161

Building Castles in an Hourglass

Despite being in a situation where he shouldn't be able to concentrate, Joshua did so anyway.

Sometimes, his absentmindedness came in handy, he supposed. Because even then and there, with people talking and moving around, some of them even shouting, he remained where he was. He stood, leaning against a brick wall, with a notebook in hand and ideas in his mind. He ignored the world in favor of his mind, going over projects and writing down anything that seemed worth anything and even things that didn't.

Never knew when some discarded idea could be useful later on.

Back to his work, he was blending Project Soul with a bunch of others, like Project Awakening, at that very moment. His working theory was that the reason why his attempts worked on Soren and not Misla was simple. He thought that, when the disease progressed, it'd latch onto the soul. That was why he'd been able to break its hold on the Sitri. The hold on Soren's soul had either been inexistent or weak – he was leaning on the latter, considering it took a while for the disease to fully go away – while the one on Misla had been fully "realized" as it were.

'Otherwise… maybe some fundamental part? Like a change in the self, similar to the way I add wings to a fallen, but less drastic?' he wondered, once more trying to brainstorm ideas for things to test or try during his next visit. He had information to work on a possible approach to curing Misla, but he'd learned the price of being too optimistic already. It was better to assume it wouldn't work and keep looking forward.

That way, even if he failed, at least he'd have used to attempt to learn more. Sure, it'd be extra work done uselessly if he succeeded, but he'd take that over failing and not learning anything. One was more of a waste of time than the other. Moreover, one left him feeling much more guilty than the other, that was for sure.

'Could go further down the virtual intelligence rabbit hole, probably,' he mused to himself, tapping an empty spot on the notebook thoughtfully. He was already setting up spells that activated, did and focused on determined things depending on the information picked up by sensing spells, which he imagined was sort of like coding. What he had in mind now was pushing that a notch or ten further, making a network of spells that would act differently according to the feedback they got, targeting specific things and better dealing with any unexpected result.

Maybe, even if he failed to fully cure Misla, he could force a stalemate against the Sleep Disease with her awake. That'd probably be very complicated, but then again, curing her was even more so. Finding a makeshift solution was better than no solution at all. So long as he didn't make things worse, then anything was a step up.

Which meant that he had to be extra careful, really.

"Domino!" a voice called, making him blink and look up. Sure enough, the sight of the Levia-tan show set greeted him. He'd almost forgotten he was there for a shot. Good thing the scene was basically planned around what he was doing. Serafall's doing, surely. "Were you even paying attention?"

"Of course I was," Joshua replied, lying through his teeth shamelessly. He was a little bummed to be interrupted in the middle of his tinkering, but it was also sort of… nice. It helped him relax a little and distract himself, which was a welcome thing.

"What was I talking about?" she asked him, raising an unimpressed eyebrow at him.

"Nevermind that," he replied instead of answering. There was no point, after all, and Domino would do anything other than admit being wrong or apologizing. In most cases, at least. "Did you need anything?"

"What are you even doing? I know for a fact that you aren't studying," Serafall commented and Joshua grinned widely. He had to twist that into a smug gesture instead of an amused one. Because that's what would be in character, not him being amused by how contrary to reality the scene was. He'd definitely been studying, after all.

Idly, he noticed the same amusement he was feeling shining in Serafall's eyes.

That is, before Domino's expression changed to a slightly nervous one.

"... Nothing?" he answered in a very uncharacteristic, lame voice.

"... What do you want to steal now?" Serafall asked him, seeing through his character's act and staring at him through narrowed eyes. With that slight slip though, Domino was back at the top of his game.

"I don't know what you are talking about, Levi. I've gone straight already. I told you," he replied, expression calm and confident. It was perfect… or it should have been.

"I don't believe a single word you are saying, spill," Serafall accused and he deflated dramatically.

"Fine," he conceded, because Levi knew Domino entirely too well and vice versa. There was no point trying to fool her, not really. It'd been worth the first shot at it though, but nothing else. "In my defense, this is for a good cause."

"Somehow, I doubt that," Serafall said, looking thoroughly unconvinced.

"You hurt me, Levi, truly."

Yeah, it was nice to take a break from serious thoughts and just be a different character in a different story.

[}-o-{]

Joshua stepped back and watched his spells at work.

He was testing a very crude, very early prototype version of Project Intelligence, so he didn't need to do much… in theory. This was what one would call the first actual step, if one decided not to count the much more basic conditional spells and such. He was actually pretty sure this didn't even count as actual virtual intelligence, but that wasn't really the important part, he supposed.

The important part was making progress towards a spell array that would work and – most importantly – adapt by itself. That, also, without developing into some monster living spell that'd work against him. He didn't need to be the one to unleash magical Skynet on the world. DxD Earth had enough shit going on for him to make it worse.

Setting it up so that it wouldn't overdevelop would be a hassle, but baby steps. He needed to go through a lot of steps before he was even close to that and he needed to start making progress quickly. Project Everchanging, Intelligence and Soul were all key to dealing with Annihilation Maker, he was sure. Or, at least, they were the only ones that gave him a sense of being able to deal with Leonardo, or whoever the Longinus wielder was.

He needed something that could deal with unpredictable things. Furthermore, he needed something that could counter things that were specifically created to counter that specific something. It sounded like an impossibility, but Joshua was counting on Annihilation Maker being unable to create something that adapted. At least, not right off the bat. Once he revealed the card, it'd complicate matters, but he could cross that bridge when he got to it.

If he could get the upper hand once then maybe he could do something with that.

As it was, Annihilation Maker could just turn his spells to nothing and call it a day. There was nothing Joshua could do about that and he didn't like that fact at all. So, he wanted to do something so that he could give the guy a taste of his own medicine, if only once.

Furthermore, maybe, just maybe, he'd be able to use that one chance for a lot more than he was planning to at the moment. It all depended on how long he had before the next attack, because he was sure there'd be a next one… And if there wasn't, then he'd cause one.

Khaos Brigade had made an enemy out of him and Joshua clearly wasn't doing enough.

Either way, he still needed to make some progress before anything else could be done in regards to those projects. Theorizing didn't cost him anything though and it wasn't like he was doing much other than looking at his spells work and idly checking on things through his senses and other spells.

As it was, things were looking fairly well so far, which was neat.

"Of course you made a tea-making spell," Jeanne commented from beside him, having entered the kitchen and stopped to look at his spells working. Making tea was simple, but it required a bunch of things being done. There were also plenty of variables, if tiny ones. So, Joshua had decided that he might as well kill two birds with one stone.

On the one hand, he took a step in one of his most important projects. He was sure it'd give him some ideas of where to improve, which had been proven sort of right so far. Sure, it wasn't at all related to what he wanted to attempt ultimately, but this was a huge thing that he could take one step at a time instead of going straight for the bigger things. Something that Project Awakening hadn't really allowed and he was grateful to have in this instance.

On the other hand, Joshua thought a tea-making spell would be great. So… might as well make one while testing stuff, right? As good an excuse as any.

"What should I have made? A clothes-sorting spell?" he asked, not turning towards her and keeping his eyes locked on the steps the spells were going through. So far, everything was going smoothly, even if there were some parts that could be improved. The whole thing worked though, which was more than he expected.

"I feel like that's sexist," Jeanne commented and he could imagine the narrow eyes she was looking at him with. "But it does sound nice."

Joshua snorted.

"That'd be plenty useful, Joshua," Asia told him, radiating light and warmth even without him turning towards her. Either his sisters were predictable or Joshua was just very good at guessing what they'd do. Considering his people skills though… Yeah, it was definitely the former.

"Next one then," he replied, yawning. Maybe he should have waited to test the prototype after breakfast?... Well, hindsight and all that, right? He'd been kind of eager.

"Looks like it's done!" Asia said excitedly, clapping and all.

"Time for the true test then," Joshua replied, taking a deep breath in, nodding and moving forward. Taking the cup, he blew on it and then went for a sip… "Could be better," he declared solemnly before taking another sip.

Yeah, there was room for improvement. It was drinkable though, and that was actually more than he'd expected. Wasn't as good as it could be though. The spells would have to wait to be fine tuned, unfortunately.

While finishing that would be nice, ultimately the whole thing was for another purpose. Joshua would focus on the important part for the moment… Although, maybe he could keep working on the tea-making array in his free time when trying to relax?...

Yes, that sounded good.

"Can we have breakfast already?" Jeanne asked, to which he finally turned towards her and stared.

"Someone's bossy today. Maybe you want to prepare your own breakfast?"

"Have I told you that you are my favorite brother, Josh?"

"Your only brother, more like," he replied dryly.

"The point stands, doesn't it?"

To that, he just sighed.

[}-o-{]

"It's probably rude of me to ignore you like this, isn't it?" Joshua asked, his shyer side shining through stronger than usual as he kept his gaze down, moving only from his notebook to the cup of tea he held on the side. He felt a little bad for ignoring her while he just tinkered away with his spells. He knew she didn't mind, but he still found it rude. It was just… Always a little awkward to spend time with her.

"It's no problem at all. Especially considering what you are working on right now," Gabriel reassured him kindly and a glance presented him with the sight of the angel's soft, warm and kind smile. Sometimes, she could be a little too… much, in general, too bright, too warm, too kind. It left Joshua feeling like he was standing too close to the sun, sort of.

"I know, but still," he commented, an awkward grimace on his face as he tried to explain himself. "It feels wrong to just sit here like you are not sitting there, doing nothing and waiting for me."

"I don't mind," Gabriel told him, which didn't really make things any better. "It's nice to take a moment for myself here and there. I like to think of these moments like a break."

"I'm sure you can do better than this for a break," Joshua replied, glancing around at the tables that had been arranged and the tea and snacks on them. Snacks that were being decimated by Jeanne, Xenovia and Irina while they talked animatedly some distance away. Joshua was grateful not to be there, since it looked draining. Especially then and there when he seemed to be having a bit of a regression in his social anxiety.

That was probably why Gabriel had set their table a little further away, which he was grateful for.

"This is good enough for me," Gabriel waved off with a smile that never seemed to leave her face for long. "I hope things are going well for you after what happened?" she asked, leaning forward as if to give him her undivided attention.

Which only made him feel even more nervous for… reasons.

She couldn't be doing that on purpose, right?

"Doing better. Busy, but better," he answered, taking a deep breath in and letting it out, as if to make the awkwardness and weariness leave his body. "Working to be better prepared next time," he explained simply. It was a very accurate summary though. "And helping Kunou. She's trying to act strong and like she's fine, but she's still shaken," he added, looking down at his notebook.

"I'm sorry to hear that," Gabriel said, sounding genuinely so. "If there's anything I can do to help with anything though, feel free to let me know."

"I think you have your hands full enough, but thank you. I appreciate the offer," he replied, trying to express how grateful he was with a smile. With any luck, even if he didn't do a good job, she'd be good enough at reading people to make up for that. Evidently, he was right, considering the beaming smile she returned at him, especially bright this time. "Things will just get better on their own. Khaos is already being dealt with and I doubt you can do more on that front. And Kunou will get better. She just needs time. Yasaka and I have plenty of help, between Serafall, Jeanne, Asia and others."

Margalo chose that moment to trill something, making him chuckle.

"My familiars included, obviously," he said, but that correction didn't seem to satisfy the bird. This was, after all, evidenced when he got his ear pecked. "Especially Margalo. She's the best," he added, making the bird puff her chest and leave him alone.

Evidently, the whole thing was very amusing for Gabriel, given her giggling.

"Well, I don't mind helping anyway," the angel told him and he almost sighed. She was too nice. He was starting to feel bad turning her down, but then again… if she was that insistent, then maybe she just wanted to help and wasn't forcing herself or anything? He guessed that would be. "Maybe you can bring her on your visits, if she's not in class," Gabriel offered and his eyes widened a little.

"Uh… Would that be fine?" he asked hesitantly, trying not to insult her or her people. However… Joshua looked around at the Church base he was working on at the moment. The Church wasn't known for its welcoming of other faction members. Sure, they could be neutral or friendly with other factions, but there was a huge leap from that to welcoming people into their bases and such.

Especially someone like Kunou. He was pretty sure youkai had been considered almost on par to devils by the Church at one point. Furthermore, politically important people doing literally anything could be troublesome if not handled well.

"Don't worry about it," Gabriel replied, waving off his worries. She was the picture of ease and confidence, which certainly helped assuage some of his fears, but still… "I'll deal with it. She's a sweetheart, so I don't mind at all."

"We'll see then," he told her with a smile of his own. He'd need to check with Yasaka, of course, but he was sure Kunou would have fun visiting new places. Maybe they could walk around the surrounding area after he finished working. Church bases were in some nice places for sightseeing, surprisingly… or maybe not so surprisingly.

"I'll look forward to it anyway," Gabriel told him jokingly.

"How are things on your end though?" he asked, deciding to push aside his notebook. It didn't look like he'd get much done and the break was almost over anyway. He'd continue working on Project Ascension when he got home.

Somehow, Gabriel seemed happier with that than with him working on giving angels extra wings. Maybe she wanted a break from work too? It was true that it wasn't like a few minutes would make a difference with the project, he supposed.

"Well, things seem to be calming down now, which is amazing, I have to say…"

Bringing his cup of tea to his lips as he heard Gabriel start speaking, Joshua decided that yeah, an actual break sounded nice.

[}-o-{]

"Can I?! Can I?!" Kunou asked, to which Yasaka raised an eyebrow. She looked amused though, but that was hardly surprising.

"Yes, you can," the mother answered, drawing a cheer from her daughter. "You have to stay with Joshua, alright? And listen to him."

"I will, mom! This will be great!" the little girl exclaimed, looking like she was entering super excitement mode. This included loud speech, plenty of quick movement and a hundred words a second or so.

Ok, so maybe Joshua was exaggerating.

Just a little bit.

"Auntie Jeanne! I'm going to visit Europe! Spain!" Kunou called loudly, darting out of the room and looking for his sister. Joshua, for his part, was left with a giggling Serafall and a smiling Yasaka.

"Well, there she goes," he commented, grinning himself. "Thanks for agreeing."

"If she can't be safe with you and Gabriel right there, let alone the rest of whatever base you go to, then I don't know where she'd be," Yasaka replied, waving him off. "Especially with as weak as the defenses were left here. My people are still repairing their side. It's honestly mostly thanks to your defenses being up already that I feel any safety here."

"I'll be updating those at the end of the week, by the way," he informed her, taking a deep breath in and looking up. He had a feeling he would forever be working on better defenses. It wasn't only Annihilation Maker that was a danger, after all. The Longinus Gear was just the most glaring weakness he had, but not the only one.

All defenses had weaknesses that could be exploited, but Joshua would do his best to reduce that number as much as possible.

"On a different note, it's good that the little one went away," Serafall commented and Joshua felt like there was a shift in the atmosphere of the room. Why? Well, the most obvious clue was that the devil didn't go for something overly dramatic and that she shared a very meaningful look with Yasaka.

"Is it?" he asked, glancing between the two of them curiously.

"Mhm," Yasaka hummed with a nod. "There was something we wanted to talk about with you," she answered and Joshua almost felt worried. Neither of them seemed to be sad or upset or anything negative. They just seemed… slightly wary, but that might not have been the best word for it, with how mild it was. Careful, maybe? That still sounded too strong a word.

"So, are you still oblivious or have you realized that there're women interested in you?" Serafall asked, eyes wide like a kid asking an innocuous question instead of… whatever that was. Joshua had already not known what to expect from them, but that had been a multiverse away from any of his guesses.

Thus, his mind drew a blank for a long moment, leaving him blinking dumbly.

"Er… I have low self-esteem and poor social skills, but I'm not completely blind… anymore," he defended himself. It was a poor defense, but it was what he had. He was getting better, alright?... Or so he thought, at least.

Back to the question though. He had noticed. Some of the women that visited the cafe or that he came across when picking up the girls from Kuoh Academy were anything but subtle, after all. There was the odd student at House of Water – which made him incredibly grateful that classes weren't actually divided by age and instead were divided by skill level – too, along with the occasional mage he could cross paths with over at the association.

"Hmm, what do you think?" Serafall mumbled, turning to address the question to Yasaka.

"Definitely oblivious," the youkai said without a shadow of doubt. The devil readily agreeing further drove the dagger in.

He wasn't that bad!... Anymore, at least.

Probably.

Maybe.

"Anyway," Serafall continued, deciding to just ignore what they'd said… even though she was the one to bring it up. "The point is that Yasaka and I do notice-"

He went to say something, but before he could even finish opening his mouth, Yasaka interrupted.

"No, we aren't accusing you of anything nor are we angry nor is this a problem in any way," she told him as if reading his mind. Was he that predictable or was it Senjutsu stuff? "This isn't a bad thing, just something we thought would be better to bring up."

"And, uh… why, exactly?" he asked, even more confused now. He thought it was a problem that he'd have to address. Maybe let the women down or something? That'd have been fine with him. He honestly thought he was entirely too lucky as it was, really. If he could not mess up things with Yasaka and Serafall, then he'd be more than happy.

Somehow, this response caused another shared look between the two of them. Whatever silent conversation the two held went on for a few seconds before Serafall nodded. Then Yasaka turned towards him and started speaking again.

"What we wanted to address was the possibility of other women joining our relationship," she said and Joshua was left, once again, blinking. He was doing that a lot, he felt, but he did need those moments to gather his thoughts with the stuff that was getting thrown at him.

"This is a trap of some kind, isn't it?" he asked with an amused half-smile. "I'm already beyond lucky and happy with you two. I really don't need anyone else," he told them, knowing full well that they'd be reading him like a book and realizing he wasn't lying.

This was proven right when both gave him beaming smiles… even if Yasaka's was a little more controlled than Serafall's.

"Good answer," Yasaka replied.

"Indeed," Serafall followed up, taking over the conversation from their side again. "But still, we aren't so greedy as to keep you off the market… Unless someone decides to barge in where they aren't welcome," she told him, her voice taking a dangerous edge at the end there.

Joshua was focusing on the first half though, actually. Because it stirred something half forgotten that should have been very fucking obvious. With this piece of knowledge dislodged, he pinched the bridge of his nose. 'Fucking DxD logic. Of course.'

"Greedy?" he asked anyway, because what the fuck?

"You are a powerful man, Joshua. A faction of your own, almost, considering how disconnected the Egyptian Pantheon is," Serafall replied, somehow speaking like one would about the weather. "And you are getting more powerful, by the day. I know you'll hate it, but…"

"Politics," he finished, almost spitting out the word.

"Politics," Yasaka confirmed with a calm nod.

It was good that the two of them seemed so relaxed, because he was decidedly not.

"We can at least put this off, right? I'm sure you aren't in any rush to talk about this," he told them, which he thought would at least be something they'd agree with, even with DxD's twisted common sense. He remembered DxD characters being jealous and such, even if the harem thing was still pushed forward… for whatever reason.

"We've actually been putting this off for a while, but something forced our hand," Yasaka told him, taking a sip from her cup of tea while Serafall nodded with the most dramatically serious expression on her face.

"That's right. We can't just push it for later when you are going on dates with someone and even bringing Kunou along," the devil told him.

"What are you even…?" Joshua started before trailing off. "You've got to be kidding me."

Judging by their expressions, no, they were not.

He felt himself pale.

"Gabriel?!"

Both women nodded and Joshua felt a headache coming his way.

[} Chapter End {]

Hey guys! How's it going?

Joshua is working towards more bullshit spells and the world is not ready for them. It's most certainly not, guys. I'm kind of looking forward to the next project reveal… Which I don't know why, really. Joshua's so isolated from the rest of the world that we usually don't really get a perspective of the madness he unleashes, not from the world's perspective, either because things are mostly secret or because they aren't really relevant enough to guarantee a PoV…

Still though, I guess I enjoy the success second-hand through Joshua.

As for this latter half… I'm sure everyone and their mothers saw that coming, but there it is. It's happening, guys. I think some people might not be fans of this development, but… Characters will do as they please, as usual. Don't get angry with me, get angry with them… and DxD as a whole for its nonsense logic.

Anyway, hope you guys enjoyed the chapter.

As always, if you can't wait until next week for next chapter, there's up to three new chapters in my Pa tre on:

Cause You Are Halfway In

"Really taking your time, eh, Josh?" Serafall asked and he leveled her with a weary stare as he continued drinking from his cup of tea.

She wasn't wrong. After they'd dropped the – in their words rather obvious – bomb on him, Joshua had more or less just… shut down for a bit. He'd taken his cup of tea and remained silent, processing those news. Meanwhile, Yasaka and Serafall seemed happy to give him the time he needed up to that point, which he greatly appreciated.

Alas, it seemed that the Satan had decided enough was enough.

"Can you blame me?" he asked, setting down his cup and holding back a sigh. He'd sighed and groaned enough about the whole mess as it was. Time to actually start dealing with it, he supposed. "Don't answer that," he followed with when the devil seemed to be going to reply. "What does this even mean?"

"Well, when a man and a woman love each other very much-"

"What Serafall is trying to say," Yasaka interrupted, rolling her eyes fondly while Joshua gave the devil an unimpressed look. "Is that it's fairly obvious, despite Gabriel's nature as an angel."

'That's not the only concern here,' Joshua wanted to say, but he was pretty sure anything he might want to say about adding someone else to their already rather odd relationship would be ignored. Still though, after pondering that for a moment, he decided to go for it anyway. Call him stupid, but he couldn't wrap his mind around that and he needed to if he wanted to get his mind to let go of it.

"I don't get it. How are you fine with… any of this. As I said, I'm happy with how things are, but it's… odd, or am I the only one that thinks that?" he said, against his better judgment. It wasn't that he wanted to ruin things for himself, but it was all so very… odd. It sounded too good to be true, so he wanted to make sure that it wasn't.

So far, things had seemed mostly fine, but with that?

Something was going on…

Something had to be going on.

"You are the only one," Yasaka answered with no hesitation nor problem whatsoever. "The mundane world works differently from ours, Joshua. Strong people, men and women alike, are coveted, especially those that don't have enough powerful figures by their side. You are a free piece on the board and, as such, factions will want you. No, factions already want you. It's only your rather isolationist nature that's protected you from that."

"You're becoming more and more of a public figure though, so you should start noticing eventually," Serafall followed up with. 'Is this an unexpected side effect of throwing my weight around? Fuck,' Joshua cursed in his mind. Not that he regretted it, considering it'd been kind of necessary so that people would take him seriously and not be problematic about his relationship with Yasaka and Serafall… but he wished someone would have told him he was going overboard, by the sound of things. "So, we have to stake our claim and as strongly as we can."

"Much as it pains us, we aren't enough. Not to fend off the attention of everyone that you will attract," Yasaka continued, her shoulders dropping a bit and as she glanced down towards the cup of tea in her hands. She didn't seem too down about that though, which was honestly baffling. Maybe they were hiding things? "I'm one of two leaders from a lower faction."

"And I'm, admittedly, the second weakest of the four Satans. Arguments are made that I'm the weakest," Serafall added, some bitterness bleeding through her voice. That wasn't a very good comparison to make about her though, when her competition were Sirzechs Gremory and Ajuka Astaroth, both of which were Super Devils.

"That has been good enough for now, but it's quickly not being the case anymore. Especially now that you've publicly displayed your power in an area that's not even your specialty, such as is combat," Yasaka took over once more and Joshua wondered if they'd rehearsed the whole thing. That brought up an… interesting thought. "People are already circling around you like sharks. I imagine if you so much as step out of our areas of influence, someone will approach you."

"We are expecting someone to all but ambush you at House of Water at some point, actually, although Agnes might be trying her best to keep them out. She's a mere association director though, she doesn't have that much pull," Serafall admitted to him.

"... The Egyptians are backing her up," he replied, receiving the message through his connection with those deities. "I'm sure they can back me up, if it comes to that, right?"

"They probably would," Yasaka agreed and Joshua almost relaxed. It was especially reassuring when he received a confirmation from the gods and goddesses peeking through their link. Alas, things weren't that easy, apparently. "But is it worth it to strain your relationship with them? They've remained detached from the world's affairs for a reason, I imagine."

Directing his metaphorical gaze towards the Egyptian Pantheon, Joshua found himself disappointed and slightly betrayed when few deities even tried to deny what she was saying.

What was up with these faction?

"So… no options, huh?" he mumbled, leaning back and feeling defeated.

"Don't act like having several beautiful women that love you in your life is a chore," Serafall told him, poking his side with her magic staff and rolling her eyes. "We know you are worried, but we aren't going anywhere. We are plenty happy with things as they are too, just to let you know," she added, more affectionately.

"Indeed," Yasaka agreed, giving him a soft smile. "We love you, Joshua. And Gabriel might too. She's, at the very least, interested. We also… get along fairly well from what we gather as of late." He wondered about that, Serafall in particular didn't look overly pleased. And yet, she nodded all the same. "So, we talked and decided it wouldn't hurt to give her a chance."

Joshua narrowed his eyes at that, which both of them seemed to catch.

"If you agree, of course," Serafall clarified quickly. "This doesn't affect us nearly as much as you, so you have the final call. We just thought it'd be worth going over beforehand, since you… Well, this isn't something you are comfortable with. We didn't want to bring it up only to be for nothing," she explained, sounding genuinely conflicted about the whole thing. "We might have… meddled more than we should though."

It wasn't often that Joshua got to see not one but both of them look so unsure as they did at that moment. Serafall and Yasaka usually looked in control of any situation. Even in moments when they were caught off guard, they always seemed at least confident, even when they weren't. So, for them to be so open about it…

Joshua sighed.

"Ok, so… anything else I should know?" he asked, making both women share yet another look. Beside him, Cheshire jumped on the table and he promptly started petting her for some comfort… or maybe it was better to say that it was for some stability. No matter what, he knew Cheshire would be his rock, just like she had been since the very beginning.

"Hmm, I think we about summed it up? At least, from our side of things," Serafall answered with a shrug. "You aren't mad, are you?" she added, that uncertain expression returning.

"I don't even know how I'm feeling," he replied truthfully. He really didn't know. He was kind of just… working on autopilot until he had time to go over things. As it was, he barely understood what was going on, really. All that he could feel was weary and confused. "How'd this whole thing even go with Gabriel… an angel?" he asked, running his fingers through his hair.

"We don't know that much more than you on that front, to be honest," Yasaka answered him this time. "Something to talk about with Gabriel, I imagine."

"What we do know is that falling isn't as simple as people think," Serafall told him, which he already knew. Thinking about it, he might know more than the two of them, which was kind of new in regards to anything not related to defenses.

He had studied angels and fallen in depth for Project Ascension, after all.

There wasn't all that much in regards to the actual transition from pure angel to fallen angel, but Joshua gathered that it was probably something angels didn't share with… Well, anyone, really. From what he could piece together, it was all bound to the Seven Sins. However, it wasn't what people thought, in the sense that they could experience the Sins. He had a hard time imagining a sapient being without those, to be honest, especially one that was able to feel them but had to hold them back entirely.

No, what angels had to avoid was being consumed by the Sins. They could experience them, but they couldn't let them affect them. Their battle wasn't to not feel them, but to not succumb to them. Feel them, but remain strong, that was what they needed to do through their lives.

"Jo~sh~" Serafall called, making him blink and looking at him, amusement clear on her expression. "Welcome back. Where did we lose you now?"

"Just thinking over what I know about angels," he answered truthfully.

"So, you are considering it?" Yasaka asked and the only thing he could pick up from her was curiosity. However, it wasn't like he was confident in reading either of them correctly. He wasn't skilled enough to read a normal person with any accuracy, let alone those two.

Which is why the reassurance he got from Cheshire was so relieving.

"For a definition of considering," Joshua answered, still unsure. "I think there's a lot to talk about," he mumbled, deflating where he sat.

[}-o-{]

"Suffering from success, huh?" Jeanne asked him, clearly very amused by his predicament.

He wondered if it had been a good idea to share what was going on with her but… Well, as annoying as she could be, she was still his sister. She was adopted though. Couldn't she spare him with the infuriating parts of being siblings?

Apparently, no.

"I mean- That is- This must be- I- Lady Gabriel-"

"Calm down, Asia," Joshua said, patting the nun's head. She was probably a little caught off guard by the situation. He'd considered not telling her either, but he'd have felt bad for excluding her. Besides… with the world they lived in, it was probably better to have her informed of how things worked.

After all, ignorance was bliss, right up until it screwed you over.

"I'm just as confused as you," he commented with tired amusement. "Things on this side of the world aren't quite as I expected them to be," he added, bringing his cup of tea to his lips. He was pretty sure he was drinking way more than usual. 'Maybe I should switch to beer,' he thought to himself, mentally shaking his head at Nephthys when the goddess offered him one such drink.

Maybe later though.

"... And over all these virtues put on love, which binds everyone together in perfect unity," Asia mumbled after visibly gathering her wits, very obviously quoting something. That something being the bible, he supposed, or maybe some other teaching she'd received. "Maybe that's what you are doing?" the girl asked him, big innocent eyes firmly on him.

It shone a light on him that left him feeling uncomfortable, not unlike Gabriel's presence often did, if a little differently.

"You make it sound way nicer than it is," Joshua answered. It sucked that he had to reject the compliment, but it was what it was. "I just like Serafall and Yasaka, and I've been lucky enough that they like me too… and that culture seems to agree with… whatever this is. Same with Gabriel, I guess, if things work out."

"That makes it all the better, doesn't it?" Asia argued, rather firmly at that, which was surprising. The nun was often too soft, but it seemed he'd finally found a point she was passionate about. "Love isn't convenient, it just is," she told him and that gave him pause.

"... I think you might be the smartest person in this room, Asia," Joshua commented, making the young nun blush deeply, even if her lips pulled up into a pleased smile. "I can probably learn plenty from you."

"I'm not nearly as smart as you, Joshua," she replied bashfully, fidgeting with her hands. It was quite the adorable sight, to see her try and fail to act like she wasn't happy with the compliment. It just made him want to double down.

"Certainly are in regards to some matters," he settled for.

"You guys remember that I'm here, right?" Jeanne asked them, pouting like a little child.

"And we love you just the way you are, Jeanne," he replied with, plastering a soft, kind smile on his face. It was on purpose that he didn't mention anything in regards to her smarts.

"Very much," Asia added, unaware of the critical damage she delivered, which only made it all the more hilarious, really. It was especially amusing to see Jeanne trying to come up with a response that wasn't either an angry retort or pointing out the issue with their response to the nun.

He was pretty sure that Asia was just still a little distracted by what she'd been told, but that was masterful.

"Why are you being mean to me all of a sudden?" Jeanne whined.

"Because it's fun," Joshua answered instantly. He was very happy to be able to give Jeanne a taste of her own medicine. See how she likes dealing with the annoying sibling, huh?

Poor Asia just tilted her head, uncomprehending.

"See if I care about your love life, Josh," Jeanne huffed, pouting and glaring at him. "That's what you get for being stupid powerful. Thank goodness I'm not."

"And that Yuuto's not either, huh?" Joshua replied, getting a nod. "Then again, you did fight Arthur and Le Fay Pendragon. I think that counts for something, don't you? And Yuuto's showing off in that Young Devil tournament, isn't he? Interesting times ahead…"

"Don't even joke about it," the girl hissed at him. "You can have all the love troubles, Josh."

"You make it sound like I do it on purpose…"

"Jeanne is very strong though, that's true. And so is Mr. Kiba," Asia chimed in innocently, making Jeanne groan. The nun was on fire with the unknowing jabs and Joshua was there for it.

"Maybe it's just a question of time," Joshua commented idly. "You should prepare yourself."

"Shut up," Jeanne grumbled. "We were talking about you? How'd it end up like this?"

"No idea, but I'm glad for it," he replied with a grin that turned wry. "I really don't know what I'm gonna do, honestly."

"Well, things seem to be working out by themselves," Jeanne said, still looking a little miffed, but letting it go momentarily. "So… My advice as a person with no idea on the matter is to stop overthinking it. You might just make it worse. They know what they are doing, so trust them to take care of their side of things and you focus on yours."

"That sounds like… surprisingly good advice."

"What do you mean surprising?" she asked, her glare coming back with a vengeance. "You know what, I think I've been made fun of enough," she decided with a huff, standing straight and going to leave.

"But we didn't make fun of you," Asia said, all innocence and confusion, which took some of the wind out of Jeanne's sails. Alas, the swordswoman seemed to have decided to leave while she was… not as behind as she could be.

"I'm meeting with my friends in a bit anyway. We are gonna spend some time at the cafe," she explained, trying to soften the punch for the nun. "I might go out with Yuuto later."

"Sure. Don't cause trouble for the staff," he told her with a wave of his hand. "And be careful with your boyfriend, yeah? Asia and I aren't ready for nieces or nephe-" he started calling as Jeanne went to leave before getting interrupted.

"Shut up!" she shouted, power walking out of the room… with her grumbling reaching them even after she was gone.

"Never gets old," Joshua commented, an amused grin on his face.

"It's a little funny, yes," Asia said, making him blink and turn towards her. The nun, for her part, gave him a shy smile, her head a little down as she fidgeted with her hands. "I hope we didn't upset Jeanne too much though. Maybe I should apologize."

"You did that on purpose?" he asked, eyes wide. No way. Innocent little Asia, who felt bad when she watered a plant the smallest bit more than another had teased Jeanne on purpose? The world was going to end, but... "I'm so proud," he said, wiping an imaginary tear before patting her head, drawing a pleased giggle from the nun.

"I heard that siblings do this kind of thing a lot," Asia mumbled, as if trying to justify herself. "So, I thought I'd try."

"It's more about being more open and confident with one another, I think," Joshua explained, not quite sure himself, since he'd been an only child for much of his life. "You are family, so, even if you annoy each other, nothing will change that. You're always gonna be part of each other's life, even if you end up being in bad terms. Few things can break a family apart, so there's less worries… or something like that. I'm not sure, honestly. I could be entirely wrong."

"I like that," Asia replied to his little bout of rambling with. "Maybe also because we do it fondly? It's a way to express closeness and also care, if indirectly."

"That could be it too," Joshua commented with a nod that the nun copied.

"Let all that you do be done in love," she said with a beaming smile.

"Can you quote the entire bible?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Just the parts I like," she answered, but Joshua had a feeling that meant either most of it or actually all of it.

[}-o-{]

[George Pickingill]

"Of course, sir," he replied, softly but not nervously as he would once have spoken to clients. "I'll look over the information you've sent me. After that, I'll have to see if I have access to a spell that can work on this. Shouldn't take me more than a week unless this turns out to be more complicated than I expect it to be," he explained calmly, taking a deep breath in and silencing the voice at the back of his mind telling him that he was screwing up.

Recovery Magic wasn't known for being fast, so asking for more time before even getting started wasn't ideal. It was hard enough to get any jobs, let alone keeping them when people were too impatient to give him a chance. Especially when they could just reach for a normal Healing Magic user and get most jobs done faster.

He understood though, he truly did. George imagined it wasn't easy to have a health problem or have a family member with a health problem and being told to wait. Alas, sometimes it was necessary, especially when Recovery Magic was about the only thing with access to a solution.

That didn't stop people from asking for a lower price and generally being obnoxious about everything. The perils of a less popular magic branch, but George had grown up with those around him. He knew how to put up with it all, but that didn't make them any less hurtful and frustrating.

"O-Of course," he heard his client say and he could see, through the visual and auditory communication spell, how the man wanted to say something much less friendly. Instead, the noble forced a smile on his fat head and nodded to what George said. "Take all the time you need, Mr. Pickingill."

Maybe it shouldn't have been, but it felt like a victory that the guy even got his surname right, nevermind the polite "Mr." being added first. When had been the last time someone had addressed him like he was someone when out on a job? Well, not that far in the past, but that was a very recent change in his life.

Yet another novelty brought to his life by Joshua Davis.

"If that's all, sir," George replied, years of having to be very polite pulling through despite things being much different then. It was difficult to get a big head when he was regularly met with a monster that made him look like an ant though… And being in a friend group with the likes of Meredith Ordinton didn't help either. "I have an appointment in a few minutes, so I should be going."

"Surely you can spare more time for me and my family, can't you, Mr. Pickingill?" the man asked him and George had to hold back a much wider and much less kind smile. That was more like what he was used to, entitlement and impatience. It was almost nostalgic.

"I'm afraid not. This is important," George said, not even trying to be subtle about the fact that this was much more important than the job he was discussing. Once upon a time, this would have been crazy, considering he cherished any and all opportunities to do something, anything at all, with his magic to try and make a name for himself. Now though… "I have classes."

"C-Classes…" the noble repeated after him, whatever courage he'd managed quickly leaving him as his face paled and George almost could see him sweating. "Right. Of course. Nothing but the best for my family, after all, so keep improving yourself, Mr. Pickingill."

'Nice save,' George thought sarcastically.

"I'll contact you once I've cleared everything, sir. Until then…"

"Of course, Mr. Pickingill. I'll await your call," the noble said, in yet another change from what used to be the routine. Because George would have been the one having to adapt to the other's timetable. If they said the next day, the next day it was, or he'd risk losing the job.

Well, dictating anything was still new, really.

So, with that call ended, George stood and stretched, looking around the communication room at House of Water. There were people around, if not many, probably doing more or less the same as him, at least some of them. Idly, from the corner of his eyes, he saw many of them glancing his way.

That's right, George Pickingill was someone now.

He had no doubt that, soon, he'd have a reputation as strong as his namesake.

His family was on the map now, with even his relatives getting more attention. Jobs flowed towards them just like money and resources did. House Pickingill was on the up and up, and it was all because of him. Because it was George that had been in the right place, at the right time and with the right performance.

So, it was with his head up high that he moved through the halls of House of Water towards his class now that business was taken care of. The last thing he wanted was to be late to the one thing that had made everything go right for him. Besides, he was fairly proud of how well he'd done with the homework Davis had assigned them during the last class and he wanted to show off a little.

He might even do better than Levi, pipe dream as that was most of the time.

"George, I hope things are going well?" was the greeting he got once he walked into the classroom, his favorite teacher smiling at him. "You're the first one here."

"Everything's been good, Professor Davis, and you?"

"Complicated, but such is life," the man answered, not letting go of his rather relaxed grin despite his words. "You can take a seat if you want. I'll finish here in a second," Davis added from where he sat behind his deck going over something on a notebook.

"Pickingill," was the second greeting he got and at that one George stiffened a little.

"Miss Phenex," he replied with a nod. "I actually have something to report."

"Oh?"

It was good that he'd managed to extor-haggle some nice pay from that noble from before, on top of some sweet, sweet favors. It'd go well into his debt pay funds… Even if he was unlikely to pay those in a lifetime. At least his descendants might have a chance of paying it off though… probably.

A man could dream.

[} Chapter End {]

Hey guys! How's it going?

Well… I'm very nervous about that first part.

I'm trying something dangerous in the shape of trying to make sense of the harem culture that DxD has going for it. I know I probably shouldn't, but I don't like to make my characters act oddly for the sake of story and just saying "it's the way it works here" doesn't feel right. So I'm trying to go a little deeper in this rabbit hole without getting in over my dumb head.

Hopefully I didn't mess things up.

Other than that, I feel like the chapter is fine, thankfully.

Hope you guys enjoyed it.