The three of them were at a brawling pit.
"Impulse, Wrath, we need to talk."
The male, Impulse, turned to the thin and gaunt woman, though her figure was mostly hidden under a cloak and a hood.
"Hello, Death. If we have to talk, then we're lucky that this is occurring." He gestured towards the pit. It was an event where the three of them would be present together with no other Persona involved. Wrath continued observing the fighters silently.
"Frankly, you two need to control Arrt. He is getting out of hand. This is the fourth time I've caught him so far."
Impulse smiled. "He is our progeny after all. He wouldn't be my son if he weren't rash."
"Nor my seed if he did not anger easily." Wrath spoke.
Death sighed. "But he cannot be so unrestrained. Or at least, not in that area. Being so rash, he'd probably exterminate the entire population of the town. You have to do something."
"What? I would give him a man-to-man talk, except that being who and what I am, I know that he's not gonna respond well to it. Besides, my son and your daughter seem to be getting along quite well..."
"I know full well what they are doing." Death snapped. "Which is why I do not wish to antagonise him. It would not make for a good relationship."
Wrath laughed softly. "And you think that parents antagonising their children is better than the child's future mother-in-law. You're a funny one, Death."
"I can see that talking to you two will be as productive as talking to a block of bone. The bone would probably respond better."
Death left the pit and warped home. She pulled out a chair and sat down, sighing. She really couldn't stand those Emotional Personas. So much better to be emotionally balanced. These days, nobody took her seriously. Time was when she could just wave her scythe about in a vaguely menacing sort of way and people would be tripping over themselves to fulfill her wishes. Death was tired and weary. Bone-weary, if she was feeling out of sorts enough to make a joke. She left that sort of thing to Evolution, her handmaiden and another of the Natural Personas. And there she was.
"Mistress, you look awfully tired. Dead tired."
"I don't know how I tolerate your horrid puns, Evvy."
"You love my deadpan." Evolution pulled back Death's hood and busied herself with tidying Death's hair up.
"Evvy, you remember Arrt?"
"Impulse and Wrath's child? What about him? Don't tell me you caught him in the act."
"As a matter of fact, yes."
"Tsk tsk, Mistress, you really should take care of your hair. It's all over the place."
"That's what I have you for."
"That, and to admonish you. So you caught Arrt in bed with D-"
"No, I did not!" She said crossly.
"Don't convulse so much, Mistress, I thought you'd be in rigor mortis. Now I have to redo that entire section."
"Evvy. Please. Not now. Enough with the jokes." She rubbed her face.
"Yes, Mistress. So, you caught Arrt killing some of those people."
"Three boys from the village."
"And why'd he do it?"
"He told me they made Del cry."
"Aw, that's so sweet of him. I wish Creation would kill someone for me if that person made me sad." She said dreamily.
"Evvy, you're missing the point."
"Right, yes. He shouldn't have killed those mortals. Of course."
"And I can hardly tell him not to. He wouldn't listen and if I tried to force him not to, it'd just sour our relationship."
"I'm sure you don't want to ruin your future son-in-law's feelings towards you."
"I don't like him, Evvy."
"Del does. And that's really what matters. Del doesn't need to like Life and you don't need to like Arrt."
"It's not just that. Which mother would approve of a son-in-law who is quick to anger and just as rash?"
"It's a good thing that you're so open-minded and you believe in free will then."
Death snorted. "The danger of being too open-minded, Evvy, is that your brains might fall out."
"Then it's just as well that you're just skin and bones, yes? Wait, did you just make a sarcastic remark? You must be more tired than I thought. Go and take a rest, Mistress. Tend to your snakes." Evolution remarked as she finished redoing Death's hair.
Death's hobby was snake-charming, though she wasn't particularly good at it. The fact that being bitten didn't bother her in the least helped. She didn't mind being bad at it. It just calmed her down and relaxed her. Personas do not sleep.
"Mistress! Your husband's here. May I?"
Death stood up from her snakes and nodded. "Go ahead. Have a good time with Creation."
Creation was Life's butler, Evvy's counterpart and it was rather fitting that they would be in love, the same way Death and Life were.
"If you say I look well, I will take my scythe and stick it in you."
"I was going to say that I expected you to be worse, considering the plagues and all down in mortal land. But you look better than I believed, so that's fine." He kissed her lightly.
"I wanted to go and find you."
"What's up?"
"Del. She misses you."
Life frowned slightly. "This is a very inopportune time, I have to say. All the mages down there experimenting and especially the artificers who are creating life. I have to manage them."
"And I have to deal with the millions of plague victims of Kylmir yet I manage to find time to visit Del. Such wonderful scheduling you have, my dear." She said dryly.
Life blinked owlishly. "You're learning humour. That's certainly unexpected."
"No, I'm just not myself recently. I'm being worn out by all the mass deaths that's going on. As if the plague wasn't bad enough, recently mass suicide cults have been sprouting around. Our daughter wants to see you again. Besides, I need your help in handling Arrt."
"Arrt? Impulse's son? You mean he did something to De-"
"No! He's been killing people just because of some minor thing they did that made Del cry. The relationship of Personas and mortals has never been very well and what he's doing isn't exactly helping."
"I see."
"And keep an eye on both of them too, I may let them sleep together, but I will not condone any of the sexual acts."
"Not until Del's older." Life agreed. "I wish we could meet more often. In those days when we were together all the time. Hospitals and all." He said wistfully.
"While Evvy and Creation had just started dating. Ah, happy times."
They sat together on the balconey of Death's home, watching the eternal sunset that would never pass. The sun never moved here, stuck in a perpetual sunset. But they would have to leave to their respective duties far too soon.
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