STORY (ideas)
This is going to be a massive text dump of everything currently in my google doc with no images I'm so sorry.
WARNING for descriptions of death and body horror
Message From Maggots
A woman comes to Ezekiel for help with a curse – her body is swarming with insects. At first, she explains, it started as an ant infestation in her new house. Then an increasing amount of bugs started appearing everywhere no matter what she did, eventually leading to the current situation. Alec and Wayne are sent to investigate while Ezekiel and Phoebe try to treat the woman. Through statements gathered from nearby neighbors, it’s revealed that a missing girl was kidnapped by the person who used to live in that house. The girl was pronounced dead years later, however her body was never found. The duo come to the conclusion that she is trying to get someone to find her. At the climax, Alec and Wayne wade through a swarm of insects to dig her out of the garden; so she can finally find peace and release the curse.
I’m Here All Night, Ladies
Wayne finds himself suddenly being targeted by a group of monster hunters he’d never seen before. While trying to escape he meets Ty, who hears him out and explains that they received an anonymous tip of there being a dangerous vampire in the area. They’ve specifically been searching for the legendary Dracula who was believed to have recently awoken again. She believes Wayne when he says he’s done nothing wrong, then tells the other hunters to call it off. The rest of the episode is shenanigans introducing Ty as a person - her lack of memory, her living gun and so on. She has no money so she stays at Alec’s for a few days (start of their friendship). She also flirts with women (lol).
Love Love Love
Alec and Wayne enter a competition at a place called Caramel House - nicknamed the Love House - to investigate the rumors of supernatural activity surrounding it. Couples go there to test their love and win various prizes, but once they leave they don’t remember what happened while they were in the House. Some people are even rumored to have gone missing. The main duo along with two other couples are introduced to a person named Marshmallow (who prefers to be called Mellow) and are trapped in the House for a week. Mellow reveals themself to be a doll to Wayne because they can sense he isn’t human either; the two end up having multiple discussions about their existences and the nature of the House. The daily challenges there would vary wildly, becoming more extreme as days pass. I don’t have a solid idea of how it ends but at some point it comes to light that one of the couples has been unfaithful, then a climax with the House rapidly warping happens and everyone narrowly escapes - Except for Mellow. It leaves Wayne with a bad feeling.
Extra details: Mellow believes they can't feel any kind of love but they become very attached to Wayne. Their discussions involve xem seeing the world in a hopeless light “I see now, even if I escape I will still have no control, that’s what you’ve shown me”. Mellow can’t leave the house, it’s xer duty to feed the house with emotions and punish bad partners, but the consequences overflow onto everyone else.
Pwason (fish)
This would be the midway ‘beach episode’. The main team (Alec, Wayne, Ezekiel, Sam, Ty) are tasked with cleaning out the infamous Beach Houses. These abandoned buildings are known for being filled with Flesh Walls and it would take days if not weeks to clear them out. I actually have two super different ideas for this same setting and I can’t fully decide which one. One I’m thinking of is that they run into an active Flesh Wall that looks like a fish with legs and a Junji-Ito’s-Gyo-situation ensues (though they would actually beat it instead of it spreading the way it does in Gyo). The other would be another ghost situation with a drowned person haunting them at night.
GOD’S Gift
Ezekiel takes Alec and Sam with him to find the source of a curse affecting a woman and her daughter in Salut. Unbeknownst to the mother, the curse is The Doll God’s Charm, which is said to “make bad adults disappear”. It inflicts the target with incredibly bad luck, then eventually kills them - though the latter part is not well known among those who hear the rumor. Said targets are usually parents according to the reports Ezekiel had gathered. The giveaway of the curse is the method of death: multiple joints are broken one by one, the person is disemboweled, then finally their neck is broken post-mortem. A ritual involving a doll is needed to inflict the curse. The client is repeatedly rude and dismissive to her child (named Zoey for now) in front of the cast. Alec stands up for Zoey, frustrated with her mother’s behavior. Eventually he and Sam get the girl to confess to cursing her mom and talk Zoey out of letting it run its course. The entire group encounters the Doll-Meister and satiates it by having Zoey leave home and move in with a friend. They then (temporarily) seal it away.
More details: The method of death probably sounds too cruel (lol).The full thing would go into discussion of emotional abuse and the hopelessness and resentfulness it causes.
Mr. Delicious
Throughout Sweven, Wayne feels his vampiric urges growing stronger and they reach an almost uncontrollable point. Alec tries to help but it doesn’t go smoothly, since Wayne is too scared to actually explain the situation to him properly. Wayne starts eating wild animals raw and struggles with dangerous thoughts. Rumors spread around town about him, worsening his state.
On the monster hunters’ end; some members start going missing. Or more specifically – their corpses do. Sudden deaths have been reported separate groups, but they keep failing to collect their coworkers’ bodies. Even the causes of death are unknown, though strangely there were signs of possible mutiny. This is where it’s first revealed that Orval’s past partner was undead ; and exactly why Orval is distrustful of Wayne.
Who are you?
One day Orval spots Wayne in the woods. It reminds the old man too much of his past partner, and he snaps. It results in a brawl in which both are immobilized.
Finally gathering enough energy to take shape, the so-called Dracula appears to a confused and vulnerable Wayne in his mind. In a way that feels more like a matter-of-fact statement than an offer, he tells Wayne that he’ll “live for him”, “love for him”. That they’ll “lose themselves in each other and become someone”. Without a say in the matter Wayne gives him control. When he wakes up, he leaves Orval completely defeated, bleeding out on the ground.
Marionette's Piano Strings
Flesh Walls get an unexpected growth boom around the capital city and its neighboring towns. Hunters start attacking each other out in the open. The dead – including the previously missing hunters – rise en masse. Ezekiel finds himself flooded with exorcism requests. Months pass with Wayne missing. Alec searches for him through sleepless nights to no avail. It’s revealed that as Dracula, Wayne plans to absorb as much negative energy as he can and then seal himself away (by eating monsters). Said negative energy was being built up by recent events and unconscious desires for a source to blame throughout the already spiritually volatile Ounspux. Velvet explains to Alec that Wayne will be completely lost to this false identity regardless of if he successfully seals himself or not – if he’s left like this for too long. She tells Alec the only way to save him at this point is to kill the image of Dracula. Mellow is freed from their shackles during this time, as Wayne manages to eat Caramel House. Mary Ann appears in an attempt to use the situation to her advantage. She incapacitated Tuesday offscreen, frustrated by being tied down and yearning for a perceived “true” freedom. Unfortunately for her she loses against the crew.
(I originally only had Dracula appear in Wayne’s form for the last 3 episodes but now I feel like there should be a few more where he’s just walking around wreaking havoc before the finale. For funsies. This would involve psychological torture – please imagine them yourself.)
Dracula
Acts as the finale. Alec confronts a Wayne who has lost himself in Dead Land. The rest of the main cast try to join but Alec forces them to let him go alone. A fight between the two lovers ensues where “Dracula”’s moves and behavior become more and more inhuman. None of Alec’s words reach him until he snaps out of it for a split second. Right then – Alec stabs Wayne through the chest. Both get knocked into the dream world (through Sam’s influence) as they fall unconscious. They have a heartfelt conversation about wanting to be able to rely on each other. The power Wayne had been absorbing leaves him until he almost turns to ash. Before that can happen, Velvet uses her blood to regenerate what is left of his true self. The aftermath follows the cleanup of the situation with the main couple resting and the monster hunters packing up. Ty promises to return as soon as she gets her license. Orval is still distraught, but Alec and Wayne express a willingness to forgive him.