2 // Temptation - Video // Late Evening

[serpentinthegarden]

[ The Liberty Inn was playing host to a very, very drunk demon. It had been days since the 'incident' and Aziraphale was apparently doing well... hiding out in the castle and training for the big mission. Crowley was not, neither training or doing well. He slammed the empty bottle back onto the table, knocking the little mirror open as he did so. ]

Just shouldn't have said anything at all... should have enjoyed it while it lasted...

[ He took a long swig from a freshly opened bottle. ]

It's not even like it matters here! It's been over a week! There's no end of the world, no Armageddon... No armies of Heaven or of Hell...

We could do anyth--... literally anything and no one would be around to check up...

[The bartender came around to clean up some of the empty wine bottles and his arm was clung to.]

I can't help that I'm a demon. I can't... it just happened. One day I was creating stars and the next... doing the backstroke in a pool of lava... 

[The poor bartender managed to pull his arm free and finding himself alone and depressed Crowley sighed into his bottle of alcohol..]

Demons don't care, don't love... shouldn't, so why does it hurt so much that he left... 

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[bigbadrose]

[She was going to reply to the mirror, but wow. Gdi Aziraphale. She fucking told you. She fucking said it.]

[And her heart is REALLY with Crowley on this because.... well duh.]

[So she runs over there and yup, gives him a hug. Because Rose hugs demons. It's what she does.]

Your mirror's on, mate.

How much longer you planning to stay here?

[serpentinthegarden]

Wha...?

[ He leaned back as much as he could with a Rose wrapped snugly around his waist and reached weakly for the mirror, only half understanding what she had said. ]

Till morning.

[ The bartender spoke up then. ]

I'm closing at eleven!

[ Crowley sneered and changed his mind then. ]

Till eleven... Sit down Rose! Have a drink...

[not here]

[blessedarethebookmakers]

He'd known this would happen regardless. It was inevitable. It felt frustrating in a moment because things could never be what they were; they always had to be something more. But then Crowley was hardly to blame. Aziraphale had let this happen to begin with and now Crowley was suffering for it.

He also severely doubts it just happened. But it's none of his business why Crowley Fell and so he'd never asked. But Crowley did Fall. He was a demon. A poor sad miserable demon and not even the foulest creature of hell deserved this kind of torment.

He could argue the point. Say that they couldn't keep it up. Say that they would have to return home and then would miss it and it would be even worse. An eternity of something they could never have again. He could even argue that it wasn't right, but that was more on his side than Crowley's.

So with nothing to do or say he gets back to work. There is so much still to be done.

[bigbadrose]

Isn't it nearly that already?

[But she sits down next to him and watches him with concern... before remembering to school her face calmly, though she's not practiced enough in faking or masking her face, seeing as she was virtually invisible for two years.]

[What is there to say that hasn't been said? Blokes are dumb, and you can't choose who you love. And for some reason they like to run away. Rose would know, she's fond of running away too.]

What are we having?

[serpentinthegarden]

Dun know... lost track of time.

[ He picked up the bottle and squinted at it in long distance like he needed glasses to read the label. ]

Dun know that either. It's so-- some kind of ale.

[bigbadrose]

[Wry grin.] All right, you keep that. Just talk, and I'll listen, yeah? Want some fresh air? They say some bottles taste better al fresco.

[serpentinthegarden]

I'll keep it then.

[ Temporarily cradling the bottle like it was a child even. ]

Air? What's the point? You can do all these things for someone, try to be a better you...

[ Said in a sing song voice. ]

And it doesn't matter... Nothing matters.

[bigbadrose]

[Oh. Crowley. :<]

[Rose hugs him again and checks with the bartender to make sure the bottle is paid for, so she can lead the demon outside.]

It matters. It always matters.

But it always hurts.

Always.

[Yeah... now she's holding onto Crowley for herself because... bluh. Also. Wings. What's up with the wings? Oh right, this is not the Doctor at all, it's a demon. Whatever.]

[serpentinthegarden]

[ The bartender looked up from the glass he was cleaning and nodded that he had been paid.

Crowley meanwhile tucked his wings passively behind his back, unconsciously making it easier for Rose to guide him towards the door while he took another swig from his bottle of ale. ]

Shouldn't. Its'not supposed to happen. I could get into... SO much trouble...

[bigbadrose]

[Aw. Cuddly snake demon.]

[She gently and very carefully leads him to one of the park benches.] Naaaah. I have no idea what will happen back in your universe. I still bet the world won't end, and humans will do something insane and unpredictable and both heaven and hell won't be able to keep up with it; but I haven't the foggiest what that means for you and Aziraphale.

But here? [Encourages Crowley to sit and sprawl, because he's a leggy David Tennant beanpole Doctor build and like a snake but in the wrapping like vines way, not coiled spring way.] Either side tries to touch either of you and they'll have to go through me and a bunch'a the rest of us first. And I'm dead serious, you can ask the older Doctor, I really did shoot Satan's consciousness into a black hole. There's not a demon anywhere that can scare me. The more anyone tries, the harder I'll fight back.

You two can't really call this a vacation. But you should definitely not worry about your bosses or appearances, or falling, or the eternal shriek of retirement or anything else.

And yeah, I get off easy because I've already won. The Doctor lived. So all those alternate timelines where I saw him die? It hurts, but so what. I made sure they didn't stick.

But that just means I get to do what I want with all this. And I want my friends to be free.

[serpentinthegarden]

[ Not too much encouragement was needed to get him to flop across the park bench, taking up as much space as a lanky demon could. His dark wings hung over the back of the seat and idly flapped in the breeze. ]

S'what I think. They can't touch us here... s'long as they don't come through the mirror. And, if they did...

[ He started laughing that sort of gallows humor laugh the truly drunk could manage. ]

If they did... they would be in for a surprise! They wouldn't have any powers either!

It's Azi--- Az...

[ Some how that name was difficult to say with drunk lips. ]

He's the one who left.

[bigbadrose]

I know.

[She wants to pet his hair. Reflex from that face Doctor. But she manages to resist for now.]

He's scared.

[And cowardly. But she doesn't say that out loud, as much as she's thinking it. Hard. She is very unimpressed with the angel. To say the least.]

If they come through the mirror I'm kicking their shins, I don't care what anyone else says.

[serpentinthegarden]

Doesn't want to fall.

[ Crowley's head lulled to one side, nearly taking the rest of him for a tumble right off the bench. ]

[bigbadrose]

[Scoots over and moves to the end and, puts his head in her lap. Drunk snake is a mess.]

Doesn't want to think about the broader implications of defying a very idiotic conceptualization of reality established by clearly corrupted powers, because that would require self actualization; more like. [TL;DR this is why Rose has a crush?? or whatever -- thing for Michael. Because he reinvented the wheel for fun, and when he found broken things he didn't just bury his head in the sand and ignore them just because it's easier to pretend the evidence is wrong, not the system.]

You said yourself. All you did was hang out with the wrong crowd. If God's going to burn an angel over something as stupid as that, then God's wrong. And she should get her ass kicked. Tower of Babylon my ass. I'll fight her single-handed.

[serpentinthegarden]

[ His wings tucked as he was snuggled down onto Rose's lap. She said a ton of words but he found it difficult to catch most of them, but that was ok as he was no longer in danger of faceplanting off the bench. ]

God is God... I'd like to see you tell her she's wrong.

[ He pouted. ]

I could tell her she was wrong.

[ If he wasn't so drunk. ]

Az-- Azri..

[ Nope that name was still to difficult to say right now. ]

He couldn't. Said it once. He's an angel, he can't just not do what he's told...

[bigbadrose]

[She just gently fluffs his hair. It might look silly red, but it was still fluffy like the doctor's.]

[And Rose feels you on his name. She struggles with it sober, and she's not even emotionally attached to him.]

How do you know God didn't give angels and demons free will too?

[serpentinthegarden]

You've never been at what passes for a brainstorming meeting! Heaven or Hell it's the same stale ideas... over and over...

[ The fluffing of his hair seems to temporarily put him into repeat mode like a record stuck in a groove. ]

And over and over and over again..

They have no vision, no imagination... None of them ever ate from that tree either. No knowledge of good or evil. Angels are good, demons are bad. It's very black and white.

[ He frowned, and squirmed a little on Rose's lap. ]

I'm not like them...

[bigbadrose]

Basic. Thick basic.

Aside from loving Aziraphale, what else, yeah?

[serpentinthegarden]

[ Shows you how drunk he is, Crowley doesn't even protest that being in love with an angel thing. Which he would have denied otherwise! ]

Imagination! I have one... They don't.

Think that's a park...

[ Wait that wasn't right. ]

A spark?

[bigbadrose]

But that means Aziraphale has one too, right?

[serpentinthegarden]

Him? No, I... He..

How the Heaven do I know!? If he DID have imagination then couldn't he see what could be??

[ Several of those lovely little scenarios played out in his mind. All with very happy, non-demonic endings. ]

[bigbadrose]

Yes. I'm very certain he does see it.

And lacks the will to make it reality.

[az_shrimp_horny]

[Screw the mirror, Eleanor was already there drinking a big margarita when she heard the rambling. One side of her tried to ignore the scene an just keep drinking and ignoring her own problems.

But there was that little voice. "Eleanor, he sounds like he needs someone to talk to. You could help him."

Fuck that voice.

Except not. She sighed, deciding to do the ethical thing.

Once the bartender managed to escape, she got up, moving down to a bar stool next to the depressed Demon.]

Hey, bud. You look like you could use a drinking buddy.

Video

[legacyofarose]

[Rosabella was still very new, and was still trying to get properly settled in addition to getting ready for the upcoming task. So she isn't entirely sure where he was, and she didn't know about his world, or even how the other Apprentices got along with each other.

But he'd been nice to her when she first arrived, even he seemed begrudging about it, and she couldn't just ignore how upset he seems.]

Hey...what's going on?

[serpentinthegarden]

Lacks the will...

[ This was considered as another swig from his bottle of wine was guzzled. ]

Nah, it's me. I'm a demon... what sort of angel would ever find anything of value in a monster like that?