By the End of This

Location | the dock of the harbor in north Aston
Date | June 20th 2022
Time | Just in time for the sun setting
Attire | Ourtfit
Topic for | @Levi

By the End of This, You'll Know Who You Were Meant to Be.
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It wasn't many nights ago since she felt like she had just lost her grip around herself. Like a big part of her had went away. The future and freedom that had been so in reach seemed so unclear now. Betray's sting still ached in her veins as she stood over and just watched the sea. She knew by being this close to the ocean for this long, it would take him seconds to find her. And here she was, not doing a damn thing about it. Acacia had her blood and who knew what she was capable of doing with that? Maybe she hoped if she stayed long enough in the light of the sun, dreaming about tasting the salty water on her skin as she always avoided to avoid Levi, that Bast would show up, remind her what a foolish idea it was. But no, even if she knew she should just let go, let him be, her heart wouldn't let her. "You took your time," she exhaled not taking her eyes of the most beautiful sunset she had seen in years. Was she really willing to make a deal with the devil?

Finally, she turned her head to look over her shoulder to see Levi, which made her raise her brow a little bit. The fear from their first encounter back in the beginning of the year gone. This was much more of the person he once had by his side for so many thousand years. Or well, Kailani knew how to play the parts she got dealt.

Sunsets were the most beautiful when surrounded by water, Levi thought, as the setting sun sparked fireworks of watercolour patterns across the sky, letting the sea reflect the pigmented shades in the lazy waves. Beautiful, but all the more dangerous, he knew - beauty was after all more than capable of hiding horrors. He, himself, didn't near the water very often these days, increasingly annoyed with the damned bond he shared with the seamonster of the same name as him. A bond that felt stronger when he was near water and since having spent his time with the human, Maeve Poe, had slightly faded and brought him peace. The sunset, however, did make him feel more at ease.
In Dis - in Hell in general, truth be told - colours were not particularly vibrant and the sun didn't exist. He could lie about it, but having spend hundreds of thousands of years in the vicinity of the sun, it always felt a bit homely being back on earth. The closest he would ever get to heaven again. He inhaled the salty air before deciding to seek her out; the siren. She had practically called on him, after all, and it would be a shame to not hear what she wanted to say.

She was sad. Whatever defiance and strength he had felt surrounding her - hope even - last they had spoken, seemed incredibly dim, as she stood staring out on the sea. Elevated and dignified, her back was straightened and she turned to him, calmly. It tugged the corners of his lips and turned into a devious smile. "I was waiting to see if you would go in," he told her, placing his hands into the front pocket of his dark grey suit trousers. The posh, sagegreen polo he was wearing made him look almost like a schoolboy, as his hair had been allowed to grow long and curl in the ends along with the well-kept stubble that made for his new persona; Michael Maverick. Different from the expensive three-piece suits and the clean shaven man he had always been, but the cunning eyes and the darkness in his aura would leave no mistake that he had, in fact, not changed one bit. "Fancy a dip, princess? Is that why you've been taunting me?"

She let out a chuckle, "oh you've missed me swimming around?" She lifted a brow a bit daringly. Because well it was one of her ways of avoiding him paying attention to her whereabouts, staying clear of the water, not having the freedom to just live how she wanted to without needed to look over her shoulders. Kailani pressed her brows a bit together to how he was dressed it was so unlike him. "I always fancy a dip, you would know," she let a teasing smirk play on her lips for a brief, just a brief little moment. Playing games with the devil wasn't a joke, and she knew this, she was too smart for games like that, but they did know each other rather well or at least part of each other. She assumed it had been easier for him to follow her after Acacia had taken a bit of the source of her luck for herself, it had weakened her for days. And never had she been wronged so badly as the past few days. She was hurt, pissed and thirsty to get her hands on some sort of revenge. If anything she wanted to drag Archibald Barnes down to the lowest parts of the sea and watch the life leave his eyes as he would try to scream to predict his own death. Or maybe it was the bits of jealousy that was talking, that Bast had chosen to be by Archibald's side and help him instead of hers.

Kailani took a few steps closer till she finally stood in front of Levi, patting his chest a little bit while keeping her eyes locked with his. "But why are you here? You aren't here to simply ask me if I care to go for a dip," she gave him a little wink then tilted her head a little bit to the side.

So many delicious emotions that swirled around in her tiny body as his eyes moved from the sunset to the siren. Levi’s eyes shimmered as he revelled in the feeling, inhaling to take it all in, before collecting himself, refocussing his gaze onto her. “I’ve missed you reaching your full potential,” he corrected her. He understood why she had taken a distance to the wild waters – it evidently had to do with him and his own powers, and as much as it had angered him that she had managed to disappear, it angered him a great deal more that she was so stupid as to not take advantage of what she was born as. A creature of the water. She might be strong on land but that was absolutely nothing close to the powers she could wield in her element; and she knew it.

His hands were still casually placed in the soft pockets of his trousers when she started moving towards him, but instead of standing still, he took two steps towards her, meeting the beautiful siren half-way. Her hands found his chest, and he studied her closely. Though fairly tall for a woman she was a least a head shorter than him, and he had to look down to find her hazel eyes. Her own hands had only tapped gently on his chest, but his hand found the corner of her jaw a bit more insistently, wrapping around the edge of her neck and gently tugging upwards for her to look up at him.
”I see you suffer from a broken heart,” he stated. There was a particular feeling from jealousy that surrounded heartbreak. A bitterness he could almost taste on the tip of his tongue. So tastefully wrapped in the most powerful form of hatred and despise and with that small sprinkle of grief that characteristically surrounded someone betraying your trust. It was truly delightful. “You know you only have to ask nicely and I’ll take care of them for you.”
Although heavily clouded with what one could only assume was empathy, the reality was vastly different. She was not supposed to be like this. Weak. A weak weapon was no weapon at all and with Azrael running around, his little magic pastels wouldn't suffice much longer. He needed something stronger. He needed luck.

Kailani was deadly, of course she knew the power she possessed. And the power she could possess if she had stayed in the ocean, stayed close to him. To Kailani it didn't matter if he had missed it or not, she was her own person after all, no matter the deal her mother had made back in the day. Then his hand found the corner of her jaw, feeling how the fingers slightly brushed against the skin of her neck. Her eyes connected with his more intensely and she could feel her heart skip a beat. Kailani hated he could see through her emotions, she hated most of all the emotions she felt. How betrayed, how she perhaps held this jealousy about Bast having chosen to stay loyal to Archibald. You know you only have to ask nicely and I’ll take care of them for you, those magical words were dangerous, entangled with a temptation to simply give in and say yes. Kailani didn't know what would happen if she got rid of Archibald, it most likely wouldn't solve any of her problems, and a part of her just wanted to hurt Bast like he had hurt her. But in the end of all this, she was just mad because she loved that stupid demon. Kailani chuckled a little bit.

"If it only were so easy with you darlin', we both know its rare you do something for free," she patted her hand against his chest before moving her hands up towards his shoulders, brushing them off a little as if dust had set upon the fabric. "What is it you want?"

We both know it’s rare you do something for free.
It was a soft smile that blossomed from his lips. “Nothing’s ever for free, love.” But that certainly didn’t mean he wouldn’t hunt anyone who had hurt her if she asked it of him, for he wouldn’t have hesitated if that had been the case. She was his after all, and anyone who failed to understand that or jeopardise that would find themselves in very deep waters.
Levi’s eyes wandered down to her hands before raising to meet hers, clicking his tongue in pretend-disappointment. “Mh. No-no,” he hummed mockingly, a low scoffing breath of air emerging from the back of his throat; the humor glistening in his eyes suggesting that it was more of a breathy chuckle than a scoff. “You’ve been so prettily waiting for me here.” She would have never come to the sea like this if it hadn’t been intentionally for his attention - she was far to clever for that so evidently she either needed something of him or had some sort of trade. His hand drifted from the side of her face down her jaw until he could grab hold of her chin with his thumb and index finger, pressing down insistently.  
They were both of the water, the Siren and the Demon, but Levi knew all too well that this close to the sea, he was immensely more powerful. Building cities like Leah Abyss was also a warning that he had such impeccable control over the element, that he could control the amount of oxygen in it - and even Sirens and Mermaids needed oxygen to breathe. It was a strange sight to see a siren drown, indeed.

The tug at her chin got more forceful as his eyes darkened. “Don’t play games with me, my river. You’re not the only one exposing yourself here.” Levi’s voice was barren of any humor that might have resided earlier. Dry and crisp and dark. His aura was remarkably dimmer than what was normal, but the storm in his eyes was every bit as powerful as the sea in front of them, and he knew that all of this very well could be a trap. Kailani knew that the Archangels had started looking for him and he wouldn’t have held it against her for to have teamed up with them in some lousy plot to lure him out in the open.
Levi slacked his fingers, making sure the next movement was gentle, softly brushing his thumb over her bottom lip. He feigned a sigh, as though he regretted having lashed out in whatever passive anger that had taken hold of him. Instead, he softened up, the blue eyes drifting down to her lips before finding her eyes once more. “Now, why don’t you tell me what has happened to you? Surely this nonsense is not about something as trivial as heartbreak.” Levi let go of her chin, delicately brushing a lose strand of hair behind her ear before placing his hand back in his pocket. He turned sideways to let his eyes wander to the setting sun. “And then you can tell me, perhaps, why you’ve called on me.”