Balthazar vs Mephistopheles
[Balthazar] *is sauntering vaguely towards the drugstore with the intention of acquiring aspirin*
[Mephisto] *and, for some reason, is on the way there!* ...Balthazar.
[Balthazar] ... fuck. Mephistopheles.
[Mephisto] *tents his fingers* How are you?
[Balthazar] *shrugs and winces* Never better. You?
[Mephisto] Well.
[Mephisto] *studies him for a moment* That mortal was gentler with your wings than our lord would have been, I'll wager.
[Balthazar] *flinches* He tried.
[Mephisto] *smirks* All he could offer.
[Balthazar] Why do you care?
[Mephisto] I was merely asking.
[Balthazar] *blinks* Well, if you'll excuse me, I need aspirin.
[Mephisto] That is all it takes?
[Balthazar] To make the pain go away? No. But it's better then nothing.
[Mephisto] For you? I see.
[Balthazar] Do you.
[Mephisto] *arches an eyebrow*
[Balthazar] *sighs* Come out and say whatever it is.
[Mephisto] There is very little to say that I have not already. I believe you to be pathetic and weak, and I rue the fact that you are not mine to punish.
[Balthazar] Pathetic and weak? You should talk.
[Mephisto] Should I.
[Balthazar] Yes.
[Mephisto] *spreads his own wings, looking at Bally with a dark expression* Why do you say that?
[Balthazar] *flinches* Cute, Meph.
[Balthazar] You had a chance with Mercutio and you failed.
[Mephisto] I did not fail.
[Balthazar] You did.
[Mephisto] *cold look* I believe we have different ideas of success.
[Balthazar] I didn't say I succeeded.
[Mephisto] Who are you to judge whether I failed?
[Balthazar] I know I failed spectaculary. And have paid for it and will continue to pay for it.
[Mephisto] Indeed you will.
[Balthazar] You could have dragged Mercutio to hell. And you didn't.
[Mephisto] I could have ended up as you have. *folds his wings* I am willing to forego one soul to stay in my current state.
[Balthazar] ... git. *turns away to walk to the store*
[Mephisto] *lays a hand on his shoulderblade* Hardly.
[Balthazar] *yelps slightly* Get your hand off my shoulder.
[Mephisto] *digs his fingers into it*
[Balthazar] *tries to twist away*
[Mephisto] *lets him*
[Balthazar] Don't touch me. *glares*
[Mephisto] *coolly* I have been told not to.
[Mephisto] Indeed, I do not -need- to.
[Balthazar] What do you mean?
[Mephisto] If I wished, I could cause you pain without moving from where I stand.
[Balthazar] Yeah? *sneers* I doubt it.
[Mephisto] *shrugs* I shall make a believer of you. *demonmods up the wires again*
[Balthazar] ... Fuck you.
[Mephisto] *wires glow dull red*
[Balthazar] *whimpers* You having fun?
[Mephisto] Would not you, in my place?
[Balthazar] I'd be inflicting the pain personally.
[Mephisto] If you insist. *cruel little smile*
[Balthazar] You just said you were told not to.
[Mephisto] Why should I heed the threats of a mortal?
[Balthazar] ... I though you meant He told you not to touch me.
[Mephisto] He did not. Not yet.
[Balthazar] *kicks John in his head* Then you'd better get your jollies in then, hadn't you?
[Mephisto] I shall. *demonmods up a scalpel*
[Balthazar] *tests the wires*
[Mephisto] This may be more entertaining if I set you free. *slashes at his face first*
[Balthazar] Ahh! *lunges at Meph*
[Mephisto] *steps aside and plunges the scalpel into Bally's shoulder*
[Balthazar] *screams quite loudly and falls to his knees*
[Mephisto] *scoffs* Is that all that it takes? You -are- weak.
[Balthazar] *claws at the back of Meph's knee*
[Mephisto] *winces* Pathetic!
[Balthazar] *bites hard*
[Mephisto] [Where?]
[Balthazar] [*back of the knee. Sorry!]
[Mephisto] *hisses*
[Balthazar] You're a fool.
[Mephisto] You are the fool, not I.
[Balthazar] Don't you miss it?
[Mephisto] Miss what? *rakes his nails over his face*
[Balthazar] Feeling - arrgh - love. *swings at Meph's kneecap*
[Mephisto] I never felt it. *knee gives out, and so falls on it, and hisses, and tries to grab the scalpel out of Bally's shoulder again*
[Balthazar] *punches Meph* Yes, you did. Before you Fell. With the rest of us.
[Mephisto] *rolls with the force of the punch before snapping back, and demonmodding up another scalpel for himself* That love? Yes. I miss it. *slashes wide, going for the throat*
[Balthazar] *falls back, getting the scapel to cut just below his chest* This is as close as I come to what I lost.
[Mephisto] *growls* If you want love, why did you Fall?
[Balthazar] I didn't want love then. *aims for Meph's nose*
[Mephisto] *takes the hit, but sinks the scalpel into Bally's abdomen* Ah! Why now?
[Balthazar] *screams* I don't know! It wasn't supposed to happen!
[Mephisto] *rips it across and sneers* Fool.
[Balthazar] *kicks at Meph's stomach* I had him where I wanted him. He even agreed to stop seeing his girl in exchange for me not screwing her.
[Mephisto] *grunts* Stupid of you!
[Balthazar] I would swear that it's another con of his...
[Mephisto] *ragged laugh* A con.
[Balthazar] But he left her. Of his own free will.
[Mephisto] That means nothing to me.
[Mephisto] *stands*
[Balthazar] Of course it doesn't.
[Mephisto] *kicks him in the ribs*
[Balthazar] *winces and curls up into a little ball* You're afraid.
[Mephisto] Afraid? Possibly.
[Mephisto] *tests his wounded knee* Regardless, it does nothing to change what you have done.
[Balthazar] It happened to Beelzebub. And now to me. You're next.
[Mephisto] Do not compare yourself to me. I am your superior, not your equal.
[Balthazar] Beelzebub was /your/ superior.
[Mephisto] What happened to him will not happen to me.
[Balthazar] It hasn't occured you that he thought that too?
[Mephisto] It will -not-.
[Balthazar] It /will/.
[Balthazar] *shouts* You think I planned this? To fall in love with FUCKING John Constantine?
[Mephisto] I think you are weak and deserve to be punished!
[Balthazar] Then punish me.
[Mephisto] *growls* I will, once I have been given the authority.
[Balthazar] But you want to punish me now.
[Mephisto] I do.
[Balthazar] Then do it.
[Balthazar] No one's told you not to.
[Mephisto] Why are you willing to let me? *takes his hand and snaps the wrist*
[Balthazar] *cries out* Because it's what /you/ want.
[Mephisto] What do you have to gain from giving me what I want? *twists the bones out through the skin*
[Balthazar] *screams* The knowledge that you fear.
[Mephisto] That knowledge is something many suspect. It will do you little good. *repeats the process on the other hand*
[Balthazar] That when you do this, you're punishing -OW - yourself.
[Mephisto] *fingers the bone pensively* I told you not to put me on your level.
[Balthazar] We're none of us safe.
[Mephisto] Even Him?
[Balthazar] I would not dare to go /that/ far.
[Mephisto] *moves to his back and pulls the scalpel out of his shoulder*
[Balthazar] *grunts*
[Mephisto] *thoughtfully cuts away the clothing over Bally's back and runs his hands over the place where the wings used to be*
[Balthazar] *whimpers* Don't.
[Mephisto] *slightly amused* This is too much?
[Balthazar] *angrily* It still fucking hurts.
[Mephisto] I know.
[Balthazar] Is... is it a clean cut?
[Mephisto] For now, yes. *considers for a moment, then carves a few words into Bally's lackofwingspace with the scalpel*
[Balthazar] ...*yelps* I made him do it.
[Mephisto] You should not have.
[Balthazar] [What did he write, by the way?]
[Balthazar] Probably not.
[Mephisto] [You know... something tells me he wrote "hope is the thing with wings" but I don't know, because WTF Meph.]
[Mephisto] *stabs the scalpel back into his shoulder, as if he's setting a pen into an inkpot*
[Balthazar] I wonder who it will be.
[Mephisto] There will be no one.
[Balthazar] There will be.
[Balthazar] *is really hurting, for the record*
[Mephisto] What makes you sure?
[Balthazar] Because whatever power that rules this place is cruel and sadistic.
[Mephisto] That is nothing new. *stands, leaving him there*