Estylwen
Zombiedude101
FernStone
Mixtape Ghost N
Atrophy
NoriWasHere
Sky Blue
TokyoPewPew
Framing A Moose
"I've got this knack for finding trouble I guess."
 _______________________________________________ Lazarus "Elay" Motta He/Him | 24 | Italian American | 6'4" (193cm) | 205lb (92.9kg) _______________________________________________ Burning. _______________________________________________ Skills & Talents "They sold me to a bunch of coal miners. You learn a few things." ___________________________________ Anthracite Child ⫻ Thanks partly to his unnatural genetics and partly due to the subtle influence of Green Lux on his body over the years, Elay has grown particularly robust and durable as an adult. Improvements include cardiovascular endurance, noteworthy self-healing properties and resistance to many common illnesses and toxins. Paranoid Agent ⫻ Elay has a keen sense for the mundane and supernatural world around him with a knack for reading intention. When applied fully and in complete focus, there are few actions capable of slipping past his web Sergeant Predator ⫻ During his time as a gifted Green/Pink Adept, Elay spent several years under the commission of the United States Paranormal Rapid Response Taskforce (PRRT). In addition to basic and advanced military training, Elay has become a studied and decorated Hunter of the Paranormal. Truffle-Sniffer ⫻ Like a pig with his nose buried in the dirt, Elay is a master at finding trouble like a truffle under the tree. He is fervent and dogged in his desire to get to the bottom of any case he's taken on, making him a natural detective. | Appearance ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔ "I don't sleep, no. You can tell?" Since coming home from serving in the PRRT, Elay has let himself go of many basic expectations and conventions. He is, as to save a great deal of time, an absolute mess. Not giving much care, he's let his hair grow long on both his head and face. Most of the time, to stay as respectable as he needs to, the thick mop on his head ends up tucked in any manner of tail or bun, with the beard typically splayed out in a ravenous mountain-dweller look. Sunken eyes are highlighted by big dark circles that force age upon his face where it shouldn't be, their deep emerald irises like beasts in dense undergrowth. His natural expression is that of death: Discomfort until expiration, with his only smile being a pained split that crosses through the matte black abyss surrounding his mouth like a blade wound. His skin is pale, pallid, and covered in tattoos, scars and hair that all meld together atop a body far more fit than the surrounding traits should allow. His clothing is only relatively clean thanks to a "personal assistant" employed with his business. If it weren't for her, the week long stretches of wearing the same thing from bar room to bar room would probably be more like a month. But, at the very least, he dresses like a North-sider. Smart suits, vests, rolled sleeves, gloves and pinstripes... He says that the bar stink, and the dirt from kicking around people's filthy apartments, make people think he's some dandy on a downturn. Whether that's some sort of excuse or not is up for debate, however. In his personal time, it's difficult to get him into clothing besides a pair of sweatpants. Going out anywhere requires a full redressing, which means it better be worth actually leaving the house and then hitting the bar afterward. Otherwise, Loretta's paid plenty to make sure the deliveries get brought to where they need to. If he's required to dress up beyond his usual means, however, he calls upon the aesthetics he was taught by his Mother. Much like the rest of his family, he's attracted to the dark and brooding Nuevo-goth aesthetic that's cropped up around a circle of the more freeform elite of Culla: A smart lounge suit, generally colored dark with some warm color accent to punctuate things. Leather gloves, great coats, slacks and polished shoes that rarely ever leave the box. Cufflinks, a tie; even the hair gets washed. All of it, and pulled up into intricate braids done as he remembered his Mother doing when he was a boy. No matter what, he's never without a precious gift around his neck on a chain of platinum. Given to him the day he was brought to the Grove as Bridge of the Tribe, Elay wears a necklace which holds a ring of precious sentimental value. Made by his Matriarch, the ring is made of titanium with craftsmanship that could only be accomplished by someone with a complex control over mineral growth environments. Dashing emerald and pink opal rivulets bubble from the ring's surface as if they grew there, each section swirling together into an altogether different crystalline composition before splitting apart again. Once his Channeler, it is now only a reminder of a life left behind. And of death without answers. |
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"You're asking a lot, and I'm not sure I've got time to hand out answers."
MAIN GOAL ⫻ While he's often bogged down in his hunt for funding to remain independent of forces that surround him, ultimately Elay's goal is to uncover the mysteries behind the disappearance of his Mothers. Both Matriarch and Concubine were presumably trapped and killed by the same force. But what could that have been? There have been no answers, and while the Cat claims to hold the answers to Elay's questions, the contract between them forbids him from simply spilling the beans. So, Elay's slow hunt across Cloverfield is constantly pushed aside in favor of whatever lucrative opportunities come before him.
Thus, Elay's main goal is unfortunately the same as most other South-siders, and further on in places like sleepy Raven's Rest: Survive. Try to find happiness along the way, and always keep an eye out for clues that lead to the prize. That's the ultimate solution to remaining at least somewhat motivated, after all. Things like "The Big Case" aren't just fictitious parody to the people exposed to them, after all. These leads, these clues, the rainbow of nothingness at the end is a constant donut to chase, and these two inexorably linked circumstances have become Elay's entire reason for pushing forward.
PHILOSOPHY ⫻ Shit runs downhill, but at least Sisyphus had a boulder. Nothing goes the way its supposed to, hard work is often fruitless, and nobody is doing anything for free. Green and Pink Lux left the building long ago, leaving Elay with a bitter taste for just about everything one can think of left wriggling in his mouth. Life became a bitter struggle long ago, with the worst of things filling his dreams at night, the daytime has become more and more prolonged as sleepless days roll into even darker sleepless weeks. Only extreme exertion is enough to bring Elay into an undesired comatose, found either in the mad scramble to apprehend a target, or some carnal pleasure found in the most lightless places one could think of.
These moments are punctuated by cat naps, thirty minutes here and thirty minutes there. Never enough to let his partner get the best of him, except on certain days of the week when they've agreed to allow the balance of power to shift. Slumbers as such are rare, and partaken only when absolutely necessary in order to preserve Elay's remaining sanity. But, because of his unyielding friction with life itself, Elay has learned to extract enjoyment from existence in whatever form it comes.
SECRETS ⫻ Elay's greatest secret is his underlying level of care and concern. That, out of all the lessons of his life, he's been taught to perform alongside a unit of some kind. Always part of a group. And that now, while he desperately wishes to remain solitary as possible in his own personal crusade, he still craves the love and affection that being part of a group typically provides. That comradery, the kind of group behaviors that come with the territory of being accepted, are the things that Elay has long since denied himself.
Tragic circumstances caused him to sever his Lux, and thus his contract with the PRRT was nullified. Without purpose, Elay found only shame and self hatred in himself; a condition further exasperated by the state of the city he returned to. He refused to return to those few people who were left to guard the Grove, making the harrowing trek through the deeps until he found himself in the lair of the Wampus. Their meeting was one of whispered promises, and of the kind of treatment Elay felt was best suited for his disgrace. In that moment of pain and the prospect of escape, Elay did the only thing he could think of: Adjoined with the Wampus under the nose of the weakened Grove, allowing the predatory prisoner an escape into the world above.
Ever since, the two have only confided in the company of one another for any significant amount of time. All outsiders are usually handled by Elay's insistent aggression, or the Wampus' constant mental prodding.
SEXUALITY ⫻ After his time in the service, Elay didn't think he was ever going to be sexually attracted to anyone ever again. However, with his Adjoining of the Wampus Cat, a great deal of carnal interest has returned. Now, there's no inhibition preventing Elay from indulging in every and any sin of the flesh short of barbarity.
FEARS ⫻ Oh, the typical good stuff. Crushing loneliness, perceived inability to stack up to expectations; not to mention the very real possibility that he could go his whole life without ever gaining any traction on the accord between himself and Garf. Garf has explicitly promised Elay that he knows exactly what's happened to both of his Mothers. However, the terms of their Adjoining and of Garf allowing Elay so much total control depend on Elay's total inability to access that information without prompting. Because of this, Elay needs to work on corroborating leads and witnesses and actually put together a case that is presented to Garf for commentary. Meaning that if he can't ever string together enough evidence himself for some kind of prompting, he'll never get any closer to knowing the truth.
It's this constant fear of never finding out what actually happened that horrifies Elay most, as his entire life's redemption hinges on that one obsession. The Case. What happened to Cadenza Motta, the greatest Witch of an entire dynasty? And more importantly, what happened to Nikkita Motta? What happened to the world's greatest Mother of all time? Why and how did they both disappear into the black hole of this city? And how could he have missed it happening right in front of him?
WHAT DID THEY DO DURING THE CATACLYSM? ⫻ Elay was fighting magical Russians for American interests in North Korea, and was half way around the world during the main events.
FLAWS ⫻ If Elay's carrying anything in particular around, it's guilt. Flawed, pained guilt that crowds his every movement and decision. Starting from a young age, Elay was intelligent enough to realize he was never going to live up to the example of his Matriarch, nor his rarely seen eldest Sister. They were simply unequal for all that was worth, and while his Mother attempted to maintain his self esteem, it all crumbled out from underneath him when he was passed along to the Grove as Cadenza's first born son. Guilt then was inability to perform, and perceived abandonment due to that underperformance.
As he grew, Elay found himself powerful among his peers, Kindling early and skillfully adapting spells to his own needs. With that, new guilt was born as he watched himself stepping high over his peers. Into early adulthood, Elay covered up his insecurities with negative actions toward local Blinds, even turning his strength toward his peers on occasion. By the time of his family's disappearance, however, he'd enlisted in the Military and was unaware of the events until his first return home. Upon realizing that he had been totally powerless to stop what happened, Elay's guilt compounded: Not only was he not strong enough to keep his family, he had abandoned any chance of being the hero they needed. He'd given them up, and he'd only left behind hurt and pain.
Things only got worse after he returned to duty, with his potent magical prowess carrying him through a bevy of situations from which he otherwise may not have come out. In his perception, better soldiers and better men died, leaving him to survive as the least among them. Cursed by God, perhaps, for abandoning his duties for another purpose. And as this same ability to dodge peril extended further, its tendrils touched the home he finally returned to. Death and destruction filled Cloverfield, and once again he was utterly powerless to prevent it. He abandoned his homeland, and once again he was being punished with the guilt of survival.
And so, the pivotal emotion compounds with each action perceived as a failure, and Elay continues to reach out toward nothing and nobody besides himself to fix the problem. Constant and persistent self hatred and isolation prevents him from ever coming to terms with the guilt he carries, and until he learns to trust again, he may never fully repair the bridges which he's burned over the years.
Thus, Elay's main goal is unfortunately the same as most other South-siders, and further on in places like sleepy Raven's Rest: Survive. Try to find happiness along the way, and always keep an eye out for clues that lead to the prize. That's the ultimate solution to remaining at least somewhat motivated, after all. Things like "The Big Case" aren't just fictitious parody to the people exposed to them, after all. These leads, these clues, the rainbow of nothingness at the end is a constant donut to chase, and these two inexorably linked circumstances have become Elay's entire reason for pushing forward.
PHILOSOPHY ⫻ Shit runs downhill, but at least Sisyphus had a boulder. Nothing goes the way its supposed to, hard work is often fruitless, and nobody is doing anything for free. Green and Pink Lux left the building long ago, leaving Elay with a bitter taste for just about everything one can think of left wriggling in his mouth. Life became a bitter struggle long ago, with the worst of things filling his dreams at night, the daytime has become more and more prolonged as sleepless days roll into even darker sleepless weeks. Only extreme exertion is enough to bring Elay into an undesired comatose, found either in the mad scramble to apprehend a target, or some carnal pleasure found in the most lightless places one could think of.
These moments are punctuated by cat naps, thirty minutes here and thirty minutes there. Never enough to let his partner get the best of him, except on certain days of the week when they've agreed to allow the balance of power to shift. Slumbers as such are rare, and partaken only when absolutely necessary in order to preserve Elay's remaining sanity. But, because of his unyielding friction with life itself, Elay has learned to extract enjoyment from existence in whatever form it comes.
SECRETS ⫻ Elay's greatest secret is his underlying level of care and concern. That, out of all the lessons of his life, he's been taught to perform alongside a unit of some kind. Always part of a group. And that now, while he desperately wishes to remain solitary as possible in his own personal crusade, he still craves the love and affection that being part of a group typically provides. That comradery, the kind of group behaviors that come with the territory of being accepted, are the things that Elay has long since denied himself.
Tragic circumstances caused him to sever his Lux, and thus his contract with the PRRT was nullified. Without purpose, Elay found only shame and self hatred in himself; a condition further exasperated by the state of the city he returned to. He refused to return to those few people who were left to guard the Grove, making the harrowing trek through the deeps until he found himself in the lair of the Wampus. Their meeting was one of whispered promises, and of the kind of treatment Elay felt was best suited for his disgrace. In that moment of pain and the prospect of escape, Elay did the only thing he could think of: Adjoined with the Wampus under the nose of the weakened Grove, allowing the predatory prisoner an escape into the world above.
Ever since, the two have only confided in the company of one another for any significant amount of time. All outsiders are usually handled by Elay's insistent aggression, or the Wampus' constant mental prodding.
SEXUALITY ⫻ After his time in the service, Elay didn't think he was ever going to be sexually attracted to anyone ever again. However, with his Adjoining of the Wampus Cat, a great deal of carnal interest has returned. Now, there's no inhibition preventing Elay from indulging in every and any sin of the flesh short of barbarity.
FEARS ⫻ Oh, the typical good stuff. Crushing loneliness, perceived inability to stack up to expectations; not to mention the very real possibility that he could go his whole life without ever gaining any traction on the accord between himself and Garf. Garf has explicitly promised Elay that he knows exactly what's happened to both of his Mothers. However, the terms of their Adjoining and of Garf allowing Elay so much total control depend on Elay's total inability to access that information without prompting. Because of this, Elay needs to work on corroborating leads and witnesses and actually put together a case that is presented to Garf for commentary. Meaning that if he can't ever string together enough evidence himself for some kind of prompting, he'll never get any closer to knowing the truth.
It's this constant fear of never finding out what actually happened that horrifies Elay most, as his entire life's redemption hinges on that one obsession. The Case. What happened to Cadenza Motta, the greatest Witch of an entire dynasty? And more importantly, what happened to Nikkita Motta? What happened to the world's greatest Mother of all time? Why and how did they both disappear into the black hole of this city? And how could he have missed it happening right in front of him?
WHAT DID THEY DO DURING THE CATACLYSM? ⫻ Elay was fighting magical Russians for American interests in North Korea, and was half way around the world during the main events.
FLAWS ⫻ If Elay's carrying anything in particular around, it's guilt. Flawed, pained guilt that crowds his every movement and decision. Starting from a young age, Elay was intelligent enough to realize he was never going to live up to the example of his Matriarch, nor his rarely seen eldest Sister. They were simply unequal for all that was worth, and while his Mother attempted to maintain his self esteem, it all crumbled out from underneath him when he was passed along to the Grove as Cadenza's first born son. Guilt then was inability to perform, and perceived abandonment due to that underperformance.
As he grew, Elay found himself powerful among his peers, Kindling early and skillfully adapting spells to his own needs. With that, new guilt was born as he watched himself stepping high over his peers. Into early adulthood, Elay covered up his insecurities with negative actions toward local Blinds, even turning his strength toward his peers on occasion. By the time of his family's disappearance, however, he'd enlisted in the Military and was unaware of the events until his first return home. Upon realizing that he had been totally powerless to stop what happened, Elay's guilt compounded: Not only was he not strong enough to keep his family, he had abandoned any chance of being the hero they needed. He'd given them up, and he'd only left behind hurt and pain.
Things only got worse after he returned to duty, with his potent magical prowess carrying him through a bevy of situations from which he otherwise may not have come out. In his perception, better soldiers and better men died, leaving him to survive as the least among them. Cursed by God, perhaps, for abandoning his duties for another purpose. And as this same ability to dodge peril extended further, its tendrils touched the home he finally returned to. Death and destruction filled Cloverfield, and once again he was utterly powerless to prevent it. He abandoned his homeland, and once again he was being punished with the guilt of survival.
And so, the pivotal emotion compounds with each action perceived as a failure, and Elay continues to reach out toward nothing and nobody besides himself to fix the problem. Constant and persistent self hatred and isolation prevents him from ever coming to terms with the guilt he carries, and until he learns to trust again, he may never fully repair the bridges which he's burned over the years.
Backstory
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"I just want to know for sure that she's gone."
As the fifth child of the legendary Cullan Matriarch Cadenza de Motta, Lazarus Alonso Motta was born of a "natural" union between her and her consort Nikkita. The only natural thing about Elay's time in the womb was that, like his other true siblings, he was put there naturally, and left in there for at least a few months. Nothing else about the developmental choices surrounding him wound up being very normal... As two powerful Green Lux Adepts, both of Elay's parents made a very conscious decision for Elay to be born a male; while they gave him the same treatment their daughters got, they both knew that they were essentially creating Elay to uphold a deal. An ancient Rumplestiltskin-like treaty that has allowed their cult to operate within the Holy Land of a group of powerful mountain druids. From the Matriarch leadership of the Untouched Glory, a child is requested from every single generation.
In olden days, it was most ethical in the eyes of the Whispering Flesh that a male child be given, as their symbolic necessity to maintain their female ranks made male children worthless beyond their price in the Tithe. Thus, for hundreds of years now there has been a Motta among the members of the Grove. Elay's eventual purpose was to fulfill that ancient bargain. Thus, for the first seven years of his life, Elay was raised by his Cullan mother and allowed the same luxuries that his sisters were afforded around him. Luckily for him, however, there was a bit more than meets the eye happening.
During her pregnancy and well into his childhood, both Nikkita and Cadenza took their time making subtle changes to Elay's anatomy. Preparing him as they would any Cullan soldier, he was placed on an intensive training regiment that often took most of his day away. Over time, they reduced his overall necessity for sleep, giving him access to days on days of continuous study and "play" time that further accelerated his mental acuity. Not that they weren't messing with that either; in addition to affecting his hormonal growth and the bodily changes that come with it, they made a great deal of subtle changes to his mind. Expanding its capabilities by increasing its overall ability to make and connect new pathways, Elay was quickly reading text books and scientific journals in his spare time.
Nikkita, responsible for the raising of all of a Matriarch's children, had her work cut out for her. But, her supreme organization and unique style of mothering allowed her to create an incredibly similar situation for all the children present in her home, meaning that while Elay was doing this, his elder sisters were just as capable.
Elay was simply... Studious. With a natural interest in the world around him, he more and more took to his routine as his infancy and young childhood blew away into the wind. His days were spent reading, running, and receiving communion from his Mother as she continuously tweaked her son's body and mind to make further improvements. For the Mottas, it was a sign of pride that not only were their Matriarchs powerful, but even their mundane Adepts. Thus, a great deal of effort went into insuring that the Grove received the best "product" their hospitality can buy. By the time of his seventh year, Elay was a tall and muscular child pushing dangerously close to moustache territory. Awakened to his Third Eye, something impossible to miss while being raised in a Matriarch's brood, the boy was ready to be turned over to the Grove at the specified ritual date.
It was said that things were far more "ritualistic" in the old days... For Elay's hand-off ceremony, there was a simple barbecue where he was introduced to his new "family", being the members of his foster family alongside the magical residents of Raven's Rest. Of course, Elay hated this. Ultimately, he was still a child whose biochemist parents never bothered to update the "unnecessary" emotional center of the brain. That was, after all, another five years ahead of them in the Cullan soldier program.
However, as expected, Elay adjusted to this new place. Slowly, surely, he came into the groove of life in Raven' Rest. Nikkita, his birth mother, also maintained a great deal of involvement with her son, coming to visit him with great frequency that never faltered as he grew older. Infrequently, his biological sisters would accompany, but as Elay's life and interests changed, so did his relationship with them. Not long after he was passed along to the Grove, Elay Kindled into a potent Green/Pink Adept gifted in atomic particle synthesis just like the Matriarch who had sired him. Only, this made him even more aware of exactly what had been done to his body to change it. The more he came to understand Green, the more he examined himself to find the strands of DNA irreparably changed by his previous guardians.
These discoveries spread across his adolescence slowly began to change his perception of his Mother. Of their lifestyle, and their family. Though, that never meant he lost his love for her. She was his main Pink Lux mentor, as it was from her that he'd inherited the proclivity. As he became a teen, she was more and more comfortable teaching him useful Pink spells, as well as techniques inherited from the Motta family compendium. Eventually, their relationship became less like mother and son, and more like student and teacher. When he could, Elay would sneak out of Raven's Rest and meet Nikkita in strange places to practice the more aggressive forms of magic that Elay was capable of learning.
Throughout this long stretch, Elay found himself in an ebb and flow between himself and the people he called "My Folks." Those folks, of course, being his adopted family and the people involved in the Grove. As is expected, anyone in charge of disciplining a child knows how much that changes the dynamic; Elay never did well being told to do something by people he never wound up fully respecting. It was harder still that he was so strong, forcing many adult members of the Grove to find unique punishments for Elay. However, the actual underground caverns and quiet places that members were privy to, the open belly of the Earth, was always alluring to him. One simply had to imply a denial of his access to his favorite peaceful places, and more often than not he'd settle down.
It was in the heart of the Grove that Elay met another important figure in his life.
For thousands of years, the monstrous Wampus Cat ﻮєɭ๔Ŧєггค๔ had been "imprisoned" within the Grove's deeper chambers. With access to a Dream Nexus, a powerful pool from which the creature could draw an infinite number of meals, the Cat was perfectly content to laze about as one of his kind typically does on a constantly full stomach. Charged for crimes against Nature itself, ﻮєɭ๔Ŧєггค๔'s sentence was hardly enforced at the point of Elay's discovery of this creature, with many of the members assuming there was little need for any kind of lockdown on the creature. While not exactly friends, ﻮєɭ๔Ŧєггค๔ took a great interest in Elay from their first meeting, at first trying to extract the nightmares of Culla through him.
Culla, like most magical cities, is protected from observation by the outside world. As such, the Dream Nexus was unable to reach behind its walls, making nightmares from Culla a rare delicacy. However, as he grew and became more comfortable, Elay would go to go to meet the "Garfield Cat" of his own volition. Happy to suck up anything he could, the Wampus would often accept Elay's requests for dreamless sleep, and in return feast happily on whatever he could from a fresh and direct source. This willfull feeding did well to remind the Wampus of how delicious direct meals were, however, and while Elay grew into a young man, his pal "Garf" could be found breaking containment more and more often with Elay's help.
That's around the time the government came knocking. PRA recruiters, on behalf of the United States Armed Forces, came to Raven's Rest in hopes of scooping any help of age and bringing it into the fold of a newly forming and very secret fifth branch: The Outer Branch. At a ripe age, and causing more problems than he was worth in Raven's Rest, Elay was signed off by his legal guardians to begin his life in service to his nation. A step outside of the typical pathway for people in his situation, Elay was the first Bridge to ever be allowed into national military service. He said goodbye to his Folks, and was allowed a short leave in which he would also find himself saying his unknowing last goodbyes to his beloved Mother, as well as the Matriarch herself. During that visit, he made it clear that he understood why they had done what they did, and tried to make amends for a life spent wishing that he'd never had to leave at all.
He also said goodbye to Garf, who emphatically told him "You'll be back. More than once." This turned out to be true throughout Elay's time as a soldier in this new secret army for the USA. In the Cold War environment that Elay had grown up in politically, there was more need than ever for Adepts to take a stand against very openly evil things in the world. Programs with less ethics, less morality, which put people into bad situations, were presented with a flare of propaganda and a very strong sense of duty to the human race, no matter how outside of it the Outer Branch's agents seemed to operate.
For five long years, Elay served his country as a Sergeant-Master in the Outer Branch: A rank earned by duty in service and prowess as an Adept. Master is a designation that a relative few carry in the Outer Branch, and is a surefire ticket into any part of the branch one could desire. As such, from an early time, Elay essentially wrote his own ticket, finding a little unit called the Paranormal Rapid Response Corps. Joining one of the taskforces, Elay began a new chapter in his life of hard work, hard discipline, and hard fighting. Time and time again, his prowess as a mere Son of Culla was more than enough to insure that his work was completed and he returned alive.
The Taskforce itself was a loose gathering; conscripted assassins and killers, warlocks hundreds of years old and Abberations whose companions were cut from the cloth of Gods, all with common ground in a reason to defend the United States' interests. Their duties typically involved raids on confirmed magical operations threatening assets, hunting and slaying or capturing of potentially dangerous Apparitions, and conducting clandestine operations as a unit within the confines of non-American borders. Wet work. Tragic and toll-taking, at first Elay found a great deal of fun and joy in the chance to use his most egregious abilities without restriction.
But with each visit home, the gap between himself and the people he found there only widened. Nikkita had disappeared, bringing Cadenza back to Cloverfield to find her only to disappear herself. Then a falling out with his eldest sister, the Matriarch Moriah, whose own position meant that she benefitted from both their parents disappearance. Suspicion clawed at his mind as he returned for his next tour of duty, and made him a miserable person while he was still in Raven's Rest with his Folks. And even they seemed to understand there was something different about him now. A man who had killed, when so many of them had avoided such a thing. He was less sweet, less manipulative, less saccharine in his nature and far more cold. It was hard to tell, however, if it was the war or the disappearances that had him more shaken.
Regardless, he returned for two more tours after that. It wasn't a good idea, and Garf's cryptic voice echoed in his head from the last visit: Get out while things are still good. But he couldn't. In his heart, he believed that he could convince the Brass to allow the taskforce to investigate the disappearance of Cadenza and Nikkita Motta. It wouldn't have been the first instance of detective work they needed to do, and he believed it was a justifiable threat to national security: After all, as a single Adept, Cadenza de Motta had been known widely as an Apparition-level Adept, whose grasp over Lux was unlike any other Adept on the planet. Sure, maybe she could be brought low by a large-scale concerted effort, but there were few things Elay imagined being able to stop Cadenza from doing whatever she wanted. Nothing ever came of it. Elay tried and failed, returning home again only to ruin more relationships and find people with pity or disgust on their faces. In a strange way of trying to reach out, Moriah sent Elay the information for a "company" started in his name, in which money had started to be deposited as a retirement infrastructure. Something Elay was more believing that he'd never need as the second tour had been far more intense than the first.
And then he tried again on his third tour, when disaster struck. Around the same time Nylah was wreaking havoc on Cloverfield, tensions were rising across the far East, bringing Elay's services across the ocean to Korea. It was during this tour that the taskforce he was a part of met the sturdy wall of Soviet Adepts in head on combat... What ensued was a bloodbath, leaving Elay and a scant few other members of his unit alive to tell the tale of Soviet Magical dominance. Now wracked with the pain of survivors guilt, Elay could no longer derive joy from his career as a soldier due to the overwhelming losses he witnessed on the Russo-Korean Front.
Worsening the blow, it wasn't until he returned to the United States that he found out what had been done to his home. To his Folks. The operations responsible for monitoring and intervention against Nylah were slow to proceed, assuming the magical nature of the city would be enough for its denizens to put out the fire as they usually do. This led to rampant destruction and loss of life, especially from the surrounding magical communities. Not only had his folks fought against the threat as it tore its way day by day through the city, but they had lost their lives. Many of them, including his fosters and his Bridge-Uncle among dozens of other senior and ranking members of the Grove.
Returning to this in-repair landscape, seeing how it looked so much like every other wartorn city he'd been in, sent Elay into a spiral. Days after returning to his birth city, Elay made the drunken decision to attempt suicide, finding himself with very little room in his heart for hope and a belief that the world would be ending soon. Its in that moment he recalled Garf, and his many cryptic expressions that had been pumped into Elay's head. About "coming back" and "seeing more" of him, like the Cat knew something he didn't. Like it knew he'd come to offer himself up. So, with few people to stop him and fewer people who cared to, Elay made his way into the mountain. Deep, deep under that mountain, until the caves began to glow once more. Until they were ablaze with life untended in the absence of the Grove Keepers.
Where a lazy Prince nestled upon a throne of bones and dreams. Elay pressed him, and ﻮєɭ๔Ŧєггค๔ pressed back, until in the final dream Elay found a reason to remain. An echo, which ﻮєɭ๔Ŧєггค๔ let skillfully slip into Elay's perception, brought him back to his childhood. To the disappearance of his Mother.
"All this and more. Open the way forward and accept the Seed of Life. Me, unto you, and all is yours in curiosity."
Elay severed then and there, taking "My Pal Garf" as an Adjoined Apparition and officially becoming the first Motta to ever Abberate. The Prisoner, the Prince, the Soldier and the Hunter immerged from that cavern together into a foggy new day with confidence that hadn't existed for some time. It'd been weeks without food and water, without alcohol or sunlight. Only the caves of the Grove's Heart. Elay had a mission then: To find out what exactly happened to his Mother, and what the Hell to do about it. Since then, he's set up shop on the dime of the Mottas as a North Side detective firm jokingly named "Colombo and Waiting."
Colombo had been Elay's callsign in the taskforce, his specialty of ground-level investigation and intelligence gathering combining with his proclivity for dramatic and oftentimes needlessly droning expositions earning him the referential name. Elay had grown fond of that work, the times where he was needed to find out what was going on, and scout ahead on his own for the good of the taskforce... Thus, finding himself in a relatively crime-addled and run down city, he believed it'd be the perfect platform from which to relaunch himself, always hunting for any information he could about the disappearances of Cadenza and Nikkita Motta.
Since the city's eventual rebuilding and the North End's strict clampdown on crimes, however, things have become harder. Once again, old feelings of loathing and apathy return to cloud his judgement. Where before had been burgeoning attempts to return to his families are now passages choked with poison and bridges actively dancing in flames. Further financing from Moriah has become scarce, with a loan from her having gone bad long ago. Monthly good faith payments are dropped monthly into the Matriarch's coffers, but ultimately the debt may never be cleared. Beyond that, Raven's Rest is a cold place now. One where only ghosts haunt Elay's memories.
His few remaining contemporaries have long since given up on trying to force him to do his job as a Keeper. So long as Garf remains Adjoined to Elay, there are no problems that need addressing, and his reluctance over the past couple of years has only reinforced the feeling that Elay is lost to all but his own selfish desires. Perhaps that's true, but perhaps a big break in the case is just around the corner too? He keeps that thought in his pocket as the only motivation forward, and keeps the ring that served as his Channeler around his neck as a reminder of his goal:
To find out what happened to Cadenza and Nikkita Motta. Then, maybe love can return? Joy? The feeling of Lux swirling through the body again? Or just someone to tell him they're proud of the good that he'd done...
In olden days, it was most ethical in the eyes of the Whispering Flesh that a male child be given, as their symbolic necessity to maintain their female ranks made male children worthless beyond their price in the Tithe. Thus, for hundreds of years now there has been a Motta among the members of the Grove. Elay's eventual purpose was to fulfill that ancient bargain. Thus, for the first seven years of his life, Elay was raised by his Cullan mother and allowed the same luxuries that his sisters were afforded around him. Luckily for him, however, there was a bit more than meets the eye happening.
During her pregnancy and well into his childhood, both Nikkita and Cadenza took their time making subtle changes to Elay's anatomy. Preparing him as they would any Cullan soldier, he was placed on an intensive training regiment that often took most of his day away. Over time, they reduced his overall necessity for sleep, giving him access to days on days of continuous study and "play" time that further accelerated his mental acuity. Not that they weren't messing with that either; in addition to affecting his hormonal growth and the bodily changes that come with it, they made a great deal of subtle changes to his mind. Expanding its capabilities by increasing its overall ability to make and connect new pathways, Elay was quickly reading text books and scientific journals in his spare time.
Nikkita, responsible for the raising of all of a Matriarch's children, had her work cut out for her. But, her supreme organization and unique style of mothering allowed her to create an incredibly similar situation for all the children present in her home, meaning that while Elay was doing this, his elder sisters were just as capable.
Elay was simply... Studious. With a natural interest in the world around him, he more and more took to his routine as his infancy and young childhood blew away into the wind. His days were spent reading, running, and receiving communion from his Mother as she continuously tweaked her son's body and mind to make further improvements. For the Mottas, it was a sign of pride that not only were their Matriarchs powerful, but even their mundane Adepts. Thus, a great deal of effort went into insuring that the Grove received the best "product" their hospitality can buy. By the time of his seventh year, Elay was a tall and muscular child pushing dangerously close to moustache territory. Awakened to his Third Eye, something impossible to miss while being raised in a Matriarch's brood, the boy was ready to be turned over to the Grove at the specified ritual date.
It was said that things were far more "ritualistic" in the old days... For Elay's hand-off ceremony, there was a simple barbecue where he was introduced to his new "family", being the members of his foster family alongside the magical residents of Raven's Rest. Of course, Elay hated this. Ultimately, he was still a child whose biochemist parents never bothered to update the "unnecessary" emotional center of the brain. That was, after all, another five years ahead of them in the Cullan soldier program.
However, as expected, Elay adjusted to this new place. Slowly, surely, he came into the groove of life in Raven' Rest. Nikkita, his birth mother, also maintained a great deal of involvement with her son, coming to visit him with great frequency that never faltered as he grew older. Infrequently, his biological sisters would accompany, but as Elay's life and interests changed, so did his relationship with them. Not long after he was passed along to the Grove, Elay Kindled into a potent Green/Pink Adept gifted in atomic particle synthesis just like the Matriarch who had sired him. Only, this made him even more aware of exactly what had been done to his body to change it. The more he came to understand Green, the more he examined himself to find the strands of DNA irreparably changed by his previous guardians.
These discoveries spread across his adolescence slowly began to change his perception of his Mother. Of their lifestyle, and their family. Though, that never meant he lost his love for her. She was his main Pink Lux mentor, as it was from her that he'd inherited the proclivity. As he became a teen, she was more and more comfortable teaching him useful Pink spells, as well as techniques inherited from the Motta family compendium. Eventually, their relationship became less like mother and son, and more like student and teacher. When he could, Elay would sneak out of Raven's Rest and meet Nikkita in strange places to practice the more aggressive forms of magic that Elay was capable of learning.
Throughout this long stretch, Elay found himself in an ebb and flow between himself and the people he called "My Folks." Those folks, of course, being his adopted family and the people involved in the Grove. As is expected, anyone in charge of disciplining a child knows how much that changes the dynamic; Elay never did well being told to do something by people he never wound up fully respecting. It was harder still that he was so strong, forcing many adult members of the Grove to find unique punishments for Elay. However, the actual underground caverns and quiet places that members were privy to, the open belly of the Earth, was always alluring to him. One simply had to imply a denial of his access to his favorite peaceful places, and more often than not he'd settle down.
It was in the heart of the Grove that Elay met another important figure in his life.
For thousands of years, the monstrous Wampus Cat ﻮєɭ๔Ŧєггค๔ had been "imprisoned" within the Grove's deeper chambers. With access to a Dream Nexus, a powerful pool from which the creature could draw an infinite number of meals, the Cat was perfectly content to laze about as one of his kind typically does on a constantly full stomach. Charged for crimes against Nature itself, ﻮєɭ๔Ŧєггค๔'s sentence was hardly enforced at the point of Elay's discovery of this creature, with many of the members assuming there was little need for any kind of lockdown on the creature. While not exactly friends, ﻮєɭ๔Ŧєггค๔ took a great interest in Elay from their first meeting, at first trying to extract the nightmares of Culla through him.
Culla, like most magical cities, is protected from observation by the outside world. As such, the Dream Nexus was unable to reach behind its walls, making nightmares from Culla a rare delicacy. However, as he grew and became more comfortable, Elay would go to go to meet the "Garfield Cat" of his own volition. Happy to suck up anything he could, the Wampus would often accept Elay's requests for dreamless sleep, and in return feast happily on whatever he could from a fresh and direct source. This willfull feeding did well to remind the Wampus of how delicious direct meals were, however, and while Elay grew into a young man, his pal "Garf" could be found breaking containment more and more often with Elay's help.
That's around the time the government came knocking. PRA recruiters, on behalf of the United States Armed Forces, came to Raven's Rest in hopes of scooping any help of age and bringing it into the fold of a newly forming and very secret fifth branch: The Outer Branch. At a ripe age, and causing more problems than he was worth in Raven's Rest, Elay was signed off by his legal guardians to begin his life in service to his nation. A step outside of the typical pathway for people in his situation, Elay was the first Bridge to ever be allowed into national military service. He said goodbye to his Folks, and was allowed a short leave in which he would also find himself saying his unknowing last goodbyes to his beloved Mother, as well as the Matriarch herself. During that visit, he made it clear that he understood why they had done what they did, and tried to make amends for a life spent wishing that he'd never had to leave at all.
He also said goodbye to Garf, who emphatically told him "You'll be back. More than once." This turned out to be true throughout Elay's time as a soldier in this new secret army for the USA. In the Cold War environment that Elay had grown up in politically, there was more need than ever for Adepts to take a stand against very openly evil things in the world. Programs with less ethics, less morality, which put people into bad situations, were presented with a flare of propaganda and a very strong sense of duty to the human race, no matter how outside of it the Outer Branch's agents seemed to operate.
For five long years, Elay served his country as a Sergeant-Master in the Outer Branch: A rank earned by duty in service and prowess as an Adept. Master is a designation that a relative few carry in the Outer Branch, and is a surefire ticket into any part of the branch one could desire. As such, from an early time, Elay essentially wrote his own ticket, finding a little unit called the Paranormal Rapid Response Corps. Joining one of the taskforces, Elay began a new chapter in his life of hard work, hard discipline, and hard fighting. Time and time again, his prowess as a mere Son of Culla was more than enough to insure that his work was completed and he returned alive.
The Taskforce itself was a loose gathering; conscripted assassins and killers, warlocks hundreds of years old and Abberations whose companions were cut from the cloth of Gods, all with common ground in a reason to defend the United States' interests. Their duties typically involved raids on confirmed magical operations threatening assets, hunting and slaying or capturing of potentially dangerous Apparitions, and conducting clandestine operations as a unit within the confines of non-American borders. Wet work. Tragic and toll-taking, at first Elay found a great deal of fun and joy in the chance to use his most egregious abilities without restriction.
But with each visit home, the gap between himself and the people he found there only widened. Nikkita had disappeared, bringing Cadenza back to Cloverfield to find her only to disappear herself. Then a falling out with his eldest sister, the Matriarch Moriah, whose own position meant that she benefitted from both their parents disappearance. Suspicion clawed at his mind as he returned for his next tour of duty, and made him a miserable person while he was still in Raven's Rest with his Folks. And even they seemed to understand there was something different about him now. A man who had killed, when so many of them had avoided such a thing. He was less sweet, less manipulative, less saccharine in his nature and far more cold. It was hard to tell, however, if it was the war or the disappearances that had him more shaken.
Regardless, he returned for two more tours after that. It wasn't a good idea, and Garf's cryptic voice echoed in his head from the last visit: Get out while things are still good. But he couldn't. In his heart, he believed that he could convince the Brass to allow the taskforce to investigate the disappearance of Cadenza and Nikkita Motta. It wouldn't have been the first instance of detective work they needed to do, and he believed it was a justifiable threat to national security: After all, as a single Adept, Cadenza de Motta had been known widely as an Apparition-level Adept, whose grasp over Lux was unlike any other Adept on the planet. Sure, maybe she could be brought low by a large-scale concerted effort, but there were few things Elay imagined being able to stop Cadenza from doing whatever she wanted. Nothing ever came of it. Elay tried and failed, returning home again only to ruin more relationships and find people with pity or disgust on their faces. In a strange way of trying to reach out, Moriah sent Elay the information for a "company" started in his name, in which money had started to be deposited as a retirement infrastructure. Something Elay was more believing that he'd never need as the second tour had been far more intense than the first.
And then he tried again on his third tour, when disaster struck. Around the same time Nylah was wreaking havoc on Cloverfield, tensions were rising across the far East, bringing Elay's services across the ocean to Korea. It was during this tour that the taskforce he was a part of met the sturdy wall of Soviet Adepts in head on combat... What ensued was a bloodbath, leaving Elay and a scant few other members of his unit alive to tell the tale of Soviet Magical dominance. Now wracked with the pain of survivors guilt, Elay could no longer derive joy from his career as a soldier due to the overwhelming losses he witnessed on the Russo-Korean Front.
Worsening the blow, it wasn't until he returned to the United States that he found out what had been done to his home. To his Folks. The operations responsible for monitoring and intervention against Nylah were slow to proceed, assuming the magical nature of the city would be enough for its denizens to put out the fire as they usually do. This led to rampant destruction and loss of life, especially from the surrounding magical communities. Not only had his folks fought against the threat as it tore its way day by day through the city, but they had lost their lives. Many of them, including his fosters and his Bridge-Uncle among dozens of other senior and ranking members of the Grove.
Returning to this in-repair landscape, seeing how it looked so much like every other wartorn city he'd been in, sent Elay into a spiral. Days after returning to his birth city, Elay made the drunken decision to attempt suicide, finding himself with very little room in his heart for hope and a belief that the world would be ending soon. Its in that moment he recalled Garf, and his many cryptic expressions that had been pumped into Elay's head. About "coming back" and "seeing more" of him, like the Cat knew something he didn't. Like it knew he'd come to offer himself up. So, with few people to stop him and fewer people who cared to, Elay made his way into the mountain. Deep, deep under that mountain, until the caves began to glow once more. Until they were ablaze with life untended in the absence of the Grove Keepers.
Where a lazy Prince nestled upon a throne of bones and dreams. Elay pressed him, and ﻮєɭ๔Ŧєггค๔ pressed back, until in the final dream Elay found a reason to remain. An echo, which ﻮєɭ๔Ŧєггค๔ let skillfully slip into Elay's perception, brought him back to his childhood. To the disappearance of his Mother.
"All this and more. Open the way forward and accept the Seed of Life. Me, unto you, and all is yours in curiosity."
Elay severed then and there, taking "My Pal Garf" as an Adjoined Apparition and officially becoming the first Motta to ever Abberate. The Prisoner, the Prince, the Soldier and the Hunter immerged from that cavern together into a foggy new day with confidence that hadn't existed for some time. It'd been weeks without food and water, without alcohol or sunlight. Only the caves of the Grove's Heart. Elay had a mission then: To find out what exactly happened to his Mother, and what the Hell to do about it. Since then, he's set up shop on the dime of the Mottas as a North Side detective firm jokingly named "Colombo and Waiting."
Colombo had been Elay's callsign in the taskforce, his specialty of ground-level investigation and intelligence gathering combining with his proclivity for dramatic and oftentimes needlessly droning expositions earning him the referential name. Elay had grown fond of that work, the times where he was needed to find out what was going on, and scout ahead on his own for the good of the taskforce... Thus, finding himself in a relatively crime-addled and run down city, he believed it'd be the perfect platform from which to relaunch himself, always hunting for any information he could about the disappearances of Cadenza and Nikkita Motta.
Since the city's eventual rebuilding and the North End's strict clampdown on crimes, however, things have become harder. Once again, old feelings of loathing and apathy return to cloud his judgement. Where before had been burgeoning attempts to return to his families are now passages choked with poison and bridges actively dancing in flames. Further financing from Moriah has become scarce, with a loan from her having gone bad long ago. Monthly good faith payments are dropped monthly into the Matriarch's coffers, but ultimately the debt may never be cleared. Beyond that, Raven's Rest is a cold place now. One where only ghosts haunt Elay's memories.
His few remaining contemporaries have long since given up on trying to force him to do his job as a Keeper. So long as Garf remains Adjoined to Elay, there are no problems that need addressing, and his reluctance over the past couple of years has only reinforced the feeling that Elay is lost to all but his own selfish desires. Perhaps that's true, but perhaps a big break in the case is just around the corner too? He keeps that thought in his pocket as the only motivation forward, and keeps the ring that served as his Channeler around his neck as a reminder of his goal:
To find out what happened to Cadenza and Nikkita Motta. Then, maybe love can return? Joy? The feeling of Lux swirling through the body again? Or just someone to tell him they're proud of the good that he'd done...
Abstraction
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"Oh, Laz; you just never learn." "Yeah, yeah. Just get me up Garf."
TYPE ⫻ Adjoined Aberration (Former Adept)
ABSTRACTION ⫻ The Lazy Prince of the Wampus Cats: An Aberrant Adjoining between Elay and the Wampus Cat ﻮєɭ๔Ŧєггค๔, otherwise known as Garf, who promised the former with infinite knowledge in exchange for a lifetime of sustenance.
ABSTRACTION DESCRIPTION ⫻ As Prince of Dazzle's Wampus Cats, Garf is a particularly potent specimen indicative of his kind within the plane. Larger and more physically imposing than most of his kind, the Prince is said to have once consumed a seed from Dazzle's Tree of Life, gaining knowledge and power at the cost of a curse. Apathy is a malaise; a blanket across all Wampus Cats in Dazzle, causing them to become hefty and lazy, often bartering in exchange for power and tithes as opposed to hunting on their own. Man-things are easily swayed by the promise of wants and desires, leaving their chosen prey as willing targets to be used and used again. They are intelligent farmers of pain, who often place themselves in positions where their needs are met at a high standard with minimal input required.
To most humans, Wampus Cats appear just as a terrestrial house cat. Coming in all forms, these facades are specially made to reduce overall attention from affectionate humans; but they will never be immune, as they still wind up just looking like housecats. Utterly irresistable. Garf, as his nickname suggests, is most often seen as a rotund, tigerstriped orange tabby cat whose only real distinguishing feature are his four massive polydactyl paws. With an extra section on each remeniscent of human thumbs, one who stares at the paws long enough may find the illusion fraying at the seams, and only then will they realize that this cat is not just a cat. It is, in fact, a wretched beast. Fifteen feet in length, fur ragged and thick with gore and peeled flesh, with an extra pair of legs that press against the ground with human-like hands thickly padded for walking and grabbing.
ﻮєɭ๔Ŧєггค๔ is a nightmare of gluttony. Of excess and slovenly nature, whose true form is not fit to be witnessed by any sane human, his grimace of blade-like teeth stretching infinitely backward into the gaping maw behind them. The remnants of the Seed of Life tainted his gut long ago, a Song Demon taking parasitic root in Garf's internal organs where it whispers its secrets upward into the ears of the beast. Its arms have replaced the naturally occurring second set of forelimbs, its hands having grown thick pads to compensate for their job as supporting limbs necessary for the creature's locomotion.
Actual maximum sizes of a Wampus Cat have never been accurately recorded, as much of their time is spent bending perception around themselves to prevent their cover from being lifted. As such, its often speculated that even the worst "True Form" one can take is only the top of the iceberg. That there are things far worse far deeper, never to be observed by the feeble human.
As part of their terms, Elay is able to employ the full spectrum of Garf's abilities at varying levels of access. Based on Garf's willingness to place himself in a more vulnerable position, Elay is able to exert more and more power through a unification method called "Kingshawl". And, after two years together, Elay has become adept at managing the exertion levels of their unification. Taking a page out of the book of Motta, Elay has spread the components of Garf's many abilities across a spectrum of progressively more strenuous Kingshawl forms. These are categorized into three different disciplines, with Bare Neck acting as a baseline level of existence for Elay that is only negated by effects that separate the Apparition from their Aberrant hosts.
Kingshawl: Bare Neck ⫻ At their most basic level of connection, Elay and Garf are able to share senses between one another. From seeing to hearing to smelling, they can share and cross-examine their surroundings while pooling together their thoughts on both. While Garf can control whether or not Elay can perceive his surroundings on a sense-by-sense level, Elay is always open to intrusion by Garf, including cross entity telepathy and shared thought. This is a small price to pay, as the times Elay is privey to a near bird's eye view of his surroundings, or able to hear something he otherwise wouldn't have, are invaluable. This affect is heightened depending on proximity between Elay and Garf, with their maximum distance being a hundred meters between one another.
Limits: This whole situation is sometimes cripplingly confusing, which is why Garf is the one in the driver's seat as to which senses are used and shared from his perspective. Elay having access to all of these senses, especially at a far distance where they're weakest and most like television static from a bad signal in his head, would be catastrophic. As it stands, Elay is still prone to bouts of being "lost in midair" where his senses aren't directly attached to his body, but he can still feel himself on the ground. He often spaces out, especially since Garf has carte blanche to disturb him telepathically about any little thing. That being said, there's a mostly stable agreement to not tax Elay's brain too heavily on off days, and to limit the time using the ability in the field.
At arms reach, roughly three feet apart, Elay is able to access the more advanced forms of Kingshawl.
Kingshawl: Dashing Attire ⫻ Hanging close around Elay's neck, Garf comfortably projects a very stylish orange and black scarf, which Elay typically draws up and around his face as a mask. Interestingly, the distinctive orange color avoids eye fatigue by being muted with a distinct lack of desaturation in the color, and causes the fabric to be vibrant without being intensely reflective. It is this same property which many Blinds find themselves caught in as Elay channels Garf's mentally binding abilities. Functioning similarly to a form of Pink Lux, powers associated with Dashing Attire include a variety of hypnotic and neurologically affective abilities. In nature, the Wampus Cat uses this set of abilities to play the Pied Piper to potential prey, as well as ward off any would-be predators or captors.
For Elay, this breaks down into basic necessities for doing intrusive detective work. Mind reading, extrasensory detection, perception alteration and ultimately intrusive control over Blind entities. When used against Paranormal individuals, each power functions differently due to its interaction with the Emotional Field's barrier. Through millennia of survival, Garf has come to learn the best ways of harnessing these sorts of abilities against them in an affective deterrent. By using the same energies, Elay projects an increasingly uncomfortable and disturbing assault on the target entity's Emotional Field. A highly disorienting method of detecting Paranormal positions, irritation and eventual damage to the Field, projection of external illusions, and at its most potent a potential temporary inability to call upon the emotion required to cast spells can be applied to the target.
Limits: As is expected in a cat, these types of abilities are meant for proceeding unseen and lashing out as quickly as possible. Thus, the potency of these spells are strongest at the beginning. Most of the time, their use against Blinds is only as useful as the person using them and the person who they're being used on. While he can detect several life signatures using basic heart-beat monitoring, this method is rudimentary at best. Tracking Blinds more clearly requires more focus, both to filter out other noises and to magically hone in on the essence of life within the entity.
This is a weakness that can be applied to every single ability in this category, whether used against a Blind or Paranormal: The fewer things are affected by the ability, the more potent the ability is.
And in regards specifically to anti-paranormal techniques: These abilities are the ones a cat would use to evade an animal control officer. In the same way a stray would avoid sight, confuse by knocking the trash can over and scrambling in a different direction. They are actions of general desperation that are most often used to shake a tail with a flourish and hope one can lick their wounds later on. The effort required in using the abilities in this method, rather than the typical prey lure that they are, is great. Enough that the Host's limits are typically pushed, and either Garf needs to project himself by upgrading the form, or split while its still an option. Otherwise, the host could risk potential death through exhaustion.
Kingshawl: Cloak of the Night ⫻ Assuming a more active position, Garf crawls his way onto Elay's head and hangs there by his front paws. Forming a true shawl and hood, Garf drapes himself into a dark black cloth that hangs across Elay's shoulders and covers both his face and head. Looking close enough at the shawl reveals incredibly tiny points of orange, which shimmer with a tantalizing rhythm that isn't fully recognizable until you've stared for long enough. It's this darkness that Garf himself sleeps in, and which one can find themselves consumed by should they not be aware, or strong enough to repel the allure of its infinite slumber. This cavernous cape completely covers Elay's countenance, making any observation or interaction with him into a hazardous endeavor for both Blind and Adept alike.
While utilizing the Cloak of the Night, Elay has access to the more formidibal magical technique that Garf uses to strike and consume his prey from their very dreams. The cloak can shape and twist itself into a variety of shapes, working its way into any nook or cranny it can. Able to project itself across glass, screens and other objects meant for viewing, the cloak attempts to force its target to look deeply into the darkness like a constrictor wrapping around its meal. Once fully entranced, the target is exposed to the secret in the dark: The little orange stars pulsing and dancing across its matte surface. These stars are the seeds that attach themselves to the target, growing into ripe fruits that allow Elay and Garf to step into the dreams of the victims.
With two methods of approach, Elay can either wait for the seed to ripen over time, with the ability to track the target freely for as long as they remain affected... Or, a method developed by Garf during his times as a predator, is to simply knock out the target. Upon falling unconscious, the target's seed is completely ripened and able to be accessed without trouble or concern. To do so, Garf has developed another technique allowing Elay to utilize the cloak to teleport short distances thanks to its strange properties.
Limits: First and foremost, Elay can only maintain a maximum of five seeds at any one given time. They're easy to get rid of from a Paranormal standpoint, as anyone with a strong enough Emotional Field will most likely notice the small disturbance they receive when observing the man with the black face mask and realize what it left behind. They have a pretty significant range; long enough that it's probably not going to make a difference. But, the seeds themselves have an overall lifespan of five days with day four being the ripest day. Knocking a target out, while ripening the fruit for Elay to access the mind, is less effective overall as it reduces the quality of sleep of the victim. That is to say sleep quality is overall very important for accessing the target as well, and Elay has no immediate or direct way of doing anything about it at this stage.
Additionally, Garf's comfort comes into play. As a lazy Prince, Garf is generally opposed to doing more work than is necessary. As such, he's got an aversion to taking shapes that aren't comfortable to him, though these things must be done for the sake of the Host. For Cloak of Night, hanging and draping across Elay's upper body isn't such a stretch that it's not worth a meal; but having to work too hard for a target by extending himself into other objects is never a comfortable experience. Ergo, the harder Elay pushes the cloak's abilities, the less time he has to use it.
Kingshawl: Tiger Wraps ⫻ Splitting his form in half and wrapping himself around Elay's hands and wrists, Garf accepts this discomfort only when deemed absolutely necessary. His body thins and twists over and over again until the wrapped hands are padded with an incredibly thorough and robust set of tapes. Their bright orange color is somewhat jarring, but Elay jokes that they're warning for caution like everything else made bright orange. That if you see one coming your way, the only option is to try and escape the aggressive combatant they're attached to. These wraps, while simple on the surface, are the most available method Garf has to channel his gargantuan physical strength into Elay. Initially attracted to him for his own magical robustness, Garf has found that Elay's physiology is well suited to handle the strain necessary to go forward.
Obviously, this is the most directly combative form of Kingshawl. A mostly natural part of Garf that he rarely "needs" to channel into, this is actually a compromise between the two individuals in terms of powers and abilities. Even the biggest cats around still use cover and stalking as their main methods of predation, their strength generally only leading to a better chance of whether or not they'll bring the prey down. For Garf, this meant not considering the transfer of these traits; a life spent living with them made it difficult to even ascertain where the magic in them was. In order to transfer them- Strength, agility, endurance, dexterity and robustness. -Garf had to discover where his own strength came from in the first place. An easy thing to remember when you ate a seed from the Tree of Knowledge, but Garf has a bad (or good) habit of making things difficult for himself.
Either way, the capability was found by channeling directly through the arms and following the old Lux channels through his flesh into his most important organs. From there, Elay can use the reactivated strength left behind by two decade old Green Lux rituals. He's able to increase muscle mass and bolster the infrastructure behind it, calling upon Garf's energy when necessary to deliver short range bursts of air capable of extending his melee effectiveness. Short term rapid healing can also be used, though the effects are often temporary as the patch job ceases to function after clearing the Tiger Wraps.
Limits: Besides the limited and fickle nature of Garf's healing abilities, this form is relatively strenuous on all parties involved. For Garf, splitting has never been an ideal strategy. Overall it leaves him weaker, meaning he's more vulnerable; even more so in this context, as he's not technically separated. Rather, like a circuit, Garf is using Elay's body to maintain a subtle connection between the two halves of his body. While Elay hasn't come to understand this concept, Garf is incredibly fearful of the vulnerability his need to remain whole creates: With most of Garf's energy trapped inside Elay directly, one could easily seal Garf, or kill both he and Elay at the same time. Rarely does Garf give anyone the chance to do him serious harm, thus usage of Tiger Wraps is solely left to his descretion.
Beyond that, no matter how well developed Elay's body is, it'll never be enough to handle the unbridled nightmare that is a fully awakened ﻮєɭ๔Ŧєггค๔. Ergo, Garf is constantly monitoring Elay's body for signs of weakness and fatigue. Unable to continuously pump him full of energy due to its eldritch sources, Garf is responsible enough to pull the rug out from under Elay whenever necessary. Meaning, Garf's often quick-to-act panic button often leaves Elay in a situation where he was fighting with that power in mind, only to have it stripped away and need to flee. Elay is, after all, incredibly good at looking for trouble. Its nothing to antagonize a group of twenty Blind bikers in a seedy bar just for the thrill of trying to beat them all into a pulp: And Garf is happy to scarper as soon as he's had enough.
Kingshawl: Royal Regalia ⫻ In times of great strife and equal triumph, Garf has held onto a "forbidden" nexus of the Kingshawl's unifying effects. Unneccessary, Garf finds Elay to still not be ready for this form's usage yet... Though, on the occasions where Garf is allowed the majority reign and Elay lays down for a true slumber, sometimes dreams are passed from the former to the latter involving a towering man in royal robes and a crown. On his shoulder sits a massive bulge, with almost useable paws resting on the figure's chest...
LIMITS ⫻ Individual limitations of each ability have been listed alongside their entries for ease of browsing. Besides that, there are few abilities that Garf clings to greedily. Among them, the Wampus Cat's potent ability to subtly pierce the walls of Lux-based Emotional Fields. More potent while used on a sleeping target, Wampus Cats of all realms are greedy gluttons whose main source of sustainance is the negative emotions created by humans and other sapient creatures. As such, a predatory instinct for bypassing Adeptal defenses was necessary to develop over time, like a bird's immunity to capcasin or a scavanger's taste for rotted meat. This also means that at least once a week, Elay is required to go "dormant" while Garf takes the reigns of their Adjoined consciousness to hunt for fulfilling meals.
In addition, due to his consumption of the Seeds of Life, Garf has attained a great knowledge of many things beyond his own experience: Knowing accurate futures and photographic pasts, he has vowed to keep the truth out of Elay's hands unless he can manage to discover it himself. Thus, most of the secrets of Dazzle are hidden from Elay, waiting for a discovery that will probably never come.
Both of these benefits are totally unavailable to Elay unless the most desperate of necessities, as per their binding contract. As are several other agreements, including a clause preventing Elay from taking any actions that would knowingly end his own life without express agreement from Garf. If at any time the contract is broken, Garf simply leaves. No ceremony, no long goodbye; the cat unplugs itself from Elay, and most likely tries to eat him and whatever else he's dealing with before celebrating his unbridaled return to the surface world with a light lunch: Cloverfield.
Lastly, the more combative forms of Kingshawl unification are often left entirely to the discretion of Garf. The more openly aggressive he allows Elay to be, the more open and exposed he leaves himself as he's less able to hide due to proximity requirements and issues involving an increase in size.
WEAKNESSES ⫻ (DO NOT FILL THIS OUT, I WILL PROVIDE IT FOR YOU)
ABSTRACTION ⫻ The Lazy Prince of the Wampus Cats: An Aberrant Adjoining between Elay and the Wampus Cat ﻮєɭ๔Ŧєггค๔, otherwise known as Garf, who promised the former with infinite knowledge in exchange for a lifetime of sustenance.
ABSTRACTION DESCRIPTION ⫻ As Prince of Dazzle's Wampus Cats, Garf is a particularly potent specimen indicative of his kind within the plane. Larger and more physically imposing than most of his kind, the Prince is said to have once consumed a seed from Dazzle's Tree of Life, gaining knowledge and power at the cost of a curse. Apathy is a malaise; a blanket across all Wampus Cats in Dazzle, causing them to become hefty and lazy, often bartering in exchange for power and tithes as opposed to hunting on their own. Man-things are easily swayed by the promise of wants and desires, leaving their chosen prey as willing targets to be used and used again. They are intelligent farmers of pain, who often place themselves in positions where their needs are met at a high standard with minimal input required.
To most humans, Wampus Cats appear just as a terrestrial house cat. Coming in all forms, these facades are specially made to reduce overall attention from affectionate humans; but they will never be immune, as they still wind up just looking like housecats. Utterly irresistable. Garf, as his nickname suggests, is most often seen as a rotund, tigerstriped orange tabby cat whose only real distinguishing feature are his four massive polydactyl paws. With an extra section on each remeniscent of human thumbs, one who stares at the paws long enough may find the illusion fraying at the seams, and only then will they realize that this cat is not just a cat. It is, in fact, a wretched beast. Fifteen feet in length, fur ragged and thick with gore and peeled flesh, with an extra pair of legs that press against the ground with human-like hands thickly padded for walking and grabbing.
ﻮєɭ๔Ŧєггค๔ is a nightmare of gluttony. Of excess and slovenly nature, whose true form is not fit to be witnessed by any sane human, his grimace of blade-like teeth stretching infinitely backward into the gaping maw behind them. The remnants of the Seed of Life tainted his gut long ago, a Song Demon taking parasitic root in Garf's internal organs where it whispers its secrets upward into the ears of the beast. Its arms have replaced the naturally occurring second set of forelimbs, its hands having grown thick pads to compensate for their job as supporting limbs necessary for the creature's locomotion.
Actual maximum sizes of a Wampus Cat have never been accurately recorded, as much of their time is spent bending perception around themselves to prevent their cover from being lifted. As such, its often speculated that even the worst "True Form" one can take is only the top of the iceberg. That there are things far worse far deeper, never to be observed by the feeble human.
As part of their terms, Elay is able to employ the full spectrum of Garf's abilities at varying levels of access. Based on Garf's willingness to place himself in a more vulnerable position, Elay is able to exert more and more power through a unification method called "Kingshawl". And, after two years together, Elay has become adept at managing the exertion levels of their unification. Taking a page out of the book of Motta, Elay has spread the components of Garf's many abilities across a spectrum of progressively more strenuous Kingshawl forms. These are categorized into three different disciplines, with Bare Neck acting as a baseline level of existence for Elay that is only negated by effects that separate the Apparition from their Aberrant hosts.
Kingshawl: Bare Neck ⫻ At their most basic level of connection, Elay and Garf are able to share senses between one another. From seeing to hearing to smelling, they can share and cross-examine their surroundings while pooling together their thoughts on both. While Garf can control whether or not Elay can perceive his surroundings on a sense-by-sense level, Elay is always open to intrusion by Garf, including cross entity telepathy and shared thought. This is a small price to pay, as the times Elay is privey to a near bird's eye view of his surroundings, or able to hear something he otherwise wouldn't have, are invaluable. This affect is heightened depending on proximity between Elay and Garf, with their maximum distance being a hundred meters between one another.
Limits: This whole situation is sometimes cripplingly confusing, which is why Garf is the one in the driver's seat as to which senses are used and shared from his perspective. Elay having access to all of these senses, especially at a far distance where they're weakest and most like television static from a bad signal in his head, would be catastrophic. As it stands, Elay is still prone to bouts of being "lost in midair" where his senses aren't directly attached to his body, but he can still feel himself on the ground. He often spaces out, especially since Garf has carte blanche to disturb him telepathically about any little thing. That being said, there's a mostly stable agreement to not tax Elay's brain too heavily on off days, and to limit the time using the ability in the field.
At arms reach, roughly three feet apart, Elay is able to access the more advanced forms of Kingshawl.
Kingshawl: Dashing Attire ⫻ Hanging close around Elay's neck, Garf comfortably projects a very stylish orange and black scarf, which Elay typically draws up and around his face as a mask. Interestingly, the distinctive orange color avoids eye fatigue by being muted with a distinct lack of desaturation in the color, and causes the fabric to be vibrant without being intensely reflective. It is this same property which many Blinds find themselves caught in as Elay channels Garf's mentally binding abilities. Functioning similarly to a form of Pink Lux, powers associated with Dashing Attire include a variety of hypnotic and neurologically affective abilities. In nature, the Wampus Cat uses this set of abilities to play the Pied Piper to potential prey, as well as ward off any would-be predators or captors.
For Elay, this breaks down into basic necessities for doing intrusive detective work. Mind reading, extrasensory detection, perception alteration and ultimately intrusive control over Blind entities. When used against Paranormal individuals, each power functions differently due to its interaction with the Emotional Field's barrier. Through millennia of survival, Garf has come to learn the best ways of harnessing these sorts of abilities against them in an affective deterrent. By using the same energies, Elay projects an increasingly uncomfortable and disturbing assault on the target entity's Emotional Field. A highly disorienting method of detecting Paranormal positions, irritation and eventual damage to the Field, projection of external illusions, and at its most potent a potential temporary inability to call upon the emotion required to cast spells can be applied to the target.
Limits: As is expected in a cat, these types of abilities are meant for proceeding unseen and lashing out as quickly as possible. Thus, the potency of these spells are strongest at the beginning. Most of the time, their use against Blinds is only as useful as the person using them and the person who they're being used on. While he can detect several life signatures using basic heart-beat monitoring, this method is rudimentary at best. Tracking Blinds more clearly requires more focus, both to filter out other noises and to magically hone in on the essence of life within the entity.
This is a weakness that can be applied to every single ability in this category, whether used against a Blind or Paranormal: The fewer things are affected by the ability, the more potent the ability is.
And in regards specifically to anti-paranormal techniques: These abilities are the ones a cat would use to evade an animal control officer. In the same way a stray would avoid sight, confuse by knocking the trash can over and scrambling in a different direction. They are actions of general desperation that are most often used to shake a tail with a flourish and hope one can lick their wounds later on. The effort required in using the abilities in this method, rather than the typical prey lure that they are, is great. Enough that the Host's limits are typically pushed, and either Garf needs to project himself by upgrading the form, or split while its still an option. Otherwise, the host could risk potential death through exhaustion.
Kingshawl: Cloak of the Night ⫻ Assuming a more active position, Garf crawls his way onto Elay's head and hangs there by his front paws. Forming a true shawl and hood, Garf drapes himself into a dark black cloth that hangs across Elay's shoulders and covers both his face and head. Looking close enough at the shawl reveals incredibly tiny points of orange, which shimmer with a tantalizing rhythm that isn't fully recognizable until you've stared for long enough. It's this darkness that Garf himself sleeps in, and which one can find themselves consumed by should they not be aware, or strong enough to repel the allure of its infinite slumber. This cavernous cape completely covers Elay's countenance, making any observation or interaction with him into a hazardous endeavor for both Blind and Adept alike.
While utilizing the Cloak of the Night, Elay has access to the more formidibal magical technique that Garf uses to strike and consume his prey from their very dreams. The cloak can shape and twist itself into a variety of shapes, working its way into any nook or cranny it can. Able to project itself across glass, screens and other objects meant for viewing, the cloak attempts to force its target to look deeply into the darkness like a constrictor wrapping around its meal. Once fully entranced, the target is exposed to the secret in the dark: The little orange stars pulsing and dancing across its matte surface. These stars are the seeds that attach themselves to the target, growing into ripe fruits that allow Elay and Garf to step into the dreams of the victims.
With two methods of approach, Elay can either wait for the seed to ripen over time, with the ability to track the target freely for as long as they remain affected... Or, a method developed by Garf during his times as a predator, is to simply knock out the target. Upon falling unconscious, the target's seed is completely ripened and able to be accessed without trouble or concern. To do so, Garf has developed another technique allowing Elay to utilize the cloak to teleport short distances thanks to its strange properties.
Limits: First and foremost, Elay can only maintain a maximum of five seeds at any one given time. They're easy to get rid of from a Paranormal standpoint, as anyone with a strong enough Emotional Field will most likely notice the small disturbance they receive when observing the man with the black face mask and realize what it left behind. They have a pretty significant range; long enough that it's probably not going to make a difference. But, the seeds themselves have an overall lifespan of five days with day four being the ripest day. Knocking a target out, while ripening the fruit for Elay to access the mind, is less effective overall as it reduces the quality of sleep of the victim. That is to say sleep quality is overall very important for accessing the target as well, and Elay has no immediate or direct way of doing anything about it at this stage.
Additionally, Garf's comfort comes into play. As a lazy Prince, Garf is generally opposed to doing more work than is necessary. As such, he's got an aversion to taking shapes that aren't comfortable to him, though these things must be done for the sake of the Host. For Cloak of Night, hanging and draping across Elay's upper body isn't such a stretch that it's not worth a meal; but having to work too hard for a target by extending himself into other objects is never a comfortable experience. Ergo, the harder Elay pushes the cloak's abilities, the less time he has to use it.
Kingshawl: Tiger Wraps ⫻ Splitting his form in half and wrapping himself around Elay's hands and wrists, Garf accepts this discomfort only when deemed absolutely necessary. His body thins and twists over and over again until the wrapped hands are padded with an incredibly thorough and robust set of tapes. Their bright orange color is somewhat jarring, but Elay jokes that they're warning for caution like everything else made bright orange. That if you see one coming your way, the only option is to try and escape the aggressive combatant they're attached to. These wraps, while simple on the surface, are the most available method Garf has to channel his gargantuan physical strength into Elay. Initially attracted to him for his own magical robustness, Garf has found that Elay's physiology is well suited to handle the strain necessary to go forward.
Obviously, this is the most directly combative form of Kingshawl. A mostly natural part of Garf that he rarely "needs" to channel into, this is actually a compromise between the two individuals in terms of powers and abilities. Even the biggest cats around still use cover and stalking as their main methods of predation, their strength generally only leading to a better chance of whether or not they'll bring the prey down. For Garf, this meant not considering the transfer of these traits; a life spent living with them made it difficult to even ascertain where the magic in them was. In order to transfer them- Strength, agility, endurance, dexterity and robustness. -Garf had to discover where his own strength came from in the first place. An easy thing to remember when you ate a seed from the Tree of Knowledge, but Garf has a bad (or good) habit of making things difficult for himself.
Either way, the capability was found by channeling directly through the arms and following the old Lux channels through his flesh into his most important organs. From there, Elay can use the reactivated strength left behind by two decade old Green Lux rituals. He's able to increase muscle mass and bolster the infrastructure behind it, calling upon Garf's energy when necessary to deliver short range bursts of air capable of extending his melee effectiveness. Short term rapid healing can also be used, though the effects are often temporary as the patch job ceases to function after clearing the Tiger Wraps.
Limits: Besides the limited and fickle nature of Garf's healing abilities, this form is relatively strenuous on all parties involved. For Garf, splitting has never been an ideal strategy. Overall it leaves him weaker, meaning he's more vulnerable; even more so in this context, as he's not technically separated. Rather, like a circuit, Garf is using Elay's body to maintain a subtle connection between the two halves of his body. While Elay hasn't come to understand this concept, Garf is incredibly fearful of the vulnerability his need to remain whole creates: With most of Garf's energy trapped inside Elay directly, one could easily seal Garf, or kill both he and Elay at the same time. Rarely does Garf give anyone the chance to do him serious harm, thus usage of Tiger Wraps is solely left to his descretion.
Beyond that, no matter how well developed Elay's body is, it'll never be enough to handle the unbridled nightmare that is a fully awakened ﻮєɭ๔Ŧєггค๔. Ergo, Garf is constantly monitoring Elay's body for signs of weakness and fatigue. Unable to continuously pump him full of energy due to its eldritch sources, Garf is responsible enough to pull the rug out from under Elay whenever necessary. Meaning, Garf's often quick-to-act panic button often leaves Elay in a situation where he was fighting with that power in mind, only to have it stripped away and need to flee. Elay is, after all, incredibly good at looking for trouble. Its nothing to antagonize a group of twenty Blind bikers in a seedy bar just for the thrill of trying to beat them all into a pulp: And Garf is happy to scarper as soon as he's had enough.
Kingshawl: Royal Regalia ⫻ In times of great strife and equal triumph, Garf has held onto a "forbidden" nexus of the Kingshawl's unifying effects. Unneccessary, Garf finds Elay to still not be ready for this form's usage yet... Though, on the occasions where Garf is allowed the majority reign and Elay lays down for a true slumber, sometimes dreams are passed from the former to the latter involving a towering man in royal robes and a crown. On his shoulder sits a massive bulge, with almost useable paws resting on the figure's chest...
LIMITS ⫻ Individual limitations of each ability have been listed alongside their entries for ease of browsing. Besides that, there are few abilities that Garf clings to greedily. Among them, the Wampus Cat's potent ability to subtly pierce the walls of Lux-based Emotional Fields. More potent while used on a sleeping target, Wampus Cats of all realms are greedy gluttons whose main source of sustainance is the negative emotions created by humans and other sapient creatures. As such, a predatory instinct for bypassing Adeptal defenses was necessary to develop over time, like a bird's immunity to capcasin or a scavanger's taste for rotted meat. This also means that at least once a week, Elay is required to go "dormant" while Garf takes the reigns of their Adjoined consciousness to hunt for fulfilling meals.
In addition, due to his consumption of the Seeds of Life, Garf has attained a great knowledge of many things beyond his own experience: Knowing accurate futures and photographic pasts, he has vowed to keep the truth out of Elay's hands unless he can manage to discover it himself. Thus, most of the secrets of Dazzle are hidden from Elay, waiting for a discovery that will probably never come.
Both of these benefits are totally unavailable to Elay unless the most desperate of necessities, as per their binding contract. As are several other agreements, including a clause preventing Elay from taking any actions that would knowingly end his own life without express agreement from Garf. If at any time the contract is broken, Garf simply leaves. No ceremony, no long goodbye; the cat unplugs itself from Elay, and most likely tries to eat him and whatever else he's dealing with before celebrating his unbridaled return to the surface world with a light lunch: Cloverfield.
Lastly, the more combative forms of Kingshawl unification are often left entirely to the discretion of Garf. The more openly aggressive he allows Elay to be, the more open and exposed he leaves himself as he's less able to hide due to proximity requirements and issues involving an increase in size.
WEAKNESSES ⫻ (DO NOT FILL THIS OUT, I WILL PROVIDE IT FOR YOU)
Other
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"Worst place I've ever been? San Francisco. And no, it's not what you think."
Garf often catches rats in the basement for fun, and Elay watches him hunt more often than he'd like to admit. Garf's always happy to show off, and typically lets his sport go as he's got an aversion to the taste.
While Garf eats dreams, its mostly for sustainance. As a ravenous eldritch abomination hiding a wretchedly amorphous creature beneath, he's constantly hungry and searching for his next meal. However, he derives great joy and pleasure from eating physical food, with a taste for good pasta dishes pulled directly from Elay's many nightmares.
If it isn't clear, a lot of Elay's feelings about people not liking him are total self-perceptions. Though, not entirely unfounded as interactions rarely ever go well with Elay; it's safe to say he's made himself look like an asshole plenty over his life, and people are right to hold a mixed bag in his honor.
While Garf eats dreams, its mostly for sustainance. As a ravenous eldritch abomination hiding a wretchedly amorphous creature beneath, he's constantly hungry and searching for his next meal. However, he derives great joy and pleasure from eating physical food, with a taste for good pasta dishes pulled directly from Elay's many nightmares.
If it isn't clear, a lot of Elay's feelings about people not liking him are total self-perceptions. Though, not entirely unfounded as interactions rarely ever go well with Elay; it's safe to say he's made himself look like an asshole plenty over his life, and people are right to hold a mixed bag in his honor.
