[OPEN] BAD CHILDREN AND GOOD DOGGOS

[pummelgranite]

WHO: Nico, Persephone, and anyone else who tags along or trails them or is attracted to the scent of fresh meat and brimstone
WHERE: Maurtia Falls State Park
WHEN: Early April, before the Cold War Confessional plot
WHAT: Running the dogs!
WARNINGS: the dogs sometimes eat people but other than that this is a wholesome post full of wholesome hell children and their wholesome hell dogs

[ They left early in the morning, as had been promised to and enforced by one enthusiastic demi-god. That was for the best, really. Only those well connected with the Underworld would be able to see the three horse-sized black beasts that galloped behind her motorcycle, but it never hurt to be careful.

When they reach a suitable bit of meadow, she pulls over the bike and goes to unlock the refrigerated trailer they've been hauling. One hellhound immediately plops itself into a nearby pond. The water hisses and roils and darkens; fish begin floating to the surface. The hound rolls its enormous bulk belly-up, flailing happily and snapping at the dead fish. ]


Awe, good girl Bell!

Comments

[infomodder]

[Hannibal is here. April is gone. Dorian is gone. The less than pleasant thoughts he'd had about the people here had been intensifying ever since.

So he goes out, alone. He has no idea where he is right now and that's okay. Part of him considers just staying out here for the rest of the day. The week. Losing track of time and never returning.

Of course he is in the midst of contemplating life as a grizzly man when he comes across...whatever the fuck he's seeing, going for a swim that is either horrific or adorable. Depends on who's watching. Right now, he's not certain what to think. He's not too certain about much of anything except those are some damn big doggies.

Maybe he should speak to the people first. But he doesn't. No. He prefers to walk over to the edge of the pond just to get a better look at the strange beasts. No fear, but also not reckless — he's just comfortably embracing potential death.]

[pummelgranite]

[ Hhhhuh. That he can see them is interesting, that he's drawn to them even more so. But what really gets her attention is the disregard for himself with which he approaches them, his indifference to the threat. Looking at his eyes, there's no question that this is someone who has seen Hell.

There's a moment where she thinks about just letting this play out. There's no doubt that even the runt Belladonna would go for his throat unless instructed otherwise. But she entertains this thought only, only for a moment. ]

They're not friendly.

[infomodder]

[Will keeps those Dead Inside eyes on the pupper even as he's addressed, stuffing his hands into his pockets and lifting his eyebrows at the beasties. So...this is happening, right? Maybe he's having a dream. It could be either, honestly, with how screwy things feel right not.]

Like attracts like. [He says, finally looking over to Persephone. He isn't friendly, either. Not right now anyway. Now he's growing out a distress beard and contemplating if this is not actually a dream, would he mind being eaten by giant strange dogs? What an honorable death.] Are you friendly?

[pummelgranite]

[ Her head tips, and the expression she gives him isn't exactly a smile, but then he's not quite smiling at her either. Still, he's doing some solid I Am Dead Inside eyes, 10/10 this guy has seen some shit, and she really does appreciate that.

Belladonna wriggles on her back through the shallow water, scooping up several dead frogs and a fish in her mouth narm narm much homph gomph. ]

Nuh-uh.

[infomodder]

[He's seen her before, hasn't he? Yes, he's sure of it. She doesn't exactly have an easy to forget or common look. Still...he's had all sorts of folks in his dreams he didn't talk to before. Abruptly, he takes a step into the pond. Then another. Just stands there with water lapping over his socks and shoes. Normal as fuck.

This feels real. Hm.]

What are they?

[pummelgranite]

[ Do Will's dreams ever smell this distinctly of sulfur? ]


Hellhounds. Guards of the damned.

[infomodder]

[Hannibal is a hell of a drug.]

Oh. [He reaches in his back pocket and pulls out a Ziploc baggie. Challenge accepted. He will seduce these pups. Or their person. However the case may be.] They like bacon?

[Because all things must like bacon. Even pigs like bacon.]

[abandon_hope]

[ Dogs. Nico is here to help, happy to dote on these good helldoggos. Which involves belly scratches. ]

She's adorable.

[pummelgranite]

[ Cujo is tolerating it, but really he seems more interested in the trailer. ]

Pretty cute. I guess dogs are dogs.

[abandon_hope]

No matter how big they are, yeah. They're the same way back home.

[pummelgranite]

. . . Cerberus? Don't tell me you have more than one.

[ Opens it and rummages for a moment until she pulls out a whole cow's head. ]

[abandon_hope]

Cerberus is the most important one. But he's not the only hellhound around, you know.

[ Nico steps back to watch, unperturbed. ]

[pummelgranite]

Seriously? Are they like this?

[ She hefts the head and then lobs it a few dozen yards thattaway. Cujo and Zuul take off after it like rockets then go rolling and chomping over it. ]

[abandon_hope]

Kind of, yeah. Enough that I recognize them.

[beautiful_monster]

[Yuri's been banned from any real training—THANKS VIKTOR!!!—so he'd come to Maurtia Falls to sneak in some skating around the park anyway. Because fuck Viktor, he'll do what he wants! Or he would be doing what he wants if he weren't distracted with the mysteriously boiling pond instead.]

What the hell?

[pummelgranite]

[ Goth chick pulls an entire cow's head out of a trailer behind her motorcycle. ]

Can I help you?

[beautiful_monster]

[Weird goth chick hanging out near a boiling lake with Nico? Obviously Persephone, but the cow head is really a much more pressing piece of information here.]

What are you doing with that?

[pummelgranite]

[ Without looking away from Yuri, she tosses it back over her shoulder. The head sails high through the air, until a swirling mass of shadowy misasma darts after it. When the shadow reaches the head there's a horrible snarling and crunching. Only the tiniest scraps of meat and bone hit the ground, and even those are quickly devoured by the darkness. ]

[beautiful_monster]

[HOLY SHIT. Yuri takes a very large step back, putting Persephone between himself and that...whatever that was.]

What's that?!

[pummelgranite]

A hound of hell. Guard dogs to the damned.

[ There's a low rumbling as the formless shadow stalks towards them, coming to stop at her heels. ]

[abandon_hope]

[ Oh hey, it's Yuri. Nico waves, looking completely calm and unperturbed by these hellhounds. ]

Basically, yeah.

[beautiful_monster]

[This entire situation is still completely bizarre, but he's a little more relaxed now that Nico's here.]

So, a hell thing. ...what kind of hell thing?

[abandon_hope]

[ If Nico ain't alarmed, they're probably safe. Ish. ]

Hellhounds. They're nicer than they look.

[beautiful_monster]

[Yuri squints at the shapeless form that Persephone is feeding a cow's head to now.]

...They don't really look like anything to me.

[abandon_hope]

[ Oh, right. Nico had almost forgotten. ]

That's because you're not chthonic, I think.