[Semi-Open] An Esteemed Guest of Lohkimareen

[warmare]

WHO: Hayame (warmare) & Makoto('s Head) (affal) & You
WHAT: Visits, interrogations, supply drops, medical aid, nightmares, maybe an eventual rescue?
WHERE: Lohkimareen, near the Valley of the Innocent
WHEN: Throughout Sekiseri (Sept.)
WARNINGS: there is a living severed head in this log and almost no one is going to be nice to him + a variety of referenced CW's (torture, amputation, SA, etc.)

[There is a new resident of the forest of Lohkimareen, to the west along the border with the Valley of the Innocent. It had taken portals and days of travel to make her way there, but Hayame (and her unwilling "guest") now call those woods... "home", following the advice of the aion Tehri, who assured that the Regent's eyes should not be able to penetrate the trees. So for now, Hayame and the severed head of the Kenoma Makoto tied to her withers spend their nights in hollow trees and caves, moving location each day, just in case, even though the forest is supposed to protect them.

Perhaps she would have spent those days quietly, putting her efforts into recovering from her injuries... if Makoto would stop waking in the night and mouthing off at her, and if he was not a valuable potential resource to the Pleroma, some of their number which desire to speak to him. But she will not trust his "care" to another, not when he was... something. Her trophy, her hostage. Even when others come to call, she refuses to leave the "room", even if she will largely leave them to their devices as long as the visitors do not touch or attempt to mess with the shard in the man's skull. ... There's a bit for when he gets too mouthy, blinders and earplugs for when sensitive information needs be discussed between only the Pleroma. Other than that, he looks... almost well taken care of.

Supplies need to be brought, Hayame needs medical care for the raw eye socket where her left eye had been, there are interrogations and talks with Makoto to be done... But what business has brought you here today?]

starters and wildcards go below! please use the OOC plotting post to check-in first, plz and thanks!

Comments

[leicesters]

Jest? [He pretends to look offended.] Perish the thought! I might not look it, but I'm very charitable. [Claude's wry smile is still calculating, even while Makoto laughs. So he still has a sense of humour, even reduced to this state, does he? He sounds pretty reasonable about it, instead of out of his mind with pain or fear. Unless he's long since passed both points...

Well, one thing at a time. Claude starts with the obvious.]

You're a demon, right? [According to Hayame, anyway, and he hasn't seen any evidence to the contrary.] Pretty incredible that you can survive without the rest of your body like this.

[affal]

Mm. Not everyone deserves or appreciates charity. ( but he leaves it there.

this is the type of person he hasn't had much time with since being brought into horos from hell. sure, there were bits and pieces of it in those that he spoke to in achamoth, but he rarely gets the same sense of tacitly understood duplicity from those he speaks with, even among the Kenoma — the sort of unspoken acknowledgement of the invisible game they are set to play, with all of the transparent pieces set along an imagined board.

annoyingly, makoto feels... rusty. or perhaps it's just the rampant uncertainty and exhaustion that has worn him down. regardless, he would be furious to feel so inhibited were he still attempting to climb the social ladder in hell. here... it's less aggravating, but it still feels a loss even before he'd begun.

he doesn't answer the question, though he doesn't repudiate it, so that's enough of an answer in its own way. instead he replies, ) The body I use is just a body. It was given to me — I wasn't born with it. So what you see before you is "me." Or what's left of me, anyway.

( the rest of his mortal body rotted in the earth back on earth, either loathed or forgotten. even though the concept of the "body" itself is a strange one for Aions, given they are given physical form by their soul's self-concept... this is still how makoto views himself. it's why he's able to exist as he is now, and why his body lie inert and useless back in achamoth as they speak.

his sly smile grows a few degrees nastier, long canines visible from where his lips draw away from them, ) Provide me a headless body to be reattached to and I could make it my own just as readily, I assure you. ( the next move in the game of demon politics: just how much of a jostle could one take before they were taken off-guard? )

[leicesters]

[The nasty smile, the bared teeth; Claude knows an obvious provocation when he sees one, but if anything, the prospect is entertaining. He never would have guessed he'd find someone who might keep up with him here. He might not know demons, but he does know the rules of advancement in noble society. Even amongst the nobles back home, it wasn't hard to run circles around many of them, so this is a fun change of pace.]

Wow! That's... [Claude's trying to play along and sound impressed, but it doesn't last, his expression splitting into a grin and a laugh,] ...one of the most disgusting things I've ever heard.

[Very, very gross, and he's killed enough that he has a stronger stomach than the average person. He does take a moment to mull over the implications, though.]

So in theory, I could go out hunting right now, fell a big lizard and cut its head off, and stick yours on its body?

[Makotozilla could be real...]

[affal]

( that claude isn't perceptibly shaken is already a sizable mark in his favor. so many of the Aions here — people, largely, mortal and human by and large — were far too easy to unsettle. it might not mean much here besides a momentary discomfort, but back in hell, it would have sent them tumbling to the bottom of the hierarchy as makoto's own power swelled in the upset in the balance of power. the Firebrand would have reveled in such a constant state of political flux.

makoto doesn't look offended. his eyes lid heavily, the sly curl of his lips forming more of a knowing expression. )

I didn't become like this by choice. Think about how I must feel.

( no, he doesn't exactly revel in the state of his being being like this, especially given how it has been used against him both in the past and in the present.

his eyes drift around the cavern, and he looks thoughtful to the proposal. )

Hm... I guess it depends. On how large the lizard is, that is. My head has to be sewn on properly, you see, and if it's too big or too small, that just wouldn't work very well. Otherwise, yes. That is generally how it works.

( makotozilla could or could not be real, but he had been attached to a dog's body for several days upon first arriving into hell...

he'd hated it, but he thinks he might actually prefer that over this. )

[leicesters]

Fair enough. [Sewn on... Very gross. Joking aside, it does feel like it would be more humane to give him a body of some kind, but that would also create a layer of difficulty for Hayame she doesn't need. So, a head he shall have to remain for now, while his fate is decided.]

You make it sound like this isn't the first time you've lost your head. And now you have a shard split in two and pieced back together... How'd that happen?

[He can't see his shard where his now, so he guesses it must be at the back of his head. Not that he needs to look, when Dextera had already showed it to him via communion.]