<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: teal"> As soon as it had been established that the being she was now 'bound' to was a Demon, the atmosphere seemed to shift around her. Not in any literal sense- that was the same. But now her inward self was telling her to be guarded. Choose your words carefully. Don't step too out of line. Who knew what the thing was capable of? Despite these thoughts that any normal, rational human being would listen to on a regular basis, she locked these thoughts away. No. She wouldn't treat him differently just because he was another creature. She would talk to him the same way she did everyone else. That was only fair. And if she were to die, she would die knowing she'd stood up against something most human beings seemed to despise. It would be the greatest thing she'd ever done in her life.<br/>She became slightly confused when his demeanor changed for that brief moment. Couldn't sense her fear that well? Fact #1 she now knew, was that this guy could sense how she was feeling. Good thing she knew how to put feelings away. She could even convince herself she was feeling a different way. But it was good to know that even this Demon wasn't able to tell her true fear, or taste it, if he was capable of that. She wondered if it must be a very convincing display, since no human would be able to tell. Her skills had always lacked in acting. Had she really managed to rule emotion to such an extent? Interesting... and perhaps a bit scary. <br/><br/>Emotions were such annoying things, she had decided this a long time ago. Anger and frustration led to blindness in action and words. Sadness clouded perception and made one act stupidly as a result. Love was even more so, leading only to pain. She no longer even believed that emotion existed. Basically, she knew how to be emotionless. Not so emotionless as to be cruel-hearted, but just enough to keep others at a confused distance, wondering how she was human. Wondering how one could walk through life, refusing to feel even happiness. These things did not go without her reasons- but these reasons she kept to herself. It was no one's business why she did what she did. Why she walked through life with walls around herself to keep the world and others at bay. But of course, she was only human. These emotions were as real in her as they were in everyone else. She'd only learned how to hide them and pretend they weren't there. And if anyone cared to look deep enough or pry into her life enough, they would find a person that was the exact opposite to how she presented herself. She had always been careful to never let anyone even catch a glimpse of her core. Wouldn't let anyone in for as long as she lived.<br/><br/>At this point, if anything, she was actually beginning to feel slightly pleased, talking to this thing. So many humans were incapable of any interesting conversation. It bored her to tears trying to listen in on casual talk. Girls, especially. All they seemed to talk about was shopping and boyfriends. Boys, well... she chose to forget what she heard them say. There was no intelligence behind what they said, just blindly living life like everything was perfect. This world was far from perfect. And perhaps she drowned herself in the bad parts of the word too much- but she could understand pain and suffering more than anyone else in doing so. If she could, she would take all the pain and suffering of the whole world on herself, being tortured forever- if it meant no one else had to feel it. That was how little she cared for herself. How little she cared for herself, but bitterly cared for the hurt souls of this world. Rather pathetic, really.<br/><br/>When he asked the question, she was rather taken aback at first. It had been an unexpected question. Normal for her kind? Well... no, not exactly. Probably not at all. In fact, let a psychologist take a look into her mind, and she'd probably get locked away somewhere in a mental hospital. Out of pity or fear because she was different, who could know? He seemed to look conflicted as he looked at her, and she wondered what he was thinking. She wasn't normal for her kind. But the rest of her kind was just as humanly weird as ever. Surely he knew that?<br/><br/>After hearing the rest of his response to her questions and remarks, her eyes narrowed. His tone and obsessive 'listen to me and obey' mindset was getting on her nerves.<span style="font-style: italic"> 'What a one-track mind'</span>, she sighed inwardly. But she did take note of his offense and rolled her eyes.<br/>"I apologize if I hurt your demon morale." She glared away. "And no, I am touched by no 'Gods'. But you, Lancier, are not my worst nightmare. Only humans who fear what they don't understand, fear demons. I'm not implying you're anything less." It was actually slightly amusing to think a demon might be upset because she wasn't afraid of him, as though he weren't scary enough. To other mortals, sure, he would probably give them a heart attack. They would probably scream and run. But that wasn't her style. She had to pause for a moment on the sarcasm note. Change over time? For a split second she tried to picture people from the past speaking sarcastically. George Washington, for example. Or even Abraham Lincoln. Now <span style="font-style: italic">that</span> would be amusing. But more importantly at the moment was his idea of containing her freedom. She wouldn't settle for that.<br/><br/>"Any will of mine is free as far as I'm concerned," She said, staring intently at him. "Go ahead and do whatever the hell you want to try and destroy my freedom. But I assure you, it won't work. Quick death or slow torture, nothing will change. I will run where I want to. Cut off my legs and I will crawl where I want to with my arms. Cut off my arms and I will inch where I want to with my shoulders. Disable my shoulders, I will yell at you endlessly until you decide my voice is too annoying and rip out my vocal chords." The boost she gained in saying these things gave her a distinct sense of strength. She smiled. "Without a voice, I will simply stare at you until my eyes drive you insane. Carve my eyes out, and I'll be left a broken, bloody corpse, and my spirit will be free to go where I please. And you will have no say when that happens."<br/><br/>Once her rant on her freedom was finished, she continued, for once talking the most she had in a long time. <br/>"And if you cannot tell me why you need my help, then how in the world am I meant to help you? It's a bit ineffective, isn't it? Besides the point? Also, I don't know if your kind just has some weird 'ownership' obsession, but you could have simply asked for someone's help. They probably would have. Even a random girl who fell head over heels for you- some would kill, if you asked them to."<br/>She nodded towards her hand to point out one last detail she'd thought up in the moment. "Isn't it a bit strange to be calling me a dog on a leash, though? The mark you gave me is on my hand, the one you have, around your neck. If anything, I'm holding the leash, and you're wearing the collar. If you continue barking at me like a dog the way you've been, I'll have no choice but to think of you as such. You're smarter than that, aren't you? I always pictured demons as more intelligent beings than us. But now..." She laughed out loud once. "I'm not so sure."<br/><br/>Although she was putting up a tough display, she didn't really know why she'd said all that she did. In fact, the fear she was feeling slightly increased, wondering how her taunting would effect his already rather... inconsistent behavior. For although she tried to act as though she had no weakness, she did have one. One thing would keep her from acting so recklessly. It was the thought of leaving the orphans alone at that orphanage. But no one knew of her caring nature towards the orphans, and as a result they had never been used against her, except by the Warden- whom she feared far more than this Demon.<br/><br/>{Er... sorry for the writing 'splosion ;-; I think I got carried away...}</span></div>