ic Beyond the Pale

[MoonSimply]

Carmen "La Puma Negra"

 

Continuing to sneak up upon him, Puma crept through strange cathedral of the abandoned with relative ease. There was no doubt that her ability to sneak around and not be caught near whatsoever was beyond that of most individuals that one could consider her essentially invisible as she came in from behind. She wanted to be in range, to get in his guard as he played his music. Old pipes bellowed as best as they could, shaking the rust and dust likely as they played aloud. It wasn't any sort of music she'd have listened to in church, or at the least any that she liked.

 

That smell however, sulfur, light and repugnant. Light in the air, like rotten eggs. More terrible scents that she wished she didn't have to smell but sucked it up. If that was the case, maybe it was some sort of gas leak. These people had been affected by it, or worse, sitting on a possible explosion waiting to happen with a single spark. Although, that didn't explain the candles that were around. Maybe they were what was causing the smell?

She'd make her move quickly, "Don't move one more inch bub, you're gonna tell me real nice and easy what's going on around here," she'd speak with claws out ready to strike, so utterly close to him. It'd likely take seconds to attack him if need be.

[Supercape]

GM

 

The Organist jumped out of his skin. 

 

Not literally - although given the assortment of guts, entrails, and spookiness that the evening had supplied, such an action would not be completely out of place. Instead, he let forth a high pitched scream that reverberated around the old church, and shot two feet in the air. 

 

B---Daaaaaah!!!!

 

Yelled the organ in response to the organists fingers stabbing into random keys in shock. The wiry fingers were so frightened that it was a miracle they did not splinter the ivory. 

 

The Organist turned around and screamed once more!

 

"Aaaaaah! The Devil!!!!! Lord protect me!"

 

He made a crucifix with two hands and two fingers, before his wide eyes managed to soak in the big picture. 

 

For first impressions, the Feline schoolgirl in tattered clothes, painted with grime and guts was arguably something of a devil. 

 

"What..who...what....Don't hit me!" whimpered the Organist, curled up into a ball, hands over his eyes. 

 

He peeked one eye out of a gap between his fingers. 

 

"Wait.... you aren't a devil... are you?" he inquired, cautiously, although his body, fingers, and throat all danced a tremulous jig. 

[MoonSimply]

Carmen "La Puma Negra"

 

That wasn't the response that she was expecting, recoiling back a little bit with a surprised face. The scream rang through her ears, nothing that could hurt her, but enough to grab the attention and surprise her. Whomever this man was, it didn't seem like he was some serious threat, even if he was her only real beyond the kid she had wrangled to figure out what exactly was going on. She was starting to think that whatever this smoke stuff was it wasn't exactly here.

 

"If you think I'm sort of demon you are sadly mistaken here," she tells him as she gets close again. Her claws were still out, ready still to act in case she needed to. Even if he may not be the problem here, she still talked to him in a serious threatening manner, "Who are you and what are you doing with these kids?!"

[Supercape]

GM

 

"Juan... Juan Kerr" gabbled the organist. 

 

"I am the organist? Kids? Kids?"

 

Juan looked left, looked right with bulging eyes. They were deep black in the centre, encircled by light brown, and then absolutely white on the outside, bar a few bloodshot vessels. Juan looked tired, or high on caffeine, or very probably both. 

 

"You can't just go around making accusations about Kids!" he whispered, throat dry as a cockroaches corpse in the desert sands. "What do you mean? I don't have any Kids!"

 

"Pfffftch!"

 

He would have spat but his mouth was to dry. Wobbling lips made the motion, and the sound was half spit, half suck. 

 

"This is a Catholic Church! You have to be sensitive!" he added, rubbing his throat and neck, eyes still osciliating between left and right, seeking something to spy on. But as far as he, or La Puma, could tell they were alone. Just them, and the white candles and white smoke. 

 

"Who the hell are you, anyway? And don't say you aren't the devil... that's the kind of thing the devil would say, right before tempting you with tempting temptations... temptations that you can't resist..."

 

He licked his lips.

 

"Before tormenting you to the end of your days and eating your soul! Well, I am not going to be poked with red hot pitchforks for eternity! God save me!"

 

[MoonSimply]

Carmen "La Puma Negra"

 

Puma gritted her teeth, grabbing him by the collar and using her super strength. She'd didn't really realize how bad she likely must have looked to him but continued on with her typical aggressive manner, "Listen here bub. I ain't no devil, that's for damn sure. If that was the case I'm pretty sure I'd have burned the moment I stepped into my church tonight for service," she says looking at him. He was utterly disgusting, homeless maybe, some poor soul that managed to find a place to live down here as she put him down and backed off. Puma was starting to think that he had nothing to do with this.

 

"I apologize. I'm talking the feral children, the beast kids. They were telling me about gray smoke. I can smell sulfur, is it the candles?"

[Supercape]

GM

 

Jaun interlaced his fingers, but that did not stop them writhing about like a nest of snakes. 

 

"Sulfur? What sulfur? I can't smell sulfur. Its only sulfur. Did I say sulfur? I meant sulfer. I mean sulfer..." he gabbled before slapping his forehead with both of his hands and burying his face. 

 

"Gawds! It is sulfur! I admit it! I am trying to ward of the devil!"

 

Juan grasped at La Puma, trying to plead his case by tugging at her clothes and falling to his knees. 

 

"The devil! The devil made me do it! I am a candlemaker, you see... some vile demon has got it in for me - I don't know why! I am trying to ward him off with my candles. Yes, yes, I confess, I know a little sorcery. I know a little of the occult... maybe thats why I am being persecuted. The candles, they are for my protection! You have to understand...."

 

Again, the pale eyes scanned left and right. 

 

"Be careful! Even now, the devil himself may be spying on us! He could send any one of his infernal minions to tempt and torment us! And I do not fancy being stabbed betwixt my buttocks with a red hot poker. No, no I do not!"

 

A shifty eyebrow raised as he scrutinised La Puma. 

 

"Can you help? Can you save my soul?"

 

 

[MoonSimply]

Carmen "La Puma Negra"

 

Slowly, Puma was starting to think this man must have been high on something, but didn't care much else. There was little that she could do about something like that, only deal with what in the now with him, "Yes sulfur, rotten eggs and all. Not the nicest smell either, I'm gonna need a shower after all this you know?" she puts her hands to her hips before having to shove the albino man away from her. Puma was not in the mood for this kind of stuff.

 

"¡Bájate de mí!" telling the man to get off of her as the werecat shoved him off and away.

 

When he spoke of a demon, her eyes narrowed, "I can't save your soul at all pal, that's up to you and God. All I can do is make sure whatever you did doesn't screw up anything else, you got me?"

"I'm gonna save these kids, and no demon or devil is going to stop me!" she looks to him with a gruff face, "What's the deal you made, what was it do?"

[Supercape]

GM

 

"Deal, I didn't make a deal? Pfft the very thought. No deal. Deal, no. I made absolutely no deal, and no deal is what I made."

 

His shifty eyes shifted left and shifted right. 

 

"Yes, you are right. I made a deal. I don't know with whom. But he was burning and smelled of sulfur. So probably a demon. Shifty little bastard, I can tell you. Look, this is Freedom City... every week we get an alien invasion or a super powered madman threatening to turn us all into chickens. I'm fed up of being a scared candlemaker... I'm not going to be bullied like  I was by Cedric Frattleworth at high school. I didn't have a day go by without getting my head flushed in a toilet or my pants pulled down for girls to laugh at. No more! I'm going to protect myself!"

 

"You understand, right? A bit of power, just so you don't have to be scared?"

 

"But...ahahahahaha.... it kind of went a bit wrong, didn't it? kind of blew up in my face, ahahahahaha.... all my magic candles went a bit chaotic, and all because I trusted some demon to light them with his magic fire...."

[MoonSimply]

Carmen "La Puma Negra"

 

"Well then, you can consider that deal null and void because I'm going to  kick that's demon's ass when I find it," Puma says as looks around the area. Was it watching them, did it already know where they were? If that was the case, then it likely would have attacked potentially by now. It hadn't, so taking a moment to think.

 

Puma would bite her lip, thinking what the best tactic for this sort of thing would be. She didn't really have experience in dealing with the occult, more so in punching it, "No, I don't understand. Whatever deal you made ain't worth it at all, for whatever the reason."

"What candles, I thought these were for your protection, if these are what the demon created we have to put em out, and if you know how to bring one in, you know how to get one out do you?"

[Supercape]

GM

 

Juan clapped his hands together and made a crucifix sign at the same time. 

 

That shouldn't work, of course. But somehow Juan, bristling with nervous agitation, made it happen. 

 

He then paused to scratch the oily chaos of his long black hair. 

 

"In, out, out, in, in, out, shake it all about..." he muttered. "These candles are for my protection, you see. I can control the smoke.... BEHOLD!"

 

With a wave of his hands the candles exhumed a great plume of smoke. In but a moment, the pale smoke consolidated, writhing into one form, with colour slowly manifesting. 

 

In front of La Puma stood...

 

...La Puma!

 

The smoke had formed an exact copy!

 

Juan waved his hand through the illusion - for that was what it was. "Not real, but cunning, eh? I bet there is not a single hero in Freedom City, Southside, that has the same level of mastery of candlesmoke as me!" he said, with evident pride. 

 

"So I need the candles. Without them, I am powerless!"

 

His hands laced together once more and he hunched forward. "The demon... I didn't summon the demon. He came to me. Wants me to help him find something. In return, he gave me power!!!"

 

 

[MoonSimply]

Carmen "La Puma Negra"

 

For a moment it appeared like what was in front of her eyes was real, utterly real, even if her senses detected nothing at all, no scent or anything. It still gave her a surprise as she looked at the copy made from the smoke with in a peculiar and inspective eye. Of course, more so was the surprise was what she looked like at the moment, seeing how her outfit was rather torn up, thankfully not that bad that someone could see something embarrassing.

 

"I don't think I have, it certainly is something," she says, somewhat happy to see it gone, "What did they want, tell me."

[Supercape]

GM

 

"The Cantos devil stick," replied Juan. "Forged by Carlos Cantos, a sorcerer, thirty years ago. Able to bind demons to its will."

 

He gave a guilty smile. 

 

"I looked it up on Wikipedia, so it must be real..."

 

Once again, his eyes scrutinised the shadows of the church. 

 

"This demon wants to break it, free himself. Fair enough, I thought. Who wants to be kept in chains? You got to have sympathy for the devil haha..ha.....ha....ha...." he laughed weakly, every punctation and repetition enfeebling the chortle more. 

 

"Look, I...we... look, if we found this stick, then we would have bartering power, right? Then I... we... could bind demons to our own will and be real heroes! Think how much we could steal, I mean save! Gotta be worth a shot, right? Its a lot better than roasting for infinity on a pig stick in a lake of lava?"

[MoonSimply]

Carmen "La Puma Negra"

 

"Well, with clear research done, I'm sure that was worth trying to sell your soul," she spoke in a mocking tone. Was this guy serious? How desperate must he have been to not only look up something on Wikipedia but also to attempt to do a deal with some form of demon over it. Claremont had taught them that in dealing with interdimensional threats, the worst thing you could do was be ill prepared or make any sort of deal with them, especially when you don't know all the odds and ends of what making a deal with such might imply. This guy obviously hadn't had that, bullied and picked on, clinging to a past that was better if he just forgot about it instead of living in it for all your life.

 

Puma would watch his eyes, glancing around the room. Was it here already? She didn't sense anything, "I don't know who you think I am but I'm not gonna control any demons. That thing is gonna go to folk that can properly contain whatever it is and protect, got that?!" she says with a bit of a snarl, she was dead serious.

"Now where is it?"

[Supercape]

GM

 

"Why?"

 

The voice came from the ether, intangible, ethereal, invisible. A voice like hot cogwheels crunching and grinding against each other. 

 

"Why do you seek it? Why do you seek me?"

 

Juan swooned to the point of fainting, banging his head against the organ keys. 

 

Blrrrrrrrr! Came the cacophony of sound. 

 

The candles belched more pale smoke in time with the music

 

The impact stunned Juan back to life, who then cowered with fear. 

 

"Oh great and mighty demon! Have pity on my soul and don't roast me alive in a pit of burning fire... wait.... does fire burn? can it burn? is it always burning?"

 

The semantic question drove a quizzical finger to his confused lips, the riddle temporarily distracting himself from his fear. 

 

"Not you, candle maker... her! Why do you come? What do you seek? Why do you seek me?"

[MoonSimply]

Carmen "La Puma Negra"

 

Puma's eyes widened as she got low and brought out her claws once more as she heard the voice come from the shadows, an invisible voice that instantly brought her out on guard. She'd sniff the air, on edge and ready to fight if she needed, or run if she had to. Whatever choice that she would make she was ready to make it as she growled towards the ethereal voice, like a cornered cat.

 

"Shut up!" she shouts towards the man as he tries to get seemingly mercy from the demonic entity.

 

"What did you do to these kids, I want answers," Puma demands, "show yourself!"

[Supercape]

GM

 

The smoke swirled to La Puma's right, then to her left, then started circling her, agitated, excited. 

 

"Demonnnnnn!" said Juan, swirling in time with the smoke. "I am not some mere puppet, you know! I have protection! My magical candles of magic!"

 

He gave a theatrical sweep of his arm, showing the dripping wax and pale smoke that he had surrounded the organ with. 

 

the demon paid it no mind. Its attention was focussed on La Puma. 

 

"Why should I show myself? How would that help?" it laughed. there was a kind of mirth to the laugh. Not joy, but more relief. A lightness, like one unchained and revelling in the sun and the air. 

 

"No no. I prefer to be unseen. Unheard, too, but your presence invites questions..."

 

The voice seemed to reverberate and ricochet around the church. Not the easiest place to echolocate...

 

"And my questions you will not answer. Unless I answer yours. So what say you, beast girl? I answer, you answer, and on we go till one of us becomes bored? Well I shall start, as a show of trust. I have not done anything with the kids. Kids annoy me, but I pay them no mind if they mind me not. Let them mature and rot, and then they may be fuel to my whim...."

 

"And no answer, if you dare. What manner of creature are you???"

[MoonSimply]

Carmen "La Puma Negra"

 

La Puma Negra would bat away the smoke that surrounded her in vain, moving through her clawed fingers as kept aware of it. Agitating as it was, there was nothing that she could do against it at the moment, simply swatting at air that was around her in a futile effort, though she didn't exert herself much at all in the action. It was a menacing voice, one that kept her uneased as she tried to back up, remembering the candle circle as she stepped slowly back towards it. If it was that these candles did provide some sort of safety, then she going to use such to the best of her ability as any advantage helped.

 

"La Puma Negra, huele bicho," she responded back as stood on guard. This church was long unsanctified, "Then what has, why are the children like this, and show yourself, or are you coward?"

[Supercape]

GM

 

"That... is a lot of questions. A lot of demands. And are you... trying to taunt me? Hahahaha... a mortal trying to taunt a demon. I was born when the first hammer struck the first anvil. I am the fire of the infernal forge, bound by sorcery, bound by chains. Do you think me a coward?"

 

The pale smoke swirled some more. 

 

Juan cowered. 

 

"Even the word... demon... devil... do you know what that is? They are just words. Words that describe something not here. That which should not be, but is. Something malign? Everything is malign, in the right light, in the right machine...."

 

Now the shadows swirled more, and flames lit them. From out of the ether, fire appeared. Living fire; thin, spindly, small. The creature was two feet high, and looked like a skeleton made of smoke and burning bones, like a skeleton of a rat or a wolf... it was hard to say. But living fire it almost certainly was. 

 

"La Puma. See me. Now, let me see you.., the real you..."

[MoonSimply]

Carmen "La Puma Negra"

 

Puma didn't cower, holding firm towards the demon as it spoke. It still hadn't showed itself just yet and the young heroine could think of was when or if it would strike. Its word was intimidating, the werecat standing firm still as she waited for it to appear. She was full of questions, and she wasn't going to take no for an answer, especially when it came to young kids. Puma mostly ignored what the demon spoke of, uncaring for a creature from Hell.

 

"You see me clear as day," she snarled, responding back. Puma somewhat felt like she was like a cornered animal now, "This is the real me."

[Supercape]

GM

 

"But what are you? A woman? A beast? Something inbetween, or neither? That is the question. I can see you, but I don't know you."

 

"I am the demon Tazel, living fire born in the internal forge. An endless machine, cogs, chains, smoke, fire, the clang of metal, constantly rearranging itself. It has no purpose, it is mindless, and yet is beautiful all the same."

 

Tazel flew left, flew right. 

 

"I imagine it is not to your taste, but to me it was home. Our kind was bound by sorcerers. First Carlos Cantos and his devil stick, then his accursed daughter, and now this snivelling fool..."

 

Juan screamed. 

 

"I wish to be free. And this craven candlemaker seeks to imprison me again. Who do you think the... aha... what do your kind say... who do you think the villain is?"

 

"Now I have told you my story... would you tell me yours? Do you even know it?"

[MoonSimply]

Carmen "La Puma Negra"

 

"You tellin' me that all you want is go back home, but whose to say you are gonna pull something funny?" Puma spoke in response, not responding to him about what she was or her story, whatever he meant by that. Tazel was this one's name, a demon if she had ever saw one, though to be fair, she had never seen on to begin with. This was the first time she had seen such and seemed to be handling it rather well for all intents and purposes. It was small, short, like a sentient fire, a skeletal figure. Perhaps one that was limited here on Earth, held back by the power of the rod.

 

"I had my suspicions," looking over to the cowering Jaun, "It still doesn't explain the kids though"

Puma would stand and proud and tall, though in truth she was just as sparse on the details of her origin, "I grew up in an orphanage. I don't have family. One day I became what I am, this felintropo (werecat) ever since I was young. Why do you want to know?"

[Supercape]

GM

 

"Our organist friend wanted protection. Wanted power. Ah! How often the desire for the former gives rise to the lust for the latter, hmmm? Maybe that is to be your destiny. Our candlemaker, the master of pale smoke, wanted protectors. He made the children into dogs, into his pack...."

 

"No! No, don't listen to him! I didn't mean to...."

 

"SILENCE" roared Tazel the demon, his flamers burning bright with fury. "You are a coward, and cowards do wicked things. You have not the right to speak!"

 

Tazel turned to La Puma. 

 

"This Felintropo, however, is no coward. I am interested. I wish to go home, beast child. I wish to be free. Will you help me, I wonder? Or will you fear me, and wish me malice? I do not wish to deal with craven traitors. You are neither craven nor traitor, I think..."

 

"Let us break the Cantos devil stick! Or keep it, I care not. Maybe it will help you. Maybe you wish to master the demon inside of you. The devil stick can be yours. All I ask is freedom!"

[MoonSimply]

Carmen "La Puma Negra"

 

Puma turned to look to him, "Is that true?" she spoke with venom, "Is that true!?"

 

The werecat would disgust for the situation was evident, turning back towards Tazel. Puma didn't trust Tazel at all, but she had enough evidence that she knew enough to know that so was Juan here. Both of them could be largely responsible for this mess and she was holding back just how disgusted she was at this whole mess. The worst part was the choice that this demon was pushing on her, to make some sort of deal of her own in order to figure out this mess.

 

"I don't make deals with devils and neither do I think I'm anything like you..." she says while standing firm, "I will help you, but we do it my way. Canto's stick will be going to someone that knows how to use properly and I can make a case for your return with them."

Puma turns to Juan again, "And you are going to fix these children!"

[Supercape]

GM

 

"I.... I can't" gabbled Jaun, putting his hands up in defence. "Please don't hurt me! Self-Defence! Eight ammendment! Right to Life! Errr.... what's the eight ammendment again? That's the one people use, right? Or is it the nineteenth? Wait... I please the whole constitution! That covers all bases!" he said with a smile and a solitary finger pointed upwards in inspiration. 

 

"Your candles made them. They can unmake them" spat Tazel, his burning body smoking now, a thick, acidic and sulfuric smoke. 

 

"How?"

 

A creature of pure fire couldn't really sigh, but Tazel gave a good impression, and then smashed his fiery fists into his fiery head. 

 

"You are an IDIOT!" he snarled at Juan. "Curse my fortunes. You seem to be competent when it goes against me, and incompetent when I need you! Bah!"

 

He turned to Puma. 

 

"The Devil stick is currently residing in the British Museum. Unless you have a jet, or can fly, it is best we traverse by... other means...."

[MoonSimply]

Carmen "La Puma Negra"

"You want me to go to England and steal from the British Museum? How the heck am I going to get all the way over there?" she says, giving the demon a look of pure confusion as she looked to him. Was it expecting her to take a plane on her student budget, one that was barely much to begin with, to another country. She supposed that she could just ask Patriot if she could be sent over there, convince her that it was for educational purposes or something maybe. They were close enough for something like that, early sidekick style material if she could think of that as the case. A long shot.

 

"¿Qué estás fumando?" Puma speaks with an irritated face, sighing with a shrug, "Not like this guy's got money, I guess we'll have to take this other means that you speak of.  I bet you can transport me with magic all the way there, just like that?"