#lybm

Think of possession like a disease.  A disease of the soul.  You don't start at possession-- that's end stage.  As best it can be understood, think of it in three distinct stages.  In the beginning is what you might call 'infestation'.  That's when the entity first attaches itself.  That's when the weird, unexplained things start to happen.  The whispering in the dark, doors opening by themselves, the feeling that there's someone in the room when you're alone.  Then comes 'oppression'.  The entity picks a target and singles them out.  Their goal is to break that person down, to destroy their will to resist.  It's like... a voice whispering in your brain until you can't tell what's you and what's it.  People start to act erratically, all to the aim of isolating them and driving everyone around them away so they feel hopeless.  Then, and only then, they can take possession.

Here's the finished poster for @gamerdamemedia Lest Ye Become The Monster. This is just kinda how I envisioned Abel would look.

Next Chapter Finished!

"Don't worry, Sanji!" Luffy said confidently with a beaming grin, either oblivious or blindly optimistic about their current predicament.  Maybe both.  "Zoro won't let anything bad happen to Abel.  She's, like, his favorite person!"

Scooping the folders up, Abel paused to examine the single photo left on top.  She frowned as she stared at it, wondering why she left it out.  She had the distinct impression she meant to ask Leif a question about it, but looking at it now, couldn't recall why.  Nothing stood out in the photo to warrant further questioning.  It was just a woman standing before a small classroom erasing something off the blackboard.  Perfectly normal.

The two didn't exchange another word, with Abel continuing her meal prep and Solomon trying not to bolt from his seat.  His head snapped up when he saw Abel leaning forward, feelings his shoulders relax when she merely grabbed an apple from the bowl on the table.  Yes, the Bastion family had an honest-to-goodness bowl of fruit on the table.  Abel proceeded to peel the apple with a thin perry knife, rolling the fruit around with practiced ease.  It actually impressed Solomon at how delicate the peeling was at first, cutting just deep enough to remove the peel from the meat inside without wasting any.  It wasn't until he'd noticed Abel watching him as she worked from beneath her lashes, catching his gaze before poignantly looking back at her work, before the deliberateness of her actions sunk in.  If she could peel the skin off an apple that easily, what could she do to him?  He'd seen Abel prepare a deer with her hunter teachers before.  Suddenly he was the captured prey, dangling from his feet while Abel precisely cut into the neck to drain his blood. "Oh, Solomon."  Said boy nearly leapt from his seat as Josiah entered the kitchen.  Failing to notice the tension in the room, the doctor smiled.  "This is a surprise.  Did you need something?" "Oh!  Ah... yes... um..." Obliviously, Abel's father replied, "Very good.  We can talk over lunch."  Josiah walked over and gave his daughter a kiss on the head, causing her to smile up at him, cleanly peeled apple in hand.  Setting a hand on her shoulder, Josiah offered, "Would you like to stay for lunch?" While Josiah's offer was nothing but kind, the smile his daughter was leveling him with was anything but.  Solomon suddenly understood how animals could become paralyzed under the watchful, intentful gaze of a predator.  It didn't help that she appeared to be holding the naked apple out to him, as if showing evidence.  "Uh... actually... I just remembered I need to pick up something for mother.  I'll meet you at your clinic later to talk."  He didn't wait for the doctor's response before he bolted like a startled deer from the room.