Oh, she intends to. And this time, she won't afford him a response. No, the wildling will only stare over bare shoulder at her combatant, which she does have to admit is far cuter than any normal human. Definitely not pure-blood. But she's not gawking at him for admiration. She's continuing the standard cheap parlor tricks, this time targeting the flame of his cigar. Have you ever seen those trick candles that refuse to be blown out' Take the same concept and reverse it. He would find the flame not from the match, but the cigar itself, extinguish each time it ignites. Let's see how this amuses him!

An almost exhausted sigh left him at that point, with each strike of a match lighting the end of the cigar, it was extinguished. His eyes slowly drifted skyward as if there was a faint annoyance, very faint. But what do you expect' He was supposed to be taking a vacation from the things that annoyed him, not dealing with the buzzing of flies during his supposed relaxation time. Yet as quick as it showed, it was gone in a flash as he finally turned with an almost bored expression. Cigar still between his teeth, his brows rose with a soft twitch and he had to stop himself from rolling his eyes closed. "Well, what do you want' Other than being a waste of space and time?" Tipping his head forward slightly, it tilted as if awaiting a response, almost impatient like if she took too long he would start to ignore her.

The smirk deepens into a manic grin seeing him look up. Was that....exasperation she saw" No, annoyance. However small it was, it showed she got under his skin at least a touch. And like a mosquito afflicted with malaria, that little sting she intends on making something more. "I wanted you to respond. And you did. My goals are accomplished, but I suspect you don't care about that, Infernal. The fact of the matter is I'm finding you entertaining and I intend on being a waste of your space for as long as the fancy suits yours truly." She'll proffer a showy bow to the Prince on vacation (still unbeknownst to her) and really try to tack on more cheese, quite reminiscent of the imps he might have dealt with down under.

It was about that moment that his look of exasperation and boredom diminished with a smooth swipe of a smile. It was too friendly, too sweet, for the likes of him and his history. But it was there. Pulling the cigar from his mouth, he curled it with his fingers to his palm as he looped his arms over his chest and suddenly seemed amused. "If you wanted my attention so badly, all you had to do was ask." With a faint tilt of his head while that smile seemed to stay put. Though there was a quirk of a brow in a belated response. "Did you call me Infernal?" Well, it was better than alternatives, really. The mention of Devil or Satan would turn this so called "friendly" greeting into something far less friendly.

"You reek of the Otherworld. One of my summons comes from there," she says, now doing him the courtesy of resetting his lawn chair throne dominantly on instinct, since it seems they have at least reached some kind of amicable accord. It's a start to uncovering the truth. He might find that little hex on his cigar gone as well. That joke has run its course.

That curious brow swept upward again as he regarded her. "...You mean Hell?" Otherworld to him sounded like the Underworld, him and Hades had never quite been on the best of terms but had found....compliance in one other. "A summon," as if mulling over the idea. His brows twitched as he disregarded the interest, it not being too uncommon. "A fiend I presume?" He might've let the cigar roll between his fingers for a moment, noticing the fact she was righting his chair and took that as a good time to attempt another go at the cigar, doing so after arms uncrossed, he struck the match and paused with a glance in her direction as if wondering if she was going to do it again. Though the hesitation didn't last long as the end bristled to life with the crackle of flame lighting tobacco, a flick of his wrist sent the spent match hurling to the sea.

"Some call it Hell, yes," she explains as delicate hands brush off the sand. "I wasn't too sure if that was your word for it, though. As for my summon, he's a hellfire drake named Bahmet. I suppose that could be considered a fiend of sorts, but I honestly don't care. As long as he comes when I call and he still turns my enemies to ashes, he could be the Lord of all Devils and it wouldn't make a difference." Indeed, the cigar won't do it again. It'll stay lit.

"Hell, Gehenna, Genenom, Tartarus. All the same, with exception to the Underworld, that is. I call it what it is." Clutching the cigar between his teeth, he nodded slowly to the name of her summon. "Interesting name," he mulled it over on his tongue, taking a few steps to claim his lawn throne once more. But her mention of a certain name had him pausing in his recline as his shoulders shook, a mirthful flicker in his eyes spilled out of his lips in the form of faint laughter. "Lord of all Devils." Well, look at that. Tickled him pink, maybe home froze over. Still chuckling, he resumed in his recline in the chair and reached a hand down to scoop up his bourbon once more. He picked up the glass but noticing there were specks of sand clung to the moisture on the inside, he made a face. "Bah." And tossed it an impressive distance over his shoulder with a flick of his wrist only to crash into the pier with a clatter and spray of glass. "Useless."

Once the haughty gentleman had re-assumed his seating, the wildling will take up one of her own as a dust devil forms next to him, nice and close so she really would be a waste of his space. That vow holds true! And when he tosses that glass away, she'll watch it not even remotely impressed before a quick remark comes: "Hrm. Shame on you. Glass is only super-heated sand. Could have been useful." Also, she will be sitting at the crest of the dust devil, suspended by the winds that are creating it.

There was only a glance to her choice of seating, though he might've crinkled his nose at the closeness of said choice. She clearly hadn't been kidding about being in his space, but he washed down the bitterness with a swallow of bourbon straight from the bottle. He merely blinked to her sentiment, lowering the bottle as he feigned a look of innocence. "I was only returning it to it's natural habitat then. I am only generous after all." A bold-faced lie, but what do you expect for the man who fathered the Prince of Lies, Belial"

"Pfft. If you're generous, then I'm Lillith." That was either a complete accident or she knows more than she's letting on as a hand stretches toward the ocean. An orb of seawater will rise from the vast body and float towards her, clumps of salt landing in the sand on its path until it finally comes to her completely diluted and fit for drinking.

He'd just fit the bottle to his mouth for round two when he paused at the mention of the first human and his eyes slowly slid to her profile. The swallow was just as slow, as was the lowering of the glass. He was far from a fool, and he tilted his sculpted torso so he could face her a bit more easily. There was a sweep of his gaze along the length of her, only to snicker. "Not even close, sweetheart." Lilith, though human, had gained some respect for her persistence to refuse to bend when the angels had come for her and tried to drive her back into Eden, thus Adam's arms. He still didn't like her, but he respected her for standing her ground. Even through the deaths of her first children.

Holding it as though it were solid as a goblet, the wildling will start to drink from her refined water of the sea. Paying no mind to the sweeping gaze of her form, she'll interpret that as just his own lecherous nature. But then the response comes, making her stop mid-sip to level a gaze right at him. "You talk as if you know her."

There was a lift of his chin as she seemed to weave her way around his warning words, that mirthful look in his eyes returning as he allowed a faint smirk to taint the corner of his mouth. Maneuvering around her, he lifted the cigar to his mouth for a heady pull, seeming to take his sweet ass time before speaking. When he did, plumes of smoke spilled with each word spoken from both his mouth and nose. "Well, you're not wrong." Drawing out his words as he seemed to assess her, "a statue is only a replica. An example of perfection, without the ability to actually achieve it with stone." Was he dancing around her words" It was a possibility. "And just....what is in it for me?" Brows rose as he lifted his chin. Prideful, arrogant, full belief he would surely break the woman in his lap. Not that he was against that, it would be a good chuckle. But there was a particular....give and take to Lucifer. Reap what you sew, after all. And everything comes with a price.

Something has appeared on her radar—something familiar, possibly even kin, hailing from ancient times and older lands. This is something relatable. And it is just as curious to her as this High Infernal she's playing chess with. A moment's pause taken before she locks eyes with the latter and slowly smirked once again. "That, my good Sir, is something only Time can tell." This round is over as the area is becoming too populated with interesting figures. She cannot play two games at the same time. (c Young Summoner: So, acting as though he might have nothing to offer, the human will vacate his lap and start retreating into the night, humming to herself in a mirthful tune of a coming spring and something to do with gods walking among us.

He was growing closer, close enough to pick out features in their basic idea they began imprinting on him. The demon like feel he gained wasn't any high demon he had come across before but it was interesting to slowly begin to read more on a basic level. He was a shadow of the force of heavenly force he was at his prime but he was enough still to pick out basics for now. "Fun, fun." He again muttered as he made his circle around their area to get a good feel.

Playing the oblivious card for now, he hardly seemed phased as the spirited woman rose from his lap. "So he shall." That velvet-rubbed-the-wrong way purr rose from the depths of his chest as he spoke of Time as if a living entity. Plucking at the long sleeved pale grey shirt he was adoring cut across his chiseled torso as if to get it to stop clinging to him, he spoke to the other. "Are you going to linger in the backdrop or make your presence known?" His voice was cool as a summer breeze on a warm day, he finally lifted his attention from his shirt to the oceanic display before him, swallowing his words with a swig of bourbon from the bottle.

"I can't just run in the midst of a late night meeting of a man and woman." His arms crossed over his chest and his legs spread slightly with a simple arch of his back. "I'm just here, don't mind this old man." His voice was brittle and dry like he hadn't taken a drink in hours but it carried a form of respect long lost to the world of men nowadays.

Though the voice carried to his sense of hearing, he didn't turn his head to look at the man just yet. Instead, he seemed occupied in taking in the crashing waves before him. "At least you have that going for you. So, you'll only watch from a distance?" Unable to be seen with his back to the feral man, there was a half-cocked smirk on his features. He sensed no human or demon, so the bitter disdain was left out of his voice when he spoke. "You're only as old as you feel. I'm still rather young, considering. Comparatively, so." His lips swallowed the end of the cigar in his hand, puffing a few times before he looked to the thick stick, rolling it between his fingers before he exhaled a long train of smoke. "My, my. What awfully big teeth you have." A mutter under his breath, a tale that came to his mind from what his senses could pick up. Animal, beastial, feral. There was a rawness to the man behind him that he could feel. It was a familiar feel, if only from the Wrathful Beast of Hell.

"And I feel old. Tired and old." His hip shifted to lean against the wall of the warehouse or whatever building it was and leaned his head onto his shoulder. "I'm not all that good at direct intervention sadly." He sighed out slowly as he swallowed the soft laugh at the man's joke, may have been a joust to him but he brushed it off. "Big eyes, ears and nose. It's genetic I fear. And you? It's not real good to play with fire all the time."

"Perhaps I should refer you to my chiropractor then," the man seemed endless in his jokes and he may claim a degree in the School of Smart Ass. Though with his ego, he may very well claim to be the professor. The smirk on his mouth rose to the mention of fire, and he chuckled low in his chest. "The fire picked the fight first, I only finished what it started." The bottle rose as he took another swig, seeming to be comfortable just where he is, and in no rush to put a face to the voice speaking to him. Or maybe he was just on vacation and feeling rather Slothful himself.

"Fire has that habit doesn't it?" He watched the man's back for a moment or two before he began to look out to the water beyond. The ocean, like the number of those he had been forgotten by was endless against the horizon and forever to deep to reach the bottom of. "So....Why toy with that girl the way you were" Big ears remember?" He had gotten distracted by some aquatic life out across the water but his mouth still worked.

"Mhn, it does," he mused. His eyes stayed forward, switching between vices like Gluttony himself before the question had him turning his head. Not quite looking in his direction, but the man's facial profile could be seen over the back of the lawn chair. He looked young, in his mid-twenties with the beginning of blonde stubble over his chin and jaw to lessen the effect of the young features. Angular and narrow structure that seemed mildly delicate considering who it was. "She started it," he chuckled. "You reap what you sow, nothing comes without a price tag. It's all a matter of what she's willing to pay to get what she wants." As if recited from a book, his expression was blank before he turned toward the ocean. "Freewill," he sighed the word, lifting his chin. "God's masterpiece yet biggest character flaw. She knows who I am," he told the man. "Thus, she knows the consequences."

"Isn't that the law of everything" You can't make a sword without first sacrificing a ingot. From alchemy to romance it's always the case. Still sounded like you found a good bit of enjoyment in driving her to an extreme." He paused for a moment then asked what was on his mind and turned his eyes to the man to swallow his features into his faded memory. "Was that a tree" It smelled and felt like a tree. If it was a tree then you should have just burned the migratory bastard." The last bit said with a huff. "Can't just stay in one place can they?"

"Typically. Karma and effect. It's merely my job to instill that notion. At least....for those involved with our...sanction.." His grounds outside of Christianity was miniscule. But that didn't mean that he couldn't abuse the power when they came crawling in his direction....or his lap. There was an almost dark smile that rose to his features, washed away by more bourbon before he chose to speak again. "Perhaps. But, you see, it's the little things in life you have to take luxury in," sarcasm oozed from his tone then, snickering. He blinked then, finally twisting his torso to look at the man with a faint squint to one eye. "....Tree" Oh God," he groaned, twisting back into his lax position. And yes, he did use the Lord's name in vain. "You're one of them, aren't you? Mad" Talking about trees and them not just staying in one place." Shaking his head, he sighed, smothering that too with more smoke in his lungs.

"You can't tell me a migratory tree has never crossed your path' Ugly and weird. After a few hundred years the trees of the elves begin to move and go all over the place. Destroy farms, villages and temples as they go." He growled at the thought, :"An entire forest can up and move at one time. Without an environment I lose my view and I like my view and hunting grounds. It's irritating."

"Don't judge I'm already set in my ways..." He noticed his trail he ran into and looked away back to the water with a strange slack to his jaw.

There was a feigned pout to his lips when the deal wouldn't require an engraving, but the collar would be enough. A chuckle at the man's retort about being fluffy. "And my hair is far more spectacular than that television show," with a waft of his hand and crinkle of his nose. Snickering, he raised his brows. "Luckily for you, we're not at a crossroads. Them and their obsession with kissing to make a deal." Scoffing, he shook his head. And though he was on vacation, it took nothing at all for him to flick his wrist, much like a magician as a papyrus scroll was clutched in his hand. His head tilted much in the way that you'd expect Grim's to when he was 'pleasantly furry', for an angel he surely had a devilish smile. "Spare some blood on it?" With a shift of his fingers, the scroll unraveled about three feet long. In elegant scrawl, there were words already. Giving the man a knowing look, he snickered. "Please, I'm Pride not Greed. If you heard anything spoken between myself and the woman before, I'm rather a generous man."

"Generosity doesn't mean perfection, but it works well enough for now." he was slightly distracted by the print on the scroll he was reading it actually but did so without much concern or harbor of reflect. With a snatch of his hand over the corner of the scroll he brought a trickle of the most beautiful baby blue blood that could likely be created in the natural world that even glowed once he stuck it upon the paper. Without missing a beat his hand extended on the side letting the stream fall from the tip of his thumb, "The collar" Oh and just let the souls go, as terrible as it is to say there is more fun in running them down once they feel free and rampant. They did something to deserve their fate why not make a game for me of it?"

"You're talking to me about perfection?" Giving a coy smirk. He was prideful to a fault! His eyes were steadily watching Grim look over the scroll, and he kept a straight face for now at the fact that Grim only gave it a quick once over before putting that fateful blood to paper. He noted the color of the blood, a curious tilt of his head. He'd seen black motor oil blood of Erebus, the golden shimmering blood of Aether, a few other to date but the lovely shade of baby blue was new even for him. He lifted his gaze when the collar was requested and he chuckled, only to give a raise of his brows and a slow nod at the second request. "Of course," just as the scroll disappeared with a roll of his wrist, the ancient looking scroll was instead replaced with the charcoal colored leather collar. No engraving, just straight and narrow solid charcoal black that smelled of hide just as Mutt had wanted. There was a shift in the air about them, a powerful thrum like the rhythm of a war drum that was just as brief as it had risen. "Your souls are wandering Rhy'Din as we speak. Through your blood they're now tied to you, able to sniff 'em out at your leisure," with a slow smile as he finally rose off his dead ass out of the chair and held the collar by one side of the clasp in each hand. "Now, my turn."

He clicked his tongue the lazy lift of his eyes at the inevitable deal he had given rolled out as his hands went to his neck and lifted his hair for the man. "So?" He tilted his head enough tor his neck to open completely unguarded, "The catch' I told you you'd get greedy and you're too giddy for this to just be fun."

There was something like respect in his expression for the Mutt catching on, and he couldn't help but chuckle as he took the few steps to close the distance. Speaking nonchalantly as he lifted the collar to put it on, "seeing as the damage is already done. I can go ahead and say." Though he did make sure to reach around the man's neck to clasp the collar around, because the perk of putting a collar on a God of War was doing it yourself right' Bragging rights. Giving him an almost exasperated sigh as if chastising him, head tilted while it shook softly and he looked to the man. "You really should think to read the fine print. I'm Lucifer." As if that was explanation of everything. Which....thinking in terms of the King of Hell....He may be an angel, but he was Fallen from his divine rules and regulations. When the collar was clasped, he lowered his hands and set them on his narrow yet chiseled hips. The moment the collar was clasped, Grim would likely feel something else tied to it as if the connection of the circular jewelry activated a spell. "Binding. I considered making you my personal mutt," he sighed, looking the hound over as if assessing a show piece. "But your expectancy of all this and still going along with it....You've entertained me. Perhaps it's my vacation that's put me in a good mood," he chuckled. "You're able to do as you please, but should I call on you..." He lifted his chin with a friendly grin considering the situation. "Well, it's better than a doggy I Love Luci: whistle, don't you think?"

"And easier on the ears too." He tried in vain to look at the collar but when he figured it was a waste of his time softly shrugged it off and looked back to the man before him. "So what? I'm like a lap dog with a bad bite" I can just go in and out all I want cause I know how to use a doorknob' Cute, not as bad as I thought it'd be. I've done this before, it was really dumb. I can do this. Now had you gone far enough to make me a personal pet....I think that'd have been different but this I can handle. I get a doggy bed at least, or I should anyway. This was worth like 5000."

"Undoubtedly," he snickered. Almost rolling his eyes at the sight of Mutt trying to look at the collar on his neck, there was another twirl of wrist as he held up a mirror with an almost shit-eating grin even if the man had shrugged it off. "I still think the engraving would've looked fancier. But that's me." Listening to his description, he tilted his head from one side to the other, eyes to the sky as he seemed to consider it. "Something like that. For being such a good sport, I'll even leave the kennel out of it. You can have a nice, plush doggy bed for your troubles. Maybe even some treats now and then.." He sighed, as if it was all just a dreamy situation until he dragged his eyes back down to Grim, brows rose as the never-ending smart ass grinned. "More if you can do tricks." One crystal blue disappeared in a wink before he moved back to his lawn chair, sighing as he sat back down. "Oh, it surely would've been worth 5000. And I would've been willing to negotiate," with a nod of head until he looked back up at Grim with that damned smile. "But that's what happens when we don't read the fine print, now isn't it' Business opportunities, friend. You have to take what you can get." Leaning over the armrest to pluck up the bottle of bourbon once more. Uncapping the bottle, he paused and stared ahead as if he came to a sudden realization. "Huh. Maybe I am greedy." Shrugging, the notion didn't bother him at all as he swallowed a mouthful of the liquor. What was another sin tacked on to the list, right"

"Well **** Whatever, not as bad as it could have been. I stand by that statement." He had to disagree with the statement about the embroidering. "I know my name I'd just be broadcasting then. Like one of those weird men that stuff a sock in their underwear, my dong is big-my name is Mutt. Why make a big deal?" He again shrugged and could only entertain the idea of being a household pet like Lucy seemed to want. "You can be as badass a demon as you want, as shrewd a business man, but a grown man in a kennel eating scooby snacks off your floor and wandering around with a collar is a cockblock from hell."

"Like a gimp....Just sexier."

"You're right, it really could've been much worse," he agreed with a nod of his head, drifting his eyes upward until he got that mirthful look in his eyes for a moment. "Stuff a sock in their underwear..." He looked seaward then before bubbling with soft laughter. "If they need to do that, they should just throw in the towel. No woman enjoys false advertising." Only to sigh. "If only some women would get that memo." Shaking his head, he shrugged. "Fair point. No embroidering. The deal's already done, anyways." Lifting his bottle to his lips, he paused and seemed to get a bland expression before he chuckled darkly. "Cockblock" Hardly. What kind of King of Hell would I be to interfere with one of my largest incomes" Lust, it's necessary." He was silent for a moment until he turned a rather serious expression to the man. "I will make one request....demand, really. Don't ever....call me a demon." Fallen or not, he was still an angel. Nearly detesting his very own creations, though only a tiny bit less than humans. His expression was dangerous then, but as quickly it had come on, it was gone in an instant. His brows ticked upward as he lifted the bottle to the man. "Drink?"

(A thank you to Aviana Slane for the Scene!)

The Docks 1.12.17 Late Night/Early Morning Luci Don't Fear the Reaper

The docks was a low-down, dirty place. Filthy and full of lowlifes unworthy to clean the underside of her shoes. It smelled awful like fish, ass, and shame. For a hunting ground, it wasn't the worst place to be, except Aviana was full, and she was following a lead which...ultimately ended cold. Or maybe the putrid smell was blocking out her abilities to sense the damned reaper. Who knows" She was frustrated, one of those kinds of moods where if someone so much as looked at her wrong they might end up with something shoved in a very uncomfortable place. She walked along the water's edge, thinking if Martyr was somewhere, she'd be here talking to the crabs or whatever. Near the water, a man was sitting near a cooler drinking a beer. "Hey, gorgeous. Come sit and talk to me." Anyone who knew Aviana would know that she didn't like to be called gorgeous. Sawyer was the only one who could actually get away with it, though he sure in hell paid for it. The bad mood won over clouded morals, and the reaper stopped and turned those crimson eyes on the man, locking her gaze with his. "Take that bottle and break it over the cooler, and then swallow the pieces." With that, she turned away. She heard the sharp break of the bottle, but only smiled when she heard the gurgling whimpers that rang out when he obeyed her order.

It was that low-down dirty place that Luci had found himself scoping since he'd arrived in Rhy'Din. It was just the kind of place where sin was in every corner, alley and bar. There was greed, lust, envy, sloth, gluttony. Even pride tucked in here and there. The root of all sin. But it was a particular waft of wrath that had caught his attention, had the charred and blackened ethereal wings at his back riling like fingertips up his spine. He may despise his brother, the same brother who's wings his own bare hands had torn from the man's back, but sin was sin. The domain still tickled him pink. For an angel, he sure could smile like a devil but was just as quick to slit your throat with a blade for calling him his own creations he detested. Calm, calculated, his steps lead him in a particular direction like a magnet pulled to metal. Crystal blue eyes were almost lazy in it's scanning, feet carrying him across the boardwalk easily as his lips pulled together to whistle a little tune that very well may involve a rather dark sense of irony. He was dressed in a simple white button up shirt, crisp and clean with a pair of jeans that fit to chiseled yet narrow hips. The dress shoes he wore paused when a particular spike of lust him from the side and he turned his blonde head to the right, the whistling tune softening to barely a whisper as he reached the railing of the docks. Looking over the edge, he caught the jist of what was going on. He caught the ass end of a terrible line dropped on a girl, and he took a lean on the railing with a roll of eyes. "A drunkard on a beach in the middle of winter, what woman in their right mind.." In a condescending tone as he propped his elbow on the railing, just for his chin to meet his palm. Only to trail off at the words coming from the woman, his eyes locked on her with narrowed slits as he watched the man do precisely what she said. "Hm..." There was a chuckle like velvet rubbed the wrong way that came out of him as he spoke up, peering down at her from over the railing. Though it might've sounded like a compliment, his tone read as bored. "Well. Aren't you a treat' So..." His eyes lifted skyward as he shivered his shoulders subtly. "...Wrathful. Gives me goosebumps." His tone was still nearly monotone, if not condescending as he laughed at his own damn bird joke.

Dressed in a brown dress that came to mid-thigh and a pair of matching boots that kicked through the sand, the blonde didn't seem all that interested in the voice above. If she was hungry, it might've been a different story. "Yeah, well.." barely glancing up at him. "I aim to please," she said half-heartedly, reaching down the front of her dress right into her cleavage. She pulled out a pack of cigarettes, something that Sawyer managed to get her hooked on and a lighter. Her crimson gaze flicked back at the victim, that was sputtering with blood running down his chin and tears down his cheeks. She didn't feel bad, not really. He was too comfortable. If she hadn't done it, someone worse would've come along. Lighting up, she continued walking along, smoking as she did.

Casually, nearly nonchalantly, he lifted from his lean and turned in the direction she was walking. His fingers drifted over the rough wood of the railing as he took slow, steady strides to keep in time with her own walk. Briefly, his mouth turned into a frown to make a meh sort of expression before returning to it's lax expression. "You aim to please....yet you don't deliver." A glance to the gurgling man on the beach that was still choking on the broken shards of glass before pulling his eyes forward. "Shame, really. You could've done much better." Still bored in tone, he sighed. "Such potential, wasted." That spike of wrath in her had left a pleasantly bitter taste on his tongue, marking her as he narrowed his eyes. His senses were spreading out like the wings at his back, temptation leading him to curiosity of what she was. She wasn't human, or demon, that was clear. The fact that spared her the worst of his disdain, but it was true in the fact that no one particularly gained Luci's favor. At best, you may entertain him until he gets bored. A thin line to walk on, thinner than a tightrope.

The wind coming off of the ocean blew her hair in her face. She had to swat aggressively at it to get it all on one side of her and out of those eyes. Now he was following her" She wasn't in the mood. Then again, was she ever" Aviana pursed her lips, cutting the expression short only when she brought the cigarette to her lips. She spun around mid-step, and raised an eyebrow. "I don't know what planet you're from, but I just made that guy swallow glass. That was awesome," she said, blowing out the smoke and narrowing her eyes. "Besides, I'm not here to put on a show for you. You don't like what?s on' Change the damn channel." Lifting her chin, she glared at him with those crimson eyes. Wrathful" Definitely.

Yes, he was following her. But the moment her steps ceased, as did his. His head turned and lowered his chin to peer down at her before that mirthful expression rose on his face even if for a fleeting moment. Looking forward again, he shrugged his shoulders and sighed exasperatedly. "It's a start, surely. But where I come from, that's a parlor torture. PG 13 at best." Turning finally, his hand curled over the top of the railing as he leaned, shoulder blades bunching as blonde bangs fell over his forehead from the tilt of his chin downward. Like a golden retriever, he tilted his head and rose his brows like he was bored. "I would, but it's just infomercials this late at night." He crinkled his nose. "There's only so many reruns of gonorrhea riddled strippers and drunkards sleeping in their own vomit before it loses it's appeal." A condescending smile was slow to spread to that glare she was giving him as if he was just basking in her anger. "How adorable..."

Arms crossed over her chest leaving the cigarette hanging from her lips as she looked him up and down with those horrid crimson eyes. Aviana was angry, sure. She had good reason to be given everything that life has thrown at her, but one thing life didn't make her" Stupid. She knew not to attack someone that could break her in half. That didn't mean that she'd just lie on her back and take it, though. "Mm....shame, really...Want my advice?" she asked, leaning forwards and plucking the cigarette from her mouth as if she were going to tell him a secret. "Get DVR," she suggested before turning on her heel. "Oh, and uh.." she turned her head back to him eyes trailing to the sky as if she was just thinking about something. "Right. Go **** yourself," Aviana added before saluting him with two fingers and beginning her walk back down by the water.

The don't feed the trolls trick might've worked.....if he wasn't Lucifer. And she would surely find that out as he leaned his head back as if dictating exactly where her line of sight was, and he took a baby step in that direction before crouching down with a soft bounce when he reached that level. Clutching the cigar between his teeth, he struck a match fetched from his breast pocket and his eyes were on the cigar as they mirrored the flickering flame that crackled and sizzled the end of his cigar to life. A brief flick of his wrist and the match was both extinguished and tossed aside, pinching the end of the cigar between his thumb and middle finger as he slowly rolled it back and forth. His eyes watched the wisp of smoke that rose from the cherry as he spoke to her. "A reaper with emotions. A reaper...with a touch of something else. You don't see that every day." His tone was like silk and velvet intertwined, too smooth and dangerously so. It was pretty clear at this point that he wasn't going anywhere. Vacationtime left him bored and with too much time on his hands. No rest for the wicked.

Yeah, he wasn't giving up" Was he" Aviana had half hoped that he'd have gotten bored sometime in the half hour of walking, or the silence she displayed just now. No such luck, but she was never a fortunate soul. He made it so that she was staring at him, and instead of rolling her eyes away she did just what he wanted. Stared coldly in his direction. He made his general assessment of what she was, and only then did she drop her eyes to her lap. Emotions. Not so much. Certain ones, sure. Anger was one that she still held dear to her. Her jaw clenched when she swallowed, but she stayed quiet—stubborn in her silence.

With an almost old man kinda grunt, he leaned back until his ass fell into the sand. With his knees bent, his elbows rested on top of them, clutching that cigar to his mouth as he inhaled deeply and let a train roll out of his nostrils while staring directly at her even if she dropped her gaze. "Oh, now you're just being pitiful," he feigned a pout before clicking his tongue, clasping one hand over his wrist as he didn't let up in the least. He was Pride, did she think he wouldn't enjoy hearing himself talk" "A pouting reaper," he tsked at her, shaking his head. "Come now, show Luci that pretty smile," he cooed to her, a spread of a toothy smile of his own before he smothered it in more smoke. Arrogance, so much arrogance.

Aviana wasn't pouting! She only did so ironically! She was...refusing to acknowledge him. Though that didn't seem to be helping, either. Her chest bone rose with every breath she took, her jaw clenching with every hard swallow. He was still getting to her, that much was apparent by the twitch in that left eye. She wanted to just hit him. At least if she got herself killed she wouldn't have to look at his damned face anymore. Her tongue clicked against her teeth but she didn't look at him or even let on that she was hearing him. Though her brain was screaming at her to tell him to **** off and blast him back.

She was just coaxing him to be obnoxious, wasn't she" Love him' Hate him' You're going to feed that ego through either flattery or disdain. But he refused lack of acknowledgement. After all, he fully believed he deserved the attention. After another deep inhale, taking his sweet ass time with the patience of a Saint, he held out his arm to tap some ash from his cigar while he exhaled. Sighing, he lifted his brows while shaking his head. "It's disappointing, really. So much potential, squandered and pouting on the beach." Yes, he still claimed her to be pouting. "And just when I thought you'd have potential." He was coaxing some damn form of a rise out of her. With almost a pout of his own, he propped his elbow on his knee and his chin on his knuckles. "....And yet, I've seen humans with more potential." The way he spat that word, it was clear his disdain for the creatures and as if claiming her similar, that it was the worst thing she could possibly be.

Silent as he spoke, she was once more refusing acknowledgement. She chewed on the inside of her cheek and moved only to reach for her pack of cigarettes, her hand stopped short at the collar of the dress, eyes snapping up to him when he said that. It was clear that she did not like being compared to a human by the way her jaw clenched. She dropped her eyes and nodded lightly as if to say, Well, I guess you've got a point there. There wasn't much warning, the way her soul seemed to shift outward and cover her hand in raw energy. She reeled back and pushed it forwards in an attempt to all but sucker-punch the man with power behind it that didn't seem fitting for a lady of her stature.

If there was anything more obnoxious than his never-ending ego, was perhaps the power he obtained. The second "born" son of God, the Morning Star, the Bearer of Light. Archangel that had fallen, only to rule Hell. Billions of souls at his very disposal to fuel his hands, and even more so, his pride. Though he might've been tempted on smiling to the way she snapped her attention to him, the King of Lies only stared at her like she was a pathetic worm in his presence. Only for him to almost get disappointed to her seeming surrender until that blast came at him head on. He was close, no further than a couple feet from where she sat in the sand. And like a gale force wind, it hit him and made him turn his head to the side while his hair was wafted every which way and he scrunched his face against the assault of wind. And yet' He didn't budge. When it passed, he closed his eyes and lifted his brows while slowly turning his head back in her direction. When his eyes surfaced, crystal blues a heady look to her as he offered no more than a mildly peeved expression. "....Do you have any idea how long it takes me to make my hair as spectacular as it is?" His eyes narrowing slowly until he completely changed his tune and flashed a too-pretty smile at her. The charade dropping in an instant as if the joke was on her. "None! I wake up this way." With a wink before he lifted his cigar as if to take a drag, only to stop and stare at it. After all that...it was her blowing out his cigar with the blast that had him pressing his lips together and sighing slow and long out of his nostrils. "...Damn." With a lift of his hand as if to show her, "...lookit what you did." As if questioning how she dared to do so. "Bad reaper. No." Pointing at her like she was a chastised puppy, he opened his palm in her direction and gave his own powerful blast in return. Not enough to kill her by any means, but to prove a point if it hit her. It would only be enough to blow her back a few yards.

There was an almost disappointed sigh as he closed his eyes to his fingers pinching the bridge of his nose. He practically tuned out her rant as she mistook his words, shaking his head until he peered through one crystal blue eye at where she was laying down. "No, about Lucifer." His tone was bland, almost condescending in the way he was silently calling her an idiot. Frankly, he hadn't come across too many people in Rhy'Din that was familiar with Christianity to be able to really speak about it. Surely disappointing to the prideful angel standing there as he lowered his hand, but call it curiosity that he wondered if she knew only about the name or in more depth. Though he did find it amusing that she wasn't catching on to him being the Lucifer. He was going to play with it while he could. When you're as old as he, there's only so many things that can still amuse you. He took what he could get. Though he did purse his lips for a moment. "You say sick sense of humor like it's a bad thing." Then he was sucking down smoke more of that heady cigar.

Lazy gaze stared up at him as he corrected her and she shrugged lightly. "Nothing wrong with a sick sense of humor, I know I have one..." she muttered and then trailed her eyes to the sky for a moment. "I don't know much...I guess I've heard stories, but...You know what they say about stories." A slight shrug. "He like...fell from heaven or whatever because he was being a dick" Then like, ruled hell and collected souls and most people blame him for the **** that goes wrong in their life..." Avi muttered. "...but who knows" Maybe his dad was a total hardass" I mean...I collect souls and I'm not all bad..." Yeah, she kinda was. "Maybe **** goes wrong in people's lives because they make bad choices, or because the universe sucks..." I don't know, and I don't care."

That silky velvet laugh spilled from his lips only to turn to smoke near the ends. "Mhn." That was close enough to agreement on the terms of him having a sick sense of humor. Hell will do that to you. Though he might've had it before the fall. Looking over the bend of his arm to her, he listened to her rendition of this Lucifer fella with a quirk of his brow, eyes filled with mirth and mischief alike. Nodding slowly with pursed lips, he shrugged mildly. "Father was rather a hardass. A soldier falling out of line" Having a mind of his own?" There was a touch of bitter to his tone as he watched the ash fall from the end of the cigar he tapped with his index finger. "Blasphemy." With a snicker that lacked amusement. "But oh how he loved the free will of humans." His expression and tone was as bland as could be, downright apathetic at that point as he spoke with experience, not assumption. "Pathetic ants, if you ask me. Unworthy of the affection." More a mutter to himself than anything before he took another puff of his cigar.

Fingers twitched at her side, sinking into the sand as her eyes rolled to him as he went on. She about hot-boxed the cigarette to extinction and flicked it away as an eyebrow rose. "Mmn," she said with a roll of one shoulder in a halfhearted shrug. "I don't know about that," she disagreed when he spoke of humans. "Personally, I think their souls taste delicious," Aviana commented, lips forming a flat line. One ankle crossed over the other as she relaxed beneath the night sky.

He wasn't particularly looking at her by then, but he acknowledged her claim of their delicacy with a crinkle of his nose. "Oh, now you just have bad taste. They can't be very filling. But I wouldn't know," with a shrug of his shoulder. He paused to take another deep inhale from his cigar, rolling the thick stick between his fingers as he spoke while blowing out a thick train of smoke. "I collect them, I don't eat them." His tone was bland, nonchalant in the admittance. Mirthful eyes mixed with disappointment stared ahead of him, almost watching to extinguish his cigar in her eye for her not getting it by now. But he played along, showing the patience that had aided his raising of the pain in the ass, Belial.

"How can you know that I have bad taste if you've never tried it?" he hit the nail on the head, though. They weren't very filling, but they were easy. Humans were the ramen noodles of food around here. Oh, she got it already. She suspected when he started talking about Lucifer's father like he understood, and when he mentioned the collection of souls" She put two and two together. But why stroke his ego by making a big deal about it' Oh no, she wouldn't even acknowledge it. We all know how much he loves that. "You should definitely try it sometime.." she nodded casually. Also if he put the cigar out in her eye, he'd just make it all gross.

He finally looked at her, giving her a look as if the answer to that was obvious. Humans. Gross. He almost mimicked that girl with the bunny ears from the burger show just then. Ah, sick! In perfect tune and imitation, but didn't. He let his look linger on her for a moment, a casual sweep of his gaze before he looked away as if she didn't have much to offer to take yet another gluttonous inhale of his cigar. If he'd been human himself, he'd been dead a million times over by now. "I'm going to pass on that. Wouldn't do good for business if I decided to eat the product, now would it?" A tick of his brows before he tap-tapped the ash of his cigar and clenched it between his teeth, a roll of his wrist as if working out the muscle and with a heavy slosh there was a bottle in his hand. King of Hell had it's perks, like booze at the ready whenever he wanted it. But even to him, it wasn't an impressive trick. He wanted the **** booze. With a twist of his fingers to the cap, he strangled the neck and switched out the cigar for the mouth of the bottle. He was prone to all sin, so why not abuse it"

"Mm....Seems like a waste to collect souls for not eating..." she said, lips forming a thin line as she gave a slow, disappointed shake of her head. Then suddenly he was making booze appear out of thin air. Which was, well....It was downright unfair. She thought of booze first, man! She just didn't have magic devil powers to pull it off. Still, she didn't stare and instead moved to look back up at the stars. "...but if you don't want to eat them, I guess that's your loss, Lu."

He gave her a look like....well, like she was an idiot. "Says you. Collect it, twist it, demonize it. Useful in numbers, even if the wretches are almost more trouble than what they're worth." There was a snicker to finish that sentiment, almost the sound of disdain. There was a glance to her, a tilt of his head as he eyed her for a moment before he snapped his fingers and shook it at her. "That's right, you're a piss poor reaper." Clicking his tongue to his teeth, he shrugged. "Don't know the uses of souls other than lunch." Mischief hit that devilish smile for a brief moment before he took another swallow of the bottle in his hand, lifting it and tilting the label as he hadn't really chosen with any distinct decision. "Could've been worse," he muttered with a shrug before he tilted his torso to hold the bottle of rum out to her. "Saavy?" Yes, he did just make a pirate joke.

"Sounds like a lot of effort," she said with a half-hearted smirk. "I think I'd rather just eat them, plus I need them to...y'know, live." A shrug of a single shoulder, and then he was calling her a piss poor reaper. "I've been called worse," she answered. When he held out the bottle, she reached out and took it. Lifting it in cheers before propping herself up for a nice hard swallow. Wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, she shook her head and held the bottle back out to him. "Really?" to his pirate joke.

"For some maybe," then that cocky smirk rose with a tick of his brows. He was relatively certain she knew who he was by now. If she didn't, she wouldn't have any use for him after all. Nothing worse than a stupid reaper. At least not to him. It was just a liability at that point. "But not for me." A waggle of his brows before he waved his hand dismissively at her need to live. Lacking care in....most aspects, really. "I don't doubt that," he sighed about her having been called worse. When she held the bottle back to him, he gave her a narrow of his eyes. "Yes, really. Problem?" A brief flash of a smile before it was washed away with liquor on his tongue, only to follow suit with the cigar. Powerful lungs had sucked down the majority of it and he gave another small puff before he tossed it to the ocean with a flick of fingers. "Well, Avi." A sigh expelled from his lungs as he gave a scan of the beach. "I think our little meeting here is drawing to an end."

A stupid reaper might be a little easier to corrupt and control. She wasn't going to tell him how to do his job any further, though. "Mm...so sweet," when he said he didn't doubt it. "I think you're right," when he spoke of the meeting drawing to an end. She pushed herself up into an actual sitting position and draped her arms over her knees. "Damn, and it's been so much fun, too..." Feigning disappointment in the most sarcastic of fashions. She even went so far as to snap her fingers and suck in a breath through her teeth.

"I'm known for it," spoke the liar with a shrug of his shoulders when she commented on him being sweet. Snickering, he took another mouthful of rum into his gullet before swishing it around, giving her a look that said he didn't need to say it. 'Course I'm right. Narcissistic to a fault, man. It was past 'problem' at this point, but no amount of therapy to aid him with rehabilitation of his pride levels. Crinkling his nose to her sarcasm, his tone was an bland as could be. "No, it hasn't. You're about as fun as a wet paper bag." Whether he was lying or not, was up for debate. And nearly impossible to discern. "Or maybe a floundering fish." With a smirk of mischief as his hand waved in the air, a sweet little reminder of how she'd flopped across the sand. "Should you decide to change that," he started, beginning to walk around her legs. His arms spread at his sides with that devilish, too-pretty smile as he bowed faintly at the waist. "I'm only a call away." One crystal blue eye disappeared in a wink before that gust of heavy wings had him disappearing in a blink of an eye. And no, he wouldn't leave his rum with her. Greedy. So greedy.

Setting the fruit on the end of the sleeping bag, she pulled out an old comic book that looked like it was yanked from the trash. ...and it was. Coffee stains and god knows what else made the pages sticky, but she liked to look at the pictures. She'd not yet learned to read and this was about as close as she got to entertainment. Opening the comic, her crimson eyes danced along the pages that were set just where the low lamplight filtered in through the hole. She flopped down on her belly and drew her legs upward as if she were nothing but a normal child, laying on her bed and talking to her best friend on the phone. She chewed softly on the sandwich, resting her face against her free hand and occasionally turning the page. She'd gotten about halfway done with the sandwich before the knock rang out coupled with the soft voice that made her tense up. She didn't answer, but there hadn't been a soul yet who has been able to get her to speak. Her eyes stared at the hole and she tossed the sandwich down on the end of the sleeping bag. Like a cornered beast, she began to scoot backwards in a half crawl to the darkest part of her little room.

Crouched, his head was lowered as if listening for any hint of life in there. He could feel that foreign entity in there, he knew she was close. But it was that scuffling of her scooting back that had him sighing. "No' Damn. I guess I'll just have to..." Letting out an old man kinda grunt even if he didn't look older than his twenties as he turned and lowered himself onto the ground with the soft crunch of his shoes twisting on gravel while he did so. Sitting in front of the opening, he lowered himself to lay on his back on the ground. If she was still within sight of the hole in the building, she'd be able to make out the profile of him as he propped one arm behind his head. Nonchalant in tone, he briefly lifted his brows as he let out another soft sigh. "...Enjoy this bucket of chicken all on my own." Much like a seeming magician, and not the damn King of Hell, there was a bucket of chicken set down beside him between him and the opening. The aroma of the hot, crispy goodness was almost intoxicating. The bucket was lower, down by his side so it didn't hinder the sight of him plucking a drumstick out and bringing it to his mouth for a bite. "Shame there isn't someone to share this with." As if letting out his own thoughts, staring right up at the sky as if he was by himself and not paying attention to the hole at all. Munch munch munch.

Why did it have to be chicken" Chicken was easily one of her favorites, and now the smell was overwhelming in her little kid-cave. The girl seemed to pace now, back and forth as she chewed on her fingers. While he munched away, she would very occasionally move to the opening of the hole and peek out at him with those red eyes that seemed to revolve around her pupil in agitation and hunger. It felt like a trap. She was smarter than that, dammit! She continued to pace back and forth, taking up her sandwich. After a moment, she moved back to her sleeping bag and sat down, nibbling on her sandwich which now tasted like...sand. Which wasn't good. Ha! See what I did there" Okay, anyways, she kept looking up at that opening, comic, opening, comic, opening"

Not once did he look to the opening of the hole, but he kept his peripheral on it. When he finished that drumstick, he all but picked it clean and lifted his hand to flick the bone with a twitch of his wrist for it to land in a dumpster not too far away. His hand reached and dove into the bucket once more, picking up a chicken breast this time as he started picking at the crispy skin on it. "If there's anyone there who's hungry, they may want to take some before I finish it off. I am rather gluttonous." His tone almost bland as he bit into it. King of Hell, star gazing with a bucket of chicken beside a decrepit and damned warehouse building. Normal, right"

When he called out again, she swallowed hard and looked at the smashed up sandwich. She set it aside and began pacing once more, back and forth. After a moment, she crouched down next to the opening and took in a big breath before making her move. It was as if she'd expected him to have an ax ready to chop off her head by the way she scrambled from the hole and faced him, taking two steps backwards. She wasn't a trusting thing, it seemed, messy blonde hair hung in front of her revolving crimson eyes as the dominioness stared at him. She crept forward toward him like a wild animal, crouching and moving near the bucket. If he didn't yank it away she'd be snatching a drumstick and moving backwards once more.

He didn't move, save for the nibbling number he was doing on the piece of chicken in his hand. He didn't turn his head but those crystal blues ticked over to her as she tried to figure out her game plan. Even when she scrambled about like a wild animal, he just laid there like a stump in the mud. He let her take that piece of chicken, glancing over at her when she took a few paces back and chomped down on the chicken in his own hand. "If I was going to hurt you, I'd have done so by now. Your little cubby hole would've been nothing but a pile of trash." His tone still as nonchalant and careless as ever as he spoke the truth. "You're safe." Well, mostly the truth. His eyes flicked skyward once more, seeming just comfy as could be on the hard bed of ground he'd claimed.

The child stared at him as he spoke up, her eyes shifted left and then right before she took a step closer to him. Her throat seemed to tense up in a hard swallow, before she sat down near the opening, nodding her head that she understood, but not speaking out. She lifted the chicken to her lips and took a bite that was too much for her little mouth, her cheeks bulged out like a chipmunk's and she chewed quickly. Her eyes seemed to slow in the way they were revolving around her pupil like winding gears. They didn't quite stop, but then...they never did. Still, it appeared by anyone who knew her kind, that the dominioness was about as calm as she could get.

The only movement that came from him was a slow lift of one leg, a short move of him crossing his ankles to get more comfortable. Nothing else about him moved but the arm he was using to bring the chicken to his mouth. Chewing, he shifted his gaze to her when she took that step closer and nodded her understanding. "Well, aren't you quiet. That's just fine for me. I like hearing myself talk." Theeeere it is. There was a twitch of a smirk on his face as he may have sounded sarcastic but to any that knew him would know that he wasn't kidding. "Take as much was you want." With a brief twitch of his pinky to point at the bucket of chicken. "There's plenty where it came from." She wasn't the only thief around. Everything that he manifested had to come from somewhere. Money, booze, cigars, even chicken. And he didn't pay for a bit of it.

Yes, she was most definitely a quiet one, it seemed. When he commented on it, she lowered her eyes and nodded slowly before digging into the piece of chicken once more. Silent as always, she chewed and gulped down the scraps of meat before looking him over. He seemed young, and handsome, unusually kind—even if it was just a show. An idea popped into her head about the time she worked into her second piece of chicken. Her eyes widened and she scrambled in through her makeshift door. After a bit of shuffling around in there, she crawled out dragging her backpack behind her. The chicken hung between her teeth as she looked at him and began going through it. What she pulled out, appeared to be a paper origami frog, that had been turned to solid gold. She pushed on the back of it and made it hop once, twice before snatching it up. She crawled toward him and reached out to set it on his knee before scrambling back to her respective spot and going to town on the chicken.

He polished off that piece of chicken until there was nothing left but the stained bone and repeated the process of lifting his hand to flick it away like he'd done the first. It landed with a soft thunk into the dumpster before he caught those wide eyes in his peripheral and the sight of her scrambling back into the hole. He glanced over with a raise of brow, wondering if she'd had enough of socializing. "What are you up to".." He muttered, hearing the shuffling of movement until she was returning. He hadn't moved from his spot, but he didn't go for another piece of chicken. He didn't have to worry about his figure, but the purpose of the chicken had served him well in coaxing the girl out of her cubby hole in the first place. He watched on as she dove into that backpack, picking at his pearly whites with the tip of his tongue before he paused at the sight of a gold origami frog. His expression turned curious before it was set on his knee. He seemed to look at it for a moment before reaching and plucking it up, his shoulders leaving the ground with the effort until he flopped back and held the frog in the air above his face to inspect it. His thumb brushed over a smooth and flat piece like he was an appraiser of fine goods. "..Solid gold....and just where would such a little girl obtain something this expensive?" There was a perk of his brow as he shifted his crystal blues to her, questioning if she'd stolen it.

The flinch from his hands raising had him tilting his head and giving an uncommonly friendly smile that was debatable on if it was real or not. "I told you I wasn't going to hurt you." But he lowered his hands, letting his forearms rest on his thighs with his hands dangling between them. There was a subtle little shiver that always came with the display as the biggest indicator of who and what he was shifted from ethereal to materialized. Obsidian and smooth, reflective of light like massive raven's feathers that spread four feet on each side of him expanded. On the edges beneath was where smooth turned rough, almost tattered in appearance from where the fall had permanently scorched and scarred them. Where the scorched marks were the worst there was lighter shade of a dark brown instead of black around certain feathers. She seemed to like chicken so damn much, he thought she might actually like to see the sight of giant wings. Something she wouldn't know, but it was a rare treat he was giving her then as not many got to actually see them. Hardly anyone was allowed to touch them.

Lowering her eyes and nodding slowly to what he said, she chewed on the inside of her cheek and then raised her eyes to him when he expanded those wings. Her eyes widened at the site of them, and she leaned forward. Of course she wanted to touch them, her fingers twitched on her knees just itching to reach out and run her fingers through the feathers. She was more well behaved than most children, though because she balled up her fists and refrained from reaching out. A bright smile cracked her face wide open.

The wings shifted like he was stretching out his legs from years of sitting in a chair. Though he used them often, they were rarely materialized to be seen by the naked eye. Testing himself over anyone else, though there was still a fair amount of him testing everyone else around him. He didn't know what or who he was dealing with. What his senses picked up about this girl was completely foreign to him, and without knowledge could be some very poor decision making. He didn't keep his throne in Hell by being an idiot. He watched her, almost half-expecting her to go into kid mode and try to touch them but when she behaved herself and just smiled as wide as she did, his own broke wide. Even if the balling of her fists was a tell that she wanted to touch them. Compromising, he turned his head and reached to one of those expansive wings and made a face as he plucked out a feather near the top, not the bottom. It would grow back eventually. Just as burnt as the original had. If he could pluck out his feathers for them to grow back unharmed from the scarring of the fall, he would've done so millennia ago. But none of the Fallen were that lucky. The scars were permanent. Twirling the large feather that reached close to a foot long between his fingers from the stem, he looked from it to her before holding it out. He was watching her, intently. But his expression didn't show his thoughts and he was unnaturally quiet for the man that liked to hear himself talk so much.

The girl watched him curiously when he made that face and plucked the feather out. She recognized it as a part of him and winced slightly when he did so. She watched him carefully with a wide-eyed gaze when he held out the feather. She looked from it, to him, back and forth before she slowly reached out to collect it from him. Her touch was gentle as it brushed against it, and she brought it to her face, rubbing her cheek against it and closing her eyes. After a moment, she looked up to him and mouthed, 'Thank you...' it was probably the closest anyone got to getting her to talk. At least now he knew that she knew words and how. That solved one of the mysteries.

After the pain of being burned alive for four hours (the time it took to fall), plucking out a single feather wasn't much on the pain spectrum. But that didn't mean it wasn't uncomfortable. A Fallen's wings were sensitive to just about everything, even the wind. There an itch on your shoulders that would never go away no matter how much you scratched. The punishment of falling didn't stop at the fall, little things were a constant reminder of it. A little hint as to why many of them turned bitter eventually. He watched her when she took it, and he might've expected it to turn to dust in her hand. When it didn't and she just rubbed it against her cheek, that smile spread as another clue was given to him. She could control it to a point, that's what his little test had proven to him. The show of his wings didn't prove to be a waste of time after all. And even more so when further improvement came to be when she mouthed those two words. His head tilted curiously, a shine of something in those crystal blue eyes as he tipped his head. "Your welcome, you can keep it." And with that, his wings arched and folded behind him before disappearing altogether like a mirage of smoke dissipating in the breeze.

She knew too well how being exposed to pain could numb the senses. She wasn't exactly like Aviana, she could feel it, but for being eight years old (much younger in actuality) she had a pretty high pain threshold. It was funny, how something as simple as a feather could become her most prized possession. It was the frog. Something a monk had folded for her a while back when he was trying to coax her from her shell. He'd tried to get her to come home with him, but to no avail. She'd bolted from him like she had most people. But she kept the paper frog, and turned it to gold for safekeeping. She might do that to the feather at some point, but for now, she seemed to like it soft. She watched the wings disappear with curiosity in those eyes, tilting her head and then lowering her eyes.

He seemed pleased with how the night had turned out. Silently boasting in his head how he'd not only dragged her (not forcefully!) out of her little cubby hole, shared chicken with her, named her and gotten the girl (of whom he was starting to believe was a mute) to mouth two simple words. He'd take what he could get. Improvement was improvement. His palm balanced on the ground behind him as he lowered himself to sit, keeping one knee bent while his other leg folded and rested on the ground. "I'm glad you seem to like the feather." He had patience, and though he knew what was in front of him was precious and didn't want her to leave his sight, he made no move of trying to take her home. To not have patience, to get too excited, would only frighten him. He had to gain her trust first. "Lucifer, by the way. That's my name. But you can call me Luci if you want." There was a touch of a smirk as he knew damn well she wouldn't, that would require talking. "But should you decide to, you can say my name any time you need something." Raising his hand, he tapped a finger to his temple. "I'll hear it, even if you just whisper it.

Against her better judgments, Aviana dropped down from the building. A concentrated, well-timed blast of energy kept her from smacking into the ground too hard. "Well, look at what we have here..." said the hellion, wearing little more than a black dress and boots. Cold didn't affect her, and her blood kept it from effecting....Chicken as well. "I've been wondering where the kid's been hiding out....Guess that solves that mystery..." she muttered, then looked at the beauty she was near. "Hey, Pretty Boy," she said with a snicker.

'Lucifer' she mouthed the name, committing it to memory as she continued to caress the feather with the tips of her fingers. She seemed to like soft things, which made sense when you had the tendency to turn crap to gold. She nodded to his words, her own way of saying she'd do that, or attempt to. She began to get an idea in her head by the way she raised her finger and lit up a touch, but it all went away the moment Aviana dropped in...literally. Their last meeting didn't go so well. Aviana did not have the best reaction to the girl chewing on her, and she was a bit ashamed of her actions. She'd just started to feel herself coming off of the blood, and she didn't have much of a choice. Her lips formed a fearful line and she began inching toward her little cubby hole.

He saw the way Chicken started to light up, his own head tilting like a golden retriever as he waited to see what she was going to do. That is, until Avi decided to have perfect timing in dropping in and interrupted. His eyes briefly rolled shut as he let out a slow sigh from his nostrils, but it wasn't until she approached the two that he finally spared her a meager glance and that half-cocked smirk when she called him 'Pretty Boy'. "Flattery will get you...well, somewhere with me." Though that somewhere wouldn't be what most would consider good, it was almost a threat. Almost. "I was wondering when you were going to say hello, instead of admiring from a distance," a tick of his brows to her as he had that stubborn look that he'd think she was no matter what she denied. Crystal orbs swept over to the skittish Chicken and he turned his head to her to give a far more friendly smile than what he'd given Avi. "Don't worry, darlin'. She can't hurt you while I'm here. Isn't that right, Avi?" A mirthful smirk rose to the Reaper as he settled his eyes on her, that little reminder that she was severely outmatched, and now trying to instill that knowledge on Chicken. He was a fickle, manipulative and sneaky prick.

"Well, it seemed like you two were having a moment....I didn't want to interrupt. Might get pulled into your cycle," she teased and looked at the girl. There were a lot of emotions that she was incapable of, many of them, really...Still, she understood. She knew why the girl seemed fixated on Avi's blood, why she craved it like an animal, and what she went through —because Aviana had gone through the same thing. She knew that bastard probably took a lot of things good from the kid, and took most of the light from her eyes. She stared for a moment, "That's right...He'd kick my butt if I tried," she told her with a nod. It was rare for her to admit such things. Still, she held out her hand, not for the girl to take, but instead exposed her wrist. "I've got something for you, kid."

When Luci spoke up, she ticked her eyes to him and took in a deep breath. Instead of hiding, she just inched closer to him, putting her feather into her backpack for safe keeping. She swallowed hard at the exchange and nodded slowly, until Aviana called out and claimed that she had something for her. There was resistance, she was carefully when she approached at a slow pace. Any sudden movement and she'd be bolting. It was a lot easier to get her to come with what Aviana was offering than what Lucifer had. She took in a deep breath and reached out to take Aviana's arm, before quite brutally burying her teeth into her flesh.

When he made that promise, part of her really wanted to believe him. Her lips formed a thin line when his hand came out, her irises stopped revolving around her pupil—not completely but slowed greatly, like a wheel slowing to a stop. She looked...confused by the gesture. She'd seen it a couple of times through people-watching, but touching people wasn't something she'd really done, and affection was completely foreign. Slowly, she pushed up onto her feet in a sort of...scooting crouch and began inching her way closer to him.

He didn't move, he just waited. His muscles lax, not tense like he was a snake waiting to strike. His facial expression was calm and serene, patient. He didn't even wiggle his fingers. He just let her make the choice to come to him after making that promise. The only movement he made was taking a single puff from the cigar in his hand, lifting his chin to blow the smoke in a thick train while watching her approach.

Crawl-scooting further between his legs, she tilted her head as she got close enough. She wasn't sure what to do, her arms hugged around her chest as she blinked up at him with wide, crimson eyes. The dominioness thought for a moment on what to do, and froze up. She kinda just....flopped like a dead fish against his chest. Then just sat there, her hair covering every facial feature. Beneath it, her eyes were wide like it was the most awkward thing in the world for her.

His was still extended, that damn saint-like patience showing time and time again as she made her way over to him. He could see her confusion, and that almost lost look on her face like she didn't know what to do. He'd only tried to get her to close the distance to them, there was a brief moment of surprise for her to just....fish flop against him though he didn't grunt. There was a raise of his brows as he looked down to where she was leaned, unable to see her face from the angle but he chuckled. A soft vibration in his chest as the hand that was still extended move to give a small scritch to the top of her head, slow and light if she didn't spaz about it. His voice was soft, barely a whisper "Well, Chicken. I'd say today's been a long day for you." Sighing softly, he looked at that tangled rat's nest of hair and pursed his lips. "I want to ask you something, and it's only for your safety from....You Know Who....that I'd so much as consider it." He didn't risk saying the actual name, not wanting her to have another Voldemort freak out. But he had a feeling she'd know who he meant.

The scratch to her head put her somewhat at ease, surprisingly. She hadn't a clue on how to deal with this, but for her first interaction semi-trusting someone" It went...fair. She got chicken, and a name!...which was..also chicken! When he whispered to her, she nodded slowly in agreement to it being a long day. She swiped the matted, messy hair from her face and looked up at him. Her eyes spinning slowly, when he said he wanted to ask her something. Her brows knitted, and tilted her head but didn't move from her strange fish-flop.

When she looked up to him, she'd find those crystal blues peering down at her. His hand fell away from the top of her head and he tilted his head. Whether there was actual concern there or he was feigning it, it was convincing either way. His eyes drifted to the opening of her cubby hole in the warehouse and he let out a sigh. "Leaving you here opens the possibility of him finding you. Will you let me take you somewhere safe?" His eyes drifted back to her, manipulative words attempting to not only instill fear of being found by the malicious father, but offering a solution in the same breath. Would expect any differently from Lucifer"

Eyes shifted to her cubby hole, and then back up to him while he voiced his 'concerns' and offered the solution. She looked troubled by it for a moment, lowering her gaze and pondering her options. Aviana found her, but who knows if it was Lucifer that led the reaper to her" It took her a moment before she pulled those eyes back up to him. Her lips formed a thin line, and she offered a slow nod.

He was quiet, partially expecting and preparing for her to bolt from him or deny it. He'd left the choice up to her, but he'd been coming up with a handful of lines in his head to give it another shot or two. If she'd been adamant on saying no, he would've just left it at that and come back to work on trusting building some more. But there was an uncomfortably gentle smile coming from the King of Hell when she looked up and nodded after mulling over her options. Nodding, he offered her something else, a soft sigh releasing like she was awfully special for getting it from him. A rare treat just for her. Which....really, wasn't a lie. "I'll tell you what, if you get your things together...I'll show you what it feels like to fly. You ever wondered what it felt like to fly?" Luci, you prick.

Finally she began to sit up from her spot against his chest, listening to his offering. She'd be lying if she said she never looked up at the sky and wondered what it would be like to fly away. Would definitely get her away from Solaris. She nodded slowly, a weak, nervous smile making its way on her expression before she moved for the little opening. She was in there for...all of five seconds before she was dragging half a sandwich, some fruit and her sleeping bag out. She moved for her bag, pulling out the feather to keep from squishing it, and then stuffing in the sleeping bag. The fruit was set on top and she fought to get the zipper closed around it. The secondary pocket was opened and she slid the feather gently inside. Then the front, smaller pocket is where she crammed the sandwich. She didn't have much, but she seemed dead set on keeping what she had.

There was nervousness in her smile and his own was attempting at reassurance as he nodded to her when she moved away. Talking about dealing with the Devil, aye' While she went to collect her belongings, she'd come back to find him crouching there on her level and twisting the cigar to put it out in the dirt. He'd been watching it for a brief moment until his gaze flicked to her getting her belongings together. He picked up the gold frog and the now gold rock and held them out to her. "Don't forget these, sweetheart." Yeah, he even used endearing words. Arrogant to a fault, he'd be pointless at his job if he didn't know how to socialize. "Alright, I'm going to tell you how this works. I'm going to need to pick you up to do this, okay?" That smile was still there as he reassured her. "And I won't let you fall. You can hold on as tight as you want. You'll be safe." If she took the items he held out to her, his hands would stay out and be waiting for her decision to be made, her permission for him to pick her up.

When he held out the items to her, she frowned slightly and reached out. But she didn't take them, instead she gently attempted to push his hands back, then she'd point to him. She was trying to get a point across that they were for him. She'd point again, and get a bit frustrated with her own unwillingness to communicate. Then after a moment, she lifted her backpack onto her shoulders and made sure it was secure. After a moment, she took in a breath, sighed it out and gave him a firm nod as if to say, 'I'm ready.'

His head tilted at her frown and he raised a brow at her. When she pushed at his hands, he slowly closed them when she pointed at him. He wasn't born yesterday, and wasn't slow in figuring it out. Before she got too frustrated with herself, he chuckled and nodded. "For me? Thank you." He leaned to put them in his pocket, knowing that even wearing jeans -at least they were somewhat loose- wouldn't bust solid gold. Even if the frog fit a bit awkwardly. When they were put away, her firm nod had him smiling and pulling out of his crouch. He was still slow in his movements, not wanting to scare her by just swooping her up as he stayed bent at the waist. She was relatively small and it wasn't like he wasn't a big guy. His arms wrapped around her as he lifted her effortlessly and held her half to his side and half to chest while he straightened to stand. He'd considered which to go about it, ethereal wings would be much faster but they had the downfall of those experiencing angelic flight sick from the speed and vertigo. Deciding against it, those expansive wings materialized behind him with the heavy sound like a curtain pull as they spread out behind him. "Hold on tight, Chicken." And if she didn't protest, they'd be in the air with a flapping gust of movement.

(To Be Continued....)

Riiiiight, Lucifer was about as innocent as Aviana was kind. Chicken turned as his gentle touch graced her shoulders, her eyes ticked up to him and she listened to him speak. Don't be afraid of this place. She felt as if she could get lost here and nobody would ever know. He listed off all the available things to do, and she furrowed her brow. Smash something" Watch T.V" Roaming was something she did pretty well. Her lips formed a thin line when he told her to be a kid, and she scrunched up her nose as if she wasn't sure she liked that idea much. Her nose twitched lightly and she looked around, then looked up at him. This was overwhelming, damn it!

Luci is totally innocent. But, he's also the King of Lies...so. That point's moot. The likelihood of her getting lost was iffy, but it would surely make for an interesting game of hide and seek. While her brows dove down, his lifted. "None of that sound appealing" Hm." His eyes looked toward the doorway until the sight of her nose crinkling in his peripheral had him looking back. "What's wrong with being a kid?" Bending low, his head was nearly level with hers as he leaned toward her but not uncomfortably close. "I'll let you in on a little secret. Even I like to be a kid still." Looking over at her, he scrunched his own nose and regardless of not looking a day over 25, "and I'm old as dust." His brows ticked a bit as he smirked and straightened himself, holding out his hand to her as he took a step closer to the front door, looking back at her. His head nodded to the house as he reminded her yet again. "Safe place, chicken."

The house would be a kickass place to play hide and seek. Chicken stayed close and crossed her arms over her chest as they continued on. She shrugged when he asked if none of it sounded appealing. Then he leaned close and her eyes widened, listening for the little secret he promised. He admitted to wanting to be a kid and she waved her arm as if she was gesturing to an invisible thing in front of her. Her way of saying, have at it, then! She really didn't understand the concept of being a kid. She'd seen them around, but mostly they were hyper and very vocal. They wanted to be the center of attention, when Chicken just wanted to be invisible. She nodded to it being a safe place and moved up closer to the door.

He gave her a look for a moment when she made that gesture and he shook his head slowly with a soft snicker falling from his lips. He was going to have his work cut out for him with this one, he could already tell. Or possibly pawn her on someone who was better with kids than he was, which was likely. Luci wasn't good at babysitting. He was that kind of babysitter that the parents would come home to a destroyed house and the kid running around the house from being hyped up on sugar. And he would be watching the latest Game of Thrones episode on Netflix. Ignoring it all. Only to give the parents a pat on the back and smile like the devil with a good luck! before leaving them to the terror. Yeah, he had a call or two to make tonight. Instead of trying his luck further tonight, he went right to the doors and swung them open, leaving the entrance hall for her prying eyes that showed an expansive entryway with sandy brown and white marble floors, a giant stairway that lead upstairs that split into two different directions and pale brown granite looking walls. Everything was shiny and expensive. And proper rich douchebag material.

Pawning her off could go either way. She might hit it off, but chances were, she probably would end up wandering the moment she didn't feel safe. Her nose scrunched up slightly when he snickered to her gesture. Damn, and she was hoping to watch him smash something. Luckily, she wasn't like most kids. She was strange, and clean, and quiet. Though probably not groomed the best. Fingers wrapped around the straps of her backpack as he opened the door. She moved inside with her jaw open and her eyes wide, walking inside but turning in a light circle as she took it all in.

He had a few tricks (people) up his sleeve that might be better to aid her than he was capable of. But it would be a shot in the dark considering he'd just managed to gain her trust as it was. He'd promised her safety, and he planned to go through with it. But Luci needed Luci time now and then. So, she may have to meet a babysitter. She may find him smashing something now and then, after all Destruction could be rather therapeutic! He waited for her to go inside before he followed after her, paving paused at the doorway. There was a chuckle that rolled from his throat as he saw her expression and the way she took it all in. "It is pretty great, huh?" He sighed, closing the doors behind him before putting his hands on his hips and giving a brief glance around. Shrugging, "no castle. But it'll do. You want something to drink" Juice, water?" He moved around her, raking his fingers through those silky blonde locks. "I could use a drink," he mumbled.

Chewing on the inside of her cheek, she strayed a bit before realizing it and wandered closer to him. She gave a firm nod when he asked about its greatness. She held out her hands, flattening her palms and putting them a small distance apart from one another only to spread them apart. It's big! Her lips pursed slightly in thought when he asked her about a drink, and her tongue lashed out to taste the air and test the dryness in her mouth. She nodded as he moved around, turning and circling to follow after him.

A genuine chuckle rose from him when she made that gesture about the home's size, and he kept himself from saying 'I've seen bigger'. To her, it was probably huge. "Yes, it is very big." A brief wrinkle of his nose could be seen before he glanced over his shoulder at the way she tested if she was thirsty or not. It made his brow perk, or maybe he was used to people drinking just because they wanted to and not because they needed to. When she followed him, he nodded and raised his hand, curling two fingers to have her come along. "I'll show you the kitchen, you can get whatever you want from it whenever you want. It may put a small convenience store to shame." There was a smirk on his face as he said so, that proud lift of his chin as he bridged the gap between them and the kitchen that had been to the left of the entryway. Conveniently placed as he often came home wanting a drink right off the bat. Heading inside and around the corner, he moved around the splatter of counters and went right up to the fridge. Jutting his thumb over his shoulder, she'd see the little nook that was attached to the kitchen with comfy chairs and a large screen television that he was pointing to. "Here's the kitchen, that's....a good place to be lazy while you're eating breakfast." Wth a smirk, being an advocate for all sins, that tended to include Sloth. He swung open the double doors of the giant chrome fridge and took a step back, looking over his shoulder at her. "Got any favorites?"

To her, there was too much open space. She'd probably have felt vulnerable if he hadn't stressed that it was a safe space. Still, she kept her eyes peeled for any and all hiding spots. Getting her to sleep in an actual bed would probably take some effort. It was too open. When he pointed to the nook, she stood tall on the tips of her toes and looked over at it. Her brows furrowed, and part of her wondered why he needed all of this space. She didn't quite get living big. He asked if she had any favorites, and she peeked into the fridge. Solaris had always given her water when she absolutely needed it, so when she stole things, that's what she tended to go for. She shook her head and shrugged lightly, moving closer to the fridge.

His eyes watched her like he was gauging her reaction to everything, only a portion of it was pride while the rest of it was seeing how she adjusted. He wasn't going to downgrade from this place, but if she didn't take to the manor then he'd have to make other arrangements for her. But to think that she would just make herself at home immediately would be stupid at best, and he knew it would take some time for her to get used to the place. His head tilted at the way she shook her head and shrugged, pursing his lips as he nodded finally and scanned the fridge himself. There was an expanse of...just about everything in that fridge. It was really too big for one person, or so you'd think. Reaching to one of the shelves in the door, he pulled out a bottle of juice and twisted the cap off only to hold it out to her. "How about apple juice" Sweet, kinda tangy. Don't like it' We can try another one." His smile was soft, and still had that patience in him.

When he turned his body back to the fridge, she moved over to the sink. Her fingers gently reached out to open the cabinet underneath, not snooping, just checking out hiding options. She leaned down to peer inside, brow furrowing slightly and then the crackling of the cap rang out with his voice. She dropped the cabinet door, letting it collapse back shut and turned back to him with a wide-eyed gaze. I wasn't doing nothing! Her nose twitched slightly as her hands moved out to claim the bottle. She leaned over, letting her nose hover at the rim of the bottle. Sniffing lightly, she brought it to her lips and took a sip. Her eyes shut warmly and you'd think she was sampling a fine wine by how thoughtfully she considered it. She offered only a nod and took another sip.

If he knew about her 'not scooping', he didn't let it show. By the time he turned to see that doe-eyed expression on her face, he snickered. "Look around as much as you want. I'm telling you," with a shrug. "This is a big place, explore away~" Giving an 8 year old skittish Chicken free roaming rights probably wasn't the best idea, but he seem to care. Waiting for her reaction to the juice to see if she liked it or not, and seeing that wine-tasting expression had him amused for a moment. She wasn't like most of the rambunctious kids he was used to. Don't even get him started on his non-daughter daughter. This one was quiet, considerate, contemplative. While it amused him, it made him kinda sick, too. But with that confirmation, he nodded a bit and shut the fridge doors, tossing the cap on the counter close by. "Now you've got your juice, time to get my juice." Right to one of the many cabinets that lined the kitchen walls, he pulled one open that had a glass display that showed a collaboration of fine liquors. Pulling out a bottle of bourbon, he went to another for a stout glass and soon enough he was leaned against the counter and taking an almost heavenly sip from that damn glass. It might've only been a few hours since his last drink, but it felt like years. Now, if only it would actually do something for him. There's a reason why he calls it juice!

Why on Earth did it make him sick" Crimson eyes stared him down as the Dominioness sipped away at the juice. He spoke of getting his own and she watched him curiously as he moved away from the fridge. She took the time to reach up and set her juice bottle on the counter while he was making his drink. She shrugged out of her back pack and opened the cabinet beneath the sink. She set it tenderly beneath there and then pulled off her jacket and did the same thing. Odd one, that Chicken. When he finished up his pour her nose twitched in that direction and crinkled. Could she smell it from where she was standing" Reaching up she grabbed her own juice and held it.

Maybe he was used to the little bastard children running around Hell, between Lilith's little gremlins or even Bael's creations. He might've expected her to be more of a pain in the ass. Or maybe he'd just been influenced by Hell's terrible surroundings so long, he'd forgotten what 'good' was. Well, 'good', all things considered. He watched her curiously with the way the strange girl put her belongings under the....sink....and that brow was soon crept upwards again. "You know....I do plan on putting you in a room of your own. You'll have plenty of space to put your things.." Only to pause at the way she crinkled her nose, a shifting glance between the glass and her as you'd think that brow was going to disappear. "Interesting," he muttered before he gave a shifting glance to one of the clocks on the wall. Mulling it over for a second, he finally looked at her again. "I think it's about time for little girls to go to bed, hm?" Until he seemed skeptical for a moment. "....You..do...sleep, right?" You never know! He didn't need to! It was just a luxury he found himself finally enjoying.

Yeah, the only time she ran around is if someone was chasing her. She pursed her lips lightly when he spoke of giving her a room, and nodded. She reached beneath the sink and reclaimed her backpack, setting it at her feet. She took another sip of juice and then set it down to put her backpack on. Mostly she just didn't feel like holding it anymore. Her eyes slid to him when he spoke of bed, and she tilted her head. Then he asked if she slept and she nodded, she did sleep. Not well, usually. It was probably the loudest she got, screaming from night terrors. Or jumping awake at the teeny, tiniest of sounds. It was as if that magic word flipped a switch in her, and she couldn't fight the yawn that brought tears to her eyes.

Seeing her collect her things, he nodded once and her confirming her need of sleep had him letting out a barely audible sigh of relief. He wasn't great with kids to begin with, but one that never slept' That's a 24 hour job, man. He wasn't sure he had enough liquor for that. Though a smirk rang true seeing her let out that yawn and he twisted at the waist to pour a bit more liquor into his glass before shrugging away from the counter that was playing his leaning post. "Alright, Chicken. Let's get you off to bed. We've got a long day ahead of us tomorrow." But he didn't seem like he was going to explain that, instead he just started for the doorway that lead back into the entryway, pausing at the arch to wait for her. Would do any good for her to get lost and not be able to find him.