Room 7, Carriage House, Wednesday, lunch time

[side_spook]

Nadia and Walter had a lunch date scheduled. She had taken a page from his butlery book and turned one of the desks in her room into a little table, complete with a sheet for a table cloth. She'd replaced her stereo about a week ago, and now had Pink Martini playing quietly in the background. As promised, she had the hot sauce and the drinks.

Comments

[walter_n_wires]

The Walter was along promptly enough with a tray full of food and two ears. The latter being the more important part, since he planned to do quite a bit of listening.

[side_spook]

"Hey. Did I put the silverware on the right sides?"

[walter_n_wires]

Walter looked down at the place settings and nodded. "I'm sure you knew you did."

[side_spook]

"Well, I was pretty sure . . . okay, I looked it up." She gestured to her laptop. "Anyway, I have tea, if you want it, or soda, or water. . . ."

[walter_n_wires]

"Or you can get this thing out of the way so we have some chance at enjoying the food I brought," Walter said, setting the tray down on a clear spot on the desk.

[side_spook]

Nadia sighed and gestured for him to sit down. "I ran into her. The demon that granted the wish. At the Divine Leaf. She said she works there now . . . that she's human, since whatever it was that happened to stop it all. I didn't have any weapons, but we started fighting. . . . And Aziraphale came in." She swallowed hard. "He said--he said I should have known better than to make the wish, and that I couldn't blame the demon for just-just doing her job. . . ."

[walter_n_wires]

Having heard that Anya had been one of the organizers of the party, hearing she was around wasn't too shocking.

That Aziraphale had said that to Nadia left him more than taken aback.

"People make wishes all the time. It's not fair to blame you like that. It's like saying that a person about to die and become a ghoul from a vampire bite shouldn't be upset with the vampire, it was just following its nature."

[side_spook]

"I know!" Nadia wrapped her arms over her chest. "I . . . both of them, standing there, being all like 'well, it's not the demon's fault, you should have known better'. . . . I can't get it out of my head. I trusted Aziraphale."

[walter_n_wires]

Walter moved to be close to her and put an arm around her back.

"I don't understand it. I thought angels were supposed to fight these things."

[side_spook]

"Do you think maybe she did something to him?" It was the only explanation that didn't make Nadia feel entirely sick. "Like, some kind of demon mind whammy thing or something,"

[walter_n_wires]

"That's... I don't know. If she could do that to him, though, why wouldn't she do it to you, too?"

[side_spook]

Nadia shook her head. "I don't know. Maybe she's been around him, more? I just--I can't believe he said that."

[walter_n_wires]

"I don't understand it. Are you sure that's what he said? Maybe he meant something else and it just came across wrong."

[side_spook]

"No, that's what he said. He said that I couldn't blame the demon for doing what she was sent there to do and that I should have known better than to make a wish."

[walter_n_wires]

"I'd like to know how he came to that. If he trots out the phrase 'just following orders'..." Walter trailed off. Frankly, if he heard that from Aziraphale, his faith was going to take a serious blow.

[side_spook]

Nadia shuddered. "I know. Since when are people let off the hook for 'just doing their job'?"