A Grim Mother

Getting to the dining room had been a troublesome feat all on its own.

He, at first, sped down the halls as fast as these pathetic human feet could take him (were humans always this slow?) until he ran headfirst into someone and knocked them down like a bowling pin. And, because the Council had it out for him, he was forced to apologize again—it took nearly all of his willpower to not shove the stammering human back onto the ground and send them off to one of those lethal nurses.

Then, because, again, the Council was trying to make the new life he's only been living for several hours so far as awful as possible, random people (most being civilians and some being the castle staff) kept trying to flag him down to chat with him. What did humans even chat about?! Jobs? Sports?? The weather??? They're so boring, it's a wonder why they want to live so badly. Though, the worst people were the ones who tried to hug him or jump him or even…kiss him. Ugh, how gross! Why would humans even do something so disgusting? Putting one's mouth against another human's mouth and enjoying it? No thank you.

Once he finally opened the door that had “Dining Room” name tag flashing over it, he was greeted to a large expansive room with a table that could probably fit ten small towns of people, a large chandelier hanging over it, and a human woman sitting at the far end of the table on the opposite side of him. Without even seeing her, Xeran could feel her tremendously imposing aura—she was definitely not someone to mess with or screw around with. There was no doubt that this was Queen Astrid, Adrian's mother. Or now, my mother, Xeran thought. It was quite a weird thought to have—grim reapers were never born, just created, so parents have never and will never be a thing.

Queen Astrid gestured calmly to the chair closest to her on her right side as all of the other workers in the room stood to the side and watched (why have such a huge table if no one is actually going to use it?). Xeran quickly hurried over and plopped down in the chair, avoiding direct eye contact with the woman. Her gaze narrowed but she didn't speak, opting instead to clear her throat. As if the staff could understand her non-verbal signal, they scurried in all directions like mice, leaving the dining room empty sans Queen Astrid and himself.

Xeran wasn't the type of reaper that was terrified of humans—he was wary and afraid of what they could do, given their tenacity for violence, but never terrified to do something as simple as talk to one. It was quite easy to talk with that Aurora girl, but this woman was a different story. Her hair was pinned up with what looked like fifty hair clips, and her jewel-adorned dress most likely cost more than some fancy human box-like contraption (or, at least, that is what he remembered from their crying about “my precious baby! How could I possibly afford to fix this when I had to use over half my life savings to pay for it?!”).

“Son,” Queen Astrid began, taking him out of his reverie, “you know what tomorrow entails, right?”

“Tomorrow…,” Xeran muttered, “right, tomorrow…I remember what it 'entails'.” It was always better to avoid bringing suspicion to things one doesn't know much about. Plus, he wasn't about to tell the queen, his mother, that he didn't know what the hell she was going on about lest he get incapacitated again.

“Good, I had thought you forgot. You do not seem as excited for it as you have been for the past several days.”

Xeran froze. “Well, I had a lot on my mind. I was just…” Xeran clenched his hands and plastered on a smile for the first time since he arrived, “I was just really looking forward to it, I could hardly stand it! You understand what that's like, right?” Please say right.

Queen Astrid's mouth curved into a small smile, surprising Xeran by the sudden change. “Of course I understand, son. I was just like you on the day of my first banquet.” She sighed wistfully, placing her elbow on the arm of the chair and her chin on her hand. “It was the first time I ever met your father. He was quite dashing in his younger years—all the girls were vying for his attention because of how attractive he was—but, in the end, he chose me.”

Xeran nodded along to try to be sympathetic, but he could really care less about some random human man. So what if he was hot, he's just some human! Are all humans really this hung up on love and attraction? Is there nothing better going on in their lives that they have to center it all around whoever they fancy?

He tried to change the subject away from the topic of Adrian's father. “The banquet?”

Queen Astrid sniffed and nodded. “Yes, the banquet is where we met. And hopefully, you will meet someone just as wonderful as I did tomorrow.”

Trying not to gag, Xeran smiled for the second time. “Yes, we can always hope.”

Seeing as the conversation was over, Queen Astrid waved over some food and they ate dinner in silence. At least human food isn't terrible to eat.

Hearing a small “ding” noise, Xeran noticed a small blue box pop up to the side of him.

[Congrats: {Adrian} has received 50 GR (Grim Reaper) Points for building a better relationship with {Astrid Hawthorne}! Please continue to obtain GR points to the best of your ability!]

Xeran's face dropped into a deadpanned expression—nothing could surprise him anymore.

At this point, there was no point in trying to understand what the Council was doing in this experiment. As long as he didn't cause trouble or act like his true self, he could survive just fine! No problem at all! Absolutely, no problem at all!