InsaneJournal

It had been a long time since the last time Katou had jammed with anyone, longer since he’d done it sober. He hadn’t really realized how badly he’d missed it until Rory had mentioned that she’d played punk music too. He’d bought a guitar not long after Hades had replaced his arm, and he’d been practicing by himself these last few months.

He brought it with him, slung over his shoulder just in case, even though he was pretty sure he’d mostly be on the drums today. He actually kind of liked the drums, if he was being honest; there was something carthritic about being able to just hit things for a couple of hours, and boy, did Katou ever feel like hitting things these days.

He glanced around the practice space when he arrived, and headed toward the drum kit, leaning his guitar case against the wall. “Nice set up you got here.”

Rory’s apartment was located in Lux, almost to the top. It wasn’t quite the penthouse, that was where her dad resided, but it was the next floor down. Her space expanded through the entire floor, the elevator opening up into a sort of welcome room, or arrival room. It offered more privacy than her dad's space, which led the person directly into the main living area.

The space itself was quite large, with floor to ceiling windows offering pristine views of the Vallo skyline. If Katou had paid attention as she brought him through her space towards her sound-proof practice room, he would have noted a small personal bar, coffee station set up, a rather large entertainment set up, a small library corner, and an endless display of artwork, band and movie posters, and more.

The practice space was located as far away from her bedroom, which was closed off, as you could get. It too at the windows with a view. Inside she did indeed have a nice set up, with her drum kit, guitar, bass guitar, and piano already set up. It was essentially where they permantitley lived.

“Thanks.” she said as she closed the door to the practice room behind them, and flicked on the switch to the room. “It’s mostly my design.” With help from people who knew a lot more about soundproofing than she did. “Take a look.” she said, motioning that he should feel free to poke around at the set, and feel free to test anything out. She assumed he knew how to play, so she also assumed he could be trusted around her instruments and equipment.

Katou glanced at the movie posters and the artwork, but if he had anything to say about them, he kept it to himself. He wondered though, if maybe Hades and Persephone might let him hang some stuff up on his walls. He’d never really had anywhere to do that sort of thing before and so had never thought much about it.

Instead, he took a seat behind the drumset, and picked up the sticks, and started hitting things, more to test the reach so he could adjust the kit to better suit him.

“So, is Luci your old man?” he asked, moving the crash cymbal closer to him.

The only people she’d ever heard call Lucifer that name was incredibly limited. Like, one person. She looked up, slightly surprised by it. “Technically Luci is a hellhound, but yeah, Lucifer is my dad.” It was less of a shocking or weird statement here in Vallo, people knew who Lucifer Morningstar was, and knew he was an actual version of the Devil. There didn’t seem to be much of an issue with that.

She picked up her guitar from its stand, plugging it in and getting herself situated with it. “Do you know him?” He’d been around longer than she was, and it wasn’t like Rory kept track of his connections.

“Sorta,” Katou said, frowning a little too himself as he adjusted the bass drum pedal, looking down at his feet as he shifted it. “I tried to kill him when I first showed up here. He wasn’t my Lucifer though, so I figured I’d cut him some slack. Came by a few times after that for drinks.”

Rory huffed a laugh, a smile tugging at her lips as she carefully tuned her guitar. She seemed entirely unbothered at the idea that Katou had tried to kill Lucifer. Clearly, it had been unsuccessful, so at this point it was irrelevant. “Yeah that seems to be a recurring thing for him.” she said with a shrug. “I tried to kill him when I met him too.”


“Who’d have thought that Lucifer would wind up pissing off a whole much of people?” Katou asked with a quirk of his lips. “I take it you guys are on better terms now?”

He wasn’t terribly surprised that she’d tried to kill her father: Katou knew a thing or two about having a rocky relationship with your parents. But the fact that she had shacked up above his bar made it seem like they were at least on cordial terms now, if not great ones.

“Yep.” Rory confirmed with a nod as she tuned the strings, eyes on her instrument but still focusing on the conversation. “I was missing half the story. He wasn’t quite the asshole I thought he was.” It was a long story, but she had all the information now, and he had managed to change her mind. “But that’s not to say he isn’t annoying as hell sometimes.” she added with a smirk. “He still pisses people off even if he isn’t actually evil.”

“Guess when the story goes back as far back as Lucifer’s, it’s kinda hard to get the whole deal.” Even Michael, who’d been Lucifer’s twin brother back in Katou’s world, hadn’t had the whole story. He wondered if there was anyone who had.

But he didn’t want to think about his Lucifer. It hurt too much. It was too infuriating. And so he pounded out a quick drum lick, fast and angry, to get his mind off of him.

“But at least he’s annoying in an entertaining way. So, what kinda punk music do you listen to anyway?”

“Not even that far- just as far enough to before I was born.” she said with a shrug, but that wasn’t important now, and it wasn’t worth getting into. It was resolved.

“Nothing that seems to exist in this world at this time.” she said with a sigh. “My favorite artist is Clover. She doesn’t exist here, except for the collection I have from home.” which was annoying as hell, every time she turned on a playlist or a station, it was always oldies. “I wasn’t born until 2022, so most of the artists I listen to don’t have careers yet. I like some of the older stuff though. But genres, Anarcho, Hardcore, Riot Grrrl, fusions. I won’t say no to hard rock, or ska. What about you?”

“Really?” Katou asked, blinking in surprise. He frowned, looking up at the ceiling for a moment, doing the mental math. “You know, I’d be like, forty by the time you was born,” he said after a moment, paused for a moment, and said, “You know, if we was from the same universe. And if I hadn’t died when I was seventeen.”

Katou tried not to think about the whole ‘different times’ thing, because he knew there was no way someone like him was ever going to make sense of it, but sometimes it still struck him. Like now, or the fact that El was technically older than him, if you went by birth year.

“Same for a lot of it. Hardcore, but like, hardcore from my time and not whatever the hell they’re calling hardcore now.” He’d tried to listen to some of the ‘hardcore’ playlists on Spotify, and had hated almost all of them. “You know, like 7 Seconds, Black Flag, Blood for Blood. Slang if you ever heard of them.” They were a Japanese band though, and he didn’t think much Japanese punk was known outside of Japan. “Anachro, riot grrrl shit ain’t so bad. I’m not gonna complain if someone throws on Bikini Kill or whatever. If I’m gonna listen to ska, it’s usually like, Operation Ivy or Against All Authority, unless I’m at a party, but hard rock ain’t bad, and some metal, like, thrash or old school heavy metal.”

Rory arched an eyebrow when he spoke about his death. Ouch. That was young. “Then you showed up here? I didn’t realize you were that young.” not that it mattered really, a chance to play music was a chance to play music. “But yeah, I’m from the future. But by human standards I look very young for my age.”

She listened to him rattle off bands, nodding as he went. “I have heard of them, though I won’t claim to be an expert to know their songs. I spent some time in Japan in my thirties.” She spent some time all over the world in her twenties and thirties, to be fair. “I am familiar with all those bands, though they’re all inactive in my time.” or dead, but that’s what happened when you were from the future. Or immortal. “When you have as much time as I do, I guess you do a lot of musical exploration.”

“No, then I died a couple more times and got the grand tour of Heaven and Hell. Anyway, I might be eighteen now.” Which obviously made all the difference. “Assuming corpses still age.” He wasn’t entirely sure if he could still age, but at least at eighteen he could actually, legally drink in Vallo.

He frowned, tilting his head at Rory as he took her measure again. “All the angels and demons I knew back home looked like they were in their teens or in their twenties. I’d ask if it was the same where you’re from, except for the fact that Luci looks pretty damn old. Just how old are ya?”

“I’m not sure it’s about physical age, I haven’t aged physically in decades. If you’re 18, you’re 18.” But maybe that was a very celestial way to look at things. Mortals had a different outlook on age, maybe even if they weren’t necessarily mortal anymore.

Rory’s mouth quirked up into a half smile, “They all look different ages in my world. The Angel of Death could pass as younger than me. You don’t really see any who look much older than dad though.” She kind of assumed they all chose what age they wanted to emulate, and most went for something that would let them blend in with humans in their prime. “Around fifty.” she said with a shrug. “I keep it vague because a young version of my mom has been in Vallo a few times, and I can’t let her piece too much of the timeline together if she comes back.”

“Uri could?” Katou asked, tilting his head, frowning. He knew that Rory’s father was different than his Lucifer, so it would make sense that, if there were an Uriel in her world, that he’d look different too, but he couldn’t actually imagine the seven-foot-tall angel looking younger than Rory. He’d been among the older looking angels, looking to be in his late twenties.

Rory quirked an eyebrow, then shook her head, “No, Azrael is the Angel of Death in my world. Uriel is…” well, he was dead, she didn’t know the full story, it had something to do with the rebellion and the war that went down before she was born. “Uriel is dead in my world. I think he had something to do with souls, but not death.”

Katou wasn’t quite able to keep the stricken look off his face. It wasn’t his Uriel. He was probably as different from his Uriel as this Lucifer was from his own, but it didn’t stop the image of his Uriel, dead or dying, from flashing through his mind. “I don’t think I know no Azrael in my world,” he said slowly, though his frown morphed into a grin, slow and mischievous. “Unless you’re counting Raziel, who does look pretty young. He’s way too cute to be the Angel of Death any time soon though. No one would ever wanna leave Hades if he were in charge."

“Nah, Raziel is a different angel, dad’s sister.” Rory said with a brief shake of her head. “Badass too. One hell of a fighter.” The corner of her mouth twitched into a brief smile at the phrase that her aunt probably wouldn’t appreciate. “Definitely wouldn’t ever call her cute to her face…or anywhere she might hear or find out. Though Hades? Like the Greek gods' domain?” She had to wonder what that had to do with the realms of Heaven and Hell.

“My Raz might be a bit of a badass too,” he said. “Cute enough that you wouldn’t expect it though. I’ll kill you if you tell him though, if he ever shows up here.” He flashed her a grin. “Anyway, Hades is like… it doesn’t have actual Hades in it. It’s Uriel’s domain in my world. Angel souls go there when they die, but sometimes the odd human soul finds its way there too. It’s where I ended up when I died.”

Rroy didn’t seem remotely bothered by his joking threat, just arching an eyebrow and shaking her head. Death threats were not new to her, and this one wasn’t serious (she assumed) so it rolled off her shoulders without another passing thought. “So then when what’s the point of Heaven and Hell? Is Hades like a purgatory?” The plan was to jam, but this was pretty intriguing. Rory would try not to get distracted past this point, but she did want to figure out what that difference was. Because that was…well…weird. What was the point of Hades, and did actual Hades exist or no?”

"Heaven and Hell are – were – where people lived. Angels up in heaven, obviously, and demons down below, and humans in the middle on Earth." He leaned back in the stool, staring up at the ceiling. "I didn't really pay much attention since who cares, right? Ain't got nothing to do with me. But heaven had seven layers, the lowest ones where all the poor angels. You know, the ones that qGod fucked up when he was making, or where people would hide the angels that came about when a mommy angel and a daddy angel loved each other very much. Or just fucked, I guess. Then you got the prison, and after that you get the more powerful angels and like, angel government. And with Hell, you got the opposite. You got the weaker, more reasonable demons up top. The first layer is Gehenna, and that's where our little Kurai and her kingdom were before human pollution fucked it all up. And then lower down you got all the powerful fucked up demons, and the seven Satans – the angels that decided to fall with Lucifer.

"But Hell was all made up of Lucifer's body, so when…" Katou grimaced, changed tracks, "when Lucifer came back to his body, the whole thing collapsed. Just, bam," he smashed his palms together. "Totally decimated the bottom few levels of Heaven."

Rory was silent for a beat after he finished his explanation, unsure to even process half of what that was saying in comparison to the Heaven (and sort of Hell) that she knew. “That’s fucked up.” She finally settled on, still staring at him. “No offense. But that sounds like some bullshit. The one thing I’ve found so far in this reality is that my realities Heaven and Hell appears to be the least fucked up. Somehow.” Which was saying a lot, because drama followed celestials and demons. “In my reality you have Uncle A, who’s the new God because the OG God retired. There’s different types of angels, sure, but Uncle A sort of elevated all of them and socialized them with humanity to get a better understanding of how humans work, so they could share the load with him. The Silver City is…well, paradise. There’s no low levels.” She was personally offended by the idea of angel babies somehow being poor.

“And Hell is…well, Hell, it’s a realm that dad rules. Time loops are everyone's biggest regret for humans. Sure there’s higher ranking demons and different levels of hell, but somehow you made it sound even worse.” Rory shook her head, she’d rather not any of that sink too far into her mind. “With dad’s Hell there’s at least a way out for souls.” She also had no idea what Gehenna had to do with Hell, or who or what Kurai was.

“Anyway, that’s enough of Hell talk. You ready to play?"

"Fucked up's putting it lightly." Honestly, the whole thing had probably been some sort of sick fantasy of Gods. The angels, to him, had been experiments: some of them had worked out okay, but others like Astaroth, who has two beings in a single body – were beyond fucked. Every angel had been given the capacity to love and had been expressly forbidden to feel it, and every angel Katou'd met had been some level of insane. It was no wonder, really, that life on Assiah had been so shitty.

"Luci was telling me a bit about your world; it sounds kinda nice. We were on our way to kill God when I… when I ended up here. So, you know, hope that works out for them. He probably ain't planning on retiring any time soon and the dude is fucked."

But yeah, Katou was more than willing to move on from that particular topic. He ran a hand through his hair, pulling it from his face, and grinned. "Let's go."