Hermit-a-Day May 2026 Day 18 - AU
Here’s a little teaser for an AU I’ve been working on for quite a while now! Feel free to ask any questions or anything, maybe one of these days I’ll actually finish it…
The one thing no one told you about the place between was how horrendous the lighting was.
Seriously, how was Zedeath supposed to make sure his hood was just the right degree of menacing in these conditions? Too menacing and he scared the souls away, but not menacing enough and he wasn’t taken seriously. It was a delicate balance and Zed had been struggling to find the perfect middle ground for the longest time.
And today of all days he really needed to make sure he got it right. Today was going to be the day. He had been trying to reap this one human off and on for nearly a month now and every time he had failed.
It was quite cartoonish actually, and Zed would be laughing if he wasn’t so annoyed. It was like one of those cartoons where the character gets completely flattened by an anvil and then walks away like nothing happened. Just replace the cartoon character with a mailman, the anvil with an air conditioner, the flattening with a broken arm, and the walking away with a trip to the hospital. At that point the metaphor started to dissolve… but still.
Zed was done playing around. This mailman was going to die today whether he liked it or not. In all likelihood the mailman would in fact not like the experience, but then again reapers weren’t exactly known for their customer service.
He began polishing his crook, careful not to nick his finger on the sharp edges.
This time, the metaphorical air conditioner was not going to miss. Or wouldn’t the anvil be the metaphor and the air conditioner the thing it was metaphor-ing?
The point was, Zed was going to get that soul one way or another. It was a task long overdue, and Zed wasn’t going to fail again.
That mailman had already gotten a month’s worth of extra life, certainly he couldn’t be mad after Zed had done him such a favour?
Alright, enough stalling. It was time to do this. Zed took a deep breath. He didn’t exactly need to breathe, partial corporeality and all. But still, the action was calming, comforting. Similar to how it worked for the living.
Zed flipped his crook over in his hands a few times. Now it really was enough stalling. Hopefully his hood was the exact right amount of menacing.
