Demon in the Dark (Open)

[deus]

New York, even in the dead of night there was hustle and bustle. It wasn't as active or as loud as the city could be during the day, but it was truly the city that never slept. And even the people of the city's night gave wide berth to a strange and exotic looking man. His massive stature placed him at eight feet in height, maybe even taller as he walked through the crowds that parted for him. Silver hair at an impressive length constantly reflecting the light around it as he continued along. Amber eyes glancing about at the staring but cautious people of New York, thanking whatever divine presence listened to him that no one was bothering him. And although his physical appearance was strange, his attire was stranger still. Worn and faded black jeans, with a sleeveless brown canvas trench-coat. The man was clearly not wearing a shirt, instead sporting medical bandages. The strangest things however where what were best described as over-sized armor. Sporting a pair of gun-metal gauntlets and boots that had diodes jutting from them.

In all sense he was indeed a strange man.

Although it was not his strange appearance nor his attire that was causing the crowds to part way for him as he continued onwards. No, the man seemed to give off a strange vibe, an aura if you will that unsettled everyone that was near the man. Simply giving him some space and doing their best to avoid eye contact were the peoples intentions, so as to not incur the attention of the silver haired giant.

The mans destination had been even stranger, the central park of the city.

At this hour, the park was effectively dead and abandoned. Only a few homeless people here and there with good dry places to sleep for the night. Navigating the park quickly, and after taking a quick trip into the bush off the main trail the man seemed to find what he was looking for. A tree that had been at the park since it's founding, quite large and even older still now stood before the man. A small smile graced the tanned skin of the giants face as he walked over to the old tree. He placed his metal covered hand on the trunk of the old oak. For a few moments he stood there, like as if he were talking to the tree itself. And with a sigh that sounded like the man had been walking the whole day, simply plopped down on the soft earth below. He then turned around as he leaned back, using the large oak as a backrest for his tall frame.

It almost seemed like the man planned to sleep here

[kalypso]

Kalypso Donahue was never much one for cities. She preferred quiet rural areas where you could look up at the sky and see every single star shining brightly down at you. It's possible that her opinion was biased, however, as she had grown up on a farm as a child - But it didn't matter to her. Not even her dislike of cities mattered much right now, for Kalypso was on a mission to find someone very important to her.

She bustled around New York City for hours upon hours, asking people around if they had seen her daughter - A young woman, tall, with long, straight, pale hair and odd eyes. She had received no helpful answers, either sent away with a sorry or some rude comment that made her huff with indignation.

Before she knew it, the sun was going down and she had made her way to central park. It was late, and there were only a few people there... And they were either drunk or some other form of incoherent. So deeper into the park she went, leaving the trail behind. Her pace was slowing down as the night became deeper and darker, barely a star seen in the sky due to the pollution of the city. Still, her eyes strained to find even a single speck of light other than the Beloved Moon, but she found nothing. When she looked down again, not a soul was in sight...

Except him.

He was a tall figure, sitting down at the base of the tree. She could feel his Aura from where she stood, a dark and powerful one. But where others would be intimidated, Kaly felt hopeful.

"E-Excuse me, sir!" She called, quickly moving towards the resting figure as she waved her hand, "I don't mean to be a bother, but... Have you seen a young woman anywhere? I'm looking for my daughter, she disappeared from our home a few days ago. Long, pale hair.... She'd be fairly tall, almost six feet..."

[deus]

The man had been half-way to being asleep. The long trek through not only the city had worn even his strong body out a fair bit. And he had been looking forward to some well earned, although probably not very restful sleep. And just as he had been about to nod off from the rest of the world someone had spoken out to him.

His amber eyes locked on to the woman that was speaking out too him, and for some reason he seemed slightly annoyed. 'Red..... Why did it have to be red......' He thought to himself, the look of annoyance quickly vanishing however as the woman continued to speak. At first he had thought of just saying no, and being done with it and going back to trying to sleep. But he doubted the woman would take a simple no for an answer, what with how late it now was. His head tilted upwards so that he could get a better look at the woman. And with a sigh he spoke. "Seen plenty of people, way too many for my taste but none that fit that description either......" He managed to speak out with a somewhat deep and smooth voice.

The wind seemed to pick up lightly from behind the woman, and for some reason that had caused the mans nose to twitch slightly. A small look of concentration crossed his face as his nose twitched a few more times, like as if he could smell something. "And if she smell's anything like you, then I doubt she's anywhere near here. Maybe in the city somewhere, but not here in the park......" Although he did doubt that the woman that the redhead was seeking smelled anything like she did. A strange earthy smell that reminded him of rolling hills of a far off land, and something akin to doves seemed to come to his mind.

[kalypso]

Kaly's face fell as the odd man answered, and not in a favorable way. She looked around for a few brief minutes, before letting out a sigh of mild frustration. Not at him, of course - She was just tired. It had been so long since she had rested... But how could she rest, knowing Lynn was out there on her own?

"Well... Thank you anyway..." She brushed her hair away from her face as the wind blew, looking at the man curiously as he spoke on her scent. A smile twitched onto her lips, and she crossed her arms to keep in her warmth.

"Goodness, I hope that was meant as a compliment," She jested, unable to help herself despite her distressed feelings. Perhaps it was a way to help her remain calm, and for that matter it did. She cleared her throat, hesitating for only a few seconds before continuing to speak, "If you do see her... Could you tell her Kaly is looking for her? Please? It would mean a lot to me.... And I would make it up to you somehow." She just didn't know how yet...

[deus]

His brow arched slightly at the jest that the woman made at him. Probably a method of coping with her lost child. He was tempted to shrug at let the woman be on her way, but a memory of the past made him halt. The memory of his sister made him pause, if she had been lost like this woman's daughter he would have gone to hell and back to find her. With another sigh the man slowly rose from his place on the ground, to his full height of over eight feet. As he towered over the woman even from the distance that he was at, his amber eyes still upon her.

"I think I can do you one better....." A quick crack filled the air as the man suddenly jarred his head to the side, popping the kinks in his neck from his rather odd spot he had been in. A small smile crossed his angular face, slowly approaching the red haired woman. "I could simply help you search after all........ It is rather hard to find one person when you are the only one looking, and I'm not exactly doing anything at the moment so I can spare some time to aid you."

He didn't really have to help her, he could have simply nodded to her request and send the woman she was looking for her way if spotted. But he sort of understood what the woman was going through, and well he wouldn't sleep any easier knowing he had simply done nothing to help her out.

[kalypso]

While sitting, it was easy to tell that the man was tall. When he stood, however, Kaly instantly realized that she had underestimated the height of the stranger she was talking to. Her brows rose up her forehead as she watched him, impressed that a person could reach that height. It didn't stop her from smiling, however, as he offered to help her search for her daughter. Oh, how her heart skipped with joy at the thought of having another pair of eyes searching for Lynn!

"Oh, thank you!" She gushed, stepping towards him as well until the distance was closed. She took this time to get a better look at him, from the long hair to the metallic arms. He certainly wasn't someone you saw every day! But it didn't bother her, not really. He was kind in offering his help, and she wasn't the type to let simple looks sway her opinions of another, "This means so much to me! I promise, I will make this up to you one day."

"My name is Kaly, by the way - But I'm sure you figured that out," She chuckled, looking sheepish at the fact that she had already given her name to him without it even being a proper introduction! "Who might you be?"

[deus]

The way she gushed at him for simply offering to help, made him wonder if everyone here had said no to helping her. At first he was a little miffed at the people of the city, then he remembered that this WAS New York. With everybody having their own problems to deal with, the worries of a woman clearly not from here were hardly a ping on their personal radar. Her rather exuberant and bubbly personality brought a small smile to his face. 'And bouncy......' A quick realization to what he had thought brought a small tinge of red embarrassment to the giants tan face. With a quick shake of the head both that train of thought and the tinge were gone.

"You don't really thank me....." He started off, that small smile still there. "Consider it someone understanding what your going through in a strange way......." He said, hoping that it wouldn't draw questions as to what he meant. He did not exactly feel like going down memory lane too many times tonight.

"As for a name......... Deus will do for now......." He always found it ironic in a sense how his parents had named him, the weakest of their two children had been given the Latin title of god, and when he had been forced to change he had earned that title fairly well.

[kalypso]

Kaly had to admit - The urge to ask the young man what he had meant was very tempting. But she could tell by looking at him that he wouldn't be willing to talk about it if she asked. It would probably be too personal a thing to inquire about.

"Oh, but I feel that I do," She implored with a small shake of her head, "It's not every day that someone offers their help to a stranger. Not only that, but as I said... It means a lot to me. I don't have much family around," Not anymore, at least, "And Lynn is very important to me."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Deus," She said with her usual warm smile. Her arms were uncrossed by then, although the night air was still cold against her shoulders. Despite the goosebumps, however, she nodded in a direction of the park she had yet to see - And could only hope Deus hadn't seen yet, "Shall we begin the search? I haven't been through the whole park yet, so it's still possible for her to be around here somewhere..."

[deus]

The silver haired giant gave the woman before him a small nod, he could understand the importance of family. Although the thought of his past loved ones did bring pangs to his heart, he managed to hide it well from Kaly. Clearing his mind of those thoughts he drove himself to focus on the task at hand, finding the lost child of Kaly. "So this girl...... Lynn right? Could you tell me a bit more about her, are there more distinguishing features that she has beyond being a taller woman with pale hair?" This was a large city, and the more he knew what to look for the better the search would go.

Although once he had enough details to go with beyond the two and confirming the girls name, searching both the park and the city would be a sinch. Especially with his talents he would be able to search via the air, although he doubted that Kaly would enjoy zooming about the city at rapid speeds.

[kalypso]

"Oh yes, certainly! Of course!" Kaly assured, before going silent for a few seconds as she brought up the mental image of her adopted daughter and the many different ways she could describe her.

"... I said her hair was pale," She finally spoke up, her voice a bit slow as if she was still trying to figure out the correct words, "And it is, although I fear that simply saying 'pale' would give you the assumption that her hair is blonde... Which it's not. It's more of a silver or grey color - But it's not from age, she is still fairly young," At least young physically and by the standards of an almost-two-hundred year old Angel, "Her most distinguishing feature, however, would be her eyes. They're odd and beautiful, encompassing a rainbow of colours..."

She had begun walking a bit as she spoke, arms crossed both against the cold and her nerves. Her mind was going through a plethora of "what if"s yet again, but she was managing to rein it in for now as she spoke to Deus (who was hopefully walking with her).

"Considering how unique those traits are, it shouldn't be too hard to find her..." Her voice was hesitant, however, as if she doubted they would be able to find Lynn. At least in this city. For all Kaly knew, Lynn could have taken herself out of the city... Hopped town and gone off somewhere else where she would be lost, alone, scared, confused...

Gods, she didn't even know whether or not Lynn knew what she was doing when she left!

[deus]

He was indeed walking besides the shorter woman, hoping to bring her some solace in the hopes of locating her daughter. "Taller woman...... Hair like a cloud effectively..... And very unique eyes......" It wasn't much, but it would be enough to start. "Now my last question is going to seem rather odd....." He started, stopping in place to face Kaly. "Are you afraid of heights?"

It was then that his very body seemed to become thinly enshrouded with a yellow energy. And for a few seconds, nothing happened. Then suddenly the earth bellow the two gave a sudden lurch, and what seemed to be the world around them falling away. In actuality they were going up on a large piece of the earth, large enough to hold the both of them easily. The slow but gradual rise into the sky stopped at just above the parks tree-line, giving an excellent view of the park and the people in it. "This should speed up the search exponentially........" And with another lurch the disk of earth began to float forwards like a ferry.

[kalypso]

Kaly seemed confused by the question, her brows knitting together as she looked up at the (half-?)Demon, "Uh, no actually... I'm not. Why do you a-ahh!?"

It wasn't the going up itself that had scared the Angel. It was the suddenness of their rising higher up, the bottoms of the trees getting lower and lower. Her scream of surprised lasted for but a moment as she reached out, immediately grasping on to Deus's arms as she lost balance for a moment and felt the instinctual need to grasp something solid. She felt her back aching for a moment, before two feathery appendages shot out - White wings flapping as her body tried to register what just happened, a few soft feathers floating down to her feet.

The wings stretched out, arching a bit as the Angel looked down at the Earth remaining at their feet even as they went higher and higher. Her brows lifted, her body finally relaxing and her wings slowly lowering once balance was returned.

"... Well now!" She said with a slight laugh, finally letting go of Deus as they stopped rising. Her wings tucked against her back, but didn't go back into 'hiding' just yet, "That was fun!"

That was when they started moving forward, causing her wings to spread out yet again and her hands to reach out as Kaly once more grasped for her balance. Perhaps she shouldn't have relaxed as much as she had allowed herself to!

[deus]

A small smile had come to the giants face when Kaly had latched on to his arm, it was a nice feeling. Then again he had not had proper human contact for so long, he figured someone hurting him would be better then nothing. Although the second sensation that he felt across his arm felt odd, light and fluffy. He looked over and down, only for his vision to be flooded by a white fluffy cloud. "..... Feathers......." He was in awe of the beauty that this person, no this angel had graced with the likes of him. Now he kind of felt horrible, someone like him helping such a good woman like Kaly. He wasn't a human, he was a monster. Something that put on a facade of humanity and emotion but just below the skin was a rampaging disaster waiting to happen.

Just like what had happened to his home town those many years ago.

The half-demon giant however was brought out of his self destructive thoughts when Kaly broke the silence with her voice of excitement. The smile never left his face as he continued to look at the angel beside him. No, he wasn't a monster, not yet at least. He still had a chance to make it better, to redeem himself of the beast that was within. Although the second look at the angel woman had rather converted his higher train of thought to jelly. "You...... Have rather beautiful wings......"

[kalypso]

Kaly didn't notice Deus's awe at her wings at first - She was too busy gazing in amazement at the scenery that their new vantage point gave them. She always did love flying simply for the eagle-eye view - It was a pity, however, that her troubles with landing prevented her from flying too much. Something was nagging at the back of her mind, however - A small sense that lasted for only a brief moment. One hand was still resting on one of Deus's arms, and there seemed to be a dark sort of Emotion... Akin to hatred, not towards her but... She couldn't place it, and it moved into the back of her mind (For now, at least) as the tall man's compliment reached her ears.

"Oh... Thank you," She said with a smile, a tinge of red coming to her freckled cheeks. Flattery was always a nice thing to receive, especially when it was as honest as Deus's was. Her wings shifted, as if knowing that they were being talked about, and the Angel's gaze went back down to the chunk of earth beneath them, "I must admit, this is simply fascinating! I've been in the air quite a bit, but never on a floating bit of Earth... How did you manage to do this?"

[deus]

The smile on Deus's tan face grew at Kaly's flustered reaction to his compliment. Although his focus on the rather pretty woman beside him was broken for a moment to look off over the side, checking the few people below to check if any of them matched the description of Lynn. When none of them looked even remotely close he went back to focusing on Kaly, and more importantly the question she had posed to him.

He actually had to think for a moment, he knew he had the power that he did but he never knew how it worked. "I'm not entirely sure myself how I do this......... It's like I just speak to the earth, and it listens......." A small smirk formed from his smile as he continued. "It's not just limited to the earth itself or even just what I'm doing now....." He looked up to the night sky, even with all the lights of the city, he could still see the twinkling stars above thanks to the gap the park provided. "Nearly any mineral compound is at my command..... And I don't just move it, I can shape it, control it and make the land itself come to life......." He looked back down, his eyes focusing on the metal he wore on his hand. "Although...... It came with a price I didn't really want to pay........."