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"What the hell do ya mean, Greek gods are real?!" Shouted the Texan...Jake, his name was Jake.
Nathan winced at his voice, rubbing his eyes with only a mild hint of irritation. It'd been a while since he'd dealt with anyone new to this life, and with good reason. "Dude, volume. Seriously, you're way too loud. Yes, they're real, they're shitty, and they have a tendency to mess with mortals' lives. Get with it."
Jake seemed to be having a bit of trouble breathing, sitting down hard in the chair across from Nathan and letting his head rest on the table. "So where the fuck are we, then?!" He shouted, muffled from laying his head down.
Nathan looked back and forth, inspecting the high walls, the styling of the furniture, and the giant fuck off tree that the room had been built around. "Well. Certainly not any Greek place I know of." Jake's head snapped up at that and he quickly lashed out, his fist tightening into a grip and dragging the other man out of his seat to get in his face. “What the fuck does that mean, Nathan?!”
Nathan, meanwhile, was entirely nonplussed by this. "Don't look at me like that. Doesn't it stand to reason if Greek and Roman gods exist, others might too?"
Jake's eyes widened again, and let go of the son of Athena's shirt as he sank back down to his chair. "Holy...holy fuck..." Was all he managed to get out as he let his head rest against the table again.
Nathan, being the true gentleman and kind person he was, shrugged and made to get up before he was suddenly smacked across the back of the head. To make matters worse his assailant swept his leg out so he slammed back down into his chair with a crash and a wince, nearly falling back out of it from the sudden impact. Nathan grunted and opened his eyes slowly, a snarl on his face as he rubbed the back of his head. After a second of downtime his eyes refocused, finding the third member of their trio, Era, sitting next to Jake and glaring at him.
"Nate, your bedside manner is fucking trash, asshole." Her hand gently set down on Jake's head, trying to be reassuring, while she continued to glare daggers at the son of Athena. When Nathan still didn’t say anything else it was her turn to lash out, kicking him in the shin hard enough for an audible wince.
He sighed in exasperation, mulling his words over for a second before speaking again. "Ok, ok, fine. I know this shit is wild, Jake, I get it. Pretty much entirely broke down your worldview, right?" The other man nodded a little, head still down on the table.
"Good. The pantheons I knew were a complete and utter shit show. Now the three of us can find out just how bad this one is together."Jake snorted a laugh at that, sitting up and sighing. "Era's right. You do suck at this." He grabbed a cup from the table and held it out between the three of them. "To figuring this shit out together."
Era rolled her eyes but smirked, just a little, but followed suit nonetheless. "Wow, you're a sap. Whatever, sure!" She held out her cup, and the two turned to look at Nathan expectantly. With an eye roll and a suppressed smile he did the same, tapping his cup into theirs. "Yeah, sure, you couple of dorks. Don't call me Nate again, though."
This earned another laugh from the pair across from him, and together the three poured back their cups and drained them before clapping them back down onto the table as if they had rehearsed it. Era let rip an echoing burp, earning an impressed glance and a fistbump from Jake and a snicker from Nathan. ‘Y’know…’ Nathan thought to himself, eyes glancing between the two shouldering each other and back down to his cup, a small smile growing on his face. ‘Maybe being stuck in the wrong afterlife ain’t so bad…’
