The God

"So?" Time said cheerfully, "Tell me all about it! Don't spare any details. I wanna know all of Silver Moon's adventures."

Time had called the team to order earlier that morning, and requested that they spend the afternoon catching up. Umbra initially refused, but Matthew informed him it was best not to insult a god. Umbra begrudgingly accepted his proposal, and they headed to the local dinner to meet Time.

The staff had eyed Time suspiciously as he led Silver Moon to the biggest booth in the establishment and told them to order anything they wanted. Umbra couldn't help but smile. If only they knew that the lunatic that had charged into their restaurant was actually a god.

"Oh, we haven't done much," Matthew replied coyly, taking a sip from his glass of water. Matthew was a tall, somewhat large man with a gentle, inviting face. Curly, dirty blond locks of hair brushed across his shoulders and against the grey peacoat he wore. A pair of blue-grey eyes gazed contently at Time. He was sitting beside Umbra, holding his hand under the table. It was a small gesture, but it meant the world to Umbra.

Curled under Matthew's arm and resting on his chest, Victor snorted.

"I believe Victor is correct," Seraph said, a smile playing on his lips, "'Not much' is not really the proper term."

Shaking his head, Umbra let his eyes fall on his two youngest children. Victor and Seraph sat adjacent to each other, and they couldn't appear anymore different. While Seraph had rounded, almost cutesy features, Victor was thin and somewhat unsettling.

"Yeah, Matt's the one to talk," Aunora said loudly, "Me and pretty boy here, we nearly got ourselves killed a couple months ago!"

Umbra rolled his eyes, but he was grinning, "She's correct, that mission Matt sent us on nearly killed us."

Matthew blushed, awkwardly adjusting his glasses. "Ah, well, at least you guys aren't at each other's throats anymore."

Time leaned in, snapping his fingers. A box of popcorn appeared in his hands, and he anxiously dug into it. "Tell me everything."

Umbra and Aunora met eyes, like they had planned for this exact situation to happen.

"It was winter in the Elven world," Umbra announced in his most dramatic tone, "and we were hot on the trail of the Monster of the Mountains."

"We had been yelling at each other the entire time, too. You know, the norm," Aunora continued.

Umbra slapped his palms on the table, "But then, tragedy struck! The monster lunged at us from the shadows, blindsiding us!"

"Our teamwork was pretty screwy, and the stupid thing almost beat us," Aunora exclaimed, in a sort of false peril.

"But then, we met eyes, and we suddenly understood everything. We knew, with that glance, that we both had to put aside our pride and fears. We didn't even need words- it was all in the eyes."

"And there was no touching at all. We were at least six inches away from each other when the epiphany happened," Aunora clarified.

"I can't help but doubt this story," Esper commented quietly, nibbling on his salad.

"Oh, and after the mission we went to that fancy restaurant on the north end of Alcorith and got wasted on champagne," Aunora added, and Umbra suddenly burst into laughter.

Matthew blinked, watching Aunora and Umbra exchange winks and high fives. "Right..." Shaking his head to change the subject, Matthew pointed his fork at Seraph, Esper, and Victor. "How about you three tell us your story! I'm sure Time hasn't heard that one."

Esper replied without a beat. "Celeste is a monster and I ripped her head off several times," he said nonchalantly, not even glancing up.

Time downed another glass of wine. "Yeah, I can attest to that one. Celeste's a piece of work. Know that one from personal experience." A mischievous sparkle flashed in Time's kaleidoscope eyes, "I see you have a new member of the squad. How'd you get here?"

Seraph blushed. "M-Master Time, it is an honor to be speaking with you-"

"Ay, dude. Don't be so formal. We're all amigos here. So, tell me the juicy stuff, newbie."

"Well, um, I was rejected by my Mother. Victor and his family allowed me to stay with them."

Time played with a lock of his swirling hair. "Alright, I'm just gonna go watch the play-back when I get back to the Timension. These arcs sounded pretty rad."

Umbra raised his eyebrow. "Arc?"

"Yeah, y'know, 'a continuous progression or line of development,' as quoted by Mr. Merriam Webster." Time suddenly smacked his fist onto his palm, standing up. "Oh! That reminds me! I've got some friends I want you to meet!"

Author's Note- the only thing true about umbra and aunoras story was the getting drunk part. they got banned from the restaurant bc two drunk superpowered animals is p bad and pretty destructive