3633/A Demon and a Goth Walk Into Purgatory

A Demon and a Goth Walk Into Purgatory
Date of Scene:	30 September 2020
Location:	Purgatory Night Club
Synopsis:	Levian and Andi meet and have some very strange discussions about what they are. Levian wants to be friends with her symbiote!
Cast of Characters:	Levian, Andi Benton

---

Levian has posed:
Levian lives a bit of an odd life currently, as Lara Croft talked him into getting a job, but he still hasn't found one, and currently he's just sort of wandering around, taking in more human culture.

When he walks by Purgatory, some group of rich people thought he looked cool with his pointed ears. They dragged him inside with them. He didn't really question it.

His third eye is closed, though it is a noticeable slit in his forehead if one peaks beyond his bangs, it being closed makes him a bit more presentable.

He ends up quickly breaking off from the group, wandering arround the club. He's definitely far above the age for someone to be in here, but relatively young for his species at least?

Still, he sniffs the air, watching people in his black denim jacket, unintentionally giving the impression of being an indifferent yet curious spectator. It ironically makes him look cool even though he isn't trying, and doesn't even necessarily even know what cool is.

He just keeps his hands in his pockets and lets people walk around him.

Andi Benton has posed:
Andi Benton was of an age to not need an escort or companion to gain admittance. The place had been on her radar since hearing it was opening not so long ago, but to say she had other things going on in her life that took precedence would be putting it mildly.

Tonight, she'd been patrolling in the area when the sight of the building reminded her of the place. Maybe socialization wasn't high up on her list, but what could it hurt to check the place out? The way she figured, either she'd hate it and it'd be a one time thing, curiosity sated, or she might find herself coming back again.

She was certainly able to fit in, given her tastes in goth and punk styles, multiple piercings, and that overall look of disinterest in everything around her.

It was also an experiment, one to see how both she and Mania could handle a place with a lot of people and music played at a higher decibel level than the music store she worked at. Currently, she was just observing things, a soda in hand and something chocolatey being nibbled at - and it was taking discipline to budget it out over a few bites.

Levian has posed:
Levian sniffs the air still, because there's a new smell. Something odd and new to him, and he follows it over until he's staring squarely down at Andi. "Are you a witch?" he wonders, looking her clothes over out of curiosity.

"I was told that this is Purgatory. I thought Purgatory would be bigger, I'm surprised that it's so loud." He stares over at the DJ. "Human music is interesting."

Andi Benton has posed:
Fortunately, loud music alone is not enough to really bother the symbiote, but the light show and the darkness in much of the club, and of course the thumping music itself provides Mania with a lot of sensory input to deal with.

//This is supposed to be fun, Andi?//
<<Yeah, if someone's into being around a bunch of people.>>

It's an internal exchange, and there's a bit more that goes on between them by the time Levian is moving in her direction to ask her what he does. It takes a second or two for her to snap out of the conversation nobody else is privy to, doing so with a "What?" as she blinks and looks up, pausing immediately on those strange eyes, squinting at him.

"A witch? Huh?" This question confuses her enough that she doesn't immediately have an answer for him, instead eyeing the place for a moment. Seems she wasn't expecting someone to try to be social with her. "It's just a name, and..human music? What are you talking about?" If there's one way to get more of her attention, that just did it.

Levian has posed:
"I mean, the music of Earth. It's interesting." Levian says as he listens to a rather heavy modern dubstep song. This seems to be a heavy music night. "It sounds almost like the music we have where I'm from. Do you have heavy metal on Earth?" he suddenly wonders, looking over at her.

"That's mostly what we hear." Then he shakes his head, and offers his hand to her. "Levian." He doesn't give his full introduction, as it's rather important not to freak humans out. Though he obviously isn't well-versed in not doing that yet.

Andi Benton has posed:
"I'm going to go out on a limb and guess you're not from around here," Andi answers, a somewhat sarcastic tone off voice with it. This would not be the first time she's encountered someone from another planet, she suddenly realizes. That might never get to be a normal thing.

The hand is met for the briefest of shakes, giving her name in return. "Andi, and I dunno. A lot of dubstep is just kind of crap, a lot of noise."

<<This guy is weird.>>
//Are we not weird to most human creatures, Andi?//
<<I hate it when you make sense.>>

Yes, Levian, they're talking about you.

Levian has posed:
"No, I'm from somewhere else. I've stopped telling people where I'm from, I find that humans have a very negative response. I'm from another world, that seems like a simple way to say it." Levian sniffs in her direction a little. "You smell different from a normal human, there's something strange about you. You smell like two things at once. Do you have a pet?" he asks, eyeing her pockets. Perhaps that's where the pet is hiding.

Andi Benton has posed:
If he happens to look at the right moment, Levian might just catch a glimpse of something in Andi's eyes, like an inky black...something...passing over the whites.

//Did he just call us your PET, Andi?//
<<Calm down! I don't know how he knows, but I don't think he really knows what's going on! We can't, you know, go crazy in here!>>
//Why not?//
<<Do you want us to get thrown out, or have everyone here know who we are?>>
//WE ARE NOT A PET!//

Andi's private talk leads to her practically staring a hole through Levian, and she does the only thing she can think of in the moment that might placate the symbiote and keep it from causing a scene: she devours the rest of the chocolate treat, a brownie. That seems to do the trick, for now.

"Another world..yeah. I figured as much." But she hasn't figured out how he knew there was more to her than meets the eye. "And let's just say I have a..a friend. You should be careful what you say. You never know who's listening." It doesn't sound like a threat, and she doesn't try to make it come off that way. More of an...observation.

Levian has posed:
"Strange." Levian of all people says, starting to stare at people's drinks. "I have forty dollars, someone gave me money and ran away for some reason. How do I get one of those?" He points at someone's random soda. "Do they taste like Earth water? Earth water is delicious."

He stares at her eyes though, squinting, curious. His third eye suddenly opens. It's easy for her to see this close, though his bangs obscure it a bit for people who aren't really as immediately close to them. "I thought maybe you were possessed by a demon, but I guess not. Sorry." He closes his eye again. "So, the drinks..."

Andi Benton has posed:
Andi Benton points toward the bar. "..you go over there and ask for one, then you pay for it." She could probably get people to give her money as well, if she let that other side of her out to play. But that would be an abuse of her abilities. Can't have that. Maybe if someone really deserved it.

That's when she steps back as something goes on with the guy's forehead, and she notices an ear is more pointed than it ought to be. "Holy shit!" she blurts. Something ripples over her eyes again and there's a moment where it looks like something more will happen.

//ANDI WHAT IS THAT?//
<<I don't know! What the hell?!>>

"How the fuck did you get..whatever that is?" She's pointing directly at his forehead and not even being subtle about it, the fingertip only a few inches away. Thankfully the place is loud enough, busy enough that nobody else appears to have noticed.

Levian has posed:
"What?" Levian asks, then raises his hand to touch his third eyelid. "Hmm, when I was still an amorphous blob of flesh, bones, and fire, I wasn't really anything. But as I ate other things, I gradually took on the physical properties of the things I consumed. It's normal to have two eyes, but I was eating a lot of things with one large eye when I lived in this one place. I guess the trait became dominant as I absorbed it."

He explains all of this very matter-of-factly, as if this is just obvious and logical. "My body doesn't change very quickly anymore, it's very stable. But I'll probably change a little more, very slowly, as I mature and consume."

Andi Benton has posed:
There is an involuntary step back that Andi takes all of a sudden as Levian so nonchalantly explains this for her. Suddenly she can understand why someone just gave him forty bucks, just like that. If she didn't have that 'friend' she may have already run off.

Instead, there is a curiosity she can't exactly explain even to herself, but the symbiote is /very/ interested now.

//This one is different.//
<<Yeah, what gave it away?>>
//We do not like the fire part though, Andi. Be careful.//

She forces a smile and coughs once. "You know all of that sounds insane, right?"

Levian has posed:
"I don't know, to me humans sound very strange." Levian starts to gesture with his hands as he explains, "Humans are born as a soft flesh humanoid that can't think or take care of itself, and anyone could eat it at any time and it's too dumb to do anything about it. It's kind of a very evolutionary inefficient design. It confuses me how humans are alive. What if a parent decides to eat the baby, what will the baby do? Humans are strange."

Andi Benton has posed:
Andi Benton crosses her arms, a gesture that could have multiple meanings behind it: defiance, self-reassurance to name a couple. "Uh, I don't know what shit's like wherever you came from, but that's not something we do. Like, at all," she explains, squinting openly at the guy.

She'd be a disappointment to her teachers if she didn't know that does happen in the wild with certain animals in certain situations, but...very different.

"But, yeah. Babies are kind of like parasites if you think about it. Not technically, but close enough. Some of them even make it to be adults and still can't last without help." That got deep all of a sudden.

Levian has posed:
"Humans have this concept of helping others without expecting anything in return. It's a very strange and alien concept, but I'm still trying to understand it. I probably do it without realizing it, I don't know. There aren't words in my language to describe it. I have difficulty translating things to human language that I don't understand in my own." Levian admits, who is obviously speaking English right now.

"I'm not sure what language this is, I grew up hearing them all, so you instinctively learn the newer ones. I can speak it even if I don't really know what you call it. I mostly just translate my own language to the equivalent words." But, on the topic of babies, he squints again. "Hmm, the other thing is that babies always have the same form. But I suppose the same is true for my kind, specific species usually have the same form if they're of a higher breed, a more pure breed. I'm not really a pure bred."

Andi Benton has posed:
Andi Benton reaches up to rub the back of her head. "I'm not going to pretend I understood all of that, but do you always walk right up to people and start talking like this?" she questions, probably wondering if he considers her special enough for it or if this is just routine for him.

//He must be some kind of alien too, Andi//
<<Nothing gets by you, does it?>>
//Not usually. Why do you ask?//
<<Nevermind>>

She starts to head away from the more open area she is in the club, past some of the flame-themed designs toward the bar. It might be time for another drink. Certainly more chocolate. Presumably he will follow, as she says, "I'm not sure I'm ready to know all of your deepest secrets. We just met."

Levian has posed:
"You smell odd, and you look like a witch, so you seem special." Levian explains as he follows behind her. "I don't tell most humans things, they get scared easily. I mostly watch them. The way that you dress is very familiar to me, though not quite the same. Where I'm from, I believe you'd look at home."

"I don't really have many deep secrets. Most of them are magical, though humans keep strange deep secrets. I remember hearing them yell about the things they're sorry about a lot, and it's frequently petty things. I'm not sure they realize why they're down there." He takes a seat, looking at the drinks behind the bar. "Do you have any deep secrets?"

Andi Benton has posed:
"Goths aren't witches," Andi says, rolling her eyes at the suggestion. Regardless, the meanings behind what he's telling her aren't truly lost on her. There's something about him that makes her think of one place in particular, one it wouldn't make much sense for anybody living to have been to before. "And something tells me I wouldn't fit in wherever you're from, either." Of that, she is reasonably certain.

It's the part about people's deep secrets and yelling about being sorry and not knowing why they're 'down there' that has her skin beginning to crawl. Or maybe that's just the symbiote rippling over it. She has to look down just to be sure. No, not the symbiote. Not yet.

"We don't have any secrets we want to tell you," she says, without realizing she's slipped into that way of speaking. She must be feeling like she needs the extra comfort of her 'other' by now.

Levian has posed:
"We? Isn't that how human royalty speaks?" Levian asks while continuing to stare at drinks. "I don't really know what most of these things are. I've heard of chocolate, and smoothies. I'm not really sure what they are, but I've heard of people talk about wanting them a lot. What do you like? I'll have what you like."

"Goth. Do goths have powers?" he wonders, as he's unsure what it is, that seems to be a reasonable thing to ask. "And it's fine, secrets don't have to be told. I do enjoy hearing them, they give insight, but secrets are secrets for a reason usually. No matter how good or bad the reason is."

Andi Benton has posed:
It would be simple for Andi to slip out while Levian is perusing the drink selection. He'd never find her. Would he? Could he? What if, the next time she was patrolling, he just happened to be where she was? Nothing would be creepy about that at all.

Yet, there's a part of her, whether herself or her 'other' half, or both, that needs to know more in some way. So, she throws him a bone. It's a brontosaurus-sized bone Fred Flintstone himself would drool over. "Okay. Listen, because I'm only going to say this once. No, goths don't have powers. Yes, chocolate smoothies are the best thing in the world. You should try one." She snaps her fingers at the bartender and repeats the choice. She just did that.

"I said 'we' because I have an alien symbiote and it's my friend, it is /not/ a pet, and we.." She waves her hands in frustration. "..it's like a bond. No, I'm not going to let you see it in this place. That would be bad. There. Are you happy now?"

<<GOD>>
//Yes, Andi?//

Levian has posed:
"So you're possessed by an alien symbiote?" Levian asks as he sniffs at her again. "I've never heard of that, but now I know what it smells like. I've never possessed someone before, I'm not entirely sure how, I never learned."

He stares at her a bit harder now as he waits for the smoothie. "Humans end up in lots of interesting situations. You don't find it scary to be possessed? And what do you give it, if you're in a symbiosis. What does it get from you? Does it control you? Is it eating you?"

Andi Benton has posed:
"I didn't know this was 'Twenty Questions,'" Andi answers, unable to keep the sarcasm out. She's really doing this with someone who, from what she can tell, sure /seems/ to be from the /real/ purgatory, not just a club named after it.

A pair of machines blend the smoothies together, whirring on the countertop a few feet on the other side of the bar.

"It's not a possession thing, and it doesn't control me." How little she knows about that, mainly because it hasn't really been done yet. Maybe once that she knows of, and it was only in a mild way, which counts, but nobody needs to know. She's looking at him askance after he talks of possession as well.

The next answer, her voice sounds different, like a blend of her own and something otherworldly, still feminine, but...purely alien. "We help us survive. Andi gives us purpose. We give Andi protection. And you are nosy."

Levian has posed:
"I want to know things, because I'm in an alien world." Levian half explains/corrects. "That sounds like a deal." he says with a tone that suggests a 'deal' is a bit more than a 'deal'. "I don't know about planets other than Earth. I do have a lot of questions, but maybe it's rude to ask." he considers.

"Symbiotes sound like demons." he states outright, beginning to watch the smoothie get mixed, sniffing in its direction. "Lesser demons that have no purpose but to crawl around, eating, fighting, until a demon lord needs you, or a human summons you. But this seems more... mutual. Demon-like, but not quite demon. I understand being a lesser demon, it's difficult."

He looks over at her again, "I want to get to know your symbiote."

Andi Benton has posed:
"Sounds like my..other," Andi mutters to the observation about wanting to know things and why. Does she attract these kinds of things, or what? Hands go up. "And hold on. I never agreed to any kind of deal. I'm not stupid. If you're a fucking demon, I know better. I've seen movies and read stories. And symbiotes are not demons. They're..they're..well, I don't know what they really are, but we're better off together."

//Demons mean fire, yes Andi?//
<<Yes, and..?>>
//If he invites us to his place, Andi, we say no.//

Suddenly, she actually laughs aloud at something but it's very brief. About that time, the smoothies are placed before them and she pays for hers with cash, then begins to gulp some of it down. "You would say that," she observes of his desire to meet this 'friend' of hers.

Levian has posed:
"It sounds interesting, familiar. Like someone I'd meet back home. I've only been here for a few weeks, but sometimes I miss familiar things." Levian reaches into his pocket and just hands the bartender a twenty. He has no idea if that's enough money or too much, and just starts drinking as the tender is getting his change.

He has to stop immediately and stares down at it. "This... this drink is even better than water... It tastes like drinking pure human sin." He then starts to drink even deeper, seemingly lost in the chocolate.

Then he looks over at her and asks, "Are chocolate and cocaine the same thing??? I keep hearing about cocaine and this seems like what people are describing."

Andi Benton has posed:
"No idea what you could be talking about," Andi remarks to his words of familiarity. How could she possibly know, or have something to compare this to as a baseline?

He is given back less money than he would have had he made the thing at home, but that's the way it is in a club, in an arena, in many places where one is forced to buy from the concessions at the venue. Hello, ridiculous markups.

She almost spits up some of her own. "Pure human sin? I can definitely tell you I have no idea what that could even mean." But, is he wrong? The chocolate itself is..divine. "Also never done cocaine, don't plan on it, can't help you with that one." For a moment, a decidedly alien tongue may be spotted slurping at the insides of the glass.

Levian has posed:
"It's hard to explain. I can't find words in any of the human languages I know." Levian tries to think very hard, staring down into his milkshake. "Kummerspeck. I don't really know what human languages is called, but there's a word in one language called Kummerspeck. That's kind of close to describing the taste of eating a damned soul? I think, in English, you could kind of describe it as emotionally overeating, or, a literal translation of 'grief bacon'."

He takes his money, and stares at her tongue. He tries to stick his own out into his smoothie, but it is an incredibly human length and does nothing impressive.

Andi Benton has posed:
The thing about that tongue is it's very much inhuman for a moment, then it's completely normal again. Was the symbiote showing off? Did it react to his desire to meet it? Andi's expression after the demonstration with the smoothie is to frown and focus over something.

<<What was that for?>>
//We felt like making this more interesting.//

Andi's eyes merely narrow at whatever that was, if it was even anything to begin with. "You are a bad influence," she deadpans, stating afterward, "And bacon is great, but we do not know anything about grief bacon." Now, she goes to work on the smoothie again in a decidedly more human way. "Or..kummerspeck."

Levian has posed:
"I have your scent, so we could talk again later, maybe? Once we leave here." Levian wonders, continuing to indulge in his smoothie quite liberally. "You seem like a very young human, so perhaps you can teach me what it's like to not be fully formed yet. I wonder if your muscles will get larger. Or perhaps you'll become taller." He isn't quite sure, he just speculates.

"Either way, I have to find a job. I'm still not sure how, so I should go and do that so I can get money." he explains before downing the rest of his smoothie very quickly. "Cold things are nice. There are cold places in Hell, but they don't taste very good."

Andi Benton has posed:
"And we have yours," Andi points out, though the prospect of such a thing does leave her just a little unnerved.

Consider: a lesser demon is still a demon, and any demon taking an interest in someone should not be considered healthy in general.

She adds, the epitome of patience, "I'm pretty sure I'm done growing. Girls mature faster than boys. That's just science." So, chances are what he sees from her is the way it's going to stay, for the most part. "And I can't say I can think of any jobs for you right now. Maybe a politician. And I'm not going to even touch that last part."

Levian has posed:
"I am half demon lord, but I don't even know how to use most of those powers because whoever my father is probably doesn't know I was born. So I was born in what I think was a lava pit. At least, I crawled out of one." Levian slowly stands after answering what was presumably a response to being a politician? But either way, he slides his hands into his pockets. "Well, I'll see you later. And thank you for the human biology information."

Andi Benton has posed:
Andi Benton's reaction to all that is one last look of discomfort. "Yeahhh...so, yeah. I really don't know how to respond to that, so I'm just going to say, uh, take care." There are things she just can't wrap her brain around, even if she has an alien symbiote bond of her own.

Speaking of which, soon after Levian is gone, she finds her way out and lets the symbiote out once she's a couple blocks away and in an alley, webbing her way up to the rooftops.

"I never should have gone there," she says.

"Ohh, we thought it was fun. Now we want to see what he thinks of us," she speaks again, only with the added second voice of Mania joining in.

"I was afraid of that," Andi herself finishes.