Semi-Charmed Life [Jinhong/Closed]

8:34 AM
6TH JANUARY, 2012
HAPPY BEANS COFFEE SHOP, WASHINGTON D.C.

"Thank you for coming to Happy Beans! Enjoy your coffee, and please come again!" The light ting of the register came followed by the shuffle of feet as the line lurched forwards a couple more times. And normally Lazarus Carter would have been impatiently tapping his foot against the ground, huffing, or more than likely just listening to music, but today, that was not the case. No, today, the redhead took on the image of the perturbed insomniac, keeping to himself and wondering just what the fuck he'd do about the events of the day before yesterday. "Thank you for coming to Happy Beans! Enjoy your coffee, and please come again!"

Normally Lazarus immersed himself in the great, self-proclaimed sport of people-watching. He loved it. Public places were so entertaining, simply watching the people that came and went, looking enthusiastically over quirks and habits. Did they pick their nose and try to be subtle about it? Cross their arms defensively? Sometimes, you even got people talking to themselves. That was fun. But today he cared for nothing of it all. Having shut off completely, he hadn't noticed the obese man at the counter. Nor the Korean introvert with a notebook clutched underarm between the pair of them. "Thank you for coming to Happy Beans! Enjoy your coffee, and please come again!" The coffee shop monotone that somehow kept jerking him back to life.

One trip to Hell had given him nightmares. Nightmares meant no sleep. No sleep made for a paranoid Lazarus who really just shut himself out ninety percent of the time. And as such, the only salvation he ever found took two sugars and no milk, steaming hot inside a porcelain cup. Coffee. Hence the redhead's reasoning for finding himself here. "Thank you for coming to Happy Beans! Enjoy your coffee, and please come again!" Ting. The images flashed in front of his mind again. Chased down by vicious hand-scythes. Wooden Demons skewered with rusty nails. The kid with the sword he'd not spoken to since in spite of having every contact detail required. And then... those pistols... that had just... come out of nowhere. "And what for you, sir?" How did they... that wasn't... could it possibly- "...sir?"

"Hm?" He looked questioningly at the short brunette at the counter, who spoke in a mechanical and cyclically repetitive tone which had grown more and more droning with every waking moment he spent in the line, garbed in a garish bright blue apron and baseball cap, before realising that he was the customer. Oh, shit, right. "Coffee. Black. Two sugar sachets. Drink in." He blurted out, a garbled mess, but an order all the same. Slightly taken back by the exhausted and imperfect emphasis he put on each word, the girl at the counter tapped in his order and he slid over a five dollar note with a brief smile. She handed over her change shortly, Lazarus pocketing it, before he took his cup and ever so carefully turned out of the line to head for a seat...

...not looking in front of him to see that the Korean girl from earlier was barely half a metre away. A thud later, and though he had managed to salvage most of his coffee, it seemed as if hers had spilt more or less all over the floor in a creamy golden-brown puddle at her feet. "...fuck everything." Lazarus murmured in a subsonic tone, quickly setting his cup down and reaching forward to stabilise hers in spite of his body's exhaustion, grabbing a wad of napkins from the counter. "I'm so sorry, I need to look where I'm going," He spoke apologetically, crouching at her feet to begin dabbing up the coffee with the fistful of serviettes he'd stolen from the disgrunted counter girl. "Let me buy you another cup." With the floor mopped clean, he flicked the sodden rags into a nearby trash can, dusted off his hands, and adjusted the over-ear headphones hanging around his neck. For a moment, he forgot his troubles and his lethargy, and smiled awkwardly at the Korean girl, scratching the back of a head of red hair and chuckling apprehensively, hoping at the very least she'd let him buy another.

Customer after customer... How could cashiers deal with it at coffee shops like this? Jinhong was checking her watch as she stood there in line wearing a creme turtle neck sweater that wasn't too thick, a knee-length pink skirt covering her legs with brown cowboy boots on her feet. She still wore her lace choker beneath the turtle neck, its red gem just barely peeking over the top of the folded fabric as she stood there in line to get her coffee. Yeah, it was an early morning, but she rarely slept in that late. Pulean was getting some extended shut eye after her opening concert last night which had received raving reviews so far from those that had seen it. She predicted it would be an excellent run for her. One person in front of her now. Good. It was only a few minutes past 8:30 in the morning, making it unlikely that her sister would be up for another hour and a half at least. Ok, maybe she would be up at 9:15 or something... But still! This gave Jinhong some time to kill and time to look over her notes again.

Finally it was her, offering a small smile to the girl at the cashier as she glanced up one last time at the menu hanging up above. "One coffee with two sugars and a little bit of creamer please, and a caramel macchiato." She asked, handing the girl a ten for which she received some change. Standing off to the side, she waited for her drinks as she shifted her grip on her notebook beneath her arm, crimson eyes glancing about the rest of the little shop while she waited. It only took a couple of minutes for her drink to arrive, the boy behind her in line seeming a little lost amidst his order. Well, it was still early so perhaps he was sleepy. She received her two drinks to which she smiled at them, taking them in hand as she turned to look for a table. She probably should have walked further from the counter, but it was too late because WHAM! She stumbled a little as the boy behind her bumped right into her, causing her coffee to go flying onto the ground. At least she saved her sisters drink!!

"...fuck everything." Jinhong stared at her spilled drink for a moment, sighing lightly to herself. And at least.... she hadn't dropped her notebook into it. That would have been an even bigger problem. She felt his hand on her own to help steady her which only made her stiffen up, her cheeks flushing with color as she wordlessly also began to grab napkins from the counter as well. Kneeling down beside him, she dabbed at the floor as well, unable to really make any eye contact because... well... she was embarrassed. "I'm so sorry, I need to look where I'm going," "It's ok. Happens." She mumbled very quietly, straightening up as she had her few soaked napkins, still holding her other drink with the notebook beneath that arm. "Let me buy you another cup." Following him to the trashcan, she threw them out as well, raising her eyes very briefly to his face. Oh. Yeah, a tired, but handsome, boy. "I... " Shit. What was the right thing to do in this situation? What would Pulean do? Her cheeks were growing red enough to match those red eyes of hers, clearing her throat as she took a deep breath, "I... um... Sure. Thank you." She spoke quietly, adjusting how she held her second drink and notebook.

"It's ok. Happens." Huh. Laz scratched his head and momentarily forgot about the debacle, scanning her up and down. She seemed shy and quiet, and though she definitely had Asian blood, her accent, though foreign, was still American. Perhaps she was second-generation? Or maybe of mixed heritage? Regardless, at the moment, that wasn't the priority. "I... um... Sure. Thank you." She'd managed to save the other one. And in that - considering how expensive macchiatos could get - the girl had probably saved him another five dollars, too.

"Two sugars and creamer, right?" The redhead laughed nervously once more, turning back to the counter - courtesy of the line finally having thinned down to nothing around the splash zone of the spilt coffee. "Again, I really am sorry. I can be something of a klutz in these situations..." Wasn't that the truth. With that, he turned mechanically back to the girl serving him at the counter, and unwittingly blew her smile straight-off, looking in totally the other direction towards the Asian girl he'd bumped into. "Uh, yeah. Another Americano. Two sugars and some creamer." Lazarus let off a toothy smile in the direction of the cashier, jerking a thumb towards the slick area on the floor where the coffee had been spilt. "Cleaned that all up, so no need for a mop or anything." He explained quickly as she nodded and turned around to fix up his second coffee in the past couple of minutes.

Ugh. Just his luck, right? Lethargically discover the existence of a parallel universe that turns every strand of your world upside-down, and not forty-eight hours later end up spilling some nice girl's coffee all over the floor bumping into her as the clumsy dick you were. Lazarus Carter, chief fuck-up extraordinaire. Moments later, the cashier reappeared with the Asian girl's second coffee, and, having set his down on the side of the counter, gently cooling as a low, steamy vapour hissed upwards from it, put her new beverage down beside his, resting it oh-so-gently after the bump but a moment ago, and smiled awkwardly off at her once more.

"It might not be the greatest idea given my track record, but I'll carry these over for you." He was weary, but there was nothing like a little momentary crisis to jar him awake. "Where are you sitting?" Lazarus asked, another pang of exhaustion rattling his body again, aching through his every ounce of muscle and bone. When had he last slept? Twenty hours ago? Thirty? Maybe more? This whole debacle had kept him motivated like an insomniac til he simply passed out from exhaustion and sleeping pills - and even then, they hardly worked. And with insomnia, to the redhead, you were never really sure whether you were awake or asleep.

But somehow, almost scalding a complete stranger with her own boiling coffee? It did the trick to at least wake him up for a little bit. And, hey, maybe she wouldn't mind if he sat with her for a moment. It'd do him good to get some company. Fuck, he'd come to this store six times in the past two days and not a single instance had he tarried more than a moment. "I'm Lazarus, by the way." The lack of human contact seemed to be slowly nudging him further and further off the edge into delirium all things considered.

Not a moment later and he locked gazes with her once more; noticing something not so much awry about her appearance as oddly familiar. Eyes a sharp crimson. Just like his. With that, he looked away and stared off into the gaping open morning beyond the tacky red strip-blinds of the coffee shop, the great, clear blue expanse hanging eager above Washington. It'd be nice, just to have someone to chat to. Even if he couldn't speak about that... Hell.

Or, well, so he thought.

He was looking at her, he looked her over... Gods teeth she wanted to be anywhere but there at this very moment in time. She felt like she was going to die from embarrassment and, well, shyness right now. "Two sugars and creamer, right?" She nodded twice rather quickly, her eyes pointedly looking down at the floor as she held on tighter to her notebook, hugging it close to her as if it could offer some real comfort. She wished that Pulean was here so she could handle this situation much better, not to mention be able to calm HER down. No! She had to be able to do this herself! At least... he seemed awkward about this too? The nervous laugh, scratching the back of his head... those were signs of nervousness right? Ugh, college psychology 101 seemed so far away at this particular moment in time.

"Again, I really am sorry. I can be something of a klutz in these situations..." Jinhong fervently shook her head as she followed after him to the counter, "It's early. You look really tired. It's ok." Holy shit, she spoke more than a single sentence!!! She felt a quick firework of pride within her chest, but it didn't last long as the girl behind the counter shot them both a look. Aieee.... and then there was that.... "Uh, yeah. Another Americano. Two sugars and some creamer." Interesting. He didn't just call it coffee. That was an odd thing in this world, they had so many different names for things when it all just boiled down to the same base chemical formula. Caffeine, C8H10N4O2, sugar, C12H22O11, water, H2O, and milk. That was coffee when you really broke it down. And in the end, wasn't all of that in any of these drinks anyways? Of course, with a simple changing of sugar's formula or the addition of others, then you DID have completely different drinks. Her eyes lost focus as she held this inner debate/thought to herself, barely hearing the exchange happening between this red headed guy and the girl behind the counter.

It wasn't until she saw movement out of her periphery that she snapped back into the world of people, blinking furiously as she tried to understand how the situation had changed. Oh. He had her coffee, and his coffee. Her blinking slowed as her crimson eyes looked at him, blushing furiously, then looking back at her shoes. Yes hello shoes, you are VERY interesting today.... "It might not be the greatest idea given my track record, but I'll carry these over for you." Dammit, she HAD to look at him! No matter how painful it might be to! Though, it wasn't like it was actually painful, he was a rather good looking fellow, she just--GAH. Again, she forced her eyes to raise, wishing that her hair was long again like her sisters so it could try to hide how hot her cheeks were. "Ok. Thank you." She whispered, "Where are you sitting?"

"I-I..." She quickly glanced around the little coffee shop, biting her lower lip as she shook her head, "I hadn't picked a place to sit yet." Her voice sounded a little more renewed, taking a deep breath and exhaling slowly before she pointed over to a free table that she saw. "How about over there?" She asked, turning back to him to gesture for them to head to the table. She took a couple of steps when he spoke again, "I'm Lazarus, by the way." Lazarus... "God has helped..." She whispered, not even realizing that she had slipped into Korean for a moment. FOCUS GOON. "Ah!" She stiffened and straightened up, noticing how he had stared at her again, "Jinhong. N-nice to meet you Lazarus." She said quietly, bowing her head to him before heading the rest of the way to the table to place her things down. She noticed that she had marks in her palm from where she had been holding the spiral rings so tightly. "Th-thank you again for buying me coffee and carrying it."

"It's early. You look really tired. It's ok." Lazarus paused for a moment at the sound of her voice. It was... oddly quite soothing. He'd noticed the lack of an Asian accent before, but this had actually come through slightly more differently. It was quiet, soft; as if she wasn't used to speaking - polar opposite to him in that respect, Lazarus the Babbling - and just generally quite easy on the ears. If she was as introverted as he'd thus far analysed her to be, it was something of a shame, with a nice voice like that. "How about over there?"

"Ain't that the truth..." The redhead breathed in response to the first comment, before nodding and ferrying the pair of coffees over towards her table as she sidled down opposite and set the rest of his belongings down. Carefully - oh so carefully - he pressed the mugs onto the table, not spilling a single drop, before beaming for but a moment in his exhaustion off towards the girl. "You mind if I sit with you?" He asked. "Or are you busy or something?" Lazarus gestured, insightful as always, towards her notebook.

"하나님은 도움이되었습니다" She murmured, in a language completely unfamiliar, as a response to his telling her his name. His ears pricked up and he made a confused mumble, but made nothing of it; had he been bilingual, he probably would have preferred a native or uncommon tongue sometimes. Not only was it fun to be secretive using, but... hell, it just seemed... interesting. "Jinhong. N-nice to meet you Lazarus."

Jinhong, huh? Where was she from, exactly? Not realising he'd gazed off into the sky for a moment, the dreamer he was, he slapped himself back into reality and nodded gently as she took her seat. "You too, Jinhong." The redhead grinned. "You can call me Laz. Everyone does after a while." Full name was a bit too much. Biblical connotations aside, the length of it was still somewhat daunting, and kind of sharp. "Laz" was just... far more colloquial. Laz. Lazzy. L-Dog.

"Th-thank you again for buying me coffee and carrying it." The redhead beamed. If anything, chivalry wasn't dead yet. Plus, he'd kind of spilt it. So that was a factor in it all. Aside from that, he was far too tired for any of his so-called "charismatic" shit that he passed off as flirting, and other people condemned as far too cheesy to be allowed in active use. Regardless, he smiled and waited for her permission to sit down as he continued, inclining his head.

"No prob!" He grinned, reaching down into his pocket and instinctively pausing the music still playing in a fuzzy, distorted blur from his headphones. "Anytime, honestly. I mean..." Another scratch at the back of his head. "I kind of spilt it, so it's no real challenge or anything." Even in exhaustion, one of the most surprising things people seemed to find about Lazarus aside from his bubbly enthusiasm was a consistent following on his moral compass. Regardless of what he was doing, he helped struggling women with their shopping, assisted the elderly in crossing the road, and bought fresh cups of coffee for quiet, studious girls if he spilt them. Irrespective of how cute they were.

"Ain't that the truth..." Jinhong found herself smiling a little, though it vanished as quickly as it had come, distracting herself instead with how careful he was to put their coffee's down on the table. "You mind if I sit with you?" She couldn't help but blink again, clearing her throat as the blush made her cheeks a lovely rose color, her mouth starting to open except no words came out. "Or are you busy or something?" "I-I.. um..." She began, glancing down to her notebook as he gestured to it, taking a deep breath as her nerves threatened to overwhelm her. In... and out.... Ok. Now calmer, she actually gave him a warm smile and shook her head, "I don't mind, I was just reviewing some material." Now this was odd. She could feel her shyness starting to ebb away as the minutes ticked away that he was with her, wondering less and less what her sister would do because... she already knew what she would do. She was her twin and what was natural for her had to be locked away within her too, right? Same, or practically the same, genetic material. Yes, logic would dictate that this was so.

"You too, Jinhong." She found herself staring for a moment at his grin, finding herself thinking what a nice smile he had. It lifted away the exhaustion from his features, and she could see now beneath it to the man that he might normally be when not suffering the dredges of lack of sleep. "You can call me Laz. Everyone does after a while." Laz. Did... did he not like the meaning of his name? The meaning of her name was simple, its reasons obvious when compared to her sister. Crimson Rose, Blue Rose. Logical. Simple. Easy. Her cheeks flushed with color again (again, due to his smile) as she gestured for him to sit with her, sipping at her coffee as she set her sisters caramel macchiato aside. She was probably going to throw ice into it anyways when she got back to the hotel. "No prob!" Oh. She finally noticed that the background distortion of his music was now gone, looking at his headphones for a moment before her attention was returned to his features. "Anytime, honestly. I mean... I kind of spilt it, so it's no real challenge or anything."

"It's still very appreciated. Many would just apologize and hurry off." There was more strength in her voice now, a little louder and more firm as that shyness slipped away entirely. "If you don't mind my asking," She bit her lower lip, knowing that Pulean would probably cuff her upside the head for asking this, but she was generally the blunt one, "Why are you so exhausted?" The only time she had lacked sleep was during finals week when she was still in college. She wasn't sure if he appeared to be the right age for college, normally relying on Pulean to guess at ages since, well, Jinhong was rather terrible at it.

"I don't mind, I was just reviewing some material." Reviewing some material, eh? What was she, a budding researcher? Lazarus grinned, his mind exploring all the possibilities for a studious little introverted girl. His bets were on sociology, personally. Wrong as they'd ever been, as always, of course. With her approval, he sidled down, nodding slowly, and jerking a thumb towards her notepad.

"What, getting some early-morning studying in for an exam or something?" Lazarus knew it wasn't his business; but curiosity and the dead cat was never something he'd had instilled in him as a child. Curiosity was one of his greatest double-edged and so-called "virtues" if something piqued his interest, even as simple as the notebook of a fresh acquaintance, he would pursue it til he had ample information about it. "What is it you're, uh... reviewing, anyway?"

The colour of her cheeks was fluctuating from her usual skin tone to a gentle pink every time he came out with something silly or a grin - and Laz quite liked that, thinking himself the gentlemen. For a moment, frozen in his own personal timeline, he had simply forgotten everything and left it all behind; instead remaining with just a single scene lost in translation, two people sitting at a coffee shop, exhausted in the rising morning, just messing around and... talking. It was still reassuring, to know he was normal enough to do that. And she was distracting him, and his mind from wandering onto more dangerous things. "It's still very appreciated. Many would just apologize and hurry off."

With a psuedo-proud grin, he pointed towards himself in jest. "Well, milady, male honour is not dead yet for me!" Hoping she'd at least take somewhat kindly to the joke, he continued to smile like an idiot in her direction for a few moments. "But, really, yeah, if I make a mistake I try my best to make up for it. Even if it's in a fresh coffee and a little conversation. It's the little things that keep people going, you know?" For a teenager, he had such a jaded and optimistic view of things, as if he were living life through a rose-tinted lens.

"Why are you so exhausted?" That was... a tad more blunt than he'd become accustomed to in these few minutes, but it was fair enough. Between the unkempt hair, the shakiness, and the bags under his eyes - not to mention the yawns as an intermission between everything else - it was clear that he was, to use a technical term, close to zombified. Laz shrugged the question off, taking another sip of his tea.

"It's just some insomnia I'm trying to shake off." The redhead affirmed, though his tones were more sheepish and calm than usual. To be honest, that wasn't from it being false; that was almost completely true, it was the omission of the whole Demon thing he kept from her. "Had some pretty horrible nightmares keeping me awake the past few days." Thumbing the lip of his coffee mug, he slipped off into a trance-like daydream for a split-second, his usually smooth and charismatic voice dropping to a low monotone. "The kind you wouldn't wish on anyone." Oh, shit, there he went. Kicking himself mentally, Lazarus flicked back up, smiling brightly once more and meeting her red gaze with his. "But it'll pass. Always does." If only he knew that for sure...

He.... was interested in what she was looking at? Wait. He didn't realize just what it was. "What, getting some early-morning studying in for an exam or something?" Jinhong chuckled as she smiled again at him, shaking her head since that was so very far from the truth. "No. Just some information I've been gathering is all." It didn't reveal too much, and she could always fill it in with something else she might be looking over in terms of chemistry and whatnot. If you talked science to people, they often got this glazed over look and just sort of nodded in agreement to whatever you said. It was a glorious thing. "What is it you're, uh... reviewing, anyway?" Ironically enough, she did open up her notebook to glance over the various drawings and scribblings there for a moment as she took a breath and sipped her coffee (yes she was buying herself time). Her coffee made a soft 'tapping' sound when it touched the surface of the table, her eyes raising to him again, "Various background information. I'm investigating something in particular and I want to be sure I have all of the relevant information."

She closed her notebook and laid it back down, inwardly questioning why in the world she had said that. Why hadn't she just said something along the lines of molecular chemistry combined with kinesthesia? Something, anything! Oh well, she could just keep twisting and dodging the question until she absolutely had to say she couldn't answer. Why in the world she felt oddly alright talking to him about anything near close to her Demon Hunting was beyond her, but it was a thing. "Well, milady, male honour is not dead yet for me!" Jinhong blinked at that, at first wondering why he had called her milady. It was the 21st century, why did... Ohhhhhhh!!!! He meant chivalry. Blushing, she did to chuckle a little, glancing from his smile down to the coffee that she was lifting to her lips. "But, really, yeah, if I make a mistake I try my best to make up for it. Even if it's in a fresh coffee and a little conversation. It's the little things that keep people going, you know?" She did nod in agreement at least a little bit since... well.. her sister was the one that was good at conversing and small talk and all of that. She was better suited to sitting off in the corner and just remaining quiet. But in the end he was right. It really was the little things in life. It was the quiet walks with Pulean, the rustling of pages in the library, the thwack of her practice sword against whatever dummy she was training with. It was the children's faces as they were transported to a different world in their activities back home in California, how they really delved into the characters that they had created. That was the answer to so many difficult questions right there, in those simple little joys.

Now, however, she was a bit... worried. He truly looked like Hell had smacked him upside the face with exhaustion, making her wonder if there were any demons WITH sleep-deprivation abilities. If they did exist, then she had far more research to do. "It's just some insomnia I'm trying to shake off." Insomnia? Really? Jinhong had to blink a couple of times at that, she barely knew anything on that subject. Was it a genetic thing or was it gained/developed over time? Bah, she couldn't remember what was taught to her in college on the matter. "Had some pretty horrible nightmares keeping me awake the past few days." Nightmares... Now those were something she had more experience with. Her expression grew more serious as she sipped at her tea, crimson eyes darting about his face as he went off into lala land within his brain. She knew that look. So did her sister. "The kind you wouldn't wish on anyone." Her jaw tightened as she looked down at her lap, one of her hands tightening as she remembered the first couple of weeks after she and her sister had delved into Inferis with their parents. "Those are the worst." She mumbled, sighing heavily as she shook her head.

Hold on, how could she even be sure that these were nightmares caused like her and her twins had been? It could be something entirely different, a trauma sustained in real life without the involvement of Demons. Jinhong forced a little smile as she truly hoped that was the case here, that she was wrong in recognizing that distant look that had washed over his features and was now gone. "But it'll pass. Always does." Their gaze held and for once... She didn't look away. She held his gaze as they sat there in that cafe, sipping at their respective coffee's. "Has to eventually. Even in nightmares, it is still your dream. You can do whatever you like there." And... now the person that had told her that was no longer with them.... But she had not forgotten that lesson.

"Various background information. I'm investigating something in particular and I want to be sure I have all of the relevant information." Jaded and exhausted as he was, Lazarus was not stupid. She was omitting information, and not giving him the whole truth for one reason or another. Honestly, he didn't mind; everyone had secrets to keep, and he wasn't going to pry any further if it made her feel uncomfortable. The redhead figured that with the spilt coffee, she'd had enough grief for one day - even though she now had a replacement. So he just nodded in tentative understanding, and waited for her to continue conversing. The subject of his nightmares quickly came up. "Those are the worst."

Grimly, he nodded his head. At least there was a sense of familiarity between the pair of them in that. More than empathy. She knew exactly what he was talking about. He tried to smile weakly up at Jinhong, but knew he'd just look like an ass. "Yeah." Lazarus concurred under his breath. Images flashed before his eyes once more. The birds. The spikes. The sickles. The guns. "Yeah. They are." He figured that for having his whole world more or less thrown upside down he wasn't acclimatising too badly. To be a little tired and a little antisocial was comparatively nothing; he could imagine that for the weaker of will it would take a far stronger toll; and he'd thought initially that his reaction was a little strong. Not to mention that he still had that agreement with Yuuko... ugh, great.

"Has to eventually. Even in nightmares, it is still your dream. You can do whatever you like there." Respectfully enough, he didn't agree. Nightmares thrive upon the fuel that is your imagination, they take everything and anything you fear and they use it against you. At the moment? He feared this stark contrast between reality and fantasy, and the lines between, which were blurring somewhat. Lazarus sighed, and shrugged, just trying to walk it off, but it wasn't quite that simple. It was never going to be, was it? They were dealing with Hell. Dante's Inferno. The great and first site of divine retribution. It wasn't just going to be simple black and white. It was seven degrees of torture, pain, and eternal suffering in the flames of Satan himself.

"Only if you can take control in the first place..." Lazarus murmured, staring off once more as he sipped his coffee, continuing in an almost autonomous matter without realising what he was saying. "When you lose track and control of things and it all starts to slip away whilst you scrabble for grip but know you can't possibly get there..." The redhead tilted his head. "...when the lines between reality and fantasy get harder to determine, and when in every waking moment you're not sure whether or not you're crazy..." That last mumble had been little more than a whisper. "...then, instead of you controlling your nightmares, your nightmares start controlling you." But even a whisper can carry weight in the way those words had.

Snap. Oh, shit. What had he said?! Reckoning quickly that he could shrug it off as a little Shakespearean monologue, he beamed brightly back at Jinhong and shrugged. "Dreams are powerful things." Come on, where was that Lazarus trademark eternal optimism!? "But it's the fact that you'll always wake up that you just have to take solace in." However, this "Inferis" place, the more he thought about it, seemed to be more like a waking nightmare than anything else. No clicking your heels and wishing to go back to Kansas, Dorothy. No pinching yourself or counting to three and opening your eyes. Just dystopia and a horrifying imitation of a dead world as far as the eye could see.

It... had grown rather serious rather suddenly, hadn't it? "Yeah. Yeah. They are." Jinhong could practically sense her sister wanting to find a way to somehow move them away from this topic or just... smooth it over? Man, she had NO idea how her sister was so good at this social stuff. It had all of these layers and complications and hints and reverse logic and... ARGH. This was why she was fine at their college staying in the lab most of the time if she hadn't been in her dorm room or getting food. There were fewer people there, they were usually studying the same thing, and you just didn't talk to each other. Not really. Oh. And the library. That was the other place she had stayed. She sounded so boring compared to Pulean now that she thought about it, heh. Least her combat lessons and LARPing job kept her social and... well... with some friends. She had long ago accepted that Pulean would always have more friends than her, and honestly she was quite alright with that.

But all that was besides the point. Right now... their conversation remained rather... dark. "Only if you can take control in the first place..." Her brows furrowed as she leaned back in her chair, sipping at her coffee quietly. "When you lose track and control of things and it all starts to slip away whilst you scrabble for grip but know you can't possibly get there..." Her lips began to tighten, eyes zoning out as his words struck deep into the core of her mind to a memory she would sooner forget than remember. Of a nightmare that she had only JUST begun to get over. "...when the lines between reality and fantasy get harder to determine, and when in every waking moment you're not sure whether or not you're crazy..." Her gaze lowered into her lap, taking a deep breath as she closed them for a moment. The flames had shot up at them, parents shouting, Pulean... What was Pulean saying? "...then, instead of you controlling your nightmares, your nightmares start controlling you."

Her coffee cup was trembling in her hand, her sister running over and grabbing her as she had stood there panting, shaking her as she kept shouting her name.... "JINHONG! Come on!" Startling, her eyes shot open before darting about where they were, looking at every table, every person, her hands... They lingered there as she looked at her hands, her breathing rather quickened as she hurriedly took a sip of her coffee. Clearing her throat, she picked her notebook up off of the table, her palms sweaty while she fumbled with the pages. No... No she was fine... She had taken back that nightmare, she had owned it for herself. She did every single damn time she killed one of those fucking creatures, and there was no way they could take that from her while she was alive. "Dreams are powerful things." Her eyes shot up to him, a rather odd intensity in there as she came out of that memory with the lingering beeps of the machine that kept her mother alive. "But it's the fact that you'll always wake up that you just have to take solace in."

She did not smile. She did not blush. She only stared at him as weariness descended on her, glancing down at the page she had opened to. It was a list of rules that their parents had given them to follow, advice for them to think of when the going got tough. "Some you never wake up from." She mumbled, touching a finger across the loose-leaf page, remembering when she had written them all down so studiously five years ago. "Lazar--Laz, do you believe in the supernatural?" She asked him, the strength of her voice renewed, though not the hint of brightness it had held earlier. She looked up from the page and stared at him, ignoring how she knew Pulean would have flicked her for asking such a direct question. A risky question. It was the way he talked though, the fact that his description had evoked that... memory... from within her mind. It was the way he talked about dreams, and just something in her gut. Something told her.... he was like them.

"Some you never wake up from." That tone... that sombre, that melancholy tone... she knew more than she was letting on. It wasn't possible, was it? She couldn't... no. No. Yuuko had said they were rare. She was just traumatised, she'd been through a lot. That much he could tell, even exhausted as she was. She was spiritually connected and she was coincidentally just an upset young girl. But she wasn't like him. She couldn't be. "Lazar--Laz, do you believe in the supernatural?"

And without any analysis or processing, simply on command, as a reaction, he responded almost immediately. "Believe in it?" That was... one thing. He shrugged. Truly? He didn't know. Did he believe what he'd been seeing? Or was this all one great dream itself? It was often easier to simply put it all down to insanity and hallucination than actually accepting it: and though now, at his very core, he knew that Inferis was real, he just... didn't want to. "I can do you one better, Jinhong." The redhead breathed. "I've seen it."

Realising quickly about how much of a tinfoil hat conspiracy nut he was coming off as, Lazarus' eyes widened and he assessed the situation. He was well and truly up shit creek now. "Keep quiet about Inferis", she'd said. Implied, at the very least. And what had he done? Not two days after, he'd bumped into a stranger, idiotically offered to sit down and buy her a drink, the talk had gotten too personal, and now she knew something was awry. There was no hint of denial or lying in his stare. Now it was either truth or insanity. That simple. Nothing in between. And he knew he couldn't trust her immediately, not with something like this, when he couldn't even trust herself. She was nice. She was cute, she was kind, she was gentle and she was studious. But... somehow, that didn't make the redhead tick. He wasn't just your everyday musician, now. Lazarus Carter was a Demon Hunter.

But he looked her dead in the eyes, and as synapses fired and questions rolled and rolled over themselves, cycling through every possible response or scenario within the teenager's head, he locked gazes with her, and suddenly everything fell blank. There was something cold, something simple, something connecting. Crimson on crimson, sharp as always. Her eyes were smaller, far smaller; but the striking, even piercing nature of her gaze was no less poignant for it. And in that moment, somehow, through her aura, her mannerisms, her very stare itself, Lazarus knew that the impossible he'd denied himself only moments ago was infact the truth.

Hush seemed to settle around them. Lazarus reached down and with a shaky hand raised his coffee to pursed, almost quivering lips. Tremors. Aside from Yuuko, he'd never... but... they were supposed to be rare? Why was this happening? Continual assault on his reality? Was there some greater power out there who wanted to make him lose his tether and control over his mind as a whole. FUCK. Blank it out. That was all you could do. White screens. The taste of the roasted coffee on his tongue. The gentle clack it made as it settled back down against the table. Every fibre, every cell, every atom and every molecule of his being was trembling and vibrating in anticipation. He knew, but he had to hear it from her, either way, irrespective of whatever he told himself. Confirmation. Then they could progress, and he could finally maybe talk to someone and learn to bury this all for good.

"You're... y-you're a Demon Hunter..." He murmured incredulously in nothing more than a whisper, fading away onto the winds of the swaying door in the frigid January breeze, and flashing out into the snowspecked cityscape outside, dissipating in but a single, solitary moment. Just like a snap of his fingers, the fact, the phrase, the admission, and any trace that had remained of it... was gone.

"Believe in it?" For him to ask that question....i tmeant that he did. Jinhong knew even that. "I can do you one better, Jinhong. I've seen it." She couldn't help but glance about the coffee place, since, well, you never really knew who COULD be listening. Not to mention... Though he did know of Inferis and seemingly believe in it, she had to wonder, what was he then? He didn't seem quite old enough to be a Templar, and he lacked some other pinpointers towards them. Ritualist.... Well, yeah he had complained of insomnia, but if he had only recently gone in (and from the sound of it thats exactly what happened)? The nightmares would have definitely also come from being a Demon Hunter. She and her sister were a testament to that. She didn't know if Pulean had met any other Demon Hunters without her, but it was possible that they had suffered from them too. Maybe. She didn't know. She wasn't good at that people stuff. Either way, the cards were on the table, so where did they go from here?

The two of them shared that long stare, her eyes searching his for some hint of a demon while he was... well, she had no idea what he was doing. He seemed somehow... shocked? Was that the right sense she was getting? She was so bad at these situations. He definitely zoned out, and she did glance down to his hand as he lifted his coffee, noting how it wasn't the most stable of hands. He was "shaken" as it were. Was it something she had said? Was it because she had zoned out like she had in that memory? Was it something personal she couldn't read? It was probably the latter. She kind of hoped it was the latter because she wasn't sure what she had said if it had been the first of the three options. At the same time, if it was the third option, then what was wrong? She couldn't help it, stranger or no, she was a little bit worried. Then his lips parted again to speak, "You're... y-you're a Demon Hunter..." She blinked at him a couple of times, still stunned to hear him say that despite knowing that he obviously knew about Inferis and various other things. Her eyes darted again around the coffee shop, her lips tightening as she nodded her head quickly a couple of times.

Now crimson locked on crimson again, flashing him a smile. Not a small shy thing, not a 'oh-hey-pleasant-to-meet-you', just a real smile. "I am. My twin is one too. I'm guessing you are one then too." Honestly? She was a little excited. If they ever found anyone, she was usually with Pulean who could already figure everything out so quickly and she would often do the talking. But for once? Jinhong had managed to do it all herself! Or well, hold a conversation with them at least and revealed that they were like them and stuff. Her notebook closed and was left in her lap, leaning forward a little so she wouldn't have to talk too loud, brushing a stray hair from her face. "You only recently went in, right?" Ok she was more than a little excited. It's that finding of commonality, the enthusiasm that grows as you realize you both like or know of the same thing. That you share a cause and blood right that so few share in this world. That you weren't alone.

"I am. My twin is one too. I'm guessing you are one then too." It was... she was... and... her twin?! How was this possible!? Yuuko had said it was a special gift, that it was a boon to be a Demon Hunter; she had made out as if he were one in a million. And not two days later, he had found not one by coincidence, but instead two of his kin? Either she was lying, or he was REALLY lucky.

"...yeah." Lazarus nodded slowly, still a little sore on the topic, fairly sure he wasn't happy to be a Demon Hunter if anything. However, he didn't want to put Jinhong off, nor to give her the impression that he was something of a submissive quitter; he still had the "mission" Yuuko and he had organised ahead of him. God, how he loathed the very idea of returning to the literal Hell that he was separated from only by a single, thin veil between the dimensions.

"You only recently went in, right?" Lazarus froze, and the memories flew back in front of him once more. Car. Hell. Demon. Bird. Guns. Death. Shakily, he nodded once, before again with slightly more confidence, gulping and letting out a jerky sigh, before reaching too and finishing up the last of the coffee in a moment. The memories still hung and reverberated around him like a never-ending echo hanging over his head. And that was why he'd agreed to go back, and hadn't changed his mind on their deal since. Not because he was scared of Yuuko. Not because he wanted to help. Not even for the guts or the glory. So he could bury this, once and for all. So he could get some goddamned sleep.

"Two days ago." He flicked his eyes up to the clock above and behind Jinhong's head. If that. God, he remembered the events that had lead up to it in such vivid detail, but they were so fragmented, so disjointed. Everything of his life prior to that point was almost filed in a different section of his memory, a cabinet he could browse at will and now lose himself in an almost sensory and eidetic manner. "It was..." Deep breaths. He locked gazes with her again before simply exhaling. "...yeah."

Then an idea struck his mind in full force, and for the first time since they'd encountered each other, Lazarus rose his head in pseudo-happiness. Except it was not so much happiness as simple... activity. Tilting it, he realised the significance of Jinhong's being a Demon Hunter, much as he was. Yuuko, suffice it to say, was not the world's greatest teammate, and that Aviax den they'd set their hearts on clearing out was... pretty big. "Infact... I'm going back in in a couple weeks..." The redhead shrugged sheepishly.

"Look, Jinhong, I know I've only just met you, and it's asking a lot of trust..." Lazarus moved across the table, folding his arms and lowering his tones to a subtle whisper as he scanned the coffee shop in his periphery. Good. No-one was watching in. "But I've got something I have to do over... there... something that I'm not confident enough in myself and my teammate to do alone." Perhaps now she could see where he was going. "I'm scared. I really am." And here he was, spilling his guts to a complete stranger. "And if we're going to get out of this alive, fuck what my partner says, we need backup."

With that, he backed off, face almost burning from embarrassment. Lazarus Carter was no stranger to asking for help, but this was requesting Jinhong and her sister put her life on the line. "If you can, or if there's anyone you know that could help us out... then it would really help." Please, please, please say "yes". He needed her to. If she took this on, then it wasn't just relying on his own half-cocked abilities and Yuuko with her sword. The Japanese girl wasn't a team player; but with the twins in the mix, it seemed like they really had a chance. But alas, there was nothing he could do to force her hand; the ball was in her court now.

"...yeah." The answer was completely logical really, he had to be one at this point. But... he was not happy about this. He was, but he wasn't. His discomfort was something that was as obvious to her as the the molecular formula for methane (CH4 by the way). She sipped at her coffee while she watched him, her brows furrowing to see how shaky he was about it. Had it been that bad? Granted, the first time she and her sister had went in, it had been with their parents. They were lucky in that way, and they were very aware of that fact. "Two days ago." Jinhong almost balked at his answer, it had only been TWO DAYS?! No wonder he looked like shit and was so... surprised.... "It was..." Their gaze held as she placed her coffee down quietly, biting her lower lip. "...yeah." She also glanced down, nodding in agreement since she knew exactly what he meant. She had to wonder though, what had he encountered in there? Was it a Ritualist? Some lesser demon? More likely to be the latter, but even then there was a rather large variety to choose from.

She didn't have to wonder for very long, not even realizing she had zoned out for a moment. "Infact... I'm going back in in a couple weeks..." The sheepish shrug only made her blink a couple of times, "You are?" "Look, Jinhong, I know I've only just met you, and it's asking a lot of trust..." She also leaned in, not even thinking of how close they had gotten at this point just so they didn't have to strain to whisper so. "But I've got something I have to do over... there... something that I'm not confident enough in myself and my teammate to do alone." A single eyebrow raised, he was asking about an alliance. "I'm scared. I really am." She couldn't help it, she reached forward and placed a hand on his arm, her expression serious and yet... almost tender. She knew where he was right now, and she empathized. She really did. But he backed off and so she let go, finishing off her coffee just as she noticed that his face was rather red. Why was he blushing? It was hardly the coffee or the shop, but--- Oh. Right. Embarrassment. Admitting such things was embarrassing.

"If you can, or if there's anyone you know that could help us out... then it would really help." She immediately nodded and offered him another smile, "We'd be happy to help." There was no hesitation or thinking about it, it was the simple fact that there was a person asking another person for help. And she got to kill more demons which was always a plus. "If we find or meet anyone else along the way, we will be sure to ask them as well. Any details you can offer before the fact would be appreciated. I um..." She cleared her throat as a brief blush blossomed over her cheeks, "I could scout ahead and come up with some strategies possibly. Pulean, my sister, could tell you I'm the strategist out of the two of us." She actually giggled as she ran a hand through her hair, brushing a few strands free from her face.

"We'd be happy to help." The sigh of relief came as a forceful exhalation of breath. Lazarus felt a potentially lethal weight lift from his shoulders, and for the first time since their encounter had begun, a real, and genuine, smile pierced his otherwise sombre facade, unlike the typically-upbeat boy. "If we find or meet anyone else along the way, we will be sure to ask them as well. Any details you can offer before the fact would be appreciated." The redhead nodded, beaming at his newfound teammate.

"Well, the girl I'm working with can be a bit..." How to put this without being overtly rude... "...cold." 'Bitchy' had been the term he wanted to use, but that was still slightly judgmental considering the pair had met each other for a net total of about ten minutes. "She doesn't strike me as a major team player, but, she's pretty damn skilled over... there." As he had been with those pistols; though that struck him as something of a fluke. How had he been able to use them with such aplomb already? Was skill innate over in Inferis? Aside from the morbid and striking reality of it, the existence of such a dimension raised questions; more trivial than simply the issue of survival, but questions all the same.

"I could scout ahead and come up with some strategies possibly." Laz nodded. That wasn't a half-bad idea, all things considered. She continued on to illustrate her sister's name and explain the combat dynamics of the pair. "Pulean, my sister, could tell you I'm the strategist out of the two of us." Pulean and Jinhong Jangmi... for some reason, the name of the former rang a bell in the redhead's mind. Moments later, however, that captive thought vanished, the teen being the airhead he was, and from gazing off into the distance, he snapped back into conversation.

"Well, these Demons are pretty... bad," Whatever that meant. Eloquence wasn't his strong point normally; and in this sleep-deprived and hardly-conscious state, every bone and muscle in his body aching, stiff, and sore from not only Inferis but all the sleep he hadn't got. "They look like oversized chickens made out of old wood, bits of skeletons, and with some rusty nails and a bit of barbed wire thrown in for that casual horror movie look." He was surprised at the words coming out of his mouth, describing the Aviax Demons somewhat menially and in an almost comical manner; the very same that haunted him in waking nightmares, the very same he saw every time he so much as closed his eyes.

A cold shiver ran down his back in remembrance and the hairs down his neck began to stand on end. Goosebumps raised upon his skin and he gazed off once more, losing himself, half in exhaustion and half in just an enveloping blankness that was engulfing most of his cognitive processing. An aftershock from his first trip into Inferis. Was this going to happen every time? Was he damned to an eternity of haunting, conscious nightmares hanging over him, ethereal burdens perching on his shoulder and picking at his brain, til he just couldn't take it any more?

Regardless, the teen took a deep, shaky breath, and stabilised himself, smiling weakly back towards Jinhong. "Thank you." The boy spoke sincerely, nodding ever so slowly. "You don't know how much this means to me. If there's any way I can make this up to you, then I will, just say the word." Who knew... maybe one day he'd end up marching through Inferis to help her.

He seemed very relieved, and that did make her smile a little. Clearly he was very nervous about the whole thing, and she couldn't really blame him. It was a big deal to have found a den at all, especially when you'd only been to Inferis recently for the first time. And he actually smiled. Honestly? Jinhong sort of just... stopped... when she saw it. She could see past the exhaustion, past the nightmares and worries, down to the core of him and so she smiled as well. It was a smile that her kids got to see when she LARPed with them, taught them the combat and how to improve, showed them the wondrous world that had been created for them to play in. When she wasn't a painfully shy girl and was... well... amongst her people. Her sister was the one who probably got to see it most consistently for obvious reasons, when were the twins ever apart for very long? Right now was an exception, and of course, Pulean's concerts. Jinhong was at least allowed to remain backstage as long as she was out of the way, though sometimes venues requested that she remain out in the audience. Either way, they were never separated for very long.

"Well, the girl I'm working with can be a bit..." Blinking a couple of times, she grew more serious, brows furrowing as she tried (and failed) to read his facial expression. "...cold." Cold? What did he mean by cold? "I.... see?" Yes, she did include the question at the end because she frankly wasn't quite she knew what he meant. Was it like how she got when in Inferis on a job? When she distanced herself from everyone and became some totally different person? "She doesn't strike me as a major team player, but, she's pretty damn skilled over... there." Oh..... Hm... That did sound about right. She could only nod in understanding because the only reason she remained a team player at all was because she had her other half there to keep her in line. To keep her sociable and not.... a blood rage mess. Heh.... they really were the perfect other half for the other, weren't they?

But that was all beside the point and taking her away from her current conversation with Lazarus. She had to refocus in! "Well, these Demons are pretty... bad," A single eyebrow raised as she stared at him, wondering what he could mean. What did he mean by 'bad?' That could mean any number of things. "They look like oversized chickens made out of old wood, bits of skeletons, and with some rusty nails and a bit of barbed wire thrown in for that casual horror movie look." ..... huh. Jinhong sat back in her chair as she zoned out trying to imagine that, pulling out her notebook as she noted down what they appeared like. There had to be a book somewhere that included a matching demon from some mythos or something. Perhaps she would spend her time in the coming days looking them up if she didn't get into Inferis. Yes, this is what she would do with her time. But Lazarus! Right, yes. Those crimson eyes refocused upon the youth in front of her, her expression darkening as she saw how his demeanor had changed again. He had receded, gone to some dark place that he had showed her before when he first thought of the nightmares that he had had. What-- "Thank you." Her blush returned as she tried to seem less serious before him, remembering how Pulean reminded her of how intense she could be without meaning to. "You don't know how much this means to me. If there's any way I can make this up to you, then I will, just say the word."

Now.... Now Jinhong could only smile as she reached out a hand, carefully avoiding their empty coffee cups to hold one of his hands in her own. Her grip was warm, reassuring, and gentle, crimson staring into crimson as her smile returned. "Laz, its no problem at all. Don't worry yourself about returning the favor. My sister and I are happy to help you. If you need any help or advice regarding Inferis, don't hesitate to ask. We were in a similar position as you once." She told him quietly, giving his hand one more reassuring squeeze before letting go, not even realizing what a step she had made in overcoming her shyness. Normally she wouldn't be touching anyone so when she had just met them. Ever. Pulean probably would have freaked if she had been there, but she wasn't. Right now, what she was focusing on was the fact that Lazarus before her, was struggling. "A-and I mean," Right, how did she take it from here? "If you like music or anything, I'm sure I could get you into one of my sisters concerts. That is, if you like opera." She added hastily, chuckling nervously as she scratched the back of her head, sitting up straight and tall rather suddenly.

The cupping of his hand was perfectly welcome, but still took the teen aback somewhat. She had seemed introverted from the outset; a gesture of such faith and a forward nature was not so much unbecoming as unexpected. "Laz, its no problem at all. Don't worry yourself about returning the favor." He nodded silently in response as she continued, half-smiling in his delirious exhaustion. "My sister and I are happy to help you. If you need any help or advice regarding Inferis, don't hesitate to ask. We were in a similar position as you once."

He let his hand lay in hers on the table, ready to pull back but not quite wanting to out of a want to make sure that such a gesture of comfort and assurance wasn't entirely one-sided. "I really appreciate that. I know the basics, but I guess I'll just pick more up as I go along..." In the grand scheme of things, he - and infact, many of them - still had much to learn. Ritualists, Templars, Archdemons... plots greater than him, greater than her, greater than the both of them and everything they knew hanging precariously in the balance like a Sword of Damocles above their heads. "Thanks. Really."

Letting go, the essence of the shy introvert he'd pegged her for being seemed to flush back into her as she stuttered the conversation on further. "A-and I mean," Hm? Laz retracted his hands, cupping them nervously in one another in his lap, trying to keep them still. His coffee was finished, and exhaustion - physical and mental - was, though kept at bay through enough caffeine to kill a small rhinoceros, starting to seep back through the barriers. Perhaps it was this sort of reciprocated social assurance and a show of compassion and empathy that was starting to ease things up. Hell, maybe sympathy would help him sleep, just soften the edges of what felt like a thousand blades all diving for him of their own accord at once. "If you like music or anything, I'm sure I could get you into one of my sisters concerts. That is, if you like opera."

Laz chuckled lightly, feeling the exhaustion grow and swell with every movement. "I do love my music," He murmured idly, before shrugging. "Opera's not a particular choice, but I respect all patrons of the arts and that shit. So we'll have to put it down on the docket sometime." Following on, he snapped once more from his traumatised state and a ray of the previous Lazarus seemingly shone through as he winked playfully at her. "Call it a date, Jin." That was more like it.

With that, however, he rose to his feet and felt his muscles' strength begin to falter and start buckling beneath him. Jesus God fuck damn was he tired. "I'm sorry to cut our meeting short... but..." Looking off hopefully into the distance as he stretched his arms, body quivering as his shoulderblades vibrated and he opened his next clause with the cessation of a great and highly unattractive yawn. "Odd as it sounds... I think I might be able to get some sleep now."[/i]

Picking up a napkin and raising the pen she'd set down, Lazarus scribbled out a combination of digits and pushed the tissue over towards her. "That's my number. Give me a ring sometime tomorrow and we can sort everything out." He gestured cheerfully with a smile, feeling kind of bad for leaving her so abruptly, but his body felt as if it was about to shut down with or without his consent, and it was usually better that didn't happen in public. For all the talk of chivalry, it was something of a harshly ironic cessation to their first meeting, but, hey, he was fucking exhausted. "Thanks, Jinhong." He said as a closing sentiment, drawing his jacket around him and moving to the door. "You don't know how much I appreciate this."

Then with that, he pushed it open, stared up into the pale January sunlight, and vanished, exhausted, into the streets of Washington once more.