See No Evil

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One wouldn't expect a house in a pocket dimension to be so lush.

The house felt more like an Indian palace than the headquarters of a keeper. Tapestries covered the walls that weren't already occupied by towering bookshelves; vast rugs that appeared Persian covered the floors; priceless treasures sat on pedestals in bedrooms. Most of them Senos knew had been snagged from human ruins or museums, which he always felt was vaguely amusing. Stealing from the humans even as the keepers helped them. Everything had a price, after all.

Senos sat on top of one bookshelf in his wing of the house, his legs curled up under his and his tail dangling over the side. He held the book one-handed, his claws fumbling with the pages. He'd already read this one before. He'd read every single book in his wing of the house because there was nothing else to do when he wasn't training.

Senos slapped the book down, leaping down off the bookshelf several meters and landing lightly on his feet. He grabbed his tail and threw it up over his shoulder so it didn't drag on the floor and paced around the hall, spinning lazily and looking up at the ceiling. He never saw Vulkar do anything. If this was what being a keeper meant he was screwed.

Senos sighed, spreading his arms and spinning faster, his tail falling off his shoulder and whipping around his legs. He dropped his arms, staring straight up. Bored. So bored.

He could always try sneaking into the other wings of the house, the ones he wasn't supposed to go. He slowly grinned, considering it. Better than rereading the same books. He took off like a shot, his body low to the ground as he ran and his tail whipping behind him.

Senos muttered an irritated curse. "I see few other options," he said. "Either we stick to our guns and insist on our lies or I make it so he doesn't really worry about it. Or maybe - maybe - we can drop these silly lies and I can drop this glamour. I'm not sure how long he'd stay around after."

It was clear that Alex saw through their lies, but bewitching him was NOT an option, and neither was revealing the chimera to him.

"Vulkar would KILL me! My first day as a hunter and I blow my cover!" She sighed, running her fingers through her hair. "Just....let me talk to him."

He gave her a skeptical look. Because she had done so well when he first walked in. "If you insist," he said, then swapped back to English. "I'll be right back," he said, turning and ducking as he walked into the bathroom, slamming the door behind him. He stayed by the door, eavesdropping on their conversation.

After Senos had ''left'-she was fairly sure he was eavesdropping- she put her hand on Alex's shoulder.

"Alex, you know I love you right?"

"Right?"

"And I'd never do anything that might hurt you, right?"

".....Right?"

"And I'm a big strong girl who can handle herself and make her own decisions, right?"

"Where are you going with this?"

"My point is Senos is going to live with me for a while and no matter who he is to me you are going to have to deal with it." She smiled at him, to which he scowled.

"You're asking me to trust the girl who got a tattoo of-"

"Shut up. Now, are we good?"

"Meh..." Alex shrugged, obviously dissatisfied, but he respected whatever stupid decisions she decided to make.

"Good. Senos you can come out." She flung herself down on her cushions again.

He strode back out, not even pretending to not have been eavesdropping. He crossed his arms, giving Madrigal an odd look as he leaned back against the wall near the bathroom door. "Everything good now?"

"Peachy. Right, Alex?" She smiled at the boy, who scowled in return.

"If you end up dead in an alley I'll at least have gotten a good look at your murderer." He didn't bother to look at Senos.

"Anyway, did you need something? Or did you just bust into my apartment hoping to catch me in the shower?" Madrigal raised an eyebrow.

"Hardly." Came the dry response. "I came over considering our coffee and sketchbook swap Sunday?"

"Aw shit I'm sorry I missed it-"

"Mads....TODAY is Sunday."

"Oh....I knew that." Alex sighed.

"Plus maybe we could give your 'friend who is totally not a murderer' a tour. Give him a good list of places to hide your body."

"Alex-"

"Kidding." Madrigal looked over to Senos, raising an eyebrow.

He raised an eyebrow in return - or appeared to. "Sounds like a plan," he said. "I need some ideas before starting my serial murder spree."

He glanced at Madrigal. "I'm gonna really need that belt," he said in chimera.

"Ha. Ha." Alex said with a dead tone in his voice. "But seriously what LANGUAGE are you speaking in?"

Madrigal perked up. "Oh yeah-" she replied in chimera, then began to shove Alex out the door. "We'll be right out. Private business!"

He sputtered out protests as he was shoved out the door, right up until it slammed shut.

"Alright." She swung back around the corner and straight into her closet, bulling out a rather wide and eclectic selection of belts. "Take your pick before flower power breaks the door down."

Senos joined her near her closet, grabbing the thickest belt he saw. He lifted up his tail and wrapped the belt around it, pulling it tight across his chest. The belt seemed to disappear, hidden beneath his glamour.

He hated restricting his tail like this. It was so uncomfortable. But it was better than knocking her 'friend' over with it.

"There," he said.

"Alright," Madrigal slung her bag over her shoulder. "Let's go burn some daylight.

When they exited, Alex was leaning against the opposite wall, arms crossed. He was glaring at the door with such ferocity Madrigal was surprised it wasn't on fire. "I will eat you." He said curtly.

"I assume in the non enjoyable sense?" She teased, to which he rolled his eyes, pushing himself off the wall.

"Let's just go.." He sighed, leading them out, once again, into the warm sunlight that cascaded through the town. As they walked along the side streets, attracting various stares, double takes and finger points from passerby for one reason or another, Alex had apparently simmered down enough to talk.

"So how was Vulkar this weekend?" He asked casually, casting a glance back towards Madrigal.

Senos remained silent as they walked, observing the reactions of the humans to his form as he passed. He towered over most of them, but he also observed some of the women staring at him and quickly looking away - which pleased him well enough. If you could choose how you looked why would you not choose to be attractive, after all?

He cut his eyes to Madrigal as Alex asked his question. How much did she even tell people about Vulkar?

Madrigal shrugged, if she noticed Senos' stare, she didn't give any sign of it. "Pretty good. He was doing the usual, sulking around, trying not to mangle Pitch, and tried showing some restraint to maintain his diet- but still snuck a few dozen pastries."

Alex snickered. "You should write a book someday."

Once they had reached the coffee shop in question, barely a soul rested within. The walls were lined with chalkboard and bookshelves. The only other people inside was a petite, female barista and a small group of boys discussing a project from behind their laptops.

Alex led them to the secluded back corner after procuring their respective hot beverages, which was impossible to see from the doorway. Madrigal took a seat in the corner, one knee drawn to her chest, with Alex taking a seat on a rather worn looking chair to her left.

"Sketchbook." He said, holding out his hand, to which she complied, handing him a thick, worn sketchbook from her bag. It held pictures of her chimera family, Vulkar leaning over his desk, examining bones through the odd glasses that bridged across his crocodile nose. Ihra, stretching propped high into the air upon her tail, shelving books on the topmost shelf of a bookcase. Pitch, head tilted oddly to the side, a unnerving smile on his face with his wings spread, ready to take flight.

Senos awkwardly pulled up a chair as well, sitting down and visibly starting when he saw the contents of her sketchbook. That was... cheeky? Was that even the right word? Am I going to appear in there now?

He appeared to sit up rigidly straight in the little wooden chair - in reality he was leaning back on his tail pressed against the back of the chair. He hated having it in the way, having it confined, and he could already tell trying to blend in would be a pain in the ass.

"You have a pretty good imagination, I've gotta say." Alex said, taking a sip of his coffee and staring at a picture of Vulkar, glaring at Pitch who was perched on the edge of his desk. "Might explain why you're such a bird."

Madrigal shrugged. "But I live with them, they're my family. I didn't imagine them up, if I did I would have made Vulkar less of a grump."

Alex rolled his eyes. "Uh-huh. I'm sure next you're gonna tell me this guy is Vulkar's long lost son who's hiding scales or lions fur under his pants."

Madrigal shrugged, taking a drink of her tea. "Believe what you want."

Senos tried not to look at Madrigal, pretending to have innocent interest in the drawings. Cheeky didn't begin to cover it.

He chuckled. "I may be weird but not fur-and-scales weird," he said, his first words since they stepped out of the house. He leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table in a position that felt more natural that bolt upright in his chair.

"I already knew you were weird for hanging out with her." Alex, replied, flipping to the next page which held a sketch of Ihra. "Are you sure you're not a lesbian?" He sighed.

"I'm sure."

"Not even a little? Because boobies this...perky don't really exist. In fact they're borderline perfect." He muttered.

"This is only the fiftieth time you've remarked on them and like I said, she's flattered."

"Can you stop talking about your hot, perky boobed snake lady like she exists?" He rolled his eyes.

"But she does and I told you her name is Ihra." Madrigal closed her eyes taking another sip of tea.

He rolled his eyes again. "Fine. Can you stop talking about Ihra like she exists?"

"But she does!"

"Jesus...." He turned to Senos. "Does she insist upon this shit with you, too- or does she just like screwing with me, especially?"

She really doesn't know when to stop. Senos blinked at his question. "As far as I can tell she insists on it with anyone who will listen," he said dryly, glancing over at Madrigal. I'm not sure if its her being cheeky or her just being stupid.

"She's nuts. But madness and brilliance go hand in hand, I suppose." He shrugged.

"Aw, you think I'm brilliant?" Madrigal beamed, not caring about her charge's previous comment.

"Maybe 'brilliant' was a stretch...by a few miles." Alex shrugged. "But you are talented. Every scale and bit of fur is rendered so vividly, it looks like a life study..."

"Ah, well, you know me. Brilliant Madrigal with her vivid imagination. Who knows I might draw you and Senos with horns and giraffe necks."

"I do hope I get the horns..."

"You would be so lucky."

Alex took another sip of his coffee. "So did you finish the life study assignment we were assigned?"

Madrigal blinked. "Uh- what?"

"...We were assigned it last WEEK."

"O-oh yeah...I totally remembered. It's...back at my apartment." And I will somehow have to cram it between coffee and vampire hunting. Great.

"Uh-huh. It's weird how you can be so shameless at telling bold faced lies, yet when it comes to common ones you can't keep it together. Whatever, I can try and help you cobble something together. But I won't keep covering for your ass...I swear you lose touch with reality on a daily basis." Alex groaned.

"Oh hush, whiny. I've covered for your ass many times. Like when you needed a nude model that one time?"

"Yes your saggy titties were such a joy to stare at. As was your leg hair."

"Okay it was the middle of winter and my boobs are not as perky as Ihra's."

"NO ONES boobs are as perky as hers because she's not real..." He ran his fingers through his hair. "I don't know if my headache is coming from you or the coffee right now."

"Well I certainly know where mine is coming from." She glanced over at Senos, then back to Alex.

Senos blinked as she glanced over at him. Him? Hasn't exactly been a joyride for me either princess. He smothered his irritation. It wasn't as bad as he expected yet. At least there were no migraines. If she acted this cheeky when carrying out the mission tonight...

He grimaced. It didn't matter anyway. He was stuck until she died. Let's not think about that now.

Alex raised an eyebrow at them. "Uh...pretty sure I'm missing something but I've had enough of you weirdos for today."

"Smart decision." Madrigals eyes shifted to the window, which let the warm colors of dusk settle in to the room. "Well, you might not have a life outside of drawing naked people and fruit, but I do."

"Rude." Came Alex's quick response. "And what? Gotta run back to Egypt because your dad has to pick up some more hot orphans?"

"Hardly. We have business to attend to. Hunting undead creatures of the night. Spooky stuff. Stakes and holy water and all that jazz." Madrigal responded with a straight face, gathering her stuff.

"Uh huh." Alex replied flatly, looking over at Senos. "Good luck."

Senos blinked, and gave Alex a pained look as he stood up as well and waited for Madrigal to get her things. Maybe she was onto something. It was clear Alex didn't take her seriously after all. He felt his tail catch on the belt holding it in place as he tried to move it, and grimaced, irritated. Damn human realm crap.