Zack the smile on his face grow, making it hopeful rather than smug. The priest is obviously happy to see him relax again, and he is reasonably sure that by talking about the fun stuff for the rest of the evening, he can make this a good memory in the priest’s mind. And they’ve spent so much time together, that it won’t be a stretch to give the man’s dreams a nudge to start including Zach. From there on he can start placing small suggestions to slowly but surely lead the man’s thoughts to where he wants them to be.

“Oh, can we have pasta again?” he says without having to fake his enthusiasm. “I really liked it when-“

There was someone in the room. Zach only has a moment to see someone backed up in a corner before Kiel is pushing him gently but firmly aside and then the air is filled with strangled sobs, enough to push away all chances of a productive evening for Zach.

Something dark flashes over his face, but he quickly buries it in favour of an expression of awkward indecision. It’s not difficult to summon a sense of feeling out of place, and when Kiel asks him to get a glass of water he is grateful to have something to do. 

“Em, of course, I’ll get it,” the kitchen is familiar to him by now, and when he brings the glass of water he also has a cookie in his hand that he cautiously offers to the girl. Now that he has swallowed his initial disappointment of having his plans foiled, the girl’s sadness is pushing at the edge of his mind. It is in his nature to be in tune with the emotions of mortals. While extremely useful in his line of work, it can also be a spot of trouble when strong emotions hit him when he’s unprepared- and it tends to be even more pronounced when he’s hungry. 

As it is the girl’s pain feels raw and jagged against his mind and he’s filled with an irrational urge to help her soothe it. No one would accuse demons of being kind, but Zach had nothing but contempt for those that willingly caused harm to [i]children[/i].

“There you go, Sarah was it?” he said softly, easily falling into a pose and speech he knows will register as unthreatening. As a creature whose existence depended on being able to read and adapt to mortals, it was simple to go on instinct when it came to soothing frightened children.

“I’m Zach, and I’m staying with Kiel for a bit. You know Kiel, right? He’s a good guy, and now that there’s two of us you’re going to be even safer here.”