Tick tock, tick-tock.
It's been a few hours, perhaps even more since time is more of an illusion, a constructive sense, since Nona left him alone with them. Fortunately, no one else has arrived. Unfortunately, he is stuck with (Y/N) till they press the button. To top it all off they haven't woken up.
Decim sighs as he pours his famous cocktail drink in a margarita glass, somewhat hoping it might help in this situation. He set it down on the counter before absentmindedly tapping his fingertips. He thought about what he can do now, only to just try to make conversation with them. Hope for the best. Nona said something about trying to find their memories, see what went wrong, but it'll take a while to do. Especially because death rates keep going up.
He was so lost in thought, he didn't even notice that (Y/N) has awakened and standing in front of him. Till he felt pressure against his nose, causing him to snap out of it, staring at them.
"You good?"
"I'm sorry?" He didn't understand what they said to him.
They sigh. "You okay?" They let go of his nose. "You're sounding like a woodpecker with that tapping you do."
"My apologies, I didn't notice I was doing that."
"Eah, don't worry about it." They stretch a bit and yawn. "So what you been doing since I was asleep?"
"I contacted my boss about this, and all we have to do is wait till they figure out a solution. Though my theory is that you get your memory wiped and starting over here."
They rub his eyes before sitting down. "And let me guess you want to judge me before that happens right?"
"It is one of my jobs here, and I do take it very seriously."
"Uh-huh." They point at the cocktail drink. "So tell me what's this, since you're a bartender."
"It's one of many people's favorite cocktail drink. At least around this bar."
They fall silent for a moment before slowly nudging the drink towards him. "Sorry to tell you this Decim, but I don't drink-"
"It's non-alcoholic." Decim interrupted them.
They seemed surprised by that as they pick it up, brought it to their lips, and takes a gulp. Soon placing it down.
"Hmm, it's no blue fairy, but it's good enough. Thanks." They take another sip before asking. "Speaking of blue where's the hairpin?"
Decim grab it off the shelves and hand it to them, assuming they'll put it back on him. They take it out of his hand and place it on the counter. Saying nothing as they look over at the music box nearby. He blinked a few times trying to understand the situation, watching them sip the drink till it was gone.
"You know, if you didn't want to have it in your hair you could have told me. You didn't have to wait till I fell asleep and take it out." They spoke placing the, now, empty glass down.
They then reached for it. Immediately he stops them.
"No, it fell out while I was doing things and, I didn't want to wake you just to put it back in. My apologies for making you think I didn't appreciate your gesture." He lied as his eyes avoided their gaze, which shocked him at first before realizing he can use this to his advantage.
If he can be friendly to them enough, perhaps he can convince them to play. Though the real question is why his body thinks of it before his brain could as well as what he can do to make the process faster before they start withering away, leaving a doll in their place.
"Is that so?" They eyed him down for a moment before smiling at him. "Well I'm up, so come on." They pat the seat beside them.
Decim nods and slowly let go of their hand, realizing how warm they are from being covered in a blanket for who knows how long. He made his way around to the front of the bar, sitting next to them.
"Now just be still for a second." They ordered.
He felt his hair moving, hearing the click noise from it, knowing it's now back in his hair once more. He sees their smiles and he immediately tries to smile back at them.
"There, now people can see your eyes and you probably see better now."
"If I may ask, why did you insist on hairpin anyways?"
"Oh, it just seems like you were bothered by it. Though you couldn't do much about it. Plus you have nice blue eyes, you shouldn't be hiding that with your hair." They shrug. "Sometimes I overthink things and just do it. Though I'm glad you like it. You can keep it if you want. Not like anyone else going to use it."
"I'll think about it, thank you for the suggestion I suppose."
"I think my dad mentioned that the eyes lead to the soul or heart of people. Probably an excuse for giving people eye to eye contact with each other."
"Do you believe that?"
They thought for a few minutes before responding. "I suppose so. Though I see it as more of a phrase. Like trusting people with just a look or gesture. Even if they're strangers. But I think that's just me. What about you?"
Decim thought for a moment before speaking. "Unless you have a way to physically see into someone's soul or heart then I suppose it might just be a way to respect people. You're not shying away or afraid."
They hum. "Like a sign of respect. I can see that."
"So do you respect me? Sorry if that seems strange to ask."
"I think you should be asking that to yourself. Because I have stated I do respect you, as I am in your bar. Though I doubt you respect me considering I can tell you lie to my face about the hairpin."
Decim gazes lower feeling his stomach sink automatically once he realizes they know he lies.
"My apologies, Nona, my boss wanted to look at it."
"It's whatever, just don't do it again I guess." They shrug. "So tell me more about this Nona. Just by the name, she must be full of life."
"Mind explaining why you think that?"
They thought for a moment before speaking again. "How about after I make you a drink? That is if that's okay with you of course."
Decim thought about it, he suppose he could let them try, there's no harm in it. "I suppose you can. As long you know what you're doing."
They snickers as they get up and head behind the counter. "Oh please, no one knows what they're doing in general." They smile before starting to look around at the bottles.
Decim watch (Y/N) glances at him for a moment before getting ingredients for his drink. Noticing some were older bottles that never quite got finished but still, he kept them around. Since most of them age well with time. Though he's not sure about the combination (Y/N) had laid out on the counter.
They know he was about to say something about it, as they spoke up.
"Trust the process. I think you'll like it. And if you don't you can be like an angry customer and throw it in my face." They joke. Though he didn't understand it as he would never do that. Nor even think about doing it.
He shakes his head not wanting to think about it anymore as he watch them make the drink. Doing little bottle twirls, and flip, as if trying to entertain him. Smiling away as they pour the drink into the shaker before closing it and giving it a few shakes.
They place a cup in front of him, before opening the shaker and pouring the drink to him. It was a very nice color of blue to it, which isn't a surprise since most of the ingredients they use were blue. Though knowing what's in it, he can't decide if knowing is considered good or bad.
Once they were finished pouring they spoke up. "Boom, blue fairy. A soft and sweet drink." They smile at him.
"Thank you." He nods to them before picking up the drink and bringing it up to his lips.
He can already smell the blueberries in it as he took a sip from it. Immediately tasting the sweetness of it from both the white grape juice and blueberry syrup almost spitting it out with how hard it hit him at first. Once he managed to get it down his throat he try to sip it again, having now gotten used to the sweet drink. Feeling a slightly tangy taste of orange they sprayed in, even if it was weird to see them use the orange peel instead of using the actual orange to it.
Decim place the now half-drunken drink down. Seeing them smile ear to ear, hands on their hips as if saying, 'I told you so.'
"You're right, I shouldn't have doubted your process. It's quite adequate." He lightly shakes the drink around before taking another sip of it.
"More like delightful since you practically almost drank the whole thing in under a minute." They chuckle pouring another tall glass for him.
"I suppose so." Decim smiled at them.
Only to get confused when they suddenly burst out laughing and try to stop themselves from doing so.
"What so amusing to you?" He asks.
Only when they finally calmed down to giggling did they answer. "Might want to see for yourself blueberry." They dig into their pockets and hand him a small pocket mirror.
Decim slowly takes the pocket mirror and opens it. Staring at himself, nothing seemed out of the ordinary.
"What-" he stops himself seeing his inter lips entirely blue. He slowly open his mouth more, seeing it's not only his lips, his teeth were blue as well as his tongue. He sighs looking over at (Y/N), as they try not to snicker at him.
Decim decided to smile at them, which made them go back into a laughing fit once more.
Tick tock, tick-tock.
"I could be wrong. But Nona in Roman Fate of Parcae? I think. Was the eldest and spun the thread of life or to some created life for mortal bodies." (Y/N) spoke once they settled down and the silence as claimed the atmosphere for a long while. "Which you know is why I stated that this Nona character must be full of life right?"
"This might surprise you but she is an overall serious, well-calculated individual, who places discipline on all of us." He then muttered. "Though I suppose if you saw her you might have assumed otherwise."
"Huh, I guess that makes sense considering she is your boss." They pop an orange slice into their mouth and chew it.
"Even if she wasn't, she's more experienced and knowledgeable than me. I always keep in mind what she tells me and I try my best to meet her standards." Decim spoke before finishing his second drink of the blue fairy.
"Sounds like you respect her. That's good. Want an orange slice?" They ask handing him a few slices.
"Not at the moment."
They shrug. "More for me then." They pop another one into their mouth before pouring half a drink for him.
Immediately he went back to sipping it. At this point, his outer lip was starting to become blue. (Y/N) snickers at him once more.
"You know, if you weren't a human you probably be good at being Arbiter since you seem to know how to be a bartender so far."
"An arbiter?" They ask before adding "Like a person who settles a dispute or has ultimate authority in a matter?"
"Like me. The person who judged whether you go to heaven or hell."
"So let me see if I got this correct." They swallow and put another orange slice in their mouth. "You're an arbiter, who judge the living to go to heaven or hell, but however. The people you judge have no memories of dying and by the rules, you stated and considering there is a game to all of this. I'm taking a wild guess that whatever happens in this bar, room, whatever you want to call it, will decide their fate in whether or not they burn in hell. Right?" They swallow again.
"Well," Decim paused for a moment making sure he was hearing this right from them. "Yes, you're right on most of it."
(Y/N) goes silent after that, eating the rest of the orange slices and for a moment Decim didn't know what else to say. Though as they hung their head down, and heard a few 'hic' noises from them, he thought they were crying. However before he could ask what was wrong, their head flew back and soon laughter came out of their mouth.
"Oh shit." They slam their fist against the bar, making the man's eyes widen in surprise and feeling confused about what was so funny as they laugh and laugh.
When (Y/N) finally calmed down they spoke with a smile.
"Oh, that so fucking rich," They proceeded to whip tears of joy from their eyes. "Oh, so many people would be pissed if they heard that. Oh, that's fucking funny." They giggled.
"What would?"
"Jeez get out more man. You know how many people tell others that if you do this your soul will go to hell?"
"I'm going to assume a lot considering this conversation."
"So many. Only to find out that none of it even matter till the very last moment. Though no one will know, just imagining some good Christian people who devoted to a god end up finding out everything they have done in a lifetime might have been a waste of time." They smile. "Life was so weird."
They shake their head before looking over at him.
"Wouldn't you agree?" They then ask leaning against the bar.
"I wouldn't know."
"What do you mean?"
"I wouldn't know, because I wasn't alive. Therefore I don't know what life is or isn't."
"That explains your lack of knowledge of certain things then. Honestly, your probably not missing much considering this place seems to make you happy."
"It's my job, I take it very seriously." Decim finishes the last of the blue fairy.
"Yeah, you stated that, but does it make you happy? Like, you know dressing up puppets."
"I suppose so."
"You suppose so? Decim do you even feel anything anymore? I mean I can see it where judging people might be hard considering there's a lot of bad people and it might make you numbing after a while."
"To be an anymore there would have to be something there, to begin with." Decim stated.
"Wait..." (Y/N) paused for a moment before speaking. "You don't feel emotions? Like at all?"
"Well..." Decim thought for a moment before answering. "I can be surprised, and confused sometimes. Perhaps upset once. But that's about it."
"Huh..." They started. "That's interesting...To have a person with no feelings judge others. No pity points or anything. A simple black and white. No, 'well it depends on the situation' bullshit. It's both good yet bad at the same time."
"And what do you mean by that?" Decim asked.
"The world isn't black and white. It's more of a gray. Here I'll tell you a prompt and you decide if they should go to heaven or hell." (Y/N) started. "Say someone killed another human being? Where would they go?"
Decim thought for a moment about the question. There was limited information about it but eventually, he answers. "I suppose they would go to hell."
"Alright. Now let's say this person only killed someone to protect themselves or others. Would they still go to hell?"
Decim goes to say something but ends up going silent. That's not what they said at first, but he could see what the other was trying to prove. Though he feels like that silence is a better answer than trying to answer the questions. He would believe that it was right as he watch (Y/N) smirk at him.
Tick tock, tick tock, tick tock.
(Y/N) had just finished their orange slices and was cleaning up, placing the ingredients back where Decim had left them, as well as cleaning their mess. While Decim finished the last bit of the blue fairy. Just so the other didn't have to wait on the only glass to clean.
"So be honest how long will my mouth be blue?" Decim decided to break the silence.
"Normally a few hours at best. A few minutes if I did add alcohol to it. But I'm going to stick with a few hours." (Y/N) answers. "And before you asked. Yes, it is supposed to stain your mouth blue. It's what makes the blue fairy different than all the other drinks." They then added as they wipe down the bar.
There were a few minutes of silence as Decim watch the other clean his bar. This felt familiar to him, being the one that got services that are. Though he couldn't remember the why or how his eyes look over at the puppet. He must have been staring at it for a while considering (Y/N) spoke up.
"So, if I turn into a puppet that would mean they were once people. So who was she?"
"I don't remember. My deepest apologies." He started before adding. "Though considering she's here. She must have had a fulfilling life."
(Y/N) seem to frown as they look over at the puppet. "That's a shame you don't remember her. Must have been a long time ago."
"Unfortunately I don't know how long it's been. That part of being an Arbiter. You tend to forget about the people you judge."
They just nod as if understanding the other. "I suppose it kinda makes sense since you see people come in and out of your lovely bar. It would be hard to keep track." They then smile at him. "Good thing you probably never forget about me since I refuse to be judged."
"I'm pretty sure that's not how that works. Plus you did say you would consider me judging you." Decim looks back at them.
"Dame you're right I did say that." They paused for a moment before speaking again. "I consider it and my answer is no." They smirk at him.
Decim could only stare at them and sigh softly. "You know you have a chance to go into heaven. You don't know if your destination is for hell."
"Heaven is for people who can't enjoy the finest things in life. They have no taste. Hell is for poets, artists, maybe crazy people. I don't believe I belong in those places. So I think I shall stay here." They then take the button out from under the bar. "But if it bothers- if I bother you that much then you can just press it for me." They added as the board drop down on cue.
"Unfortunately like I've stated before to you, (Y/N), I can't." Decim started and quickly added. "I'm just doing my job. So far, besides your clear stubbornness, no offense, you don't seem to be a bother at all."
(Y/N) looks at him as if they didn't believe him for a second before smirking and looking away from the white-haired bartender. It felt like a few minutes before they finally spoke again and looks at Decim. They seemed saddened.
"Okay, okay. I suppose I should at least try." They then proceeded to ask. "Can you, do it with me? So it's a bit less intimidating that is. I mean, it's kinda intimidating. Just a button that randomly picks a game so a person gets judged to be put in heaven or hell. It doesn't sound intimidating now I'm saying it out loud but you see the point right?" They ramble as if scared.
Decim slowly takes their hand into his. They were cold against his and for a moment he entertained himself the ideas of how to make them warm but decided against it as they'll be gone after the game is over.
"I believe I can manage to do it with you to make it less frightening for you, (Y/N)," Decim spoke softly to them as he lead the other hand towards the button, turning it over so their palm was facing the button.
"Thank you. We'll press it on three yeah?"
"Sound reasonable."
"Okay, okay. One...two..."
Decim watches the other bite their lips as if starting to hesitate for what they're about to do.
"Three."
Decim immediately press his hand against theirs, but what he didn't expect was them to so easily remove their hand last second. Causing him to press the button. Once his brain has processed what just happened in mere milliseconds the board was already going. His eyes widened from all of this staring at the other in complete shock.
"I would apologize but it seems to be a little late for that wouldn't you agree?" They asked as the board landed on a game.
Tick tock, tick-tock.