Enter Demona

[angelofthenight]

Who: Demona & Open
What: Re-using some prompts from the TDM for her intro + roommate shenanigans
When: First few days of October
Where: Various places in starters
Warning: Violence, anger, lots of negative CR, Demona comes with a blanket warning of "genocidally racist against humans"
Note: Please set all threads after sunset unless you want to see her as a statue.


Daylight - Muster Drill
So, is Friday trying out a new technique with visual aids or...what? Among the other people here for their first muster drill, there is a stone statue of a loincloth-wearing woman with bat-like wings, long tail, talons, a wild mane of hair, and...one of the leis around her neck. She is completely immobile. No amount of poking, prodding, or talking will rouse her. For all anyone can tell, this is a completely inanimate, if very imposing, stone figure.


Sunset - Muster Station
That statue hasn't moved all day. Everyone else left the muster drill hours ago, but here she still stands with the lei around her neck. As the sun sets beyond that fake horizon, however, magic begins to stir. Cracks form in the stone, and from beneath, red light shines through the fissures around her eyes. Then, all at once, she lets out a screech and stretches out her limbs, the stone falling away in heavy flakes, revealing a flesh and blood creature below with blue skin and flaming red hair.


Dealer's Choice of Location - After midnight
Where is she? How did she get on a ship at sea? Who's done this?! She wants answers, but she has to be careful. She can't be seen like this. Can't allow the humans to get the better of her. So, here she is late in the night, skulking through corridors, sometimes climbing on the ceiling, talons crunching into the metal, to avoid being caught out in the center of the halls. Approach at your own risk. She isn't in a very charitable mood and those claws look awfully sharp.


Roommates? [Closed to Fever]
She's already staked her claim to a part of the Tommy Bahama, under the watchful eye of that werecougar, Siffleur. That's where she intends to be by sunrise. However, she was told her assigned cabin number, 118. Even if she's not going to live in there, she wants to see it for herself. If it's supposed to be hers. What she didn't think to ask, is if it's a private cabin or not. She really shouldn't have assumed anything. And yet, here she is walking into the cabin close to 3:00 a.m. to find that it is already occupied by someone else.

Her wings unfold from her shoulders, flared out behind her as she hisses, "What are you doing in here?"

Comments

after midnight - promenade

[sabigoe]

It's one of those rare late nights that Fio's awake, wandering the ship, troubled by a nightmare. But what's worrying her the most is the recent disappearance of one of her closest friends, along with the possibility that she might be next. Then she hears something above her. She freezes up.

Around this time last year, she lost nearly a full month of her life, after getting toppled by rows of shelves in the Spirit Halloween. Perhaps she should make a call on her phone to Skulduggery or any trusted adults. That could take a few moments, but...

...If she's about to get ambushed here, she's not going to let that happen again. So she summons her two lanterns out of thin air with just a simple thought, shadows swirling together to form a pair of glowing, silver bulbs levitating by her side.

Fio trembles, not quite ready to look up. The weapons, on the other hand, swivel around and point their sharp edges towards whatever's up at the ceiling.

[angelofthenight]

"Well, well..." Demona purrs from above. She is enjoying watching this little girl tremble in fear before her. "That's an interesting magic you have, little one. What are you doing out at this hour?"

[sabigoe]

The voice gives her a start and despite the firepower that she has at ready, she reaches down into her pocket in case she needs to start drafting a text. Probably no time to form proper sentences, but she's sure Skulduggery or Ava would be able to sense something's wrong if she fired off a quick message.

At least she can see the speaker in full view now as she looks up. She's mostly unsettled over the likelihood that she might be in danger, than the fact that this is the first time for her to see a gargoyle. Nonhumans normally don't faze her...

"H-hi. I couldn't sleep," she says, struggling to keep her voice steady. "I hope... you weren't trying to sneak up on me. I've never seen you around before..."

[angelofthenight]

"I wanted to remain unseen, little human." But, there is no point in that now, so she drops down from the ceiling on all fours in front of Fio.

"I have not been here before nor do wish to be here now. What do you know of this place?"

[sabigoe]

If it was another time of month and day and if Fio just didn't happen to be wandering the promenade at the same time, she would be less on edge. But she takes one terrified step back as Demona lands.

"Oh. Why were you hiding? My name's Fio, by the way. And that's Judith." The nearby floating stuffed bear, which she nods her head towards. Of course she's going to introduce the bear that the player always forgets to mention in tags.

"Um... well, what do you know so far? Have you talked to anyone else?" The lanterns melt into shadows, disappearing from sight. Surely it's safe enough to dismiss her power!

[angelofthenight]

Judith? She tilts her head to inspect that floating bear. Clearly, this child is some kind of magic user or supernatural being herself, but she might also be slightly mad.

"... I hide because humans want to kill me when they see me. I was named Demona ages ago by one of them." The title of she-demon was well earned.

"I spoke to some when I first woke. They told me of a Captain that uses his passengers for fuel in his selfish gambit for freedom. They all claim there is no way to leave. Will you tell me the same, little Fio?"

[sabigoe]

"Demona..." She whispers the name softly, in quiet contemplation. During the brief moment of silence, her silver lanterns disappear, only leaving behind the floating teddy bear. She pipes back up. "I'm gonna call you Dema. And I'm sorry there are mean humans after you. There's a lot of nice ones here."

When your nightmares are the worst memories of humanity, she knows very well how cruel humans are. Maybe Demona doesn't like her name if she was named by a mean human, so maybe an unsolicited nickname from Fio would be better!

"And there is a way to leave. I know there is! We just haven't found it yet." And those people that are saying that there is no way are quitters. Sometimes, even Fio feels like giving up, but she's been trying to hold onto a little bit of hope that she can live somewhere off the ship and grow up.

[angelofthenight]

She plants her hands angrily on her hips. "Dema is not my name. Using Demona is already capitulating to you humans enough. Gargoyles should not have need of names." Humans should be grateful she deigns to let them use one for her at all.

"Hmph. For one so young, you seem to outshine the intelligence of some of your peers already. Yes, if there is a way in, there must always be a way out. Perhaps you will live long enough to see it."

[sabigoe]

"Well, Dema is your nickname," Fio replies, undeterred by the anger. She doesn't know what a big term like capitulating means, but she can tell it doesn't mean anything nice. "So you're... a gargoyle. I've seen gargoyles in picture books! But if you don't need a name, then how am I supposed to talk to you?"

Or Demona would just rather prefer Fio not talking to her at all. But here she is... chattering away.

"I've been here for almost two years now." She's outlived her lifespan. The original Fio's lifespan. But she doesn't think about whether or not they're copies as others have put it. She feels like her own self and views everyone in the same light. "I'm going to see it. And if I ever... disappear before that happens, I will come back no matter how long it takes."

[angelofthenight]

"I will not answer to a nickname." Flick, flick goes her tail. "And I do not see why you would want to talk to me?"

And yet... here this little girl goes, jabbering away as if she has no fear for her own safety whatsoever. This is... so strange. Has a child ever seen her before and not screamed?

"For one so small, you are filled with a surprising amount of courage and determination..."

[sabigoe]

"But you're answering me right now." she says, more like she's making a polite correction than trying to make Demona feel silly. She's not mean!

"Well... I wanna talk to you, Dema. Because you're new and probably a little scared too 'cause none of your friends and family are around. I haven't seen any other gargoyles around."

The trembling from earlier has vanished entirely. Though she can see how Demona is visibly discontent with her presence, it's not like she's trying to actively attack her right now. (And if there is danger, there is a reason why her teddy bear is always out.) Fio has seen 'monsters' before, far bigger than Demona. Her best friend Levania isn't here, but she remembers clearly how alarmingly tall he is, about an extra foot taller than the gargoyle.

"The grownups get really down sometimes... and I understand why. I've gotta stay strong so I can help them get back up again."

[angelofthenight]

"You wouldn't see any, because there are none to see. I am nearly the last of my kind. I have no family left to miss because humans destroyed them all."

Her claws flex in place with the itch to claw this child across the face for her insolence. Only the knowledge that she cannot escape the wrath of the people on this ship stays her hand.

"Adults should not have to rely on the support of a small thing like you. If they cannot handle hardship then they should perish."

[sabigoe]

Humans are terrible. They would even leave one of their own, a child, out to die. All because they didn't want to associate with her social class. An experience that Fio knows personally. Despite being a human herself, she was extremely wary about trusting people on her first day aboard the Eterna.

Of course, her opinion now has changed being able to spend time away from an unsafe home.

She shakes her head. "When I first came here, I was... hurting a lot. I was super sad and everything. It's because of the people here that I'm able to keep going. It's why I'm not lonely anymore. So I wanna do my best to help them too. I know humans do terrible things... but I've met a lot of nice ones here. You're safer here."

Most are nice... as long as you don't attack them...

[angelofthenight]

"Safer?" Demona doesn't hide the skepticism in that one acidic word. "No, I don't think so. Perhaps that is true for you." Knowing how soft humans can be for small children, very likely it is. "But this is no place for me. Look."

She spreads her wings wide behind her back, flapping them open with one hard snap. "I need space to glide. I need wind. This place is not suited for me, nor me for it. I have already been attacked. I have already been cornered. How could you possibly understand?"

[sabigoe]

Safer as long as Demona doesn't sign up for an excursion, she should add. And if she stays away from the more unusual happenings across the ship, like the flowers from last month. There is a sky around them for flight, but they're still contained. She assumes what she means is flying beyond their boundaries. Fio would love that greater freedom, just as much.

Just when she wants to reassure her that they'll find greater skies to soar, a look of concern crosses her features. "You were attacked? By who? Why?"

[angelofthenight]

"Why? Because I look like this, no doubt." Demona says tartly. Though, that isn't actually the truth.

"My body was defaced while I slept and I retaliated against the one who did it. Some person named Darcy. Now, Darcy's companions, apparently, want their vengeance too."

[sabigoe]

...She really doubts that's the case. Her father is a very cool skeleton with a bunch of friends and no one attacks him for looking weird! Okay, she doesn't know about that last part because it's not like she's with him all the time.

"Darce?" she says with a light gasp. "I don't get it. Darce wouldn't do anything mean just 'cause you look like... you."

A pause. Hang on a second while she mouths out that big word just now. "Re- re-tali-ate. That means... to fight back. You didn't try to talk to them?"

[angelofthenight]

"Well, he did. I awoke to find I had things taped to me as I slept. And he seemed to think it was funny." She's leaving out how he apologized after mostly because she didn't believe it was genuine (even though it was.)

"Yes. That is what it means. I found him in the kitchen and confronted him. His words did not satisfy me."

[sabigoe]

Fio is very fond of Darcy, always having seen him in a positive light. Always enjoying his hugs. They always got along well. But, wow! Poor Demona. This sounds like bullying!

"What did he say? He should have apologized..."

[angelofthenight]

"He made a feeble attempt at it but, as I said, it was not satisfactory. I do forgive lightly. My clan were all killed in their sleep, you see. It is no small matter to me."