aesthetically displeasing

[andaisq]

Mortimer Halliwell, warlock extraordinaire and small-time crook, is having a remarkably bad day. First he runs out of the good coffee and has to use Folgers. Then the demon he summons to rob a bank for him only speaks Egyptian, which is hell on his throat. Then the demon gets discorporated and tracked back to his lair/duplex, the door of which is currently being battered down by some cheerful blonde madman.

He needs to summon another demon, and he needs to do it fast. He whips out the Black Book, flips desperately through its pages, and arranges the offerings around the iron circle set into the floor of his basement. A phonebook, a pile of dust, a miniature casket, a oh my god he got in screw it he'll do it without the rest!

He forces an immense amount of energy through his body into the summoning. The dust whirls into the air. He screams as his skin crackles and snaps with static. "I summon thee! I summon thee! I summon thee, K-Kh-"

It is possibly the most regrettable sneeze in Mortimer Halliwell's life.

There is a plume of red flame, and there is someone in his circle.

Comments

[bitterchill]

"Do you... have any way of contacting this entity? And asking if you can put the soulless into your afterlife? Because this sounds like it could turn into a death god deathmatch without much advance notice."

[ending_of]

"I'm not sure," she says contemplatively. "I would like to avoid conflict if possible, but if I contact the entity and it denies permission, what is gained?"

[bitterchill]

"Point," Ari concedes. "But if it has some way of telling that the soulless are going to your afterlife and it wants to smite you for heresy or something, I feel like that'd be bad."

[ending_of]

"It would be very annoying. Although it is strictly impossible to destroy me, I would not enjoy the attempt. Hmm. Of course, I also do not know how to contact that entity. I am disinclined to directly visit its domain."

[bitterchill]

"You could... huh. You could just appear a little engraved invitation to visit you in Morty's basement in front of it?"

[ending_of]

"The notion has a certain whimsical appeal..."

[bitterchill]

"It could appear little engraved notes of its own at you! Postcards from Heaven. Sounds like a terrible indie movie."

[ending_of]

The administrator laughs.

"Practical difficulties remain, however. I don't know precisely where an invitation would need to appear for the entity's attention to be particularly drawn to it."

[bitterchill]

"Drat. I could... try to scry it, I guess? Although scrying what may be God seems like kind of a bad move. Hubristic."

[ending_of]

"We do have a reasonable purpose in doing so. Although if you fear retaliation, I could make it strictly impossible to destroy you."

[bitterchill]

"That sounds like it could be useful or very, very inconvenient! How would that work, exactly?"

[ending_of]

"Under conditions where you might otherwise be destroyed, you would be restored to a state of perfect health."

[bitterchill]

"That sounds like the very, very useful kind!"

Over in his corner, Morty thrashes about in terror at the idea of an indestructible blonde madman who could sacrifice himself three times for the same spell! He is summarily ignored.

[ending_of]

Well, not quite.

"The annoying man seems distressed about this," the administrator observes.

[bitterchill]

"That'd be because it'd be very, very useful for me. He doesn't like me much, I always keep him from doing crimes and such. If I could regenerate myself, I would be... absurdly powerful, because I could sacrifice myself to power spells and stuff. Which would be bad for him."

Morty nods frantically. He points at his gag.

Ari sighs. "Do you want his side of it, or should we just ignore the annoying criminal?"

[ending_of]

The administrator contemplates the annoying criminal.

"I don't see very much use in listening to him. He is annoying and has strange priorities."

[bitterchill]

The annoying criminal is distressed!

Ari is not distressed! "I'm glad! Not sure what you mean about his priorities, but he certainly is annoying. So, how soon can you do this, does it take the heart of a virgin cow under the blood moon or something?"

[ending_of]

"No," she says. "That sounds like a tedious precondition. To do a thing, I merely do it. Do you want your magical tattoos to be preserved through restoration? Tattoos normally aren't, but these ones have magical properties, so perhaps you would like to keep them."

[bitterchill]

"Oh hey, those are magic? Clever, Belinda. I'd probably like them preserved, yeah. Is there a way for you to tell what they do?"

[ending_of]

"One effect is cold resistance. I'm less sure about the rest."

[bitterchill]

"...Huh. That is a very unorthodox use of that rune, if it's- oh that one's upside down, that's clever. Man, she knew what she was doing. That makes sense. And the rest I've narrowed down to "probably something about beauty" but that might be a false positive. Anyway, I'll apparently have eternity to figure it out."

[ending_of]

"I have now made you impossible to destroy," she says.

[bitterchill]

Ari does a small dance.

[ending_of]

[bitterchill]

"So, I guess I can scry Maybe God to see where you should send your engraved note now, if that's what we're doing. Now that I'm officially certified unsmitable."