"Cherry blossom cocktail is what's running for spring." Shade said and made the mix of house made cherry blossom gin and strawberry puree, fresh lemon juice, egg whites, and edible rose pedals as garnish. Shade of course took a shot of the gin for himself as he set the drink in a martini glass out for Seth.

"It was awhile ago. Don't remember the details. Surprised they just gave you your job back no questions asked huh?" Shade said pouring himself another shot and taking it.

"Beer or whatever special drink you've got tonight works." Seth leaned forward against the bar again, smiling down at Circe who'd made herself comfortable in her bed with a bone to chew after all the excitement. Their gazes met and her tail started wagging. "I didn't think you'd take Circe or even want to take her. How'd that fucking happen?"

"Only reason you can say that and I'm not a lose my shit is cause you got my dick in your hand." Kudos to those that liked to wear the stuff, Seth included, but it wasn't in Shade's wheelhouse of things he enjoyed. "Look better on you and you know it." He said running a hand up Seth's thigh the other moving to the back of his neck to bring his lips closer. "See the bullshit I pull next year." He said against them before sealing them together.

"God, I have to do everything around here," Seth groaned even as he pushed himself out of his seat and moved over to where Shade was sitting to straddle his lap. Course that wasn't true at all and he was clearly being overdramatic about having to get up off his ass considering how much Shade would do for him like cooking, car things, and taking care of Circe for the last month or so. He smirked crookedly as he glanced back down at Shade's legs while he worked the cambion's cock free and gave it a few strokes with his hand. "They don't look fucking bad on you though. Kinda sexy."

"Plan? The fuck plan. I'm guessing it was the god damn thing...place for the dogs here. Fuckin thing." Shade gestured wildly towards where the kennel was unable to think of the word currently. "You know that thing, whatever. You think he left some fucking will and testament even though he some god damn 3 years or some shit to sort this out, the fuck. I don't know what his fuckin plan was. He just left me some message and died. There's your plan. It's Harper. Avoid it means it ain't comin bullshit. Maybe he told Daisor, but ain't like we speak and he sure as fuck ain't comin round me. I ain't his type, not pretty enough or some shit. The fuck I know. Too low brow."

Shade welcomed the change of subject. "Can't say I'm mad about it. Dude gettin what he deserves. Well, not that that would be bad. Shit. I'd be fine locked in a room with Gaudet. Bet I could unwind that tight ass, if you know what I mean." Shade gave a laugh damn well knowing he had no chance. France hadn't ever given him the time of day and he doubted that would ever change, there was his twin though.

"Then why did you take her?" Finn asked, raising a brow. "Didn't Harper have some plan for her so you wouldn't wind up with her? He didn't beg you to take her in, did he?" He snorted and took another drink. "Everyone's a dickhead of some degree, white magic or dark magic. The latter is probably more obvious because stigma dictates that dark magicians are assholes. White magicians are subtle assholes all judgy and self-righteous and shit but it's hard to see behind the goody-two-shoes act most the time. Fortunately for you, Valentine might not be capable of that for a while since I've been seein' him 'round the castle again the last few weeks. Think something went down with Gaudy cause he's not been there all year."

"I was making shit decisions with my dick well before I was a cambion, ain't the point. Would I fuck Grim, yes, is he a piece of shit. Yes. Ain't apples and apples here idiot." Shade said having no qualms admitting his dick and general inability to say no to sex being the source of all his problems in life. Over promising, under delivering and seeming to still have zero idea how contraception worked. Probably was good for him to stay in Krovs and around solely men for as long as possible. Last thing he needed was more kids out there.

Shade started at Finn for a minute and then busted out laughing at the last he said. Because the pool at Krovs was so fucking deep and full of amazing options. It took him a full few minutes to calm down enough to be able to say anything. "Oh yeah? Options huh?" His words peppered with laughter still. "Who's that then?"

"You've got workin' eyes, right? You've surely seen Grim when takin' swings at 'im. Bet he's real fuckin' fit under those clothes, though he doesn't need to be fit to beat you up so how's that not the same," Finn retorted cause he sure as hell wasn't going down as the only fucker with poor judgment and decisions here. He'd drag Shade down with him. He stared the cambion dead in the eye. "You're wrong, I'm not that desperate for dick or... love, or either of those. Besides, I've got other options."

Shade worked odd hours. The nice thing about living above where he worked was he could drop down when he couldn't sleep to start doing things and he often couldn't sleep. So he'd start prepping things for dinner service and stocking the bars making less work for others. When that was done he'd work on all the shit in his garages he had in an adjacent building. That day had been no different in his fucked up sleeping so he'd gotten a lot done upstairs in the earlier hours so was downstairs stocking shit for mixers and checking levels of things to see what he needed to order before he was going to go check the arcade machines.

The chipper sound caught his ear and he glanced up with a skeptical look. When the fuck did Winchester every day good morning? It had Shade looking around him wonder who the fuck he was talking to. Course there was no one else in the bar, but Shade because no one came in that early to the basement. The cambion was already frowning at the other demon who was way to fucking full of smiles for that early in the morning. Finn wasn't a morning person.

"You on drugs and do you have more?" Cause that was the most logical conclusion.

Finn whistled cheerfully as he strolled into Cannabites for his shift. It was still pretty early for opening the basement, which meant hopefully Shade would be too busy upstairs to catch him and question the grin that apparently couldn't break off his features after getting railed by a certain cop so recently. The high obviously wouldn't last forever but for now why not enjoy it.

Course luck wasn't on his side as he practically skipped down the stairs and found Shade behind the bar. "Good morning," he greeted the cambion who would have absolutely no idea of anything as Finn joined him. "Howya doin'? Lovely day, i'nnit?" How would he know? Shade would never fucking know.

@shadedempsey

Shade wasn't fond of the castle for obvious reasons having been a slave and killed by a councilman in it. Wasn't exactly filled with great memories. It had been some time since he'd been there. Long enough he'd not even known there was a new enforcer till he saw the guy fighting in the gym when he passed by on his way to go hang with Arnon.

Shade had a tendency to never shut the fuck up so what was meant to be a quick stop off had him still talking well after the sparring was done. The pizza he'd brought with was well and cold and yes Shade was the type to bring a pizza into a gym with no fucks to give. Course in his sleuthing he'd found out the new guy was a lich, which was new to him. Didn't think those were real. So the cambion walked over and was staring at the other like a kid. Just straight eye dogging him with no shame until he was called out

"I've seen better." Shade smirked, tossed the pizza box down, and grabbed a slice from it having worked up an appetite doing nothing. "So what's your deal? You a dickhead or some shit? Why you here?"

Yuta had finally settled into his role as the Enforcer and after doing his early morning run through the Undercroft to make sure that everything was status quo. After breaking up a small fight between two of slaves who were having a disagreement and bringing one of them up to the castle doctor to get stitched up. He decided to swing by the castle gym to get in a quick training session, he had been so focused on his job that he hadn't taken a moment for himself and this was the perfect opportunity to maintain his skills.

After testing out the sparring swords and finding one that had a decent weight to it, Yuta stepped into the sparring ring to get some sparring in with the staff. After spending over an hour sparring with whoever was willing to step in the ring with the Enforcer, Yuta finished off his workout using the punching bag.

As he was unwrapping his hand wraps, he felt a pair of eyes on him and he smiled. "Did you enjoy the show?" He asked them, not even bothering to look to see who exactly was staring at him but he hoped that it wasn't a councilman. He didn't want to spoil what was so far, a promising day.

@krovscastlestarters

"Be good for me if someone more responsible would take her already. Fuckin toddler man. I hate kids." Shade said honestly. He had enough he abandoned already. A dog wasn't on the list of shit he wanted. "Might hit Rhys up to take the fucking thing. Course then I'd have to actually talk to him and I want to punch that dickhole in the face. So, probably just keep her. Talk about a dude who talks a big game with no follow up. How I end up with the dog as the most irresponsible mother fucker and this magical mother fucker just doin nothing. Startin to think white magicians are the actual dick heads. Cause Kaden's kind of a dick too. If dude impounds one more of my cars or bikes....I might actually fucking kill him."

"Jesus," Finn mumbled, shaking his head. "Krovs is an interesting place to choose to come to for an escape for a "straight" man." He slowly sipped on his beer, brows knitting together as he processed that. He didn't think Shade's assessment on how Ransom ended up here based on his family life made sense. No, Ransom was a cop through and through and a wrath demon at that –– the obsessive need and desire for revenge was hardwired into their sin, as the cop once hinted at with Finn ages ago. This wasn't a vacation for him. It made more sense to the familiar that perhaps Ransom's investigation into his mother's murder led him here to track down the killer. Perhaps he'd already found the guy he was looking for.

He smiled fondly down at the sweet pup curling up in her bed and watching the two of them while fighting the urge to snooze. "Sadly I can't take her forever. Probably for the best so she doesn't have to deal with Bastardbaby and the rest of the suite's antics. Besides, you havin' her might be good for you." Finn laughed to himself at the idea of Shade accepting and becoming a far more responsible person. The two of them were alike in many regards though the familiar liked to believe himself slightly more mature in that area... sometimes anyway. "For real, anytime you need a sitter, give me a ring. I've not got a lot goin' on so I could use the excitement. It'll be like a puppy playdate."

"That guy ain't hot first of all. Fuckin mid. And that's not even the same shit. Totally unrelated." Shade snorted. "Plus I know if Morozov walked in right now, your ass be fuckin out your mind. Ain't fuckin up your life for some dick. Shit. You'd give it up so fast for that motherfucker if he asked. Tell me I'm wrong."

"Who's fuckin' up their life over some dick?" Finn asked, blinking at Shade and feigning cluelessness. Sure as shit wasn't him doing that, no, not at all. "Not fuckin' up your life over some dick, is that why you’re pickin’ fights with that hot nightmare of a head banker?"

"I'm happy you ain't in hell." Shade said. "I'll drink to that. What do you want?" Shade asked and let it go because it wasn't worth the argument. He didn't have to trust or like what Seth was. Already let that slip. Ten years, the fuck was ten years. It had been ten minutes since he died or some shit. Shade hadn't even really dealt with shit and he was already back. His own experience was a bad one being a half demon. He wasn't the same as he was and he didn't go to hell. So whatever Seth was or wasn't in the grand scheme of things didn't matter.

"Sure sound fucking mad," Seth grumbled, pursing his lips together slightly for a moment. "I thought I was supposed to be the overthinker here." He shot Shade a lopsided smirk as he teased and propped his elbow on the counter with his chin in his palm. He stayed quiet then, processing and thinking over what Shade said since he wasn't all that wrong. Like Seth knew what to do or how to act about this either. "I don't know, man. You're assuming I'm me but not really me off of, what, maybe 20 words and like two minutes of interaction here. I sure as fuck feel like me, I mean, yeah, shit's a little different like being stronger and faster, but fundamentally I'm still the same nerdy, anxious kid from Chicago. I still fucking love mac and cheese, chocolate, and pizza, 'specially Chicago pizza. Still love dogs and foxes, and playing video games, watching horror or stupid funny movies, Harry Potter and other fantasy shit, listening to true crime podcasts, and canceling plans to laze around on the couch in comfy clothes with my favorite blanket. Oh, the floor becomes immediate lava whenever I see a rodent so still terrified of them. And I'll never ever touch a piece of fucking fruit ever. Still don't know how to fucking change a car tire." He shrugged and met the cambion's gaze again. "I've had, like, ten years to figure out I'm some kind of demon faerie witch mutt and what I can do. Probably gonna be an adjustment period up here but why worry about that now? Can't I just be happy to be back for a minute and excited to see you or is that not acceptable here?"

"Down with that long as you come to me." Cause Shade wasn't trying to move in the boots. Heels were not his thing.

"Wouldn't you rather see how many times I can say your name in a minute?" Seth countered, waggling his brows suggestively with a grin.

"Well, he's got an ex wife, two kids, and a dead mom. She was murdered. It's kinda fucked up. Think its why he's here, to get away from all that shit, but that's shit even I can't find info on. Kinda goes dark. Been a cop way too fucking long so it's no wonder he's." Shade gestured. "Him." As if that explained it all. "So there's the research your ass missed cause you're on some shit." He wasn't going to let Finn off knowing damn well the other was wasting his time on Ransom who was going to be a problem. When wasn't a cop a fucking problem.

"Take her. Take her forever." He said as said glaring over at the dog who nudged him and got a head scratch from him. "Idiot." He grumbled to her and nodded her to go to her bed tossing a treat on it he had under the bar. "She's good down here. Not upstairs." Cause Shade wasn't the same person upstairs and he knew she'd react to that. He was quick to anger, also quick to move on and let shit go, but when he was mad he was mad. Needless to say he got real mad when his instructions weren't followed. At least upstairs. Downstairs he was a lot more lenient. It was why he let Finn come and go as bartender down there. It saved their friendship. "I'll take you up on it, who knows maybe I'll actually go out sometime."

"I didn't have a whole lot of time for that," Finn grumbled. The early days under Gareth's claim gave him far less freedom than what he had now. "I know what Facebook and Instagram and LinkedIn are, I didn't want to seem like a fuckin' stalker." Which was true because he knew how he could fall deep into that rabbit hole.

He nodded, accepting the new drink and moving on. He too practiced the art of ignoring the feelings when he didn't want to be sad. "Alright, drinkin' it is," he said, swallowing down a mouthful and glancing towards Circe who wandered back over. "Also know that I'm free to dog sit whenever you need. Free of charge too."

"Well I ain't got no elements so that's sorted out." Shade wasn't all that worried. He was young and only a half demon anyway. It wasn't like he was much more powerful than a human as it was. The only real benefit was being more durable. Came in handy when he got in disagreements with certain unnamed councilmen. Currently he had no intentions of changing that half state either. His brain still couldn't comprehend how long he was going to live so everyday still had meaning, but he knew that would fade. "Don't try to turn shit on me anyway, I'm not the one fuckin up my life over some dick."

"Alright, sure," Finn scoffed, giving Shade a slightly skeptical look. Then again, he once lived with nightmares that have gone away so maybe he shouldn't talk. That skeptical look remained as he drank his beer and listened to Shade's brilliant theory about his abilities. "I mean, you're not all wrong there. Some of it does come kind of naturally, just gut instinct and feeling and willpower shit. The other shit like masterin' the elements and other magic I needed a bit more help with cause bein' born human I had no fuckin' clue."

"You can get me a beer or we see how many times I can say your name in a minute. Your call bro." Shade grinned.

Seth let out a noise, nearly falling right on top of Shade from the sudden orgasm that overtook him. He narrowed his eyes at the cambion and smiled crookedly. "Guess what. Now you don't get any magic," he said, planting his ass on the couch. Of course he used magic to levitate a beer over to himself and took a large mouthful.

"Mad at you?" Shade parroted the words as a question. "The fuck." He took a deep breath. It was still Seth in there or some part of him because the line of questioning was Seth. "I'm not mad." Shade said in a tone that sure as hell made him sound mad. "You come in back from the fuckin dead like surprise and shit and I don't know..." He scrubbed his hand over his face. "What he fuck Seth. You were in hell, the shit am I supposed to do here? You sure as fuck aren't you. You are but you aren't so I don't know. The fuck you want? Me to sit here and play like hey shits cool. You know what you are or you comin in here half cocked not knowin shit just hopin it plays out fine cause that's worked out for you every time."

The light and playfulness in Seth's features disappeared, lips pulling into a frown now. This wasn't exactly the welcome back he expected from his oldest friend and ex. Maybe he didn't expect overjoyed excitement but this... this gnawed at his stomach like something was wrong. Like he'd done something wrong and now Shade was mad. He might as well have just texted him back "k" in response to something. "Forget the drink now," he sighed. "Are you mad at me?"

"Nope." Shade answered what was asked. "Hard, difficult, same shit. Still it ain't. Look man. Be chill. You can flirt or not. I ain't gonna force you into shit you don't wanna do. You wanna just watch a dog. Watch the dog." Shade said glancing at the other who seemed to be twitchy as a methhead. "You won't hurt my feelings." He didn't have many and only a few could really hurt them.

"Gotta point there." Shade agreed. The day was long enough and he wasn't in the mood for more conversation than he was needed on topics that he didn't really give a shit about. Filler was filler and he heard enough of his voice in a day.

"Everyone's got their thing." Shade had five to ten things so made up for the underachievers. "Vices and obsessions. Shit like that. Seems sex ain't yours if yer goin that long. Maybe it's puppies." He said chided before getting out of the car and heading towards his place knowing that damn dog probably got into some shit. It always did. Shade had a crate, but fell into the other night when he was all fucked up and crushed the damn thing. He tried to fix it and so far she'd been able to break out of it every time. He was doubtful today would be different.

"Sorry! I mean, sorry." It took Jamie two tries to sound less excited. He couldn't help it, puppies were adorable. "Do you? Is that hard? Oh shite, I meant difficult. Not - I'm not flirting. Not that you're not very - flirtable, just, you know, wrong word." The knowledge that Shade wanted to have sex with him was - nice, but Jamie was reasonably certain that if he really wanted sex, he could find it back in the Undercroft. A puppy, by comparison, was a rare and wonderful thing.

It was so nice to meet someone else who liked a bit of a chat. The English weren't as chatty as the Irish, but years of isolation and then ending up in a castle with people who treated words like you had to pay for each one made him miss going for a cuppa and a bit of a chat with even his boring neighbours the Durrells. "No, it's grand. Why would you need to say things that matter every time you talk? That'd be exhausting. You'd be admitting your faults and talking about your quintessential childhood memories with the fella at the checkout during your weekly shopping, and no one wants that." Well, actually, quite a few pensioners did seem to like that, but no one ELSE liked it.

They were going fast and Jamie had the simultaneous urges to roll down the window and lean out or hold onto the handle for dear life. He settled for keeping his hands on his knees, ready to shift into the crash position if necessary. "Oh, uhhhh … a bit? Just - one fella was - it'd been a while since I - and then you're expected to be ready to shag anyone and I was worried I'd be rubbish at it so he - but I don't know if that counts? It'd been around 8 or 9 years before that and he seemed to think I should be dead after going that long, so I think it was really just charity."

"You actually give a shit or you just makin conversation?" Shade shot back stopping his progression. He wasn't looking for a baby sitter and no one did anything out of the goodness of their heart in the castle. Especially a councilman. Least of all the one running his country. "Or lookin to take down UAE?" Shade snorted at that. He was doubtful anyone who was on the council would actually work against that brick shit house.

"I'm not tryin to owe anyone a favor, by accident or on purpose so I can take it from here. When I got business with you, USA, you'll know it. Shit, if anything your ass owes me for your stupid lottery. Should pay up or could give me a set of them pretty guns you were playin with."

"Can you? Handle Proulx, that is." Quin had serious doubts that anyone could really handle Raiden. He was someone you either avoided or plotted to murder. There were probably a minority of people who enjoyed being fucked by him, but Quin wasn't one of them and thus he avoided the councilman whenever he could.

Quin raised his eyebrows. "I'll remember that for if I decide to care what you want." He continued to lead the way. "Alas, that day is not today."

Shade wasn't sure he was making the best choice with taking the deal, but he was also impulsive and ruled by his desire to fuck most anyone regardless of personal feelings and he personally wanted to kick Tiernan in the fucking face or he should want that and yet he was stepping into the other's suite. "So, guessing you ain't gonna let me top, huh? You might actually like it if you give it a try." He teased. "Come on Tiernan." He got thoughtful a moment. "Is that shit Tiernan like an offshoot for tyrant so you just straight up call yourself out from the jump point of being an asshole?" The grin grew and he pulled his shirt off. "Cause I got something good for assholes, if you know what I mean." He clapped his hands and rubbed them together.

The ghoul couldn't help but chuckle at Shade's comment; Tiernan did, in fact, think he was a real prize. There were worse Councilmen to belong to, so he liked to think Arnon had it pretty easy with him.. most of the time, anyway.

At the counter-offer, Tiernan raised his eyebrow slightly, looking Shade over as he considered it. Was the cambion's ass really worth giving Arnon over for two nights? Probably not, but Tiernan was in a generous mood, and it had been a while since his slave really socialised. "You know what? Since you've caught me in a nice mood, I'll agree to those terms," the ghoul agreed, knowing that he really didn't need to bargain with anyone in order to have sex, but it was a fun little exchange to have. Using Arnon as a bartering chip likely wasn't something his slave would approve of, but Tiernan had a feeling he wouldn't be protesting about getting to hang out with Shade a couple of times.