"I did it... I actually got up the nerve to ask her out."
Glenn smiled encouragingly at his new friend. The mortal was unkempt, overweight, and poorly groomed. He lived with his mother and worked as an assistant manager at a comic book shop. Next door to the comic book shop was a gym, and every afternoon, a pretty blonde aerobics instructor walked past the shop's mirrored glass windows, decorated with X-Men posters and a life-sized cardboard Darth Vader cutout, and paused to stare at her reflection and adjust her hair. This gave the man behind the counter a clandestine close-up view of the busty young woman in her skintight leotard.
Glenn collected comic books obsessively. He didn't even read all the ones he bought, but his pad was always full of boxes stuffed with them. Other diabolicals didn't think this was particularly strange -- Djinn are like that. There were other reasons why Glenn was fond of frequenting comic and game shops and fan conventions, though; they were great places to find socially retarded adolescents of all ages, like Mike the comic shop manager.
"So what happened?" Glenn asked.
Mike's face fell. "She said to get lost."
Glenn shrugged. "Women always say that."
"Especially to me," Mike said glumly.
"Yeah, well, figure she's gotta have guys pestering her constantly at the gym. You know fitness centers are just places for muscle-bound hunks to hit on chicks. Of course, if she ever gave you the slightest chance, she'd probably be amazed at what she was passing up. You could be the man of her dreams and she'll never know."
"Guys like us never get a chance with girls like that," Mike mumbled.
"Uh huh..." Glenn was very good at feigning sympathy. "Instead they always go for buff neanderthals who'll just sit on the couch and drink beer. And probably abuse them. Not like you, you'd be respectful and kind, but do girls want that? Do they want someone who's smart and creative and witty and sensitive, like the average comic and gamer-type?" Here, Glenn always had a little trouble keeping a straight face, but he was getting better at it. "Nooooo, all they see is biceps and washboard abs....."
"If only she'd give me a chance....." Mike sighed.
Glenn smiled. It was gnawing on Mike's mind. And he'd make sure the blonde aerobics instructor continued to haunt the fat loser's dreams, waking and sleeping. Not for the first time, he wished he was a Balseraph, or a Habbalite. It would make tasks like this so much easier. But he was getting pretty good at scoping out prospective victims and figuring out what buttons to push even without a diabolical resonance to help him. And a Balseraph or a Habbalite could only take pleasure in provoking someone else into obsessive behavior -- Glenn reveled in the thrill of the chase, the joy of pursuit and the sweet smell of fear.....
But he couldn't spend all his time indulging in his own pleasures. He had a Word to support. Right now, Mike was just another fanboy geek who got off on Penthouse Letters and Gor novels, and oggled any girl whose proportions came near to those of an Image comic book cover. But with just the right combination of hope and frustration, he might become the man of that girl's dreams after all. Glenn knew -- he'd been there, and soon he'd make Mike a part of them...on Beleth's side of the Marches.
Corporeal Forces -- 5
Strength 12 Agility 8 Ethereal Forces -- 4
Intelligence 10 Precision 6 Celestial Forces -- 4
Will 8 Perception 8
Word Forces: 8
Vessels: Human/3, Cat/2, Bird/1
Songs: Attraction (Ethereal/4), Charm (Corporeal/5), Dreams (Celestial/6), Form (Ethereal/3, Celestial/5), Motion (Corporeal/2, Celestial/2), Possession/5, Tongues (Ethereal/3, Celestial/3)
Skills: Emote/4, Fast-Talk/4, Knowledge (Psychology/5), Lockpicking/6, Lying/2, Move Silently/6, Tracking/2
Attunements: Djinn of Nightmares, Impudite of Nightmares, Captain of Headhaunters, Dream Joining, Dream Walking, the Demon of Stalking (see below)
Special Attunement: Although Grengarl cannot directly harm someone to whom he is attuned, he does not suffer dissonance for emotional harm he causes by stalking and terrorizing someone, not even if he pushes his victim to the point of suicide. Other Djinn serving Grengarl also receive this benefit.
Special Rites: Grengarl receives a point of Essence every time someone to whom he is attuned flees from his presence. He also receives a point of Essence if he succeeds in pushing another person into obsessively stalking someone. He may grant these Rites to others.
The basic practice of stalking has been around for a long, long time, but it's fairly recently that it became a cultural phenomenon inspiring anxiety and fear on a society-wide level. Djinn of Nightmares have always been responsible for physical harassment and terrorization, but Grengarl attracted Beleth's attention with his subtle and malevolent touch -- he never overtly threatened his victims or gave them an obvious reason to fear him. Sometimes he even befriended them initially. Then he would tamper with their dreams, turn himself into an object of irrational fear, and begin showing up wherever his victims where -- everywhere. They couldn't get away from him, they couldn't seem to keep him at a distance no matter what precautions they used, and they couldn't do anything about it because he never did anything, just followed them around and smiled.
After he drove two people to suicide and turned another half a dozen into paranoid neurotics, Beleth knew she had an unusually talented Servitor. Glengarl started getting promotions and additional gifts to help him in his work, and he began setting his sights on a Word. The Word he chose was very apropos, and he did all the research he needed to support it. He studied human nature, particularly obsession, and got very good at manipulating people, with a combination of psychology and dream-tampering. Once he'd established a successful track record at turning harmless crushes into murderous obsessions, including several infamous murder-suicide stalking cases, Beleth sponsored his application for the Word of Stalking, and Lucifer granted it with alacrity.
This up-and-coming Servitor, however, has recently suffered some major setbacks. After being a little too successful in encouraging the spread of his Word, public awareness rose, and anti-stalking laws started to appear. Now there is an increasing crackdown on stalkers, making things much more difficult for them, and Glengarl's Word is in jeopardy. Many of his Band members are angry at him, because anti-stalking laws can inconvenience any Djinn, especially when a legal-savvy angel takes advantage of them.
Into this precarious situation walked (oozed, roiled) Othoros, the Demon of Celebrity Stalkers, and while Glengarl's Word has been strengthened by Othoros's serendipitous promotion, he is very much aware that a major screw-up by Othoros can backlash on him as well. It doesn't help that Othoros is a Shedite. Glengarl considers Othoros an uncertain ally, a wild card that may benefit or cripple him. It rankles his hide that he has no real control over the Shedite of the Media whose Word overlaps with his. Still, for now he derives what benefit he can out of their bellicose relationship.