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Hastur lay back under the tree, one arm behind his head, the other around Ligur. He took a deep breath of the warm breeze and lazily watched the little waves on the lake roll in to the shore. It was nice to snatch a few minutes for himself, not to eat lunch at his desk for once. Ligur scratched him lightly to get his attention.
'Yer want anuvver sarnie?'
'Yeah,' Hastur said. 'Wot's left?'
Ligur rummaged in the picnic basket. 'Mostly vegetarian,' he said.
'OK,' Hastur said. Everyone said vegetarian made for a healthier diet. Kept you regular, too.
They chewed their sandwiches and emptied the last drops of the coffee out of the flask. Out on the far shore of the lake they saw some people being pushed off in a little raft. It didn't get very far - they never did. Even from where they were they could hear the screams. Ligur giggled with pure childlike glee and Hastur happily realised that he was a very lucky demon indeed. He rolled the shorter demon over and spent some time showing him just how much he was appreciated. Ligur squeaked and hissed and fought like - well, like a demon - and made what Hastur considered to be a very satisfactory amount of noise.
'Wot you doin' this evenin'?' Ligur gasped eventually.
'Dunno. Nothin',' Hastur said, licking at the gashes on his arms Ligur had left him with.
'Want to go fer dinner? I fancy Italian this time. We've 'ad too much Chinese recently.'
'OK,' Hastur said. 'More meat on yer average Italian, anyways.'
'Yeah,' Ligur grinned. He sighed. 'I got to get back ter work, Hastur. Fuckin' auditors are comin' in, and the place ain't half well enough booby-trapped yet.'
'Me too,' Hastur said. 'Them minions ain't goin' to terrorise themselves.'
They climbed to their feet, and Ligur neatly packed away the debris of their lunch. Wouldn't be nice to leave the park covered in their litter after all. Someone might use it for some sort of unauthorised ritual. Hastur gave Ligur a quick kiss and stalked off to where his bodyguards were clustered. They kept polite neutral expressions on their faces, so he didn't have to disembowel any of them this time.
'Oi, Hastur!' a shout came from behind him.
He turned to see Ligur flanked by his guards, waving cheerily.
'See you 'bout seven, right?' Ligur called.
'Yeah, seven's good,' Hastur yelled back. Ligur gave him a thumbs-up, spread his wings and he and his guards leaped into the glowering overcast air. Hastur turned back to his own guards and tossed the picnic basket at the nearest one who quickly transferred his spear to the other hand and caught the basket neatly. 'Let's go,' Hastur said, opening his wings, 'no rest for the wicked, eh, lads?'
Below them, the little waves on the lake of fire deposited scorched pieces of raft on the shore.