cyril

cyril is part of a story i created when i was 13-14, called the lightning dog. originally, he wasn't a character at all, as i only cared about ace. cyril split off from ace, because i eventually realised that the posessed guy shoud in fact be different from the guy who is posessing him. who would've thought! also maybe it's weird for Literally Satan to use the name of the guy he's posessing as a cheap ploy to get roscoe upset? idk just thinking out loud.

he was supposed to be roscoe's confidant, but i later changed it to roscoe considering him a son. this decision is both beneficial to roscoe's character and extremely detrimental (because he shags with the guy posessing cyril). on one hand? horrific implications that i hate! on the other hand, roscoe has always raised cyril, in all versions of the story. i can't imagine a version of these events where he doesn't end up considering this child his son. please don't cancel me on xitter.

this summary will follow cyril's life in chronological order, rather than the order of events taking place in the story.

cyril and his brother phinny were born into a pack of dogs, which roscoe happened to join a few weeks prior. roscoe never interacted with the pair of puppies, or their mother, however the infants were told of the legend of the lightning dog by her. they did not retain much.

cyril and phinny enjoyed their mother's warmth for all but a few of weeks, sadly. a horrible storm had been brewing for hours and hours, and (according to roscoe at least) no one believed him that they should evacuate their highly flammable shelters. the worst did come to pass, and lightning hit the shelter where cyril, phinny, and their mother were sleeping. the whole place caught fire, and they could not exit. roscoe managed to save the pups, but not their mother.

at this point, comparing this side to roscoe's, i realise that i wrote the mother as being sick. as i'm writing this, i think it would be better if she died trying to get them out or somthing, no sickness involved. can be both at once though!

following these events, roscoe swore to protect the children with his life, as they were now alone in the world. he gave them their names — cyril and phineas — and taught them all he knew. in time, they became cyr and phinny, dogs whom were respected by their pack for their contributions (or maybe it's because they're the lightning dog's children? they can't tell).

terry was adopted a few months after cyril and phinny. she was already old enough to understand some things around her, and was terrified of everyone being sick, the way her parents were. a young cyril tried his best to comfort her, and they became best friends quickly, despite their opposing personalities.

roscoe always worked to get terry out of trouble that she put herself into, while cyril and phinny "behaved". phinny preferred hanging out with his friends in the pack, while cyril wanted to help his parent lead the pack. he was a breath of fresh air to the packmembers, since roscoe was starting to age, and his orders were making less and less sense to them.

over time, roscoe started to go senile, citing that an evil presence called "ace" was trying to kill cyril. terry did not believe roscoe, and neither did cyril. unlike his sister, cyril focused mostly on trying to keep his father grounded in the reality of their conflict with the monsters on the island. he always held the strong belief that roscoe hadn't truly gone completely senile, and thus supported his every order. the pack still seemed to think cyril to be the one making the decisions by that time, though.

when roscoe told him that he spoke with a dog in his dream, and that this dog was ace's brother and would save everybody, if only phinny let him posess his body, phinny got rightfully upset, and roscoe disowned cyril's twin. cyril pleaded with his father to come back to his senses and not make such a decision, but roscoe would hear none of it. after phinny was out of sight, roscoe told cyr and terry that they had to run away from the island, to protect themselves, because ace would kill them both. cyril argued with his parent once again, but ultimately terry convinced cyril to humour roscoe.

the plan was simple: circle the island a few times, until roscoe calms down and sees that ace isn't real. then they could work on repairing roscoe's relationship with phinny, if there even was any salvaging possible. cyril hated lying, hatind half-assing tasks, and hated the thought of betraying his father. ultimately, terry was right. her plan was the only way out he could see.

cyril started to hear whispers in his head as soon as him and terry left the safety of roscoe's camp. they got louder and louder, until the voice told cyril its name: ace. cyril told terry what he was experiencing, but they could not abandon their plan yet. they needed to let roscoe simmer down, so they both agreed to stay out of the pack for a while longer. for some reason that i hadn't figured out at the age of 13, cyr and terry end up having a horrible fight. terry accidentally poisoning the both of them. ace assures cyril that he can save both of them, if only he allows ace to posess his body for a little while. cyril agrees, and ace immediatelly uses this new corporreal form to kill terry.

cyril never got to see the resolution of the conflict, never learned the truth of the situation with ace and the guy who wants to posess phinny, never got to see his family again. he is as good as dead the moment he says "yes" to ace.

as a kid, i never figured out exactly When cyril dies (because theoretically, ace could keep his soul alive or some bullshit), but i don't think cyril's soul would remain in the body long enough for him to see hell. he sees ace kill terry, then he is completely dormant and/or dead. he is not present for the rest of the story, and is never seen again. ace continues to use his body in hell. the hell arc of roscoe's life takes place now. that is ace, not cyril, though they have the same body. i added extra scars to ace's design, to show the passing of time, and also so they could be at least slightly differennt from each other.

this is how i would rewrite the story as a sitcom now, if i could bother. they are now people. cyril would be borderline inexistant. he is no longer roscoe's son, nor is he raised by ros.

cyril is a young police officer, and doesn't know roscoe. he happens to be patrolling the area at the time that roscoe summons a demon, who turns out to be satan. being the only guy in proximity, the demon posesses him. cyril is absent for the rest of the story, since he's just the guy who is posessed.

he hates that satan keeps flirting with that depressed math teacher. he hates that the math teacher has satan (and therefore cyr's body) on a tight leash. he thinks that being forced to watch the math teacher trying to connect to his delinquent daughter is, in fact, torture. he hates everything. satan knows this andfinds it highly amusing. his brother phinny sometimes checks in on cyril, and satan always purposefully makes the interactions as awkward as possible.

in the end, roscoe manages to get rid of the demon. i can't imagine cyril wants to talk to him again after this, even though "roscoe saved his life". someone get cyr therapy.