#spifrit

YAYYYYYY THANK YOU

OUGH THEIR WEDDING....it was a tiny ceremony.

Ifrit wears a sleeveless suit jacket with a hawaiian shirt underneath, black slacks, and brand new black cowboy boots. He grows his hair out enough to braid flowers into it. He bawled almost the entire time. Mist was his best man, the rest of the Meliora ghouls his wedding party.

Special splurged it's budget for a very nice morning suit and vest, with a brand new pocket watch and chain (a wedding gift from Imperator, who did not attend). Nihil gifted it one of his ties, as well. It managed to convince Copia to say the wedding, though the only other Emeritii to attend were Nihil and Secondo (who showed up for the drinks and in hope of getting laid). Special's wedding party was a few siblings of sin that he got along well with at work.

The "venue" was the outside gardens behind the mausoleum of the Clergy compound, about five or so small tables for anyone who bothered to show up. The tables had vases of carnations and dahlias and baby's breath flowers, as well as scattered small toy dinosaurs spray painted gold (Ifrit's doing, he found out one of Special's favorite movies is Jurassic Park). There's also lamps and jars of fireflies (bred specifically for this, and in reference to one of the few nicknames Special calls Ifrit in private).

Angst has never ending options, thank you for asking :)

Post Emeritus murder was... rough on them. Ifrit was not particularly close with Terzo, but he certainly didn't want to see the guy dead. Most of the other popestar ghouls were more upset than he was, and they became very upset with Special for agreeing to do it. And very upset at Ifrit, who would try to defend his boyfriend. Ifrit's social life was strained, trying to remain connected with his friends while also trying to keep his partner.

Special pulled away from Ifrit, feeling guilty for immediately running to him after it was done and implicating him to the other ghouls. It also feels guilty for, as he has framed it in his mind, isolating Ifrit from the other ghouls. On top of the guilt of murdering its half siblings. So Special pulls away and becomes passively suicidal. It withdraws from the small social life Ifrit manages to cultivate for it, from interviews and from working for the band all together. Ifrit, of course, withdraws from the band as well, trying to stop giving Special reasons to avoid him.

While they stay together, it's rough for a while. And then it gets worse.

Copia starts having his paranoia spiral during Impera. He's dreading the future, terrified of facing the same fate as the first three papas. And someone (Dew) lets it slip who did the act in the first place. Copia's spiral gets worse, he starts demanding Special be banished. Imperator, wanting to calm her son, agrees.

The problem is, Special is an earth born, hybrid ghoul. He lacks the experience to survive Hell's harsh environment, or the truly monstrous form to fight off threats. Sending it there is sentencing it to a fate worse than death, because you cannot truly die there.

The night of Special's banishment, Dew and Mountain asked Ifrit to go out for drinks woth them. Said they missed going on tour together, hanging out outside of Ministry grounds. Ifrit had been missing them too.

Ifrit also then missed when the rest of the older era ghouls with loyalties busting into Special's room, dragging it to the banishing ritual. He missed Special's very brief attempt at escape, before submitting to it's fate. He missed Special's tearful apology to Copia before it was sent away.

Ifrit, after that night, cut ties with all his old friends and packmates. The betrayal cut him deep, and he harbored true hatred for Mountain and Dew after that, Dew especially, because Ifrit had given him so much advice and help post elemental transformation. He wrecked havoc throughout the Ministry until they banish him. It doesn't take long until he gets what he wants, but unfortunately, banishment is much like summoning: a random pick up and a random drop off. Hell is an infinitely large plain of existence.

YAYYYYY MORE ABOUT THEM

1) I'm unfortunately very basic. I really really like it when two people get together and become a bigger problem than they used to be. I want them to make each other worse but not in the traditional way. Ifrit vastly improved Special's mental health and desire to live. He also made it far more willing to fuck around with the Ministry and everyone in it. Ifrit got an enabler who will embezzle funds to get him whatever he wants/will provide insider info and gossip to make his pranks bigger and more chaotic. A nonproblem suddenly became a problem and a problem suddenly became a bigger problem. Ifrit convinced Phil to buy a disco ball for it's room. The Ministry doesn't know what hit them.

6) This one is a complicated one!!! Ifrit was technically the one to initiate their relationship, and he always found Special attractive in an uncanny valley kind of way (it's hybrid genetics make it unsettling in appearance for both humans and ghouls), and he had passing neutrality to semi-appreciation of Phil, but he didn't register that he was truly in love until he went on tour and realized he missed spending time with the ghoul he was attempting to seduce supposedly as a joke.

Special, on the other hand, literally didn't notice anything about Ifrit until the fire ghoul barged into his office one day yapping and flirting with agonizingly insincerity. So at first it gave Ifrit the cold shoulder and hoped he'd pick up on the hint. But Ifrit kept showing up. Modified what he was doing to better match Special's energy and interests. Started talking shit and gossiping (not that Special hasn't already heard it all but. It's the thought that counts). Special was the first to realize and understand he was in love, even if it didn't know what to do with that feeling.

14) This was fun to think about, I hadn't actively considered it before! Special is the needy one between the two of them I think, and desperately needs loyalty and security from this relationship. A rock that's sturdy in the storm of his shitty life. In exchange, he does his best to provide what he can, feeling that he needs to give an equivalent exchange if he wants Ifrit to stick around.

Ifrit values life and partying and relationships but in a very "momento mori" style to me. His understanding that everything will end, that all will die and that the surface will fall to ruin inspires him to appreciate it while it's still here, and he wants to celebrate that it exists at all. To him, his relationship should be a celebration of just that, or at least, helping someone understand that so they can appreciate it too. He wants to bring Special up to his level of dgaf so they can party together, that's how he experiences love.

(Not that any ship in Ghost other than Terzopolitus or Imperator and Nihil has any basis in text, but I digress.)

ANYWAYS. Ifrit and Special. Special and Ifrit. My delightful little match made in Hell.

The replacement of Terzo's ghouls took a great deal of oversight, and as Imperator's assistant, Special was interacting with the new crew a lot. Most of the time as an annoying, stuffy bureaucrat that takes everything too seriously and everyone wants dead. Someone makes a joke that he'd be in a better mood if he got laid. Ifrit says he'll do it. "For the bit."

Unfortunately for him, Special is an asshole. He hates people. He hates ghouls even more. Any attempt at conversation results in a glare and quick dismissal. Ifrit needs an incentive, so one break from tour prep he approaches, a cup of Turkish coffee in hand. For the first time, he is not dismissed. Not that much of a conversation is had, but for once, his company is accepted. Progress.

Special never says he appreciates not being left out or alone all the time. But he does his best to reciprocate. When Ifrit bitches about getting spied on by siblings of sin during costuming, Special casually slips back some gossip about the specific offenders. When Ifrit and the rest of the ghouls throw a rager, Special indirectly covers them by calling for an emergency budget meeting with the higher ups. Across the Ministry where they'll hear nothing. He even fudges said budget to get Ifrit shisha for the tour. The implicit trust the Clergy puts in him comes in handy sometimes.

It's only on tour that Ifrit realizes this is no longer "for the bit," when he finds himself missing their mid-morning coffee and gossip.