Down Underworld [Ani]

Zoe had walked into her room to change, slipping into some light gym shorts and a loose blue t-shirt. Much cooler and less constricting than her dress she had been wearing. She padded quietly into the kitchen and washed her hands, desperate to get the stink of the Underworld off her. The tile was cool on her bare feet and she had resumed the classic ginger Zoe look.

Sitting back on one of the stools, Zoe watched Sam drink his glass of water. When he was done she offered him a smile. Showing him the ring on her hand Zoe asked, “How are we planning to do this? A large or small wedding?”

Sam's eyes widened in surprise, this was the first piece of marriage speak the two have shared with each other, they were just enjoying being engaged for the time being, Sam almost coughed and spilled his water down him, but luckily he stopped himself. "Erm... well if television has taught me anything, its that I should let you make all of the decisions and I should stay out of the way as much as possible, and although that may be the case, if you want my opinion, the only person I care about being there is you" Sam placed his glass in the sink and tried to think of anyone else he wanted to be at the wedding, his parents crossed his mind, but he had no idea whether they were even still alive, which was actually quite disturbing, his brother and sister were most certainly alive, but where he would begin looking for them was impossible to know.

Sam turned back around to look at Zoe before noticing two new arrivals, "Well maybe I can think of two other people who could join us" he said whilst giggling to himself, both Amber and Darcy stared up at him in confusion as neither of them probably knew what he was talking about. "I supposed it is down to you, if you have a lot of people you want to come then we can do a big one, but I get to marry the woman I love so you can do whatever you like." Sam trotted over to her and kissed her lightly on the forehead as he unbuttoned some more of his shirt buttons in preparation for him taking it off and putting something far more comfortable on.

Making a small noise of distress, Zoe fixed him with her blue eyes. He was obviously not getting the message so she spelled it out bluntly. Catching his fingers as they worked on his shirt to remove it, Zoe stopped her fiancée’s hands.

“Sam, there is no one I could invite. Anyone and just about everyone I care about is dead and the rest of the population of people I know would desire very much to kill me. Also, don’t set to much store by the t.v. Those females are Divas and I would really like your opinion on some things. Obviously Amber and Darcy would be there but what about Hanna and Salone? Surely you could think of a few more people.”

Personally, Zoe was perfectly content to elope. Go talk to a justice of the peace and sign a contract. Much less fuss. Zoe was a no muss no fuss kinda gal but most of this was up to Sam. She had no one other than him, the dog and cat, Salone, and Hanna. But even then they didn’t really count.

Well that was a bit of a downer, but after hearing that he was the only person she had, it also made him feel quite special. He sighed slightly before replying "Sure, Hanna and Salone can come too, the only other person I know and was friends with is Sean, but I don't think he really cared that much about me, he thought I was more of an apprentice than a friend and in the interest of not having our wedding be ruined by fighting and death, it would probably be better not to have him come." They stood silently for a short while before Sam continued "Both of our lives are surrounded by death and misery, I think it's time that something nice actually happens to us for once, we deserve to have a nice wedding."

Sam placed his hands down onto the table and leaned on it heavily whilst staring at the floor, trying to think of anyone else he would like to come to the wedding, this whole situation made him realize that he didn't have a lot of close friends, so maybe he should try making some more. "I can only think of my family, they would be relieved to know that I'm ok and they would be ecstatic to know that I would be getting married, I'm sure they would love to meet you too, but like I said, I'm not sure how I could get a hold of them... But I will try my very best to find them, I'll go back to England later this month and search around for them, should be pretty fun I guess, and you're welcome to come too, to the land of tea and crumpets."

Sam retreated to his bedroom to change his clothes, off with the constricting smart shirt and trousers and on with the casual and loose jeans and tank top.

Smiling slightly, Zoe looked down at her hands and then back up to Sam.

“You do realize I was born there right?” She caused her British accent to stand out sharply. It had been coming back slowly because she had been around Sam so much. It felt weird, compared to all the other accents she’d had. So familiar except… not.

“Land of tea and crumpets,” Zoe made a noise of amusement while considering Sam’s offer.

Sam's ears pricked as he placed his hand on the handle of the bedroom door, he heard a different voice to what he had heard a few seconds ago, and yet he could tell immediately that it was Zoe's voice, she continued to fascinate him with new things about herself that he didn't know and what she was capable of, she must have a list of accents that she could just choose from at will, a handy skill to have.

Sam smiled as he exited the bedroom and returned to the kitchen, the biggest difference between the two of them had now been quelled, he had always thought that he was English and Zoe was American, but now he is shocked to learn that they have technically both been British this entire time. "Can you do me a favor and speak like that more often?" he asked humorously. He was planning on continuing the conversation, but a knock at the front door interrupted them.

Sam slinked away down the corridor and wondered who it could have been knocking at their door, it was quite late and they wasn't expecting anyone. Sam swung the door open to see someone he had seen an hour or so earlier, his smile quickly turned upside down as he was slightly embarrassed while in the presence of the man in front of him.

"Hey Nathaniel, I'm sorry about what happened earlier, I'm not usually like that, but it was all in self defence-" Sam said, he was stopped by Nathaniel raising his hand and shaking his head.

"It's ok Sam, I can't say I'm surprised that your presence caused a little bit of trouble, the ball was getting a little bit boring anyway, I just wanted to see if Zoe was ok... oh and you too" Nathaniel replied.

"I'm fine, Zoe's in the kitchen if you wa-" Sam couldn't finish his sentence before Nathaniel had slipped into his home and headed towards the kitchen to console Zoe.

“Only if you say please,” Zoe grinned, accentuating her voice again. “But it’s hard. It shouldn’t because it’s my native accent. Feels like I have a piece of-“

The door bell rang and she looked at Sam, arching an eyebrow and wondering who could be at their home. It turned out to be Nathanial and he barged in right passed Sam and over to her. Zoe exchanged looks with Sam before becoming slightly angry.

“What are you doing here? I specifically said you were not invited in.” Zoe’s voice came out sharp, like a knife.

Nathanial had the ability to look abashed before stating, “Consolation is not why I am here. I have a proposition.”

Zoe arched a thin red eyebrow, crossing her arms firmly over her chest.

Taking that as the hint to keep going Nathanial stated, “In Britain there is a beast that is preying on big and powerful creatures. The council would like you to go hunt it down. “

Zoe stood, her lips pressed into a thin line, “I will consider.” She stated.

Sam was still closing the front door and heading towards the kitchen as he began to hear a conversation between Zoe and Nathanial. He walked in as Nathanial explained that there was a demon in Britain that needed to be taken down. "Huh, what a strange co-incidence, Zoe and I were just talking about going across the pond for personal reasons, might aswell do this for you whilst we are over there, I can help her out too so it should all go smoothly, what do you say hun?" he asked as he stood next to Nathanial who was also looking at her, probably waiting for an answer too, but Sam wouldn't be surprised if he was just staring at her because he couldn't help himself, Nathanial had the confidence to be openly flirtatious towards Zoe even in front of her fiancé, a trait that could be both commendable and annoying, Sam would have hit him several times already if it wasn't for Zoe telling him not to.

After noticing that he had lined up besides Nathanial, both sharing judgmental eyes, he realized that it could very well be putting some pressure on Zoe, swaying her decision, it was her job after all, she should be the one making the choices. Sam slowly slinked away to the table and leaned backwards on it whilst still surveying the room.

Zoe’s eyes fixed on Sam and she arched an eyebrow… of course he would want to go demon hunting.

“I said I’d consider it,” She stated sharply. Nathaniel winced before bowing slightly.

“At your leave, my lady,” He purred like the fat cat politician he was before planting a kiss on Zoe’s hand and leaving. The female demon remained as stiff as a board until the door clicked shut.

“What on earth possessed you to let him into our house?” Zoe asked quietly, biting her lower lip before running her fingers through her hair. Turning over thoughts in her head; Nathanial wanted her to go hunting… proper hunting. Not like the games she was playing with these mortals and their enemies. An actual hunt… Zoe growled softly, leaning back on her stool.

“It’s a tempting offer,” She finally said, eyes still closed.

Sam sighed silently and rolled his eyes as Nathanial expressed his fondness for Zoe once again, it was almost like a running joke until one day it would go too far and he would have to step in. Sam's eyes twitched as the front door slammed shut, they then slowly moved towards Zoe who was already glaring at him, "Well technically-technically!... I didn't say "Come on in", I actually didn't even get to finish my sentence before he was already in the door..."

This was Sam's opportunity to see first hand what it was that Zoe did and even help her out if he could persuade her to let him, however he didn't want to come off too strongly and was going to act non-chalant. "I don't see why you should say no, its not like you have to go out of your way to find this thing, we're going to England anyway, why not make a few extra "bucks" on the side" Sam raised his fingers in parentheses on "bucks" as he still found it odd to use dollars to pounds and he finds it humourous that there are so many nicknames for it.

Sighing softly, Zoe kneaded her forehead.

“Sorry about him barging in, an Arae doesn’t like to wait, especially one as high up on the food chain as him. Not to mention anything not Arae is considered lower than dirt; Part of the reason why I didn’t want to go, I knew that they would treat you like filth.” Zoe stood up and moved over to Sam, wrapping her arms around his middle, snuggling into his side and burying her nose in his shoulder. “I will most likely do the gig as we do need the money and a good hunt is always fun.”

She laughed slightly at Sam making fun of American slang… considering Zoe made fun of most slang it was particularly amusing. However, she was a little more frustrated with the Nathanial situation than she was letting on. Stupid inflated ego males…

"Treat me like filth?" Sam asked amusingly, "Please Zoe, I lived on the streets of London before I came here, I think I know what being treated like filth feels like." Zoe then snuggled into Sam's shoulder, he felt the warmth transfer to him before placing his arms around her and staring out of the window. "Hey, sure you find them fun on your own, but this time I'll be there to help and protect you and maybe even entertain you when the chance arises" Sam was beginning to run out of things that he could provide on their trip to the British Isles, the last thing to add on his mind was snacks but he thought it would be better to disregard that point.

"We'll have to make time for it somehow between me locating and chasing down my family wherever they may be." Sam's mind began to drift off towards what his family could be doing at this very second, were his parents still alive? Where does his brother and sister now live? Are they married? Do they have kids or pets? What do they do for a living? So many questions that he wanted to have answered and yet he knew there would be one question brought up to him every time "Where have you been all these years?" and Sam still didn't know what he could say to answer that question, it would be mad to say he had powers outright and by the site of his tattoos, he looked like he had joined some kind of evil cult, he would definitely need to rehearse for whatever was thrown at him.

Growling softly at Sam, Zoe just snuggled into his side, pressing her nose to his shoulder.
“Stubborn Britt, guess there is no talking you out of it, huh?” She paused for a few seconds before saying, “I won’t say no to free entertainment either.”

The Demon yawned, being around Nathanial had pretty much turned off her personality, leaving her slightly emotionally drained. Turning her into an over grown cuddle bear.

“Either way,” She stated, covering her second yawn. “It should be fun. I always enjoy a good game of hunting down people.”