hadriel | text & later audio

Entry tags:

text & later audio

[ Back home Lucifer didn't even own a cell phone. For all that he was on top of all things cultural and even technological he shunned the culture of cell phones and as such he didn't bother.

Here in Hadriel he'd had one of the infernal devices foisted off on him but, aside from some trolling of his own across the network he'd never bothered with initiating a communication.

Apparently that made him a prime trolling target. Because at some point during these misfire days, a text got blasted across the network, originating from the device of one Lucifer Morningstar. ]

I'd like to purchase your soul, what do you feel is a fair market value?

[ At some point after the text went out, whether due to Lucifer noticing it himself or (more likely) as a result of someone telling him where to shove 'his' offer, the Lord of Hell's dulcet tones came across the network.

By dulcet we mean richly accented but managing to sound an odd combination of resigned and childish at the same time. ]

For the LAST time. I DO NOT buy souls! That's not how Hell works. It's like the damn goats, when I figure out where the rumor started I swear I'm going ...

[ Sorry Hadriel, the audio cuts out before he can share his plans with you. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I don't have a soul. I wasn't aware you horsetraded for them, either.

[ It took a little mystery solving to figure out just what was going on with a seemingly blank message, but eventually Lucifer cottoned on.

Of course decoding and reading it only heightened his bemusement. ]

That's a weird way to start a conversation, brother.

You are the one who begun this conversation, Lucifer. I find it unsettling that you're asking anyone for their souls.

I most certainly did not. Have you ever known me to start a conversation on one of these infernal devices?

And I don't want anyone's soul. I never have.

How should I know what you're texting habits are?

Still, it wouldn't be the worst solution to our problem. With souls, it might be possible to power a way back through he multiverse door. But neither you nor I are worthy to attempt it.

Been thinking this one through, little brother? Might want to be careful what ideas you load me up with; I have greater reason than before to get back home.

I've considered and dismissed a variety of possible options. For others, I'm missing ingredients. I can't attempt to open my own door between universes without a cat's skull and an act of God, and both are sorely lacking here.

I am prepared to wait this place out, and so should you be. We are eternal, brother.

What is it that you must get back to?

[ Well that was a delightful little not!pickmeup. However, Lucifer had never needed someone else to boost his mood, he was good at working out his own needs.

Though Castiel had a point. They both could reside in this place for a span of time that was incomprehensible to the mortal mind and to them it would be no more than a blink. But back home, the Detective, did not have infinite time. ]

I made a deal with Father. He accepted my terms and charged me with hunting down an escapee from Hell. If I'm here, I can't be there, fulfilling my part of the agreement.

His lessons do not always makes sense to us, when they are thrust upon us.

[ Castiel knows that had he spoken those words they would have been filled with clearly defined resentment and sadness even so. Texted, they lack all of that nuance and it becomes merely instructive. ]

Perhaps patience is the lesson here. Perhaps it is that not all things are under your control.

Edited 2016-07-17 16:04 (UTC)

[ In some ways Lucifer was intimately associated with patience. The times when he plotted his own course, yet recognized the need for methodical steps that could span across hundreds of years before the final result came to fruition.

On the flip side, he was quite possibly the most impatient of the Host. Particularly when his wants and desires came up thwarted. ]

You think Father has a hand in our placement here?

[ The question may have been sarcastic or perhaps it was genuine. Nice thing about text, Castiel could choose to take it one way or the other.

As for that last comment. Now he shifts to audio to respond to that. His voice is smooth, but it's like laying silk across a razor's edge. ]

Careful, little brother, we both know I don't take well to that idea.

Edited 2016-07-17 16:08 (UTC)

[ He can hear the tone, but in some ways he's fearless, just a tiny hint of the Castiel reforming who had faced down his own Lucifer from inside a ring of fire. And this one is much less scary. ]

I cannot claim to know our Father's motivation. He does not speak to me. But He has punished me before. He brought me back thrice over so that I could see what my choices inflicted upon His Creation.

I don't feel His hand in this, but I know what I am, and there are few things which can molest an angel without His influence.

As much as you dislike it, I'm not wrong, am I? Our wrongs remain unrectified, and our souls won't be exhumed.

[ The last part is sung but a little distorted because it's been added to the audio by his device afterwards. ]

Let me save you a headache. Even when he does speak to you, it's still impossible to sort out his motivations. He's the original 'ineffable' and likes it that way.

[ Odd, how Lucifer can sound angry and at the same time grudgingly affectionate when he speaks of 'Father'.

For a moment he's quiet, obviously thinking about what Castiel has said (or perhaps boggling at the singing) but he doesn't respond for a few minutes at least. ]

It makes no sense that he would purposefully send us here, there is no benefit to his works or his creation. [ Lucifer began, before pausing and grudgingly having to admit. ]

That said, it wouldn't be the first incomprehensible stunt he's pulled.

You would know better than I.

[ But he's certain that they're standing on the same ground, as far as God's intentions, or lack of them, may be. His tone is softer as a result. ]

I'm sorry that you've been taken away from your duty, Lucifer. I understand it must be...disappointing. To finally accept your responsibilities and be prevented from delivering yourself to them.

Nowhere Man, don't worry. Take your time, don't hurry. Leave it all till somebody else lends you a hand.

I'm not sure any of us is in a position to know him.

[ His tone was softer, for once not lording his 'archangel' status over a younger brother. Because the truth was, though he and Amenadiel and the other archangels may have been 'born' first, they had no more insight into Dad than any of the Host.

Lucifer was arrogant enough to have, at one time, believed he did but lately, even he was beginning to wonder. ]

It was a trade for a mortal. [ He admitted, quietly. ] I was 'dying' and I ... promised Dad I would do whatever he asked of me, if he'd just protect the detective.

He upheld his end, and showed me what he wanted in return. I can't understand why he would then remove me from serving his will.

The detective?

[ This is almost a civil conversation, and Cas is so immensely proud of him. Sort of. It's odd, and new, and Castiel's care in responding to it mirrors Lucifer's tone. He's taking the whole thing very seriously. ]

You're right, it doesn't make sense. You really... You really made that kind of gesture for the sake of a mortal? Bargained with Him?

A look from you and I would fall from grace, and that would wipe the smile right from my face.

Yes, the detective. [ He repeats himself as if it will clear things up for Castiel.

Err, sorry Cas but you might have to catch him face to face and push a little to get details about Chloe; you know ... like her name. ]

She's ... there's something different about her. She's immune to my charms, all of my charms and when I'm around her I seem to suffer from a mortality sitch. It's a puzzle, one I don't understand.

[ And there in lay the rub. Some people might mistake Lucifer's protective and attentive manner towards Chloe as romantic clap trap. But it was unwise to try to stick the archangel in the box of such a simple explanation.

Get to be his age, see all that he'd seen and the thought of an unknown was ... exciting, invigorating even. ]

She's a mystery, an enigma. It excites you.

[ Castiel wasn't dumb, he knew the way that Lucifer worked. Immune could either mean something terrible for this woman, or something exciting for Lucifer, and he was relieved to hear that it was the latter.

Relieved, for some woman that he had never met. ]

She makes you mortal? I didn't think that would be the kind of puzzle that you found pleasure in.

Of course it excites me. It's an unknown, something beyond the rules of Dad's plans.

[ Well, chances were Dad knew what was going on with Chloe, just because of that whole omnipotent thing. But it didn't change the fact that Dad's plan called for angels to be immortal, save specific circumstances, and the presence of a mortal wasn't one of those exceptions.

This was new. A change. Lucifer was intrigued. ]

It's a mixed bag. Sometimes it's bloody inconvenient but at the same time it's quite stimulating.

[ Because it meant he had to be creative in his solution to problems. Lucifer had always been and continued to be 'creative'. It was what usually earned him disapproval from the Host. ]

Or perhaps simply a different rule, for a new plan.

[ He shifted, very slightly. In some ways the idea of something like that made him uncomfortable, but in others... Being human, or at least experiencing the world the way they did, seemed like it would be exciting.

Then again Lucifer sees it that way? That's odd. It's different. He can only imaging his own version of the archangel sulking about it pretty much the entire time. There would be no pleasure to be found there. ]

You really aren't what I expected you to be.

Dad and his 'plans'. [ Yes, he air quoted when he said the word plan but otherwise just sounded vaguely exasperated. Perhaps even affectionately so, though Castiel might have to dig a little deeper to find the affection part of the equation.

At the other angel's assessment of him, Lucifer turned towards the video and fixed Castiel with a pensive look. He wanted to say that Castiel must know a very dour version of himself and that he was almost offended to hear he didn't have a sense of humor in another version of himself.

But the truth was more complicated than that. Because Lucifer could easily remember a time, in his long, long existence when he would have been thoroughly torqued off by current events, furious even and lashing out in every direction he could until he had re-established his rightful power.

Was it that he was further along, in terms of age and acceptance than this other version of himself? Or had they simply made vastly different choices at key junctures of their lives to lead them to different conclusions?

He briefly considered giving Castiel a quick, flip answer that shielded his own internal debate but the younger angel had proven himself worthy of more than that. Instead, Lucifer shrugged. ]

I suppose I've been spending some time on a very concerted effort to not live in the mold expected of me by others. I'd have said, to not live in the mold fashioned by Father but ... I've been challenged on that assumption as well.

[ Something that almost looks like sorrow passes over his face when he says that last bit; the memory of Father Frank still fresh and sharp. It passed quickly and he smiled. ]

After all, I set about reinventing myself and when have you ever known me to let go of something I expect to accomplish?

Absolutely never.

[ Hah. Proven himself worthy? That would be an unusual thing to hear from an archangel. Castiel has rarely been worthy of anything but contempt from his older brothers, or his equal siblings. Even the lesser angels, for he is himself a seraph now, have never truly embraced him, and Cas is sure that after everything with the Leviathan, they must have even less respect for him now than they'd ever had.

As for the archangels? He'd attacked Michael, conspired against Lucifer, and murdered Raphael; the only elder brother who had showed him any kind of mercy, Gabriel, had none the less shaken him up like a soda can in a washing machine on an airplane hitting a hurricane. They'd killed him, twice, and something - their Father - had brought him back, twice. But He hadn't renewed Gabriel, or Raphael, or freed Michael; it was almost as if His plan, if that was what it was, had been pointed to wipe out all his first born--and if His task was to decommission Heaven itself in the wake of the failed Apocalypse, then Castiel had done a good job of hurrying that along.

Angels did not do well with free will. They did not do well with self determination. It would be a comedy of errors, if not for the loss of life, the grave and incoherent mercilessness of angelic annihilation, that made it anything but comedic.

"Dad and His plans". Castiel could empathize with that. ]

You've embraced the human world to prove yourself the opposite of what they say you are? [ It made sense, and it warmed something in him. This Lucifer wasn't the great destroyer, the marked Beast--he was nothing but a rebel, in this case rebelling against the image projected of him, the blame lauded upon him; not an act of redemption, but a soft, passive aggressive tantrum against the injustice of it all. ] Do you... [ A pause. It's a little cocky. ] Have you found, then, that you like them? Humanity?

[ Were he capable of reading minds, Lucifer would cheerfully argue some of those points.

He'd argue that angels should have been given the same option of free will as mortals. That if they had, perhaps now they wouldn't be so utterly rubbish at it when Yahweh decided he was done being 'Father of all' and moved on. That in this instance, their all seeing, omnipotent Father had missed a step.

Of course, there could be the argument in turn that Yahweh hadn't missed anything. That perhaps this was why he hadn't destroyed his disobedient son when Lucifer rebelled. That Yahweh had merely been placing his pieces upon the board, for an endgame eons in the making.

However, he can work with the questions that have been posed to him and Lucifer tutted softly. ]

Careful, little brother. Don't try to narrow down my actions to one motivating factor. I had plenty of reasons for doing what I did, going where I have; humanity has just proven to be a curious diversion.

[ Which was true, at least in the beginning. To be fair, he had recently been prepared to give up and go back to Hell when humanity had truly let him down, so it was all still a process. ]

I've found some of them, surprisingly, not useless. [ Father Frank for one. ] I've also found them capable of unimaginable cruelty, especially towards one another.

Of course, of course. Be it for one who had been assigned a box not to want to be cornered into another. [ He narrowed his eyes minutely, but it was more in self consideration. ] You surprise me because you are not the Lucifer I was born to fight. He was everything I expected him to be, everything I was told that he was, and you are...you are nothing at all like him.

He would fit in the box.

[ He turned his narrowed, squinting frown upward again, to look at the video. ]

The good far outweighs the bad. I have seen humans give up their lives to keep the world turning, and while I agree that they are exceptional, sympathetic qualities exist in many of their kin. True evil, in my experience, is the domain of all which once was human, not all that is.

[ The more Castiel talked about 'his' Lucifer, the more this Lucifer was left to sit and think about himself and his own situation. ]

My refusal to fit in a box is what got me in trouble in the first place. [ He said, as much to himself as in response to Castiel directly. A version of himself, who would want to fit in a predestined box? Usually he could think back to a time, a point in his history where he felt he understood this other version of himself but this, full stop, did not compute.

If he'd been willing to fit in a box, in that split second (millions of years) before time began, none of what had come to pass would have even started.

Weird. Just ... weird.

However, Castiel was giving him an opening, to slid off this confusing topic and on to something different. ]

You have a deep affection for them, don't you? We've talked about it before but ... you admire them.

[ Oh you sneaky devil, you.

There's something in Lucifer's expression that influences Castiel into accepting the change of subject, even though it comes back to the Winchesters, to humanity. It's not directly about them, per se, but there's room for it to turn that way. They are, after all, the members of the species that he's closest in contact with.

He hums softly. ]

I watched them grow. Right from the beginning, I was there when they coalesced. When they grew their first eyes, and their first legs. I could only marvel at our Father's plan for them. How could they do all the things he promised that they would?

[ He paused, thoughtful. ]

You're right. I do admire them. They are such...such bright, clever little specks. We were supposed to guide them, and protect them, but who was protecting them from us?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

text & later audio

text;

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject