Exception to the Rule

Lucie was bored. This sentence alone used to be unutterable--between cars

and gadgets and fights and music, Lucie was never bored. Those who had known her throughout
her life had been certain that the day she was bored would be the day the world ended, because
she'd blow it up for fun. But the earth still turned, the sun still shifted in the sky, and yet Lucie
was bored. She lay on her back, sprawled out in the middle of the hall. The scent of perfume and
cosmetics wafted through the air, and the frown on her young face showed her distaste for it. Her
hands were relaxed, half closed and palms towards the ceiling, and her hair was fanned out
around her, not caught up in a bun as it usually was. She'd lost her phone, though she had no idea
how, and after a while messing with the librarians got boring. So now she was just stoppering the
hallway, letting out random groans of annoyance whenever the boredom reached an intolerable
peak. On the wall to the right of her, there was an obscene doodle that looked like it had been
created by a concentrated laser. Next to it were four finger sized holes that allowed for the view
of the dormitory on the other side of the wall. She'd made a 'burn angel' near the entrance of the
dorms, and had been debating whether to draw a pentagram or an illuminati triangle when her
powers just went kaput. She didn't know what the hell had happened--one moment, she was
drilling a hole through a wall with a concentrated column of flame, and the next, she couldn't
even conjure up a spark. She would have panicked, if she was one for panicking. She was, on the
inside. Then she decided to fuck it all and just go with it, since there wasn't anything she could
do about it. Hopefully it was just a hiccup from being too generous with the use of her fire.
Hopefully it would come back. Damn, she wasn't one for hoping, though.

As gently and quietly as was possibly in his power, Khal closed the dorm
room's door behind him. While he realized that he likely needn't have been so careful,
considering the girl on the other side of the door was fast in the throes of a fever-induced sleep.
He would have left the night before, right after he'd made sure that Tabatha got back to her dorm
without fainting again, but things hadn't gone at all as he'd planned. Not only had she somehow
talked him into staying to keep her warm, since she was freezing, but after that, he'd somehow
managed to fall asleep. When he'd woken up, he'd been disconcerted to say the least, and now
here he was. Despite Tabatha expressing interest in their meeting again and trying to solve some
of the mysteries he seemed to pose for her, Khal determined that he would make a conscious
effort to maintain his distance. She seemed like a really good person, and he was surrounded by
too many powerful beings that thirsted after his life, many of which he knew would not hesitate
in using an innocent to get what they wanted. It was the same reason that he'd drawn back from
Havoc, even if she did occasionally decide to try and drag him back in again. Once the door to
Tabatha's room was closed, the angel released a small sigh and stepped back. There was no
telling what sort of trouble Kadrin had gotten into the night before, without him around to stop
her, but there was at least one comforting thought... the school still appeared to be standing. If
she'd decided to destroy it, she would have reduced every last building to rubble, including this
one. A less comforting thought was the memory of her conversation with the demon who called
himself Jonathan. He'd said that she would get what she wanted very soon, and how was Khal to
know that whatever it was hadn't happened the night before? Khal pushed these thoughts from
his mind, knowing there was absolutely no use worrying over it. He'd made his choice to help
Tabatha instead of shadowing Kadrin, and there was nothing to be done about it now. All
thoughts of these things fled soon fled the angel's mind as he turned around, only making it a
couple of steps down the hall before he had to stop lest he step on the girl splayed out in the
middle of the hall."Ahh..." He trailed off for a moment, strange eyes turning down on her. The
irises were molten silver while the pupils, instead of the black most might expect, were solid
white. Shaking his head, he decided that he didn't actually want to know what she was doing, so
rather than stopping to ask or even ask that she move a little to give him more space to navigate,
he began to step past her, careful not to step on one of her splayed out limbs.

Lucie heard the sound of a doorknob turning, followed by the soft scrape
of the door's bottom against a carpet. Accompanying the sound was a whisper of something in
response. She was getting too many sensations nowadays. This one, however, was different--
fundamentally so. Besides being far, far weaker--barely noticeable--it seemed more familiar than
any of the others; it seemed...like her. But, more importantly, it was something to occupy her
mind with. She moved a finger, slowly reawakening her body as she prepared to move.
Although, it seemed she didn't have to. The footsteps were heading towards her anyway. "Ahh..."
The sound was familiar to Lucie. It was the polite vocalization of 'What the fuck are you doing?'
She redirected her gaze from the ceiling to the man who had made the noise, not moving her
head. Curiosity swam in her vivid eyes as they met his, and she took a moment to note their
abnormality. Who might this be? Did it matter? No--it was something to do. Maybe something
fun, maybe something dangerous. She immediately sat up with a sudden burst of energy and
turned around on the carpet to face the man with the silver eyes. "Yo, where you goin'? Not even
going to say hi?" She tilted her head to the side and wrinkled her nose. "Rude."

He had hardly started to step around her when the girl suddenly shot up from
her prone position to sit up and stare at him. Khal accepted her probing gaze patiently as he did
with any other. Nearly every person he ran across took at least a moment to stare--at his eyes
usually--though he did have to admit that it was an unusual thing when a comment was actually
made. It was just one of those things that he'd come to expect from those he ran into. As the girl
spoke, and called him rude, the angel repressed a sigh. Why could he hardly find polite people?
"I was just leaving, and I didn't say anything because I thought I would avoid disturbing you," he
replied to her honestly, without reacting to the fact that she had called him rude. He'd been called
worse before. Actually, he was called much worse on a daily basis.

Lucie pursed her lips as she listened to him, seeming almost too impatient
to wait for him to finish. "I want to be disturbed, though. I'm bored. Bored as fuck. And you're
proper and polite and you'll probably hate me in a few seconds, so being disturbed by someone
like you is pretty ideal. Plus, you're a demon, but you're a weird demon, something I haven't seen
before, so that's fun. Did I mention I was bored?" She was looking straight at him while she
talked, but it seemed like she was looking at everything but him. Actually, she was slightly
intrigued--after all, he hadn't mentioned anything about how disgustingly brash she was being.
Usually the prissy princesses would have mentioned it after the first word that came out of her
mouth. "And you're polite for a demon. Too polite. To a fault. That's not very demon-y, you
know."
 "A demon?" If not for the entirely serious way the girl said it, Khal would
have thought for sure that he was being insulted. As it was, he was not entirely sure that he
wasn't being insulted. His eyebrows furrowed in confusion as he tilted his head to the side
curiously. "Why would I act like a demon?" Of course, that was when he realized it. He'd been
so consumed in his own thoughts before that he'd nearly walked past a demon unknowingly, and
he felt disgusted with himself that it had taken him this long to recognize what the girl was.
Though he couldn't help but wonder why there seemed to be so many demons in this one place,
he made no attempt at insulting or picking a fight. He simply did not have the energy to keep up
with every demon, nor did he have the desire to put himself in a position where he was
constantly in battle and having to watch his back against more enemies than he'd already made.
The angel shook his head, a few strands of hair falling into his angular face as he did so. "Never
mind. I apologize for your boredom, but I do not believe that I am the cure you are searching
for." With this, Khal moved around her with every intent on actually leaving this time around.
Rather than correct her, he decided it would be for the best if he left now, before she realized
what he was and decided there were better cures for boredom than mere conversation.

Genuine confusion? Well, that wasn't really what Lucie had expected
when she addressed another demon. She would have thought he was lying, but...he seemed
almost offended by the word. As far as she knew, demons prided themselves in being so. After
all, they became that way through their own free (or not so free) will, right?
She shifted on the carpeted floor, feeling the bumps and short hairs scratch against the
skin of her lower legs as she pulled them under her butt. "Because you are one, obviously...or at
least, you feel like one? You're either a very stupid demon or not one at all. What the hell are
you? Not a crossbreed, I don't think. The other one felt different; weaker." She tilted her head to
the side and stared at him again, eyes narrowing slightly in frustration. If I was a psychic, life
would be so much easier.
 She wondered, briefly, if there was a way to sell her soul for psychic powers. After all,
hers wasn't doing jack doodle for her at that moment. The only reason I keep you around is for
the firepower, asshole. Where the fuck is my fire?! The fact that her anger did not call to the
surface the boiling lava of heat ready to explode in every direction just made her more frustrated,
and she curled her fingers around her legs, pressing her nails into the skin of her thighs as she
turned to look back at the un-demon prissy princess.
He had begun to speak again, but she barely listened to what he said, until her ears caught
something that made her laugh. She pressed her knuckles to her mouth in a false attempt to stop
the laughter as she replied, "Dude, everything is the cure--you're just the most interesting, or at
least entertaining, one at the moment. So what the fuck are you? It'd better be something
interesting."

As she continued to speak despite the fact that it was fairly obvious that he
was attempting to escape--or it seemed obvious to him at least, considering this was the second
time he had tried to move around her and had been stopped--Khal released a sigh. He stopped
once again and turned to face the girl.
He supposed the only thing that could be done at this point would be to give polite, vague
answers and wait for her interest to wear out. It was not the first time he had done such a thing in
order to escape a conversation he held no interest in, and he knew this would not be the last time
he would have need of that particular tactic.
"I am not a demon," he confirmed, though she had not asked that particular question. It
was embedded in her musings, however, and resided at the heart of the whole conversation. It
was easily enough answered besides and did not go against the tactic he had decided to employ.
The fact that he honestly did not like being mistakenly referred to as a demon did admittedly
play a small role, though his blank expression and bland tone of voice would give nothing away.
"As for what exactly I am..." The words trailed away as he seemed to seriously take her
question into consideration with a thoughtful expression. Within a few moments, however, he
simply shrugged. "I am myself." It was said calmly, with all that one might expect of someone
answering a question seriously.
With years upon countless years of experience dealing with a demon in a way that did not
include death, he had actually learned quite a bit. One thing he had learned was that it was
always a good idea to remain neutral. If a demon did not get a reaction out of someone, it was
fairly probable that they would become bored with the person. Of course, this was exactly what
Khal hoped for.

Lucie heard the sigh, and didn't bother to fight the sadistic grin that made
its way to her face. It was even mroe fun to bother someone who was so very against being
bothered, and this man was perfectly so. His 'do I really have to put up with this shit' sigh was
almost as good as the librarian's.
When he turned to face her, she could see that he was struggling to keep the annoyance
out of his face. She frowned slightly, her confusion deepening as she tilted her head to the side
and watched him. No, he was definitely not a demon. Demons didn't attempt politeness--they
knew its futility. Still, this fact only peaked her curiosity. If he wasn't a demon, then what the
hell could give her that sort of pissy feeling? Hell, it was even worse than it usually was. If she'd
come across him a few weeks earlier and had her powers, she would either be in a full out,
vicious battle to the death with him at that moment, or he would be just a pile of ash on the
ground of a burning building. However there was another sensation mixed in with it. Bitter,
patronizing pity. A 'You ridiculous, sad fool. You don't understand what you're missing.' Why?
She tilted her head to the side as he finally began to answer her question, having
completely ignored his useless answer before. His pause made her stomach churn with
frustration, and when he finally answered...well...she wasn't happy.
For a moment, she thought she was going to kill him. Her eyes flashed and her fingers
curled into fists, nails digging into her palms until blood trickled down them. Then, the anger
was gone, replaced by an odd sort of condescending amusement at his response. "That's cute.
You know, don't you? 'Course you do, or else you would be less amused with yourself right now.
Alright, whatever, I'll just figure it out myself."
She got to her feet and walked over to him, sticking her face right in front of his and
staring at him with the unnerving gaze a dedicated scientist would give an unidentified matter
under a microscope. Her eyes missed nothing, but she wasn't observing what he looked like as
much as she was observing what he felt like. She didn't like it. There was a sense of pity in it,
yes, but also shame, like a rehabilitated addict looking at drunk louts in a bar. She wanted to turn
away from it, to hate it, to wipe it away, but instead she probed her mind, trying to think of what
the hell could make the devil feel that way.
 After a minute, she snapped out of her concentration, taking a step back with an entirely
new expression on her face. A grin was slowly growing, and her eyes were bright with a
euphoria that sprang from victory in solving a problem. "Well strip me naked and call me a
whore--you're a fuckin' holy librarian!"

Admittedly, Khal had known that she would not like his answer. Until he
witnessed her reaction, however, he hadn't known that the reaction would be so severe. In fact,
while it was not the over-the-top reaction that Kadrin might have had, he had thought it would be
for a moment as the girl's eyes practically glinted with fire. The blood that trickled from her
clenched fists was not a good sign either, and he shifted his stance in preparation for the attack
that seemed as if it would be inevitable.
Then, as quickly as it had come, the girl's temper receded. It was such a clear change, in
fact, that Khal saw the moment her expression of what he could only describe as pure hatred
became something closer to amusement, though it was of a twisted sort. Well, and it would
almost have to be twisted, under the circumstances.
He nearly began to make some sort of reply, though he ended up remaining silent instead,
simply tilting his head to the side, as if inviting her to continue if that was what she truly wanted,
though the same action also seemed to indicate that she would be receiving no help from him
whatsoever, as if he hadn't made it abundantly clear already. Perhaps the lack of reply would
further dissuade her from using him as a means to cure her boredom.
As she marched right up to him, getting so close that he could easily feel her breath on
his face, Khal remained still and stoic, enduring her scrutiny silently and expressionlessly.
Simply staring at him would not be enough to divulge what manner of creature he was. She
would need to do more than simply stare at him if she truly wanted to know what he was.
Then she stepped back with what he could only describe as a manic grin, obviously very
pleased with herself, an expression he found confusing. He would have thought that she would
be angrier when and if she figured out what he was. Of course, that was working under the
assumption that she did, in fact, know. Referring to him as a 'holy librarian' did raise doubts.
"That," said the angel with a shake of his head, "I am not." The description did seem to
allude to angels, but its inaccuracy alone could not allow him to accept that that was what she
could possibly mean. No matter which way he stretched his thoughts, 'holy librarian' and 'angel'
did not mean the same thing. 'Featherhead', however grudgingly, he could accept. It was not
particularly clever and insulting, but he could understand how the description had come into
existence. Still, that happy expression was strange.

Lucie's grin only widened, her eyes lit in amusement and interest. She
gave off the air of a movie villain who'd just acquired a weapon of mass destruction, except of
course she was only the antagonist of boredom and the weapon of mass destruction was really
just someone she could annoy to death.
She tilted her head to the side, then pursed her lips and shook her head at his answer.
"Wrong!" she said with confidence, as if she knew far more about the subject than he could ever
hope to, so she was irrefutably right in every claim she made. She far from believed this, but this
was the sort of confidence with which she approached everything, so most times people simply
assumed that she was cocky in her knowledge. In reality, she just naturally did not have shyness;
it was synonymous with fear, and therefore alien to her. So as a newly reincarnated demoness
who still didn't fully comprehend her powers, conversing with an angel was not something that
gave her pause in the least.
"I betcha that if you talked to ol' Pruny in the library, you guys would be best buds in a
manner of seconds! After all, you angels are both dogmatic and thralls and librarians are both
pedants and dictators. They could be your babies, if you guys had dicks in the first place--which
I sincerely doubt, considering your job requires that you act like castrated dogs." She said all of
this with a perfectly casual air, the insults slipping out with about as much interest as a comment
about the weather. She had even stopped looking at him--one of her doodles had caught her eye
and she was frowning at it, realizing that she'd made one of the nipples at least four inches higher
than the other.

In answer to the declaration of his denial being wrong, Khal raised an

eyebrow. Despite the obvious confidence lacing the word, he had no doubts that this girl was the
one in the wrong. He'd certainly lived long enough to know what he was, and he was no
librarian, whatever variations she placed on the title.
In fact, until she explained herself, he had no idea where she'd drawn her conclusion
from. For a few long moments following her description of angels, which was admittedly more
of the sort of reaction he'd expected to begin with, he simply stared down at her expressionlessly.
He considered what to say her, if there was even anything that truly could be said, and
subsequently came to the conclusion that there was no right reply in this situation. Neither did he
have any urge to continue down this line of conversation. This was why, as the girl's attention
suddenly wavered away from him and she went to inspect what appeared to be scorch marks on
the walls, Khal shifted one foot back and started to turn towards the exit, fully intending on
leaving.
However, he was once again halted, his entire body stilling. A second later, he completed
the turn, automatically shifting into a defensive position in the same fluid motion. It was soon
proved to be an unnecessary precaution, as no silent strike awaited him, though he almost wished
that were the case. Slowly, the angel forced his body to relax, his lips pressing into a grim line.
Standing before him was a spirit he knew very well. Though tall, she still stood inches
shorter than him, her wavy hair falling to her thighs. The last time he'd seen her, it had been as
white as freshly fallen snow, and though it still appeared white towards the top, it slowly
transitioned into a soft, pale pink resembling the color of flower buds. She was willowy in
stature, gaunt even, though there seemed to be a shadowy layer over her skin that was different.
Knowing the sort of things that Kadrin could do with her control over shadows however, he
guessed this was of the demoness' design. Usually, she would have stood with her head straight,
not bothering to pretend that she could see what was going on around her; she saw more than
others, and always acted with confidence, unbothered by the world. Simply the act of her angling
her head up towards him would not have been such a surprising thing, though, if it were not for
the fact that two eyes peered up at him, both the bright blue of the sky with wispy threads of
white that mimicked the clouds outside. She had done away with her eyes years ago, and seeing
them once more was startling, especially with such emotion as he saw now.
"Hello Lily," he said softly. Though he saw it coming with more than plenty of time to
stop it, he stood still as a statue as she balled her fist and launched it at his stomach. Tears had
quickly formed in her eyes, then spilled over across her cheeks as her other fist balled as well
and found a place to exert its anger in his stomach. Despite the repeated punches however, Khal
quietly and willingly took the anger.