8770/Tea and Infamy

Tea and Infamy
Date of Scene:	21 November 2021
Location:	Hot Dumpling Restaurant
Synopsis:	Jason and Angela discuss Etrigan.
Cast of Characters:	Jason Blood, Aldrif Odinsdottir

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Jason Blood has posed:
Jason Blood did live in Gotham for a while. Of course he knew of the Hot Dumpling. Usually he dined in places with Cabernet Savignon and sirloin. But sometimes, you just had to have a good dumpling. In the past that might have resulted in a journey of several years both ways. Now it was a stroll from his digs and...

Etrigan really enjoyed the food. So much so that he'd stop his needling and prodding for a bit at the promise of the extremely hot dumplings.

Jason loved the e. h. dumplings as well, but was careful keep that knowledge from Etrigan.

The recent meeting with Angela troubled Jason a bit though. He felt things were left unresolved and wanted to explain himself a bit. It was that old knightly virtue. It nearly got him killed a few hundred times.

Jason looked at the small focus, made of thorny twigs, jewels and nightmare fuel a moment before crushing it. A small, hairless and very red imp appeared before him, very obviously female. He fed her a bit of blood from a pricked finger. She cooed and bent her knee. "Find Angela, warrior of Heven. Invite her here. Try not to be killed before you give my invitation." The imp nodded and was gone.

Jason sipped some sub par tea and waited. No one in America knew what good tea was.

Aldrif Odinsdottir has posed:
    Angela appears sooner or later. The owners take a look at the state of her dress, begin to object, take a look at the state of her weapons, and reconsider their objections in the span of time it takes Angela to find and join Jason. She grimaces slightly at the unpleasant feel of pleather trying to suction to her skin. "I have received your summons," she says without preamble. "What is it you wish to discuss?"

Jason Blood has posed:
Jason Blood hears Etrigan's laughter as soon as the imp leaves. //You seek for me, to atone? I'll match favors with weal one for one! You say you wish to erase my offense? I say get your thinking out of your pants. Or at least, don't lie to yourself and preen, You seek the favors of this hunter queen! Do not call up what you can't put down! Maybe save time and summon me now? I'll leave the restaurant in fine form for ya. And Demon fire will keep that angel warm for ya."

Jason smiles as the dumplings arrive. \Shut the fuck up and eat you bloody twit.\ Etrigan assents with a laugh.

A major point of summoning, all demonologists agreed. Don't summon angles. They will destroy you. Now there were old demonologist and bold demonologist but not many old, bold demonologists.

Jason set the standard there.

He smiles as Angela sits, ignoring the pleather on skin sounds. the staff and management see her companion, ah in understanding. The tension drops measurably. Also a tray of dumplings arrives. A wizard's meals come neither early or late etc.

Jason pours Angela a cup of tea and indicates the food. Etrigan howls.

"I am of an ancient and chivalric order... or was. I am required to address offenses and wrongs were e'er I find them my lady. Also I do not meet someone from the other side often and am curious. Lastly, I wish to explain Etrigan to you. As killing the yellow clodpoll would sorely put me out. Please try the dumplings. It will greatly annoy him to watch you eat... ladies first you vulgar piece of work." The last addressed not to the angel but the damned prince.

Aldrif Odinsdottir has posed:
    Usurial calculations flash through Angela's head at second-nature speeds. If she accepts a gift from Jason Blood, then she owes him a return; yet the food is no gift, rather, a retaliation between himself and Etrigan of which she is merely the implement, so the value of the gift is greatly depreciated; yet, vengeance on Etrigan is a thing she desires as well, which adjusts her debt upward...
    Some people perform these calculations to determine how to wiggle out of them. The thought never even occurs to Angela. She only wants to know precisely what she owes in exchange for this meal. More than she'd like, she thinks, but debt is unavoidable.
    She looks at the chopsticks, selects one of them, and skewers a dumpling with it to nibble. She's not ignorant of how people use chopsticks. She just doesn't choose to do it their way.
    "Thank you," she says flatly.

Jason Blood has posed:
"Jason you pigeon liver'd lacker of gall! This angel will not save you at all! I am the prince forever damned! And she looks a refugee from the races drag of Ru Paul!!"

Jason smiles and after a moment he spears a dumpling likewise. "You're welcome. So I have been bound to Etrigan longer than I care to or can remember. But despite his being a vile murderous pile of offense, he has a job that indirectly helps this world. When a shade or fiend or devil breaks free of Hell Etrigan is tasked with sending it back... believe it or not, he disposes of worse things than himself. I believe the phrase is 'necessary evil.'"

Aldrif Odinsdottir has posed:
    "I am not concerned with evil. I know the word's meaning but find it useless. If you believe me some angel of a righteous crusade, then be disabused of that notion." It's for the best that Angela can't har Etrigan's taunts. For his best, that is. She doesn't care what he thinks of her appearance, but disrespect is disrespect, and every word would be repaid.

Jason Blood has posed:
Jason Blood swallows the dumpling. "Evil is a convenient label for anything you don't care to understand that will seriously hurt you, I find. But it is noted. I sought to spare some weal and woe. That is not possible so I will enjoy this food and leave your business with Etrigan in the hands of fate." That gets a thumbs up from the Prince who has a full mouth and indeed is gorging himself on the dumplings and other victuals best left unsaid.

Aldrif Odinsdottir has posed:
    "You misunderstand. I only correct a common misapprehension that my nature requires me to..." Angela frowns as she searches for the words to describe such an alien sentiment. "...to be so devoted to an ideology of essentialism, I suppose. It is strange for me." She shrugs, dropping it all as probably irrelevant. "Say what you wished to say."

Jason Blood has posed:
Jason Blood nods. "Religion is seldom black and white, despite what the pundits will have you believe. The God of Gods killed far more people than the hosts of Hell. Demons for all their faults have certain redeeming values. They keep their word, absolutely. Though wording may offer some misinterpretation. They are temtpers but they also bring 'justice' on those who fall. I think they are not evil so much as alien. Their morality is just different."

"So, if I may ask... what are you exactly? You don't have the bland and superior nature of most angels, as I know them."

Aldrif Odinsdottir has posed:
    Angela's been asked that question often enough recently that it no longer stumps her, to judge by the speed of her unphased answer. "First, I am an angel. Second, I am my mother's daughter. Third, I am Huntmistress of Heven. Last, I am outcast from the Tenth Realm to the Nine, with no way home, as alien to you as you are to me. Do any of these things explain to you why I am different from you, or is there some specific angle from which you wish to explore our differences?"

Jason Blood has posed:
Jason Blood chuckles and sips his tea. "I've found that most people are different from me. It makes no matter. I would like rather to find some middle ground. I feel I give offense to you often if not constantly and my motives are viewed with suspicion. I do not intend this."

Aldrif Odinsdottir has posed:
    Angela shakes her head. "No. That is a difference between your people and mine: I say what I mean as directly as I know how to. I would consider it disrespectful to do less. Your people seem to consider directness an insult. This is a thing I perceive but do not fully comprehend, and even less am able to integrate into my methods of communicating with you. If you had given me offense, I would inform you that you owe me apology or blood, as appropriate to your crime."

Jason Blood has posed:
Jason Blood winces as a belch to reach the Gates of Heaven sound in his mind. Etrigan, sated, sleeps. "I appreciate your meeting me. I wish you success in your endeavors, save the thwarting of mine. You can thwart Etrigan as you will. If you should need the help of a former knight, and current occultist, I am at your service. Sometimes, dealing with demons, the direct approach is not possible. They take hostages..." He shrugs.

Aldrif Odinsdottir has posed:
    "And he shall be paid in turn for each." Angela rises. "I have not forgotten that you are such a hostage. I shall take no action to endanger you which can be avoided, and such harm as I inflict upon you shall be repaid. Etrigan shall survive my hunt, but he shall not be happy for it. This is my pledge to you, Jason Blood."
    Yeah, she just says all that aloud in a Chinese restaurant.

Jason Blood has posed:
Deep in Hell, the Prince outwardly sleeps. One yellow eye opens a hair. A smile almost graces a graceless face as he dreams of the angels beginning to fall.