revenance_rpg | Soul Bound

Entry tags:

Soul Bound

Who: Emizel and Soma (possibly mooore..?)
What: A demon and a kinda-not-so demon share ability secrets...kind of literally
Where: MoI, Training Room
When: After this thread
Warnings: Demon souls, dark types, ~~random cute~~

Emizel had no problem waiting, but he wasn't really sure what he was going to have to do when Soma got here. Perhaps that's why he wanted to arrive early, that or the slight chance this could just be done as soon as possible. Either way, there was a little demon sitting and waiting, with a Meow Wow by his side. One that was getting kinda antsy, and beginning to whine.

"...Sorry there isn't much for you," he sighed. Though if there was one way to get a Dream Eater to behave, it was certainly food. He dug into a pocket and got Moxie a cookie. Though the end result was not something Emizel was ready for.

"H-hey stop it! That tick--" affection, too much affection, oh nooo. Emizel fell down to his side, cornered and at the mercy of Spirit licks and nuzzles.

Actually make that two Spirits; now Val wanted in on this too. Though not quite for the same reason as Moxie, he was only there because there had been apparently treats involved.

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It was this scene upon which Soma stumbled as he entered the training room: A demon, the embodiment of Death, being set upon by its familiar spirits in what could only be described as a pile of writhing cute.

He briefly wished he had a camera to immortalize the moment, then settled in to watch. From a safe distance, of course; there was no percentage in his getting anywhere close to that action.

After a minute or so (and mostly because he was starting to feel awkward watching the fun from the outside), Soma cleared his throat and stepped toward the pile. "Okay, you guys can let him up now. I'll give you treats later if you do - hey, cut it out!"

The mention of treats managed to do what minutes of poking and prodding could not, awakening the laziest bat in the world and galvanizing it to action - namely fluttering about Soma's head in hopes of a treat. And, of course, in hopes of preventing him from squandering them on other people's spirits. That would be a travesty.

Edited 2013-11-06 05:47 (UTC)

'Treats' really was the magic word. Moxie did so as he was told, although there was no mention that he couldn't snuggle pile Soma instead...but he was a little to tall for that. Instead barking and wagging had to be done instead. Treats, give the treats noow.

Emizel was still trying to be frisked by a bat though. Because hey, if he could get some of Emizel's treats and Soma's, it's a twofer! Buuut on the other hand he didn't want to get into trouble. Eventually Val scurried off, leaving Emizel all alone and caught in his embarrassing predicament.

Ah..a-ahem.

No, the embodiment of Death and future president of the Netherworld was not just playing with Spirits.

Hey, not like Soma's gonna say anything. If it looks like a kid, acts like a kid, and happens to be an embodiment of an abstract concept, well, that's all his business. And he didn't know about the president part, so... yeah.

"Okay, calm down, calm down. I said later, and I meant it. I need you all on your toes, not in a sugar coma." He glanced up at Tepes, who was still fluttering about. "That means you too, lazybones. And you might want to grab some air; there's a reason I haven't tried this with you around yet."

Now the question became, did he offer the kid a hand up, or let him gather his dignity first? ...Bah. Screw dignity, there were only the two of them and their spirits there; he offered Emizel a hand.

Too bad his initial response was to flinch when the hand was offered... Kinda more of a habital instinct more than anything. Most demons don't just offer things like that and Emizel didn't have that much experience with anyone else. Better question is should he even take it. Wouldn't that be a sign of weakness? Kind of worried that would be a sign of weakness... Yeah he simply got up on his own, after much hesitation.

"S-so...How is this supposed to work, exactly?" he had never tried... accepting a soul before.

He let Emi get up on his own - maybe he had pride issues, maybe there was something else, Soma was not at all well enough informed to judge - and shrugged. "Well, first I show you what it does, and then... well, you're a Reaper. If it's possible to separate the soul from me, you're about the only one I know of that could do it in this world, and definitely the only one who could capture it without destroying it."

The more he thought about it, the more he doubted this was going to work. But still, he was willing to give it a shot. And if it did work, well... that opened up other options.

"I.. well..." maybe it was about time Emizel just spat it out that he hadn't done any of this kind of stuff for very long... Or not. His ego has taken enough blows as is.

"..What if I accidentally kill you instead?!"

The boy has a point, you know. And death is far from the worst outcome, Soma. I may be tempered somewhat by my bond with you, but rest assured that if I were separated from you, I would succumb to the madness that has driven me for a millennium in less time than you can possibly imagine. And with me goes all your strength - all your knowledge of weapons, all your accumulated souls, everything. While you possess a certain innate gift for magic all your own, it would take you decades to accumulate the kind of power you have now on your own - perhaps centuries. Certainly longer than a human lifespan - by which time everyone you know will be dead, most likely by my own hand. What can you possibly hope to gain from this experiment?

If he can take Death's soul from me, he may be able to use its knowledge to force chaos to manifest. If he can do that, I--

You are a fool, my host. Forcing chaos to manifest in this world, entirely aside from being rank folly, would accomplish nothing. You will never completely overcome it. That's not how chaos works. If it were that simple, I never would have succumbed in the first place. Your struggle with chaos is one of willpower, and it is one you are destined to lose if you live long enough. For now, you remain mostly human - your years will run out long before your willpower, unless something causes your control to falter. Your quest to confront chaos will accomplish nothing in this world - in our own, it will do nothing more than destroy my castle and end my cycle of reincarnation.

Though quite a long mental conversation, it took place in the realm of thought - where time has little meaning - and so took only a second or two to complete. Only a slight delay, then, passed between Emi's question and Soma's reaction (both to it and to Dracula's thoughts on the matter). "That's... actually a really good question," he admitted, rubbing the back of his neck and generally feeling like an idiot.

Emizel ever so slightly tilted his head to the side.

"...Are you alright? It kinda looked like you were spacing out there for a bit."

Dracula gave him a mental smirk, but said nothing else on the subject; Soma was actually kind of glad for that. "Sorry. I've got... rather a lot on my mind. Including a thousand year old vampire who enjoys making me feel like an idiot."

I have to find enjoyment somewhere. If you'd get over this childish aversion to admitting you love that girl--

That will never be a topic I am okay with addressing with you, and I will thank you to stay out of my thoughts when I'm around her.

Struck a nerve, did I? How amusing.

Soma slammed a mental door in Dracula's face, and shook his head again. "He also happens to be a bit of a creep."

Edited 2013-11-14 01:36 (UTC)

"...W-what?" of all things Emizel was expecting, that was not one of them.

Maybe that had something to do with that weird feeling he had when Soma first arrived.

"A vampire?"

"Yeah, it's kind of new to me too. And complicated. I don't suppose you've ever heard of Dracula?"

Most people knew the name, at least. Hopefully he wouldn't be one of those 'You must die now' types, but then, he was a Reaper, if a rather small, childlike one.

"....It does sound a little familiar," question is, was that actually a demon, or was that just something humans made up. It tended to happen more often than people might think.

Put your mind at ease, Emi, Drac is a real, dyed-in-the-wool, God-cursing demon of the old school, even if he did start out human. Or he was til this derp inherited him.

Ain't supernatural genetics wonderful?

"You haven't tried to kill me or recruit me yet, so we're off on a good foot so far, I guess. Did you still want to see that soul, even if you can't extract it?"

"I don't see why I would need to.." though recruiting could have been a possibility, but they already were working on the same goal. Not much point in that.

"S-sure, I wanna see it."

Soma nodded, and made sure the air space for a large area - roughly the entire room - was clear. Tepes was in a corner, moping. Or sleeping. ...Probably sleeping, the lazy bastard.

He took a moment to concentrate, bringing Death to the forefront. Then suddenly, mini-scythes EVERYWHERE. About a hundred of them, all told, and though they weren't moving very fast, they covered a pretty comprehensive portion of the room's volume. Enough that there was barely room for a person to stand without having to duck. The ones that struck walls or the ceiling sparked and vanished, but were quickly replaced by new ones.

Unfortunately, this particular soul was a pretty substantial drain - he couldn't keep it up for more than a minute or two - and it didn't do a great deal of damage per blade. But it was excellent for clearing out the trash in a room full of flying medusa heads - or lesser Nightmares.

Oh geez, that was a lot of blades.

Of course the Spirits were the first to clear the area, looking for anything to hide behind to not get hit. Thankfully Emizel had a bit of trust in Soma, a bit, might you though.

"T-that is...impressive.." he slowly inched away every few seconds. Seriously, who wouldn't react that way to so many scythes? Even if they don't really last that long.

...And then they disappeared. "Impressive, maybe. Tiring, definitely," he admitted. "It's not the flashiest ability I have, but it's definitely one of the more useful ones. I'd never have gotten back down that clock tower without it." He still wasn't sure how he'd managed to get to the top, what with all the spike traps. And the harpies. And the spikes. And the gargoyles. And the goddamn spikes. And the medusa heads. ...Did I mention the spikes?

He didn't comment on the inching away, but he noticed it all the same. "I try not to use it if I can avoid it."

With them gone it was definitely much less intimidating. Moxie took a little while longer to get out of his hiding hiding spot. Val though... weeell, there was more than one lazy bat to go around.

"It's still way more than anything I can do," he still sounded half nervous, half amazed. "I can't even stay transformed for very long, let alone use a million scythes."

Soma grimaced at that. "I don't really control them," he admitted. "That's all the soul's doing, and the Reaper I took it from was very, very old. Way older than Dracula." He smiled a wry little smile. "And there weren't anywhere near a million of them. It just looked that way because they were spinning around and moving."

Truth be told, it had been rather more than normal; the most he'd ever had out at once before had been ten, and that had been in a very large room. Clearly accepting his power had its perks.

Something else Emi said made him think for a minute. "You know, I can't transform for very long either. Into any form, whether bat or demon." He shrugged. "So I usually don't bother. It may mean a boost in power, but becoming a demon - even for a few seconds - drains me like you wouldn't believe. So I just use what I have access to as a human - or whatever I happen to be, now," he amended, remembering a few other conversations he'd had over the past two days. "Basically what I'm saying is, fight smarter, not harder. Power will come with time, but only if you survive long enough to experience that time. There's no sense in rushing it, unless there's something you absolutely must do. And then... well, that's when you ask for help, if you can't do it on your own. Relying on a friend is not weakness, it's using your available resources to their utmost potential. Watch them work, pick up what you can, study what you can't just in case, and eventually you won't NEED to call on them, unless you want to."

Okay, where the hell did THAT explanation come from? Considering Soma knew absolutely nothing about demon politics (and especially not the brand practiced in Disgaea-style netherworlds), he sounded pretty well educated.

It left Emizel a little bit speechless actually. Certainly not something a normal demon would bother listening to, but here, it was all familiar; nostalgic even. Hearing it here and now, ironically was kind of nice.

"...It sounds like you've been through a lot."

"More than I really like to admit," he said, rubbing the back of his head a bit sheepishly. How much had he really been through? He was only in the castle for a day or so - it felt like longer, but it couldn't have been. But Dracula had been there for centuries, and it was his experience that Soma was drawing on now. "A friend of mine once told me that I didn't have to face the trial I went through. That it would change me, and that not all the changes would be good ones, or even obvious ones - that I might not be the same person at the end that I was when I started. I'm only now beginning to realize how right he was."

Eh, it probably was only fair to let Soma keep going, But this really was hitting more pings than just one. Especially when there's apparently that association to go by now too.

"You really do remind me of somebody else I know."

Soma, of course, had no idea he was pushing the kid's buttons, let alone which ones. Truth be told, he was still kind of processing all of this himself, and this conversation had gone no small way in helping with that. But that statement couldn't help but make him curious.

"Not in a bad way, I hope. Dare I ask who?"

"He's another vampire, actually," then again, it wasn't like vampires were very rare. Uncommon maybe.

"You heard of the name Valvatorez before, right?"

"Can't say I have," Soma admitted. "Different worlds, remember? Could you describe him for me, maybe there's a local parallel?"

...of course, at this point Soma was beginning to suspect he knew who the parallel was. Man, was this about to get awkward.

Where does someone even start with that one?

"I guess not. He used to be a tyrant centuries back, even now he is still considered a legend in the Netherworld just because of how strong he was."

"...Although with how he is now, it's sort of hard to imagine it's even the same guy."

...yes, definite parallels.

"That sounds familiar. Anything else?"

He didn't want to link himself to this 'Valvatorez' just yet, mostly because there were other details he wanted to check.

"...Well, ever since he lost his power he's been obsessed with sardines."

Not going to go too deep into how that happened. Emizel knew things count toward confidential, unlike some people. But yeah...that is a thing too.

...okay, that was a new one. "That, I can honestly say, is not a trait shared between your Valvatorez and the individual I have in mind." Soma had no great love for fish of any kind, and so far as he was aware, neither did Dracula.

"I... well, I'm not really sure I should say this. Valvatorez sounds a lot like Dracula. The age, the power, the legends - they seem to line up pretty well. And if you want to get into details? Technically, I am Dracula, now."

Oh reeeeaaaally. Either that was purely coincidence, or just a stretch, it might be good to test it... Or something. Really Emizel was at a lost.

"H-how did that happen, anyway? I mean, all those 'humans becoming vampires' myths are just hoaxes," of course, this did sound like something completely different. Obviously so.

"Dracula made a deal with Death - the same one I got that soul fragment from, actually - that lets him reincarnate by passing his powers on to a handful of mortals. When one of them reaches adulthood, he or she can track down and destroy the others, taking their share of the mantle from them. The first one to take one of the others' mantle is pretty much assured to be the ultimate victor - and that's usually the one who has the Power of Dominance. This time around? That would be me. As for taking one of the others' power... well, I defeated one of them, but that was never my intent. By all rights, I should be Dracula right now - but I turned down the offer."

There were some other particulars, like who was eligible as a candidate as well as a vague memory about a red stone, but he wasn't going to go into that here. He'd probably already given too much information already, though Dracula was being curiously silent on the matter.

"Huuuh, why did you turn it down? It sounds like it'd be cool."

~~Dammit, now you got him wanting to know more.~~

"Because it would have meant letting everyone I knew die, losing my identity, and basically dying." He was being a little bit blunt here, but it was all the truth - power does not always come with perks, ladies and gentlemen.

They need not have died, my host, and you're not as right as you think about losing your personality. You would simply have gone insane - you may believe me when I say that there is a very strong distinction.

Soma took that nugget of information onboard with a bit of a mental raised eyebrow, and then a mental shrug. It still wouldn't have been me anymore.

Edited 2013-12-17 06:31 (UTC)

...Oh, oh. That is probably a good reason. That was kind of worth a cringe.

"That's surprising you had a choice, then."

"Most people don't. I had... help. In the form of Dracula's son, in fact, plus a hunter from the Belmont clan."

Yeah, definitely a good reason.

"Arikado was posing as an agent of the Church, but it's hard to mistake the source of a person's power when you have the same thing."

...Yeah most of that pretty much went over Emizel's head. Regardless though.

"At any rate, I'm a little glad you didn't change," wait a minute, he just said that. Ah dammit he just said that. N-nooo.

"That makes two of us, I assure you. I get the feeling it's not going to be quite so simple in the long run, though - there are at least two other candidates out there and I have no idea what they even look like. Either of them could try to take me out from the shadows at any time."

If Soma found it odd that Emi had just admitted to being glad about something, he wasn't saying anything about it - and he didn't. Gotta remember, kiddo, Soma's human - he won't pick up on demon faux pas.

Ahhh....good, maybe. That just means it'll be much easier to brush it off.

"I got no idea to help you there.."

"I'll come up with something. Or the Church will. Or they may just try to kill me themselves." He shrugged. "I don't intend to go down without a fight, regardless."

Over in their corner, the spirits had finished whatever arcane business they had with one another (a general cuddle pile and a lot of hiding from sharp objects, probably), and made their ways back to their respective owners. Tepes took up his accustomed place on Soma's shoulder. "I guess this means they think we're done here."

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Soul Bound

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