A Study, Deepest Red

Entry tags:

jasper,
octavia

A Study, Deepest Red

He sighed, a deep and weary sound. Large paw grasping a cheap pen, he wrote on a fresh sheet of paper: Nothing of note.

He'd been writing that a lot lately.

The hellhound had been rather brave- or perhaps foolish- on some days. After observing the estate of Prince Stolas Ars Goetia from outside the gates and finding nothing of note, nothing that could tell him why everything was pointing him in this direction. He'd been brave by climbing the perimeter walls, treading through the gardens- dodging rather aggressive flora all the while- before he crouched in bushes he'd deemed very safe.

With binoculars handy, he tried to peer in through any available windows some days, search for anything that could give him some sort of clue.

On others, he might be pacing on the sidewalks leading to the manor, red eyes lost as he flipped through a small notebook, refreshing himself on... something.

Some day, perhaps, his perseverance would bear fruit. But how long was he going to call and tell his Ma he was gonna be late for supper again, fixin' to have his hide tanned?

Really, she needed to understand that this...? This was important.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Sometimes, one of the stranger residents might do something mischievous like carry a boombox through the halls to fuck with his brother or the occasional magical misfire leading to a room full of smoke. Nothing of note indeed.

That is, until the garden is visited by another. Princess Octavia Ars Goetia steps out of the exit with a bucket in hand, slabs of meat carried within. Good cuts, going by the smell. The aggressive plants agreed, given the sudden excitement as they rise up and turn her way. They rhythmically bounce from side to side as the air fills with music, ominous and dark. It gains its energy as the owl begins making her rounds with a song ready.

♪ Wild. Freaks. Knife through the deep
Natureless creatures perverted and evil
From foul nests rise
A vermin tide ♪

One by one, she tosses meat into waiting mouths, the carnivorous plants gluttonously accepting them and bobbing to the beat. She's having fun with it, it seems, skulking around and composing herself like some kind of dark lord.

♪ Teeth. Bared. clawing the air
Sin wrapped in sinew the rats do not fear you
In slaughter's keep
The piper weeps ♪

...Oh no.

He caught movement and huddled tighter in his hiding spot. Frantically checked his pocket watch. Did he somehow fail to mark a gardening schedule?? Typically the Prince himself would tend to his babies under the moonlight, and yet-

His fur stood on end. That's not a member of Prince Stolas' staff. That was his fluffin' daughter. ...Feeding the plants, havin' a sing. He'd do that, himself. But the tune was awfully catchy...

Nope. Nope, you need to bail. He couldn't cast anything right now. Too busy. Too noisy! He just needed to crawl.

He slowly lowered to his belly and worked the earth beneath his elbows and knees, doing his best army bit.

...Until he lifted his gaze, saw a small rodent taking refuge from dodging carnivorous plants itself. The rodent, frightened by another predator, scrambled and lost its footing, plopping against his face.

The hellhound hollered and swiped at his snout, spitting in disgust as he recoiled back, tumbling out of the bush. He went from his snout to his coat, checking it for mouse, hoping it hadn't somehow wiggled its way in...!

A terrified shriek would've otherwise fit right in with the song, is the worst part. Perhaps not at that key and not so off rhythm. One can almost hear the record scratch as the task and its accompanying music comes to a stop. The plants don't have eyes and yet Jasper can still feel their gaze on him.

Unfortunately, the collection of gazes included the princess'. Her eyebrow quirked, she looked as surprised as one would be when finding a stranger lurking around their home.

"...Who are you and why the fuck are you in our garden?" She asked. This isn't another romantic partner trying to sneak in, is it? This one needs practice, otherwise; at least Mako managed to get past the plants. "Be honest; I can scream and alert the entire palace."

The questions were like a dash of cold water to the face. His gaze snapped up from his clothes to the girl who... had every right to ask what All Of This was.

"I..." He needed one more second to shake off, check the grass for the mouse...

Honesty, right? Honesty.

"...Don't rightly know, Ma'am. ...Highness." But he raised both paws to placate. Please don't scream.

"But my name don't matter. I'm me, n'... you're Princess Octavia Ars Goetia, right? Now- I ain't a reporter, and I ain't one of those police types. I just wanna ask somethin' about... magic."

"Yeah, I'm going to need more than that. How about starting with what you do know? Because asking for things after getting caught sneaking in? Not a good look."

The owl folded her arms. Her attention's solely on him, but the plants are on standby and she's not screaming. For now.

She... she was right, of course. But maybe since she was more oriented in this sort of thing, it'd sound less crazy. Maybe it was okay if she knew a little bit more.

He raised his paws to chest level and let thin wisps of magic emanate from the dark paw pads, akin to the vapors rising from a warm cup of tea in a chilly room.

"I'm... I'm fond of magic study. From everything I've read, the Ars Goetia command so much of it, like breathing. It's amazing...!" He began to pull in the wisps and weaved it together into a singular 'rope', something of different shades of green that danced through the air like an eel through water.

"But somethin'... something keeps pointing me here, for some reason. Anything involving seeking, even attempts to divine something from the Hellish stars, all point here, this estate above others in the family. I've been tryin' to figure out why. I don't think His Highness would have time for an audience, what with the, uhm..." He paused, rubbed an ear. The serpentine spell dissolved into mist.

"His... preoccupation with things goin' on, so I thought I'd drop by and see if I get some kind of answer. ...And my legs decided they wanted to get closer and I wound up in the bushes after the garden tried to take a few bites outta me."

A beat. Then he raised his hands again. "...Which is fair, by the way...!"

A practitioner of magic. Always a nice thing to see, if she's being honest. The potential for it's within plenty of hellborn, and learning how they cracked the codes or the schools of magic they practice can lead to interesting exchanges. Octavia encouraged its study even for those outside of the Goetia family. Especially for those outside of the Goetia family.

The wisps he conjured proved he's been doing well so far. They suggest he has some idea of what he's talking about, which only raised further concerns. Divination pointing out their house specifically? Assuming this wasn't someone else waiting to target her dads, she could see the reasoning for it. Their contact with Reverein might've left something on them. Several family members aren't even from this world, let alone this Hell, so they could ping as something foreign. Maybe even eldritch. Between the Velvet Room deals, Chainsaw Man and Dante's everything, there was reason for some kind of magical gravity well to form around their home. This is in addition Stolas himself and his daughter, King Paimon's heir. Not that she would share any of this with a stranger.

Still, Octavia seemed to understand what he was saying.

"Okay, that removes the journalist theory." She noted. "Probably not a criminal or you might've made it past the garden. Cops are never this honest and the pitch is too elaborate to be a salesman...I'm not ruling out pervert just yet. Genuine occultist would be most worrying, because then we'll have several people climbing the wall claiming divination brought them here."

She paused in consideration. "My dork radar's going off, so you might actually be telling the truth..."

"I... promise I ain't a pervert, Ma'am..." Why was that what she went to? Then again, he was sort of peeping in one sense of the word. Oh... oh, no.

But his ears went up about dork radars. For a moment he wondered what she meant by that. He wasn't popular at school by any stretch and was glad to be done with it, but... was she... making fun of him...?

Wait, that was good. Poking fun was good, because it meant she wasn't screaming for the others that would definitely be far more aggressive and she wasn't attacking him. Yet.

"Ooh, uh- no... I reckon you shouldn't worry about any of that. My divination was purely for somethin' I'm huntin' up answers for. I'm not part of any coven, or... occult group. I'm a solo practitioner... as much as I wouldn't mind usin' the Power of Three someday. That'd be a dream...!" His big, shaggy tail was wagging and his eyes brightened.

"Fuck, I would love to invoke the Power of Three, but I don't--" Wait. He's a practitioner, too? Well, yeah, he'd have to be to magically spy on the house as he has, but with a focused interest in the occult? Not often she meets someone like that. Naturally, it's someone she caught sneaking in their backyard.

"Anyway, your divination pointing to us could be any number of reasons. My dad studies stars and could be favored by them, for all I know. We also practice a lot of magic in this house and that might be picked up. Or maybe something's really offended by the starter fluid my brother drinks every morning. Espresso shots in the double digits would get anyone out of bed; even eldritch horrors beyond our reality."

He brought a paw to his chin, mulled the information over. Astronomy... maybe that'd help? But he had to take a pause.

"Uh- starter... starter fluid?" Oh, that sounds like a lot of espresso.

"I ain't one to judge. I like eatin' those roasted beans covered in chocolate a whole bunch, and I think I could propel myself forward with my own tail with how many I can take down in a sitting. Scares Mom's horses." He laughed.

"Uh... hey, so... do y'all mind if I just do another spell real quick? Nothin' big, just seein' if any scryin' points elsewhere, seein' as I'm here. Maybe somethin' out there is puttin' me on a weird scavenger hunt."

"Oookaaaay, let's give it a go." She's apprehensive, but won't mind playing along for now. Maybe this would guide him along his journey, if it helped out. And that'd mean not having to worry about something like this again. At the same time...what if there is a valid concern behind divinations leading someone here? To ignore the possibility of a threat would be irresponsible.

"Do you...want something to drink or anything?" She offered. "We might actually have a few chocolate covered coffee beans. I have a sibling who loves all kinds of snacks."

"Oh, I won't bother ya nothin' like that! I'll be out your, uh... feathers, in two shakes, I promise."

He reached into his bag and pulled out his own handmade grimoire. Though it paled in comparison to what, say, her father had inherited, it was no less filled to the brim with tested spells of various types. He stopped at a page, and used a paw to reach into a pouch at his waist while the other held the book propped open.

From the bag, he retrieved a small bottle with a dropper inside. As he pulled his focus inward, he was reciting... something... but Octavia would easily recognize it as something infernal. Once finished, he pulled his hand away from the book... and it remained in the air as it was.

He pulled the dropped from the bottle and applied a single drop of the fluid inside into both of his eyes. His gaze distant, he gave the solution a moment to... to...

His irises were gone, eyes a pair of gleaming rubies when they turned to Octavia. But he paused, squinted a bit.

"...What..." That didn't make sense.

"...What am I seein'...?" Something was emanating from her. It was changing, even now, a magic he'd never seen before. He could see the path she'd taken, each step from the manor to her spot in the garden, of flower seedlings unseen to the naked eye yet seen here.

"Was there another school of magic you'd been usin' lately? Somethin'... natural? Somethin' that works with plants? Leaves remnants in the world even after you've gone...?""

There was something heartwarming about his grimoire. No, it didn't have the elegance of an ancient artifact, but it was personal. Cared for. The rougher edges, mess of handwriting and frayed pages here and there pointed to a book being well used and cared for. He really was self taught. Passionate about uncovering arcane secrets, even if he had to improvise a bunch. Maybe even through trial and error, like people did a long time ago.

And he clearly found some answers. He made it far enough to learn incantations and perform a ritual right in front of her. Goetian magic had an elegance to it that came from countless years of practice and mastery. Some of her relatives might call his methods primitive, but their power had to come from somewhere. Octavia respected it.

But...natural magic? The kind that'd play well with nature? It couldn't be Metaverse powers; that involved souls and minds much more than nature. People. For nature, only one thought came to mind: Dreamotion. The song she was singing was inspired by thinking about Madhuri...

"Something like that, yes." She admitted. "Emotion-based. Plants, even non-carnivorous ones, are alive enough to be receptive to talking. Singing, too, and the emotions behind your words. Feeling cared for helps them grow healthy, so I sing to them whenever it's feeding time. You've seen how receptive they are to it."

"Oh..." He breathed in wonder. "I can see it, too. There are little wisps here n' there. Kinda like butterflies. Or... moths, almost leavin' a powder in the air."

He hesitated, reached into what looked like thin air, and seized a pawful of the dust. He brought it to his mouth and swept his tongue over his pads, let the 'flavor' of it paint all of his taste buds.

His irises returned as he blinked in surprise. With his focus suddenly gone, the grimoire fell like a stone, bounced once in the grass.

"Ah- sugarcanes-" He hunkered down to gather it up.

"Uh, so- I'm... currently studyin' the theory of... other worlds. But not like the human world, Heaven n' Hell n' all." He stood.

"I mean... other universes. Or- or dimensions. Do you reckon where you got your hands on this emotion-based magic? You learn it from a family member, or- or somebody you met that maybe... looks a little odd?"

Definitely Dreamotion. Something was telling him about Reverein and its lingering magic on them. Between Hellborn who stood there and people imported from there? Yeah. Even magic can leave a trail, and something picked up on it.

...Briefly distracted because he doesn't seem to swear. That's adorable.

"It...came to me in a dream." A half truth. Slightly less strange sounding than telling him about Reverein while trimming of some of the details. "Which sounds vague and confusing, because it is. Just like trying to manage your own emotions. I'm still not very good at that."

"Managing how you feel with a lotta ruckus goin' on ain't easy, that's for sure. Um... I'm sorry that things are buckin' around for you." Well, the story was on the news for a while. But he wouldn't... directly address that.

Ain't his place.

"...But what I saw was... really beautiful. These drops, they- they letcha see the true forms of things for a little bit, before your tears and blinkin' wipes it away. But a few moments tends to be enough to see what needs seein', and..."

The manor was wreathed in strange energy. This was definitely a place that had some sort of contact... elsewhere.

"...Anyway, since you went ahead n' indulged me, I'd be happy to give ya the bottle I've got on me and the spell. As a 'thanks much' present, from one witch to another."

Octavia nodded. Things are still going nuts for her, even after the divorce. Annoying uncle, mom in need of help, turning eighteen soon and everything that comes with that...but even someone just taking the time to express their condolences can help.

"Ooh. I'm always interested in trading notes! On that note, I'm honestly really impressed you can detect this. It's strange and...not really like most magic. And who in Hell wants to use emotion-based magic, right?"

That would be a little too soft for people interested in a quick and easy solution all the time. Maybe a few practitioners here and there and it's usually basic stuff if you're not a Goetia.

...Maybe talking about it with him wouldn't be recommended, but it's probably not gonna stop him from investigating anyway. Besides, he's a genuine occultist. How many of those does she really know?

She cautiously looked back at the manor, making sure no one was approaching or looking for her. "...Alright, I'm convinced. We can talk more magical secrets, but maybe next time, someplace a little less suspicious than our garden."

He nodded quickly. She had a point there, thus his curiosity. Magic based on one's emotions- rather than one's will- sounded like something perhaps heavenly... but he figured only the likes of the Princess could use angelic power. If she could, anyway. He didn't know her, but he'd love to ask someday.

Jasper's ears perked and his tail thumped the ground. "I'm more than happy to talk magic! I, ah... ooh."

He laughed. "Sorry. I didn't know if I could make an appointment to gain an audience or how the whole Royalty thing works. I don't come up to Pride much. ...And my name's Jasper."

"Jasper...I like that." Octavia smiled. "You know, Jaspers are said to be especially potent in crystal healing."

She studied a bit of that, too. It's interesting! Analyzing various kinds of gemstones and what they could do or what magic they could augment. It's totally not a nerdy thing the studied in her spare time, not at all.

As if her nerdiness could be physically seen, the owl cleared her throat. "Uhh, right. Appointments are bureaucratic bullshit that can be artificially lengthened or shortened. How about we trade phone numbers instead? Lot less waiting around that way."

Mhm... and he only studied herbology because he really liked leafy greens. He nodded, however- the crystal connection had been something he looked into, as are the name connections of his mother and his extended family. They were all named after some sort of stone...

"Oh! ...Really? Okay!" He fished for his phone, an odd sort of anachronism when he was dressed as if he'd sprung straight from some medieval RPG. He set it up to transmit his information.

"Thank you. Thank you, Your Highness!" He also passed over the vial.

"Ah, and as promised. I could teach you the recipe sometime- took me a year to figure out."

The exchange of phone numbers began and Octavia curiously inspected the vial. This helped him see Dreamotion in this world, and prompted several questions. Questions like "how" or "how much of it really lingers around this house"?

"Of course! And maybe I can teach you some of what I know in return. Makes it an even trade." She nodded, and paused. "Oh, and...you can just call me Octavia. I'm not that uptight about titles. Makes things weird when you're just hanging out with people."

She doesn't want friends to be so formal with her. Pulling rank's a dick move when she outranks even some other Goetia.

"On that note, if you're free later this week, we could meet up and talk about things a little more? My schedule will lighten up around then."

"Of course, Ma'am-... Octavia." Don't blow it, Jas.

He raised a paw to his chin. "Yeah... yeah, I should be free up plenty. Just gimme a call and I can hit the elevator. I live down in Wrath. I'd recommend meeting down there, but, uh... well, the imps are a little extra frisky around this time and itchin' for a fight to train up for the Harvest Moon Festival."

That may be a reminder- Jasper sort of had Millie's accent going on.

The hound closed up his book and tucked it away into his bag.

"They even see fit to pickin' a fight with the horses, wild or no. The poor things... they're tough as nails, but they don't deserve somebody fixin' to harass 'em."

"Of course. Because animal abuse is the ultimate form of dick waving." Via's eye roll was almost audible. The question 'what is wrong with people' is best left rhetorical, as she'd rather not know what lead to tormenting horses becoming justifiable to some.

"I don't mind going down to Wrath, though. If push comes to shove, I can defend myself." And if she can't, she can call Denji. Hopefully it won't come to that. "It's better that I get out more, anyway; seeing as much of Hell as I can will help me understand its problems and how to help improve things, if possible." Even if she never has to take her father's place, it helps to be mindful.

He did recall it was actually Octavia's father that came out to host the Festival each year. She never went with him- likely because of it being an obligation- but it was intriguing that she'd want to see the other Rings to simply... see them.

"Huh. ...You're pretty wild, y'know that?"

A beat. He then shut his eyes and put his face in a palm.

"Wait- I mean...! Nobody just... wants to see the other Rings to understand 'em. You either live in 'em or know somebody that lives in 'em. I think it's mighty nice that you feel the need to get to know more of... well... home, I guess. Home bein' all of Hell."

He lowered that hand, but clenched a fist. "Y'know what...? You work it out, I'll give you a royal tour, in the best way. Leave it to me."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

A Study, Deepest Red

no subject

the product of a Nat 1................

F....

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

Deception check 11

6. Welp.

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject