Vending Machines, Again (open)

[∴ Jacob]

Jacob was in an extraordinarily good mood as of late. Violet's entrance into the world of the 'living' (or at least, the sentient) and its consequences had paved over the bumpy gravel road that was his usual cynical personality. Though the effect could very well prove to be temporary, and in all probability would, a much friendlier Jacob was making his rounds of the hallways today, a satisfied smirk barely hiding under his customary unaffected line of an expression.

On any other day, had he seen someone struggling with a particularly uncooperative vending machine, he would have watched with amusement from a discreet distance, not offering anything but a falsely sympathetic nod of acknowledgement if he was found out. He might even have gone so far as to convince the machine (in secret, of course) the be even more difficult, if he was feeling particularly loathsome and in need of sadistic amusement.

But today, the subject of the vending machine's dastardly machinations was lucky, as Jacob stood and watched only for a very short period of time, and not because the scene amused him, but because he was seriously considering helping and was not sure how to approach it.

His first thought was to simply make the machine spit it out already, but he was actually feeling almost... sociable. What was stopping him was the fact that he was never sociable, at least not honestly so, and had very little idea how it was 'done'.

He was, however, a young man who seldom hesitated, and it wasn't long before he dove in head-first.

"You look like you could use a little help, there," he remarked, sauntering into view of the machine's would-be customer.

[Azazel & Rhoderick and Almond]

Azazel didn't need food especially. It was something he liked, and enjoyed a great deal, but strictly speaking, he didn't need it. Especially, he didn't need candy - it didn't have any ill-effects on him, in fact it made him feel even happier than usual. But he didn't need it to live.

Rhoderick found his "brother"'s love for sweet-things irritating at the best of times - his brother was always after something sweet, whether it be chocolate, or sweets or ice-cream. It was immensely frustrating, and Rhoderick wondered how much of his life he had wasted waiting for Azazel.

So, it might make sense that an incredibly powerful demon was pounding his fists on a stupid vending machine that he could probably just cheat out of it's sweets anyway, but he didn't think that destroying university property was advisable, or allowed.

"Come on, you." He laughed, kicking it rather hard. Rhoderick sighed, sipping from a hip flask he carried with him. Why didn't Azazel just give up? It'd be easier for him that way.

It was inevitably Azazel that was approached by the stranger with the crazy hair, and weird eyebrows. Actually, come to think of it, Azazel's hair was quite weird too. Maybe his brother was keeping secrets - like being part of some weird iculture...

Rhoderick wouldn't be sure whether it was Azazel's annoyance with the machine, or his own deliberately sour face that made the stranger go straight for his slightly more flamboyant-looking brother. Or whether it wasn't any of them - just that he had chosen one of them, and it so happened to be Azazel.

Azazel didn't really have the mental capacity was rather limited at best - he wasn't stupid, but he was very single minded, and he couldn't keep track of multiple things. He was to multitasking what Rhoderick was to a sunny day. Non-compatible. So when the stranger, who to him, looked perfectly normal, seemed to offer help, he was grateful for the assistance.

"Yeah," He chuckled slightly shyly, his too-long sleeves slipping down over his hands, "I could." He beamed. "This thing is being rather un-sporting." He furrowed his brow, showing his slight annoyance at his lack of candy. "Is this normal, or is it just me?" He asked, laughing.

Rhoderick rolled his eyes, and sighed angrily. Why couldn't people mind their own business?

[∴ Jacob]

"These machines are very difficult in general," Jacob sympathized, making his way over to the offending vendor. He gave Rhoderick a strange sort of smile as he passed, disarming in its friendliness but not nearly as simple as an amiable grin. The reason for this (which would go without being voiced) was that he saw some of his 'normal self' in the less-than-social demon, a fact that he found amusing, in an ironic sort of way. It was a little bit like an out of body experience, or perhaps looking in a mirror for the first time.

"You just have to..."

He gave the machine a smart rap near the control panel, and two of Azazel's desired packages of candy fell behind the flap labelled 'PUSH'. Jacob crouched to pick them up and handed one to Azazel, holding the other out to Rhoderick. Something told him it wouldn't be accepted, but if there was futility in his actions it didn't seem to bother him.

Of course, there had been a behind the scenes usage of his Gift, here — he didn't hit the machine nearly hard enough to accomplish what Azazel's kicking could not — but he kept that bit of knowledge to himself. The chatterbug had bitten him, and this avenue of assistance appealed to him more than simply stating, "I am a technomancer" and solving the problem without moving a muscle.

"A favour for your names?" he proposed.

[Azazel & Rhoderick and Almond]

Azazel resisted the urge to snatch the candy away greedily. He tended to get a little possessive around the stuff. Instead, he gratefully accepted it as it was offered, his eyes wide and glistening. As soon as he had it, however, he opened the packaging, and ate everything inside within a matter of seconds, his face going picturesque, and dreamy.

Rhoderick glared distastefully at Jacob. He shook his head - an indication that he was rather disinclined to accept the sugary stuff.

"That's for the brat." he said, before receiving a kick from Azazel.
"She's not a brat!"
"She is, Azazel. She'll get fat if you keep feeding her chocolate like that." Azazel hit him on the arm quite hard, wiping the chocolate from his face. Rhoderick gave Jacob a sour look.

"Sorry. We argue a lot." He said. "I'm Rhoderick." He continued, answering the stranger's question. He knew that there had been something not quite right about the man simply hitting it fairly lightly, and the candy popping out, when Azazel's kicks and furious shakings and other such things hadn't worked at all. No, Rhoderick could tell that he'd done something "unnatural".

Azazel, however, was totally convinced, and he stared at Jacob with blatant adoration written on his shy face. He lifted a too-long sleeve up, and started nibbling on the end. He looked at the stranger, and notes his weird eyebrows. It was something Azazel didn't usually notice, and something that never made much difference.

"You... you must be magic..." he said, excitedly, bouncing up and down slightly as Rhoderick shook his head in desperation. "I'm Azazel." he said, with a smile.

[∴ Jacob]

Jacob had no idea that the recipient of his aid had actually ordered two of what Jacob had procured. It was either a happy coincidence, or the hyper one was a very quick decision maker who was willing to take little things like that in stride.

"All right," Jacob said, turning from Rhoderick to hand the other package to Azazel. He wondered to himself whether the treat would actually make it to 'the brat' before it was prematurely and enthusiastically eaten.

His attention was dragged from this thought, however, by the disconcerting ogle Azazel had now fixed him in.

"Something... like that," he muttered, leaning imperceptibly backwards. A small, grinnish sort of smile surfaced as he introduced himself in turn.

"Jacob. Are you students here as well?"

_{Urgh, painfully brief and of subpar quality. I suppose it's something, at least. >>}

[Azazel & Rhoderick and Almond]

Azazel was indeed a quick decision maker. In fact, he rarely made actual decisions at all. All he really did was feel urges, usually to eat things. However, he accepted the second bag of candy, and stowed it in a pocket in his many-pocketed trousers. That one was for Almond. He assured himself that he would not eat it.

He was still fixing Jacob with his look of adoration, when he gave them his name. Azazel stopped chewing his sleeve long enough so he could shake his hand, before gnawing on the fibres a little longer.

Rhoderick glanced exasperatedly at Azazel and apologetically at Azazel, sipping once more from his flask.
sh
"Azazel, quit being so pathetic." said Rhoderick, disgustedly. "Sorry, Jacob. He's strange like that." He studied the strange-looking man, and wasn't quite sure what to make of him. He seemed to be friendly, but there was something decidedly stand-offish about him as well...

"We're university students. We actually didn't know that we were demons until fairly recently." Rhoderick admitted.

Azazel seemed to snap out of his daze. He had forgotten about his trait. He suddenly felt very excited and smiled, and his eyes went wide.

"Look!" He said, before sticking his tongue out, and making his face into a look of deep concentration. After a second, nothing happened, and he looked fairly stupid, but, slowly at first and with acceleration speed, the vending machine started to melt. It was almost as if it were corroding very very quickly, and soon, there was nothing but a large pile of dust, with lots of sweets, chocolate and crisps.

"Ta-daah!" he said, smiling, and gesturing at the dusty mess of metal and plastic.

Rhoderick slapped his own face quite hard - his brother was quite silly sometimes.

_{{{OOC:Took me long e-blooddy-nough!}}}