Audience: Mahito

[probe]

Comments

[probe]

Oh. You mean like, transforming or whatever. Do you do that a lot? Turning into animals?

[touchups]

Yeah, that! [BEAMING. At least it's slightly less serial killer-ish...] I do sometimes. It's pretty fun! It doesn't really matter since humans can't usually see me even in this shape, but the world looks different every time you try other shapes out.

[probe]

That's true. I've been birds before, that's fun. I was a cat once, too! And a mongoose.

[touchups]

Oh! You can change shape, too? [Perking up!! No one else can do what he can where he comes from, so this is still a novel and exciting experience...]

I wanna try being a cat next... Ah - but I don't know what a mongoose is.

[probe]

I get the idea that it's uh, way more limited than you, but sure. I can transform into an animal for an hour.

You - what do you mean you don't know what a mongoose is?

[touchups]

Oooh, like Lust?

[A little nod. Y'all with your animal hour-powers... ALSO LOOK STOP LET HIM LIVE innate knowledge of animal species is not directly relevant to human v human hatred!!]

I've never heard of it before! What's it look like?

[probe]

A little like that, except it's more like uh, like spell slots rather than boons.

[... a pause, and they reach into their sleeves to produce a little mongoose plush. they hand it to him.]

[touchups]

Spell slots?

[A curious look... Though he's immediately fuckin distracted by this little mongoose plush?? HELLO. His whole expression lights up and he reaches out and takes it very carefully in his demon hands.]

Oh—! Wow, how nice! Are their tails really this big? Hehe, what a cute face, too...

[probe]

[waves hand spell slots]

Yeah. They're my favorite, actually. They remind me of my brother.

[touchups]

[DON'T JUST WAVES HANDS SPELL SLOTS ABOUT IT.]

Yeah? What about 'em reminds you of him?

[Gently squishing the tummy of this little stuffed mongoose.]

[probe]

[they sound fond as they speak.]

They're snappy and think they're a lot bigger than they actually are? Like a little yappy dog that thinks they own the house. But they've got the power to back it up, if they have to. I've seen them go up against lions and not flinch.

That's kind of how he is.

[touchups]

[That is such a sibling description... The corners of his eyes crinkle with open amusement.]

He sounds like a pretty interesting guy! And you guys sound really close. [Squish squish goes the mongoose. He thinks briefly back on a conversation he had with Gojou once, and wonders what it would be like to feel that kind of bond.]

Once we're done here, you get to go back and see him again, right?

[probe]

[there's a pause, as they stare up at their red umbrella. they twirl it.]

... I hope so. [but they refuse to be melancholy around mahito, so.] Do curses even have things like siblings?

[touchups]

[He gives them a quiet look for a second, but lets the topic drop. Good choice in any case, his curse instincts always kick in around sour emotions...]

Mm? Not really. There's a half-curse that has a ton of brothers, but that guy's an outlier in a lot of ways. [BEING HALF-CURSE AND ALL.] The curses closest to me are more like... comrades! Since we get each other on a level no one else can, you know? But we're all born alone.

[probe]

Makes sense. Me and uh, Despair are sort of like that? Definitely not in the sibling or comrade sense, but in that sort of uh, gets each other on a level nobody else can sort of way.

... How does being a half curse work? [what,]

[touchups]

[A nod... This is something he can actually understand on a firsthand level for once!]

It's really nice, right? Having someone who gets you like that. Talking about it makes me miss them. [HIS CURSE FAM!! He's reached the point in his stay where the luster is starting to wear off both in terms of the indulging itself and the people he's with... He sighs a little.] Gojou Satoru is the closest thing I have to that here.

[Their weird, fucked up dysfunctional murderous not-friendship, wow. Also good question?! He makes a face and shrugs.]

I dunno, I don't really get it either. Human mom, curse dad? He's way more durable than a regular human and he can use cursed energy easier, but those guys leave actual bodies behind when they're killed. I think he feels things in a way that's closer to human, too...

[probe]

I can see that, I guess. He seems like the sort of dude who is about this close to going bugfuck bananas on people at all times.

[sniff.] ... Weird. Ah, gross, dude, I don't want to think about what it's like to fuck a curse.

[touchups]

Yep! We're a lot alike, and we get each other better than anyone else here.

[Unfortunately this is very true. (hei voice) gojou might as well be a curse, i never realized so much until i played him against mahito.

He also holds his hands up at that!!]

You're the one who asked! Anyway, I dunno how it actually happened, just that he and his brothers are out there.

[They're out there........]

[probe]

[... well, okay then.]

Someone fucked a curse... multiple times. [somewhere envy sneezes.] Hate that that knowledge is now in my brain forever.

You can keep that plush, by the way. Have fun with it.

[touchups]

[Several people here have fucked a curse multiple times. Very bad. Anyway, he looks like he's going to open his mouth and probably say some more cursed shit, but he's distracted by this. A MONGOOSE OF HIS VERY OWN...!!]

Eh— really? [!!!! He is immediately and carefully cradling it in his arms.] Thanks! This is the third time someone's given me something nice!

[His other two coveted items are Getou's bubble wand and Pride's eternal passionflower, which he still often wears in his hair, especially during trials. God bless.]

[probe]

[they just sort of laugh a little.]

Really? Nobody else has given you gifts? I find that hard to believe, my dude.

[touchups]

What? Why? [HE SPENT MOST OF HIS LIFE PRIOR TO THE LAST 5 WEEKS KILLING PEOPLE AND FIGHTING EXORCISTS of course he doesn't have many gifts.

Though he does pause after that, seemingly thinking it over... Like who knows, maybe he is somehow forgetting a gift despite owning 3 whole items.]

Mmm... I'm pretty sure it's only been three? Besides Hanami and Dagon! Hanami gives me flowers sometimes, and Dagon likes to give me nice-looking shells, too.

[Jogo just gives him scoldings him for being a shitpunk.]

[probe]

I mean, you're a reasonably charming guy. Curse. It just strikes me as weird that nobody has given you anything with how you act around people.

[shrug.]

It's not that important! Jeeze. It's just a mongoose. [or whatever!!!]

[touchups]

Oh! Hah - I dunno, maybe it's just because there's not much to give to people around here?

[A little sloping shrug. Unlike most maniac sociopaths, he's not feigning a persona to endear himself to others so much as just selectively not showing the parts of his personality that involve murder, so he truly doesn't expect anything from anyone.

He's also holding his new mongoose friend very close!!]

It is! It's cute and soft! I've been talking for ages about how much I miss being around animals, too. [And he is absolutely the kind of person who can at least temporarily be mollified by a stuffed toy version of one...]

--Should it have a name, do you think?

[probe]

[stop, the sociopath is not allowed to be cute]

I guess, yeah. What are you going to name it?