Stage 4

[kleptophile]

[Lyn would hate himself for this later, if he hadn't already gotten a head start by hating himself right now. He knows he doesn't want to say this, that this is a terrible idea, but he's...he's got to. It's driving him crazy not to.]Alright, so a handful of people already know this, and I haven't kept it too secret around here 'cause what the fuck

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[counterstrikes]

Lewellyn! W-what are you talking about?

[Yup, your big sister heard all of that. She's standing in the stairway...just listening in. Eavesdropping. Not that it really matters, because she could have heard it from the phone in her room. She slowly approaches him.]

You're really a demon...? [There's a concerned pause...but Chie is not unaffected.] Sometimes, it feels pretty good having power of someone else, being better. But if you're a weak demon, you'd probably be a weak human, too. Just like me.

[kleptophile]

N - [Lyn starts to say "No, I just thought I'd go off on this weird tangent for kicks", but finds he can't even deny the truth temporarily for the purposes of sarcasm.] ...the name's Lyn, okay? Lewellyn's a name that hasn't exactly aged well since I picked it.

...pfft, yeah, right. I wouldn't know shit about how it feels to have power over somebody else. I mean, I might be more powerful than humans, but it's not like I could ever use it in my own world - would've given me away. And by the time I got here, I'd forgotten how to even use most of my powers. [He holds out a hand, palm up, and by dint of much effort and long seconds of concentration, he manages to show off his latest regain - the ability to control fire. This manifests itself in a tiny fireball, barely bigger than a candle flame.] ...see, look at this shit. Street Fighter's got bigger fireballs than this, without even scaling 'em to size

[counterstrikes]

Lewellyn, that's what all the drones call you. I've never really thought of calling you anything else--w-wait, stop talking!

[Hnn. This is just awful. She stares at the fire in his hand. This conversation is going to head south pretty much instantly, she can tell that much.] I don't want to talk about Hell anymore! I've been there, I was dragged to the underworld...that's why I'm not strong enough. Even though I can walk inside of TVs and summon a Persona...think a personal guardian, only really powerful...I'm never going to be strong. I'm going to let everyone down. I wanted you to know all of that, okay?! I'm not strong!

[kleptophile]

Well, think of it now! That name sucks. I picked it way back when it sounded...a lot less stupid than it does now.

You've been to Hell? [Lyn's eyes go wide. Of course, so has he, but he is at least a demon. A human in Hell is like a bloody steak in a dog kennel.] Shit. Uh, I dunno about any of the rest of that, but if you got outta Hell without dying or at least getting horribly maimed, you've done more than any human I've ever heard of.

[eyesofaserpent]

Hey kid...

Your world sucks. If we ever get out of here, you should come to mine so you can go about your business without having to act like you're in the witness protection program.

[kleptophile]

Yeah, it kinda does. [No argument there. He's...not sure what to make of a demon showing some kind of sympathy for him, though he's immensely relieved that this one seems significantly different in behavior from the sorts of demons he's used to.]

...so how's it different in your world?

[eyesofaserpent]

Unless a special mission comes up or I forget to send in a report, I'm left alone. And even though I'm the bottom rung of the demonic ladder, on my home turf, I still have advantages.

[kleptophile]

Yeah, well...I still don't give a fuck about taking any orders from Hell. Though, I dunno, maybe I wouldn't have minded it so much if I'd had your version of it to deal with.

What advantages? About the only advantage I have is that I'm such a runt it's easy for me to hide.

[a_gentle_boy]

Mr. Lyn...

Do you think you'd rather stay here, then?

[kleptophile]

Hell no. This place is fucked up, and even if it wasn't I hated the fifties the first time I lived through 'em. Give me cities, somewhere big you can get lost in - none of this quaint suburbia shit. Everyone playing the domestic happy families game kinda sucks when you don't have one of your own. [That last sentence is...not something that would have normally been said, not without the truth serum.] Besides, I miss the technology.

My city back home - fuck, I've practically lived there all my life. I'm almost as old as the city itself, if not older. I know it inside out, like most people know their own houses. That's my home, not this place. And I wanna go back to it.

[a_gentle_boy]

So it's that you miss... the environment of your home. You'd prefer what you're familiar with. But... it's like you said, isn't it? You're normal in a place like this, but you always have to hide at home...

[kleptophile]

I'm not normal here anymore. It's just that not normal is the new normal here, I guess.

...why? You think I should want to stay here?