D E V O U R - A L L

“I am called Nathaniel.” People asked him this question all the time. Even when he and Dad were on the run it seemed okay to answer this question. Someone couldn’t do harm to something like him, or Dad with just a name. That… seemed okay. His head twitched momentarily in an old, trained instinct upon taking in the stranger’s scent,

“… I guess a piece of paper is okay. If you wanna show me…”

He already knew the name. Just not the face, now putting two and two together. Bandit, a dad, it was almost laughable, but the kid looked like the kind of rough mutt that would have been the perfect thing to imprint upon. Strange, strange~

Slithering in his ways, the suited figure took a seat on the door step, wordlessly encouraging the boy to join him while the flyer was taken from a pile in hand and presented.

“ Now don’t laugh at me, my graphic design skills aren’t exactly great. But hey, what do you think about a cool little hang out? A little market place on the road, filled with all sorts? Noticed it’s a little drab around these parts, huh Nathaniel?"

 The flyer was simply put together, little crude in terms of professionalism; but it was clear and to the point.

                    —      𝓚𝖔𝖗𝖆𝖓𝖌𝖆𝖗 𝕸𝖆𝖗𝖐𝖊𝖙! Your Local convenience and coffee shop!                                      Food, events, miscellaneous, ailments for afflictions...                                                               OF BOREDOM!                               Come by and  Get a free drink upon launch day!     x x x x           —

Bandit’s features darkened a little at that remark, the anger bubbling in his gut only visible by the clenching of a fist underneath the bar counter. Just five minutes and he was already getting under Bandit’s skin, as predicted. Dia was like a ghost of the past he couldn’t get rid of - and somewhere he knew why the other didn’t leave. He simply couldn’t explain the bond they had. Like invisible chains that forced them to remain connected, much to the wolf’s dismay.

    “What do you know? You know jack shit about my life.”

He made sure his breathing was even as he felt fur growing in the back of his neck. - Calm Yourself - This wasn’t gonna make him lose his cool. Not around this snake, not again.

“Only because you hit rock bottom, doesn’t mean I have to let myself get dragged down with you. How I live my life is a decision I make, don’t even think for a second you got a say in it and keep my friends out of this.”

“Maybe its about time you did some self reflectin’. You’re less of a friendly reminder and more of a Bad Omen. You cause shit to hit the fan, in case you forgot.” Bandit leaned down so his face was hovering closer to Diabound’s - just so he could put more weight onto his words, allowing his ember eyes to spread an eerie glow between their features.

———– After a long, drawn out draining of the whiskey afore him; Dia cut off the firm statement with one of his own. ❝ You know it wouldn’t take me long to find out, B. ❞ 

The glass was set down on the bar top with a tap after the sharp liquor had burned his throat and numbed cheeks. There was a sense of electricity returning to the air, one that was already present but now, growing more and more reactive; as if that were natural between the two. Fuelling one another into a primordial state of being.

❝ You’re kidding yourself if you don’t think I’m aware of everything I do. And you’re further kidding yourself if you think I can’t bring you to my level. You’ve been there before in case you forgot. ❞ he mocked his finishing statement and for a moment it was quiet. For a moment, Dia’s usual air of calm smug was actually replaced by something venomous.

“Pleasure - as if .. “ He scoffed, yet for some reason placed a drink in front of Dia. Like it was some kind of tradition or ritual they were following whenever they met. Threats, drinks - and then things always turned out in a different way. Most of the time, they ended in violence. But Bandit was older now, more in control of himself. He wouldn’t let it get that bad. 

          “I live a quiet, decent life now. I don’t want you to mess this up for me.” He exahled a thick cloud of smoke, motioning to the pub before his eyes were fixated on the snake again.

“So take whatever business you have now elsewhere, because I bet my ass that you got yourself involved in all kinds of shady shit. We have been at this for centuries, I’m tired, you hear me? I don’t have the patience to continue this.. Whatever it is we’ve been doing.”

A hand came to scratch his prickly chin and then rub at half of his face. Tired sure was an understatement, the old wolf seemed to have a weight on his shoulders, opposed to the last time they met when he had not settled down.

-----------❝ So that’s a no on the wife.. and little paws clattering in the spring...  ❞ it was ever ambiguous, his tone, his language, his gaze, that left people questioning with anxious woe if he meant more than a simple statement. Did he know? of lovers, of kin, of the pack? it would not be beyond him to find out, but it was all left to the wild or sensible imagination.

❝ Y’know. I can tell a lie from across a continent with you. I wouldn’t have slithered half way across the planet to come just to pester you.. as traditionally ‘me’ as that sounds- I don’t fancy myself a few days, weeks, whatever, buried 6 feet under and having to crawl out all because I tickled you in a weak spot.  ❞ weaved fingers slid their way in a constricting grasp around the whisky filled glass, bringing it to lips and inhaling. Nasty.

❝ This time, Business brings me, not the other way around. Sure...I have a few projects going on, something fun, Can you blame me? But you, on the other hand.... Quiet life? ❞ he laughed. Very matter of fact and somewhat forboding. ❝ I don’t buy it.  ❞ something electric was pulsing, something ferocious as weaving in the air, the land and seas. Something was wrong; or perhaps to the right creature, very very right. Though it lay in wait, soft and quiet, strange. Nothing anyone would notice right away unless they’d been alive far far too long.

                              ❝ Nothing can be that simple, easy and undisturbed with you; as much as you might really... really want that. And if you’ve been surrounding yourself with people who have been promising it can be well..

He snorted, turning to take a few steps inside, only to look over his shoulder at the other. “I was hoping our last meeting was the last one for good. Excuse the annoyance but I just don’t get why you gotta follow me everywhere I go, like some god damn stalker.” Worse than that. This guy knew his stuff. Sadly his feeble body was made up by his cunning intellect. Bandit had experienced it first hand.

  “Make one wrong move and I’ll wring your fuckin’ neck.”

Bandit pointed at the other, before walking inside and back behind the counter, to retrieve the bottle of whiskey stored there. He had just an entire glass but.. He felt like he needed some more.

     “Just tell me what it is you want this time.”

Smile curled, body language turned to one of oh so humble gratitude; and the heel of black shoes came tap, tap a’ tappin’ onto the floor of the other male’s simple little dwelling. 

❝ You know I lived here too, Bandit. Besides, the beauty of going else where is that if you don’t like it- you can always just move back~ ❞  And there they were, chatting away like old amigos! brothers in arms, bad blood well and truly expelled. Haaaaah~

❝ Ah, but don’t go threatening me with a good time. It’s been years, hasn’t it? since we had the pleasure of a gun poised or a needle unsheathed. Haven’t we grown in that time? I thought you’d have settled down... had a couple of kids... found an honest job at the local cold calling office. Yet.. you haven’t aged a day, hm? So.. I can only guess not much has changed with that.  ❞ neither of them had. Such was a reminder of their harrowingly long lifespan that followed as much as Dia did to the plagued, scarred man. Slim, white fingers laced together as ever more white hair slipped from shoulders; leaning against the counter and glancing over the whiskey.

That was the last thing he expected to see. No wonder he couldn’t recognize the scent, this guy barely had a scent to begin with. It made the hairs in Bandit’s neck rise in disgust. It had been ages since he had seen this guy the last time, and it wasn’t a pleasant meeting.

       “What the fuck are you doing here?”

He was blocking the entrance with his entire body, one hand still   on the door, visibly tightening his grip.

--------- Furled lip, sharp eyes, glaring down; body rigid with a perplexed and taken aback reaction. Dia had mused doing something worse than a simple prank call, far far worse- but there needed to be a little ground work done here and there before actual fun could begin. A confident step was taken toward the door that could be ripped clean from it’s hinges.

❝ Well, I mean, that’s a really stupid question. Not sure if you know this, B, but you kind of stick out. You were really easy to find... maybe too easy... were you waiting? surely you knew this was coming. ❞  another confident step followed his teasing. No, Testing; with red eyes burrowing and every inch of him holding back excitement. There was a lingering intensity, if not now even worse now they were both starting right at one another. Unapologetically. 

Long running update as we go kind of post: here’s an outline of the basics. Read, or don’t. It will show.  ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Yays:

✙ Creativity and uniqueness: OCs get a special mention here as something about individually crafted characters even if inspired by previous fandoms/interests are a huge draw. Everything is new, mysterious and exciting. Canons can be the same, so long as you’re expressing yourself and open to new territory, all creativity is welcome. (including world building / character relationships and lore.) ✙ Any/all post lengths: From fun one shots to long ass paragraphs and novels; so long as the mood feels right I love anything from banter to plot lines. I also make a point of saying that I encourage partners not to feel like they need to post match (as I sure don’t, and I apologise if that’s a problem) but I feel as writers, we write what we feel is needed and relevant. Extending a post and dragging it out unnecessarily due to the fact you feel you must to appease the great post length gods is not needed.

✙ Prompts / Inbox fun / memery: it’s all good fun, I won’t lie. It’s also a great way to get some one off spontaneous character development/interaction so please. (* I was gonna make a nay tab for this but I’ll just summarise here; too much is overbearing. People who reblog like, 7 inbox memes in a day it just, whoa, chill out buddy.)

✙ Character/world building: I’m open to people who wish to share lore, build character relationships that integrate into their stories, world collaborating and building together. That butters my biscuit. Nays: 

✚  Be of age. Seriously. Mun is 23.

✚  Too much OOC: chatter/interactions/plotting are all fair game and that’s what things like discord are for; but - honestly no hard feelings - I seldom follow blogs that repost or spend too much time filling up feeds with ooc things. I will also unfollow if this is something that happens often. It just makes things hard to track.

✚  Godmod situations: I am all for people writing character actions that may firmly determine an unavoidable event during an rp. But this comes with a known character context/chemistry and a pre-established trust in the player that they will do such acts with a degree open for retaliation or creative reaction; meaning, if I do not know you and you decide to play my character for me or force me into a situation which is not fun nor stimulating creatively due to being backed into a corner, this can be extremely frustrating and result in a thread dying off.

✚ Salty players: I have been rping long, long, long enough to have 0 time nor tolerance for players that act out when they don’t get their way. Specifically in the context of romance or smut where that seems to be the most prominent. People who make vague posts directed at others, or even incorporate it into their character ‘She turns away... clearly he’s not interested despite her doing like literally everything right to get his attention :/’ big oof.

✚  Smut driven profiles: listen, if you’re an adult, it happens, but I come from a fandom where it literally consumed all character development/traits. Characters must be more than sex driven; not to say sensual or seductive characters by nature are not welcome; but smut happens when it’s actually relevant or after history. No instants.

✚  Possessiveness or jealousy: Account is multi-ship / flexible. I understand some people will make it clear when a character is in a dedicated relationship which is 100% fair, but if they are not and they are open, muns/characters that act out on a demand for ‘loyalty’ or faithfulness where it is not warranted or earned will get a hard swerve.

✚ ‘Real life’ characters/face claims: I understand this is a popular notion on tumblr dot com, but I personally get taken out of the fantasy by real life face claims of actors I know. I just can’t seem to separate the two. Sorry!

✚ Homophobia / Racism / Transphobia : can’t believe I have to put this here, but this has happened and even 1 strike and you’re out. Never ever again, if even once. Gone, banned, thanks.

He lowered the phone, eyes locked on the door. All his instincts told him that this was not some random business call. There was a heavy tension in the air. He put the phone aside and walked towards the door, shoulders tense as he ripped open the entrance … !!!

Oh low... behold. Anticipation met with finality. Red eyes watched with great focus on what would appear from behind the door. Would he be enraged, ..deflated? excited? What kind of expression would he wear.. really, none would disappoint him. A hand rose and tapped a button on the screen that ended the static between them. As casually as can be; presented like an awful present.

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