Satan, Avatar of Wrath (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
angelbirth) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
dreamcrystals2022-04-26 06:52 pm
angelbirth) wrote in dreamcrystals2022-04-26 06:52 pm
Entry tags:
Journal 📚 Cats & Volunteers 🐈
Sender: Satan
To: Everyone
Subject: Cats & Volunteers
[ In a handwriting that balances on a fine line between neat and messy, the following is written: ]
Hello.
I have two distinctly separate requests, and I urge you to remember that these are separate when you read this.
Firstly, I am looking for a cat. One with a particularly charming button nose, splendid toe beans, and a mewl that could pawsitively melt any heart. While I understand that describes virtually all felines, I thought I'd see if anyone had seen such a cat around.
Secondly—and separately—I am looking for volunteers to participate in a research study. An exceptional candidate would be sturdy and healthy, even better if the candidate has experience overcoming various poisons and toxins. There are risks, such as loss of life, but ideally my research and my own magic-slash-dreamotion energy would prevent death. So ultimately, the risk is minimal. Most likely. Please let me know if you'd be willing to volunteer.
To: Everyone
Subject: Cats & Volunteers
[ In a handwriting that balances on a fine line between neat and messy, the following is written: ]
Hello.
I have two distinctly separate requests, and I urge you to remember that these are separate when you read this.
Firstly, I am looking for a cat. One with a particularly charming button nose, splendid toe beans, and a mewl that could pawsitively melt any heart. While I understand that describes virtually all felines, I thought I'd see if anyone had seen such a cat around.
Secondly—and separately—I am looking for volunteers to participate in a research study. An exceptional candidate would be sturdy and healthy, even better if the candidate has experience overcoming various poisons and toxins. There are risks, such as loss of life, but ideally my research and my own magic-slash-dreamotion energy would prevent death. So ultimately, the risk is minimal. Most likely. Please let me know if you'd be willing to volunteer.
no subject
Those are very good points! I had not considered developing a poison in order to also develop an antidote. I've been trying to develop remedies for hayfever, but the results have been [ A pause. ] mixed at best.
You will let me observe your trials once you find a willing candidate, won't you?
no subject
As for my trials, you've already seen phase 1 in action. Technically.
[ And it doesn't really feel like a success for him. ]
tfw you reference a thread you haven't even done yet
[ Too bad he can't hear how pleased she is by trying out this new-fangled radio technology for the first time. ]
Have I? When was that?
spread that awareness, Zelda!!!
[ And he finds it extremely difficult to believe. ]
Mammon. He's much older than I am. Because of that, he is significantly stronger and studier than I am despite how scrawny he looks. However, I've drawn the conclusion that the poisons and toxins of this world don't really affect him to begin with and so it's difficult to test the effectiveness of my antidotes. It leads me to ask "Have I made a breakthrough? Or is Mammon just casually shrugging off poisons that might kill a human overnight?"
no subject
[ The cost is that you have to talk to Alastor. It's kind of a steep price. ]
You've been experimenting on your brother? Does he know about this? [ There's a several-second pause. ] Have you considered magnifying the potency or dosage?
no subject
[ Granted, things like happiness and enjoyment are things to be gained, but he's not about to just say that. Still, he knows he can't argue against trusting Alastor because saying she shouldn't trust demons is a difficult argument to support when... Satan himself is also a demon.... Still, just because Satan would never hurt her on purpose doesn't mean she knows that to be the case!! ]
Yes, Mammon is good for that sort of thing. And yes, he's aware.
[ As of literally what, 10 minutes ago? ]
I actually did increase the potency and saw little to no effect. The problem is that nothing I do or create could actually ever hurt him. I feel like that sounds like I'm trying to kill him, but really I'm just a little upset that for all the work I've poured into this, Mammon's just too strong for me to get any valid results. It's the benefit of being second oldest, really. I doubt anyone other than Lucifer or Lord Diavolo could really hurt him. I should have known better.
no subject
So I've been told before. [ She pauses. ] But that makes me wonder: what have you gained from me? You've helped me a number of times.
[ Is... Is she teasing him a little? ]
Nonsense, it wasn't a waste of time. Actually, it seems to me like you have established a valuable benchmark against which to measure the results of your forthcoming trials. In theory, using a fraction of the potency used against Mammon should be effective against normal humans. But if humans are as resistant to the potion as Mammon, you may find that the flaw is in the potion itself, rather than the test subjects.
no subject
I'm surprised you wondered at all. I thought it was obvious that our friendship brings me great enjoyment. You've shared an openness with me and I am happy to do the same with you. I would
[ It stops there for a long moment as he eventually decides against writing anything about a pact. There are lots of reasons why he doesn't share he would consider entering a pact with her, but a major reason is that he doesn't want to think it's the same thing as making a pact with Alastor. Or Mammon, for that matter. ]
Sorry. I was distracted for a moment there. I was going to write that I thought it was obvious that our friendship grants me what feels like a tangible happiness, but I suppose I already wrote that.
[ Satan thinks about her advice, grateful for it. It does make him feel a bit better. ]
You're right. I just need to be incredibly mindful how much I reduce its potency. I'd rather make it too weak than too strong and go from there. Thank you, Zelda.
no subject
Thankfully, Satan is much more careful with his words than the other two demons in Songerein, so he is spared an immediate downturn in the conversation.
Instead, Zelda is taken aback in a good way by his frank response. This is not at all what she was expecting him to say! She was genuinely expecting a different kind of answer: like the research she's shared with him, or possibly that he has a tab open for her. For a moment or two, Zelda is left not knowing how to respond. ]
There is no harm in restating it. In fact, I feel the same way. It will probably come as little shock to you, but I've not had many friends in my life. I am not particularly adept at expressing my own feelings like this. But our friendship brings me great joy as well. The time we get to spend together is always a delight and I always look forward to our next opportunity to meet. I feel very lucky to have met you, Satan.
[ For once, whatever Zelda was saying about science goes forgotten. ]
no subject
I see.
[ His wanted to write something so she didn't think he was ignoring her, but he needs a moment to grab a pillow and just cover his face with it. He'd grown quite familiar with the ever present burning anger inside of him, so the fact that the warmth he feels from their friendship feels so different in comparison is... alarming? Yes, he'll go with alarming.
As soon as he has recovered a bit, he throws the pillow on the floor and grabs his journal again. He probably should have just waited to gather his thoughts instead of writing something that surely came off as dismissive. ]
Sorry.
[ He wonders if she even will understand why he's apologizing. ]
That makes two of us. Really, you've said it better than I could have. I've never had such an easy friendship before. I like your wit and your complexity... and the fact you let me tease you with my nickname for you. Really, for a princess you have a high level of tolerance.
[ She wrote that she feels lucky to have met him.... ]
no subject
She's about to close the journal and go do something else when the word, "sorry," suddenly appears. Oh, he's returned. Zelda immediately perks up.
There's that little warm flutter in her chest, the one that feels like a hummingbird. She smiles at journal as she reads over his words, and then reads them again. While the princess gets along easily with most people, she rarely feels like she truly connects with them. It's only with Link that Zelda has ever felt like this before. ]
Well, now that I understand you don't mean it as an insult, I don't mind the nickname [ Read: she kind of likes it. ] Is being tolerant really that unusual in a princess? I've known another princess and she was the picture of grace and tolerance.
no subject
I've come to learn that, at least in my world, tolerance is unusual for royalty in general. Although rather than princesses, it's princes getting what they want, as they want it, when they want it. For example, I could call Lord Diavolo "Little Lord Princeling" and there's a 50/50 chance of him finding it amusing or becoming genuinely upset. And, when royalty with power gets upset, that always comes with consequences. At least in my exmaple.
Really, I quite like nicknames. I know they're not for everyone, but I like to give them sometimes.
[ His creativity ranges from "Sir Cat" to naming animals after famous human painters. This is no better than his brothers who address their small, resident angel child as a chihuahua or, in Mammon's case, as "Fido." ]
I wonder if it's because it's difficult to make a nickname out of my name? Each of my brothers except for myself and Mammon have a nickname, and we generally call each other by their nicknames.
Regardless, as I said I like to come up with them. It's fun to tease with a nickname, but also it reminds me of how we met.
no subject
To play devil's advocate [ Which is a strange thing to do when conversing with a demon. ] there is a time and a place for informality with royalty. I would trust you to not address me as 'Little Miss Squash' during state addresses, for example. However, from what I've heard, your Lord Diavolo is a rather capricious ruler.
no subject
[ Satan feels he should be mindful of what he writes, but opts to speak his mind... because Diavolo, Lucifer and Barbatos aren't here. Sure, they may see what he's written someday, but Diavolo needs someone to tell him the demon brothers don't exist to entertain him, no matter how bored or lonely he might be! ]
Also, I can't promise I wouldn't call you that during a state address. I'm a demon, after all. Even so, I'd do my best for your sake.
[ He's teasing. If he could resist tanking Lucifer's reputation when the opportunity was right there in his hands, he can resist the temptation to tease Zelda should she participate in any important events. In the end, though, he worries Zelda might not take it as a joke and so he quickly ammends: ]
It was a joke, by the way. I wouldn't call you Little Miss Squash in an inappropriate setting.
i think teasing is satan's love language
I must admit, I've heard more about you and your brothers suffering his whims than about his accomplishments as a leader. Lucifer spoke highly of him when we chanced to meet earlier this spring, but I've been doubtful of whether Lord Diavolo is genuinely worthy of such praise.
[ Zelda laughs aloud when she reads Satan's jest. It says something about how well she's come to understand him that she knew immediately that he was teasing her. ] That would be most wicked of you! Are all demons so impulsive that they would undermine the authority of a royal speech simply to make a joke?
[ She's not going to call attention to her joke. :) Does the Avatar of Wrath take jokes as well as he makes them? ]
it absolutely is 😼
[ ...He probably shouldn't have started that sentence. There are a lot of ways he'd like to end it. Here is the opportunity to ruin Lucifer's reputation should he ever return, and even though Satan is positive it would make him happy to say all the things he is... ]
indebted to Lord Diavolo. Despite being a demon, he had been quite kind to the angels in the Celestial Realm. When the war was over, Lord Diavolo granted shelter to everyone, myself included. There was one other thing he did that I dare not share through the journal, but maybe one day I'll tell you in person. So, as often as my brothers may complain that we're just his play things, we owe him our lives.
[ Satan likes to tell himself that he'd kill Lucifer if he had a chance; that he would absolutely ruin his life in any way he could if given the opportunity. Despite this, he refuses to write something so personal to Lucifer in a place that could be seen. He trusts Zelda, so he would tell her, but not here in the journal. ]
We might just be. Besides, royal speeches can be awfully boring. We demons might need a joke or two at the royal person's expense just to stay awake. But for me, I like the expression you make when I tease you.
[ When they're in-person, anyway. Through the journal he just has to hope he's not crossing the line. ]
Plus, as the Avatar of Wrath, it's in my nature to push someone's buttons until they get a little annoyed.
no subject
But she'll leave these thoughts unwritten. This is probably more sensitive than ought to be discussed so openly in the journals. She makes a mental note to continue this conversation with Satan in person sometime soon. There's a missing piece to this whole story; she can feel it.
Besides, the words "I like the expression you make when I tease you" makes her whole face flush with heat and any critiques of the Devildom's ruler evaporate. ]
I suppose you would be a poor Avatar of Wrath if you didn't know just how to push someone's buttons. You would certainly succeed at frustrating me in that situation! Royal speeches must be much more entertaining in the Devildom if demons are wont to act like a peanut gallery in audience. Would you do that to Lord Diavolo as well, or am I just lucky?