“I have a meeting with Epani in an hour, so this had better be important.”
Aesop had been “requested” to speak in Parliament, in front of the Prime Minister of the Torr and many of the Torr elite. He’d appeared in these parliamentary summons in the past, but he’d never been under the spotlight.
“This is important!” Panos, the long-standing Prime Minister, spat with quite a bit of anger. Aesop noticed that Panos had a few new golden teeth, and he knew exactly why he’d needed fake teeth in the first place.
“Is it?” Aesop snarked.
“It is. Because we believe that you have been colluding with the enemy.”
That statement caught Aesop off guard. “Uh… what?”
One of Panos’s secretaries pointed at a screen, which showed a single image of Aesop talking to one of his fellow gods, the young Rethan deity in particular.
“You are colluding with the enemy!” Panos repeated himself.
Aesop crossed his arms and tutted. “Really? I didn’t know we were at war with the Rethavok.”
“They are the enemy.”
“They are only the enemy in your head…” Aesop grunted. “Come on, please, Panos, don’t tell me that you’re considering going to war with the Rethavok…”
“Their leader attacked me. Is that not reason enough to go to war?”
“Fucking what? Are you… are you fucking serious? YOU challenged whatshisface to battle! YOU challenged the bastard to a fight! You can’t now claim you were attacked when you fucking started it all! And, like, damn, whatshisface fucking held back. He could have beaten you half to death and just went with punching you repeatedly in the face.”
Panos growled. “It doesn’t matter. You are colluding with the enemy. You have met with the Rethan deity multi-”
“I HAVE to meet with Litvir, because Litvir is the god of protecting shit, and I speak to them to ask them about, well, protecting shit! Considering I’ve spent the last few weeks looking after the Whenvern’s retarded ass and protecting people from weird shit appearing at the bottom of the universe, me spending time with little Litty is basically a requirement as of late!”
“We have evidence that you invited the Rethan child to your home. You willingly spent time with it.”
“It?” Aesop was trying to hold in his anger. “Litvir is a they. Litvir has a name as well. And in all honesty? Litvir is a very good kid, someone you could probably learn a few things from, and someone who is doing their best to learn a few things from me as well. But I honestly don’t know what your fucking problem is. I occasionally spend personal time with ALL my fellow deities. They’re good people. They’re not assholes. You should try not being an asshole occasionally.”
“Are you… insulting me?” Panos growled.
“Yes, I fucking well am.”
“Why? You’re only here because of me.”
Aesop snarled, then stamped his foot. The whole room seemed to shake as he did so. “Fucking really? That’s what you think? I’m here because I have some semblance of a heart! There’s a reason why I am called the Glimmer of Charity, because I actually occasionally do some fucking good, I actually care about people aside from those who are useful to me! I am here, with my godly powers, because I sacrificed myself for the greater good!
“And let’s be fucking frank here, you’re only here because of me. Had I not stepped in last fucking year, you’d be fucking dead. In fact, on top of that? The ONLY reason I got here in the nick of time was because little Litty managed to inform me what was going on and helped me get here as fast as possible! If anything, you owe your life to the silly little nephew of the Rethan you insulted and got your shit kicked in by!”
Aesop paused, fell silent, then took a deep breath.
“You done?” Panos asked.
“Oh, no, not in the slightest. I was just getting rid of a rather awful thought.”
“Care to clue us in?”
“Well… Do you remember when I first spoke to you, after I was deified, Panos?” Aesop asked.
Panos thought for a moment, then grunted. “Somewhat.”
“During that chat, you said you feared that I’d do to you what Kohra did to his dad and the Spast elite.”
“I did say something like that, yes.”
“You ever considered that I could make something like that happen?” Aesop smiled, ever so slightly. “Like, right now?”
Panos definitely seemed to panic. His guards all reached for their guns and pointed them at Aesop.
“You think guns will stop me? Panos, I took a bullet meant for you. It didn’t even hurt. You could pepper me with bullets and I’d remain standing. You could do a lot of bad things to me, and none of it would bother me. Because I know, deep down, the majority outside of this room has my back. You can be angry all you want, you can try and tear me down, you can claim that I’m the enemy, but it doesn’t matter. At the end of the day, the ONLY reason you have any semblance of power is because I and I alone allow you to have that power.”
“Are you… threatening me?”
“Mate, you’re fucking threatening me yourself. You could have just let everyone do their own thing and be at rest, but you stirred the crock pot of shit and wanted to throw shade, and now it’s backfired and you’ve pissed everyone off.”
“But-”
“No buts. You want to remain in power? You gotta rely on me. And right now, you’re making me regret saving your ass last year. We can keep the peace though. You can… make me less pissed off.”
“And what if-”
“There’s no “what if I don’t want to” here with you. You either get on my good side or I start taking names and making lists and changing things.”
Panos frowned, then sighed and gestured at his guards to lower their weapons.
“Alright, fine. You may leave.”
“Wonderful!” Aesop smirked. “Have a nice day!”