♨ A n g i l a B e l l u m ♨ OPEN

[rukavis]

JAIMOFF RAVEN ~ DEMON ~TAGGED: Liam

Someone in the crowd called out "Welcome to the Jungle!" Jaimoff recognized that song, and he'd actually read and played it before. Looks like it was that person's lucky day. Jaimoff began playing the song, but he played some of it by ear. The bass clarinets rarely had the melody, so if it was to be recognizable, he had to play the melody. So he did. He played it mostly right, which made him proud.

As Jaimoff played, a man with dark brown hair and caramel eyes dropped some money his case. Had he not been playing, Jaimoff would've said thank you, so he opted instead to give him a thankful look - if that was even a thing. However, the man suddenly stepped back. Jaimoff wondered what that was for. It could have been that he wanted to get out of people's line of sight, but he stepped away too hastily for that. Even if he'd suddenly realized he was in someone's way, he wouldn't have moved with that vigor and speed.

So... What was the man's problem?

Jaimoff tried not to stare at him too much throughout the rest of the song, but his eyes kept wandering over to the mysterious man. Yes, people knew there were angels and demons in the world, but no one knew that he was a demon. There were rumors that he was a vampire, yes, but no one believed he was a demons. Demons were supposed to attack humans and cause all sorts of havoc. All Jaimoff did was play on the streets at night for a little bit of money. That wasn't what demons did.

Whenever Jaimoff played, he always remembered his first day on Earth. He was really little and he'd suddenly appeared in a crowd of people. No one had noticed him. Someone bumped into him and he was about to start yelling about how inferior they were to him and how they should respect him, but something caught his eye. There were strange noises coming from down the street. Jaimoff went to go and investigate and saw that there were four people playing what seemed like music. It was strange to Jaimoff, and he realized that there were more to the humans than just being inferior. If they could do such cool things like that, why didn't the demons do it better?

So Jaimoff intended to be the demon that did the other inferior things better. The others could go and attack humans and angels alike, but Jaimoff was going to play.

Then the song ended. He smiled and bowed as the crowd clapped. Most of them went on with their lives and left, so Jaimoff took the time to go up to the man he'd seen earlier. "Are you alright? You were jumping away pretty quickly earlier. If someone was harassing you, we could go to the police." Jaimoff felt odd giving one of the inferior humans help, but if this person saw that he was a demon, he'd need to erase all doubts about it. He was a vampire, not a demon, as everyone was so insistent about. It must be easier to believe a blood-sucking vampire would play a bass clarinet for people than a crowd-killing demon. Humans were so silly, believing stuff like.

[Tesalong]

Julius Xavier Earoth
Demon
Location = Billiards hall
Tagged = Hannah

Julius grinned at Lou's offer. There was a reason why the man was one of his favorite humans. Lou was an interesting guy, and never seemed to mind giving Julius a free drink every so often. In fact, Julius was sure that he preferred the human to about two-thirds of the demons that he knew. He took a step away from the bar, "Sounds like a fair deal, Lou." He declared. He didn't know what the man could possibly get out of watching a game of pool, but he wasn't about to question a good thing. Instead, he turned his head as his opponent began moving towards the billiard tables. The woman groaned and acted as if she had something much better to be doing than playing billiards for the bartender's amusement. Perhaps she did. He supposed that he wouldn't be the one to know. Instead of continuing down the line of thought, he gave a mental shrug and took a casual sip of the drink that she had left behind, wrinkling his nose and nearly cringing at the taste. He quickly set it back down, regretting his impulsive decision. He turned away from the nearly untouched glass and soon moved towards the tables.

As Julius began following behind her and waited for the taste of lime to dissipate, he started to analyze the human. The woman had very light skin, light enough that the bright TV made her skin glow. Her hair was bleached white, pulled back into a quick bun. She had an attractive style that Julius liked, pulling off a black leather jacket and generally giving off the impression that she didn't care in the least what other people thought of her. Even though she was too short for her kind, it didn't negate the effect. She set up the table with a practiced ease, and it made Julius wonder if playing a game against her was a good idea. He hadn't played too many games of billiards during his lifetime. He knew how to play, sure, but he was an amateur. He got the feeling that the game wasn't going to well represent the superiority of Demons.

Julius took one of the cues off from the wall and grabbed a square of chalk. The chalk was well used, but still usable. He rubbed the blue powder on the tip of the cue before placing the cube down at the side of the table. He glanced back towards his opponent, "What's your name?" He asked. He had heard that it was polite to answer the questions you asked. He normally wouldn't have, but since he had taken the form of an average Joe, he didn't waste time in doing so, "I'm John. John Jacob." He greeted, only barely managing to refrain from adding onto the name by saying that he was John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt. His neighbors always made the joke, tending to sing the children's song as he walked out of the apartment complex. It was interesting at first, but had quickly evolved into the realm of the annoying. He shook off the memory and held up the white cue ball, "Want to go first?" He questioned. The room was dark, dimly lit by the lights above the billiard tables and a few scattered throughout the walls. Julius was sure that it was done purposefully, both in order to save money on electricity and hide the many visible faults and flaws. But it added an interesting atmosphere that made him feel at ease. As he breathed in the scent of cigarette smoke that seemed to fade from the place, he couldn't help but feel comfortable.

[Captain Kaycee]

╔══════════╗
R a p h a e l
Archangel
Location: Angila Renum
Tagged: Rowan
╚══════════╝

He didn't know how long he had stayed in those gardens up in Angila Renum. It must have been at least a few hours, as the sun was suddenly rising beyond the horizon of the clouds. Angila Renum had a different sun than the earth. The place acted as if it span around their sun faster, though Angila Renum wasn't technically on a planet at all. It was at the edge of the stars, looking over other universes as well as its own. It could gaze upon the stars, unlike the pit that Daemone Renum lay inside.

Raphael spread his wings and looked at the garden that he now sat in. It was still the same as before; nobody had walked outside at this time of the night. It was nearly dawn, and many of the angels would only now be waking up from their slumber. He knew that he couldn't linger where he was any longer; he needed to see what was happening on Earth.

He walked quietly back into the corridors where his room was located, his wings disappearing from his back. As he dragged himself through the doors to his room, his eyes lingered back to the bed that he had arisen from a few hours earlier. He needed to find himself again; he barely knew who he was anymore. He had a family that was gone, so why did he have to continue dwelling so much on it? In his mind, it was because he had nothing to do but dwell on it. That was something that he needed to fix, whatever that may be.

Rummaging through his trunk at the foot of his bed, Raphael began to change his clothing from his nightwear to his armour. If he was going to Earth, he had to make himself known. He was one of the archangels, after all. He fixed some of the leather straps on his breastplate and breeches, before moving to his boots and finally his gauntlets. He wore a steel sword at his side, making himself look more like a knight from the Middle Ages than the modern day they were in. But Angila Renum was more traditional in the sense of their military gear.

With his armour in place, the archangel walked out of his room and headed to the portal. It was located in the tallest tower of the castle, and posed the easiest place to where the portal could transport him to Earth. As he entered the tower, there was a tap on his shoulder from behind him.

"What do you think you're doing, Raph?"

Raphael turned around to see none other than his old friend, Michael. The two archangels had been friends for years, and it was one of the only men that he still trusted.

"I'm heading to Earth, what does it look like I'm doing?" Raphael replied, his voice turning into a sneer.

"You want to head in there with your armour like that? You're going to stick out like a sore thumb. Put on a hologram so you don't look like that to the humans. If you encounter any demons or angels... or both, they'll still be able to see your armour underneath. But please, for the sake of those creatures, blend in."

Raphael let out a frustrated sigh and waved his hand over his upper chest, watching as his clothing morphed from knight-like armour to a full white suit. He looked like he was going to a party rather than to war, but it was going to have to do. Like Michael said, he needed to blend with the crowd in order to find the enemy. If he was going to encounter demons, he needed to make sure that he was prepared.

"How's this?" Raphael asked his friend, motioning to himself with the new suit that he had now blended into.

"Much better. The humans won't suspect you that way. If you need anything, just call for me, 'kay? I don't want my dear old buddy picking a fight with more than you can handle," Michael chuckled, folding his arms across his chest. He watched Raphael move towards the portal, his eyes glowing the same bright blue as his friend's.

"Don't worry about myself, Mike. Don't forget that you have a duty to fulfill back here. See ya later. I promise that I'll be back within a week." Raphael stepped through the portal and felt the rush of his body disappear from sight in Angila Renum, only to be replaced on a street with a man in front of him. Raphael lifted his head once he had safely teleported to Earth, only to come face-to-face with a man that he almost immediately recognised as an angel. After all, angels had a golden aura that normally emitted from their features. This was no exception.

He had seen this boy before, but where? He couldn't think of a time where he saw an angel like this one. He was young, and was probably not involved in Angila Renum as much as he was. He dusted off his pants and held out a hand for the young angel to shake, even if he decided not to.

"I apologise for teleporting right here in front of you, young angel. I seem to be getting rusty with the portal back in Angila Renum. Tell me, do you have a name...?" he asked, trying his best to be polite in the situation that he had accidentally gotten himself into.

[Lacuna]

╭----------------╮

Ｈ Ａ Ｎ Ｎ Ａ Ｈ
Ａ Ｎ Ｇ Ｅ Ｌ
━━━━━━━
tagged: Julius

╰----------------╯

xxxxxHannah watched as the man prepared his own cue, her eyes intent on his every movement. Though his appearance was so plain as to be unremarkable, and would not make an impression if she had just seen him on the street, there was something that caught Hannah's attention and held it. The way he moved belied his nondescript appearance, but she chose not to dwell on that, reminding herself that there were many beings that were not what they seemed; especially because she was one of them.
xxxxx"John Jacob?" Hannah remarked rather than answering his question outright. The name was curious, reminiscent of a nursery rhyme that Hannah recalled hearing at some point in her long life. However, it was also plain, fitting the man before her. "I'm Hannah," she answered after a pause. "Hannah van Wieren, to be specific," she flashed a grin, adding her adopted last name. She didn't have a true surname, but had created her odd one sometime in the eighteenth century when such monikers became popular, rather than naming oneself after one's trade. She would have never settled for such a boring name.
xxxxxThe angel took a moment to consider her companion again before answering his second question, the terminology he used informing her that he wasn't an experienced billiards player. "Why don't you get John his drink now, Lou?" she addressed the bartender. "If I don't sink anything on the break you can put in on my tab." Lou seemed to like that idea, and returned to the bar. With a laugh Hannah stepped up to the table, adjusting the cue ball imperceptibly before notching the end of her cue between her first two knuckles--her hands being too small to shoot traditionally--and hitting the white ball with a crack. The multi-colored balls scattered, the orange five ball and yellow one ball sinking into pockets with no fuss. The cue ball was left butted up against the solid black eight ball, blocking most of John's potential shots.
xxxxxStepping back from the table, Hannah met first John's eyes and then Lou's. "Looks like you're stripes, and it looks like you're buying," she laughed as the bartender returned. She stepped back to allow John access to the table, but looked away almost immediately when an angry roar came from outside the bar, the words indecipherable thanks to the walls. However, the murderous tone came through loud and clear, causing Lou to abandon the game of billiards and head to the door to see what was going on. Hannah couldn't help but think of the huge man she had been watching before John had entered the building; it didn't sound like he was too pleased with his companions.

╭----------------╮

ＬＩＡ Ｍ
Ｈ Ｕ Ｍ Ａ Ｎ
━━━━━━━
tagged: Jaimoff

╰----------------╯

xxxxxLiam found himself unable to move as the crowd around the musician began to disperse, his eyes trained on the man's face and looking for the strange flash of purple that he could have sworn he had seen. He had almost convinced himself that it was nothing and he should just be on his way when the man took notice of Liam and approached him. "Are you alright? You were jumping away pretty quickly earlier. If someone was harassing you, we could go to the police," the man said, his tone concerned. For a moment Liam stared, unable to come up with a reply. His eyes dropped to his hoodie for a moment, considering the irony of calling the police while wearing a jacket identifying as part of the fire department.
xxxxx"Ah, no. I'm fine, thanks. I just thought--never mind," Liam stuttered, disgusted with his lack of composure. He couldn't think of a good joke to make that would diffuse his confusion; the situation was just too weird for him. "Um, your music is great. I'll just be on my way," Liam continued, stuffing his hands in his uniform pockets as he turned away, planning to make haste back to his apartment and hoping that the man--or was he a demon?--didn't see which building he entered.
xxxxxA loud buzzing sound, like a swarm of bees, caused Liam to jump in a wholly undignified manner before he realized it was only his phone. He stopped walking only ten yards from the musician to pull it from his pocket, navigating to his text messages and seeing that the newest was from his sister, Lianna. Huge demon brawl, all hands on deck at the hosp. Come in for some overtime. the message read, reminding him that she was in residency at the hospital he worked for. He stared at the screen for a moment, thinking of the bed and rest that called him at home. However, he knew that they would need him. Most of the other paramedics were too burnt out to even answer their phones when they weren't working.
xxxxxLiam turned around, resigned to his dirty uniform and lack of sleep. He hoped he could catch some rest after the brawl was cleaned up. However, he couldn't resist saying something to the musician as he passed him again, just to see how he would react. "You'd think those beasts would have learned by now," he commented. "I can't believe humans and demons just brawl in public like animals. It only brings pain..." he trailed off, starting to head for the hospital once more.

[Tesalong]

Julius Xavier Earoth
Demon
Location = Billiards hall
Tagged = Hannah

Julius watched as the woman considered his alias, even saying it once aloud before she gave her own name, "I'm Hannah, Hannah van Wieren, to be specific." She stated, the name giving him pause. It sounded familiar somehow, as if he had heard it once before. He couldn't place it. It bothered him, like an itch that he couldn't scratch. He forced himself to shake off the irritating feeling before it drove him crazy, instead making himself listen as Hannah made a small bet with Lou.

Julius looked at the billiard table with barely concealed interest as Hannah approached, the woman preparing to strike the white ball and scatter the others. She used her cue in an odd way, notching it between the knuckles instead of the way that Julius was taught to do. Before he could stop to wonder why, she hit the cue ball and the other balls flew in all directions, with the end result being two balls falling into the pockets and the white ball touching the black. He could only frown at the sight, not looking forward to the rest of the match. "Looks like you're stripes," Hannah informed him as she settled the bet against Lou.

As Lou returned and handed him a beverage, he took a sip and listened to his opponent's laugh, having no idea of what to do with his turn. The eight ball made things difficult, ending all possibilities for a good shot. He supposed that he could just wing it; hit the cue ball in a random direction and hope that things would turn out in his favor. It sounded like an excellently horrible idea. Luckily, there was a sudden furious shout coming from outside, saving him from taking action. Even with Julius' good demonic hearing, he couldn't make out any of the words. Although, if the tone of the shout was anything to go by, words didn't matter at the point. He couldn't help but smile, the night suddenly looking much more exciting. He was itching for a good fight.

As Hannah turned her head and Lou made his way to the doors, Julius took advantage by casually pushing the white cue ball to a better position with his hand, away from the eight and better lined up with a shot for the red fifteen. As he quickly finished and looked back towards his two human companions, he came to notice something off about Hannah's skin. It glowed. It had before, but he had earlier pushed it off as a being from the TV. However, it seemed to glow too much and in the wrong color for it to be a trick of the lights. Julius felt a grin spread across his face. An angel.

Julius found the whole situation laughable. A demon and angel playing a good-natured game of pool against each other, participating in human niceties. He loved it. It would be a story to tell. In fact, he wasn't quite ready to have the story end. Instead, he jogged in the direction Lou had went, towards where a brawl seemed destined to occur, "Come on, Hannah." He said as he passed her, wanting her to come along. Julius wanted to see the fight outside, and also start one. He was rather fond of Lou's place. He didn't want to destroy the inside of it. Or at least, not entirely.

[rukavis]

JAIMOFF RAVEN ~ DEMON ~ TAGGED: Liam

He had to suppress his laughter at the human's unintelligible composure. So he had seen proof of Jaimoff being a demon. And then the demon offered help. That would be a scary thought to any human. Once the man left, Jaimoff continued playing. He decided to play Emma d'Antiochia, a song in a really old play that featured the bass clarinet. It was a fun song that had a rather lengthy bass clarinet solo in it. He took a deep breath and was about to play when the man came back and spoke to him.

Jaimoff removed the bass clarinet from his mouth and looked at the man. He was about to prove just how superior demons were on every level, and this mere human was going to stop him? He tried not to let the anger on his face show, but there were no guarantees. He was superior. That was just about as simple as it got.

However, the man's words replaced the anger with confusion. Wait - what?? Jaimoff blinked multiple times, and when the man left, he packed up his bass clarinet as quickly as possible and followed him from a distance. This was going to be... something. A demon brawl? A demon and a human broke out into a fight in the streets? Jaimoff definitely wanted to see this. He felt a small part of his being start to wonder who won. He kind of hoped the demon did. That was his species, after all. Like with the Olympics that the humans took part in - you should always root for your country. It would be a bad thing if he was watching from the sidelines of a demon and a human brawling, cheering on the human's name. That would in no way be a good thing.

Jaimoff picked up his pace. He was itching to see this. He may have only been 28 years old - that was very young by demon standards - but he wanted as much experience as he could get before he was centuries old. Sure, he'd have seen plenty of things when he was as old as most demons tended to be, but he never would if he didn't get out there and see the real sights.

DESTINY HOOPER ~ HUMAN ~ TAGGED: (Hannah, Julius, Liam)

Setting her bags down, Destiny collapsed on the hotel couch. She'd just flown from Sparks, Nevada, to New York City. She was here to meet a martial arts specialist. He was going to teach her a bit more on Krav Maga, the specific type of martial arts she wanted to teach. Destiny knew plenty of martial arts forms - Aikido, American Karate, Taekwondo, Kapap, Zen Do Kai. Heck, she'd even learned how to fence. Then again, her life was all about martial arts. She'd grown up learning all these different types of fighting, and now it was second nature to her. She was a pretty dangerous girl.

Destiny could not imagine that she'd be able to sleep over here when she'd been awake for less than time said she had. She had just jumped from the west coast to the east coast - her watch declared she'd only been up for just a few hours more than half a day, but over on the east coast it was night time. They still be waiting for the sun to set in Sparks.

So, with the option of sleep out of her mind, Destiny left for the streets of New York. She could at least do a bit of sightseeing while she was there. After all, tourists went to New York City all the time, right? And it was especially nice to be in the City that Never Sleeps when you couldn't sleep.

Destiny didn't stop to walk in any stores. None of them enticed her. However, when she reached the bars, she began to get a little interested. Most of them had a lot of drunken men singing and dancing on tables. Those were the best kind of bars to go into, but they were always super crowded. So Destiny kept walking. She eventually found a really quiet bar. Not much was happening - a few people were playing pool and stuff like that. One girl appeared to have died her hair white in there, too.

Destiny was about to walk in when a hand on her should stopped her. "What do you think you're doing, human?" a voice growled from behind her. Destiny's martial arts nature immediately kicked in. She grabbed his upper arm with the arm his hand was on while she spun around and kicked his stomach. He grunted, and Destiny watched as he began to morph. He went from having a perfectly normal, if somewhat bland, appearance to having sickly red and purple scales and full out red and black bat wings.

Wonderful. She just provoked a demon.

He began shouting at her, his voice obviously inhuman. "You measly human! You think you're any match for me? I'm going to wipe that stupid, smug smile from your face!" Destiny hadn't been smiling to begin with, but she didn't try to correct him. The demon lunged for her, his claws outstretched for her face. Destiny ducked, but he didn't fly straight over her like she thought he would. He'd anticipated her move. Instead, his claws hooked onto her shirt and she was dragged into a wall. The demon let out an unearthly scream. Everything around Destiny's vision was going black. She knew she wouldn't last long, but she at least had to go down with a fight. So each time he brought his large hands down to hit her, she brought her hands up in front of her face. Instead of where he aimed, he kept hitting her hands and arms.

However, Destiny was getting slower each time, and the demon was getting faster with rage. Her hand came up too late one time, and the demon punched her left eye. Destiny let out a cry, but it was drowned out by the demon's delightful shriek. She felt her head loll to the right, and everything was drowned out. She didn't know if she was unconscious, awake, or dead, but she didn't care.

[Make_a__Scene]

╔══════════╗
✖ Maria ✖
Demon
╚══════════╝

Maria coughed when he took an elbow to the stomach, mostly caught off guard. That took him by surprise, despite having braced himself. He failed at suppressing a chuckle that was little more than a release of breath after he had somewhat composed himself. Nothing about the situation was particularly funny - or it wouldn't have been to anyone else - but Maria found it humorous that he was expecting anything less from her. Despite his dislike for them, Maria made sure not to underestimate angels, although he needed that reminder that Elle was no different. "I like this city," he explained to her, far more casual and nonchalant in posture than she. "It's one giant slum, and the humans don't even trust each other." He found it interesting at most, especially having grown up in little Rhode Island.

He'd noticed they were drawing attention about the same time as Elliora, but he was less bothered by it. So people were looking at them; so what? Mortals wouldn't know what they were talking about, even if they were steadily gaining knowledge about the war. Apparently the angel didn't feel the same way, and Maria stumbled when she yanked him into an alley, which he thought would only illicit more attention and concern. On the other hand, the community in this city was very loose. He'd noted that the bystander effect was rampant here, and a lot of other busier cities in the mortal world.

Maria released another little chuckle when he was out of Elle's grasp and in the comfort of the darkened alley. "How did I find you, indeed?" He was making light of the whole situation, something he knew Elliora would hate. "By chance, if you'd believe it. Though you should know it's not hard to locate an angel's halo in the dark. Even with all the light pollution this city is particularly fond of."

He reached into the breast pocket of his jacket and extracted an almost new carton of menthol cigarettes. After placing it between his lips and retrieving a lighter, he held the pack and lighter in the same hand proffering it to the angel. "Smoke?" He was far less stingy with his cigarettes than mortals. Money wasn't exactly ever a problem for him, and he certainly wasn't beyond stealing. He was trying to be a gentleman, as contrived as that was, and let her light up first; but she'd had better hurry. His anxiety had lessened significantly since even just running into a familiar face, but if he didn't find some trouble soon, he thought he might never come down.

╔══════════╗
❖ Rowan Aftiel ❖
Angel
╚══════════╝

Rowan was busy trying to examine the visible stars, neck craned back. He knew that the sky was a different sky here, but he wondered if it had the same properties as his home. He was too lost to hear the nearly silent appearance of a man in front of him. When he finally did look where he was walking, he nearly collided with the taller, fairly threatening looking angel. Rowan jumped back a good couple of feet, startled, the books under his arm skidding with a thud to the sidewalk. His blue doe eyes tried to drink in the presence in front of him. Angel... Clearly. But more than that. He looked very familiar. Ah! He was an archangel! Raphael, Rowan was sure.

Did he have a name? What a silly question, he mused. All tamed, intelligent creatures had names. He smiled a little bit at his own cleverness, but if fell when he remembered he was supposed to be answering a question. "Rowan Aftiel," he answered, feeling incredibly small in the presence of the archangel. As soon as his surname left his lips he wished that he could swallow it back up. Not all angels owned last names, but his father - General Zephon Aftiel - was proud of his surname. It fit his father, too, even Rowan had to admit: angel of twilight. Rowan had discovered that he was more than a little known throughout Angila Renum, if only as the sickly child of General Aftiel.

He was worried that now that it was known he was on Earth he'd be sent back to Angila Renum. Or maybe he'd be drafted, especially now that his father had passed. Neither of those things sounded appealing. Surely his overbearing mother would lock him up again, and he didn't want to manipulate the humans. They'd unknowingly helped him so much already, just by record-keeping. He grew to have sympathy for them, being caught in a war between realms.

The books that had been discarded on the cement were both human lore, one about angels and the other demons. Mortals had a lot of things wrong about the superior races, but Rowan enjoyed reading these kind of books anyway. More for entertainment value than actually gaining knowledge. Although he did find it handy in order to fit in with the human crowd.

[Zoella]

✮ E ✮

name: elliora "elle"
age: twenty-one
species: angel
located: NYC
with: Maria

█
█
█
█
█

Elliora's hands clenched into fists at her sides at Maria's smirk. She found his constant smarmy attitude to be irksome, to say the least, but kept her mouth shut for the most part after she questioned him. Not only did she want to hear his immediate answers to her inquiries, but Elle also didn't want to make him angry. Though Maria never seemed particularly threatening, she wasn't going to dismiss the damage any demon could do. Therefore, it was best to at least try and stay on his good side, as much as Elliora might hate it. However, she did feel a weight lifted off her shoulders and a relaxation from her defensive posture when Maria admitted to finding her by chance, "So my secret is still secure?" Elle questioned him. Maria was one of the only people that knew the truth about her and she wanted to keep it that way for as long as possible.

Elle hesitated when Maria offered her a cigarette. Though she'd smoked numerous times before, it was never a pastime that caught on with her. Being an angel still left a bit of an impression about her that she had a clean-cut image to portray. Usually Elliora only smoked when she was feeling super anxious - it was a tool that certainly calmed the nerves. Making up her mind, Elle reached forward and took the cigarette between her fingers. "Thank you," the reply was curt but nonetheless sincere. "You don't know what a hell it's been for me this past week." She lit it herself with a spark from her hand and took a long drag, already feeling the nicotine release some of her bundled up nerves. Subconsciously, as Elliora relaxed her human aura started to slightly fade - her skin becoming a bit brighter, her features becoming more bold and striking, and a dull pain in her back at the loss of her wings. Most people didn't realize how difficult it was to keep up such appearances, no matter how insignificant the changes. The more Elle smoked the more she could feel the tension slipping away.

"I'm actually hoping to leave the city soon," she admitted with a shrug of her shoulders. "I think my departure has been long overdue, and unlike you, this place is becoming too popular with angels and demons for my taste." Like the ones who talk you into betrayal against your own species, Elliora thought bitterly to herself, biting her lip to keep her from spilling the words out loud. She took another puff from her cigarette. "So what have you been up to? Had any new jobs recently?" Elle always wondered how big Maria's circle was in New York City. He was the type of guy who liked to play both sides, like her he hadn’t chosen a specific alliance in the war, but he always seemed to keep pretty busy. Of course he’d never offer up much information, but Elliora couldn’t help being somewhat curious.

[Make_a__Scene]

╔══════════╗
✖ Maria ✖
Demon
╚══════════╝

Maria withdrew his hand, tucking the package of cigarettes away and then immediately flicking the lighter to light up himself. His hands shook visibly as he was fumbling with the lighter to actually light and then to return it to his pocket. Inwardly, the demon was grinning when Elliora started to drop her shroud. Outwardly he was as stoic as ever. That is, as stoic as Maria could be. When he took his first long drag, held it in for just a second, and then released the smoke through his lips in a steady, straight stream, he looked just a little more stoic. "Your secret's safe for now," he answered, choosing to examine the cigarette between his fingers rather than look at the glowing angel. "I guess I'm just an excellent detective. Although, I guess it doesn't really help that you chose to stay in this city as well. We were bound to run into each other again at some point."

Maria had decided a long time ago that he wasn't going to drop his human facade in the general public of Earth. Elliora may have witnessed his true form once, but he reserved his demon self for mercenary work. He just couldn't picture his services working as well if rumours started spreading about a demon casually living among humans. It wasn't exactly difficult for him to remain in this human skin; he'd grown up with it, in fact, and had to learn how to summon his true form underneath it to peel it away.

Another deep pull on the cigarette, but this time the demon let the smoke curl from his lips naturally. It didn't catch the moon's light like it did at his apartment; it made the smoke seem more ominous than it was. Maria was a little surprised at Elle's comment. She seemed to fit this city so well, in all honesty. Where was she planning on going? Rural Earth cities just didn't seem to suit angels and demons. When he opened his mouth to speak another puff of smoke was expelled, although it was unclear whether it was from the cigarette or just something his body had conjured, "I haven't had a job in weeks; I have no idea what the hell is going on. Both sides are being unusually quiet this past month. The whole damn thing has got me anxious; I don't know what to do with myself." He took another drag on the cig as if to accentuate this point. "For such a dirty city, angels and demons seem to be fighting pretty cleanly lately. Maybe they're wary of the humans since they've finally caught on." Maria chuckled with closed lips at that notion. Being manipulated for thousands of years and only just now seeing the light; what an idiotic species.