#but MAN i think if the bros had grown up in blackwood like jack theyd be. a lot. to handle.

[queenofbaws]

taking a quick break from flash fiction to have dinner and to ask myself an incredibly (un)important and (not even a little) serious question:

is it too late for me to completely change the plot of like wringing blood from a stone, because replaying ud has me thinking the only thing worse than jack being involved in the mess at hackett's quarry is the hackett brothers being in blackwood the night of the fire

just

just.

just...

imagine.

jack has. so much to do that night. we see him all over the mountain, and let's be real, he's a middle-aged dude - a monster hunter sure, but that snow is DEEP and you KNOW ya boy is getting tired out there. he's following sam, he's sneaking up the mountain, he's following mike and jess to the cabin, he's saving emily in the mine, he's delivering ominous messages at the lodge, he's getting his head cut off and dying, it's a FULL! NIGHT! FOR! HIM!!!!!

so what if

for (mumbles) reasons, the hackett boys have been up on that there mountain with him the whole goddamn time too and they're just. worse versions of themselves adkslfjsldjfasdfjasfkl

jack keeps to the mines for the most part because that's his thing. he's the one of them who has the best hang of hunting, is able to stay the stillest, and just plain isn't as scared of what's down there. emily still bumps into him, and later he's able to help find jess and matt because he knows those tunnels like the back of his hand.

chris starts off at the base of the mountain and is the one to watch the kids coming in. he reports it to the others, keeps them on their toes, but he doesn't join them up on the summit until he has to. he hates it up there. he's more the face of their operation, mostly hanging around blackwood township, so he is less than pleased to actually be dragged into a hunt. he's the supplies guy. he supplies the supplies. he doesn't actually hunt, are you kidding me?! the other three can do that crap.

bobby sticks around the lodge itself because he's not very good at being QUIET or HIDDEN out in the open, but he knows how to get in and out using the sanatorium tunnels, and if anyone's making sure nothing's getting into the lodge through the basement, well, it's him. he is. UNBELIEVABLY CONFUSED when he starts finding dead pigs and old sawblades piled up in the old resort. CONFOUNDED. every time he reports back to the others, they're just like "bobby, jesus christ, no there's not a saw movie happening down there, you're being dramatic." he is not being dramatic.

travis, of course, is the one to slink after mike and jess - at least until disaster strikes. next to jack, he's the best at staying out of sight and disappearing when he needs to. is there a NOTABLE silence that falls over the walkies when he immediately volunteers to be the one to tail them? yes. does that silence make him immediately very angry? yes. does that anger make his motives any less transparent? no. BUT NO ONE'S LAUGHING AT HIM WHEN YOU-KNOW-WHAT HAPPENS AND HE BUYS MIKE 5 EXTRA SECONDS TO KEEP JESS'S FACE ATTACHED TO HER HEAD.

mostly though

mostly

i'm thinking

about the moment

where after escaping the mines and the conveyor belt, emily rejoins sam, ash, chris, and mike in the lodge. you know. the moment. where we usually meet jack. only this time

this time

there's a very authoritative knock on the door. and someone with a very official voice calls out that it's the blackwood pd. and everyone in the group is so relieved

except for emily, who just barely gets a chance to remind everyone:

"they told us they wouldn't be able to get here until dawn"

before mike and chris tentatively open the door

and chris (hackett) kicks it the rest of the way in because he's just so fucking glad to be back inside instead of out there with those things, and travis oozes in with him, and the gang is suddenly very, very, very tense again because who the FUCK are these guys?! one is being very friendly and the other is being very unfriendly, and neither seems too worried about any of what's going on.

this tension only gets worse when one of them yells "how's it goin' for you, b?" and bobby comes up from the basement, twice as big as usual given his winter clothes, and suddenly the gang realizes no, whoops, oops, oopsie daisies, they haven't been alone all night. someone has been watching them. a few someones in fact.

a few someones who have spent too much time living in a blasted-out sanatorium in the middle of a deserted mountain to understand or appreciate the importance of personal space.

im just saying

i think

for how fun it is putting jack in hackett's quarry and making him the (extremely begrudging) voice of reason, i am suddenly STRUCK with how fucking hoRRIBLE IT WOULD BE IF THE SHOE WERE ON THE OTHER FOOT AND THE HACKETT BROTHERS WERE ALLOWED TO DEVOLVE INTO THE VERY WORST HORROR MOVIE VERSIONS OF THEMSELVES, BEING RAISED MORE LIKE FIDDLERS KLJASDKFJASLKDFJASLKDFJ

chris being all chummy and pretending he can't tell how deeply nervous he's making the people around him

bobby just grabbing people to keep them from running off

travis smelling the girls' hair

im just saying.

i am just.

saying.

i think that scene in the lodge would just be. so much more awful. and tense. and nerve wracking. if the kids were more or less matched with hunters vs. it being the five of them and jack.

i love the hacketteers, i do, but with the exception of laura, none of those kids were looking to commit a felony that night. the blackwood kids, though????? the blackwood kids?!?!?!?!?!?!??!!!

youre gonna look me in my eye and tell me if the blackwood kids suddenly thought this was a hostage situation, they wouldn't just fuckin go for it? sam cracks chris over the head with a lamp before making a break for it. ashley stabs whoever's closest (she deserves it). in a concerted effort, mike and emily almost knock bobby down the stairs. chris keeps getting confused when someone yells "chris," as does chris! they're both too keyed up to realize it's a same hat situation.

jack finally walks in after climbing up out of the mines and ages 20 years when he sees everyone fighting

hannah shows up and everyone starts screaming instead

THE! POSSIBILITIES! ARE! ENDLESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!