22.4 End Of The Honeymoon Phase

It's been a month since their ill-fated weekend outing with the end results of said outing being both disastrous and fortuitous depending on one's perception. For her Stanley the outing was, in his own words, a complete shit show and Ezraphel could agree to a certain extent. Not fully though because Ezraphel got to meet and hang out with her Stanley's friends, gained some interesting knowledge and perspective and made a close friend in Amelia whom she did not need to hide her true self.

Regardless of what she thought however her Stanley came to the conclusion that they needed to change their current relationship dynamic. To that end he made the decision to contribute more to the development of their relationship. That's right after much deliberation her Stanley has decided that the best course of action for them was for him to actively take her out of the house for more than just grocery runs. This meant spending less time in his office and more time with Ezraphel doing normal things that couples do but outside.

Naturally Ezraphel jumped at the opportunity and it's good that she did because while her Stanley held conviction with his declaration old habits die hard and it was up to her to make sure he stayed the course. Now a month later and they have gone out a total of a dozen times though most these outings were less like dates and more like sightseeing tours as Stanley took her to various places in the city. Not today however as it was a Saturday they will be going on another traditional date this time to a movie and as expected Ezraphel was very excited for it.

The Lilim hums the tune of an upbeat pop song as she steps out of the pool sized bath. With a wave of her hand across her body the water sloughs off and is deposited into the bath with a careless flick. A moment later a portal opens and Ezraphel steps through into the bedroom still naked as the day she was born before taking a seat at the vanity.

Ezraphel didn't own much in the way of cosmetic products because how can you improve upon perfection? but her own vanity aside there really wasn't a need for her to use cosmetics in the first place. They don't really add much to her overall beauty. On the other hand over the course of her stay on earth the Lilim has found a practical use for them. The problem with being a Lilim in this world is the same problem she had on Eos but to a higher degree. As the only Lilim on earth Ezraphel is quite literally the most beautiful and alluring woman in the world.

Humans don't get to be as beautiful as Ezraphel unless their visage is 'digitally enhanced' and even then they never really match up to a Lilim's supernatural allure. The problem is that it's one thing to see it through a screen but humans when met with that kind of beauty in person cannot help but to take a second look. Her Stanley once told her that she was so beautiful that it was uncanny and even without her natural magical charm effect she was bound to draw attention to herself. Ezraphel didn't mind the attention however her Stanley did not appreciate it, especially when some are brazen enough to take pictures of her.

This is where the cosmetics come in.

Through careful application of enchantments Ezraphel was able to make it so that the cosmetics applied to her actually lowered the effect of her magically enhanced allure. When fully and correctly applied her beauty became that of a human albeit a human who was born with incredible genes and dedicates a great deal of her time and effort into maintaining her appearance to the highest degree.

Personally Ezraphel didn't need the enchanted cosmetics as her magic made for a far simpler and more versatile alternative. This invention wasn't necessarily for her however but for Amelia since there was no guarantee she would be able to maintain a disguise spell that not only hid her mamono features but lowers her beauty as well. Yes there is a difference between the two and one is more mana intensive than the other to maintain.

Other than that Ezraphel has also found that the action of applying makeup makes for a rather soothing endeavor. She likened it to a form of artistic expression similar to painting and while Ezraphel was no artist like her older sister Marie she could appreciate the similarities. Despite the fact that she was essentially making herself visually less attractive there was something so very appealing about the process itself.

"Perfect" smiled Ezraphel as she viewed the comparatively inferior visage of her human disguise now with a light smattering of makeup, lipstick and eyeliner.

Moving away from the vanity the disguised Lilim hummed a tune as she strode into the walk-in closet to get her wardrobe together.

Meanwhile…

He distinctly remembered telling Ezraphel that doing what needed to be done was going to be one of the hardest things he had to do. And as it turns out he was not wrong in the slightest as in the past month Stanley had gone from a shut in to a domestic tourist with how many places he's been visiting as of late. It was his fault though because while he had the idea to do it he didn't exactly have a concrete plan of action on how it was going to go down.

Fortunately (or not) Ezraphel was more than happy to assist him with coming up with a plan and forcing him to stick with it as well. The first step of said plan saw him reorganizing his work for maximum efficiency. As someone who has been working at his own pace for years the switch to an actual schedule was jarring. Even more jarring was finding out that when all his work is properly organized into a schedule Stanley actually has quite a bit of free time.

There was no hiding this fact from Ezraphel not that he tried and Stanley reluctantly allowed himself to be swept up in her pace. The result of this ended up with him leaving the house three times this week alone on outings with Ezraphel. To say that Stanley wasn't exactly enthused about all this initially would be an understatement but needs must be met and so he swallowed the reluctance (and irritation) and dealt with it to mixed results.

Annoyed as he was with having to go outside frequently Stanley could not say that he didn't enjoy himself in the end and it all came down to Ezraphel. Stanley could not stress how pivotal Ezraphel's overall attitude towards all this made the whole endeavor not just bearable but even enjoyable. Much like during their movie nights Stanley chose to steer his focus on his girlfriend's reaction and Ezraphel did not disappoint.

He thought he'd seen her enthusiastic before in bed and on their first date but that paled in comparison to when she actually went out and explored. The woman's boundless optimism and sense of wonder at literally almost anything and everything served as a balm to his temperance. Her enthusiasm and optimism was practically infectious and Stanley found himself lost in the moments of their outings more times than not. Oh sure he was highly critical of them but those thoughts were mostly prevalent after the fact.

Frequent dates weren't the only new things they've been doing this past month. Ezraphel has begun Stanley's magic training and unfortunately they've hit something of a snag there. See Ezraphel was quite enthusiastic about it however there was only so much boundless enthusiasm can do and it turns out Ezraphel wasn't the best teacher. Now that isn't to say Stanley wasn't learning anything, thankfully Ezraphel had multiple teachers in her life and excellent memory recall so she was able to reiterate the theory.

The issues come with the practical application, casting spells that is. It was a bit unfair to call her a bad teacher it's more like the way how she learned to cast spells was fundamentally different from how most others actually did. Turns out that in addition to being a Lilim, a race who is fundamentally more in tune with the arcane than most others Ezraphel is also something of a prodigy. So much so in fact that she practically mastered her own version of spell casting that could not be replicated by Stanley.

He tried to do it he really did but Stanley was quite literally incapable of copying Ezraphel's method of casting spells. As such Stanley only had theory and a very rudimentary knowledge on application which really sucked.

Honestly he hasn't been this disappointed since BlizzCon 2018.

But all was not lost however as despite being very difficult did not equate to being impossible. It just meant that his dream of becoming a magic slinging badass would take a bit more time but until then…

"Stanley~"

He had a date to get to.

Looking from his position on the couch to his girlfriend Stanley scowled "are you going to take a ridiculously long time to get ready every time we go out?"

"Well not everyone can throw on any old thing and be satisfied Stanley."

She wasn't exactly wrong but at the same time "you can literally snap your fingers to clean and dress yourself. At this point I know you're just taking long on purpose."

"That is untrue" she defended "I simply do not think this warrants the use of my magic" and before he could comment she continues "understand that each time we go out I meticulously assemble my wardrobe."

As she said this she did a little twirl and poses showing off a blue low shoulder long sleeve bodycon dress that seemed to adhere to her curves and black thigh high boots that highlighted her legs. Her hair was in a low ponytail with bangs on either side framing her face. No matter how many times he's been in this exact same situation it's always an experience seeing Ezraphel dressed to impress.

Unfortunately Ezraphel knew that and Stanley realized he messed up because he'd been staring at her for too long. That smug smirk of satisfaction was positively insufferably and the distinct feeling of wanting to pull her down to her knees and stick his dick in her mouth flashed through his mind before he shook it off.

'I know what I'm going to do when I come back.'

And judging from that familiar glint in her eye so too did Ezraphel.

'Eh whatever.'

"Let's go already."

"We still have plenty of time" Ezraphel reminded.

She was right and in truth Stanley's impatience and irritability was less about Ezraphel and more about what they would be doing for their date. Stanley was about to bring Ezraphel to watch her first movie at the theater. Stanley himself hasn't been to a theater in years and he didn't feel any particular need to break that cycle. He had no idea what the hell was going on with Hollywood but most movies nowadays were absolute dog water and definitely not worth the price of admission.

It didn't help that he would also have to pay for the inferior and overpriced schlock they served as food. That was unfair all things considered since he's been spoiled on Ezraphel's cooking and he didn't necessarily have to since he could go quite a while without food. Unfortunately he was committed to giving Ezraphel the full movie going experience and that meant popcorn, hot dogs, pretzels and coke. He already knew for a fact that she was absolutely going to go HAM at the concession stand.

Just thinking about it was enough to make him grumble at the expenses for what was very likely going to be a subpar movie experience. Before his thoughts could get too dark he felt a pair of slender hands grasp his shoulders. He almost let out a groan when said hands began massaging him but managed to stamp down the impulse to look over his shoulder at his grinning girlfriend.

"What are you doing?"

"You are much too tense Stanley, relax."

"How am I supposed to relax knowing I'm about to blow through at least a hundred bucks for nothing?"

Stanley was someone who liked to receive value for his money. Even frivolous spending is okay in his book because at least it came with the expectation that whatever crap you spent it on at least made the person happy even if it was just for the moment. This however was not Stanley's definition of a good time.

"It won't be for nothing Stanley" Ezraphel soothed "at least take solace in the fact that if this does not go well I am unlikely to ever ask for this again."

…fuck she's right.

"I can't believe you talked me into this" he grumbled.

That's right Ezraphel was the one who suggested they go see a movie. Why? Because she saw a trailer for a movie that was currently in theaters which caught her eye and figured she might as well kill two birds with one stone. She would get to see the movie that caught her eye as well as get her first experience at the theaters. As for the movie itself Stanley was shocked to find that it was actually-

Just then a generic ringtone interrupted Stanley's thoughts.

Reaching into his pocket to pull out his phone Stanley scowled as he viewed the screen not recognizing the number. A sudden pronounced weight on his shoulder had him looking to find Ezraphel with her chin resting on his shoulder their cheeks pressed against each other. Rare are the times when she hears Stanley's phone ringing as such she is immensely curious about who was calling him.

"Who is it?" Ezraphel asked not seeing a name for the caller.

"No idea" he paused then scowled before accepting the call.

'If I hear an Indian guy on the other line I'm giving them the Eric Cartman treatment.'

Curse them out and make a fart noise before hanging up.

It's the absolute least a scammer deserves.

After putting the phone to his ears and answering however both his expression and the atmosphere changes after the first sentence spoken by the person on the other line.

"Yeah, this is him" Stanley answered seriously while separating himself from Ezraphel.

Ezraphel for her part watched him, only picking up half of the conversation being had.

"How long?" he started walking towards the garage with Ezraphel following behind.

…

"Yeah I'm on my way" he answered before hanging up.

"Stanley?"

"Get in the car" ordered the man without preamble as he opened the garage's automatic doors and immediately went to the driver's seat.

"What is going on?" asked the Lilim as she looked at him with clear concern.

He said nothing as he started the car waiting for the garage doors to fully open. She could tell he was trying to keep himself in check however she could sense the emotions rolling off of him. It was an ugly mixture of anxiety, confusion, fear and anger which only seemed to become worse with each passing second the garage doors took to open. Finally Ezraphel had enough and with a flex of her magic the car died down causing Stanley's gaze to shift to her with a scowl.

Whatever he was about to say however died on his lips as he saw the naked concern on her face. Seeing this Stanley closed his eyes, took a deep calming breath and spoke words that made Ezraphel gasp in shock.

"There's been an accident" he began while fidgeting in contained anxiousness "my sister's in the hospital."

~End Of Volume Two~