IC contact

[wiseoldbartender]

Husk

Fuck off.

VOICE | TEXT | VIDEO | ACTION

🔥 | NSFW

FROM: SUBJECT: FLINS Husk. I'm not sure I know how... FLINS Lottery Number, Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth... ZEVRAN Were you, by chance, aware that your beloved... FLINS It is January 17th, 2025 CE FLINS January 10, 2026 CE FLINS January 3, 2026 CE FLINS December 27, 2025 CE FLINS December 20, 2025 CE ALASTOR Good day, old friend! FLINS December 13, 2025 CE FLINS December 06, 2025 CE SHROUD/HARU I was told you had a pest problem. FLINS November 29, 2025 CE ZEVRAN My dearest of furred friends! FLINS For the sake of convenience... FAMILY CHAT So we got a pig now. LAPIS I know you don't want a big fuss... EDWARD If you want to talk about it or... DIARMUID I heard what happened. CEREZA Knock knock, my little Sourpuss~ CAMILLA Say, Husk, you wouldn't happen to have any recommendations... LAPIS Father's Day SAMPO/LAPIS/JINWOO Husker Agapov. On the next night in... LAPIS Are you at your place right now? EUNIE how's this month's mission mildred

TO: SUBJECT: FLINS Y'know how you think shit can't possibly... ZEVRAN WEE WOO WEE WOO FLINS Okay Baby, I'm gonna need you to do me a solid... JUN Flins asked me to message you... JINWOO Jinwoo, get your ass here... SHROUD Whatever higher power is in control... FAM CHAT What does it mean when you dream DIARMUID So. Are we gonna talk about the thing. FAM CHAT Weird request. One of you needs to come... BLADE Got a sword from that sketchy shopkeeper. ELLIOT Hey, Elliot. Think shit's calmed down enough... DIARMUID Order came. At Jinwoo's place. LAPIS That FUCKING son of a BITCH HUA CHENG Shit's getting bad. LAPIS One of those flying boxes gave me a new phone EUNIE You might wanna stay away from your regular place for a while.

code by cawaii

Comments

Text | UN: RadioWaves; nebulously mid to late December

[sindeerly]

[Well, well, well, what a curious little app that has installed itself onto Alastor's phone. He's very much not a fan of using it, but needs must and all that. Scrolling through it out of curiosity (and not at all caring if it has malware on it), he comes across a very interesting profile. Tapping on it, he sees the face of a familiar "old friend."

And here he thought it would be harder than that to contact Husk!

Try not to frighten him overmuch, Alastor. Remember thine oath.

What a killjoy. However, he also can't deny that Michael is correct. Just casually showing up at Husk's residence would be detrimental to his goals. He'll need to get permission. So, Alastor quickly makes up his username and sends a text over to Husk.]

Good day, old friend! Imagine my surprise to see that you're here. Fate truly has an ironic sense of humor, doesn't it?

[wiseoldbartender]

[Husk passes his phone a cursory glance when it buzzes, telling him he has a new message. Maybe it's Flins with some nonsense, or Zevran asking him stupid questions about a porno he saw. Usual traffic he sees. He doesn't recognise the username, immediately, doesn't think much of it. He idly clicks it open and-

The userpic makes him stop dead. He looks at the picture. At the username. Those two things together make a horrible, nasty picture that makes his blood run ice cold.

No. No. Absolutely fucking not.

This has to be a trick. Or... some bullshit with the city. He's hallucinated Alastor before. This is probably that. It has to be that. It's just... it's just this fuckass city messing with his head again.]

I don't want any. Fuck off. I ain't doing this seeing stuff bullshit today.

[He closes the message. Puts his phone down. He steps away from it. He leaves it there for about five minutes. Before he checks it again. The message is still there. Alastor is showing as an actual contact on the app. Real as anyone else he's talked to on here.

No. This cannot be real. But it looks so very fucking real. He can feel panic starting to grip his chest, an icy claw settling against his lungs and squeezing tight. He tries to take a breath in but air's not getting in so good.

Fuck. Fuckfuckfuckfuck. Decades worth of horrible, truamtic reminders come crashing in, telling him this might actually be real and if it is, he's fucked. He JUST talked about this with his family. It can't be happening. He's finally been able to start to build something out of his miserable life and now- ]

No. You can't BE here.

[sindeerly]

[Yeah, this is going about as well as both of them thought it would. Michael sighs in his mind, but Alastor is a dab hand at ignoring the Archangel when it suits him. He waits patiently before seeing Husk respond again a few minutes later.]

Unfortunately, I am here!

I was going to only pop in and check on an old friend, perhaps catch up a little after all this time, but I'll admit that the city has me quite curious!

[Alastor.

Ugh. Fine. He'll cut to the chase.]

Although, I daresay that the topic of most importance would be that of our contract together, wouldn't it?

[wiseoldbartender]

[ It's going super well! Husk is trying his best to stave off a panic attack. He needs to contact Shroud - but they hadn't even had the time to formulate a solid plan - something that has everything in place and ready to go now. Can he buy time? He doesn't know - he doesn't know how much time they'll need. Fuck - when he talked to Shroud it was a far-off thing that might not even happen. Not something that would happen less than a goddamn month after.

The city has me quite curious.

This is the last thing he wants. Something he was genuinely worried about. Alastor turning his attention to the city and doing... well. What Alastor does best. His hands are shaking, but maybe he can keep the Radio Demon's attention away from the city at large. Not forever. Probably not even longer than a few hours. But better than nothing.]

Don't. You don't gotta go into the city. Ain't nothing there that's interesting for you. It's a city fulla Charlies. You really wanna put yourself through that right off the bat?

[ He's wracking his brain, trying to figure out how to keep Alastor put. But then he drops that on him and it's like ice in his veins. Unconsciously, his hand goes to his neck. The collar isn't there, but it could be. In a second. Alastor could snap his fingers and make it snap around his throat - just tug on those unbreakable chains and bring him to heel. A reminder his life is not his own.

He's been dreading the day Alastor comes to collect. He's been dreading it for a year. He's had fucking nightmares about it. And now here they are. He swims through the fear and dread to find the thing he hung onto desperately to try and survive it the first time around. When he grasps it, he holds onto it as hard as he can: tired apathy. Push it all down until you don't feel anything. He can't hurt you if you don't let yourself feel a single damn thing to start with. ]

Right to it, huh? The fuck do you want already?

[sindeerly]

[Damn it. Husk saying that Kaisou is full of Charlies is perhaps the best and worst thing to say to Alastor. Michael's going to be expecting a lot from him. It's a city that could be under siege and the Archangel will expect Alastor to use his power to protect these people.

So, he'll just skip right over that instead of addressing it at this second!]

Well, there are two things to discuss about our contract.

The first is that it's been null and void since the day of our reincarnations. Even if I wasn't already spoken for, I would have no desire to pursue a renewal! Truly, The Order made a highly amusing miscalculation in assuming that there was a reincarnation clause!

The second is that my current contract has stipulated that I'm to be more... altruistic, shall we say. Meaning that so long as nobody here harms me, I will not harm them in self-defense.

[wiseoldbartender]

[Eat shit and die, Bambi. You learn to deal with the city full of Charlies. Husk hopes they ruin every single day you have from here on out.

He stills as he reads those words. He reads them again, just to be sure. It could be a trick. Alastor's good at tricks, at double-dealing and pulling the goddamn rug out from under people just when they think they have their footing. He doesn't trust this, he doesn't trust Alastor.

...But he'd have no reason to lie about this. His hold over Husk had always been something he'd been obnoxiously smug about. He enjoyed reminding Husk of the lofty heights from which he'd fallen to be little more than an errand boy. Alastor loves having power over people, reminding them he's the biggest fish in the whole goddamn pond. The guy's ego would not allow him to pretend he'd lost a chess piece off his board.

Which means he really is free. Ain't no strings on him. The Order were wrong and he's spent the last year worrying over goddamn nothing. He didn't know how he'd feel if he ever found himself genuinely free. Largely because he never believed he would be. It feels like far, far too much to process all at once, like a wave threatening to pull him under if he's not paying attention. And Alastor is here and in the city, so he cannot afford to not pay attention. That's something he can process later. Once he knows the people he cares about are safe.

He's not going to give Alastor a sliver of emotion over his freedom, though. He's gonna keep with the apathy. It's hard to drop such a chiselled in survival tactic as it is, and frankly, he doesn't want to give the goddamn deer a single glimpse of vulnerability in him. Not a chance. He can fucking choke. ]

No shit. Bet they'd be pissed as fuck about that, they put a lot of their efforts in trying to get you on their line. Mostly because they were power-hungry lunatics. You get how that is.

[There's a significant pause as he digests the other piece of information.]

...Is she here, too?

[They know who "she" is, he doesn't have to say it. That would make sense, as to why Alastor would be here. Why Alastor wouldn't be hurting people. The altruism reeks of Rosie's work. For her own means, of course, but she did so love sending Alastor to do things he catergorically did not want to do.

...Something in the back of his mind presses in. No. Did that- the the fucker find a way out of that? His renewed memories are still in the process of filtering in. Did this tricky asshole get out of his deal with Rosie? And if not Rosie... then who? ]

Or is this something new? Didn't think you'd be stupid enough to put yourself in chains again.

[sindeerly]

[Alastor is a tricky bitch to his core, but it's true that he gains nothing by lying about their contract. He can feel Michael's sternness in the back of his mind giving him a mild headache. Fucking self-righteous turkey.]

Hah! The old Black Order was a lot easier to see through than even they would have liked! They really thought I would want to shackle myself to them? Please, that's just insulting!

[Not just insulting to the Radio Demon, but also to Husk. Reducing the former Overlord to nothing more than bait? Honestly.

Then they come to that question. Alastor is expecting it and he's not enthused. He wants to lash out as Husk says that bit about being chained rankles him fiercely, but—

If that alone is enough to kindle thy anger, then we must seek out something that will help teach thee patience.

—Michael. So. He reigns it in and swallows his pride with a sour squint of his eyes, ears pinning back in his displeasure.]

She'd certainly be more pleasant to deal with. But you're right that it's not her.

When I died and reawakened to my own memories, I got a different visitor.

[He doesn't want to say it. He really doesn't. However, the pressure in his head increases and Alastor sighs deeply before ripping off the bandage.]

Saint Michael, the Archangel himself. He's decided to make me his pet project at redemption.

For the record, he's terrible at it.

[wiseoldbartender]

The place was run by complete nutjobs, Al. Their grip on reality was fuckin' shaky at best.

[Husk wasn't half as insulted about it. It had been a miserable thing to learn, but it HAD kept him alive. His natural inclination towards disobedience did not exactly make him a great Guardian. If they didn't think they could have used him to trap the Radio Demon, he probably would have been sealed or dead by now. Small mercies, he supposes.

He can guess it's rankled the deer - good, that's exactly what he's aiming for. Let the fucker be miserable about all of this. And then Alastor drops that information and he has to stand there for a moment, staring at his phone.

Not Rosie. But an Archangel. Exactly the level of being that Alastor decided he was capable of going toe-to-toe with. Like an idiot. The irony is stunning. It's probably a good thing that this is over text, because the laughter coming out of Husk probably would have made this a million, billion times worse.]

HA HA. No WAY. THE Archangel Michael is rolling about your nasty ass head?

[WHEEZE. Okay. So he's just had a shedload of trauma dragged up and Alastor is still deeply, DEEPLY dangerous and he's not stupid enough to expect this makes the Radio Demon anywhere near safe. But this? This is fucking DELICIOUS karma. ]

Oh my FUCK. And he wants to make you his special little redemption project. No fucking way. Even Charlie had better sense than to pull that on you! Ha ha! Is he fucking high?

You must fucking hate this.

[sindeerly]

[There's the ridicule. Deserved from Husk, granted, but it still galls the Radio Demon. He's never liked being mocked or laughed at. However, Husk is most certainly an innocent in the eyes of the Archangel, and thus he must reign in his own emotions.

Still, it's wise of Husk to not believe that Michael fully disarms him. Alastor is not an intentional danger to the city or its residents, but he also won't hesitate or hold back in defending himself if he's attacked first.]

Yes. Quite.

[He's so mad. Get upset about it, Bambi. Alastor truly doesn't want to say more, so Michael kindly takes over to be helpful.]

Alastor must do charity work as benefits those who are innocent and in need, even if it means using his own magic. However, the Radio Demon is also my avenger for the downtrodden and the defenseless. I beseech thee to take care with this in mind, Husker.

[The Archangel's control weakens and Alastor grumbles under his breath. Still, it's probably best that it comes from Michael rather than the deer himself.]

[wiseoldbartender]

[ He has earned this ridicule! He's suffered a great deal and this is his reward for it. He knows Alstor will hate it. Alastor might know how to get under Husk's skin - they knew each other for a very long time in their past lives, after all. But that means Husk knows what gets under Alastor's skin, too. Payback's a bitch, Bambi.

He knows Alastor too well. The guy is plans upon plans upon more plans. He can never be completely certain the guy won't be working out an exit strategy. Even if it took him decades. Centuries. He's surprised when it's clear the angel has taken over. Interesting.

CHARITY work is fucking hilarious. The mental image of Alastor helping "those in need" will sustain him for months on end. What a miserable thing to ask of someone as self-serving as Alastor is.]

The "avenging" part sounds more his style, but more for himself than anyone "downtrodden". Never known him to help anyone but his own fucking self.

[What a miserable turn of events for the Radio Demon. If Husk hadn't had an afterlife of misery caused by the man, he might feel sorry for him. As is, he can enjoy the payback.]

I ain't stupid, Al. I'm gonna need proof that this is straight up and not you playing games. I got people here I need to protect. People I don't want you fucking with.

[sindeerly]

[This is definitely misery for Alastor. It's been 94 years of being forced to help people outside of himself. He's hated every single solitary second of it. He's dug in his heels and made it as difficult as possible for Michael.

But it's also been 94 years of coerced habits. Once or twice, he's caught himself about to do something charitable on his own volition without prompting. Those one or two times, Alastor has always been able to immediately pull back from following through (5). That means there's a possibility, and that possibility rankles him. It makes Alastor more determined to prove Michael wrong.]

Perish the thought! Had you immediately trusted my word, I would have had to ask for the whereabouts of the real Husker Agapov!

So, what proof would you ask of me? I would prefer to only do this song and dance the one time. As Mikey is so helpfully telling me in my ear, it will need to put your own mind at rest definitively the first time rather than prolong this process.

[wiseoldbartender]

[ Husk would bet good money on the fact it made Alastor miserable. He'd be more surprised to hear that a small part of it was working. Sure, Charlie brought out... something in him in their past lives, but Husk was never fully on board that it wasn't part of some grander scheme. One never can tell when it comes to Alastor. ]

Yeah, well. I've known you too fucking long to think otherwise. I know how you work, Asshole.

It ain't me you gotta worry about. [Even with his Overlord powers, Husk knows he hasn't got a single chance against Alastor. If he had, he wouldn't have got his fool ass in the situation it was last time in the first place. ] I got someone who might be able to check it. I'm gonna message him, and you ain't gonna be an idiot and make yourself known to this damn city until I get this squared away.

There's a lotta people here who want you super fuckin' dead. You show your dipshit face before I convince them not to do that, and shit'll get real messy real fast. I don't want my people hurt, you probably don't want the fallout from that. So sit tight.

[sindeerly]

I'm so flattered that you've managed to mobilize an entire city against me!

[Of course he would be.]

Not to worry, Husker, I have no plans to squander my second chance like that! Just let me know where and when to meet up.

[wiseoldbartender]

Don't be. My aim was to NOT have them gung ho attack you, I don't want my people getting turned to fucking paste. They're just idiots who don't listen. My way of dealing with you was a lot less fucking bloody.

Okay, he's willing to look into this. Do you want him to come to you? Or... neutral ground or what?

[sindeerly]

Isn't that just the way of hero-types?

Why don't we make it neutral ground? I would rather not have my place of residence known to someone who may or may not try to kill me!

[wiseoldbartender]

Unfortunately.

That's fair. I don't want you anywhere near here, either. [ Because if Alastor so much as looks at his kids funny, all bets are off. ] How about the entrance of the state park? Not so much people there this time of the year. Outta the city proper.

[sindeerly]

That's acceptable. I shall meet the two of you there so long as your friend is agreeable, too.

[wiseoldbartender]

He's agreeable. See you there, and we'll see how straight up this is.

[sindeerly]

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