Not Fallen... Yet

Chapter 17 - Story Time

As much as Aryan may have, admittedly, liked the idea of Kiran wanting him to stay, the unexpected turn of events brought with it a dilemma the demon was poorly equipped to face. The legendary struggles of Conversation.

The guy obviously couldn't very well comment on what nice weather they were having or implement any other such pre packaged conversation starters pertaining to humidity levels or the amount of clouds speckling the sky considering they were deep in the bowels of Hell where one didn't dare dream of ever even seeing the sky. Aryan could maybe ask what Kiran what he'd been up to lately; but with the knowledge that the answer would probably be something along the lines of "sit in this nasty cave and pray I don't die," that seemed a rather unwise course of action that would likely yield no positive result or strengthen any friendly, or at least companionable, relations the demon may or may not be attempting to build.

However, even with all this information included, "So, how did you end up in Hell?" was probably still not the very best choice but, of course, it's what Aryan ended up going with, the demon letting the words fall casually from his lips without really thinking them through or even pausing to consider, that, hey, that might be a touchy subject, probably should steer clear of that. Well, what can he say? Aryan never claimed to have great conversational skills.

It must have been the demon's lucky day though, if such a thing were even possible, for Kiran merely blinked blankly at him for a moment before the angel's face broke out into an unmistakably bashful smile. The boy's soft cheeks flushed pink as an embarrassed giggle of sorts escaped him and he turned his head away from his companion just the slightest bit, his teeth sinking lightly into his pink lower lip and his hands writhing themselves together. Long fingers threading together before pulling apart seconds later, running over each other before coming to squeeze together once more in a restless flurry of motion that showed no sign of a pattern or purpose. Kiran looked impossibly awkward for a creature that was supposedly the most controlled and elegant thing to ever grace the face of the earth.

"I fell." Kiran admitted softly through a light chuckle, turning his expectant gaze back towards the demon with a wry smile twisting his full lips, almost as if inviting some sort of snide remark.

"Yeah, I gathered." Aryan snorted dryly, barely resisting the urge to roll his dark eyes back at the pure obviousness of the entirely unhelpful statement.

"Nay, demon. You do not understand." Kiran laughed lightly, his flush darkening some to turn from strawberry milk pink to rose red as he bit his lip a little harder and a soft sound of irritation escaped him, as if having to further elaborate was some sort of cruel mental torture - The entire image, the angel blushing bright with embarrassment under Aryan's gaze, was... Nice. Yeah. Nice. That was a good, safe word for it.

"I mean to say, I literally fell." Kiran attempted to rephrase, chuckling some as he turned his soft eyes to the ground as if looking at the demon would simply be far too much to bare at the moment. "I was attempting a new aerial feat and things did not proceed quite as I intended them to." The angel explained quietly, his airy voice dropping to a hushed whisper as if he were telling the Guide his most treasured secret and even the dust bunnies were listening ears in his paranoid eyes.

"Wait," Aryan drew out slowly, his dark eyebrows furrowing as he ran the angel's words over in his mind and first translated them into understandable language, then tore from them their true meaning. "You mean like, you tripped?" The demon concluded, his face slowly breaking into an amused grin as Kiran paused once then gave a single, sharp nod, his full cheeks turning scarlet in light of the words.

A long beat of silence passed and then, all at once, Aryan was howling. The demon barked out a heavy hack that barely held any semblance to actual laughter before a series of what sounded like mangled coughs escaped him, the breathy things shaking his shoulders and tensing his stomach as the guy's dark eyes squeezed shut. Aryan drew an arm up over his belly to try and ease some of the aching burn that began to simmer there as he attempted, unsuccessfully, to draw in a stabilizing breath only to release the half inhale in an unbecoming snort.