Zeel waves with a warm smile. "Appreciate the concern!" is all he responds with.
Once they're out of ear shot, he quietly follows up to himself...
"The time might be closer than you think..."
He can't help but be pleased with this thought. But then a less pleasant one strikes him and his face turns serious.
He makes his way through the grimly adorned city, to a... particular building. Like all of the others, it had simply risen from the ground one day, summoned through magic, it's appearance automatically generated for lack of a better word, tailored in some way to it's intended inhabitant.
This one... was a bit more... overstated than others. Emblazoned on the front was an ever so innocent looking reindeer, smiling pleasantly as a forest burns behind her.
You may have guessed that this is Fluffy's home. Or rather, it was.
Zeel spends a moment staring at the image. In hindsight it was a bit of a bitter depiction and he was in two minds looking at it.
With a sigh, he waves his spellbook. With a heavy rumble, the building started to sink from whence it came; within seconds it was gone...
...almost. Through some fluke, the very top of the building, specifically the tip of it's spire remained, sticking just a few inches out of the ground.
Zeel starts to wave his book again to correct this, but stops just short. He lowers his book and kneels down on the ground, staring glumly at the spire.
He actually stays like this for a little while until a voice interrupts him.
"Heh, looks a little like a memorial doesn't it? Apropos..."
Zeel looks back with a scornful expression at his demon, Hominid. Leaving the book open allowed him out. The bizarre two-legged, opposable thumbed red silhouette stood just behind Zeel, his freakish "hands" as he calls them behind his back. There's naught but a blank space where his eyes are supposed to be, yet somehow he all the same dons a noticeable surprised expression at the look Zeel's giving him.
"What...? It's a legitimate observation!" Hominid responds, putting his arms up in a shrug. He then continues in his usual smug, cool tone of voice. "Anyway, look, look, buddy, it's nothing to be all mopey about. Things like this, just think of it as, ehhhh, a learning experience, huh?"
[OOC Note: I'm thinking Hominid's personality will be roughly based on Disney's interpretation of Hades.]
"I do." Zeel answers, "But some things... some things it seems like you shouldn't have to learn. Some things should just be obvious. I believe in inclusiveness, not barring anyone from joining us, no matter their race, their beliefs, their past... I believe it so much that I was eager to encourage anyone to make their own pact. Find their own demon, infuse themselves with the darkness like it was nothing."
Zeel turns back to stare at the spire as he continues, "Not that I have anything against the demon she picked, but someone like Fluffy... I don't think gaining that power was healthy for her at all. It just made it easier for her to do damage... and as a result.. maybe... encouraged it. Just because it's a good thing for me and the others doesn't mean it's a good thing for everyone... I can't believe I didn't see that."
Hominid listens with a growing confused expression, before blurting out in mile-a-minute speech, "Wait wait wait wait wait wait hold up just a second..." he then slows down a bit. "I wasn't saying you should take it as a lesson on how you treat folks, I'm saying take it as a lesson on those you hang out with. As in, y'know, maybe don't let the obvious murderous psychopath into your little club house next time!"
"Hominid!" Zeel snaps as he whips around to face him.
"Oh come on, you can't take a joke?" Hominid answers, raising his hands up as if he doesn't want to instigate. "I mean granted, it's a joke in the funny-because-it's-true kind of way, but-"
"Not now... alright?" Zeel cuts him off, shaking his head. "Not with this."
"Tsk... one of these days you really need to learn how to relax..."
Hominid kicks his feet up and floats in the air as though he's lying down in an imaginary hammock.
"The point is..." Zeel continues. "I believe staying with the Velvetians is what's best for her. I can't explain why, but she and Feanor... seem to have some kind of bond, a connection I've never seen her make with anyone else. They're friends... and maybe that's all she ever needed."
"Uh huh..." Hominid answers in the most bored tone possible. "Plus, now when she decides to go on her bloody, violent rampage, she won't have to worry about an army of demons swarming in on her. So that's reassuring."
"Alright that's enough, you're getting back in your book." Zeel responds curtly, waving the book below Hominid.
"Oh come on now... ugh, okay okay, I'll be goo-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-"
Quite unnaturally, Hominid seems stuck in a lengthy, almost glitchy stutter. His silhouetted frame begins rapidly blinking in and out of existence as a light shines from the book underneath him.
"H-Hominid?! What's happening?!"
After a moment or two of blinking, Hominid's visage is replaced by a projection of a couple of vines holding up a necklace with a cracked ruby in the center. From it comes a voice of unrecognizable tone...
You should know...
A red wave of light comes from this apparition and blasts into Zeel's face, the force of it sending him back a few steps. He's overwhelmed by it, unable to see anything but a series of still images rapidly flashing before his eyes. These stills tell him bits and pieces of what's occurred with this entity...
With a flash they leave him and Zeel is left gasping for breath.
"-ood, I'll stop making fun of your evil ex." Hominid continues after zapping back into existence. He seems unaware anything ever happened. "Although personally I still think if you guys lived in a world with straitjackets, it'd do a lot of... what happened to you?" he asks quizzically, upon noticing Zeel's exertion.
"I... I'm not entirely sure. But I think I know how to find out..."
Zeel picks up the spellbook and closes it before turning to leave the dark domain. Much as he didn't look forward to it, that last image let him know exactly who he needed to ask and where they were...