At the cabaret, Isaac woke up.

There was no rising sun to wake Isaac, because his room was fully interior, but the lanterns all glowed bright when he finally reentered the land of the living. The brighter lights were accompanied by the distinct sound of dishware clattering on wood, like someone was setting a table. He blinked until his eyes adjusted, slowly shaking his head as he sat up in the too-big, too-soft bed.

“Ah, you’re up, good.”

The voice that greeted him was soft, slightly-Slavic… Vanya. Isaac wiped the sleep from his eyes and scanned the room. At the small table, with two places set, was Vanya. Her wings were open wide, as if in excitement or surprise. She wore a loose, flowing, pastel blue sundress. It was backless, slightly sheer, with a deep neckline that plunged halfway down her sternum, showing a bit of her breasts but it stubbornly refused to show any more as she walked from the table to Isaac. She walked softly, the dress low enough to brush the carpets and pooling on the floor as she kneeled by the bed.

“Are you alright?” She asked, reaching out to touch Isaac’s bare shoulder. Her wings slowly closed, tucked against her back. “After mo- er, Madam Tempest was done with you, I took you back up here, and you slept a while. It’s mid-morning now.”

Isaac put his hand on hers, and she blushed slightly. “I’m a bit tired, still, but I’m okay. Thank you for checking on me.”

“Oh, I’m more than checking on you.” Vanya smirked, rising back to her feet. She held out her hands. “We’re having breakfast.”

Isaac took her hands and rose to his feet out of the bed, realizing a bit belatedly that he hadn’t been re-dressed. Before the blush could properly rise in his cheeks, Vanya’s lips met his cheek in a brief peck, distracting him.

She was smiling at him, eyes bright. “Come, come! I brought a pot of coffee, Graham’s pancakes and some fresh fruit.” She let go of one hand but held the other tighter, pulling him toward the table.

“Whoa, where’d all this energy come from?” Isaac laughed. As she pulled him across the room, he grabbed the pair of linen pants off the vanity. When she let go of him by the table, he slipped them on so he at least wasn’t nude.

“I…” Vanya blushed as she sat down at the table. She poured two cups of coffee and topped them off with what was either milk or cream. “Madam Tempest told me this morning that Rhyn will be home tomorrow, and… I suppose I just slept well, and… I don’t know.” She deflated some. “Did I misunderstand you, last night? I suppose I was a bit overeager, but-”

“No, Vanya, you read me like a book.” Isaac sat at the table too, across from her. “I was going to ask if we could have breakfast together, but you beat me to it. Thank you for doing this.”

The angel smiled again, looking relieved. “Good, good. Please, eat!” She gestured to the stack of pancakes and bowl of fruit in front of Isaac.

Isaac grabbed a grape and tossed it in his mouth as Vanya started eating as well. “So,” he said around the food now in his mouth, “What does a typical day look like for you?”

Vanya paused before she put anything in her mouth. “Well, often I just do housekeeping - cleaning, organizing, stuff like that for most of the day until we hit sundown, then I go ‘on the clock.’ I spend most of the time in typical sexy dress to entice the customers, but,” She tugged playfully at the edge of her dress. “I have today off, thanks to Madam Tempest, so I get to dress and act how I want, even if customers see me.”

“I would contend,” Isaac said, “that you’re still dressed pretty sexy, just in a different way.”

Vanya blushed darker red. “Isaac, you are a special man. Not often that I blush just from some kind words.”

Isaac laughed, and she joined him. They ate in comfortable silence for a bit - and god, the food was good - until Isaac lifted his head again, a question on his mind. “Can I ask a potentially kind of uncomfortable question?”

Vanya chuckled softly around a sip of her coffee. She set the cup down before she spoke. “Only if I can do the same.”

“Deal,” Isaac laughed. He waited while she composed herself, tucking her hair behind her pointed ears to show the silver crescents on her cheeks, looking at him with bright honey-amber eyes. “Why do you not refer to Tempest as your mother? I think I’ve caught you almost doing it a couple times, but you always stop short.”

Vanya didn’t look offended, which was good, but she did tilt her head and furrow her brow slightly, as if trying to determine how to answer. “That… is slightly uncomfortable, but only because the answer is slightly embarrassing. I… gods, she’s my mother, but she is also my employer, and significantly more importantly the owner of this place. I have to refer to her properly. Even if she doesn’t care, I care about how I present her.”

“That makes sense,” Isaac replied with a nod. “You don’t have to worry about that around me.”

She smiled. “I appreciate that.” She poked at her half-finished plate, thinking. “I respect her a lot. She deserves that respect.” She ate a bit more, then made a sudden sound. “Ah! Right, my question for you. Isaac, I must know, how did you meet all the friends that my mother told me of? Two demons, a poltergeist, a fey lord?”

Fey? Was that what Tyler was? Not the time. “Well, I met Ophelia when I signed up for a program we have in my world, you probably know of it. I was supposed to just sponsor her, give her a place to live and get a foothold, maybe get a new friend or more.” Isaac drank the last of his coffee. “I didn’t know she came with a powerful elven nemesis. Torik is her… I think her adoptive brother. He came to help us when said nemesis came knocking. Tyler was my interface with the organization that led me to Ophelia, and Aoife also works with that organization. And, of course, Jade is just my friend, from before… all this.”

“And they’re all in your pants?”

Isaac sputtered, shaking his head. “N-no, not all of them. I have yet to be propositioned by Torik or Tyler, and I have yet to actually sleep with Aoife, though I… would like to.” He hadn’t had sex with Jade, either, but they’d been intimate enough.

“Hopefully you can reunite with them all soon. This world can be dangerous, and being separated against an enemy is even more dangerous.” Vanya’s expression became a bit forlorn as she finished her meal. “Though I don’t quite want to see you go.” She snorted, shaking her head. “I sound like a lovesick teenager.”

Isaac laughed. “I’d love to get to know you better, Vanya. You’re very interesting.”

“I beg to differ,” she replied. “You’re the interesting one, otherworlder. Most of my life was bouncing around. Hiding who I was, because people can be strange around angels. Until I rattled in here during a storm, and… I’ve been here since.”

“How long has it been?”

“I’ve known Madam Tempest for about ten years.” Vanya stole a piece of fruit from Isaac’s bowl, reminding him of his breakfast. “She’s taken care of me ever since.” She gave a small smile. “As aloof and neutral as she seems, she is a very wonderful woman, who truly cares.”

Isaac nodded, smiling back. He finally finished off his breakfast. “I got that vibe from her. She really loves you and your sister.”

Vanya looked off to the side, a thoughtful look in her eyes. After a moment, her eyes flicked to him. “Done with breakfast?”

Isaac nodded.

“Want to get that stubble off your face?” She stood up and languidly walked over to him. She touched his cheek, thumb scratching through the stubble.

“It would be preferable, yes,” Isaac said, looking up at her.

She patted his cheek and walked to the vanity. When she walked back, she was holding a straight razor and a vial of something clear. Wordlessly, she pulled a chair over and sat in front of Isaac. She poured some of the vial’s contents into her hand and lathered it into Isaac’s stubble. It was cool and slick - some kind of shaving aid, probably.

“Don’t worry,” she said, “I’ll clean up with a little bit of magic.”

She took the blade and started slowly, methodically running the blade along his skin, shaving swathes of stubble away easily. The hand not holding the razor held his face, his chin, his jaw. It didn’t take long, and with each cut, Vanya’s fingertips glowed and the cut hair disappeared. She worked efficiently, slow and steady but with a practiced skill. Her brow was furrowed in concentration, gaze intent.

“Almost done,” she murmured after about a minute or so. “Just cleaning up a little-”

A cacophonous bang from downstairs shook the floor, startling Isaac and Vanya. They both flinched, and sharp pain registered a moment later. Isaac touched his cheek after he recovered from the sound, and his fingertips came away smeared with red. Vanya looked at him aghast, eyes wide.

“Fuck,” Vanya muttered. She set aside the razor and lifted her hand. “I’m so sorry, Isaac.”

“It’s okay, don’t worry about it. I jumped, too.” Isaac put his hand on her knee as she touched his face again. She ran her thumb over his cheek, over the fresh cut, and with a tingling warmth, the slight pain faded. When Vanya pulled her hand back, her thumb was stained red, but another flash of white light on her fingertips cleaned it.

“I healed it, it’s okay,” she said, but it sounded like she was saying it more to herself. “I… I’m sorry, I-”

Isaac took her hand and held it tight. “It’s alright. I’m okay. Do you know what that sound was?”

Vanya closed her eyes for a moment, breathed slowly, and opened them again. “No. But it probably wasn’t good.”

As if on cue, the door flew open, and Arthus appeared. “Master Wells, you may want to finish getting dressed and come downstairs. There is an altercation from some unruly individuals.” Already, the machine was walking away, the blade emerging from its arm. “I will do my best to stop them.”

Isaac and Vanya’s eyes met, and then he was up. He grabbed a shirt and threw it on, then grabbed his Wraithrider off the vanity and was out the door, with Vanya on his heels.