Val placed her hand against the doorknob and was about to turn it. Just as quickly, all hopes of escape were stripped from her.

Faster than she had made it to the door, Arius appeared directly behind her. He must have shot over here with his red haze used as a beam of energy. There, he grabbed her by the back of the collar. “Oh, no you don’t! I would not find it amusing if I had to chase you down. That would cause quite the scene in the town, now wouldn’t it?”

While Arius had captured her and tried to rationalize with her, Tavras had come out into the main room with water gathering around him. More water poured out from the fixtures in the kitchen too. All of this water blasted straight for Arius and Val.

Her eyes squeezed shut, fully expecting to get drenched by the disgusting water. When her ears heard the crash of a wave against a solid surface, no water struck her. For that reason, she opened her eyes.

A red, hazy barrier had been formed between them and Tavras. The water splashed out on all sides where it roared back up to assault the shield again.

Foofy had been shoved outside of Arius’s barrier, leaving him to get soaked. Unfazed, he growled and gnashed his teeth against the barrier as he tried to get to Val.

Farther off, Tavras’s form could hardly be seen through the water and the shield like frosted glass.

Arius leaned back against the door while his knuckles still pressed against Val’s neck. “I said that I am here to talk,” he shouted to Tavras. “Stop trying to attack me with your dirty fish and toilet water! If I wanted to get away with Val, I would have flown off with her already.”

Slouched in defeat, she knew that to be true. Here she found herself in Arius’s clutches, both of them behind a barrier which Tavras could not penetrate.

The onslaught of water ceased.

“Call off Foofy,” Arius said, glancing down to the Dobie that was still going mad. “I don’t want to accidently hurt him.”

“Foofy, off,” Val said in a wavering whisper. In the absence of his understanding of the command, she needed to put Keep the Peace on him. While she usually put a much stronger blanket over him, Val gave just enough to signal that she wanted him to feign calmness.

Accustomed to Keep the Peace as much as the words of a command, Foofy stilled. With any luck, he would understand what she wanted of him. Foofy had been allowed discretion as a divine beast for a reason. The moment that Arius let down his shield, Val hoped for him to attack.

As Foofy sat back on his haunches, well-behaved, the barrier dissipated. Across the room Tavras’s chest lifted and fell with his heavy breaths, thoroughly infuriated. Neither of them did anything.

With a small shove, Arius pushed Val farther into the room and walked after her. “You know Tavras, I am kind of insulted. Everyone knows that I am not as strong when I am unprepared for a fight, but how weak do you think that I am? There is hardly any water around here for you to use.”

Tavras shrugged his arms out to either side. “What do else do you expect when you back people into a corner?”

“I expect good manners like Foofy. Good boy!” Smiling down to him, Arius said, “I really wish that your master would let me pet you. She is such a harsh mistress.”

Val darted her wide eyes to Foofy for help. Why could the dumb dog not attack him already? Arius just called her a mistress for crying out loud. While that may be the valid feminine form of master, she much preferred ‘master’ over ‘mistress’ in all its uses.

Since both Tavras and Foofy stood there useless, Val might have to take the situation into her own hands. With her heart beating faster, she started to consider casting Divine Judgement onto Arius.

“Let’s all sit down and have a friendly chat. Val, I can feel your intention to attack me. Please don’t. Seriously, if I had any desire to harm you, I would have already.”

A heavy sigh left her lips. She knew that. Considering how he had not killed her already, she should hear him out.

The water lifted up from where it had tainted the floor so that they would not have to pay for water damages at least. As Foofy tried to shake himself off, the water also froze in midair, except for those droplets which landed over Arius.

“Hey!” Arius said, shielding his face. “Are you really that petty?”

Tavras sent the water down the drains of the sink. Just as well, the spraying leaks from the broken faucets ceased by the force of his mind. Not even two days here, and they would already have to pay for damages. At least Tavras had more than enough money to cover it.

“Dry me off,” Arius demanded.

For a long second, Tavras stared at him. “Toilet water is a good look on you, though.”

The insult glanced right off of Arius’s impenetrable ego. “Everything looks good on me.”

“Enjoy your toilet water then.”

“I am your superior, and I order you to dry me off.”

“Yes, General Arius.” With a salute, Tavras swiped the water away from Arius’s body alongside the gesture.

Seeing some of the most powerful gods in the world bicker like this was a reminder that they were both people too—immature people, despite their long lifespans.

Now dry, Arius lifted the inside of his shirt to his nose and sniffed. “At least I do not smell as bad as I thought that I would.” With a big shrug, Arius forced a smile back to Val. “Let’s sit.”

By his motion to the table, he invited her over. Arius sat closest to the door, probably so that she could not try making a run for it again.

Stiffly, Val sat down on the other side of the table.

Tavras stayed standing with a stern frown at Arius. “First, I want to know something. How did you find out where we live?”

Innocently, Arius shrugged. “What can I say? I just used my powers as a god of love. It makes me an excellent stalker.”

“Yeah,” Tavras spit, “you would be fucked up enough in the head to equate stalking to love.”

Both of Arius’s hands stuck up in the air. “I am guilty as charged.”

Tavras gave a mad shake of his head, making his long hair rustle down his back. “The two of you will still have to wait for me to take care of the fish.” Specifically to Val, he said, “Don’t make small talk with the sadist.” With that, Tavras walked back to introduce all of the fish to the tank.

“That is typical for Tavras,” Arius said, “valuing fish over people.”

Not wanting for him to hear her speak after he told her not to converse with Arius, she only acknowledged him with a nod.

“You can relax, Val. I promise that I am your friend here.”

“Uh huh.” She did not want to encourage any conversation between them, so she decided to push Foofy onto the frontlines as a distraction. “While we wait, I guess that you can pet Foofy if he will let you.”

A light entered Arius’s eyes. His irises almost seemed to brighten from a dark brown to a hazel with golden tones. His eyes not only seemed to change when he felt mad but happy too. Arius really did have mood rings for eyes, as gods with color-changing eyes should.

“Foofy!” Arius called. Both of his hands extended for the Dobie to offer pets.

The sound of his name drew his attention, but Foofy simply stared at him off to the side, unamused.

“Aw, does Foofy not like me? He has to like me!”

“Why do you care if my dog likes you or not?”

“I love him already,” Arius said, pretending to blink dreamily at the Foofy. “He is such a majestic pupper. Plus, you will never believe that I am a good person if not even your dog can like me.” Of all things, the Ravager sounded whiny.

As much as Val just wanted him to shut up, she refused to put Keep the Peace over Foofy or give him a command. If he did not want his fur touched by the bloodied hands of the god of war, then Val would never make him. On second thought, maybe it would not hurt to give Arius more of a chance with Foofy.

“Here.” She passed a carrot across the table from the big bag that she still had there. “He loves carrots. You can see if this will convince him.”

“Really? Thank you!” Arius accepted the carrot and waggled it beneath the table.

Easily bribed, Foofy got up and trotted over to Arius at once. His mouth went straight for the end of the carrot farthest away from his hand and started munching.

“Yes, good boy!” Arius patted Foofy’s head while he snacked.

The carrot pieces dropped onto the floor where Foofy would finish eating them. From there, he would come back up to get another piece of carrot.

The oppressive negativity that surrounded Arius had nearly dissipated. Apparently, a dog was enough to cheer Arius up in the presence of Tavras, and that made her smile a bit despite the grim situation. It had been some sad months with Tavras being ambivalent to Foofy’s adorableness. Now, at least Val had found one other person could give Foofy all of the appreciation that he deserved.

Their interaction went on until Foofy had eaten the carrot down to Arius’s fist, where he refused to open his hand. Foofy’s nose snuffled and sniffed as he tried to nibble and lick the carrot away from him.

A laugh escaped from Arius. “Hey Foofy, that tickles. Ow! Don’t bite me.”

“Foofy, off,” Val scolded. It was too bad she could not use Keep the Peace this time. Foofy had not nipped Arius out of aggression, but eagerness to get the carrot.

As a god, Arius could handle himself with a dog. “Do you want something from me?” Opening up his fist, he let Foofy take the rest of the carrot at last. “I never knew that dogs could eat carrots, but he seems like the happiest Dobie ever. You are so cute!”

Given the way that he flitted his addresses between Foofy and her, Val could only shake her head.

The crunching of carrots continued as Foofy ate his treat at Arius’s feet. Once he finished, the awkward silence permeated the room once again.

Arius looked to Val with a more serious look on his face for their discussion to continue.