sauntereddownward | (no subject)

"I'd have to think on it," Crowley replied, looking thoughtful. "My angel has a bookshop. He loves that, has had it for years. Me? I've never been able to stick with one thing for long. We shall see what happens."

"I dunno if you're talking about your boyfriend or an actual angel," Fin admitted, rocking back in his chair a little.

"Oh, erm, well...an actual angel, of course. My counterpart. Nemesis, really. Grand enemies in the fight between Heaven and Hell."

He paused briefly.

"He is certainly not my boyfriend."

"You don't talk about him like an enemy," Fin pointed out. "I mean, you talk about him like he's yours."

"That's because he is mine," he said. "We were both put here, in the Garden, and we've been here ever since. You can't have Evil without Good, now can you?"

"I wouldn't know, I'm hardly an expert on either," Fin replied with a laugh. "But alright, he's your counterpart then."

"Exactly so," he nodded, clearly comfortable with that label.

"I envy his having a business. A purpose of his own. I'm not much for books. Or shops. I do like animals..." he mused. "Except for horses..." he added absently.

"Suppose you could open a pet shop," Fin said thoughtfully. "Or adoption thing. I dunno. All you can do is follow your passion."

"Lately my passion has been drinking copiously and feeding the ducks in St. James'," he said. "Hard to parley that into pay."

"Suppose that's true," Fin agreed, thanking the server when they stopped to give them their drinks. "So don't worry about pay for now. I mean, I assume demons aren't dealing with debt, so... Just chase your pleasure until you stumble into something you want to do."

"This is rather pleasurable, isn't it? Tea, new acquaintances, all that's missing is...this," he said, picking up his cigarette."

"It's alright," Fin shrugged. "Rather be wasted and naked somewhere, but this will do."

"A bit early in the day for that?" he asked. "Not that I'm opposed. We all have our vices."

"Never too early for that," Fin assured him, sipping his tea and shrugging.

"Then finish your tea and we'll find a party," Crowley said. "I'm good at finding parties. Or making them happen."

Fin considered him for a moment, tilting his head and resting his elbow on the table as he studied the other man. In a long line of terrible choices he'd made recently, this one didn't seem any worse than the rest.

"Or we could just party," he suggested. "You know, just me and you."

"Just the two of us? Hardly a party. More of an impromptu salon, I'd think. Did you have somewhere in mind?" he asked.

"Let's go back to mine, I don't think my roommates are home," the fae offered, leaning in a little closer. "I promise I'm lots of fun."

In moments like this those nymph-like features of Fin's came out, that strange temptation that was woven into his magic and appearance becoming much more apparent.

Crowley was rather adept at temptation himself and so recognized it in this sweet, broken fae.

Far be it from him to thwart any attempts. If anything, he encouraged it.

"I'm game," he nodded.

"Then let's finish our tea," Fin grinned, leaning back in his seat and finishing his drink.

Crowley downed his in one swallow, then set the cup down hard.

"Aahhhh," he exhaled. "That hit the spot. Ready when you are."

"Alright, it's not far from here," the fae assured him, getting to his feet. There was a moment where he looked unsteady, lightheaded maybe, but he soon recovered.

It really wasn't far to the flat, and he nodded hello to the doorman before leading the way to the lift.

"Nice building. Swanky. I have a rather nice flat, myself. Brutalist design. It suits me," he said as he sauntered into the lift and leaned heavily against the back wall.

"It's not really mine," Fin admitted. "I mean, it is, but I sort of inherited it," he said, glancing over.

"Isn't that just the way of things? Inheritance. It's served humans well for millennia," he replied as he sauntered along.