Bastion nodded in response.

"I understand." he said.

"You do what you feel you must." he told her. "And I KNOW your father worries excessively about you." he then said. "I remember the fuss he made when he discovered we were getting together." he continued.

"Insinuating I was a hooligan and one that had better not hurt you." he said further.

"...and his brain breaking when he learned who my parents were." he then chuckled.

"My mother seems to carry a lot of intimidation."

Bastien laughed as well.

"So true." he said. "It was still rather hilarious, though." he stated, as their server arrived, took their drink orders, and then left to get them. He watched the server leave, before sighing.

"Well, so far it's been a very good day for you." he commented.

"I hope the camera goes over well with your father... when he finds out." he muttered.

"Your mother is the sort that she'll be fine with it, I'm sure."

Bast nodded in response.

"Makes sense." he said. "A real shame that that relationship ended as sour as it did." he lamented, as he tried his best to just remain natural for the snaps that Jordan was taking.

"But... these things happen." he shrugged.

He then paused and looked around a bit, feeling something... off... in the air around him. He wasn't sure WHAT it was, but nothing seemed to be immediately different, so he hoped he was just being paranoid.

"Anyway." he then said.

"Let's enjoy lunch." he suggested.

"And odds are you should probably charge that internal battery soon." he continued. "Yes, it has a charge, but it could just BARELY have one."

Bast chuckled lightly when she said that, and did what she did.

What followed was a very lovely and fulfilling lunch, with Bast picking up the tab as he'd promised he would when they agreed to go to lunch. He could afford it, and he knew that Jordan didn't have any problems with him covering their meals from time to time. It was mostly a 50/50 split on who covered it, anyway, so it was all fair. Once they were all paid up, they got up from the table.

"All right then." Bast said.

"Are you heading back home?" he asked.

"I should probably get back to work, myself." he commented, looking at the clock display on his phone.

"I don't have any appointments at the moment, but I do know drop-ins are just as important."

Bast responded with a return embrace, a hug and a kiss, before they let go and he nodded.

"You do that, then." he said.

"As it stands, I don't see myself working late." he told her as they left the outside patio area, though the gate in the fence. "But things can pop up unexpectedly." he mumbled.

"I'll text you if a hot mess comes in needing to be un-crazied." he added bluntly with an almost snarky laugh. But that was his demon half bleeding through. He didn't think that honestly and sincerely.

He just had a... unique... sense of humour.

"Hope everything ends up fine for your enrollment." he finished.

Sebastien had no issues with her snapping his photo all the time... well, not ALL the time, but it was frequent. And he was flattered. He would sometimes pose, but mostly, she just wanted natural shots, and he was all too happy to oblige. In fact, they had an agreement that, unless he outright stated he didn't what his photo taken at a specific point or place, then she was free to surprise photoshoot him anytime, anywhere.

However, as time went on, he did find himself feeling a little... weird. There were times where he felt himself being more internally judgemental to others, when he normally wouldn't be. He'd always managed to recognise this and put it away, but it was cropping up more often than not. He also found himself having a slightly darker sense of humour, even for himself, and was sometimes finding himself just... not caring about certain things. Not in an evil way, or in a sociopathic way, but... in a more... strangely apathetic way.

He wondered what was happening. Was the job too stressful? That couldn't have been it, his job was fine. He'd been a little busier the past while, but surely that wasn't enough to cause this.

Was he unhappy with Jordan? No, that couldn't be it, she was happier than ever, and he loved seeing that. He quickly discarded THAT option, and figured he was maybe just a bit on the tired side. As a nephilim, that was rare, but not impossible.

He would talk to Sharp about taking some stress leave or sick leave or something. He figured maybe 4-5 days would be enough. And he knew Evan could handle any of his own clients or patients. Evan wasn't specialised in what Bast did, but he'd managed before him, he was sure he'd be fine.

"..." Jake was silent as he looked at the image, and then sighed.

"Meh." he said. "Wouldn't have been the first time, photos have been taken in this area." he reasoned. "There's nothing here that's really incriminating or secretive or whatever, so... whatever." he shrugged.

He then continued to look at the image, and raised an eyebrow.

"...darn good pic, though..." he commented.

"Seriously. That is some intense quality there." he told her further. "If I didn't know that I was me, and that was a picture... given how it's completely still, one would think I'm lookin' through a window. Or in a mirror." he added.

"Anyway, you here to see the head-shrink?' he asked with a chuckle.

Jake's serpentine tongue darted out a couple of times, and he then buzzed her in. Once she was let through, she handed him the camera, and he proceeded to check through the photos she had taken.

"...wow." he said.

"These really are good. Crisp." he told her.

"...LOTTA Sebastien, too." he then commented. "Like holy hell, you'd think he was a model or something." he said further.

"But yeah, good pics." he reiterated, handing the camera back.

"Prol'ly expensive as hell device."

"...lucky you." Jake muttered.

"Shame you got it under the circumstances you did, but... oh well. One person's loss is another one's gain. That's how this world works." he went on, leaning back in his chair again.

"Anyway, have fun, shutterbug." he told her.

"I assume you don't want me to let him know you're coming?" he asked.

"Gonna surprise him with a snap?"

"See ya." Jake responded as she left, before going back to his newspaper.

"..." he was then silent, thinking about the photos he had seen in the camera.

'...those really were lifelike...' he thought to himself, pondering them even further.

Meanwhile, down in his office, Evan had decided it was nap time. The sun was shining through the window in his office at JUST the right angle that it was directly on the couch in his office... and he couldn't pass that up.

As such, he had curled up onto it, and was snoozing.