teach your kids to embrace the dark (gomorrah)

Chloe didn't hear the first half of that conversation. She was too busy contemplating her confetti-covered state, looking at the clothes she left folded on her father's couch, considering going into the other room and changing back out of the robes. Eventually, she decided against it. She could eat cake and drink champagne with her new familiar while wearing her confetti-covered summoning robes. Besides, expending the effort to go change her clothes seemed like a real pain. In fact, walking over to get cake seemed like a pain too. She could just... she could just sit here. Yeah.

She sat down and waited for her father to bring the cake and the champagne, accepting it gratefully. She heard her father trying to reassure Arach, which surprised her a little. What happened to not needing their love?

Eh. She shrugged to herself.

Her mouth already full of cake, Chloe patted on an open couch-space next to her, a signal for Arach to sit down. Several awkward moments passed in silence as she chewed her food and tried to come up with something to talk about.

"So... Arach. What kind of stuff do you usually do? In hell, when you aren't busy being a high school girl's familiar."

Arach visibly flinched at the sound of Mikhainon's voice. The contrasting set-up was a minor detail compared to the weight on her shoulders that she felt as he spoke. Each one felt like a knife-- sharp, and painful. Threatening. Arach was immediately silenced in her spot, speechless because if she even dared to make a sound, she would have made things worse.

"Forgive me, my lord," Arach muttered quietly, shrinking down to her spot. She kept her head a bit low, unable to look at Mikhainon in the eye. She accepted the champagne offered to her meekly, afraid any unnecessary movement would anger her master. She couldn't relax, not after that.

How about you two get to know each other? She's an absolute sweetheart. You remember I took her to hell a few months ago, so you'd remember how some demons have grown very fond of her. "

She was aware. She saw her--of course Arach would remember her too. But not in a fond way, but more of a curiosity. Or maybe a threat.She wasn't particularly interested beyond that point but now here she was. A familiar to the oddity and now Mikhainon expects her to befriend this girl?

"That would be.. such a treat." Not like she had any other choice.

Arach made no expression show.She was afraid that if she dared to frown or even fake a smile, it would only add to her mistake of speaking out of line. Her gaze turned towards Chloe who'd made herself all too comfortable on the couch. Arach inwardly groaned; how can someone look this comfortable around Mikhainon?

She took a momentary glance towards Mikhainon before making her way to sit next to Chloe. Her movements were still calculated; she wasn't going to just ease in because that's... kind of dumb. Neither of them spoke for a moment. Well... several moments. Frankly, Arach wasn't interested in talking at that moment. All she did was stare at the liquid in her glass as she tilted it around. And then Chloe broke the silence.

Arach took a moment to ponder. Did she even do anything else? She was always just there in Hell. "Mostly watching over souls. They're usually just noisy but they can get pretty rowdy sometimes." Her voice was quiet, but mostly because she didn't have a particular interest to talk about that.

Chloe quickly began to realize that making polite small talk with a demon who primarily lived in hell would be an impossible task. They would have virtually nothing in common. She should probably start thinking about how she would use her new servant.

Chloe caught the car keys and started to laugh, nervous.

"Dad, this is... kind of overwhelming!" she laughed again. "I'm still trying to get over the fact that I have a demonic familiar at my service."

It occurred to her that he might be trying to make up for lost time. He had pretty much missed out on her entire childhood, and Chloe was starting to get a sense that this bothered him. He cared what she thought of him. Even if he was terrible at relating to the human experience, he wanted the best for his daughter. It was a glimmer of humanity that, maybe, could change him for the better as a person.

Or maybe this was all just wishful thinking. Either way it wouldn't hurt to act grateful.

She stood up and gave Gabriel a short kiss on the cheek. "Thanks."

Arach could only watch them as they interacted, her eyebrows raised at the scene. She had no voice to speak out, a little fearful about speaking out of line again. In her silence, all she could really do was analyze the situation on her own. This little party seems to be just for this girl here. For a birthday present, she gets to have a familiar--namely, herself--and a car "with a big ribbon on it" which she would probably be driving for this girl. Her thoughts were purely focused and everything was pretty much turned out

That was until she heard her name being called by Mikhainon. For a moment, her train of thought was derailed and her attention snapped to him. She managed to smile despite her doubts, "That's lovely to hear, my lord." As she said that, the realization set in that she'll be staying for quite a while. Arach wasn't really processing this and for another second she thought about it before coming to a conclusion. She's probably one of his human lovers, or something. A really special one. Arach nodded to herself knowingly as if she'd just got it right.

Now that she feels like she's already set that problem aside, Arach finally refocused her attention to the present. Chloe stood up; Arach settled to silently watching when Chloe walked to up Mikhainon and placed a momentary kiss on his cheek. After her conclusion from earlier, this wouldn't have surprised her but more importantly...

Chloe tolerated the cheek-pinching. She didn't like it, but she didn't feel like she was in much of a position to complain either. The man had sixteen years' worth of cheek pinching to catch up on.

Soon they were finishing their drinks and her father was leading them elsewhere. The half-demon would glance at her new familiar occasionally, already thinking about how she would use Arach.

Chloe sighed. If the fourth of July party was indication, she wouldn't be able to invite a lot of her friends to her dad's idea of an 'extravagant party.' As fun as that kind of thing was, she was looking forward to her low-key party.

"Yeah... I know, dad. But I've been planning this since before I knew you. It's kinda late to change everything." It was kind of a weak excuse, but it was her story and she was sticking to it. "There's always next year," she added.

Something occurred to her. "Hey, Arach. Do you have weekend plans?" She asked with a smirk. It was funny because Arach was freshly torn from everything she ever knew or was comfortable with to serve her. Of course she didn't have weekend plans.

She would wait to hear how Arach answered that question before continuing. "I was thinking you could give me weekly lessons about doing... uh, demon-y stuff for lack of a better word, every weekend. I know you have a busy schedule right now, but maybe you can pencil me in?"

In this situation, anything Arach would say would more or less be unsolicited. The most she could do was follow suit, while for the moment, she could just quietly observe. She didn't ask any further questions until they finished their drinks and Mikhainon lead them elsewhere.

Every so often, Arach stole a glance at Chloe who stood next to Mikhainon. She still didn't quite get what was the entire picture of it. She heard her call him "dad" a few times by now but Arach was mostly unable to follow the why part of the set-up. Things to ask about, maybe. When Mikhainon isn't fully watching her every move.

She walked behind them, occasionally glancing at Mikhainon and their surrounding. There were a few interesting things to see along the way, sometimes she would slow her steps just to take a peek before catching up before they notice she was falling behind. For the most of the walk to the garage, Arach's attention was admittedly elsewhere up until Chloe started talking to her.

Arach gave Chloe a sarcastic smile when she asked the question. What an interesting thing to ask indeed by someone who had just summoned her, wasn't it? How cute. How very, very cute. Arach strung her fingers together and held it up just below her chin in a very demure pose, "Why, I haven't really planned anything yet; did you have anything in mind?" she said, ever so sweetly.

Arach dropped her hands to her side as Chloe continued to talk. She had an unamused look in her face but she had too keep it neutral enough so Mikhainon wouldn't chew on her.

She hummed in thought as if weighing her (non-existent) options, "I suppose," she paused, stretching out the word a little for "suspense". She was putting up an act, whether or not Chloe caught on wasn't anything she was worried about right now. "Well, I suppose it wouldn't hurt. Of course I could set some time for you, sweetie."