There were countless people out there who hated the cold. It was a reasonable enough thing to dislike- after all, the cold brought on hypothermia and frostbite and what have you. It was generally just unpleasant as all hell, really. Stride was among the many who went out of her way to avoid a chill like the plague, albeit for reasons different than most others’. After all, most people didn’t risk keeling over and dying when things got too chilly. Cold-blooded, Cal told her.

Regardless, Stride was determined to finish what she had started- even as the rain began to pour in buckets, she only muttered a curse under her breath and brought her jacket tighter around herself. It was too far now for her to turn back or call a cab, and, besides, her heat packs still had some warmth in them. She would be fine.

Eventually, the doors of the local bar clicked open, and in stepped a very soaked, very cold, and very relieved hybrid. She had only taken a few steps inside, feebly attempting to pat the front of her goggles dry, when another of the bar’s occupants crashed into her and sent her careening into another table. Stride fell to the floor and sat there for a moment or two, stunned, before leaping to her feet and catching the man by the shoulder. “Hey,” she said, “what the fuck?”

The man shrugged out of her grasp. “Your fault for not getting out of the way, lady.” Now that Stride had gotten her bearings, she could see that the jackass who had shoved her had been in the middle of a fight with some other guy- in fact, it seemed as if there was a full-on bar brawl going on- but her problem wasn’t with him. Grunting, Stride crossed her arms, glaring daggers at the man’s back. “I just walked in, ya asshole. How the fuck was I supposed to know you’d be comin’ at me like that?”

The man glanced over his shoulder, looking less than impressed. “Maybe if you hadn’t had your head planted up your ass, you could’ve gotten the hell out of the way.” He squinted. “And what’s with that whole getup, anyway? Look like you just rolled in from Halloween.”

What a right and utter prick. Perhaps she would have just let the guy be on another day, just told him to fuck off and go and get herself a drink, but Stride was already in a bad enough mood as it stood. Plus, there was a part of her that was itching for a good, bloody fight. Scowling, Stride gave an inarticulate cry of “fuck you” before clocking the guy in the temple. As fist and bone connected, the man staggered backwards, before going red in the face and introducing his own hand directly to the center of Stride’s stomach.

The two went at it for only a few minutes, during which Stride obtained a freshly broken nose and her new friend had his eye blackened, before the power shifted. The man slipped out of range of her latest attack, then trapped Stride in a headlock, squeezing tight around her throat. She gasped. Clawed at his arm a bit. No dice. Breath coming out in shallow pants, Stride jammed her elbow into the man’s gut, slammed the heel of her hand into his face, and, twisting free, threw the guy to the ground.

They were like that for a few moments, Stride standing over the man, the man lying stunned on the ground.

Stride swallowed.

Then let out a breathless laugh.

She brushed some of the rain-damp locks from her face, gave the guy a quick glance-over, and, deciding he wasn’t too banged up, went to the bar and took a seat.

“One basket of BBQ chips,” Stride drawled, “and two glasses of whiskey. One for that guy over there.” She jutted her thumb back over her shoulder, towards the man who had, somewhat unsteadily, began to clamber back to his feet.

It had been a good fight. It was only fair that the guy got something out of it.

As she waited for her order, Stride pulled the front of her mask down slightly, cracking the cartilage of her nose back into order before it could heal crooked. A thin trail of blood ran down her lip, but she didn’t seem to notice- still riding the high of adrenaline and energy that came with the brawl. She was so caught up in the rush of it all, in fact, that she didn’t even notice that her wrist had begun to burn like she’d been branded.

Which, in a way, she had.

@Erklings25

---

Falling Down, pooling up,
Out of the sky, into my cup.
What is this wet that comes from above,
That some call disaster, and others find love.
The harder it falls, the less it is nice,
The colder it falls the harder the ice.
The rain has an art that I may not get,
So I stand still here and get soaking wet.

The poem danced through Roe's head as she arranged her final flower order. The rain poured against the window pain lightly illuminated by the flower shop. Most of her competitors had long been closed, but Roe knew that it was usually late nights that people needed flowers the most; date nights, quick acts of kindness, or begging for forgiveness. A low rumbling thunder emitted from the sky and Roe's petite body became struck with a moment of fear. She hated thunderstorms. The rain was fine, but there was something about powerful noises such as thunder that made the girl weak in the knees.

Wrapping the vase with a colorful bow, she looked to the order again. It was to be delivered to an office. "Someone must be loved." Roe said to herself in her empty store. A smile spread across her face that was met with a soft sigh. It must be nice to be loved and appreciated. She assumed this person had already met their soul mate and even at the darkest and dreariest moments of the night they were being treated with a lovely arrangement.

After cleaning up, and locking up her store front. Roe put on a light spring jacket and tried to cover up the flowers the best she could so they wouldn't get totally drenched in the travel. The young elf had forgotten her umbrella at home and her only mode of transportation in the city was public. Taxis we're everywhere but hailing one down was sometimes close to impossible. She flung her slender hand up into the air with hopes of being seen, the rain drizzling down her arm and into her jacket. She was soaked to the bone. However, getting this package to the office she was meant to deliver it to was necessary.

She couldn't let them down.

After a few attempts she hailed down a taxi and directed them to the office that was written down on the address card. As she arrived her wrist itched and burned, and she wondered if the dirty city rain was making her skin react in a poor way. It wasn't rare that the city dirt and grime reacted with her skin poorly. Paying her fare and thanking the taxi driver she got out of the cab and walked up to the office door. Frowning she looked at a broken stem of a flower and tried desperately to fix it while reaching the entrance.

It was locked.

"No." the words slipped from her lips as she pressed her hands in a cupped shaped to the door so she could see in, a person in the back doing some light cleaning but besides that everyone had left. "Oh no!" Roe panicked as she reached into her soaked wet pockets looking for the recipient order form. The ink was running down the paper, practically illegible. "M a a l i c o n" she read, knowing that was not the right name in the slightest. Her arm burnt as she looked at it. Madison. Could it be? She looked towards the name on the order and then her arm again. With her heart racing she looked around the street, a bright red umbrella in view down the block.

This was her moment if any.

Her lips parted but could not speak, Roe felt as if she had lost it in that second like the foolish fish woman in that movie she had watched on the television the other day. She tried again and with this time came sound, "Madison!" she squeaked out, but tried again this time louder and with more force, "Madison!" she called again, picking up her feet as she sprinted to the umbrella. Her display of flowers was in total chaos, broken stems and dirt that had turned into mud all over the front of her jacket and blouse. She reached only a few steps behind the figure. Her date and name burning a heat that was hurting, but in the best way.

"Your flower o-o-rder, Madison." Roe said, standing with the disheveled mess that she and the flowers were in.

Abel felt a blush make an appearance on his face as Owen teased. He managed a chuckle before running the back of his neck. He was terrible at this apparently. He exhaled and worked on relaxing and slowly...managed to unwind. It was a tease...he was fine with that.

Abel blinked when Owen introduced himself. Another blink before he managed to nod. "Abel...were snow leopard" he gave a smile while mentally he realized that the necromancy might be why he felt slightly off earlier.

Abel hoped that Owen wouldn't freak out at what he was just as much as he figured his soulmate thought the same. He paused before opening the door and holding it open for Owen. He paused before walking inside and taking off his hat. He was soaking wet...a puddle developing around him as he dripped.

Cienna would sit listening intently to Julie as she spoke she barely even registered that the waitress had spoken to her, only noticing that her drink had been placed in front of her by the fact that Julie had a cup in her hand and the gentle smell of mint wafting up from her cup. Such was the quiet revere going on inside her own mind that a lazy smile came to her face.
Julies explanation as to being only in part human intrigued her, a curse like any magics tended to catch her attention, a trait that many fairies shared, was a unique perspective to magic, it was like their life blood and it was a natural curiosity, well more of an obsession to her. One of the main reasons that she so enjoyed working for the library was that she got to read any of the books, and even got to choose sometimes what books they ordered.

"No...I don't want you to meet...her. N-Nevermind,"
"Listen, I have a lot of dark history to me. So if you don't think you can do this...i-it's fine..."
There it was again that distress, there was something that Julie was afraid to tell, or was it show her. She knew a thing about or two about the darkness but she had never feared it, something even more so about dark magics. It was like a fascination to her and she would have guessed it could be fates design for as she had been studying it for a good number of years now, and if Julie were to see the inside of her home, she would notice book shelves full of books though unless she could read braille she wouldn’t be able to know they were all on the occult and the different magical based races she could find.
She took a deep breath before giving a smile as sweet as she could be hoping to calm her soul mate across from her as she would think how to formulate her words she would absent mindedly twirl her fingers feeling the air coalesce into something solid and twirling like some girls did with their hair, or so she had read in a romance book.
“Not all curses are bad” she would say softly her voice barely above a whisper the words simply slipping from her mouth before she even realized what it is that she was saying.

“I... I mean… well…” she blushed hard before shaking her head.
“Wha... What… What kind of fairy do you think I am?” this was a guarded question as she had known many of the other races tended to accept fairies in general as a good luck token, or in the case of humans, treated her like ‘Tinkerbell.’ When she revealed that she was a wind fairy those of them that knew of her species recoiled in terror from her.
She could always feel that moment as they pulled away, some of them had run without looking back. They often judged her for her species not who she was but that was ok, she had learned to accept that as part of life as well, though the thought of the not quite human across from her running was a terrifying one and her small hand would kind of shake causing the stream of coalesced wind she had been playing with to quiver and spiral around her arm. The wind at this point would be glowing softly as it was pulled into a state it was not naturally in.
It was at that moment that the waitress chose to return with her garden salad, which was a relief to have something to distract her from the shadows that danced across her mind from memories of times long ago. She thanked the waitress and picked up her fork moving the salad around, she had to admit that it looked pretty good and made her small stomach rumble a little so she speared a cherry tomato and popped it into her mouth before realizing what she had done she blushed that scarlet flush returning to her cheeks.

Owen was not trying to bother Abel but he loved the idea of teasing the other man. He had a very cute blush and Abel seemed to be the type not to do anything too creepy in the apartment. That was the only reason Owen was still following him. Owen got the feeling that Abel might be even more sheltered than he was and that was saying something.

Owen had been right about the cat thing. Abel was a were snow leopard"Do you have a last name? Now it makes sense. The ghosts are freaking out about you. You are a gigantic walking cat. They start freaking out over house cats. I mean you are bigger than that."Owen joked again. When he got nervous, he started to joke around. This was a rather stressful time in his life.

"Can I get you a towel or something? I mean you are soaking wet. I would hate for you to drown in all that water." Owen asked as he walked inside with him. "Nice place you got here. Oh sorry about the ghosts. They tend to flock around me." Owen said looking around the room.

---

"I'll have another whiskey, buddy. No screw that. Bourbon, top shelf. I'm in the mood something more fancy."

The bartender grunted softly. Just looking a him, Fritz could tell what he was thinking. Something along the lines of "Oh look, another fancy fella from uptown trying to flaunt his money." Fritz gave a knowing glare back at him, daring him to say anything. It was like a telepathic middle finger. The bartender shrugged his shoulders, a sign of nonchalance. Fritz squared off his shoulders, throwing his head back, devouring his drink. "Another."

He reached out his hand expectantly as another drink came sliding towards him. He noticed a sudden burning in his wrist. Ignoring his bourbon, he looked down at his wrist. At first he was confused, but suddenly, his confusion turned to glee. His soulmate was near. Cautiously sipping his drink, he stared at the bartender. He didn't look like a Phoebe Alice Stride. The he heard a voice "One basket of BBQ chips and two glasses of whiskey. One for that guy over there." So this must be her.

As the burning in his wrist increased he silently sipped his drink. She wasn't what he was expecting. Maybe it was the gas mask. She seemed cool, though. Like 'badass-cool' not 'rock'n'roll-cool'. He was just a little bit intimidated. Deciding to try and make conversation, he turned to her and said "I take that scuffle wasn't your first rodeo, huh. Good show, indeed. I take it that you're Fräulein Stride?" He held out his hand, appearing to be more of a buinessman than a lover.

"I'm Freidrich Vogel. I take it I'm the man on your wrist."

@EchoicChamber

"Listen, I have a lot of dark history to me. So if you don't think you can do this...i-it's fine..."
"Mmmh hmmm...yup! Keep on talkin' 'bout me! That is the riiiight choice!" It was obvious that the voice was becoming soberer.
"It's not that I-I won't talk about it. I just can't, or rather, shouldn't."
"Nice job there, Jules. Keeeep stumbling on!"
"I've told you not to call me that," Julie spat back at her other self, softly. This really wasn't going as well as she'd hoped it would.
"Not all curses are bad," she heard Cienna mutter.
Julie's head shot up from where she was looking down at her cup, staring at the fairy. "They're called curses for a reason. Not spells or wishes." She shook her head, the anger fading back. This was worse than she thought. Her soulmate quickly moved on to another topic.
“Wha... What… What kind of fairy do you think I am?”
Julie sat there, looking at the fairy and trying to think. But her mind was too preoccupied.
"Um, I don't know. I-I know there are multiple types but u-um..."
It was like a throbbing now, painfully intense. "Here I come. That lil' bitch better be ready. I'll start with her wings. She won't be able to fly off that way. Unless she's a fast healer. This might be a fun challenge, huh Jules?"
"I said shut up!" Julie pressed in a louder tone. Multiple other creatures in the cafe looked over to her. She took in a deep breath. "I-I'm sorry. I think I-I need to step outside for a moment." She stood up, placing a twenty-dollar bill on the table in case things went terribly. She didn't want her date to have to pay. "I'll be right back," she reassured both herself and Cienna, before walking out. She posted herself under an overhang as to not get wet and took out her medical cigar.
"C-C'mon Jules! I was just teasin' ya!"
"I don't care. You need to s-shut the fuck up," Julie replied, twisting the end of the e-cigar and lighting it.
"What are you even gonna do about me, h-huh? I just wanna meet our Soulmate! She's mine too, ya know?!"
Julie put the cigar to her mouth with shaky hands, breathing in and blowing out. She took a few deep breaths of her own without the cigar.
"I-I really hate to abandon her," she continued talking to the demon. She took another puff. "I-It's not fair. You're not fair. C-Can't you just leave me a-alone sometimes?" If her alter-ego was listening, she didn't respond. Julie sighed to herself, glancing over her shoulder. She could see the fairy through the rain-stained window.

Abel blinked as a bunch of questions hit him. He managed a quirk of a smile before setting down his hat. "I do...but I kind of don't...my family" he trailed off before shaking his head. He caught the joke and chuckled. His soulmate seemed to be the type to joke when stressed. Considering how clammed up he was....that certainly wasn't a bad thing.

"It's okay I'll get myself cleaned up" Abel said as he moved toward what seemed to be the laundry room. Overall, it was a fairly small apartment, but not cramped. It was a one bedroom one bathroom set up with an open concept. The furniture seemed built for comfort and was mostly brown in color. Warm tones abound.

Abel padded back out in a different not wet outfit and made his way to the kitchen. "I don't mind ghosts. Just feel weird for a bit." he paused before tilting his head. "Make yourself comfortable....oh do you want anything to eat or drink" that southern hospitality coming out as he stood there.

"Okay then... I will call you... Abel Kitty. " Owen continued to joke as he tried to try and calm himself down. He was so worried about how Abel did not seem to be very comfortable around him. Was it something that he said? Had he scared the other man by just being himself? He sometimes had that effect on people. The whole "I see dead people" thing tended to scare most sensible people for the hills. He was trying to calm himself down while the wraith staring circling around the two of them babbling like the insane spirit that it was.

"He is nervous.... Speaker... Be calm...Like the grave in spring..." The creature babbled about how it thought of Abel. Owen would have strangled the damn thing if he could wrap his hands around a ghost. Owen gave the thing a glare which Abel might have confused for a look at him.

"You clean up nicely, Abel. I'm not that hungry right now. I tend to cook for myself before I go out. I learned how to cook when I was younger. " Owen said not taking a seat and still seemed a little uncomfortable. "So what do you want to do? We could always do the question game? I want to know more about the guy whose name has been on my arm as long as I can remember.
Like what is your favorite animal?" Owen asked already knowing the answer.

Cienna was startled when Julie abruptly became agitated with her and then when she started having a go at herself her mind immediately began scanning through all the different reference materials trying to think of what could be the cause. It was then that it occurred to her that she knew a spell that could settle any doubts that she or anyone else might have. She took in a deep breath closing her eyes, not out of necessity but more of a habit to appear normal. She let spirit sink with in the magic that she could feel flowing around and through her all the time, letting it fill her and thus entering a clear casting state she began to chant in a soft lullaby type tone, the words of which she highly doubted anyone in this city would understand being long since discontinued by any of the other races save for a select few fairies.

The power with in her began to surge outwards like waves in an ocean bouncing back off people giving a small glimpse into their minds. She paid no attention to the others, they weren’t even a concern, it only took her a second and she found the person she was looking for, Julie, standing outside under the awning. ‘good at least she isn’t in the rain.’ The though crossed her mind without her even intending to think of it. She was now in a kind of astral body in front of her however this body wasn’t real, it was magical in nature and allowed her to read the minds of those it touched, like the waves of power granted a glimpse, this form of the spell was more focused and she gently placed a finger on Julies brow, she would not feel it as the touch was not physical but magical, like a spell of guidance none truly knew when it touched and when it didn't.

The moment she touched Julies brow she would be sucked inside her mind her presence neither a light nor a darkness, as if she simply existed in a state of balance, which in all truth she did, She constantly cast a spell on herself known to many as equilibrium, it was used for spell casters that were falling into darkness, to keep them balanced with light and dark, she used it however for a different reason that she would not even share with Julie yet.
“Julie” she would mind speak softly a soothing tone emanating from her very core, she was radiating a sort of calm that came from someone who had experienced life and found their own centre of gravity, She had a type of inner peace that she was very careful about maintaining.

"Julie," she heard.
"What the fuck, there's another one?!" she spoke softly.
"Noooo, there's not 'another one'. It's our fairy friend," the demon growled. "Get the fuuuuuck out of our miiiiind. She wasn't ready to shaaaare this with you yeeeet." The demon was obviously drugged up, and Julie sighed.
"Cienna, I didn't want you knowing this on the first date. I-I'm sorry. If it really is y-you. I-I don't wanna talk about it in t-the cafe. If you want more...we have to speak in p-private. M-my p-place."

Abel chuckled at the last name suggestion before moving out of the kitchen. He found himself calming down around Owen. Even with the feeling of spirits he was more relaxed. He took that as a good sign.

Abel managed to look at Owen when he glared. He blinked before it sunk in that the look was probably not meant for him. There was probably a spirit somewhere being annoying. That might take some getting used to, but he was sure he could. He stood for a moment before sitting in a chair facing Owen.

"Thank you...You can't possibly be comfortable standing there" At least Owen didn't look comfortable. He nodded at the question. "Sure." He smiled a slow smile at the mention of wanting to know more about him since his name had been on Owens arm for such a long time.

"I like snow leopards but....I don't really know much about..well myself" His head tilted. "How about you? Any favorites?"

Another one, she thought to herself hearing Julie say those words then she heard the gravelly pitch of a demon and a small dark smile crossed her lips in her real body, this was something she had read about and new it was next to impossible to reverse if not done immediately. This wasn’t what caused her dark little smile though, no that was something from within herself, a part of her nature that made her smile. One of the reasons she stayed away from anyone all these years had been a fear that her equilibrium would shatter and she wouldn’t be able to restrain herself. She would kill someone if not for her constant restraint of power. She hid this deep and so she made herself become the opposite to what she actually is.

She then placed money on the table in the real world as well all but given up on food now she was way more interested in what she was feeling in her soul mates mind. She stood and rose off the ground moving towards the door, she was solely relying on the wind now for physical movement as all of her senses were deadened to the real world other than the sense of the wind on her wings. She opened the door with the wind as well and hovered in front of Julie.

“I think it best that we talk.” Her tone was both a psychic one and physical creating a doubled effect for Julie. “Please introduce me to your demon as well, when we get there.” She would add offering her hand to Julie. Her eyes were still closed though her body seemed to be glowing brighter than the natural soft glow that fairies give off revealing to all that knew anything about them that she was channelling magic.

In her mind she would then address the demon directly “I am sorry for this intrusion but please bear with it just a little longer, There are some questions that I feel are important to ask, and we can head to your house to talk better, but I’d prefer not to end the spell just yet as I sense you are getting sleepy.” She would mind speak her tone still soothing, though she did use a tone of authority over the top of it.

It had taken a few tries, and Stride found herself having to snap some of the cartilage that had begun to heal, but eventually she had repaired her nose enough to her satisfaction. She snorted, wiped her face clean with her sleeve, and was pulling up the front of her mask when the guy beside her started talking. Stride gave him a glance over. Seemed friendly enough. Kind of like one of those guys you’d see in a movie, twirling a glass of scotch in his hand and spinning a gun on the counter. She leaned back in her seat, hair moving lazily in some imaginary wind as she reached for her whiskey. “Not my first time, sure as hell not my last.” Stride took a moment to peel away the fabric concealing her mouth, revealing patches of scales smattered along her jaw and chin, before lifting the glass to her lips and taking a long swig.

She was just about to ask him how he knew her name when the guy gave an answer on his own.

There was a pause.

Stride began to choke on her drink.

She took a few moments to gather herself, the liquor burning her airways as she coughed into her hand, then immediately drew her sleeve away from her wrist. Her glowing, burning wrist. “Shit,” Stride muttered under her breath. She lifted a hand in a “wait a moment” gesture, polished off the rest of her glass in one, long swallow, then pulled her mask up and back into place before taking Fritz’s hand.

“Well. It’s, ah, good to meet ya, Freid.” She gave him a hearty shake before releasing, pleased that the mark had decided to stop burning. Not really sure what else to say, Stride turned back to her chips, lowering her mask and tossing a handful down the hatch. She paused, pulled up her mask, and offered the basket to the guy.

“Ya want some chips or...somethin’?”

@Erklings25

---

Madison was making decent time down the path, skipping about the occasional puddle that formed within the dips in the sidewalk and humming snippets of “We’ll Meet Again” under his breath. Even after the many, many years that he had been alive, he had always had a soft spot for the sweeter airs. The wistful. Perhaps it was just nostalgia for past lifetimes, but regardless, Madison found himself drawn to that particular facet of music.

He found himself daydreaming about the past as he wandered along, head so far up in the clouds that it took a minute for him to realize that someone was calling his name. Confused, he turned, only to find a rather bedraggled young woman standing behind him. In her arms was a cute little vase, and the remains of a Forget-Me-Not bouquet.

“Oh, no.” Madison’s eyes widened. In all the excitement of meeting Russell and wrapping up his studies, he had completely forgotten that he had placed an order at the local florist’s. He quickly rushed forward, holding the umbrella over the woman’s head to allow her some reprieve from the rain. “I’m incredibly sorry, Miss. You’ll have to forgive me- today was just such a busy day, I completely forgot- here, you can take my umbrella, if you’d like. I’m so sorry for making you come all this way-”

In the midst of his rambling, Madison suddenly trailed off, a look of surprise on his face. Bringing his free hand up to his lips, he pulled his sleeve down with his teeth, revealing that the text scrawled on it had begun to glow faintly. Slowly, he lowered his arm, staring at the woman with a sort of wonder.

“Would your name happen to be Roe Emlinel, by any chance?”

@MissCapnCrunch

“I think it best that we talk. Please introduce me to your demon as well, when we get there," her soulmate said, doubled. This had taken a weird and unexpected turn for Julie. Julie put out her cigar once more, and took the offered hand as best she could. “I am sorry for this intrusion but please bear with it just a little longer, There are some questions that I feel are important to ask, and we can head to your house to talk better, but I’d prefer not to end the spell just yet as I sense you are getting sleepy."
"Heeeyy there, lil' one. I ain't sleepy 'cause o' you. It's ol' Jules here n' 'er 'magical cigarette',
curtesy of her doc," the demon slurred.
"Come on, my place is about a block," Julie said, before stepping out into the rain. She was scared of what was to come in their future.

---

They arrived at Julie's apartment building and went up the elevator until they arrived on the ninth floor out of ten floors, and the first room out of four rooms. She pulled out her keys, her hands shaking a little, and unlocked the door. The apartment was on the nice end of town, and so was luxurious.
Inside, it was quite modern. All the furniture was white and well maintained. There were small plant things hanging about. The apartment had a living room, kitchen, office, bedroom, and two bathrooms. Quite nice in the city of New York. Not that it mattered, with Cienna being blind.

After making sure that Cienna was inside, Julie locked the door. On the door, were five different locks. She locked all of them out of habit. She also took her shoes off and put them by the door, out of habit.
"I-I'm going to make s-some tea," she bluntly stated out loud. "Peppermint white chocolate tea," she stated, waving her finger on each of the words. She pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose and quickly scuttled off into the kitchen, which was attached to the living room.
"You, and your stupid damn tea," the demon said as she opened one of the cabinets of tea, realized it wasn't the right one, and opened the next. She chose a teapot, filled it with water, put the tea bark inside, and put it on the stove.
She leaned her hands against the counter, looking down at the floor and at her socks. She took in a deep breath, and then let one out.

"Sure," Viktor scoffed, wiping out the inside of the umpteenth shot glass of the night while he eyed down the lonely old entrepreneur who came in here every other day to drown his sorrows in shots of Jamison. "I believe everything you are conveying to me, Ed," he continued, words dripping thick with sarcasm. The drunk man, Ed, could never tell that Viktor was being sarcastic, so he always did his complaining to Viktor, who really didn't care enough to cut him off. Ed could cry and tell Viktor everything that ever happened to him. Work would get done without a slow down.

Viktor looked at the wall, watching the clock move with a snail pace. This was gonna be a long, boring, typical night. He could feel it. Especially with the rain slowing business. It was better than miles of snow, he supposed, but he'd rather be home if it was going to rain at all. He could watch the rain on his window and let his boys sleep on his chest in his dark apartment, let some music play in the background or something. Some self-care, y'know? But that wasn't how it happened anymore.

Sighing, Viktor poured ol' Ed another glass, half listening to him bitch about his younger sister marrying his best friend. Considering the emptiness of the bar, he considered pouring himself a shot or two, but figured that wouldn't make the time pass any faster. If only something would happen to jazz up the old bar. Or even just Viktor's night.

Cienna was so preoccupied with maintaining her magical connection and holding onto Julies hand she would not be able to retrace her steps back to the café and thus back to her place if she tried at this point, some little part of her mind warned her of this but she was lost to herself now. The walk was thankfully very short to Julies house just as she had promised, if she had been walking she would have been glad for that, as it is she barely noticed the movement at all. All too soon they were inside and stepping into an elevator, this made her cringe just a little as the air inside the elevator was what she would call dead, it was a confined space which meant it was harder for her to ‘see,’ as she would put the term.

As Julie moved she gently touched the ground folding her wings back to prevent the space becoming too crowded. She could hear the doors slide shut like the shutting down of her final chance at escape. She gripped Julies hand a little harder her own nerves making her small body tremble just slightly.

She listened to the elevator as it ascended 1… 2… 3… 4… 5… 6… 7… 8… 9…, Nine times she heard the little light above the door that shows what level your own change, a sound most wouldn’t notice but her advanced hearing picked it up clearly enough. ‘So you live on the ninth floor.’ She thought to herself which thanks to her spell would translate into Julies head as well though it would be more of an abstract thought instead of the clear concise voice she uses when actually talking with her mind speech.
As the doors opened and they stepped out her wings would spread and she would rise into the air again feeling the corridor wasn’t all too long in this part of the building and that it had room for about four doors… well her wings reported to her that there were four doors but she also preferred to use her mind as well. She had been surprised by her apartment when she bought it when she found a hidden door, well not truly hidden just air tight so she hadn’t noticed it for quite some time.

Julie made sure that she was inside which Cienna couldn’t help but smile with, finding the act to be cute then she heard the sound of five different locks which she tilted her head slightly at wondering about it but thought better than to ask about that when she already had a million and one other questions to ask and some of them quite a bit more important than the situation of her locks.

"I-I'm going to make s-some tea,"
"Peppermint white chocolate tea,"
As Julie said this Cienna let go of her hand lowering herself to the ground, the floor her feet touched a soft carpet which made her smile she fluttered her wings behind her back causing the wind to stir back around her letting her determine where things are and safe walking areas. She found herself making her way to what she guessed was the living room, the feel of lounges and other things here gave her the vibe of it. She could smell some plants hanging here and there and nodded to herself ‘a nice place’ she thought again this would translate as an abstract thought.

"You, and your stupid damn tea,"
Cienna giggled hearing the Demon complain about tea the sound soft and light.
“Don’t like it?” she used her mind speech the fact she was amused by this cutting through quite clearly.
“It smells really good in here” she would then say out loud trying to differentiate talking to the demon and Julie, it would only be fair to do so.

"It just gets a liiiiiittle annoying sometiiiiiiiimes. If you could see...ah ha ha ha! There are muuuultiple cabinets organized with teeeea by alphabetical ooooordeeeer!" the demon laughed, and Julie rolled her eyes. She couldn't decide if it was worse for the demon to be drugged or not. She giggled when she heard Cienna say that it smelled good.
"That's probably because I make so much tea...," she trailed off. It was a problem, an addiction. Some people had strange hobbies, she had her tea.
"W-Would you like any before you s-start asking questions?" she asked, pouring some in a cup for herself. She could probably find something to use as a smaller cup if need be.

---

Brandon walked the streets with his black umbrella above him. For once, it wasn't windy and so an umbrella could be used without much effort. He'd found himself staying up later and later than usual, wandering on his own. After recently coming out to his demon family, they'd immediately cut all ties with them. It was to be expected, as he was expected to continue the family tree as the eldest sibling. Now, that was something for his brothers and sisters to attend to.
So when he found himself outside a bar, he said "Eh, fuck it," and walked in. As he did so, he noticed the burning of his wrist. He didn't even need to look down to know that his Soulmate was near. He was usually warm already, being a demon. But he noticed it for once.
He sat at the bar, looking around. He hadn't been around here before, and so this was all foreign to him. He flagged down the bartender, who seemed to be dealing with a man. Brandon heard something about a marriage. He chuckled to himself.

He asked for something to happen, and lo-and-behold, Viktor received it. His wrist began burning, exactly where that stupid name on his flesh was. Licking his lips and closing his eyes for just a second to compose himself and push the slight irritation to the back of his mind. He looked up, noticing someone flag him down. This guy had never been here, at least not while Viktor had been working. A sigh escaped him, and he knew, deep down in his gut of guts, this was that damned name on his wrist. Nevertheless, he approached.
"Hello. What could I get for you?" he asked, his accent thick, but not so much so as to make him hard to understand. He put on his best smile and adjusted is glasses, pretending to wipe down the counter as any bartender would in any movie that had been made ever.

"It just gets a liiiiiittle annoying sometiiiiiiiimes. If you could see...ah ha ha ha! There are muuuultiple cabinets organized with teeeea by alphabetical ooooordeeeer!"
“I think that’s actually quite endearing” she would think back her humour showing through speech “Being blind I tend to keep everything in one place and one place only, otherwise it’s very hard for me to find or even use things. Even using the wind only helps so much but have you tried looking for a tin of tea and finding a tin of coffee.” She giggled. “Gets frustrating” she would finish with a gentle nod as if approving of her own statement.

"That's probably because I make so much tea...,"
"W-Would you like any before you s-start asking questions?"
She would smile at this “Yes please, The tea you’re brewing smells good” she would comment as the scent would begin to waft towards her in the lounge room. She had this giddy feeling inside her that was being tempered by the need to find out more about Julie and this demon which so far she had not gotten a name to yet.

“So do you have a name” she would send in mind speech to the demon. Her curiosity getting the better of her at this point. While she would consider herself to be nervous as her body was still slightly trembling being in an unknown place that so far her wind reading hadn’t revealed another way out other than the door through which she entered she guessed there must be windows around somewhere. Not that she was considering the need to use it, she always had a window open in her high rise, which she was lucky enough to own the pent house, she had rain shields installed above it as well so that she could always feel the breeze flowing through her home.

“I’m sure that you have questions for me as well” she would say finally turning her head to face where Julies voice had come from just in case Julie could see her, she hated to appear rude so she tried to always face where someone’s voice was coming from, however if Julie did look at her she would notice that her eyes were still closed. “Please…” she stopped herself shaking her head as she herself became more nervous as well. What she was going to ask is to please not be nervous or scared, but then how could she ask such a thing when her own body was still trembling.