Xellis perked up at the sound of his name, looking over to where Scipio stood. His heart leapt, but that was from the surprise.. right.
“Probably to help another prayer,” he mumbled, looking back to his work. He held a pot of a few yellow roses, dirt covering his hands, arms, and shirt. There were a few spots on his face as well, and he clearly was not prepared to be presentable.
He kneeled down again, to a large hole in one of the garden beds, taking the roses and their roots out of the pot and resting them gently within it. As he patted the dirt beside them gingerly, he looked back up to Scipio.
“You need something?” he asked, cocking his head.
"Mm." Scipio looked down at Xellis from where he was standing. "I don't need anything in particular. I'm just bored." He sighed softly and glanced around, humming softly to himself. "You were right about the books being boring. I just figured I should learn more about you nutcases if I'm going to be living with you. I fell asleep, though, so clearly I didn't learn all that much."
“It’s fascinating if you read a child’s book, mostly because they glorify it. Or if one of the gods actually explains it,” Xellis said with a smile. “Otherwise yeah, it’s entirely boring.”
He took small cutters from his side, clipping off a dead stem of one of the roses. He then took the watering can from his other side, pouring it over the soil.
"Mm. I'm not going to read a children's book. Maybe you could explain it to me a bit better?" Scipio asked, the ghost of a smirk lingering on his lips. "As a god yourself, I'm sure you're very knowledgeable on the subject, no?"
“Decently, but that’s like me asking you to explain to me the history of the mortal world— except I was actually there for the majority of it,” he said. “So all my facts might not be that… spot on… but I’ll try my best.”
He sat back on his knees, giving a small sigh.
“Unlike common conception in the mortal world, humans came first, not the gods. From the human’s sheer nature, we were birthed.
“For example, me. Once the very first humans began feeling curious about a subject and began to travel for pleasure, I was created and cultivated in a place called the God’s Spring. Until the earth had enough humans feeling that curiosity, I was kept there, and when the feelings surpassed, I was given a form. As those followers dwindle, and humans stop feeling those needs or drives inherently… it’s essentially like a god dying.”
Scipio nodded along as he listened, running his fingers through his hair to smooth it out a bit. "I guess that makes sense… birthed and killed due to the beliefs of humans. Why we've got so much power, I'll never know…" He sighed. "Humans are fucked up as hell. We honestly make the worst decisions most of the time."
“Can’t argue,” Xellis said lightly. “But gods are, too. Insanely so.”
He sighed, looking back to the roses. “Humans can be petty, but they have the ability to actually let go. I find them interesting. In such a short lifetime, they can fit so much emotion. They meet so many people. They can love, hate, feel euphoria and delve in melancholy. Gods… well gods are even more petty. All serious. Politics. No… no emotion. Y’know?”
"Well, I think I'm more emotional than I like to admit. I try to be pretty mellow most of the time." Scipio yawned a bit. "But you know… probably fit most of the emotions into my childhood. They're duller now." He sighed softly. "Earth is a shitty place, but I guess it can be exciting as well. You have to make your own thrill."
“Yeah… that’s harder to do up here. If you’re not fulfilling prayers, you’re doing nothing. So it gets really boring,” he said, letting out a sigh. “I wish I could go to the mortal world. It would be so cool, just for a little while.”
"Well, why can't you? You're the God of travel or some shit. Why not?" Scipio shrugged, leaning into the wall a bit more and closing his eyes. "Couldn't you just open up one of your little portals up to the mortal world?"
“No. It’s against the law. We aren’t allowed to leave this plane unless it’s for prayers. With prayers, gods actually assume human bodies. So I have a human body I can become, but… well, it’s literally illegal,” he said. “Although that hasn’t really stopped me with anything before..”
"Mm. I guess that makes sense. What would they do about that, though? Throw you into god jail?" He asked. "You could just portal out of there or something. I'd imagine that it would be difficult to punish a god."
“It’s not,” he said, voice heavy. It sounded as if he knew that fact too well.
“I could ask Zayanzar though. She seems like she’d be keen on the idea of letting me feel mortal pleasantries. Being the goddess of culture and all.”
"I guess so…" Scipio yawned a bit. "It's really not all that great, though. There's a constant fear of death, everyone is way too emotional, you've got to follow all sorts of laws… in America, you're not allowed to drink alcohol until you're twenty one."
“That’s… idiotic,” Xellis murmured. “But emotion seems different. Fun. I mean, not fear. Not sadness. But love. Joy. Serendipity and euphoria. They seem like they’d be really nice to feel.”
He took a brief moment of silence, touching one of the roses still in a pot by his side gingerly, then picking up the whole pot and beginning to dig another hole in the garden bed.
"Well, I don't really feel much love, but I thought you gods would… especially you." Scipio hummed thoughtfully. "You remind me of hopeless romantics up on earth. A dreamer, always wanting something better. Most importantly, you seem to need company to be happy."
“It’s mostly because I’ve been the only person here for… over three million years. I see people come and go but it gets really boring and lonely. I was fine for the first couple thousand, but being alone gets old,” he said. “And… I don’t love anyone here. I can’t, more the like. Gods aren’t allowed to have relations with other gods due to politics and different houses. I don’t understand it, but apparently it impacts some important decisions, and it happened before.”
"If it's happened before, it's possible. And seems likely for someone with your demeanor." Scipio slid down to the ground to be more comfortable. "But hey, what do I know about love? I've never loved anyone before. I've seen other people do it, and it generally doesn't go well. I've heard that some people enjoy it, though."
“But… the gods were punished brutally, might I add. It doesn’t seem like that great of a thing if there are such high stakes,” Xellis rebutted. “And— don’t get me wrong, I am a charmer— but I really don’t think I could wrap anyone around my finger that tight. Where they would risk that.”
Scipio shrugged. "Is that just a rule for between gods? Don't some gods fall in love with their… ah… associates?" Pretty sure that's my title… "It doesn't sound that unlikely considering how much time a god and their associate would spend together."
Xellis’s heart stopped, his throat closing and his breathing quickening.
“No,” he said, keeping his voice as steady as it would go. “That’s apparently even more frowned upon. Gods aren’t supposed to have relations period. That… that’s punishable by a lot worse than death.”
"Mm. I didn't think gods could die. Why isn't that allowed? It's not like associates have much to do with politics. When I was in the meeting, I don't know if I said a single word. Why would it matter?" Scipio asked, toying with his hair a bit.
“I don’t know the rules or reasons,” Xellis said softly. “I just know it’s not allowed. Maybe under some kind of special circumstance. I think it’s that if something goes wrong, they still have to stay together for eternity.”
"Well, they kinda have to do that anyway, so what's the big deal?" He asked, seeming confused. "Maybe you should look into it more if you want to love someone someday." He glanced around at his surroundings.
“Well, I mean, you’re my associate,” he said. “And even if I was attracted to you, you just said yourself that you don’t even love.”
He glanced from his work over to Scipio, cocking his head.
