Freedom {Cassie/Uriel}

[Rach_E_L]

Cassilda Louvel.

What a horrid name. Who calls their daughter 'Cassilda' of all things? She sounded like some sort of Viking.

Cassie was the name she had chosen. She had chosen that name when she was little, too young to remember why or how. It was a long time ago, but it had stuck.

Ten years old. That was her age. Obviously she was too young to be walking the streets of Kegan on her own. She had sneaked away from her parents and her little brother. Was it so wrong to want to go for a walk on her own? Her mama always wanted her to stay out of the streets of the military town, but Cassie wasn't afraid.

It was getting dark. The sun slipped over the trees and buildings in the distance, leaving an orange-pink glow over the town. It didn't make it look any less threatening, but the glow was warm on her bare arms.

Cassie realised that the moon would be out soon. She smiled at the thought of having her ears and tail out once more. She loved them because they reminded her of her father. She was the splitting image of Hunter, except for her eyes. Her red-brown eyes were from her mother, and her deceased grandmother before her.

Although, she wasn't perfectly like her father. Her hair wasn't spiky like his or her brother's, and it was longer. It was the length of her Tía Dizzy's, making her look younger than she actually was. It didn't bother the girl, but in the future she'd style it differently, that was for sure.

Cassie was in the middle of the town when she realised she should probably be getting back. She groaned aloud when she thought it. She didn't want to go back yet. This freedom was nice, and this town wasn't so scary!

The half-fairy had lived in Alegra ever since she could remember. She knew that her mother was from Spain and her father was from Canada, and one day she swore that she'd get out of the city and go to those places.

"Sunny Spain and cold Canada," she recited from memory as she looked around the glowing streets. "So different. And I'm going to visit them both someday."

Cassie grinned to the ground. She was a young adventurer at heart, hence why she had no fear of the demon-infested town. Demon-infested town, indeed. She hadn't run into anyone, let alone a scary demon. She knew that not all demons were bad, maybe because she lived around them.

[Meduzia]

"And you will not repeat that again. I am definitely telling Ray, you can count on that, it's just that your punishment will be more severe if I don't protect you, copy that?" - Uriel listened to the usually laid-back voice of his ever-young godfather as it filled the office and nodded, trying to look as if he was sorry... but he wasn't, no, not really. He did have a split lip that his mother is going to freak out about and punish him for the rest of his life, but maybe, just maybe, Faith will be able to lower the punishment on 'only' 100 years or so.

"Copy that." - he echoed and nodded, enduring the steely blue gaze before his godfather muttered something in military slang Uriel didn't understand at all. Then Faith slumped back into his chair and waved him off and with a grin plastered at his face, Uriel was out of the door and eventually building. Once outside in fresh air (as fresh as it can get in this soil, tainted city), he breathed in and tried to remember just what would induce such wrath from Faith Flynn... Faith Flynn was never, ever angry. Never. So OK, Uriel might've said he sent him for some data and might've snooped around but blond was just so bored. There was nothing to do here. Stay inside, stay inside, just stay inside until the sun comes up. Stay inside until you can't--- until they run the city down, that's how Uriel saw it. It wasn't that dangerous.

So OK he lies it was.

But he didn't like to think of it as such. Perhaps it was an illusion he hid behind - literally. Like his father, he could create illusions. His mother was right, when she told Ramiel that breeding with human women is what destroyed the clan. Uriel knew, from the history, that their species was supposed to be ruthless. What were they, exactly? Ezekiel claimed to be the magician, Ramiel claimed to be the demon, Uriel himself said that he is a nightmare. All of which were true, in a sense. None of which were true, in a sense. But Uriel could, like his mother, summon a demon. All Baumans could, it was just his father that was not interested in ritualistic magic.

He was safe in Kegan, as far as it concerned him. Nobody attacks the grandchild of former Ringleader, that much was for sure. Or some did, but surely they'd regret it.

Lost in thought, that's when he noticed her. The only visitor of this lone street, other than the blond himself. The child. Was was the child doing here? He shook his head. Many shapeshifters, demons that could take forms of other beings (he saw his godfather take shape of female child - he was Commander of Shifters after all). Maybe she was one of those, luring people out on streets. He'll know soon enough. These creatures had a pattern. If she cried, he would kill her. Nobody would blame him - a crying child often meant a man-eating shapeshifer in Kegan.

[Rach_E_L]

Cassie looked up and pulled a face to the pink-ing sky.

"Come and get me~" She giggled as she turned and started to run.

She spotted Uriel almost instantly. Her laughter stopped and her carefree smile faded slowly. She regarded the blond boy carefully, studying him from head to toe with her burnt umber eyes.

Not sensing any danger, she approached him slowly, like she would to a wild animal. Her feet had no shoes to cover them; just little grey socks. A habit picked up from her Tío Manes, no doubt, who spent his years in the Academy walking around the school completely barefoot, unaware of the cold or surface.

When she got to a metre away from him, she stopped once again, gazing up into his dark eyes. Cassie stared for a second, then blinked.

She stayed silent for a minute.

Then laughed.

"Hi there~!" The half-werewolf giggled at the new person. "What are you doing around here? There's meant to be lots, and-and lots of scary demons around here, but I'm not scared of them!"

She puffed out her flat chest proudly. She wondered if this boy was scared of the demons.

Well, she thought confidently. If he is, then I'll just have to protect him, won't I?

[Meduzia]

The child did strange things and aced strangely, but those movements ceased once she noticed him. Curiously, Uriel blinked at the small figure approaching him, trying to decipher if she was actually a demon or just a child. He didn't know which would be worse. Meeting a demon would usually mean fighting with them. Meeting a child would usually mean getting attacked by overly-protective parents (the worst thing was, those were usually same idiots that left child alone in the first place. Innerly, Uriel sighed in irritation). He looked child up and down before sighing and contemplating whether to answer or not. Did she not know that it wasn't safe to approach strangers in Kegan? He surely won't be the one to help her learn that harder way, so it was better for her, to run into him, before she ran into somebody else.

"Hello." - he put eloquently, as good with words as his mother was, meaning that he had to things over times and times again before speaking. He was also aware, like his mother, and a coward, like his mother. Lots from that side, it seemed.

"I am a little bit older than you, I think." - he said, forcing a smile to stretch on his face, something that, even not willing, was so rare to see on grumpy Bauman. He nodded, shrugging at child's words and leaning into her.

"Not now. Not right now. But when night comes, there will be... You know, some demons won't appear unless they are summoned. Well, those like that, at night, they walk freely... That's why Kegan is dangerous at night. You never know where they can come from..."

He shrugged once again, wondering if it was OK to tell this to a child this small. He extended his arm out towards her. Surely she'd know what that meant.

"Uriel Bauman, it is nice to meet you, Miss..." - he trailed off, giving her space to add her own name there.

[Rach_E_L]

Cassie's eyes burned with warmth as she watched him. He seemed like a non-demon, which was good. There was a better chance of him not attacking her. Right? That seemed about right to the small girl.

"Yeah, but even if you're older, demons will attack you!" She pouted with a half smile, hoping he'd be impressed with her logic. "Mama says that demons will go after anyone who's not careful, so we just need to be careful, okay~?"

The girl's face lit up in a returned smile as Uriel forced one. She seemed oblivious to the fact that it was forced; she didn't look close enough at this age. What was on the outside was good enough for her at the moment. She ran her hand through her midnight black hair as she answered the blond.

"Oh, so demons don't show up unless you call them? Well, we should be fine that!" She giggled joyfully. "And the ones that walk at night, will they be good demons? Because Mama says that good demons exist as well, it's just the nasty ones you need to look out for. Is that right? Or is Mama being silly again?"

The child took great joy in teasing her mother, even at this early age. It was how the two bonded, so any excuse one got, they would always use it to joke around with the other. It surely kept their relationship strong, at the very least.

"Cassie Louvel~!" She gleefully told him as she shook his hand vigorously. "It's very nice to meet you too, Mr Bauman."

Be polite, Cassie thought determinedly, echoing her mother's words. If someone tells your their full name, call them Mr or Miss and their last name. If they're okay with you calling them by their first name, they'll say, right?

[Meduzia]

"Of course. It doesn't matter if you're older or younger, they aren't really picky." - he nodded his blond head, some of the hair not following, much like his mother's, and staying there, defying gravity.

"Being careful is what you always have to do in Kegan. You can never be careful enough here." - as if approving of his own words, he looked around the empty street, still restless.

"Some of them don't show up, yes." - which was still debatable anyway. His mother could summon three demons - all of which tended to just walk around the house and make themselves at home at whatever time and Uriel sometimes found them annoying. But alas, just like his father long years ago, he was able to not only learn to live with them, but love them as well. Particularly Uncle Aamon, who was blind but at the same time had the best vision, something Uriel was able to understand only now that he was tad older than when he first head somebody say that. But if he had to sort them... well none of the three would be 'good demons', more like 'tamed beasts'.

"Ah, naturally. When there is good, there is evil. When there is evil, there is good. It's just the natural state of things. My dad always says he's a demon. I mean-- he isn't. But, if he was a demon, he would be the good one." - he explained the best he could without falling apart into a story.

He squinted at the child before laughing, even though it came out more as some chocked sound than actual laugh. So much like his mother, in lots of ways.

"Call me Uriel, please."