Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea

"I think it looks quite nice, even if you were the reason it became dirty." He replied simply, as he took a soft sip of the soup. "Sure, I'll happily marry you two. I know you're so nice, and loving, and give my sister no reason to fear you. I'd rather not talk about this, hm? We can talk about the marriage later. Azaiah and I didn't expect to be critiqued for not doing anything wrong. I may not respect you, but I want my sister to be happy."
 
  • Like
Reactions: potassiumboron
Makai would have snapped back at him and lost his cool composure, if the doorbell hadn't helpfully rung at the specific moment to catch him off guard. Rather than look surprised by the sound, he did grin and rise to his feet. "I'll just go welcome in the other guests. I do hope you noticed the two extra places at the table. It wasn't an oversight - I invited some other people, I do hope it's not a problem. Be right back. Tuck in, though, don't let the soup go cold."

"Who's he invited? Laura, who the fuck has he invited? I don't trust him, he doesn't smirk like that for no reason." Azaiah began urgently, giving up his interrogation of Laura when noticing how confused she was. Instead, the demon straightened up in his chair and, once convincing himself something was up, he reached to tug Ivan's cross from his neck. Sure, it burned his hand terribly as he shoved it into his pocket, but the burn would heal-- and he would rather get a burn than have Ivan be a target. He had a hunch who the special guests were, and if he was right, the last thing he needed was his boyfriend's cross being on full display.

On reflection, his distrust of Makai definitely paid off when the guests made an appearance. Azaiah instinctively sat up further with his hands on his lap and eyes glued to them, refusing to even look up in a mixture of fear and apprehension. He wanted to grab Ivan's hand and pull him out the house, but he also didn't want to bring any more attention to himself than was necessary.

"These are my parents. I thought I'd invite them. They never leave home, for obvious reasons. Too many human souls to torture. Besides, if they're away too long, I imagine there'd be chaos-- but I managed to convince them to tear themselves away for a night or two," said Makai as he pulled a chair out for his effortlessly beautiful mother, leaving a kiss on her cheek before taking his own seat again, making sure to look straight at Ivan for a reaction. "This is Ivan, father. Azaiah's little boyfriend and my brother-in-law--"

"I don't entirely care. I don't want to be here, sitting like a human at the dinner table. I barely understand you, Makai. I'd rather you returned home than carry on this charade. I have every right to drag you home, not sit through a tedious dinner with the rag-tag family of yours-- and Azaiah. Nice to see you again. I sent you here to collect my son, not find yourself a boyfriend. Nice to know you disrespect me so easily," spoke Makai's father slowly, grumpily sitting himself at the table and not bothering to even pretend he was enjoying himself. He was, as was predicted, a completely fierce man with a glare for everyone. He may come across like a bored child at the moment, but his presence was formidable. Hell, even his son had shifted uncomfortably at the slight telling off he received. Like Makai, he was devastatingly handsome, and he probably had as much charm as his son - he just wasn't fond of showing it at the moment. He didn't want to be sat in this human form, eating some human meal when he could be at home with some of his girlfriends. He may be with his wife, who he had been with for decades, but he really didn't know the meaning of 'faithful'.

"...Do you want some wine, Mother? Ivan, pour my mother some wine, could you? Humans make delightful wine, Mother. I'm sure you'll like it. It's not superb, but it's... surprisingly easy to drink. It's expensive, which... which helps, I'm sure..."​
 
"I'm fine, Makai, really." Answered the equally as formidable woman, though, unlike her husband, the aura that followed her seemed far more somber as she took a proper seat besides her husband. Despite being the co-ruler of Hell, her manners far exceeded what some commoner might think from her. Because of that, her eyes locked onto the set up, and analyzed it critically. Much like her husband, she was far from supportive of their son casually causing havoc among humans. If he chose to do so, she would try to find every single mishap she could. Unlike her husband, though, she was far more passive-aggressive.

"No, I don't want any wine, dear. I can't imagine any human producing anything particularly palatable. Nor do I want someone who claims to be the follower of the cross touching anything that will be near my lips. You should know better, really, though I imagine living up here with these... people, can do that to you. Mess with your head, make you lose sight of your proper manners." She continued, while folding her arms over her lap carefully.

All the while, Ivan glanced warily towards Azaiah, desperate for some explanation. He practically shit himself along once realizing what Makai and Azaiah were, so to be faced with such powerful people, it was understandable to be in a state of disbelief. So, in response, the priest remained quiet as he silently prayed to himself.
 
"You don't want any wine? That's surprisingly big of you. You don't usually pass up an opportunity to get alcohol into your system. Isn't it your favourite hobby, darling, drinking? I would have thought you would guzzle down the bottle like it's nobody's business, but here you go, proving me wrong yet again," replied her husband bitterly, smiling all the while as he reached to collect his cutlery to tuck into the meal. He may as well get involved and make an effort while he was here, even if this was the last place he wanted to be. Yet, it was made at least somewhat enjoyable when he was granted opportunities to poke digs at his wife. He may be married to her, and had a fair few children, but love? He didn't quite love her, at least not anymore. The marriage was simply to keep up appearances, and to prevent her from causing chaos if he did divorce her. He knew her well enough to know she would hardly go quietly.

"...The wine really isn't too bad, ma'am. I enjoy it, and Makai does too, so it's... maybe you'd prefer champagne," weakly piped Azaiah, deciding to try and be more vocal. He knew he was in deep trouble regardless of what he said right now. He had been a close family friend his whole life, and the pair had trusted him to collect Makai-- not settle down with a priest and fail to arrive back. Gripping said priest's hand tightly under the table in a silent show of support, he brightened a grin towards the woman, knowing she was easier to deal with than her husband. "I, uh... how long are you staying for? I'd gladly keep you company during your stay..."​
 
Growing stiff at her husband's words, she offered her own bitter smile before doing the same, taking her sweet time in cutting the meat into small bits. Her appetite vanished almost instantly upon the insult, but for her son's sake, she would at least pretend to be interested in the human food. Yes, she was critical of Makai, but she wasn't heartless, despite her husband's claims.

"Well, I don't really want to spend much time here, sweetheart. The air here is vile, the environment is poor, and I would much rather be back home, sleeping alone in my bed, while my husband has sex with his fifty mistresses. I would say no more than two days, I think it's fitting enough. I'll humor you and your new 'lifestyle.'l
 
"There is a reason I invited you both, Mother. I wanted you to meet my fiancée. We were married already, but that went a little astray-- I'd like you to be kind to her, obviously. And our children, too. They're still quite young, barely born, but I want you both to meet them, obviously. We're still a family, aren't we? Even if I've been away a while, doing my own thing."

"You mean embarrassing your mother and I. You take the biscuit with this one, though. Defiling our name by consorting with a human, having half-breed offspring-- you know, I always realised you were a disappointment to us, Makai, but this confirms it, I think. Pass the wine," grumbled Makai's father, reaching for the bottle, and, when Makai urgently thrust another bottle into his hands, one that nobody had drunk from, he hardly complained. He needed alcohol, and he didn't entirely care where it came from. The news had dealt him a blow, leaving him glaring irritably at a now deadly silent Laura, and also leaving him unaware of how suspicious his son's actions were.

Makai was now grinning from ear to ear, after all, even despite his father's cutting words. Of course it hurt, after spending most his life trying to earn his affection, but right now, it didn't seem like it impacted him one bit. When his father suddenly stopped his huffs and began gasping for breath, clutching at his throat in panic, it at least made Makai's delight explainable. Remaining emotionless to his father's sudden health issue, he only really reacted when the man fell unconscious, face-down on the table. "...He'll be dead in a few minutes, let's not pay him any attention until he's taken his last breath. Mother, try the wine. Not the one I gave father, that'll kill you. No, try the one I'm drinking, I'm sure you'll like it."​
 
Unsurprisingly, his mother made no reaction. Why would she? Sure, the man she married and once loved was left to squirm and convulse, and a part of her had no problem witnessing it. Instead, she carefully to a sip of water instead, and let her gaze slowly land upon her son and daughter-in-law. She reveled in the silence for as long as possible, before offering a tired sigh.

"While a part of me is upset for what you've done, I'm very impressed, Makai. You outsmarted your father, I commend you. For that, I can't say much about my opinions on your little relationship, can I? I am... perplexed, by it, of course. What you see in this human is something I don't think I will ever understand, but I can accept it. If you are serious about pursuing this, though, do not expect to come home, understood? As long as you're in connection with this family -- this includes you, Azaiah -- I cannot have my son and a servant be involved with a priest . It's disgusting."

As the woman spoke, despite her quiet voice, Ivan still remained rigid as he held the cross around his neck with his free hand. Shooting a terrified glance towards Laura, to gauge her reaction, the fact that the three remaining demons brought practically no attention towards Makai's dead father was more than concerning.
 
"You're actually proud of me, Mother? Look, he had it coming. He's disrespected you for years, he's always turned his nose down at me. Maybe I can come home now? He's the main reason I left. Let's face it, I'm the only child you like, aren't I? The others are imbeciles, Mother. I'll happily come home now the old man's dead, assuming you treat my girlfriend with a little respect. She's the mother of my children, and she's had my back while I've been here. I'm not Father. I actually love my wife," he murmured slowly, watching her reaction-- and when he noticed nothing remotely angry in her expression, he eased off from worrying. He knew she wouldn't be depressed about it, but he had fretted and worried that a little anger would find its way in. He had killed his father for many reasons, and one was to help his mother out. She was the one who raised him. His father couldn't have cared less about him, really.

While Makai sat back in delight, Laura had lost all colour in her face. She knew Makai hadn't changed, but like hell did she think he had this in him. She felt naive, of course, but she had honestly believed him when he said murder wasn't something he thought about. Clearly, he had planned this all down to a T. It wasn't spontaneous - it was meticulously planned, which was why she looked over at her brother and Azaiah in horror. Their invitation wasn't random, it couldn't have been. Makai clearly had them there for a reason, she realised that, and so desperately attempted to get their attention, silently urge them to make a run for it.

"...I'm not murdering them, Laura," said her lover as he casually examined the nervous woman, rolling his eyes at the display. "I'm going home, and I'm not going without you or Azaiah. I assume Ivan wants to be with Azaiah, so he can come along too. Oh, this is all working out perfectly. The bastard's finally dead, I have my little family, I'll get to see Ivan in Hell. It's all wondrously fantastic."​
 
"I'm not going to Hell, Makai! N-Nor is Laura!" The priest protested, while getting to his feet quickly. While Laura paled, Ivan's face was beetroot in frustration. It was hardly fair to have to be dragged into the situation, and he was happy to express it.

Though, Ivan didn't need to. Raising a hand to stop all of the attendees, she watched Ivan freeze in horror, and a small twitch of her typically emotionless lips. Being the hardened ruler of Hell, it was just a part of the role, she assumed.

"Makai, you do realize that if your little... friend... came with you, she would be subjected to just as much torture as the other mortals. There are no favorites, this was established centuries ago. The same goes for Azaiah, especially." She said slowly.
 
"This friend is my soulmate, Mother. She won't be subjected to anything of the sort, I won't allow that. Nor will Ivan. He's... a friend of mine, actually. A priest, yes, but a friend nonetheless. I won't allow him to be hurt, either. He's my guest, Laura is my soon-to-be wife. Neither one of them will be tortured," declared Makai surprisingly sternly. He had never really spoke up against his mother before, but even he couldn't sit back and watch Laura get hurt. He had hurt her enough -emotionally, anyway- and he could do without seeing her hurt physically.

"Ma'am, I-- I'll come back, but Ivan, he's-- you know how shitty Makai's been to me." Azaiah suddenly blurted with an accusatory glare to his best friend. The woman had always been relatively kind to him, especially when he began dating Makai. She was the biggest advocate, so he didn't entirely feel he was talking out of place. "He abandoned me twice. I come to get him, and he's married! A priest treated me better than Makai ever treated me, ain't that sad? I don't see why... why I can't be with Ivan? Don't I deserve, y'know, some f-fucking happiness too?"​
 
"I'm not saying I don't want you to be happy, Azaiah. I've always seen you like one of my sons, for how you've taken care of mine. You aren't coming home with this priest at your side. What is so difficult to understand? Neither of you can bring a living mortal to Hell, I don't care how close you are to me. I am in charge, and I know this seems oh so horrible, but you'll have to stay in this tiny little home of yours." She replied, her tone almost as hard as her husband's.
 
"...You know, Mother, I thought you'd be reasonable. Understanding, even. I haven't seen you in two years, and you don't even allow me to bring my own wife down with me? Fine. Fine, I'll just stay here. You can live down there all alone, because the others don't bother with you. Oh, you're not alone. You have Father's mistresses to keep you company. Most of them are maids, aren't they? And my dear old nanny, of course. Father had a thing for the nannies--"

"I don't think we should descend into... insults. Your Father was an asshole. I can finally say that know he's dead. He'd have wrung my neck if he heard me when he was alive," smiled Azaiah, turning his body a little to pull out Ivan's chair, patting it to try and get him to sit back down. "...Babe, it's... it's fine. You're safe, hm? I'm not going anywhere, apparently, so... hey, don't be scared?"​
 
"It's not fine!" Ivan squeaked, as he lightly paced the small space in panic. It was apparent that he had, had enough of the demon bullshit. Hell, it never really set that he was dating a demon, which was probably one of the reasons it didn't really hit him until just then. While he clearly panicked, Makai's mother remained silent, though amused nonetheless. Eventually, though, she got to her feet with a sigh.

"I thought you were going to be civil. I'm giving you the option to come home... even though you seemed to be so active to avoid doing just that less than a year ago... I thought the dinner was good, for human food, really. I must be going, though. I'm clearly not appreciated, and I need to burn your father's body anyway."
 
"I have been civil, Mother. I just won't sit back and... allow you to continually disrespect my girlfriend, that's all. Rightfully, now Father's dead, I should be in charge. You know that, don't you? I'm your eldest son, it gets passed down to me. You know how sexist the rules are. You don't matter, not if we consult the rules you emphasised earlier. Now, maybe I'd be content to let you carry on with ruling if Laura accompanied me. I'm not blackmailing you, Mother. Simply... urging you to do the right thing. I think you'd do excellently, ruling alone with Father demeaning you. I would just prefer to have my family join me--"

"I don't... I... don't I get a choice in this? I have no desire t-to go anywhere with you, Makai. I want to go h-home with my brother-- that's fine, isn't it Ivan? I can come back home, right? F-For a little while, at least."​
 
"Of course you can," came Ivan's reply, his voice surprisingly careful and caring despite his frantic near-yelling just seconds prior. It was something he learned to do when raising his sister, to shut down his own stress to care for her. Now was no exception, despite the fact that he was quickly biting at his nails in panic.

"Oh, it looks like your wife doesn't want to come anyway. How convenient, hm? I assume you don't want to go anywhere without her, so your threat has fallen through the cracks. I promise that I won't punish you for the way you've acted today, but I will not accept any more disrespect from you, understood? I am your mother and your queen." She reminded flatly, as she ran a hand through her almost blue-hued black hair.
 
To say he was upset would be an understatement. Watching his wife hurriedly leave his side to head on upstairs to presumably gather her things was devastating, and as tough as he wanted to be, especially in front of his mother, he wasn't too ashamed to visibly wipe away his tears with the back of his hand. He had been raised with the mantra that tears were for the weak. It was why much of his childhood was spent nursing bruises whenever his father gave him a hefty punch for crying over silly things, as children did. He soon realised that, to go without getting hurt, he simply had to shut his emotions down-- and he did, for a long time.

"...I'll come home, okay? I... I want to at least help you, Mother. I think I owe you that, and there's nothing for me here now, I suppose. May as well make proper use of my time," he laughed weakly, pushing himself up from the table and straightening his tie with a hum, before striding across to Ivan before Azaiah could think of stopping him. "...One day, Ivan, I'm going to delight in torturing you, I do hope you know that. I'm going to drag you down to Hell myself, personally, and spent months beating you black and blue for your intervening. I assume Laura had help from you making her mind up, didn't she? I won't forgive you for that, nor will I forget. I'm not dying anytime soon, I should think, so time's not an issue."​
 
"... Makai, are you sure?" His mother questioned quietly, a genuine concern in her voice. She could be cruel and uncaring at times, but she wasn't heartless. Seeing her son be so upset about the loss plucked at too many heartstrings for her to just sit back. She cautiously set a hand on his shoulder, while eyeing him for any sign of reaction as she watched the man get in the face of Ivan. Giving the shoulder a squeeze, she offered a smile.

"I'm very thankful for this - for you helping me. Would you really come and work come and work for me when you could work on your marriage? She... makes you happy. That's what's important." She reminded, taking no notice to Ivan growing angry at the threats.
 
"She doesn't want to be with me, there's no point... trying. She hates me. I just killed my father in front of her. I've... tormented her brother, I messed with her town. I think I've more or less burned every bridge with her at this point-- but that's fine. I... I'd love to come and help you out, Mother. I can't exactly sit back and allow you to take help from my brothers or sisters. We both know how useless they all are. I'm fine, I'm not a child. It's disappointing how things ended with Laura, but I'll be perfectly fine," he promised, not flinching away from the affection. It was minimal, but it was more than he had had for most of his life from her, so he was going to enjoy it for as long as he could.

"Besides," he continued with one of his more usual grins. "Azaiah is coming back with us, I won't allow him to stay. He's technically a butler of ours, isn't he? We treat him like family, but, if we turn to technicalities, he's your servant; my servant. I'd rather he come home, don't you agree~?"​
 
"That isn't fair..." Ivan replied slowly, as he gripped his shirt warily. "This isn't fair! J-Just because your relationship is an utter failure doesn't mean mine should! Azaiah and I are good together because we have respect for one another, while you treat my sister badly. Azaiah, can't you tell him that you're going to stay? I... I don't want to seem like a petulant child, but I don't think I could live without you. I'm so used to be around, a-aha..."
 
If the ground could open and swallow him up, Azaiah would have been more than happy to allow it. On one hand, he wanted nothing more than to scoop Ivan's hand up and head home to forget all of this had happened. On the other, he really couldn't afford to piss off Makai or his mother. He would effectively cut off all ties with them if he did that, and that would be disastrous. Despite his hatred for Makai, he was still his best friend-- and his mother had been more of a mother to Makai than his own birth one. Definitively turning his back on her now would mean he couldn't ever return home and expect to be treated like a son.

"...If I don't go with them, I'll be disowned, completely. Do you know how horrendous that would be for me? They're... still my family, really, and... say I did stay with you, Ivan. Could we at least go on a date? I don't think it's too much to ask. Can we just say 'fuck you' to people, for once? I... I want to do some normal boyfriend stuff. I get sex is completely out of the question, but a date really ain't too big a deal, is it?"​
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom
Back