Posts by Lingering Darkness

Fael looked at the girl, setting aside the glass he was cleaning. "A job? Well, I suppose if you're okay with wiping tables and serving drinks, yeah, you can have a job. When can you start and when would you be available to work?" Fael didn't have nearly the hands he wished he had helping in his bar, so when someone wanted to work, Fael was all for it.

"More or less," he nodded. "Maybe not exactly, but close enough. A different branch on the same tree of freaks, I suppose," Alekto grinned.

"Oh. Hmm. Should I be apologizing, then?" Kaji asked, smiling slightly.

"Fantastic!" Fael said after looking at a clock. "It's almost busy hour, so if you could work for a few hours tonight, that'd be great." Fael gave the door a glance. Okay, there's about fifteen minutes until busy hour, so that should be enough time to get this girl officially hired. He pulled out a sheet of paper and a pen from under the bar, setting them in front of the girl. "Just fill this in and then you can put an apron on and start working. Thanks," he said, already beginning to preoccupy himself with writing his bar rules on a chalkboard. "1. All fights will be taken outside. 2. Be respectful to the bar; no damaging property. 3. Using any mystical abilities with malevolent intention, or even benign intention without the permission of the recipient, is strictly forbidden," he wrote as clearly as possible. "There, that should do it," he said, placing the board on the bar top. He then turned back to the girl. "I'm Fael, by the way. Do you have any questions?"

Farukon stood outside the princess's door, his eyes sweeping up and down the halls while his ears acutely listened for any unusual sounds. It was his duty to protect the princess; he could not let his guard down for a moment. He was a guard, a guard for the princess. Farukon rolled his shoulders slightly; it was beginning to become uncomfortable how long he had been standing with his wings tucked in behind him. He couldn't hide them; it was a bit of a bother. But standing at attention with his wings folded back for so long was somewhat uncomfortable. And you've been trained for worse, so shut up and stand at attention, Farukon scolded himself. You can handle an uncomfortable position. Farukon shook his head and returned his focus to his task; protecting the princess.

((The patients were let out, since it's a nice day, and they are now scattered around the courtyard and gardens. Silvia and Ray had a squabble of some kind of sort, and that's really the only thing that actually happened.))

Lingering soon stood and waltzed out of the hedges and settled on just wandering the gardens and courtyard; maybe she'd find someone to talk to that knew what was really going on. Lingering didn't know much, but this plane was obviously different than hers in the way that it worked. Lingering began humming as she wandered about, letting the tune form without any real form.

Jin was getting rather bored, just sitting about in the courtyard. But, not seeing anything better to do, he stayed sitting.

"Nice to meet you, Scarlet," Alekto nodded in greeting.

---

Kiyre noticed that Purple seemed ... Well, Kiyre didn't know what to call it. "Hey ... You okay?" she asked.

"If you could start with just wiping the tables off, that'd be great," he said, placing a cloth on the bar top. "And, not specifically, no, there's no one you should watch out for, but there can be unpleasant people who wander in here, so if you have any sort of trouble with people like that, just call for me."

Farukon heard a loud thud from inside the princess's chambers and whirled around, throwing her door open, his wings unfurling from their uncomfortable position as he prepared for the worst. "Princess Aisha, are you--" Farukon then saw that there was no assailant attacking the princess. Well, other than the headphone chords she was tangled in. "Are you all right, Princess Aisha?"

Kaji gaped at the girl. How did she know that I was obligated to haunt her? "What do you mean it's only my job? How-- why would you assume that?"

Fael nodded and returned to wiping off glasses and putting them away, but not before glancing at the clock. Not too long now, he thought, before busy hour. Lots of people will be coming in, and most will probably stay past busy "hour." Fael nodded to himself. Not too long now.

Farukon blinked. "As you wish, Princess-- Ah, as you wish, Aisha," he said with a nod. He furled his wings back up and stood at attention, waiting to be dismissed or given an order. That was how he was trained to act.

"If what my occupation is so obvious, does that mean you can also tell what I am so easily?" he asked, somewhere between curiosity and taunting.

When it was time, it almost seemed like the crowds just appeared out of nowhere. At first, people were trickling in, but now people were streaming in, either as loners coming in one at a time or whole groups of friends just barreling in. Fael watched the large amount of people, humans and other species alike, while he fixed up the drinks. He was hoping that all went well tonight, but his bar never seemed to truly go an entire night without at least one person disregarding his rules. Just make a good impression on the newly hired, please, he thought, as if asking the bar. And even though he knew the bar couldn't reply, Fael did hope that some kind of god heard him and was listening to his request.

Farukon wasn't sure what to do. "But, Princess Ais-- but, Aisha, you are a princess. And I am a guard. Why pretend that something isn't how it is?"

"I take offense to that!" he protested. Kitsunes might be in the same family as demons, but Kaji certainly wasn't a demon. "Just because demons happen to be in the same family, that does not make me a demon. I am practically nothing like those brutes; they murder in savage, pointless ways and always leave a mess behind!" Shadow Kitsunes are beings of fear, not beings of destruction! We do not pointlessly murder our victims; we live for fear, not death! "That's like comparing a falcon to a mockingbird; same tree, but far from the same branch."

Kaji wanted to be a bit more bothered by the fact that Era had thought he was a demon, but he was mostly placated by the apology. Kaji scowled to himself at the thought. I am not getting soft. "Yeah, closer of a relative to the Oni," he relented. "Cousins, or something like that."

"Hey, some of us are actually messengers for Kami! And– wait, what?!" Kaji just about fell from his perch on Era’s corner shelf. "Kitsune?! How did you– Kitsunes aren’t fox demons! We’re fox spirits! Part of the yokai family!" Kaji wasn't sure how Era had figured it out, but Kaji didn't care too much at the moment; the stereotypical view on kitsunes is that they're fox demons? Who came up with that? Kaji stifled a growl; there was almost nothing he despised more than lies about his species.

Farukon shifted where he stood, somewhat uncomfortable. How is one supposed to go about this "pretending" thing? he asked himself. If Farukon ever had pretended, he didn't remember, but his childhood wasn't much more than training to be a guard. He blinked, before nodding and hesitantly standing at ease. His wings were half-unfurled, hanging against his back in a comfortable position as Farukon tried to picture himself as nothing but a normal person, and Princess Aisha not as a princess, but a normal person as well. He wasn't sure if it was working or not, though.

"Don't apologize; it's not your fault or anything. Things happen, that's all," Alekto replied easily.

Kiyre stared at the man for a moment, but shook her head. "No, sorry," she said. "I don't know him. Why? Do you?"