For ABLACKSUN

[hellsadvisor]

Belial had many duties in the middle of a war but with Raguel now firmly in the enclave of Fallen, even if he was a raging terror, things were calmer. Heaven was in turmoil and Lucifer had less angels harassing his every movement. The Chancellor now had time to breathe and enjoy what the Nexus had to offer. He's not a social angel by nature but one of the wild lands and the silence.

It finds him far out into the park system that runs in and around the Plaza and the birds came. Black birds like the one who graced his shoulder. Crows, ravens, vultures and some that existed only in the Nexus or had flown in from some other creation that was not Belial's own. To all of them he whispered in their lost tongue, the language of birds from the beginnings, from their first voice with the angel who then still bore sight.

Belial's eyes were now stark white against his black hair and wings, glowing faint like moonlight in the depth of darkness. His wings black as that night sky, oily charcoal that seems to devour the light around the edges. Despite his alignment with diplomacy he is an intimidating angels; muscular with black face paint across the upper half of his face causing his eyes to look even more eerie. He wears all black, shroud like cloth around his body that is formless in his seated position.

It is the black hawk on his shoulder that turns to listen to the approaching being first. Nychta was fashioned of the soot and heat of Chaos, the realm of the fallen, and he was the angel's eyes. Soon the other birds were looking curiously and the angel fell silent. He did not look but his head rolled slightly, eyes turning blankly toward the sky as he listened and feathers rustling as he quieted to sense the being that had the attention of his avian entourage. Anyone sensitive to telepathy would feel it from the angel, as if the whole world was being scanned, more like radar giving a lay of the land than an invasion of mind or privacy. Every bird around him has fallen to complete silence, waiting for the voice of the angel.

Comments

[ablacksun]

Having been told by more than one person that in the Wilds there are things that can hurt him, or even eat him, Zack has kept to the park system, venturing out a little further each time. Good luck to whatever tries to eat him, he often thinks, it'll be like swallowing a barrel of sand - without the barrel. But then it probably feels horrible to be eaten, so the apocalyptic spirit has decided that caution is probably better than apathy. Something to eat is always high on the list of daily activities. Dean feeds him, of course, on really good stuff like burgers and popsicles, but Zack is always happy to eat whatever crosses his path. Times may always get hard again, it pays not to lose the taste for some of the more unsavoury meals.

He's creeping through the bushes and shrubbery when he notices many of the birds are all beginning to flock in one direction. Being attuned to nature, Zack is aware that they often come together, and this is a good opportunity for a meal. Or, if he can catch a few, he can take a brace of them to Furiosa at the Waystation. He creeps closer and closer until he sees a figure amongst all the flapping wings. It's impressive and Zack feels quite drawn in. When he gets close enough to see the figure's eyes, it strikes a chord. His own eyes turn white when Aisaak is ascendant. It's for this reason that he doesn't automatically assume that the stranger can't see. It also makes him fascinating. Half of Zack's attention is still focussing on an opportunity to capture a bird, but as the entire gathering becomes quieter and more still, he begins to abandon that idea. The birds are obviously drawn to the figure, and he's surprised to see some that he's sure he's never seen in the Nexus yet. Not that he's explored it fully.

Perhaps the being will be pissed off if Zack attempts to kill its companions. Better not then.

He has no telepathic ability, apart from being able to tell if somebody is mortal or not... and he's not even sure that's true telepathy. This being is no mere mortal. That's a certainty. As everything falls into silence, it occurs to Zack that it might mean he's been detected.

A little awkwardly, and reluctantly, he eventually steps out from the cover of the bushes. For those who can see such things, he's made entirely of dust, bound together supernaturally and almost artificially by the hand of a god of hell. He also carries an invisible mantle of destruction and suffering. His own, and those he's called upon to destroy.

“Are you talking to them?” he asks, transfixed. He might be able to call creatures forth in swarms, but he can't exactly speak with them.

[hellsadvisor]

Belial doesn't turn to Zack but the hawk on his shoulder shifts to cock its head at Zack, watching closely. The hawk is as immortal as its owner, thier essences, though separate, are bound together as nearly one.

"They are my kin and I am thiers." Belial has an even tone to his voice. The angel was the brother of the creator and so the comment was more true than usual. "You can come. They won't harm you."

[ablacksun]

With so many feathered creatures around the figure, Zack hadn't at first recognised the bird on his shoulder was no ordinary bird. Now he has an inkling though and creeps forward a little more.

There's far more likelihood of him hurting them. Instead of saying it aloud at the risk of antagonising, he just says "They can't. No mortal creature can."

And a little closer, eyeing the hawk warily. "M'not sure about that one though."

[hellsadvisor]

Belial is unimpressed by the dictation that the birds can't harm him. When he was younger he might have blessed all of them to prove a point. Now, he is much too old to play this game.

"Hubris is folly." He finally turns his head toward the person. The eyes are fixed and don't track like a white eye that had vision still. The hawk brushed its cheek to the side of the angel's face.

"Nychta." He mentions as he runs his fingers into the feathers at the hawks neck. "is my eyes. He is not violent but he would defend us."

It's not even a warning, merely a statement of fact from the angel.

[ablacksun]

Uncertain over what hubris means, Zack can at least infer that he hasn't exactly pleased the immortal. “S'usually true,” he mumbles feeling chastised.

He stares at the immortal's eyes, his own turning wholly white for a few moments as if responding on some primaeval level. They swiftly return to normal and look the same as those of any mortal, perhaps; apart from being an ethereal blue. It looks incongruous with Zack's dishevelled appearance, the markings on his face, and his feral nature.

The explanation of the being's sight and the hawk are met with interest. Mental images of an enraged immortal hawk going for him aren't pleasant to contemplate. In the end, he opts for honesty. He may omit certain things, but Zack seldom sees the point in openly lying. Nothing but trouble there.

“Saw the birds and I was going to hunt some. Didn't set out to hurt your kin, and I didn't mean no disrespect.”

[hellsadvisor]

Belial finds nothing unusual in the shifting of appearance or the brilliant blue of eyes since angels change and are known for ethereal and bizarre appearances. The angel finds it more normal than not.

"Carrion eaters are not meant for eating." Belial knew the distaste and disease that many found trying to eat vultures. Desperation could easily drive someone past common sense.

"Are you starving?" He asks, eventually, with curiosity. He may be one of the more aloof angels but the fact remains that they were all created to assist, in some way or another, other forms of life. Food would be easy enough to provide.

[ablacksun]

As one who both knows disease intimately, yet is immune to actually catching anything, Zack is about to argue that lots of things aren't meant for eating if a world is easy. But the stranger's question means he probably understands all that.

"I'm always hungry. And thirsty," he admits. "Sometimes it hurts, so I eat what moves. Or doesn't move fast enough." He would have taken some of his catch to the Waystation, but that seems irrelevant now.

[hellsadvisor]

Belial considers what he's heard, the hawk cocking its head in thought even if the angel hasn't moved.

"Is it a curse or nature that forces you to live as Tantalus?" Belial is slowly becoming more and more curious about the being that had come out of the brush and trees.

[ablacksun]

Ignorant of the tale of Tantalus, Zack can at least guess at the gist. "It's 'cause of what I am." He hesitates some, having been told off by Esther for being melodramatic, but these are only the facts - and he has been asked.

"Both, I s'pose. I'm only dust, but also a vessel of destruction for betrayed worlds. I feel what a dying planet feels, and what everything I'm cursed to destroy feels. Famine, and collapse of the food chain means hunger. Drought means thirst. All the pains you could imagine and then some. Eating helps ease all of 'em."