Saccharine Sweets.

Chapter 7 ; The Mismatched Vicissitudes of Being a Mortal.

To answer his own question, It was much harder than he had ever anticipated. Suddenly the stupidity evident in mortals feels much more forgivable. Then again it's only a struggle because of their stupidity to begin with, so techno can't find where he stands on that issue.

For one, he had to act and speak like a mortal. A standard he'd never thought he'd have to abide by. They were much more ineloquent in their wordings than techno would care to admit, and he genuinely worries living in their world for too long could degrade his mind. He hopes a year of this won't impact him too much.

For another, the nature of mortals themselves were different to the basis of an immortal's. They were much more worried over worldly issues, and their violent natures sharply contrasted how techno wishes to act. That might be hypocritical, considering Techno's track record, but what you must understand is that gods act as mortals wish them to, it's the entire basis of their survival, since they thrive on human faith. The more a human believes they are worthy of worship, the more power they will culminate, and due to human's naturally violent wishes to one another, the god is merely trapped in the middle, and they do what they must do to survive the seas of public opinion, bloodshed.

They weren't born wishing violence against humans, the system merely molds them so. If gods were truly naturally violent, humanity would not have survived this long.

Techno would've killed Tommy's father if gods truly were created as violent as humans.

He ponders to himself about humanity quite often, he finds. They are interesting in the same way watching a burning house is interesting. You know they are self sabotaging, and you know they are a danger to everything they touch, but sometimes you just can't look away. He wonders what sent them down such a bloody path, what happened in between eons that trained their nature to be so bloody. He supposes he would never know for sure.

Another issue he's found is that his physique seems to be odd, to the humans. Many pointed out how oddly tall he is for a supposed seventeen year old, many pointed out how his features appear much older, many point to faded scars from before his glory days, from when he was naught but a weak god. So needlessly judgmental, they really are. He genuinely wonders how they still have any sense of compassion, with how much they wish to gauge your identity based on the most surface level cues.

And yet, he can't help but derive enjoyment from being a mortal, because in an odd way, it's fun.

Maybe it's just Techno who can find such annoying living conditions enjoyable, maybe it's just the fact that it's finally something new after centuries of the same godhood, maybe it's the unprecedented freedom being out of the spotlight gives him, he wouldn't know. All he knows is just that it's fun.

Living as a human sparks a brand new curiosity in him, a flame that had long gone out. How do humans function, how do they socialize, how they make their ways around how life works. It was so interesting to him. The contraptions they came up with to give them a level of control even Gaea wouldn't scoff at. Their ridiculous mechanisms to make the most trivial of tasks easier. A level of lazy Techno never thought was achievable, yet here he is, watching humans move around in complicated steam powered engines just to avoid having to steer a horse. Incredible.

Music played over the vendors by street instrumentalists, as if the whole street was just one big ballroom. Cellists, pianists, an array of instruments played professionally. Some people were dancing in the squares, like a party that never ends. A shame Techno disdained dancing in a crowd, else he would've joined in.

Somewhere in his head, a memory resurfaced, a memory of him dancing in a large empty ballroom to the soft guitar strums of Phillian, doing it flawlessly. Phillian happily watches Techno attempt a difficult dance, and execute it flawlessly. It's a memory he cherishes. To him, that's what dancing is. Dancing is what you do with your closest friends who you trust the most, dancing is a proof of a bond to techno. To dance with his closest friend is one of his dearest memories.

"They're dancing techno! You should try!"

Techno scoffed at Tommy, looking ahead to the many men and women dancing with each other.

"I couldn't."

"I could teach you!"

"That would be lovely, but no thank you."

Tommy didn't get the memo, and simply ran into the bustling crowd at the square, quickly disappearing out of sight into the heavy crowds.

Techno sighs to himself, taking off in an attempt at keeping up with the boy, a fond smile on his face.

Dancing had always made him happy.

He dodged the many people piled around the square at food vendors, looking for the small golden haired boy. The boy had long gone out of sight, that stupid little thing.

Running headfirst into the dancing courtyard, he squeezed his way through many couples, dodged many drunk lads and even had to duck under a flying wooden mug, courtesy of some drunkard off in his peripheral vision. It was as chaotic as he expected it to be. Catching a lady's headdress as it fell off her head, he returned it as he rushed to look for Tommy, his small stature proving to be quite the hindrance. At long last, a small head of golden hair made itself known for a second, as Techno chased after the boy, unabashedly bumping into multiple people, apologizing half heartedly as he made his way to the boy.

"Tommy I swear to god if you do that again-"

"Oy! What business have you got with this thief!"

A rather angry store owner and who he assumed to be his goons stared at Techno angrily, practically glaring at him.

"What do you mean thief?"

"This piece of shit of a child tried to take some money out of my damn pocket! The dumb thing forgot I have eyes."

"I swear I didn't do it!"

"Then tell me why you had money in your hands behind my shop?"

"It fell from your pocket and I tried to give it back!"

"A likely story, if I don't have you persecuted-"

The man couldn't even finish his sentence before Techno's arm was at his neck, holding him in a chokehold. Humans this violent pissed him off. His two men tried to charge at Techno, a futile attempt, as Techno merely drove the man further until he hit the wall, ending with his two mates bumping into each other. Pathetically inable to fight.

"And why am I to believe a snake oil salesman over a child?"

The man stared into Techno's crimson eyes, only finding bloodlust in them.

"What the hell are you?"

"No one you need to know."

Techno let go of the man, dropping him with no further care. He turned around to find that a good amount of men were staring at him. So much for staying out of the spotlight.

He picked Tommy up and placed him on his shoulders, not even bothering to hand the man his money back. No one was going to protest.

He supposed gods did have a violent nature to them. Although they most definitely weren't created with one.

Meanwhile, another boy had stars in his eyes as he watched the fight from afar, it was so cool to his simple mind. His mother tugged him away from the square, headed back to their home, but the young boy continued staring at the man who had just saved a kid. His green eyes were practically glimmering with awe. He won't forget his face anytime soon.