week 2

[airlockedmods]

Week 2

[It's been about a week since the Champions woke up in their new consumerist hellscape of a temporary home and, despite a few odd goings on and the bomb incident with Church and Nari, things haven't been as bad as they could be. No one is even dead yet! But let's see how long that lasts.

Enjoy your week, Champions.]

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(( Also, don't forget to submit your AC and item rolls! You can also bother your Overseer here. ))

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[power_of_dominance]

[Soma sits there silently, hands not quite folded in his lap. It's more like his fingers are practically twisted around each other, knuckles white. He doesn't say a word and he won't look up at anyone despite his ever-present sunglasses.

He's never spoken to Arianna or some of the others, and he's pretty sure he'll never get the chance to befriend her now.]

[daughterofthemark]

[SHITTING CRAPBASKETS I STILL DIDN'T GET AROUND TO TAGGING HIM well I guess that changes right now]

...Sir Soma, correct?

[power_of_dominance]

[Soma flinches at his name, then nods once, but he still says nothing.]

[daughterofthemark]

Your secret... it's something horrible, isn't it?

[power_of_dominance]

[There's a long pause before he finally speaks, his voice tired and unsteady.]

Some of you might understand why, yeah. The rest of you? You'll get it if... when I explain.

[daughterofthemark]

[Arianna extends her hand toward him, not touching him, as if letting a cat sniff her before trying to pet it.]

Please. Trust us.

[power_of_dominance]

....

[Soma doesn't take her hand, but while he keeps his chin down he removes his sunglasses and places them on her palm. He takes a deep breath and raises his eyes.

They're crimson and shine faintly from within.]

I'm not human. I'm Dracula, lord of all vampires, reincarnated.

[ratherdoweddings]

It's awful, isn't it?

[power_of_dominance]

[What does she mean? This whole situation? His secret? The mood in the room? It's all horrible, yeah.

Again, he simply nods once, nothing more.]

[ratherdoweddings]

...Don't worry. We've got to all be careful, but we can't let this divide us already.

[power_of_dominance]

[A quiet sound slips from Soma at that, unsteady and bitter and sad. It might take a moment to identify it as a laugh.]

[ratherdoweddings]

You'll see. Even if the worst does happen, if we're prepared, we'll make it through.

[power_of_dominance]

... how tiring is it to be so positive all the time?

[motherfucking_ghost]

...Hey. [Soma wanted his help, right? When things got weird or fucked up. So here he is. He doesn't know what to do, but by god he'll pretend to.] It's all fucking bullshit, huh.

[power_of_dominance]

....

[Without a word, Soma hands his letter to Church, just as he did with Heart. He can’t even look at the man, sure that this is the end of whatever new buds of friendship have formed between them.]

[motherfucking_ghost]

...? [Everyone sharing their secrets is a wild fucking concept okay. But he reads it. And then rereads it. And squints.]

Dracula's real? That must make something like Twilight sting extra hard.

[power_of_dominance]

... Yo no brillo.

[He's not really annoyed. Actually, he feels a bit of a laugh fighting its way out of him, but he knows it would be an unpleasant, quietly hysterical sound so he chokes it back.]

But yes, it's real. Maybe not the literary version, not sure how that came about, but in my world he's very real and very much an ever-present threat.

[motherfucking_ghost]

Just because I know a guy that speaks in nothing but Spanish and at some point spoke it myself once on accident does not mean I actually know it.

We've got a bunch of magical people, an apocalypse, aliens--you know what? Vampires? Sure.

Shittiest way to be a chos--...y'know. Young adult novel protagonist.

[power_of_dominance]

I said I don't sparkle, you jerk.

[There's no heat behind the insult, only a resigned sort of fatigue. He'll definitely take the teasing over fear, though, even if it's wholly unexpected.]

I can't believe most of you are taking this so well.

[burninglight]

...Soma?

[power_of_dominance]

Yes, Ardyn?

[It's quiet, uncertain. Ardyn has made no secret that he doesn't consider any of them his allies or friends, even with his actions to the contrary, so Soma isn't sure how the man will react after he finally voices his secret out loud. If Ardyn is really a healer, then how will he see Dracula, who is the antithesis of life and mortality?

But then there's the secret Ardyn posted openly, the very opposite of what a healer would do....]

[burninglight]

[Ardyn thought over the situation for a minute or so; for all the daemons and wildlife Eos had, vampires were one of the few things that remained just fiction.]

[(Fiction Ardyn suspected he knew the roots of, but fiction nonetheless.)]

[Finally he glanced over Soma with a slightly raised eyebrow, gold eyes locking on crimson with a small, bitter smile.]

...That's not that terrible.

[power_of_dominance]

[The bitter laugh he was trying to hold back at Church's teasing?

There it goes, withered and choked, with Soma bowing over his tangled fingers.]

You can't imagine how wrong you are, Ardyn. This one creature... he's responsible for almost all the darkness and suffering in my world. He's the enemy of all life and light, hunted and slain and reborn over and over... I never asked to be this!

[burninglight]

[Ardyn sighed, folding his arms as the bitter smile faded to something distant and serious.]

Neither did I.

[The response came out with a faint chill, Ardyn's calm demeanor worn down by the exhaustion of something far more ancient than the human of thirty-five he resembled.]

I'm a monster. Or I was--I don't quite know right now.

You say this Dracula is responsible for darkness and suffering? I am our world's 'darkness and suffering'. I've been killed countless times for what I became, unable to die and unwilling to do anything but take out infinite hatred on the world because it was what I found justified. Ask Noctis--he'll tell you.

I am the immortal Accursed, avatar to a malice incarnate wrought upon the world by the wrath of a god.

Next to that? You're just a child carrying too much upon his shoulders.

[power_of_dominance]

[Part of Soma freezes at that deluge of information. Another being as powerful and evil as Dracula, maybe more so? The way Ardyn describes the "Accursed" is exactly the way so many have described the Dark Lord. Horrified as he is that someone else could be suffering under a curse like his, the last words have Soma feeling both relieved that someone comprehends his burden and indignant that his world's greatest enemy is all but shrugged off.

Is this some kind of eldritch horror pissing match?

For a moment he has to clench his teeth, oddly comforted by and yet still furious at Ardyn. His fingers tighten so much that several of his knuckles crack and ache. He wants to rage and scream that Ardyn's history is his own and doesn't render Soma's curse insignificant.

But he doesn't know what to say, doesn't want to push anyone away if they don't fear him, wishes nothing more than to be held and comforted like the child Ardyn says he is.

So he remains silent, head down, quivering ever so slightly from his inner turmoil.]