cuddlecity | → i don't want a lot for christmas, there is just one thing i need

CHARACTERS: Barbie House Residents & You.
LOCATIONS: That pink little number where superpowered girls live.
WARNINGS: None in post, please let me know if I need to change that.
SUMMARY: Ugly sweater party time.

( If you know Kimberly and Clary at all, then you'll know there's been a festive treat in the works for a while. People will have received their personally designed invitations during the week, but neither of them have been shy in mentioning the party while wandering the city laden with shopping bags. The house is suitably decorated - enough mistletoe to potentially be a biohazard - but with a little help from the world's best ( and most stylish ) warlock Magnus Bane, it's definitely looking the part. And if it's a little small, well outside is covered in lights too, an army of space heaters dotted in their garden to make things as cosy as possible.

There's multiple flavours of punch, though be wary of the one that smells overwhelmingly of gingerbread, someone was a little heavy handed with the liquer. If that doesn't float your boat then the living room table is laid out with different drinks and snacks, some more festive than others. Eat, drink, be merry. And if you hear Blue Christmas at any point in their festive playlist, please track down Baby and give him a hug ( or a drink ... or one of those sprigs of mistletoe. )

The only rule ( and it's definitely a rule ) wear a Christmas sweater or suffer the wrath of women scorned. Though maybe not something with tassles or baubles, Simba might be after them. )

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

What would be a problem?

[ tomas is genuinely confused. he misses church but not having one isn't a problem by any stretch, and the question feels a little more confrontational.

... which is very understandable, if robbie is actually possessed. if he were possessed he'd be wary of a priest too. ]

That I haven't stepped foot in a church in years.

[which doesn't really answer tomas' no doubt lingering questions about the current state of robbie's soul.]

You're not the judgmental type are you?

[ oh, yes okay that makes much more sense. ]

No, not at all. I don't proselytize either... it's been a while since I worked as a traditional priest.

[ he's trying to bring the whole exorcism topic in smoothly. he's not sure he's succeeding but it's true. he hasn't been to mass or taken confession for six months. ]

[cue eyebrow raising. traditional priest? are there other kinds of priest? he at least knows that there's different levels of clergy but the finer points of the cloth escape him.]

Uh. There's non-traditional priests? What exactly do you do if you're not out there taking confession and holding mass?

[ oh look, a perfectly natural breach into the exorcist thing. great, excellently done. what a normal conversation to have. ]

I left my parish to become an exorcist. A traveling exorcist... I know it sounds like a bad movie.

[ he's doing his best to be smooth about this. ]

[the way tomas says exorcist like it's not a big deal makes his hair stand on end.]

Yeah. It sounds like an A&E miniseries. Have you... actually exorcised any demons?

Yes, a few. Demons target teenagers more often, but by now I've seen a little of everything.

[ tomas is very calm about this, like no one at any point mentioned robbie was possessed by satan. ]

Everything?

[because he honestly wonders if father tomas has seen a skull that lights on fire.

robbie didn't get this far showing his hand to everyone on the block though. so no revealing just yet. he's still trying to get a feel for the man.]

Are there lots of different types of demons? What makes someone vulnerable?

Ah, I mean victims. People of all ages. I expect the whole multiple universes thing will surprise me... demons in my world find something you want or offer to give you back something you lost. [ he meets robbie's eye, looking for something. ] Once they have a hold on the victim, they try to force them to submit. Relinquish their soul so they can take over the body completely.

[robbie quiet, expression carefully guarded. in his recent dealings he's only told a handful of people about his particular predicament. it'll take a bit more talking before he knows for sure that he can trust tomas.]

And removing a demon... does that cause any lasting harm to the victim? [he's recalling that brief stint in which the rider had left him, the pain it had caused, and how it had nearly ruined mack's life in search of something to satisfy its needs. robbie had made that deal twice. knowingly. it makes him wonder if it's actually possible to survive without.]

I don't know if exorcists take vows to do no harm but seems like something important to avoid.

[ tomas takes a moment to consider his answer. his job isn't easy to explain, it's even harder when faced with someone who may or may not be possessed by a kind of demon he's never seen before. and it's all made even more complicated by the fact that robbie is likely picturing people chained to beds and screaming.

the worst part is that robbie isn't wrong. ]

The demons I've encountered, when they take over a host, the host's body starts rotting from within. Without intervention, the host dies or is completely taken over... it's a battle, between the human soul and the demon, as long as the human wants to fight, we can help. [ tomas hasn't failed yet but he can hardly take credit for that, if he'd been on his own he'd have gotten a little girl killed just a couple of weeks ago.

he sighs, still having some trouble finding the right words to explain himself. ]

We do everything we can with the time and resources we have to ensure the safety of the victim and their loved ones while the exorcism is taking place. And most of the time, when the exorcism is successful, the victim is physically recovered within weeks. But that's not always the case, sometimes if the demon is strong enough, it will kill its host and flee. Or if the victim gives in, the demon takes over the body completely— we call that integration, and the belief is that once a demon is integrated, there is no longer a soul to save.

[ robbie doesn't look integrated. he also doesn't look possessed, so tomas is starting to think there's a chance kimberly was, as the kids say, trolling him. ]

[robbie visibly swallows. his relationship with the rider sound considerably more complicated than anything tomas is describing. he's not being eaten alive, either physically or spiritually (he hopes) but the idea of there being people out there who are suffering like that, who deserve to be free. well, it makes his blood boil. if tomas is looking carefully enough, he may just see the flicker of flames in his eyes. of course, that could just be a reflection from the fireplace, but maybe not.]

That can't be an easy thing to see day in and day out. Guess gang violence, aliens, and superpowered people seems like a cakewalk in comparison. Of course, most of that I just saw on the news.

[ tomas sees something but he's trying not to jump to conclusions. besides, he doesn't have that oppressive feeling he usually gets when he's near demons, plus— did he say aliens? ]

It's a... [ 'aliens' definitely has him stumped. ] I'm. I'm sorry, aliens? Like, an extraterrestrial invasion?

[ if he were asked he wouldn't know how to explain why aliens are somehow more of a shock than superpowers. maybe it's because there's a warlock with a magical unicorn sweater so he had to get past that particular hurdle immediately. ]

[robbie nods in the affirmative.]

Yeah. Aliens. They invaded New York. Tore the city up pretty bad. But uh the Avengers stopped them.

[but what would tomas think if he mentioned that there are aliens right here in cadelle. he's probably bumped into one while getting his morning coffee. or tea. or whatever. what would he think then?]

I'm guessing that they haven't invaded a city near you?

I... uh. There was a comic book when I was in high school. A boy, Aldo, accidentally swallowed a meteorite and gained superpowers. [ going into personal anecdotes when confused is perhaps a bad habit, but Avengers really does sound like comic book heroes. ] That's about as close as I've been to an alien invasion.

There's comics about the Avengers too. Or well at least about Captain America. I don't really know about the rest...

[he's not the kind of fanboy that coulson is, but he's read a few comic books in his youth. robbie purses his lips and shrugs his shoulders.]

You're not missing out as far as the aliens are concerned. I'm kind of glad that I live on the other end of the country. It was crazy.

→ i don't want a lot for christmas, there is just one thing i need

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