[ demon verse 001? ]: they made a statue of us and put it on a mountain top

[littlspecificty]

Arthur, by the time he was seventeen, had been in Wales for a good portion of his life. It was a near daily habit for him to find the stone path that led to "demon statue" in the woods and sit at its feet, back leaning against the legs, reading, doing homework or sometimes just thinking out loud while the sounds of the forest continued around him

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[triedinception]

Contrary to what Arthur believed, the statue was exactly what Sylvia had told Arthur it was

[triedinception]

He kept trying to pull at the beads; but as they were supposed to, they were sapping his strength, what was left of it.

Desperately, still looking at Arthur, "That I'm not going to hurt you! I've been listening to you for years."

He pulled harder at the beads, his words tumbling out desperately. "When you thought your father wasn't coming back because you fussed so much when he left - when your mother died and you prayed so hard for her to come back when I was right there but I couldn't do anything - and when Nadia moved away and you cried again and then apologized for it -"

[littlspecificty]

Sylvia was quick to yell at the demon, "Stop with your lies!"

But Arthur raised his voice, "Those aren't --!" Pausing to look at Eames, voice going quiet, "Those aren't lies..."

She still shook her head, "Arthur, he could be trying to trick you. That's what he was known for doing back when he ran free - lying, tricking people, stealing, and killing when the mood took him!"

"But... he didn't kill me when he had the chance," Arthur countered (and not really knowing why other than those memories, those times when he had been so vulnerable, felt so alone, and one of the few things he took solace in was the constant presence of that statue).

Directing his words towards Eames, eyes following as he spoke over Sylvia's protest of "he could be biding his time!", "If you don't want revenge or blood... what do you want?"

[triedinception]

Eames was still breathing hard, though his pulling of the beads was at this point just to keep them from choking him as they drained him.

He was just grateful Arthur was listening, even if he wasn't out of the woods.

"I wanted revenge," he said, voice hoarse, "Until you showed up. And then all I wanted was to help you. To comfort you when your parents passed and then when you began training."

Now he cast his eyes towards Sylvia. "He's fought demons before but he hasn't fought ones like me. Old ones. Ones who will know what to do with a hunter like him."

Adding, finally, almost bitterly, "And you know I shouldn't have been able to break that seal." Which meant something was wrong.

[littlspecificty]

It was the last part that made Sylvia shove Eames face first into the ground, snarling out, "You tell me what the fuck that means, you bastard! Now!"

She had an idea, yes, but she wanted confirmation because if what he was alluding to was true... Arthur wasn't ready at all and even Sylvia's skills wouldn't be enough to stop it (even if she gathered other hunters that she knew from around the world to come help them).

Arthur came forward then, "Sylvia! Stop it! You're choking him!"

She turned her glare onto Arthur, "Go call Elijah, now! That is an order! I am not letting this fucker go until he gets here!"

[triedinception]

Eames made a startled growling noise when she shoved him into the ground. At the same time, she had loosened her hold on the beads somewhat to yell at Arthur.

With that distraction, he let go of the string to reach out and grab her ankle, yanking her forward (he may have been weakened but he was still a powerful demon) and sending her stumbling away from him.

He ducked down to escape the loop of beads, and moved back, away from her. He didn't continue the attack, or move to attack Arthur.

Instead he rubbed at his neck, which had a heavy dark red line around it.

"You know what the hell that means, hunter," he rasped finally, his eyes bleeding back to their slate blue color. "If I broke the seal the balance of energy is upset. It means that demonic energy is overriding the balance of guardian energy. More of us and not enough of you."

[littlspecificty]

All of it seemed to happen so fast: Sylvia's startled cry, Arthur coming forward to try and help her, Eames moving away from both of them but not running or continuing his attack.

Arthur knelt near his mentor, but kept an eye on Eames while he talked, frowning and looking between the two of them, "What is he talking about?"

The older woman was still glaring at the demon from where she still was on the ground, "He's talking about how demons have been breeding like rabbits while guardian blood has grown thinner and thinner with each generation." She sounded even less pleased than she looked because that meant bad news not just for people like them but the public around them. Without guardians to keep the demon numbers down... it could very likely go back to how it was back before Eames had been sealed away.

The realization of all of this processed in Arthur's mind and it eventually showed on his face, looking a mixture of terrified and lost.

I love that during all of this he is still butt naked

[triedinception]

Eames folded his arms as Sylvia spoke, the line of his neck still a bright angry red.

"Exactly. Even though human population has gone up, there are less guardians - and more of them are related so they can't exactly mate and have children together. And if my seal was able to be broken, you can bet more will as well."

Looking almost chagrined, after a moment, "My energy when it was sealed wasn't calculated into the balance. Now that I'm awake, it will be. Which isn't helping your scales, and it's why you need me on your side."

This last part was said looking straight at Arthur.

lmao IKR

[littlspecificty]

Sylvia snorted rudely, turning her glare on Arthur as she got up, "And you here were all "don't choke him!"." And even tried to mimic his voice at the last part. As he stood back up, too, glaring at her himself, "Yeah, because mocking me is really going to help improve the present situation."

She made a frustrated noise as she turned back to Eames, her stance on the defensive (and partially standing in front of Arthur, as if to shield him), "So, what is it that you want? You say you want to help us but at what cost?"

Because when dealing with demons, though rarely done by guardians, there was always a cost.

[triedinception]

Eames was tempted, very, to ask 'for Arthur'. But he also knew that wasn't how humans operated; moreover Arthur would never agree to it and neither would Sylvia.

"I just want the chance to help," he said finally. "Mostly because of Arthur. Make no mistake about that."

[littlspecificty]

Her eyes narrowed at the demon, moving herself more in front of Arthur, not trusting Eames as far as she could throw him, "And what is that suppose to mean?"

Arthur stared at the demon, not sure what he meant by his words before averting his eyes to his feet, not wanting to look at his face but knowing better than to not pay attention to him at all.

[triedinception]

He placed his hands on his hips (unintentionally drawing attention to his nakedness - or perhaps it was on purpose) and gave Sylvia a wry look.

"I thought my meaning was clear enough from my introduction. Obviously I'm interested in the boy. But I'm doing things your way, not my way. Or the way I would have done, before I was sealed."

[littlspecificty]

Sylvia snorts rudely, "You're way too old for him." And Arthur, when he wasn't too busy feeling his whole body flush at the demon's words (or his nakedness -- and trying his best not to stare), he was glaring at Syliva, saying flatly, "You just want us to die, don't you?"

Luckily for Arthur and Sylvia (possibly not so much for Eames), Eli had finally arrived.

[triedinception]

"Age is but a number," Eames sing-songs, "And anyway, if he won't have me then he won't." He glares at Sylvia, daring her to do something.

Eli had been away from the complex when the break had occurred; the rush of energy had made him return as fast as possible, jogging towards where he could feel it.

Seeing the naked man standing there, he drew his own sword. Recognizing the form made him grip it's tighter.

"What's going on here?" He was reluctant to attack because there were no obvious signs of fighting.

[littlspecificty]

Sylvia glared back, tempted to take him up on that dare, but only managed to say, "That's a nice euphemism for admitting you're a dirty old beast."

During that time, Arthur had moved back a few steps where Eli was, turning slightly to look at him and talk to him while also keeping an eye on the other two.

"I hate to state the obvious but, as you can see, the seal that was apparently sealing him, "gestured vaguely to Eames (while trying not to look at a particular area), "broke and he came after me but hasn't actually attacked me or Sylvia."

Adding in an almost whisper, "He says he wants to help us." And, flatly, "Sylvia is less than convinced of the sincerity of his intentions."

[triedinception]

"I'll admit I'm a dirty old beast, pet." His eyes flash black - his form after all is very beastly, to wit.

Elijah glances to Sylvia, to Eames (eyes also skipping over his nakedness) and then back to Arthur.

"What does he want? He's probably weak from breaking the seal; he could be biding his time."