Coming Home from a Dream

[helluvaboss]

Hell has a habit of sucking in hapless, tortured souls... including those from other worlds, it seems, when helped along by portalling magic concocted by Stolas of the Ars Goetia. Hell, in fact, is very receptive to the devised spell, sucking in those that portal from the land of dreams, songerein.

Residents of hell walking through the portal find themselves startled awake where they were, but newcomers? Their forms become physical, tangible, changing them into the creatures they dream themselves to be - for the best and most certainly for the monstrous. It is Hell, after all.

Welcome home, I.M.P. : D.M.C.!

Comments

[herewardbound]

He groaned. This was the second time today. "It's fine. I'm just going to have to re-learn how to walk, Stolas and Octavia manage it just fine, apparently." Sitting up, now. "Hello, Millie. It's been a while."

[ninefunerals]

"It has. Nice makeover. I was wonderin' if Blitz would talk some people through! Moxxie was worried humans would be pretty hard to hide down here, but this makes things a lot easier."

But she pursed her lips and canted her head as she stood upright.

"Hm... and the Ars Goetia? There's so damn many of 'em that you'll more'n likely slip right under their radar."

[herewardbound]

"I'm minding it a lot less than I thought I would, actually." With some difficulty, he stood. "I'm afraid the jury's still out on 'human', but I promise not to tell anyone if you won't."

[ninefunerals]

"Naw! You're just a very handsome bird that I met at a couple'a hell parties. You'll blend in fine. They usually have their heads so far up their own asses that they wouldn't notice you showin' up to one of their parties."

She held up a finger. "Just one thing, though: Imps are kinda bottom-of-the-barrel down here with hellhounds. We rustle up our own existence just fine, but you shouldn't act too surprised if one of the bluebloods wonder what you're doin' around 'the likes of us'."

Millie shrugged and flattened her expression. "I mean, it's Hell. Gotta have some problems, right?"

[herewardbound]

He made a noise somewhere between a snort and a gag. "The usual classist bullshit. I'm not surprised in the slightest. But it's not as though I can trace lineage to any one of the 'bluebloods'. I know too well what they're going to assume, and if I'm lucky that'll put me on equal footing with you, in their eyes. I don't think I'm going to be at all served by paying them the slightest mind, do you?"

[ninefunerals]

Millie shook her head. "There's so many of 'em that you can even cook up any old hellbullshit and they'll believe it to save face, so just livin' out your days however and never brushin' wings with 'em won't change a thing. It'll get you into some nice places to skip the line though. Ooh, like Ozzie's!"

She smirked. "...Not that I'd wanna go there again. Once was plenty, and I try not to have too many glamour shots hung up around Hell lookin' to tag my ass for... y'know..."

Millie gestured vaguely, but her grin widened into all fangs. "...Knockin' the shit outta Asmodeus' little boytoy in the middle of his club for tryin' to humiliate my husband."

She gave Akechi a pat. At her height, it was patting a long chicken leggie.

"Long story short- Stick with me, hon. I've gotchu."

[herewardbound]

He blinked. Once again, he was taken aback by how... open everyone seemed to be here. "I... appreciate it. Maybe one day I'll work out how I'm supposed to actually feel when people say things like that, but for now. Thank you."

[ninefunerals]

She laughed.

"A thanks is juuust fine. Don't even sweat it. Focus on enjoyin' this new lease on life! Hell's not so bad after you get used to it."

[herewardbound]

"Actually..." He cupped his chin, expression thoughtful. "I was hoping to come to you and Moxie with questions about this place. Not that I don't trust Blitz and Stolas- I do. But their perspectives on Hell, I feel, may be skewed- Stolas by his noble status, and Blitz by his... you know him, he's a goddamn goblin. People are people wherever you go, so I'm not expecting much, but how..." He fumbled for the words, failed to find them, and sighed.

"Millie, how do I not fuck this up?"

[ninefunerals]

Akechi had a point. Stolas had his status and Blitz- as much as she liked him- was kind of a huge tangled up ball of emotional yarn and had a lot of shit to work through.

"Huh... I guess... take it a day at a time, fight like Hell for what you really want, and don't always think you've gotta take on everything alone. Blitz is Blitz, but... he's on the right track when it comes to lookin' out for family."

[herewardbound]

"One day at a time... Alright. And yes. He's... a mess. But his heart's in the right place, somehow."