[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

[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."