Now Emilia could get to doing what she had been waiting for. It would be a bit relaxing anyways but she was probably looking towards this more today. Since she was getting irritated. So, hopefully with enough time to herself she’d calm down.
Though, the sun wasn’t setting nearly as much as she had hoped. The atmosphere was still a bit energetic and lively, but it would have to do. At the very least, Emilia didn’t have to wear her sunglasses.
She was slowly getting distracted by the sun reflecting through the water, and then slowly overwatering some of the plants. This would probably just make looking for bugs and rotting plant more annoying later. Unless these plants were sensitive … but Emilia didn’t think plants worked like that.
Okay, this time they were actually breaking in. But Itzal was with them, and all crimes were nullified if one committed them with the almighty leader of the gods. They both looked around, trying to find Emilia. As Itzal was looking a different way, Lazare quickly turned themself invisible to Emilia. They really didn't want to screw up their chances to get Emilia onto the 'chosen one' wagon just because they were there.
"Hey, Itzal, maybe don't mention me being with you?" They asked quietly, giving Itzal a pleading smile. He looked at them, shook his head and sighed.
"Fine, but you're going to explain everything when we get back." Lazare nodded in agreement and turned a small corner. And there Emilia was. Lazare smiled widely before remembering that Itzal was with them.
"Hello. Are you Emilia Vantress?" Itzal asked, stopping before getting too close to her.
Emilia flinched, though this voice was different from before. This was definitely a break in this time too.
As quickly as ever, Emilia was returned to her irritated state.
“Damn it all … he sent one of his friendies over now …” Emilia muttered to herself after glancing over her shoulder.
She kept watering the plants, “It’s already a big ‘no thanks’. You can leave now.”
She probably would’ve hosed down whatever god was here this time if she didn’t expect them to become instantly dry afterwards. How desperate were they? Of all the people in this city, why did it have to be her? Why was she so important?
"You weren't kidding when you said she wasn't interested," Itzal said, too softly for anyone but Lazare to hear. They rolled their eyes at him and waved him forward.
"Just… do your magic king-of-the-gods magic or something," Lazare hissed. Itzal gave them a tired look and took a step forward.
"Emilia, please believe me." Itzal frowned slightly, though Lazare had no idea why. He raised a hand towards her and a scroll appeared in his hand. Itzal opened the scroll and read whatever was written on it, then muffled a laugh and took a few steps backward towards Lazare. "She is. You actually picked a chosen one, Lazare," he said softly, holding the scroll out for Lazare to see. "The most unmotivated chosen one I've ever seen, but a chosen one none-the-less."
Dammit, why won’t they just leave yet?
This was worse than the worst case scenarios Emilia had come up with. From her point of view at least. What was this dude muttering about now? She just hoped they’d hurry up and leave.
If she got whisked away now, the poor plants would be left without water and some would be eaten alive by insects. She couldn’t take pictures of them either, or at least when the lighting was good. Taking pictures in the dark, no matter how good your phone or camera, never turned out well.
Emilia for now, would just hope that the power of her ignoring them, would deter them.
"Hah, that's fantastic! Is there anything you could do to make her believe that?" Lazare asked softly, looking between Itzal and Emilia. They really hadn't known that she was actually a chosen one, but this whole day had just gotten better.
"Eh. We'll have to go back and see if there's anything there. Otherwise… I dunno." Itzal shrugged helplessly at them.
"Well, it better be something fantastic. She's very stubborn." Lazare shook their head slightly. Itzal sighed and looked back towards Emilia.
"You are the chosen one. How many gods saying that is it going to take for you to believe it?" He called, glancing at Lazare for a second. They nodded enthusiastically and gave him a double thumbs up. "What would it take for you to believe it?"
The tiny plastic handle for the hose nozzle nearly snapped.
“How many times are you going to keep asking that? Aren’t there other ‘chosen ones’? Ones with more enthusiasm or something?”
It really sucked for Emilia that gods couldn’t die, and that she probably wouldn’t stand a chance in a fight with them. Though … depending on how you looked at it, it might give Emilia more satisfaction if they received eternal torture. Maybe that was too much for the long term.
Emilia didn’t think there was anything to convince her right now. Most likely cause she was just brimming with annoyance. Her aunt was away so they couldn’t blackmail her, she didn’t care about her parents, she had no siblings … and other things could probably impact others lives too. If they tried pinning her down, maybe throwing her into danger, that might not work either.
"See, I told you," Lazare whispered, their mouth drawn into a pout. "She's impossible."
"There can only be one 'chosen one' at a time," Itzal said, giving Emilia a patient smile. "Rules, you know. Here, look at this." Itzal leaned down and rolled the scroll towards her. Lazare watched him, wondering what the chance was that Emilia would simply douse it in water before even looking at it. Based on what had happened so far, they were betting rather high. Why did they have to fall for her? And why wasn't it going away? Maybe if they took a little time away from her, she would start to see reason.
"We should go. Let her think it over," They said, tapping on Itzal's shoulder. He looked up at them, then stood.
"Alright." He nodded and looked back at Emilia. "We'll be waiting on a response, but feel free to take your time. This is an important decision." With that, the two gods disappeared with a pop.
Emilia was just about ready to go and hang herself with that rope in the shed.
Rules!? Why the hell would you make them then?
She was not about to go and abandon watering her plants. The world could end right now for all she cared, the plants would eventually die. Though, this now meant that she was supposed to save everyone. Key words: supposed to.
Was there ever a case where someone who wasn’t a chosen one saved the day? There had to be one somewhere. What did the title of chosen one grant anyway? As the plot unfolds, one would think that Emilia would become guilt stricken and end up saving some rando’s to feel better. But maybe not. She was more interested in what would happen if she didn’t save everyone, than what would he deemed the best case scenario.
"I can't believe it. She's actually a chosen one? This fool actually picked a chosen one?" Finlai exclaimed, her face full of shock. Itzal nodded and walked back to his chair. Lazare had a chair too, but they didn't really want to sit in it. It was uncomfortable and they always hurt their neck looking at the others. And so they stayed standing, which was also not their favorite, but it was better than the death-trap that was their other option.
"Yes, stop looking so surprised, Fin," Lazare said, smirking at her. "I happen to get things right every once in a while."
"But this chosen one is useless. She doesn't want to help us at all." Finlai pointed out, sending them a poisoned look.
"Yeah, well, why don't you guys all figure out some way to get her to do what she is destined to do. I'm–"
"Stay here," Itzal ordered, his eyes tired. "You are one of us, and so you need to be involved in the decision-making process."
"Wow, this is a day of firsts," Lazare grumbled, calling the uncomfortable chair over and turning it into an old armchair. "Get on with it, then."
She thought a bit more about her first ideas. Though, bending the rules like that didn’t seem like it would work. If there could only be one ‘chosen one’ at a time, then if she wasn’t here … couldn’t there just be another chosen one? Was there supposed to be some kind of ‘cool down’ thing though? There was always a catch.
Emilia finished watering the plants on the perimeter of the property and now had to go around checking for insects and rot.
Now she was just betting on the gods giving up. They’d probably be conversing about what to do or something like that, which also really annoyed Emilia. Why couldn’t someone who wasn’t the chosen one save the world?
She slapped herself, letting her thoughts continue to grow and get lost in her mind. She didn’t want to think about any of this anymore.
(I'm sorry for the decrease in responses! My schoolwork has gotten really intense and I needed to focus on it first.)
Lazare lounged in their chair, only half paying attention. After what seemed like hours of godly chatter– it was probably only an hour, but it sure felt like more– Lazare's eyes started to get heavy. It seemed that they could get bored to sleep after all. Even if it was about Emilia, it was also about saving the world. They were only invested in one of those things, and none of the gods threw in the words "Emilia", "Crin", or "magic skull" nearly enough for them to keep awake. Their eyes closed, and they drifted into that weird world of things that could either be dreams or actual events. Lazare could never figure out which one was which. For now, they had no clue, and it took to much energy to figure it out.
Lazare was standing in a meadow of some sort at sundown. The grass swaying around them caught the last golden rays of the sun, making it shine. The sky was painted in all sorts of beautiful colors, red and orange and pink splashed across the horizon. A strange crackling sound caught their attention, and Lazare turned around. The meadow they were standing in was at the edge of a mountain. Everything below that meadow was on fire. The trees flamed like torches, pinecones exploding, and sparks flying up towards the endless sky. There was a city below them as well, but not one that Lazare recognized. It too was on fire– no, not only on fire. Utterly destroyed. Buildings were leveled, the fires burning so hot there was a haze of heat over the city. And standing at the edge of the destruction was Crin, holding a pale skull in her hand. She smiled, and the world around Lazare erupted into flames.
(It’s all good. Real life should take top priority anyway, not that I’m one to be saying that.)
Emilia lay across the living room couch, nearly finished with watering all the plants. In her hand was the indoor watering can, herself too afraid to put it down on the glass table but too tired to get up.
No one had shown up yet, to her relief. Though, this could be seen as a good thing or a bad thing. She hoped that this was really all just a hoax or that she wouldn’t be needed. Normally someone wouldn’t lie like that though, she wouldn’t know if she spoke to real gods either.
It seemed too early to move on already though. She couldn’t come up with what Crin’s motives could be, why they’d need to take over the world and such. It did seem a bit selfish that because she didn’t have a reason to save everyone, she wouldn’t. That was just rational thinking, right? But, Emilia didn’t want to waste her time trying to ‘defeat’ Crin or whatever.
(Alright, thank you!)
"Crin!" Lazare yelled, starting awake. "Can one of you just kill her already?" The rest of the gods stared at them in shock.
"We can't. She has the skull," Itzal said slowly, as if he was explaining it to a small child.
"Yes, I know," Lazare sighed. "Is there any way we could go around it? Or do it without the chosen one?"
"You know, I think I know why you're suddenly so interested in stopping Crin," Finlai said suddenly, giving Lazare a smirk. Lazare's heart dropped, and their mind started whirring. How did Finlai know how they felt about Emilia? "You feel embarrassed that she got to the skull first. We all know you wanted it. And now a mere mortal has it." Lazare managed not to sigh too loudly, but they were so relieved. She didn't know, at least not yet.
"What? No…" They pressed their lips together and looked down at the ground. "Okay, yes, fine! I want to get the skull." Finlai gave the other gods an 'I told you so' look.
She sighed, before launching herself to her feet. This action causing her to nearly blackout from the rush of blood, as to then hit her knees against the glass table.
“Ow … ah man …” Emilia quickly brought herself onto the tile floor before she ruined the nice carpet. Her knees cut from the edge of the pane. Decoration over safety and utility, right?
Though, she wasn’t bothered because the wounds weren’t bad at all. She took the watering can, splashing a the last few plants, putting it back, then making her way to he bathroom. She bandaged and clean her knees, then made it back to laying on the couch.
Lazare crossed their arms over their chest and stood up. "I'm going to go get something to eat," They said, disappearing before any of the gods could object. They reappeared in Emilia's city, just because it was the one fresh in their mind. The dream they'd had was still at the front of their brain, and they wanted to make sure it was just a dream. If it had actually happened… stars, they didn't want it to have actually happened. After a little bit of searching, they found a TV set that didn't have anyone near it and started flipping through channels, trying to find a news channel. If that didn't give them results within five minutes, it was internet-searching time. The city they'd seen didn't look familiar, but that might have just been because it had been razed. The five minutes of the news passed quickly, and Lazare turned to a computer they'd found in the apartment. A quick search of 'cities recently destroyed' yielded… results. Oh, stars, it had actually happened. A city a little ways from the one they were in had been completely destroyed, though authorities were still trying to figure out what had happened. But Lazare knew what had happened: Crin.
It was too early for Emilia to fall asleep, and she’d probably end up hungry sooner or later. So, she was stuck in a grey area for now.
She settled for flipping through her phone, trying to put off looking at the news. She didn’t know why she wanted to avoid it, but she just wasn’t in the mood. Though, she found that watching cat videos probably wouldn’t suffice and made her way back to the news. Here though, she kept clicking on older articles and things to do with gardening.
She yawned, only then noticing how tense she was. She was annoyed at the thought of her subconscious still buzzing over today’s events.
Now, she was at the latest articles. Some with interesting headlines. A city had been destroyed, but that was probably just a coincidence. Did cities just randomly get destroyed though? Emilia still did not like where this day was going. She was probably just being messed with, right?
Lazare shut the laptop and sighed heavily. If Emilia saw this, she probably wouldn't think too much about it. But… maybe if she saw the dream that Lazare had… that might work. But to make that work, Lazare would have to go see the god of dreams and sleep. And he was not a really fun guy. Unfortunately, this seemed like a pretty good way to get the idea that Crin was actually a bad person and needed to be stopped into Emilia's mind. Lazare took a deep breath and snapped their fingers, reappearing in Alluma's place. They couldn't see him anyway, so they started shouting. Alluma hated noise in his place, and this would bring him in really soon. If he was there. "Alluma! I need your help, please!" Lazare shouted, turning in a slow circle. They opened their mouth again, but an image of someone with their finger over their lips appeared in their mind. Alluma appeared in front of them, his eyebrows drawn together in annoyance. Another image appeared in Lazare's mind, this one conveying a question of why they were there.
"Well, I need a favor. Could you give a specific mortal a specific dream? Please?" Lazare gave Alluma a pleading look, clasping their hands together for an extra effect.
Emilia switched to sitting up straight.
She’d finished reading everything she wanted with the news. She was back to randomly scouring the internet, then shutting off her phone. Sometimes it wasn’t always a bonus to have so much free time.
Emilia decided upon checking the plants at the back room. She’d avoided them the first time since they had an automatic watering system, but she needed to check if it had run out of water. Last time the plants had nearly died, it was because she had neglected to make sure there was enough water. These plants were kind of expensive too- not that the rest of the plants weren’t expensive either.
She fixed up her bandages after standing up, then started down the hall.
Alluma stared at them for a few seconds, his silver eyes narrowed. Lazare thought they had about a fifty-percent chance of Alluma helping them. They weren't exactly Alluma's favorite person– no one was– but they were defiantly higher on the list than, say, Finlai or Elief. Alluma finally sighed and shrugged, an image conveying indifferent agreement.
"Yes! Thank you so much, Alluma! You're my favorite," Lazare exclaimed, clapping their hands together. Alluma waved his hand at them and walked forward, another image conveying the need to see the dream first appearing in Lazare's mind. "Okay, go ahead." Lazare nodded and took a step forward. Alluma placed his hands on the sides of Lazare's head, his eyes closing. After only a second, his hands dropping from Lazare's head. He nodded, an image saying that they needed to wait for Emilia to fall asleep appearing in Lazare's mind. They nodded in agreement, giving Alluma a thankful smile.
Emilia flipped on the lights for the back room, squinting at the sudden change in lighting.
The hose was back where she left it, or about where she left it, since it uncoiled a bit onto the floor. The water tanks were close to empty and probably could keep the plants alive long enough for her to realize she needed to do this again. But … she wasn’t going to make that mistake again, so she switched on the hose.
Her arm hung over the rim of the water tank, her foot on top of the lid on the floor to keep it from rolling away. She probably could have chosen a more comfortable position, but she figured it wouldn’t take her that long to fill up the water tank. It was becoming a bit uncomfortable though.
Her fingers now touched the surface of the water, so she pulled up her arm a bit more. Only a few more tanks to fill up, but she had nothing to complain about.
Perhaps they should have waited a little longer before going to see Alluma, because this waiting was painful. Alluma was silent as ever and didn't even try to strike up a conversation.
"Hey, can you do the whole dream thing without me?" They asked finally, looking at the god of dreams. He looked up at Lazare and nodded, almost enthusiastically. "Awesome. See you sometime later." Lazare disappeared, reappearing the in the park they'd gotten stabbed in. Yes, they did keep coming back to Emilia's city, but they had to make sure she was safe. Or at least close to safe. Lazare was so tempted to go check on her, maybe push the 'chosen one' idea again, but she would probably suspect them of sending the dream even more if they showed their face again. So they just sat there in the park, people-watching. It wasn't the worst thing to be doing, and as night drew closer, more unsavory people started appearing. Fun!
Emilia put the lid back onto the water tank, then resting her head on top of it. It was probably time to eat something and then get some rest. Artists creativity peaked most of the time at night, so Emilia couldn’t help but feel tired early. Her streak was gone now, so getting some sleep shouldn’t hurt.
Though, she didn’t have full intentions of having a meal at her aunts. Both out of fear of taking something she wasn’t supposed to touch, and because she wasn’t very hunger. Probably.
She went back to grab her phone, not daring to see if she had any new notifications. Then before heading upstairs, she grabbed a glass of water. It seemed like tonight could hopefully end peacefully- how it was supposed to end in the first place.
After sitting at the bench for a while, Lazare decided to take a walk around the park. Maybe they could stop at a cafe or something and get food like they said they were going to. Lazare stood up and started walking. Apparently, they were putting out 'I got money and can't defend myself' vibes because people tried to mug them on two separate occasions. These poor people didn't succeed, and it sure did add a little something to their walk. As they were waiting in line for some iced coffee– it was never too late for coffee, apparently– Lazare wondered if Emilia was asleep and having that dream yet. They hoped that Alluma hadn't forgotten about their little request, or that he gave Emilia the wrong dream. That would not be helpful at all.
Emilia drank the water on her way upstairs, this time luckily, not tripping or choking. She managed not to drop her phone either.
The thermostat was turned up a lot in the guest room, probably her aunts doing. Why? She had no clue, since she rarely used the room and sleeping at high temperatures wasn’t part of the daily recommendations. Even after dialling the temperature way down and opening the window, it would take a while for the room to cool off.
“Why didn’t I fix this when I got here …” Emilia had forgotten about how her aunt kept the upper rooms nice and toasty.
She chugged the last of her water, probably not a smart choice, and propped herself on the bed. Hopefully tomorrow would be better than today.
Lazare got a few strange looks when they asked for as many shots of expresso as the barista could give them, but hey. A god had to stay awake somehow. They paid and started back into the streets. Lazare was just wandering, but they somehow ended up at the last place they'd seen Emilia. They didn't go inside but just stood outside for a little, wondering if Emilia was asleep yet. Hopefully, she was and having that dream as they stood there. Then again, lots of people's sleep schedules were weird. She might still be watering plants or whatever. After a considerable amount of creepy lurking, Lazare turned and walked off. Time to take a tour of the city.
She flipped herself over, face down into the pillow. There wasn’t any point in staying awake for any longer, so Emilia threw a slipper at the light switch. Thankfully, the light switch was hit after the second slipper.
Emilia sighed, then turned over, ready to get some nice sleep. The only thing she had to look forward to at this point was some uninterrupted sleep, her streak coming back, and breakfast. Unless someone decided to screw it all up, but she was betting on that not happening.
Luckily her sleep deprivation took over and she didn’t have to stare at the wall until her vision swam. Though she didn’t exactly get the peaceful she had wanted.
After a few hours of walking, Lazare decided that Emilia simply had to be asleep and called Alluma.
"Hey, did you send her the dream?" They asked, holding up the phone. Alluma glared at them through the screen, then gave a quick, sharp nod. An image appeared in their head a second later that clearly said, 'go away'. Lazare gave him a smile and quickly hung up. Now, all they had to do was wait until morning. Maybe they could find some unused penthouse or something to sleep in that night. They could also go back to where they lived, but that would mean leaving Emilia and that was out of the question. Lazare finally found an empty penthouse and flopped onto the bed. Despite the huge amounts of caffeine they'd ingested over the course of the night, they fell asleep right away.
Emilia started to dream, a rare occurrence for her it was.
She stood in a meadow somewhere, the sun setting in the distance. The scene seemed peaceful, coloured in warm colours and the sun shining through the grasses. A new sound caught Emilia’s attention and she spun around to find the edge of a mountain. Everything beyond the mountain was aflame, which Emilia would come to blame on the heat of the guest room. She surveyed the scene, an unfamiliar city burning with everything around it. On the edge of the destruction was the somewhat familiar face of Crin, with a skull in her hands, and a smile plastered to their face. Then the world burned around Emilia.
She woke with a start, slamming her hand down on the alarm clock. A random alarm that had probably been going off every day. She peeled her eyes open, finding it only to be 7am. The room was still pretty hot, and much to her dismay, she’d drunk all her water.
Alluma must have been too annoyed at them to give them any dreams, so Lazare's sleep was quick and quite boring. They woke up feeling rather angry at Alluma, but at least Emilia had gotten a dream. They rolled out of the bed and stretched, then started out of the apartment and towards the street. How long should they give Emilia before going and bugging her again? It was around 7, so she might not even be awake yet. More roaming, it seemed. Lazare stopped at another cafe to get some more coffee and a muffin for breakfast. Not that they were really that hungry, but it seemed like something to pass the time with. Most people around them looked tired, so they made sure to show off just how awake and great they were feeling.
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