Application: Algaliarept (Kim Harrisons' "Rachel Morgan" series)

[phobophilia]

Algaliarept wasn't typically into the business of traveling long distances - Cincinnati and the Hollows bred more than enough people willing to deal with him - but, he felt, desperate times called for desperate measures. 'Times', in this case, referred specifically to the growing lack of those willing to do deals with demons. They were getting

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[racheltherunner]

"Ley-lines, huh?" Listening to this guy talk gave me a serious case of the heebie-jeebies. There was something familiar, something...off, and I didn't like it. My eyes narrowed and I studied him. "What do you know about ley-lines?"

Here, I hadn't met another person who used lines like I did. Or, like I could. Bad idea to actually use them. Unless I had to. I was an earth witch, damn it. Safer that way. Anyway, it was odd to hear someone else talk about them. And these days, 'odd' equaled 'me reaching for my splat gun'.

[phobophilia]

Now this was just delightful. He'd felt a certain pinging over the ley lines, a feeling that was uniquely one Rachel Mariana Morgan. Different ley lines, obviously, but there were some powerful ley lines running underneath this castle. It wasn't like she was being subtle.

"A little," the demon smiled, readjusting his glasses. She wasn't close enough to see the slight blur of color underneath them, and Algaliarept made sure to keep that distance. He didn't want to give the game away just yet. "Just enough to know that using them isn't very healthy for the soul. From your recognition, I say you know something about them. Tsk, tsk."

[racheltherunner]

I felt my face grow hot under the rebuke, but I simply jutted out my chin and glared at the man. "I don't know much. I'm an earth witch." I was! Just because I could tap a line didn't mean I did it often. Only when I needed to. Ceri had taught me how to spindle a part of the ever-after in my head, so I could do ley-line magic without actually tapping a line. But I hadn't practiced that since I'd come to Hogwarts.

At this moment, I was regretting that. Something about this guy made me really want to have something ready to throw at him.

"So, if you don't know much, why name your bar after it?" Hey, I was a runner, not an investigator. Barrel in with both guns blazing was my motto. This guy wigged me out, so I wanted to know why. Therefore, the unsubtle route. "Seems kind of weird to name it after something you're clearly afraid of."

[phobophilia]

"An earth witch?" Algaliarept faked ignorance to the fact that he didn't already know that, and he sniffed deliberately. "I must say, you've got a very funny aura for someone who's just an earth witch. Fell into a few curses, did you?" The demon smirked, mockingly sympathetic.

She hadn't changed a bit. Even her aura still wore the black marks that he had given her, and those wouldn't be gotten rid of very easily. But he had to be careful - one wrong word could very easily give the game away, and he rather liked this situation. When she didn't know who he was, information might be so much easier to get.

The accusation of being afraid of ley-lines only made him tip his head to the side, a strange smile lurking in his expression. "Something I'm afraid of? Oh, dear me, no. I only said it was unhealthy, not scary. Much like cigarettes. They tend to blacken certain portions of your anatomy."

[hellminxmel]

Demon to demon. Maia rolls her eyes. 'Yes, because employees never have anything better to do.' Hey, he's not her boss. He can't tell her what to do.

'And why do you want to keep them fighting you? You take what you want and move on. Leave them cold inside, not hot. Anger means they're liable to come and kill you later,' Maia says critically. It's probably rude to sass him this much, especially as he's probably more powerful than her. But she doesn't care, as long as he doesn't know how much she's failed before.

[phobophilia]

"Love, it's about the fighting spirit," Algaliarept smiled, condescension thick in his voice. He'd never met this one before - she was a demon, clearly, but it wasn't clear how good she was. Still, she was questioning his philosophy, and that merited a good dose of lecture. "It keeps them strong, and if you've got a tight enough hold over them, then fighting back is not a worry."

Removing his glasses to reveal his real eyes - red, with a horizontal split pupil like a goats - the demon tucked his glasses in his pocket and cocked his head. "Now, who do you work for, hmm?"

[hellminxmel]

Maia's own eyes are emerald green, because she's stolen her image from a certain angel, also here. They are now rolled.

'Yeah, but if you're a trainee, things go wrong,' she replies. 'I'd rather not take a chance until I'm sure they wouldn't be able to 'fight back'. Anyway, that takes about half the satisfaction out of sex, if you're fighting for control the whole way through. You establish it at the start and make it all about you.'

Maia shrugs, folding her arms. 'I work for the same thing you do.'

[phobophilia]

"My dear, it puts the satisfaction in sex," Algaliarept countered. It's a whole control thing. "Having a willful partner is so much more... interesting than someone who just lies there like a starfish and takes it, wouldn't you say?"

But then, she did mention trainees. She didn't seem stupid enough to be a mere demon-in-training, but maybe she wasn't as into the idea of control as he was. Algaliarept shrugged. Whatever she was, she was delightful, arguing his point. "'Different folks, different strokes'," he quoted. "What's your name, love? Us demons have to stick together, you know," the demon smiled silkily.

[oldyelloweyes]

Leaning against the wall, the demon raised one eyebrow and smiled coldly. Oh, appearance curses be damned - he knew Algaliarept when he saw him. "What are you doing here?" he smirked. "Chasing after your familiar? Embarrassing, that."

Good to see someone from back home every now and again!

[phobophilia]

"Pac-man!" Algaliarept raised his voice, just enough to be heard by any nearby people. He didn't mind that anybody knew that he knew a demon, and it was fairly obvious that old yellow eyes wouldn't have kept his business a secret. Striding over with an amused smirk, Algaliarept reached out and grabbed the other demons shoulder, making the 'wokkawokkawokka' sounds of the pac-man game.

He didn't even care about the insinuation that that he was chasing after his familiar. Teasing 'Phil', as he went by these days, was too much fun. "Chasing after your little mark? Shameful, that," he mimicked.

[oldyelloweyes]

His eyes narrowed. The demon's real name was Paciscory, but names were power, and he didn't go around, giving it away. It'd been well over a thousand years since anyone had even uttered it out loud.

And now Algaliarept was shouting that insipid nickname around like a hyper whore in the middle of a condom factory. "Yes," he jerked his arm away. "It's actually 'Phil' right now."

Oh, but Al was going too far. A sudden blaze of anger lit the demon's eyes - and the hapless house-elf who was walking behind them. As the elf turned into a torch, the demon leaned in close to his colleague. "Careful, Al. I've taken good care of my mark, here. And yours. Check out her newest mark." The demon smiled, slow and oozing, like rot off of a corpse. "She's very sweet, your familiar. I have tasted her blood. And I'm close to breaking her down. Sad, really, how easy it was. I'd have expected more from someone who outwitted you." Then he laughed, rocking back on his heels and beaming at Algaliarept. "Or, on second thought, maybe not."

[phobophilia]

"Phil," Algaliarept repeated, a delighted grin crossing his expression. "How perfectly home-grown, oh, now you've outdone yourself, Pac-man, and you've picked some terrible names over the years."

The sudden burning inferno of a nearby house-elf didn't faze him, but what the other demon was talking about did. He had given Rachel Mariana Morgan a mark? It was simultaneously interesting and infuriating; she was his, and 'Phil' could never keep his hands to his own marks.

When the demon finished talking, Algaliarept raised his hands and clapped slowly, his glasses sliding down his nose. "Oh, bravo, you haven't changed at all, have you? Still the same old Paciscory, using words as if they were weapons." He smiled coldly. "I'd say I missed it, if not for the fact that I didn't."

Without warning, Algaliarept began changing shape, the red mist of the ley line swarming over his form and shaping it slowly. His eyes didn't change, and the shit-eating grin was probably out of place on Dean Winchester's mother, but it was a perfect likeness.

[not_a_bug]

Oh, man, this thing had to be joking. He could dress in a damned rubber suit and a clown nose and Jenks could still tell that foul scent anywhere. A demon was hard to pick out, he'd admit. Not nearly so hard when one happened to be a pixy, of course. Not only did a pixie have to get close enough to somebody in order to make 'em cross-eyed from talking to him for too long - hence picking out red eyes through tinted glasses no problem - but this guy stunk of ley line, sulfur, and general suck-age.

Could he smell that last one? Ahh, maybe that was new.

"Hey, asshole!" Jenks announced in a loud, rude, sort of bellowing voice, flickering in out of nowhere with his wings flaring with an irritated red. "Think this castle's filled up on its demon quota for now! You can turn your ass around and skedaddle out, yeah?" He knocked his fist against Algaliarept's forehead, briefly, getting right into the demon's face with a pissed off expression of his own. "HELLO-O-O-O-O?"

[phobophilia]

Algaliarept recoiled briefly, his eyebrows furrowed in irritation above his glasses as the pixie rapped on his forehead. It didn't come anywhere close to hurting, but it was still irritating. On the other hand, and this was just marvelous, this seemed to be the pixie that kept company with Rachel Mariana Morgan.

The irritation faded into curious amusement, and Algaliarept removed his glasses, tucking them into an inside pocket on his jacket. Jenks' anger did nothing to sway him. "I can't get anything by pixie noses, can I?" He mused.

He took a moment to sift through memories - nothing intrusive, simply something he could do without being caught - and then smiled, apparently politely. "And how is your wife?"

[not_a_bug]

"Damn straight," Jenks growled, waving his hands in a universal shooing motion. "And you're still not listening."

Wife? Either it was taking a shot in the dark at the fact that he could possibly have a wife, or this thing was doing, well, what demons did best. Anywhere else, Matalina would have been within the two mile radius and Jenks would've fumbled out some lie about being a single guy, thanks for rubbing it in, asshole, sheez. But here... Matalina was miles away. For the first time, at Hogwarts, he felt SAFE smarting his mouth off to whomever he wanted. Until she showed up, of course.

...IF ...she showed up.

"Why, think she's hot?" he replied in a snarl nonetheless, folding his arms in a rather authoritative manner. "She doesn't do that swinger stuff, sorry. Better hit on someone your own size, git."

[phobophilia]

Rolling his eyes to the ceiling, Algaliarept sighed the sigh of martyrs everywhere. It was so frustrating when his questions where never answered properly. "You got the answer wrong," he chided, a hint of warning entering his tone. He wasn't about to stand around being yapped at by a pixie.

Without warning, too quick to avoid, the demon reached out and enclosed a hand around Jenks. Though he took care not to crush the pixies wings - yet - the grip was nonetheless firm enough that Jenks wouldn't be able to escape.

Smiling coldly, Algaliarept leaned in close. Oh, he could use this little pixie; twist him and break him until he spilled out every single delicious detail about Rachel Mariana Morgan. "Tell me, bug, how long have you been here?"

[totallyluminous]

'Don't tell me there's a bloody magnet attracting all your lot here,' Mel says, standing by the doorway (just in case.) 'In the past month, we've had about three or four apply, and they all said the same thing. Hell on earth, I can make you an offer you can't refuse, mere mortals cower before me, that sort of thing.'

The angel plants her hands squarely on her hips. 'You've all started to blur into one.'

[phobophilia]

The fact that this woman looked exactly like another he'd recently met didn't faze Algaliarept - after all, he tended to look like other people a lot of the time, too. Still, it was interesting.

As was her. "Now you are interesting, my girl," the demon cocked his head curiously, completely ignoring her 'greeting' and closing the distance between them. Hell on earth was a boring idea, anyway. There would be no goodness left to corrupt and pervert. "Purity is so rare these days."

[totallyluminous]

Mel forces herself to stand her ground, though she spreads her vibes around her so he'll halt.

'It's not where I come from,' she says. 'But I understand in Hell it never lasts for very long. Purity.' Her hands change position to fold just under her chest, and her expression does not change; her chin is jutted out, her nostrils pinched and white with apprehension and a little fear, her eyes steady and blazing with hate. Hate isn't so pure--but Mel supposes any sort of angel must be a step up from what he's used to.

[phobophilia]

"Hell? Oh, love, I don't come from there," Algaliarept smiled thinly, coming to a stop before he got too close. Whatever kind of aura she was putting out, he didn't want it touching him.

He'd never actually met any angels, and therefore had no idea exactly what this woman was, but it felt close enough to sanctified ground that he knew he wouldn't be able to get too close. Which was probably a good thing - he didn't want blood on his suit. "No, not Hell," he repeated. "Just a different side of reality. Although... Heaven and Hell, what wonderful ideas. Appropriated justice, and all that."