munchie: (Default)
jennifer. ([personal profile] munchie) wrote in [community profile] deercountry2021-09-06 10:42 pm

you took everything from me

Who: Jennifer Check & everyone who wants to be involved in this maneater
What: Event stuff! Open to all.
When: All of September
Where: Everywhere

Content Warnings: Cannibalism/eating humans, violent death of monsters, themes of abuse of minors, mention of weight loss, vague allusions to eating disorders, skin picking, body horror gif. All prompt warnings applicable.


“It had gotten to the point where it seemed like nothing matters, because I’m not a real person and neither is anyone else.”

I. The River of Regret


(There is a girl on a boat who looks on the cusp of death. She's the closest thing to "skin and bones" you have seen: she's pale, her hair limp and lifeless, her blue eyes vacant and glassy. You can see the shadow beneath her cheekbones, her eyes, and she doesn't seem to care or notice that you're sharing this boat ride with her.

Jennifer is empty.

She has always been empty, but now more than ever, she watches the water slide past, and she's too tired to think. Her eyes are bloodshot, but literally, streaks of blood pooled against the whites. Her lips are chapped and split, a cluster of dried, rough skin on her cheek. Her other is spattered with blackheads. She irritably picks at one until it bleeds. She drops her hand into her lap.

The smell of rot doesn't surprise her or make her shift. She does rub a finger under her nose. Rotten meat wasn't appealing to her the way fresh meat was. She squints over the river and sees the first body. A blonde girl her own age, nailed to a twisted tree. Jennifer immediately looks away, and finally, at you. She seems to remember who she is, where she is because her jaw tenses up mildly. She sits up a little straighter, but there's exhaust to the motion.)


Someone decorated for Halloween early. (She knows it's a real body. It's just a real body she refuses to acknowledge. But the ones coming up won't be so easy. That's in a few moments though. For now, she can pretend to be unphased. Even if she's pretending poorly.)



“You cut up a thing that's alive and beautiful to find out how it's alive and why it's beautiful, and before you know it, it's neither of those things, and you're standing there with blood on your face and tears in your sight and only the terrible ache of guilt to show for it.”

II. Bloodsport


(Jennifer has had better days, but if she's being honest, she's had a lot worse. She's standing there in the middle of a gladiator-style pit in her cheerleading uniform, looking both out of place and woefully unprepared for the staggering troll-like monster slamming an iron-wrought hammer against the ground. It looked like an extra on the set of the Lord of the Rings, complete with a leather loincloth and all. It slams the hammer down closer and Jennifer trips out of the way, falling right on her ass, which really, is when she starts to get pissed off.)

Would you - (She starts to snark only to have the troll lean down and scream in her face, misting her with a fine layer of troll drool.

Yeah.

That's fucking it. She wipes her hand slowly over her face before spitting onto the ground. She tips her head to the side at the monster and climbs to her feet.)


I've never been a fan of facials. (She slams into the troll's round gut and halfway there, her jaw rips open to reveal long, clustered fangs that tear through the skin like butter. It was tougher than eating a boy, but she has no problem pulling out mouthful after mouthful of the troll's stomach. She grabs onto whatever hunk of flesh she can to steady herself and relishes in the troll's screeches of agony. She couldn't eat this, but that didn't mean she didn't enjoy the ride.

The troll lands with an enormous thump. Jennifer stands up on what's left of its chest, covered head-to-toe in blood, her cheerleading uniform totally ruined. That's when she notices you.)


Oh. Sorry. (She rubs her hand across her mouth, which now lacked the fangs and ripped skin.) I would have called dibs if I saw you.

OOC: I can totally introduce Jennifer pre-destroying a monster too! I just figured I'd provide the Theatrical Approach for a general OTA.

III. OPEN SEASON


I've posted Jennifer's plotting post here. I can make personalized starters for those interested and if you're interested in some of the other things mentioned, like her working on the dive bar and the Growing Pains, feel free to throw me something for those instead! Alternatively, I'm open to having Jennifer come across your character doing something too!
inkedspell: (001)

I

[personal profile] inkedspell 2021-09-07 04:08 am (UTC)(link)
[Being carried away by ravens and dropped into a boat with someone she hasn't met yet should have been a warning. But then everything is a warning around here. She had to keep her legs pulled up more to her body in the tiny canoe, trying not to take up all the space.

Then there's the corpses. It's not the first time she's seen one--not even one in a tortured position like this--but it still makes her tense, a metallic little groan from her hand as it clenches around her knee before she relaxes it.]


Can't say I like their style. I'm more the cobwebs, fake eyeballs and shadow dogs type. Hyperrealism doesn't do it for me.
inkedspell: (043)

I am sorry this is so late. I didn't get a notif for it.

[personal profile] inkedspell 2021-10-10 10:39 pm (UTC)(link)
"Dramatic" is being polite about it. [Sarona rolls her eyes, which sets her line of sight right on a large corpse skewered through by multiple large stakes, salt-n-pepper hair thick with congealed blood. Sarona stares but pulls her eyes away. Not happening. Not letting this shit get to her.

And her metal hand isn't creaking either, nope.]


I don't know what they are expecting out of this. For all we know these corpses are zombies that will drag us to our watery doom. Pretty sure they've done that before. Or well, before in Spooky Small Town Hellscape, not Gothic Cult Town Hellscape.
venatik: (20)

ii.

[personal profile] venatik 2021-09-07 04:09 am (UTC)(link)
( That sure is a ... horrifying sight.

After a life of hearing about or watching people getting eaten by things much bigger than them, seeing the tables turned in a way ...

Well. It reminds him of Eren in a fucked up way.

He has his omni-directional mobility gear's blades plugged in and drawn.
)

You looked like you had it covered. Wouldn't wanna step in the middle of ... all that.

( He sounds more derisive than he really feels, but only because the sight of her covered in blood makes his skin crawl a bit; he's imagining what it'd be like to be covered in blood like that. At least Titan blood smoked and evaporated ...

But when there's a great monster — bestial, quadrupedal, claws bared and jaws wide as Jennifer's own — barreling towards Jennifer with a terrible howl, he launches the hooks on his gear into its chest.

Then he's rocketing forward to swing up and around towards its back, before he zooms down and in with his blades.

Cutting into its neck and spine delivers a far cleaner kill than the one he just witnessed.
)

It's no Titan, but its killable. I couldn't ask for more.

( Can he pump any more sardonic tone into his words? Probably not. )
venatik: (69)

[personal profile] venatik 2021-09-22 09:05 pm (UTC)(link)
On it.

( He nods at Jen.

Hange would be positively flipping their lid, if they were here. Cheering the both of them on.

Right before he takes off towards the right one, he feels a pang. It's anger and its grief, but he takes it out on the creature in front of him.

He sends his blades into its eyes and then promptly zooms down and around its back. Another spinal cord cut.
)
imaglyphwitch: (choked up)

I. River of Regret

[personal profile] imaglyphwitch 2021-09-07 12:31 pm (UTC)(link)
[Luz was more than a little skeeved out by this place, but it wasn't the place that was bothering (yet) so much as it was seeing what was happening to Jennifer. She had yet to see her look quite like this, and figured that it must have something to do with her special diet].

I don't care about that! I mean, I do, it's sorta cool looking if you were looking for a full on immersive experience, but whatever! You look like you're in a lot of pain! What do I do to fix this?

[Luz brought her eyes up and saw the girl, and then the smell hit her nose. Oh boy. It was a good thing the flesh was not burning].

Urp-ugh-I...S-someone you know?
imaglyphwitch: (stickouttongue)

[personal profile] imaglyphwitch 2021-09-17 03:22 pm (UTC)(link)
RUDE.

[But Luz still whispered it because she didn't know if she needed to keep her voice down while Jennifer was like this. Sure they got a rocky start, but Luz wasn't one for giving up so easily].

Don't be ridiculous. The Backstreet Boys are on tour last time I was on Earth! I couldn't shrink them into my pocket even if I was able to!

[Luz was half joking, but she'd been in the Boiling Isles and been on the receiving end of a shrinking spell, courtesy of Tibbles Grimhammer. She knew it was possible].

What made her your "ex" bestie? Did she sell you out? Did you have to eat her? I'm just going to keep guessing worst case scenarios until you give me the real one.
imaglyphwitch: (Unimpressed)

[personal profile] imaglyphwitch 2021-09-30 01:00 pm (UTC)(link)
[That earns a stuck out tongue from Luz, because yes she WILL be the mature/immature one and did not feel like losing the argument. Even if she already had].

Always with you and the eating. Why eat a Backstreet Boy? They even went and sang a whole song about never breaking your heart!

[Sometimes humor really helped to still some of the panic in the girl. In this case it was...not really helpful, but at least was easing some of her tension, bit by bit].

Somehow eating and killing her boyfriend doesn't sound typical of the teenage experience. Why'd you kill him anyway?

[She KNOWS why she ate him, that was made abundantly clear. Also, how was Luz constantly befriending people who saw murder as a viable option? When was THAT a thing]?
imaglyphwitch: (can't quite place it)

[personal profile] imaglyphwitch 2021-10-01 01:34 am (UTC)(link)
I couldn't not eat for weeks. I'd probably not last that long. I forget how long it's supposed to be for regular people, but you sure couldn't last that long. Thank you for clarifying.

[By which she means thank you for saying it as nastily as you did, because Luz was trying to at least figure out what this had to do specifically with Jennifer. They weren't seeing any of her regrets, which she was personally fine with, but there definitely seemed to be more to this story than just some people eating. She'd leave off talking about the Backstreet Boys for now though].

I kind of doubt that he was that inconsequential. Well, maybe he was, but it wasn't him that was important.

It was her, wasn't it? And not just because she was your friend and that she killed you. I doubt we're here because this place wanted to give you an annoying memory.

rocinantes: (amos106)

( I. The River of Regret )

[personal profile] rocinantes 2021-09-07 04:56 pm (UTC)(link)
( it's fitting that as soon as he'd gotten to this fucking place, he'd be seeing dead bodies. he doesn't close his eyes against them, knowing deep down that he probably deserves this.

the smell of death and blood is pungent and he makes a face but otherwise doesn't really react until he hears someone else's voice. at first, he thinks it might be one of these dead bodies being made to talk but when he glances around, he sees it's someone that's very much alive. )


I think I prefer shitty little pumpkins.

( bodies are kind of messy to clean up an dispose of. )
rocinantes: (amos29)

[personal profile] rocinantes 2021-09-20 01:45 pm (UTC)(link)
Uh huh.

( that confirms that what she's seen is something familiar and not just some run of the mill demon or whatever that deerington sometimes liked to throw at them. )

Friend of yours?

( there was some familiarity there. )
rocinantes: (amos83)

[personal profile] rocinantes 2021-09-27 01:35 pm (UTC)(link)
I didn't say you did.

( kind of a weird thing to just out and out tell him, isn't it? he frowns and glances at her. )

You got a guilty conscious or something?

( isn't that the old saying? )
rocinantes: (amos83)

[personal profile] rocinantes 2021-09-30 01:40 pm (UTC)(link)
Me? Please.

( he makes a face and shakes his head. not because he hadn't had friends but he rarely let people that close. )

I don't think I've ever had a best friend. That's too close for comfort for me. I'd rather keep people away.
rocinantes: dnt. (031)

[personal profile] rocinantes 2021-10-01 12:45 pm (UTC)(link)
Pretty well.

( he shrugs a shoulder. )

Not a lot of people like me and that's by design.

( he has a charming personality. )
droptheious: (And bringing them to me)

II

[personal profile] droptheious 2021-09-07 05:50 pm (UTC)(link)
[Varian has no idea how he ended up in the arena. He sure as hell didn't go willingly. But his mind has been so scattered lately, with the anxiety pressing in on his skull all the livelong day that he didn't even realise how close he was to passing out until he had.

And now he's in an arena watching a cheerleader murdering and eating a giant troll. Because that's just how his day is going. He's definitely not getting involved in that- no thanks, absolutely not. He's got some alchemy bombs on him if he needs them, but she looks like she's got this pretty damn handled herself.

It's only when she turns that he recognises her as the girl from the network. A nervous laugh spills out from him as he waves his hands in a go-on kind of gesture. The sort you make when you're offering someone the last slice of pizza.

Except the pizza is a horrific troll that's now spreading blood and viscera everywhere.
]

Oh! No, no. It's cool, it's fine. You go right ahead. I'm good. A...girl needs her protein??
droptheious: (Building them one laser gun at a time)

[personal profile] droptheious 2021-09-20 09:29 pm (UTC)(link)
[That would be a completely accurate assessment. He chuckles very awkwardly at the joke, he hasn't really got a good comeback for that, which is probably just as well the horrible bug thing decided to try and kill him. At least he doesn't have to awkwardly dig himself a hole to fall into conversation-wise.

He does move the fuck out of the way of that thing, he has some alchemy bombs in his backpack, but he's prioritising not being in the line of fire of the thing that wants to eat him before putting any sort of offensive up.

Besides, it looks like Jennifer has that handled. What with the floating and the swooping and everything. He moves as fast as his legs will carry him- which isn't far, he's short and he only has one of them. But it gives him enough time to scoop out a bomb, hucking it at the head end of the monster. Pink goop explodes on the ground in front of it- tangling the head part. It's still alive and writing, but it's at least stuck.

Varian's trying not to panic. There's a lot of blood everywhere and it's really making his head feel weird- but he's on guard now, glancing around in worry, if there's one, there's probably more.
]

What is even going on?!!
droptheious: (Under the circumstances)

[personal profile] droptheious 2021-10-01 07:34 pm (UTC)(link)
[Jennifer is so good to him, giving him all these opportunities to expire.

He definitely wasn't expecting her to just land by him and he lets out a startled yelp because wow okay she is just very covered in blood and that's making him more than a little bit nervous. Jeez, she's scary. Sorry about the goop, Jenn- try not to touch it, you'll never get it off.
]

Thaaaaat about tracks. [The hell thing, Deerington was like that and he's learning Trench isn't much better- he shifts his backpack on his shoulders.] I've got a few, also some smoke bombs, some ice bombs, one that explodes. Enough to keep us alive for a little while longer if more of those things show up.
schoolingfish: (Horrified human)

[personal profile] schoolingfish 2021-09-07 11:36 pm (UTC)(link)
[Luca doesn't really know where he is. He doesn't know why he's here. He just knows that whatever's going on, it's very, very bad. Is this that 'bloodsport' thing people were going on about? He looks around. Clouds were thick and ominous overhead. He hears a boom of thunder-no wait. That was the boom of the giant doors opening up to release a troll into the area with them. And who was there to fight against the troll? Luca and a teenage girl. Terrified, Luca whimpers and shrinks back. He'd tell the voice of doubt in his head to 'silenzio', but this time he knows that voice is very much right. They're probably going to die.

He watches in horror as the girl fights the troll, certain that he's going to watch her die right in front of him only to meet the same fate himself, when things take an unexpected turn. Her jaw drops. Her teeth grow sharp. And she...starts eating the troll. It's gross, disgusting...and he's absolutely relieved that she's more than she appears. And then the smell hits his nose. Blood. Which should be disgusting, but now he finds it strangely tantalizing. He wants to race forward, join her, devour...

No. No, no, no, no, no. He doesn't want that. He can't want that. Then more blood is spilled, and any self control is lost. He's not even aware of what he's doing when he races over to the now fallen troll, latching onto a part that's already been torn up a bit, and biting down, tearing into it and devouring blood and flesh. It's somewhat difficult to tear through the latter, but he's doing his best, not even noticing Jennifer's comment about 'dibs'. He's too caught up in his feeding frenzy.

And then the clouds, which had been threatening to rain for the entire fight, finally decide to let loose. First a few drops hit Luca's skin, making green scales rise up wherever they touch, but as the rain picks up scales suddenly ripple down his arms and up his face, spreading across his entire body. His long, finned tail emerges, and his teeth change, becoming sea monster teeth. He doesn't even seem to notice he's changed, he just keeps feeding. Until he has his fill, and he lifts his head and sees what he's done. And he's horrified. Shrinking back from the body, he looks at Jennifer, horrified.]

I--I didn't mean to--I've never done anything like that before.
schoolingfish: (Dissapointed seamonster)

[personal profile] schoolingfish 2021-09-20 09:22 pm (UTC)(link)
[It's comforting, having her tell him it's okay. Sure, he could see that she's clearly on the same diet as he now apparently is, but it's also nice to know that he's not the only one in this place that is craving the taste of blood and flesh. Besides, she was right. He was just hungry. And the thing he ate was just something that was trying to kill them. He's still terrified that the humans will want them dead once they know how the two of them eat but...he does feel a little better, at least. While he doesn't say anything, she might notice him relaxing a bit as she talks.

He doesn't show much of a reaction when Jennifer reaches for one of his blue head fins, but he does look up when she brings up the danger they were in. He might not know what she means by 'Black Lagoon' or what a dog is, but he completely understands not wanting to get eaten.

He stands up.]

I don't want to be eaten.

[And just in time for him to decide that, too, as the doors open up, and a pair of creatures that look like some sort of sharp toothed goblins rush in, going straight for the pair of flesh eating teens.]
schoolingfish: (Determined seamonster)

[personal profile] schoolingfish 2021-09-30 08:57 pm (UTC)(link)
[He nods.]

Got it.

[He doesn't 'got it'. He realizes right after saying it that he has no idea what feels natural. To him, natural was always 'swim away and hide in a cave', and he has no way to do that here. There's a whole new set of 'natural' feelings he's been having since he got here, though, and they seem very different from what he's used to. It was easy to slip into that mode when the smell of blood sent him into a feeding frenzy, but now that he's just fed, he's not sure if he can slip right back into that state of mind.

His moment of hesitation gives the remaining goblin a moment of advantage, as it runs up to Luca and pounces on him sending him tumbling to the ground. For a moment, Luca struggles in the goblin's grasp. He feels the rain steadily pelting his face and arms, keeping him in his sea monster form, and he panics as he looks at the goblin's grinning face above him and wonders what he's going to do.

Luca's heart is pounding, he's trembling, and the goblin then decides to grab a fistful of Luca's headfins, lifting his head and slamming it into the ground. That's when Luca's instincts finally kick in.

He doesn't know what's happening, but all over his body a thin coating of slime is secreted. Luca has no idea what it is. It's never happened before, and Luca's first impulse is to take another shot at wiggling free.

He shoves the goblin off easily, and that's when he starts to notice that the goblin is starting to look a bit disoriented, like he's having trouble getting up. Unable to coordinate his limbs to climb back to his feet, the goblin whips around and bites Luca on the leg. Luca cries out and jumps back, but the creature doesn't seem to like the results much better. Seeming to suddenly realize its mistake, the goblin immediately releases Luca's leg and starts spitting out Luca's green blood. Luca takes advantage of the moment, kicking the goblin back away from him before hurrying back, standing there to watch the effects of his toxic secretions.]

Um...I think I'm poisonous now.

[And now he notices the smell of more fresh blood is filling his nostrils, and he realizes it's from Jennifer's kill. He knows what she told him to do, that he should just follow his instincts, but he fights it, wanting to know if he can fight it. It probably doesn't matter for this goblin, but he might need to fight this urge later, and he wants to know that he has control.]
laruetheday: robins @ insanejournal (they pick on you? can you introduce me?)

ii

[personal profile] laruetheday 2021-09-08 01:25 am (UTC)(link)
[ This isn't the first time Clarisse has seen a girl in a cheerleading uniform kick total monster ass, but the whole unhiniging her jaw like a snake thing does make her raise an eyebrow. That's... different. Maybe she should be horrified, but mostly Clarisse is just annoyed. She wanted to kill the troll. Not as, like, creatively, but still. She's itching to fight something that she can kill without any lingering feelings of guilt attached. The fact that it's happening in an arena only makes it sweeter; brings her back to the best times at camp, like when she'd take the Ares cabin out into the woods to hunt down something big and ugly, or when they'd go up against Athena in capture the flag. Fun and public. ]

Whatever. Next one's mine.
laruetheday: robins @ insanejournal (sorry you're feeling like such a pussy.)

HELL yeah!! also cw eyeball injury

[personal profile] laruetheday 2021-09-22 01:02 am (UTC)(link)
Figured I'd leave it to you once you unhinged your fuckin' jaw, [ Clarisse says, and rolls her eyes. But Jennifer leaving her the second troll has placated her enough so she grins as she turns to face the monster.

She's dealt with Cyclopes before, and this thing is... well, similar enough, size-wise (and probably intelligence-wise?), so Clarisse decides to handle it the same way. It's not as quick as Jennifer's kill was, but there's no denying she knows what she's doing, with the way she rushes the troll and baits it into striking, only to dodge at the last second and dig in with her spear, going for its sides and limbs with savage ruthlessness.

By the the time she has the troll down on its side, she's covered in splashes of its blood. She drives the spear into its eyeball, kicks it in the ribs just to make sure it's dead, and then turns to Jennifer with a breathless laugh. That was fun. ]
laruetheday: (i call noodles long-ass rice.)

[personal profile] laruetheday 2021-10-07 12:44 am (UTC)(link)
[ Clarisse huffs at "turbo toothpick". She's been given a lot of shit for the spear over the years, but that's new. ]

Don't diss the spear. [ She would start going on about how it's actually a super versatile weapon, Jennifer, seriously, it beats a sword any fucking day of the week, but... giant spider. She'll save that speech for another time, then. ]

Sure, sure, I'll help you take care of it, princess. [ She gives Jennifer a grin that's somewhere in between flirting and teasing, and then she wastes no time in going after the massive spider. With the spear, thank you. ]
eudaimonikos: (methodological)

i

[personal profile] eudaimonikos 2021-09-09 03:33 am (UTC)(link)
Oof! What the heck -

[Michael plops down into the boat, courtesy of a cloud of ravens, and is immediately deeply affronted by this. His old dream guide was a crow or something, doesn't that get him any credit here with the birds?

Well. They're gone. Whatever. He sits up straight, habitually adjusting his bowtie. He's dressed more in his usual Good Place style right now, since he figured out how to make a couple outfits magically. Honestly, he feels sort of out-of-place dressed this way here; he may dip his toes into the local fashion later. But none of that's really important - this is just to say that yes, he still does look sort of like a prissy librarian or something.

At Jennifer's prompting, he glances over and winces a little at the corpse. Yep! That's real! But she's already dead. Nothing to be done. Though seeing that sort of thing gives him a pang, these days, he doesn't feel bad about ignoring it to focus on the living. Or...presumably the living? God, this girl looks half-dead herself!]


Are you alright? You look terrible.
eudaimonikos: (realism)

[personal profile] eudaimonikos 2021-09-21 03:34 am (UTC)(link)
[That stream of specific human cultural references leaves Michael blinking, a little bowled over - but that's okay. He can certainly understand enough of what's happening. Like, she's mad! He raises his hands in surrender.]

Hey, just asking! We're in the same boat here - the same tiny, kidnapped-by-birds boat...Crunchwrap's a Taco Bell thing, isn't it?

[He's been to a Taco Bell! A real, Earth Taco Bell! He even ate something there, because really how can you not, so...let him think for a second.

Briefly, he's visibly distracted as they pass the flayed body of another woman. She's not...someone he recognizes, exactly, but she does seem a bit familiar. He frowns at the sight for a moment before refocusing, turning away to stare at the bow of the boat in obvious concentration.]


I, uh...I went to one of those combination Taco-Bell-and-KFCs once! Have you seen those? It's just two restaurants mashed together! [How weird and delightful! At this point, he thinks he's picturing a Taco Bell Food Item about as well as he can; he snaps his fingers and produces...well, it's a burrito? Of some kind? He turns to offer it to Jennifer.] Ah! Here, try this? Probably won't help with your organ problems, but there's definitely meat and cheese.
eudaimonikos: (in shadow)

[personal profile] eudaimonikos 2021-09-30 03:56 am (UTC)(link)
Yeah, I can make stuff. Doesn't work as well here, but burritos aren't really all that complex. It's meat and cheese, how can it go wrong?

[But Michael most certainly does not want a boat full of barf, so he looks thoughtfully at the burrito for a moment and then takes a bite of it himself. What? There's no reason to just throw it away.]

Mmm. I overshot the quality on this.

[He's used to making Good Place-quality food, when he makes food, not really...Taco Bell.

But despite being pretty enthusiastic about Taco Bell/KFCs, he sobers and goes quiet after that. Because as they're progressing, there's clearly more bodies strung up along the shores of the river. Michael's gaze flicks deliberately over each of them, but none are alive. Anyone could see that even at this distance. They're well beyond any help he could provide. So it's like, fine for him to just chill in this boat and eat a burrito, right? He's sorry to see they're dead. That's not even something he has to remind himself to feel anymore; he is sorry. But he's not sick to his stomach with it, and certainly not at the sight and smell of gore. He's...okay?

...maybe not. It feels weird. Especially because some of the humans look...a little familiar? Maybe it's not their faces, he tells himself. Maybe it's just what's been done to them. Basic dismemberment, flaying, various sorts of pulling and gouging. It's all the sorts of things they cover in basic training. He's done all of those a million times. Left plenty of humans looking just like that.

Michael's quiet, watching the display go past. He does take another bite of the burrito though.]
possessum: (𝟎𝟔𝟑)

cw: seizure-like associations

[personal profile] possessum 2021-09-24 04:11 pm (UTC)(link)
( It's Peter's first time in Cellar Door — his exploration of this new place has been a slow, cautious one. He moves like he knows he doesn't belong there, like he doesn't feel at all comfortable in his own skin. One arm wrapped around his middle, shoulders hunched upwards, nervous.

It is beautiful here, though: the buildings a grand display of architecture, the streets glittering with various shop lights and the jewelry decorating many of the passerby he comes across. It could be easy to relax a little bit, if he let himself, but Peter well knows not to let his guard down, even when things look shiny and safe.

He quietly makes his way to the building, and... it's almost an entirely different world from most of this place. Quiet, dark, neglected. Even from the outside, he can tell this is a space that hasn't been used in quite some time. The boy waits, hesitating for a bit, dark brown eyes slowly glancing up the side of the place. He'd known it would need some fixing up from the information he'd seen about the plans to turn it into a club of sorts — and that's why he's here, to help — but he's wary to go in, feeling anxiety prickle in his throat, making it feel tighter.

That's when he sees the girl. A fleeting thing, a pallid face and empty eyes looking out at him from the upstairs windows. Peter blinks, his heart painfully skipping a beat as he gives a soft little gasp to himself; she looks like a ghost standing there. For a long moment, his mind insists that she is — maybe because Peter is so ready to accept the concept of being haunted by ghosts. But she must be the one he's supposed to be helping, and in the next moment she's gone again. His heart still shudders a little.

A few moments later the crash comes, and that's what prompts Peter's slow caution into something faster. Oh, fuck— did something fall in? Is she okay?? The boy rushes inside, but he's careful once he's in, stepping around debris and pieces of metal, sneakers making soft scuffling sounds against the cold dusty floor. He hasn't exactly assimilated to any of Trench's styles, still wearing some of what he came here with — teeshirt and jeans and a warm jacket on top of everything. Dingy Converse. Wide-eyed, he looks like a dumb, nervous highschooler or maybe a college student. Not a threat, not on the surface.

....But there's something else living inside of the young man's body. Something very ancient and very strange, something stirred to the surface by what it feels. There's an oddness to the air, to what's in this old place; the demon ripples in response to it. A second breath flutters from the boy's throat as he moves, and finds the girl up ahead, following the loud snap of wood.

She's crouched there like an animal, like a wolf more than a girl, or... something else. Insect, something bent and cold and searching. Peter freezes. Afraid, but he asks right away— )


Are you okay?

( It's the natural reaction, the natural worry. Even as he says it, he's noticing... details. How there are large pieces of wood jutting out from her skin, how there's.... nails. Jesus Christ. Nails tearing at her skin as she moves. She's— something is very wrong. Alarm hammers up under Peter's sternum; he tries to move closer to help her, she's hurt, but the thing trapped within abruptly catches him, forces him from approaching the girl.

It's a sudden thing with no warning, and a little violent. The demon hitches inside of Peter, forces a sharp, reedy sound like a hiss from his parted lips. The tall, thin body shudders sharply with a convulsive, jerky movement. His head thrusts backwards for a moment; it looks like someone's yanked him by the hair.

His pupils start to dilate, making his eyes look strange, half swollen with black. The boy (is he only a boy? Or something else entirely) stands there a few feet back from her, body giving little convulsive spasms, mouth working more strange sounds. Soft hisses, gasps, whimpers, as the demon tries to keep him from moving closer. Whatever she is, she isn't only a girl, either. )
possessum: (𝟎𝟑𝟖)

[personal profile] possessum 2021-10-01 06:38 pm (UTC)(link)
( Through it all, Peter remains aware of what's happening — there's a flash of inhuman white suddenly fixed on him: two strange eyes staring right back. He tries to gasp as the girl, the thing, growls the way it does, but he's choked out of his own voice as the entity within him keeps him pressed under its thumb for the moment. Peter's afraid and cautious and shirks from danger — but Peter is also foolishly led by his heart in unexpected moments. This girl, sickly and strange and wounded, is very clearly something else entirely; she could be a threat to them. The demon king won't allow the boy to approach her so blindly.

The air changes as abruptly as she had — tense and tight, like static. Paimon's no stranger to such things; his own energy is unbearably loud when it's unchecked: a cacophony of bright lights and sounds and languages, none of which could be considered human. Some of that energy rises to meet hers, reacting to it, and it's an uncomfortable buzz, two like ends of a magnet abrasively meeting each other. But he doesn't move from where he stands, just keeps Peter there and waits, watching her as she moves from her angled crouch to stand; they face each other now. The screeching chorus of rats dies, and there's silence.

As her own loud static energy flickers down, his does too. Paimon at his core has always functioned through reciprocation: a mirror of energy, give and take, exchange. Her eyes stay white and his stay black, their pupils impossibly blown, glittering with some alien, Other awareness. He does not blink.

'What are you doing here?'

The demon tenses, staring at her with his inky gaze. He's still such a lost thing in so many ways, but he's aware of his own power now. He knows what he's capable of, if she should try to attack him. But as tense as he is, he's very curious of this entity before him. Something... same? Same, in ways.

After another long moment of staring, the thing finally speaks. It's... oddly, forced, strained; what he is was never really meant to speak through a human's vocal chords, and sometimes this body reminds him of that, when it's so tense. His tongue twitches, the thick muscle like some creature struggling to move. There's a gag-sound, and then he manages to snarl his way out of his host's fluttering throat. It hurts, sometimes. )


This body... was given to me. ( It's almost a territorial claim; his eyes flash. He's encountered other demons seeking open flesh to sink into back in Deerington, and made sure they knew this host was his. But it's also.. another type of answer to her question: that's why he's here. He was given this body. A demon of his standing — amongst Lucifer's top four kings — could not simply take any body. It would have to be prepared for him, made capable of housing the sheer force of his spirit. Peter, specifically, was sacrificed to him. )

....Is this a trap? ( Did she lure his hapless vessel here under the guise of needing help with this building? His painfully human (...technically no longer human; we're all squids now) vessel, the boy who's still so young and soft and still so wounded by his guilts, who tries to help where he can as though that could ever make up for what he'd done... He would be an easy target. The girl-thing may have coaxed him here with every intention to harm him, not expecting that something else with claws of its own would be lurking beneath the boy's naivety, his wet doe eyes. )
oldhound: (MR_726)

iii. post-bloodsport

[personal profile] oldhound 2021-10-03 04:04 am (UTC)(link)
[ So far as small miracles and the like go John's never been more grateful that his magic is back for the more mundane sort of tasks. Cause cleaning blood and gore out of his clothing just wasn't on his list of things to do today. Which means the jinx he put on his clothes to keep them relatively tidy is working out just fine for him. For the young lady who was ripping open monsters with ease, face morphing and twisting as she did it though? Not so much.

And here he is with naught but a handkerchief to show for it. He's still got some splatters he'll have to deal with on exposed skin and hair but she needs it far more than he does. He offers it out to her. ]


If you're feeling like tidying up. [ Pause as he looks her over. She looks like a teenage girl but he saw her change. Even if he hadn't there's something about her that niggles at the back of his mind. A sure thing to listen to when it comes to working his kind of job for as long as he has. ] That was impressive back there.

Bit ugly with all that but still impressive.