...continued from previous entry

Diavolo nodded at me and suggested we not let breakfast get cold, so the three of us sat to eat and Barbatos served us a delicious looking quiche and the most beautiful cup of coffee I have ever seen. Beautiful because I desperately needed the caffeine to clear my head and focus my senses, and beautiful in that it was the perfect balance of bitter, smoky, and subtly sweet with dark chocolate back notes; some people like wine, I happen to really like coffee. At my first sip I inadvertently let out a little moan and I suddenly had three pairs of male eyes on me and I was very aware I was the only woman in the room. I became very self conscious and hunched over my plate and began to pick at the quiche trying to discern the ingredients that made it up, there was obviously egg and some sort of dairy if it was a quiche. Some sort of spinach like green vegetable was in there, semi-translucent perfectly cut cubes of a pale pink cheese (?) were also present, and there were fried or dried shards of a leathery meat that looked like the membrane of a batwing. Surely not. They've had humans in the devildom before so they would know what we would be able to eat and wouldn't be able to eat. I decided I wouldn't insult Barbatos and ask him if the quiche was safe for me to eat, not with Lord Diavolo right in front of me and his reputation as trying to unite all three realms under the flag of friendship and understanding at stake. It wouldn't look good if I died eating breakfast with him. I took a small bite and found it to be quite good, though I didn't have as much of an appetite as I had thought I would. The coffee, though, I had seconds of.

~~*\FLASHBACK/*~~

I mostly just pushed the remainder of my quiche around, spinning it on the plate. I tensed, feeling eyes on me once again. I slowly looked up again and met a smirking Lucifer's eyes. "It's uncanny," He said. "You eat just like Joshua when you're feeling unnerved," He paused. "It also seems that your mothers didn't teach you not to play with your food."

I gave Lucifer what I hoped was a really good look of derision. "First of all, I am not unnerved, just a bit wary. I'm not used to being in situations where I am the only woman present, I try to avoid that if possible, especially if the men are in high power positions," I looked at all three men at this, because I know all three men are powerful in their own right. "Secondly, I wasn't playing with my food, I was trying to figure out what the ingredients in the quiche were, and my mother taught me to identify the main ingredients of a dish by isolating them and tasting them separately from the whole. I like to cook, but I have never tasted food like this. I'm guessing a lot of the livestock and vegetation from here is vastly different from the human world," I paused, looking down at my plate, frowning slightly. "Barbatos, I apologize. This was very good, I just found that I'm not very hungry this morning. I don't usually have anything quite this elaborate for breakfast most mornings. Usually I'm lucky if I can grab a cup of coffee. I do hate to waste food though, my mother taught me the value of food from a young age, is there any way that this could be wrapped up for me to eat later on if possible?"

Lucifer spoke before Barbatos could answer. "I can take it home in a napkin for my brother, Beel. He is a fervent fan of Barbatos's cooking and will eat it without hesitation."

I thanked Lucifer, privately thinking that it's kind of weird that a man would be willing to eat a stranger's leftovers, but then I recall who Beel is and it's not strange at all. I then asked if it would be an appropriate time to discuss who Joshua is and what he has to do with me. Diavolo stands, and as if on strings, up pops Lucifer less than a second behind him.

"Why don't we go to my library to discuss this. I have a feeling that you will be much more comfortable somewhere other than where you slept last night, plus the library has better seating arrangements other than us all congregating on the bed to discuss non-bed topics," Diavolo suggests with the barest of grins on his face. Lucifer suddenly started to choke on thin air, his face beet red.

I felt heat race up my torso to the roots of my hair like fire following a trail of black powder. I ducked my head and looked at my feet then at the ceiling to try and suppress the rush of embarrassed tears. It seems like the handsome men everywhere will always be more than willing to poke fun at those who are not similarly blessed with looks. Successful at diverting my tears, I look at the two of them and cooly remark "As the three of us will never congregate on a bed to discuss any sort of topic, bed-related or otherwise, that sounds lovely Lord Diavolo. I would like to see your library very much."

With my remark Lord Diavolo lets out a booming, cheerful laugh. It's as if I'm a cute little girl who just told him the most adorable thing ever, like when Tony Stark's daughter told him she 'loves him 3000'.  Obviously, I don't feel as if what I said was really that adorable. I thought I was making a scathing remark, and apparently I need to work on that. Then I see Lucifer looking at me.  From the looks of it, I just threw down some sort of gauntlet and offered him the challenge of the year, because his eyes changed from just being a unique reddish shade of brown to drowning pools of onyx with glowing halos of the purest carmine encircling his pupils. The curve of his grin would be almost malevolent if it weren't for the tilt of his head and the quirk of his left eyebrow. He didn't say a word, but I have a feeling that I will be hearing about my evidently poor choice to stand up for myself.

Diavolo opens the door and I am ushered out first with Lucifer and Diavolo quietly shutting the door, leaving Barbatos behind to clean up after breakfast. I wait quietly for the men to start walking, but Diavolo offers me his arm and when I hesitate he gently takes my hand and loops it through his elbow. He then began walking at a sedate pace, most likely in deference to my much shorter legs, with Lucifer a step behind us. Diavolo points out a couple portraits of interest, such as his many times great uncle Cthulhu, whom last Diavolo heard is wandering the east coast of the United States having remained there after a fellow named Lovecraft summoned him forth in the early years of the 18th century and then didn't command anything of him.  Diavolo told us with a laugh that his grand uncle took it as a sign he was due a lengthy vacation.

Before long we arrived at the library and were seated; somehow a tea service was sitting on a low table between the chairs waiting for us to arrive. I couldn't imagine how this was possible, we hadn't left the bedroom I stayed in much more than five minutes previous. I put it down to a realm that exists with magic. For all I know, Barbatos time travelled.

Once we all had a ridiculously ornate cup of tea in our hands (I swore I would lift it as little as possible as I knew I would end up breaking it if I handled it too much as I am the world's biggest klutz), Diavolo leaned forward with his hands on his knees and said "Joshua was this world's version of you." He smiled widely, and leaned back again.  It was as if he told me a a secret he wasn't supposed to tell and was really excited to spill it. "You can probably understand now why we were so shocked to see you in that bedroom, rather than another male."

"Wait, what do you mean 'another male', don't you mean Joshua?" I felt very confused by this turn of phrase.

"No, Joshua really wasn't feeling comfortable in this realm, so for the sake of the exchange program we wanted to send him... somewhere he would think of as home. However, I do think he will be a little bit shocked when he wakes up and finds his surroundings more feminine than he is used to. The spellwork we had to do in order to make your parents think that they had a boy all along, well that was a bit tricky to do in one night.  We were lucky we had Solomon here; he has quite a bit more power than a lot of the mid-level demons who usually do our spellwork for this kind of thing. We were able to erase all signs of you in your previous reality and replace them with him. Did you know that if you had been a boy your parents were going to name you Joshua? That seems to be pretty constant amongst at least 1000 realities that we browsed through. There was some sort of interference the night that Barbatos took Joshua through to the new reality.  We are certain the reality chosen was not supposed to be yours, but another more similar to this one, but of course without the Devildom. The Devildom and Celestial realm are unique to this reality, though souls from all realities eventually end up here or there." Diavolo leaned back and took another sip of tea.

I looked at Lucifer, who was taking a sip of tea, face completely blank and unreadable. I looked back to Diavolo, flabbergasted. "Well, that is quite a bit of information to absorb in a very short time span." I sit quietly for a moment, thinking to myself. I thought I had brought myself here, but Barbatos was already moving Joshua through realities. What if my device didn't move me through realities, but acted as an attractant for somebody who was already travelling, ensuring that I would end up where I wanted to go? They can 'browse through' realities? Can all demons travel through realities, or just Barbatos? All souls 'eventually make it to the Devildom or Celestial Realm? What does that even mean? Where do they go before that? Did I know that my parents were going to name me Joshua if I had been born a boy? I thought that Dad's family always named the first born male of his line Zagreus because of some promise to an ancestor. Maybe it was something mumma wanted?  I know there are things from my previous reality I'm forgetting, but it's so hard to remember.  Did the erasure of my presence there cause some of my memories to disappear?

I took a deep breath through my nose, held it, and let it out slowly through my mouth. "Well," I said, "Joshua doesn't have to worry about my apartment in Crowskill, BC being too feminine, it's mostly decorated with Marvel comic merch, Batman stuff, anime stuff I've made, and then a bunch of stuff I've traded for or found interesting. Like, I have a whole collection of animal skulls that I painted after bleaching and sanitizing them; I found them on walks in the woods by the lake." I puff up my cheeks, thinking, and let the air blow slowly out, "When I looked in the wardrobe in the tree room, I thought my own clothes were in there because I usually wear sweats or yoga pants and character t-shirts and hoodies if I'm not at work. The girliest non-work thing I own is an ugly tangerine orange bridesmaid dress from my friend Tessa's wedding, so I suppose there is that in the closet." I furrow my eyebrows and start biting my lower lip. Should I risk telling them about my device, or hold off for now? What about the thing about the first male of Dad's line always being named Zagreus? I honestly don't know how that could have any bearing on anything. 

~~*\END/*~~

 I'll keep my device secret for now; wait, do they already know about it? Did Barbatos have to actually go into the new reality or just kind of... steer... Joshua? Nevermind. I'm not worrying about it right now. I'll deal with it when the time comes.

As always,

Clarissima sidera lucent ex nihilo