i don't even know what's real // audrey

He hadn't expected the hunters to comply with his demands. They hunters were always a fickle type. He had heard rumours, of previous shadowhunters having hunted all of their kind indiscriminately. He had heard of other hunters who'd rather drown themselves in alcohol, one day as bright as a daisy and another day threatening to kill them all. They were dangerous.

The angel didn't exactly feel comfortable in this situation; surrounding by people who he certainly saw as a threat. Humans were fickle things, and maybe if he had still felt some connection to his human self, he'd feel differently about it, but he rarely did these days. Keeping his own angel blade underneath his coat, his expression was frosty as he appeared in the headquarters of the current brood. His eyes flashed as he glanced around the near empty space. It seemed the hunters didn't frequent their headquarters often.

His eyes met the shape of a woman lounging on the couch. He hesitated for a moment, before moving closer. The man's expression didn't change from the strict look on his face since he had arrived.

"You must be Diana?" he spoke, his voice polite and nothing else, "you're the one I'm meant to meet today?"

Her tone made it clear that she didn't exactly want to be here. The look she gave him made him feel like a relic of some sort. Humans were all so strange; she was a hunter, she certainly had seen kinds of creatures stranger than him, no? He wasn't even in his angelic form, his appearance simply matched to a human's for fear of scaring them. Humans were so easily frightened, after all.

If anything, the girl seemed almost...nonthreatening. He had met only few hunters in his life; many of them often had a gun on them with a scowl on their face and an aura that told him they wouldn't hesitate to shoot, but she seemed...so normal. Not exactly nonthreatening–though not having a gun to his face helped–but still...it was a different feeling all together.

"My name's unimportant," he spoke, though he shifted his stance, the slightest indication that he didn't feel comfortable sharing his name, "though I assume now that they haven't told you...much then? About what we're trying to find?" He wasn't exactly sure why he was sent on this mission, or why the hunters had even agreed on it. He was simply told to do, and he followed.

Oh, right. So he was supposed to explain then. He himself didn't know much about it, just that it was some strange artefact that affected people's behaviour or something. She at least knew about the artefact, but there were details that had been left out, it seemed. Still, it wouldn't be too difficult to fill the woman in on whatever they were doing.

"Chicago's the starting point I believe," he offered, "there's evidence that information might be found on where the actual artefact is. We need to destroy it before it gets found again." A train ride should give them ample time to explain and talk about this situation after all. He had never really worked with a human before, and he was certain she'd have answers. Wasn't it good to get to know the other person before having to depend on them to save his life in a potential problematic situation? Yeah, that probably sounded smarter.

"I don't mind the train," he spoke slowly, "it'll give us time to talk about this mission and to fill in the blanks, I suppose."

She was still demanding a name though, and he didn't want to admit that he had no idea what his birth name was. He had just shown up in heaven one day with little memory of his past self and well, the higher-up angels were often busy with little regards for something as silly as a name and they had told him to just make one up and it'll come back to you eventually.

He cleared his throat, a certain unease in his gaze. "You can call me Theo, I suppose." It was a pretty generic name, right? It wouldn't matter; he'd finish this mission quickly and be done with all of this in a matter of weeks.

Theo? Really, the first name he could think was Theo? He didn't...hate it or anything, but it certainly didn't feel like him. Still, he followed along. The walk to the station was silent. Part of him simply just felt...out of place. It wasn't as if he had never walked amongst humans, but most of his duties had been in heaven, or in places that were less crowded than this.

This was one of the few times he had actually been to New York City.

It was...a lot. Bustling with life, crowded, noisy, the smell of car oil and fast food joints combining into a strange stench that clung to the buildings like a fog. He didn't exactly hate it, but he didn't love it either. The city was what it was, and Diana seemed much more adapted to it than he was. She did live here after all, he thought, as he continued to follow quickly behind.

It didn't take long for them to be in the train, and the moment the train began to move, they were both back to mission mode.

"Not a human decoy," he frowned, "but the artefact itself has rules set into it by a demon general. It cannot be found by an angel alone, and it cannot be touched by hands other than that of humans, which makes it harder for us to detect. They don't react well to angels but it can only be destroyed by an angel blade."

He frowned. "No one has seen this artefact in a few centuries, but the last time they did, it caused plenty of trouble, according to our sources. It's said that the demon general embedded his own powers into it, so that when someone touches it, they will feel the same effects as if one of his demons had enchanted them."

He hesitated, looking at Diana, before continuing. "The problem we have is that we can't sense its presence, only humans can, therefore we have no clue where it may be hidden. Second problem will be what the artefact actually is. We don't know which demon general cursed it but when you touch it, the effects can range from driving you to a murderous rage or making you completely apathetic to everyone around you...temporarily."

He didn't want to scare the other girl. "Whatever it is, it's dangerous and needs to be destroyed."

Her mention of convenience to him made his brow furrow. He didn't quite understand what she meant. Convenient? Wasn't this her job? To get rid of all these demons and creatures in their known world? He was here to...what was it, supervise? No, that wasn't exactly true. There were less risks for him, perhaps, but knowing the state she'd be in...angels other than he had been tempted with less.

His kind were given immortality and a purpose in exchange for their loyalty and obedience. In his case, it had never felt like a choice he had made. They were given their purposes in life, and he had followed.

"I...suppose," he frowned, "I mean...I assume your people wanted the artefact destroyed just as much as we do. It's...clever of them to create it this way; the only way it can be destroyed is by working together. Without you, I won't find it, and without me, you might be corrupted by the artefact. We both get what we want by destroying it, no?"

He seemed more confused than arrogant. The man didn't understand humans. They were just...emotional. They had something he felt he didn't understand.

When she asked about food, he looked up. "I don't exactly need to eat," he offered with a frown, "though I suppose I've always been curious to what human food is like." Other angels could remember being human, remember the foods they liked and the places they visited. He didn't really have that. Therefore, being human right now all felt kind of new to him.

He didn't quite believe he had actually convinced the girl of his perspective, but she seemed to accept it. He had to admit, the girl confused him a little bit. She seemed both disbelieving and distanced, and yet she was friendly enough to try and help him out. Those two things just didn't seem to go together.

"Soothes your soul, huh," he mused, allowing the faintest bit of amusement to show on his face, "what does the pasta primavera mean?" He had never heard of these names; he knew what bacon was, and what pasta was, but primavera just sounded so fancy.

"I suppose it won't hurt to give it a try," he mused, "I haven't been in the human world for years; there seems to be a lot I need to relearn."

Fancy latin, huh? Still, food was food, and he was still curious. It wasn't something completely foreign to him, but he hadn't needed to eat for years...decades even. It had been a while since he had felt the urge to need anything really, and to desire something purely for want of it rather than necessity was something he was getting used to.

Theo's eyes were still fixed on Diana, and he could see that she was deep in thought for a moment, his own curiosity vaguely rising to the surface when she looked almost a little frustrated. Was she frustrated at the situation? At him? He knew it was a difficult place to be...all of this must be daunting to a human.

Her question caught him by surprise. Few ever asked him about heaven, choosing to be ignorant than to truly understand. It wasn't as if he could explain it in terms they'd understand completely, but he could try.

"Heaven exists in a separate realm I suppose," he mused, "it's...different. You don't get physical boundaries and spaces like they do here, it's more ambiguous...there's a lot of nothing and everything at the same time, and it exists...differently for different angels."

He tilted his head slightly. "Did you believe in a heaven...as a child? Or now?"