Sunny-Side Satan Worship (Shiloh, Samael, Tyuki and Iha)

Saying the coach journey from NYC to the little town of Sunny-Side was a long one was a vast understatement.

Shiloh had been hopping from coach to coach for almost two days, from NYC to Chicago, then to Minneapolis and lastly, a 20-hour drive from there to the esteemed town he'd set his sights on. Through his bouts of sleep, he'd wake up to the bickering of religious grandmothers about how their sons had given up the church for a night with the neighbourhood floozie, and only found himself drained by such talk. He had no problems with religious people, but the bickering and gossip they were spouting was driving him absolutely crackers. Shiloh drowned out the incisive bickering with some classic rock he had blasting at his eardrums and allowed the calm ride to wash over his thoughts for a moment.

Why had he come here? That answer was simple, he had found an article online about the town of Sunny-Side and how the local priest was performing miracles on anyone who had the good fortune to meet him and attend his mass, Shiloh simply wanted to see what the process was like. He wasn't there in order to fish out anything, he was there just to take a break and see what all the fuss was about, maybe do a little sightseeing once he was done. His rural American cousins had always captivated him somewhat, being a big city boy himself, the country way of life was fascinating to him.

'Hungry... Need... Sustenance...'

The constant whining from the parasite fused to his back was probably the worst labour of all. He was essentially a pregnant woman with the thing attached to him, having to constantly eat in order to make sure he didn't pass out from draining of his blood. He'd fed him as best he could every stop they had, but the last 20-hour stretch had only been fueled by junk food and soda. The worst thing was Shiloh couldn't respond to it, the bus was too packed for him to be able to just talk to it, he'd seem like a mad man ranting in his own mind.

Luckily, however, Shiloh was soon to see the coach hadn't had too long left, a nice little sign came into his view from the window to his right. It read thusly.


A smile of relief surfaced as Shiloh stretched as best he could in his seat, a healthy click coming from his back as he did so.  It felt like only moments until Shiloh was finally able to step off the coach and rushed to the inn he'd be staying at. He waited at the counter of the inn as more people piled in, hopefully the place wouldn't get too packed...

Walking onto holy ground was nothing new for Iha. He had been in the company of mystics and magicians for most of his life, but this new religion called Christianity that has sprung up in society intrigued him. The amount of faith some people must have in order to create such hallucinations, to think they are healed, almost surpassed his understanding. They had to be hallucinations, that or some kind of sorcery. Whatever it was, Iha intended to find out. There where only a few Arcane societies around, and though this place seemed to have an aura of Christianity, it could just be a cover for some kind of ancient magical society, if this was the case, Iha intended to make new friends.

A few weeks back he had been noticing more and more miraculous things coming from a small town church in Sunny-Side, Montana. So, he decided to check it out. He was on his own for this one, no back up. The professor and his wife had gone on a vacation in the Appalachian mountains, leaving him alone and bored, but when he noticed all of the crazy things happening he couldn't pass up the opportunity. He began to have high hopes for this place, running into a friendly magician could be a nice change of pace.

The church was smaller than he had imagined. A tall steeple, in the center of the triangle shape of the roof was a blue and white stain-glass window. When the light beamed in it shot rays of blue throughout the church. Iha went and took his seat upfront, he wanted to be sure to see exactly what was going to happen. Soon people began to pile in. At first it was only ones and twos, but then tens and twenties started to show up. As it started to get closer to the nine o'clock service people had to start standing in the back.

Iha's vision almost instinctively started to scan the crowd. No one of noticeable abilities could be seen, though it was a pretty packed church, there was no way for his vision to land on every face. Pulling from multiple databases he could see everyone's secrets. He was surprised to see how many convicts where present, some for extremely harsh crimes. Everyone needs some kind of healing He thought as he looked to the front. An organ began to play as a man walked out onto the stage. He was a thicker gentlemen, wore a grey and white pinstripe suit, and definitely wasn't the priest. The man had a stutter when he spoke and was starting to get read from the pressure of the crowd.

"Every, on-one take a sit now."  He spoke in western accent. "Those of-of you in th-the back, can you se-see alright?" He said, pulling at his thick red tie. The people in the back pretended not to notice the man talking.

There were many problems that came with being born as unfortunate as he was. One of those was that Samael gain a healthy distrust of any priest or religiously affiliated individual. This aversion somehow managed to also mix with his own work as a supernatural consultant. Hearing about a priest that could perform miracles was something that caused all of the wrong signals to fire off. Someone was obviously using magic to take advantage of a people that knew nothing of things beyond them.  Something about it just didn’t feel divine but he couldn’t explain that without looking into the town himself. Hence why he was on his way there, working through a few connections so he didn’t have to go through public transit.

He came into the town around night, midnight if anyone wanted a more in depth time. Picking out whatever open room he could find at a local motel, though that ended up being a few minutes drive out of the place. Not like he cared to stay at any bed and breakfasts where people would be able to pick out the face of a strange wearing sunglasses even late at night. The beds were just soft enough, more comfortable than a floor anyway and he managed to get a few hours of sleep before having to wake up. Sustaining himself on gas station food and semi-cold cola instead of what any normal person would have had. His body felt like absolute garbage, and that meant he knew what he would do the moment he got to a safe house.

Luckily when he walked into the church they would make so many assumptions about the dark colored stranger.

Demonic? Yes. Gay? Not exactly wrong. Rock and roll? Wouldn’t be wrong there either.

Samael was a conservatives nightmare and likely the nightmare of the mothers and fathers of this town as well. Stepping out the motel room dressed in dark colored jeans matching his black jacket unzipped over a dark green Led Zepplin shirt, sunglasses perched atop the bridge of his nose.  Driving up to the parking lot he felt a few eyes on his trashy truck and the punk caricature stepping out the side, eyes narrowed as they glared at the many clean dressed people that were already too unhappy to see him. He swore he heard someone whispering about him and where his kind needed to go.

”Well aren’t you original Karen.” He thought to himself, eyes rolling and stepping through the front door. There was the sudden sensation, a low pain that reminded him. This was consecrated ground and that meant no powers for him. Luckily his glamours wouldn’t be brought down, otherwise the police would have been called pretty quickly. Last thing he needed was having to slash his way out of a church and having people look at him more like a monster than they already thought he was. That was when he noted a familiar face, a small smirk working across his lips and approaching. ”Strange seeing you here." He noted to Tyuki, sound of organs playing from the sanctuary.

The inn smelled of the same aroma one would sense when entering a place like it. The scent of cheap aftershave and perfumes, sweat and mild body odour, with a faint air of cooking meat coming from deeper into the bed and breakfast. Our Shiloh found such a smell disgusting, reminding him of the restaurants his mother and father would force him into as a child, the grease of the food violently invading his nostrils and causing him to want to speed his way out of the building as fast as he could. Even with his current hunger, the sweaty smell was too much for him to handle and almost threw him off food for the rest of the trip. One who the smell didn't bother however was the thing latched to his back.

'Food! Shiloh! Food! Quickly!!!!'

The deprived parasite demanded from his host, the same smell breathing the air of desperation into it, causing the bug to have a temper tantrum. The parasite hadn't had proper food in days, it wanted this so much, it needed it. It was currently being ignored due to the number of people coming in, but the parasite certainly had a good few words from the host.

"Good Mornin' sir, how might I assist you today?" The woman at the desk greeted Shiloh as the person in front of him quickly rushed his things to his room so he could hopefully get a seat in this morning's mass. The woman was in her early thirties, strawberry blond with a pair of dazzling blue eyes, adorned in a summer dress that fit her frame quite well. She was smiling at him in a friendly way, painted nails tapping on the wood she leant on, but something made Shiloh feel a little off about it. Her smile was... uncanny to Shiloh's eye, making him very uncomfortable. She felt unnatural, but he brushed it off with the simple fact it was her job to act happy, perhaps she was just pushing through her bad morning with getting her head down in work.

"Just a room for one please, nothing too fancy." came a yawn as Shiloh wiggled his blue credit card, ready to pay.

"Good choice sir!"

The room would cost a good $185 a night, a price very high for such a small town, but the tourism probably jacked up the price a little bit. Taking his key and paying for his room, Shiloh sighed as he pulled his bag up, turning around to see the line that was amassing behind him. A girl stood directly behind him, but he didn't give her that much attention, just hastily dumping his things in the room and changing out of his day's old travelling clothes.

'Are you going to feed me now or what? If you don't, I won't let you use my power, and then if something goes up in flames you'll look like an idiot.' The parasite angrily hissed towards Shiloh, angry that he still hadn't gotten the food it rightfully deserved to enjoy.

"Can ya' quit your yapping for a minute!? God, I get that your hungry but put a sock in it for five minutes, you're starting to drive me a little mad here dude." Shiloh growled back in anger as he slipped off the comfortable hoodie he was working to expose his upper body, his hair becoming messed in random directions as he did so. He twisted his body slightly, looking at the thing on his back, showing him an angry glare in the mirror. After another minute of admiring his own figure in the mirror, Shiloh got changed into a pair of blue denim jeans, a white shirt covered with a Harrington jacket (of which was navy), and a pair of blue canvas shoes that had seen better days.

Stepping out of his room Shiloh pulled up the collar of his shirt, walking into the reception, clicking his neck as he proceeded to the door.

As he did so, a group of men walked past the inn, shouting that mass was to be held in the next few minutes, and all that wanted to see the 'Most Holy Father Gadreel' should get their seats before it was too late. Turning to the few that were still in the lobby behind him, Shiloh chuckled softly, looking around the room.

"I guess we better not doddle right? wouldn't want to miss such a gracious display from 'The Most Holy' would we?" Came a sarcastic remark as the boy walked out of the inn and followed the herd that lead there.