milliways_bar | (no subject)

Entry tags:

asmodean,
kim bauer

(no subject)

[OOM: A nightmare from last night - warning: violent content]

Kim comes down from upstairs. She ran earlier and showered and changed so she's ready to eat and hopefully not think about certain things.

She's also kind of curious why so many people are running upstairs but isn't really in a party mood either.

She orders a chicken pad tai and a soda. She finds an empty booth and sits down but probably wouldn't mind some company.

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Asmodean sat down with an artful grace.

"Just as a matter of idle curiosity, would you tell me a little about yourself? I know only your name."

"Well, I'm from Los Angeles, California and the year 2008. I used to work with computers but not anymore. I've been here a bit over a month and I'm Bound. How about yourself?"

Asmodean did not smile. His past was a long and complicated endeavour.

"Interesting."

He paused briefly. His voice took on a rather sad tone.

"Would you like to hear a short, and sanitized version of who I am, or would you rather hear something more akin to the truth?"

She blinks. "Whichever one you'd rather tell." She says not unkindly.

"I've heard many stories."

Asmodean shrugged.

"I thought that I would give you the chance to request something less disheartening."

He paused.

"Though it is best, I suppose, to tell the truth."

He gave a long sigh.

"I am a slightly more than three hundred and fifty year old, former servant of the Dark One. For my service I would receive immortality when the Dark One destroyed reality and remade it in his own image. I was betrayed by one of my allies and now I serve the Light out of fear of my former master."

He gritted his teeth.

"I suppose you now see why I would ask your preference in my history?"

"The Dark One...I'm assuming you mean what we refer to as Satan?"

Asmodean tilted his head. He preferred not to say the true name of the Dark One.

"The names are similar, but unless the person you are referring to is a seemingly omnipotent entity sealed beyond time and space since the beginning of time, then I am afraid we are not."

Kim doesn't quite understand but she understands enough.

"It is hard to escape the past, but it's worse to not be truthful about it. Do you serve the Light just out of fear?"

Asmodean paused and thought about it.

"My motives are largely immaterial because I can never return to the Shadow."

"You mean returning back to serving er...the Dark One?"

Part of Kim can't quite believe she's having a conversation like this but it is Milliways.

Asmodean nodded solemnly.

"That is correct. I can never return to my service of the Dark One."

"Have you been serving the Light for long?"

Asmodean glanced away.

"Given time's erratic flow here, I would estimate my time in the light at two and a half months."

"It is very difficult to judge time here." Kim agrees.

"Is it hard getting used to serving the Light?"

Asmodean shrugged.

"The service itself is not difficult. I merely do what I can, but it is occasionally difficult reducing the stigma of being a monster."

"You mean the way you were before you served the Light?"

Kim looks away for a moment.

"Do people view you as a monster here?"

Asmodean laughed. An empty hopeless laugh.

"I was not contending that I was not a monster. Perhaps of all the people here, I deserve that label."

He paused.

"Given the things that I have done, I do not fault them for believing such. I was merely expressing the difficulty of doing any good work with such a history."

"Difficult but not impossible?"

Asmodean paused and thought.

"Given that a number of my attempts have gone astoundingly badly, and I have reverted to some old habits when I forget myself, I have been trying and I suppose that is what is important."

"If you don't mind me asking...what kind of old habits?"

Asmodean glanced away.

"I do not mind. It is best that I come to bear with who I am."

He paused.

"When I lose my temper, I have the tendency to use my power badly. The last time, I believed that a particular young woman was hiding something from me. I believed that I had been betrayed, and so I invaded her mind and ripped the information out of her. It was neither pleasant nor painless. As it turned out, she was completely innocent."

Kim is horrified but doesn't show it. "When someone is betrayed once they tend to...overreact if they think they've been betrayed again. Is the woman okay?"

Asmodean nodded.

"That seems to be the case."

He paused.

"As soon as I realized my error, I reached out and pulled the pain from her mind into my own. She seems to be well."

"You tried to fix what you did." She pauses and decides that she should share something with Jasin in return.

"A few weeks ago my dad was very angry at me for something and because he has been betrayed in the past he saw my lying to him as a form of betrayal and he said some very hurtful things. It's not at all the same thing but...even people who have always been in the Light make that mistake."

Asmodean nodded solemnly. He looked her in the eyes. His eyes were deep wells that opened into pools of pain.

"It takes a very strong person, stronger than I, that when they have been hurt do not lash out and hurt others. All of us have our moments of weakness. Your father is no exception. With me, because of my power, my capacity to do harm is far greater."