008 ♍ video ♍ sunday morning 3 a.m.

[glowsferatu]

[ the camera clicks on to kanaya sitting behind the bar in the devil's nest, the only light in the room emanating from her skin, illuminating the bar and casting long shadows around her. hard to say whether she's having a late night or a very early morning, as she tends to do both.

there's something a bit off about her manner, a little lazy and limp, slouching a bit much for her generally prim posture. it's probably related to the glass of too red wine in front of her, the half-empty bottle of cabernet sauvignon next to the metal flask she seems to carry everywhere. her tone is quiet and pensive, putting a lot of effort into keeping her words coherent. it's an important topic she's discussing today. ]

So I think we can all recognize at this point that Earth is very fond of its holidays, but of the lot I think it's Mother's Day I find the most...challenging. On my worst days, I'd regard it with hostility, as if the very idea that motherhood is something to be celebrated is in itself obscene. But, that. That isn't right. My problem has always been that I've grown too bitter, it clouds the perspective. And even I have had the good fortune to know many lovely mothers, even if I wasn't able to become one myself.

[ her eyes have been lingering on her drink this whole time, swishing it around in a circle, but now she finally looks at the camera. ]

What I mean to say is that...it isn't unlikely, or even uncommon, for others to have more pleasant associations with motherhood. Happier stories to share, enough to fill an entire day. So, I'd like to hear them, if you're willing. However big or small it may be, I'd just like something to paint the occasion in a more positive light.

[ operation archangel participants: feel free to action at her, if you're staying at the nest! ]

Comments

[abduxel]

Yeah, at least there's that.

[He considers what she's said a moment.]

I have to ask. What are you? Some dying breed?

[glowsferatu]

[ she scoffs and smiles, it isn't a pleasant smile by any stretch. more wry, and darkly humorous. ]

Yes. That is, in fact, exactly what I am. But the specific breed is a troll from the planet Alternia.

What about you? That isn't an appearance I've found at all typical in humans.

[abduxel]

An alien troll. [he repeats that information with wonder.] If you'd told me that two months ago, I would have thought you were just really, really high.

[He hesitates a moment, but then he's like, whatever.]

I was human, once, but now I'm a demon.

[glowsferatu]

Well, thank goodness it's been two months, then.

[ humans have such funny reactions to people who aren't from earth, and she hates pretty much every single one of them. ]

By demon, do you mean the hell sort, as spoken of in certain monotheistic religions? [ one she's probably less familiar with than most mythology, but she can't say she's surprised. she's dated goddesses and fought satans, she's been an import too long to be shocked at any of it. she's biologically inclined to being jaded. ] To have a human descend into the role is an aspect I can't say I've heard of before. But I suppose it takes all kinds.

[abduxel]

[Emboldened by her nonchalant reaction, he's just up-front about it.] Yes, exactly that. Fire and brimstone, the whole nine yards.

[As for humans descending into the role...] Where else would we come from?

You seem very intelligent, for a troll.

[glowsferatu]

[ she scoffs, but with amusement. ] Bit of a backhanded compliment, that. Why wouldn't I be just as intelligent, if not more so, than a human? We aren't bridge dwellers, you know.

[ she might have to hang out under one once though, just so she could say it was done ironically. ]

But demons, you know. I suppose I always thought they were native. "Fallen angels" is way they tell it, isn't it?

[abduxel]

I don't think there are any trolls left where I come from except some caves in Eastern Europe. To be fair, I'm only going by hearsay. If you aren't bridge dwellers, where do you live?

[Fallen angels...] The head honcho is a fallen angel and so are some of the higher-ups, but the rest of us, we were people who let the devil get hold of our soul somehow. Me, I sold mine.

[glowsferatu]

In houses. Well, hives. Biologically, I have more in common with an insect than an ogre. We weren't any sort of backwards civilization, our empire stretch to the edges of our galaxy!

[ really, she doubts anyone asks humans if they live under bridges or in caves. ]

What's the going rate on souls, these days? Seems like it can't have been valued very well, if this is what you get from the deal.

[abduxel]

Who would've guessed. [He has so many inappropriate questions about being an insect but he bites his tongue. Uh... mostly.] You're much better-looking than an insect.

[He frowns a little.] What do you mean, this? My horns? This is all the consequence of the deal, my soul being leashed to the Devil, not the trade itself. He got my soul and I got revenge and freedom for the rest of my life. [A rueful little laugh.] It's probably no surprise I died a couple of weeks later. Really, I should have seen it coming. But what can I say? I was young and dumb.

But I kind of like them. [He touches a horn.]

[glowsferatu]

[ she's not really sure how to address the "better-looking" comment. she feels like a mess, her makeup too light on the dark circles under her eyes, a green drunken flush working into her nose. she's just going to write it off as her looking better than a praying mantis, arguable as she might consider it. ]

Not the horns themselves, those are rather an improvement, but what they're indicative of. Everything is in the consequences.

Revenge is one thing, but buying your freedom with eternal servitude is rather a raw deal.

[abduxel]

Yeah, the irony escaped me back then. Heh. Let's just say that planning ahead was never one of my strong suits - I had no idea what the afterlife was like, so I didn't care about giving it up. I still don't know.

Besides, I didn't really believe it would work.

[glowsferatu]

[ not thinking of the consequences, this is how disasters happen. people just need to be taught to always see the consequences ahead of time. ]

What is desperation that motivated you, or did you just do it on a lark?

[ she's more inclined to think it's the first, but something about how casual his tone is. well, she just can't rule out the latter. ]

[abduxel]

On a lark? Do I look that insane to you? [He laughs.] I was being pursued by some very dangerous people. I'm great at giving people the slip and taking off, but they just kept finding me. They had some supernaturals working for them and they could detect me. It was only a matter of time.

[glowsferatu]

[ she just frowns and gives him a shrug. ]

I can't rightly be said to know anything about you, aside from what you've told! And in some cases, the way you've told it, well it just leaves the question unasked.

As it does the question of what you did to inspire this pursuit. Disappointing your mother is my guess.

[abduxel]

She didn't send hitmen after me, if that's what you mean, but the two were tangentially related. I was deep into the drug and booze trade, and the Italian families and Mexican cartels didn't take too kindly to a Chinaman stepping on their toes, so I did a lot of evading. I might have crossed them a few times. I hardly remember anymore.

[glowsferatu]

Oh no, I meant...pretty much what you said. Whatever you were doing to disappoint her, there the source of your troubles lay.

So, you made a deal, got demon powers, and stopped running. Is that it?

[abduxel]

Close.

I made a deal. They died terrible deaths.

I died like two weeks later, and went to Hell.

That was ninety years ago. I'm only exploring my powers now. They aren't much use in hell.

[glowsferatu]

Oh, do demons not strive against each other at home, not even for sport?

[abduxel]

The blood in Hell is an illusion, a construct of perception. You can't cast from it. [He waves a hand.] Demons terrorize each other, but our abilities are only useful against people, and only in a physical plane of reality. A demon could see right through everything I do.

[glowsferatu]

It doesn't sound like there's much challenge in that, only being able to effectively act against one you dramatically outclass? Poor preparation for an opponent who doesn't.

[ but something he says causes her eyes to narrow. ]

You say you cast from blood?

[abduxel]

Our maker isn't interested in challenge, I think, nor in tormenting anyone but humans. He has a very specific agenda. [He smiles faintly, rueful.] But who am I to question his decisions. He dramatically outclasses me.

That's what bothers you, after everything I've told you? [He laughs a little, the smile becoming less rueful and more genuinely amused.] Yes, I cast from blood. Often my own, if that's what you're worried about.

[Often, but not always.]

[glowsferatu]

I suppose that's the way a coward would run an army. Keep them static, dispensed only the weak, so there's no opportunity to strive or progress. And then they'll never be strong enough to become a threat, never have the power to slip out from under the heel.

[ she doesn't think much of lucifer, honestly. all that power and he uses it to be nothing but a petty bully. even aside from being a reprehensible shit, he's just so small-minded.

to his other answer, she shakes her head. ]

It isn't that I'm bothered, only that I find it curious. Blood is so often a component in what might be considered the supernatural, but that's certainly a use I haven't encountered before. [ her lips curl in an awkward way, like a smile trying desperately to hide the fact that it's really a frown. ] Certainly not the way I use it.

[abduxel]

[It's his turn, actually, to be bothered. He'd just finished criticizing his own creator, but when she did it, and took it farther - he struggled with how to respond to that, looking uncomfortable. A bit defensively,]

He isn't a coward. He's just... pragmatic. He has a purpose and he knows how to make people serve it.

What do you use blood for?

[glowsferatu]

Sustenance. The same way any vampire does.

[ as if it should have been obvious. but she holds up a finger, a small, smug smile crossing her lips. ]

But I've known tyrants, Mr. Lin. Where I originate, that sort of strategy wouldn't have gotten one far, unless he too lacked in competition.

But it was the name of our game. If you weren't strong, or had the support of someone who was, you wouldn't be likely to survive. It was the only suitable way to prepare out people to join the fiercest armada in the universe, and the way that armada conquered every stretch of the galaxy.

Our empress wanted us strong, but knew she'd have to be stronger still to retain her throne. Everyone knew their place, and they knew it would take work not to lose it. Anything less is simply lazy.

[abduxel]

I suppose casting from it must seem like an awful waste to you, then. I wouldn't have pegged you to be a Vampire.

[Evidently her vampirism doesn't make him uncomfortable, but the rest of what she's said does.]

That's very noble and impressive, but the morningstar is a God, not just some tyrant, some wartime leader. It's different.