"Sir," Michael looked up at his Captain's call, turning away from the new recruits he had been addressing, his Powers knew not to interrupt him unless it was of great importance, so for Nisroc to be calling for him as he was he knew something most certainly must be going on that needed immediate attention. "Something has come up that you should be brought to your attention."

He held a hand up to stay the class, turning to address his Power with his utmost attention, Nisroc did not interrupt him during these moments unless it was of great importance. His captain could most usually handle the matters that came up that he could not attend to during these times.

"What is it, Nisroc?"

The Power looked at the recruits for a moment, and turned back to lean closer to his commander, "Sir, he waits for you in your office."

Michael quirked an eyebrow, "Who waits for me?"

"Sir, I think it best if you see for yourself."

Nisroc was adamant about him coming with him, that much was clear, and in that very notion he knew immediately how precarious a situation they had found themselves in. He didn't know the identity of the individual waiting for him in his office and yet there had been a certain level of alarm brought up with their appearance.

The Archangel nodded, waving Haniel and Abraxos over to take over the instruction for him, and gestured for his captain to lead the way. Nisroc nodded once, turning on his heel, and they walked briskly across the training field to the Pavilion above. There was a violent barking coming from his office, and he turned to look at the one next to him in confusion, the voices of Puriel and Titus floated out with them, trying to reassure and calm at the same time, and then came the dangerous growl before the yelps of pain. That had them rushing forward, and they nearly crashed into the two of them as they jumped back out of the office, Titus's hand was bleeding, and he appeared to have been bitten by something with rather sharp canines.

He touched a hand to his upper arm, "Go get that tended to." The archangel shared a glance with his captain and turned to peer into his office. Pacing back and forth, hackles raised, sharp canines bared as it growled dangerously on edge, was a shepherd sized jackal. A golden band through one long ear, two manacles of gold around both front ankles, bright golden eyes burning with a fury that was unnatural for it, growling at anything that moved.

Michael knew who waited for him at first sight, the jackal usually went to his younger brother, Raphael, but seeing as the Healer was away on a mission at the moment with the dreaded Winchesters, he had been the next best option. Part of him was tempted to tell the enraged jackal where his 'guardian' was and let those two imbecilic hunters deal with an enraged deity. He knew they would surely attack him first and ask questions later, and that would set off his brother's rather explosive temper, and that was the last thing they needed returning to them.

Nisroc stood at his shoulder, clearly he hadn't seen the Egyptian god of death in his jackal form, "Sir, be mindful, we don't know if it could be rabid."

"Nonsense," he's seen this form though, plenty of times, with his younger brother and without, the godling was rather cared for by all four of them, none so much as the Healer, but he knew him rather well, "Titus merely moved too fast and he is resting on a hairline trigger."

"Sir, I don't understand."

Michael smiled at him from over his shoulder, kneeling before him, and held his hand out to the pacing jackal. It snarled and snapped at his fingers, he merely folded them out of reach but maintained his position nonetheless, he felt Nisroc tense behind him and he knew that his captain had curled his fingers around the hilt of his sword when the jackal turned and took a threatening position as though to pounce at his commander.

He held his other hand up to stay his action.

"No, it's alright, he is just angry." He paused, "Rather severely too."

Reaching out with his other hand, Michael called to him, "Anubis", the jackal huffed and bent low on its front legs, "What's gotten you so angry?" teeth bared dangerously, any younger angel would have backed away in terror, and the Captain would never admit it, but the thought had crossed his mind too, he's heard stories of the Egyptian's rather legendary temper when he was provoked.

The jackal howled in rage and jumped, the Captain made to jump in front of his Commander, but Michael held him back and let the beast jump at him without an attempt to shield himself from the attack.

The Viceroy chuckled at the large snout that rubbed against his face, the warm tongue that licked at his chin and nose, the beast that had been so enraged previously rubbing against him like an overgrown puppy. He rubbed a hand down the back of its soft neck, scratching as he went, "Someone's peaked your temper, cub." The jackal yapped and nudged his chin with it's head, long ears twitching in residual agitation. "Can you turn back so we may talk, cub?" the jackal huffed and shook it's head, Michael hummed in acknowledgement, cupping his hand around the soft head "You feel as though you will lose grip of your magic if you turn back, don't you?" it licked his chin again and he nodded, "Understood. My, my, someone has truly gotten under your skin, haven't they?"

His jackal companion barked lowly, smacking a paw to the ground, and nudged his hand impatiently.

"I believe if we wear off some of the enraged energy we may have more luck getting to the middle of this agitation."

Michael scratched behind one of the long ears, knowing that it would pacify the jackal for a moment before the elation at having his ear scratched wore off, and he used his window of opportunity to turn back to his captain.

"Nisroc, do you still have that ball you took away from Erathaol?"

The Power looked confused at the strange inquiry, nodding in affirmation. "It's in my office."

"Wonderful, would you go retrieve it for me?"

"Sir?

He chuckled softly, switching to the other ear with a cold nose pressed against his fingers, "You'll see. Trust me." The archangel turned back to the jackal, golden eyes still smoldering, looked up at him when it noticed his attention having returned to it, "Do you want to go play in the Garden?" it's ears perked up at the word 'play' and a warm tongue licked at his face again until he pushed the jackal away with a light chuckle. "I'll take that as a yes, you do want to go play in the Garden, come then."

Michael kissed the jackal's snout fondly, holding it's head in both hands "But no more biting."

The jackal whined and ducked slightly.

"Good." He stood and gestured for his Captain to lead the way. Nisroc raised an eyebrow, but knew better then to ask questions, there were many deities and creatures that the four commanders knew rather well, and it was better just to go along with it then question it. "Lead the way, captain."

…

"This," he gestured to the jackal that ducked down on its two front legs, waiting excitedly, tail wagging, in anticipation for his commander to throw the ball again. "Is the Egyptian god of Death."

Michael chuckled at the incredulousness in his tone, nodding as he threw the ball and the jackal turned to chase after it with elation and exuberance, turning to his captain to nod in affirmation.

"It's hard to believe, isn't it?"

"I thought he would be more…. Regal."

The archangel nodded, "He is when the time calls for it." The jackal returned the ball, dropped it at his feet, and jumped back again hunching low in elated anticipation for it to be thrown again. Michael was quick in obliging, smiling when the jackal turned tail and bolted after it, clapping when it jumped up and caught it midair, and dropped to all fours to chew on it for a moment. "But outside of those moments, he is a rather young deity, and sometimes I kid that he is more jackal then he is otherwise."

"I thought he was one of the original gods."

"He is," Michael nodded to him, watching the jackal closely, the last thing they needed was an enraged Anubis running around without Raphael there to reign him in, he listened to the others only so much, but always did as the third born said without any inkling of disobedience. "I believe he maintains this visage so he can use it as an excuse for his rather mischievous nature." He chuckled lightly, "Like him and Azrael 'planning our downfalls', they don't know that I know, but I do." Nisroc watching him shake his head fondly, "Those two, I swear it, I'm letting them keep this up for a while longer before I step in and show them just how much strength they are going against."

The jackal returned and dropped the ball at their feet once more, stepping back, watching with attentive golden eyes as the archangel picked it up and threw it, and ran after it once more.

"Like I said, he is rather mischievous," he looked over to his captain, "He will try and prank anyone that he knows, and he knows you now," Michael turned to watch the jackal shake it's head with the ball in it's mouth, tail wagging happily "So if he tries to prank you, the places to go for in return are his feet and lower belly, gets him every time."

"I'd never imagine that a god could be—"

"Ticklish?" Michael chuckled when his captain nodded "Oh, very much so, if you find that hard to imagine, just rub that beard of yours into his lower belly and witness the response you'll get."

"Sir, how do you know such things?"

"I've known him for almost four eons. You pick up on a few things with that much time. If none of this works, then I'll show you what most certainly does."

The jackal dropped the ball at the Power's feet, tail wagging, and stepped back. Michael chuckled at the Power's look of astonishment, and leaned closer to him, "It means that he likes you, Nisroc. He gave you the ball, that means he considers you a friend. He wants you to throw it for him."

…

The three of them met up with the Morningstar next, who had his fledgling with him as was the norm on these days, and the jackal sniffed the fledgling for a good two minutes before leaning up to lick at her face. They smiled at little Akeelah's giggles and how the jackal let her hug him around the neck.

Lucifer looked to Michael curiously, nodding to the jackal that was distracted with his fledgling, and Michael raised his chin in reply. What needed shared was done so in those simple gestures, and they turned back to watch the jackal jump around with the fledgling, until they noticed that they were being watched and returned to their respective masters sides.

The Morningstar offered the jackal a rather large piece of meat, and the hound laid down to chew on it viciously for a while, much to their amusement.

Lucifer took his fledgling back up into his arms and nodded in the captains direction, "Was Nis surprised at how playful he is?"

The Power blushed when his Commander chuckled and nodded, patting him on the shoulder. "In his defense though, he really only stays in the Infirmary with Raphael when he comes to visit, I doubt your own captain would know too much when it came to the jackal either."

The blonde archangel held up a free hand, "No offense meant, mother hen, I was just asking."

Akeelah giggled again when the jackal shook it's head from side to side trying to tear the meat apart.

"Where did you find this meat you happened to have with you, little brother?"

Lucifer hummed, "Apollo gave it to me." He nodded to it, "That's fine buffalo right there."

…

They made their way to the Messenger next, Gabriel had been ecstatic to see the jackal again, and knelt down for it to jump up, rest it's front paws on his shoulders, and lick at his face. He enticed the jackal to roll over and rubbed at it's belly, something any hound liked, and the jackal did so with joyfulness.

Any belly rubs were appreciated, from any source, though none were as great as the Healers were, it wasn't one to turn them down.

…

They met back in the archangels office, the jackal returning to it's pacing, though the spark of anger that had shined in it's eyes had dimmed, it was still pretty evident there. Michael sighed deeply, wishing for a moment that his younger brother would return soon, and closed his office door.

When all else fails.

The jackal came to a halt at their approach, glowering in a way that had them sighing in unison, their day of adventure with an enraged jackal who refused to turn back to it's humanoid form had been nearly for naught.

Michael turned to his captain, "Nisroc, do you seen the golden bands around it's front ankles?" he waited for his captain to nod in affirmation, "Those are what allow him to go between his forms, it's like a circuit, if you touch them you are breaking the circuit and it makes it harder for him to change. Not impossible. Just more difficult."

Nisroc nodded, turning to look at him in confusion, "I understand, but why tell me this?"

"I am going to force him to turn back to his other form and I need you to catch him, wrap your hands around the bands to keep him from turning back immediately after, alright?"

The Power nodded and braced himself, watching as his Commander made a semi complicated gesture with his hand, as though drawing a rune in the air, and there was a sharp crack of power. He reached for the bands as he was ordered to, and it was no difficult task seeing as the Egyptians humanoid form barely came up to his chest.

Michael crossed his arms and waited for the deity to stop struggling, until he fell limp in the Power's hold, and glared at him.

"Hello, Anubis."

"You're such a cheater!"

He smiled in amusement, "You forgot that we could do that, didn't you?"

"Every single time, man!"

He turned to look when the Archangel gestured for the one keeping him captive in this form, "Anubis, this is my captain, Nisroc." And then he gestured to the deity, "Nisroc, this is Anubis."

The Egyptian stared up at him for a moment and he wasn't sure what to feel about it, was he seeking to appear intimidating, because if he was it was not having the desired effect.

"Dude, you're so tall."

"And you're short."

Anubis made a face, "I'm not short."

Nisroc snorted in amusement at his denial, Michael smiled at their interaction, "Yes you are." He clapped his hands, "Now, tell us, what has you so worked up."

"Honestly?" Anubis shrugged, "I got over it like ten minutes after you came in this morning." He smiled mischievously, "I just wanted to see how far you'd go, beyond that point."

Michael narrowed his eyes slightly, crossing his arms over his chest, even the Power behind him inhaled deeply, but there was no hint of remorse in his golden eyes.

"You mean to tell me that we ran all around Heaven with you because you wanted to see how far we'd go to ease your temper?"

"Yep." He licked his lips, "That buffalo was delicious. So thanks for that."

Michael huffed in his own aggravation, and Nisroc smirked over the young deity's head, "You had said feet and lower belly, sir?"

Anubis's eyes widened when Michael smiled instead, nodding in agreement "I did indeed, didn't I?" he held his hands out for him "Pass him here." Anubis knew what was coming, he knew too well, and watched rather intently for the exchange. As soon as they let go of the bands, he could transform back and bolt for it, but there was no opportunity. With a strange sort of coordination between the two of them, Michael's fingers slipped around the manacles as Nisroc's slid off.

"Wait! No! Guys! Let's talk about this!"

They ignored him though, Michael bent slightly, looking up at his captain, he spoke over the deity's shoulder, "Remember what I told you in the Garden?" Nisroc looked confused for a moment, "Sir?" realization dawned on him a moment later and he shook his head "I could never—"

Michael grunted, wrapping both his and the gods arms around the Egyptians middle, and lifted him off his feet as he stood back up to his full height.

"Think of him as though he were a fledgling, that is what he is compared to you, what would you do to a fledgling who wasted your day for no reason but their own amusement?"

He'd clearly never considered it like that before, and the Power nodded, Anubis watched with wide eyes as he knelt slightly, and wound his arms around his lower back as though to keep him in place.

Michael smiled, his captain still had doubts despite it all, even this new way of looking at it.

"Nisroc."

He turned to look up at him, his unsureness shining in his eyes, the archangel chuckled at the reaction he knew there was to be seen, "Do it."

"Sir, I don't kno—"

"Trust me." The Power nodded without hesitation, "Then know it's alright, do it, the reaction will humor you greatly."

Blue eyes looked down to meet golden, and the young deity shook his head, but his interest was peaked too. He wanted to see just how he would react as well. The deity was just a fledgling. A mischievous fledgling that needed punished now.

The Power looked down to the bare belly surface that was before him, his arms already in place, and eyed it cautiously for a moment. Doing this was personal, and though it seemed that the archangel knew him enough to do such a thing, for how else would he know what the reaction would be, he was not in the same position.

But then, his commander had said that the jackal deity thought of him as a friend, when he had given him the ball in the Garden.

He huffed in contemplation.

Anubis screamed in laughter when it happened, one moment he was just sitting there staring at him, and the next he shot forward and burrowed into his lower belly. He thrust his head back into the archangel's chest, not hearing his deep chuckles over his own hysterical laughter, struggling to free his arms from the archangel's grip, anything to get his new friend away from his belly.

It was bad enough when the two archangels did it, but this one, this one had a beard, and that made it so much worse.

He figured in the position he was in there was one of two options, he could kick either the archangel in the shin as hard as he could, and risk his wrath, or he could kick the other in the stomach as hard as he could.

As if knowing his thoughts, the Egyptian was almost sure that angels couldn't read minds, and figured he'd probably just had plenty of experience with these types of things, his new friend shook his head.

Anubis lost it.

Boisterous laughter exploded from him all over again, and he didn't think about it, he pulled his foot forward and back with as much force as he could muster and kicked the archangel as hard as he could in the shin. The deities of earth weren't nearly as strong as the archangels were, especially the oldest, but they were indeed strong. Michael let go of him in an instant to reach for his throbbing ankle, grunting from the impact and the bruise he was sure was forming there already, glaring at the young deity from where he knelt.

He was sure that as soon as he let go of his manacles, the Egyptian would change his form back, and it did surprise him when he buried his fingers instead into his captains hair, both pushing and pulling at the same time, as any other fledgling would had they been in the same position.

A bubble of laughter escaped the archangel when the Power tightened his hold and stood instead, making no change in position, nor pulling away from him. His fingers flexed once and dug deeply into the bare sides, Anubis screamed again, bending forward slightly as he gripped at the Power's hair tightly.

It was in that moment that realization dawned on him, Anubis could change forms at any time he chose and he knew he could, but there was one of two possibilities, or both in the same moment, that could be had; he was too distracted by the Power's rather merciless torture to gather up enough of his magic to do so, or, he was choosing not to change.

Michael laughed at their exchange.

"Let go of my hair."

He spoke it into the skin of the deity's lower belly and it only made him tighten his grip on the Power's hair and laugh harder.

"Lehehehet meheheh gohohoho!"

"I'll bite you."

"I... I'll bihihite yohohou bahahahaahack!"

Rather noticeably though, when the Power turned slightly, nibbling softly into right side of the Egyptians lower belly, the young jackal deity immediately uncurled his fingers from the captain's hair and instead gripped at his shoulders as he absolutely howled with hysterical laughter.

The door to his office opened, and he turned to see who had entered, smiling at the one who joined them.

"Now, that's rather cruel."

Michael chuckled behind him, a smiling lighting the other archangels features at the sight, when Anubis turned immediately in their direction at the sound of his voice. Raphael smiled at him, giving a slight wave in greeting, leaning heavily on his staff.

He reached a tan hand out for the Healer, "Hehehehehelp! Mahahahahake hihihihim stohohohop! Pleheheheheahahahse!"

The Healer turned to look at his older brother in amusement, "Did you hear that, brother, he said 'please'." He turned back to his Egyptian charge, "Perhaps in a bit, from what I've been told, you've been rather hot recently. This'll do you some good."

They watched as the Power turned to the other side of his lower belly, the same treatment as the other side, and Anubis bent forward, fingers digging sharply in the captain's shoulders, feeling tears well in his eyes at the agony of his torture.

Fingers dug into his sides again and he reached for them, howling with boisterous laughter, attempting to tug them away.

The two archangels struck up a conversation around their hysterical laughter that rang in the eldest's office, about the mission the Healer had just returned from, how Anubis had ended up in this predicament he found himself in now, how the Infirmary was running in his absence. They talked about each other's day, about the last week, what they had planned for the next.

A commotion drew them out of their conversation, Anubis had managed to pry Nisroc's fingers from his sides and loosen the grip around his back enough that he fell from his position to the floor below.

They watched in amusement as he curled around himself, his arms crossing over his stomach, as though anticipating another attack.

"Ohoho my Raha! Oh myhy Ra!"

He rubbed the back of his right hand over his eyes.

"Yohou guys ahare soho mean toho me!" the Egyptian whined through residual giggles, "I dihihidn't eheheven do ahanything!"

The three of them rolled their eyes at the young deity's words.

Nisroc knelt, ruffling his thick hair, "It was a pleasure to meet you, godling, I hope we get to do this again some time."

"Gohohod to meet yohou toho!"

A young hand curled around his and they shook hands in greeting, before the young jackal boy let go of it to curl his arm back around his belly, finally managing to get his breathing under control again.

Raphael chuckled at the two of them, stepping forward to kneel before the god. "Climb up, we'll go get you some rest, you must be spent after this whole thing." Anubis reached forward, curling his arms around the Healer's neck, and as he stood, he curled his legs around his waist too, resting his head on the archangel's shoulder. He gripped the two small crossed feet fondly and bid them both a farewell, departing with his Egyptian charge with him.

Michael waited until his office door closed again before turning back to his captain.

"Didn't I tell you his reaction would be amusing."