As Lilith was trying to consume all of her pancakes before Hel could drag her to Asgard, the place of unparalleled violence, and drinking in all the Afterlives, Anthony, Emelia, and Baldr were talking about inconsequential things, like their relationships with other gods and godlike beings.
“You’re friends with Hel, right. Why aren’t you her best friend?” Anthony asked, remarking at the cordial behavior of the blond young man and Hel's proclamation that she had now friends.
“That’s because she feels guilty about me being down here,” Baldr said with a crestfallen expression as he thought of the events that had led to his untimely death, which included drama, betrayal, and the classic family backstabbing.
Emelia placed her index finger on her cheek, thinking about possible sources for Hel’s guilt, before innocently asking, “Did she kill you?”
"No, no, it wasn't anything that serious. After I died, the gods made asked to revive me, and she agreed, on the condition that everything in the world wept for me, and well, I’m still here." Baldr explained, as he shrugged his shoulders and gave a wry smile.
“But why does she feel guilty? It doesn't sound like she wanted you to leave?” Emelia asked, remarking at the absurd difficulty to fulfill the request.
“Well, the gods got almost everything to weep for me, except one giantess and turns out that was her dad, Loki, in disguise,” he said, “I think she thought it would be no problem since the gods had already gotten everything but mistletoe, because they thought it was too harmless, to not kill me. And it was a bit my fault too since I boasted that 'everything in the world would be appalled at my untimely departure.' Looking back, I was kinda arrogant back then?" He said thinking of the follies of his younger self, arrogance, pride, and liking black coffee.
"I see, but still, that doesn't explain why you aren't her best friend, right? You've had like a thousand years and you're at the 'I can invite myself over for pancakes' level," Anthony asked, trying to direct the conversation back to its original topic, away from divine political intrigue and a young god's coming-of-age story as he tried to discover the meaning of life in the Afterlife.
"Hel makes delicious pancakes," Baldr said, addressing the important piece of information first, before sighing, "Her magic truth detector eye also gives her truths about the traits of a person and not just what they say. That’s one reason she rules the land of the dead since she can use her eye to judge who they are as a person and give them their just deserts. So she sees me as like a bundle of nice traits with a very low amount of bad traits, so she won't try to rely on me since I'm an anomaly, a sort of artificial difference from the norm, while your friend is an exception, naturally different."
Anthony slightly overwhelmed by Baldr's acute observation into one’s psyche, decided to leave before his brain melted from these profound realizations, "I'm going to see what Lilith and Hel are doing and I've always wanted to see the Northern Lights so, I think I'll get going."
Emelia, who had found a plate of pancakes for herself took them and followed Anthony towards the commotion outside which Lilith and Hel were certainly a part of. As she left Baldr decided to annoy her since she walked off with his plate of pancakes and said, "Bye Lil' sis!"
Emelia immediately turned around with a pout exclaiming, "You know I'm ten billion years older than you!"
"Whatever you say!" He said with a candid smile.
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Interview #45: Vine
"Why did it have to be snakes," Anthony lamented to himself as he saw the next demon approach. It was a lioness riding on a black horse with a snake in her hand.
"Bro, get over the snake thing already, you can fly," Lilith said, pointing out the obvious solution, to his fear of snakes, "Anyway, what'cha got?"
The lioness promptly transformed into a Victorian maid, unmounted the black horse, and released the snake, "I'm Vine and I can make the waters stormy."
"Cool"
"I can see the future."
"Everyone can."
"I can discover hidden things."
"Haven't lost anything yet."
"I can discover Witches and Wizards."
"Any at our school."
"There's a witch named Joan Sofnaur."
"I know her, she was in the improv show,"
"I can also build towers," she said causing a tower to sprout from the ground.
"Nice renovation."
"And I can destroy walls, one, two, three, and four," she said counting off each wall as it was destroyed.
"Anthony do think that was just the literal actually fourth wall that she broke, or was it the narrative fourth wall?"
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Interview #13: Beleth
A man with a kingly atmosphere rode up to them on a pale white horse as the sounds of an entire marching band announced his presence. Anthony sighed at the excessive and grandiose display, not knowing how much this encounter might scar him, "So what do you do, I mean besides setting up meaningless spectacle?"
The regal man gave him a sharp glare and spoke in a pompous voice, "I am Beleth, and this is what I can do." He said pointing at Anthony.
"Hm," after a slight delay Anthony got down on one knee, turned towards Emelia, took both of her hands in his and said, "Te iubesc—(I love you AN: I don’t remember why this is in Romanian)"
Snapped out of the trance Anthony waved his hand towards Beleth, causing him to be relocated to a mountain in the middle of nowhere and said to no one in particular, "I'm going to go sit in a hole for a while, kay." Leaving behind a mildly confused Lilith and a madly blushing Emelia.
