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.

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It might not have been his intention, but it does make her smile a little that he can't fake it. Her eyes finally no longer boring holes into her knees as she tilts head up.

"Because... the last time someone was beyond the door they hurt me." She sounds small, her eyes far away with the memory. She sniffles again and shakes her head. "And we have work to do, so can we put this conversation on hold for a while? It isn't exactly one I like to linger on for very long."

"Alright."

He puts a hand on her shoulder with a soft smile of his own, still crouched down.

"Just try to remember I'm not the kind of guy who uses deception to hurt people, alright? I prefer to make it very well known who my enemies are and when someone's just my ally because I don't have much choice. And I hope you already know you can trust me to have your back out here."

She nods as much in thanks as in understanding. Though she does make a point of brushing her cheek against his hand in appreciation. She really didn't know how she would have handled it if he'd pressed to continue the conversation in that vein. Worse he's hitting a little too close to home with his understanding.

"I'll try to keep that in mind." And she lets her cheek brush a second time. "I do."

He gives her hair a light brush and stands up, dusting his pants off before straightening.

"Good."

As he turns to sit down, he finds a small girl tugging at his jacket, wanting "Mr. Allisor" to help her onto the swings. He blinks, then smiles and pats her on the head as he looks back to Lady.

"I'll be right back."

Her eyes slide closed, that takes her back, the last time someone brushed her hair back like that her mother had been alive.The nostalgia didn't last long. The little girl reminding her that they were in the park as she tugged on Alastor's jacket. The way she says his name making her smile.

"I'm not going anywhere." She murmurs watching the little girl wait impatiently by the swings. Her smile widening as Alastor helps her up and the swing drifts forward under her weight. She dabs at her eyes, wiping away the few tears their conversation had brought up.

He gives the girl a few light pushes on the swing to get her going, then steps back as she insists she can do it on her own. After watching for a little while to make sure she's not about to change her mind, he makes his way back to the bench and sits down, this time directly next to Lady.

"I'm starting to think this job is babysitting as much as guard duty."

His tone is amused more than annoyed, even edging into fond.

When he comes back there's doubt that the same dopey smile from before is back. Her head tilting as she watches the girl leap from the swing shortly after he walks away, giggling all the while.

"You're good at it. And I think it's cute." The admission turns her cheeks a light shade of pink as she keeps her eyes on the playing children; alert for any sign of the demon they were hunting.

His own cheeks shade into violet and he scratches the back of his head awkwardly.

"Yeah, I, um, usually tend to get along pretty well with kids. Like I said, I've always been kind of fond of them."

"That's not a bad thing." There's something almost soft to the way she says it. The way her whole expression seemed to go entirely soft as she watches the children play. It was a shame to think that there could have been more children out playing in the afternoon sun.

"I know. It's still-"

He cuts off abruptly, eyes narrowing and shoulders tensing as he looks around. He silently counts off the people he can see, which ones of them are demons. But there's an extra aura that isn't coming from any of the apparent humans nearby.

"Heads up. We've got company."

She lifts her head, gaze searching in response to his tension as much as his words. At first all seems normal: children playing, the way the squirrels skittered along the ground and gave them a wide berth. It takes a minute and a quick flicker of movement out of the corner of her gaze. A stray slinking through the gaggle of children.

"Don't animals usually get skittish around you and Dante?"

His own eyes have also found the odd dog, sweet and pitiful looking and already drawing attention from the kids. There was no mistaking it...it was the source of the magical aura. The growl that escaped his throat as he stood was something animalistic.

"They do. Think of that like a rabbit just casually strolling past a wolf. Might as well be a hunting dog wearing bunny ears, it's about as convincing."

She frowns and stands stretching her arms over her head. "Go, I'll take care of the kids."

She makes a beeline for a pair of boys playing in the sandbox and likely the demons next target if it kept on that track. A few murmured words that they're parent said it was time to go. She made the rounds, collected kids, held a few by the hand as she escorted many of them back to parents explained that it wasn't safe for one reason or another and to come back tomorrow.

Once it was cleared there wasn't much else she could do. It was up to Alastor from here.

He holds one hand out and his sword flies into it from its hiding place under a bush. Electricity crackles over him as the last of the children leaves, the sky clouding over as soon as he finishes transforming. The light rain that starts should encourage parents to get their kids inside quickly, far away from this slaughter.

The other demon recognizes the powerful magic when it feels it and bolts, but not quickly enough. Alastor's darting after it long before he can lose sight of his target, a look of vindictively cruel excitement crossing his face. He does so love toying with his prey, and this time it's going to be especially satisfying. If he were to be honest, chasing it out of sight from the park was as much for the sake of letting this horrible beast wallow in its own terror as it was to reduce the chances of having an audience.

She careful to keep her distance once everything is cleared. Hanging back long enough to watch Alastor give chase with a look of glee she wasn't sure how to take. And even with their recent heart to heart it did leave her a little off put as she watched both hunter and demon disappear.

"Good hunting," she murmurs as she turns to head back to her motorcycle.

No point in hanging around to see how he fared. Wouldn't make much of a difference, in the long run. Instead, Lady heads back to Devil May Cry to wait it out and play pool, maybe chat with Patty if she was around. Say hi to Dante while she was at it, too.

It takes a while for him to come back, much longer than it should to chase down and finish off a single demon. In that time, thunder rumbles loudly outside until finally, with a final clap of thunder and a bolt of lightning jumping from the sky to the ground, the weather clears.

A few moments later, Alastor steps into the shop out of a ripple in the air. There's blood spattering his face, horns and helmet, even flecking the ends of his wings, and his claws and blade are shining with streaks of red. Despite this, he seems relaxed, even satisfied.

"You can tell the client the job's done."

Normally, Lady likes the thunder and lightning. She enjoys sitting and watching the flashes of purple streak through the gray while thunder sends the walls shaking. Today is different though, she can't quite keep still, unfamiliar to being left in a support role with this sort of demon. She normally handled it. No child deserved to be a demons main source of food. And she would much rather their parents didn't have grieve over them.

It was just...child-eating demons always left her jittery. If she wasn't handling it, or actively working on how to handle it she was all jitters bouncing around her loft as she worked the how, when, and where of it.

She finally settles when she sees Alastor. The blood only getting raised eyebrow before she's nodding. Her cuestick left leaning against the table as she goes to make the call.

"Good work. Feel better?" She tosses over her shoulder as she leans on the desk, the phone ringing in her ear.

"Much. Though there won't be any pretending I'm not back out in the world after this. Then again, that was kind of the point of making such a show of it."

He shrugs as he takes off his helmet, showing more blood directly on his face.

"Though I'll feel even better if I can get this cleaned off before it turns sticky, so I'll be right back."

While she handled the call, he wandered into the bathroom. A minute later, the sound of a shower running filtered through the door. He would be taking a fairly quick shower, he was getting pretty hungry after throwing so much magic around all at once, so he'd end up coming out to raid the fridge fairly soon.

She nods; ear still pressed to the receiver of Dante's phone waiting for the client to pick up. The client being a fairly well off bottom rung socialite who had children playing in that park the last time the demon had attacked. She didn't expect the call to get picked up knowing that, but it did and she was passed around a few times until Lady was finally speaking to the woman. She handled payment arrangements and the meeting place for to pick up Alastor's payment. Hinted that it could be an older gentlemen as well. She'd have to talk to Morrison about it later.

When all was said and done, Lady was right back at the pool table-- racking up a new game. And much calmer.

Roughly fifteen minutes later, Alastor steps out of the bathroom with a towel around his waist and another over his head, wrapped around the base of his horns to over his hair. His wings are still dripping slightly, evidently having been lightly patted dry at the most. No wonder, really, given how soft that membrane is even dry.

He barely glances over at Lady at the pool table before heading for the small fridge in the corner of the room.

"Everything sorted?"

The only thing Lady can coherently think is 'oh good god' as her cue stick slides a little too quickly under her hands and she misses her intended shot. The ball, on the other hand, goes rocketing around the table until finally coming to rest at the far pocket.

"Huh? Uh, y-yeah. All set I need to talk to Morrison see if he wants to do the handoff or if he wants me to."

Please please let a hole open in the floor and swallow her now.

"Good. How much am I getting paid for this, anyway? I kinda stalked out before Dante managed to work out a price..."

He reaches into the fridge and shifts things around until he finds what he's looking for. Then he pulls out a bottle of apple juice and a bag of lunch meat.

"Want something while I'm in here?"

"Enough that if someone else had taken the job he could have paid me a hefty chunk of what he owes me." She pitches her voice up a couple notches, so Dante can hear her annoyance. Not that the pizza fiend likely cares.

She lets herself look for five seconds-- Enjoy the view of his bare back, and then she's turning her eyes intentionally back to the pool table. Not that looking away is helping her brain sort out how to fix the mess she'd made.

"You can't get what I want out of the fridge."

Dante continues reading his magazine as if he hadn't even heard while Alastor closes the fridge and opens the juice bottle.

"Don't yell at him for it, I kind of insisted on taking this one."

He takes a long drink from the bottle of juice before wiping his mouth and opening the bag of meat.

"What do you want, then?"

"I'm not yelling; just reminding him that he has a debt that he should be looking into how to pay off."

She lines up another shot. She is not going to look in his general direction until he has pants on. Or while he was still drinking juice. Why did she peek?

"You to put pants on." The balls crack together as she takes that shot. Rolling and hitting the bumpers as the rearrange themselves. The 8 ball coming dangerously close to falling into the left side pocket.

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