video; un: an.exorcist

[likethelight]

[ Deep breath, come on, you've got this. ]

...just because someone becomes a beast, it doesn't mean they stop being human.

[ The video comes on and it's an older, slender teenager with stark white hair; pale grey eyes and a strangely delicate bright red mark slashed across the left side of his face. He seems to be in a courtyard of sorts, one of Amaterasu's guardian saplings is behind him in full bloom. He's only visible from the chest up, but the chair he's sitting in has handles behind it-- looks like a wheelchair. Whatever is taking the video also appears to be a flying sort of thing that bobs slightly. It's trying to hold this video still, but really... ]

Most of you probably already know this. [ His head cants to the side with a lightly apologetic smile. ] Some of you might even be able to still hear or reach them despite that form.

But not everyone does, and it's still too easy to say "oh, it's safer and quicker to just kill them. You don't save monsters." [ The official creed of the Hunters... but he's diplomatic enough to not say that aloud. ] Or "oh, a Sleeper can just come back." Except it isn't just us. Someone else who isn't... most of them who were human... they aren't like us. [ He smiles softly, but in a way that doesn't reach his eyes. They hood, bittersweet. ]

They're just dead then. The soul suffers until the end. Maybe beyond.

It doesn't have to be like that though. [ He seems a soft-spoken sort with a lilted voice, but his tone shifts then and becomes more certain. ] They aren't just a monster, and they don't have to stay one. Even with what they've become -- the soul is still human. Some part of them still wants to be saved; to be themselves once again. And they can. [ Mostly. At least so far in his experience. ]

Some of us have abilities that can let us purify or reverse what corrupted them and bring them back. Some of us-- [ he pauses, looking for a moment just a touch overwhelmed as his eyes drift to the side, the smallest curl of a touched sort of smile at the corner of his mouth ] ... a number of us, we're trying to do something to change things. At one of the old monasteries in Crenshaw.

[ But he closes his eyes. Deep breath, you can do this.

He lifts his eyes back up to the "camera", his expression schooled now with a quiet sort of determination. Chin up, eyes forward. ]

My name is Allen Walker. I'm an Exorcist. [ Clearer, more certain: steady. Rung like a quiet bell. ]

Who's been able to save someone who became a beast?

[ More importantly: ] Who wants to?

[ It's more determined and clearer still. ]

[ ooc: for those who want to poke around in person, there is also an open mingle log for Sanctuary!
CW: mentions of prior character death throughout ]

Comments

[slayerskiss]

I understand what he's going for and I agree with it to an extent. Ideally, we save as many people as possible. But he's the one likening killing monsters to murdering people, which is a wildly privileged hill to die on.

I can bring your people live subjects to try to save, if you want.

[dohaeris]

He doesn't always think about how it sounds, to hunters. He does understand that you do what you do in order to help people, and so do I. I'm sure he would very much appreciate it if you brought him beasts to cleanse, instead of killing them. I know this is not always possible, and no one will be cross if you are unable to capture all of them alive.

I only treat corruption with my blood hound, Knight. It would be interesting to see if he can help to cleanse beasthood as well. In the meantime, if you are exposed to blood pollution in your duties, or find yourself suffering symptoms of corruption for any reason, Knight and I would be very glad to help you, at Allen's sanctuary or elsewhere.

[slayerskiss]

[She's absolutely not going to stop killing monsters that are an active threat to anyone that isn't her. But she can go wonder into the woods and beat the shit out of some of the inhabitants and drag them to the sanctuary. She already does it for the spooky necromancer Allen and Sansa don't like, after-all.]

I'll let you know if I need it. I'll... bring some in for you guys, I guess.

[dohaeris]

[sansa is less concerned with saving individual beasts, who she figures have at best a 50% chance of having been decent people in the first place, and more concerned with reducing unnecessary bloodshed and keeping allen from getting himself killed again fighting alone. her statement was as much for plausible deniability as anything. and beasts who aren't actively attacking people are much more likely to be worth saving, anyway.

she would be much more concerned if she knew about the necromancer's experiments.]

Thank you.

He can save them, you know. It's only a matter of keeping him alive long enough to do it.

[slayerskiss]

[If Faith knew about the necromancer's experiments she might be concerned too.

Faith isn't one for faith, funnily enough. She suspects she was named as some kind of cruel joke. She reponds to the earnest devotion and hope with a thin lipped frown, trying to resist the urge to roll her eyes.

She's never been under the impression that beasts are incapable of being saved, vampires too, though it's not always the beasts that are the most dangerous. A monster with a mind is always scarier than an animal without it.]

You should probably get him to be more careful, then. [She pauses, realizing that sounds like a threat.] That's... not how it sounds. I'm just saying that he should really try to work with the hunters.

Nobody speaks for all of them, but if he could get some of the more well respected and experienced hunters on side, he's a lot less likely to be bothered by the big groups feeling insulted or attacked.

[dohaeris]

[sansa's mouth twists to one side. it's more that allen's method of reversing beasthood is both effective and efficient, which is not something he's managed to convey very well in this video. he should probably let sansa handle the messaging.]

I have been trying to get him to be more careful. I told him he would do well to have more people fighting at his side.

[she's not about to discuss his powers in public without his permission, but his ability to feel the pain of beasts goes a long way towards explaining his antagonism towards hunters, in sansa's mind. perhaps she shouldn't have dragged him to the gate with her for the karate tournament...]

Perhaps I could talk to some of the hunters. I do know a little of diplomacy.

[she suspects allen would rather do without the approval of the hunters than compromise his ideals, which sansa finds very sweet, but not very helpful.]