Lucas, Mark and David quickly sat down to order while Rachel went to look for the people in charge of organizing the event. Lucas seemed... a bit interested in the demonesses, to say the least. At some point, Mark piped in.
"You know, by now, she KNOWS you're into her. Where's the whole 'style' thing you were harping on about, big girl?"
Lucas blushed. "Er... It works better at either antagonizing people or, when I drop the act and am polite, getting me work. I'm... not all that skilled at talking to girls, really..."
"If it helps, that girl may have been a man last week." - Said Mark.
"For all my lack of skill, somehow I don't think 'Hey, sexy, what gender were you last week?' is a good line." - Said Lucas - "Plus... Things are complicated. I don't have any convenient way to ask her if she's into girls."
"Didn't... Didn't you save a demon girl?" - Asked David.
"I did, yes. But I don't quite know yet how to use it, or even if I should. At any rate, I don't think now is a good time." - Said Lucas.
At this moment, Rachel came back, with a behemoth of a demon behind her.
"Whoa. And I thought MY transformation was badass." - Said Lucas - "Nice to meet you. Name's Lucas, Brazilian translator, helping with the security of the party, though right now I have no idea why. Here's my card."
Samuel looked at Lucas. "Nice to meet you. You don't seem so threatening, though. Regardless, it's better that an angel deals with security, as, if problems arise, demons reacting would look much uglier. I'm in charge of a few movies, though. At any rate, Rachel told me the angels would help with desserts and non-alcoholic drinks. That it?"
Rachel smirked. "You didn't see her sword, Mr. Pitchford. But yeah, that's it."
Lucas nodded. "Lois was... quite willing to lend her support. Far be it from me to complain."
Sam smirked. "There was something in it for you, wasn't it?"
Lucas smirked. "Yup."
Sam went on. "You don't get to be a CEO in a film company without getting good at reading people. Before you ask, Lucas, no, we don't export our movies to Brazil. However, I have contacts. I'll keep you in mind."
Lucas smiled. "Splendid. Anyways, right now, we're just waiting for the main event, really. Lois has her own staff. Plus me."
Mark smirked. "She bought him pretty cheap, too. Two crates of soda."
Samuel smiled. "Right. For your sake, I hope your translations are more expensive. Anyways, I'll tell the folks. We should be ready for action in about two hours. I even contacted a few friends in the media. I'll see you there." With that, he left.
Robert entered Hell's Kitchen, after changing out of her priest's outfit and finding the entrance once more. She intended to ask about Dora, Perkins's wife, but a sight sticking out like a sore thumb changed her plans. She walked towards the angels. Rachel kept her quiet for now, but still had a bit of an annoyance nibbling at her. Lucas looked up from her rare meat dish.
"May I join you?" - Said Robert.
"Oh, hey, it's the priest! By all means, sit down. Sorry, I never caught your name. I'm Lucas, by the way. You are?"
"Robert." - She sat and said softly, but sternly. - "I want to know something, Lucas. One of my parishioners said you threatened him with a sword. Is that true?"
"You mean the turtle guy? How come he is your parishioner? He thought I, Mark and David were escorting Rachel to Hell or something. I'd figure he'd not like your look one bit."
"A priest does not forgo his duty to his parishioners, no matter how they act." - Said Robert - "Now, please, explain what happened."
"Well, Lois, from the Angel Cafe, cut a deal for me to work security for this event in exchange for two crates of soda. She asked me to escort Rachel here. So we were walking when he came to us asking if I was escorting Rachel back to hell. I asked him if he was fighting Krang, a character from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, since he was so into judging by looks. I then proceeded to give him a bit of a tongue-lashing about himself and his religion due to his coming to us to bother Rachel and calling me a servant of God."
"Why did that offend you?" - Asked Robert, though he had some idea of why.
"I'm a freelance translator, priest. One of my points of pride is that I am free and serve none. And his notion of God is very abhorrent to me, no offense."
Robert sighed. He could tell what notion of God Lucas was talking about, even without prying. Fire and brimstone interpretations tended to annoy outsiders, particularly the less religious or non-Christian, quite a bit. This didn't bother her before, but now... And the fact was that this notion of God was the one he had taught his parish day in and day out. Yet...
"How did it get from your tongue-lashing to threats?"
"He yelled 'how dare you?' made to attack me. I unsheathed the sword, or part of it anyways, said 'I dare with a sword' - cool line, if you ask me - and told him, with some Monty Python thrown in, to leave. He left and - seemingly - met you."
Robert sighed. "So you insulted the religion of a person and his whole identity when said person was already charged with religious fear? How did you expect him to react? If he had started a rumor that the devils are corrupting angels - like he outright said to me before I calmed him down - what do you think would happen if the crowds listened and brought weapons too? You are a foreigner without any visible identification. What would happen to your freedom were you imprisoned for threatening a man? Even with his admittedly exaggerated recounting of facts. You said you are a freelancer, and that you take pride in this. That expression comes from 'Ivanhoe'. The knights without lords who fought for a reward. Yet they were professionals about their work, surely. As you are about yours, for you take pride in it. You are usually a translator, but here you are, doing freelance security work. And it may be for crates of soda, it's still freelance work, though from personal experience I doubt you'd not help those in need even without anything in return. So I ask. Did your actions help or hurt the security of your charges?"
Lucas sighed. She had no real counterpoint to that. Her move was careless, and - worse - shoddy work, and she had no way to deny it. She felt terrible about it.
"I think I'll tell Lois I can't do it..."
"Oh, no, you won't." - Said Mark.
Everyone looked at her.
"Look. You screwed up. No one else knows, and no harm done. You make yourself out to be some free spirit, right? Ya think free spirits are gonna go goody two-shoes about it and tell their employers they screwed up when no harm was done? No, you learn from it. You don't give up, especially because the demons can't really afford to have one of them play security right now, and they still need someone in case those protester guys get funny ideas. You learn and you don't screw up anymore."
"I was not suggesting you give up, Lucas. Only that you think about what you did."
"...okay... Thanks." - Lucas said, in a serious tone. She still felt a bit of a bitter taste in her mouth from her screw-up, but resolved to play it safe from now on...
