*** BlackHat has joined 333.07.333.06 <BlackHat> ^J help <BlackHat> help <BlackHat> J <BlackHat> Official business with Black Hat only. Don't waste my time.
[As stiff as stiffs can get, the technically alive parts of the arachne prevent rigid mortis from fully sitting in, meaning when Black Hat returns he will find the spider even more slumped forward than before. The awkward angle causes his head to loll unpleasantly, the rest of him doesn't look terribly comfortable either, and that isn't the only scenery change...]
[And return Black Hat does after a time, reappearing in a burst of fire as he does up the last of the buttons Flug had so wickedly opened. His evening, one looking to take a sharp turn into the enjoyable, has been thoroughly ruined, and the presence of a certain entity in his bedroom does not help matters.]
You!
[The final button remains open as Black Hat hands drop and he snaps at the thing slowly clipping its way through the wall. Flug's started calling it Jammingway lately, but Black Hat refuses to dignify it with any name. He snarls and hurries forward, waving his hand at it.]
You bloody well could have shown up earlier and stopped this [He waves at Flug, slumped over on the bed.] from happening. Useless lout....
[The quadrilateral as always does not answer. It remains a single stagnant color—or rather it doesn’t, shifting so imperceptibly slowly that by the time Black Hat were to blink, it would register as a vaguely different one; a hue that was best categorized by one word: wrong.
It pleasantly smells of blueberries of toast.
It heeds not Black Hat’s tantrums, the only inclination it may be reacting to anything at all is the way it’s rectangular base remains stationary as the demon scolds, while it’s outer polygons continue to reach closer and closer to the slumped over the spider, with all the sentience of void-matter jellyfish, growing spikier as they stretch.]
[As always, he's completely ignored. Black Hat glowers as the thing stretches, having half a mind to set it alight if he didn't already know that was wholly ineffective. One of its spikes reaches Flug, and passes through his body as if it weren't there. Then another, and another, and suddenly the majority of the shape is moving through the arachne, as if it had simply shifted to be there.
And then it stops.
Black Hat folds his arms and gives it an almighty death glare.]
What are you up to, you little vermin? Give him a little push? You can't push anything around, you know.
[He knows it's pointless to address the thing - it never responds, not in any intelligible way. But snapping at it gives him something to be angry at aside from himself or a soulless husk for now.]
[And there Jammingway remains, seemingly set on not drifting further from that spot, glitching out of the immobile minion. As the demon stares it down he may get the impression that it's staring back. After all, for something that existed in constant shifting motion what else could a lack of action entail? A faceless face to face in...what? Could it be judgment? Probably not, but there is one undeniable truth impossible to escape from no matter how one tried to view it.
You did this, Black Hat. You and no one else and passing the blame around won't fix it.
Any silence that stretches on only accentuates the barely there sounds of what should be a corpse. A soulless husk, sure, but one that nevertheless still draws in quiet breathes. Not alive but hardly all the way dead. Can it really remain in this state? What should be done…?]
[He did this. Black Hat did this, and he was an idiot. He knows the thing can't judge, has no sentience to speak of, but the way it simply exists there, quietly undulating and tying tiny knots in his stomach, drives him to action. Black Hat reaches to the top of the bed and grabs a pillow.
He throws it at the reality break, catching the top of it. It seems to stick, for just a moment, before the pillow continues its trajectory with a part of Jammingway clinging to it.
It stretches again, as if trying to pull Flug's motionless form along with it, before a ripple runs across it and it pops free, merrily being carried towards the wall by the hurled pillow.
There's nothing to be done, though. The only option forward is to hide this event from all prying eyes, cover for Flug's apparent absence should the need arise, and await the Fog's return to reinstate Flug's soul into his body. A simple plan, one with an easy execution that lasts only a day before the first hiccup arrives in the form of an inquisitive little robot, and is put on hold entirely when a strange dust sweeps into the lair a few days later, and Black Hat himself joins the slump, limply sagged in his favored armchair, mind elsewhere entirely. Some place fair. Well, not entirely.]
[The fog, inevitable as always, takes a week to roll in but roll in it does. As the cursed winds blanket the peninsula, bringing with them their life altering gift, the doctor at last takes in a deeper rattling breathe as his soul finds it's way back to the mortal coil. Flug sits up coughs briskly.]
"Mnngh, sssir? I-- hnhh -uhhnn."
[Ugh he feels so stiff, how the hell was he sleeping like that?.. Why was was he sleeping like that? It's too soon for this many questions. His mouth feels dry and his head is pounding but Flug forces himself to his feet.]
"Boss? I don't feel... so..." [The spider mashes a hand against his face, eyes refusing to stay open. Flug makes it precisely five steps across the room before his legs-- all of them-- give out and he smashes his head against the door to slump against it, as his body joins the rest of the unconscious amnesiacs in a delayed slumber; a remnant of faerie dust breezing in through the ventilation.]
[There it is. The portal, just as promised. Black Hat wastes no time, throwing himself through the rift, fueled by the thoughts of what he will be doing to Flug for this transgression. Wring his neck, perhaps? Restrain him and force him to watch as his beloved little bear is torn asunder over and over for days? Slaughter all the guests he'd invited, and pin the blame solely on Flug? Such possibilities! His fury is a comforting blaze, and, oh, how he will spread it when he returns-
-to jolt up suddenly as he awakens, as if from a dream. It's the only way he can really think to describe it - the fury from Fairwell is still very much present, but tempered by the return to Ryslig. Of course Flug couldn't be responsible. Once again, a bloody inconvenience plaguing the midmonth in this hellhole of a peninsula.
Black Hat growls and works the stiffness from his joints as he stands. Very little has changed since he sat down - has any time passed at all? But it only takes a glance out the window to see that the Fog has arrived.
The Fog... Flug.
In a burst of flame Black Hat is in the room where he's left Flug's body, only to find that it’s not there. A sense of… something runs through him, something he can’t quite place. A mixture of positive and negative, that the fog has indeed done its duty and Black Hat is absolved of his error, but now Flug is missing and that cannot stand, so he spins on his heel to go and find the lost scientist and oh wait there he is.
Black Hat stares at the body slumped against the door for longer than he should, seemingly dumbfounded at how Flug has moved a grand total of five feet without resurrecting. Did someone break in? No, nothing else is disturbed.
He grabs Flug’s bag and pulls it off, expecting those empty eyes to stare back at him again - but now they’re closed. They weren’t before, he knows this, he watched Flug’s miserable meat sack closely enough to know this is change, that all he would do was blink subconsciously.
Something changed while Black Hat was in that memory-wiping simulation. And Black Hat is no scientist, to test and prod and poke to figure out what has happened. The fog has returned, but Flug is still gone.
It is possible, he supposes, that Flug was pulled into that town as well - but surely they would have crossed paths, would they not? Although perhaps it’s for the better that they didn’t; the embers of rage Black Hat was nursing while hurtling himself through the portal ‘home’ would have been turned to killing Flug.
Again.
Frustrated, Black Hat gives Flug’s body a shove, pushing it over.]
Why do I even bother? You’re more trouble than you’re worth.
[Seven days was the limit given in Farewell, wasn’t it? Black Hat escaped before that time went up. That’s it, then. He’ll keep on as he had been prior to that mess, pretending Flug is simply away while puppeting the man’s body as necessary.
And so the routine begins again, monitoring Flug, arguing with his body, watching him, grumbling at him, scanning for signs of consciousness, and, once a day, possessing his form to keep it fed.
[When Flug comes to, his consciousness is BRIMMING with panicked excuses. Not there enough for actual thoughts or words for communication but the dulled responses of a second person joining the previously dormant body, emerging to jointly invade the vessel all the same.
Flug's vision centers, funny, he never closed his eyes when passing through the portal, and the slight dryness in them makes it feel as they were already open now as well, nevertheless he takes in his surroundings with more clarity and sees... a meal; tastes it too. Right. Right, back in Ryslig.. this is real isn't it? No.. if it was...Why.. why can't he move..? No! Actually he's moving but Flug is NOT the one dictating it?! WHAT IS THIS? Some form of sleep paralysis?!
Without motor skill or enough comprehension to fend off the body snatcher, the arachne's body buzzes alive with physical cues. Black Hat will feel a sudden boost in adrenaline; a rapid increase of heartbeat accompanied by heavier shorter breathes and possibly the light wheeze of actual vocal chords likely intending the echo of a scream.
Of course a skilled demon could easily override these latent impulses if they so choose...]
[A skilled demon Black Hat is indeed, and the second something shifts in the body he's currently occupying he instinctively clamps down on his control, forcing the physiological responses back under his will. At least, that's what he would do - but the echo of a scream comes with a very audible (in a sense) mental one.
He's halfway through downing a piece of muscle when it happens, and the sudden presence of another being crying out in the body he's controlling alarms him into accidentally inhaling - and then a dark shadowy cloud erupts from Flug's back as Black Hat relinquishes his hold, coalescing behind the arachne with his wings flared and claws raised, fully prepared to attack whatever invaded his puppet.]
[Choking..! HeisCHOKING!! A lurch forward and several hefty coughs later and the arachne manages to dislodge the meat, but not without pathetically falling onto his back and just deciding to lie there and catch his breathe after.
He clasps his hands over his face-- both to soothe the instinctive need to hide it and another to block out the sheer EVERYTHING bombarding his thoughts-- prone in position, but so very very alive.
Too much. Let him just. It's too much. What was Black Hat even doing?! He can't think. Is this what multiple realities converging feels like?]
"I-I thought you were going to kill me." [He wheezes, hysterical with shock and relief. Stupid of him, right? Unprompted anyway. He still believes it...How did he even get to this table? One question at a time. Absolutely nothing right now is making sense.]
[Black Hat holds his pose, ready to strike hard at the intruder up until the body continues choking. He stares, slightly relaxing as the meat is dislodged, and Flug falls backwards in a pathetic display that removes any lingering doubt in Black Hat's mind that his scientist has finally, finally returned to him properly.
The flames die in his hands as he folds them behind his back and steps forward to loom over Flug, putting on airs of a man who definitely did not devour his partner's soul in the midst of intimacy.]
I was. But I didn't, and here you are.
[It's... it's sort of true, really. He was going to kill Flug in Fairwell, that desire had been very real!]
Let me guess: trapped in a quaint little town, told you had seven days to make a kill and free yourself, your memories of the last year lost?
"THREE for ME!" [Flug complains shrilly, with an angry flop of his hands. Seriously, what gives?! Why did everyone else get an unrigged chance at survival?! At least it's something he can direct his attention on. The arachne sits up with a worried scowl.]
"So it was real." [At least that meant his night terrors hadn't transcended into being any worse than usual after all. So when he murdered that lackey... Hm.]
"I completed the objective fine enough. Expected a little more, to be honest. There hadn't been a moment to waste after that. A-all I could think about was you ringing my neck or being so late."
[But he hadn't. And he won't. Not here. Still, it's hard to believe Flug didn't run into his master in the midst of all that. Had he really missed Lord Black Hat being there? Something doesn't add up…]
[Only three? Well, the fog is present now - that must mean Flug revived and immediately got sent to Fairwell. But if Flug isn't going to make that connection, well, Black Hat is very happy to not bring it up himself.]
I did spend quite a bit of time thinking the same. But I didn't need the full seven days, what do you expect of me? [He sounds a bit indignant at that.] I was out before the deadline arrived, and found you in a sorry state.
[Black Hat crosses his arms.] You should be grateful. I've been keeping your miserable meat sack fed and tended to while you toddled about in that little fantasy land.
[Normally that would be enough for the scientist to backpedal with small apologies, were it not for the bombshell of:]
"You FED me?"
[The arachne throws an utterly aghast look at the remaining portion of the meal Black Hat had APPARENTLY, charitably been supplying him with. Flug would hardly believe it, had he not woken up while the man was doing just that!]
"Black Hat.. you know I can go a few days without eating, right? I used to all the time." [He always had his suspicions that his employer had no concept of what basic needs a human being had, but..!]
"One or two days asleep without food wouldn't have killed me."
[He needs to be sure you know this. Has Black Hat done this before? For how long?! Then again.. it is hard for Flug to say when he last ate. Why doesn't he remember what he had after drinking tea?…]
[It's on the tip of his tongue, to snap back that of course he fed Flug, had to keep him from starving! He almost spills that it's been quite a bit longer than a mere two days, but catches himself, turning instead to the lifeline Flug has unintentionally given him (or so he sees it.)]
And if it had been longer? I returned to you slumped against the door; would you rather I left your body to slowly waste away with no knowledge of when you might come back to take care of matters yourself?!
[Have a little more faith in Black Hat, Flug. He knows humans can go some time without food - that's why he's been doing this for more than two days. In fact, he's been doing it near on a week now, barring the interval in Fairwell. And that alone means Flug had gone without a meal for more than two days - Black Hat hadn't been around for almost four!]
But if you insist, next time I won't be so generous!
"No, nonono! I-I'm grateful, really! I'm just surprised. I wouldn't think you would have bothered--"
[Buuut he is only going to annoy Black Hat further by keeping on this level of conversation.]
"A-anyway y-you're right! I'd be much more exhausted if you hadn't."
[He did still feel exhausted of course, extremely so. It's obvious in the sluggishness of Flug's movements, despite the animated manner of his speech. Properly cared for or not, no one bounced back from death 100% right out the gate, even a death said victim is unaware of. He attempts to rise, grasping quickly for the table to support himself.]
"Heh. I don't even remember the last time I ate. We.. came back from the tea gathering. You wanted me to work on the oil and then we..."
[For a brief moment a look dashes across Black Hat's face. Alarm? Mortification? Something... parallel to the guilt he can never feel? But then it's gone, because he's still clinging to the desperate chance that Flug doesn't remember. Still, he wants to steer the conversation away from the direction it's going, and cuts in briskly.]
Yes, the oil. You should refine it some more. Learn more about its properties.
"Suppose I should check up on it." [Flug manages to get to his feet, only to stumble a few times down the hall, each limb taking turns locking up to impair his mobility. It's a rather noisy traipse; miraculously the doctor avoids knocking into anything.]
"At least it's only been three days." [A flick of the switch.] "Any more and it might be harder to work wi--"
[And yet here the oil is. Congealed in a state that would have taken far more than three days to reach. Not impossible to salvage, sure, but the sight stirs the discomfort that has been steadily building in Flug's gut. The sense of something being off he hasn't been able to shake.]
"..We were on the bed." [His memory still feels fuzzy. Why does it feel so fuzzy?]
"We were on the bed and I pulled you in close. And then you… you.....oh my god." [He slowly turns to look back to where the suspicious demon is standing.]
Behold, the greatest evil to ever exist, standing stock still and wrestling with what may be one of the most embarrassing missteps of his life. His face is twisting again, and this time he's not able to get the expression back to stoic before Flug is facing him and well, he's going to have to face this head on, isn't he.
"You DID!!!" [Yeah, if anything that excuse only convinces the scientist faster. Flug balks in horror at Black Hat's fakest face yet.]
"You actually ate me!"
[Ohhhh of all his years of faithful service! All the dangers he evaded, tantrums he appeased and THIS is what did him in?! Flug yells in his hands, wandering aimlessly before whipping back around.]
Not intentionally! [No use trying to hide it anymore: Flug has it figured out.] I wasn't rooting around in your guts, slurping your intestines like pasta! You weren't even properly dead!
[That must count for something, correct? He grumbles and pinches the space between his eyes.]
...over a week. It's been over a week. But! Look at yourself, Flug, you're perfectly intact! I have taken the utmost care of you, and this is how you're treating me in turn?
[That has to matter. That has to. In fact, it should count for a great deal, coming from Black Hat! Enough to erase this mistake on his part, this little failure to control himself!]
"Oh GOOD, so I should be glad you left me only MOSTLY DEAD!" [Flug snaps back.] "What if this had happened back at the manor?! Sir, I don't have endless regenerations there. I warned you not to be so careless!"
[And he should have warned himself not to be so careless either. What had Flug been thinking, letting his guard down? Isn't staying alive despite the dangers of BHO part of his job?!
It has been over a week… just like Flug had endured waiting for Black Hat to revive. But Black Hat didn't give into despair waiting for a revival likely never to come. Instead he… actually took care of him. The spider takes a subtle glance at himself. No mystery scars or incision marks that he can see, no bite wounds.
Black Hat could have done anything to him and he would have been absolutely powerless to stop him. The man obviously expected he would incur Flug's wrath regardless, so why didn't he take it a step further and just profit off the loss as well? Not selling your partner's body while they are comatose shouldn't be particularly noteworthy in a relationship but damn it all for Black Hat it was.
It shouldn't count... but it does..]
"So you just.. propped me up in a chair and kept me there all week?"
Careless? Careless?! I'm not the one who went about pushing people over onto beds, clambering around and stripping them, then leaving me with only a disappointing wank because you-!
[He sputters off, agitated. Flug started it! Flug pushed it! Flug tapped into that vein of Black Hat he didn't know about, and Black Hat is the careless one? Flug should be glad he didn't die fully! He should be, not arguing back about this!]
This wouldn't have happened at the manor! [For multiple reasons, really. The most glaring and unspoken one, of course, being that without the events of the last year, none of whatever this is would have occurred. Black Hat would have been in control, would not have died, would not need to feed on souls, only partaking when he wished. And if the worst had come to pass... well, it wouldn't be the first time he shoved a stolen soul into a vessel.
Black Hat is still on the defensive. He glowers, interpreting the question through his own lens. Coming off the scolding, he can't help but take it as a critique of his handling of the aftermath.]
Why, would you rather I'd shoved you under the bed?!
[He snarls in frustration - why is Flug being so difficult - and paces back and forth in place.]
"NO I would NOT have had you shove me under the bed!!" [Well there's that olive branch thoroughly burnt to a crisp. He just wanted to know if there were any other details he might have missed but OKAY if Black Hat wants to get into it! Flug braces against the table to approach the demon, staggering to his several wobbly feet.]
"How do you know that? It shouldn't have happened here!"
[And therein lies the first real sliver of fear in all of this confusion. What if this is what will always go down? One memory wipe was all it took. Is Flug always doomed to fail at this? Will the company forever fall into ruin because Flug won't be able to prevent Black Hat from killing his most brilliant scientist?! okay maybe that's the ego talking.]
"For your information, I AM surprised I'm intact. I AM grateful you watched over me. But you're also you. D-don't think I didn't notice you trying to c-cover your tracks! You can't blame me for asking for specifics, whe--O-ohhhsuddenlylightheaded."
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evilopportunityemployer) wrote2019-04-25 07:38 pm
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You!
[The final button remains open as Black Hat hands drop and he snaps at the thing slowly clipping its way through the wall. Flug's started calling it Jammingway lately, but Black Hat refuses to dignify it with any name. He snarls and hurries forward, waving his hand at it.]
You bloody well could have shown up earlier and stopped this [He waves at Flug, slumped over on the bed.] from happening. Useless lout....
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It pleasantly smells of blueberries of toast.
It heeds not Black Hat’s tantrums, the only inclination it may be reacting to anything at all is the way it’s rectangular base remains stationary as the demon scolds, while it’s outer polygons continue to reach closer and closer to the slumped over the spider, with all the sentience of void-matter jellyfish, growing spikier as they stretch.]
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And then it stops.
Black Hat folds his arms and gives it an almighty death glare.]
What are you up to, you little vermin? Give him a little push? You can't push anything around, you know.
[He knows it's pointless to address the thing - it never responds, not in any intelligible way. But snapping at it gives him something to be angry at aside from himself or a soulless husk for now.]
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You did this, Black Hat. You and no one else and passing the blame around won't fix it.
Any silence that stretches on only accentuates the barely there sounds of what should be a corpse. A soulless husk, sure, but one that nevertheless still draws in quiet breathes. Not alive but hardly all the way dead. Can it really remain in this state? What should be done…?]
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He throws it at the reality break, catching the top of it. It seems to stick, for just a moment, before the pillow continues its trajectory with a part of Jammingway clinging to it.
It stretches again, as if trying to pull Flug's motionless form along with it, before a ripple runs across it and it pops free, merrily being carried towards the wall by the hurled pillow.
There's nothing to be done, though. The only option forward is to hide this event from all prying eyes, cover for Flug's apparent absence should the need arise, and await the Fog's return to reinstate Flug's soul into his body. A simple plan, one with an easy execution that lasts only a day before the first hiccup arrives in the form of an inquisitive little robot, and is put on hold entirely when a strange dust sweeps into the lair a few days later, and Black Hat himself joins the slump, limply sagged in his favored armchair, mind elsewhere entirely. Some place fair. Well, not entirely.]
4/17 A narrow miss
"Mnngh, sssir? I-- hnhh -uhhnn."
[Ugh he feels so stiff, how the hell was he sleeping like that?.. Why was was he sleeping like that? It's too soon for this many questions. His mouth feels dry and his head is pounding but Flug forces himself to his feet.]
"Boss? I don't feel... so..." [The spider mashes a hand against his face, eyes refusing to stay open. Flug makes it precisely five steps across the room before his legs-- all of them-- give out and he smashes his head against the door to slump against it, as his body joins the rest of the unconscious amnesiacs in a delayed slumber; a remnant of faerie dust breezing in through the ventilation.]
some time after that /waves hands vaguely
-to jolt up suddenly as he awakens, as if from a dream. It's the only way he can really think to describe it - the fury from Fairwell is still very much present, but tempered by the return to Ryslig. Of course Flug couldn't be responsible. Once again, a bloody inconvenience plaguing the midmonth in this hellhole of a peninsula.
Black Hat growls and works the stiffness from his joints as he stands. Very little has changed since he sat down - has any time passed at all? But it only takes a glance out the window to see that the Fog has arrived.
The Fog... Flug.
In a burst of flame Black Hat is in the room where he's left Flug's body, only to find that it’s not there. A sense of… something runs through him, something he can’t quite place. A mixture of positive and negative, that the fog has indeed done its duty and Black Hat is absolved of his error, but now Flug is missing and that cannot stand, so he spins on his heel to go and find the lost scientist and oh wait there he is.
Black Hat stares at the body slumped against the door for longer than he should, seemingly dumbfounded at how Flug has moved a grand total of five feet without resurrecting. Did someone break in? No, nothing else is disturbed.
He grabs Flug’s bag and pulls it off, expecting those empty eyes to stare back at him again - but now they’re closed. They weren’t before, he knows this, he watched Flug’s miserable meat sack closely enough to know this is change, that all he would do was blink subconsciously.
Something changed while Black Hat was in that memory-wiping simulation. And Black Hat is no scientist, to test and prod and poke to figure out what has happened. The fog has returned, but Flug is still gone.
It is possible, he supposes, that Flug was pulled into that town as well - but surely they would have crossed paths, would they not? Although perhaps it’s for the better that they didn’t; the embers of rage Black Hat was nursing while hurtling himself through the portal ‘home’ would have been turned to killing Flug.
Again.
Frustrated, Black Hat gives Flug’s body a shove, pushing it over.]
Why do I even bother? You’re more trouble than you’re worth.
[Seven days was the limit given in Farewell, wasn’t it? Black Hat escaped before that time went up. That’s it, then. He’ll keep on as he had been prior to that mess, pretending Flug is simply away while puppeting the man’s body as necessary.
And so the routine begins again, monitoring Flug, arguing with his body, watching him, grumbling at him, scanning for signs of consciousness, and, once a day, possessing his form to keep it fed.
As he is doing some time later.]
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Flug's vision centers, funny, he never closed his eyes when passing through the portal, and the slight dryness in them makes it feel as they were already open now as well, nevertheless he takes in his surroundings with more clarity and sees... a meal; tastes it too.
Right. Right, back in Ryslig.. this is real isn't it? No.. if it was...Why.. why can't he move..?
No! Actually he's moving but Flug is NOT the one dictating it?! WHAT IS THIS? Some form of sleep paralysis?!
Without motor skill or enough comprehension to fend off the body snatcher, the arachne's body buzzes alive with physical cues. Black Hat will feel a sudden boost in adrenaline; a rapid increase of heartbeat accompanied by heavier shorter breathes and possibly the light wheeze of actual vocal chords likely intending the echo of a scream.
Of course a skilled demon could easily override these latent impulses if they so choose...]
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He's halfway through downing a piece of muscle when it happens, and the sudden presence of another being crying out in the body he's controlling alarms him into accidentally inhaling - and then a dark shadowy cloud erupts from Flug's back as Black Hat relinquishes his hold, coalescing behind the arachne with his wings flared and claws raised, fully prepared to attack whatever invaded his puppet.]
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A lurch forward and several hefty coughs later and the arachne manages to dislodge the meat, but not without pathetically falling onto his back and just deciding to lie there and catch his breathe after.
He clasps his hands over his face-- both to soothe the instinctive need to hide it and another to block out the sheer EVERYTHING bombarding his thoughts-- prone in position, but so very very alive.
Too much. Let him just. It's too much. What was Black Hat even doing?! He can't think. Is this what multiple realities converging feels like?]
"I-I thought you were going to kill me." [He wheezes, hysterical with shock and relief. Stupid of him, right? Unprompted anyway. He still believes it...How did he even get to this table? One question at a time. Absolutely nothing right now is making sense.]
"I h-had the weirdest dream."
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The flames die in his hands as he folds them behind his back and steps forward to loom over Flug, putting on airs of a man who definitely did not devour his partner's soul in the midst of intimacy.]
I was. But I didn't, and here you are.
[It's... it's sort of true, really. He was going to kill Flug in Fairwell, that desire had been very real!]
Let me guess: trapped in a quaint little town, told you had seven days to make a kill and free yourself, your memories of the last year lost?
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"So it was real." [At least that meant his night terrors hadn't transcended into being any worse than usual after all. So when he murdered that lackey... Hm.]
"I completed the objective fine enough. Expected a little more, to be honest. There hadn't been a moment to waste after that. A-all I could think about was you ringing my neck or being so late."
[But he hadn't. And he won't. Not here. Still, it's hard to believe Flug didn't run into his master in the midst of all that. Had he really missed Lord Black Hat being there? Something doesn't add up…]
"You said you had the full seven days?"
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[Only three? Well, the fog is present now - that must mean Flug revived and immediately got sent to Fairwell. But if Flug isn't going to make that connection, well, Black Hat is very happy to not bring it up himself.]
I did spend quite a bit of time thinking the same. But I didn't need the full seven days, what do you expect of me? [He sounds a bit indignant at that.] I was out before the deadline arrived, and found you in a sorry state.
[Black Hat crosses his arms.] You should be grateful. I've been keeping your miserable meat sack fed and tended to while you toddled about in that little fantasy land.
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"You FED me?"
[The arachne throws an utterly aghast look at the remaining portion of the meal Black Hat had APPARENTLY, charitably been supplying him with. Flug would hardly believe it, had he not woken up while the man was doing just that!]
"Black Hat.. you know I can go a few days without eating, right? I used to all the time." [He always had his suspicions that his employer had no concept of what basic needs a human being had, but..!]
"One or two days asleep without food wouldn't have killed me."
[He needs to be sure you know this. Has Black Hat done this before? For how long?!
Then again.. it is hard for Flug to say when he last ate. Why doesn't he remember what he had after drinking tea?…]
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And if it had been longer? I returned to you slumped against the door; would you rather I left your body to slowly waste away with no knowledge of when you might come back to take care of matters yourself?!
[Have a little more faith in Black Hat, Flug. He knows humans can go some time without food - that's why he's been doing this for more than two days. In fact, he's been doing it near on a week now, barring the interval in Fairwell. And that alone means Flug had gone without a meal for more than two days - Black Hat hadn't been around for almost four!]
But if you insist, next time I won't be so generous!
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[Buuut he is only going to annoy Black Hat further by keeping on this level of conversation.]
"A-anyway y-you're right! I'd be much more exhausted if you hadn't."
[He did still feel exhausted of course, extremely so. It's obvious in the sluggishness of Flug's movements, despite the animated manner of his speech. Properly cared for or not, no one bounced back from death 100% right out the gate, even a death said victim is unaware of. He attempts to rise, grasping quickly for the table to support himself.]
"Heh. I don't even remember the last time I ate. We.. came back from the tea gathering. You wanted me to work on the oil and then we..."
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Yes, the oil. You should refine it some more. Learn more about its properties.
[You should go do that right now and get to work!
Maybe that's a bit too quick a response.]
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"At least it's only been three days." [A flick of the switch.] "Any more and it might be harder to work wi--"
[And yet here the oil is. Congealed in a state that would have taken far more than three days to reach. Not impossible to salvage, sure, but the sight stirs the discomfort that has been steadily building in Flug's gut. The sense of something being off he hasn't been able to shake.]
"..We were on the bed." [His memory still feels fuzzy. Why does it feel so fuzzy?]
"We were on the bed and I pulled you in close. And then you… you.....oh my god." [He slowly turns to look back to where the suspicious demon is standing.]
"Oh my God you ate me..?"
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Behold, the greatest evil to ever exist, standing stock still and wrestling with what may be one of the most embarrassing missteps of his life. His face is twisting again, and this time he's not able to get the expression back to stoic before Flug is facing him and well, he's going to have to face this head on, isn't he.
...Not without one last weaseling attempt.]
Ate you? Why would I eat you?
[Even he can tell it's a horrible deflection.]
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"You actually ate me!"
[Ohhhh of all his years of faithful service! All the dangers he evaded, tantrums he appeased and THIS is what did him in?! Flug yells in his hands, wandering aimlessly before whipping back around.]
"How long has it really been?"
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[That must count for something, correct? He grumbles and pinches the space between his eyes.]
...over a week. It's been over a week. But! Look at yourself, Flug, you're perfectly intact! I have taken the utmost care of you, and this is how you're treating me in turn?
[That has to matter. That has to. In fact, it should count for a great deal, coming from Black Hat! Enough to erase this mistake on his part, this little failure to control himself!]
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[And he should have warned himself not to be so careless either. What had Flug been thinking, letting his guard down? Isn't staying alive despite the dangers of BHO part of his job?!
It has been over a week… just like Flug had endured waiting for Black Hat to revive. But Black Hat didn't give into despair waiting for a revival likely never to come. Instead he… actually took care of him. The spider takes a subtle glance at himself. No mystery scars or incision marks that he can see, no bite wounds.
Black Hat could have done anything to him and he would have been absolutely powerless to stop him. The man obviously expected he would incur Flug's wrath regardless, so why didn't he take it a step further and just profit off the loss as well? Not selling your partner's body while they are comatose shouldn't be particularly noteworthy in a relationship but damn it all for Black Hat it was.
It shouldn't count... but it does..]
"So you just.. propped me up in a chair and kept me there all week?"
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[He sputters off, agitated. Flug started it! Flug pushed it! Flug tapped into that vein of Black Hat he didn't know about, and Black Hat is the careless one? Flug should be glad he didn't die fully! He should be, not arguing back about this!]
This wouldn't have happened at the manor! [For multiple reasons, really. The most glaring and unspoken one, of course, being that without the events of the last year, none of whatever this is would have occurred. Black Hat would have been in control, would not have died, would not need to feed on souls, only partaking when he wished. And if the worst had come to pass... well, it wouldn't be the first time he shoved a stolen soul into a vessel.
Black Hat is still on the defensive. He glowers, interpreting the question through his own lens. Coming off the scolding, he can't help but take it as a critique of his handling of the aftermath.]
Why, would you rather I'd shoved you under the bed?!
[He snarls in frustration - why is Flug being so difficult - and paces back and forth in place.]
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"How do you know that? It shouldn't have happened here!"
[And therein lies the first real sliver of fear in all of this confusion. What if this is what will always go down? One memory wipe was all it took. Is Flug always doomed to fail at this? Will the company forever fall into ruin because Flug won't be able to prevent Black Hat from killing his most brilliant scientist?!
okay maybe that's the ego talking.]"For your information, I AM surprised I'm intact. I AM grateful you watched over me. But you're also you. D-don't think I didn't notice you trying to c-cover your tracks! You can't blame me for asking for specifics, whe--O-ohhhsuddenlylightheaded."
[Scientist going down in three, two..!]
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