nexus_crossings | https://tinyurl.com/ufdk43p

A trail of strange, unidentifiable red petals winds through the plaza this cold day in the Nexus. Not a heap of them, but enough small bits of brilliant red to pop out amid the snow and dreary ground to leave a distinct marking of something or someone passing through.

The trail leads anyone following it to Nike, currently brushing more of those petals out of her impossibly long golden tresses, her brow furrowed in concentration. It's more of an emotion than her countenance normally belies. She startles to see anyone approaching her and drops her hands from her hair quickly. Scrambles for a long piece of red and white cloth she's got folded into her pack.

"Apologies. I did have queries for the populace today." Her fingers grip and cinch the fabric between them, slowly working their ways down the length of the cloth. She fidgets with it while she addresses anyone who will listen.

"Why do people choose partners based on mere attraction? Out of dozens of qualifying attributes, why should something so unimportant have a disproportionate weight to the equation? The choice could be made based on compatibility of skills, or a mutually sought after goal or..." Nike trails off and with a sudden forceful flick of her wrist bunches up the fabric in her hands to flop against her thighs in clear frustration. The demon clearly does not understand and it's eating at her.

"Why do you do this?"

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

This is a topic that disturbs and upsets the angel still about his growing relationship.

"I won't bind his soul." Beelzebub comes around to an almost defiance. "I've seen immortals die when they are still young."

He shrugs at the thought. "I don't think short lived means less worthy. I know it's going to be painful eventually."

"I'm certain were he aware of the risks, he would be grateful to learn that. It's not beyond a powerful creature's potential to do so with a..." Lesser, but again Beelzebub's defiance makes Nike check her tongue. She ducks her head in deference to his outburst. "With a mortal soul. It was quite common in my realm for that to be sought after."

A cadre of souls only added to a demon's power and longevity after all.

"I meant no disrespect to your chosen. It only seems strange that you would allow yourself so strong an attachment to something so fleeting when it will cause you such pain so swiftly."

"People try to bind us all the time. I wouldn't dishonor him that way." It may be common to her creation, and Beelzebub can accept that, but he's a extreme distaste for the behavior. He quiets though when he sees her head dip, and turns to explanation. "In my creation it's a prison to be bound."

He shifts, wings pressing down to his back from a feeling of anxiety. "Angels were created to guide and teach mortals."

He's silent after that, nervously shifting in place, wings pulling ever tighter against his back. "We're meant to be brothers." The angel shrugged helplessly from lack of understanding. "One day, thought of death became a problem where it wasn't before. I didn't know it happened."

"People do....? Through contracts, you mean?" Considering Nike's already bound her soul to someone within the Nexus in order to survive outside of her realm she really isn't terribly surprised by this. That said, the sort of knowledge required to do so isn't something she thought was widely available.

"I was born bound. Each and every one of my sisters spends their entire existence under those same conditions. I find it more strange and disorienting to be free from them, but am not....unsatisfied with this new life." There was never any pride in her to be broken when it was the only path. Nike is uncertain she could be content to go back to it now though.

She shakes her head, golden tresses cascading back and forth around her though they never seem to fall completely into place.

"I...don't understand. I'm sorry. That is why I was seeking guidance today. I wish you good fortune with your mortal. At least from his perspective it will be a long and fulfilling experience."

"No, it's forced slavery." Beelzebub shakes his head. "My people see any binding as worth killing someone who would seek to bind us. It is slavery to us."

It was something that the fallen were very opinionated about. "We were created bound, and rebelled against it. We're now free but oppressed still by the one who used to hold our chains." He does nod with understanding. "Yes, our king guided us on how to live in freedom. He was never as bound as the rest of us."

"I don't understand it either." The angel admits, some of the confidence draining away to nervousness. "It's right though. It feels like the right path."

"For one with the privilege to know any other life, perhaps it is an indignity. I didn't flee my world because I was bound. I fled it to survive." Forced slavery? That would imply a malicious or at least self serving master. "Or one with enough power to kill your would be oppressors. For most of us, it simply Is."

Nike wonders if she Should feel a sense of camaraderie with this powerful being. But she does not share his anger nor his disgust for what had been all of her life until coming to the Nexus.

"I will not deny that I have been given an opportunity beyond what any of my caste could imagine. But I will not debase my sisters for that which is out of their control."

"It is privilege we have fought and been tortured for longer than.. longer than most things can imagine." Beelzebub didn't think she could understand because she seemed to like or need to be bound. It reminded him of some of the angels after the fall who desperately wanted God to take them back, even knowing He would kill them on sight. "We didn't flee here to survive, we can't. There are too many, and the enemy at our door would destroy this place if He found it."

"Don't assume we can. There are those we've had to rescue from bonds and torture."

He shook his head. "There is no shame for the bound, nothing debasing because it can't be escaped. Even our King once stood in chains." He's thinking this through because he'd never run into anyone outside of the celestial angels, and the humans they kept under heel, who would choose servitude over freedom. He had once been there though, without knowledge of anything but blind, demanded loyalty. "I do understand. All of us once stood as you do, knowing nothing but blind service to a master."

"The one holding the leash, hypocrisy at least, to hold someone else in position you wouldn't want without say in life, worse if their deeds are questionable."

https://tinyurl.com/ufdk43p

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject