"As you should be!"

The proclamation of my expected reception from the man was curt, but still rife with the amusement that had touched my voice with harsh hands during my initial greeting. Why our meetings seemed to be ludicrously haphazard and unplanned, I would be lying if I said I minded the man's company. With his ambivalent attitude setting a deliberately easy going ambiance to our setting, I found myself flooded with tendrils of interest in his appearance. While I had not seen the man in quite some time, it didn't seem that this distance would provide any change to the working relationship we had established prior to his disappearance into Narnia, or wherever it was the man had gotten lost. I generally held my working relationships at least an arms, or a leg I guess, length away from me in order to preserve an expected dominance and brutal authority I commanded from said relationships. With Spencer, it had been no different save for a small factor. He neither cowered nor did he attempt any kind of insubordination against whatever it was I had offered him as a command; those two things combined, and I was content enough to continue doing business with him.

As Spencer stood and leaned back against the tree for lumbar support, my eyebrows knit together in a sort of skepticism at his relaxed manner. Hardly did I believe that he was as comfortable as his position portrayed, but then again... There was a telltale glint in his eyes that marred that initial perception of how he felt. Spencer looked unsure as if telling me his real reason for entering Sacrosanct might elicit a response he wouldn't like. Truthfully, it probably would be considering my veritable responses were more likely than not something biting and irrefutably harsh. Spencer reached for the cigarette between my fingers, maybe as an acceptance of stable, allied ground while we discussed his reasons for relocation in the city. And when he had lit his own cigarette, I mirrored the actions in an obviously well versed manner, satisfied with the way the tobacco smoke spilled over my tongue and through my lips in what might look like a contemplative manner as Spencer's SOB story unfolded.

"You're entirely right, I would have caught that one sooner or later," I started to say, the corner of my lips turning upward in a wry, tell-tale smile. "Sounds to me like the witches in your city caught a case of the stupids. I've heard they're communicable."

Sure, business of course. What kind of business might have brought Spencer into the city? Granted, there were a myriad of possibilities waiting to be seized in a city like this what with the entirety (near entirety...) possessing abilities well beyond the natural, human capability. How humans used only ten percent of their brains, I wouldn't be able to answer though surely our species used well beyond that capacity... How else would we be capable of fantastical feats immeasurable in a human context? Demonstrating my lack of an aptitude for emotional sympathy for the man's strife, I ashed my cigarette with a complimentary, soft snort of laughter.

"Temporary leave of absence, yeah? If that wasn't so temporary, I would have a use for you but seeing as you seem to have an expiration date on your stay..."

With another exhale of the smoke that had been lolling over my tongue, I sighed. Spencer was one of the only warlocks in any kind of vicinity that I might have valued. He provided little annoyance and his existence wasn't a pestilence I wanted to eradicate on any kind of major scale. With that in mind, I truly could have a use for the other warlock, even if it was only because he was the only other existing warlock I had any minute kind of tolerance for. Unfortunately for him, such tolerance began to wane as his correction of my pronunciation of his last name befell his lips. With an unamused gritting of my jaw, I followed the expression with a characteristic narrowing of my eyes.

"In light of recent events, Lombardi seems far more appropriate considering you might deserve a trophy for the inability to get out of the city before it went to shit," I offered, my opinion returning my voice back to one of good humor before taking another long drag of my cigarette, feeling promptly pleased with my rectification of what he believed to be a mere mispronunciation.