#nothing against synthesia

[splatoonpolls]

“Man! This video game ost is great and I really want to make a piano cover. I hope someone else who has a better ear than me have already done one so I could get a good foundation”

*opens youtube*

“It’s all, synthesia…”

[beelsnack]

Lost and Found - How My Mc Kieran Found Their Cat Jiji

I realized earlier that I have a few pieces written about my MC Kieran that I haven't shared (because I didn't think people would be too interested lol) So, have some mc content.

A bit of Kieran lore: They're an empath, which I write as a mix of synthesia and sensitivity to people's emotions. It wasn't that big of a deal in the Human Realm, but the raw magic of the Devildom dials their sensitivity up to 11, and can result in migraines. The longer they spend in the Devildom, the more they adjust to it, but their first few days in the exchange program are spent holed up in their room feeling like their skull was going to explode.

-----

All they had wanted to do was go for a walk.

Nothing could be simple, however. Seeing as the Devildom was populated mainly by demons, and they were a mere, fleshy human, Kieran was usually accompanied by one of the brothers if they even stepped over the garden wall. They understood, of course - even if they were Diavolo’s precious little socio-economic experiment, there were some demons who wouldn’t hesitate to take a chunk out of them if the opportunity arose. And for the most part, they appreciated having someone there to keep them company. 

But holy shit, they were loud.

Not just on a physical level, although they had that going for them, too. The screaming matches at the House of Lamentation were legendary. But each of the brothers’ emotions had a distinct vibe to them that all mixed together and molded into a battering ram that was constantly smacking against Kieran’s empath abilities.

Mammon’s greed tasted like metal. Asmo’s lust smelled like strawberry lip gloss. Satan’s wrath felt like standing too close to a bonfire. They were getting better at it, but if Kieran didn’t make a conscious effort not to be too keyed into the other residents’ mental states, it could result in a serious migraine.

Some days weren’t so bad. The stars would align perfectly and none of the brothers would be too worked up over something. But, more often than not, someone was pissed off, someone made a mountain out of a molehill, or Lucifer didn’t have time to drink his morning coffee and everything dissolved into chaos.

This would normally be the time that Kieran would seek out whichever demon was the least emotionally explosive and ask them to go on a walk with them. Usually it was either Beel or Mammon, with Levi coming in at a close second if they could coax him out of his inner sanctum. But, for whatever reason, every one of them was either busy or annoyed, which was just honestly making everything worse. 

Plan B was going over to Purgatory Hall. Simeon and Luke were typically easier on their brain - something something celestial energy something, Simeon had explained it but Kieran hadn’t really been paying a whole lot of attention - and Solomon was working on a potion that would dull their Empath senses. If no one was there to let them in, then they would be perfectly content to sit in their garden until someone came home. 

At least, they had been. That was before the sky opened up.

Storms in the Devildom were no joke. The farther one got away from the Demon Lord’s Castle, the more intense the weather got. There were some regions where the rain was corrosive enough that buildings had to be made out of special material that could withstand acid, and there was a city farther south where the lightning purposefully always struck the same spot twice. Because fuck you, apparently.

In the heart of the Devildom, it was a bit milder, but that still meant that the rain was almost horizontal and the wind could knock Kieran over. Turns out, it was hard to tell when it was about to start storming when you were stuck in eternal darkness.

Their black hoodie had done absolutely nothing against the downpour, and the rainwater pooling in the dips of the cobblestone street they were walking down had already seeped through their purple knock-off Converse and into their socks. Which may or may not be their own fault for actively jumping in puddles. 

Whatever, carpe diem or some shit.

They knew traipsing about in the rain probably wasn’t their best idea, but something about it was refreshing. Hopping onto the sidewalk with a squelch from their soaked shoes, Kieran closed their eyes, tipped their head back, and just listened. The steady beating of the rain against stone, the rumble of thunder, wind blowing through the trees…

…Meowing?

They shook themself out of their dramatic reverie. That was definitely a meow they heard. Close by, too. 

If Kieran hadn’t stopped by that exact alleyway, they wouldn’t have heard it at all. Poor thing was crying, it sounded terrified. Kieran didn’t think twice about turning around and heading down the alleyway. They barely thought once, actually.

It wasn’t a very long alley. The only thing in there was a dumpster shoved against the right wall and a couple of stomped-out cigarettes in a pile next to the door that led into the restaurant on the left. Considering that there wasn’t a kitten rolling around in the pile of smokes, Kieran took an educated guess and headed for the dumpster.

The mewling stopped for a moment as Kieran got close. They could hear some scrambling around, but it wasn’t metallic, so that meant that the poor thing was probably hiding under the dumpster in an attempt to take shelter from the rain.

What the hell, they were already soaked. Flipping their hood back so that they could see better, Kieran dropped to their hands and knees, peering under the dumpster.

The cat had remained quiet, and Kieran couldn’t see anything. They were beginning to wonder if it was just a mischievous ghost playing a prank on them and began to push themself up. However, their change in position caused the orange glow from the streetlight to hit at just the right angle, and Kieran saw the flash of the cat's eyes, tucked against the wall.

“There you are,” Kieran grinned. “You picked a hell of a place to camp out, friend.”

They reached into the pouch on their hoodie, pulling out their phone and turning the flashlight on. The cat jumped at the sudden light, mewling weakly.

“Hey, it’s okay,” Kiera dropped their voice to a little bit above a whisper. “I just wanna see you a bit better. I know you’re scared, it’s okay.”

The cat - kitten, there was no way a thing that tiny was more than a few months old - pressed itself as flat against the wall as it could, hissing. It was all black, head to toe. Kieran couldn’t even tell what color its eyes were, since the pupils were blown wide out of sheer terror.

Slowly, Kieran scanned their light up and down the kitten’s body. It was a few feet away, and hard to see because of its black fur, but they still wanted to check and see if there were any glaring injuries. Turns out they picked up something from Branna after all.

Nothing looked broken, and there didn’t seem to be any blood. It seemed to be completely okay until Kieran’s light caught a little bald spot as it shifted.

“Oh, no, don’t tell me…”

Yup, there was a pentagram carved into the kitten’s tiny chest, right over the heart.

Kieran wanted to throw up. Satan had told them before that a lot of stupid humans sacrificed cats in his name, especially around Halloween. He said he always wanted to get his hands on them and beat the reason why out of them, because all it did was send the poor cats to the Devildom to live on the streets. If they were lucky, they got found and taken to a shelter, but if they weren’t…

Satan hadn’t actually been able to tell them the next part, because it made him so angry that Kieran felt like their arm was burning.

“Poor thing, they hurt you,” Kieran murmured. “No wonder you’re terrified.”

Taking a deep breath - and trying to ignore the scent of wet garbage - they reached their hand beneath the dumpster, palm flat against the ground and fingers splayed out. It wouldn’t be the first time that Kieran used their magic to get an animal to like them.

They closed their eyes, imagining a spiderweb of light emerging from their fingertips. Not approaching the kitten, they kept it within a foot or so, but enough to allow the kitten to investigate.

It took a moment. Kieran watched, wiggling their fingers to make their imaginary spiderweb dance enticingly. Slowly, unsure, the kitten leaned its nose forward and took a few careful sniffs. When nothing attacked, it gingerly put one paw out, keeping low to the ground.

It stalked forward like it was afraid something was going to hurt it, and it made Kieran want to lunge forward and scoop it up. But they waited. They were already laying face down in the mud in front of a dumpster, they didn’t want all of their effort to go to waste because a cute kitty made them lose their shit.

They lost track of how much time it took for the kitten to finally make its way to the edge of the dumpster to sniff at Kieran’s hand. It must have been a friendly thing in the Human Realm, because after a few curious sniffs, it nuzzled its little face against the back of Kieran’s knuckles.

“There you are, friend,” they spoke softly. “Thanks for coming out. I’m going to pick you up now, okay?”

Slowly, Kieran brought themself into a crouch and slipped their hand beneath the kitten’s belly. It was still so young that they only needed one hand to scoop it up. They could feel it’s tiny little shade-heart beating erratically against their palm as they brought it up against their torso.

“I know I’m probably not much better than the ground,” Kieran laughed, shaking their rain-soaked auburn hair out of their face. “But we’ll get you all warm and safe, promise.”

They were just about to start walking when their phone started ringing. If it hadn’t, they likely would have just forgotten it on the ground where they had left it. Internally wincing at their forgetfulness, they bent down to pick it up. 

“Satan, you have great timing.”

—--

Satan met them at the garden gate. As soon as Kieran had mentioned cat and disobeying Lucifer, he had been game for whatever shenanigans they were about to engage in. 

The brothers had all begun to get panicky when they realized that Kieran had slipped out without an escort. Which was sweet, they supposed, but also very annoying. Fortunately, Kieran was an expert of taking advantage of chaos, and they had all of the secret tunnels and hidey-holes of the House of Lamentation memorized.

They couldn’t remember to do their homework, but causing mischief? Perfect recollection.

There were a couple of loose bricks around the side of the House that, if you knocked on them counterclockwise five times from the six o’clock position, would dissolve away to reveal a path that led straight to the observatory. 

The kitten had settled down into Kieran’s arms, but was still looking around at everything and flinching whenever something moved. Although it seemed very entertained by the torches that lined the corridor.

Satan pushed the door open, holding it for Kieran while he extinguished the torches with a wave of his hand. “There. Perfect execution.”

“Are you doing shenanigans without me?”

Satan and Kieran both jumped, causing the kitten to let out a distressed “mrreow!” and dig its claws into the sleeve of Kieran’s hoodie.

“Damn it, Belphie, don’t do that,” Satan spat, shutting the door.

“You’re the ones who waltzed in here. You scared me half to death,” Belphegor drawled, lying stretched out on one of the couches and looking very much not scared half to death. “What do you have there?”

“I rescued a kitty,” Kieran said, moving the kitten a bit further out to Belphie could see it. “Some numbnuts sacrificed her to Satan and I found her hiding under a dumpster when I was out for a walk.”

Belphie blinked owlishly at them before beginning to count on his fingers. “Bringing an animal into the House. Leaving without a guardian. Using the secret passageways for non-emergency reasons. Tracking in dirt. That’s four of Lucifer’s rules you broke in one go,” he grinned. “Nice going.”

“I do what I can.”

“Have you decided on a name yet?” Satan asked, leaning over Kieran’s shoulder to watch the kitten. She had calmed down from her little fright and was instead sniffing the air curiously.

“Jiji.” Kieran said decisively.

“Jiji?” Belphie tilted his head. “Like from the movie?”

“You watch Ghibli movies?”

“Levi went through a phase and took me with him.”

Satan scowled. “Do I want to know?”

“Actually, you would probably like the movie I got the name from,” Kieran shrugged, adjusting their arms until they could hold Jiji up to their face. “What do you think, friend? Do you like the name Jiji?”

Jiji stared at Kieran, pupils finally narrowed enough for them to see that her eyes were green. Everyone was quiet, watching the human and kitten stare at each other. 

After a long moment, Jiji reached out a paw and booped Kieran’s nose.

“She likes it!”