Sage made sure Lizzie was comfortable and nestled in the blankets, which had sort of been made into a kind of bed for the two of them. Of course, there were two other beings there now, so they'd have to move some stuff around, but whatever. He didn't mind all that much.... admittedly, it was just nice to have someone to talk to. Well, he could talk to Lizzie, but she couldn't exactly talk back.

He glanced over at the girl when she spoke up again, attempting to give her a sort of smile, though it was rather small. " this is Lizzie, but I normally just call her Liz," he said, bouncing the baby up and down gently. "I'm Sage," he added with a shrug after a moment. He looked over at the girl again then, a slight cock to his head, which was just a subconscious movement that happened when he was curious. He'd always had it. "What about you? And your furry friend over there," he asked, definitely in a more friendly tone than before.

Tempe settled against the wall of the cave, watching him with bright gray eyes as he spoke. "Good to know. It's nice to meet you, Liz." She offered teasingly to the baby, smiling at the little one happily. She had never been a fan of children, but this one was pretty good so far.

She tilted her head at his name, giving a faint nod. "It's nice to meet you, Sage. I would shake your hand, but, y'know." She gestured lightly the baby in his hands, smiling a little. She seemed to have an easier time than him with it- for what reason? The woman had no idea.

"I'm Temperance. You can call me Tempe, T, y'know. Make your own, as long as it isn't bitch." She joked, gesturing to Lucifer, who had his head settled on her thighs. "This is Lucifer. It's a very misleading name though, he's the goofiest, goodest boy, I swear." She added, shifting to lay down. Lucifer stood and started sniffing around the corners of the cave quietly, nosing gently at the blankets that seemed to be the other pair's bed.

"So, if you don't mind me asking, what's your story? You're pretty young to have been married, and also to have a baby." She offered, curling her arms around herself quietly as she watched him, her hair spilling faintly onto the stone below her head.

Sage sort of chuckled and moved Liz's hand to wave at Tempe before shrugging when she mentioned his hands were full. "It doesn't really matter," he admitted with a shrug. At this point, a handshake really wasn't important.

He nodded when she told him her name, and gave her a slight grin at her comment after that. "Well, you did already call me an asshole," he teased her with a slight shrug of his shoulders. He glanced over at the dog and offered the animal a hand to sniff before patting it gently and nodding along with her comments. "He seems like a good boy," he agreed.

He leaned back against the wall of the cave with a slight huff of air when she spoke up again, and nodded. "I guess that's fair," he mused, thinking of how to start. "Though you're not exactly old yourself," he half teased her. "It was an arranged marriage....my dad was always in it for the money, she decided she wanted to pay, so he shipped me off to live with her," he said bluntly. "Liz came around pretty soon after that....she had her mind set on a daughter." He looked down at the baby, who had started to doze off, so he rested her against his torso gently. "It wasn't a marriage for love, but I tried to let myself love her. It would be less depressing that way. Of course, once we had a somewhat solid relationship, she got eaten," he snorted. It was a complicated relationship....he loved her, but it wasn't because of how a marriage was normally formed. It was more like she was his only source of....well, anything, so he had a somewhat positive relationship with her.

Tempe grinned at the little hand wave move, waving back gently in return. "I suppose not." She nodded lightly, chuckling at his next comment. "Fair enough. You get a one time asshole pass, then." She joked, tensing slightly as she watched him with her dog. She relaxed a little when he seemed friendly with Lucifer, watching him sniff Sage's hand, then nose and lick it like the weirdo he was. She grinned as Lucifer went on to sniffing Liz gently. She smiled faintly, closing her eyes for a moment as Lucifer continued his observation. "Lucy, stop bugging the little one." She huffed, opening her eyes to watch Lucifer trot over to her and lay down, still staring at the baby in a curious way.

She propped herself up gently on an arm as he continued, tilting her head. "Fair point. I'm older than you though, I reckon." She teased. She gave him a somewhat empathetic look as he continued, her head tilted as he went on. The expression on her face wasn't pity, but she seemed like she was sort of admiring him instead. She nodded once he finished, taking in a small breath. "That's rough. I'm sorry you had to go through that, but I have to say, I admire you. To try and love her through force is determination at is finest. The fact that you didn't blame your daughter is more than almost anyone can say." She nodded, stroking Lucifer.

"Well; since I've already had my turn at 20 questions, it's your turn. Throw me anything, and I'll probably answer.

Sage sort of chuckled in response to her joke, and he gave her a faint smile. "I'll keep that in the back of my mind," he half chuckled. He waved her chiding off and shrugged. "She'll sleep through anything," he noted. "I should probably be glad for that," he added. He snorted in response to her comment about probably being older than him, and gave her a slightly amused look. "Probably, though most people think I'm older than I am," he pointed out.

He shrugged again in response to her comments about his own experiences and chuckled again, though it was more of a bitter laugh than an amused one. "It wasn't like I had a choice about it. She was the only person I saw for over a year, besides Liz." Then he nodded when she said she thought it was good he didn't hate the girl because of it, and stroked the now sleeping baby's head gently. "I couldn't not like her, especially when her mom realized a baby was more work than she thought and dumped her on me to take care of,"he said softly. He did love his daughter though, more than anything.

"Well, what about you? WHere did you come from? How'd you get Lucifer," he asked her, waving his arm slightly. "Just tell me about you. Maybe start with your age so we know who's actually older" he half joked.

"You're lucky. Not a whole lot will do that." Tempe smiled, rolling her eyes at him. "Nah, I've got a feeling. Like I should definitely be the boss of you since I'm older." She joked, smiling at him slightly for his bitter laugh.

"No, you had a choice. You could've fought against her as hard as possible; resisted the inevitable, resented her. You didn't. It takes more strength than you'd think." She nodded. She let out a scoff of disgust as he continued on, shaking her head a sour expression. "Now that, is an asshole if I've ever heard of one." She huffed, swallowing the bitter feelings in her throat.

She chuckled lightly at his joke and nodded. "Alright. I'm 21, little guy." She challenged teasingly, despite the fact that he was a solid 2-3 inches taller than her and weighed a good fifty pounds more. When it came to brute force, he had her. She blew out a slight breath. "I'm from Virginia, originally. Then, my mom died when I was little and my dad took me up to New York. He was a police officer, worked long hours, y'know. Didn't have time for pets. Always begged him, but no. One day, I was around 18 and walking to school. Then, there was this little box, the crappy ones that say *Free puppies* on the side. It was rainy, cold, the cardboard was damp. I looked in there and it was just the littlest black puppy you ever saw." She offered him a bright smile, running her fingers through Lucifer's fur. "He was a fighter, and I picked him up, put him in my jacket, and went to school. He was little and quiet, so it worked out. Skip a few hours, and with enough "But daddy, pleeeeeaaase"s, and puppy eyes from both of us, I got this worm. Took him with me to college." She smiled.

Sage sort of chuckled slightly but stuck his tongue out at her when she joked about being his boss. He sort of hummed as if in thought in response to her other comments, nodding slightly. "I guess so," he mused. "I was kept cooped up at home with dad before then so I've always just taken the punches. If I think too much about them it'll screw me up worse than I already am," he mused with a shrug. He rolled his eyes when she said her age, chuckling slightly. "fine, you win this one," he mused. "Your better watch your back," he teased her lightly before shutting up and letting her talk. He nodded along, and once she was finished he grunted. "Well I'm pretty sure my dad killed my mom," he told her softly, a rather dark look passing over his face before he blinked and the more broken look in his eyes was masked again, before letting a slight chuckle and smiled over at Lucifer. "Well he looks like he turned out alright," he hummed. "I used to name the spiders I found in the house. Let them out and then run back in before dad found me or them. I guess I figured they should be free even I couldn't." He wasn't sure why he was saying all that, but pets wise that was what he got.

Tempe lifted her right hand in the shape of an L and held it on her forehead in response to his tongue, smiling at him anyway. She looked him over pleasantly as he hummed in though. She had never met anyone who did that- but it was pleasant.

She listened to him intently, shifting to lay down again as she watched him speak. "Maybe. If you talk about it, it might not be so bad. Who knows, I'm no therapist." She said softly, grinning at his answer. She did the classic *Yes!* hand movement, pumping her fist in the air. "Loser. I can drink, you can't." She teased playfully, letting out a slight laugh at his next comment. "Yeah, sure kid." She joked.

She tilted her head slightly at his grunt, still getting re-used to normal body and vocal language. She tilted her head in alarm as he spoke. "Ouch. You've just a great life, haven't you?" She said sarcastically, the slightest bit of pity leaking into her expression.

"I like to think so." She chuckled, raising her eyebrows as he continued. "Eesh. Your life is basically just a series of unfortunate events, huh?" She asked softly, shifting to look at him. It was hard, trying to rediscover compassion, sympathy, empathy, and how to convey them when she hadn't spoken to another human being in so long. She was largely a physical touch person, but he was far away and it would be awkward anyway. She swallowed, figuring there wasn't much she could do except talk with him about it.

"So, what were these spiders named? Fido, Rex? Was there any determining factor?" She asked, half-joking.

Sage sort of just shrugged lamely in response to her comment about talking to a therapist. "Yeah, because that's gonna happen now," he snorted sarcastically. He scooped up a rock and held it in front of his face and tapped it with the other hand. "Hello, rock? Do you want to hear all of my mental trauma tonight," he asked it before looking back at T with a sort of crooked, playful grin. Well, an almost one. It was sort of odd to be able to joke around. But he was trying. "I don't think it wants to hear it all," he joked before wrinkling his nose and shaking his head. "I don't think I'll ever drink," he said softly. "Dad did. Too much." He paused for a moment, trying to think of how to word what he wanted to say. "He had a temper," he added with a shrug. "not all my scars come from the apocalypse I guess," he mused before nodding along in agreement with her comments of his life not having a great time. "Ive never been that lucky. I guess it goes along with that," he mused after a moment before looking down at Lizzie when he felt her tiny hand wrap around his shirt and his expression softened a bit. "She keeps me going," he hummed, still absentmindedly bouncing her gently. He went back to the topic of age then and grinned over at her. "maybe your nickname will be mommy," he teased her lightly. "Since you're a whole two years older than me. Gives me an excuse to act stupid."

T snickered at his little rock display, rolling her eyes. "Hey, I'm basically a rock. Stupid enough. But I listen." She offered teasingly, returning his playful smile.

She listened to him speak lightly, nodding gently and offering him a faint smile. "If it helps, you don't seem anything like your father. Also, there's not really a bar you can head to for a drinking habit." She joked, listening intently as he continued. She softened slightly at the way he addressed his daughter, shifting slightly. "I can tell. You really love her." She nodded softly.

She raised her eyebrows at the suggestion. "Mmm, I dunno. If you run around calling me Mommy, Liz might get the wrong idea. Also, I did not take you for a mommy guy." She teased, giving him a mock look of puzzlement. "Oh. Is this... not you acting stupid already?" She teased.