forum I Ought To Be Thy Adam (angels and demons)

Started October 09, 2020 by @ElderGod-kirky group

tune

"By the way, what's your name?" She asked, worried that she was being too forward.

"Nah, I'm fresh out," Ozzie said. "And that sounds rough, dear. My condolences."
He returned to Vera and Sybil, right as Vera said something about cows.
"What's this about cows?" he asked, hopping back onto his stool.
"Nothing much, Os," Sybil said, waving a hand. "Vera's just telling me about her time in Kansas, is all."

Vermilion strolled over to the bar, where the woman from earlier was sat. "Kansas? That's the boring state, right? Only thing interesting there is over there's that one book about the wizard." The woman chuckled, seating herself on a nearby stool. "The dog was the best part of the thing, if you ask me."

“Not in here, not in here,” he shushed them quickly, glancing around.

There was fair amount of people in the bar, Heiko realized, all engaged in their own conversations.
Virgil only stayed silent, speaking up after Heiko didn’t seem to know what to say. “Well, let’s just get a drink then.” The man looked at them, intertwining his fingers together. “You can tell me after the bar.” Heiko nodded.

They stood up and proceeded towards the front of the bar. “I should mention, I don’t exactly have any money.” Virgil whispered to Heiko. “I hope you can put that new cash of yours to this, because I can’t pay.”
Heiko mumbled something under his breath. “How did you get around without cash?”
They smiled. “I have my ways.” Many ways.

The two, in rhythm, strode up to their own empty stools and took a seat. It was there Heiko made their order - the man looked to Virgil questioning what they wanted, but they only shrugged, deciding that they’d have whatever ‘you’re having.’

"I don't think I'm familiar with that one," Vera said.
"I am," Ozzie said. "The Wizard of Oz gets quoted at me about as much as you'd expect."
"Aw, poor Ozzie," Sybil teased. "What's it like having a name that people actually know how to spell? I swear, half the time I perform they put my name as S-I-B-Y-L. It gets old fast."

Valen blinked as the shorter man dashed away, and he had no idea how to respond. "It's, ah, nice to meet you?" He called after Ozzie, eyebrows knitting together faintly. Was it the scar? Or the hair? He touched a smooth, silver strand, frowning a little bit. Maybe it was the hair…but he had no idea.

Emil waved off Valen's confusion, and blatantly ignored Mel's judging side glance. "Wonderful to meet you, Valen. I'm Emil, and my companion here is Victor–"

"Varhmiel."

"Gesundheit." Emil rallied with hardly a blink. "If anyone is giving you any trouble I'm sure he'd be more than happy to start a fight." He glanced over at a glowering Mel. "Certainly looks it, even if he's tiny. I didn't know people came in that size."

"I will murder you," Mel threatened with a silent snarl.

Valen glanced between the three, obviously amused by the way his lips quirked at the edges. "Ah, I see." He replied. "It's…nice to meet you as well."

Virgin put on some high heels but then cut off the heels of them because they wanted to wear toes instead
"I AM ASEXUAL!" They ejaculated loudly to ensure that everyone was aware of their sexuality
They proceeded to put on a fedora that did not match their outfit because fuck social norms
They also put on socks over top of their High Toes^TM and a cat ear headband
"Nya nya bitch now tell me how objectively hot I am"
Everyone in the bar professed their love to Virgin

'No one fucking cares!" Sindy shouted, then sighed.

"I oughta go back to talk to Valen," Ozzie said, nervously running his fingers through his hair. "I sort of bailed on him."
Sybil's smirk broke into a full-on grin.
"Oh?" she asked, raising an eyebrow, and Ozzie felt himself blush.
"Nothing like that, Syb, I just wanna make sure that Don didn't rattle him too much with all of his bushwa," Ozzie said quickly, waving a hand dismissively.
"Sure," Sybil replied, drawing the word out. "Well, if you wanna go talk to him, don't sit around here barbering. Carp-uh dee-um."
"You mispronounced that horribly."
"I know," Sybil said with a wink. "Now get your short getaway sticks over there."
"I'm not that shor- alright," Ozzie said, giving in with a sigh. "Don't say anything too scandalous to Vera, she seems like the sensitive sort."
"I make no promises."
Ozzie made his way back towards Valen and the other two men.
Come on. You can do this. You can talk to him without making a fool of yourself.

Emil nodded at Valen, still smiling, then glanced behind his shoulder at the approach of Ozzie. "Oh hello," he greeted. Varhmiel flicked his gaze over to the new arrival, who he recognized as the man that had also worked to shut down the racist bartender. Before he could open his mouth to say anything, Emil grabbed the back of his coat, hauled him up and away from Ozzie, then set him down—all in one smooth motion without batting an eye. Mel glared up at him, then glowered at nothing in particular in his own sort of pout.

Emil gestured to the open space he had unceremoniously made. "There you are. I believe I caught your name earlier. Ozzie van Arbor, was it?" He tipped his head to the side in curiosity, the surname sounding slightly familiar, but he didn't know if it was simply a trick of the mind or yet another shared name from his secret decades of existence.

"Er, yes?" Ozzie said, taken aback. "You've probably heard of my father, he's sort of well-known around these parts. Not that we really talk all that much or anything. What's your name?" He didn't think that he had seen either of the men before.

"Ah!" He snapped his fingers and nodded. "That's why it sounded familiar." He noted them not talking and breezed by that topic easily, instead fixing the lapels of his suit jacket. "I'm Emil Goodnestone." In hindsight, he probably should've changed his surname throughout the years. Though not a notable name, he was sure he would've shown up in certain wars and the occasional tabloid article about his storytelling failures.

Emil patted the head of his short companion, who turned around to glare up at him before settling a bored look on Ozzie. "This here is my good friend Victor. Or I suppose Varhmiel, as he insists," he quickly added before he could get interrupted. Emil rolled his eyes.

"Goodnestone," Ozzie repeated. "Doesn't quite ring a bell."
At least, he didn't think it did. The name sounded vaguely familiar, but he couldn't place why–or where–he knew it from.
"And it's awful nice to meet you both! It can be hard to come across good eggs in a joint like this, the last fella I thought was decent ended up taking the jump a couple weeks back. We oughta stick together."

((ghfjgh))

Emil grinned, briefly flashing his sharpened canines before smothering it to a subdued smile. "Wonderful to meet you as well, Ozzie." He patted Mel's head again, and stuck his tongue out at the hand that swatted his away. "I don't know if this one can be completely classified as a 'good egg', but he's kind enough. Stood up for a stranger and gave me his beer out of the kindness of his heart." Emil dramatically held a hand over his chest, sighing.

"First of all," Varhmiel started, nudging Emil out of the way to get a good look at Ozzie, "You stole that beer. I never gave it to you." Emil smiled innocently but didn't deny it. "Second of all, I just have certain pet peeves that I won't tolerate." He hooked a thumb towards the bartender, continuing with a flat look. "That's one."

Valen looked up as Ozzie returned, flashing a quick smile and then taking another sip of his drink. For every sip he took, he had to wipe the corner of his mouth again; the damn scar meant he couldn't really fully close his lips, and drinks always managed to dribble out from the corner. He brushed a fingertip against the bottom of the scar, shaking his head minutely. Wisps of pale hair had fallen into his face.

"If everyone thought like you, Mel, the world would be a much lovelier place," Ozzie said with a sigh. He noted the easy way that Emil and Mel interacted, the not-quite-platonic-seeming undertones of it, and felt a brief twinge of jealousy.
"Say, if you don't mind me asking, what happened to your face?" Ozzie asked Valen, then winced. "Sorry, that sounded…sorry. I was curious about the scar, is all. Did you fight in the Great War?"

Varhmiel couldn't quite keep the baffled look off his face, and Emil briefly left to keep from bursting out into laughter at the sight. He hadn't known the tiny man for very long, but it was the most human face he had made, completely devoid of anger or a scowl. Mel blinked, face going blank, then muttered to himself and turned away to order yet another drink, as his other two had been stolen from him by a certain human. However, he did tilt his head to listen to Valen's response, curious as well but not curious enough to be the one to ask. He hardly noticed the absence of his recent parasite at the moment.

Valen's lips parted for a moment in thought. Not the Great War, no. His ex. The son of a bitch. He cleared his throat faintly. "Ah…yes." he lied, knowing that he couldn't tell the truth. "I took a knife to the face." He traced the scar from beginning to end, shrugging his shoulders faintly.

"I'm terribly sorry," Ozzie said. "My brother fought in the War, perhaps you knew him? Owen van Arbor was his name. He didn't make it. Neither did my-"
He paused, trying to figure out what to call William. He knew he couldn't say what he really was, not in public. But it felt disingenuous to simply call him a friend.
"My dearest friend," he settled with. "Apparently I was the lucky one, not being sent overseas. Sometimes I'm not sure."

Valen studied him carefully. He himself had fought in wars before. Nothing like human wars, but wars nonetheless. "I see. My apologies for your loss." He said softly. "I know it isn't pleasant to be the one left behind."

(My phone tried to correct nonetheless to boner. What the hell)

Mel listened silently, intrigued by the hesitation he heard twice—once from Valen, and once from Ozzie—as he sipped his newest drink. He angled his head slightly and glanced over at the one with the facial scar, suspicious, then sucked in a breath and leaned on his elbows without saying anything. Well, he wasn't planning on saying anything, but he finally noticed a particular absence. He glanced around curiously, muttering, "Where'd he wonder off to?" before shrugging and going back to eavesdropping.

"My thanks for your apologies," Ozzie replied. "I do my best to carry on the both of them."
Something he was beginning to find increasing difficult, as it left less and less time for him to be himself, but the novel must be finished. Once it was finished, then he could go back to the play, or what would be left of the play without William.

With their drinks, they both drank, but one of them couldn’t help but have his curiosity perked at the mention of The Great War. Though for different reasons.
Heiko glanced over at the nearby conversation. Having fought in that war, it was definitely of interest to the man. Although, he was on the ‘losers’ side, as some would call it. What could the man say? He was fighting for his country back then. And dare he say the Great War hit a spot in his heart - a sore one at that. It left his country in a shadow of its former self. Humiliating.

“What are you looking at?” Virgil broke his thought, and Heiko turned to Virgil again.
“Nothing,” he said, though Virgil shook their head.
“Nope, you’re looking at them.”
He paused. “If you knew the answer, why did you ask me?”
“I wanted to see if you’d lie or not.” Humans.

Heiko stayed silent after that, returning focus back to the conversation. He sipped his drink.