[IC] See No Evil

[Nephriel]

The city streets were dark but the lights that ran along either side of the road cut through the shadows, making little splashes of brightness here and there that people clung to without even realizing they did so. That was all well and good in Shae's mind, even normal people could sense the things that go bump in the night, it's just that she could see them. Here and there, under the masks of normal faces were monsters... Sure, not all of them LOOKED like monsters but like monsters... none of them could be trusted. Not the angels, not the demons, and you never knew which way a fallen would go... Which is why she still hadn't made a contract. Taking a side would be against everything Ruben had taught her and as for the Fallen, she'd yet to find one that wouldn't want her soul in exchange or expect her to side with angels so really...

She sighed and glanced at her watch again, the tattoos on her arms catching her eyes. She remembered getting most of them, she'd wanted a way to protect herself... a way to make herself stronger and what better way than to make yourself a walking ward? Back to the point though, she'd come out here looking for Sensitives at Ruben's request... others like her that either hadn't discovered what they were or the ones who had and may have slipped up and picked a side... which meant she had to warn them. She looked around, yeah... this looked like the place. She knew one of the Sensitives Ruben had been watching was supposedly working in the hospital... Time to check things out.

The lights inside were too bright after having come in from the dark outside and the smell of chemicals offended her nose but she brushed it off and walked up to the desk. The lady looked at her like she was an alien... and maybe she was what with how young she looked versus the strange tattoos covering her arms and the sunglasses she'd lowered upon entering the place. "I'm looking for someone..."

[Damiann47]

Micheal stifled an incoming yawn, while walking through one of the hospital's many corridors. The late night shift wasn't his favorite, well really it was no one's favorite, Micheal and his coworkers worked on a rotation schedule, so should happen that week he was placed on the night crew. In all honesty Micheal didn't mind it too much, someone has to be awake at night not like emergencies stop over the nighttime. The night was surprisingly quiet, by then he would have expected to been called out, still needless to say the peace was more then welcomed, if not but a bit boring. Micheal was making his way to the front lobby for two reasons, one he liked the view of the city from there, although the second reason was much more important, the lobby was the only place with decent coffee. Micheal never could figure out why every other pot in the building was stale, lord knows how long its been sitting there, but the lobby's pot never fails to be the highest of quality, by hospital standards that is.

He stepped through a pair of sliding doors and into the lobby, as expected the area is dead only himself and the receptionist in it. He walked over to a sitting area, next to it there was a counter which held all the standard, uh counter items, one of course being the pot of coffee Micheal was seeking out. After pouring himself a cup of coffee, not too much as the styrofoam cup was pretty small, he sat down on one of the nearby chairs, a quick glace at a wall clock showed Micheal that he had thirty some-odd minutes before having to return to his duties. The front doors slide open, which diverted Micheal's attention to them, through the the moving glass planes a woman walked through. Micheal almost had a double take when looking at her, for that she was covered in weird tattoos, he looked to the receptionist who only looked back at him with the same expression of confusion. He couldn't tell what the symbols on her meant, if they meant anything in the first place, after a few moments of staring Micheal shrugged whatever people do was not his business, hell even he wasn't completely normal anyway, being able to literally see someone's life mainly.

[Discontent]

The rusty gears in Ignavas’ head began to turn. He attempted to push past the blurred vision and murky thoughts as he adapted to the body he had just invaded – no, not invaded, coerced into allowing himself to temporarily reside within the human’s brain. He would give it back eventually, when he had done what was needed to be done. Possession was not exactly encouraged, to say the least, but finding a Sensitive to contract with was not a particularly simple task. It required a lot more effort, effort he only barely wished to use.

He stared around his surroundings. A reasonably fancy restaurant that was starting to close up, a table for two which only had one man, and an empty bottle of red wine along with a half of glass still full. Ig recalled his conversation with the drunken man that he was now residing in – to said man, Ig’s voice seemed like it was coming from his wine glass. He had offered sympathy and friendly conversation to the man who had been stood up by his date. He reassured him that she probably had a reason, that he’s a lovely person that any woman would be glad to date, that he’ll find the right woman eventually and won’t he just have another drink? He’ll feel better.

So, possession became much simpler after all that wine. He figured he would have been able to do it anyway, but it probably would have taken some effort. Downing the rest of the wine, he unsteadily got to his feet, still not fully used to the new body. Rubbing his eyes, he made his way to the exit, trying to figure out in his head just what the hell he was going to do.

“Sir? Sir! You haven’t paid your bill!” a female server called out. He turned, giving a fake apologetic smile.

“Ah, so sorry, slipped my mind,” a light voice that was not his own slipped out of his mouth – a jarring experience that he was more or less prepared for. He reached for the pocket where the man kept his wallet, opening it up to find almost fucking nothing. Well, there was an American Express credit card and a driver’s license which told him the man’s name was George Asprey, but would it kill this guy to keep some cash on hand? Paying with a credit card was such a pain. Heaving a mental sigh but keeping the same smile, he handed over the card.

“Excuse me, sir, but do you have another card? This one doesn’t seem to be working,” the server said after swiping it. As in, polite server talk for ‘you’re fucking broke why are you even eating here’. Ig stayed quiet for a few seconds, and then clicked his tongue in annoyance.

“Lucifer damn it, George, what were you expecting to happen?” Ignavas muttered to himself, rubbing his forehead. He didn’t care about the server’s questioning gaze. “I mean really, that’s just rude to your date and the servers that have to deal with you.”

“S-sir, is there some… something…” she frowned, as if forgetting what she was going to say next. Probably because she had forgot what to say next, funny that. His powers increased and a wave of exhaustion and fatigue waved throughout the restaurant.

“I already paid,” he said simply as the woman suddenly had to balance herself up on the counter, blinking in confusion and she slowly fell to her knees.

“E-eh, ah, ok, sure.” And with that, he was gone.
Ignavas. Sloth Demon. Underworld monstrosity of lassitude and lethargy. Corrupter and devourer of pure souls. Dine’n’dasher. His superiors must be so proud.

---

Walking through the dark streets was strangely comforting – but it wasn’t a comfort he needed right now. The sleeping city just filled him with the overwhelming desire to lie down on a bench somewhere and nap -- a resoundingly bad idea even in the best of cities, but he had things to do. Vaguely defined and poorly planned ‘things to do’, but things to do nonetheless. He moved through the city, often checking out any bars and clubs for any prospective Sensitives mindlessly enjoying the night away. He wasn’t fond of bars or clubs – far too loud -- but it was the only place he was going to find anyone at such a time of night.

Mindlessly wandering around had up until then proved fruitless. Until he felt the deterring effect of a walking ward. He followed the feeling, turning a corner just in time to see somebody walk into the hospital. It was worthy of investigation – but it would be far too suspicious to enter directly after her. He waited in the pitch black darkness of an alleyway, staring out at the hospital entrance. He yawned. This was going to be a boring wait.

[Lugubrious]

Not so far from the earth as the moon or stars, there hovered another light in the sky. Though not technically a celestial body, Union liked to think that it had one, and a wreath of golden fire certainly helped this image. Soaring high in the air on a peaceful night was something many angels took for granted, but Union's two minds seldom failed to appreciate the miracle of flight. Just now, however, was one of those times.

“I'm telling you, it's juked us again,” an irritated male voice bellowed over the rushing wind.
“And I'm telling you, have faith in me. We found it the other time; why so quick to give up now? We've only spent two days tracking it,” came a tired reply.
“This demon could be heading home to brood in a pit for all we know! I know we can't sense the oracles, but relying on demons to find them for us is a terrible idea!”
“Well, you allowed me to fly you about a hundred-fifty miles on that pretext, so it wasn't so bad back then.” Zoe paused. “Plus, your idea is way worse.”
“What!? Normal humans can't see or hear us, so if we make ourselves prominent than we'll attract whatever oracles are in the area! Makes perfect sense!”

Union ground to a halt. 5,000 feet below, there lay a fairly standard-looking town. From the air, all cities looked remarkably similar. This one was speckled with lights, none so resplendent as the angel's burning passion, but merry little smidgen of liveliness nonetheless. Both heads scanned the area, earth and sky alike, but neither saw the winged demon they had been following. “No way that mongrel outsped us,” Zoe muttered. Zander nodded his affirmation, his helmet masking his smile.
“That must mean it has taken refuge down there. Maybe it's found an oracle.”
Despite Zoe's tone, she was inwardly pleased that her partner had completely changed stances on her plan, and he knew it. “Whatever happened to the 'terrible idea'?” she wheedled.
“Eh, might as well check it out. We did trace it here, as you said. And you're tired.”
“No way. I could do this all night.”
Zander grinned—he knew what came next. “How about dinner?”
“Sounds good. You pay.”
“We share the same pool of cur..cash, rather.”
“What's gotten into you today? You're doing so much thinking compared to normal.”
“Less talking, more landing.”
“Get it? It's funny because I called you dumb.”
“I get the picture, Zoey.”

By this time Union had arrived. Descending the last few meters, the angel alighted on the pavement just beside a streetlamp. After a quick -and silent- look around to determine that nobody was in sight, Union's body began to glow softly. As its form lost definition it began to change. In the space of five seconds, the angel split in two, and when the light died down two perfectly normal humans stood where it had been. They instinctively checked themselves over to make sure that everything was in place; now that ordinary people could see them, maintaining the facade became an important priority. After a few moments, they started off down the street, hand in hand. “Now to find a place open at ten o' clock,” the man muttered. Keeping an eye out for their quarry went unsaid, but understood.

Ten minutes later, the couple had found their place. A lively-looking fast-food restaurant, coated in neon lights and tantalizing advertisements and comically located across the street from an expansive hospital clinic. This did not go unnoticed by Zoe. “Hey, the place of healing is within crawling distance.” While such humor was usually appreciated by Zander, he seemed unusually contemplative as the couple approached the restaurant. “I'm getting a bad feeling.”
“Oh, it's not worry about gluttony again is it? Remember, its we girls that need to watch our weight.”
Zander turned back to his partner's face, staring into Zoe's eyes. It was a privilege their true form did not permit him. “Not that I'm the one that needs to worry about gluttony. If it wasn't a sin, you'd be too fat to fly.”

She punched him. While he did almost stagger under the force of the strike, even in human form, his teasing went unabated. “Looks like I hit a nerve.”
“Shut up and order. We've got a demon to catch and oracles to find, remember?”
“Sure, sure.”

Preoccupied with friendly banter and attaining nourishment, neither half of Union noticed George Asprey across the street. They ordered their food (both small portions of grilled chicken and salad, accompanied by clear, reinvigorating water) and shared a compassionate meal.

[McHaggis]

Malphael perched on the edge of a rooftop, the night sky's distinct shade of brown-orange hanging above him. Cities and their light pollution, he scoffed, rubbing some feeling back into his fingertips. While he wasn't a near-invulnerable angel anymore with their resistance to the cold, he wasn't so weak as to get hypothermia from the wind after only three hours. “See anything yet?” he asked, turning slightly.

Evangeline was bundled up in jackets and jumpers having been told days ago she would be going out for training. Obviously she knew that learning from the fallen angel involved standing on the highest building in an area, whipped by gusting gales and freezing altitudes. “No. I haven't seen anything since that five year old a few hours ago.”

“He was a sensitive! You weren't wrong!”

“And then you asked me what the correct reaction would be to an angel or demon picking a fight with me! How am I supposed to know?” Malphael merely shrugged in response, apathic to Evangeline's distress. She had to learn how to properly identify another sensitive from a distance at some point in her life – they usually dragged other, more powerful beings along with them.

The two were silent for a moment until Evangeline exclaimed, “There! With the tattoos!”

Malphael's nose wrinkled. Were those wards? He wasn't half surprised his sensitive could pick her out in that case. “C'mon, we're going down to the street level. I want to see.” The back of his neck prickled with anxiety and a feeling that something was definitely, definitely wrong.

[Nephriel]

Shae hadn't been standing there long when a little warning bell went off at the back of her mind, it was nothing really... just the little hairs on the back of her neck standing up... the sensation of being watched. Still, she'd learned a long time ago that if you felt like someone was watching you it's because they were. "I'm looking for..." she pulled out a piece of paper and scanned the name. "I'm looking for Michael Hothor."

The nurse arched a brow, obviously she didn't look like the type to spend much time around whoever this guy was. "May I ask your relationship?"

Shae pushed her sunglasses up atop her head, flashing her brightest smile, "He doesn't really know me but I'm writing a paper for my college class... I saw him in a news paper and I thought writing on what first responders go through mentally and emotionally might be interesting... I was hoping to shadow but... I'm not really sure if I'd be in the way? Is there any way I could talk to him?"

The nurse seemed convinced, her age helped pass off her story, and pointed to the place Michael sat, "That's him. Good luck on that paper."

Shae flashed another smile, "Thanks..." She headed over to the guy and held a hand out in greeting. Usually, it wasn't like her to be so sociable but when you're getting ready to spill the beans on another persons life and the way they've been living it... Well, some courtesy is due. Plus, she had a story to stick to for now... "Hi, I don't suppose you heard what I was telling the nurse? I would have been here earlier but... I had some studying to do for a test and family stuff so... I'm hoping I haven't caught you too late?"

The lights of the hospital flickered, just a quick little flicker... and they were dimmer than before but no one else seemed to notice. Then again, those kinds of things happened all the time and unless you knew some of the things that caused them there wasn't a need to worry. Shae was one who knew and the sudden reduction in power and the sense of being watched meant one of two things... Either she was being paranoid and the hospital was having power surge issues or her training was kicking in and there was more 'supernatural' activity around the hospital than usual.... It was the little things. Either way, Shae suddenly felt wary... Apparently her little excursion had garnered way too much attention.

[Damiann47]

Micheal was leaning back in his chair pretending to busy on his phone, in reality he was eavesdropping on the woman's conversation with the receptionist she by far was the most interesting thing to walk in that night. At the mention of his name Micheal dropped the charade, it was pretty unexpected that someone that looked like her, covered from head to toe in those weird designs, was there to meet with him. He leaned forward trying his best to listen on the rest of the conversation. After her explanation, Micheal was only confused sure he could buy that the woman was a student, as strange as her appearance was, but Micheal never bothered to stay behind for interviews since he never cared much for recognition, plus there really was not enough time, too much work to get done. There was really no reason she should have found his name in the paper, Micheal could only guess why she was really there.

The receptionist pointed him out, guess it made sense to her she barely knew Micheal so the newspaper story fitted. The woman walked over to him offering a greeting, despite his mild distrust he still shook her outreached hand.

Shae said
"Hi, I don't suppose you heard what I was telling the nurse? I would have been here earlier but... I had some studying to do for a test and family stuff so... I'm hoping I haven't caught you too late?"

Before he opened his mouth to speak there was a slight flicker in the lights, the hospital had redundant power wiring as a safety procation, so many machines relied on the power grid that a outage would be very disastrous. Micheal knew this, however a small flicker wasn't a bit deal so he didn't pay much attention to it. Micheal gave his response, "I did overhear that you're writing a paper on first responders, I am off duty so I can answer a few questions now although we can set a time later for an official interviews sometime later this week. However if you want to shadow me then you have to fill out some paperwork, hospital rules sadly." Micheal paused wondering if he should ask the woman, it was just so strange how she said she found him, it didn't add up to Micheal. "I do have a question first if you don't mind answering, how did you find my name in the paper anyway? I don't like talking with reporters, even asked to keep my name out of their reports, so I just find it odd."

[Nephriel]

She sighed, honestly she didn't have the patience for breaking them in lightly... That was Ruben's thing, he'd waited years till she was ready but Shae was human and aged like one... She didn't have forever to coddle anyone. So, she'd do what Ruben asked and tell the guy what he needed to know, give him some proof and let him decide where to go from there.

"Honestly, I'm not writing a paper and we're usually supposed to break you in nice and slow so you don't go running around thinking I'm crazy or you're crazy but Ruben knew when he sent me that I don't have that kind of patience."

She took out a small vial, to other people it would look like an empty tiny glass jar... To him it would be full of light.

"Ruben said you see stuff, yeah? Lights... around people? Usually their different colors, sometimes they're bright... other times they fade as people die? That's not you being crazy, honestly... I see them sometimes too but that's not the point. The point is no one else can see them, just like no one else can see whats in this jar."

"I can, you can... Well, kind of. You just see it's life force, you haven't picked up the knack of seeing through the veil yet..." She unscrewed the jar and out popped the ball of light, shooting straight to the computer which suddenly crashed. The nurse cursed and the ball shot past her coffee which promptly slipped off the table causing the poor woman to jump. The thing zipped around the room a few times, knocking things over and making others malfunction before it found an air vent and shot into it... the whole time the nurse was oblivious to the ball of zipping light and was instead cursing her luck. She shrugged, "That was an imp... mostly not dangerous, just irritating. Point being, you're powers are growing... and it's going to draw attention unless you know how to play the game."

She tugged a pen out of her pocket and the piece of paper that had had his name on it, "Yeah, you think I'm completely nuts right now, and I'm not really giving you time to process but here is my number... Call me if you decide I'm not insane... or well... not completely."

She handed him the paper and then shoved her hands in her pockets, hesitated, and walked off... for the exit. She'd done what Ruben asked, now the guy had to figure out what he wanted. Besides, her curiosity over what was going on outside had risen to the unbearable. Exorcisms, banishment, danger... those were more her speed.... not babysitting.

[Damiann47]

Micheal stared at Shea after her demonstration and quite frankly her lacking explanation. After seeing life force for long enough Micheal had already easily wrapped his mind around the concept of the supernatural. but really he didn't expect there to be others. Whats more is that there was lot more going on then what he thought, what did she call it? An Imp? If those things exist then there has to be a lot more, hell she even said he's going to be drawing attention. Micheal shook his head, hell no had she explained enough, abruptly dropping this information alone was pretty rude. If she wanted to talk straight up business then that's fine, seemed to be a waste trying to fabricate a story only to instantly break it down.

Micheal stood up and shouted to Shea, even matching her demeanor, "Right, you sure as hell have to explain a lot more then that." Micheal ran towards Shea, while trying to avoid the look of the receptionist while she was still trying to figure out what happened to the computer, must be having a bad night by this point.

When he caught up with Shea he spoke in a quieter voice, yet still with the same tone. "I'm all fine with you trying to do your job, whatever that is, if you're going to drop this all business like, that's even fine it saves time for both of us. Problem is if you're suppose to be bringing me up to speed, you did a pretty bad job at that." Micheal sighed, what was he doing? Right then was break time, why was he trying to reason with this antisocial tattooed woman? "Look, at least give me the full rundown, you want to get back to... whatever it is you do, and I want to get back to my coffee. I get the point of the supernatural existing, kinda been seeing life force for a while now, so feel free to skip over that."

[Nephriel]

Shae was only mildly surprised when Michael followed her and she paused long enough to actually smile. "Huh... I expected you to be one of the ones to go into denial." She shrugged, "I figured it wouldn't do me any good to go into detail if you were going to be one of... those. I figured you'd call if you were curious enough but this is fine too... Saves me from waiting around."

She glanced back at the nurse who was casting them curious glances, "Lets get out of here before someone overhears us and we get assigned to the mental ward."

She gestured for him to follow and slipped out the door before pausing and taking a good look around at the darkness. The problem with her power was that she didn't really have the ability to see auras like Michael... It happened on occasion but her gifts lay more in recognizing what lay behind the masks of the faces demons and angels wore. Too bad, because right about now seeing the life forces around them might come in handy because if there was anything out there it was currently hiding.

"This is a little better, just.... stick close." She considered for a moment and began the only way she knew how, "Angels and demons... they exist. They aren't exactly how the bible describes them, but they exist. There's a... competition of sorts going on between the two sides. One side is trying to gain souls for heaven, the other for hell... Then, there are the Gate Keepers. The Ruben guy I brought up, he's one of them and they maintain the balance... make sure Judgement day doesn't come early. So, we are kinda a problem... Humans aren't supposed to be able to see the things we do, the fact that we do means we can affect the balance too."

She was giving him the cut and dry but for now it would have to do, "We stay neutral and both sides will still be trying to get you on their team, you go to one side or the other and you piss off the Gate Keeper. Most Sensitives, that's what we are, most of our types end up in mental hospitals or on medication to suffocate their... gifts. Those of us who aren't medicated have to hope our powers never get strong enough to be a threat... or an asset. Yours, unfortunately for you, has reached that level... I'm here because the Gate Keeper wants you on his team. What I do is send demons and angels who break the rules back to where they came from, and there are a lot of them... Which is why the Gate Keepers need help and why they want us."

She shrugged, "Some of us make deals with demons of fallen angels to protect us... actually... quite a lot of us do. When you're in my line of work protection comes in handy..." She gestured at the tattoos, "They're ward symbols... they keep me from being possessed or influenced. Usually, they make it generally unpleasant for an angel or demon to touch me... which is handy."

She frowned, "Am I going to fast? I'm told I'm not very good at this and I'm in a hurry... Somethings up tonight. You're sensitive, you should feel it... The hair on the back of your neck standing up... The creepy crawly feeling up and down your spine... chills like someone 'walked over your grave'? Yeah, that's usually a good sign something is lurking close by and I DON'T LIKE BEING SPIED ON!"

The last bit was shouted to whatever beings had followed her, her eyes again briefly scanning the darkness before shifting back to him. "Ruben wants to see you... Whenever you're ready."

[Damiann47]

Finally some straight up answers, much more to Micheal's liking. He pondered the new information given to him, angles and demons then, wouldn't have been Micheal's first guess. So Shae here was recruiting him in a way, trying to maintain a balance to prevent the world from ending Micheal had to admit that was a pretty noble cause, living is pretty good. Still Micheal wasn't sure how much he could help, not like he was any kind of priest with exorcism powers.

Micheal nodded, "Ok so you need me to team up with other, called them sensitives right? And prevent the world from ending to demons and angles? Huh wouldn't have guessed that one. I don't know much about them in the first place, so not too sure about what I can do, unless you guys need a medical guy pretty sure I can patch up a gash from a demon... maybe." Micheal had no idea why he was so calm about any of this, don't know maybe Shea was on to something about sensitives ending up in mental wards, on top of that this was maybe one of the most casual conversations Micheal had with anyone for a long time, even with his own friends, huh. Even then so much for a professional appearance at this point.

Shea was also right about another thing, Micheal could feel the presence of something else just no idea what or where it is. "Well I can't really leave everything in my life, but in all honesty saving the world is not too bad, kinda like being a first responder for all of humanity, or not, actually what I said there was kinda stupid." Micheal glanced down at his watch, it was getting close to the end of his break, potential savior of the world or not he had to get back to work. "Look, I still have duties at the hospital although if I'm getting dragged into this then I shouldn't fight it eh? First chance tomorrow I'll give you a call then we can meet with your boss, Ruben." With that Micheal gave a quick wave then turned around to enter the hospital doors.

[Discontent]

From the darkness of the alleyway, Ig leant against the side of the brick building next to him, still staring out at the hospital entranceway. He was angled in a way that he only just stayed within the shadows – the lights from the street lamps only just cut off. The more his mind lost track of itself waiting, the more he could feel George’s own sense of self surfacing – memories of a cheap apartment with an asshole of a roommate, poor relations with his family members, deep seated confidence issues masked with naught but a cocky smile and boisterous attitude…

He shoved those thoughts back down, sighing at how he wasn’t allowed to just stop thinking for a single moment. Possession was far too annoying, and the wafts of memories he caught from George were too distracting. Too many “too”s.

It was just then he noticed that everything was far too active. There were other presences outside his line of sight. Quite frankly, he didn’t want to deal with an angel tonight. Or any night for that matter, but he supposed things wouldn’t always go his way.

The woman finished her business in the hospital far swifter than he thought she would – but she came out with someone else. She only stayed inside for a couple minutes really, making this whole thing a lot simpler than waiting outside in a dark alley for several hours. He understood that the tattoos she was covered in were runes and wards – for basic protection from both demons and angels. Very smart of her. Discounting any potential danger from angels and merely focusing on protection from demons… well, that would be only for those poor souls under the damaging misconception that angels are righteous beings alive for their benefit and protection. The man on the other hand, Ig could feel latent potential there as well, but he was secondary right now.

He had found a prime target, but it wasn’t the time yet. They were having a conversation, and it would be terribly rude to interrupt. He vaguely thought that eavesdropping was hardly the pinnacle politeness, but he pushed that through aside. So he stayed still, and tried to listen in to their conversation – he wasn’t able to make out absolutely everything, but the fact that it was night-time helped the sound travel, so he got the general gist of it. The male was being keyed in on the whole ‘war’, and, of course, the oh so precious ‘balance’. As for inherent constructs in the universe, the ‘balance’ was something Ig referred to with as much scorn as he could muster – which wasn’t really much.

But otherwise, everything was perfect. His goals were not necessarily contrasted to the Warded Woman – just… differing intent. If communications with her failed then he would have to attempt it with the man he assumed to be a doctor. He stayed silent and still, not even flinching when the woman yelled out that she didn’t like being spied upon. Fair enough. He didn’t either. It was just necessary.

When the male was done taking the news surprisingly well and went back to work, Ignavas stepped out from the alleyway. He made no effort to hide himself, moving directly under the street lamp light. If there was trouble with angels or, for whatever reason, Fallen, then he would have to rely on the assumption that they wouldn’t outright attack him whilst inside a human being. That was not a sure-fire assumption to make.

“Hello,” he said as soon as she was within vocal range, his voice calm and soothing, but loud enough to be heard clearly and distinctly. There was nothing particularly threatening about his appearance, nothing to indicate that he was about to charge at any second. “I do apologize for the cloak and dagger, but I have a proposition that I believe matches up with your goals,” he politely said, already knowing she didn’t need to be told he was a demon. He was more and more wary of the onlookers that he knew were there somewhere, but none of that showed on his face. “My name is Ignavas, and I would request we speak somewhere with… less spectators, as I’ve sure you’ve noticed,” he eyed in the rough direction of the presences. “… Or perhaps somewhere with more spectators, so our conversation can be drowned out.” Such as a fast food joint or a busy bar.

[NanixErka]

Getting your hyperactive three year old to go to sleep was a challenge. Getting him to sleep when he knew you were leaving to shadow a graveyard-shift ER doctor was even harder. Convincing him that his grandfather would protect him from the "scaries" was just near impossible. But at long last, after talking and hugging and singing slightly off-key, he was safely asleep. Minae groaned deeply as she to her hall closet, followed by an aging man with a smug sort of smile on his face.

"He's just like you when you were that age" Her uncle chuckled, keeping his hands in sweatshirt pockets as Minae put on her coat

"Then god help me" She muttered, soliciting another chuckle.

" Have you met any other demons or angels trying to see him?" He asked

"Is water wet?" she responded, grabbing her bag. A sigh was his only retort

"Be safe" He yelled out to her, to which she nodded, and left her apartment

A brisk walk was all it took to get to the hospital, but it was a dreaded thing. Auras all around her glowed and fluctuated and glistened and shook. Demons true forms loomed over people and under them. Angels looked so dignified and pompous it made her want to gag. Everything around her was so big and loud and cranky. It was such a stressful life. She hated being a sensitive. But step my step by little step, she sped-walked to the hospital, entering the automatic doors of the ER. She felt the aura of another two sensitives in the area, but she didn't care, approaching the front desk and asking where the ER Doctor she would be shadowing was.

[Lugubrious]

After wiping the last trace of ranch from her lips with a napkin, Zoe took a look at the street. Though the glaring light within the fast-food place meant it was difficult to see outside, she could tell there was movement out there. At this time of night, a few cars passing to and fro on the way to a night shift or a soothing bed was only natural, but to have this many pedestrians out seemed just a little abnormal. Of course, stranger things did happen. She turned back to Zander, who sipped from his near-empty cup of water.

“I am feeling something strange.”
“Is it a waistline?”
“Not this time. It is more like...a presence. Like I know that somebody important is nearby, but I do not know who they are. It is the same feeling we had around Brian, I think. Most likely an oracle. Maybe more than one.”
“Hold on, I thought we could not sense oracles?”
“I am guessing that if there are more than one in a given location, their collective presence is amplified. While good for us, that's a problem for them.”
“Because...if we could feel them, then demons, who are more keen, can too. Shall we get going, then?”
“Let's.”

A few moments later, the pair stood on the street in front of the restaurant. They scanned the area once more, taking one direction each and then swapping places to browse for anything the other might have missed. In the end, the search went to waste when the two simultaneously spotted a couple of people exiting the hospital just ahead of them. From this distance, the angel couldn't hear their conversation, but it ended soon with one of them -a man- reentering the hospital, followed by another woman that had only just arrived. Then, their prospective provided an excellent view of Ignavas' offer to Shae, and Zander and Zoe shared a glance. The man's eyes looked to them to be a soulless, blazing white. While this wasn't the demon they had been tracking, it was fairly obvious that this was a demon. And judging by his behavior toward the human, she was the sensitive that the angelic pair had felt while eating. They didn't take action just yet; as much as Zander wanted to immediately regain their true form and immolate the thing, Zoe persuaded him to wait to see what the demon would do.

[Nephriel]

Shae watched as Michael headed back inside and then felt the zing of ice down her spine as the demon that had been hiding in the shadows stepped forward. She sighed, expecting a fight but instead was taken mildly by surprise. It had been some time since she'd been propositioned by an angel or a demon of any kind, and the Fallen were picky. She crossed her arms over her chest, her eyebrow arching... She could feel his influence crawling across her wards but she remained unaffected. She could see the demon lurking just under the human face, a shift back and forth like a hovering mask that faded in and out.

His polite attitude was a nice change of pace but then again both angels and demons could excel at being charming when they put their minds to it. "I'd rather not trade my soul off for a demon's idea of protection..." However, with the news of one of the Gate Keepers allowing demons and angels to cross over into the mortal realm without possession or contracts had risen to Ruben's attention... It was one of the biggest reasons he needed the Sensitives. Gate Keepers were powerful and Ruben was young, he couldn't take any of the others of his kind without help and an uncontracted Sensitive was a weaker sensitive... a Sensitive that could defend but not attack.

She sighed, her downfall was that she'd consider anything if it meant helping Ruben... He'd saved her life, she owed him one in return. "Alright, we'll talk... but under the understanding that whatever contract we make won't be over my soul... I have plans for that. Fair enough?" She felt warmth at the back of her neck, a buzz at the base of her skull and huffed, "Angels..." She gestured for him to follow, "Follow me, I have a safe house we can go to. I advise not trying to touch me, it'll banish you out of that body you're in if you do... or maybe just sting a little... it's a toss up."

She glanced around, looking for the angels as she walked but if they were about they were keeping their distance and waiting for something. Honestly, she was more wary of the Angels than she was of the demons. You knew what to expect from a demon, you expected the tricks and the underhandedness.... but with angels people made the mistake of assuming they wanted the best for them and that wasn't the case. Angels wanted the best for their cause and they'd do what they needed to in order to accomplish their goals.... or at least that's how she saw it. Fallen were even less trustworthy because they could go either way....

"Right here," she said and gestured to the rundown apartment building she'd led him to before heading inside... She smudged chalk wards on the doorframe as she entered, letting him inside as well. Then, she redrew them with a stick from her pocket. "My place is upstairs... I have wards for silence on the windows and we won't be overheard." She had a ward for basically everything... or well... she wished anyway. They weren't extremely powerful but they served their point. She led him up a set of stairs, if he was still following, and paused to scrub away more wards and to kick aside blessed sea salts. "You can go in now... and exactly what kind of deal would we be making?"

[Discontent]

Ignavas nodded, glad that the woman was willing to listen to reason. This was a very dangerous times for Sensitives – disregarding a demon’s help on the simple basis of them being demons was not a mistake many could afford to make. Disregarding a demon’s help because said help was not worth it seemed like the only logical reason to ignore it. Anything else was just ideological nonsense.

He followed the Warded Woman – a name he quite liked, but wouldn't be so stupid enough to use in regular conversation – to her safe house. He regarded the wards she also had scribed into her house with a certain degree of respect – any demon or angel worth their salt would be able to eventually get in… key word ‘eventually’.

Entering the room, he knew his explanation would be key. Terms and conditions time.

“The contract entails my abilities and prowess to be used to protect you upon any adverse contact – of which, there will undoubtedly soon be a striking rise in. I will, essentially, be yours to order. Your own personal attack dog. You will also be able to gain any information or knowledge that I wish to impart to you – although it’s not an open book. That would invite madness.” He cleared his throat, not wishing to digress further. “Of course, you may already know all this. What you want to know is what I'm benefiting – and I assure you, I have no desire for your soul.” He rubbed his forehead, trying to push away the constant fatigue eating away at him. He was so tired. Always, so very tired.

“It is quaint. In the grand scheme of your goals, my desire does not impede it at all. What I want is to experience a different perspective. For any claim of my own is slowly fading into nothing.” He did not wish to allow for any confusion, but he was sure there would be many. “Simply put, I wish to share your brain, but not control it.”

[Damiann47]

Michael quickly swiped through various notifications on his phone until he found the rest of his assignments, the glory of technology had made this so much faster. He was to check in with the ER, mostly paperwork like after action reports and how the patients were treated when on route to the hospital. Micheal had never liked the ER too much, everytime he has went in there he could see truly how many people were not going to survive. While he was more than used to death and really was not too sensitive to it, not telling someone or their family that they're not going to live was still a burden in of itself.

He noticed someone new had come in, another woman but older then Shea maybe around his age give or take a few years. When looking at her Michael felt a tingling on the back of his neck, he still didn't quite have a grasp on detecting other supernatural entities, so he shrugged the feeling off, however on a subconscious level he was wary of her. Michel turned from the lobby counter and started waking in the direction of the ER.

[NanixErka]

"A doctor named Michael Hothor?" SHe asked the lady at the desk, confirming the doctor that she would be shadowing. The lady nodded, pointing to him as he left

"That is him"

Minae internally groaned. A sensitive, wonderful. Maybe if she didn't say anything about it he wouldn't ask. She thanked the lady behind the desk, and began taking small steps in his direction. On the way there she hung up her coat and bag where the other interns and doctors did so, and checked her reflection in a rather metallic part of the wall. Her itty bitty stature and pale skin had her being called a "china doll" sometimes, and her light blue eyes and mohagany hair didn't help. Today her hair was a tad frazzled, but managed into a tight, long braid down her back. She adjusted her glasses and shirt, and made her way back down the hallway, walking quickly to catch up to the taller man's bigger stride. She finally caught up to him, and tapped his shoulder "Pardon me, Doctor Hothor?" She raised her voice slightly, so that she would be heard

[Lugubrious]

Zander's eyes narrowed. “The demon is speaking to her.”
“Can you hear? I cannot.”
“Not I. Can we intercede?”
“I do not know if we can. That woman is no ordinary person, and as we found with Brian, interacting directly with oracles doesn't infringe on our restrictions.” She waited a moment, intent on observation. The wind picked up; it whipped her black hair against her face. After brushing it aside, she made her conclusion. “It hasn't attacked her. Not that it would; killing humans does nothing for demons, it would rather control her.” As she and her partner watched, they began to walk away. The sight alarmed the angelic pair somewhat, since a sensitive obliging a demon typically meant some malfeasance was at work. If not, then the sensitive was interacting with the monster of her own record, which was arguably worse. When Shae passed beneath a streetlight, Zander managed to spot a quirk about her.

He nudged his partner in the side. “Check it out. Those look like normal tattoos to you?”
Zoe took her turn to examine the tats. “They are wards, protection sigils. Support specializes in them, remember?”
“Support...was he the Power with the two big swords?”
“No, that was Tithe. He wasn't even a Power. Support is our six-winged comrade in Central America.”
“I suppose. What do you think the wards do?”
“No telling. If she is wise enough to have such enchantments, they are probably not pleasant. It also means that she's not helpless against this demon, however. Let us follow her and see about this demon.”
“Finally.”

The two took off. There were no affectionate displays—this time, they had purpose in their stride. They followed at a good pace for about a block, staying across the street an d far back enough that Shae would have had to go out of her way to see them. As the sensitive and Ignavas rounded a corner, Zoe abruptly stopped. “Something bad is coming.”
Zander whirled to face her, surprised. Having set himself in a stealthy frame of mind, he hadn't at all expected for a foe to appear so quickly. “What do you mean? Should we...?”
“Yes! Reunite!”

Without hesitation, the two turned back-to-back and slammed together. To a normal person, they couple would have appeared to have vanished from existence, nothing more than deja vu. If a sensitive were watching, however, the area would have been illuminated by the fiery golden glow cast by the pair as they merged into their true form.

Union opened its collective eyes. “The burning passion ignites anew,” Zander's voice, deeper and reverberating, intoned. Zoe said nothing, focused on her surroundings for any sign of the approaching presence. She hadn't long to wait; from a nearby alleyway emerged a bizarre shape. It had the head of the lion, but instead of a body, behind its mane were five goat legs arranged in a star-pattern; the creature looked like a grotesque wheel. Union spotted it and was instantly on the alert.

“Buer,” Zoe declared, leafing through her mental archive. Union had changed into a side-facing stance so that both heads could clearly see the demon. “What is hell's Tenth Spirit doing in a city like this?”

[Damiann47]

Micheal mentally sighed to himself, he glanced over his shoulder, not much to his surprise it was the woman from just before. Micheal decided that he needed to talk with the receptionist about directing random people to him all the time. Again like with Shea he found it odd that someone had come to his work just to meet with him, he hoped it was not another recruiter for a completely different hunter group, well that is if there were other groups in the first place. He had to get his paperwork wrapped up, so he wanted to get this encounter finished soon as possible.

He turned around fully to talk, "I'm not a proper doctor, I do not have a PHD, I work as a paramedic, however I am Micheal Hothor. Is there something I can do for you?"
It was true, Micheal was not considered an actual doctor officially through a complex system of laws and regulations however he was qualified to practice medicine of course. He wondered who this woman was, he really didn't expect anyone else other then Shea, and even then he didn't expect her at first.