WHO YOU GONNA CALL? [closed to Azula and Aradia]

[entitles]

Balem wasn't keen on helping vampires. Not in the slightest.

But, in this case, there was something he wanted out of the deal enough that he'd put his differences aside. The Bexley takeover had clearly taken a lot out of him and it was beginning to wear him down. He stood now with wisps of grey in his hair, visible wrinkles around his eyes and mouth.

No, that would not do. He could siphon some youth from unsuspecting passer-bys, but that would take time and more effort than he could expend right now. No, he needed a soul. And none of the ones pledged to him were due just yet, so he took this job.

It seemed that a young vampire named Clementine had fed off of and killed a man she met at a nightclub, and his spirit decided to stick around and make life tough for her. Seeing an easy opportunity for a free soul, Balem answered the call to get rid of it. He invited Azula along, because he already knew that she was a fellow soul-eater and wouldn't get worked up about it like some did.

Balem knocked on the old wooden doorway, "I hope she remembered that we need to be invited and can't just barge in. She should be used to that."

Comments

[divinerighttorule]

"She was surviving." It's cold and calm. And Azula's taken a step closer to Aradia. Especially if she can come between the two ghosts. Divide and conquer. "We all do that."

She even licks her lips a little at the idea of the a morsel.

i'm pretty sure balem and azula are making the exact same expression in those icons and its amazing

[megidoomed]

It's beginning to dawn on Aradia just how far out of her depths she is here.

She whirled around when she felt the barely perceptible presence of the other ghost vanish, staring in growing horror as it's reduced to light and... liquified? The sight hits her like a punch to the gut, her anger temporarily put aside in favour of trying to comprehend what that meant. Eating ghosts can't be an actual thing that happens, right?

Instinctively, she begins to back away from Balem - and unknowingly edges closer to Azula in the process, her focus on manifesting beginning to weaken under the emotional strain. "S-surviving shouldn't mean you need to ruin other people's lives to get by. It's not right."

[entitles]

"Oh, but that's what surviving always has been. Predators, and prey. You humans simply aren't used to being the prey," Balem said.

As the light in his chest dimmed, his hair became sleek and brown again, his wrinkles disappearing until he looked like a young man once more, so free of blemishes that he was almost statuesque.

"We don't really have a taste for your flesh, or your blood, but your souls...quite delicious, unfortunately for you."

[divinerighttorule]

Azula laughed a little at Balem pointing out that, no, humans weren't used to being prey. How quickly they forgot that there were things in this world more powerful than them. That they were not masters of the universe.

That fell to fae.

At least in her opinion.

Azula said nothing, then, lunging like a cat toward a mouse. Her nails -- sharp enough to rip flesh -- dart forward. She has no doubt this will be a slow process -- playing with her food, chasing it down -- but she can at least try for a taste now. Collect a bit of the ghost's energy. If Aradia isn't quick enough to get away.

[megidoomed]

"But we're not--"

The rest of her sentence goes unsaid. Unfortunately for her, she's not quite quick enough to dodge, especially distracted by conversation as she is - Azula's lunge had hit home when the ghost tried to reply to Balem, shoving her forward in a daze and ripping sections of her back and arm open neatly.

The wound stings, an oddly vivid sensation that shatters her focus completely, and Aradia can't help but stare at her arm in shock. That's- that shouldn't be possible. Today is full of unwelcome surprises, and it's only going to get worse from here.

But it doesn't take long for the mix of surprise and fear to turn to fury, at the situation and the other ghost's misfortune and everything in between. She forces her gaze away from her arm, stumbles back out of immediate range, and reaches out for something - anything - in range to throw at Azula as a defense. Which only amounts to a sad little lightbulb exploding, but that's to be expected from a ghost who hasn't really learned how to fight.

"Stop! I'm not- I'm not prey," and even if she's only expecting to get taunted further, it's not her nature to flee without trying to fight back. She has to try. "That's just sick."

[entitles]

"And what makes you think that the prey gets to decide whether they're prey or not?" Balem said with a laugh, "There would be no prey, if that were the case."

[divinerighttorule]

Azula offers no reply immediately. Instead, she inhales the essence still clinging to her fingers. Her head tilts back as her eyes close almost entirely. It's remarkable. Something she hasn't tasted in a long while. This is no ordinary ghost.