Paradise End

7 - Past

"You're so robotic." Zad noted.

The bat-winged midnight-haired angel looked up from his dining tray. "Robotic?" His mouth still holding a bite of bread. He was chewing slowly, almost learnedly.

"You know, like a machine. Maybe robotic isn't the right word—I don't know there's just this quality you have that makes me think of a robot or a statue or a wild cat or something."

"Is that a bad thing?"

"No, not necessarily. Although I have been thinking; we've gotta work on getting your image less, well..." He glanced at the angels seated at the cafeteria table a few feet away. They, who happened to be staring at the oversized pair of bat pinions folded over each other, looked away in a flash as Zadriel passed a minutely judgmental gaze over them. "Intimidating."

He looked back to Razael sitting across from him. A thinly veiled wool blanket covered his slender, skinny frame, fork in hand as he continued to dig into the food sitting on the tray. "Why? Is it a problem?" The creature asked, his eyes training on his friend, "I don't see what difference it would make if I tried acting a bit more like you."

Zadriel shook his head, resting his chin in his hand, "It's not so much about acting like me, it's convincing them that it's okay to trust you. Destroying the image that they've made you out to be, the reputation you've done nothing to earn. Right now, from where I'm sitting, it seems like one way to do it might be a small image change. Ignoring the obvious, of course... how about a haircut?"

The devil-angel looked up for the first time with wide eyes, body going eerily still. He snapped the chicken tendril in his hands. A terse staring contest followed between them; the bat winged cherub's body almost ready to pounce.

Zadriel noted his counterparts' tension, "But since that's not gonna happen..." he continued, watching Razael sink back into his impassive blank-faced state. "Let's try something else; we need to do something to let them know that you're on our side. Ya' know, that they don't have to be so afraid of you."

"And you think acting like them will... help me? No offense but I don't think they're too keen on doing that anytime soon."

He lifted his chin, "You talk about it so negatively, but it wouldn't hurt to smile a little bit more ya know."

"Smile?"

"You know kind of like I do! Even if it is a little unconventional for angels it's a great way to put other people at ease."

Razael looked up from his food, bringing his hands up to his cheeks, almost robotically pulling his cheeks up in an effort to smile. "Like this?"

Zadriel's jaw dropped in horror, a light laugh bubbling up. "No, no, it's okay I guess smiling just isn't your thing. We'll just have to take this one step at time, I guess. After all, I doubt this is going to be easy, getting them to trust you. It's going to take some time, but that remains the first and foremost objective."

"I don't understand."

"Huh?"

"Why is it so important that I put them at ease? Why should it matter what they think of me? You said so yourself last night; you see an angel, yet they choose to see the demon. Why should I care about what they see when they look at me when it's not who I am? When you say it's not my fault?"

Zadriel fell quiet, his chin settling in the palm of his hand, fingers tugging softly on the green gemstone of his drop earring – the symbol of lower rank ma'laks, dangling next to his neck. "I suppose it did come off that way, that I was trying to change you. Sorry if I did. As to your question, you don't have to care at all. That's not the point of what we're trying to do here. You see, when it comes to your spiritual energy, you are a cherub, you are one of us. However, the way they perceive you seems to cause fear and apprehension among the ranks. Since we have no way of knowing where you came from, I can only assume you're meant to be one of us, but they don't seem to think that, probably because our own past experiences. They choose to believe it because, well... I want to say they're afraid of you but I'm sure Deramiel would have my head for that. No. I think they just don't want to open themselves up for any more attacks." Zadriel paused, watching Razael for any sign he may have been too light with his words, "In order for them to consider you as one of us, a real cherub and let you into the ranks, we need to show them it's okay to trust you. You are... okay with that, right?"

Razael looked up, his dark eyes finding the pair across from his. He found the slight shimmer of Zadriel's invisible wings behind him. Light crowned his counterparts head across the table, the luminescence from the windows casting golden brown hues over Zad's locks. He nodded.

"Great! It's settled then! Operation hogmonkey is now in order!"

"When did you get to decide the names?"

"Since I became the funnier one."

Raz opened his mouth to speak, only to form an empty glower instead. Zadriel beamed, "We better get going so I can show you around outside some more, and so we can start working on the plan, which, by the way, if you have any ideas feel free to throw them out on the table."

"You use such strange phrasing."

"What?"

"Throw them out on the table? You want me to vomit it up for you? I can assure you I haven't swallowed any ideas."

Zadriel shook his head, "I'll explain later," Looking down at the plate below the demon-like cherub, Zadriel scratched behind his ear. He looked up and down the skinny, weak skeletal frame staring back at him with little scarred muscle covering the cherub's structure. "But, there's no rush-- take as much time as you need to eat."

The demon-like cherub nodded silently. A loud clacking sound came down the aisle behind him, footsteps marching purposefully one after another. Tones in conversation rose around them in the crowded cafeteria hall. Suddenly, a great force slammed on the table next to the demonic-like angel, Zadriel's face looking up. A flash of gold and dark brown dashed past the beast's gaze, a loud slap echoing across the hall. "Are you insane!?"