Chapter 36 “Meanwhile in Heaven...”

Heaven. Third Circle. Office One, one of the sub-offices. Self-proclaimed "Bring Your Dummy to Work Day."

There is no crime in Heaven, only conflict of interest.

A dark, lonely room, the dimmed lights making it seem frighteningly small. The gigantism familiar to any Righteous was gone, leaving them once again in grayness, once again representing the pettiness and short-termism of the soul's life on Earth. This room, which looked like a simple office for paperwork, now resembled an interrogation room where God Himself was the interrogator.

There is no enmity in Heaven, only misunderstandings.

- ...and now, you and I, dear Thomas Martinez, must resolve that misunderstanding. - said Adam, the First Man, calmly, with his hand folded across his chest. - After all, my previous suggestion that you be given a test of God in the form of me punching you in the face, you unwisely declined, so ....

The righteous octopus, with its red shell, tentacles expressed nervousness. Its eyes raced across the darkness of the room, dropping to an empty table, lit as if by the only lamp in the room, only partially illuminating the image of a tall man wearing a terrifying mask that now bore a truly terrifying soft smile. The false benevolence and joy in his eyes were frightening to the simple Angel, who in this century had decided to deal with the water part of the Universe.

"Father, Thomas is not guilty of anything, for he was ignorant, but even so his punishment, if such a thing can be classed as innocent at all, he still.... " - Adam's second son, Abel, who stood near the table, tiredly spoke, or rather repeated what he had already said, seeing the Righteous One's fear and giving him strength by the light of his soul.

Adam, as he had been doing for the last half an hour, did not pay attention to his son's words, continuing to smile sweetly, looking intently at the actively "sweating" octopus.

"You were the one in that park, weren't you?" - Adam said softly, placing a folder of photographs taken with the Eye of Aphanim on the table. They showed, from the air, Thomas, along with a black-haired naked woman rushing across the bridge, moments of Thomas' work before the 'incident' and a couple moments afterward as he rushed to the aid of a drowned soul and personally retrieved her from the bottom.

"Nothing..." - Adam shook his head, causing Righteous to squeeze his head into his shoulders. - "You've been through a lot of stress, so many souls to attend to and what a surprise it would be if one of them turned out to be an old Christ in an ushanka hat that could beg you to do as she asks..." - Adam nodded briefly, to Abel's tired sighs.

The room, an ordinary office where Valkyries known throughout Heaven worked, was now filled with tension, as if Octopus's soul were at the Last Judgment.

...And he was not a good man. That's what it seemed to Thomas.

"Father..." - Abel exhaled, leaning against the wall, folding his arms across his chest. Instead of his usual "work" uniform, he wore a yellow sweatshirt that encased the Second Son's muscular physique, jeans of the latest earthly fashion, gold "sneakers" of the latest fashion, and a slightly tired, irritated, and agitated expression.

This was not what Abel expected when his Father called him to "his work."

"I want to help you." - Adam leaned over to the silent Righteous One, speaking encouragingly. - "You have to trust me so we can put all the pieces of this mosaic together and punish the unworthy." - Adam clenched his fist confidently, nodding. - "Don't worry, I'm just trying to help you, Thomas!" - Adam looked around the darkened room with feigned indignation, as if searching the mute walls for an answer.

The righteous man squirmed even tighter, almost pulling all of his 'facial' tentacles into himself as Abel let out another, but clearly not the last, heavy sigh of annoyance.

" Father, he's already confessed..."

" You don't seem to fully understand your position, though." - Adam pressed on, his voice changing abruptly to a more threatening tone. - "You almost caused the Second Fall, almost overthrew the Mother of Mankind, driving her mad." - Adam pressed and pressed his voice, keeping his golden-eyed gaze fixed on the Righteous One, who was shaking in terror before the First Father.

"No, please...!" - desperately exclaimed the soul, with trembling hands, under Abel's sad and sympathetic gaze, leaning on the table. - "I-I didn't know-I really, by God and all the Seven Heavens, I really didn't know that the First Mother had a fear of water, if--I thought--" - The Righteous One breathed heavily, looking at Adam with despair.

Instead of answering, when Abel himself wanted to intervene again, Adam slammed a new black folder sharply against the table, this time closed, but from which some photos and documents were almost falling out. Blank forms and drawings of bored Valkyries, but the rest of us, except Adam, didn't need to know that.

" Eight fucking minutes underwater!" - At Adam's blow, everyone in the room jumped in place, and the First himself rose from his chair. - "You acted for sure, didn't you?" - Adam walked slowly around the table like a predatory beast to its shrunken prey.

"Was it ignorance?" - With a heavy step, Adam made the Righteous Octopus shrink fearfully into the chair. - "Humbleness?" - Adam was half a step away from Righteous.

"She was alone, begging for mercy," Adam jabbed a finger at Righteous' lowered head. - "but you denied such a 'petty' fear of a poor soul time and time again!" - with each word, Adam pressed his voice harder, jabbing his finger near the Righteous One's head.

"Please don't..." - whispered the Righteous One in a trembling voice.

" Father, stop..." - exclaimed Abel more angrily, sparks of flame beginning to ignite at the tips of his long brown hair.

"Fine." - Adam spread his hands, sharply changing his tone to a friendlier one. - "Okay, let's not." - Adam followed the 'beaten path' back to the table, taking a seat in a chair.

" You'll be fine... " - at Adam's words, Righteous and Abel sighed . - "...but apparently you don't fucking get it...!" - Adam spoke sharply, leaning over to the newly tense Righteous Man.

Abel rolled his eyes tiredly, running his palm over his face and resting his halo against the wall with a quiet groan.

" You keep quiet and they'll open you up and pick at your soul." - Adam's soft voice began to change shape again, becoming ominous. - "They will destroy you, Thomas." - Adam's grim words knocked the Righteous One out of breath, staring at Adam with a haggard gaze as he tried to find his son in the darkness.

" Listen..." - Adam's words, again abruptly changing his tone to a softer one, drew Thomas's intimidated eyes once more, watching the First's every action with a trembling gaze. - "I'm not judging." - Adam shook his head, smiling understandingly at the Righteous One who looked at him with desperate incomprehension. - "I'm not your enemy..." - Adam straightened, opening his arms in an inviting gesture. -" But you must tell the truth..." - Adam smiled softly.

" Or..." - Abel muttered doomedly, rubbing the bridge of his nose, wanting to end this torture for an innocent soul as soon as possible.

"You will suffer." - Adam nodded, turning his head toward his son, and immediately looked at the Righteous One. - "Until you confess, tell us everything we need to know." - Adam spoke softly, leaning in.

Abel sighed, moving away from the wall, slowly approaching Thomas, who had almost reached a nervous breakdown.

" But I've already told Supreme Seraphim, Lord Raphael, and you personally, First Father!" - exclaimed the Righteous Octopus hysterically. - "I agree that I shouldn't have done what I did, I accepted my punishment, I..." the Righteous One gesticulated incoherently, trying to somehow "get through" to the First, who was staring intently at the Righteous Octopus.

"It's okay, New Soul, it's okay." - Abel smiled reassuringly, putting his hands on Thomas's shoulders, covering his soul with his light, calming and restoring the Angel's mental powers. - "Nothing will happen to you and everything...bad..." - Abel's smile twisted in irritation and his eyes shot to the still 'sweetly' smiling Adam, resting his head on his palms crossed in a lock. - "is over and you can go home."

Abel hadn't heard a word against it from his Father, so he took it upon himself to help the frightened soul that had indeed "hurt" his mother when she first entered Paradise, but clearly didn't deserve it....

" Of course, Brave Soul, of course." - Adam nodded, standing up as he did so, still smiling. - "It's just..." - Adam stepped almost right up to Righteous, leaning in, with a more sinister smile, frowning his eyebrows and squinting his holo-eyes, and said. - "I want you to remember not to behave around the Mother of Mothers, descendant." - Adam spat out the last word, using it more as a taunt than an honorable acknowledgment.

"T-that's right, First Father! " - the shaking of Thomas's body had almost stopped, but his voice was still shaking. - "I'll remember this for the rest of eternity!"

"And don't forget to change your behavior toward the souls you work with! " - Adam smiled broadly with a gentle smile, covering his eyes as he almost chanted those words, seeing off the virtually fleeing Righteous One, who was taken under the arm of his son.

"MUST!" - were the words of the Righteous Octopus before Abel, still looking at his Father with judgmental eyes, led the soul with him back to Thomas's house.

Adam only grinned then, looking bitterly after his son and the soul that...in all truth, had done nothing. Adam sighed heavily, flicking the light back on to some office of his, illuminating a seated Lut without a 'work' helmet, working with his Division's paperwork.

" Sir." - Adama nodded to Lut. - "Minutes made, report written." - The Lieutenant said, staring blankly at the backs of the departing Righteous. - "All paperwork sorted and finalized." - Lut spoke clearly, almost saluting Adam, who waved his hand.

"Never mind counting those crumbs..." - Adam said in a heavy voice taking the stacked pile, taking a quick glance through it, identifying categories and types of waste paper.

"Sir." - Lut nodded, rising from her chair and saluting him, immediately settling in beside him, ready to act on his every command. - "I and the Shield Sisters are required to attend to this shower...?" - Lute's smooth, clear voice did not give off the usual sarcasm or aggressiveness. She was only 'politely' offering a solution to his irritation.

"Leave the poor soul alone." - Adam waved his hand, wrinkling his nose. - " I've already unnecessarily abused the poor guy, no need to traumatize him...even more than I came out. " Adam shrugged, receiving a short nod from Lut. - "Now, Tits, where do we go from here?" - Adam exhaled tiredly as Lut checked her notebook for their "schedule" today.

No, the First didn't need to work, not by a long shot. The Seraphim had, for some fucking century, kept their word and had actually given Adam a fucking vacation. It had happened... After the first Rebellion, the Second... A couple more times, each one smaller and smaller, clearly forecasting the gradual degradation and nepotism Paradise had wallowed in....

Adam chuckled softly, slowly removing his helmet, which immediately dissolved into golden light. Adam and Lute took off, leaving the confines of the office, heading not for the Supreme Seraphim, where they almost flew out of habit, but for...

His family. To Abel, who would berate his 'negligent and overly abusive Father'. To Sifu, who would clearly stand as a bridge of "peace" between them, while Adam, just kidding and hooting gladly, would justify his behavior by some necessity there... To Eve.

Adam still, after so many measly months, can't believe she's back. Every time Adam is sure of it, when he "goes through his arch," as Eina says she seems to be even more obsessed with these "cartoons," the First lets himself relax, and later wakes up from nightmares, or is tormented by paranoia.

Because Adam, his family, can't have a good time, can't have a fucking "happily ever after." Only pathetic scraps, only half of what's needed, only the unfinished part of what's needed.

To Earth, his Kingdom, the Cradle of Mankind, Evil was let in, desecrating the Design, leaving only a half-finished handiwork. Adam and Eve fell together - they had children, the first of humans, but soon the Elder killed the Younger, aggravating the Earth. Adam and Eve have new children - with each generation they become weaker, lose their "God roots", becoming only a shadow of the "Primordials" who can live, if not forever like the Angels, then a very long time like Adam himself.

Adam felt with all his soul that here.....

"...forgive...Lord One?" - A quiet voice, on the verge of Adam's attention, interrupted the important mental flow. Golden eyes fell lazily on the figure of a wolf-dog, wearing a black jacket, jeans, whose muzzle-face was strangely... 'safe'.

Adam could already smell the fun that would follow this next "attempt to drink the wisdom" of his First Dick, and not in a good and pleasant way. Rather, in the most fucked up and unpleasant way possible. Terribly constant and annoying.

"Wha-what?" - Adam replied neutrally, summoning from the golden light one of his favorite drinks of the last century, Coke. The righteous wolf-dog shrugged in his shoulders, taking a couple seconds to gather courage as Adam and Lute prepared themselves mentally. Other souls wanted to approach too, and not for the First Father's good advice.

Adam sighed. He realized that these were just ignorant souls, that they were probably just recently arrived in Heaven, wondering about everything, but...

- You see, I've heard that you, as the first father, can be asked, that is, to tap into your wisdom, and also..." the Righteous Dog-Wolf began to speak hastily, occasionally swallowing sounds, gradually leading to another dumb question. Lut moved slightly away from Adam, starting to look around the street, and the First sipped loudly from the glass through the straw.

"Short and to the point." - Adam shouted, clearly offended by the soul's twitching ears and slumped shoulders.

...These Righteous Ones just walked up to him on the street, like almost all other souls like them! Didn't even buy him food like William and a couple of other wise souls had done! Adam still won't tell them to fuck off, but he'll get even in his own way....

"...I, a man of science and reason, wanted to know everything..." - said the Wolf Dog with a sigh as Adam sighed. - "Do you have a belly button? Pardon me for asking, but in various images, both artistic and extant..." - The Righteous One hastily began to correct himself before a raised palm interrupted him.

" I have a fucking navel, just like everyone else my dick has spawned." - Adam bellowed, sipping another Coke, immediately calming down. A little. Lut was doing her job, looking "angry and important," her eyes going over the nearest souls, trying to discourage them from wanting to "learn the wisdom of the First" from the approach.

She was succeeding, but today it was as if the souls had been paid, which made a small crowd gather near the Wolf-dog, attentively "silent", which also surprised Adam's words.

" Ah...won't you show me...?" - Cautiously raised a clawed finger at Wolf Dog, whose tail swayed vigorously. - "I'm sorry, I mean... But didn't God create you without that rudiment that is inherent only to those born of a woman? Doesn't that mean you shouldn't have a belly button..." - The Righteous One asked the "new-old" question, hurriedly trying to put three thoughts into one word. Adam could have published a book consisting of just these questions with answers, but he was too lazy to do it every time.

" And there is one." - Adam shrugged, sipping from his pipe, looking up at the sky and figuring out his next route.

"...But God...?" - said Wolf-Dog, surprised.

"And there is no God, simple as that." - Adam nodded his head, eliciting a collective sigh of surprise and indignation.

" ...Excuse me, but doesn't that contradict...?" surprise took over from reverence and fear, causing the Fool, as Adam had labeled him to himself, to become indignant

"The Angels created everything, I'm just the first monkey to get consciousness, through all of evolution, lucky for Heaven." - Adam shrugged, allowing himself to enjoy the surprised faces of the surrounding souls, clutching the empty glass, turning it into ashes that scattered to the wind. Lute, who understood the signal, prepared to fly.

" But what about Eden...?!" - Cocksucker was outraged, almost shouting as the other Righteous prepared to ask their questions.

" That's what my toilet was called." - Adam smiled softly, spreading his wings and taking off in a burst of power, scattering the assembled souls slightly, along with Lute, leaving a cloud of dust, bewildered Righteous and just Adam's bad mood behind him, the latter only for a while.

"The High Seraphim will not be happy about this new 'street incident'." - flatly, though Adam could definitely hear the bitch's amusement, muttered Lute, striving to maintain 'officiousness' even in this situation.

" I'm not a fucking machine that turns their stupidity and fucking stupidity into answers for the Universe." - Adam barked, orienting himself to the 'fire' that still caused a little alarm as he let his wife go somewhere. - "Let them either read for themselves, at least do something useful, or don't fuck with me with stupid questions." - Adam rolled his eyes, not wanting to look at the sneering Lut.

"At least no ribs, Sir?" - said in a cheerful voice Asshole said, skillfully hiding that behind a workmanlike tone. Adam flapped the nearest wing a little harder towards Lut, the airflow slightly disturbing her position in the air, which she quickly corrected, instantly leveling off and returning to her original position. - "Whatever you say, Sir." - Lut grinned, clearly provoking Adam.

Not out of malice, but rather she saw that Adam was... brooding, upset? Adam himself understood his assistant's intent, but he was personally unwilling to admit that his "Second Honeymoon" had...darkened towards the end.

Yes, it had been a year since the "Return of the First Mother", yes it had been a long time since Adam and Eve, to whom he and Lute were flying to, had spent together... Yes, Adam had been actively helping Raphael and his wife with "mental problems" as the kids of today would say....

Even so, all those "Trials of God", literally his entire life story told Adam that all was not well with Eve, his beloved wife, that nothing was over yet, that...

"Is that what you want to talk about, Adam?" - Lut asked softly, gently placing her palm on Adam's shoulder, looking straight ahead.

"..."-usually, or rather since he realized that his wife would not 'return' with him to Heaven, Adam did not want to involve anyone else in his personal problems, but now... When Raphael himself says that he needs to undergo 'psychological treatment' as well.... - "Say, Lut..." - Adam's words weren't sarcastic, the tone didn't suggest a note of humor or the usual irony. Now, flying 

above the white clouds, with the wind enveloping them, the safeguarding conversation between them

" ...You think this whole situation could fuck, too?" - Adam asked quietly, looking tiredly at the equally serious Lut. - "Fuck shit up the world, like Original Sin or Ancient Babylon?" - Adam's words, so simply stated such horrible events ringing in Lut's soul with long-standing anxieties and losses. The lieutenant shook her head.

" Every day, Sir." - Lut and Adam hovered in the air, enjoying the opening landscape of the Golden City from above. - "William says the danger still lurks in Mistress Eve's memories." - Lute wrinkled her nose and Adam continued to gaze up at the City. - "'Thousands of years of agony and horror would drive anyone mad,' as William himself said, which is why he sealed almost all of your wife's memories." - Lute fell silent, formulating the exact words of the memories of the last meeting.

" That is what Raphael and I have already determined, but what does William himself say about it?" - Adam said thoughtfully, letting the usual sarcasm into his voice, causing Lut to smile faintly.

" Her soul is still not 'hardened' as William said." - Lute said, watching Adam's face carefully as he looked around the Golden City for "something". She knew exactly who. - "'Only with support, understanding and, most importantly, a gradual uncovering of the past, will Eve be able to survive her nightmare and come out of it without falling into hell.'" - Lut exhaled, catching the attentive gaze of the First Man's golden eyes.

"...Slowly you say..." - whispered Adam, blinking slowly, looking again at a certain point in the Golden City, where he sensed his wife. - "And Raphael recommended that we leave those memories untouched, 'digging' only into the safest ones and only then deciding on the others..." - A small smile appeared on Adam's face, while Lut tried to consider what Adam was seeing.

" Sir, I don't mean to disturb you, but..." - Lut said excitedly as she began to prepare herself for the descent.

"I know without you, Psycho." - Adam grinned, changing body position in an instant and diving in a direction he knew only too well. Without further ado, Lut flew after him.

...

"...just outrageous, I expected this from Lord One, but from you...?!" - from a distance, from behind the ajar doors of the Sin Research Department, came the cry of the newly "employed" Righteous One.

The beautiful, smooth, almost monolithic finish of the administrative part of Paradise, the Second Circle had recently made a "modernization", once again changing the finish of its buildings. This time the purple part of the color palette was predominant. Different shades pleasing to the eye filled the 'edgy' and 'geometric' architecture of Paradise in recent years.

"Fucking modernists have infiltrated our home Hearing Hall as well, starting to change the architecture of Paradise... Not for the first time, but these nits have started doing it too often in the last centuries...", Adam thought spaceily as he looked at the new Department buildings, flying up to the entrance with Lut.

"No, agree it was fun!" - replied an energetic female voice, eliciting a new groan of either pain or annoyance.

This was exactly the picture Adam and Lute caught, having decided to end the workday early. They walked down to a bored Sif, nodding peacefully to both angels, and a nervous Abel, clearly preparing to 'storm' into the office to defend his mother's honor.

" ...I've only been gone a couple hours and she's already managed to fuck someone up?" - Adam grinned, holding back a burst of laughter, if not for Abel's sake, then just to share it with his wife when she came out. - "New record, fuck it." - Adam spoke in a laughing voice as Lut, habitually, stepped behind his left shoulder, hands tucked behind his back.

" Good day to you too, Father." - Sif nodded, leaning against the wall, looking melancholically at the door where the shouting continued.

" ...You're the First Mother, how can you even...?!" - The "trainee" Righteous One had obviously recently arrived in Heaven, having not yet tasted all the "delights" of a measured eternity and those "Ancient Ones" like Adam.

"But I already said those drawings on the paper were mine..." - The woman's voice trailed off, admitting some of the guilt.

"Because of those drawings, our Department needs to redo a week's worth of work!" - shouted the voice of the Intern.

"Tell me she just fucked up some paperwork somewhere." - Adam folded his arms across his chest, sitting against the wall next to Sif, dressed in his typical tight-fitting toga over a turtleneck and some pants. All in dark beige colors.

" They had been yelling and cursing for twenty minutes. I only came up recently, but even then the screams were identical." - Abel spoke excitedly, rubbing his left forearm. - "I told you, Father, that you were a bad influence on Mother..." - Abel turned his head toward Adam, looking reproachfully at his father.

" I support the Elder." - Sif nodded, more to keep him company than to be truly angry with Adam, who sighed as Lute frowned at him.

" I've told you a hundred thousand times that Eve and I are one and the same and how would I..." - Adam dragged out the words, really trying not to swear, concentrating more on 'sending' positive emotions to Eve through their bond, the 'thread of souls', reminding her that he had come. He annoyed his children out of habit. So they wouldn't relax.

"That Mommy would have 'become you' sooner or later is understandable..." - Sif massaged the bridge of his nose as Abel turned back to the fading shouts from behind the door. - "But which one, God forgive me..." - Sif sighed, looking tiredly at Adam.

" I forgive you." - Adam grinned, and Sif groaned.

" ...Why the fuck should I and Abel blush for you two, my parents?" - Sif let irritation creep into his voice, his eyes more tired than angry.

"It's called growing up, Peter," Adam patted his third son on the shoulder, staring at him with unblinking eyes.

"No, I thought with Mother's return this millennia-long joke would be over, but what the hell..." - Sif let the accumulated stress escape, snapping at his understanding father until they were interrupted by the doors swinging open.

" Bye, Mr. Ali!" - Eve waved to the soul outside the doors, smiling widely with an almost genuine smile.

She was a tall woman with a waterfall of black silk hair, above which peacefully floated a light pink halo with three crosses "embedded" in the hoop of the halo, the middle one being slightly darker than the others, looking more like a cross with barely noticeable "scuffs"-scratches of light. A white dress, revealing a folded belly, passing into a small slit at the bare feet, decorated with small golden disks, interlocking at the toes of the feet.

"That's not my name, I fucking called it and didn't...!" - the sound of Righteous' voice was abruptly interrupted by the door closing as the perpetrator of the incident looked at her family with joy.

" Abel, Sif!" - The mother's broad smile swept away Abel's earlier worries in an instant and dispelled Sif's irritation. Both brothers nodded to their mother with relief, and in Sif's case, gratitude, as she "carried" into her husband's arms.

"Honey!" exclaimed Eve, flying on her light pink wings right into Adam's arms, who opened them without a second thought, barely sensing his wife's familiar emotions.

"Eve." - Adam stretched out gently, hugging his wife habitually. - "What is it this time?" - grinned the First Man, feeling his wife look away.

"Mother got involved with the Sin Research Department for some reason, asked to help them with their work, ended up screwing up their paperwork. You and Lut have heard the result, and I'll have to make up the department's expenses." - Sif gave a quick report, getting a cheerful nod from Adam as he clutched Eve tighter in his arms.

"I honestly tried to stop Mother's impulses, but my strength was not enough." - The First Heir waved his hands, looking tiredly at Adam and the woman clinging to him.

"What does the woman responsible have to say about that?" - Adam said happily, stroking the woman's head.

"...I wanted to help them with the paperwork? " - Eve replied in a weak voice, lifting her head from her husband's chest, receiving Adam's quiet laughter.

"Definitely not in any way unrelated to V..." - Adam said in a laughing voice, interrupted only by his son.

"As pleasant as what's going on is, I'd recommend we all leave the place whose employees want us, if not strung up on the nearest branch, then clearly not peacefully listening to your pleasantries." - Sif said irritably in a raised voice, looking at his father and mother, then at the windows of the building.

" ...I also don't like the way that angel in the nun's cassock is looking at me..." - Abel shivered, walking around his parents, standing so that they were between him and the scary eyes from the window. - "Archangel Virgil has been talking about his former coworkers and I have common sense fears for..."

" Alright, the First Family is going on a Crusade!" - Adam shouted, enveloping "his" souls with his wings and carrying them in a golden glow... somewhere in the First Circle. Adam let his imagination pick the place, and his subconscious mind, as that weird twisted angel Fred wrote...

"Is it a meat restaurant?" - Abel asked in surprise, looking perplexed, then at his Father, then at the restaurant sign that glowed strangely.

"No, according to Fred, I have a problem with potency when it comes to food, although that's not certain..." Adam thought, and gestured for Lut to go ahead and check out the menu, while Adam held Eve tightly, holding Abel and Seth with his wings.

" We can be released now, Father, thank you." - Sif made a tactical remark about the lack of close contact with his dad, to which Adam gave him a reassuring pat on the back, eliciting a tired sigh.

" And I don't mind, it's been a long time since we've had a hug like this!" - Eve smiled, also trying to wrap her wings around her sons, creating a whimsical golden-pink soft hemisphere.

" You and Father hugged me and my children so exactly last week..." - Sif muttered, but still not accepting any attempts to break free, knowing full well the strength of his father's grip.

" Stop whining and just enjoy your time with your parents, ungrateful Alexander." - Adam shook his head, noticing the figure of Lut, who nodded approvingly at her Commander.

"What else can you think of?" - Sif asked in a steady voice, letting his body hang down, wings supporting Abel, who was in this part of the City for the first time since the style of architecture had changed.

"We're going to go eat ribs, Seth!" - Eve exclaimed, throwing her fist forward, to the heavy and long sigh of Seth, who was being patted on the back encouragingly by Abel's wing.

" Seth is one of the many descendants of Cain who died in the First Hell Rising, Mother." - Seth rubbed the bridge of his nose, whose halo blinked with a golden light, sharply brighter. Eve lowered her head thoughtfully, but Adam only shook his whole family, eliciting general gasps, to the approving smile of Lute.

"Fuck all thoughts of bad and-or past, the 'Holy Ribs' of my name are waiting for us!" " Adam exclaimed happily, to a nod from Lut and a joyous squeal from Eve.

"Isn't that the place you almost blew away while you were flying after your mother?" - Sif asked in a calm voice, and Adam could hear the joke in his tone.

" I'm Adam the First and this is my favorite meat restaurant in this part of the Golden City!" - Adam nodded proudly, echoing the First's voice from the halls of the room.

" For crying out loud..." - Sif slumped his shoulders, inhaling the pleasant vapors of the roast meat, to the approving hum of his Father.

"God bless this place." - Abel nodded in agreement, his eyes immediately finding the menu as Lut picked a table for them.

" Blessings." - Adam grinned at Sif's painful groan as he followed Lut.

Only the silent Eve, staring first at herself and then eating the meat without a word, occasionally nodding at her sons' words, did not add to Adam's mood or calmness.

Lute, as well as her Commander, noticed the uncharacteristic behavior of Adam's wife, carefully, in her own way, trying to shake her up.

Questions about her sexual preferences, what kind of... "cartoons" Eve liked, but she hadn't touched them yet, for Adam had kept them away, what kind of purses, clothes... Adam kindly let Lut conduct this strange dialog, talking to his sons, inquiring about their affairs and listening to Abel's expected lamentations about his cruelty....

" Did that Squid suffer?" - Eve asked innocently, her tone changing slightly, just a drop, apparently unnoticed by anyone but Adam. His sons, along with Lute, began to outline the general situation with Adam's Inquisition, which was looking for all those who had 'interfered' with the First Mother on her first day...

When Adam got his hands on them, the dossiers on every "guilty" soul were on his desk on day one, he just didn't care about them for obvious reasons.

Like the "honeymoon" with his returned wife, whom he hadn't seen for almost ten thousand years, explaining the details of his personal life to Eve, which she accepted surprisingly easily, giving her "blessing" as soon as the First One himself "let her in" too....

"Is this meat and blood?" - Eve clapped her blue eyes shut, smiling sweetly, laughing at Lut's last joke about some cartoons. Lut arched an eyebrow in surprise, nodding. - "You know that in the fifth century New Age, in the southern part of the Earth there was an occurrence of..." - Eve was saying odd things, throwing off the pace and mood of the table somewhat, until Adam turned the topic into a joke, paving the way with a laugh and issuing something between "I'm the First Dick" and "Did you know that in Eden, people didn't have the need to go to the bathroom?".

As always, it worked, and Eve... "went back to normal," as Adam was already used to calling this type of behavior.

"No, I know, what I can see is that Eve has a problem with her head, with all that load William mentioned, who by some dickhead managed to partially see into my wife's soul...", Adam froze, letting that thought settle in his head, comprehending the one.

His children, Abel with bewilderment and excitement, and Sif with readiness for another joke, looked at him, Lut and Eve, excitedly, silently inquiring about his condition, to which Adam simply brushed it off and guffawed.

"Aside from that shit, William, who only got to see the whole fucking thing for a couple of moments, fucked himself by overly colorfully describing what he saw..." rubbing his chin, letting Eve wipe away the red stains from the ribs sauce, to the quiet laughter of Lut, sitting to his left, while Eve, slowly eating her portion, chatting with Lut, sat to his right, while his children sat across from him.

Anyway, enjoying the subdued light of the dark wood room, done in the "old" classical style, as the similarly interior ignorant William would put it, Adam was giving himself to thoughts. Or rather, he was trying to figure out where God and the Universe were trying to fuck him up again and leave him with nothing in the end.

Adam was a shot sparrow, Adam was smart and had been through all the wars of the Universe, Adam had personally endured all the shit that Lucidor and Slutwalker had poured out on the Earth. Adam had long ago lost all faith in the Seraphim as ideals and all-knowing lights, and so... This Adam was waiting for the "unexpected turn".

" ...Maybe still somehow... punish that angel from the Sin Department..." - Eve twiddled her fingers together, looking pleadingly at her husband.

" No, Eve." - Adam said firmly, catching his wife's apologetic look. - "We're not going to harm the soul in any way that we were just doing our job." - Adam exhaled, washing down his meat with cola while Abel and Sif chatted amongst themselves. Lut looked at his wife and husband in silence.

" But you're always calling names and swearing at the souls of the Second and Third Circle." - Eve puffed up her cheeks childishly, hiding her eyes behind her hair. Adam nodded, trying not to look at the smirking Lut.

" That's different, those buggers asked for it and are fully prepared for me to blow their brains out. Hell, I'd even say that if I don't, those ones will take offense and suspect me of wrongdoing." - Adam replied with a short laugh, peacefully stroking his wife's head, who only frowned in response.

" Lut, tell this one...!" - Eve began a new round of their three-person game, while Adam, with a small smile, let the two women talk about him as if he didn't exist between them.

The smile on his face didn't prevent Adam from remembering William's words about Eve's 'ascension', nor did it prevent him from remembering the detail about 'Lucifer's intervention', which didn't add to Adam's belief in the 'simplicity' of what had been troubling him for nearly a year since his wife's return.

"'These Days' again, Adam?" - Lut asked in a knowing tone, receiving a perplexed look from Eve, a chuckle from Seth, and a hearty, loud laugh from Abel.

" I'll... I'll remember that for you, Titsy." - Adam threatened his loyal Lieutenant with his Finger of Death, making Abel and Sif laugh even harder, while Eve, apparently in company, laughed weakly, still waiting for an explanation.

"Also, who is this 'Virgil' and 'William'?" - Eve suddenly asked quietly, to which Adam sighed sharply as Lut looked around, abruptly dropping her plate and smashing it, forcing the poor waiter to listen to Lut's flaccid excuses while concentrating possible attention on her.

"The first is the character of one man's amateur description of my descent into Hell for the sake of one soul." - Adam began in a steady voice, drawing the attention of Sif, who was listening intently to his father's words. - "The other is the angel that worked in the Second Circle, the Sin Department before...what's his name?" - Adam rubbed his chin in thought as Abel helped Lute with restoring the plate and apologized for her, even though she had already done so.

"Angelo Salieri." - Eve nodded, looking expectantly at Adam. - "But didn't you talk about William as your..." - Eve immediately fell silent, as Adam's golden eyes looked at her intently and the tone of his words changed to a more tense one.

" Just a character in one book and a longtime employee of the Sin Department." - Adam's voice pressed on, grudgingly cursing all those Paradise rules and his Oaths and Vows to Sera forbidding any mention of the 'Fallen'. Eve, with whom they'd had such dialogues about all sorts of "characters" or "appearances" with "events," immediately understood Adam's tone, taking it as a promise to tell later.

He wished his wife would learn to keep her curiosity and subconscious flashes of her "past self" in check....

"By the way, Father, didn't you invite this William to our house..." - stretched his lips in a wide smile at that asshole Seth, while Adam was already thinking of calling his son by his given name just out of the kindness of his heart. Adam was glad that his third son was proving once again why Adam had continued his joke for the tenth millennium. He had internalized his father's style of speech all too well, which made Adam both proud and jealous of his son.

The latter, behaving almost like Adam himself, managed not to piss off the people around him, and specifically the Seraphim and the Third Circle in particular, which was why he, personally, did not oversleep his time at boring meetings that he had nothing to do with....

"Speaking of boring and unnecessary... How are Emily and Sera doing?", suddenly Adam's thought struck, causing him to look away from the conversation between Eve and Seth. In a flash, Adam remembered the latest news concerning his good friends.

First, Emily would have to be checked up on, preferably by pulling her out of the pit of work she'd been sinking into for decades, and second... Sera would have to get laid, which would mean finding out about William's "gift" to her....

"No, if I have to listen to all that tired Sera's wailing one more time, I'm definitely going down to Hell to get that asshole to fuck the stress and irritation out of her.", Adam thought, making a note for Lute to come check on Fluffy.

Adam only hoped that she was in much better spirits than her "Elder".