#Ciaran can be a little nosy too

[misc-obeyme]

Part of me feels like I asked this already and I apologize if I did, I have not gotten a whole lot of sleep this week.

BUT

If our MCs met up in the Devildom, do you think they'd be friends? I like to imagine Sydney seeing other exchange students and just cheering them on, whether it be in their studies, day to day, or love life.

Hmm, well you did tell me about your MC Sydney! I remember her being half fae!

But I don't know if we ever talked about whether or not she'd be friends with Ciaran if they met up in the Devildom somehow...

But I can tell you right now that they would be friends. Ciaran is incredibly friendly and outgoing. The only person they don't like is Lucifer lol. Well and they get over that, though. It's more that they don't like people who are prideful (though this is very much a pot calling the kettle black type of situation... Ciaran is not super self aware lol).

Anyway, I think Ciaran would love her. Especially if she's the type to really cheer on others. 'Cause Ciaran is like that, too. So now I'm just imagining them hyping each other up! That sounds adorable, honestly!

[braincoins]

@tybunnythehellmoose

“You don’t mind if I record this, do you?”

“Of course not.” 

“Thank you.” The investigator from the United Kingdom’s Royal Society for Extrahuman Affairs started the recorder going on his phone and set it between them. He slid the file folders with him - Kairos’s DoVE folder was right on top - to one side and clicked his pen, setting it to the pad of yellow legal paper. “So, you are Kairos of Knossos, also known as Kairos Kineso, also known as Kairos Caine...”

“Ugh, I never use that last one anymore,” he groaned. “It was almost a joke to use it in the first place.”

The man arched an eyebrow. “How so?”

“Inside joke,” he added on, waving his hand dismissively. “And yes, I was born Kairos of Knossos, in the third year of the reign of Lycastus - in modern dating, 1653 BCE - in the fifth day of the reaping time. I was a scribe to Minos II in his palace before the Master turned me in 1630 BCE.” 

None of that was written down. “And this was the Bronze Age, yes?”

“Yes. Quite a long time ago.”

“You are one of those known as ‘the Firstborn’?”

“I am,” he agreed with a nod. So far, this was incredibly boring. Why am I doing this again? he asked Caitlin.

Grant says he was told to accommodate the man and aid in his investigation.

Investigation into what, exactly?

Firstborn, apparently. There was a sense of uneasiness that came with the message, and Kairos tried not to frown. Caitlin’s... status was hard to explain, and it was usually better to avoid it entirely. Most people assumed he had turned her and that she was, therefore, a Secondborn. He let them believe that, because it was the easiest way to explain how a woman whose birth certificate read “1985″ could possess so much power.

“Do you know the Watcher?” 

If his blood had been capable of such a thing, it would have gone cold at the question. “Most vampires know of the Watcher,” he replied carefully.

“Yes, ‘know of’. But do you know the Watcher personally?”

He wasn’t about to tell this random stranger the truth. “The Watcher is the mysterious adversary to the Master,” he answered.

“That doesn’t answer my question.”

“No one knows the Watcher, except the Watcher themselves.” Being philosophical about it kept him from lying. He would, if he had to, for Caitlin’s sake. Most of their kind viewed the millennia-long grudge match between the man who had made vampires and the Watcher as a kind of sporting event: amusing, but ultimately of little consequence. But he couldn’t be sure someone out there didn’t have a misplaced sense of loyalty to “the Master” and wouldn’t try to come after the love of his entire life and death.

This human could be in the service of such a vampire, or he could just be too nosy for his own good. Who knew what his plans were for the Watcher? 

The investigator snorted in annoyance. “Is the Watcher a Firstborn?”

"Who can say? We know of seven, and even most of those are lost to our knowledge. Perhaps the Master made more and we don't know." He dearly hoped he hadn’t made more. 

"Is the Watcher even a vampire?" 

"I've heard a great many tales, but, to me, the Watcher is an angel." He smiled innocently.

“An angel?”

“Not literally. More in the ‘better angels of our nature’ sense.”

The investigator frowned and scribbled some things on the pad before looking up. “Are you hiding something from me?”

“I’m hiding a great deal,” he agreed. “For example, in my day, we didn’t wear this many clothes.”

The man looked at him, eyes flashing with anger. Kairos simply sat there and radiated his own amusement. This man, well-fed and of good stock, stood near 6 feet tall and thus would have towered over him if they were standing. But he was human and facing a Firstborn, a vampire of singular power and strength. As the investigator’s anger increased, Kairos swapped his amusement for just the barest hint of warning. I could drain you dry before you could scream, had I the inclination. But that wouldn’t do anyone any good, least of all his brother-in-law, who was caught up in the DoVE bureaucracy and would not have a good time explaining to his colleagues over at RSEA about why their investigator was a desiccated husk.

The man sat back and stopped glaring. “Very well, let’s get back to you then.”

“Oh yes, let’s,” he said cheerily.

“You are currently married.”

“Happily, so don’t get any ideas.” He was having fun now.

The investigator said nothing to that. “And you have twins with your wife...”

“Yes, Ciaran and Brigid. Do you want to see photos?”

He went on as if there had been no interruption. “...who is also a vampire. How is that possible? We know that ova production ceases immediately upon death and that the uterus and remaining ova quickly become... inoperable.”

This was a truth he would have dodged with damn near anyone, if for no other reason than that he wasn’t sure how to explain it, really. Instead, he pointed out, “She wasn’t always a vampire,” and left it at that.

“The twins are dhampir, then?”

“Yes.” True, but, again, inexplicable.

“And you’re sure they’re yours?”

Anyone else might have been angry, but Kairos just burst out laughing. He probably should have been worried by the question, truth be told, because the implication was that a female vampire had somehow had children with a male human, which was thought to be impossible. That would point to some power or ability previously unknown, which would bring Caitlin back into the spotlight as a person of interest.

But Kairos was too amused to go through that train of thought. “You came here to interview me without doing the minimum of research? Or did you just forget?" He reached over to tap his folder on top of the stack. “I’m fully-registered with DoVE and all other relevant agencies in the countries where I do business -  including your RSEA. Did you read my file? My information is all right there, including my Gift.”

The man shifted in his chair. “Yes, I read your file,” he all but growled. “I know about your ‘expanded Sire’ Gift: you can Command all those of your bloodline, not just your Children. You can sense them, communicate with them telepathically at any distance, etc.”

“Did you miss the full implications of the phrase ‘of my bloodline’?” He had (mostly) stopped laughing - an occasional giggle escaped - and was in Patient Teacher Mode. “The twins are currently at school; I don’t even need to close my eyes to feel them there. So, yes, as they are ‘of my bloodline,’ they are my children, even though they are not my Children.” He smiled again, but more coldly this time. “Should I let them know you say hello?”

“That won’t be necessary. This is enough for now.” He stopped the phone recording. “I may want to interview you at another time.”

Kairos stood, and though he was not of impressive stature, the sheer power at his beck and call made him seem taller and more muscular. He was the founder and CEO of a worldwide import/export business, with seats on the boards of many other companies. He was a multi-billionaire who was on a first name basis with many powerful people. And, of course, he was one of the oldest and most powerful beings on the planet. 

He pulled all that power to him, wearing it like a mantle draped over his expensive business suit, and raised his chin just a little as he looked at the human.

“Mr. Kineso, sir,” the investigator added quickly.

He nodded. “Of course. I am at your disposal, day or night.” He added that last phrase on as a reminder: he was so old that even the noonday sun was a nuisance and not an immediate death sentence. 

The investigator gathered up his phone and the files and scurried out of the room...

...where Grant caught him. “So, how’d it go?” Before he could answer, Kairos’s brother-in-law (and head of the New York City office of DoVE) kept going. “You can tell me all about it at this great bar I know, right around the corner. Come on, I’ll buy you a drink.” He all but pulled the man away from Caitlin and down the hall.

Kairos walked out and looked at his wife. He was the Fifth of the Firstborn, uniquely powerful, it was true. But he relinquished his mantle of power and smiled fondly at Caitlin Kineso nee O’Leary, his wife, the mother of his children, and the Fourth of the Firstborn, known to the vampiric world as The Watcher. 

“Do you think he’ll want to interview me?” she asked, more curious than afraid.

“Grant will no doubt convince him it’s a waste of time. Everyone thinks you’re Secondborn. What about Abrihet?” A sister Firstborn, and a friend of theirs.

“She’s conveniently on vacation, visiting Athanasia.” She wrapped him up in a hug. “I hear they might go to Crete.”

He hugged her back. “Oh good, she’ll finally get some culture then.”

Caitlin laughed, and his heart that had stilled thousands of years ago felt like it skipped a beat. “It’s unbecoming of a Firstborn to fight so childishly with a Secondborn,” she teased him gently.

“It’s unbecoming of a Greek Secondborn to try to tell a Cretan Firstborn that hers is the superior culture,” he shot back. 

She snorted. “But seriously, Kairos, what should we do about this? Is it really so big a deal to let RSEA or DoVE or all the rest of them know I’m the Watcher?”

“You want to have to explain all of that to them?” he asked. “Do you want them trying to figure out how you traveled through time so that they can manipulate it for their own ends?”

“They won’t figure it out. I don’t even know how it happened.”

“But if they know it’s possible, they’ll try to do it.” He tipped her face up to his. “You already spent millennia setting the world right so we could be together again, my dearest. Do you want to do it again?”

“I would,” she said softly, looking into his eyes. “For you, I would.”

He murmured his thanks in his own long-forgotten tongue, pressed a soft kiss to her lips. “I’d rather you not have to. DoVE doesn’t need to know this, and neither does some limey Brit.”

She laughed again. “Has my Irish bloodline’s hatred of the British rubbed off on you?”

“No, I just like hearing you laugh.” And it was the truest thing he’d said all day, right up until he said, “I love you.”