The Convention

Hello everyone, it’s me, Daniel. I apologize for my rather..unkempt behavior yesterday. I was emotionally distraught and didn’t know what to do, so I went all crazy. I’ll tell you why I can actually feel better today; Sylvia is recovering. She can now speak basic sentences (I’m hungry, I’m sleepy, I’m thirsty, I go bathroom….that one we need to work on a bit) and sit upright. I think the Archangel erased her memories of most everything and the song lyrics were a last-ditch attempt at trying to communicate. Or something.

Either way, Elise and I have something to do. The Fears have called together a meeting at a neutral spot in the City, and everyone is allowed to bring one servant. Mistress chose me, and The Choir chose Elise.

Once at the meeting site, we were the first ones there, with Mistress holding the Manufactured Newborn in a little glass jar. She thought he should come too. No Towerborns.

The City had spawned chairs in a half-circle, though more could be put up if necessary. The City had made a person sitting on a chair of stone, like a statue, just to assert it’s presence. The Nightlanders were there for themselves and the City both.

“Ah, EAT! Good for you to show up!” Mistress suddenly yelled. Three Campers came out from around a nearby building. “We need all our allies here for this one, cause I’m sure Latex Dude will have all his cronies.” Latex Dude is what Mistress calls The Archangel, either that or “The stupid bastard.” But either honestly works.

More Fears arrived. A Lamia holding hands with a small child with a face that looked….wrong arrived and sat next to each other. The Blind Man arrived from a Subway tunnel. A nest took a seat at the semicircle while a small legion of purple birds roosted in the tree nearby, looking on ominously. I was about to take out my pen and notebook and write entries on the snake woman and child, but Mistress tapped my shoulder and shook her head. Not now.

Someone said “Come on out, Smiley, we know you’re there.” And an orange-haired eyeless man crept out from behind a building, before dancing to the nearest seat. A whole mass of bugs morphed into a shaking, twisting, human-like shape on a nearby chair. A very cold-looking boy wandered in from somewhere.

And then they arrived. The three of them. The Archangel, The Slender Man, and the Rake. They sat, three in a row, kicking the freezing boy out of his chair in the process. The Archangel then abruptly stood up, and stomped over to where Mistress was calmly sitting. “Ah, Puppetslut. Seems I didn’t kill you hard enough last time. I won’t make that mistake twice.”

“Well, hello to you too, Archie.” Mistress’s painted grin seemed wider than usual, and I could swear I saw her eyebrows twitch. “Seems I’m made of harder wood than you thought. Really, you shouldn’t compare my wood to that floppy limp dick you have.”

“This ‘floppy limp dick’ is right about to go straight through your eye socket, Puppetslut.” The Archangel hissed. Everyone was looking on, wondering what would happen. Elise, being on the other side of Mistress, was preparing to bolt if anything happened. The Choir looked on edge too. Finally the Blind Man stood up.

“Ahem, everyone, please, sit down. Archangel, please.” The Archangel grumbled and sat down. “Now, everyone, we’ll convene once again. Seems we have…16….good attendance. Though it’s not like the Dying Man to not arrive, or at least a piece of him….anyone have a piece of him…you, Camper? Good. Very well. Anyone have any concerns they’d like to voice?” The freezing boy’s hand shot up. “Yes…you….Cold Boy.”

“Nobody ever plays with meeee.” The Cold Boy complained. “Not even Adrift comes to visit!” Seems even Fears use their Rapture Names.

“I would, but I have so much homework! Replacing kids and making their parents slaves to me is hard work!” The small child protested.

“Cold Boy, you’ve had that same complaint for the past 320 years. Anyone else?” The Blind Man dismissed the children’s squabbling.

Mistress stood up. “I’d like to know why the Archangel keeps sicing his damn wolves on my Tower and servants! And kidnapping them, moreover! He’s traumatized one of my best Puppets to a near-vegetable, causing another one of my Puppets to flip complete shit!” A ripple of shock and amusement went through the other Fears and Proxies. Elise looked bored.

“You’re a fucking bitch!” The Archangel stood up, tipping his chair over and stomping back over. “I’m tired of having to deal with your shit! I’ve put up with it for 9029 years! 9029 fucking YEARS of this shit!”

“I’d leave you alone if you left me alone!” Mistress screamed back. Lightning cracked in the distance. The Cold Boy and the small child looked scared. The bugs scurried back from the fight. The Choir disappeared, looking a very upset-looking Elise. The eyeless man hid behind a lamp-post. The City shook in disapproval. The Slender Man stood, looking on. The Rake growled.

“You want to fucking fight?!” The Archangel yelled.

“Maybe I fucking do!” Mistress shouted back.

“ENOUGH, BOTH OF YOU.” The Blind Man was surprisingly loud. “Order, everyone, order, sit down you two.” Everyone came back and sat down.

“I apologize for lateness.” The Brute showed up in a puff of smoke.

“No, please, go back to being late.” The Lamia said.

“We don’t want you here.” One of the Campers sighed.

“FOOLISH MORTALS. I WILL STRIKE YOU D-” The Brute was interrupted by the Convocation flapping their wings hard enough to blow him away.

“Thank god.” The Blind Man said, rolling his lack of eyes. “Well, as for the whole Timberwolf vs. Doll thing, I can’t do much about that.”

“Good.” The Archangel sort of grinned through his mask. “Wonderful indeed. Because you’re all going to join me. Except EAT, The Choir, and Puppetslut. Because you have no choice!” He snapped his fingers. “I have timberwolves deployed around this whole spot! They’ll take down anyone who opposes them! We’ve already incapacitated the City! Now, join me or die!”

It all made sense. Why he was so late. Why the City stopped shaking. The Archangel came to this trying to enslave everyone else under his power.

Everyone seemed to have their own methods of escaping, though. The Choir took Elise and disappeared. The Slender Man looked alarmed and escaped through his Path. Guess he wasn’t siding with Archie after all. The bugs scurried away, and the Convocation flew away, the birds bursting out of the Nest and killing him, though in the distance, a few got shot down. The Lamia grabbed the child and fled through a puddle of water. The Campers melted into the puddle and disappeared. The Cold Boy froze the puddle and escaped somehow. I couldn’t quite see. The Blind Man was in the way. The Nightlanders disappeared easily.

This left Mistress and I, The Manufactured Newborn, The Blind Man and an Archivist, the eyeless guy and a girl carrying a bouquet of roses, and The Rake. And The Archangel.

“Well, ain’t this unfortunate! Seems the subjects today are Rakey-boy, The Old Guy, The creepy fucker, and Puppetslut and her toys! Oh, this is good indeed! But everyone but Puppetslut and her human can save themselves!” No one made a move. “Fine, have it your way, Timberwolves, attack!” He yelled. Nothing happened. He floated up to see over the hill to see what was going on. “Shit…SHIIIIIIIIIT!” He yelled, flying away. Then we all turned and looked at what was coming over the hill.

The Burning Bride. She was beautiful, on a backdrop of flame. A timberwolf hurt in a explosion she had just created lifted a gun to fire at her, but exploded into flame before he could pull the trigger. “Seems you needed some help.” She smiled. Mistress cringed. Right. Fire and wood.

The moment they realized they were home free, The eyeless guy, The Rake, and the servant of the eyeless guy ran off, but the Blind Man stayed. He spoke to us. “I don’t know why the Archangel wants you dead, but you have my support in fighting him off.” He shook Mistress’s hand, thanked the Bride, and disappeared into the Subway tunnels with his Archivist.

“Th-thanks.” Mistress looked terrified. “I’m a little s-s-scared of fire, so let’s go, shall we Daniel?” I followed, thanking the Bride for her help.

Nothing much else happened today, but now…it’s late. Elise is back with me, and asleep next to me. Goodnight everyone.

~Thompson out.