#demonstigma

[miidnighters]

@demonstigma | continued from ☾

"I mean. My preference would be that no one is covered in blood, but I know my audience.”

A pause.

“Yes okay you do look unfairly hot after you’ve done some violence but I’m trying to have principals here.”

[tooth--ache]

Sens'adi aka alrah fa'eeki madn ra-ak aft adiis.

Howard fell onto his knees, forced to stare at the abandoned well in front of him. His arms and legs were bound -- unnecessarily so, it wasn't as if he was going to run or anything -- and helplessly he listened as Malena chanted at the lectern.

He was amply briefed on this mission. It was, quite honestly, pretty fucking crazy, and that there was no fucking way this is ever going to work. I mean, opening the GODDAMN PORTAL TO HELL so he could DELIVER A MESSAGE TO A DEMON? They're vampires, sure, and they have vampy shit going like fangs and super strength and flight and suggestion. But demons, bro?? Demons?? Surely, surely that's just outside of the realm of reality.

Like, okay. He'd seen goblins, right. Stout and mischievous with a foul mouth. But they exist, with their, like, biology and genes. So do trolls (like Dad), and werewolves (stinky frat boys in Yup! club down at the Pulse marina). Hell? What is hell anyway?

Not being funny, and not being disrespectful or anything, if there's a higher plane being who could hear this train of thought, but what is hell?

Oh well, worse comes to worst, he was going to faceplant at the bottom of a really, really manky old well.

"Are you ready for this, Howard?" Malena turned towards him.

He gave her a half shrug. "As ready as anything, Mals."

She threw him a disgusted look, something he had grown used to over the years, but never quite understood nor took umbrage towards. Howard knew it's partly because he was never good enough, which was fair, I mean, he never went to vampire school or anything like that.

"Do NOT. Fail me again, Howard Pike."

"I won't, my queen." Howard replied stiltedly, his voice monotonous.

"Bring him to us. By hook or by crook."

"Yes, my queen." It wasn't his voice, but it came from his mouth.

Stanislaus continued the chanting, and just as Howard was about to ask if there's a timeline he had to be back before anybody should come and get him (or what's left of him), one of Malena's guards swung a club across his face. The thud rang inside of his skull in an ear-splitting pain, it was so terrifyingly hard that he could feel his skull cracking off from the tip of his spine, his jaw shattering in pieces.

Down, down, down he fell into the darkness.

When he came to, he couldn't see anything. Couldn't smell anything. The only thing Howard could feel inside of his body were the thumping soreness, and the feeling of his torn muscles and broken bones fusing back together. Very, very slowly. He could hear pieces of his skull groping its way back to where it ought to be, in a similar fucked up sensation of a lost ant panicking right against his eardrums. He tried to blink, tried to open his eyes, but he suspected he had none. Yet, at least.

"Y'really, really din't have t'... huuughh..--" Howard groaned pitifully. "--hit me like tha', Rocco."

@demonstigma

[hellbloom]

continued from here / @demonstigma

Hm... To use the cute face or not to use the cute face. Which one will decrease my chances of getting killed most? Was he listening? Half. Chin-handsing his way through it and nodding, lips pursing in an exaggerated expression. But Kage's request for reciprocation did not fall upon deaf ears!

"Jeeze, ma cherie. Buy me dinner first," he teased, grinning fiendishly. He had no intention to tell this man what he was, rather to show. It was more fun that way. Did devils get as surprised as humans when meeting nightfolk? In Loux's experience, the answer was an unfortunate and resounding no, but perhaps this one would be different. Can't win if you don't play. Maybe gambling does run in the family. "Name's Loux. Got a lotta titles though."

He tilted his head then and held out his arms, skin and bone bubbling and popping like tomato soup allowed to boil too long, roiling beneath the surface as his features shifted and changed, champagne blond darkening to black, stormy gray turning gold, taller, bigger, muscular and--an entirely different person the next moment. Then another. Going through all the faces he'd saved up over the years without ever having to move a muscle, and perhaps finishing with all the parts of him he hid most from all - his tail and ears, fox in nature and fluffy and odd all the same, wearing his cutest face. He trusted the other could understand what he was getting at - face-eater, shape-changer. Entirely non-human himself.

He was only observant as he was because he already knew, somewhat, what to look for. Or at least, where to look. Smell. Wait-

"Mmm, infernal, huh? A demon. I mighta guessed." He wrinkled his nose insincerely and sighed, not yet sure if he wanted to piss this man off until he showed that off and caused problems with him, or if he'd rather pick his brain. Information, or thrills he possibly wouldn't survive? Decisions, decisions. Gods above and Hargraven's tits, he did not fuck with demons though. "Wha'cha bein' all secretive fer anyway? S'not like anyone in this place's gon give a damn wha'cha are. Th' whole damn world wants me dead an' here I am. C'mon, come sit, ma cherie. Ye ever have bloodwine b'fore?"

[heirofhermes]

@demonstigma liked this for a starter

Coming back to his private office in the Order of Hermes' headquarters and finding Kage there had stopped being a surprise. What Sebastián found truly remarkable was how Kage always showed up whenever he was having a difficult day. He had just walked out of an awful trial where he was unable to prove a corrupt archmage was a danger to society for its affiliation with a genocidal vampire sect... To say he needed a pick me up would be an understatement.

Did Kage know? Why was he here unannounced? Was the demon even aware of the way his presence made the mage's heart skip a beat?

Usually, Sebastián would scold him from appearing in the very building of an Order who would hunt him just for being a demon. Today? Today Bas merely closed the door behind him and started walking closely.

"I know I always offer you coffee first thing, but can you hug me for a few minutes before anything else?" he asked, his voice slow and defeated. "I'm having a day."

[narrativefinale]

@demonstigma // continued

"you are not who i answer to."

It is a simple answer, but not one that entirely negates the request. It does not understand the niceness Kage insists he speaks with, it understands very little in the way of emotion. In the grander scheme of things, it understands very little, only that it was created for a purpose and its purpose does not lie with Kage.

It views Kage neutrally, however, not as an enemy. Not as something to be hated, but something that would always come to be. There can be no good without evil.

It makes a soft noise, almost akin to the cooing of a pigeon, hands twitching at its sides. It is unsure how to continue. It is unsure of what is being unsaid here. It is unsure of so much and it does not care for the feeling.

"why have you come here?" It prompts again.

[kxllerblond]

"you always say that, and it's never true." Gay

It takes him a moment of inclining his head and tilting it to the side to rewind over his own words, gaze flicked to the side and upward in thought. Ah, right. THAT'S what he'd said that had set Kage off.

'Let me finish this last thing and I'll be free.'

There was always one more thing to finish with Clark. There was always more work. Yes, he could adjust his schedule to accommodate whatever or whoever he needed to, but the fact remained that he was never NOT entangled up in some business. Clark Thompson never had a clear schedule, not really.

❝ Okay, fair. Fine. What would you have me say instead then, Kage? So I'll always have more work to do. Alright. That doesn't mean I can't put it aside if you need my attention. ❞

[saturnmused]

𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄'𝐒 𝐖𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐔𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐁𝐑𝐈𝐃𝐆𝐄 𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐌𝐏𝐓𝐒. ⁂ @demonstigma said: " i don't tell lies like you do, at least not so convincingly. "

❛ 𝐈'𝐌 𝐆𝐎𝐈𝐍𝐆 to take that as a compliment. ❜ the vampire spawn says haughtily, chin tipping up in an expression of vague disdain at other's comment. he isn't sure what kage had meant by it, but it doesn't matter ― astarion reads it as an insult, & so takes it as a compliment. it's simple logic, really. ❛ there are many advantages to knowing how to lie. you really ought to learn. ❜ he mocks other with slightly cheery tone, crimson eyes narrowed & showing true thoughts ― he isn't one to take an insult lightly, & if other doesn't clear this up, a grudge may indeed be held. it certainly isn't looking like astarion will want to share any of his spoils of the day, in any event. ❛ i don't lie about everything. there are moments for honesty. but it isn't the bogeyman that you're making it out to be. i don't do it that often. ❜ that in itself is a lie, one that astarion knows can be counteracted upon if kage so wishes. he does love a good challenge, but when it comes to his self-esteem, he wishes other would leave the subject alone. ❛ honestly, kage. you're acting like a child. ❜

[miidnighters-a]

@demonstigma | liked for a lyrics zip-zap | Under the Influence - Elle King

"Under the influence, I got no defense," Isaac's giggly. Definitely not his normal state. "It might be criminal, but still I just can't quit."