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 ]

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video | un: graham crackers (private)

[possessum]

( There was a time Peter would have actively hidden away from someone with that username. That title. What's stated, part of an identity. 'My name is Allen Walker. I'm an Exorcist.'

Part of him still flinches from it. But he thinks of an exorcist he recently lost here, someone who helped him despite how taboo the concept may seem. They don't have to be natural enemies, especially not when they have a common goal here.

Still, he keeps his video private, just in case. He doesn't know what might come up, if the boy might learn what's inside of him. There was a time Peter would have done anything he could to hide that, too.

But it's part of his identity, now. My name is Peter Graham. I'm possessed by a demon king of Hell. )

Hello. I'm Peter. ( He's soft-spoken, gloomy-eyed, nervous — but he's here. )

I was able to reach someone who became one. It wasn't easy, but... I was able to bring her back. ( He swallows, throat tight at the memory that's still so fresh. The absolute terror that one of the Hunters would find her before he could, and.... )

I didn't know that the other beasts from around here... the ones who aren't Sleepers... I didn't know they were once human.

( It's a horrible thought, and perhaps it shows in his face — frown knitting his brows, looking unsettled, disturbed. He thought they were just... well. Monsters. But of course, Peter's concept of that word has been tested and retested over time. )

If people are able to bring them back, I agree with you. I think they should try. We should try.

video | private

[likethelight]

[ This other boy-- ...something about him seems so very sad. Nervous, like this is something so very deeply personal to him. Or like he's scared of something, as Allen notes it's a private call as well.

His brow creases, knitting in gentle concern. ]

...I'm glad you were able to bring your friend back. It was kind of you to try. [ He's soft-spoken too. Sympathetic. ]

I don't know your situation, but I know that had to be really hard.

[ And to his comment on the beasts of Trench... Allen gives a reluctant nod as well. ]

I think maybe half of them were once human? Ah... 'humanoid'? [ He taps the left side of his face, the one with the scar bearing what seems to either be a scarlet star on his brow or a filled-in pentagram. ] I can see and hear their souls when they're human.

I think the others must just be animals. That's what the ones whose souls I can't see turn back into afterwards, at least. It seems to be a lot easier for them to revert. Sometimes they can just by being around one of Lady Amaterasu's trees. [ But he hesitates for a moment, considering that and the other young man briefly. His demeanor and story. ]

...You're really brave, I think. Wanting to help someone like that even if it's someone you don't know.

[ So ironic too, his skittishness of exorcists. It's a misleading title Allen bears as it isn't like how most people understand exorcists in their own worlds -- honestly, they're conscripted holy child soldiers more than anything -- and... he escaped from the Church and was labeled a traitor to the only home he ever knew, shitty that it might have been. Because he wanted to save the two people who'd been mistreated the worse by it and ignored orders.

...And because of being host to a dark entity slowly eroding his very identity and existence, "the one who would destroy everything", the world and time both.

He'd get it, Peter. He really would. ]

[possessum]

( Peter's default when approaching a stranger is typically always guarded — not in a hard way, but a soft one, like a wounded animal. Like something waiting to bruise. But when met with... kindness, with softness in return... it makes something in him relax just a little, and he's giving a quiet exhale. Along with it, a soft smile. )

Honestly, at first I wasn't sure it would work. We'd done one of those blood pact bonds, to try and keep each other safe. The one where you're supposed to be able to bring your partner back from Beasthood? But it did, it— it worked. I got her back.

( His words thicken a little with a tightness in his throat, something that only tightens further when the boy then says he thinks it's brave of him to want to help. It's not often Peter's called that word — and even less often that he'd think it of himself. He's not... like most people around here. He can't do incredible things. He may have a great power inside of him, but it's not his to utilise; he's only the vessel for it. And he's afraid of so much, so often. ...But he knows what it is to be the scary thing, the thing that someone might call "monster". And so.... )

I understand that if something's dangerous, others feel like they need to deal with it however they can, to stop it from hurting more people. But.... I don't think anyone wants to be a monster. I think... if they could be saved from that... if others could show them mercy... We should try. I'd want someone to try for— for me, too.

( He swallows again, clearing his throat and glancing down to his lap for a moment or two, fingers fiddling with the material of his pants, before looking back up to the other boy. Dark eyes quietly take in his features, the scar... staring in silence for a moment. Shapes... symbols, are important, have meaning. Something ancient inside of Peter knows that, and the silence is odd and weighted for a moment before he seems to come out of some quiet spell, eyelids fluttering open a bit wider. )

You can see souls? ( And hear them, the boy said. Peter doesn't want to pry, and it's asked gently, not pressing. He almost seems a little afraid to ask, hesitant. )

What do they... look like? And... sound like?

[likethelight]

[ The blood pact bonds. Luna is also mentioning that, and it's something he's going to put together though he is also someone to not pry into another's private affairs unless he has a really strong reason to. And even then he hates it. But that the pacts can actually bring them back... it's amazing. And he makes a mental note to ask someone else about it later or read up about them. ]

... [ Allen just smiles faintly at that though. His question, what they look and sound like. Souls. And his expression becomes gentler; bittersweet and a little cast-over.

Symbols are indeed important, and if Peter is studying the shape of Allen's scar he would notice the star on his forehead is oriented in a strange manner. It's the same as an inverted pentagram, just one that's been filled in. Which... it is. It was exactly that first, an inverted pentagram leading into the delicate series of cut marks across his cheek and through his left eye. ]

They still look and sound like the same people that they were.

[ He says it very gently. Quietly, with that very bittersweet and heavy sort of smile. ]

Just... as Beasts, they're suffering. Crying out. Whether because they're grieving what they've become, trapped themselves in their own resentment, or have lost themselves to a blind rage that hurts them as much as they also lash out... it's the same here as it was back in my world, essentially. Often they seem to be stuck in some moment from their past they can't get past, and they grieve what they've become and lose themselves in what's corrupted them and driven them mad. The soul eventually starts to degrade the longer they're a Beast and the more corrupted they become, until it becomes unrecognizable. [ Until it becomes like looking at hell on earth. ]

It's sad... [ And it seems almost no one else can see that about them.

It's why he's still smiling so sadly as he talks. ]

That's why I want to help them.

[possessum]

( Oh yes, the Other Thing sees it. The thing rooted in secrets and knowledge, the thing that's still so lost and forever searching for anything of familiarity. The symbol on the young man's face is... different, a little strange, but still placed into a certain category, something that will be tucked into the dusty archives deep within the demon king. Paimon won't forget, he'll remember the young man who's clearly been touched by the supernatural (is it a brand? Was he marked, intentionally?) and seek to learn more about him—

—as Peter's face falls again, softly.

'They still look and sound like the same people that they were.'

It's... a wounding thought. He blinks, visibly taken aback by it, and by how it affects him to hear voiced aloud. )

....That's horrible. ( His closest experience with the concept is, of course, Luna — and the stricken feeling of what might have happened to her if she'd remained a Beast for much longer. But he doesn't like the thought of anyone suffering, and he's staring down at his hands for a moment. )

I'm... glad there's people like you, here. People to push for this kind of thing. This place... it seems like suffering is part of how it functions. But it doesn't have to be like that... If we could save some of the people from that kind of outcome.... ( He looks back up, gives a soft swallow. Something freshly anxious tugs at the edges of himself, but... this is a private exchange, and... he has been wanting to help people more. )

...I don't have powers, exactly. Well... ( Peter's fingers twitch against themselves like spider's legs. ) There is something inside of me that has... powers. It's not exactly in my control, but.... I think maybe it could be of help with something like this.

It can.... reach into people's minds, and help them like... emotionally? Psychologically? I'm not sure if it would work with Beasts, and it can be kind of unpredictable. I've been trying to learn how to work with it better, but.... it's strong. And I think it would want to help, because it's scared to lose people to Beasthood, too.