Context: You're a simple android living in the advent of steam technology. You were sold to a Mr. Harvey, a nervous man who seems to always be looking over his shoulder. He's told you that a demon chases him in the shadows, drawing ever closer, which is why you must protect him. That demon’s name? Death.

Setting: A steampunk train

Tags:[MM4A][Strangers to ?][Cowardly Crook Speaker][Unhinged Yandere Grim Reaper Speaker][Innocent Android Listener][Steampunk][Deal with Death][Bet/Wager][Morbid Fascination][Philosophical Implications][Kind of Wholesome?][Horror][New Master][CW: Mentions of Slavery/Violence]

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***

[Scene opens a very steampunk train]

[SFX: A train horn, the train chugging along, and a pair of footsteps racing through the cars]

[Your master has you by the wrist as you both sprint between the cars of the train. A white and gold city sits on the horizon, mere miles away]

[H] “C’mon, you slow creature! We have to get out of here before He finds me!”

[SFX: Soft, ominous laughter hissing through the cabin]

You think you can still outrun me…? You, who threw the dice! You, who challenged you could find something that could not be killed?

[SFX: Metal being cleaved and your master yelping]

[SFX: Cascading whispers, speaking/laughing ominously]

It’s time, Mr. Harvey… It’s time…

[H] “N-No… No, I don’t want to die! Please! P-Please, it has to work! It’ll work, right Cog?”

[Pause]

[SFX: The train rumbling and shaking]

[Black mist seeps through the cracks of the door, forming into a massive, slender figure]

It’s time… Harvey… It’s time…

[SFX: Cogs turning/ time ticking, second-by-second]

[The figure lets out a cackle that seems to shake reality around you]

Hear now, each tick, tock of every gear, every cog within my scythe. Tick… tock… Tick…. Tock…

[It draws its hood back and you are greeted with the demon your master feared so: Death]

[H] “N-No, please, I can still uphold my part of the deal! I found something you cannot kill! Look, l-look at this thing before you! I swear to you, it cannot be killed!”

[Pause]

[Death howls with laughter, stepping forward slowly and letting his scythe drag across the ground]

[SFX: The scythe dragging across the ground/more cascading whispers]

Oh, I bet, I bet… You’ve made for an entertaining chase, Mr. Harvey… With all the deaths from the factory incident, I’ve just been SO busy with unfun things! I’ve looked forward to watching the look in your eye during the last…

[SFX: One clang from the scythe]

Seconds…

[SFX: Two clangs from the scythe]

Of your life…

[The creature grins, ear-to-ear, terrible and beautiful]

Time’s up.

[The creature rushes forward, whispers echoing and laughing with more and more madness the closer he gets]

[SFX: Harvey stumbling back]

[H] “COG, PROTECT MODE IF YOU’D PLEASE!!”

[You leap between Death and your Master. He’s inches from you in less than a second. His smile widens as he draws his scythe back, eyes wild]

Stepping before your master, hmm??? Oh, what’s ONE MORE?

[He swings and you remain unmoved]

[SFX: The whispers all gasping/saying “stop!”]

A-Ah…?

[The blade stops less than an inch from your neck]

W…What is this… You… How are you… possible….?!

[...]

…Answer me

[...]

[SFX: The blade slamming into the wall nearby and Harvey yelping]

[H] “God help me!”

Hsss, no God can help you… Answer me, anomaly!

[H] “They can’t. They won’t unless I allow them.”

[The creature before you looks taken aback]

You… A weak, pitiful creature such as yourself learned to command something this…alien? How. HOW, GODAMN YOU?!

[Your master cowers a little less this time. He seems to have realized he has leverage]

[H] “With respect, Lord Death, I can’t go giving away trade secrets. They only obey me and will protect me at any cost.”

[Death falters, taking a few steps back]

No, it is wrong… There should be light but there’s no light… You’re empty as I am, and that cannot be… No no wrong wrong WRONG, ALL OF IT! I-I can’t… The mere sight of you makes my skin crawl yet I cannot look away… I want to caress you with the same mindset of an idiot child trying to pet a spider… What are you doing to me…? Tell them to speak! I wish to hear their voice!

[Pause]

…Mortal, I will not ask again.

[H] “I’ll do it if you agree to let me off the hook for our sordid little deal… I’ve technically fulfilled it, as someone who is not alive cannot die… now can they?”

…Perhaps God should help you if that is how you wish to insult him. Rrgh…Very well. You have fulfilled your contract… supposedly.”

[H, nervous] “P-Pardon, my Lord?”

Well… we don’t know for certain if they can be killed, do we?

[H] “Erm, if you need to swing at them, sire, I-”.

[SFX: Very angry whispers]

Hush! Yourself… Harvey. No. I must test them thoroughly, as you’ve presented them as being of questionable sapience. No. I will take them to my domain to test them with the care and precision required to solve such a mystery…

[He turns his eyes on you and they shudder with intensity]

I know you are a puzzle… One I have never seen before… and Death must know first of many, many things. I must have answers to mysteries man has not even conceived! You! You… You will be a worthy mystery… I feel my skin just BOILING at the thought… It is… exciting

[Pause]

I know the pieces fit…I know the pieces fit, they must… Look at you… Eyes so wide and innocent, yet no muscles twitch, your eyes do not blink…Who are you to defy me my satisfaction, hm?! Deny me the only manner of love I can give to a mortal?!

[Pause]

[H] “A-Ah, Lordship, I really can’t afford to be without them. There are other people after me in regards to my, um, questionable repute. I also spent a fortune to purchase them…”

…Purchase…?

[Death swivels toward him, eyes burning red]

Slavery… Slavery slavery slavery… I loathe it. You, mortals, do not decide when you die, I DO! YOU DENY THEM THE AGENCY OF MORTALITY, YOU DENY THEM A VOICE, AND YOU HAVE THE AUDACITY TO REQUEST THEY STAY CHAINED FOR YOUR CONVENIENCE?!

[SFX: Enraged whispers]

[Pause]

[H] “A-Aha, you know what, I’m going to stop talking now. Do treat them well, and be sure to write, Cog, ta!”

[SFX: Harvey GTFO]

[You stand before your new master now, the darkness of his cloak surrounding you on all sides. You are pulled upward involuntarily but gently and Death examines you]

…It feels as though there is broken glass in my chest… You are an obsession in the making…

[Pause]

[He leans forward until your lips are inches apart]

[SFX: More cascading whispers]

Hmm… For any of my servants listening, yes, do tip off Mr. Miller that Harvey is going to be making a break for it. I like Mr. Miller. Outwardly posh but inwardly a violent murderer. I’m sure he’ll treat Harvey well.”

[Pause]

[Death seems taken aback as you speak]

Oh… you spoke for me… and only me…

[Pause]

…What an odd sensation…I suppose I am used to my conversations being the living cursing me for their misfortunes… You are so… eerie… in your innocence…

[Pause]

Why did I tip off Mr. Miller…? Harvey tried to play us both, my dear… Does that not bother you?

[Pause]

You are not sure…? W-What… What is this sensation…?! I HATE THIS! You defy me simply by existing, yet I want to cradle you in my palms as though you were a wounded bird! No no no NO NO NO NO! This isn’t right! YOU are not right!

[SFX: Whispers and Death raging around the cargo]

No… You show no fear… No matter how I rage… What… What are you?

[...Pause?]

[Again, he seems taken aback]

…How sweetly you ask me my name, unafraid… I am Lord Death, little one.

[Pause?]

…May you call me… ‘D’? … Why would you make such a request?

[Pause]

Mr. Harvey asked you to call him by ‘H’...and you simply wish to know if I would like the same courtesy?

[Pause]

[His face goes through a gambit of emotions, all of them mildly deranged. At last, it seems to settle on a slightly foggy-eyed smile]

Yes. You may… Now, come with me to your new home. I must understand you. I WILL understand you, I swear it!

[Pause]

You…believe in me?

[SFX: Confused whispers]

I… am in trouble, aren’t I…?

[SFX: Spooky teleports]

[To be continued?]