Rory (badasswings) wrote in valloic, @ 2022-10-13 22:20:00 |
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Entry tags: | !: action/thread/log, ₴ inactive: aurora morningstar, ₴ inactive: lucifer morningstar |
The Morningstar's are idiots and try to rescue a Cerberus rather than kill it. Hell things.WARNINGS Hell Idiots
With an annoyed curse, Rory and Lucifer had taken off after them. She had serious regrets wearing platform boots on this walk, even if they were exceptionally badass looking. Hound walking boots were required, it seemed. Mental note made.
Scylla was easy enough to catch, and Rory had scooped the growling creature up in her arms before continuing to go after the other hound, while trying to suede the younger one, who was not at all happy. “Shit, seriously.” Rory cursed again as she watched a nip from the hounds teeth cause her skin to go red, and then healed moments later. “We’re going to have serious obedience lessons after this.” She threatened the animal.
Up ahead the sounds of Luci’s barking were suddenly joined by others in what had to be some sort of square off between creatures.
“I did have an excellent recommendation for a trainer at PetSmart but this ordeal is making me rethink it,” Lucifer growled as he stomped through the undergrowth, unfortunately too aware of branches and brambles tugging at his pants and shirt like they were common threads bought from the discount bin instead of designer from the best Vallo had to offer. The hound would be sleeping in the main room tonight instead of on his bed, the lack of obedience undeserving.
He pulled up short when he heard the other voices join in concert with his own hellhound’s, turning slightly in the darkness so that he could keep Rory and Scylla in sight while not turning his back on the darkness ahead. The lack of daylight had certainly made keeping time an issue and brought all manner of trouble down on them - again. As lucky would have it, perhaps Luci Jr and Scylla had been running towards it, not away.
As much as he would like to argue otherwise, he knew it was a case of like owner, like hound as well as like father, like daughter.
Lucifer held up a hand to Rory and moved slower through the forest growth, following the familiar bays of Luci Jr and the unfamiliar snarls of whatever he’d stumbled across. He pushed through a bush and came to a sudden halt, eyes widening as he took in the creature in front of him. “Oh my Dad,” he whispered, “they were tracking a bloody guardian of Hell.” At least the Greek version as unfortunately his version of Hell had never been lucky enough to have the giant canine guardian with three heads.
Luci Jr was low to the ground, snarling. With his black fur, he was a void in the darkness with flashes of white teeth as he snapped and darted back. “I suppose this would be an inappropriate time to ponder keeping it?”
Aw, Hell. Hades. Whatever. Rory gaped up at the monstrous three headed beast that Luci had hunted down, and made her hold on Scylla a little firmer. The tiny monster was wriggling in her arms and growling, attempting to be just as vicious as a fully grown hound.
“Pretty sure there’s one already in Pandemonium.” She knew there was, she had seen it, but this was not the same dog. Similar looking, but not quite the same. Was this thing even the same? Lucifer didn’t seem to have any dominion over the monsters that were out, she was doubtful anything would be different with this one. But it would be really great if it was.
The Cerberus stalked forward, and Rory was forced to let Scylla go, one because it wouldn’t hold still and two because she couldn’t do much against the best if her hands were occupied. “Any suggestions on how to deal with this?” She asked hopefully, shifting her weight on her feet and greeting ready to react and move. Did their world even have a Cerberus? Had he ever interacted with it or something similar in his billions of years of existence? Any tips welcome.
“Yes but that one is quite taken with Pandemonium. This one could be the bouncer for Lux.” Lucifer looked pleased with with his idea for barely a moment before the size dimensions threw a wrench into that possibility, as well as training the beast to not eat the club goers. It looked like it might digest human flesh as easily as sparkles and leather.
As Cerberus moved forward, Lucifer took a step back and to the side, small movements to put him closer to Rory and slightly in front of so the creature would have to come at him to get to her. The instinct came without second thought, he realized idly. To protect his daughter though he knew her to be capable and deadly on her own terms.
“Persephone was quite handy with the belly rubs but she was the only one that could ever manage it. Hades was always a bit bitter that Cerberus chose to bond with her and not him. Made for worse living arrangements when she was not in the underworld,” Lucifer stated as his gaze ticked to Luci Jr and Scylla back to Cerberus.
The yelp jarred Lucifer to his core. Luci Jr took advantage of Cerberus’s distraction with Lucifer and Rory and Scylla’s reinforcement and darted forward with teeth bared, going for the heel - or whatever passed for a heel in the canine form - to try and disable the creature. Cerberus flicked him easy as a flea off its hide, sending the hellhound crashing into nearby bushes and focusing in on the smaller pup.
“’ey!” Lucifer bellowed without an iota of a plan in mind, drawing himself up to his full height, eyes turning red with unholy hellfire and voice sinking low. “I command you as your king to return from whence you came,” he challenged.
Cerberus didn’t even give him the decency of hesitating, three sets of very sharp teeth bared at him and Rory as saliva dripped down onto the undergrowth. Lucifer deflated slightly and glanced to Rory in his periphery. “Well that was my big idea. Perchance you’ve come up with something in the meantime?” She knew Lucifer didn’t lie, but he was more than capable of being sarcastic, and she wasn't totally sure if he was being completely sarcastic with the Hades story or not. She’d have to ask about that later. She was too distracted by those thoughts to notice much of Lucifer positioning himself.
Rory was really hoping that turning his full weight of King of Hell would have some sort of impact, but it wasn’t surprising that it didn’t. Rory’s heart sank. She didn’t want to have to harm the beast, and hopefully Lucifer thought the same. It had ties to hell, or a version of it. It was, in some ways, connected to them.
Time to try her own power, then. The creature kept advancing, Rory focused on her time gifts which she had been working on mastering. Lightning struck across the sky, and thunder clapped overhead as she forced time to slow down to a near stop. The impacts were immediate around her, as the trees that were moving in the wind slowed to an impossible speed. There were no animals to impact. Theoretically, anything not celestial or demonic should be impacted. She didn’t know where this Cerberus fell on that scale though. He wasn’t from Hell, specifically, so it could end up going either way.
To her relief, it looked like the monster did slow, which meant they had a little more time to figure out what to do next.
“Is there any way we can get it to hell here?”
Lucifer was unwilling to take his gaze off Cerberus but he still looked up as the thunder rolled above them. Time rolling to a stop around them brought a welcome familiarity though he found it entertaining he took it for granted when it was Amenadiel who did it but could not contain the swell of fatherly pride as Rory did so. Where he failed to get a rise out of the beast, she’d slowed him enough to give them a chance.
“Well, I do have a suggestion though I think it will sound simple and be difficult in execution.” He glanced back at Rory and made a face. “We fly it to hell and drop it in the forest to roam. Scylla and Luci Jr may have to stay here until we come back.”
Hold time, while carrying Cerberus, and flying? The look Rory gave her father was one of complete skepticism, with a side of judgment. “Fly that to Hell?” she said, “While holding off time?” Rory wasn’t even sure she was capable of doing that. Yes, they were strong as Angels. But she never attempted to lift something like Cerberus, or to use her powers for that long either. Flying to hell wasn’t the same in this world, they actually had to travel a distance, whereas in their world they could just fly down and pass through the realities in seconds.
Her power was still holding for now, so she took a few steps closer to the giant three headed dog, stopping to pet the still growling Scylla on the way. She wasn’t worried about Luci and Scylla out here, they would be okay. But she was worried about pulling the whole thing off. “Can we even lift it?”
Rory had a point, he hadn’t factored in holding time while lifting and flying the beast. “Perhaps if you held time until we were in the air and then you dropped it? We would have to deal with thrashing and snapping of course but if we positioned ourselves out of the way…” What he’d first thought of as a simple plan was quickly becoming more complicated.
“The other option is we find a butcher and lure it across Vallo to Hell which is sounding as plausible right now as the initial plan,” he added, slightly frustrated. Lucifer approached Cerberus on Rory’s heels, holding his hands up. “Or maybe a really good belly scratch would soothe the savage beast.”
Rory gave him a pointed look and went with ignoring option two, because that was insane. They needed some sort of instant transportation to hell, or a way to make the thing more manageable.
She watched the hound as it slowly, slowly moved. Time wasn’t fully stopped after all, just incredibly slowed down. “We either try option one or we have to deal with it. Because it can’t stay out here.” People would die if it did, and she doubted most of them deserved that kind of fate.
“Do we have…something to carry it with?” There were three heads, attached to a massive body. There weren't exactly any great angles for gabbing this thing.
It should not be this difficult for Satan and his kid to deal with a hell-beast.
Lucifer shrugged innocently as if the idea of how outlandish the butcher idea was hadn’t already occurred to him. So they were back to square one and it certainly was not an easy one to move forward from.
Suddenly he snapped his fingers and turned to her. “What about one of those big flags they fly in front of the municipal buildings?” he said, excited with the idea. “Slide it under that great big tummy and to the sky we go!”
Rory eyed the three headed hound, trying to size up its weight. “We might need to double or triple that up. One would probably just rip under its weight.” Unless they were magic, or something, to protect against damage. Which actually wouldn’t be that surprising, everything was magic around here.
The idea was stupid, which was right up there with traditional Morningstar plans. “You’d have to get the flag.” she said, “I’ve never tested how long I can hold this for.” She needed to focus. Uncle A had never gone into detail about his time powers and she’d never had a reason to ask.
He’d never stopped to consider how many buildings with big flags there were in Vallo but there was no better time to find out. “I’ll see what I can scrounge up.” And he would have to be quick about it when they had no surety of how long Rory would be able to hold it. “If anything happens, yell.” Amenadiel had been able to hear him so it stood to reason that Rory may be able to reach him. Celestial telephone.
Lucifer stepped back to create space, wings expanding with practiced ease before he lept into the air. Good Dad. He never expected to be stealing the flags of a land he hadn’t known existed up until a few years ago for the greater good amidst unending dark but here he was doing just that. In fact the first took him by surprise in the darkness, swatting him like a pesky bug. Lucifer righted himself and dodged in to find the hooks and clasps, trying to work as quickly as possible.
Several minutes later, he returned to the forest and dropped several large heaps of cloth before landing himself. “Well I’ve probably made myself an enemy of the state and several monarchies but if this works it will be worth it.”
“Probably not the first time.” she said casually when he returned. Luckily time was so slow and it was so dark out, government officials probably wouldn’t even notice right away. It wasn’t something she was worried about, even if she was trying to keep her focus on the giant hound. It was hard to know what straining her power felt like. She was starting to feel tired, and maybe that was how it started. These powers probably weren’t meant to be held for extensive periods of time.
Not wanting to waste time, she worked with Lucifer to layer up the fabrics, slip them under the beast, and secure them into place. By the time they were done, she was really starting to feel it. She could feel the warmth on her own skin, a heaviness setting into her bones. “We need to hurry.” she told Lucifer, looking up at him, “but I don’t think I can fly at my full speed. So hurry at my pace.” In other words, he’d have to match to her pace and they had to go now.
Rory’s shoulders rolled back as her wings unfolded behind her, and she searched around for the hounds. “Stay.” she said seriously, one eye flashing red. The last thing she wanted to do was chase after hounds again after this.
“You would be correct in thinking that,” Lucifer grumbled but left the tirade about how those times were not necessarily his fault for another time. He worked with Rory to quickly knot together heavy fabrics as best they could and place them under Cerberus so as best to spread out the weight of its bulk while making it hard to struggle.
His expression became concerned and he drew in a breath to ask her if she was sure she could do this after how much power she’d used but quickly stopped. Rory was very much his daughter but she was also very much the detective’s and wouldn’t hear of it. Lucifer nodded affirmatively and stepped back, wings unfolding again. “What she said,” he echoed the subtle threat. The two hellhounds would watch each other but after the night they’d had, he didn’t enjoy the idea of running all over Vallo looking for them either.
“All right then. On three, two…one.”
Rory braced herself when Lucifer began to count down, taking a deep breath in. She could do this. She had to do this. The only other option was to kill the beast and she didn’t really want that to be an option.
When Lucifer hit three, Rory pushed from the ground, beating her wings hard and pulled the makeshift sling. Cerberus was heavy, even if for her. She had no idea how Lucifer was fairing but Rory was going to be feeling this one for a couple of hours after. “Holy shit.” she cursed through gritted teeth, wrapping her hands as tightly around the flag as she could manage. This was going to be a rough flight.
She just had to hold on until they were through the barriers of hell, so Rory gritted her teeth and focused on not dropping the beast or slipping in her control. She wasn’t going to last much longer, and whatever one she dropped first, they would be in for a struggle.
Even as strong as he was and even working with Rory to lift, the burden still proved enough to nearly ground him again. He huffed out a labored breath as they flew higher, racing against the clock to get Cerberus to the forest part of Hell. Lucifer tried to take more of the weight to his side but they were already flying awkwardly and there was only so much he could do.
He let out a surprised, harsh laugh. “In deference to the situation, I will not regale you as to which uncle of yours that nickname belongs to,” he grunted.
When he started to feel the prickle on approach, the feeling of a Hell even if it was not the Hell they knew, it was tempting to speed up. “Almost there, Rory,” he called, “just a bit more!”
If she was capable of focusing on what he just said, she would be asking if he actually meant one of her uncles got referred to as Holy Shit. She would have to try and remember to ask about that later.
Instead she focused on flying. She could feel hell getting closer, and it was a good thing because, “I’m losing it.” she warned, voice straining with effort to keep everything in check. Not on the flag, though that was close.
And her powers.
Around her things were starting to speed up again rather quickly. Cerberus began to move more in the flags. It would be too much to hold if time was let to go free. At best, they may have to drop the beast into hell air delivery style.
“You’re going to make it as far as you desire because you are a stubborn young woman who does what she wants,” Lucifer called over to her. He couldn’t help the pride that crept into his voice, how this ridiculous plan would not have worked without what she had done.
His eyes widened slightly as he felt the small shift in weight. The beast stirred. “I think,” he started, choosing his words carefully, “that we may have to adjust course and do a dive towards the forest to cut our travel and perhaps be low enough to drop it if need be.”
Unfortunately, being fueled by stubbornness and spite could only carry her and her powers so far. She was going to hold out damn well as long as she could, but they really needed to land this beast, or at least get into the confines of hell where it couldn’t escape.
“Dive.” she agreed with a nod. “How far away are we?” She was only vaguely aware of where they were, focusing on keeping time slowed, her wings beating, and the beast in the air was all she could do at the moment.
“Close. Very close.” Another time and they could have had a great time with what he’d said (or as the response went, ‘that’s what she said’) but there was too much going on and a need for it to be dealt with quickly.
He pulled in a deep breath. “See that particular tree in the distance down there? Looks fitting for Hansel and Gretel’s story? When I get to ‘one’, we are going to tilt and dive. Past that should be safe territory to let Bruiser here go,” he called over. And hopefully their plan would be a success and he hadn’t thefted banners and flags from all over Vallo for naught.
“All right then. Three, two…ONE!”
On one she did exactly as he instructed, because really what other option did she have? Rory didn’t have it in her to try and see if there might be a different idea. This would have to be it.
The speed made it that much more difficult to keep a decent grip, and her hands were going to ache when this one was over.
Rory had some brief recollection of passing the tree, and then whatever control she had over herself and the slow of time came to a crashing end. Quite literally, her feet slammed into the ground and she went flying, letting go of the flags, the dog, and time before landing hard on her back.
Lucifer flew harder than he remembered in the last several centuries. Wings thrown back, laser focused on that tree, the wind whipping past them as the struggles began to get stronger. He didn’t slow as the point of landing came closer, closer, closer…
He hit the ground and lost his grip, tumbling until the world was lost in spinning darkness. His wings immediately retracted to prevent further damage and he ended up sprawling in the dirt face down. It took a moment before he got his bearings back and started to push up.
“Rory. RORY!” Lucifer scuttled over to her on hands and knees. “Are you all right?”
That had hurt, but luckily Rory was only half mortal, and at worst it knocked the wind out of her for a moment. She’d be fine in a few minutes. She managed to gasp out some version of yes before trying to push herself up on her side, fighting to get her breathing straight.
As much as she would like to just lay her, she had no hold over time now, which meant they needed to get away from the Hades beat they couldn’t control.
“We have to get up.” she said, first looking up at Lucifer, who was fine of course, and then looking around for the beast. “Did we make it?”
Lucifer breathed a sigh of relief, resting his hand on her shoulder. Shewas relatively unharmed despite the tumble they’d taken, which boded well for the escape. “We did make it but now we should make a quick exit before our new friend shakes off his stupor as well.”
He climbed to his feet, offering his hand. “Can you fly or do you need a lift?”
Even while Lucifer spoke, her breath was evening out and returning to normal, the impact rocking through her body wasn’t that bad, the initial hit had just been shocking.
“I can fly.” she was pretty sure she could anyway. Grabbing onto his hand, Rory used his strength to pull herself back to her feet, her wings unfolding again behind her. They were the least ruffled part of her.
Only a few yards away, a low rumble of a growl signaled that the hound was waking up, and when she looked over it was getting its feet, the three heads each shaking as they came to. “Shit.” she said out loud, before beating her wings and pushing off the ground, jaw clenched hard with the effort.
Lucifer steadied her as she got to her feet, checking to make sure she was as well as she said. Chloe tended to be stubborn as well, always putting the job before herself. He stepped back as she unfurled her wings, gaze scanning them for any sign of injury or weakness. “All right, if you need to…”
His eyebrows rose at the sound of the growl nearby. Lucifer slowly turned his head to regard the beast. He locked eyes with it for a moment before mumbling, “I think not,” and unfurling his own wings, following Rory into the air.