Snippet #2180457

The business of the sun and moon had little effect on Cuspin's schedule. They could do what they liked so long as they left him alone. At the moment he'd been conscious for a little over four hours and the pale blush of the sun was shyly hinting at emerging. The daemon was much too occupied to notice, however. He was so occupied that the edges of his being had gone fuzzy, fading off into the surrounding air. He always grew indistinct when his brain was on full blast. And this was one of those times if not other moment in his life ever was. He was contemplating a new plot. He needed humans to do his bidding, he had for ages, but it quite seemed that they weren't inclined to his service. So he needed to make some sort of binding contract in which they would have to remain instead of running off like the foolish little creatures. And finding food these days was much too bothersome, especially in a new place. Back when he lived in the same place for long stretches of time he'd started establishing haunts where he could pick of the population in such a way that no one would ever care, but with industrialization came a whole new world of chaos. Regulations, shooing of filth out of the streets, it was difficult to find a tasty little urchin or a drunken lad anymore without being noticed. There were just too many humans and not enough time. He wanted to stay in the same place love enough to settle down a bit, but if everyone was on the watch, then he couldn't very well eat without going through a long hassle, and no one wanted that, now did they?

The daemon, clad in his usual attire of cocky golden eyes and fine pale hair and a barely sun-bitten face, reached out and traced a tapered finger around the rim of his cup before lifting it up, looking around the decadent liquid at his notes as he took a draft. Running low on back up sustenance, he made mental note when the cup provided no more than a few droplets of crimson. Damn. He really would need to go out soon. Hopefully he'd have his plan in motion and be able to live in relative comfort before then, though. If anything went wrong he could just eat his targets, however, no harm no foul. But he rather liked them, both of them, the lass and the lad. They were curious and had caught his eye. Lucky them.

Tracing the charcoaled-in outline of one of the humans, he'd sketched them a few times to make sure he was completely sure as of which ones he was planning to examine, and deemed them acceptable. The examination process had taken a number of days, over a week so far, but it was drawing to a close, he could feel it. Today he would exact the first step in his plan; he would decide just how he’d entice them into his plan. He needed to know them like he knew the back of his hand. Well, if he could know the back of his hand, it changed so often. Perhaps that wasn’t the best simile to make? He shook his head, empting it of such foolish thoughts and stared for a moment more at the smudged visage of a young woman, re-memorizing features; all these little creatures were so delightfully unique and beautiful. The paper under it showed a young man, and Cuspin took a moment to examine him too before shoving his stack of papers back into his desk.

Selecting another face took a long stretch of deliberation, examining lips and noses and the apex of eyelids from all possibly angles. Some were too old and some were too young and some were frankly unnatural. If he wanted to get into the school he’d need a proper face. Something not quite memorable, but just enough for his taste. He needed to be able to tail the two discreetly, but it would be no fun to stay completely hidden. The daemon finally settled on a delicate face framed by dark hair and bright yellow eyes, his signature. Perhaps one of the only things he had left from his adolescence. It was familiar face, but the uncharacteristic youth would require intense focus to maintain.

It was a while longer before he’d settled on proper attire, these humans required so much work to emulate, and the clothes had to be perfectly careless. A dark jacket, almost black but not quite, and under it a non-descript t-shirt that almost looked like it had a logo out of the peripherals of one’s vision, and jeans. Jeans were irritating, they were heavy and they didn’t fit right, even on this form, but he’d have to deal with it. Cuspin, now Michael, his human alias, pulled the hood up over his head and pushed through the door of his home. The outside air was pleasant enough so he figured he’d walk, eating the ground in long strides. No one spared him a second glance as he crossed streets and followed the web of human civilization to the school, only becoming lost once. As he approached the strange building, the scent of so many vigor-filled human attacking his senses, the daemon paused for a moment, watching a smaller creature make a dash for the door, a black bag bouncing on its back.

Oh, he’d forgotten one of those school bags. Oh well. They wouldn’t remember him from his neighbor, so it didn’t matter. Increasing his pace, the slender figure caught the door before it had closed. Apparently he was late. The loud bell that rang seconds after he emerged in the school hall confirmed his conjecture. Cuspin flinched momentarily before composing himself again, pulling his hood down slightly over his face as he took a sharp breath. Now where were the little humans? From what he had already gathered in his minimal amount of watching, they were together at the beginning of the day. And he’d be there too this time.

Ahh, he could smell the female. They had more distinct, floral scents. Didn’t smell too particularly appetizing though, too sharp and faux-seeming. But such scents stood out, he supposed, and they didn’t affect the flavor of the skin too much. Thankfully. He followed the scent for a few moments before it intersected with a door. A slender hand rested on the surface for a moment, and Cuspin composed himself into the teenage posture. Then the lock clicked and the daemon shoved the door open, lock picking was a helpful but menial task, especially since humans these days enjoyed locking everything they owned, or ever come in contact with. They even had doors such as this one that just locked on their own every time they closed.

The daemon slouched across the room slowly, deliberately taking the most obnoxious path he could so he could get a feel for the room as a whole. The smaller humans looked at him as he meandered his way over to an open desk, seemingly apathetic. The teacher didn’t notice the trespasser as he was unable to register what his eyes were showing him, and when Cuspin sat down in an empty seat most of the eyes returned to said teacher. Astute yellow eyes flicked over the crowd of decadent humans, many were arranged like chocolates in a box, sitting neatly in little rows of desks, but most of them were beginning to rise, clustering in little groups. What were they doing?

Suddenly his golden eyes were attracted to a flushed face. Ah, there was the female, she was standing next to, ah, fancy that, the male. What were the odds that they were literally next to each other? He pushed his hood down so he had better command over his peripherals as the female human sat down at a desk, an embarrassed expression on her features. Some male humans across the room were chortling, and after a few moments Cuspin realized that they had been taunting her. Ah, there was something to take note of.

As the daemon examined his prey, a girl human cut him off. “Hi.” She said with a smile. She opened her mouth to say more, but Cuspin didn’t allow her to finish. “Don’t talk to me.” He said his faux foreign purr measured and polite. Her full-lipped smile fell as he gazed apathetically up at her, souring into a scowl. Cuspin didn’t care; he was on a mission, and his mind with buzzing with the combined tasks of thinking up a plan and keeping tabs on the two humans. He held his head up with a hand as he watched them, his ears twitching slightly as he summoned the dregs of his magic to eavesdrop on their conversation over the hum of human adolescents talking.