Chapter 9: Dinner Date

(4 weeks 1 day after birth of 8th Campione)

Jereth

"So Jereth, ol' buddy, what do you recommend off of the menu?"

"Beats me. Apparently you just tell them what you like and they'll think of something to get you. I just used the internet to find this place quite honestly."

Andrea turns to Doni and annoyedly points out, "See? He's willing to use modern technology, why can't you?!"

"But Andrea, I've told you a bunch of times that I'm no good with stuff like that! Besides I find my way around just fine."

"Because I'm always there to back you up you dolt! You'd probably still be wandering the Foresta del Cansiglio if I wasn't there to give you directions!"

I tune them out and go back to perusing my menu alongside Eliza.

After I'd recovered enough that I wasn't about to collapse in an exhausted heap Eliza and I had gone with the more direct approach and simply airlifted Doni and Andrea out of there using our Magic. After that it was simply a matter of Googling for nearby restaurants and being on our merry way. While Doni had initially been quite adamant about going to a California Pizza Kitchen the long wait time had punched a hole in that decision and we'd settled for Chinese food at the House of Nanking.

In retrospect it probably would have been a simple matter for me or Eliza to mass hypnotize the staff into getting us a table…but for whatever reason the idea hadn't occurred to me until we'd actually sat down to order our food at this place.

Some rules are just meant to not be broken I guess. Death, taxes and long lines after 5 p.m. during the dinner rush.

Heaving a sigh Andrea turns to us and asks, "So how are you going to cover up the damage done to the island? That's a pretty big tourist attraction around here. Speaking of which, are you even part of a Mage Association? I wasn't aware that North America had a large society of Mages banded together."

I smirk behind my glass of Root Beer and take a sip before replying, "I am part of a Mage Association, although we're still working out a stable way of communication. And we're not necessarily based in North America. As for Alcatraz? Well…"

Me and Eliza share a glance before she smiles and I happily reply, "Well we aren't going to do much of anything really."

Andrea looks shocked and even Doni of all people raises an eyebrow while noisily slurping his Coke through a straw.

Enjoying their reactions I goofily grin and continue with, "Think about it. Alcatraz has all these wild urban myths about it being haunted and crap like that, then all of the sudden, one mysterious night, all of the staff leaves the island against their will while they can't remember anything afterwards. A spontaneous lightning storm suddenly engulfs the island and the next day all sorts of strange plant overgrowth and odd physical phenomena pop up all over the place."

I lean back with a self-satisfied smile on my face and end with, "We don't have to cover up anything because people will do it themselves. The government and 'professionals' will try to explain it away using rational theories because they can't just come out and say, 'hey it was ghosts', while the few people on social media who guess right or actually know what's going on will be drowned out by hundreds of other competing theories that make just as much 'sense'. Easy peasy lemon squeezy."

Andrea looks mildly impressed, albeit grudgingly, while Doni lost interest halfway through and went back to lazily sipping his drink. Andrea seemingly recovers and resumes his questioning with, "You said you were working on a stable-"

"Hey alright! Dinners here!"

He's silenced by Doni's exclamation as we all look towards the servers who are walking over, loaded down with trays and bowls of steaming food.

Chow mein, sesame chicken, sweet and sour pork, fried calamari, string bean chicken, fried rice and potstickers.

Doni must have snuck in a few extra orders when we weren't paying attention. Not that I blame him though, dude hasn't eaten anything for like two days straight at the point.

Seizing the distraction Eliza turns to Andrea and says, "Might as well hold your questions, I get the impression those two will be a bit too busy gorging themselves to talk."

I mentally roll my eyes at Eliza's exaggerations as I move my fork forward to pick up a potsticker…and find it clanging against Doni's as he reached for the same dumpling.

Our eyes lock and we instinctively know what this means.

Food fight, winner take all.

Both Doni and I lean back with contented sighs as Andrea and Eliza stare at us with something akin to amazed horror. Grinning I stretch and turn to look at Eliza.

"What? You've never seen two hungry people eat before?"

She shakes her head and replies in a monotone, "I've seen eating before. That was not eating. What you two just did was pure chaos."

Andrea winces and grimly says, "You didn't see Doni two years ago. He was curious about whether a cocaine high would improve his sword skills and snorted almost 6 grams in go…then proceeded to try and eat my dining table and challenged the T.V. to a duel. I swear, Campione's bodies are insane."

Doni indignantly pouts at Andrea and says, "Hey I said I was sorry! Besides how was I supposed to know what an overdose was like? I'd never used any of the stuff before. Haven't since either. My old teacher would probably say something like, 'it's pointless to try and advance your technique using anything other than your own talent!' or some-such."

'Which is why you find out before you take a level of stimulant that would kill a normal person!"

I wave my hand as if presenting this year's latest fashion model.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you Epimetheus's favorite son."

Doni just sighs and goes back to chewing on his drink's ice. I decide that it's now or never if I want to start steering Doni's thoughts on this matter. Assuming I can even get him to try thinking that is…

"Hey Doni, mind if I ask you a question?"

"Sure thing buddy. Ask away."

"Are you happy working with the Mage Associations you're currently associated with?"

Andrea suddenly stiffens and warily eyes me while I purposefully ignore him and stay focused on Doni.

He gives me a confused look and replies, "Sure, I guess? I've never really given it that much thought. They ask me to do stuff and sometimes I do it. I ask them to do stuff and they do it, if they don't I pretend to get angry and then they do it anyway. Works out for me."

"Doesn't that strike you as annoying or totally unnecessary?"

Instead of replying he carefully regards me and I again remind myself that Doni is by no means as dumb as everyone seems to think he is. He just prefers to keep things as simple as possible, breaking down any matter into it's most basic components. If I want this conversation to stick I'll have to keep it simple and relevant to his worldview.

Since he doesn't reply I continue with, "We're Devil Kings, the most effective and practically only defensive measure Humanity has against Heretic Gods. But how are we treated by most of the Mages of the world? As walking disasters, not as people. There's probably not two dozen Humans in the world who can hold a somewhat casual conversation with us. You have Andrea and Saint Raffaello. Godou has his 4 mistresses and a few others who know of his status as a Campione. John Pluto Smith has Jack Milburn, Joe West and Annie Charlton. Alec has Sir Iceman, Cecilia and Princess Alice."

Scowling slightly I continue with, "Then take Madame Aisha, Luo Hao and Voban. No companions or anyone they bother to actually confide in. Those three also conveniently cause the most unbelievable level of damage to this world. For fucks sake, Luo Hao let loose Sun Wukong in the middle of a city and probably would have been killed by him if Godou and J.P.S hadn't been nearby to aid her. See where I'm going with this?"

Doni frowns and hesitantly says, "Sorta? But if we're just going by destruction caused I did kinda destroy that Grimoire and bring a big ol' Dragon out to play. I sound a lot like those you were just badmouthing, don't I?"

I inwardly grin. Who ever said Doni was stupid?

"You cut apart a Grimoire that caused several previously hidden Heretic Gods to come out of hiding, forcing them to action which subsequently lead to their defeat. Sure, that might not have been your intent, but I prefer to look at results. Besides, I'm getting off topic here."

I lock gazes with him and clearly say, "I want to change things so that Campione aren't so ostracized and excluded. So that those we protect and will likely die for will maybe feel grief when we pass, instead of relief. You interested?"

Doubt is clearly written all over Doni's face and he replies, "That sounds like something you want, not necessarily what I or anyone else might want."

I merely grin and say, "Well I am a Campione. I can get a little forceful about things that I want."

The conversation back on ground he's comfortable with he smirks and says, "I won't argue against that…well I'm pretty bad with thinking about stuff, and really bad when it's about complicated things…but I'll give it a shot. I know! I'll ask Godou and see what he says!"

"Hey cool your jets for a second, I have to run the idea by him first and I can't have you spoiling the whole thing."

He groans and says, "So I have to deal with this by myself? Ugh…"

Smiling I push my chair back and leave money on the table for the meal, Eliza following suit.

"I think I'll spare you anymore pain tonight Doni, how about we go our separate ways for now?"

He gratefully takes the opportunity to focus on something else and eagerly shakes my hand with a goofy grin on his face.

"It was fun dueling you Jereth, I'll drop by sometime in the future and we can do this again! I definitely feel like my sword will grow sharper by fighting you, so until then don't die! C'mon Andrea let's head home for now!"

"Wait, Doni we still have to find a hotel and buy airline tickets…"

Their voices trail away as just like that they wander off into the night. Putting out a hand I feel a few occasional drops of rain hit it and shrug. It's life in the city by the bay.

"You don't think Doni's gonna remember or actually fall for any of that crap do you?"

I shrug in response to Eliza's query and reply, "Doesn't matter really. The whole point was to make him view me as his 'friend', not just some guy he can go to for a good fight like he does with Godou. He can believe what I said or not, whether it made 'sense' or not. Either way works fine."

"Hmm…well it certainly floored Rivera. You should have seen the look on his face."

"That was kinda the point. He wasn't giving up on my few vague details about the Monasteries so I had to throw him off balance. What better way to do that than a Devil King who seems genuinely interested in interacting and befriending both his peers and other Humans, as well as changing the view most Mages have of Campione?"

She nods before grinning maliciously.

"You're a perfect fiend, you know that Jereth?"

I give a mock bow before humbly replying, "I aim to please."

There's quite a bit of truth to what she just said though. I'm essentially just manipulating Doni onto my 'side', using his honest and straightforward nature against him. All that jazz about wanting to change how people feel about us Godslayers was just to give him the impression that I care about him as a person, and not a disposable ally. If he wants to actually follow through and help me change people's minds, then great. If he doesn't no biggie. I have other ways of convincing the Mage Associations to play nice.

After all, it's better to be feared than loved. For men may love at their own inclination, but you can make them fear at yours.

"So are we driving back to Tahoe then? I don't envy that trip."

"O ye of such little faith, you don't think I wouldn't have a back up plan for a contingency such as this now do you?"

"Spare me the superfluous verbiage and get to the point."

"Pot calling the kettle black much?" I wryly reply.

She shoots me a tired look and I decide it has been kind of a long day.

Dropping the irreverent persona I simply say, "I had Creele buy a house in the city since I wanted to have a place separate from the Monastic headquarters. Plus the weather here is to my liking."

She cocks an eyebrow and asks, "So where is this mystical Elysium then?"

I grin and cast a Cloaking spell on us before preparing to jump onto the rooftops.

"Follow me and you'll find out."

Every monster needs a lair to hoard it's treasures, consume it's sacrificial maidens and retreat to when the Hero strikes a crippling wound.

My particular den is in the Seventy2 Townsend Condo chain, with a 4th floor room all to myself.

Ok, so maybe I splurged a little on the house, but hot damn if it wasn't worth it. A gorgeous view overlooking the bay and Oakland Bay Bridge, a nice sun deck (when the sun decides to actually show up that is), tasteful furniture in shades of black, white and grey…but most importantly, it has a fully decked out kitchen.

Eliza looks around in just as much wonder as I am at the insane amount of luxury packed into one condo. We Monastics typically do stuff on the cheap side, so the idea of this being a place we can actually stay at feels…decadent.

Meh, I'll get used to it.

Seemingly shaking herself out of her stupor Eliza turns to me and says, "So is this how the other half lives?"

"I think this falls under the 1% side of things. Not that I'm complaining now that I'm here."

She nods before sniffing herself and making a face.

"Well I think I'll go ahead and inspect the bathroom for traps, check the shower while I'm in there as well."

I can't help but chuckle and say, "Go ahead, you've earned it. Don't use all the hot water."

"I don't think this is the kinda place that has to worry about those kinds of things."

"A valid point that."

An hour later it's almost midnight and the both of us are noticeably cleaner after a downright hedonistic hot shower.

I really like living in this era.

Eliza finishes unpacking her stuff and walks into the common room before throwing herself onto one of the couches.

Taking a moment to watch her out of the corner of my eye I can't help but admire her appearance and mindset, it being so perfectly representative of a Monastic Esoteric who's devoted to their work.

Decidedly unflattering nightclothes consisting of a loose long sleeve t-shirt and baggy sweatpants while she obviously only used a minimum amount of body wash and shampoo if the obvious lack of a defining scent is any indication.

Personally I think she's gorgeous, although I don't think she'd appreciate me covertly checking her out all that much.

"You done checking me out yet, Highness?"

Called it. Also I need to practice being more sneaky in the future.

"Yes Princess, all done over here. Get some sleep while you can, tomorrow we're going to start the long and likely bloody process of getting the Monasteries back in line with it's original goals."

She winces and replies, "Ouch. Well it's a good thing you have me around then."

I roll my eyes and reply, "Yes, I'm quite lucky to have a bodyguard who seems to enjoy spending her free time belittling me."

She offers a brief chuckle before staying quiet for almost a minute while I finish unloading my laptop and USBs onto the countertop.

"Hey Jereth."

"What's up?"

She looks slightly uncomfortable for a second before saying, "I think you're right when you say that things are gonna get messy. Just know that, well…you can count on me to take care of the dirty work if you need it done, ok? Even against our other Brothers and Sisters."

Momentarily caught off guard by her words I just nod and softly reply, "I appreciate it, and while I'd like to pretend you won't have to do anything like that…well, you know how things usually go."

Her mouth sets itself into a grim line and she dryly replies, "Yah, no arguments here. Although I wouldn't mind being wrong in this particular circumstance."

"Funny, I've had that particular thought more than a few times the past few weeks."

This chapter ended up being WAY shorter than I intended it to be, although with good reason.

Reason being I got accepted into Chico State's Engineering program! Woohoo!

Of course that opened up about a billion different things for me to do. Applying for the transfer, making appointments for orientation and counseling, finding housing, figuring out what I need to bring with me, etc etc.

Of course this is all provisional, since I need to pass all my current classes with a grade of C or better. Chemistry and Properties of Materials i'm not worried about at all, since I like those classes, but I'm struggling hard in Multi-variable Calculus, so I'm going to also have to devote a ton of time to making sure I can pass that class.

Which pisses me right the fuck off, since having interned at 2 separate engineering firms and done legitimate design work that was actually built later down the road, all this psychotic 'triple integrals in cylindrical and spherical coordinates stuff' is so far off the wall it's insane (I like the 3d graphing part, but the rest is a downright nightmare). The most math I ever saw anyone using was some basic geometry, algebra (some beginner level calculus) and trigonometry and that was pretty much it. Everything else is related to the physical details of the project, which are way more interesting.

...Rant over.

Long story short, my upload schedule is probably going to suffer at some point, especially since this was originally going to be part of a larger chapter, but, well...yah. I'll be sure to announce ahead of time if that ends up being the case.

Griffin13: Thanks for the feedback, good to know I'm doing something right :D

Tsun: Without getting too spoilery (I feel like I should create an acronym for that...WGTS?) Jereth and the Monasteries are definitely taking measures to avoid having the KotE reincarnate, and large chunks of the story are going to be devoted to that.

Kshail: I'm assuming when you say I don't allow the characters their own initiative that implies that they never really get to throw their full power at the other guy because something throws them off balance or interrupts their milieu. If I'm interpreting that right...I mostly chalk it up to a consequence of my own experience in fights. I've taken a few knife fighting and martial arts classes (as well as gotten into a couple schoolyard brawls) and quickly learned that aside from a few fighting styles which are centered around using the opponents movements against them, letting your opposite just do whatever they please all the time is a quick way to get pounded into the dirt. I easily won most of my fights because I took the first move and didn't let the other guy do anything except get hit. The one I didn't do that was over in a a few seconds. The other guy just went around my guard, tagged me in the kidney and when I was doubled over in pain he put me in a headlock. Game set and match (man I still haven't lived down how uncool that was).

Long story short, while I'll definitely try to make the fights more involved and varied, it's a learning process because my brain is always yelling at me that that's not how a real fight would go XD. Dang that went off on a mild tangent.

Guest: I will happily take that cookie and eat it with the utmost reverence. Also thanks for feedback about the fight, see above reply on how I'm working to make them longer, while hopefully not sacrificing quality.