[OPEN] Another Day, Another Week, Another Month, Another Year...

[lonelysmiles]

Who: Alastor and you
Which: Interactive Dream, OPEN
Where: A warped version of Reverein that looks like Hell and Reverein have merged together.
What: Alastor has a legitimate nightmare for the first time since arriving, and it’s of a version of Reverein where him going noctaere led to him becoming as much of a social pariah as he is in Hell.
Warnings: It’s Alastor, and he’s not having a very good night’s sleep.


Reverein sat quietly beneath the glowing red pentagram that turned the sky purple. Demons, fairies, and others went about their business, going in and out of shops, sometimes pausing to chat on the streets. However, there was a nervous tension that buzzed in the air whenever the breeze caught the edge of one of many posters put up around town, prompting some people to glance at the sketch of a terrifying demon with wicked antlers, terrible claws, and a horrifying fanged smile.

BEWARE!!!!!! HIM!! THE RADIO DEMON!!

Wandering into the Residential District, there eventually came a sudden abandoned gap of treehouses and apartment buildings. Things had become overgrown, all of it leading up to a blackened tree that seemed to be slowly scaling a radio tower.

Anyone who attempted the front door would find it unlocked. Not at all surprising given nobody wanted to come anywhere near the occupant or anywhere he might haunt. The door opened to a black void so cold that it froze the very soul, the emptiness stretching into eternity.

And somewhere inside was Alastor.

But Things lurked in the endless dark, patches of blackness darker than the rest of the darkness that moved out of the corner of one’s eye and watched with unseen, unblinking gazes.

Dare you risk it and rouse the tormented dreamer? Or will you move on to the next person’s dream and leave the demon to his demons?

Comments

May have some DMCs coming in.

[songbird_slayer]

How could she possibly move on to the next dream when there was something she could do about it?

The moment she saw the depiction in the sketch, her eyes narrowed. This oppressive air, the wind that never seemed to stop blowing, this massive black tree towering over all...

A shiver ran down her spine. She recalled the mission to storm the Tower of Babil. This was terribly familiar for her, even if she herself never reached the peak. But she could handle this. Maybe. Let's try something a little more direct. She could just recall a tune from her dreams, give it a little time...

She threw open the door, witnessed the void beyond... and rolled her shoulders.

"...M-hm. He's definitely here, all right."

[systemofadowny]

This might've been a bad idea. Octavia's not part of Devil May Cry and compared to everyone else, she's a civilian. Even so, learning Alastor was in pain meant she wouldn't turn down the chance to try and help. He's weird, but he's a friend. And familiar with looking past the Radio Demon's reputation to see the man behind it.

They shared that quality with each other.

So despite everything, she joined the expedition and offered her songs. So far, she handles dreamotion best through song, so Via's prepared to use that as much as she can. It might help reach out to Alastor, if it's needed.

"Is this a recurring nightmare of his...?"

She can relate, if it is. For now, the goetia is taking out her phone to turn on the flashlight. Hopefully, it can light the way a little bit.

[songbird_slayer]

She shook her head. "I'm not sure. As far as I can tell, it's new. Or, knowing him, something he's kept to himself for a while."

She looked over, and her expression fell. "Until his noctaere incident. The poor deer."

The mistaken dreamscape she'd made still had her feeling guilty, but it was no doubt nothing compared to becoming one of the dreadful noctaeres.

"I'm afraid I'm not terribly versed on... overlords?" That's what Millie called them, anyway.

"I wonder if they all feel like this deep down, like they are truly irredeemable but dripping with regret."

[lonelysmiles]

The light from the cellphone would show Octavia herself or anyone she pointed it at, but when pointed into the darkness, the beam would be swallowed up by the void.

The unseen Things hated the light, despised it. This was a place of darkness, of emptiness...

...of freezing false comfort where the sorrows of the outside world couldn't reach. Where one could lay their head down and let the cold numb away all emotion. No sadness but no joy either.

[systemofadowny]

"He does, at least." Via can't speak for the others; Alastor's the only overlord she's had any real interaction with.

The ineffectiveness of the flashlight isn't so big of a surprise; magical darkness can shut out mundane light sources with ease. Via would need to use some magic of her own - dreamotion, perhaps - if she wanted to light anything. Especially the creeping emotional numbness that threatened to make her feathers stand up.

"Overlords start out as humans who died and went to Hell for their sins. As sinner demons, or just sinners, they accrue enough power to climb up the ranks and usually get a reputation to match. Alastor's includes cannibalism. Most demons fear him."

In a way, it feels disrespectful to talk about Alastor like this in his own nightmare. It is common knowledge for a hellborn and relevant to all of this, though. The owl closes her eyes for a moment, channeling her concern and urge to help him into music that begins to fill the air. Even if she can't light up the whole area, just a little bit is the start they need.

"I think...coming to Reverein is the first time in a long time he's been able to make friends. No reputation following him, people and demons from back home willing to give him a chance. Maybe after turning noctaere, he's afraid of things going back to how they were..."

She shakes her head.

"...But they don't have to."

♫ Mine, immaculate dream made breath and skin
I've been waiting for you ♫

[songbird_slayer]

She definitely heard that before. But cannibalism as one of the sins, perhaps THE sin... yeah, she remembers how much he loves venison as a deer demon. That fit. But she had to wonder why he was shaped into a deer upon his arrival in Hell. Maybe it was some form of his punishment, the hunter becoming a prey animal...

Octavia began to conjure a tune and she proceeded only slightly ahead. This place was simply empty. It was precisely as the Scions described a certain end of the universe.

She found the rhythm in that tune and added in backing vocals, harmonious tones to fill and build the song. She would, just in case, keep Via in her peripherals.

and, inadvisably, i am here too

[herewardbound]

"A cannibal. Well, I am in good company." He hadn't met Octavia, but then it wasn't hard to tell who she was and how this particular crowd knew her. After all, the resemblance was... uncanny.

"... Blatant hypocrisy aside, if we're going to be pulling his ass out of the mire of his own self-pity again, I'm going to have a few words to say."

He... couldn't sing. Nor did he particularly care to try. But he could keep a wary eye out for any changes in the surrounding landscape.

[lonelysmiles]

The entrance to the void shut silently behind them.

The Things continued to watch. One of Them eeled its way between them, unseen even when the light was pointed directly at it but freezing to the touch. It continued on its path without pause.

There was no sound save what they made. And the cold. Always the cold.

[abyssbound]

Asura typically steered clear of the dreams of others if he could avoid it. Dreams are private things and it wouldn't be right to intrude upon them. Asura also isn't typically pulled into the dreams of others, however.

When he looks down at himself, Asura notices that he's once again taken on the appearance of the Mara--how very appropriate for this hellish vision of Reverein. Grumbling under his breath, he takes one look at the warning poster and knows immediately whose dream this is.

"Is this the world you want?" Asura shouts into the open door of Alastor's void, but does not yet step through.

[lonelysmiles]

There are Things in the dark, Things that turn Their attention towards Asura and simply watch.

The shout was swallowed up by the void. The cold that oozed out from it offered a false sense of comfort. Hide away from the world outside and let it numb you. Bury yourself in the dark and know neither sorrow nor joy.

[systemofadowny]

The darkness is unsettling. Void is the perfect word to describe all of this. Complete emptiness, absent of light, of sound, feeling, life...it's chilling in more ways than one.

Even if it wasn't too late to turn back, Octavia continues to push forward. She knows better than to push ahead of the others; Via's kind of the escort mission target and she will admit that. The least she can do is provide herself and the others with her a little warmth to combat the cold, light to push back the darkness, determination to pierce the emotional numbness. Fortunately, dreamotion can help her do all of that through song.

♫ Signed with a home tattoo,
Happy Birthday to You was created for you

Can't ever keep from falling apart at the seams
Can't I believe you're taking my heart to pieces ♫

[songbird_slayer]

She stuck to the front then. At the very least, the singers would keep Akechi surrounded in what seemed to be working thus far. Even with the icy presence of these unseen things continually brushing against her skin and scales, she had to keep her eyes peeled.

In a break from her backup vocals- she had a bar or two to breathe- she raised her voice:

"Alastor! ...Alastor...?"

Oh, where were you... or was this entire void simply all of you? She wagered it'd be rude to just be walking on or inside him, especially with shoes on.

[abyssbound]

The cold was lost on the dark man in the doorway, kept at bay by a persistent internal fire that allowed no chill to reach him, even within a Hell of Ice. The flame mark upon Asura's forehead split open to allow him to peer into the darkness with his third eye, searching for the demon he knew to lurk within.

"I know you're in there." He spoke again, extending one of the spinelike tentacles of his Spiritual Entity through the door, its length wreathed in flame to light the way. "Are you so cowed that you're afraid to greet me at your door?"

[herewardbound]

"Alastor!" He suspected that the deer-demon wasn't likely to rise to his call, but it was worth a shot. "We know you're here, so come out." It was too dark to see, but...

Dreamotion could help, maybe. He focused, drew on the faint connection he felt to Reverein...

"Persona." It wasn't much, but it was light- flickering blue flame around the figure of Captain Nemo as it manifested. Hopefully whatever was in here wouldn't take too much offense to the presence.

[lonelysmiles]

The unseen eyes glared.

"They don't like that."

Alastor's voice came from somewhere to their left. It was soft and...flat. Not quite emotionless like during that whole "Tin Man" incident. Simply...tired.

"This is Their home. You need to abide by Their rules."

[lonelysmiles]

Unseen eyes glared but Alastor's voice came from somewhere in the darkness, near-emotionless aside from tired resignation. "It's not my place to let you into their home. They're just letting me visit for a while."

[abyssbound]

There he is.

"Then come out." Asura's voice is a firm order; the authoritative tone of a commander who isn't having any of this nonsense. "Or is hiding away in there what you really want?"

[lonelysmiles]

"No, I don't think I will. Not yet. I don't need to be onstage right now, so I'll enjoy the quiet while I have it. Screaming gets so grating on the ears after a while."

[abyssbound]

"Enjoying it? Are you really?" Comes his skeptical reply, all three of his burning eyes sweeping the darkness in an attempt to locate Alastor within.

"I'm the only one out here right now and I'm not afraid of you. What are you so afraid of, Alastor?"

[lonelysmiles]

"You think I'm going to reveal something like that to a complete stranger? Come now, how much of a fool do you take me for?"

Alastor didn't remember this other form of Asura's after the man had killed him in that nightmare. Every other encounter he'd had with Asura had been in his more human form though he'd seen those tentacles before in a fight the man had with a noctaere. True, the stranger looked familiar but that was nothing really to go off of.

This was clearly another demon, one who might use it to their advantage.

[abyssbound]

It doesn't matter if Alastor recognizes him or not--not any more, anyway. At any rate, the demon is being foolish in Asura's eyes, and so he steps up his goading.

"You're a coward, Alastor. You created this world and now you're too scared to face it so you'd rather hide away in the dark like a rodent." Asura sneers. "You're not avoiding the screams, you're running scared from your own sins, terrified of the judgment of strangers."

[lonelysmiles]

"You think I don't realize that this is all my fault? That I earned Hell in spades and then turned that delightful little town into a second Hell while trying to avoid doing so?"

There was a bitter laugh from the darkness.

"I confess my sins readily to any who ask. I'm a demon, so what's the point in pretending otherwise? Some people choose to avoid me, but many others in Reverein still chose to associate with me despite my nature."

There was a moment of silence before the bitterness faded to resignation.

"Or at least there were. I can't go down the street anymore without others running away, and I smile like everything is just berries. Back in Hell, I used to love the fear, the terrified respect, but after ninety years of having basically no one to talk to...well, what better punishment is there for someone who wants to be social, hmm?"

He wasn't a lucid dreamer so he had no idea that he was trapped in a nightmare of his own making.

[abyssbound]

"If this is a hell of your own making, then unmake it." Asura finally steps through the threshold and into the void, his bladed tentacles hovering threateningly around his body as he strides determinedly into Alastor's self-inflicted prison. Whatever is lurking in the dark, it will find no fear to feed on from the intruder.

"You may admit your sins, but unless you do something to fix what you've broken, then all your confessions amount to is empty words." Asura's tentacles spread out in the dark, fiery whips made of bone that lash out at the things in the dark.

"You're the only one who can fix this, Alastor, yet you choose to do nothing but wallow in self-pity. If you're too much of a coward to face the light then I will find you in here and drag you out myself."

[lonelysmiles]

"And what, pray tell, would you do? I can't bring back to life those I killed and ate in life nor those I did in death. Nor do I regret those kills. I would do them again in a heartbeat even knowing this was my punishment for them. I've always been a monster, so I chose to hunt my fellow monsters.

"But in Reverein...I lost control. That I do regret. But no matter how many times or ways I try to make up for what I've done, it doesn't work. Not that I'm all that surprised. The chance I had was the life I lived before. My punishment is this."

The last sentence was spoken from behind Asura. When he turned around, he'd see Alastor with the smallest possible smile on his lips. Around his neck was a thick collar made of shadow emblazoned with the red symbols that would periodically hover around Alastor when he was casting spells. A heavy chain of shadow extended into the surrounding void, disappearing into the blackness. His wrists and ankles were similarly bound with manacles and chains all leading into the void.

[abyssbound]

Asura listened in silence as Alastor spoke, and when at last he made his presence visible, Asura turned his head to look at him over his shoulder.

Chains made of smoke, binding yet no more solid save for the will of the one bound to remain so.

"So you've given up? I was under the impression that you had more pride than that." The huge man crossed his arms over his chest, red eyes narrowed at the chains in disgust. "Your 'punishment' is nothing more than an escape. You shackle yourself and accept your punishment because it's easier than atoning. It's easier to give up than to keep trying to better yourself."

Striding toward Alastor, Asura grabed hold of the demon's collar and yanked him forward, forcing him to look into his face. "If I'm wrong, then prove it. Not to me, but to yourself."