[Edel PRP] A Cute Friend For You! (Laurence/Shuo + Adi)

[Tsunake]

His meeting with the godling had been more interesting than he'd expected, and the priest had much to think about even as he unconsciously found himself climbing up the steps of the larger raised platform. He allowed his gaze to briefly slide over the columns, admiring, before he began to scout out these doors--one of which would lead him, with luck, to Adi.

Do you think she will be pleased? Shuo sounded excited, clearly looking forward to the girl's reaction. Oh, he was still sad, to some degree, but he was also a fairly selfless being, and couldn't exactly argue with his host's reasoning.

Even if Laurence really just didn't want to deal with the cuddly floox.

"I think so. Ah-hah." Triumphant, the man lengthened his stride a little, then found himself pausing before he lifted his hand and let his knuckles tap lightly on the surface. Would anyone even be able to hear him, from here? It felt weird, letting himself in, and so he'd stand awkwardly for a moment, calling out. "Adi? You there?"

Hopefully her 'mother' wouldn't answer the door.

[Meepfur]

Laurence was in luck! Sort of. It wasn't Desiderio who opened the door, but one of his aoidei. The scantily-clad, purple demoness beamed at their visitor, offering a bright, "Hello~! Adi's not here right now, but would you like to come in an-" What was meant to be an 'anyway' evaporated, as Ishkhara noticed that the man had adorable company. "Oh, how precious!" she crooned, "You have a floox too!"

After her moment of distraction, however, she did open the door wider into the tiled hall, gesturing for the werewolf's friend to enter, "Come in, come in!"

And, somewhat belatedly, turned her head to call, "Rioooo~"

Yeah. Maybe not quite in luck.

[Tsunake]

Laurence blanched.

Laurence blanched a lot. That had not... He just... The purple-skinned (it felt like a demon, the influence was certainly there) woman was wearing very little clothing, and he felt his mind more or less glaze over as he struggled to decide what the hell to do.

Floox straightened up immediately at the sound of cooing, offering a fond chitter of his own at the woman with a slightly twitching tail. She sounded nice!

"T-Thank you." The priest managed to stutter, feeling his face heat up despite himself. A thousand curses simultaneously repeated themselves in his mind, and he managed to stiffly step inside.

Who the succubus (she had to be, look at her--no, don't look at her--) called for was lost on him for a moment, sinking in belatedly. Laurence felt like choking a little.

Be polite. Shuo chided him, and when his host failed to react, would take over with more amusement than he should have felt. "Thank you kindly, Miss." The dragon said pleasantly, taking in the inside of the place with appreciation. If Love was here, then that would be even more wonderful!

[Meepfur]

"You're welcome!" said Ishkhara with a giggle, not failing to notice the man's reaction. How cute, he was embarrassed!

Shortly after he was called, the god emerged from the nearest room on the right, curious to see who'd come to call on his daughter. If nothing else, Love did wear significantly more clothing than his aoidei or his daughter. Everything but shoes, anyway. It was an old habit from after he'd morphed from Alex, when he'd had no shoes but hers, and they'd all been...well, not suited to the male god. Not that he'd quite been male, at that point, but he certainly hadn't wanted to accentuate that particular fact.

On his heels came an ordinary floox like the one the priest had brought, while a more colorful one peeped out from around the door frame. Adi had, apparently, finally managed to lure that most exotic and elusive of flooxes into her clutches, though it obviously remained quite shy.

"You must be Laurence!" he said warmly, extending a hand in greeting. "I'm Rio, and this is Ishkhara."

After a slight, playful bow, Ishkha turned to the more timid floox and bid it, "La, would you go and get Adi, please?"

The starry floox chittered softly and was off like a shot down the hallway, out the window at the end, and down the tree just outside.

[Tsunake]

This... was Love? Swallowing in a vain attempt to regain his composure, the priest shook the god's hand with only a faint air of bewilderment. Very pink--yet there was a sort of style about Rio's attire that made him seem very... very... Well, he wasn't quite sure. Those wings though, they were impressive, and he let his eyes flicker over them for a moment.

Floox's tiny ears wriggled enthusiastically at the sight, and it didn't escape Laurence's notice that there was a very bright floox among them now. That'd been the one Adi was talking about, wasn't it?

"Yes, Laurence Pershary." He was still a little stunned, but remembered himself after watching Ishkhara bow (oh Christ this was entirely immoral), and cleared his throat hastily when the brightly colored floox sped off. "Host to Shuo Huang Zhe, Mang."

"You look very well, Love." The dragon himself spoke again, his tone nearly affectionate. "I'm glad to see it." It was beyond good to see so many gods having returned to, or very nearly to their full strength.

[Meepfur]

"A pleasure to meet you," Love said warmly, then inclined his head respectfully when Mang spoke. His genuine smile, however, remained despite the touch of formality. "I'm glad to see you among us once more, Shuo Huang Zhe."

"Come," he offered, making to lead Laurence/Shuo to another room, "Let's have a seat, shall we? Adi shouldn't be too long. I suspect she's visiting her tree."

Dogwood chirped happily up at the other floox. The more, the merrier~!

From a room at the end of the hall, another demoness peeked her head out, only to disappear for several moments before emerging fully. Her hair was loose and wet - actually, all of her was wet! - as she'd been having a bath. Fortunately for their guest, however, she'd thought to get dressed before coming out...although 'half-naked' was still being generous, as she wore no more than the other aoide.

Not only did Love have very...open servants, they were also rather nosy.

[Tsunake]

The priest would bow his head somewhat in turn at the request, following quietly after the god. "Her... tree?" He'd inquire hesitantly after a moment, pausing only to let Floox scurry down his body to go investigate Dogwood. The Immortal liked making friends, it seemed, and he might have snorted under his breath if he wasn't feeling slightly overwhelmed.

Yet another demon. He sensed her before he saw her, and when he unconsciously turned to look, he felt yet another flush crawl heatedly over his features. Oh Christ. It was impossible not to notice the sheen of her body, her wet hair--she'd undoubtedly been bathing, and his gaze shamefully dropped to his feet before it could wander much further.

If he'd planned on saying anything else, it was no use trying to pry it out of him now; his tongue had welded itself to the roof of his mouth, and his throat felt dry. Give not into temptation, give not into temptation...

[Meepfur]

"And this is Shyamaath," Rio added when his second aoide appeared. Dogwood, in the meantime, was more than happy to be investigated and investigate Floox right back, wiggling with excitement.

"Ah, yes. Glyph - the God of the Forest - gave her a tree, and now she goes to see it every day." He led the man into a living room, where the tile from the hall continued, but with rugs to soften it. It had a vaguely Middle Eastern style, and pillows and a sort of floor sofa for sitting on. Love gestured for his guest to sit where he liked.

The paler of the two demons had smiled brightly when introduced and given a little wave, then fallen in beside Ishkhara to follow Rio and Laurence.

[Tsunake]

"Hello." Laurence would mutter under his breath, not about to be rude no matter how uncomfortable he was. It didn't seem as though they were deliberately attempting to provoke him, anyway, so he wasn't going to react with hostility unless it turned out to be true.

Glyph again. He had a funny feeling that he might meet this Forest, one day; he sounded to be a like a good person. "Ah, I see... That was kind of him." The priest would choose a pillow to sit on after a moment, crossing his legs as elegantly as he could.

"Your daughter told me that... one of her flooxes, had died." Laurence began after a moment, feeling as though he should explain himself. "...I found this one during that storm just--" He'd been about to say 'yesterday', but he wasn't exactly sure if it had only been a day ago or not. "I wasn't sure if she'd be interested in caring for him, or not." He finally finished, refusing to let his eyes wander to the twin demons.

[Meepfur]

Once Laurence had chosen a seat, Rio followed suit, taking one opposite him. The pair of aoidei sat not far to his left, close enough to each other that...well, any closer and one might have been on top of the other. As it was, they did lean against each other, as Ishkhara set to finger-combing Shyamaath's hair. It wouldn't do to let it dry tangled!

Another floox, for Adi? Love couldn't help but chuckle. "Interested? That's a gift that would rival a tree, I think."

[Tsunake]

Okay. All right. Breathe. Yes, they were uncomfortably close to one another, but that didn't mean anything. He could see the darker beginning to run her fingers through Shyamaath's hair, forced himself to take a deep breath, and focused on Rio's words. They made him relax some, a wane, but real smile pulling at his lips. "I thought she might like him. She showed me Phlox, when we first met, so I know he'd be well cared for."

There was a pause though, as though thinking. "But. The main thing is, I really don't have a place to keep him. I'm sure he could live out in the forests just fine, but..." Well, something might happen to him. As much as the man liked to act like the floox was nothing but a nuisance, he was concerned about the creature.

[Meepfur]

"He's more than welcome to stay here," Rio said with a nod. "He and Dogwood certainly seem to be getting along already."

The friendly flooxes, however, were not the only thing he'd noticed. It was hard to miss the friendly aoidei either, and though he was quite used to them, his guest seemed...a little uncomfortable, perhaps? "Ah, would you care for something to eat or drink?"

Sending Shy, Ishkha, or both to fetch something might be a good idea. He didn't really want to send them away outright, not wanting to let on that he'd noticed Laurence's discomfort.

[Tsunake]

"Shuo might appreciate that." The man said wryly, then realized who he was talking to and ducked his chin a little. Dragon Kings were highly respected here, from what he'd gathered, and he meant no offense, even if he found it all too easy to tease the dragon.

A glance to his opposite side confirmed, indeed, that the flooxes seemed quite content in each others' presence, and it shouldn't have amused him. Floox seemed to get along with everyone, big or small.

His attention quickly returned to the god of Love, and he would nod. "Something to drink would be nice, thank you. Tea, water, I'm not very picky..." Anything but alcohol would do, really. No, he didn't realize that Rio had noticed, but even if he had, he would have been grateful (and a little embarrassed) to the god. "Is Adi... your only daughter?" He'd ask tentatively, seeing if he couldn't make some conversation.

Now that he was thinking on it, Adi had told him about the demons that served as aoide now. Perhaps they'd repented--and even if they hadn't, he had met demons in his time that weren't bad sorts.

It was making him feel guilty, like he owed them an apology for his carefully-concealed prejudice.

[Meepfur]

"Ishkha, Shy, could you make us some chai, please?" he requested of the demons, who wasted little time in hopping up and disappearing from the room to do as he'd asked. Rio chose the beverage quite deliberately, as it would take some time to prepare.

"She is my only daughter," Love confirmed with a smile, "But not my only child. She has a twin brother, Kinsley, though he lives with their father, at the Hunt's temple. Do you have any children, Laurence?"

[Tsunake]

The man deliberately kept his gaze on Rio's face, ignoring the hips that must be swaying out of the corner of his eye. Once the sound of hooves faded into the distance, his bony shoulders eased slightly, though he kept the sigh that wanted to slip out firmly in his chest.

Another child, too... And awareness seemed to dawn on him when he spoke of this Hunt. Hadn't Adi been hunting, when he'd first found her? Before he could think to ask, Rio's question had him swallowing somewhat, shaking his head. "No, I don't. I've taken a vow of celibacy, to better pledge my services in God's name."

Thinking on it now, it was almost better, this way. No wife or child to leave behind, when he went.

Even if you had, I would make sure that they were taken care of. Shuo interjected, and the priest tilted his head down a little in acknowledgment.