Chapter 86: Antonio, The Pope

Fuck, this is tiring. 

I forgot what it felt like to be the pope. To stand amongst a crowd using the gifts the goddess gave me to help. Feeding the poor, giving back to them, healing them. 

It was... therapeutic in a way. Felt like a rush to be actively using my powers. 

"Pope, the next one is here to see you," the random priest who had been following me around since I came back to the church said, gesturing to an old lady, with graying hair and missing teeth. She looked like she had lived a full life. She was plump, with rosy cheeks and a bright smile. I was curious to ask her about her life. I bet it's an interesting tale. 

I took her hand, a smile on my face, and activated my powers. It was a slow trickle that soon turned into a river, rushing through her and healing anything it deemed wrong in its path. It took a few minutes, healing arthritis and a lump on her back, before it came back to me, settling in like a chill. 

"There, how's that?"

"I feel... better than I have in years! Thank you!" She kissed my hand, as was customary, and it took everything in me to not wipe away her saliva. 

"Goddess bless you," I said, discreetly wiping my palm on my robe, hands clasped behind me. 

Her smile-- teeth all accounted for and shining white-- nearly blinded me. 

"Your holiness, the next one--" And on and on it went until I was exhausted. I swatted at the rando, anger lacing my words when I begged (read: demanded) a break. "I can't remember the last time I ate."

"You ate at nine-thirty-three this morning, and you had waffles, fresh fruits, a smoothie, and scrambled eggs topped with cheese," he informed me because, of course, he knew that. "I will allow you a brief intermission." 

Wait. 

Hold the fuck up. 

allow me?

Fucking ALLOW ME?

Oh, this bitch is dead. 

Read my handwriting, mini-pope. 

D. E. A. D. 

Naturally, after such a comment, I quit for the day, beggers be damned, and went back to my chambers (yet again different, resembling the room I found in the corridor), and I screamed into my pillow.