ROLEPLAY HQ - inked-hearts

Today had been a busy day at work. It was the Saturday, after all. Most of the students went out to go partying. Of course, a bar would be packed full of half drunk people. What else had he expected? It wasn't his first workday after all, and it certainly wouldn't be his last, even though he didn't enjoy it very much. It got hectic and stressful too quick, and the noise prevented him from following his line of thoughts. Olivier found it hard to imagine, that just a few years ago he could have been one of these people. It felt like it was ages ago since he had been at university... Exhausted, he arrived at his home. Still a strange word to call this place he was so unfamiliar with. Yet it seemed particularly welcoming today with it's crooked window sills and the sun bleached paint. It was his own place, after all. How couldn't he feel proud? It was strange how cheap it had been, but he was in no position to care. As long as he had a roof over his head, he wouldn't mind, even if that meant living in a potential murder house or finding out along the way he was sharing it with a ghost. Olivier could probably deal with that. At least to some degree. And as soon as he found the time and most importantly, the required money, he would turn this place upside down. He had already started in the places he stayed in the most, clearing out the old things from the previous owner that were left behind, as well as giving it new life with a few coats of paint. So far he had only managed to fully decorate the living room, but he was making progress. Slow progress but progress nonetheless. The sun was slowly rising, making the sky shimmer in the most beautiful tones of orange and red. Technically he should be heading to bed now, to get a well deserved rest, but it was simply a sight too beautiful to miss it. He could go to sleep later. Right now he wanted to enjoy the view, and maybe while he was still up he could also move a few more things around.

8:48 AM

Or Olivier could check out the strange board he had found yesterday. It had intrigued him after only ever seeing it in horror movies so far. Olivier didn't believe any of the rumors told about its potential to communicate with spirits or ghosts. They probably were just there to scare small children, because who else would believe such unproven claims? But where had he put it? A few moments were spent rummaging through his art supplies and the few other personal items he still hadn't put away, until he procured the dusty piece of wood. He simply sat it on the ground before him with a good view of the sunrise through one of the windows, opening the box and putting the strange triangular device onto the wooden board. There were no instructions but based on what he had seen in movies one simply asked a question and the board would answer, right? Would it even work if he was alone? Olivier suspected that if multiple people tugged at the device at the same time, it somehow let to the formation of words and sentences, but he was alone. Maybe this wasn't a good idea. But now it was a bit too late to get cold feet and back down. It couldn't be that bad. Or at least that's what he told himself. His hands were shaking a bit and a lump had formed inside his throat. This wasn't as scary as in the movies, it was nearly bright daylight outside and there wasn't anything scary going on, but Olivier still felt a sense of uneasiness and dread, while he raised his hands to put them on the strange device. Why exactly had he thought this would be a good idea? Why hadn't he just gone to bed? Why was his curiosity always getting the better of him... He regretted even thinking about this, regretting it even more that he was stuck in this situation now. Hands resting on the triangular piece of wood, waiting for something, anything to happen. He almost was disappointed as his suspicion got confirmed. Nothing moved. Nothing strange happened. Olivier was ready to end it at that,

8:49 AM

before he realized to his own displeasure that he had forgotten the most important part, the question. Why had he remembered that just now? He nearly had put the thing away but no... Of course now he had to ask his stupid question, or it wouldn't be authentic. Not directed at anyone or anything in particular, his gaze fixated on the still rising sun outside, he asked his question, ready for more disappointment because he wouldn't receive an answer. "Is someone here?" @Argeneau25

The tasty soul still lingered on his lips as Zarreth remembered the last person that had bought this home and thought it would be a good idea to play with eh Oujia board alone. The area around him was nothing to look at as it was just darkness. There were places that had a bit of light, just something that could help him dee as he wondered the emptiness that was around him. But as he was just sitting in the darkness he felt something that he hadn't felt in a while. The time around him moved but never did he know how much of this time or anything to tell him what he wanted to know. The small shifts turned into full on movement making a girn start to form on Zarreth's lips. It was that of evil but also joy, it was a mix of everything really as he only knew that this ment that someone else had found his board and was going to play with it. With how many times that he moved over the years the movement of stairs, he could forget those anywhere. He tried his best to say standing taking in everything that was going around him. There was a faint sound of either someone singing, a song playing or could have been even birds, but it was a tune of something. The tone was making him feel more and more joy that he was finally going to be set free. But soon the joy disappeared as all the moving stopped and the tone ended. It was like this for days, even weeks Zarreth was not sure but all he knew is that he was going to be just stuck here for longer. It was just one more soul that he was in need of, one more soul to finally get out of this place and punish the others for putting him in this board.

10:43 AM

It was not that he didn't diserve to be exiled but on the other had he was a demon after all. How could he not go back on a deal here and there to get what he wanted. Zarreth sat there just thinking about the past more and more before it was felt again. The movement and the shifting. It was finally here, time to get to meet this human that got his board and was going to free him. The board moved and more light could be seen in the darkness. Once the magical piece was placed on the board, a hole opened and Zarreth looked up and through it, but the sight of the human, was making him laugh. "Out of any human this worthless thing is going to free me?" He told himself shaking his head. He even didn't want to come out of the board as the quetion was asked, but it was the rule. So in a clear stream Zarreth's body morphed into the mist and appeared behind the boy. With a growl, he crossed his arms over his chest and used the tip of his tail to tap the boy on the shoulder. "Look behind you and you will see that YES someone is here." He said with a huff looking around at the room. He remembered this home being something else, and different things around but he did some of the furnitre that was left behind when he ate the other human that was living here at some point. @SirFüncelot

At the sudden sound of a voice as well as the unexpected touch on his shoulder, Olivier couldn't do anything else but wince. He flinched back as a silent gasp left his mouth. He wasn't too sure what he had expected, maybe some rattling of the window shutters or that the thing in his hands moved on its own, no, most of all he had thought nothing at all would happen. Suddenly getting disabused like this was strange. How could he have thought that something, someone, would appear behind him and be able to touch him? This whole situation was surreal, and he hoped it was just a dream, and he had already gone to bed like he was supposed to. After his initial shock, his first instinct told him to let go of the strange device. As if they had been burned by fire, he quickly removed his hands from it, pressing them tightly against his chest, hoping that this would stop this nonsense and make who ever had come here go away. But it was to no avail. He still felt the looming presence behind himself. Olivier didn't want to, but his curiosity got the better of him. There was no running away from this anyway. He should simply face who it was. It may lead to his ultimate demise, but at least he got to look the one responsible for it in the eye while it happened. It wouldn't matter which way he was faced in the end. It would all lead to the same outcome. Slowly, Olivier turned around, fixating the person who apparently had emerged from the book by the works of some strange magic. He took a closer look at him, noting the tail and horns, not sure what they meant exactly because this person before him was so beautiful that it left him speechless. His cheeks turned slightly pink as his eyes wandered deeper down, over his mostly exposed chest. Who wore such a revealing outfit? And most of all, why wasn't he embarrassed by it like any normal human being would? The tails or at least the horns should have been a clue that this wasn't a normal human,

6:33 PM

but he simply ignored all the signs, adverting his gaze to stop himself from staring at his chest. His eyes fixated themselves at a point somewhere behind the stranger, while he took a few labored breath, trying to calm himself down. A panic attack probably wouldn't be the best thing to experience right now. But how could he not. There was a stranger in his house, and he would probably die in the next few minutes. When would be a better time for panic than now? "I'm sorry for disturbing your peace, I simply was curious. I'll do whatever it takes to bring you back where you came from, so there is no reason to threaten me in any way.", he mumbled, stumbling nervously over the words, finally casting his gaze down. Even if he wasn't directly looking at him, his flashy appearance made it hard to concentrate. As if that wasn't hard enough already because of how scared he was. He didn't expect his words to have any effect, but even if there was just a slight chance that they may change the outcome at least a bit in his favor, he would try to do so. "Look, I'm very sorry to disturb your slumber, but I'm tired and the decision I made just now was probably a rather dumb one. Can't we just pretend this never happened, and you just go back? I don't want to move out here just because I angered some sort of spirit.", Olivier added with a desperate tone in his voice at the sudden realization why everything had been so cheap and what it meant if whoever this was didn't like him. He wasn't able to afford another place. And with how hard it would be to sell this house, he would never see any money for it. He couldn't leave. Either this ghost, or whatever he was, was comfortable with them both living here, or they had to find some sort of solution to make this work. Either he got killed right away, or they discussed some sort of cleaning and cohabitating plan. There really wasn't any other option. @Argeneau25

It took some time for the human to turn around and the reason was something was always different with how these humans are. There were times that some would just run, and others would try to fight him, but this one was doing something strange. It was talking to him. He tilt his head to the side as the other turned around to face him talking about his sleep, and waking him up. But the one thing that just made Zarreth laugh, for the first time in decades. "Go away really, you want me to go away. There is no way I can do that little human and to tell you the truth I am no spirit, I am a demon." He said before leaning closer to the boy. He watched the boy's face ever so closely now just watching them look around and then over his body only to see the red come to their face. Zarreth leaned back and tilt his head more to the side. "You humans are so very strange." He said before looking over himself to his clothes and then back at the human "My clothes really, that is was bothering you. I rather not wear these things but you humans seem to freak out even more when we appear in the nude." He said before the human started to ramble again. He just stood there listening more before growling some to his throat and his tail swayed a bit behind him "I could can less when you freed me from that thing. All I need now is your soul and then I can leave this world behind and do what it is that was in the process of doing before these assholes exiled me." Zarreth said with a huff as he went to thinking about who he was going to get first after he would eat this human's soul.

6:56 PM

But as he thought, he found himself looking at the human more and more, but it was not on how he was going to eat the soul, but if he even wanted it in the first place. Yes is was going to be his 100th soul and then he could disappear but there was something else about the boy that he didn't even know if the soul from them was going to be enough. There were some tough humans before figting back and everything, made him feel so powerful but this human was a bit on the thinner side. Zarreth still had his arms crossed over his chest just thinking more and more now about this human on the other side of things. This made his growl and start to pace the area thinking now of other things that he could do with this human.

6:57 PM

@SirFüncelot

A demon? Well, that would explain the horns and the tail, but not why it had appeared through the strange board. Olivier had always thought one had to summon a demon through some complicated ritual mostly involving candles, ancient tomes as well as strange Latin phrases. But maybe he was mistaken. Maybe the board had been cursed or possessed. Not that it really mattered because none of that helped him. Not when this demon apparently wanted to devour his soul to achieve some ulterior motive. He didn't quite understand what he meant without all the details, but it seemed he wasn't here on his own accord, and he couldn't leave because of that. So was he stuck with him? Would this be his new life? Dreading the moment this demon finally would have enough of him or accomplish everything he still had to do and then claim his soul. Even just the thought made him shudder. Olivier never had thought of himself as someone with a soul. He wasn't religious by any means. Surely there had to be something that kept the human mind and body going but a soul... It had seemed like some esoteric opinion that was hard to believe. Apparently it was true, though. Or at least to some extent. Maybe 'soul' was a term to describe it, whatever that was inside of him. Certainly all humans would understand what was meant with it even if they didn't believe in a soul per se. "But... Don't we have to make some sort of pact before you claim my soul?", he asked curiously, because firstly, he was still alive and had to have his soul, so it didn't seem like an instantaneous process and secondly, that's what various scary movies had taught him. Demons always wanted to make a pact of some sort, helping the humans achieve some greater goal to make their soul tastier or whatever. Olivier was no expert regarding spirits or demons. Most of his information he had from different types of media,

7:46 PM

and their liability probably wasn't the best to begin with. "Aren't you supposed to offer me something in return for my soul, or have even the demon's sunken this low already?" Maybe poking the demon wasn't the best idea one could have, but if he had to die no matter what, he could at least try to get something out of it. What even meant it to get one's soul devoured? Would he become a part of the demon, or would he simply cease to exist? How long did he have until then, and how much longer could he drag it out? Was that even a possibility? Could he persuade the demon to give him some more time? To maybe accomplish his dream? If he was as almighty as movies made demons seem, he certainly would have the power to do so, but would he want to? Would Olivier be able to part with his life if he had achieved this goal of his willingly? Maybe he should think this over again. Wasn't there something else he wanted? Power? Money? If he could ask for anything... What would he ask for? There were so many things to consider. @Argeneau25

This human was on the more attractive side yes but then again, he was getting to the point of being just so annoying. With all the questions and him thinking that he knew about demons more then a demon. "Well if you know that then tell me what do you want that will keep me NOT from taking your soul. I mean I can take it all I want. I am a demon and we may have laws but we don't even follow them ourselves." He said with alie and a laugh. It was more fun playing with this human than anything else right now. But it was getting a bit boring. All Zarreth wanted was to be free and get far away from that devil board as he could. It was funny that the boy would just ramble in his mind as it was a trick that only he could do. But it had to be fresh thoughts, thoughts that were on the way out the mouth sometimes. "You want to play, waste my time, oh human. I will take the soul if you give it to me or not." He said just listening more and more. The thoughts were always so fun to listen to with some time as it was a way that he could get answers with haste and give the humans what they wanted all the times. @SirFüncelot ((SORRY ABOUT THE WAIT))

Did he-Did he just read his thoughts? Olivier was taken aback by this sudden realization, as the demon talked about something he shouldn’t know about. Or at least that's what he thought, because he hadn’t said these things out loud. They had stayed inside his head, only for him to know. If he could just dig through them as much as he wanted… Olivier hoped the demon hadn’t been doing this since the beginning. Especially during the part where he had suggested that demons usually didn’t wear clothes. Him thinking about this again now probably wasn’t the best idea. He tried to make these thoughts disappear, thinking about nothing at all, but failing miserably. Mostly because of panic, but also because he remembered his less than pure thoughts from before, which made him blush heavily. “I-I’m certain my soul won’t be very tasty!”, he began to convince him with a rather weak first argument. Digging through his mind for anything that would be more helpful, than this halfhearted attempt to persuade him. He had to get this right! He wanted to achieve his dream! But how? This wasn’t some sort of noble cause or a grand scheme. It was a simple dream of becoming an artist. Having one of his works featured in a gallery would be enough for him. He would happily give his soul if that was what it would take. Maybe he should think of something better? Something more ambitious. Olivier could certainly ask for money or power, pleasing the demon with that request, but that wasn’t what he wanted. It took all of his courage, as well as several tries to find the correct words, before he managed to voice his request. Clenching, his fist’s so hard that his knuckles turned white. Olivier couldn’t think of anything smart to say, so this had to be enough. He would lose his soul anyway. What did it matter? “You can have my soul, but in return I want my art featured in a gallery. I want that my parents know this wasn’t just some sort of fever dream.

5:54 AM

The work that I do is good and recognized. Or at least it will be, if I have more time…” His shoulders slumped a bit after adding the final part, his gaze lowering to the ground. This was it. Either he did it and made this demon change his mind, which was very unlikely, or he would die here, without a single accomplishment to his name, the same good-for-nothing son his parents had seen in him all those years ago. @Argeneau25

With the plead of his soul not tasting good that only made Zarreth laugh. "When you live a demon as much as I have then all souls end up tasting the same and it doesn't matter" HE said but then started to listen to the boy on what he wanted. Art, really?" He asked with a raised brow looking around and then back at the boy "And it would....where?" Zarreth asked again as he rather see what he was going to make get into galleries. If it was one thing that the demon had and it was a bit of class. He was not going to put something that was horrible into galleries no matter what the boy was trading. He remebered back in the day he would have ties with humans, getting them everything and anything that they want until he was betrayed and forced into that board to get 100 souls. It was the only reason that he was even talking to this human as he wanted those ties back along with just getting out of that board and live his life. As he was waiting to see some of the paintings Zarreth thought he would take a look around. Turning his back to the boy and just looked around the house just seeing how everything had change. Zarreth knew in a way turning his back to a human was a bad thing but what could this human do to him that others haven't done to get out of giving up their souls. @SirFüncelot

Olivier had expected the worst, but instead he was asked to show him his work? With slight confusion in his eyes, he raised his head again, staring at the demon for a few seconds, with disbelief written all across his face. He was slowly blinking, trying to understand if this was really happening right now or if he already had died and was now experiencing the afterlife. No matter what it was, he felt happy. It had been ages since someone had wanted to see his work without the ulterior motive of getting it for free or at least some kind of big discount. A wide smile found its way onto his lip, making him radiate an aura of happiness, as he began to move again. “S-Sure! I can show you a few things. You need to follow me though.”, he said, already making his way across the room, to go into the living room, planning on showing him his most recent piece on the wall there. Just being able to do this felt good. He was a bit self-conscious because not all of his pieces were as great as he would have liked them to be, but he still had tried his best. Maybe he didn’t need to show the demon all of them. Just the ones he was the most proud of. And maybe, yes, maybe he could really help him. Olivier didn’t know how, but maybe he was some kind of strict art critic before. He probably had lived for quite some time now. It would make sense to some degree. As he noticed him not following after him, Olivier turned around, focusing his eyes on his back and watching him glance around. “Are you coming? I… Your tasty soul may run away if you don’t watch it close enough.”, he tried his luck with a joke, not confident in the effect it would have on the demon. Did they even understand jokes and fun? @Argeneau25

While Zarreth was looking around he heard the other's words behind him> Slowly he turned around and sighed "Yeah yeah." He said following the human down the stairs to the living room. He looked more now around the room then at anything else before looking back at the human "Plus if you were to run any I would have to chase you and you will not let it when I get you." HE said with a grin. He was trying so hard to be this all mighty demon to show that he was a force not to mess with but on the other hand the more that he was looking at this human, the smell of them was starting to bother him. But it was not a bother in a bad but a good one. He was enjoying the smell of the other and that he wanted to hear more of what they had to say. He would try so hard to try to show no interest in the other but that was FAR from what he was really wanting. The way that the human talked it felt like he didn't care that he was a demon. It was true he wanted to keep his soul but even with everything there was a feeling starting that he might not want to take this human's soul. Zarreth shook his head at the thinking that was going on in his mind right now going back to wanting to look at the others art and see if it was worth putting it up anywhere in a gallery. @SirFüncelot

He led the demon in the freshly painted and redecorated living room. It had taken him two whole weekends to get to this point, and he was quite proud of it. The walls were painted a light green hue, with a big tree painted in one of the corners, right across from the door. Its branches spread across the upper part of the walls, covered with soft looking leaves, as well as small fireflies. At its base stood a few small bushes, hiding a lake in the moonlight behind them. It wasn't anything particularly exciting, but it fit with the older looking dark furniture inside the room, making it seem much friendlier that way. Or at least that’s what he had thought, because now that they were here, he felt embarrassed by it, noticing all the small mistakes he had made in the process. Maybe showing him around hadn’t been such a good idea after all. What if he hated what he saw? What if he wasn’t as good as he thought? This was just a stupid tree and a few lights, nothing impressive. He should have shown him something else. One of his paintings or even his sketchbook. Anything was better than this. “That’s it. You’ve gotten a good look at it. Let’s continue!”, Olivier spoke quickly, his voice sounded nervous, and he was already turning around again, ready to close the door as soon as the demon left the room. He was already worrying about what else he could show off to impress him. Everything seemed so insignificant at the moment. Clumsily made without any real thought put behind it. Maybe he really wasn’t destined to become an artist. He should have listened to his parents and become a lawyer or a doctor. At least then he wouldn’t have ended up like this. Showing a demon around his house just to prolong his pathetic life for a few more minutes. @Argeneau25

As he followed the human around, the art that was shown to him was indeed good in his eyes and some even looks familiar in a way but it was starting to get annoying as all he wanted was to get his soul and get the hell out of here. Zarreth walked out of the room and when the human's back was turned to him, he took his chance and grabbed him by the shoulders. He spun him around and pinned the human to the now closed door and growled. "That is enough now. I want yur soul and I want it now." He said moving one of his hands to the human's throat holding it a bit tight before just staring into the other's eyes. But as he was doing so, there was a heavy thud in his chest that made his hands let the human go and backed away. It was all but shock in his eyes on what the hell just happened. There was something about this human that was different in a way but on the other hand, it was the first time that he thought about taking a soul. It was something calm about it. Zarreth was more confusioned on what he was really wanting. He stood there still in shock before backing away more until his back was to the wall on the other side of the hallway. His hand holding his chest just feeling still the thud that happened there. @SirFüncelot

Olivier felt relief wash over him as he could finally close the door behind the demon, already thinking two steps ahead about what he would show him next. Everything else would be just as bad as this, wouldn’t it? He gulped, ready to continue on, maybe even distract him with something else. Maybe one of his older oil paintings? But where had he put them? Lost in thought, Olivier didn’t even realize Zarreth approaching him. It wasn’t until he felt the hard wooden door in his back and the claws on his throat that he flinched, eyes wide as he fixed them on the demon. Didn’t they have a deal or something? Or was that not important for a demon? Obviously not, or he wouldn’t demand his payment like this. He swallowed heavily, frantically searching his brain for words to calm the situation down, but until that happened, Zarreth had already let go of him again, moving back until he reached the other end of the hallway. Olivier looked at him confused, feeling his throat for any blood drawn by his claws, glad that that didn’t seem to be the case. It probably would bruise, though… Just by watching the demon for a bit, his anxiousness just grew more and more. “I… I thought we had a deal… Or is that not how it’s supposed to work?”, he asked quietly, remaining as far from the demon as possible, not taking his eyes off of him in case he wanted to try something like this again. “Can you just take my soul whenever you please? What even is the reason I’m showing you around in the first place… I could have saved myself the embarrassment… I thought… you’d be able to fulfill my wish…”, he kept on rambling, his gaze slowly dropping to the floor. As if he could defend himself against a demon… That deal had been what would have saved him, or at least given him more time. But with it gone… What difference did it make if he saw his end approaching or not?

11:51 PM

Though that demon… He had some otherworldly charm to him, and… If he could, he would have liked to study him a bit more. Maybe sketch or even paint him… He would have made a good model. @Argeneau25

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