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“DADDY HELP I'M BEING ATTACKED BY SKELETON PIRATES!!!!” the child screamed with full vigor from her chest despite being so small and young. It was for a good reason though since this was one of the few times that dad, her actual dad, had time to actually play with her. Which is a good thing since she deeply needed help fending off the scary pirate skeletons here to take her trusty sidemate, her prized punishment bird plushie. “TAKE THAT SUCKER!!!!!” Angela yelled while swinging around a “sword” made of connected expo markers Dad allowed her to “borrow” from his office. As if she'll give up such a cool sword though!!! “Angie, don't say sucker, that's not nice-” Ayin tried to thoughtfully lecture her, trying to raise a good child and all, though his words fell on deaf ears as Angela swung fiercely at another skeleton while calling it a “dumb dumb”. Ayin had his own expo marker sword for his own defense as well though he wasn't sure if it could be considered one as he was considerably shorter. His beloved, lovable daughter wanted a much, much larger sword, and he couldn't say no to such an adorable face accompanied with a desperate plea so of course he had to give up some of his sword's length. He'll do just fine anyways with a…single marker. A dagger is just as good as a weapon right? Unfortunately Ayin couldn't exactly see where these pirate skeletons were so he was practically swinging his dagger marker in complete darkness.
“Dad!!!! What are you doing??? The skeletons are attacking you from behind!!!!”
Upon hearing this, Ayin swiftly adjusted his stance, swinging around and jabbing his dagger into the air. “Did I…get them…?” Ayin asked between exhausted sighs, unsure if he was adding to the act or if old age was truly getting to him at 32.
“Yeah!!!” the sweet child beamed, placing a small crease by her father's eyes, before the brute force of her mighty child arms shattered her expo marker sword into a million tiny pieces with her last swing, the markers collectively colliding with the floor. Her hand's now solely gripping a singular expo marker.
“MY SWORD BROKE!?!?!” she shrieked as if bloody murder happened right before her eyes and scrambled to pick up the broken blades, ignoring how its sharp edges, sharpened by yours truly, were cutting into her skin. She's a big girl and a tough pirate!! She can handle the pain!! It's all part of the rough job of a thieving pirate.
She might have been watching too many cartoons.
“COVER FOR ME DAD AS I FIX IT!!!”
“Alright Angie, I'll fend off the um…big skeleton captain, alright?”
“BE CAREFUL!! HE'S REALLY BIG WITH BIG CLAWS AND BIG CANNONS ON HIS SHOULDERS THAT SHOOT OUT HUNGRY WOLVES THAT CAN INJECT VENOM INTO YOU!!!!!”
She's definitely been watching too many cartoons.
“I will Angie! HAH!” Ayin continued to make a cacophony of sounds and grunts, hoping neither Carmen nor Ben could hear his pathetic wails and acting job, as he kicked and flailed around his trusty dagger at the hopefully venom-injecting, hungry wolves and not the air besides them again. As Ayin was focused on the ravenous, hungry wolves pitted against him, Angela the greatest pirate captain of the seven seas was quickly placing the broken shards of her beloved sword's blade back together.
With Dad fending off the cruel beasts with great valor, Angela rose from the floor with her new assembled weapons. The wind billowed her sky-blue hair and awesome cape. Along with dispersing the cannon's smoke that shielded her from view, she strided forward with a prideful grin on her face, reaching from ear to ear. Each of her tiny hands was gripping the hilt of a DWUL WEELDING PIRATE SWORD!!!!!(She didn't know what they were called, but she knew she looked awesome as frick. Hehe, Dad will never know the naughty word she just said in her head.)
“I'LL SAVE YOU DAD!!!!!”
Angela leaped in front of him to deal the finaling blow on the big bad skeleton captain, a clear X slashed on the skeleton's rib cage, resulting in him crumbling into a pile of still bones on the ground. As Angela was marveling at her great achievement, she could hear her dad chuckling in the back. When she turned, daddy had already collapsed onto the couch, probably tired from all the fighting he had to do. Angela did the most work though, of course.
Dad had his head tilted back, his eyes looking towards the ceiling seemingly through a hazy fog; his head in the clouds. Oh no…maybe one of the wolves bit him and injected coma inducing venom into him…She climbed onto the couch and tried gently patting dad's cheeks. He seemed happy though…
“Daddy? Are you okay?”
There was a small pause, Ayin closed his eyes and turned to face Angela albeit his movements were obviously more sluggish, slower, as if he was moving in slow motion. Angela was familiar with this type of situation though; she knows to stay patient and just wait, let him be, let him go away into his head again. She knows she can't stop it.
When he momentarily opened his eyes again, she could recognize that far away look she has seen so many times before. How his golden eyes seemed to be looking at nothing at all; how his head subtly sways from side to side. She's familiar with the song and dance.
“Yes..Angela..I'm…fine. I had a lot of fun…” Dad said before fully closing his eyes again, seemingly falling into a slumber. Angela waited there patiently, waiting to see what would happen, who will it be now. She hadn't done anything wrong right? Why is dad leaving again..? He said he had fun…was he lying?
After a while, “Dad” opened his eyes again though the sly smirk and smug look on his face suggested otherwise. Angela's head was then quickly accosted by Dad, the much cooler dad Adam, as he ruffled her gentle blue hair aggressively.
“Hey there my little rascal!!!! Have you been conquering the world as I've taught you to do so?” the much cooler dad asked with a loud boom in his voice. He's way more energetic than dad.
“Yeah!!!!!!! I just defeated a bunch of skeleton pirates with my duul…dwel weelding swords!!!!!”
“YOU DID?? Oh MAN what a terrible shame I missed such a pivotal moment in my follower's development!! Oh my little demigod will soon rise to absolute greatness like her mentor!” Adam said with pride as he swept Angela off the couch and spun her around high in his arms, “Say, are you ready for another lesson of godhood where we shall reign terror over civilizations?”
Typically Angela would agree right away since Cooler Dad was a lot more fun to play with than Normal Dad but today…
Adam noticed the hesitation in Angela's words, in her down turned gaze, her usual smile faded. He placed her down gently back onto the couch and got onto one knee, placing himself onto her eye level.
“Hey kiddo, what's wrong? Gods are meant to hold themselves high.”
Angela avoided eye contact with him, fidgeting with her hands, choking a bit on her words before finally having the courage to ask, “Why did…dad leave again…?”
Silence befallen upon them as Adam looked to the side, a deep, long sigh escaping him. He needed some time to properly gather up his thoughts anyways.
“Hey kid, I'm sorry for taking Ayin from you,” he placed his hand on her head, “It's my fault, not your's alright? You guys seemed to be having so much fun that I too wanted to join in. Ayin will come back soon, okay? I just wanted to play with my little rascal for a little bit too.”
“Will Dad, actual Dad, come back? Not anyone else?” Angela liked the other dads too of course, but she rarely gets to play with her dad and…
“Heh, I'll drag him out with all the force of an omnipotent God. Don't you worry kid; he loves you more than you can ever imagine.” Adam said with a self-assured, confident smirk, one that communicates that he truly believes in himself and Ayin.
“Okay...thank you Cooler Dad. Can we play now, please?” Angela asked, looking up to meet Cooler Dad's golden gaze. She found comfort in his confidence and trusts his words wholeheartedly. After all, a god should always answer their followers' prayers.
“HAHA! OF COURSE!!”
After Angela wiped away her watery eyes and started feeling better, slowly getting the energy of a demigod back, the two spent the next few hours building and ruling over ancient civilizations, accepting the offerings of mere mortals, granting prayers with divine intervention and punishing the cruel for their prideful hubris. The living room had soon transformed into a mess of blanket forts where tables were placed on opposite ends of the room from each other and chairs stacked on top to add upon their height. Blankets were attached to the backrest of the chairs using various clips from around the house from the one keeping chip bags from going stale to Carmen's hair clips left about. Under the blankets stretched across the room were towers of stacked building blocks built to the highest they can reach before being toppled by their unsteady weight. Gathered around these pillars were an assortment of plushies, from Angela's punishment bird stuffed animal to the Kkomi hair tie Carmen cherished. They were all positioned in a ritualistic circle where they appeared to be sacrificing microwaved chicken nuggets and fries as offerings. Angela found the chicken nugget sacrifices to be quite sufficient as she happily munched upon them aside from the fact she could smell the faint aurora of dinner cooking. Mama has told her before to not eat before dinner. Benji spent too much time cooking for her to fill up on chicken nuggets…
Faint footsteps could be heard coming closer which was soon followed up with Carmen entering the room, seeming to be idly searching for something. She decided to asking the two, “Have any of you seen the table cloth for the dinner taaaaa-” before processing the scene in front of her, and speak of the devil–or well in this case–God, there was her dear husband wrapped in the white dinner table cloth she was searching for with Angela adorning his arm with swirling tattoos of black expo marker.
She could predict what had transpired in the 2 hours she allowed Ayin and Angela to play pretend in the living room.
“Hello, Adam,” she kindly greeted the alter, “are those chicken nuggets…and my hair clips? Good heavens, what have you guys been up to?”
The God quickly turned his head to face Carmen's beady, pool of crimson eyes and gave her a whole hearted smirk with only the bravery and audacity of a true God could.
“I'm currently teaching my young disciple to install terror into the people, so they shall give us magnificent offerings of sacrificial poultry and Herbaceous perennials!”
Carmen took a long, deep inhale, filling up the deepest depths of her lungs and released the built up air with a long and exaggerated sigh that forebode a greater terror that Gods and demigods couldn't install.
“You are…so lucky you have my dear husband's face,” Carmen said through a cracking voice, her face stayed fixed in a sweet smile with the only shifting component being her eye twitching, “You guys better return the table cloth soon though, Ben's almost done making dinner.”
“Alright mama!!”
“Thank you Angie and,” Carmen stared directly into those golden eyes that she loved so much about her husband, “Adam, please don't leave too big of a mess for my love to clean up after.”
“No promises!!”
Angela tugged gently on Adam's white table cloth toga with pleading eyes, yellow eyes matching her dad's, “Daddy has been very tired…can we pretty please clean up, so he won't be more tired.”
The god stared into a reflection of his own pupils and chuckled, his face softening, “Alright kiddo, I'll make sure to wipe off the face of this cursed civilization by releasing the plague upon them. I'll be sure to leave no traces of it behind.”
“Yay!!! Thank you Cooler Dad.”
After Carmen went back to assist Benjamin in cooking, such as helping pass the final spices and seasonings for the soup, Adam and Angela went to work hard to return all the used items to their respective locations. The civilization crumbled to dust as fast as it was built and once Carmen returned, she found the two curled up with one another on the carpet. The room was now cleared of any evidence of play pretend which she was satisfied with. She walked over and gently ran her fingers through the two's hair, admiring her lovely daughter's silky blue locs and her husband's equivalent. As she did, the ravenette hair man weakly stirred in his now half awakened state as his eyes fluttered open barely, his beautiful sun like eyes ever so slightly peeping through the gaps of his lids.
“Mm…my sun…?”
The smile that formed on Carmen from the nickname that makes her heart flutter every time she hears it created small creases by her eye, proof of the genuine joy her husband can elicit from a few simple words. Softly brushing aside the fridges that veil his gentle rays of sunshine, she placed a small kiss upon his forehead.
“Welcome back, dearie. You seemed to have had a lot of fun.”
Sitting up right now, Ayin was fully awake and rubbing his temples to try and soothe his disorientation.
“Did I switch again..?”
“You did but don't worry, Adam didn't do anything reckless and Angela is safe and sound.”
“Adam fronted?!?!?!”
Ayin sighed, looking at the messily drawn tattoos on his arm and noticing the fully passed out child beside him with her limbs spayed out, drool slowly dripping out her mouth, and chuckled.
“She seems exhausted.”
“She spent a lot of energy creating civilizations, ruling over them, and destroying them.”
The ravenette man sighed again, coated in a layer of exhaustion.
“And giving me a new look as it seems,” he said, seeing the child's tiny fingers still wrapped around the black expo marker matching the streaky marks on his arm.
The child shifted about before falling back into her restful slumber, mumbling something about cheeseburger giants.
“Well, dinner is ready so be ready to join us soon alright? I'm not sure if I want to wake up Angie though; she looks so peaceful..”
The child needed to eat though, lest she wakes up in the middle of the night hungry and waking up the three for food; so Ayin shook the child a bit, trying to lure her out of dream land with the sound of his voice.
“Hey Angie, wake up. Dinner is ready.”
Angela soon after shot up awake, “I DIDN'T MEAN TO FALL ASLEEP,” then upon realizing the gentle look on her dad's, now for sure dad's face, or it better be dad's face or else she will say really mean things to Adam, and she didn’t want to do that, jolted to tightly wrapped her arms around Ayin.
“YOU'RE BACK, DADDY!!!!!”
“Hey there Angie, and yes, I'm back.”
Ayin wrapped his arms around Angela too. He never truly got used to physical affection, but with all the love he has been showered with from this family, he doesn't mind sudden hugs like these as much anymore. He associates it with safety, comfort, and he hopes Angela does the same.
Immediately after releasing Ayin from her death grip of a hug, perhaps as an attempt to savor the moment or maybe to hold on so tightly that he can't leave again, Angela dashed towards the dining table, “I'm hungry! I want to go eat dinner now!!!”
The two behind followed in suit and gathered around the table, joining Benjamin who had just finished setting up the table. Dinner was served, bustling conversations arose about new discoveries in their research, Angela's time in school, and whatever else felt interesting. The soup was warm and well seasoned, leaving Angela feeling satisfied. This was the perfect offering for a demigod in training.