Southside Coven: Path To Power (Pt. 2)

--- Jon ---

Maybe bringing all of his Demonology books was a bit of a risk, but at the very least it was less so than bringing all of his Dark Arts books or revealing that he had dark arts books beyond Demonology which unless you encountered a Demon was largely a theoretical field. And while some of the books just going off of their titles were… blasphemous depending on one’s beliefs, he felt that wasn’t really something he needed to worry about, (especially not when they both work with the Scarecrow.)

“This is… more than I was expecting.” Artemis admitted once he finished unloading the dozen or so books he’d brought with him.

(Yeah, apparently DeSade considers a small library to equate to knowledge.) He silently agreed, knowing that the man had given him several dozen books in total. Something he hadn’t quite realized until he’d opened one with a false lining and an expansion enchantment similar to his pack. (I really should’ve gone through everything a bit more before bringing these… Speaking of…)

“Be careful some of these are… old.” He warned them, less worried they’d damage the books and more the books would damage them. Something he hadn’t been worried about until when going through things he discovered that one of his Flesh Sculpting books was apparently alive when it tried to bite him.

“No need to worry, I've dealt with plenty of old tomes while helping Miss Edme.” Artemis assured him, picking up a text as her eyes flashed blue for a moment. “Besides these books seem to have a number of protective enchantments to keep them safe.”

“Yeah, uh, I don’t think this book is made of paper.” Val noted drawing their attention towards the third teen who sounded -not afraid but- mildly disgusted as she looked at a leather bound book.

In her hand a little bird skeleton rose from a shadow cast by nothing, before Val brought it up to the book. The bird licked the page before smacking its (beak(?)) and tilting its head to the side. After a moment the fleshless bird cawed, “Cabra.”

“Okay, it’s made from goat skin.” Val shrugged, looking less disgusted as she started to skim through the book the bird climbing onto her shoulder to do the same.

“It’s probably just parchment instead of paper.” He told her, not wanting to point out that he’d come across at least one book he did not bring that he was pretty sure was in fact made of human skin. “No different than leather being made from cowhide…” (Yeah, I can’t actually buy that.)

“Quite…” Artemis agreed, though with some reluctance as she seemed to more carefully examine which books she was bringing closer to herself than him or Val.

“So what exactly should we be looking for?” He asked, separating Demonic Details from the rest in case he needed reference for what little he already knew.

“Anything that can give us a use for the arm, information for working with it, or even warnings on what shouldn’t be done with it.” Artemis listed, opening one of the books.

“So pretty much anything that looks useful.” Val summarized dryly as she began flicking through the book.

“Pretty much.” Artemis admitted with a sigh.

After divvying up the books -with him cautiously nudging it so that either he or Val would end up with the more… controversial materials- they each got to work skimming through everything in the hopes of finding somewhere to begin brainstorming this project.

Though it wasn’t even ten minutes before one of them began taking issue with the material in hand, though surprisingly the one taking issue wasn’t the one he thought it’d be.

“Okay, this pendejo is clearly racist.” Val commented after a few minutes. “And not just this guy, at least half of these putas are.”

“Well… some of them are a hundred years old. That was back before people started calling those guys out and rebelling against it.” He pointed out, having come across one or two passages that made him uncomfortable himself. “I mean I’d do something if I saw it today, but we can’t really change the past so… I don’t know.”

“He’s right, it’s probably best to simply ignore their more racial attitudes and try to stick to the more factual elements of their Demonology.” Artemis agreed before picking up her book. “If you want we can trade books, the worst this guy is mentioning is something involving the french revolution and I think an attempt to use Demons to wipe out the royal bloodline.”

“That’s the thing,” Val frowned. “All of these books are clearly racist against Demons.”

He blinked. “What?”

“Yeah… what?” Artemis repeated in equal confusion.

“These books they all, well, they demonize Demons.” Val tried to explain, (and absolutely failing to do so.)

“I’m uh, I’m going to need you to explain this a little better.” He told her, given how as far as his own readings went they simply listed out the factually predatory nature most Demons had with humanity. (Which is why we should just slaughter them all.)

“Yes, while I am aware that the Scarecrow has a largely positive relationship with you due to your contract, I’ve never fooled myself into believing he wouldn’t attack me the moment you let him off his leash.” Artemis added, requesting the same clarification.

Val paused and seemed to be having a conversation with herself. His eyes drifted to the fleshless bird on her shoulder, (or rather the Scarecrow always in her shadow.)

“Okay, right, so since you brought him up let’s use the Scarecrow as an example. Tell me, ignoring the fact that he’s a Demon, what is the purpose of a scarecrow?” Val asked. “The kind you hang up in a field.”

“Uh, to scare off animals that would threaten crops?” He answered a little unsurely. “Though they’re mostly being used as decorations now that pesticides and electronics can do the same more efficiently.”

“¡A la mierda esos reemplazos sin valor!” The shadows around them hissed as they wreathed in anger.

“Yeah… don’t bring those up again.” Val warned him looking more amused than angry as she petted the skeletal bird on her shoulder. “Anyway, yeah, for thousands of years scarecrows were used to scare off birds and other pests that would threaten a harvest. Which is part of why they developed the name Scare-Crow, when depending on the culture they could symbolically mean more than that be it protectors, symbols of death and resurrection, sacrifice, or a number of other things.”

“Protector…” He noted, something he’d been a little concerned about clicking into place. “That’s why you’re okay with a fear demon watching your sister by itself.”

“Himself.” Val corrected irritably. “But yeah, [Protector] while not his strongest concept is a core part of his container. I give him something to watch and he’ll scare off anything that threatens it, because he’s not simply a Fear Demon, he’s a Scarecrow Demon which is like… insectos y bichos.”

The skeletal bird squawked in indignation.

“Right, he’s a Fear Demon but he’s got more to him than just that.” He summarized, unbothered by said Demon’s irritation. “And I’m guessing that your point is that his other aspects can make him beneficial to humanity rather than…” He trailed off, aware that (parasitic) was an insult the other teen wouldn’t accept.

“Predatory, I know you’ve mentioned he takes pride in being predatory to humanity. Which goes against that theory when he enjoys scaring humans and eating souls.” Artemis pointed out, while giving Val a look he couldn’t quite decipher the meaning of.

Val rolled her eyes. “Pragmatically, miedo is an easy source of power that doesn’t kill people, and I’m also playing the ‘Vigilance scares people for fun’ card on that one.”

“What about that bit about souls?” He pressed, remembering what the Pale Lady had warned him about a Demon, souls, and children. A factor he was far more concerned with given his own preference for scare tactics.

“The soul shards are made by the Delacroixs.” Val told them, before giving Artemis a pointed look of her own. “Would your ‘Miss Edme’ let them use a resource that hurts people?”

“No.” Artemis admitted looking unhappy to be doing so.

“And you didn’t have any problem using a soul shard on Halloween.” Val reminded him.

“As long as it’s made from the exhaust of a soul rather than the core it can regenerate without killing someone.” He explained, not mentioning that he also knew from DeSade that using the core of a soul would offer exponentially more power to wielder than those exhausts.

“Exactly, meaning when you put the two together you get a safe source of soul fragments to keep him fed and growing without killing anyone.” Val summarized for them. “Just because Espanta is a Demon doesn’t mean he’s evil.”

The three of them were silent after that, each processing their… discussion.

As they did this his eyes drifted towards the little bird on Val’s shoulder and the way he was petting the top of its head (right between her antenna.)

He blinked before shaking his head.

Eventually his hand rose up to the mark on his chest, contracting him to Pix, and he couldn’t help but wonder how he’d react to someone judging her based on the more… infamous legends involving the fae. Something (I wouldn’t like…)

His thoughts drifted towards Ying and her draconic nature, then Wolf, and even Noctis to an extent before he found himself running a hand down his face as he realized he’d argue against any negatives towards their various natures. Just like Val, after all (she’s just looking out for her friend…)

“Right, so… Demons are essentially elementals born when Necro and Madness influence Anima give less than usual concepts sapience. In the case of the Scarecrow, his core concept would be [Scarecrow] which then has the derived concepts of [Fear], [Protector], and… he has both [Resurrection] and [Death]?”

Val watched him for a moment, before answering, “Sí, which is why he has a fairly solid handle on Necromancy, but he’s not just limited to those he has any concept connected to [Scarecrow].”

“Necromancy?” He repeated, a bit surprised by that.

“Remember those crow things I threw at you during our fight?” Val asked. “That was a type of Necromancy.”

“I would’ve bet on flesh sculpting, given the whole shapeshifting thing.” He admitted.

Val made a so-so gesture and shrugged. “Supposedly the two go hand in hand, but he doesn’t want me dabbling with that until I have a better understanding of things. The actual shape shifting is a cross of [Fear] and [Change] due to the whole-” The skeletal bird pecked her. “Ow, what?”

The fleshless bird glared at her for a moment, and Val rolled her eyes.

“Fine, pendejo paranoica.” The Scarecrow’s keeper muttered before more audibly telling them, “Espanta says if we’re doing this we should focus on the Horror not him.”

“Right, the Horror.” Artemis coughed, seemingly snapping out of her thoughts. “The Horror is also a [Fear] Demon, but as the Scarecrow… Espanta, has pointed out that’s not the only thing connected to the Horror conceptually… Though beyond possibly [Horror] I have no idea what kind of concepts it would have.”

“Sombra, er, shadows?” Val offered after a moment. “I mean it had those giant arm things that made it a real pain in the ass at the end.”

“It also dabbled in Madness.” He threw out, before glancing at the Scarecrow. “More so than… your friend’s fear effects. All night it was messing with my perception of things but, I’m also… sensitive to Madness so that might’ve just been me.”

“It wasn’t just you but you were…” Artemis shook her head, cutting off whatever she was going to say. “So, [Fear], [Shadows], and possibly Madness which is not something I want to touch honestly.”

“That’s probably for the best.” He agreed, knowing other people weren’t quite as used to having brain aneurysms as him.

“It’s also probably got something involving insects, just given the way it looked.” Val added. “A Demon’s form is usually tied into its core concepts somehow.”

“Which would fit the various creeps it summoned… Though that does make me wonder if the fact that it has such a massive army is something we should also look into?” Artemis asked.

“Uh…” Val looked at the Scarecrow’s smaller form for a moment. “Not really, apparently a lot of Demons have small armies working for them.” The bird began flapping around in agitation. “Espanta says it’s only the ones that are cheap putas who do that though.”

He wasn’t sure if he agreed with that given how much trouble the Horror gave them on Halloween, but then he remembered the Beast of Blackwell and its army of Corrupted. (You know what, yeah, I agree with the Scarecrow.)

“Still based on what you said, it would be a good idea to look into the history of the Horror, not just the Demonology we can make use of.” Artemis noted, leaning back in her seat as she seemed to consider something. “It’ll take a bit of… convincing on my end, but I can probably talk Miss Edme into giving me more on the history of the Horror and the haunt. It wouldn’t help us directly with using it, but in light of everything here it might show us an avenue we wouldn’t usually consider.”

“Yeah, and-” Val stilled for a moment before shaking her head. “Elena is heading this way, I’m guessing she’s getting impatient for that movie she wanted to see.”

“So… you’ll be leaving then.” Artemis asked, tapping her fingers on the table.

“Sí.” Val nodded as she stood from her seat. “Thought we’d have more time, but whatever.”

“Right, uh,” Artemis’s eyes darted between him, Val, and the books. “Stay safe?”

Val stared at the other girl for a moment before rolling her eyes once more.

“Yeah, I’ll do that duende.” Val assured her before stopping in front of him. “Oh, and corazoncito.”

“Uh, yeah?” He blinked upon realizing she was addressing him.

“You hurt her, I kill you.” Val bluntly promised, the lights above flickering as her eyes turned pitch black. “¿Comprende?”

“Uh, yeah?” He answered once more, not entirely getting why she was telling him this but able to appreciate someone who was both upfront about things and protective of their friends.

Val nodded as the lights quit flickering and her eyes returned to normal.

“Muy bien.” She told him, patting his shoulder as she passed him by.

He followed Val with his eyes as she walked away before turning to a faintly smiling Artemis. “Um, any idea what that was about?”

“Yes.” Artemis admitted with no elaboration as she once more began to read, a smile on her face.

“Right…” He sighed upon realizing she wasn’t going to answer him, before deciding it was best to just get back to reading himself. (Is this what people mean about boys not getting girls? Because these are the only girls I don’t get.)

Scene Consequences

-Thanks to Val’s assistance Jon and Artemis have both gained XP to Demonology, reduced to 2XP due to splitting the lesson between two people.

--Currently: Jon’s Demonology Lv. 4 (7/10).

-Thanks to Val gained (1/2) progress for ??? Demonology Perk.

-Horror's Arm Project Progress

--For sharing all Demonology books potential for all sub-projects have been doubled.

--For not sharing any Dark Arts books all [Dark Art] possibilities -excluding Demonology- have been locked.

--Due to scene synergy of inviting Val, Artemis shall research additional possible concepts for all sub-projects.