The kid looked out the window of the apartment, looking at the city lights fading into the blurry fog of the bay night. The day had been strange. A mustached monkey had offered him... something. But then strangers interrupted everything while he had still been trying to get a handle on things. Belong? To an exclusive bunch of people? It had appeal to a loner and reject like himself. The guy in the red longcoat had called it a demon, right? Alan closed the window, cutting off the damp chill from outside. Demons usually just needed to be called once they'd made an offer? Alan dimly recalled a line from an English class assignment.
    "Hell hath no limits, nor is circumscribed, In one self place, for where we are is hell, And where hell is must we ever be..." Alan muttered.
    Perhaps the puchuu had sensed Alan's desire; they were suited for such things after all. The subtle sound of Mephy appearing on the window ledge and the not-so-subtle smell of brimstone that accompanied it. "Maaarlowe, I think? It's a very good play! I got my name from it anyway..."
    The oversized Emperor Tamarin stroked his white mustache with an impish look. "You want to hear the deal, right? It's really simple! You don't even give up your soul- my employers don't have much use for souls you see... There's just rules you have to follow as a newly inducted member of the Occult Order of Hermes Trimegustus is all..." The puchuu produced a piece of parchment with a very formally written legal agreement and proffered it to Alan, who started reading it carefully.