paixaorpg | a glass of ice water [completed]

Entry tags:

a glass of ice water [completed]

Character(s): Despair, Belial and Lucifer
Content: Strange meetings.
Setting: Cafe Ersesat, N3
Time: Evening
Warnings: None as of yet.

Despair is uncomfortable, sitting there on the rickety wooden chair. The lights are harsh on her eyes and the loud chatterings of the other customers unpleasant. While most of the other diners do not seem to even notice her presence, they could still feel the coldness echoing within themselves. They laugh louder to drown the echo away and the sound is deafening to her ear.

Belial is half covered by her glass of ice water from her point of view, but still she patiently watches hir in silence. The demon had invited her for dinner. There is a custom among the majority of the mortals that when one asks another out for dinner, there is something more than just a dinner that one wants from the other. Is there anything of her that Belial could possibly want?

Nay, she is Despair. She is not her twin, Desire. There is nothing Belial could possibly desire from such a creature as Despair.

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The cafe was not quite the place Belial had in mind to take Despair for dinner but it was looking decent enough. The chairs were comfortable and that was a good sign the food would be of a good quality.

The demon was dressed more discreetly than prior, almost in a mocking clerical way with a black, turtle neck t-shirt made of velvet and a long skirt. Over hir red strands rest an Edwardian hat that added to the pious image. The color of hir hair and jester make up were stark contrast with the seriousness of the outfit - a mockery, a pretense of what could never be.

Sie asked a margarita and they served it with those pretty, little umbrellas one could play with, without paying attention to the drink. The flavor was weak, innocent. Sie bit hir own tongue to spice with hir blood and corrupt it.

“Not feeling talkative?” Belial asked, breaking the “ice” on the table, observing the Endless with hir blue eyes. There was something that made the woman physically uncomfortable. Sie studied the surroundings and noticed the bright lights. Ah, the Lady must prefer Darkness. With a perfect grin, Mad Hatter removed hir hand and took out a pair of dark shades from it. “For you,” sie offered them to the lady as if they were a bouquet of flowers.

Despair keeps her gaze fixed on Belial, trying to see what it is that the demon wants to get from inviting her for dinner. She cannot see the minds of others like her siblings can. If only Desire were here, it could tell her what it is that Belial actually wants from her. Although, knowing Desire, it would simply decide to take her away from Belial instead. It doesn't like to share. Despair is its twin and that makes her belong to it.

The grin the demon made is perfect, like Desire's. Despair's grin is never perfect. It is skewed with jagged angles everywhere, earning her disgusted winces that mirror the grin itself. Reaching out her hand, she takes the shades from hir hands and observes it for a while before placing it on the table.

"There is nothing I could give to you," she whispers hoarsely. Sie will get nothing worthy to hir from this meeting, Despair can give him nothing sie would find gainful.

He'd been walking uncounted miles now, deciding to follow the streets before him and what little glimpses he may catch of an angelic presence. He was pretty certain now that Alexiel was hiding from him. Normally he'd leave her alone if she wanted to be, but in addition, he also had a faint feeling that she wasn't feeling too well, and now that the Creator was no more, her well-being had become his utmost priority.

A new feeling entered his consciousness quite suddenly, a sense of familiarity that was almost overwhelming, almost, for there was nothing that could affect he who ruled all things evil quite so strongly. Not that Lucifer was ultimate evil anymore, not that he had ever been. He merely fancied making fun of that status that had been appointed to him against his own will - to cover up the bitterness that he'd first known in that moment. Alexiel had been right. She always was, at least in all things concerning him.

Now this new feeling was certainly interesting. Upon humans, the influence could have inflicted something like... the word was on his tongue. Despair. He turned his head in the direction where the odd presence originated and found there a Café, obviously going by the name of "Ersesat".

And, ah, of course, why was it he hadn't noticed the other presence before, the one that was so infinitely familiar to him - far more than he liked? Had his senses become less astute after all? He'd have to be wary.

But there it was, incarnation of all things rotten and base, given by God the oddly fitting name of "Worthless" - Belial.

Belial assumed Despair was shy to the company of others, as if fearing to be uninvited (or perhaps, she knew she wasn’t exactly welcome by the living creatures). Even so, the demon liked her presence, her aura. It was a new experience Mad Hatter would enjoy.

The Hatter put the hat back on the top of hir head, ignoring the glances and gossip. Curiosity and lust, the pride of thinking themselves superior were all tools sie could easily bend to hir will.

“Your company is everything one asks,” replied the Satan, rising hir glass high and uttering merry Cheers before sipping the content.

One moment, the grinning demon was drinking the margarita in blasé unconcern, the other, a shadow crossed hir fair features, depositing the goblet down and standing with a serious semblance.

Belial whirled around, to the exit of the Cafe, focusing on the darkest presence that remained unseen, so overwhelming with negativity yet so noble that made hir body shiver in thrill. Only one could feel that way, paralyzing Hatter with longing. From hir red lips escaped a whisper.

“Lord Lucifer…?”

He couldn't hear anything Belial said from outside the Café, but now he saw hir clearly through the window at which sie sat - and he could read from hir lips that sie'd said his name, would have felt hir noticing him even without seeing. In fact, they'd gotten more or less comfortable with each other over the years, no matter how much he despised hir nature or how much sie longed for him - something that he had made clear would remain unrequited until the end of time. But the circumstances were set and he knew he could rely on hir.
So for an answer, he decided to give her a small smirk, because he was feeling a bit generous, if nothing else, and then he entered the Café.

Her company is all the demon asks of her? Being wanted is certainly an emotion that Despair rarely, if ever, experiences. Her company is one that is found to be wholly negative. She knows that most would find the company of her eldest sister unpleasant, but there are those few who would find it peaceful. Despair's company, however, is something that a sane being would try to avoid.

She ponders Belial's sanity when sie suddenly whirled around to face the exit of the Cafe. Turning just slightly to focus on the door to the cafe, she narrows her eyes slightly as she feels a strong presence near the area. Dark. Despair is a creature of the darkness. She finds the presence rather pleasant, but Belial's excitement disturbs her.

Lucifer. It is a name known by almost all. Could it be that the former lord of Hell is here? The presence is strong enough to be him, but it is different. Despair cannot quite put her finger on what it is. She stays silent and waits.

When Lucifer entered to the Cafe, Belial's heart may be beating faster if only for precious moments hir worthless existence made sense, basked in his glorious sight.

Nothing changed. His eyes were cold and repulsed when hir own bored into them, enjoying the intense hatred sie produced within him. The more he loathed Hatter, the more sie would seek his love.

"My Lord~" hir voice wavered, then dropped hir gaze to the floor. "You honor us with your presence."

So the Mad Hatter had not changed. Not that Lucifer had expected hir to. And he supposed the whole familiar disgust was better than nothing in this strange place, that, in its complete lack of life, seemed eerie even to him.

So he looked down upon Hatter who so demurely - hah! Sie hadn't learnt anything from being Pride, after all - had lowered her gaze to the floor.

But he had also noticed the other person sitting at the same table, had recognized her to be that foreign yet well-known presence he had taken notice of at first. It was obviously a female and by human as well as angel's standards nothing short of hideous. Yet Lucifer could immediately see why Hatter seemed to enjoy her company enough to be sitting here with her now.

Lucifer gave her a curt nod, then turned back to his ever faithful, lowly servant. "Belial. Spare yourself the flattery."

Belial was Pride and Pride was Belial. Even in the submission, it was matter of wounded arrogance, one that would be avenged in the Hatter’s scheming head, a love so sullied and so conditional that burnt the dark soul of the Satan.

Sie smiled and complied to Lucifer’s wishes, noticing hir companion was silent, observing the exchange.

“Someone who is perfect doesn’t need flattery to adorn his title, my Lord,” Hatter honestly uttered. It wasn’t flattery, it wasn’t a lie, his image was flawless in the demon’s mind. A pedestal no one would reach. “You left us again. Why? You are Hell, Lord. Yet you walk away from it as if it had no value to you.”

It wasn’t an accusation but a statement. Belial wanted to know his reasons.

“Is there perhaps something or someone whose worth surpass your kingdom, your legion of vassals and your hundred of brides?”

Lucifer knew that Belial was being sincere - for once, that is, to him, sie had always been - but still he found himself intensely disliking the elaborate words directed at him.

Yet the corners of his mouth moved upwards, and he decided to have the demon his answer.

"It does not. It is a task designated to me by God above, and as you know, I have freed myself of his shackles. I am no devil anymore."

He chose not to answer the other question. It was none of Hatter's business, and Lucifer knew sie would gather as much from his silence.

Despair is glad that the two angels (fallen or otherwise) had decided to converse among themselves for a while. She is not fond of conversations; the absence of hope is such that even words lose their meaning. At the very least, the exchange sheds light on their relationship. Despair smirks knowingly.

Belial is filled with too much desire for Despair to touch hir but perhaps Lucifer the former lord of Hell will prove to be a better companion. She takes off her hooked ring from her hand and holds it up to the light with two fingers. A hook the perfect size for snagging your heart.

Belial frowned at Lucifer’s negative to return. Sie was offended he considered them God’s puppets and that they stayed together due to their assigned roles. It was because they needed Hell to be restored and only he could do that. Perhaps he’s completely heartless, sie thought, feeling the phantom of Despair’s hook in hir heart.

Despair!

Whirling, Belial graced the Endless an apologetic smile and cleared hir throat, masking the seriousness under the heavy make-up and the identity of Mad Hatter. “Pardon this Jester for bringing up such unsavory subject to the table, Lord, Lady,” sie piped, gesturing with hir hand toward the woman that had been a traveling companion. “Lord Lucifer, this is Despair.”

The movement of Belial's company had not gone by Lucifer unnoticed. Her presence was... powerful, to say the least, and he reckoned it had a very unpleasant effect on most people; however, being who he was, he was not affected much. He did feel a bit gloomier than usual, but it was not like he was a generally happy person.

Her strange hook had him wary anyway.

Then they were introduced by Hatter, ever playing the role of the all too pleasantly suave jester. Lucifer nodded to show his aknowledgement.

Despair has never been fond of attention. Even during the rare family gatherings, she prefers to keep to herself unless there are things she needs to say. She knows that Belial introduced her out of courtesy but she honestly prefers it when the two fallen angels were conversing with each other and ignoring her.

In reply to his nod, Despair merely narrows her eyes slightly to Lucifer. Despair knows that the man is definitely the devil, or ex-devil whichever he prefers, but something about him tells her that he is not quite the one she has known. "Were you ever Samael?"

"No, that was never my name. Maybe I'm not the one you'd expect to see." He had, after all, been informed that there was another with his name within this realm. By Alexiel, no less. This could prove interesting after all; the idea of another like him managed to mildly intrigue him. Which was just as well, an eternity in a city of boredom was definitely not in his favour.

Sama El.

Poison of God.

A name nearly as bad as hirs. Poor soul who was baptized by such obvious misfortunate nomination.

The demon tsked aloud and shook hir head, glancing back and forth to Despair and Lucifer. “Lord’s old name was Lucifael. Fair name for a noble soul and an exalted heart.” Opposite to Belial, always so contrasting. “Sit, please, Lord of mine,” Mad Hatter insisted, bowing deeply and taking off the hat, hand motioning to an empty chair. “There are politics to discuss.”

"Indeed not," Despair replies in a hoarse voice to the Devil. One of the devils, perhaps. She wonders what the Lucifer she knew would say once he finds that there is another like him; another of him. How quaint.

Despair lifts her glass of ice water with cold stubby fingers and takes a sip of cold water. The Lucifer who was once called Samael, who is still called Samael at times, would appreciate the tsk Belial gave in reply to the name. It would be interesting to see the two fallen angels meet. Despair smirks to herself and muses about how delighted Desire would be to hear the news she has to bring.

He looked at his former subordinate with a bit of contempt at the flattery he'd been presented with, once again. Additionally, he didn't even need to ask himself whether sie was asking for it, because, in fact, sie was. At Despair, he only shot a minute glance.

Politics, huh? Lucifer decided he might as well indulge hir; as disgusting as the butterfly was, sie wasn't stupid and a good source of information if need be. So he sat down on the indicated chair and caught Belial's gaze. To the other customers, his rather imposing figure in that fragile chair made a strange sight, but they kept to themselves.

"Speak, then."

Belial waited for hir lord to take a seat and then chose the opposite chair, next to Despair. Crossing hir legs, the demon lit a cigarette and started to smoke to project a less playful, more business like description.

“Hell is instable, my Lord. Sheol needs to be restored,” Mad Hatter explained, not smiling anymore. “I kept Hell from destroying itself for eons and eons. But with the fall of Sheol, it’s hanging of a thread. The only one who I know could fix that decay is you.”

Sie bore hir blue eyes into his cold, grey ones. Sie wasn't expecting pity or a noble act of mercy, just to be himself, Lucifer in this.

The two fallen angels do not seem to mind having her eavesdropping on their serious conversation but Despair does not feel like being driven away anytime soon. She places her hooked ring onto her palm and closes her hand over it, not quite hard enough to hurt herself. If they do not mind her presence then she will keep quiet enough.

Besides, she knows enough about them that their conversation is hardly informative for her. Watching how Belial is boring into Lucifer's eyes, Despair whispers to break the tension, "And so I take it that there are no birdies on a white tower in your Hell."

He could tell this was a matter the Mad Hatter was genuinely concerned about. Hell had been hir sanctuary, and later hir home, the only home sie would ever accept.

Lucifer found it amusing that they knew each other so well after all.

However, he didn't care about hir worries, only about his own. He had no intention of returning to Hell too soon.

"Now, Belial, explain to me why exactly it must be I who restores Hell. It wasn't mine to begin with, why should it remain mine for eternity?"

Then, however, he thought of another aspect. "Though if you are so bent on making me return, why don't you look for an exit of this place?"

They were interrupted by a comment of Despair's. He shot her a look and decided to answer. "No, there is no white tower in our Hell, though there are beings which I guess you could call birds."

That was the answer Belial was waiting for, such full of truth and honesty as if believed it. “Hell is you,” sie pointed out, reasonably. “It may not be the home of your spirit but was your body, flesh and blood spreading across a plane.”

Without Lucifer, Hell was just an empty hole made of darkness. Sie reached for hir drink and toyed with it, swirling the content with fake concentration.

“When your body died, life ended in Hell too.” Sie met his gaze without flinching, proud and defiant. “Lord, there is no one else who can trigger the miracle unless one should be the pretty Messiah for mercy.”

On a lighter note, the demon turned to Despair. “There are birds in the higher layers, and beautiful blue roses. One bred them as a symbol of nobility even in that forsaken land.” They were special, just like Kurai was - pure and strong in a realm of darkness and sin.

Lucifer remained still for a moment, observing the Hatter's actions. Sie certainly had a way with words, but he knew his path; they both did. They were only beating around the bush here.

His lips opened slightly and his tongue touched his teeth, before smoothly starting to engage in actual speech. "Wasn't my answer clear enough? I said I won't go back."

Some had likened his eyes to icicles which buried themselves within a person's soul. At any rate, his unwavering gaze met Belial's to signify that the conversation was done with; even though the true purpose of his refusal was not the obvious one, but he reckoned Belial was able to discern that by now: the fact that he wanted her to stand on hir own two feet.

Sie would not be receiving his real or imagined support, and that was also the reason why he didn't dwell on anything else mentioned.

It happened. Belial felt Despair’s presence when Lucifer’s icy gaze met hir determinate one. It was cold and lonely, as trapped in a world full of hir own broken mirrors. It was worse than be worthless but actually having worth, shaking the comfortable role Mad Hatter had deluded hirself to play.

There was no more need to play a clown when, deep down, the Satan of Pride ruled them all.

Hir jaw trembled and hir eyes were cast down, weakly assenting. “As you say, Lord Lucifer,” replied Belial with an absent voice. “One will carry on alone. No, one always did it, didn’t it?” Sie smiled at last, sensing something that had never experienced before: confidence.

It felt… so different to arrogance and vanity. More fragile yet fulfilled.

If one were watching closely, one would see how slightly the corners of Despair's lips curl up when Belial meets Lucifer's eyes. Such a grand moment. Despair merely waits as the tension remains between the two beings, listening intently at every word said. The trembling of Belial's jaw is not lost on her, and Despair feels what sie is feeling. She is content.

The confidence is much less pleasant to her. Despair closes her fist around her hooked ring tighter, breaking the skin. The pain is a relief but she is still upset.

It is alright however. Despair knows that Desire is also in this place. Finding her twin will not be hard. For all its cruelty, Desire has tricks enough to keep Despair's mind off the emptiness. Every creature is a creature capable of despair and together with her twin, she will make them desire and ultimately despair.

Lucifer allowed himself to feel pleased at Belial's moment of shock, though he showed no outer signs. His eyes looked down upon hir as always.
When hir mood changed, he was a bit glad; he'd had no intentions of giving hir confidence, but at least the thing would finally stand on hir own two feet - and stop stalking him at that. He couldn't entirely deny, however, that he'd been doing his own stalking long enough and would continue to do so.

He didn't miss Despair's reaction either and mused she might have fit into Sheol quite well, finding pleasure in other's grief as she did. No wonder the Hatter was fond of her.

Finally he decided to end the conversation, stood up and gave Belial a last glance, granting her a short farewell only to turn around and walk toward the door. Lucifer exited the café, spread his wings and left the ground far beneath; as far as he could with those spheres covering the whole place, anyway.

If Belial was aware of Despair’s thrill at hir… despair, sie was very polite to bring it up. The demon was fully aware what sort of creature sie was staying with and, therefore, it would be rude to complain to the lady for doing her job.

Ah. But the way that Lucifer looked at hir made Mad Hatter feel butterflies fluttering in hir stomach. There wasn’t the pure disdain, he looked… pleased. That unspoken glance spoke louder than thousand of compliments.

Thank you. Sie wanted to say but the words died on hir lips. Lucifer walked off, shooting them a farewell glance. Belial picked up hir goblet high, biding good-bye to the Emperor sie had served for so long (and still did, in hir heart, Lucifer would be the first). Then, sie drank - the wine was frozen in ice, it melted in hir mouth.

When Mad Hatter was done, sie scanned the network, trying to seek any clue of Desire. In hir quest, Belial found an interesting angel. Ohoh. What a fun they could have with him. Before starting to type a new entry for hir journal, the demon smiled, giving a calculating gaze to Despair.

“Not a single reply of your twin, Lady,” Belial announced, features darkening. “But, would you like to help yours truly with some games? One is very, very bored.”

((OOC: Complete? :D )).

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a glass of ice water [completed]

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