Adam Young (justatitle) wrote in colligo_threads, @ 2010-10-13 13:23:00 |
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Entry tags: | !@event, !closed, #complete, *narrative, adam young, elaine belloc |
WHO: Adam Young and Elaine Belloc
WHAT: Adam made the Roadhouse zombie-free. Elaine isn't pleased.
WHEN: Set immediately after this and before this.
WHERE: Harvelle's Roadhouse [the rooftop].
RATING: PG (if that)
STATUS: Complete; narrative
Half an hour. An hour tops. That's the longest that Adam could promise he could keep the zombies at bay. Not because they were more powerful than he was. They weren't. Not because he couldn't just will them to never come into the Roadhouse for the duration of their time in Colligo. He could. However he could only promise that short amount of time because, while he was more powerful than the zombies, and while he could alter reality to his whim, there were still rules in place. Granted they were rules that had been created when he was eleven, and they were rules he'd never really tried breaking in any significant fashion since they were put into place, but they were still rules. And as long as there were beings of equal or greater power than himself in Colligo, he wasn't going to risk it.
Except, he decided as he went from the parking lot of Harvelle's to the rooftop in the blink of an eye, apparently he'd risked it more than he thought. As he turned to find Elaine hovering a few feet away, a stern look on her face aimed directly at him, Adam decided he not only had risked breaking the rules, he'd apparently smashed them into tiny bits and then buried them at separate points within the city.
"Half an hour."
The words were coupled with a soft sigh. Adam slid his hands into the pockets of his jacket and met the Presence's gaze. "Maybe an hour, if folks don't get a move on. I'm not interfering that much in an hour," he added reasonably.
Elaine didn't seem to agree.
"Your deal is a simple one, Adam. No interfering in the natural order of thi-"
"When did zombies become part of the natural order of anything?" The question was asked with a touch of heat behind it, Adam's eyes narrowing slightly in frustration. His hands balled into fists inside his pockets. Did he know that interrupting God wasn't a smart move? Of course. Did he care at the moment? No. No he didn't.
Fortunately, Elaine didn't seem to mind very much either. She simply waited until he fell silent again then spoke once more.
"You can't use your will like that. There are consequence., checks and balances in place, and if you just start doing whatever you want it's going to be one giant mess." There was something in her tone, something that caught Adam's attention far more than her beginnings of a lecture. It was what she wasn't saying that he found most intriguing. So much so that he didn't bother to cut her off this time but let her say what she wanted to say, considering his response well before she'd finished.
"-responsibilities that might not be very fair but that's just the way it is and you can't just break your word with the Presence because you feel like it!"
Tuning in just as she finished, Adam once more shot her a dark look. Above them, clouds began to gather and thunder rumbled ominously. Adam forced himself to breathe calmly, only speaking once the weather had lightened a bit. The tension was still there; ready to snap at any moment. He doubted it would go away until this little scolding was finished. Which would happen much faster, the rational part of his mind (that sounded quite a bit like Aziraphale) pointed out, if he would stop arguing. However he hadn't really done anything wrong, or so hissed the other small voice in his mind (this one was a dead-ringer for Crowley), and the deal was extremely outdated. He wasn't a child anymore and didn't appreciate being treated like one.
"Look."
His own tone was sharp and, had he used it around almost anyone else it would have guaranteed him their immediate attention. Elaine simply settled for crossing her arms over her chest and huffing as she waited for him to continue. He did, although he purposefully lightened his tone a little. Risking her wrath by helping his friends was one thing. Risking her wrath just because he was pissed off was something else entirely.
"They just needed a bit of time to get their wits about them. Aside from helping kill the zombies – without use of my will, I might add – I'm not going to get involved again." It was a true enough statement. At least, at the moment. There was always a chance something would happen to change his mind. There was a pretty good chance of it, actually. But unless the rules had changed significantly and no one had told him, nobody could fault him for what might happen.
Elaine, though, looked as though she wasn't sure she agreed with that mindset. Head tilted ever so slightly and mouth tugged downward into a thoughtful frown, she met Adam's gaze for what felt like an eternity. Distantly, the Antichrist realized that there wasn't another sound anywhere else. The zombies in the distance were silent. The low hum of traffic faded into nothingness. Not even the constant yapping of a local's dog that had been going at it for hours could be heard. There was nothing but absolute silence.
And it frightened Adam in a way he'd never really experienced before.
Palms sweaty, stomach knotting up, he idly wondered if he'd gone too far. The version of God from Ben's reality had hardly paid him any attention at all. The version of God from Loki's reality had always given him the benefit of the doubt. This version, though, was an unknown. She was young, inexperienced, and in her natural form had less power than him. This meant that she was just as likely to 'slip' with her abilities as he was with his own. A dangerous combination, to be certain, and one he'd rather avoid now that he was thinking with a bit more of his head and less with his heart.
Fortunately, for his pride at least, before Adam could even consider backtracking, Elaine finally spoke.
"Fine." The dog's barking returned, as did the honking and screeching of tires from the road. The groans from the walking undead slowly filtered up toward them. Adam, however, kept her gaze and didn't even think of breathing so soon. Not until Elaine's bare feet landed softly on the rooftop and the scowl was replaced with an unreadable expression that could almost pass for warily amused.
"Don't do it again," she stated finally. Her tone was back to normal, the power behind it fading as quickly as it had appeared. "I don't like having to fuss. It isn't very much fun." And with that, and a small waggle of her fingers in his direction, Elaine disappeared from sight.
Adam stood there for a few minutes longer and did his best to compose himself. He wasn't happy. He was pretty livid, actually. Yet he didn't know how much of that was his wounded (admittedly rather oversized) pride and how much of that was due to him actually feeling as though he was being unfairly judged. It didn't really matter, of course. It wasn't as though he could do much of anything about it. But he wasn't happy and, until he was able to at least stop scowling, he had every intention of staying on the roof and away from everyone inside the Roadhouse.
Or until their hour was up, whichever came first. After all, Elaine had told him not to do it again. She hadn't said a thing about whether or not he could see his current meddling through to the end. The way he saw it, an oversight on her part wasn't his problem. If she didn't like the way he interpreted the agreement made with Emmanuelle so very long ago, well, she was free to speak up again. And again. And again. Because it didn't matter what happened, or how displeased she was, there was nothing - not even God Herself – that was going to keep him from ensuring his friends survived this situation.
Even if protecting them meant taking on Heaven and the currently somewhat hypocritical deity in charge of it.