Retreat! (RP)

Persephone makes sure they are out of earshot of Reginald for a moment and says, "Henry, I promise we can talk after this is over, ok? Tonight." Then she catches a whiff of the smell.

oh no. this... this is not good. Nothing good is waiting for the winner...

Then, so that Reginald and Henry can hear, but not any others, she whispers, "I can find it. Follow me." And she beelines straight for the source of the smell.

if I can make it there first... Heh, it can't take my soul! It's too late for that. And if it wants a fight...

She breaks into a flat out sprint. She's in excellent shape, even more so now that she's demon-powered.

Persephone is sprinting toward the source of the internal scent when she hears Benji. Glancing over, she sees him and mouths 'demon!' And continues her sprint.

Emma hears her name called, but she doesn't slow, or turn. Let Benji delay Persephone. Her eyes are fixed on the path ahead. Her hand finds the top of the low fence, and without hesitation, she swings her leg over.

She was going to be the first to reach it. All it takes is one short dash....

As Persephone nears the portal, she shouts, "NO! She is not for you! Release her!"

Her friend is in danger, being sucked into an infernal hell hole. She. Will. Not. Allow it.

As she sprints, she screams a bloody roar and calls forth The Devil Inside!

Emma jumped over the fence, expecting to land on soft, wet grass.

The sudden drop took her breath away. She fell hard, and fast, spinning in the darkness. She couldn’t tell which way was up, or down. It all took a couple of seconds, but it felt like an eternity. The air rushed past her, and she flailed helplessly, desperate to try and grab of hold to something.

Then something grabbed her ankle.

It was sharp, and tight, yanking her upward, slowing her descent. Her body jerked. The fall that could have killed her ended up only frightening her beyond her wits end.

Heart hammering in her chest, she felt the ground underneath her, not pavement, or grass, but packed earth, uneven beneath her hands. The smell hit her almost at once. Something rotten, with a metallic edge to it. Her fingers brushed around something sticky, and she recoiled in terror…

What happened? Where was she?

She couldn’t breath, gasping tightly for air but it seems like none reached her lungs. Fidgeting, she pulled her phone and turned on the flashlight. It was a soft light, not nearly enough to illuminate the entire underground cavern. She was instantly sorry that she did. Rotting carcasses. Blood all over the floor. And a demon standing just next to her, moth like wings folded behind her.

She froze, and then there was a glimmer of recognition in her eyes

"Pers!" Her voice caught in her throat, and the tears came fast, almost before she could process it. "I’m sorry. I’m so sorry" she fell into her arms, sobbing like a little girl

All Emma wanted to do was go to a cool party, and dazzle everyone with her beauty, and get everyone to like her. And now she was sitting in a black, bottomless pit, and her pretty dress was ruined, and her knees were bruised, and the entire party was a sham to get HER here to sacrifice her to some horrible eldritch monster (and she's not even a virgin), and Henry doesn't care for her, and Pers must be angry with her, and she doesn't even care about this stupid cult, she just want to be home, sitting on her sofa, and drinking her coffee, and reading a safe book, and kissing David, and, and, and...

Her breathing came rapidly, and she felt like she was choking. All she could do was sob helplessly over Persephone's shoulder, mumbling an occasional 'sorry', as if she were a priest giving her the last rites.

In demon form, it is all Persephone can do to keep herself calm. She wants to rage, to rend, to tear, and terrify. But her friends need her to be Persephone right now, not ... the demon.

Persephone stands there, her hand on Emma's shoulder, trying to calm her. It must be a strange sight indeed for Benji to see: Persephone's body is twisted unnaturally, her bones and joints bending in all the wrong directions; her skin is rubbery but translucent, revealing black blood, stone-gray sinewy muscles, and blood red bones; her eyes are illuminated with flame as smoke pours out, like two smoking torches; sprouting from her back are two large wings that resemble the death's head moth, though obviously much larger and more robust; her hands end in serrated, bony claws; and around her head, a halo of oily black smoke and buzzing flies circles, like a mockery of an angelic halo.

Even though she is trying to comfort Emma, her voice comes out like an atonal harmony of screams from across a chasm. She says, "It's OK, Emma. Let's just focus on getting out of here. Oh, Benji! Uh, don't worry, It's Persephone. This is my... well... my demon form. We attended a 'party'; I wanted to try to uncover the demon behind it, as well as figure out the purpose of the little recruiting event. Honestly, I am not sure what Emma's goal was. Well, it seems that we will be meeting the demon soon, as we have entered its domain. And yeah, the 'party' and subsequent game was actually an elaborate sacrificial ritual. And we're the sacrifices."

Persephone flapped her moth-wings and rose into the air, hoping to get a better look around at where they were. She hoped she would. not have to call upon her patron for help; she was mortally afraid that she had already pushed that Debt too far...