~Ceri & Ladon~
Location: Second floor Library, Dragon's Heart Guild
It was in all, a pretty calm day by most peoples standards. Most people were probably busy enjoying their time with friends, chatting happily away. Drinking with friends. Making merry.
Those people were not Ceri.
Honestly, maybe she was a little jealous. She could never be like them, after all. She was just too different. Besides, she was almost certain that it wouldn't end well if she ended up getting close to them even if they accepted her.
"..." She silently flipped a page in thick leather tome in front of her. Whoever so happened to peek would notice complicated magical formula printed on the pages, magical theories and other complex things one would normally need many years of education to understand. Oh well. Such feelings were unneeded for her anyways.
"Haaaa..." Yawning quietly, Ceri stretched, the pale white skin of her hands starkly contrasting with her dark blue robe. Maybe she should go find Mis and see about getting a job or something. Leaning lightly on the palm of one of her hands she flipped another of the pages in the book.
The day started pretty good for Ladon. Having already earned more than enough money for both his rent and monthly expenses, the Devil Slayer finally had some time left for his own leisure - something that when coupled with his not really sociable persona often meant either lazing around at his home or simply testing new recipes that he heard about while traveling around.
With that being said, today was undoubtedly a fairly uncommon day according to his usually very home focused routine, as, by virtue of facing a painful lack of books he hadn't finished reading at least a few times in his stash, he was ultimately forced to leave his comfort on favor of the similarly pleasant but inconveniently more crowded library.
Much to his surprise, though, this specific visit to the library was actually pretty lucky when compared to the other ones, as not only the library was relatively empty- probably on virtue of how the climate today was fairly adequate for outdoor activities, though a closet hikikomori such as himself couldn't be sure - but he actually saw the quite soothing scene of Ceri quietly yawning while reading a book.
Truth being said, Ladon didn't quite know why he appreciated being around Ceri, but the fact was that, either due to sharing the secret of her identity as a demon or simply because their personalities aligned quite neatly, the devil slayer actually felt pretty comfortable with interacting with the petite demon, and thus felt absolutely no hesitation as he directly approached her table from behind.
"Lemme guess: you're thinking about something simple in an unnecessarily complicated way again." He said rather directly as he approached the girl from behind, his right hand unconsciously moving to pat her head in the process - a scene that was undoubtedly quite shocking when considering how defensive he normally was, clearly denoting how deeply the harmless appearance of the demon affected him.
"Eep!" Sitting up straight in her chair, Ceri made a quiet squee noise as she grabbed the top of her hood. Who had the sheer
audacity to
headpat her?! Filthy humans should know their place! Of course, she couldn't say stuff like that aloud. No, it'd draw unneeded attention. Instead, she whipped her head around, glancing up at the human who so dared to attempt such a thing.
"L-ladon..." She quietly said, glaring at him from under her hood. Well, this was easier if it was him at least.
"Hmph. Startling people is a good way to get hurt." Ceri coolly replied, in a tone quite unlike what most guild mates would know her for.
"And I have no idea what you mean by that." She ran a hand over the pages of the book she was reading, before grabbing the edge of the page and turning it silently.
"I'm simply considering work." It was refreshing in a way, not to have to constantly watch her words and behavior around someone. Ironic, since it was a devil slayer.
"And what are you doing here? Making sure I don't get up to anything nefarious?"Haha, if anyone else heard her talking like this they'd think she was possessed or something. An amusing thought.
Ladon couldn't help but show quite the wide grin at Ceri's reaction, being especially amused by how quickly she changed her mannerisms as soon as she noticed that he was the one who surprised her, completely losing her usual stuttering, timid attitude and just letting her poisonous tongue run loose instead.
"Geez, how un-cute. I get you don't feel the need to be careful about hurting my poor feelings, but you could at least keep the stuttering." The devil slayer retorted quite naturally, seemingly unfazed by the demon's hostility.
"I mean, it's not like I'm asking you to be all fidgety like you are around Illedrith, but matching your attitude to your appearance for once would be quite soothing." He rambled while once more reaching for the demon's head, seemingly not satisfied with just patting it for a moment before she dodged his hand.
"Anyway, while I'd love to feed your ego a bit more I'll have to deny your assumption." He said while his eyes went through the books gathered in the table, seemingly searching for something that interested him amongst the pile of manuscripts that were left over by less than helpful visitors.
"While I'd love to claim that I'm just being a responsible exorcist mage, truth is that I just want to pick something to read while I wait for my food to get done. Got a new recipe for a smoked wyvern brisket that stays in the oven for more than 12 hours and I ain't about to pass those staring at the ceiling." He said, mentioning his normally hidden hobby without even a shred of defensiveness as he didn't bother to keep his guard high around the demon anyway.
"Eh." Ceri showed no emotion to Ladon's words other than a dismissive, tired huff.
"Acting like that is exhausting. Sometimes I wonder if its even worth it, being friendly with you humans." From Ladon's perspective, he'd be able to just see a small smirk form on Ceri's lips as she continued.
"It's inevitable we'll be at each others throats soon enough anyways. Maybe I should speed up the process a bit?" A light giggle as she reached for the book, closing it gently before jumping out of her chair and fixing her hood in the process.
"Twelve hours, huh?" She grunted coolly, changing subjects in a mildly irritated tone.
"So what, you thought I wanted your company? Hah. You're more dimwitted than everyone else around here." Her hand traced over the tomes as she searched for another book.
"Go away. I'm not interested. I have better things to do than play nice with you..." her hand paused over a tome before she turned her head up towards the higher up shelves.
"...oh." Oh. That book was really high. She turned her head to Ladon, briefly wondering over her course of action. Grab it herself? No, she was too short. Ask Ladon? haha, like she'd ever ask a human for help. Her head turned back to the bookshelf. Unconsciously, she began to fidget in place.
"Uhm...uhm...""Not sure about the going at each other's throat part, but I do have to agree that humans are very troublesome creatures." He replied with the same nonchalance as before, seemingly not even registering the dismissive nature of the demon's words. After all, as contemptuous as the demon sounded when talking with him he actually favored this straightforward approach of hers.
"As for speeding up the process... Well, you can take me on whenever you want." He said with a shrug, quite obviously not taking her words seriously.
With that being said, even he couldn't help but frown for a bit when faced by the following act of the girl, almost surrendering to her wiles and just taking a book and walking away. Fortunately, that ultimately didn't happen due to the following situation, as the girl proceeded to find herself in a difficult situation right after shooing him away - something that quite obviously amused Ladon, as he didn't even try to hide the smug grin that plastered his face as he watched the girl's predicament.
"Now that's a difficult situation, isn't it?" He said in a teasing tone, obviously greatly entertained by the scene.
"Well, I guess it can't be helped. Even someone as mighty as the great Ceri faces obstacles sometimes." He continued while reaching for the book from behind the demoness, his smug grin somehow widening even further as he easily grabbed the manuscript and held it above her head - just high enough so she couldn't reach without having to jump - quite obviously waiting for her to ask him for it.
"...huh perhaps you're not entirely incomp-what are you doing?" Ceri stared up at Ladon and the book. She was even about to thank him for getting it for her! Well, not really, but still! He...he wasn't, right? He wasn't going to stoop this low, was he!? Well this was not how she expected this to go at all.
"Y-you abnormally tall person! Quit that! Hand it over now!" Standing on her tiptoes, Ceri reached for the book, attempting to grab it from Ladon's nefarious grasp. How cruel! How evil!
"Aren't I supposed to be the demon here?" A few more taunts and shouts if displeasure left the small girls lips as she attempted to grab it before finally giving in and making a jump for it.
Ladon's amusement only seemed to grow as the girl tried to reach for the book, the grin in his face leaving the fact that the devil slayer was
not even a bit ashamed of bullying the much shorter girl.
"Seems like the tables have turned now, huh?" He said in a teasing tone as he proceeded to lift the book even further, keeping it out of the girl's reach as she tiptoed around. It was about time he teached the demon something about the natural order of things.
"I wonder what you're going to do t earn my help now. If you want a tip, I suggest apologizing for your venomous tongue and cutely asking me to help you. Pretty please n' everything" He continued, once more lifting the book more centimeters above her reach as she jumped to grab it, his satisfied smile leaving his satisfaction about getting to watch the girl desperate attempts crystal clear.
Ceri stopped her jumping, glaring at the ground as Ladon taunted her. He wouldn't be able to see it, but her cheeks were red with embarrassment and anger as she puffed out her cheeks slightly. This infuriating, pathetic,
HUMAN. Urgh, wanted her to apologize? Ha, no way was she going to do that willingly. Not even a small chance. She clutched the hem of her hood in an all too familiar nervous fashion as lifted the book just out of her reach once more. This human wanted a lesson in something? Fine then! He'd get a lesson in why you shouldn't make fun of a demon!
"I-I'm..." She replied quietly, words stuttering in that cute fashion that Ladon seemed to want. For the briefest of instants, it seemed like she might actually comply with the request.
"...I-I'M TELLING MIS!" She quickly turned, bolting for the door. She didn't know where Mis was, but as long as she found someone else in the guild that wasn't going to be suspicious of her, then she could easily turn the tables, hah! Flawless plan.
Ladon could already feel the triumphant ending incoming at the moment when Ceri lost her toughness and started stuttering, seemingly going back to the timid state she displayed around while interacting with other guild members. It was just obvious that the demon wouldn't be able to keep her arrogant act up for any longer now that he had something she needed, so at this point there was nothing she could do to turn the situation around anyway... Or at least so he thought.
Unfortunately for him, this time he was dealing with an enemy who was away more cunning than he expected, and the demoness actually resorted for a method he couldn't ever predict: She ran away to call for reinforcements.
"Wait, what? Come back here!" He said, his face going from surprise to panic quite rapidly as Ceri mentioned Illedrith. He didn't even think twice before dashing towards the girl with all his might in the following moment, quite obviously not even a single bit interested in facing the possibility of murder from the hands of a very pissed mirror knight.
"It was a joke, goddamnit!"
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