forum Panic! At The Opera (Closed Group)

Started November 03, 2022 by @Anxietyfilledcinnamonroll group

tune

The look on Asa's face was one of discontentment. He stared at Salazoth, realizing he was the demon Asa had been chasing. This demon had to be locked away under terms of heaven. "Me? I am trying to save the young performer from your evil deeds, Salazoth." He crossed his arms, backing away from the demon slowly. "That is what I am doing. You will not be able to use her as a key. Now, stay away from us."

"'Evil deeds?' Is it so evil to wish to spread one's own ideals and religion, just as your pitiful excuse for a God does?" Salazoth counters, gold eyes flashing with suppressed lighting.

"And use her as a key I shall, because there is nothing you can do to stop me, Asa." he growls.

Asa backed himself against a wall, staring at Salazoth with challenge in his eyes. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small pocket knife… as if that would help combat a demon. "Stay away from the girl. You are nothing but an impure bastard. Your ideals and religion are diluted with ideals of torture and pain." He pursed his lips, pressing his back against the wall. "I can stop you. Do not underestimate me. You need to banished back from wince you came."

Salazoth's eyes start to glow with a black light.

"My friend, an impure bastard I am not. I am very pure, for a demon. And my ideals and religion are just as twisted as yours, Asa. Do not presume to condescend me and mine when you and yours are just as bad." he growls, stepping forward, into and past the range of the knife, one hand slamming into the wall, inches away from hitting the angel's head.

"Try it, then. Try and stop me." he snarls.

Gabriella looked over at the two men when she heard a thud and a couple of other performers looked over as well quite a few eyes were on the angel and demon not much could be heard from their conversation but it was obvious there were some disagreements in whatever they were discussing

Asa's small, fragile body started to shake from the fear of being killed by a demon with the likes of him. He dropped the weapon he had pulled, drawing in a breath and clamping his mouth closed. His eyes were wide with fear. Asa winced, twitching when the demon's huge hand banged against the wall of the theater. The room became silent as the sound traveled throughout the halls. "Are you really going to fight me with a crowed watching us? If you are as pure as you say, you will not harm me with the mundane watching." His back was pressed against the ridged wall. "No, Salazoth, I won't even attempt it. Certainly not in this place."

Salazoth considers that for a moment.

"I said I was pure, for a demon. I at least won't harm anyone that doesn't get in my way. Unless it's an angel, or another demon, or some other flavor of supernatural." he says, a smirk evident in his voice.

"Good! Glad we have that sorted out, then." he smiles, pulling away and laughing as though this had all been just a big misunderstanding.

"Oh, I'm so glad we managed to resolve that, Asa. I hope you have a good night, old friend." he says casually, his human mask back up fully.

(I know, I know… sorry)

Asa didn’t listen to what the demon had to say. He was focused on escaping this hell. Focused on escaping to his domain. That was the safe place. A place the demon couldn’t enter. “I-“ He hesitated. Maybe Asa could slip under the gentleman or maybe pull the mask that covered his true face. “Well, you should have thought about that when you made many devious choices. If you had not tried to use the girl for centuries, reincarnation after reincarnation, we wouldn’t be in this mess. Did you ever think about that?” He looked away from the demon, watching the stage managers force the dancers into answering the press. A few things caught his trained eye. The golden light that illuminated the ceiling lights and the darkness consumed pathways leading to the basement. A small difference leads to each domain.

Asa returned his attention to Salazoth once he spoke. He huffed, gritting his teeth while watching the flamboyant demon gesture about. “We have much more to sort out, sir. This little skirmish between you and I is not over.” Taking a deep breath, Asa tried to knock the mask off Salazoth’s face. But knowing full well the demon wouldn’t be happy, he tried to knock the mask off and then slipped past the demon. Getting out of clear view would save him some hurt. “We never resolved anything.” He mumbled.

(It's fine, just a friendly reminder!)

"And you haven't been trying to use her yourself? For your own personal pleasure? At least my ideals will benefit all of Hell, while yours. . . well, it'll result in another little Nephilim scampering around on the earth." Salazoth retorts.

"Oh, for now it is." the demon replies, turning to watch the angel flee, eyes burning with suppressed rage. But he didn't try anything - yet. He'd try to make the angel listen to another voice besides his own desires.

Asa stopped in his tracks after hearing the demon's putrid words. 'For pleasure?'. No, Asa wouldn't let him get away with such obscenities. He took in a raspy breath, scowling at the demon. "No." His expression was cold. "Nothing like that is true. I wouldn't desire a nephilim. What is worrying is your plan to help hell. That must be taken away from you by us. Earth will gain from it." The angel was trembling. Biting his tongue, Asa carried on his way to his safe space.

"And yet, the intent behind your actions is clear. You merely want her for yourself, as you always have. I am only trying to help my people!" Slazoth presses, knowing he'd hit a nerve.

Asa was fed up with the demon stopping him every time. "I have not always wanted her for myself. That, my friend, is true hypocrisy. Your 'people' are the embodiment of the human's evil nature. They are nothing but corrupted souls who have fallen from the tippy top. Get a better argument, Salazoth." Many who attended the masquerade had stopped to watch the argument between the demon and angel. They had never seen anything like it.

"No, it is not hypocrisy. I am trying to better the lives of my race, while you seek only to make your own life more bearable. And not all of us. Me, for instance. I was born in hell. Not that you'd know or care." Salazoth shrugs, ignoring the people around them except for a small flick of his wrist, illusioning himself and the angel from the humans senses.

A growl came from in Asa's throat. This demon was pissing him off. "Death would be preferable for your race. You torment innocent people who have done nothing to deserve to have their souls torn out. Nothing about my life or how miserable it is has anything to do with this. I wonder whether your life is so miserable that you are trying to make it better by involving the girl." He placed his hands on his hips. "Whether you were born there or not is irrelevant to me. You're still crooked. Never will you resemble us. You will never want the girl for love, but only for other purposes."

"I don't necessarily terrorize innocents. I have enough of a moral code to torture those who seem innocent but really aren't. And your life and how miserable it is actually has a lot to do with this. And if that was the case, she'd already be gone. I need to woo her for the purposes of my spell." Salazoth sighs.

"And I resemble you far more than you'd like to think. The true demonic form I take here can only mimic the creatures on this plane. To view me in my true form would be to gaze upon yourself and wonder whether or not natural-born demons are truly different than an angel such as yourself. After all, you angels are quite monstrous looking in your true forms. And it is because of my love for my people that I must learn to love her, because anything less will only fracture my powers." he counters.

Asa held his breath, watching the demon closely. Salazoth started to piss him off— more than any demon had. “You do not have any moral code, you backwards freak. My life is far from miserable, unlike your pitiful soul.” He balled his fists, trying to stay in control of himself. “Your ‘spell’ is nothing but to unleash hell upon this Earth. You would kill the girl!” The angel was getting overly emotional, his voice cracking from the emotions that swelled into his throat. “You look nothing of us. Nothing! Our true forms look nothing alike.” He gritted his teeth. “Let your powers fracture.” Asa bolted out of the ballroom and up the stairs towards the roof of the opera house. The demon could not reach him there, but the girl had all free rein to do so.

"At least my lord didn't cause the total annihilation of the human race on a few very notable occassions. Which one of us is really backwards? After all, we demons punish those who deserve to be punished while you angels sit around doing nothing except licking your lord's feet like the terrified pansies you are." Salazoth growls.

"And the life of one pitiful human outweighs the lives of many hundreds of millions of demons?" the demons smirks.

"You lie to yourself while the proof, the living embodiment, of what I'm saying stands before you, speaking only the truths that you don't want to hear." Salazoth retorts.

"I will find a way to follow you eventually, angel! I will rip the halo from your head, those wings from your back, and show you what it is truly like to be ridiculed and mocked every day!" he calls out as the angel flees.

The spell prevented anybody from seeing the angel as he fled, or the demon as he left the ball.

Asa climbed up the stairs to the upper floor of the opera house. He stopped on the staircase, leaning over the railing, glaring at Salazoth. "My lord did not annihilate those who didn't deserve it! I am not the backwards one. I am trying to do good and help the human race. The race we apparently don't care about because we 'annihilated' them. Your words are twisted, you demon!" Tears gathered at the corners of his eyes. The demon was breaking him down, and he found it hard to prove his point. His point. He had a good point, right? It was clear! This demon was no good… he used people. "It does… humans are very important to the continuation of this world. Your world does not matter!" Asa hurried up the stairs, ignoring the demon's statements. Ridiculed and mocked? Ridiculous. The demon's words did not mean anything to him. They were empty threats.

Once upstairs, Asa ran to the end of the long room, grabbing onto a ladder rung. The angel climbed up the ladder, trying to keep his balance steady. The ladder was bolted to the wall, but it didn't keep him for feeling unsteady. He poked his head out of a hatch, breathing in the night sky. Asa climbed onto the room, acknowledging the angel statues that guarded the roof. Safety at last.

"He destroyed the earth in a flood, killing children, the elderly, the innocent who never did any wrong. Sure, he also wiped out those who were evil, but do you really think your lord is good knowing that?" Salazoth smirks.

"Your lord preaches to 'love thy neighbour as thyself.' Why does that not apply to me and my world? Your God preaches hypocrisy, lies and murder. My lord has only killed 10, was thrown out of heaven for expressing his feelings. Your God expresses his feelings a lot, but when his best angel does it, it suddenly becomes a crime." he adds, digging at the angel one last time before he disappears up the stairs.