Interesting Place for Dinner? {Aubrie}

[zophiel]

Zophiel watched as Aubrie recovered, still amazed at how quickly humans could recover. They were squishy, soft beings but they always managed to bounce back from injuries. Sure, angels were tougher, but he was always surprised at how tough humans were.

"Well, I'm not so sure, really." Zophiel stated, finishing his burger as he thought, "It'd involve meetings... probably more of me draining your energy off now and then... possibly putting up barriers to suppress your power. Stuff like that."

Zophiel flashed a smile. He wanted to reassure Aubrie and help her choose to do this. The rogue angel couldn't say he was being entirely selfless here. He was low on power, and every time he did something, he could feel that power fading. Taking this power from Aubrie meant he could use that power. He didn't want to admit that, though, because he was afraid she'd take it the wrong way. Getting her surplus power was going to be an added bonus, not his intention. After all, Zophiel was in it for the good deeds. Good deeds would reunite him with his dead wife.

[Aubrie Carpathia]

Aubrie fidgeted a bit, uncertain.

What Zophiel was offering certainly seemed generous, but she felt a little apprehensive as well. After all, how could she do such a thing, become a burden to someone like that? Zophiel shouldn't have to suffer with having her around. Besides, even though her powers seemed dampened around the angel, they were still there, and that meant the danger of accidental contact, and the constant, unnerving buzz of background thoughts and emotions...

At the same time, though, Aubrie couldn't help but admit how good she felt after having that excess power siphoned off. Her mind felt clear for the first time in what seemed like ages, and the usual babble of stray thoughts that constantly assailed her was distant and hardly noticeable. She didn't know how long this would last, but she hoped it would be for a while yet.

"I... I'm not sure," she told Zoph, hanging her head and picking absently at her food. "I mean, it's a very generous offer, certainly, but..." She shrugged, unsure how to tell him the other major factor in her uncertainty.

Aubrie was currently, for all intents and purposes, living with a demon. And not just living with her, but... Well, there was no way she was going into detail about that. She had been staying with Nikita on and off for the past few weeks, and though she still found herself staying in her hotel room on occasion, most of her time was spent with the demon in her small apartment.

It was the longest Aubrie had ever spent with another individual, and it didn't really matter to her that Nik was a demon. She knew, though, that such things were a pretty big deal to both angels and demons, and it was hard to know exactly how Zophiel would react.

"Ummm... I'm sort of living with a... a demon right now," she told him honestly, leaving out the unnecessary details for the time being. "And I'm not sure that she'd appreciate me hanging around with you, you know?"

[zophiel]

Zophiel knew she'd be uncertain about her decision. After all, there were lots of things to be worried about here. Someone could get hurt, or she could get too dependent on him, or... whoa. Okay, that was weird... Zophiel could feel Aubrie's uncertainty. She didn't want to be a burden. Oh, great! The rogue angel did NOT need this. He tried to pull the energy back in to lock it away, but damn was there a lot!

Still, he couldn't let her know what was happening and let that affect her decision. So he played it off like nothing was wrong. Inside his head though, he was working on... corralling the power. Adding some here, moving it there, making sure to spread it out evenly. He could feel the power surge in him more so now. He definitely had to get Aubrie to agree to this again.

"I know why you'd hesitate. Look, I'll give you cell number alright? You can think on it as long as you want." he grinned, "You should feel privileged, I don't give my number out to just any pretty girl."

Zophiel went about his meal, but listened intently as Aubrie spoke, and nearly chocked. He coughed and pounded on his chest for a moment before swallowing the bite. Then he took a nice long drink from his glass.

"A-a.... a Demon?" he looked at Aubrie dead in the eyes. How could he miss that? Normally he would have felt something from her, similar to an odor. How did he miss the aura of a demon on Aubrie?

Before he could ask anymore, that surplus power acted up again. He felt exactly what Aubrie thought. Aubrie and this demon were... and it was a female meatsuit and... oh boy.

Things just got more interesting. What was Zophiel getting himself into?

[Aubrie Carpathia]

Aubrie's eyes widened and an embarrassed blush crept into her cheeks.

She still had enough sensitivity to know what had just happened, and what Zophiel had no doubt seen, maybe even felt. If she'd ever felt more abashed in her life, she couldn't remember it. This whole sex thing was still very new to her, and to have a near-stranger--angel or not--suddenly aware of every aspect of it was enough to make her want to run away somewhere and hide for the indeterminable future.

A heavy, awkward silence fell over their table as Aubrie fidget uncomfortably, giving up all pretense of eating and sliding her plate away. Her stomach felt all twisted and uneasy, and she couldn't meet Zophiel's eyes, afraid of the disdain she'd no doubt find there. This was why she didn't get involved with people... This was why she always just took care of herself.

Running a gloved hand over her face wearily, Aubrie cleared her throat self-consciously and grabbed her purse, preparing to leave.

"I should go. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to..." She shook her head, biting her lip a bit. "I'm really, really sorry..."

[zophiel]

Zophiel was lost in his thoughts. Why was a demon with Aubrie? It was one thing for a human to be with a demon, but another for the demon to be with the human... if that makes any sense.

Zophiel was worried about Aubrie. Demons were dangerous and usually had ulterior motives. When Aubrie started to act like she wanted to leave, Zophiel felt panicked.

"No! Aubrie, wait, don't go." the rogue angel resisted the urge to grab at her to stop her. That would only upset her more, "Wait, please?"

"Look, I did... get a feeling off of you. But it's alright, really. It's not like I haven't been around the block a time or two." he gave her a reassuring smile.

He really couldn't care less what her sexual preference was. In fact, it made sense that she would seek companionship with someone with whom she couldn't sense. Empathy was a tricky ability. It could be very handy, but it could also be a curse when it came to not being able to control it. There was a reason most Empaths ended up in the loony bin.

"I'm just concerned about... the company you're keeping. A Demon isn't the best choice... er..." he rubbed the back of his neck, "I just mean that... they're dangerous... and apathetic. There's no humanity left in them, Aubrie. I can understand why you'd seek a non-human companion but... why a demon?"

[Aubrie Carpathia]

Aubrie hesitated a moment.

Zophiel seemed very concerned about her, and his words were colored by worry for the situation she was in. In fact, she knew he was concerned, because though his power had been strengthened by their little experiment, and hers had been weakened, she was still receptive enough to be able to glean a thing or two about the angel's thoughts and feelings.

She wasn't surprised, really, that Zoph would be so worried about Aubrie being with a demon. But the truth was, he just didn't understand the circumstances. Aubrie was no fool, she'd seen all manner of supernatural creatures during her life, many of them demons or demonic servants, so she knew what they were usually like. Nikita was different, though, somehow. Aubrie didn't know how to explain it, but there was something about her that was... softer, than all of the other demons she'd met.

"I didn't seek her out," Aubrie said finally after a long, somewhat awkward silence. "We just sort of... found each other, I guess. I don't know... It's complicated, and I highly doubt its really going anywhere." Lowering her eyes, Aubrie toyed nervously with the edges of her gloves before continuing, her voice soft. "I just... needed her, for a while. Maybe I still do..."

[zophiel]

It was odd, but Zophiel could completely understand what Aubrie was getting at. When he met Amisi, he was like any other angel. He could enjoy some things, such as games, but he didn't actually feel emotions. Emotions were something he knew about, but had never experienced. Amisi brought that out of him over time, and that's how they fell in love.

But a demon? Could he really let Aubrie leave this diner, knowing she was headed home to a demon? He was an angel, demons were his natural enemy, and he was supposed to protect people. But what if that human WANTED to go be with a demon? That was Aubrie's choice, and free will was a big deal.

"I can understand that, Aubrie... needing someone. I just really hope that this doesn't come back to bite you in the ass. She's a demon... I'm not judging that you're with her, just... be careful, alright?"

That's all he really wanted, was for her to be safe.

[Aubrie Carpathia]

Aubrie nodded at Zophiel's words.

"I'll be careful, I promise," she told him, setting her purse back down and trying to relax again in her seat. "But I don't think that Nik would hurt me... She's been nothing but kind to me, and patient." Aubrie shrugged, smiling a bit at the relative silence that surrounded her after Zophiel had siphoned off a bit of her power. "Really, Zophiel... Thank you, so much. Since I woke up from my coma a few months back, I've just been so... hypersensitive, I guess."

Reaching out to pull her plate toward her once more, she went back to picking at her food a bit. She still wasn't particularly hungry, and she was mostly doing it just to have something to do with her hands. She'd found that if she didn't keep them moving, they'd cramp up on her, which was incredibly unpleasant. Madison, the doctor who'd saved her life--and her hands--had shown her some stretching and flexing exercises, and though Aubrie had done them daily since waking up from her coma, she wasn't entirely certain that they'd ever be fully back to normal.

"So," she began somewhat hesitantly. "Do you really think you can help me? I mean, I don't want to be a bother or anything, but if you really can do this, long term..." She shook her head, unable to finish the thought.

[zophiel]

Zophiel didn't want to just drop the subject where it was when it came to the demon, but obviously Aubrie wanted to. She was an empath, and even though her power was lessened around non-human creatures, she obviously could still sense things. Maybe he was just being paranoid about the whole situation.

As for the long-term solution, Zophiel had to think on that a long moment. He pushed a french fry around his plate. On the one hand, he knew he could help her short term. On the other, he was sure he could find a way to help her later... just not now.

"Aubrie, I don't know how to help you long term. Not right now, anyway. But I promise, I'll look into it, and I'll fine a way."

He finished his food, dropping some ketchup on his shirt, and frowned. Oh lovely. His nice clean shirt was messed up now. He was hoping to wear it another day or two. Now it was going to be added to the increasingly large pile of laundry.

[Aubrie Carpathia]

Aubrie laughed lightly at Zophiel when he dropped the ketchup on his shirt.

It seemed to break the tension a bit, and she let herself relax a little more. She felt a lot better than she did earlier, though she worried about what Nik would think if she found out that Aubrie had spent her day with an angel. The psychic wasn't really worried that Nikita would get mad at her, but it might make things a bit uncomfortable for a while. Not that it really mattered, though, since Nik seemed to be around less and less these days...

Frowning a bit and turning her mind away from these thoughts, Aubrie returned her full attention to Zophiel, offering him a napkin. What he was promising--at the moment--wasn't a permanent solution to her lifelong problem, but it was certainly better than the hell she experienced on a daily basis right now. It had always been bad, but since her coma, her powers were just out of hand. Even if the angel could only help her short term, Aubrie knew that she'd take any sort of aid she could get.

"Alright," she said softly, smiling a bit at Zoph. "I'd like to accept your offer, then. I could really use your help, Zophiel..."