popcornxgif | Complicated homecoming...

Entry tags:

alastor,
lady

Complicated homecoming...

It had been years since Alastor had last seen this town, bustling with humans and reeking of demons. It was almost comforting...if not for the fact that he knew his master was here. The master he'd abandoned without a word, who would be fully justified in striking him down for his insubordination. But it wasn't in Alastor's nature to run. He'd had his taste of freedom, now it was time to face the consequences. If he was lucky, maybe he could come out on top this time and be truly free.

But that would be once he entered Devil May Cry, something he would wait until daytime for. He didn't want to catch his master just returning from a demon hunt and ready to shoot anything that had fangs and claws. So in the darkness of the desert night, he stood atop a building across from the Devil Hunter's shop. His senses were attuned for any hint of magic approaching him, but he might not register an ordinary human right away.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

This hadn't been exactly how Lady saw the day turning out. Though she did owe Alastor a thank you of sorts. His arrival let her screw her head on straight so she didn't ask questions she wasn't sure she was ready to have answers to. Still she was a touch too raw in her own way. And going home guaranteed she'd be turning things over again in her head and she just wanted a break from that.

Naturally, a trip to Freddy's was in order. Only problem when she stepped inside was that her usual booth for brooding was occupied by the very reason she needed ice cream in the first place. And he was currently ogling Cindy if her eyes weren't playing tricks on her. She gave the cheery red head a wave and then made her way over to the counter to order a dish of vanilla drowned in whipped cream and cherries.

"Isn't checking out a girl's rear against one of the rules, father?" She doesn't ask to sit down she just does, crossing her legs and trying not to feel awkward to not be able to see everything around her.

"Only if you pay attention to organized religion. I don't care about a bunch of overly exaggerated tabloids that sensationalize everything. It's letting lust control your life or override common decency that's against the rules."

He takes a bite of his sundae and looks at Lady, eyes flicking down to her ice cream and then back to her face as he raises an eyebrow.

"What about you? I thought you didn't eat with demons."

"Most of the devout would disagree with you. Of course they're the same people that so enjoy perpetuating bigotry and several other rather unsavory aspects that they claim are supported by their particular holy book."

And yes she's aware of the irony of what she just said. Her eyes following his to the dish of ice cream in front of her. A lone cherry already sliding down the mountain of whipped cream.

"I just felt like ice cream would be nice right about now." And she's debating breaking her rule in favor of drowning her conflicted emotions in ice cream. Not that she needs the sugar.

"Most of what's in those books is a bunch of bull, anyway. Written thousands of years ago by people we have no way of confirming ever even met an angel, and re-written hundreds of times by people just taking shots in the dark. If they weren't outright editing to fit their own agenda. Now, I know the Fallen I've talked to are a bit biased about God, but still. From what I've heard, He wouldn't really appreciate people judging others in His name."

The eye rolling is audible in his voice as well as visible. He's making no effort to hide the fact that he doesn't particularly care for organized religion. But back on the important topic, he shoots a glance around the room, noting that it is by no means full.

"There's other tables, but you sat here? Are you expecting me to move, or...?"

She just sighs, she isn't going to argue about it with him. His points are valid, some of which she actually agrees with about organized religion. Like the validity bit. That was big deal.

"This is my usual ice cream spot if Dante isn't here already." And that says nothing to the fact that she's currently letting her ice cream melt. Or that she's just watching it melt as she rests her elbow on the table and drops her chin into her hand.

"Okay..."

He points his spoon at the slowly melting ice cream, raising one eyebrow.

"You do realize that's going to be melted by the time I'm done eating, right? So again, are you expecting me to move or something?"

One eyebrow goes up as she looks at him. Her lips pressing together into a thin line. She is coming to that conclusion. Not that she's actually going to say anything in answer to his questions.

She just gives him a look and picks up a cherry from the dish and pops it in her mouth. Well that debate was over it seemed. Or mostly as she seems to hesitate a moment before actually chewing but she does start eventually.

"Well, this is interesting."

He takes a large spoonful of ice cream and tilts his head at her as he watches her, leaving the spoon in his mouth while the food melts. He hadn't expected that. Although he was glad to be able to keep his seat, he wasn't eager to find a new one where he would be able to ignore the rest of the restaurant.

When he finally does take the spoon out of his mouth, he sticks it back in the ice cream but doesn't pull another scoop out just yet.

"Does this mean you're starting to reconsider?"

She doesn't meet his gaze for a moment there. Had she? If he asked her right then to get a meal that didn't involve ice cream would she accept? She's not sure, can't answer him at all actually. She'd simply refused to let his presence get in the way of her sulking into a bowl of ice cream.

She twists the spoon in the dish. Watching the way the spoon widens a hole into the side of the mountain of ice cream. Eventually she pulls the spoon free and spins it between her fingers as well. The light reflecting off the metal as the little bit of ice cream melted down the stem.

"You know I usually sit where you are," she murmurs before eating the slightly melted scoop and puts the spoon back into the bowl. Normally she didn't play nearly as much as she was with her ice cream. This was purely his fault. She could be watching the entire restaurant and blissfully not thinking at all instead of having questions pelted at her. So she's just going to sidestep the question for the time being. She isn't interested in pondering soul searching questions right now.

His eyes flicker from her to the rest of the restaurant. He can smell at least two other demons in here...he doesn't want to turn his back to them, just in case they recognize him and take exception to his continued existence. You never knew who was a supporter of Mundus until it was too late. But there is one thing he could do.

The bottom of his ice cream class scrapes quietly along the table as he slides it to the side, soon following it in his seat to leave room to sit next to him.

"I'm not entirely comfortable facing a wall, but here. There's no reason we can't both have a decent view of the door. If you're willing to sit next to me, that is."

It's both an offer and a test. But many things are, with him. Directly questioning a person could only go so far. Actions, as they say, speak louder than words.

That wasn't how she expected her comment to play out. Considering so much of what she said seemed to set him off she was sort of expecting some sort of snarky short response. For a very long a moment she just stares at him dumbfounded.

Taking the offer would go a long way to making her feel at least a little more comfortable. Sort of. She's not entirely sure how comfortable she'd be sitting that close to him. And it's only slightly because he's a demon. At least he seemed to understand why she usually sat there.

Pressing her lips together it almost looks like she might turn him down. And then her ice cream dish is sliding across the table just before she slides out and comes around to the other side. She looks slightly more relaxed than she was if still a little tense around the shoulders as she twists the dish in her hands.

"Thanks."

He's half expecting her to turn him down, say she isn't comfortable sitting so close to someone like him. When she moves, he relaxes slightly but visibly and offers a faint smile.

"Don't worry about it. Not like I need much space, without my wings or tail."

"Guess not," she agrees leaning forward and resting her elbows on the table. Once more her ice cream forgotten in favor of leaving it to melt in its dish as she lets her eyes scan the patrons. Two days hadn't been nearly enough time and here she was sharing a table and wasting a perfectly good cherry sundae to sulk into. Though usually sulking involved far less talk than what was currently going on.

"So..."

He taps his spoon idly against the rim of his ice cream dish.

"Did Dante tell you what the results of our little heart to heart boiled down to?"

"He was vague as always." And it was the most frustrating thing in the world that Dante did that. "Just said there'd be an extra pair of hands now."

She shifts, dropping her chin into her hand again. Her other hand twisting her sundae dish around between her thumb and index finger.

"Sorry to say I don't have much to offer right now."

"Well, it's true enough. I'm gonna be living there now, helping out with missions when I'm not away helping out my friends from Movieland."

He scoops up a bite of ice cream and puts it in his mouth, thinking as he lets it soften enough to swallow.

"Probably just as well there's not much going on right now, though. I could kinda use a break from excitement after that whole Evil King debacle."

And the idea that she might want to avoid the shop for a few days suddenly sounds extra appealing. It would at least allow her some time to think without being pestered with questions. Although she had to admit that some of them were actually really good questions and ones she may have been actively ignoring asking herself for a very long time there.

"Mhm," she hums to at least somewhat be polite. She was listening just not as attentively as she probably should be so she almost misses the mention of an Evil King debacle. Her gaze shifting from the far windows and back to him with an eyebrow quirked up already. "The what?"

"Oh, right, the name isn't well known."

He wouldn't be surprised if only the Movieland heroes, and the handful of villains who had helped without actually reforming, knew the full details there.

"You remember that time the skies went dark over the entire planet and every movie screen in the world got hijacked to show a fight against a huge, black monster?"

She has to think about that a moment. Has to filter it against her other jobs and eventually she finds what she's looking for. She hadn't been in a movie at the time but she remembered the dark skies, hearing the whispers about movie screens showing the same thing no matter what the theater was supposed to be showing.

"I heard about the monster. I wasn't in a movie theater at the time so I only actually remember the dark skies."

"That was caused by the Evil King. It was a devil that fed on despair and depression and was trying to manipulate Movieland to use cinema's influence over human emotions to spread them."

The disgust is evident in his voice, and the next bite of ice cream almost seems like he's washing a foul taste out of his mouth.

"I helped slow it down from inside Movieland, but eventually it got what it wanted. That was when it actually noticeably affected this world. In the end, it took a combined effort of heroes and villains to stop it."

She nods along, listening as she picks at her own sundae a bit. That did explain a lot of the weird things she'd heard afterward. And given that she was getting the details straight from someone who was there and lived it...and yes she is aware of how ridiculous it sounds that she's buying it so easily, but she's seen much weirder so it wasn't that much of a stretch.

"Sounds like it was an interesting day. Good job." Despite the phrasing she doesn't sound bored so much as unsure. Like she isn't entirely sure what she was supposed to say in response to the story.

"I don't think I'm really the one you should say that to. I pitched in, but I wasn't in any condition to help with the fighting there. It was my rival and close friend that was really responsible for that victory."

Though technically it wouldn't have been possible without Alastor, the same could be said for everyone who'd helped to get the White Film playing. It was a team effort...and even he'd had to realize that they were all important there, even if he had been the one to get the Film where it needed to be.

"I see." She scoops up another spoonful of ice cream to eat falling silent again as she places the clean spoon back in the dish as whipped cream goes sliding down the sides to fill in the holes she'd made.

And like that she lets the conversation taper off. Content oddly enough, given her companion and their less than stellar beginnings. But it's easier to relax when you know there's no way someone can sneak up behind you, and she's sure that was playing a part in her contentedness.

He spends a while just eating his own sundae, not sure what else to say. Normally, he might try to make small talk, but this is an awkward position. After all, the conversation has been more or less all business so far. But eventually, the silence gets to him more than his uncertainty.

"So, uh..."

But he still has no clue what to say. Great.

Edited 2015-01-22 07:08 (UTC)

She turns her head, focusing on him over her shoulder, spoon hovering just over the top of her ice cream. She raises an eyebrow at him curious, but when nothing else comes she shrugs and pops the spoon in her mouth and then out again before scooping up one of the numerous cherries.

She's perfectly fine if they don't talk. It lets her think and puzzle out his questions from the other night. More specifically what that meant if she applied them to Dante and Trish, and how she felt about that. And silence was always best suited for that sort of deep thinking.

(no subject)

superstylishsquid - 2015-01-22 07:15 (UTC) - Expand

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only