"Really? I thought the glowing halo would make that hard." Astral chuckled softly. Once they were far enough into the private back sections of the building, Astral let the disguise he wore melt away. Priestesses would look up, some bowing low and others falling to their knees.
He laughed a bit at that, offering a small shrug in response. He fell silent as they went further into the building. Seeing how everyone else treated Astral was…disturbing to him to say the least. For some reason, it all made Simon feel more like he was Astral’s property than an actual person.
Astral moved his hand to go back to holding Simon's. He wasn't affected by the actions of the women around them, more than used to it. In a moment, they were in a smaller room, with only one woman there. She looked up, smiling some.
"Good evening, sir!" She said, standing up.
Simon stayed quiet as they entered the smaller room with who he assumed was the high priestess. He looked up at Astral, waiting to see how he’d address the woman.
Astral smiled in turn.
"Hello, my child." He let go of Simon's hand a moment, going over to hug the woman. He held her a moment, and the woman seemed elated with the action.
"This is Simon," Astral said, pulling away after a moment. "We're friends, and we came to get some money to go shopping together." The woman nodded, turning to Simon with a grin.
Simon offered her a small wave and polite smile when the woman turned her attention to him. So far so good. She wasn’t as terrifying as he’d been expecting so far.
"Hello!" The woman grinned at Simon a moment. She hurried off to open a drawer, pulling out a few rolls of money. She offered them to Astral, who took them with a smile.
"Thank you," he said softly, smiling at the woman as he moved back to Simon's side.
Simon was honestly a bit shocked by how much money the woman pulled out but he didn’t comment on it as Astral moved back over to his side.
"You're welcome, sir! Have a good day." The high priestess smiled as Astral turned to leave, looking at Simon a moment. Pity seemed to flash across her face, but it was gone in a moment.
Simon noticed it but barely had time to register it as Astral began to pull the both of them out of the room.
Astral hummed, putting up his human disguise again as they left through the side door.
"So," Astral said, "where to first? What would you like to get?"
He shrugged. “It doesn’t really matter to me where we go. I just need more clothes if I’m going to be staying with you for awhile. Maybe some more hair dye.”
"That it?" Astral thought a moment.
"I… Don't really know any good stores," he admitted. "I don't really go shopping a lot."
“Yeah I think that’s it.” He smiled softly at Astral’s confession. “That’s okay, there’s a few stores in the area that I normally go to so I can just take us there.”
Astral nodded just a bit.
"Lead the way, then." He smiled some. This was nice.
He took Astral’s hand again, leading the way. “Sooo what color should I dye my hair this time? Same one as before?” He asked, smiling back at the other in an attempt to make conversation.
"Well, purple does look good on you. Though, perhaps a more blue time this time?" Astral told his head a bit, thinking. He was smiling walking hand in hand with the other.
“Why thank you.” He smiled a bit at the compliment. “A blue might be nice, we’ll just have to see what shades they have I guess.” He looked up at the sky, enjoying the sunlight which he somehow didn’t get much of despite living on the sun now. “Hey Astral, What’s gonna happen to you when the sun blows up in a few thousand years? Or will you already be dead by then since Earth will probably have died by then?”
Astral smiled some. He enjoyed the light. Most everyone did.
"Hm… I'm not entirely sure, to be honest. I probably won't die when the earth does. Who knows- maybe my creator will just pull us gods out of this world and put us in another one."
“Hm…that makes sense I guess.” He kept hearing Astral talk about his creator, which surprised Simon a bit. He didn’t think the gods had creators. But then again he wasn’t that well versed in the subject, for all he knew, this could be common knowledge. “So if you’re the god of the sun…how much do you really control? Or how much are you able to monitor?”
It wasn't, actually. Most no one knew the gods had been created.
"Well, I can see most everything that goes on during the day, if I choose," Astral explained. "But my job m mainly focusing on making sure souls have a path to the afterlife."
“That makes sense I guess.” He was a little surprised by the second statement though. “Really? That sounds interesting. So can you see anything that goes on in the afterlife or is that outside your area of control?”
"Well, I know what goes on of course, all gods do, but I'm just making sure everything goes smoothly. It's actually more like rebirth than an actual afterlife." Astral hummed a bit, smiling some.
He nods. This was all very interesting to him. “We’re almost there.” He noted, starting to walk a bit faster.
"Ah, good!" Astral smiled some. "Perhaps some time I could show you what goes on with the souls I process?" Astral offered.
“Ooh! That’d be cool!” He said, smiling up at the other. “Aaaaand here we are!” He announced, opening the door. It was a simple store really, probably a Target to be honest.
Astral looked around, taking in the sight of the store.
"Okay then! Where to first, cloths or hair dye?" Astral liked the reaction Simon had to his job. Really, he had to wonder whether one of those should would end up as his child, or if an entity new soul would be created. It was rate, but he had no idea with this situation.
“Hmm…I think clothes are closer to us right now so let’s start with that.” He said, grabbing a cart, starting to walk where they needed to go. He felt so much more comfortable back on Earth, he was more familiar with it and felt safer and more confident here. “I always get scared that someone’s gonna like…kick me out of the men’s section.” He said, managing to laugh a bit as they made their way in that direction.
Astral shook his head a bit.
"People are strange. Just how do they think it's okay to treat others like that?" Astral wasn't one to talk, but that was beside the point. He sighed, walking next to Simon.
“Mhm.” He nodded in agreement. “This store has small fights like that quite regularly. I like it though, keeps things interesting. Especially during Pride.” He chuckled a bit.