cubi

[iskippedthepartaboutlove]

[nashalbrecht]

People from his past were easy to not come by at any point in time. Anyone that knew him from before he had become a lycan were now six feet under. And they had been for quite some time now. Maybe Nash should've known it'd come back to bite him in the ass some day. Giles was supposed to be his brother-in-law. They had gotten along well enough to where he had known, back then, that he wouldn't have any problems with the family he was marrying into. The draegloth never dared to say the woman's name he was to marry, not in his own head or even out loud. It was his fault she was no longer here, why Giles even stood before him now as a demon. He looked the other up and down. "I could ask you the same question."

[quinncubus]

It looked like Nashoba had seen a ghost, he blanched for a moment and truthfully the incubus couldn't place what it meant. He wouldn't say the other looked guilty, there was something else there instead. "I am dead." Quinn opened his arms in an apparent gesture. "Demon." Quinn just stared at the other for another moment as he tried to piece the attachment together. It was violent, but he didn't get more than a few stray glimpses. "That person you killed is dead," clearing the air was apparent because the last thing the cubi wanted was any trouble from - whatever this guy was. "considering where he ended up, I'd say he probably deserved what was coming to him. I'm sure you had your reasons."

[quinncubus]

@elmasbayram location: Lupercalia notes: canon fuckass hat

"So do you just do... everything for him?" The mayor was, yeah, he was something alright. Quinn had met his fair share of demons so he knew a wolf in sheep's clothing when he saw one, his assistant or... Whatever it was that Elmas happened to be, she seemed familiar, though. Somehow, like maybe they'd met before but he couldn't quite place his finger on it. "Sounds like a lot of work, hope the dental is good."

[quinncubus]

@nashalbrecht location: Lupercalia notes: your other starter is post the gauntlet so this one can be pre

There was a reason why Quinn had gone down to the pit after he'd died; the glutton was inherently selfish; in life, he did many things that he came to regret. If he hadn't wished to change the past, then maybe he wouldn't have needed to drain someone's soul in the outhouse at some Wolfchella event, but here he was, making a living. Literally. The pits were abysmal; filth and murk defined his time in the Inferno, but he'd gotten by because he was insignificant. Someone not worth killing and a demon that was more entertaining to step on than step over. When he arose from them, the last thing he had ever expected was to be face-to-face with the man who'd sent him there in the first place.

"Nashoba?" Quinn hadn't said the name in so long that it felt foreign on his tongue; the demon had forgotten his former life entirely and the name he'd gone by. The Inferno had taken everything, but his gnarled soul couldn't look at the creature and not recognize him in some capacity. Even the name that had sprung to his tongue was alien like it had been a muscle memory rather than something his mind held onto. "You-" teeth and claws, that's what Quinn remembered in brief glimpses. "How are you even alive?"

[abaddoomed]

Few were lucky to escape the putrid slush of his gluttonous circle; the few who did had either been wise enough to hide or had been given the reprieve by being summoned from his domain. Hungry as a horse? - neigh, he was hungrier than that, an insatiable Archfiend who'd waltzed into Lupercalia as though it was an all you could eat buffet, baby. "Haven't you heard idle hands are the devil's playground?" Abaddon really loved the mortal's ridiculous sayings where the 'devil' was concerned; they all truly had no idea what hell had been unleashed upon them from the Abyss.

[quinncubus]

"I haven't spent much time absorbing this age's colloquialisms," Quinn admitted; he'd only recently been conjured from the Otherworld following the dissolution of the Inferno. Granted a foothold here by a spell, prolonged further by the souls that Quinn had devoured. Even now, they festered within, writhing about as the incubus silently metabolized them. "but I think I get the gist of it; Lord Abaddon, does this mean you intend to... Partake?" For the archfiend, it would be difficult, maybe even impossible, to abstain, but the incubus had survived by being little more than a worm. Unappealing and unassuming.

[quinncubus]

@abaddoomed location: Lubefest notes: I put a horse in the background to make up for the fuckass hat

Quinn knew this was coming; he could feel it just as surely as any other demon could: the Archfiends had risen from the pit. The monarchy of hell was knocking at Rome's door, and if Quinn was smart, he would have packed his bags and put this place behind him. Took the soul he'd snagged and moved to the other side of the world to put as much distance as possible between himself and the greatest glutton this world had ever seen. "Abaddon- Lord-" Quinn was afraid; anyone who stood shoulder to should with a creature so unhinged should be, but instead of showing it, he tried to play things off. "I didn't think you'd be interested in these games."

[emissaryalder]

^*^

Alder couldn’t suppress his breathy laugh. Quinn cut right to the chase, and in a way he wasn’t far off at all in his assessment of the situation, but Alder suspected the solution wasn’t that simple. “In essence, yes. I want all the souls you can get and I’ll use them before your body has eaten them up. In return, I can help you acquire new ones and maybe even help you strengthen you hold here. You’ve proven yourself useful, so I’d do what I can to keep you around.”

Still, Alder was beating around the bush regarding the other part. He got visibly fidgety and nervous, struggling to put his words in the right order to explain his thought process. “A long-standing deal because … because you’ll have to do it a lot. You’ll have to be my fuel pump and tank, so to speak,” Alder continues sheepishly. “Because there’s no telling how having a soul banged into me would impact my mind.” Sex wasn’t the issue. Alder had had sex before, but to him the act was just a means to an end. For this to work with Quinn, he’d need a little more which was the source of his unease. He could barely carry on this discussion without shifting his eyes away from the cubi. “If I take only what I need when I need it, then the soul’s life can be extended even if I’m siphoning from it. But channeling is a two-way street which means I may not be able to get what I needed from some quick screw. I have to be completely open to you.” Alder figured he would need to arrive at the same state Quinn got his victims to while controlling the flow of magic. “I’m talking real … intimacy.”

[quinncubus]

Praise didn't do much for Quinn, but that aside he wasn't in a rush to get booted from the mortal realm anytime soon. He'd missed the last Sanguis Massa, Lilith willing she'd host another this year and the glutton could ascend and stretch out his meals a bit longer. One soul every ten years was a much better deal than one soul every year. Alder wanted something entirely, but Quinn was the only one risking anything, if he was tapping people out left and right then sooner or later he'd sleep with the wrong one or attract the attention of the law.

This witch was unraveling right in front of his eyes, it was out of the box that Alder had even suggested this. It wasn't hard for Quinn to tell that this witch was beyond peculiar, even as he broached this subject he looked like he was on the borderline of absolute uncertainty. The two of them didn't know each other and intimacy from a demon wasn't exactly what they were known for, especially where the glutton was concerned. He wasn't quite sure what Alder was asking him to do, fake it? Sex was just sex and for the incubus it didn't mean much, but neither of them knew if this was going to work and so far Quinn didn't see what was in this for him. There was staying in the mortal realm and not having to worry that this conjurer was going to banish him to the Abyss, but it didn't sound like Alder was threatening him, more like he was making some kind of proposal. "What's to stop me from just taking your soul? Sounds like it's the easier option for me, right? I get you off my back, and then I can do whatever I want."

[emissaryalder]

^*^

Alder was so close he could taste it. This latest experiment practically consumed all his spare attention while Quinn was away. In that time, Alder had studied as many texts as he could on incubus and the concept of a soul, meaning everything reported to him was within expectation. Alder scribbled furiously in his notebook as he nodded, adjusting the pseudo-math he performed in the temple through arithmancy to approximate how much use he could get from the soul. Pending he solved his final hurdle that was.

"Excellent ... about the success of your meal. The dying part is, meh? But it couldn't be helped. Don't worry though, the next one will likely have no personal connection to me. Since I don't want to waste the soul's shelf life it's probably best you stay close by..." Alder mutters, still adding to his notes. When he finally does look up at Quinn, his puzzled expression shows he's still working things out in his mind. The demon did look really good walking around Alder's space. The sunlight from the window caught Quinn's profile perfectly, nearly to an irritating degree. He could channel his incubus as is, but that was no different than summoning a familiar to Alder. He was after the pure power a soul could offer which would mean the one within Quinn wouldn't be the one that sustained him. It'd be a bit of a hassle to find fresh victims so frequently, but he would. Anything to aid the pursuit of his goals. "Like I said, I want you to stick around. I think you could be a big help to my research. I'll keep finding names for you too, but that soul that's fueling you I'm gonna need." He scratches the back of his neck. The only reason Alder hesitated to continue was because while he wasn't inexperienced, subjects of intimacy still made him feel awkward. "I want to channel it, not your power but the soul directly. I won't take it all so you can have time to get another, but if I master this, you'll be my key to a whole new market for power. If the hanky-panky is what you used to take the soul, then I hypothesize some form of contact is step number one."

[quinncubus]

Channel it. Power, it always came down to fucking power, that's what everyone wanted. In case it wasn't apparent to the rest of the world, it felt clear to Quinn that wants and gluttony were at the root of everyone's desires. He'd been mortal once, consumed by whatever he could get on that would allow him to escape his skin for any period. To that end, Quinn could sympathize because everyone had their reasons for being what they were today. This witch saw the demon as a means to an end, and perhaps he was; considering what Quinn was capable of, he couldn't say he was surprised.

Hanky panky? Who the fuck was this guy? "So what, you want me to fuck a soul into you?" Quinn had never done that before; he hadn't heard of anyone who'd even tried, but maybe that was an advertisement thing. It wasn't like cubi passed out course books on what they could or couldn't do with a soul. Rumors were circulating that a necromancer had freed and bound a familiar, that the senator was free of any tether but still held her own power. The Inferno itself was gone, and the limitations that creatures like Quinn once had were falling by the wayside as more and more found purchase in the mortal realm. Quinn took to a short pace as he studied the witch for a brief moment; it wasn't like he was unattractive, kind of the opposite actually: he had that eye-bagged socially inept nerd thing going for him in spades. "What's the deal then? I bring you souls, and you keep me out of the Abyss?"

[emissaryalder]

^*^

Honestly, Alder wasn't expecting Quinn to return for another day and a half. It was a pleasant surprise to accidentally find himself ahead of schedule, but the cubi's sudden return carried with it a distraction at the worst possible time. Shocked, widened eyes from behind his goggles stared excitedly at Quinn in his workshop's doorframe, those few seconds causing Alder's brew to burn. Herbal scents quickly became overshadowed by smoke, but the blase way he sent the whole pot flying out the window with a flick of his wrist (fingers crossed one of the lycans didn't try to lick that up) demonstrated his priorities.

"Now why would I send you back? You're clearly an efficient worker. Though I shouldn't be surprised, it's not like I expected you to run into any trouble." He summoned Quinn with a name in mind, a witch he met in a black market who made a passing comment to Alder a couple years ago. Of course, the question of whose soul got chosen was inconsequential. His choice may have been a little petty, but Alder’s goals had nothing to do with revenge. It seemed Quinn would fit into his plans perfectly. "Now tell me," he starts in as he haphazardly flips to an empty page in his notebook. "Is the soul whole within you or have you begun to ... metabolize it? Is that the correct term? How do you feel? Was it like a rush? Did you have to use a special position to tap them like a tree, so to speak?" With how giddy Alder was as he walked up to Quinn to get a better look, it'd be easy to miss how he quickly gave his mental wards a once over as he messily pulled his goggles into his hair. Better safe than sorry, Alder always assumed others were just as untrustworthy as he was. "You certainly look healthier, I'll give you that," he says, taking it upon himself to feel Quinn's arms some to confirm the observation.

[quinncubus]

It was to the demon's benefit to be efficient, to get the unsavory part of his existence done quickly. Satisfaction wasn't part of it, at least not all the time; Quinn wasn't a monster; he would take no pleasure in killing people that mattered to him; he just recognized that the glutton had choices to make. It was either him or everyone else. This witch, Alder, had his quirks, but nothing about him screamed malicious, just curious, which sometimes was just as bad. Maybe worse.

"I've heard we glow." Quinn's disposition wasn't sunny, but it brightened from time to time. But when the body was healthy, the skin had to exude it; at all times, the incubus appeared moisturized and healthy. Eyes are bright, hair is soft, and the body is completely healthy. The demon was void of any illnesses; all his neurons and synapses fired correctly. How blessed it was to have a brain that didn't deviate from the norm, the threat of damnation and constant torment from demons with powers beyond sex available to them was a bit of a bitch but Quinn had gotten used to it by now. "Digestion begins immediately," the demon offered, "from the moment a cubi consumes the soul of their victim, their body begins to work through it. Takes about a year, but you probably know that much already." Curious, he paced the other's... lab... home.... dwelling? Whatever passed for living quarters these days, just the same, it was strange to see a witch living among lycans. Useful, given this one's predilection towards demons and undoubtedly other curiosities. "Don't worry, your little friend will be dead in a couple days. I didn't leave anything left."

[quinncubus]

@emissaryalder location: lupercal notes: and they were roommates

An incubus was a tool for revenge, conjure the creature, sick it on someone. Usually an ex-lover, or someone that had done something bad enough that their death warranted a complete destruction of their soul. Among the ranks of demons, cubi were the bottom feeders, sucking up the scraps, and doing what the others couldn't. Quinn couldn't say he enjoyed it, but if he had to plow the soul out of someone to stay here, rather than the other side, then that's what the demon was going to do. Alder had conjured him for the same reason every witch conjured an incubus: go eat someone's soul. What was strange was the man had asked him to come back when he was done.

"Well, it's done. You wanted me to come back, so here I am." This witch kept his thoughts closely guarded, most people were an open book, something that the incubus could flip through whenever he needed. That wasn't the case with this one so there was no real way of knowing what Alder was thinking. Quinn had the thought that his guard would probably slip up when his legs were shaking and his eyes had rolled into the back of his head, but as long as the witch didn't try anything then Alder could keep his secrets to himself. "If you plan on sending me back, I won't make it easy for you." The witch wasn't as experienced as the ones he'd come across in the past, but there was obvious talent in someone who was already bridging the schools."

[rob-pattinson]

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