I like unleashing unknowable horrors and long walks at the beach

Basil had reached max cute tier tonight.

Because it was date night! Gabriel Baltimore was taking him out to a night club (that wasn't his own), which seemed a little odd at first, but Basil assumed there was a good reason for it. He wasn't naive, there was probably another motive behind going here, or… something else entirely. But he wasn't about to worry about it too much before anything happened, either.

He trusted that whatever the real plan was, it would be interesting, and he was always up for being along for the ride.

Anyway, since this was something they were actually calling a date, Basil was taking it seriously enough to not just wear the usual sleek dark sweater and jeans combo- not that he looked bad in that, mind you, nothing of the sort! Simply, there was normal, and there was date night.

Basil was quite dolled up in his short skirt, stockings, and many little black bows. Gift-wrapped, adorable eldritch.

Basil lazed in Gabriel's car as they drove, closing his eyes and listening to the quiet hum of magical energy. It doubled, when they were together, and it was always so tempting to simply lay back and let it settle against him, feel it all. It was rather intoxicating.

And ah, Basil wasn't familiar enough with the island yet to have known from the scenery, but it was no wonder his lovely demon date had chosen a club so far out. The young man followed the other to a foreboding entrance (if you could call it that) into the thick forest.

For a moment, he could only give a bubbly laugh in response to Gabriel's words. Oh, god, how did this man always manage to offer up just what Basil wanted, before he even really knew he wanted it? His smile curved his mouth pleasantly, and he held back more giddy sounds of amusement at the offered hand. Were they going to hold hands? Truly? He accepted this, curling his fingers snugly between Gabriel's and giving a squeeze. He leaned into the man's side briefly as well, nuzzling, before pulling back to be rather bouncy.

"Why, I couldn't think of anything more date-worthy."

And he had worn boots today. He was ready for anything.

Manta Carlos was such a gem, and Basil was continually happy to be here. Who knew fucking up majorly and causing a non-natural disaster back in America was going to offer him up such nice things? If he'd known, he likely would've done it all earlier.

But ah, well. You were supposed to live in the present, weren't you? And the future. He liked how the future looked, right now. He wasn't, in that moment, at all concerned with looking back.

Basil peered around excitedly as they went deeper in, all his senses becoming far sharper with the dark, really waking up. And as well as the lacking light, there certainly wasn't any lack of sinister about. This was his element by birthright. Awful filth and neon lights, those things were home, or as close to it as he could get. Here though, the air was far crisper than it was in the parts of the city he frequented. He easily missed the heavy smoke and lingering smell of blood.

Basil tilted his head up to Gabriel, humming. "Oh, my, we have cults here?" He laughed. "Ah, of course we do, what am I saying? That's fantastic! I've always wanted to see one in person. Just not the same otherwise, right?" He turned this over in his head. They definitely fit the category, and that would make it very easy to cause a little drama. Again, though, this man probably wasn't only making the effort to be around them for harmless teasing. Cults, cults in a place like this especially, were likely to have hoarded away some very interesting loot. Or they'd just been causing trouble. And hey, there were plenty of possibilities Basil couldn't even guess at with his sadly limited information.

For the time being, he was just pleased to be brought along, even if it meant being at all used. It was still a date. This was exactly Basil's idea of a good date.

Basil automatically copied the other's grin, and a few eyes popped up on his skin. "Sounds fun. Should I be making myself more uncomfortably presentable? Tell me what I can do."

"Simple enough," Basil murmured. Except, not quite. A teen boy dressed like a schoolgirl, an Eldritch god? He barely had control over his own abilities. He couldn't bring himself to protest, though, even weakly. Couldn't consider screwing it up. They could make this work, right? Force it if needed.

They continued in further. These menacing trees were precious! Basil very quietly took some pictures of them. He wondered if Gabriel might agree to some cute selfies later, because the two of them were just as cute, if not more so.

The sound of footsteps from Basil faded the more the path darkened, while skeletal branches closed in to meet him. He brushed the edges of his fingers across them. He melted into the ugly, beautiful parts of the forest and made them his own, sighing along with it, feeling any signs of human anxieties fully slip away.

He laughed when he was caught, held, and welcomed Gabriel's attention. It felt all too easy, lazy kissing and perhaps just a bit greedier magical entanglements. Those were fascinating, and he tried to learn something new from every taste he got. However... the reasons Gabriel's fingers were on his garter, and why Basil reached out to further guide them upwards, weren't anywhere near as complicated. It was simple, and left pleasant heat in his system.

With the chanting, Basil remembered he wasn't only here to have Gabriel get under his skirt, as much as that was part of it. Curiosity won over casual lust, as sex could wait, while this cult situation was on a bit more of a schedule. (Besides, it was all foreplay one way or another, wasn't it?)

This… oh no, this was priceless. Basil covered his mouth, a goofy smile on his face, edges twitching with the effort of holding back laughter. His eyes quickly flickered about, taking in the robes and surroundings, the silly props, with so much delight. Ah, right out of a movie set.

"So classic!" Basil said, starting in on an excited ramble, although keeping his voice hushed. "Must be inconvenient, though. I wonder how many cults have modernized? Staying like this really is dedication. That, or stupidity. Either way, it's definitely good for us, haha."

At the question, Basil blinked once, and focused in again. He hadn't paid enough attention, at first. He knew it'd change the tone.

"It's crude," Basil said, quiet and very certain.

He frowned, tilted his head, and went on. "Everything is. I like the enthusiasm, but they've misinterpreted and stumbled in so many things." He almost giggled again, because the dancing was getting to him, but coughed instead. "They're trying to… open things. How quaint."

Even still, something definitely seemed to want to crack open above the great skull. Faint purple edges of an invisible, breaking wall strained, threatening to burst rather violently at one wrong move. The magic of the forbidden forest didn't like it much, far too foreign, and not yet respectably overpowering like Basil's was.

Speaking of that, since he'd moved closer, he was affecting things. An anchor for their shaky attempts at eldritch magic to really latch onto. That totem, whatever it was, wanted him. Or was it the other way around? He couldn't tell anymore. Want was want.

"They're not summoning a god," He hissed. "Not like they could tell the difference. It'll be hungry, either way, and that's all that matters." His fingers twitched at his sides.

Entertainment, spite, hunger. Everything familiar, and somehow, more distant than ever.

"They're going to keep being distracted, and if what they're doing succeeds, I can take care of it." He raised his eyebrows. "That would likely end up a bit more dramatic, as well- especially if you wanted to end this with winning over, rather than blood. Mortal blood, that is."

Basil's energy continued to buzz. "You know. If something rightfully belongs to you, why shouldn't a supporter- especially those starved for acknowledgement- simply... hand it over?"

His expression was almost innocent.

Basil eyed Gabriel. He could practically smell the smugness on the man, which was quickly becoming a rather normal thing. It was amusing, rather charming within that, so he didn't see a problem with it. He hummed with quiet acknowledgement, then moved on.

"I suppose you could say that…" Basil's smile and tone had a dry sort of humor to it. An inside joke was somewhere here, one that he hadn't fully grasped yet, but he felt in an instinctual way (just like the 'plan'). There was something about this whole thing that was absolutely hilarious, just waiting to be figured out, and he wasn't going to leave any of this alone until he knew everything.

He didn't have time to question Gabriel, as what he apparently needed to do was already happening. A connection was established through a simple, chaste touch, and the floodgates opened. Basil's excitable energy kicked up a fuss immediately, tearing into the humanoid visitor, more curious than malicious but harmful all the same. Corrupting.

Basil shuddered, trying to pull back a bit, even though giving up the disgusting, crawling warmth of squirming around in the head of another powerful being wasn't appealing. He didn't need to do anything he'd regret in the long run, though. Gabriel must have stopped it for him, in the end, as he felt his straying magic fading and dying. That was an odd thing to experience.

Basil blinked owlishly and shook himself off. His aura was only growing more restless, lost specks of power coming back like a hydra. Nothing bothered Baltimore again, at the very least. There were other, less friendly things to eat at now, after all. After his head cleared, that was easy to see. Basil bit at his bottom lip a bit. Hunger… was a different sort of concept to something like him, with purposes beyond survival. At least enjoyment as a motivation was something he could always share with humans.

Gabriel Baltimore was far too pleasant for eating, anyway. However tempting and fascinating the concept was. Basil still wanted it, but he could certainly do it the old fashioned way. Friendly conversation over just… absorbing someone else's being and knowledge. Basil stiffened. Was that something he was supposed to be able to do?

His emotions flashed again. Hunger, greed, the incomparable brightness of knowledge. He wanted. Needed. He tried once again to focus, even though something intense was pressing into him. It was too fast, he couldn't handle it. He didn't want to lose control again, not now, not here.

Basil forced another goofy grin for his demon date, which he knew looked terribly fake, and was more a baring of teeth than a smile at first attempt. Still, they both seemed less than steady. Basil wouldn't call more attention to it than necessary if Gabriel didn't. He stared at the man, studying him again, making all variety of mental notes. Was he seeing things for what they truly were, now? Good.

The Eldritch nodded, more gently pressing at Gabriel with his being this time, testing the link. Seemed workable, even if he'd have to be careful. When he did what he was going to do… he wondered how it'd affect the other. His immortality didn't function quite the same as Basil's, he was pretty sure, but he trusted that the man wouldn't do this unless he felt confident he could survive it.

Basil moved to give the other a fond kiss before slinking back and draping himself in a feature obscuring shadow, eyes popping up, straining with how much they wanted to take in, all the directions they needed to look, all at once. The eyes bulged and fluttered, and filthy magic dripped at his feet, sinking into the ground and poisoning whatever it could, spreading like a disease. If there was anywhere to do this, be this, it was here. If the damage couldn't be recovered from, it could at least be coped with.

Basil crept to the edge of the pit. The air cracked open like an egg, and he watched the similar inky black pour out, leaking onto the skull and cultists. Something long slipped out, trailing its ooze wherever it touched. The creature was thin, slimy, had many legs, and it went on nearly forever. Or at least appeared as though it did, and kept pulling itself out, winding around and settling in the edges of the pit. It was far from properly real, here, leaving its guts everywhere and already making pitiful sounds. A low moan was heard, before it gobbled down one of the easy to reach snacks, screaming prey disappearing down an endless throat.

The rest of the cultists were still. They didn't run, this was what they'd wanted, but Basil could taste their fear. The being from their portal could, too. It opened an eye, peering at them. It reminded him of an eel. It was still hungry. There was nothing else for it to be. The ugly, though somehow sing-song, warbling it offered its food wasn't reassuring.

Basil slid down, and all eyes were on him. His own blinked back unevenly. He smiled, or at least something similar, and started to eat the other creature without a second thought. His mouth certainly wasn't as impressive as its mouth, so he didn't use it so much as his entire being to consume. His own, bigger, and far more solid magical presence filled the trapping space, lapping at everything. It was solely the fact that he was so fixated on the eel that kept him from eating any humans along with it. He held it down as it thrashed, feasting in all senses of the word, the first real meal he'd had in, in…

His head was spinning. Heavy. There was blurred imagery blinding him, devouring, punishing insolence, snapping up anything smaller and weaker than you. Dominance. Supremacy.

Apathy. Stagnant existence. A fate worse than death.

The eel, what was left of it, wound around Basil like a snake while he was agonizing over his own mind (and memories he was quickly losing again). He bit into it, grime down his throat and on his teeth, drinking in black and oily blood. He ate it from the inside out.

Eventually, he was the only monster remaining. Crowned king of filth. The first true member of his own race he'd met, and he'd eaten it alive without a second thought. He felt like he was more than he'd been, and his container thrummed with the power high he'd been left with. He looked at the cultists. He'd saved their (fairly meaningless, really) lives. His gaze fell on their treasures again, and he resisted imitating the earlier greedy warbling of the eel.

"I devoured your false god," Basil told the cult. He reveled in the idea of eating god flesh. The eel hadn't been a god, no, but the idea made it taste sweeter. Amen. "I will replace it. Accept this, or meet the same fate."

And that was that.

Highs usually wore off, especially when they were so intense. Basil waited for it to pass. It didn't. His magic continued to swell and sing, and his fingers twitched. A mix of eyes, shadows, and slick ink blood still coated him from head to toe. He seemed to be adjusting, not burning out.

And, well, he was only half expecting his ominous sounding demands to work. His eyes blinked oddly at this, but he didn't lose confidence in the matter.

He felt deserving. They'd summoned something far lesser than him, as though it should be given this treatment, the artifacts- that was rather insulting. This was the right way of things, and he was all the more radiant and terrible for it. Beneath all the draped over darkness and gore, he flushed with pride.

He looked up, even though he could already tell the portal was gone. He didn't miss it. He thought he would, but there was nothing, nor any regret towards the eel he'd made a feast out of- without even attempting friendly Eldritch conversation. Interesting.

He returned his attention to the cultists, who he seemed to have gained the loyalty of. Oh. Strange, he didn't think the whole lackeys deal would be happening so soon, seeing he was only an apprentice with the whole… villain thing… whoops! Hey, it was probably a good sign! Talent! He was a natural at this.

A bit too much of a natural. He couldn't think about what he'd seen, felt, done, right now. He was still in the action, it wasn't over. This didn't feel like a con anymore, that was all he knew.

When Baltimore spoke through the link, he realized he'd temporarily forgotten the connection was even there. At least his demon seemed unharmed, though Basil wondered how much had been seen and shared, what the other's opinion of everything was.

One definitely couldn't say it was an uneventful date. Whether this fact was negative or positive was up for debate, but Basil felt rather like it'd all turned out better than expected, and he'd already had high expectations. Basil's tastes were just a bit unconventional, so he couldn't speak for everyone.

It was difficult, but Basil tried to pull his energy in closer, rather than having it spilling out everywhere. He didn't want to kill anyone, not when he'd just saved them, and especially not when they were behaving so well. He'd seen characters in fiction attacked by evil cultists countless times, so being on the other side of things, and having them be so polite, was amusing.

Ah, power, what a life-smoothing shortcut.

He wasn't sure how long he could keep up acting the way he had, though- so he didn't. The horror warmed, and spoke. "Lovely! I'm sure we're all going to get along just splendidly, and have a very mutually beneficial future ahead of us!"

He hummed thoughtfully. "There'll be changes, that's for sure, but don't worry! As long as it's serving my species you care about, and properly researching the proper old ways to do these things from now on- you tried, oh yes, but that doesn't cut it here- then everyone will be very happy! My overseeing will bring in many improvements- to technique, morale, and your wardrobes."

Basil clapped his hands together and grinned. "So! Introductions! You can call me Basil, and I'm here with a dear friend. Don't mind him or his touching of anything- he's similarly respectable to your sort, I'm sure, and I don't mind it." As long as sharing is kept in mind, the Eldritch thought mindfully in Gabriel's direction.

"Come on then, don't be shy!" He hovered around, started shaking hands and pestering for names, as well as tugging down hoods. The elder was Bernard. Nice guy, a cute old man who seemed to be determined to treat him very seriously, even when some of the others were starting to half relax (and others were trying not to show signs of their new trauma). Basil gave him a pat on the head, and the spot then had to be cleaned with a robe sleeve. Maybe that's why they wore all black. Perfect for not showing Eldritch ick stains.

What a fun time. Cult adopted, date activity an overall success.