Open 'verse RP [Open -- Separate threads fine]

[changehistory]

He'd come home out of some weird need to find his roots, again. Or something. At the current moment he couldn't remember. Souvenir shops lined the streets he roamed too long ago. The house had burned over three centuries before and even the alleys were swept now. There had been nothing to bury, and no money for more than a mass grave had there been, so there were no markers, nothing to see, nothing to kneel at.

Wandering into the new St. Paul's, built after he left, after the fire that took them, he nonetheless felt something settle. He sat in a pew for hours, trying to remember what it had felt like when he came home, saw this, sat here the first time, a different man. Not Matthew. Not Takezo Kensei. Something else, someone else. A man without country, time, family.

For a time, he'd thought to find it again, but now the dream seemed farther away than it had even when trapped in that cell, and he was cold.

It was well after dusk when he left. He found a pub, a table in a corner, and with a wry smile that cursed all the years in between, he ordered a whiskey and asked the bartender to leave the bottle, working to bury himself in the one thing left that had any familiarity or link to the old.

Comments

[enjoythe_ride]

"My guess is that he made a deal with the devil," she said with a small smirk, leaning back in her chair with her glass in her hand. "And he got the bum end of it, so it seems."



OOC: No worries! I had forgotten about this one, actually, lol.

[changehistory.livejournal.com]

"Ahh..." Adam frowned a bit, looking troubled, then considering. "Is it possible to actually do, then? Not just a figure of speech?" His upbringing, of course, conditioned him to believe magic and deals with devils were very real, but his life since then had failed to prove the Puritan ministers of his youth right in a lot of things.

[enjoythe_ride]

"Oh yes," she said with a nod. "Ten years is the usual allowance, nowadays, though, doing what he does, he was narrowed down to one year before he dies, and his soul heads down to hell."

[changehistory.livejournal.com]

"Why was his reduced so drastically?" Adam asked, fascinated.

[enjoythe_ride]

"Well, he hunts them first of all," Bela said, taking another sip of her whiskey. "So naturally they're not too big a fan of playing fair with him. Second of all, his father already did the same thing, from the rumors I've heard."

[changehistory.livejournal.com]

"For a family of demon hunters, you'd think they'd know better than to bargain with them," Adam said with a frown.

[enjoythe_ride]

"They do, usually. But when a person is pushed too far -- " She licked her lips slightly, before taking another swallow of her whiskey. "Rumor is that he did it to bring his brother back to life."

[changehistory.livejournal.com]

Something flickered in Adam's eyes, dark and desperate and fleeting then gone.

"I suppose I can understand that, then."

[enjoythe_ride]

"Anyone could really," she said slowly, noticing the look in his eyes, but deciding not to push it. "I sympathize, I do, but -- it wouldn't be the choice I'd make."

[changehistory.livejournal.com]

"I suppose it depends on just what your brother means to you...some people you'd do anything for. Especially brothers..." He drained his whiskey glass.

[enjoythe_ride]

"I guess so," she said with a nod, before shaking her head. "They're still nasty things, those deals."

[changehistory.livejournal.com]

"Are they? What's involved?" Adam asked, curious, watching her.

[enjoythe_ride]

"Well, if you're lucky enough to get the ten years, and not have it brought down for any reason, when your time's up, your time's up," she leaned back in her chair, watching him right back, trying to see if she could get to the root of this particular line of questioning. "Hellhounds are called hellhounds for a reason. Also, you can never be entirely sure that what you ask for is what you get."

[changehistory.livejournal.com]

Adam nodded. "I suppose demons are always trying to get out of their end, as it were, get the souls for as little effort as actually possible."

[enjoythe_ride]

She nodded. "They're nothing if not efficient."

[changehistory.livejournal.com]

He nodded again, taking a thoughtful sip of whiskey. "So, you'd have to be very, very specific when dealing with them?"

[enjoythe_ride]

"Extremely specific," Bela sighed. "Otherwise what you could get is not quite what you wanted."

[changehistory.livejournal.com]

Adam frowned a bit, still thinking. "I know people like that."

[enjoythe_ride]

"Do you really?" Bela said, raising an eyebrow. "They're a pain to work with, aren't they?"

[changehistory.livejournal.com]

"They really are, yes, but once you get the hang of it...it can work to your advantage," he commented.

[enjoythe_ride]

"Very true," she nodded. "Paint them into corners they don't want to be painted into because you know the value of well chosen words."

[changehistory.livejournal.com]

"It certainly has its appeal," he said with a slow smile.

[enjoythe_ride]

She smiled back at him, finishing the rest of her glass and placing it back down on the table. Her body felt warm and lazy from the whiskey, and she just leaned back in the chair, watching him for a moment, before tilting her head to the side slightly.

"Are you alright, Adam?"

[changehistory.livejournal.com]

"I am always all right," he said with a slightly sardonic smile, traced with a bit of darkness from the day and the tenor of his thoughts. "It is a skill perfected over centuries."

[enjoythe_ride]

"I'm sure you have," she nodded, licking her lips slightly. "You just -- seem like you've fallen on darker days since we last saw each other."