Iodine

A pair of dark, sinister eyes peer out from the shadows – though they are only barely visible, being black and lifeless as the very darkness they emerge from. The only signs of humanity within them are the hazy, translucent cream dots in their centers, which seem to serve the function that a pupil would in any ordinary eye. That is, if these eyes could see at all.

The man strides out into the light after a subtle pause, a distinct swagger in his step. He stands taller than a human perhaps ought to, his lean muscles well-defined, accented with each confident motion he makes. His face is eerie, unsettling... but not hideous, set with strong, high cheekbones that drain down into a pale countenance that seems strangely hollow. His nose is lengthy but not terribly wide, ending in a slight upturn that gives him an air of smugness. The hair of his head gleams with the use of too much gel, though it manages to retain a smooth, deep red-violet hue and curls up dangerously at the base of his neck. A few pieces seem to have eluded his comb and they hang free, taunted by the slightest breeze, just over his forehead. He brushes them aside, only to have them return to their previous stance seconds later.

Gazing down from his face one can note that his outfit is just as striking, just as attention-whoring; his top is made of sleek scarlet leather, rolled up all the way to just below his sharp, pointed chin. A gaudy necklace dangles from around his long neck, oversized, glittering, an arrow that points directly downwards. It draws attention; one can't help but follow it, halting suddenly only a few inches lower.

Deep-set, smack dab in the center of his chest, a massive set of fangs lies buried. They stretch nearly a foot wide, gleaming dull ivory and each of them honed to a lethal point. Slowly, mockingly, they heave apart, revealing that they are not simply a face – there is indeed a second mouth there. The darkness within it almost shrouds its contents from view, but upon closer inspection the back is visible, the strong vertebrae of his spine making their imprint clear, leading down into the suffocating tunnel of his throat. The mouth’s tongue runs sickeningly over its lips, ghastly in that there are no facial features to accompany it, radiating an aura of despicable greed that could only be suggestive of terrible intentions.

“'M yer worst nightmare, honey… call me Iodine.”

---

Story.

Iodine Alastor, commonly known as "Alastor the Bastard", is a young demon. Born without wings and the rare infernal deformity of a second mouth, he was rather mistreated as a child and grew up without learning the proper social graces a more powerful devil would require. Living on the streets most of his days, he quickly learned that his fingers weren't nimble enough to steal the food he needed to survive; instead he took what he'd been given -- his chest-mouth -- and milked it for all it was worth. As a result he was banished from the Underworld, as even there the eating of your fellow peers isn't exactly condoned.

Now stranded in the strange, exotic park, he finds that his predatory finesse is much more accepted... even encouraged. Gluttonous and eager to take advantage of his situation, he skulks under the cover of darkness to prey on the unsuspecting and the lost. And even in his inexperience, he finds that his job is becoming easier every day.

---

Character.

It could be said that Iodine is quite proud of his distorted appearance, to the point where his ego directly reflects it. He constantly wears clothing to show off the monstrosity on his chest, drawing horrified stares on a regular basis with his attention-whoring outfits. Occasionally, if he wishes to surprise a potential victim, he wears a button-down shirt over his mouth which he can promptly rip open once the time is right. Most of the time, though, he prefers to show himself off as much as possible.

Aside from his lust for attention, one could notice from the first few words of conversation with this demon that he takes very little seriously. Sleazy and often lewd, he feels no regret in taunting and bullying anyone he can get away with. Being a self-sustaining person, he has little regard for others' issues and would much rather swallow you than listen to your complaints... and though he does enjoy a good chat now and then (despite his wretched grammar), he typically finds himself doing most of the talking. If this isn't the case at first, it becomes so soon enough; one usually finds their tongue a little slower once they've been ruthlessly slurped down by a hungry demon, after all.

Though he's young, he does possess a small array of dark powers which assist him in the capturing of prey. The saliva his second mouth secretes contains a nerve-weakening venom, rendering most any victim lashed by it sluggish and dazed and altogether more susceptible to his body's will. Entertainingly enough, though this mouth has no voice of its own, once prey has been fully consumed (not necessarily digested, however) it can replicate their voice at will. Iodine has found this to make an excellent mockery technique, and has even used it for espionage purposes back in the Underworld.

To the dismay of the general population, Iodine has long unlocked the ability to morph into what some might call his "true" demon form. Remaining well in-sync with his slimy, voracious personality, he appears as a massive, violet, snakelike worm; it's quite twisted, hideous in an exclusively demonic sense. It's a lot of strain on Iodine's body to take this shape, but in it he has the potential to devour much larger creatures... or more victims at once.



He does, however, still have a particularly glaring weakness: no matter the form, Iodine is blind. The black, sick-looking eyes on his face are simply for show, as they are defective due to an unfortunate mutation (the same one that caused their odd color, naturally) and are quite useless to him. He was born this way and learned to compensate with his other senses ages ago, but that doesn't change the fact that he can't see anything. Don't underestimate him due to this factor, though -- his hearing in particular is ridiculously good, so anyone hoping to simply stand behind him to avoid detection will find themself in a tight spot very quickly. He also has the ability to visualize his surroundings via vibrations in his environment that he comes into contact with, something that serves as quite an incredible aid to his sight issues.

Despite being blind, Iodine doesn't think any less of himself, and indeed feels 'his' way of 'seeing' is quite normal and won't accept any sort of assistance for it. In fact, considering the confidence with which he walks the earth, one likely wouldn't even know he was blind without actually approaching him. He makes no effort to actively hide it; it just isn't the most obvious thing without something like a cane, an unsteady walk, or dark glasses to give him away.

---

Played by Ceru. Character artwork gifted by Dragonic Wolf, holy crap thank you so much oh my god.