When the ghouls are told to wear the human disguises, the fire ghoul often finds a reason to leave the ministry proper and take refuge in the nearby cemetery or forest. The human guise is painful for the fire ghoul, like trying to force a square into a circle-shaped hole, but the open air helps. They have been warned enough times by the earth ghouls that if they accidentally start a fire in the forest, it would be...particularly unpleasant for them, so they like the cemetery best; cold stone against their burning skin, the whisper of ghosts, and a feeling of communal solitude. There are monuments here to ghouls past, who had served the various Papas and had retired back to wherever it was they came from. Dew, as they called themselves occasionally, likes to sit on the fire ghoul monument. They swear they can hear the whispers of those ghouls, a gentle back and forth, like wood popping under flame. The thing about the fire ghouls, Dew knows, is that while they may be most closely associated with rage, it is not all they are. Fire, after all, is so close to water, so close to what Dew used to be; cleansing, liberating, healing, and, in its own way, gentle. Dew finds the monument a good reminder of this on the days where they feel the skin of the disguise is too tight, the stone of the abbey walls too suffocating. You are more than rage, the past ghouls whisper to them. And Dew knows it to be true.
Reblogging is always appreciated! Please do not repost, post to other sites, claim as your own, or use without permission! 🖤
