Time is on my side...{broodie/asura/open!}

[Anya]

It was a pretty typical late-summer afternoon - sunny, humid, temperatures rising - much too hot a day to be wandering around crowded New York. Anya liked people, really, but being elbow-to-elbow with a whole crowd of them on a busy street in 87 degree weather? ...Well, she didn't like people that much. Central Park had the benefit of being both quieter and less populated than the nearby city, and it was for these reasons that the vengeance demon had decided to teleport on over here for her lunch break. Running the little magic shop she'd only very recently opened by herself was...was fun. Rewarding, too. But a girl really did need a break every now and then.

By the lakeside, she found it was a few degrees cooler - in fact, sitting in the shade of a nearby tree with a light breeze blowing off the water, it actually felt nice. She took a quick drink from her bottle of water before setting it down to the half-eaten sandwich on the napkin and blanket beside her, and getting back to the book she was reading. This was kind of nice, she reflected - though yes, a little ironic. Ironic that this was the closest she'd gotten to normality in some time. Just a normal-looking blonde woman, having a normal quasi-picnic of a lunch break in central park, reading a....

Well, okay. That was the thing. The book sorta shattered the image, just based on what it actually was. Not some American classic or the latest trashy romance novel fresh of the shelves, no - this book was visibly quite old, its cover worn, its title scrawled in some old forgotten language...this, actually, was a volume on demonology. One which Anya was rather studiously reading at the moment, a look of uncharacteristic concentration upon her face. Anyone who knew the demon well would have found this even more peculiar than it already looked, actually. Because Anya wasn't much of a reader. She'd always been the first one to space out when Giles had sent the gang on one of their numerous researching quests, and after a few of those experiences she formed a habit of avoiding most books as a rule - but today, evidently, was the exception.

A vengeance demon's power center was connected to her pendant, she read, but the pendant's power comes from the rage and vindictiveness accumulated in the demon. Well, that certainly explained why her abilities had been suffering since she'd gone and gotten buddy-buddy with the human race in its entirety. But how exactly was she supposed to fix it? With a soft snort, she flipped through a couple more chapters in search of anything that mentioned managing demonic abilities - but this book had been written for humans who wanted to know about demons. Not...demons who wanted to know about themselves. With a quiet sigh, Anya snapped the book shut, set it down, and leaned back against the trunk of the tree for a moment.

Her light brown gaze scanned the shoreline of the lake as she contemplated for a moment. Well, if this old book wasn't going to give her any answers on how to balance herself...she'd just have to find what she needed herself! Which inevitably meant more practice, and though that hadn't exactly worked out splendidly before...she was determined, and firmly of the belief that if she kept trying she was bound to get it right. Er, eventually. Lifting her hand, she gave her wrist a slight flick and telekinetically sent a smooth pebble on the shore - a pebble that was a good few yards away from her at the moment - skipping out across the water. She then stopped its progress, allowing it to hover slightly on the surface...and then brought it skipping back toward the shore. Now that hadn't been too difficult! Still, it was only a pebble, fairly basic stuff...she was going to need to start challenging herself.

Trying to think of the best way to do so, Anya idly sent a few more rocks skipping across the water in the same fashion. It didn't exactly occur to her that she was far from the only one present in the park, and that she was currently making an actual public display of her demonic powers...which was typical, really. The vengeance demon wasn't exactly the most logical gal on the planet...

[asura]

As expected, Anya was not the only one near the lake. However, one of the people around the lake was not an average human himself. The person in question was Asura, who was enjoying his own sort of meal. The body of an average human picnicker lay at his feet as he held the same man's soul in his hand. The Kishin licked his lips and he looked the soul over. However, before he could eat the soul, he heard something in the lake. It was a faint noise, but a noise nonetheless. The Kishin ate the man's soul and turned to the lake to see a pebble floating in midair, before returning to it's point of original. While the Kishin wasn't very afraid of someone who could move pebbles, he decided to investigate.

As soon as another pebble floated out, the Kishin realized it's point of original and floated above the nearby woods to reach the source. Upon reaching it, he realized that it had simply been a girl, probably one with slight telekinetic abilities. For a moment, Asura was uninterested, until he noticed the book that lay by her. The book appeared to be quite old, and upon looking at the girl's soul, he realized that it was a demon's soul. The Kishin raised an eyebrow underneath his scarves and floated down, his scarves snapping out and snatching the book from the ground.

As soon as he reached her, Asura floated just above her in a sitting position while the book was brought to him. It was apparently some ancient tome on demonology. "A studious one, are you?" Asura asked, flipping through the pages. It was all human's thoughts on demons and their study of them. Asura carelessly tossed the book down and looked down on her. "Now... why would a demon be reading that?"

[echidna]

A hive mind is a strange thing.

In a crowd, it can hide like a shadow, a merely unsettling presence in a field of minds, but in central park, there were no big crowds of that nature. Even in a town like this, a girl sitting by the water and skipping stones with her mind wasn't a thing that would draw a great deal of attention... at least not from most people. Eliza, mother of the Brood and the queen of a hive mind, was not a "most people".

It wasn't her eyes that picked it up. She had many eyes - many of them were on wings, in cat-sized beetles, one of which was eating a pigeon underneath a park bench, quite peacefully. The innocent creature stared outward into space... and had just happened to be looking in the right direction at the right time - at pretty gold hair that it so wanted to climb into and fall asleep in.

So it was that a mind made up of many, many minds approached. In an effort to get to know her new home, to grow to love her city, Eliza was actually going for a walk... getting some air! LEarning to love her new hometown and its inhabitants. After all... it was her town. If she didn't love it, some other bugger might! That wasn't quite how she would have put it... but Mr. Bitingston had a way with words.

She reveled in the open air and beautiful blue sky - she was still a teenager, even if she was supposed to be... whatever Slade was trying to train her to be. Self reliant was her best guess on the subject so far. Either way, she couldn't hide her presence from either of them.

Finishing a bite of a fresh green apple, she smiled as she walked up.

"Because human belief gave them shape in the first place" she said matter-of-factly. "It is human belief that gives a demon their specific powers and shapes... and thats how it is with other beings like them... like angels, for example."

The teen had to be younger than Anya, but she looked.. quite seriousface, with snowy platinum hair cropped short, good posture, and comfortable black clothes - a loose, soft-material shirt, unmarked, and a faded pair of black jeans that just covered the tips of boots - combat boots, probably. Her eyes were focused mostly upon Asura - she'd also seen him.. do something... she hadn't been able to see exactly what... but it had made her skin crawl. Something about him... rubbed her the wrong way.

She took another bite of her apple.

[Anya]

In an instant...something had snatched the book beside her up off the ground, and Anya's attention immediately shifted to the one responsible - the rocks she'd been focusing on landing with a splash in the water as a result. Standing nearby was what appeared to be a man, though his features were hidden from view by the scarves wrapped around them. And one of those scarves seemed to have been the thing that had snatched up her book, oddly enough. Okay...so she was going to go with not human. Just a wild guess. Nonplussed, she stared blankly at him for a moment before he seemed to lose interest and tossed the book back to the ground. It was this that at last provoked a response from Anya. "Careful!" she told him, picking up the book herself and inspecting it for damage. It seemed to be intact, however, and she set it down again before adding, "This is very, very old, you know - not easily replaced."

What concerned her more at the moment, however, was the fact that this stranger actually happened to know that she was a demon on sight. She wasn't entirely sure how he'd managed that - perhaps he had some way of sensing it - but she intended to find out. The vengeance demon warily opened her mouth to answer, but the sound of a new voice cut her off before she could. Blinking, she brushed her hair out of her eyes before turning her gaze on the new arrival. A girl, a teenager by the look of her, but she had an oddly somber presence that Anya had almost never experienced around humans of her age before. And...though she'd clearly heard the strange man's question, she didn't even seem slightly taken aback by the mention of 'demons'. In fact, she didn't even miss a beat before providing a confident answer.

Well...this day just kept getting weirder.

Anya tilted her head slightly at the girl's words, but nodded - if a bit uncertainly. Actually, her own personal reasons for picking up the demonology text were somewhat different, but she wasn't about to start confiding in two complete strangers just now. And the girl had actually just given her a good excuse to avoid answering. "I suppose you could argue that." she conceded briefly, glancing over at the man with the scarves again to gauge his reaction. A moment later the demon had risen to her feet, regarding the pair of strangers before her cautiously but not with any particular hostility - more curiosity, actually. "You two seem very nonchalant about the whole demon thing, by the way. I wasn't aware our existence was...um, common knowledge." Normally she would've been careful to use the word 'their' instead of 'our', but... no point in hiding it now. Scarf Boy over there had already called her out.

She fell uncharacteristically quiet then, fidgeting slightly as she glanced from one to the other. All plans of a quiet, peaceful lunch break might as well be forgotten, it seemed...

[asura]

Did the other demon really think Asura didn't know that the book was old? It's age didn't matter to the Kishin. Asura floated down, assuming a stand position nearby. "I don't care." He said, watching as she picked up the book and inspect it for damage. The Kishin suddenly felt the urge to destroy the book for no real reason, but repressed it. The book could be of use. Maybe it contained information about Lord Death. But that was highly unlikely. Any books containing information about Lord Death were no doubt kept in the most secret areas of his Academy's library. Not that he really cared much, he could kill Lord Death without knowing much about him.

Suddenly, a new girl approached. This one younger than Anya and possibly shorter. Her words practically proclaimed to the world that she knew everything about demons. Upon her finishing, the Kishin laughed. 'You honestly think that demons are made from human's beliefs?" If that was so, some human would have to have dreamed up Asura, and he found that humorous for whatever reason. Why would a human want to believe that he existed? It made no sense to the Kishin, who, if his eyes weren't covered by his scarves, would be staring at the teenager in disbelief.

"It'd be hard for a demon to not talk about his own kind normally." While he was a demon god technically, he still counted. It had also crossed his mind that Anya had some sort of power. He would have to be careful with her. A fellow demon would certainly cause him trouble eventually.

[echidna]

Eliza did not Mind it when Anya rose, just finished her bite of apple, knowing full well that the reciprocation would come momentarily from this... this thing. He gave her the willies, truth be told - he felt foul - incredibly foul, in fact, and she wanted to... well, she wasn't going to do that.

"Oh.. don't worry" she said to Anya without looking from Kishin. "Your secrets are none of my concern... you seem... harmless." she said, mimicing Slade's tones for a moment.

Massing up the collective bile she had, she shot Kishin a sickeningly sweet smile, though there was no humor in it and it did not pass into her eyes - her eyes were cold... narrowed at him, grey as a cloudy sky, and steely in their certain hatred of the man. She couldn't place why she despised him... right from the start... but she just did - with every fiber of her being.

"But as for you" she said to Kishin, her voice a low tone, like the rumblings of distant thunderstorms "... no... I don't *Think* so... I know so. We gave names to the dark that we feared... we gave shapes to the evil we hated... and from our darkest dreams, from the power of not just human belief, but the belief of all mortals, that gives even the gods their power over us and sustains them... things like you were born." she said, icicles trickling off her words.

This one had a kind of... presence. The serious, somber aura of this pale girl was just the beginning... but she wasn't just in front of Kishin and Anya... she was around them as well... All over the park, in fact. Presences, multiple, but one, dotting the trees, sulking in the shadows... dark, silent things, watchful eyes, just out of sight... all of them were her - but not exactly. It was... closer to how a beehive felt to a telepath. A hive mind can hide in a crowd... but without bodies conveniently present... she IS the crowd.

Hundreds of eyes trained intently on Kishin and Anya both.

[Anya]

"It'd be hard for a demon to not talk about his own kind normally."

This statement caused Anya to stiffen slightly, her gaze wandering back over to the man with renewed interest. Another demon? This was...unexpected. She hadn't come across very many demons since leaving Sunnydale, apart from Tanzanite and Invidia that was. And as she had learned, it was always a very...unpredictable experience. There was no telling whether it would end well or not - though something told her that this demon man wasn't exactly in a friendly mood. "Oh alright, that explains it. I thought you were just creepy." Anya commented, blinking at him with undisguised curiosity. Somehow, the knowledge that she wasn't the only non-human present wasn't doing much to reassure her. There was an undeniable tension in the air, particularly between the other demon and the human teenager - what was she doing, glaring at him with such undisguised hostility? Did she want to provoke him?

...Still, as anxious as the human's boldness made Anya, she did have to note once again that there was something very unusual about her. Something in her body language that read that she was far from as defenseless as one would think - and far from passive as well. When the girl noted that Anya struck her as harmless, the vengeance demon did give a bit of a smile. That was...mostly true. She was hardly about to go slaughtering entire cities full of people, at any rate. Though she couldn't say the same for Scarves there. "You...sort of don't." was her reply never the less. Not snarky or shrewd - just earnest and blunt as usual. Because she got the feeling that this girl was far from harmless.

The mood didn't seem to be lightening any with the icy debate about human beliefs that this pair was currently having. For her part, Anya didn't much care to get involved...though she was beginning to worry that some sort of fight was going to break out if things went on at this rate. The vengeance demon cast a brief glance over her shoulder, wondering whether it'd be better to just take her leave at this point...though...she really didn't want anyone getting hurt, and - hold on a moment. Her attention was suddenly drawn back to what the girl was saying, and a slight frown crossed her features. 'Evil we hated'? 'Things like you'? Those words may have been directed at the man, but Anya still flinched slightly at the way her words suggested a generalization of all demonic creatures. "Whoa, wait. Evil? Not all of us - "

But she broke off, not because someone had interrupted her, but rather because...something had. Something that Anya could only describe as a very, very strange feeling that (as cliche as it sounded) they were being watched. Was she just imagining things, or...? Falling silent, the blonde narrowed her eyes and slowly lifted her gaze up to the trees that surrounded them. Just from her uncharacteristic silence, and the way she suddenly held herself with even more tension than a moment previous, one could tell that something was troubling the demon. ...Creepy. When had Central Park gotten so creepy?

[asura]

It was easy to tell that him being a demon surprised Anya. Asura had known that it would surprise her, yes, but he found the way she reacted humorous in a way. Because of this, a twisted smile formed on the Kishin's face, and if his scarves had not been blocking the upper portion of his head, Anya would see that Asura's third eye in the center of his head was glowing. The truth of the matter was that Asura wanted her soul. He'd never tasted another demon's soul before and he wanted to try it out. After all, it couldn't taste too much different from a regular human's soul. Suddenly, three eye patterns appeared on the scarves covering his face and began to glow red. "...You might be right."

However, he was interrupted by the other girl speaking again, this time in response to his question. The girl spoke as if she knew more about demons than a demon god. However, Asura felt as though he would have to be careful if he wanted to deal with this girl soon. A girl with such confidence and such lack of fear when dealing with someone like Asura made the Kishin uncomfortable. However, he was not visibly uncomfortable, though the red eye patterns had faded away into black eye patterns instead, and the twisted smile had faded into a more calm expression, expressing no emotion at all besides something akin to boredom.

Suddenly, the scarves that wrapped around the Kishin's eyes began to unravel, revealing his full face. His expression of boredom held true, though there was a certain anger to it that couldn't be explained. "You know nothing about demons, then." Asura said, the twisted smile forming back onto his face, along with a look of malice in his eyes. "I made my own power, not some human's nightmares. If we're following your logic, whatever human dreamed me up and kept me alive for 800 years has got to be pretty twisted. Explain how I survived for 800 years, with barely any human knowing my name, and returned more powerful than I ever was."

[echidna]

Anya's response to her harmless comment elicited little more than a slight tilt of the chin downwards in acknowledgement. Eliza tossed the apple to the side carelessly, but there was little careless about her - her eyes barely blinked as she watched Kishin with no break in intensity.

Eliza had a... knack for certain things. She could feel... hunger, hate... bile and vinegar surging off of this...this... man-monster before her and finally, she put her finger on what was bugging her about him. No, what was infuriating about the man. He was just that - a man. She figured it out before the scarves even fully dropped.

"Redemption is barred to nobody." she said plainly to Anya's offended remark, but the ice dripped off each syllable. The girl did not trust her much, but she certainly would rather have a sleepover with her, complete with hair-braiding and girl-talk compared to how she felt about Kishin.

As Anya looked up into that tree... a pair of eyes stared back... but not just one pair - several, on the same head, situated strangely, in an alien, horrific manner, attached to an... awful lot of teeth, the something hiding in the shadows of the branches, its fearsome profile only slightly offset by the black scarf and tinted goggles over the foremost pair of eyes on its triangular muzzle. It gave a "Shh" motion with a clawed hand. over black lips, and... winked at her? Its features contorted into a biiig grin - and believe me, could this thing ever grin.

Eliza smiled at kishin, though only with her mouth, revealing snowy white teeth.

"Mmmn... Yes... You're not even a demon at all.. are you." she said, with mock sweetness. If words could only drop ambient temperatures... "You're just a human... probably scared to die, who took the path of least resistance... Maybe you're clever, since you've been alive as long as you claim..." she chuckled darkly. "But its all stolen... none of that power belongs to you, does it?" she mocked.

"Its sad, really... bile-worms like you want it so badly, so you take it... while people like me..." her eyes slowly turned red, and something... ancient, part of the world around them, yet alien... dark, surged to the surface. It was... strange, more than terrible - colors grew somewhat more vibrant, darker, richer around her, and that feeling of being watched from all angles, that paranoid and cold little feeling, took on texture and girth. This sensation had weight, nearly physical. Killer intent was in the air, lousy and rank with it

"... We never asked... but it just comes so... naturally..." she rumbled.

"I'll give you this one chance to walk away, demon-thief... Be wise... I won't extend it a second time." she hissed, her words seeming to cause air particles to shift and waiver.

[Anya]

The symbols on his scarves were...glowing. Well, that was an interesting feature. But it wasn't this that made Anya give him a rather disapproving frown - it was the tone of voice he used as he more or less confirmed her 'creepy' theory. She sensed something almost predatory in the way he addressed her, a slight suggestion of a threat. The very thought made her scoff. Demons these days - other demons, that was. At least vengeance demons were sophisticated enough to function productively in society - but then you had the demonic types that just went around terrorizing people. And if he thought he could victimize her, he had another thing coming. "Right. Very, very creepy. Not as creepy as some of the hellspawn I've seen, though, so don't be too pleased with yourself." Her words were both sharp and dismissive, communicating on no uncertain terms that she was not demonfodder and that he could very kindly back off now. Her curiosity and wariness had given way to irritable disapproval upon sensing...whatever it was she'd just sensed, whatever that vibe he was giving off was, and her demeanor was quick to turn slightly frosty.

Fortunately though, his attention was shifted away from her when the human girl spoke again. While she didn't have to worry about him, Anya took this opportunity to return to focusing on the movement from the trees. There was actually...something up there. A creature which she couldn't even take a guess at identifying, though she was quick to take note of the fact that it had a few extra pairs of eyes...and lots and lots of extra teeth. Startled, Anya could do nothing but blink up at it - surprised, cautious, vaguely curious - but not frightened of it, per se. She hadn't been lying to Asura when she'd said she had seen some pretty creepy critters over the centuries, so it wasn't really the creature's appearance that unnerved her. It was more...more the feeling that practically made the air crackle now, the one that seemed to be radiating from Eliza. And oddly enough, she got the strange feeling that it was somehow connected to the creature in the tree as well....

She raised her eyebrows as the whatever-it-was actually winked at her. Right. That wasn't abnormal at all. Somewhat bewildered, she quickly averted her gave from it, getting the impression that it didn't want to be given away just yet...though she remained cautiously aware of its eyes on her. To distract herself, Anya turned her focus to the conversation at hand and found that Eliza's tolerance of Asura's presence seemed to be quickly wearing thin. There was no mistaking the veiled threat behind her words, and Anya glanced over at the male demon - noticing that his scarves were now lowered and his expression was visible - to see his reaction to all of this.

"You really should go," she said to him frankly, her frown still in place. She wasn't sure how seriously Eliza's threat should be taken, or which of these two would come out alive if worst came to worst - but she wasn't at all eager to find out. Glancing at Eliza to indicate that she was speaking to both of them this time, Anya continued, "Or if you two are going to...fight to the death or something, I think relocating to somewhere less public would be a good idea. If a human gets hurt in the crossfire, I'm not going to be too happy." Because really, this was Central Park - what happened if some innocent bystander wandered onto the scene and got caught with a full blast of whatever demonic powers Asura held, or got attacked by one of the creatures that she was now very aware were lurking just beyond in the shadows?

[echidna]

Eliza turned her head to Anya, her eyes still-glowing like two rubies in her skull, that aura of... super-reality vibrating faintly around her. She smiled - not unkindly, but with the impression that unkindness was a future possibility. She just... had that kind of feeling.

"Now let's talk about this redemption business of yours... Anya." she put a little, gentle tone onto the word. If only Anya knew how many of her children inhabited the city... it really aught not to have surprised anyone that she knew Anya's name - or that she understood her to be a being supernatural. "We have... much to discuss, you and I" and the light in her eyes faded. There was no need to intimidate somebody into doing what she wanted - but it helped.

She turned from the kishin - it wasn't like she wouldn't know if he moved. There was no fear of him whatsoever in her stance or motions, for better or for worse. Anya... probably wouldn't understand. Eliza intended to keep it that way - if somebody is in awe from something they do not fully understand, they are less likely to think... well, it wouldn't be good for anyone involved.

"Come. I know a good coffee shop." she said as she passed Anya, then looked forward again - fully expecting the woman to follow her. She'd be disappointed in her if she didn't... This was as good an excuse as any to break from the tense situation with the Kishin.

[Anya]

She was a little taken aback when the girl turned to address her, especially since she evidently knew Anya's name. ...Well that was...unexpected. Perhaps she was a telepath? For a moment Anya merely blinked blankly at her in response, uncertain of exactly what discussing her 'redemption business' would entail. Did this girl intend to help her in some way? And if so, how? There was still something about her that made Anya a bit uneasy, and she wasn't completely certain that following her was the absolute best course of action - but it had to be better than sticking around here. Too much more time spent around Asura was probably going to result in a very nasty fight - or even if it didn't, she couldn't see him being the best company to keep for any extended length of time.

Plus, there'd be coffee! In Anya's book, any form of caffeine equaled good. Her book in hand, she gave a slight shrug and started after the girl, casting one last disdainful glance back at Asura over her shoulder. She wouldn't put it past him to abruptly decide to attack them from behind - not that it'd be a very smart move to make, but she felt better keeping tabs on him until he was well out of range. Maybe...whatever had been up in that tree would cause some trouble for him. Shaking her head, the demon quickened her pace slightly so that she was now walking at the girl's side.

"So, um," Anya began, glancing at her uncertainly. "No offense, but I don't normally go around chattering about the darkest details of my life with just anyone. And you...apparently know who I am, but I don't know who you are." Though this girl didn't put her nearly as on-edge as Asura did, there was still something about her that made the demon hesitant to trust her right away. Though to be fair, being...well, a demon, she probably wasn't the most trustworthy candidate present herself.

[echidna]

Eliza smiled. Anya was following her, but of course, not without reservations, saved by her hand or not - Already, in a very Slade kind of way, she liked Anya. The strange, supernatural feeling that earlier surrounded her left just as quickly as it had come, and she again seemed to be a strange, white-haired teenager, merely unusual as again, hands in her jeans, she rejoined the throng of humanity on the streets as she made her way to the promised cup.

She didn't waste the demon's time by drawing it out, and looked over her shoulder at her.

"Understandable, Anya - I'd be quite... dissapointed if you did, and I won't ask much of you in that regard.... but you're right - I've been rude." she smiled, and just the faintest hint of that grin on her pale features made it to her eyes - a faintest inkling of a twinkle. If she was a teenager, her eyes... were many decades older than the rest of her. She looked perhaps tired, but... vibrant. She was awake and alive, in ways most people were not. All this was expressed in a few moments of eye contact. Her eyes in that moment were... matronly - motherly. What she said was

"I get called a lot of names often enough for them to stick... but if you like, I think you could get away with Eliza." she said, and again focused on the sidewalk. She looked casual, but Anya by now would likely understand that much as posturing - a big part of diplomacy was to appear harmless, after all, and thats what this had begun to feel like, at least from Eliza's point of view, even if she was as far from harmless as most people could get, probably further.

The girl said nothing else until she reached her apparent destination - it was a little mom and pops place with an open door named Luigi's, apparently a pizza joint as well as a cafeteria, and devoid of clientele. There was movement in the back, clangs and cursing, general, normal sort of sounds, but Eliza didn't even vie for attention - an open booth was the best kind of booth, and Eliza politely motioned for Anya to sit first - after all, in a way, she was playing host.

[Anya]

There was something about this girl - Eliza, as she'd just introduced herself - that stumped Anya. Not that the demon was exactly adept at figuring humans out even under the most normal circumstances, but...well, she got the the feeling that Eliza wasn't just any human. And she couldn't quite place why. Slowly, though, her curiosity was beginning to overtake her wariness - just when she'd begun to think she'd experienced every sort of surprise New York City had to throw at her, something like this happened. Not that Anya was complaining, really. It kept things interesting.

"Okay. Eliza. Hi." she replied, relaxing a bit more into her usual cheerfulness now. They'd ventured back into the city streets by now, and the demon briefly amused herself by reflecting how relatively normal the two of them looked - even though she herself was certainly far from it, and she had no doubt that Eliza was as well. Anya wasn't really one to keep quiet, and at present there were still about a hundred different questions whirring through her mind, but the crowded streets of New York weren't exactly the best places to have conversations that were better off not being overheard. So in accordance with Eliza's maintained silence, she held her tongue until they reached the restaurant in question.

She regarded it thoughtfully as they walked inside, noting that she'd never been in here before - it was funny, how in her time here in this city, she had actually become habitual in the cafes she visited in the same way a human might. Smiling slightly, she seated herself in the booth Eliza had motioned to, casting a curious glance around the place and fidgeting slightly as she sat. Eliza had previously told her that they had a lot to discuss, and since Anya wasn't quite sure what to expect yet she might have been better off waiting for the teenager to speak first. Of course, as was typical for the talkative vengeance demon, she wasn't quite successful in maintaining her own silence now that they had arrived.

"You know, I don't think I've ever seen a human talk to a demon that way. They're usually frightened of us." Anya told her conversationally, referring to the icy way in which Eliza had previously addressed the Kishin. "I mean - not that he was anything to be frightened of. A creep dressed in a bunch of scarves; you could see the same thing under any bridge in the city. But, um," she paused in her rambling a moment to consider how to best word her next inquiry. "Do you deal with demons? ...Often?"

[echidna]

Eliza smiled at Anya and sat with her, waiting until she was totally settled in before doing so, herself. "I see a lot of interesting things around here" she said simply. "But Demons... well, they're not the worst things I can think of." She twinkled a little at Anya, and there was a smile as she said it, but something... not quite nice was being remembered behind those eyes, shaking and terrible and black as the void.

"But that one... He's a soul eater. You? I've not seen you do that sort of thing - in fact..." she smiled, pushing away those black memories with a batting of the eyelash in a blink "In fact, as demons go, you're among the most decent... which is why you're -" she motioned to the cafe. "-Here, Anya, in a place I cherish, neutral ground as it were." She looked about a bit, and leaned into the comfort of the hole-strewn leather booth cushion upon which she sat.

"Used to be a speakeasy, back a while... makes it an old Locus - a place of human energies. Its... hard to be wholly inhuman in a place like this, see... Not without making sparks, anyhow." she explained, and nodded, then shifted gears again smoothly "And, the old couple that own the place make a mean pizza, you just wouldn't believe." she said, and a woman in her late sixties came around with a jug and a bright smile. Eliza gave Anya one of those looks that seemed to say

'Yes, we're supernatural and that's just ducky, but I'd just as soon keep these good people in the dark if I can help it. I'm trusting you, ok?'

"Hello again Eliza - good to see you dear! How's school going?"the elder said gently, pouring Eliza a cup first.

Eliza nodded to her mutely and just smiled, gratefully taking the cup and sipping from it like she was ravenously addicted to coffee - perhaps she was? It seemed to pass muster, and the woman moved on, apparently satisfied.

"You're a new face, honey - and my aren't you just lovely! What can I get you dear?" she asked, fawning, just a little, over the blonde across from her regular customer.