Kicked Out of Hell @reaperoftears - Tumblr Blog

Trail of Liquor

No, no, no, no, no, please don’t try and get her to stay of all things. Delilah grimaced when she heard that, hands stilling at what she was doing and earning herself a nudge by the still-alarmed poodle hovering next to her. Reaching out to Sammy for a quick pet, Delilah rearranged her features into a rather convincing look of faint regret, turning to Ruth.

“Well, that’s a shame, then. Maybe some day. I’d hate for you to have to clear time in your schedule just to talk to me,” she said, shrugging vaguely. “We’ll see, I suppose.”

Closing the fridge behind her, classifying remembering to do so a small victory under the circumstances, Delilah gestured at the door. “Please, don’t feel like you’re obligated to stay. You mentioned having somewhere to go, right?” And maybe she did, but it would give both of them a convenient out without offending the angel’s sensibilities.

the-kings-voice

Metatron glanced at Delilah–was she alright? Something seemed off. He put it out of his mind for the moment, deciding he’d ask about it later.

He turned his look back to Kay, and said with a smile, “If you have somewhere to go, by all means…” He made a sweeping gesture at the door, as if he were a game show host announcing a prize. “I’m sure I’ll see you again soon.”

And he would, he was sure, if his suspicions about her involvement with Raphael were correct.

reaperoftears

Kay took a long, hard look at the door he’d gestured to, as if it had become more suspicious just because of his invitation, then at Metatron, then at Delilah.

“Yes,” she said after a moment, her face closed off and her voice controlled, and looked back at Metatron again. “Do drop by sometime. I’m sure we have a lot to talk about.”

Resisting the urge to glance again at either of them, she folded her coat and strode past him and to the door, slowly enough that it couldn’t be called fleeing. She turned the handle and stepped out into the light.

Outside, she walked off briskly, feeling the prickle of the Archangel’s aura at her back every step of the way.

She’d walked three whole blocks before she realised she’d never told him where she lived, and what it meant that he hadn’t pointed it out.

#trail of liquor

reaperoftears

Trail of Liquor

ofthevalleyofsorek

Having settled back down again, sifting through the conversation for anything that drew her attention, Delilah glanced over at Ruth again when her words did just that after a second to realize their meaning beyond face value. Some part of her was relieved that the reason for remembering was trying to make an exit. Selfish, maybe, but she couldn’t quite muster the energy to care about that right now.

“That’s a shame,” Delilah said, more because she was supposed to than genuine sentiment. “I suppose you must be busy so I won’t keep you.”

Placing the bottle back in the fridge, noting very belatedly that she’d been so caught up that she hadn’t even taken the bottlecap off, she took a breath as quietly as possible to try and keep herself centred. Not turning around yet, busying herself with arranging the shelves, she asked, “Will I be seeing you around?”, fervently hoping the answer would be a ‘no’.

the-kings-voice

“Oh, don’t feel the need to leave on my account,” Metatron implored cheerily, flicking his eyes to the door and windows briefly and wondering whether he ought to seal them. “I mean, I did rush when I noticed you, specifically, were here.”

He leveled his gaze at Kay, searching her expression for minute changes suggesting anything she might be thinking, and asked pleasantly, “So tell me, then, how you know Delilah. You seemed to have been chatting quite a bit already.”

reaperoftears

Kay gritted her teeth, face carefully blank as she looked between the two of them, caught flat-footed by the fact that a human and a bloody angel, of all things, seemed to be ganging up on her - and she hadn’t missed the way he’d glanced at the escape routes, either. She wondered if he’d actually stop her if she tried to leave, but then she already knew the answer to that, didn’t she? Even if he wouldn’t, he certainly felt entitled to reminding her that he could, and hiding behind mock saccharine cheer, no less.. It filled her with an powerless, familiar anger, the way the higher-ups would even hint at throwing their weight around and expect everything to be on their terms, but she could hardly fault him for it. She’d do the same, after all.

Let him be under no illusion that she was obliged to answer him, however. He was the one who’d barged in, she didn’t owe him one second of her time.

Instead, she took her eyes off the Metatron completely for the first time since he’d entered, and turned to Delilah with a polite smile. “I don’t expect so, no. Not really my part of town. Though if you’ve got anything to talk about - exchange experiences, that sort of thing - I guess I wouldn’t mind finding the time.” She shrugged, and made a vague gesture. “Or not, if you’d prefer - I mean, we only know each other in the first place because of that one time I really needed a drink. It’s not like we share a bunch of hobbies.” There. Now he couldn’t fault her for not answering his question.

It didn’t matter if Delilah would take her up on it or not - she had every intention of doing a very thorough background check on her indeed, even if she had no doubt the angel would make it his mission to be difficult. It was kind of what they did.

#trail of liquor

reaperoftears

Trail of Liquor

reaperoftears

Kay blinked at the look he gave her, following his glance to Delilah, then connected the dots she’d lost track of when he’d shown up. Of course he assumed she ahd something to do with Delilah being like that. Well, he wasn’t entirely wrong.

Snorting, her expression turning exasperated, she looked back at him defiantly. “Don’t flatter yourself, I’m not quite that desperate anymore. Besides, you already seem to be getting plenty of attention, I’d hate to intrude,” she said sarcastically, slowly picking up her coat from where it had been folded over her chair, and speculatively eying the door.

the-kings-voice

“That’s not what I meant,” Metatron grumbled. “What’d your power do?”

His expression melted into a smile when Delilah set the coffee down in front of him. “Thanks, darling.”

He gave it an experimental sip, and smiled at her even more warmly. “Divine.”

He set it back down to cool off a bit more, and turned to Kay again, smiling once more. “So what brought you here?”

reaperoftears

Kay wrinkled her nose at the endearments passed between the two, and raised an eyebrow at Metatron. “Talk to me later and I’ll tell you.“ She glanced down to where she’d dropped her bottle of whatever the human had brought her, reached down to pick it up, then placed it on the table. “Suddenly I’m not looking for a drink after all,” she said with a brittle smile at Delilah, then glanced at Metatron again. “I’d tell you two to get a room, but it’d be more efficient if I removed myself from the situation, wouldn’t it?”

#trail of liquor

reaperoftears

Trail of Liquor

the-kings-voice

“Yes, that’s right, milk and sugar,” Metatron answered, frowning slightly. She had heard him, right? Had Kay affected her somehow? What power had she even used? Masking his unease, he grinned and asked casually, “Long night?”

He shot Kay a stern look, inclining his head toward Delilah’s turned back, eyebrows raised in question. Keeping his tone easy, so as not to alarm or escalate the situation before he knew what was going on, he said, “I’m sure you’re entirely right. I might even say the same of you. Was this another ploy to get my attention or were you just planning on being mischievous this time?”

ofthevalleyofsorek

“…hm? Oh. Yeah, you could say that,” Delilah answered, trying to keep her voice light as she busied herself with fetching the milk. “Weather was crappier than usual and the sound of the wind kept me up. You know how it is.” She couldn’t quite shake the idea that she hadn’t sounded entirely convincing there, but it would have to do.

It was bad enough that she’d gotten pretty damn close to out-of-commission-for-the-next-week in front of Ruth, she wasn’t quite willing to explain what happened and why to the angel as well. Plus it didn’t quite seem fair to throw Ruth under the bus either, since she hadn’t known just what she was poking at. Even if she did feel that her thoughts ought to remain her own…

Placing the cup of coffee down in front of the Metatron, Delilah smiled at him. “Here you are. It’s on me, don’t worry about it.” At some point, the tax offices would probably beat her door down otherwise…

Trail of Liquor

“Testy, testy,” Metatron said lightly, shifting to lean both elbows against the bar. Returning Delilah’s Look with an incredibly amused, incredibly suggestive grin, he continued, “If that was what passes for undressed in your eyes, you haven’t seen anything yet. But, you know, now that I’m here, you might. If you stick around long enough.”

Holding Delilah’s gaze for a brief moment longer, he asked, “Darling, could I have a cup of coffee? With cream and sugar?”

ofthevalleyofsorek

…alright, then don’t answer that. Fine then. Delilah rested her chin on the palm of her hand, eyes flitting from one to the other. Seemed that for all his talk about still being on speaking terms with some of his fallen “brothers”, something about this one had clearly rubbed him the wrong way. Wonder what it was?…

A low whine sounded from next to her. Looking around, she saw Samson having backed away a bit at the sudden appearance of the Metatron and the resulting cold war between him and Ruth, seeming unsure what to do. Digging into her pocket for a treat, Delilah held it out to the poodle, murmuring, “It’s alright, come on…” This was… undesirable, to say the least, but well, it wasn’t like she was expecting this to happen often. Despite seeming to have second thoughts about it, Samson at least trotted up and ate the treat, settling in watchfully again, earning herself a pet in reward.

Distracted and only-half-listening as she was in addition to the medication, the meaning behind the angel’s words took a second longer than it usually might’ve to sink in, faint surprise colouring Delilah’s features for half a second before settling into an exasperated, though fond, look. “Working, love, and I will be for another few hours,” she answered. “I’m not quite desperate enough to have my way with you on company time. Now the coffee, on the other hand, I can do.”

Turning around, she grabbed a cup, methodically starting to make the coffee (thinking carefully about each step, her line of thought and exactly what she was doing nearly slipping away from her once or twice). “Same as usual, right? Milk and sugar?” she asked, not sure anymore if he’d mentioned it or not.

reaperoftears

Kay fixed Metatron with a look of absolute disgust, amazed and horrified that he’d be that shameless about his proclivities for hitting on things not of his own size. “Pass me a bucket while you’re at it,” she shot at the (probably) human, and glared at Met again. “Looks like I might just need it. Honestly, with your rank, I would have expected a bit more restraint. But I can already see I got a lot of wrong impressions back when I met you.”

She looked around, still standing awkwardly a few feet from the stools, and flinched when something brushed at her legs. Looking down, she relaxed a little as the poodle trotted past her, towards her mistress. At least it looked like the most immediate danger she was in was being exposed to public indecency, and that was helping her heart rate calm down a little.

She still made no move to sit. Thinking on it, she didn’t need to sit, and it might just be best to leave as soon as possible. Glancing suspiciously at Metatron again, she wondered if he’d let her.

#trail of liquor

reaperoftears

Trail of Liquor

the-kings-voice

“I don’t recall that you needed to be invited to a bar, a popular public venue,” Metatron answered coolly, the smile never dimming. “I was on my way here for a cup of coffee and some conversation on this fine morning. And then I happened to notice a flare-up of demonic power, and of course, being who I am, I was obligated to investigate.”

The smile receded only slightly as he squinted at her. “I know you. The little demon from the church that Michael nearly smote.”

ofthevalleyofsorek

Flinching quite badly when the space that had been unoccupied quite suddenly wasn’t, Delilah recovered after a second, settling back onto her seat and resting her arms on the counter, fixing the angel with a Look. It faded after a second, replaced with mild concern as Delilah’s gaze flicked to Ruth (dimly realizing that that should probably have been her first concern if not for her reaction time being drastically reduced).

“– wait, what?” she interrupted any answer to that last comment Ruth could have given, turning to her. “You’re a demon? Seriously? What the hell was all the dancing around the question earlier about, then, before you –” Delilah cut herself off there, biting her lip, not particularly wanting to think back to the thoughtless comment that had caused her reaction. Shaking her head slightly, she amended, “Nevermind. Don’t answer that.”

Turning to the Metatron, she said, “We have a door, you know. She and I were just talking.” Well, mostly she was, Delilah having stopped being quite so chatty for a while. “How do you know her, anyway? What’s this about a church – of all places – and Michael?”

reaperoftears

Unable to glare witheringly at both of them at once, Kay settled for a quick, exasperated look at Delilah but didn’t want to take her eyes off the angel for long. Her heart was still racing, and the dangerous iciness in his smile hadn’t gone away. Distractedly, she wondered if she ought to call for backup, but she’d be damned again if she kept running to Raph every time she ran into someone unexpected. She could handle things, for now, unpleasant as it was to suddenly be such a center of attention.

“I remember you too,” she shot back at Metatron, trying to metaphorically puff up her feathers without being too obvious about it - something about the way he described her rattled the long-dormant part of her that had more Pride than brains. Higher-ups were all the same, dammit. “I see you’re actually dressed this time,” she added snidely, as if with enough bluster she could blind herself to the fact that she was being nasty at the person who’d possibly saved her hide back then. “Surprising, really. I wouldn’t have figured,” she said casually, jerking her head with just the barest hint of suggestion in Delilah’s direction.

#trail of liquor

reaperoftears

Trail of Liquor

reaperoftears

The moment she headed to the fridge, Kay exhaled softly and steeled herself, shaping and reshaping her power the way it needed to be for a task as slippery and slimy as getting into someone’s head.

“Thanks,” she she said, mechanically closing her fingers around the bottle, relieved when the human turned away again. She’d done this before, and after only a moment of prodding, she was in.

It was… overwhelming, having someone else’s mind so close to hers, and that reminded her to keep herself at a distance, shining a light and observing but not touching. Everything was… tangled, the way something looks when it’s orderly on some level that’s only visible to one select person, and before she was ready for it, the other’s emotions were reaching up at her like the splash of a murky swamp.

Past the slippery chill of it, it felt…. almost familiar, the same cocktail of apprehension and carefully suppressed panic-fear-pain that seemed to lick right at her old scabs. She almost flinched away, but caught sight of a speck of something more structured - knowledge, thoughts, something she could use, and was about to lean in and sniff at it some more-

If not for the startling, niggling sense that something was off, and that she was missing something important. Blinking, Kay swallowed and whipped her focus to her physical surroundings again, fingers half-clenched and her hair flicking out of her face.

the-kings-voice

Metatron was, on a personal and unofficial level, neutral to demons, and chose to judge them on a case-by-case basis. Demonic nature did not always automatically indicate a malicious or evil disposition, any more than angelic nature indicated a benevolent one.

Regardless, on an official level, demons were still classed as enemy agents to be disposed of accordingly. And Metatron had met enough that delighted in unpleasantness to panic (but only slightly) at the sudden flare-up of demonic power that he sensed coming from the area of Delilah’s bar, where he thought he might stop in for a cup of coffee.

In that moment, of panic, he forgot his resolution to start using the bar’s front door to come in rather than simply appearing.

“Hi,” he said as he appeared on the barstool that he’d judged was closest to the source of the flare-up. Adopting a plastic grin that would be right at home on a housewife in a 1950s advertising poster, he locked eyes with the vaguely-familiar woman sitting on the stool next to his, who he ascertained after a moment was most certainly the demon in question. “How are you?”

reaperoftears

She’d known something was coming but some part of her, perhaps a little too accustomed to the ways of humans for her own good, had assumed it would be using the door, and was caught completely unprepared by the shockwave that rocked through her as a massive, burning presence stabbed and crashed into the space next to hers. That was the first thing she noticed, and the second thing she noticed was the briny tang of holiness suffusing the air like a chain smoker’s aftershave, her body jump-starting into full-blown alarm mode.

“What the FUCK!” she all but squawked, flinching out of her stool, the bottle swept to the floor in a frantic movement of her arm but not breaking. It took her a moment to realise she knew this angel, and another to see he seemed content so far to sit on the neighbouring stool with a sparkling too-wide smile on his face. Kay blinked, willed her posture into something that looked more in control than she was (and forced her hair to keep still, hoping the flurry of reflexive motion had gone unnoticed in the midst of her full-body jump), and glared at the bloody King of Angels with all the fury she could get her painfully racing heart to get behind. “What are- who the fuck invited you?!” she demanded, staring back at him as defiantly as was possible on such short notice.

#trail of liquor

reaperoftears

Trail of Liquor

ofthevalleyofsorek

Looking up when she was jolted out of her thoughts by Ruth’s request, Delilah smiled soon enough, relieved that it came more natural now. “Sure. Got any preference for anything or just whatever?“ she asked, getting up.

Giving Samson one last pet for now, she stepped over to the fridge, glancing at it for a second to try and work out if Ruth had ordered beer the last time. Figuring she couldn’t remember if she did, Delilah picked a bottle at random – black sheep ale, apparently. “Here,” she said, placing it and a beer glass down in front of her. “My treat, as promised.”

Turning to the register, she hovered over the keys for a second, trying to remember out how to enter that again for supply purposes, finally remembering and getting to it.

reaperoftears

The moment she headed to the fridge, Kay exhaled softly and steeled herself, shaping and reshaping her power the way it needed to be for a task as slippery and slimy as getting into someone’s head.

“Thanks,” she she said, mechanically closing her fingers around the bottle, relieved when the human turned away again. She’d done this before, and after only a moment of prodding, she was in.

It was... overwhelming, having someone else’s mind so close to hers, and that reminded her to keep herself at a distance, shining a light and observing but not touching. Everything was... tangled, the way something looks when it’s orderly on some level that’s only visible to one select person, and before she was ready for it, the other’s emotions were reaching up at her like the splash of a murky swamp.

Past the slippery chill of it, it felt.... almost familiar, the same cocktail of apprehension and carefully suppressed panic-fear-pain that seemed to lick right at her old scabs. She almost flinched away, but caught sight of a speck of something more structured - knowledge, thoughts, something she could use, and was about to lean in and sniff at it some more-

#trail of liquor

reaperoftears

Trail of Liquor

ofthevalleyofsorek

“I wasn’t – I didn’t mean to assume or anything,” Delilah said hurriedly, holding up her hands. “Curiosity is a – is a valid reason to go asking around and everything, it doesn’t have to mean anything…”

Crap, crap, crap. This was going too far, wasn’t it? Pouncing on the other part of Ruth’s comments with a bit too much enthusiasm than it really warranted, Delilah said, “It’s not so much the personal needs, though that helps, but the personal cues. Whoever trains the dogs might have a different set of mannerisms that would clue in a dog that something’s wrong, so – so that’s another reason why personally trained dogs are generally considered better.”

Falling silent when that train of thought ran dry, not wanting to elaborate much farther, Delilah returned to petting Samson, not sure what else to do but needing the support, still, though thankfully her thoughts were starting to get muddled, medication kicking in at last. Now what?…

reaperoftears

“Right, right,” Kay said for lack of anything else to say, chewing absently on her lip. Ironically, there was a simple enough way to settle this. It’d been ages since she’d used it on a human deliberately - at some point or another, she’d realised actually knowing what people thought of her made them more difficult for her to deal with than not - but this was a situation that warranted it. If Delilah wasn’t human, the chances that her mind would feel like a human’s, if it was accessible to her at all, were slim to none. And this time around, she was at least sober enough not to mess it up.

“Actually, is that offer of a drink still good? Maybe a beer or something,” she offered cautiously, offering Delilah a hesitant smile while carefully spreading out her aura like a fine silken scarf around the two of them, prodding at the other’s mundane defenses for a weak spot. She’d be easier to handle if she was distracted, after all.

#trail of liquor

reaperoftears

Trail of Liquor

ofthevalleyofsorek

“…huh?” Delilah looked up, thrown off-balance at that line of thought. “Oh… Well, yeah. I think the waiting list for a dog trained by someone else is two years or something. Training your own dog takes about the same amount of time, but you get to pick a breed yourself and they generally work better once you’ve trained them. Plus I already had Sammy when I looked into service dogs and it turned out she had the right temperament for it, so…”

Glancing at Ruth from the corner of her eyes, she decided against pressing her about it. Instead, Delilah said, “I’m pretty sure I’ve got some leaflets or something here, if you want them. It’s pretty interesting reading and has some other resources to call if you want to get more info. For whatever reason,” she added quickly, looking away. “Most people with service dogs are happy to educate.”

reaperoftears

Kay made an embarrassed little coughing sound, holding up her hands. “Um, no, I mean- I was just curious,” she said, a little defensively. “So- so you trained her yourself, if I got that right? That’s- that’s really sweet, I guess- personalised dog right for your needs, I mean,” Kay finished stiffly, wishing she could drop through the floor- no, wishing she was bold enough to drop through the floor and not worry about the consequences.

As a lull in the conversation set in, she kept watching Delilah surreptitiously, trying to get a handle on her. It would explain a lot, wouldn’t it? If Delilah was one of them. It didn’t have to mean she was malevolent - after all, she was pretty sure that thing that had caught them all in a collective dream hadn’t hurt anybody (that she knew of) - but it didn’t mean she was harmless, either. They could make their auras feel like anything they wanted them to feel, she already knew that much. Hell, it could even explain Metatron’s odd interest in her - the servant of Chaos she knew had certainly caught Lucifer’s eye in a very strange way, as much as even skirting that thought made her want to barf.

It would make a chilling kind of sense, really - send one agent after the ruler of Hell, and another to get under the skin of the King of Angels. Kay swallowed slowly, her thoughts at odds with the fact that she was sitting here peacefully sharing a bar with the maybe-Horror.

#trail of liquor

reaperoftears

Trail of Liquor

ofthevalleyofsorek

“Maybe. I find the really religious ones usually don’t, though.” Offering her another smile, feeling at least marginally more genuine than the previous ones, Delilah shrugged. “I don’t know your parents, though, so you’re a better judge of that.”

When Ruth seemed to be quiet for a few moments, Delilah sipped at her water again, nearly choking on it when the question took her off-guard. She hadn’t noticed she’d frozen until there was a nudge at her hand for her to continue. “S-Sammy, you mean?” Delilah asked, looking over at the dog in question.

“Y-yeah, she is. She’s a certified service dog. Psychiatric one, not mobility assistance,” she elaborated, somewhat unnecessarily. “When I get… when I get like I did just now,” she stammered, “she’s trained to do stuff like that to distract me and help ground me a bit. Usually it helps, or at least until my medication starts kicking in.”

Feeling an irrational stab of embarrassment, Delilah looked away, not quite able to fight or ignore the sense that she was admitting a personal failing of sorts. Biting her lip, she finished the rest of the glass of water unconsciously, almost out of habit.

reaperoftears

“That’s pretty cool,” Kay commented distractedly, eying the dog and her owner alike in vague mistrust, the gears of her mind still spinning, oiled with apprehension. Even so, after a moment Delilah’s words sank in on her, and she felt a stab of... longing? Wistfulness? She couldn’t deny that dogs were charming, and now she couldn’t help but wonder why she’d never thought to get one when... well, in general. There was Socks and whatever was going on with him and Nona, but she kind of doubted he’d grow up into the sensitive psychiatric help kind of canine.

“...Is it hard to get a hold of one of those?” she asked hesitantly, oddly sheepish about the question. “Like, from what I’ve heard there’s... waiting lists, and stuff. Or did you train her yourself, and get her certified after?”

Delilah still wasn’t off the hook, nor was her dog (Greek mythology had dogs, didn’t it?), but it seemed that this topic of conversation, at least, wouldn’t be leading anywhere dangerous.

#trail of liquor

reaperoftears

Trail of Liquor

ofthevalleyofsorek

“Fair enough. You’re free to stick around, though,” Delilah noted, getting herself some more water. At least she’d made an attempt, right? Couldn’t fault her for not trying, anyway.

Refilling her glass with water, she sipped it occasionally, listening to the story with as much attention as she could manage to get together. “I see,” she said when Ruth had finished talking, nodding slightly. “Guess I can get behind that. At least you lucked out with the name, though. Could always claim your parents were really into –” she paused for a second, a slight frown crossing her face for a second as she dug that bit of trivia up “– baseball, or whatever it was. Or fans of the television hostess. Or the crime fiction writer. Lots of options, apparently,” she concluded with a faintly surprised note. “Good for you.”

reaperoftears

Kay raised an eyebrow slowly, unnerved that the way Delilah looked when she was trying to dig up human trivia was very similar to the way she looked when she tried to dig up human trivia. “Maybe,” she said. “You know, I’m pretty sure some people just pick a name because they like the sound of it,” she said with worried amusement. Delilah had still made no attempt to go back to the whole ‘mind-reading’ subject, but why? What did she have planned?

She spent a few moments in silence, struggling to think of something to talk about, and her eyes drifted to the poodle again. “Is that an, um,” Kay began, nodding to the dog, “specially trained dog, or something?” she asked, hesitant to allude to earlier more clearly. “It kind of looked like it for a moment.”

Even as she waited for an answer, it struck her painfully, suddenly, what situation she was in - if this was one of Chaos’s servants, she was in danger, but somehow her senses had failed to catch up with that. She swallowed harshly, adrenaline flooding her body and her heart skipping a beat at the sudden unwelcome thought - what if it was that thing?

The possibility left her sinking her fingers into the back of her stool hard enough to bruise the plastic, and her jaw tensed - she wasn’t ready to fight just now, she’d spent months thinking he could appear any moment but she wasn’t ready. It took her a moment to suppress the surge of panic and for rationality to set in - if she knew one thing about that creature, it was that it would not have had the patience to toy with her for this long - but the physical reaction was more difficult to shake. And besides, even if it wasn’t him, it didn’t mean it wasn’t something else.

#trail of liquor

reaperoftears

Trail of Liquor

ofthevalleyofsorek

Delilah shrugged. “For not pressing it, I guess. You’d be surprised how rare that is. Or because it’s good for business to have someone sitting here drinking something, whichever you prefer. You know how street performers put some money in their hats or guitar cases because it’ll encourage people? Same principle, really.”

Falling silent for a moment, Delilah searched for something else to say, not entirely sure what would work and what wouldn’t. “Ruth, huh?” ended up being the thought she decided to pursue. “Nice name. Were your parents religious too? Or maybe not. Don’t think there’s many people who remember the biblical one nowadays.”

Another slight pause sneaking into her conversation and thoughts, Delilah carefully said, “If you want me to just shut up, just tell me. I’ll only get less coherent from here.” Dull as a brick either way, but differently; able to string two thoughts together easily but not having them make much sense versus having to wrench them from the depths of her brain one at a time but dimly aware when they didn’t entirely fit. It just wasn’t fair, was it?…

reaperoftears

Kay laughed uncertainly, rolling her shoulders in a half-shrug. “So that’s how ti is,” she said. “Still, I appreciate the offer, but I think I’ve probably had enough coffee for now, and I’m not feeling up to anything stronger.” She really didn’t want any refills until she was more sure about who she was dealing with.

Her thoughts were racing, but Delilah’s next question made them stumble and pause. “Actually, they... kind of were. Religious. My mom, at least. Or- well, she is. I don’t really get along with her, though. Haven’t seen her in ages and ages, and never really met my dad,” she said with another careless shrug, bitterness turning the words more serious than they were meant to be. It felt odd - she’d given cover stories before, but it had been a while since she’d had to last, and she’d gone for something more straightforward than she’d meant to.

Leaning back in her stool in a deceptively casual posture, she kept her eyes on Delilah, the poodle, and the surroundings, and bit her lip, thinking furiously while watching her unwaveringly. If Delilah was one of them, she needed to be on her guard - and it would certainly explain a great deal, wouldn’t it?

#trail of liquor

reaperoftears

Trail of Liquor

ofthevalleyofsorek

“I don’t…” Delilah cleared her throat, shaking her head. Offering a slight smile, she started again. “I don’t get that very often, actually. Mostly just song references and jokes about my relationship status. It’s… It’s not much of a story, honestly. My parents… I guess they were kind of religious enough to want a biblical name but not religious enough to steer away from the one attached to the character exemplifying that women are all heartless backstabbing gold-diggers, you know? Maybe they heard one of the songs too, I dunno. Don’t think they were big on Tom Jones or anything, but maybe.”

Rubbing her eyes, Delilah glanced over at the coffee cup the customer was fidgeting with, staring at it for a second, a thought drifting up slowly. “Want me to refill that?” she asked, gesturing at it. “Probably cold by now, right? My treat,” she offered, smiling a touch too late to feel entirely natural.

Another realization made itself known slowly, prompted by the girl asking after her name. “What’s yours, actually? Your name, I mean,” Delilah clarified, dimly aware that this train of thought might not be quite as logical as it seemed to her right now. “I think you mentioned it last time, but I forgot. Sorry.”

reaperoftears

Kay blinked with dull surprise for a moment, still chewing as she was over the previous question. “Oh,” she sad, secretly relieved at a question she was miles more practised in lying at than the name of her ‘boyfriend’. “I’m sorry, I should have introduced myself properly when I came in. It’s Ruth. Pleased to meet you, I guess,” she said awkwardly. There was no telling if the question had been sincere, and that bothered her - the human was oddly hard to read right now - at least with conventional methods, and she wasn’t sure she wanted to try anything else right now, for multiple reasons.

“So wait, I give you a freakout and you want to pay for my refill? How does that figure?” she asked, eyes calculating as she watched her face. The way Delilah’s smile had stumbled when she’d offered the refill set off all sorts of unpleasant alarm bells in her gut and had her surreptitiously glancing towards the bottles and containers on the other side of the bar. She didn’t look like the sort of human who’d keep a pitcher of holy water on hand just in case, but looks could certainly be deceiving.

If she wasn’t human, what was she? It took Kay a moment to admit she already knew the answer to that, and the realisation had her own heart plummeting and her fingers tightening on the back of the stool where they were perched.

#trail of liquor

reaperoftears

Trail of Liquor

ofthevalleyofsorek

“Thanks,” Delilah said again, twitching slightly. “For understanding, I mean.” And for not asking uncomfortable questions like what had happened or why she reacted the way she did. Then again, maybe she’d read her thoughts on that as well. Oh well. Delilah was inclined to forgive her for this.

Drinking the water sip by sip, Delilah scrambled for a subject to talk about that didn’t disagree with either one of them, coming up blank, her thoughts sluggish and feeling like they scattered as soon as she tried to pick at them. Ugh. She hated this…

Putting the glass in the sink, movements almost exaggeratedly careful to try and keep her hands steady – feeling like maybe she could get this back under control one thing at a time, Delilah glanced quickly at the girl, then away again, keeping up the petting.

“So,” she said, drawing it out a bit to buy herself a bit more time to work something out and still failing. “I think we were talking about your boyfriend, right? What did you say his name was?…” That ought to be safe, right? She’d never met him, and this girl seemed perfectly happy with him for the most part, so…

reaperoftears

Chewing on her lip in suspicion, Kay slowly slid onto the stool again, even if the distance between them felt too small for how little she trusted the situation right now. Now that things had quieted down again - or seemed like it - she could let her thoughts run on in the background. It wasn’t difficult to see the turn of the conversation as manipulative - Delilah, if that was her name, could have used an emotional outburst to cajole a confession out of her, forcing a tiny but decisive step forward, and now that they’d put the previous level of deception behind them, she was taking her time. But she’d bring it up again, of that Kay had no doubt.

“...Isra,” she said again, reaching for the abandoned remains of her coffee again and idly stirring it with the spoon. “Got named after.... some saint or other, I think, I’m not really an expert on those things. I don’t really use the name, myself.”

She eyed the human speculatively for a moment, relieved, at least, that she no longer seemed to be breaking down, then carefully asked, “How’d you get saddled with your name, anyway? I’m sure you get that a lot, but I have to ask.”

#trail of liquor

reaperoftears

Trail of Liquor

ofthevalleyofsorek

Freezing for a second, Delilah took another deep breath, relaxing marginally.

She did read her mind then. That had actually happened, she hadn’t just imagined it. She wasn’t going insane. More importantly, she was safe. …mostly. She still didn’t know what this girl was, but at least it didn’t have any relation to him.

“Thanks,” she muttered, straightening up a bit, ruffling Samson’s ears one last time. Swallowing with some difficulty, Delilah looked up, eyes flitting briefly to her face then away again. “I’d… I’d appreciate that. Not talking about this any more, I mean.”

Giving a weak laugh, Delilah got up, sitting down onto the stool beside her. “I probably look so pathetic right now,” she said, fetching herself a glass of water with a still-shaking hand, the other one still petting the loyal dog beside her. “Sorry. I just… I don’t take that sort of thing well…”

reaperoftears

Kay raised an eyebrow slightly, not sure what to make of her reaction. Embarrassed by what she’d just witnessed, she shrugged loosely, making no move to sit again just yet. “Um, what sort of thing are we talking about, exactly? And don’t worry,” she added awkwardly, “It, um... happens. The past catching up with you in... unpleasant, sudden ways, I mean,” she said even more stiffly, aware she was going for a casual tone and failing miserably.

Glancing at the human again, then at the dog, then at the chairs, where her coat was still hanging messily off the back of the stool she’d occupied. Sighting the distraction she needed, she picked it up and began folding it more neatly while keeping an eye on Delilah. She still wasn’t sure how exactly the human had interpreted her words, but either way, she seemed calmer now, and that was a massive improvement.

She hadn’t reacted to the cautious way Kay had reached out with her aura to test her, either. She was either human, and genuine in her distress, or an actress skilled enough to make the rest of the human and occult world alike pack up and go home.

#trail of liquor

reaperoftears

Trail of Liquor

ofthevalleyofsorek

Shaking her head twitchily, Delilah made another attempt at taking a deep breath, to mixed success. Practically leaping to her feet suddenly, still not directly looking at the other person sitting at the bar, she moved behind the counter, almost mechanically digging out a pill bottle and taking one. No friendly neighbourhood demons to help out now, after all.

“Don’t lie to me,” she said, forcing the words out as she placed the bottle back. “I didn’t… I didn’t say a damn thing about any of that to you. Not this time, not the last time. You just suddenly started talking about it out of nowhere and –” Voice quivering dangerously, Delilah gripped the counter to steady herself, another attempt at remembering how to breathe going a bit better than the last one, but not much.

Finally daring to look at the girl again, Delilah snapped, “So either someone set you up to this and I should be calling the police or something or you – or you somehow managed to read my mind. You’re not supposed to know any of that, so how come you do? What are you? Are you even human or did you read my mind somehow?”

Starting suddenly, Delilah looked away to where Samson was tugging persistently at her sleeve in an attempt to derail that train of thought. The militancy born from fear seeping away at the familiar sight, Delilah knelt down, wrapping her arms around the dog, running a hand over the gentle curls and burying her face in Samson’s neck to try and soothe herself.

reaperoftears

Gears turning, Kay watched her, a very faint sense of relief flooding through her just from the fact that the options had narrowed and the cards been laid bare. So that’s what happened - according to the human, anyway. That was... embarrassing, to say the least - keeping your thoughts to yourself and others’ thoughts to others unless you wanted it differently was Blending In 101, but given how drunk she’d been. .. perhaps unsurprising. She’d wanted to get stupidly hammered, and she’d paid for it with stupidity. The question was what to do now, True or not, the human seemed awfully insistent about getting an answer from her about it.

Could she do that? Pretend she was in on it with someone else, then turn tail and run? Blending 101 would deem it the better option, she wouldn’t be blowing her cover at the very least , but... Kay narrowed her eyes slightly, watching the human’s shaky figure with a stab of sympathy she couldn’t quite parry. It wouldn’t be hard to feign such distress - she’d done it herself, she knew - but, and this made her resolve loosen and crumble into uncertainty, she also recalled countless times she was painfully, keenly glad to have been taken seriously when she’d meant it. She wasn’t sure why she should care about that now, by all means she knew better than to buy into cosmic karma or repaying like with like.

She swallowed, shifting awkwardly (she wasn’t sure when she’d slipped to her feet, but she was standing now) as her hand fidgeted over the back of the stool.

“...Um, I can definitely tell you I didn’t read your mind on purpose or anything,” Kay said after a moment, cringing at the way it sounded. Baby steps, she tried to reassure herself, baby steps. She wasn’t sure she wanted to tell the whole truth, anyway, she reasoned, watching the human’s tense shoulders as she surreptitiously reached out with her power, aura unfolding and flexing and shifting very carefully against the human’s, just to make sure it was a human, eyes peeled on her for any reaction. “We can definitely drop the subject if it’s, um... a bad thing to talk about,” she offered cagily, swaying in place a little as she was torn between approaching reassuringly and getting the Hell out of there.

#trail of liquor

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