The Pompous and The Prick

Chapter 25: Tainted Reality Exchanged Not Terminated (T.R.E.N.T.)

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"Stolas told you that, didn't he?"

It was evening, just starting to get dark out. The room bathed in a cool blue light. The air was tight and dry and the tea wasn't calming his agitation. Andrealphus was talking to his dimwit of a sister about the photo of his niece that was supposed to be in the tabloids by now. Poor kid would be the talk of the town and not in a good way, but it would fade and she would get over it. That is, if it was ever sent out.

"No." Stella lied as she leaned back in her chair, risking tipping it over carelessly, "I simply decided not to publish it to save my own neck. You were the one who was being daft, conjuring up a scheme that might make me seem like a bad mother to the public eye."

"You wouldn't be!" He slammed both hands on the table, then sighed, "You might seem partially culpable for a little while, but we'd be able to push the blame onto Stolas entirely once we got damning enough evidence."

"Well I don't want to seem at all capable," Her tongue slipped on the word, "not even for a second!"

"Trust me, my dear, you have made sure of that all on your own." He grumbled as he took a sip from his ornate teacup.

"Whatever. Until we have something that will fully drag Stolas's name through the mud, I will not budge on this." She said, stirring an ungodly- undevily? Stirring an unsettling amount of sugar into her tea.

"Oh my Satan, why do I even bother?" He put his face in his hands and listened to her slurp like a degenerate.

A noise came from Andrealphus's pocket, and when he took out his phone a wide grin slowly spread across his face.

"Gotcha."

— — —

Months of careful chatting with strangers, many of whom sent d**k pics like it was saying hello, some who shouted at him for including pronouns in his profile, and one who even accused him of being a spy or terrorist or something. Then weeks spent chatting, flirting, and getting to know one particular person. Someone who understood him better than Blitz, who was funnier than Blitz, and who cared about him more than Blitz ever did. All for Blitz to show up and interrupt his date.

Luckily, Stolas had already transformed into the Succubus disguise. He had chosen clothes that would mostly suit a succubus, and he enjoyed having horns on his head, and even decorated them with a lunar necklace. He always dressed to fit the royal image, so it was nice to be able to try something new. Though the moment he looked up and saw Blitz standing there, he instinctively tried to cover his exposed stomach with his arms.

"You're Trent, I'm guessing?" Blitz asked, and Stolas had to look down to make sure his disguise was still intact.

"How did you know?" he had never worn this disguise before, so perhaps Blitz happened to know a succubi who looked like this and also happened to use the same name as the one he had used on his disguised account . . .?

"You're an exact copy of your Succuchat icon!" Blitz showed him his phone and Stolas pulled out his own. They were the exact same messages sent at the exact same time. Stolas took a deep breath, still in bewilderment of how this could have happened.