○ avior decides that he need not bother attending rosemarie's class any longer. ◝◜◝◜◝◜◝◜◝◜◝◜◝◜◝◜◝◜◝◜◝◜◝◜ all the nightmares came today and it looks as though they're here to stay 'oh! you pretty things' - david bowie ◝◜◝◜◝◜◝◜◝◜◝◜◝◜◝◜◝◜◝◜◝◜◝◜ avior woke up on september first, remembered what day it was, and briefly contemplated throwing himself off the roof of tertius. but common sense told him ‘no, that is a silly idea, it is just school, you will be fine.’. avior did not agree with that. he did okay enough in math to know that rosemarie plus reading was equal to agony. just as he was about to tell the people who lived in his head to shove off, he had things to do, the little voice chimed in with its own suggestion. 'just don't go!' it cried, 'you can't even read, what makes you think you'd be missing much?'. the little voice had a point, and so avior waited until he was at the door of the dingy little school, then said "wait, i've dropped something, be right back.", doubled back a ways, and ducked into the forest, where he skirted along the edge of the tree line till he reached the now-familiar path that led to alfonso's mansion. it had only been a few days since he last was there, this visit was tremendously off-schedule, but demons had to thrive on spontaneity, didn't they, what with their tendency to appear out of nowhere and vanish in the blink of an eye. alfonso would probably be happy to see him. the further away he got from xiphoid, the more avior felt a funny sense of pride, and an overwhelming part of him wanted to yell, "look at me, mother, i'm skipping school like the delinquent i am! who's going to stop me, mother? it won't be *you*, because i'm all the way out here and you're stuck in that stuffy old house, so HA!" he bounded up the steps to the mansion, first attempting to take them three at a time but giving up after tripping over his own feet and nearly falling face first onto the cold, stony staircase. he reached the gigantic double doors and wasted no time in pounding heavily upon them with both fists, and only moments later, the doors flew open and there stood alfonso, the greatest and most powerful demon possibly ever to exist, and, avior decided right in that moment, his friend. ⋘◦⋙ / september 1, 2131 - the demon king / the last person alfonso expected, nay, wanted to find at his front door was avior viator, and yet the universe continued to find new ways to disappoint him. there the boy stood, grinning up at him, pale face flushed with the boundless energy unique to twelve-year-old boys such as he. and alfonso could have cried in dismay, for this visit was not at all on schedule, and he simply could not bear the idea of dealing with this insufferable child twice in such a brief span of time. but he fixed a sharp, gleaming smile onto his wrinkled, pruny face (blasted old men. next time, he would certainly wear a younger man’s skin) and welcomed his young friend into his manor with grace and kindness, because he was a model citizen now, and that was what model citizens did. “what brings you here today?” he asked, biting back the sharp resentment that crept into his mind. the boy smiled widely. “i’ve decided that i don’t need an education anymore,” he said, “and so i came here instead!” alfonso could have sobbed right then and there, fat blazing fiery tears rolling down his ugly, old-man face, but he kept his composure. “don’t you want to be clever, though?” the boy stroked an imaginary beard as he considered this. “no, what’s the point in it?” he said after a moment. alfonso was going to set this insolent child on fire. “i suppose you have something specific you want me to do for you today,” he said resignedly. “show me around your mansion,” the boy said immediately. “every single room of it,” alfonso briefly weighed the pros and cons of this. “certainly,” he said at last. what could possibly go wrong, after all? ⋘◦⋙ a great number of things, apparently. alfonso had underestimated the sheer amount of impulsivity this child possessed. he spent his day chasing around a boy half his height, shouting out things like “no, don’t touch that, you’ll die!” and “terrible idea, absolutely not!” “can i open this door?” the boy asked, and alfonso felt slightly relieved, for he hadn’t bothered asking the first twelve times, instead flinging open every door he came across with no forethought at all. “do you want to unleash all the forces of hell?” “yup,” the boy said, reaching for the doorknob. alfonso slapped his hand away, and on they continued. alfonso loved his manor dearly. he could recall the day he built it, the many long hallways stretching into oblivion and the hundreds of vast, empty rooms all carefully constructed by his own hand and tailored perfectly to house him and his underlings.
he thought it funny, that the boy had no idea there was more than one demon in this manor. at any moment one of them might skulk around a corner or shuffle out of some hidden shadowy crevice and catch him off guard. how wonderful that would be. / september 1, 2131 - avior viator / avior was having the time of his life. he had hardly seen an eighth of the mansion so far! there was so much yet to be discovered! his feet sank deep into the heavy, thick carpet on the floor, and the candles blazed a brilliant blue, and he and alfonso came to the end of the hall with the holes in the walls with the eyes peering through, and there was a single door there, hardly four feet tall. "can i go in there?" avior asked at once. he adored tiny rooms with low ceilings, yes, he was probably the least claustrophobic person in the world. "no, you may not," alfonso said. "come along, now, there's much more to see." and he turned back down the hallway. avior was nearly about to consider listening to him, but something about the mysterious little door was both fascinating and terrifying all at once, and he knew for certain that he wanted to go through it. he laid on the ground and pressed his face to the floor, straining to catch a glimpse of what was inside that intriguing little room. "young man, i told you, we are not going in there," alfonso said, storming back down the hall in a huff. evidently he had realized that avior was not at his heels anymore. "yeah we are," avior said, leaping to his feet and folding his arms defiantly. he stared at the demon. the demon stared at him. and the demon heaved a great sigh and waved a hand and the door *popped* open. avior ducked to avoid hitting his head on the doorframe, and straightened up in a much larger room than he had expected. behind him, alfonso stooped low and shuffled in, clearly regretful of his actions and decisions. well, it sucked to be alfonso. avior, for one, was having a GREAT day. alfonso snapped his fingers and a spark flew from his hand, sailing straight upward and landing upon the ceiling, where it grew a hundredfold and lit the room in a blaze of light. alfonso really did have an obsession with fire. perhaps it was because of the demon thing, avior mused, as he looked around the room. there was not much to say about it. the walls were covered in dry, peeling wallpaper, perhaps it had been yellow once but had since faded significantly, what little furniture there was was decrepit and broken, and on the far side, against the back wall, a huddled mass of rags and flesh lay still. a huddled mass of— "what the hell is THAT?" avior said at once. it certainly looked like a person, that was for sure. or perhaps a bear. bears were very large. alfonso chuckled, long, low, and dangerous. "why don't you find out for yourself?" this was a bad idea. this was how everyone died in horror movies. but avior viator was no coward, dammit. he would show that demon who held the real power. he was definitely not scared! definitely not scared! he had hardly made it across the room when the lump of something shifted and in one smooth, slow motion, got to its feet (or what he assumed were its feet), the rags falling off of its thin body. his first coherent thought was 'SCANT!', but this did not look like a scant. it did not look like anyone he had ever met before. "this is my pet," alfonso crooned, "my pet, my pet, my shapeshifter,"
