What: One Ghost Camera shoulder bag from the Twisted Wonderland Exhibition
Who: Anyone can participate!
Shipping is free of charge to any country except where the post office says no, which (to my knowledge) is the following places: Yemen, Guatemala, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Chad, Bolivia, Liberia, Micronesia, Marshall Islands, Libya, Russia, Ukraine.
How: Please reblog this post! No need to follow or like (unless you want to!), winner to be selected by random number generator.
This same giveaway is also running on Twitter, because there are actually two bags, so there will be two winners! Feel free to participate in both, if you so wish!
When: Starting now! This giveaway ends in 24 hours at 7am on Monday, December 18th (Japan Standard Time).
Winner will not be announced publicly (just in case someone is looking to get a gift for someone else), so please be sure that you can receive messages!
I do not want to remove it from its packaging, but this is what it looks like! There was also a sample available at the exhibition gift shop, and it was a lot bigger than I'd imagined.
I'd thought the round parts on the front were going to be a hard plastic but they are actually a very soft rubber!
It is very cute, and as far as I know it is only available for purchase via the Twisted Wonderland exhibition (at this time).
Marshmallow as a demon, based off a moth. Automeris Frankeis? I think is the moth. It’s a silk moth from mexico but the location doesn’t determine that. I wanted her took to be like that of a page, jester, or messenger. Marshmallow would be a very weak demon. The blackening finger tips are symbolic of the start of their journey becoming more demonic.
Wine Mom if she were a demon. I feel I messed up on the face and made her look too old. However at that point I was already tired of drawing from all the bright lights. She’s designed off a jellyfish, seawitch look.
Credits to nekoonell for that awesome template!
Marshmallow filled her jars with Jellybeans. Solomon only has 5 lonely beans because she doesn’t like him.
Wine Mom’s was all supposed to be wine but I realized that would look fairly bland. Simeon’s wine glass is filled with h o n e y. Satan’s is probably poison... so is Solomon’s.
Based on the chat of the same name, you’re invited to a party after school that has perfectly normal things. I had already written this and finished yesterday but it’s perfect for the start of Asmo Appreciation Week that @milas-imaginarium posted. Since it’s his birthday week, I will have to finish that Asmo Angel outfit I’ve been sitting on. Look forward to it!
For those who haven’t gotten the chat yet, it’s called “Ordinary Party” and is just Asmo, and for some reason the demon’s name you’re gonna have a house party at is called Lucifugus. Which is the taxonomy name of a small brown bat.
Also. Warning. Prepare for a Feels Trip.
Word Count: 6347
----------------------
Asmo had said that a little party was being thrown at Lucifugus’s house after class today. The text came just before lunch and after inquiring what sort of party it was, it was described as “nothing special.” Eating, drinking Demonus, and gossiping. However, as he said he’d pick Althea up after class, he mentioned the prospect of finding a new partner at the end of it. Complete with a heart emoji at the end.
Since coming to the Devildom, Althea had been dragged about on various trips and escapades by the demon brothers. Normally she was the unwilling participant in many of these because they wouldn’t leave her alone and the effort to get them to stop was not worth the trouble but sometimes it was not the worst thing. Initially, she found it enjoyable because being invited out allowed her to get familiar with the place, this is what the upper echelons of demon society found most valuable, right? So it must be important. Yet. More and more she just realized it was demonic versions of mundane things. Hell was just another Earth, just with a different coat of paint.
Today would be no different than the day before and the next day after. After all, this wasn’t the first time Asmodeus sprung plans on short term notice, and it wasn’t even the first time that he’d invited her out to a party. Normally, if he was to take her out, it would be to Majolish or other stores he liked, seeing as she was someone who knew a fair bit about fashion and prided herself on her presentation. It was one of the things she seemed to bond over well with him, and decently enjoyed. So, when Asmo met up with Althea at the end of classes, the standard thoughts were going through her mind. They were going to someone’s house, drink, gossip, and he’d probably drag her to The Fall after. While she always allocated time to study, such things could be done past midnight. It wasn’t as if she lived off of four hours of sleep every night anyway.
“Ooh, aren’t you so excited? I know I am, I mean, who wouldn’t want to spend their time with me. Ahahah.” Linking his arm around her own, Asmo gave his signature head inside laughter, trying to be cute as he beamed a smile up to Althea. Normally, she’d be stoic and unamused but, with Asmo, she tended to lighten up a bit, after all, she did enjoy indulging herself on occasion.
“Yes, yes. Once more, it is of the utmost privilege to bask in your glory, Asmodeus. Your radiant smile, your glowing eyes, why, who needs the Sun when you shine more brilliantly?” Swaying her hips from side to side, the click of her heels upon the stone floor of the Academy was muffled by the sounds of the various demons getting ready to leave. The idea that demons still had to go to school despite being supernatural creatures was still confusing. Did that man there was school in Heaven as well? While she did enjoy learning, it made her question the economy of the Devildom if the education system took so long.
“More! More! Shower me with more praise or even better, why don’t you prove it with a kiss. You would if you really felt that way about me.” Releasing her arm and stepping in front of her, Asmo curled a finger in his hair and pulled it, letting the curl bounce as he struck a pose.
“Flowers wither and die, dry in the heat of the sun, or shrivel from the cold, their petals yellow, their leaves wilt, but your lips shall stay as an eternal Spring, blossoming forever in a garden that envies the scent of your nectar.” Althea leaned in, cupping a hand under his chin ever so slightly, but just smiled, releasing the expectant demon and sauntered off without him.
“Come along then, we need to pick up a gift for the host. It’s terribly rude to arrive at a house party empty handed.” A hand waved back and forth as she waited for Asmo to catch up.
“Ugh! You can’t just say something like that and not follow through! You always do this!”
Leaving the academy grounds and visiting the market, Althea and Asmo picked up a bottle of Demonus, even though she clearly wanted to get a bottle of wine, human world commodities were rather hard to come by. It was unfortunately out of her price range. She was still looking for a way to convert her human world funds into Grimm, though she heard the exchange rate was quite lucrative as human money itself as a commodity for its novelty. Still, despite her Devilgram name being: Wine Mom, she was without wine for another week. Mammon said he made headway in that direction but was still waiting to hear back from a few people.Something would need to be done to incentivise him, otherwise she’d be waiting for a hundred years. If she was lucky.
Lucifugus was one of Asmodeus’ many, many, many acquaintances and for this house party there were about eight others there. It seemed not everyone was as courteous to bring a gift and just showed up, and it seemed that Lucifugus was expecting Asmo to do the same. He was pleasantly surprised. As his name suggested, he did have some bat-like features, and was rather short compared to other demons she had met.Well. She actually took the time to find out that Lucifugus was Latin for a kind of brown bat. She learned that most demons had references to Latin or Greek words, if they weren’t directly from the Bible. This was no different. It seemed that many demons preferred to use their human forms outside of school as well, however most had loosened up their uniforms a bit to relax. Yet, as the two just greeted the host, handing off the gift, a voice caught her attention as a pair appeared from the side.
“So, this is the exchange student, hmm? Can’t say I’ve seen them up close before. One of your brothers is usually lurking about.”
“Oooh. Look how tough they’re trying to be. Just because they have a few pacts.You’re sure we can’t take a few bites, Asmo~baby?”
These two looked slightly familiar, as if she had seen them at the school but never had interacted with them. Both of them carried an androgynous look, but the sharpness in their eyes, on their teeth, and their nails… they were succubi and incubi, though which was which was hard to tell. The first had slick back hair and shaved sides making it look like waves on sand while the one who addressed Asmo as baby had an angled dramatic bob cut.They hung off each other and leered in her direction. The way they moved, the shifting of their shoulders, their stride, their gait, it was clear they were a bit more primal, perhaps true demons that never fell. Regardless, they reminded her of eels.
“Oh hey lovelies, I’m glad you could make it! Oooh. Ooh. I want to introduce you guys to each other. These two are Amaurós, and Ophidia, only like, two of the biggest gossips in the Devildom, as well as two of the biggest sluts. Ahaha.”
Asmo slid over to the pair and circled around them like the queen he was, standing behind them now as if to present her to the pack. This seemed like a sort of initiation into a clique, being evaluated by those who thought themselves above the rest. It was something she was familiar with. Oh, there most certainly were cliques in a Catholic school, perhaps not quite the same as public school, but it was mostly the social status and hierarchy that formed between wealth groups. That’s what this feeling was. She was back to being judged by others. Well. She still remembered the steps to this dance.
“You’re one to talk, Asmo. I’ll have you know that I am the classiest of demons, thank you very much.” Flicking their eyelashes at Asmodeus, the one on the left, Amaurós, feigned offense.
“Oh please. I am a connoisseur of assets, not a slut. Amaurós, Ophidia, this human here is Althea, she’s basically like… Hm. Oh. You’ll see what I mean. I’m sure you’ll get along great!”
Parading himself about, Asmodeus made sure to wave to the others who were invited, making sure he was seen. That left her in front of these two eels that now ungulated forward, giving a circle about her. Althea remained still, arms crossed over herself as she raised a brow at what they were doing. Not reacting even when she felt a nail glide over the arm of her blouse, Althea had opted to keep her jacket with her as opposed to hanging it up. Her coat was long and under it was a pencil skirt that the spruce green shirt was tucked into, but she kept the gold tie clasped and firm with the buttons still tight around her neck.
“Aren’t you going to speak? This IS a party after all, or are you just going to stand there all night and be a coat rack?”
“Ugh. Come on then, don’t be such a buzzkill. Do something human-! Unless you want us to make the first move, hmm?”
The two hissed as they returned to each other's side, Ophidia, draping their arms over Amaurós’ shoulders and making that final jab at her, while Amaurós themselves seemed to stand there and sneer a bit. All the while, Althea saw that Asmodeus was watching the three from the corner of his eyes. Catching the glint in his gaze, she saw that he was expecting a bit of a show. Very well. Her arms unhooked from themselves slowly. Placing a hand upon her hip, Althea cocked them to the side, coat hanging over the arm while her hand flipped through her hair.
“Well, excuse me for reserving the right to speak. I thought I’d save you the embarrassment, after all, it appears you two share the same brain as you can’t think or act independently.” With a scoff, Althea tilted her chin up high, eyes glaring down at the two. Let the game begin.
“Ooh. Tough talk from the thirty year old virgin. So what if you’re book smart if you don’t know how to get any. That’s where true power lies. You can control someone from between their thighs.” It was Ophidia who was on the attack once more, the one who called Asmo, Asmo~baby with that cutesy voice.
“You’ve had crows-feet for over a thousand years, it’s a wonder you can get any at all. But I suppose if you put enough makeup on, you can still look half as decent as I do.” Althea turned her head off to the side and huffed a bit in response. Like a dragon she moved, purposely, strong angles, don’t give them an inch. Don’t back down.
“As if! I am only seven hundred, thank you very much and I-”
“Hmph. Well you clearly fooled me, but then again. You seem to play the part of a fool quite well. Just how many centuries of practice have you with that?” Althea’s sharp tongue struck again but cut short by the other demon, Amaurós.
“Haha! Well, done human. You’ve got a bit of a mouth on you. I wonder what else it can do.” They didn’t seem to be nearly as uptight as Ophidia who was pouting and clinging onto the other, but it seemed to be an act as they were back to smiling again, or grinning. Sneering. It was hard to tell with sex demons.
“Oh, I know! Isn’t she just so fun to play with?” Asmo had returned holding a glass filled with a rich burgundy shade. Hooking an arm around Althea’s, he pressed his head to her shoulder and smiled back.
“Come on, the real fun’s about to start. Lucifugus found some human games and we wanna try them out. You’ll give us the real, authentic treatment, won’t you Althea?” Batting his long eyelashes up at her, Althea glanced down and chuckled ever so slightly.
“How could I say no to you?” Her voice lush and low in return, a finger extending out to brush the hair from his face.
“You say no plenty, unless that’s an invitation-”
“Just lead on, Asmo.” Cutting him off, Althea, however did the leading. She had watched where he came from anyway, and had Asmodeus point out where to turn. This particular dorm was not nearly as robust as the House of Lamentation, but it still housed a few individuals so it was sizable enough. The basement was spacious and seemed that everyone else, aside the two she was speaking with, were downstairs.
Other than the host, there were four others. That meant there were nine total. It was a cozy amount of people, something she could handle. There was a table with various drinks on it, bottles of demonus and still, nothing she could get the slightest bit intoxicated off of. This was fine. She didn’t drink to feel effect anyway, well. Not mostly. As for food things as Asmo mentioned there would be, along with cupcakes and other dainty sweets, there were “party” foods, which consisted of things like scorpion and giant centipede skewers, cream puffs which- looked normal but the cream was made from pigeon milk. It seemed that Hell was abundant with strange foods. One thing she would not miss once left.
“So, I heard about this game called Truth or Dare, you’ve heard of it right?” Lucifugus looked at her expectantly as he took a seat on the sofa. Settling down with a drink, everyone took their respective seats. Althea picked a solitary arm chair so she could see everyone and, of course, Asmo sat with the pair he introduced her to. It was clear what his intentions with them were with the way they were snickering and giggling to each other was.
“That’s right. Typically, you ask someone the question, truth or dare. That person then responds with which one they’d rather do or say. If you pick dare, you perform an action, and truth is obviously answer the question truthfully. If you don’t want to do it, you typically have to do a punishment or take a shot of something. Alcohol. Hot sauce, until they will say or do something. Depends on house rules.” Althea kept her eyes focused on the host as she spoke, out of politeness.
“Oooh! That sounds like great fun! There are SO many things I can finally get you to do and say, Althea!” Asmo was giddy like a schoolgirl, his expression changing from sweet to sinister in a quick flash. This was going to be a long night…
However. The night wasn’t terribly bad. Several of the demons had to answer what their biggest regrets were, or had to make out with each other- dares Asmo specifically asked, or had to send text messages to people they hated. At least three people were guaranteed detention the day after. Asmo had the audacity to ask her what would get her on her knees, clearly referring to sexual actions, however she avoided the question saying she only gets on her knees when praying at Mass or confessing sins. A few more rules were added as people weren’t drinking enough, including if you didn’t do the dare within a minute, you had to take a shot, or if you avoided the truthful statement, another shot. If the others guessed what the truth was to your question but were wrong? Shot. That one ended up getting a few people drunk. After Althea refused to kiss someone, he dared another demon to kiss her, which resulted in her slapping them across the face until they gave up.
Among the things that people did, sitting in each others laps, drinking disgusting things, taking pictures and texting them to others, a few times people had to leave and return with others because, of course Asmodeus would dare someone to do something sexual, Althea made certain to avoid those kinds of dares, or at least only pick truth when Asmodeus asked her the dreaded. Truth or Dare.
“Truth.” Althea stared towards Asmo, the time already around midnight.
“What do you have against kissing? You act like it’s such a big deal. I bet you’d like it if you just gave in a little bit. I mean. I’ve never seen someone with a body like yours so uptight. It’s SUCH a waste.” He was starting to slur his words a bit, but he passed it off with a fake cute voice, and insisted on drinking more of course.
“Oh-! It’s because she’s a prude! I mean, just look at her, buttoned up and formal. All work and no play. But you don’t need her to have a bit of fun, Asmo~baby.” Ophidia, arm draped over Asmo’s shoulder just to get his attention, yet he didn’t look at them for more than a glance.
“No, no. I mean, yes but- I think it’s because she had a bad breakup before. Someone broke her heart and now she can’t love agaaaain. So cliche.” Amaurós was less drunk than Ophidia but still clearly intoxicated.
“Wrong on both fronts. Aside from the fact that the exchange of bodily fluids is disgusting? To me, kissing is a level of intimacy that I reserve for the eventual person I will select for courtship. It holds something of a sacredness to me.” Althea stared at her glass and then glanced to the incubi and succubi pair who just rolled their eyes and finished off their shots before standing up.
“Ugh. So it’s because you’re a church girl again? You’re in the Devildom. You should lighten up a little bit. Why are you so opposed to fun?” Asmo took a shot as well, as it was clearly not the answer he thought either.
“Truth or dare, Asmodeus.” Althea followed it up towards him, seeing as she, one, didn’t care about getting answers from others, and two, they were in the process of leaving.
“Hmmm. Truth!” Asmo leaned forward a bit, curious to see what she’d ask.
“What was the Celestial Realm like?” Her eyes stared towards Asmo now, narrowing slightly. The unfortunateness that she was sober around a bunch of drunk demons was now starting to turn advantageous, they should have their tongues loosened to talk about what they normally wouldn’t should be available now. Or at least that’s what she hoped.
“...”
“Next question.” Asmo took a shot, a bit of an uncomfortable look on his face.
“Fine. Exactly how long ago was the Celestial War?”
“You really aren’t supposed to ask those sorts of questions, you know that.” He fingered the shot glass a bit, trading his nail along the lip before taking a second shot.
“In detail, what is your relation with Solomon?” Althea would ask as many questions as needed until she got the answers she wanted. She was waiting for this moment when he was drunk enough. The host, Lucifugus, was cleaning up but looked between the two and saw the tension grow.
“Cooomee ooooon. You know I can’t… Ugh. Just keep asking questions until there’s something I can answer. You’re as bad as Solomon, you know that, right? Fine, fine. Keep the questions coming.”
So, Althea proceeded to ask a list of questions that were declined. They included questions about the bible, about Heaven, the afterlife, the origin of the universe, God, things that either he didn’t know, or that he couldn’t answer. About fifteen questions in, there was a final question he did answer. Or maybe he was just too drunk to care.
“What did you look like as an angel?” Althea was just about ready to ease down but it seemed that with this question, and the way he let out an exasperated sigh, he might actually respond.
“FINALLY, a question about me! Well. I was beautiful! There was no more beautiful angel, and EVERYONE loved me. Jewel of the Celestial Realm- no one- not even Lucifer- well. Okay maybe Lucifer but- No one else was more beautiful than me! I was so stunning that it was almost a crime. Well. Hehe. I guess it did become a sin.” Strutting about the room, Asmo was swishing his drink around and then nearly tripped over an end table. As he held balance, Asmo straightened up and held his hands out like he was perfectly balanced the whole time.
“Simeon did say something similar… But, it seems like it’s time to go. Come on, you can’t walk straight. Let’s get you home.” Althea went to go wrap an arm over Asmo’s shoulder, pulling his drink away from him except Asmo stumbled back and waved a hand.
“Wait, what did Simeon say about me? Ugh, look at those shoulders, I just want him to wrap those arms of his around me, and those eyes, his smile, beautiful- I mean. Not that I’m jealous or anything.” His cheeks started to flush, but that might have been from drinking too much. A few more things were mumbled under his lips, comments on his appearance and how above everything he seemed.
Again, Althea stepped forward to take the drink away from him, using the length of her arms against him, handing it towards the host who was cleaning everything up. It was certainly past midnight now. Still, she didn’t answer his question. After all, Simeon didn’t say much on it, actually told her to ask the demons themselves as he didn’t feel right speaking about the topic while in Hell. He also made her promise to not ask Luke about it too much either. Disappointing but, she’d keep the promise.
“Althea-! One more question, the game isn’t over until I say it’s over! Truth or Dare! But- but- you have to answer Truth. Got it? Then I’ll leave.” His words still slurred, it seemed that all those shots were catching up to him now. While he didn’t have a drink anymore, he was playing keep-away, so, to indulge him, she nodded her head slightly.
“If I must. However, come over here. I’ll answer Truth as we leave.” Althea hadn’t ever declined to answer a question truthfully, and she wasn’t going to avoid answering it this time. Right now, the only thing she had was a headache from the loudness of everyone, a glass of wine could really be needed right about now.
“What do you REALLY think about me? I know you said you’re not interested in any of my brothers but- come on. You have to love me. I don’t believe you when you say you’re not interested.” Asmo was struggling to put his jacket back on, not able to find where the arm hole was. A slight sigh slipped from her lips, taking a step forward to help him do it up.
What she thought of him? Well. To say she wasn’t interested was not true. However, not the way he wanted her to be interested in him. Glancing off to the side slightly, Althea thought about the question. It would be best to answer this when they were alone. He wouldn’t like the answer.
“You don’t want to hear what I really think about you, not while you’re drunk.” Althea spoke in a solemn way, knowing that this answer was going to have some kind of emotional impact on him if she responded. While she didn’t care about saving someone’s feelings, this was going to be a problem getting him home and Lucifer already was blowing up her D.D.D. with texts. He could brush it off if he was sober, but drunk?
“Nu-uh. You gotta answer this-” He waved a hand away, getting his coat back on but then stumbled and fell down as he was trying to get up the stairs to the main level of the dorm as they exited. Narrowing her eyes at this, there clearly was only one solution.
“Fine. But I’ll answer when we’re out of the building, okay? You won’t want others to hear what I think of you.” Althea slipped an arm under Asmo’s leg, and the other behind his shoulder and lifted him clean off the ground. Looking behind her, in the same stoic, flat voice as always, she nodded to the host, thanking them for allowing them all to come over and, of course, putting up with the craziness.
“Oh, that intimate? So romantic. Is that why you’re carrying me like a princess? Does that mean that you’re my prince? Oh you shouldn’t have.” Asmo wrapped his arms behind her shoulders, kicking his feet back and forth as he was carried. He clearly wasn’t in the right headspace. When was he ever though?
“Very well… What I think of you.” Althea continued to walk as she thought how best to answer this. Asmodeus. The Avatar of Lust… An emotional, needy crybaby who would act out for attention, any attention, and demand everything of you and still want more. No. He was worse than that.
Once they had left the dormitory, Althea kept to herself on the streets, not wanting to pass by anyone to have them overhear, but also because she didn’t trust anyone, nor believe Asmo was in the proper state to defend her if they were attacked. As she knew not all demons obeyed and listened to Diavolo, she was careful not to venture too far out on her own at “night”. Asmo stared up at her with expectant eyes, he wanted to hear that she adored him, that he was her world and couldn’t live without him. He was wrong. So, without ceremony, she began speaking, eyes forward and not looking at him as she delivered her answer to, “Truth.”
“You’re a Parasite. A blight upon everyone you encounter. You feast upon the attention of others, leaving those who have the misfortune of encountering you a husk, drained of emotion after they’ve left your wake. You’re terribly selfish, thinking only of yourself, how it benefits you, how it makes you feel, and disregard the needs of others. Were I not immune to your charms you surely would have tried to sink your fangs into me. If it were not for this program, I’d avoid you like the plague. The toxic aura you spew forth is enough to choke on without even speaking to you. So… Seven out of Ten.”
Each word was left hanging in the air, each word a knife to his heart. It was the brutal honesty she felt towards him, and perhaps it would seem like insults, but to her they weren’t. She met worse, surely. However, he was a demon. This is how she viewed him and while she found his company tolerable, and sometimes fun, this was still his nature. Her eyes remained forward, focused on getting back to the House of Lamentation. Yet, despite what she said, all of her words, he went silent instead of crying loudly. His arms slipped off of her neck and crossed over themselves loosely.
It was a quiet walk back…
Rising up the stairs to the second level, Althea just side-glanced whomever she passed to ensure they didn’t start speaking or ask why the two were so quiet. As soon as she brought him back to his room, he was gently eased down upon his bed and he promptly turned away, pouting, curled up, a slight hunch to his shoulders. It was hard to tell how much of this was the not-alcohol was catching up with him or if he just wanted attention, but there was a bit of sharpness in her chest. Was she feeling back about telling the truth and hurting him?
“Asmo... “ Althea reached a hand out to his shoulder, he turned a bit to smack it away, and turned further around, sharply as the fringe of his hair fell forward, shadowing a bit of his face.
“Don’t touch me! D- Don’t you dare touch me. I’m just a parasite to you.” He pulled away again, this time sitting up and giving a sharp glare at her. There was a hint of light within his eyes, almost like it was glowing. He seemed to be so close to shifting into his demon form with how he was unstable right now.
“I mean- how can you call me that? I’m the Avatar of Lust. People WANT me. I am literally everyone’s type. Seven out of ten? That’s an insult. How dare you! You’re lucky you know. Mhm. If I was allowed to, I’d carve out what little heart you have and hold it beating in my hand. Then you’d see how beautiful I am! Then you’d love me, right?”
The way he spoke, how it flared up, the sharpness, the venom he was spitting, it was as she said. Parasitic. The way his shoulders rose and sank, the primal movement. It was similar to how those two were from the party earlier, clearly more in touch with his demonic side at the moment. Yet, there was something else there. The wounded animal. It came with the break of his voice as he started to settle down, no longer a fire, but a crackling cinder, dim in the night. A mournfulness filled his voice.
“Then… Then you’d love me, right?”
When once his anger settled down from the snarl, the snap, the visceral, a tormented sort of sadness filled his expression as he crawled towards her on the bed. Reaching a hand out, Asmo dragged it down her arm until he was holding her hand. It was not a touch of seduction, but one of longing. Cupping his cheek with her hand, Althea remained silent, watching what was he was doing, if it was a show or genuine response. She knew that whatever was consuming his thoughts, it was likely mixed and veiled as well. After all, demons weren’t truly capable of expressing true human emotion. Theirs was far more complex. So, sitting herself down upon the edge of the bed, Althea would be the emotional rock he needed right now.
“Asmo… You are still beautiful, but beauty isn’t love. You know this.” Her hand then started to brush against his cheek gently, seeing as he was still holding onto it, thumb rubbing back and forth, fingers curled to the side of his face. Something to calm him down. He seemed to like this action, nuzzling against her hand as he was hungry for affection of any kind.
Asmodeus was slow to respond, perhaps he was deciding on if he should answer, or if he was just too tired to respond. It seemed as if he was just content to hold her hand against his cheek, the warmth of her touch, even if it wasn’t as intimate as he wanted. Searching his eyes for truth, watching his gaze, the light still flickered within. But- a sharp tug caught her attention, Asmo pulled on her hand, toppling her off balance in surprise as his other hand pushed her shoulder down to the bed. Though she was sitting on the edge, he had overtaken and was now sat atop her hips, leering down with an intense glow in the burning hues of his gold and coral coloured eyes.
“... Nothing..” His voice was low, a lush whisper that trembled off his lips.
“...Not even now do I see a hint of desire in your eyes… Am I impossible to love? Truly love? I, who was once loved by all, now nothing. To look upon me was to know the Beauty of God. What am I now? A parasite…”
The demonus on his breath was just as bad as any alcohol. It lingered in the air and hung off every word, hot as it practically dripped upon her cheeks. Drawing closer, his face was mere inches from hers but even then, Althea did her best to hold back any sort of reaction. To not recoil, to not withdraw. Even if she wanted to react, he needed the emotional stability right now. She couldn’t feed into his energy, else he’d consume anything she gave off and it would be dangerous for the both of them.
“I may not love you, but that does not mean you’re impossible to love. When I look at you, yes, I see a parasite, but I also see all of that beauty within you. The glow upon your skin, the radiance of your eyes. All of this is true when I speak it, but you look most beautiful like this. This vulnerable scorpion, fighting with his nature. You wish to sting me even now, don’t you?”
With how low her words were, that bare whisper between their lips, the heat of her breath upon his skin, it was the closest physically she had ever been with Asmo. Still, he remained holding onto her wrist and shoulder, staring towards her but not making any movements. As his grip tightened, she also felt his hands trembling and then it released, tears welling and falling from his eyes to her cheeks before he lowered his head down to her chest, arms tightly wrapping behind the small of her back.
“Love me… Love me, please. Tell me I’m beautiful, that I am the most beautiful person you’ve met. Whisper sweet nothings to me and devote yourself to me. I…” Asmodeus clutched on tighter, arms holding onto her waist more as his face started to burrow into her. If she didn’t unwrap from him now, she’d end up sleeping here and who knew how he’d behave once the drunkenness wore off. Yet. She didn’t want to leave him alone. Not like this.
Sitting up slowly, Althea would gently shift in position and unhook his arms, even if he so desperately wanted to remain clung to her, it was the only way. Removing his shoes and setting them on the floor, she tucked him into bed. Fighting with his clingy hands, she had to constantly pull them off and tighten the sheets over him. Changing him out of his uniform was asking for problems so that was out of the question, but she did remove his jacket and loosen his shirt. Yet still, as Asmodeus lay there, looking sleepy, and pitiful, not even she could deny the bit of warmth that was nestled within her heart, the small bit of empathy she felt for him.
It was at this moment, looming over Asmodeus, staring into his eyes as he so often desperately wanted, Althea realized something. For all his age and history, for his time as an angel, then as a demon, he was like a child emotionally. This poor, frail creature, fallen from God’s Love that was hurt so. Yes, the rebellion that happened was likely something he didn’t regret, and something she didn’t blame him for, but to change so fundamentally from who you were from birth, to what you were now. It wasn’t as if she was the best Catholic, nor thought she was going to heaven when she died but still. He was an angel once. They all were angels. Except Satan. Yet Asmodeus, he who was loved by all, how desperate he had become in his moments of depravity.
“I care about you too much to lie to you like that, Asmo. Right now, this crippled, wounded creature you are before me, a parasite, a fallen angel, who you are, there’s nothing more beautiful in this world to me than to see someone like this...but I take no joy in it. Your inner self is exposed to me, and I want nothing more than to play with it, to manipulate it and abuse it for as much worth as I can extract but… It seems I’ve grown a fondness that prevents me from doing so.” It was her confession time now. The delicate way she spoke such harsh words, it was the nature of her internal conflict ions, so sure and not remorseful of those she hurt but fully aware of how toxic she was to others. At least, how she was to other humans.
Normally, what she would do to others is manipulate them in this state, make them dependent upon her so that they can’t get away. Just as narcissistic as he, if not more so as she did it by choice. It was not in human nature to hurt others this much. It was a learned behaviour that she carefully cultivated over time and yet. Perhaps that is why she felt such respect towards demons? It was their nature, that any of them behaved civilly was a feat unto itself. How troubled her heart was at this moment. She should feel nothing for these creatures that strayed from God, but at times they were more human than she was. Asmodeus was about to sit up, stirred by what she said but Althea cut him off.
“Hush dear... You need your rest. If you truly want to, we can discuss this in the morning.” As she was leaning over Asmo on the bed, Althea stared down to his amber eyes, her hair draped over a shoulder like a curtain as she made sure his eyes closed. He seemed a bit reluctant to, but the lushness of her words, the soft lullaby melody she spoke, and quite a helping hand of the drink taking effect, he closed his eyes fully.
Slowly, her hand lowered to cup ever so gently atop his lips as her face drew close to his own. Careful not to touch him too heavily, her lips pressed delicately on the back of her hand. This indirect sign of affection wouldn’t be remembered in the morning, not by Asmo anyway. As her lips pulled away, her own eyes lingered upon his face, and she could not deny he was beautiful. He was like the golden child of a family, an Adonis if you will, something that others would want to remain in the company of. Yet she felt no hint of desire towards him, something he said so himself. Pulling away from Asmo who was now safely asleep, Althea quietly slipped out of the room.
He, who had seen and bore witness to the eternal light of Heaven, to bask within the Celestial Realm and to be called the Jewel of it, he must truly have been glorious, beyond beautiful. The way he looked at Simeon, with eyes of distant longing but not lust, she should have seen it sooner. Was he embarrassed about being a demon? Was he so fraught with melancholy that he’d never be as beautiful as he was as an angel? Perhaps. All she knew, however, was that in his moment of weakness, when she had been caught off guard, he could have followed through on his threat, he didn’t. Instead, he bore his heart out to her, held it shriveled and bleeding in his hands, and she didn’t break it...
Leaning against the back of his door, arms crossed behind her, thought started to betray her once more. Why didn’t she lie to him? She could have told him all he wanted to hear and he’d believe it. It would have been so easy to twist his desperation around her finger and have him depend upon her. So pitiful he was at that moment. So pitiful she was becoming that pulling away and leaving him to sleep alone, awake alone, started to gnaw away at her.
“Asmodeus…”
His name fell from her lips, eyes forlorn as she pulled off the door. The short walk back to her room was just as silent, heels clicking through the corridor. A lonely sound in the middle of the night.
This is Wine Mom’s chapter for the dance. Oh. Both Wine Mom and Marshmallow have an added dance with Diavolo ;) Enjoy.
Word Count: 6707
Within the golden illustrious palace of the Demon King, the residents of Purgatory Hall, exchange students Simeon, Luke, and Solomon, were joined with the denizens of the House of Lamentation, the demon brothers, accompanied by the final exchange student, Althea. It was a retreat designed to celebrate the exchange program and how smoothly it was running. Smoothly was not the word she’d use for it however. While the situation itself was one of jovial merriment, a banquet before them prepared by the Demon Lord’s Butler Barbatos and the unseen staff that lurk in the shadows, Althea had been having the antithesis of amusement.
“...Well then, I suppose it’s about that time.”
Diavolo, a man who seemed surprisingly pleasant given the fact he was supposed to be, according to all she knew about Hell prior to arriving in the Devildom, had risen from the table that everyone had been seated at for the meal. As he rose, so did everyone else, more or less, rise with him in time as you would expectantly do for someone of such high royal status. Yet he also looked off to the side and waved a hand to the staff who were only visible from the reflections on the golden floor. The table glittered before them and disappeared before her very eyes through means of magic, much to Beelzebub’s displeasure, mumbling and groaning about how he wasn’t finished eating.
“Ignore him, Diavolo. Go ahead.”
Lucifer had distanced himself, and so did the other brothers. She had known that there were more festivities to be had, and while she enjoyed the tour and perhaps the scavenger hunt itself for its intellectual and cultural insights, this was a surprise for her whatever it was. Fun fact: Althea did not like surprises. You can’t prepare for surprises. That, and most surprises were disappointing. This one time however, was the exception to the rule. This was something the heiress was a bit more used to.
“All right then, here we go…”
As the lights went dark over the entire area, her vision became obscured so that not even a shine from the floor or chandelier was able to gleam through. This was a spell, it had to be. Though she was unfamiliar with sorcery, she had been around it enough to feel the charged particles linger in the air. If she had arm hair, surely the hairs would be standing up as she felt static prickle along her skin. Althea felt a weight against her neck, and the texture of other fabrics. As the lights went on, all was revealed as the room they were in was transformed to a grand dance hall. Each demon was within their natural form, and the students, herself included, were adorned with fanciful formal attire.
This is the sort of thing that could tempt mortals to fall. All those stories about grandiose, larger than life scenarios. Oh, how the Devil could tempt you with whatever it is your heart desired. Indeed. Decadence and Sin was mired throughout this place. She had been raised Catholic, went to an all girls, Private Catholic School, and although she had enough skeletons in her closet to fill a graveyard, was still faithful to God.
“Magic really does come in hand sometimes, huh?” Solomon passed by her, his cloak bearing a mantle now for his formal robes his smirk remained the same no matter what he wore.
“We were the only ones here just a bit ago, but now look at all these people…” Luke’s formal attire suited his diminutive appearance, rather looking like a flower boy at a wedding. Though that wasn’t much better than a chihuahua.
“They’re all guests from across the Devildom, and there certainly are a lot of them.” Simeon was the other angel, dark skinned, dark haired, with eyes like the Caribbean Sea. Yet, she was expecting to see that the angels had wings, apparently neither manifested them or were able to.
Yet all of the individuals here, those she knew, those she didn’t, were in their demon forms. Wings, tails, and horns of all shapes and sizes were visible. Yet it seemed, from what she could see, that only Lucifer retained feathery wings. The rest had wings like that of a bat if they had them. Satan and Leviathan only had tails and horns- and despite Satan’s questionable fashion sense, it was Diavolo who truly caught the eye. The man had already been enough to catch the eye before; broad of shoulder and frame, tall of statue, clearly the largest demon she had seen but in his true form it was something else.
His bare chest was adorned with golden accents and a few tattoos that accentuated his muscled form. Triangles bore upon his forearm and his attire on his lower half of black and white was still draped with gold chains and just the same as his torso. His neck held a black and gold collar that went all the way up, yet it didn’t look like it was difficult to turn his head in. All the while, a mantle of black fur curled over his arms behind his shoulder blades like a runway model. His hair turned a blood red and his skin deepend in colour. The future King of the Devildom truly looked like royalty in this moment for even his horns and four bat wings were tipped with gold. Yet he wasn’t the only one who was striking.
“...Yo, Al… ah… ah…” Mammon seemed stunned for a bit at her appearance, and as Althea took a glance over what she wore, it seemed that it was the gala gown. It seems that it was replicated perfectly- and she didn’t have to pay the hefty price again for it either.
With a thigh high slit, the gown was practically entirely gold, the leaves, vines, and flowers upon the skirt gold, the bodice and interior, all shades of gold in various ways that had a satin reflection as much as the room around her. Yet that wasn’t all, it also appeared her jewelry was replicated as well, bejeweled bracelets and the cascading necklace upon her bare neck and collarbones. Glancing to the side, she saw Barbatos give a nod. It seemed that he had done his research to make the gown as faithful to her own as possible.
“I- Ah- Al- Althea! Um, like… you know… uh, I mean, like… uh… L-Like, you’ve gotta have weird tastes to ask a human like you to dance. I’m guessin’ no on here’s gonna do that, huh? Ahahahah!” Mammon then mumbled something under his breath, looking away from her gaze, the blush upon his cheeks was expected by now.
His demon form, as this was the first she had a chance to see it, was what she assumed he thought looked cool. A leather half cropped jacket that came nowhere close to being able to close was studded and had gold dangling decorations on the popped collar with belts that crossed his chest with two strips of leather that clutched the X. His bat wings were angled downwards and held white markings on them, just as his chest bore markings almost reminiscent of tribal war paint.
“My oh my, Mammon… this look is more suited for the bedroom than the ballroom, don’t you think?” Althea closed the distance and brought her hand towards his chest, ever so slowly dragging a finger across one of the white markings. Mammon seemed to freeze a second and take a half step back as his blush intensified.
“Mm? Y- yeah? W- wait- I mean! Y- what are ya doin’?! Y- ya can’t go sayin’ that here-” He even smacked at her hand, however light the trailing of her nail had been across his chest. Though, Althea’s reaction as a smug, mused grin at how flustered her had become.
“Oh, I know- I know. I just like to see you blush. It’s terribly entertaining, darling.” Placing a hand on her hip, she canted them to the side as Althea couldn’t help but laugh in the most amused of ways. Teasing Mammon was probably her favorite thing to do in all the Devildom, which honestly was saying something because she lied. There were a few things that she did find enjoyable since being here.
“Stop it-! Would ya? Geeze. Now I don’t even know if I wanna pair up with ya for a li’l bit!”
“Mammon, why not just admit that you want to dance with Althea?”
“You’re such a loser! And a total tsundere! Looooool People are sick of characters like that!... Didn’t you get the memo? Lololol Those characters are so yesterday! LMAO.”
Satan and Leviathan mocked the already wounded Mammon, pouring a bit of lemon and salt into the cut Althea made. The both of them had been a curiosity to her. While certainly she did get along with Satan as he tended to with others, she was used to people faking their smiles and demeanor and found it tiresome to guess their motives. Levi was easy to read, just like Mammon, in that he wore his emotions on his sleeve and he had quite a bit of emotions as well. A bit of a smile formed upon her lips again and as she was about to offer a head-pat to comfort the second oldest brother, he burst out in frustration to number 3 and 4.
“GRRRRR! Get outta here, both of you! Shoo! Shoo!” Mammon smacked the hand away again to avoid being head-pat but also waved his hands frantically at Satan and Levi.
“Althea, come dance with me. Now.” A voice came from the side, deep and commanding.
“Lucifer, surely you can ask a lady more politely than that.” A bemused chuckle slipped from her lips as her eyes leveled upon the mighty first born in his prideful glory. Accepting the hand that was extended towards her, she could tell just from the shadows nestled in his gaze that this was not a frivolous encounter.
“Wh…!”
“See, you should’ve just come out and asked Althea to dance.” Satan let out an audible sigh.
“The loser was rejected! Haha, awesome! Loool!”
“SHUT UP YOU TWO!”
A hand remained delicately rested within Lucifer’s, another hand pinching the corner of her dress as the pair made their way further onto the dance floor. Her eyes glanced over, lingered upon his facade as he seemed to be watching her from the corner of his eyes as well. As soon as they were appropriately distanced enough from others, her hands went in position and remained there without a shred of doubt in herself.
“It would surprise me if you didn’t know how to dance.”
“You would be correct to assume that I know. However, the question is, can you keep up with me?”
“Is that a challenge?” These words could have been spoken by either of them, as both held a certain tension that charged between the both like electricity about to go off. Yet it was Lucifer who stared down with a foreboding gaze as if to question the human who dare challenge his pride.
“No. Not yet anyway.” Althea was taking full advantage of them being in a public location and while she would contest him while not surrounded by others as well, she was all the more confident in just how many people were around them.
Lucifer was savvy on the pickup, and as the music started, took careful stride. Long, graceful movements were made upon the dance floor, something that she could easily pair her steps with. Needless to say, she was not one to fall behind with every pivot, twist, and for the longest of whiles, the two would not speak, merely stare intensely at each other as if to try and make the other person become unnerved and miss a step. Of course, she didn’t expect to be able to stare down Lucifer, however, she made certain not to lose any of her own ground. Finally, the dancing slowed enough for the discussion to begin.
“You might be able to charm Mammon, but I will not be so easy. I will cut directly to the point as you already know this is not a dance out of politeness or interest.”
Althea certainly expected him to be dramatic, yet as he pulled her body in close, pressing snugly so that it made it difficult to breath, she knew that it was best to dispense with the games, lest she make any following interaction with him sour. It was quite clear that with how tightly he was squeezing her hand, that he was demonstrating his force, able to easily break every one in her hand should he feel like it. With his lips whispering next to her ear, the heat of his breath chilled at the back of her neck.
“I know you’re plotting something with Asmo...”
His words remained cold, and for a moment, she wasn’t certain if she could even breath, let alone feel her hand with just how tightly she was squeezed and yet that moment passed. He eased up and a slow, more basic dance resumed. Step, step, step, glide. Step, step, turn, step glide…. Just a bit to be able to get a bit of air in her lungs as he continued.
“Let me make one thing clear: I respect my brothers’ freedom to do as they wish. However, if I ever sense that you’ve become a threat to either Diavolo or us… then I will show you absolutely no mercy. Understood?”
There were any number of approaches she could take here. Should she simply take his warning and be done with it, should she try to reach out with attempted understanding, perhaps threaten back and put pressure on him to show she wasn’t going to be pushed around or controlled? Certainly any number of them could backfire and while accepting it seemed the safest option and be done with it, she was in Hell and if she was going to be stuck down here for the year, she was determined to make them suffer just as much as they were making her suffer.
“Oh, I understand. However you need to understand something yourself, Lucifer. You’ve taken someone away from their home, away from everything they’ve known to be real and then forced them to adapt- and I don’t like surprises. I don’t like change- and like you, I like to be in control of everything around me. Perhaps all of this is just a fleeting moment in your ancient life, but it’s not to me. If I were you, I’d be more concerned about Solomon. He actually has the power to change things here in the Devildom and he might just have the mind to. A warning you gave me on the first day.”
There was no point in mincing words and while she really could take the most advantage of her time here, and while Althea could manipulate and con others, she’d much rather not put in the effort to deal with demons. The only reason after all as for why she was making these pacts to help Belphegor was because that damned voice in her head wouldn’t let her sleep. Making pacts with the demon brothers, while amusing in hindsight for the look on Mother Superior’s face at the next alumni reunion will be precious, was never something she particularly cared for. It was a means to an end. He should be thankful she wasn’t more malicious.
“Oh, I have my eye on Solomon as well. However, he is a figure we’ve had our eye on for quite some time and understand his motivations. You are an unknown. And while you are forced to be here, you would be wise to keep your nose out of where it doesn’t belong.” There was an abrupt turn with those words as his hands remained tightly gripped within her own, a jerking pull to one direction as the dance was nearing its end.
“Where it doesn’t belong? Or where I don’t belong? It seems to me that you don’t entirely trust Lord Diavolo. My my, how scandalous, Lucifer. Do you doubt his wis-”
“Watch it, Human.” Once more Lucifer abruptly pulled upon her hands but at this point, it was because the dance was at an end, and so was his patience.
“...Pardon me. Well, looks like a new song has started. I’d love the chance to dance with Althea. Might I cut in?” Speak of the Devil. It was almost too perfect his timing as Solomon approached. There was an unassuming smile upon his features as if he knew this was exactly the perfect moment to approach.
“...Fine. I get the feeling that you’ve gotten the message and you understand what I’m telling you, Althea. I’m glad we got to have this little talk.” Inclining his head ever so briefly as she placed her hands within Solomon’s for the dance, Lucifer shot a glare that threatened to freeze the entire Devildom.
“... What was that all about?” Solomon gave a side glance to Lucifer who was now on the hunt for Mammon, seeing as he was no longer visible on the dance floor, it likely meant that he was attempting to steal something.
“It was exactly what it looked like.” Her words were evasive as was her dancing, for it seemed that Solomon as well was a graceful dancer. With her heels, she was even able to remain at eye level with him instead of having to look up.
“Oh? I see. So you were flirting then.” A fake laugh erupted from him, one that was obvious enough to her just how fake it was. Though he continued to speak as a delicate little dance proceeded.
“You certainly aren’t meek, are you? When I heard that the other human they selected wasn’t a witch or sorcerer, I half expected them to be eaten alive and had their soul taken within a week. However, while you may have made pacts with demons, you still lack the power to command them.”
Of all the humans that they could select, it was Solomon. Of course she knew who Solomon was, she was Catholic. Yet, that he looked so very different from the portrayals still was a bit of a surprise. Then again, there were many things that were coming to a surprise as her. Once more. She did not like surprises, even if this one did come in the form of an attractive young man.
“Lack the power to control them? Perhaps I don’t have magic like you, but I certainly can still command them. I daresay my method is more fun.” With an aloof shrug of her shoulder, Althea turned her head off to the side with a bit of a hmph. Though, she knew that Solomon still had something up his sleeve. He wouldn’t bring that up for no reason.
“Well, everyone has some amount of magical power by nature. However, there are some people in which it actually manifests itself, and some people in which it doesn’t. And even among those in which it does, some have more of it than others. It varies based on the individual. Seeing how it doesn’t even manifest itself in you to begin with, even though you’ve made pacts with demons, you can’t take command of their powers.”
“This has been made clear enough to me as is, Solomon. What is your point?”
Althea kept her gaze turned to the side, dancing around him and dancing around the subject just as he was. Solomon was obviously building to some point, bringing up and reminding her that she couldn’t use magic. In truth, she had been researching to see if there was a way to get around that. While it was still unknown all of what magic could do, the amount of benefits you could apply it to in the human world would be quite advantageous. But just what was he getting at?
“How would you like me to lend you my power?” Solomon gave a side eye, clearly trying to tempt Althea with the thought and to get her to read into it more and more. He was having quite a bit of amusement with this, wasn’t he?
“Depends on what your price is… But. I am more concerned about your motivations in this. What do you get out of this?” Althea’s eyes narrowed all the same, sliding her body closer towards his own, fingers on his shoulders sliding a bit down his arm.
“A price? What sort of person do you think I am? I am but an innocent la-”
“An innocent lamb. Yes yes, if you’re an innocent lamb, then I’m a fairy princess.”
“Well, glad to meet you, your Highness… Hmm. Well. Let’s just say I’m curious to know what would happen if I did. You’re a destabilizing element here in this world. I can’t say what might happen if I do this, which is exactly what makes it interesting. We are on a retreat after all. Why waste this opportunity?”
From what she had known of Solomon, he didn’t lie. However, he wasn’t one to tell the whole truth either, or he would avoid answering the questions all together if he didn’t wish to say the full truth either. While she was confident enough that he wished just to see what would happen, Althea was not one to enjoy being used for entertainment of others and there was no guarantee what would happen or what effects would linger, if any. She needed assurances before accepting and just how he would do this.
“You have me intrigued, however. I do have conditions. First, how do you intend to share this power and for how long?”
“For six hours, I can allow you access to my abilities. This should allow you to command the demons you’ve made a pact with. As for conditions, you don’t need to be so wary of me. After all, us humans need to look out for the other.” Solomon kept his words aloof and lofty, offering words of grandeur as a gesture to try and make her more accepting of his proposition. However, she was not one to just simply accept something without knowing the full details.
“You may know demons and you may know magic, but it is precisely because you are human that I am wary of you. I make no assumptions about the world around me, for the rules I know do not apply, yet the one thing I have the utmost confidence in, is a fellow human, for I know the evils we are capable of. I also know enough to not believe in all of the legends about you.”
Althea picked up the pace of the dance, sliding her leg up and inward against his own as she then kicked her heel around his own. Dropping her weight, she forced Solomon into a dip for dramatic effect so that the weight of her words would add pressure and assurance to what she was about to say. Yet it was the piercing, stern nature of her eyes that would contest the shrewd gaze of his own. Perhaps she couldn’t stare someone like Lucifer down, but with Solomon, she had the utmost confidence in this.
“I will accept your offer, but know that if I find any lingering effects or if you attempt to do anything else of a similar nature without informing me…” Althea then leaned in to whisper against his ear, much like what was done to her earlier.
“...You will find out why Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned… and I would oh so hate to get your blood on my hands, as pretty as the colour would be…”
Pulling him upwards now, Althea then proceeded to dance with him again, holding his hand firmly within her own , the other upon his back again. Yet for all what was said and done, Solomon just smiled. Althea hadn’t been able to threaten him enough or perhaps it was effective but not in the way she wanted exactly. Though the way he remained smug annoyed her, she couldn’t let her expression show any of it.
“Hahaha. And they say I act like a demon. Hmm. Very well. You have nothing to fear from me. Just a moment… and… There.”
Solomon had stopped the dancing between them, just as the song ended as well so it didn’t look so suspicious. He made a subtle hand gesture, but did not even speak words and around them, it almost seemed as if there was a bit of glitter floating in the air. A chill ran down her spine as the tips of her fingers felt almost faster… and then the feeling faded, going numb and returned to feeling the way it had before.
“For the next six hours, you’ll have access to my abilities. You are quite a curiosity, Althea. I’m excited to see what will happen…”
A smug side glance was sent her way, and in return, she shot a narrowed one of scrutiny. It was hard to tell exactly who had won that battle, but unfortunately, she felt like she was in the red two for two tonight. This was not what she wanted. To be put under pressure from Lucifer because he was afraid of losing control, and accepting the temporary use of magic from humanity’s (theorized) most powerful sorcerer. She needed a drink.
Walking past a waiter, Althea plucked a glass of demonus off of the tray. This truly was Hell. She hadn’t had a glass of wine in ages and demonus didn’t seem to affect humans. Still, it had a similar taste which was at least a slight benefit. Making her way to Asmodeus, who, for one time in this night wasn’t surrounded by the group of scantily clad incubi and succubi, was speaking with Satan over something. It was a good opportunity to see where she could get something that could numb her a bit.
“Ooh ooh! Look! Althea made it back in one piece.” Asmodeus actually noticed her and skipped over a bit. His demon form had four smaller bat wings upon his back, a sleeveless blouse with roses imprinted upon it, and what appeared to be a centipede in gold that wrapped around his torso.
“Dancing with Lucifer and Solomon. Aren’t you the popular one tonight. Whatever they wanted, it couldn’t be good.” Satan was obviously watching, he seemed to know as much stuff as Lucifer when it came to people watching. Of course he would have seen that they were speaking. It made her question if any demons could read minds.
“Lucifer threatened me and Solomon is looking for entertainment. So. Just a regular night in the Devildom. Listen- do you know where I can get human world wine?” Althea casually waved a hand as she glossed over what was said, downing the glass she had in her hands.
“Threatened? What did he say this time?” Satan shook his head, whether he was concerned or just feigned it was hard to tell at this moment, however, whatever Lucifer was for, Satan was always against.
“Weeeeeeeeell…..? Why not kill two birds with one stone?” Asmo plucked the glass from her hand and turned her gaze to the idea that just popped into his head.
“Just as a little favour to me, why don’t you try and dance with Lord Diavolo. It’ll be super fun.” Like a giddy school girl, Asmo pointed out the Lord of the Devildom not too far away from them. He was in the process of crossing the hall and she could easily intercept him. What was better, is that Lucifer was distracted shaking down Mammon for all the things he had stolen.
“Not only would it annoy Lucifer, but imagine the status you would gain by being seen dancing with him.”
Satan brought up a good point. It would annoy him, which was the opposite of what she wanted right now, however, it was going to be something to add clout to her. Networking was one of the things she excelled at. So, with a wink to the both of them, Althea sauntered her way to Diavolo, hips swaying as she did so. This was the time to turn on all of her charm. There was nothing to hold back with. As she neared him, she could feel the heat of Lucifer’s gaze upon her once more. Yet he was too late, she was already there.
“Lord Diavolo, I must thank you for this lovely turn of events. It is something I couldn’t hope to dream of attending. Would you do me the honour of a dance? I would be grateful and gracious if you would accept such a request of mine.” Placing a hand over her heart, Althea dipped her head in a bow, bent knees ever so slightly for a curtsy before straightening up.
She was thankful to be a woman of stature, for it would be easy to be lost or overwhelmed with a man of this size. Perhaps, she might be able to actually enjoy the dance for what it is however. After all, it is something that she did have formal practice in. Growing up in a family of wealth, no… growing up as the middle child in a family where it pushes your children to succeed, Althea had picked up many artistic hobbies or skills in her youth to try and impress her family. She didn’t expect to use any of them all that often, let alone for such an important thing like this.
“Ah, Althea! I’d be delighted to share a dance with you. I saw your dance with Lucifer and I must say I was a little jealous. I haven’t danced with Lucifer in centuries!” His cheeks went a bit flush, as if he was actually jealous. Diavolo was a strange sort of person, always laughing and smiling, as if he didn’t have a care in the world. Then again, she knew just how entitled people could behave. She was one after all.
“Jealous, My Lord? Why, I find it more jealous that he gets to share your company with such great frequency. I daresay I put Lucifer in a bit of a panic earlier. My most sincere apologies if he confides in great lengths about it later. I take entire ownership of his unrest.”
As her hands came into place within his own, the moonlight from the windows illuminated her near sickly pallor and the gold between them. A glance to the left, she noticed that the other dancers had given them space. After all, it was as Satan said, dancing with the Lord of the Devildom was quite a thing of status. Yet this was not status she could use. It was simply, for the moment, for the enjoyment of it. Resting her other hand upon his shoulder just over the mantle, her eyes glance to the right. Lucifer watched from a distance, not daring to separate the two for the moment. This was her moment.
“Please, please. No need to speak so formally. Though you say you put Lucifer in a panic? Haha! That sounds just like him. I don’t think he’s had anyone challenge him outside of his brothers for quite some time.” Diavolo seemed to laugh at this, all the more amused over the turn of events. He was surprisingly light on his feet, able to stride through the dance hall with great sweeping motions. No. Perhaps it wasn’t surprising. She should come to expect that he’d excel at something like ballroom dancing.
“My apologies- ah.. Hm. Admittedly, I am not good at relaxing. It is not as if I challenge him to cause him grief. That is a byproduct I cannot control, but I will not allow others to control me, regardless of who they are. It is simply my nature to challenge those who think themselves superior.” As if in reaction, her grip tightened a bit in place, even if Diavolo remained the same, not adding fuel to her tension. This was strange for her. It was not like Althea to be so candid with her responses and while she didn’t like to lie about things, she wasn’t the most forthcoming with her feelings either.
“Hmm. I think I know what’s going on here. You’re reminding Lucifer of how he first behaved when he came to the Devildom. I must say, this certainly brings back memories!” Diavolo’s signature laugh was quite loud from a distance but up close it caused her to wince a little bit. Still, regardless of her sigh and frown, Diavolo only seemed to smile and laugh all the more.
“Yes! Exactly! He made that exact same face!” He didn’t relent with his humor, finding too much enjoyment in the similarities.
“Lord Diavolo, please-” Althea shook her head as the pair spun around in the dance, not once miss-stepping or having a single tap of her shoe off beat with the music. Even though she was being teased, she had to keep herself poised through the dance at all times, after all, there were eyes upon them.
“Now I’m curious to see you in his outfit. Hmm. Yes. I’ll have to get Barbatos to tailor you a suit.” It was as if he was already imagining this in his mind and at this moment, Althea was sympathizing with how Lucifer had to deal with this spoiled prince. There was no getting out of this whim of his, was there?
“Oh come now, don’t sigh. I do mean it, however. You and Lucifer share striking similarities at times and yet there are things you are the exact opposite with. I believe he is concerned because he knows what he is capable of but is uncertain where your loyalties lie.” It seemed that Diavolo had returned to being serious, though perhaps he was always serious, even when joking.
“I can understand that, and perhaps he is not used to having to sympathize with humans, and I will certainly not take anyone’s pity, but he should not expect that I will simply sit back and let myself get pushed around by anyone, human, angel, or demon.” Her gaze had been to the side, scrutinizing the situation as she had been on edge this entire time. It was as if the dance that was supposed to be for fun was turning more into something to be paranoid over.
“You must have had a difficult life to assume you must constantly defend yourself. Let me ask you this, Althea. What do you believe in? What is the dream that you are fighting for?” Diavolo directed the conversation back on track and brought his hand up to her face, drawing her gaze back towards his own as the pace of the dance started to slow down.
This is something that she had to think about carefully. It was something that she hadn’t particularly shared with anyone, and it was still too soon for her to determine if Diavolo was indeed someone that she could trust. After all, he was a demon, and while he might seem pleasant and charming, that is how they reel you in. You can attract more flies with honey than with vinegar after all. Still. She could not deny the fact that she was in hell, so she applied prudence and caution. However, it was something of inner reflection that she had to consider why she was always behaving in such a way, so much so that it caused her to isolate from others in the pursuit of glory.
“There are societal expectations that one should strive to be the best they can possibly be, a society that demands perfection. The idea that if you are not the best, you are not good enough to leave an impact on the world. To leave a legacy. Your mark, your name. To be remembered. I dream to have a legacy where I will not be forgotten after I am dead and gone. I fight, so that others will not ignore me.”
That is the closest reason Althea could think of right now. Of course she also believed that since she started down this path, she really couldn’t stop. After all, she had already committed to years into an economics degree, currently with a Masters and while math was not the most interesting thing, she knew that money made the world move. It was one of the reasons she surprisingly got along with Mammon, despite his idiocy, she could take full advantage of his abilities in a way that aided them both.
“And what of happiness?” The dance had now stopped, and Diavolo had his hands resting on either side of her shoulders, staring towards her with a look of genuine concern now.
“Happiness is not something I assign value to.” Her voice was flat in response, now taking a step backwards out of his attempted comfort. Perhaps Diavolo only had the best intentions, but that she said as much was enough as is. The pursuit of happiness was not within her schedule. If it happened, it happened, but she would not directly go out of her way to do something fun for fun’s sake, there was always another motivation attached to it. The amount of priority happiness had on her list was leagues below most other needs.
Yet, while Diavolo might have wanted to continue the conversation, Lucifer had made his way over, quite displeased with how long their conversation went on. Not like she cared. Althea waved over a waiter, needing another drink and swearing she would give someone a lobotomy with her nails if she didn’t get alcohol this time. Again. Just demonus.
“And just what were you discussing with Diavolo?” Lucifer’s arms were crossed over himself, stern voice, strict posture, all the while Althea kept her gaze turned away, pretending not to see him.
“Oh relax, Lucifer. This is a retreat after all. I was just noticing how many similarities you and Althea share! I have a wonderful idea I must tell you and Barbatos about!” Diavolo placed a hand upon Lucifer’s shoulder and went back to beaming brightly, now patting him in an encouraging way.
“Lord Diavolo, I swear if you-” Althea widened her eyes, this was not something she wanted to go through with and while perhaps he had a striking coat, Althea was not going to play dress up for someone’s amusement.
“I want to see the both of you wearing the same outfit and pose for the RAD Newsletter! Think how well an advertisement it will be!” On cue with Diavolo’s laughter and Lucifer’s sigh, Althea downed the glass in her hand and just started to walk away. No. At this very moment, she was most certainly glad to not be similar to Lucifer in the way that at least she could walk away from this situation. He would have to endure the conversation and hopefully he would speak sense into the Lord of the Devildom.
Staring down into the empty glass, it was at that moment that Althea did need to consider what she wanted in life. Her world was turned upside down with the realization that some things in her life were now meaningless in comparison to the eternity of either the Devildom or Celestial Realm that awaited her after death. She made no illusions that she was virtuous, but she was not quite tipsy enough to have a philosophical debate with herself about this. No, instead her eyes drifted upon a roughed up little demon sulking against the wall.
“Mammon…” Muttering his name below her lips, Althea could at least relax around one demon that didn’t care about pretenses. Then again, he might also know where an actual bottle of wine was. Maybe Solomon’s power could be used for more than just causing mischief later on. With a saunter and sway of her hips, Althea flipped a hand through her hair and approached the Avatar of Greed. He did look like he could use a bit of cheering up.
I’m not going to do every chapter, just a few highlights here and there and side stories. Because we all have an idea what our MC would do. I just like writing. :D Enjoy! (Includes dance with Diavolo)
Word Count: 5324
-------------------
“...Well then, I suppose it’s about that time.”
Lord Diavolo had stood up from the table of the guests that he had invited to his Palace. She had only ever been informed of a few activities. After all, yesterday was a tour, and earlier today was the scavenger hunt. Who knew that demons did so much walking. She had hope to get used to things after being here for a few weeks already and yet apparently not.
Motioning to the side, a few of the guards and servants moved about in the shadows of the gilded palace. It was hard to believe that this was a castle in Hell as the amount of gold reflected light so brilliantly from the hanging chandeliers. Dani had been sitting between Mammon and Levi for the dinner, across from Beel who didn’t look too happy that the meal ended. A gentle chuckle slipped from her but she was more curious as to what was going on. Though Lucifer cut the conversation short.
“Ignore him, Diavolo. Go ahead.”
“All right then, here we go…”
What was supposed to be a retreat between the House of Lamentation and Purgatory Hall seemed to have one more surprise. Everything went black, unable to see even the hand in front of her face. It was enough to cause a startled jump in her shoulders. A bit of movement was heard as an aura that she was growing unfortunately familiar with was felt. The closest thing that she could describe it as, was a charged energy in the air, like static during a thunderstorm. Though as the lights went on, all mystery was dispelled.
The banquet table had disappeared and in its place had dozens, if not hundreds of new guests that were within the hall. There had been a radial room where those that she new had gathered, the exchange students and demons she had come to be familiar with that is, and behind the curling stairwell was the grand hall, sconces between floor to ceiling windows which reflected the garden adorned with red velvet on either side. Yet the floor, the walls, ceiling, chandeliers, all other decorations remained golden. It was truly something out of a fairytale, and her as she looked upon herself, was adorned in a ball gown as well?!
“Surprised? Magic really does come in hand sometimes, huh?” Solomon must have seen the obvious expression on her features.
“We were the only ones here just a bit ago, but now look at all these people…” Luke seemed to be just as confused.
“They’re all guests from across the Devildom, and there certainly are a lot of them.” Simeon must have been informed earlier this would happen for he didn’t seem surprised at all.
Yet those around her also appeared differently. The demons were in their true forms, Simeon and Luke were in formal wear, without angelic features unfortunately (she was really curious), and Solomon appeared to have a formal robe as well. This was the first time Dani was able to see a fair number of their demon forms and she didn’t really know what to expect for them considering she had only seen Leviathan, Beelzebub, and Lucifer. Diavolo had become a more robust, darker shade, but his hair went a vibrant flame red. He truly looked like a demon, and royalty at that. With horns that… well. She didn’t know what animal really, but the closest thing were those high speed bike handles she never had as a kid. Yet more striking was the four bat wings of black exterior and red inside, much like the horns and both were tipped with gold adornments. Wait, should she be staring this much? He was also, to mention, mostly shirtless from the waist up. Yet he wasn’t the only one.
Mammon. What… Was Mammon wearing? His horns spiraled upwords like ringlets that tapered off into curved tips, bat wings pointed downwards sort of like… Oh right like the Darkstalker sisters. Well. Okay. he was wearing something over his upper half, but it was a bolero type coat in black, studded leather, a few dangling gold adornments on a popped collar and straps over his chest. His exposed chest with white markings that looked like nazca lines. Like someone finger painted them on.
“...Yo, Dani. Um, like… you know… uh, I mean, like… uh… L-Like, you’ve gotta have weird tastes to ask a human like you to dance. I’m guessin’ no on here’s gonna do that, huh? Ahahahah!”
“Mammon, what are you wearing-!” Dani did all she could to hold back a giggle, hand covering over her lips. He was already blushing from his now too common tsundere reactions, but so was she. After all, Mammon was attractive, even if he was dense.
“W- what’s wrong with it? Besides- hmph, look at what you’re wearin’! I ain’t the only one who is dressed up.” Mammon only seemed to blush even more, scratching a hand behind his head, and even though he turned his head away, his eyes remained on her.
“No! It… It looks good on you- I just… was a bit surprised is all… ah- ahah- And well. You… you look- Ahem! I mean- I was surprised at this dress too!” Deflecting the slip of her tongue, Dani inspected the ruby dress a bit more, a high-low dress with the highest point being just above her knees, and lowest point as two tips that tapered at the back, it seemed like she had a bustle with it? Oh! This was one of the dresses she drew and showed Asmo! It even had the little roses and bows at the ruching, black heels to match, and a golden underskirt. Red, black, and gold. Something she scribbled for Spirit Week.
“Ah? Really? Well- you look less of a dork than normal so… So y’know, as long as you don’t have a partner, I guess I could maybe go ahead and pair up with you for a li’l bit-”
“Mammon, why not just admit that you want to dance with Dani?”
“You’re such a loser! And a total tsundere! Looooool People are sick of characters like that!... Didn’t you get the memo? Lololol Those characters are so yesterday! LMAO.”
Satan and Levi appeared and while she had seen Levi’s demon form before with his horns like coral and his long serpentine tail which coiled back behind him, this was the first time she saw Satan’s form (thankfully) as she heard that whenever he transformed it was normally out of rage. His horns were more typical, curling out and up, with a more skeletal tail that changed from black to green that wrapped around his leg to the floor but what was with that black boa around him? And black and green ribbons over a blouse? Well. It did sort of look like skeletal bones so he was having that aesthetic but. His pants had dots over them like clown pants. Should she tell him? No. Bad idea.
“GRRRRR! Get outta here, both of you! Shoo! Shoo!” Mammon waved his hands at the both of them but just then, a voice made her turn.
“Dani, come dance with me. Now.”
Her hand was taken and she was whisked away by none other than Lucifer, a touch of confusion upon her features as she hadn’t even seen him approach. He, in his glorious four black wings and long tail coat of almost solid black was quite the figure. Keeping stride with those long legs of his was hard enough, she could barely hear what the others said as she was taken to the dance floor.
“Wh…!”
“See, you should’ve just come out and asked Dani to dance.” Satan let out an audible sigh.
“The loser was rejected! Haha, awesome! Loool!”
“SHUT UP YOU TWO!”
Once upon the dance floor with the others, Dani glanced to see a few things. Asmo had been there, surrounded by a few scantily clad demons that she could only assume were succubi and incubi. He seemed to have four smaller bat wings on the upper part of his shoulders, a heart cut out on the back of a tailcoat reminiscent of a dice bunny, matching cuffs as well. Simeon was trying to keep a wave of fangirls away from him, and Luke seemed to be smothered by demons who considered his small stature and scrappy, dog like behaviour adorable. Yet her gaze was drawn back to Lucifer as he spoke.
“Do you know how to dance?”
“Yes, of course I do. Though I thought you didn’t like people touching your hands?”
“There’s a time and a place for everything. Just try to keep pace. In general, there are all sorts of reasons why one might ask someone else to dance. For example, they might be interested in them, they might want to touch them, or they might simply be doing it out of politeness. Or it could be because they want to have a private conversation.”
With her hand in his own, the other raised up to his shoulder while his went to her waist as was appropriate for ballroom dancing. The two moved around slightly as she did just that, trying to keep pace with his long legs. The hells helped a bit. She just needed to be as effortless as possible and glide. This would be vastly easier if she had longer legs. Of course, she couldn’t just have a nice dance with Lucifer, there had to be some other meaning behind it. His grip tightened as he spoke, making it impossible to pull away.
“What is it you’re plotting with Asmo? Let me make one thing clear: I respect my brothers’ freedom to do as they wish. However, if I ever sense that you’ve become a threat to either Diavolo or us… then I will show you absolutely no mercy. Understood?”
With a sharp movement, Dani was pulled up against him, forced to stare upwards into that foreboding gaze of his. She always thought that his stare was something to be both in awe of but also made her bones turn to jelly. Just stand your ground, you did nothing wrong, are planning nothing wrong, is what she just kept telling herself. Deep breaths. Keep calm. Don’t let him intimidate you no matter how easy it was to buckle under the pressure and grip.
“You care about them a lot, don’t you? Even if you have a strange way of showing it. You know. I have a lot of admiration for that. How strong you have to be for their sake.” Dani started off with a bit of a smile, trying to keep herself calm and in control of the situation. Don’t let him take away your power. Don’t forget to breathe.
“Flatter all you like. I will have your answer on this.” Lucifer didn’t relent, spinning in time with the music and away from another pair of dancers.
“It wasn’t intended as flattery but as truth. Nothing I am doing is intended to harm, nothing I ever do is intended to harm. Yet intentions can be misinterpreted. Pardon the proverb but, The road to hell is paved with good intentions. Perhaps quoting this hurts what I am trying to say but, all I want to do is be transparent with what I am saying.”
She always tried to be a tolerant and flexible person, accepting and allowing with others, and even to the point where she lets others step over her at times to accommodate others. Perhaps she should have more of a backbone at times but when it came to her beliefs and convictions, Dani was not one to back down. She knew what she meant when she spoke about these things and would not back down either. As this was a public place with others watching, he couldn’t do anything extreme anyway.
“All I want to do is to help. I… I look at all of you, your brothers and I… I suppose I can’t help but get jealous. My own family isn’t the greatest or closest. I thought that maybe if I can help a family of demons get along together that maybe there’s hope for my own family. All of you care so much about each other but you really have a terrible way of showing it. After all, you’ve been through so much together and if I, a human whose lifespan is a blink in your existence, is able to do this well. I’d be happy knowing all of you are happy, and safe. So. Yes. I suppose I am plotting with Asmo, but only with the best of intentions.”
“You can keep your sentiments to yourself. You should be more focused on surviving the exchange program than sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong.” The two of them slowed down with the music as the song seemed to be changing. Though his gaze didn’t lessen, at least the grip of his hand did. However, a new contender stepped forth.
“...Pardon me. Well, looks like a new song has started. I’d love the chance to dance with Dani. Might I cut in?” Solomon had approached, garbed in his formal attire which looked like a glitzed up version of his casual wear.
“...Fine. I get the feeling that you’ve gotten the message and you understand what I’m telling you, Dani. I’m glad we got to have this little talk.” Lucifer gave a final glare towards her, but it tapered off into one with a smug smile.
“You look pale. Did Lucifer say something to you?” Solomon was a bit easier to dance with, accepting his hand and shoulder, though he was still rather tall. The white haired sorcerer had a less intense stare but his words always left her a little unnerved.
“Thank you for the concern but it’s fine. I’ve got the situation under control. Probably. Maybe.” Though, at least she could exhale out with a chuckle to relax. Or so she thought.
“I see… Well, good. This is the Devildom. When it comes down to it, you’re human, and that makes you different. Never forget that. You may have made pacts with demons, but you still lack the power to command them.”
This caused her brow to furrow slightly. What was he getting at? Whenever she spoke to Solomon, it always made her feel like he was trying to get something out of it. Nothing was ever as simple as it appeared. Even if he just did something to provoke entertainment.
“So? What of it?”
“Well, everyone has some amount of magical power by nature. However, there are some people in which it actually manifests itself, and some people in which it doesn’t. And even among those in which it does, some have more of it than others. It varies based on the individual. Seeing how it doesn’t even manifest itself in you to begin with, even though you’ve made pacts with demons, you can’t take command of their powers.”
Much the same, the two glided across the dance floor as the song carried on. Rotating around others as they spoke. In this place of eternal night, you could only tell the amount of time that had passed by the shift of the moon across the sky. One of these days, she just wanted a nice relaxing day without stress. No plotting. No school work. No demons dragging her off without asking her first.
“Would you like me to lend you my power? Let’s just say I’m curious to know what would happen if I did. You’re a destabilizing element here in this world. I can’t say what might happen if I do this, which is exactly what makes it interesting. We are on a retreat after all. Why waste this opportunity? So, go on and-”
“No. I refuse.” A bit of tension shot past Dani’s lips, practically spitting out the words. She didn’t like to be forceful, but the very idea of what he just said, and how he said it? It brought a bit of revulsion to her.
“Destabilizing element? Is this some sort of game to you?” Her steps became a bit more abrupt as the two moved through the hall and although she enjoyed dancing, she was not enjoying this evening so far.
“Are you sure you wish to refuse? This is the only way you’ll be able to experience what it’s like to control a demon and use his powers.” Solomon seemed to be taken aback by the abruptness. It was clear that he didn’t seem to expect that kind of reaction.
“I don’t want to command them and I don’t want to use them. If they are to lend me their power and aid, then I want them to do so of their own volition.” Now it was her time to put a bit of pressure on him. Dani never liked Solomon. Their first encounter set her on edge. No. Just finding out that it was the Solomon of old was enough to make her dislike him.
“There’s nothing wrong with making use of your pact. After all, that’s what demons are for. Why else would you make a pact with them?” There was a confused expression from Solomon as if the notion was entirely foreign to him. Though, should she really be surprised? This person had 72 demons contracted to him and all of the demon brothers, save Levi and Asmo didn’t trust him.
“Perhaps not to you. I- Ah- I am sorry. Well. Not really but. Perhaps not to you it is wrong, and perhaps they are used to doing things in exchange for a pact. However, how I’ve made my pacts have been more like… becoming friends with them. Mammon surely was because I needed him to take his job defending me seriously and Levi’s was a bit more frivolous but all of them, Beel included, is because I want them to trust me as a friend. If I am going to request them to use their powers, it will be as me, Dani, asking them, as a person for help, not as their Master.”
Why was all of this so offensive to her? After all, they were demons. She shouldn’t be so worried about individuals that were ageless, those that were the Avatars of Sin and could withstand so much physical abuse, and yet… They were completely and utterly useless on matters of the heart. Sure, she didn't know all that much either, but she knew they didn’t deserve to be treated like tools.
“So you’d deny your only chance at commanding demons because of principle? Even if you control what orders you give? Do you not trust yourself that much?” Solomon shot back her words just as quickly. He tried to twist her words and beliefs against her. Just by looking at him, this youthful boyish appearance, it was easy to forget he was the Legendary Solomon, apparently the greatest sorcerer humanity had ever known. What right did she have to talk back to him?
“Of course I trust myself-” Yet it didn’t matter who he was, Dani did what she could to stand her ground. What little ground she stood upon that is.
“Hmm… I see. You are a stubborn one. I can see why Lucifer thinks so highly of you. Regardless, I insist. You’ll never know if it might come in handy. After all, if you trust yourself, you can simply just not use it if something happens, right?”
As he released his hands, a bit of a sparkle twinkled in the air around the both of them. Dani felt warm for a few seconds before the sensation faded. There was a lightness to her fingertips, as if they were chilled ever so slightly a different temperature from the rest of her body. However. It only elicited a frown from her further. How dare he cast a spell upon her! But- that just further displayed the differences between the two. Even if she, as a human, was supposed to make use of this uniqueness among demons, the only other human here was essentially her exact opposite.
“There. For six hours, you have access to my abilities. This should allow you to command the demons you’ve made a pact with… If you happen to want to that is. You are quite a curious person, Dani. I’m excited to see what will happen…”
Solomon then left her, giving that enigmatic smile of his as if he knew what was going to happen. It was quite possible he knew something was fated to occur. After all, he did have a ring of wisdom and pacts with demons already. This was a place he could shape around him and if he pulled the right strings, could likely make the Devildom quake with his schemes. She was not going to let herself be a part of that. Yet did she have a choice?
Dani moved towards the punch bowl, because what proper dance party didn’t? Levi and Beel were talking to each other, rather, Levi was talking while Beel was stuffing his face with cocktail weenies. She didn’t blame his gluttony this time. Cocktail weenies were pretty tasty. Glancing about the others, it seemed that Satan was once more socializing and networking with demons, Asmo was still being Asmo, and Mammon was getting a shake down by Lucifer. Wait. Lucifer wasn’t glued to Diavolo’s side this time?
In fact, Diavolo was alone at this moment. There was only a single chance to do this while Lucifer was distracted. Taking a deep breath, her eyes glanced off to the side, left… Barbatos was arranging details on the side. Lucifer was still chewing out Mammon… Taking a swift stride forward towards the lord of this castle. Prince of the Devildom, Future King, and a mountain of a man. Demon. Man… Don’t think of him as a demon. Just think of him as a person. Deep breath. Deep breath. He had to be a full foot taller, easily. Don’t think about it. Just do it.
“Lord Diavolo, would you do me the honour of a dance?” Dani offered a polite courtesy towards Diavolo, picking up the corners of the dress as she followed up with a smile.
Up this close, it was impossible to deny just how radiant Diavolo truly was. There was a fringe of what was either fine pillowy black feathers like those of an ostrich or fluffy fur of some kind draped around his shoulders. A clasp of gold bat wings held the mantle and chains adorned his upper body. A tall black collar connected to it with accents of gold, black chest tattoos, and golden triangles all down his forearms. He really was something to take in. Black and white trousers, a white drape over his front, all of it gilded in chains of gold. Something about his appearance seemed familiar, though she had sworn she never met him or saw anyone like him before.
“Oh, Dani! I’d be delighted to share a dance with you. Have you been enjoying your evening?” As Diavolo had accepted her hands in place, Dani caught a side glance of Lucifer who was now staring at them. At her. He realized he missed the chance to interrupt and as she glanced to the other side, realized that it was not just Lucifer who was looking at her. The room was.
“I’ve been doing my best to enjoy it and I am doing my best to keep things in stride, your Lordship. However, I do hope I could trouble you for a bit of advice. If you don’t mind that is.”
Everyone gave them plenty of berth to dance as the room seemed to be fixed upon the human who dared to ask the future king of the Devildom to dance. He was surprisingly light upon his feet for someone of his size. This was the most comfortable dance that she had this evening, for his hand was securely, not firmly upon her waist, and her hand rested gently within his own even if it was nearly swallowed by the size of his own.
“Of course, you know you can always ask me for advice. Being the Ruler of the Devildom here, part of my job is listening to others.” There was something calming about his smile, something that made her ashamed of doubting that he might have an ulterior motive. However, this was no longer the standard back two, one forward dance. No. Diavolo intended to actually dance while they spoke, and that was perhaps the most calming thing. Her words could be a bit more candid she felt.
“Lucifer assumes I am plotting with Asmo, and I guess technically I am, but not for anything bad. Then Solomon offers to lend me his ability to command demons and I tried to deny it, but he did it anyway. I just sort of feel like I’m stuck between a rock and a hard place here where no matter what I do, I am going to upset someone. Mostly Lucifer but- other people too.”
While Diavolo listened, he never once seemed to judge her for her words, though he did seem surprised when she mentioned a few times. Yet the entire time, his smile was calm and present, seemingly pleased with something that she said. Somehow there was a gracious movement with his steps. The light coming from the chandelier just made all the gold accents upon his body glow along with the warmth of his golden eyes. While Lucifer was stunning in his head to toe black, Diavolo’s gold and the white of his pants and drape, the black accents over this and the mantle he bore, truly made him an exalted figure.
“Let me ask you this, what’s the real reason why you denied Solomon’s offer? Most humans wouldn’t turn down the opportunity to be as powerful as him, even if it was temporary.”
“The real reason..? Ah… Well. I told him because I didn’t want to command others, rather ask as a friend if I needed something- and that’s true but… it’s because I don’t like him. Ah- Rather I don’t like the way he treats others. Like they’re all a pawn or a tool. He doesn’t treat demons like people. He treats them like… well…”
“Like demons.”
“Ah..” Dani couldn’t help but blush from that, especially as Diavolo seemed to burst into laughter, catching her off guard. With a bit of a fluster, Dani leaned in.
“Lord Diavolo- Please! Take this a bit more seriously.”
“I am taking this seriously, Dani. You always seem to exceed my expectations. I’m just happy that we were so fortunate as to select you for the exchange program. Your point of view is refreshing.”
Being swung around as the music started to pick up in pace, his wings seemed to spread with the boisterous nature of his words, and at the same time, curl around in a protective way. It was in this, while the eyes of all in the room, where he pulled her in closer, nearly as tightly as Lucifer but without feeling hostile.
“That you are able to see past us as demons and treat us as individuals is proof that my dream can become a reality and from what I hear, you’re trying to repair the relations between Lucifer and his brothers. While Lucifer may get mad at you in the short term, I believe you will succeed in what you’re trying to accomplish. Just believe in yourself and let that dream become a reality.”
“So, you don’t think I’m in the wrong for getting involved in things beyond me? After all, I do feel a bit guilty trying to get involved in the affairs of people thousands of years old.” There was that worrisome expression upon her face again, doubting that what she was doing was right. It felt right, after all it was made with the best of intentions but, was good good intentions going to be enough to convince others?
“Don’t let Lucifer’s words bring you down too much. If I am being honest, I think he needs someone like you to be there for him and his brothers. After all, I’ve never seen him so happy before.”
“Really?”
As the song finished, Diavolo nodded in response and perhaps it had been a white lie or an exaggeration of his words, but he really did seem to offer a reassuring response. Now that they stood still, he placed his hands on either side of Dani’s shoulders, looking down with that ever confident smile, the smile of someone who has never had anything go wrong in his life. Yet she knew that couldn’t be true. Surely he had plenty of things go wrong, but it didn’t seem like it. Diavolo. Whether he was genuine or not, Dani wanted to believe in him.
“Don’t feel bad for being forced to accept Solomon’s offer. No one will think less of you if you try it out, Dani. After all, we cannot change the fact we are demons. Regardless, I have high hopes for you. I look forward to seeing what you’ll do next. In fact, you might just become my favorite human.”
His laughter only resounded as he let go, leaving Dani staggered with a bit of a blush burning across her cheeks. Favorite human? Holding a hand over her mouth, she mumbled something about him teasing her, and as their dance had concluded, Lucifer had already closed the distance, arms crossed and looked disappointed between the two.
“And just what were you discussing with Diavolo?” His tone stern as ever. It seemed as if Lucifer was ready to close in on her once more but thankfully, this was a public place, and Diavolo wouldn’t allow for an altercation.
“Oh relax, Lucifer. This is a retreat after all. Dani was just telling me about how much she’s been enjoying her time in the Devildom. Who knows. I might just invite her out one of these days!” As if just to offset Lucifer’s mood, Diavolo couldn’t help himself.
“W- L- Lord Diavolo- N- th- a- Lucifer- Please- That-” She frantically waved her hands back and forth, now beet red as the amount of flustering overtook her features. Lucifer did not look amused.
“Ahaha-! You’re as fun to tease as Lucifer. Go on. Enjoy the rest of the ball, Dani. I believe there’s one more person who wants to dance with you.” Diavolo placed a hand on Lucifer’s shoulder and the two started to walk off, seemingly Diavolo was calming Lucifer down that their conversation was nothing to worry about.
That was as startling a situation to consider than all else. By this time, whoever had been looking in her direction had since looked away. Well, most people. There were still a few that were scrutinizing her as she now stood there, alone, perhaps they’d make their move on her in their own time but that isn’t what she wanted. The center of attention was not where she wanted to be.
As she turned her head off to the side, her eyes softened a bit as they fell upon the one person who seemingly would always need her help. Mammon. He was sulking against the wall near one of the windows, arms crossed over themselves as the moonlight highlighted his white hair. In fact, all of him seemed to gleam a bit in the eternal night. While the ball was still going on, she couldn’t obviously get Asmo’s request which would make him pact with her. After all, she could convince him to get over his denial about wanting to dance. She had just danced with Diavolo after all and convincing him it would be a benefit to him would be easy. Perhaps… Just one more dance couldn’t hurt.
Because someone put my stuff on twitter before I had to watermark it so enjoy my mouse hand written letters.
These are emojis I made for discord so close up they look kinda meh
But on discord they’re super cute.
Of course. That is what the initial observation is, but there was so much more to this vision. There are seven banners with various animals between eight windows. Perhaps it is accurate to say this looked like a courtroom but something about it gave off an aura of dread. There is an appropriate saying for this situation: We’re not in Kansas anymore. That much was obvious. Aside from the archaic furniture that gave this echoing room a demeanor of authority, the most striking feature was rather outside.
There, behind all the faces directed at her, was a moon with a size that marked this place as otherworldly. Such a thing wouldn’t be believed to be real if it wasn’t for the light cast through the windows and how it interacted with the surroundings. This was a natural light, even if it seemed beyond logically possible. How would a moon that size affect the tides? No- Those thoughts can be addressed later.
The man in the seat of the chief judge, higher than the others, be that symbolic or not, starts speaking.
“Welcome to the Devildom, Althea. Oh, pardon me. Feeling a bit shocked, are we? Well, that’s understandable. You’ve only just arrived, after all. As a human, it will probably take a while for you to adjust to things here in the Devildom.”
His tone seemed overly polite, overly cheerful- especially for someone of his stature. It was all too casual for the words that he spoke, as if this sort of thing was supposed to be taken at face value.
Was a shocked look being presented? Perhaps a glint of nervousness. Eyes remained focused upon the figure that had just spoken. The militaristic uniform he wore was a blazing red with a black shoulder cape on his left side, contrasting the black uniforms and red shoulder capes of the others. The one who had spoken also had a skin complexion like chai with russet hair styled in a way that made it seem like he was trying to be relatable. Devildom… And he referred to her as human which meant he must have been something else.
“I suppose I should start by introducing myself. My name is Diavolo. I am the ruler of all demons, and all here know of me and someday soon, I will be crowned king of the Devildom. This is the Royal Academy of Diavolo… though we just call it RAD. You’re standing within the assembly hall, the very heart of RAD. This is where we officers of the student council hold our meetings and conduct our business. I’m the president of said council.”
He continued on, and with a gesture around him as he spoke, displayed the assembly hall. The others who were there remained silent for now, however there was a curious thought. He called himself the ruler, and yet he isn’t yet crowned King? Well that certainly was presumptuous. Furthermore, he named the Royal Academy after himself, and made himself president? More importantly, he confirmed what this place was. This was Hell, right? These were demons. Real demons. There was no way of knowing what they could do, if they could read minds or what their intentions were. The only thing I can control with absolute certainty is my own actions- and even then that’s not guaranteed. There’s no point overthinking when answers will be provided. As much as Althea loathed to trust things at face value, it was a necessity for the moment. Still. There were a few questions that needed to be addressed.
Taking a half step backwards, it is best to start things off right so with a sweeping bow, lowering my gaze to the ground she addressed the council before her as calmly as possible.
“An absolute delight to make your acquaintance, Lord Diavolo. If I may request courtesy and clarification on two fronts, I would greatly appreciate it. If I am correct in assuming this is Hell, I would kindly like to know if I am deceased or not, and if I have died, what was the manner. If I am still alive and was brought forth before you, I would very much like to know the reason for it.”
Rising upwards, Althea did what she could to remain as calm and composed as possible. You’re only able to make one first impression and for demons, it most certainly would be an impression that would impact her stay here. Still. It was hard to believe that any of this was true. Hell was quite different from what the Bible said but then again. How much of that was fear mongering anyway?
Another man spoke in response as he stood from a chair set to Diavolo’s immediate right. His hair was side parted, black that faded to grey at the tips giving him a more mature look, though his stance was closed off, arms tightly wrapped. The initial impression this man gave off was of a no-nonsense strictly business type of person. His eyes.. And like all of the ones here, were unnatural in some way. That shouldn’t be too surprising. They were demons after all.
“I will explain everything to you.”
“Althea, this is Lucifer. He is a demon and the Avatar of Pride. He’s also the vice president of the student council and my right-hand man…and not just in title, I assure you. Beyond that, he’s also my most trusted friend.”
“Flattery will get you nowhere, Diavolo.”
Their little banter back and forth gave the impression of a close, interwoven history. Though it took her for a bit of a shock that this was Lucifer, and that he was a second to someone. The Catholic Church seemed to have mistaken a few things. Was that for better or for worse? Regardless, Lucifer continued to speak in a smooth, yet stern voice, befitting someone proclaimed as the avatar of pride.
“Speaking on behalf of the entire student body at this great and storied school of ours, I offer you the most heartfelt welcome, Althea.”
A flat gaze just passed by her. That certainly didn’t feel like a heartfelt welcome. Furthermore, he just ignored her question entirely. However, the strange casualness of how he spoke was unfortunately the exact opposite of calming. In fact, it only brought up more questions.
“If it was truly heartfelt, you’d answer my questions, but I suppose it is safe to assume I am not dead at the very least. ”
“...Interesting. This one is quite different from Solomon.” He said in an aside while giving a glance to his left.
“You would be correct to assume such. It would defeat the purpose Diavolo intends. Diavolo believes that we demons should start strengthening our relationship with both the human world and the Celestial Realm. As a first step toward this goal, we’ve decided to institute an exchange program. We’ve sent two of our students to the human world and two to the Celestial Realm and we’re welcoming four students to our school: two from your world and two from the Celestial Realm. So, I take it you’ve probably put two and two together at this point, right? You’ve been chosen from among the people of the human world to participate in this program of ours. You are our newest exchange student. Your period of stay is one year. You will have to work on the tasks that you will receive from RAD. After one year, you will write a paper about your exchange here in the Devildom.”
That was certainly a fair bit of information to take in at once. She was in university working on her thesis, completing Masters classes and working towards a doctorate in economics. Did that mean that a demon was going to be taking her classes for her? Why did all of this seem like a hassle? A tight pursed lip of an expression passed by her features, another flat gaze of passive disdain. Yet the way he said Celestial Realm and not Heaven caught her off guard. He hadn’t referred to this place as Hell either. Perhaps it was a derogatory term to call it as such, or just narrow in scope. That Hell was an aspect of the Devildom.
“I am under the assumption then that I am not able to refuse this… well, clearly not a request but a mission, I suppose, of yours. I suppose I have no choice but to take a leave of absence at my University.” A sigh passed by her lips as she returned his stare.
“Once more, you would be correct to assume you have no choice in the matter, but don’t glare at me like that. It’s not like I will abandon you all by yourself here in the Devildom. You need someone to look after you, and I think that someone should be my brother Mammon. He’s the Avatar of Greed and… how should I put it…? Oh well, you’ll understand soon enough.”
It was at this point that Lucifer stepped down from the table and made his way over, handing a device that looked very much like a phone, in fact it looked exactly the same but apparently it was not.
“Here, take this device. It’s called a D.D.D. It’s a lot like the cell phones of your world. This will be yours to use for as long as you’re here. Now, go ahead and try calling Mammon with it.”
Accepting the D.D.D. It was easy to be able to navigate its menu. It was exactly a rip off of a phone. Was this just another thing named after Diavolo as well? Diavolo’s Discussion Device? This was the Devildom after all… Devil Dominion? Devil Kingdom? Was this just a big joke? A pun? Of course it’s a pun. This is Hell after all. Althea took a step back and turned the D.D.D on speaker setting before letting it ring… ring… and then it picked up.
“Yoooo.” The voice over the phone awkwardly said upon picking up.
“Am I speaking to Mammon?” Holding the device upwards, she spoke over it in a cool, calm tone.
“Huh? Who the hell are ya? You ain’t Lucifer.”
“I am Althea Severine, a human that is part of the exchange program. I’ve been requested to call you.”
“Whaaaa? A human? Geez, I was gettin’ all chilly here thinkin’ it was Lucifer again. Ya should’ve told me right away. You’ve got a lotta nerves callin’ on THE Mammon, exchange program or not.”
“I’ve been informed that you’ll be “looking after” me from now on. I hope you know what you’ve been signed up for.”
“No way! There’s nothin’ in it for me. Besides, Whaddya even mean by, looking after anyway? I ain’t gotta do nothin’. See ya.”
“This is implicit instructions from your brother, Lucifer.”
“Pfft, whatever. Ya think The Mammon would listen to ya just ‘cause you’re tryin’ to scare me with that name?”
Lucifer stepped forward as he was about to take the phone but, with a side glance, Althea paced to the side, a few taps of her shoes echoing a bit. Just from the impression, it was clear to see what sort of demon of greed he was. Just add a little pressure, a little threat… Let the games begin.
“Mammon. Avatar of Greed, correct?”
“Yeah, what of it?”
“If you are not here at the assembly hall of RAD within the next five minutes, your assets will be liquidated and donated to charity. If you consider this to be a hollow threat, know that I am in the presence of Lucifer, and of Lord Diavolo. You may not think much of me or the threats I offer, but are you willing to risk that?”
A bit of a smirk passed from her lips as she lifted her gaze towards Lucifer who had a bemused expression.
“Fine. FINE! I’ll be there ya damn b-” Althea disconnected the call as he was about to call her, presumably, a bitch. A short huff from her nostrils, a shake of her head, the D.D.D. was slipped away into a pocket.
“Sounds like you had a nice chat.” The expected smug reply from Lucifer as the call ended.
“Would it also be correct to assume that the reason he is my “caretaker” is so that you can keep an eye on the both of us at the same time?” Another slight sigh slipped from her lips. If she was having to babysit someone at the same time that would only make this worse.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” That damned smug smile returned.
“Well, if you were suddenly brought to a strange place and then get told that an unfamiliar face will now take care of you, you’d feel anxious. However, Mammon isn’t the only one to help you out. Now then… we still need to introduce our new friend to your brothers, Lucifer. And it’s probably better that you do that instead of me, wouldn’t you say?”
“I’m not anxious-” Althea lifted a finger upwards as she looked between the two as Diavolo spoke up.
“As much as I dread the idea of doing so, you’re right.” Though, as Lucifer was about to continue, one of the other men at the back stood up and started to make his way down.
“Oh, come now. Really? You should be honoured that you get to introduce such a sweet and charming little brother like me!”
“This one here is Asmodeus. He’s the Fifth Eldest. He is the Avatar of Lust.”
Asmodeus. That name was certainly famous, just as much as Lucifer’s was. Though, as far as she knew, Diavolo was just Italian for the Devil. The man appeared youthful, one of those adonis charming boyish types, and from the looks of it, was shorter than her. A little side fringe over his face, strawberry blonde, perhaps a bit on the side of rose gold with eyes of molten honey. A primadona. Especially how he reacted to being called, This One.
“Wh… I can’t believe you totally ignored what I said! And not only that, you referred to me as this one. How rude!” Primadona indeed. Though, given he was the avatar of lust, it is to be expected that he’d be more dramatic of word and poise.
“Hmph. At least he didn’t ignore you altogether. How do you think I feel?” Another spoke, coming down from the council table. Blonde hair, bright green eyes, the impression made him come off as a sensitive type but that was soon dispelled as Lucifer clarified who he was.
“That one there is Satan, the fourth eldest of us. At first glance, he may seem like a responsible demon with a good head on his shoulders, but looks can be deceiving.”
“Aha, so I’m that one, am I? Nice to meet you, Althea. I’m Satan, the Avatar of Wrath.”
Satan and Asmodeus. Wrath and Lust. Along with Lucifer, Pride. There was another one there with orange hair that wasn’t introduced yet. However, glancing towards the two presented in front of her, Althea took a step towards them in evaluation, as much as she assumed they were evaluating her. It seemed that Satan was at eye level with her- if only for the heels she was wearing, even even without them, she was confident she’d still be taller than Asmodeus.
“Likewise it is nice to meet you, Satan, perhaps looks can be deceiving but I intend to make judgments on my own instead of relying on the opinions of others. That is to also say, I will not ignore such a charming individual as yourself, Asmodeus. I will be interested in finding out fact from fiction regarding your history.” Her smooth words returned to them, a slight incline of her head in a respectful response, a smile, keeping utterly calm. She couldn’t afford to blow a first impression like this.
“Ooooh. Did you hear that, Satan? She thinks I’m charming- of course who wouldn’t think that? They’d have to be blind. In fact, let’s give a little demonstration! Althea, could you gaze into my eyes for a moment? It’s okay, I won’t hurt you. I promise it’ll be fun…”
He took a step forward and looked upwards, just the same as she looked down towards the honey hues. The longer she looked at them, the more colours and shades she could see within them. Amber, orange, peach. Colours that invoked warmth.
“Yes, great! That’s perfect! Now, keep your eyes fixed on mine… Just… like… that…”
As his words trailed off, the expression of delight changed to one of confusion and then dismay. Something wasn’t going the way he intended. However, Althea just stared, her gaze going from vaguely curious, to bored rather quickly as the stoic expression set in. She didn’t have time for this nonsense.
“...Wait a minute. There’s something about you...hmm..”
“I should probably warn you, Althea; you’d best be wary of Asmodeus’s gaze. He can charm and manipulate people and use them to his own advantage. If you’re not careful, he’ll charm you. And once you’re under his spell, he’ll eat you.” Satan spoke up, first starting to sound amused and then shifted his tone to a scolding one. Well. That would have been nice to know beforehand.
“Hey, don’t go around saying things like that. Hmm. Regardless, my power doesn’t seem to work this time for some reason, I wonder why.”
“Well, I for one am glad for that. You can’t guarantee what I’d do once the charm wore off.” Althea scoffed and slid a heel backwards, whether or not the defensive stance was intentional or not, but she was able to see a rather tired expression from Lucifer as he spoke.
“Are you done? Now, the one there with the very grumpy look on his face is Beelzebub. He’s the sixth oldest.”
“Lucifer, I’m hungry.” Beelzebub. So that’s who he was. She remembered having to read Lord of the Flies in school despite its views on religion and other things.
“That’s too bad. Now behave yourself.” Lucifer gave quite the stern expression in response.This seemed to be a theme.
“I’m Beelzebub, the Avatar of Gluttony.” There was a pitiful look upon his brow as he was told to quiet down, though he still came down from the stands as he had to introduce himself.
“So. There are seven of us brothers in all, and I am the eldest. Mammon, the second oldest of us, will be here soon. My other brothers aren’t here at the moment, but… well, we can get to them later. All in good time.” Seven..? Then they are the avatars of the seven deadly sins? Envy and Sloth would be the two missing then. At least Catholic School was giving her some unusually useful knowledge.
“During your stay in the Devildom, the seven brothers will lend you their strength. To keep you safe, you are to stay with them at the House of Lamentation.” Diavolo seemed to take much amusement in the situation.
Pursing her lips tightly again, her eyes just narrowed ever so slightly. She was going to be staying in a house with seven others, seven male demons. What else literally could be going wrong today?
“Most agree with Diavolo, but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t vulgar demons out there who wouldn’t harm you. If anything were to happen to you, it would be our responsibility. And I won’t betray Diavolo’s expectations. So, I will do everything in my power to make sure you survive your stay down here in the Devildom. Although we will all be living together, you should still have the means to reach us at any given time. All of our phone numbers are already in there. And your D.D.D. also has a messaging app. Make sure to add all of us.”
“I’ll go ahead and send you a message!” Diavolo had his own D.D.D. and texted something through, her phone, no, D.D.D. She’d have to get used to thinking it’s not a phone. Anyway, it buzzed in her pocket.
“Isn’t that nice, Althea. Now you will be friends with the future king of the Devildom!” Satan made certain to add his opinion in to the conversation.
All of this honestly seemed like it would become exhausting. What worth was it to her? Was this just a game to all of them? She didn’t have time to spend a year away from the Human world. She had to get her career started so that she could take on the family businesses. All of this was a distraction. Yes. The amount of knowledge that could be found about this and other worlds and the implications- they were not lost on her. If Hell was Real, was God real? And in what sense? If there was such a world like this in Hell, and in Heaven, what was the afterlife, the result of it? Was it eternal and the human world was transient? Did it matter? Did any of it matter? Her internal thoughts were cut off as Lucifer spoke up again.
“Well. you’ve got that done now, and it seems the idiot has arrived as well.”
“HEY! Just who do you think you are, human? You’ve got a lotta nerve summoning the Great Mammon! Listen up, because I’m only gonna say this once. If you value your life, then you’ll hand over all of your money now! And anything else of value, too! Otherwise I’ll wipe that smug disinterested look right off of your face… by eatin’ you! Startin’ at your head and working my way down, until-”
“Mammon, shut up or I’ll punch you!” That was the warning- except Lucifer didn’t hesitate to follow up with his threat before giving Mammon a chance and decked him in the shoulder, causing the tanned skin, white haired demon to stagger backwards, nearly losing balance.
“GAH, OWW! Hey, what’s the big idea? I thought you were actually gonna give me a chance to shut up before punching me!”
“Althea, Mammon here is the Avatar of Greed. He governs and oversees all forms of it. Whenever he takes a liking to someone, they suddenly find themselves awash in money. But from what I hear, if he decides to break it off with someone, that wealth evaporates. They’re left without a Grimm to their name.” The ever informative Satan.
“And he’s also a masochist. That part’s important.” Of course, Asmodeus had to mention that part as well. It looked as if Mammon was about to speak in protest of these comments when Lucifer cut him off.
“Indeed. And it just so happens I have a job for my masochist of a brother.”
“Y’all, stop telling lies! I ain’t asked for that punch, and I AIN’T a masochist!”
“Mammon, you are going to be in charge of seeing to this human’s needs during the whole exchange. I expect your full cooperation.”
“What?! Why me?!”
All the while during this interaction, the back and forth, Althea watched both Lucifer and Mammon. Though they were First and Second, it was clear where the division was. Lucifer was the eldest but he was the head of the household who delegated things. Mammon hardly acted like an older brother to the others. Yet. They acted rather human. At least to her. Then again. How was a demon supposed to act? Like a ravenous beast?
“Aww, lucky you, Mammon! I’m so jealous…” The Avatar of Lust spoke up, even if he made a feigned pout, he wasn’t interested as he was examining his fingernails, painted a pink and turquoise on alternated fingers.
“All right, then why don’t YOU do it, Asmodeus?!”
“What? Hell no, too lazy.” It was expected as much. Mammon trying to pass it off but Asmodeus wasn’t wanting to put in extra effort of course.
“I thought you said you were jealous of me?!”
“Just give up, Mammon. There’s no getting out of this. You know you can’t refuse a direct command from Lucifer, correct?” Once more it always seemed that Satan had something to add.
“But why does it have to be me?! What about Beel. Why can’t he do it?!” As if to exclaim, Mammon walked in the direction of Beel, waving a hand towards him. He too had painted fingernails. White in fact.
“This isn’t a job we can entrust to Beel. We might as well ask him to eat this human.” Asmodeus kept his poise disinterested in the situation, shaking his head as he canted his head to his younger brother.
“Mm, yeah. I can’t promise I wouldn’t.” Though Beelzebub was younger, he was just as tall as Lucifer and Diavolo, and just as broad as the latter. Surprisingly, he also had painted fingernails. Orange like his hair.
“You’re useless, you know that?!” Mammon continued to have an exasperated expression, being forced to do something he didn’t want to do.
“...Mammon?” Lucifer stared towards his younger brother and just by saying his name it caught Mammon’s attention.
“...Wh-what?”
“Surely you’re not going to tell me that you object to this arrangement, are you?” Normally those words wouldn’t have an intimidating factor to them, but there was just a pressure that was felt. Like a wave or energy that emanated from Lucifer. His expression wasn’t even that particularly forceful but it held a firm sternness that caused Mammon to straighten up.
As he adjusted his posture, Mammon stood up taller, remained silent and stared towards Lucifer before… his expression broke and he turned away to look at Althea. Whether that was disgust or disinterest, he clearly didn’t care for what he was being forced to do. Not that she blamed him, yet the both of them were stuck together now, for better or worse.
“Ugh.. I hate you guys! Every last one of ya! Fine… FINE! I’ll do it, okay?! All right, human, listen up. As much as I don’t want to look after you, I’ve got no choice. It’s a huge pain in the ass, and I’m too important for this kind of thing, but Lucifer told me to do it, so I will. But in return, you better make sure you don’t cause me any trouble, got it?!”
“I cannot guarantee anything. You are stuck with me, just the way I am stuck with you, and I will not suffer ignorance from you or anyone else.” Althea also stared downwards on this demon. It was safe to say even without heels she’d still look down at him. Hmm, and if he actually was masochistic, it would be easier to try to exert pressure on him to get him to behave.
“I’m afraid that you’ll have to suffer a lot of ignorance with Mammon. Just make sure you don’t catch his stupidity.” Satan could be heard behind her. He was rather opinionated, wasn’t he?
“Hey-Hey! I might not be smart but I ain’t ignorant! Y’all stop it- and you human better keep your yap shut!”
“We have decided who will take care of you, so on to the next subject: your tasks. Along with attending the Academy, your task is to polish up your soul nicely and to acquire the power to resist demons. You see, demons like humans with nice souls. Let me put it another way, nice souls look like shiny jewels. Do you understand now? Demons will use their wisdom and abilities to tempt humans so they can get their hands on their souls. Other demons at RAD also have tasks assigned to them just like you. In other words, either humans will be tempted by demons, or demons will lose against the shiny and noble soul of a human and make a run for it. You could say it is an experiment to find out who will win.”
“I wanna make one thing clear right now; Don’t blame me if someone gets eaten, ‘cause it ain’t my fault.”
“Lucifer, I’m hungry.”
“That’s too bad. Now, behave yourself.”
Her gaze flattened at that. Really? Bringing a hand to her face, Althea couldn’t hold back the strain upon her features now, stroking her temples with a hand thumb and middle finger rubbing to release the strain. Just. Really?
“Well. Perhaps this would come as a surprise to you, but I hardly doubt that I have a nice or a noble soul. In terms of being a human being, I consider myself to have quite a bit of skeletons in my closet, and perhaps I have a real one. I’ve always assumed I’d be going to Hell, but I didn’t expect it would be this early in my life. Now, if you’d excuse me, I’d very much like to return to Earth as I was in the middle of some important business. This is a waste of my time and unlike all of you, which seem to be taking this very much as an amusement and fleeting moment in your lives, this is very much a pivotal point in my life and one that was not a scheduled interruption. I was nearly done with my education which has taken years of planning and has been meticulously planned might I add… and this is a deviation I will NOT stand for. Now, return me to the human world at this VERY moment.”
Not often would she raise her voice, and not not often would she get so enraged while in front of a crowd. Certainly she was not afraid to show her ire or displeasure over a situation but this was clearly outside the norm. Althea was not happy, and she did not like surprises. Perhaps some people would leap at the opportunity for a call to adventure, one of unparalleled intrigue and mystery, but she was very much a realist and this was something she was firmly against. It wasn’t the years of attending a private Catholic school that made her so opposed to being in Hell, but rather that spending time in Hell was going to deviate her plans greatly.
“That is unfortunately not an option. You were chosen. That is something you can’t change.” Althea was about to speak again, staring towards Lucifer who was simply shaking his head.
“Althea, from now on you will be living in the House of Lamentation. You’ll be staying there with Lucifer and his six younger brothers. I can understand that this is not part of your plan but I hope you come to accept it in time. Humans, angels, demons, I imagine a universe where each accepts the other. Where we are brought together as friends. This is my dream, and I’m asking you to be the foundation for it. One year, that’s all I ask of you. Think of the amount of achievements you can accomplish in this time and just what you will be a part of. What I am counting on you for. I think you’ll find that it has many more benefits than you can imagine. Good luck, Althea.”
That damned overly cheerful expression on the Demon Lord’s face. There was no saying no to this, was there? No? Placing a hand on her hip, Althea dropped her hand that was growing sore from trying to massage her temples so much now. Inhaling swiftly through her nose, the audible adjustment of her posture. Fine. She’d play this little game of theirs.
“One year. One year and I am gone. We’ll see if the benefits outweigh the inconvenience this is causing me.” With a snap of her fingers, Althea turned and proceeded to the door from which Mammon came from, a swish and saunter of her hips as she spun.
“Come then- if you’re to be my caretaker and guide, I’ll best make use of you. With any luck, I won’t strangle you by the end of the day.”
“Hey- I’m not taking orders from a human. If anything you gotta Obey me!” Mammon quickened his pace to catch up as the two left the assembly hall.
“Yeah yeah…We’ll see about that...”
…
As the two left, Diavolo only smiled brightly towards Lucifer, sunlight practically beaming from him as the boisterous laughter followed up with his expression.
“I think those two will get along great!”
There was a nearly unanimous sigh or shake of the head from everyone else within the room as the moonlight upon the floor had only shifted ever so slightly since the start of the meeting. The only other reaction to be had was the echoing growl of Beelzebub’s stomach.
Task 1: Chapters 1-5
Before we start: I will be rewriting various sections of the story as a novel style thing, both for Wine Mom (Althea Severine) and Marshmallow (Dani Falko) these are both OCs with varying different personalities. I will be as faithful to the canon characters as much as possible only adding dialogue to make it flow better, or to add additional scenes or sections of scenes I think would be fun to explore. I may write in the future specific scene requests that are just named as MC with they/their/them as the pronoun, but for right now, both of my MC OCs are female using she pronounce. I think all MC OCs are valid, I welcome them all, encourage them all, because we all wanna share and enjoy this fandom together. Without further delay, enjoy!
----------
Where am I…?
I’m in a place that looks like a courtroom. Several men are looking my way.
…..
Everywhere hurt. It was the feeling of being ripped from the ground and thrown about, like a dizziness swayed over made you want to throw up. Such a pounding headache. Where was this? Turning around and looking about the room it was… a courtroom? Oh- th- there were people here. Oh that was concerning. Scratching a hand to the back of her neck, she was staring up at one, two… three, four, five… five men. They were in front of her and sitting at a long table like something out of Harry Potter. In fact, now that she looked about, this did sort of look like that, didn’t it? Well. Except for the windows in front of her and- wow. Look at that Moon. That was… that was a big moon. Wait, there were banners behind them between the windows. A phoenix, a.. Crow or was it a Magpie? A snake. A unicorn, scorpion, fly, bull…
No- she could take a look at those later. There was something more pressing before her- people. Oh dear she must be making a terrible first impression. Rubbing a hand to her wrist, her eyes remained forward. It seemed that they were waiting for her? No, it couldn’t be. But, perhaps? They were giving her courtesy to help her gather herself. That would be nice. Who… were all of these people, why was she here? Just- Just breath. Just… calm down. It was going to be okay. Somehow.
The man in the seat of the chief judge, higher than the others, be that symbolic or not, starts speaking.
“Welcome to the Devildom, Dani. Oh, pardon me. Feeling a bit shocked, are we? Well, that’s understandable. You’ve only just arrived, after all. As a human, it will probably take a while for you to adjust to things here in the Devildom.”
“Is… is this real…? Or… am I dreaming?” Those words fell from her lips as if she hadn’t realized it, ah-! Jumping a little, Dani clasped her hands over her mouth and then realized how silly that looked as well, hands falling to her side.
Yet he just gave a warm laugh and a comforting smile. Without knowing him, it did seem a bit out of place, but something about the expression seemed to fit on the welcoming man.
“What a very human thing to say. Outstanding. I have a feeling you might be just the sort of person we’re looking for.”
Rubbing her hands together, she was fretful, concerned, brow knit upwards. Devildom… As a human? Were these people not human? They looked human. But they were all un uniform. The person who just spoke was tall and had darker skin with brown hair. He was in a red uniform, the other four were in black uniforms that appeared militaristic. Wait. Why were all of them attractive? She didn’t like being stared at so directly, especially when she was already taken out of her comfort zone.
“I suppose I should start by introducing myself. My name is Diavolo. I am the ruler of all demons, and all here know of me and someday soon, I will be crowned king of the Devildom. This is the Royal Academy of Diavolo… though we just call it RAD. You’re standing within the assembly hall, the very heart of RAD. This is where we officers of the student council hold our meetings and conduct our business. I’m the president of said council.”
Academy? This was a school? A school for… demons? She just sort of stared a bit with shock and awe upon her features. This… This was too much. This was crazy. A school. For demons. She was in HELL. Like. H. E. Double hockey sticks Hell. Like. Where bad people go where they die HELL. Yet. It looked rather pleasant and mundane well. As mundane as a place can be with a giant moon in the background. Still. It was like he was expecting a response from her so, with a deep breath in and a hard swallow from her throat, Dani took a step forward and bowed respectfully towards him, quickly, rising up, she had to take a few more breaths in and out to calm herself. Just. Well. She wasn’t nervous around others normally, of course not but, these were demons and this person was supposed to be crowned King one day? That made him a Prince?
“H-Hello Ah… Hello there. It’s very nice to meet you- all of you. Ahem. As you said- I am Dani, but well, of course you already knew that. Ahem. Might I kindly know why I am here? Ah- Not that I am not grateful to be here- but I am rather confused. And well- do people know I am here? I… I don’t remember what I was doing before I came here. My parents are probably worried about me…”
She rambled too much. That was going to make her come off way too immature and nervous. No. She wanted to appear cool in front of demons. A pained winced crept upon her brow, no just. Keep calm. It was going to be okay. No one was saying or giving any negative expression so far. Keep it all calm. But really. Did anyone know she was here? Was she dead? Were her parents aware of this? What was she doing before? She was… what happened.. Going to start school. That’s what.. But. Why is it all fuzzy? Why did it hurt whenever she thought about it. Ugh, there was that sensation in her stomach again, the one that made her want to throw up.
Then a man stood up, the very definition of tall dark and handsome. Black hair with wisps of grey, deep red eyes, and a stare that seemed to melt the bones to jelly. Why was everything getting worse? Yet as he spoke there was something calming? Reassuring about it… it brought a much needed sense of stableness, if only for a moment. It was needed.
“I will explain everything to you.”
“Dani, this is Lucifer. He is a demon and the Avatar of Pride. He’s also the vice president of the student council and my right-hand man…and not just in title, I assure you. Beyond that, he’s also my most trusted friend.”
“Flattery will get you nowhere, Diavolo.”
Hearing that name. Lucifer. That caused her eyes to widen and snap her attention back. What? Lucifer. THE Lucifer? Him. Right. There. Standing in front of her? Her breath seemed to catch and freeze in her lungs, for she found herself out of breath. There was a bit of a tremble from her now. What was going on? Why was she here? Was this a dream? As if to check, she pinched at the back of her hand, and sure enough it was sharp to the touch. Oww. The imprint of her nail upon the skin.
“Speaking on behalf of the entire student body at this great and storied school of ours, I offer you the most heartfelt welcome, Dani.”
As he addressed her once more, she folded her hands in front of herself and kept attention once more. Yet, he didn’t answer any of her questions. Would… would he answer them for her? Would anything happen? Did it matter? A bit of melancholy was sinking in, but what did he mean? Students? Demons really didn’t go to school. Did they? That just seemed a bit silly. What could they have to learn?
“I… I am sorry, could I please have my questions answered- Uhm. At some point. Please…” Her voice squeaked and cracked a bit as she tried to gather a bit more backbone to make a coherent sentence.
“...Interesting. This one is quite different from Solomon.” He said in an aside while giving a glance to his left.
“As for your questions, I will answer what I can for the moment. Diavolo believes that we demons should start strengthening our relationship with both the human world and the Celestial Realm. As a first step toward this goal, we’ve decided to institute an exchange program. We’ve sent two of our students to the human world and two to the Celestial Realm and we’re welcoming four students to our school: two from your world and two from the Celestial Realm. So, I take it you’ve probably put two and two together at this point, right? You’ve been chosen from among the people of the human world to participate in this program of ours. You are our newest exchange student. Your period of stay is one year. You will have to work on the tasks that you will receive from RAD. After one year, you will write a paper about your exchange here in the Devildom. However, as not many of the human world know of the Devildom outside of Witches and Sorcerers, which is to say that no one knows you are here.”
That just elicited a small, “Oh,” from Dani as she looked to her feet and shuffled them a bit. Yet, all of that information. Celestial realm. Is that… Heaven? Were there angels in Hell too? They must be even more uncomfortable than she was feeling right now but well. Chosen. Why was she chosen to be here? Surely there were better people, smarter people, more virtuous people. People who were more than just. Her. Like this Solomon guy, he shared the name of the great sorcerer king Solomon from the bible, or was it the Torah? Wait. The Torah was the old testament? Oh Gods, how much of that was true? Oh- And God? What? What was that? Was it true? Was it a lie? Did that mean she needed to start believing- ugh, the feeling just felt worse the more she thought about it. She just needed fresh air or water or something to calm herself down.
“Well then… I.. will be glad and happy to accept. I am just sorry right now. I am not making the best impression. All of this is… It’s- It’s a lot to take in. So many things I didn’t think were real and.. They are. I… I think it will take a while to adjust. Please have patience with me. I really am excited for this, but it’s just.. Just a bit daunting.”
“It’s not like I will abandon you all by yourself here in the Devildom. You need someone to look after you, and I think that someone should be my brother Mammon. He’s the Avatar of Greed and… how should I put it…? Oh well, you’ll understand soon enough.”
It was at this point that Lucifer stepped down from the table and made his way over, handing a device that looked very much like a phone, in fact it looked exactly the same but apparently it was not. Did this thing have YouTube on it? What about Spotify?
“Here, take this device. It’s called a D.D.D. It’s a lot like the cell phones of your world. This will be yours to use for as long as you’re here. Now, go ahead and try calling Mammon with it.”
Accepting the D.D.D. It was easy to be able to navigate its menu. D.D.D…. She was just going to call it a phone. That’s what it basically was, a phone. It had the call and messaging option, contacts, apps. It even had a handy little helper app with a picture of a crow on it. How cute. Maybe things weren’t going to be all that bad? And well.. She was excited. This was an opportunity she never would have before…
“Yoooo.” The voice over the phone awkwardly said upon picking up.
“Hi there, Mammon? Am- I speaking to Mammon?” Dani first had the phone normal, but then switched it to speaker, even if she still held it closer to her ear.
“Huh? Who the hell are ya? You ain’t Lucifer.”
“Ah? Sorry- I’m Dani, Dani Falko. I’m right by Lucifer in the Assembly Hall right now. He said to give you a call so… I am. So. Uhm. Hello.”
“Whaaaa? A human? Geez, I was gettin’ all chilly here thinkin’ it was Lucifer again. Ya should’ve told me right away. You’ve got a lotta nerves callin’ on THE Mammon, exchange program or not.”
“I’ve been informed that you’ll be keeping an eye on me during my stay in the exchange program.”
“No way! There’s nothin’ in it for me. Besides, Whaddya even mean by, keeping an eye on ya? I ain’t gotta do nothin’. See ya.”
“Uhm. Ah- Well. Lucifer said you’d be doing this and well. I don’t really know what else to say or do here… I’d appreciate your help.”
“Pfft, whatever. Ya think The Mammon would listen to ya just ‘cause you’re tryin’ to scare me with that name? And besides, I don’t help no one for free!”
Though, it was thankful that Lucifer stepped closer, pulling the D.D.D. from her hand for that conversation was going nowhere fast. Speaking into it, he barely needed to speak at all to get Mammon’s attention.
“Mammon, You have until the count of…”
“Y-Yessir!”
The line disconnected as he presumably was making his way to the assembly hall. Where was he exactly? Dani took the phone back and just clutched it tightly to herself. What sort of person was this Mammon? They really didn’t seem all that reliable, or responsible. But then again. He was a demon.
“Well, wasn’t that a nice little chat you had. ” The expected smug reply from Lucifer as he certainly seemed self satisfied.
“Are… are you sure he’s going to be able to take care of me…?” Dani murmured this from her lips.
“Well, if you were suddenly brought to a strange place and then get told that an unfamiliar face will now take care of you, you’d feel anxious. However, Mammon isn’t the only one to help you out. Now then… we still need to introduce our new friend to your brothers, Lucifer. And it’s probably better that you do that instead of me, wouldn’t you say?”
“There’s more brothers-” Dani couldn’t help but give an even more confused look.
“As much as I dread the idea of doing so, you’re right.” Though, as Lucifer was about to continue, one of the other men at the back stood up and started to make his way down.
“Oh, come now. Really? You should be honoured that you get to introduce such a sweet and charming little brother like me!”
“This one here is Asmodeus. He’s the Fifth Eldest. He is the Avatar of Lust.”
Asmodeus? She only really knew that name from… Well. From D&D but also well. What else did she hear that name from? Who was he related to in legends… Was he related to Solomon? It would be a bit impolite to ask but well. This young man didn’t really look anything like the others there. Well. None of them looked alike. Were they really brothers? He had soft almost orange hair, but was it still technically blonde? That, and eyes like coral, pink and orange and gold.
“Wh… I can’t believe you totally ignored what I said! And not only that, you referred to me as this one. How rude!” Oh- The way he reacted was a bit concerning. That wasn’t really ignoring, was it?
“Hmph. At least he didn’t ignore you altogether. How do you think I feel?” The one who spoke up next had bright blonde hair and bright green eyes that had sparkles of yellow in it. He actually looked rather pleasant.
“That one there is Satan, the fourth eldest of us. At first glance, he may seem like a responsible demon with a good head on his shoulders, but looks can be deceiving.”
“Aha, so I’m that one, am I? Nice to meet you, Dani. I’m Satan, the Avatar of Wrath.”
S- Satan? Bloody… Satan and Lucifer… and Asmodeus of course but well. And the Prince of Hell, Diavolo..? Ah. This was just making the blood run from her face and go cold a bit. This was unbelievable in so many ways and yet… And yet it was? Why was the nice happy looking one the avatar of wrath? Well. Lucifer did say it, looks can be deceiving and well. Ned Flanders said that the devil would be attractive. Devils... demons? Was there a difference? Is that racist?
“Thank you… ah- thank you both for the warm welcome. Once more, I am sorry that I am not really well composed right now. I do try to make better first impressions and well- I fear I am doing, hehe- ah- an absolutely dreadful one. I can only hope that you’ll forgive me and that our second and third meeting goes more smoothly from there.”
“Ooooh! You are just so adorable, come now, don’t be shy. Come a little closer to Asmo, I won’t bite much. There’s something I want to show you, a little demonstration! Dani, could you gaze into my eyes for a moment? It’s okay, I won’t hurt you. I promise it’ll be fun…”
As Asmodeus had come down from the assembly table and stepped closer towards Dani, even as she took a half step back, he took a half step forward. He was too friendly, and not in the Diavolo friendly. He seemed to take delight in how shy she was acting but… with a bit of a deep breath, still clutching onto the phone for dear life, somehow the small human managed to look upwards into his eyes. There was something pleasant about them. They reminded her of peaches. Just not as fuzzy.
“Yes, great! That’s perfect! Now, keep your eyes fixed on mine… Just… like… that…”
As his words trailed off, the expression of delight changed to one of confusion and then dismay. Something wasn’t going the way he intended. Should she say something? Wanting to look away, but not wanting to be rude, Dani stood there, a frozen little rabbit, or perhaps a deer caught in headlights. All of this was terribly confusing for herself as well.
“You… you have pretty eyes…?” Dani just mumbled this out as she was at a loss of words on if she was supposed to do or say something.
“Oh, why thank you dear, I knew that but there’s something not right here...hmm..”
“I should probably warn you, Dani; you’d best be wary of Asmodeus’s gaze. He can charm and manipulate people and use them to his own advantage. If you’re not careful, he’ll charm you. And once you’re under his spell, he’ll eat you.” As Satan spoke that from behind Asmodeus, Dani just froze up a bit and half-jumped back.
“Hey, don’t go around saying things like that. Hmm. Regardless, my power doesn’t seem to work this time for some reason, I wonder why.”
“Ah-! I- ahem. Well. I- Ahem. Ah...Thank you for informing me but I would have appreciated to know that before..” Once more a mumble parted from her lips as she shrunk back away from the two demons.
“Are you done? Now, the one there with the very grumpy look on his face is Beelzebub. He’s the sixth oldest.”
“Lucifer, I’m hungry.” Beelzebub had hair as orange as well. Oranges. Or carrots. Or pumpkins. They were all orange. Regardless, from what she could tell he had pretty purple eyes with a bit of pink in them. All of them seemed to have pretty eyes and.. Painted nails? Even though Lucifer was wearing gloves, everyone had painted fingernails, even Diavolo. Was that a demon thing or like- a club thing?
“That’s too bad. Now behave yourself.” Lucifer gave quite the stern expression in response.
“I’m Beelzebub, the Avatar of Gluttony.” As he came down from the table as well, all of them were now in front of her and not behind a table. It was a bit daunting but at the same time comforting? They all looked like regular humans. Even if well. Lucifer, Diavolo, and Beelzebub were over a foot taller than her- not that it was hard to be, and not that the other two weren’t quite taller than her already but still.
“So. There are seven of us brothers in all, and I am the eldest. Mammon, the second oldest of us, will be here soon. My other brothers aren’t here at the moment, but… well, we can get to them later. All in good time.”
“During your stay in the Devildom, the seven brothers will lend you their strength. To keep you safe, you are to stay with them at the House of Lamentation.” Diavolo seemed to be enjoying himself, light hearted and smiling. Was he doing that to try and make her feel better or perhaps he actually was doing this for a good reason.
“Most agree with Diavolo, but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t vulgar demons out there who wouldn’t harm you. If anything were to happen to you, it would be our responsibility. And I won’t betray Diavolo’s expectations. So, I will do everything in my power to make sure you survive your stay down here in the Devildom. Although we will all be living together, you should still have the means to reach us at any given time. All of our phone numbers are already in there. And your D.D.D. also has a messaging app. Make sure to add all of us.”
“I’ll go ahead and send you a message!” Just as he said that, Diavolo sent a message and it buzzed within her hands, giving a bit of a startle for a moment.
“Isn’t that nice, Dani. Now you will be friends with the future king of the Devildom!” Looking towards Satan, he had a pleasant smile on his face too.
All of them, except Beelzebub who seemed to be grumbling about food still, had a smile on their face and looked at her. As much as she wanted to just jump headlong into this and throw caution to the wind, there were so many things that just rattled her nerves. Yet. This wasn’t about her, of course it wasn’t. She was just someone selected, likely at random, to be dragged along in a whim of another more powerful person. These sort of things weren’t supposed to happen. This was like out of a bad movie or anime. Well. Harry Potter wasn’t bad and Izakai is a genre unto itself. Okay. Maybe not a bad movie or anime, but it still seemed cliched. Still. With a bit of a sigh, Dani lifted her chin up and put on as best a smile as she could showing she was on board for this. Even if she was internally stressing out.
“Well. you’ve got that done now, and it seems the idiot has arrived as well.”
“HEY! Just who do you think you are, human? You’ve got a lotta nerve summoning the Great Mammon! Listen up, because I’m only gonna say this once. If you value your life, then you’ll hand over all of your money now! And anything else of value, too! Otherwise I’ll wipe that happy-go-lucky smile right off of your face… by eatin’ you! Startin’ at your head and working my way down, until-”
“Mammon, shut up or I’ll punch you!” That was the warning- except Lucifer didn’t hesitate to follow up with his threat before giving Mammon a chance and decked him in the shoulder, causing the tanned skin, white haired demon to stagger backwards, nearly losing balance.
This was Mammon? Her caretaker? The way that he walked towards her, practically stomping and pointing a finger towards her was a bit daunting but other than that he didn’t look too intimidating. His uniform was a bit more disheveled than the others, loose tie, like he was some stereotypical popular teenager, even if he did look… maybe twenty? It was sort of hard to tell. They all looked ambiguous. Lucifer and Diavolo looked the oldest but even then they only looked late twenties at most. The other brothers seemed to appear around twenty? She was only seventeen herself but all of this just seemed to scramble her head.
“GAH, OWW! Hey, what’s the big idea? I thought you were actually gonna give me a chance to shut up before punching me!”
“Dani, Mammon here is the Avatar of Greed. He governs and oversees all forms of it. Whenever he takes a liking to someone, they suddenly find themselves awash in money. But from what I hear, if he decides to break it off with someone, that wealth evaporates. They’re left without a Grimm to their name.” The ever informative Satan.
“And he’s also a masochist. That part’s important.” As Asmodeus added that last part, Dani couldn’t help but jump a little, a flush of red on her cheeks. Was that part really important?
“Indeed. And it just so happens I have a job for my masochist of a brother.”
“Y’all, stop telling lies! I ain’t asked for that punch, and I AIN’T a masochist!”
“Mammon, you are going to be in charge of seeing to this human’s needs during the whole exchange. I expect your full cooperation.”
“What?! Why me?!”
All the while as she stared between the various people here, she wanted to run, wanted to hide. This was all very overwhelming for her but she did all she could to stand still, stand polite as she held her hands locked into themselves, gripping her wrist to prevent herself from fidgeting. Turning her gaze towards the windows, staring at the large and unnatural moon just beyond the vantage of the room, it was just starting to hit her that all of this was real. Real… The stars that twinkled around the moon. Real. The demons around her. Real. God? Probably real. Satan was right there. Lucifer. There. Asmodeus. Beelzebub. Mammon. Wait. Pride. Wrath. Lust- these are the Sins. The seven deadly sins. Why didn’t she think about this before?
“Aww, lucky you, Mammon! I’m so jealous…” A feigned pout came from the Avatar of Lust as he was taking care of his nails. Oh? They were pink and turquoise. That was actually rather cute.
“All right, then why don’t YOU do it, Asmodeus?!”
“What? Hell no, too lazy.” Thankfully that was his reply. Dani didn’t like the idea of pairing with someone associated with Lust.
“I thought you said you were jealous of me?!”
“Just give up, Mammon. There’s no getting out of this. You know you can’t refuse a direct command from Lucifer, correct?” Even though he was the Avatar of Wrath and told that he was basically two-faced. Satan seemed like a more reliable option than Mammon, so why was she being stuck with someone who didn’t want to, and didn’t seem like he was good at the task? Yet as if Mammon was thinking the same thing…
“But why does it have to be me?! What about Beel. Why can’t he do it?!” As if to exclaim, Mammon walked in the direction of Beel, waving a hand towards him. He too had painted fingernails. White in fact.
“This isn’t a job we can entrust to Beel. We might as well ask him to eat this human.” Asmodeus kept his poise disinterested in the situation, shaking his head as he canted his head to his younger brother.
“Mm, yeah. I can’t promise I wouldn’t.” Though Beelzebub was younger, he was just as tall as Lucifer and Diavolo, and just as broad as the latter. Surprisingly, he also had painted fingernails. Orange like his hair. This was actually sort of a cute theme they all had.
“You’re useless, you know that?!” Mammon continued to stomp and protest around, waving his arms and making a loud show of disliking the task.
“...Mammon?” Lucifer stared towards his younger brother and just by saying his name it caught Mammon’s attention.
“...Wh-what?”
“Surely you’re not going to tell me that you object to this arrangement, are you?” Whatever Lucifer just did caused Mammon not only to remain focused, but seemed to become serious for a few moments. But beyond that, Lucifer seemed to have this aura around him that was one of authority and enforcement. It was practically visible, like the dark purple and black cloud of oppression as the sickness in her stomach just got worse. She never felt this kind of anxiety before that gave her physical sickness.
Though it seemed that Mammon was giving in as he pulled back and shrugged his shoulders. Pacing about, the demon waved his hands when showing his displeasure. All of this just made her feel even worse now. She wanted to like that she had this chance and she did- really this was what people dreamed and fantasized over. This was the call to adventure that storybook heroes had. Just smile, it was going to be alright, Dani. It was all that she could tell herself now as Mammon looked in her direction.
“Ugh.. I hate you guys! Every last one of ya! Fine… FINE! I’ll do it, okay?! All right, human, listen up. As much as I don’t want to look after you, I’ve got no choice. It’s a huge pain in the ass, and I’m too important for this kind of thing, but Lucifer told me to do it, so I will. But in return, you better make sure you don’t cause me any trouble, got it?!”
“I am sorry this is an inconvenience for you, Mister Mammon Sir. I’ll do what I can to not get in your way, and uhm. Hopefully we can get along? Maybe? I- If that isn’t too much of a problem for you! Th. That.. That is..” The quiet murmur fell from her again, trying to remain polite. She didn’t have much expectations but perhaps they could at least not be enemies.
“Good, that’s what I want to hear. As long as you do as I say, we won’t have any problems. Just be sure you don’t forget which one of us is the boss here. - And don’t go around callin’ me Sir. If you’re going to call me anything, call me The GREAT Mammon or somethin’ cool like that.”
“Don’t do that, it’ll just go straight to that empty head of his.” Asmodeus couldn’t help but jab at Mammon, beaming a smile that seemed rather jovial.
“Hey- Shaddap! I don’t have an empty head. I just don’t fill it full of dumb stuff like makeup and stuff like you!”
The interaction was thankfully cut off as Lucifer spoke up, continuing the explanation of what was to take place, the tasks that would unfold before them, and what kind of expectations there were for her and to say the least, it was not what she expected. The more she heard him speak, the worse she felt about this.
“We have decided who will take care of you, so on to the next subject: your tasks. Along with attending the Academy, your task is to polish up your soul nicely and to acquire the power to resist demons. You see, demons like humans with nice souls. Let me put it another way, nice souls look like shiny jewels. Do you understand now? Demons will use their wisdom and abilities to tempt humans so they can get their hands on their souls. Other demons at RAD also have tasks assigned to them just like you. In other words, either humans will be tempted by demons, or demons will lose against the shiny and noble soul of a human and make a run for it. You could say it is an experiment to find out who will win.”
“I wanna make one thing clear right now; Don’t blame me if someone gets eaten, ‘cause it ain’t my fault.”
“Lucifer, I’m hungry.”
“That’s too bad. Now, behave yourself.”
Was this all just a game to them? Certainly she didn’t expect to be treated as an equal when around demons. After all they weren’t demons for nothing. Even if things defied the expectations that she had of Demons based on movies and books and what religion says of it, but there was still a shred of truth in all of that. Now she was told that she’d have to polish up her soul and resist demons? She could hardly resist staying all day in bed on the weekends or sneaking an extra cookie when no one was watching. It’s not like she felt like she could be tempted with things. After all, she didn’t want for anything, not things that could be given anyway. Well. Not that she thought she had anyway.
“Well. I suppose I.. I don’t have a choice one way or another, ah.. do I..? No... I- I don’t… But, well...I’d very much like to enjoy my time here- you know, as well, this isn’t something that I’d ever be able to dream of doing, let alone even thinking it could be actually possible. So, um... for that, I thank you for picking me, even if I don’t know why. I can only hope to do the best I can and be myself through all of this. I just hope that I can live up to whatever expectations and results you’re looking for.”
Her hands were fidgeting the entire time, eyes shifting ever so slightly between the faces, even if she was trying to keep focus on Diavolo. All of this was something she was excited about, but at the same time, deeply, deeply concerned with. After all, she only knew things of Hell from movies, videogames, and books, and even the nicest representation of Hell, was a dark parallel version of the real world in some shows and games. They all still painted the place as one of those things you joke about with friends, but in reality would never really want to go to.
“Well ain’t ya a goody-two-shoes. Welp, I won’t stop ya from havin’ some fun.” Mammon just sort of shrugged while Lucifer gave an enigmatic smile, apparently pleased with the response.
“Dani, from now on you will be living in the House of Lamentation. You’ll be staying there with Lucifer and his six younger brothers. Humans, angels, demons, I imagine a universe where each accepts the other. Where we are brought together as friends. This is my dream, and I’m asking you to be the foundation for it. One year, that’s all I ask of you. Though you may be nervous now, I think you’ll be able to help the brothers out just as much as they’ll help you. Good luck, Dani.”
Help them out? How was she supposed to do that? Well. At least he did want to have angels and humans and demons all alongside each other as friends. She didn’t know if that was what he actually wanted or if that was just a facade. After all, he was a demon, even if he was smiling a lot. Still. She wanted to believe it, so for right now, she’d just smile towards Diavolo.
“I want to believe in your dream as it sounds really nice. If such a thing can be real, I want to do what I can to help.. Wait- Living in the… House with all of them? S- Seven brothers, seven boys- is…” The words just sort of stuck in her throat in realization.
“Mm..? Is there something wrong Dani?” Diavolo just smiled down at her, as if he already knew what was making her comfortable but just wanted to hear it.
“Oh, don’t tell me you JUST realized you’d be living under the same roof as ME?” Asmodeus beamed, hearts practically floating around him as he spoke. “Who knows. You might even catch a glimpse of me stepping out of the bath.”
“What, ya never lived with guys before?” Mammon looked over his shoulder, hands shoved in his pockets.
“I have- Just. Not ONLY guys… and only my family so. I just- it was just an uncomfortable realization. I’ll get over it and not let it bother me. S- sorry. I- ahem. Sorry.” As Mammon started to walk to the doors, presumably to lead her to the House of Lamentation, Dani turned and waddled after, trying to resolve the blush on her cheeks.
. . .
As the pair left and the doors closed, Diavolo looked over to Lucifer and smiled, seemingly quite happy with how that interaction went.
“Well, what do you think, Lucifer? She’s a very human human, don’t you think?”
“Technically every human is very human. Except for Solomon that is.” Lucifer kept his eyes on the door, having watched the two as they left.
“Well, I think this human is going to be fun to tease! The shy ones are always the most naughty.”
Asmodeus’ response resulted in a group sigh that seemed to echo through the assembly hall. The moonlight which shifted through the windows showed that only a small passage of time occurred to what seemed like it lasted forever to the human taken from her home. However the silence was soon disrupted and the sigh drowned out by the thunderous grumbling from Beelzebub’s stomach to overshadow such a sound.
In progress: Wine Mom/Marshmallow Demon AU appearances
Asmo + Wine Mom side chapter
Yet to start:
A bunch of Emoji’s for Discord
Chapter Scenes for Wine Mom/Marshmallow of the School Video game thing
Angel AUs
MC Pegging one of the demon boys (Discord request)
This is the same advertisement as the one posted on Sass’ blog. Just posting more links for visibility.
I make custom emotes for the server when I feel like it.
Rules:
1) Respect others
2) Don’t hate on others OCs/Ships/Stans/Whatever. You’re not the only person in this fandom.
3) Don’t backtalk the server management.
4) If you’re a minor, don’t request access to NSFW areas, and don’t post NSFW things in the general chats.
5) If you hate on others, make drama, or otherwise break the other rules on the server, you will find your time short on the server. We don’t tolerate disrespect.
Treat your fellow humans, demons, angels, and chihuahuas with respect.
I drew this for her birthday. I kinda wish not drawing her in such a basic pose but I wanted to really show off the outfit. I enjoy drawing outfits the most, that’s how I first got into drawing. Trying to find a balance between shadowing too little and too much is hard.
Hobbies: drawing, dancing when no one is watching, looking for bugs, trying to pet wild animals, picking up objects and moving them around the room in a slightly different position than where they first were.
Nature: a nurturing mediator
Demeanor: overly polite worry-wart
Fun Facts: Youngest of 7 children, hates scrapbooking and socks but hates wearing shoes without socks more. Was a Girl Guide for over 10 years. Can’t swim, and is terrible at cooking. Button nose.
Motto: “On my honour I will try, there’s a duty to be done and I say aye, there’s a reason here for a reason above, my honour is to try and my duty is to love.” - From the Girl Guide song, On my Honour.
