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Tweak says, "Welcome to Night Vale"

Marius (cupere) wrote in light_of_may,
@ 2011-08-31 22:52:00

Entry tags:

#group scene, 2009-08-20, madeleine, zaviar

The demons of my soul
Who: Marius, Madeleine, Zaviar and familiars (NPC)
Where: Zaviar's home
When: Evening

Dinner had been delicious. The day had been interesting as well. Marius tended to count any day where he didn't end up having to dodge even the idea of the police as a boring one, but today Puddles had made it interesting. And Puddles had insisted that he was coming along. Since Marius had discovered that he did indeed have a relation in Scarlet Oak he decided he'd get to know him better. See what his genes did when they were unleashed on the mortal population. Other than turn out devilishly handsome fellas who had smooth voices and a way of standing that just made him think of, well, himself. Marius couldn't do anything but approve of Zaviar after their first meeting and he hoped the second wouldn't change it. What was the appropriate thing to do to a disappointing relative? He was pretty sure that the answer dealt with culling them before they could spread the disappointing genes on. Even a defective demonic must be better than any of the vanillas or angelics, but that didn't mean that they needed to go and make more of them.

'Your mind scares me.'

"Your mind would scare me if I could hear it. You were afraid of a goat." No, that wasn't going to stop being funny anytime in the near future. Or ever. 'Fear the terrible goat!' Attached to some girl who hardly seemed worth the effort. Puddles decided to ignore him after that and spread her wings to fly up to the door just about a minute ahead of him. "Good job," the demon congratulated his familiar as he walked up to the door and pressed the bell. "You beat me by a whole minute and couldn't even press the doorbell. I'm impressed."

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firststrike
2011-09-01 05:22 am UTC (link)

Zaviar was content to sit on the couch with Madeleine, flipping through a book on black magic that he had found in that magic shop, Aeaea. It was so old that he could no longer tell what color it may have been when it was new, the spine cracked and a few of the pages were unreadable, but overall it had provided him with some knowledge that he had not had before. And he approved of every bit of that that he could gain, no matter the source that it came from. An old book was better than some old man who reeked of the strongest herbs and made him feel as though he was going to gag on the air every time that he took a breath or tried to speak. Even a normal person would have had trouble around someone like that, to say nothing of what it was like for a were-snake. Knight was stretched out by the door, making actual dog noises as he worried at one of his new toys. Zaviar found it far too amusing. It was something called a Kong and you put a treat inside of it and then waited for the dog to get it out. Knight had yet to get the treat and Zaviar refused to help him no matter how much he whined.

And suddenly Knight abandoned the treat and bounded to the door. Not half a minute later someone had pressed the doorbell. 'It's that man from the other day,' Knight informed Zaviar as the man unfolded himself from the couch and stood. He took his time, setting the book just so on the table and glancing at Madeleine before he made his way towards the door. 'The one who reeks of demon and claims that you're his.'

"You can practically see the resemblance," Zaviar replied as he reached for the lock. Glancing back at Madeleine he recalled that he had not quite found the time to mention Marius to her thanks to Darcie's presence the last time that she had been over. Then he had gone out for dinner with her mother and overall it had simply not come up. There was never a convenient time to say that one had come across their demon ancestor. Grandfather. Whatever Marius was in relation to him, he was a demon and Zaviar was not all that keen on the idea of him actually meeting Madeleine. "A demon who stumbled across my home a few days ago and says that I'm somehow related to him. He may or may not be lying, but either way it seems like a better idea to not turn him away. His name is Marius." 'And there's a duck with him!' Zaviar blinked at his familiar before opening his door to discover that there was indeed a duck there as well. Ah. "Marius."

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burnlyrical
2011-09-01 04:20 pm UTC (link)

Hiding from her mother? Guilty as charged, and Madeleine hadn't even thought to deny it. If she had stayed where Lila might have been able to collar her she would have either gone on about the pregnancy, the many horrors she had endured during her own, the lack of house staff, the various things Madeleine appeared to be doing wrong, the various things that Madeleine actually believed to be well and truly redundant, any number of other things that the younger and somewhat more irritable fire elemental simply did not give a toss about... Or she would simply cut to the chase and start informing her of her opinion on Zaviar as though it truly held any weight at this point in time. She did not want to hear what Lila thought of him. If it was negative there was a chance the house would burn down. If it was positive, there was still a chance the house would burn down because her mother just could not help herself when it came to eyeing up men and Madeleine had always been a jealous woman. Her head tilted slightly so she could watch Knight with a bewildered expression, flames rolling to and fro over the backs of the fingers of one hand as though they were a coin. No matter what Knight said, while he may have been more intelligent than the rest of his kin in a manner that was almost more human, he would still fall victim to the same pitfalls the rest of the doggy nation did.

When everyone began to move - everyone being Knight and Zaviar, since she actually had no idea where Althea had gone - Madeleine would almost have considered pouting were it not for the look Zaviar gave her. The flames moved from the back of her hand to her fingertips as she raised her eyebrow at a response that was clearly meant for Knight rather than her. One-sided conversations could sound so strange. 'I smell company.' Her own familiar had decided to join them after all. Oh, well there's a surprise. I think Knight had already established that. Nevertheless, half a sentence into Zaviar's explanation and Madeleine closed her fist, extinguishing the fire. 'I knew he smelled differentwrongunusual.' "Do shut up, Althea." Uncoiling her legs from underneath her, Madeleine slid her feet back into her shoes and then crossed them, toe very nearly tapping out an anxious rhythm in mid air. She didn't think heels made for the speediest get away if a demon wanted you, say, dead, but at least she would be more or less ready to leave if she needed to make a quick departure. 'You can't be scared of it; it has a duck.' Clearly, her familiar had missed the part where she was a fae-blooded elemental and not demonic. 'Even you eat ducks. From China.' The Chinese take-away. 'Same thing.' Althea's sense of amusement probably should have concerned her, but it didn't. Instead, she supported her temple with two fingers and stared, remarkably unimpressed, in the general direction of the front door. If it killed her, she hoped Lila destroyed the bastard.

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cupere
2011-09-01 06:26 pm UTC (link)

'I smell other familiars.'

"Multiple? Zaviar must have company."

'They're larger than I am.'

"Like most everything else in the - ah Zaviar, good to see you opened the door." Marius wouldn't have blamed him if he had decided not to. Actually yes he would've because he didn't approve of that, but it still would've made sense. Not everyone could handle seeing a demon even if they happened to be demonic themselves. If their current company was not demonic then it'd likely just be more uncomfortable for them. All for the better really because Marius had just caught sight of who Zaviar's company was and he approved. That rather unimpressed look didn't affect him much. He'd gotten it so many times and it didn't take too much effort for it to change usually. If he cared to change it at all. "Whose the pretty redhead?"

'The pretty redhead has a snake.' Marius didn't see what was so concerning about that. 'It's a really big snake!'

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firststrike
2011-09-01 07:19 pm UTC (link)

'What is it with people having familiars that look edible?' It was an honest question. That and Knight had that same urge as he always did when he saw a duck; he wanted to bark and chase it away. The chasing it away part came because he had never been able to catch one before. If he got to make an exception this time then he would have been fine with that. Provided that he had not already been fully aware that chasing the duck would get him put outside for the night again. And he could not count on having the same good look that he had the last time unless Madeleine had other relatives from England who intended on stopping by and letting strange talking dogs into their house.

"The 'pretty redhead'," Zaviar replied, voice nearly a drawl as he looked over at Madeleine. "Has a name. It's Madeleine Gray and it's a better idea that you use her name than refer to her in that way." If Marius went around talking to most women like that then that was his business, but Madeleine was not most women and Zaviar would not have it. Especially not in his own home. As for opening the door, well, that had been done almost solely because he really did not want to see what happened when you irritated a demon by ignoring them. Marius may have looked the same as any other man on the street, but looks could be deceiving and Zaviar was pretty sure that he had nothing on the demon. It bothered him, oh did it ever, but there was nothing he could do about it at the current time. "Was there something that you wanted?"

'I want a duck squeaky toy. Althea, do you see this thing? A demon has a duck.' He needed to tell Antonin about this, sure that the necromancer would get as big of a kick out of it as he did.

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burnlyrical
2011-09-01 08:22 pm UTC (link)

'We are higher up the food chain,' Althea informed the dog from where she had chosen to hide herself. And no, she was not quite ready to come to heel just yet because Madeleine was feeling agitated. Madeleine always felt agitated. But as with many other traits, the fire elemental's sense of superiority had rubbed off and she had to share that piece of information with Knight. 'I think Zaviar should shift. The three of us could chase it around the room. The one who catches it wins.' And then either the demon would be rather dead or it would just go away and stop bothering her ward. Which was exactly what is was doing, because she felt the elemental positively bristle at being referred to that way.

The pretty redhead. The pretty redhead. Ignoring the fact that referring to her by her physical attributes was entirely pointless since she was the only other person in the room, was that supposed to be in any way flattering? Only vaguely aware that her eyebrow had arched rather sharply and that she had turned it on Zaviar to await his response, Madeleine was only a touch appeased by his answer. It had nothing to do with it being at inadequate - which it wasn't - but that she sorely wanted to set fire to his demonic relative. Just for that. And yes, before her familiar butted in, pregnancy was a perfect excuse. "Charmed," she uttered, with all the sincerity she would have bestowed upon him had he been any one of the Calverts, ready to be used as kindling. Her smile was strained at best and her eyes were trying their hardest to glare regardless. Self-satisfied wanker. Glancing away to try and see if she could spot her familiar - 'You won't find me from there.' - her eyes fell on the demon's familiar. How exactly did one make Peking Duck, anyway? And could he not just sort out why he turned up so he could then leave?

'That duck is even making Madeleine hungry.' The noise that followed was as close to a reptilian laugh as Althea was ever going to get, and likely just a little disturbing for many. 'She used to have a children's story book about a puddle-duck called Jemima. Ask it if it's called-- Hang on.' Without moving, because she did not feel like it when she was only in pursuit of an answer, Althea directed her thoughts to the rest of the room. 'Hey, duck. Is your name Jemima?' Madeleine choked on thin air.

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cupere
2011-09-01 09:35 pm UTC (link)

To be fair, Marius was completely aware of how little women liked being referred to as some variation of that pretty trait-inserted. He was. He just didn't care and found the varying reactions that they or those with them gave to be very amusing. Just like now. Zaviar went to the woman's defense and that tipped him off to the idea that this wasn't just a friend. This was the special sort of friend. He has good taste. Marius was glad to see that a descendant of his wasn't chasing after the sort of women that were better left in the dark corner of the bar. And yes, he was elitist when it came to that sort of thing, he was an incubus. He had the right to be. Others weren't so lucky. Zaviar, of course, needed to be since he had come from an incubus down the line. Marius gave a mocking sweep of a bow towards Madeleine. "Absolutely charmed, Miss. Gray." No he wasn't, she was pretty but not that pretty, but she would be. That was the definite upside to being an incubus, women couldn't just stay indifferent when he was around if he decided he didn't want them to be. He couldn't control where exactly it was directed, no, but at least they had to react somehow.

'Is it a good idea to upset the woman who has the familiar that wants to make me a snack?' Puddles didn't have to have anyone tell her to know that a big snake would think a duck was a good meal. To say nothing of the dog that wanted to chase her around. It's always a good idea. Puddles made an irritated honk and then she became confused. 'My name's Puddles.' Marius actually missed out on the joke as well. He'd never been one for storybooks of the mortal children unless they involved monsters that he thought may be based on him and his kind. The Bible was a pretty funny one. "Don't confuse my familiar, it makes her more insufferable than she normally is. As for why I'm here, I was just popping by to say hello and make sure that you hadn't gotten yourself into trouble. Never had some sort of relation living in the same area and it's all very fascinating." Marius looked back at Madeleine. "And the company is prettier than it was last time I was here." He couldn't wait to see what she was like all stirred up, if she had actualy reactions instead of just sitting there. What was she, an earth elemental?

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firststrike
2011-09-01 10:40 pm UTC (link)

'I don't think that he'd go for it. But we should try. I'd be happy to try.' Knight's tail even started to wag at the idea of chasing the white thing around the yard. He bet that he would be more likely to catch it than Althea. He had yet to see the snake go at her full speed so he had no idea what that might be or if it matched up with his at all.

It was never a good thing when Madeleine hardly spoke at all. It was usually a sign that there was something wrong and Zaviar was certain that he did not even have to ask to know what the problem was - it was Marius, his presence and the way that he had first addressed her. His mouth tightened just a little as Marius looked at Madeleine again. That demon really needed to keep his eyes to himself instead of looking at others like that. Or saying things like that. Zaviar knew that the only company that had been here the last time that Marius was was himself and Knight, but he had seen what Madeleine was like when she thought when he was just staring at a woman, but Madeleine did not. "I have gotten myself into no trouble." That he was aware of. That actually counted as trouble in his view. He did not even view having killed that water elemental as trouble since he had just had it coming for striking Madeleine. For marrying her, really. Marius did not need to know any of that. He may have been related to him, but Zaviar had shown how little he cared about his family when he had seen to killing off his human father and half-siblings. The more he thought of it the more certain he was that the demonic blood must have come from his father since his aunt and cousins had not been, which meant that he had killed Marius' son. What a shame. "Do you know how to use a telephone though? Most people call to give a sort of warning before they show up. It helps to ensure that someone is there and that they are not otherwise engaged."

'Because they do that,' Knight offered, tongue lolling out as he settled back on his haunches. 'Puddles is such a weird name. You picked that for yourself? Why that?' Puddles. It just sounded terrible. Knight was far better, so was Althea. Even Martie was better.

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burnlyrical
2011-09-02 12:02 am UTC (link)

'Humanoids are so serious. I think we should. I want to see if I can sneak up on it.' In her place on top of the bookcase, out of the line of sight of the others in the room, Althea shifted slowly out of her coil and began to slide down the side. 'And don't you tattletellsnitch on where my hiding place was.' It had taken her ages to get up there.

At that bow, Madeleine could not stop herself from rolling her eyes, nor could she hold her tongue. Apparently it was a replacement for her gag reflex. "So charmed, in fact, that it ought to have been self-evident and you need not have said a thing." Maybe it was dangerous to essentially tell a demon to shut up, but since she was apparently just the side show she hardly saw why it really mattered. True, the fact he looked no more than a man didn't mean a single thing, but she did have to admit that his familiar rather detracted from previous concerns. The duck was probably more worried than she was, or had been. With that said, that was probably because her familiar was... 'Doing nothing you wouldn't do.' Standing, Madeleine smoothed out her clothing before looking over Marius briefly. Oddly, there was a faint family resemblance and she assumed that was what Zaviar had been talking about before. That was, however, apparently his only redeeming feature thus far. Especially since there was a rather more base repulsion that made her eyebrow draws together even as she flashed him what attempted and failed to be a smile when he called her pretty yet again. "I know what I look like, thank you." She turned on her heel in a half-hearted attempt to find her familiar and hoped the wretched creature realised it was harder to turn one's back on a demon than she had supposed. Althea, you ask Knight right now if anyone was here last time that blasted demon was. Caught mid-stalk, the snake would have huffed if she could. She had more pressing things on her mind. Like the duck. 'Knight. Madeleine wants to know if anyone was here last time that blasted demon was. Or if she is just being stupid.' The last bit was her own doing, true, but that was because she thought her elemental really was being stupid. Especially since, when she wasn't thinking about men, she almost seemed to think she stood a chance of finding her. One round around the living room in search of the damned constrictor and the elemental deposited herself next to Zaviar, hand reaching for his arm while her mind... wandered, for want of a better word. Wandered all over Zaviar - 'Warnings before you have those thoughts. Warnings.' - and she quite unashamedly looked him over once before turning an irritated stare on Marius.

'A puddle-duck called Puddles,' Althea mused. 'I'm going to call you Feathers.' A beat. 'I think you'll find me first, you know.'

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cupere
2011-09-02 12:55 am UTC (link)

Puddles had no idea where the snake was. She had heard her say something, yes, but she hadn't seen her yet and it was beginning to make her just a little nervous. The goat had been startling since she charged out of nowhere, but a snake? A snake was legitimately dangerous when one was a duck. 'Seriously. No more snakes.' That would be hard since Zaviar himself was a snake.

"Someone is just a little snippy, isn't she?" Marius only appreciated the view more when Madeleine stood and he was actually able to see more of her. My grandson has good taste. 'Her familiar is a snake and I think it's getting closer.' Puddles was firmly stationed at the door and ready to flap away if it became necessary. But the smell of snake in general was so strong around here that she couldn't tell whether it was inside or outside. So she was shuffling between both, always staying close to Marius' ankle. "Telephones are just too modern for me, Zaviar, don't ask an old man to change his ways." Of course he knew how to use a phone, his cell was snug in his pocket right then and likely filling up with text messages dealing with questions about which bar he'd be at that evening. "I was also bored and didn't know that you had the company. Now that I know I'm even more glad I stopped in." His eyes caught on when Madeleine reached for Zaviar's arm. There it was. Disappointing that she had turned it onto him instead, but it was better than the irritation that - was suddenly right focused back on him again. He just kept his grin on his face and leaned against the doorjamb, arms crossed over his chest. "So you do have a girlfriend. Or just an exceptionally touchy friend."

'My name isn't Feathers. My name is Puddles. What and where are you?'

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firststrike
2011-09-02 01:46 am UTC (link)

'But at least I know where you were. How did you get up there without anyone seeing?' Knight could never get away with having hiding places. He was too big for most of them and even if he did find a place then Zaviar was able to locate him by scent. Or he would pull out his favorite treat and the game was just over. Knight could not help but give into certain animal instincts and treats were just not playing fair. He had informed Zaviar of that and been told that the man was completely aware of that and more, he did not care.

Zaviar did not visibly react to what Madeleine said to Marius, but he wished that she had not said it. He did not know near enough about Marius yet to be sure what could be said to him and what should be left unsaid until he was gone. He did not know enough about demons in general to be certain that they could not go ahead and just destroy whatever they wanted to with magic that he had no sort of knowledge of. They were old creatures, practically made of magic, and if they wanted to destroy something then Zaviar would not be convinced they were not capable of it until he was told such. "People can get that way when you objectify them. As an old man-" Marius' words, not his "-you should know that." Old man, please. Zaviar knew that Marius owned a store in Scarlet Oak and there was not a chance that he was not at least somewhat up to date on how the world worked. 'Only person who was here other than the demon was Zaviar.' Knight thought it was funny that Althea was calling her own elemental stupid and wondered if Madeleine had heard that part too. "Madeleine is Madeleine and she is mine so you can stop looking at her like that." Zaviar glanced over at Madeleine to make sure that she had not taken that badly when she reached for his arm, and was a little surprised when she looked him over. Where had that look come from? "Did you have intentions of staying for long?" Directed at Marius of course, Madeleine was welcome to stay however long she wanted.

'I like Feathers too. And she's a really big snake and she's coming.' If dogs could grin then Knight would have been.

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burnlyrical
2011-09-02 03:06 am UTC (link)

'Time and difficulty.' Althea answered after a moment. 'And no one was paying attention.' The last part was rather the deciding factor. If they had all had their eye out, they would have seen her scale the side of the bookcase rather painstakingly. Even once she was up there, since she was not his familiar and she was no bother (and possibly because Madeleine hadn't asked), Zaviar hadn't told on her.

Snippy? Really? Last Madeleine checked, that was not her when she had crossed into the realms of snippy. That was her on a normal day. True, her normal days were getting more and more like snippy days recently, but that was not her fault. Well, not entirely. It did, after all, take two to tango. She had not made herself pregnant all on her own, but the fact remained that she was, thus she reserved the right to be snippy if she bloody well felt like it. Instead she waved one hand in the direction of the duck. "Your familiar is having a nervous breakdown." And she couldn't sound less concerned if she tried. In fact, did the mental health of the familiar effect the mental health of the witch or elemental? 'Might explain your mother.' No, Lila was like that already. Madeleine didn't mind being objectified, either, but only when it was done properly. Because there was being objectified and then there was just being subjected to someone who came across as a slimy git. Again, her attention was drawn to whatever to was that was repelling her. It was not unlike what she had felt from - 'Linnea.' - and probably vice versa, only Linnea was human. Could demons have elements or was this one just vile? 'Why can't he be both?' That was an excellent point. 'And Zaviar was the only one here when the demon came last time. You're being stupid again.' Despite that tail-end insult, Madeleine smirked slightly. Good. Zaviar had been the only other person, the demon was a lying bastard who was trying to push buttons and she still needed to work on issues regarding jealousy - but she had yet to set anyone on fire. Even if Marius did deserve it just for standing there. Zaviar's answer to his remark left her rather more smug, with dangers of it actually edging into a smile as she turned her head to meet his eye. She was not about to complain. And - no, he was far more attractive than his relative, regardless of shared genetics. There was something about such a controlled calm that, despite being the exact opposite, Madeleine found appealing. And that was to say nothing of the rest of his mind or, indeed, body... 'Do we need to have this discussion again?' No. No, they didn't. Releasing Zaviar's arm, she moved to stand behind him, eyes peering over his shoulder in a fairly disinterested and distracted manner. One of her hands had returned to seek purchase on his arm again while the other plucked softly at the back of his shirt, her mind preoccupied with thoughts of skin contact.

'I'm a boa constrictor, if it makes a difference.' In fairness, Althea had paused in her stalking due to the bizarre turn Madeleine's mind had taken. Which... Well, around Zaviar wasn't completely bizarre, but it didn't seem to happen quite like that. There were boundaries where familiars were instructed to stop listening, even though Knight continued to make jokes anyway. That sort of thing. Having given up because she didn't understand and the elemental really wasn't listening any more - that also concerned her - she had turned her attention back to Feathers. Or Puddles. As for where she was... By now, it was really rather obvious if anyone was paying attention, which they weren't. And she was sort of out of the duck's line of sight, so... Waiting patiently for the bird to come back from panicking by the door again, Althea stopped steadily climbing the air over the route Puddles had been following and let herself slide into the other familiar's path. 'Hello, Feather-Puddles.'

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cupere
2011-09-02 03:49 am UTC (link)

Marius held his hands up when Zaviar said to stop looking at Madeleine 'like that'. "I wasn't looking at her any special way." And he hadn't been. That was how Marius tended to look at everyone who happened to be female and at least somewhat attractive. Madeleine surpassed 'somewhat' even if the longer that he stood there, the more that he began to feel like there was something distinctly not attractive about her. Oh not physically, physically she was superb and a wonderful example of a redhead, but there was something that just seemed like it wanted to rub against him the wrong way. "Puddles is over-anxious. And you're a fire elemental, aren't you?" Wasn't that just perfect for a were snake to take up with a fire elemental? All that heat had to be wonderful for him and oh, fire elementals were naturally easy to work up. Toss him into the mix and Marius really wasn't surprised to see the way that Madeleine had slid behind Zaviar with her hands seeming unable to stay off. "Well whatever she is, is she usually this unable to keep her hands to herself when there are others in the room or is she trying to stake a claim?" He glanced at Madeleine and gave a shrug. "I promise I'm not here to try and take him away from you. He's not my type." Of course Marius knew exactly why Madeleine was acting like that and all he wanted to do was intensify it. Zaviar was far too calm for his own good; what made him uncomfortable enough to finally ask him to leave because it was obvious the redhead wasn't going to stop touching?

'I am not over-anxious, there is a -' And Puddles' thoughts just stopped, froze in place when she turned around and there was a snake right there. A very large snake. Where she had been walking. For a few long seconds there was not a thought, not a feather stirring, and then Puddles was scrabbling on the floor to hide behind her demon's leg. 'I TOLD YOU THERE WAS A SNAKE SHE IS GOING TO EAT ME, MARIUS, IF SHE EATS ME YOU'LL DIE TOO AAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!' Marius clapped his hands over his ears although it did no good and directed a glare at the constrictor he hadn't even noticed. "Really? Scare the duck who probably has the duck form of anxiety, yeah that's just great." He actually sounded irritated for a moment as he scooped the duck up. Really, he should've gotten a lion or wolf that wouldn't have been scared of these things.

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