Something there that wasn't there before (Levi and Zepar)

[sea_green]

Some days, Leviathan loved being on earth. Humans were so easy to tempt into jealousy, into petty spite and arguments and all the delicious little effects that covetousness brought upon them. He loved to sit back and watch the chaos that ensued with just the tiniest effort on his part.

Today was not one of those days.

Today he was jealous himself of all the demon Princes probably having the time of their lives down in the pit, because today was boring .
To top it off, the winding angelic script on his arm had been itching and he didn't know what that meant. He knew the script spelled out the name of his soulmate, an archaic tradition that demons hadn't quite found a way to get rid of, and he was even able to read it (demons continued to use angelic script, after all so many of them were fallen what was the point inventing a new one when there was one they could use already?) But he didn't particularly care about it. Of course, he felt envy (as a matter of course) for those who had found their soulmate, particularly those few demons who had located theirs in hell itself, but that often passed as so many of his desires did, and here on earth it hardly bothered him at all.
So why, here, now, was the blessed thing driving him crazy? Stupid human body...

Comments

[hurtyourealgood]

Zepar himself had never put much stock in the mandated soulmates, after all, he was an Angel, despite the fact that he was a banished one, he wasn't supposed to have a soul.

Of course, telling himself that, repeatedly, hadn't stopped the runes on his arm from itching, he could still read them, clear as day, despite how often he tried to forget the language in favor of more modern ones, and he'd certainly tried, he'd tried to unlearn and forget any reminders of what he was never going to have again. Earth was, for all intents and purposes, his home now.

He caught himself scratching at his arm absently again and forced himself to stop, shaking his head and dragging his hand through his hair instead, sending it into further disarray. He dug through his pockets for a cigarette, intent on using it as a distraction from the itch, scanning over the afternoon crowd just to see if he could pinpoint anyone as out of place as he should have been.

[sea_green]

Leviathan was searching for a distraction as well, the ease of human temptation just wasn't cutting it at the moment, not with the way his arm almost felt like it was burning. It had been bad this morning, but now it was almost intolerable. He moved through the crowd, alert for something, anything to take his mind of it.

Then he saw it. Saw was maybe the wrong word, but sensed somehow, the angelic energy. Faint, but obvious to him in amongst a crowd of humanity. An angel cast out, stuck here on earth, or somebody working here as he was, or a spy? Whatever the reason, it was enough to draw his attention, and he snaked his way through the mortals around him towards the source of the sense.

[hurtyourealgood]

Zepar was there, on a bench, with a flock of pigeons at his feet, he'd been feeding them before the runes had begun to bother him enough that they couldn't be ignored.

Which left him scanning the crowd until he spotted someone, no, something disguised as someone eeling through the crowd towards him.

He straightened just a little, wary, wings shifting -unseen by most, though he had a feeling that whatever this was knew they were there- moving from where they'd been settled close against his shoulders, lifting and opening just a little, not a threat display, not yet, but nearly so.

[sea_green]

As soon as Levi could properly see the angel sitting on the bench, he knew that he'd been noticed in return. Had to have been, with the way the other's wings were puffed out just that little bit, like a bird making itself look bigger, not quite threatening but verging on it. Typical angel.

He slowed, breaking through the last few people and stopping just close enough that any other walkers flowed around them, leaving nothing between the two but a few pigeons still pecking at the ground or watching the angel hopefully.

"What are you doing here?" Levi asked suspiciously, green eyes narrowed.

[hurtyourealgood]

"Live here." He replied, not quite squaring his shoulders, but the same as the reflexive lifting of his wings, it was another ingrained, instinctive movement, drawing himself up a little even though he didn't rise, this one wasn't a threat -not yet anyway- and Zepar didn't plan on escalating things prematurely.

Though he did arch a brow just a little, "And you? Pretty sure you're outside your jurisdiction here."

[sea_green]

Lived here. So, stationed here on a longer mission or cast out, could be either one. Could technically be lying, but angels had a tendency to not do that so directly, they preferred to obfuscate and dance around the truth to avoid the sin of it all, Leviathan found it terribly pretentious and tiresome.

"My jurisdiction is anywhere a mortal looks at something they don't have and deep in their heart a little voice says 'that should be mine'," his suspicious look shifts into a smirk "Which is to say, anywhere there are mortals. Such petty creatures, so easily swayed."

[hurtyourealgood]

Six of one, half dozen of the other, and Zepar himself would be the first to say so, but he hadn't been asked, so he didn't say anything, just nodded, accepting the explanation for what it was, because on the whole it was true and he couldn't really argue that it wasn't.

"So there a reason you came to bother an old man instead of your usual flock?" Zepar often complained of being elderly, because it was, technically speaking, true.

[sea_green]

"Old," Levi snorted, he wasn't used to meeting angels who were older than him, they were a lot rarer these days. He was one himself, a very, very long time ago, but he was one of the first to fall and he barely remembered that time now. He often met angels and demons both who were much younger, though people were often misled by his youthful appearance.

"You really think I was going to stroll past an angel without making sure why they were there? I'm not an idiot, I know heaven likes to keep an eye when they can. Not that it will do them much good, when the war comes."

[hurtyourealgood]

Zepar was, quite likely, one of those few, having been locked out of heaven before the first of them fell. He didn't have proof, but he'd heard rumors that what had happened to the Grigori was what had caused the first schism. That there were some -like him, but uninvolved in the debacle- who thought that it was unfair, and others, likewise uninvolved, but still opinionated, who agreed with their father's decision.

But if this one didn't recognize him, that was good enough for him, since he mostly tried to keep out of trouble, as he was one of the few Grigori to have even made it through the two thousand year imprisonment, let alone with his sanity more or less intact.

"Heaven's got very little interest in what I do these days, just as long as I'm not off making Nephilim for them to hunt down and slaughter." The word choice, he knew, was likely enough to give him away as one of the Grigori, but he mostly didn't care right at the moment.

[sea_green]

Nephilim. Envy tilted his head curiously, smirk crossing his lips. So, his new acquaintance was one of them. Apparently he may well be older than Leviathan, although the demon didn't recognise him at all. Not that he recalled, anyway.

"Well. As long as you're not here to spy on me," Levi conceded casually, though he didn't move on, instead continued to watch him with curiosity. Dim as his recollection of heaven was, he found himself intrigued, wondering if perhaps they had met, if he could spark some kind of memory. "What's your name?"

[hurtyourealgood]

"Zepar." He replied, taking a drag off the cigarette between his fingers before adding: "He who oversees women falling in love with men." Though the tone was dry, not quite wry, but something close to sardonic all the same.

It didn't have enough bite to be truly sarcastic, and it wasn't, anyway, because that had been -and technically still was- his calling, what he'd been put on earth to do, though most of them rarely needed his help anymore.

[sea_green]

The relaxed composure was shattered when he heard the name and he stepped back in shock. Suddenly the irritating itch on his forearm made horrible sense. The twisting sigils might not make sense to anybody else but he knows exactly what they say, as much as he tried to ignore them.

"This is some kind of trick, right?" he asked suspiciously, eyes narrowing

[hurtyourealgood]

The reaction was ... well it wasn't what he'd expected, it wasn't often that they recoiled as if they'd been struck just by his name alone.

Though he was starting to have more than just a sneaking suspicion as to why, drawing himself up again from where he'd begun to relax into an easy slouch again, "I don't know you, so I don't know what I'd gain from a trick like that."

[sea_green]

"Maybe not you then, maybe somebody else put you up to this, told you that name -" he hadn't ever told anybody else what the name on his arm said, but he also didn't guard it as closely as he should, wanting to avoid suspicion, perhaps somebody had read it and they had... what? What kind of angel would be so easily convinced into trickery by a demon? Unless he was not as old and powerful as he suggested, easily controlled or manipulated as some of the younger heavenly hosts were. Levi knew he was fooling himself, he could sense well enough that Zepar's power was substantial.

[hurtyourealgood]

"What would be the point when I don't know who you are, only what?" He asked, both brows lifting again, sounding reasonable and just a little dangerous at the same time.

"What's your name?" There wasn't a threat in the question, not really, but something like one, the same as there was something like an order there.

[sea_green]

The frustration was almost enough to convince him that this was really happening, that the angel was who he said he was and, honestly, Levi had no idea what to make of that. How did he react, to be suddenly faced with his supposed soulmate?

He didn't want to answer the question, didn't want to share this knowledge that had been thrust upon him, but he also didn't want to lie, curiously, he wanted to see how Zepar reacted, or perhaps he was simply jealous of the angel's blissful ignorance and wanted to take it away.

"Leviathan."

[hurtyourealgood]

He didn't blanch and he didn't tense, because he hadn't been dreading that answer as much as expecting it, which was why he just nodded, his hands folded, thumb running across the last trailing rune closest to his wrist.

He finally just slid that sleeve up, turning his arm over to where the other could see it, fully expecting that it would be able to read its own name, "So we've got a dilemma on our hands." He said, both brows lifting in something that wasn't exactly concern, but wasn't strictly curiosity, either.

[sea_green]

Levi found himself scowling at the matter of fact way the angel took the news, as though he'd already figured it out, already been waiting to hear it. It robbed Levi of the satisfaction of sharing his apparent displeasure and he was bitter enough about this situation already. But, there it was, his own name, winding around Zepar's arm in familiar runes, confirming that this was no joke, it was really him.

He shoved his sleeve up, sticking his wrist out in front of him for the angel to see, since he'd shown his he figured it was only fair, the only kindness he was willing to show.

"I fail to see the dilemma," he shrugged "Now we know who to avoid."

[hurtyourealgood]

"You really think that's going to work? Especially now that we've actually met?"

That wasn't, at least in his experience, how these things went. Once a matched pair met, they continued to do so, that was why it was considered destiny. He didn't have to agree with the reasoning for it -if there even had been, knowing his Father- but he knew it was effective.

He tugged his sleeve back down, resisting the urge to scratch at the name there, though the previous heat-sensation burning of it had settled down to something more annoying than painful, like poison oak three days in, "If you think it will, I'm happy to try."

[sea_green]

"Well what else do you suggest?" Levi shot back acidly. He was mostly annoyed because he knew Zepar was right; destiny, fate, divine intervention, whatever you wanted to call it, it would keep drawing them back to each other even if they tried to avoid it. He objected to the idea that he was supposed to be connected to an angel, even if finding your soulmate was supposed to feel like being completed, was supposed to make your life better in just about every way, he wanted to resist.

"What else are we supposed to do with this information?"

[hurtyourealgood]

"Turn it to our advantage." He replied, tone still level enough, though truth be told he didn't really have the first idea of how to do that, all he knew -or at least suspected- was that they weren't supposed to have ended up on such disparate sides when they'd first been branded with each other's names.

Then again, he'd already been on earth when the letters had etched themselves across his skin, so he wasn't sure about that either, not really.

[sea_green]

"Our advantage?" Levi raised an eyebrow "I don't see what possible advantage you might be able to bring me," and he hated the idea that somebody else might be able to use him to their advantage, Levi wasn't really one for mutually beneficial relationships, he preferred the kind where he got what he wanted and nobody else did.

"This is probably just somebody's idea of a joke," he shot a disgusted look skywards, ignoring the fact that once upon a time, so long ago he almost didn't recall, he'd been pleased when the marks began to show on his arm, it was a sign that he had been chosen to spend his eternity with someone by his side, another angel... and then, well, then he hadn't been an angel any more...

[hurtyourealgood]

He made a thoughtful sound, "No, maybe you're right, maybe there isn't one, since you seem to be allowed up here with impunity." It wasn't a jab, it was just an observation, because he really was looking for something to turn this around, to make it easier to know that even if they ignored it now they'd see each other again, and again, and again until they were sick of it and gave in.

Something he didn't plan on doing for a long while if it could at all be helped.

Zepar, for his part, had been surprised by the name at best and infuriated at worst, he'd already been banished to a square mile of desolate desert valley at that time and couldn't imagine what good a soulmate would do him when he'd already lost his wife.

[sea_green]

"'Allowed'," Levi snorted "I'm a prince of hell, I go where I want." and okay, that wasn't strictly true, hell did keep a tight leash on a lot of its demons, it was just that the higher up you were, the looser that leash was, and Levi was in a position where there were very few people in the hierarchy powerful enough to reel him in, especially if he didn't want to be reeled.

"I suppose I could just spend more time in hell, can't accidentally bump into you there, after all." he said, wrinkling his nose in disgust. He was not particularly fond of hanging around all the time in hell, it was hard to tempt humans into jealousy when they were all being tortured.

[hurtyourealgood]

"You could, but are you likely to?" Most demons he'd run into spent as much time on earth as they could get away with, none of them liked it in hell, and truth be told, he didn't blame them, though he'd never been himself.

"You don't seem like the sort to be a homebody." Not if he was, in fact, as old or as long-lived as he seemed, and to have Zepar's name on his arm -even if it had been placed during Zepar's imprisonment- this Leviathin was older than most.

[sea_green]

Levi turned his head away with a faint scowl, Zepar was right, he wouldn't spend more time in hell if he could help it, not even to avoid an angel he was supposed to be connected to, that would be unpleasant for more ways than one. It was no fun at all to spend too much time in hell, that was why so many demons were clamouring to come to earth, but it would be even worse to try and avoid his soulmate for so long, he had heard rumours that once you met them, it became painful to be out of their presence for too long.

"So what do we do?" he asked.

[hurtyourealgood]

He unfolded from where he was sitting, dusting one hand off on the knee of his pants, tugging his sleeve back down, "C'mon, I'll buy you a coffee and we can talk it out."

He shrugged then, the movement seeming like it was more wing than actual shoulder, "Or we can duke it out in the parking lot, whichever."

[sea_green]

There was a part of him, a very large part of him, that wanted to take him up on the offer of a fight rather than the coffee, but he also knew that fighting wasn't exactly his style, and it wouldn't really get him anywhere in the long run. Levi might be stubborn and cruel and selfish but he also didn't like to cause himself any trouble if he could avoid it. Besides, he liked coffee.

"Fine."

[hurtyourealgood]

Zepar had often said that if he could find the person responsible for deciding to put chocolate in the coffee he would give them a blow job then and there, no questions asked. It had been that good of an idea.


"C'mon." There was a coffee shop not too far from the park, just around the corner, actually, and it had been his favorite for a while, long enough that the staff knew him as a regular, and the fact that he had company that day got a couple of raised eyebrows, but nothing more.

[sea_green]

Levi looked every inch the sullen brat as he shoved his hands in his pockets and slouched along after Zepar, but he perked up a little bit at the delicious smells inside the coffee shop - not quite enough to look happy to be there, of course, but at least slightly less pissed. He eyed up the display case of treats next to the counter and turned imperiously to Zepar.

"I want cake, too." he said demandingly.

[hurtyourealgood]

"Sure," He said giving a rolling shrug, "Pick one. And let 'em know how you want your coffee."

He gave the woman behind the counter an easy smile, "The usual, and whatever this one decides on is on me, too."

Honestly he was still trying to figure out the best way to make something of a partnership work without either of them having to change sides, not that Zepar really had a side anymore besides 'humanity', but he wasn't likely to turn on them anytime soon.

[sea_green]

Levi demanded the largest slice of cake in the display, and the amount of sugar he requested in his already sugary caramel mocha-chino was frankly sinful. Sweet items weren't really all that prolific in hell, for fairly obvious reasons, so demons having an overactive sweet tooth wasn't exactly abnormal, especially when it wasn't exactly going to make him fat or ruin his teeth.

He avoided resuming their conversation until the drinks and cake had been paid for and they'd moved away from the counter.

"We're going to have to just get on with it, I suppose." he mused thoughtfully.

[hurtyourealgood]

Zepar didn't have quite that much of a sweet tooth himself, he had, in the beginning, but had burned himself out fairly quickly. He still enjoyed sweets, certainly, just not to the same extent.

"Mmhmm." He agreed, just holding his own coffee between both hands, letting it warm his fingers, savoring the smell of it as much as anything, "We are. But it doesn't have to be some kind of ordeal."

[sea_green]

"We're not going to be able to avoid each other, we both know that," Levi said thoughtfully, they'd already decided that option was a no-go "and you're right, I suppose we don't have to make life difficult for each other." Normally he was all for chaos and messing with people, but he had enough self preservation to know that making things bad for Zepar was only going to end up with things being bad for him.

"We could...be... friends?" he didn't really have good interpersonal relationships with other people, so this would be something new for him. In order to cover up his obvious discomfort, he turned his attention to shoving the cake in his mouth.

[hurtyourealgood]

"Or something like it." He agreed, nodding once, "For whatever it's worth, I have no intention of interfering with your work here, provided that you're causing trouble to people who deserve it."

In his experience most demons thought that everyone deserved the trouble, but some could discern which humans were actually being dangerous, and which would lend themselves best to burning themselves up.

[sea_green]

"Of course," Levi replied with wide, innocent eyes. Anyone who had known him for thirty seconds would suspect that innocence was all an act, and an angel who knew what he was? It was blatantly obvious, but still Levi pretended. As far as he was concerned, everybody did deserve it, after all, all he did was poke and prod at the sin that was already at the back of their minds, all he did was give them permission to act on it, what they chose to do... well that was their own fault, wasn't it?

"I have no intention of interfering with you, either," he preferred to play games with mortals, messing with angels wasn't his style, unless he was trying to tempt them "What is your work here?"

[hurtyourealgood]

He actually had to think about that one for a minute, brow furrowing, "I suppose I still preside over women falling in love with men, though I haven't done that in a while, most of them seem to get on well enough on their own." Sometimes he still gave a push in the right direction, when he knew the spark was there but neither of them would act on it, but even those instances were few and far between.

He gave a little shrug, taking a careful sip of his coffee, "I suppose I'm still supposed to teach them new things, as well, but there aren't many of those left, and for the most part the humans are coming up with the new things themselves and teaching me."

[sea_green]

"Women falling in love with men?" Levi snorted, as though he found the concept particularly amusing, "Is that why I am your chosen soulmate, because if it was a woman you'd encourage her into another's arms?" it was hard to tell if he was joking or genuinely trying to be mean, it was most likely that for Levi there was simple a very thin line between the two.

"Yes, things did seem to be a lot simpler, didn't they?" he agreed, sipping at his own coffee "I don't mind so much, of course, all these beautiful new shiny toys mortals invent constantly, it's oh so easy to make them crave them, to look at others who have the toys they cannot afford and want." The malicious glee in his words was very obvious.

[hurtyourealgood]

"Probably their attempt at preventing me from getting married again." He replied, giving a wholly nonchalant shrug. Most of the Grigori had, when they were still almost as new as the world itself, when they'd still been teaching the humans everything they'd need to know. It was what had gotten them banished and imprisoned in their own square mile of valley for a millennia.

"I don't think they realize how much things have changed down here." Either that or the pair of them had been expected to meet a whole lot sooner than they had. Zepar honestly wasn't sure, and didn't particularly care.

[sea_green]

"You were married before?" Levi found himself scowling, and quickly shoved another piece of cake into his mouth to hide the expression. He wasn't jealous, he was... well, he was jealous, because that was who he was, and the news that somebody else had been married to his soulmate was met with distaste, regardless of how he actually felt about Zepar.

"...to a mortal?" he asked, eyes narrowing. That was even worse.

"I don't think they have," he agreed "A lot of angels I've met all seem pretty out of touch."

[sea_green]

"You were married before?" Levi found himself scowling, and quickly shoved another piece of cake into his mouth to hide the expression. He wasn't jealous, he was... well, he was jealous, because that was who he was, and the news that somebody else had been married to his soulmate was met with distaste, regardless of how he actually felt about Zepar.

"...to a mortal?" he asked, eyes narrowing. That was even worse.

"I don't think they have," he agreed "A lot of angels I've met all seem pretty out of touch."

[hurtyourealgood]

"I was." He replied, nodding once and giving his arm a little jostle, "Before this showed up. Most of the Grigori were, actually. I think the story that's told now is that the beauty of the daughters of men caused our fall. That's... not really how it happened." It was only sort-of how it had happened, and he'd given up being upset at how the story had changed.

Most of the time, anyway, sometimes it still stung.

[sea_green]

"Then how did it happen? How does one fall in love with a mortal of all things?" Given that Levi spent the majority of his limited time on earth messing with mortals, the idea of getting to know one long enough or well enough to fall in love seemed almost ridiculous to him. They were so... different.

[hurtyourealgood]

"It was easy back then. They were still new, and nowhere near as fragile and innocent as the Creator thought even then. But we had no reason to tell him otherwise, it would have just upset the balance of things."

He rolled his mug between his hands just briefly, "I'm surprised there were a few of us who didn't fall in love with this side of creation. It's hard not to, when you're that involved in teaching them everything there is to know."