Azrael

Only Fools Walk Where Angels Fear To Tread

He was hardly oblivious to the way the very atmosphere of that bar seemed to change the moment he stepped within it. Several supernatural beings of varying species made no effort to hide their quick exists, two of them abandoning almost full glasses in the process. Azrael content to eye them as they scurried away like insects to find some other shelter to hide beneath. It was those ones, the ones who hid so quickly, that usually had the most to hide in turn- and felt guilty enough about it to act on it. The ones who stayed in some paltry effort to stare him down, to dare him to act, were usually the ones with the far more violent crimes. Today however, precious few of the later seemed to exist. The vast majority simply moving out of his way and affording him a wide berth as he cross the floor toward the bar. The suddenly attentive bartender rushing to complete his order as he took his seat beside a woman whom seemed to be so far lost in thought she either hardly noticed him- or hardly cared. Azrael opposed to neither of those emotions- before the realization she was another Hunter seemed to dawn upon him. His golden gaze roving over her figure quickly- that familiarity readily finding him in turn. He knew this Hunter. She was more then some rouge pilfering the city streets in search of a few dollars. She worked with him. Sh sat on the Council itself. Although whether or not she deserved that position remained to be seen. Gia. Buffy-she preferred- if memory serves in the least. His interactions with the woman, until now, decidedly limited for the most part. Buffy managing to squeak out that hello in turn, her chair pivoting to face him.

His own hand reached effortlessly for the phone he had left resting on the bar. Azrael quick to pull it away from prying eyes and return it to his pocket. His relationship with Serafina had lasted well over a year now- the Council remaining oblivious to it. And he intended to keep it that way. He had sat on the Council itself for more years then he cared to count. The majority of Hunters in the city fell beneath his command. To be found out to be dating a Witch would do far more than ruin his career. Serafina's life more likely than not put into jeopardy in turn. Some secrets were better kept. That phone nestled far from Buffy's eyes in that singular, casual movement. Azrael waving the barmen over in near the same moment. Buffy taking advantage of the man's presence in turn. His own drink slide towards him mere moments later before the sharp gold of his gaze shifted more fully onto Buffy herself with that query of what the hell there was to investigate in an airport. Not that she appeared to be doing much investigating. Unless the bottom of a shot glass was a critical clue. No part of the blond Hunter making any real effort to hide that faint trace of judgement over her drinking that lingered somewhere upon his otherwise emotionless features as she ordered that very shot. That Buffy had long had a 'problem' was hardly a secret in turn. The Council knew.

She insisted she wasn't working. With the thanksgiving holiday only just passed she had been entertaining family, it seemed. Some small, insignificant part of himself he had all but buried near daring to feel a twinge of.....something at that notion of family. His own long since gone, dead and buried- along with the human life he was supposed to lead. The life he had enjoyed before all of this...shit. He offered little more than a soft snort. Azrael reaching for his own drink in turn before lifting it to his lips. That taste nothing short of welcome before the glass was returned to the table.

"Your one of those people then. The type who cries at family events."

It was hardly a question so much as a statement. That faint redness to her eyes having given her away the moment she'd looked toward him and yet those words hardly held any real harshness. They held almost nothing at all. That sentence simply stated for what it was and little more in a near apathetic tone. What the hunter thought of those very people evidently remaining to be seen. That sudden query on whether he was going anywhere met with a brisk shake off his head.

"No. Coming home. The Council sent me out of state. My.....friend is picking me up, she's caught in traffic."

'Friend' was the best description he could truly provide- and it was hardly a lie. Serafina was his friend, after all. Quite possibly his only one. Friends were not exactly his strong suit. His short temper and disagreeable demeanor hardly encouraging to most people. His gaze lingering upon the woman beside him as she reached for that shot. One eye lifting ever so slightly.

"How's the drinking problem going?"

Blunt, as always. Azrael very rarely inclined to show sensitivity for 'feelings' in any sense. He knew about....some of her issues- because it was his job to know just who they had working for them. Even if he had barely interacted with the woman before. Those words once more lacking any real emotion. His golden gaze lifted briefly away from Buffy then. The vast majority of the bar patrons having shifted to the other side of the room. Charming.

"You coming back to full time work any time soon? We could use more of us in the field you know."