Lilith sighed before continuing, "It mostly involves breaking down their mentalities and leaving them cold and alone on the floors of their studio apartment, crying and wishing they'd never been born." She smiled at Tamiel, "It's what I love to do."
edited 7th Oct '11 3:33:49 PM by draconiansuperior
A smile came to Tamiel's face as he said, "you, 'Lilith'; I like you already. You understand. It's not enough to defeat a sinner, is it? For Justice to be done" — again, something in his tone capitalized "justice" — "it must be total!"
He laughed darkly, then said, "you would do well among my kin. Ah, but you never answered my question. A succubus is what you are, or so you claim. But what is it you do? You know, when not destroying would-be perverts? Or is that truly your main line of work?"
edited 7th Oct '11 4:24:08 PM by KillerClowns
"Sorry," Steven said to Vincent. "I'll remember that."
He turned to the girl. "Radioactive - meaning it's emitting radiation. I was referring to the fact that, on my Earth, we managed to avoid a nuclear war, while on his" - he gestured at Ryan - "the opposite apparently occurred - at least, I can't think of any other way bombs could turn Nevada into a crater.
"By 'nuclear war'," he continued, "I mean a war involving nuclear weapons. And those I'm not going to elaborate on, because you really don't need to know about them."
He turned to Vincent again. "Are there humans on your version of Earth as well, or are 'chimeras' the only native sophonts?"
Avea didn't have a clue what "nuclear" or "radiation" meant either, but decided not to press the topic; he seemed uncomfortable with it. She left him to speak with Vincent as she continued on her sandwich.
Tamiel nodded appreciatively. Then, to July, he said, "I assure you, there is Justice. But it is up to those with the courage to do what is necessary to bring it about. Perhaps on your world, Justice has been abandoned... in which case, I pity you. I see it in your eyes... you know where Justice must be done, and yet I sense you are too weak of spirit to possibly bring it about."
Oh, how Tamiel loved spinning his web of lies. The wonderful, wonderful sins mortals could be driven to in the name of doing the right thing never ceased to bring him joy.
"Humans and chimeras," said Vincent. "And it's an integrated society. Been that way for, um..." He thought for a moment, counting stuff off on his fingers. "Almost forty years now, ever since the war. It can get a bit touchy at times, but for the most part, humans get along with chimeras and vice versa."
Tamiel looked at July, clearly unimpressed, and said, "perhaps if Justice has not come to save you, it is merely because you are undeserving. The will of the universe is not absent, merely more vast and grand than your tiny mind could ever hope to comprehend." And crueler. So much crueler. But Tamiel saw no reason for July to know that.
Tamiel smiled, coldly and secretively, at July, measuring him. "Perhaps," he said slowly, "I misread you..." he fell silent, continuing to consider July. "Yes," he said. "Do you feel that? That anger? That wrath? I didn't know you had it in you, but now I see... that will be your salvation."
In Tamiel's opinion, July was right. There was no "justice", merely the cold abyss of the universe and the mind-shattering embrace of his Master. But Tamiel was not about to abandon a successful lie.
edited 7th Oct '11 4:55:00 PM by KillerClowns
"It's a bit of a long story," said Vincent, "but I'll give you the short version. It's just after the end of a nuclear standoff - not quite a war, but as close as you can expect - when aliens attack, wanting Earth's resources. The humans can't quite handle the aliens, what with inferior technology and all that, and chimeras reveal themselves to help fight off the aliens with magic. Aliens gone, and we were forcibly integrated.
"Now, before then, chimeras hid from humans. The reasons ranged from looking down on humans as inferior to fear at their numbers and ingenuity. We attempted to actually make contact a long time ago, but an incomplete picture of chimeras and demonization turned the human image of us into monsters, which they called dragons, hence the slur."
July turned to the bartender.
"Vodka," he said.
"There's a reason," said July, waiting for his drink, "There's a reason for me to survive the mission crew. Logical reasons. Everything else? Nothing. No reason. I don't look for justice. This is not justice. This is the opposite of justice." When the bartender got him his drink, he gulped down the rest of his water so he could start on it.
Tamiel shook his head and said, "you don't understand. If you look for Justice, you'll never find it. Justice is created, not found. It is not born of the prayers of the oppressed, but their fury. The will of the universe is great, but if it does not have the strength of the righteous behind it..." he let the thought go unfinished. Instead, he said, "just remember: sometimes those who wish to see Justice done must make sacrifices. I hope you'll be ready when the time comes."
"You are mistaken," said July, "There is nothing righteous about me. All of my crew? Died of carbon dioxide poisoning. We were all on the same line. They don't have enough to keep us alive. We just die, sometimes. My justice? I decided to huddle in the right place when I started to get the tremors. Everyone else is dead. There's no one to blame. There's just no fairness."
He sipped his drink and cringed at the taste. Instinct told him to spit it out, but second instinct told him to keep drinking.
"You underestimate yourself," Tamiel said. Surely, he had some ego for Tamiel to inflate. "You survived. You fill yourself with guilt over something you could not possibly change. Do not allow guilt to drive you. Look into your heart. I'm sure you will find something there. Something good. Something to drive you to do great things." Looking into July's eyes, he said, "you are capable of more than you think."
A storm of feel-good clichés, certainly. But hopefully one would take root. Tamiel, of course, knew what was really in the human heart: hate, lust, and depravity. And oh, he did so dearly love it.
Avea looked at Steven with interest and said, "so, Steven. Uh..." she picked her mind for some sort of small talk. Finally, "so, what is it you do? I mean, your job. I'm a glassmaker, which gives me the most boring job at this table, so I'm kind of curious what sort of excitement fills your life."
edited 7th Oct '11 8:30:13 PM by KillerClowns
"My use now," said July, "Is tissue samples. They think I am better off alive than dead, for some pointless reason. They refuse to take the whole of me as sample. I can see some use of it, but not when they still have cloning technology." Naturally, as usual, he was Completely Missing The Point.
"My job," repeated Steven.
"Well, in simplest terms... I'm a mad scientist. I don't just mean I design your typical fancy gizmos, I mean I'm literally a mad scientist. Got monomaniacal savant syndrome, or "Mad Scientist Disease" as it's more commonly known - means I'm uncommonly gifted at a particular scientific field, also that I obsess over proving my ideas right, have difficulty applying moral principles to scientific matters, that sort of thing. Fondness for crazed laughter and tendency to overuse the word "fools" are probably more products of society then psychology, though.
"Anyway, I'm currently what you might call a 'reformed' MSS type. Use medication to control the mental issues while still being a genius, do government work. Came here thanks to an department experiment that didn't work - not like anyone told them it wouldn't..."
He paused, drumming his fingers against the table briefly.
"So... glassmaker, then?"
Avea, eyes still wide from Steven's descriptions, said, "er... yeah. Well, glassmaker's apprentice, really. Lots of traveling, haggling, and making woefully misshapen pots. Others have adopted molds, but doing it the old fashioned way gives so much more uniqueness and life to a piece. Getting to travel is nice, but otherwise, it's nothing special." Then, having considered Steven's words while she spoke, she said, "I'm really curious, though. What's it like, being a scientist? I haven't met any myself, mad or not, though I've heard of them by reputation. But they're not really common where I come from."
Tamiel blinked. He could not believe what he was hearing. Carefully, he said to July, "you really... don't seem particular bothered by being used as a lab rat. Surely, there must be something better you could be doing with your life?"
edited 7th Oct '11 10:23:29 PM by KillerClowns
"Better?" said July. "I don't know what you mean by better. Life was trying to find air to breathe and make food to eat, there being less and less each year. They said there was enough for another five hundred years without any intervention... I do not believe that... and at least if they want to take me apart, piece by piece, they feed me, or at least give me the nutrients some way, and air isn't a problem on Earth..."
He sipped his drink and burned his throat. He'd had worse, though — fertilizer algae was worse. At least this drink's burn didn't cause throat lesions.
Ryan turned to Stephen and said, "I may have been exaggerating a bit - nothing nuclear happened. We kind of had a second civil war that turned into a three way clusterfuck between the right, the left, and the feds. At some point, Nevada got pretty much overrun by a Fundamentalist militia - guess they had issues with Vegas or something. Anyway, the fundies tried to establish their own country - said it was God's will - and started expanding, fast. So, Uncle Sam stopped in and did what he does best: bomb the shit out of people." Ryan paused for breath. "Now, if you'll excuse me, something's just come up."
Ryan walked over to Tamiel and grabbed him by the shoulder. "Hey, cool it with the Join The Dark Side We Have Cookies bullshit. You're starting to remind me a bit too much of the guys that turned my country into a hellhole." Ryan took a moment to compose himself, then continued.
"Every day I see innocent people butchered for the sake of justice or security or whatever other pathetic excuse the feds have come up with. And everyone puts up with it. You know why? Because as scared as they are of the government, they're even more terrified that people like you might come back into power. They've seen too much of what holier-than-thou, manipulative monsters are capable of. Some of you say you act for justice, and exact it on everyone but yourself. You're not that, though - you seem like the type that likes to break people. I knew a guy like that, once. Gave me this," he said, pointing at the angry red scar that ran across his face.
"Also, one other thing: If you're going from fury, it's payback, not justice. I should know - I'm after payback.
edited 7th Oct '11 11:18:53 PM by KyleJacobs
Tamiel turned to Ryan, with a light chuckle. "Oh, how little you understand." He felt Ryan's anger and hatred, boiling beneath the surface and fed upon it. So delicious... he needed more. "Tell me... what shall you do with those you overthrow when you succeed? Will you show them mercy, and allow them to crawl back into the shadows, that they might strike the moment you turn your back upon them and return to power?" A smile crept upon his face as he continued, "or will you follow the very advice I have given to so many, and crush them, as they so clearly deserve?"
July watched the two.
This was it. There was so little violence at July's home that he just didn't understand it. There were so many ways to get hurt and die that violence simply was not necessary. It hurt him to watch people fight here — they simply could not see the waste. They were worse than children.

Tamiel shook his head, and said "I'm not asking you to do it to me. Just asking what it consists of. It sounds... amusing. After all, anybody who summons and attempts to bind a sentient being simply to have sex with them sounds like a rapist to me, and I'd like to know what fitting fate awaits them when they deal with you." Then, slight pride edging into his voice, he added, "oh, and don't worry: you could not hope to break my mind if you tried."