TP - LOVECRAFT

[impacter]

Comments

[ohrlyeh]

Of course.

[He says, like its fact.]

I'm already upset.

[impacter]

And what would you think you would do, if someone decided you were not important anymore - not deserving of anything anymore - and couldn't have the things you wanted? You wouldn't want to just sit and take it, correct?

[ohrlyeh]

...

[...]

[The questions sit in his stomach, churning. They make him feel strange, like brushing up against a wound he didn't realize he had.]

...I suppose not. But sometimes...my contract...asks for this in return for payment.

[impacter]

Your contract?

[Hello?]

What contract is that?

[ohrlyeh]

For work? You know.

[Everyone has a contract when they work for someone, of course?]

[impacter]

Ahhh, I guess that makes more sense. [than what] Do you mean what you do with your Ability, or something else?

[ohrlyeh]

Yes. I am an ability user and...Fitzgerald...hires them to be part of the...Guild.

[It's like a whole club!]

[That totally do nice things!]

[impacter]

Oh! A little like the Sorcerer's Society, then. [Except actually completely different but who's asking.]

Why would you accept a contract if you don't care for the terms of it?

[ohrlyeh]

There's a society like that...?

[The question makes him look a little troubled, casting his gaze down at the edge of the pool.]

I'm not sure. It is...as if I am...compelled, sometimes.

[impacter]

In my world, at least, there is. It's where all sorcerers need to be licensed.

[Ah. This, at least, is diving into territory he is a little more familiar with, weird framing or not.]

...Compelled? In what way?

[ohrlyeh]

Licensed. Like a car?

[beep beep?]

[He is squeezing his eyes shut, trying to...remember, but he can't. It feels so out of reach.]

I don't...know. Like a leash.

[impacter]

Ahaha -- something like that! It's all gotten pretty bureaucratic, though.

[Joking tone aside, he does fall quiet and thoughful as Lovecraft struggles to place his words.]

Mm. I wonder if your contracts work a little more like mine, then. Getting something you need, but having to pledge obedience to a task or use of yourself in return. [Sometimes indefinitely, if you're lucky!]

[ohrlyeh]

[He nods a few times - yes! Yes. That's exactly what it sounds like.]

That's it. You also...have to work like that?

[impacter]

[He nods, carefully leaning his hands against his knees (dont worry plushie you're not gonna go in the pool) and extending one of his arms out. The costume change for the pool area has left him more bare than he'd like, so in addition to all the wounds from the trial and the new ones on his face and neck, all of the seals that line his body are in full display.]

Willingly, at least. [His fingers trace one of the circles against his forearm, labelled ASMODEUS in its outer ring.] You could consider each of these an agreement I made with someone.

A pact.

[ohrlyeh]

[A pact.]

[Something in Lovecraft's usually dour face turns somewhat pensive as he looks over the winding tattoos, the name emblazoned on his forearm.]

...I assume. Not with humans.

[impacter]

No. Never with humans.

[His smile is easy as he brings his arm back to his lap, eyes against the water.]

Humans are caught up in enough troubles as it is.

[ohrlyeh]

[...]

[His mouth twists to the side.]

What do these creatures get out of this?

[impacter]

Whatever they agree to. It has to go both ways.

Some only want items. Some want a favor. Sometimes they just want someone there to stroke their ego. It depends.

[ohrlyeh]

[He reaches over and taps the "ASMODEUS" tattoo.]

And what did this...one want?

[impacter]

Ah, Asmo. [He remembers this one well enough.]

"You'll have someone here to tell you how wonderful you are. Forever and ever." I'm pretty sure that was my pitch.

I found him completely by chance at a bar near my hometown. He'd been broken up about some failed exorcism or other that had taken him away from a person he'd charmed. Drank himself deep, until he was red in the face and crying.

He spilled the beans on his identity, and I took my chance to talk to him. That was all it really took.

[Asmo may not have been happy about it at all when he sobered up. But so it went with demons.]

[ohrlyeh]

...

[Sounds less like a creature to be summoned, and more like a person who had simply been through a failure.]

[Lovecraft stares, unsure what to think.]

Why did you want him?

[impacter]

[His smile evens out slightly.]

I would say... probably for the same reasons your contracts want you.

[ohrlyeh]

[Something stiffens in his face at that - touching on something perhaps a little vulnerable, and his attempt at self-defense.]

And why do you...search for power?

[impacter]

[It's his turn to grow quiet, now. A furrowing at his brow, an awkward enough hesitation to show that, while he has an answer, something about it isn't... clicking.

...

A beat. An exhale.]

I guess you could say I'm doing it to protect the place of humanity in everything else.

[ohrlyeh]

...

[Yes, he notices that pause, alright. He sighs.]

You don't remember. Do you.