- Peter and Elijah -
Peter and Elijah were talking at a table.
"Surge is extremely tricky," Peter said. "Given yer age, ya should be happy that ya have come this far. Modern reborn knowledge mixed with Satan's teachin'...can't say I'm not a little jealous."
Elijah leaned his cheek on his fist. "You guys keep talking about 'Modern reborn knowledge' like it's some kind of cheat. Just because I have the human world's fantasy media to pull from doesn't make every part of my training easy."
Peter shook his head. "That's where yer wrong. Ya have any idea how difficult it was for me or Sabu to learn our magic? Creatin' a fireball is simple enough but I had nowhere near the available imagery to pull from my memory that ya do."
"It's not all imagery though," Elijah brought his head up. "Pain tolerance. Reaction time. Mana sense. Thinking it's all imagery is what led to me blowing my hand off."
"Which time?" Peter chuckled.
Elijah leaned back and grinned. "You know experience does count for something? You ever gonna tell me how old you are?"
Peter sighed. "Age in this world, at least when ya get to my age, is a bit like dick length. Now, both of my numbers are impressive but that doesn't mean I'm goin' to go around tellin' others the specifics."
"What about the tattoo on your back?" Elijah asked.
Peter reached his arm onto his back. "How about this? When ya learn surge, I'll tell ya the story of my tattoo."
"Deal," Elijah said.
- Lao and Dimitri -
Lao was in front of a door to a house. He was mumbling words to himself as he slowly reached his hand towards the doorknob. He would close his eyes briefly, stopping his hand. Suddenly the door opened up into the house, and standing next to it was Dimitri.
"Just fucking come in already!" Dimitri grunted in his thick Russian accent. "I heard your footsteps ten minutes ago."
Dimitri stood a little taller than Lao. He ran his hand over his slicked-back, dark brown hair and cracked his neck. His gray-blue eyes narrowed with irritation at Lao. He motioned his hand inside as he walked into the house.
'Sorry I want to think about what to say before I speak,' Lao thought.
Lao silently followed behind, not wanting to say what he was thinking for fear of starting a fight.
The inside of the house was mostly barren, with only a mat on the stone floor and paintings of various landscapes hanged on the wall. There was dust all over the barely lit room with only a few candles lighting things up.
Dimitri leaned against a wall. "The big trip is coming up. Any last things I should know about Olympus?"
Lao looked at the painting to the right of Dimitri. The depiction of Mount Olympus in the art made him sigh before speaking. "Nothing new...as usual."
Dimitri followed Lao's sightline to the painting. "Good to hear. I'm surprised you're not making one last attempt to stop me from going," His eyes went back to Lao. "I know you didn't tell Peter to try and convince me but that doesn't mean I'm ignoring the fact you don't want me going."
'What do you want me to say?' Lao ran what to say in his head before deciding to speak. 'That I don't want you going just to be safe? That your water affinity is worthless for self-defense? You've never stepped foot outside of Hell's walls so I'm sorry if I don't trust you to act "properly" around petulant Greek gods.'
"There's nothing I can, or want to, say," Lao finally spoke. "I look forward to visiting Olympus with you."
Lao walked to the door but was stopped by Dimitri grabbing his hand.
"That's it?" Dimitri questioned.
Lao looked at his and Dimitri's hands. Lao's hand was rough, being what seemed like more callus than skin. Dimitri's hand seemed normal in comparison.
"I trust your strength," Lao lied. "I've trained with you enough to know you can defend yourself. Despite your affinity, you're still-"
Dimitri let go of Lao's hand. "Enough..." he sighed. "See you tomorrow."
Lao walked out of the house and closed the door behind him. He knew lying wasn't a good idea but it still seemed preferable to the truth.
Lao looked at his hand. 'Maybe it's our age difference?'
- Sabu, Heinrich, Yvere -
Yvere, surrounded by demons, was vomiting in a corner while Sabu and Heinrich were training hand-to-hand.
"YOU OKAY?" Heinrich shouted over to Yvere.
"Fine!" Yvere put a thumb up. "It's mostly blood!"
Sabu rushed Heinrich. He attempted flipping Heinrich to the ground but wasn't able to complete the throw as Heinrich shifted his weight. The two exchanged a flurry of blows, dodging and breaking grabs as they moved. Neither was giving the other more than a second.
Yvere wiped her mouth and gave a bleary stare to the two. "Heinrich has really improved," she turned to the demons around her. "No offense meant by the vomit, your blood tastes fine."
"None taken," One demon said.
Heinrich was on his back with Sabu holding his dislocated arm. "Sorry."
Heinrich shook his free hand. "It's fine."
Sabu grabbed Heinrich's hand and pulled him up. He looked over at Yvere and gave a look that said "sorry."
Yvere took a sharp inhale. "Mm-hm," She walked over and healed Heinrich's hand. "For the sake of us both, please keep improving."
Heinrich winced at the healing. "I guess that is easier than telling him to be more careful," he turned to Sabu. "No offense."
Sabu shrugged. "Blame Lao for not holding back when we used to train."
- Lucifer, Death, and Satan -
Lucifer, Satan, and Death were standing on Hell's walls.
"I hate meeting up here," Death said. "You two realize I can't fly?"
Satan was puppeteering two miniature illusions, a demon, and what looked like an angel, to swordfight. "I'm just here because I enjoy the view. Please continue."
Lucifer looked at Satan and sighed before looking back at Death. "It's the least populated spot in Hell. The three of us talking," he looked at Satan again, "THE THREE OF US...talking, is a little much for others."
Satan ignored Lucifer and continued his entertainment.
"Anyways..." Lucifer took a deep exhale from his nose, "what aren't you telling me about Olympus? I know you're hiding something, you're not good at lying."
Satan laughed with his mouth closed.
Death gave a sideways glare to Satan. "There's an item, hopefully still in Tartarus, that I want to give to Kahvis. It's an ancient item that can contain a small amount of my magic."
Lucifer's eyes widened. "WHICH magic?"
Death shook his hands. "I can choose, and obviously I'm not going to give someone a blight bomb."
Lucifer put his hand on his neck and gave an irritated stretch. "Mmmm. So...you want to give Kahvis an anti-magic grenade? Understandable, I suppose, especially given Huitzil's magic." he stared at Satan as he finished his point. "Is that it?"
"Is it?" Satan asked in a mocking tone.
"It is, I swear," Death said.
'Come on, boy, figure it out,' Satan thought. 'He isn't lying, but he isn't telling the truth. Please, you've improved so much over these centuries, don't fall for his bullshit now.'
Lucifer responded, "Okay."
Satan hid his wide grin with his hand. 'Good! Can't say I'm happy you're not calling him out on it but this. Is. Progress!'
Lucifer flew off the walls. 'Whatever he's lying to me about I'll have an easier time figuring it out in Olympus. It's still better having him come along than not.'
- Satan and Death -
"You're full of more shit than Jorm's metaphorical ass," Satan joked.
"It's a justifiable lie!" Death gave a sharp response.
"Whatever," Satan shrugged. "Believe your own shit long enough and it becomes real, right? He'll find out once you actually grab them."
"No, he won't," Death sighed. "So we're clear about this," He slammed his hand onto the illusions Satan was controlling, "when I get there, if it's gone, you're responsible for that."
Satan stood up and hovered his body over Death. He spoke slowly, causing his voice to have a low growl to it.
"I don't think so. You can blame Arryx for that, assuming it's gone. I helped Lucifer. I helped Kahvis. I even helped the fucking lycans which got two of my kind killed!" he threw his hand out in the direction of Hell "Break my horns, push your blade to my throat, do whatever you want, but until the day I feel that same anger in you again, I. Won't. Fear you."
Death waved his hand out to the horizon. "No corpses this time?"
Satan clenched his hand briefly before beginning to laugh. He was swept up in his own laughter, bending over as he continued his loud outburst.
Death glared in irritation.
Satan stopped laughing and clapped his hands together. "I'm so glad you two have rubbed off on each other! Your strength and his words!"
Death leaned over the side of the wall and looked down. "Never forget that your magic works on me because I allow it to."
Satan created a clone of himself in Death's line-of-sight. "Your magic is indiscriminate. I know you're unfamiliar with emotions but a lack of them can be just as dangerous as a burning rage."