[closed]

[ghostlocked]

Who: Harlan Halliday, Michael Munroe, Hayden, Delmar, James Tucker, Kyna Midha
What: HH doing nice cute love stuff for his friends to fulfill his deal with Love!!
Where: Various apartments
When: Feb 2-5ish
Warnings: nothing now, but will update if needed

Comments

hayden

[ghostlocked]

[Harlan (read: mippins) types out a whole stupid text before remember that Hayden has trouble with those. Whoops. He erases it and turns on his video instead.]

Hey, buddy, gonna need you to do me a favor. Are you home?

[Harlan is not. He's outside somewhere.]

[demonsional]

Yes! I am being very careful and respectful of all of the everything in the house!

[He's doing his best. He can't hold the camera steady because he is doing a lot of aimless moving around apparently.]

I like to do favors!

[ghostlocked]

Cool. Okay, it's a two-parter. You ready?

[He waits a beat to make sure Hayden is paying close attention.]

First, I need you to list your favorite--Okay, uh, top five favorite foods. They have to actually be foods, buddy. You remember the difference between foods and not foods?

[It's something they have gone over a few times but... just checking.]

Once you do that, I need you to go find me the best rock you can find, okay? Don't leave the city and don't get yourself hurt, but I need a really good rock. Can you do that?

[demonsional]

I'm ready!

[He absolutely shouts when he says it, but then goes quiet as he considers the next words.]

Nothing that is a foil...or a crunchy wrapper even if it's really pretty colored. And nothing that is dirt...or in the dirt...or on the dirt. Nothing with legs and NO TRASH!

[Slight disappointment.]

I am going to find the best rock and I am going to list the best eatables and I'm going to find the best rock!

[He promised it twice so now he has to look for it twice as hard.]

[ghostlocked]

Yep, that's right. Nice job.

[Harlan is laughing. Hoo boy.]

Do the list first, okay? I need that ASAP but you have some time on the rock thing. Get home with the rock by, uh, let's say sundown, okay? [...] The big sun, that is.

kyna

[ghostlocked]

hey come over for dinner tonight.
wear something nice tho. im not feeding u if u come over in ur pjs again.

[evocation]

okay you're going to have to tell me what you mean by nice because it's not like i'm rolling in fucking ballgowns here or something
why do you want me dressed up anyway?

[ghostlocked]

pretend its a date.
bc it is.
platonically.
jk im swoopin in before that other guy can make his move.

[Guess who doesn't know they're dating yet!!!]

[evocation]

oh uh
too late

[ghostlocked]

what? really?
ok what is ur definition of makin a move tho.
spill k.

delmar

[ghostlocked]

[Delmar is also getting a video message!!]

Del, do you have dinner plans tonight?

[imhisaunt]

[Cue elderly man who never gets asked out by anyone so he totally doesn't see where this is going]

Oh, well I was i thinking I might try and figure out what type of vegetable this is

[He holds up an odd hot-pink squash-shaped thing]

[ghostlocked]

[Oh my god way to ruin his smooth demeanor, Delmar. Harlan laughs.]

Holy shit, what is that? [It's rhetorical, since Delmar clearly doesn't know.]

Well, cool, bring it over. I'm making you dinner. Come over in an hour.

[imhisaunt]

[Delmar goes a shade of bashful pink]

That'd be lovely, Harlan! I'll be there.

[A pause before holding up the bizarre vegetable again]

We'll be there.

[ghostlocked]

[He snorts. Delmar was definitely a good pick for this.]

Good. It's a date.

tucker

[ghostlocked]

jt u busy?
clear ur schedule for the next few hours and meet me at the building where the guard used to be.
its rly important.
come alone.
no police.
o wear ur sunglasses tho.

[nowherewolf]

what
i mean im not doin fuck all but
ok????
n I always wear my glasses wtf do u take me for
i stg tho if i get covered in glitter or silly string or someshit
im gonna destroy u

[ghostlocked]

wait have u found silly string here?
w.e nvm thats not important rn.
just hurry up.

[nowherewolf]

no but i wouldnt put it past u
w/e omw

[And sure enough, he does show up at the appointed spot, sunglasses firmly in place.]

[ghostlocked]

[And waiting at the guard building is... Not Harlan!!!

Instead, the jizzwand is propped up against some of the rubble. It's wearing the closest approximation to an Indiana Jones hat that HH could find, and wrapped around it is a... Well, a bunch of rope, but it's a whip if you squint. He's doing his best.

Above the jizzwand is some Prestidigitation graffiti in a handwriting that JT will probably recognize.]

michael

[ghostlocked]

[Harlan has been very busy over the last couple of days trying to get this Love deal squared away. Now he has, though, and Michael is back to normal, and he feels like he can finally breathe again. Man. All of this has been more exhausting than he realized.

He has one more thing left to do, though. This is the first day that shit hasn't been fucked up in one way or another since he and Michael got together. Things are just... normal. By Hadriel standards, anyway.

Michael's been off at the lab all day dissecting monsters and whatever, so Harlan's spent his alone time preparing a date night for Michael, too. Lumping him in with the deal felt... weird. The deal as a whole felt weird, having to express his love to people for any reason beyond just wanting to do so.

But that's done with now, and it was more than worth it. Love is definitely the best god. Harlan doesn't understand why so many people have a bug up their ass about them.

When Michael gets home from the lab, Harlan has broken into his apartment to make dinner. Or, well, does it count as breaking in anymore? Whatever. He stands by it. The apartment smells awesome also, since he's doing a rehash of the curry attempt he made with Kyna, having improved his recipe.

He steps out of the kitchen when he hears the door open. God, it's nice to see Michael's real eyes again.]

Hey. Hungry?

[aroundthecoroner]

[Michael doesn't even have words for how nice this day has been. He woke up and he wasn't pissed off at the world, and he managed to get through his morning routine without slamming a door or throwing anything or wanting to break something over his knee. He hasn't had to stop himself and run through a list of reasons he shouldn't escalate something. His head is quiet, but it's not eerily silent; the Visitor is there, just not ready to start window-shopping yet.

And the best part: when he looked in the bathroom mirror this morning, his eyes weren't glowing. It actually took him a minute, and then he spent a while just staring and trying to memorize the right color again.

It's bizarre what you can get used to. He was beginning to resign himself to this new existence, being barely in control of himself at all times, always seconds from slipping. But now the tension is gone, eased off like a breaking fever. It might take him a while to get acclimated again. He'd be lying if he said he wasn't worried it's temporary.

A part of him wants to stay home, spend the day with Harlan, celebrate that the deal with Love actually worked. But he also wants to field test this, make sure he remembers... how to be himself, really. He needs to re-find the boundaries.

So he goes to the lab to do what he normally does, and he somehow manages not to lose his temper at anything there, either. Not even Newt. It's a nice change. When he gets home, he's looking forward to a shower and an evening of not being super high strung. He's not expecting the food.]

Uh, hey. [He's still in the "you surprised me" stage, but he's smiling anyway.] I am, but I also kinda smell probably.

[Maybe Harlan won't care about that, but it's an important warning.]

[ghostlocked]

I don't give a shit. [He laughs. Yeah no he doesn't care. He's long since destroyed his ability to smell anything that isn't curry.

He might care less once Michael is not on the other side of the room, though. Michael has been coming home pretty rank ever since he started working at the lab. Harlan wonders if it's better or worse than morgue smell. Probably worse? Dead monsters in this heat have got to smell worse than dead people under real working conditions.]

You can shower first if you want. Dinner's got a few minutes yet anyway.

[aroundthecoroner]

[That largely depends on the exact condition of the dead people. But mostly, yes, the monster smell is worse. Harlan may not give a shit, but he does.]

I'll uh... wash my hair at least, I guess.

[Michael's still not entirely sure what's up right now, but whatever it is, it's a good thing, so he'll take it. He doesn't waste time, he just ducks off to take a quick shower (a little more than hair washing is required, it turns out) and returns with much-better-smelling clothes. And self.]

So what's all this for?

[ghostlocked]

[When Michael emerges from the bathroom, there's a plate of rice and curry waiting for him at the table. Two plates, technically, but one is for HH, who is putting away leftovers and cleaning up the kitchen and such.]

You. Like I'm gonna spend the week doing nice shit for everyone and leave you on the fringes. [A night like this feels better spent on normal-Michael, too. It's a nice, lowkey celebration, which seems up Michael's alley.]

I wanted to save you for last. Doing this kind of shit as part of the deal felt gross. [The whole thing felt gross, but, well. Worth it.]