Alastor grinned to himself before adjusting his bowtie, letting the darkness hide his identity to the fullest before twirling his staff around. The moment he stepped out of the shadows, the radios in the cities started to tune themselves out of tune. Every frequency at once crackles with jaunty static, old-timey music bleeding through speakers that haven't worked in years. Street screens warp, their clean corporate ads replaced by a grinning silhouette in crimson.
"Well, what a marvellous day today is!" Alastor grinned brightly to himself before staring at himself in the mirror.
"So that god wanted me to do that for him... but... we really aren't getting any closer to it," Alastor growled and gripped his fist before smiling again.
"So what if I just decide to do nothing? Then he'll have no choice but to-" Alastor thought in his head before a small chain appeared on his neck as Shu appeared in front of him, with a disappointed expression on his face.
"Ababababababa, Alastor, Ren, human... I'm afraid, this isn't quite up to you now... is it?" Shu smirked and tugged on the chain that was on Alastor's neck.
"See, I thought that too~ but I thought that our little deal meant that I was supposed to be able to mess things up in this world, yet things have gone perfectly according to the plot! And what's worse, I don't look like most humans, so it's impossible for me to romance any of the options! This proves our deal invalid!" Alastor growled at Shu, who just laughed and tapped on his chin with his finger.
"Oh, how silly, Ren! Did you really think messing things up means that you get to romance the girls that were meant for Wise? How insolent, little pet." Shu kicked Alastor to the ground while keeping the same condescending look on him. Shu grabbed Alastor's face and got close to him while smiling.
"You look just like an ugly piece of shit, and you say you want to have a girl? HAHAHAHA!!! That's the best joke I'm hearing all day, you, with those deer ears? Antlers? That shitty face that only a mother could love? Actually, scratch that, if a mother saw your face, they would probably drown you in the toilet." Shu started to fiddle with Alastor's ears and antlers while all Alastor could do was glare at him.
"Look, you can toy around with me, all you want, but I've been running all over New Eridu just to give you entertainment, so if you can't let me have my own version of entertainment in this world, then-" Alastor was suddenly cut off by Shu, who ignored him and smirked.
"Remember now, you're in my zoo. So you're my pet. Well, I guess the same with other humans..." Shu threw Alastor into a wall, making him groan, before Shu smiled.
"Well, I guess it wouldn't hurt to see how you could spectacularly fail in romancing the girls meant for Wise. How funny. Ugly Piece of Shit." Shu suddenly snapped before kicking Alastor again. Alastor gripped his fist and was ready to strike him, only to breathe in and release that breath.
"You wanted a human form, now you got it, just concentrate hard enough, and you can get it back~ watch out for that staff of yours by the way, boohoo~ bye bye now~ don't think you can escape me~ I wanna see you fail fabulously, of course~" Shu suddenly disappeared in a sea of flames that immediately extinguished itself.
Alastor swiftly growled and banged his staff against a wall, making him growl before gritting his teeth.
"That stupid idiot, I'm not his pet, I'll show him, ooh, he'll see. That fucking Wise dicksucker, oh, I wish that god would die after being his asshole violated by Wise. Think, think, Ren, think what goes under his skin. I needed to escape this... ooh... ooh, that's perfect, that's perfect~" Alastor grinned before he cackled to himself. Alastor slowly grinned before he stared at himself and cackled at what his former human self looked like. The claws in his hand started to slowly retract before his teeth turned pearly white, and his monocle turned back to normal glasses.
"Hmm, looks good, feels good, but this..." Alastor/Ren groaned before petting his deer ears and small antlers while growling.
"This is disgusting!" Alastor dropped his smile before groaning again, only for him to cackle again.
"That god sure is ugly as hell to pull a prank like this on me." Ren twirled his staff around before grinning.
-With Shu-
Shu blew his nose in his throne before rubbing the snot away with his tissue.
"Who the hell is talking about me? Is it that guy?" Shu rubbed his nose before shrugging.
"Oh well, I don't care so much have more important god shit to do." Shu picks up a collar and a whip in his hands and smirks as he looks over at one of his harem members... Elysia... the rest is up to your imagination.
-With Ren-
Ren stood in front of the video store with his grin while wearing a hat to cover the deer ears and the antlers that the shitty god gave him.
-With Belle-
The lights suddenly dimmed as the equipment started to whir slowly before a tape could be heard falling to the floor in the store. The radio suddenly turned on in the store as the doors opened.
"Hm? I thought I turned the store to close... and the radio... Wise..." Belle suddenly turned around to Wise, who was already rushing out of the store to see Ren standing there adjusting the radio.
"Well, this place sure has character." Ren grinned before finishing adjusting the radio.
"You're not a customer, what do you want? The sign says close, if you want a tape, you can come back when it's open time... the cameras didn't catch you either." Wise stared at Ren with carefulness in his voice.
The air feels thicker now, like the store is holding its breath. Shadows between the shelves stretch just a little too long.
"Just a bit of a talk, have a bit of fun, listen to a bit of radio." Ren smiled at Wise while fiddling with his staff.
"Well, it seems like you're really not here to do anything; otherwise, this place wouldn't be standing." Wise stared at Ren, who was drumming his fingers against his staff.
"Quite astute of you. Why, I haven't been that entertained since my co-star wanted to team with me for a project! But may I please just say first, I find you two so wildly entertaining, it is quite refreshing to see professionals who haven't been handed instructions before." Ren smiled before walking past Wise and standing near the staircase.
"You know about us?" Wise's eyes widened before Ren gasped and laughed.
"Haha, hahahaha!!! Well, you haven't been the most subtle individuals. This city hums with potential, and you two are right at the centre of the static. I quite want to be with that static." Ren kept on smiling before walking towards Wise now.
"I won't let you hurt anyone." Wise glared at Ren, who was still just laughing and chuckling to himself.
"Oh dearie, when did I say that I would hurt anyone? If I wanted to hurt you, I would've done so already. I'm only here to help." Ren grinned and tapped on his staff.
"We don't need your help. Why do you even want to help us?!" Wise kept his glare on Ren, who was just smiling and walking around the store, checking out various tapes.
"Oh, but why so? Why does anyone do anything? Sheer, absolute boredom! Well, I just wanted to help because you two are so intriguing to me; of course, I won't ask for anything in return. Hm... maybe just one." Ren walked past Wise, only for Wise's eyes to never leave him.
"I ask for your tolerance, to work with me, A nudge when the signal gets too noisy." His smile sharpens. "Nothing you couldn't survive without. But survival isn't the same as winning, is it?"
"And the cost?" Wise narrowed his eyes as Ren just smiled.
"Oh no, no cost, I want to stick around, after all." Ren turned away from Wise before Belle slowly stepped out of the door.
"I heard everything... Wise... name?" Belle questioned Ren, who just grinned at her.
"The name's Ren Kurusu, or you can call me Alastor! Pleasure to be meeting you, sweetheart, quite a pleasure! No, how should we do this?" Ren shook Belle's hands before turning around and smiling.
"You don't bring attention here. You don't touch our clients. And you don't turn this place into a problem. I'm sure you don't want to be a problem, right?" Belle glared at Ren, who just smiled in return.
"So is that a deal?" Ren held out his hand for a handshake before Belle shook her head.
"No, no deals. I still can't trust you quite yet, so I'll ask you for help when we need it, and you can do the same." Belle stated as her glare fell upon Ren, who made his staff in a puff of green smoke while grinning.
"Hmm... fair enough. I'll help when I want to and ask you for help when I want to." Ren shrugged before taking a tape with a smile on his face.
Ren suddenly disappeared into the shadows, making Wise and Belle's eyes widen before they opened the door to see Ren relaxing on the sofa.
"What the hell-" Belle gasped before the screen on the HDD started to flash. Belle swiftly grabbed Ren's collar and glared at him.
"What did you do?" Belle questioned Ren with a glare on her face.
"Oh, please, dearie, I didn't do anything." Ren kept smiling before the screen on the HDD started to flash with a foreign symbol on it.
"Hmph, I thought you would never figure it out. Phaethon!" The voice spoke through the speaker. Belle immediately released Ren and rushed towards the HDD device.
"As you can see, the system is mine now." The voice spoke through the speaker before Belle glared at the screen.
"What do you want?" Belle growled at the screen.
"Ooh, fun." Ren's shadow started flaring up as the person on the screen spoke again.
"What do I want? Simple, I want the code to the strong box." The hacker's voice had a bit of static in it as they stated.
"I'm afraid you've reached your signal~" Ren's voice suddenly rang through the speaker, and the hacker gasped before Belle and Wise could hear keys clacking through the speaker.
"Ren?" Belle suddenly questioned, only for Ren to smirk and eye a certain item before Wise rushed towards it.
"You can repeat yourself all you want about the strongbox, but we're in control here~ let's play then~" Ren held up his staff to his mouth as his grin widened.
"Now, you will tell me what you want with the strongbox, don't even consider closing the computer or resetting it, you little hack~ because I'm not hacking here... It's a takeover of your speaker~" Ren's deer ears started to flicker before blood could be seen dripping down the left side of his mouth that no one noticed.
"I have to say... I'm quite disappointed in you. You use other people to threaten others, when you could take it yourself~ how humiliating." Ren grinned before the hacker's voice blasted through.
"SHUT UP! YOUR CLIENT'S LIVES ARE IN MY HANDS!" The hacker yelled before Ren's grin widened even more.
"Then go ahead, get rid of them. I'd love to see you try. If you do... no leverage, I'll just overtake your entire computer, and you never will get the strongbox's code~" Ren stated coldly before Belle and Wise glared at Ren.
The hacker suddenly stopped as Ren's grin grew wider, while drool started going down his chin, before the line almost went silent.
"Let's begin~ I'm gonna make you wish that you stayed gone~" Ren had a small chuckle before gripping his staff even harder.