Az was neither stupid nor easily baited. He met her gaze levelly, then gave a bored shrug to acknowledge his defeat, hoping she would not notice that he actually highly approved of the idea. “No. Do what you will.”

“Good. I knew you’d come to see things my way.” She grinned, puffing out another three smoke rings. They wound together before dissipating near the ceiling. “I mean, not like you really had a choice, here, of course.”

His eyes narrowed slightly. “C, you should recall that I am a ranked Supreme, only slightly behind you—and I will catch up quickly. I anticipate reaching Grand Supreme within the next year.”

“Aw, only slightly behind?” C laughed again, twirling her pipe around one finger in an impossibly fast manner. She tossed it to her tail, which bounced it back to her hand. “See, if you weren't such an insufferable asshole I'd even offer to spar with you. But I get it, I get it, you're pissed off that you can't say no to me. I acknowledge your feelings, hun, you are so valid.”

“I do not have feelings,” Az stated calmly, picking his pen back up and turning towards his papers.

“You sure picked a doomed venture then, weirdo. Feelings are pretty important to make a human connection.” C stood up, stretching. She gave a firm snap and the papers she'd shoved off earlier reappeared on his desk exactly as they had been. Az still ran his eyes over them to be sure. “I'll have Susu come pick her up in thirteen hours, we'll keep her for oh, let's say six each day, then send her back to you.”

She paused, leaning on his desk’s corner with one arm. “We are still on the twenty-six hour clock, right? Connections have been so wobbly lately, I can't keep track.”

Az nodded, glancing at the ten-faced clock on his desk. “Yes. Our current alignment with Above is still fairly sturdy. It is unlikely many more unintended time Slips will be opening, at least in the near future.”

“Okay, then Susu'll be here at nine o'clock tomorrow.”

I will surely regret this, but—

“How is Susu?” Az queried, setting his pen back down. He'd resisted asking the first time he'd heard the name.

“Ha! You always did have a crush on my wifey.” C’s snickering stopped, then she looked at him sideways with a suspicious frown. In a softer tone she asked, “Is that the real reason you quit being my student?”

Az barely avoided rolling his eyes or sighing, simply continuing to cast a withering glare at C. Her assumption that nearly every relationship had to be based in sexual attraction was particularly irritating when it came to Susu, whose calm, kind demeanor was nearly the opposite of C's. He would never understand what drew her to C or how they had remained married for so many years.

But as usual, it would be pointless to try to correct her.

“I would prefer you answer my question first and then, I might consider answering yours.” He absolutely would not answer hers. He managed to turn his glare into a blank expression again.

Still, C could never resist talking about the love of her life. “Of course you would. But anyways, Susu's doing well. Emotionally, great, physically, even better.”

She closed one of her electric violet eyes with a grin and peered out of the other for an irritated response she again did not receive. “It was a rough few years apart, but we’re nice and settled back into domestic bliss all over again. If you know what I mean.”

Again, Az did not react. C shrugged, finally giving up on trying to irritate him into a reaction. “Anyways, she's still only at about eighty percent, so she won't be trying out for a Grand Supreme title again anytime soon. Kinda funny that you're at the same rank now. Well, it is to me at least, you both probably don't share the sentiment.”

Unexpectedly, she dropped her usual sarcastic tone for a much softer one. “She'll be glad to see you again, A. Despite your terrific personality, she was always fond of you. She really hated that you left us and that you denied her requests to visit.”

Her brow furrowed very slightly. “I could understand not wanting shit to do with me, A, but I'll never understand why you wanted to hurt her. Or your brothers.”

He said nothing again, simply regarding his ex-teacher with an unreadable expression. He hoped she couldn’t tell that he was avoiding her violet eyes. The emotion in them felt like a knife in his side, reminding him that if even she was hurt, he had hurt D and Susu ten times worse.

C broke the moment with another grin, and the sharp teasing was back. “Just try to keep the puppy love on the down-low. Don't embarrass yourself hitting on a married woman, y'know? Or should I warn her to prepare a 'let's just be friends' speech beforehand?”

“If you are quite done speaking nonsense…” Az could keep the irritation from his face, but not his voice. “You are certainly aware that behavior such as this is a large part of why I left.”

“But not the only part.” C was serious again. Her eyes narrowed, and she leaned both arms on the desk to make direct eye contact with him. “I'm gonna get an answer from you someday, A.”

I cannot and will not ever give you such a thing.

Az pushed the conversation out of dangerous territory and back to a near argument. “You could try calling me by my proper name now, perhaps I would be more inclined to have a serious discussion with you then.”

C rolled her eyes. “It's too pretentious. 'Asmodeus?' Really?”

Finally, he allowed himself to be baited into a childish spat. “It is more suitable than the single letters of the Roman alphabet you prefer, C. Tell me, have you picked up the other twenty-two yet?”

She shook her head, unbothered. “Nope. Decided to go backwards when D brought the lil' brat home. I wanted to discourage him from finding an E, F, G and so on later. Seems I was successful, as all he's brought back is one cute little lady friend... still can't believe that's what you're trying to copy here.”

Az pressed his fingertips together casually, aiming carefully and coldly at her weak point. “There was a B before me, was there not? You did not just skip to D without reason.”

“Getting a little personal now, aren't we, A?” C's violet eyes under her raised brow showed a warning her casual posture wasn't giving away.

Even she has secrets she does not wish to share, so why can she not allow me that privacy?

They regarded each other with cold stares. C broke it first with an eye-roll—not due to intimidation, but simply boredom. She pushed off the desk and stretched again. “Anyways, back to your pet. What're we calling her?”

He thought of the fierce blue eyes as the woman berated him for giving her a safe name. “Eve.”

“Cute. You give it to her, or did she come with?” C was examining her nails again.

“I did.” He paused, thinking carefully before adding, “However, it is not too far off from the name she calls herself.”

“Oh?” She raised a slight brow. “You're gonna tell me that?”

“It is Evelyn.” The three syllable name rolled slowly off his tongue. He picked up his pen again, looking down at the paper to see where he had left off. Every part of his posture was dismissing C, trying to cover up the enormous trust he had just placed in her.

“Evelyn. Hazelnut, island, water… desired.” C paced slightly as she spoke, pausing on the last word and casting Az a knowing look.

Az couldn’t stop his furrowed brow from displaying his confusion, which seemed to please C greatly. Her grin grew, and she twirled her pipe between her fingers again. “It’s all in a name, babe. You might critique my letters, but would you really wanna be called something meaning ‘hazelnut’?”

His eyes narrowed. “Do not mock her.”

C rolled her eyes again. “Duh. Even I know how to behave with the newbies. Anyways, Evelyn. Ev-e-lyn. I guess Eve could be a diminutive of that, if you suck ass at pronunciation.”

Az tried again to start writing, his eyes wandering over the paper to see where he had left off in his translation. The note would need to be scrapped; he doubted his irritated handwriting was legible.

Surely, she will leave now?

He finally got his wish. C yawned, a completely unnecessary action, but one she'd chosen to show how tired she'd become of him. “Well, I look forward to meeting her. See ya.”

She snapped her fingers in the standard three click movement, and vanished silently.

Az let himself exhale slowly before sinking back into his chair. His eyes drifted towards the white tent. Evelyn was proving to be an extraordinarily heavy sleeper, which did not surprise him with the constant beeping he'd experienced walking through the hospital, tracing her Thread to find her room. He guessed she would remain asleep for several more hours, which would make things difficult for him. He did not want to sleep until she was awake and at C's.

But the deep, aching exhaustion that had settled into his bones after using three bloodstones in the previous days was overwhelming. He closed his eyes for just a moment, and without realizing it, fell asleep.