OPEN ☆ If we were in a perfect world

[steponme]

Who: Shell Overlord (steponme) & OPEN
What: Catch-all Log, now with open prompts!!
When: End of April - Start of May
Where: Olympia
Warning(s): Awkward boners, violence



Fight Club | cw: violence, mind control
[For those who venture down to the see the underground fights, they might find a peculiar scene waiting for them. Standing in the arena and awaiting his opponent is Shell. But for those who know him, there's really no questions that he's not exact;y the fighting type. What's he doing there? Well...]

A. VS (Previous CR only please!)
[...it looks like he's your opponent today. He doesn't look very intimidating, not particularly dressed down beyond having taken off his jacket and scarf, and he doesn't seem to be holding a weapon of any kind. But something you might notice is that a good chunk of the crowd seems to be stepping back. You probably haven't seen what he can do yet -- but even the refferee looks a little standoffish, climbing up over the barricade to stand atop it, out of reach. But as for Shell-- well, he didn't expect to see anyone he knew here.]

...what are you doing here?

B. Domination (OTA)
[...it looks like his battle is about to start. If you're smart, and you've chosen to follow the crowd in sitting in one of the higher seats, then you'll only see the "battle" play out. Shell enters, and just as his opponent starts getting into stance to fight, he suddenly freezes and collapses to his knees. As Shell steps closer, the man starts to scream, pleading for it to "stop" -- whatever it is. Eventually, Shell leans down and whispers something to him, and he starts screaming for the refferee that he gives up.]

[But if you were curious enough to stay as close to the ring as possible, then you'll get to experience what those sitting in the higher seats can only watch: a strong sense of fear and dread seemingly emanates off the battle arena, causing those sitting closest to experience effects similar to the man in the ring. Some start crying, others scream, but most of them only stand and stare in petrified silence. Even the refferee seems affected for a few moments, taking far too long to end the match and give Shell the win.]

[And the moment he does, the heavy atmosphere disappears as suddenly as it appeared. But as Shell heads off stage to wait for his next match, for some reason, he doesn't look very happy about it.]


[ooc: Feel free to alter prompts as you see fit! Let me know in Prompt A whether your character will be effected by Shell's pheromones, as they have a 25% chance of failing entirely. Please note that if you choose to have your character sit too close in Prompt B, they will be affected as well. If you'd like to avoid that, have them sit further back!]

Comments

[steponme]

I don't mind trying, but... it's kind of a long story. Are you sure you wanna hear it?

[It might be boring to her. Or she'd hear it all, and still not quite get it. It's not that he thinks she wouldn't be able to understand it, but... for her to ask him so sincerely why he loves humans, she must not have had very many positive interactions with them.]

[It's sad to think about, really. Did she have no humans friends here on Nysa?]

[colorature]

_{[He'll get a little nod at that, as she moves to pull out one of the kitchen chairs to sit on. See? She's hunkering down for this.]}

I'm not very busy at the moment, so I don't mind.

[steponme]

[He goes to take a seat as well, but then pauses and recalls that she was rooting around in the fridge when he found her. So he'll go there first and get her one of Reign's bottle of blood instead, wordlessly setting it on her side of the kitchen table for her before taking a seat himself.]

How much has Reign told you about what our world is like? It's a lot different than anything here on Nysa... even the climate. Our world is cold and dark most of the time. Which is fine for us vampires, but... it's hard on humans. Until I came here, I didn't even know they could live past 40, since I've never seen one older than that.

[He explains a little more -- not enough to bore her with minute details, but enough so she has an idea of how humans lived in farms and how vampires controlled their lived, raising them as livestock or keeping them as "Arts" -- glorified slaves.]

...my mother left me to live with my father when I was little. But he never really cared for me. The one who really took care of me... was a human Art owned by my father named Ellie.

[He smiles now -- fond, and full of love, but tinged with a certain sadness that grows stronger the further along his story goes.]

Even though I was a vampire, he was always so kind to me. He'd smile at me, and pat my head... and he'd tell me all kinds of stories. He never resented me... even though I know my father treated him poorly.

[As far as Shell knows -- he still remembers what he saw in the window that day, his father grabbing Ellie and no doubt drinking his blood.]

I wanted to become strong enough to protect him someday... but then one day, he disappeared. And I never found out what happened to him. [...] After that... I found it difficult to drink human blood. I still did for a long time but... it only got harder as the years went by.

[colorature]

<sub>[Oh nice. A drink.

Diva wastes no time opening the bottle and taking a swig from it (classy), only to set it back down as she begins to listen to whatever Shell has to say. It's not like he was lying either - it was a long story. It'd be a lie to say she can relate to much of what he's telling her, but there are little details here and there that elicit some sparks of empathy in her. Even she doesn't exactly like the idea of humans being farmed. For someone who had spent a chunk of her life as an experiment locked up it doesn't sit well with her. Sure, she doesn't like humans on principle and sees them predominantly as food, but even that's a bit much.

The rest of Shell's story though sounds a lot more like whining, at least to her ears. So there was a person he cared for that disappeared and he'd never see again, and they just so happened to be human. Boo hoo. Was it sad? Sure. Did it warrant the rejection of his identity because of it? Not really.]</sub>

So you hate what you are. You hate that you're a vampire.

_{[Even Diva can read between the lines.]}

Get over it. Do you think that person you cared about would want you to see you in such a state? If you really cared about them you wouldn't be doing this to yourself. If they didn't hate you for what you were, then you have no right to hate yourself.

[steponme]

[If Diva's words were meant to convince him, she's not doing a very good job of it. But then, someone like Diva would never be able to convince him otherwise. She was strong, and proud of what she was.]

[But Shell wasn't. And she could see right through his story.]

[In a way, that makes this easier. That wasn't exactly the end of his story -- he said so himself that he still drank blood for a long time after. This wasn't the event that made him stop all together -- nor did he stop drinking blood for Ellie's sake. This was a decision he made for himself -- for his own sake. Trying to guilt him using Ellie's memory wasn't exactly going to work.]

[Regardless, he doesn't really see a reason to keep going. Someone who dislikes humans wasn't going to sympathize with their murder. In the end, she was far more comparable to the likes of his father than she was to him.]

[But despite her harsh words, he only smiles.]

...thank you for worrying about me. I'm sorry for taking up so much of your time.

[And he stands, starting to walk past her.]

You can have whatever you want in the fridge... Reign should be back in an hour or so.

[colorature]

_{[If Shell things he can get walk away that easy he's got another thing coming. As soon as he stands she's standing with him, her chair being pushed out of the way with a shove. A sharply nailed hand grabs one of Shell's wrists, her grip tight. Oh no, Shell isn't going anywhere.]}

Don't brush me off like that. I won't have you of all people looking down on me.

[steponme]

[He hardly winces when she grabs his wrist like that, but he does stop -- he knows she's too strong to actually fight off.]

[And while he can't deny he did basically brush her off-- that definitely isn't the reason he did.]

I'm not looking down at you... how could I?

[Aside from the fact that he is literally looking down at her right now because he's tall af.]

You're strong... and proud of who you are. You've been through a lot more than I have -- probably more than I could even imagine. But even so... if anything... I envy you.

I wish I could feel that way about myself.

[colorature]

<sub>[Envy, huh?

It's the first time anyone's actually outright said as much to her. Sure, she's strong, and yes she's proud of who and what she is...but she has to be. Her survival over the years depended on embracing her identity instead of casting it away like Saya had. It's not as if she could make herself human, so why bother? Why not be what she was born to be? What was the point of fighting it.

Her grip relaxes a little, before her fingers fall away, her voice a mutter.]</sub>

...You remind me of my sister. I bet the two of you would get along.

[steponme]

[He's not really expecting her to pull away with just that. But he neither turns to look at her nor tries to leave.]

...I remember you mentioning her, in those memories I saw. It was... Saya, right?

[colorature]

Mm, sweet Saya. My darling twin.

_{[Only fondness is present in her voice as she returns her hand to herself completely, opting to rock back onto her heels as she speaks.]}

Saya grew up playing pretend, with a family that wasn't hers. She thought she was human, even though she was different. She doesn't like herself, doesn't like drinking human blood either, even if she needs to. She thinks she's a monster, thinks I'm a monster...but she's foolish.

_{[The rocking stops as she looks pointedly at him.]}

No one can change what they were born as so why fight it? It's better to accept what you are and focus on things that matter. Nothing that happened where we came from matters anymore. Circumstances are different.

_{[Literally yolo life...or in Diva's case you live forever.]}

[steponme]

[The affectionate tone of her voice doesn't escape Shell -- which only makes what she goes on to say that much more tragic, causing him to turn and look back at her again.]

...I don't know if we'd get along that well. I don't think you're a monster at all.

[It was a strange thing. Shell hated himself, and he hated that he was a vampire -- but he didn't hate vampires. It was like she said: they couldn't help what they were. Did he wish things were different? Of course. But he doesn't begrudge his kind for feeding on humans. They did what they had to do in order to survive.]

[But Shell saw things differently when it came to himself.]

I know what you're saying is right. I know... I'm only hurting myself. Maybe it's true that there's nothing I can do about what I am, and eventually I might have to go back to feeding on humans again... but I'll never know unless I try, right?

[His gaze falls again, a little smile spreading over his face as his cheeks flush.]

...I didn't actually finish my story before. Ellie was the reason I started to love humans. But the one who made me want to change... was the human I fell in love with.

[colorature]

You fell in love with a human?

_{[Ah. Well, that explains it. Enough that she can kind of get where he's coming from, even if she can't relate.]}

What's it like? To fall in love?

_{[Because she doesn't know and has a sinking feeling she won't.]}

[steponme]

[Now that's a question he's not expecting.]

Love is... I think it's something that's different for everyone. But... for me--

[He brings his hand up to his chin and closes his eyes, thinking about One and how he felt about him. Just when did he realize he loved him? It all happened so quickly... honestly, he feels as though he loved him from the start, even back when he knew One hated him.]

It's when... they're always on your mind, even when you're not really meaning to think about them. When all you want is for them to be happy, and you're willing to do whatever it takes to make them happy... even if it means getting hurt.

[He's trembling a little now, shoulders shaking -- but he's holding it together. His eyes may sting with tears, but they don't yet stream down his face.]

And... when the thought of living without them becomes so painful that... you can hardly breathe, just thinking about it.

[colorature]

<sub>[Shell may be on the verge of tears, but it's Diva who's expression changes dramatically, twisting and contorting as she scrunches up her nose, lip pouting all of a sudden. Was love different for everyone? How could that be true when that's how she felt about Saya? Saya was always on her mind, in the back hiding. All she ever wanted was for Saya to be happy, to the point of wiping out the entire human race to do so. Not having Saya in her life hurts, and while part of her knows she'd readily kill her twin if it came to that, the other part of her knows she might not be able to bring herself to in the end.

There's a small sniffle and it's Diva who's eyes leak the first few tears, as they roll down her cheeks and fall to the floor. Shell isn't talking about loving a sister or brother though. So why was it the same?]</sub>

I miss sweet Saya...

[steponme]

[Shell's eyes snap open when he hears that sniffle, shocked when he sees tears running down Diva's cheeks. What was wrong... what did he say? He's confused and at a loss, until she speaks.]

[Ah... so that was it.]

[He's not sure whether she's want comfort, nor whether it'd be appropriate to give her a hug unprompted. But he still steps closer, setting a hand on her shoulder so she knows the offer is there.]

...you must love her a lot.

[Be it a lover or a sibling, love was love. Maybe if he were closer to his own family, he might relate to that a little more himself -- but it's not as though he can't still sympathize.]

I know it's easier to say than it is to hear things like 'you'll see her again someday', but... I really hope you do.