Demonic Delights and Holy Cupcakes

Weighted Balance

The hallways of the Laochra Siocháin headquarters echoed with the sounds of the shifts switching off with one another. Good-natured conversation, fostered through training and weeks of patrolling with one another, bubbled through the air as surely as the clatter of armour and weapons. If anyone had doubted that day and night kin could work together without murdering one another, they need only step through these doors to find Tuath Dé joking with demons, shifters sharing patrolling advice with djinn.

All of them doing so for a pay cheque and a hope at a better world, a shared purpose beyond their base natures. Torix stood out of sight, down the hallway, listening to it, letting the sound of it ease her mind.

She missed patrols and even with only several months between the past and present, she missed memories that were far more pleasant than the reality had been. Nostalgia was hitting her, and she knew that during her time with the Guardians, there hadn't been laughter or camaraderie like what she now heard.

The Guardians had been a group of individuals who were fulfilling an order from the council, who did not love the planet they were on or the purpose they were tasked to. They campaigned against one another, shirked actual work and looked for any way to gain favour, even if it involved forgetting their morals. The Tuath Dé were not bad people, most of those who had been Guardians weren't either. They had just been sucked into a toxic environment and were warped, changed by it with nothing to guide them.

What was happening now was different, better.

Better despite the constant bickering with the Council over funding, manning, concepts of her operations. Despite the constant stress of setting up these forces around Earth, selecting people who would foster these beliefs and instil them into those who followed them and despite her travelling between the cities of the planet constantly to provide enough guidance and presence, she was happy.

Torix had just turned back into her office when she heard someone approach. She turned around to watch the fire demon, Mesna, stepping up to her door. He offered a crisp salute and only moved when she nodded and motioned him inside. "How is it going?"

Mesna offered a smirk, shrugging and glancing around the office. "He's a good kid. Has a good head on his shoulders."

"Yes." She nodded and moved back to her desk, picking up a file folder and leafing through it. "But?"

"I still fail to see why you want someone like me with him. I don't mind at all. I am doing my best to train him like a soldier should be trained. But he isn't helpless, and with me, he's being treated like he is." Mesna stood easily, hands folded behind his back, smoke drifting out between his teeth.

The fire demon recognized that his own skills were far more advanced than Gavin needed, new hire or not.

Torix inclined her head and lifted her eyes to watch the demon as she collected her thoughts. "He has a nose for trouble. I think that once you are comfortable with it, give him room and let him sniff things out. He has a way, a curiosity maybe, that has him finding things that people want hidden. But they're usually above his capabilities to handle."

"You want me to... let him... go find trouble?" Mesna chuckled, raising one brow. "Do you realize what you ask of me? He's Baltha's friend, a friend of Lucifer's granddaughter... I think the nymph Cacique has some sort of infatuation with him."

"And he is a friend of mine as well." Torix winced and nodded. "I'm not saying use him as bait, but with the proper direction and assistance, I think he could turn that talent into something useful."

Mesna watched her for a long moment and smirked. "Very well. I understand. I've been training him hard before and after shift. Speaking of, he's waiting for me down in the training rooms. Don't work too late, boss. We don't need you burning yourself out trying to please the idiots."