addadmelechtheincubus

[addadmelechtheincubus]

I had a vision the other day , coming back from the grocery store and blasting “drivers seat”- of Veilguard but with giant robots

So here’s Professor Emmrich Volkarin, pilot of The Lich

To fight gods, you go big or go home.

[addadmelechtheincubus]

[addadmelechtheincubus]

[addadmelechtheincubus]

[addadmelechtheincubus]

Notes: The Family

Ascher Mys: the human-seeming of Asmodei - Adramalech's grandsire and once Aesma, leader of the herd of chalkydri trapped in Hell by Mundus.

In order to save the newly born chalkrydi, and secure himself a place of power where he could control his people's destiny in Hell, Aesma sacrificed the adults of his herd to Mundus and raised up the young, altered forever, into the incubi. He has since sired further generations of incubi with other demons, leading to a wide variety in incubi types.

In human-shape, Ascher is big, a powerlifter's build wrapped in impeccable dark suits. He limps, walking with a cane.

Hair: a curly mane of dark grey hair, a sheen of purple and green to it like a pigeon's feathers. Heavy mutton chops and a neat little goatee.

Eyes: Dark red, horizontal pupiled, wears dark glasses to hide them.

Skintone: deep olive

He is gregarious, irresistibly charming to most humans, but carries the distinct aura of both a 1960's mob boss and the head of a yakuza family if you're talking specifically about the Yakuza video games.

As Asmodei, the ruler of the City of Dis, his appearance is similar to Tsedi's "true form", but he's enormous, the horse portion of his hippogriff-like body shaped like a shire horse. His feathers are silvery, damascened steel, fading into iridescent charcoal scales. Unlike Tsedi's flame-flickering peacock feathers, his tail is reminscent of a palawan peacock's- more silver-steel, but with brilliant blue-green eyes that seem to hover a few millimeters above the actual feathers.

And where Tsedi's helm has a horse-like shape to it, Asmodei's is shaped as a bull's, great crystalline horns framing a burning orb.

Most notably, his right front foreleg is mangled, encased in a golden brace.

From Dis - the Las Vegas of Hell-, Asmodei controlls Hell's incubi. Once seemingly in Mundus' name, and now seemingly to the highest bidder.

Anammalech: Tsedi's twin sibling.

Ana's demonic form is nearly identical to Tsedi's in appearance except for coloring.

Their demonic form is reminscent of white-pied peacocks and cob horses, pale and just partially mottled with color.

Their human form is variable, but always white haired, grey eyed and emotionless. At some point in the past, Mundus utterly broke Ana, making them into one of his personal hunters.

With Mundus gone, Ana only has their last mission to sustain them: find and kill their wayward sibling.

Tuwas: Aesma's twin, and the leader of the herd that had been trapped in the heavens.

Tuwas goes by a different, Angelic name now - Kasiel. Much as Aesma's choices defined the fate of the incubi, Tuwas' choices defined the Keruvim- binding them into service of the Kings of Heaven, often oblivious save for the constant songs praising those in power, and granting Tuwas themselves a position of great authority in the angelic ranks.

Raziel's form is reminscent of golden pheasants, akal-teke horses and glittering koi. Unlike their hell-borne brethren, they maintained their wings, shimmering like sunstone - and their great tail whispers behind them like gold set with flaming emeralds. Raziel's helmet (like those of the other Keruvim) is shaped like an eagle- but with great horns of diamond - similar to Asmodei's, and a "mane" of iridescent, golden feathers. They maintain their stronghold of white gold and orichalc (within the Ma'una division of the Primum Mobile, where their choirs remain when not Singing.)

Their human-seeming is a skinny blonde twink in a golden, designer tracksuit.

[addadmelechtheincubus]

“You have thirty seconds to get out of my alley.”

“Is that any way to talk to your dear beloved grandfather, Adra?”

“Twenty seconds”

“Even imprisoned in crude mortal flesh, you remind me of your mother. Now, can I come in, or do I need to tear open your wards like a seeping wound? I need a neutral, secure location for a meeting.”

“There’s a great toxic waste dump twenty miles south.”

(Asmodei comes to visit his wayward grandchild)

[addadmelechtheincubus]

Why does “emit loud noises” sound so ominous. What loud noises will it be emitting

[addadmelechtheincubus]

Monster Mashtober by Samantha Mash

[addadmelechtheincubus]

Abilities

While not nearly as strong or durable as higher level demons/angels/etc, the descendants of the chaldryki are master communicators, manipulators and are used by many factions for crowd control.

Passive Incubi: Incubi can speak any language presented to them, and radiate an aura that makes those around them immediately comfortable and trusting. while mages, supernaturals and higher tier demons are more resistant, they are still not fully immune. (This is why incubi and their related subspecies (cheribum, sirens, banshee) are often suppressed in some fashion by their masters).

5e equivalents: Charm Person, Glibness, Tongues

Active powers:

The Song/Dawn Chorus: similar to Divine Word (all creatures within a certain radius are driven into an uncontrolled frenzy of emotion guided by the singer: worship, Joy, Lust or murderous rage for example).

The Speech: incubi can use words to shape ambient magic in ways resembling Command, dominate person/monster, calm emotions Suggestion/Mass suggestion, feeblemind, Power word stun/pain, motivational speech, modify memory, geas or dissonant whispers depending on need

The Peacock’s Armoury: Tsedi can materialize 1-12 feathers at a time that can be used to create barrier spaces or be used as weapons or a shield. He can transform 1 feather into a jeweled sword or lance, or use the feathers as projectiles.

The Chrysostoma: a stone ranging from pale blue to deep purple, always with a golden iridescence/inclusions that rest in the throat of the chalkydri’s descendants. The stone is the core of the dawn chorus’s powers.

[addadmelechtheincubus]

Cascade City Festival in the Park

(Open Starter for the Cascade City Festival in beautiful and only occasionally demon-infested Emerald Square Park, in case anyone wants to mess around)

Nestled in the heart of Cascade City is the beautiful Emerald Square Park - designed in the 19th century by an eccentric millionaire (and possible sorcerer) publishing magnate.

Every season, the park is full of events- even during the demonpocalypse, people were still singing. (The park's arcane design might be a part of that- but during the fall, the markets are supplemented by throwdowns between some of the city's freshest street fashion designers and artists.

~~

Tsedi looked back at Adora. She had a magenta feather boa that clashed with her neon yellow beehive wig and orange rhinestone jumpsuit. "You want me to what."

"You'll walk down the catwalk, twirl, and you twerk that perky little butt to fluff out the feathers, and you make that bitch Organza Jones eat her own hat."

"What makes you think I can even twerk, Adora" Tsedi muttered, sipping the latte he'd put together for himself at the shop before taking his day off to join Adora at the park. The festival organizers were busy decorating the runway.

"Oh, sweetheart, I know YOU know how to twerk." she tapped her long nails on her own cup. "Why do you not have somebody, boy? Someone that looks like you, with that killer smile?" Adora poked his cheek. "Do you ever even hook up?"

"Who has time for hookups when I've got to twerk in front of the whole city wearing a peacock costume?"

"Don't be an oaf, darling. It's haute couture."

[addadmelechtheincubus]

Tsedi finished his cleaning and closed out the register, "listening" to Saxon's tale told in the dance of little clawed hands as he worked.

When the boy was done, Tsedi fished a juice out of the cooler and passed it to him. "It is safer here than a lot of places these days, if you keep your wits about you."

He grinned then, and with the flourish of a magic trick, produced a beautiful feather, the tip flickering with heatless flame. "You can stay upstairs as long as you need to. There's a bookstore down the street, and the park is great to hang out. And it's against child labor laws, but if you need some extra cash, the pawn shop next door has a larval empusa problem in the basement that keeps crawling over to ours, so if you're up to swatting stuff with a magic broom..."

Tsedi watched the reflection of his feather in the kid's goggles. "What I mean to say is, for as long as you need a home, little one, you can find one here. Stevie won't mind."

Saxon didn't have to sign the question that his narrow shoulders already asked.

"Because no one can exist in this world alone. And someday, you'll be able to help someone else in a way only you can." He patted his hands on the counter. "Now. I don't live far. This whole building is very safe, but if anything happens..." he nodded to the feather. "You hold that and you think really, really hard. And I'll know."

"Now." He pushed off the counter. "You should get settled for real. I won't fuss about in your business, little one, but you need something, I'll try my best to help."

Cascade Coffee (Intro)

It was raining in great grey sheets, the wind tugging umbrellas from the grips of hapless pedestrians and Tsedi couldn't have been happier as he rounded the corner.

He paused, looking at the little side street as the rain ticked loudly against his coat. The leaves were just beginning to turn, and in the desaturated afternoon, the lights of the shops and the apartments above them glowed.

(there was a part of him that still remembered a time before heaven and hell, before powers so much greater than them dragged the chaldyki into their war, when his kind- neither demon, nor angel, had chased the sunrise across the world, singing. They had danced between stormclouds as beautiful as any clear blue sky and he shivered as the rain hit his face. He put the feeling away just as quickly. Being half-human meant it was easier to hide, but Big Feelings out in the world wouldn't do him any favors)

From the Coffee Shop, Monique yelled at him. "What are you DOING, get in here before you catch a cold, dumbass!"

~~

Tsedi tested the wards on the shop with the smallest push as he entered the jingling door- the way humans might check a CO2 detector - and gave the day manager a grin. "Great weather."

"You're so wierd." She sighed. "That coffee pot came in earlier. It just sat there staring at me. How can something that doesn't have face STARE?" Monique gestured at the door. "Also Adora has been putting up flyers on the community board for that stupid fashion show. She was looking for you."

"You could've called me to come in earlier." He answered as they moved to the back room. He hung up his dripping coat and rubbed a towel through his hair.

"Stevie said if I called you too often she'd hunt me for sport. You never take any days off." Monique pouted.

"Well, it's true, I don't really have a social life." Tsedi shrugged. He rolled up his sleeves, the swirling edges of the tattoos on his arms just peeking out from the folds, and put on his apron. "Me and Val watch a lot of movies."

Monique just looked at him with pity. "You are god's wettest little meow meow, you know that man. How does someone who looks like you not have a social life."

Tsedi just laughed as the rest of the second shift crew started to filter in. "I guess i'm just lucky."

[addadmelechtheincubus]

Tsedi repeated the sign back. "It's very nice to meet you, Saxon."

He took the towels and pushed himself up with a little grunt. The worst of the pain was over but he was still going to have to look at what that idiot had done to him.

(You need a proper meal. You've been picking fights that should not be above your weight class, and barely coming out ahead. What would Aeshmodai say if he saw you almost dying to some dollar store chode with a cut-rate soul bargain?)

He'd been planning on picking up a few dates at Adora's ridiculous fashion show. Those sort of events were full of the vapid and horny and for even a half-assed incubus. She'd been insistent he model for her after That Bitch Organza Jones had stolen Rodrigo (a model Tsedi had mistakenly thought was a pet hamster). But at this rate, he wasn't going to make it.

Carefully, he pulled off his bloodied shirt, already glittering with crystalizing ichor and blood alike, and gently prodded the black-streaked wound with the warm towel. On his arms, the delicate tendrils of peacock feathers curled around is biceps and down to his wrists. They spiralled over his shoulders and down his spine, the eyes seeming to shimmer with each small movement.

"It looks worse than it is." He gave Saxon a cheerful smile. "There's a lot of folks who make some bad choices, and then they make their bad choices everyone else's problem." He cleaned himself up, tsking, and pulled a clean t-shirt from some local demoncore band out of a nearby cubby. "So. If you've had a long day and want to go crash, you're more than welcome. I'll lock up the store when I'm done here. If you need to bolt, there's a fire escape right out the window up there. But, if you want to hang out and tell me your story... well. I'm a good listener." He signed "listener" with a little grin.

Cascade Coffee (Intro)

It was raining in great grey sheets, the wind tugging umbrellas from the grips of hapless pedestrians and Tsedi couldn't have been happier as he rounded the corner.

He paused, looking at the little side street as the rain ticked loudly against his coat. The leaves were just beginning to turn, and in the desaturated afternoon, the lights of the shops and the apartments above them glowed.

(there was a part of him that still remembered a time before heaven and hell, before powers so much greater than them dragged the chaldyki into their war, when his kind- neither demon, nor angel, had chased the sunrise across the world, singing. They had danced between stormclouds as beautiful as any clear blue sky and he shivered as the rain hit his face. He put the feeling away just as quickly. Being half-human meant it was easier to hide, but Big Feelings out in the world wouldn't do him any favors)

From the Coffee Shop, Monique yelled at him. "What are you DOING, get in here before you catch a cold, dumbass!"

~~

Tsedi tested the wards on the shop with the smallest push as he entered the jingling door- the way humans might check a CO2 detector - and gave the day manager a grin. "Great weather."

"You're so wierd." She sighed. "That coffee pot came in earlier. It just sat there staring at me. How can something that doesn't have face STARE?" Monique gestured at the door. "Also Adora has been putting up flyers on the community board for that stupid fashion show. She was looking for you."

"You could've called me to come in earlier." He answered as they moved to the back room. He hung up his dripping coat and rubbed a towel through his hair.

"Stevie said if I called you too often she'd hunt me for sport. You never take any days off." Monique pouted.

"Well, it's true, I don't really have a social life." Tsedi shrugged. He rolled up his sleeves, the swirling edges of the tattoos on his arms just peeking out from the folds, and put on his apron. "Me and Val watch a lot of movies."

Monique just looked at him with pity. "You are god's wettest little meow meow, you know that man. How does someone who looks like you not have a social life."

Tsedi just laughed as the rest of the second shift crew started to filter in. "I guess i'm just lucky."

[addadmelechtheincubus]

How about "Examination" for whumtober.

He doesn't sing.

Not the Dawn Chorus of the most ancient of times that still burns in his blood, not the siren song of the incubus that drove countless men and women to dash themselves against the metaphorical rocks for him over the centuries, not even the lullabyes that sit nestled in the warmest places of his human half's memories.

He no longer remembers who they were sung for, like he no longer remembers the faces of the ones he sung ballads of desire to.

If pressed, if someone knew, he might demur, might say that his human throat can't carry a tune, but that would be a lie.

Because he sings like an angel, like a devil, like the song the first vertabrates sang when they discovered sex.

In truth he doesn't sing because he's afraid.

~~

Some time ago:

He was still new. He could still feel the scars, both of theirs, beneath the perfect skin he now wore like the dead man's suit he'd stolen from the ashy remains of their attempted murderer, but they didn't hurt.

After that first night, he'd gone back to the abandoned building he'd been squatting in, collected his cat, stolen a jeep and took off with the dead man's wallet and a duffle bag of belongings.

For a little while, the routine had been simple: gently lure a partner for the evening with the smallest of songs. He didn't need to do that much, after all, and the energy provided by the sex would sustain him and the money that changed hands would provide for his cat and other needs.

He was in a shit bar outside a shit motel outside Enamel City, the last of his dollars going to a bowl of popcorn and a lukewarm beer. He was hungry in a way that food wouldn't fix, but the crowd this night wasn't appetizing. He had been slowly coming to understand that in a pinch, he could feed off the ambient energy in a crowd, but there was no pleasure or delight here. Only sour bluster and self pity.

He was about ready to give up, about ready to gather Val from his shitty room and find a new hunting ground when He walked in. White suit at odds with the dirt-brown decor of the bar, posture and bearing like someone who was used to commanding respect. He smelled like purpose, like power, and Tsedi's appetite rose in his gullet like a tide.

There was something else, a frission of brainstem level monkey-fear that was immediately drowned out by the hunger, and Tsedi hummed a tune just for the man in white.

He was at his side in moments.

"You don't look like you belong in a place like this." He said before Tsedi could, and the appreciation in the man's face - unabashed and unforced by any push he might have given- hit Tsedi harder than he was prepared for.

Small talk then, always small talk, then a hand on his waist and a a gentle guide towards the parking lot. The hunger inside him danced- this would be a feast.

The music is loud from the bar, the parking lot full of bikers drinking, scuffling, laughing. Suddenly even they smell sweeter with the anticipation.

The brush of a hand on his neck, a kiss between dust-caked tractor trailers, then something sharp and hot and cold in the pulsing vein in his throat.

He doesn't like to remember the rest. Waking up in the container, naked, bound, too soon for the man in white in his surgical gown. He's more angry at himself than afraid, then angrier at the man for this.

He lets him get close, lets him go on about how he's going to examine him, how he loves dissecting all his "patients". it's drivel and it's bullshit, and Tsedi waits until he's close and then he *sings*. Not the song of the lure, not even the song of desire, but the song of madness, the song that drove the maenads to an orgiastic, murderous frenzy.

He doesn't know how many people this man has killed, and he doesn't care, only that his song drives his would-be killer to tear at himself with the very instruments he would have used on Tsedi or other victims. He sings until his throat is raw, until he finally gives the man the release of death, and he breaks his bonds with a demon's strength.

It takes him a moment to figure out the door to the container after he gathers his clothes, and steps out into the night only to find it was one of the trucks in the parking lot.

And it's quiet. It's so quiet that he's confused. The music is still blaring from the bar, true, but the sounds of humanity are gone.

And then he sees the carnage. Bodies twisted and torn, leading from the parking lot to the bar. Inside is worse. So much worse.

He had done this. His song had done this to them. All of them. Bikers, truckers, travellers alike, tearing themselves apart just as he had made his attacker.

The revulsion is immediately overtaken by panic as he rushes back to his own room, afraid for his cat, for the one constant in his life, and when the old grey tabby greets him, unaffected, protected by the force of love perhaps, Tsedi collapses.

He can sing. And sometimes he forgets, singing along to the radio.

And then he remembers, and the song dies in his throat.

[addadmelechtheincubus]

Tsedi lightly bonked his head back against the counter and scrubbed his hands across his face with a little laugh. (why yes indeed, kiddo. I just need you to go outside and find me a big slab of mortal or mortal-adjacent meat to bang in the storeroom for a bit and feed on the energy generated by that.)

Instead, he took a deep breath. "There's some towels behind the counter. Think you could go wet one up in the sink, and I'll clean myself up?"

He paused. "By the way, I'm Tsedi. It's nice to meet you...?"

Cascade Coffee (Intro)

It was raining in great grey sheets, the wind tugging umbrellas from the grips of hapless pedestrians and Tsedi couldn't have been happier as he rounded the corner.

He paused, looking at the little side street as the rain ticked loudly against his coat. The leaves were just beginning to turn, and in the desaturated afternoon, the lights of the shops and the apartments above them glowed.

(there was a part of him that still remembered a time before heaven and hell, before powers so much greater than them dragged the chaldyki into their war, when his kind- neither demon, nor angel, had chased the sunrise across the world, singing. They had danced between stormclouds as beautiful as any clear blue sky and he shivered as the rain hit his face. He put the feeling away just as quickly. Being half-human meant it was easier to hide, but Big Feelings out in the world wouldn't do him any favors)

From the Coffee Shop, Monique yelled at him. "What are you DOING, get in here before you catch a cold, dumbass!"

~~

Tsedi tested the wards on the shop with the smallest push as he entered the jingling door- the way humans might check a CO2 detector - and gave the day manager a grin. "Great weather."

"You're so wierd." She sighed. "That coffee pot came in earlier. It just sat there staring at me. How can something that doesn't have face STARE?" Monique gestured at the door. "Also Adora has been putting up flyers on the community board for that stupid fashion show. She was looking for you."

"You could've called me to come in earlier." He answered as they moved to the back room. He hung up his dripping coat and rubbed a towel through his hair.

"Stevie said if I called you too often she'd hunt me for sport. You never take any days off." Monique pouted.

"Well, it's true, I don't really have a social life." Tsedi shrugged. He rolled up his sleeves, the swirling edges of the tattoos on his arms just peeking out from the folds, and put on his apron. "Me and Val watch a lot of movies."

Monique just looked at him with pity. "You are god's wettest little meow meow, you know that man. How does someone who looks like you not have a social life."

Tsedi just laughed as the rest of the second shift crew started to filter in. "I guess i'm just lucky."

[addadmelechtheincubus]

The Chalkydri: A Treatise on Trans-Etheric Entities, Professor Rutherford de Plancey

Notes, 1935 edition: This slim volume is notable mostly for the manner in which it's author was roundly beaten about the head and shoulders and unceremoniously ejected from the 1856 Royal Demonological Symposium at Oxford.

The premise of the book is that creatures known as the Chalkydri are the precursor species to not only that most detesible infernal race known largely as Incubi or Succubi ('Cubi in many of de Plancey's notes) but also creatures known as Sirens to the Greeks. De Plancey posits that Sirens, along with Erotes as well as the Pari of Persian myth, are the terrestrial descendants of the Chalkydri.

The part that got de Plancey violently ejected, however, was the assertion that heavenly Cherubim were descended from the Chalkydri as well.

In short, and as described in the following pages, de Plancey states that transcribed records from summoned creatures both Celestial and Infernal indicate their description in ancient human texts are "garbled". They are at once "as Phoenixes, as warrior angels singing and hybrid winged creatures."

De Plancey's assertion that the Chalkydri having "the head of a crocodile and the body of a lion" was instead indicative of their elders taking on a chimerical appearance related to both dinosaurs and the most ancient predecessors of horses, while the younger members of the species began to reflect humanity, as is the way with many types of trans-etheric creatures.

The most shocking idea transcribed from De Plancey's supposed otherworldly sources was the notion that the Chalkydri were migratory across planes of reality. They would travel to the Upper Planes to breed in the celestial coolness and glow, and birth their young in the intense fires of the Lower Planes, living the rest of their existence travelling the Human World.

It is said the Chalkydri would burst into joyous song at dawn, urging all creatures to join them. Here, De Plancey's "sources" say that the song of these creatures, their dawn chorus, would drive any living thing nearby into a frenzy of heightened emotion - passion, madness, joy- as this was a form of sustenance for the creatures.

When war, driven by Demon Kings such as Mundus, broke out between the Celestial and Infernal planes, the ability to travel freely across them was shattered, stranding various clans of Chalkydri across the realms of existence.

In the material plane, their songs could range from mischevious (seducing humans for fun) to deadly (driving sailors and travelers to their dooms) and many blended with Fae and other terrestrial creatures over the millennia. Some became known as guardians though, as depictions of lammasu and shedu in the ancient near east indicate.

For the demon realm, the Chalkydri (led by a chieftain mentioned in the Ars Daemonica as Aeshmedaimelech, believed to be cognate in this volume with the demon king Asmodai) were forced into becoming much-desired hunters of that plane. Their ability to move between realms and drive humans to frenzies of lust and wantonness, made them perfect for collecting life force and vigor for their devilish masters. Many of the greater demon lords took the decorative and beautiful beings as mounts and/or servants.

The sources also say that those Chalkydri trapped in the heavens were similarly compuncted into unwilling service as Cherubim (and other similar heavenly beasts), used by heavenly forces to bring ecstatic visions to their followers, ensure blind devotion and uncontrollable passions. And as their infernally-bound cousins, to carry gods and higher angels as mounts or drawing their conveyances.

Across these sources, de Plancey asserts, that the appearance of these beings can be compiled. They bear the torsos of men or women of great beauty, and their faces as well, though because of their beauty, both the Cherubim and Incubi are forced to wear helmets and muzzles with the faces of beasts, lest they tempt those outside of their duties. Their bodies are those of horses like the centaurs of myth, their rear hooves of brass and orichalc, striking sparks where they step, but their front legs are those of a raptor with adamantine claws. The infernally-bound incubi lack the wings of their terrestrial and celestial counterparts which gleam with the colours of the dawn. All of them carry magnificent tails of iridescent plumage.

As with all trans-ethereic beings, the descendants of the Chalkydri can take on many forms but de Plancey strongly asserts there will always be tell-tale signs of an incubus, a siren, or a cherub- including unnatural hair and an otherworldly beauty different from that of the Fae.

[addadmelechtheincubus]

Cascade Coffee (Intro)

It was raining in great grey sheets, the wind tugging umbrellas from the grips of hapless pedestrians and Tsedi couldn't have been happier as he rounded the corner.

He paused, looking at the little side street as the rain ticked loudly against his coat. The leaves were just beginning to turn, and in the desaturated afternoon, the lights of the shops and the apartments above them glowed.

(there was a part of him that still remembered a time before heaven and hell, before powers so much greater than them dragged the chaldyki into their war, when his kind- neither demon, nor angel, had chased the sunrise across the world, singing. They had danced between stormclouds as beautiful as any clear blue sky and he shivered as the rain hit his face. He put the feeling away just as quickly. Being half-human meant it was easier to hide, but Big Feelings out in the world wouldn't do him any favors)

From the Coffee Shop, Monique yelled at him. "What are you DOING, get in here before you catch a cold, dumbass!"

~~

Tsedi tested the wards on the shop with the smallest push as he entered the jingling door- the way humans might check a CO2 detector - and gave the day manager a grin. "Great weather."

"You're so wierd." She sighed. "That coffee pot came in earlier. It just sat there staring at me. How can something that doesn't have face STARE?" Monique gestured at the door. "Also Adora has been putting up flyers on the community board for that stupid fashion show. She was looking for you."

"You could've called me to come in earlier." He answered as they moved to the back room. He hung up his dripping coat and rubbed a towel through his hair.

"Stevie said if I called you too often she'd hunt me for sport. You never take any days off." Monique pouted.

"Well, it's true, I don't really have a social life." Tsedi shrugged. He rolled up his sleeves, the swirling edges of the tattoos on his arms just peeking out from the folds, and put on his apron. "Me and Val watch a lot of movies."

Monique just looked at him with pity. "You are god's wettest little meow meow, you know that man. How does someone who looks like you not have a social life."

Tsedi just laughed as the rest of the second shift crew started to filter in. "I guess i'm just lucky."

[addadmelechtheincubus]

The man reeked of sour, pustulent desire, even if at first glance he looked like some schlub in a rain-damp hoodie.

"I'm here for Monique." he said, voice burbling wetly in the back of his throat. "I'm her boyfriend."

"You're a stalker who we've banned from this place before. She's not your girlfriend. Now, first chance. Turn around and walk your ass back out and none of this will have ever happened." Tsedi took off his apron, whispering to the wards he'd so carefully scribed into foundations when Stevie first gave a homeless man and his cat a place to crash upstairs years before.

"She's my SOULMATE!" the man shrieked, spraying reeking spittle at Tsedi.

"She's a barista who smiled at you when you bought a coffee six months ago," he said calmly, watching the veins twitch in the man's throat. "What, you buy some dried demon goat testicles on DeBay to mix in your morning smoothie there, buddy? If you remember, we've 'bounced you out of here before, and that policy is not gonna change."

"SHE'S MINE!" He swung at Tsedi, too fast for human reflexes, and as Tsedi stepped past, shattering the man's forearm with one hand before bringing his other elbow into his throat, he thought he heard tendons snapping under the skin.

The man dropped to the floor, wheezing, and Tsedi glared down at him. "Chance the second. You drag yourself out that door and none of this ever happened."

There was a howl and a horrid sound of rending meat as the legs and chitinous tail erupted from the stalker's back.

"Oh for fuck's..." Tsedi didn't finish the sentence before the tail, gleaming bloody wet, slammed him into the counter. He felt the bricks crack under the impact, before too many insectile arms dragged him back only to slam his face down onto the countertop.

"She's mine my soulmate but always everyone's in the way and i will make her see that and..."

"TUITIO" At Tsedi's word, mumbled against the concrete countertop, the wards shimmered into life. Outside the gleaming barrier, the rain and thunder paused, and in Tsedi's hand, a single feather with a burning eye glimmered into existence. "DISSULTO"

It exploded against the stalker, sending him reeling backwards. Tsedi pushed off the counter and shoved his jaw back into place. "So, no dried demon goat testicles. You actually sold your soul for." He gestured with disgust. "Whatever this is you have going on. So. Third chance, you crawl out this door and disappear and none of this ever happened."

With a string of obscenities, the stalker launched himself at Tsedi before one, then ten, then thirty feather pierced him, pinning him to the wall like some grotesque insect.

Tsedi examined him, hair now falling in a cascade of peacock feathers, skin the absolute black of the abyss. Eyes burning like old suns and the faintest steam rising with each exhale. It was at odds with his bloodied, rumpled oxford and jeans. "You let yourself believe you were entitled to someone else. People like you disgust me." He patted he man's cheek, voice almost the negative of sound. "I gave you three chances and you thought yourself better than them, so I'm not gonna let you be someone else's problem." Tsedi brushed his lightless lips against the man's twitching cheek. "But people like you are a foul meal."

With each word, he began to shrivel, skin twisting and drying and contracting as the tissue beneath crumbled to dust. By the end, there was nothing, and Tsedi dropped the barriers. He could feel a burning in his chest and his stomach, the taste of the man's twisted desire like rotting garbage in his guts.

Brendan came up the stairs, confused as to why he'd just been down there again. But before he could say anything, "Brendan, go home. You've had a long day." The kid marched out the door, still in the hockey gear just as Tsedi, fully human again, lurched to the nearest trashcan, vomiting up the stalker's foul desire in a disgusting mass of clicking beetles that evaporated with the smell of curdled milk.

"Serves me right, eating crap on an empty stomach." He wheezed over the trashcan, then sank to the floor. His shirt felt wet, and he sighed, about ready to complain about getting scorpion ichor out of the fabric when he saw it crystalizing, jeweled specks of red and green. He leaned against the cracked counter with a laugh. "Damn Heaven and Hell alike. I'm getting too old for this shit."

Cascade Coffee (Intro)

It was raining in great grey sheets, the wind tugging umbrellas from the grips of hapless pedestrians and Tsedi couldn't have been happier as he rounded the corner.

He paused, looking at the little side street as the rain ticked loudly against his coat. The leaves were just beginning to turn, and in the desaturated afternoon, the lights of the shops and the apartments above them glowed.

(there was a part of him that still remembered a time before heaven and hell, before powers so much greater than them dragged the chaldyki into their war, when his kind- neither demon, nor angel, had chased the sunrise across the world, singing. They had danced between stormclouds as beautiful as any clear blue sky and he shivered as the rain hit his face. He put the feeling away just as quickly. Being half-human meant it was easier to hide, but Big Feelings out in the world wouldn't do him any favors)

From the Coffee Shop, Monique yelled at him. "What are you DOING, get in here before you catch a cold, dumbass!"

~~

Tsedi tested the wards on the shop with the smallest push as he entered the jingling door- the way humans might check a CO2 detector - and gave the day manager a grin. "Great weather."

"You're so wierd." She sighed. "That coffee pot came in earlier. It just sat there staring at me. How can something that doesn't have face STARE?" Monique gestured at the door. "Also Adora has been putting up flyers on the community board for that stupid fashion show. She was looking for you."

"You could've called me to come in earlier." He answered as they moved to the back room. He hung up his dripping coat and rubbed a towel through his hair.

"Stevie said if I called you too often she'd hunt me for sport. You never take any days off." Monique pouted.

"Well, it's true, I don't really have a social life." Tsedi shrugged. He rolled up his sleeves, the swirling edges of the tattoos on his arms just peeking out from the folds, and put on his apron. "Me and Val watch a lot of movies."

Monique just looked at him with pity. "You are god's wettest little meow meow, you know that man. How does someone who looks like you not have a social life."

Tsedi just laughed as the rest of the second shift crew started to filter in. "I guess i'm just lucky."