Chapter Text
Socialization sucked sometimes.
All the new people, awkward silences, and uninteresting conversations that would surely not be so impactful as to remember the next day were not very favorable experiences. Being social, more often than not, was exhausting and worth more effort than it was worth. When you thought about it, how much value could one get out of small talk? It was a far better use of one’s time to just not bother with others and to keep to yourself. Besides, getting attached to people always ended in annoyance or heartbreak or frustration or some other disappointing feeling that tainted the whole interaction in a negative light.
Not to mention the whole “being friends with people and talking causally” thing being something he’d felt like he’d forgotten how to do. I mean, how could you just walk up to someone and initiate a conversation so casually? How could you tell if the person you’re talking to doesn’t want to talk about the weather or their family or the ancient prophecies predicting an incoming apocalypse? How were you just supposed to know these cues by the way someone said something and not what they said, or by psychoanalyzing their posture and if their feet are pointing towards you and if their arms are crossed when they talk to you? It’s not like he’d never done this before, but the whole demigod prophecy and spending long nights for years on end studying it and never leaving your little apartment wasn’t good practice for getting to socialize better.
——
It was now five months since he’d been in the chaos zone.
Wait, was it five months or six?
It seemed as though the longer he spent in the zone of chaos, the less aware he was of the time passing, almost like Bezel himself was messing with the timeline of the area. In that time, Onyn Ring had gotten to know Chikn and his friends more and was getting accustomed to their presence, though mainly his time spent with others was spent with Chikn himself. He was still getting into the mindset of seeing mortals as worthy companions again. When he wasn’t spending time with the others, he spent his time wandering around the chaotic zone, scribbling in his journal things he observed or just doodling in it and contemplating how his life was going to be like from now on. It was safe to say that his journal was becoming less professional now, as is started to stray from its original purpose of cataloging prophecies to now the less serious purpose of recording his day-to-day life, even when nothing remarkable or worthy of documenting had happened, or as a notebook of sorts to hold drawings and doodles alike of the immortals in this area. Said doodles were mainly of the demigod of chaos himself though.
He thought about his future life in this place as he walked to a party that Chikn had invited him to. Rather unsurprisingly, the way into the party was just a random door in the middle of a colored void. As he walked, his mind drifted to more pressing matters. Would Chikn and his friends ever get tired of his presence, or would he ever get tired of the zone of chaos and want to leave? If he did leave, where would he even go? Could he really live here with the demigod of chaos and his friends for an indefinite amount of time not really doing much of anything other than just hanging out? And hey, didn’t the whole idea of just hanging out in a chaotic zone with not much to cause him distress what he really wanted back when he still craved the day Armageddon would start? If so, why was he feeling so stressed about his future then? It seemed that there was no easy solution to his troubles, so he decided to focus just on tonight.
Just get through the rest of the day and get through the party.
When Chikn Nuggit had invited Onyn to the party to “celebrate his initiation into the friend group” (as the demidog had worded it), he had rather hesitantly accepted the invitation. It was safe to say that loud music, dancing, and social interactions were not things he was used to, let alone liked. However, Onyn didn’t want to be in that closed off mindset anymore now that the whole “wanting Armageddon to happen so it can solve my internal issues” thing was over. There was a brand new start he was being presented with and a potential friend group that was open to accepting him, and he needed to take this rare opportunity while it was available.
That wasn’t to say that he was particularly thrilled about being in the party when he opened the door. When the door did open, he was immediately greeted with loud music and an overwhelming amount of people inside. Chikn was there of course, along with his best friend Chee, Cofi, Fwench Fwy, Iscream, Sody Pop, Slushi, Hawt Saus, and a pink fox that he was pretty sure was named Milkshek. Yeah, Milkshek seemed about right. For a brief moment, he was proud of himself for being able to memorize the names and remember the faces of all the mortals that were currently here. At least Bezel wasn’t here because, considering what happened the last time they met, that would be a pretty awkward interaction.
This defined space was decently big, big enough for a small-ish party, with a two long tables off to the side, one with seats and another with plates of food. The floor was simple linoleum, and the walls were lined with windows that looked towards an outside that may or may not actually be real, considering how the environment could just shift on a whim. In the middle was a checkered dance floor with a fairly small DJ booth at its front. Overall, the room was pretty basic and there was nothing particularly special or noteworthy about it.
Almost immediately when he arrived, Chikn and Slushi noticed his arrival. Seems he was the last to arrive.
“Oh, hey Onyn!” Slushi greeted.
“Onyn! Glad you could make it!” Chikn also greeted, “Have a nice day so far?”
“Um, hi!” Onyn responded, tryin to fake a smile and upbeat attitude, “Nice to see both of you! And yeah, I had a good day.”
He hoped the way his voice strained when he said he had a “good day” didn’t give away his lie to the pair. In all honesty, today had been a pretty mediocre day. He’d spent it all hanging off of the branches of a large tree getting lost in his own thoughts. Mainly about his future in the zone of chaos and some other things too, which hadn’t stopped plaguing his mind until the current conversation briefly alleviated him of them. Some of those thoughts he’d tried to describe in his journal before promptly erasing some of it. Onyn Ring really didn’t want his prophecy journal to turn into a diary.
“Well, welcome to the party!” Slushi exclaimed, “It should be nice hanging out with you more, since we don’t really get to talk with you much.”
Yeah…
An isolated recluse spending years studying away at ancient scrolls and prophecies and documenting all of his theories, breakthroughs, and plans like himself wasn’t so easily able to adjust to a normal social life that quickly.
“Yeah, I didn’t really go out much back at my hometown,” he laughed nervously, “Not super used to being around a lot of people.”
“That’s ok! We all gotta start somewhere, right?” Slushi reassured him, “And it’s also exciting to have a new member of the group!”
A new member of the group.
As if a prophecy-hunting chaos-yearning introverted bat belonged here among all of these people. Hells, he didn’t even visually fit in either. No one else here, minus Cofi, even wore clothes on a regular basis. He wasn’t even brightly colored like the rest of them, his orange fur was way less saturated than that of the two right in front of him. He stuck out like a sore thumb.
Yet again, he never felt like he had belonged out there either-
“Mhm. New member, that’s great,” Onyn almost mumbled to himself, breaking eye contact briefly.
“I’m glad you’re here though Onyn,” Chikn said in a tone of voice noticeably a little lower than his usual one, “It’s kinda just been you and me for a while huh? Don’t want it to feel like I’m hogging you all to myself, right?”
Him and Slushi chuckled.
That was pretty true.
While the whole ‘wanting Armageddon to happen so it can solve all of my problems’ thing with him was going on, he didn’t really talk much with any of Chikn’s friends. Well, outside of pressing them for answers about the prophecy, how they got and used the powers that had rubbed off on them from the great demigod, asking them about how they managed to get recruited into Chikn’s circle, and stuff like that.
“We should really do something together one of these days Onyn!” Slushi said, “Would you be interested in hanging out, just you and me?”
“Sure, not like I have much to do around here anyway. Hang out and do what, exactly?”
“Oh I dunno, maybe watch some anime together?”
“Anime?”
“Yeah, anime! Or cartoons, or maybe live action if you’re not into animation. Oh! I know the exact kind of show you would like that I’m watching right now!” Slushi exclaimed, eyes shining like stars.
“Here we go,” Chikn whispered, just low enough for only the bat to hear.
“It’s this one isekai show about this girl who gets transported to this magical world full of witches and birds that gets super dark because there’s this evil guy who runs everything and then they find out that he is actually a-”
“Ok, ok!” Onyn interrupted, “Please, no spoilers! I’ll watch it with you.”
“Great!” Slushi clapped her paws once in excitement, “I think you’ll really like it because it has super cool lore and I’m dying to talk to someone about it! Ooo, we could do character analysis, and I can even show you all the cool video essays I found about the world building and the historical significance-!”
She trailed off briefly before continuing, “Sorry, I’m just super passionate about about this.”
“No no, it’s fine, I get it,” Onyn reassured, “Being passionate about a topic and all.”
“Yeah, that’s kinda why I thought the witch one would be a good fit for us. I dunno, you seem like the kind to get really invested in world building and character analysis and lore and that kind of stuff.”
“Really? What gave you that impression?”
“Oh, heh. Well, you were just really invested in the whole prophecy and demigod of chaos thing, and that’s kinda like lore in real life. I thought maybe that kind of passion would translate into the fictional world.”
Even though the real and fictional realities were completely separate, that was a fair enough assumption. Onyn Ring had really gone in deep with this whole prophecy business, or “real life lore,” as Slushi called it. Or maybe people that experience hyperfixations can just sense each other out.
“Onyn’s also an artist too!” Chikn added, “I’ve seen some of his stuff, it’s pretty cool!”
Slushi gasped, “Wait, really? Oh my god, we have to get together now! What kind of stuff do you draw?”
“Uh…”
Onyn hesitated to respond.
In all honesty, he’d only really drawn the four immortals in the demigod’s zone of chaos. Furthermore, most of those drawings were of the demigod of chaos himself, first of his own interpretations of what he’d look like based on the descriptions of ancient scrolls, then of his regular form, and then of his actual demigod form on the rare occasions when he’d been able to witness it.
He was right, showing Chikn that one drawing he’d made of his demigod form in his journal that one time would come back to bite him.
Don’t say that all you draw is Chikn.
Or, at least, frame it in a less creepy, less obsessive fanboy manner.
“…That’s true. I do draw, to some extent,” He started, “Before I got here, I didn’t really know what the demigod of chaos, the guardian of virtue, the embodiment of time, or a demon from the underworld really looked like. So, I studied, and I took some creative liberties when I drew what they could look like.”
“Cool! Can I see some of your drawings?”
No.
Absolutely not.
“Sorry, I don’t have my journal with me. That’s where I have them all.”
“Ah, that’s ok! Some other time then. I don’t know when exactly I’ll be free next since I have to babysit Sody for the rest of the week and then I’m pretty tired at the end of the day. I think the show’s too mature for Sody too, so we can’t do it while I’m watching him. Also, I’m working at the bookstore all weekend this week, but I’ll see about next week to see if I’m free one of those days, so I’ll just have to keep you posted. How does that sound?”
“Sounds good,” he gave a thumbs up with his wing.
“Cool! I gotta go back and make sure Sody’s not up to anything bad, but we’ll talk later,” Slushi said, waving him goodbye.
He gave a small wave back.
“Hello!” At that moment, Fwench Fwy had gone up to the DJ booth and had taken the microphone to make an announcement, “I just wanted to call attention to the the food table, and that we are now going to have our appetizers. Our dinner will be served in another half hour or so, so please don’t touch the plate in the middle that’s covered up.”
With that, they turned to Chikn and stared at him for a moment before stepping down. Chikn let out a small gasp and abruptly grabbed Onyn’s wing, causing the bat to freeze up.
“Come on Onyn!” He exclaimed as he pulled on the still frozen bat, “We gotta get first dibs on the food! We gotta get there first!”
Onyn Ring didn’t respond at first, instead distracted at the sensation of the pressure on his wing from it being held. He could feel his tail wag behind him and felt his face heat up.
“Oh, sorry!” Chikn quickly said, letting go of his wing, “Just got a little excited there. Forgot you probably don’t like to be touched much and all.”
He was staring right at him, not responding to the words that were being said to him.
“Uhh, you ok?”
Oh for the love of demigod, say something!
“Don’t worry about that,” Onyn said, trying to regain his composure to make it not as obvious of the physical touch’s impact, “You can go on. I’m going to wait here for the line to die down.”
That wasn’t really a lie, as now the food table had been swarmed with all the guests, and he didn’t fancy being shoulder to shoulder with people he still wasn’t too familiar with, despite how nice they all were.
“Oh, ok! Gonna get some food, see ya at the table!”
With that, Chikn rushed away to get in line.
Onyn waited awkwardly in the corner for the food line to die down a little before taking a plate and getting something for himself. Most of the stuff was little pastries and fruits and small portions of meat on skewers and tiny sandwiches and just any little nibbles that would typically be found at a party. There was, however, that large dish covered with a fancy dome-shaped silver top that Chikn seemed to be eyeing up. Onyn watched as he briefly neglected his plate to slip one of his paws under the cover to reach whatever was under it, looking around to see if anyone was watching. Fwench Fwy noticed the demidog’s rather suspicious behavior, shooing him off and peeking briefly under the cover to ensure that Chikn hadn’t touched what was concealed underneath. Onyn decided to turn his attention back to the food now that that little situation was over with. None of it really interested him, so he decided to just take the fruits only.
Fruits weren’t really his regular diet, especially not for an eastern red bat, but it would suffice for now. The real issue right now was figuring out where to sit.
Unfortunately, there were no empty seats next to Chikn, and only one was available next to Iscream. Taking that seat however would probably put him in the line of fire for whatever demonic shenanigans they were up to though, but at the same time, Onyn didn’t really want to ask anyone to move right now. So, he resorted to sitting next to the demon bunny and taking his chances.
“Hey Onyn!” Iscream greeted him when he set his plate down.
He greeted them with a small wave of his wing and an awkward smile before sitting down. In front of Onyn was Slushi, with Hawt Saus sitting next to her and in front of Iscream, who had Fwench Fwy sitting to their other side. To his other side sat the pink fox, whom had smiled and waved at him as he sat, but thankfully did not make any move towards conversation.
The table itself was a simple rectangle covered in a basic white tablecloth. Adorning it were small pots of fake flowers in clear vases being held up by little translucent stones that acted as fake dirt. Overall, it was a pretty plain and unremarkable arrangement for a table in the party of a demigod.
Chikn raised his paper cup and called everyone’s attention, deciding to make a brief toast of sorts to friendship. Right, this party was supposed to be in celebration of Onyn’s initiation into the friend group or something.
It was at that moment that Onyn had realized he’d forgotten to get a drink and, without giving it a moment of hesitation, immediately grabbed the little pot of flowers in front of him to clack against the plastic cups in this informal toast. Iscream looked at the pot and laughed to themself, seemingly eyeing the plastic rocks it held and then looking to the rest of the table. After that was done, the bat had awkwardly pushed the pot back into its place and tried to forget the embarrassment of toasting with a non-drink item when he’d forgotten to get one. By all means he could get a drink now, but he’d already shown his incapability of successfully pulling off a simple toast, and leaving his seat unattended could potentially give the demon rabbit sitting next to him some time to pull off a potential prank on him or something. Onyn Ring didn’t even know why that failed toast bothered him so much, it wasn’t really much of a big deal and no one, besides Iscream, seemed to have noticed him not having a drink to properly do the toast with the rest of the table.
Now that everyone had settled down, Hawt Saus announced that he had forgotten to get a drink, and he got up to go fetch one, leaving his plate unattended. Onyn hadn’t even noticed the squirrel didn’t have anything to do the toast with, meaning he wasn’t the only one to not do it properly, which was a good enough excuse to stop overthinking that. Iscream watched him depart carefully, then looked over at Slushi, who was at the moment talking to Sody Pop, who was seated next to her on her other side. Turning over to Onyn, who happened to be watching at the moment, they pressed a claw to their mouth and shushed him as a devious smile formed on their face. Carefully, they dipped their paw into the pot and grabbed a few fake rocks. With the rocks in hand, they turned to Hawt’s food, which happened to be cashews and a sandwich, and took the top piece of bread off of the sandwich. They planted the rocks onto it before placing the bread back as neatly as possible to make it appear as though nothing had changed. Onyn watched in amusement as he popped a grape into his mouth.
He saw Hawt Saus was now returning with a cup of soda, and out of the corner of his eye, he also saw Iscream bring a paw up to their mouth to stifle a snicker that would definitely give away their cover. The squirrel innocently picked up his sandwich and, licking his lips for a second, bit into it. Almost instantly, he recoiled, letting the sandwich drop back onto the plate and spitting out the contents of the piece he’d eaten.
“Augh, what the-!?” Hawt Saus questioned, making a comically disgusted face before taking the sandwich apart.
About six or seven rocks tumbled out so hilariously that it caused Iscream to bust out laughing.
“Iscream!” Hawt Saus exclaimed, “Get these rocks out of my sandwich!”
He took said rocks out of said sandwich and playfully tossed them at the bunny. Iscream didn’t respond, as they were too busy laughing to really say much. Milkshek, who had heard the whole ordeal, leaned in, advising Hawt Saus to get a new sandwich because of something to do with the plastics of the fake rocks being unhealthy or something like that. Begrudgingly, the squirrel complied and brought his plate to go dispose of the sandwich and get another one. As he made his way back to the food, he turned around to give the stink eye to Iscream, making sure they weren’t up to anything before continuing on. This time, Iscream took more rocks and placed them into the cup of soda that had been left unattended at the table.
When Hawt sat down with his new sandwich, he inspected the drink. After finding nothing wrong with it, he sipped it, and actually seemed surprised that nothing seemed to change. That is, until he tried to chew on some of the ice in the cup and he realized that there were rocks there. Spitting the soda back into the cup, he spoke to Fwench Fwy this time.
“Control your freak of a partner!”
Fwench Fwy snorted, barely managing to get out a “sorry” on behalf of Iscream in between their laughter. Once more, the red squirrel got up to get a new drink, this time taking the intact sandwich with him to the food table as to not have it tampered with anymore. Iscream giggled as he watched Hawt Saus dump his current soda in the trash and get a new one. Onyn watched in amusement, taking mental note of the odd dynamic between an immortal demon and a random mortal squirrel of all things.
This time, when Hawt Saus sat down, he kept his hands on both the sandwich and the drink but did not make a move to drink or eat, instead focusing with narrowed eyes on the devious little bunny sitting in front of him. None of them said anything at first, just staring at each other expectantly. Iscream was the first to break the silence.
“Gonna eat that, Hawt?”
“No, you’re just gonna put more rocks in it! I know your games, rabbit!”
“Aww come on Hawt Saus, you gotta eat! Here, I’ll close my eyes and keep my hands at my sides so you can see I’m not doing anything!” Iscream pleaded.
“Hmm…” the squirrel paused in seeming contemplation of Iscream’s offer, “Ok, but no funny business!”
Iscream did what they promised and kept their eyes closed and their hands at their sides. However, out of the corner his eye, Onyn could see red sparkles coming from one of Iscream’s paws. Hawt Saus hesitated, eyeing the food briefly before his gaze fell back on the bunny, leaning down and cautiously taking a small bite out of the sandwich.
Nothing seemed to have happened. The squirrel had successfully albeit slowly been able to chew and swallow a bite of his sandwich without any shenanigans. Another cautious bite was taken, again without any issues. He even sipped on the soda and had chewed one of the ice cubes without spitting out a rock. Satisfied at this lack of a rock infestation in his food, Hawt Saus popped the whole sandwich in his mouth, chewing it quickly before the bunny got anymore ideas. That is, until he suddenly grimaced and set down his soda, spitting out a part of the sandwich and several rocks that had fallen out of it. Iscream burst out laughing hysterically, much to the anger of their pranking victim, who had already tossed the chewed up food into the trash.
“That’s it!” Hawt Saus exclaimed, standing to take more rocks out of the little pot and tossing them onto Iscream, “Ya like these rocks so much, have ‘em!”
In response, the little demon bunny had grabbed the pot and dumped out all the rocks on the squirrel’s lap, to which they were grabbed and tossed back over to Iscream, with some of them landing onto Fwench Fwy’s plate. This got the dragon involved in the fight, laughing and taking a fistful of rocks to throw back, seemingly on Iscream’s side. It was kinda weird seeing Fwench Fwy being so playful and chaotic, as he was used to the more uptight, strict, and constantly on-his-tail version of them that had plagued him all throughout his wanting of Armageddon to start. It was a whole new side to the magical wish dragon that Onyn had never seen before, and with good reason, as they didn’t seem too intimidating chucking plastic rocks around the table.
“Look at this!” Hawt Saus shouted, elbowing Slushi, who was sat next to him and talking with that kid Sody Pop to her other side, “Look! They’re ganging up on me! That’s no fair, there’s two of ‘em and only one of me!”
“What! That’s not right! Well, there’s only one way to even the scales!” Slushi said, picking up a rock of her own.
“Ooh, I wanna join too!” Sody exclaimed, taking a whole fistful of rocks from a different pot entirely, “I call being on Slushi and Hawt Saus’ side!”
With that, the tables had turned, and the previously outnumbered Hawt Saus now had two others on his team to help him win this rock battle with.
“Come on little bat, join us!” Iscream nudged his wing before getting hit in the ear with a toss from Slushi, “We gotta win this!”
“Eh, no thanks, I’d rather not get pelted with rocks today,” Onyn responded.
It was true, as this simple meal had devolved into absolute chaos thanks to the bunny. The only immortally-started chaos he wanted to participate in was Chikn’s anyway. Speaking of chaos, he looked over to see what the demigod of chaos himself was doing amidst the mayhem at the table. When he looked over, Chikn was just conversing casually with Chee and Cofi, occasionally glancing between Fwench Fwy and that one covered up dish back over at the table, but otherwise uninterested at the shenanigans occurring right next to him. Cofi, who was at Hawt Saus’ other side, glanced at the chaos briefly and scooted her chair a little farther away from it all, but was otherwise the only one of the three at that side of the table to even acknowledge what was going on. The only other person not involved in the battle other than himself and them three was Milkshek, who cheered Slushi’s team on and advised them all to wash their hands after they were done so as to not contaminate their food with whatever chemicals could be on those fake rocks.
It was at that moment that a rock flying at a particularly high speed nearly hit him in the eye, only not doing so due to it hitting one of the lenses of his glasses instead. The unexpected nature of potential eye damage to his already mediocre vision was enough to nearly make him jump out of his skin. Slushi gasped, and everyone paused their throwing to look at him.
Great, just what he wanted, everyone’s attention on him.
“Sody! You coulda taken his eye out!” Slushi scolded, “You gotta apologize for that!”
“Yeah man, not cool. He’s not even in the fight,” Hawt Saus added, “Good thing you only hit his glasses.”
“Oh I didn’t mean to hit him, I wanted to hit Iscream! It was just an accident!” Sody said before turning to Onyn to apologize, “I’m sorry Mr. Ring!”
Mr. Ring?
“Yeah yeah, don’t worry about it kid, no big deal,” Onyn reassured before taking off his glasses to see if any damage had occurred.
After inspecting it some, nothing major had happened, and the rock’s impact only left a tiny scratch that wouldn’t really impact his vision much.
“Hey, Onyn Ring,” Fwench Fwy started, leaning over the table to look at him, “If you want, we can change seats so you don’t have to get caught in the crossfire.”
“Yes, yes! I’d like that very much!” Onyn had practically flown out of his seat as soon as the opportunity to change it had presented himself.
Iscream and Fwench Fwy both shifted down one chair now that his was left without someone to occupy it, which left Fwench Fwy’s initial seat open. This time, it was a good spot, as it would place him between the dragon and Chikn himself. Onyn quickly took his new seat, careful as to not make too much noise when pushing the chair in.
“Hey Onyn!” Chikn greeted, “Enjoying the party so far?”
“Yep,” he lied, “Well, except for the part where I got hit with a rock.”
“Yeah, it’s kinda intense over there,” Cofi said, eyeing the paused fight.
Slushi was now reminding the other participants to not aim for anyone’s face before all of them started to debate on wether they should even continue fighting or to just call it a draw.
“Hey,” Chikn nudged his wing, redirecting his attention away from the fight participants, “I gotta tell you something.”
“Yeah?” Onyn asked, turning around before freezing as Chikn got closer to his face and whispered to him.
“You saw me tryna peek at dinner, right?”
“Dinner?”
“Yeah, the food that’s under the cover is for dinner.”
“Ohh, yeah I did.”
“Can you go over there and take the cover off?” Chikn whispered even quieter, glancing back at Fwench Fwy, who was still distracted.
“You want me to take whatever’s under there or something?”
“Nah, just take the top off and pretend like you’re just curious and peeking at what’s in it, ok?”
“Why? Do you wanna take whatever’s under there?”
“Yep,” Chikn smiled, answering simply, “You’re the least suspicious one here, so I think I can get away with it if you help me. And you can get away too! If you get caught, just pretend you were curious.”
“Uhh… ok, seems simple enough to do,” Onyn said.
Pushing his chair back, he got up and headed towards the table as unsuspectingly as he could. It was probably wrong to assist Chikn in stealing dinner, but he had to admit that he did kinda want to see him just nab and take off with whatever was under this cover. I’d probably be pretty funny, and also it was a good excuse to get a drink for himself. Just a simple water would do, and he took his little cup over to the concealed meal. He heard Chikn’s own chair slide back and careful paws approaching. Setting the cup down, he carefully pulled the top off to first reveal a pleasant aroma. In the reflection of the cover, he saw Chikn come in from the side. Pulling up the cover a little more, he would see that the food underneath it was…
“CHIKN-!”
…busted. In a second, the top was closed and Onyn saw Fwench Fwy running up to them.
“What are you doing!?” They exclaimed, “Are the two of you trying to take dinner?”
Play dumb.
“Oh! I was uh- j-just…” Onyn stuttered, the words not coming out properly in the face of an agitated immortal.
Why was he tripping up now? This wasn’t the first time he’d had to get on the defense when talking back to the wish dragon, with the whole wanting Armageddon and all, so what was so different now? Although to be fair, this was the first time when talking back that Onyn would openly admit to being in the wrong. Luckily, Chikn spoke on his behalf.
“Oh! I just saw Onyn Ring was getting a little curious on what exactly we were having for dinner and I figured I wanted to get a peek too! Also that maybe I could have a little piece of it? Please?” He pleaded, putting his paws together to ask Fwench Fwy.
“No Chikn, I know how you get with this kinda stuff. Go sit down,” the dragon seemed to let out an annoyed sigh.
With that, he obeyed and went sadly back to his seat.
“Be careful if you want to look at the food, don’t want Chikn stealing it like last time,” Fwench Fwy whispered to him before leaving.
Well, even if the mission to steal whatever was there failed, he still managed to get away with it without getting reprimanded. Sitting back at the table with the cup of water, he tuned into a pretty mundane conversation about frogs.
“I just think they’re the perfect animal!” Chikn was explaining, “They have such cute eyes, they’re so chubby and adorable, and they have the perfect heads to put top hats on!”
“Yeah, didn’t you spend an entire day like a week ago just putting top hats on every frog you encountered?” Chee asked.
“Sure did, and I’m planning to do it again one of these days. Was thinking I could add little orange flowers to the top hats, I think that’d look nice.”
“Why orange specifically?” Cofi inquired.
“Cause it’s the best color, obviously! Slushi was telling me all about how great orange was the other day. She said that according to this thing called ‘color theory,’ I think, that it represents cheerfulness and positive connections or something.”
“I thought it represented anxiety,” Cofi added.
“Well maybe, but orange is still the best color!” Chikn asserted.
“I dunno, I think green is a little nicer,” Chee said, “it’s the color of nature and it calms me down when I look at green things.”
“I think pink and black are cool. Black’s dark and edgy, like me,” Cofi’s mouth turned up into a relaxed smile as she explained.
“What about you, Onyn?” Chikn asked, the three of them now turning to him.
“Uhh… I don’t really have a favorite.”
“What?” Chikn seemed shocked, “Come on, you gotta have a favorite! Look around and try to see which one you like the most.”
This was kinda dumb, with the whole preferred color and everything that didn’t really have much significance. But, Onyn humored him and looked around briefly at his surroundings. At the food left barely touched on his plate to the table and then around the whole room itself. Eventually, his gaze settled back onto the three he was currently in conversation with.
“…Yellow.”
“Yellow?” Chee asked, “Huh, I don’t think I’ve ever met someone who’s favorite color was yellow before.”
“Yeah, what made you choose yellow?”
Onyn wasn’t sure how to respond to Chikn’s question.
“Maybe it’s because his eyes are yellow, so his eyes have taken a liking to their own color,” Cofi proposed her theory.
“Yeah yeah, my eyes are yellow, that’s why,” Onyn said, wanting the conversation to veer away from its focus on him.
“Ooh, Chikn!” Chee piped up, “Did I ever tell you about me and Cofi’s date at that new vegan place I mentioned?”
“What? You didn’t! Tell me the details!”
“So, it was this really nice place with a whole bunch of flowers outside, so me and Cofi took a walk around the outside of the restaurant before we went in to smell them all.”
“Had to grab Chee when she went to smell the poinsettias,” Cofi chuckled, “If the sap gets on your mouth when you smell them, it can give you stomach problems.”
“Yeah, Cofi’s so knowledgeable about that!” Chee exclaimed, proudly putting a paw on Cofi’s shoulder for a moment.
Onyn Ring kinda zoned out for most of the rest of the conversation. He wasn’t really interested in the details of a date between someone he didn’t know super well and someone he practically didn’t know at all, and he was especially not interested in the following debate on which alternate vegan style foods tasted better than their traditional counterparts. That is, until Chikn found a way to rope him briefly into the conversation.
“Ugggh,” the dog sighed when the recounting of events was over, “I wish I could be in a romantic relationship like that-”
“Don’t worry Chikn, you’ll find someone! You’re too sweet to stay single for long!” Chee reassured.
“Yeah, and besides, platonic relationships are pretty great too,” Cofi added, “Also, I think it’s better to be friends with someone and then date than to just start dating just anyone.”
“I guess you’re both right,” Chikn said, then turning to Onyn and placing a paw on his shoulder, “Well, it’s us singles against the world, huh?”
It was at that moment that he mentally tuned back into reality.
“U-uh yeah, sure!” He quickly added, “You’re a demigod, you don’t need anyone else.”
He removed his paw from Onyn’s grip, his playful smile faltering a little, “Yeah, demigod…”
Why would Chikn care if he had a romantic interest or not? Why would such a powerful immortal like him even desire a connection like that? A connection so… mortal?
“What would you look for in a partner though?” Chee asked, “Y’know, apart from being kind and nice and probably into frogs and all that?”
That question seemed to get Chikn out of the little mental rut Onyn had accidentally put him in, “Uhh, I don’t know. I think I’ll take anyone at this point.”
“What? Chikn, you can’t be that desperate to accept just anyone!” Chee exclaimed, “Can’t you even think of one thing?”
“Uhh…” Chikn paused, putting a paw up to his face in contemplation.
He couldn’t lie, Onyn Ring was pretty interested in what the dog was going to say. I mean, it’s not every day you get into a conversation where the demigod of chaos’ romantic requirements were laid out so plainly.
“…Hmmm… m-maybe- uh, maybe someone different? I dunno, I was talking to Slushi the other day and we were watching that one sappy anime show she keeps talking about and she mentioned these things called ‘ship dynamics’ or something,” Chikn said, adding air quotations, “She said one of her favorites was where the two people like… compliment each other? I think? Like, they’re very different from each other but they still love each other. I guess kinda like Iscream and Fwench Fwy in a way.”
“Isn’t that trope called ‘opposites attract’?” Cofi asked.
“In a way? But it’s not like you have nothing in common though, just some big differences to make the experience more interesting I guess,” he responded, “Maybe having a partner with a bit of a different personality than me could be fun.”
“Yeah, that makes sense!” Chee added, “Who’d want to date a carbon copy of themselves?”
“Yeah! That’d be so boring! So that’s my answer to your question, Chee.”
“Ok, that’s fair enough. Hey Chikn, did you get a peek as to what dinner’s gonna be?”
“Nah, Fwench Fwy’s good at keeping it a mystery,” Chikn responded, longingly staring at the concealed plate over at the other table.
Onyn spoke up at that moment, “Maybe you should get yourself a partner who you could steal food with, eh?”
Chikn turned back to face him, seemingly slightly surprised at him speaking up and chiming in at that moment, before smiling, remarking, “Yeah! Kinda like how you tried to help me like ten minutes ago! Too bad that plan didn’t work.”
It was at that moment Onyn turned away from him and the two girls as he felt his face heat up because why did he have to say that.
He should’ve definitely given that offhand comment more thought before saying it aloud.
“Well, I don’t think we’ll have to wait too long to see what the mystery food is, maybe it’ll be a big steak!” Chee said.
Onyn internally thanked her for driving the conversation away from whatever nonsense had come out of his mouth.
“Ooh, or maybe pork chops? Or ribs?” Chikn suggested, most likely already internally salivating at the thought.
“Probably some kind of meat though,” Cofi said, “That’s what usually tends to be brought to these kind of events.”
“Did you bring anything more for dinner? Y’know, since no meat?” Chee asked of her.
“Nah, nothing else,” Cofi responded, “That packed food I brought and those fruits and vegetables that they had for appetizers should be good enough.”
“What about you, Onyn?” Chee then turned to him, eyeing his plate, “It looks like you’ve barely touched your food.”
He looked down and, surely enough, most of the fruit he’d gotten at the table he’d left untouched.
“Oh yeah, don’t worry about that,” he reassured, now kinda embarrassed, “Just got all caught up in the conversation that I forgot to eat, that’s all!”
With that, he took the apple off of his plate and bit it.
“Do you guys think Bezel will show up?” Cofi asked, changing the topic of conversation entirely, “Didn’t he mention how he was planning on showing up even without an invitation?”
“The clock guy?” Chikn asked, “If he does show up, I hope he doesn’t ruin the party.”
“Yeah, Hawt Saus and Iscream are already enough to deal with,” Cofi added.
“He’s kinda weird, but at least he likes me! And Cofi too, I think. So, hopefully if he tries anything, we won’t be involved,” Chee said.
Maybe it was a little mean to say, but Onyn Ring really hoped he wouldn’t show up. With everything that had happened the last time they’d spoken and with the destruction Bezel had allowed him to cause, it was probably for the better if they just didn’t interact for a while. Especially as Onyn was still processing everything that had happened with taking up Bezel’s deal and all.
“We gotta be nice if Bezel does come though,” Chikn said, “We made, or well- I made a truce with him, and that should mean something. I mean, he did kinda violate it sort of with the whole Onyn Ring deal like a month ago-”
Chikn briefly paused to gesture at him, “But we made a truce to be better people, so we should be nice to him.”
Onyn Ring placed down the apple core he was now holding, noticing how Chikn was watching him, seemingly waiting for him to finish the apple, with a soft but concerned look.
“Are you gonna be ok if he shows up?”
“Yeah, I’ll be fine. A little uncomfortable, but fine.”
“Ok, good,” he gave the bat a warm smile, “How about we get up now? Looks like everyone else is.”
Surely enough, looking around, one could see that everyone else had started getting up and throwing out their plates.
“What about dinner?” Onyn asked.
“Oh, Milkshek was saying something about ‘letting the food settle down’ and all,” Chee responded.
A low music had started from the DJ booth as everyone went to the dance floor not to dance yet, but to socialize more as one big group. That wasn’t something Onyn had really wanted to get in the middle of, so he’d excused himself, saying he was going to finish eating and was getting a drink refill, to go slink off into the corner of the room. This was the safest place to be, off away from all of the commotion and away from the stimulation. A perfect position for a little recluse bat, such as himself. Watching the mundane conversations from afar rather than taking part in them.
This was quite contrary to the whole purpose of coming to the party, trying to become more social and all, but saying one thing versus actually doing said thing were two completely different scenarios. Well, he did meet the purpose of attending for Chikn’s sake, as Onyn didn’t want to disappoint him in not attending considering all of the hospitality he’d been afforded. Still, showing up to a party just to exist there and not do much of anything else left a bad taste in his mouth. But, he reasoned, he wasn’t quite ready to join big crowds, no matter how accepting they were, so he’d just spend a little more time here in the corner before eventually trying to force himself out and talk at some point.
Thankfully, everyone had left him alone, giving Onyn some time to himself.