Some explaining to do
Ashley contemplated what she should tell Simon. The whole truth was simply out of the question... even most of the truth was out of the question. In all her centuries, she had only revealed herself to a handful of mortals. Simon had his uses, his car and resources were somewhat convenient at the moment. It saved her the trouble of having to find herself and Babble a place to stay.
She had no doubt that she could convince Simon to keep her; but without telling him something, she wouldn't be able to keep Babble with them.
And then there was this mark of Gabriel to think about. It was VERY handy to have... and very disturbing. She had no idea what Lilith would think about it... not that she cared all that much. She was dedicated to her... and she would never turn on her given any choice. After all, she only had 4 more favors that she owed to Lilith, which was amazing in and of itself.
That Lilith had already called on her 5 times was also amazing. She had yet to fail her mother in any task... and they had all been hard. Once she was done with those other four favors, she was free.
Ashley had given much thought to what that meant... and had yet to come up with anything to fill the void of being wanted and needed by another being; even if it was the Princess of Hell. That she thought about such things at all was something she had yet to see in her sisters. She would never admit it to them either; for if they found out, her status within the hierarchy of Lilim would fall drastically.
Ashley's thoughts turned once more back to Gabriel and the task at hand. She had to find out WHO leveled the PC and WHO was responsible for the Silence. Babble was involved or had seen something; of that much she was sure.
It created a cold knot in the pit of her stomach to think that neither side knew what had happened and they were actually co-operating to figure it out. It made her wonder if there was more than two sides to the equation...
With an hour left till she had to wake them up, Ashley took a shower and freshened up as much as she could.
As the sun rose, she shook Babble awake and helped him bathe and dress. Once done with that task, she took him by the hand and knocked on Simon's door.
A yawning apparition in singlet and shorts confronted her. "'lo." he said simply, shaking his head to clear the sleep from it as best he could. He looked about, taking stock of his surroundings. "Well, it�s early. Give me a minute or two, I'll be awake."
A short while later, Simon came out of his room, dressed in old blue jeans and a shirt, bespectacled and still suffering from the early morning stares.
"What are the plans?" He asked gently, taking in the crouching form of Babble, who was intently watching the early morning cartoons. He seemed rather fascinated with the Real Ghostbusters at that moment. "The only suggestions I have are breakfast at a cafe. After that I am yours for the day at least. I find myself in desperate need of caffeine."
"You will be needing it for what I have to tell you. Let's get take-out from the cafe and head back here. What I have to say is not something for common table talk."
"We can take it from there, if you are still up to it." Ashley said, still not sure of what she was going to tell him.
He nodded quietly, sensing the unsaid thoughts perhaps on some intuitive level, and drawing from them the conclusion that things are unlikely to be the same again for quite some time... if ever. He looked at the totally absorbed Babble, and raised one eyebrow. "What do we do with the man of mystery here?" he asked.
Babble, sensing the eyes upon him, tilted his head and looked back at the other two.
"... Son of man, / You cannot say, or guess, for you know only / A heap of broken images, where the sun beats, / And the dead tree gives no shelter, the cricket no relief, And the dry stone no sound of water. Only / There is shadow under this red rock, / (Come in under the shadow of this red rock) / ..."
He shrugged after a moment. "The Waste Land. Babble, Babble."
Simon blinked at the crouching olive skinned man several times in his attempt to puzzle out these words and then submitted, "OK, you feel safe here. That is fine. We will be back. Soon."
Babble nodded at him, and smiled shyly at Ashley, before turning back to the television.
A half hour later, they returned to the room, to find Babble still absorbed, this time by Batman. He looked up with a smile as they enter, paper bags with breakfast and styrofoam cups with coffee in hands, then he turned back to his unblinking fascination.
Simon set the breakfast out, still leaving Ashley quietly trying to figure out exactly what she was going to tell this human that she had involved, however minorly, in the events of the Eternal War, or what ever the Hell else was going on.
He sipped at his coffee (Black, one sugar), and hesitantly smiled at the figure before him. His innocence of just what was going on, and who exactly he was confronted with was so apparent in his eyes, that Ashley almost felt, well, pity was the closest word. Well, maybe.
Ashley quickly brushed the odd feelings from her as she bent to what she had to do.
"Simon.... do you believe in god?"
He blinked. This was obviously a line of inquiry that he had not expected. After a moment or two he half smiled, and shrugged. "Trick question?"
Ashley shook her head no as she sipped some coffee.
Simon blinked again, then somewhat self consciously said, "Well, I guess. Not like I am seriously church going or anything, but my mom brought me up Catholic. I guess I always was more concerned about what I can do with my own hands than stuff that can't be proven. Why?"
�You are going to have a hard enough time believing what I have to tell you, without having to get you to believe in a supreme being as well." Ashley said succinctly, her hands toying with the coffee cup as she looked directly into his eyes.
Simon attempted a chuckle, then sensing the seriousness of the mood, nodded. "All right. OK." He shifted uncomfortably. "I guess I do believe in god. I just hope he isn't a stickler for going to church is all..." The next question that he was about to frame did not quite form, before Ashley spoke again.
"Since you know about god, or at least have some idea that such a being exists; then you know about angels and demons as well, correct?"
He shrugged again. "Sure, I guess. Who doesn't?"
"Ever watch a movie called "The Prophesy"?
He frowned. "Erm. Lemme think... Was that the one where the guy was the son of Satan, and there were all these sequels, and there was this elevator scene where this guy got cut in half? ... or... no, actually, that was the Omen, wasn't it... Um. Wait! Christopher Walkin, right? This demon guy wandering around with the dead girl out of Pulp Fiction as his driver... Or something..."
"Close enough. The main theme of the movie was a war between angels. It was one of the very first movies that portrayed angels as being something other than benevolent towards mankind; even their portrayal of Lucifer was done rather well."
"Oh." Simon looked at Ashley hopefully, searching for signs that this might be some sort of joke. Not finding any such indicators, he went quiet for a moment or two, then, "So ... god exists, the devil exists, and..." he said quietly.
"The war exists. Not quite like the movie; but it is real. Real enough to blow up the PC. Real enough to blow up my apartment."
Simon absorbed this. Then he got to the interesting questions. "All right... so the devil blew up the PC... hang on, no, let me guess, the Pleasure Chest was a place of evil, so god blew it up? But wait a minute, what about your apartment? Did the devil blow that up? And how do you fit in to all of this? You are not going to tell me you are the devil or something, now, are you?" There was a faint trace of hope in his voice, but as to whether that hope was that Ashley tell him this was all some sort of bad joke, or that he be proven wrong about his guess on the Devil bit, was hard to say.
Somehow Ashley knew that this wasn't going to be an easy one.... nothing that ever mattered was...
"Slow down there Sherlock Holmes.... I will tell you a few things and let you decide on what you believe."
Ashley drank some of her coffee before she spoke again; using that brief bit of time to gather her thoughts and organize them a bit. Mortals... they thought they knew it all....
"Babble over there... he was hurt by the same 'people'.. and I use that term very loosely...that blew up both the PC and my apartment. And neither side of the war knows who did it."
Simon blinked at this. The statement she had just made forced him to take that leap of faith that he was avoiding. Not only was Ashley somehow involved in something, but god and the devil existed and were at war. And somehow Ashley was a player... He swallowed after a moment and then nodded his comprehension. Ash continued.
"I have reason to believe that my apartment would still be there if I hadn't found Babble and brought him there to clean him up. I also wouldn't be too surprised to find that your car is in a million little pieces if you didn't clean up the blood in the back seat and throw what you wiped it up with as far away as you could."
Simon nodded slowly. "I didn't do that... just dropped it off at a dealer. I don't think I want to check on it again, now..."
"And just for a reference point, this war isn't all black and white as you people would make it out to be.... there are angels who are dark hearted and there are demons who were simply born on the wrong side of the fence and pay for it. But both sides are powerful.... and both sides can and do kill each other.... but left alone we would live for eternity."
This seemed a smaller step now. "So... so what you are saying, is that you are an immortal, like that Highlander guy from that movie, and there is no good and bad, only a bunch of people who are a war with one another... Is that right?" he paused.
"In crude, simplistic terms... yes."
Gaining momentum again, he followed his question to its end, obviously thinking he was prepared for the worst. "So which side did you start on? And which one are you on now? And what about him?" he added as an after thought, indicating Babble.
"I am on my own side, and Babble... well...he is on my side for the moment. As for what side I started on... it would take me a long time to explain. You just need to know that you are on my side at the moment as well, whether you like it or not."
Simon was a little shocked at her words, and her tone does not reassure him very much. "I... see..." he said, slowly.
�What I mean is... just being with me makes you a whole bunch of enemies you could never hope to outrun. So you are stuck with me."
Seeming a little relieved, he nodded again. "All right. I accept that. Whoever the bad guys are are obviously more than a little bloodthirsty and I get the impression that my life would not really mess with their equations too much. Jesus, did you know that they were putting the body count at over four hundred all ready?"
His face, a little pale, betrayed his nervousness, but he seemed to be taking all of this rather well. His acceptance of the story so far seemed to have some groundwork to rely on, but as to what his reaction would be if he were to, say, experience a Song or see a Celestial Form, were other matters.
He drank his coffee thoughtfully. Then, finally he spoke again. "All right. I am in. What do you want to do now?"
"I have been given three days to find out who decimated the PC. My best bet, like it or not, is to dangle some bait around the area. Whoever was there, had to see me get Babble, or else they wouldn't have known where to blow up my apartment."
"But whoever they are, they are good enough to remain hidden... and I have to flush them out. My only bait is Babble. And believe me, it is in my very best interest to see that he remains alive."
"I plan on finishing up here, getting us all ready to go and heading back to the PC and begin snooping."
Simon nodded wordlessly, eyes still a trifle disfocused. When she addressed him directly he snapped into attention.
"I need you to help watch Babble. You seem to better understand his new way of speech better than I. And if you haven't yet noticed, he is rather sensitive to the...how shall I say it... moves of the players in the war. Without him, we would be toast at my place....Think about it..."
"All right... I watch him and make sure if anything happens or he says anything funny I take it seriously." he said half to himself. Part of him clearly was in the denial portion of his understanding but he understood enough and had seen enough to know to suppress that. He seemed distracted, though, and when he felt that Ashley's eyes were not on him, he snuck curious, almost furtive or fearful glances at her.
Ashley took another sip of her coffee as she watched the truth of the world begin to take it's toll on this mortal. Not many of them could take it... their lives were supposed to simple and blind. She had seen countless numbers go mad knowing what was out there; yet not being able to do anything about it. They worried when some Arch might take offense at something and destroy their homes and lives. The bleak look on their faces when they realized that their God was not who they thought it was... she almost took pity on them then. A few she did. Quick, painless deaths one and all; saved everyone the hassle. Their need to believe in something was so painful... and so unfulfillable...
Interrupting her train of thought, Simon spoke again. "All right. We will stay put." He wrote the number of the phone in the room on a card, then underneath another phone number, and gave it to Ashley. "If we have to move I will go to this pub. I know the bar manager, and I have used their phone before. You let me know of developments..." he said, voice trailing off to nothing, as though he wondered if he actually wanted to know anymore.