H.E.L.L - Highly Entertaining Life in Limbo

[redblood]

King Arthur? No one had even proven that he existed. It was just a legend. If he had existed, shouldn't there have been more evidence for it than a few myths? Most kings around the world had a lot of writings about them or paintings and sculptures of them, or buildings that would show how great they had been. Now Leilah suggested that she had lived during King Arthur's rule and died shortly after? Even for Annabelle, this story was hard to swallow. Maybe he had existed. There were some kings and queens that people had tried to erase from history. But king Arthur had been such a great king according to legends, so why would his country try to silence his existence?

"King Arthur?" Annabelle did look at Leilah as if she waited for her to start laughing and tell her that she was kidding, but since she doubted that would actually come, she continued on another track. "So king Arthur actually existed, huh? Was he the same as the legends made him out to be? Did Lancelot really have a an affair with Arthur's wife?" The later question was mostly to see if what Leilah said was true or not. Lancelot was extremely popular in the Arthur legend, but he weren't involved in the original legend, he was added later on by some author she couldn't remember the name on. If she went with the popular version instead of the original or changed the story altogether, since legends probably differed from reality, Annabelle could be more certain that it was a lie.

 

[The Returner]

[fieldbox="Won't you look at that, #cd5c5c, dashed"]

The overlord wouldn't be in rule for that long if he wasn't good at what he did (or if people didn't know that he was as powerful enough to not be overthrown just by anybody). Hence, Annabelle's surprise that seemed greater than in maybe should have been, did not throw him off balance. Also, thanks to his lack of reading any sort of literature from Earth, apart from the guest's stories and the scarce knowledge of the legends, the name Lancelot meant nothing to him and as such, the overlord figured out that the girl might be trying to test him. So after all, it seemed that their trust level weren't as high as it seemed before. "I don't know what legends you know, but to us who lived during his rule, he was just another king. A good one. He did his job as best as he could. Just like Belzhar does. Whether that makes him a legend or not, I can't tell," replied Leilah, feeling that her answer couldn't really blow her cover. There was nothing incriminating in those words as far as she knew.

A few guards went past them, not dressed in plate armour, nor carrying a sword on their hip. If anything, they looked like two civilians walking down the corridor. Maybe that's how Annabelle might perceive them, but Leilah knew better, giving them a nod even as one of the guards, the one who looked younger but still with couple years on top of Annabelle's, gave the girl a light twist of lips in a hint of a smile. Nothing sly, nor uncomfortable. It was that notion when you see someone good looking and your face takes on a life of its own for a second creating that expression. The moment they passed by the shoulders, however, Leilah lightly nudged Annabelle. "Well, look at that. The dress suits you more than well to get that reaction from a soldier." Her voice was conspirational as if they were two girlfriends gossiping about boys, which Leilah kind of tried to instigate. Either way, they soon arrived at one of the larger windows that overlooked the area under the castle and the view that Annabelle was presented with...might not have been the brightest one.​

This was the castle town. Buildings that were standing up just seemingly by a sheer willpower that was construed by the will of the people that lived in them. It was not build for comfort, nor to win the best town prize in Hell. It was dark with the clouds hanging low, the sun that might have existed obscured by them. There were flames of lights in windows and some slowly moving down the streets as the souls made their final ways about their day. It became clear that the city must have burnt down from time to time as some of the constructions from stone, closer to the castle, were still charred with past blazing wounds. The city also didn't stretch out so far the eye couldn't see the end, but right at the point where you could doubt it, you could see a wall delineating the borders, with sorts of statues at regular intervals. Only the guards on top knew what those were and heaven knew it well too. Those walls were high, old and with marks of aeons old fight, that was still fresh in the overlord's memory, however. If anyone ever imagined limbo before, this picture gave the word the right, fulfilling meaning. It was dark, heavy, and souls living in it got shivers running down their spines just by taking in the atmosphere properly. From this vantage point, high in the castle and facing the other way from the abyss which was on the opposite side of the castle and unseen from their station, everything seemed miniature yet had stunning details if one looked well enough.

"Since it might take a while before you'll be able to go out with someone, I thought I'd at least show you the place you want to visit. So this is it. The limbo, you could say. Trust me, it's not nice living out there. Especially when Soul Eaters sometimes find their way through the walls. Now more than ever actually." Just the sound of that mystic creature couldn't bring any good feeling. Clearly, a soul could suffer in more than one way in here. It wasn't all just physical at the end of the day.​

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[redblood]

Somehow, Leilah perfectly dodged the question while giving a somewhat satisfactory answer. Annabelle didn't even realize that her question about Lancelot hadn't been addressed, though a small part of her did feel as if something was amiss. At least she would have an eternity to figure out what it was.

The topic was soon changed again as two soldiers passed them. Annabelle didn't take much notice though until the moment Leilah nudged her. Her comment made a slight blush appear on the girl's face. How was that even possible when she was dead? "Wha? No way. He was probably looking at you." Annabelle tried to rationalize. Even the thought of a guy noticing her made her a bit too self aware. She wasn't that pretty or good looking. At least not as she herself could see. Leilah beat her big time in that area, so it just made sense for people to look at the other woman.

Looking out of a window they walked up to, the sight wasn't the most pleasant one. Annabelle hoped that it looked better during sunny days, but at the same time she doubted that sunny days even existed. Limbo. It definitely didn't seem too pleasing, but then again, why should she be fed with a silver spoon when nobody else was? Learning to live in a new world would be important. There wasn't any guarantees that she would be able to stay in the castle forever anyways, so starting from the bottom felt like the best way of getting used to the world. She didn't want to tell Leilah that though. The woman had been so nice to her, it felt as if she would break her heart if she said that she wished to leave. However, Annabelle did want to state her wishes to the lord of the castle and hopefully find a compromise that would suit them both.

"Soul eaters? What are those?" Annabelle looked slightly nervously at Leilah. Their names made it pretty obvious what they did at least and it didn't make them sound any pleasant.

 

[The Returner]

[fieldbox="Maybe not yet, #cd5c5c, dashed"]

No senior soldier would look at Leilah that way. They all underwent a few tests during which they figured out, and got to know Belzhar's many faces in ways that taught them well. Since then, they kept their eyes to themselves which went by various meanings needless to describe in detail. And so the woman next to Annabelle just shook her head lightly, showing her wordless disagreement with the girl's statement. However, at the same time, she watched another wave of emotions, whispers of thoughts cross Annabelle's face. The subdued shiver that didn't quite creep onto Annabelle's skin wasn't something Leilah missed, because the nervousness was satisfactory enough to reassure Leilah that the Soul Eaters were probably starting to work as a deterrent for the girl to stay put for as long as possible. Even more so, now that Leilah would get to tell the story and oh boy she'd tell it well.

"Don't worry. They have never reached the castle before," said the woman, squeezing Annabelle's arm reassuringly, but clearly she was not done talking. There were some questions Leilah wanted to answer as best as she could. Obviously, for the benefit of the guest. "I know you said, you thought your body was not corporeal, but it is physical in a way, as you found out. Soul Eaters, though, can hurt you in a way that pushes your soul into oblivion, or nothingness, or however you want to call it. If they claw at you and hit, that wound cannot heal. It severs the ties that brought you here. Some work like poison, meaning you would certainly face the ultimate death and in oblivion you'd lose yourself there completely after excruciating pain that is much greater than what goes on beyond the bridge. Trust me, they are hideous to look at and the damage they do varies. Even demons need to be careful, because Soul Eaters can kill anything. Truly kill." There was no over the top drama in her voice, but the shiver that Leilah produced said more than the words could. If she were a real soul or demon, she would be frightened, careful for the sake of self-preservation even in this God damned place, but being only a form for the overlord, that act was expertly put on, cementing the illusion of reality.

"That's also the reason Belzhar doesn't want you to leave yet. If you were out there and the Soul Eaters would breach the wall again..." Shaking her head, the words she left unspoken were ringing in the air nevertheless - 'there would be no hope for you'. No need to say that the soldiers had orders to allow the creatures to enter from time to time, to spark fear in the souls and then kill the beasts before they would do too much damage, or too many kills. Lying by omission was it? Oh well, what sort of overlord would he be if he didn't indulge in sins after all...​

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[redblood]

Such fearful creatures resided in death? It was quite hard to imagine something further beyond death. An ultimate death, what would that be like? Would it be the kind of death she had always thought she would one day face? An endless nothingness and unawareness of past, present and future. A darkness one couldn't even fear because one's existence was already gone. The thought of death had kept her awake many nights. The unknown was frightening and not knowing when it would come made the anxiousness worse. Now she wouldn't even be able to put those thoughts to rest in death?

Annabelle's arms were tightly wrapped around her chest, almost as if it would shield her. While she didn't say anything, the expression she made would be enough to convince anyone that she would lock herself up just to stay safe. But just like the human she was, fear wouldn't stay within her forever, and she wouldn't let it rule her life. Eventually she would always come to the conclusion that it was better to take some risks than to stay locked up in boredom for safety.

"Are there other things here?" The girl asked after quite a few moments of silence. "Like normal animals?" She clarified. Annabelle did not want to stay on such a scary topic any longer. "Does animals also come here when they die, or do they go elsewhere?" If they didn't come to the afterlife, they would certainly get a lot of disappointed kids searching after their dogs, cats or other pets. Did they even have a soul? There were animals that showed human like emotions, did that count as having a soul? What qualified? Hearing some chirping in the early morning usually would annoy her, but now she felt that it would be missed. Suddenly what seemed annoying or awful in life felt like a necessity to feel normal. To feel alive.

 

[The Returner]

[fieldbox="Oh the fear, #cd5c5c, dashed"]

Seeing Annabelle wrap her arms around herself in such a scared way, propelled Leilah forward with the force of female empathy that she should not have been capable of, but managed to appropriate somehow. She lightly enfolded her own arms around the girl even if Annabelle was already coming out of the momentary shock. There was deeply hidden satisfaction in seeing the fear as it was the sign that the overlord's words took root and had an effect. "Really, don't worry Annabelle. The beasts never got into the castle before. You're safe here." Leilah reassured the girl as she pulled away slightly and gave Annabelle a mindful look, another web of intricacy to remain as humane as possible, making sure on the outside that the guest was not in too much fright, but on the inside hoping that it took a solid hold of the subjects mind, at least for as long as it would take to get what Belzhar wanted from the guest and much more.

After Annabelle's questions were spoken, Leilah gave a sigh and shook her head. "No. Animals don't come here, Annabelle. All you can hear is either the moans from beyond the bridge, or the howls of the Soul Eaters. Soldiers have tamed beasts so they can ride them, but that's about it." Animals usually went to Heaven as far as Leilah knew, but no one would get her to say that word unless someone wanted to make her face go twitch, her body convulse as if in epileptic shock. If there was anyone who disliked the fabled winged bureaucrats just as equally as Satan, it was Belzhar. Hence, why he decorated his region with their dead-turned-to-stone bodies, to laugh in the face of their kin. Either way, Hell was what it was meant to be. It only gave the souls a pinch of humanity and then it hammered with anything and everything inhumane for all the suffering it could get. Leilah's hand ran up and down Annabelle's arms again to emphasize her sympathy for her apparent loss, but again, perfectly veiled, there was no emotional basis for that motion.​

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[redblood]

Annabelle didn't even want to think about what was beyond the bridge. People being tortured in real life... Death, made her slightly uncomfortable. It was one thing for it to be on paper, and another for it to happen around the corner. Of course she knew that it happened, she was in hell after all, but she would probably deny the existence of those tortured souls for a long time.

It was kind of sad that the animals didn't go anywhere. Or at least they didn't go anywhere that Leilah knew of. Otherwise she would have mentioned the place they ended up in, right? "Too bad. I will miss having a little fur-ball around that tries to steal my attention." Annabelle's family had owned a cat for many years, though recently it had passed away. They had talked about adopting a new one, but it hadn't happened yet. Now there would be no second chances for a cat, or any other animal for that matter. Except if she wanted to take in a beast of course. Actually when she thought about it, it did sound a bit thrilling if it was kept chained. Well, it would be thrilling for her next story at least which was starting to take form in her mind. No way she wanted those things around in real life... Death. Gosh, that would be hard to get used to.

"Okay, last question for the day. What kind of food do you have down here and is there anything that resembles snacks and candy?" She finally asked. Annabelle was used to snacking on potato chips or other snacks while writing her stories, so now it felt pretty important to know what her alternatives were. She doubted there would be potato chips down there, at least in the form she was used to having them.

 

[The Returner]

[fieldbox="Foods, #cd5c5c, dashed"]

A little furball? Leilah could only try and figure out what that could have referred to and potentially the image of some small, hairy animal, not particularly cute because cuteness in Hell was a rarity, came to her mind, but she discarded it immediately. It was not important. Yet. Maybe. With Annabelle's apparent last question of the day, however, Leilah took her at the elbow and started leading the girl back to where they came from. It took the woman a few hums to figure out what there was to offer.

"Well, snacks...or candy... We have sweet apples, which are just whole apples coated in melted sugar, pies, small dough sticks, pretzels... Anything really. If you have anything specific in mind, tell me what it is and how to make it and I will relay it to the kitchen." With a smile, they went past the private dining hall where they spent majority of the time prior to the city viewing. Now, there was a man standing by the window that looked towards the bridge, his back to them, his features somewhat unclear. Maybe the lack of clarity was caused by the fact that they didn't really stop by the door or slowed down that it was hard to see any particular feature of him apart from his height and strong built. As for Leilah, she successfully managed to ignore him despite being aware of his presence and continued moving the two of them forward towards their destination.

"As for meals, they change up a lot. But don't worry, no one ever had any problem. Soul or demon alike." Suddenly it occured to Leilah that she has not mentioned demons much before if at all. Was Annabelle aware of their existence? Would there come another shower of questions? It would have been a very unfortunate timing because the man at the dining hall was waiting for the overlord. That much Leilah could tell. After all, he was a snitch and snitches always brought information. Information was gold. However, the need to hurry the guest along was hidden under a perfect smile as they stopped by the sets of doors. One leading to the guest's bedroom, the other to her work place. "So, what snack or candy would you like and which room are you going to be in? I will go and put in the request with the cook." Brilliant smile on flawless features truly made Leilah the master of disguise even as she let go of Annabelle's arm and stood on the side patiently.​

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[redblood]

Snacks sounded good, but then Leilah started going on about pies and apples drenched in melted sugar. Wasn't that what you ate at carnivals? That wasn't exactly snacks from her point of view, though they did live during different time periods and if Leilah hadn't met anyone whom had spoken of or shown her modern day snacks, then of course she wouldn't know of them. Maybe the kitchen staff knew of the things she wanted. Hopefully they did. Salted potato chips was the best snacks, though ranch was also pretty great.

Then the topic took an interesting, and quite frankly, a horrifying turn. Demons? Were there demons around? Should she be frightened? Suddenly there were a hundred new questions in her mind even though she already had said that the questioning was over for today. Annabelle forced herself to calm down. Leilah spoke so calmly of the demons so they couldn't be that bad. Now when she thought more carefully about it, Leilah had talked about it as if they lived together. They seemed to be eating the same food. So, she didn't need to be frightened then? While she still wished to ask about it, she decided against it. Tomorrow was another day. The questions could wait until then.

"I'm just gonna go write for a bit." Annabelle replied to the question while nodding toward the assigned study room. She would probably move over to the bed later, but she always started in a sitting position anyways. "I don't really know how to do the stuff I eat. We kind of just buy them in the stores now a days. But if you happen to find anyone who knows how to make salted potato chips, or potato chips with ranch or sourcream and onion taste, then that would be awesome." She continued. "Pizza's also nice junk food for writing. Mexican pizza with lots of jalapeno is my favorite." Suddenly she realized that it might go a bit too fast for the other woman. After all, they were from different time periods, maybe she had never heard of this stuff. "Ah, but if they don't know of any of that stuff, I'm fine without it. I do however know how to make pizza, so we could take a trip to the kitchen tomorrow and try it out. It's really fun to cook when you're two." Annabelle proposed. Pizza was one of the few dishes she actually liked to make on her own instead of buying it somewhere. The same went for hamburgers and tacos. They always became best if they were done by oneself. Everything else though, she tended to take the lazy rout.

 

[The Returner]

[fieldbox="Maybe not yet, #cd5c5c, dashed"]

Leilah waited for Annabelle to come forth with either choosing something from the selection she just offered or come up with something from her own world. Well...Leilah was listed with things she has never heard of and the slowly rising eyebrows as the list when on probably gave that away as the realization reflected on Annabelle's face. Soul hunt. The overlord will need to find someone who can do this. The kitchen staff won't know. They were demons and they were still quite unhappy about having a soul in the castle and having to adjust their usual food. Of course they would not go against the order from Belzhar, knowing and understanding the crucial role Annabelle had in the survival of the region."Ok, I will try and find out if anyone knows. Potentially relay it to Belzhar's second hand in command to lend some help." Leilah said to the girl and opened the door for her so she could proceed into the study with the woman left on the outside.

There were not really any records of what time period a soul came so it would be challenging to search through the whole castle town for that specific, but maybe they could succeed in a matter of days. "Well, I will try to get something to you soon. I will have one of the maids bring it to you as I try and find some modern time soul. And remember if you need me, I'll be around." With a last kind smile, Leilah closed the door. They did not really talk about the logistics of how Leilah would know when to appear, but she just about had enough of this task. Once there was a wall and a door between her and the guest, her shoulders slouched, expression on her face dropped. She would even grumble under her breath if she wasn't out in public. She never knew taking care of a soul was this exhausting. Honestly, the overlord should have send in Niazon, swoop the girl of her feet and be done with it. So many questions! No one ever questioned the overlord this much. It felt unusual.

Soon, Leilah's feet carried her through the corridors towards the overlords private chambers. There were responsibilities to attend to and as she walked she ordered one of the maids to grab a selection of sweets for the girl and serve it to her in the study. Once in the private chambers, darkness swirled around Leilah's form and the woman once again returned to her...or his true self. "Salty chips...mexican pizza...Slouchy soul in a grime where am I supposed to find a soul who knows how to cook this..." Muttered the overlord under his breath calling for a few demons. Two to search the castle town, one to go on earth and find these...snacks for the overlord. Even recipes if he could. Just something to help the overlord give concise orders to his underlings rather than having them run their imagination wild, because then they would not end up with chips or pizza, but something horrific, appealing only to demons.​

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[redblood]

Annabelle smiled at the other woman. "Thank you Leilah." She said before they separated. How lucky she had been to wake up with such a nice person around, but that was not something she had the time to think about now. She had to write everything down before her ideas flew away from her. First a draft, then a clean version. That was always how she did it. After all, the first version always was out of order because certain parts interested her more than others.

Time flew by as she wrote. She didn't even notice when the maid came in with some kind of candy. Instead she noticed it first half an hour later when it suddenly just stood there beside her on the desk. It definitely wasn't what she was used to, but it was just to get used to it. After all, she was a guest in the castle, she couldn't act spoiled and get everything she asked for on a silver platter. Hopefully Leilah wasn't going through too much trouble finding the food she wished for.

After who knew how long, Annabelle stretched her body on impulse. It amazed her that she wasn't a bit stiff. Of course she wasn't. She was dead. "Almost done." She mumbled, but she wasn't sure how to make the ending. "Stupid writers block." If she couldn't come up with an ending she would just scrap the whole thing. She hated to have unfinished stories laying around.

"Maybe some fresh air will clear my mind." She said to herself. "Though Leilah did tell me not to leave the castle." Annabelle bit on a nail. Had she been warned for going outside completely, or was the warning just for the town? She had asked so many questions, it was hard to remember exactly every piece of information. She knew she wasn't allowed to go into town right now, but the castle grounds shouldn't be a problem. Hopefully they wouldn't.

The girl decided to take the chance. In the middle of the night, or was it day? Afternoon? She had no idea since there were no clocks as far as she could see, but no matter the time, she took a trip through the castle, and after many wrong turns she finally found a door to the outside. "This castle is way too big." She mumbled as she opened the door. Or maybe it was just she who was way too horrible with finding her way around even the simplest of places.

The outside air was no different from the inside, but there was still something calming with being outside. Just to be able to walk on the ground was comforting and relaxing. Annabelle started to walk in a random direction around the castle. As Leilah had said, there were no animals to be seen. What a pity.

 

[The Returner]

[fieldbox="Castle ground ventures, #cd5c5c, dashed"]

For the time that Annabelle devoted to her writing, Belzhar committed to his overlord duties. Making sure the castle town was kept in order as well as trusting the guards in the castle to keep the girl from venturing into town whilst he was over the bridge, implementing one of Annabelle's latest stories before her 'death'. Little did the overlord know that the guest's nature was inquisitive like a young's child mind. There was nothing wrong with her walking around the castle and venturing into the castle grounds. Nothing at all...unless one didn't want her to come across the real looks of a demon. Often times, fresh souls found that...unbearable, going quite literally crazy. True, that sort of craziness served for infinite source of power for the region, but if the overlord did not wish for this fate to find Annabelle, he might have thought better beforehand. Alas, he didn't. Either way, the castle grounds were almost entirely void of any presence. A guard here and there, an occasional maid passing her in the corridor...

But once Annabelle found her way outside, the air would be heavy, screams from over the bridge much clearer and louder, rippling the atmosphere with shrieks from distant nightmares. The guards who were by the door shifted in their spots as she went past. The overlord didn't mention anything about restricting the girl from venturing around within the walls, yet uncertainty passed on their faces until the younger one went on to follow the girl discreetly. Whilst they knew the orders almost by heart, no one would want to cross Belzhar in case they misinterpreted them.

It wasn't till Annabelle reached a place that resembled poorly taken care off garden with a hooded individual kneeling down on the ground, tending to a thorny bush with careful touches and a few murmurs. There might have been a secret allure, a certain air of rotten and abandoned beauty in this place, but maybe it was only appealing to demons. The hooded being was so far unaware of the newcomer in this sanctuary and only the eyes of stone angels that were struck with fright etched in their features, and the soldier coming slowly to turn the corner, were the witnesses of the girls ventures.

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[redblood]

Annabelle never even realized that she was being followed by a guard as she walked around within the castle walls. If ever she got the feeling of being watched, she just shrugged it off as being too paranoid because of the atmosphere, just as she had done on earth when she walked outside during night and got the chills.

Soon she reached something that seemingly resembled a garden, but it had been so poorly taken care off that it was almost unrecognizable. If at any point there had been anything green growing there, all traces of it was now gone. Though that was not something she was surprised over. After all, she was in hell. Who would ever imagine flowers growing in the underworld?

Screams suddenly echoed much louder than they had done when she had been inside. This time it was impossible to deny the humanity in the shrieks no matter how much she wanted to. For a moment she stood there frozen. It was hard to imagine that real people were being tortured so close by. "Stop thinking about it." She told herself. They were bad people. They probably did something horrible, like murdered or tortured people themselves. The thought didn't particularly make her feel better. It still felt wrong that there were people being harmed. But for the time being, it was enough to make her move forward again. There wasn't anything she could do about it either way. She didn't decide the rules of hell.

As she walked forward she soon took notice of a figure kneeling down on the ground. It seemed like someone was taking care of the bushes. Was someone actually trying to fix the garden? Though their version of fixing it was probably very different from hers.

If another scream hadn't frightened her, she would probably just have left the hooded figure alone, but she wanted something to focus on, something other than the tortured souls in the distance. Conversations were the best distraction. "Hey there." She started as she came closer to the kneeling person. "Are you tending to the bushes? Must be quite the hard work down here. Hard to make anything grow without sun I guess." A slight nervousness was present in her laugh, but otherwise she felt that she held up quite well.

 

[The Returner]

[fieldbox="Oh the eyes: They see everything, #cd5c5c, dashed"]

Her voice reached the figure huddled on the ground and it froze in its movements. Clearly it was surprised to hear her voice and for a moment it was unsure of what to do. Its hand quickly withdrew back into the folds of the cape and it stood up. The individual was a male built it would seem, guessing by the width of the shoulders but it's height was not much taller than Annabelle's. It hesitantly turned towards Annabelle, anyway, and there was more to look at then the physique. Or more like...there was more to look into.

For the first time, the guest was faced with a demon who wore no camouflage spell. Tens of eyes around its face and probably the rest of its skull, not blinking in unison but only because it was confused, nervous and unsure. It knew about the orders from Belzhar and it was worried about the consequences. Maybe the eyes were out of sink with blinking but the message in every single on of them was consistent - uncertainty. "You're not supposed to be here. No. No. I'm not. I shouldn't be here. You shouldn't see me." It was a male voice that had a heavy accent similar to Russian but much more crooked and almost disjointed as if the demon had a lot of difficulty trying to speak. Some of its eyes even started searching around, turning left and right, up and down. Maybe looking for an escape route, or a soldier to alert. One of the eyes caught the glimpse of the soldier on the corner and in that second all the others moved to focus on the person. Unfortunately for Annabelle, the soldier stood in direct trajectory behind her (not right behind her) so it seemed like all of the demon's eyes were staring right at her face.​

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[redblood]

As the figure rose, it seemed to be a man not too much taller than her. Though soon she realized it was anything but a man. As she stared at the figure, countless of eyes stared back at her. Terrified she did not even utter a sound. What was that thing? She had never heard of anything like it. Though that was from a living perspective. She was in hell and Leilah had spoken of demons.

Was he one of those? A demon? Was he dangerous? If he was, why wasn't he doing anything? Then, he did. He spoke. He seemed... Confused? Afraid maybe. He didn't seem as if he were about to attack her. That didn't mean she wished to get closer to him though, no a safe distant was probably for the best to keep. She was still scared, incredibly so, but at the same time curious. His eyes landed on her once again. How many were they?

"Well... I have seen you now, nothing to do about that at this point I guess, but if it would make you feel better I could close my eyes." She joked, though with a hint of nervousness. This creature was something she had never seen before, of course it would be frightening, but the way it acted didn't seem threatening, maybe she should give it a chance. It wasn't that bad to look at. It just had extremely many eyes. Like a spider. Though spiders were a bit more disgusting. "Why are you so nervous? It's not like all hell will break loose just because you're tending to the bushes." Pun intended. Funny how probably the most nervous person there would ask that question. She still did no attempts to get closer to him, but she at the very least tried to look more relaxed. Quite a hard task with all those eyes staring at her.

Why wasn't she allowed to see him? He didn't seem like a bad person... Demon... Thing. Sure, he scared her a lot, but that was something that might be overcome if he was actually nice. Was he though? If he was it would be rude of her to just run away, if he wasn't her curiosity might get her killed. Rather dead than judgmental?

 

[The Returner]

[fieldbox="Revelation, #cd5c5c, dashed"]

Close her eyes. Yes, oh yes, that would work! But then...my eyes would see. They see everything. I'll remember and that the overlord would know... The demons black hands fiddled with one another nervously which was when the girl stated the same fact."Why?" The demon repeated, chuckling forcefully, his eyes still transfixed on the guard who stood in the shadows, observing. If he was in trouble, he'd already be taken away. No? Was he not in trouble then? Was he not doing something against the rules? Another chuckle escaped him, this time not as harsh, and slightly more relaxed. "I...I am not used to talking to guests...souls...things..." His eyes finally moved away from the guard and hence broke the sensation that he was staring at the girl. He could feel a strange air around her that further unsettled him. She didn't seem like the usual soul, but how else could she be in hell? Too much... He didn't...couldn't know. Its dark pupils were looking all over the show but not in such a frantic manner anymore despite his thoughts. "What...are you doing here?" By now it was clear that the demon did not have an accent but it was hard for him to speak, or more like, hard for him to focus on speech with his eyes constantly sending so many images to his brain.​

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[redblood]

Could it be because he was a demon that his laugh seemed slightly forced? Or was he just feeling as uncomfortable as her? At the very least he didn't seem to be doing anything suspicious or dangerous, nor spoke about odd things. What had she expected? Annabelle wasn't completely sure, but maybe something more... Demonish? This demon just seemed to be a little bit awkward around people, just like some humans she had known back on earth.

"I felt like taking a walk and see how the outside of the castle looked like." Annabelle replied much more relaxed now when all those eyes weren't directly staring at her. She would probably not get used to those for a long time. "I guess I should relax a bit considering I just died today, but considering I couldn't even sit still when I broke my leg when I was eight, I doubt anyone expects me to stay in one place for more than an hour." She shrugged and was actually able to let out a pretty natural sounding laugh. Not being stared at by who knew how many eyes really helped.

"Your tending to the bushes, right? Want some help? I have nothing else to do." Some bonding time with a demon. That might not have been the first thing on most peoples minds half a day after they got to know that they were dead. Going against her instincts that were screaming at her to get away even now, she walked closer to the multiple eyed creature. Once she had a phobia for snakes, and she wouldn't have overcome that phobia without having met her fears. This was kind of the same thing. She judged it based on its appearance, decided it was scary, and her body wanted to run. To get rid of that fear, she should just get used to what she was frightened of. This poor demon didn't seem to deserve being feared. He had done nothing wrong.

 

[The Returner]

[fieldbox="Maybe not yet, #cd5c5c, dashed"]

Only died today? No, she didn't smell right, his eyes didn't see it correctly. She looked...Help? His eyes turned around taking in the bushes, the grass, the pavement, the angels, the girl... "Help...help..." Said the demon couple times turning around. He knew what she meant, but his mind tried to figure out what could be done. After he made a few full turns and stopped to face Annabelle again, both of his hands had thumbs nervously rubbing against the sides of his forefingers. "Help...maybe. I only...take care of the garden. Bushes...grass...angels...flowers." Flowers. For a second his eyes grazed over the girl a rare thought passing through his mind as he shook his head. No. She was a soul. Wasn't. As she stepped closer, he brought his hands higher as if afraid she could be contagious. What she could be contagious with was absolutely irrelevant as sickness did not affect souls, or whatever she was, in hell. Yes, help. Look." The demon ushered the words from his lips, turning around hurriedly and coming to squat by the bush. He waited for the girl to follow example, before his hands started showing. Wordless, he showed her that he was removing something that looked like old buds, putting them in a small basket. It was clear that this creature was much better with its hands than words.​

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[redblood]

The strange creature seemed to have a very hard time articulating his thoughts. Annabelle felt a bit sorry for him, it couldn't be easy making friends with such a speak impediment. Though maybe that wasn't as important to demons as it was to humans. Curiously she kneeled down beside him, though with some space between them as he had seemed quite frightened of her coming too close earlier, and tried to understand what it was he was trying to say. That wasn't such a big issue though as he showed her exactly what he wanted her to do.

"Ah, I get it." She confirmed and started digging up another one close to her right leg to show she could do it and would do it. It was rather strange to interact with such an odd creature, but for every minute that past her nervousness faded. He seemed to have a good personality even though he wasn't that good with words. "I'm Annabelle by the way. I guess we forgot the whole introduction thing." She chuckled as she pulled the old bud out of the ground after having loosened in and made a throw that put it into the basket. Phew, it would have been so embarrassing if she had missed, but it didn't stand that far away from her so only a blind man would have missed that score. "What's your name? Or what are you called?" Annabelle then asked, not completely sure if demons had names in the same sense as humans. From the books she had read they usually did, but it was a name that the demon wouldn't reveal as it could be used to enslave or even kill them. Though fictional books probably weren't the best thing to ask for advice about the real afterlife as they mostly were written by living humans.

 

[The Returner]

[fieldbox="Gardening, #cd5c5c, dashed"]

The demon seemed to have relaxed a bit more as they started working together, but it was more the manual labour that soothed, rather than the company. Some of his eyes looked at her from time to time, whilst others focused on his own work and the next portion looked around, itemizing what more needed to be done. When she mentioned that missed introduction, a small smile that did not fit his face, bent his lips. Clearly, he was trying to react in a manner he thought was expected from him, but it distorted his expression accidentally instead. When she asked for his name, he clearly mulled it over. Not because of the human theory, but out of coyness that was clear in his whole interaction with her.

"O...O...Ocu..." The demon managed to stammer out, giving up on the rest of his name soon after and his eye caught a sight of something he hadn't notice before which caused his breath to choke inside his throat. In a moment's notice, he closed the distance between them hand reaching out to touch Annabelle's dress before, his hands jerked back just like before, as if she was still considered contagious. His eyes were maniacally looking around but he had to make a momentary decision out of the anxiety only a being that took care of the garden would understand. So he reached out with his thumb and forefinger, pinched the fabric of her dress on the ground and more flicked it than moved it to a side. It seemed that Annabelle accidentally covered one of the sprouts but once it was brought back to light, Ocu sighed with relief. "A...nn...ble needs be careful." Ocu said, ultimately butchering the girls name as his fingers ran over the small plant. "Very fragile." But he didn't seem to be angry because a more genuine hint of a smile settled on his lips as he was assured that the small thing was not damaged much.​

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