Chapter III: The Fall

[IamLEAM1983]

"We'll see," the warlock told Aislinn. "If they take to the bodies' names, we might have to pull a bit of legal jiggery-pokery to bring Irina, Vitaly, Sasha and Sophie back to life as American citizens. If not, I've got access to Weasel's connections. They pick a name and an age they agree with, we part with a few hundred bucks per head and bam, they're bleeding the stars and stripes."

He then eyed Ciaran. "That's a problem I've done my best to compound, but that I'll never be able to entirely avoid. My friends' isolation in the Pit is the first measure I could implement, and we already agreed on my interviewing them, once they'll be up here and past the initial shock. One of the purchases I've made over the phone and right after divesting the Hundred Devils of their assets was a polygraph."

In so saying, he pointed at one of the boxes amidst the pile of renovation-related materials. "If Quint knew how to operate this in his better days, then so can I."

[TennyoCeres84]

Ciaran grunted lightly. "Hopefully, that'll be enough," he mused, still displaying some wary skepticism. His sister nudged him. "Even so, try not to let it permeate the area, Ciar. The area already has enough bad vibes from Frost; don't add to it. Maybe that positivity will rub off on them," she said, trying to be hopeful.

[IamLEAM1983]

"Your brother can afford to be as optimistic - or skeptical - as he wants to," reassured Tom. "I may have to draw upon dark thoughts to channel Hellfire, but that darkness is only ever pointed towards those who deserve it. Pain is pain, and suffering still is suffering; even if those who suffer would've seen this bustling little stretch of the East Coast drenched in flames and darkness."

He shrugged. "I'm just playing a little lose with the usual rules for Infernalism. Schadenfreude works more for me than any amount of innocent blood. That leaves the way open for the kind of summons that doesn't end with a foolhardy warlock being subjected to vendettas or long-standing grudges. The kind of warlock who stays alive."

Tom's brief show of pride turned softer as he looked back at Aislinn. "Especially now," he said, his tone softer, "that I've got reasons and obligations to stay alive; beyond my own machinations."

[TennyoCeres84]

Aislinn returned the soft smile. "I'm glad of those reasons, and I hope your friends get to share in some of them," she replied.

"Despite what you've taught them, I take it they'll still have questions. Will conversation help normalize things somewhat after the initial glee?" Ciaran asked, perking up with a smile.

[IamLEAM1983]

Magnus chuckled. "Honestly, I expect Dancer to confuse the mortal plane for Heaven, for the first hour or so! She'll be a little crestfallen once she realizes she'll live among power tools and slowly-erected facilities for a few months. Just their being hungry, thirsty or tired should normalize things to an appreciable degree. We're free from Hell, up here. We're not free of organic matter's own requirements, of everything needed to exist as flesh-and-blood individuals. We have to work to live, and be reasonably healthy to work.

Their first social contacts outside of our circle should start out feeling fairly artificial, honestly. They know to stick to an agreed-upon roadmap for your average conversation or burgeoning friendship - everything to avoid embarrassments or incarceration. Mortal spontaneity, though, is something you just can't teach to an incubus outside of the field."

He smirked. "Expect their first conversations to feel worthy of a chatbot."

[TennyoCeres84]

The twins chuckled. "It'll still be one of the most interesting conversations we'll likely have," Aislinn chuckled. "However formulaic."

[IamLEAM1983]

Tom snickered. "The one I call Eyes asked Preston what it was like to be born, and if he was sorry he'd caused pain to his mother in the process. Birth is something they understand on a mechanical level, but the volition behind it confuses them a bit. Judging by their debates on the subject, mortals should have the right to have genetically-paired offspring just pop out of thin air," he said, snapping his fingers.

"The idea that intercourse can have a biological imperative behind it is strange to them. Oddly enough, artificial insemination or genetic recombination made complete sense to them. As if doing the deed and procreating had better be kept separate. In the Littlest's mind, if some women need external help to conceive, then why doesn't everyone use the same method? It might better preserve the value of intimacy, according to her."

He chuckled and shook his head. "Ah, children... She's the youngest of my friends, so she has the most to learn. I'll have to make sure she goes through the John Hugues movie clichés - platonic boyfriends, crushes, illicit non-alcoholic parties between friends, the whole shebang - while ideally avoiding teenage pregnancies, as well. She deserves to turn into a woman over time, and she's as far as could be imagined from being able to tackle motherhood."

[TennyoCeres84]

Aislinn tilted her head thoughtfully. "Of course not. I mean, parenthood is obviously not going to be high on the priorities list for any of them, at least not for quite some time. If the right events fall into place, it's possible for them to have families of their own, but hypothetically, how much do they understand the concept of child-rearing?" she asked. "That's a knot of issues right there."

"If Aspasia were here, she could probably give her own take on the whole genetic recombination baby versus making a baby the more common way, given her history and her family," Ciaran noted. "If the topic comes up, it could be worth mentioning the diversity of how mortal births take place."

[IamLEAM1983]

"One step at a time, I always say," retorted Tom, finger raised. "Step one: stop sexing up strangers. Step two: talk to strangers without coming across as either rude or robotic. Step three: enjoy the comforts of platonic relationships. Step four: find out who deserves deeper exploration on your part."

He lifted his right hand. "Step five?" he rhetorically asked, adding a wincing gesture. "Step five is Wait for Tom to jailbreak his own demonic psyche so he has a reference point for that pitter-patter in the heart colloquially known as love."

[TennyoCeres84]

Aislinn pointedly took a sip of her drink. "I don't know for sure, but I think you're at least headed in the right direction on that last one," she said. "Which includes the ones you mentioned and a whole other array of wonderful steps to complete."