fandomtownies | The Graveyard, Late Wednesday Night

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The Graveyard, Late Wednesday Night

There was a fire in the graveyard.

Or, rather, there was a man on fire, taking a casual stroll between the gravestones. Every now and again, he'd make a show of leaning forward to inspect a tombstone, and then, in a voice that wasn't at all tangible but could be heard loud and clear all the same, he'd mutter something about this guy owing him money, or that guy being a boring ass. That woman there was a lousy lay. Just in case anybody cared.

He spent a little while just casually lounging among the tombstones, contemplating just what sort of mischief he'd like to cause, now that he was in not only a real, physical body, but a frigging hideous one, and then decided to do as any self-respecting ghost possessing a crazy flaming monster would do.

...

Twenty minutes later, he was back with a sizable bag of alcohol. Don't ask where he got it. He certainly hadn't paid for it. And a few minutes later he was coming to the realization that this whole possession thing would be working out much better for him if the body he'd taken over had, you know, a mouth.

Maybe he could talk somebody into giving him a good lay in exchange for the cheap booze, instead. Some liked it hot, right?

[OOC: ..... Idek. It's late, so I didn't want to crash any posts, but here, have a Betelgeuse-possessed Jono, being a dick in the graveyard. Open as these things get!]

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Raven was still trying to rid herself of the images of that strange film at the theater. She decided to walk to Jono's apartment, taking an extremely indirect route instead of going straight down the street, as one did. Said route took her right by the graveyard.

It would be hard to miss Jono being in the graveyard as she passed by, and she stopped and called out. "Jono? What are you doing?"

Betelgeuse had never bothered to learn the name of the guy whose body he'd taken over. And why should he? The body was awesome, except for a few minor (and seriously frigging annoying) flaws in construction, and nobody - nobody - was getting his name out of him so that they could evict him with the old one, two, three, this time around.

So, no. He had no idea who or what a Jono was. But he did know the voice of a pretty girl when he heard one, and--

//Hellooooooo there.//

That was not Jonothon's voice being projected right then and there. Though Jono's distress, somewhere underneath the oozing smarm of the guy in charge, was right there to be noticed, if Raven decided to look.

//I'm just having myself a little late-night drink with some old buddies, you know how it is. Do you drink? Would you like to start? Then we could get to know one another, get a little more comfortable, if you know what I mean...//

She was definitely sensing a certain wrongness about him, though the lingering unease from the film had distracted her from noting it right away. He felt like Jono, though there was something layered over him.

"Jono," she said carefully, "We already know each other very well. Are you feeling all right?" Her words were just a distraction as she tried to poke deeper into his mind.

//I'm feeling fine, babe,// Betelgeuse replied, raising a hand and swatting at air as he felt something nudging in around the corners of the choke-hold he'd gotten in Jono's mind. It felt like ants crawling in around the corners of his senses. Ants got swatted at. Common sense. Fortunately, he could swat and openly leer at Raven all at the same time! //More alive than I've felt in ages. How'sabout coming over here and getting to know me a little more - you know - thoroughly?//

That little part of Jono that was underneath the layers of ectoplasmic grime now inhabiting his body was doing his damnedest to reach back toward Raven.

There inside his own head, it was his turn to be swatted at like an ant.

She could sense Jono, feel him reaching out for her, but whatever was inside him was preventing her from getting a firm grasp on him. And that, of course, was only going to make her angry.

"Who are you?" she demanded. "Whoever you are, you will release your hold on Jono this instant."

Lacking the same hangups that Jonothon had (or, really, any hangups at all), Betelgeuse gave a psionic laugh that held absolutely nothing back.

//Oh, wouldn't you like to know who I am?// But, neener, he'd handed out the last of his business cards, and there was no way anybody was getting his name, here. //See, I'd love to do anything to make you happy, babe, but that? That's the one thing I can't do. See, he called for me, fair and square, and so, here I am.//

Okay, so, 'fair and square' had really been more like, 'in confusion without really knowing was he was getting himself into,' but Betelgeuse wasn't going to say that.

//You want me out, babe? How about you come over here and make me?//

"He would never do such a thing," Raven said, stalking towards him as if to take him up on his invitation. She was absolutely certain Jonothon would never invite something to take control of his body, even without sensing the distress she was picking up from him.

"I can cause you a great deal of pain," she threatened. "You would be wise to depart now before I inflict it upon you."

//Sweetheart,// Betelgeuse crooned, holding open his arms as if making to embrace her, //I know all about pain, trust me, and that's the last threat you can throw at me that I'll be concerned about, here. How'sabout you come over here and give me a big ol' kiss and hug, instead. At least that way, we both come out of here with something good.//

He really wasn't kidding about not being concerned about the pain, at that. Hell, he was having fun, here.

"Is it pleasure you seek?" Raven said, stopping shot of the offered hug. "I can give you a great deal of that was well -- but only if you release Jono."

She sent him a little brush of just that, a teasing taste of what she could do.

[past my bedtime, so I must sleep. SPFTW!]

Ooh, well. That was nice. Very nice. Enticing, even! Enough so that Betelgeuse was perfectly willing to ditch the fleshbag that he was currently infesting - Jono's eyes rolled back in his head and he crumpled to the ground - in order to saunter over to say hello to the girl himself.

The meat sack had said his name three times. He could come back to torment him any time he wanted.

"Well, that was fun," he said, grinning broadly with those crooked-tombstone teeth of his. "And you have more where that came from, do you, babe?"

"I do," Raven said, doing her best not to recoil from his appearance.

"But I will only do that -- or any emotion you wish -- if you promise to leave Jono alone." She began to ease herself toward Jono, intending to grab hold of him and teleport them out of there and figure out how to deal with this creature later. The Wrath bubbling up in her wanted "deal with" to be somewhere along the lines of "utterly destroy."

"Ooh. Ooooh," Betelgeuse hissed between his teeth and shook his head, "oh no, babe. See, I'd love to do that for you, just love to make a promise like that, but, see, he said the magic words. Firebug there is stuck with me."

He was horrible, but he wasn't stupid, Raven. He saw you edging toward that body, there.

"You could be stuck with me too, if you're that invested in getting your hands on him again."

... Don't ask where that bouquet of... they were probably mostly flowers... came from. He was still holding it out, petals, dripping slime, enticing wriggly bits and all, toward Raven as he stepped more firmly between herself and Jono.

"What magic words?" Raven gave the bouquet a disgusted glance and most certainly did not reach out to accept it.

She was still trying to sort out just what this...person was. He looked dead but clearly wasn't a zombie, and he had the power to manifest objects and possess people. Stuffing him in the netherverse was very tempting right now, but she could hear Karla's voice in her mind admonishing her about taking evil things inside her.

Not dirty.

Pfft. As if Betelgeuse would mind a chance to get inside her.

So dirty.

"Ah-ah, tut-tut, I don't hand out those magic words so easily, babe." And then he was a snake, moving to coil around her, all big eyes and horrifying (more horrifying) teeth. "How about you gimmie a kiss and we'll talk more, hmm?"

"I will not kiss a snake!" Raven said, struggling against the coiling. He was even more grotesque now than before. She could probably teleport away, but she didn't want to leave Jono to the dubious mercies of this thing.

The teeth got too close to her face for her comfort, and her eyes flashed red as she lashed out with pain to try to drive it back.

The snake hissed and recoiled slightly, giving his tail an annoyed rattle.

"Like it rough, do ya, babe?"

And then the snake was gone, and standing directly behind Raven was that same moldy, greasy ghost who had stepped out of Jono's body, clad head to toe in black and white stripes and reaching forward to dangle a pair of handcuffs in front of her face.

"We can do rough. I'm all for a long night of rough."

Raven spun around and laughed. "You have not yet begun to see rough," she said. "And usually I am the one to use the handcuffs."

She was tired of playing around, especially with Pride and Wrath roiling inside her. "Enough," she said. "You have no claim over Jonothon. I will not bargain with you for him."

She spread her arms, and her Soul-Self rose from her body. She had every intention of pulling Betelgeuse in and banishing him to a hell dimension.

Banishment to a hell dimension? Where did she think he spent his free time?

"Well, good," Betelgeuse replied, giving her a wink and blowing her a kiss. "Because I never said I was willing to bargain."

That... that was a mighty roar, as he started to grow. Apparently Betelgeuse was not above going all Godzilla versus Mothra on the island this evening.

"You want a piece of me? Caw caw, birdy!"

Well, fine, if that was the way he wanted to play. Raven expanded the size of her Soul-Self, trying to match his growth.

Her physical body, however, was lunging toward Jono. If she could just get a hold of him and get them both to safety....

Oh, he could keep doing this all week. After all, somebody had been stupid enough to say the magic words, and-

"Hey now! hey now! Where do you think you're going with that?"

In the blink of an eye, Betelgeuse was a snake again, this time coiling around Jonothon and opening his mouth at Raven in a threatening hiss.

"Thought you could distract me with the pretty birdy, huh? You're messing with the wrong ghost if you think it'll be that easy!"

Jono started to stir, with a wince, and then an attempt to put his hand to the side of his head. The coils around him held tight, and his eyes flew open as he realized that he couldn't move.

"And just for that, babe, we're outta here! You blew it! No chance in hell you'll get your hands on this one now, so go suck a sandworm. This one is mine!"

Raven snarled. "Let him go!" she said, baring sharp teeth, "Or I will tear you apart!"

She lashed out again with pain at the snake, slashing claws at him at the same time. Wrath sang in her blood, blinding her to any more rational way to deal with Betelgeuse.

That probably wouldn't have made much difference. Very little about this particular ghost was even the least bit rational. The serpent writhed for a moment at the pain that she was sending his way, but the claws, he seemed utterly unconcerned about.

And then he was gone.

The fear in Jono's eyes was replaced with something a little more smug, though.

And underneath, once again, Jonothon was screaming.

//Go ahead, sweetheart. Rip me limb from limb.//

It took every bit of self-control for Raven to reign herself back in, to swallow anger so she didn't hurt Jono by mistake, and fear to calm her mind, and hardest of all, Pride.

"Please," she said. "Let him go. I will give you whatever you want. Just release him."

//Yeah, let me think about that...// Jonothon's head tilted back as the ghost inside looked up at the sky as though he was in some sort of deep deliberation. //No.//

He really hadn't thought all that hard at all.

//I put him down once, shame on me, and see how you thanked me for that? Nah, I think we're done here. I have what I want.// He winked at her. //Tell you what, babe, you can keep the booze.//

And then he was skipping backwards a few steps before lifting up into the air. Because of course he could fly. What did she take him for? Some kind of amateur?

Raven briefly considered sending her Soul-Self after him, but she didn't want to risk causing more harm to Jono. Instead, she tried to focus a burst of emotion to him, the true him, not the abomination possessing him. It was love and promise; she would find a way to free him.

She just hoped he could feel it.

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The Graveyard, Late Wednesday Night

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