Alcohol & Economics - Cycle of a Nightmare - Part 1

Deceit was surely going insane. She had to be. Not only had a god been lounging in her library only hours before, but now there was two sitting on her front walk in lawn chairs with glasses of iced teas and a running score in cards. Sure, Héh had been around before then, but she’d blown his supposed god status off when he’d given her a lecherous grin. She wasn’t interested in anything he had to offer, but telling him that hadn’t stopped him from coming around and attempting to seduce the many visitors she had. That wasn’t the point, however. They- the gods- they didn’t exist. Not in anything other than mythology. Sure, almost everyone she knew of had a patron god or goddess, but those marks were written off as a genetic marker.

Now, she had Osiris joining him in a card game while various mutant plants looked on. Deceit had sworn to bash their faces in if anything or anyone was harmed without her express permission, though she didn’t really expect them to listen. Merci was holed up in her lab with Tyrant and whichever assistant hadn’t died or quit last week, so she just stuck a note on the door about the gods out front and how she was not to attempt any plot that included harming them or anyone else for that matter.

Satisfied, she showered and dressed quickly, not wanting to be late for her lunch turned dinner with her favorite archangel. After settling on a similar outfit to the one she wore before, Deceit grabbed her bag and her mirror before casting a simple portal spell that would allow her to move from one location to another; in this case, from her home to Gehanna’s Bar ‘nd Grill in the Hell District. It was a questionable place to have dinner with an angel, but she really needed a drink.

Surprisingly, Raphael was waiting for her outside of Gehanna’s when she finally made it that far. They exchanged pleasantries before going inside, finding a booth in a corner of the room where they wouldn’t be disturbed by the usual gang of drunken patrons.

“So, I hear you got a rather interesting surprise earlier.”

“If by interesting you mean cruel and unusual, yes. I assume Ra gives you all orders to annoy me as well?” She was angry, that much was evident to Raphael. By all rights, she should have been; being used as a pawn for the past few months by the archangels wasn’t exactly the most sought after position with them.

“I can explain-”

“You best, and give me a damn good reason not to put you through a wall while you’re at is.” She motioned for the barmaid to bring her something, preferably strong. Things weren’t likely to get better anytime soon.

Raphael sighed, and told her everything. Ra be damned, Deceit was not the kind of lady you want after you and Raphael knew it. He would probably get the capital punishment later, but at least he wouldn’t be avoiding the truth any longer.

Two hours later, they split the bill and went their separate ways on good terms. The two were often found on shaky terms, but those terms never shook too much in either direction to create waves in their unorthodox relationship. It was built on lies and deception, but there was a grain of truth in every faulty phrase they spoke. It kept unwanted attention from learning anything of importance, and acted as a stimulating mind game for both players. By the end of their most recent moves, Deceit was unable to understand exactly what the next move was, but she was determined to undermine it with something that would leave more than just a bad taste for any godly entities that wanted to use her as a pawn.

Making her way down the stone walkway, she began laying out her next three moves. She slipped past Merci’s pet project café, Folio, that Deceit was not supposed to know about and rounded the corner, nearly slamming into a familiar face: Jade.