Mt.Black rose

[Mayah Playah]

Shiloh Dupree

"An order is an order..."


He shrugged, staring at the flowers he'd just put on the table beside the shining red apple. That stupid short blonde, he shouldn't have listened to him. He should've just brought some chocolate or whatever. At the question, Shiloh looked back to the injured male. "They want me to stay in my position as the assistant to the Sin's wrangler, but I'm debating whether or not to leave still. At any rate, I'm suspended without pay and without food until further notice. Not like it matters, they barely feed me as is." He glared bitterly at the apple, the aura round it ugly and dark.


"... and I am nothing if not obedient."

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Gustav couldn't help but chuckle. "You contribute to one of the worst incidents here and you still get to keep your job. This really must be Heaven." he laughed lightly. He made sure not to laugh hard or else his chest would hurt.
Noticing Shiloh's stare, Gustav followed it to the apple. "Ah, are you hungry? Take the apple. I'm not hungry, anyway." he offered.

 

[Mayah Playah]

Shiloh Dupree

"An order is an order..."


Shiloh sat on the chair, picking up the apple and holding it in two hands. He looked at it, his eyes focused solely on the object. "You can't eat it. You can touch it, yeah, but if you try to eat it, it'll disgust you so much that you'll lose your appetite for hours. This is a Sin's Apple. Whenever my kind are being starved, this is what we're trained to keep stored away just in case. It's a mortal fruit imbued with the sins of a living person. Usually a bushel is linked to one person, but I have several from different people." He peered closely at the apple. "This one's from a serial child rapist in Idaho. He's in prison awaiting trial, so this apple is bound to go bad soon."
He sighed, raising the apple to his mouth and taking a reluctant bite. It tasted disgusting, like he was being forced to eat garbage, but he chewed and swallowed. Grimacing, he put it back down. "The things I have to do to survive," he breathed, rubbing the back of his neck.


"... and I am nothing if not obedient."

................................................................................

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Gustav stared at the apple. I sure hope he didn't bring that for me, then, he thought with a small shudder before looking up at Shiloh and his grimace. "You don't like it?" he mused and looked at the bitten apple once more. "I thought you enjoyed sins, especially the worse they got?"

 

[Mayah Playah]

Shiloh Dupree

"An order is an order..."


He looked down at his hands, not really wanting to explain his gruesome living. However, there wasn't really a way around it, and besides, Gustav had a right to know how his constant companion survived. "Sins are delicious, provided that the sinner is dead. It goes far back, way before I was even born. Because Sineaters are few and far between, long ago, a Sineater mated with a busaw, or a corpse eater. Their child was still granted the ability to eat sins, but at a cost: he could only devour them through the flesh of the sinner. Years past, and he mated with other Sineaters. It became part of our biology, although many of us are disgusted by it. It takes hard training to push away the reality of our meal before we can eat. That's part of the reason why I was so sought after when I still ate every day. I had the stomach to eat the whole body and devour all of the sins." Shiloh paused, still staring at his hands. He knew he was disgusting, a monster, but he couldn't pretend like it wasn't the truth.
He looked towards the apple, swallowing hard. "I can eat human food to stave off hunger for a moment, but when living sins are placed within, it is revolting. To me, the apple reeks of rotted flesh with maggots crawling inside, and I can feel them entering my mouth and slithering down my throat. It feeds me, but it disgusts me. I guess that's what I deserve. I'm a ghoul, Gustav." He sighed, shaking his head. "When the man dies, the apple will rot like any other, losing its power to connect it to the sinner. I need to eat before he's condemned to death row for his actions. Honestly, I'd rather not eat at all."


"... and I am nothing if not obedient."

................................................................................

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Gustav raised a suspicious eyebrow at the apple that was offered to him earlier. If it tasted like maggots and rotting flesh to Shiloh then what would it have tasted like to him? He looked back at Shiloh. "Only being able to eat what disgusts you. You certainly are a Hell creature." he commented, laughing until it made his wounds hurt, forcing him into a coughing fit instead.

 

[Mayah Playah]

Shiloh Dupree

"An order is an order..."


Shiloh was standing and leaning over the man in seconds, holding out a small cup of water and reaching to adjust the pillows. "You shouldn't laugh," he criticized, "because I won't be the one to explain to the nurses why your wounds have reopened." He stood upright, then returned to his seat, leaning back and crossing his legs. "I can't stay for very long. I've been called to a retribution trial." He looked over to the window, the bright lights outside obscuring most of the view, but he still stared. The trial was for Tobias, an attempt made by his handlers down in Hell to raise the young man from Hell into Heaven. Shiloh was to be the key character witness, since it was his guilt that kept the teen pinned down.


"... and I am nothing if not obedient."

................................................................................

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[Its Smiley]

Mayah Playah

"You can trust me; I wouldn't do anything to hurt you."

Erik looked thoughtfully at the buildings he passed by. Heaven wasn't much different than the cities below, it just had cleaner fuels that made the sky bluer and prices that were dirt cheap. Hell wasn't much different, he noted, only in the sense that it took the worst parts of normal life and was always overcast. However, he presumed this to be created by perception. It looked like a city because he had been raised in a city. He was sure anyone else would have seen it differently, or that maybe there were different areas to accommodate that.
Walking up some large number of steps, Erik soon found himself entering one of the largest, and oldest, buildings here. It was a type of courthouse, was the best way he could describe it. Some courtrooms were for divine judgement; some to evaluate souls to see if they should stay where they are or move to a higher or lower plane; some helped people to become guardian angels; some did simple paperwork about promoting/demoting souls to angels and demons.
Then there was the Councilroom, taking the majority of the third floor. An enormous meeting table stood at the center with countless chairs for both the strongest of angels and demons to discuss truly important matters. They were the ones that decided the great controls of fate, from deadly hurricanes to a war sparked by religion. The apocalypse was their call and no one else's.
Lately, however, there had been hysteria all over the place. Even as Erik wandered up the stairs to the Councilroom he couldn't help but glance at the debris that was still being cleaned up. He wasn't here, but he had heard the voices explain everything to him. A demon had gone crazy and began killing everyone in sight, absorbing a massive eight hundred and thirty-four souls. Among those souls were the ones from the Council, so there was an urgent need to fill all those seats. Many picked were... questionable. Merely a placeholder, he could only guess.

"I am the light, so you know I'm good."

 

[Mayah Playah]

Melody Shell

Excuse me, you're in my way.


Speaking of placeholders, the latest as such sat at her predecessor's desk, rifling through a stack of paperwork that she didn't understand. What? What even was all of this? Who were these people? Why was she promoting them without knowing them or understanding their job? It was becoming clear to understand why the woman from before her was accused of accepting bribes, Melody was tempted to do the same! Sighing, she leaned back and stared at the ceiling, then glanced over to the window to see a crowd of children being shown around the grounds. One child in particular stood out, his nanny carrying him in her arms. Even from here, she could see his eyes, just like his father's.
Melody hadn't known that she was dead until she awoke in one of Heaven's hospital rooms, her belly empty and Aaron was nowhere to be found. He wouldn't have missed the birth of their child. It was far too important, and he'd been more excited than she was. Besides, she was just barely pregnant, only a month or two. They'd just found out and hadn't even told anyone yet. A couple questions posed to her nurse revealed the truth. Apparently, she hadn't made it home from her best friend's wedding. She had insisted this was a mistake, refusing to accept it even as she held her baby in her arms, but there was nothing she could do. The day she was released from the hospital was the day she was asked to take over a job at the Council. Unfortunately, because her child was killed before he could be born, she wasn't allowed to take care of him, only permitted supervised visits, but she couldn't enjoy them. Her baby was going to remain a baby forever. He wasn't supposed to do that.
Suppressing tears at the reminder of the loss of the life she should've had, Melody cleared her throat and took a deep breath. "Next, please," she called out, looking at the paperwork for her next appointment. Some guy wanted his job back handling some group of demons. She was supposed to decide whether or not he deserved it. Honestly, she couldn't have cared less.


Maybe you should just get out.

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Mayah Playah

"You can trust me; I wouldn't do anything to hurt you."

A handkerchief was held out to Melody. The owner of it was Erik, smiling softly with warm, emerald green eyes behind a thin layer of glass. "You looked like you needed it." he said, his voice a gentle velvet. The original person that was meant to be here was still feeling sick, so the young man took advantage of the free slot.
"Pardon my brashness. My name's Erik Ram, I'm not on the list for whatever it is you're doing. Rather, I was hoping to talk to you." Setting the cloth on the desk, he pulled up the nearest chair and sat down with a sigh. "Melody Shell. Or was it Cristobal? I can't remember if you married him. It's a shame, though, that your relationship - no, your family - couldn't last." He glanced over sorrowfully, eyes finding the small child at a distance. After what seemed like an endless minute - He was honestly surprised to know that time had found its way to even Heaven - he looked at Melody. "Melody, what would you say if I told you I could give you your life back?"

"I am the light, so you know I'm good."

 

[Mayah Playah]

Melody Shell

Excuse me, you're in my way.


Looking up at the handkerchief, Melody took it gratefully and dabbed at her wet eyes. She wasn't wearing any makeup to ruin, but old habits die hard. "Thank you," she sighed, lowering the cloth to look over the man who offered it. He looked nice enough, she thought, although he had a strange aura. He was probably very powerful. A lot of people up here were like that.
She listened to him speak, following his gaze to her child outside and choosing not to bring up her disapproval in speaking about her former life on Earth. She didn't want to talk about Aaron and her failed attempt at starting a family with him. Her eyes remained on her child, watching him giggle up at his nurse, something he never did with her. She didn't miss a beat as Erik spoke directly at her. "I'd call you crazy," she said plainly before looking back to him. "There's no possible way you could do that. I'm dead, I'm stuck here."


Maybe you should just get out.

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"You can trust me; I wouldn't do anything to hurt you."

"You say that," started Erik as he stared out the window, fingers laced over once crossed knee. "but you forget where here is. People often do since it resembles the living world so much. So many lives have been returned and stole here, yours can be no different." He looked at her again, smiling fondly at her once again. "I can give you and your child your life back. I want to. A life like this is certainly not one fitting for the Valley of No Tears." he said, motioning to the damp handkerchief.

"I am the light, so you know I'm good."

 

[Mayah Playah]

Melody Shell

Excuse me, you're in my way.


Her child? "But I died when I was pregnant. There's so much time lost. My son doesn't even have a name," she pointed out, watching the group move out of view, her eyes lingering on the baby she wasn't bonded to just yet, but still loved nonetheless. Besides, her baby wasn't technically of Earth anymore. Erik would have to return her to the world of the living as pregnant as she'd been before. Could he do that? Melody glanced to the frame she kept on her desk, a snapshot of a memory of her beloved Aaron moments after finding out they were having a child, one of the few times she saw him smile so happily. Aaron...
Swallowing back her doubts, she looked to Erik and nodded. "Whatever you want, Mr. Ram. If you can bring me and my baby back to Earth, back to Aaron, I'll do whatever you want." She was willing to sacrifice everything, whatever power she had as a Siren, her beauty, absolutely everything, if it meant returning to the man she knew she was meant to grow old with.


Maybe you should just get out.

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[Its Smiley]

Mayah Playah

"You can trust me; I wouldn't do anything to hurt you."

Smiling, Erik unlaced his fingers. There was a glint of light that shined against both of his hands, dimming down to show two strings, both a transparent blue. Light shined again, this time taking the form of two needles that he used to sew the string together. "There's nothing I want in return, only for you to be happy and to raise your son like he should be. There's an awful lot of sadness in the world that needs to be countered with joy, don't you think?" he mused as he continued stitching. After a quick second the sticks of light vanished, and in his hand was one long string. "And so light heals the Thread of Life, returning time to its original owner." he said gently, watching the thread get engulfed in light to disappear. He looked back at Melody, resuming his sitting position as before. "Don't worry about your position. I'll have it replaced in no time. Enjoy your life to the fullest." he smiled.

"I am the light, so you know I'm good."

 

[Mayah Playah]

Melody Shell

Excuse me, you're in my way.


She gaped as he worked, not sure what was happening, but positive that he was doing as he'd said. He had no reason to lie. This probably wasn't a cruel joke. Probably. She hoped it wasn't. Smiling for the first time she'd gotten here, Melody stood up from her seat and walked over to the window, her child no longer in the group of children from before. Her hand drifted to her stomach as she looked back to Erik. She hadn't been worried about her position anyway. She hated this job. She wanted to go back to teaching and modeling, and waking up at dawn to find Aaron scribbling into his notebook whatever story he dreamed of, and then pulling him into her arms and making love until they were supposed to wake up. She wanted that life back. She wanted to be pregnant and have this family that a drunk driver had taken from her.
Looking to her office door, she watched it begin to glow. She looked back to Erik. "Thank you so much, Mr. Ram," she whispered, knowing that she spoke too loud, she would erupt in happy tears. Walking over to the door, she turned the knob and opened it slowly, peeking inside.


Maybe you should just get out.

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