neutral_omens | (no subject)

Date: August 17th
Setting: Tadfield Manor Bar
Status: Public - Adam, Belial, ?
Summary: Adam continues his trip through the Manor

Adam ran through the dining room and paused in the bar to catch his breath. He sat on one of the stools and put his head in his hands. The anxiety and doubt assailed him from all sides.

What had he done? Had he just frightened away one of the few real friends he'd ever had? Wensley and he had been friends for fifteen years. Was that all over?

He knew he had set up this safe place to protect people, but was it crossing the line? Eight years ago, the right thing to do was nothing at all. He had chastised others for meddling. Well, wasn't that what he was doing now? What suddenly gave him the right to use his powers and interfere? He didn't want to be hypocritical, but weren't his friends in more danger this time because everyone knew he was the real antichrist and not Warlock? What difference did that make in the real world?

Not even the fact that he had tried to make the place neutral was much of a justification. He knew he was being selfish in rearranging things for his own benefit at the expense of everyone else, but he couldn't bring himself to stop.

He groaned, wishing for a drink. Maybe this was Hell and he just didn't know it.

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Belial pushed the memories he hadn't known he'd had back down into the darker recesses of his subconscious. It made him uneasy that he did not know something about himself. He'd been buried in his job for so many centuries though, he supposed, that any being would forget their past in his position.

The more disturbing part was that they were resurfacing. There was something about this place--or maybe just the beings in it--that jogged his memories of things that had been a very, very long time ago, even for him.

"I-It's nothing," he said, surprised at the shake in his own voice. He cleared his throat and straightened, face stony. "There's really no need to apologize. But..." he hesistated, "I'm likely not the best person to ask what is 'right' or 'wrong'. My answer would be a bit biased."

Adam looked intently at the Prince of Hell in front of him.

"I think anyone would be a bit biased about what's right an' wrong. I don't see that you'd be any more so even if you are a demon. Prob'ly less 'cause you know that right an' wrong depends on whose doin' the tellin'."

He wondered how much he could tell Belial.

"It's just that I was supposed to do somethin' once and I did nothin'. Now I'm supposed to do nothin' and I'm doing somethin' and I'm scared that this time it's gonna cost me a lot more."

He stared into the remains of his Coke and sighed.

"Nevermind, it's not important."

Belial blinked, running a finger along his lower lip contemplatively. Adam really was lovely--it was a bit distracting.

"Perhaps it's not important to me, but it's obviously important to you," he said, relaxing against into a chair. The young man wasn't so bad, he supposed, for being the Antichrist. It was a rather heavy burden for any single person to bear at his age.

He knew that he damn sure wouldn't want to be elected for the job.

Adam watched Belial's frank appraisal of him with something approaching amusement.

"Yeah, I guess it is pretty important to me. But I'm beginnin' to realize that no one else can help me with it. I just gotta figure it out on my own an' hope for the best."

He finished off his soda and a thoughtful look came across his face.

"Can I ask you somethin' else? You don't hafta answer if you don't want to..." Adam's earnest, blue eyes caught and held Belial's, "Do you like fightin' angels?"

Belial flinched, not able to look away from Adam. Don't have to answer if you don't want to, my ass, he thought tiredly.

"I don't like fighting," he said, as evasively as possible, and managed to keep himself from saying something rather embarassing about angels. "I'm the Lord of Seductions. I haven't fought for a very long time." Not since the War. He bore the evidence of his only victim, quite literally on his back.

It was his private little burden for Falling from Grace. They all had them. The Almighty was creative like that.

"I don't much like fightin' myself," said Adam, breaking out in a genuine smile. "Angels or anybody. But I know more about fightin' than I do about seducin'. It's funny what's frightenin' sometimes, huh?"

He set his glass down.

"You know, Belial, I'm feelin' a lot better now. Thanks for talkin' to me. I'm sorry if I made you feel worse. Is there anythin' I can do?"

"I think I'll be doing fine," he said, twirling a wayward lock of dark hair between his fingers..

"It's not really frightening at all. Most people don't really know terribly much about the process of seduction, anyhow..." he said, canting his head slightly downward and giving a coy, gentle smile. "If you'd like lessons sometime though, I would... hardly be put out."

Adam blinked his big, blue eyes and grinned.

"I think I just got one..."

He stood up, replaced his stool under the bar, and looked up at Belial.

"Thanks for the offer, but I think I'll skip the rest, if it's all the same to you. I don't really think seducin' is for the likes of me."

His smile turned sad again for a moment and he turned to leave the bar.