deercountry | January 2022 Event Overflow

.. yeah.

[ Ange lets out a deep, tired sigh. Maybe it doesn't fit her current levels of extroversion, but this hits just a little too close to stuff she's thought before to not sight like that. ]

Yeah, I get that feeling. [ Though it's not like Ange has ever necessarily been cruel to people who did nothing bad to her, but-- ] It's really easy to fall down the slippery slope of 'oh, I want to keep these people important to me safe' all the way down to 'I feel really bad when people who don't deserve it are suffering.'

[ That just makes it even more surprising that all these crappy people can't even reach the first point of that slope, let alone the inevitable end point of it! ]

It's really weird.

[Right? At least, he's a little surprised in retrospect. You couldn't exactly accuse Past Michael of having a lot of wide-ranging empathy.]

My group was so...focused on learning how to be better people. That sort of thing comes up when you find out you've been sent to Hell. Maybe that's part of it. [...] They never asked me to try and help all the other humans. We had a lot more immediate problems. But if we'd been able to handle those, I think eventually, they would've realized I could've tried and didn't. That wouldn't have been easy. So maybe it was a little selfish, too.

[Helping people you don't really care about because the people you do care about would be upset if you didn't? It's a step, he guesses. He doesn't rightly think he's there anymore, but it was a step.]

[ Though she seems to contemplate it for a moment, Ange just ends up shrugging. ]

I don't really think the intention behind it matters. Yeah, it probably matters a little, but.. the end result is the same, right?

[ Look, otherwise it's just getting a little too nuanced and philosophical. Too much so for Ange. ]

Don't you help people in this place too?

[ Despite his usual group of friends from back home not really being around anymore to be his moral compass. Or the reason for his moral compass. ]

Depends who you ask. But no - I don't think it matters that much. Not to other people, anyway.

[Like...he cares about his own motivations. But for other people - whatever gets you there works, you know?]

Sure, I do?

Look, then there we go. Michael, reformed demon. Certified good guy.

[ Not that Ange doesn't think branding demons as Only Bad is not such a good thing, but.. at least the ones from Michael's world sound more like the witches than the demons from Ange's world, honestly. ]

I'd say that gives me hope for the other demons in this place, but I only know one.

I think there's only a couple others left. I met a few more back in Deerington, but they didn't always stick around - might've been for the best.

[He has vague memories of meeting Crowley, who seemed okay, but mostly what he recalls is Lucifer. The one possessing that Sam guy, not the one who's just a normal dude. Possession Lucifer sucked.]

Never really met any other demons who were much like me. I feel like I can't do anything when they cause problems, half the time. [Unspoken is the fact that he feels like it's his responsibility nonetheless.]

[ At least Ange can agree on that. Most demons - both back home and in this place - aren't really a lot like Michael. ]

Paimon is the only one I know here. [ And he's a very, very special case even by the standards of Ange's own world.. ] But he at least seems good, as long as this place isn't messing with him.

[ Because.. yeah. Then he does start causing problems, doesn't he. Ange vaguely wonders if Michael also ran into that demon back when Paimon went wild in December. ]

I think the chill Lucifer is still around, too.

[Michael's always been a little protective of Paimon, but he knows Lucifer's as open as he is about the whole thing; he doesn't mind just telling folks. Especially Ange, he trusts her anyhow.]

Yeah...yeah. I know he had some, ah, problems recently, but it was definitely this place. I was right there doing it with him. The two of us get caught up in the same effects a lot...

[They went nuts at the same time in Deerington, too. Not every time - Michael actually fought with Paimon over going nuts and hurting the Wastes at one point. But often enough.]

Maybe it's a demon thing.

Remind me to never run into your guys during demon season then.

[ Despite the potential effects of running into Michael and Paimon when neither of them are in full control of themselves being.. really bad, Ange makes it somehow sound with her deadpan like it'd be closer to running into both of them while they were just not being a morning person at 7 AM.

But she's the queen of downplaying. ]

.. but.. there's a Lucifer here too? You know, like the actual devil? [ Wait, no, Michael said-- ] A chill actual devil?

I'll try to warn you next time.

[His tone is joking, but he's sort of not. It'd be nice if he could do something like that. Unfortunately, it's sort of hard to catch yourself starting to lose your mind, or else you could just...get ahold of yourself. Right?]

Yeah. Sounds to me like it's more complicated than human religions would say...but that's usually the case, I think. The guy's decent, anyway.

[ Ange hums. ]

Maybe I should meet him sometime.

[ It's the kind of social notion that Ange would only really entertain at a moment like this - when her social energy has been greatly expanded, just for this month, though she doesn't consciously realise it. ]

I kind of like the demons here so far. Or.. well, I guess I like you and Paimon, and I suppose the possibility exists that you're just the cream of the crop. [ Which means that past experience might not guarantee future results there when it comes to other demons, huh. ]

[Michael chuckles.]

Oh, it's true. I feel a little bit bad saying that, but it is. [Like, you know. He's known other demons. And he worked hard to get to where he is now, so it's not even really that bad to say, right?] But sure, I could introduce you sometime, if you want. He's pretty chill. Don't even remember him going crazy and killing anyone back in Deerington, and we can't all say that...

Sure, that sounds good to me.

[ Maybe under different circumstances she would have balked at the idea of getting introduced to anyone, but in her current state? That sounds fine to her. She did get along better with demons than with humans back home, after all. ]

Kind of weird though how "not a murderer, not even accidentally" is our baseline now though. [ Thanks, Deerington. ]

[Michael grimaces and takes a swig of his drink.]

Low bar, but it's weirdly hard to clear around here.

January 2022 Event Overflow

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