Neutral Omens

Finding himself with little to do at the moment, Uriel had decided to take a walk around the Manor. Somehow he ended up approaching the room containing the pool. As he went down the stairs, letting his steps be very well audible so as not to startle anybody who might be there, he heard the sound of somebody moving in the pool room. This, of course, made him curious.

As he finally got into the room, he found indeed somebody there; a young man with a rather guilty expression. His aura was that of a wizard, but there was something wrong with it. The angel couldn't quite put a finger on what was wrong, which irritated him slightly, but... something was just not right.

He glanced at the tentacle monster in the pool, allowing himself a little smile. How very typical. Too bad that the monster wasn't very monster-like. Well, he wasn't certainly going to help the case. The demon who owned her was far from decent -- very few demons actually were decent, although he tried his best to treat them all somewhat neutrally -- and Uriel most certainly wasn't going to feel any remorse about further developing the so-called "monster"'s gentler side and thus "ruining" the demon's pet.

He glanced at the young man from the corner of his eye while he made a bag of marshmallows materialize into his hand. "You know," he said with a conversational tone, "marshmallows really aren't good for tentacle monsters. Or, rather, they are good -- and that's just the problem. They spoil the monsterous nature." He reached a hand into the bag, then drew out a light green marshmallow, offering it to the creature. "Of course, it is my duty to further spoil what little remains of that nature in this pretty creature."

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Newt felt vaguely put-upon due to Anathema's constant absence - she had to commute a lot further than he did for her work, the nature of which he did not enquire into (but was fairly sure it wasn't of the peace protest variety of the sort, as he'd seen Pepper hanging around the Manor). So, he'd vaguely recalled being told at the Halloween party that something was wrong with the pool, and here he was.

"Oh!" He said, startled at the two people already there. And, apparantly, eating marshmallows. "am I interrupting something? I could come back later, only I was going to take a look at the pool..."

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Harry looked from Uriel to Newt with an ever so slightly nervous expression. It seemed that the dark haired man who he'd seen around the Manor a few times wasn't about to start disapproving of his petting and feeding of the creature of the not so deep, but he really didn't want word of it to get back to Ligur.

"Hello again," he said to Newt. "I'm not sure if you remember, but this is the creature I told you about at the Halloween party." He gestured to Sugarplum who raised a tentacle in what almost seemed like greeting. "I've found out that her name's Sugarplum and that she belongs to Duke Ligur. And he really doesn't like people to feed her marshmallows, but, well, you see, she seems to spend most of the day all alone down here and when she looks at you with that pleading expression it's just too difficult to resist bringing her little treats. Of course this gentleman here," he nodded towards Uriel, "seems to think that it's good for her nature anyway."

Realising that he was starting to babble Harry took a deep breath. "Are you here to inspect the water in the pool, because I'm a bit worried that if it's cleaned it might damage poor Sugarplum here. Of course, I'm not really an expert of tentacle monsters."

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Newt blinked. "Oh. Well then. Er, I guess I'd better just inspect the er, ah, out... water... thing." He bustled over to the filter to check it for slime. Tentacle monsters indeed...

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Uriel raised an eyebrow. "Sugarplum, eh?" he echoed, offering the not-so-monsterous monster yet another marshmallow. "Not exactly an ordinary name for a creature such like this. Although, I must say, it kind of fits her." As a tentacle snatched the treat and came back to beg for more, he allowed himself a smile. "My, my. Aren't you a hungry little monster? I think we must immediately relieve the situation." And so, he offered her another treat.

"Oh," he said, turning now towards the bespectacled young man, "forgive me for my manners. I probably should have introduced myself. My name is Uriel."

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It seemed the filter was indeed full of slime and Newt, with his usual expertise, had managed to get it all over him. Disturbingly, it smelled like marshmallows. "Bugger." H said, except it came out "mmgum" in his attempts not to get any slime in his mouth.

(ooc: which bespectacled young man?)

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"I'm Hugo," said Harry to Uriel. "Though, to tell the truth, I'm not sure what my real name is. I had some sort of fall, you see, and can't remember anything before waking up in the head injuries unit at the Tadfield Infirmary. But the initials HP had been sewn into my underwear and the hospital staff started to call me Hugo Perkins and, well, I've kept that name every since."

Noticing that Newt seemed to now be covered in some sort of goo Hugo reached into his pocket and removed a clean handkerchief. "There you go," he said, holding it out to the be-slimed man.

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"Er, thank you," Newt meant to say. He felt "Mm, mmkmm" got the message across quite handily though. Unfortunately the handkerchief wasn't big enough to remove any large quantity of slime, but with a bit of work he managed to uncover a swathe of face and his mouth.

"Er, right." He said, handing the handkerchief back to Hugo. "I think... I think maybe I ought to have a word with this... Whatsisname, anyway, uh, owner of the tentacle monster in uh, question... about maybe finding a different place to keep it. That or he's bloody well going to clean the filter himself!" Newt added angrily. "I mean, this is jumph mmph mmmph." As another glob of slime slid down from his nose.

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With a slight grimace Harry accepted the now slime-covered handkerchief and proceeded to hold it at arms length. When Newt stated his intention to confront Duke Ligur about the mess that Sugarplum was making he found himself dropping it as he involuntarily shuddered.

"Do you really think that's such a good idea?" he said. "I mean, Duke Ligur's a bit, well, worrying. When he caught me feeding Sugarplum he threatened to frazzle me if he ever saw me doing it again. Not that I'm exactly sure what frazzling entails, but it doesn't sound pleasant."

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"Um." Newt said, worriedly. "No. Er, it doesn't, does it? I... well." He drooped a little. "I guess I'll um, go and have a shower then." And he wandered off, leaving a trail of slime behind him. Maybe Anathema would help him talk to this Ligur person...

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Uriel, who had all the time listened to the conversation between the two humans, smiled inwardly as he offered yet another threat to the tentacle monster. Oh, demons and their little threats.

"Don't worry," he said to Hugo. "Should Duke Ligur come here right now, I will take all responsibility of any marshmallows that Sugarplum may have ignested. Although he probably would very much like to, I doubt he would dare to frazzle me -- or even be capable of it." Smiling a bit at the young man, he continued, "Besides, I've come to understand that he is not allowed to severely damage anybody within the walls of this Manor."

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Harry immediately brightened. "That's good to know," he said. "I mean, Adam did tell me that I was safe here, but I'm very glad that there are actual rules against Duke Ligur going around frazzling people. He does seem to have a bit of a temper. A few days ago he shouted at me for bringing him a glass of blood that was the wrong temperature."

He smiled as Sugarplum tapped him on the shoulder with a tentacle and held out another marshmallow.

"Mind you," he added. "I suppose he can't be all bad. I mean, last time I delivered his breakfast I spotted that he had loads of framed pictures of Sugarplum everywhere. Though between you and me, I think the certificate for Most Vicious Creature in Show he had on the wall was probably a fake."

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Uriel smirked. Oh, yes, Duke Ligur did have quite a temper indeed, although he was far from the worst demons. Bad enough, though. (Uriel perhaps preferred to stay neutral, but he was entitled to a personal opinion or two, right?)

"A fake indeed," he commented. "I am certain that, should he ever actually take sweet Sugarplum here into any kind of monster show, the only certificate he would get to his wall would be that of The Greatest Failure. Not that I think that our dear tentacle monster is a failure, no, far from it," he said, offering Sugarplum a few more marshmallows from his ever-full bag to assure her of his good will, "but I don't think she exactly fills the usual standards for tentacle monsters. But you are right, I think. Duke Ligur, while certainly not the most pleasant of fellows, is not all bad. Very few beings are in the end."

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Harry grinned at Uriel's assessment of Sugarplums aptitude for actual monstrosity. "Well," he said,laughing as a tentacle tapped him on the shoulder. "I think she's wonderful just the way she is. It's sometimes almost as if she reminds me of something. Of course, I can't remember what because of not having any memory of anything that happened before last year." For a moment the image of swimming in a lake inhabited by the strangest of creatures flashed through his head. After a few seconds however it faded. He found himself shuddering slightly. "Still, it's not too bad, being and amnesiac, especially given that all the evidence suggests that before the accident I was an international drug smuggler."

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"Oh?" Uriel raised an eyebrow. He very much doubted that anybody with such a powerful magical aura would go for drug smuggling, but he chose to be quiet about that. Something told him that it wouldn't be wise to say anything about it -- mostly the fact that the boy didn't seem to have any memories of his powers. Better not let him know about them, then; that might shock him a bit too much.

"Drgu smuggler? That sounds... interesting. Let's hope your life will turn out a bit better this time around, eh?" He placed a few more marshmallows into a begging tentacle. The damage to Sugarplum's monstrous nature was probably already beyond any remedy Duke Ligur could come up with, but, well, it wouldn't hurt to make it even more so, right? And besides, the tentacle monster was truly cute in a way.

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Harry nodded. "I've decided to try and put the past behind me. My friend Draco is helping me to interpret some of the flashbacks and dreams I seem to keep having, and we've both reached the conclusion that I must have been into some fairly illicit stuff. Especially given the death threats I've received; fortunately they've stopped now that I've moved in with Draco, but they were bloody scary at the time."

He laughed again as an impatient Sugarplum attempted to surreptitiously slip a tentacle into the marshmallow bag. His expression then fell slightly as a thought struck him. "Tentacle monsters can't get obesity related illnesses, can they?"

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"I don't think you have to worry about those death threats," Uriel said calmly. "Nobody can harm you within this Manor. Your past does not matter; as you don't remember any of it, it's not truly you who lived that life. All you have, all you are, is the here and now." He smiled slightly at the boy.

"As for tentacle monsters and obesity, well, I wouldn't know. I'm not exactly an expert on tentacle monster health. You'd have to ask Raphael; I doubt there is anything about illnesses that he doesn't know. You may have seen him around the Manor. He's not very tall and he has red hair and greenish eyes. Oh, and he might have a rather strange dog with him. You'll understand if you see it, believe me. He's usually friendly to those who ask for his advice, but I suggest being careful if he seems to be on bad mood." He smirked a bit. "I could ask him for you, but I don't think he's currently very happy with me."

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Harry nodded, making a mental note to ask this Raphael person about the correct things to feed a young tentacle monster should he ever see him around the Manor.

"You know," he said. "I think you're right, about the Manor being safe that is. When I first came here Adam told me that nobody would be able to harm me here and I just somehow knew that it was true and that he wasn't just saying it to make me feel better."

For a few moments Harry silently contemplated the peculiar series of events that had brought him to Tadfield Manor. "Anyway," he said eventually. I think that I should probably be getting back upstairs; I've still got most of the bar to clean before tonight."

Stuffing what remained of the packet of marshmallows into his pocket he walked towards the door. "Bye Mr. Uriel," he said with a brief wave, as he reached the exit. "Goodbye Sugarplum."

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