sixth. video (i fought the war but the war won).

[torrefied]

[It's a video post from Mello, and that's a thing that just does not happen. The camera is propped up to face him, lying on his back with his eyes closed, drinking in the artificial sunlight on a patch of grass somewhere in the park.]

Don't you all just get tired of fighting all the time?

[A peculiar lilt colors his words, a slight discordance to his typical tone and a languidness that should be noticeable to anyone who has ever heard him speak. He opens his eyes and glances to the camera.]

I mean, I know you are - I can smell it on you. You all want, so much - you want to go home, you want to return to your normal, ordinary lives. You want an end to the struggles you face here in order to simply survive.

[He shifts onto his side, propping his head up in his hand to face the camera directly. This is something else Mello would never do - openly show his face. And anyone who has seen his face before, even just partially, will notice a key difference here - his scar is gone. He smiles deviously at the camera.]

Don't fight us. Join us. Let us help you. Let me help you. I can give you what you want. All you have to do is ask, and let us in.

[He gives the camera audience a one-shouldered shrug and smiles again, something that looks entirely wrong and out of place on Mello's face.]

Despite what you may have heard, we're not all bad.

(ooc note: demon-possessed mello can also be encountered in person pretty much anywhere in the city for the next few days!)

Comments

[torrefied]

[He seems entirely unperturbed by the threat, even taking a moment to stretch lazily before he responds.]

You just don't know him very well at all, do you, Sharon?

[He smiles deviously, like he's about to tell her the biggest secret of all time.]

He wanted this. I didn't have to fight him for it - he gave me this body. This is what he wanted - not friendship, not love, not acceptance - to be better.

[unitas]

[ That doesn't surprise her, but it angers her that the demon told her—it feels like hearing a person's wish out loud, all sorts of wrong. What he wanted doesn't matter to her, but the fact that he accepted it does. Cecily must be right about their skills in manipulation. ]

Do you want me to gasp? [ She snaps. ] I don't give a shit how you convinced him, or what you said. That doesn't matter. [ She knows what it's like when something comes and offers you your deepest, darkest wish. Luckily, the demon that came for her as a child was just a version of herself, a wicked piece snapped off due to suffering. ]

I know how you bastards operate, so spare me your bullshit.

[torrefied]

If you truly know how we operate, then this really shouldn't come as a surprise, should it?

[He gives her the biggest cat-that-ate-the-canary smile she's likely to ever see on Mello's face.]

[unitas]

[ She wants to smack that smile off his face. Punch him. Scream at him. She grinds her teeth before she replies. ]

So, where the fuck are you? I want to see how you've made him better. [ He didn't need to be better. Better isn't Mello. Fuck better. ]

[torrefied]

Oh, I thought that was fairly obvious.

[He turns his head to show the left, unscarred side of Mello's face.]

But since you think you know so much, Sharon, why don't you come find me?

[I bet you can't, his tone implies.]

[unitas]

I liked the scar, fucker. [ She spits, almost offended. It's not like she has much room to talk, given her body lacks any of the burns Alessa's was covered in, but Alessa had embraced her burns; the pain had been fuel to her fire, and no man or woman could gaze upon her and not know the horrible things she endured. Mello's was very much the same: a symbol of his determination, suffering that can't be ignored, a fire that can't be extinguished.

Except maybe it has been. Maybe his fire has been extinguished. Why else would he give in? ]

I'll find you. And then I'll kill you. [ She will do whatever it takes. It's probably best not underestimate her. ]

[torrefied]

Mm, well, I guess it's a good thing I didn't offer to change how this body looks to suit you.

[He smiles wickedly at her, like he's just let her in on an awful secret. In a way, he has, because he's told her in a roundabout way how Mello really feels about that scar.]

Don't make promises you can't follow through with, Sharon.

[unitas]

[ For this final reply, Sharon switches to video. There are no tears on her cheeks, though her nose is a touched pink. She leans in close, the smile she gives is as wicked as his own, a promise of vengeance, but has a touch of sorrow. ]

I don't make promises I can't keep. [ She whispers. Not fire, or hell, or even a god could stop her now. ]