High King Margo Hanson The Creator (margothecreator) wrote in madisonvalley, @ 2021-07-31 21:14:00 |
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Entry tags: | !closed, !completed gdoc, ~2021 august, ~~ margo hanson (margothecreator), ~~~~ eliot waugh (magicflask) |
Who: Margo Hanson & Eliot Waugh
What: The High King shows up
When: Saturday night
Where: Outside the apartments
Warnings: Margo is a warning. Language, talk of sex, violence, drug use, alcohol...
Status: GDoc
Madison Valley. If she wasn’t so used to weirdness, Margo would be flipping her shit right now. Because why the fuck did this dome have to go up in fucking Indiana. New York City or LA would have been a better choice. She would have even taken Dallas over this, and it was in Texas, full of fucking Republicans. It was a step up from where she could have ended up though. At least this place had a Starbucks and a spa.
Poor Eliot was probably having the shittiest time, because fucking Indiana, which was why she had headed over to the apartments as soon as she realized he was here. Which, thankfully, wasn’t far from the court house, but definitely a shorter walk than they had to do to get from Whitespire to the portal tree.
“Jesus fucking tits, Eliot. How the fuck did you get us into this mess,” she said as soon as she saw him. Yes, that was a nice greeting for them.
~~
“Why do you automatically assume I did something?” Eliot demanded, though there was no heat behind his words as he pulled her into a tight hug. It had been far too long since he’d seen her, even back home when they’d gone off to Fillory and he’d stayed behind. Then there was the year and change in the hellscape Madison before he landed here. Of course, since coming here, Fen and Margo had both shown up, so maybe it was somehow his fault.
So many times in that other version of the town he’d wished that he had her by his side and then felt guilty for wishing it. “You have no idea how good it is to see you, Bambi. I have a lot to tell you.”
***
“Because it sure as hell wasn’t me,” she told him as she returned the hug, reluctant to let go in case he disappeared on her. Again. “And you can tell me while you order food. I was on my way to the bacon field to get breakfast and then poof, I’m in fucking Indiana.”
There were priorities, and no one wanted to deal with a hungry, angry Margo.
She finally pulled away, looking around. “Fuck El, I have missed you like crazy, and I should have insisted you take Josh’s place in that spell. New Fillory is going to fucking suck without you.”
~~
For possibly the first time since whatever happened that converged the two versions of Madison Valley, a genuine smile graced Eliot’s lips as he looked down at his best friend. Having Margo here was like having back a piece of himself.
“Bacon field?” he asked, arching an eyebrow. “Gosh, wonder whose idea that was.” Alice’s love of bacon was well known. He did look a bit surprised that she would rather have him than Josh there though. “We’ll find a way to get back and forth,” he said. “We always do.” Just because they hadn’t yet didn’t mean they wouldn’t ever.
He pressed a kiss to the top of her head and then took her hand. “There’s a diner here that serves amazing sliders. Apparently they have a werewolf special.”
***
“Along with pizza trees and knife trees, and New Fillory is really fucking strange.” Then again, all one had to do was look at the people who helped create it. “I’m still waiting to find a vodka pond or a molly bush.”
Because that would be the sort of contribution she and Eliot would end up making. And part of her wondered if they would find something Quentin related somewhere.
“Do they deliver? Because I’m in desperate need of an actual hot shower, and to have you to myself for a bit.” She reached up and patted his face, smiling sadly. “Can’t fool me, El. You look like shit, which means you need to talk.”
~~
Margo knew him too well and there was a brief flare of panic in his eyes as Eliot wondered if he could avoid telling her about the whole Sean thing. He knew it was futile to try though. “I’m not sure if they deliver, but let me see what I can do,” he said. “You can shower at my place and borrow something to wear until we get you shopping.” Never mind that he was a foot taller and his clothes would be ridiculous on her.
“Obviously knife trees were Fen,” he said as they walked over to the apartments. “Vodka pond sounds on brand for you. I’d have made Coke Mountain.” It wasn’t remotely surprising that New Fillory was weird as hell and he really hoped he got a chance to see it someday.
***
“We haven’t been close enough to scrape any of the mountains to find out. In fact, we were actually camping because someone forgot to make my castle.” And absolute travesty, but she would suffer sleeping on the ground for a few more days back there. “Oh, I need to see if one of the trees will make me one of those elf houses like in the Lord of the Rings movie.”
Yes, she was a lit geek, but she hid it well.
Margo made a face at the apartments, but at least they were free for now. “Explain this werewolf special to me, and if they have one, does that mean a good portion of this place has the damn virus and is bangable? Because Josh has been a prude for some reason.”
~~
Eliot laughed at her question. “I haven’t talked to too many of the werewolves around here, but from what I”ve gathered, the way it works in their worlds is very different from ours. Basically, it’s not sexually transmitted lycanthropy anywhere else.” He knew that probably wasn’t what she wanted to hear, but oddly enough, he’d just had this conversation with Fen.
“Fen’s here, so if you’re desperate…” he shrugged. “Other than that, I told her I’d ask around and see if any of the magic folks might have some kind of potion or something to suppress it or at least keep you from passing it along.”
With any luck, someone would have a solution so that he didn’t have to worry about Fen and Margo going crazy once a month.
***
“Well, that’s just fucking lovely.” The sarcasm was practically a person on its own right then, because of course their world, universe, whatever, was the only one that made it a fucking STI.
“Maybe I’ll just hit up a few of the werewolves in town. Are they hot? Or just really good in bed?” She had standards, but she was willing to overlook hotness if they could keep her happy in bed.
“So, order a double whatever you think I’m going to eat, because you will eat too. And then we’ll talk, because I don’t like this look in your eyes.” It was reminding her too damn much of Quentin when he was spiraling.
~~
“Yes, dear,” Eliot said, rolling his eyes at her commands even though he had every intention of following them. They had been friends long enough that he knew better than to try and hide shit from Margo. “Help yourself to whatever you find in my closet.” There wasn’t much there since he’d opted to spend a good chunk of his arrival money on booze and drugs instead of clothes.
He hugged her again, closing his eyes as he buried his nose in her hair, happy to breathe in her scent after all this time. “We’ll find someone for you to bang. My friend Pamela told me about some guy named Logan who is a werewolf that has abs she could read like braille.” Mentioning Pamela made him tense slightly in fear at the thought of her and Margo meeting. And bonding. The mere thought was terrifying.
***
Yes, Margo caught that and was leaning back to look at him, amused and curious. “What? Did you sleep with her too? Or did you have a sudden epiphany about something?” It wasn’t unusual with Eliot, he wasn’t as dumb as he let people think he was.
“And I would have raided your closet anyway. It’s too hot for this jacket,” she told him as she pulled away. “Now, open the damn door so I can take my shower and then interrogate you.” She had a feeling it was going to be an all night thing, and at least one of them was going to cry.
~~
Pulling out his keys, Eliot unlocked the door to his apartment so they could enter. “Actually, we did hook up a few times,” he said. “It’s… a long story.” Which she’d no doubt gathered already given that she was talking about interrogating him. “I’m actually terrified of the two of you teaming up though.” Pamela had been the closest thing he’d had to Margo in that shithole.
“Go shower. There will be food here when you’re done.” He didn’t have to worry about her finding anything she shouldn’t because if she stumbled on his meager stash of drugs, she would help herself if she was so inclined and she certainly wouldn’t judge him for it.
While she was showering, he ordered a metric ton of food from the Chinese place and then shot messages to a few people about Margo being in town. As ecstatic as her arrival made him, he wasn’t looking forward to telling her about the other version of Madison.
***