Their Parents Actually Don't Understand

Chloe was sitting at one of her favorite booths in Gomorrah, waiting for Malara to show up. She had already gotten her first drink for the night.

Malara left a poor first impression on Chloe. She came off as the sort of college freshman that Chloe would have called immature when she was a high school junior. Going off and getting drunk with strangers at the apparent expense of classwork or common sense, treating university life like a hedonistic pursuit and not an academic one. Chloe had been too polite to call Malara a waste of space and breath, at least to her face.

And it was a good thing she didn't say such a thing - because as it turned out, they had a lot in common. Both of them were the offspring, in some capacity, of incomprehensibly powerful beings who had extremely unusual expectations for their children. The sorts of expectations, mind you, which were perfectly sensible reasons to get very drunk. Each girl presented a rare opportunity for the other - she might be able to understand what it's like! Finally, she wouldn't feel so alone in that suffering.

At least that was the hope. For now, Chloe had invited Malara to join her at Gomorrah for free drinks, and for the chance to vent about their parents. The night was just beginning, and Chloe had told the man at the door to direct Malara to her when she arrived.

@Kadakism

Chloe snickered at that greeting. "Oh, I'd be careful if I were you. I hear her dad owns the place and they're spooky demons from hell."

Were they here to complain and get drunk? "Yeah, basically." Chloe raised one hand in the air and snapped her fingers. Within seconds, a waitress was by their side. she had the proportions of a sculpture, the classical ideal of femininity.

"You rang?"

"Yes, Janica. We'll need one oven mitt monster, a shot of that lemon-lime vodka, and whatever my friend Malara wants."

Once Malara had made her requests, Chloe would reveal her motivations for tonight's bout of binge drinking. "Have I told you what my dad is expecting of me?" Chloe had not told Malara about what her father expected of her. "He wants me to help him rule his slice of hell. If I go along with it I'll be collecting human souls and building up our kingdom on the back of their eternal suffering. Since I'm actually half human, you can imagine I feel pretty fucked up about that. So." She finished off her drink in a few greedy gulps and slammed it on the table. "Do you see why I invited you here, now?"

The drinks came. "Thanks, Janica." Chloe immediately downed her shot of vodka and handed the glass back to her. It would save her a trip.

"I bet that made it all easier, at least," she said. "Just not thinking about what you were actually doing. Or not knowing it I guess." She sipped on her other drink; the 'oven mitt monster' was a murky, green sort of fluid.

"What ended up giving you the idea that all the people on those planets were... I mean that they had any sort of moral standing? That they were worth giving a shit about in the first place?"

"Well... here's the thing," Chloe said. "I'd be inheriting godlike power and eternal life if I go through with it. And it's not like refusing to accept godlike power and eternal life from him is going to save all those damned souls. In fact, I'd only really have a chance to make their eternal suffering less awful if I went through with it."

Chloe drank more. "And I could probably try to make it so I just take the souls of people who are assholes. You know, people who probably would have ended up in some sort of hell anyway. So I'm... technically not making everything that much worse."

Of course, these were just the sorts of things Chloe told herself to make her feel better about her plans for her future. She wasn't quite drunk enough yet to confess her doubts.

"I also kinda feel like I owe something to him, you know? He's the only family I have in this entire universe."

"Wait, wait, wait." Chloe held up a finger. "Back up. I thought you already were a goddess? Of war and sex? Why do you need to... I mean how... Ok, give me a second."

Chloe took a long sip of her oven mitt monster. She could feel her self-medication starting to kick in. "What's this about attaining godhood, then? Like, what does that even mean?" It was rapidly becoming clear that Chloe and Malara's situations weren't actually all that alike. But hey, at least they could have fun getting drunk together and bitching about it. The evening wouldn't be a total loss.