Ask Mirage and Macabre!

Well, I’ve had to do a lot of growing in recent years.

Let’s start with Solomon Cohen, who I usually refer to Sir Hivemind, the leader of the Beacon of Hope and the Champions. He has access to incredible power and resources, yet is probably the epitome of “selfless.” He does everything he can in order to better the lives of others as best he can. From what I’ve learned, it is an incredibly tough job, but one he does well. I do hope he eventually gains time to truly rest.

Then there’s Lady Eira Steele, one of the Champions. I do my best to live eye-to-eye with mortals, but she showed me that I had a lot of humbling to go through still. Her mastery over her element and her strength are incredible, and like Sir Hivemind, she is incredibly compassionate, especially to the downtrodden. Our first meeting was rough, I can’t lie, but I think I’ve grown since then, and now I trust her to look after my son, Ollie. I still have a lot to learn from her, but I have faith in Eira.

In another world specifically in Richardson Valley, there’s the mouse, Flash, and his friend, the bear, Deus. Hoo, boy, that initial meeting was….just not good, but it became more amicable near the end. Both are trying to make the best of and improve on their lot in life. Something many aspire to do, and something even I have done in mortal lifetimes. Our initial rough meeting was due to I guess “philosophical differences,” but hopefully things continue to improve.

In the nearby Babylon Gardens, there are plenty more mortals that I’ve learned to bond with, and that initial meeting was also pretty rough, but most of us have mended that.

Peanut is a well of optimism, even when things look dire.

Grape is loyal, and will definitely let you know when you’re out of line.

King and I don’t get along, but I learned that he has reason to be wary of Celestials, and he is a dedicated husband and father, wanting what’s best for them. At least his wife, Bailey, and I get along.

Fox is learning to reel things in recently, but you’ll have a hard time finding a more loyal friend.

I like Fido. There’s apparently an old stigma of him and Sabrina being together, yet they eventually gained the strength to show their love to the world. Almost reminds me of Macabre and I.

Ultimately, this is really only a selective list, but I hope it gets the point across. We’re all partially molded by the company we keep and the relationships we forge. Sometimes they spring up from surprising places, but that’s what makes life so exciting, isn’t it!

(OOC: Hivemind, Eira, Flash, and Deus belong to @cybertherobotdragon , Peanut, Grape, King, Bailey, Fox, Fido, and Sabrina belong to Rick Griffin)

Hey, Lady Eira, good to hear from you here! Though I’m going to have to turn over the question to someone more knowledgeable on the subject than I am. Ermina?

Thank you, Mirage, and hello once again, Lady Eira. Now, unfortunately, it’s not always easy to gauge power based on rank. For example, Vex is a Low-Tier, yet no doubt he could hold his own against Mid-Tiers. Each tier is quite the spectrum. As far as I can observe, tiers tend to denote durability and effectiveness of latent powers. Archdemons are typically High-Tiers, so that would be why your abilities did comparatively less damage to Phlegethon than it did to Vice.

Now, I say “comparatively” for good reason. A mortal with the capability to do so against a demon of that rank is nothing less than astonishing. I heard from the others about what was left of Vice, definitely would make one think twice about coming against you. Apparently even Macabre was stunned, and that’s really hard to do!

I hypothesize that doing whatever you did to a low-tier like Vex, Macabre, Aria, or even Lilith wouldn’t even leave behind a skeleton.

Still, as you have experienced, there can be power chasms even between adjacent ranks. Ranks above Low are not commonly granted for good reason, but when they are, the demon has shown that they’ve earned it, and with it comes an even further power boost.

Side note, not all High-Tiers will look obvious. Goetia are typically Mid-Tiers, but there are plenty of exceptions. I’ve heard of one by the name of Andras from Lady Laurana who was a High-Tier. Allegedly he’s the brother of Halphas, making him Macabre’s uncle, but Macabre didn’t have any recollection of him. Well, considering how distant he was from his family, no doubt there wouldn’t be a lot of details to share.

Another exception I’ve heard of is a demon called Forneus. Aria and Macabre mentioned that he’s a High-Tier Goetia, but he spends his time as a teacher to demon and mortal alike, often acts as a mediator, and doesn’t even claim souls. Oddly gentle of such a rank, though I’ve heard that his power may be because he was one of the Throne Angels prior to his defection. Not sure why someone of his caliber would defect at all…

Uh, sorry for the wall of text, Lady Eira. TLDR, there is an incredible gap between all ranks. I guess one way to look at it is instead of an incremental increase, imagine a more exponential one.

Still, just because one is outranked doesn’t mean one is outgunned. Right now, you’re among one of the examples of such. Your feats have definitely made the rounds here, many in awe of your power and abilities.

Well, we weren’t initially there for Phoebe. We were actually trying to stop Harriet from taking another life, and apparently someone wanted Phoebe dead. Until the kill is confirmed or the summons wears off, Harriet will continue to attack. But I guess no one anticipated Phoebe’s demon guardian, Nightmare, to fight off Harriet for a while, manifesting a variety of shadowy blades to do so.

Phoebe is a heavily traumatized girl, we’d eventually learn, to the point that she manifested her own demon, and Nightmare will do everything in its power to protect her if she becomes sufficiently scared. Usually ends if the trigger stops being a trigger, either they leave, or they’re dead. Nightmare only becomes stronger and more destructive as Phoebe gives in to her panic, and since Harriet can’t die and won’t stop for a while, it became a war of attrition, with Nightmare becoming exponentially stronger as time went on.

Then something we didn’t expect happened; Phoebe’s mind became so engulfed in fear, that she and Nightmare fused into what was called “Phobia.” This only made a bad situation worse. At first, we decided to turn our attention to the more dangerous of the two, but Macabre realized that as long as we went on the offensive and Harriet was still around on her mission, Phobia would only get more violent. The maelstrom of blades that manifested would certainly have made Sickle’s jaw drop.

It was then decided that Vex, Nikolai, and I would focus on keeping Harriet restrained, and Macabre would try to soothe Phobia. Thankfully we managed to run out Harriet’s clock, but Phobia kept up the attack. Until they saw Macabre. Something clicked that made Phobia pause long enough for Macabre to get in and talk her down. I couldn’t quite make out what was said, but that, plus Macabre having his violin play a tune meant to soothe wayward souls, eventually caused Phoebe and Nightmare to finally split. Phoebe passed out in Macabre’s arms, and after we found where she lived, apparently was out for quite a while.

The property damage was horrific, but it was definitely a miracle that no one else was around at the time. Was that you who provided the “localized tornado full of chainsaws and razor blades” cover story, Hivemind? We had nothing, but frankly, we’ve seen stranger.

Anyway, apparently the reason Phobia stopped at seeing Macabre was because Nightmare could tell that he was also a demon, and that Macabre wanted to help. Turns out, Phobia was basically the very violent manifestation of a panic attack. I’ve seen mortals suffer from them from time to time, and I can’t lie, it’s frightening to see, even more so when you don’t know how to help. This was the first time I’ve seen a lashing out of this caliber, though. Macabre usually has a good eye at seeing the hurt in others, and does what he can to aid them.

Thankfully, once Phoebe and Nightmare came to, Macabre visited them to learn more. Turns out, Nightmare is a paranoid sort, but it trusts Macabre, possibly because of their similarities. Plus, Phoebe and Nightmare are working at better controlling their fear responses. The encounter with Harriet was an incredibly extreme occasion, one that we hopefully don’t have to experience again. Harriet remembers who it was that summoned her, so we’re looking into ways to make sure they don’t try the same summon again. Scare tactics usually work on those, anyway, we got that covered, at least.

Unwanted responses to outside triggers. How do I keep coming across those? First myself, then Harriet, now Phoebe. What makes things worse, is the fact that Phoebe was able to create a demon in the first place. Can all mortals do that? The pain that must be required for such…I can’t bring myself to fathom it, despite the experiences I’ve had as a mortal, myself.

I guess if you want to keep this from happening again, Hivemind, you could try to keep her safe from triggers, and trust me, there’s a lot. Macabre will keep tabs on her since Nightmare is much more open about conversing with him, but he’s no therapist. Completely removing trauma from the psyche is unlikely, but being able to keep it from hindering your life is possible. She needs serious, professional help for that. At least she has started on the path of control, she just needs someone who can be with her more reliably to help her continue.

(OOC: Phoebe, Nightmare, and Phobia belong to @cybertherobotdragon )