rionaleonhart | We Like Plank.

So, I beat Silent Hill 2 a couple of weeks ago.

I should probably ramble on about the ending, seeing as I've been doing that for most of the game, but I won't. Suffice to say:

1) I got Leave, which is good, because it was the one I was trying for (by the end of the game I was far too fond of James to put him through the Maria or In Water endings). Owing to unfortunate circumstances, however, I was unable to watch the credits, and now have an insane desire to watch them. This is decidedly odd.
2) One of the best ways of lessening the terror is running around in happy little circles, plank drawn, humming Nobuo Uematsu's 'Only A Plank Between One And Perdition'. No, really.
3) Seriously, a can of lightbulbs?

And now to the real purpose of this post: it's one of those memes where anyone can request the basic plot of a fic, and I have to write it! Hoorah!

Please remember that, although I will place no limits on what you can request, there are limits on what I can write. If you comment with 'Write a 32,000 word poem about the beauty of cockroaches from the point of view of a random corpse in Silent Hill, with implied romance between James and Pyramid Head,' I'll... well, I'll probably give it a try, but I cannot guarantee that you'll get your poem. There are also no guarantees about quality or receiving the fic in a timely fashion, just so you know.

(I'll try to get that Maria/Angela thing written someday. Really.)

ETA: Multiple requests are not only allowed; they are encouraged.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Damn, I haven't touched silent hill in nearly 6 months... I need to complete that.

You know, for some time, I thought the humour lay simply in that "Only A Plank" is a very amusing thing for James to be humming. Then I realised the plank connection, and then I laughed still more than I already was. (I am smart and quick. I pick things up like that, in which one may assume I snapped my fingers on "that".)

I would make a joke about Planck's Constant, only I don't know what Planck's Constant is.

For some time, I really couldn't think of a piece to request. (Which fandoms are you working in recently?) And then, suddenly, it came to me, and I would like to request:

James, after the Leave ending. Any period of time. However, I'd also like a reference, no matter how implied or fleeting, to the concept that the events of Silent Hill 2 repeat, and while he's escaped the horror, it May Not Be For Long.

(I think Screaming Terrified Little Saionji is an appropriate icon choice here. Feel free to mess with the request as much as you like, of course.)

HELLO HAVE SOME WEIRD.

This fic is kind of bugging me. There's clearly something that really, really needs to be done to it in order to make it better. I just... can't figure out what it is.

Also, it's too long to pass the LJ-Comment test, so I'll be posting it in two parts.

-

James...
Maria!
James...
Mary - Maria, don't make me do this.
James... James... James...
...i'msorry.

James doesn't want her there. He doesn't want to be reminded of what he did every time he sees her.

In my restless dreams...
I see that town.
Silent Hill.
You promised me you'd take me there again someday.
But you never did.
Well, I'm alone there now.
In our 'special place'...
Waiting for you to come to see me.
But you never do.

"Did you want to come here?"

Laura shrugs, not looking at him. "It's what Mary wanted."

He walks over to stand beside her, looks out of the window. "...I can understand if you hate me." He hates himself, after all.

She shrugs again. "She forgave you." She still doesn't look at him, though, and she still doesn't speak unless he speaks to her. It's not going to be easy, he feels, but he doesn't deserve ease in his life. "If she wants me to be here, I'm happy here."

James is silent.

It's... difficult, looking after Laura.

He and Mary used to discuss having children, before she became ill. Mary had wanted a child. James had always been uneasy about it.

If Mary were here, she would be able to look after Laura. She had always been better with children than James.

...it's a pity she... died.

"You said that you met Mary in the hospital, right?"

"Yeah."

"What were you doing there? Were you ill?" He feels that he should have asked it a long time ago.

"Why do you care?" Laura is always cold to him when he mentions Mary. James doesn't understand why.

"Tell me, Laura." He's never been good at being stern. He can't remember what possessed him to adopt this girl. He can't handle raising a child.

She looks oddly at him for a moment before turning away. "...It was just a cold."

James watches her for some time, and then leans back against the wall and closes his eyes.

He feels that perhaps he's forgotten something, something that could explain why Laura hates him so much. But he never asks.

That evening he turns on the TV, but it's broken and there's nothing but television static, casting a cold flickering light on the walls and ceiling around him.

James stares at it for longer than he should before he turns it off.

He never tries watching television again.

Laura never looks at him.

Laura never speaks to him.

Laura wouldn't notice if he walked quietly up behind her, metal pipe in hand -

There's a sound behind him, and Laura pulls herself up to sit next to him on the wall. They sit there in silence for a while before she leans her head against his shoulder, a little awkwardly. He looks at her, taken aback.

After a pause, she speaks. "...She - Mary always said you were a good person." She coughs, quietly. "...I guess I should give you a chance.

James despises himself.

When James is walking to the kitchen, he hears a faint crackling sound. The radio in the sitting room is emitting static. The radio used to be in his bedroom, but he moved it immediately after adopting Laura. He can't remember why, now.

Puzzled, he walks over to examine it. The static becomes steadily louder as he nears it.

The radio is off.

Confused, he tries to turn it on, but the switch is stuck. He doesn't understand how it can be making a noise if it is not switched on.

James crouches to unplug the radio, only to find that it is already unplugged.

He lies awake for a very long time. When he sleeps he dreams of falling, and a burning stairway, and a videotape in the middle of an empty room.

The radio is still emitting static - it's quiet, as James is on the other side of the room, but still loud enough to be irritating. Laura doesn't seem to be bothered by it at all, he notes.

"Can't you hear that?

She glances over at him. "Hear what?"

He walks towards her, and the static again becomes louder as he approaches the radio. His proximity can't be affecting the static, he tells himself. That's ridiculous.

"The radio."

She shakes her head, looking over at the radio. "It's not even plugged in," she says scornfully, and then coughs a few times.

The cold is getting worse, James notices.

(Flowers? I don't want any damn flowers!)

The memory of Mary's illness is coming back to him. Short flashes, moments of dialogue.

(Don't leave me alone! Tell me I'll be okay! Tell me I'm not going to die!)

James looks over at Laura, and knows that he can't live through that again.

I rarely ever have visceral reactions to written media. Only towards the ends of novels that have really drawn me in, or in big important moments (Watership Down was good for that), or - in comedy - all the laughter. Most of the rest of the time, I just read and have my reactions later. When I do have visceral reactions, they're typically half-smiles or mild shudders.

This one, however, made me gasp aloud no less than twice.

I think the only course of action is to use a saying I've been overusing recently, and point out that you win forever.

(I'd thought you'd done something on this before, but it turned out I was thinking of this (http://www.livejournal.com/users/geekerypokery/69412.html?thread=320292#t320292). I don't know why, but it reminds me of your style.)

We Like Plank.

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HELLO HAVE SOME WEIRD. Silent Hill 2-II: The Joys of Incoherency

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