Is God The Devil Himself?

Family Bonding

After dinner many of the ghouls ran off to their rooms, though Aether, Swiss, and Graves stayed behind to watch TV. He stayed close to Swiss, strangely enough. They were opposites. Graves was shy and scared, whilst Swiss was loud and outgoing. They were like magnets, in a way. Opposites attract and what-not. Graves had learned that Cirrus was the ghoulette Sunshine was talking to, Rain was with Mountain, and Cumulus was with Aether.

Graves kept close with Swiss, leaning into him as he talked with Aether. Aether said goodnight after a few minutes however, leaving Graves and Swiss alone. Swiss turned to look at Graves the best he could. The ghoul was leaning into his side and resting his head on the others shoulder. He had an arm loosely wrapped around Swiss to keep him close. When he realized Swiss was looking at him he smiled, fangs on display.

"It's your first day as a ghoul, Graves. You should rest." Swiss said, gently pushing him off himself. He enjoyed the affection, but he also knew Graves was still adjusting to being a ghoul. Loud noises were one of the things he worried about, considering he was going to be apart of the band.

Graves gave him a saddened look. But quickly ran off to his own room. He kicked open the door and flipped the lights on. He practically tore his uniform off. It brushed his skin in such an uncomfortable way it was almost sickening. He dug through some drawers to find some clothes to sleep in and found a plain black shirt and some sweatpants. They weren't exactly his size but they'd work. He fell onto his bed with a small "oof" and fell asleep quickly. He didn't even turn off the lights or shut his door fully, he just wanted to sleep.

Graves awoke to his lights off and a knock on his door. It was light, barely there, but still audible. He sleepily stood and walked to his door, opening it expecting one of the ghouls to be waking him for something. To his shock and somewhat horror, Copia stood before him, a warm smile on his face.

"You're looking well, that's good. Usually ghouls are easily agitated or isolated when they're first summoned.." Papa rambled about ghouls and how they are when first summoned for a moment before clearing his throat and continuing. "Aether told me they named you Graves and that you have a connection to plants, that's good! You could be an earth ghoul and it's good you remember something from life."

Graves just nodded. He thought that Papa would be a serious and collected man, considering his rank.

"Oh, and how does your mask fit? Your horns are bigger than a usual ghouls so I can make adjustments if needed."

"Oh. Uh. It fits fine, you don't have to do anything. Thank you, Papa." Graves responded quietly. Copia nodded and gestured for Graves to follow him. He walked close behind Copia as they snaked through halls to a kitchen the ghouls used. The ghouls were standing about eating pancakes, waffles, and sandwiches. Aether noticed Graves standing in the doorway and waved to him. Graves quickly grabbed a waffle and walked over to the taller ghoul. Aether ran a hand through his hair and fixed spots that got particularly messed up as he slept.

"You sleep well, Graves?" Aether asked with a soft smile on his face. Graves nodded and took a bite from his waffle as he leaned into the other. Aether wrapped an arm around him and continued his conversation with Cumulus. Graves didn't really listen to them, he just let his mind wander. He thought about the details in his room. Like the little skulls that were on the ends of the curtain rod and the door knob being a black, probably fake, crystal. The decor was beautiful here.

Graves was pulled from his thoughts when he realized that Aether was saying his name.

"Graves you alright?" He asked, worry clear from his voice.

"Yeah, yeah. Sorry Aether. What were you saying?"

Cumulus chuckled a bit before she spoke. "We were just asking it you needed help navigating the Clergy. It can be difficult getting around when you're a new ghoul."

"Oh, sure! That'd be nice, thank you!" Graves replied happily with a big smile on his face. Cumulus nodded and went to talk to Sunshine and Rain. Aether ran a finger over the grooves in Graves' horns making him shudder.

Dew suddenly ran into the kitchen and hid behind Aether, Swiss following close behind him. Swiss was screaming about Dew stealing something from his room while Aether tried to calm the two of them down. Behind Aether Dew was laughing his ass off at Swiss. He was hurling insults at the multi-ghoul as he laughed, only making him want to choke the shorter demon more.

Graves glanced at Dew and hit the back of his head before quickly leaving the kitchen. Dew yelled something he couldn't quite hear at him and he made his way back to his room. He felt a hand on his shoulder and was greeted by an amused Cirrus.

"Why'd you leave? You'll miss the actual fight!" Cirrus asked, moving the hand she had on Graves shoulder to her hip.

"Too loud, and I need to shower." Graves replied, his eyes looking at anything but the woman in front of himself. Cirrus patted his back and went back to the kitchen, not wanting to bother him more.

Graves sighed as he opened his bedroom door and flipped on the lights. He kicked the door shut behind himself as he took off his clothes from the night before and tossed them into a corner. He grabbed his uniform and set it onto the counter in the bathroom. It was smaller than he'd expected it to be, but it still had that charm the bedroom had. He stepped into the shower and turned on the water, shivering at the cold water washing over him. He leaned back against the shower wall and let the water run as it warmed up. He looked at the decor in the bathroom. Candles on the counter near the faucet with a matchbox next to them, skull pots with plants growing out of them hanging near the door, and photo like paintings of the previous papas and their ghouls. He stepped back into the water after a moment, the almost boiling water feeling heavenly on his skin. He hadn't realized how cool it had been inside the Clergy until then. He carefully washed his hair, avoiding his horns to the best of his ability. Occasionally he'd scratch his scalp with his claws on accident and wince from the pain, but that was all that really bothered him. He hadn't realized how long his hair was before, it was to his shoulders in the back with two framing pieces going just barely to his chest.

He stepped out and dried his hair, sweatpants loosely hanging around his hips with his boxers showing slightly. Someone knocked on the door, to which Graves told them to just come in. Aether opened the door just enough for Graves to hear him talk.

"We're thinking of watching a movie in the commons room, what do you think?" He asked, not daring to look into the room.

"That sounds great! I'll be out in a second, how 'bout I walk with you?"

"Alright, I'll be here."

Graves threw on the hoodie he had grabbed and walked out, grabbing Aethers arm and leaving his bedroom. As they got closer and closer to the commons room the arguing and laughter got louder and louder. Dew and Swiss were arguing about what movie to watch and Cirrus was laughing at the two while recording. Mountain and Rain were, unfortunately, sat behind them on the couch cuddling. Aether let go of Graves arm and ran to tear Dew away from Swiss. He picked up the shorter ghoul like a cat, dangling him by his arms.

Cumulus ended up deciding on some obscure, knock-off Christmas film for them to watch. The ghouls all gathered around Graves on or in front of the couch. Graves wrapped his arms around Swiss and held him tight against himself, not wanting to let go, like if he did the multi-ghoul would disappear.