#anyway hi I'm also drawing vega right now with an idea from andy and let's see if I can get it done for tomorrow o3o

[pearl-kite]

Here we go round the prickly pear

Redactedverse, gn!Warden, reference to Vega, appr. 1300 words so far, posted in full below and on AO3. The plan is to add more for the bits we don't see in between, I'll chip away at it o3o;;

Their hunger drums against their awareness, featherlight but insistent. Distracting.

They don't have time to be distracted. 

They never have enough time, these days. Twenty-odd years ago their caseload had been far more manageable. Not great, by any means; DUMP dealt directly with demons far less often at the time and so had fewer cases, but there were far fewer demons working with them as well. Over time, the department had begun to shift the line of what they felt they had a right to address and had slowly arrested more and more demons as a result. Unfortunately, they hadn't tried to hire more demons to keep up with the increasing arrests until recently, when the caseloads became ridiculous, and more often than not they have to sacrifice breaks to have half a hope of keeping up. 

Sacrifice meal breaks just to keep working.

Sometimes, when they aren't splitting their attention between the pile of case files on their desk and counting the minutes until their next chance to feed, they're cognizant that it's a poor way to accomplish anything. Working with that endless percussion of a distraction probably wastes just as many minutes as a break to top up on their energy would take, but they can never seem to force themself to just take the time.

Their last scheduled break slipped by forty-three minutes ago, and their next opportunity is when their shift ends in two hours and thirty-two minutes.

Distracted by timekeeping, the sound of a folder dropped atop their pile of files startles them enough that they jump in their seat.

"Fuck's sake, Tyl," they swear, turning a glare on the intruder. Their hand reaches for the file almost on its own and pulls it close.

The other inchoate crosses her now-empty arms across her chest and raises her shoulders nearly to her ears before dropping them. "Sorry, I tried to get your attention, but you were somewhere else." Her smile is tired. Everyone is tired.

Frowning, they glance at the clock in the corner of their monitor. Two hours and seventeen minutes to the end of their shift. Fuck. 

They bite back a grimace and look down at the folder. It's a bit more full than most, likely someone who's been in for a while. Or who's been passed around more than the average case. They flip it open to the first page.

Vega. Sadism demon. Under wards for egregious manipulation of unempowered humans. They've heard about him, but not paid the gossip much mind. 

They flick their gaze back up. "And what am I supposed to do with this? He's not my assignment."

Tyl's smile turns apologetic, nearly a grimace. "He is now." She raises a hand, palm up, as they suck in a breath. "I know, I know, but it's a special case." Any trace of a smile is gone. "No one's been able to get him to talk for more than, like, ten minutes. Admin is starting to get desperate to get his discharge process rolling, and you're next in line to try."

They frown and look back down at the file. There are a lot of papers, yes, but the information on them that they can see with a cursory glance is sparse. "Why am I next in line?"

"Seniority, I think," Tyl's head tilts to the side as she watches them skim. "They've been trying to have the usual teams handle him, but apparently whatever he says has the humans backing out of the case. Maybe they hope he'll behave one-on-one, and your track record means you can work alone, so it kind of makes sense."

They raise a hand to rub at their eyes, both to feel more awake and to push away that nagging hunger. "Is there a rush on this, or can I finish things up and go speak with him tomorrow?" Whatever momentum they had has evaporated, but a little time to understand the demon's background would be nice.

Tyl sucks on her teeth, nose scrunched. "Wouldn't recommend it. Someone earlier tried to just put it off and they ended up with extra duties."

The sigh they huff sounds a bit too much like a growl. "Fine." They straighten up the succubus' file they had been working on and set it aside — they don't really understand why there's still so much literal paperwork these days — then stand, new file in hand. "Thanks, Tyl." They don't sound nor feel particularly grateful.

They nod to each other and depart in separate directions.

As they walk, they look through the file. No time for a deep dive, but they can use more than the cursory glance they've already given it.

The demon had been turned in by an incubus for having manipulated two unempowered humans. Manipulating humans was hardly unusual for a sadism demon, but the brief sketch of the situation outlined in the original admissions form does make the situation feel particularly… unnecessary. And bad enough for an incubus to get involved? Addressing the rationale for it will probably be their main goal.

There had been six attempts to start some sort of rehabilitation to get him discharged in the last month and a half, and they'll be making attempt number seven. A quick skim through the authors of each attempt's record has them rolling their eyes — no wonder. Two counselor pairs were little more than interns, and three of the others were assholes on a good day.

Assholes to demons, anyway. Why humans like that even bother working with demons is something that they've never understood.

The remaining counseling pair was a familiar set of names, and entirely capable. But they had excused themselves for personal reasons, whatever that meant.

All of this meant that most of what was in this file was essentially useless. They can't trust anything the bigots have to say, because they're bigots, and they can't trust the inexperienced counselors that have likely over-analyzed anything they saw in the short time they spoke with the subject.

They check the remaining report.

Attempted to discuss topic with subject. Subject immediately began speaking only to IK (small talk, flattery, etc) and completely ignored WP. IK repeated the same questions, and subject questioned why he was taking orders from WP.  No progress made.

Tyl had already said essentially the same thing. The demon acted differently to human counselors than demon ones. Admin probably did hope that they would have a chance talking to him alone. 

The remaining paperwork seems to be a lot of housekeeping, noting long-term trends in his disposition — always eerily polite, even when antagonistic — and would take a bit longer to  sort out the chaff than they have right now. It is just a preliminary meeting, though, all they have to do is try to build some rapport, and they're good at that. 

Their pace slows as they skim through the papers of the file again until they almost stop without thinking at a junction.

Someone down a hall is angry. Very angry. 

The light taps of hunger on their awareness begin to scrape instead, and they come to a complete stop. They're grateful that they don't see anyone else passing by as they stand there, head tilted toward the unseen source. A corrosive anger, hot and stinging; it's something they generally avoid, but that damned hunger is louder, more insistent, after their skipped meal break. 

But they can't. Won't.

They draw their thoughts in, down at their feet, and trace upwards, slowly, threading a wisp of magic through sinew and joints, until they reach their core. It's a well-rehearsed mediation, and it dampens the cravings, eases them back to the ghostly taps, always present but easier to ignore. With it diminished, they close the folder and hurry on. 

They have a job to do, and they won't let their hunger distract them from it.

#really enjoying the writing motivation that this fandom has granted me #it's very very nice to write fic again #anyway have been brainstorming my warden while waiting for news from vega just to be blessed with news of vega #I'm sorry I can't help it I want to see a nice corruption arc ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ #my bestie is a therapist who worked intake/discharge at a hospital so I've got some ~insight~ to flesh out the behind the scenes shit #I'm sure DUMP isn't as organized but it should make a nice base #starting to hc that they coalesced in like the 20s or 30s and have grandparent tastes but that absolutely doesn't show up here #anyway hi I'm also drawing vega right now with an idea from andy and let's see if I can get it done for tomorrow o3o #kirehn writes #ohoho that tag is actually starting to be useful go figure #also eliot's 'the hollow men' is a favorite and it already being used in connection to vega is quite nice quite nice #oh I could maybe actually tag the thing with the fandom huh #redacted asmr #redactedverse #redacted vega #redacted warden