Memoirs of a RAFian

[Cloak]

Oh, just wait.

New chapter.

CHAPTER SEVEN:
The Perpetrator

"Still," Cloak remarked, thoughtfully, "there is a possibility that it is still around."

"That's still a little farfetched, though," Saffa said, pragmatically. "We still don't know what did the attack other than it was a canine of some sort. That doesn't necessarily mean that was a dog or a hellhound or anything."

"Pessimist," GH said, with an impish grin. Then he realized that that might be inappropriate, and he swiftly replaced it with a solemn look.

"We wouldn't even know where to start," Saffa pointed out. "Cloak cannot trail it by scent, and the bloody pawprints stop a few feet from here. We need to face facts and accept that the beast escaped."

"I don't like it," Parker and Cloak said at the same time.

"Neither do I," Saffa said, "but that doesn't change facts."

"But this beast is still on the loose." Abby pointed out. "At any point now, there could be another attack. One that we may be able to prevent."

"We haven't the information to proceed, though," Underseen said. "Saffa's right."

"What's our next move?" GH asked. It was a serious question, all levity having left him, when he considered the implications. "If we don't make it a wise one, someone else could die."

"And I've seen enough death lately," Saffa replied so quietly only Cloak could hear her. He knew immediately to what she was referring. The way Badlowe died was horrible. They never recovered the body after the explosion -- because it was obliterated in said explosion.

"Let's go and regroup at the forum." Parker said, resignment in his voice.

They moved out, but suddenly Cloak lagged behind standing stock still. He was listening intently. He had thought he sensed something. Something evil. He gazed over his shoulder for what felt to be a long time. Then he decided he must have imagined it, and proceeded to leave with the others.

It turns out that the evil presence Cloak felt was Shenecron. He wasn't possessing anyone, just out in his humanoid draconic demon form, watching the RAFians walk away. He wore a look the purest contempt as he did so. He had come to extend his animosity for his half-brother, Demos, to all of them.

At his side was a hellhound, a Winnie like Patches, only fully-grown and barrel-chested. Unlike Patches, however, this unnamed hellhound wasn't a runt but the pick of its litter. Shenecron didn't think to give him a name, suitable or not -- the hellhound was just a tool to him, and he was not at all affectionate towards it. Even to the point of not feeding him as it would "dull it's hunting instinct". He was also not above beating it harshly if it didn't live up to Shenecron's lofty standards.

"You left pawprints," Shenecron said, coldly and sourly.

The hellhound looked down with slumped shoulders, bracing for the impact of the beating. But it never came.

"You're just fortunate," Shenecron said, "that the dolts that my dweeby half-brother pal around with might blame his little runt instead of you."

Shenecron seriously believed that the RAFians would really be that stupid.

[Cloak]

New chapter.

CHAPTER EIGHT:
Reasons!

Now having a hellhound wasn't Shenecron's particular style, but he realized very soon how useful having one would be. He was still all about the contracts, and he took a certain pride in wording each an every one in such a way to rig the agreement in his favor without the other party being any the wiser.

But, though he was loathe to admit.or acknowledge it, there were those that managed to escape the terms of his contract, or void them completely, like that Knight. To Shenecron, this was completely unacceptable. The way he saw it, their souls were his no matter what happened. The minute they signed the contracts, their souls already belonged to him -- the completion of the contract was just a formality.

So, that's why he got his hellhound, which he didn't even use gender identifiers on him. He just called him "it". Shenecron was incapable of love and affection, his heart -- if he, indeed, even had one -- was pure stone and as black as night.

Newton York had made a deal with him for him to make a bundle off Wallstreet and the like, whilst Shenecron was disguised as a Wallstreet insider. When he didn't in the time frame he requested, it voided the contract and Shenecron couldn't have that. He sent the hellhound after York and illegally claimed his soul anyway -- or he would have had he not survived.

Darius Barrington had made a deal with Shenecron (disguised as love guru) to attract the attention of a girl that he was infatuated with. But the contract voided when he fell out of love with the girl when he discovered how truly grating and controlling she was. Shenecron would not be denied. He sent the hellhound after him and fraudulently claimed his soul anyway.

Vicky Julien thought she'd be clever, and made a deal with Shenecron (disguised as a priest) so than she would never be seen by evil people. A broad request, actually, but it would have prevented Shenecron from collecting her soul when she died a natural death. So he made sure that it wasn't natural, and collected her soul.

Dillion Dexter thought he'd be real smart, and made a deal to live forever with Shenecron, while the demon was possessing a doctor. Had Shenecron not sneakily inserted a clause that would enable him some wiggle room, it would have been impossible for Shenecron to claim his soul, as was what Dexter precisely wanted. But in his own use of his hellhound, Shenecron himself voided the contract. He didn't care as he collected his soul just the same.

Aloysius Franklin, father of Lindsey, had the audacity to refuse a deal with Shenecron, who was possessing Lindsey's eleven-year-old friend Donnie Marko. Shenecron immediately ditched Marko's body and sent the hellhound after, not Aloysius, but his daughter. Aloysius was institutionalized afterward, and given all the blame, despite it being an obvious animal attack.

Gavin Peel, Ryan Woodward, Jeremy Hendrickson, Michael Kirk, Raymond Traveler,  and Geoff Manley were mainly just the result of laziness on Shenecron's part of keeping his hellhound in check, as he didn't have contracts with those people, but was more than happy to collect their souls, which was not really legal.

He didn't care about the lives he tore asunder (rather like an establishment politician), but cared only when he could profit from it. He did care if even his hellhound was miserable in his odious presence.

[theyoungphoenix]

oooohhh. everything is starting to fall into place. i see it now.

[Cloak]

Do ya now?

New chapter.

CHAPTER NINE:
Fraught and Caught

"Shhhh, Patches, dearest," Demos said, surprisingly gentle for a demon. "Quiet down, now. I don't want anyone to find out that I have a pet."

Patches, naturally, didn't understand a word of this.

"I do hope you understand, dearest," Demos said.

In response, Patches lowered himself down and raised his rear end high, wagging his tail frantically in an invitation to play, like all canines do. It was all puppies cared about, honestly. Hellhound puppies were no different.

"No, my darling puppy," Demos said, "I'm sincerely sorry, Patches, but I have several responsibilities to attend to, at the moment."

Patches didn't understand, and was still inviting Demos to play some more. He was blissfully unaware of more complex matters

"I'm sorry, my lovely, but I can't right now," Demos said, as Patches plopped down his backside upon Demos's bed on which he laid. Demos had laid down puppy sheets upon the floor for Patches to do his business while he was gone. The hellhound puppy wasn't house trained yet. "We'll play when I get back from my routine duties."

Demos opened his thread's door, and Patches leaped of the bed, faster than Demos could react and was outside his thread in a matter of moments, acting like this was just a mischievous little game they were playing.

"Damn!" Demos said.

Demos raced to catch up with Patches, who still had the indecency to be wagging his tail like a blender and barking rather loudly. This was just a new game to him, a new playtime.

"Patches!" Demos exclaimed, voice straining to be quiet and yet heard by the hellhound. Demos was also quite frustrated. He still didn't want to be discovered harboring a hellhound, though prospects of that still happening were shattered now, and futile to persist. "Patches, come here!"

Patches didn't obey. This was a new game! Getting Demos to chase all over creation. It would be good fun. He didn't understand why his new pappy was so unhappy, this was fun!

"Patches!" Demos proclaimed, only allowing his voice to increase volume by very little. "Patches, where are you? This is no time for hide-and-seek!!"

Patches, however, apparently disagreed, and thought this was the perfect time for hide-and-seek.

"Patches!" Demos said, bit more frantically now. "Patches, where are you?!"

Then Demos heard something that filled him full of dread.

"Um, Demos?" a voice said. "I think you got a little explaining to do."

Cloak had caught Patches, unhurt but mollified, inside a golden-scarlet orb.

[guitarhero01234]

Dude, this was a perfect blend of cute and intense. I love it

[theyoungphoenix]

this is freaking adorable.
careful Cloaky, I might melt from the cuteness.

[Cloak]

I don't think that's gonna be a problem, Abby.

New chapter.

CHAPTER TEN:
Warning

"This obviously a hellhound puppy, Demos," Cloak said, breaking into Demos's stammering response. "You do realize the implications of this, right?"

"Implications?"

"You know what I'm talking about, Demos," Cloak said, his voice more firm, more stern. More authoritative. "There were numerous reports of animal attacks, very likely canine in origin."

"Patches didn't do them!" Demos protested hotly, singing the concrete at his feet. "He -- he couldn't have!"

"I know that!" Cloak snapped, returning his anger. It was interesting to note that he didn't lose control of the elements, of his powers, like he would have a Dweller year ago. "This hellhound -- and 'Patches', really?"

"What's wrong with 'Patches'?"

"Never mind," Cloak said, quickly, hoping to get back to his original thought. "The point is that not all the other RAFians will be rational about this, especially after we get attacked by your creations -- Maul's brethren, I assume -- so frequently, coupled with the fact that you never tell us about them until after they attack."

"I can't remember them all offhand, Cloak." Demos said, indignant.

"Not the point," the Realm Walker countered swiftly. "The point is that you have all that against you. So much so that some RAFians might overlook the plain evidence that contradicts their assumptions in their rush to judgement. The attacks were clearly from a full-grown animal, not a puppy. The creature, if the lacerations and cuts are to be believed, would be a lot larger than Patches, and his claws don't look all that powerful yet."

"But he didn't do it," Demos said.

"That won't matter," Cloak said, "people -- Realm Walkers included -- tend to be convinced whatever they believe to be true is inherently and irrefutably true, despite whatever evidence they are presented that contradicts it. I'm not saying that that their won't be others that are swayed to the truth, but I've noticed a lot of the time, people usually just double-down on their false belief, and absolutely will not be swayed by anything."

Cloak lowered the energy bubble to Demos, and popped it. Patches gave a frightened yelp as he fell the six inches into Demos's awaiting arms. Demos smiled as Patches licked his nose oblivious the weightsome importance of the situation, while Cloak still wore a look of solemn seriousness.

"I do hope the other RAFians are enlightened to a level beyond that of the fear-mongering that runs rampant from brainless hacks like Bern Bridges and Fox News," Cloak added, "but there is at least one of those kinds of people in every --"

Then they heard a voice. The last person that Cloak wanted to have run into them.

"What is that that Demos is holding?"

[Cloak]

New chapter.

CHAPTER ELEVEN:
Discovered

It was that obnoxious RAFian.

The one that Cloak didn't even attempt to learn his name until recently. The Realm Walker found him far worse than Rotiart ever was, and twice as unbearable. No in the forum really liked him, and, with Rotiart gone, he filled his niche. Filled it too well.

At least Rotiart tried to better himself, in the end.

"That's a hellhound, isn't it?" he demanded. "It is, isn't it?"

Cloak thought he saw where this was headed.

"Don't even go there, Odie," Cloak said.

"My name is John," he growled.

They were both right actually. His full name was Odium John Michaels. Much like the Realm Walker formerly known as Abomination, before he was redeemed, no one called him that. When he was being an unbearable little prick, everyone called him "Odie", a named he hated as it was what his overbearingly doting mother called him. And he would only allow her, no one else.

"Whatever you say, Odie," Cloak said. He was so not in the mood for this guy right now. "Toddle off, we have actually important matters to deal with."

"Like harboring the hellhound responsible for all those attacks, hmmm?!" Odie said, in that irritating way that said that he knew knew all and everyone who disagreed with him were, by definition, idiots. Even when his beliefs, his "facts" were patently and blatantly wrong, everyone else was wrong and an idiot by definition to Odie. "Don't think that I don't know what's going on here."

"I don't think that," Cloak said, coldly, "I know that you don't know what's going on here."

"Oh, really?" Odie said, sounding like a petulant, snot-nosed, know-it-all brat. "I suppose the mods would be interested to know that the demon is harboring a dangerous beast, and the great Cloak is abetting him as his willing accomplice."

A bit of a life lesson -- never threaten a Realm Walker. It never turns out well for you. But Odie was enough of an arrogant dunderhead to keep pushing. And Cloak's patience was about to run out.

"Look, you spineless little twit," Cloak said, holding back his anger. He was managing fine until the threat. If he lost control, his powers would be unleashed unchecked, like when Malice captured all the RAFians some time ago, last Dweller year ago. "You didn't bother to see any of the evidence. You were too scared to go -- to go on any mission, really -- and you stand there, thinking that you know all, that you see all like you're some sort of primitive, omniscient god?"

Odie flinched at Cloak's burst of temper, but he tried to pass it off as a shiver. It wasn't cold out. He stared at Cloak with a mulish expression, clearly disregarding everything Cloak said, so that he could still be in the right.

"Patches didn't do anything wrong!" Demos protested. His patience was waning as well.

Odie snorted at Patches' name, and said, "Oh, how schweet. You gave it a name. That sucks. And, like hell it didn't do anything. You know what happened to those people in those reports."

"I do," Cloak said, "You don't."

[Cloak]

New chapter.

CHAPTER TWELVE:
Heartbroken

"We'll see about that, dope," Odie said, snottily. "Aiding and abetting the creature who did all those attacks. You both will be Banned for this, I guarantee."

Then he wandered off, as if on a mission. Because, simply put, he clearly was.

"Patches didn't do anything wrong," Demos whimpered. "He never left my thread since I got him Tuesday."

"That was five days ago." Cloak noted. "The first attack couldn't have been more than four, at most."

"It still won't be enough, will it?" Demos said, sadly, as he looked down at Patches, who had his tongue lolling out of his mouth as he panted happily. He was painfully obvious to everything. "It won't be enough evidence. Patches . . . Patches will be taken from me, won't he?"

Cloak didn't say anything, which said a lot. Cloak couldn't give him an answer that he didn't know to be true. Sure, he could have assuaged Demos's worries with little white lies, but Cloak didn't see the point. He didn't see any good coming of it.

Demo took this hard, and held Patches tightly. So tightly that, while he didn't harm the hellhound, it alarmed Patches. Patches didn't understand why Demos was so distraught, but found that he didn't like it much when he was like this. He preferred Demos to be cheerful.

"He . . . he didn't . . . he didn't . . ."

Cloak placed a hand on his shoulder, and said, "I know. I saw the evidence myself. There are several inconsistencies and peculiarities that Odie didn't bother to consider before making his snap judgement."

"Yeah, right," Demos said, disbelievingly.

"Don't give into despair, Demos," Cloak said, knowingly. "Once you do, it is very hard to get out again."

Demos didn't answer, but looked like he wanted to cry. It was very offputting to see Demos this vulnerable, when he usually recovered very quickly -- sometimes literally -- from things. Cloak could see the pain etched upon his face -- it didn't take a genius to figure out that he was being sincere.

But Odie, in his zeal, never noticed. He never notices such things.

"If anything," Cloak said, speaking as gently as he could, "there will be a hearing. It'll be fair -- Odie won't be on it."

"What if it doesn't go well?"

Cloak paused and hesitated before speaking again, sidestepping the question, "Don't focus on the negativity. Don't dwell on 'what-ifs'. You have evidence on your side -- let's get Kelly, you have a good case. Odie's claim is baseless."

[theyoungphoenix]

hmmm... Odie is...interesting...

[Cloak]

The start of a new gimmick, he is, Abby. Besides, we all know a person like Odie, I think.

New book ideas.

• Book MCI (1,101): "The Thanatophobe" -- The RAFians must stop a man who can transfer death from himself to others.
• Book MCII (1,102): "Everyman" -- An old annoyance of the RAFians resurfaces, with a very new power set.
• Book MCIII (1,103): "Addictions" -- The RAFians must fight Addiction.
• Book MCIV (1,104): "A Backstory Rewrite" -- The government enacts the Incrimination Rewrite Act, or I.R.A.
• Book MCV (1,105): "True Witness Protection" -- The government enacts the Witness Holding and Identification Neutralization Edict, or W.H.I.N.E.
• Book MCVI (1,106): "An Abusive Armadillo" -- GH leaves something (or someone) behind after a battle with Shatter.
• Book MCVII (1,107): "Shut Down" -- A man uses his neurocognitive deficit power to help his ally, with unforeseen complications.

Titles are subject to change at any time. Tell me what you think.

New chapter.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN:
Interview With a Demon

"Demos?" Phoenix said, coming forward. Demos flinched, and fought an instinct to hug Patches even further -- it might hurt him if he did. Patches was utterly perplexed by this behavior. He knew something was going on now, but was not smart enough or self-aware enough to know what. "Is that the hellhound?"

"Please don't take him away from me, Phoenix," Demos said. He was actually tearing up. Demos never cries. "He didn't do it. He was with me the whole time. He was with me for days."

"Why did you hide him, then?" Phoenix said, fairly and gently. "I cannot deny that implies deception, Demos."

"Patches was hurt," Demos said. It was perfectly true. "He was abandoned -- he's . . . he's the runt of his litter. He's smaller than hellhounds are supposed to be at this age. I . . . I couldn't leave him to die out there."

Cloak detected that Demos saw some of himself in the hellhound on that night from the way he spoke, as if he knew the pain of being left behind, of being a runt of a litter. It was then that Cloak realized that he didn't know much of Demos's history. In fact -- he knew nothing about it. Nothing at all.

He knew Demos for a long time, since his fledgling years (Dweller time, of course) at the forum. He considered the recovering demon a friend, in addition to being a fellow RAFian, and, yet, he really didn't know anything about him, about his pre-RAF days. He knew more about GH's pre-forum days, as well as his own.

"I brought him back to my thread," Demos said, and Cloak noticed that his voice sounded somewhat thicker. Obviously from emotion. "It wasn't easy, but I nursed him back to health. He has prove himself to be a mischievous little rapscallion, but I . . . I love him all the same."

Phoenix said nothing, but looked at Demos as if scrutinizing him for deception. When he couldn't find anything wrong with the story, Phoenix looked at Cloak, asking silently for verification of Demos's story. Phoenix knew that Cloak's Earthsight afforded him a limited lie detection sense, like a terrakinetic polygraph.

"Demos is being honest, Phoenix," Cloak said. Truth was that Cloak had been scrutinizing Demos himself with the sense, and demons have a physical reaction, however minute, similar to that of humans -- but it is far more difficult to detect.

"Seriously?" scoffed an irritating voice. "You're seriously going to believe this schlock, Phoenix?"

"Over your rushes to judgement, Odie?" Cloak said, acidly. "I surmise yes."

"My name is --"

"No one cares, Odie," GH said, coming into earshot with Yarin. GH was hoping Yarin could make a cheap, effective, and dangerously experimental guitar amp. GH had managed to get the Nyac intrigued about, when they heard the commotion.

"I care!"

"I don't see how that invalidates my statement," GH said. He, like Cloak, was not a fan of Odie. "What's going on here?"

[theyoungphoenix]

the new books sound interesting!!

also i feel like very few people actually like Odie, tbh

[Cloak]

Indeed, Abby. But we all know at least one of those people with those irritatingly overbearing personalities who have superiority complexes, right?

New chapter.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN:
Yarin's Idea

"Demos is harboring the beast that slaughtered, or nearly so, all those people! And, instead of doing something about it, they're standing here, wasting time with pointless chatter!" Odie proclaimed hostilely, angry that no one would see what was so obvious to him.

The fact was that he felt that he didn't need any evidence and everyone should believe his word, regardless of petty little things like facts and proof. He felt that he should be believed and taken seriously, despite this not being the first time he lodged a false accusation and had been proven humiliatingly wrong.

How was he supposed to know that those house-elves didn't poison those malasadas? Every logical conclusion one could draw was the purple stuff inside it was just purple filling and not toxic sludge! Yet he was the only one to see this when it was so obvious. Everyone else was the idiots, not him. In his mind, he was never wrong, and everyone else was just intellectually inferior.

"Or," he said, glaring at Cloak. He felt nothing but contempt for the Realm Walker, as he felt that he was a holier-than-thou know-it-all and showoff, "in the case of this cloaked nitwit, covering for him!"

"Watch your tongue, human," Cloak growled quietly, his eyes flashing briefly from his energy. Cloak had gotten much better with managing his emotions, but could lose control of himself when really riled.

"Grow a brain first, dingaling," Odie fired back. "This fact of the matter is that that beast killed those people. They deserve closure."

"Uh huh," GH said, rolling his eyes. He didn't believe Odie's version of events one bit, especially since that time that he demanded all the house-elves be executed for serving "tainted" malasadas. He just jumped to a conclusion and doubled-down on it. There was no reason to believe he wouldn't do it for a tenth time. "Right. So. what really happened?"

"I just told you!" Odie complained.

Cloak couldn't help but wonder if all adolescent humans were this way, despite knowing the truth.

"Yeah, but I want the real truth," GH said, coldly.

"I gave you --" seventeen-year-old protested, almost childishly.

"Oh, be silent!" Cloak snapped. "You haven't given anyone any truth! You just gave your misinterpreted version of events, based on no concrete evidence, and yet you have the ridiculous notion that everyone is obligated to share your ridiculous viewpoint, Odie. So, would kindly BACK OFF and let the grownups handle this?!"

"Just because you're too blinded by affection and affiliation to --"

"Don't make me come over there," Cloak growled.

"Was that a threat?"

"Brilliant deduction," Cloak said, then uttering a Realm Walker insult that he knew full well wouldn't translate, so came off as a low growl.

"John," Phoenix said, diplomatically. The mods only called him that when they were attempting to be civil. It was a lot harder than it sounded. "Let Demos have his side."

Odie reluctantly, and angrily, subsided to the background. He thought them all blinded by forum loyalty to see the truth. He believed them all to be acting foolishly. He didn't hesitate to make disbelieving and impatient sounds during Demos's story, as if he hadn't already made his displeasure crystal clear.

"Why not just ask Patches himself if he's guilty?" Yarin asked, as Odie threw him a look that clearly said, "Are you seriously that stupid?"

"Patches can't talk," Demos said. "No hellhound can."

"And can't be telepathically probed to a satisfactory degree," the Nyac observed, rather placidly. "But this gives me an idea."

"For another microwave?" Odie sneered.

Yarin handled this with surprising dignity and acclaim, and just said, "No, Odie."

"My name is --"

"Odie-kins," Yarin said, dryly, before addressing the others, "give me a couple of hours. I think I know a way to settle this."

And off he went.

"Great. The all-knowing Nyac is just going to prove to you that I'm right," Odie said, jaded and petulant.

"Dude. Seriously," GH said. He had just about enough of Odie right now. "Shut up."

[theyoungphoenix]

The fact was that he felt that he didn't need any evidence and everyone should believe his word, regardless of petty little things like facts and proof. He felt that he should be believed and taken seriously, despite this not being the first time he lodged a false accusation and had been proven humiliatingly wrong.

I've met many people like this, unfortunately.

[Cloak]

The fact was that he felt that he didn't need any evidence and everyone should believe his word, regardless of petty little things like facts and proof. He felt that he should be believed and taken seriously, despite this not being the first time he lodged a false accusation and had been proven humiliatingly wrong.

I've met many people like this, unfortunately.

They do infest a lot of places, sad to say.

New book ideas:

• Book MCVIII (1,108): "Diluted" -- A girl is manipulated into diluting the powers of the RAFians.
• Book MCIX (1,109): "GH's Test" -- GH must undergo a series of trials to see if he can earn the rank of "Musician Supreme".

All titles are subject to change. Don't think I rehashed anything. Let me know what you think.