i've looked at clouds from both sides now (𝐧𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥)

[possessum]

<sup>Who: Peter Graham + you! Prompts will be placed here.
What: Canon update business, potential event things, tba.
When: Through the month of November.
Where: Various places in Trench / tba.

Content Warnings: This character comes with demonic possession by default. There's a gif including nudity (non-sexual, just a couple of people shown naked from behind) in one of the posts. Additional warnings will be placed in individual spaces.</sup>

^{( On Peter's birthday and Blessed Month, he will go through a canon update that's given him updated memories. For weeks 1 - 3 he will mentally be MIA, and Paimon/Charlie may be interacted with. On week 4, Peter will return. Closed starters will be placed under the appropriate posts. Please hit me up @ plot post / plurk / large bat#2354 / pm if you're interested in a starter / if you'd like to plot for the month! )}

Comments

[syncopathic]

[Mollified by the demon's words and chagrined at his knee-jerk reaction, Dito doesn't answer right away, walking along in pensive and sullen silence as they make their way down the frost-rimed streets. They're almost to the light that will take them to Dito's house in Crenshaw before Dito speaks again.]

You say you envy me. What, you can't feel any sensations in that body?

[possessum]

( The demon falls easily into that silence, letting the other guide the conversation when and how he likes. He's learning, absorbing more about his intriguing new companion, and the demon is very comfortable to stay quiet. It's only when Dito speaks again that Paimon will also, although it comes after a lengthy pause of thought. )

I can... feel most things. But it is not... natural. For me to exist in corporeal flesh, for this long.

Some things are... dulled. Other things, I can not understand.

Does that sound strange?

(cw: vague mention of eye injuries)

[syncopathic]

[Dito finds himself shaking his head before he realizes that he meant to. A plume of white fog exits from his mouth as he huffs out a sardonic chuckle.]

My good sir... I've witnessed a woman give bloody birth to herself through a giant flower comin' out of her eyesocket. I have very high standards for weird shit.

[He pauses.]

Can't you just... you know-- leave that body? Even if it's just for a little while? I mean, is it like a parasite thing where you can't exist outside of him or... [He trails off.]

[possessum]

( There isn't much that can catch the demon king off-guard, and although he's.... a little surprised to hear that, he's simply looking over at Dito with a fresh spark of curiosity (curiosity, not disgust). Seems like he has pretty high standards for weird shit, too! But it's... interesting, nightmarish. Like something dug up from the depths of a person, an illusion, something he might cast.

—Which, speaking of.

The question has him tilting his head for a moment, and then he gives his hand a little wave again. Suddenly, there's another Paimon on the other side of Dito. It looks like Peter, but with fully golden eyes, glowing — another little trick. It smiles at Dito as the original Paimon speaks. )

Only in illusion. I am bound to the flesh of my vessel. ( He pauses, and the other-Paimon speaks now. )

However, I can make myself appear wherever I desire. Outside of him. Many places. It is not real. But it is.... fun.

[syncopathic]

[As much as Dito enjoys this creature's company, as willing as he would probably be to let this demon do whatever he wanted to him, having someone suddenly appear behind him like that elicits a rather strong startle response. Dito jumps, his hand gripping the haft of the spear at his side before his brain registers the familiarity of the voice. There's a sudden dull ache in his left shoulder-- did he strain it just now somehow?-- but it quickly fades, leaving him feeling rather embarrassed at his overreaction.

In an effort to compensate, Dito turns with exaggerated bravado toward the golden-eyed illusion, looking it up and down as if assessing a particularly esoteric piece of artwork.]

That's a pretty neat trick. Do your other senses carry over when you do that? Like... if I touched you, could you feel it?

[His hand is already reaching out towards the fake Paimon-Peter's face.]

[possessum]

( The demon pauses his stride for a brief moment when Dito jumps like that, eyes giving a purposeful stare. The boy really does have a kneejerk tendency to startle, rather like Peter, albeit with more of a volatile edge.... Paimon didn't miss the way that Dito's hand almost instinctively went to his spear.

Again, all of this is information that the demon king is absorbing about his intriguing new companion, learning about him. Like Peter, Dito has a... suspicious edge, nerves worn raw, perhaps. Unlike Peter, it makes him seem to want to strike out instead of hide. Paimon makes note of it all. )

I can perceive it, but... it is not feeling. Not like a human's feeling. ( It's difficult to explain, and he tilts his head as Dito touches the double, which does indeed feel solid and real to the touch. After a moment, Paimon makes the double flicker again, changing shape — lights coalescing and then scattering, and the illusion turns into a double of Dito. )

Humans may wish to see the visage of their loved ones like this. They may ask me to conjure it for them. But it feels no physical sensation in return. To me, it only feels like...... energy.

[syncopathic]

[If it was startling to see a copy of the young man's visage suddenly sprout up behind him, then seeing a perfect facsimile of his own self was even worse. Dito jerks his hand away from his doppelganger's face as if he'd been physically burned, his eyes widening in surprise. It was almost as if he were gazing at a living reflection. His rounded, golden eyes. His youthful face. His wild untamed hair that Five had always rhapsodized was as soft and as irresistibly touchable as lamb's wool.

Everything, even the boyish contralto of his voice, was perfectly replicated. Everything about himself that he absolutely despised.

Dito feels his face twist in a sneer of disgust and fights to suppress it; fights to mold it into a less revealing expression of disdain or even annoyance. No sense in letting this demon know he'd just caught him off guard, right? He barks out a laugh, sharp in the deafening silence.]

Hah! Fat chance of anyone ever calling up that mug. I don't have any loved ones.

[There's absolutely no ruefulness in that statement. Dito forces himself to look at his twin for a few seconds more before turning on his heel and stalking off in the direction of the lamp post and home.]

C'mon. We're wasting time and it's colder'n an ice serpent's snatch out here.

[possessum]

( No loved ones.....? The demon stares quietly, eyes wide and searching, always — hungry to learn and understand. Dito doesn't seem... thrilled at the sight of his double, and suddenly he's turning away, moving off after that sharp laugh that cuts through the sterile chill of the air. The demon follows the boy in his quiet, sweeping movement, one that draws him along startling fast all of a sudden. With a soft wave of his hand, the illusion vanishes, dissolving into nothingness again.

Ice serpent? Is that a creature from Dito's home world? What is a snatch? These are questions to be asked perhaps later, although for now he's thinking on things. He draws closer to Dito again, but stays behind just a bit, so that he's following his lead over to the lamp post. Of course, it's as he's drawing to a halt behind the boy that he speaks up again, knowing none of a human's cautious awkwardness, the question coming out very soberly, and curious. This boy is not easy to read. He wants to. )

Have I displeased you?

[syncopathic]

[Dito pauses at the demon's query, his hand arrested in the air inches from the icy metal of the lamp post. Another harsh gust of wind slices through his clothing, making him stifle a moan of discomfort and draw his coat tighter around himself.]

What's displeasing me... [His voice is bitter from the cold and his own embarrassing weakness.] ...is that we're standing around here with our thumbs up our asses when we could be sitting by a warm fire with our bellies full of food.

Do you want that or not? Because if that's the case let's table the conversation until one of us isn't freezing his balls off. Sound good?

[Bravo on not making it sound like you've got something to hide, Dito.]

[possessum]

( It certainly isn't the first time Paimon's seen the sharpness around the boy's tongue — an acerbic, bitter thing. Another might earn a bit of wrath from the demon if they were to speak to him like that, but he has his own investments, here. There's no reason to flash his own fangs in response, and so he simply stands there slightly behind the boy, calm. )

I want whatever you want in this moment.

( That's... not a creepy answer in the least, Paimon! But he means it; he doesn't care about the cold, or about eating, only about continuing to speak to this intriguing new companion he's made for himself. Making Dito comfortable is the priority here.

With that, the demon moves closer, placing his hand at the back of Dito's where it hovers over the lamp — but not pushing down. It's his gesture to make, after all; the demon is just supporting him through it. )

[syncopathic]

[I want whatever you want. It's an ultimately supplicating turn of phrase, the kind Dito found himself using in the past to quell his mistress's many sullen moods. Something curls within his stomach, causing gooseflesh to prickle his skin, and he can't tell if his response is pleasant or unpleasant-- or even if it's due to the demon's words or the fact that he's positioned his host's hand so close to his own. Dito jerks his shoulder in a shrug, tossing his head.]

Tch. Whatever. Let's just get out of this squall.

[It's a short walk to Dito's house from the lamp-post, and Dito doesn't waste time with empty conversation. Without turning to see if Paimon will follow he climbs the steps to the front door, inserting the key into the lock and turning it with a flick of his wrist.]

Just to warn you, my Omen is out and about and she's a pretty judgmental bitch. Just don't pay any attention to whatever she says-- it's all just smoke, anyway.

[possessum]

( The transportation comes easily, and Paimon is perfectly calm through it (unlike Peter, who gets nauseated.....) The demon looks around with curiosity as he follows after Dito up to his doorfront, once again standing behind the boy like a towering bat..... curiously looking over his shoulder as the door is opened and a new threshold will be revealed to him.

But one word snags his focus and the demon king's neck tilts down, eyes wide. 'Bitch'.... it's a word he's familiar with (and one he has vastly misinterpreted as being an intentionally disrespectful way to refer to a witch....)

Confusion gives a rare little humanisation to the way he wears Peter's features, the slightest lift of brows upon a typically unmoving face. He's very curious to see what form Dito's Omen will take, in this case..... )

Are Omens not a representation of what is within their Sleepers' hearts? Perhaps yours speaks Truths you are not yet aware of.

[syncopathic]

[Dito pauses with his hand on the doorknob, turning to look at Paimon with one raised eyebrow.]

You sayin' I've got mommy issues, sir? That'd be a first. Near as I can remember, I've never had a mother. Never needed one, either, so if that's the presence she's trying to pull off then she's about twenty-two years too late.

[He twists open the door with flourish, inviting the demon in with a sweeping bow. It would look downright supplicating if it weren't for the mocking smile on his face.]

After you, my lord.

[Dito's abode is sparsely furnished. It's apparent from the bare walls and the lack of personal touches that he isn't all that interested in internal decoration, and it wouldn't be wrong to assume that what meager decor there is came with the house when he acquired it. The house leaves no Dito imprint, and perhaps he likes it that way.

A spotted hyena is lying in the foyer, head raised and ears erect when it hears the door open. Silently it gets to its feet and pads over to the two of them, stopping a few feet in front of them when it catches sight of Peter's thin frame.]

What is this you've brought home, whelp? Another rutting partner? [The voice is female, matriarchal and decidedly sardonic in tone. Taking a few cautious sniffs in Paimon's direction, the hyena suddenly rears back, her throat pulsing with a rumble of consternation.]

You are not human, outsider. Your shell might've fooled my idiotic host, but I can smell it on you. You reek of dark magic.

[Dito rolls his eyes.] See what I mean? Just ignore her. Calm your tits, Mom. He's just a Prince of Hell. Relax!