[Open] 🚬 June Flames

[burnitblack]

Who: Dabi & others
What: June Catch-All
When: Various
Where: June

Content Warnings: Potential mentions of domestic/child abuse, potential mentions of murder, violence, adult language or subjects

Notes: General and specific starters will be below. More to come, including event prompts. Contact under cut.

If you want to hit me up for ideas on prompts or plots, feel free to comment on Dabi's CR plotting post or his Event plotting post (tbd), hit me up on my contacts – Plurk (StarSeed69) / Discord (StarSeed#3572) – shoot me a PM, or drop an ooc comment down below, and we’ll hash it out. I'm down to write a unique starter for our threads if you prefer.

NOTE: I'll be with limited computer access the first week of June, and will get event prompts up when I return.

Comments

The black beach.

[burnitblack]

Darcmouth ... District: Fishing District - Farther Shores

➊ [dabi didn't remember who he heard it from: things from "home" washed up all the time on the father shorts, located beyond the darcmouth fishing district. after that amazing stroke of luck with the portals linking him to several convenience stores from different worlds, he found a special sort of allure to gathering things like that. wanting to keep a stockpile of items from "home" worlds that weren't usually, if ever, offered in trench's normal market wares.

dabi wasn't the most active member of the league of villains, capable of lazing around when there was shit to do, but he did have a penchant for recruitment. going out and looking for interesting and useful people to add to their group. so why not apply that to things as well? couldn't hurt to have some valuable items for trade that no one else had... it was better than pricking his finger or handing over vials of his blood all the damn time.

even if it did mean he had to go through a damn wharf and fish market. ugh, he hated fish; the smell and taste were gross. but with that behind him, dabi found some strange comfort in seeing the lonely black shores stretching out in front of him, the warm sand sinking under his boots with each step. among the rhythmic ebb and flow of the waves, the man wandered across the dark beach, coat and cloak drifting against his legs and sides in the ocean wind. he kept an eye out for anything unique sticking out of the sand. not one to go digging though. a cloth bag dangles from one hand and he crouches down for a moment, inspecting a few items before dismissing all but one of them as shells, but digging out and washing off a gold, ruby ring from the black sand.]

➋ [there was one other reason dabi liked to come to the father short. the sapling. standing out here in a strangely inhospitable and remote place for a tree like this, there was no denying it was the same kind of tree that grew in the priest's sanctuary. meaning it had the same calming and cleansing properties its fellow trees had. resting his back against the large sakura tree's trunk, dabi let his eyes linger on the waves in front of him, occasionally ghosted by a drifting pink petal.

corruption was a strange thing for him, considering all the things he did and witness back home in his world. murder, oppression, abuse, lies, corruption, battle, and yet in trench, it was all about blood and those negative emotions creeping through, poisoning thoughts and actions. but here under the boughs of this tree, all of that felt less important, the weight of it slowly leeching out of his system. far better here than trying to steal away a few hours during the night at the sanctuary, where people could come up and ask what his shady ass was doing skulking around in such a place.

with his bag of collected items beside him, dabi leans his head against the tree and drifts, one leg stretched out in front of him, the other tented at the knee with an arm draped over the bend. leave him alone... or bother him. it's your call.

ooc note: despite his villainous nature, dabi will defend the sapling from attack. fatally. for purely selfish reasons.]

Re: Prompt Two

[thevengefuldoll]

While following his fellow centipede, the demon chances upon a familiar face. He notices the teen sleeping beneath the tree. It's been quite the time...hasn't it? The old man smiles. He debates whether or not to interrupt the other's nap for sake of conversation. However, Chin Yisou isn't given the choice. His small centipede scuttles up to the teen and nudges him.

Xiao Wu!

The demon scolds loudly. He startles while dreading what's to come of a rude awakening...

[burnitblack]

Bump... bump... The little nudging is more than enough to stir Dabi to waking, blue eyes twitching once before flashing open. He's not survived as long as he has by being slow to wake up. Instinct and alertness keep him from lashing out immediately, his eyes dropping to the bumping thing. Just in case it was some beast, predator, or enemy checking him out. Reacting could've prompted an aggressive response before he was ready.

Instead, there's some... bug-looking creature? And then a voice calling out towards him? It? Probably it. Dabi lifts his head and a bleary scowl aims at the approaching man. "This yours?"

[thevengefuldoll]

"My apologies!" The old man bows.

Chin Yisou scoops up the impish critter. He regards the sleepy teen with a nervous laugh.

"It's been quite some time, hasn't it?"

The demon wonders if he would be remembered. After all, it wouldn't surprise him if the teen forgot their misadventure.

[burnitblack]

More awake now, the younger man sits up out of his slouch by the tree trunk. His eyes linger on the man, particularly when he talks about "some time" as if they've met before.

"Do I know ya?"

There's... a vague, faint recollection, and it shows in his eyes. Wheels turning, memories flickering, a search going on.

"Wait... the fuckin circus."

[thevengefuldoll]

"Exaclty!" The demon cheers.

He squats down in the grass while holding his peculiar pet. While glancing to the sky, more questions comes to his mind.

"So, have you been on any fun adventures of late?" The demon asks with an eye casted at him.

Of course, there may be some cases where the Trench is anything but fun.

[burnitblack]

That at least proves his memory's working well. Dabi keeps an eye on the guy, gaze narrowed in a slightly wary expression. So that bug-looking thing is his omen, hm...

"Nothin since those portals in April." There had been some events between then, with some going on right now as well, but nothing he'd want to babble about. "Not a lot of things are "fun" in this place."

[thevengefuldoll]

"Oh, you must have not been able to partake in the other games , no?"

The demon smiles with a wicked gleam. He cuddles with his centipede companion.

"I met this little guy after going through the board game."

His statement is intentionally vague, as though to spark some curiosity.

sorry for the delay - family weekend.

[burnitblack]

"What kinda "games" do ya mean?" Dabi notes the gleam in the man's smile. Never did care to treat this guy as anything less than a potential threat ready to go off... Not someone to trust. Cuddling a bug like that doesn't help his image much either.

"That was months ago. Have you been stuck in there all this time?" The vagueness of his comment is wary, but Dabi's keen to talk in the same just to gather some more information. Strange this guy sought him out... or was it happenstance?

Re: Hope you had a great time!

[thevengefuldoll]

The old man pauses for a moment. He shakes his head 'no.'

"Not quite," he replies. "I was referring to how I came across this guy. I was in the jungle for about a week before falling into the Catacombs."

He places Xiao Wu down to scuttle about. The centipede looks at the teen and tilts its head in curiosity.

"Have you been through similar trials?"

Chin Yisou asks with a doubt whether or not he will respond honestly. He seems...guarded. The demon thinks with a frown.

good for the most part! thx~

[burnitblack]

Dabi regards him with the same distance, though isn't making to get up and leave. "The jungle? Hard to believe you were stuck in there." Suggesting he figures the man would easily be able to get out of such a thing. "Ya mean the caves under Trench?"

With those cave ins and everything that was found beneath the city... Interesting times. Dabi eyes the creature peering at him like that, but doesn't summon his own omen or make a threat. Strange to see someone physically interacting with their omen like it was a living pet. "Been through a few events, but wouldn't call any of them a trial."

Re: You're welcome!

[thevengefuldoll]

"Hmmm I've been through those too," Chin Yisou laughs. "Seems like I tend to run into poor luck."

He glances at the sky. A lot has happened, but despite the challenges, the demon feels more free. He tilts his head to the side.

"So, you've been through some events," he begins. "Yet, found them too easy? If that's the case, I'm sure you've found many treasures haven't you?"

The talk of treasure leads Chin Yisou's mind into another tangent. Perhaps I can ask...but would it be of use?

[burnitblack]

"Find anythin interestin?" Mostly people found books about lore, tools for crafting your own bloodstones, lunar orbs, and then random shit from other worlds. Dabi found interest in all of those save for the first one. Didn't give a shit about lore.

"A few." As to whether they were "easy" or not, the villain lifts his shoulders in a casual shrug. "If ya know what to look for, you can avoid some of the worse parts." Or simply get really lucky and dodge them by not leaving your residence... Mentions of treasure earn a small hum. "A few things I've kept for myself, yeah."

2

[survivalthroughhate]

[Maul's out near the sapling. He loves the trees. They make him feel good, balanced and calm in a way he hasn't felt in a long, long time, not since he was a small child. He's able to relax a little better around the guardian saplings, infused with that energy he'd felt when Amaterasu was still here.

When he spots Dabi underneath the tree, he makes his way over on silent feet. He sits down not too far away from where Dabi is at and closes his eyes for a few minutes, centering himself using the energies of the trees. When he opens them back up, he looks over at the villain.]

Did you happen to encounter me while I was changed into the form of a very large lizard-like creature?

[burnitblack]

[the trees, this one in particular, are a favored resting spot. not only does it bring him out here, away from other people, it helps soothe the corruption they're always staining themselves with and leeches out what it can. additionally, being so remote out on the farther shores bleak, cold black beaches, it makes the sapling too out of the way for most people, leaving dabi content that it's not swarming with other sleepers. unlike the one in the sanctuary.

plus it gives him a nice vantage spot to watch the beach for anything interesting that might pop up. and train, but that's done much further away from the tree. doesn't need to be throwing fire around something he actually likes and uses.

it's not maul's noise that gives him away, but rather the mixture of his presence and the simple fact dabi can see people approaching the tree. it's a beach after all. he doesn't bother greeting the horned man, remaining seated where he is and watching the waves fall onto the shore.

oh. that question.]

Yep. Felt like a real weird impression of a dinosaur kaiju film.

[wasn't half bad entertainment either.]

[survivalthroughhate]

A dinosaur? Is that what I was?

[Maul reflects. He's read about them before in some books on Earth and its history but he hadn't realized that's what he'd turned into at the time. After all, it wasn't like there had been any fifty foot tall mirrors for him to look at himself in at the time.]

You have my thanks for watching out for me.

[He's not sure why Dabi would have done it, but whatever the reason, at least he'd eventually gotten Dino!Maul away from any people and off into the woods. That had likely saved a lot of lives, for the Carnotaurus would have continued his rampage until there was no one left to eat on the streets around him.]

[burnitblack]

Uh-huh.

[don't ask him what kind cause he's got no clue. the t-rex-looking kind. with horns and a weird scale pattern/coloring he's pretty sure didn't exist in real life. even if there had been a suitable mirror, who the hell knew whether maul would've recognized himself enough to log it in his tiny dino-brain?]

Yeah, yeah. It was fun siccin ya on stuff.

[don't get any big ideas about him actually caring. it was simply a matter of pride and amusement on his own part. dabi isn't thinking about the "why's" he did it either. he doesn't consider maul an ally at the moment, though the man's not someone he'd mind working with if needed. but certainly it was strange to stick his neck out for him like that. and perhaps not for him, but for the people and places dabi led the rampaging beast away from.

... what the hell?]

Take it ya don't remember a lot about it.

[survivalthroughhate]

[Maul frowns, trying to put together the disjointed fragments he has of memories after the dinosaur part of his brain had overwhelmed the rational side of it.]

Not much. After the instincts took over on the third day, everything becomes a bit fuzzy in recollection. I think there was something involving a large ape beast. And I do remember....attacking people. Did I eat any of them?

[He has a distinct feeling he might have. Ah well, if he did it really wasn't his fault this time. There was very little of Maul left by the time he'd started going on his rampage, so it wasn't like he consciously made the decision to start killing a bunch of people.]

[burnitblack]

[didn't think so. considering most people don't remember the times they've transformed into monsters, he wasn't expecting maul to have more than a few fleeting images or feelings. even he can't remember much from his transformed times. a shame, because apparently the first time was a fucking doozy.]

Yeah, ya had a nice showdown with that giant ape. I don't think it was a beast; think it was another transformed party goer, like you.

[the question about eating people gets a brief scoff of amusement, half-charred lips quirking up at the corner.]

Yeah ya did. Gobbled up a buncha them. [and gestures to the side.] If ya gonna puke, face that way.

[doesn't need guilt chunks hurled up in sight. sorry, maul; he's a dick.]

cw: willingly eating of sentient species mentioned

[survivalthroughhate]

[Fortunately, Maul is made of sterner stuff than that. Hearing what he did makes him close his eyes and take some deep breaths as he tries to center himself. This wasn't his fault and he makes sure to tell himself that as a mantra. He hadn't set out to eat people, it was only because the dinosaur instincts had overwhelmed his usual skills of reasoning.

Then he opens them back up and looks over at Dabi.]

It is not the first time I have eaten sentient species. Before, I just usually had more coherency while doing so.

[At first Maul did it because he was literally starving. There was no way to grow food on Lotho Minor and very little in the way of natural fauna to hunt for meat. Eating others who showed up on the planet was pure survival. Once his sanity began to deteriorate, it was all he could focus on or think about, that deep desire for enough food to keep himself alive.]

ah the fun argument of sentient versus sapient ~

[burnitblack]

[dabi might not know too much about the other man, but he's gathered enough to know his reserved, stoic nature wouldn't see him flying off into an emotional breakdown upon learning what he did as a lumbering beast. regret or blame, probably gonna have those, since contrary to appearance, it seems maul's got a caring heart beneath his horns and fearsome eyes. kinda ironic actually.

dabi's blue gaze remains rolled to the side, levied at maul with a curious, flat look to see his reaction. he's neither surprised nor disappointed.]

Gross. We talkin cannibalism here or munchin on some kinda alien?

[since maul said his world was about galaxies and flying to other planets. the man's not human either, obviously. does it count as cannibalism if you eat a member of another sentient species? or is it relegated to sapient species?

a human from a world of nothing but humans only has that limited comparison to make. perhaps it's not the same in maul's case. though dabi'd rather not thing of the man sitting down beside a fire stripping the flesh off someone's arm.

ew.]

cw: dissociation from reality mentioned

[survivalthroughhate]

Hmmm, I don't remember if I ate any fellow Zabraks during that period of time but it's certainly possible. I did eat many other species though. I was broken in body and mind at the time, so I did what I needed to do as a matter of pure survival.

[Even so, Maul's thankful that his memory of that time is fragmented and fuzzy around the edges. He doesn't need to have perfect recall of those days when he'd slowly lost his grip on reality day-by-day until he couldn't even remember his own name.]

I would have gone on like that for the rest of my life had my brother not rescued me from that Force-forsaken planet.

[That one act meant Maul would forever defend Savage from anyone who wished him harm. His brother had come for him, sent by his mother when no one else cared about him any longer. He was just some forgotten legend in the galaxy until he was able to be restored to full body and mind.]

[burnitblack]

Damn. Musta went through somethin rough to get reduced to that state.

[while he's able to somewhat relate with the "matter of pure survival", dabi had never been in a situation here he had to choose between eating another person and dying. he'd rather not have to make that choice, thanks.

leaning back against the tree, the villain raises his arms over his head, bones and muscles creaking a bit from pulling out of the previous slouch. his shoulders pop and warmth spills down his arms in that 'feels good' manner as he drops them to his side again.]

Oh, ya ain't an only kid? [for some reason that never occurred to him. maybe because maul wasn't human and dabi just... didn't think to ascribe human "family" notions to him. it made him look at the zabrak in a slightly different light.] Is he here?

[survivalthroughhate]

[Maul laughs a little bitterly.]

Oh, you have no idea.

[He'd sacrificed most of his sanity to keep the still-organic portion of his body alive. He'd been worse off than an animal by the time Savage rescued him, for all animals cared about was survival, while deep within Maul there still was the conscious desire for revenge against those who had wronged him.

Maul looks towards Dabi when he asks his questions. The man is hard to look at sometimes with his extreme and grisly looks. Maul's seen worse but it still doesn't make it easy sometimes when he's near the firestarter.]

Yes. One of four. Two by blood and one by ties as strong as any blood relation. Two of them are here. Savage and Wesker. My youngest brother Feral is still dead.

['Still' implying at least one of the other two died at least once before and been revived. Dabi's gotten Maul on one of the few subjects he's willing to talk a lot about.]

You'll recognize them both if you see them. Savage is a Zabrak like me with yellow skin, black tattoos, and golden eyes. Wesker looks somewhat human until you get closer to him. His red eyes are more feline-like than anything else and he keeps them hidden with sunglasses most of the time.

[burnitblack]

Uh-huh.

[of course he has no idea. frankly, isn't interested in asking. other people's suffering has little relevancy to him, especially since he can't really "use" their stories in this world like he could back home. weaponizing them to attack heroes and drive his own twisted thoughts into their lives.

maul obviously has a load of shit behind him, dragged through an apparently bad upbringing and some major calamity later in life. that's what dabi's gathered from their interactions so far. likely all to do with that "master" of his the man's so scared of now.

some people wonder why dabi doesn't cover up his damaged body, instead of leaving his burned head and arms visible to everyone. thing is, he wants people to see that gross exterior, because eventually someone always asks "how" and that's a question he loves to answer. the heroes---hell, everyone---should know the price people have to pay for the ambition of so-called "heroes".]

Wow. Big family. Guessin Wesker's the adoptive one. [kind of easy to figure when you got maul, savage, and feral going as names for the blood-related kids. dabi understands adoption easily enough. still doesn't entirely agree that makes someone "family" like blood does. he notes the "still" part and glances over to maul again.] "Still" meanin Feral was here once and now isn't, or he's dead back home and hasn't had the "pleasure" of gettin spit up in this place?

[family is also one of the things dabi doesn't mind talking a lot about, but it takes a certain route to unlock that topic, and he's picky about what and how he reveals things regarding his family. for now, he's good with focusing on maul's.]

Saw the Zabrak guy one time. Before I met ya. Just a passin glance. [no interaction whatsoever.] Gonna have to be more specific on the adoptee. Lotta people wear sunglasses.