New Plan

"Yes, he certainly does," Lilin said, groaning. "And of course he uses my real name...."

Annie crossed her arms. "Real name?"

"Yeah, Lilim. The M is dumb and stupid, and I wish he'd recognize that calling myself Lilin instead is WAY better. He likes having servants to do stuff for him, why doesn't he make it a little easier to say my name?! Like, come on, is it really that hard to just make an N sound instead of an M?"

Annie cocked her head. "My, you're quite passionate about this."

"Uh, yeah, of course I am," Lilin countered, "EVERYBODY hears when he talks. Calling me by that stupid name just... Pisses me off."

Annie nodded, standing a bit more upright and uncrossing her arms. "Well, I quite like the name Lilin. It sounds... Demonic."

Lilin stared blankly at Annie, taken off-guard by the compliment and even more so by the second half of the sentence.
"Well, yeah, it SHOULD sound demonic. I'm a demon."

Annie blinked in surprise. "You're a demon?"

Lilin rolled her eyes, crossing her arms this time as she smirked at Annie. "It's so like a stupid human to not realize. Yeah, I'm a demon. If you don't believe me, just look at this."

With a wave of her hand, several things about Lilin started to change. Her skin started to lighten and turn blue, and her eyes turned a much deeper and darker red. A tail unfurled from behind her, and Annie noticed horns sticking through her maidly headband. Her hair just slightly changed color, though it was still dark enough to be nearly black. Seeing Annie's shocked reaction, Lilin grinned to reveal her sharp, fanged teeth. Satisfied, she started to stretch her arms and back.

"Ahhhhh," she sighed, "Feels good to break this out! Wrapping my tail in is SOOOO exhausting!"

Annie shook her head, blinking a few times. She had to make sure that this was real, that she wasn't just seeing things in a shocked delirium. Sure enough, it was real, and it was in front of her. This was the first time she really saw something she could hardly believe. A human being just completely transformed in front of her! Well, she wasn't even sure if she could say it was a human being. Are demons separated from humans? Wait, of course they were, Lilin just called her a stupid human.

"What? Too shocked to talk, Ten? I know, I'm pretty awesome. Strong, smart, beautiful... You must be intimidated!"

Annie looked at Lilin's cocky expression, then couldn't suppress a laugh. She started to cackle, nearly doubling over as she felt tears well in her eyes. The way Lilin said that kept replaying in her head, like the funny videos her grandchildren would send her.

 Lilin gasped, blushing as her smirk turned to a scowl.
"Hey, what the hell are you laughing at, Ten?! What, you don't think I'm all of those things! Fine, I might not be as smart as some of the others, but I'm smart enough to kick a bookworm's ass!"

Annie had to wipe away a tear as she kept laughing. It was like Lilin was straight out of a comic book.
"No, no dear," she said between residual chuckles, "It's just... I've never seen something like this! You're quite glorious you know! It's hard to, uhh, imagine beauty now that I've seen this!"

Lilin put her hands to her hips, flipping her hair back."Yeah, that's right."

The two of them stood there, Annie still trying to recover and catch her breath as Lilin tried to figure out if she had just been complimented or insulted. After a few seconds, another maid peeked in from the hallway, alarmed by all the noises coming from near the throne room. She looked and saw Lilin turned to speak with what seemed to be a new trainee.

"Oh, hey, what's up Six?" Lilin asked as she turned her head to look directy at the maid.The maid smiled sightly as she stepped out from behind the wall. Annie was shocked when she emerged, not quite believing that Lilin had somehow sensed her before Annie could see her. Her silhouette seemed to shimmer and change shape. Annie stared in confusion as the woman's figure slowly solidified. It took her a few seconds, but she realized that this "Six" person was able to change color like Lilin.
Once her colors settled, Annie saw a shorter woman. She wore square glasses that framed narrow, almond eyes. She stood with far more elegance than Lilin did, and her face was locked into a modest expression. Her slight smile didn't give much away, and her eyes hardly expressed anything. She didn't seem hostile, but Annie couldn't shake the feeling that her polite appearance was simply a front. Six bowed deeply, her short, dark grey hair hardly moving with the motion as if it were plastic.

"Greetings, Lilin," Six said, "I heard many noises here. Is something amiss?"

Lilin turned to face Six as she folded her arms. She tilted her head down with a half-smile.
"Nah, Ten here was just gawking at my true form."

Six nodded. "I understand. It was quite the surprise when I saw it."

Lilin chuckled. "Fair enough. Anyways, Six, if you're here anyways, what's left to do?"

Six thought for a moment, hand moving to her chin. She adjusted her glasses before replying.
"It has been some time since we have weeded the barrier. Task yourself and your trainee with mending that. When you return, I will have a better answer for you."

Lilin nodded, turning to Annie and starting to loosen up her arms. "Well, Ten? Let's get moving!"

Annie nodded, bowing to Six before turning to Annie and following. Lilin was walking far more quickly now, moving like she had something to prove. Annie scurried along, rushing to keep up with the demoness. Her heels clicked against the floor as she managed to close the distance. The two of them walked to the castle's entrance and exited, heading out towards the Deathlands once more.