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deercountry2021-12-08 02:19 am
reddosmod) wrote in deercountry2021-12-08 02:19 am
Entry tags:
- *event,
- ahiru: timmy,
- anakin skywalker: michele,
- ange ushiromiya: jelle,
- anna amarande: celene,
- ariadne: wizera,
- cassandra: drizz,
- chara: kai,
- darth maul: shade,
- darth nox: saint,
- fat billie: lucy,
- glitch: ceej,
- izuku "deku" midoriya: tea,
- lance: charley,
- luna lovegood: cheryl,
- luz noceda: pedro,
- makoto kino: mesi,
- manabu yuuki: elle,
- mebh og mactire: oggy,
- minako aino: fay,
- nehan: ray,
- obi-wan kenobi: timmy,
- orpheus: qv,
- palamedes sextus: laura,
- paul atreides: beth,
- peter graham: jhey,
- reaper: vette,
- rose da silva: jhey,
- savage opress: vette,
- scorpia: gore,
- snow white: jax,
- soldier blue: elle,
- stiles stilinski: charley,
- varian: tf,
- willow rosenberg: lucy,
- wu: mads,
- yuri lowell: mads
I'd go back in time and change it, but I can't
DECEMBER 2021 EVENT
WINTER MOURNING
RUN, RABBIT, RUN
LOCKJOINT
CODING
Hello! We are trying a new style of event this December with archival-like entries that characters can ICly find in the Archives. This should allow characters to be able to plan against certain events that occur in-game and do research ahead of time, during the event, or after the fact.
The idea is that these prompts will provide you with all the possibilities characters could theoretically face from the prompt. We hope this leaves more open-ended opportunities for people to engage with. Anything mentioned in the excerpts could be an experience characters encounter. You can always ask for clarification on any prompt on the plotting page.
This is a way to keep all event prompts relevant since new characters would be able to "read up" on these events/excerpts by visiting the Archives or other such resources for information about past events and what they can anticipate from the setting.
We hope this new style makes sense and is fun for players to work with! They will rely on players creating more of the atmosphere than the prompts, but we think that the prompts will provide the perfect guidance as to what the atmosphere should feel like. Enjoy!
IMAGE DESCRIPTORS IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE
Prompt One
[Image One: Holiday themed antler decoration.]
[Image Two: White stag with perfect, circular antlers with bits of ice attached.]
Prompt Two
[Image One: Sculpture of white rabbit with neck caught in a snare. Non-graphic.]
[Image Two: Person in red cloak and wolf mask turning around.]
Prompt Three
[Image One: Puppet making bloody snow angel in snow.]
[Image Two: Bloodied hands wrapped in bandages clenching.]
The idea is that these prompts will provide you with all the possibilities characters could theoretically face from the prompt. We hope this leaves more open-ended opportunities for people to engage with. Anything mentioned in the excerpts could be an experience characters encounter. You can always ask for clarification on any prompt on the plotting page.
This is a way to keep all event prompts relevant since new characters would be able to "read up" on these events/excerpts by visiting the Archives or other such resources for information about past events and what they can anticipate from the setting.
We hope this new style makes sense and is fun for players to work with! They will rely on players creating more of the atmosphere than the prompts, but we think that the prompts will provide the perfect guidance as to what the atmosphere should feel like. Enjoy!
Prompt One
[Image One: Holiday themed antler decoration.]
[Image Two: White stag with perfect, circular antlers with bits of ice attached.]
Prompt Two
[Image One: Sculpture of white rabbit with neck caught in a snare. Non-graphic.]
[Image Two: Person in red cloak and wolf mask turning around.]
Prompt Three
[Image One: Puppet making bloody snow angel in snow.]
[Image Two: Bloodied hands wrapped in bandages clenching.]
WHEN: Begins in December and can last until the end of Feb.
WHERE: Everywhere
CONTENT WARNINGS: Spoilers for various canons, survival situations, forced memory share
WHERE: Everywhere
CONTENT WARNINGS: Spoilers for various canons, survival situations, forced memory share
[A passage from Rituals of Trench: Remembering Our Pasts reads the following:]
"A long-standing tradition to celebrate Bone Season is for Deerians to collect antlers and bones salvaged from natural resources and create decorative home accents. These antler-bone decors are known formally as Winter Mournings and can be found in almost every residential home throughout Deer Country. Winter Mournings can be made to look like wreaths, candle holders, or simply an antler with a bow hung up on a wall.
Winter Mournings is seen as a way to honor one's past tribulations and how one has managed to survive and overcome hardships during their life. Winter Mournings serves as a testament to survival and a willingness to keep surviving even when things look bleak and dismal.
Creating Winter Mournings is considered a blessing to the Pthumerians Dorothea, Remina, and Argonaut. You will know if the blessing was accepted once your Winter Mourning begins to glow like the moon. Touch your Winter Mourning and you will be pulled back in time to a memory of a specific time when you or someone else had to survive something physically or mentally challenging. For some, it is merely a memory that cannot hurt, but for others, you may want to proceed with caution as it has been known to pull people physically back to times of war.
One cannot choose which memory they wind up in if it is their own, a friend's, or a complete stranger's. Winter Mournings was designed to create a sense of union and empathy among residents and is meant to open your mind and heart to those who have suffered around you. It is time you explore your past, or someone else's past, with an open mind and see how the other side has lived through hard times. These memories are known to be from adolescence, adulthood, or sometimes even futures that have not yet happened or timelines you have never known. After all, Remina sees all past and all history. That means they see all of your past and history too.
No memory lasts forever though. Once the memory has been concluded, you shall be brought back to the present by the Winter Mourning Stag: a great white beast with a circle of frozen antlers. It will come to you when the time is ready, and you will return to the present like waking from a dazzling dream.
Experiencing Winter Mournings can stabilize one's mood and provide restful sleep after, even if the memories may be difficult to swallow. It truly is a tribute to honor past horrors and traumas. Some memories are painful to remember, but forgetting them will never do anyone any good either. So hang your Winter Mournings and remember what matters.
Survive another day. You are worth it."
FAQ
"A long-standing tradition to celebrate Bone Season is for Deerians to collect antlers and bones salvaged from natural resources and create decorative home accents. These antler-bone decors are known formally as Winter Mournings and can be found in almost every residential home throughout Deer Country. Winter Mournings can be made to look like wreaths, candle holders, or simply an antler with a bow hung up on a wall.
Winter Mournings is seen as a way to honor one's past tribulations and how one has managed to survive and overcome hardships during their life. Winter Mournings serves as a testament to survival and a willingness to keep surviving even when things look bleak and dismal.
Creating Winter Mournings is considered a blessing to the Pthumerians Dorothea, Remina, and Argonaut. You will know if the blessing was accepted once your Winter Mourning begins to glow like the moon. Touch your Winter Mourning and you will be pulled back in time to a memory of a specific time when you or someone else had to survive something physically or mentally challenging. For some, it is merely a memory that cannot hurt, but for others, you may want to proceed with caution as it has been known to pull people physically back to times of war.
One cannot choose which memory they wind up in if it is their own, a friend's, or a complete stranger's. Winter Mournings was designed to create a sense of union and empathy among residents and is meant to open your mind and heart to those who have suffered around you. It is time you explore your past, or someone else's past, with an open mind and see how the other side has lived through hard times. These memories are known to be from adolescence, adulthood, or sometimes even futures that have not yet happened or timelines you have never known. After all, Remina sees all past and all history. That means they see all of your past and history too.
No memory lasts forever though. Once the memory has been concluded, you shall be brought back to the present by the Winter Mourning Stag: a great white beast with a circle of frozen antlers. It will come to you when the time is ready, and you will return to the present like waking from a dazzling dream.
Experiencing Winter Mournings can stabilize one's mood and provide restful sleep after, even if the memories may be difficult to swallow. It truly is a tribute to honor past horrors and traumas. Some memories are painful to remember, but forgetting them will never do anyone any good either. So hang your Winter Mournings and remember what matters.
Survive another day. You are worth it."
FAQ
1. Winter Mournings can produce new memories every time you touch them or the same memory.
2. Characters cannot choose what the memory is.
3. Characters can arrive in each other's memories regardless of if they already know each other. Multiple people can experience the same memory.
4. You can either experience the memory as a memory you can't touch or experience - or you can physically be in the memory and have to survive the situation as well. If you die in memory, your body will die wherever you had been touching the Winter Mourning.
5. Palebloods are capable of altering memories or how they or others experience memories.
6. Characters can be pulled into memories at random - as long as one of the characters in the memory share is touching a Winter Mourning at first.
WHEN: Month of December
WHERE: Everywhere/the woods
CONTENT WARNINGS: Themes of hunting, ghosts, curses, attempts at animal violence, hunting people based on blood types.
WHERE: Everywhere/the woods
CONTENT WARNINGS: Themes of hunting, ghosts, curses, attempts at animal violence, hunting people based on blood types.
[An excerpt from Legends of Trench: Curses and Causations reads the following:]
"One of the most notorious legends of Trench is without a doubt the tale of The Huntress and the Hare. Most Trenchies have been told this tale since they were children, but for those unfamiliar, settle in.
This story begins with a mischievous god and an ambitious huntress. The Pthumerian Dorothea loved to play tricks on hunters trying to survive the Bone Season, setting animals free from traps and remaking the traps to catch the hunters instead. One day, a darkblood Huntress was fed up with Dorothea preventing her from catching food for her family and decided to settle the score. The Huntress began to hunt for Dorothea specifically, but it is no small feat hunting the god of trickery and survival.
The Huntress started to rely on her darkblood powers to alter reality to make the perfect traps. Innocuous trees turned into glue traps that anyone would stick to until they were freed by a darkblood or death took their pain from them. Walking through bushes would snag legs and necks, effectively trapping whatever creatures were unfortunate enough to wander for food. Magical snares and beartraps lock around victims with unrelenting force, leaving people and animals to try for help until they cry no more. While this took many innocent lives in the woods, animals, and people alike, it never seemed to work on Dorothea.
Dorothea continued to outwit the Huntress until she eventually drove the Huntress insane. The Huntress died without ever catching Dorothea, but they say her vengeful spirit awakens in winter and begins to set her traps yet again. The Huntress sends her traps and her dead animals after vilebloods and warmbloods to spite Dorothea and hope to maybe catch the god's attention. But Dorothea is no passive god. Dorothea spurs vilebloods and warmbloods to defend themselves against darkbloods and coldbloods.
Infamously, this has created enormous tension between the blood types during December some years, and it is said that the blood lust has caused the types to begin hunting one another regardless of old friendships and alliances. Beware the Huntress's curse. Some believe darkbloods and coldbloods can still hear her haunting commands and cries from the Trenchwood.
They say there is no ease for the tension between the bloodtypes until December has passed, but some believe palebloods may provide relief if they are willing."
FAQ
"One of the most notorious legends of Trench is without a doubt the tale of The Huntress and the Hare. Most Trenchies have been told this tale since they were children, but for those unfamiliar, settle in.
This story begins with a mischievous god and an ambitious huntress. The Pthumerian Dorothea loved to play tricks on hunters trying to survive the Bone Season, setting animals free from traps and remaking the traps to catch the hunters instead. One day, a darkblood Huntress was fed up with Dorothea preventing her from catching food for her family and decided to settle the score. The Huntress began to hunt for Dorothea specifically, but it is no small feat hunting the god of trickery and survival.
The Huntress started to rely on her darkblood powers to alter reality to make the perfect traps. Innocuous trees turned into glue traps that anyone would stick to until they were freed by a darkblood or death took their pain from them. Walking through bushes would snag legs and necks, effectively trapping whatever creatures were unfortunate enough to wander for food. Magical snares and beartraps lock around victims with unrelenting force, leaving people and animals to try for help until they cry no more. While this took many innocent lives in the woods, animals, and people alike, it never seemed to work on Dorothea.
Dorothea continued to outwit the Huntress until she eventually drove the Huntress insane. The Huntress died without ever catching Dorothea, but they say her vengeful spirit awakens in winter and begins to set her traps yet again. The Huntress sends her traps and her dead animals after vilebloods and warmbloods to spite Dorothea and hope to maybe catch the god's attention. But Dorothea is no passive god. Dorothea spurs vilebloods and warmbloods to defend themselves against darkbloods and coldbloods.
Infamously, this has created enormous tension between the blood types during December some years, and it is said that the blood lust has caused the types to begin hunting one another regardless of old friendships and alliances. Beware the Huntress's curse. Some believe darkbloods and coldbloods can still hear her haunting commands and cries from the Trenchwood.
They say there is no ease for the tension between the bloodtypes until December has passed, but some believe palebloods may provide relief if they are willing."
FAQ
1. Characters will increasingly feel the urge to actively hunt one another using traps/etc.
2. The Huntress's curse includes undead animals/beasts chasing after warmbloods and vilebloods and magical traps. Players can invent unique traps for their characters.
3. There will be an innate urge to chase/hide from one another.
4. The curse can be broken by paleblood intervention, character death, or a gradual wearing off by the end of the month.
WHEN: All of Bone Season
WHERE: On Sleeper bodies
CONTENT WARNINGS: Mild body horror, blood magic curses, physical curses, cures through blood ministration/blood letting, possible skin removal, injuries, possible death via starvation/exposure.
WHERE: On Sleeper bodies
CONTENT WARNINGS: Mild body horror, blood magic curses, physical curses, cures through blood ministration/blood letting, possible skin removal, injuries, possible death via starvation/exposure.
[An passage from The Sleeper Condition; Chapter 13: Bodily Aches and More. Found exclusively at the Lumenarium:]
"Generally speaking, Sleeper blood allows Sleepers to navigate this world without the fear of illness and disease. However, no organic body is perfect, and Sleeper blood has its own set of ailments to fret over. Blood Ministers have studied the phenomena of Lockjoint for years now and believe that it is linked to the crystalization found in Sleeper death, though the exact connection remains unknown.
Lockjoint tends to begin and last throughout Bone Season. Some Sleepers may never experience it, but for many, it becomes a reoccurring issue to dread each season. This condition forces blood magic to gather at the joints and effectively lock up. Sleepers find it difficult to move their bodies at the bends, fingers, knees, shoulders, etc without some form of discomfort. Minimal lockjoint can be painful and annoyance, but critical lockjoint can be fatal.
The most severe cases of lockjoint documented have shown Sleepers to have crystalization form over their joints, rendering parts of their bodies completely immobile. Some Sleepers have been found dead in this condition, all their joints crystallized, and it is believed most died from natural causes thereafter.
One can determine they are experiencing lockjoint when the coloration around the joints begins to darken in color, typically looking like a bruise. Calcification may occur rapidly the more magic a Sleeper uses or the more they expose themselves to outside elements. It is imperative that Sleepers remain properly clothed during Bone Season, even if they are coldbloods, and to invest in enchanted clothes that can lock in heat.
A known cure for lockjoint is the art of bloodletting. Puncturing the joints with small incisions seems to allow a release of the built-up magic and can provide immediate relief to the Sleeper. Catching lockjoint early is imperative. Alternative methods are soaking in hot springs and salted water.
Those who are in a more severe state will have to carefully have the crystals removed. This will likely remove the skin as well. Local anesthesia is highly recommended for the procedure. This process is known to leave scarring. The crystals can be saved and used as bloodstones from whoever they were harvested from. If you find a Sleeper dead from lockjoint, make sure to harvest the crystals as they are incredibly valuable.
This curse is believed to stem from Sleeper blood magic congealing within the body in contrast with the atmospheric magic of Bone Season. There is no known prevention for lockjoint. Lockjoint can impact all Sleepers regardless of bloodtype or the material their bodies are made from."
FAQ
"Generally speaking, Sleeper blood allows Sleepers to navigate this world without the fear of illness and disease. However, no organic body is perfect, and Sleeper blood has its own set of ailments to fret over. Blood Ministers have studied the phenomena of Lockjoint for years now and believe that it is linked to the crystalization found in Sleeper death, though the exact connection remains unknown.
Lockjoint tends to begin and last throughout Bone Season. Some Sleepers may never experience it, but for many, it becomes a reoccurring issue to dread each season. This condition forces blood magic to gather at the joints and effectively lock up. Sleepers find it difficult to move their bodies at the bends, fingers, knees, shoulders, etc without some form of discomfort. Minimal lockjoint can be painful and annoyance, but critical lockjoint can be fatal.
The most severe cases of lockjoint documented have shown Sleepers to have crystalization form over their joints, rendering parts of their bodies completely immobile. Some Sleepers have been found dead in this condition, all their joints crystallized, and it is believed most died from natural causes thereafter.
One can determine they are experiencing lockjoint when the coloration around the joints begins to darken in color, typically looking like a bruise. Calcification may occur rapidly the more magic a Sleeper uses or the more they expose themselves to outside elements. It is imperative that Sleepers remain properly clothed during Bone Season, even if they are coldbloods, and to invest in enchanted clothes that can lock in heat.
A known cure for lockjoint is the art of bloodletting. Puncturing the joints with small incisions seems to allow a release of the built-up magic and can provide immediate relief to the Sleeper. Catching lockjoint early is imperative. Alternative methods are soaking in hot springs and salted water.
Those who are in a more severe state will have to carefully have the crystals removed. This will likely remove the skin as well. Local anesthesia is highly recommended for the procedure. This process is known to leave scarring. The crystals can be saved and used as bloodstones from whoever they were harvested from. If you find a Sleeper dead from lockjoint, make sure to harvest the crystals as they are incredibly valuable.
This curse is believed to stem from Sleeper blood magic congealing within the body in contrast with the atmospheric magic of Bone Season. There is no known prevention for lockjoint. Lockjoint can impact all Sleepers regardless of bloodtype or the material their bodies are made from."
FAQ
1. This impacts characters regardless of blood type or their body - meaning it can impact characters with metal/plastic/plant/wood/etc bodies.
2. Players can choose how rapid or severe this gets and how quickly they can be healed.
no subject
He doesn't remember. Something horrible is happening to his body; all of the strange bad things are no longer just kept inside, hidden away. The ants... this.... He's changing.
With a sudden wave of desperation to act, Peter's nodding immediately. For a moment, he's able to remember that Luna probably has all of those items. For a moment, he's able to remember who Luna is again. )
Some of that's probably in the kitchenβ ( Peter starts leading the way there, quickly. The rest are probably in Luna's potion room, which he'll have to ask her about... she's not here right now, off running an errand out in the snow, but she might be back soon. It'd be good for Kyle to meet Luna, he thinks, with what he's been researching about lately. She's a witch; maybe she can help him.
In the kitchen, Peter's digging through cabinets, hands trembling slightly. He finds some salt pretty fast, and it's right when he's turning to put it on the counter that a spasm ripples down through him, a violent convulsion. A sound like a pained wheeze tears its way up from his lungs, like there's something inside of him trying to take a breath against its own body.
The salt container drops, breaks, and the tiny beads of white are spreading all of the floor. Peter flinches from it, moves so fast it's almost impossible to perceive him, scrambles backwards until he's at the opposite wall and crouches down on the floor, long limbs bent like a spider. He stares up at Kyle with eyes that seem to be blooming blacker and blacker, and the brief interlude of knowing his friend and so desperately seeking his help is gone. Quickly and entirely.
The thing growls, a sound that starts out low, then rises louder and louder. It's a warning sound. The only reason he hasn't attacked right away is because he can sense that this person has the same blood type... but the fact he's in his home makes him an intruder, and Paimon wants him gone. He'll only warn once. )
no subject
He barely sees Peter retreat. He turns, feeling slow and stupid, to see what was until a moment ago his friend crouched and seething. It is blatantly obvious to even someone as unfamiliar with such things as Kyle that this is no longer Peter. Logically, that means it has to be the thing which lives inside of him.
A demon.
Kyle's tongue seems glued to the top of his mouth, his hands suddenly far away and cold. He forces himself to swallow, eyes glued to the thing on the opposite wall.]
Don't.
[Kyle slowly raises his hands.]
I'm only here to help Peter. Whoever you are, know I'm not here to hurt Peter. Just... calm down.
[He is woefully unprepared for a confrontation, but as a lifelong nerd the one thing he's always been good at is memorization. He doubted it would be enough to expel whatever spirit was inside of Peter, but if he was lucky he could at least keep himself from getting his ass kicked by an angry demon.
Kyle takes a deep breath. When he next speaks he uses the same sort of voice he has for presentations and debate competitions, calm and authoritative.]
By the names ADONAI, EL, ELOHIM, ELOHI, EHYEH, ASHER EHYEH, ZABAOTH, ELION, IAH, TETRAGRAMMATON, SHADDAI, I do exorcise thee and do powerfully command thee, O thou Spirit! Calm. The fuck. DOWN.
no subject
Calm down; it's a phrase he's heard before, and perhaps ordinarily it might help the demon's more agitated sides, but right now he's in no shape to even think about relenting. Right now, the only thing driving him is anger β a flood of it, and he wants to stalk and chase and rip and tear. He wants to scream at the top of his lungs: to roar, and pieces of someone else's memory are prickling white hot at the base of his spiritβ
BECAUSE NOBODY ADMITS ANYTHING THEY'VE DONE
He's pressed against the wall staring up at the boy with that yowl progressively getting louder, and the lunar-powered lights above are just starting to flicker when Kyle launches into that authoritative command. Immediately, the demon reacts to it, head thrashing around at the names listed out β though he can't explicitly remember what they mean, where they come from, his spirit knows this is something ancient and powerful, something with a link to what he is.
This boy, this boy, what is he, how can he know this, he hates himβ
With a wail, he shoves back against those words with his energy, a sweep of telekinetic power intended to knock the boy off his feet and send him against the opposite wall, hard and fast and unforgiving. )
no subject
Kyle struggles to get to his feet as fast as he can, positive that at any moment he'll feel those blackened fingers tear his throat out. He's terrified; sweat prickles at his brow and it feels like his balls are trying to crawl up inside of him.]
I do here license thee to depart unto thy proper place; without causing harm or danger unto man or beast. [He presses back against the wall, trying to find Peter in the gloom. His eyes are watering he thinks, before realising it's his blood casting a dim glittering film over his sight. It's useless - he can't focus enough to change anything that's happening.
Kyle slides along the wall towards what he thinks is the kitchen entrance, groping near blindly.]
By. Uhm. By the power and dignity of these three names, TETRAGRAMMATON, ANAPHAXETON, and PRIMEUMATON, I do cast thee, O thou wicked and disobedient Spirit... I. Uhm. Fuck. I do here license thee to depart unto thy proper place.
[He blinks, trying to clear his vision. He can't see Peter anywhere, and so he simply covers his eyes with the hand not reaching along the wall. His voice shakes.]
I do here license thee to depart unto thy proper place. I. I do. I license...
[He's almost crying now, voice barely a whisper.]
Sh'ma Yis'ra'eil Adonai Eloheinu Adonai Echad...
[Finally, his fingers hook around the kitchen doorframe. He latches on and yanks, hauling himself around so fast he nearly slips and bails. Then he's running as fast as he can for the front door, still prepared for whatever is inside of Peter to leap on his back and tear him to pieces.]
no subject
....Even now, he's still speaking. Still trying. The demon stares as he moves along the wall, helpless but still trying, the words coming out like some desperate plea. Broken in some places, shaking. Despite the trembling of those words, the thing is bristling internally again at those names uttered aloud (such ancient, powerful things) and he roars something in a garbled mixture of languages and slurps and hisses, sends more things clattering loudly from shelves.
It's then that he realises the boy means to flee. And he could let him; it would get rid of him. He'd be gone, gone away from him, taking those words with him. But Paimon's angry, and the boy takes on the role of something running from him, which means he takes on the role of what chases.
He comes after the child. With a movement that launches himself up onto the wall, arms hooking around the corner of the doorframe and pulling him up and around it; he's scuttling along the wall after the boy as he runs, a feat that should be impossible, almost cartoonishly horrific. Then he's leaping β flying β behind him, and shoving him down onto the wooden floors before he can make his escape. Snarling, one hand shoves into thick red locks and snatches the boy by his hair, slams his head down against the ground. He's a weight on Kyle's back, legs hooked around him, pressing him down.
It's only because he's a Darkblood that the demon doesn't bite out his throat, end him right then and there. If he were anything else β but he isn't. He's the Same Blood, and Paimon breathes in the fresh scent of it, still glistening wet on the boy's forehead.
Still, he wants to torment him, and so he shoves the boy's head down again, blackened fingers still ensnared in those wild fiery curls. )
Beg me to live.
no subject
Too late.
Kyle has a moment where he thinks he's made it, where he's positive he'll feel the cool metal of the doorhandle under his fingers. He's aware of some sort of insidious scuttling noise, and the only warning he has before he's knocked to the ground is that the noise stops.
His knees crack against the hardwood, his hands stinging before they're driven out in front of him by the weight pushing him forward. His breath is driven from his lungs, and he gasps after more air even as he tries to push himself up. That's when his head is yanked back by his hair and then driven forward again. Kyle sees bright bursts of colour in he dark as pain eclipses everything else. He's bleeding. From his forehead, from his nose. He hurts and he can't move. The fingers in his hair are like iron.
When he hears the voice hiss out of the darkness Kyle whimpers. Part of him wants to do exactly as he's told, to beg and plead and cry for mercy.
Instead he falls back on the Shema. If he is to die (again) he doesn't want to do it as a coward.]
Sh'ma Yisra'eil Adonai Eloheinu Adonai echad.
[His voice drops as he squeezes his eyes shut.]
Barukh sheim k'vod malkhuto l'olam va'ed. V'ahav'ta eit Adonai Elohekha m'odekha, b'khol l'vav'kha, uv'khol naf'sh'kha uv'khol m'odekha.
cw: mentions of broken nose, death, gore
There's something almost gleeful to the thought, to those shudders and whimpers of fear and pain from the slender body trapped beneath him. And yet, Paimon shudders all of a sudden as though pained himself, some erratic energy scraping against the edges of him like sandpaper, abrasively. The demon gives a hollow sound, a wheeze drawn inwards.
It's not natural, what he's doing; he's not meant to hurt humans. Anything can be used as a tool, a weapon, and the demon king had been used like a knife, slicing through the Grahams one by one. He suddenly remembers the smell of charred flesh and the squelch of arteries against a wire pressed too tightly to a throat. It isn't hard to silence a human, and to make sure they suffer in the process.
That was an important part of it. To make sure they suffered. Their deaths had to be used as a tool, as well.
He won't kill this boy, but he wants him to suffer.
.....But if he is, he doesn't make it known. Not outright. There are no begs, no pleading, even as Paimon can feel he's in pain. No, the young man just continues his words in that tongue, and the demon's hand curls tightly into the boy's wild forest of hair again, blackened nails sharp against his scalp. His other hand moves to the throat, curls around it. There's another growl rippling from his own, a fresh wave of upset. Why won't he obey?! He doesn't like it. Heβ wants him gone.
And so as suddenly as he'd struck, the demon lets go. It's with a sharp drag of nails β scraping hard against Kyle's throat and scalp β and then he's off of him. Retreating back into the dark of the house; he'll allow the child to escape now, those glittering black eyes peering out as he watches. This incident is meant to serve as a warning to him. Do not attempt this again.
Because the delivery before may not have been perfect, but this child clearly has knowledge, and again, the demon thinks he could be a threat. Perhaps if he hones that knowledge more, perfects it, he... could do some serious damage to him. Hopefully he's scared him off from this place for good, though the child's stubbornness may suggest otherwise.
Regardless, Paimon won't forget this boy with the fiery hair. Won't forget what he's done. Can't accept, can't forgive. )
~fin
Kyle scrambles to his feet and pushes his way out of the house, sobbing with relief. He doesn't look back, and he doesn't slow; Kyle runs for blocks, runs until a stitch plants itself deep in his left side. He leans against a building, pressing his wet face against the brick as he struggles to calm his heart.
Dimly, he feels guilt for abandoning Peter to whatever it is that lives inside him. He reasons with himself that he couldn't possibly have turned the demon out. He's not ready to be an exorcist.
Not yet.
Kyle stumbles home. For a week straight he has nightmares of waking up to find Peter and whatever lives inside him crammed into the corner of his ceiling, watching him with glittering black eyes.
Sometimes he thinks it wears a crown.]