#you know so the other barrio dwellers could get a turn

[pika-ace]

In the Heights Strange Men Series AU

Okay, I’ve been meaning to do this for a while so it’s finally time to immortalize it!

My bud @a-weird-blog-in-general and I are both avid fans of the Strange Men series, which if you don’t know, is a series of four RPG pixel horror games consisting of The Crooked Man, The Sandman, The Boogieman, and The Hanged Man. They’re really cool and in-depth games, focusing on internal struggles of life while adding a supernatural/horror touch. They’re famous for their in-depth characters as well as multiple endings depending on choices you make. We’ve discussed AUs of these before and now, since the fourth game is confirmed to be the final game in this awesome series, it’s finally time to post about it! Also, if you’ve never heard of these games, I HIGHLY recommend downloading them or going on YouTube and watching a playthrough, cause they are a blast!

LONG ASS POST UNDER THE CUT (and spoilers too)

We start with the first game in the timeline, The Crooked Man, starring Benny.

This takes place about a month and a half after the musical takes place. It’s about the end of August, and Nina has gone back to Stanford. Meanwhile, Benny, is MOVING. Yes, moving out of the barrio! Mostly because he’s still trying to find his way and find a new job. Plus, he’s secretly stressed by his long-distance relationship with Nina, and ON TOP OF THAT, his mom was admitted the hospital a few weeks back (yeah, that’s right, I’m including Benny’s mom in this!), with a tumor in her brain making her forget things, including her own son, kinda acting like Alzheimer's. So you could say that Benny’s also moving to be closer to her, as his new apartment is walking distance from the hospital. So, Vanessa and Usnavi help Benny move into his new apartment, but on the first night in his new home, strange things start happening in his apartment. He hears crying at night, the faucet and TV turn on by themselves, and words are written on the mirror. There have been a few rumors about the previous owner of the apartment and Benny finds some things that belonged to him. With nothing else to do, Benny decides to investigate, and he’s first led to an abandoned hotel. After wandering around, Benny runs into a girl called Mandy (who bears a striking resemblance to a certain someone ;)) who is looking for something her boyfriend gave her. They split up for a bit and Benny soon runs into a hideous monster with a crooked neck; the Crooked Man. The monster chases and attacks Benny multiple times, but no matter what Benny does, it always comes back, and taunts him with voices saying how he’s nothing and how Nina would be better off without him holding her back, but he manages to overcome it, saying how even if Nina does end up leaving him, he will always love her and be proud of her accomplishments. After getting away, Benny runs into Mandy, who’s crying and wondering why she’s risking her life in a dangerous place like this when she’s not even sure if she’s good enough for her boyfriend. Benny tells her that it’s okay to worry about things like that and there’s nothing wrong with crying with worry about losing something. You just have to do the best you can, and if things don’t work out, just move on and don’t let it get your down. Mandy thanks Benny and gives him an address to another location. The new address leads Benny to an abandoned high school where he runs into a teen named Chris (I know, this will make sense later). Chris is wandering around the campus cause he had fond memories of the school, and he and Benny kinda butt heads. So Benny wanders through the school and who does he run into? The Crooked Man. Benny manages to lose the monster every time, but he’s also reminded of when he was in high school. It turns out that Benny didn’t graduate high school and actually flunked out. No matter how hard he tried, he just couldn’t make grades good enough to graduate. It got so bad that he resorted to cheating on his final senior exams, but he got caught, which pretty much ruined his chances of graduating. He didn’t get expelled since the year was just about over anyway, but it didn’t stop the sting. Benny overcomes these memories by remembering his adult life in the barrio. He got the job at the dispatch and he’s been able to make his way even without a high school degree. Anyway, Benny finds Chris trapped in a room that’s leaking gas and manages to save him and the two finally start to get along a bit. Chris tells Benny that his grades weren’t the best when he went there. He was able to graduate, but he still has to take classes at another school in order to get requirements for a college to accept him. Chris doesn’t want to give up on college because one of his high school teachers believed in him and gave him the confidence to keep trying. Unfortunately, Benny then finds an old diary page from that same teacher, saying how he didn’t care for Chris at all and believed that he would never succeed. Chris finds out and gets really mad, but Benny is able to talk him down by saying that he should quit thinking that everything’s going to work out. If Chris isn’t meant to get into college, it’s not the end of the world; he’ll still be able to make something of himself and make his family proud. That calms Chris down, and he thanks Benny, giving him yet another address. This one leads Benny to an abandoned hospital where he meets a young boy named Robin, who’s waiting for his parents. Benny takes Robin with him so he won’t be alone while he waits for his parents, planning to take him to the police if they don’t show up, and they run into You-Know-Who yet again while Robin’s in the bathroom, trapped with the monster. Benny manages to save Robin, who breaks down into tears, but Benny comforts him by telling Robin about his own mother. They explore around a bit more until the Crooked Man shows up and kidnaps Robin. Benny finds them on the roof and manages to kick the Crooked Man off the roof. But even though Robin’s safe, he’s still upset, thinking that his parents hate him; even though he’s scared, he hangs in there, but his parents won’t come. Benny tries to tell him otherwise, but he’s reminded of his own parents. Robin leaves the roof and disappears, so Benny gives chase, until he finds himself in a room where he finds...his dad. But by this point, Benny’s sure it’s an illusion so he starts attacking him, but his dad grins while Benny chokes him ‘It hurts Benny...just like it did back then...are you going to kill me this time?’ Benny stops and he’s reminded of when he was in high school. His dad was never the best rolemodel, always staying out late, drinking, having affairs and the like. But he never hurt Benny or his mom, until one particular night. His dad came home, drunk and angry, and after fighting with Benny’s mom, started beating her. Benny got so angry that he fought back and nearly killed his father, but luckily, Usnavi had been planning to stop by and arrived just in time to stop him and call the police to have his dad arrested. After that day, Benny never believed he had a real family anymore. Not only did he almost kill his own father, but now his mother doesn’t even recognize him anymore, and now he’s abandoned her in a hospital, despite everything she did for him in his father’s absence. His whole life has been and always will be crooked. Meanwhile, back in the barrio, Usnavi is downtown visiting Vanessa, but Usnavi is worried about Benny as he hasn’t been calling or texting for a few days. However, Usnavi then gets a call from Benny. ‘Benny?! Oh thank god, where are you?!’ ‘...Central Hospital...’ ‘Wha...why are you all the way out there?! Hang on, Vanessa and I will come get you, we-’ ‘No...don’t come...just leave me alone...’ And Benny hangs up. Usnavi and Vanessa book it to the hospital and start looking for Benny. As they travel up the stairs, they run into Mandy, Chris, and Robin, all telling Usnavi that Benny is waiting for him on the roof and that he needs him. Usnavi’s super confused, and gets even more confused when Vanessa lightly smacks him for trying to scare her. ‘What are you talking about?’ ‘You know what I’m taking about! Who the hell are you talking to?!’ Yeah, all those people Benny had been talking too? They’re not real. They all represent some kind of fear or obstacle in Benny’s life. Mandy represented his fear of losing Nina, due to their long-distance relationship and how she would possibly love a screw-up like him when she’s at Stanford and gonna change the world (that’s also why she looked a lot like Nina). Chris represented his past self when he flunked out of high school and thought he would have nothing in the world, when no one at school believed in him. And Robin represented the family Benny left behind, the family in both the barrio and his own parents. So, Usnavi goes up to the roof and finds Benny, standing there, holding a pistol to his head, saying how he’s ‘a crooked man and how nothing will ever go right for him no matter how hard he tries.’ Usnavi stares until he blinks and sees something that looks like a figure, holding Benny and the pistol, talking through him. Usnavi has no idea what’s going on, but in a flurry of panic, Usnavi runs up and starts punching Benny, screaming for the monster to let go of him. After a good number of punches, Benny finally shoves Usnavi away and seems to snap out of it. After that, Usnavi and Benny sit on the roof and have a good long talk about what Benny went through, and Benny decides to finish this. He goes to the address of the previous owner of his apartment, and faces the Crooked Man one last time and tells him that he won’t end up like him, and the monster disappears for good. Benny travels up to the attic, where he finds the hanged corpse of the former tenant, who’s head has become crooked due to the noose. Benny makes peace with him and decides that he’s going back to the barrio, where he belongs. But not before he visits the hospital, where they have successfully removed the tumor from his mom and he has one last conversation with her before she dies peacefully. The story ends with Nina calling him, and everything seems right with the world.

Next in the timeline, The Sandman, starring Sonny.

This story, I’m thinking having happen about a month after the events of Crooked Man, making it the end of September (timeline may vary). Basic premise of this: Sonny has acquired insomnia. It started around the time Benny moved away before Crooked Man started; the barrio had another blackout and, of course, Sonny was left alone in the bodega yet again. But this time, Pete didn’t show up; he was able to get the grate down, but with all the noise in the darkness, Sonny was too scared to leave, meaning he spent the whole night, wide awake, sitting by the front door with his baseball bat until the next morning when Usnavi found him. Ever since then, Sonny just hasn’t been able to sleep; he dozes off for a chunk of time, but then wakes up again for a few hours, and the next thing he knows, it’s morning. And to make things worse, Sonny hasn’t been a very happy camper lately because he’s getting bullied at school. He would vent to his friends about it, but the barrio has seemed really empty lately. Nina’s at college, Vanessa’s downtown, Daniela and Carla are in the Bronx, the dispatch is gone, Benny’s in the process of moving back in (and recovering from the Crooked Man), even Pete has been barely seen, being called away to any jobs and commissions he can take to make money. And to top it all off, Sonny and Usnavi have been growing apart. Ever since the events of the musical, they’ve been seeing less and less of each other, mostly because Usnavi’s been being WAY more of a workaholic than usual, pulling all-nighters at the bodega and barely coming home. So Sonny’s just sleepless, lonely, and miserable, until one night, he wakes up to find that everyone has fallen asleep where they stood. There are people asleep on the streets, in the halls of buildings, Usnavi’s even asleep at the counter. Rightfully freaked out, Sonny goes outside to try and find other people who are awake and he comes across a dog. The dog first leads him to the salon where a giant shadowy monster is sound asleep. Sonny peeks in through the back and finds Daniela, and Carla huddled in the backroom, the monster keeping them prisoner. not questioning why they’re back, Sonny gets in and manages to sneak them out. They think they’re safe, but the monster wakes up and emerges from the salon, knocking Sonny to the ground and chasing the three ladies off. Sonny tries to give chase, but it’s like they’ve vanished without a trace. Sonny is then reminded of when the salon closed for the last time. While Sonny knew they were leaving, he didn’t know officially when, so when he walked by the salon the next morning to see it dark and closed, Sonny couldn’t help but feel crushed that neither Daniela or Carla said goodbye, and just vanished without a trace. The dog from earlier appears again and leads Sonny to an empty parking lot where he finds Benny, who seems to be running for his life as he’s being chased by a bunch of driver-less taxis. Sonny and Benny both run, but Benny gets trapped and one of the cars knock Sonny away, dazing him for a bit. When he snaps out of it, Benny and the cars are gone. The dog appears again and leads him to an old building where Pete lives. Sonny goes to Pete’s room and finds him only for them to be attacked by a bunch of creatures made of paint. Sonny and Pete try to run, but Pete trips and falls before they reach the door. Sonny tries to go back for him, but one of the monsters throws him out the door as another descends on Pete. Sonny gets up and runs back in to find...nothing. The monsters and Pete are gone. Now Sonny’s really confused, and he wanders back outside to find the same dog. The dog leads Sonny back to the bodega and he realizes that something’s missing. Usnavi. He’s not there. Sonny looks for him, but he’s nowhere in sight. Sonny goes back outside and the dog is staring at him. Sonny then realizes that this dog had been leading him to all those weird things with his friends, always showing up at the right time. It was too convenient. Sonny asks who the dog really is and the dog introduces himself as Lullaby, a being created by the Sandman. While everyone in the world is asleep, there are a handful of people like Sonny who can’t sleep because of their insomnia. It’s Lullaby’s job to create a ‘lullaby’ for that person, fulfilling their deepest wishes and desires so they can go to sleep. The reason Sonny had been experiencing all these illusions, was because they were all his darkest wishes, which all stem from his anger of how much the barrio has changed. Sonny denies it and instead demands that Lullaby take him to the Sandman so he can find Usnavi. Lullaby complies and Sonny finds himself in the Land of Fairies, where he meets several creatures, like the Tooth Fairy, a talking unicorn, a mermaid, etc. Sonny eventually finds the Sandman’s castle and meets the Sandman, speaking a strange language. Sonny suddenly remembers when he was a toddler, his mom once told him a story about the Sandman and how he would dig out the eyes of bad children who didn’t go to sleep with a spoon. And Sonny is facing the Sandman, who’s staring at him with big, bloodshot eyes and holding a spoon. Sonny books it out of there and keeps exploring the castle while occasionally running from the Sandman, and meeting up with Lullaby. He solves a few puzzles too until he finds himself in the Sandman’s bedroom where he finds a sleeping Usnavi in a large crystal ball full of sleeping sand. Lullaby meets him in there and right when Sonny’s about to ask how he can get him out, Lullaby cuts him off. ‘I’m surprised at you; you go through all this, and just to save your cousin? Even after he almost left you and has been ignoring you? Why do you even want to save him? Are you even mad at him?’ And Sonny just explodes, ‘YES, I AM MAD AT HIM!’ Sonny vents about how hard it’s been for him without Usnavi, and how he’s felt like he’s been so alone, but that Usnavi’s his only family, and he still loves him despite everything he did, so he has to save him. Lullaby then shows Sonny the Sandman’s journal, detailing his whole plan. It turns out the Sandman is just VERY sleep-deprived and he made a special sleeping sand that would put the whole world to sleep. He even made a machine to freeze time so no one would age or suffer in their sleep. That way, the Sandman would be able to sleep for a while until he was ready to do his job properly again. The journal also mentions Sonny, and how the Sandman admires how he lights up like the sun and his close relationship with Usnavi; the Sandman feels sorry for Sonny’s insomnia and after Lullaby’s three attempts didn’t work, he decided to whisk Usnavi away so that the bond between them might be rekindled once more. That’s why the Sandman has been chasing Sonny; he just wanted to put him to sleep. But Sonny can’t sleep just yet; he feels bad for the Sandman, so he wants to help him sleep. So after a little more exploring, Sonny makes his own bag of special sleeping sand and even finds the Sandman’s scepter. He meets the Sandman and they have a little showdown until Sonny makes the Sandman fall asleep with his own sleeping sand. Lullaby meets up with him and Sonny suddenly feels really sleepy. He falls to the ground, and Lullaby reassures him that time has stopped for the humans and will go back to normal once the Sandman wakes up. Before he falls asleep, Sonny says that he’s not just gonna ignore the troubles he has back home anymore, he’s going to face them; Usnavi, Pete, the school bullies, he’s going to deal with all of it when he wakes up. Lullaby then transforms into Sonny’s mom, giving him a few final moments of comfort before Sonny, at long last, falls asleep. X amount of time later, the Sandman wakes up, fully refreshed and returns Sonny safely home and tucks him in. He then goes back to his castle, starts time up again, and the humans wake up the next morning. Sonny wakes up, feeling more refreshed than ever and finds Usnavi at the kitchen table, awake and well, saying he fell asleep at the counter. The day goes on, and Sonny does what he said he would do. He stands up to the bullies at school, talks with Daniela, Carla, Vanessa, and even Benny. Even Pete finds him and apologizes for blowing him off so much. Sonny then goes back home and has a long talk with Usnavi and make up. The story ends with Sonny looking up at the sky where he knows the Sandman’s watching and gives him a thumb’s up; everything’s good.

Up next, The Boogieman, starring Vanessa, taking place in the summer, so about nine months after Sandman.

Life in the barrio is going about as usual. Summer’s here, Nina’s home (her second year being much more successful) and everyone’s just in a good mood. Vanessa has been doing great at her new fashion job, but her boss feels that she works too hard, and her boss also knows about Vanessa’s relationship with her mom. Her boss decides Vanessa needs a break and gives her two tickets to a tourist trap called Livingstone Castle, a giant old castle where guests can spend the night and learn about the history. Vanessa’s first thought is to bring Usnavi, but by complete coincidence, Usnavi also won two tickets to the same castle in a contest. And EVEN MORE coincidental is that Benny bought Nina tickets for them too; even Pete got one. So Benny and Nina are going, Sonny wants to go, so therefore Pete wants to go, so that leaves one extra ticket. Daniela and Carla are busy, so Vanessa ultimately decides to let her mom comes, but makes her promise to not TOUCH any alcohol on the trip. They ride on a nice boat there and arrive at the castle, meeting the owner of the castle, Brendan. Vanessa wanders around the castle for a while and they all eat dinner together in the dining hall before all dispersing to their separate rooms: Benny and Nina, Usnavi and Sonny, Vanessa and her mom, and Pete. Once in their rooms, Vanessa’s mom tries to talk to Vanessa, but in short, it doesn’t go well; Vanessa’s relationship with her mom has been slowly going downhill since her dad died when she was little. Everyone goes to bed until Vanessa is awoken by her phone ringing. Her phone that she can’t find for some reason. Vanessa gets up and realizes that her mom is nowhere in the room, and under the door is a note telling her to come to the Reception Hall to ‘see a show’. Vanessa makes her way to the reception hall and finds that all the rooms where the others are are empty, although Vanessa notices that in Usnavi and Sonny’s room, a chair is knocked over. She keeps her guard up, gets to the Reception Hall, and a strangely dressed man is waiting for her; the Boogieman. The Boogieman tells her that she is the main player in a game he wants to play, a battle of good vs. evil. And to kick off the game, what does he do? Kill Brendan by cutting his head off and then runs. Vanessa tries to give chase but the door’s locked, so she looks for another way. She makes her way to the staff halls, but all the servants and even their tour guide is dead, with the words ‘Hurry’ written in blood. Vanessa gets another message from the Boogieman saying if she doesn’t hurry, then the others would end up the same way. Shit has gotten real! Vanessa makes her way through the castle as quick as she can until she finds a room where Pete is strapped to a table with a giant fucking buzz-saw right over him. The Boogieman appears again and stabs Pete in the leg when he pleads for help and taunts them both for a bit before he revs up the buzz-saw and vanishes. Running against the clock, Vanessa barely manages to undo the restraints and save Pete. After stopping the bleeding on his leg and having a moment to catch their breath, they head on and find another room where the Boogieman is waiting again and he asks Vanessa ‘If you could only save one of two people, who would you choose?’ And sure enough, Usnavi and Sonny and bound and gagged and dangling over a giant pit that leads to a floor full of spikes. There are two levers, and when one is pulled, that side will be dropped while the other is raised. ‘Will you save the boy with a bright future, or the man you love?’ The Boogieman vanishes again and Vanessa and Pete work together and figure out a plan. They find a huge table and place it over the spikes on one side of the hole, and it happens to be the side Sonny’s on. They go back up, and drop Sonny and raise Usnavi but Vanessa jumps down the hole with Sonny and breaks his fall, just in case the spikes broke the table with their weight (She knew that Usnavi would be crushed if she let Sonny die and Usnavi’s happiness is more important to her). After that fiasco, they manage to find a room with no traps or puzzles, so they deem that their saferoom. Vanessa tells Pete, Usnavi and Sonny to stay put and goes out to look for any signs of the others. She eventually finds Benny passed out on a bridge, but Nina is nowhere in sight. Benny and Vanessa go and look for her (while they go, the Boogieman plays the WHAT’S IN THE BOX?! trick on Benny; don’t worry, Nina’s fine.) until they arrive in some kind of chapel where Nina is passed out and tied to a cross. The Boogieman appears and taunts them before setting the fucking chapel on fire. Benny grabs a bucket of water and manages to get himself across the flames blocking him from Nina and unties her. Meanwhile, Vanessa runs to another hallway and uses an axe to break open a water pipe and put out the fire. They bring a still unconscious Nina back to the saferoom and she wakes up, to everyone’s relief. Now the only one missing is Vanessa’s mom. After that, Benny and Vanessa go out once again to look for Mrs. Garcia, but have no luck. As they make their way back to the saferoom they find Usnavi in the hallway calling for Sonny, who has apparently disappeared (god dammit, Sonny). They hear the Boogieman’s voice and he taunts Usnavi for a while, and it works. Now poor Usnavi is freaking out, so they get back to the saferoom. Apparently, Sonny went to the bathroom and never came out. Vanessa goes in to investigate and finds an open vent above the bathtub, big enough for smol little Sonny to squeeze through. By this point, Pete’s recovered enough to walk, so he goes with Vanessa to find Sonny, leaving Benny and Nina to comfort Usnavi (you’re emotional right now Usnavi, you’d just do something stupid if you came). Sure, enough, Sonny DID sneak out on his own. He wanted to look for Mrs. Garcia, but of course, he couldn’t leave the room, so he took matters into his own hands. After crawling through the vent, he finds himself in some sort of dungeon, where You-Know-Who is waiting. The Boogieman then sics a bunch of wild dogs on him. Sonny manages to keep away for a bit until they corner him. But just before they attack...they just stop and go to sleep (can guess who caused that? ;)). A few seconds later, Vanessa and Pete bust in, but Vanessa is NOT happy. After sharply lecturing Sonny about leaving without saying anything, they go back to the saferoom where a fluffy reunion commences. Sonny apologizes to Usnavi and Vanessa, and Vanessa and Benny go out to keep looking. They wander some more until Boogieman shows up and taunts Benny for a good while (this guy LOVES messing with Benny) and Benny lets the taunts get to him this time and falls down a trapdoor into a room filling with gas. Luckily, Benny finds the door but it’s locked, but Vanessa finds the other side and gets him out (totally fucking up her arm in the process to grab the key to the room). They both pass out from exhaustion for a bit until they both wake up and wander for a bit more. They take another break since Vanessa’s getting pretty tired from blood-loss on her arm. They keep wandering until they reach a room and Vanessa hears a phone ringing. She tells Benny to turn off his phone, but Benny says there’s no phone ringing, cause he lost his phone, and Vanessa’s lost hers. Vanessa hates the sound of phones ringing, because it reminds her of when her mom got the call about her dad’s death. Meanwhile, back at the saferoom, Mrs. Garcia runs into the saferoom, where she’s greeted by the others. She frantically asks where Vanessa is, and they tell her she’ll be back soon. But Mrs. Garcia runs out of the room. Pete gives chase, but Mrs. Garcia can’t be swayed, ‘That man will catch me! And if he does...my little girl, she...’ It turns out that the Boogieman has been taunting Vanessa’s mom as much as Vanessa. She initially got away when the Boogieman kidnapped everyone from their rooms, so he challenged her to another game. She had to run and NOT let the Boogieman catch her or he would kill Vanessa, as he tricked her into thinking he had captured her. Pete meets up with Vanessa and Benny, and Vanessa convinces the two boys to go back to the room, since Pete’s still hurt. Vanessa travels to the highest tower of the castle where the Boogieman is waiting for a final showdown. But Vanessa starts laughing, saying that the Boogieman is just a coward. Instead of facing her, he always took hostages and ran off; the Boogieman was hiding from her, in a sense. ‘You did so much shit to get on my bad side; you kidnapped my boyfriend, threatened his kid twice, nearly burned my best friend and her boyfriend and you made my mom cry...you fucked with my family, and I can never forgive someone who does that.’ So after a pretty epic showdown, with Vanessa taunting the Boogieman and beating the shit out of him, and FINALLY unmasks him. It’s Brendan, the owner of the castle. It was a fake all along. But at the last second, Brendan lunges at Vanessa with his cleaver. He doesn’t stab her, but he grazes her side pretty bad, just as Usnavi and Mrs. Garcia burst into the room and Vanessa collapses. Usnavi tackles Brendan in a rare burst of anger and the rest of the gang come in (Nina rounded them up, having started to suspect that everything was just fake). Benny helps Usnavi keep Brendan down, sending Sonny to find something to tie him up with, while Nina, Pete, and Mrs. Garcia work with Vanessa. Vanessa apologizes to her mom and says that she wants to finish that talk they started when they get home, and she passes out. The police are called, Brendan is arrested and everyone is taken to the hospital. Once they properly recover, they’re questioned, and everyone goes home. About a week later, Vanessa and her mom visit Mr. Garcia’s grave, and Vanessa finally cries. She didn’t cry once when he died, and she’s finally letting it out. Her mom comforts her, the way she should have when he first died, and the two seem closer as a family than ever before. Everything’s good. 

And last but not least, The Hanged Man, starring our favorite vandal, Pete, taking place in the winter of the same year, landing us half a year after Boogieman.

So it starts off with Pete receiving a call that his father died from a heart attack. If you recall, my headcanon is that Pete’s mom died when he was a toddler and his dead mentally and verbally abused Pete until he was a pre-teen before vanishing without a trace. So, Pete’s not exactly upset about his dad, but the call did drag up memories of him that he’d like to forget. As a result, he grows very distant from the barrio for a while, even avoiding Sonny. Anyway, after wandering into a store outside the barrio he sees a bit of merchandise that reminds him of his dad, so he takes it and destroys it. The manager catches him and holds him in the backroom and interrogates him before confiscating Pete’s phone and calling one of his few contacts, which happens to be Benny. Benny arrives and tells the manager that he’s basically one of Pete’s guardians (just to get him out of there) and Benny takes Pete home. Benny and Nina try to talk to Pete, but he won’t say a word. They say that he can stay with them for a bit and show Pete to the guest room, but Pete sneaks out and goes on his way. He goes back to his home and the next morning, he tries to go out and do some graffiti, but for some reason, he just can’t do it. He can’t draw a thing. Pete tries to wander around to clear his head, but he keeps running into barrio dwellers and he can’t deal with them talking to him. So Pete runs off and finds himself well outside the barrio. After a while, he finds himself in some kind of forest and sees a mouse in the snow. But not just any mouse, a mouse wearing a little scarf and mittens and one boot; it’s Snowball, a mouse he drew a lot as a kid; one of his first real works of art before mom died. Snowball waves Pete over and Pete follows it until he arrives in some kind of abandoned mental asylum. Pete wanders around looking for Snowball, until Vanessa finds him (Daniela pointed her in the right direction). Vanessa had been told by Benny and Nina that he had run off and decided to look for him. Pete refuses to leave, so Vanessa says she’s not leaving without him, so she’ll just explore a bit until he changes his mind. Pete continues wandering around, hearing strange noises and seeing shadows all the while, until he chases Snowball into a room where *drumroll* Lincoln Rosario is. Lincoln left home a long time ago, wanting to pursue a career in music (basically the same as the workshop) but judging by his dirty and ragged clothes and pale complexion, he’s not doing very well. Unfortunately, since it’s been so long, they don’t recognize each other. Lincoln tells Pete that this asylum used to be a shelter for homeless people and it was shut down 15 years ago because of an incident where three people were brutally murdered, hung with their guts spilled. Lincoln says he’s here because he’s looking for a black notebook, cause a friend of his is looking for it. Pete promises to keep an eye out for it and goes on his way. He runs into Snowball again but sees a shadow behind him in a mirror and passes out. He wakes up a while later with Vanessa next to him, having found him that way. Vanessa tries again to get Pete to leave with her, but Pete still refuses, saying he just needs time to himself for a bit. Vanessa agrees but still refuses to leave the building. Pete goes off on his own again until he runs into none other than Sonny, who had gotten worried about him and learned where he went from Daniela. Sonny fails to get Pete to come home, so the two decide to explore together (getting the shit scared out of them by shadows in the process) Sonny and Pete wander for a while, and Pete finds the notebook Lincoln was looking for. But after a while, Sonny starts questioning Pete about his behavior, which causes Pete to snap at Sonny, telling him to leave him alone. Very hurt, Sonny turns to go, and Pete sees a small pirate with beady eyes and a dark blue bead latched onto Sonny’s back; Bluebeard the pirate, a drawing he made in school after his mom died and who he blamed for anything he did wrong like an imaginary friend. Suddenly feeling worried, Pete runs after Sonny and apologizes for snapping at him and tells Sonny to go home as he doesn’t want him in a place like this. Sonny agrees but promises to come back if he stays too long. Sonny leaves and Pete goes off, eventually finding Lincoln, who he returns the notebook to. Pete keeps going until he finds himself in some kind of tank room, where a giant pool of water is. Pete tries to leave, but he thinks he sees hair on the handle, making him jump, slip, and hit his head on the ground before falling into the water. Thankfully, it’s Vanessa to the rescue again, as she pulls him out of the water and brings him to a safe room to warm him up. Vanessa tries to talk to him, questioning why he’s even here and what’s really going on with him, but Pete refuses to talk and runs off. He finds himself in some old library where he runs into a stranger. The stranger questions Pete and what he’s doing there, when Vanessa shows up and intervenes, making up a story how they were exploring and got separated from their friend. The stranger buys the story and introduces himself as Rob, saying he was visiting since he stayed there as a kid when his family was homeless. Rob leaves them alone and Pete separates from Vanessa yet again and goes out onto the bridge connecting the buildings and sees yet another creation of his brought to life. Teardrop, a girl in a white dress that he drew countless times when his mom died (Teardrop bares a striking resemblance to his mom). Pete wanders back inside and finds himself in a room that has a large hole in the middle. He runs into Rob again, and Pete makes the mistake of mentioning Lincoln. Rob suddenly snaps and grabs Pete, shooting rapid fire questions at him. At that moment, Vanessa bursts in, brandishing a pistol she had found lying around a while back, and Rob puts Pete in a headlock, holding him hostage and interrogating Vanessa. They have a bit of a standoff until Rob throws Pete towards the hole, forcing Vanessa to lunge forward and grab his hand, letting Rob get away. Now shaken, Pete and Vanessa wander back outside to the snow bridge and have a long talk. Pete tells her about his dad and why he ran off ‘I don’t want to be around people pretending they care about me; no one cares about me.’ Vanessa of course, calls bullshit on that ‘Oh yeah, that’s exactly why Sonny and I came all the way out here to find you, and why I saved you all those times; because we don’t care.’ So by this point, Pete still doesn’t want to leave, but this time, it’s because he wants to know why he’s seeing all his creations running around. So he goes off on his own again and finds himself in a kitchen where he hears squeaking; Snowball is in the trash chute. Pete leans in to get a better look but ends up falling down the chute and ending up in the dump. While looking for a way out, he hears voices. Pete peeks out to see some kind of boiler room, and Lincoln and Rob are there, talking. It turns out that Rob and Lincoln are lovers, and Lincoln accidentally killed someone a while back, hence why he’s hiding out here. Rob is trying to help him run away, and told him that if Lincoln came here, he could help him be happy before he ran, and the answer to that is in the notebook that Pete gave him. Unfortunately, they hear something, and Rob finds Sonny, who had come back to look for Pete and happened to hear part of their conversation. Lincoln doesn’t recognize Sonny due to his winter gear and Rob drags Sonny into a separate room, cause you know what happens to people who overhear someone’s plans. Pete sees red and grabs a metal bar from the dump and climbs out. He bursts into the room to see Rob in the process of strangling Sonny. Pete knocks him on the head, scoops Sonny up, and books it out of there. He takes them to a padded cell and they hide there for a bit until they’re sure they’re alone. Sonny gets his breath back (maybe the two have a talk about Pete seeing these things and when it started with his mom dying) and they hurry off to find Vanessa. They find her, warn her of what’s going on, and they start to run, but part of the ceiling breaks and Vanessa gets conked on the head badly. Vanessa’s head is bleeding on the floor, so Sonny runs off to find some towels or sheets to help with the bleeding. Pete stays with Vanessa and Lincoln eventually catches up to them, and he recognizes the faces he used to know. But before he can set anything straight, Rob appears on the other side of the hallway, holding a knife to Sonny’s throat. Recognizing Sonny as well, Lincoln tries to talk Rob down, but he’s far from sane by this point. He forces Pete to take Vanessa to this giant storage room, with a now bound and gagged Sonny as leverage. Pete’s tied up too and Vanessa’s on the floor, still half conscious. It turns out that Rob was there when the murdering incident happened fifteen years ago and has now felt inspired by it. The black notebook Lincoln was looking for has the details and plans of the killer and how he did it, saying that doing this would make the person happy. So, of course, Rob wants Lincoln to do the honor of killing Pete and Vanessa in the same manner, promising that Sonny wouldn’t get killed. But, of course, Lincoln can’t do it, so Rob steps up to do it, but at the last second, Vanessa shoots Rob in the arm with her pistol and unties Pete. In a split second, Pete thinks of a plan, whispering to Vanessa that he would keep Rob and Lincoln distracted while she freed Sonny and got out of there. Pete presses his pocket knife into her hand and runs off before he can protest. Rob orders Lincoln to chase Pete and Rob staggers behind after (since his arm is bleeding). Pete manages to run and have them both chase him out of the asylum and into the woods. Once they’re out, Pete reveals that Sonny and Vanessa should be long gone by now. Enraged, Rob turns on Lincoln and blames him for this whole mess. It turns out that Rob is basically an abusive lover to Lincoln, mentally degrading him for a good few years since they met. Rob continues berating and insulting Lincoln, until Lincoln snaps and starts beating the shit out of Rob. Pete stops him before he kills him, and Lincoln breaks down, realizing what a mess his life has become thanks to Rob. Pete tells Lincoln that he can still be happy; he can’t stay in his own little world, like Pete had been doing. He has to face reality, or else he’ll become a hanged man. That seems to help, but Rob gets up, lunges towards Pete with his knife raised and- BANG! Vanessa appears, supported by Sonny, shooting Rob in the shoulder. Sonny tackles Pete in a hug, yelling and crying about how worried he was and Pete passes out from exhaustion. The police arrive a while later, Rob and Lincoln are both arrested, and everyone else is taken to the hospital. Nina has a short reunion with Lincoln and they find out that if he cooperates with the police, then he has the chance of getting a lighter sentence (10 months at most), while Rob is facing life in prison and possibly death row if Lincoln confesses to everything he did. Sonny and Vanessa get fussed over by Usnavi, and Benny and Nina visit Pete and have a good long talk with him. Pete finally realizes that the barrio has been and always will be his family and he’s gonna do his best to do what his mom said: become a real good man and make your family proud. And everything’s good.

And THAT’S ALL! I’m not even gonna touch the bad endings. You guys can look them up and put the pieces together yourselves ;)

[pika-ace]

Have you seen wolf children?? If not, you definitely should, it's a gorgeous film but I'm imaging an ith AU with Usnavi left to look after his little wolf cousin

Oh man, you gave me an excuse to FINALLY watch that movie and it is SO PRECIOUS OH MY GOD!!!

Okay, so Sonny’s parents meet up pretty much the same way as they do in the movie. They first live in the city when they get a call that Usnavi’s parents have died who’s around fourteen at the time. Usnavi comes to live with them and a few months later, Sonny is born. But shortly after, Sonny’s father dies, falling off a bridge as a wolf and Sonny’s mom tells Usnavi that he was a wolf-person and that Sonny is most likely one too. When Sonny turns one, his mother dies from either an accident or an illness and Usnavi and Sonny are on their own. Usnavi’s still in school, but that had to stop once he realized just HOW BIG a handful raising a wolf child can be so school has to go. And as the movie made clear, taking care of wolf kids is NOT easy, and Sonny’s mom only told Usnavi so much about their kind so Usnavi’s playing this whole thing by ear. Sonny’s parents left them enough money to support them until Sonny almost turns three, but like the movie, Usnavi finds out that living in a city isn’t good, with people getting suspicious about the howling and this teenager is taking care of a toddler and NEVER takes him out to a doctor making social services almost break down the door. Finally, with the leftover money they have left, Usnavi and Sonny move to the country side where our barrio fam dwells, and Usnavi decides to do the whole growing his food thing since little Sonny can’t really control his transformations yet. But, easier said than done, but when all seems lost, that’s when the barrio fam steps in to help. Abuela, who can be our Nirahaki figure, helps keep Usnavi on his feet (the kid’s barely eighteen and he has a five year old to raise, a house to repair, and food to grow, it’s a miracle he hasn’t had a meltdown yet!) and she tells the rest of the barrio fam to give him a hand. The Rosario’s help teach him how to properly grow food, Benny helps him with the repairs, Vanessa and Nina watch Sonny and give Usnavi some tips on how to control the little gremlin, and Daniela and Carla make sure they’re properly taking care of themselves (they have ears ALL OVER THE PLACE. They KNOW if Usnavi and Sonny are struggling with something). At one point, Usnavi just breaks down crying because of how kind and accepting everyone has been; he doesn’t know WHAT he would’ve done if they hadn’t stepped in. (Also Vansnavi and Benina can happen between the lines) Meanwhile, Sonny’s doing pretty well as a wolf boy. They’ve had a few close calls with getting caught, but they’ve managed. Sonny’s learning how to hunt and act like a normal kid, thought hunting got off to a rocky start. One winter, Usnavi and Sonny were playing in the snow and Sonny saw a bird on a rock in the river. He managed to catch it, but he slipped and fell into the river. He almost drowned, but Usnavi got him out just in time (nearly having a heart attack in the process). After that day, Sonny realized that being a wolf is more complicated than he thinks. School eventually starts and Usnavi maybe does that little chant in the movie ‘I’m gonna be a little boy all the way home’ and he gets a job somewhere. Sonny’s a but shy, but he eventually finds a few friends, even though he prefers the company of Usnavi and the barrio fam and he likes learning stuff. So things are going great. But Sonny can’t help but feel like he’s neglecting his wolf side, so in his spare time he hikes up the mountains and maybe comes across another wolf (Chip) and he teaches him about his wolf instincts and how to properly be a wolf. And Usnavi’s a bit uneasy about this, but he is glad that there’s SOMEONE out there who can teach Sonny about wolf stuff that he can’t. And while Sonny’s fine with school and the mountains, he does have a bit of a crisis. Can he be both a wolf AND a human…or will he have to choose? That especially gets tested when Pete comes to his school as a new kid, being our Sohei figure. Pete thinks something’s off about Sonny and wants to know, but Sonny doesn’t want to. He promised Usnavi he wouldn’t transform at school! But Pete persists and Sonny lashes out, gashing Pete’s ear. Sonny feels awful but Pete lies and says that a wild animal did it, not Sonny. Sonny has a little breakdown with Usnavi when he comes to pick him up 'I don’t know what to do, Navi! I wanna be a wolf…but I want to be normal too!’ Usnavi reassures him saying that no one’s forcing him to choose. 'If you want to be both…then be both. It’s just something you’ll have to figure out on your own. But I’ll help in any way I can, mijo.’ So Sonny kinda divides his time between being a wolf in the mountains and being a normal school kid and he seems to be able to balance it out; but it does kill him that he has to keep his wolf side a secret from Pete (who’s now his best friend) and the rest of the barrio. He wants to tell them, Usnavi does too, but they’re terrified of how they’ll react. They don’t want to lose this home and the community they’ve grown to love so much. But one day, a REALLY bad storm blows through, and Sonny smells the weather (thanks to his wolf training) and decides to not go to school. Usnavi doesn’t disagree, especially when Sonny points out that if school closed early, Usnavi would have to drive through that storm. So the storm gets going, when Sonny realizes, 'Shit, Pete’s still at school! He doesn’t have anyone to pick him up, he’ll be stuck there!’ Sonny tries to figure out what to do; he doesn’t want to put Usnavi in danger, making him drive and pick up Pete, so he decides to go himself. He knows the mountain really well, so he can get to the school, get Pete, and lead him back home. Plus, he had been meaning to tell Pete his secret so maybe now’s the time. So Sonny heads out the mountains, but Usnavi sees him leave and starts to chase him (similar to Hana chasing Ame when he leaves) but Sonny, being a wolf, is really nimble and Usnavi loses him. Sonny makes it to school and transforms back, running into the school, where everyone’s left except Pete. They have a little heartfelt talk and Sonny finally tells Pete his secret; Pete accepts it and reassures him that he won’t tell, and Sonny’s so happy…when he feels something. Usnavi, while looking for Sonny, slipped down a hill and got himself knocked out in the middle of the mountain. Sonny, sensing that Usnavi needs him, runs back tot he mountain as a wolf, Pete following and they find Usnavi. They get him back to their home and Sonny’s so scared. Usnavi told him how he felt when he almost drowned in the river and now he finally knows the feeling! He can’t lose Usnavi, he’s all he has! He sacrificed SO MUCH just to raise him and keep him safe, he can’t die, he can’t!! Pete tells Sonny to stay with Usnavi and he runs off to get some help, and luckily, Usnavi wakes up. Sonny hugs him in tears and apologies and they just sit there in each other’s comfort for a while. But then Pete comes running back with some bad news; the storm is getting even worse and the barrio dwellers have been told to evacuate but they’re cut off from the center where they need to go. And since their neighborhood is so far out, since the rain’s getting worse, they can’t risk driving or even walking out to find it; Pete could barely find his way back to the house. So Sonny decides to go out and help them. With his wolf senses, he can navigate through storms with ease and he can lead them to their place since it’s closer. Usnavi’s hesitant to let him go and risking Sonny’s secret but Sonny insists. 'I tired of hiding cuz. And I’m not gonna hide anymore if it means getting them out of there. They helped us so many times; let’s help them.’ So Usnavi lets Sonny go and Sonny finds the barrio fam huddled together in the middle of the road. He transforms into a wolf and manages to convince them to follow. He leads them safely to his home where Usnavi and Pete are waiting…and then he transforms back. But luckily, in short, everyone’s cool with it. Some take a little adjusting, but seeing as Sonny led them out of danger and CLEARLY isn’t dangerous in any way, they can keep his secret. So they all stay in the house as one giant family until the storm passes. So now, it has been said that the barrio has a resident wolf. Usnavi is quite a known figure in the area, telling his famous story about a man who raised a wolf child. And on nights when there’s a full moon, they can hear a wolf howling at the moon, watching over them.

[pika-ace]

This'll sound weird but hear me out: what about a sorta shapeshifter/spirit animal AU for ITH? Like, y'know those kinds of stories where everyone has an animal form that they can change into at will? What do you think the ITH characters' animal forms would be? Idk, the idea of spirit animals/people having an animal form has always just intrigued me.

Oh man you got me scouring the internet for all the different meanings of animals for this!!

I mostly used this website, but here’s my rundown so far:

Usnavi - Badger (keeper of stories, reliance) since Usnavi’s the streetlight illuminating the stories and he seems to rely on others for support, like Vanessa, Abuela or Sonny since he’s not exactly an independent guy.

Sonny - Dog (loyalty, faithfulness) OR Seal (active imagination, creativity) because of his love for his family, looking up to his cousin, and his big dreams and goals of making the world a better place.

Vanessa - Horse (travel, freedom, power, movement) mostly because of her wanting to get out of the barrio and for her independence; I mean c'mon, the girl’s a queen, she don’t need nobody. 

Nina - Kangaroo (moving/leaping forward) OR Deer (gentleness, innocence, gracefulness, luring to a new adventure) because of her kindness (obviously) and struggle with college but willing to move on and be someone better.

Benny - Mountain Goat (surefootedness, seeking new heights) OR Ram (seeking new beginnings) because of him wanting to open his own business while learning from Mr. Rosario.

Abuela - Wolf (guardianship, ritual, spirit, teacher) this one took me by surprise, cause imagine! Abuela as a god damn wolf! Do NOT mess with her!

Kevin - Cougar (coming into your own power) OR Boar (strength, family protection) because of how hard he worked to get to where he was, and of course, his love and willingness to do anything for his family, especially Nina

Camila - Panda (gentle strength, nourishment) because of her devotion to Nina and Kevin and her family in general, but I imagine she’d be a pretty ferocious panda if shit hit the fan.

Daniela - Lynx (secrets, the unseen and hidden) OR Lion (leadership, rulership) because of her basically knowing everything about everyone and her status as pretty much the ruler of the barrio next to Abuela.

Carla - Otter (joy, playfulness, sharing, female energy) that pretty much speaks for itself (although I love how hamilfluff always calls Usnavi an otter but that’s just for affection purposes X3 )

Pete - Eagle (creation, spirit, freedom) because he’s kind of a lone wolf and just seems to always be around, as part of the aesthetic of the heights (kind of a stretch, but I wanted at least ONE character to be able to fly XP )

But again, these are all just from one source! Feel free to add on or make your own if you have different opinions on who should be what!

NOW! As for plot threats (cause my writing muse is a monster) I could see this whole thing actually being some kind of curse or spell that the barrio’s under or the barrios some kind of haven for shapeshaifters. I debated making it a cultural thing but everyone’s pretty different belief-wise and the whole spirit animal thing is more Native American than Hispanic, soooo…

ANYWAY! Basically, the barrio dwellers are all shape-shifters and the barrio is basically where they all go to stay safe and learn to control their powers and all that jazz. Also, for the ones where I couldn’t decide between two animals? What if there are a few special people who have the rare ability to turn into two different animals?

However, this AU isn’t all sunshine and rainbows. The barrio fam has to deal with the whole outcast thing of being able to turn into animals, and it’s REALLY hard to not turn by accident since the animal qualities start to come out when they’re in danger OR if they exhibit certain traits that applies to their animal form. The former happens more often, mostly because there ARE people out there who know that shape-shifters exist. They wanna get their hands on them for research purposes, experiments, turning into weapons, all that terrible stuff. In fact, a lot of the people CHOOSE to stay in the barrio since there’s safety in numbers if someone attacks.

This of course, leads to a TON of protectiveness for the younger ones, like Sonny and Pete. As you know, hunters and poachers ALWAYS try to go for the kids, so they have to keep a sharp eye out for any suspicious figures. But luckily, one of the things that everyone learns is how to defend themselves in their animal forms, even if you don’t turn into something with fangs and claws. They learn their strengths and weaknesses of their form and what situations they can get out of (it’s kinda like team-building in Pokémon)

But if someone DOES get attacked or captured in the barrio by intruders, better watch out! All the barrio dwellers have a sixth sense when it comes to their own kind, and direct family members know INSTANTLY if something’s wrong. If anyone tries ANYTHING, they’re getting run down by an animal army. And if they manage to get away with one of them, the whole damn barrio will hunt them down until they find them.