Snippets of the friendship between Richard and Pacifica

Richard had always had a bit of an admiration for Pacifica Northwest – just about everybody knew where she had come from, what she had given up for her ideals (even if it was unlikely she was going to be cut off forever, Northwest pride in bloodlines being what it was – her point remained, and she was stubborn enough to continue to say no, no matter what her parents promised).

For Richard, the admiration was a little more personal. Vixen, the show that had catapulted Pacifica to stardom, had been predicted to be a failure. It was Pacifica's acting that had saved the show from being the mess everyone had expected, and Richard had always hoped that he'd someday have it in him to save a show the way Pacifica had.

Well, his curse was that apparently, his 'I hate everything about this and pray for everyone involved, including myself, to find the sweet release of death' portrayal of Alcor (which was only about half acting) meant that the show he was saving was Twin Souls. Twin freaking Souls.

Richard never thought he'd get to meet Pacifica...but then again, how could he ever have imagined the circumstances that lead to it, meeting her through his friendship with the Dreambender, of all creatures?

Richard really hadn't expected to see Pacifica again after that impromptu dinner with her and Alcor, even though they had exchanged numbers. That was practically professional etiquette, bolstered by the fact that they both knew and got along with a demon and therefore might need that backup.

Still, Richard was very surprised when he did get a text a few days after meeting Pacifica, asking him to come meet her at another out of the way diner if he were free.

He had to be cautious getting there – Twin Souls fans were more vicious than most, and the paparazzi were tenacious, so if he were caught going to meet someone, the rumors immediately would fly and the rage over him 'betraying Mizar' would begin.

Though who knew, Pacifica had been seen in Alcor's presence before, as friends. Maybe they'd let it lie...?

...better to be careful.

Richard found Pacifica in another small back booth, tapping away at her phone. She stashed it away as he approached, watching him with a touch of wariness, hands folded atop the table.

The conversation was kept light as Richard glanced over the menu and ordered, easy topics that didn't mention demons or magic.

Until after the waitress was out of earshot and unlikely to return until their food was ready.

"So," Pacifica said, stirring her coffee as she eyed Richard. "How long have you known Alcor?"

Richard paused, his own coffee halfway to his lips, lowering it as he thought. "I'm...really not sure," he said honestly. "Director summoned him to ask for help – thought the movie was cursed – and we started weekly drinking nights that week. I think...we changed that to bi-weekly about a month later. So...three months? Four? I'm really not sure."

Pacifica nodded absently, finally taking a sip of her coffee. "He likes you," she said bluntly. "Which is why I'm willing to say this. He may be a demon, but he's unique. Truly one of a kind. The only one capable of being hurt. Emotionally. And there's been a lot."

Richard paused as he processed what Pacifica was hinting at. "I'm not going to use him, if that's what you're getting at," he said, as blunt as Pacifica, and a little hurt. "We're...well, I'd like to think we're as much friends as it's possible to be. I consider him a friend as well as a drinking buddy. I mean, it started as just the two of us complaining about Twin Souls, but I at least enjoy his company."

Pacifica watched his little rant, head tilted. She smiled softly as he finished, running out of words. "Well, that's good. I think I like you too, so I wouldn't have enjoyed ruining your life if you'd been trying to use my friend."

The threat was delivered in complete deadpan, matter of fact tones, which only made it more believable. Pacifica leaned back in the booth, still watching Richard. "There...have been others," she said after an uncomfortable amount of time. "They pretended to be friends to myself or Mizar so they could use us or Alcor."

"Oh," Richard said softly. "Well, he's the one who came to me – I just enjoyed having someone else around who hates Twin Souls as much as I do. Speaking of which..." he leaned on the table, arms crossed, a smirk starting to form on his face. "If you're such good friends with Alcor, why are you backing a movie made from something he hates so much?"

Pacifica mirrored his pose, grinning wickedly. "Let me tell you about the prank war that dork started almost ten years ago..."

Some part of Richard knew that, sooner or later, there was going to be trouble over being friends with a demon. He knew it was likely, but he still hoped it wouldn't happen.

After all, he was keeping it low-key. Aside from the set and that one time with Pacifica, he and Alcor had consistently met in his apartment, keeping it private. After realizing what he'd signed up for by agreeing to be part of the Twin Souls movie, Richard had become a bit obsessive with keeping his private life, well, private.

Mostly because everyone now seemed to think they were entitled to know everything about him just because he was acting in a movie.

And what he didn't let them know, they made up out of whole cloth.

Which was probably what led to his current situation.

Richard knew, in that detached way of things that didn't affect you, that there were protests about the Twin Souls movie. Mostly, the protests were mild – people upset on the internet over the movie 'glorifying' demons in one way or another, arguments over how 'problematic' the franchise was, and the like.

Thankfully, after all the fan debacles and Richard's fits over them, security was tight on this movie, so until now, the entire cast had been protected from the truly virulent protests.

At the moment, thought, kneeling on a cold cement floor while people around him did...things...Richard rather felt like it would have been nice to know about some of this ahead of time.

No one was really speaking to Richard, hadn't from the beginning. There had been a woman while he was getting a snack at the corner store, storming up to him while ranting, and when he'd been distracted by her they'd jumped him during the brief lapse in security, dragged him into some kind of car with a bag over his head and tied him up, and now he was here, with someone in a robe on each side of him keeping him down on the floor.

...if he got out of this he was rubbing it in everyone's face. He told them there was a good chance of this ending up like something out of a horror novel. He was missing hanging out with Pacifica and Crystal for this bullshit!

...at least the bag was gone. Sometimes it was the little things.

Richard heard the word 'cleansing' being tossed about, but that didn't reassure him. He'd heard of cleansings gone wrong, probably everybody had by now, and you didn't kidnap somebody just to sprinkle holy water over their head and let them go their merry way.

But security or Alcor or somebody could get here anytime, really, now would be good.

Suddenly remembering the handkerchief with Alcor's circle on it, the one he used to call him with in the early days of their friendship, Richard wiggled his hand down to his pocket, keeping himself impassive as his fingers touched cloth.

There was a mint in the same pocket, and Richard hoped this would work as he unwrapped it blind and pressed the candy to the circle, silently calling for help.

Because the cultists were beginning to turn back to him and Richard didn't like the look of the things most of them were holding. He was pretty sure knives and fire had no place in cleansing a person, despite his relative lack of knowledge in that area.

As if they had heard Richard's silent call, shadows began to slide away from the edges of the room, beginning to coalescence in the center.

"Now isn't the time to be showy!" Richard hissed, and the shadows paused, drawing back as if offended, if a mass of shadow could be offended.

The shadows dropped back to the floor like a drop of oil, glistening like liquid, the puddle rippling.

Then it reared up again into the shape of a person, dropping away to reveal Alcor in its place.

The two holding Richard down cried out in shock, and the woman who seemed to be in charge moved. She grabbed a deep bowl one of her followers, who had shrunk back from the demon, had been holding, and flung its contents over them, demon, actor, and cultists all.

Alcor screamed, falling back, clawed hands covering his face. Richard swore, the sound lost in the static of a demonic scream, managing to rise to his feet now that the two holding him down had staggered away from the demon.

Vaguely Richard could hear the woman who had first approached him screaming victoriously about demons and cursed movies and needing to be cleansed as he staggered towards Alcor.

The demon dashed the last of the apparently holy water from his face, snarling with rage. Reaching out, he snagged Richard's arm, and the whole room went blurry.

Richard landed with a thump on the floor of Crystal's apartment, where he was supposed to meet Crystal and Pacifica, and both women stared at he and the demon in shock on Crystal's part and faint surprise on Pacifica's.

"Take care of him," Alcor snarled. "I'll be back soon."

He disappeared, and Pacifica looked down at Richard sympathetically. "Waht was it? Crazed fans? Cult? Either way, congratulations on the initiation into the 'Alcor-induced Trauma Club'."

It took Richard some time to stop being jumpy after the 'cleansing' incident. There was an investigation, but it was conducted primarily by Alcor, as there wasn't any proof of what had happened, and the police weren't much help – especially when it came to light that Alcor had been summoned during the incident and was the reason Richard got away.

But in the end, everyone decided that the whole thing had been because of the movie, not the demon. Richard, for his part, just wanted the whole thing kept quiet so no one else would get any ideas – whether it be to try another cleansing or to think Alcor was protecting Richard out of enjoyment of his work so far (namely, the Twin Souls movie).

Pacifica was more of a help than she would admit during the whole thing. Of course, part of that was understanding what Richard had been through, but a good deal of it was in her non-nonsense friendship, helping Richard get back into his regular life, if only to spite anyone who expected him to change because of it.

Pacifica was good at classy spite.

"Whhhhhy," Richard moaned, face first over the coffee table, arms dangling off the side. "Why did you dooo thaaaaaat?"

Pacifica took another sip of her coffee, watching the show before her with a great deal of amusement.

Richard looked up at her with a pout. "Don't you have an answer for me? Anything to say for yourself?"

"If that dork's reaction is anything like yours, than funding the sequel will be money well spent," Pacifica said dryly. "I certainly made a tidy profit on the last one."

"I thought we were friends," Richard whined, flopping back over the table.

"Which is why I'm letting you whine about it," she replied. "You can negotiate for better security, and you'll be set for life from this series."

"Twin Souls is not the thing I wanted my name remembered for," Richard moaned. "You are the worst."

Pacficia smiled serenely. "I know."