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video; un: an.exorcist

[ 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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[It's not that she disagrees, exactly, so much as she doesn't really see how exactly it's her problem. The preaching bothers her, reminds her of some of the shit people used to say to her when she was a hotblooded Slayer fresh from her calling.]

You've convinced me. Next time I see a beast ripping someone's guts out, I'll go give it a hug.

I'm guessing this is a new concept to you? Monsters just being some variety of human that's been infected by something they could learn to manage, maybe in the long run? [It's not as if vampires were unable to be rehabilitated. Apparently Spike proved that even more so than Angel.] I think it's a good idea, what you're doing, trying to find an alternate solution.

In the meantime, I'm going to do my job protecting people I know can be saved.

[sansa dearly wishes allen would be a little more diplomatic with the hunters.]

Of course you are entitled to answer deadly force in kind. Allen possesses the ability to cleanse beasts of corruption before they attack people, and he is looking for people who possess similar abilities to fight alongside him.

[partially because...she told him to.]

You do a very important job, protecting people from immediate threats. Allen, too, does an important job, in preventing more beasts from becoming immediate threats in the first place. I hope in time he and others like him are able to ease your burden.

[ It's not an unexpected response... ]

No. The "monsters" in my experience were living weapons made from a human souls that were corrupted after a loved one was tricked into trying to call them back from the dead. [ blunt ] All the weapon knew knew was death and killing, and the soul grieved what it had become and became more corrupted the more they killed. There's nothing to manage. There were millions of them and they had already killed millions more in the war. A single bullet made from their blood could kill a normal human in seconds. The only thing that could be done to save anyone or give any mercy was to destroy them.

But the human soul still wanted to be saved, hating what it had become. And the only way to destroy them was also with a weapon that would cleanse the corruption from the soul and finally give it peace in the process, too. Fighting doesn't have to just be about killing.

[ He speaks gently, but firmly. She has a point, but don't presume he's a boy who knows nothing. ]

That's all I'm saying. Some of us have the weapons or abilities to purify them, or have found items of a sort that help, and there are people researching for ways to purify them without having to rely on innate powers. So that other people can fight but also have a chance to save them in the process. And we can fight with people who can't otherwise and try to help everyone who's suffering. That's all.

[ He presses his lips together for a moment, eyes steady and bright. ]

Thank you for protecting people. It isn't easy.

[ He WAS being diplomatic!!! But Sansa you're too good to him... thanks.

You either get impassioned sincerity from him, or tact. Guess which way the scales tipped this time. (It's a hot button issue for him.)

Also he guesses he should probably explain his sword to her sometime and that it's actually better suited even for after they've become beasts. Woops. ]

Edited 2022-05-21 17:56 (UTC)

[A soft-spoken baritone voice speaks, and it's clear the speaker has a hard time keeping the sarcasm out of his statements.]

I'll preface this by saying I work as a Blood Minister at the Lumenarium, and thus my biases may put themselves on full display.

I also arrived here from a world where a virus had emerged which caused an outbreak of zombies. I didn't witness this personally, but there were reports of people chaining up their loved ones who'd been bitten by one of the shambling undead and, in turn, became one of those undead. I don't doubt they were hoping for a cure, but I can attest that it's difficult to whip up one in a place where the undead are banging at your door and breaking in your windows. Others were simply in denial and... that didn't end well for the uninfected. Still others had to make the choice to end their loved ones before the situation grew more dangerous.

Besides treating the Corrupted, I've also witnessed the collateral damage inflicted by a Beast on a rampage. What are we to say to those whose family members or fellow workers have been harmed or killed? Give them some platitude about the Beast simply not knowing what they were doing?

I've even had to take out Beasts who'd completely lost control and were endangering the well-being of my medical team. What was I to do? Take them by a claw or a tentacle and say 'Now, now, be a good boy or girl or multiform or otherwise defined and don't bite the nice nurses?'

[she did say immediate threats!! purifying the beasts before they start attacking people still counts!!]

[ Also not an unexpected response... Allen was the only one in his own world with sentimentalities like these too. He's rather used to it. So he hesitates, but speaks gently in return. ]

That sounds terrible.

In some ways it doesn't sound that unlike the akuma in my world, where people's loved ones are turned into living weapons that can only be destroyed in order to be saved. So that the soul can have peace. Even faced with a known terrible decision, they still make it because they want to be with someone they loved again so badly.

And they're killed because of it.

I'm not saying we don't fight. In fact, I think more of us should. Those of us with weapons or abilities that let us purify the beasts, and the people who can help with that especially when it comes to developing new weapons or ways to fight them in a way that doesn't have to kill the person still inside them. People far smarter than I who believe they can help this city and its people with what they're trying to accomplish, beasts too. Who are trying to better understand the nature of corruption and beasthood.

In the meantime, I just think it would be good to bring as many of us who have the ability to purify them together so we can be more organized in how we fight. That more of us should consider there could be a better way if we try, that's all. [ He hesitates then, a long pause before he continues a bit more quietly. ]

...Thank you for the work you do. I was at the Lumenarium myself, not long ago.

[is she going to have to explain to everyone individually that you don't have to make friends with the beasts??]

You are well within your rights to respond to force with force. Nobody is asking you to do otherwise.

And I understand very much the desire for vengeance against those who have harmed our loved ones. But I don't see how it helps anyone, to punish a person who was not aware of their actions as a beast, and would not have done them otherwise. In a world where anyone, even our loved ones, could become a beast if they aren't careful, even for a moment, we must exercise a great deal of caution and thought in how we enact justice.

In any event, Allen is seeking to cleanse beasts of corruption before they begin to attack people. It is a noble and worthwhile goal that we hope will in time come to reduce the number of beast attacks that you and others like you must respond to in the first place.

Edited 2022-05-21 18:30 (UTC)

[ No, it's fine it's fine! He'll just round up someone ~~who has it coming~~ and give a demonstration. ]

I'll bring you some lemon cakes later...? Thank you.

[ Sansa he feels so bad that you're having to clean up his mess apparently. Maybe he should consult with you before using any kind of public forum.

--maybe. He is opinionated. ]

I'm sorry.

[sansa laughs!]

Well, I'd like that.

[it's not the biggest mess she'll have to clean up. but yes, she would appreciate editorial privileges.]

People can be very sensitive about difficult decisions they've had to make, in order to save as many lives as they could. It can be hard, sometimes, to hear that there's a different way, even if it wasn't available to them then, and they did do the best that they were able. [a beat.] I don't know why they seem to think you want them to hug the beasts, though.

Edited 2022-05-21 18:59 (UTC)

[ Hug beasts? She wins a snort from him, one eyebrow arching artfully. ]

Maybe I should try it. [ deadpan wry ]

[ Still, he sobers. ]

I know, though... you're right. It was like that in my world, too. [ He was the anomaly, and he kept his mouth shut most of the time because of it out of not wanting to hurt feelings or rock the boat. This is a big change for him. ] When you've seen a creature like that tear down someone in front of you, especially a loved one... it's only natural to hate them. It's easier to just stop it by killing it.

Trying-- or being made to see the humanity still in it just makes that harder.

[ He glances down at his hands for a moment, even if they're offscreen; left and right. He looks back up at her with a bit of an apologetic smile after that. ]

I don't know. I've always had a hard time trying to explain that when I can understand how they feel too.

I'll avoid spilling beast blood, but not if it means allowing the beast to kill.

[ Ah, him--!

D has a recognizable sort of voice, and Allen smiles lightly to himself for that sort of answer. ]

Mm, no I agree. [ He hates it, but if it was truly that sort of choice without other recourse... he isn't that sort of fool. ]

If it's alright, if you're in battle like that-- there are those of us who'd like to help. [ He pauses, trying to find a way to phrase what he means best. ]

It would be nice to fight alongside you, I think.

[she laughs at his jest! then sighs.]

The worst monsters in my world I ever knew were people. They had the choice not to be cruel, but they didn't take it. I know what it is to want revenge. But...I saw the stupid king who killed my father die. It didn't make me feel better. [it was a little funny.] All I felt was relieved that he couldn't hurt anyone anymore. When he first showed me my father's head, I tried to push him over the ramparts. I didn't care what happened to me. But now all I can think about is how much worse it would have been for my mother, if I had died at that time.

Some people will only choose to hurt other people over and over, no matter what form they take. Those people have to be stopped. I don't know that there is one way to stop every cruel person from hurting anyone else. But I do know there's more than one way to stop beasts hurting people, and it's worth trying the kinder one, when we can.

Edited 2022-05-21 20:34 (UTC)

You have useful abilities.

[Which may or may not be D agreeing to let Allen fight alongside him or to inform if when he gets into such a fight. Time will tell]

Do you know anyone capable of healing magic or restoring unusual internal damage?

[ You know, he'll take it. ]

Mm! There are several people at the Sanctuary that have healing abilities, who often work in the infirmary. Palamedes and miss Tara are two of them.

I don't know the full extent of their abilities, but they have magical healing.

[What the fuck kind of monster is that. It's so wildly beyond her experiences that she can't even really picture it. Ghosts, maybe?]

So absolutely nothing like this, then.

Where I'm from, monsters come in all different shapes and sizes. Some of them are just blindly violent with no mind of their own. Some of them are closer to what people wind up turning into when they're further along in terms of Corruption. Their worst nature drawn to the surface and nothing but the impulse to act on it that they'll do again and again and find it fuckin' orgasmic. All of them can probably be rehabilitated. One of my best friends is a vampire, for one, and he's apparently not the only decent vampire out there. Other vampires tear down towns, seduce people with the "I'm so tortured and tragic" routine only to systematically ruin their lives and kill everyone they love before turning their victim into one of them, who will then go on to inflict the same torment on dozens more people. Those ones can be saved too. They never want to, though, and if you bring them back to themselves they'll fuckin' hate you for it.

Beasts here aren't as complicated, for the most part, but there's no one way for them to act. Don't think you were around for the Leviathan, but that was a beast too, and it would've wiped out half of Trench if we hadn't killed it.

Like I said, what you're doing is a good idea, I'm not discounting that. If you find a way to purify every single beast in Trench, make it organized enough so that you'll reach beasts in time before they start killing people, then yeah, you've solved it, no more death. [And she'd be without purpose, so it's a good thing it would never happen. She doesn't share that thought, small and scared and greedy.] But until you have your miracle cure, you can't make wide sweeping sanctimonious accusations about the people who fight and die to keep this place from being overrun.

Our work and your work aren't mutually exclusive. I already bring people live beasts by request for their own experiments in corruption and reversing it. [That's what she tells herself God does anyway!] I can do that for your people and other hunters will probably agree too if you don't, you know, try to guilt trip them.

Sansa... [ His eyes widen because that, just... that wrenches his heart. He knew of the fate of her family, yes, but... the killer showed him her father's head? A king?!

That's... an almost dizzying level of horror, even for Allen. How would he have reacted to see Mana paraded in front of him in such a way if he had also been murdered? He probably would have killed them. He doesn't kill, and but at that time he probably would have tried to kill them too. He did feel murderous rage at finally meeting the thing that killed Cross, too -- but it wasn't human, not really "alive", and thus it doesn't quite count.

It leaves a bitter sort of taste in his mouth and offscreen he clenches a hand into a fist to calm himself. ]

...I'm no good when it comes to the fighting between humans, you know. [ He laughs weakly, a bitter sort of bark. Self-deprecating.

But he lifts his head and smiles back up at her, too. Wan but grateful. ]

Thank you, Sansa. I'm glad we're friends.

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.

It would be a shame to incapacitate a beast and be unable to revive it when the physical changes revert. You can ask them.

[Delegating the talking to someone else is a great way to avoid doing it himself. This is Allen's project after all, not D's.]

Well, this is familiar. Good luck with that.

[They've been told the Chara that came before had far more empathy for monsters than humans, that they spoke kindly of monsters when cursing humanity.

The person they are now sees wakers and monsters alike as nothing but expendable.]

It's absolutely like this, actually. [ Though he does blink slightly at her explanation of her world, of vampires. And that... ... that reminds him of the Noah, and that puts it a bit more into perspective. He'd struggle with that, too. That's a lot harder. No "easy" fix. ]

Both can have their corruption purified entirely by the right ability, and the actions of the body are separate from that of the soul. The person they were before is just as much a victim as well. I know, because I can see and hear them. [ Souls? Yeah. ]

The only difference is that in my world, an Akuma is already dead so only the soul can be saved. Here, the person they were before is still technically alive. Can still technically be saved. No matter what happens, it should be about trying to save as many people as possible. Even when the choices are hard.

[ "Sanctimonious accusations" has him pausing though, a little thin-lipped. As does her overall tone. But... ]

...I don't think our work is mutually exclusive, either. I was a hunter at first too-- [ she has to be, after all, speaking like this ] back when I first woke up in November. Even if we go about wanting to protect people in different ways.

If what I said came across as accusatory or a "guilt trip", I'm sorry. [ Legit not his intent. Sometimes he puts his foot in his mouth when he speaks from the heart; the curse of youth and passion. ] All I want is to find other people that might think similarly, or who don't know and want to understand. So that we might be able to come together to do exactly that and find a better way so fewer have to die.

But I'd like that, I think. If you'd let me work with you.

Edited 2022-05-21 21:32 (UTC)

[ squints ]

...thanks. [ +1 peanut gallery comments received ]

"Familiar"?

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