A whistling echoed throughout the strange store as the owner polished glasses, only putting one down once he could see
his own reflection. A bird chirps from a nearby perch, a crow lands on his shoulder as he picks up the next glass. Nothing is said, a pile of breadcrumbs appears from seemingly nothing and lands on a nearby countertop. A swarm of birds flies towards the food, he just chuckles as he continues polishing the glasses. Yes, Henry could conclude that today was a very good day, albeit boring by his normal standards. He hadn't even decapitated anyone, despite the fact that it's already 12 o'clock.
"Hm?" His head swivels towards the door, something catching his attention. The glass is put down, the reflection briefly showing a scowl as he tries to pinpoint that smell. That smell, so familiar, yet somehow slightly off. The store is silent, even the birds feel the tension in the air.
"Hmmm." The man is on edge, this is a dangerous smell. Well, not that dangerous, but dangerous for his cover at the very least. This was a convenient little store in the end, he would rather not have to abandon it because a fight broke out in the middle of the day where everyone could see.
Hopefully whatever lay on the other side of his door felt the same. Well, might as well be polite and invite the maybe customer in.
"Come on in!"And come in the newcomer did. There was no hesitation in their step as Palis entered the front door of the shop. She had returned once more to her more normal attire, concealing her presence as what these people would call a, "Mahou Shojo". The moment her boots stepped into the shop, all hell immediately broke loose. The animals, who were once docile and tensed, began screeching in a panicked frenzy as she stepped closer, walking up to the front desk. If she was bothered by the pets' reaction to her, she wasn't showing it.
"My, my. I know I call myself a "demon" but I never thought I'd be speaking to the real deal," she said, eying Henry with a cool gaze and a smirk.
"But this city does love to attract all the weirdos, doesn't it? I knew I smelled something wrenching of Hell around here..." As if to articulate her point, Palis sniffed at the air, only to wince as the sound of a dog barking blasted by her side.
"Wait, no. That's just the animals..."Despite the roar of animals all around, seemingly all tension was gone as Henry groaned.
"It's gonna take forever to calm all these fuckers down... I knew I should've stuck with a bar, but nooooo, I miss my dogs so I get fancy and double down. Fucking hell." He rubs his forehead with one hand, sliding it through his hair as he looks Palis over. Yeah, this was the smell alright. She looks a bit familiar too, not quite sure from where though.
"Well I feel like I'm at a bit of a loss to be quite honest. You seem to know who I am, or at least what I am, but I don't know anything about you kiddo. Well, other than the fact that you reek of... something. Still trying to put my finger on it. Definitely not Angel, not the angels I'm used to anyways." He shakes his head and shrugs.
"Whatever. A customer is a customer in the end, no matter how weird they smell. Looking for a pet or a drink?" Henry asks as he picks up a glass, shooing away a bird that was trying to peck him.
"No alcohol though, I don't serve kids the hard stuff.""I'm probably older than you anyway." Palis made no effort to conceal her tone or her voice, eyeing up the glass of drunken stupor the demon held.
"But no, I'm not here for a drink or pet. I doubt they'd like me anyway." Another glance at a snake coiling up and hissing erratically inside their cage proved that point.
"What I'm looking for is a residence to stay. Somewhere to bide my time. I didn't think I'd be wasting daylight in this city but it's caught my interest. So I want a room; give me whatever you can, price isn't a problem," she said grinning.
"Don't suppose you have an ID to prove that?" The demon smirked as he swished around the booze, before setting it back down and shrugging. A room huh? Not exactly something he advertised, but everything has a price. And if price isn't a problem, that means he gets to go wild.
"Alright then, price isn't a problem. Let's talk price then, since this isn't your usual bed and breakfast you aren't going to be paying with your usual cash..." He let that statement hang in the air for a moment before laughing, seemingly at a joke only he knew of.
"I finally recognized your smell. You smell like the weird shadow monster things all over town right?" He nodded to himself resolutely before continuing.
"Keep me updated on fun stuff to do around the city. And I don't mean some lame nightclub or whatever, I mean real fun. The type of fun a demon likes to have. You do that and you got yourself a room.""Oh my Mister Demon. Would you really ravish a girl like me?" Palis said with half-lid eyes, poking at his open-ended remark.
"When you know I'm so young...dear, what would the animals think! Unless...no, you don't mean to have them watch do you!" Palis placed a hand on her chest and sighed openly, dramatic flair punctuating the air.
"Ahh...but alas, what would the law think of that." She went right back to smirking, letting Henry have his laugh.
"Well, I'm not opposed to relaying information to you. But I don't see why you can't do that yourself. You've been here longer than me, right? Surely you know the ins and outs of Miso City."She tilted her head as her expression lit up.
"Oh...unless this city's secrets elude even you, Mister Demon. Mayhapt, that might be the case?"Henry waved his hand in the air in a so-so motion, leaning on the countertop as he waved away that same bird.
"It's one thing to know of the local businesses and buildings. It's another entirely to have a live feed of the whole city and anything interesting that might be happening at any given moment. I can't be everywhere at once after all, but I suspect you might be able to." He then shrugged, closing his eyes and sighing.
"Then again, I could be completely off base. In which case we have to negotiate a completely alternate form of payment, which would really just be a hassle. Unless you have some sort of legendary sword on hand, in which case it would be exceedingly easy. But I digress." To this, Palis shrugged.
"If it's information you want, fine. But you probably won't like it. Well...unless little girls wearing cute uniforms and getting torn up is your kind of past time, Mister Demon. If you wanna know more...that'll be a tv in my room." One particular puppy, whose barking was nearly right against her ear, earned itself a sharp glare from her. Immediately the dog turned its barks to soft whimpers as it crawled deeper into hiding in its cage.
"And maybe a complementary snack to go with it too..." she mused, turning back to Henry, eyes gleaming briefly. They too seemed demonic as his though there was something else.
"You said I smelled like the Nightmares out there? I guess that's not too far from the truth," she chuckled
"Done and done. Anything to get rid of this perpetual boredom I've been stuck with since I got here. And the girls aren't all that interesting I find, only way I would get any fun out of them is if they all ganged up on me." A thoughtful look crossed Henry's face as he said that, as if he had considered the idea for a brief moment. But the idea was tossed away just as quickly, there was no reason to believe some pathetic humans could offer even a minute of fun.
"Also is that what they're called? Bit uninspired if you ask me, but nobody does. I would've gone with something like Fleshrenders or Black Pudding monsters." Another shrug, another chuckle. He closed his eyes for a brief moment, before opening them back up.
"Room is ready, head past the cat section to the back room and head up the stairs. First door on your left, hope the TV is to your liking. Didn't know what type of snack you would like, so I went with a fruit basket. Everyone loves fruit baskets."With that he straightened up and flourished his coat, grabbing a big bag of dog food as every single door on the dog cages opened simulataneously.
"Speaking of snacks, time to feed the dogs." With a single arm he tossed the twenty pound bag into the air, not even a second later dog food was raining all over the place as the tatters of the bag floated down gently to the floor. It was absolute pandemonium at this point, dogs of all sizes and breeds running about, some barking at Palis, others just trying to eat as much as possible while free from their cages, entropy reigned in this place.
"Oh yeah, you'll probably be dealing with some barking occasionally. The room is pretty soundproof, but these guys really seem to hate you."The succesful obtainment of a room to stay in was all that concerned Palis. At least, until the dog food began raining down like a storm of swords. She stared unamused as kibble bounced off her head, some getting tangled into her hair. All the same, the dogs didn't dare get near her to lick it off, though they did keep barking incessantly.
"Great. Fun," she muttered, eagerly heading to the back room where the demon had directed her.
"These dogs are all dying in a night. Two nights at the most," she grumbled to herself, trudging to her space.
"Hmm, that would suck." Henry muttered to himself as his new guest trudged to her room.
"Oh yeah, I completely forgot to ask. What's your name? I'm Henry if you care at all.""I don't care. At all," came the reply of his newfound tenant.
"It's Palis. Short for Palisade. Now leave me alone." The words were followed by a door slam.
"Harsh." Henry itched his nose as he walked over to the doors, opening them and watching as all the dogs ran outside, along with several birds taking flight.
"I still feel like I know you from somewhere though..."
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Savo
