Steven 'Sharpteeth' Durante (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
fingersandteeth) wrote2022-02-21 05:11 pm
fingersandteeth) wrote2022-02-21 05:11 pm
"Two years," Steven says—and if it's in two discrete chunks, well, Lupa doesn't need to know that.
"Is the junkyard the place you come from, then?"
"Is the junkyard the place you come from, then?"
Two years is a really long time for the average Junkyardian. Lupa nods. "Then I will accept your word on the matter as an authority."
Lupa just nods at the second question. "There--Johto-- and here are very different from the Junkyard."
Lupa just nods at the second question. "There--Johto-- and here are very different from the Junkyard."
"Oh? What was it like, then?" Steven is curious, despite himself, and it's not like there's any other topic of conversation between them that jumps to mind.
"The simplest answer is it was a place of war." But Lupa wants someone to know. He doesn't know if anyone who didn't live it could really understand, but maybe parts of it will resonate with others.
"In the center was the Karma Temple and its territory. The Temple gave the law, and it was where new rookies came into being and were released from. Around it was ruins, divided into six territories. The Tribes were commanded to fight until a single Tribe defeated the others and controlled all six. The war never ended; the rain of the dead never stopped falling. Then a being calling herself Angel cursed us all with Atma."
"In the center was the Karma Temple and its territory. The Temple gave the law, and it was where new rookies came into being and were released from. Around it was ruins, divided into six territories. The Tribes were commanded to fight until a single Tribe defeated the others and controlled all six. The war never ended; the rain of the dead never stopped falling. Then a being calling herself Angel cursed us all with Atma."
Edited 2022-09-01 04:24 (UTC)
It sounds like the domain of a True Fae, if Steven is honest. He frowns, wondering if Lupa is another Changeling—a Beast, perhaps, since he mentioned Wolves.
"What is Atma?" Steven asks, gently. It seems like it may be a sensitive subject.
"What is Atma?" Steven asks, gently. It seems like it may be a sensitive subject.
Lupa gestures to the mark on his stomach that looks vaguely like both an erupting volcano from above and a trio of gaping, toothy mouths. It's the inky black of a very fresh tattoo, but the skin within that black is bubbled and cracked like a fresh (and serious) burn. Oddly the skin inside and around the mark is perfect and unblemished.
"A curse. It transformed us into demons and came with Hunger that drove us Mad. But it also gave us back emotions, and unlocked or returned memories of our lives in the world outside the Junkyard."
"A curse. It transformed us into demons and came with Hunger that drove us Mad. But it also gave us back emotions, and unlocked or returned memories of our lives in the world outside the Junkyard."
Oh, Steven does not like that in the least.
"I have a friend in my world with unsettling Hunger," he says. Two actually, but in particular... "He is a man who is also a wolf, but not from your junkyard or your tribe."
"I have a friend in my world with unsettling Hunger," he says. Two actually, but in particular... "He is a man who is also a wolf, but not from your junkyard or your tribe."
Lupa's eyes widen slightly and then his expression falls into sorrow. "I had been holding onto hope that the Junkyard and the world outside it were the only ones where the curse existed. I feel... grief that that hope was not true. Grief but not surprise."
"It wasn't called Atma," Steven says hastily, "and we didn't have brands like yours. So maybe not quite the same, but disquietingly similar."
Lupa is quiet for a moment. "Did his Hunger... was it only satisfied by the flesh of people? And was he transformed from human to something else?"
He looks away. "In the world outside the Junkyard, they called it 'Tuning' and the demons 'Avatars.' They would hunt those they had barred from their city, imprison them, and eventually use them as food. The meat was canned."
He looks away. "In the world outside the Junkyard, they called it 'Tuning' and the demons 'Avatars.' They would hunt those they had barred from their city, imprison them, and eventually use them as food. The meat was canned."
Re: CW: direct references to cannibalism from here on
fingersandteeth
2022-09-01 06:08 am (UTC)(link)
"He was—and it was," Steven says, frowning. "Though it didn't have to be human, just thinking meat, and he did not need it for every meal, just on a regular basis. He and a friend and I would go out to hunt goblin to satisfy his hunger."
Edited 2022-09-01 06:08 (UTC)
"There were no animals in the Junkyard; the soldiers were the only living things. I don't know about the world outside, but I don't think there were many animals? And goblins were just a subclass of demons. So I think... that 'thinking' might be what is required for it to satisfy the Hunger. Something that regular animals don't possess, but Pokemon seem to."
Lupa pauses for a moment. "Also, Avatar may be a... more accurate description than demon when other worlds are considered. One of the other Tribes had angels among their ranks. Mine was Cerberus, and Anubis was the demon of one of my squad leaders as well as a few other soldiers."
Lupa pauses for a moment. "Also, Avatar may be a... more accurate description than demon when other worlds are considered. One of the other Tribes had angels among their ranks. Mine was Cerberus, and Anubis was the demon of one of my squad leaders as well as a few other soldiers."
"We didn't have demons per se," Steven says. "At least not in the sense you seem to speak of them." He frowns. If he were anyone else, he thinks, this might have turned his stomach.
Only he's not anyone else. His stomach remains unturned.
Only he's not anyone else. His stomach remains unturned.
Edited 2022-09-01 06:34 (UTC)
"Even the Hunger existing, and transformation into other things, in another world is awful enough. You speak of it so calmly, as well."
Lupa looks away. "I don't-- The Hunger is unbearable. But sometimes I miss...parts of being Cerberus. And that... I feel fear about it."
What if that missing becomes strong enough that the Hunger becomes an acceptable price to pay?
Lupa looks away. "I don't-- The Hunger is unbearable. But sometimes I miss...parts of being Cerberus. And that... I feel fear about it."
What if that missing becomes strong enough that the Hunger becomes an acceptable price to pay?
"I've been through frightening and disquieting circumstances enough so that little shocks me," Steven admits.
He reaches over to gingerly pat Lupa's back. "There's nothing wrong with coming to enjoy what they have shaped you to be—it's better than to resign yourself to misery."
He reaches over to gingerly pat Lupa's back. "There's nothing wrong with coming to enjoy what they have shaped you to be—it's better than to resign yourself to misery."
Lupa frowns at the admission. "I don't... believe that anyone should have to--"
The touch stops him short, and he's tense under it. "Are you certain? I can still hear the screaming, feel the struggling, taste the--"
He chokes and finally says. "Almost every night. In dreams I am trapped in those memories, and not the cherished ones of before over and over. Is it right to enjoy what I've become when even a day of survival dooms several other lives to a painful and abrupt end?"
Softly, he grits out. "Here is different, for now. But how long will it last?"
The touch stops him short, and he's tense under it. "Are you certain? I can still hear the screaming, feel the struggling, taste the--"
He chokes and finally says. "Almost every night. In dreams I am trapped in those memories, and not the cherished ones of before over and over. Is it right to enjoy what I've become when even a day of survival dooms several other lives to a painful and abrupt end?"
Softly, he grits out. "Here is different, for now. But how long will it last?"
It's objectively terrible of him, Steven thinks, that everything Lupa describes seems more compelling than anything else. Well then. It is not as if he didn't already know how fucked up he was.
"... it is understandable, whether or not it is right, when the alternative is to hate yourself," he says, finally.
"... it is understandable, whether or not it is right, when the alternative is to hate yourself," he says, finally.
Muscles in Lupa's jaw pull tight as he clenches his teeth. Then he breathes out, a forceful rush of air out through the nose.
"From a logical standpoint, you are correct. With death denied, and no means of active atonement, self-directed hatred serves no purpose."
He lifts his hand to look at the indent on his ring finger. "I have discovered that feelings do not listen to logic. I was relieved to feel myself dying. But I also felt regret, because my death caused distress in Ga--the Embryon."
"From a logical standpoint, you are correct. With death denied, and no means of active atonement, self-directed hatred serves no purpose."
He lifts his hand to look at the indent on his ring finger. "I have discovered that feelings do not listen to logic. I was relieved to feel myself dying. But I also felt regret, because my death caused distress in Ga--the Embryon."
"A friend of yours?" Steven asks, gently.
"He was-is the strategist of the Embryon. In the aftermath of my Tribe being decimated by Varin Omega and his new power, I sought out the Embryon. In other circumstances, I would have proposed an alliance, but what I could offer them was information, and my head, in exchange for treating my men fairly after absorbing them into their Tribe. I could see honor in his eyes, and I told him that after he challenged me. Later, he said that he would tear down the Temple if it tried to enforce the law that required my death at the hands of the Embryon in order to be admitted to the top, so that we could all go to Nirvana together, and that I could tell my child what I had desired to. I gave him my ring. He killed me after the Hunger drove me mad and kept a promise to tell my child my last words after he and the Embryon got to the world outside."
Lupa sighs again. "I saw him again briefly, after we were all dead, and granted him the power of my demon so that he and other other Embryon could challenge God and save the Earth from God's anger and pain."
Lupa sighs again. "I saw him again briefly, after we were all dead, and granted him the power of my demon so that he and other other Embryon could challenge God and save the Earth from God's anger and pain."
"Oh," Steven says softly, quiet as he takes in the story as a whole.
"No wonder he was significant to you."
"No wonder he was significant to you."
"His name is Gale. And... I wish he was here, even though he has something he must do, and his own Tribe."
There's conflict there though, clearly.
There's conflict there though, clearly.
"I wish he were here too," Steven says, softly. "He sounds as if he were very precious to you."
"I respected him greatly, even before I met him. A good strategist is very valuable, and for a smaller Tribe to control territory the way the Embryon did, he would have to have been very skilled, even new. That he would be willing to go to such lengths for me... I--"
Lupa frowns, a little frustrated, but clearly unable to figure out what he wants to say there exactly. Words are hard.
"But it is selfish to wish him here."
Lupa frowns, a little frustrated, but clearly unable to figure out what he wants to say there exactly. Words are hard.
"But it is selfish to wish him here."
"Why?" Steven asks. "This is a better place than your junkyard. It's safe, there's no Hunger, and nobody need fight and kill over territory here. Why shouldn't you wish he were somewhere better?"
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