Pretty Little Things

Spoiler:

Samael woke up.

His body was slick with sweat but without a single mark on it. His breathing deep, troubled as if he had woken from a bad dream. Not that he could remember it, massaging his forehead and falling back against the plush pillow until his breathing relaxed.  Pitch black eyes staring, even boring holes into the ceiling above him.

Without thinking he reached for something and found no one beside him. Adam wasn’t here and wouldn’t have been awake anyway, the sunlight peaking through the curtains was enough a reason for that as well. With a low, agitated sigh he rose from the bed. Showering and washing away the grime of the nights sleep so he could slip into the usual days clothing.

Black jeans that conformed to his shape just enough, tucked into black combat boots and a light grey shirt under a leather jacket. Hiding his black eyes behind glamoured sunglasses, looking normal if one were to attempt to look around the lenses. They weren’t in an enlightened enough society for people not to harass him if he knew the truth and something told him keeping a low profile was a good idea. Especially when he could never tell when Nathaniel would appear.

Peering into the bathroom mirror, he noted a thick dark colored stubble clinging to his chin, likely to turn orange once it grew long enough. Brushing his teeth, he rushed through the kitchen of his small apartment. Taking toast and eggs as breakfast, though compelled as he left to find a café. Something that would have one of those novel little coffee drinks he normally would have hated but suddenly craved.

That lead to him roaming the city until he found himself at a café, the scent of pastries and coffee permeating the air. He could smell the individual ingredients, some burning his nose and others bringing about his appetite once again. Without thinking he shuffled into the line, raking his copper hair into place with his fingers as a few eyes turned his way. He wasn’t enough of a weirdo to catch anyone’s attention in Chicago anyway.

He looked down to his phone, a line of heys with various punctuation behind them. The title was Adam with the smallest heart emoji he could find, though no response interrupted his heys. With a sigh, he allowed the sounds of hushed voices around him to reach his ears and then a familiar one. Turning he saw a blonde woman, a good few inches shorter than he was.

”Small world isn’t it?” He said with a small smirk.

Despite pointing out that he had seen his cousin, Samael still scanned over the menu with mild interest. It was rare he met family that didn’t have some kind of negative plans for him, or that didn’t want to kill him. Tyuki was one of those rare family members. Not that he was going to complain about this positive change of pace really. How not demonic she looked compared to his other siblings also likely helped make him much more comfortable around the female.

”I don’t think I’ve been that full in a while. Big mistake if you ask me,” He stated with a soft chuckle, feeling a phantom pain from eating just too much. Adam at that time had teased him about doing something so stupid like that. What did he think of him then? Being smiled at made relaxing a little easier, though he was still always on edge. ”I could go for a breakfast. Didn’t get any food before I left the apartment,”

Much like his cousins stomach his own issued out a small rumble. As the two of the stepped up, he was looking to the person behind the counter. ”I’ll have o…two of those brioche bun breakfast sandwiches, ” He stated, holding up two fingers as if to make a point. ”and I’ll have a large black coffee with nothing else,” He was feeling something bitter. ”and she’ll have…”

Samael didn’t notice the barista until the man spoke, the two of them sharing what looked to be stubble. He gave the approximation of a smile, though it likely looked like a smirk to anyone else. As soon as he order was taken someone behind the counter was cooking up their food, and he was taking in the scent of it as it did. It made his mouth water, reminding him that he was hungry. The man behind the counter did give him a strange look because he didn’t take his sunglasses off, though he didn’t find himself bothered by the concept of someone judging him because he looked like a hipster douche.

Even being vegan was not something that he took much interest within, because he liked meat too much. Might have been the raven demon within him. With orders placed both of them picked out a seat, Sammy sitting across from her and resting hands in his lap. ”I doubt it would be too weird. I always wear these sunglasses,” He tapped the side of them, feeling them jostle around a little and then pushing them back into place. ”I’m sure most people think I’m some kind of douchebag,” He added, a low chuckle working from his lips as he scanned back to the guy who took their order.

He found nothing that Tyuki said absurd really, considering who he dealt with often. ”Music store huh? Well, I got nothing better to do for today. Might want to add something to my abysmal collection of cds,” Even the sight of it would have made a music lover cry he imagined. Following her lead, he took a big bite out of his sandwich.

Okay, it was good. His expression immediately showed his pleasure with it. ”Might sound rude but don’t you have some girl friends you could hang out with?”

Part of him felt bad that he asked such a question, but it was something that he wanted to ask. Adam’s daughter didn’t seem to have many female friends, and he knew enough about humans that they tended to enjoy friends around their own age and gender. Especially the more happy go lucky girls like Tyuki, which made him a poor fit to be social with. Not many people really wanted to talk with him once they saw his eyes. As he thought about these things, Tyuki mentioned a few people that were likely her friends and why they weren’t spending time with her today. A single brow crested above one of his lenses, slowly chewing on the sandwich in his mouth. This was what he needed now.

The scent of a burp wormed through the air, burning his nostrils slightly and causing them to wrinkle up. ”I have a friend but he’s been busy lately.” It was all he said, biting on his lower lip and shrugging. Thinking about it made him feel morose, something he didn’t want to dwell on when around family who didn’t want to kill him.

”Impending universal doom something you commonly deal with? I mean, had to deal with that once but I think that sorted itself out,” He chuckled, realizing how weird that might have sound when he thought about it. Swallowing his food and nearly choking on it. ”business has been slow lately though. Being a supernatural consultant can be tough, especially when people expect you to look into anything slightly weird,”

Especially aliens.

Samael saw the expression flash across her face, though he didn’t respond really and just continued to sip at his bitter back coffee. There was something about the biting taste that really made him feel alive, waking him up in a way that the milky kind didn’t manage to do. That infectious smile spread across her face and he smirked in return; unable to hold the expression back.

”Dremweaver huh? Well I’ve been trying to look into her since we last met but not too much there,” Well she was looking into someone that was good at keeping herself hidden. Normally he would have found something about her by now, but nothing of worth was coming up. Watching her devour that food was quite the sight, though he kept the same pace of devouring his own food.

The room was becoming more and more lively, people walking through the front door with the slight jingle of a bell. Sensitive hearing like his own was beginning to grow overstimulated, though he tried to focus on the conversation that was happening between him and her. Socialization at times just drained him when he thought about it. ”I’ve been asked to look into aliens before. I guess people think my job includes looking into anything from beyond the stars, despite them not technically being supernatural,” he shoved the rest of his sandwich in his mouth and swallowed.

”Well…these days my life have been a little slower than before so I’m enjoying it while I can,” With the last few sips he finished off his coffee as well. ”so I heard there was something about a music store right?”

For his cousin he was trying to find this almost strangely obsessive stalker, though if there was one thing she was good at it was avoiding people. Places that Tyuki tended to frequent were places that this person came to. Maybe he could lead her out of hiding, catch her through some manner of clever trick. Not that he was expecting her to suddenly lose that craftiness.

Well, regardless he finished off his food and the two of them resolved to get going to the music store if he recalled. ”Three blocks huh? That’s not too far.” He noted, standing to his feet and  mentally mapping out how the route might look. Never know when a crazed fan might show up right?

”What kind of music do I lie to listen to?” Samael mused out loud, stroking his rough stubble while trying to pick out a genre that would fit. ”that’s a tough one. Never picked just one genre I thought I liked more than the others, though I suppose I was never into most kinds of rap,” Something about it didn’t resonate with him really. Might not have been the kind of music he was meant to enjoy.

”Knew about your band too. Had to learn about it in my investigations towards your stalker, ” The two had been walking for a few minutes, Samael looking less strange out here with his sunglasses. Still enough to draw the occasional eye but nothing annoying really. ”I’m pretty thorough with my investigations, get all the info I can. Closed many cases by doing that,” he shrugged, taking in the scent of exhaust fumes and people around him. Cities always felt nauseating.

[ccolor=orange]”if I recall you make pop rock so that would make sense,”[/color] He admitted with a nod. Perhaps he didn’t have enough of a bias towards one genre because he didn’t like one enough to make his own music. It rarely came into his life save for those times he wanted something that could just drown out the noise of the whole world. Being around someone who just seemed so joyful just made him feel strange. Most people that associated with him were a little too dour. Always barely contained melancholy with them, but not with this woman. It almost made him feel nauseous.

The contents changed but the tone didn’t seem to. Which was strange when talking about someone trying to murder her with her own band equipment. ”Sure you don’t want this lady dealt with? Sounds like a real menace if you ask me and I deal with a lot of those, ” His eyes darted around the city, as if expecting something to go wrong at any moment. Either through this girls bad luck or his own ,maybe even both of them creating some kind of nexus of just terrible circumstances. Well, he never felt safe really. Walls were fragile and even the strongest spells could fail when you needed them not to.

”Orange,” He responded rather quickly when she asked, despite noting he didn’t have a single splash of the color on him. ”Whats yours?” He asked back. Not sure how to feel about this small talk. Adam was prone to things like this but he was also the strange, sentimental sort who just enjoyed talking. Thinking back on him made the smallest of smiles form on his lips, though it found itself squashed rather quickly. As soon as he walked up to the entrance to what he assumed was the music store.