Hazbin Hotel: First Week Part II
Caine didn't know why, but for what seemed like the better part of the day, the little one-eyed cat had been following him. He'd noticed it that morning while he sipped his coffee outside and enjoyed a much-needed pipe. Nothing too sinister, just a bit of tobacco. He needed a good long moment of silence to process the day before. Opening up to the seraphim had not been something he'd been intending to do. He didn't open up to anyone, couldn't trust easily and certainly did not form bonds well. However, the angel had this way about her. So innocent, so graceful and pure. Nothing like the princess even if she possessed the same qualities. Charlie was naive to say the least. Emily was…. a lot of things. The more he thought about her the more the smoke clouded around his head. Her beautiful smile, her angelic laugh. The way she was so willing to help him even if he wasn't the most open of people. Those eyes that pierced his entire being and could see everything inside of him.
He opened his eyes in a haze and quickly waved it away to clear the air. That was when he first noticed the cat. Her little take read "Keke" and she was quite the inquisitive little thing, turning her head this way and that as she studied him. He gave a little smirk "I know…I have one eye too" of course the little cat couldn't laugh but he hoped she would have. He was getting better at telling these "Jokes" that Emily seemed to like. Keke just got up and stalked toward him, rubbing against his leg and purring before hopping up on the bench next to him. It was an odd sensation to have such attention from something. Diablo never did those things, but then it wasn't in his nature to be cuddly. This was a cat after all. He rose from the bench and decided he'd had enough of the fresh air "Curious little thing" he muttered as he left her there.
Later she found him again, this time while he was engaged in a novel, he'd found among one of the many shelves that were about. "Les Misérables…." he pronounced the title in flawless French, one of the many languages he could understand "I've heard of this…. it's held in rather high regard" As he flipped through pages, he noticed movement out of the corner of his eye and there again sat Keke. She was still watching him, still studying him. He was starting to wonder if this was how people felt when his ravens were perched nearby. He'd kept them outside so as not to make anyone uncomfortable with their presence, but they did a good job of keeping the air clear of these "Drone" contraptions he'd recently learned about. The one called "Vox" was a curious fellow and someone he would make a point of getting to know very soon. Again, the cat approached him and rubbed against him "I'm sorry little one, I don't know what you want" he felt out of his depth with this.
He was so distracted he didn't notice or feel Emily approaching him. "She wants you to pet her. She likes you" If he didn't have such careful control over himself, he'd have jumped. No one ever snuck up on him. He was starting to wonder if this seraphim had such a spell over him as to evade his well-honed defenses that he'd built up over a very long time. "Pet…her…why? Does she have a disease or something?" he was genuinely perplexed and when Emily came over, he took a careful step backward, though Keke stayed near "It's just a sign of affection, something you do to show her you care" she knelt down and started to play with Keke who so easily gave into her gentle pets and strokes of her soft fur. Caine watched her started to wraith and rub herself against Emily's hand, the purring sound increasing. "Why does it sound like she's ready to strike?" he'd never heard that sound before, though any sound from a wild animal was never a good thing. Emily just giggled at him "She likes it, she's happy" Honestly how a man could go so long and never pet a cat was beyond her understanding. Didn't he have pets? He had hundreds of ravens and one really big one, did he never pet them? "Why don't you try it?"
He was taken aback by her, but he knew she'd pester him all day until he tried it. So resigned to humiliate himself once more, he kept a careful hand on his cane as he knelt down and reached for Keke. She immediately went to him, and he froze when she pushed her head into his hand, almost as if she was petting herself. Her body undulated and moved against his palm as she made sure he stroked all the way down her spine and along her tail "See, she likes you!" Emily's eyes lit up as she clapped her hands together "You've made a friend!" He didn't hear her, so mesmerized by this display that he continued to do it, scratching under her chin and caressing her silky fur "A…friend" he'd never really cared for that term as juvenile as it was, but this was a new feeling he just wasn't accustomed to. In the time since he'd met Emily, she'd been very good at making him feel new things.
Seeing him like this, Emily's mind sparked and hatched an idea "I think I know what we're going to do today." she stood up and Caine followed suit, Keke momentarily satisfied as she bounded off "Since you're new to this whole friend making concept, I think it would be a good idea for you to make one new friend" He clutched the book he'd found a little tighter "I touched a cat, let's not go off the deep end here." Friends…what did a person need with friends? They were obligations at best, distractions at worst and always, always at the worst possible time became a burden, a liability. They required trust, and that was something he'd never given to another person.
"Come on! It's not as hard as you're thinking it is, I can see it in your eyes" he looked anywhere but here, uncomfortable at being read like this "I'll help you" she spoke a little more gently and when her hand touched his he flinched. There it was, that warming, soft touch that disarmed him so easily. He wasn't sure if he could get used to it. On some level, he wanted to "I'm going to regret this but…. fine" he gave a resigned huff of breath "Where do we begin this…friend…thing" he almost spit venom at the thought "Well, there's plenty of people in the hotel, but why not start with some of the people I encounter every day. How about Alastor! You seem to know him." He gave her a look of shock mixed with anger "Absolutely not! The radio demon never had any reason for friendship and he's not about to begin because of a little insistent eye flapping" The radio demon could not be trusted. He used anything against you, any little scrap he could find and turned it into a person's greatest weakness.
Emily realized that probably wasn't a good idea for a first try "Okayyyy…how about Char…" but she was quickly cut off when his look only intensified "Right, not Charlie." She looked around them, down into the lobby where guests were milling about, what few of them decided to come out of their rooms. Then she saw Angel. As always, the spider demon was talking to Husker, though unlike when they first met, Husker seemed to actually be enjoying the conversation, as much as he could enjoy anything "Tell you what, how about we put a pin in it until after lunch? I have a meeting with Charlie anyway so we can look around later and come up with some ideas."
Anything to get out of this conversation. He briefly nodded, turning to walk away. But he hated leaving the conversation this way. She was trying so hard, those eyes pleading with him to give at least an inch in return. He groaned and looked back over his shoulder "If…ever at all you have a free moment today…perhaps we can continue this inane idea of yours over a cup of tea?" He left no room for discussion or for her to give him an answer, just left the invitation hanging in the air as he headed for the restaurant. She just stood there staring at his back. Had he just asked her to do something with him? It was so innocent a request, nothing more than a conversation over tea but…then why was she blushing?
The restaurant was starting to fill up for lunch and Caine spotted a nice back table in a shadowy corner, just right for him. A light lunch and a nice book sounded like a relaxing idea. As he sat down, none other than Angel came over to take his order. Cain arched his brow at the porn demon as he had thought he was meant to be cooking "You take orders and then go and cook them?" Angel blew a bubble with the gum he had and shrugged "Not a perfect system, we're kind of light on staff around here. What can I get for you tall, dark and creepy?" Caine scowled at him but looked over the menu. He had to give the spider a bit of credit, these dishes were top level. "A caprese' salad to start, and how about a nice soup" he closed the menu and handed it back "I'll let you pick since you're the expert" Angel smirked at him "Wow a compliment. You can skip the tip then" Angel turned around but then bent his whole body backward till he was looking at Caine upside down "A shame because I really like the tip" He laughed as he went back to the kitchen with other orders.
Caine's face went into a neutral expression at Angel's lewd joke. He shouldn't have expected anything less from the demon, but at the same time, he wasn't used to such forwardness. He let it pass, engrossing himself with his new book instead, taking a pair of reading glasses out and perching them on his nose to begin the first chapter. This Jean Val Jean character was very interesting. As Caine followed his story, he was starting to identify with the criminal. Condemned to a life of punishment, being granted a second chance. He didn't have a daughter, but he did resonate with the struggle to do right by someone, being caught up in a war and having to put everything in jeopardy because of it. He was so engrossed in the book; he hadn't realized his lunch had been sitting in front of him for the past 15 minutes.
Angel had been watching him the whole time, two arms folded, another on his hip and the fourth on his cheek. How someone so scary and dangerous to everyone else could do something so mundane as read in silence was confusing to him. "You know that soups going to be a vichyssoise in a minute if you let it get any colder" Caine hadn't realized he wasn't alone, again. These people were abnormally good at sneaking up on him. "Oh, must have been more engaged than I thought" he marked the page and set the book aside. The lunch in front of him did look very delicious. It was certainly of the quality he'd come to expect from Angel, given what his other meals were like "Everything seems to be in order, I'll call on you again if I need something then" he took up his fork and was about to start on the salad when Angel scoffed.
"You have no idea how you come off to other people do you?" Caine looked up at him again "You made it, I'm eating it, what else is there to this exchange?" Angel now had all four sets of hands on his hips "Oh I don't know, dumbass! How about telling me you like it for starters, or at least say thank you. You act like we all live to serve you around here your majesty" he narrowed all eight of his eyes at Caine who narrowed his one good one back at him "For your information I do not treat any of you like servants. If it was up to me I wouldn't interact with any of you at all" he rose from his chair so they could be of equal height, the spider being quite tall, though they came to about eye level with each other give or take an inch "Secondly, I've yet to actually taste what you've made so I cannot judge it except to say your other meals have been in my opinion quite exception since I've been here. Thirdly, when I've enjoyed it, as I'm sure I will, I will indeed thank you for what you've done."
A fork fell to a plate somewhere behind them, bringing them out of their little argument. They hadn't realized they'd drawn a bit of attention. Angel hadn't meant to become so confrontational; he just hadn't liked that Caine was being so standoffish with everyone, except Emily. She had that way with people like Charlie did. His look became a bit melancholy. Caine realized he should say something to break the tension "Since you're looking for some sort of recognition, I will say that it does indeed look delicious. I will be sure to enjoy it" he nearly cracked a tooth grinding his teeth to go on "Thank you" he grumbled as he sat back down in his chair. Angel smirked, "See was that so hard?" He couldn't resist and winked at him "Everything usually is around me" he strutted back to the kitchen and Caine just watched him go. How such a sexual being was allowed anywhere near the kitchen he could not understand.
Over by the bar, Charlie and Emily had watched the whole thing "See, I told you. He's making progress. It'll be slow, but he's doing it." If Charlie hadn't seen it, she probably wouldn't have believed it, even if a seraphim never lied. "I'd hardly call that being friends, but they do seem to have a rapport, I'll give you that, as much as either of them can with another person." She petted Keke who was curled up on a bar stool sleeping "Keke likes him for some reason. That is a lot to go by." Keke was a special cat for sure. She had powers that no one really understood, except for Lucifer who created her. "Don't worry Charlie, slow but steady progress is still progress. I have an idea on where to go from here." She was going to break down those walls around him, one piece at a time. Better yet, she was going to get him to break them down himself.