[Open]

[histruename]

Characters: Hellboy and YOU!
Date: April 1st through the 6th
Location: All over the place.
Situation: Hellboy wanders around trying to be useful.
Warnings/Rating: None.

As signs of sickness settle over Tu Vishan, Hellboy finds himself getting more and more agitated. There's not much he can do about the dying trees in Wood, or the black mold that creeps and consumes the Water Sector like a death shroud. The place is literally falling apart around him, and he's feeling pretty damn helpless to stop it.

Meanwhile, the office he opened in the Metal Sector sits empty. He's already gotten into a few tiffs over rent with the guy he leases it from. Money is tight, and everybody wants more of it. But agreeing to pay a higher fee will keep the guy off of his ass for now, at least until he runs out of money. Or until he decides to close the place down.

So that leaves him pretty much broke. But worst of all, it leaves him sober. Two years spent chained in the bottom of the ocean taught him he really didn't need to eat or drink to survive, but hell if he really even wants to think about that. He doesn't want to think about a damn thing. But having no money to waste on liquor doesn't leave him with a whole lot of options.

And what does Hellboy do when he can't metaphorically run from his problems, you ask? He does it literally, of course. So here he is, trudging his way across Keeliai, looking to stumble upon people who might actually know how to fight this environmental disaster and offer help if they need it. But most of all, he's just looking for a distraction.

Feel free to swing by the office in the Metal Sector; the one with the sign above the door that reads "Paranormal Investigation". Or you can find him wandering around the most diseased parts of the turtle. After several days of traveling, he'll wind up down by the exposed shell of the turtle's edge, looking out toward the sea. The mainland is a hulking grey ghost lurking on the horizon, drawing nearer by the hour. There, he lights one of his last cigarettes and waits.

Comments

[histruename]

Hellboy just watches as the girl gets her bearings, keeping an eye on that sword. It's not an unusual reaction to his appearance. He's had worse, and it's something he's pretty used to. Does it rub him the wrong way? Sure. But that's not her fault, and any hard feelings are completely unreadable. Whether that's by sheer will or the fact that his hard, angular features are pretty incapable of most expression is anyone's guess.

Either way, he doesn't look or sound the least bit offended as he steps aside and invites her in. "Sure, come on in."

He turns to lead her up the dark, creaky stairwell that leads to the makeshift attic office on the building's third floor. As he climbs, Sabriel may notice the sound she'd heard from the other side of the door was not shoes, but the sound of cloven hooves clacking against the old wood. And that sure is a tail snaking out of the folds of his duster, bobbing behind him with every step.

[bindsthedead]

Sabriel followed, pausing for a second after taking in his hooves and tail, before starting to speak again, trying to fill the silence and stop herself from staring as she walked behind him.

"I have heard that the City was attacked by the Dead before- have there been any other incidents involving the Dead or magic?" The only other mage she'd encountered seemed too kindhearted to be involved in anything like Free Magic, but others might not be.

[histruename]

"Yeah, there's plenty of both," he answers without looking back, sounding less than thrilled about the whole thing. The stairs creak dangerously under his weight the farther up they climb, but he doesn't seem too concerned. "Last time it was zombies falling out of the sky. Before that, ghosts. And don't forget the giant magic turtle crap," he adds wryly as they reach the top.

Upstairs is a sparse, one room place with a single window and a gathering of chairs arranged in one corner. The musty smell of dust and disuse still lingers in the walls over the fading smell of cigarettes.

Hellboy crosses the room and takes a seat in one of the sturdier chairs, gesturing for Sabriel to do the same. When he speaks again, his tone is serious. "I don't know how much you know, kid. But the Emperor is one powerful witch. And every time she summons another one of us here, far as I'm concerned, that's as much of an "incident" as any."

[bindsthedead]

"So Dead both with physical bodies and without," Sabriel murmured as she sat down, lacing her hands in front of her.

"I have walked between Life and Death since I was twelve," Sabriel admitted, "But I never heard about this place before I came here. The Emperor is powerful- and using some kind of magic that I'd never heard of." Which was rather a shock to realize- but then, ever since she left Ancelstierre, she seemed to find more and more things she was completely ignorant of.

"Though if she's preventing the dead from passing on, it may be a form of necromancy." Which would mean it was an Abhorsen's duty to remedy the situation. Her duty, since she was the closest thing to an Abhorsen here.

[histruename]

He listens with a thoughtful look, trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together. Hellboy knows a lot about the supernatural, but there's also a hell of a lot he doesn't know, especially with all the lore and inner-workings of other worlds thrown into the mix.

All he knows is the word necromancy sets his teeth on edge. He knows plenty about that, and thinking of the Emperor's power that way lights an angry spark in his stomach.

But he'll save that for later. For now, it's business. Fact-finding. For now that's all he can do.

"So you're a medium," he offers, hoping she understands the term. Right now he only thinks he has an idea of what she means.

[bindsthedead]

Sabriel tilted her head at the word, then cleared her throat and decided to hope for the best. Surely, someone who looked like this wouldn't judge her for the more disturbing things she knew.

"I'm not familiar with the term, but- where I'm from," Sabriel swallowed, a little nervously, "I'd be called a necromancer, though I do not- and will not raise the dead- my duty is to undo the work of those who do." Her father's duty anyway. One that had now fallen to her, until he returned to Life.

"I also have some skill with Charter magic," Sabriel added, almost as an afterthought, "And I'm good with a sword." Might as well let her potential employer know more about her skills.

[histruename]

Yeah that's... not exactly what he had in mind. Hellboy's expression is flat, flatter than his usual mostly-expressionless face. It makes his golden-eyed gaze that much more intense beneath his heavy brow. "Charter magic?" He asks in a tone to match.

All this talk about necromancy and magic is making him pretty damn wary. She seems like an okay girl, but that doesn't sit well with him at all.

[bindsthedead]

"Normal magic," Sabriel said, before realizing how unhelpful that was and elaborating with an uncomfortable look on her face.

"It's... orderly, and safer than Free magic and Necromancy- and can be used without the risk of corruption, and is one of the best means of defense against the Dead and Free magic creatures."

[histruename]

Safer, right... Far as he's concerned, no magic is "safe". There's always the risk of corruption, and usually you need to be corrupt to begin with. There's certain rituals and pacts with horrible things that have to be made. It's always bad, and it's always ugly.

"Okay," Hellboy sighs, trying to keep an open mind. "Listen, I'm not the biggest fan of magic. But you seem like a good kid, so I'll tell you why."

He rests his left hand atop his massive stone one, where it's sitting huge and heavy in his lap. As he speaks, his eyes narrow. Thinking about witches makes his blood boil, especially now. Especially after that thing at the Sabbath. They were stupid enough to think he'd want to be their king. God damn...

"Where I'm from there's really nothing "safe" about it. We're talking about making pacts with demons, sacrificing children... Nasty stuff. It's something people don't usually tend to mess with unless they're evil or just plain stupid."

But there are exceptions. Like Molhomi. He was an okay guy. Maybe he could cut this girl some slack. Maybe. He just has to let her explain herself better.

[bindsthedead]

"I'm not sure what 'demons' are," Sabriel said, "But that sounds like Free Magic, which is... inimical to Charter Magic, and life in general, in almost all cases. The Charter is-" How on earth could she describe the Charter?

"Symbols," Sabriel said, "Order. It describes everything that has ever existed or will exist, and the bonds that tie everything together. Drawing upon it can be- exhausting, but even in the worst possible circumstances, it is always the mage casting it who pays the price."

"And I've never made any bargains with any Dead or Free magic creature. What power I have I gained by study, or was born with- such as my sense of Death," Sabriel finished.

[histruename]

Sense of Death seems like a pretty lousy power to be born with, but he won't say that out loud. Not that he's really that sure what it even means. But he's trying to take it all in stride.

Still, it makes him pretty damn uneasy.

"So," he says, his tail twitching restlessly on the floor like an impatient cat's. "What can you do?"

She mentioned putting the dead to rest. That didn't sound all that bad, other than the way she kept saying necromancy. In his mind, it brings to light memories of ghouls and zombies, of moth-eaten corpses wandering from their graves. Nothing good. Nothing restful.

[bindsthedead]

"I can sense the presence of the Dead, as well as when living things die," Sabriel explained, "And the- impression left behind in places where there's been a great deal of death, or bodies buried- places where the boundary between Life and Death is thin." It wasn't an ability she was fond of- she'd hoped that moving further south into Ancelstierre would lessen it, though she hadn't gotten the chance to try.

Sabriel let one hand rest on the handle of the smallest bell. The bandolier had been designed to secure the bells thoroughly- they weren't able to ring unless they were removed, and all of them were silver, with mahogany handles.

"These bells w- are my father's. When rung correctly, they force the Dead out of their physical bodies and into Death- and then past the point where they could ever return to Life," Sabriel added. Listing the precise functions of all of the bells didn't seem necessary- some of them she would hopefully never have cause to use in her life.

[histruename]

"I'm guessing by "Dead" you mean the undead. Unless those bells actually kill people," Hellboy rumbles, eying those bells a little. Magical death bells... he's seen stranger.

[bindsthedead]

"Undead?" Sabriel blinked, "I suppose you could call them that. No longer alive, but not properly dead either."

[histruename]

Hellboy nods once. That he can understand. "It's a catch-all term for that kind of thing. Zombies, vampires, ghouls..."

He reaches up to scratch his chin, his tail flicking thoughtfully on the floor. Finally he's started making sense of the whole thing. The terminology is different, but it sounds like the girl is pretty much a medium paired with a very powerful exorcist. At least that's how he's taking it.

"So that's Charter Magic."