Chapter Text
Seth
Seth had walked across battlefields of dead and dying humans that felt less intimidating in some ways than walking beside Horus down a busy city street late in the morning. For some reason, despite the fact the pair of them were somewhat unusually taller than most of the humans present, they weren’t attracting as much notice as gods walking among humans normally did. There were even some rather tall humans wandering around, and the clothing styles were even more diverse than Seth remembered. It was also loud, full of humans calling out, music, and the sounds of vehicles moving and occasional car horns.
Mostly he disliked not wearing his headdress in public. Even on the sun boat, he’d been allowed to keep his headdress, and after the revelations about Nephthys and Osiris, Seth wanted an extra guard on his expressions. But Horus had said people would give them odd looks over it, and it was best to play it safe. Seth had complied, but despite the fact he was wearing a set of clothes Horus had provided to him – which was more than Seth had ever worn in his life – and trying to mimic Horus’ style of walking, he felt bared before everyone who passed them.
Horus kept glancing back at him, as if to see he was still following, which was strange. Seth wasn’t sure what he’d even do if he escaped during all this. He had no intention of hunting down Nephthys, and imagined he'd be more likely to just collapse randomly in an alley.
“Why does the air smell strange?” Seth finally asked, trying not to grimace too much because it made people stare at him in curiosity. Some of it was food smell from various carts and restaurants – he wasn’t used to being around such a wide variety of food – or people freely smoking on street edges, but there was another odd set of smells he couldn’t identify. “It’s like a sharp, bitter smell.”
“That’s the cars,” Horus said with a sigh. “Even in some of the cleaner places of the earth, the air is still rank with it. It’s made Nut have to sleep off the pain of it all at times.”
Seth glared at a man eying Seth’s bright red hair in wonder until the man looked away. Thoth’s gift had given him some jumbled information about cars and how they worked, but it was strange connecting that to the new odors he could smell in the air, even over the mixed scents of humans and animals. But then he wondered about Horus’ words and asked, “You talk with Nut a lot?” It made sense, given Horus’ blessings, but it still put Seth on edge, given Nut so rarely spoke to Seth for so long.
“Somewhat,” Horus said, gently pushing forward through the crowd. He wore slightly more casual clothes for the trip, but he still appeared clean, neat, and professional, and his blue gaze was sharp as he looked around. “We text every now and then. Sometimes we even call each other. She’s always busy, though.”
Seth tried to imagine talking to her so much. She had so much of the world to observe, and matters of the people below were too insignificant for her focus. She was always so close and yet so far away from Heliopolis, let alone the sun boat. Though he might get to talk to her more with modern human communication, he couldn’t quite fathom it, or how such a conversation would work, even assuming she’d want to talk to him.
Their first stop was to get Seth a cellphone. That had been the goal, Horus said, when Seth agreed to come out on this trip. As Horus guided them around, he avoided directly touching Seth, but ensured they could cut through the crowd and that Seth didn’t get lost in the mass of humanity around them. There were a great number of distractions, but Seth had spent centuries on battlefields with more, and used his training from that to focus on Horus.
As he adjusted, his mind wandered more, and he thought back to Horus’ admission the previous day, as he tried to avoid the whirlpool of pain around Nephthys. What does he mean he loves me? Seth wondered again. His memories of Khemmis were still muddled, and he felt uncomfortable that Horus had spared him after a fashion, all those years ago, even when Horus was a child. The other gods on the sun boat would have laughed, though they laughed and mocked most everything. It was a cutthroat place, and he’d barely survived it over the centuries.
Horus wasn’t little now, though: he looked tall and impressive as he walked among the humans, and exhibited none of the discomfort Seth felt being so close to so many mortals. Seth had to be careful to restrain himself and not bump people too hard as he moved: when he woke up, he’d accidentally broken the doorknob on his bathroom. Horus had said it was okay, but Seth knew he had to be more careful. He had no plans to be recalled to the sun boat because Isis got mad about a broken door.
He wondered if she still loved Osiris, even after learning about the mirror. He wondered if he would dare to ask.
The workers at the phone store were polite to Horus, and Horus took the time to explain things to Seth personally, particularly when the clerk trying to help them was too intimidated by Seth glaring at him. Horus instead led Seth around to different phones, pointing out the features and comparing them to his own. Seth wondered at the power of humans these days, to be able to accomplish so much in such tiny devices. The store itself, full of its futuristic devices, was intimidating in its own right, and had an oddly astringent smell to it that was distracting, but listening to Horus made some of that intimidation go away. Though Seth never frequented human shops before the sun boat, he reasoned it was just another kind of armory, and that also made it easier to stand.
What Ra would do if she could bother anyone as she pleased, Seth thought as he considered his options. Though for all I know, she does this already, and I was just completely oblivious. He’d made alliances with some of those on the sun boat – it was unavoidable in such a situation – but he wasn’t exactly social. And he was certainly no bosom friend of Ra’s.
And it certainly wasn't the only thing he'd missed in his life.
When he finally settled on a phone, Horus pulled out his phone to, according to him, order it online from a trusted supplier, and they left for a computer store. The process was little different, and Seth did get to test some of the computers there as well. He found typing strange, though it reminded him a bit of the care he had to take with his fingers in archery. He eventually made a choice, despite the humans standing around, clearly hoping for something from him. Horus again ordered the device from elsewhere, and they left, leaving wilted humans behind them.
“I thought I was the one who annoyed humans,” Seth said with a glance behind them as they walked back to the apartment. “You seem to be infuriating them more than I would.”
“They want more money for selling us something,” Horus said, unfazed. “Most humans at shops are like that. They’re also used to window shoppers, though, it’s part of the business. Unfortunately buying from them is risky because they’re not designed for us. Thoth has a company that specializes in providing technology for gods and other immortals: their tech last longer than regular devices, and allow you access to networks and data only our people use. It’s not something to just casually get from a human store.”
Seth frowned as Horus herded him along. “Then what was the point of going to the store for me to pick something out?” Was Horus just running him in circles?
“Thoth sells equipment that’s similar to what you picked,” Horus said. “It was important to see what you valued in an item you could touch, and while what you get might not be the same maker, I promise it’ll be roughly the same, and work better.”
Seth felt a bit annoyed about being manipulated, but he supposed Horus’ words make sense, though it was unnerving to consider Horus had been studying the way Seth had handled the strange devices. “You hide from the humans a great deal. I didn’t realize you all became such cowards.” He also wasn't used to not sharing technological advancements with the humans. He thought that was the point of gods.
Horus grimaced as they walked. “Part of it’s necessity. It’s actually easier than being blatant. I promise you that we’d have a lot more trouble if we just walked around as we really are. Human governments… they’re less trusting of the supernatural and the magical these days. And human religions vary more and have their own troubles, so staying off their radar is for the better.”
Seth didn’t like it. Hiding meant you could be dangerous, waiting to attack at the right time. Finding Ra’s hidden enemies had been an important part of work on the sun boat. Bastet in particularly had been good at sniffing enemies out. And when Seth had managed to get better control over his sand on the boat, he’d been good at it, too.
As they walked, Horus said, “The tailor should be by in a couple hours, so there’s not much else to do now. We could pick something up to eat if you like, though. Is there anything that interests you?”
Seth’s mood soured even more. Gods generally didn’t need to eat food, though some still did. He had spent centuries dealing with his revulsion to eating most meat, because rations had been an unavoidable requirement of life on the sun boat. It was all that gave him energy through many of the long days, especially when he was rowing. The rations were spicy, too, and seemed to burn in his belly, which was its own kind of discomfort. He’d grown used to it with time, but that didn’t mean eating was a pleasant experience, still, and given he hadn’t done all that much while he was here, he preferred to put it off as long as possible.
The fruit tart had been nice, but he didn't want to think about Thoth or... what Horus had told him after that.
“Whatever you want,” Seth said neutrally. Horus was the jailer, after all. It was his decision.
Horus glanced at him, and asked, “You can have whatever you’d like. I’d rather you had something you enjoyed.”
Seth frowned in irritation, tired of being poked and prodded about everything, and said, “I don’t want food. It’s disgusting.” A few humans glanced at him at his tone, which he hadn’t modulated well, but he glared them away.
Horus’ eyes widened, but he left it at that. They didn’t stop at any of the food carts or shops they walked past, which Seth counted as a small blessing.
Back in Horus’ apartment, Seth had a newfound appreciation for the milder scents. Even though Horus’ scent was everywhere, there was just less of everything else.
As Seth stood in the living room looking through the window while Horus pulled out his phone to type something up, Seth considered what they’d done that day and asked, “If Thoth is so smart and has such connections, why didn’t he just bring samples or something for us to look at? Surely Maat and Isis don’t want me wandering the streets with vulnerable humans I might go on a rampage against at any time?”
Horus looked up at him, and Seth really wished he’d get over that bright gaze that seemed to cut right through him. “I assumed you didn’t want to be around Thoth or his people. And it was a way to reintroduce you to the world again.”
Seth was surprised Horus was so… thoughtful… in that regard. He supposed he had nodded a bit to some of the humans, and even acknowledged the shop workers slightly, so in a way it was a kind of reintroduction. The outside didn’t feel so mysterious anymore.
“But you hated it,” Horus noted.
Seth grimaced and replied, “I would have hated either option.”
“You wanted to take more time to relax?” Horus asked. “I thought you wanted out of here, but getting you out of the city is difficult… at least for a few days.”
Seth ran fingers through his hair. “I don’t know what I want. And it doesn’t matter!” He had no better answers for what to say to Nephthys, and kept focusing on Horus and his odd confession or the strangeness of modern humans to avoid thinking about it. To avoid thinking about his own failures.
He wasn't sure Horus would give him alcohol, and wasn't sure he should ask, since he didn't trust himself with it.
The doorbell rang, and Horus walked over to it. He opened the door to someone with a large box and a form for him to sign. Horus returned with the package and placed it on the coffee table. “Your phone and laptop. Would you like to open them?”
Seth frowned and walked over, unused to this sort of odd gift-giving. “You probably should. I’ll rip the box open and destroy the contents.” The technology he’d handled had been far more delicate than he was used to, and even though Thoth had apparently had a hand in this stuff, Seth didn’t want to risk losing it and having to do everything over again or something. He felt like he was just owing more debts to Horus in order to get in contact with Anubis and Nephthys.
Horus pulled out a letter opener from the coffee table and sliced apart the tape on the box before opening it, making sure Seth could see it. “What you want matters, Seth,” Horus said. He reached in and pulled out a smaller set of boxes and placed them before Seth on the coffee table.
“To whom?” Seth asked grouchily as he studied the smaller boxes. It hadn't mattered to Osiris, Isis, Ra, or any of the other gods he knew. His frustration and stupidity were useless to everyone.
“What you want should matter to anyone,” Horus said as he set aside the big box and then took the larger of the small boxes and popped it open before handing it to Seth. “But it matters to me.”
Seth didn’t know what to do with that information, but he pulled out his new laptop, trying to be as delicate as possible. There was an ibis logo on the back of it, where he’d seen other symbols on the technology he was studying before. And the lid was pale red. But it was the same size as what he’d picked in the store, and lightweight. When he flipped it open, it turned on, making him blink. “Thoth was fast…”
“He always has people on standby for emergencies,” Horus said, not commenting on the change of subject. “And I made it clear this should be prioritized. The sooner we get you acclimated to the world, the easier everything will be, and the less stress Maat and the other gods will have to handle.” He picked up the phone box and opened it before showing the contents to Seth.
Seth eyed the phone before taking it out. The screen lit up in his hands and he followed the instructions he saw.
Horus waited quietly while Seth worked, and Seth could feel the younger god’s gaze.
“Making sure I’m not doing anything criminal?” Seth asked sarcastically as he finished setting up the first device.
“I’m sticking around in case you need help,” Horus explained with a soft smile. “I imagine it’s still a lot to deal with.”
Seth grimaced, disliking being babied.
“I have some phone numbers you can add to your list of contacts,” Horus said. “Anubis and some other gods.”
“You're sure they want to be where I can easily find them?” Seth asked, dubiously.
Horus smiled. “Some of them were your allies in the old days, and some are my allies. If you dislike my company so much, perhaps you’ll be more comfortable in theirs.”
Seth frowned. “My allies? Who?” Everyone had abandoned him, especially when Seth turned on them all. And he was wary of anyone from the sun boat contacting Horus about him.
He didn't think Nephthys would count... would she?
“There’s Sebek, for a start," Horus said. "He came around to support my position of shortening your punishment around 200 years ago.”
Seth had mixed feelings about that. He’d seen Sebek a number of times over the centuries, but they hadn’t spoken much. Mostly, Sebek had either observed battles or helped fight enemies on the sun boat, before returning to his own home. But to know he’d actually been on Seth’s side was… strange.
“Is there anyone you’d want to get in touch with?” Horus asked after he read Seth out an odd but unsurprisingly short list of names and numbers. “I can try to get you their contact information.”
There were a few gods Seth had encountered during his punishment whom he was curious about, but he wasn’t interested in getting in touch for the time being, so he shook his head.
He didn't particularly want anything he said to Nephthys to be in a text message or phone call. It felt too inadequate. Seth owed her more than that.
He felt so foolish, doing all of this. As if everyone was normal. As if everything he'd known hadn't been a lie.
Horus added, “Thoth set you up with an email account, so let’s set up your laptop and see what it is, and I can send you the list Maat gave me.” He smiled awkwardly. “I’m not sure how into it you’ll be, but it’s more suggestive than a requirement for your punishment. And…” He hesitated briefly before adding, “I can help you with that, too. If you want.”
Seth shrugged, not sure what else he was meant to do. Reject his jailer tagging along on his probation, whatever it was, outside this? “Whatever you want.” Horus had his tasks and he would do them. That was all they could do at the moment.
Horus frowned at that, but didn’t say anything while Seth set his phone down and focused again on the computer.