"Of course I'm not afraid they've wandered off. That's preposterous. And also scientifically impossible." Scipio got out of the water and sat on the grass, shivering lightly. He still clearly didn't quite pick up on sarcasm. "Unless your weird bag thing ate them or something, I expect nothing has happened to them."
“First of all, Arci can’t digest things, so I can always grab them out,” Xellis said, holding up a finger but keeping his eyes closed. “Second of all, it was a joke. But it’s fine, I don’t hold you against not understanding my advanced sense of humor.”
Scipio rolled his eyes and flicked some water off of his fingers. "You know I don't get jokes. I didn't exactly have friends to joke around with when I was alive. Can we go get our clothes now? Or something to make ourselves… less wet?"
“Go right ahead,” Xellis said absently. He stayed where he was, taking a deep sigh and keeping his eyes closed. He figured he’d dry off more before he dressed again.
He stayed like that for a few moments before rolling over on his side and propping up his head with a hand.
Scipio nodded a bit and left to go fetch his clothes. He grabbed them and returned to sit on the grass and wait for himself to dry off a bit more. He ran his thin fingers through his soaked hair with a soft sigh, closing his eyes as he tried to relax.
“Sorry about that,” Xellis mumbled quietly after a moment, eyes wandering around Scipio. “If I knew I would have taken you elsewhere.”
He flopped back over onto his back, which wasn’t the most comfortable thing, considering he was on a rock. He kicked his feet in the water, it making a relaxing sloshing sound as he did so.
Scipio shrugged. "Whatever…" He sighed again and lay back on the grass, trying to find the best way to dry off. He was quiet for a while, considering. "I used to be afraid of water when I was a child." He said after a bit. "I almost drowned when I was about five and refused to get into the ocean from then on. That's why I never learned. Obviously I've gotten over the stupid phobia of water at this point."
Xellis stayed quiet, letting silence pass between them.
“I’m sorry to hear that,” he said after a while. “Although I’m glad you have it conquered now.”
The god couldn’t even remember his childhood, considering it was about a few million years prior. God’s had extended memories, but not to the point where they remember everything. The only thing Xellis could remember was his birthplace… the Gods’ Spring.
For some reason he shivered at the thought. Although it was a place of extreme power, he never felt right there.
"Mhmm. Obviously I'm still not a fan of the idea of drowning, but I'm not afraid of water. Fear is stupid." Scipio brushed some water off of himself and sighed, clearly frustrated with how slowly he was drying off.
“Well aren’t you just a ball of joy,” Xellis mumbled almost inaudibly. “And yeah, fear is stupid. But it’s also normal. Everything fears— it’s like how everything has the ability to feel joy or pain. Gods can too, although not very well.”
He tilted his head, readjusting on his arm. “It’s a blessing and a curse, really.”
"Well, it sucks. I've spent all my life trying to avoid and ignore it only to find out that you can't. It's not possible." Scipio sighed, running his fingers through his hair again. "Fear makes people weak and I don't want to be weak. I'm not weak."
“Oh, I totally disagree,” Xellis replied bluntly. “I think having fear and acknowledging it is the strong part. Facing it is even stronger. Not having it in the first place is just borderline insane.”
Xellis rolled back over, glancing to Scipio. “But clearly you disagree. To each their own, I suppose.”
Scipio huffed a bit. "Fear has done nothing but debilitate me in the past. I simply ignore it and live life as normal anyway. I guess you could consider that to be 'facing my fears', but really I just don't let my emotions or fears control me. It's a waste of my time."
“In my eyes, that’s an admirable quality,” he said. “Although I don’t know much of it, emotions are strong, and to keep them from taking you over must be difficult. That’s strong, then. But, I digress.”
Xellis flicked his eyes open to the sky. “Maybe sometimes it would be nice to follow them and be impulsive, no? I mean, surely you might regret it afterward, but following what you want seems like it would be fun, no matter the consequence.”
"I'm not a big fan of consequences. I do what I want for the most part, but what I want isn't usually something that'll get me into serious trouble. If I do something like that, I just don't get caught. Easy enough." Scipio shrugged.
“I like you,” Xellis said with a chuckle. “I’d love if we could go to earth. What’d you say? Take a trip down for a day? I turn myself vaguely human? We drink too much? If you’re truly honest in your claim to never get caught..”
He glanced to Scipio, smiling at the possibility. “Sound like a plan?”
(literally wrote this out two times?? And it never went through?? Sorry for the delay lol)
(Ooft)
"Yeah, sure. As long as we can get fake IDs to drink, we might as well. Also, how does that work? You're a god and I'm… well, dead. Do I even have a body anymore?" Scipio asked as he started to pull on his clothes.
“As a matter of fact, you do have a body,” he explained. “Since I made you my associate, and you ridded yourself of your mortal wound, you are now your own being. It’s confusing, I know, but you’re fine.”
With that, Xellis pushed himself to his feet, teetering over and putting back on his clothes. He ruffled his hair, already decently dry, and slipping Arci over his back.
"Mm… alright, then. Are we allowed to go to earth? It seems like you would have gone up there by now if you were allowed." Scipio stretched and yawned a bit. "Regardless of that, how do we get up?" He asked. "One of your little portal things?"
“Uhh yes, and no we aren’t allowed, unless asked a prayer,” Xellis explained. “But you just said yourself that you’re good at never getting caught. Tell me, have you ever done anything illegal? Besides underage drinking? Because if you’re confident in your ability to be all sneaky-sneaky, this should be no sweat.”
"I made a fake ID when I was sixteen so that I could join the army. I also killed a lot of animals, lots of people in the army, and maybe a couple outside of the army. I never got caught for any of that. Oh! I also stowed away on a plane when I was eight to get to America from Italy." Scipio hummed thoughtfully to himself.
“Perfect!” Xellis said, perhaps too joyfully. “So going to earth should be nothing of concern. If you trust your ability in lying, then perfect. Count me in. You might just have to do all the talking, though. Considering I don’t know many human customs.”
"Sure. I'm a good liar. Ready to go?" Scipio asked, dusting himself off a bit and looking up at Xellis questioningly. "And you won't just push me through the portal? I don't travel well."
“Of course not. And you’ll be fine this time— because you’re not hungover anymore. Plus that new energy Audomar supplied you with should do the trick,” Xellis replied. He suddenly turned to the side, opening up a portal. “Sooo… we going?”
He was clearly extremely nervous, his hands relatively shaky and his breath hitched.
"Mhmm. Let's go." Scipio grabbed Xellis by the hand and dragged him through the portal, driving a bit when he landed. "Alright… where did you take us to?" He asked, looking up at Xellis curiously one he'd gathered himself.
Xellis didn’t seem to mind being yanked in, but the second he was in the human world, his stomach churned. He gave an extremely shaky sigh, blinking in the harsh sunlight.
“I-I brought us to a place called Santa Barbara, California.”
"Alright… I've never been here before." Scipio looked around curiously. "Where do you want to go?" He asked Xellis. "I'm sure I can find my way around this place somehow. Maps or something…"
Xellis was surprised he hadn’t started foaming at the mouth. He was shaking, his hands extremely cold and his face so pale he nearly looked sick. Taking a human form wasn’t something a god could do easily.
His hair looked much browner in color in order to fit in with the standard mortal. His eyes had taken a deeper shade of yellow, looking almost green or chartreuse. Arci looked much more like a bag now, loosing the teeth and his tongue actually turning into a real belt. Xellis also no longer held the godly aura he had had before.
“I-I don’t know,” he stuttered. “May-maybe a place to lie d-down.”
Scipio looked up at Xellis and examined him boredly. "Are you having a stroke or something? Seizure, maybe?" He dragged him off to a nearby park so that he could push him down onto a bench.
Xellis hesitantly fell onto the bench, curled over with his elbows on his knees and his feet planted flat on the ground.
“I… I haven’t taken a human form in so long, it’s difficult to handle,” he muttered almost inaudibly. “I’m essentially experiencing every single feeling at once. Lust, pain, sadness, joy, irritation, love, etcetera. It’s a lot to take in at once…”