songerein | The Informant

Entry tags:

alastor

The Informant | Closed

Who: Tobias and Alastor
Which: Closed Log
Where: The forest/Alastor's place
What: Tobias has questions, and ironically the radio demon seems likely to keep his mouth shut.
Warnings: Probably talk of PTSD and war in here. Also hunting, and cannibalism is likely to show up.

Tobias has questions. A lot of questions, actually. He needs information about this place, and the weird demon (alien?) seemed willing enough to provide it. So why not try him? ... A bunch of reasons, up to and including "demons aren't real", "if they are real you shouldn't make a deal with them", and "if you're going to give a present to a demon, what do you even bring?". But eventually Tobias settles on a course of action. He waits until he can see Alastor go off to do... something.

And then he goes off to execute his plan.

He morphs in the woods to Hork-Bajir, setting off for where he'd seen deer. It doesn't take long for him to take one down, considering that he jumps on it from the tops of the trees and brings down a wrist blade into its neck. The head severs from the neck cleanly, and the rest of the herd scatters.

Tobias drags it back to Alastor's place, sets it nearby, and demorphs. There's no cameras here (he's pretty sure) so he's safe. ... He thinks. But either way he's done it, and he perches on a tree nearby to wait for Alastor to come back. ... It's a good thing he already ate, since that deer would make him very hungry.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Cameras? Dear Tobias, Alastor's was a face made for radio.

Alastor hummed as he opened the door to his home, a cheery little yellow basket complete with red and white checkered blanket on one arm. True, he could probably purchase some of the mushrooms he wanted in the market, but there was just something about --

His nose twitched, picking up fresh blood. His ears pricked with interest as he turned around to see the offering left practically on his doorstep. A quick glance about revealed a familiar hawk in a nearby tree.

"Well, you certainly know how to get an old demon's attention! Good afternoon!"

There's a little 'laughter' in Alastor's head, and then Tobias speaks up.

<I thought you might like it. I could use some information, and I don't like owing debts. So how much will this get me?>

Look, while he doesn't know a lot about demons - he's not that kind of nerd - he's seen enough movies or read enough books to know that you don't go into debt with demons or other mythical creatures. And if this guy really is a demon, better to get on his good side.

"Great minds think alike! And quite a lot actually!"

Alastor cut a chunk of flesh out of the animal with a claw, popping it into his mouth and eating it raw. He hummed with pleasure.

"The blood's even still warm! Very impressive! Let me get this put away and then I'm all yours!"

Just going to haul that deer over one skinny shoulder. He wasn't sure how the hawk had managed to get such a large animal onto his doorstep, but he figured that might take some time to get the knowledge out of him. The wild bird was surprisingly cagey.

Then again, this talk of alien invasions like something out of a Welles novel likely had something to do with it.

Yep, definitely weird. If a deer alien eats a deer, is it a cannibal? Something to think about. Which he does while Alastor is busy putting the deer away. He's not squeamish (anymore) but he's not sure he wants to see this guy eat. It might be Weird.

He just sits in the tree, waiting for the other guy to get back. Might as well preen while he's waiting. And try to think about the exact questions he wants to ask.

Funny you should ask about cannibalism in regards to Alastor...

Honestly, he might just have a snack outside a bit later. Really enjoy the raw venison.

Alastor came out again quickly enough, humming to himself with his hands folded neatly behind his back.

"Now then! Would you like to come inside or is there somewhere else in particular you'd like to talk? While I don't think people would be able to hear your half of the conversation given the circumstances, I'm not certain if you want even just half of our discussion overheard."

<Coming inside is fine. I don't really want people to hear our conversation at all.>

Sure, there aren't a lot of neighbors, but they still exist. And he'd like to keep the knowledge that he might give in exchange - or context - to a minimum of spreading around. And as soon as Alastor holds a door or window open for him, he flutters inside.

... Man, what does a demon's house look like?

Alastor opened the door wide, holding it open with a slight bow to give Tobias plenty of room to fly in.

A demon's home could be just as varied as the sinner's body, but very likely this wasn't what Tobias expected.

It was a rather cozy treehouse though it was big enough to accommodate two people. Two comfy chairs with side tables in front of the fireplace, a nice dining area, a kitchen just off of the main living area on one side and a small hallway leading to two bedrooms and a restroom on the other. No blood, guts, and gore. In fact, there was even a sewing kit and a basket of mending next to the more well-worn of the chairs in front of the fireplace. Really, it resembled more of a cozy cottage than a demon's lair.

Alastor shut the door after his guest had entered. "Do make yourself comfortable. Can I offer you anything? Water? Meat?"

He landed over on the back of one of the chairs, trying to be careful to not dig his talons into the chair's fabric. He was pleasantly surprised to see how... normal it looked.d Was this what this guy had lived like before he - wait, why was he entertaining the thought that Hell was a real place? Ugh. He chirruped at Alastor, focusing on the question.

<Oh. Uh. No, I ate before. I didn't want to risk tempting myself with your present. As for water, hawks don't actually need to drink that much. But the offer is appreciated.>

He shifted from side to side before speaking up again. <So uh. I guess I should first ask what sort of places are around here. Not like... shops. I mean more cities. I'd go and look myself but I wouldn't even know where to start.>

Alastor sat down in the chair with the sewing basket beside it, shifting the chair to fully face the hawk. "Well, let me know if you change your mind. It won't be much trouble."

He crossed one long leg over the other, folding his hands neatly in his lap.

"There are two more that we currently know about. There's Dragefjell -- the Dragon Island -- and Orkili. There's also a long-abandoned city whose power plant provides electricity to Reverein.

"Dragefjell is a floating island so you have to be able to fly to reach it. It's never floated over Reverein itself, but it'll sometimes pass close by. The reason it's referred to as the Dragon Island is because it's populated by dragons. Shapeshifters, all of them. They tend to be very good neighbors, and when it floats close enough, many people partake in soaking in their hot springs. While we run on the barter system, they take payment in gold, gems, and other precious items. You'd honestly have the easiest time visiting them.

"Orkili would be much more difficult to get to for you. It's an underground city in the heart of the Wasteland. We only recently became acquainted with them when their reactor nearly exploded. Given it runs on raw nightmare energy -- quite plentiful in the Wasteland -- it requires positive dreamotion to keep the reactor from overheating, something Reverein has in abundance. There's now sandworms that allow transport between the two towns, but I'm not sure you'd enjoy the experience."

He listened attentively, tilting his head towards Alastor as he did. Dragons... and nightmare energy. And giant sandworms? ... The sandworms reminded him of something, but he could't recall what. He'd think about it later. He had no reason to go to hot springs, but -

<Shapeshifters? Like how? And how big is the Wasteland? Nightmare energy versus positive dreamotion... I guess you're trading with them now?>

It should be 'we', but he... wasn't ready to call himself part of the community yet. Not when he had so many secrets he had to keep. Not when he was still unsure of what was going on. And not while he still had the whole thing with Rachel keeping something from him.

"Magic, of course." He spread his hands and summoned a few voodoo veves to hover in front of him for a brief moment before dismissing them.

"If you go past the forest and keep going north, you'll reach the ocean. However, any other direction and you'll find the wasteland. Black sand, oppressive atmosphere, significantly-increased noctaere presence, there's no mistaking it for anything else. As for how big it is, nobody's been able to chart it out. The only reason Eustace and I found Orkili at all was because we'd been following a thief who'd been stealing objects rich with positive emotions to try and cool down the reactor. Without that, we probably would've never met their people."

He nodded in response to the last question. It didn't surprise him that Tobias wasn't including himself in the community. It wasn't uncommon among newcomers.

"We've also been exploring the caverns around their city as much as we can. However, the noctaere of the wastelands are far more dangerous than those surrounding our quaint little town. The noctaere around here prefer to stay out of the light and are harmed by positive dreamotion. My current roommate and I once fought one of the noctaere in the abandoned mines around Orkili and had to throw out everything we knew about them. Not only did it have no issue with light, it ate crystals filled with positively-charged dreamotion."

The strange symbols got him to raise his wings in alarm, trying to figure out how the heck he did that. What the - okay. Okay. He was answering his question. Noctaere... monsters? Hm. But trying to cool down the reactor with some kind of opposite force... that made sense. He wasn't sure about this positive emotion crud, but he wasn't going to call it out right here and now. It didn't seem the time, at least.

<Huh. So monster problems. But nothing being... sneaky? They haven't been trying to infiltrate or anything? It seems pretty straightforward. Not the... new kind of monster thing. The light might... be a problem, though. They can't climb trees, can they?>

"Not outside of an immediate goal," Alastor said with a nod. "You might occasionally have someone trying to make trouble, but very rarely is there some sort of unified force. We work off the barter system here but there was an attempt to bring in a gold standard...which turned out to be gold the goblins had stolen from the dragons who were very unhappy about people making off with their hoards.

"The main issues are periodically large shifts in landscape and that can affect people directly due to all of the dream energy. On extremely rare occasions there is a major threat."

<Large landscape shifts... like the weird forest we just got out of?>

Hm. Interesting. And also frustrating! He doesn't want to constantly have to shift around territory.

<Uh. What kind of major threats? Like... nah, this place is too peaceful for a war. ... Right?>

"Precisely!"

Good to see the hawk was paying attention.

"Not anything like the Great War, no. Last year there was a threat known as the Story Eater that we needed to seal away. Some of the first group of dreamers had initially come from another world that the Story Eater had consumed. It was quite a battle, really! However, the Story Eater was overwhelmed by our sheer unwillingness to die. A little cleanup and everything was right as rain!"

Great War? ... Oh right, the guy was old. Lame, but understandable. If what he said was at all true, anyway. He could either actually be a demon or he could be a liar. He'd have to look for other sources to double-check.

<Story Eater... I've heard of things that take over worlds but not really... devour them.> The closest he could think of was like... a giant Taxxon. Man that'd be horrifying... a planet-sized ugly worm? He shuddered mentally. <But good to know that people are stubborn here, too. It's a good trait for pretty much anyone to have, really.>

It was a trait he was very familiar with himself. He'd lost track of how long he'd been a hawk, but he'd surprised himself with just how strongly he'd wanted to survive. <But there's no...> ... Should he even insinuate anything? He wasn't sure. There was no reason to bring this guy in completely, but...

<... The enemy we've been fighting could be anywhere. They... infect people, basically. And then they don't have a choice but to fight for their side. So there's a reason I'm cautious.> 'We're cautious' really, but Alastor didn't have to know about Rachel. Not yet.

Alastor went quiet, moving his elbows to the armrests as he steepled his fingers. He kept smiling the whole time, but his body language broadcast that he was taking the question very seriously. He held perfectly still like a deer as his ambient static buzzed louder, periodic snippets of music and other thoughts flickering through like someone rapidly scanning between radio stations.

"I've never heard of such a thing, not even in Hell," Alastor admitted after several minutes of thoughtful silence. "I could claim that such a thing doesn't happen here, but someone infected, as you put it, would say that. And if they truly are as quiet a threat as you seem to imply, proving to you that I'm not infected doesn't prove that it doesn't exist at all. All it proves is that if there is such a thing, I'm merely unaware of it."

He unsteepled his fingers to prop his cheek up on his fist.

"Quite a conundrum you've brought me!"

<Yeah. It's a problem. I mean, we could tie you up for three days to see if you're clean, but I suspect neither of us would like that.>

Did he just have to hope they weren't here? But hope never got him anything but pain and disappointment. Being careful was what let him stay alive.

<... Magic isn't a thing where I'm from. So it's kind of hard to accept that you - I mean, I don't think that - hm. ... Basically if you were actually a demon, you... probably would be fine? I can't imagine that you don't have defenses.>

"You'd regret it if only because I'm an absolute horror when I'm bored. That and you'd only be able to hold me because I let you. After all, it's very difficult to hold someone..."

He melted into shadow, reappearing behind the very same chair that Tobias perched on with his cheek still propped up by his fist.

"...who can teleport."

He turned at the sound of fabric moving, glaring at Alastor. ... Yeah. Yeah, he should have figured something like that was going to happen.

<Which means you wouldn't have gotten taken over unless you wanted to be. Which I doubt you do. I don't... know a lot of stories of demons, but the stories I've read that do have them they're pretty independent.>

So he was... safe? Maybe? In that way at least. There was nothing about this situation that felt safe. Honestly part of him wanted to fly away because what could he do if this person became an enemy? But he kept himself still, just staring at Alastor.

Alastor stepped away from Tobias, strolling back around to his previous seat. Partially as a courtesy so as not to further startle the hawk.

"That I don't, but depending upon how infection happens, I might not have a choice. Hell still has your basic plagues and hayfever."

Yes. Hell had allergies. It was Hell.

"And we do tend to be an independent lot though it's about having the power to achieve such a thing. Many weaker demons end up selling their souls to stronger ones for protection or other needs. The more powerful demons have not just their contractees as thralls but as a power source for their own magic."

He shrugged lightly as he sat back down.

"I take it those stories you've heard mentioned Deals? You bringing me an offering right out the gate and saying you didn't want to owe any debts sounds like they did. A true Deal -- capital D -- isn't something you can just accidentally stumble into, I assure you. When a Deal is being made, there's quite a light show to go with it for starters. A Deal requires both parties to be fully cognizant that a magically-binding agreement is taking place.

"Then again, these are the rules of my particular Hell. There are a variety of different demons here though not as many as there once were. The rules can vary from world to world."

He listened carefully, settling down again a bit. Should he... hm.

<It's more... being held down and accepting a parasite. Or doing it of your own free will, which does happen.>

But yeah, guilty. He shifted from talon to talon before responding.

<Pretty much. I don't know much about demons. And... okay. So like a multiverse thing. I think I'm starting to get the picture. Not sure I like how it's developing, but I get it.>

Was he angry that other versions of Earth probably weren't dealing with what he was? Yeah. Was he relieved about it? Also yeah.

<I just wanted to cover my butt in case of anything. And it doesn't hurt to get friendly with your neighbors, or so I've been told.>

"Hmm. I suppose I can see why some people might think that was their only option. You do have people willingly giving up their souls in Hell, after all."

At the hawk's uncomfortable shifting, Alastor waved his hand carelessly.

"Oh, I'm not offended! It's only natural you'd be cautious about such things! Particularly if one's free will can be usurped by some parasite intent on conquest. Why invite more trouble than what you already have? If you've got a question, ask away! Even if for no other reason than that deer you brought me is worth significantly more than a 'I don't know about any evil parasites hellbent on taking over this dream world'. Mind I can't tell you everything, of course, but I won't lie to you. A Deal Maker who doesn't keep his word finds himself with no one to make Deals with."

<Makes sense. It's kind of nice to at least... maybe be able to lower our guards slightly. Not totally, obviously - that'd be dumb. But if you haven't seen anything and you've been here a few years, then... maybe...>

Screw it. If anyone can keep their mouth shut, it's someone who makes deals. Or Deals, as the case may be.

<... Obviously I'm not a normal hawk. But uh. I got this way because of alien technology. I used to be human. ... But you knew most of that already, didn't you?>

"I gathered you weren't just an average hawk, yes. For starters, there's no reasonable way you could have brought that deer to my doorstep without help, and the way you wanted privacy for our conversation gave me the impression you weren't likely to ask for outside assistance unless you had no other choice. Though I would have assumed magic, not technology. Still, it isn't that farfetched. The idea of an aeroplane would seem like magic to someone even a hundred years before my time."

Arthur C. Clarke and his famous three laws weren't written until almost three decades after Alastor's death, so the radio host wasn't likely to know them. Still, that third law was basic common sense.

"However, your...well, 'voice' for lack of a better term sounds quite young. I find it disturbing that so many alternate Earths that appear here rely on child soldiers."

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