"Hello! I was, yes. Though I think Harry still has it, so if you would please?"

Harry blinks. "I totally do, uh," he starts rummaging through the pockets of his greatcoat, "here!"

He proffers the ring, in all its copper-and-glass glory. Toot-Toot buzzes his wings excitedly and swoops toward it, plucking it from Harry's palm and fitting it around his right shoulder. The pixie inhales sharply as the protective field extends over his skin.

"This is powerful," he breathes. "I can keep it?"

"Yep, it's yours. Figured you also needed something if Summer's agents are running around, doing things, requiring thrashing. It can change size if you, uh, sort of push it together or pull it apart? Not sure how small it goes, though, it might not go small enough to fit your hands, sorry."

Toot-Toot nods firmly, takes the ring off, and manipulates it until the band serves as a metallic belt, the gem riding eye-catchingly a few millimeters above his crotch. Harry does his level best to avoid looking at it.

"Thank you," Toot-Toot says seriously. "I am in your debt, milord Veron."

"You're welcome. Don't worry about it, I just. It seems like you did a brave thing for Harry, and like it'd help you to have, uh, that." Veron suddenly feels vaguely bad for just giving the little fairy a slightly cheap (for him, anyway) ring. "You're not in my debt, I just. Like doing good things for people when it seems like they might need it."

Toot-Toot shakes his head. "Harry pays us to be brave. With large quantities of pizza. This is different. A kindness."

"Don't worry about it," Harry advises. "Fairies like to formalize their goodwill by framing it as a debt. He's kind of telling you that you're friends now."

"Oh. Okay, sure, we can be friends now."

"Excelsior!"

Harry turns back to Toot-Toot, his eyes firmly up and to the right of the pixie's head. "Did you find out anything about the explosion, by the way?"

Toot-Toot nods vigorously. "Yes! The Baron Marcone and his guard had entered the building, minutes before the blast. Then the pentacle went up in flames! Then, a few minutes later, the Baron was rushed into a car by some creatures, smelled like sulfur. They drove away, seconds before his compatriots left the building. One of them was wounded, badly. Disemboweled. The woman. They drove off too."

Harry makes a face. "Don't suppose you know where either party went?"

"Nope! I only know this much because there was a salamander watching, but she got bored after the fire died down and she went to sleep."

"Well done anyway," Harry says. "Now we know we're up against demons. I think I know which ones, too. And you, my friend, have earned yourself a donut. To be redeemed at a later date, because it's very late and I have no idea where the hell we are."

Toot-Toot snaps off a salute and zips away.

"Hooray. Demons." says Veron, with a complete lack of enthusiasm. "Are we thinking of the same demons, here? Uh, come from the Abyss, bunch of evil bastards, locked in a very stupid eternal war with fellow evil bastards called devils, to the relief of various good-aligned folks?"

"Different demons. Used to be angels, decided for some reason that horrible puppy-kicking villainy was more fun. The specific breed I'm thinking of is the Knights of the Blackened Denarius. There's thirty of them - some of them are currently held prisoner instead of running around kicking puppies, but I don't have an exact number at the moment. They're all strong, fast, and damn near impossible to kill. Most also have magic, particularly a kind of magic called 'Hellfire' - fire, but more so. If you do manage to kill one, it'll drop a tarnished silver coin, called a Denarius. Do not let it touch your skin. That's how they - 'spread', for want of a better word. It'll worm its way into your head, try to get you to let it take over. It'll control your perceptions, offer you power and control and anything you want, in exchange for just a little bit more of your soul every time. I went through that once. I don't want you to have to."

Pause. "Also, the thought of an amoral demon with your powers is pants-shittingly terrifying."

"Shit. Yeah. Let's. Not have me become a demon, that sounds like a bad time for everyone. Though..." He trails off, looking faintly thoughtful. The syllables of a name echoes in the back of his mind. Could something like that actually manage to change his nature? His nature is—well, it's a fair bit more stable than most people have it. Knowing one's own True Name does that. He can't be sure without actually encountering one of these evil coins, but if he knows to look for its influence and invoke his own Name to tell it to get out, he might just be fine. That might just be that.

He shakes his head. It's not like he wants to ever test it. "Nevermind. Don't let it touch my skin, got it. Sorry you went through that."

"Worked out all right in the end. Sort of."

Harry looks around. "Also, I may have mentioned this, but do you have any idea where we are?"

"Uh. I went, uh." He checks the sun. "North east? There are some signs thataway but I neglected to read them." He points. "Other than that, no idea. I could find our way back to your car if you need me to, though."

Harry shakes his head. "It's late and it's cold. Executive decision: I'm calling David."

He inhales for a second, holds his breath for a second, and exhales for a second, then he removes a metal box from one of the pockets of his greatcoat. He clicks it open to reveal a boxy little device couched in padding, which he removes with great care, flips open with greater care, and presses some interior buttons with greater care still. It buzzes, then emits crackling, speechlike noises.

"Hi David - yeah, yeah. Listen, I need a pickup. - because you're my brother and you love me? - yes, but it's convenient. Anyway, we're at thirty-fifth and Church. - I have no idea. - new friend from another universe. - shut up, David. Thank you, David." He clicks the phone shut with more force than he had intended, then winces and places it gently back in the box, still blushing slightly. "My brother. The comedian."

"Brothers often think they are," Veron says sagely, not actually having grown up with any. Maybe he has one, somewhere, but he vaguely recalls his father was well on his way to drinking himself to death, so. Probably no siblings. Co-prentices probably count, right? Xanos definitely thought he was a comedian.

"It's fine," he adds, noticing the blushing and attempting to sound soothing.

For some reason Veron's soothing tone causes Harry to blush harder! What a mysterious bodily mechanism.

"...I think that corner across from us has a pizza place," Harry says after a little while. "Do you want to get a slice? David's gonna be a minute, and I'm just now realizing I'm super hungry."

"Oh. Right. Food is a thing that I need to regularly have, isn't it." He considers the state of his stomach. ... Yep. Also super hungry. "Sure. I don't know what pizza is, but I have probably eaten weirder things."

"It's mostly bread and cheese, you'll be fine."

Harry gets them both across the street and subsequently orders two slices of sausage and pepperoni for himself.

Veron considers trying to navigate a foreign toppings system while trying this strange foreign cuisine known as pizza. ... Eh. He doesn't actually care enough. He makes a token effort by picking the one topping Harry ordered that he actually recognizes. He will have the sausage.

He gets: a triangular flatbread, covered with cheese, with pieces of sausage! Harry's flatbread, in addition to sausage, has thin slices of a different kind of sausage. He eats it somewhat ravenously.

The triangular flatbread is cautiously tested, then deemed to be pretty good. He eats it with the efficiency of an adventurer, which is to say, also ravenously.

He ends up finishing off four in total.

For which Harry will agreeably pay!

Outside, there's a sharp beep. Harry startles, looks out the window quickly, then stands up. "Our chariot awaits," he says gravely.

"Our chariot has good timing," says Veron, much less gravely, sliding out of his chair and to the door. "Do you want me to pay you back for the food? I don't have any of the local currency, but there's probably some way to convert it somewhere."

Gold's valuable here, right? Right.

"Man, I like paying for people's food, it's fine. Though come to think of it I wouldn't mind one unit of your currency for magic reasons. I can't think of any spells right now that would use it, but 'coin from another universe' is the kind of thing I'd like to have around just in case."

Harry leads him to another vehicle, this one somewhat nicer than the model seen previously (or at least less cannibalized). Without preamble, he gets into the back seat, ducking significantly to get under the doorframe. "Hey, David."

A man who looks very, very much like Harry waves from the front seat. "Harry. And mysterious guest. Hello."