The Chariot [Zane]

Guest · Sat Nov 21, 2020 6:33 pm

Guest

"Zane, I think you've gained too much weight."

Zane put his taco down, finishing up the rest in his mouth with a large swallow, perhaps too large. "The hell do you mean?" Zane asked the demon, staring down at his taco. He wanted to keep eating it. "All we ever do is dine out on these calorie-heavy foods." Zane raised an eyebrow. It had actually been Beelzebub's request that they go eat at every restaurant they could. Greed was an exhausting sin to follow. Wrath just involved being angry. Pride just involved having an ego. Gluttony just involved being addicted to something. Lust just involved being horny. Sloth was all about being lazy, and you only had to be jealous to be envious. But greed? Greed was so much more difficult. Greed required wanting EVERYTHING. Some people believed that a demon who represented greed would just want shiny goblets and fancy chairs, but no. Beelzebub wanted even the shittiest of clothes, food from every restaurant, everything. While Beelzebub didn't demand it all at once, it seemed like the demon was always on the lookout for another thing to want. Zane wasn't sure if he would be able to keep up with it all. "You're the one who's making me, though!"

"I know. And you're still going to do it. But I hear that exercise will let you eat more often without having to worry about the weight gain. You should go to the local gym, work out a bit."

"Do I HAVE to?"

"Yes." Beelzebub could tell that his host probably wasn't too fond of the idea on his own, so he added in an additional motivator for Zane. "You could get super muscular doing that, though! Think about it. All those earthland girls would like that, I bet." Zane immediately left his taco on the plate and ran out of the restaurant. It was time to work out.

Guest · Sat Nov 21, 2020 6:40 pm

Guest

Zane lifted the weights at the gym. These felt far too easy. He was able to bend his arm upwards with such ease. Why did people always complain about how hard all of this was? "Those are only 5 pound weights, you know." Oh. Zane hadn't bothered to look at the number. Still, this wasn't too bad. It was easy, and Zane figured that if he did it enough he'd probably get muscular anyways. The starry eyes of a million beautiful maidens in Fiore awaited him at the end of this journey. He just had to play the long game.

Beelzebub wasn't satisfied with this. He didn't want Zane to play the long game. Zane's eating habits would be making him gain fat far, far faster than he would gain any sort of muscle. Something needed to be done. Beelzebub shared the same sense of sight as Zane did, so he tried to look around in the corner of Zane's eyes. There was some elven girl working on a machine at the gym. Beelzebub didn't know much about the taste of earthlanders when it came to appearances, but he guessed that Zane would find her attractive at the very least. He could use this.

"Zane, look. There's a girl on that machine." Zane head turned towards the girl, his eyes looking her up and down. "Here I go." Zane said, placing the weights down where he found them and heading towards the girl. That was surprisingly easy. All Beelzebub had to do now was find a way to convince Zane to do the extremely difficult exercises in order to impress the girl. Then again, Zane could also end up hurting himself if he did that too. There was a lot to consider. Beelzebub continued debating things in his head as Zane approached the woman.

Guest · Sat Nov 21, 2020 6:47 pm

Guest

Zane leaned up against the wall near the machine, confident the girl's line of sight would soon meet his. She'd no doubt catch him in the corner of her eye, based on where he had positioned himself. He waited, trying to look nonchalant. He waited. And waited. A minute or two had passed and yet the girl had not even tried to glance at him. "Huh? I woulda thought she'd at least have a peek by now..." Zane thought, Beelzebub choosing to finally interject after his disappointed remark. "Maybe you should head on over to that treadmill, Zane. You're pretty speedy, right? Go fast and impress her. The sound of your feet might draw attention too."

Zane seemed pleased with Beelzebub's idea, moving over to a nearby treadmill. It wasn't in the woman's line of sight, but that was okay. As Beelzebub had said, the noise of his feet hitting the treadmill might get her attention. She could also just finish on that current machine at some point and end up seeing him as well. Zane liked the idea of using the treadmill anyways. He was used to running, so this wasn't really anything new to him. Stepping onto the treadmill, Zane looked at the options on the board. Very slow. Slow. Medium. Fast. Very fast. 5 buttons in total. Beelzebub took note of this. Very fast would most likely be too much for Zane right now. Very slow and slow would be too little, just like the 5 pound weights. "You should start at medium and work your way up, I say." Zane nodded, seeming to agree. Beelzebub felt relieved knowing that his host hadn't decided to be lazy again - or worse, cocky. Zane's feet hit the treadmill and started running. He hadn't been on one of these things for quite a while. It felt kinda nice, actually.

Guest · Sat Nov 21, 2020 6:54 pm

Guest

Running. More running. Further running. Zane had been on the treadmill for a while now. The girl hadn't yet looked his way, nor had she finished on her own machine. She was really pushing herself hard. Looking down at the board, Zane decided it was about time for him to push himself hard as well. Hitting the 'fast' button, the treadmill sped up its pace. Zane prepared himself to run even faster, having a bit of trouble keeping up at first. His pace eventually ended up stabilizing though. He was matching the speed of it fairly well, though his breath had become a lot heavier. Zane supposed that was probably natural. Running like this reminded Zane of his home back in Baska, when he was an elf boy.

He would always run through the fields. He vaguely remembered racing Marwyn a lot. He even remembered their win record - 31 for him and 27 for Marwyn. He wondered how his cousin was doing. He hadn't seen her since the thing that went down in the dungeon. Zane wouldn't discover it for a while longer, but his cousin was dead. She'd been murdered by someone or another. How would Zane react when he found out? Would he be devastated? Or had all of his recent goofiness and attempts to seem 'evil' end up making him less emotional about it all? It was certainly a story for another time. Zane glanced at the woman every once in a while. She still hadn't looked at him. Zane's eyes made their way over to the 'very fast' button, debating on if he should press it. "Don't." Beelzebub plainly said, knowing that the very fast option wouldn't be a good idea. It would tire Zane out too easily in his current state. Zane's face showed a bit of a pout, but he did as the demon asked him to.

Guest · Sat Nov 21, 2020 7:00 pm

Guest

Zane was growing increasingly frustrated. Why hadn't this girl looked at him? He had thought just about every girl in earthland would want to take a little peek at him. Was he wrong? Had his ego grown too large? Was he delusional? The answer to all three of those questions was yes, though Zane would never admit it. Zane slowed down the treadmill, getting ready to get off of it. There was no way he would ever attract her attention like this. Maybe the simple solution was to simply go up and talk to her. Beelzebub thought about rejecting this plan of Zane's, but the demon figured perhaps it was a good idea to simply let it play out for now. Maybe speaking to the woman would provide Zane with a bit more motivation. If things went wrong, that was alright. Beelzebub could figure out a backup plan. For now he let Zane hit the 'slow' button, then the 'very slow' button, and finally the 'stop' button. Their time on the treadmill was done with.

Zane approached the girl. She'd finally take note of him once he was a few feet away. "Hey there." Zane said, a smile on his face. "Hello. Can I help you?" Zane didn't expect her reply to be so... formal. Her way of speaking it definitely sounded that way. "I could help but notice you from the other side of the gym, an-" Zane was interrupted by the woman who now spoke in a clearly annoyed tone. "Let me guess. You're going to hit on me instead of actually exercising, right? This is a gym. Go use it as a gym." She coldly told him. Zane felt intimidated by the girl. Not in a physical way, mind you. His time as a mage made him more than confident that he would be able to beat her in a fight. No, this girl made him afraid for a different reason. Her way of speaking him reminded of a childhood crush who had rejected him in a cold, cruel manner. Beelzebub realized that this might actually be the perfect motivation for Zane.

Guest · Sat Nov 21, 2020 7:20 pm

Guest

Baska, in Zane's teenage years.

Zane had finally finished his 20th race with Marwyn. He won. He was keeping track of their record in his head. 12 for him, 8 for Marwyn. It felt kinda nice to beat his cousin, especially since she always seemed like the older one despite the fact they were the same age. It was good for what was coming up next in the day as well. Zane was finally ready to confess to Mona. She was a girl his age who he knew around town. They had interacted a bit as schoolmates. Zane had a bit of a childish crush on her. He didn't know her too well, but still he had found himself claiming to be in love with her - in his journal, that was. He young back then. Anything counted as love.

Saying goodbye to Marwyn, young Zane headed towards the town square. He had asked Mona to meet him there after she was done helping her dad at the bakery that day. She reluctantly agreed. Zane was a shy boy back then, fairly quiet and slightly odd. Many of his classmates found him weird, especially considering he was the only elf in their class. "Mona." Zane said, tapping the girl on the shoulder as his soft voice got her attention.

The next 5 minutes became Zane's first ever heartbreak. Mona's family was definitely one on the more racist side, though in a "subtle" way. Mona felt disgusted by the way Zane spoke to her. She insulted him in her formal manner of speech. Even though her family were bread bakers, they were rich bakers. She clearly felt that she was above Zane in some way or another. Zane went home that day. Marwyn was very much ready to beat up the girl for him, but Zane requested that his cousin didn't. He just didn't want to think about her anymore.

This girl at the gym obviously wasn't Mona. But her manner of speech, her tone, and slight bits of her appearance certainly reminded Zane of her a lot.

Guest · Sat Nov 21, 2020 7:28 pm

Guest

"If I can beat you in a race, go on a date with me." Zane requested. The woman raised an eyebrow. She was used to most men backing off or simply calling her names after she scolded them, but Zane chose to do neither. He was challenging her. Still, she didn't really have much of a reason to go through with it. Until Zane said the next part. "You're clearly working on your legs a lot, based on how much you've been using this machine. You should have no trouble beating me, right?"

This caught the elven girl's attention. The guy in front of her was trying to bait her into this competition. And it worked. "Fine." She got off of the machine, waving Zane over to follow her to the door of the gym.

"This exact street the gym is in on goes in a loop. If you continue following it you'll just end up back here again. The street is around 3 kilometers total." She'd done this before, clearly. Not as a race, mind you. She simply liked to use the conveniently shaped street to her advantage, especially since the gym was so close. "You won't beat me, by the way. I know you're probably feeling pretty confident, but you're not nearly what you think you are. I can tell just by looking at you." The woman still felt disgusted by Zane, despite the fact his challenge was entertaining. Making her way to the center of the street, she stood in the middle, waiting for Zane.

"Go on, count to three. First one back wins."

"Alrighty then..." Zane prepped himself, ready to run. He wasn't entirely sure if he could do this. He could tell that the woman was being somewhat genuine in her assertions that she was extremely speedy. He could tell by looking at her legs. The aura about her seemed serious as well. Gulping, Zane really hoped that he wouldn't be beaten. His pride would be crushed if he was.

Three, two, one!"

Guest · Sat Nov 21, 2020 7:35 pm

Guest

Zane ran. The woman had already gained a bit of a lead on him, but it wasn't by too much. He was feeling alright so far. But he felt tired. As he ran, he progressively felt the effects of his overeating more and more. He didn't feel like he had it in him to go as fast as he could. The sight of the woman's back soon became further and further away. It was slipping away now. She wasn't even going faster. He was going slower.

Zane felt depressed at the fact. He couldn't do it. His reasons for wanting to beat the woman in this race were shallow and petty, but he still felt bad about it. Was he really all talk and no show? All bark and no bite? His confidence he had begun to build up in the last few months began to fade. Maybe he wasn't any different from back when he had asked Mona out in Baska when he was a teenager. Maybe he was still that Zane.

"No." Beelzebub said plainly, stepping in to help his host when nobody else would. "The Zane I've been sharing a body with wouldn't be thinking like this. The Zane I know would probably speed up, actually. He'd start trying harder, going crazier. Probably to the point where he pulls a muscle at the end, actually. An idiot, but a respectable one."

"... Yeah. You're right." Zane stopped for a moment, feeling motivated. "The Zane you know would probably start 'breaking his limits' like a character in one of those joyan comics you always make me buy, right?" "Exactly! Now get to it!" Zane took a deep breath in, preparing himself to sprint. The woman was probably halfway done the lap by now. Zane had enough time to catch up if he really pushed himself past that limit.

Guest · Sat Nov 21, 2020 7:43 pm

Guest

haha get it because the song is called limit break x survivor honestly i just couldn't find anything else to put here lmao

Zane's feet felt like the wind itself. He rarely got a chance to go at his top speed. Usually he didn't run for long enough to reach it, sometimes he held back. It felt as though it had been forever since he had gone this fast, but here he was. He really did feel like a protagonist in a story - there was even some kind of theme playing in his head. Beelzebub's love for Joyan culture had clearly made him think this way. Zane wasn't complaining though. He zipped by the street, passing people who were impressed by his sheer speed. He eventually caught up with the girl at the 2 kilometer mark, passing her in a flash. She seemed clearly surprised, but Zane didn't bother to look back at her. He had to focus on the goal right now. Being smug was for later.

The gym was in sight now. Zane didn't even slow down for the final stretch. He wanted be there as soon as possible. Crossing the imaginary finish line, he finally slowed down, resting on the nearby grass while waiting for the girl. Zane let out a resounding "yes!" to the sky, raising his fists up in satisfaction. "Holy shit, Zane! That was amazing!" Zane let out a laugh, happy to receive such genuine praise from the usually sarcastic Beelzebub. "I know, right?!" Zane asked, not even worrying about the fact he said it out loud. He felt too good to worry about someone viewing him as crazy right now. He truly pushed himself to his limits back there. His legs were starting to feel sore now, but that was okay. That was probably the best feeling thing he'd done all month. Looking towards the street, Zane kept a lookout for the girl. She owed him a date now. The day just kept getting better and better.

Guest · Sat Nov 21, 2020 7:54 pm

Guest

"Fuck you." The girl plainly said, arriving a few minutes after Zane won. She promptly walked away, clearly wanting nothing else to do with Zane. "Hey, I won! We had a deal, remember?!" He asked, calling out to the woman as she walked away. "Don't care!" The sight of her back became further and further away as she walked off, until she was far enough to the point where Zane could no longer see her. He felt disappointed. Beelzebub felt kind of sorry for Zane. Usually he didn't approve of Zane going after girls at all. But he did feel proud of Zane for how much he pushed himself. "Demons like making contracts. They're really important to me." He said, Zane curious as to just what he meant. "Okay, and...?"

"We find people like her the worst of all. She made a deal with you earlier, yet she ignored it completely. I'd rather be around 100 priests than one of her." Zane chuckled a little bit. It made him feel a bit better. "Still, I did go and hit on her at the gym when I should've been focusing on working out. She kind of had a point." Zane walked the opposite direction, heading towards a different part of town. "Don't think like that." Beelzebub demanded. "You're supposed to be greedy, remember? Hit on as many girls as you want! That's all part of the sin, isn't it?"

"Yeah. I suppose you're right about that." Zane smiled. Beelzebub had been supporting him like this all day, actually. Zane originally was mad at the demon for making him work out. Now he was appreciating Beelzebub's presence even more. He felt like him and the lord of the flies were starting to form a real bond, one that would continue to shape until they were the best of friends. Because in the end of it al-

"Shut up. I don't want this thread to end with some sort of cheesy metaphor."

"Fine..."

EXIT

The Chariot [Zane]

Sat Nov 21, 2020 6:33 pm

Sat Nov 21, 2020 6:40 pm

Sat Nov 21, 2020 6:47 pm

Sat Nov 21, 2020 6:54 pm

Sat Nov 21, 2020 7:00 pm

Sat Nov 21, 2020 7:20 pm

Sat Nov 21, 2020 7:28 pm

Sat Nov 21, 2020 7:35 pm

Sat Nov 21, 2020 7:43 pm

Sat Nov 21, 2020 7:54 pm

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