Tweak

InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "You watch Oprah?"

Username: 
Password:    
Remember Me
  • Create Account
  • IJ Login
  • OpenID Login
Search by : 
  • View
    • Create Account
    • IJ Login
    • OpenID Login
  • Journal
    • Post
    • Edit Entries
    • Customize Journal
    • Comment Settings
    • Recent Comments
    • Manage Tags
  • Account
    • Manage Account
    • Viewing Options
    • Manage Profile
    • Manage Notifications
    • Manage Pictures
    • Manage Schools
    • Account Status
  • Friends
    • Edit Friends
    • Edit Custom Groups
    • Friends Filter
    • Nudge Friends
    • Invite
    • Create RSS Feed
  • Asylums
    • Post
    • Asylum Invitations
    • Manage Asylums
    • Create Asylum
  • Site
    • Support
    • Upgrade Account
    • FAQs
    • Search By Location
    • Search By Interest
    • Search Randomly

Raziel - Fallen Archangel of Secrets and Wisdom ([info]thefirstfallen) wrote in [info]utr_logs,
@ 2011-03-31 16:48:00

Previous Entry  Add to memories!  Tell a Friend!  Next Entry
Entry tags:ariel, raziel

Who: Grumbletwins power activate!
What: Pub time, discussing new names.
Where: One of London's finest alcohol procurement establishments.
When: Tuesday evening.
Warnings: Antiquated snarking and occasional sweary.


Raziel was in a strangely fine mood, all things considered -- while he didn't have the wealth of all the knowledge he once possessed, he had a great deal of his abilities, some he had created, and some he had learned, and with those, he found a way to give to Ariel something of a necessity if he was to be an angel. He spent days pouring through his knowledge of the man, and writing down notes which would work well. He took apart Ariel's human name and found a way in which it would suit an angel, while still containing his meaning. And finally, after nights of sleepless pondering, of an evening spent creating, he'd finally concocted a sigil - brand new, yet still familiar.

He'd used one of his own sigils - of which Raziel had several - to create a new one for his pupil, and who he considered close as a son. when he wrote it down initially, he couldn't help his astonishment when he'd found how brightly it glowed, how it rang with the energy of the alchemist. He then set it into a coin of orihalcum - an alchemic amalgam of copper and gold. Then he realized it had been two months since he'd spent more than a single night in the confines of a city.

He had to congratulate his friend and pupil. Ariel's mundane life was steaming ahead at great speeds, and Raziel was proud of him to find a home -- not only in a physical way, but in the way of a home for his heart -- with Ikuko. But he also had to give to Ariel his new name. So it was only within an hour of returning to London, that he found himself to the now-familiar bar. He walked in, and took the first empty seat near the door, facing it. And he ordered himself a lager.


(Post a new comment)


[info]defectedfromgod
2011-03-31 11:39 pm UTC (link)
Ariel had told Iku where he was headed, and he walked in the door of the pub with strict instructions to come home at least mildly inebriated. He didn't understand why, but it wasn't as if doing so would hurt him.

He saw his mentor after he came back around, and slid into the seat across the table. "Iku sends her regards," Ariel said by way of greeting. "She all but tossed me out of the flat." He smiled faintly.

(Reply to this)


[info]thefirstfallen
2011-03-31 11:57 pm UTC (link)
"Perhaps you've spent too long at her side and she's getting sick of seeing your face," mused Raziel, waving to the bartender to double the order of lager. "Or, far more likely, you've been needing a night out. Congratulations, Ariel, you've found a woman with the spine to push you to enjoy your existence. That should truly be heartening. Oh. And there are ulterior motives, of course, for this meeting. I have something for you."

He pulled from his pocket a small roll of paper and the coin sigil. They, he knew, would ring in vibration to Ariel once the man saw them, a soul-acknowledgment of one's own name. He set them on the table between them.

(Reply to this)


[info]defectedfromgod
2011-04-01 12:12 am UTC (link)
It did resonate with him, and deeply. He'd been about to toss off some silly retort, or some praise for Iku, but it stopped him dead. It was a beat before Ariel even looked up from the coin; it was difficult for him to take his eyes off it. He looked up. "What is this?"

(Reply to this)


[info]thefirstfallen
2011-04-01 12:32 am UTC (link)
Raziel smiled, "You are an angel now, and as such, you are in need of a name, a sign to attribute to you. You know my own sigils well enough by now to make out what this is - your rank and file, however, it is also who you are." He ran his nail over the horizontal line, "The Prince of Thrones, who," Raziel tapped the criss-crossing diagonals, and then the arrow at top, "rose up from his low standing through knowledge with his tutelage of another being, to ascend to heaven. The paper has your true name on it, or what could be it, once my brothers agree to it, which they will. You are Arignel. Close enough to your original human name not to confuse, but far enough from my lost brother's to not cause interference."

(Reply to this)


[info]defectedfromgod
2011-04-01 12:40 am UTC (link)
It was true, Ariel knew the sigils, knew the work and the relevant details like the back of his proverbial hand. He looked down again at the modified sigil, feeling it calling to him, at the depths of his being. "Holy Virgin Mother," Ariel whispered softly. Somehow, it had all seemed a grand lark until now. It didn't mean he was going to stop, or be afraid; it was all just more real now.

(Reply to this)


[info]thefirstfallen
2011-04-01 12:44 am UTC (link)
Raziel nodded to the waitress in thanks as their drinks arrived, handing off the money as Ariel was distracted, and took a sip of his beer before asking, "Are you all right? I do hope you aren't distressed by this."

(Reply to this)


[info]defectedfromgod
2011-04-01 12:53 am UTC (link)
"I'm fine." He managed to get his eyes off the small coin. "It's all right; I knew such a thing would have to happen. I mean, my name is taken." He smiled faintly. "Merely makes it more real. I will wear the name with honor."

(Reply to this)


[info]thefirstfallen
2011-04-01 01:00 am UTC (link)
Raziel smiled faintly, and bowed his head, "It was my honor to bestow it upon you. Of course, it will take some time for me not to call you by your human name, but understand it is not out of patronising that I do it -- merely habit." He took another sip of his beer and then smiled more fully.

"You'll of course, have every opportunity to give yourself more sigils as you continue to grow more comfortable in your position and existence. It is one of the many little hobbies I had, to give sigils to myself and my brothers. Quite a few of the most well known symbols that are attributed to them were created by me, as I knew how to direct power more acutely than any of us. It seems as if I still have that knack."

(Reply to this)


[info]defectedfromgod
2011-04-01 01:03 am UTC (link)
"Understandable ... I daresay I'll forget to respond to it even after it's been approved." Ariel took a pull of his lager. "Is that new? It's quite good." Some things were enhanced by angelic senses; others were simply delights forgotten or newly discovered.

(Reply to this)


[info]thefirstfallen
2011-04-01 01:11 am UTC (link)
"They've had this on tap for as long as I've been here," Raziel said with a chuckle, "You're just experiencing things over again that you hadn't a clue of before. Now, I must know, what do you think of your new home? Paris fits you well, I must admit, but I was more than a little surprised that you decided to move from London." He wondered, idly, how it came to be that Ariel and he were both so alike, even down to their nomadic tendencies. Find a place to learn, settle there, and pick up once there was more to learn elsewhere.

(Reply to this)


[info]defectedfromgod
2011-04-01 01:28 am UTC (link)
"Iku," Ariel said simply. "Well, at least at first. But there's a very pleasing energy about the place, and so many ancient mysteries to find and see. Now that I can speak the language, it seemed like a nice new frontier. I would have wanted Shanghai or somewhere else in Southern China, but they don't take to Japanese people so kindly. Paris was a compromise, I daresay." He'd become enamored of its narrow streets and dignified buildings, though, and their flat was enchanting.

(Reply to this)


[info]thefirstfallen
2011-04-01 01:35 am UTC (link)
"She's told me she looks more Caucasian than most, but I'm sure they'd still have issue with her. Shame that there's such dissent in that part of the world. And careful, Ariel, your love affair with the East may very well make her jealous!" He was clearly joking as he took another sip of his drink, wholly amused. "I haven't spent much time in France, myself; I'd only traveled there for diplomatic reasons. Generally, I stayed in my own Kingdom and sent armies off and the occasional messenger, but I know for a fact that if you would find any city more charming than this one, it would be Paris. I have a dread fascination about their catacombs. I would very much like to tour inside them at some point."

(Reply to this)


[info]defectedfromgod
2011-04-01 01:49 am UTC (link)
"The Chinese and Japanese have been rivals throughout history, and this Second World War I read about clearly didn't help matters." Ariel shook his head - two world wars; awful - but kept on with the reply. "The Catacombs are a part of that city which fascinates me, as well; obviously there's much to be learned from how a civilization handles its dead."

(Reply to this)


[info]thefirstfallen
2011-04-01 02:02 am UTC (link)
"Agreed, though I'm more fascinated by the architecture of it than the way they dealt with bodies. Miles and miles of subterranean caverns, all man-made. In the islands of the Mediterranean, they also had catacombs, but they used natural caves. While France has plenty of caves in which to store their dead, they decided, rather, to cut into the earth and make their own. It's simply fascinating to me how they managed that, in the same way that the pharaohs had their pyramids built. You know the older pyramids were constructed before Eden's existence? Incredible ingenuity, for such a primitive culture."

(Reply to this)


[info]defectedfromgod
2011-04-01 02:10 am UTC (link)
"Before Eden's existence?" Ariel echoed, wide-eyed. "Amazing. I had no idea. I knew that the practice of digging catacombs was widespread; the ancient Irish engaged in it as well. But for it to originate from so far back is ... it boggles the mind." He took another long pull of his drink; it was necessary.

(Reply to this)


[info]thefirstfallen
2011-04-01 02:17 am UTC (link)
"We have only been around, our kind, for six thousand years," Raziel explained, "But the Earth and the people of it have been around for far, far longer. There are beings older than us, predating the Assyrians, even, and although I've never personally met any, I always wished to. I do know, however, that Azrael had a bit of a tryst with the Egyptian god, Bast. You could ask him about them if you wish." He smiled faintly, "I know of them and their stories, but saying that I know them personally would be a bald-faced lie."

(Reply to this)


[info]defectedfromgod
2011-04-01 02:35 am UTC (link)
"That is a bit hard to grasp. The Abrahamic religions forever make like they're the only bastion of civilization." Ariel shrugged, amused. "Azrael and Bast? Was Azrael the first of us, then?" He did seem to have his hand in everything.

(Reply to this)


[info]thefirstfallen
2011-04-01 02:43 am UTC (link)
"It would stand to reason that he is. I cannot be certain of that, nobody really knows. He's certainly the oldest Arch, and always has been. It is ironic that he is also the most youthful, in that right." Raziel had always had suspicions about Azrael, even going so far as to think that he wasn't always angelic, but simply took it upon himself to be, but he generally set those assumptions aside. It did not matter what he was, only that he was family, and trustworthy, if not a little eerie. Even to him, Azrael always seemed to give off a presence of otherness.

"But their romance was after my fall. I am not aware of the details, other than the fact it happened, and that there were children which came of it."

(Reply to this)


[info]defectedfromgod
2011-04-01 02:50 am UTC (link)
He knew the alleged pitfalls of loving anything not angelic, and whistled. "That alone would seem to suggest Azrael is unique." Ariel ordered another round, remembering Iku's teasing order. "We have an acceptable relationship now, though I still find it the height of irony that he of all people distrusted me when he is ... more than an angel, so to speak." He ought either to have had the knowledge, or the foresight, to see otherwise.

(Reply to this)


[info]thefirstfallen
2011-04-01 03:07 am UTC (link)
"He worries. We all do. I'm worried that sometimes, you're too like me in places where you should be... not. I have a feeling that he feels the same way. He is wary of you, Ariel, as he is all of us. He knew I'd fall before I did. He knows what the seeds of corruption look like before they're even planted, and worried that you could not overcome the ones I planted in you back then. We're all worried about that, but I doubt he spent long distrusting you, if he did at all." He shook his head, "However, I must stress to you that loving outside of our kind is not a reason any of us have fallen. Love is the basis of our doctrine, of our very existence. No; it is putting that desire for whatever they've become impassioned about before our duties that the Grigori fell. Bearing children has nothing to do with it, either, at least not specifically."

He'd looked into it in Qing's vast library since it had also been a point of confusion for him.

(Reply to this)


[info]defectedfromgod
2011-04-01 03:14 am UTC (link)
"I understand." At least he thought he did. "In a word, prioritize." He loved Iku, of that he was sure, but he could never allow it to interfere with the sworn duty he'd taken up. It irritated him, but he swallowed it; he'd accepted the job.

(Reply to this)


[info]thefirstfallen
2011-04-01 03:27 am UTC (link)
"And it was only a handful of the Grigori for fell for that reason, as I found out," Raziel mentioned, "Uzza and Kokabiel among them. The others fell due to loyalty. It takes a repetitive mindful desire to eschew their duties for it that made them fall, not a single momentary relapse in responsibility. It requires an angel to forsake their duties quite consciously, as I did, as they did. Having the mindset of either, "I can not" or "I will not" is the basis of it all. Lucifer fell because he refused to set aside his pride. I fell because I refused to teach when I thought humanity incapable of being taught, and my refusal to love them as I loved God, and at least in the cases of Uzza and Kokabiel, they fell because they wished to follow their desires, and not their direct orders." That said, he took a long swig of his lager, pleased by its taste.

"Priorities are a part of it, Ariel, but you are enough like me where if it weren't for your beloved's strong personality, you'd spend an eternity at your experiments and out exploring for more. I very much doubt you'll ever fall for the same reason that the Grigori had. It is the same with my baby brother and his beloved."

(Reply to this)


[info]defectedfromgod
2011-04-01 03:33 am UTC (link)
Ariel nodded. "If anything, I worry my heart is too kind. I understand that crimes must be paid for, but I also see suffering." Perhaps it was as a result of what Raziel had been; Ariel saw truth and justice, or at least where justice was lacking. He did try to joke a bit, though. "Clearly, I need more beer." He downed half of it; he was starting to feel the beginning of a pleasant buzz.

(Reply to this)


[info]thefirstfallen
2011-04-01 03:48 am UTC (link)
"If anything, I worry that your heart is not half as intelligent as your mind and winds up getting you into a heavy portion of the idiotic shit you got yourself into to begin with," pointed out the fallen angel, who got a wry grin. "As do we both, I think. It was a rather amusing trick I did to come up with Arignel for you. It does mean something - I'll get to that in a minute - but I took your name, minus your Christian name, the middle one, and took out all repeating letters. It left me with this. While Ariel means Lion of God, Arignel, or in Enochian, Orgnel," and when he pronounced it that way, it resonated just as it would have in Angelic, "means Power of God. Power in the sense of energy or magic, of course."

(Reply to this)


[info]defectedfromgod
2011-04-01 03:55 am UTC (link)
"Very neat." Ariel said approvingly. "Repeating letters, of course, often camouflaging the true meaning of a word, at least in Enochian. You remind me of Dr. Dee's notes, in truth; his repeating code drove me off my head in some of my last months in China." He shook his head; John Dee's cryptograms were an old favorite of alchemy masters. "I never would have come up with his formula for copper ink had I not gotten stupidly lucky." Well, he wasn't sure how much of it was luck anymore, but nonetheless. Ah, memories.

(Reply to this)


[info]thefirstfallen
2011-04-01 04:02 am UTC (link)
"I truly feel badly that I never got to meet the man in person, because he seemed to grasp the ideals quite well, after a great period of time. He would have greatly benefited to have learned from a true master, instead of incomplete, often incorrect sources. But I suppose by then, the poor old man would have entirely disregarded me. I wasn't quite as bad back in his day as I was in yours, but I was still corrupt." He shrugged absently and took another drink, finally feeling the effects of the potent lager.

(Reply to this)


[info]defectedfromgod
2011-04-01 04:10 am UTC (link)
"His works are fascinating. Even with what I know now, it's amazing how much he did get right." Ariel finished his second and ordered a third; after this one he figured he'd taken the road to inebriation. He had to chuckle. "Iku told me to come home mildly in my cups. Perhaps she simply likes taking care of me." He shrugged. "Once our flat is unpacked, we'd be pleased to have you and Astarte to dinner some evening." He didn't even mention wards; he knew that went without saying.

(Reply to this)


[info]thefirstfallen
2011-04-01 04:15 am UTC (link)
"Oh, Ariel, you utter, silly twit," Raziel said with a roll of his eyes and a sly, amused grin, "You truly are quite virginal in certain trains of thought." He had a fairly good guess why Ikuko could possibly want the alchemist tipsy, one that he didn't really feel like imagining in any great detail, but one he knew well enough from his time using drunken desires and supersensitivity to his own advantages. "But yes, dinner sounds lovely. I will tell Astarte of those plans."

(Reply to this)


[info]defectedfromgod
2011-04-01 04:31 am UTC (link)
As soon as his mentor said virginal, Ariel got the general gist and turned pink, like clockwork. All he said was (he hoped) a diplomatic, "Good, we'd be pleased to have you ... and Iku keeps me on my toes."

(Reply to this)



Home | Site Map | Manage Account | TOS | Privacy | Support | FAQs