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Post by Soprano on Apr 2, 2011 21:38:35 GMT -6
Hanniel materialized in the middle of Marian’s office. The upstairs was a little more versatile with their guardian angels than Hell was with their demons. He respectfully folded his wings against him in the small space. He pushed his sleeves up to his elbows and scratched his stubble with an annoyed expression on his face. Being the guardian angel of the Order of Eradicto Pravus was hard and very annoying work. They really didn’t know what happened behind the scenes, nor did they need to, but they were all very bothersome to Hanniel.
He nodded curtly to Marian at his desk, “I need to see your immortal companion; I’m here with his magic.”
He was referring to Zed Lawson, but Hanniel really couldn’t be bothered to remember. He’d nearly forgotten that he’d promised the man a little more magic in return for giving his power to the current head of the Order.
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lillium
Fatima's Sexophone
He Who Fights Monsters
just another dead composer
Posts: 1,682
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Post by lillium on Apr 2, 2011 21:48:35 GMT -6
Marian jumped up a bit when Hanniel materialized in his office. "R-right," he said. "You mean Zed?" He didn't wait for an answer, but instead took out his phone and called Zed, and told him to come down to Marian's office. It was easier than sending someone out to get him. The only person would be Dago, and Marian didn't exactly want Hanniel to see his demonic fuck buddy.
Marian was quite glad Hanniel wasn't at his office about that, though, or the fact that he had freed Beelzebub, or the fact that he had been manipulated and controlled by Lucifer so easily, or the fact that he'd gone and been forced into duress by Lucifer. From what Marian recalled, the Catholic church considered rape under duress to be rape, but Marian doubted Upstairs and the pope agreed on everything, and he didn't want Upstairs thinking him and the Lord of Pride were buddies.
No, they were anything but.
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Post by Soprano on Apr 2, 2011 22:32:24 GMT -6
Marian was correct in thinking that maybe Hanniel seeing Marian’s demonic fuck buddy wasn’t exactly the most stellar idea. He’d probably leave the situation with one dead-again fuck buddy. Hanniel didn’t say anything as he waited for Zed Lawson to arrive.
There was a soft knock on Marian’s door before it opened and Zed stuck his head around the door, “You wanted to—Oh!”
He nearly jumped back when he saw Hanniel. He had remembered Hanniel’s promise, but was pretty sure the angel never would have returned. He quickly scrambled into Marian’s office and shut the door behind him. He knew it was rude, but he’d risk Marian getting angry at him, however scary he was when angry!
“Oh good, that was fast,” Hanniel said, producing a glowing sphere in his hand, “This is magic from a long-dead mage named Arthur Black, I believe they’re powers over fire.”
Hanniel approached him and slammed the sphere right through Zed’s head. Zed hit the door and slid down to the floor, clutching his head.
“That was all I needed, thank you,” Hanniel said, spreading his wings.
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lillium
Fatima's Sexophone
He Who Fights Monsters
just another dead composer
Posts: 1,682
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Post by lillium on Apr 2, 2011 22:49:52 GMT -6
"Wait, Hanniel!" Marian said, trying to get in a question before Hanniel left to go back Upstairs. He had to ask something, something very important that he hadn't had the chance to ask in years, and back then it had been so messed up that he had forgotten because of other, more important things.
"I have to ask you something," he said, before his eyes flickered to Zed. "In private." There was emphasis on that last clause, making sure that Zed knew that Marian wanted to speak to Hanniel without listening in. He wasn't sure what this entire thing was about, but he knew it was important enough that Dimitri hadn't even written it down before dying.
That meant that nobody else could know, or if they did, Marian had to make sure that they didn't say a damn word about it. He would have preferred the former to happen- Threats were such a pain in the ass.
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Post by Soprano on Apr 2, 2011 23:40:41 GMT -6
Hanniel quickly retracted his wings and looked at Marian in an annoyed manner. Humans were really bothersome to him, especially when they tried. Zed woozily stood up and nodded his head.
“Yeah, I’m sorry, I’ll go,” he said, fumbling for the doorknob and leaving.
He stumbled a bit, but shut the door behind him. Hanniel regarded Marian with a bit of an annoyed expression. What exactly did he think he wanted to talk about? Unfortunately for the Upstairs, they really weren’t as omnipotent as they wanted to be. Hanniel wouldn’t know about the key, but he certainly would know how to find the person who owned it.
“Ask, make it quick,” Hanniel said, clearly annoyed.
He still had to make the return file and make sure the rest of the stray magic was in order. Being a guardian angel required a ridiculous amount of red tape.
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lillium
Fatima's Sexophone
He Who Fights Monsters
just another dead composer
Posts: 1,682
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Post by lillium on Apr 2, 2011 23:50:07 GMT -6
Marian waited until Zed left the room to begin talking. After all, this was supposedly very, very secret, so secret that Dimitri hadn't written about it. Marian wondered why he hadn't just mentioned it when he gave Marian the journal, but then Marian realized that that would have just been too easy.
No, if everyone did the efficient thing then there would be no plot.
"Dimitri Archer told me about a key that his son has around his neck," Marian said. "He wrote in his journal that I want this key at all costs. He never said anything about it to me in person or even wrote what the key was for, but apparently it's very, very important." He shrugged.
Marian remembered Dimitri's last request as well- To keep his family history a secret until he died. Still, though, he was dead now, leaving Marian free to tell Dago just who the vampire's grandfather was. He wondered if he should do it or not.
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Post by Soprano on Apr 3, 2011 0:08:46 GMT -6
Hanniel frowned. Archer’s son? Did Marian mean the Horseman Doubt? Hanniel recalled that he had once been Tobias Archer, but was something completely different now. He also realized that Marian hadn’t asked a question, so Hanniel wasn’t sure to just leave with that lack of inquiry or actually investigate this. Hanniel honestly didn’t know about the key around Doubt’s neck and if it was so important to Archer, so much so that he was pressuring his successor beyond the grave to find it, that meant it was something big.
He paused for a moment, obviously pondering. His wings fluttered a little bit, once he thought of an answer.
“I have a proposal,” he said, finally, “It’s very hard to find anyone from my realm who does not wish to be found. I’ll give you a way to speak to Archer’s son, but for that favor, you have to tell me what that key is for.”
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lillium
Fatima's Sexophone
He Who Fights Monsters
just another dead composer
Posts: 1,682
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Post by lillium on Apr 3, 2011 0:17:46 GMT -6
Marian frowned. Oh, so there was something Upstairs didn't know. Well, another thing to add to the list that seemed to be growing. They didn't seem to know about his 'demonic fuck buddy,' either, or how he had freed Beelzebub or how easy it was for Lucifer to manipulate him, or any of his other recent failures.
Marian was very grateful of the fact that Upstairs didn't know about these things, because if they did he wouldn't be Head of the Order anymore, and probably wouldn't even be alive anymore.
"Alright, I'll let you know when I find out," Marian said. "How do I communicate with him?" Marian certainly did mean Doubt, but he didn't know Tobey's horseman name. All he knew was that Tobey was a horseman of the apocalypse, and that he'd replaced Famine. Did that make him Famine? Marian had no idea.
This entire transformation thing was just weird to him.
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Post by Soprano on Apr 3, 2011 0:33:51 GMT -6
There was plenty the Upstairs didn’t care to know, but Marian wasn’t doing too bad a job as the Head of the Order. The Order was growing and was already bigger than it had been under Dimitri’s control at any one time. The business with Beelzebub, they already knew. They didn’t consider it to be Marian’s fault and thought it inevitable. They didn’t know about his presumed dead bed mate, though apparently neither did Hell. Lucifer manipulating him was simply a consequence that he’d have to deal with after he was dead, in their eyes.
“I’ll have you meet him somewhere,” Hanniel said, “He won’t be expecting you, so be prepared. You should address him as you knew him while human; it will be a mostly public place.”
Hanniel spread his wings fully this time and disappeared without another word. There was a small piece of paper in his place with an address written on it, presumably where Hanniel would have Tobey be.
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lillium
Fatima's Sexophone
He Who Fights Monsters
just another dead composer
Posts: 1,682
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Post by lillium on Apr 3, 2011 0:41:31 GMT -6
Marian nodded, although he had never seen Tobey before the horseman had first attempted to kill Dimitri, and even then it was just for a few seconds. Everything he knew about Tobey came from Dimitri's journal, and it wasn't like that didn't have an unrealiable narrator.
Marian got up and picked up the piece of paper on the floor. Well, at least it wasn't in New York, so it meant that he wouldn't have to deal with Lucifer showing up and causing trouble. Marian wasn't aware of how buddy-buddy Tobey and Leviathan had been, and he also didn't know about Lucifer's aversion to Leviathan, so he didn't realize that Lucifer might just pass up that opportunity to visit his 'favourite' mage.
Oh well. Marian would have to come up with a plan for how to get Tobey on his side and then get the damn key. He'd have to earn Tobey's trust, too. Hmm. Well, there were a few ways to do that.
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