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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"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."

'With great power comes great responsibliity,' she thinks and doesn't say.

"But you're new to this being good thing so maybe it'll just take some practice."

Asmodean nodded.

"I suppose. It takes a great deal of control, because I am, for once, concerned if in a sudden flash of anger, I tear someone's body to pieces."

"This may sound a little odd but do you have specific powers?"

Asmodean nodded.

"It is not odd in the slightest. I can harness the One Power. The driving force of my universe."

He continued to look straight at her, but dark fire lept up in his eyes, and lightning began to arc around his body.

Two nearby unoccupied tables lifted into the air and danced in the air above their heads. Asmodean did not move or acknowledge their presence at all. Then the tables returned to their positions and the lightning vanished, and the fire in his eyes died down.

"That was just a small taste of my power. It was as easy for me as lifting a kitchen utensil would be for you."

Kim gasps, she can't help it and watches in amazement. "I've never seen anything like that. I can't imagine having powers that could...do that"

Asmodean shrugged.

"You grow used to it. However, if you are, for some reason, denied use of your powers then it becomes quite a hassle. It happened to me once, and would be like you losing use of your right arm."

"Were you born with these powers?"

Asmodean nodded.

"Yes, but I had to train for over a century to be able to use them skillfully, and to develop a specialty."

"That's a long time to be in schooling. What is your specialty?"

Asmodean paused.

"Using the One Power as a weapon. For most of my life, I lived in an enlightened society where war had been forgotten. I used my powers in order to maintain stability and to stop errant individuals."

Kim isn't quite sure she understands what he means. "When you say errant individuals do you mean people who were against the rulers or people who were trying to hurt civilians?"

Asmodean paused.

"I suppose I could have been sent for both, but I do not recall ever being sent against individuals who were against the government. I do not recall such individuals existing."

"In your society there was no one who tried to change things or overthrow the ruling class?"