It had been long - maybe too long - since he'd set foot in this dimension. Ikole Aiye.
Jakuta reluctantly admitted it to himself, he'd forgotten a lot. Especially what it was like to bear the weight of corporeality and feel that weight pressed through the agony of traversing the chains that loosely bound infinite worlds in an unknowable balance.
There was a reason that the Orisa intervened in this dimension by proxy. The power to call them across the chains was a formidable gift rarely given to mortals.
To say he was surprised was an understatement. Surprised and, yes, even a little befuddled and headachy. It made him feel old and that in turn made him feel grumpy. On top of that he was supposed to accept that the reason he was here at all was the slim youth in front of him that had now insisted they were female.
But could he really be blamed for assuming they were male?
Jakuta's gaze ran over the short, clearly uncombed Afro pulled away from the shiny, pointy face with a black elastic band. He took in the baggy button down shirt of indeterminate color and the loose trousers under that looked like they were sewn from a soft fabric probably better fitted for making throw rugs.
The creature stared back at him precociously, which was the other thing. They seemed wary of him but - now that his irritation was in check - they didn't seem exactly subjugated... they even talked without being spoken to first. And when they started they didn't seem able to stop.
He may have been based in a different dimension but he was not entirely divorced from this one. He had a passing familiarity with the modern age and knew its females were even more feisty than they were in his time. But this one really, really seemed to be one bead short of a divination necklace.
And now he was caught in this - Jakuta took a second to assess his surroundings again - the small bed with the unaired, unmade sheets, the unadorned walls with creeping mould... the size - it was clearly a holding cell of some sort. It was really hard to believe that the creature caught here had in turn managed to capture a whole him. Sango of air and fire. If not for the fact that they were the only ones here, he would've refused to believe it. He would be surprised if Eshu wasn't somehow behind this and if he found out that he was he would make sure the divine emissary quickly and deeply regretted the lapse in judgment that led the trickster to interfere with him.
Jakuta sighed heavily.
If he remembered well how this worked, there were only two ways out of here and back to the splendor of his Brass Palace of a million tropical gardens; back to Ikole Orun. He either had to solve the problem of the supplicant therefore fulfilling the purpose of the summons or just somehow convince them to send him back.
Jakuta was not really the problem solver type. He was more of an executor of wills and the will was usually his own. Right now his will was to return home.
But...
He was not unjust. The perfectly balanced double blades of Ose represented his fairness. He would at least break them out of their holding cell before obtaining his release.
"So," he addressed the creature, "If you want freedom from this prison cell and fiery revenge against the enemy that put you here, I am willing to help you since you were able to bring me here. But that is all." Jakuta lowered his voice for emphasis, "I am not a patient being and I do not run errands for mortals. Consider my indulgence as the Noblesse Oblige I owe my supplicants. You, of course, accept my terms."
The creature's big dark eyes widened in their pointy face.
"Prison cell?" They asked, "Which prison cell?"
Jakuta threw an expressive glance around their surroundings and held back from sighing again. "Are we not currently in a prison cell?" he ground out. It seemed this was going to be a long process.
The strangest expression crossed the shiny face below him. It seemed to be an intriguing combination of chagrin and - if he didn't know better - anger!
"No, sir," the creature ground back, "this is actually my bedroom."
Jakuta wasn't sure which took him more aback. The revelation that she slept in this unkempt closet or the fact that, yes, that was indeed anger in her tone and in her snapping, black eyes.
"I see," he frowned and decided to put aside the subtle disrespect for later attention. Getting out of here was the most urgent thing for now. "Then you must want revenge against the one who makes you sleep here," he mused aloud, stroking his bearded chin in thought.
"Ok, I get it. It looks bad now but try doing over time for one week straight and see if you have time for house work - "
Ah - she had started the gibberish again, Jakuta closed his eyes and briefly thought about incinerating the problem, except he was sure that would somehow convolute his chances of returning.
Just the thought of resorting to begging for help from Olodumare and the Supreme one sending long winded Obatala or judgmental Ogun to represent him brought his headache back. Ogun would probably suggest he be left here indefinitely just for burning the shrimp.
"I have really great plans for this room as soon as I have a little time and money," they continued, "I have a Pinterest board full of really tasteful ideas and that's why you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, even though I may look like how I look, aesthetics are actually my strength -"
"Female," Jakuta gritted through his teeth, "I am trying to help you."
"By insulting my bedroom?" The saucy thing asked. There was no doubt about it. He was going to have to address the problem of respect sooner rather than later.
"No. By helping you," he snapped. He suddenly noticed the glass of water on her dresser and realised he felt parched. It was so novel to feel mortal discomforts he hadn't even noticed. He took it and downed the glass in a few gulps and immediately felt better. How nostalgic, he thought at the back of his mind before facing his giant problem in a tiny package once more. "If you don't want my help, why did you bring me here?"
"Who brought you here?" they had the temerity to ask, "Me?"
Jakuta noted a cracking sound and subsequently realized he had shattered the empty glass in his hand.
The creature noticed it too and gasped automatically reaching for his hand.
It was a foolish thing to do. Normally without even thinking he would have repulsed a foreign touch from one not invited to approach him with a few thousand volts of electricity, the force of which would have knocked the little creature back so hard they might have actually hit their bedroom wall and left a crack in it. The speed of his reflexes in holding back did not surprise him. His unexpected instinct to protect the creature did. A niggling curiousity sprouted at the back of Jakuta's mind. Could it be intuition that made him hold back? Who was this creature?
Her hands were tiny and warm around his. That's right. Humans ran warmer than they did. He'd forgotten that too.
Noises of worry and concern came from her as she turned his hand in both of hers looking for cuts.
Unexpected amusement filled him as he firmly pulled himself free.
"I'm not injured," he told her brusquely, "try to recall, I've already explained to you what I am."
She gaped up at him. "So you're invincible?"
Jakuta added flighty and easily distracted to the long list of issues he had with the creature.
"I asked you a question. Why did you bring me here?"
She shook her head in denial, "I've already told you, it wasn't me! How could I have brought a great, huge, massive -"
"Can you never speak briefly," Jakuta muttered and he wasn't sure if she ignored or didn't hear him.
"- gargantuan, mountain of a man like you in here? I'm not that strong! I don't know if anyone is?"
Disrespect again. Jakuta forced himself to ignore it for the sake of progress.
"I can only be here because you invoked me. You called me and your call was sincere or it wouldn't have worked." Jakuta took a step towards her and enjoyed how she shrunk back. So, she wasn't as unaffected by him as she had seemed. "Something broke you, recently. It caused you to call on me with such desperation and such purity of pain that I had no choice but to answer. You cannot deny it because my presence is the evidence of your action."
The creature frowned already denying again, "but I didn't! It's true that I'm having a hard time at work but I would definitely remember calling a -" And then she stopped abruptly and stared into nothing.
Jakuta waited a moment and then another in which she remained unresponsive.
Had she fallen into a trance? A possession? Was Eshu about to manifest through her and collect a richly deserved beating from him?
He raised his hand before her face and snapped his fingers.
She jumped and gave him a wildly guilty look. Jakuta saw it with satisfaction. Perhaps they were finally about to get somewhere.
"Well?" He asked grimly.
She laughed awkwardly into the tension that followed his prompt.
"Um," she started to tap her tiny fingers together. A nervous tic. "Mr. Sango -"
"Your Lord, Sango" he corrected her calmly.
"Really?" Her reluctance was plastered all over her face. Completely mannerless.
"Yes." He more or less growled.
"Ok, well... my lord, Sango... sir.... what would you say if it turned out... that I actually.... MAYBE... did... ACCIDENTALLY-"
"You called me." Sango asserted heavily aware that his eyes were heating up in his skull.
"...yes?" She squeaked.