(Yep yep. How should we start? I could always write a death scene and then you can pick up at the end with the whole soul thing?)
want a good ol’ romance // oxo // closed
(I think we've got the basics, and we can figure out other stuff as we go if we need to :>)
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(That works for me :)
(Alright! Just give me a minute to write the starter ^^)
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(Alrighty. No rush, take your time! :D)
I can't see… where the hell are they? Scipio coughed, choking on the dust that had been disturbed by the explosion. Something hurt more than the rest of his body, but he couldn't tell what. He stumbled forward, clutching his rifle for dear life. For the first time that he could remember since he was a young boy, he was terrified. The chilled fingers of fear clutched at his throbbing heart as he tried to find the enemy. His eyes were clouded over and unfocused. Shit… All of a sudden, he felt a sharp pain tear through his chest and tumbled backwards onto the ground. I'm… dying? Dead? With his last fleeting moments of consciousness, he observed crimson pooling on his chest, and then saw nothing. The pain was gone. He felt… light. Empty, almost. Like the lightest breeze could tug him away into oblivion. "Hello?" He called out, a light quaver in his voice.
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Xellis stood at his manor, breathing in deeply as he sat cross-legged on his bedroom floor. Well, it wasn’t his manor. It was Zayanzar’s, but it was fine. They were practically mother and son. From human households, Xellis knew that the family shared custody of the whole house. Right? So, in theory, some of the manor was his.
He had his eyes closed, breathing deeply, trying to sense any souls leaving their bodies and ascending to the heavenly plane.
He had been at it for hours, but every soul that ascended was already claimed to one of the gods. Just as Xellis was about to throw in the towel, an unclaimed soul made itself known.
Within an instant, Xellis reached after it, being teleported to a monumental pitch black room with a small portal in it. Next to him, however, was someone he knew quite too well.
Kieshara, Goddess of War.
“Xellis?” she uttered, her fiery red eyes growing even hotter as she gazed over the smaller boy. “What are you doing at the grave of a soldier? This is my territory, boy.”
“Haha… yeah,” Xellis muttered sheepishly. “About that—.”
Without another word, Xellis winked and jumped into the portal before Kieshara could even blink. This soul would be his. All his.
And within an instant, Xellis made a beautiful super-hero like touchdown on the invisible ground of constellation on this afterlife plane-between-planes. With a charming smile and a bow, Xellis introduced himself to the soldier’s soul.
“Greetings, soldier,” he said in a flirtatious purr, standing up from his bow. “I am The Wanderer. The god in whom your soul will belong, for eternity and past. Welcome to my arsenal, Scipio. It is wonderful to finally meet you.”
Before the other boy could reply, the god continued.
“Who am I?” he asked aloud, his voice lighter. “Why, my name is Xellis. God of Discovery and Travel… and I’m your savior.”
Scipio looked up at Xellis and crossed his arms, raising one eyebrow questioningly. "I don't belong to anyone. I have never even heard of you. Who do you think you are?" He asked, his Italian accent dancing between syllables. "How do you know my name? Am I dead? Wait, nevermind that, I was shot… I'm definitely dead." Scipio hummed thoughtfully to himself, seemingly unconcerned about this revelation. "Can't you just destroy me or something? Let me fade into nonbeing instead of making me your slave or some shit? I assure you, servitude is not my area. I've been told I have a problem with authority."
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Xellis looked visibly taken aback. Who did this guy think he was? He was just saved by a god. Doesn’t he realize this is a privilege?
“First of all, you wouldn’t be my slave. Think of it more as my… buddy, so to speak. My… partner.”
Xellis’s voice came out as a melodic hum, although what he was feeling inside was no representation. He was worried. Very worried.
His first shot in a long while at a soul and the mortal had turned him down.
Was he that bad of a god? Was he really the person that no one would ever want to join? This mortal would rather face eternity as a hollow-body than join Xellis in his afterlife.
With a forced smile and a locked jaw, Xellis continued.
“But… I’ll tell you what. You don’t have to be associated with me if you don’t want to. I’m just… asking you for help.”
With a sigh, Xellis let his guard down momentarily.
“Please just do me a favor, and then I’ll let you live out the rest of eternity as you wish.”
Scipio looked Xellis up and down, taking him in with his arms still crossed. What could this guy possibly need from me? "Fine. But just to let you know, if what you need is companionship, you've got the wrong guy. I'm not great at the whole 'friends' thing." Scipio sighed and looked down at himself, tugging at the collar of his uniform shirt to see the phantom bullet wound in his chest. He seemed more intrigued than disturbed by it. "Do I have to wear these for all eternity? They're covered in blood and fuck knows what else. And they're not even that comfortable."
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“Th-thank you,” Xellis mumbled softly, clearly caught by surprise. He figured the man might put up a little more of a fight.
“No, no, not for companionship,” he continued, regaining himself and plastering on his charming smile once more. “For something else. And yes, I can get you something new, don’t worry.”
His eyes flicked up and down the other boy, his gaze somewhat childishly playful.
“If you’d like to come back to my temple, we can get things sorted out. And get you better attire. What’d’ya say?”
"Alright. Lead the way then, whatever you said your name was." Scipio took off his hat and examined the caked ash and blood on it with the same strange fascination he'd had with his wound. "Honestly, I'm pretty surprised to be here. I expected to show up in Hell just about immediately." He yawned a bit and stepped closer to Xellis so he could follow him more effectively. "Who did you say you were?"
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Xellis grinned, stepping even closer as he brushed past the boy, nearly bumping his shoulder as he crooned, “Xellis. God of Travel.”
With a playful glance behind himself, Xellis summoned a portal back to what would be his bedroom at the manor. At least in there Xellis would have some privacy in telling Scipio what the plan was.
His golden eyes flashed a bright glow as the portal opened and he stepped in dramatically, holding out a hand and motioning for Scipio to follow after him.
Scipio walked through the portal normally, ignoring Xellis's hand entirely. Definitely into theatrics, isn't he? He thought to himself, turning his attention to looking around the manor. "So. What do you want me for?" Scipio asked, turning around after he was done examining the room. "Murder? Sex? Housework? I'd only be particularly helpful for the first option."
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Xellis brushed off his greaves, eyes flitting up to Scipio as he spoke.
“Well, while I’m not averse to the second one,” he said jokingly, humor expertly intertwined with his words, “I don’t need your help with any of those.”
He continued talking as he walked to his armoire, the wooden dresser looking dull in comparison to his eccentric room. It was filled with reds and golds, maps plastered on the wall everywhere, and a large mandala rug laying out on the floor. He had a vanity— not that he used it, or anything— and an ornate bed design, the table beside it matching the wood perfectly. The walls were painted a dark red, a window to the right of the bed shining in a morning glow.
He opened up the armoire, sifting through clothing.
“Say, how good of an actor are you?” he asked as his hands shuffled through multiple clothes. “Because that’s what I need your help with. The gods have a meeting tonight, and we’re all supposed to bring a newly recruited soul. I haven’t showed up with one in a… a long time. So I would appreciate, that just for tonight, you would act like my associate.”
He turned around, holding out a dark blue collared shirt with black slacks.
“Hope these fit,” he mumbled quietly, but his voice grew back to it’s normal volume as he finished. “That’s all I ask— just a night.”
Scipio rolled his eyes a bit and watched Xellis walk, keeping his arms crossed. He listened attentively and accepted the fresh clothes when they were offered to him. "Well, I'm a damn good liar, and I think that's about the same thing." He shrugged, pulling off his shirt and examining the bullet hole again before slipping on the button up. "Bit big, but they'll do…" He buttoned up the shirt and slipped off his uniform pants as well. Once he'd pulled on the new pants, he held them up with one hand. "Do you happen to have a belt? I feel like it's not in good taste to run around with my pants at my ankles, especially at what seems to be an important meeting of sorts."
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“Not that I haven’t done it before,” the god said with a wink. “Except I actually haven’t. But it would still be fun to see.”
He reached back into the wardrobe, pulling out a belt adorned with silver. He squinted over to Scipio, slowly handing out the belt as if imagining what it would look like.
“That should be good,” he murmured, shutting the doors once more. “And… thank you for agreeing to this.”
It was a hard thing for Xellis to do— be grateful, that is. It was like admitting to someone he wasn’t strong enough to do something himself. But then again, he was the one who had asked for help in the first place.
His smile seemed much more genuine than mocking or teasing as he said the words of gratitude.
"Mhmm." Scipio slipped the belt through the loops on his pants and pulled it as tight as it would go, which was enough to keep his pants up. Once he was dressed, he examined himself in the mirror, leaning over and supporting himself on one elbow while he ran his free hand through his hair. I need a shower… He sighed softly and unbuttoned the top buttons of his shirt. "When's this meeting you're talking about?" He asked once he'd come out of the bedroom.
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“Not too long from now,” Xellis mumbled, looking over the clothes he had on. It was a white shirt with a light red slacks and brown boots, and his head was adorned with his signature pilot’s cap. It would have to deal, seeing as Xellis didn’t really possess fancier clothing.
He fiddled with the rosy red strands of hair falling out from below the cap, which rested toward the back of his head so his hair could still be visibly wild. His golden eyes flitted back over to Scipio as he walked out, and Xellis fell into step by his side.
The main room was just as eccentric. It had a giant dining table with rows windows on either wall. The door out was to the left, and a massive chandelier hung in the middle, suspended over the dining table elegantly.
“But we do have a little while,” Xellis finished. “Care for me to show you around? Perhaps you’ll find afterlife with me isn’t too drab, hm?”
"Sure, why not? I'm dead, so I don't exactly have anything else to do." Scipio yawned a bit and stuck close to Xellis while they walked. "Do you have showers here? I've got dried blood and ash and whatever the fuck else all over me. Battlefields aren't particularly clean, you know." He looked down at himself again, particularly at his scratched up hands, and sighed softly.
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“Oh, right,” Xellis said, eyeing where the wound had been on the other boy’s chest. He flicked his gaze back up to meet his eyes.
“They’re back beside my room,” he began, flinging a thumb in the general direction behind the two. “And hey— if you want me to… heal you, I can get someone to do that. But I mean, some of the deceased like to show off their death wounds. Up to you.”
He shrugged, spinning on his heel and leading Scipio back to the bathroom door. He leaned against the wall next to it, motioning a hand to the door.
“All yours… if you want it to be,” he hummed, grinning.
"Alright. Thanks." The word felt and sounded unnatural as it rolled off his tongue. "And it doesn't particularly bother me unless it's going to hurt or something. Be back in a few." Scipio headed into the bathroom and locked the door, the sound of the shower resonating from inside the room a few seconds later.
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Xellis took a deep breath the second Scipio disappeared behind the door, slumping against the wall.
This was going… terribly, to say the least. But what could he do? It had taken him this long to get another soul… he couldn’t mess it up any more.
Well, he already sort of had. He had promised to let the man go after tonight. At least tonight the other gods could see that Xellis actually had an associate soul, and maybe take him a little more seriously. But after Scipio left, how long could Xellis keep up the lie?
He closed his eyes, letting his head drift back and hit the wall. This would be a long night.
Scipio returned about twenty minutes later, looking far cleaner than he had before he went in. He hadn't planned on taking so long, but finally having the opportunity to take a nice, hot shower was far too tempting to just rinse himself off and go. His hair was fluffier now that it was clean, and he generally just seemed to be more comfortable and relaxed. He could definitely get used to that. He ran his fingers through his hair to smooth it out a bit and sighed. "Have you just been sitting here the whole time I was in there?" He asked, raising one eyebrow questioningly.
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Xellis almost yipped slightly as the door opened, stepping to the side abruptly.
“I don’t really have anything else better to do,” he said, regaining his composure.
“Also, healing you shouldn’t be too painful. I mean, maybe slightly,” Xellis informed, standing upright from his reclined post. “I’ve been giving it some thought, and I know just where to go.”
"Alright. If you insist. I really don't care that much, though." Scipio yawned a bit, lowering his hand from his hair when he seemed to be satisfied with it. "It's not too far, is it? My legs still kinda hurt like hell from running amok on the battlefield for hours."
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“Alright then, never mind,” he said softly, glancing over before looking down to his hands and beginning to preen his nails. “It’s a pretty long ways. And hey, if you’re tired, feel free to take a short rest in my room. I’ll wake you up when we have to go.”
And then after that, you can leave forever, he thought to himself, clenching his free hand tightly.
"Alright, then." Scipio followed Xellis to his bedroom and flopped down on the bed with a quiet sigh of relief. "Fuck… it's been so long since I've been on an actual bed. The army really fucked me up… damn…" He slipped off his shoes and curled up a bit to be more comfortable.
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“Well, enjoy it while you’re here,” he said warmly, standing in the doorway. “It’ll be your last night before you’re released as a hollow-body. If that’s what you choose, of course.”
With a shorter and shallower sigh, Xellis turned and walked from the doorway, shutting the door until it was a short crack he could poke through again. He looked over to the bed, stifling a smile before saying, “I’ll be in the courtyard just outside, if you wake up before I wake you.”
And with a last nod, he shut the door.
"Mm…" Scipio yawned and soon drifted off to sleep. He seemed to be far more amiable while he was sleeping. He was still fast asleep when it was time to go, huddled up into the covers. He was smiling weakly in his sleep and appeared to be comfortable.