{"id":12944,"date":"2021-07-26T12:49:15","date_gmt":"2021-07-26T17:49:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/emifail.com\/ocs\/?p=12944"},"modified":"2021-12-27T00:23:14","modified_gmt":"2021-12-27T06:23:14","slug":"bringing-angel-back","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emifail.com\/ocs\/gatecrashers\/bringing-angel-back","title":{"rendered":"bringing angel back"},"content":{"rendered":"
OREV: <\/strong>(relieved) ... Oh GOD\r\nOREV: <\/strong>I wasn\u2019t sure to be WORRIED or SCARED\u2014 I THOUGHT you were gonna say that it happened to ANJAY and I was like, GOD, ya finally killed him didn\u2019t ya? You finally just snapped and ya killed somebody in the middle of a match.\r\nOREV: <\/strong>But no, it\u2019s yer snake? What\u2019s wrong with yer snake?<\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
Salem hovers at the door to Orev\u2019s office like a child afraid to tell their parents they did something bad.<\/p>\n
OREV: <\/strong>(defeated) Yeah, okay. What happened, Salem. What\u2019s goin' on.\r\nSALEM: <\/strong>Um, I'm sorry to bother you\u2014\r\nOREV: <\/strong>You can come in.\r\nSALEM: <\/strong>OKAY, RIGHT\u2014<\/pre>\n
Salem skitters into Orev’s office.<\/p>\n
SALEM: <\/strong>Um\u2014 we, uh\u2014 W-We won\u2014! The\u2014 Uh\u2014\r\nOREV: <\/strong>(impressed) That is ... amazing.\r\nSALEM: <\/strong>(speechless) Thank you!! But, um ... something happened to ...\r\nOREV:<\/strong> (apprehensive)\r\nSALEM: <\/strong>... Angel?\r\nOREV: <\/strong>(relieved) ... Oh GOD\r\nOREV: <\/strong>I wasn\u2019t sure to be WORRIED or SCARED\u2014 I THOUGHT you were gonna say that it happened to ANJAY and I was like, GOD, ya finally killed him didn\u2019t ya? You finally just snapped and ya killed somebody in the middle of a match.\r\nOREV: <\/strong>But no, it\u2019s yer snake? What\u2019s wrong with yer snake?\r\nSALEM: <\/strong>WELL, I mean, Anjay DID almost die like twice, but\u2014 Angel sorta got ... caught on fire.<\/pre>\n
Salem presents Angel’s shed skin.<\/p>\n
OREV: <\/strong>... That is a, uh. That is not your snake, Salem. That is snake skin. It looks like it just shed.\r\nSALEM: <\/strong>Well they\u2019re not HERE, I don\u2019t know where\u2014\r\nOREV: <\/strong>They\u2019re not\u2014 You LOST your snake??\r\nSALEM: <\/strong>... I guess?\r\nOREV: <\/strong>Well, have you\u2014 What have you done to LOOK for your snake, Salem. You bring me a snake skin\u2014 What am I supposed to do with this?\r\nSALEM: <\/strong>Uh. Um. Oh! Okay, okay, so then they\u2019re ... probably still out there somewhere?<\/pre>\n
Salem tries to reach out to Angel. They\u2019ve felt this connection with Angel for a long time. They know of a way to reconnect with them, they\u2019ve done this before. Angel usually goes to rest temporarily in a pocket dimension. Salem tries to channel that same type of magic, but get a searing pain in their mind instead. They notice that Orev winces at the same time, for just a moment. He looks at Salem strangely, and Salem realizes that they\u2019re remembering something about the first time they ever interacted with Angel.<\/p>\n
When they first met Angel, Angel wasn\u2019t a snake. Angel was an object. Angel was a thin sword that, when Salem picked it up, wrapped around their hand and BECAME a snake.<\/p>\n
Salem notices Orev looking at them.<\/p>\n
OREV: <\/strong>Salem, I have a very important question: where IS Angel right now.<\/pre>\n
Salem looks down, around the room – there\u2019s no sword in here, but they notice Orev\u2019s strangely worried look. it contrasts so much with what Orev was just saying ten seconds ago. he was JUST brushing Salem off, saying he doesn\u2019t care about their snake, they lost their pet snake, that sucks I guess – but NOW Orev is like … this is IMPORTANT. What is going on with Angel.<\/p>\n
SALEM: <\/strong>Well, I don\u2019t ... know, sir, I thought maybe you might ... know ...\r\nOREV: <\/strong>(sighing) Okay, walk me through everything that happened - so you went to the fight, Angel was in the fight, Angel got ... burned? You dropped Angel? What happened?\r\nSALEM: <\/strong>Um, they ate some magic, um, and then there was a big fireball, it got a lot of people, it was really big, and Angel was in it, and when the fire was gone, Angel was ... gone.\r\nOREV: <\/strong>Okay, so, you probably just ... dissipated the physical form, you can still CALL Angel\u2014\r\nSALEM: <\/strong>Well, I tried\u2014\r\nOREV: <\/strong>You already tried that?\r\nSALEM: <\/strong>It\u2019s not ... working.\r\nOREV: <\/strong>It\u2019s not working.\r\nOREV: <\/strong>I don\u2019t\u2014 I can\u2019t\u2014 It\u2019s\u2014<\/pre>\n
Orev sighs. He is getting frustrated. He\u2019s trying to find answers like he\u2019s supposed to know them, and he KNOWS he\u2019s supposed to know them – but there\u2019s something missing and he just keeps sputtering, trying to wrap his brain around it all.<\/p>\n
OREV:<\/strong> Okay. YOU ... have magic. That magic you have also has ... a part of ANGEL. You are connected, there is a BOND. So you just need to CALL on the BOND. And you can BRING Angel BACK.\r\nSALEM:<\/strong> ... Right.\r\nOREV:<\/strong> I don\u2019t\u2014 I don\u2019t know how to\u2014 ... I don\u2019t WANT to do the only thing i can think of. i don\u2019t know how to SHOW you how to do this.\r\nSALEM:<\/strong> is it\u2014 is it something you FEEL like you know how to do, but you can\u2019t put it into words??\r\nOREV:<\/strong> (sighs) MOST of it, yes, MOST of it is there, I just can\u2019t replicate it, and I don\u2019t know WHY\u2014 I don\u2019t\u2014 I don\u2019t even know why I can\u2019t\u2014\r\nSALEM:<\/strong> Can YOU call out to Angel? Can YOU feel them?\r\nOREV:<\/strong> I mean, I guess I could try (sighs) I mean I SHOULD, I SHOULD be able to\u2014<\/pre>\n
Orev sounds like he\u2019s convincing HIMSELF of this. He closes his eyes and focuses … and then shakes his head.<\/p>\n
OREV:<\/strong> It\u2019s not\u2014 (angry sigh) I don\u2019t know WHY it\u2019s not working, I don\u2019t know WHAT\u2019S not working, I don\u2019t know what\u2019s THERE, I know\u2014 I know HOW\u2014 I USED to\u2014<\/pre>\n
Salem puts a hand on Orev’s shoulder, trying to comfort him. Immediately, Orev’s panic eases and Salem feels an anxious energy seep in. When Orev calms, Salem feels a tightness around their chest. As their hand stays there a moment longer, a memory comes into their mind.<\/p>\n
In the same moment as picking up the sword for the first time, it feels so much like Salem is remembering – but the body feels wrong. They remember the action of calling on Angel. It is this feeling of slipping a hand in between worlds and pulling something, something that should be kept hidden, out. And Salem watches themself\u2014 not themself, SOMETHING\u2014perform this, in the memory. They reach out, and it doesn\u2019t look like anything happens, but Salem can FEEL it happen. And then suddenly, Angel is there. and for a moment it looks like both the snake AND the sword as Salem’s mind tries to makes sense of it.<\/p>\n
Orev suddenly brushes Salem off as quickly as he can.<\/p>\n
OREV:<\/strong> I\u2014 SALEM. It is RULE NUMBER ONE\u2014 you don\u2019t TOUCH me\u2014\r\nSALEM:<\/strong> Do you feel it? Did you feel that?\r\nOREV:<\/strong> I don\u2019t\u2014 know what that was, I don\u2019t WANT to know what that was, I want you to get the FUCK out of my office. Go look for your snake somewhere, I don\u2019t know\u2014<\/pre>\n
Salem tries to recreate the action that they saw in the memory. It\u2019s easy, they get the sense for where Angel should be, where they\u2019ve hidden themself away, and Salem reaches out and calls for them and … wrapped around their hand, a foot longer, is Angel. Salem looks in awe at angel around their hand, and then back at Orev.<\/p>\n
Orev is stunned. The look on his face is one of recognition and confusion. He turns away, hiding his face, and pours himself a glass of water until it overflows. He doesn\u2019t say anything else and walks out of his own office, leaving Salem alone. He is struggling with something that he doesn\u2019t seem to be able to wrap his head around. He steps onto the balcony and looks out at the bar, taking a couple of heavy sips.<\/p>\n
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OREV: (relieved) … Oh GOD OREV: I wasn\u2019t sure to be WORRIED or SCARED\u2014 I THOUGHT you were gonna say that it happened to ANJAY and I was like, GOD, ya finally killed him didn\u2019t ya? You finally just snapped and ya killed somebody in the middle of a match. OREV: But no, it\u2019s yer […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9562,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[215],"tags":[107,220,221,222],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-12944","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gatecrashers","tag-emily","tag-riley","tag-salem","tag-orev","blog-left-layout","blog-style-postblock","","blog-alt-odd"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/emifail.com\/ocs\/wp-content\/uploads\/salem-orev-emifail-02.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/emifail.com\/ocs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12944","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/emifail.com\/ocs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/emifail.com\/ocs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emifail.com\/ocs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emifail.com\/ocs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12944"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/emifail.com\/ocs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12944\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emifail.com\/ocs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9562"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/emifail.com\/ocs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12944"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emifail.com\/ocs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12944"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emifail.com\/ocs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12944"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emifail.com\/ocs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_folder?post=12944"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}