"I as well," said Emryth, following Anton.

"I'll... wait," I said, reddening.

"Are you uncomfortable in public bathing areas?" asked Emryth. 

"Uh... yeah," I said, grinning awkwardly.

"I was at first," said Anton with a laugh. "Things change when you're here for years."

Yet another reminder of the eternity I was going to spend.

Emryth finished showering first, coming back wrapped in a towel, the visual of his slender, glistening body doing some very naughty things to my mind. While Anton was showering, Emryth gave me one of his shirts to wear, though we didn’t really talk much. With my wings and all, I had to modify the shirt a bit to accomodate myself.

“So… maybe we should do like a getting-to-know-each-other activity,” suggested Anton hopefully after we were all done showering. Anton slept in the upper bunk above Emryth but sat next to Emryth so we could all talk. Emryth was wearing a nondescript white shirt and what seemed to be sweatpants, Anton just wore shorts, and I was wearing a pair of Emryth’s pants and the modified shirt. All our clothes were just white.

“Okay,” said Anton, “so I was thinking we play Truth or Dare.”

This is my first day of eternal slavery and you want to play a party game, I thought sourly. But then I thought about it more. At least this way… maybe…

Just maybe I could become friends with these two.

Maybe my eternity wouldn’t be so unbearable if I had them to share it with.

As if. Friends… those weren’t something I made. Back in the mortal world, I couldn’t make friends after Dad died, and eventually I lost the few friends I had made.

It was probably better not to do this.

“I think… I’m going to go to bed early,” I said quietly.

“Aw, come on,” said Anton. “Tomorrow then, yeah?”

“Maybe,” I said.

“What!” sputtered Anton. “You gotta be more definitive than a ‘maybe’! We live in the same room, we gotta do this at some point!”

Anton was so sweet. Emryth too. It made me wonder what terrible thing could have brought them to hell and been so bad they would rather be slaves than tempt someone to do it.

“Look,” I said. “I’m tired now—”

“You were sleeping for approximately seven hours,” said Emryth.

“Geogarian hours,” supplied Anton helpfully.

“Yes, and you should not be tired now,” said Emryth.

“Look,” said Anton. “If you don’t want to be friends with us, that’s fine. We all have histories. I can understand that yours may be complicated, sad, or something. All over this mansion there are slaves like the three of us, slaving to the archdemon ruler of the city of hell who doesn’t even need slaves what with the power he has. And we’re all here because we all did something we regret. So maybe your life has been total shit… but all of us have had shit lives, too.”

I turned away and got into my bed. “Good night.”

“Sleep pleasantly,” said Emryth quietly.

I woke up early the next day, before Anton and Emryth.

Might as well start my first day of slavery early. And avoid Anton and Emryth while I was at it. 

I took a shower to be fresh. Then I looked at the task list. First task: help make breakfast. Complete before 8:00. Right now, it was 6:30.

Giovanna’s face flashed into my mind and I sighed. But I was a slave, after all. I had to do what she wanted me to. And in this case… that was breakfast.

I wondered what was between Giovanna and Satan. Love? No way, that horrific monster was not capable of something so sweet. Sex? Perhaps, but why would they be living together if that was all? Business contract?

Why did I even bother wondering? What would I gain from it?

I made my way to the kitchen, going past a few people and other non-human entities along the way who were doing their own slave jobs.

The kitchen was huge, and unlike most of the rest of the mansion it wasn’t so white. There were many slaves running around and I froze.

Had I been thinking I would be making breakfast alone?

How many slaves did they need for one breakfast?

“Oy!” called a tall woman, waving a webbed hand. “Get to work with the ennui-fruit pie!”

I blinked, puzzled and she sighed. “I can see you’re new,” said the woman. She gestured to a bowl of what seemed to be purple strawberries. “The ennui-fruits are over there.”

I went to where she told me. I was pretty good with baking, and I also knew exactly how Giovanna liked her food.

I successfully made an ennui-fruit pie.

Now it was time to serve it.

The dreaded part.

The part where I’d be face-to-face with my mother.