✨🍸☀️𝕊𝕠𝕝𝕒𝕔𝕖 𝕚𝕟 𝕃𝕚𝕞𝕓𝕠🌙🍸✨ {𝒮𝒶𝓀𝓊𝓇𝒶 𝓍 𝒯𝑒𝓃𝓏𝒶𝒾}

[Sakura Oni]

‧⁺˚*･༓☾ 𝕊𝕠𝕝𝕒𝕔𝕖 𝕚𝕟 𝕃𝕚𝕞𝕓𝕠 ☽༓･*˚⁺‧

​

"Hey, did you hear from Metatron?" A tall figure clothed in white and gold walked up and then whispered to another similarly clothed figure, who was noticeably shorter than the other; Even though they were standing on a ladder, seemingly picking a book off of a large bookshelf, the height difference was still fairly large. "Huh? ...Gabriel? Hear what? What are you--" The shorter one of the two replied, looking behind their back. The taller one, named Gabriel, clasped a hand on the other one's mouth and looked around before leaning down and whispering even quieter, "Shhh! Not so loud, Selaphiel! This information is still fresh and not being passed around to the others yet, I don't want Raguel to hear this just yet. Only the Gods would knows what would happen, then!" Selaphiel rolled their eyes and gave a nod. "Okay I got it," they whispered this time as they removed Gabriel's hand from their mouth. "What is it?"​

Gabriel took another look around and then continued to speak only after confirming there was no one else around, "Apparently, there's going to be some changes happening soon around here. And not just here, either. It's supposedly going to change everything." Selaphiel seemed to have a puzzled look on their face as Gabriel spoke, but it quickly turned to annoyance as Gabriel would not get to the point. "Listen, I have a lot of work to do, can you get to the point already?" They said in a slight huff. Gabriel had a noticeable sweat bead drip down their forehead, and they cleared their throat before continuing, "A-ahem. Right, yes. Supposedly, Hell's very own star child came up with some sort of plan to deal with souls. And it involves us colluding with those vile demons!" ​

Selaphiel's eyes widened in shock, unable to process this jarring news. "You don't mean.... The Gods are going to give us Angels an order to work hand in hand with the very demons we were just at war with...?" Gabriel nodded, and backed away from Selaphiel. "Now you understand why I didn't want Raguel to hear of this yet..." Selaphiel stumbled a bit, bracing their body against the bookshelf, causing a few books to fall off the ledge. This news was indeed information that would shock even the most seasoned of Angels. How could the Gods think this was a good idea? Angels? Working with Demons? It would make more sense for Angels to work with humans before the creatures they just got out of a bloodbath of a war with. A war that, not to mention, lasted hundreds of thousands of years. A heated discussion fell among the two Angels.....​

.・゜-: ✧ :-　　-: ✧ :-゜・．.・゜-: ✧ :-　　-: ✧ :-゜・．.・゜-: ✧ :-　　-: ✧ :-゜・
At the same time;
.・゜-: ✧ :-　　-: ✧ :-゜・．.・゜-: ✧ :-　　-: ✧ :-゜・．.・゜-: ✧ :-　　-: ✧ :-゜・

Several figures were in a fierce argument inside a single room, things flew threw the air occasionally, and something thrown happened to hit the head of another one of the figures in the room.
"FUCK--- WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DO---"
A loud smack rang out from inside a dark room before the sentence could be finished.
A thin and oddly glittery purple rod had hit a chalkboard located at the end of the room.

"Enough."
A voice growled, even though it was not loud, the power behind the voice reverbed around the entire room.
All voices and movement stopped in that moment.

The chalk board had the following written on it;
Heaven; where Gods, Archangels, Angels, and the righteous souls reside.
Earth; where living humans reside.
The Underworld; where the Demon King, Archdemons, Demons, and the souls of the damned reside.
Limbo: Where souls go before their next destination.

Limbo was circled in red chalk, and underlined for extra emphasis.

"Now, I let you all talk because I was hoping you all would see reason....
I see I was mistaken to think you all were capable of such basic intelligence."
Purple eyes shone in the dim light, looking down at the figures in the room, disappointment and a silent pressure could be felt from the gaze.

Grumbles of apology could be heard, among grunts of frustration but acquiescence.
One figure finally said, "Alright, Lilith, what in Hell exactly is this plan of yours?"

Lilith, the daughter of Lucifer, stood tall at the front of the room, holding a cigarette in one hand and the glittery rod in the other.
She sighed and took a long drag of her cigarette before reexplaining her plan for the second time.

"Listen up. I won't repeat myself again." She warned the Archdemons in the room.
"We have far, far too many souls of people who do not belong in Hell, and the worst of all, children's souls should never be in Hell. And many souls who are actually supposed to be in Hell, somehow slip through the gaps and end up in Heaven. This has always been an issue, but there was no real, feasible solution for it due to the war with Heaven.
Now that the war is over, peace is obtained, the opportunity and means to correct and right this situation are now available to us."

Lilith paced the room a bit before continuing.
"I have thought over many possible solutions, and I have already talked to fath-- Lord Lucifer." She corrected herself mid sentence, as she was in a formal setting, formal titles were needed.
"The solution that has been decided upon is a funnel of sorts. Souls will be funneled through a single focal point in Limbo's space, allowing us to properly manage each individual soul." Lilith turned the chalkboard over which showed a rough sketch of an interior design of a bar, and a graphic explaining the concept of the funnel. "Souls will be handled by the Demons and Angels who work in the space. We, as in, Lord Lucifer and myself, have decided to make the funnel look like a human bar's interior, so that souls are drawn to a familiar place, and for the children, the bar will appear to be a regular café, rather than a bar. This is to ensure every soul makes their way to the one familiar place they can see."

The ArchDemons were visibly unhappy with the mention of working together with Angels, but they kept their mouths shut and fists and claws clenched tight. If she had truly already discussed it with Lucifer and he gave the go ahead, there was no use in arguing about it. Very few demons that resided in Hell would dare to raise a fuss to him. "We have already done most of the set up, and we are almost at the point where the bar can be opened and put to the test. We are only waiting on the representative of Heaven that will be in the bar with me. Ah, I forgot to mention that since it was my idea, I will be the one to manage the bar from the Underworld's side." At the mention that they would all be spared the hassle of working with Angels, the demons in the room almost all collectively let out a sigh of relief. Lilith rolled her eyes and shook her head at them but said nothing. She knew they would react like this, anyhow. It was no secret that even though the war had ended there were still hard feelings between both sides. It wasn't exactly a welcome thought to work with someone who was once your sworn, life-long enemy for both Demon and Angel alike. But there was no way to avoid it; someone had to make sure souls got to the proper place. And unfortunately this endeavor required both Heaven and Hell to come together for once, as they cannot enter the opposite side so easily. Lilith herself wasn't exactly confident she would like the Angel sent to manage the bar with her, or that the Angel would even like her, but she would fight tooth and nail to make it work somehow. What was at stake was more than just the souls.

After the meeting with the Archdemons was over, Lilith went back to her room in Lucifer's castle.
Throwing herself on her bed, she looked up to her ceiling, which was adorned with the old, human classic; glowing stars and moon ceiling stickers. They calmed her, or at least, under normal circumstances it would. This time, though, her worries wouldn't fade no matter how hard she tried to self soothe. Sure, she may be Lucifer's daughter; A powerful Demon in her own right with an authority just under her father. But she was sailing uncharted waters with this endeavor. Who knows if she would be able to get along with the Angel's representative? Lilith from the bottom of her heart truly hoped that her fears would be proven unfounded. She had to make this a success, no matter what.

​

 

[Tenzai]

ᴇᴠᴇʀʏ ɴᴇᴡ ʙᴇɢɪɴɴɪɴɢ ᴄᴏᴍᴇꜱ ꜰʀᴏᴍ ꜱᴏᴍᴇ ᴏᴛʜᴇʀ ʙᴇɢɪɴɴɪɴɢ'ꜱ ᴇɴᴅ.
- ꜱᴇɴᴇᴄᴀ

Broken wings and rivers of blood.

Buried in the ashes of his homeland and his people, Azrael had forgotten how to fly.
ɴᴏᴡ ᴘʟᴀʏɪɴɢ: ʜᴏᴍᴇꜱɪᴄᴋ | ᴡᴀᴠᴇꜱ ᴛᴏ ᴇᴀʀᴛʜ
↻ ◁ || ▷ ↺

Erase me from here and set me free
All I wanted was to fly high
I can't believe my wings are broken
And fell against the sky, yeah​

To protect his home from the demon invaders and to keep his loved ones safe, that's all the angel ever wanted. It was his reason to live; His reason to fight; His reason to persist in perpetual war. To think that all he knew, all he cared for would have been reduced to cinder all because of a foolish pride held by the arch-angels in heaven and the arch-demons in hell. It was a nightmare made manifest. A stain on his history that would torment him for the following eternity. This memory was a curse that neither the greatest kami nor the strongest demonic lords would ever be able to free him from. This failure to defend his people had painted his once white wings as dark as midnight.

Every now and then, he found himself waking up in the past. The blood of his lineage had dowsed his arms in bloody hues as he clutched upon the corpse of his son. As a result of his trauma, many nights he would find himself burying his son in his dreams again and again; A personal hell that not even the most depraved of humans could fathom; A punishment so harsh, not even the gods would subject their worst enemies to. While he dug into the ground, his broken wings would ache, damaged from the battle before the demons overtook the walls. His bones were snapped and his flesh was torn. Bruises and cuts have marked his perfect body, but despite the pain, Azrael persisted. He endured hardship for his family for so long already. Wounds and pain would not stop him from respecting his dead.

"I'm sorry I wasn't strong enough, Ezekiel."

A flightless feather, oh
My freezing breath, frozen memories
Fearless behavior
It doesn't exist in me anymore​

Drops have rained down onto the mound that held the body of his flesh and blood. While the skies were burning above, a stream of tears had ran down his father's face. It was far too soon for Ezekiel to have left this living plane of existence. His future was robbed from him, due to the selfishness of those that marched their armies forward without a care for the lives within their ranks. Unfortunately, for an angel. Once they died, they ceased to be. There was no soul to collect. No spirit to resurrect. This was the end of his story; An end to a future living together in peace, making up for lost time.

"You've deserved more from heaven. Hell, you deserved more from me." Azrael took off a gift his child made for him. It was a charm of good luck, one meant to protect the angelic warrior from the blows of all that stood against him. While it may not have been effective as a magical accessory, it made the angel work harder to avoid getting hurt just for his son to believe that what he made was special. "Perhaps, in the next life, wherever that may be. . . You would be among better company. A better father. Someone much better than I could ever be."

Azrael dropped his weapon onto his son's grave, leaving behind his warrior legacy. If there was no one to come back to and no home to return after the war had ended, it didn't matter how well he fought. His purpose was gone. "Maybe we might meet again. . . Next time, I won't take our time for granted. I won't waste another lifetime fighting some stupid war for people who don't care while you wait for me."

"I won't waste another moment again. I 𝕡𝕣𝕠𝕞𝕚𝕤𝕖."

Erase me from here and set me free
All, all I wanted was to fly high (oh-oh-oh)
I can't believe my wings are broken
And fell against the sky, oh
Oh, will you please take me home?​

---

Bzzzt. Bzzzt. The alarm of his phone had stirred him from his slumber.

"Ah fuck. It's too early for this. . ."

ɴᴏᴡ ᴘʟᴀʏɪɴɢ: ᴛʜᴇ ɢᴀᴛᴇꜱ ᴏꜰ ʜᴇʟʟ | ʙᴀʏᴏɴᴇᴛᴛᴀ ᴏꜱᴛ
↻ ◁ || ▷ ↺​

As the angel awoke, Azrael's eyes opened to an unfamiliar ceiling. The bed had felt mundane and ordinary, rather uncomfortable compared to his expected lavish accommodations back in the heavenly realm. The room was neat and orderly, though the materials used to give it a sense of comfort appeared human in origin. His phone was buzzing, ending his dream prematurely. As uncomfortable as it was to hear the annoying sounds of artificial waves washing over a simulation of sands, he preferred this to being trapped within his past. It was an end to his accursed loop of misfortune.

He sat up, looking around before staring at his phone. He was sure that he fell asleep at home after drinking himself beyond stupor the night before. While alcohol might not have been the most glorious vice for an angel, it dulled his senses enough to forget the pain, even if for a moment. To be hollow and empty was a fate far more forgiving than to be sober and regretful. On his phone, he saw several new notifications from the kami. Among them, one was from a text by the his best friend.

From: Helios , the kami of staircases and sunrises

---

Hey Az! Congrats! You've been selected as a part of the pilot program for something the higher ups in heaven had cooked up. Some shit with demons, but I'm sure you won't mind! Heard you wanted a promotion and you were pretty damn good with drinks so I thought you'd be a great fit and I volunteered you as one of the angels interested! Let me know how you like the new place! Heard it was all paid for by the kami! Maybe I'll stop around sometime once I get some PTO!

Oh and p.s. You might have a demon roommate moving in soon. lmk if she's hot af. see ya later!​

Azrael glared at the text for a moment. While he insisted on finding something better for himself to distract his mind during the peaceful lull of the heaven-hell treaty, to wake up in a shitty hovel was not anywhere near what he expected for himself. It appeared more like a downgrade or divine punishment rather than some reward worth being proud over. 'This fucker couldn't find another angel dumb enough to work here.' He sighed, before getting out of bed to put on some clothes from a nearby drawer.

As he left the bedroom and walked down the stairs, he saw the remains of a bar left empty for eons. Layers of dust had caked over the various surfaces and countertops. Cobwebs from spiders that traveled in between dimensions had left the ceiling cloaked with a silk sheet. To say that this building was financed by the kami had felt appropriate. They were always sticklers when it came to spending on others. Lavish condos, fountains that never ran empty of ambrosia, and over-inflated salaries were all expensive for the divine coffers to maintain. For the lower level kami and the angels that failed to stand away from obscurity, a life like this was to be expected. "Oh, fun. They want me to clean all this shit up too." Azrael rolled his eyes before folding his sleeves to above his elbows. "So be it. At least, the booze looks good enough to drink."

Some angels say the kami give the toughest battles to their strongest soldiers.

'The least they could fucking do is give them benefits and a better salary.'​

Azrael's face grew stiff as he charged his fiercest enemy: The resilient dust that defied the strength of his solvents. Foot by foot, he wiped down each surface with a rag. While each swipe had cut through the thickness of its sooty resistances, the duel with his mess was no where near finished. It was a stubborn foe, one that stained his arms and body in revenge for attacks against the mountain. It was an unscaleable wall that needed to be broken down brick by brick; All the while, Azrael wore a smile that suggested his best friend's help had subjected him to a fate worse than death. "I can't wait to burn this shithole to the ground." He remarked.

Midway through his battle, he heard the door open, revealing the sight of a purple haired demon. "Oh. Would you look at that? The fucking locks don't work too." He was sweaty and tired, yet there was so much more to clean. "Look, I don't know who the fuck you are, but this place isn't open . . . Unless you want to drink with the phase spiders- . . . Actually, that's not a bad idea. . . Fuck it. There's no way I'm doing this sober." He wiped the sweat off his brow, walking behind the counter to prepare both of them a drink. Cleaning a couple glasses with a spare rag, he eventually poured a golden tincture from one of the finer looking bottles into both, handing her one to drink with her.

"Here, take it. It's on me . . . Or whichever kami doomed me to this fate."

"Cheers."​

A clink of glasses had signaled their new beginning. As he sat beside her, he looked up and down her figure before tilting his head. "So. . . Who are you and how did you know about this place? Wait- Don't tell me. You're the fucking demon that Helios has assigned me to. . . I can't imagine any other reason why you're here unless you're hopelessly lost." He yawned, still waking up to the morning monochrome sun. "I guess it could be worse." He took a sip of his drink, letting the hard cider run down his throat. "At least you're pretty fucking hot."

 

[Sakura Oni]

ɴᴏᴡ ᴘʟᴀʏɪɴɢ: ᴛᴏᴏ ꜱᴡᴇᴇᴛ | ʜᴏᴢɪᴇʀ
↻ ◁ || ▷ ↺
You keep telling me to live right
To go to bed before the daylight
And then you wake up for the sunrise
I think I'll take my whiskey neat
My coffee black, and my bed at three

Lilith woke up in her room, not remembering when she had fallen asleep the night before. Her alarm blaring, she groggily turned it off and begrudgingly dragged her exhausted body out of her bed. Somehow she made her way through her morning routine; Shower, coffee, applying makeup, and picking out her outfit for the day. She did love her fashion, afterall; Always going to great lengths to keep her wardrobe full of beautiful, fun, and unique clothing.

She was a mix of emotions, both looking forward to the bar's opening and beginning, but also worried about how the meeting between her and the Angel's representative will go.
They say first impressions can shape your future relationship with someone so naturally, she wanted to make a good first impression.
She chose an outfit that was stylish but not over the top, just enough to compliment her figure without being garish.
Minimal but interesting jewelry adorned her hair, neck, ears, wrist, and a few fingers.

ɴᴏᴡ ᴘʟᴀʏɪɴɢ: ᴡʜɪᴛᴇ ʀᴏꜱᴇꜱ | ɢʟᴀꜱꜱ ᴀɴɪᴍᴀʟꜱ
↻ ◁ || ▷ ↺
Long ago
Probably in a galaxy not far from home
I bet there's a version where we're happier
And I didn't have to find a way to go
Oh, wouldn't that be lovely?

After preparing and packing her bags for her extended stay at the bar, Lilith finally set off to her new residence with her head held high. Lilith stood outside of the bar's entrance. She sighed, taking in the sight of the outside of the bar she thought to herself, "leave it to Heaven, they said. It would be fine, they said." The bar seems to have been not kept very well and needed some work done to it, and that was just the outside, she could only imagine the inside. Already feeling slightly upset that her idea for the bar was taken over by the Gods, she was even more distraught that they couldn't execute long term care for it. Sure, it had been in the works for a while, but how difficult was it to send someone to take care of the place while the fine details were being worked out? Especially since they essentially snatched her plans out from her hands, saying they'd do it for "the sake of peace and cooperation" when everyone knew it was really so they could take at least partial credit for it. Lilith could tolerate it, annoying as it was, because as it stands, she didn't start this project for the credit in the first place. But now it was solely on the principal of the Gods making more work for her unnecessarily. She regripped her bags and opened the door. A tall man... Angel? Clearly the person who was the Heaven's representative stood before her. Shocking, Heaven on time? Must be a miracle. The man in front of her started rapid fire talking before she could get a word in to say she was his coworker. Lilith found his listless chatter interesting so she let him talk without interruption. She left her bags off to the side of the door of the bar, and walked to the man's side at the bar. Noticing the bar was, as expected, as filthy on the inside and outside, but that there had also been a noticeable degree of the bar that had been cleaned.

Lilith sat down next to the man at the bar top, and after the last comment, she couldn't help but give a light hearted chuckle. Grabbing the proffered drink, she clinked glasses and promptly gulped it down like a shot. After she finished, Lilith said, "Well, I see you're a man... an Angel of taste?" She gave him a playful grin; Somehow, even though the two of them just met, she thought that this just might work out after all. At least, if he truly was this kind of person all the time and not just possibly several drinks in, that is. She noticed the hard cider bottle left open on the counter top, grabbed it, and then poured them another round of drinks. "I am indeed the 'fucking Demon' assigned to work with you here, nice to meet you, even under not so... pleasant circumstances, I'm sure. My name is Lilith, and you?" She offered her hand out for a casual handshake with an amiable smile. So far, fortunately, her worst fears are unfounded. Lilith decided that she may as well strike while the iron is hot, after all, it wouldn't be like her to waste a golden opportunity like this to ensure the success of a plan. Alcohol seems to be the perpetuator of amicable relationships, right? She was willing to make a bet, even if it seemed a little risky.

ɴᴏᴡ ᴘʟᴀʏɪɴɢ: ᴅɪꜱꜰɪɢᴜʀᴇ | ʟᴏꜱɪɴɢ ꜱʟᴇᴇᴘ
↻ ◁ || ▷ ↺
I hope you find what you've been looking for
Trust me, I don't wanna feel no more
Nevermind, I'm thinking out loud
Before we draw crowd; Reel it in, take it easy
I think it's time for you to live in peace now

"So, I see that you've made it here before me and started cleaning up, maybe I can offer a hand?" Lilith said after being a few glasses in. She wasn't tipsy by any means; It would take much more than a few glasses to get her anywhere close to a light buzz, let alone drunk. Chalk it up to being a demon. Standing up from her seat, she walked briskly over to her luggage only to rummage around for a split second before finally obtaining what she was after; a glittery black apron. Quickly putting it on, she walked back over while tying her hair up. Glancing over to the end of the counter, she saw some cleaning supplies. "I'll go ahead and help myself to some of these. I got the table tops?" Lilith asked, but it was more of a statement than a question. "What in the Hell...." She muttered as she ran a finger along one of the table tops, "You'd think this place has been abandoned for eons, but didn't they just make this place, like, only a few years ago? How did it get this bad......" Her face was scrunched up in dismay rather than disgust. Lilith was no stranger to a mess, after all, she lived in the Underworld all her life. Torturing souls, as it may sound, isn't exactly the cleanest of activities one could participate in, as one would imagine. But this was just laziness and neglect. How were they supposed to clean this all up in such a short time? The first shift was supposed to be that very night, and in human hours, they only had about 12 good hours before night befell them. Between the two of them it might be possible.. No, rather, they had to make it work somehow. "You know.... Scratch you cleaning in here, how good are you at repair work?" Lilith asked, concerned about the exterior just as much as the interior. "Have you been outside yet? If not, we got a few holes to fill in, you think you can handle that and I can power scrub the rest of this mess? Ugh the clean up just seems endless." Lilith sighed loudly, but kept scrubbing everything in her sight like her life depended on it. Soon enough, she had one table sparkling clean. "Now, if I can get one table done every 20 minutes, and we have 10 tables, that's about 3 and a half hours...then the bar top.... maybe two hours...." Lilith was attempting to do some mental calculations on how long the cleaning was going to take and it was looking grim. Not only the front needed to be cleaned.... She had had a quick glance behind the bar counter and it was just as bad if not worse than the front of the bar. Groaning again, she scrubbed faster and harder to do her best to try to make their deadline a reality. "How's it going on your end?" She called out to her new companion, while she fanned herself off a bit. It was surprisingly hot in Limbo... did they have AC here? If not she was going to have a personal conversation with whatever God or Angel had control of construction here and give them more than just a piece of her mind. Perhaps they'd like to see the suffering directly... and in person.
​

 

[Tenzai]

"Well, I see you're a man... an Angel of taste?"

"An angel of taste? Oh, I fucking wish."
ɴᴏᴡ ᴘʟᴀʏɪɴɢ: ᴅᴀʀʟɪɴ' | ᴛᴏʙɪ ʟᴏᴜ
↻ ◁ || ▷ ↺

I don't got nothin' to do
Feel like I'm stuck in a loop
What's in your fridge? You ain't got water?
Okay then Henny will do​

The fallen angel himself appeared exhausted already. His finger tapped anxiously on the wooden surface. Suffering from the aftermath of the revelation from the "promotion" forced upon him by his so-called best friend, Azrael couldn't help but find any other fate more gratifying than this; Including death. At least in death, the angel was free of responsibility; Unlike here where he was forcefully given the task to face a foe more annoyingly persistent and immortal than the arch-angels themselves: Dust and grime in all of its forms.

"If i was an angel of taste, I wouldn't be here running this piece of shit bar." He shook his head, looking down at his half-empty glass. "No, that's not right. To call this place a bar is to give it too much credit. I think the word, shack or shed would be much more closer to the truth, wouldn't you say?" His eyes had stared upon falling streams of dust than came from the beams above them. To the angel, it was a miracle that the dust hadn't fallen in their drinks at this point. "Fuckin kami and their lack of funding. Only thing they didn't skimp out on was the booze."

He sighed, before turning back to his demonic companion and soon-to-be coworker. "To think, there was a hell worse than the one you came out of." He gave a buzzed grin, revealing a scar from a war long left behind. "Oh, what? Don't look at me like that. I've been to hell before. The least you guys could do is invest some of your soul taxes into working air conditioning. I get the whole- The souls down here are meant to suffer gimmick, but to have that in the fucking offices too? That must be an OSHA violation or something. You guys have that down there right?"

He groaned at the memory of his visit. While it was meant to serve as an opportunity to humanize old enemies and seal psychological scars of war, he likened his vacation there to torture. While heaven was no paradise of its own, perfectly boring and unchanging day by day, at least the temperature was set to something comfortable. Even if the food prepared by angels were bland, at least it wasn't so spicy the hellfire was the primary flavor.

Azrael took another sip to do away with the memory, his glass quickly becoming empty. Regardless of how much he drank, no amount of alcohol would be truly free him from his fate. Eventually, at the end of bottle, he knew that he would have to come back to his reality as a glorified bartender. "Ugh, nevermind. The less I think about that place, the better. So, who are you?"

"I am indeed the 'fucking Demon' assigned to work with you here, nice to meet you, even under not so... pleasant circumstances, I'm sure. My name is Lilith, and you?"

She appeared kind enough. Instead of hearing the typical insults that one of her soldier's would have greeted him, she offered a smile and a handshake instead. At the least, it appeared that the demons have put more thought into their choice than the angels did. "Azrael. Azrael Skyspear. Ex-hero in the flesh and. . ." He lifted his wings to no avail. The injuries that he was subjected to had caused him to lose his ability to fly. Instead of rising high like his brethren, he was forced to take the bus or walk once the war ended. The veteran stipend offered by the heavens for those who were permanently disfigured in the line of battle was used to escape the trauma of his tragic past. ". . . Well, whatever's left of me, I suppose." He took her hand to shake it.

"So, I see that you've made it here before me and started cleaning up, maybe I can offer a hand?" He stretched out his arms, ridding him of the soreness that shrouded his muscles with every hour wasted cleaning. "Be my guest, Lily." As she left the counter, his eyes were quickly drawn to the apron that she donned. It was far cleaner than he expected; causing a thought to rise in his head. "Wow, your fucking boss cares a lot more about you than mine does me. . . Let me guess. Dad's rich as hell or influential? Or you come from fame and fortune and want a life away from the glitz and glamour?" Azrael stood up, grabbing their empty glasses to clean with a nearby faucet and a rag. "Nothing about you speaks to me as cheap. Not to insult you or anything. Just a little thing I've noticed." While he scrubbed some glasses, he noticed her looking around as she decided where to begin.

"You'd think this place has been abandoned for eons, but didn't they just make this place, like, only a few years ago? How did it get this bad......"

"My thoughts? This place was shitty from construction. You'd be surprised by how little the afterlife cares about maintenance."
​

As the two cleaned in silence, he directed her towards where the cleaning equipment was. Their tools were meager, though not useless when combined with proper efforts and means. Together, they were making a sizeable dent in the dirt, giving Azrael a semblance of hope that there may be something worth running underneath the abandoned years of built up dust. Midway through, Lily was the first to break apart their silence. "You know.... Scratch you cleaning in here, how good are you at repair work?"

"Lily, I'm great at two things. Fixing people and putting holes in others." He looked towards the walls, sighing as he realized that there was much more to the renovating process than simply cleaning. It was as if the gods had given him a project house rather than a functioning establishment. Azrael breathed deeply, giving pause to his disappointment before turning to the outside with hints of reinvigoration. All the shit that Helios had put him through, he was sure to make him pay back double in return. "But I'll see what I could do. Besides. . . If the exterior looks terrible enough, it just means that we have to deal with less people right?" He joked, finally leaving the girl to her own devices.

One hole by another, he painted over what he was able to reach; Bitching at every swipe of his brush. With everything else that was too large to be masked by simply painting over it, he utilized humanity's greatest invention: Tape. . . Before painting over it as well. The strategies of a landlord were not foreign to him, given his housing assignment while stationed on Earth during the war in heaven and hell. His struggle for his security deposit had taught him how to mask the issues to near perfection; A forbidden art once thought exclusive to the most sly of demons.

After a few hours or so, his focus was broken upon hearing her call. "How's it going on your end?" His brow furrowed at the frustrations of the gods that underpaid him. "Well, I fucking hate my bosses even more and I want to strangle my friend for making me responsible, but at least. . . At least you won't feel the wind. The roof and the walls will still leak if it rains, but hey. . . No wind right?" He trudged over, before laying face first into the bar counter.

"To think, they called repairing this crack den a promotion."​

He groaned into the wood. "I used to be deployed as a part of heaven's vanguard. I used to be praised for defending my home. . . And now this?" He lifted his eyes slightly off the surface, being greeted with the same reality wherever he looked. This was no dream. The demon girl that cleaned beside him was there. The dusty glasses, the hole-covered ceiling, and grayed sky outside, all of it was real. "God must hate me. That must be the case. Fucker owed me a favor and repaid it back by giving me a shift in hell."

He grumbled, rolling his head to the side where Lily was. "I would've been fine with anything. . . Nearly anything else but this. Helios could have bought me a beer and I would have considered his debt repaid. . . And I don't even like beer." He lifted his head from the counter again, sweaty from the work he put into the building earlier. ". . . Oh. Forgot to ask you. Why are you here? Given how you look, I wouldn't think this is the right kind of place for someone like you. My first guess is that you'd be working in one of Hell's or Earth's nightclubs. You'd fit there, you know?" He looked at her outfit, before turning towards her face. The amount of work she placed into her aesthetic choices as well as the price of her fashion were far above normal. ". . . Unless, you were forced to be here. Well, it would make sense if you weren't so willing to be kind in the first place."

He walked towards her, reaching to grab the mop beside her to help her clean. "I don't understand why you'd go out of your way to treat me with respect. Any normal demon would have at least thrown an insult or thrown fists by now and yet you. . . You offered to help and you're helping. Either you must be a hallucination, or you're different." He brought his head down to her head level, curious as to her answer. "Tell me. Which is right? If we're going to be forced to work together, the least you'd owe me is your truth."