[PRP] Castle in the Ground (Calder + Barth + Zar)

[MoonKitsune]

Calder's parents came that day, not as early as they had hoped. Traveling for them took notice, and even still, water ways and unpleasant tolls and detours to pass were always a hassle. If anything, their years of experience, speed, and endurance had lead them to even arrive the same day, if not still before noon.

They came following the waterways that fed into the now-owned lake of Barth's estate, and the white mare and stallion walked out, shaking their heads before heading over. As was decorum, Calder shifted to his mare form, excusing himself as he met them and after some nuzzling, there was a great more of talking. His parents had brought some baskets and a few things from home in their traveler's satchels and after they dropped them off, Calder and his father walked the grounds. His mother, shifting into a black mare, then walked off to survey the wild grounds and was gone most of the day.

Calder walked with his dad, getting a earful on what was already discussed. While he was congradulated in owning territory, it was made clear it was his responsibility to uphold the upkeep. The grounds needed tending or the wild would take over. He needed to start sorting out the lake and manage it to start breeding floresce, phish, and other water game. The grass needed mowing down, to which they had brought him a sythe to help, and seeds to start his own crops.

It wasn't until later in the day that his mother emerged from the waters, muddy, and reported back that she had dealt away with some unwanted vermin and that he needed to plant some bloodbush to keep some infestations from happening. After that, they went inside to walk the areas and he was given notes on how he could get materials to fix the stones and where to get them, but he would have to get and carry all the material himself.

All the while, he nodded for the help but felt himself sinking more and more with each task. "Ya hitched yerself fa luv but yah hitched yerself to lazy demons too with igh expectations. No elpin it. You hava lot ave work." His mother said, frowning as she looked as the kitchen, the stone nothing but rust that crumbled in her hands and then checking the sink to heard it rattle and gurgle. "First year will test ya." She said, never one to sugar coat ever before walking over and combing his hair with her hands. Usually it was comforting, but he knew she was checking to see how he was doing.

"You'll need to adjust to this water. It's not like home or the ones that feed into Amityville." His father said, walking from the pantry as he kicked a stone aside with his hoof and dusted off his jacket.

Every so often he would glance at Zar or Barth, wishing he could just lean on them, but he had to learn all he could to make his house stable. He had two demons here and neither one of them wanted to messy home. They wouldn't be happy until the house was stable. He'd have to start trading in the markets for what little he could get.

When his parents where inspecting here and there, he'd take moments to lag behind and lean against the wall, sighing and tugging his hair. It was a very long day.
 

[Toshihiko Two]

Barth warmed immediately to the company, immensely flattered that Calder's parents found both him and Zar to be lazy. It had taken some finagling on his part, although it had not been entirely difficult. Zar had been unhappy in his diligence.

He was less appreciative of the constant Barty business.

It was one thing, of course, for his mother-

"Oh it's so...perfect," Babs enthused, cooing over the coating of mossy slime on one of the stone walls. Babs's current ghoulfriend, who Zar might have noticed was never the same, was a long-legged demon in a business suit who smoked like a chimney, did not lean on anything, and looked like she was severely regretting wearing pumps.

Barth neither kept track of or paid attention to them, treating them politely but a bit like a new purse that his mother insisted on dragging around whenever she went places.

"Yes, it's certainly got its charms. That goes to the left, actually. Um, please be careful when-" Barth winced. "Right, err, never mind."  

[Baneful]

Zar had watched Calder's parents when they had been around with an intent sort of curiosity, he had not seen their natural forms before and found himself almost hypnotised by the inherent grace that was almost always present in quadrupedal creatures.

For the most part, he stayed exactly where he was, seeming to hardly pay attention at all, observing the others as they moved furniture, commented on assets and detriments to the castle itself, setting up furniture and tidying away the dust and rot of far too long. He did not however, linger the whole time, while the others were busy moving a particularly cumbersome and stubborn piece, he slunk off, downwards into the basement.

It was important to him, he had thought long and hard in private about ways in which the castle might be useful to his future plans. It would take some repairs no doubt, but might well suffice for what he needed, kitted out with some strong walls and of course a pool for the ever-present blight of his slime secretions. And there were rats down there too, big ones, plump and furry, scurrying in the walls and skipping through the pooled water that lay across the flagstones, tamed by years of solitude not to fear visiting creeple. He had shifted in the dark, tongue flicking, hunched close to the floor and there had been considerably less of them.

Returning to the group upstairs, he hoped that he hadn't been missed, sidling over to Barth once more and stifling a belch. "Pardon me." he said in a cursory fashion. "I am rather fond of the basement already. They left us a stocked larder down there."

Toshihiko Two

Moonkitsune

 

[MoonKitsune]

Calder walked at long last to the main room where everyone was gathered. Moving helpers passed by carrying this and that and he tried not to get in their way. Barth had a lot of things and he wondered where most of it would all go. Despite priding himseld on strength, he was glad he wasn't moving all of it. He was already too exhausted as it was following his parents instructions, which ranged from stone work to fertilizing to pest control to medicine.

Clutching a few crumbled pages with hastily drawn notes, half of which were bleeding due to getting wer, Calder found one of the brought in chairs and sat down with a sigh.

His parents came in, his mother looking at babs with a smile while Calder's father admired Bab's girlfriends's shoes. His mother started to curl his hair idly as he sank a little more in the chair.

"Oh, I didn't see the basement. If it can be flooded, you could see to a room." Finley said, glancing over to his son who didn't look back. "You...haven't picked a room for is to drop off you things."

"I'm still deciding." Calder mumbled, folding a corner of his notes.

"You need someplace moist enough and that could be beneficial if you relocate some mud."

"Seems like room is being filled." His mother mentioned as she looked at the room and what the movers had brought in so far. "Stake claim."

 

[Toshihiko Two]

Barth looked alarmed at the belch. Zar had a selective diet, so whatever he was talking about wasn't going to be jars of preserves. "Who-" did you eat, was almost startled out of him, but stifled the question in consideration of company.

"Never mind. That was generous of them. Ah, it's um, I'll- look into it later."

If there was anything or anybody left.

"We do have a lake on the property," Barth mentioned distractedly. "When...when it comes to being wet, I mean." He felt slightly intimidated by Calder's parents. He rather liked them, of course, but he always felt...well, like he wasn't exactly what they had been looking for in a son-in-law, what with the focuses on survival of the fittest, and so forth. He was not a particularly muscled creature, or fit in most senses of the word.  

[Baneful]

Whatever fond feelings Zar had been experiencing regarding Calder's parents evaporated like mist when they decided to overstep the line of cordiality and start allocating Calder places to live as if this was some sort of boarding school they were sending him to where they wanted their little foal to get the best jackdamned room on the campus.

Any other time he might well have collapsed like a dying star, folding in on himself and skulking off defeated, surrendering his dreams to the first individual inclined to snatch them. But he was not in a surrendering sort of mood, his stomach was lined with rat and all the miniature creatures had done was whet the deeper appetite that never really went away. He was sick of always being trodden on by other creeple, told that his wants were inconcequential, that he was unreasonable and should get out of the way.

This wasn't their territory to divide, this wasn't their territory at all.

He shifted, leaping forward in front of the stairs that led to the basement, every meter of his tail a twisted sweep of potential energy. He threw back his horns, flicked back his ears and bristled.

"I want the bassssssement." he hissed in a sibilant exhale that ended in a low, quiet growl.

"And like Barth sssays we have plenty of mud and water. We can do without flooding the very foundations of this already abominably damp abode." He bared his teeth and black gums, tongue twisting like his irritable tail as he spoke. "Thisss isssn't some mud hut."

 

[MoonKitsune]

Calder say up when Barth shifted, surprised the demon would change in current company. He would have liked to beloved Zar was more comfortable with this form, but instead he was more worried that the incubus had changed out of anger and some challenge. At least, that's how it appeared and Caldee winced as he tried to gesture as discreetly as he coikd that that was the WRONG thing to do around his parents. An open challenge over territory and a shift with clear physical ques was not one that was just shaken off by his kind.

He heard the chuckle as his father bright a hand to his slender lips, regarding Zar with amusement but Calder knew wasn't fully. Calder rosebud from his seat, but as he stepped, his mother yanked his hair gently and the stomped a hoof on the stone, watching him.

"We'll look at you. I half wondered Barth would have some similarities to his dear mother, but aren't you a surprise. What a budding tendril you are." Finley said, his voice liquid heat. Unlike his wife, his words were well rounded, perfectly spoken, and smooth lacking the kelpie twang his wife and son shared.

"So this is your challenge?"

"Dad, he doesn't kno-"

Finley rose his hand and stomped a hoof. "Decorum. They do so love it."

Reaching up, Finley took on a wooden carved hair ornament and tossed it over to his wife who easily caught it. Then he smiled. It was an aura before the change I something nearby before a fog rolled all around the room. It rose and from it it turned black. Finley as a black mare was far larger than Calder and his body dripped black and his hair, while wet and dripping, seemed to eek a green smog. His eyes did not change white but remained black, and his flesh was tattered and matted as it cling to every bone. A strange rippling of blacks moved on his back and his eyes were large voids and he moved closer, flaring his nostrils as his mouth opened revealing long, razor-sharp teeth dripping with phlegm.

In the moment he made his eyes wider, searching to lock on to Zar's and hold him transfixed. "Let's see what a demon has learned in school. Stake your claim."

 

[Toshihiko Two]

"Oh, thank you dear, Barty does have a bit of slime in him, you know," Babs chipped in. She hadn't helped in the least besides fussing over the movers. She took a seat in one of the kitchen chairs beside Calder and his mom, folding her legs. "He can do- oh, show them that thing."

Barth flushed. "Mother," he chided, scandalized, before going on to plead. 'Finley, is it really- is it really necessary-"  

[Baneful]

Zar made no move to back down, even in the face of the intimidating adult Kelpie, his pride was on the line in this particular instance and something in the very core of his instincts protested that this was his territory, his place where he was to set down roots and thrive, no intrusion could be tolerated.

As far as demons went, particularly his type of demon, Zar was newly into adulthood and not fully developed, he still had a little size to gain and his horns were not quite as sturdy as they could have been and he was still rangy and lanky. None of this put him off, testosterone charging through his veins and pushing him to greater lengths of ferocity and bravado.

"Thissss issss my house." he said without relaxing either his posture or his bared fangs. He felt the effects of the stare, but it was numbed and distant, tied to the world of colours and snapes rather than the bright, delicious and intense realms of scent and heat. In outline, Finley looked like prey.

What had he learned in school he found himself thinking. How to stand up for himself, he supposed, how to fight and how to defy if nothing else.

"You challenged me by claiming my bassement." he spat. "Not the other way around, so do not try to spin it that way."

And slowly, deliberately, he took a step forward.

 

[MoonKitsune]

it was surprising that Zar would make such a definite and string claim when all through the process of getting the house, he had been upset and seemily discussed at the idea before. Still, Zar had strong feelings about this spot where Calder had none - except for the wish for his father to be bored or for Zar to step back.

Neither happened and as the unspoken rules of conduct went, no one could interfere.

Calder could only stand and watch as Finley's flank twitched.

"Braid your hair and let your ears breathe. I told my son to stake a claim, but you challenged me instead which I can't ignore. I'd think a demon would pay attention to words. LYes see if you pay attention now. It's a lesson I don't mind repeating."

Kicking off, the black mare rose up and threw out his thick hooves wildly before throwing them down to trampled the tangled coil that was Zar. Teeth bared and with a unholy shriek, Finley went to n** at pale flesh.

Calder. "Dad, he gets it! Stop!"

 

[Toshihiko Two]

Barth and Babs winced in unison, exchanging a look.

Babs had told Barth a hundred times how to handle these sorts of things. There was always going to be some big, strong, thick-headed creature wanting its way, and why fight, when you could...steer.

And usually, Barth could steer, to a point. But things had...boiled over rather quickly.

"No, um, I'd rather- I don't think-" Finley set into Zar in earnest, and it wasn't a bit of playful posturing, he went in sharply and immediately to- Jack, was he trying to dissipate him?

"Finely, you're going to hurt him," Babs pouted. "Barty-"

"Fine!" Barth conceded, "if you're going to badger me about it, but it's really not that impressive, they're really err, mostly they're, not even very helpful," Barth's palms began oozing a substance thicker than sweat, heavy with fear that dripped down his long claws.

"And- I don't have very good control over them - so it's not like- ah, sorry! Do look out."

Wicked looking creatures, made entirely of goo and not unlike his mother, if his mother was a gnobby snot gremlin, sprung up to cling to Finley's hooves, and a few clumsily to Zar. The overall effect was sticky and awful and it made a mess of the floor, turning the whole exercise into trying to fight while being stuck in a gunky molasses mire that seemed very insistent on everything being floorward.  

[Baneful]

Staring at Finley (or at least his heat signature) Zar made no move to back down. Even clearly outmatched as he was, he felt like giving up was tantamount to giving up what he'd started to assimilate as his territory. It wasn't an option.

The kelpie leapt and Zar leapt too, if only because at that point there was no other option available than to fight and defend himself as best he could. Slime was the first noticeable result of this decision, thick slippery iridescent slime that covered him and his fur as he twisted his tail and tried to writhe out of the grip and biting range of his assailant. It didn't take long for his jet black blood to mingle with the slime as he snapped and bit as much as he could himself, long claws raking against the strong hide of the elder monster.

He was oblivious to everything else that was going on, too caught up in the urgency of survival, forsaking even language in favour of the terrible hisses and shrieks he was capable of when pressed to extremes of emotions or fear in this form.

Even as his steps became heavier and Barth's goolems slowly began to restrain his movements he resolutely tried to keep fighting, assuming the effect was something of Finley's devising and with the deeply ingrained knowledge of all wild things that to falter was to die.

 

[MoonKitsune]

Finley made no movement or gesture to look back at Barth and the others. His focus was purposeful, controlled yet fierce. His intent was clear. He would dissipate Zar unless he conceded and backed down. As long as the other was willing to fight, he would do the same. Goo and muck were not foreign battlefields for a kelpie who worked among mud and swamp and deep waters. He powered through, and went to bite the incubi's neck.

As this progressed, Ailsa moved over to Bab's and Barth with a deep scowl. "Do not disrespect. Their fight. Not yours. Responsibility is learned."

She glared at them both, standing now between the sloth demon and his mother and Finley and Zar's fight.

Calder walked over and watched with a distant numbness before he looked over at Barth, sad yet unable to intervene. "We can't do anything unless they stop it. Monsters have pride too, Barth."
 

[Toshihiko Two]

Barth looked startled as Ailsa stood. "I beg your pardon. I am sorry, they don't usually-" not work. "Look, I'm sorry about the mess, but in any case I'm going to have to ask you to stand down, both of you- Ailsa, Finley, we have our own decorum, and damn it, won't anyone listen-"

Babs smiled at Ailsa, and reached over the counter to rifle around for a glass. "Oh no, of course we don't want to disrespect anyone's culture." There was a lilting implication about cultures that involved being violent at the drop of a hat. "Barty, did you unpack the drinks? He doesn't drink himself, but I brought a few, you know, in case he wanted to entertain."

"Left cupboard." He had not personally unpacked anything, but the general implication of you was understood as the creeple that I hired. He seemed slightly peevish at Calder's comment.

"I am not a Pride demon," Barth said, and confronting Calder directly, "Whose Clan are you a part of?"  

[Baneful]

Zar was wrapped up still in his own survival and attempting to do everything he could to win. His chances were slim and even when he did land a bite on the other creature, his teeth hardly broke the surface. It was disenheartening, he'd felt like he'd gotten better, gotten stronger since those days when he'd been a pathetic little paper pusher.

Not strong enough.