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Jeshua watches, mouth hanging open. What… is going on? Somebody please tell him that crazy angel isn’t really emptying all of their bottled water in the sink? Methodically, if a bit frantic, Lucifer twists the sealed bottle caps, upends the bottles and watches with raised eyebrows until the last drop is shed.
„What are you doing?“
„Saving us from a horrible fate. We’d be writhing on the floor, clutching our bellies. I’m not sure we could die, technically, but-“ he scratches his head while pouring another bottle, „better safe than sorry.“
Once Lucifer has dispatched the water bottles, he trawls their rooms, sniffing like an ogre lusting for human flesh. Jeshua follows him, at the distance you commonly put between yourself and a stink bug.
„Do we have any ewers? Watering cans, for your weed? That kind of container is oft forgotten.“ Lucifer looks at him, reproachful.
„I had no idea you were superstitious.“
„Am not. It’s proven. Water kept over the solstices turns to poison within the first hour.“
„Because the angels who protect the water change guard at the solstice and can’t watch it, during that stretch of time? Yeah, I’ve heard of that.“ Jeshua snorts. „Please. Don’t you think between you and me, we’d be able to spot the odd angel, hovering over our drinks? Trust me, the angels ensuring that our drinking water is of the highest quality sit in the municipal waterworks. Or the bottling plant.“
Lucifer crosses his arms. „See? What if they slack on the job?“
„Wouldn’t affect water we already bought or tapped, so.“
„I’m not convinced.“
„Of course not, you are Doubt.“
„Also,“ Lucifer adds importantly, „on Tekufat Tebet, Jephtah sacrificed his daughter. Sounds like an unlucky day to me. Just because he was stupid enough to promise the Name to sacrifice the first thing he saw, coming home from slaying the Ammonites, and lo and behold, it’s his own child. If you ask me, that just goes to show what’s wrong with Dad. He could have refused the sacrifice, he could have sent a messenger. Could, would. Whatever. He didn’t.“
Jeshua ponders that for a moment, altough he doesn’t need to. „The Name had nothing to do with it. They‘re stories written by humans. Just look at the ancient Greeks; they sacrificed the hell out of their families, and where are they now?“
„In the EU, slurping frappé.“
Jeshua steps into his personal space and puts his arms around him. „Stop it“, he mouths close to the angel’s ear, nuzzles it. He breathes him in. „I know the darkness is getting to you, but take heart. The hour is darkest before the dawn. You of all creatures should know that.“
„I do know that.“ Feeble, frustrated shrug. „This year it’s just. It’s just getting to me.“
Yeah, to all of us, he wants to say, but kinship is a concept Lucifer has little understanding of.
„We could celebrate the Solstice in a more… joyous way, perhaps?“
„Could we?“
„Oh, yes.“
.