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 Posted: Fri Oct 07, 2011 10:44 pm
Calder smiled at the thought. "Well, you would have the best bandaid collection." Hello Unicorn was his favorite, and he looked at the demon's chin to see the plump unicorn smiling back. IT WAS SO CUTE!!!
At the mention of a bet, he did sit up a little straighter. "I didn't know if you were up for it, but I do have my brushes, but I don't want you passing out if you sit up too much." Who knew how tired the demon was.
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Posted: Sat Oct 08, 2011 8:48 am
"I can manage," Barth said, then gravely, "Bets with demons are very serious things, you know."
He gave Calder a wobbly smile.
"Especially when they involve grooming and bath-borrowing. So. Did you want to do the grooming now, and the bath-borrowing later? Or err- or...multitask?"
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Posted: Sat Oct 08, 2011 5:39 pm
Calder didn't catch that last part and was already reaching for the wooden box. Water tight, the gleaming dark lacquer reflected the light and Calder held it on his lap, the sound of objects jostling about inside clunking about. "I can take a bath later. I already have my brushes here after all, and I don't think I'd want to risk carrying them to your room." They were precious to him after all and he didn't want to forget one or misplace it along the way.
Shuffling, Calder moved closer to the demon before opening the box. He wondered which ones to use, and decided he'd let Barth decide. There was a wide assortment of wooden and silver handled combs and brushes from various metals and woods, but all ornate with plants, waves to symbolize water, and a few running horses here and there. "You can pick which ones to use. Whatever fits best in your hands after all." Barth's claws meant that his grip might prefer one handle to another.
Giddy, Calder turned about and sat down in front of the boil, scooting back to be closer to him. Reaching back, he pulled out his ribbon and then undid his Blue Bell hair clip. "I thought demons made contracts to get something out of a situation or to make friends. I don't really see you ever get too serious about them. Just worried." As Barth's main contract seemed to be Christof. "What happens if you don't fulfill a contract?"
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Posted: Sat Oct 08, 2011 7:29 pm
He looked at the large, artful assortment of brushes. He hadn't expected this to be a sort of...ceremony? Was it a ceremony? He picked the lightest-looking brush, and began the very slow, very careful task of brushing Calder's hair. The movements were light too. Barth was trying not to tug, and the result was barely brushing the hair at all. He talked through the very drawn out stroke.
"The same thing that happens to the contractee. The effects are err, dimmed a bit here on campus. And we're only allowed to make little Deals here. Off-campus, the sky's the limit. You can get someone in up to their neck. Or err...get yourself in up to your neck, if you're not clever...or desperate."
Barth was ultimately a creature of order. Even chaotic demons who thrived on mucking things up had to follow the Rules.
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Posted: Sat Oct 08, 2011 7:34 pm
It was a ceremony. Grooming was, at it's very nature, a very animal trait, and the sharing of said practice was personal and created strong bonds. His parents usually brushed his hair and when he felt like it, he would brush their manes from time to time. It wasn't so much an art - well, unless you wanted to entrust the person to style your hair - as it was something that made you feel more connected and closer. It also felt nice, having a comb go through your hair, and every once in a while the gentle brushing of a few fingers running through.
The hair that Barth brushed moved effortlessly through the thick bristles but even Calder could sense the lack of pulling.
"So, if you didn't fulfill the contract, you'd start to feel pain? But you don't have a mark. Would it just hurt all over until you met your end of the deal?" He tried not to turn around, but looked over his shoulder before scooting closer. Maybe Barth needed to have less distance to brush a bit harder. "Don't be shy with the brush. I don't mind you pulling. I rarely get knots." His hair just tended to curl badly if he didn't comb it.
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Posted: Sat Oct 08, 2011 7:54 pm
Barth didn't change the pace, but he let the bristles sink a bit deeper.
"Something like that," Barth said, "it's about the blood, I think. It's better not to make Deals that put you in that predicament. I do take mine seriously, you know. Even the little ones."
He brought his opposite hand up underneath Calder's hair, knuckles briefly resting against the back of his neck. There were no traces of Barth's mark there now, but... the second hand moved with the brush. Marks were not a new topic between them.
"What's your opinion on them?"
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Posted: Sat Oct 08, 2011 7:59 pm
Calders ears turned back to better hear the boil as he thought about marks. "At first, I really hated them. I thought they made you a slave. I was always told if you get marked, that's the end and you're enslaved, but, well, they're really convenient at times. Like a trade. You haggle the price and you agree on what you want. You know what you're getting into." You just had to ask and a demon usually said OK. It was like having endless wishes as long as the other person could provide and you were willing to agree on what they wanted to. "I kind of like the idea of helping each other. You scratch my back and I scratch yours and all that."
He played with the green ribbon in his hands. "I sorta think it's a way demons make friends. I mean, unless you tell me otherwise, but it seems your sort make them to get closer to others." Or maybe he was just missing the mark - no pun intended. "They seem very important to you all. Are there demons who just don't make marks at all?"
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Posted: Sat Oct 08, 2011 8:08 pm
"I suspect there are, yes. A wise demon uses them to make friends. You have to be either stupid or powerful if you're using them to make enemies. For the most part, though, they're neither. Just business."
Calder's hair was surprisingly soft. Better than some of his most expensive fabrics.
"...Our bet was friendly. In case you were wondering."
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Posted: Sat Oct 08, 2011 8:22 pm
He smiled at the clarification before he went quiet. Back to the demon, he thought about something he'd been thinking for a while.
"Seems sorta nice - being able to make marks. You get to keep someone close by and whenever you need them, you can just call out. It's like being magically connected to someone." He wished he had that power sometimes. To keep people close even if it was by force. "Too bad monsters can't do that."
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Posted: Sat Oct 08, 2011 8:33 pm
"Well, it's not exactly like that." Barth thought some monsters might have that sort of ability, to form binding connections. Not marks, of course, but the kinds of connections he was thinking were anything but business.
"You don't feel like you're err, close? To anyone?"
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Posted: Sat Oct 08, 2011 9:15 pm
"Ahhh. I mean. I do - feel close to people. I mean, I feel close to you - I mean like since we're friends and we've talked a lot and done a lot of things and been through a lot like school and the island and Dr. Fells place. - Right?" Oh, he sounded like he was questioning. "I mean, it's just....I think I'm close to some of my friends. I mean, the few that I had. It's just.." He didn't know how to phrase this, and he twisted the ribbon into a wrinkled mess. "....there is no guarantee that it's shared.I can feel close to someone and they could not feel the same. A mark feels like a guarantee." He was being weird and he knew it, and tilted his head to let his long hair hide his face. "I'm just being weird. Just forget what I said." He threw his hands out as if to scatter the idea like a thick plume of smoke.
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Posted: Sat Oct 08, 2011 9:25 pm
"Priorities," Barth said. "Marks can guarantee them. After a fashion. It's err, it's not quite the same as knowing someone would...choose you without them. Or err, want to be close to you. The first is...is sort of like...forcing someone, don't you think?"
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Posted: Sat Oct 08, 2011 9:28 pm
"But marks are an agreement. An exchange. I've never been forced into a mark before. I don't see how someone else could. They have that choice to say no. That freedom in that choice." He pointed out, and wondered if they were getting into some mark philosophy here or some nature. The world turned without marks after all, and you didn't NEED them. At least, monsters didn't.
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Posted: Sat Oct 08, 2011 9:42 pm
"Oh no, not forced to make the mark. With marks you can ensure certain actions. But not the feelings behind the actions. It makes the difference. Someone who likes to do a task will do it differently from someone who doesn't. ...And for different reasons. It's the reasons, you see."
Barth navigated around Calder's ear.
"You wanted to a favor for Christof. Nothing for yourself. So, when I asked for the payment, it was also for Christof. Err, at least I'd meant it that way. You were buying him new clothes, and taking on his laundry duty, which he didn't like in the first place. ...It wasn't really for me. My laundry was getting done one way or another already."
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Posted: Sat Oct 08, 2011 9:51 pm
He was trying to wrap his head around the idea, and turned his head just so as he thought about it. "So...feelings have nothing to do with marks. That's something you can't create, but the reasons behind a mark being created also affect the contract or is that just a personal choice for you?" He wasn't sure how it was with all demons and seeing as he really only spoke with one, he was holding Barth as the authority figure on the matter.
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