I Know

Lee tried to keep his face straight as he reacted to the God of Strength's declaration, considering it wouldn't do much for him to scowl at the information that he already knew.

"You don't look very surprised at what I said," the God of Strength commented cheerily, still pulling along his cart without any of the strain present before.

Lee kept looking away off into the rice fields and the road that they were walking along, forcing himself to keep calm and waiting for the redness on his face to recede so he could face the God of Strength once more with at least some dignity.

"I knew what you- were going to say," Lee replied, trying to keep his voice as smooth as possible, but still sounding as if he had choked on a fly, that had flown into his mouth partway through his statement, anyway.

He lamented that he was never going to put on a decent show for the God, and that he really ought to just ask for whatever divine pain that he was going to be given this time, here and now, to save himself the torturous wait for it.

It was just going to be the same after all.

Lee was inevitably going to say something stupid or do something stupid, or just exist, and one of the Gods was going to violate him in some sort of horrific way. It was just going to have to be something he got used to, like his mother screaming at him every single day.

He never wanted to go back, ever again.

"Oh, funny. How do you know what I was about to say?" the God of Strength asked, derailing Lee's train of thought and bringing his focus back to their apparent conversation.

Oh. That thing.

"You... er... It's just a thing that I've had for years, you know. You need to figure out someway to know what people want before they yell at you for not being able to read their minds, you know," Lee answered.

It occurred to him that maybe he shouldn't strike such a colloquial tone with a God of Heaven, but honestly, he had made his bed and was expecting now to lie in it. Besides, the quicker he got his bones shattered, or his mind broken by pain, the quicker he could put himself back together again and continue walking along this journey, and the quicker he completed this journey, the quicker that he could lie down and get some rest.

If this backfired on him, then Lee could just console himself with the knowledge that the God of Strength was just as informal as he was being, and that he set a precedent, completely unfamiliar to Lee's poor and uncultured upbringing. How was he, a mere mortal with only a passing knowledge of religious practice and cultivation, supposed to fit in at all with these immensely powerful deities who could bless and destroy life as they see fit?

And destroying Lee's life was certainly something they saw as fitting.

"Nope. No, I don't know what you mean? Did you work in a shop?" the God of Strength teased out, his voice becoming more mellow and tinged with laughter as he went on.

Lee firmly kept his face planted away from the God of Strength. He almost hated that he was too weak for that voice. He could barely keep the smile that was breaking across his face at the God of Strength's laugh.

He closed his eyes and slightly grimaced at himself at the happiness that bloomed through his chest. He was so fucking easy.

Lee sighed out, and just decided to say," yeah, something like that. It was a difficult job to do," while keeping his eyes looking up at the sky.

He couldn't see the God of Strength behind him, but could feel that the silence between them was amicable.

Lee wondered, looking up at those wispy, cottony clouds, all bunched up into their little groups as they were herded across the blue and gold above, whether it was a good idea of him to ask the God of Strength why he was here.

It felt as if it were a valid enough question, even if a little presumptuous and rude, but the atmosphere between them seemed relaxed enough for such a thing, and if not, Lee could and would simply bear the violent consequences.

"So... why are you here? Erm, following me?" Lee asked, mixing up his words and generally making a fool out of himself.

He valued the humiliation, using it to bring down his hopes and expectations of the God, grounding him and grinding him further into the dust of the Earth to keep himself from loftier ideals and hopes, too high above above him for Lee to really even see.

It was for the best after all.

"Why? You curious?" the God of Strength replied, his voice light and still poking fun, making Lee feel that if the divine being was human and had no responsibility and reputation to bear, he would be poking his fingers into Lee's cheeks and squishing them for maximum entertainment potential.

"Yes," Lee answered resolutely, playing along and slightly mortified at how much he was acting like the brat his sister used to be, before she grew up to become slightly too silent, stoic, and responsible to a fault.

Lee was thankful that her almost moody seriousness was not to her own detriment.

She had secured a good life for herself with Shen, even if Lee had been pushed to the wayside for it to happen and blossom into the marriage that they were both excited for.

"And what if I'm just following this road, and we happen to be walking together going to the same destination on our own?" the God almost faux whined out, a beaming grin on his face, his expression shining brighter than the sun as a magical halo surrounded his body.

"Too unlikely," Lee replied, watching that face fall flat at comedic speed.