fandomtownies | Fandom Museum, Sunday December 28

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Fandom Museum, Sunday December 28

The trip home had been refreshing. And exhausting. When he lived there he could space out socializing, but he'd had to cram all the visits and hang outs and get-togethers into one week and as much as he loved Bel, Lily, Sharkie, his mother and sister, Lucifer and even Asmodeus it had all been a lot.

So after a meeting with Lucifer and the other head deities, determining that a continuing presence here in Fandom would be useful, it had been a bit of a relief to get back to his quiet townhouse.

Even if the cold was uncomfortable.

Maybe some time in the butterfly room would do him good.

[The Museum be open]

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Watts was a regular visitor to the museum, albeit typically not on Sundays. But he'd been meaning to stop by and meet Steven's coworker for some time now, so- here he was.

"Afternoon," he greeted as he stepped inside. "Mr. Gregorith, I presume?" Steven had pointed him out at the Halloween party, and his profile was, let's just say, recognizable, so Watts was fairly certain in his presumption. Still, one never knew.

"That's me." Gregorith confirmed. "And you're, Watts, right?" Steven had likewise pointed his husband out at the same party.

"The one and only," Watts confirmed, holding a hand out for a handshake.

Gregorith shook it, smiling. "Very pleased to meet you. And thank you for the baked goods. Demons are generally suckers for those." Snacks in general, but baked goods in particular.

Watts tilted his head, taking that in. "That's- good to know."

Of course, Gregorith was the only demon he knew, so he had a limited sample size there. Unless Illyana counted? She certainly had a fondness for food, so it did seem to back up Gregorith's statement.

"Anyway it's a pleasure. Did you and Steven have a pleasant holiday?"

Oh those were still going on in the mortal world weren't they. There was a party later in the week he now remembered.

"We did, yes," Watts nodded. "Split our time between here and London. Steven mentioned you had plans to go home for a visit as well?"

"Yes, I got back yesterday. Visited with friends and family and caught up with colleagues." And envied souls their immunity to hangovers. He didn't drink heavily very often but afterlife parties tended that way sometimes.

"The afterlife of my universe has a big multi-realm blowout approximately annually. Time is a little more abstract there."

The mention of 'colleagues' resulted in a brief flash of melancholy, not that Gregorith would've been able to see it in his expression.

"Abstract?" he echoed. "How interesting."

"Yes, since we exist outside time and space we aren't always aware of it. But those of us who work with mortals enough manage to get a general sense of it."

Lily had told him about someone who she knew had died before her coming through her line as if they had only just passed.

"I see," Watts nodded. "Has it been something of an adjustment, then, living full-time," heh, "somewhere where time is linear?"

"It has indeed. Fortunately Fandom is apparently not as...strict I guess? with schedules as I understand most mortal worlds are. My friend Lily called it 'Earth With Training Wheels'." She was still somewhat salty about him being able to completely support himself, working only one day a week.

"I can relate to that, in a way," Watts said. "Not with time, exactly, but rather because I'm from a different time. So there's been some adjustment on my part, to modern life."

"I'm not sure I knew that was a thing here." Gregorith mused. Surely that could have come up in his conversations but it not being a shock could just be him getting used to how things worked around here. "What was harder to deal with, changes in technology, or social...I lost the word. Social stuff?"

"The technology," Watts said. "Don't get me wrong, I enjoy- reliable indoor plumbing, and heat that poses little risk of burning down the house. But a lot of it is so- overwhelming. And loud." He smiled ruefully. "Which is not to say that the, ah, 'social stuff' didn't throw me for something of a loop at first either. There are things considered- deviant, indecent, in my own time, that are- widely accepted, here."

You know, like marrying another man. Though to be fair, Watts wasn't sure how much Gregorith knew about human moral stances regarding sexual orientation.

Unfortunately Gregorith knew all too well the intolerance that mortals could have towards such things, and what's more, the lengths they would go to to enforce that intolerance. He tended not to meet the milder cases. Those who were merely misguided, or those who were at worst, indifferent, went to more lenient levels of Hell.

"I'm told that our experience in the afterlife with the level of technology isn't entirely unlike what mortals dealt with. But in our case literally overnight our typewriters were replaced with computers. Just as an example.

"Socially, I don't think we were affected quite as much, though I think we've been seeing less people showing up in Hell mistakenly assuming they should be there because of their differences. Still happens, but less.

"Since coming here I'd say the biggest adjustment has been people not being afraid of demons."

"I suppose that's a combination of factors," Watts mused. "Many of us are from worlds where there is no evidence demons exist, after all. Though I suppose those raised in certain religious traditions may be inclined to believe in them even without proof. And then there is the fact that there are people from so many different worlds in the first place. So in that respect you are no more alien than, well. An alien."

"Yeah during one of my early forays out and about without my disguise I was mistaken for an alien." Gregorith chuckled. "Though I guess in the back of my mind I wondered if the chill response I'd been getting when I told people I was a demon was due to me looking human. But the more people didn't freak out the more I thought I should try looking like myself more."

Watts nodded. "It's nice to- exist without having to- hide a part of oneself," he said knowingly.

"It's a little disconcerting at first isn't it. At least it has been for me." he thought back to his earliest dealings with mortals. "A long time ago, when I was a young man I started my work with souls on the therapy levels. If I recall, one of the hardest things for us, not emotionally but just, difficult, was convincing people that there was no need to hide anything."

"When it is a matter of- survival. It can be hard to let go. Even if they want to."

“When I realized that, I think that was one of the things that made me realize I was better suited for the punishment levels…but maybe you don’t want to hear about that<\i>. My job at home made many people uncomfortable.”

"I'm a policeman," Watts pointed out. "No stranger to the idea of punishment. It's only- when punishment and justice don't align, that's where I have trouble."

"We're very careful about that. There are nine levels to Hell. Levels one through five are for people who can work through issues they had in life and then get reincarnated, levels six through nine are for the completely unrepentant. Their only recourse is the void.

"And we're not the only realm of course. When people die they choose what system they get judged by. We mostly get Christians and people who opt for Universal judgement."

"Fascinating," Watts said, genuinely. "I can't say I ever- gave much thought to the idea of an afterlife, let alone multiple versions, until- fairly recently."

We get that a lot. Of course we also get a lot of souls who gave it too much thought.

Gregorith randomly had a thought. The retirement of most of the psychopomps and the setting up of the Front Desk had happened before his time, but he wondered if it had had something to do with the decline in followers of the religions that employed psychopomps.

"Too much thought?" Watts echoed. "Howso?"

"Let's just say that there's a lot of religious zealots in Hell, and a lot of souls on the therapy levels who are recovering from religious trauma. Although I rarely turn down an opportunity to brag about my friend Lily who spent so much time being told she was going to Hell that she went there to spite those people and then took it upon herself to help the intake Demons with their jobs."

"Ah, yes," Watts nodded in understanding. "The religious zealots. I am unfortunately familiar with those as well. Your friend sounds like- a very headstrong person." It was clear that was meant as a compliment.

"Very. She...I only know this second, third? hand mind you, from her boyfriend so there may be a bit of exaggeration here, but she told God off, and he apologized. I think the only other person who ever did that, well other than Lucifer, was Jesus."

God was an okay guy but he had such a reputation that few denizens other than fellow Deities would even think of doing such a thing."

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Fandom Museum, Sunday December 28

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