AVATAR OF WRATH

( ALTERED CARBON; S01 - sentence starters! )

||  █ ▌— he actually manages to look sheepish at that, like a child caught taking from the sweets jar. his smile doesn’t falter, and he shakes his head. he knows what he is, though he pretends otherwise. and anyway, all demons are liars at their core, right?

( ALTERED CARBON; S01 - sentence starters! )

||  █ ▌— well, that is, of course, easier said than done. it isn’t as though satan seeks out trouble ( that’s a lie, he absolutely seeks out trouble, but usually he seeks out ways to cause trouble for others more than to get into trouble himself ). he sighs, shakes his head.

( ALTERED CARBON; S01 - sentence starters! )

||  █ ▌— the words carry with them a certain weight that the avatar of wrath has trouble conceptualising.

it’s not that he doesn’t understand the words themselves, but he doesn’t understand what lucifer stands to gain from them. he scoffs, turns away. is this progress? is this a step back on the progress he and his brother had already made? he isn’t sure.

( ALTERED CARBON; S01 - sentence starters! )

||  █ ▌— well, now he feels awful for intruding. one of the ways satan differs from his eldest brother is in that he doesn’t tend to gravitate toward high places when he needs time to himself, but he can’t help but want to get closer to the stars sometimes anyway. he likes the universality of them.

( ALTERED CARBON; S01 - sentence starters! )

||  █ ▌— the sentiment is straightforward, satan has to admit, but he can’t help complicating it anyway as he picks it apart in his head. ‘divide and rule’ or ‘divide to rule,’ though most translate it in the modern day as ‘divide and conquer,’ which technically moves the strategy back a few steps, from post-conquest to pre- and therefore changes the meaning entirely.

there’s a lot to think about in it. he wonders if it’s not lucifer’s influence that has him dismissing it out of hand. lord diavolo’s latest fascination has been with union, however strange, and he wonders when he started taking the future demon king’s ideals to heart.

It was a simple identity to tell when you are in contact with a human or something of different. Smell, sound, even something as a movement. Humans were clumsy and wasted so much basic movement and muscle strength to do anything. This person aura was clearly not human. 

“Make an entire sea of blood spilled in killing them and you can tell one from something else simply by looking now. Being in a kingdom filled with them now is quite sickening to me. I loathe this existence, and yet here I am.” He has the means to kill, and yet he would be doing it far to slowly and not without power to protect himself afterward. It was a rare situation. “Consider it a hobby of mine. Seeing their so-called Bonds broken so easily is a sight that fills my evil heart.”

||  █ ▌— satan is fairly young, as demons go. his lifespan might seem long to a human, but when all of his brothers are so much older, there are places he falls behind. he hadn’t learned to sense another inhuman creature on the level that one of them might have. he’s never really needed to try. still, he’s not upset to be recognised by another. like calls to like, people say.

WESTWORLD; IX SENTENCE STARTERS.  

@wrathfulis: “The human mind is not some golden benchmark glimmering on some green and distant hill. No, it is a foul, pestilent corruption.”

  Everything–from those sharp eyes, confident posture, and oily smile–has Jubei on edge. His gait when he approached her boasted his presence, celebrated his allure in this conceited way. She refuses to give the man the satisfaction of her wandering golden gaze, keeping her stare firmly straight ahead at the aimless distance before her. 

     ❝ You know, I definitely didn’t imagine being spirited away into this new world would include a lecture on personal philosophy. ❞ She couldn’t fight the snark that dripped in her low tones even if she wanted to. It slips from her tongue like a snake, the same way her arms now folded across her chest comfortably. After all, if the man could critique people with that kind of smile on his face, then it should be fair for her to do the same. 

     ❝ Sure, we’re not perfect–far from glimmering. But we’re not absolutely heinous either–unless you want to be. ❞

||  █ ▌— he isn’t used to people who can see through him. that alone is interesting, though he doesn’t really know what to make of it. he knows better than to be concerned by another’s perceptiveness. his act is for other demons more than it will ever be for any mortal ( she’s not human, not with ears like those, but she’s certainly a mortal being ) and so he cares little if it’s seen through.

still, he’s somewhat impressed. his smile doesn’t phase her, or at least not in the way it normally does. in fact, it has the opposite of its usual affect. perhaps the words were a bit too much? he doesn’t let the expression falter, though.

❝ i wasn’t trying to lecture, ❞ he says quickly, because he wasn’t. ❝ it’s interesting when others’ beliefs don’t line up with my own. i’m just speaking from experience, you understand? ❞

“I mean, this is no pleasure plant. I think if I were rolling around in that though, there’d be a problem.” Netzach’s interactions with plants are bizarre, and they’ve learned to expect the worst from things that masquerade as ordinary plants. Even the ones less conforming to reality have something terrible about them. Nothing is safe there, but the fact that the grass is, is a small victory. 

Glancing to the blades of grass, their expression freezes for a moment, contemplative of the situation. The odd contrast of cold grass on their back and the sun on their face is enough to keep them from moving, from focusing, given that it takes them a moment to focus back on the other, pupils adjusting independently enough from one another to seem strange to anyone expecting ordinary humanity. 

“I’m okay, I’m just checking it all out.” Netzach beams now, looking over the other, but still not getting up from where they’re sprawled. “It’s new. Nobody talks about how you’re supposed to like, get used to something like this. So I’m sort of just doing what feels right.” 

“But, well, I’m looking for a good place to go and get rid of this thing.” They pinch at their suit, which hangs off them more than it fits.  They hate the suit. Hate it. “Maybe even set it on fire. But uh, after I find something else to wear.” 

||  █ ▌— he doesn’t understand exactly what the other is talking about. pleasure plant? it sounds... well. perhaps like something asmodeus would like, more than something he himself could make sense of, but perhaps he’s misinterpreting its meaning. he doesn’t want to ask, lest his ignorance show. he dislikes admitting that he doesn’t understand everything.

at least they like the grass. little of it grows down in the devildom, owing to his home’s lack of sunlight, but he’s spent enough time in the human world to know what it’s like. it can be nice to sit in, with a nice book and perhaps a snack. this individual is--strange, satan thinks, but he isn’t the sort to say anything. he might scrutinise, sure, but he keeps his findings to himself unless he has a reason to share them.

there’s something not quite human about the other, but he can’t pinpoint what it might be, so he doesn’t try, just files that away for later, like a note. the jubilance in the other’s smile makes satan smile as well, he can’t help it.

❝ there are clothing shops a little while back. you can change into something else and then do whatever you like with what you’re wearing. it doesn’t seem to fit you anyway --- i can’t help but ask, why are you wearing such a badly-fitting thing? ❞

“The significance of the human emotional stage of friendship and relationships. Something that has been lost to me in bits and pieces. I hate it all, and yet here I am. Willed to learn about it to destroy it.” Clearly, he missed something during his first time alive, or else he would not be in the mess he was now. Granted, calculating back he had to make a realize here. The jewel corrupted his actions, and he had been a puppet. 

“Though you do not strike me as one of them, now aren’t you?”

||  █ ▌— now that is a difficult topic, satan considers. humanity, with all its parts and pieces, the way their emotions fit together like building blocks and their transactions utterly uneven. he’s never understood them. he’s made a bit of an effort, of late, but he still can’t really make sense of human beings. 

❝ destroy it? ❞ he asks, tilting his head curiously. now that would be quite the feat. he’s not sure he understands it, but... knowledge for any reason was a good thing. know thy enemy and all of that. he can’t help but smile.

“a toy? is it?” the elf squints at the wand in her hands, as if she can puzzle out all its secrets just by looking hard enough. “i haven’t seen a toy like this before, but maybe… a dwarven craft?” the wand is lifted up to barely an inch from her face, her eyes almost crossing.

“well… i was hoping i could maybe do a little magic with it… you know. make a flower bloom, mend a wound…” her scrutiny continues in silence for a moment–and then she sighs, shrugs, offers the wand to the man. “well! i suppose i shall just have to look for something else. did you want this? the way it glitters is delightful.”

||  █ ▌— satan frowns at the thing, and her word choice, and indeed her ears once he finally takes in that little detail. she’s certainly not what he’s grown to expect from a witch ( who tend to be normal-looking human women, mostly, but he supposes there must always be exceptions to such general rules ), but he can’t fathom what else she might be, especially with such easy talk of magic.

A nod at the statement, it was odd to be stared at by the locals. After all, where he came from the likes of him was a norm. Normal to walk among beings from different parts of the beyond. Hellsalem’s Lot was a sanctuary among those like him; minus the part that folks tend to get killed every day. 

While it is still a mystery as to how his world was created (much like his own creation), Zed finds this world to be the same. None the less, he wasn’t alone on the assignment, “They seem to be curious as to where we came from, it is quite new for me to be stared at. Where I come from, someone like me is considered normal.” 

“Do you wish to search? Two the better to look through information. I hope you do not mind me asking some questions in regards to where you’ve come from. I have ever been out of my city, besides where I was trained.” 

||  █ ▌— satan enjoys a good mystery, but there are too many strange things being thrown at him at once in this place. the mechanism behind his being summoned here, the sealing away of his demonic form and most of his abilities, the people who look unlike humans or demons or anything else he might be able to recognise...

it’s just a lot at once. he doesn’t blame the locals for questioning their presence, but he still feels irritated by it. ❝ and where are you from, if you don’t mind my asking? ❞ he asks, his charming smile never faltering. ❝ you would be considered unfamiliar in my home as well, but honestly not the strangest-looking thing by some standards. ❞

                “ Oh ? So your mother then ? — I suppose that makes sense as well. ”

                  “ But isn’t Satan technically Lucifer’s son ? ”

Nothing owned to his name, besides this plastic excuse for what was a sacred jewel. It has been tossed out across the farthest point out of his eye. It was a joke, and this was no joking matter. Fifty years of hatred and planning were all ruined by a simple half-demon and his friends. Bonds, friendship, it all was so foreign to him and it was so loathing. 

Why did bonds give them power….Nothing in these strange rectangular scrolls of literature on the holders of this library seemed to allude to an answer. Though it seems his rather large selection of books drew the attention of someone else. “What ails you, human?”  @wrathfulis​

||  █ ▌— the pile of books had certainly caught satan’s attention. most people at the library tend to grab one or two and leave, or at least look at only a few at a time at the little tables scattered about the place. this was clearly someone who hungers for some sort of knowledge. it’s... not an unfamiliar thing to the avatar of wrath. he has a similar hunger himself, though the topics he chooses differ.

  Despite her woefully short attention span, Alice loves books, even if she did not always understand their contents. Simply the act of taking in the words and recognizing some form of meaning provided enough encouragement to have her coming back for more, and she found murder mysteries to be especially appealing–the winding narrative and ever-changing thrills appealed directly to her sense of intrigue. Stationed at a table near the back of the city’s library, she had a book propped open in her hands, and across from her sat someone reading a copy of the same story.

Truthfully, she could not recall how she reached the point of having company, but she was having too much fun to care.

“ Hah! I figured it out! ” She flourishes her book at her companion across the table. “ It’s gotta be Johnathan. He had the knife! ” / @wrathfulis​

||  █ ▌— it isn’t often that satan finds himself reading with others, but he has to admit that there’s something exciting about reading the same story as someone else, being able to discuss it. especially as he reads rather than immediately after, with all secrets out in the open. he’s eagerly reading through the book in his hands, turning back to pages he’s marked with little post-it notes in order to check facts against the clues revealed by the detective in the story. truly, this is a brilliant piece of literature ( and he’s glad this girl can see it, too ).

upon her declaration, he brings a hand up to his chin as he ponders that. it seems plausible, certainly, but he’s wondering if perhaps johnathan is a red herring.