Finite Regress
Author's Note: Enjoy the story and R&R.
Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to or of By the Grace of the Gods.
Pairing: Established Ryoma x Kufo.
Summary:
Ryoma wants more time with Kufo.
"Your mind is being affected by your younger body. You're going through infantile regression."
Kufo could've opened with any line, but after an unwanted absence from each other, the god of life opened with that old epiphany.
Ryoma's shoulders sank. He realized too late they did this without his conscious direction. Had his poker face continued to worsen too?
Feeling more emotional wasn't a handicap. Ryoma was appreciative discovering a new slime could make him feel so excited, or living with and ultimately departing the Jamil family could bring him to grateful tears.
He wasn't able to feel on Earth. Not after his mother passed on and he lost the only family waiting for him.
It's just, as Ryoma's radiant awe made demonstrably clear: For a man in a child's form who spent the end of his thirty-nine years not emoting, to be granted the freedom to smile, to cry, and to live – The gap between his past and present lives could be overwhelming and a test of the emotions to modulate.
Much happened since he died. Gods are real and he met them. Magic exists and he studied it. Reincarnation is possible and it was his channel for coming back. There are other worlds out there and he'd been shifted to one named Seilfall.
And not to overlook it, Takebayashi Ryoma (or Ryoma Takebayashi, as he went by in Seilfall) was in love with one of his saviours.
Beautiful features, as though carved in the perfection of classic sculpture.
An endless scarf Ryoma fought his inner child not to tug.
Love was Lulutia's realm of influence, but staring at Kufo ('cause that's what Ryoma was doing – staring), he caught a glint of Cupid's innocent youth. Relaxed yet piercing hints of Hermes' wanderlust, Apollo's luminescence, and Puck's gaiety. Mythological figures Ryoma got the sense during conversation with Gain, Lulutia, and Kufo were either fictitious or secondary to the main deity behind his prior world.
Cupid? The Roman parallel to Eros. Don't speak the word "eros" around Sir Reinhart. He might misunderstand and react terrifyingly towards Ryoma, as he'd reacted when Mr. Hughes pressured Ryoma to put the moves on the Duke's daughter, Lady Eliaria.
"Ha! Ha! Ha! Your face, Ryoma-kun!" Kufo found Ryoma's embarrassing recollection of his ineptitude with girls the softest thing.
Ryoma could handle intense physical and mental pain. His resistance skills in both areas ranked on the upper end of the scale, to the point a nightmare limour bird's hallucination-producing song didn't register in his brain at all! But agreeing to months of Kufo-less-ness, essentially casting Silent on himself, was spiritual torture.
At least with Elia and her family, Ryoma exchanged letters. He had no contact with Kufo since Kufo declared suddenly that he'd be gone for an indeterminate period.
If your god(s) revealed themselves to you…Interacted…You'd hope, you'd wish, you'd pray, you'd hold fast to their protection, wouldn't you?
A little humiliation about Elia didn't upset Ryoma, if Kufo didn't disappear beyond his oracle power again.
It was with pained remorse Kufo entered deep meditation. He hated dragging Ryoma through hard knocks comparable to the travails that were the standard in his previous life, except he counted on Ryoma's tip-top shape and perseverance to buy him the time necessary to complete his goal. Time as gods experienced it, anyway.
"Don't think I'd desert you, right Ryoma-kun? I left on sabbatical to condense my magic, so I can maintain our communication without Gain and Lulutia's help."
Gain and Lulutia's magic accounted for a decent bite of their sit-downs. When the god of creation and goddess of love were off cruising the cosmos, Kufo kept Ryoma in their sitting room in the divine realm in the sky for like a really quick minute and a half. A pretty lousy window of convenience when you're attempting to build and progress a romantic relationship.
"Unbelievably awesome, right Ryoma-kun?"
"No more time limit?"
"Mmm, not exactly. I mean, the three of us together can't tie you here forever. More gods mean longer gatherings is how I guess it's set up. You'll have to ask Gain. But I should be able to extend my maximum now. Long enough to give my favourite transferee and slime lover the love he deserves!"
"That's great! But it's funny of you to assume it's you I'm most keen on seeing. The cheese and the wine are the actual reason I keep returning! Gotta show my thanks to Tekun!"
"Ha! Ha! Ha!" Kufo knew Ryoma was kidding. "Yes, we all enjoy the god of wine and craftsmanship's gifts and company!"
"It's important to drink in moderation."
"Not for the man who can't get drunk!" Kufo accused Ryoma playfully. Tekun's benediction awarded Ryoma a mystically impervious liver. In effect, Ryoma would never keel over a soused mess like the Pier of Sikum adventuring party's hurl-harrowed member Sein.
"Is the rice done?"
"I'll check." Kufo dipped his head to check the status on the rice cooker.
Ryoma used the extra time to stare at Kufo some more. The gods of Seilfall sure prized their precious machine amenities from Earth!
"All good! Let's eat, Ryoma-kun!" Kufo beamed.
A halo of leaves crowning the god of life's hallowed head.
A single braid down one side, like roots twisting up to reach the sun.
That iconic scarf.
What magnificence. What verve. Kufo statuesque. A work of art burdened by time yet untouched by it.
My mind is being affected by my younger body. Infantile regression.
Emotion. Feeling. Warmth. Magic. Flowing out of him. The loss of his game face, a fair cost, Ryoma felt.
To feel his first love through the pristine, spotless senses of a child Gain created to house his reborn soul. All the hormonal ups and downs signifying he was alive.
Kufo, the light inside the white.
Oh so bright.
Oh so right.
