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Devils Temptation
Planetoid
- Joined
- Jan 14, 2021
ɪɴꜱᴘɪʀᴇᴅ ʙʏ ꜰᴇʀɴᴀɴᴅᴀ ᴅɪᴀꜱ' ʙᴇᴀᴜᴛɪꜰᴜʟ ᴡᴏʀᴋꜱ
ɴᴏᴡ ᴘʟᴀʏɪɴɢ: ᴛʀᴏᴜʙʟᴇᴍᴀᴋᴇʀ//ᴏʟʟʏ ᴍᴜʀꜱ
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↻ ◁ II ▷ ↺0:00ㅇ──────── 3:22
"So let me get this straight..." Gorgeous summer rays. White sand beaches. Pristine waters. Right in the heart of summertime, moments like these were practically borne to be enjoyed and savored. One sizable chunk of the beach had been sectioned off with ropes and posts, woven around in a fairly flimsy orientation that most people could just vault right over - except for the fact that it had been guarded every few meters by lumbering, muscular men. The type that could spin the average guy around twice over their shoulders and chuck them meters away without batting an eyelash. One of those very same bouncers, a guy that absolutely should not have been ticked off was going through those exact range of motions. Standing in front of him was a man mildly more slim. Broad shoulders, dark shirt, dark hair - sunglasses cast over his eyes and that perpetual smirk that just stared dead ahead with the most annoyingly smug quirk of his lips.
"...you have no invitation into this party. You don't know anyone here. You told me yourself that you aren't supposed to be here - but you want me to let you in because, according to you, something bad is going to happen if I don't?" Pinching his nose, the tanned man would muffle out some annoyed grunts, mouthing off a curse here or there about having to get stuck with the nutjobs. 2PM on a Friday afternoon - it wasn't nearly early enough for lunatics to be prancing around drunk or high while spinning their spiel about the world ending. Though... the guy in front of the bouncer hardly seemed to be under the influence of anything. Crisp, clear eyes and a leisurely, mellow tone that had not slurred or skipped a single syllable...
"You think I was fuckin' born yesterday?! Beat it, you slimy rat!" Snarling straight into his face, the guard would toss that troublemaker an inch or two back and onto his ass - making sure to stomp on the ground right between his legs to scare him enough to back away - casting a faint dust of sand to splash right over his forearms and shirt.
"Ouch. Just got clawed on that right arm! Sheesh... now there's no need to be all angry at me." Wincing faintly, he would stand up straight and brush a hand over his shirt and one through his hair to slick it backwards right before a small, black bundle scampered up to his shoulder. Of course, to get up there, it had to basically pry its tiny little murder mittens into his shirt and skin while scrambling up his back but that point? He hadn't even been at all bothered by the pain. By the time the black cat was finally on his shoulder, he was standing to his full height in front of the bouncer.
"Alright! Let's start over. My name is Ruan. This is my little buddy, Cafe. Normally I'd take the time to explain a little more properly to you but - I'm kinda strapped for time here, big guy. Apologies in advance for this!" Holding his palm out, Cafe would jump right into Ruan's open hand - sparks of yellow surging out like electrical surges in every direction at once. The heft of the cat's torso would have nearly entirely flattened out, straightening and growing angular into the shape of a book. A grimoire. One single snap of Ruan's fingers had a burst of yellow leaping out of the pages of that grimoire and slamming straight through the man's torso and head. Immediately, disorientation and nausea would hit the man and within a few more seconds he would suddenly go cross-eyed beefore falling backwards to the ground unresponsive with a thunk. Ruan would wince a little right before the man's head hit the ground, pressing his hands onto his hips and looking over the unresponsive frame.
"Damn. That's gonna hurt when you wake up. My bad, brother. Hey, look! If you ever run into me again, I'll get you a meal. It'll be on you. Anyways, peace!" Holding up a V-shape with his index and middle finger, the grimoire in his palm would unroll back into the body of Cafe who clambered right back onto his shoulder once more. Dipping low below the rope, the two were finally into the party they were looking to go to... not for celebration. Ruan had a little bit of a higher task in life than ogling a bunch of cuties in bikinis. Though, he wouldn't mind that too much either.
The Rot.
Can't really say I know what the fuck it is. All I do know is that it's not really a fan of us. And by 'us' I mean Humanity in general. See - wizards and witches live pretty synonymously with humans. Humans aren't aware of magic, or spells, or of fantastical creatures... likewise, blending into normal society just involves a wizard or witch not using their magic. In an ideal world, the two could live side by side without ever stepping on one another's toes. Unfortunately, there's this really shitty thing called the Rot. Right, so... how do I even explain this? Sit down. Are you sitting? Okay. I'm gonna draw a doodle out for you. Imagine that there's a totally normal lookin' chain of events. Something that just naturally happens. For example! Let's say you're going camping. It turns night, you want to start a campfire. You make a circle of stones, push some dry wood up and light some kinder before tossing it into the bundle of sticks. It starts a fire. You're warm and happy. The End. That's the most likely probabilistic outcome here. In a sample size of one hundred thousand instances of you going camping and starting a fire, it goes well. You make the fire, you stay warm, you stay happy. Now... there's the Rot. You can think of it a little bit like a leak of magic into the human world. Entropy dictates that most entities return to a state of chaos but we can say that The Rot is a little bit like an accelerator that accumulates in areas. In places where the Rot is abundant, statistical probability of common events gets wildly skewed and warped - and oftentimes the outcome that occurs is both wildly dangerous and immensely chaotic. Suddenly that small lil' kinder you tossed into your forest fire somehow sparked onto the ground, lit a bunch of dried leaves on fire, and you suddenly burnt down the entirety of the forest, yourself included.
Maybe that's not really the best explanation in the world - but it's not really easy to explain for me either!
Chaotic, malevolently bad luck all accumulated in one singular area. That is the Rot. It accumulates in an area until it bursts all at once - usually around areas of high magical concentrations, or with huge presences of witches and wizards. So, in that case...
"...You mind pointing me towards the backstage so that I can rescue everyone here from whatever the hell is going to happen?" Glass of liquor in hand, Ruan would ask the giggling, half-drunk witch girl in front of him for directions.
"Woooooahhh! That's, like, totally craaazy! It's like one big metaphor for life, right? By the way, you're really cute - can I get your number?" ...Well, shit. He had a feeling he wasn't going to be taken seriously, but to this extent was actually a little depressing. So what? He was a a friendly looking guy! Breathing another sigh, Ruan would pinch the bridge of his nose and just walk right past the giggly, drunken witch who took another swig of her drink. To him, locating the Rot was a little bit like a sixth sense. Like a thread or a scent, or a sight that lingered in the air but he couldn't really smell it, or see it. He could just feel it. With a crowd this big, his senses tended to be a little more dampened so all he could really do was wander around for a little bit. Somewhere... near the coastline, maybe. That was where it had accumulated the most. The plan was fairly simple. There was no real way to 'cure' the Rot. Much like how heavy clouds could only be alleviated through the steady patter of rain, the Rot could only really be alleviated through smaller, gentler instances of bad luck or chaotic events occurring.
That was exactly what Ruan intended to do.
Pick it all up on his back. Head somewhere else. Let the Rot make a few of his days shitty. Him and Cafe. All he had to do was find the damn thing first... where the hell was it...? The party in question seemed to be some sort of luxurious beach party thrown by some especially wealthy aristocrat witch family. It explained the high density of witches and wizards mingling in the area - though the security and most of what was going on outside of the beach party looked to be entirely humans. If the Rot lead to a catastrophe, it would threaten a little more than just the people here. "Huh... is it just me or is this one especially hard to locate, Cafe?" Mumbling, the man would prod the tip of his cat's nose just to get a leisurely mewl in response. "Hm? N'aw. What do you mean I'm dragging my feet? Champagne's really good? Noooo... I would never! I'm just sayin' free lobster tail is free lobster tail --" Ruan spoke back to his companion, almost like he could hear what the kitty was mewling out to him in response every few seconds.
It always fucking felt like he was short on time though...
It always felt like the Rot was expanding.
It always felt like something was going to go wrong.
The sensation was sometimes so sickening it made him want to throw up, it was the entire reason that he kept everything laidback and relaxed. If he panicked even half as much as the situation called for, Ruan was halfway sure he would've died from some heart attack by now. It wasn't the easiest to locate but... he'd find the source of that Rot eventually. Following the trail, talking to people along the way - no one ever believed him and at this point, he was completely and utterly fine with it.
He had an obligation to make sure that the things that he could prevent, he prevented. That was his role. Nothing more. Nothing less.