InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Define: Truth"

Daemon Sadi (consort_sadist) wrote in outoftimerp,
@ 2012-08-05 07:12:00

Current mood:	tired
Entry tags:	active, closed, .location: diner, daemon sadi, jack harkness

I would walk 500 miles, and I would walk 500 more just to get that cup of coffee.
Characters: Daemon Sadi and Jack Harkness
Rating: PG or PG-13 at the highest. I think.
Trigger Warnings: N/A
Location: Diner
Day and time: Friday, 24 June, noon-ish
Status: Closed

For the record, nine in the morning was too early for anyone to be contacting a man who didn't sleep until seven. Daemon would go so far as to call it cruel and unusual punishment, but hey. Whatever. It was eleven, he'd slept a grand total of four hours, and it was time to face the day. Damn.

An hour later, he was showered and dressed in his usual black slacks, and white silk shirt, but it was one of his father's sweaters that he wore over it. Overly shiny black shoes and his Jewels completed the outfit. He was protected. It would have to suffice. He wrote a quick note for Saetan, though he doubted it would be necessary, and made his way to the diner. Jack had promised coffee, after all...

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foreverjack
2012-08-05 03:04 pm UTC (link)

Okay, for a start, if Daemon was going to get grumpy about being woken by a message, he'd better start thinking twice before sending out his own messages at three am. For another thing, Jack had got used to Saetan being awake at all sorts of odd hours and had so far been given no evidence that Daemon would be any different. For a third, he had offered to wait until evening; it was Daemon who'd refused that...

He wasn't really aware that he'd annoyed Daemon, though. He was used to be on call at any time of the night or day himself that he kind of assumed that anyone else who took on a similar role would be the same. He just headed for the diner at the appropriate time and got himself a cup of coffee and was about to sit down to wait for Daemon when the man himself arrived, looking rather gorgeous and so like his father it was a bit spooky. Jack smiled, and gestured towards the machine. "Hey. What can I get you?"

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consort_sadist
2012-08-06 02:59 am UTC (link)

Well, he wasn't being grumpy at anyone. Just for the record. He'd gotten his normal amount of sleep, so everything was better. Sort of. It'd be better after he sucked down the elixir of life.

Slipping inside, Daemon tucked his hands into his pockets. He didn't smile, and actually looked rather bored -- his default when in an unfamiliar situation that he wasn't sure he could trust. "Just. Coffee. Black coffee."

And then? Then he was sitting. Hair spilled into his face, but he tucked it back. He'd need a haircut soon. Not a problem. Manners could wait until he felt a little less jetlagged.

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foreverjack
2012-08-06 10:27 am UTC (link)

Okay... Not quite as polite and amenable as Saetan, apparently, but Jack could deal with that. He'd worked with a lot of people far worse than that in his time (Owen springing to mind as a prime example, closely followed by the Doctor). He nodded, paid for and poured another cup of coffee, and brought both coffees over to Daemon. He set them both on the table, pushed the sugarless one across to Daemon and sat down, sprawling just a little as was his way.

"Okay, so - good to meet you in person at last," he began, because he'd been curious to meet Daemon face to face ever since their last phone conversation. "Things... kinda got away from us, didn't they?"

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consort_sadist
2012-08-06 11:08 am UTC (link)

Hold on, Jack. He was drinking that first, glorious mouthful of bitter black coffee. He'd made better, but this was perfect for right now. His little moan of contentment might be an indicator of how pleased he was to have coffee in his reach.

"I would say so, yes. Many things happened, and we never quite got the opportunity to rectify what we were missing. For my part in that, I apologize." Mm. More coffee, and cuddling into Saetan's sweater, a little bit.

"Regardless, it's nice to finally meet the man behind the video messages. Daemon Sadi, Warlord Prince." The introduction was unnecessary, considering that they'd spoken more than once, but hey -- pleasantries. Told you he was nicer when coffee was in his system. ...slightly.

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foreverjack
2012-08-06 06:42 pm UTC (link)

Jack’s lips twitched at that coffee-induced moan – a very familiar reaction to coffee from himself too! He took a tiny sip of his own but it was a little too hot for comfort just yet. The aroma in itself was pleasing, though. It didn’t match up to Ianto’s coffee, of course, but it wasn’t bad nonetheless.

“No need to apologise – I’ve been just as busy,” he smiled, and cocked an eyebrow at the title. “What does ‘Warlord Prince’ actually mean, in this case? I mean, I know what Saetan does – roughly – but what’s your job description back home?”

He was asking for more than just the sake of idle curiosity. He wanted to make sure of who Daemon really was before he shared too much of his admittedly meagre information.

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consort_sadist
2012-08-07 03:57 am UTC (link)

HE shook his head. "Warlord Prince, Warlord, Prince, Black Widow, Healer, witch, Priestess, and Queen are castes among our people -- the Blood. My father and I are Warlord Princes; we answer only to Queens, and in this case, we answer only to my fiancee.

"A Warlord Prince is born and bred to protect, serve, and obey. Those are our instincts, in that order. We are quick to rise to rage, but as long as our temper runs hot, we can be pulled away. But once the anger goes cold, we ride the killing edge, and that- that is the state that I spent the better part of my seventeen centuries existing in. That state is how I earned the nickname 'the Sadist.'" He looked down into his coffee, frowning a little bit.

"I'm the Warlord Prince of Dhemlan Kaeleer, and the Consort of the Queen of the Dark Court. I am, effectively, the ruler of Dhemlan, but Jaenelle's orders supersede mine always." A pause while he downed the remains of his coffee, and then he reached for a napkin, unconcerned with exposing his long, black-tinted fingernails.

"Do you have a pen, perchance? I think, in order to understand what I'm telling you about my role, Saetan's, Jaenelle's, and my brother Lucivar's, you need to see the visual representation that all Blood males learn when they are very young."

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foreverjack
2012-08-07 05:21 pm UTC (link)

Jack’s eyebrows went up at the mention of seventeen centuries; for some reason, despite knowing how ancient Saetan was, he hadn’t thought about the fact that Daemon was probably a good proportion of that age too. Once again, he felt rather insignificant in the face of so much time lived.

“So basically, Saetan rules Hell and you rule the Earth side of things?” Jack asked, trying to make sure he had it right, as he fished in his coat pocket for a pen. He passed it across to Daemon – a fountain pen, because in some things Jack was obstinately old-fashioned – and leaned back, studying the other man with clear blue eyes.

“Seventeen centuries – long time to spend angry,” he commented lightly, because he knew what that could do to a man and he was interested to see how it had affected Daemon. What he meant by being nicknamed ‘the Sadist’.

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consort_sadist
2012-08-07 11:42 pm UTC (link)

His father was over fifty thousand years old. Daemon was a child by comparison. Still, he felt so very old sometimes. "Saetan has dominion over the demon-dead, yes -- those who have yet to become nothing more than a whisper in the Darkness. And mine is over those who still live in my Territory."

He took the pen, frowning at it, but shook his head as he drew a napkin close. "The triangle has four sides. The father," he said as he drew the first line of the equilateral triangle, "the lover," as he drew his side, touching in the top corner but angled apart as a proper triangle, "and the brother between." He drew the line that represented Lucivar to form the base of the triangle. "But most important is the witch that holds them together." That line went from the center of the base to the top triangle.

"Consort, Steward, First Escort, and Queen. The lover is the father's mirror. Do you understand?" That had been a difficult lesson for him to learn and be reminded of by Tersa. She had been a powerful Black Widow once, but now... Well, she walked roads that no one but she could see. "The power and control flows constantly between the four of us, and yet we are all balanced. Separate, and my father, brother and I are equal, but without Witch to bind us together, we are useless."

He breathed deeply, lifting his chin. "It was a very long time to spend angry. And I have yet to completely overcome all of it." One thousand, seven hundred years is a lot of torture, rape, and abuse to overcome. "When you spend as long as I did forced into slavery, being a pleasure slave in a realm wherein the Queens who ruled would have a man castrated purely because they felt like it, with a Ring of Obedience around your balls just in case she wanted to torture you a little more..." He's sure the basic idea can be garnered here.

"If I didn't learn how to protect myself even while being strictly obedient, I never would have survived. The bitches got what they wanted, but never again would they ask for Hayll's whore to be delivered to them to play with." His hands very nearly shook when he handed Jack's pen back, and then he took a single black cigarette from a pocket and placed it between his lips. A tongue of witch fire lit it up so that he could smoke. Usually, he smoked because it gave him something to do. But this time, it was just because if he didn't, he'd do something terrible.

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foreverjack
2012-08-08 07:50 am UTC (link)

Jack followed the drawing and the explanation attentively and nodded. He still didn't understand much about mystical things like this, but he'd learned over the last few years that they could have a lot more power than he'd ever have given credit for before that. And the concept of balance was certainly something he was a lot more familiar – and comfortable – with.

"So does being here without your witch and your brother affect your power?" he asked curiously, eyes flicking up at Daemon. And then he fell silent as Daemon went on to elaborate on what had caused that rage lasting seventeen centuries, once again feeling insignificant in comparison. What was his one year on the Valiant, or even his eighteen hundred years buried beneath Cardiff, compared to that?

"I'm sorry," he said softly, his eyes lifting to Daemon's again. "I can hardly imagine how one survives something like that." He took his pen back and watched the tremor of Daemon's hands as he lit up. "How recent was that, for you?" he asked, because he was honestly impressed with how well Daemon appeared to be handling it.

With the emphasis on 'appeared to be'.

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consort_sadist
2012-08-08 08:29 am UTC (link)

He shook his head at that, taking a long drag off his cigarette and blowing the smoke to the side before looking at Jack again. "No. Jaenelle and Lucivar help keep Saetan and I balanced, give us a way to channel our tempers and center ourselves. Without her, we're forced to rely on each other." Unfortunately, that meant that their tempers ran far sharper than they normally would; it's more difficult for another Warlord Prince to make a Warlord Prince see reason than it is for a Queen to make a Warlord Prince see reason.

"It was almost fifteen years ago that I unleashed the Black, shattering the Ring of Obedience so that I could get her out of that place. I couldn't save her from the vicious rape that nearly shattered her chalice and cost her her life, but I got her out of there, and she let her body heal. I walked the Twisted Kingdom for seven years, locked in the madness of my own mind, and spent another five years after that trying to get to Kaeleer to destroy Saetan. I'd thought he was responsible for her death."

It still broke him that he'd thought Saetan had allowed her to destroy herself to save him. It still broke him that he couldn't remember Cassandra's Altar and that the only reason he knew he wasn't the one to rape her was that he'd been told so. He couldn't remember.

Shaking his head, Daemon forced a deep breath. "I've spent my entire life controlling my temper, my emotions, pretending to be weak when I needed to appear so, and letting my power loose when there was no other way to survive. I risked my family's hatred so that my fiancee could do what needed to be done, and she was the only one who knew until recently. Now..." Well. Now, he had nothing but his father. It was his worst nightmare come back to life.

But no. He wasn't being tortured. He wasn't being raped. He wasn't being slowly broken, bit by bit, until there was nothing left but the Twisted Kingdom. It was different. This would not be his life in Terreille again.

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foreverjack
2012-08-08 10:11 am UTC (link)

Jack nodded at the explanation. He knew all about needing someone to keep you centred, and someone to help you release your emotions sometimes in order to control them the rest of the time. "Let me know if there's anything I can do to help the two of you there," he murmured. "Is it better for Saetan now you're here, or harder?"

A lot of Daemon's story resonated with him. He might not have been through the same things, but he'd been through enough to know how hard such things could be to live with. But Daemon seemed to be dealing a lot better than might have been expected. Jack let out a slow breath and finally began to relax.

Leaning back in his seat, he spread his hands slightly and asked, with a faint smile, "So, I know all about you now. Is there anything you wanted to ask about me, or has Saetan filled you in now?"

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consort_sadist
2012-08-08 11:12 am UTC (link)

He nodded once. The offer was appreciated, and might even be accepted sometime, but...probably not. No one but the Blood understood fully what a Warlord Prince who wore the Black could do to a person if he wanted to. "I can't say for certain, but I think things are easier. For three months, he was alone. He had no one to center him, and there was not a single member of the Blood here with whom he could share the psychic connection that, in part, makes us what we are."

His father also hadn't had a lover until Daemon showed up, but that wasn't something he was going to say out loud. Absolutely not.

"I apologize. I didn't intend to recount nearly two thousand years of personal history, but I suppose it was necessary for you to understand the world that we come from." With a very, very faint smile, Daemon shrugged. "What is there to know, Jack Harkness? I know so very little about you. You're somewhat a leader of these people, you're very old, and relatively immortal. That is what I know."

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foreverjack
2012-08-08 11:48 am UTC (link)

Jack nodded, accepting that he probably wasn't what they needed, but knowing he had to make the offer anyway. He smiled wryly. "You know, I did offer to let your father share his psychic connection with me..." His gaze turned distant as he remembered how wonderful that brief psychic contact had felt after so long stranded on Earth without it. "But he wouldn't have any of it. I think he laughed at me, actually."

His grin showed that he hadn't taken offence at that, though.

"And honestly, don't apologise - I asked, because I wanted to know. Your world is very different from mine and you have to understand I'm naturally a bit wary pf new people with lots of power. I like to know what I'm dealing with and whether I need to take any steps just in case things go wrong."

Which in itself should tell Daemon a good deal about what sort of man Jack Harkness was.

He grinned again at Daemon's description of him. "I'd hardly say 'very old'. I'm a positive baby compared to most of the other immortals here! I am properly immortal, though, so I'll probably outlive just about everyone here in the end." Which was a sobering thought. He really hoped he'd get back home before that happened! "And yeah, I try to look out for the people here. I've been here - or at least, trapped, though the worlds keep changing - just about longer than anyone else so I know a lot of folks, plus there are a good few I knew before too. I try to be the guy people can call on for help when they need it."