burnitblack: by recadreuse @ dreamwidth (at least become my kindling)
Dabi (荼毘) ([personal profile] burnitblack) wrote in [community profile] deercountry2022-04-10 02:05 pm

[Open] 🚬 April Flames

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

Content Warnings: Scenes and mentions of domestic / child abuse, some body horor and monstrous transformations, violence, adult language, topics of patricide and fratricide

Notes: General and specific starters will be below. Contact under cut.

If you want to hit me up for ideas on prompts or plots, feel free to comment on Dabi's plotting post, hit me up on my contacts – Plurk ([plurk.com profile] 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.
likethelight: (428)

[personal profile] likethelight 2022-04-18 01:20 am (UTC)(link)
[ It's true, he doesn't know anything. He doesn't like to pry into people's private affairs so he doesn't have a lot to go off of, but he does pay close attention to others. What is said, how they react -- how they are as a person. He doesn't need to know someone's sordid details to understand the kind of person they are at the moment. Just what their core motivation is. What their intent is -- what their heart is.

That's how Allen sees it, at least.

The other's obvious enjoyment at the destruction his body is causing though -- Allen grimaces a little at that. Really, the psychopath response? No, he can't presume anything about him from that. Not entirely; if this man's soul was corrupted then who knows just how much it's twisting him. And... it is the Trench they're talking about. He can't condone it, but he can understand how someone could have a bitter resentment towards it.

That said, it still leaves an unpleasant sense in his gut. But to that question, what's in it for him...

...he relaxes, actually. For the first time since he came here, still squared off against the other but in an easygoing manner. Chin up, meet his eye, smile -- in a softly wry sort of way. Almost as if to say "shouldn't it be obvious?" ]


Absolutely nothing. [ Is he ridiculous? Yes, absolutely. ]

I just don't like to see anyone suffer.

[ But he is gentle and unflinching about it. ]

So if I don't understand anything, then make me. [ It's his best hope right now, isn't it? Trying to reason with him. Understand him, so that maybe he could talk him down from his corruption... if it still worked like beasthood did in some others. Violence and using his Innocence -- that doesn't seem like the right course right now, if they even work in here.
"You said I was the greatest..."
"Endeavor..."
"Look at me..."
"Ya know that little puppet?"
"I was burning with rage, reckless... I didn't care about anything but denying him his legacy..."
Sorry, Shouto. ]


Why does he feel like he has to take care of you?
Edited 2022-04-18 01:31 (UTC)
likethelight: (189)

[personal profile] likethelight 2022-04-18 06:39 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Calling bullshit on him, even calling him selfish -- neither seem to phase him, like he's heard that before (and he has). Won't even argue about it. The way he throws out "hero" as a barb though -- that does catch him faintly by surprise. Not something he's usually called -- or ever, actually. And even if he hadn't said it as such an obvious insult... it isn't something he likes. At all. It's... uncomfortable.

But it's forgotten when the other continues and his eyes widen as if struck, and then immediately narrow. ]


Suffer for it? [ that -- his own brother? ] Why would you want him to suffer?!

[ Tch, he shouldn't yell. That's not the point here: this is the person in front of him he wants to save right now. But even so...

He throttles back his outrage but it's clearly a struggle, hands balled into fists at his side and mouth set like he's tasted something bad. ]


I do. [ Even if you're being a bastard. ]

Right now, we were fighting out there. Our bodies are. [ still are? who knows, it's not a comforting thought ] If I can't stop you --

[ Trailing off slightly for a moment, he takes a moment to press his lips together a little more tightly than he needs to, to dig his fingers more deeper into his palms. "If he dies" is what he means. ]

Then you need to be the one to fight the corruption in you yourself.
likethelight: (.140)

[personal profile] likethelight 2022-04-18 08:36 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Each punctuating word, one after another, that to cause suffering feels good, the sly hope that he's "winning", or even why would he want to fight even the corruption of his soul...?

He grimaces, briefly looking like he swallowed something so bitter and listening in a growingly uneasy silence as the flames peel back and reveal his human form finally. Even moreso than the sight of stapled together skin and such horrific burns -- no, it's that lazy-seeming smile that unsettles him the most. I think... maybe my first thought was right.

His eyes narrow, chin lowering slightly when Dabi leans forward, though to his credit he doesn't flinch and keeps his own pale eyes locked to his turquoise ones.

He's a little unhinged.

That said... it's still horrible. He looks like someone who's been burned half alive. Despite wielding fire himself, not entirely unlike Shouto? Presuming that is his actual body; Allen didn't get the greatest look before he became a beast. It's sickening to think about what would have caused that and how he's still alive despite it, but... he swallows. And he's never one to stare at another's disfigurements, not with dealing with it so much himself, so he keeps his own fire-brightened silvery eyes to Dabi's and takes a step forward instead.

And then another, calm and steady. Close enough to touch, if either of them were to reach out. He's a little shorter, less than an inch, but almost painfully more slender.

Remember, this is the person—the soul—you want to save right now. It doesn't matter what sort of person he is, even if this is him talking and not the corruption. That's what he has to keep telling himself.

(He's Shouto's brother. He has to save him now, even if he had to before as well.) ]


Because you don't seem like someone who likes to be controlled.
Edited 2022-04-18 20:38 (UTC)
likethelight: (698)

[personal profile] likethelight 2022-04-18 10:33 pm (UTC)(link)
[ He almost snorts at that answer. Finally, a sentiment he can understand. But he doesn't, and just smiles to Dabi instead. It's uneasy and stretched a little thin, anything but happy, but grimly determined. ]

No idea whatsoever. [ And he doesn't sound even the least bit disturbed by that.

He is nervous, unsettled about the not knowing of it, but most of his life is like that. So you kind of just have to get used to rolling with it. It isn't the first time his eye has evolved. It isn't the first time corruption in this world has made his abilities become unpredictable and wild -- more powerful, it almost seems -- and it won't be the last. Exorcism -- the purification of the corruptive material from the soul that can drive it and the body mad -- of someone still alive is different than the souls of the dead he's lived nearly his whole life doing. But...

He brings a hand up -- his left one, blood red and plated in carapace-like armor around his fingers and knuckles, long black nails befitting a devil more than a human -- and merely offers it as means of true answer. More to grip and clasp than to shake as gentlemen do.

Dabi -- Touya doesn't seem the type. ]


But I think it starts like this.

[ Now take his hand you bastard. ]
likethelight: (253)

[personal profile] likethelight 2022-04-18 11:54 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Nothing in Allen's life is ever reassuring for long. Or easy. You get used to it, so Dabi's clear disregard isn't really unexpected and he just arches an eyebrow in response. ]

Save both of us, I'd like to think. [ It's as wry as Dabi was sarcastic.

It's definitely more monstrous than artificially armored, and he wouldn't even deny it. He himself thinks it's an ugly thing that he usually keeps gloved anyway so it doesn't cause a scene. The armoring is seamless with and indeed part of his "skin", hairless and looking more like polished stone or leather than anything resembling flesh, and on closer inspection the back of his hand has a golden crystal fused into it. Four thin points like a star, or perhaps some sort of cross.

But don't give him that look. Before the Trench he might have been used to mothers ushering their children away from him on the street and telling the constable to lock him up for looking so hideous, obviously a freak, cultist, or just insane, but please. You're in no position to judge him for something like that. ]


I told you, I'm an exorcist. [ It's more conversational as opposed to a chide. Easygoing even, despite the entire situation and how serious he truly is. And he flexes his fingers for a moment, as if to demonstrate. ]

What lets me destroy the corruption that can take over a soul is my left hand.
likethelight: (707)

[personal profile] likethelight 2022-04-19 06:12 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Heh.

He smiles at that. Again, not the happy kind, but a cavalier sort of dealing with devils renewed determination when the other man takes his hand. And he grips it in return, strong and like a promise. ]


Not that kind. [ You seem absolutely nothing like your brother, you know. It's that bright but hard sort of glimmer in his pale eyes that he keeps squarely on Dabi's turquoise ones, the little upward twitch of a lopsided cocky smile.

But for a bit of a dick you might not be all that bad.

There's a faint glow from the cross on the back of his hand though. A gentleness that would radiate through his palm, something that feels soothing and cleansing like a fresh breeze on one's face. And even if it isn't a full invocation -- better not be, he wouldn't want to slice through that man's hand right after he got him to reluctantly trust him -- there's a rush of white and light as luminescent feathers lick their way like a sudden fire from his wrist up over his shoulders to the other and surround them in the whirl of what is either a cloak -- or wings. Or both. Bright but altogether unlike the neon firelight, more like being briefly caught in a blizzard that's both warm and cool. Crystalline but soft fragments of feather-shaped light wafting like snowflakes in the air. Even the scent is cool and soothing; clean and thin, crystalline, like fresh snow. And the faintest sort of note of ozone, like electricity in the air -- or magic.

That's the shape of a heart that just wants to "save" people and their souls given form and power. The most condensed form of spiritual power that comes solely from an unwavering sense of love for humanity, so deep and raw it's almost ragged. Bright as the brightest light right before it's burnt itself straight out from existence --

And something that exists solely to soothe and purge the dark, as it whips around them both. ]
likethelight: (02)

you're totally fine! this is brilliant

[personal profile] likethelight 2022-04-21 10:34 am (UTC)(link)
[ ...heh?

It's disorienting, and at first Allen blinks a little at trying to take in where he is now. Truth be told, he really didn't know what was going to happen next. Most likely, he figured they would return to the present -- to the physical world. But this hardly seems that, even if it looks so very real. Smells real, but is nothing like anything he remembers or that seems like it would be in the Trench. A memory, perhaps...?

It's so very... normal-seeming. Not what he was expecting. Certainly not after that emo-type display earlier and the flames. A creepy dungeon would have seemed next on the docket. Maybe a morgue. Cemetery at midnight...

-- o-oh. ]
Ah...

[ Small child? ]

I'm-- Allen Walker. [ He raises his gloved hand in a small, tentative wave even as something is so eerily familiar about the boy. Those eyes, and his voice... No, from before? While he was fighting? He was distracted at the time, but...

He takes a small step closer. None of the white or glimmer of his invocation, just a teenager wearing what looks to be a uniform coat of sorts, the hood down. ]


Who are you?
likethelight: (127)

[personal profile] likethelight 2022-04-21 08:54 pm (UTC)(link)
[ It is him. Allen's expression slackens slightly for a moment at that. This must be his memories from when he was a kid. Then, this place... was also Shouto's...? ]

Eh... [ He blinks for a moment. Better come up with something quick; 'exorcist come here to save your soul from the monster you've been corrupted into' won't cut it in this case. Just a hunch. Don't break the memory. ]

-- I came to meet you. [ Disclose himself as a friend of his brother? No, given his feelings towards Shouto earlier... that probably isn't a good idea. ] I'm a friend of the family.

[ Close enough. It's technically true, at least. Even if his thoughts are still windmilling -- how is he supposed to proceed?? Except, before, what the boy had said... because it had been him speaking as the soul of the beast, not the man he saw later with all the burn scars... "Notice me."

He hesitates for a moment, before smiling a little then and making an offhand gesture towards Touya. A small, quiet and understated sort of smile. Understanding a little maybe -- or at least he'd like to understand. ]


You've been working really hard, I hear.
likethelight: (33)

:'''') why do his good deeds always backfire so horribly!!

[personal profile] likethelight 2022-04-21 11:11 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Who looks like a stage magician! This could be a totally cool official-type uniform! Also, he'd say it's far more befitting a ringmaster if that title wasn't a really bitter one in his mouth. But uaaa, what a reaction...

He blinks for a moment, before laughing a touch sheepishly and waving a hand. Endeavor. That name again. ]


Ehhh, why don't you show me first? [ And he taps a finger against his lips with a good-natured and mildly conspiratorial smile; secret, secret. It's congenial, warmer and more natural. Genuinely so, given that reaction, and feeling a bit more at ease like he he might at least be moving in the right direction.

Hopefully. ]


Maybe I can even help you with it.
likethelight: (645)

smh, you don't have to be right you know

[personal profile] likethelight 2022-04-22 02:46 am (UTC)(link)
[ It doesn't help that he does sleight of hand tricks as a performer too, huh. Fine, but he's charging extra for it.

And look! They've been friends under... intense situations! And were gooey pod people for a long time! They haven't exactly had time for normal friendship stuff! It's hard to have a chat about things like that while fighting their way through a lot of really cheap tests when you're god knows how many hundreds of feet underground in the catacombs! And he was worried about finding his friend Midoriya before so they were looking! ... and the one time they did talk about their families or lack thereof after not dying, Allen also accidentally set off a Todoroki family landmine there without realizing it and it went from a really nice, happy moment to... not... he'd kind of dropped Allen's hand like Shouto had been the one burned... and then there was a house on actual fire so it never came up again. ...yeah there's kind of a pattern here... ]


Ohhh-- [ Orange flames! More like Shouto's. He figured it would be fire, but honestly would have expected to see the blue from before. Still, from a kid... wow. They got their powers young. Some exorcists would be chosen by Innocence as children, but not always. "Quirks", Shouto called them?

He gives an appreciative clap, watching, and smiles wide. ]


You seem a lot more natural with your ability than I was at your age, you know.
likethelight: (20)

[personal profile] likethelight 2022-04-22 06:52 am (UTC)(link)
[ The bandages aren't something that are missed, although he just notices them quietly for now. A red flag for concern, but nothing terribly out of the ordinary yet. It just... isn't that unusual for people with "abilities" in his world, unfortunately. People like him had no choice but to become child soldiers in essence if they were either "lucky" or "unlucky" enough to be chosen, depending on who you asked. It wasn't just training with dangerous abilities since barely hitting double digits, in fact there was very little actual training, but actively going on life and death combat missions on the slowly losing side of a war. Their whole lives, short that they usually were, were spent either either getting beat nearly to death, or recovering from said beatings.

But those bandages are out of place in this kind of setting and on a child like that. It doesn't seem right. Not that it had seemed "right" in his world either, but... Maybe that's the key to why he's here, too. Can't forget that; this isn't real. This person is the same as the man before, but something happened. And he has to be in this place here with him like this for a reason, something related to the corruption of his soul, so...

His smile becomes a bit quieter and faintly nostalgic, watching how elated the boy seems at that and his own abilities. Bittersweet. "The strongest there is..." ]


Mm? Aaa, I believe it. [ He approaches, waving a hand slightly aside as he does so. It's okay, it's okay! You can stop, you've impressed him.

This is a gamble, but if he goes by what Shouto said about the world he came from... Even despite what "Dabi" said before, and in fact that might make all of that suddenly make a lot more sense... ]


Tell me, what kind of hero do you want to be then?
likethelight: (19)

[personal profile] likethelight 2022-04-22 06:11 pm (UTC)(link)
[ ! That was a fireball he'd been charging? It takes him a little by surprise, obvious attention upwards, but is quickly diverted by how Touya shakes his hand so quickly. Pain? Did he burn himself? The bandages on the rest of him make a lot more sense. Even if that's not the more alarming thing. No, that similar kind of phrasing... "So that when Dad looks at me...." "Notice me, Endeavor." Then, Endeavor was...

...their father. "Made" him. Them, most likely.

Suddenly a lot of things start to make a bit more sense. And his mouth goes a little dry at that phrasing. ]


... [ He crouches down to be eye to eye, with a very faint, sad sort of smile. Bittersweet. ]

Being the strongest just makes you strong. It doesn't say anything about the kind of person -- or hero [ he has to correct himself, it's not a natural word for him to use, and in fact tastes wrong in his mouth ] you want to be.

[ He reaches out his gloved right hand towards Touya. Let him see your hands? ]

Although I think you are very strong for everything you've gone through. [ Even if not in the way he probably thinks he means. You've had to endure a lot while still trying to smile, haven't you. ]

That's something that should make anyone happy to know you.

(no subject)

[personal profile] likethelight - 2022-04-22 21:02 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[personal profile] likethelight - 2022-04-23 23:03 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[personal profile] likethelight - 2022-04-27 08:50 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[personal profile] likethelight - 2022-04-28 04:29 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[personal profile] likethelight - 2022-04-30 01:30 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[personal profile] likethelight - 2022-05-06 13:51 (UTC) - Expand