september catch-all { fabric of shame and sorrow's name

[matermali]

WHO: Vanessa Ives (matermali) & Others
WHAT: Friends, food, and fortune.
WHERE: Around town.
WHEN: September
WARNINGS: Cannabis use, blood magic.

( ooc; HMU with a PM or at cherto if you’d like a starter. Vanessa can get up to all sorts of trouble, or maybe even try to help someone out of it. I'll also be throwing her at the meeting log asap.

You may want to check her permissions for possible content warnings and an opt-out. )

Comments

[matermali]

[ Walking alongside, she'll halt the absent scratching to instead reach for his arm. ]

Mr. Chandler would have told me if another revealed himself, I'm certain. Even with the witches gone, Lucifer must surely still be contended with, and beyond that I cannot...imagine anything. Or anyone.

[ Only more darkness. ]

Perhaps another false fear incited by this city.

[hypnagothic]

[ he holds out his arm, crooked at the elbow, for her to take as they walk. perfectly cordial. ]

Perhaps it is. Or perhaps you should ask this Ethan Chandler directly.

[matermali]

[ Her touch is light when she hooks her arm through his; cordial enough for someone that had been clinging to him while trying not to weep only moments earlier. ]

On that much, at least, I am certain that I wouldn't need to. He knows how tormented I've been already with knowing so little else of my fate.

[ Ethan would tell her unbidden if she had more enemies, of course he would. But she will concede that there are other truths he may be keeping hidden, and she has yet to discern if it's worth the risk of asking just yet. After all, what can be done about any of it while here? ]

And so I must consider facing a demon without a name, but not until I destroy the one with too many. How then would you ensure Lucifer's submission, had you no other choice?

[hypnagothic]

If he knows you to be so tormented, would it be within his nature to withhold those things he know would cause you further pain?

[ it's a light question, not meant to needle or pry. he's posing an honest question for her to consider. ]

As for Lucifer, I would not hazard such actions against them unless I had no other choice. The Morningstar I am familiar with already has cause to seek my doom.

[matermali]

[ The question is something worth considering, but she would believe that nothing would be so dire as to overcome Ethan's understanding of Vanessa. Didn't he understand? So much of herself has been kept from her already.

Before she can even think to answer, though, his remarks on Lucifer utterly seize her attention, and she abruptly stops with a tightened grip on his sleeve. ]

You? Why?

[ Why would the King of Hell have any care for the fate of the King of Dreams? ]

[hypnagothic]

[ he comes to a stop with her grip on his arm, turning his face towards hers. ]

There is much history between us, the Lightbringer and I. I have known of them when they were yet an angel, before they were cast out and barred from the Silver City.

[matermali]

[ She doesn't know why any of this should surprise her when he's claimed to have known Egyptian gods in their prime. Still, it only leaves her more puzzled, while something else tightens her jaw. Another muffled memory. ]

Was there another alongside? Cast out?

[hypnagothic]

[ the question gets him to look surprised. ]

Another alongside the Lightbringer? Not that I am aware of.

[matermali]

[ The answers are never where she wants them to be. Why couldn't those who were aware have told her more? Another fallen angel... ]

Perhaps the Devil has always been lonely, then.

[ As though she would waste pity on such a creature. Satan couldn't endanger a being like Morpheus, could he? It couldn't be possible. ]

And so I have been left with no choice other than which weapon to wield. Would you claim differently if facing your own destruction?

[hypnagothic]

Perhaps ... or that the Lucifer Morningstar that I know is different to yours.

As to your choices, I could not provide them to you. My realm is not that of wisdom but of revelation. I can only say to you that you should use this time wisely, to plan and prepare.

[matermali]

[ The idea that there may be more than one Lucifer is too egregious to consider. Wouldn't that mean there to be more than one Christian God? Even she can only entertain so much when under such duress. ]

Revelation... Hm.

[ She's already dreamed up her answers. She simply doesn't like them. If only she could dream up the face of the nameless demon.

Letting go of his sleeve, she takes his hand with a gentle squeeze. Any bit of frustration that had earlier tensed her jaw is gone now at the thought of her greatest enemy endangering him. Unlikely, certainly, but isn't anything possible? What if Lucifer himself came to the city? ]

I would never allow harm to befall you.

[ Such a seemingly silly claim from a human, he must think, but in this there's no giddiness from false confidence. It's a solemn promise, and one she's already made to herself in other ways. She can subdue Lucifer. It's only what she's willing to sacrifice, to admit to, in order to do so. ]

[hypnagothic]

[ if he finds it silly or amusing, he doesn't show it, instead glancing down to the way she holds his hand with a solemn and serious expression before looking back up to her face. ]

The sentiment is appreciated, lady Vanessa.

[matermali]

[ There's a flicker of a squint in momentary contemplation before she offers a small smile and releases her grip, resuming their walk with her hands disappearing into her pockets. ]

...What if those old burdens never find their way here, and we never return to them? Has the thought yet crossed your mind?

[ A defeatist attitude, but impossible for her to not have entertained at least once since the recent torture attempts. ]

[hypnagothic]

[ he resumes their walk by her side, his own hands at his sides. ]

It has. And it is unacceptable. I must return to my own world and realm.

[matermali]

[ 'Unacceptable' is certainly a word for it. For all she knows, they're from the same world but a different time, in which case she still wouldn't be any help to him on return... ]

What happens without you there?

[hypnagothic]

My absence is felt by all the worlds. Creatures may still dream, but others that are sensitive to such things may stop dreaming, or stop dreaming or even sleeping, while others may not wake at all. Nightmares and dreams will roam unchecked and untended. Dreamers may never realize their potential. My realm, the Dreaming, will begin to crumble.

[matermali]

[ What does it even mean for nightmares and dreams to roam? It sounds frighteningly similar to the sort of things that can happen in the city, only Morpheus can't control what happens here. ]

Then...how am I still able to dream?

[hypnagothic]

Because your mind is able to do so. I am of dreams, and I may control dreams, but I do not control all dreaming. How else would creatures inspire themselves?

[matermali]

[ Her shoulders slump a bit, a little frown holding steady. Vanessa surely doesn't use her dreams to inspire herself anymore. Even here, perhaps the demons can still reach her. ]

I would vastly prefer you to be the one in control of my dreams.

[hypnagothic]

... Hold to courage, lady Vanessa. And hope will come naturally in your dreams.

[matermali]

[ It won't. Such words mean little when some things are too far out of anyone's control. She'll stay silent on the matter, and it's easy enough to shift her curiosity. ]

And you? What do you dream of?

[hypnagothic]

[ he glances to her when the answer seems delayed, and he continues to look at her with the subtle shift of topic. ]

I do not.

[matermali]

[ Her eyebrow lifts a touch with her little glance. ]

Not even when awake? No day dreams?

[hypnagothic]

I am of dreams. I do not have them.

[matermali]

You speak so much of hope, and yet not once have you wondered on something different for yourself or another? You have never caught yourself in any whimsical imaginations?