I keep musing about what would happen if Catherine went to Allerdale Hall from Crimson Peak:
Because on paper, it's everything she wants, old, musty rooms. Gothic architecture, falling apart. etc. But then on the other hand, it is freaking TERRIFYING and I think Catherine actually only wants to be scared in the abstract.
We have this passage about the storm at Northanger:
Yes, these were characteristic sounds; they brought to her recollection a countless variety of dreadful situations and horrid scenes, which such buildings had witnessed, and such storms ushered in; and most heartily did she rejoice in the happier circumstances attending her entrance within walls so solemn! She had nothing to dread from midnight assassins or drunken gallants. Henry had certainly been only in jest in what he had told her that morning. In a house so furnished, and so guarded, she could have nothing to explore or to suffer, and might go to her bedroom as securely as if it had been her own chamber at Fullerton. Thus wisely fortifying her mind, as she proceeded upstairs, she was enabled, especially on perceiving that Miss Tilney slept only two doors from her, to enter her room with a tolerably stout heart; and her spirits were immediately assisted by the cheerful blaze of a wood fire.
I think she would enjoy the first day at Allerdale, enjoy looking around all the rooms, and then run away after (or even during) the first night. Edith is made of sterner (and perhaps more stupid) stuff!
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Trilby elected that he couldn't stay in the duplicate of his office forever. Or in the portion of the ministry building that seemed to fade into nonexistence around it.
He had to find where he was and how to return. Before the evil triumphed. Before he failed.
It was a while of walking through the seemingly endless white expanse before he did find something.
Another person.
A tired looking man in a trenchcoat with brown hair and a fedora, holding a radio. As Trilby got closer he heard that the channels the man was flipping through seemed... More akin to overheard conversations than talk shows.
"So what? I'm supposed to sit back and let someone else handle this?"
"*Yes, Kyou, you are.* You're a child, and you almost died-"
-Click-
"Who... Are you three? Anyway?"
"The Stickymen!"
"No-no we are not. Lynx that's an awful name."
"She was just kidding please don't call us that."
-Click-
Suddenly the radio emitted an awful noise of piercing static, that felt less like that of a radio and more like a TV on max volume. It caused the other man to throw the radio in shock, and Trilby to clench his jaw so hard he could feel the intrusive sound reverberating in his *teeth*.
Underneath he could hear voices, just barely.
"Jesus Christ-Miles have you been shot?!"
"It doesn't matter just drive! We need to get out of here-"
Trilby couldn't stop himself from running over and grabbing the radio, just to switch it off and stop that awful noise. Looking at the other man up close he swore his eyes were glowing some. His stomach twisted as he realized his gun was out of ammo and the grolly was foolishly left in the office replica.
"Who are you?!" The man demanded, scrambling upright and grabbing-a *brick* out of his trenchcoat?!
"Why would I tell you?" Trilby backed up, holding the radio as if it could even be remotely useful as a makeshift weapon.
"Listen just- just put my radio down and step back, this doesn't have to get violent."
Trilby didn't want to, really. It'd leave him more vulnerable than he already was and there wasn't really anywhere to hide in an endless white expanse. But the alternative was bring a radio to a brick fight. So he did place the item on the ground, and slowly put distance between them, hands in the air.
The other grabbed the radio back, "So, once again, who are you?" He asked.
"... Terence Railby. What about you?" Better to go with the fake name for now.
"... Charles Reed. Do you got any clue where we are, Mr.Railby?"
"I was hoping you would." Great. So he's still as square one, only he's also being threatened with a brick.
"No idea. One minute I was in Oakwood, then I wake up here..." Charles put the brick away, and Trilby lowered his arms.
Trilby had no clue where or what Oakmont was.
"I was at Stonehenge, then I was... Falling." Nice to know Chzo could've dropped him in here closer to the ground. Damned eldritch asshat.
"Stonehenge? All the way in England?"
"Is Oakmont all the way in the US?"
"Yes, actually." Charles confirmed, "... Had. Anything... Otherworldly been going on where you were...?"
"Something to that effect." Well there's their first clue, this place is likely connected to other places via occult means.
"... Eldritch gods?"
"You too?"
"I think so. So... We've been sent here as. Some sort of punishment?" Charles had a good head on his shoulders. At least Trilby wasn't stuck here with an idiot.
"Or maybe to get us out of the way, I'm assuming since you know about whatever was happening in Oakmont that you were investigating it? Maybe trying to stop it?" Charles nodded. "Thought so... Did you have the radio before you ended up here?"
"No, it was nearby when I woke up." He turned the dial to get it off the static and clicked it on, the voice that came out was *jarringly* familiar. Ancients how Trilby had missed that voice. *He thought Chris had been killed by those creatures, why else would they have used his form against Trilby?*
"-I'm not sure how to fix what's going on on a wide scale, but that rift closing should help a lot of it, mate."
"We really can't thank you enough."
"Well... Maybe you can-"
-Click-
"Spooky herself told me not to send anyone after Specimen 14. She's taken it upon herself to retrieve them."
"They're in the dollhouse, Bernard."
"... I am aware."
"They're getting close to the generator-"
"And Woormy Charles will tear them apart before they get past it if Spooky fails-"
"Wait!" Trilby exclaimed, "Go back one!" Charles gave him a confused look but obliged the request.
-Click-
"His name is Terence Railby. Black hair, formalware, always has a Trilby on. I have reason to believe he would have come through here."
"Before the rift had opened, yes. He bought some supplies and stopped at the hospital."
"Did he mention where he was going?"
"He was writing in a notebook when he was in here, I think I saw Stonehenge in there a few times."
"That's what I thought... Well, I better head that way if I want any hope of catching him."
"I hope your friend's okay." The shopkeep's remark earned a chuckle full of uncharacteristic fear and anxiety from Chris.
"You and me both."
The signal faded into static, and the two were left there for a moment before Charles switched the radio back off.
"... A friend of yours?"
"... Yes." More than that. So much more. Not that Trilby would admit it, not that he hadn't already ruined it and now left Chris to face the shadow alone. And while Chris was capable and knowledgeable, and had far more experience with apocalyptic threats than anyone else in the ministry, he was still reckless and hardheaded and Trilby didn't know if he'd be able to face the threats ahead of him alone.
"Do you think he might be able to find us? And bring us back? We might not be stuck here." Charles sounded hopeful.
"Maybe." He hoped not. He hoped Chris won what he couldn't, stopped the shadow and sent Chzo's ugly face turned back to the realm of magick. Even if it meant dying in this endless expanse, at least the world would be safe. *At least Chris would be safe. Even if Trilby felt it was terribly likely he'd already lost everyone else he cared for. Maybe Chris could survive this.*
Trilby took a deep breath, shoved his emotions back down, and to distract himself from thoughts of Chris alone in that hell, focused on the dilemma in front of him, "But we can't count on that. Have you found anything besides the radio?"
"I... Haven't looked yet honestly."
"It'd be a good start, come on. Let's start moving."
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Sometimes I make poor decisions.
Today's poor decision was stumbling on the wikipedia page for the sinking of the titanic and reading the whole damn thing late into the night while I have to get up at 6 tomorrow. And now I kind of can't stop thinking about it.
I already love the 1910s, that short 4 year period before the war. It feels like a child who got bored during a long lecture, innocent in a little fantasy world. The silent films of Melies, the glowy black and white photos, all the art about the magic beyond mundane life repeated for centuries. Escaping, from the exposing rough work to fiction.
And that dreamy vibe plastered on this tragedy. Suits and dresses and formality mixed with the human instinct to survive. The band that plays a hymn instead of a happy score for a late dinner. The couple who decided to stay on board together because the husband wouldn't be let on the lifeboat. The riches looking at living hell as a minor inconvenience in their lives - first class closest to the deck, first to get a lifeboat, first to leave. The captain in the wheelroom. The radio operators sending distress signals until the electric system died off and all the neat morse dotwork turned into a jumbled mess. The engineers, not one of them made it. All the men who told the women and children "after you", but never followed.
I often wonder how humanity would be now without the trauma of the war, and I fear we might be the same. But Titanic was not the one to break us. We learned from it, and keep remembering, keep searching and creating. And that gives me a bit of hope.
We're not unsinkable. Right. But we can learn how to swim.
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