Chapter Text
Oh, it’s gonna be one of those days.
Benrey had been so close to clocking out, too. They had a whole plan after work to go home and play video games...okay, yeah, they did that every day, but today their coworker Jefferem was supposed to come over and hang out too! Tommy had been too busy lately, it had been a while since anyone- no, no, shut up, that wasn’t it, loneliness had nothing to- they were just bored and- and there was a new PS3 game out (Heavenly Sword, which was not a ripoff of God of War), it was supposed to be the new Halo for Sony, and- and- and-
But no, of course some idiots went and activated a gateway the only time they actually had plans, so, uh, going to check that out it is instead. This sucked .
They could already tell by the time they were done dealing with this, Josh would probably be finished his shift and closing up the GameStop he worked at. Like yeah, they could phase through the wall after hours to pick it up, but they weren’t a thief, preorder or not. Important to follow the rules. No stealing, no breaking and entering. No “demon” shit getting caught in HD, high res CCTV security footage-
Especially not if it might get seen by their only human friend.
God, they’re certain that’s what must be trying to open a portal right now, fuckin’- humans - ruining their whole night like usual by poking their shit where it doesn’t belong, s’not supposed to be there. What the fuck , they just want to play games with people, man. Some humans were alright, like Josh: if the ones today would ever be the as cool as him they could add them on PSN, invite them to what could have been an epic game night (Heavenly Sword was gonna have DLC where you could have 60 people in 1 server, it was gonna be great-).
But no, the humans they met while doing their job always sucked, especially the ones they encountered ever since they were transferred from soul guiding to rift security.
The ones from their last job at least had the excuse that they were lost and freaked out about being dead and stuff. The not dead (yet) ones that used made up “summoning spells” were just assholes .
Their kind knew better than any species in the universe that praying was kiiiinda useless but when they were already in a bad mood from their cancelled plans they at least understood the appeal, pleading to nothing and nobody that whoever they were dealing with tonight wouldn’t be the worst . They’d take bad , hell, they’d take worse than bad, their evening was already ruined anyway, but pleaaaase not the worst .
Only three things were needed to activate a gateway.
The first was an adequate quantity of Xen crystal - also the first ingredient to get confiscated, always, ASAP, no illegal contraband on the plane sir, gonna have to see your- passport. They had no idea how humans still keep getting their stupid monkey hands on fragments (fuckin’ stole them from somewhere probably, always stealing shit) anyway. Whatever, not their concern. Retracing the source to its provider was a whole other department’s job - they just had to take the crystals back to good ol’ HQ when they were done working on site. Knowing their luck right now the humans in this group would be the type that had theirs all broken up in pieces and scattered everywhere like they thought having shards arranged in a circle around their nonsensical chalk scribbles made it more powerful or something. But nnnnnope, all it did was make their job harder, picking up every little piece, making extra sure they don’t miss the smallest little chipped bits.
The second “ingredient” was a source of heat. No doubt it’d be a candle, again . It was almost always candles. Uncreative much? Why not like- a laser or something. That would be cool. Wouldn’t fit thhhh- uhhhh- ““anaesthetic””, they guess. Conflicting visual vibes and all that. Probably why every ritual they’d crashed so far had been at night when they could’ve just used the sun . These types of humans really were stupid. Maybe this time they’d be using a scented candle at least? Wax that was infused with a nice smell tasted better to them. At this point they’d even prefer those tiny ones for birthday cakes - they’d get to snack on a few at Tommy’s party next week but they’d be a bad guest if they ate all 37.
Oh well, even if the candles were generic again, they’d just use the salt these groups kept putting on the ground. They weren’t entirely sure why - it was just one of those made up things that wasn’t always included at summonings, but was a super common option in the “serves no actual function, just a hassle for poor Benrey working overtime after hours” gacha roll - highest % pull rate, with other basic bitch-starter shit in easy mode. Includes but is not limited to: Nonsensical chanting, nonsensical symbols, an altar or a ““pentagon”” (why’s it called that when it’s shaped like a star in a circle? Stupid lil humans can’t even do geometry right), stupid looking robes with hoods and…
sacrifices .
The third and final ingredient was supposed to be a little blood. A little . Like, 2 blood maximum . Listen, they get it, Blood Good. Didn’t need more than that though? Stupid humans all wasteful and- ugh . Didn’t wanna think about it. Maybe it’d just be blood this time and not a sacrif- please not when tonight already sucked? Please ? They didn’t need any- fuckin’- the worst .
Sure enough, the all too familiar scene of a pseudoscientific shitshow was waiting for them when they crossed the threshold. Remaining invisible ( for now ), they took in their surroundings to better parse the situation and how to approach, uh- dealing with it.
Benrey had stupidly hoped it would a casual affair this time, unofficial and small.
Could’ve just lectured a handful of drunk college students out of their depth like some kind of drug and alcohol induced hallucination projected directly into their drunk, high brains. Or messed with some amateur paranormal investigators and their camera crew just enough to not end up on the internet or some kind of ghost hunting show. Y’know, fun pranks. Get them good, harmless- mostly.
Nope, tonight’s group was CULT with a capital C, pulling out all the stops: close to 40 people in dark mahogany coloured hoods pulled over their faces were standing shoulder to shoulder in a circle with what looked like the roof of a cave towering over their heads. Greaaaat . Some kind of forest mountain probably. Even better, this was soooooo perfect. Ugh . At least if it had been a field or an abandoned building they could just set everything on fire. Dead grass and old wood were the perfect level of flammable to get rid of evidence, Bubby would back them up on that one. They were not looking forward to cleaning blood (which they could already smell, fuck ) off the cavern’s solid stone floor when this was done, especially by themself . Ughhhhhhh .
Something was…off, too. Usually things only descended into madness after they made their presence known. Not that these things couldn’t be loud and frantic before too, but even that was usually with intent. The energy this time was..unfocused. It wasn’t a chorus of similar, purposeful chanting and gestures, it was a chaotic frenzy of yelling and enraged movements and- Sure as hell not synchronized, so probably not planned, either.
Still invisible, they no-clipped into the altar that the hooded figures were huddled around to see what was up, and- man, what a mess. Candles were knocked over, chalkdust and what looked like salt was kicked up everywhere. They would have snorted if they had a comprehensible form capable of that right now because woooah , someone here sucks at presentation. Shit summoning circle, bros. Like they thought, absolute shitshow .
And wow, okay, so there hadn’t been a struggle, it was still ongoing . Dissintment in the ranks maybe? Haha, niceee, things had already gone to shit. The only robed figure within the altar - so the leader, they guess - instead of standing or kneeling or something (mleuh mleuh mleuh more “ritual” shit that doesn’t actually do anything) currently had someone pinned to the ground, trying to wrestle some kind of squiggly knife out of his left- oh okay so that’s the guy missing the severed right hand next to all the bloodstains and-
A baby.
There was a baby in the summoning circle.
Who did this? Who did this? What the fuck- what the fuck did they do ?
If they weren’t coldblooded theirs would be boiling right now.
See, this shit? This shit is exactly what they were talking about.
They would have preferred- fucking anything - not this - not tonight - why tonight ?! Couldn't their ”offering” be a copy of Heavenly Sword or something? Why not “sacrifice” anything better- anything else - a cheeseburger, or a soda, or a playstation+ subscription?? They have a month free trial but that shit’s expensi- not important right now.
Normally, they like everything, they feel a good. But this makes them angry . It was always babies, or goats, cute shit like that- why ?? They’re so small , greedy fuckers don’t even need that much blood still -
Goats just wanna climb salty mountains, all, y’know, craving that mineral, but then fucking dumbass cultists show up, squiggly ritual daggar out, ruining shit-
…and then babies…
Aren’t bigger humans supposed to love those, especially their own? Take care of them and all that? Considering how many humans they’d walked in on having murdered a little baby they’d stolen (or even used their own- apparently sometimes these types of freaks had kids just to sacrifice them, fucking weirdos, they hated it), maybe not. The more of this stupid shit they got alerted to or told to check out and deal with, the more that the parental form of unconditional love and protective devotion they see in movies was starting to feel like yet another fake ass special effect.
They’re not even human, not around them much, and even they like kids. Yoooo, wait, they just realized “kid” is what people call little humans and little goats- shit, is that why they keep getting used in this stupid garbage?? Some idiot just saw “kill a kid” in the shitty walkthrough for stupid hood parties and made it everybody else’s problem? Their problem??
What were these assholes even hoping to gain?? 3 wishes, or was that something else? Money and power?? Just bored, felt like finding something to worship, offering their devotion for the sake of it? Benrey didn’t care enough to bother learning all the ““sprite-tual”” bullshit humans attached to making these gateway rifts. They didn’t want or need to be pledged loyalty to. They didn’t need them killing -
Wait. This one was still moving. He was still making noise . They don’t- they only do that if they’re still alive right? The sounds and motions weren’t pleasant - lil guy was thrashing and wailing - but right now they were honestly just relieved they weren’t too late this time. The others were not uh..crying or moving at all by the time they show up, normally.
They should probably get on with that now, huh?
“yo.”
Maybe they could have put more theatrics into it, but their equivalent to a heart wasn’t in it right now. Fuckers aren’t worth the effort.
They’d scare them shitless soon enough anyway, no point in messing around for once.
(Ughhh, wouldn’t even be fun . They were well past the circumstances for fun, other annoying shit from before aside, but knowing these guys deserve it, at least killing them would be satisfying. )
Despite their not particularly attention grabbing entrance (they just kinda- appeared, like spawning into a map), hushed awe was immediate in settling over everyone else. Benrey mirrored the atmosphere, impartial glare levelled.
“We weren’t expecting you yet, infernal one, we apologize for the..unforeseen interruption-”
The leader hurried to collect herself and face them, but not before glaring daggers behind her at the body on the ground she’d gotten hers back from. “We your humble servants have called upon you for-”
“you have- you have credentials?”
“I- P-Pardon?”
If Benrey annoyed her by cutting off the typical mleuh bleuh devil worship speech- well, good , shit was boring in every imaginable iteration, and they wanted it known they would have spaced out if they weren’t seeing red right now. However, it seemed more like they’d instead caught her off guard by not acting like whatever fake shitty deity she’d made up and sold the rest of these frozen-in-place idiots on.
“Forgive me, infernal one, I don’t understa-”
“it’s okay, I wanna see them though?”, they zoned out and once again took in everything around them, still seething inside as their attention wandered back to the terrified infant bawling on the floor below them. “where are we?”
“That is- um, wha-”
“whuh?”, they hoped their retort was adequately disinterested and inattentive sounding as they crouched down to scoop the baby up in their arms.
Time for a stat check. He’s not exactly what they’d describe as a “newborn” - they might be wrong, they’ve never been great with guessing the numbers humans assign to themselves based on their ages regarding solar rotations. The little guy’s still very little, but compared to the others they’ve seen in the past that appear even more recent, they figure this one’s older than a few months but younger than 2 years. Curly chestnut brown hair was coming in on the top of his head in small tufts, and Benrey would have been distracted by how fluffy and soft it looked if their attention wasn’t being drawn to the large, dark and painful looking bruise enveloping his temple and forehead.
The only good thing they could glean from their hasty examination is that he doesn’t seem to have any other injuries - although it’s hard to tell when he’s almost entirely enveloped in little fleece pajamas (or maybe it’s a onesie? They don’t know the differenc- are those cowboy hats on the fabric’s pattern? That’s ador- ). By the looks of, well, everything, one of these idiots might have thrown him, so they’ll have to heal him up soon in case of any internal problems anyway - if there’s anything TV has taught them about small children, it’s that you’re not supposed to drop them . For now they were at least certain he wasn’t bleeding out, though at a glance his red, puffy lids and cheeks could have fooled anybody.
Lil man’s got a grip , clinging to Benrey’s neck surprisingly strong for something his size as they adjust their hold on him, staring down as he opens his wide, watery eyes, the bridge of his nose wrinkles with...well, still fear , but confusion as well now? Maybe? How is such a tiny thing making that much noise too? He’s full-on screaming now, causing them to internally panic. Did they make something worse by picking him up?
Benrey’s first language was Sweet Voice™. Earth languages like English were mostly fluent to them nowadays (and even capable for them to speak back in, albeit their own unique way), but talking was far from the only way humans communicated (some- like the tiny one here -didn't at all), nor the most obvious. There were the tones and volumes with which they spoke and were easy enough to memorize (it had enough in common with the songs of Sweet Voice™ in that aspect). What they never completely grasped, though, was expressions. But could anyone blame them? Colours and facial..stretching..didn’t exactly have much in common. They were at least getting better at understanding the meanings they communicated through their eyes and eyebrows, and the muscles in their faces - they just couldn’t convincingly communicate that way themself.
Tommy was much better at that, at looking (and sounding) happy, sad, angry, purple, blue, red. That’s why he dealt with the panicky, lost souls instead of the summonings now. Having the perfect dog to help with the adjustment period was a nice lil’ bonus too. Humans got all existential and sad about being dead or whatever, and a convincing smile and gentle, cheerful tone from Tommy did leagues better than Benrey’s deadpan and monotone.
It’s not like they’d never tried smiling before, but that just scared people more for some reason. Was it their sharp teeth? Did it look forced? Regardless, there was only so much they could do about humans being scared and not listening to them, and/or freaking out over their calm down Sweet Voice™ - they’d been accused of trying to “sedate” or even ”hypnotize” them to “steal their souls”. Compared their laugh to an evil villain. Rude .
That’s why Benrey much preferred the monitoring of rift security than of soul guiding, even when it interfered with their after shift plans and subjected them to all kinds of unpleasant, weird shit (another great reason for the job swap with Tommy - he didn’t like bringing Sunkist along to rituals, not because she was in any danger, but because she might get startled).
They didn’t have to be nice. They were supposed to be, but If these cultists wanted a big, bad “demon”, they could do that. They could be mean, be bad.
“I- we still hope that this offering is acceptable for one such as yoursel-”
Yeah, they were gonna be bad .
“looks a bit shit, actually.”
“Wha-”
“check this out”
Covering the baby in a protective hold against their cloak, the cave descended into darkness. Gotta make sure he isn’t scarred for life any more than he is already, tucking him against their chest to shield his eyes and ears from the flashing red lights and violent tremors.
Benrey had been counseled before over killing humans. Tommy always said it was only for self defence, but they were pretty sure a baby doesn’t have that yet, so maybe on-behalf-of-someone-else defence was fine? They’d just assume it was. They don’t really care enough. Yeah, it’s probably not “self defence” to slaughter like a bus worth of fragile ass humans when they’re a transdimensional, immortal and near all powerful entity of pure dark energy, but whatever. These guys were the ones ganging up on someone weak and helpless first . They just gave them a taste of their own medicine. Picked on them the same way they picked on a baby.
…okay yeah the power difference was a bit bigger than that but still , they had it coming. Might do this shit again to another baby if they let them live probably and that was- they’d been through how uncool that was already (Conclusion: no, okay? No ).
Apologies from the cultists for them being displeased and pleas for mercy didn’t last long - at the point the dumbasses realized there would be none, survival instincts had probably reduced those remaining to a primal fear, screaming as they were slaughtered one after another. And then …
The stunned “silence” from before held no contest with the dead kind now. Maybe there would have been groans of pain and sounds of choking on blood if they hadn’t been so thorough, but they were too agitated at the time to consider drawing anything out.
Having let off some steam, they kind of regretted doing everything so instantaneously, but oh well, tearing them to pieces and the looks on their faces while doing so(!) were still satisfying even if nothing had been as slow and painful as they all deserved .
Except…well, obviously they could still hear soft, tiny whimpers coming from the warm little bundle trembling in their arms, but…a low grunt and movement in their peripheral vision caught their attention.
“J-ghh-!”
They watched what was very much not-a-corpse struggling to lift himself onto his elbows. Had they missed one? That didn’t seem right. Or possible .
“Rrgh-”
They stepped closer to get a better look, his laboured breathing more discernible as they approached-
No, this one wasn’t in uniform. Fully turning all eyes to the remaining human, they began taking in numerous details.
His remaining strength seemed dedicated to getting up, trying to anyway, accompanied by sharp gasps and injured sounding grunts-
He’s also bleeding everywhere from an open wound just above where his wrist should be, and they know they didn’t do that. The separation is too clean, looks like it was done with a kni- oh, this must be the guy who the hand from earlier belongs to. Well, considering the normal looking clothes he has on and him throwing hands (haha) with the leader before they showed up, he’s probably not a member.
So they don’t have to kill him. Good, considering a crucial point. That being, he’s hot . He looks so hot, and cute holy shit . Hot with his unkept beard and curly ponytail, cute in a nerdy way with his orange turtleneck and glasses with thick square lenses. Probably not what they should be focused on right now, but they can’t really help it when it would jump out to anyone with eyes (of which they have plenty , all very much interested in what they see). On that note-
His head tilted upward, startled by the presence standing over him for a moment, then unfocused and bleary again, probably hanging to consciousness by a thread given his condition.
Then something sharp in his eyes harshly brought them back to focus and semi-lucidity as his attention travelled from their face to what- who -they were holding.
His are the same colour as the mini human’s, a beautiful hazelish green. And the resemblance doesn't stop there. They have the same dark chestnut-auburn hair, except his is peppered with streaks of grey. The same golden brown skin tone - paler, though, but in an unhealthy looking way - so, from blood loss maybe?
That meant…he was his father, right? So he did have at least one parent. Phew. Babies were cute and all but yeah, no, no way they’d be able to keep him, too much responsibility by themself.
(They still would have in a heartbeat if he’d been one of them , but judging from the evidence, both he and his son(?) were seemingly unwilling participants in the whole thing.)
So that means- what, he’d gone at her unarmed ( haha ) just to protect his kid? Damn, this guy really had earned one of those “#1 Dad mugs” they kept seeing everywhere (why were there so many if there was only one?) if that’s what happened.
What- was he mumbling something? Hm? “Josh”...wait, like his friend Josh? He looked down at the baby - another Josh? Epic.
“Joshua…J-Joshie-” now he was practically hyperventilating, eyes glued on his “Joshie” as he attempted to crawl forward, fumbling more. If he kept this up he was only gonna hurt himself (well, y’know, more ). They needed to distract him. At this rate-
“hey, what happened to your arm?”
He made eye contact with Benrey again at the sound of their voice, his pupils shrunken. Time seemed to stop around them for a moment, strained voice still the clearest and most unwavering he’d spoken the entire time.
“Don’t hurt him.”
He wasn’t in a position to be demanding anything from anybody , and certainly not Benrey , his current state notwithstanding. Yet despite it all, he wasn’t pleading. Wasn’t asking . His face and tone said- screamed, rather -all that those three words never could on their own.
Desperation. Pure and undiluted. Enough to have fought back against their (presumed) captors to try and escape with his son. To have fought back against a whole group just long and hard ( hahaha ) enough to protect his baby boy. Got his arm cut off in the process of fending their leader off just so that she wouldn’t do something worse to “Joshie” with that stupid ritual knife.
And now here he was, on the ground propped up on his forearms and probably unable to stand from blood loss, but still staring down the “demon” holding his son like he’d rush them with the last of the strength he’s already lost if they tried to do anything to the precious bundle of life in their arms, the kid he loved unconditionally and devotedly protected to the point of almost literally staring death in the face.
Whatever. Probably just jealous they don’t need to blink.
“wasn’t gonna.” they do an alright job of keeping their tone casual considering the intensity surrounding them, they think. They’re almost offended, he so obviously can do fuck all about it even if they did want to hurt him or “Joshie” (uhh, which they didn’t ), uninjured or not. They bite back that remark, though; better to keep any antagonism to themself, at least for now. No smartassery about how fragile humans are compared to them until they figure out how to express to their new pal that they were not mean and that they wanted to help him, if he wanted that too.
“i’m a great cool. you know what isn’t cool, though- you’re- you’re a lil clumsy boy aren’tcha? lost your lil hand there, didja?”
Nailed it.
Perplexion joins the other emotions present in the man’s wild expression and Benrey assumes his quiet sputtering is an extension of that up until he’s coughing up blood (fuck, it’s coming out of his mouth now too??) and collapses, eyes rolling back into his head. They’re at his side as fast as being careful not to jolt around with a baby in their arms will allow, cursing quietly under their breath. Shit shit shit - okay, wait, he still has a pulse. A bit faster than average, but steady. Not exactly stable , but he’s not fading either. Yet. Good. They can roll with that. So he just passed out then?
Alright, it’s about time for damage control. They’re so nice, and anyway, there are no predetermined deaths.
The least they can do is stop him from bleeding more, using their teal heal beam on the wound until his amputation resembles a residual limb. Still so weird to them that humans can’t regrow their severed limbs entirely , even when their cells get given assistance from Benrey’s regeneration powers to repair themselves more rapidly. Was better than nothing at least - hurts less than cauterization, too (they assume, anyway; they’d only seen that done in movies but it always looked like it hurt). Was the best they could do, anyway; they didn’t have any powers to reattach or replace appendages- like Tommy’s dad -or to help make a new one- like Tommy’s potion friend. Would have to do for now.
Next they did the same for “Joshie”, singing teal for slightly longer than probably needed, necessarily . But, uh, was satisfying watching the bruise fade from its horrible, aggressive colours and large perimeter until his head looked like it had never had one to begin with, and well- human mini™ still looked so upset that they couldn’t help but be double, triple, quadruple sure they hadn’t missed any other sources of pain they weren’t sensing from him.
“i’m gonna need to see some ID, i don’t think you- i- you’re not supposed to be here .” they trail off softly, watching him get, well, not not worked up, but at least less so.
Should they keep saying things? They tended to ramble when they didn’t know what to do- it helped them organize their thoughts -but it never made much sense to humans. They took things so literally - cared more about what they were saying instead of how or why - the implications and all that, the abstract message. Didn’t help when people asked for, no, demanded clarification, parroting back random information in search of explanation where there was none, frustrated by their typical response of “huh”? Like, man, they didn’t know why they were talking about Fruit Loops either, read in between the lines please and thank you? Stay on topic?
Oh, he was babbling back - wait, did he actually understand them? No, no way, he was just making sounds. Probably how they sounded to him right now, with his little baby brain and all-
Shit, his tears were starting to well up agai- no, no no no, don’t cry, no more crying- Sweet Voice™ escaped their mouth in alarm. Please don’t cry again, please please don’t cry-
He…he didn’t cry. He wasn’t crying anymore, he was-
His little human eyes were blown out, taking in the colourful orbs of light reflected back in them from above. For a second Benrey was worried they’d fried his mind. Sweet Voice™ was- should be comprehensible to humans even if they couldn’t understand what they were saying. They have enough senses for colours and noises (even if they missed out on the cool shrimp ones, losers), but mini humans seemed to be even more fragile than their adult counterparts. They couldn’t be entirely certain. They weren’t until it registered that not only was he still very much alive, but his sniffling hiccups and sobs were gradually evening out. They recalled a video Tommy had sent them once, of crying babies suddenly going through tunnels, distracted by the lights- oh is that what was happening?
“yeah? you like that? pretty- pretty cool right?” they smiled breathlessly. Finally, something they could work with. They didn’t exactly have parental instincts to rely on (that’s not what those protective feelings from before were, right? Or the warm, tender feeling now. Couldn’t be). Knew they were supposed to hush and rock them but much like other human things that felt foreign to them, they hadn’t completely grasped how to comfort in a way that actually worked . No frame of reference and all that, minus media.
Whatever cosmic eldritch horror species they belonged to probably just lays eggs or something and fuck off if they don’t like- try to eat or cull them first. Then again, Tommy got along well enough with his pops. Might have something to do with them both presenting as human, but then again, that was really only in appearance for all of them, so really it was anybody’s guess.
As for Benrey, they weren't exactly sure if they even had parents, uncertain how the creation/selection process goes for the whole “maintaining the life cycle of the universe” job role thing. The skeletons they could summon were probably the closest thing they had to a biological family. If they even had a comprehensible biology?
However that was, they just found themselves grateful whatever they were came with Sweet Voice™ as they sang some more with intent this time. Recalling those spinning things on the ceilings above those containment cages (a ““crab”” or something like that) babies had in their nursery rooms, they allowed their lullaby to circle around above them both in a similar manner. “Like planets orbiting the sun”, Tommy would probably say.
It seemed to work, “Joshie” following the colours and lights in fascination, noticeably calmer now. His little noises were still a bit wet and uneven, but his breathing slowly relaxed and his eyes drooped as he blinked sleepily. He went limp against their chest shortly after a quiet yawn, releasing their neck but still leaning into them. Attached in that he was still seeking comfort in being held, even if he wasn’t clinging to them physically.
Although the Sweet Voice™ hadn’t been for them, Benrey also found themself soothed, stress from the day muted by what felt like a soft cloud of comfort.
A nap sounded so nice right now, their created tranquil moment aside. Probably overexerted themself earlier with the whole “big bad” thing. Their job wasn’t gonna do itself, though (they wish , ugh). Maybe they could make a little nest for him while they worked. Not like what was left of the cultists in pieces would be needing the hoods discarded everywhere. Not anymore. Lil makeshift cot for “Joshie” then, so they didn’t have to put him down and just- leave him on the hard floor. Him and -
Their gaze drifted back over to the bigger human, out cold in a visibly less peaceful way than his son, still pale from getting red shit everywhere. They should put him on his side so he doesn’t, like, choke? If more comes up? Right? Movies and all that. Being face down like that on his stomach couldn’t be comfy anyway, if his shallow breathing was anything to go by.
Better to let them both get some rest while they deal with the crime scene. Kill some time, enjoy the free snacks (wax, chalk, corpses, salt circle- they also crave that mineral right now) until the sky gets lighter outside, since human eyes are shit and can’t see in the dark anyway. No way his new buddy could explain all this shit to human authorities without incriminating himself. Even if this place was far out enough to not be found right away, they could find his fingerprints and he’d get in trouble, probably.
They’d have to start cleaning up soon.