Let's pretend life doesn't exist.

Pan hadn't really been having a good time since arriving on the island. At first, they had felt some hope for what lay ahead on their boat ride over, but that hope had fallen flat as memories from the past decade continued to haunt the demon. Funny...a haunted demon.

And so the lust demon had given up avoiding them and had instead been spending most days wandering about, relieving every one. Part of them hoped that this would allow memories to become numb but they also knew that wasn't going to be the case. Memory didn't work that way unfortunately.

They were coming up on the lake though their mind was paying very little attention to the things around them. They were stuck in a moment...maybe seven years ago. It wasn't a good moment and their brow furrowed as their mind pulled them deeper into the memory.

Until a sound caught their ear and their eyes shot up. A few feet away was a girl, playing with the water. However, this girl wasn't quite human, or at least not all the way because a tail and not so human ears were present. Pan seized the moment to pull themselves from their thoughts.

"Good afternoon." The demon spoke softly, as to not startle the girl incase she had not seen or heard them approach.

There was a long silence as Pan waited for the girl to respond. Her ears had moved in such a way that had led them to believe the girl had heard them. However, after a while, Pan began to believe that the girl was simply ignoring her and didn't want any company. That was fine...Pan would just return to their thoughts.

Then the girl moved, seeming to connect with the reflection in the water. Her voice sounded a bit off but Pan couldn't quite put their finger one why. The girl looked at Pan, seeming puzzled for a moment by the demons appearance and a bit embarrassed for some reason. Pan felt their stomach drop a bit as more memories pulled themselves to the surface of their mind.

Ah...so the girl was mostly deaf. That explained why she seemed to have been ignoring them. It made Pan feel a bit better.

"Oh, no! You are fine. I apologize for bothering you or if I startled you. I just...well, I haven't had someone to talk to for a while so I thought, I'd come say hello.." The demon blushed a bit themselves, their already golden skin getting brighter. Their voice was definitely a chest voice but it lacked the base that most men had. Instead, they sounded more like a woman with a lower register.

Pan took a seat next to the girl, placing their bare feet into the water. Pan never liked to wear shoes. Too constricting and detaching. Feet were meant to touch the ground.

The demon gave a small nod, "Yes, big bodies of water are not my favorite either. I much prefer solid land." They chuckled a little bit, "Being on an island is really testing me."

They gave a shake of their head, "No, I haven't been in school for quite some time now. Though sometimes I wonder if returning wouldn't be such a bad idea. The world has learned a lot since I went school." Pan had moved around too much to attend any school consistently but they had gone to a couple colleges to impress a love interest now and again. The concept of learning had always intrigued the demon but life had been too much of move here and move there to really focus on it.

"The more you know, the more realize what you don't know." Pan noted as they gazed out across the water. They realized that though that they should be sure to maintain eye contact with the girl so she could read lips if needed. They shifted themselves a bit so their one foot dangled in the water, the brim of their black pants getting wet, while the other foot rested on the sand, knee propped up.

The demon was silent for a moment after the girl spoke. They weren't sure exactly how much they bought that science could solve the mysteries of the universe. It dismissed a lot of things that Pan knew to be true as pseudoscience but they were learning quickly and it wouldn't be long until it all back around.

"I never really started. I only went to school as a facade. I was considering going back until..." They stopped mid sentence, their breathing pausing as well. They swallowed, "..well, life can be unpredictable." Although the demon should have seen it all coming. They had been careless. They had let themselves get caught.

Pan nodded in agreement. They too knew all too well how the universe enjoyed chaos. Being demonic, it was basically written into the code of who Pan was to behave in such a way that promoted this idea.

"I have heard of those laws before but I cannot say I know much about them. I feel as though I am an unfortunately ignorant being..." Not that they were trying to be but Pan had just always been too distracted by people to bother learning much about things.

"But yes, in life everything that can happen will happen. It's all part of consciousness playing itself out in our lives. If we can conceive of it, then in a sense it must exist in some way, shape, or form; even if that is only in our minds."

They leaned forward a bit as their expression grew a bit more serious, their eyes locking onto the girls, "If there is one thing I have learned in my years on this planet, it is that we have very little control, if any, over anything that happens to us. However, we will always have control over ourselves and how we react to whatever the universe throws our way. The world has no perception of good or evil. That's something we define for ourselves." They gave a small smile to the girl, hoping the words would be encouraging, despite their heavy undertone.