The Sorcerous Standout

Raising her eyebrows at the little curse-lined mantra, a smile tugged at the corner of her lips at his explanation.

"I can't say it's ever been said in a reading before, and I've been doing them a hell of a long time," she told him, another small laugh lacing her words. She supposed this was the difference between reading for those who came in here for a thrill, and those that were more familiar with the cards and divination in general. "But I wouldn't say the cards have been brutal. Just..." Lilia gave a small shrug of allowance. "frank."

Which, admittedly, could sometimes feel like the same thing.

Moving to turn over the third and final card, Lilia realised that a fourth card was stuck to it. Shrugging again and trusting the cards, she turned them both over.

"Six of Swords, The Fool," she read aloud. "A positive pair that speaks of a new chapter after leaving something behind, something complicated and painful." Lilia lifted her gaze from the cards to look at him. "You're thinking about moving. Or debating it."

Oh wow, she just called that out, huh? She was good.

"I'm from San Francisco, originally. Kinda travelled the States for a while, helped where I could. Landed in New York before the whole...y'know." Zephyr snapped to finish the sentence.

"I went back home right after, helped my family rebuild what we could when it came to our dynamic. They were 5 years older and I wasn't. Part of me wonders if I should be closer again, have that community. It's not like there's much here for me anymore."

Zephyr pulled one of his knees closer to his chest, looking at the full reading for a moment. His gaze moved from card to card, focusing on each as if he was trying to commit each to memory. After a few minutes of silence, he looked back up at Lilia.

He could admit that he noticed Zephyr becoming stronger ever since obtaining his new weapons. It still unnerved him a bit at how quickly the witch had changed. He can only pray that the power doesn't get to his lover's head anytime soon.

He pressed a kiss to Vergil's forehead, pausing at the look in his lover's eyes. "Look, I know that this recent...exuberance of mine is cause for concern. But I feel good. Powerful, able to stand on my own for once. I don't have to run or outsmart demons. I can just handle it and not have to feel sore after a fight or drain myself using magic to heal my wounds."

"You're always such a tease," he murmured, his voice rumbling from deep in his chest.

Adam's actions made sure that sense--along with stress and worry--were no longer in the room.

He leaned in to eagerly kiss the fortune teller upon the lips, a familiar sensation that never failed to send his mind and senses into a frenzy. He could hardly hold back as he deepened the kiss, hoping that his lover could feel exactly as he felt in the moment.

Now it made moments like this so much more wonderful.

Adam was holding back. Just barely, as if his desire was roaring at the bars of an enclosure. Zephyr's fingers started to glow an absolutely sinful pink as he provided just a little nudge into recklessness. A smile crossed his lips at the other's words.

@zephyr-iffic (WE'RE BACK IN THE BUILDING AGAIN--)

A soft laugh escaped Adam, the corner of his lips turned upward as he approached Zephyr. It was only natural for him to be silent in his movements, yet old habit die hard it seemed.

He turned, holding his forehead for a moment. The past few...whatever amount of time was appropriate had been stressful. Perhaps he was burning out. It wouldn't be the first time, of course.

☀️-- It had been a while since he'd last felt like this. Or maybe, actually, not that long at all. Maybe he just buried it.

He didn't belong here. Not natively. Not in the way that most everything else around him did. As much as he tried, he always had to hold something back or push something forward. Always had to keep some type of wall between himself and others. So few who knew the truth in the grand schemes of things. Few who he could be completely open with. He wasn't human. He wasn't even a metahuman.

He had been raised among them, he loved all of them.

But at the same time... he wasn't Kyptonian either. Not in a way that felt like it mattered. His powers marked him as such, but he hardly knew anything about Krypton itself. He longed for Krypton, wished to know what it was like and felt a sadness for its destruction, but in the end... he couldn't quite relate to Kara either.

Even if he could be more completely himself with the League, he still felt odd.

His words were interrupted when he bumped into someone on the street, hands failing to catch his phone. "Oh, goddess, I am so sorry--" Zephyr remarked as he started to compose himself. "I should've been more aware." As the magician stood after grabbing the discarded device, dark eyes finally appraised the person in front of him.

There was something about that expression. It wasn't his business and he probably shouldn't push.

He lifted a hand to cup his lover's cheek, thumb tracing over the cheekbone in a soothing motion. A long list of questions formed in his mind, but he bit his tongue as he sorted out his priorities for the moment.

"Let's get you cleaned up."

In one swift motion, he scooped up the witch in his arms and effortlessly carried him to the bathroom.

Zephyr leaned against Vergil, finally letting out an exhale. It was a blur as Vergil prepared a bath until he slowly sunk into the water, and his eyes returned to their normal dark hues. He'd done something incredibly dangerous, and there was no promise that he would've survived.

He did survive. He'd done something that he could've sworn he couldn't, depending on when one had asked him.

The witch's eyes moved back to the bladed fans on the counter of the sink. Tailwind had broken in that battle. A staff that had been with him for what felt like a lifetime, upgraded and upgraded some more. There was no time to mourn in the heat of battle, but now?

There was more than enough time for anything now.

"When we talked about...about us potentially sharing the fate as others in our kind of life, it made me worry that I couldn't stand next to you. That, when the time came, I'd fall as easily as I would've when I started on this path."

His eyes fell back on Vergil once more.

"Now I know I won't. I feel it, Vergil. Every day, the chaos of my magic becomes more and more orderly. I'm able to do things I was never able to before. Now..." He dunked his head under the water to clear his hair and head of whatever detritus that had lingered before coming back up.