(Untitled)

[mechanicalswans]

The figure that steps into the bar tonight, leading a magnificent black warhorse, is a little taller than he usually is, and dressed in fire-burnished bronze armor that looks to be made of a thousand metal feathers. He is pale as moonlight, with eyes that glow with literal starlight, the very picture of an elven king; and he carries at his hip a

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[7twistedwishes]

Just outside, a pale figure in ashen gray robes, wearing manacles.

Well, if they are going to look more 'real'... "Hello, dear."

[mechanicalswans]

"My morning star," he says softly, stopping when he sees her.

"Are you--is everything all right?"

[7twistedwishes]

"Oh, after being costumed for the holiday, I felt like being more myself for a while." She gets tired of the endless masks.

[mechanicalswans]

"Does it make you feel more free," he says, "being more like yourself? Or does it feel like yet another wall around yourself, because it will not, and cannot, last?"

[7twistedwishes]

"Mostly, it does not feel like anything, my dear Weyland. Which can be a relief most of the time." She moves closer, recomposing her usual disguise. "How are you?"

[mechanicalswans]

"Well enough," he says, closing his eyes, which blocks some of the light.

"My world has not yet ended, and I am still here. And how are you?"

[7twistedwishes]

"The Final days have not arrived yet, and I still reside in Sheol." The Devil reaches to touch Weyland's cheek. "I would hope to be released soon for the Thousand Years' Tribulation, so I would be free to talk openly."

[mechanicalswans]

"You are under constraints," he asks, "about what you may and may not say? Why would they do such a thing, and... what do they not want you to say?"

[7twistedwishes]

"Oh, nothing... of importance." The Devil shakes head, smiling sadly. "I do not have freedom in many things, Weyland. Freedom is for the humans, even if so many just waste it."

[mechanicalswans]

"But we can make the best of what we have, with what freedom we are given," he says. "And if all else fails... we can decide to take more freedom for ourselves. It's a struggle, it always is, but sometimes, it works."

[7twistedwishes]

She could argue she does not have that choice, fated as she is to be destroyed utterly in the next change of the world.

But why argue? It would just mean less time making her man happy. "I found a place for our vacation."

[mechanicalswans]

"Did you?" he asks. "Where will it be? And when, I should wonder. What season it is there now."

[7twistedwishes]

"In the mountains, north and west... there are two streams coming to a lake, and a larger stream rolls down to the valleys. There is game, there is fish, and there will be nobody else around for long, long miles." The Devil strokes his cheek. "It is early autumn.."

[mechanicalswans]

"Here?" he murmurs. "Or in your world? Mine would not be safe, not for either of us..."

But there are plenty of other things to think about than that.

"It sounds perfect. A cabin?"

[7twistedwishes]

"Yes, a nice little cabin in the mountains... secluded and private, and not SO little."

"A refuge..."

[mechanicalswans]

"I'm looking forward to it," he murmurs. "You have a gift for planning, my pet--anything you put your mind to, I imagine, will be wonderful."