& divine.

...             there were times when aleki thought it would be very easy to become jaded after everything they had been through. people died, answers only led to more question, and bodies always bloody and bruised. but he was lucky enough to be surrounded by people who kept him grounded, by people he wanted to protect, by people he wanted to see a better tomorrow for ──────     reid, forest, waaiz, mai, everyone. he would die for them again if that was what fate wanted. but for now, he just wanted waaiz and reid to be safe from the siphoner. levin, too. maybe they should come back to the mirrored lake sooner than later. though, he shouldn't probably be making any plans with alcohol in his system, no matter how little. ❝ what's on my mind ? i mean, aside from your tits now that you've put the image in my head ... ? ❞ aleki wasn't entirely sure how to answer the question. and he had made it easy for people to think that there was barely any brain activity in his head, there always seemed to be hundred things at once on his mind these days. and if he started talking about all of it now, they'd still be here well after closing time. ❝ i could talk to you about reid ... always leaving, always there, like a ghost that flickers in and out of existence. i could talk to you about forest ... casual but still stifling how emotionally inhibited he can be. i could also talk about how ever since dying, i can barely really stand being alone ... i'm getting better at it, but i still feel this constant need for warmth and to feel good. ❞ and that wouldn't even be half of it. but he had definitely given mai enough idea of what going on in his head. and he might as well just write a tell-all book if he gave anything more. ❝ where do we even start with all of that ? ❞

❝  sounds  like  you're  stuck.  like  you're  hanging  onto  the  old  aleki  instead  of  embracing  the  new.  think  of  it  like,  you  got  a  massive  reset  button  hit,  &  now  you  get  a  second  try  at  this  whole  life  spiel.  do  things  that  you  might  not  have  had  the  strength,  desire,  or  will  to  do.  climb  mount  everest;  bring  world  peace;  fuck  a  nun.  all  that  fun  stuff.  ❞ 

Ambera Wellmann (Canadian, 1982) - Frieda Gives Herself a Tornado (2020)

“  don't  worry,  i  don't  think  anything  can  put  that  man  out  of  service  for  too  long.  he'll  be  getting  blown  right  behind  the  bar  while  we're  both  working  in  no  time.  maybe  the  anito  twink  is  just  what  the  doctor  ordered.  ”  he  laughed  right  alongside  mai.  he  wasn't  offending  seth.  he  was  actually  happy  that  the  man  seemed  to  have  found  something  that  worked  for  him.  a  way  to  find  some  normalcy  in  the  midst  of  all  of  this  crazy.  “  i  think  seth  has  a  mission  for  some  of  us  so  i  want  to  make  sure  i  help  out  that  way.  aside  from  that  just  doing  a  couple  of  research.  into  persephone,  what's  impacting  levin,  and  dragons.  y'know,  the  usual  in  the  day  in  a  life  of  a  half  god.  ”

the  bar's  traffic  was  actually  slow  tonight,  not  too  many  people  coming  in  and  such.  mai  gazes  at  the  clock  and  see  that  closing  time's  just  about  to  hit.  ❝  so  much  for  a  busy  shift.  could  have  worn  an  actual  t-shirt  tonight.  ❞  the  busty  little  crop  tee  helped  in  getting  tips  to  say  the  least.  but  at  least  the  work  night  was  over.  drying  up  glasses  and  doing  a  quick  inventory  check  for  spirits  and  liquor,  their  job  was  basically  done  outside  of  cleaning  tables  and  whatnot.  ❝  guess  that's  it  for  the  night:  you  wanna  grab  something  to  eat  after  this  man  ?  I'm  buying  ~  ❞  a  bit  of  incentive  to  entice  them,  though  their  figure  was  probably  doing  that  as  is. 

...             alcohol was one of those things that aleki reserved for shitty days. he never liked not being in control ... and even more so becoming just like the drunken man in the house he grew up in. anything mind-altering would just have to be a last resort for a quick burst of dopamine. but despite his restrain and moderation, aleki still found seth's tiki bar to be a cool hangout place ──────     he might sip on a single glass for beer for hours and still not finish it by closing time, but the place still offered other great things. a pool table. a couple of arcade cabinets. great bar food. and being here allowed him to watch over waaiz, too. it was just the least he could do. especially after the demigod of neith nearly drove himself mad twice just to figure out what was happening with seth and levin. though, he was sure mai was probably doing the same thing.         ❝         you don't think waaiz and reid are going to get possessed by that guy they saw in the vision, do you ?         ❞ how grim. but it was aleki's attempt at small talk as mai delivered yet another plate of calamari. he took a moment to glance around the bar, and all the other patrons looked settled in : laughing and mingling in their own groups or quietly nursing their drinks. and with everything seemingly under control, aleki thought it would be fine to ask.          ❝         wanna take a breather ? c'mon, you can sit with me while you've got nothing to do. you can even tell me all about your secrets ... promise i'm a good listener.         ❞ @onibeauty

mai's  been  bartending  long  enough  to  tell  who  the  real  drinkers  were  and  who  the  sulkers  were,  with  aleki  seemingly  fitting  into  the  latter.  the  traffic  of  the  bar  had  kind  of  slowed  down,  with  mai  having  finished  circling  their  rounds  at  the  moment  aleki  asks  their  grim  question.  ❝  can't  say  I  haven't  thought  about  that  happening,  ‘leki.  but  if  they  didn't  do  it  then,  don't  think  they'll  do  it  now  …  ❞  there  was  an  unspoken  ‘I  hope’  at  the  end  of  that.   their  lips  upturn  as  the  pele  hunk  pleads  for  them  to  join  them,  a  giggle  of  small  delight  coming  out.  ❝  wanna  know  why  my  tits  are  so  big  ?  because  they  hold  the  secrets  of  dead  men  ~  ❞  the  were  teasing  …  kind  of.  ❝  besides,  it  looks  like  you've  got  more  to  say  to  me  than  the  other  way  around.  to  lay  it  on  me:  what's  on  that  pretty  mind  in  your  shaved  head  ?  ❞  mai  propositions  as  they  lean  against  the  edge  of  the  bar  counter. 

the  mention  of  shortened  ranks  did  hit  a  part  of  mai's  heart,  because  boy,  did  they  understand.  back  when  camps  were  separate  entities  dedicated  to  the  purpose  of  their  own  pantheon,  when  the  lines  weren't  so  blurred  and  they  existed  in  abundance.  now  it  was  all  they  could  compile  from  every  camp,  which  in  the  grand  scheme  of  things,  was  pretty  freaking  small.  and  while  there  seemed  to  be  another  for  when  one  falls,  the  question  remained  of  how  long  could  they  keep  that  up  ?  ❝  yeah,  no  kidding.  our  parents  love  to  fuck.  says  a  lot  about  how  there's  only  so  many  of  us  there  are  …  say  does  this  hot  pot  got  any  shrimp  in  it  ?  ❞  what  could  they  say  ?  mai  had  a  thing  for  shrimp  real  bad. 

now  that  seth  is  back,  there's  still  a  lot  that's  weighing  on  waaiz's  mind.  mai  was  a  great  source  of  comfort  after  that  vision.  as  was  aleki.  the  two  of  them  were  probably  the  main  reason  that  he  still  had  a  semblance  of  sanity  left.  “  i  guess  this  is  what  a  little  hope  does.  you  don't  have  to  go  back  to  stripping  anymore.  ”  he  greeted  them  after  leaving  the  kitchen  and  going  over  to  the  bar.  he  finished  making  quite  a  few  of  the  seer's  sushi  rolls.  ironic  since  being  a  seer  was  part  of  the  reason  why  he  got  into  that  mess  a  week  ago.  “  you  notice  anything  different  with  the  big  boss?  i  don't  want  to  risk  looking  into  the  future  again  for  him,  but  i  don't  know.  he  seems  more…  ”  then  waaiz  realized  that  the  word  he  was  looking  for  was  normal.  at  least  in  his  terms.  “  anyway,  any  plans  for  the  weekend?  ” 

❝  as  grateful  as  I  am  for  that,  that  was  kind  of  the  least  of  my  worries  in  retrospect.  just  glad  you  &  seth  are  back  to  normal,  though  I  do  think  the  visions  might  have  put  seth  off  his  usual  freelancer  charm,  I'm  sure  he'll  get  it  back  on  his  next  visit  to  their  mysterious  anito  twink.  ❞  mai  chuckles  as  they  clean  some  leftover  glasses,  grateful  to  once  again  be  in  the  bar  where  they  belonged.  popping  one  of  those  delicious  sushi  rolls  into  their  mouth,  mai  sets  the  glass  down.  ❝  surprisingly,  no.  normally  I'd  go  to  a  club  or  to  the  roller  rink  but  this  week's  been  quite  a  bit.  from  the  markupo  to  the  amalfi  trip  down  to  the  seer's  curse,  I  think  I'll  call  a  rain  check  this  go  round.  how  about  you,  peter  parker  ?  doing  anything  now  that  your  head's  alright  ?  ❞

@onibeauty

❝  you  have  no  idea  how  hungry  I  am  for  some  meat.  I  really  should  learn  how  to  do  more  than  just  quick  stuff  in  the  kitchen.  ❞  but  that  would  have  to  be  for  a  later  time,  with  mai  already  wandering  over  to  that  delicious  smelling  hotpot.  ❝  so  what  made  you  decide  to  be  chef  forest  today  ?  not  that  I'm  complaining  by  a  longshot.  ❞

mano  had  an  interesting  way  of  doing  things:  it  seemed  like  at  the  bar,  they  were  ready  to  tackle  mai  right  then  and  there,  now  they  were  more  inclined  on  courting  them  in  a  sense.  did  mai  mind  ?  they  weren't  sure.  not  that  they  minded  a  little  bit  of  wining  and  dining,  but  admittedly  it  wasn't  their  usual  pace,  which  probably  said  more  about  how  their  past  experiences  have  always  been.  maybe  mano  wasn't  interested,  or  just  like  he  said,  he  liked  to  take  things  slow  the  first  time.  so  for  now,  mai  would  see  based  on  how  these  next  30  minutes  go,  for  as  much  as  they  liked  the  other,  they  didn't  want  to  push  for  something  that  just  wasn't  in  the  cards.  ❝  fair  enough,  I'll  be  a  good  boy  for  now.  ❞  mai  chuckles  as  they  pour  another  glass  to  drink.  ❝  so  …  what  do  you  like  to  do  for  fun  ?  and  don't  say  fishing  if  it's  an  actual  choice,  I  wanna  know  the  daddy  part  of  shark  daddy.  ❞  a.k.a,  they  wanted  to  know  more  about  mano,  like  his  passions,  his  dislikes,  favorite  color,  all  of  that  good  stuff. 

Roller Boogie (1979)

Behind the scenes of Booboo’s new photoshoot

He ate a little bit more as he planned things out in his head. "We can also just relax together, talk some more, let digestion happen. I would suggest my bedroom for that, it feels a lot more like home to me anyway. The living room and kitchen were designed to honor my father, but my bathroom and bedroom are home to me." He wasn't sure why he was telling him all this, but he was.

❝  got  it,  so  the  living  area  and  kitchen  are  off  limits  is  what  you're  kind  of  saying  ?  feels  a  bit  too  close  to  sacrilege  ?  ❞  mai  could  understand:  they  were  wild  at  times,  but  even  they  had  enough  sense  to  never  fuck  in  a  tempt  or  anything  in  proximity  to  one  (  well,  there  was  that  one  time  …  but  that  was  for  a  festival  so  it  was  kind  of  worship  in  a  sense  !  )  ❝  I'll  be  sure  to  keep  my  advances  to  the  bedroom,  scouts  honor.  ❞  the  gunsen  combatant  feigns  a  pledge  before  going  back  to  their  food. 

even  though  they  had  only  worked  together  for  a  short  amount  of  time,  waaiz  wasn't  surprised  by  the  way  that  mai  was  reacting.  they  always  were  theatrical.  that  was  something  that  he  could  admire,  sometimes  from  far  away.  “we're  going  to  get  everything  back.  this  is  only  temporary.  the  job,  seth,  all  of  that  being  gone  will  be  a  thing  of  the  past  soon.”  for  some  reason,  he  seemed  determined  by  that.  even  though  he  had  no  logical  reasoning  or  proof  for  his  assurance,  he  was  still  going  to  continue  to  say  that.  “i  do,  but  people  are  going  to  grow  restless  if  seth  doesn't  come  back  soon.”  he  smiled  when  mai  seemed  to  at  least  enjoy  the  drink.  hopefully  that  was  enough  to  prevent  that  cyclone  from  coming  to  the  island.  they  didn't  need  to  add  vandalism  on  top  of  everything  else.  “i  have  an  idea  if  you're  open  to  getting  our  job  back  faster.  why  don't  we  look  for  seth  ourselves?”

❝  are  we  though  ?  what  if  seth's  found  a  twink  that's  more  than  just  a  good  blowjob  and  wants  to  close  the  shop  forever  for  eternal  cock-sucking  ?  ❞  for  mai,  this  was  a  crisis  of  sorts.  ridiculous  notion  of  career-derailing  fellatio  aside,  mai  had  something  of  point:  what  if  things  were  forever  changed  ?  what  if  the  bar  never  opened  back  up  ?  what  if  seth  never  returned  ?  what  if  everything  had  stopped  forever  ?  ❝  something's  gotta  change  I  can't  go  back  to  stripping  dude  I  won't  !  ❞  crazily  enough,  swinging  on  the  poles  was  not  something  mai  had  interest  in  going  back  to,  too  close  to  some  very  unsorted  issues.  in  their  brief  crumble,  waaiz's  suggestion  of  finding  the  soothsaying  oracle  gave  them  some  hope,  snapping  them  out  of  their  spiral  as  they  take  another  cup  of  lemonade.  ❝  that's  not  a  bad  idea,  but  we  kind  of  don't  have  any  leads  as  to  where  he  went,  not  to  mention  he's  kind  of  our  only  dude  who  can  see  into  the  future.  how  do  we  find  a  guy  who's  always  a  step  ahead  ?  ❞ 

well,  that  would  explain  why  mai  never  knew  of  forest,  though  before  their  numbers  were  horridly  dwindled,  the  shinto  camp  used  to  be  fairly  numerous.  their  brows  at  the  mention  of  unfortunate  circumstances  for  the  kitsune  in  reincarnation,  feeling  as  if  they've  heard  little  bits  and  pieces  of  the  tale  given  the  context.  but  mai  decides  it's  best  not  to  reopen  what  could  be  a  chest  of  tragedy  if  not  necessary.  ❝  oh  life's  been  like,  totally  grand  and  stuff.  I  mean,  it's  not  too  much  different  from  how  it  used  to  be  at  camp,  but  I  guess  a  lot  more  expansive  and  broad  now  since  we're  not  just  dealing  with  our  native  pantheon  but  every  single  godly  world  and  rule  ever.  it's  a  little  mind-boggling  but  overall  I  wouldn't  be  anywhere  else  !  ❞  what  could  they  say  ?  mai  enjoyed  their  duties  in  terms  of  slaying  evil  and  protecting  the  innocent,  a  privilege  they  weren't  spared  when  they  were  growing  up.  who  cared  if  they  got  a  thrill  from  chopping  dark  beings  and  foolish  enemies  into  itty  bitty  pieces  with  little  to  no  remorse  ?  it  was  all  in  the  name  of  good,  right  ?  ❝  but  yeah,  everything  is  easy,  breeze,  beautiful  for  me,  especially  now  that  I'm  the  new  bartender  at  seth's  tiki  bar  !  ❞  if  only  they  knew  how  long  that  current  would  last  … 

"It's personal, and not easy for me, but... I'm open to you or Forest." Talking like this, involving the sacredness of Dio, was much harder than battle. Hugo wanted to live his life without such discomfort. He knew there was only one way through to achieve that peace. "Just... speak kindly about him. Please. ... You're all important to me."

❝  is  love  ever  supposed  to  be  easy,  young  hugo  ?  ❞  maybe  that's  why  mai  didn't  have  such  a  caliber  for  it,  at  least  not  in  the  capacity  that  hugo  was  feeling  it,  but  that  topic  was  for  a  different  day  and  for  a  well-versed  therapist.  .  ❝  I  promise  to  play  nice  if  he  does  ~  ❞  the  wind  summoner  flutters  their  fan  in  a  signal  of  scouts  honor.  for  all  their  jovial  ways  and  teasing,  they  weren't  so  dense  to  see  that  dio  meant  quite  a  bit  to  hugo,  and  with  good  reason  given  that  mai  knew  hugo  long  before  they  were  the  person  they  had  become,  and  suffice  to  say,  finding  love  was  nothing  short  of  a  miracle.  so  they'd  be  a  good  little  oni  son  and  be  corteous  and  welcoming  of  their  love  interest.  ❝  I'll  leave  you  to  your  planning  and  chopping,  my  electric  love  bird  you;  try  not  to  burn  down  the  dojo  with  that  thing,  kay  ?  ❞  mai  winks  with  a  laugh  as  they  flutter  theirselves  out.