#{ Charidynn Merlow } forbidden muse

[soraeia]

Feathers at the back of his neck begin to stand. Teeth grow and sharpen as they clench together. His claws, ready to tear throat open. Wrenn is growling as the figure approaches, but Charidynn only smiles and raises a from his hand to bring a finger to his lips.

"Shhhh...."

"....!!!" The demon-witch suddenly finds himself unable to speak. Unable to breathe---the ability somehow taken from him as the air from his lungs disappears and he collapses to his knees, a helpless heap of choked noises and growls so faint they sounded like whimpers.

"I've missed you, little pup." Despite his words, Charidynn steps over his grandson, glancing around in search. "Now where is your mother."

[soraeia]

"...." Charidynn looks down at the chains around his arms---the divinity practically burning him, though he seems to react as though they're nothing more but mosquitoes he hasn't quite yet decide to shake off.

He tries to remember this face. And can only recall Tartarus being the one who'd ferried Allisae back from hell so that she could...return that blasted heart of his.

"....."

"You think you're able to contain Wrenn in this state?"

"He needs the leash? Now, I do wonder about that."

Another voice cuts coldly through the tension, but Cecil doesn't dare shift his attention, even as the near oppressive energy of Tartarus approaches.

"Cheating Death once again, Charidynn Merlow? And here I thought you would have finally learned your lesson." A blink, and glowing green chains latch round Charidynn's arms. "ShalI I jail your tainted soul at last?"

[soraeia]

Something in the universe twists uncomfortably to pull this being back together. The healthy fall sick for seemingly no reason. The dead linger where they shouldn't. Night looms an extra hour. It's a creeping feeling that pulls bile up your throat and wraps you in an unpleasant chill.

"I'm home."

[soraeia]

@soulsxng replied to your post “@soulsxng replied to your post “If I did find a...”:

Tahariel: Oh? I wonder how quickly the Demon Princes will drag you back into Hell, Havencor, for trying to start trouble with Heaven *again*. And as for you, Charidynn... Tahariel: Well, I've beaten beings more frightening than you at this point, that's for certain.

"Have you no other threats than to have others settle your fights, or have you been reduced to nothing more than a brainless attack pigeon at your wife's beck and call?"

Takes a long, almost insulting, drag from his cigarette. If Tahariel wasn't scared now, then he will be.

Nothing is more scared than a man with everything to lose. And judging from the photos he's seen while perusing through Wrenn's phone, Tahariel has so many things he could lose.

"Now now, Damian. Don't play with fire unnecessarily. I'm sure when the weather gets cold, Tahariel will provide."

[soraeia]

@bonesofchaos replied to your post “Charidynn's type.”:

invi vc: still better than my ex husband

​

"Your husband had no idea how to treat things that were precious, my dear."

[soraeia]

"I adore your taste in bedside decor. Did you make the piece yourself or was it a gift?"

"that he didn't. it's the reason his head is no longer attached to his neck and instead his skull sits upon my bedside table."

[soraeia]

Damian doesn't dare move. He doesn't mind a few burns or scratches from a little divine light, but he refuses to give Tahariel the satisfaction of harming him to any degree. However, there's little else he could do in this moment besides watch in silence.

For Charidynn is was like suddenly being cast in cement, unable to move (though he wasn't exactly trying at first) in a suddenly shadowless stage. There's a grimace on his face for the shortest moment, before he's smiling.

Large, dark claws of vile magic emerge in spite of the beams of light burning holes through their shadowy palms. They make seemingly futile attempts to reach for feathery wings, fingers and limbs being snuffed out one after the other only for more to emerge in staggered dances around the three of them.

"....I suppose you're right, death can claim anything. Even gods. And I've heard they could die just as easily as flies."

Damian's eyes follow where those clawed fingers move along the ground. Realizes that among the disguised attempts to reach for Tahariel, some were circling around the divine being carving runes into the ground.

"Hmm...no, the reasoning is more...how should I put this? I may as well just be candid, I suppose, since things are already to this point-- you are not worth my time, Wrath. But if that hurts your feelings, then you can look at it as me giving you the chance to go home to your son and daughter, instead of dying here with your friend. Because if you think something like immortality will stop me, then perhaps you haven't learned yet..."

Wings tuck neatly behind him as his feet touch down gracefully, and a heavy veil of divine light falls over the three. Though it seems intent in its effort to restrain Charidynn, it doesn't actually touch Damian...at least not for the moment. Tahariel's chilly smile makes it rather obvious that that fact could change in an instant, however.

"...There's no such thing as true immortality. Anything can be claimed by death if one knows the way to make it happen. But even if that weren't the case...there are fates far, far worse than death, out there. So you should return to Hell, before you just so happen to meet one of them!"

[soraeia]

"Ah, I think I remember you." He sees the shadows. Feels deity's energy. But Charidynn does little to show he cares. "I couldn't tell you. But there is much you can tell me, little god."

@soraeia replied to your post:

Charidynn: *looks at Wrenn*....

"I see you haven't changed tactics." His eyes narrow, and his shadows writhe. "Why don't you tell me how you managed to claw your way back to the material plane so I can make sure you never come back again."

[soraeia]

Wrenn struggled against restrains, his face nothing more than a beaked skull that unhinges at the jaw to roar angrily at his captor, eyes hungry and full of rage even after he's safely taken away by his uncle.

Charidynn smiles the moment Cecil and Wrenn vanish, because that left him with one less bothersome deity to deal with.

The area begins to fill with a miasma, flowing like mist though it was thick enough to blanket the ground at their feet. It begins to eat away at Tartarus' clothes. His skin. Biting through his divinity to attack whatever thrives beneath the protective glow.

And it to melt chains as though they were nothing more than ropes of ice.

As the restraints disintegrate, a pair of hands formed out of Charidynn's blasphemous magic grabs Tartarus's arms, eating at him the way the miasma does.

"I will be leaving. I've better things to do, than waste my time here..."

Tartarus watched as the leash vanished. Impassive as he seemed, only those who knew him could see the pain that shone in the god's eyes as Wrenn transformed.

Tartarus closes his eyes...

...And knows that it's Cecil who takes the blow.

Even as claws sink into his flesh, and black ichor leaves his body, he uses the shadows to bind Wrenn tightly, ensuring his nephew wouldn't be able to move until he could get him far, far away.

"You can move?" Tartarus asks.

"It takes far more than this to bring me down."

"Go, then."

And then, Cecil and Wrenn were gone.

[soraeia]

"...."

".....Well, as you wish."

The leash vanishes from his hands, dissolving from his fingers down to Wrenn's neck. And once the young witch was free, the feathers grew. The claws sharpened. Tarnished silver eyes went black---Wrenn's mind lost in his curse as bones bent and cracked in an agonizing transformation from boy to beast.

And it's Tartarus and Cecil he attacks first, because the beast knew loyalty to the one that trained him.

"You flatter yourself. This is merely what should have occurred centuries ago. Yet you dared to d̶͖̀e̸͍͑f̵͛͜y̶̤͠ ̸̟́F̷̭͘a̶̩͒t̸̤̀e̸̞͗." One hand slowly begins to close, and the chains tighten, bit by bit, close to choking. "Over... and over... and o̴v̴e̸r̸ ̶a̵g̶a̵i̶n̴."

And then, the chains loosen again, just a bit. "But I am not to drag you to your cell just yet, no. I have further use for you. That can be your precious 'insurance'. I can also assure that you will continue to have your limbs attached to your body."

[soraeia]

He grunts when the chains whip around his neck---a leash of his own. Though all he does is chuckle in spite of the burns it leaves against his skin.

He really should get those runes of his back.

"Have you been dreaming of having me like this, Tartarus? How long?" He raises Wrenn's leash. "What insurance do I have that you won't do with me as you wish?"

"What I know, is that Wrenn is far better off with your presence away from him." A finger twitches, and the chains tighten. For good measure--or spiteful satisfaction--there's another chain that wraps around Charidynn's neck.

"Now. I believe Cecil told you, already. And I am a god of very little patience." His eyes begin glowing even brighter. "L̴̗̙̖̒e̶̯͈͊t̵̤̖͉͌͂ ̴̲͑h̷̫͑̎i̶̦̭͐m̴̪̽͑̽ͅ ̸͚̂͝g̵̜̭̅̂ö̴̹̞́̐."

[soraeia]

"I would, but I can't. You see, my grandson is a tad feral at this moment. He needs the leash to keep this little curse of his contained. Neither of us wants his mind lost, do we?"

"The collar isn't flattering. I'd rather see it removed." The shadows slowly encroach, their surroundings darkening. Oh, his blood boiled at the sight. "Let him go, Charidynn."