Cuspin "Michael" Durril's Story

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.

R E G I N A + F L I T S

Regina didn't really know what to say after she had watched Aiden stand up and give Golding a crude insult and defend her- which people didn't usually do for her. She glanced behind her at Brian and then his girlfriend, Megan, watching her exchange a few argumentative insults with Aiden before Aiden was instructed to take a seat and calm down. Of course, the darker looking student who had came in had caught her eye but she only exchanged a few quick glances of observing expressions before she looked back at Aiden as he sat down and addressed her on the matter of their project.

Of course, she was grateful that Aiden had actually stood up for her. She knew he was teased for his eye, and she knew he had a hard time with it sometimes... at least, his anger seemed to express that but she never mentioned it and never stared either. She would smile softly at him as he leaned forward and discuss with her what they should do, and she nodded to him. "Well, how about we do... torture methods used by the Nazis, involving experiments and what not?" she said, and then she slowly got up from the desk, smiling at him since he didn't really seem to care what they did. She then would walk up to the desk as she made her way to Mr. Bakers.

"Torture methods and experiments for Aiden and I." she said, offering him a smile and he smiled right back, writing her name down.

"Very good, Regina. I'm sure you'll come up with something great.You always make creative presentations." Even if she lacked fake boobs and tan skin, she was still quite smart and enjoyed history to a great extent.

"Thanks." she smiled at him, and then felt another object hit her in her thigh and she felt her teeth grinding on each other as she shot Brian a sharp glare to see he had thrown an eraser at her thigh. And of course, him being on the fucking football team and the baseball team, he had hit it dead on. She quickly bent down, picking the eraser up and making her way back to the desk as she pulled some hair behind her right ear and then she put it up into a messy bun. "Fucking assholes." she muttered to herself, sliding the eraser between her fingers as she looked at Aiden. "How about we do a video... we can talk about it, show some examples perhaps or... dress up as one of the more famous nazi scientists and explain from their point of view? I don't know." She said, obviously frustrated with the morning's events. She watched as Mr. Baker left the room for a few moments to discuss something with a student.

Her attention turned back to Aiden, her bright eyes glowering slightly as she tried to brush off the fact that Brian was badgering her for his eraser back. But she didn't give it to him. She simply tossed it out towards the doorway, near the trash can. He could get off his lazy ass and go get it himself.

How cute. The male was an angry one. Cuspin winced slightly as voices were raised in his hearing field, too much amplification, and withdrew slightly. He could hear that conversation just fine without any hassle. The lad defended the female, and the other humans turned to insulting him instead. He seemed to take it better that the female though, he just shot back retorts with crude human slang until the teacher, apparently the final authority on the matter, yelled at him to cease. This was a very loud classroom. It had been a long time since Cuspin had been in one of these to hunt prey, and even then they'd been smaller and more sedate, it seemed. This was loud and just a bit crazy. It was very saturated with vivid energy, and the daemon couldn't decide whether he liked it or not.

When the target's conversation waxed soft again, Cuspin realized that he'd been forgetting himself and he was starting to grow blurry around the edges. Oops, he needed to do a better job at that. Ever since he was young he'd had terrible problems keeping up so many magics at once. He occupied himself for a moment with sharpening his own visage, and when he looked back up from making sure his hands were perfectly human he was surprised to see the female walk right past him on her way to the teacher. He resisted making any contact with her verbal or other wise, but continued to stare at her back as she spoke with the older male human. A little pink thing suddenly tore through the air and hit her thigh right at the place were a small rip exposed some of her soft delectable looking skin.

Cuspin covered his face for a moment as the girl walked back to her seat. He really needed to stop himself from thinking about food, he was going to go stark raving mad if he kept that up. And that would ruin his whole plan and he'd have to find a new place to live. One where they weren't on the look out for someone who'd murdered an entire classroom of adolescent humans and made some attempt to devour the remains.

Yeah, that wasn't a very good idea.

The currently dark haired daemon shifted in his seat, the plastic was uncomfortable under him, how could these humans enjoy sitting on them at all? At a better vantage point to stare unabashedly at his targets, yellow eyes flicked over the face of the male, and for the first time he noticed what the two had been teasing him about. He had mismatched eyes, and only one of them looked to be in working condition. Huh. Why would they tease him about that? He was delightfully unique, just like the girl, but in a different way. It made him striking. But perhaps it was a key for him. A key for both of them. Neither looked happy with their uniqueness, so he needed to provide a way for them to assimilate with the rest of the group. But how to do that?

his head tipped slightly to one side, Cuspin's eyes narrowed as if he could stare into the mind of the male human and search out what exactly he needed to do. Long forgotten was the human etiquette of not staring at people for great lengths of time, but oh well. What he really wanted to do was approach them, but that had the potential to ruin everything if he said or did the wrong thing. The humans were too unpredictable to form any kind of true plan unless it only involved them indirectly. It was one of the funny quirks of humanity. They had no idea what they wanted, they had to real plans, they could barely ever get anything done the way they wanted it done, but they managed to live these amazingly interesting lives, despite the futile aspect of their short time-span.

Aiden remained quiet, but friendly, as Regina seemed to just move on from the little conflict which had just occurred. As Regina said what they were going to be doing a project on, he nodded and shrugged, muttering a quiet 'Kay'. Now this was something he could pay attention to. He wasn't someone who craved violence by any means - But it was a teenage boy thing. It was like Left 4 Dead - The more blood, the more fun, the more interesting, the better. And this wasn't going to just be reading through boring documents either, probably though some cool, bloodier stuff.

As she got up to tell Mr. Baker, Aiden turned to watch her, but remained in his own seat. Regina was a nice girl, really nice. He knew that everyone noticed his eye, and in this school, everyone was the type he expected to get crap about it from. That is, except for Regina and several other people that he hung out with. Regina had taunted him about his eye, and seemed not to even notice it. However, that only made Aiden more upset when people teased her. She was such a nice girl, and she didn't deserve that crap just because she wasn't a head cheerleader who tanned every day and was covered head to toe in designer clothes. In Aiden's opinion, they tended to be a bit flashy anyway.

Seeing the eraser hit Regina's thigh, Aiden growled to himself. He wondered why Brian and Megan enjoyed teasing them both so much. Were they really gaining that much from it? After high school, it wouldn't even matter anyway - right? People these days - Really. It seriously couldn't be that funny. As Regina walked back, he glared at Brian before looking back to Regina as she began to talk again.

"Sure, a Movie sounds good. I can think of something in Film class if you want - We've got green screen." Then, Mr. Baker left the room and Regina tossed the eraser, causing him to chuckle. I hoped Brian whined all classtime, being too lazy to get up and just get his stupid eraser. Of course though, Brian just badgered them to get it. Then, a tiny impact on one side of his face - The blind side. He looked down to see a paper clip and turned to see Megan tapping her long, fake nails on her desk with a half amused half irritated look. "Okay, seriously. If you throw one more thing at us, i'm gonna shove it so far up your ass, you choke. Kapiche?" he barked at them before simply ignoring them. He was tired of their antics by now - It was too early in the day.

As paperclips continued to pelt the blind half of his face and occasionally flew towards Regina, Aiden ignored them, despite being slowly progressing past agitated.

"I can rent a camera too." he offered. "If you know a time we can both record. You know, after researching and junk."

The harassment of the two humans grew, and Cuspin had to hide a smile as he realized how perfect his choice in humans had been. They were delightfully bullied, and they looked sick of it. And he could fix all that for them and attach a self-serving price. Lovely, lovely. And the male seemed a bit violent at the very least, he might have to help the female along a bit, and teach both of them the proper way to murder things, but hopefully their anger could be useful when directed properly. His entire body straightened as he heard the mention the woods. Yes. Perfect. They were playing straight to them. He'd just have to lure them far enough away that there would be no interruptions. A simple task compared to some of the feats he'd accomplished during his life. Not to be a braggart or anything, of course. He could already imagine just how things would go in his head. He knew he shouldn't plot everything out this early, these little pups weren't so predictable, but he couldn't help himself. A new puzzle to occupy his time was a delighting fact.

And then ah, the most perfect thing happened. The female, she exemplified the instability of her race. She, to put in in human terms, flipped the fuck out. Her voice was a low hiss, and she threw a violent insult in, and then when the teacher came she didn't revert back to the sweet little innocent she'd seemed at first, she retained all that beautiful anger. Yes, oh yes, he had what he needed now. He could twist both of these little creatures around his finger without breaking their spines. If anything, they'd come out better for his guiding hand. Stronger. All their poor rage was expressed in futile ways, but he'd show them how to hone it into a weapon of mass destruction, yes he would. And it would be beautiful.

His purpose in the god-forsaken classroom finished, Cuspin rose, pulled his hood back over his head, and walked unabashedly out the door. The myriad of humans in the classroom who'd noticed him at some point would soon forget him, he'd make sure of it. He could use this face again at some point, perhaps. It was rather growing on him. Being a human adolescent brought the most curious view on life. They were under the hand of another, but treated like independent beings. He could get things done as a teenager, he supposed. He debated for a long moment whether to approach the humans in this face, but he decided against it. He'd leave that for later. He needed to seem solid, resolute at first, and a bit intimidating as well, so they wouldn't think they could take advantage of his generosity.

A gleeful grin on his half-blurred face, the daemon strolled out of the building and on to the street. It was time to prepare for the humans, make sure everything was in line. Oh, this would be loads of fun, wouldn't it. And in the end he'd be better for it, and so would the humans. Unless they were dead. And then he'd be even better for it because he'd get to start the process all over again. And the human girl at the very least looked like she would taste delicious. He wasn't so sure about the boy. He did have spark though, which added flavour to the soul so long as it didn't sit and rot for too long. But all that anger would sour his blood unless Cuspin helped him. Oh, that would be a bad thing.

Cuspin shook his head slightly to send those thoughts from his mind. He shouldn't think of eating the humans for the time being. Right now they were his friends and humans didn't eat their friends. He could contemplate the consistency of their flesh at a later date, if and when they displeased him. Because there was always a chance that they could be charming enough to keep around even past the expiration of his current interest in them, of vice versa.

---

The next day, Cuspin was skulking around the forest near the female human's house, waiting for the two humans to emerge and start their business. He had to wait for the perfect time, or they'd be unwilling to listen. At the moment he was wearing his favorite red and gold coat against the slight chill of the air, and it set off nicely with the paleness of the rest of his features, dragging out the gold in his eyes. He felt extraordinarily handsome, but then again, he usually felt as such.

He had two slender metal chains, still warm from their creation. It had taken all night to craft them, but it was well worth the time. Neither of the chains had a pendant on them, he'd need to inquire just what his new little humans would need to do what he wanted before he could make that. He was quite positive that they would comply to his wishes however, and he already had everything that he'd need prepared. How could they say no to a dream come true, even if it came with a small price.

The daemon's heavy boots crunched leaves and disturbed the soil as he paced impatiently, gazing at the house in which the female human resided through the trees. Humans were so slow. One would think that because they had so little time to do things they might hurry everything up a bit, but it never seemed the case. He'd teach his humans the value of swiftness and efficiency though, and they'd learn it quickly and thoroughly or face whatever repercussions he thought fit to impose.

Ah, finally, finally. Lingering near the house, Cuspin watched the male drive up to the house from a far distance. He retreated further, ready to follow them out into the trees, but then there was more waiting to be done. Then they moved over to his car and dallied some more. He was growing extremely impatient by this point, couldn't they realize that he was on a tight schedule, he really needed to eat at some point over then next few millenniums it seemed to would take the slow humans to actually make it out into the forest.

Then at last they were out into the forest. The boy was injured. Black eye, a limp, how cute. He was a feisty little human, apparently. Maybe it was with one of the ones that had bothered him and the girl during the class he'd sat in for. That was a good thing. he was in a more delicate condition, physically at least. And Cuspin was all about finding and using advantages. Discovering beautiful pressure points and driving slender fingers into them until the foe crumpled under its own weight. The daemon trailed after his targets as they moved into the forest, his gait quieter than theirs. They wouldn't even know he was there until he wanted them to. Beautiful, beautiful. Perfect. He was very pleased with himself and the way things were unfolding. He could almost taste his next meal, the promise of it lingering teasingly just past the tip of his tongue.

The light haired daemon tugged the vivid jacket around his shoulders, strolling nonchalantly as if he had not a care in the world, his own glamor keeping him virtually invisible. He kept his ears pricked, eavesdropping disinterestedly on their conversation. They were talking about girlfriends and boyfriends for the most part, apparently, until they halted and began discussing their project.

Walking carelessly around them, his pace a light stroll, Cuspin moved through the trees, drawing nearer and nearer to the pair of humans, a viciously focused look in his golden eyes. How exactly to go about it? He had to think on the move, because he would have hundreds of way capture their attention and only one attempt. He'd leave the selection to the moment.

He watched them for a moment, setting up in a dark patch of forest, leaning against a tree. The female had her back to him, handing the male some papers when he flickered back into the visual plane of existence. He crossed his arms over his chest, a small smirk on his face, and stood completely silent. Now that they were where he wanted them he could afford to have some patience, especially if he had control over the time it would take, and it would be more amusing than the previous bout of waiting, which had just been plain annoying.

The lion's eyes flicked from the female's back to examine the male's face, now that he was in such a proximity that he could see the lovely details of the human's injuries. The bruise did look quite nasty. Perhaps he could offer such a fate to whomever had done such an atrocious thing to him if he'd only consider the proposition. Of course, a silly little black eye would be followed ultimately with death, but he'd have to take it slow. All but the most mentally imbalanced, genius, and gifted humans had the tolerance to logically contemplate death, to understand his need for it. He would have to temper the 'bad' with the 'good' and force their desires up so high that such a petty attached string wouldn't drive the bargain down.

Oh, he couldn't wait for one of them to notice the pale, delicate figure lingering in their area, watch their surprise cross their features before he introduced himself and showed them the world of wonder he could offer them.

It would be wonderfully, deliciously, amusing.

Aiden shrugged, chuckling a bit. "I guess so," he said, stepping over small fallen branch, rather out of place in the tiny clearing. "I won't suppose the schools gonna let me make a business out of that, huh?" he said, joking. When she stopped in a place with a bit less exposure to the rain, he let out a small sigh of relief. He didn't care much for school at all, but he certainly didn't want to get in trouble to for destroying property - He didn't need anymore lectures at the house. The mention of her blending in too much made him shake his head. "You don't blend in, but you don't stick out. Kinda hard to explain, i guess. But you're not part of the background noise at school, if that's what you mean." Referring to all the faces that blurred together and noises and buzzed together, senselessly in the halls - coming, going, growing, fading, blasting, silencing.

The suggestion of her being in the film made sense to him, and he nodded. "I can direct i guess, being in film makes that easy." he said, retrieving the camera and equipment and beginning to set up in a covered space. "Deal with lighting and all that, well, best i can." The last part was added as barely a whisper as he unpacked the tripod and began to adjust it, looking around. "You can start, i'll deal with the cam-quip over here. It'd be great to shoot the rehearsing, helps so i can adjust the lighting." he sighed, wincing as he stooped down to adjust the legs of the tripod, the camera balanced carefully.

Aiden then flipped out the side screen and made some adjustments before glancing up. "Just start whenever you're ready. I might move around a bit or something, but just keep going." he said, making some form of dismissive gesture by waving his hand to his side. He placed the ice pack gently against his eye again for a bit, waiting until he heard Regina begin. His body was sore, and damn did his leg hurt. Hopefully the contusions wouldn't last long and he would be able to go to back to school looking like a normal guy instead of a bitchslapped peach, bruised to holy hell and back. On his blind side, though, had he not been so, he may have caught a strange silhouette - Watching, observing, all in silence.

Aiden had still been watching the screen, following her with the camera and adjusting the focus and settings continuously. At first, he didn't even acknowledge when Regina dropped her papers and spoke to the air, thinking it part of the film. It wouldn't surprise him if there was a little acting, after all, the creativity could possibly improve their grade. However, when she remained that way, he glanced up.

"Hey, what's the-" Then, he saw it. Catching the sight of of a figure in the left corner of his right eye, he turned his head to see. It seemed to be a strange, pale man who stood not too far from them. Suddenly, Aiden felt self conscious, aware of his surroundings, very creeped out, and many other emotions he didn't care to register. The only houses around here was Regina's and a couple others, perhaps this man was from one of those houses. Glancing down, he stopped the recording and focused his attention to the figure. Something about him was... off, but than again, when you appear out of nowhere in a forest where you had been watching teenagers film a movie without any protective supervision - Yeah, you were going to seem a bit 'off'.

His lips pursed together when the figure suddenly seemed to fade. He turned his head to see to his left just in case when the sound an unfamiliar voice pierced the air like someone stepping on a yellowed leaf in the fall, amid a symphony of silence. At first, he had thought the man to just be a nuthouse escapee that not remarkably far, but now he was certain it was far from. He turned quickly to see the Demon barely out of armsreach and he swallowed. The man's words were eerie and dangerous, like a live wire. Then, he turned to face him and Aiden's blood ran cold. He bit his lip, trying to narrow his eyes and look at least somewhat threatening, but managing barely a step back before his leg forced him to stop, sending a wave of pain up his spine. He felt like those wandering eyes were boring into his flesh, picking around for a weakness.

"Look, i don't know what you're getting at here - But we'll leave your land, okay?" he said, intimidated, glancing at Regina. Although he offered to leave, Aiden made no move to - Which barely made sense to himself. Deep inside his mind, man's voice drew him in and spun a web of temptation. Anything he wanted, huh? Fame, wealth, glory, and more? Whatever the man was, he talked crazy - But despite his common sense, at the moment, crazy sounded good. Really, good.

The humans were tense, both wary of him. How cute. They were both interested though, as he'd expected. The male spoke first. He offered to leave, but didn't move anywhere. Caught like a little bug in a web. Cuspin didn't respond at first, he let his golden eyes flash in the male's direction, but the female distracted him before he could remark. She had a tongue on her. She was obviously uncomfortable. He turned his head towards her, and took a leisurely step closer to the girl. "A sensible lass." He quirked a genial smirk, folding his hands behind his back and inclining his head towards her slightly. "But don't speak in imperatives, someone will ultimately prove you wrong, no?" He ran his fingers across his face, starting at his chin and over his nose, then up to his hairline, raking his fingers through the white-blonde hair.

Then he smirked out from a slender female face with full lips, a delicate nose, and wide blue eyes. His voice, however, remained male. "I can do whatever I like, my little human." He said as the facade slowly melted off his face, features melding back into his usual visage. The act poked at his magical abilities, promising that he wouldn't do any more personal face swapping for the day unless it was something easy. He could produce more inane magic for their amusement, and of course he'd kept a reserve for what he'd need to do for these little humans, but he'd need sustenance before too long. One simply couldn't go long without eating.

"I do have a catch though, clever girl, it's not expensive at all though, certainly within your...capabilities I'm sure." He waved a hand airily, leaning back briefly on his heels as he turned to include the male human in his explanation. "I give you what you want, you find food for me. See, just a small price." Okay, maybe a bit of litotes, it was a bit more of a big deal than he made it out to be, just a little bit though. Just a little bit of murder. But he'd not let them know that until they were fully caught. For some reason murder seemed to deter humans. Unless, of course, there was a proper reward for the deed. Maybe he'd let them play with their new toys before telling them just what it was that he ate. Then they'd appreciate their gifts more, now wouldn't they.

"You could leave, if you want," No, no they couldn't leave. They could say yes, or they could die. But they had to have some volition of their own, feel like they were actually making a choice. Otherwise it would be no fun at all. No fun at all. "But wouldn't that be a shame? You don't have the chance to fulfill all your wildest dreams every day, do you, my friends? If you leave now, you'll never see me again, and you'll always wonder exactly what you could have had." His golden eyes gleamed, as with possibilities for their future and not with thoughts of his next snack. Of course, the latter was more true, but they couldn't know that.

Gracefully the daemon reached down and plucked a blade of grass from the damp forest floor and began pulling blood red petals out of thin air and attaching them to the new stem as if without thought.

"Of course, I can always prove my aims for you, if you like." He said pleasantly. "You, boy, I could take away your wounds, if you wish. Just set you back to how you were before. Unless, that is, you consider them some sort of badge of honor?" His tone was just the slightest bit scathing as he dropped the finished rose and it hit the ground with a soft sigh. He took a half step towards the male human, tipping his head ever so slightly in inquiry. And maybe a bit of a challenge.

Absolving topical wounds would be easy enough to do with what he had left. Just moving blood around a little bit, shifting a few organic things until they went back to how they were supposed to be. He was adept at working the human body, he had an understanding for them too, like any farmer would have for his most important cattle. Needless to say, he'd eaten and built enough bodies to understand how they worked.

Piece of metaphorical cake. Real cake was foul. Too much sweetness in it. But abstract cake was perfectly fine with him.