Twined Temptations
29th of November 2006 A.D.
"Wait, just don't break that I have..." The words cut off, a thing of artifice, not hesitation. "Uriel said everyone could be redeemed, she is someone." For a moment Harry stands there stunned then laughter rings out from the piece of jade behind you, a mirthless thing that cuts like shards of broken glass, but you pay it no mind. Convincing her will come later, for now you need Harry not to do something rash and end this endeavor before it can even begin.
Stomach lurching like you are about to crest the top of a rollercoaster you carry on: "She, Shadow-Lasciel has thoughts and opinions, plans and frustrations of her own, she isn't just an answering machine for the thing under your basement floor. You cannot predict someone with a preset mechanism, no matter how skillfully it is made, not unless you can predict their reactions, their thoughts, their desires their choices and Lasciel cannot do that, Uriel himself cannot do that, as he reminded me quite forcefully. Making sure he cannot do that, that Free Will remains is the point at the reason of his being."
"Lash, I call her Lash," the words obviously slip out in shock.
A small voice in the back of your mind that is not being very helpful at the moment wonders to itself:
The kind a flagellant would deliver onto themselves or the fun kind? More helpfully, giving the shadow a name might make her more her own thing, though only 'might' because what matters is not if the name is given, but if the name is taken by the one so named.
"Lash then, Lash is a person, one who has among other things a sense of self preservation, she does not want you to die because she too would perish. Well what happens if she wins?"
You turn back towards the piece of tainted jade, even though you know the one you are speaking too is watching though Harry's eyes. "What will Lasciel make of you? What use would she have for a key made to open precisely one lock which in that dark hour, may it never come, would already be open?"
At this Harry flinches and starts to shake his head at a point somewhere behind you. "She's playing the part alright. Give her an inch she will take a mile."
"Lash doesn't have an inch." you sigh, casting a dark look to empty air. "She lives in a skin-tight coffin, convinced that the nearness of its likeness makes it a part of her."
Sharp as your eyes right now you can see the shape of a no form on Harry's lips, but no sound comes out, just the thrum of maintenance, Sarah's distant laughter. Its game night and they are having fun. There is no need to say anything, you can read the awareness in his eyes:
How long ago was it that I thought ghouls were irredeemable monsters.
In one way this is all a trick, temptation as sure as anything Lash has ever told him. There is no silver bullet, no guarantee that you can pull this off, but still you remember what the power burning though you like ice and fire is, a moment and a mechanism designed that mortals might do the impossible. This is a race, can I wear down Lash's surety that her orders, her chains are a part of her faster than she can wear down Harry's conviction not to take up the Coin?
"Charity is going to have my hide for this," the wizard mutters, as one attempting futilely to ward off a fearsome spirit.
"Only if she finds out," you shoot back cheerfully, ignoring Usum when he points out that if the more ambitious of your half formed plans come to be she will have to find out eventually.
"Ah might I suggest that your success will be grander and more meaningful should it be the redemption of
all of me?" the devil in the corner interjects. "Instead of trying to cut off a bit of skin and force it it live in a petri dish." A darkness lurks beneath the levity, despair so deep it does not recognize itself, for it is not the loss of hope, but its absence from the start.
What does Molly say?
[] We will have to wait and see
Put this off until you have all the tools and preparations in place
[] Lets test that theory then
Strike while the Iron is Hot, Exorcise Lash right now before she can muster her arguments about her own lack of individual existence/ significance
[] Write in
OOC: Normally you would not be able to do this as an impulse, but you are in a Dragon Nest you own with access to a wizard assistent and as much laboratory equipment as you can pull out of your world-sized soul 
