In the Baking Needs aisle of an ordinary, mundane grocery store, an extraordinary exchange was taking place.
Although most mortals couldn't perceive it, two siblings were discussing the finer points of the human condition, and the debate would have been heated even if the siblings hadn't been beings of flame.
"A grateful gift from her masters?" the Red Flame said. "And a benevolent brother ... who also happens to experience success in the midst of a plague? You're far too generous with these humans! You can't just bury them in gold and — and ..." she looked around, "... icing sugar!"
"And how, exactly, does giving the girl a shameful craving to suck her brother's penis improve her fate or advance our goals?"
"Brother, you haven't studied humans like I have," the Red Flame said. "They were made in our image, but they were sculpted from dirt. They may look like gods, but they're really just beasts, ruled by their instincts and their urges."
"That's no reason for me to be callous," said the Blue Flame. "We have the ability to improve their lot and bring them a little piece of Heaven."
"If you intend to change the earth into the sky with the consent of the worms, then you're going to be here for a very long time."
"'Worms'? I didn't realize that you hated these creature so much."
"I don't hate them! In the time that it's taken for you to bargain with one human, I've saved the lives of two."
"More shameful desires, sister?" the Blue Flame said. "I hope not. You're far too creative to be so repetitive."
"Brother, listen to me: focus on the important ones, let them make their petitions, provide the fates that fulfill OUR needs and THEIR desires ... and move on!"
With that, she disappeared.
"'Saved the lives of two', you say?" the Blue Flame thought. He scanned the weave of the supermarket, followed the strands of fate into the recent past, and spotted the humans that his sister had altered. "Clara and Michael, eh? I believe I'll ask them whether they feel 'saved'."
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MICHAEL
Michael slowly sauntered through the selection of salty snacks, his handbasket already stuffed with six liters of soft drink.
Which pairs better with a No Name cola, he thought — barbecue or sour cream and onion potato chips?
Suddenly, there was a redheaded girl standing right next to him — indeed, he'd never seen a girl with redder hair. She was brilliantly beautiful and probably right around his age, and he tried to discreetly assess her chest to see if she was the complete package.
She took a deep breath, making him wonder if he hadn't been discreet enough ... and then she actually spoke to him. "Introduce yourself and your plight," she said, waving her hand at him.
Ordinarily, he might have been shy around such a heavenly creature, but he found himself compelled to be honest with the Red Girl. "Oh, hi!" he said. "I've never seen you around here before. My name's Michael."
She snorted in either contempt, amusement, or both.
"Uh, what's funny?" he said.
"It's just comical to hear you say that name aloud," she said. "I know your namesake, and there's very little resemblance."
"Seriously — you know my grandpa?" he said. "Did you meet him before he moved to Phoenix, or ...?"
"Let's get back to talking about you," she said. "Why are you here?"
"Because I needed some things, and I have nowhere else to be," he said. "Don't get me wrong: I work at the warehouse that supplies this store, so it's not like I don't have a job or anything. Actually, we've been super busy lately. They even gave us an extra dollar per hour to account for the increased volume, and probably to thank us for just coming to work while there's this Chinese virus going around."
"Shouldn't you be concerned about contracting the disease and spreading it to others of your kind?"
What was she implying with the "your kind" comment? "Nah, I live alone, and I have a great constitution, so I probably won't catch it."
"Yes, I can see that your diet has shaped you into the healthiest of specimens," she said. She tipped her head as if gesturing at something, but he wasn't sure if it was his handbasket full of pop or his doughy physique. "What about your sister?"
"Madelyn? Oh, she lives alone too, and I guess her constitution is pretty good. Why — do you know her too? Did you go to school with her?" he said, producing his cellphone and searching for a picture of his sister to show to the Red Girl.
He found just one: a selfie of the two of them after Christmas dinner, wearing seasonal tuques and looking bored and stuffed. He held it up for the Red Girl to see. "She got a scholarship for women in STEM, so she's in Engineering at university, but they had to shut that down, and she's doing her classes from her apartment now."
"Do you mean to tell me that you allowed your beautiful sister to languish in loneliness when she needs you the most?" the Red Girl said.
"Hey, I wish that we got along better, but we mostly just annoy each other, and there's no reason for us to see each other much these days. Plus, it's better to have my apartment to myself, so I can invite hot girls over. Actually, I usually don't have girls over, but at least I can watch porn with the volume on. Madelyn found my video stash on the computer once, and she made fun of me for liking girls with huge boobs for, like, a year. She was all, like, 'Michael should be a farmer — he loves cow tits!'"
Again, he was troubled by the persistent sense that he might be telling this stranger more than he should be.
She rolled her eyes and waved her hand at him again. "Have you met any girls more attractive than your sister?"
He thought about it ... but he already knew the answer.
His sister had a cute face, a nice smile ... and the biggest, most succulent, most perfect pair of breasts he'd ever seen. He could stare at them for hours. Even better: when Madelyn was relaxing at home, she went braless and wore skimpy tops that showed a ridiculous amount of cleavage — like, regular cleavage from the top, but also from the bottom, and even the sides. Really, it was obscene.
That's why he'd invited her to stay at his apartment during the flu lockdown. Oh, he'd said that it was because he liked her cooking (and he really did), but it was mostly so that he'd have a 24-hour tit show. Luckily, she never seemed to notice that her choice of wardrobe made it very difficult for him to look at anything but her breasts whenever she was around.
Confusion intruded on his thoughts for a moment. He had a strange recollection of an empty apartment ... of squabbles with his sister ... of a Madelyn with smallish breasts that didn't warrant even a glance.
He shook those thoughts off. He much preferred to live in a world with Madelyn and her massive milkers.