Siren's Son ASMR Oneshots

Simply Divine - Part Three: Daz

My mom didn't believe me.
Why am I even surprised at this point?
When I came to her, still shaking, and spilled what had happened in the woods outside Montel, she could see how scared I was, how angry, and her first conclusion was that I had imagined like half of it, and I had just been attacked by some guy who "didn't appreciate your lip."
She might as well have patted my head.
Well, to get back into the actual story rather than ranting about my mom, I'll skip past the boring parts. I sat in my room in a sulk for the rest of the night, fuming and plotting things I'd do to Rex if I ever saw him again. Then I sulked through dinner, went back to my room, did some brooding, and decided to mix it up with some ruminating. I would have sulked all through the weekend, but on Sunday morning, mom busted into my room, waved her hand to dispel the "cloud of funk" that she insisted had built up in there, and declared that she was taking me to the arena.
I balked.
She knew I hated the arena. I would have advocated publicly against it by now if those that did didn't tend to disappear. As it was, I did what little I could to privately stir dissent against the arena, which wasn't much. The last time mom told me we were going to the arena, I had time to prepare. I snuck a carton of pink paint to the arena. I had planned to write "Queensgarden is Coming" on the door to the stables, but I chickened out at the last moment. I was scared to get caught. I settled for making pink slashes through Lady Circie and Lord Fain's faces on the tapestry hung over the stable entrance. I scampered back to my seat before I could get caught in the act and spent the rest of the night with my heart in my throat. My stomach soon joined it as the so-called festivities went on.
And now I was going back.
I told mom I hated it, and she reminded me that she wasn't the biggest fan either, but since my dad was one of the mega fans, he'd be upset if we didn't.
So now here we were, in row R2, watching some poor half-wolf fight a human gladiator for our amusement.
Suddenly a tap on my shoulder made me spin around with a glare ready for the poor sap who decided to talk to me right this second.
What I saw made the glare slide right off my face.
"I know you!"
The man smiled, black hair tousled by the wind.
"You recognize me, huh?"
Well, I thought I did. The guy I saved from bandits didn't have that much arrogance in his tone. With new uncertainty in my tone, I replied, "I think so? You're the guy who got beat up by bandits, right?"
Now let me just say that I wouldn't have said that if I actually thought it was the same guy. Something about this one rubbed me the wrong way, and I wanted to see if he would get offended and prove me right.
The man looked appalled and snorted. "What? No. You have the wrong person, honey."
I bristled. "Um, I don't know you. Please don't call me that."
"Why not? Honey?" He leaned closer.
I furrowed my brows, saying shortly, "because it makes me uncomfortable, and you have about five seconds before I kick you somewhere you won't appreciate it, so I suggest you back up."
The man retreated a foot, chuckling. He didn't seem deterred.
"I think you met my brother. Looks a lot like me, but less handsome, wears a lot of red, too nice for his own good?"
"That... actually sounds exactly like him. Except the less handsome part," I said pointedly. "What's your name?"
"Oh," he said, grin widening. "I'm Daz."
For half a second, I just stared at him. I couldn't decide whether to laugh, unsure whether he was joking, or believe him due to the encounter with Rex I had had recently.
After an entire internal monologue squeezed into the span of a second, I looked into his eyes.
"Prove it."
He looked amused. "You're willing to believe me? I don't know what's more surprising, you not writing it off as a joke or you not taking me at my word."
I narrowed my eyes.
"Fine, fine," he laughed. "You see that tree down there?" He pointed to a sickly little sapling that must have sprouted recently, as it hadn't been uprooted by whoever cleared the arena of any clutter. "Watch it closely."
I wasn't sure what he would do if he was Daz, seeing as Leo was the one with the domain over life, but I reluctantly obeyed. I squinted at the sapling, allowing my focus to narrow until all I could see was every little detail.
Then my vision went white.
A loud crack split the sounds of the crowd, causing screams and chaos to rip though the stadium. When the spots cleared from my vision, I looked back to the tree and noticed that it was on fire.
Daz had struck it with lightning.
To avoid processing the fact that I had now met two divines in the flesh, I focused on the emotion I relied on most often: annoyance.
"You told me to watch it closely!" I spat, clutching my heart.
Daz roared with laughter. "I know! I just wanted to see your face. It was fvcking amazing!"
I stared at him.
Divines. This was Daz. Divine of weather, disasters, storms, and chaos, known for chucking natural disasters at us puny mortals just to see how we react.
"Are you serious?  Another one?" I said incredulously.
"Yup! Daz, in the flesh," he boasted, spreading his arms wide.
I stiffened. I tried to appear unruffled and annoyed.
"Well, unless you want everyone around us to know, I'd suggest you tone it down," I said.
"Huh!" he snorted. "You've got quite the attitude. My brother was right when he said you had no respect. You've got no sense of survival, have you, little mortal?"
"I prefer the term 'audacious.'"
"Huh?"
"Or impetuous. Spunky, tempestuous, brazen, impertinent."
"Uh, can you go back to spunky?"
I rolled my eyes.
"It's hard to listen to you with a straight face," I muttered under my breath, holding back a smile.
I didn't think it was noticeable, but Daz grinned as if he'd accomplished something. Ugh.
"So? What do you-" I cut myself off. Impetuous though I may be, asking a divine what he wanted was unwise even by my standards. Especially since, though Daz wasn't my favorite divine, he wasn't Rex. "Why have you graced me with your presence?"
Apparently, my sarcasm wasn't evident. Daz's braggart grin widened. "I just wanted to see what all the fuss was about. Both my brothers wouldn't shut up about you."
"Both?" I asked. Then I remembered what Daz had said about... "The man from the market..."
Red clothes... kind and clueless... and I could have sworn I saw something glowing red right before I stepped in.
"That was Bek?"
"Yup!" Daz laughed, impressed. "How'd you know?"
"Most of you probably wouldn't be caught dead in a human city. Of those that would, I would guess that Kel would keep more to himself and Nix would be trying to seduce someone."
"Huh. Clever, human," Daz said.
I shrugged. "So? What did they say?"
"Rex said you were a disrespectful, irreverent fool. Bek said you looked strangely intelligent for one who acted so recklessly. Both said you were a short, loudmouthed young adult with brown hair. Of the mortals that matched that description, I took a wild guess and picked the one that looked the most self-righteous. And I was right." He looked pleased with himself.
"Well. Okay then," I said stiffly, unsure how to respond. "And you?"
"I think you're something else, Sparky. I like it."
"Sparky?" I repeated.
"Yeah. You're sparky. So, Sparky," he explained, wearing a self-satisfied grin.
Okay, so he's an idiot. These interactions were teaching me more about the divines than I ever leaned at temple.
"Al...right, but if-"
"Aspen? Who's your friend?" My mom cut in. Her face was severe in the fading light.
I froze. Oh, crap.
Daz shoved a hand toward my mom. "Pleasure to meet you. I'm-"
"Dave! The meteorology teacher at my old high school, remember? Dave Peters?" I asked, knowing she didn't. My heart pounded in my ears.
"Oh... yes! Mr. Peters. Aspen, you know it's not polite to call an adult by their first name," she reproached.
"Oh, it's cool," Daz said with a "charming" grin. "Aspen and I have a thing going. We're buds, right, Aspen?" He threw an arm around my shoulders.
I fought every instinct that told me to shove him away. Great. Now he knows my name, if he didn't already. "Yeah, Mr. Peters. We're... buds."
Daz used my shoulder to push himself up. "Well, I'd better get going, Mrs..."
"Delacruz," she said, raising an eyebrow.
You're my teacher, you moron! I thought. Act like you know stuff!
"Ah. Of course," he said, flashing my mom a blinding smile. "It was great to see you, Aspen Delacruz. Hopefully we'll run into each other again soon."
I forced a smile. "I hope so too."
"Bye, Sparky!" With that, he swaggered away.
Mom looked at me funny. "Your teacher is odd."
I cringed. "You have no idea."