Empty Books. [Open]

[Reikas Esterion]

"You can't have met many people." Reikas was not gracious at accepting compliments from strangers. Alexiel hardly knew him, and he give the impression of a man with many friends anyway. He imagined it must be difficult for a friendly guy who looked like Alexiel to function socially even without a desire to touch strangers in socially inappropriate ways.

He fell silent as Alexiel contemplated though, watching his expressions airily. He smiled as he saw those too-familiar nerves cross over the mara's expression. He realized how much he missed it, that hesitant uncertainty when he was just on the cusp of prying a true fetish from a master. It was a sweet sense of satisfaction, that trust he established with others, and the relief of concession that followed, and the excited anticipation.

"Swear it on my life," he said solemnly, making a fist with one hand and pressing it over his heart. Whatever that meant. It was some kind of "you can trust me" body language, or supposed to be. "I collect answers from everyone about this question, I promise whatever you say won't be judged. I've heard worse and more embarrassing."

[Alexiel BookMan]

Alexiel seemed satisfied with Reikas' promise not to judge; he was easily led into trusting people, and the man had done nothing but try and help and give him advice so far. He took in a rather large breath, breathing it out slowly whilst looking at the floor before looking at the demon once again, making sure to stay far from eye contact this time; when nervous his other habits seemed to pick up rather a lot more and his fingers started to twitch a little in his pockets. "Reading love stories make me happy..." Was the first whisper to escape his mouth, looking just over the man's shoulder now to try and make it appear as if they may have some sort of eye contact. It was really rather hard to tell where someone without pupils was looking, and he used it to his advantage often enough.

"And touching people... I like to people watch to, that makes me happy... Feeling people are happy around me." He chuckled a little, thinking of how simple it must sound; but in truth he was far less complected than most of the people he knew and had read about. "Though making people happier is sometimes a lot easier for me than it is for other people. Want me to demonstrate?" Of course, his excitement seemed to pick up a little, knowing this would distract from talking about what exactly made him happy, which he felt a little nervous about talking about. He felt as if he should have more than just simple pleasures.

He was already close to Reikas of course, so when he held his own hand out it didn't need to go far to be in front of the other man, at about the level of his chest. Alexiel wanted Reikas to take it, and offer him a little of the trust back that he had given to the demon so openly. Alex may have been a young mara, but he was by no means a powerless one; where Belial had learned to shift his powers towards scaring people, he had decided his powers would develop best if used for something he could help other people with too.

[Reikas Esterion]

Awww, the red-eyed puppy was ashamed to be a romantic at heart. For the umpteenth time Reikas found himself thinking the words Poor guy as he smiled kindly and nodded. How could something who looked down demonic be such a sweetie? It was probably going to torment him for the rest of his life. Unless he figured out how to make it work for him. Reikas would give him a half century or so, he'd probably work it out. He didn't seem like a particularly smart guy, but he had the enthusiasm. That was half the battle.

Aaaaaand touch, what a surprise. And people watching? He could see it, emotionally-dependent maras needing people around. Reikas himself enjoyed the social scene too, he loved that mixture of pleasure levels that only a crowd could produce, like sampling a buffet rather than ordering a single meal at a restaurant. He could make people happy, though? That sounded interesting. A tag-team idea flashed through his mind but he pushed it away. Jumping to conclusions was a dangerous and an unhealthy thing to do. besides, Alexiel wanted him to do something.

"Sure," he said. He was a curious and self-assured kind of guy, and this mara certainly seemed trustworthy. And he was really interested to see how Alexiel could make him happy. He lifted a hand and laid it in the mara's, regarding it with open interest.

[Alexiel BookMan]

Alexiel seemed pleased that it took the demon only seconds to take his hand with with a grin he gently looked down at it; not that he needed to, it was just the only obviously place to look right now. After a few seconds on just letting Reikas' hand rest there, in which he was secretly having another small meal he decided it was time. With barely an effort at all on his behalf he flooded the other man with a sense of pure joy, something you only feel at very special moments in your life. The mara let it last only a few seconds though, toying with people's emotions was not something you should do for long and defiantly not something you should do often and he took his hand away; but he knew it would last for a few seconds after.

There was a small pause of silence where Alexiel just looked at the other man. "I can do it with almost all the emotions I've felt personally." He stated rather matter of factually, but with a small proud smirk; it was an impressive skill to have, and he knew it wasn't something you would come across every day. "Happiness, sadness... fear like your friend, shame, anything really." He leaned back against the desk once more, flexing the hand that he had taken away from Reikas' only a few moments ago. "Don't find much use for it though, unless people are hurt."

He then stopped talking and decided it would be best to look at Reikas and his reaction to what the mara had just done to him. Would he accept it? Would he tell him off or want him to show him more? Alexiel really hadn't shown many people what he could do on a personal level, he had only used it a few times to cheer some people up or make the odd person forget they were in pain if he could get close enough; he never explained it was because of him it happened.

[Reikas Esterion]

The seconds leading up to what happened passed in uncertain curiosity for Reikas. He wondered what was going to happen, would it be some kind of mind-altering event like Belial's fear? What would Alexiel pull from his past to make him see? That is, assuming all maras had the same pow--

His breath caught in his throat. His lips parted as his chest swelled with a powerful warmth. His eyes rose to Alexiel's but he didn't see the mara. The world peeled away and left him there with nothing but a hand to hold and an overpowering sense of happiness, but not just that, excitement too! His hand curled powerfully around the only human contact available and he struggled against the urge to draw Alexiel into a hug. Reikas wasn't a man who dealt with exuberance that overwhelming in a regular basis and he certainly never dealt with it alone, that sort of thing was only felt concerning others. And right now as far as he was concerned it was directed at Alexiel, this too-adorable, young little mara full of hope and dreams, full of needs and potential. He had a brand-new friend just like Belial but without the recurrent need to be terrified! Wasn't that just the best ff*cking thing ever?!?

Coming back down from the high was quite a sobering trip as Alexiel withdrew his influence and it drained too slowly out of him. He didn't want it to go, he wanted to stay this completely overjoyed and full of energy and thrilled forever, but without a solid sustaining factor, reality seeped back in. He realized that at some point he'd brought his other hand to cover Alexiel's as well, and was covering the man's hand with his quite tightly. He relaxed his grip and his cheeks flushed a light pink., eyebrows shooting skyward. Well. That was certainly new. And quite a dangerous tool.

He caught his breath in the silence, unsure of what to say, and let go of Alexiel's hand with the one he hadn't initially placed there. Alexiel was looking at him, he was definitely judging. Not that Reikas could tell and it actually didn't look like it, but the demon didn't much like losing control like that. He wasn't angry with Alexiel, just sort of embarrassed. He was grateful even that it hadn't lasted that long.

The broken silence was a relief when Alexiel began to speak again, and his words echoed in Reikas' head. Any emotion, he could recreate. On a whim, he could touch a stranger and feed Reikas for a week. Or Belial. He didn't think it was possible for someone like him to be force-fed, but he imagined this would be sort of the equivalent. The potential for disaster...And Alexiel had trouble making friends? Maybe he hadn't learned subtlety yet.

"I...could think of many uses for it," he said quietly, still slightly reeling as he lowered his other hand slowly He blinked and shook his head to try to clear it, but he couldn't get rid of the idea that Alexiel was the perfect sort of guy, even more so than Belial. He definitely wanted to stay in touch with this particular character. How had Alexiel hidden himself away for so long from the demon's notice??

[Alexiel BookMan]

Alexiel seemed to be smiling just as happily as ever, watching Reikas recover a little slower than he had hoped for but recovering never the less. He had been pleased he had caused him something so great, and laughed a little as the demon's other hand had grabbed his but didn't complain when he was let go of; it wasn't his place to stay after doing such a thing. There were many problems with his powers, feeding wasn't as easy as someone feeling the emotion of their own accord, but there was a better side to it. Though the mara had a constant stream of mood swings, he personally couldn't be effected by anything he made another feel, so if he ever had to escape from a fight, he'd be the one better off, that was for sure.

"Kicks you hard doesn't it?" The little mara joked, watching the demon taking in some deep breathes before really relaxing into the desk once more; he was certainly relieved Reikas didn't seem mad at him (though he knew it would certainly be hard to get mad after feeling something like that). He also appeared to like that the other man had a slight hint of blush. Now they were even in his eyes about embarrassment. It took Alexiel a few seconds to really let what the man said sink in though and he racked his brains. "...Sure, it could feed you. But that's only one other use?" He commented, trying to answer for the man like a mind reader - which he most certainly wasn't.

There was something still bothering the little mara though, and despite his half efforts he couldn't work out what it was. The time they had been standing there was certainly affecting him, and he wasn't really sure just how long it had been. Maybe he should offer Reikas a seat after what he had just done?

[Reikas Esterion]

It was helpful that Alexiel didn't think his reaction had been abnormal. The last thing Reikas needed was to be informed that people weren't usually that affected by his powers and the demon was just particularly susceptible. He gave an awkward insincere half-smile and nodded. In fact, he could feel that Alexiel was pleased by how it had affected him. I guess that's good, he thought, continuing to restore self-normalcy as the mara continued to talk.

"Could feed several people I know," he added truthfully. "Could feed a lot of demons, most of us are emotion-consuming creatures. But it could also just manipulate people in general. Incite them to a cause if you were trying to gather support, start bar fights, end bar fights..." Make people fall in love with you...

He kept that last one to himself. It seemed like a dangerous seed to plant in the mara's fertile mind. Although Alexiel might be too much of a sweetie to dare use it like that anyway, but better to be cautious.

"Is that your only power?" he asked. He didn't seem to mind the standing and the leaning, especially while so satisfied from Alexiel's earlier joy. Of course, he wouldn't mind sitting down and chatting, but he assumed that the mara had a post to maintain until the library had closed.

As he looked around again for another clock, he suddenly remembered why Alexiel had invited him to partake in that little demonstration. He'd been distracted by curiosity and aftereffects, but Reikas had been trying to get out of him what made him happy. It was disappointing now that he thought about it. Happy people made him happy. Sort of like Irina. That wasn't his specialty. He wasn't good with that, it was so passive and difficult to work with. He couldn't do anything to feed, he just had to be a certain way, and it was never quite as powerful a meal. He'd been hoping for something like Belial, where a squeeze of the shoulder could bring a smile to the man's face. It seemed he'd have to scrap the hope for another meal ticket, or at least one he could acquire with a simple algorithm of steps to follow.

[Alexiel BookMan]

Alexiel seemed distracted as Reikas talked, though it was hard to tell why. He knew exactly what he wanted to do, and since there were only one of two people dotted around the library it would be very possible without taking very little time and after a few seconds he seemed to have made a decision. "Feeding people would be nice to do... But manipulating people's emotions. Mm." He paused, looking back at the man for a few more seconds. "It's dangerous. I don't think I'd like to do that, especially if it were for a fight! Don't think I want that kind of thing~" He smiled, turning and going behind the desk for a minute.

Alexiel came back with his chair, which he happily placed besides Reikas, taking a seat himself on top of his desk a few seconds afterwards. He seemed pleased with this kind of position, and although he wasn't too happy with being higher up. "Only power?" He blinked, thinking for a few seconds before making a strange sort of noise. "I can feel what other people feel... OH! And not to mention the horrid mood swings... No powers really, but I can memorize anything I've read and recite it~" The little mara seemed utterly pleased with this last thing he said, he had always been good at retaining information.

Sure, Alex couldn't see people's fears like Belial, hell, he couldn't even tell the difference between happiness and excitement yet, but at least he was proud of what he could do. "Do you have powers Mr.Reikas? As a demon I mean? I read that demon's can do all sorts of scary things!" He seemed so excited now, as if there was a chance that he may get to learn, or see something new now. Maybe Reikas as a happiness demon could do something similar to him?

[Reikas Esterion]

Oh, a chair, that was thoughtful. Reikas accepted it, adjusted it slightly, and sat down with a grateful thanks as he listened to Alexiel. Apparently he wasn't going anywhere soon. Alexiel's comparable position of power amused him, but he didn't mind it.

Emotion sensing, yup, that was expected, and mood swings, Belial had those too. A sharp memory, though, that wasn't something the other mara had mentioned. Reikas smiled at how proud Alexiel seemed about that. Good for him. But nothing else? Reikas was surprised, Alexiel couldn't make people "see" things to influence them. But as far as the demon knew Belial couldn't make people "feel" things flat out.

His smile gained a sad twist. "Nope," he said, shaking his head. "I'm a boring demon, bottom of the food chain. Barring accident or starvation I can live forever, but I don't have any powers to influence people. I don't eat, I don't drink..." He shrugged. "I'm actually not even a born and bred demon." Now this was something he didn't tell many people at all. Or ever. Amazing how safe he felt around Alexiel. "I was born a human, made a deal with a demon when I was very young, maybe about your age." He gestured loosely at Alexiel. The mara hadn't even asked about that and he'd volunteered the information. He was quite a flatterer, this Alexiel, making Reikas feel all special and interesting and willing to give up information.

[Alexiel BookMan]

Alexiel listened, resting his elbows on his knees and staring rather intently; like a small child being told a story by someone they looked up to, he seemed utterly fascinated with such information, and he made sure to store it all away up in his memory. He had to admit he was a little surprised that the demon didn't have any powers and he looked a little stumped at this fact, though he didn't let it dampen his spirits. "You aren't boring Reikas~" He chuckled, for the first time they had met, he didn't used the polite 'mr' in front of the demon's name, feeling a lot more comfortable now as friends.

But what was this? He hadn't been born a demon? Now that was something he had never read about before; deals with the devil were all too frequent in books, but they were never anything like the man was explaining to him and Alexiel shivered with a sense of excitement, wanting to just touch Reikas again. His hands seemed to twitch slightly, trying to move a little forwards towards the other man but he stopped himself with a small kick to the desk. "About my age? Did he offer you the world or something? I mean, I can't say I know much about demons, apart from the stories I've read, but... well... it's a little confusing." He admitted, staring at Reikas' hand.

Was it so bad for him to be so distracted by wanting to touch someone? Alexiel really couldn't help himself though; and worst still, he couldn't help but show it. His body often betrayed him when it came to what it and his mind wanted, and he often showed emotions when he wasn't meant to. It was hard to hide for him and although he was trying not to, he still stared.

[Reikas Esterion]

Goodness, and now it was story time. Reikas was highly amused by Alexiel's position, and he noticed when the mara dropped that title he'd been addressing the demon by. Good. It was about time. Too much more of that and he would have had to denounce it himself.

Reikas' mood changed rather quickly as Alexiel pressed him for more information, and his eyes dropped dow his knees. Oops, he hadn't meant to go into detail about that particular dark time of his life. Well...what was the harm in telling the kid? It had happened so long ago...No one was alive nowadays but his sire, and even that wasn't a certain fact. Or so he told himself.

"Other way around," he said, looking up. What was the mara staring at? It wasn't quite Reikas' face. And his hands were twitching slightly too. The demon smiled with chagrin as he realized Alexiel could probably sense his conflicting emotions. He squeaked his chair closer and offered his hand palm-up to the mara above him as he continued. "I was selfish, I wanted immortality and the power of a demon. I offered him my world in exchange for it. He took it and made me into this." He tried not to go into detail about exactly how suckish "this" was, or what he had lost in exchange for it, despite how much he imagined Alexiel would appreciate the emotional buffet.

[Alexiel BookMan]

Reikas had been right about one thing, Alexiel could sense the strange sort of emotions dwelling in the other, but he didn't exactly know what they were without touching; and it hadn't planned on feeding, he just wanted contact again. He truly was simple in that way. With a sense of pure delight he took the other man's hand gently with both of his own and started to give it a strange sort of little massage with his thumbs. He hadn't even thought of feeding and the happiness coming off him must have gone a little back to intense, not too concerned with Reikas' deal with the devil.

"Immortality and power aren't selfish." He said rather absentmindedly, still playing with Reikas' hand rather gently, "There are plenty who would have done the same, if not worse." He was of course, talking about the kind of men that would kill for power, though he didn't want to mention that, it wasn't a wonderful subject. He was slightly curious about what exactly 'this' which the demon had mentioned was, but it was obvious he had avoided talking about it for a reason, and Alexiel had enough sense not to pry into such things. It was then he realised just how much he was leaning over to touch the other man's hand and he decided to shift on the desk a little to make it easier for both of them.

"Making people happy for life though..." He muttered, putting 'happiness demon' and 'feeding off emotion' together rather easily for someone who seemed rather slow at times. "Is that why you were asking me what made me happy?" He asked again, still rather joyed by the fact he was being allowed to play with Reikas' hand. In this respect, Alexiel and Belial were too alike, both reveling in being touched, just Belial was just too good at expressing himself. The little mara was still far too young to understand you might as well just get on with letting people know how you felt.

[Reikas Esterion]

Reikas let himself enjoy the small massage, and he relaxed his hand to let Alexiel play with it at will. If the mara wanted to give him a massage, he wasn't going to stop it. He smiled wryly though as the man spoke. Just because a lot of people did something didn't mean it wasn't selfish.

The expression softened as Alexiel asked him the final question. "Yes," he said, nodding. "But I didn't ask to be this kind of demon. I didn't actually know but about demonkind back then...It was a long, long time ago, back when demons and vampires were just stories told to little kids about what would come to get them if they weren't good."

Alright, that was enough. Reikas was officially straying into pity territory and he didn't want pity. Well, he did, but he knew it wasn't good for him. Pity was a dangerous thing to have concerning Reikas. He survived by pretending his life wasn't as shitty as it actually was, pretending he was okay with bowing to the whims of others and making them happy at his expense, pretending that his sacrifice for the sake of survival wasn't that hellish. And if he didn't think about these things, it worked.

But of course, that didn't mean it never bubbled to the surface. And he had a bad feeling that Alexiel could tell that he wanted pity and that he might just be the kind of guy to give it instead of telling Reikas to suck it up and move on. Like he always did.

He searched for a way to change the subject, distracted by the feel of his hand in Alexiel's. It was amazing sometimes, how the simplest touch could be so comforting.

[Alexiel BookMan]

Alexiel continues to play with the other man's hand, taking great interest in his thumbs and the joint they had to the hand. This part of the body seemed really rather tense as well as being one of his favourite parts of the body; his others being collar bones, hips and the shoulder blades - he loved those parts because he could see just how the bones joined together, being very fascinated. The little mara did start to feel something strange though, looking at Reikas as if trying to work out what it was and he jumped off his own little seat on the desk, letting go of the demon's hand and giving him a hug rather happily.

The hug was for the demon's benefit of course, but it didn't mean it didn't fill the little mara with a pure and unchallenged sense of joy - what a simple thing to cheer someone up and he was really hoping it worked. Of course, being rather tall he wondered if it might look a little odd hugging someone sitting down on a chair and he tried to make sure it didn't last any longer than the other man might feel comfortable doing. "Well you can always come here and that'll cheer me up really easily so you can eat!!" He chuckled, letting go of the other man and leaning back against the desk again.

He did feel a little sorry for the man, but it didn't cloud his sense of joy at the touch he had just instigated, and the way he saw it, it was best to just cheer up and get on with ones life rather than dwell on sad things. "People say I'm the happy sort~" And fortunately for both men in the room, this was no word of a lie - He was easily pleased yes, but it was even easier to make him feel joy.

[Reikas Esterion]

((Oh god, Alexiel exploring Reikas' hips. Best image ever.))

Reikas was surprised by the choice of actions, but he still hugged Alexiel back, his mind piecing it together rapidly. Of course Alexiel could feel the self-pity, and Belial was always cheered up by a hug...It made sense. God, why couldn't regular people be this simple and unafraid? He hugged the mara back with slight awkwardness based on their positions. It also helped that he was now literally surrounded by Alexiel's joy, something he always enjoyed greatly, and he closed his eyes and drank it in for a second or so before releasing the mara and exhaling.

"Thank you, Alexiel, I appreciate that," he said with a graceful smile. And he did enjoy it. In fact, he'd enjoyed it a lot, surprisingly. Usually his hugs to Belial were to cheer him up, So the mara wasn't over exuberant. But hugging a man with joy just pouring from him...well, he wouldn't terribly mind making that a regular activity. It certainly did wonder to cheer him up. Making his life easier was apparently a good way to push away how badly it had turned out.

His smile became more genuine again. "Sorry about that though, talking about the past isn't a great thing. I'm not proud or really supportive of the decisions I made back then, I just try my best to make them work for me day to day." He grinned and reached out, taking Alexiel's hand again to hold. "Meeting people like you makes it more bearable."