damnpire | Kenos Inbox

[ As Gray follows D out into the great wide Dokja's backyard, she's not as anxious as she might have feared she'd be half an hour ago. She's always mixed well with taciturn temperaments; if she didn't, she certainly wouldn't get along with Eustace. After a childhood in which a graveyard was her refuge, she's become more than comfortable with silence.

D has only indicated that he minds silence just as little, so Gray lets the pressure of conversation take a backseat as she turns her attention to Erebus. For all his frightful appearance, the vestiges of his natural horse essence is charming to Gray. She approaches him as she might any other horse, slowly until she can offer a hand for him to sniff if he's so inclined. It's a bit funny to think that such an eldritch creature might want to, but manners are manners.

This predisposition toward looking at horrible-seeming things and latching onto their positive qualities is what allows Gray to get along with annoying people, which in turn has convinced Dokja that she needs better friends like D (the actual vampire). At least this time it seems like things are working out for the better...

When D addresses her, she looks to him with a small smile. She only learned Erebus's name out of desperation but she will gladly not mention that. ]

I'm glad he has one he likes. Sometimes horses dislike having names at all.

[ The mean, prideful ones. Like Slow Dancer........... More importantly, ]

I'm sorry if I put you on the spot. About, um, your condition.

I see.

[D ponders over this very peculiar statement about horses as Erebus dumps his whole nose down into the waiting hand like some kind of day-old foal. The horse rubs his nose in a palm, maybe a tiny bit disappointed there is no synthetic grass waiting.

On the other hand, D is looking at these chickens around their feet. It's been a very long time since he has seen a normal, old school chicken. The ones on the Frontier are six-foot, seven-hundred pound mutations with three heads to go along with the giant hares and the cow-pigs.

This is apparently what happens to livestock by 12,090 AD.

Erebus' head lifts, extending out so he can butt the front of Gray's shoulder. Get a load of this guy. Staring at chickens.]

You don't have to apologize. It doesn't bother me.

[He is so fucking gloomy, standing there saying this in a soft, low voice with dreary, Victorian eyes.]

I didn't mean for you to have to eat my portion.

[ Gray was fully prepared for Erebus to ignore her, so the nose in her palm is a pleasant surprise that softens her smile. This is a nice contrast to the last horse that lived here, which looked normal but maintained a considerable offensive zone. Noting that he was maybe looking for food, she will ask him later what treats he would like — and what he usually eats in general, just in case cybernetic horses are deathly allergic to organic carrots.

She carefully pets him on the neck, which is a weird and confusing sensation when his neck is metal, and then she follows his cue to look at D. Staring at chickens. He really is so gloomy. He'd look more at home in a graveyard than in this microfarm of a yard.

Gray shakes her head, her hood swaying gently. ]

It's alright. If anything, I imposed on you.

[ It's a polite-off... Also she really did rush in and gobble his soup like she came out of SkiFree. ]

I'm just glad Mr. Dokja seemed so happy. He was excited to have you over.

[Gray is as bad as D is, only D immediately assumes most other people will ignore him, or be disgusted. He's long accepted it even though Kenos is very different than the Frontier.

Erebus' tail flicks again, and one heavy metal hoof paws at the dirt and grass of the yard.]

I'm not sure why.

[HE DOES NOT KNOW WHY DOKJA HAS ANY INTEREST IN HIM. He thinks this whole thing was for Gray's benefit only by the things Dokja said (and didn't say) during the invitation communion.

He doesn't think he should point that out, so he opts to be quiet about it. D is not the stir up drama or dig for a reaction kind of guy. Dokja can keep his secrets...]

Have you all known each other for a long time?

[ D, Eustace, and Gray are the quiet ones, but Dokja might still be the most mysterious of them all...

Gray also isn't completely sure why Dokja was so excited about all this. Maybe he's one of those people who become happy when the people around them are happy. Maybe he really was just concerned about D being a loner; Eustace does fit in that same category, so it would be a trend. ]

I've known Mr. Dokja for a few months. Mr. Eustace... about a year and a half.

[ Eustace is far and beyond one of her oldest friends left to her now. A year and a half doesn't sound like a long time to know someone, but Gray has only been away from her tiny village of birth for two years. ]

But Mr. Dokja and Mr. Eustace have known each other for an even longer time. They're very close.

[ How close, exactly?......... She'll not elaborate more than would be polite. ]

[D is... getting the impression... Dokja immediately and severely imprints onto the people he likes. He has only known Dokja for about a month or so, and Dokja is already trying to get him to live in the same house as if they have been friends for years.

DOKJA, PLEASE.]

I've noticed.

[He also does not elaborate whether he understands they are bedmates as much as they are (historian voice) Very Good Friends just out of politeness. These two are the worst. Or best?

The horse reaches his head out to use his lips to mouth at Gray's cloak over the shoulder and collar. The equivalent of a hair ruffle maybe.]

You're happy here then? In the house, I mean.

[Maybe not in Kenos, especially not them being Meridian-aligned with those sorta goals, but what does he know.]

[ So even horses are giving Gray manly hair ruffles now... It gets her attention at least, and she goes back to giving Erebus polite neck rubs since she is too short and Erebus is too massive for her to easily reach his withers. Maybe he'd like some behind-the-ear scratches? She'll test those waters as she answers D. ]

Yes, I'd say so. I don't mind living alone, but I'm happier being able to check up with Mr. Dokja and Mr. Eustace every day.

[ Especially since she's never quite sure when someone might DIE or DISAPPEAR on her. Just some unnamed someones.

She glances back to D. She's aware that she has very simple needs in life, but that isn't necessarily true for everyone else. ]

What would be your ideal home?

[ Assuming he wasn't already at max happiness living in a default apartment... which if he was, more power to him. ]

[Cute... He is glad someone with the half of their braincell is looking out for Eustace and Dokja.

Erebus lowers his head down for the scratches, and D releases the reins to not impede the movement. It's a lonely life being with a guy who does not offer you ear scratches only because he is very Business and doesn't know you want them despite being a nightmare steed.

D watches the horse, and then lifts his eyes to peer out at the middle distance almost like he is giving them privacy. But his expression is forlornly thoughtful.

It's a hard question to answer. For him, the basic necessity of shelter is ideal. It's all he needs, and, unfortunately all he thinks he deserves.

But ideal in general? Ideal to what he thinks belongs to everyone?]

A quiet and peaceful one where you can live for a long time and then die surrounded by family or friends. A place without suffering.

[Death is apparently very important to a dude who has been alive for about ten thousand years.]

[ It's very novel for Gray, petting a horse that actively wants the attention. She will continue to do so until Erebus seems bored of the scritches.

D's answer sounds nice, though Gray has to wonder if it's possible to live in a place without suffering. Maybe her isolated little village was close to that; she could have seen D there, quietly living out the same constant day after day without complaint.

But that does bring up an important point or two that Gray feels obligated to raise. ]

I think you'll like it here. We're usually very quiet, and the animals are peaceful... though sometimes someone comes by who can be rowdy. And, um, Add can be ill-behaved at times, but please don't mind him.

[ She pulls back the right side of her cloak to reveal a small bird cage suspended from her right shoulder, which in turn contains an elaborate, many-faced cube in royal blue and gold. The forward face of the cube looks up with shock at the sudden reveal, its little eyes comically round. ]

[D also wonders this same thing, so Gray isn't alone. Maybe no place is ever without suffering, and maybe being removed from suffering is just as bad as experiencing it. But it's still an ideal D hopes for humanity. At least a little of it.

He's human soft.]

...

[He starts to say none of that bothers him, but pauses when Gray moves the cloak away and reveals the cube in the cage. The cube with wide, surprised eyes looking at him in return. D also looks a bit surprised. This is honestly the most emoting he has done, and it is all happening together in this damn house.

For a very long moment, he doesn't respond, though his eyes are jumping clinically around the cube, studying it. FIRSTLY:]

What is he?

[ Gray will appreciate the rarity of D's """surprised outbursts""" later, but for now she'll just think to herself that he's more emotive than she first expected... in that he emotes at all.

Gray unhooks the cage from her shoulder and raises it so that D can see Add better. Before she can answer D's question, the box opens its little mouth, revealing the fact that it in fact has a very big mouth. The voice of Ono Daisuke bursts forth, rough with a piercing laugh. ]

Ihihihi! Keeping staring like that and you'll make me blush!

[ Add's "mouth" splits into a sharp grin, the intricate pieces that make up his face sliding to form a mischievous expression. The effect is a bit uncanny, like a pocket of CG animation in a Hollywood movie. ]

The name's Add! I've been partners with Gray since she was a snot-nosed brat. Nice to meetcha, new guy!

[NOT ONO DAISUKE!!!! GET OUTTA HERE

Also wow, this is familiar.]

Hello. I am D.

[MIGHT AS WELL USE HIS MANNERS TO GREET THIS CUBE. He unfortunately continues to survey Add for a long moment or two, and then he glances up at Gray... sort of like he's considering something.

There's some hesitation, and then D's left hand lifts between them, the palm turned upward. It's just a palm is all... and then, slowly, the flesh begins to distort. A very grotesque face appears on the surface of the skin, already moving animatedly.]

Letting me out in front of a cute girl, [a crusty, jeering voice says.] Something has really gotten into you, haha! Turn me around, turn me around, I can't see!

[Begrudgingly, D lifts his hand as if he's waving at Gray. The face on the hand looks like it's going to start teasing Gray, but then it gets suddenly surprised by a cube in a cage. It's squinting.]

What the...?

[ Wow, this is familiar indeed... Gray and Add together jump a little with surprise when the face forms on D's hand, and similarly both of their eyes go dinner plate round when D's hand begins to talk in a rowdy manner that easily matches Add's. For a moment Gray wonders if this is some form of mimicry.

While she wonders, Add takes the opportunity to to start jabbering back, hopping around excitedly in his cage with a rhythmic metallic clanking. ]

Hahahaha! Is this a joke?! You moving in on our schtick, old timer?!

[ Gray taps on his cage — a gentle warning that makes Add pause with alarm. ]

Add... please behave.

[ Her voice becomes more stern as she addresses him, a product of long familiarity. But even though she's trying to correct Add, it sounds like D's hand(??) might be just as badly behaved... Gray willfully ignores the part where it called her cute and bows a little toward it. She still doesn't understand what's happening, but when in doubt, fall back on manners?? ]

Um, hello. My name is Gray.

[ What is she supposed to call... D's hand... Who knew she and Add would get out-weirded. ]

[No, Add is right.

The face in D's palm still looks bewildered. It isn't he has never seen something like himself before--there are a few other like him on the Frontier--but to run into a similar sort of fellow in a different form... Intriguing.]

Tell me I'm seeing what I think I'm seeing? [is asked in a mouth-to-the-side stage whisper to D.] A cube in a bird cage?

His name is Add.

[D is helpful.

The eyes of the face twist to survey Gray, and a tooth grin breaks out on the mouth.]

Well, well! Gray, she says! Is this the girl that guy was hooking you up with? Heh heh heh! Kinda small... Don't you usually like them curvy? Still cute, though.

Quiet. Introduce yourself, or leave.

Pah, you're such a downer. Anyway! You can just call me Lefty.

He is a Carbuncle. It's best not to pay him much mind.

[ As she watches D and his hand interact with each other, Gray gets more and more of the sense that she's looking into a mirror... Even the crass commentary is terribly familiar. For D's sake she will try not to perceive Lefty's declaration of D's personal preferences, even if a bit of an embarrassed blush makes its way to her face. Add, on the other hand, cackles... quietly, so as not to incite punishment.

Even if D says she can ignore him, Gray feels obligated to at least put a bookend on the niceties. ]

It's nice to meet you... Lefty.

[ It's a straightforward name, thinks Gray in a fit of failed self-awareness. She looks up at D. ]

I'm not familiar with Carbuncles... What does it mean to be one?

[There is some snickering to match Add's wary cackling, so it's really just two taciturn and stoic individuals standing in the middle of two laughing, otherworldly idiots full of power.

Help them.]

Countenanced Carbuncles are symbiotes. [Why does he make this sound so dry, like he's giving a college lecture?] They attach as parasites to a host, sharing their bodies, nourishment, and thoughts.

[This makes D sound very disgusting (parasitic sharing), and that's extremely valid because it's true.]

What a way to sell me to a girl! [the hand bemoans.] Don't listen to him. He gets things out of the deal, too! I'm not just a free-loader! Cute girls like you, too, heh heh... I can smell your hair, rub your face, even massage your bre--

[D promptly closes his fist tightly.]

--mmhff!

[ Gray watches D's fist close with high-level empathy. For D, not Lefty. If there's one thing Gray has no patience for, it's perverts. It's one thing coming from Add, a non-organic entity, but Lefty must give D a lot more trouble...

In any case, Gray is more than satisfied with D's dry lecture. Having been an apprentice to an actual lecturer on magecraft, she finds a short explanation a pleasant surprise. ]

I think I understand. Add... isn't a parasite, but he's connected to my consciousness too. His personality is a bit like a program based on a knight from a long time ago.

[ She settles his cage on her arm, cradling it to her chest. Add has calmed down a bit, perhaps in part to watching Lefty get finger-stabbed in the face, but he still pipes up with a grin in his voice. ]

So you can call me Sir Add!

[Goth nerds...

It takes a purposefully long time, but D finally opens his hand again so the face can appear once more, blubbering from having been squeezed off without any chance to abscond. D also has too many manners not to be annoyed by the parasite's sleaziness.]

I see.

[A knight... He glances at the caged cube again. Left Hand does not have any such honors which is clear when neither of them offer any in return. He is curious, naturally, about Add. But this is an exchange now, and he has to debate whether or not he wants to answer questions asked of him. The conundrum of wanting information... but not wanting to give out information since it can be used against you...]

He assists you?

[ Gray knows Add is just being mischievous, but she hopes D understands too... that Add himself hasn't been knighted by anyone. The thought of him meeting Queen Elizabeth II would be enough to make her sweat a river. ]

Yes. He helps me in battle, though he specializes as a gravekeeping tool.

[ Her definition of gravekeeping is undoubtedly different from his, though. ]

That means we're most effective against ghosts... [ Ah. Quickly, she adds, ] Um, but he wasn't particularly made to fight vampires, so you don't have to worry about that.

[ Just in case D is wondering about Gray trying to stab him in his sleep?? ]

[D does understand. When it comes down to it, D and Left Hand aren't too different in terms of personality. He gets it. Sir Add.]

I'm not worried.

[Well, he's cautious regardless, but he isn't particularly worried about the two of them coming for him in his sleep. Actually, he doesn't even need to sleep, he just does it to pass the time...]

Did you often deal with ghosts?

[Gravekeeping... effective against ghost types... a spirit of a former knight...]

[ He sleeps to the pass the time? D?????

Gray finds his question funny enough that she smiles a bit ruefully. ]

My village was home to a prominent cemetery. I'm sensitive to spirits, so my job was to get rid of the ghosts that would appear there.

[ Add pipes up: ] She was the best gravekeeper in all of Britain!

[ Which Gray can't refute because she can't imagine anyone else in Britain had a weird ghost-eating Arthurian artifact in their possession, and also a crippling sensitivity toward ghosts, so. ]

If you ever have a ghost problem, please let me know.

[Oh........ She smiled a little....... Tries not to perceive....]

I'll keep it in mind.

[Sometimes, you are a freak, but desire to be normal, so you pretend...

His attention shifts from Add to Gray. He doesn't argue against Add's declaration at all. Britain... It's been a long time since he has heard someone else remember that place.]

Wow, [the face on D's palm says.] Might could have used her help before we got here, huh, D?

[He doesn't really look away from her.]

Mm.

[ What use is pretending when you are talking to someone of your own Aspect and thus uncontrollably transmit your emotions via empathetic voodoo.

Anyway. Naturally, Gray is pinged by Lefty's comment. Since coming here, her ghost-related critical encounters have decreased exponentially. Hearing other people's ghost stories is a bit more novel, and in this case it might be a bit like talking shop. ]

Do you two normally have a way of fighting them?

[NOT THE ASPECT SHAREEEE their dinner with rin is gonna be wild with that being a thing WAIT HE SHARES THE HET FEELINGS NOOOOO doomed]

Depends on the ghost. Don't usually go digging for ghosts if we can help it... but the sleeping girl, eh? This cute broad had been asleep for thirty years. She kept coming to D in his dreams. Hehe.

[Why must he suffer with this parasite.]

Vampire Nobles can linger behind in a place of refuge as ghosts if they are powerful enough.

Yeah, like Carmilla! Supposed mistress to the ruler of all vampires. Bbleergh. Nasty woman. Never want to taste that again.

He deals with what I'm unable to touch.

Edited (my italics..) 2023-12-02 16:42 (UTC)

[ Asleep for thirty years... Gray is also pretty sure she's seen the name Carmilla on some gothic-looking book related to vampires, but it's probably just a coincidence. ]

Lefty really is similar to Add. They even complain about the same things.

[ This is still a pretty stunning development to Gray, who truly thought of Add as one-of-a-kind. She raises his cage so that she can talk to him. ]

This might be a good thing. Add, wouldn't you like to have a friend you can relate to?

... With that old-timer?! Idiot Gray, shouldn't you go on a date yourself before you try setting other people up?

Add!

[ Gray chastises him sharply. Add refrains from laughing, if only because he can feel how close to punishment he is. He looks away innocently instead, as if he never said anything in the first place. ]

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