It's never sunny in Canada! (Shadowoof)

Madeline gave a slight chuckle as she poured herself another glass of the expensive wine. “Mind control? No, no, no, you’ve got it all wrong. It’s not mind control, I’m just really hard to ignore.” she ended her statement with a playful wink. Madeline always had a knack for wrapping people around her figure, but she never attributed her legendary persuasive skills as mind control, though technically when you have as dominating a will as the demon goddess then yeah, I guess you could chalk it up as mind control.

As she knocked back the glass of wine, she noticed the man do something completely out of the ordinary, as he picked up a fork and stabbed himself in the knuckles, causing the prongs of the fork to snap off. Though Madeline didn’t know if that was the extent of how durable Shadow was, or the fact that she could easily one up her company, she decided rather to indulge the man instead and gave a small gasp and clap of astonishment. Madeline was about to finally get down to the dirty details of the offer she had for Shadow, but her attention was quickly swayed when the food they had ordered arrived.

Though she was stunningly appealing and as elegant as her title of queen and goddess would imply, Madeline was an absolute fiend when it came down to food, there was no way to describe the savagery at which she attacked her meal. She was like a shark that had just gotten wind of fresh blood, or a pack of ravenous piranhas picking a meal clean. It took a little while for Madeline to even remember she had company, and slowly turned down the feeding frenzy, one to give Shadow a big smile of embarrassment, hoping that the grisly display wasn’t to off putting.

Madeline quickly wiped away any excess sauce she had on her lips, and cleared her throat. “You’ll uh….you’ll have to excuse my behavior, I just really can’t help myself around food.” she said with a big smile. She slowly leaned in as her look and tone became slightly more serious. “So down to business I suppose. That is after all why we’re here right?”

“Well anyway, the terms and conditions are quite simple. If you choose to accept, all you have to do is be you, no strings attached, I’ll even throw in a mystical artifact or power boost for free. Oh and maybe throw my name around once and while.” She leaned back in the leather booth, and took a slow sip of her wine, peering at Shadow, with her golden amber eyes through the glass before continuing.

“And don’t worry, this isn’t like one of those crumby infomercials, there’s no ninety day trail or anything, you keep the power up for life.” The smile on Madeline’s face said she had some sort of fine print about the contract that she wasn’t being up front about, and usually that was the deal breaker, but hopefully it wouldn’t be too big of a deal in the long run.

Marcus gave a little chuckle to Madeline's description of her, 'persuasiveness.' It seemed so much like mind control but maybe it was a good old charm. Then again, this was a demon he was talking too, would it really give out all it's secrets. Soon enough, the food would arrive, and Marcus would place the fork down and pour himself another glass of wine, watching as Madeline surprising savageness she went down on with her ordered food. It was rather majestic in a way, a demonic queen and maybe a goddess and she had almost no manners, or maybe that was a demon thing. The idea was cut when she finished with a smile and apologized for her act. "It's Alright. Good food will be good food." Marcus said in response before the atmosphere became serious again and she began with the business talk to which Marcus sadly nodded too, he was just beginning to have some fun.

In the end, the business deal was, very, very good. it was far better then good, a fool wouldn't pass up something like that, just say her name every once and a while and bam, you got yourself a free power boost or an artifact and such. Yet, Marcus was indeed a fool, one who didn't like deals that were far too easy. "I Must say.. That was a very. very good offer. But we all Know there is a string attached. No deal goes without it. I expect there be a little more then just your name being thrown out there. Your recruiting for another reason." Marcus said as he looked at Lucian, who's dog like face which was hard to read showed a little sign of warning, he was questioning this woman after all she had done and with such a magnificent deal on offer, but he just wasn't satisfied, if they were going to make a deal, he wanted to know everything. Looking back to Madeline, Marcus scanned her face one more time, just for memory in case he had to ruin it soon, or if he never got to see it again, bad deal or not, Madeline was still a magnificent person. Even if what he thought would be true, if she was planning a demonic invasion."You want to be known right. By these humans very much so. Are you really ok with just your name being thrown around the wind? Come on, Demonic Queen to a Demon of Darkness. What are you really recruiting for?" Marcus said as he grabbed the broken fork once more, and finished off his drink. Waiting for an answer that would decide what Marcus chose and if Horns were going into stomachs. Maybe she was just recruiting for names sake but he couldn't take that chance, a demon he might have been, he was a good guy... Ish.

Everyone always seemed to assume that Madeline wanted to rule the world, though that couldn’t have been further from the truth. She already ruled over her own little slice of the universe, the last thing she would want is the responsibility of ruling another realm along with her own. Then there was the matter of how extremely boring it would be to have the planet in the palm of her hand and so she chose to go with these points when addressing Shadow’s concern. “Of course I’m ok with my name just being tossed around. I don’t need the people of this world to become puppets, or to bend to my will. Do you have any idea how extremely boring that would be?” Madeline took a bite of her steak, and a sip of her wine before continuing.

“A simple drop of the name is all it takes. Restore my name to its former glory, that is the only goal here, but in order to do that, people need to start believing in me again.” Madeline had completely deflected the whole bit where Shadow had asked her what sort of strings were attached to her little ‘deal’. She didn’t want to drive him off not yet, and as it was, these so called strings didn’t seem like they would apply to the gentleman sitting across from her. She gave Shadow a chance to process all that she had said, and a chance to gather any other questions he might have had pertaining to Madeline’s offer. In the meantime, Madeline continued to eat her food, and down class after class of expensive wine.

Marcus sighed and placed a hand in his hair, ruffling up a little of it before smoothing it down once more, his eyes on Madeline. This. Was. Fun. It was such a simple conversation but somehow it just intrigued him, maybe it was the fact she was a Queen, a considered Goddess and she would find trying to rule people Boring. It was Awesome in some way, some way that Marcus found Awesome. With a smile, Marcus summoned up some Hell-fire in his hand that soon covered it from his finger tips to his wrist, the fork almost instantly melted into a bubbling liquid that melted into his hand, it too also burnt to a crisp but Marcus simply shook the hand as the fire extinguished back into his hand, crisp, charred skin healed almost just as quickly, maybe even faster then it burnt.

"Seems... Respectable. Alright. Deal is sold Madeline. I'm in.. And as much as it pains me to ask cause I know we grow closer to our good byes. What is the deal with this.. Artifact business?" Marcus said a little dramatic like, his newly healed hand pressed against his forehead and his other on his chest before he settled down and filled his glass with wine again, a sly smile crept up as he waited. Man he was going to miss this day. But it also made him realize something. Maybe, he should stop being a childish ass when he met people like Madeline, who knows. Maybe he might have more days like this. An interesting thought for later perhaps. For now, she was his focus.

She had done it, Madeline had successfully bagged another acolyte or champion. The demon goddess had gone from having no one remember her, to having three followers at her disposal now. Things were beginning to look up, all signs pointed to a promising future. If Madeline could manage to keep things going at this pace she would no doubt rise to her former glory in now time. The fiery red head leaned back in the booth seat and took a long sip of her wine as Shadow toyed around with his very own hellfire.

After finishing off her glass she leaned in with a friendly smile on her face “Well now sugar, the artifact is entirely up to you. Perhaps you’re the type that likes to wield their power in a more literal sense, which if that was the case it could be a weapon. Or maybe something a little more personal is your style, so a simple charm of some kind.”

Madeline continued by pouring herself another drink before speaking up again “This little meeting of ours may be drawing to its inevitable conclusion, but since you’re agreeing to my terms, we’ll be seeing a lot more of one another in the future.” She gave the man a sly smile. One of the many perks or burdens of knowing or binging in the service of a goddess was that she would be able to keep an eye on you at all times. Her little spy game helped her keep an eye on her investments, and ensure that they didn’t meet some unfortunate end. It also meant that her followers could call on her at any time, and she’d no doubt answer.

“So, what’ll it be?” she asked, raising a brow with intrigue as to what Shadow’s choice of item would be.

Seemed simple, And Marcus didn't have a use for a weapon so he was banking on getting an amulet, that would be pretty cool. And he'd get to see her more often. Who knows, Maybe they might be able to kill something together, now that would be awesome. "I was thinking a..." But Before Marcus even got a chance to finish his idea, he felt a ting at his back,  a sort of slow burn that eventually grew in strength, like something was burning into his back, the pain also traveled up his arm in which a glow penetrated the white fabric. "Arrr..." Marcus could only managed as his face grew red with strain and his breathing became ragged.

Soon enough, he began to clutch at his back with his left hand, trying to feel whatever was causing this massive pain and dreadful feeling but could find nothing but tender skin that stung with each touch. And soon his arm raced to his right, pulling back the sleeve of his shirt to show a Burn that traveled in glowing lines around his arm. He'd let out another groan of pain as he looked at Madeline with accusing eyes and an annoyed frown. Not knowing if the cause of this pain came from the demon goddess herself.

Even Lucian was awoken from this sudden development, her small furry form rapidly shifting into the man sized man eating Hell hound, her fiery eyes moved from her master to the demon goddess, she might have respect for the demon goddess, but she respected the demon that was her master more so. And so she Growled a warning growl, low and threatening at the demon goddess. Prepared to strike first if the Queen even became a inch of being a threat to her or Marcus. For she was not so sure what was happening, and so did not rush to a wasteful attack but whether her judgement was right or wrong, her demon master was in pain and it wasn't stopping and she'd have to start looking for a cure, starting with the other demon.

Madeline’s face turned from a look of anticipation, to an awkward combination of worry and confusion. Her soon to be pawn had been afflicted with some sort of invisible blight. Not know exactly what was going on, the demon queen leaned back in the seat and watched Shadow with intrigue. Her actions seemed to convey that she didn’t care what was happening to her charming company, but that wasn’t true. Madeline took the only course of action that made sense, as Shadow was in too much pain to speak, and she clearly had no idea what was occurring.

The man’s struggle was enough to even snap his small animal companion out of sleep. Lucian was clearly worried about her master, and immediately pointed the finger at the only person that could be capable of something such as this. Her thoughts couldn’t be further from the truth, and as she shifted into her natural form, she began to hound Madeline.

Madeline didn’t seem to pay Lucian any mind, save for a quick glance out of the corner of eyes and a simple “That aint me!”

The demon queen knocked back another glass of wine, and simple sat put, waiting for whatever was happening to Shadow, to subside. As the moments passed, Madeline began to wonder if this had anything to do with the sinister energy that the man had been giving off since they met at the airport. She looked on with anticipation, her amber colored eyes seemed to burn with curiosity.

Eventually, the light would begin to subside and with it, the dreadful pain that had come with it, leaving only a snake like tattoo that left Marcus very confused. With a quick glance to Lucian and then Madeline, He would sigh before grabbing his glass. "Down Lucian." Marcus would say sternly as he inspected the tattoo. Lucian would indeed, calm down but decided to stay in her natural form as she went back to a curled up position, letting out a dog like snort of fire as she went back to a peaceful rest.

"Mmm. Sorry bout that. I had just come from another dimension when I had met.. You. Not sure if that had something to do with this.." Marcus said as he held his palm out and with a small bit of focus, the eye of the snake tattoo shined before a dagger appeared in his hand, the hilt somehow felt, natural in his hands, but all in all. It was weird, Marcus could have sworn he had seen this weapon before, back before his trip to Lordren. If he was correct in remembering.

Bringing the blade to his palm, he would cut into his hand and watched, waited yet nothing happened, his palm silently bled as drops of blood fell onto the table. "Interesting." Marcus said as he looked to Madeline. "You sure this wasn't you? This Dagger can stop regeneration." Marcus asked as he looked to his palm once more, only to see that to his surprise, it was healing. Just really slowly, actually longer then it should have taken at all. It was a interesting development, but what did the tattoo have to do? Was it like a catalyst?  Marcus couldn't be too sure and felt that this would come in time but till then. He had a deal.. That had to change just a little thanks to this little development.

Madeline plopped back in her seat slightly let down. For all the contorting and agony that Shadow showed, Madeline was expecting something more grandiose. Instead all that happened was the man ended up with a gnarly mystic tattoo that resembled a serpent. The truly intriguing thing was what the tattoo seemed to do, which was the production of wicked looking dagger. Shadow seemed a little too eager to test out what the mysterious weapon could do, as he used it to put a cut into his palm.

The demon goddess and the man seemed to come to the same logical conclusion at the same time, which was that the blade seemed to halt or dampen Shadow’s healing factor. Madeline let out a small chuckle when Shadow asked if she was certain that the blade wasn’t her work. “Darling, believe me. You’d know if it was my handy work.” to which she held her hand just off to the side with her palm facing upward. Immediately following Madeline’s hand motion, a bolt of lightning struck her hand leaving behind a large hammer with a head made of a mysterious white metal with gold engravings, and a handle wrapped in black leather and bound by gold thread.

Madeline tossed the hammer into the air a few times, catching by the handle each time, before placing it on the ground next to her. “See? Much flashier” she said with a smile before pouring herself another glass of wine, and taking a few bites from her now cold steak. She eyed Shadow’s wound as it slowly bled onto the table for several seconds, before grabbing her napkin and wrapping it around the wound for compression. “Wouldn’t want my new employee to bleed out before he’s signed all the paper work, now would we?” she said with a cheery smile. Deep down she was slightly concerned that this most recent development might shy Shadow away from striking a deal with her, so she uncharacteristically attempted to win him over a bit more.

Marcus had enjoyed the play that was her ability to create artifacts and without looking up, wondered where the bloody hell that lighting bolt had come from. What was his main concern however was, what was he going to do now? He had some sort of artifact, one that appeared just as he was going to receive another, maybe that's why it activated, then again. This was a blade of a Revanant, lacking most of all the runes that they had and maybe a little shorter then the originals but still a dangerous weapon by all accounts.. Did he really need another when he had one made of his ancestor's weapons?

When Madeline had bandaged his hand, he nodded his thanks but leaned back on his chair, not so sure on what he was going to do now. Obviously Lucian would be of no help which left Marcus to his own decision making. One which would start now. Standing, Marcus would unwrap the makeshift bandaged off his hand to find it finally sealing up, not even a scar remained like normal before looking to Madeline. "So sorry bout this but.. This development has just come up and I feel I need a little time to.. Play. How bout this. I'll say your name a few times, mention your presence and I won't even need a.. Artifact of yours.. Not sure I could even accept one with this bugger." Marcus made mention to the dagger as he focused on it again, trying to dispel it in which like glass, the dagger broke into many pieces which each evaporated into tiny shards of light that kinda just floated up before vanishing.

With that Done, Marcus would rub his hands together and lightly tap Lucian with his foot before holding his hand out to Madeline for a handshake. "Good enough of a Deal Milady?" Marcus asked with a small smile and a raised eye brow, he was going to miss this woman. She was an interesting person to talk to.. and Witness, god forbid the man she took out on a date. He need all the luck possible to handle her... Eagerness to eat and ability to control.

Madeline couldn’t help but feel that with recent developments, that this deal was about to fall through. It was to her surprise however that Shadow had agreed to spread her name around anyway. It was truly a win, win situation, even if she was partially upset at the possibility of losing someone like him as a potential member of her eternal army. She looked to his outstretched hand and then back to him, only giving him a slight smirk of approval, before shaking his hand. “Look, I know you said you couldn’t accept anything from me, but consider this a parting gift and a show of my gratitude.” The demon queen held her hand slight out to the side as shadowy flames erupted from her palm.

The flame subsided as abruptly as it had formed, revealing a large shard of obsidian like stone with a glowing red core. Madeline slowly closed her hand around the stone forcing it to compress down to the size of a twenty sided die, before holding out for Shadow to take. “Think of this like a calling card. If you ever find yourself in a pinch, just give this a squeeze and one of my minions will show up to help. Who knows, maybe I’ll make a surprise guest appearance myself.” she said giving the man a playful wink.

Madeline wasn’t quite sure of what to do next. After the party in the concert hall across town, she had been guided to shadow, but now in this moment, there were no deals to be made and no external powers calling to her. She simply sat back in her seat and raised her glass to Shadow “This has been a rather productive day for the both of us hasn’t it?” The demon goddess wasn’t particularly looking forward to their meeting coming to a close, but there was still work to be done. While she may have gained three knew allies in her quest to return to glory, there was still an entire planet ripe for the picking. The globe would in time come face to face with the god they had forgotten soon enough.

That went a lot smoother then he expected, what had Marcus expected? Annoyed demon queen who ether tried to attack him or use her persaydo mind control... But rather she was ok with it and that.. That was the reason Marcus liked her, because time after time, she had proven him wrong. Heck, even then she had a gift to give. "You shouldn't have." Marcus said with a smile as he took the die sized object and inspected it before gently placing it in his pocket like the prized gem it was.

After Madeline explained the power of the Gem stone, Marcus patted the small thing and nodded his head in appreciation but now they had entered a milestone, where he suddenly realized that there business was concluded and a sad look upon his eyes came up. "Guess it has. Doe today has been more a fun one for me. Got a nice Tattoo, a nifty dagger. Met a Beautiful and charming demon queen that was also a stunning Goddess... Those horns really suit you. I am so sorry I threatened to rip them off and shove them into your stomach but... I don't comprehend you. I mean, this is as far as a normal date I've had in fourteen years and I gotta say. Your the coolest cat I've ever met Madeline.. And the Names Marcus. Shadow kinda just sounds silly now." Marcus said as he grabbed the bottle of wine to pour himself a drink only to find it empty.. Saddening, as even doe he would never get to even a buzz off it, it was kinda like a reminder there time was up.

Madeline gave the man a polite nod of the head, his kind words brought a slight smile to her face. Despite her reputation and nature for using and controlling people, this was certainly one of the rarest things she’d ever done. She found it quite entertaining that Marcus considered or thought of this as a sort of date, but then again under certain circumstances this could be seen as just that. Well if you put aside the shifty deal Madeline was trying to make the entire time then yeah this could be a date of sorts.

All that being said, it was nice to act normal and be so relaxed. Today made the demon goddess reminisce off the old days before she nearly lost her kingdom for good. In truth as fun as it was to rule an entire realm of demons, ruling over people never really appealed to her, but being worshiped, well that was an entirely different beast, and so far Madeline had made slight head way in just the two nights since regaining control of herself. The two ‘followers’ she had acquired from the night club, and now a new Ally in Marcus, things were certainly going slow, but much better than she had originally anticipated.

Madeline could tell that their little meeting was coming to its inevitable conclusion and though she partially hopped it wouldn’t, there were still plenty of things to do, after all, the world wasn’t going to just wake up the next morning and immediately start worshiping their once favorite goddess, no, Madeline had to be proactive and seek more avenues of spreading her influence. The charming red head turned to Marcus with a smile on her face. She placed both arms on the table and propped her head up with her hands. “So what’s next for the illustrious Marcus then?” she asked, partially knowing the answer.

Marcus placed the empty wine bottle down as Madeline spoke her last words and Marcus gave her a smile and a laugh before bending over to give Lucian a quick pat between her ear's, causing the hell hound to look at him questionably. "I my dear Madeline, Plan to return to Chicago, eat some food, Kill some people and find a place to sleep all the while whispering your name." Marcus said as he stood up and looked to a nearby window before walking towards it. Turning on his heal so that he would face Madeline and continue walking backwards however he spoke. "I hope you have a good day yourself... oh and for that trick I spoke of before." Marcus said as he turned around and gave a flick of his hand to wave his goodbye as he melded into a shadow, a complete black lookalike to what he looked before he walked right though the window, the shadowy part's that left the building began to fall towards the ground till the whole of him was a black puddle of shadows that laid on the pavement.

As confused passerby's looked on, Marcus would slowly raise from the puddle still in his melded form till he was complete and then unmelded, the color of him, his clothes and the new snake tattoo returned till he was normal and he began walking away down the street, a smile etched onto his face as he began his hunt for the airport, his hands patting the pocket in which Madeline's gift sat. Today was indeed, a Marvelous day.

For Lucian, she was annoyed that her master had pulled a quick one and stood up, giving Madeline a polite bow before walking towards the exit like a sensible hell hound, the screams of the others who had decided to eat at this fine restaurant today were loud and many but she ignored them all as she made her way to the exit for she had a goal in her mind a goal that would be complete when she ripped the arm off her master when she found him.