The Teacher

Inconveniences

The interview went well and in the end, Louise signed on. She was a little overwhelmed when the lawyer showed up with documents to sign, that's what happened when a mundane saw their first demon without glamour on. She handled it remarkably well and blushed furiously when, after she was finished signing all of the papers, he complemented her on her stoicism. He left with a smile on his face. 

Her first order of business was to catch up on Finn's current schedule, which wasn't all that hard since she only had the evening meeting with Arthur, but took some doing because she needed to take into account the time differences. She started muttering about a program to track this better on the computer and Finn felt her mind wander. Gloria seemed to become more engaged at that point and the two sat down behind the hotel desk to start working out some sort of plan.

"We need to talk." The deep voice spoke behind her and Finn turned her attention to her lawyer.

"Why? Payment not go through?"

"You know why."

"Are things not in order?"

"They are, but-"

"Then that's fine." Finn waved a dismissive hand in the air and the demon sighed a sulphurous sigh, evidence of his frustration with her since he usually didn't give off any smells at all.

"Alright. Then what about the youngling in your house." The demon eyed her pointedly. 

"He made his contract. I'm abiding by it, and so will he." Finn narrowed her eyes. It was rare for a demon to even mention another unless they were at least of the same family.

"Will you allow me to look at the contract?"

"Why?" Finn pulled the magical lines to her and squared up against her lawyer, ready for whatever he was about to throw at her. He held up both hands, palm towards her, as a placating gesture.

"It's not to help him wiggle out of it, as you said he made it and he will abide by it." Her lawyer said calmly, and she felt the calm he was projecting at her. She frowned at him, but relaxed her hold on the magic. "I'm concerned about his family. I know a few of them, and I would like to make sure he didn't over stretch. Some of the younglings do that."

"And if he did?" Finn asked.

"Then I do what I can to mitigate the damages on our end should he fail to collect." He spoke carefully, as though he was selecting words that would suggest he didn't have any repercussions no matter which way the contract ended. Finn shook her head at him.

"Are you hedging your bets?" She asked him and he had the decency to chuckle.

"I don't gamble, not my contract. One of my younger idiot siblings married into his family. " He frowned in distaste. "Can you believe it? They romanticize humans so much that marriage is a thing in hell now." The demon shook his head and lifted his briefcase. "I'll get going. This is going to be a nice area to vacation in. You said the entire town can be made aware?"

"Yes, to a point. If any of them are uncomfortable keeping the worlds seperate then they are free to leave, funds will be made available to help them move wherever they want. I had Joy work that into the new pricing for the hotel, so no one has to cover the costs." Finn said, crossing her arms over her chest and watching the women behind the reception counter - Joy had joined them now - as they worked on whatever they were working on.

"And tonight you're meeting Arthur in Versailles?"

"The Louvre."

"I should take a trip out that way. It's been years since I spent any time in the older archtecture."

Finn smiled gently. "The more I get to know you the more confused I get how you ended up in law."

"Oh, I started in real estate law." The demon smiled. "But that gets boring after a while."

"Gloria, we need to get going." Finn called and the younger woman looked up. "It's evening in Paris and I can't bring us out right in the Louvre. We'll be taking the Metro."

"I wonder if, when she's in control, she'll do things your way or if she'll call up limo's." The demon mused.

"That will be up to her, but so long as it's me dragging her around she'll have to go on my whims." Finn said firmly as Gloria walked up.

"What now?" Gloria asked, confusion on her face.

"Time to go back to the house. I have to move it to Paris for this trip."

"Have you ever thought of just putting a separate door to each area of the world you travel to most?" Gloria asked and Finn blinked at her.

"The house does have limits, it can't be in multiple places at once." She led the way to the door that would bring them to the house in question.

"But if the rooms can be made to not be 'here' then where do they go?" 

"One of the deified areas that attaches to our reality? I'm honestly not sure, the spells are a lot older than me and not done in my style. I know it doesn't get destroyed, and in order to be able to call the parts back they are basically just put elsewhere." Finn shrugged.

"That can't be possible. Like, it defies physics if it does that, right?" Gloria argued.

"Are you sure?" Finn asked and when Gloria nodded, no longer sure enough to speak out loud apparently, Finn smiled. "I see. Well then you explain it."

They entered the house and Finn gave her home a shove to make it move to Paris. Gloria huffed at her but she shrugged. "We're on a time crunch. You can do it next time." They stepped out into an alley with all the requisite smells and sounds of being just out of sight of a major urban centre and Finn led Gloria out into the street. They went down a flight of stairs to a Metro stop - Finn handed Gloria a Metro card when they hit the stiles - and got on the train. Gloria couldn't seem to stop staring at the people talking around her and just before their stop Finn had to intervene.

"Veuillez excuser mon amie, elle est Américaine et ne parle pas français." She said, making Gloria ogle her as if she'd grown an appendage.

"You speak French?" She asked as they got off the train.

"Enough." Finn said simply as they walked into the darker areas around the Louvre, although 'darker' was still relative.

"Do I speak french?" Gloria asked.

"Only when you're reading the Chronicles. Although there is a spell for that." Finn answered as she paused beside a topiary and admired it until a cold hand wrapped around her neck and pulled her against a tall, almost painfully thing body.