Riverside

[Morty]

[MERC Office]

"It was my pleasure helping Vigil." It really wasn't, but it was at least informative and probably useful in the long run.

"Indeed it was. We've managed to clear the air and learn something." Wenomir s quite pleased, all in all. His expression does brighten up a little.

[Reinholdt]

[Northside Graveyard]

Ilpholin would also like to know how this man knew when to be here and what she was doing. It can't have been watching her meeting with Marianne. Ilpholin's Estate is specially and specifically warded against supernatural spying and similar sleuthing. It must be something on the angel's end then, because the heads up was so short and sudden.

Mrs. Mordecai takes a few steps, getting firmly between the man and his quarry before he tries going further down the hill. "If you're as smart as you claim..." She drawls slowly. "You'll turn around and walk away."

[Gullara]

[Westside Sunrise]

Kitsuki's brow furrows, but she picks up enough to get by. "It's about a five minute walk from the subway entrance to our apartment. If you can make it you can stay until you make the arrangements you need." She offers.

[Arkhosia]

[Westside Sunrise]

There's a sense of noticeable relief in Stasia's expression when Kitty doubtfully approves, but Ana seems less sure. "Do we... um, mom, could she borrow your jacket when we leave the subway? Maybe like, that could keep the sun off her or something?" She turns to her hesitantly - and this close, Kitty might notice the faint black splatter on her cheek.

[Ironsmith]

[Northside Graveyard]

"Or what? You'll kill me?" The haggard man grins, exposing a meager half-dozen yellow nubs that probably used to be teeth. "Well, you're welcome to try! Gahahahaha!" He laughs in her face, a putrid mix of alcohol and tobacco wafting into her face off his breath. "You can't. Not really. Sure, you could stab poor Artur here, but nobody'd miss him, not even me. And all you'd do is buy yourself a little extra time. Why bother?" He chortles and rolls his shoulders. "Come on. None of you really want to be here. She's miserable. You're chafing at taking orders from a demon, and worse, saving a demon from a fate she richly deserves. And Hesperos... well, she's got fey magic compelling her. Not to mention you two hate each other's guts and would gladly spill them if you got the chance. Are you really going to stand in my way? Is it even worth it?"

[Westside Sunrise]

"Five minutes is fine. Especially if I... hang on a minute, actually." Siana reaches into her bag and shuffles a few things around, the sound of jars clinking together coming through the cloth, barely muted. After a moment of searching, she pulls out a black hoodie, which smells faintly of smoke and perfume, rolled over itself so it'll take up a small enough space to be carried. She quickly pulls it on over her head, revealing the design of twelve blocky white letters spelling out "NOT GOING HOME" in a font that's rather heavily associated with a certain metal band. If anybody would care to look closely, they'll even see the silhouettes of the four succubi hiding between the letters, where negative space would normally be.

"It's, um... this has worked fine before." Siana says, shifting awkwardly. "It's not perfect, but it'll... it'll keep the burns down."

[Shadowcaller]

[Northside Graveyard]

Okay, so he (or she) was definitively a demon. Probably possessing some unlucky smuck if their words could be believed.
That would explain why he knew her name, but he knew about the deal too? Meant that they or their superiors had been spying on the exchange she had with Marianne.
But that would mean that he'd know about Marianne's plan to save Malady from the abyss. Was he confident that she'd fail the trial or was there something else at work here?

Better see what miss soon-to-be-fallen had to say about this...
She quickly dialed Marianne's number and pressed 'CALL'. Hopefully she'd pick up right away.

[Reinholdt]

[Northside Graveyard]

Mrs. Mordecai glares silently at Artur for a time. Finally, she shakily steps aside, giving him room to pass, tightly clutching her cane as she hobbles. As she does, she reaches into a darkened portion of her dress and pulls out a flask, popping the lid and bringing it to her lips. All this nonsense has her parched.

When Artur moves to pass her, however, he'll find some of the contents of that flask being splashed on his face, as Ilpholin douses the demon with the church blessed holy water. Her cane snaps up, rising to catch the man in the back of the knees while he's distracted with the pious liquid and force him to suddenly fall and kneel on the ground. The assault only continues as without pause the cane blurs out, up, then down, seeking to slam upon the demon possessed man's exposed knees with excessive force. She is looking to do no less than shatter both of the demonically possessed man's kneecaps with this sudden flurry of activity.

"Your mouth should learn to work smarter. You don't understand a thing about me."

[Ironsmith]

[Northside Graveyard]

rinininining!

rininini-

cnk~

"Hello. You've reached the phone of Marianne Van Braun." Euphoria's voice crackles through the speaker. "She's a little tied up at the moment, but I can take a message. To whom am I speaking?"

"Mmph! Mm-mmmph!"

-

"See? That wasn't so hard, was-"

And then assault and battery.

"Gaaah!" The man screams as holy water is flung in his face and he falls backward onto the ground.

However, by the time Mrs Mordecai gets to the part where she's violently disassembling his knees, the man stops being surprised and starts laughing, no longer really responding to the attacks themselves. "My, but you're an angry one, aren't you?" He chortles. "That must get exhausting. Is this how you solve all your problems, then? Beating them to death without showing your real face? No wonder you have so many of them."

[Shadowcaller]

[Northside Graveyard]

Okay... well, she couldn't afford to give that much thought given the circumstances. So she moved on.

"...hey, this is Jaahlyn. I got some urgent information for Marianne. Could I speak to her as soon as possible please? It's regarding a demon." Hopefully that was striking enough while not making Euphoria want to make her ask questions. Most of her attention right now went to controlling her breathing and to make herself sound calm. All while ignoring the sounds of what sounded like Ilpholin beating up the demon in question.

At least she hoped that's what she was hearing.

[Gullara]

[Westside Sunrise]

"...Okay, as long as you're sure." Kitsuki says, though the look in her eyes is quite concerned. "We should get going. We're already going to draw too much attention as is. Stay close to me, and let's not talk about any of this until we're home, okay?"

[Ironsmith]

[Northside Graveyard]

"Jaahlyn?" The satyr will probably be able to practically hear Euphoria's eyebrow shoot up over the phone. "...Well. As it happens, you're in luck. I have ten times as much experience with demons as Marianne does. Anything you could get from her, you could get from me, and then some. So... what's going on?"

"Mmmmph! Mnmmnmn! Mm-"

"Quiet, you." A loud, leathery snap can be heard through the speaker. "Sorry about that. Someone doesn't realize she's still in so much trouble. Anyway, please continue."

[Arkhosia]

[Westside Sunrise]

Stasia still seems a bit worried as she watches Siana pull the hoodie on, but she nods, stepping closer to her mother. If need be, she'll reach out to grab the strigoi's hand to lead her along. "Okay, um, yeah - let's go." Ana, meanwhile, only buries her face back into Kitsuki's shoulder and nods.

[Shadowcaller]

[Northside Graveyard]

"As much as I would like to, I can't." Jaahlyn replies curtly. "Marianne said I can only reveal this information to her. All that I can tell you is that there's a demon here and that I'm at a graveyard unfortunately."

[Ironsmith]

[Northside Graveyard]

"...Did she." Euphoria's frown is, likewise, almost audible through the phone. "Fine. Give me just a second."

There's a loud shrip from the other side of the phone, a sound Jaahlyn might recognize as something similar to duct tape being peeled off of skin.

"Jaahlyn? What's happening over there?" Marianne's voice comes in through the speaker, quite a bit shakier than it was the last time they talked. "Is everything okay?"

No. Of course it's not. Jaahlyn wouldn't be calling if everything was okay.


[Westside Sunrise]

Siana certainly won't object to the helping hand. And at any rate, she doesn't really have anything else to say on the trip back to their house. Not even implicitly. She'll just kind of sit there on the subway until something is said to her, which it likely won't be.

[Reinholdt]

[Northside Graveyard]

"You've learned nothing..." Mrs. Mordecai says in the most disappointed voice only an elderly old lady can manage. Anger often begets violence, but they are far from equivalent. And no one has been beaten to death. The demon is just poorly attempting to dig at Ilpholin's emotions. The demon would have to try smarter.

The elderly old woman turns to walk down the hill to where Melody has fallen, no longer hobbling at a slow pace. Her ears and senses are just as capable of noticing what's behind her as what's in front, prepared for retaliation in the unfortunate circumstance that Artur is not as incapacitated and immobile as she would like, despite the state of his legs.

[Ironsmith]

[Northside Graveyard]

It would appear as though Artur is much better at handling traumatic knee injuries than Melody, since while the former is still laughing it up while looking at his shattered kneecaps, the latter is just holding her knee and looking up at the elderly woman with wide eyes, biting back a whimper of pain as it becomes increasingly clear that help isn't coming.

"...He... he called you Ilpholin." The succubus manages to say, blinking back tears. "You're here to kill me, aren't you? Is that why you were so awful? It wasn't enough to send me back to the Abyss, you wanted to make sure I was in as much pain as possible, too?" She sniffles, squeezing her eyes shut. "...What did I ever do to you?" She whispers, not expecting a real reply from her apparent assassin.

[Shadowcaller]

[Northside Graveyard]

"Nothing is okay, but that means everything is going according to your plan." Jaahlyn remarks as she feels the stress getting to her. Stomping her hoof into the ground.
"But now there's a demon here that knows who I am, everything about the job you gave me and is here for the same thing as your accomplice."

[Ironsmith]

[Northside Graveyard]

"...That's not possible. The three of us were the only ones who knew this was going to be a thing. And I never would have dragged another demon into-" Marianne's voice cuts off abruptly. "...Shit. SHIT! Jaahlyn, get everyone out of there NOW." There's an unmistakable note of panic in the angel's voice. "The only way a demon would know about this is if a Devil told them. And if the Devils know what's going on, then we need to scrub the whole mission. It's already risky, but they're only going to make it worse."

"Mission? WHAT MISSION?!" Euphoria's furious voice can be heard in the background.

[Reinholdt]

[Northside Graveyard]

"I'm going to kill you," Ilpholin confirms. "Then I'm going to kill Exstacy. Then Euphoria. Then Mania again for good measure. Much slower this time so it sticks."

The old woman's cane comes swinging down towards Melody, seeking to drive home the most basic of instincts, fight or flight. Perhaps, just perhaps, by treating Melody's friends too Ilpholin can get some reaction from her. A feeble last minute attempt to fight back, some desperate roll to escape. That would surely count as standing up for oneself. And it's not like this swing isn't the slowest Ilpholin's ever done, pulling her attack substantially. Heck, even if Melody completely fumbles her defense, it's just going to sting a lot. This isn't even remotely a killing blow, though Melody doesn't need to know that.

[Ironsmith]

[Northside Graveyard]

Melody lets out a little shriek and throws her hands up to protect herself, catching what will probably be a nasty bruise on her forearms. Ilpholin was right about the fight-or-flight part, at least; the move seems to be more instinctual than it is a conscious attempt at fighting back.

No, that part would come from her tail.

The often-unused but prehensile member quickly wraps its way around the closer of Ilpholin's legs, starting just below the ankle and moving about halfway up to her knee. It's... not a pleasant sensation for either of them. For Ilpholin, it'll be a rough, sandpapery sort of sensation where the tail connects, sort of like a dried-out tongue, with a number of tiny bumps rubbing up against her metallic skin in a very uncomfortable manner.

This, promptly followed by a sharp tug, is hopefully enough to get her off-balance and buy Melody time to recover, as well as really process the depth of the threat Ilpholin just made.

At which point her priorities go from "stay alive" to "make sure Ilpholin can't hurt anyone else, especially her friends". Which as of now takes the form of a desperate search for something she could use as a weapon; even a fist-sized rock would do the job.

[Shadowcaller]

[Northside Graveyard]

'Abort'?
Yes.

The objective was to get Melody into heaven and if that was impossible right now her death would mean... failure.
Of course, Ilpholin wouldn't back off now and neither would the demon. To assume anything else would be unreasonable.

So the solution was obvious.

She took a deep breath as she started reaching into that dark place of her mind. But then she remembered what had happened back at the concert.
Was she really going to let that beast out again? Ugh, she couldn't- no, hesitation would mean death. A decision had to be made.

She let out an internal sigh. Time to half-ass it she supposed.

"Very well." She replies. "I'll abort it."


Click

Putting away the phone the satyr walks out from behind the mausoleum. "Ilpholin, stop-"

That's when she noticed just what Ilpholin was up to.
Fuck.
"Back off. Now."

[Reinholdt]

[Northside Graveyard]

Oh noooooo... Ilpholin's leg is being 'pulled' out from under her and the old lady lands on her back. Making it that much easier for Melody to fight back. The Deathkiss singer fucking finally has, so all the criteria has at last been met. This path has plenty of stones for Melody to choose from, even a small, loose headstone if she wants.

Of course, being on her back has other advantages as well, as Ilpholin quickly scans the area for potential interference. If there are demons or creatures likely to be demons nearby, she'll have to... ah, Jaahlyn! Finally, everything is in order. The goat monster is even vocally pretending to be standing against Ilpholin's actions. Clever move, Ilpholin has to give her credit. This will surely help the goat convince Melody it's still on her side while arguing for her in the afterlife and keep up appearances for the next two targets as well. Ilpholin files a mental note that the goat beast plans at least three moves ahead.

If there doesn't appear to be an Artur or some other menace like him nearby ready to pounce, then as Melody's grip on the stone grows and her hand raises up, Ilpholin pulls the sword free from its cane sheathe and stabs it right at Melody's heart.

[Ironsmith]

[Northside Graveyard]

"Jaahlyn?" Melody looks up at the unexpected voice, briefly confused as to what the satyr is doing here. Then it hits her- duh! They're in a cemetery! Where else would a psychopomp spend her afternoons?

Unfortunately, that brief hesitation is costly. About as much so as it can be, really.

Melody doesn't quite feel it at first. For the most part, it just seems as though Ilpholin had punched her really hard in the chest, enough to wind her and send that tingly, numb sensation through her sternum. It's not until she looks down that she sees that Ilpholin has driven several feet of steel through it.

And then, the sensations start to become a little more familiar. The displaced ribs. The uniquely empty pocket of pain in her torso that she knew was the feeling of something important being ruptured. The oppressive fist around her lungs as they refuse to work properly, with her diaphragm partially ruptured. That blackness around the corners of her vision as rapid blood loss starts already taking its toll.

It's happening again. She's dying.

She's not ready. She's not ready at all. She can't go like this.

"H...h-h..." The succubus rasps, reaching out feebly to Jaahlyn. "...p... me..."

thd.

-

"...Ah, that's disappointing." The demon laments sardonically. "Oh, well. Bit more red tape, but the end result is the same. Heh." The scruffy-looking man flashes Ilpholin a thumbs-up. "Thanks for returning what's mine, Xar'cha!"

[Shadowcaller]

[Northside Graveyard]

The moment she sees Melody die Jaahlyn has to fight the urge to give in either panic or her death aspect. Both claimed to know what to do right now but both were wrong.
Giving into despair would hardly be helpful but neither would fighting Ilpholin.
Since that demon had been wrong, or perhaps she just wanted to prove it was. Either way, she wasn't just looking for any excuse to kill Ilpholin. Because that's what a monster would do and at least this version of herself wasn't that just yet.

For a moment the black scythe flickers in her hands but then it disappears and instead she seems to fold into herself as a moment later a goat attempts to run past Ilpholin to get to Melody's hair. It tears off a chunk of it with its teeth and then just keeps running.
Though by swallowing her hair, the goat will also swallow her soul as it was on the way out of her body anyway.

If nothing stops the soul-stealing goat Melody will indeed find herself in a dark place.
But it also smells of goat.

[Reinholdt]

[Northside Graveyard]

Ilpholin doesn't stop or slow Jaahlyn from doing her thing. Ilpholin has her own things to do after all.

With remarkable flexibility that woos and wows, Ilpholin rolls backwards onto her feet away from Melody and the fleeing goat. The spry old woman darts up the hill once more in what seems like a single bound. Her sword slashes out towards Artur, whistling through the air. A blur of motion, Ilpholin literally runs in circles around the demon, her weapon rising and falling, singing its metallic tune.

Yet the sword never finds purchase with Artur's flesh. He can feel the wind brush past his cheek, hear the scrape of the sword whenever it touches ground, but not once does it land upon him. A show of prowess, perhaps. A dance of intimidation. Mayhaps the demon's laughter finally proved too grating.

[Ironsmith]

[Northside Graveyard]

The moment she sees Melody die Jaahlyn has to fight the urge to give in either panic or her death aspect. Both claimed to know what to do right now but both were wrong.
Giving into despair would hardly be helpful but neither would fighting Ilpholin.
Since that demon had been wrong, or perhaps she just wanted to prove it was. Either way, she wasn't just looking for any excuse to kill Ilpholin. Because that's what a monster would do and at least this version of herself wasn't that just yet.

For a moment the black scythe flickers in her hands but then it disappears and instead she seems to fold into herself as a moment later a goat attempts to run past Ilpholin to get to Melody's hair. It tears off a chunk of it with its teeth and then just keeps running.
Though by swallowing her hair, the goat will also swallow her soul as it was on the way out of her body anyway.

If nothing stops the soul-stealing goat Melody will indeed find herself in a dark place.
But it also smells of goat.

[Room with a Goat]

...

...That's...

Weird.

I remember it being colder before. It hurt to touch anything. Hurt to breathe.

Now it's just... smelly. And I don't see any stars from here.

Am... am I actually dead? What could have-

Jaahlyn! She was there, she pulled some psychopomp-y stuff on me, didn't she? This isn't the Abyss!

Ha-HA! I don't know if you can hear me or not, but thank you! Thank you so much! If I could and it wouldn't kill you, I'd kiss you!

...Um.

But... if this isn't the Abyss, then where is it?

[Northside Graveyard]

Ilpholin doesn't stop or slow Jaahlyn from doing her thing. Ilpholin has her own things to do after all.

With remarkable flexibility that woos and wows, Ilpholin rolls backwards onto her feet away from Melody and the fleeing goat. The spry old woman darts up the hill once more in what seems like a single bound. Her sword slashes out towards Artur, whistling through the air. A blur of motion, Ilpholin literally runs in circles around the demon, her weapon rising and falling, singing its metallic tune.

Yet the sword never finds purchase with Artur's flesh. He can feel the wind brush past his cheek, hear the scrape of the sword whenever it touches ground, but not once does it land upon him. A show of prowess, perhaps. A dance of intimidation. Mayhaps the demon's laughter finally proved too grating.

[Northside Graveyard]

The demon-possessed man continues laughing for a moment, but after Ilpholin swings and misses several times in a row, his expression turns more... curious. What on earth is the nymph doing?

Oh, well. It's pretty, at least. And with Melody already on her way to the Abyss, it's not like he's got any urgent business to take care of. He can sit and watch the display for a bit. Whatever that's supposed to be.

"...Hm. Impressive." He says, having no apparent idea whether Ilpholin's swordplay is, in fact, impressive in any sense.

[Shadowcaller]

[Northside Graveyard]

The goat continues running as fast as its little goat legs can carry it.
Away from the graveyard and away from Ilpholin. She was so done with all this.

Then after what felt like hours sprinting away from the site she realized what was happening inside herself and promptly stopped and willed herself to focus her thoughts.

[Room with a Goat]

"No idea what it's called. But your soul should be safe in here for the time being." Jaahlyn's voice can be heard echoing through the darkness, seemingly coming from everywhere at once.
It seems normal at first but then it comes at her again and again. Each sentence seemingly unconnected to one another and some not even relevant to the situation at hand. Seemingly responding to thoughts Melody has had recently.
"I don't hang out at graveyards like some creep, Melody. People there are already dead."
"You're so hot that I almost wish I wasn't already in a committed relationship."
"I can't kill Ilpholin even if she killed you and Marianne. Wouldn't be right."
"I should kill Ilpholin. She more than deserves it."
"I couldn't save you either. Why am I always a second too late?"
"Your hair tasted weirdly good. What shampoo do you use?"
"Marianne is responsible for all this, she deserves to be punished."
"Why-"

Jaahlyn's voices are interrupted by a much clearer one which seems more... focused.
"Shit, shit! Are- are you okay in there? I... ate your soul so you're inside of me right now."

[Ironsmith]

[Room with a Goat]

I, er... you what? That's a thing you can do?

Oh god, is this what being Mulched is like? I thought I wouldn't be able to feel it! It'd just be, like, disconnection and-

...Well, I guess whatever this is, it's not so bad. I don't have to worry so much about trying Calm that one time.

...

I, um... I overheard a couple of things in there that you probably didn't want me to. You... really like the taste of my shampoo, huh? I'm guessing that's the coconut in it or something.

After all, everybody with a lick of sanity likes coconut.

...Why do you want to punish Marianne? I don't... hasn't she been through enough? Dying twice and all of that? What'd she do to make you so mad?

Ilpholin, at least, made sense. Brutally murdering two people not so long after they'd gotten out of hell wasn't going to win her sympathy points with anyone.

[Reinholdt]

[Northside Graveyard]

Shwing. Phwip. Ting. Skrrrrt... The show continues round and round, finally ending with a final circle, sword dragging along the ground until flicking upwards dramatically, sending a light spray of dirt to join the small smattering of rocks and dust settling nearby.

"Thank you," Ilpholin says as she sheathes her sword into the cane once more. "I do try to learn where I can. I recently destroyed a necrophiliac pixie that really opened my eyes. Especially when it comes to managing braggarts proclaiming immortality and freedom to walk and devestate the mortal plane as they see fit." As Ilpholin takes a step away, her intentions become more clear. Intricately carved into the ground in the dirt is a binding circle, made entirely of cuts and grooves, meant specifically to hold demons in place.

"How long do you think it will hold?" Ilpholin asks as she bends over and starts to systematically pick up Melody's scattered fan letters.

[Ironsmith]

[Northside Graveyard]

"Oh, is that what your plan was?" The haggard man chuckles, giving the circle an experimental poke and not seeming to be overly concerned when his hand can't cross the barrier. "Well, that will be a matter of perspective. You've pinned this vessel in place, for... well, until it starves to death, probably. Maybe a few days. But if you were hoping to contain me..." He gives her a wry, genuinely amused chuckle. "You may want to redirect your efforts toward emptying the ocean with a bucket. I guarantee you'll have more success." He yawns and stretches, laying out on the stones (as much as the circle will allow) and crossing his arms behind his head. "I am the Abyss, miss Xar'cha. Where I am, there it also is. And where it is, that's where you'll find me. And more and more every day, the Abyss is here, where it otherwise would not have been." The demon laughs. "All thanks to you. Keep right on fighting the good fight, Ilpholin. It's very entertaining to watch."

The letters aren't hard to find. There's not very many of them left, and they haven't blown far in the time between Ilpholin scattering them and now.