#❮ stardustedstories / belos ❯ ━━ ❝ this is the titan's will .

[missallanea-aa]

@stardustedstories : « you'll never be worth anything! » [Belos to Lilith. ^^]

She FLINCHED back as if she'd been struck. May as well have been, all things considered : she had spent the better part of her adult life trying so damn hard to be perfect. The perfect student, the perfect teacher, the perfect representation of everything that he wanted her to be. She'd put every ounce of herself into being the perfect Coven Head, at the sacrifice of everything : her morals, her beliefs, her sense of self, her family...

"I... I..."

It was no secret what she had done. That she had gone directly against his orders, that she had sacrificed all she had worked and strived and cheated for in order to save her sister. Did she really think she could just betray the Emperor and not have to actually face him ever again?

( For a minute there, yes, she had actually been thinking that might be the case. )

He's no less frightening and powerful when only in image. From the first moment he appeared on her crystal ball, she'd considered hucking the damn thing out the nearest window, but figured Edalyn wouldn't exactly appreciate her new roommate moving in and immediately wrecking her house.

She does think she'll gift it to the house demon as soon as this ordeal was over, however.

"...maybe not..." is what finally manages to leave Lilith's lips, a whispered confession, an acknowledgement of all that she has to make up for. "...but that does not mean I cannot do something worthwhile."

heartbreaking starters

[missallanea-aa]

Trades, it was always trades with them. Information for information. The Collector knew they'd probably given Philip too much, between teaching him the full extent of magic and the draining spell and everything, but it was fair. It was fair, because they were best friends, and because he was going to pay him back once he had the Titan's blood.

Fair's fair, and all : but when Philip mentions the option of telling him more about the other Collectors, he cannot help the prolonged groan of annoyance that slips free, their form melting along with the sound to pool on the floor in a puddle of darkness.

"BOOORING. That's all you ever wanna talk about, these days." Spilling through the cracks in the cobblestones of the castle floor, they swim across the surface before winding their way up one of the pillars at the other end of the room. "Those guy's're just a bunch of bullies, anyway. There's nothing good to say about them."

Childishly, they punctuate the thought by blowing a raspberry, finally reforming on the wall beside Philip's pet project, the doorway that would lead back to his realm.

Swinging their foot, as if it would have been able to make contact with anything, they huff out a breath. Then, their face splits into a grin, "Y'know, once you get me outta here, I can show you. If you think witches are powerful, just you wait. We could teach you all kinds'a magic."

Not realizing that this was, perhaps, not the selling point they thought this would have been, their appearance shifts to sit on top of the portal door.

"Collectors see everything, y'know. E V E R Y T H I N G . That's what we do. Watch and learn, and when things don't do what they're supposed t'do, we..." His voice trailed off briefly, expression turning darker for a moment. But the eclipse passes, their crescent moon smile returning : "Well, we see lots more powerful things than just witches and demons."

Even as he made a show of having his full attention on the Collector (though he did observe the influence his words had had on the being), Philip's mind was working. He still needed a few things for the Day of Unity and the Draining Spell to be successful…., and then he would be able to use the portal, to return to the Human Realm……, once this place had been destroyed, the cursed life within it sacrificed for the greater good.

Which meant he needed the coven guards to round up as many wild witches before the Day of Unity as possible. Fewer wild witches meant more coven members. And more coven members meant more fuel for the Draining Spell, more power to see to his own needs.

Because that was all these witches were good for, was getting him back home. They were cursed and evil, and there was no hope of saving them. He had thought, once upon a time, that perhaps they could be saved, but Evelyn had shown him what witches were truly like.

He's drawn back to the present when the Collector speaks, and he's reminded that he needs to be paying attention to the child-being. After all, he needs to keep him on his good side, and letting himself get distracted wouldn't do that.

Philip offers the Collector another smile, and he doubts that the creature will be able to tell his mind hadn't been on their conversation, on the games they could play.

And without any prompting, the Collector offers up more knowledge, if only Philip will share more about the 'games with disguises' he'd mentioned.

"Why don't you tell me more about your kind, Collector, and I'll tell you all I remember about such games," he suggested, as though it was a fair exchange. But he was getting more out of it than the child, the way he always did. And that suited him just fine.

[missallanea-aa]

The shadows continued to warp and bend, pooling down the walls in a dramatic display of impatience before reforming into the Collector's own two-dimensional form. An irritated whine bubbles up in their throat, nothing that ever fully evolves into any real words, as they half-heartedly listen to Philip's words.

— until that last little detail catches their ear. Perhaps, if they were a little bit older, or a little bit wiser, or a little bit less naive, they could have seen the distraction for what it was... but as it stood, it only served to split their face in a bright smile.

"Games with disguises?" 

It always felt as if they were begging, BEGGING Philip to tell them more about the Human Realm games they remembered. They would have asked that other human, if they had half a chance. Surely she wouldn't be so stingy with her details, right? But alas, with no way to break free from their imprisonment, they were forced to continue hanging off of Philip's every word.

Not for too much longer. Soon, soon, the Day of Unity would come, and the Draining Spell, and THEN — then they'd get to play for real. Pinkie swear.

"Wuh-well, what kind of games? C'mon, c'mon!" The Collector's form split apart once more, reforming in front of Philip, a crescent moon smile plastered on their face. Moping and whining gone, it seems, for the moment. "Ooh, I've got it!"

A snap of their fingers, and they stare at their hand a moment — seemingly disappointed in something, before their attention returns fully to their one and only friend. "If you tell me about your silly little human games, I'll tell you... hmm..."

Sitting in the air, their legs cross as a hand lifts to their chin, clearly thinking deeply. "...Whaddya wanna know?"

@missallanea asked:

There's a quiet, CHILDISH humming through the unoccupied space buried so deep beneath the castle halls. Shadows twist across the walls, manifesting into the only visage that he was able to take from within their prison. If his humming is bothering the only playmate they have, Philip was keeping it carefully concealed away — much like the rest of him, behind that mask of his.

"Y'know, now that I'm thinking about it... I think all your time wearing that demon mask makes this history's looongest game of dress-up. Aren't you bored with it yet?"

There's something so childish about the Collector, despite the fact that he was immensely powerful. Philip found himself wondering how old the being would be considered among his peers. Was he still a child? Did such beings have a concept of age or were the rest of them like this, forever wanting to play games and have fun? And how much longer could he continue to string the being along, offering him empty promises he never intended to keep?

At least a while longer, it seemed, if the humming coming from the shadows is any indication. For if the Collector did not intend to continue playing Philip's games, he would have simply fallen silent. But Philip has come to realize that he craved companionship and fun more than just about anything else. And as long as he indulged in those whims from time to time, he could placate the creature within the tablet. After all, they had to complete the Draining Spell in order for him to free the Collector.

Or so Philip had told him. While it was true to a certain extent (he would need the power from the Draining Spell in order to free the Collector without Titan's Blood), he had no intention of following through with that plan, certainly not when the Collector could take everything away from him, everything he'd worked so hard for, with a mere snap of his fingers.

Philip had worked too hard, done too much to let it be taken away from him, especially when he was so close to finishing what he'd started so long ago.

He looked up at the Collector's voice, lifting a hand to take off the mask, so he could offer the child-shaped shadow something of a smile.

"Oh, I don't know, Collector," he started, keeping his tone mild, warm, as though he was truly considering an answer to his question. "Disguises can be quite fun, after all. There are all sorts of games in the Human Realm that involve disguises, you know." Because if there was anything that could distract the Collector, it was the mention of a new game.