#realizing that both of em keep journals. theo's is a memoir of his failures and callan's is a collection of his successes

[cowboybrunch]

Ohhhh shiiiiit it's STS and I have recovered from reading "attention span." JFC that was so good.

I want to rotate two of your blorbos (specifically Theo and Callan) next to each other with this question. For the purposes of not having someone's head explode, let's say the events of the story/first episode remain largely the same.

What would they do if they were in a time loop? Would they have someone to act as a constant (the Hofer to Sullivan or the Gott to Royston, e.g.) or would they have to do all the work themselves? Is there a win condition or is the time loop an infinite punishment?

oooo >:) lets put these men in a time loop! essay incoming <3

i'm imagining Callan is working a case alone (say Hoot and Lee are on a holiday to get em out of the way for now). it's going smoothly, he's putting the pieces together, nearly solved when he steps out into the street and a bus is barreling towards him, horn screaming, etc. at the last moment, he looks up and sees Theo staring at him from the other side of the road. they reset just before impact.

Theo realizes they're in a time loop first, but he wouldn't know why or how to stop it. there would be lots of blame tossed around. Theo assumes that Callan did something to cause the loop. Callan doesn't trust supernatural entities at all so he accuses Theo of sabotaging their efforts to close the loop (even tho Theo isn't sabotaging anything, he's just a teeny tiny bit incompetent inexperienced with solving mysteries)

basically, it's an uphill battle to get them to cooperate with each other. i see a big blowout fight where Theo is getting more and more agitated and Callan is listing off every time that Theo did something to undermine their investigation (very calm and rational in true Callan fashion) and then Theo just snaps. throws out a bit of honesty, maybe about how his whole life thus far has felt like a time loop because he keeps making the same stupid mistakes, and that vulnerability is what makes Callan think, oh. this guy really isn't the problem. he's as trapped as i am.

they don't have a Gott or a Hofer in that someone else is aware that time is looping, but the only person (not including [redacted] but we're talking post-botrd so that's not an option) Theo would go to for help would be Marcella. she doesn't believe that he's in a time loop BUT she helps him anyway. "he's finally lost it... but, fine. what can i do?" he has to rehash the situation every loop which frustrates the hell out of him so by the fifth or sixth loop he's got his concise explanation down flat. knows exactly what to say and how she'll react to the info. sweet.

(Marcella thinks Callan is cute in like, a condescending way. she pretends to curse him/threatens to become the monster beneath his bed just to see him squirm. Callan thinks Marcella and Lee would be peas in a pod, so his emotions towards her are... complicated)

probably around the 8th or 9th loop, Theo gets discouraged and figures this is just his life now, he's done, there's no escaping, typical Heir of Death melodrama. Callan's gotta pep talk him, which Callan isn't very good at. and somehow this convo leads to the realization that the win condition is Callan recognizing his own fallibility, that he's unfortunately a human being and can't possibly know or control everything. it's a lesson about hubris!

also i really like the idea that the bus shows up at the same time regardless of where they are. so they try to run from it, end up in the middle of the desert or somethin, not a road in sight and BAM! out of nowhere. bus. reset. in a restaurant? bus. in callan's apartment? BUS!

this was a ton of fun to think abt :-) Theo just might be an honorary paranormal investigator once they get this loop closed. thank u for the ask!!! <3