Dire-Straits

Dire-Straits
aliases: "Lionheart", a previous name
"A self-chosen name, excuse you. Now, what about that contract?"
ageless • (contracting) demon • he/him • they/them • citizen • immortal
• eats souls for a living •
• "I promise" should be their copyrighted catchphrase •​

Appearance

Most often in the form of a majestic golden lion, Dire-Straights' anatomy matches that of a regular lion's (save for his tail, which looks like a wolf's) but is a lot larger. On all fours, he is 6'6'' tall, and measures around 8 ft. from nose to tail tip. His weight is, so far, unknown, and no one has yet to actually take measures of him.

When ready to make a contract and while in contract, Dire takes a drastically more humanoid form. His body straightens to reveal that of a rather dapper gentleman, four-piece suit and polished shoes already equipped. His head remains that of a lion's. This reveals him to have smooth, unmarked, darkly-tanned skin. Though the body of Dire-Straits changes, his height, strangely, does not change whatsoever. It remains at 6'6''.

His eyes are a pitch black, void of any pigment or color.




Personality: silver tongued glutton

a demon as silver tongued as he could rival even the trickster god of old.



Dire-Straits is not...often pleasant to talk to. Or with. He remains monotone and bored, only interested if you offer up your soul, which is highly not recommended. His natural drawl is deep and English, mildly accented and proper. He will do his slimy best to get the conversation away from him and reveal your secrets, your regrets, or your desires. Any attempts at insulting him will only make him chuckle and snort blue sparks. Any half-assed attempts at killing him would be greeted with affronted, mildly offended staring.

(Or he won't talk at all, and give you the impression of a simple creature, a safe secret keeper who can't talk in the first place. He'll curl up and purr, look at you with wide, dark eyes, lick you hand and nuzzle. It's therapeutic until his mind invades your's with something along the lines of "That was a stupid decision. Why didn't you just kill them?")

Fortunately, or unfortunately depending, Dire is rather picky. He favors the souls of lively people, the jokers and the lovers, or those with a bright smile and solid opinions. If he has no interest of taking your soul, he probably won't talk to you. It's a thing. But if he's interested, he will stalk, study, and bother the person for weeks.

The demon Dire-Straits is cynical, sarcastic, and dark with humor. Also, he likes to state random observations, lend insight into conversations he is not welcome in, and tell secrets during embarrassing moments. This is part of his tactic: "annoy until breaking point". It doesn't often work, but its so fun to watch them squirm.





Abilities:​

Soul "Eating", or whatever fancy name the demon calls it, figure it out why don't you
– a brief report by Dire-Straits –​

The process of contracting with a human is painful. For the human, anyway. For the demon it's often quite pleasant. Soul contracting could be described as sort of...high, like humans on medication.

After the contract – which does, mind you, include plenty of paperwork downstairs just to bypass several demonic-angelic laws – the spiritual or life-fueling part of the contractee becomes solid. As solid as possible anyway. The soul gathers near the heart into the mortal world, where it can be torn out and slurped down. This process in itself can be excruciating, since I enjoy watching abject terror and pain twist the expression into a horrid thing, and thus do not carry anesthetics with me. After the completion of the contract, down, down, the esophagus it goes.

Imagine falling into an exhibit at the zoo. Be it lion, tiger, bear, whichever predator of your liking. Now, imagine that the zookeepers had forgotten to feed the beast for the last three days, and, oh look, a gift from the gods in the form of a screaming chunk of raw deliciousness. The poor soul would be ripped apart and devoured.

It's like that, except we demons don't eat the flesh. I can't speak for everybody's taste, but human flesh tends to be a bit too stringy and gamy, even when seasoned and paired with wine.

And so, the mangled body of the contractor's would be left, a gaping hole where the soul used to be. To a mortal, it would appear as if something were missing, but the whole body is there (albeit in shreds). You'd be sensing the absence of a soul, the complete absence of life, the part where you literally can't say "they're still with us, in our hearts" or "don't worry, we have a necromancer".

Because those who've given up their soul to a demon cannot be brought back to life. They cannot exist as a ghost. Their spirit will exist solely within the demon themselves, trapped, and used as a power bank.

(Oh souls. They're amazing, but a bit hard to eat without the prerequisite biology.)

I have been studying the implications of retrieving a soul after the Devouring. Could it be possible to make an incision into the demon and remove the soul it ate? Could the soul be restored into the physical body? Could it be possible to turn the devoured soul into another demon? It's not like the friends or family will miss it, since the poor chap is already beyond death.






Sub-section: A Guide to Young Demons – When to Eat the Soul, and other stupid parts of the contract
It is not uncommon for a demon to try and take the soul right after the formation of a contract, without fulfilling any of the contractee's requests. You may feel this urge, just like you feel the urge to maim the angel sitting across from you in the library, eyes colder than your home, which so happens to be hell frozen over.

That's not a good idea. To understand, one must first understand the contract itself. A request must be made in order for the soul to start to manifest. A contract is in place to make sure no half-manifested soul people wander around, since that would lead to attacks by starving demons and a very high body count. Neither upstairs nor downstairs, nor the middleman, want to deal with that bloody mess. The streets would be lined with corpses with half-attached souls and whatnot.

The contract also ensures that the human is just as bound to the demon as the demon is to it. No taken demons can eat other souls, and no taken humans can make any requests through other demons.

The rate at which the soul develops depends purely on the request of the contractee. Want to eat the most delicious sandwich in the world? Sure, as long as no species get wiped out in the process. You could ask one or two more, depending on what the next one is. Want the president to be assassinated? That's pretty much a single-request sort of deal. Want to end the world? That's off limits, unless you've got consent from all sides. (But yes, the contract would be full at just one request with this one.)

These are just by my standards. As a demon, it's your job to follow one of the two pre-written guidelines set by divine law, so choose wisely. Pick the one that suits you the best. But if you're reading this, then that means you've already picked, so good luck with that!

Encourage your contractee to think along a more capitalistic mindset!



It is standard to inform your contractee of the collection date, which can be extended up to a year after the completion of the last task. They may not make any other contracts they can, and some will. This is a warning. It is best to collect the soul as soon as possible, least another demon come after you.
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