The place I know best is in my head

[demon_alessa]

In time, the factory had become too small, so Alessa had been forced to make adjustments. It hadn't been easy, but then she'd had a lot of time to figure out how she could stretch her space and make it bigger without setting off Stacy in the first place. In effect, all she needed was more to add: an abandoned lot, some overgrown vines, enough

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[hatesandwich]

It was abandoned, it was creepy looking, it was on the edge of the city, away from everything else; it practically had 'KEEP OUT' written across it in letters that were a mile high. Of course Haley had to go exploring in it; of course she did. If something said 'DON'T TOUCH', Haley's first reaction was to want to touch. It wasn't a very good attitude to have aboard Stacy, but Haley hadn't been here long enough yet to learn better.

She was also a bit of a horror film buff, though she didn't play any video games, and this, this was definitely something straight out of a horror setting. Course, that stuff was just in movies, wasn't it? None of it was actually real. Still, this seemed so real it was pretty fricking sweet.

"Hello?" she shad to call out, snickering a little as she did so. "Anyone there?"

[demon_alessa]

Alessa was actually a little intrigued. She didn't know this voice: why would a new person come here? She was used to the normal skittish reactions of humans: fog, warped metal and the inability to see clearly always seemed to be the sort of thing that caused them to go away, not come further unless they were looking for something in particular, like when Rose lost Sharon when she went into Silent Hill.

She stopped swinging when she heard the voice. The snickering annoyed her: what was funny. "Yes," she replied. "Who are you?"

[hatesandwich]

"Dude!" Haley paused in surprise, then started heading for the voice. "I didn't actually expect anyone to be here- this place is so sweet, it's like straight out of a horror movie ..."

And then she got a look at who she was actually talking to, and stopped. "And if this were a horror movie, you would be the monster disguised as the little girl who's about to take my head of," she noted with a laugh. "Good thing this isn't a movie, huh? Hey kid, I'm Haley. Mind if I-?" Without waiting for an answer, Haley flopped onto the swing set next to Alessa. She looked around the ruined playground with interest. "Wicked."

[demon_alessa]

Alessa looked at her blankly. Who WAS this person, and what did that mean, "dood?" Was it some sort of obscenity that she was unaware of? Humans were constantly changing and adding the kind of things they should not say but said anyway. And why would she find a place like this "sweet?"

In her description, Alessa shrugged. "I've been called that and worse. But I wouldn't take your head off, even if the way you talk is really strange and your manner is wholly odd. Of course, we only just met, so who knows?"

Give her that food for thought.

But she didn't mind the company and swung, her legs swinging freely. "Its my domain, but I'm glad you approve. My name is Alessa."

[hatesandwich]

Haley had to laugh at that. "What, like you really are some kind of monster? Ooooh, scary scary!"

"Ahaha," she laughed again. "The way I talk is really strange? Usually I get that from like my dad or something." She eyes Alessa with a smile. "Your 'manner' is pretty odd too, kiddo. You sound kinda like Ves in fact."

"Your domain, huh? So you're like what, queen of this playground or something?" Haley wondered. No, Alessa, she has somehow in fact not yet met anything otherworldly on Stacy, so she really has no clue.

[demon_alessa]

Alessa was definitely not used to being so blatantly disrespected, enough so that she hadn't really gotten angry just yet. "A demon, actually," Alessa said, looking almost startled. "And I'm not exactly shooting for scary. If I were, you might actually meet one of my friends back there.'

There was a screech from the fog: it sounded rather unfriendly, although it was more bored than anything else. Alessa vaguely considered having it eat the girl, but that would just have gotten her into trouble with the idiot security team anyway, and all the kidlets might actually be scared of her.

"What is Ves?" She asked, more intrigued than insulted.

Alessa actually laughed here. "The playground is exactly that: a place for me to play. I AM still retaining certain attributes of this body, after all. But if you were to go farther into the fog, you might get lost, and then I really couldn't be responsible for who finds you in it."

Nothing scarier that the truth.

[hatesandwich]

"A demon?" Haley arched an eyebrow under her hat, and rolled her eyes. "Dude, be serious with me kid. So you like to hang out in creepy-land, that's cool, I respect that. But just because you've seen a few too many horror movies doesn't make you a demon."

"Oh, Ves, Vestara, she's just this chick I met when I got here," Haley said with a shrug, as she swung a little back and forth on the swings. "Ves' a'ight, even if she acts and talks like she walked out of some period movie."

"Mmmk, sure, whatever you say kid," she said at Alessa's warning.

[demon_alessa]

Alessa turned to the girl slowly...and the human guise fell away to that of her true face, and the look she gave was barely tolerant. "I do nothing but speak the truth. This creepy land you speak of is my home, I made it all my own. If you were wise, you would understand by now that nothing here is a movie. If you test me, I will prove it, but it will not be anything like these movies you're talking about."

She listened, and the 'whatever' was understood as more disrespect. Here, the girl, formerly on the swing, now appeared behind the girl, looking at her slowly. The girl's hat was now in her hand, and starting to turn black.

"I don't do parlor tricks," she said softly, "but I prefer not to bloody new people on the ship. Surely you can understand a demon when you see one?"

[hatesandwich]

"Dude." Haley stared. "Holy shit, you actually are a for serious real demon, aren't you. That is ... so awesome!"

When Alessa disappeared, Haley twisted to find her again, turning to find the demon behind herself. "Hey man, my hat!" she protested. "That's not kosher!"

She made grabby gestures at the hat, but her curiosity quickly over-rode her. "So you can like, teleport, right? What other awesome demony powers do you have?"

[demon_alessa]

Alessa actually took a moment. Was this girl for real? What kind of strange person was this? "I said this several times. Why is it a surprise?"

Kosher? WHAT?! She really needed to learn the lingo of all of these strange humans. "You were being difficult. You should be able to replicate this...hat again."

Alessa shook her head. What a strange human. "Did you WANT to see those monsters? I can have you see them. But...I have the powers that a demon would have."

[hatesandwich]

"That hat was my stuff!" Haley glared. "It was the only thing I had in the equipment lockers from home!" She stared at Alessa for a while longer, then slumped. "If you're really a demon, and demons are really real ... this whole thing, we really were abducted by aliens, weren't we? I really can't go home again ..."

She stared down at her feet for a while, dragging a toe through the dirt. Finally, she looked back up at Alessa though, with a bright look on her face. A human would recognize the changing-the-topic-to-avoid-depressing-thoughts expression. "Yeah, but what kind of demon are you? Are you like a Buffy the vampire slayer demon, or more like a Constantine demon, or what?"

[demon_alessa]

"You care that much about that small trinket?" Alessa said, sound incredulous. "Why? Your world is gone, as is mine. You can probably craft something a bit better than this."

It had taken her this long to realize this? Well, its not as if she could do much about it now. "No, you can't. This is all of our reality. ALL of us. I am a demon, and I am here."

Alessa shook her head. "WHAT? What are you talking about? I mean, there IS a Buffy on this ship, and a Spike, but I am my own demon!"

[hatesandwich]

"Dude, it was an awesome hat, okay? And if my world... really is gone then the last hat left in the universe or whatever would be pretty freaking important!"

"Wait, there's a Buffy. Duuuuuuuude, that is seriously whacked out. I would say you're messin', but you don't seem to have much of a sense of humor." Haley leaned back in the swing, hanging on to the chains to keep herself upright. "You know, there are a million kinds of demons, what type are you?"

[demon_alessa]

She would have to get used to human attachments. They place a lot of emphasis on things. "I'm sure someone can make you a new hat, a better one. I doubt it will be the last you ever see of it."

Alessa made a face. "Yes, I am not kidding you. The Slayer is here with that annoying vampire is from her world and some one eyed friend of hers. As for me...you could say I specialize in the vengeance of children, but I can do a lot more under that. For instance, if you were to go into the fog, you might find one of my children in there. They could maim you, torture you or...well, the type of things that you know as forced intercourse, but much worse. My monsters don't exactly vary in their amusement."

DDDX sorry I am so fail at tagging

[hatesandwich]

"Yeah but it won't be the same." Haley rolled her eyes, retreating back to the familiar ground of snark to try to protect herself from thinking about it too hard. The last hat from my world. The very last.

"... annoying vampire and one-eyed friend?" Haley had no idea. She'd never watched that much of the show, only enough to know what it was.

"Vengeance for kids, huh?" Haley thought about this. "So like, kids who have been wrongs by their parents and stuff?" Haley was down with getting back at parents. Her face twisted into a slightly wide-eyed 'huh' expression though, as Alessa continued to talk. "That is some some heavy shit," she informed the demon. "You are a for serious demon then."