

Ranboo proves his theory correct. “Yeah. Yeah, dad got... pretty hurt. The Monster said he was going to kill him, and, uh.... if we all hadn’t got there in time, he would’ve.” He swallows, throat bobbing, and his grip on the glass of water tightens. “Yeah, that’s why he got locked up. To keep people safe. To stop...”

His gaze wanders to the sitting room, where both of them hear Tubbo shriek and the volume of the TV flare dramatically.

“To stop anyone that doesn’t deserve it being hurt,” Ranboo says firmly, but there’s a sad air in his voice, something heavy and tragic and Michael doesn’t know how he hadn’t picked up on it earlier, “it seemed like a small price to pay: keep everyone safe by locking the Monster away.”

It’s hard to remember the Monster is Dream, really hard. Michael wonders if maybe they’ve got them mixed up - that maybe Dream is some other non-evil ghost, rather than the ghost of the Monster that had hurt his parents. Because Dream isn’t evil. And it sounds like the Monster is.

But there’s still huge gaps in the story. Things still don’t make sense. Ranboo isn’t telling him everything. And Ranboo is the only person he hears apart from his friends that call Dream ‘he’. That has to mean something, right?

Scrunching up his nose, and taking off his crown to be solemn - this is serious business, and he wants Ranboo to know that, Michael debates his next question.

-----------------

voting time, let’s go !!! you have 20 minutes until 8:30PM BST to choose michael’s question to ask !!

1. “HOW DID HE ESCAPE?”

2. “WHAT HAPPENED WHEN HE ESCAPED?”

[UNLOCKED] 3. “DID HE EVER DO ANYHING TO YOU?”

#> daisy lore: writing #> daisy lore: part 1 day 4 #> daisy lore: part one (interrogation) #> daisy lore: ranboo #> daisy lore: michael #> main story !!

[daisylore-au]

4/5 - RANBOO INTERROGATION

part two !!

alas, to my vast disappointment in you all (/lh), there was a close call between 2 (ranboo) and 3 (both), and 2 ended up winning with 13 points to 11 !! this is the most surprising choice you’ve all made so far, the past three nights i’ve managed to predict almost every single choice and this was the first one you guys picked differently from how i thought you would </3 let’s see how this goes !!

“Can I talk to you for a bit?” Michael blurts out, catching Ranboo’s eyes for a brief second. Neither of them like eye contact that much, but it’s enough for his dad to realise it’s serious. “I wanna ask you something.”

“I’m so hurt, Mike,” Tubbo sighs dramatically, getting up from the table with his spaghetti, but doesn’t actually look hurt, “call me if you need me or whatever. I’m gonna catch the last thirty minutes of The Exorcist!”

Ranboo looks after him in mild dismay. “He’s not gonna be able to sleep tonight,” he tells Michael secretively, “he’s so bad when it comes to horror movies.” And then, sobering, he shuffles his chair a little closer to the table. “So what did you wanna talk about? Are you okay? Is everything alright at school and everything?”

“Yeah, yeah, it’s all fine.” Michael scratches the side of his face uncertainly, weighing up the pros and cons of how to go about this. “D’you.... Do you remember the Monster? From the story?”

It’s amazing how quickly a person can go from slightly concerned to Alarmed-With-A-Capital-A, Michael thinks, watching his father go very, very still. Ranboo has never looked more contemplative, glancing off in the direction Tubbo left as if going to call him back.

“...Yeah, I remember, of course,” he agrees, a slight frown settling onto his face, “what— uh, what about the Monster?”

Better out than in, Michael decides.

“Did he ever end up in Pandora’s Vault?” He asks, and Ranboo almost chokes.

“I didn’t know you knew about that.” Ranboo sounds surprised. “I don’t even remember talking about that with you before. Or even in the past couple of years. How’d you find out?”

“Just did,” Michael says wisely, before pressing, “is he? Was he? In there, I mean?”

“....He was.” It’s the most solemn he’s heard Ranboo in a long time. Blinking, Michael stares at him. “Yeah. That... That was where the Monster ended up, yeah. Why do you ask?”

He has a couple of options now. Michael takes his time before answering his dad, fidgeting with his crown and trying to figure out the best decision to come to.

——————————

voting time again !!! you’ll have until 21:00PM BST (20 minutes) to come to this decision!!!

1. “HOW LONG WAS HE IN THERE?”

2. “WHO PUT HIM IN THERE?”

#> daisy lore: writing #> daisy lore: ranboo #> daisy lore: michael #> main story !! #> daisy lore: part 1 day 4 #> daisy lore: part one (interrogation)

[daisylore-au]

3/5 - PONK AND SAM INTERROGATION

last part !!!

ANYONE WHO VOTED FOR ONE LITERALLY HATES DARIAN LMAOO /j surprisingly enough (and i was not expecting this At All), number two actually won !!! no stealing today - let’s see what wilbur has to say to that...

thank you sm to everyone who played along :D tomorrow will be tubbo, michael and ranboo which should be super fun !! i’m looking forward to it a lot !!

“No.” Darian says firmly, giving Wil his best ‘stop-being-dumb’ stare. “Put it back.”

Wil huffs, shooting him puppy dog eyes. “It’ll give you information that you need.”

“Don’t care.” He turns away from Wil firmly. He remembers the disappointment over Sam’s face when he’d been caught eavesdropping: he doesn’t want the same to happen this time. “It’s fine - we already got a lot to think about. We learned so much.”

Giving it up as hopeless, Wil rolls his eyes, floating over to Darian and lighting a cigarette. “So you’re happy with what you learned?” He presses, looking unimpressed. “You know they’re still hiding things from you, and you’re going to accept that?”

Darian wavers. “Well... No. No, I’m not happy, ‘cause I didn’t learn anything nice, and I still don’t like they’re keeping secrets. But I found out what I could, right? And I’ll tell my friends that, and when we put all our information together, we’ll be able to work out what to do from there!”

“If you’re sure.” Wil casts one last dissatisfied glance at the communicator, before floating after Darian as he leaves the room. “What do you plan on doing now then, Mr. Sherlock Holmes?”

“That’s not my name.”

“It was a-” Wil pauses, looking absolutely disgusted. “Do kids these days not even know who Sherlock fucking Holmes is?”

Despite the heaviness of the conversation between him and his parents, Darian covers a laugh, rolling his eyes at his friend. “He sounds stupid.”

“Sounds... Darian, oh Darian, you’re not escaping from this one.” Wil gestures self-importantly to the stairs; grinning, Darian follows him. “We’re going to sit down and I’m going to tell you exactly who Sherlock Holmes is. He was only the greatest detective ever.”

“Okay, okay,” Darian says lightheartedly, “he still sounds stupid, though.”

Wil lets out a horrified noise, ushering Darian back into his bedroom to ramble about Sherlock Holmes all evening and distract him from the growing tension from his parents downstairs.

Before following Darian into the room, however, he turns to face the empty hallway, and waves knowingly, before disappearing inside.

#> daisy lore: writing #> daisy lore: darian #> daisy lore: wilbur #> daisy lore: part one (interrogation) #> main story !!

[daisylore-au]

1/5 - PUFFY INTERROGATION

part two !! with 24 votes in favour of being discreet, let’s see how puffy responds!!

“I wanted to talk about...” Angel hesitates, glancing away from his mom to his friends, all of them leaving the class with various yells of goodbyes and plans for the weekend. “About something someone was telling me about. Darian. Is that okay?”

“Course,” Puffy says, beginning to put away her lesson plans and tidying her desk — it’s been a long week for her, he knows that, and it’s why he worries his lip now, “what was he telling you about?”

Angel dives right in. “About this old building that used to exist,” he says casually, “called— I dunno, I think Pandora’s something?”

Puffy knocks over her pen holder. “Pandora’s Vault,” she corrects absently, righting the pen holder and continuing to clean up, “that’s right. I didn’t really think anyone spoke about it anymore.”

“Well, Darian said he heard about it, and ‘cause we both talk about buildings and cool stuff like that, he told me ‘cause he thought I’d be interested!” Angel injects false cheer into his voice. “And I am interested. I think it’s super cool. What was it? Like an— an unescapable building? Is that what Darian said?”

Puffy’s smile is a little strained, but still fond. “An inescapable building, du— Angel, but close, yeah. It was supposed to be, anyway. Supposed to be completely inescapable. It’s all gone now, of course, but it was pretty formidable, when it was around. Pretty scary looking too.”

Angel nods, furrowing his brow.

—————

your choice !! does angel ask about—

1. WHY PANDORA’S VAULT WAS BUILT.

2. WHY PANDORA’S VAULT WAS DESTROYED.

you have until 21:50 BST (twenty minutes) to choose !! :] or pick up on additional information points !!

#> daisy lore: angel #> daisy lore: writing #> daisy lore: puffy #> daisy lore: part one (interrogation) #> main story !! #> interrogation (angel + puffy)

[daisylore-au]

3!

Puffy called the monster a He!! She revealed that she at least somewhat knew Dream to Angel!

1/5 - PUFFY INTERROGATION

part four !! second last part :))

13 votes for 3 !! let’s gooooo !! and YES, this is a very important thing !! i actually completely forgot people using “it” for dream because i’m An Idiot, but it’s now an additional information point LOL, so there’s four in this because i fucked up, and you guys got all of them !!! i’m gonna have to start trying to make this harder :’) /lh

“Wait-” Angel pauses, scrunches up his nose in confusion. “You said it was inescapable, right?”

Puffy begins to carry him out of the room, heading out of the school for home, and she hums in agreement, clearly uncertain as to where this is going. “Yeah..?”

“And if it’s un-- inescapable, that means nobody can get out. They’re trapped in there.” 

“Smart of you to notice,” Puffy teases lightly, but her voice is tense, reluctant - she’s cottoned on to what he’s getting at, and Angel can tell that she’s not a fan of his line of questioning.

“So... So it’s inescapable, but you said it was only supposed to be. Which means someone escaped. Right?” Angel twists in his mother’s arms, turns to look at her curiously. There’s something incredibly tired and sad in her eyes, something distant, as though she’s not all with him in the school right now. “So what happened? How did they get out?”

Puffy’s voice is quiet, soft. “I don’t know. I wasn’t around. But one minute he was in there, and the next he wasn’t. I don’t know what actually happened: I never thought to ask. There was more focus on trying to get him back inside, I guess, and I never really wondered...”

She trails off, looks at her son with a glimmer of sadness in her eyes. For a minute, Angel knows she doesn’t see him in her arms - she sees someone else, someone she used to love, someone she used to care for, and something lonely and mournful in his chest twists in sympathy.

“Was it... Was it the Monster?” He asks, softly. “Is that who you were talking about?”

Because his mom had called the Monster “he” for the first time ever, and she was using “he” again here - it makes sense for it to be Dream, it all fits with Helga’s story too, but Puffy stiffens, setting him down and taking his hand instead. He squeezes it, in attempted emotional support.

“It was a very, very bad Monster, who did a lot of bad things,” Puffy answers eventually, “a very bad Monster who should have never escaped. But... But we got it, in the end. The Hero killed it, remember the story?”

Angel remembers the story. But now it doesn’t feel right. Helga’s story still hangs in his mind, of how she’d watched Dream in the building and how the intruder had come with an axe. Surely that had been to kill him... What else would it have been for? “So the Monster escaped, and then the good guys tracked him down and killed him?” He asks, furrowing his brow in thought.

“He?” Puffy looks briefly alarmed.

“The Monster,” he tells her, “that’s what you called him. ‘Cause he’s not really a Monster, is he? He’s like... me or you or someone. He’s just a human?”

Puffy looks despairing, the expression crossing her face and marring it with something almost guilty. “Some humans are monsters,” she tells him very firmly, and begins to walk faster, “and this Monster was human, sure, but he didn’t... he didn’t have any qualities that make us human. He had a human body, but he was... cold, Angel. Mean. He was really mean. So in a way he was more Monster than human, do you understand?”

-------------

now we’re faced with our (potential) last chapter of puffy and angel’s talk - you have until 23:00PM BST (fifteen minutes) to pick an option here !! no more additional information points need to be found :))

1 - PUSH FURTHER.

2. STOP ASKING.

#> daisy lore: writing !! #long post #tw dehumanisation #> daisy lore: part one (interrogation) #> daisy lore: puffy #> daisy lore: angel #> main story !! #> interrogation (angel + puffy)