#functioning alcoholic

CHARACTER: Henry Fogg

PLAYED BY: Rick Worthy

SHOW: The Magicians (2015-2020)

Henry Fogg is functioning alcoholic, he is pragmatic, sardonic, a master magician and Dean at Brakebills University. His dedication to Brakebills and the students within is to be admired. He has a dry wit and can be very cynical at times, clashing with his students while still maintaining respect for them. He is stylish, looking so dapper in his well tailored suits.

Played brilliantly by Rick Worthy, who I will always say has the most beautiful sounding voice, Dean Henry Fogg is just as important to the story as his students.

*I haven't wrote and published in a long time. This is a long one that's been in the works. Please let me know about any thoughts. I'll post part 2 in a week* Enjoy :)

*******

It was irritating at first, not knowing where he really was during his daily escapades. We had agreed on several things when we first started hooking up: 

Don’t call or message each other during work 

He would be the one to arrange our meetings (locations, time etc)

Don’t reveal his quirk or truth about him to anyone 

And lastly, refer to him as Toshi when we weren’t working

Truly, I don’t think I’ve met someone who required such unique conditions until I started seeing Toshinori. We had originally met during a hero conference I attended on behalf of my agency. My quirk was a unique one of sorts. You see, what it lacks in physical damage, it thrives in psychological damage. My quirk is Persuasion. I could control people, not in the way that brainwashing would, but I could read people’s thoughts and influence their decisions to a certain extent. In many ways, I can be the annoying voice that pesters your every waking move or the voice of reason. I don’t need to talk to people to have my quirk take effect, but all I need is concentration to immobilize someone. 

However, the downside of my quirk is that I get completely isolated in my conversation and become unable to listen to the world around me, leaving me physically vulnerable. Another thing is that if someone is incredibly strong-willed, my quirk would have a limited amount of influence on them. Because I can’t tell how strong someone’s resolve is by looking at them, I carry around a bo-staff for my protection as I had been trained with it, as well as in martial arts, since I was a child. Because these are dangerous times, my bo-staff also has a unique feature. Thanks to my friends in support development, it can expand into a shield to protect myself if I’m in a situation where there are bullets involved and I can’t control the shooter. It makes the bo staff heavy, but if it protects me, then I’m willing to get stronger to use it. They were also kind enough to create shoes that changed into roller blades on my command so that I could chase down villains faster.

Needless to say, my quirk and my support gear were usually great conversation starters at social functions. That’s where All Might and I started our relationship of sorts. I was at the conference for half a day and I was exhausted. The last conference room where my presence was required was relatively empty. I was on a sofa and in the middle of drinking my second flute of champagne when All Might walked in. I was surprised at first, because I hadn’t expected him to be in this specific meeting. Nobody really seemed to make a fuss at his presence, but it was only then that I realized that was because most of the heroes attending that meeting were his coworkers from UA. I definitely needed another drink after that realization, so I stood and walked to the table spread that had the free champagne and snacks. I picked up another flute, turned around, and bumped into someone. When I looked up, I realized that it was All Might and I became a little flustered. He was significantly taller than I had expected and I barely reached his torso.

“Shit. Oh, excuse me, I wasn’t paying attention.” I said, embarrassed.

“No, I should apologize. I was distracted too.” He responded by putting his hands up defensively.

“Yeah, free drinks and food can definitely do that to people.” I joked and took a sip of my champagne. He let out a thunderous laugh in response, which made a few people glance in our direction. I was surprised that he actually laughed. Once he calmed down, he asked for my hero name and where I worked. 

“Casanova. I work at the Gunhead Hero Office.” 

“Really? I think I might’ve seen you around before. You skate and fight with a bo staff, correct?”

“Yes, actually. But that has nothing to do with my quirk.” 

“Persuasion, right? I’m pretty sure I’ve seen you at UA before during a Sports Festival.” Wow. The fact that All Might knew who I was, remembered that we both went to UA, and somehow remembered my quirk and fighting abilities had me a little flustered. 

“I’m surprised you know all that. I don’t believe we spoke before since we attended UA different years. Once you went Pro, everyone knew who you were.” I smiled politely.

 Once I finished speaking, there was an announcement from the person on the panel that the conference was about to start.

“Such a shame to cut this conversation so short, would you care to sit with me?” I asked, gesturing towards the sofa in the back of the room.

“Sure! I like to sit in the back since my height can make it difficult for people that are shorter than me to see.” 

“It’s hard for me to see past someone who is average height. I’d be bamboozled if you suddenly sat in front of me, so I appreciate it.” He chuckled and sat beside me on the sofa, pulling out a comically small notepad and pen from his outrageously bright yellow suit pocket.

The lecture was definitely on the slow side, mostly discussing basic organization techniques I was already familiar with, but All Might seemed to be engrossed in it, judging by how rapidly he was making note of everything. At first I wasn’t interested in reading his thoughts, but given the boring nature of this lecture, the idea was extremely tempting. Who wouldn’t want to know what the number one hero was thinking about? So I took a peak and as it would turn out, he had a lot going on in there. 

His rapid moving thoughts showed that he was scared that I was going to try to read his mind and “find out something”. I also saw myself in a few favorably lewd positions that I wouldn’t oppose being in if given the opportunity. Along with that, he was also worried about storage space and if he should buy the exact folder the speaker recommended. It was quite amusing actually. His ability to gather and organize information was amazing, as would be expected for the number one hero. I didn’t mention anything to him, but smirked in satisfaction as I took another sip of my champagne. There was about 15 minutes left of the presentation, so I decided to take my chance and see if I could sneak away and have some fun with him.

“It’s so empty here tonight. I half expected that more people would still be here. The seminars around this time are rather dull, but the drinks are definitely worth my time.” I whispered to try to distract him.

“What? Oh yes, it is quite empty isn’t it?” He said quite nervously. I could hear him start to get anxious and thinking about wanting to leave soon; something pertaining to a shortage of time. He wondered if I would accept wanting to leave with him since I looked bored. What a perfect opportunity.

“Hey, do you want to get out of here? ‘Play hooky’ if you know what I mean? I doubt my agency would care about my disappearance in the last 15 minutes of the ‘Improve Your Record Filing Technique’ seminar.”

“You just read my mind.” He said in an intended joking manner, but I could see sweat drip down his neck and various thoughts flashed too rapidly for me to comprehend. 

“Hm. Maybe. I pretty much already know everything they’re sharing, so I can help you out with organization since you practically wrote down everything the speaker said.” I teased, finishing the rest of my flute.

He blushed and scratched the back of his neck in embarrassment.“I’d appreciate it.”

I didn’t feel bad tapping into his mind, especially not after he offered me his arm and led me towards the nearest exit. Once we got out of the building and onto the empty sidewalk, I decided to at least keep the conversation going.

“So where to? Your place, mine, or a hotel?”

“What? Oh! I’m sorry, I think you may have misunderstood my intentions.” He said nervously, backing away from me.

“And what exactly are your intentions, Mr. All Might?” I said, leaning against the wall and crossing my arms. He became flustered and rubbed the back of his neck. Probably a nervous habit. 

“I thought that perhaps you would like me to walk you home or recommend some storage folders. You know, something harmless of that nature.”

“Hm. I won’t do anything you don’t want to All Might. Like keeping you from something. I know you’re quite short on time, so I’ll make this quick: I would like to see you under more private conditions. Only if you’d want. I don’t do these things often, but you were quite flustered earlier and perhaps I assumed too much. But if that’s not what you want, then we can drop this and move on.” He looked like he was going to faint from shock before cooling down and looking at me seriously.

“Did you read my thoughts?”

“Not everything.” I avoided direct eye contact and looked away.

He stepped forward and closed the distance between us. He placed a hand on my shoulder with a firm grip, making me tense. His piercing blue eyes sent chills down my spine as our bodies almost touched. My face was already flushed from the alcohol, but now I could feel it heating up due to his proximity. 

“I kindly ask you not to do that again. I have some things I’d rather not share with the public and I intend to keep it that way. So if you want this to work out how you plan to, we’re going to have to set up some ground rules.”

“Which you rightfully deserve.”

“The first rule is simple. Don’t read my mind without asking. I have a hard time trusting people who invade my privacy. But since you were at least upfront with me, I’ll make an exception this time. Second, I decide where we go. We’ll go to your place since you offered. And lastly, please call me Toshinori when we’re not working.”

“Right this way then Toshinori. It’s a 10 minute walk from here.” 

“Are you sober?”

“What?” I stumbled slightly.

“You drank at least two flutes of champagne before we left. Did you drink before?”

I had to think about how I wanted to answer that. In truth, I don’t remember how much I drank today. Do I lie and tell him no so I could have a once in a lifetime godly experience? Or should I be honest and risk losing that opportunity altogether? I’m thinking clearly aren’t I? I hastily made my decision.

“No.”

He stood close to me and stared me down. I looked back with the same intensity. Hopefully I would pass. Champagne had a low alcohol content. 

He grunted lightly.

“You lead the way then, Casanova.”

Success.

“Please just call me Nova.” 

“Alright then, Nova.”

The walk was quiet, and like he had asked, I didn’t pry into his mind. As the walk progressed, so did my excitement. Sure things may have started off kind of shaky and my buzz was killed, but I’m used to the distrust towards people with mind control based quirks. Besides, this was only meant to be a hookup so I couldn’t really be bothered to try to change his thoughts about me or my quirk. The damage was already done. 

“Please come in.” I said once we reached my door.

“Pardon the intrusion.” He said as we entered and took off our shoes. 

“Believe me, you definitely aren’t intruding. Would you care for a drink? I have sake, wine, whiskey, vodka, the list goes on.”

“I can’t drink. I’m sorry.” 

I took immediate notice of how his emphasis was on can’t instead of don’t. It was a word usage that was subtle and piqued my interest, but I decided not to pry.

“No problem. I can make mocktails, but there’s also tea or water if you’d prefer. I don’t have any roommates and my neighbors are out of town. We can be as loud or as quiet as you-” I was cut off by his body that pressed me against the wall and his hand cupped my face. Internal panic was setting in. I felt claustrophobic and swallowed a lump that began to form in my throat. His piercing blue eyes looked me up and down and he leaned down to kiss me. He was surprisingly gentle, almost as if he was afraid of hurting me. My panic subsided with his reassuring kisses and I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed back. The height difference between us was comical, I was standing on my tiptoes whereas he had to crouch down significantly to reach me. His hand slid from my cheek, down my shoulder and found its way to my hip.

Tell us your favourite quotes from your character. Give us an idea of who they are by listing five things they’ve said.

“I haven’t figured you out either. It’ll just have to be another of life’s great mysteries.”

“You know, I’d rather not get caught up in another ripoff rendition of ‘Dawn of the Dead’, if it’s all the same to you. My acting’s terrible.” 

“Oh I’m gonna be lame and sit at the bar,” 

“Really now? Well, what else will you do for me because I’m cute?” 

“Unfortunately there is paperwork involved. I’ll probably do it on the plane. Then it’s back to waiting for my next assignment,”