The morning after (Mike)

Michael’s everything hurt, that was something that the male was sure of as he slowly dipped in and out of consciousness. Everything slowly came back to him as something kicked his foot, drawing the male form his sleep slowly, along with the voice that was tied to it. Slowly the silver eyes would open, and his nostrils took in the scent of the melted cheese that permeated the air, and his stomachs growling reminded him that he had exerted himself more than originally though. So there was going to be some breakfast in this hovel that the male called a house? Michael grunted under his breath as he pushed himself up, feeling an aching sensation in his lower abdomen, seeing that his shirt was for the most part ruined, grimacing lightly at the prospect. Not that he couldn’t fix the clothes in the first place, that was easy enough within its own right.

In the course of his sleep his ethereal energy had managed to replenish itself, which meant that he could do something with that energy at least. Slowly a small amount of dark purple mist began to emanate from his body as the clothes that were torn began to mend themselves, reforming into their former glory, covering the skin that was lay bare, along with what looked like  a potential small scar on his figure, not that he planned for it to last too long there. So what was for breakfast anyway? Michael let his nostrils take in that scent and all that he could surmise was that they were dealing with some kind of pizza, or whatever smelt like pizza. Pushing himself to his feet, Michael drew in a loud yawn as he looked to Spellstone, a little curious.

He was pleased that his healing spent on the male was not wasted, seeing as Michael hated wasted effort. ’Pizza for breakfast? Well that’s a new one for me.” Michael noted scratching the back of his head lightly, a little curious of the whole concept in general. Not that he would turn down food offered to him, considering that Michael was someone that enjoyed his food as much as anyone. Reaching into the cardboard container, Michael pulled a slice out for himself, looking to Spellstone curiously for a second. ”So, you alright? I healed what I can but I’m not sure I got everything fixed.”

Joshua smiled whenever Michael sat up, and waved him good morning with his fingers. After showing off some of his shape shifter skills and repairing his clothes, to which Joshua had to hide his disappointment, Michael walked towards him - looking as if he had just been brought back from the dead. Again. Joshua smiled again when he seemed grateful for the food, because he'd damn welled better be. It cost him a fortune.

"Pizza for breakfast is a celebratory tradition - do something good? Get rewarded with Pizza for breakfast. " Joshua spoke with his mouth full, seeing as he hadn't eaten in about 20 hours. This pizza was pretty great, it had the type of cheese that just fell of the pizza if you didn't support it at both ends. "And yeah, I'm feeling pretty good - thanks for asking. My chest hurts a little but it's probably just indigestion or somet-' he coughed on the pizza and took a small pause 'Something." Joshua reached to his bed and lifted up the bottle of bright blue liquid, and unscrewed the bottle cap lid. He quickly gulped some down before screwing the lid on once more. "I'm so hungry." he uttered, before taking a fourth slice and moving over to sit on the box in front of his 18 inch TV, crossing over his legs.

"What d'you wanna play? I have 7 games..." he bent down and began rummaging through a box of games. "I have;
- Speedy Zero, it's a racing game only you play as people who can run at like 600 miles per hour.
- Punch'em Punch up! Is a fighting game, it's pretty fun.
- Colonel Cobra is an action game where you fight aliens and make 'moral choices' and stuff, but it isn't multi-player.

The rest are all pretty lame, and half of them don't work any more but yeah, what tickles your fancy."

Joshua listed his favourite of the three, or at least the ones he played the most. He knew that Michael hadn't asked but he didn't want him to leave straight away - he had questions to ask him about stuff that the sorceress had said, like the fact Michael is IMMORTAL and he was sure that Michael had some of his own questions - as she had loosened her lips on some of Joshua's own secrets. Also he didn't mind his company and wanted to get to know his fellow 'Arcane Ass kicker' a little better. Maybe they could joke about the fact that Michael is a zombie and then make love No! No brain, bad! Then they can bond and become friends rather than acquaintances. He turned around to look at Michael while handing him the silver and slightly dodgy second controller.

Heck maybe the only question he'd ask him was how did he live in this hovel.

(This post is actually awful idk wtf happened)

So this was some kind of reward? Michael was somewhat hesitant to believe it, but then again Michael was not the believing type, usually when he rewarded himself it was not pizza for breakfast, but then he remembered that this male was likely….poor as the humans said it.. Sure he tended to reward himself with food, but that was mostly some contrived way of saying that he was a gift to the world or something along those lines, not anything worth actual celebration. Not that he had done anything for the world as a whole, considering humanity would know nothing about the destroyed dragon, the subspace having collapsed as soon as the sorceress and dragon were dead, Michael barely able to escape with the mage in tow.

Taking a bite of the pizza, Michael let out a low satisfied hum as he chewed the rather cheesy pizza. Okay, it was kind of a reward though he would have preferred ice cream, Michael did love ice cream.  Sure the cheese falling off the pizza slightly did annoy Michael, he had a feeling that this was the male pushing the budget so to speak. ”I’m not that hungry.” Michael noted taking another bite of the pizza, not going into the fact that he did not need to eat, sleep or even breathe. He was what one would call a perfect immortal being, and Michael did pride in that, not that he felt like rubbing it in another humans face; felt in poor taste when you were working with them.

Watching the male’s movements, he seemed to take a swig of some blue liquid before moving to another location and sat down in front of the television. He mentioned something about video games, which caught Michael’s interest, considering that he still had a thing for video games. Not that he was amazing at them mind you, but they were something that he found sufficient to pass the time. ”I like the sound of the fighting game.” Mike noted rubbing his chin lightly before taking a seat beside male, crossing his legs and letting his hands rest in his lap. Looking to the rather bad looking controller handed to him, Michael took it and examined the thing for a moment, acquainting himself with the buttons and then waiting for the game to start or whatever.

”So I have to tell ya, haven’t played this game; so try to take it easy on me.” He said joking, even though he was expecting to get beaten the first few times around.

So all he would have to do is rapidly press buttons until gaining some kind of desired effect. The whole punching someone through the earth’s core was a rather novel idea, so he would have to see if he could perform such a move. Well, if he could get a hang of the control scheme in the first place, which felt like it would be a little difficult at first. Joshua would chose some form of lizard woman, so Michael would chose some kind of ninja character with a rather contrived sounding name that was a play on words for freezing or something. Then conversation started, though Michael was more than ready to just beat this guy in the fighting game. So it was something about what the glowing woman had said? His mind ran over everything that she had said and it was rather simple, the fact that he was immortal.

Would he be curious of how to ascertain this immortality or was it something else entirely? ”No, I’m really immortal.” Michael noted looking to Spellstone to gauge his reaction, see if he would be surprised as any human would be when dealing with an immortal. ”Don’t need to eat, breath, or sleep. Not that I can’t do those things, I just don’t really need to.” Michael added for the simple fact of explanation as he waited for the game to start. ”So, why live in a place like this? You could likely find somewhere nicer to live, so why here?”

Ah, so this whole set up was more out of pity from the woman above them? Michael considered that as the game started, his own character saying some sort of cheesy line and twirling the nun-chuck made of ice rather skillfully. The fact that everything was scripted was obvious, though there was a certain charm about it, which reminded him why he loved fighting games. Fingers played along the buttons on the controller trying to get used to the game that they were playing, testing out certain moves while trying not to die. It took half of his health bar to really get used to the game but at that point he was putting up one hell of a fight. ”Well if you are ever in need of a better place, I’m always willing to help a friend.” Michael said this as if it were nothing, eyes still stuck upon the screen. Did he consider Spellstone a friend of his? That was good question and one that Michael was unsure if he could answer.

Then came the question about Raziel, one that he was unsure that he could answer. How much could he tell the human about the ancient ethereal? There was only so much that he could tell without giving away a lot of important information, information that Raziel would make him bleed for. ”Raziel? Well….he’s someone that helped me out, he’s like me; immortal I mean but he’s much older. I would have to venture to say that he’s millennia old.” Michael admitted as his character was knocked down by one of the reptiles tongue based attacks. ”I’m not his pawn though, the bitch was just playin around with me.” He growled lightly upon saying bitch.

”So who is your family? Is it one of those magical families I’ve heard so much about or another one? Why aren’t you welcome at your home anymore?”

So the male would deny his rather…rare offer? Not that Michael really cared that he did deny it, considering that he would have likely regretted doing so later. Granted helping a powerful ally would have proven fruitful within the long run, so there were some risks he would have been willing to take. ”Whatever floats your boat.” He never really understood the saying but he understood the context of it, and that was enough to use it really, even if he sounded somewhat lame. A smile formed upon the male’s face, which meant that something he had said pleased him to some degree, which was good he supposed.

”Well I am no one’s pawn, especially to some two-bit mage with a little power.” The way that he seemed to copy Michael’s in how he said bitch did annoy the male some, but not enough to really draw any sort of rise from him, as his character attempted to hit the reptilian woman with his weapon. Then came the answer to his question, which was his family and why they did not really welcome him home. Had he done something that was so unforgivable or was it simply a great difference in opinions?

One thing he knew was that he had never heard of the Ashling family, considering his dad only spoke of the major four and a few of the minor houses. He would likely not go out of his way to tell about his interesting family, but then again considering that they were all being honest here, he could give a last name. ”What’s it like being immortal? I cannot really answer that one, since I’m not that old myself. Haven’t lived long enough to really go through any downsides, but it has its perks. You get to see everything change around you, see so many amazing things.” Michael noted as his character was knocked back.

”So, what prompted you to start in the hero business? Why do you go out of your way to save people and stuff like that? Is it for the press coverage or something else?”

So one of the reasons that he went around helping people was because of some strange fuzzy feeling in the pit of his stomach? Soo there was gloating and then some kind of personal satisfaction that he got form this whole heroing thing, while Michael did not quite like being heroic; there was just no pay off to it. Proving their family wrong however, that was something that he could get, even if Michael did not quite feel like he had to do that when it came to his family. ”How did I get started? Well I suppose you could say that our little run in at the bank was my first official stint of heroing.” Michael noted taking count of his fighters health, which was beginning to plummet, faster than the scaled females.

He was not the model hero, no, Michael was more of what you called a criminal and so doing heroic things was out of his norm. While the ethereal was capable of doing good, he just did not feel like doing so most of the time, finding it bothersome and things of that nature. The fact that the male had called it the human thing to do only amused Michael, seeing as how he was not in the least human.”So, why do you call yourself Spellstone? Is it some sort of catchy name or is there some kind of stone, or what?”

So his power came from some kind of stone? That made Michael wonder if the male himself was naturally without magical power or he was making a comparison. This was something Michael had to think over as his character gave the female an icy uppercut of some kind, mind thinking over everything that what he said suggested. Well at least Michael knew why the males family did not want to have him around, considering that he had stolen such a powerful magical artifact, something that many would not out of their grasp; hell he would not want something like that being stolen from him. ”I suppose it would make someone a god.” Michael mused lightly, something about the idea of godhood seeming to interest him, but Michael would not let that show. Then came a rather interesting topic, the place they had traveled through.

”Interesting story that is. It’s a subspace highway that goes through another realm called The Abyss. The Abyss is a realm that is literally filled with death, or an element called Nether, I passed through it to decrease the travel time.” Michael explain rather simply, as the fight seemed to be drawing to a close. ”So basically I brought you through a dimension of death and decay,a lot of fun.” Michael added as a sort of a joke, even if it were not a laughing matter. He paused for a moment, thinking something over while his fingers went into auto pilot, pressing buttons as his character reacted. ”Well, I don’t really jabe any more questions, so, tell me a little about yourself.” Michael said as the onscreen fight seemed to be coming to a close.