A story filled monday
Oct. 14th, 2024 10:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cornerofmadnessAfter the three festivals in three days I needed today off so it was just grocery shopping, cleaning house and writing and whoo hoo I finished my short story for the Invisible Women open call, it's almost at the 5Klimit (yikes). I'm not sure Luna is invisible enough but I like her. I need to get this beta read.
Yesterday![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
fandomgiftbasket did the reveals so let me share what I received and what I wrote (which was more than I even remembered. Geez) so let's call this Fannish 50 : fiction shares
Here's what I got. Two sets of Hazbin Icons that you can see here. including the one of Husk and Angel munching popcorn (and watching hotel drama unfold) fromfleethare btw this is the height difference I have to deal with every time I do something smutty for the boys (and how my life has become writing sex for a spider man and a cat man with wings I don't even know)
Look Husk and Fat Nuggets have a talk
And here's what I've done
Murder She Wrote moodboard my first attempt at a moodboard forspikedluv
Forging a New Path The Owl House forautisticwriter
Priests of the Temples of Syrinx The Owl House
A Day Off In Dreamland The Raven Cycle
Blue, Red and Grey Hazbin Hotel (Val/Vox) NSFW
Never Turn Away Hazbin Hotel (Val/Vox)
Under the Stars Saiyuki
Knowing What to Keep Hazbin Hotel forfleethare (and probably my favorite thing I wrote for this challenge)
NOT written for gift basket. This is the beginning of mywipbigbang and if you like Hazbin Hotel I hope you give it a read (fair warning, it is novel length and I'm posting a chapter every other day in theory) Hope Can Be a Cruel Gift
And here's the story I didn't get a chance to post here on Friday.
Title: Wish I could breathe
Summary: Things go very badly when Angel’s costars slip him a little ‘gift’ into his drink and he ends up hurt. Luckily he has good friends who take care of him and entertain him with good company, gifts and silly conversations.
Rating: teen
Author Note - This was written for the whumptober prompt Whumptober #10 blow to the head - “I can’t think straight and for Spikesgirl58s 6 word challenge. The six words were Harbor, Delay, Book, Moaning, Drain, & Collar. It was also written for the allbingo prompt of And the #1 rule for surviving a horror movie: DON'T HAVE SEX!!! And the Lyrical Title’s bingo prompt of a 00s song – Breathe Abney Park using the lyric Wish I could breathe.
Since this is a whumptober fic, expect damage and since that is a bit of a haphazard thing in Hazbin if we consider Angel’s eye swelling and purpling from a back hand from Val contrasted with Vaggie throwing him and Pentious off a building with no harm. Let’s assume here Angel is in no condition to stop himself from getting hurt.
“I can’t think straight,” Angel cried, pirouetting on the top rung of his dressing room balcony. “But I feel so free. I’m going down to the harbor and sailing away!”
“We don’t have a harbor. I told you you shouldn’t have given Angel that cocktail,” Ben said, his bunny ears twitching. Angel pouted at him.
Mort, their goaty companion with the adorable heart and X nipples, said, “He needed to relax. He was so keyed up. Besides, it’s Angel Dust. Surely he could handle some LSD and Magic shrooms.”
“Yeah, but he was already rolling on X, coke and angel dust,” Ben argued. “That’s a whole lot of hallucinogens for anyone.”
Mort grumbled. “You might be right. Come on, Angel. We have to get on set.” He held his hands out to Angel.
Angel refused to put out any of his many hands. He tucked them tight to his chest. “No, I don’t wanna.”
“We’re getting to do a horror, <i>Night of the Twinks</i>. It’s gonna be great,” Ben argued. “You get to be the big bad. You’re excited about it.”
“I am a big bad.” Angel pulled out one of his Tommy guns and his fuck buddy porn stars ran back inside. He shot at the big pentagram in the sky because it was laughing at him. The kick back of the gun unsteadied him and the pentagram laughed louder. Angel jumped up to punch it in its face and fell. His wings would catch him only there seemed to be a delay in unfurling them. It occurred to him it was Husk who had the wings not him seconds before he hit ground, pain firing through his head as it bounced, and everything went black.
# # #
Grumbling under his breath at the non-stop pounding on the hotel’s front door, Husk crossed the lobby to answer it. Charlie and Vaggie had been summoned from wherever by the incessant noise. Husk swayed slightly, having had more than his fair share of a bottle. Steadying himself against the doorknob, Husk flung open the door to a sight that sobered him instantly. Behind him, Charlie gasped and Vaggie cursed.
Angel, what Husk could see of him, lay on the ground in a blanket sodden with blood, which was still leaking freely, forming a ring around him. Travis – had to be from Angel’s descriptions of the dude who hung around the studio doing odd jobs, like being a taxi driver – had his hand raised to pound on the door some more.
“Angel!” Charlie pushed past Husk.
“What the fuck happened?” Husk growled and Travis backed up.
“One of his costars gave him a huge sampler platter of hallucinogens in a drink. Next thing they knew Angel was shooting up the place and jumped off the balcony talking about his beautiful red wings.” Travis made a face. “Val was flattered that Angel thought his wings were his.”
<i>No,</i> Husk thought. <i>Angel thought he had my wings.</i>
“He fell from Vee tower?” Vaggie asked in shock. “Is he dead and respawning?”
“Don’t think so. He was in and out on the drive over. Val had him scooped into the car and asked me to deliver him saying you made him your problem so deal with it.” Travis took a few more steps back, expecting retaliation.
“We will,” Charlie said, determined.
Travis took that as his dismissal and raced back to his car. Charlie turned to Husk, “Can you get him inside? I can get Alastor or call Dad.”
Husk grimaced. Ever since the fight with Adam, Alastor was rarely seen, still licking his wounds. Pentious could have carried Angel inside easily. “If you help steady his legs, I can lift him.”
“We shouldn’t try the stairs with him. Hon, is there a room we can use downstairs? There are going to be so many injuries,” Vaggie said.
Charlie nodded. “I’ll get Niftty to get a lot of old bedding. We can put it down and fix him up on it. I’ll call Doctor Stanley. She should be able to help.” With that she darted inside.
Husk didn’t know who Stanley was. Sinners generally just suffered so he assumed she worked on the Ars Goetia and other high ranking denizens of hell. He bent down, hoping his drunk ass really was capable of this. If he failed Angel now, he’d never forgive himself. Vaggie assisted him. Between them, they managed to get Angel inside. Charlie waved for them to follow her. Niffty was in one of the downstairs rooms, heaping drop clothes and old sheets on the bed.
“I think we should put him in the tub first, wash as much of this blood away as we can. It’s hard to know where to start judging by all the blood on this blanket,” Vaggie said.
No one argued. Angel didn’t so much as murmur when they put him in the tub and turned on the shower. Husk wondered if he had perished and was in a respawn but then he spotted the bubbles of blood forming on Angel’s lips.
“We need to drain the blood out of his lungs,” Husk grumbled cupping his hands in the water, trying to gently wash Angel’s face clean.
“That is not going to be easy,” Vaggie said.
Husk surveyed Angel’s body, the mass of abrasions, broken bones – several having pierced his skin, and the lingering fear that Angel would come around still high and maybe not feel the pain he should be in and acted out violently against his friends and Husk agreed, nothing about this would be easy. They did their best. By the time they had bandaged him up – still damp because drying him felt too much like torturing him and had moved him around to get the wet and bloody bedding out from under him, Angel had begun moaning.
“Shh, I know it hurts,” Husk said, holding Angel against his body as Charlie, Niffty and Vaggie jammed pillows and more bedding behind Angel’s back so he could rest in a semi-upright position. Husk had been tuned up by a mobster loan shark or two in his day and knew lying flat with broken ribs hurt too much. Of course Angel’s pelvis might be cracked too. His legs definitely were. There was no part of him that wasn’t going to hurt. Charlie’s Dr. Stanley had better hurry.
“Should one of us stay with him?” Charlie asked.
“I’ll take first watch,” Husk said. “Just get a comfortable chair in here and I’ll be set.”
He hoped that would be true. Watching Angel suffer like this wouldn’t be easy for any of his friends.
# # #
“Wish I could breathe,” Angel groaned as he shifted on the bed. He’d insisted it get rolled out into the lobby because he was going stir crazy in the room, especially one that wasn’t his own. Charlie’s friend, Stanley, had done a good job of fixing him up but his body had to do the rest of the healing. He was allowed out of bed only to the rest room and back so he had begged to be put in the lobby, facing the TV and bar. Husk was almost always there and the ladies spent a fair amount of time with him too. Breathing without pain would be grand. Having a head that wasn’t pounding would also be a nice improvement or legs that didn’t ache or…well the list went on and on.
“You nearly turned your ribs to powder,” Husk reminded him, turning on the radio at the end of the bar. “Be thankful you can breathe at all.”
“Not sure I am breathing, hurts too much.” Angel fussed with his nightgown, the only clothing he had on because anything more hurt too much to put on him.
Husk shot him a sympathetic look and came over to sit on the edge of the bed. “Sorry, kid. I wish I had something more powerful for you but if the heroin from the vending machine isn’t doing it…” He put a claw to his lips. The ladies didn’t know he’d gotten that for Angel.
“I think that shit was cut with something. Pretty sure my father has the vending machine rights in this part of town. I should call and let him know to go fuck up his supplier,” Angel said. He had the right to be grumpy over less-than-great heroin.
“Heal first before you get Henroin over here all up in your business.”
Angel narrowed his eyes. “Did you know him when you were an overlord?”
Husk nodded. “And your brother. I’d call the latter if I were you but I thought you said you don’t speak to either of them anymore.”
“I don’t but if Arackniss isn’t’ running around doing Papi’s business, he ain’t as bad as he could be.” Angel bit his lip. He missed his brother sometimes. “I’m bored enough to want to talk to him but I don’t want a lecture about how I fell off Vee tower, fucking moron Monty. You don’t give someone hallucinogens without telling them, am I wrong?”
“No, I’d say that’s accurate.” Husk’s wings sagged. “Sorry I’m not more entertaining.”
Angel winced. “I didn’t mean it that way. You’re plenty entertaining but you have to be tired of me at this point too.”
“I’m fine.” Husk glanced around the room and leaned down to kiss Angel on the forehead. “But I have something that might entertain you now that your arms have healed some.”
He left the bed, making Angel sigh. It wasn’t like they could do anything anyhow. Husk picked up Fat Nuggets who had been crumb hunting around the coffee table and put him on the bed with Angel. He walked to the bar and came back with two books and sat closer to Angel’s hip this time.
“Two of my favorites, <i>Farewell, My Lovely</i> by Raymond Chandler. You might have read this one because you were still alive when it came out. It had it all, crime and corruption, night clubs, wealthy widows, good stuff.” He handed the book to Angel along with the other one.
“Husk, this one is so fat it’ll rebreak my bones,” Angel whined. “Wait, Boris Karloff wrote a book?”
“Eh, he’s the anthology editor. This one came out the year you died. <i>And The Darkness Falls</i> has a lot of good authors telling spooooky tales.” Husk wiggled his fingers, grinning. “Edgar Allan Poe, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Ambrose Pierce, Lovecraft just to name a few.”
Angel shot him a coy look, fluttering his eyelash. Fuck, even that hurt! “Maybe you could read a story or two to me.”
“Later, once I’m done with Alastor’s to-do list.”
“I’m holding you to that.”
Husk just smiled and went to find Alastor. Angel started reading the Chandler book. He’d had read one or two of them in his time, had liked them. Leave it to Husk to actually think he’d want to read and just escape a little. If only the pain was as easy to run away from.
He was a good way into it when the door to the hotel opened and Cherri strolled in with a large shopping bag.
“Hey, bitch, how ya doing today?” She jogged over to him but restrained herself before tossing herself on the bed. She sat down gently.
“A lot better now that I remember I don’t have wings and I can’t fly,” he said ruefully.
“And the pentagram in the sky isn’t laughing at you.”
“What now?” Husk called from the bar where he was restocking bottles.
Angel made a face. “You were talking to Ben or Morty.”
“Morty’s on a…break.” She grimaced. “Ben said you were trying to shoot the laughing pentagram. It was probably the LSD playing bad with the PCP.”
“Not a mix I want to try again.”
Cherri studied him for a moment. “You do look awful.”
“You should have seen him two days ago,” Husk said with pain in his voice.
Angel stared at his hands, ashamed he had frightened his friends because he was stupid high and someone made him trip even harder.
“Hey, hey, don’t look so glum. Think of it this way, you don’t have Valentino hassling you and he can’t blame you that some idiot slipped you a mickey.” Cherri smiled and blinked her huge eye in shock. “Is that a book?”
“I was reading.”
“No way! You?”
“Hey, I read. I’m looking forward to Philip Marlowe unraveling the mystery but I’m kinda feeling like Velma, the dancer in a seedy club.” Angel sunk deeper into the mountain of pillows propping him up.
“Sorry, kid, that wasn’t my intent,” Husk said.
“Nah, it’s fine. I’m enjoying it. What’s with the shopping bag, Cherri?”
“I picked up your order at Honey Drips.” She smirked. “You’re gonna want to get better fast to use this stuff, especially the thing on top.”
Angel pulled the red and black collar out of the bag. It had a chain leading down to a cock ring. “Oh man, I forgot I ordered this for you, Husky.”
Husk’s eyes widened. He raced over and grabbed it from Angel. He shoved it back in the bag. “Who do you think is wearing that?”
“Oh, we can take turns.” Angel danced his eyebrows and Husk flushed. “But I have to get better first.”
“Definitely no sex for you in that condition.” Cherri shot him a mournful look.
“Is he even thinking about it?” Vaggie asked, strolling in with Charlie who had a tray. “Honestly, Angel.”
“Blame her. She came bearing sex toys.” Angel pointed to Cherri. “Hey, speaking of sex.”
“We weren’t,” Vaggie said in warning.
Charlie put the tray on the bed over his lap. It had soup and crackers on it and a cup of coffee with a side of bread just like he liked it.
“You are an angel, Charlie. Don’t let anyone tell you different.” Angel threw the crackers into his soup with gusto and broke some of the bread into his coffee to soften it.
“Hope you enjoy it.”
“I will and back to the sex, Cherri, you might know about this.”
“I do know a lot,” she crowed.
“Ben is newly dead. He was telling me about the rules of surviving horror movies, said it started really in the 80s.”
“Oh yeah, there is a definite formula. Never run upstairs, never answer the phone because they’re phoning from inside the house,” she said. “Why do you want to know this?”
“He was a fan of horror movies,” Husk said. “Granted the 1930s movies were very different from what came later.”
“I like being fake scared.” Angel slurped his soup. “Anyhow that’s the movie I was shooting with Ben and Morty, <i>Night of the Twinks</i> sort of a riff on something called the <i>The Night of the Living Dead</I> only instead of zombies you’re getting horny twinks overrunning the town and getting to top for a change. And, Ben said I would never survive a horror movie.”
“Is it because you’re kind of….” Cherri made a face.
“Dumb?” He filled in for her.
“I didn’t want to sound rude about it but yeah.”
“Angel’s not dumb,” Charlie protested.
“Eh, maybe a little but no that wasn’t it. He said the number one rule for surviving a horror movie is <i>don’t have sex</i>! Ben said the sluts always die.” Angel frowned.
“That’s true. Have sex in a horror movie and you’re dead first,” Cherri bobbed her head.
“That seems unfair. I want to live to the end of the movie,” Angel protested.
“I don’t see that happening.” Vaggie grinned and Charlie wagged her head.
Angel slapped on his best defiant face. “I am living to the end!”
“I’m a gambler and I would not take that bet, kid.” Husk snorted. “You like your sex. You wouldn’t make it through the movie.”
“What kind of Puritanical crap is this? It’s like your skit about premarital sex being bad, Charlie.” Angel rolled his eyes. “Like you two aren’t having fun.”
“That’s none of your business,” Vaggie said without any heat.
“If we made a horror movie, call it Hotel Hell, the only one making it to the end of our movie is Alastor because I’ll get Husk killed. You two will be die together, Vaggie. Cherri has no chance. Niffty will jump the first bad boy she finds.”
“One, there was a movie in the 80s, Motel Hell. Two, bad boys die fast too,” Cherri said.
Angel gestured to her. “See? Hotel Hell has one survivor. Alastor. How sad is that?”
“Pathetic.” Husk groaned. “Guess you better hope this hotel horror movie happens now before you heal or Alastor stands alone.”
“Hmm, you know I could sell this idea to Valentino. He’d enjoy it.” Angel rubbed his chin. “And I live to the end.”
Cherri leaned over and fluffed his hair. “Babe, you’re the first one dead.”
Pouting, Angel sucked up more soup. He’d show them.
# # #
It had taken far too long to heal but finally he was feeling like his old self. It was the dead of night and Angel ghosted down the hallway to Husk’s room. He adjusted his robe as he waited for Husk to answer. Husk raised his feathery eyebrows.
“What’s up? I thought you went to bed early,” Husk said.
Angel let the robe slide off his body. He only wore his new collar. Husk’s gaze traveled from the satin and leather around Angel’s slender neck and followed down the chain to the ring.
“I’m ready to be the first to die in a horror movie,” Angel said.
Husk beamed. “Now that’s a gamble I’m happy to take.”
</lj-cut>
let's continue with the Music Monday Alphabet theme with sharing songs that begin with a certain letter. Feel free to chime in with your favorite song(s) that follow the weekly letter. Hit me with your favs. I love hearing new music or revisiting older pieces. This week's letter is X I'll be honest I know one song (okay two but with the same name) for this. You can find XO songs all over but I don't know them so...
The one I knew best, in so many high school dances....<iframe width=" 560"="560"" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/cLi8fTlDEag?si=xS8zmQg9_czExbov" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen">
I have friends super into Rush so here's this (which I do not like nearly as much)
Yesterday
fandomgiftbasket did the reveals so let me share what I received and what I wrote (which was more than I even remembered. Geez) so let's call this Fannish 50 : fiction sharesHere's what I got. Two sets of Hazbin Icons that you can see here. including the one of Husk and Angel munching popcorn (and watching hotel drama unfold) from
fleethare btw this is the height difference I have to deal with every time I do something smutty for the boys (and how my life has become writing sex for a spider man and a cat man with wings I don't even know)Look Husk and Fat Nuggets have a talk
And here's what I've done
Murder She Wrote moodboard my first attempt at a moodboard for
spikedluvForging a New Path The Owl House for
autisticwriterPriests of the Temples of Syrinx The Owl House
A Day Off In Dreamland The Raven Cycle
Blue, Red and Grey Hazbin Hotel (Val/Vox) NSFW
Never Turn Away Hazbin Hotel (Val/Vox)
Under the Stars Saiyuki
Knowing What to Keep Hazbin Hotel for
fleethare (and probably my favorite thing I wrote for this challenge)NOT written for gift basket. This is the beginning of my
wipbigbang and if you like Hazbin Hotel I hope you give it a read (fair warning, it is novel length and I'm posting a chapter every other day in theory) Hope Can Be a Cruel GiftAnd here's the story I didn't get a chance to post here on Friday.
Title: Wish I could breathe
Summary: Things go very badly when Angel’s costars slip him a little ‘gift’ into his drink and he ends up hurt. Luckily he has good friends who take care of him and entertain him with good company, gifts and silly conversations.
Rating: teen
Author Note - This was written for the whumptober prompt Whumptober #10 blow to the head - “I can’t think straight and for Spikesgirl58s 6 word challenge. The six words were Harbor, Delay, Book, Moaning, Drain, & Collar. It was also written for the allbingo prompt of And the #1 rule for surviving a horror movie: DON'T HAVE SEX!!! And the Lyrical Title’s bingo prompt of a 00s song – Breathe Abney Park using the lyric Wish I could breathe.
Since this is a whumptober fic, expect damage and since that is a bit of a haphazard thing in Hazbin if we consider Angel’s eye swelling and purpling from a back hand from Val contrasted with Vaggie throwing him and Pentious off a building with no harm. Let’s assume here Angel is in no condition to stop himself from getting hurt.
“I can’t think straight,” Angel cried, pirouetting on the top rung of his dressing room balcony. “But I feel so free. I’m going down to the harbor and sailing away!”
“We don’t have a harbor. I told you you shouldn’t have given Angel that cocktail,” Ben said, his bunny ears twitching. Angel pouted at him.
Mort, their goaty companion with the adorable heart and X nipples, said, “He needed to relax. He was so keyed up. Besides, it’s Angel Dust. Surely he could handle some LSD and Magic shrooms.”
“Yeah, but he was already rolling on X, coke and angel dust,” Ben argued. “That’s a whole lot of hallucinogens for anyone.”
Mort grumbled. “You might be right. Come on, Angel. We have to get on set.” He held his hands out to Angel.
Angel refused to put out any of his many hands. He tucked them tight to his chest. “No, I don’t wanna.”
“We’re getting to do a horror, <i>Night of the Twinks</i>. It’s gonna be great,” Ben argued. “You get to be the big bad. You’re excited about it.”
“I am a big bad.” Angel pulled out one of his Tommy guns and his fuck buddy porn stars ran back inside. He shot at the big pentagram in the sky because it was laughing at him. The kick back of the gun unsteadied him and the pentagram laughed louder. Angel jumped up to punch it in its face and fell. His wings would catch him only there seemed to be a delay in unfurling them. It occurred to him it was Husk who had the wings not him seconds before he hit ground, pain firing through his head as it bounced, and everything went black.
# # #
Grumbling under his breath at the non-stop pounding on the hotel’s front door, Husk crossed the lobby to answer it. Charlie and Vaggie had been summoned from wherever by the incessant noise. Husk swayed slightly, having had more than his fair share of a bottle. Steadying himself against the doorknob, Husk flung open the door to a sight that sobered him instantly. Behind him, Charlie gasped and Vaggie cursed.
Angel, what Husk could see of him, lay on the ground in a blanket sodden with blood, which was still leaking freely, forming a ring around him. Travis – had to be from Angel’s descriptions of the dude who hung around the studio doing odd jobs, like being a taxi driver – had his hand raised to pound on the door some more.
“Angel!” Charlie pushed past Husk.
“What the fuck happened?” Husk growled and Travis backed up.
“One of his costars gave him a huge sampler platter of hallucinogens in a drink. Next thing they knew Angel was shooting up the place and jumped off the balcony talking about his beautiful red wings.” Travis made a face. “Val was flattered that Angel thought his wings were his.”
<i>No,</i> Husk thought. <i>Angel thought he had my wings.</i>
“He fell from Vee tower?” Vaggie asked in shock. “Is he dead and respawning?”
“Don’t think so. He was in and out on the drive over. Val had him scooped into the car and asked me to deliver him saying you made him your problem so deal with it.” Travis took a few more steps back, expecting retaliation.
“We will,” Charlie said, determined.
Travis took that as his dismissal and raced back to his car. Charlie turned to Husk, “Can you get him inside? I can get Alastor or call Dad.”
Husk grimaced. Ever since the fight with Adam, Alastor was rarely seen, still licking his wounds. Pentious could have carried Angel inside easily. “If you help steady his legs, I can lift him.”
“We shouldn’t try the stairs with him. Hon, is there a room we can use downstairs? There are going to be so many injuries,” Vaggie said.
Charlie nodded. “I’ll get Niftty to get a lot of old bedding. We can put it down and fix him up on it. I’ll call Doctor Stanley. She should be able to help.” With that she darted inside.
Husk didn’t know who Stanley was. Sinners generally just suffered so he assumed she worked on the Ars Goetia and other high ranking denizens of hell. He bent down, hoping his drunk ass really was capable of this. If he failed Angel now, he’d never forgive himself. Vaggie assisted him. Between them, they managed to get Angel inside. Charlie waved for them to follow her. Niffty was in one of the downstairs rooms, heaping drop clothes and old sheets on the bed.
“I think we should put him in the tub first, wash as much of this blood away as we can. It’s hard to know where to start judging by all the blood on this blanket,” Vaggie said.
No one argued. Angel didn’t so much as murmur when they put him in the tub and turned on the shower. Husk wondered if he had perished and was in a respawn but then he spotted the bubbles of blood forming on Angel’s lips.
“We need to drain the blood out of his lungs,” Husk grumbled cupping his hands in the water, trying to gently wash Angel’s face clean.
“That is not going to be easy,” Vaggie said.
Husk surveyed Angel’s body, the mass of abrasions, broken bones – several having pierced his skin, and the lingering fear that Angel would come around still high and maybe not feel the pain he should be in and acted out violently against his friends and Husk agreed, nothing about this would be easy. They did their best. By the time they had bandaged him up – still damp because drying him felt too much like torturing him and had moved him around to get the wet and bloody bedding out from under him, Angel had begun moaning.
“Shh, I know it hurts,” Husk said, holding Angel against his body as Charlie, Niffty and Vaggie jammed pillows and more bedding behind Angel’s back so he could rest in a semi-upright position. Husk had been tuned up by a mobster loan shark or two in his day and knew lying flat with broken ribs hurt too much. Of course Angel’s pelvis might be cracked too. His legs definitely were. There was no part of him that wasn’t going to hurt. Charlie’s Dr. Stanley had better hurry.
“Should one of us stay with him?” Charlie asked.
“I’ll take first watch,” Husk said. “Just get a comfortable chair in here and I’ll be set.”
He hoped that would be true. Watching Angel suffer like this wouldn’t be easy for any of his friends.
# # #
“Wish I could breathe,” Angel groaned as he shifted on the bed. He’d insisted it get rolled out into the lobby because he was going stir crazy in the room, especially one that wasn’t his own. Charlie’s friend, Stanley, had done a good job of fixing him up but his body had to do the rest of the healing. He was allowed out of bed only to the rest room and back so he had begged to be put in the lobby, facing the TV and bar. Husk was almost always there and the ladies spent a fair amount of time with him too. Breathing without pain would be grand. Having a head that wasn’t pounding would also be a nice improvement or legs that didn’t ache or…well the list went on and on.
“You nearly turned your ribs to powder,” Husk reminded him, turning on the radio at the end of the bar. “Be thankful you can breathe at all.”
“Not sure I am breathing, hurts too much.” Angel fussed with his nightgown, the only clothing he had on because anything more hurt too much to put on him.
Husk shot him a sympathetic look and came over to sit on the edge of the bed. “Sorry, kid. I wish I had something more powerful for you but if the heroin from the vending machine isn’t doing it…” He put a claw to his lips. The ladies didn’t know he’d gotten that for Angel.
“I think that shit was cut with something. Pretty sure my father has the vending machine rights in this part of town. I should call and let him know to go fuck up his supplier,” Angel said. He had the right to be grumpy over less-than-great heroin.
“Heal first before you get Henroin over here all up in your business.”
Angel narrowed his eyes. “Did you know him when you were an overlord?”
Husk nodded. “And your brother. I’d call the latter if I were you but I thought you said you don’t speak to either of them anymore.”
“I don’t but if Arackniss isn’t’ running around doing Papi’s business, he ain’t as bad as he could be.” Angel bit his lip. He missed his brother sometimes. “I’m bored enough to want to talk to him but I don’t want a lecture about how I fell off Vee tower, fucking moron Monty. You don’t give someone hallucinogens without telling them, am I wrong?”
“No, I’d say that’s accurate.” Husk’s wings sagged. “Sorry I’m not more entertaining.”
Angel winced. “I didn’t mean it that way. You’re plenty entertaining but you have to be tired of me at this point too.”
“I’m fine.” Husk glanced around the room and leaned down to kiss Angel on the forehead. “But I have something that might entertain you now that your arms have healed some.”
He left the bed, making Angel sigh. It wasn’t like they could do anything anyhow. Husk picked up Fat Nuggets who had been crumb hunting around the coffee table and put him on the bed with Angel. He walked to the bar and came back with two books and sat closer to Angel’s hip this time.
“Two of my favorites, <i>Farewell, My Lovely</i> by Raymond Chandler. You might have read this one because you were still alive when it came out. It had it all, crime and corruption, night clubs, wealthy widows, good stuff.” He handed the book to Angel along with the other one.
“Husk, this one is so fat it’ll rebreak my bones,” Angel whined. “Wait, Boris Karloff wrote a book?”
“Eh, he’s the anthology editor. This one came out the year you died. <i>And The Darkness Falls</i> has a lot of good authors telling spooooky tales.” Husk wiggled his fingers, grinning. “Edgar Allan Poe, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Ambrose Pierce, Lovecraft just to name a few.”
Angel shot him a coy look, fluttering his eyelash. Fuck, even that hurt! “Maybe you could read a story or two to me.”
“Later, once I’m done with Alastor’s to-do list.”
“I’m holding you to that.”
Husk just smiled and went to find Alastor. Angel started reading the Chandler book. He’d had read one or two of them in his time, had liked them. Leave it to Husk to actually think he’d want to read and just escape a little. If only the pain was as easy to run away from.
He was a good way into it when the door to the hotel opened and Cherri strolled in with a large shopping bag.
“Hey, bitch, how ya doing today?” She jogged over to him but restrained herself before tossing herself on the bed. She sat down gently.
“A lot better now that I remember I don’t have wings and I can’t fly,” he said ruefully.
“And the pentagram in the sky isn’t laughing at you.”
“What now?” Husk called from the bar where he was restocking bottles.
Angel made a face. “You were talking to Ben or Morty.”
“Morty’s on a…break.” She grimaced. “Ben said you were trying to shoot the laughing pentagram. It was probably the LSD playing bad with the PCP.”
“Not a mix I want to try again.”
Cherri studied him for a moment. “You do look awful.”
“You should have seen him two days ago,” Husk said with pain in his voice.
Angel stared at his hands, ashamed he had frightened his friends because he was stupid high and someone made him trip even harder.
“Hey, hey, don’t look so glum. Think of it this way, you don’t have Valentino hassling you and he can’t blame you that some idiot slipped you a mickey.” Cherri smiled and blinked her huge eye in shock. “Is that a book?”
“I was reading.”
“No way! You?”
“Hey, I read. I’m looking forward to Philip Marlowe unraveling the mystery but I’m kinda feeling like Velma, the dancer in a seedy club.” Angel sunk deeper into the mountain of pillows propping him up.
“Sorry, kid, that wasn’t my intent,” Husk said.
“Nah, it’s fine. I’m enjoying it. What’s with the shopping bag, Cherri?”
“I picked up your order at Honey Drips.” She smirked. “You’re gonna want to get better fast to use this stuff, especially the thing on top.”
Angel pulled the red and black collar out of the bag. It had a chain leading down to a cock ring. “Oh man, I forgot I ordered this for you, Husky.”
Husk’s eyes widened. He raced over and grabbed it from Angel. He shoved it back in the bag. “Who do you think is wearing that?”
“Oh, we can take turns.” Angel danced his eyebrows and Husk flushed. “But I have to get better first.”
“Definitely no sex for you in that condition.” Cherri shot him a mournful look.
“Is he even thinking about it?” Vaggie asked, strolling in with Charlie who had a tray. “Honestly, Angel.”
“Blame her. She came bearing sex toys.” Angel pointed to Cherri. “Hey, speaking of sex.”
“We weren’t,” Vaggie said in warning.
Charlie put the tray on the bed over his lap. It had soup and crackers on it and a cup of coffee with a side of bread just like he liked it.
“You are an angel, Charlie. Don’t let anyone tell you different.” Angel threw the crackers into his soup with gusto and broke some of the bread into his coffee to soften it.
“Hope you enjoy it.”
“I will and back to the sex, Cherri, you might know about this.”
“I do know a lot,” she crowed.
“Ben is newly dead. He was telling me about the rules of surviving horror movies, said it started really in the 80s.”
“Oh yeah, there is a definite formula. Never run upstairs, never answer the phone because they’re phoning from inside the house,” she said. “Why do you want to know this?”
“He was a fan of horror movies,” Husk said. “Granted the 1930s movies were very different from what came later.”
“I like being fake scared.” Angel slurped his soup. “Anyhow that’s the movie I was shooting with Ben and Morty, <i>Night of the Twinks</i> sort of a riff on something called the <i>The Night of the Living Dead</I> only instead of zombies you’re getting horny twinks overrunning the town and getting to top for a change. And, Ben said I would never survive a horror movie.”
“Is it because you’re kind of….” Cherri made a face.
“Dumb?” He filled in for her.
“I didn’t want to sound rude about it but yeah.”
“Angel’s not dumb,” Charlie protested.
“Eh, maybe a little but no that wasn’t it. He said the number one rule for surviving a horror movie is <i>don’t have sex</i>! Ben said the sluts always die.” Angel frowned.
“That’s true. Have sex in a horror movie and you’re dead first,” Cherri bobbed her head.
“That seems unfair. I want to live to the end of the movie,” Angel protested.
“I don’t see that happening.” Vaggie grinned and Charlie wagged her head.
Angel slapped on his best defiant face. “I am living to the end!”
“I’m a gambler and I would not take that bet, kid.” Husk snorted. “You like your sex. You wouldn’t make it through the movie.”
“What kind of Puritanical crap is this? It’s like your skit about premarital sex being bad, Charlie.” Angel rolled his eyes. “Like you two aren’t having fun.”
“That’s none of your business,” Vaggie said without any heat.
“If we made a horror movie, call it Hotel Hell, the only one making it to the end of our movie is Alastor because I’ll get Husk killed. You two will be die together, Vaggie. Cherri has no chance. Niffty will jump the first bad boy she finds.”
“One, there was a movie in the 80s, Motel Hell. Two, bad boys die fast too,” Cherri said.
Angel gestured to her. “See? Hotel Hell has one survivor. Alastor. How sad is that?”
“Pathetic.” Husk groaned. “Guess you better hope this hotel horror movie happens now before you heal or Alastor stands alone.”
“Hmm, you know I could sell this idea to Valentino. He’d enjoy it.” Angel rubbed his chin. “And I live to the end.”
Cherri leaned over and fluffed his hair. “Babe, you’re the first one dead.”
Pouting, Angel sucked up more soup. He’d show them.
# # #
It had taken far too long to heal but finally he was feeling like his old self. It was the dead of night and Angel ghosted down the hallway to Husk’s room. He adjusted his robe as he waited for Husk to answer. Husk raised his feathery eyebrows.
“What’s up? I thought you went to bed early,” Husk said.
Angel let the robe slide off his body. He only wore his new collar. Husk’s gaze traveled from the satin and leather around Angel’s slender neck and followed down the chain to the ring.
“I’m ready to be the first to die in a horror movie,” Angel said.
Husk beamed. “Now that’s a gamble I’m happy to take.”
</lj-cut>
let's continue with the Music Monday Alphabet theme with sharing songs that begin with a certain letter. Feel free to chime in with your favorite song(s) that follow the weekly letter. Hit me with your favs. I love hearing new music or revisiting older pieces. This week's letter is X I'll be honest I know one song (okay two but with the same name) for this. You can find XO songs all over but I don't know them so...
The one I knew best, in so many high school dances....<iframe width=" 560"="560"" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/cLi8fTlDEag?si=xS8zmQg9_czExbov" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen">
I have friends super into Rush so here's this (which I do not like nearly as much)
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Date: 2024-10-15 05:24 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-10-15 05:50 am (UTC)