A or B? Your Choice (Or Is It?)

A or B? Your Choice (Or Is It?) Part 1

1. The Bet

Michael poured hot water into a small, delicate tea kettle. Soon he could smell the subtle fragrance of chamomile tea. He let it sit for a while, as he waited for his guest.

"Chamomile tea, is it?"

At the sudden voice coming from before him, Michael looked up and saw that Lucifer was already seated opposite him at the table.

"Lucifer, welcome."

"Cut the crap. You think I'm still pissed from our last centurial meet?"

"Language, please. I find such words highly offensive."

Lucifer snorted.

"Yes, I should be careful of how I speak before the oh so high and mighty Archangel Michael. Even if he annoys the crap out of me."

"Lucifer."

"And don't use that patronizing tone with me, you may be the highest archangel in heaven, but I'm the king of hell."

"All right. Let us not argue, please."

Michael poured the tea into two dainty teacups. Lucifer looked at them with distaste.

"You always prepare chamomile tea when you think I might be angry. But we were having a healthy argument about human beings, weren't we? Why should I be angry?"

Michael placed one of the cups on its saucer before Lucifer, and took a sip from the other cup.

"I did not think you would be angry. I just assumed you might get angry if we were to continue with our, ah, little debate, from last time."

Lucifer drank the scalding tea in one gulp and almost threw the cup down. Unflustered, Michael poured him a second cup.

"I thought we were finished with that. All humans are born evil. Pressure from others make them control their evil selves and make the effort to live as good people. The end. Period. I won."

Lucifer downed the second cup as quickly as he had done the first, and threw down the cup again. Michael, after taking another sip from his own cup, poured Lucifer a third.

"All human beings are born good. It is temptation from, ah, your subjects, that makes them go wrong and do bad things. That is the truth, and you know it."

Lucifer felt his blood start to boil in his temporarily assumed physical body. This was how it had gone last time, at their last meet a hundred years ago. Michael repeated the same words over and over again, without getting emotional about anything, and that pissed Lucifer off more than anything else.

Michael studied Lucifer over his cup as he took another sip of chamomile tea. Despite the fact that he was an angel, and the highest archangel at that, he loved to bait his fallen brother. They had been close, the best of friends, before Lucifer had fallen, after which they had almost become enemies. Michael, however, lamented the fact that they had become estranged, and had proposed some millennia ago that they have a get-together once a century. Since Lucifer was not allowed in heaven, and Michael flat refused to go to hell, they met on earth, which was neutral ground. Of course, they had to assume physical bodies temporarily for the meetings. On this occasion, it had been Michael's turn to propose a meeting place, so he had chosen a nice little café with outdoor tables and had ordered chamomile tea, because he had told Lucifer last time that it was good for anger management and Lucifer had bristled at that, which Michael found highly entertaining.

The two were seated at one of the tables facing the opposite side of the street. After they had brought Michael the tea things, the café owner and waitresses passed by them but did not notice them, almost as if they had forgotten that one table belonging to the café. Michael and Lucifer were both visible, and though Michael's designer suit was dark and unnoticeable, Lucifer was dressed in a blood red suit with nothing underneath, and the color was so vibrant that it almost pierced your eyes when you saw it. And yet, though everyone in the café and out on the street could see them, they passed the two without a glance as if the two were not worth paying attention to. Usually, Lucifer loved to be looked at and admired, but this time he had put up a little force field around them because he was determined to win this argument against Michael, and he didn't want humans listening in on their conversation.