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Wake Me Up Inside



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Sun Jan 20, 2019 2:17 pm
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Mageheart says...



Saentiel looked up from Azazel - the demon was still curled up in his arms, enveloped by the angel's wings as he buried his head into his chest. "You'll get them soon," Saentiel said. "I think they just happen kind of randomly, and you've been lucky enough to avoid getting them."

"I-I think they show your future," Azazel's quiet voice said from underneath his wings. "I was older in mine, and Saentiel was t-too. They're...They're really, really bad. I don't think you want to see what they're like."

Saentiel nodded in agreement, and hugged Azazel a little tighter as the demon let out another sob. Whatever he had seen had been really bad, and something told him none of his visions could compare to what he had seen. "And I'm not scared of the woods," he indignantly replied. He was, but Aegeas didn't need to know that. "They're just a little spooky--

--A haunted house that was actually haunted. An interesting premise, and a situation that he hadn't yet encountered. It was still too soon for him to say if this was actually the work of a ghost or something else, but he yearned for a hunt - yearned for a fight that would make him feel alive, make him feel like he was doing something instead of chasing after useless lead after leader.

And, he had to admit, this was one of the more fun jobs he had done in awhile. It gave him some nice money to line his pockets; fate knew he needed a stay in a hotel soon. Besides that, he got to dress up and mess around with people during his favorite time of year. What else could a fallen angel turned hunter asked for?

His chose of outfit was a zombie - he loved the gory changes he could make to his appearance, all under the guise of it being especially realistic make up. A little decaying skin here, a missing body part or two there, and a fraying clothes, and he was perfectly playing the part. He could even perfectly imitate the groan.

As he leaned up against one of the fake gravestones and watched his temporary coworkers enter the place, he noticed two people who didn't quite fit in with the rest: a girl and a man. The girl was bordering on adulthood, somewhere in her late teens. Her age was what drew his attention, but it was her proximity to the strange man behind her that made him take note. The man was dressed with a collared shirt and dress pants in the middle of a haunted house, compared to the girl's jeans and t-shirt.

He frowned.

They were talking with the owner of the building, and it was then that he knew he was screwed: they were hunters, and were likely here for the same thing he was. And now, of course, he had pointed them in the direction of the person who had been here the longest - him. He let out a long groan, functioning as both a way to relieve his frustrations and to stay in character. He had a show to put on - around them, he'd be Gabriel Eberhardt, a completely normal human with a fondness for working at haunted houses.

"Hello," he said, throwing in a casual wave with a badly decayed hand.

"Hello," the man replied. He gave him a smile, but something about the smile didn't look right. He didn't like it in the slightest. "My name is Issac, and this is Quinn."

Quinn gave a little wave. She was studying him, too, likely trying to determine if he was the one responsible for all the deaths.

"I'm Gabriel, but I'm guessing he already told you that." He gave a nod in the direction of the owner. "So, you two here to join in on the festivities?"

He kept his tone light and cheerful, trying not to raise anymore suspicion than he might have already.

Quinn shook her head. "We're actually here to figure out why there's so many people dying," she said. He hated how casually she could say something like that; hunters really were a strange, detestable breed of people.

He raised an eyebrow and decided to play the dumb card. "Are you police or something?"

"We're..." Quinn hesitated, looking over at Issac.

"We're investigators," he concluded, studying him with blue eyes that felt just as wrong as his smile. "The owner asked to look into this place - we have a mutual friend."

Quinn gave him a warm smile. "We might end up helping out, too - it depends on how much we can figure out on our own."

"Well," he said, the lie easily slipping off of his tongue, "I hope that you join in. There's just something so entertaining about watching people's terror."

He gave them a wave, then wandered off to another part of the graveyard. He knew he should have kept his mouth shut, but he despised hunters with a passion - he wanted to get a dig in when he could--


--Saentiel stared down at Azazel again, his grip loosening ever so slightly. He became a hunter when he grew up? Why would he ever want to hunt other supernatural beings? Despite himself, he started to tremble. It made him feel really, really scared to think that there was a demon who would help out humans that wanted to kill things that were different.

(He was too scared by his new knowledge to think about how he must have been one too, and how they eventually seemed to befriend each other.)

xXx

Azazel felt Saentiel's grip loosen, and hesitantly peeked his head up. It must have been another vision, but the vision couldn't have been too bad - he wasn't crying. But then he saw the look that Saentiel was giving him, and it made his blood run cold. A sob caught in his throat; Saentiel was looking at him just like some of the humans did when he said what he was. But Saentiel knew he was a demon, and hadn't minded earlier. So why was he suddenly caring now--

--He studied Gabriel Eberhardt as they approached - studied the way that he leaned oh-so-casually up against the fake gravestone, how he watched them with far too much interest for just a haunted house employee, and how his costume was just a little too realistic for a regular human. By the time he and Quinn reached Gabriel's side, he already had him pegged. It wasn't hard, really, seeing that he was looking one of his kin.

"Hello," Gabriel said with a wave.

"Hello," he replied. He gave him a smile, but there was only so much that this robotic body could accomplish. The demon shifted ever so slightly; Gabriel didn't like it. Maybe that was a bonus, or maybe it wasn't. He could never quite tell these days. "My name is Issac, and this is Quinn."

Quinn waved, studying Gabriel just like he had taught her.

"I'm Gabriel, but I'm guessing he already told you that." Gabriel gave a nod in the direction of the owner. "So, you two here to join in the festivities?"

His tone was light and cheerful, but he had already seen past Gabriel's facade. He knew exactly why they were there, and he was treading carefully because of it. But that was alright - they could investigate more about him later, once they finished this conversation.

Quinn shook her head. "We're actually here to figure out why there's so many people dying," she said. He was grateful that was she was there; she just had a way of talking that made things sound far less morbid than they actually were.

Gabriel raised an eyebrow. "Are you police or something?"

"We're..." Quinn hesitated, looking over at him.

"We're investigators," he concluded for her. It wasn't entirely wrong, and there was no need to pretend that Gabriel had figured out why they were there the moment they arrived. Let him think they were hunters. It wasn't entirely correct, and he wasn't exactly one for punishments, but it just felt right having someone who was likely responsible for a dozen murders feel a little bit of fear for once. "The owner asked to look into this place - we have a mutual friend."

Quinn gave Gabriel a warm smile - he didn't know how she could do it. "We might end up helping out, too - it depends on how much we can figure out on our own."

"Well," Gabriel said, "I hope that you join in. There's just something so entertaining about watching people's terror."

He gave them a wave, then wandered off to another part of the graveyard. He waited until Gabriel was a good distance away before turning back to Quinn. "I think we might have found our killer."

"What do you think he is?" Quinn quietly asked, watching as Gabriel began to chat with a young woman that was also dressed as a zombie. "Some kind of shapeshifter, right? His costume was too realistic for someone working at a haunted house."

He gave her a small smile. "Good observation. If I'm correct, he was a demon. And, from the way he was acting around us, I think he might have figured out our occupation, even though he's ever so slightly off."

Quinn returned his smile with a grin. "I guess it's time to do some investigating!"

"Of course," he replied, and the two went to talk with a nearby worker--


--Azazel's hands shot up to cover his mouth, his scream now muffled as he tried to stumble back away from Saentiel. It didn't make any sense! Saentiel was so nice, and he thought he liked him in the future! That was why he felt so good around him, and why he was so eager to stay near him. But Gabriel and Saentiel were the same person, and Gabriel had killed a dozen people.

"M-Monster," he stammered, staring at Saentiel with wide eyes.

Saentiel stared at him too, but his face was unreadable. And, though it terrified him to realize it, he couldn't see Saentiel anymore in the look he gave - all Azazel could see was Gabriel, with that same, cold glint to his eyes.
mage

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roleplaying is my platonic love language.

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Sun Jan 20, 2019 6:01 pm
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TheSilverFox says...



Aegeas was more than happy to move closer to his rescuer. "What's wrong with you two?" he said when he was sure he was reasonably far away from Azazel and Saentiel. "Aren't we supposed to work together as a team? Why are you calling each other monsters and freaking out?"

******


"You're not monsters," Taber growled softly, still clinging to Azazel.
S'io credesse che mia risposta fosse
a persona che mai tornasse al mondo,
questa fiamma staria senza piu scosse.
Ma per ciò che giammai di questo fondo
non tornò vivo alcun, s'i' odo il vero,
senza tema d'infamia ti rispondo.

Inferno, Canto 27, l 61-66.





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Sun Jan 20, 2019 9:05 pm
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Mageheart says...



"He's a mur-mur-mur-"

Azazel couldn't finish the word, but Saentiel knew what he was going to say. His arms fell to his side, and his wings curled up against his back. "A murderer," he finished. The word shouldn't have felt so comfortable coming off of his tongue, but he was beginning to realize that it had to be true. He glanced down at the hand at his side - he could imagine the blood of another piece of prey coating it.

Azazel wasn't the only one who would become a hunter.

He would too.

Azazel gave a little whimper, and now buried himself further in the werewolf's arms. He should have felt more hurt that Azazel suddenly didn't care about him, but he couldn't find the strength. He suddenly had the feeling that this wasn't the first time that someone had been disgusted by him, even though feeling that way didn't make any sense.

"I'm going to fall and become a demon," Saentiel softly said. He stared down at his hand that he had used to kill the vampire in his vision. "I'm going to hunt other supernatural people, and hate human hunters even though I'm just like them."

He glanced back up at Azazel and gave the cowering boy a smile that didn't meet his eyes. "I guess I really am a monster, huh?"

He looked at the others for the briefest of moments, but he already knew what they had to be thinking. He had just admitted he was a murderer; why would they ever like him? A knot grew in his chest, but he ignored the pain. He just turned his back and started to head into the woods. He was a loner. He could feel that now - he and people just didn't mix. It had always been that way, and always would.

He just had never realized it before now.

He made sure to move quickly once he was out of their view; he didn't want anyone to follow him. Not that he thought someone would - he hadn't exactly made any friends. The trees quickly began to blur together as tears started to slide down his face. A part of him started to put the pieces together as silent sobs wracked his body. Even though he thought he had come here because of the older angels, he couldn't remember entering the forest. The only memory he could recall was him when he was older.

He hadn't been getting glimpses of his future.

He had been looking at his past-

A splitting headache suddenly erupted in his skull. He let out a scream of pain and fell to his knees as memories began to appear in quick succession. There was the memory of falling, of the searing pain as his wings were ripped out of his back. The memory of when he first saw Nick, and of when he discovered the truth about his lover. The memory of Nick saying that it didn't matter, and of seeing his broken body on the pavement. The memory of swearing vengeance. The memory of packing his bags and leaving behind a life that could have never really been his. The memory of Azazel pointing a gun at his face, the memory of Quinn asking him to join them on their trek across the country, the memory of walking past the line of trees to enter the forest and find the thing that would buy the safety of his friends-

Another scream of pain. His body was shifting and changing. He was growing taller. His hair was changing to an even lighter blond. His tunic was becoming a leather jacket, jeans and combat boots. His wings were disappearing with even more pain than any of the other changes, and his eyes were frantically switching from bright blue to all black.

And then it all stopped.

It took him a moment to recover - it had hurt just as badly as when he first fell. But then his eyes remained blue, and he rose to his feet. A stray white feather drifted down out of his vision; he didn't bother to catch it. A fierce anger rose up from within him - Adriel had forced him into this woods to retrieve the source of its strange magic, threatening to harm both Issac and Quinn if he didn't cooperate. He must have sent Issac in, too, when he took too long to retrieve it-

His eyes widened as realization dawned on him.

The forest turned all those who entered it into children, and slowly allowed them to regain their memories the longer they remained. Issac was only just beginning to get the memories of who he was, and hadn't had as many "visions" as he had. His best friend - and the man he loved - was helpless.

He needed to find Issac again, even if he was currently scared of him. He could deal with the revelation that he was a fallen angel later, once they were out of these woods and Quinn was rescued.
mage

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roleplaying is my platonic love language.

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Sun Jan 20, 2019 9:58 pm
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TheSilverFox says...



Ugh. Could these people just stay in one place? They were screaming about how they were violent murderers and running away. The forest had to be messing with them. They had to be going crazy. There was no possible way, as friendly and (mostly) ordinary as they'd been, that they'd ever actually hurt anyone. If these visions were real, Aegeas certainly didn't want to have any.

But the winged man was gone, and Aegeas wasn't about to let him run off again. The otter sped off into the forest. It didn't matter that he was much slower, or that the winged man was already out of sight. As long as Aegeas saw the odd feather or two, and caught the smell of those wings, it'd be fine-

Aegeas hit the ground, a cloud of dust rising up around him. He could feel a heavy weight pressing against his back. The otter shouted and pulled himself up, causing the weight to fall off and roll onto the ground beside him. When he looked back, he was more than surprised to find another otter staring at him.

"Tristan!" Aegeas said. He swore that wasn't his brother's name, but it made perfect sense. "What are you doing here?"

Tristan, sprawled out on his back, crossed his arms and pouted. "I saw you sneaking off," he said. "You were going to have fun without me."

"Go back to your sisters," Aegeas said, standing on his feet and walking over to Tristan. Aegeas held out a hand. "It's not safe here."

Turning his head away, Tristan huffed. "No, they're boring," he said. "All they do is sit around and be boring."

Aegeas dragged a paw over his face. He didn't have time for this. "Fine," Aegeas said. "But you have to do exactly what I say."

"Really?" Tristan said, looking back. The younger otter immediately jumped onto his feet.

Pointing to a spot in the forest, Aegeas nodded. "And the first thing I want you to do is stay behind me. We're going to find a friend."

Spoiler! :
Tristan Weywot, age 8. Aegeas's younger brother, so they look a lot alike. Brown pants, no shirt, bandages around his chest. Has a staff poking out of the bandages on his back. Very friendly, adores Aegeas and won't leave him alone.


******


Taber couldn't believe that either of them could be murderers or monsters, and so was more than happy that he could at least help one of them feel better. And Aegeas was going after the other one, so it was all going to be fine.

Or, so he hoped. He had this vague memory that Aegeas wasn't exactly great at conversations.

"Do you want to go after him?" he hissed to Azazel. "Or do you want to stay here? It's fine if you don't feel sa-

-fe"

Taber frowned down at Eremia. Her blonde hair spread out from under her cloak, waving ever so slightly in the winds. He thought it was beautiful, but it'd attract a bit too much suspicion if he reached down and ran his paws through it.

"Not entirely," she said, meeting his gaze. She had that usual focused expression of hers, tinted by a small frown. "It is most certainly the easiest way to enter the city without detection, but coordinating everyone has been, and will be, a nightmare."

The wolf looked ahead. Somewhere in the fog that shrouded the city were all of his friends. Hopefully they hadn't been caught. Hopefully they weren't rotting in a jail cell. Hopefully they weren't dead. The spies kept coming back and saying otherwise, but something nagged at him. The Doves hadn't done anything like this before. And it was all the more strange that some of the others were on the other side of the country.

Suddenly, a cloud of smoke rose in the distance. Not big, but it spiraled upwards, growing quickly. Taber could feel his breathing grow more shallow.

Eremia sighed and pulled out a sword. "It appears we have no other choice, then," she said. She turned back and shouted, "To battle!"

"Yep!" Taber said as they stepped out from behind the wall and made their way through the open doorway onto the street, soldiers streaming in after them.


Taber froze for a few seconds. Then a warm smile spread across his face.

"I have a girlfriend!" he growled, tightening his grip on Azazel. "That's so cool!"
S'io credesse che mia risposta fosse
a persona che mai tornasse al mondo,
questa fiamma staria senza piu scosse.
Ma per ciò che giammai di questo fondo
non tornò vivo alcun, s'i' odo il vero,
senza tema d'infamia ti rispondo.

Inferno, Canto 27, l 61-66.





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Sun Jan 20, 2019 11:32 pm
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Mageheart says...



Saentiel had left.

Azazel was terrified of the angel now that he knew what he was capable of, but he still felt a strange pang of guilt in his heart when he heard what the angel said. And that look that he had given everyone right before he left was especially disheartening, though he couldn't quite put his finger on why. He felt like he should have been more accepting – like there was something Saentiel that he should have known, something that would suddenly make what he had seen alright--

--A hand shot out of the shadows and grabbed him by the arm. He opened his mouth to let out a cry of alarm, hoping that it might amount to something - but his captor's other hand covered it before he could get out a single noise.

He looked down, and immediately knew who the culprit was when he saw how badly decayed the hand was. The footsteps in the distance faded, and his captor let him go. He stepped back. Gabriel Eberhardt followed suit a second later, still stubbornly using his zombie form.

"You're welcome," the demon said.

"You're welcome?" he repeated, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes, you're welcome." Gabriel crossed his arms. "I just saved your life."

He gave him a look of disbelief. "It looks more like you captured me and plan on adding me to your list of victims." He withheld the urge to snap at him; he was worried about Quinn, but he could coerce the demon into giving him the answers he needed once he figured out said demon's true identity - he surely had made a deal with him at some point.

"I thought a great hunter like you would be better at figuring it out," the demon said. Azazel bristled with annoyance; it was clearly meant to be an insult. "But, then again, I'm a demon and you know it. You'd love for an excuse to kill me-"

"Someone else is responsible," Azazel surmised. Gabriel faltered, but didn't interrupt. "Even if someone is, that still doesn't excuse all of the deaths you've caused up until now. Your death would be justified."

Gabriel looked him over. "...You found out about my other jobs?"

"I have friends in high places," Azazel replied, giving him a smile he knew didn't look quite right. "Quinn and I managed to track down at least fifty, but something tells me you've done more than that from the smug grin on your face right now."

Gabriel's grin widened. "Guilty as charged, though you've got one thing wrong - humans aren't the only ones who hunt."

Azazel stared.

"It must be blowing your mind right now, imagining that there's a demon who might be hunting other of his kind," Gabriel continued on. Azazel couldn't stop staring; how had he been so wrong? He should have seen it all along. The incidents in every place Gabriel had been had stopped once he left. It wasn't because he had been causing them - it was because he had rooted out the source of the problem. "Everyone deserved it. They were all monsters in the truest sense of the word, not what you throw at everything that isn't like you-"

"It's the owner, isn't it?"

Gabriel faltered. "Er, yes?"

"He was our second guess," Azazel explained.

Gabriel looked at him incredulously. "You're not the least bit startled by a demon hunting things that go bump in the night?"

He thought for a moment, mulling over the options. Then, casting the briefest of glances over in Gabriel's direction, he replied, "It takes one to know one. Now, do you want to help me rescue Quinn? Something tells me you know where she is."

When he glanced over at Gabriel again, the other demon was still gaping at him. "You're a demon?" he said, but Azazel was already heading down the hallway. "Your little friend must be oblivious to it-"

"Oh, she knows," Azazel replied. "She's known since we first met. I'm the one who introduced her to the supernatural."

He couldn't help but be just a bit amused at how dumbfounded Gabriel looked as he fell into step beside him--


--He heard the werewolf say something to him as the world came back into focus, but he was far too distracted by what he had just seen in his vision. The guilt in his chest grew exponentially, and he hurriedly slipped out of the werewolf's grip.

"I have to find Saentiel," he informed the group gathered, then promptly darted off into the woods after the angel.

He didn't know how he felt about Saentiel killing people, but he finally understood! Saentiel wasn't a bad person in the future. He was just trying to stop bad people, and got mistaken for one because he didn't know all of the answers-

Wait a second.

He skid to a halt in an abandoned part of the woods. That didn't make any sense. Why wouldn't he have known that Saentiel was Gabriel, if that really was the future? He should have recognized him when they met, thanks to the visions. Even if it was really far in the future, he should have figured it out. He frowned, crossed his arms and thought very hard on it.

An idea suddenly came to him. It was a weird one, and seemed kind of crazy, but it was making more sense than what he had previously thought. Maybe he already was Issac Drake, and had just got turned into a kid somehow? And then the visions would have been his memories trying to get back to him. But if then how was he supposed to get them back, and how was he supposed to be an adult again-

A pained cry left him as he was bombarded with a terrible headache. He lost all strength to his legs, crumpling to the ground as memories began to flood his mind. Memories of making deals throughout a childhood in the desert. Memories of slowly climbing the ranks of demon kind solely due to his ability to get people in his favor. Memories of what happened after getting trapped in that robotic body, and memories of meeting Quinn Holt for the first time. Memories of traveling and helping people deal with supernatural problems. Memories of Gabriel joining them, and memories of traveling across the country while slowly falling all the more in love with him. And memories of being pushed into the forest after Gabriel, promising to find the source of the forest's power and trade it for Quinn's life.

And then came the changes.

If the memories were painful, the bodily changes were hell on earth. His body grew, and soft skin was replaced with metallic parts. His skin became lighter, and his hair became black. His eyes were now green instead of dark brown, and lost the same living shine that they had before. His desert-dwelling clothes were replaced with semi-formal attire of the modern day: a collared shirt, dress pants and loafers.

And then it all stopped.

It took him a moment to focus on something other than the pain. When he finally regained his senses, he unsteadily got to his feet and surveyed the woods. Gabriel was still somewhere out there, as well as all of the other children - who, like him, surely had to be older than they appeared to be. He ran his fingers through his hair. He needed to find his friend; he was terrified of what could happen to a small, upset child who couldn't protect himself nearly as well as his adult counterpart-

He could hear something moving a short distance away. He waited a moment before approaching the source of the noise, carefully maneuvering around trees and bushes to avoid making any noise of his own. But before he could reach the source, he felt a knife up against his throat.

It was too dark to easily make out his captor, so he settled for remaining still and waiting to hear the demands. Either someone else had grown older, or he was dealing with a much taller child than any of the others. He just had to figure out their motive.

"Who are you-"

"Gabriel?" he interrupted, recognizing the voice almost immediately.

The knife was drawn away, and he turned to see his friend behind him.

"You're older now," Gabriel said.

"You too," he replied.

Gabriel slipped the knife into the recesses of his leather jacket. "Well, that takes care of one problem - I don't have to worry about keeping an eye on you as a kid. Who knew you cried so much?"

He crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow. "I seem to remember you getting scared fairly easily, Gabriel. And it does look like you were just crying, if your red eyes and running nose are anything to go off of."

Gabriel swore. "That stayed?"

"Apparently," he replied.

They fell into an awkward silence. It seemed like it was never going to end, but Gabriel finally spoke once more. There was a tired, weary tone to his voice - it was so honest that Azazel was taken aback by it. "I know you don't trust me anymore," he said. "But we have a forest of kids who need to be protected right now, so we can stay together until we figure out what's going on in this place. I'll trick Adriel into letting Quinn go, and then we can head our separate ways-"

"Gabriel, I don't hate you for being a fallen angel."

Gabriel faltered. "...You don't?"

"I don't," he confirmed. "You're my friend, and angels are usually terrible - I'm sure they made you fall because you did something good."

Gabriel stared at him.

"You're...You're right," he confirmed. "I did...So, before things get awkward, we should probably check out the source of that noise I'm sure you also heard. I'm guessing it'll probably be for the best if we don't say who we are at first - I'll be Gabriel, and you'll be Issac."

"Just like usual," he said, giving a small smile.

Gabriel returned it.

"Yeah," he said, "just like usual."

They headed off through the trees together, listening for more noises. They eventually found a pair of otters - one clearly Aegeas, and the other unfamiliar - in a little clearing. Glancing at each other one last time, they approached the two together.
mage

[ she/her, but in a boy kinda way ]

roleplaying is my platonic love language.

queer and here.





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Mon Jan 21, 2019 12:30 am
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TheSilverFox says...



Aegeas held out a paw to stop Tristan. He glared up at the newcomers, who looked strangely familiar. The height was all wrong, and so was their eye color, and their hair, and basically most of their appearance. Still, their movements, their gestures, and their smells were almost recognizable. Not enough to trust them, though. "Who are you?" he said. "What do you want?"

"Hi!" Tristan said, waving. Aegeas immediately stepped in front of Tristan.
S'io credesse che mia risposta fosse
a persona che mai tornasse al mondo,
questa fiamma staria senza piu scosse.
Ma per ciò che giammai di questo fondo
non tornò vivo alcun, s'i' odo il vero,
senza tema d'infamia ti rispondo.

Inferno, Canto 27, l 61-66.





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Mon Jan 21, 2019 1:29 am
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Mageheart says...



He resisted the urge to swear - there were children around, after all - and tried to come up with a good explanation for why Issac and him were in the woods. Telling the truth was out of the question, but he wasn't sure what other options there were.

"My name is Issac Drake," Issac said, giving the otters a smile that didn't look quite right. "My friend's name is Gabriel Eberhardt. We wandered into the woods while we were looking for something and became a little lost."

Thank God for Issac's decent lying skills! It was the perfect excuse, and one that would allow them to still look for the source of the forest's strange magic.

"Hey," he said, giving a causal wave at Aegeas and the otter boy that had to be his little brother as leaned up against the nearest tree.
mage

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Mon Jan 21, 2019 1:32 am
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ScarlettFire says...



Ciaran followed after the others but was quickly lost. Completely, utterly lost. Who knew otter-boys could move so fast? He stumbled to a stop next to a tree and grabbed hold of it, frowning. Where had they gone? Ugh, why did that have to move so fast! And then there was screaming and lots of other noises; talking, crying, then movement out into the forest. Ciaran's frown deepened as he tried to pin point where all he movement was coming from, head tilted to try and figure it out.

Why was his hearing so good? Probably something to do with his visions? The terrifying one with his sire, whatever that meant. He reached up to touch his fangs and winced when his tummy started grumbling. Something deep and hungry flared to life in his tummy and he groaned, dropping to his knees beside the tree. Why was he so hungry?

--footsteps faded away and then came closer. Ciaran stayed hunkered down in his little hole in the wall of a basement. The stone had been easy to pry loose, and now he was at least semi-safe from the villagers who wanted him dead. Where was his sire when he needed him?

It was his own fault, if he were being honest. His father had told him to stay put, but Ciaran had been so hungry --
starving, really -- that he hadn't been able to ignore the scent and sound of so many humans, so many heartbeats, their blood--

Ciaran broke off that thought with a sharp shake of his head and crammed himself tighter into the tiny crawl space he'd made behind the basement stairs. Father would come back soon, and then he could actually feed without worry. He didn't quite know how to enthrall anyone yet, and that's why he'd been caught. He'd tried to flirt with a village boy, but the boy had turned a disgusted look on him and called him a freak. So Ciaran had tried to feed anyway and that ended up with the boy fighting back. He'd ended up getting scratched across the face for his trouble and then stabbed. Ciaran had pulled the blade free and then watched in horror as the boy saw it heal on its own. Of course, that had started off a cry of "vampyr!" and ended up with Ciaran running away.

Which led to here, the dingy, freezing cold basement and the hole he'd made behind the basement stairs so he'd be safe. Ciaran curled up tighter, hugging himself as the hunger flared deeper and darker. The sounds of humans rushing around above him was growing harder to ignore, even harder than it'd been before his failure at hunting, but Ciaran forced himself not to move, to stay put. He wasn't sure how long he'd have to stay there until his sire returned, but he did know one thing. He was so hungry....


Ciaran curled in on himself, whimpering. What kind of vision was that? That was a horrible vision! And what was with the hunger thing? That was ridiculous, but he was so hungry right now, starving... He gingerly pushed up onto his feet, using the tree for support. He needed to find the others. They might have food for him. Or, he grimaced, blood. Why would he even want blood? That was disgusting!

Rustling from nearby brought his head up and Ciaran tilted his head. That was people moving through the brush, and was that talking? He perked up and headed towards it, stumbling into a little clearing a few minutes later only to find Otter-boy and a second otter, and two adults. He looked around the small group before turning to one of the adults and peering up at them, trying for pleading.

"I'm hungry."
"With friends like you, who needs a medical license?" - Paimon, Aether's Heart


“It's easier to ask forgiveness than it is to get permission.” - Grace Hopper.





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Mon Jan 21, 2019 3:50 am
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TheSilverFox says...



"And what are you looking for?" Aegeas said, glaring up at the adults. Tristan seemed very happy to have the attention, but Aegeas wasn't fooled - these people were too strange for his comfort. He was terrified, of course. He was in strange forest surrounded by strange people who looked strangely taller and more dangerous than him. But he had to put on a face, at least for Tristan's sake.

And then one of the other kids showed up

"They don't have anything to give you," Aegeas said, pointing to the adults. "They're not friends."
S'io credesse che mia risposta fosse
a persona che mai tornasse al mondo,
questa fiamma staria senza piu scosse.
Ma per ciò che giammai di questo fondo
non tornò vivo alcun, s'i' odo il vero,
senza tema d'infamia ti rispondo.

Inferno, Canto 27, l 61-66.





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Mon Jan 21, 2019 3:58 am
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Mageheart says...



The adult the little vampire kid looked up to was Gabriel, who promptly pulled Issac over to where he was standing instead. Neither one had a problem with kids, but Issac had a little thing he didn't - metal underneath his skin. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to understand why the kid was hungry. He needed blood. Who know how long it had been since he had last eaten. Even if he had fed recently, the hunger could be based on when the kid version of him had ate last.

Of course, they didn't have God or his little brother kicking around this time, so they'd have to get creative.

"You don't have any snacks on you, do you?" Gabriel asked, glancing over at Issac. The other demon shook his head, and now Gabriel let out a quiet swear. Not one that the kids could easily pick up, but a swear all the same.

"Just give us a quick second, kid," Gabriel said, looking over in the vampire's direction and giving him a strained smile. "We'll find you some food."

He spun around and looked at Issac again.

"We don't have food," Gabriel whispered.

"He might be looking for blood," Issac quietly pointed out. "We have an entire supply of it."

Gabriel's hand instinctively covered his neck. "Yeah, I'm not going to be sucked dry by a vampire who's forgotten how to control himself."

Issac raised his eyebrow, and almost amused look flickering across his face. "I was talking about myself." He gave his chest a light tap. "Quinn gave me a blood bag to simulate bleeding, remember? It was just changed yesterday. It's human blood, more importantly, so it should be exactly what he needs."

"So we just have to get it out," Gabriel surmised.

Issac nodded. "Exactly." He paused. "Should we do it in front of the children, or should we go behind a tree?"

"It shouldn’t be that bad," Gabriel said with a dismissive wave. He leaned over and started to unbutton the shirt Issac was wearing. "Top right, right? Just a few quick taps, and then, voila, your chest pops open and I remove the blood bag?"

Issac nodded.

It didn’t take long to complete the task - just a minute or two. When he finished, Gabriel also made quick work of the tube connecting the bag to the rest of Issac's body with his permission. He closed Issac up, held the blood bag in his hand, and held it out to the vampire kid.

"Here you go," Gabriel said, giving the kid his signature grin. "This should make you feel better. Don't worry - it's all donated blood. All you have to do is suck on that tube right there."

He turned back to Aegeas. The otter hadn't seemed all that annoying when he was still stuck as a kid, but he was a pain in the as-

"We were looking for something magical," Issac said, buttoning up his shirt. "Our friend lost it, and we promised him that we would find it. Unfortunately, he forgot to tell us what exactly it looked like."
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Mon Jan 21, 2019 4:14 am
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TheSilverFox says...



"Is that what humans look like on the inside?" Tristan whispered into Aegeas's ear, followed by, "I think I'm okay with boring now."

Aegeas nodded. He took a couple steps back, waving and flashing a smile that he knew only made him look constipated. "Yeah, good luck finding it, we've got to find our family and stuff, so-" It might've been a plausible lie, but he didn't have the guts to go through with it, so he grabbed Tristan by the hand and ran.
S'io credesse che mia risposta fosse
a persona che mai tornasse al mondo,
questa fiamma staria senza piu scosse.
Ma per ciò che giammai di questo fondo
non tornò vivo alcun, s'i' odo il vero,
senza tema d'infamia ti rispondo.

Inferno, Canto 27, l 61-66.





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Mon Jan 21, 2019 5:32 am
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ScarlettFire says...



Ciaran took the bag with a frown, looking at it with confusion before holding it away from him with a grimace. He eyed the bag and then the man who'd given it to him. He actually looked...vaguely familiar, but Ciaran couldn't place where he'd seen him before. Ciaran glowered at him, ignoring the otter-boy and what appeared to be otter-boy's sibling as they ran off into the forest.

"What am I supposed to do with this?" Ciaran asked, pointedly looking between the bag of blood and the man. "I....I..." His attention suddenly swiveled to the bag and he pulled it in close to his nose, inhaling sharply. "Oh...oh..."

Ciaran pressed the human back against the bathroom wall, nose buried in the crook of their neck. "Are you sure about this, Luca?" he asked, lips pressed against skin. The human chuckled, and then sucked in a sharp breath when Ciaran threatened fangs. "I need to hear it, please. Don't tease me like this and then say no--"

"Of course I'm sure, Ciaran," the human said, and then there was a hand in his hair, fingers tangling into shoulder-length brown locks. "Now bite me, please. I know what I signed up for when I--"

Ciaran pulled back to peer into dark brown eyes. Luca broke off abruptly, inhaling sharply when Ciaran opened his mouth and revealed four very sharp fangs. He didn't even wait for Luca to catch his breath; he just grabbed a handful of black hair and leaned in to sink his fangs into Luca's neck. Blood bloomed across his tongue, and Ciaran's eyes fluttered closed at the taste. Copper and warmth, and something that almost tasted like sunlight; he melted into the unique taste of Luca, making pleased little noises at the back of his throat.

And then he was pulling away, meeting Luca's glazed eyes and then they were kissing and Ciaran was kicking the bathroom door shut, and then--


"Oh," Ciaran said, feeling warmth bubble up in his chest and heat in his cheeks. He didn't understand the blushing. Or the warm feeling in his chest. Why was he blushing anyway? Why did his chest feel so tight and warm? But the rest... The blood-drinking... He looked at the bag of blood again. "Oh..."

Ciaran swallowed and glanced up at the two men. Maybe they could answer his questions?

"I'm supposed to eat this, aren't I?" he asked, blinking away sudden tears. Why was the vision of Luca making him so sad? He hadn't hurt him, had he? Or was it that he missed Luca? Ciaran was confused by the thought, and slowly wiped at his face. "Why am I crying? That wasn't even a scary vision..."
"With friends like you, who needs a medical license?" - Paimon, Aether's Heart


“It's easier to ask forgiveness than it is to get permission.” - Grace Hopper.





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Mon Jan 21, 2019 11:35 am
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Mageheart says...



Gabriel and Issac exchanged a look. Two of the kids had gone running off, and now the one that remained was crying and apparently didn't realize that he was a vampire. There was still another group of kids out in the woods somewhere, too, if he didn't have enough of a headache as it was.

"I can get Aegeas and the other otter," Issac said.

"Sounds like a plan," Gabriel said.

He listened to Issac enter the rest of the woods for several moments, then crouched down in front of the vampire kid. He couldn't pretend to know what he had just seen, but he did have his suspicions. Memories of the times he had spent with Nick wouldn't have been scary on their own, but would have resulted in tears because, somewhere, he would have known that Nick was long gone.

And vampires did tend to have fairly long lifespans.

He couldn't say that to the kid, of course. He didn't even know he was looking at his old memories. But, at the very least, he did know the likely cause for the kid's tears, and he could do his best to get his mind off of that.

"You are supposed to eat that," Gabriel confirmed, "though I think it's more like you drink it."

He thought for a moment, grabbed the bag out of the kid's hands and took one large sip from the tube. "See? Like this," he said, mouth full of blood he had no intention of drinking. He promptly spit said blood out the moment he plopped the bag back down in the kid's hands, furiously wiping away his mouth with the sleeve of his leather jacket.

He grinned at the kid; he was sure his teeth were stained just a bit red now.

"Try it," he said. "I'm sure you'll love it. I've heard that the donor had some of the best blood around."

xXx

Aegeas and the other otter boy - his brother, maybe? - ran fast, but Azazel had the added advantage of longer legs. Pair that with how loudly the two were running through the undergrowth, and it wasn't difficult for him to find the otters. He quickly bridged the remaining distance between himself and the two.

Once he was close enough, he grabbed each one by the shoulder. He knew his approach had been fairly silent, and that they were likely terrified by both him and his sudden arrival, but he couldn't change their minds in only a second. He needed more time than that, and preventing them from running away was his best way to get that.
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Mon Jan 21, 2019 12:09 pm
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ScarlettFire says...



Ciaran gave the man a disbelieving look as he spat out the blood, raising an eyebrow at the action. It did smell good, though, and he pulled the bag back to his nose, inhaling deeply. He really liked the smell of it. Ciaran frowned, trying to put together the pieces of the puzzle his visions presented. He still felt like he was missing something. Like, a huge part of it, but at least he kind of...knew what to do with the blood? He still didn't understand the 'vampyr' thing from his other vision.

He figured that the man could answer his questions, so he sighed and lowered the bag slightly, peering up at the man. It was slightly off-putting to see his teeth stained red, but well... The man had just tried to show him the blood was okay.

"It's...donated blood?" Ciaran asked, just to make sure he'd heard correctly. "So no one was...really badly hurt to get this, right?"
"With friends like you, who needs a medical license?" - Paimon, Aether's Heart


“It's easier to ask forgiveness than it is to get permission.” - Grace Hopper.





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Mon Jan 21, 2019 12:20 pm
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Mageheart says...



Gabriel nodded, noticing the concern in the kid's voice. He stopped crouching and sat down beside him instead. "I don't know their name, but I do know that they wanted to give their blood to help other people," he said. He shifted so he was facing the kid. "It took just a second for the blood to be collected, and then they got to stuff their face with a bunch of delicious food afterwards."

He had never donated blood himself - especially not to vampires - but Nick had been a frequent donor at the local blood bank. He had accompanied him on multiple occasions. He had never admitted it, but it had always made him squeamish to see them poking Nick full of medical tools to draw his blood. Of course, Nick had always had a good idea, and even after getting his blood drawn, he had been smart enough to pick up on it.

A small smile flickered across his lips.

Nick had always been a merciless teaser, sometimes even worse than him...

He turned his attention back to the vampire kid - he was quickly realizing that spitting out the blood maybe hadn't been the best way to convince him that drinking the blood was alright. He had to think for a bit before he decided on a good thing to say - he had never had to explain what being a vampire was to someone, and especially not to an amnesiac kid.

He took a deep breath.

"Look," he said, looking right into the boy's eyes, "you're something called a vampire. I don't know if you know what that is. If you don't, it's a person who has to drink blood to survive. The sunlight might hurt you, too, but it depends on what kind of vampire you are."

He pulled his lips back and gestured at his teeth. "The sharp pointy teeth you have are meant to making getting blood easier. It lets you get to someone's blood. But sometimes it's hard for vampires to get blood when they need to, so really nice humans donate their blood to places that vampires can go whenever they're hungry."

He pointed at the blood bag.

"My friend Issac's not a vampire," he said, "but that blood bag did come from one of those places. So it's definitely safe for you to eat, and no one was harmed getting it - I just spat it because I'm not a vampire and don't want to test what human blood does to someone like me."
mage

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