goetic_bolide | Iyashikei Inbox

[ Upon Octavia's bed when she comes home from school is a plush toy of questionable nature. Scribbled in Stolas' elegant handwriting is a note next to it. ]

I saw this and thought you might like it.

Love, dad.

Octavia, this is Sabriel. Can we talk after class?

Yeah, sure, I have some time this afternoon. What's up?

It's nothing bad, but- I think it's best I say it in person.

Ok. So where do you want to meet up?

The library would be best, I think.

Ok, I'm done with classes in about an hour. What about you?

I'll be done by then.

[Finishing up her transmutation class, Octavia slides her notebook into her satchel, pulling the strap across her shoulder. Her headphones hang around her neck. Students drift along the winding cobblestone paths in clusters—some arguing over sigil accuracy, others levitating their textbooks because walking and carrying things is apparently too pedestrian.

Octavia keeps to the edge of the path, heading to the library to meet up with Sabriel. Even among the other students of Yadah, Octavia was pretty easy to spot. The Goetic demon looks like something that most of the transformation students wished they could pull off.

Heading up the stairs in front, she waits at the top for the other, looking around to see if she can spot Sabriel.]

[Sabriel doesn't stand out quite as much as Octavia, but not many students at Yadah have her deathly pallor. She arrives shortly after Octavia, looking more anxious than usual.]

Octavia- I- wanted to tell you something. Did you see that anonymous post from before? The one discussing necromancy?

Yeah, it's about the only thing that's been interesting on there since Halloween. Trying to figure out who it was?

[Because she wouldn't mind. It seemed like it would be someone who would probably be pretty cool to hang out with.]

You're not going to go on some big lecture about how it's wrong or something like everyone else are you?

No. I know who made it.

[Sabriel swallows, and then forces the words out.]

Octavia, I'm the one who made that post. I'm a necromancer.

[Octavia blinks at Sabriel for a second, feathers giving the faintest ruffle like she’s buffering.]

…You’re the necromancer? Okay. That’s—yeah. Cool. Sure.

[A small shrug, like she’s pretending this is totally normal and not at a complete surprise.]

So… what does that actually mean? Like, are we talking ‘raise the dead in a dramatic thunderstorm’ necromancer, or more ‘I talk to ghosts and they complain about unfinished business’?

More like 'the dead try to rip my throat out so I bind them to my will and banish them' sort of necromancer.

The Dead in my world that linger in Life have- well, they've lost their humanity.

Sounds kind of badass. So all the dead are like these super angry zombies, and you can just tell them what to do?

What about ghosts?

We don't draw much of a distinction between Dead inside of corpses and Dead that exist as spirits. They share

But yes, I can make them follow my commands.

That's cool. So what's with all the secrecy about it?

[It wasn't like there weren't a ton of people doing magic. And even she had the little elemental things she could summon, those cute but creepy things that looked dead.]

Worried about someone finding out?

Father asked me to keep it a secret. He said that the truth would put distance between me and my friends- that it would be a burden to them.

And I didn't know how people would react to it here. Especially with so many Dead around, not hurting anyone.

That sounds kind of dumb. If they're your friends, shouldn't they be cool with it?

[And she didn't really get how it would be a burden either. Being the necromancer, sure, because then people like expect a lot, but being friends with one seemed pretty cool.]

You mean the ones from Hell, or like the dead-dead like the one angel guy? I heard a few of the others talking about him, Adam.

I thought so, but- father disagreed. And he's- well, he can be strict about some things.

And I mean... both of them? They all just feel dead to me.

Yeah, well… sometimes dads just suck.

[Octavia just states it flatly, not dramatically — the same bored tone she generally used.]

Either he had some grand, complicated reason he never bothered explaining… or he was just being a jerk. Honestly? Could be either.

[Octavia shrugs, feathers shifting slightly with the motion. She doesn’t look especially worked up about it — more detached than anything. When the topic shifts to sinners feeling like dead people, though, her expression flickers — faint curiosity cutting through the apathy.]

…That’s weird. So do I feel dead to you?

Not really, no. I think it's just anyone who's died.

Huh, that's pretty sick. But there seem to be a lot of them coming in lately.

So are you taking classes on it or something else here? If the professors won't tell you anything about it, I bet Agatha would.

[ He knocks on the door shortly after his talk with Blitz and waits for her invitation before entering. ]

May I sit?

[Octavia was sprawled across her bed, half-curled around her guitar, fingers lazily picking out something low and moody when the knock cut through the room. She paused mid-note, blinking toward the door, surprised and half expecting it to be Snow.

She set the guitar carefully against the wall, before sitting up and making a little more room for him to join her.]

…Yeah. Come in, I guess. Everything alright?

[ Stolas fully enters the room, closing the door behind him and moves to sit on the edge of her bed. He reaches out to take one of her hands. ]

Everything is fine. I wanted you to be the first to know, I had a conversation with Blitz about the state - or lack of - our relationship. It wasn't something we had discussed in the time since the trial or my arrival here. Being banished, but more importantly unable to see or speak to you, it was a devastation that I struggled with.

[ Not having his medication didn't help. ]

Regardless, we have decided to pursue a proper relationship while we're here. Having the two of you in my life makes me happy and while I still intend to attend therapy for myself, I also want this. A partner in Blitz and my beautiful, brave daughter.

[Octavia let's her hand rest in his, intertwining their fingers a little. She looks down at where their fingers meet first—at how carefully he’s holding her. Like he's preparing her for something she probably want to hear.

Her shoulders rise and fall once. Slow.]

Oh, the two of you finally talked, huh?

You know it was kind of obvious when you moved in? The two of you really suck at this though. But I'm glad you're trying.

[ It's terrifying, the relationships he has. Afraid to fuck it up and lose the people he cares about the most. But Stolas is learning that silence speaks just as loud and can play a role in hurting those same people. ]

We did.

[ Ah, Stolas has a faint smile at that. ] I never stopped having those feelings for him, it was... a matter of everything else. I was a mess, even when I moved in and I still have a long way to go. We both have a lot more to work out, but we're going to try to do it together. Without screaming at each other.

[ Don't think he didn't see her posts on the network about fight club. Why she might feel that way about people deliberately hurting each other. ]

[Octavia snorts softly at that last part—without screaming at each other—and shakes her head.]

Yeah, that’d be a good start.

[She shifts her weight, tucking one leg under herself. Her free hand absently picks at a loose thread on her sleeve. She’s not pulling away from him, but she’s not entirely relaxed either. It’s complicated. It always is.]

You guys are… loud. Even when you think you’re being subtle. Even if it's not your voice.

It’s not that I didn’t want you to be happy. I just— I don't want to be left behind again. I don't want you to go off. I don't want him to wake up and realize that it's all too much one day either.

That I'm too much.

[ He knows Blitz can be loud, the way they've gotten into arguments when Via was away at her mother's. But he's going to take Lucifer's advice on dealing with it. ]

Yes, I'm aware and will endeavor to be less open about our relationship in that manner, Blitz will... be Blitz. Though our relationship has changed a great deal from what we had, he is not hesitant to say what is on his mind and is part of why I care for him.

[ His free hand reaches out to brush the feathers away from her face gently. ]

Blitz is well-aware how important you are to me, just as Loona and Snowy has been to him. We will always put ourselves aside if it's for one of you girls.

Darling Starfire. You are everything, but never too much. Now, I'm the overly dramatic one in the family. [ It's a light tease that fades away. ] Via dear, would you like to come with me sometimes, to therapy?

I understand that all the things that happened between me and your mother have affected you deeply, and that talking to Angel and Hollyberry along with all of your friends have helped you deal with it. Just... do you feel that's enough for you? To help quiet the voice that says "I'm not enough" or "I'm too much" or... as mine often says it "that I'm fucking it all up". [ The first two are thoughts he has and hearing Octavia say "That I'm too much" makes his heart clench in a terrible way. That perhaps she shares in his depression and those negative voices in her head. ]

Edited Date: 2026-02-15 05:17 am (UTC)

I wasn't talking about that. The way you look at each other, the way you two have been acting around each other since you came back. You might just now be talking about it, but you've been doing a whole thing the whole time.

[As Stolas brushes the feathers from her face, Octavia stares, her pink eyes fixed on him. AS if trying to figure out if what she's seeing is real, or just some dream.]

I don’t know. They make it easier to breathe. But they’re not…I don't know what to say a lot of the time. And you say that I'm not too much, that I'm not fucking it all up, but it feels that way. A lot of the time.

…I’m scared, what if I go and they say there's something wrong with me? Or that they realize that I am the problem. That I'm the reason you have to go in the first place?

Ah, yes. It's... not something I noticed doing much. Perhaps because I became accustomed to it while living with him after the trial and simply not being entirely ready to approach the situation for many reasons.

[ He thought as much, and it's why he brought it up in the first place. Able to recognize the signs now that Stolas is more aware of them in himself.

Now he tugs her to sit in his lap and hug her close. ] It's okay to be scared, Octavia, but there is nothing wrong with either of us. We just need help that we can't seem to find on our own right now. No one will ever tell you that you're the problem or my reason for going. Sometimes, we merely need the support and guidance of others to find the voices underneath those negative words.

Do you like living with him? I mean—when you moved in with him after the trial, you said you had to get… used to things. And you said you didn’t notice you were doing ‘a whole thing.’ So is this like that?

[Octavia’s fingers curl instinctively into the front of his coat as he pulls her into his lap. She lets herself fold in, knees tucked slightly against his sides, forehead hovering near his collarbone before she finally looks up at him again. Her eyes are still searching. Still wary.]

If I go to talk to someone… you’ll be there, right? You won’t just drop me off and leave me in some room with some stranger who’s going to stare at me, writing down everything that's messed up with me? And how do you know? How do you know they won’t say I’m the problem?

I do. I appreciate all he did for me after the trial and being asked to live with him here? He made me feel as if I was wanted by someone - romantically. [ Since he knows Via has always needed and wanted him. ] Most of the things I have to get used to here are from losing my title and nobility. We had servants who looked after us in the manor and I find myself a bit adrift when it comes to helping out around the house. Now that I'm doing better, I want to be able to do these things to take care of myself, be an equal partner, and caregiver for you girls. Being a family, feeling like this is a home, ah doing 'a whole thing' - they've only helped me.

[ To reassure her that it's only been positive changes. That this is what he's wanted in his life - including her to start his journey to becoming happy. He runs a hand over her back in a comforting manner. ]

If you want me to be in there with you, I will. Ask me to leave and I'll honor that, be right outside waiting for you. You can also be there in the room with me listening if that helps at first. How do I know? Because you are the one thing that was ever good in my life. The reason I got out of bed even when at my lowest points, and...

You asked me if you were the reason I needed to take medication, and the answer is: I wanted to be better for you. The medication was my attempt to be the father I wanted to be for you. I just couldn't see that removing us from the situation, divorcing your mother sooner - I couldn't see how much damage she was doing to the both of us. No matter what I did, it was never enough for her.

Edited Date: 2026-02-16 05:33 pm (UTC)

Yeah… when I was in the dorms, I kind of blew all my allowance on Hoober Treats. The cafeteria food was—ugh. It was always eggs.

[She exhales slowly as his hand moves along her back, shoulders sinking a little, feathers settling as some of the tightness eases.]

…They’re not going to make me take them too, are they?

And… um.

Do you think Blitzø could… maybe sit in? Eventually. Not right away. Just—after I get used to it.

There were things I said when he showed up. Stuff I kind of said to him when he came back… about his job and if he was there for me. And if we’re actually doing this whole… family therapy, trying thing…I guess we should probably talk about them.

Ah, yes. Blitz fed me eggs on my first morning after the trial...

[ It was unpleasant. He just can't see the appeal. ]

No one can make you take them, but they may offer them. If you decide to go without, then that's fine with me.

We can certainly ask him, my owlette. Whenever you're ready to talk to him about it. [ Stolas does peer at her curiously. ] Why do you think he would come to assassinate you?

[Thinking about that again, that time, made her curl up again as she drew in on herself.]

You had, or the other you, the one before, just left. Everyone had. And then he’s just there—standing right in front of me—with a gun. What was I supposed to think? It made sense in the moment. You were trying to get away from everything and here I was messing it up.

[ His eyes close as he leans down to rest his forehead against the top of Octavia's head. Just for a moment. Then lifts it to be able to cup her chin so that neither of them can hide their faces. ]

You do know now that... he would never do that, right? Regardless of anything else, that is not something that would ever occur by any means. [ To be staying here with Blitz means she must on some level know that. ]

Getting away from everything does not mean you. The Goetia have been... stuck in its ways since our creation, the rules we have to follow, the arranged marriages, being taught to believe our lives have more value than any other individual in Hell. It's true that I never wanted to marry Stella, not since the day I saw her picture as a young nestling myself. To have a child with her.

[ His thumb brushes over her cheek. ]

The day you came into my life was the happiest and most beautiful moment of my marriage to her. I'm sorry that I failed to show you that each and every day.

Yeah, I do now.

[They'd worked past that part pretty quickly, but she'd still said it, and had never really apologized and addressed it afterward. It'd just been ignored after she moved in.]

But he doesn't follow those rules. He's different, isn't that the whole reason why you want to be with him? Because he's not like us, not a goetia, not some spoiled noble, not self-important.

[Tears begin welling up again as her eyes lock on his once more.]

It hasn't felt like that since I was little. It just seemed like the two of you would rather yell at each other than anything else. Like, I was just something that was trapping you both in a situation that you both hated.

[ A soft sigh of relief. ]

Good. [ He can understand wanting to talk about it that, that Blitz would have just accepted her feelings and then moved on. ]

Blitz is... he's many things to me. I've loved his sense of humor since I first laid eyes on him as a child. He was the first who ever showed me something beyond the threads that we have wrapped ourselves up in. What he showed me was that we could be ourselves if we just went against everything we were thought to believe was right about our way of living.

[ Stolas brushes her cheek gently. ]

I know, my owlette. I was trapped in a situation I hated, but it's the fault of the whole system. Lucifer created the Goetia first so they believe themselves to be of noble birth, they made rules thousands of years ago for all of us to follow. Nobility can only marry nobility, they must produce a cautionary heir to continue the line. I tried to follow this for so long, and I will never regret having you even if it means being with someone I disliked.

What I do regret is not removing us from that situation much sooner. I wanted to make things comfortable so that you would have the family I never did. The longer I stayed the more it felt like I didn't have the strength to do so.

That’s the thing… it never actually felt like a family. Not like what it’s supposed to be.

[Octavia’s voice dips a little, quieter, more honest than she usually lets it get.]

It was basically just two people who hated each other living in the same giant house. That’s it. No warmth, no… normal stuff. Just yelling and pretending everything was fine for the sake of stupid royal appearances.

[She exhales softly, leaning into his hand a little.]

But here it’s… different. Nobody cares that we’re Goetia. No one’s watching us like we’re supposed to act some specific way all the time. No dumb rules, no fake etiquette garbage. I mean—yeah, some of the humans still get freaked out because we’re demons and all—but at least they’re not trying to sacrifice us or stab us or whatever.

I know. Walking away from a situation such as that, it isn't easy.

[ It's a terrifying feeling to feel trapped and with what felt like no other choice. ]

Being here has been freeing in a way I didn't know was possible. Even in Hell after everything, others still looked at me with disdain or treated me differently. Here I can just be Stolas, an individual trying to do better for myself and the people I care about. I'm happy that you found a place here where you're able to be yourself.

I'm glad that you're here too.

[That maybe they could be like when she was younger, when she didn't have all the doubts and everything that she had now. Octavia leaned in hugging him again.]

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