|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Sat Feb 20, 2010 7:36 pm
Duke had wanted to come here for a while - the green-haired man's shop. But Jack kept making excuses. Everything from pizza to burglaries to looking for the white-haired man. It was ridiculous, really - he understood what was going on. After that encounter at the NightinGayle, which at the time had been a rather cryptic puzzle to his imp mind, Jack was just sort of... afraid to face the man again. Duke remembered him stumbling back into the car early the next morning, disheveled a little shaken up. He'd taken his demon form a few nights later, and... well, he figured it out. He wasn't stupid.
Maybe a little rash. He'd left his contractor sleeping in the car, slipping out and making quick progress through the darkened city and out through it's fringes until he found the building he was looking for. Curiosity burned in him like some peculiar hunger... memories of the man and his metal hand, a lemon wedge squeezed precariously between the silvery digits. What kind of things would such a man have in his shop? It was probably Jack's fault, making him so eager to see the contents of a man's property. He didn't want to take anything... just see it. Toy with it. Whatever it was.
It was late, but the doorknob still turned under his slender hands - a pale face peering into the confines of the shop, horns peeking out from under purple forelocks. Was he here? He didn't have the patience to figure that out. His steps were noiseless, as if he was walking on shadows rather than the floorboards underfoot. Onward... his eyes shot up to the walls. Bottles, bottles everywhere, things glowing and floating and bubbling. Things he could never care to understand, but wanted to pull down from their perches anyway, just to shake them up and see what happened.
He picked a shelf and slipped towards it, narrow fingers curling about the neck of a bottle. It was a rather nice shade of green...
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Feb 20, 2010 7:53 pm
The basement of the house was rocked with screams and pulses of energy that never made it past the shadows blanketing the room. Equipment of rather disturbing qualities and shapes were scattered around the place, all in precise order.
The Master may be insane, but he was quite proficient and orderly. With most things.
At the moment, he stood over one of the pits that housed his experiments, watching with a bored and calculating eye as the lump of twisted flesh in the pit twitched making the florescent pink goo it was floating in move and slosh against the sides of the confine. Violet eyes flicked to a set of runes that floated above it and let out an annoyed sound.
"Another failure, another flame," he purred, tapping a rune with his boot and watching as a cover slid over the hole. A few moments later, the sounds and smells of burning matter wafted up from the pit. The Alchemist smiled and his vein pulsed.
A Shadow slowly looped itself around his waist and slowly caressed the creature across his chest before arriving at his ear and resting on his shoulder. Rethen arched an eyebrow and seemed to lean into the Shadow.
"Someone in the shop? How naughty. We are closed after all..." he all but purred, slowly stroking the Shadow. "Be a dear and make sure it cannot leave?" he asked softly as he stepped from the Shadow's embrace. He smirked as the sounds of doors and windows slamming shut echoed in the basement. Wonderful.
"Time to see who's brave enough to play with me..." the alchemist purred as he shed his coat and began to climb the stairs from his laboratory. All the while he smirked.
And the vein pulsed and glowed.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Rethen KelSviet Vice Captain
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Feb 20, 2010 8:15 pm
The liquid didn't slosh around uselessly - it was syrupy-thick and crept into the neck of the bottle deliberately, gathering itself up around the glass walls. Duke watched it intently, pale yellow eyes following it's steady progress. It smelled wonderfully... corrosive. He wondered if it was. Supposed he'd just have to wait until it made it's eventual way out through the glass rim and onto the wooden counter he was holding it over, the cork lying forgotten to the side. He made a bet with himself. If it didn't smoke and smolder, he'd dip a finger in the stuff. If it did... he'd throw it at something. See what happened.
There was a series of loud slamming sounds - Duke looked up, noticing with a scientific curiosity that the room had gotten a little darker and considerably quieter. Had the windows just shut on their own? No worry, he wasn't Jack. He wasn't afraid of the green-haired man and his odd house full of interesting things. Besides, there wasn't time to think about that - the green ooze was almost at the edge now, pausing and pooling up as if it didn't want to take the plunge.
He heard footsteps behind him, pointed ears taking in the gentle creaking as the stranger - the green-haired man, he assumed - came closer. Curiosity tickled at the back of his head again, but he didn't look away - didn't even blink. Just watched as the green substance started to ooze out of the bottle, making it's laboriously slow descent towards the polished oak.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Feb 20, 2010 8:25 pm
Rethen stepped behind his counter with all the ease and comfort of one that had been walking in the shadows his entire life. He looked out into the store and saw the boy - demon most likely as it was neither scratching terrified at the door or giving off the smell of human - holding a bottle of Dren-Tahud Elixir over the open counter.
The Alchemist vaguely wondered if demons could be killed by the noxious fumes the ground Moonstone and Plague compound would make when it struck the oak and furniture polish. No matter. It wouldn't kill him. Just make him cough. And ruin the valuable potions sitting under the air-vents collecting mold samples.
"I would rather you did not drop that on my counter," the alchemist deadpanned, looking at the creature. "I rather like my counters not bubbling and giving off fumes that make me ill." He dug behind the counter and pulled out a plank of ceder wood, offering it to the boy.
"Try this. I am sure you will like the reaction and not kill yourself in the process," Rethen hummed, watching the creature with a smile. Curiosity was so intriguing in life forms. It was an old friend of his. After all...it was how he got his arm.
"And who exactly are you, taking such liberties with my wares and with my shop?" he asked, suddenly realizing that the boy was no customer...and certainly not invited.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Rethen KelSviet Vice Captain
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Feb 23, 2010 11:59 am
He didn't look up - just took the offered plank silently and slid it under the hanging bottle, just in time to catch the slowly-falling liquid. He drew a line across the length of the wood before turning the bottle back upright and setting it aside - leaning forward to watch the results of his little experiment.
The cedar steamed and hissed and glowed, illuminating the dim, closed-off room they stood in. He smiled, shifting from foot to foot as the lightshow died down. Satisfied, he turned his attention to the green-haired man... "Rethen." He grinned, finding it amusing to be in the presence of the man his contractor was so reluctant to meet again. Morbidly curious, Duke was sure... but certainly reluctant. Definetly afraid. He pushed the ruined cedar back towards the other, and resumed his survey of the shelves - poking at this and that, studying the swirl of color through the glass.
"We've met before." He answered over his shoulder, picking up a tiny little bottle with something like a snail's shell floating on the inside. Perching on the counter to study it, he paused to study the green-haired man for a moment. "You fed me lemons and I believe I ate your champagne glass. You invited my contractor to visit you, but... he's been a little hesitant. I thought I'd come out myself."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Feb 23, 2010 12:13 pm
Rethen watched the creature carefully as he observed the reaction between wood and elixir. It was nothing spectacular, but enough to demonstrate his considerable skills as an alchemist. Rethen leaned his elbows on the counter and rested his chin in his metal hand.
Violet eyes followed the boy around the room as he poked and prodded things that were better left undisturbed. He gently stroked at a Shadow with his free hand and watched as the windows high up in the room opened to let in more light so he could better observe the demon wandering his room.
Telltale points of tattoos graced the pale flesh underneath the studded leather cuffs on his wrists. That was the first thing he noticed. Tattoos were runes. Runes held power. They were always the dangerous bits. Though he doubted anything about this boy was incredibly safe. He approved. The clothing was fitting and simple, giving the boy a figure that was not entirely unpleasing. Violet hair capped the demonic child, framing two horns that protruded from his forehead.
Horns. Rethen arched an eyebrow when the boy mentioned meeting him before with lemons and champagne. He smirked slowly. Jack Diamond. NightinGayle.
"Duke I believe was your name..." the Alchemist purred. "I am glad to see you grew so well." He chuckled softly, running a metal finger over the pulsing green point on his temple. "I am also glad to see you hold less fear than your Contractor...though that may prove dangerous some day."
He watched the boy for another moment before turning his head to one side. It was unusual for a demon of this age to show up without its contractor. They usually spent time in close proximity. That Duke was here showed him to have grown exceptionally well.
And exceptionally independent.
"And what can I do for a fine demon this evening?" he asked, the smirk still in place, and the velvety softness of his voice sliding past his fangs.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Rethen KelSviet Vice Captain
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Mar 02, 2010 8:49 am
"You remember me." Duke smiled, putting the vial away - proud, almost, of the recognition. Although he did suppose that Jack was a sort of hard man to forget, all with his mirror-polished shoes and waxed-up red car. But so was Rethen. He tapped his long nails against the surface of the counter, looking the man over. He hadn't bothered to take a good look as an imp, after all - more concerned with the lemon slice held between those metal fingers than the body of the man to which it was attached. He smiled. Dangerous?
"Oh... I don't know. What do you do?" It was true - he didn't have much of a reason for showing up. "I just wanted to see things. Things more interesting than a little old widow's trinket bowl. Although you do find odd things there. Are you doing any experiments?" He looked around the room - nothing was obviously boiling or bubbling: nothing that wasn't stoppered off and sitting high on a shelf already. But his eyes slid in the direction of a staircase, feeling a peculiar tingle on the back of his neck. What kind of things would a man like this have in his basement? Duke wasn't macabre, but he was wasn't picky, and he was curious.
He turned back to Rethen, questioning. Then, noticing a green glow at the man's temple, he leaned forward curiously. Didn't remember that - possibly because it didn't have anything to do with lemons. He reached out, touching the pulsing spot with thin, searching fingers. "What's that?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Mar 03, 2010 3:16 pm
Rethen watched the demon's curiosity with amusement. He chuckled at the rapid fire questions and the tirade about widow's and trinkets. Widows...perhaps they would be interesting test subjects. The few experiments in his lab were running so slowly.
"I always run experiments to expand my products base and my personal knowledge," the Alchemist replied, a smirk crossing his face at the question. "Are you interested in seeing my wor-" He choked on the last sound as the demon boy touched his temple.
The spot of glowing green energy and poison pulsed rapidly, twitching under the boy's fingers and causing the Alchemist to twitch. He snarled, reaching up to grab the boy's wrist, his metal hand coiling around the boy's wrist.
"Best not to touch someone with an arm that can turn into more weapons than you can count Duke," he growled out, his voice strained. "It's a curse spot. Part of the wounds I sustained when I was poisoned. Changed as it were." He growled and the spot flared green. "It's a reminder of what I failed to do."
He slowly loosened his grip on Duke's wrist and watched him warily. It was not often someone - or something - was brave enough to touch him.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Rethen KelSviet Vice Captain
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Mar 09, 2010 8:20 am
"Ngh." Duke let out a surprised sound, finding his wrist trapped between coiling metal fingers before he could react. But he didn't seem particularly concerned - he was a demon, after all. And young: foolish, you could assume. He didn't think anything could hurt him. He let his fingers wriggle around a little, dancing a few inches away from the flaring green veins.
"I wouldn't call it a failure, that's all." He shrugged. "I like it. It's sexy." Nothing was a failure if you didn't end up dead, he figured - pulling his hand away as Rethen let go of his wrist, rubbing a little at the spots where metallic digits had pressed against his flesh the firmest. But he looked up and returned the green-haired man's gaze... pausing a second, then rolling his eyes in perfectly-performed teenage disinterest. "You've gotten too used to spooking mortals. Cut it out. We were going to see your experiments?"
Well, no promise had been made, but Rethen had asked - before cutting himself off. And Duke was curious. He imagined something like vats of glowing green liquids, strange things scrabbling about inside of freshly-sealed jars. He dropped to the floor with a twist of his hips, and stared at his guide expectantly.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Mar 10, 2010 1:13 pm
Rethen watched the demon with interest now. Sexy? Goodness children could be a handful. He smiled grimly and let Duke think what he wanted: one man's curse after all. He stroked a metallic finger over the spot and felt it flare. How anyone could see a pulse of the living dead as attractive was beyond him.
Well...some people were attracted to weird things. He smirked.
"My experiments?" Rethen murmured, leaning on the counter again and looking down at the demonic teen currently occupying his floor. He grinned, flashing his teeth and fangs. "What interest could you possibly have in transmutations and explosions?" He chuckled and flicked his wrist at the door. The Shadows of the house closed the shop.
"Well come along then," the alchemist muttered in a bored tone, ducking back into the stairwell behind his counter and descending into the basement of eerily glowing lights and bubbling vats, humming and yanking his earlier discarded lab coat from a hook.
"Do shut the door behind you Duke," Rethen called up as he reacted the bottom of the stairs. "Don't want anything getting out you know. Not yet anyway."
|
|
|
|
|
|
Rethen KelSviet Vice Captain
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Mar 30, 2010 8:18 pm
"If it glows, or bubbles, or... does something, I want to see it." He replied, following Rethen - a glint of excitement in his eye. He just got the feeling that he would be getting to see something special - past the counter, down the stairwell, through a heavy door which he pulled shut behind him as requested. The room just had the right sort of feel to it for an experimental lab. He ran his fingers against the walls, watching the shadows cast by the odd illumination.
Rethen had a lab coat and everything - Duke was already impressed, watching him slip into it attentively. He was only a little bit more respectful here than he had been upstairs in the shop - if only because he didn't want to be pushed into a pit of some bubbling concoction. Rethen's metal hand he wasn't afraid of, but this was unearthy stuff - he tread carefully, peering our from behind purple forelocks.
"What's in here?" He glanced back over his shoulder. "Is anything... you know... alive?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat May 08, 2010 2:21 pm
Rethen chuckled at the demon child's exuberance. It was so rare to see energy like being applied to the darker of the sciences. Well...by anyone save him.
"Living is a complicated state to define..." the Alchemist purred lovingly, pointing to a far wall. "Take that poor little priest that came here. Tried to take the Shadows here from their home. They were not pleased...but very pleased when I stopped him." Here he grinned and flashed his fangs.
He walked over to the body, poking it lightly with his metal hand. It responded, jerking away from the cold and prodding digit. Rethen laughed.
"He is hardly dead, as you can see. However, it would be inaccurate to define him as alive," Rethen said in almost a reverent voice. "Existing...yes. This creature is existing. A living test tube and incubator." His temple pulsed that sickly green again. "One who's project is almost done." He bowed before the priest, laughing at the feebly muttered words of a blessing to banish evil. Old habits and responses died hard.
"There are several such experiments running. And several more that I am planning," he explained, walking back over to Duke and smiling. "So, where would you like to begin? Creatures that are not of this world? Elixirs that will make stone boil? Explosives that will incinerate only living tissue, leaving the building standing? Weapons that change at will?" He laughed and motioned around the expansive laboratory and basement.
"There is soooo much to see child. And what I have listed, is just the tip of the spear."
|
|
|
|
|
|
Rethen KelSviet Vice Captain
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri May 28, 2010 10:18 pm
Duke padded up to the human form pressed up against the far wall, watching the way the priest-thing shivered and muttered and twitched out of his way. It was a little... disturbing, he decided. As a Demon, he had no affection reserved for priests - much unlike his contractor and his unhealthy obsession with a certain white-haired man. Seeing one in this state - maybe Jack was making him grow up soft. He sneered at the thought, and forced his attention back at the expanse of the room.
"Incinerate tissue? What do you think I am, a pyromaniac?" He reached out to flick the purple locks out of his eyes, taking a confident step towards one of the glowing pits on the floor. "And why would I wanna leave the building standing? I suppose I'd like to boil some stone. I like that kind of thing. Lock-picking is boring, see. And undramatic. I'd much rather carve a great big door in someone's stonework. I don't think Jack would like that, but... screw him."
He grinned - then hesitated, and yawned. He had been away from his contractor for a while, and 'independent' as he was it was starting to drain him. He shook it off, though - he could keep going, he insisted to his body. He wanted to see more. Just another while...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Feb 09, 2011 9:00 pm
Thread locked!
Participants may move to another RP, or unlock this one upon request!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
