forum want a good ol’ romance // oxo // closed

Started June 18, 2020 by @PaperHats business

tune

"Both." Scipio shrugged casually. "I'm not a big fan of children. They're loud and obnoxious and far too needy. Not as self sufficient as adults, and I don't even like most adults, to be honest. People aren't exactly my thing."

“I can tell,” Xellis murmured. He couldn’t say Scipio didn’t… scare him.
“And hey, you might find someone who actually cares about you for you,” he said, glancing down to the boy. “I know it’s… not the most populated place, but it’ll be fine. So far you’ve made a good impression on me.”

"Really?" Scipio asked, raising one eyebrow skeptically. "That's a surprise… typically people hate me or are unnerved or scared of me. Or all of the above. That's kind of just the effect I have on people. I guess you wouldn't have to worry, though, since I can't kill a god anyway." He shrugged a bit.
(Xellis: Yeah right we're gonna keep on thinking that way)

“You know—,” Xellis began, nodding slightly. “You’re right. Gods are tricky. And considering we’re all pretty powerful, we can’t be brought down by mortal means.”
He knew full well he was lying, but he said the words so casually they might as well had been truth anyway.
He looked down to the bottle. “Same goes for even the weakest of us. Lesser deities, too. So… sorry about that.”
He draped his hand across his stomach, the other one still occupied fully with Arci, who was now chewing on it with those weird leathery teeth.

Scipio nodded a bit, far too drunk to see through Xellis's lies. "Mhmm… makes sense. Powers or some shit…" He looked over at Arci curiously. "Your sentient beer cooler bag seems to be quite troublesome, no?"

“Oh, entirely,” Xellis muttered, agreeing. “But I gotta love him. I mean… look at his face. He’s adorable.”
He took his hand from the bag’s moth and began to stroke its head, the mimic purring at the action and settling down. It’s hand slipped back into the side pocket and he calmed, letting off a soft hum.
“I mean… he’s been my friend for so long,” Xellis said, sighing and glancing over to the mimic. “He was a gift from Zayanzar, if I hadn’t mentioned. He’s been with me for about… 6 million years? 5 million? Something like that.”

"Mm…" Scipio patted the bag clumsily, still clearly very out of it. "That's a pretty long time. I mean, I'm only eighteen and all… 6 million years is like… a lot more than that." He yawned a bit, humming softly to himself.

Xellis let out a laugh. “Sure is, buddy. Although we age so much slower. You saw Zayanzar in the painting? That was about four million years ago. she still looks the exact same. Same with Elandorr and Feyrce, although Feyrce maybe looks a little older. I don’t really know. I don’t see either of them often.”
He paused, watching as Scipio yawned.
“If you’re tired— again— feel free to take a nap. Either here or I can show you to your room.”

"Mm… what if I throw up, though? That would probably be bad." Scipio sighed, shifting a little closer. "Either way, I'd rather talk to stay awake. I'm feeling kinda chatty. Anything else in particular you wanna talk about?" He asked, looking up at Xellis with hazy eyes.

“Not really,” Xellis said, his voice soft. He hadn’t been this simultaneously relaxed, happy, and excited in a very long time.
“Unless, of course, you had a topic in mind,” he continued. “Otherwise, my only question would be what mortal life is like. Being the god of curiosity has me…. well… curious.”

"I thought you were the god of travel…" Scipio sighed softly. "Um… I'm not the greatest person to ask, to be honest. As you've probably noticed, I'm not a very normal person. But… um… you have to worry about staying alive, I guess. And in America, capitalism is a big thing. Money is everything. Everyone wants to be rich."

“Travel is my overall subject,” Xellis explained, gesturing with a hand. “I encompass many different things, so to speak.”
He took a long sigh, resting his eyes for a moment before replying. “And… yeah, tha seems like humans. It’s funny to me how they can care so much about something that will matter less than what socks you wear in the afterlife.”

"Mhmm. I'm not very good with people. Besides killing them, anyway. I mean normal things, life conversation or something. I'm shit at that." Scipio ran his fingers through his hair. "People are stupid and irrational and I'll never understand them, honestly."

“You think I do?” Xellis asked, stifling a shudder at his disturbing comment. “Mortals are funny to me, too. They’re very fragile.”
He glanced down to Scipio, but closed his eyes again as he continued. “Although, I find them fascinating. They have such a short time to live, but… they look so happy sometimes. And so sad sometimes. And its funny— they don’t know what’s in store after they die. They make the biggest deal out of the smallest things— to us gods, at least.”

"Mhmm… humans are fickle, pathetic creatures if you ask me. They make bad decisions, start wars, et cetera… To be honest with you, I was never particularly religious. That probably doesn't come as a surprise to you, but hey… I never really thought about what might happen when I died. I mostly just figured I'd cease to exist and be done with it."

“That’s actually what let me come ‘n get you,” Xellis said happily. “I watched you at your time of death, and seeing as you were a soldier, I figured you’d automatically go to Kieshara— the war goddess. But since you weren’t pledged to any god, well, you were free real estate.”

"Mhmm. I'm still not a huge fan of the idea of being 'owned', though. Bondage isn't really my thing." Scipio yawned a bit and sighed, shifting around to be more comfortable in Xellis's lap. "I like to be my own person. Control my own fate."

“Don’t worry— I don’t even own you,” Xellis said, stifling a small laugh. “It’s more of a two ways kinda situation. I get the orders, you help me complete them. It’s like… a coexisting relationship. We work together.”

"Mm. What kind of orders? I'm not really an expert in anything except skillfully murdering people." Scipio hummed a bit. "Whatever orders you've got, I'm not sure I'll be particularly helpful for them."

“Doesn’t matter anyway,” he mumbled, clearly upset. “I don’t get any prayers from mortals anymore. They rely so much on their own technology, they have no reason to thank a god for travel. When they used to rely on the weather or the calm of the seas, they’d ask me for safety. Now that weather is less than a burden, and everything is certain, for the most part, they’ve no need of me.”
He brushed his hair from his eyes, letting out a deep breath, laughing as he did so. “Sorry for the sob story.”

"Mm. I'm not going to cry, if that's what you're hoping for. What are we supposed to do since we're not dealing with prayers or whatever?" Scipio asked, looking up at Xellis curiously. "Is it just a lot of drinking and fucking around, doing whatever we want?" He asked.

“Honestly… yeah,” he said. “That’s basically it. I get prayers every once in… a very long time. So yeah, that’s pretty much all we have to do. Bumble around and do whatever we want.”
He stopped for a moment, glancing down at Scipio.
“And how you feelin? World still spinning for ya?”

"Mhmm…" Scipio nodded a bit. "Very spinny… I'm kinda getting used to it now though, I think. Being drunk is really fucking weird. Kinda nice in a fucked up way, I guess." He yawned and coughed a bit, moving a bit closer to Xellis.

“Wish I knew what it was like,” Xellis said, giving a muffled laugh. He draped the backs of his arms over his eyes, sighing. “It seems like it would feel nice, no? Relaxing. It would be really nice to feel something from it. Or to forget something from it, I guess.”

"Yeah, definitely relaxing. I don't think I've ever been this relaxed. It's pretty nice." Scipio hummed a bit, rubbing his tired eyes. "My body feels all noodley or something. I just wanna sprawl on the ground and sleep."