<span style="font-family: 'Georgia'">The one they called Eros looked not at all unlike the image Zazel had conjured for himself, earlier on, when first his superiors spoke of his need for a partner. Clean-cut, calm, well-mannered. He sat upright with a stiff back while Zazel slouched, lounging, twirling a fountain pen between his fingers. The demon had nothing to prove and no one to impress - not in a room full of angels, anyway. If he was to prove anything or impress anyone, it would be with his ideas, not his behavior.<br/>
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As yet, Zazel knew not whether pairing him with an angel would yield any actual results, or if the other male was merely sitting in as a glorified watchdog. He had no way of knowing whether Eros would contribute anything useful, or simply watch and report back to his superiors. In the great scheme of things, Zazel wouldn't have been surprised to find him utterly useless. There were very few Halos who would willingly partner with a demon for anything, and fewer still who would cooperate in contributing to a demon's cause. He could only hope that the benefits were enough of a motivator, or that he had simply been lucky enough to happen upon a reasonable angel. He wouldn't have bet the farm on the latter.<br/>
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Meetings on this topic always took forever. Debates and bulletpoints and, if developed by enthusiastic interns, painful slideshows complete with graphs and pie charts. Zazel did so loathe bureaucracy and inter-department formalities. Mercifully, their summit soon drew to a close. Everyone stood, shook hands, wished each other luck on the endeavor. Zazel was eager to get through the whole mess and swiftly made his way to Eros, extending an expectant hand and brandishing a positively wolfish smile.<br/>
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"To a fruitful partnership," he offered hopefully. "One hundred souls to go." For regardless of his rough edges, he had made it perfectly clear that he believed in the project, and he was not so frustrated with bureaucracy and red tape that he would forget his end game.</span>