Just Can't Seem to Agree


 * Backstage - 


 * Thick with dust and shadows, this cavernous chamber behind the main procenium stage is packed with old sets, racks of moth-ridden costumes and stacks of sheet music folders. Catwalks crisscross above.

Lasciel is perched on a crate of props, nearly human today except for the scarlet reptilian wings stretching lazily behind her. Waiting, it would seem.

Zariel is looking more human than that, even, his wings entirely gone as he steps through the somewhat packed space. He approaches Lasciel wordlessly, rubbing at half of his face with a hand. Lasciel absently conjures a lit cigarette. "The word was that you wanted to see me," she says.

"The criers are howling in Cataract. Your doing, I suppose?"

"Shining Ones," Zariel remarks tiredly, "It was a very long night of chaos and pulling out hair."

Lasciel smiles. "Whose? Yours seems in good order. Now." She hops off the crate, tiny demoness that she is. "What business do you have with me, today?"

"We never decided if we were going to finalize the deal I was trying to make with you," Zariel points out, "I was a bit preoccupied the day we said we'd meet again. If I remember right, I wanted demon tears up front, and you wanted me to help you with a coup to replace Xerum with Plutok."

Lasciel nods. "You have a good memory. Have you any further thoughts?"

"Kinda," Zariel remarks, "I'm thinking that giving me the tears up front would be helpful to you. I could use her Name to distract her, at least, for the attempt. And I have to ask if I can get more than one Name. A couple of the small fries are getting to be a pain in my ass. And that way you wouldn't have to sweeten the pot."

"Two Names?" asks Lasciel. "Noo....I don't think that would be a good idea at all. After all, you want to become one of those...crusaders for justice, yes?"

"Not... /quite/, but close enough," Zariel remarks, "They've got me running around doing things like that, and I've been acting like one lately, but I just want to be a normal guy when this is all said and done." He shrugs, then, "Okay, so I can only get one Name. In that case I'm not sure whose. Xerum is, hopefully, temporary. Plutok would be the ArchDemon - so his name might be a benefit, but I pointed out last time that I don't think he'll be nearly enough of a threat to warrant it. Medea's, possibly, in case she decides to be a bitch again. But she's really more of a distraction than anything else. Can't even hit me." He scratches his chin, "No one else is bothering me. Ideas?"

Lasciel smiles. "You are making helping you an increasingly unprofitable proposition, you realize."

"Shit happens," Zariel replies simply, "You're the manipulative type - take a load off my brain and make something look good to me."

Lasciel raises a finger. "One name. And I have assurances in advance what name you take." "Which name, then?" Zariel asks, quirking an eyebrow.

Lasciel smiles. "As if I care, so long as it is not mine. But an assurance first that your choice does not change."

"Let's call it Plutok's, then," Zariel says, "Medea's just irritating and Xerum's wouldn't be more than a temporary distraction."

"And it won't change. I don't have a reason to change it," he adds as an afterthought.

Lasciel nods. "What assurance can you give me that that is the name you will seek?"

"Other than the fact that I don't have a reason to change it?" Zariel asks, "Fuck if I know. This is the trouble with dealing with demons, there's no trust." He thinks for a bit, "Oh... hell, I gotta go. We'll have to pick this up again." He turns to leave in a bit of a hurry, "Catch you later, Acid Babe."

Lasciel laughs quietly. "Call when you want to talk, renegade," she says.

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