♠ → [ Twenty Two ]

[antiakuma]

It was so unseasonally hot and now it's snowing. Still, it's a little more suited to this time of year in most cases, I guess.

Snow always seems to make me nostalgic, but I don't think it's making me feel as melancholy as I did last time it snowed here.

It's belated, I know, but thank you to everyone who helped in some way regarding this issue.

Comments

[theotokos]

Are you feeling any better?

[antiakuma]

Much better, thank you.

I'm sorry, in all the confusion before I didn't even ask for your name. It was rude of me.

[theotokos]

Good. It was all too stressful situation, but you handled it perfectly.

Rude? Of course not. Just call me Lady. And what's yours? It can't be "beansprout".

[antiakuma]

Mmm. Well, I've had first-hand experience, you could say.

And... it's not beansprout, no. It's easy to see you really have been talking to Kanda. I'm Allen Walker, Allen is fine though. It's good to speak to you in a less strenuous situation, Lady.

[theotokos]

Better than nothing, right?

Aha, good, I'm not even going to ask about that nickname. Likewise, Allen. And I'll reiterate what I said earlier -- demon hunters do have to look out for the exorcists.

[antiakuma]

I admit I'd rather not have had the experience, but it's better in a way because it gives knowledge now.

It's best not to ask, no. It's just Kanda being a jerk.

Thank you again for looking out for us, there's no doubt that if demon hunters have to look out for the exorcists then we'll certainly be returning the favour whenever possible. But moreover, if it's all right to consider this a friendship then it should just go without saying, really.

[theotokos]

Trail and error helps more than you think. Sure, you get beaten up along the way, but what are mistakes for other than learning from them?

Ha, friendship? You're lucky I'm just a tad more social than your friend Kanda. I'm not opposed to it, you're all good people.

[antiakuma]

Very true. There's not much point in looking back on things negatively. I'm still alive to talk about it all so it can't be so bad!

I sometimes wonder if he'd allergic to the idea or something. I'm glad to hear you're not opposed to it, it sometimes seems like you can't tell with people these days.

[theotokos]

That is a good way to look at it. And battle scars are only badges of courage, after all.

Probably. Well, people tend to be overly cautious and that's a given in this place. Even some alliances aren't prone to last, but we have similar wishes, right? For demons not to harm anyone else and to protect humans. It's hard not to be nothing but friendly, beyond those terms.

[antiakuma]

Heh, I've certainly got some interesting badges if that's true!

Of course, it's the same anywhere I believe, but this place especially. Too many different kinds of people and abilities to go with that.

Similar wishes... Well, in a way. I fight for both, humans and Akuma, in our world at least. I will protect humans from them, but I will also save them from what they've become. That was what I decided.

[theotokos]

Ah, at least you don't have one on your nose?

It's a learning experience, maybe something to be used whenever some of us go back home. I still have demons to handle where I come from.

But there isn't anything wrong with wanting to help them, I suppose, if they turned into something against their own will. Unfortunately, the said cannot be said for most demons in my world.

[antiakuma]

No, but I have one over my eye.

You're right. The other Exorcists and I, we can't stay here forever. We have too much to do back in our world, a purpose to complete. In a way, it's lucky some of our enemies are here because surely it means they're not back in our world. The more we learn in general though while we're here the better.

I want to help them both, because they don't do it from choice, they do it out of grief. In our world when a loved one dies the Earl may come to them, whisper about how he'll return them to life and binds the soul to a form that later becomes an Akuma. The Akuma will 'wear' the body of the person who mourned them, killing them and disguising themselves in the body. The Akuma have no free will and it's only after you take the Earl up on the offer that you realise the mistake. There's more reasons why I can't condemn them so easily, but because I know they have no free will especially I can't.

The demons in your world... they willingly attack humans? For what reason?

1/2

[theotokos]

..Ah. The ones on your face are the most fun.

Of course, we have duties that bind us to our worlds and even the littlest tasks we USED to do there help with the problem. Dante and I promised a similar thing to one another -- to get home and go back to work.

[theotokos]

That's horrible. Yet...not uncommon. Demons will do anything they can to deceive humans, apparently, even disguise themselves as loved ones. But at least they're still human souls, in a matter of speaking. Sounds as if you're doing them a great favor, Allen.

The demons in our world I imagine that they attack humans due to the fall of the angels form Heaven (because some demons were angels, too) or that they wish to corrupt and destroy humans. Only a handful are humane, and only one is legendary for standing up against his own kind and fighting for the humans after taking pity on them.