Blood and Brimstone

Subject: Blood and Brimstone Fri Mar 13, 2009 10:00 pm

He was back. The demon had come back for more. His promise that the pain would end with the ritual was broken. Of course it had been broken the moment he had entered me that night, but he'd stayed away for months, why come back now? His scent is what hit me first, what woke me from an otherwise peaceful slumber. The stench of decaying souls, of smoke and sulfur, carrying with it a heat that assaults the senses, singes the nostrils. His voice came next, from the shadows, before his body materialized at my bedside. "Hello again, my pet, it's been too long." The words sent a shiver up my spine, not out of fear but remembrance. His presence brought that night back to me in stunning detail. The pain, the blood, the feeling of my insides being ripped to make way for him. Only now there was a flicker of desire beneath the pain, a knowledge that there could be pleasure given through the horror. My body responded to the memory, not by shrinking away, but by opening for him, preparing for what he would do. The bed lowered under his weight with a quiet groan. I couldn't speak, afraid he would be angered. Hands roamed my body, claws tore my clothes away leaving my scarred flesh exposed. His tongue was a flame snaking across the peaks and valleys my body had to offer, skirting around the most sensitive areas until the torture was sweet enough for me to cry out to him. That's what he was after, he wanted to hear me cry for him again and again. When I did I was rewarded by that burning tongue dipping lower, tasting and drinking in my essence. I came for him, twisted my body against the searing pleasure he sent coursing through my veins. My cries filled his ears while my hands sought out the instrument I had feared only months ago. He allowed me a moment to bask in the glory of my release before the first razor edged claw sank through my flesh. Drawing the talon down the length of my body, from shoulder to thigh, he opened me to him. His tongue entered the rent skin, lapping at my blood while my tears began to fall from my eyes. Tears too thick to be anything but blood. He'd promised the wounds would stop, how could I be crying blood again? Another talon sliced across my throat, not deep enough to sever anything vital, just enough to bring out trickles of blood. When he moved over me, his instrument poised and ready, his claws swiped at my breasts, splitting the diamond hard nipples in two. As he entered, driving the full length into me with one merciless thrust, his mouth closed over one nipple to suckle as a babe to its mother. I was torn again, the scars were opened and spilling more of me for his pleasure. There were no more cries, no more pleasure, only pain and and the metallic odor of my blood. His movements were fast, faster than a human could move, and they were brief. Like a jackhammer tearing a hole into asphalt, I was nothing more than a hole for him to destroy. The glorious darkness came once again, this time though it was not until I felt his liquid fire flood my insides, like lava draining from a volcano. I slipped into the nothingness, praying in that last moment for death.

When I woke I could feel the moisture covering my body. I'd thought the nightmare had bathed my body with sweat. For a few seconds I was caught in the world between, not sure if I was here or there, in both and neither simultaneously. When I tried to move the pain came first, strong and swift, and all at once I knew it had not been a dream at least not the kind you can open your eyes and find no traces of. My sheets were stained, barely an inch of the white remained pristine. Every wound I had imagined throbbed and ached, reminding me of each drop of blood lost. It seemed to take hours to reach for the phone on the nightstand, every movement I managed came in slow motion. My limbs were heavy, despite the immense amount of blood lost. If there was any hope to save my life, if I deserved to live through this night, only one person could help. Finding the number Saito had given me, I force my thumb to press the call button and then wait to see if fate would shine on me again.
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Subject: Re: Blood and Brimstone Sat Mar 14, 2009 3:14 pm

The sound of packed flesh hitting packed flesh could be heard through the apartment, wet and hard and dull at the same time as Saito stumbled backwards for the fifth time, shaking his head as he watched his own form twisting elegantly in front of him, his form perfect and fierce; while Saito had always preferred the internal martial arts, flowing about the opponent and bringing them down with their own efforts as much as anything else, this wasn't the first time he'd had his breath taken away by a hard, external stylist.
And Yoji was very good at it.
As he looked back to him, Saito couldn't help but carefully watch the body that should have been his but wasn't quite; the face was the most different, the cuts in the cheeks bringing his smile impossibly wide and marring his face, though it was done cleanly, and the piercings in his face making him look like a grenade had gone off in front of him and left his face filled with shrapnel. There was almost an elegance in the brutality, though, which surprised him; every ring was silver, and combined with his pale skin and the massive tattoo that scrawled from the back of his shoulders down to his hands, it created a very distinct effect. He'd admired the scrawling dragon at one point, twisting lines curling up like claws from his fingertips and reaching back across his body to sprawl over his spine, the head of the dragon bowed in the center of his back. It was of asian style, serpentine and curling with gnarled claws and tendrils springing from about it's mouth, but it was artfully rendered and impressively done.
You gonna stand there staring all day, or you gonna kick the shit out of me? Yoji's voice snapped him out of his reverie, amused but not unfriendly. It was so hard to connect the Yoji from day to day life with the Yoji down in the basement...or in his dreams... he wasn't quite sure which, anymore. He was almost friendly, these days... but even just looking at him, Saito had to fight down that little reminder that he was dealing with a demon, with an animal, and that he was happy because things were going his way. If that changed, well... that was a whole new story. As he made his way foreword, he began to move with him, sweeping a leg for the other man's, though he dodged and replied in kind with a punch for his chest, whirling to build up momentum before Saito snapped against it, grasping the joint and twisting with inhuman strength to bring the other man to the floor, the arm twisted and locked before he stepped in and knelt sharply, dislocating the joint and bringing his knee down to the man's neck hard only to his floor, the image of Yoji disappearing into a string of black wires that seemed to shudder under his vision as they trailed back into nothingness.
The phone was ringing, was what had done it. He blinked and got to his feet, cocking his head to the side lightly as he watched the small cell-phone buzz and ring across the table beside his bed; it was his alarm clock, phone, timer... a handy little thing and one of the only things he still had that his parents had given him. There was a slight click as he brought it to his ear, feeling the torn skin and bruises on his body begin to heal. "Saito speaking." he said, cocking his head to the side lightly; he hadn't recognized the number.
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Subject: Re: Blood and Brimstone Sat Mar 14, 2009 3:27 pm

There was a long pause after he answered. Now that I had him on the phone, what was I going to say? Had I been thinking clearly I would have prepared something, ut since my mind was hardly in the same room with me right now, I just let out a sob and then his name. "Saito... it's Lexi... I'm sorry to call... so late... at all... I don't know... I umm.. I need help. I didn't know who else to call." Between each broken word in the beginning a groan or hiss would escape, but the more I forced words to form, the easier they began to come. His answering the call has somehow given me the strength to overcome the pain long enough to communicate. My voice was weak, weaker than I'd ever heard it which scared me, but it was loud enough to be heard clearly. "Can... can you come over? I don't think I can make it to a hospital." It was true, even if I wanted to go to a hospital, which I didn't reall want, I had barely been able to move far enough to grab the phone from the table right beside my bed. "Door's locked. Lance is out, his window is open, fire escape. Please Saito." The pain was coming back, with a vengeance, my stream of thought was breaking down. The darkness was tugging at me again and, so help me, I wanted to sink back into it.
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Subject: Re: Blood and Brimstone Sat Mar 14, 2009 4:04 pm

Saito blinked as he heard her on the other side of the phone, his eyes widening slightly. She sounded bad off, especially if she couldn't get anywhere... he swore this girl would get herself killed one of these days. She seemed to just attract getting the shit kicked out of her in some way or another... "Of course. I'll be right over." he said, voice calm and easy before he got to his feet and tugged on a pair of shoes, making his way towards the stairs.
So what, you get to go out and play doctor tonight?
That would be the idea, it seems. Is there a problem?
Nah, not really, though you know she's just gonna keep doing this, right?
That doesn't seem to be something I can help, does it?
Teach a man to fish, and all that...
I might be more inclined to listen if I had any idea what the hell you were talking about.
A mental shrug is an interesting thing to experience, but Saito was getting used to it now before he stopped and cocked his head to the side, looking down to the ground where the shadow of the flickering lights seemed a bit thicker then he normally did.
Yoji...
Say my name and I'm there. What?
Shadows... can I really...?
You can't. But I can. How much do you trust me, buddy boy?
About as far as I could throw you.
You've gotten some distance before.
I was thinking the same thing, sadly.
Then hold onto your hat, buddy boy. This is a bit wild.
He felt himself relax his control, felt the tug of something that wasn't his thoughts run through his body like electricity, felt it course through his veins and pull him along before he blinked and realized he was falling down the stairwell. He'd jumped over it... blacked out for a moment...
"Yoji!" he shouted, swearing as he watched the ground race up towards him from four stories up, the shadows of a stairwell seeming to be directly below him.
Oh come on, this wouldn't even tickle.
"Are you insane?!"
You better hope so, otherwise how in the hell could I do this?
They hit the shdaow and sunk. Expecting the harsh burst from the ground, Saito felt only inky darkness beneath him, coursing over his body as he slid through it into nothing. Looking around him, he felt pressed in, as though viscous fluid surrounded him and he was adrift within it, his body floating there as he looked behind him. Amid the pitch blackness he saw the ring of light where he exited, illumnated like a portal revealing the world on the other side. As he opened his eyes wider, the world seemed to fill itself in around him, in negative; where a shadow would be in the normal world he could see through like a window... where the real world would be, illuminated perfectly, there was only darkness, solid and inky and consuming.
What the hell is this?!
This is something you don't see every day.
How can I-
Think. Control it. Time doesn't exist here, not the same way it does normally. Find your location in your mind, find where you're going and etch it in front of you.
He did, closing his eyes and cutting out any remaining light, any remaining existance and remembering lexi's apartment, filling in the details as he went. The kitchen, her room down the hall... Unbidden, images came etching before his eyes, as though external; he didn't fill in the details from the shadows, they just seemed to come to him. He knew where they all were, knew that beneath her desk there was a shadow, knew that there were shadows in the darkness... He didn't know when he opened his eyes, didn't know when the images from his mind had scrawled themselves on the real world, but either way there it was now, in front of him like a window. The shadows were bigger then he'd thought, but he could see through them clearly, almost able to see the girl on her bed as he put his hands on the edge of the portal.
That's m'boy.
You're a lunatic.
You're welcome.
From the real world it would look as though strange of inky blackness had snapped from the portal like fingers, flowing quickly into just that as Saito pulled himself free into the world once more, breathing deeply at the sensation of having something resembling air to breathe again (and, indeed, having to breathe). His form would be inky black for a moment, and he would seem to trail strands of shadow. His eyes were mirrored, as they often were when he did something more or less supernatural, and those would be the first thing to snap to Lexi before his body would fill in, colors flowing across his form like an ink from a pen as he stood and brushed himself off slightly, making his way towards her bed.
"Care to explain what happened?" he asked dryly, looking over her and swearing mentally. Lots of cuts, most of them sustained here, it looked like... she did seem to attract trouble.
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Subject: Re: Blood and Brimstone Sat Mar 14, 2009 4:19 pm

Hearing him agree to come right over had been enough to ease the fear, leaving only the pain. That I could deal with, had dealt with often enough in the past. As long as the cuts still hurt I was still alive and awake. Only the darkness and death could take away the pain. I hadn't even closed the phone when I first felt that he was there. A shiver of terror ran through my heart, thinking it was the demon in the shadows, before I caught the glint of light from his mirrored eyes. The eyes I'd seen twice before now and knew to be Saito. I don't know how he did it, I didn't even want to ask at the moment, I just wanted to enjoy the relief I felt knowing I wouldn't have to wait long. "Thank you, for being so quick about it." I tired to laugh, failed, but at least I tried. Thankfully I had the presence of mind to pull the sheet up to my waist, to hide the wounds I didn't want him to see along with the bottom third of the one that ran most of the length of my body, the ones I couldn't explain without sounding like I had lost my mind. The rest of me, from my belly button on up, was bare and bloody. When his question came, the one I knew he would ask, I lay my head to the side looking away from him and force back the sob blocking my throat. "It happened again. He promised it wouldn't but he lied, they all lie don't they? Demons don't know how to keep promises." Another breath, pained and ragged, comes from my chest before I look to him, my eyes holding a faint glimmer of hope. "Can you fix them?"
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Subject: Re: Blood and Brimstone Mon Mar 16, 2009 6:26 pm

Blood. The scent of blood, the thick heat of it in the air, the slow drip of it, thick warm lead through the veins bubbling up from the skin. Blood; he could practically taste it as soon as he broke free from the shadows, as soon as he took a deep breath that made his head swim like the vapor of some exotic drug, heady and metallic and thick in the air in a way that he knew wasn't possible, wasn't important. He could practically see it, black in the dark of the room, glistening with the light. There were other scents in the room, other heady chemicals in the coctail assailing his brain: sweat, sex... but mostly blood, blood more important than any of the others, the scent of life, the beating, ebbing flow of-
STOP!
Why? Yoji practically purred in his mind, languidly unfurling from the corners of his mind like a great serpent and or a jungle cat, or perhaps both, bringing his quicksilver-glazed eyes to Saito's own and wearing his skin as he peered through to the woman before him, lying like a sacrafice on a bed of crimson stained black with the exposure to air and darkness.
Why blood, Yoji, why her blood, why-
Life, Saito. For something to live, something else must die. That's what the world boils down to: hunt and be hunted, fight or flight, struggle, survival, LIFE. If man didn't have a taste for blood he'd have been hunted and killed and the tigers would rule. All this establishment and all this world and all this goddamn song and dance is to hide the fact that inside, underneath, man isn't any different from the beasts he killed. He just knows how to hide it better. YOU know how to hide it better. The other man in his mind seemed to tense like a beast ready to pounce, like a monster knowing it's prey was close and unsuspecting and weak to it's jaws. Hands like iron met meat in the shape of an arm leading back to meat in the shape of a woman, bringing it up and examining it with eyes like mirrors into the heart of the beast. She wasn't a human to him anymore, wasn't anything but prey, but meat walking and breathing and panting and weak and perfectly within his grasp-
Had he stalked like an animal from the shadows? Had he walked to her to heal her? Saito couldn't tell on his own, couldn't remember, couldn't think, but he felt the saliva in his mouth and felt the dryness of his lips and the hunger for that sweet, thick death that dripped so pleasantly from her form. He could could feel the thickness of the air suddenly enter his mouth, realized he'd parted his lips, realized he was going to do something horrible-
"No. No, no, no, no, dammit, Goddammit, I'm not a monster, I'm not a goddamn puppet-!" Saito swore quietly, his eyes snapping tight and clenching, her hand in his as he groaned in pain as waves of adrenaline and pain shot through his form, bands running up his nerves and through his muscles as they trembled, fighting for control, fighting to blind him in the rush of them and let the demon have his prey-What the fuck are you doing?! The beast in his mind lashed out, from confidence and assurity and pleasure to rage, stronger and harder and more intense then he'd ever felt welling in his heart, welling in the pit of his stomach and making him ache and curl his forehead to her fingertips, his hands shaking at her wrists, fingers like iron pressing into the skin almost hard enough to hurt. Don't think you'll get off easy with this, you fucking bastard, I'll have you eating your goddamn heart with a spoon-
"No, dammit, no, no, no, no--NO!" he muttered under his breath, and like a curtain of iron he tore his will back, rammed the squalling demons back to the depths of his mind and was greeted with the silence of the night, with his own breath and Lexi's and nothing more as he swallowed and panted, wiping a bit of sweat from his brow and sitting up straighter on his heels to look around the room. He tried to talk, tries to say something, swallowed again and looked back to her, his eyes unfocused and hazy before he shook his head forcibly and smiled shakily, apologetically to the injured woman.

"I'm...I'm sorry, that wasn't... wasn't quite how I was planning..." he breathed out, slowly, steadying himself before looking at her, swallowing a final time before smothering himself in the air of professionalism. "Yes, I can help them." he said, voice quiet. "Where is your first aid kit, the one you gave me earlier?"
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Subject: Re: Blood and Brimstone Mon Mar 16, 2009 7:47 pm

Silence answered my question, so much silence that I began to fear what he would say. He moved in the shadows of my room, came to the side of my bed, but not as a man should move. He came to me like a beast would move toward a weakened animal, moved as if ready to feast on what remained. Had I the strength to move I would have scrambled away from his touch, as it was I could barely muster a flinch when he took my wrist. His fingers gripped hard enough to send jolts of pain through my already overloaded body, pain more like the shoulder had been as opposed to the rent flesh. Trying not to breathe, worried that the uneven sounds would set off whatever beast wore Saito's form, I watch through eyes wide with terror as he swears and mutters to himself. Whatever the battle he was waging within his mind, I had a feeling that I was dangerously close to becoming its victim. Through the fear and anxiety his actions were causing me, I still felt the urge to comfort him when his face contorted and his body twitched under the pressure or pain of whatever the inner turmoil was.

By the time the man I knew Saito to be emerged victorious and began to look around the room, I could feel the bruised indentations his fingers had left around my wrist. I wanted to ask him what had just happened, for some reason I felt the need to know if my assumption was correct, if I had almost been his prey. I didn't ask, I didn't respond at all to his apology. I couldn't find the right words to even begin. Instead I answered the easy question, the one about the first aid kit he had used the first night we met. "Bathroom. Under the sink." The time it takes him to grab the kit would be the perfect time to try and regain some semblace of composure, that is if the kit was in Timbuktu rather than at the end of the hall. "Could you... umm.. turn the light on? Please." The darkness held too many shadows, too much to fear, I knew letting the light flood back into the room would help almost as much as time at this point.
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Subject: Re: Blood and Brimstone Mon Mar 16, 2009 8:27 pm

He nodded, getting to his feet and starting to the door, flicking on the light easily as he went. "Of course." he said nothing about the fear he saw in her eyes or the way he felt conspicuously empty inside, bereft of the presence Yoji usually filled and somewhat warily waiting for him to return. He didn't like the way the man promised his revenge... but that was largely unimportant, he felt, as he made his way towards the bathroom and gathered the small package, bringing it back to her bedroom with little time between the two before cocking his head to the side and looking to her in the dark. "Someone certainly did a number on you." he said dryly, ignoring the scent of the blood in the room as he stepped forewords towards her, looking at the dark wound running under the blanket.
"You'll need to shift, I can't see the extent of the damage."
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Subject: Re: Blood and Brimstone Mon Mar 16, 2009 8:46 pm

A good portion of the fear abated when the light came on. I couldn't be certain that it was just the chasing away of the darkness or if Saito's momentary absence added to the experience. While he was gathering the medical kit I began to feel bad for the reaction I had. Just because he held my wrist hard enough for me to still feel where his fingers had been didn't mean he ever thought of attacking me. He'd done nothing to harm me so far, in fact he'd done more to help than anyone I had ever known. I shouldn't fear him, not even when he seems to have those moments where he isn't completely in control. He'd admitted to having some form of possession hadn't he? By the time he returned and began to speak to me, I had decided that giving him the benefit of the doubt and forgiving whatever that previous moment had been about was the only option I could live with.

"He usually does when he wants to play. This is worse than most of the times have been." But not worse than my birthday, that night had almost broken me, not because of the injuries but the shock that came with the violation. I expected it when he showed up this time so I wasn't as rattled by what had been done. Heaving a sigh, I shift my leg while tugging the sheet between my legs. This would give him full access to the entire wound running from shoulder to thigh while still keeping the vaginal wounds covered in a way that could easily be for no other reason than modesty. "Better?"
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Subject: Re: Blood and Brimstone Mon Mar 16, 2009 9:03 pm

"Largely. I'm not sure that there's anything I'd really be able to do with your vaginal wounds, though I suggest you at least treat them with disinfectant." he said with a straight face, making his way to her side and looking across her, cocking his head to the side before beginning to work, his fingers easily tracing disinfectant across the skin before he sewed it. It would be a relatively long process to deal with all of them, but they seemed relatively shallow and otherwise curable. "Infections within are twice as bad as infections without. You keep dangerous company, Lexi." he noted before looking to the bruises on her wrist and quickly snapping his gaze back to his work, fingers moving gently over her skin as he sewed and bandaged. "My apologies. I wasn't thinking clearly." he noted in the same tone as ever.
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Subject: Re: Blood and Brimstone Mon Mar 16, 2009 9:29 pm

"How did you...?" Oh how did that falling through the floor thing work again? This would be the perfect time to use it if only I could remember how to do it. Still, how could he know what was under the sheet? I hadn't let it shift far enough for him to even see the blood stains drying on my legs. I lay there, frozen and silently mortified while my mind churned endlessly. I couldn't watch him, couldn't risk him meeting my gaze, all I could do is pray for this to be over soon. When he continued to talk, to offer advice on infections, I forced myself to speak, though looking at him wasn't something I could do just yet. "I know how to care for them, I did it the first time and they healed without infection." Great now here come the tears, burning my eyes, hot with shame on my cheeks. "Don't call him my company, please. It's not like I ask him to keep coming back. I thought letting him do this to me before would keep him away. He said that it would take away the wounds, that letting him put this spirit, possession, whatever it is inside of me would make all the wounds go away. He lied. He put this inside of me, ripped me apart to do it and then he came back tonight. He's never going to leave me alone, but don't think for one second that he was invited." I don't know what came over me, why I said all that I did. Maybe it was the way his comment struck me, or maybe it was the fact that I'd heard similar ones all my life. It's easy for everyone else to assume that I either harm myself to invite the ones who do; they don't have to live through this, all they have to do is witness the aftermath.
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Subject: Re: Blood and Brimstone Sun Mar 22, 2009 3:44 am

He didn't bother answering how he knew; the scent of blood and sex in the air had been almost tangible to him somehow, but he wasn't quite sure that he could tell her that without sounding entirely insane, and so he didn't. He listened to her story as he worked, his fingers sliding gently and professionally over the skin as he listened to her. Saito didn't know what to think of the story, really; it seemed so odd to him, getting raped and played with by demons and monsters, though he supposed it wasn't so different from his own life, in the end, just different steps to the same end, effectively. From the sounds of it she played into the fear to let it happen, and he sighed slightly as he worked to sew the larger gash on her hip. "Apologies; that wasn't what I intended to imply at all." he said simply when she finished, remaining a bit quiet as he worked on her before sighing and running a hand over his face, looking to her dryly. "If your roommate isn't at least going to be useful as a bodyguard, perhaps you should look into one; better then leaving yourself at a demon's mercy, from what it seems like." He didn't bother telling her that of course the demon lied, that she had been stupid to let it happen to her and stupid not to fight back this time too, but some people had different values then he did; he supposed that violation of that type messed up a person plenty, based on the scars and such she carried on her, but he couldn't help but wonder why she didn't just deal with the spirit head on.
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Subject: Re: Blood and Brimstone Sun Mar 22, 2009 4:07 am

I didn't speak again for a while. Laying there, my face turned to the side, my eyes unfocused and blank, I lose myself in the steady movements of Saito's healing hands. It was oddly relaxing, even the ebb and flow of the pain that came with each pass of the needle through my torn flesh. I hadn't known what to say to his apology, I still wasn't sure exactly why I had told him all that I did. The memory of our first meeting flashes through my mind, notably the parts where I actively tried to not sound like a crazy person around him. Obviously that idea was officially shot to hell now. The fleeting thoughts bring a wry chuckle to my throat. In the midst of the chuckle I hear his comment about Lance not being around to protect me and his suggestion for a bodyguard, of course this only makes me laugh harder. The laughter threatens to give way to absolute hysterics, tears spill down my cheeks and body shudders along with the endless peals. After a few moments I finally regain control of myself and lift a hand to wipe the tears from my eyes, relieved to see that they were clear and not tears of blood this time. "Do you really think Lance could go toe to toe with a demon and be anything more than an appetizer before the game? I know he's stronger than I am, but I doubt he is anything close to be on the same level as the demon... but if you know any bodyguards interested in the job who could hold their own against them, I am more than willing to let them give it a shot."
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Subject: Re: Blood and Brimstone Sun Mar 22, 2009 4:18 am

"Say my name and I'm there." Saito said dryly, half joking, half not before he cocked his head to the side dryly. "You do know that you're stronger then he is, don't you?" he asked, cocking his head to the side curiously and wondering if she truly didn't know. It struck him as rather bizarre; his own strength was so instinctual, so natural to him that it was hard to think that someone might really be unaware of how strong they were, especially when compared with a normal human. While Lance was hard to consider normal, he hadn't appeared demonstrably stronger then a standard man anytime that Saito had seem him, and the young woman had displayed supernatural power on a previous occasion, and he'd felt a strength in her limbs that was rather stronger than normal.

"In any case, I may no a person or two, but it would take some time to find them." he said with a shrug, figuring that Yoji probably knew.
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Subject: Re: Blood and Brimstone Sun Mar 22, 2009 4:31 am

Biting my lip at his 'say my name and I'm there' comment, I have to fight to not say his name and make some lame joke about it working. He already thought I was crazy and stupid, and probably weak to boot, I didn't need him thinking I was retarded on top of all of that. Any expression on my face before he asked the question about my strength compared to Lance's vanishes in a second, leaving only utter confusion, maybe even a little bit of suspicion that he had lost a bit of his mind. "Me? Stronger than Lance? I don't think so. He's left marks almost as deep as these by grabbing my wrist." I hold up the wrist Saito had bruised when he'd first arrived to make my point. "I can't do that to anyone and I don't think I fight anyone who can do it to me." Lifting my torso from the bed with a long sharp hiss at the very strong surge of fresh pain, I try to reach into the first aide kit for the topical numbing antibacterial ointment I knew was in the box. I couldn't formally treat the 'other' wounds with Saito still in the room, but I could at least apply some of the gel to ease the unbelievable pain. Squeezing a very generous amount on my fingers, I pause just before lifting the sheet and sliding my hand beneath it. "If you hear of anyone who could do it, and wouldn't mind spending nights watching a crazy chick sleep, please let me know. I'll find a way to pay whatever they need."
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Subject: Re: Blood and Brimstone Sun Mar 22, 2009 5:01 am

"Duly noted." he said before cocking his head to the side lightly, raising an eyebrow a bit at the notion that she wasn't stronger then Lance. He was a normal man, or at least he was so far; his possession didn't seem to alter that much with the time. "You hold yourself back quite a bit." he noted with a slight shrug. "You've got quite a bit more in you then you seem to think, or at least you do at night whenever I've seen you." He left it at that, wondering quite how the situation between her and her possessed companion was going before he turned away from it mentally, trying to get away from asking after the situation with her roommate when he felt that she already understood his views on the man. He looked away as she spread the cream to relieve herself, politely raising his eyes to the ceiling with the conspicuous lack of appraisal from one internal devil, the lack of which he couldn't quite take as a good sign.
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Subject: Re: Blood and Brimstone Sun Mar 22, 2009 5:21 am

Spreading the ointment gingerly along my ripped tissues I wasn't sure whether I should sigh or scream. There was intense pain at the touch of my finger, but an almost soothing sensation took over as the thick substance spread along the broken flesh. When I was finished, I wiped my finger with a gauze square and cleared my throat softly. "Umm, it's safe to look now. Thank you for looking away, I wasn't going to ask you to, but I appreciate it all the same." Just the movement of reaching had the stitched gash along my side virtually screaming, it was painfully clear that being mobile was going to be a problem for at least a few days. So much for using those saved vacation days for an actual vacation. I guess I would be spending my vacation lying in bed while my skin grew back together. Wonderful.

My attention returns to Saito and I offer the man a shy smile. "What you've seen are the side effects of the spirit the demon placed in my body. Those aren't my abilities, they belong to it, whatever it is. Sure, I can lift things a little easier at night, or run a little farther, but that doesn't mean it is related to the side effects in any way. Plus, the only time I ever used any of those tricks without it being an accident and ruining something was the night we met. That could have just been a fluke for all I know. When it comes to strength, you definitely take the cake though. When you had my wrist earlier, it felt like you were reigning it in something fierce, like one twitch could have snapped every bone in the general vicinity and you wouldn't have even batted an eye."
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Subject: Re: Blood and Brimstone Sun Mar 22, 2009 11:48 pm

Saito was quiet for a bit as she mentioned that. He wasn't quite sure how to tell her, of if he should tell her just how close he was to losing control back there. The idea of it scared him a bit, though he was quick to point out to himself that he'd won in the end, that he'd taken control when it mattered, but either way the specter of the situation was still with him, still reminding him that something terrible was likely to come of it later. He shrugged lightly; "At night, I'm substantially stronger then I am in the day." he noted as he leaned back, largely finished sewing up the almost comic multitude of wounds she'd managed to gather in her midnight romp with the demon. "But I hold myself back, typically; Yoji...the possessing spirit... he seems to dislike that." he added dryly. "He seems to much prefer the idea that having strength means that you should use strength, and that freedom of will and whimsy is what the world is about, because apparently he's a dick that way." he finished dryly before shrugging once more.
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Subject: Re: Blood and Brimstone Mon Mar 23, 2009 12:12 am

"Wait a minute... You can communicate with your possessing spirit? That's not fair! What kind of botched up shoddy possession did I get? I don't get any superhuman strength, I get freaky side effects that try to make me ruin my apartment, I get these continued demonic visits, and no communication with the spirit that supposedly causes the bulk of this. If I could speak to the spirit I could maybe get some instructions on how to deal with all of this, but noo I had to go and get a silent possessor." Now I was even more unhappy with my situation than I had been before. So unhappy that I didn't even think about hiding the frustrated pout that settles along my lips. Unable to do anything about the situation right now, I let out an angsty sigh before looking back to my very helpful friend. "So what's this Yoji like, other than being a dick? If I can't talk to my own spirit, I want to hear more about yours."
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Subject: Re: Blood and Brimstone Mon Mar 23, 2009 12:52 am

"He's dangerous." he said with a sigh, running a hand over his face. "He is, rather litterally, my dark side. Not as a means of being dramatic, just as... I don't know. He's everything that you hold back. When you want to punch someone in the face but don't, Yoji does. If you've ever wanted to do something just because you could, even if it's horrible, that thought, that little impulse is Yoji. He's a monster." he said simply. "But he's not... I don't know. He's not insane--he very well could be, but he doesn't come across like it. He acts like he's a nice friend of yours with some bad ideas and some bad jokes, and then... I don't know. It's all fun and games until he lets loose, I guess." he said with a sigh and a smile. "It's hard to explain if you've never met him; so much of what goes on between us is little more then thought...just know that while it seems like a good deal, there's a very real part of it that's not quite so pleasant." he said with a sigh and a shrug. "All I know about gaining power from it is that if you're looking for power, letting go is how to get it. It's just what you become when you let go that you have to worry about."
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Subject: Re: Blood and Brimstone Mon Mar 23, 2009 1:01 am

"He sounds... interesting I guess." Listening to Saito describe his possessing spirit, I was becoming less and less jealous of the communication between them. I wasn't really sure how I would feel having someone else knowing my thoughts or hearing them as a means of communication. That idea kind of freaked me out to tell the truth. Once he got to the little tidbit of advice on gaining power from it I began to get the teeniest bit excited, thinking that whatever he said next could possibly help me. Boy was I wrong. That was such a let down that I couldn't hide my disappointment. "And here I thought you were going to impart some sage pearl of wisdom that I could use. Of course it would be that whole letting go idea that I've never been able to swallow, much less master. Thanks for nothing, sensei, any other lessons you want to share?" While my frustration and disappointment was apparent, there was also a note of dry humor sprinkled in to the mix.
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Subject: Re: Blood and Brimstone Mon Mar 23, 2009 1:14 am

"If you're looking for easy tips to power, you should have asked for 'em." he said dryly before shaking his head lightly, running a hand over his face. "You'll have to talk to Yoji about that one, I'm afraid, I don't much deal with that sort of thing; I didn't go looking for it, it just kind of welled up one day." He didn't mention that he didn't have much intention of letting the man out, but at the same time she might hear a slight voice in her ear, a slight chuckling sensation at the back of her mind that wasn't quite hers.
Keep pushing and you might just find what you're looking for, baby... Yoji's thought sounded in her ear, voice Saito's but for an unrestrained, almost liberated air to it, but with a distinctly predatory undertone that brought to mind the image of the man prowling across the floor with blood on the mind, eyes glistening like a wolf's in the dark.
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Subject: Re: Blood and Brimstone Mon Mar 23, 2009 1:35 am

While I was about to ask for said tips to power, I was stopped short by a seemingly disembodied voice. At first I would have thought it was Saito speaking to me but there was something off in the voice, something that made me relive the events of his entrance. Had that been what was happening to Saito when he’d grabbed my wrist and looked at me with that hungry look? I could see that the man’s lips had not moved at all. Tilting my head to one side, I lift a finger to my lips and wonder if I should ask the question in my mind. What’s the harm in asking an innocent question, right? “So… umm.. does he sound a lot like you? Maybe a bit more dangerous? And umm… is he what happens when your eyes go all mirrorey?”
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Subject: Re: Blood and Brimstone Mon Mar 23, 2009 1:38 am

He cocked his head to the side, wondering quite what she was getting at. She couldn't know, I mean, that was bizarrely accurate... he shrugged lightly as he looked to her. "I think so, at least. There's times when I'm myself and times where I'm running a bit more in sync with him, I guess you might say... I assume the mirrored eyes are when I'm closer to him. It's an animal thing, I guess." he added almost disdainfully. The voice in her head, however, made it's own comments, separate from his.
We have a winner, it seems. Go on, bring me a little closer to the surface, chickadee. Gimme something to work with.
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Subject: Re: Blood and Brimstone Mon Mar 23, 2009 1:48 am

Having no experience with people talking to me through thoughts alone, I slip up and respond to the Yoji voice out loud. “Who the hell are you calling ‘chickadee’? And how the hell am I giving you anything to work with?” Realizing that I probably should have thought the words back to him instead of speaking them aloud, I look to Saito with wide eyes. “How do you stand that? I would totally walk down the street talking to myself like some loony person. Anyway, back to my questions, since your eyes get that reflective sheen to them when you’ve been around my blood, is this Yoji thing particularly fond of blood or something?” I was really trying to understand how his possession worked, but with the added voice in my head it was starting to get distracting. Having myself in my head was bad enough, but to add another person was just crazy.
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Subject: Re: Blood and Brimstone Mon Mar 23, 2009 6:55 pm

He blinked as he listened to her talk, his eyes widening slightly. How could she hear him? How could she hear him when he couldn't? What the fuck... the situation had turned to something a bit more dangerous then he'd thought initially, it appeared. He got to his feet and was looking about, shaking his head. "You can hear him? How is that..." he muttered, trying to understand as he began to gather up the kit. To his knowledge, Yoji had never talked to anyone else before; he hadn't known he could, and frankly he wished he didn't as he got to his feet and started towards the door. "I have to go. Him talking to you is not a good sign." he said over his shoulder, shaking his head as he walked. How was he doing that? Was this what he had in mind when he'd promised some sort of revenge? This was low, even for him, he thought, and wondered if it was his mental defenses slipping; where were the cracks?

Don't just let him leave! The voice in her head said with a chuckle. You can sit there and lie back like the poor little victim your whole life, or you can start playing the game and doing it right, but Saito here'll play the nice chivalrous gentlemen 'till you're blue in the face. Keep him here, and I'll show you how to play with demons on your terms.
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Subject: Re: Blood and Brimstone Mon Mar 23, 2009 7:16 pm

A slight shrug was my only response to Saito's wondering how it was possible for me to hear his Yoji persona's voice. I couldn't explain it, I'd never even had any experience with this sort of thing. He was the one who lived with this voice in his head, I assumed he would know as much as possible about it. When he moved to gather the kit back up I don't try to stop him. While I would need it to finish up the job once he was gone, I figured he just needed to busy his hands while he pondered the mind jumping voice. His statement about leaving comes abruptly and while I had no real reason to stop him, I wasn't ready for him to go just yet. That's when the voice spoke up again, and made an extremely interesting point. His possessing spirit, this Yoji, was offering to show me how to finally shuck the victim I had always been and stand up to the demon. Either he was a very slick spirit, or he had delved deeper into my mind than surface thoughts; whatever it was he had found the one thing that could make me do what I did next. Throwing back the sheet, I swing my legs to the floor and start after the man, not taking the time to remember why I had been so adamant about having the sheet over me to begin with. Following after him, naked as a jay bird, I reach out for the back of his shirt. "No, wait, please. How do you know it's not a good sign? He said he could show me how to stop being a victim and stand up to the demon. If he can do that, I need to know. I can't keep asking you to come clean up the aftermath, I can't keep letting things like this happen. Please Saito, stay, just a little while longer."
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Subject: Re: Blood and Brimstone Mon Mar 23, 2009 7:50 pm

The rush was immediate and overwhelming, as though Yoji had saved up his strength for the time he was silent and decided to strike just as the chance presented itself. Her naked appearance was startling enough and Saito's own thoughts were disoriented enough to prevent him from forcing back control, and there was the sensation of an all consuming ache in his head that he thought would burst his eyes before he blacked out, fell away into the shadows.
My turn. Was the last thing he could distinguish, and could he have thought back he would have hurled a parting scream of rage after his dismissal.
On the outside he changed slightly, Saito's features beginning to appear slightly more bestial, a bit more serious. His teeth grew to points and his smile grew assured and easy, his whole body seeming to relax with the languid grace of a predator in complete control of himself and his situation, so different from Saito's usually stiff posture. As he looked to the girl his eyes mirrored over, glazing the iris and the pupil in the light of her room and turning them into reflective disks, animal and primitive and alien.
"Saito's not here at the moment, please leave a message after the beep." he said cheerfully, his smile stretching wide over fanged teeth as he took his hand off the door easily, looking to her and cocking his head to the side. "Just little old me and little old you, it would seem; my, you have had a nice little ordeal, haven't you." he whistled appreciatively as he looked over her from top to bottom, eyes linger on the nipples for a moment before he pointed a finger to them. "You want me to fix those, or like 'em that way?" he asked dryly.
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Subject: Re: Blood and Brimstone Mon Mar 23, 2009 8:11 pm

Something happened. Saito didn't exactly seem like Saito anymore. It wasn't just his eyes that changed this time, it was everything about him, even the very air that surrounded him. While he was now obviously more laid back than Saito usually was, I found myself shrinking under his gaze rather than relaxing. When Saito, no this had to be Yoji wearing his Saito suit, when he pointed out my wounded nipples I lifted my hands instinctively to cover them. Now I very aware of my nudity, and of his animalistic gaze. "umm.. no thank you. I think I can stitch them up on my own later. Where does Saito go when you come out to play? Does he still know what's going on?" I was feeling just a bit hesitant about asking the man to stay. I hadn't realized that the disembodied voice would take over the form of the man I come to trust. Even though I wanted to learn from this entity, I didn't think it would be safe to trust him.
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Subject: Re: Blood and Brimstone Mon Mar 23, 2009 9:02 pm

He watched her and leaned back against the wall, grinning easily. "If I want him to... but I think it's good for him to be in the dark for a while. He's been a bad bad boy, and I'm his fuckin' dom from hell." he said wryly, amused before he cocked his head to her and raised an eyebrow. "Y'know for someone who's sick and tired of playing the scared little girl, damn if you don't do it well." he pointed out before he leaned down and picked up the medical package, searching through it idly for a bit before he found something and chuckled, sliding the rest of it back to the floor and kicking it to the side a bit with his foot. In his hand he held a small disposable scalpel, and almost effortlessly he seemed to spin it around his fingers, twirling the blade back and forth around them as he continued talking with her.
"I'm about as friendly as you're gonna get, baby, so you might as well just relax. If I wanted to hurt you..." he trailed his voice off easily with a smile, the scalpel halting in his hand as he dextrously removed the plastic top off it, testing the blade with the tip of his thumb and watching the bead of red blood well, "...you'd know it."
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Subject: Re: Blood and Brimstone Mon Mar 23, 2009 9:35 pm

Fine. Since Saito was beyond reach, I would go along with what this Yoji was saying and try to relax. Watching him toy with the scalpel from the medical kit wasn't exactly helping me do that, but I still found a way to straighten my spine and look like less of a shrinking violet. Stepping back to the edge of the bed, I grab the stained sheet and give it a forceful tug. Pulling it to me, I wrap it around my body and tuck the corner in between my breasts to anchor it there. With my girlie bits properly protected from the bestial eyes watching me from the all too handsome body of Saito, those eyes that seemed a little too ready to dive in and start feasting upon my flesh, I could feel the tension in my muscles begin to ease. Now that I was situated, I was ready to find out what this entity had to show me. "Alright. Relaxed and no longer naked. I'm ready to deal with you. How do I play with this demon on my own terms, as you so succinctly put it?"
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Subject: Re: Blood and Brimstone Mon Mar 23, 2009 9:49 pm

"By learning to fight and use what you've got." he said dryly as he looked to her, shaking his head. "You blew a hole in a demon. That takes firepower, but here you are pussyfooting around and pretending it was a fluke, or an accident, or a damn miracle. Maybe," he said as he whirled the scalpel around his fingers once more before catching it between forefinger and thumb and bringing it before his face, "if you stopped being such a chickenshit and let yourself go, you might actually get somewhere."
As he spoke he brought the scalpel to the inside left corner of his mouth, pressing it to the skin and beginning to cut along it back towards his jaw as he spoke with her, bisecting it down the middle as he spoke relatively normally, voice slightly muffled by the motion as blood welled down the side of his face from the cut, dripping down across his teeth and chin as he spoke, the pain not seeming to phase him. "Plenty of oompf, you got-" the scalpel was halfway through the cheek now, the tip clinking off his teeth now and then until he pulled the blade back a little and slid it cleanly back with the tip-"but no will to use it." He finished speaking as he finished cutting, the blade sliding back to rest in his groove of his jaw before he removed it and stretched his mouth open in a wide yawn, the slit edges of the cheeks healing apart before her eyes before he smacked his lips a bit.
"Kinda stings, don't it?" he said, looking to her with a grin. "All those little cuts and pangs and shit you got. How long you put up with it for, being a chewtoy?"
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Subject: Re: Blood and Brimstone Mon Mar 23, 2009 10:24 pm

As if I hadn't witnessed enough bloodshed so far tonight, Yoji's words began to swim through my mind when he brought the scalpel to his face. Watching him draw the blade through Saito's flesh, making the otherwise handsome face resemble a grotesque mask, my eyes went wide in horror. At some point I took a step forward, I'm not sure exactly when it happened, all I know is that I wanted him to stop. "Why would you do that? Why cause pain for no reason?" Forcing myself to look away from the face I had come to enjoy, I shake my head and cross my arms over my chest. "How do I know it wasn't a fluke? That was only the second time I have ever done that. The first time was out of the blue and ruined my curtains. The fire charred my first dining room table, the traveling through solid objects landed me in the apartment below this one, the changing my appearance made my boss think some random chick had walked in off the street. How do I know if any of that is anything other than random occurences? I saw a big ugly demon monster thing and then I saw you, Saito, whoever attack it and wondered if I could do the same kind of thing. You, he, did more damage than I did, I just took a little chunk out of it. Something tells me I wouldn't gain such a positive result from my personal demon. And to answer your question of how long... eighteen years and four months. The first injuries to appear were scratches when I was only a few days old. The older I got, the worse they got. The first rape was four months ago, the night of my eighteenth birthday, when he told me that accepting the possessing spirit would make the injuries stop, would free me from the hell he and his lighter counterpart had put me through all my life. I didn't see him again until tonight. I didn't even consider the possibility that he would lie to me, which was my biggest mistake I suppose, other than asking the wrong one for help. So how do I let myself go?"
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Subject: Re: Blood and Brimstone Tue Mar 24, 2009 6:22 pm

"Eighteen years of hell and you're still a pussy..." he said dryly, shaking his head. "To correct you, that was Saito; he's largely in control, this is the first time I've ever bothered taking over his bone-sack, but Saito's hardly the important one here." he added with a roll of his eyes before he looked to her, an amused smile stretching over his face as he slit the cheeks once more during his speech, sliding the scalpel through the skin once more to make a cross of tattered flesh on the left side of his face, the cuts clean and once more separating to heal before he slid his hand into Saito's pocket and came out with a set of silvered rings, slipping them through the skin to hold it shut before he looked to her, his full attention on her in an almost tangible sensation. He spoke casually, as always, but his gaze was almost a physical sensation, a predatory look of appraisal from top to bottom, though it focused on her eyes as he grinned easily, his own seeming to relax into a self-assured smirk.
"Eighteen years, you've put up with it, and all you've got to show from it is 'maybe's' and 'it could be's?'? Eighteen years of hell, and you're worrying about your fucking table?" he said before letting out an amused laugh and sigh, pushing off the wall and wiping the side of his face with his hand, removing the blood from his face and looking at it on his hand before bringing his eyes back to her. "And here I thought you had some fire, baby. What happened, you get a few cuts and bruises and curled up in a nice ball and prayed for the big bad demons to go away? You get cut, beat up, raped-twice, by the looks of it, with no small delicacies taken-and you're still pussyfooting around... gotta hand it to you, that's pretty pathetic." he said before snapping his eyes to her, the mirrored surfaces locking to hers intently.
"If I were you? I'd be fuckin' pissed, chickadee, but here you are pretending that what you've got is a damn joke. 'Oh, it burnt my table! Oh, it cut up my bedroom curtains, oh no, poor me!'" He said, making his voice high and mocking before he let it soften, a snake swimming under warm water. "You shouldn't be worrying about your fucking curtains, baby. You shouldn't be pretending it was a fluke, like you don't have something-you should be wondering how the fuck you did that, and how the fuck you can do it again. You should be remembering the feeling of having it in your hands, remembering what it felt like to do something that meant a damn. You keep pretending you're one of the sheep out there, one of the pathetic little robots sitting behind desks worrying about how they're going to feed their 2.5 kids and a wife that's fucking their best friend behind their backs and pay for their shitty little apartment that's really ok, because it's theirs and they decorated it just sowith all the furniture that they ever wanted... But you're not. And you know it. You always have: you're so much more then they are. A God walking around with the ants, pretending that you don't have a magnifying glass on a beatiful fucking day."
"So who knows; maybe you wanna be a pussy your whole life. Maybe you want to put your ass in the air and shake it around for good Mr. Demon so that next time he comes he can plow that, since he hasn't had the chance yet, and maybe your powers ruining your feng shui really is the end of the goddamn world... but how about you show a little spine and start burning off some of that hate that you got burning up inside? You want the secret to power, to the whole damn world? Here it is: hate sets you free. You hate someone enough? You can do anything to them. Isn't that what freedom is? Doing whatever you want, to whoever you want, whenever you want? Hate is freedom, babe, pure and simple. You hate your demon? Then show me. Show me what you've got hiding under that bedsheet, with your nice split little nipples and your torn up pussy, with your cuts and your scrape and your scars that make you such a damn martyr, and such a tragic little girl, but don't make you anything but a charity case. Show me your hand, baby, and I'll show you just how far the rabbit hole goes..." he added with a smirk, spreading his hands in front of him, blood drying tacky on his fingers in the light of her room as the lights dimmed, flickering and casting his body into sharp shadows before he spoke tauntingly, teasingly.
"Or you can worry about how you're gonna get the stains out of your sheets. Either way."
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Subject: Re: Blood and Brimstone Tue Mar 24, 2009 7:38 pm

The dick had a point. The more he talked, the more venom and shit that rolled from his mouth, the more I wanted to watch his flesh boil and melt away, watch his bones smoke. Of course I wouldn’t see any of that happen, not only because I doubted I could make it happen, but because he was right. I am a pussy and knowing that Saito was still in there somewhere was enough to keep my anger in check for the time being. I could feel the tips of my fingers growing hot under the urge to call forth the flames, but they would have to wait, I wasn’t ready for them to emerge just yet. When he seemed to finish his little anarchist monologue, or at least paused long enough for me to take the chance and have my say.

“You’re right. Eighteen years of this bullshit has made me a pussy, more accurately eighteen years of being able to do nothing about it has. Until a few months ago I had nothing to use against the demon, I was one of those sheep stuck behind a desk; acting happy to be living my boring, meaningless life. The demon and his polar opposite would come to visit, leave a few marks to remind me that they could, and then I wouldn’t see them again for weeks or months. I was nothing more than a weak little girl… but that was then. Forgive me for not diving head first into this world of supernatural abilities that is still very new to me. I didn’t get the added bonus of having an open line of communication with the thing inside of me. There was no fucking voice giving me hints or coaching me through it. I didn’t even know the ritual had worked for over a month. I’m sorry that being wary of abilities I stumbled upon by accident and have to figure out on my own makes me a pussy. Maybe next time I’ll ask for some self righteous prick to come with the whole deal, maybe then I won’t be such a pussy about it all.”

Flames licked at my fingertips, tendrils of smoke curled lazily through the outstretched digits, sparks danced a tattoo along my wrists. With each beat of my heart I could feel the power surge from wherever it was contained through my limbs until I felt as if I would spontaneously combust if I didn’t release the energy. My eyes locked onto his, the rage building with me shining through.

“You want to know what’s beneath the sheet? You want to see my hand? Fine, I’ll show you, you fucking parasite.”

Releasing the fire from my hands, I originally wanted to watch it cover his body, to watch it burn away that shit eating grin. I resisted that urge this time. The flames spread over the sheet wrapped around my body, catching the thin fabric and devouring it quickly. As the cloth fell away in chunks of ash my nude form was revealed to him once more, only this time it was covered in fire. The flesh beneath the flames was perfect, a pristine young body that had never been touched by demon claws. Standing before him, a virgin bathed in flames, I show him the body I should have. The body I would have, had the demon not decided that he wanted to toy with me. Expelling the flames, and the illusion of perfection along with them, I watch the fire grow to fill the room, roaring around us but not harming anything, before opening my hands and drawing the destructive force back into my palms.

“There. Part of my hand. Now show me the fucking rabbit hole.”
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Subject: Re: Blood and Brimstone Tue Mar 24, 2009 9:07 pm

He watched her bathe herself in fire, watched her come so close to the edge, so close to letting go and setting herself free, and then he watched her pull herself away from the edge and slam a hand to his forehead with a roll of his eyes. "No, no, no, what are you doing, baby, you were so close!" he swore, shaking his head and slapping a hand to his forehead as he looked to her and running it down his face. "You're still in the poor me mode, you're holding onto the little things when what you should be doing it letting go and flinging everything you've got at me, at the world, at whatever the hell you want. What did you do when you needed to blow of some steam? You put on a fireworks display instead of turning me into a par-boiled goddamn chicken." he said, shaking his head before looking to her with a slight grin.
"But you saw it. You almost felt it. You're still in the 'pity me' mode where excuses and situations matter, but at least you've got something in there more then fluff. You just need to learn to curb that nice little voice inside your head telling you that you shouldn't do something or not; all it takes is hate. Hate it because it took your body from you, hate it because it's made you miserable, hate it because you've been stupid and made bad choices, hate me because I'm a fucking dick who's pushing all of your buttons and knows you too well for just having met you, but hate. That's all it takes."
He leaned back against the wall and took out a cigarette from his pocket, sliding it to his lips before lighting it easily and breathing out through the cross-shaped cut in his cheek as he spoke, gesturing with it idly. "The thing is that you've always been able to do something about it, you just never wanted to badly enough. You could push it off on something, or explain why you couldn't, or shouldn't; all that goes away when you've got that beautiful rage in you. It brings out what you want, what you really want, in it's purest light, and suddenly all the shit doesn't matter anymore. It doesn't hold you back, it's just something to be considered. You hate so much that you're in control, and suddenly you've got all the choices in the world. Kill that fucker, let him walk, fuck him, love him... all it takes is hating enough to make you see that anything else but what you want doesn't matter, and the whole world falls into place like a damn puzzle right around that."
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Subject: Re: Blood and Brimstone Tue Mar 24, 2009 9:45 pm

"Why would I attack you? You're just a fucking parasite living in and feeding on some poor schmuck. You haven't hurt me. All you've done is run your mouth, push a few buttons just to piss me off." Turning my back on the smoking man, I move to the dresser and grab an upturned seashell off the top. Tossing it toward him, I don't bother to watch and see if he caught it. "Use that for your ashes if you wouldn't mind." Pulling open the top drawer, I draw out cami top and a pair of underwear I wouldn't be sorry to throw away. Bending to slip the underwear on, still facing away from the man, I ponder his words and roll my eyes. "You know, if the only wisdom you have to share is for me to embrace the hate, you're wasting your time. I do hate the one who deserves to be hated, but hating a goddamn demon doesn't do any real good. He's fucking demon for chrissakes. They feed on hate and rage and pain. All I'm doing by simply hating him and letting that emotion fuel my abilities is feeding him, playing right in to his hand." Whirling around to face him, the cami tank top all but forgotten in my hands, I no longer care if the neighbors hear my yelling. "I'm tired of playing into his fucking hand! Do you understand that? Are you capable of understanding anything beyond your own little playground of hate and power? I can't stand up and fight him with the powers he gave me. He knows about them, he'd be ready for any one of the things I could throw at him. I need something new, something he has no control over. That's what I was hoping to get from you, from your offer to show me how to play with the demon on my own terms. Well if all you've got is 'hate him', then we're both wasting time."
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Subject: Re: Blood and Brimstone Tue Mar 24, 2009 10:37 pm

Yoji sighed and rolled his eyes. Well, that was task one that she'd botched, but hell, if she wanted to be strung along by the hand for it, then alright, why not. Some people just had no imagination. "While I could contest your theory as to the nature of the demon's preparations and feeding mechanisms and as to the nature of my existance, you've already lost your chance to actually be powerful, so now you get to learn how to pretend like all the other poor sods." Breathing another cone of smoke out from the side of his mouth, he ashed the cigarette delicately into her small shell before proffering it to her in a parody of manners before sighing and explaining as though he was remembering something terribly boring from verbatum.
"What you're looking to learn how to do is channel your energy and the energy around you in a way that you envision, the mastry of which is largely a matter both of power and control, power being the raw energy channeled and control being the nuances of application and the technical skill with which the energy is weilded. Power can come from many sources, the most variable being emotion--you've already turned your nose up at that one tonight, which is what I was getting at before you decided to be oh-so-disdainful--and the most common and manageable being a form of channeling that uses your energy and the energy around you as a catalyst. Control you learn through practice and excersize, i.e. the boring way. Do you have something in particular you'd like to learn, or should I just mold away?" he said dryly as he leaned back against the wall, obviously less interested, though it did seem he knew what he was talking about.
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Subject: Re: Blood and Brimstone Tue Mar 24, 2009 11:42 pm

Taking the shell from him after pulling the tank over my head and tugging it down to cover the majority of my exposed flesh, I listen to the next pile of manuer that spills from his mouth. That whole idea of attacking him outright was starting to sound better and better with each new word. And to think, he had the balls to accuse me of being disdainful. This night was already stretching beyond the limits of reason and weariness was quickly replacing the anger I had been filled with until this point. Placing the shell back on the dresser, I move back to the bed and ease myself on to the corner of the mattress. Lowering my head to my hands, massaging my fingertips along my forehead and temples to try and rub away the recently developed throbbing. "I understand all of that, I'm not stupid, just because I haven't been able to produce superhuman abilities for more than a few months doesn't mean I don't understand the basic concept. I know they are more likely to manifest when my emotions are running high, I know I'll need practice to learn how to control them in a semi useful way. I know this won't happen over night, but I don't know what I would like to learn. I am still new to this whole 'ooh look I can do things normal humans can't' scene. I don't know what is possible, what's out there to learn. I'm a novice, not an idiot. Are things I could learn that would supplement the abilities I already possess? Like maybe a way to do more with the fire besides playing parlor tricks and burning furniture? Or a way to tap into other elements, maybe colder elements that wouldn't be as familiar to a demon that thrives in fire and brimstone? How about a way to supplement the body's ability to heal? That would come in handy. If you contest my theory about the demon's preparations or what he feeds on, why don't you tell me what you know of the nature of demons? Maybe the scarlet skinned sort that stand on the legs of a goat and carry an elephant's dick between their thighs? What does it take to fight a demon like that? Other than hate, cause I have that in spades as far as he is concerned."
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Subject: Re: Blood and Brimstone Thu Mar 26, 2009 5:46 pm

"What it takes is power to punch through it's defenses and such, and then the ability to take what it dishes out." he said with a shrug as he leaned back. "Demons come in a whole mess of types and colors, but a universal is power; you can be as fancy and knowledgeable as you like, but raw power is the currency of exchange between mortal and demon; either his power over you, or your power over him, or a struggle. The point of the previous was that if you can bring out your hate and use it as fuel even without the presence of the source of it, in which case you could have used that as a springboard, but it seems like we have to do things the old fashioned way." he said dryly before rolling his eyes. "The other point of it was to prove to you that anything is possible if you've got enough will behind it to make it work; the proper safeguards and such are all there to hold you back from hurting yourself and to teach you how to do it the nice, measured, controlled way, which also happens to be the slow way. But Mr. Elephant Dick isn't anyone of real power; he's a pussy masquerading as a shark so he can get his rocks off on the poor defenseless girl. Some demons like yours truly have some kinda class, but hey, all the easier to punch a hole through his floppy ass cock."
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Subject: Re: Blood and Brimstone Thu Mar 26, 2009 6:26 pm

"I don't know that I've ever seen his cock in a floppy state, but I get the point. I can use the hate to fuel the power when he isn't around, you know. I just prefer not to attack the body of a friend or the demon who has taken control of it after telling me he can help me with this particular problem. Hurting myself had never been an issue for me, I know pain too well to let fear of it keep me from trying new things, I just don't want to ruin my home or injure those helping me in the process. Now if you could suggest a semi private location where I wouldn't have to worry about repercussions of unleashing destructive forces I would be happy to demonstrate anything you ask of me." Grabbing a discarded pair of jogging pants that had been draped over the back of a chair, I bend down and step into them before gingerly pulling them up to settle at my waist. "I'm not a big fan of doing anything the slow way. I've never been a watch and see kind of girl, so how about another chance at the fast track?" I wasn't too happy about him giving up on his first approach so easily, and wasn't warming up to the dull professor mode he'd slipped into. The recitation of basic bullshit would bore me initially, then just piss me off too much for me to retain any pertinent information.
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Subject: Re: Blood and Brimstone Thu Mar 26, 2009 6:37 pm

He grinned as he looked to her, the slit in his cheek punk-rock grotesque as he turned and made his way from the door. "You people and your fear of settling your precious kindling on fire... it's all burning anyway." he pointed out to the room around them, spreading his hands wide to encompass it all. "None of it matters; a roof over your head? Fine and dandy, if you want to be trapped by it. Better to blow it all up, and run with it." he said dryly before he opened the door to the rest of her apartment and started walking. "But fine, if you don't want to bust up your decor, we can use my place. Basement level, 33rd and Kokuro St., big ass apartment place. Door with no lock on a sunken entrance in the back; it'll be nice and kicked in by the time you get there what with those nice big stitches you got going for you thanks to the Herr Doctor Saito. It's not much, but I get by-you can even keep your shoes on." he said with a grin before he whirled on heel and took a bow, sinking into a patch of shadow as though the floor beneath him fell away instantly and suddenly, the shadow black as pitch for a moment before he was gone and it returned to normal.
Well this'll be interesting...
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Subject: Re: Blood and Brimstone Sun Mar 29, 2009 5:38 pm

Updated Saito

Subject: Re: Blood and Brimstone Mon Apr 06, 2009 10:27 pm

Updated Alexis.

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