To pretend or not to pretend, that was the question. The Jackal was silent in the aftermath of her fork being the first to delve into the pie that she had brought. He showed less decorum than her and scooped out three hunks of his ice cream, dumping them on what he considered to be his half of the pie. The heat from the pastry was already causing it to melt while he twirled the plasticware between his fingers. Leaning forward, he watched her eat for a couple of heartbeats, considering, then rolled his gaze down and took a couple of bites of warm strawberry-apple mush.<br/><br/><br/>“I never got your name,” he finally said, tilting his head back up to her. “They call me Pace.” Not that he assumed she didn’t already know that.<br/><br/><br/>Once more, he let the silence commence after the brief introduction, as once more he reveled in the ice cream and pie combo. Until a wild grin slowly started stretching across his face, prompted by her inquiry, that erupted into full throttle laughter. He leaned back in his chair, it squeaking in protest as it took on his full weight, and let the sound boom in his chest. Complete with a mouthful of pie and ice cream that, from the look on his face that immediately followed, he had to struggle not to choke on.<br/><br/><br/>“Yes, yes… Abernus had to run home and take care of his wife and kids that he left down in the abyssal realm. I’m sorry you missed saying goodbye to him… after all, the two of you are old acquaintances.” Quicksilver eyes shot up, sharpened, suddenly shrewd, and pinpointed on her reaction.<br/><br/><br/>The creak of his chair followed him as he spun around once before falling back in line to meet her eye to eye, the devious look making him look like the beast he was compared to. “And yes, working for me. I hope the salary requirements are satisfactory to you, since there’s no room for negotiation since you accepted the position with this..” He lifted a forkful of sodden pie, shoveling it into his mouth. “As for what I am… you’re the witch in the room. Perhaps you can hazard a guess. We are, as you can feel, directly on a ley line. All waystations are located on a ley line, which cover this world, connecting it to other worlds.. And vice versa. I am the sole proprietor of this ley line, making sure that things stay balanced, that things don’t travel without a visa. Kind of similar to traveling to a foreign country. You have to have a passport or you can’t travel to other… places. BUT -- as the world works, some things just…. Sneak on by… and I can’t have that either, right?”<br/><br/><br/>He paused, pushing the pie away from him and taking up the ice cream instead, humming in satisfaction as he scooped some of the homemade strawberry onto his tongue. “What I am, witch, is one of the many Gatekeepers that make sure there are safe travels along this ley line. Not a good -- not even a demi-god --” His eyes sparkled, the smile tweaking again, becoming playful. “But I don’t mind being called the god of the leyline, if you wished.”