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 Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2016 3:57 am
Things had been bustling at the Hell institute in recent days, something which to a lot of the regulars was rather remarkable since for a while it had been almost peaceful, mostly staffed by the usual residents, the local silicon valley humans and hardly anyone else. For anyone with any idea of who was who in Hell it would also have been evident that the recent visitors were not just simply anyone but instead were the major players in the politics of the below, individuals who as a general rule did not normally visit Earth in person.
Amongst the crowd sharing drinks upstairs in the private lounge was a very strange little boy who appeared human apart from the fact he was in the demon lounge and who was speaking to various people, moving from one demon to another, interestingly being addressed by them as if he had the social gravitas of an adult. Sometimes he smiled and giggled clapping his pudgy little hands.
When he spotted Sam he made his way over to the other demon and sat right next to them. “Hiii.” He crooned. "What's youuur name?"
Oddly for a demon, the boy seemed to have no sense of aura about him at all.
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Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2016 11:03 am
Sam had been circulating idly, talking about not much to faces he vaguely recognized and those he didn't know at all, and was about half a drink down when someone who looked very much like a small human child sat down right next to him. It probably wasn't a human child, Sam figured, considering that it was upstairs in the lounge, and also considering he'd seen other demons talking to it in a very unchildlike manner. The way it was talking to him, however, was pretty childish, and Sam froze for a moment, uncertain how to respond. "Hello," he answered. "I'm Samuel," and then, because almost everyone outranked him and he had gotten his tail beaten a few times for disrespect, he added, "sir."
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Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2016 11:25 am
Thor seemed to find being called sir absolutely hilarious and cracked up into childish laughter. "Oh nooooo." he said. "I'm not a sir hahahaah. No." he smiled big. "I'm Thor." And he extended his little hand.
"Nice to meet you Sam! Do you like adventures? I like adventures lots."
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Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2016 11:38 am
"Uh, okay. Nice to meet you, Thor," Sam said, as politely as he could manage, and shook the extended hand, quite seriously. There wasn't any way an actual child could have gotten in here, so this couldn't be a child, really. He thought, anyway. Thor had no aura, which was weird. Was it blocked somehow, or actually not there?
"Um, yeah. I like adventures. What kind of adventures do you go on?" he asked.
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Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2016 12:00 pm
On shaking the small boy's hand there was a strange twist of something undefinable that reached right into the very core of the other demon. When he withdrew his hand he had gained a strange gold-looking ring with a toothy signet on it. The boy seemed not to be concerned.
"All kinds!" he said brightly. "I'm looking for something right now even. It's from a story." And he tilted his head.
"It's from a story you might even know."
He looked around the room before looking back to Sam consiprationally. "Do you want to help me?"
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Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2016 12:14 pm
Okay, this was definitely not a child, and Sam realized that he had just done something pretty stupid as something reached right into him and twisted, just a little. There was a ring on his finger that hadn't been there before. Had Sam been in a form with fur, he would have bristled.
"What story?" he asked, and, "What do you need help with? What's this ring?" There was an edge of unease in his voice, a faint tinge of anger at having something done to him, even if he'd brought it on himself by being dumb.
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Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2016 12:55 pm
Thor didn't look too upset about the tone, bulldozing over it with all the bright eagerness he'd levelled at Sam the whole time. "The story!" he said. "And it's a gift! A present for you to have. It means I can find you. Because now we are friends."
He pulled a roll of candies out of the pocket of his shorts, wiping them on his grubby shirt, emblazoned with a smiling and happy pig face and took one, offering one to Sam.
"The story is so cute. It's about a garden. And a beginning. And a new beginning for all of us."
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Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2016 1:09 pm
I don't think I wanna be your friend. Sam kept that thought tightly clenched behind his teeth, because the anger was bubbling up in him, but he had this feeling that it would be a bad idea to let it out this time, so bad. It would have been a surprise to some of his acquaintances to learn that he was capable of reining it in, but he could, given enough reason. He gave the toothy ring a dubious look. Later, in private, he would try taking it off, and see where that got him.
He shook his head when offered the candy, holding up his drink and mumbling something about, "got this already." Hopefully that was a good enough excuse.
He shifted from foot to foot. "About a garden? Do you mean that story?"
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Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2016 1:27 pm
"That's the one!" Thor cheered. "That very story. The one with the tree. The one with eternal life. I like trees, trees are pretty, all reachy. No trees in Hell. Not like Eaaaarrrrth."
He ate another of his candies and licked his lips.
"I want it. I want a tree."
And he smiled in a way that was rather sinister at the other demon. "If you help me, you can have some fruit."
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Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2016 1:33 pm
Sam felt the fine hairs on the back of his neck stand up at the smile, and shifted from foot to foot again, half grateful that he looked like a human right now so that his fur couldn't visibly show his uneasiness. He wanted to snap at something, and his eyes went again to the ring that had been put on his finger.
"What do you want me to do to help?" he asked carefully.
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Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2016 1:42 pm
"You'll help me!" he said and raised his arms in celebration. "I am so lucky to have so many friends, you are the best Sam, the best person I've met today Nice and helpful demon, a clever demon."
The ring for its part was innocent while he wore it, simple and very expensive looking, designed as if to fit his finger perfectly, its edging like a set of golden teeth.
"There's a bad man." Thor said, looking sad. "A real bad man. I'll show you where he is. I want to know what he is. So for that he needs to go bye bye."
And he waved his hand idly as if waving goodbye to an old friend.
"I need to see his soul."
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Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2016 2:20 pm
Being complimented made Sam even more nervous, along with the mention of so many friends. He fidgeted and sipped at his drink to have something to do with his hands and mouth.
What Thor was asking him to do wasn't something he was averse to, really. "Is he human?" he asked. "Or what? I'm ... still pretty new," and while it was irritating to have to admit that he wasn't a very strong demon yet, that creeping feeling that he didn't want to make Thor angry prodded him into the admission.
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Posted: Fri Jun 24, 2016 11:52 am
Thor clapped his hands, evidently having a blast talking to the other demon and radiating attention and interest which seemed to only increase as the other's nervousness ramped up. He put away his sweets and nodded.
"Think soooo." he said. "Once upon a time there was a sword. A sword which turned every way." and he made a chopping motion in the air with his hand. "Turning and overturning. So pretty. So final." The laughter bubbled up in him despite covering his mouth.
"Not final."
"I want to see if he is, or if he's something more." and he reached over to touch the other demon, a sudden and very invasive sense of knowing overtaking him, the ring around his finger seeming hotter afterwards and a strange and lingering scent of musk, like a large animal in his sinuses. He knew where the man he sought was, just a normal human, working as a software engineer for a large and powerful company making firewalls, strange and reclusive but with a deep and enduring love for animals and plants, his entire penthouse full of plants of all kinds. His name was Brand and Sam knew this too. He visited a peaceful little bar at night on fridays where he'd fallen in love with the owner and her cats but had never breathed a word of it. Sam knew all of this and could see it in his memory through the eyes of something strange and outside it all.
"You'll find him right?" he said and gave Sam big sad eyes.
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Posted: Fri Jun 24, 2016 12:02 pm
The ring was warm on his finger, and a muskiness lingered in his senses, and a flood of knowledge that was not originally his poured into his mind. Sam fought not to shiver, and grasped at the knowledge to memorize it. He would need it, if he was being given a job. With this, he could find the target he was being sent for. In another being, the sudden knowing might have caused a swell of sympathy for the man, but Sam didn't particularly care. It was just a human, and he was being told to bring it back by someone who he felt distinctly was considerably more powerful than himself. It was a matter of self-preservation.
"Should I bring him back here, or somewhere else?" he asked.
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Posted: Fri Jun 24, 2016 12:15 pm
"Yay!!!!" Thor yelled, loud enough that some of the other demons in the room startled and looked over, looking from Sam to Thor, back again and then averting their gaze. "You are the bestest there is." he said to Sam. "I am glad you are my friend. When you capture him, I'll find you. Don't worry about it."
He beamed big. "This is the start of something so good I just know it. I'm going to tell Dent all about my new friend Sam."
"Is there anything nice you'd like Sam? I like trees but what do you like?"
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