[b]Scene Title: King of Adiemus

Characters: Isaac Zivaku and Cheryl Mason, with voice from custom world character Abigail Walters.

Context (Situation): After Week Two out of seven of parkour training in the financial district of the Mirror's Edge universe New City, Isaac and Cheryl take some time to themselves on a rooftop to talk.[/b]

[i]Two miles from Leaf's hideout
08:00AM[/i]

The city was quiet, but for a few cars moving down the streets. The lights had gone down on the city to make way for the sunlight, and a City Eye helicopter was visible in the distance, the news station monitoring again as per usual.

Isaac sat on the edge of a rooftop, feet dangling over the edge. He still had on his same outfit, but with some minor changes. The jacket and pants had some minor scrapes, his hands cut up slightly. Where there once was purple, gray was replaced, on his cuffs, along his zipper of his jacket, and on his shoelaces. Also, his eyes, usually red, had defaulted to their original, natural green. The demon looked out at the city around him, down, thinking a little. That is to say this was his usual spot at this time of day.

Two weeks of training. Sure, they were doing well. But they did tend toward staying in groups of two when not in group training, maybe three if Abigail wanted to show them something special or Leaf wanted her to train them at something. That had left a lot of time for him and Cheryl to be alone. Most of the day, really, aside from their training in the old training grounds and anywhere else they could find. Things, with a few slip ups, were going relatively well.

He could hear the feet landing on the roof behind him, the somersault and released air from her lungs as she came to a stop. The young man looked back to her. "Hey, you're up early."

He saw the brown sneakers and the blue, three-quarter length jeans as she sat down, quiet, dangling her own legs over the edge. The jacket was open over the shirt as always. Only then did he look to her face.

Cheryl Mason yawned. She looked like she hadn't gotten any sleep. On the whole, she did seem to feel something was bothering her. Normally it was just the basic idea of being with someone. Given her experiences with people she cared about ending up grievously injured or outright killed, he couldn't blame her, nor about her problems with the Otherworld. He wasn't after anything with regards to that. She just looked out, as if not seeing him, not acknowledging that this was the place they tended to spend their free time when not trying to stay out of sight of the Blues. Not to mention that, as per his comment and the roundabout way they had to get here, she had to have left at about an hour and a half ago just to get here.

Luckily, the demon had planned ahead. He held out a covered cup. "Here, made it before I left."

The young woman took it in her left hand with a nod of thanks, flipping up a bit of the plastic cover. Steam rose from the opening, the smell of the coffee coming to her nose. Carefully, she tipped it back, sipping a bit as Isaac drank from his own cup. He tended to make two just in case she wanted to come along. Usually she didn't, but he always was ready if she was.

"What's wrong?" he asked her, lowering it. As nonchalant as he acted, he did care, as she knew. They hadn't talked much about what had gone on after she ran away from him after their time in Fairport due to Valtiel to go to Radiant Garden and think.

Silence reigned for several seconds. Her hazel eyes scanned the skyline, watching a passing City Eye helicopter that hadn't seen their spot yet. Finally, she spoke.

"How have things been with you?" she asked him. Of course, he did know she was avoiding the issue, and a light jab to her shoulder let her know he wasn't fooled. She took a deep breath, about to answer, when he did nonetheless.

"I guess I do have a lot of catching up to do." He looked her way, then began to explain what had happened since until their latest meeting on the Normandy SR-2. "After I dropped you off, I went to the Olympus Colosseum to think. Ran into one Abigail Wallace. Don't know if you know her, but she's a pretty violent werewolf type. I helped her calm down about some guy named 'Scarecrow' who sprayed her with a fear-inducing toxin of some sort, then she sparred with me." He raised his shirt, showing his recent burn scar. "Electrically based here." With that, he lowered it again. "Then she invited me to join her 'Pack' with a 'Helen' I met and a 'Yuki Masami' I haven't. Abigail's the Alpha, the leader, I'd assume. I think it's a family unit. I need all the help I can get with protecting my family and... well..."

She waved him off, doing her best to keep her normal attitude. &"I can handle myself, Isaac." Still, she did smile a slight bit. Good to know he did care, even though she didn't really like having to associate with an insane woman. Another thing to talk with others about, maybe.

"Hey, just trying to help." He smiled back a bit, then continued. "Met Sora again, too, and helped him handle this 'Vanitas' guy. Tough piece of work, but we fixed up some issues in The World That Never Was. It involved reconstructing a heart-shaped moon by accident, and tens of thousands of Heartless. Don't ask, it'll only make sense."

"Usually a problem," she had to snark at him.

"Then I went to Space Paranoids in Radiant Garden once things had been relatively fixed up again there after Vanitas. It was falling apart. I think I managed to patch things up with Audrey while we and a bunch of others, including Naito, repaired Kira's mind from the inside out and fought some pretty disgusting creature or two, but we saw a lot..." He took a breath. "A lot of things Greg did to her when he was losing his sanity after Kyn left him. I just hope Audrey will forgive him. Kira's at least trying, I think. The fact that she'll talk to him helps." He looked to Cheryl again on that. "I know he's screwed up, but he's my brother. I can't just let everyone go to town on him, you know?"

She nodded slightly. Though she didn't have any siblings, she did understand the value of family, and it wasn't as if Isaac himself was a completely innocent man.

Still, he continued. "Then I went to Nippon, brought Nai along. He and Jasmine seem to have a thing going on now. From how they're acting, it looks like they're together at least in some degree, though they're both embarrassed about it. Not that she doesn't flirt with him, but it's nothing serious... Nevermind, I'm getting off track. Anyway, we went there because Greg and Kyn wanted to show him something. Met some of Kyn's siblings -- rabbits from some theological weirdness -- and Greg and I had a chat with the dad again. Thinks seem, though tense, relatively alright. That is to say he didn't beat us within an inch of our lives, which is, all things considered, a miracle for him." A pause, then he continued again. "That done, I went back to Space Paranoids to see how things were. It looks different, and the outfits changed a lot, as did the tech have a bunch of changes. Met a T.J. guy and Death."

"What."

"Yeah, he's not as nice as you'd think after all I've been through. I mean, don't I deserve some kind of discount for frequent dyers?" As she let out a chuckle at the joke, he finished. "Took a little of my soul -- don't worry, it's no big deal -- and he gave me a job, gave Kira and Greg ones too, and already gave it to that T.J. guy. All to seal away these 'deathless' things. Kyn already accepted the deal. No idea why, but whatever, she's not my problem, not as much as his. For it, he gave us each a new power. I got something called Hellspawn. Putting Brimstone magic into dead enemies to fight for me with a smaller version of my powers."

She deadpanned at that. "So...zombies."

"I think it's a little more--"

"No, that's essentially zombies. Parasitic type zombies."

He decided to just avoid the issue for now. "So, how have things been with you? I'm not telling you everything that's been going on for my health, you know."

She froze for a moment... and sighed. "I don't know where to begin..."

"How about starting from the top?" he asked, putting a hand on her shoulder that she lightly shrugged off, not wanting to be hurt if he tensed up in the reveals.

"First I went to this guy named Sin, an old Interference ally," she began as Isaac took another sip of his coffee. "Total a**hole. Maybe I'll ask him for help again, but we'll have to see." She paused a moment, then spoke. "I saw this ba*****, Ignis Fatuus, in Bord'wan, Amestris, and..." She sighed, lowering her head, unable to even look at him anymore, instead turning her eyes to her lap.

The young man's eyes widened. First, Ignis got to her finally? Second, [i]again[/i] with the Bord'wan visits? "Did he...?" He shook his head. No time to ask her something like that. It was best if he went about it a different route as his hands tensed around his cup. "You can wait and then tell me."

"No... no, I'll be fine..." She sighed. "He..." She hesitated, then spoke, barely a whisper. [size=1]&"...kissed me."[/size]

The demon froze now, his left hand tightening into a fist, and slammed it down on the roof, grunting as she flinched. "Damn it..." he whispered, trying to keep his voice down. It wasn't for wanting to be her first. For all he knew, she had had one. It was that he'd gotten to her. "I'll kill him." It wasn't angry this time. It was just a statement of fact. "I'm not letting him hurt you or my family ever again without consequence."

"No... no, you're not doing this alone." Another statement, her resolve coming back again. "I talked to Audrey, and... well, aside from telling me to find you--"

"Gotta thank her for that."

She went on. "--she is having her own problems. Oh, and if anyone asks about the D-Reaper... also don't ask. It was weird. That is to say Tuesday." Her mood went sour. "And that Dani b**** going after Sorin. Watch out for her. Platinum haired hypnotist."

The demon nodded, filing away the latter to write on later, scooting closer to her on the roof, putting his drink to the side as he put an arm around her. "Look, Cher, I'm here if you want to talk about anything."

She nodded, putting her own arm around him, moving a little closer and leaning her head to the side toward him. "Yeah, I know. Thanks for that." Together, they leaned in. The moment was nice, and it didn't seem like Valtiel was paying attention at the moment. Maybe it could be time to get clo--

Isaac's red earpiece rang, as did Cheryl's, both startled as the voice of a twelve year old girl came over the comm unit, both sitting up straight. [i]"Hi, guys!"[/i]

Cheryl sighed. "Hi there, Abby..."

[i]"Whatsa matter? You find him?"[/i]

"Yeah.... yeah, I did..."

"Thanks for that," Isaac grumbled. "What is it?"

[i]"Breakfast at home. I'm making [b]waffles[/b]! Then we'll go out all together."[/i]

Isaac nodded slightly, more than a little annoyed and embarrassed at this. "We'll be over soon as we can, an hour tops."

[i]"Okay!"[/i] And the line cut again.

Cheryl sighed, standing up again on the roof as Isaac did likewise. "Thanks for this, Sonny."

Isaac, following suit, tilted his head. "Your world type of thing?"

She grinned. "Race you back, and maybe I'll tell you."

A returned smirk. "Sure, you're on."