Chapter 431: Tropes [#5]
Title: Episode about You (Part 2)
Stealing from thugs was fun- mostly because they wouldn't call the cops, and also as a way to get rid of his frustration with his new life. He was able to beat the shit out of people easily before mostly because of the Tone Armor of the world- because it was a Sitcom world, it wasn't expected to have extreme violence but rather choreographed fighting scenes for a clear main character and/or protagonist to win over... Garren just so happens to be so good at fighting (due to his own experiences) that he was the one who, by the world's rules, was going to win- And win he did. Now though? With the new added Genre of [Horror] and the Sub-genre of [Urban Fantasy], the Tone Armor of the world changed a bit...
[Trope Master, Activate.]
[World - Earth (879-A-X)
Genre - Comedy, Horror (+)
Type - Series (+)
Subgenre - Sitcom, Urban Fantasy (+)
World Tropes - [Episodic, Seasonal] [Crossover], [Right Tone], [Evolving World], [Complications, Past and Future], [The Hidden World], [The Fog of Worlds], [Darker Supernatural Aspects]
[Episodic, Seasonal: This world's main storyline (can change) is Episodic, meaning there are episodes that happen. There can also be seasons, where various episodes may happen!]
[Crossover: This world has been expanded! Other series or movies might have been added.]
[Right Tone: Whenever a situation calls for it, the right tone will play. Be it laughing tracks ir thriller music.]
[Evolving World: This world grows with you. The stronger you become, the more complicated and expanded this world becomes too.]
[Complications, Past and Future: This world, for being in the Present, has some complications. Your actions and missions might define this world's past and future! Make good choices.]
[The Hidden World: A portion of the world's population lives in a different, hidden world. Beneath the world known by all, there is a hidden second world. This world is accessible only by those who are made aware of it through tropes or otherwise have some sort of Supernatural Trope. ]
[The Fog of Worlds: The Hidden World is even more hidden now! The Fog of Worlds acts as metaphysical and magical fog that hides away The Hidden World from normal people's eyes, making them reject or ignore the supernatural happenings around them.]
[Darker Supernatural Aspects: Due to this world having the [Horror] Genre, expect there to be... darker themes. Although not completely Grimdark or Occult/Cosmic Horror levels of Dark, be prepared for Murder, Monsters, Torture, and Blood.]
The new world tropes worried him- He beat the shit out of the thug that tried to steal from him, and when before he would've knocked the thug out cold without a clear sign of a fight, today there was blood. He wore his new leather jacket, trying not to tense too much- He was in a series world, if he wanted to live, he needed to become relevant enough to not be killed off because he was considered a fucking side character! Or better yet, take over the entire series and make it his own- But how the fuck would he even do that? He has his [Background Trope] and his [Archtype Tropes] alongside all his other [Tropes] to use for his advantage, but the only way he could rise in "popularity" to take over, would be to become relevant.
And there were a few ways he could think about that- one of them was to lean into horror aspect of the world and become more mysterious than he already is. Time to make himself one of those side characters people write fanfic about because they don't like the main character that much... And the best way to do that?
"Oh, hey there cutie-" Was to date the main character's best friend. "-I didn't know you knew Mitch here-" Pointing at Mitch, who looked exasperatedly at the knocked out thug on the ground before rolling his eyes and picking him up just to dump him on the empty dumpster by the back of his shop. Garren casually ignored what to many would have looked like someone disposing of a body while he moved towards Kenny, he pulled out a cigarette and placed it on his lips before he asked the cute and shy Persian boy: "Care for a smoke, fag?"
"W-what-?" Kenny looked shocked at him for a few second, which was enough ammunition for Garren who went on the offensive for his teasing war: "A cigarette. A fag. That's what they call it in England, I guess..." He paused for a moment and flickered a lighter he pulled out from his new leather jacket's pocket and lit it up, taking a drag- its been a while since he smoked! "So, do you want one?"
"Oh, uhm, sure?" Unsure of what he was doing, Kenny reached out for a cigarette, only to have his hand slapped away by his best friend- his name was Larry, I guess? He looked shocked at Kenny for a few seconds before he pulled him back and began to stage whisper like Garren couldn't hear them-
"What are you doing!?"
"I don't know!"
"Why were you going to take a cigarette!?"
"He offered it to me- I don't wanna look rude!"
"You forgot all those 'Don't Smoke' ads!? What if your dick really shrinks!? If you take one, I take one too- I don't want my dick to get any smaller!!!"
There was a laugh track. Garren did snicker a bit- hah, small pp jokes.
"B-but....what do I do?"
"Don't take it!"
"Okay, okay."
"Grow a backbone, Kenny! Don't let a cool guy intimidate you into a life of sin! You don't want that, right!?"
"I mean..."
"Right!?"
"Y-yeah!"
They both turned around, Garren lifted one of his eyebrows, smoke coming out of his lit cigarette- he pulled it out of his mouth and allowed his smoke to blow into rings, making the two other dorky nerdy guys watch in awe: "So, you want one, little guy?" He offered again, making sure he spoke with a raspy voice (which was easy thanks to the cigarette), watching in amusement as Kenny immediately caved in with a short "Okay" and took on. Larry looked at his best friend like he had been betrayed before he turned to look at him, only to see Garren pocketing his cigarette box.
"Put it on your mouth." He instructed the shy Kenny, who obeyed immediately- He pushed himself closer to him, he could hear the "audience" making a "Oooh~" sound as he pressed Kenny back against the wall of the alleyway they were standing in. Instead of using a lighter, he got close enough to Kenny and pressed his lit cigarette against the unlit, eyes looking down at it until the cigarette was lit. "There we go." With an easy grin, he pulled back, not caring about the invisible "audience" nor the very visible audience in the form of Larry Gold.
Right at that moment, Mitch came back, took a look at him and his cigarette- turned to look at a very confused Kenny who was trying to smoke but having trouble with it, and said: "...You corrupting the youth?"
"Do you want one or not?" Exasperated, Garren shaked the box of cigarettes now on his hand.
"Damn- Give me one already, kid."
Wordlessly, Garren threw Mitch a cig.
——
Mr Hades soon jumped on Garren's shoulder, making him take a step forward. "Oh, hello- did you have fun in the shadows?" The 'mmrrr' response was more than enough as an answer to him, making Garren smile. He turned to look at his two watchers, who were quite surprised by the cat- He wasn't there a few moments ago, and now he's here! "Oh, right. This is Mr. Hades-" Holding his big boy like he was a baby, Garren allowed Kenny to touch him a bit apprehensively... He looked a bit spooked, but Hades' bright golden eyes did that to people: "-Lord of the Underworld and full time little kitty cat. My baby gremlin of a son who keeps bringing me his hunt."
"His hunt?" The previously silent Larry turned to look at the black cat, who stared back at him- there were a few moments of silence as they kept eye contact before Larry broke that and looked away: "S-so, rats and stuff?"
"Sometimes." Feeling a bit mischievous, Garren patted Hades' little head, making the big boy purr before he opened his mouth a bit too wide for a cat his size, showing off his large, sharp teeth: "Sometimes its bigger than a rat... sometimes its not a rat." Of course he was reffering to bugs, birds, and other small little critters, but because he wanted to lean a bit further down the horror route, he grinned towards the main character- Mr. Hades doing the same -as he stage whispered: "Sometimes, they're really loud and annoying souls."
Mitch came back with what Garren asked for- 2 Editions for every single DC Comic he had in store. Why? Well, Garren is still a nerd, please remember that.
With a rather heavy slapping down, Mith deposited rows after rows of comic books right in front of him: "There you go, kiddo- 2 copies of all the Batman, Superman, The Flash, Aquaman... Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, and a few others I could find." Looking over the various editions, Garren grinned- one was for him to read, and the other was for his collection. Since he had more money than he knew what to do with, he set his sights on making a collection- if worst comes to worst, he can wait a few years until his collection becomes incredibly rare and he sells it for a few tens of thousands of dollars of a few million or so.
Who knows?
"Thanks chief- Here's the money." Garren simply swiped his black card with golden letters- Mitch normally only dealt with cash, but Garren couldn't carry that many dollars with him, could he? With a soft grunt of effort, Garren started to pull every comic book into his cart- Before you ask where he got it from, Mitch gave it to him. After all, its not every damn day a customer spends so much money all at once at a comic book store! "Imma dip now- Have fun, you two." With a sigh Garren pulled the load- it looked heavy, but here's the magic of television.
If you acted like something didn't bother you or you could easily do something, it could become true. A Sitcom usually made fun of the main character, so when a side character that shows interest in all the things the main character does, is stronger, hotter, and cooler that showed interest on his best friend (although he probably wouldn't know it was a particularly sexual/romantic interest) it would create a conflict.
A stupid one, but a conflict nonetheless.
So, Garren became a "better version" of Larry Gold, which wasn't that hard to do. His physical strength would have been questionable, if not for the combination of Sitcom/Comedy with Urban Fantasy/Horror that played his strength up for comedy/conflict with the main character who believed he would tale over his life as the new, creepier, better him- why would Garren ever want that is beyond him, but this is a classical conflict, so he played along with it -while the Horror aspect played his seemingly above human average strength as maybe something more.
So yeah, Garren is very good at manipulating the narrative, specially when the episode is about him of all people. Ready to stir a bit more of a conflict just a bit, Garren turned around and smiled at Kenny: "So, Kenny, you up for an afternoon at my house? After all, I can't read all of this alone, can I?"
"O-oh, uhm..." Kenny turned to looo at his best friend before looking at the guy who clearly was flirting with him- he smiled apologetically to Larry, who he had made plans to spend the afternoon with, before smiling nervously and saying: "S-sure thi-thing! Yeah, that'll be fun."
And as the two walked away, Larry stayed behind- stunned. His best friend had been stolen from him...
His poor 2000's straight boy mind (who used gay as an insult) couldn't phadom that, maybe, his best friend wasn't being stolen, but rather, seduced.
The audience though? Oh, they were eating it all up.
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