The Strangest Drinking Habit Divna Has Ever Seen

When Sfikos began working the night shift with Divna, it was evident there was something not quite right about him.

The first thing you'd immediately notice about him were his snake-like eyes. It wasn't too unusual to see animal-feature body modifications, but they generally marked one as a member of particular subcultures, while Sfikos seemed to be his own single cell of oddity.

The second thing you'd notice, if you got close enough, was that he stunk. It wasn't the typical body odour, but rather it was as if he absorbed every ambient scent from the gas station and released it back tenfold. Even stranger: this was the case even before he started working there; the manager liked to joke that's how they knew he was right for the job. 

Last, but not least, was his laugh. It sounded like what you'd hear when messing with a rusty metal gate. On top of that, it always seemed forced out, yet he didn't appear to take any breaths between cackles.

So far, only a handful of customers had made a formal complaint about these things. Partially, this was due to him only having worked there for about a month, but it also helped that he and Divna worked the graveyard shift. People during those hours tended to be too tired to care about much of anything or at least too tired to voice their concerns. Their boss sure hated it, though, and he had on multiple occasions told Divna to keep an eye on him. Krum actually agreed with the assessment, though he usually wasn't one to listen to an authority figure's requests. He could literally see Sfikos's aura and found it suspicious, though he struggled to describe it to Divna, and he couldn't even project the image he saw into their subconscious. 

«It doesn't have a shape.» He had tried to explain once. «I mean, I can see it, right? But when I try to focus on it, I can't see the form clearly. On the bottom of that, the colour just looks like what you see when you rub your eyes. Am I making any sense at all?»

Divna could somewhat picture what he was describing, but it still didn't actually affect her opinion. She didn't want to completely disregard Krum's feelings, but she literally couldn't see what he was seeing, nor did she feel like she of all people could judge anyone for being weird and off-putting. After all, she spent so much time and energy being anxious about the possibility of someone recognising her from old news reports — or worse, from her old life — that she ended up avoiding contact with most people. In fact, Sfikos was just about the only person she had regular contact with, and he even drove her to and from work occasionally. Just on that basis alone, she was content with keeping a respectful relationship with him, even if others felt differently.

That's why, when she found him in the break room one night with a bottle of motor oil to his lips, it felt like the world had suddenly stopped spinning.

"What are you doing?" She asked, frozen at the doorway.

His irises narrowed to an impossibly narrow slit. It made Divna flinch despite herself. Her hand gripped the handle with impressive might, a feeble attempt at keeping herself centred.

He swallowed the last mouthful in a slow gulp, as if doing so would convince her she didn't just see what she did. Unable to think of a good answer, he simply said, "Exactly what it looks like."

"Why?"

He shrugged. "It's got an interesting taste and gives me an euphoric feeling. It's similar to how alcohol is for you people, if I'm not mistaken."

"Us people?" Her voice became louder, surprising even herself.

Her coworker, on the other hand, didn't seem perturbed at all. "Well, it's kind of obvious I'm not human if I'm doing this, right?"

That, on its own, wouldn't be that unusual. From creatures who had started out as human, such as vampires, to those who were always something else, like servitors, there were enough non-humans known to exist that it was plausible one would run into them eventually. He certainly wasn't a servitor, though, that much Krum could tell.

He did figure out something else, however. Taking advantage of Divna's current lack of composure, he asked, "Wait, are you the reason a whole shipment of motor oil went missing a week ago?"

Sfikos was surprised at the sudden and very literal change in tone — Divna's voice having gotten noticeably deeper — but couldn't dwell on it too much as his mind was tripping over itself trying to come up with an excuse. Unfortunately for him, his expression gave away the truth.

"Oh my god, you totally did." Divna said, in her normal voice, reining Krum in. "How the hell did you even manage that? We checked the cameras and didn't see anything."

At that exact moment the bell of the front door chimed, grabbing Divna's attention. She decided almost immediately that she'd rather leave the discussion for when there wasn't a stranger within earshot. She turned back to inform Sfikos of this, only to have her words die in her throat when she saw him standing right in front of her.

"I can demonstrate," he said with a smile and grabbed her firmly by the arm. With his other hand, he waved in the direction of the customer.

When Divna turned back toward the entrance, the person was gone. No headlights were visible outside either; the station was empty again. A chill ran down her spine.

"What did you do?" She began struggling against his grip, but his arm was unmoveable. "Let go of me and tell me what you did." Krum was yelling at her to let him have a go at him, but she didn't want this to escalate into a fight.

"Relax. It's just the only way I can keep you out of the time loop, currently."

That got her to stop and stare at him. His expression was so casual, it was as if he'd informed her of the sky being blue. "Keep me out of the what?"

"Oh, you know, a time loop. It's when a person or a place repeats actions within a certain time frame. Humans have books about this."

Divna scoffed. "I know what a time loop is. But those books are fiction; people can't control time like that."

"Humans can't. We can." He took off his standard employee cap and leaned down to reveal a pair of small, black, ram-like horns. "I'm a time demon. Unrelated to any other demons you might've heard of, humans just call us that because of the horns. We're the only beings capable of time magic in existence. Though, not to brag, no one else can do this trick." He winked, putting the cap back on.

The gesture only made Divna lean away from him, though she did so without really thinking. "Great," she said. "Good job."

Sfikos cocked his head. "I thought you'd be more impressed."

"It's just..." She shrank into herself, avoiding his gaze. "It's a lot to take in."

"Ah, that's fair. You can ask anything you want. I'll do my best to answer."

Divna stared up at him. What she wanted in that moment was for this whole thing to end, or rather, to never have started in the first place. The irony of wishing to somehow unmeet a time traveller was not lost on her. Krum, on the other hand, was just about ready to strangle the guy, which is something she didn't think was particularly helpful, regardless of the fact that she felt similarly.

Finally, she came up with a question. "Are there a lot of you around, or...?"

He began to laugh but held back when he noticed Divna wasn't as amused. "Nah, maybe a handful, but we usually keep to ourselves. Most of the other folks look down on you 'cause your perception of time makes you less advanced or some bullshit like that. Not me, though; I think humans are cool. That's kind of why I'm here in the first place."

"Here on Earth?"

"Yeah, exactly! And then I figured, well, I need a job if I don't want to constantly go back and forth between realms, and this one has a nice bonus of motor oil, so it's perfect."

"Right."

While she was trying to think of what else she could ask, he spoke up. "By the way, I'd appreciate it if you didn't report this to anyone. Either I'd get in trouble with human authorities, or if I succeeded in escaping them, I'd be in even worse trouble with the time authorities."

"You aren't already?"

"They don't really care if we mess with humans a little bit, but for anything that would affect a whole cause-and-effect sequence — like my escape plan — that gets you thrown into a cosmic prison. And trust me, those are way worse than anything humans have ever come up with."

Divna considered it for a moment. Stealing motor oil probably wasn't worth something as serious as that. 

«Well, he put himself in this situation,» Krum helpfully pointed out,«and he's the one with the lame-ass escape plan that apparently doesn't let him escape anything at all.

She decided to reframe the point more diplomatically. "I don't think it's fair to expect us to protect you from your own mistakes. Letting human authorities can't be that bad, can it?"

"Oh yes, never being allowed to use my powers while on Earth and having it be known by everyone in the one place I feel at home that I'm a criminal from a different realm. That sounds peachy."

"That's... tolerable."

"How would you know?" He meant it sarcastically, having already written her off as a quiet village girl who surely didn't know so much about life. While she was secretive about her past, it couldn't be that bad.

The look on her face, however, made him reconsider.

"Wait, do you know? Were you on probation or something? Or—"

"None of your business." She tried to sound firm, but her voice wobbled. She didn't like to think about that period in her life, let alone discuss it at all.

Sfikos rolled his eyes. "Oh, come on, I know you like to be mysterious and all, but I think it's only fair you tell me at least a little about yourself."

"No, it's not." She met his gaze with a glare. "You chose to reveal all this after getting caught doing something you shouldn't. It wouldn't be the same as just me being asked."

"Yeah, well," he continued, utterly shameless, "you chose to come into the room right at that time. So it is totally fair."

At that, Krum had enough. Divna couldn't hold him back anymore, being so mentally exhausted, and he just took over. His immediate course of action was to deliver a full-powered slap across Sfikos's face.

"She said she didn't want to talk about it, so mind your damn business," he yelled. "Maybe if you were better at that, you wouldn't be in this situation in the first place."

At first, Sfikos simply blinked in bewilderment, eyes wide. Partially, his surprise was because he'd never been slapped before, and partially, because Divna's tone had switched so suddenly yet again. He stared down at the body before him, examining it more closely.

As much as Krum loathed to admit it, the stare was deeply disturbing to him, especially with how calm the demon was after being slapped. He bit down on the inside of Divna's cheek, willing himself to not show weakness, especially not by looking away.

"Who are you?" Sfikos finally asked.

Krum was taken aback by the question. It was as if the demon could truly see him, not just Divna acting weird. However, he quickly went back to his usual demeanour. "I'm not answering that."

Sfikos rolled his eyes. "Look, bro, I was talking to Divna, not you. And I'd like to know why you think you can just barge in like that."

"We're both done talking to you! You've been a creep this whole time, and she's too soft to stand up for herself, but I'm not. Now end this, or it's going to end way worse than anyone wants."

Any being with a self-preservation instinct would have seen this as a sign to drop the matter. While time demons had no need for such instincts, most of them at least had a good enough sense for when to drop certain matters, lest they be embroiled in millennia-long fights. Sfikos, unfortunately, had neither.

"Yeah?" He asked. "And what exactly are you going to do?"

With very little fanfare, Krum opened a switchblade he insisted Divna carry around and stabbed Sfikos in the shoulder. Only seconds later, he froze, eyes wide, as he realised Sfikos wasn't bleeding.

When looked up to meet the demon's gaze, he was met with a rather condescending smile. "Really? You thought that would work?"

"You don't have blood?" Krum asked, voice small for once. He was keeping his hand firmly on the weapon, afraid of what would happen if he let go.

"No, why would I?" Then, it dawned on him. "Wait, are you a blood mage?"

Before Krum could say anything, Divna shoved him at the back of their subconscious where he couldn't cause any more trouble. "I'm a blood mage; he's my servitor, who's the embodiment of my magic and a bunch of other shit I really don't want to get into. Yes, I had power blockers on me when I was a teenager; it genuinely wasn't that bad, but I don't want to talk or even think about what led up to that. We'll keep quiet about the motor oil, so please just drop it, and please let us go." A sob escaped her lips as she said the last part, forcing her to confront the fact that she was now crying, much to her embarrassment.

Sfikos was silent for a moment. "Okay. I'll let you go. There are 5 more minutes left in the loop, so if anything feels weird, that's why. You should be fine, though."

Divna simply nodded.

When he let go, the whole conversation on Divna's and Krum's end began to repeat itself, without him having to say anything. He waited out the whole thing.

Meanwhile, on their end it seemed like Sfikos instantly snapped to being a few steps away with his arms crossed and holding the folded switchblade. They blinked at him. The whole conversation felt like it had been a fever dream.

Sfikos answered their question before they could ask. "Yes, that was real, and everything I told you was true." He handed them the blade, wincing at how they flinched. "Put this back where no one can see it. I'll take care of the customer."

Divna nodded. "We need some time alone."

"I figured."

They stepped aside to let him through, and the moment he stepped over the threshold, they shut the door behind him. The customer looked between him and the door with a look of confusion, but he just shrugged.

After Sfikos was done with that, he was left to his own devices. It felt odd not having Divna with him. She wasn't always in a chatty mood, and since they both had relatively boring lives, they didn't usually have much to talk about. But the silence of two coworkers just killing time until the shift is over was noticeably different from that of one coworker and some guy living in her head quietly sulking in the break room. Sfikos tried not to worry too much about it, but the whole thing kept nagging at him.

After about fifteen minutes, Divna came out, looking a bit weary yet determined. "I know I can't force you to comply, but..." With a deep breath, she straightened her posture. "Never do that to me again."

"The time loop or grabbing you like that?" After she narrowed her eyes, he added, "I'm asking seriously."

"I don't expect you to stop doing dumb shit with your powers any time soon, so yes, I do mean grabbing me. Don't do it to anyone else either, even if I'm not there to see it."

"That's entirely fair. And I won't, I promise."

"Good."

A silence fell between them.

"I didn't mean to make you cry."

"I'm sure."

The rest of their shift went about as uncomfortably. Divna was pointedly not talking to him, and Sfikos wished he could be literally anywhere else. The customers went by in a blur; some of them definitely noticed the tension but only commented among themselves in whispers. Sfikos briefly wondered if Divna could hear them like he did, but he didn't dare ask.

After they switched with the morning crew and headed out, he finally spoke up again. "I can probably guess the answer, but it's still worth asking: want a drive back?"

Divna didn't even look at him; she just kept walking. "I'm taking the bus."

"Okay, bye." He said quietly, not even sure why he bothered.

Divna was already dreading what the next night was going to be like, but she tried not to dwell on it, choosing to focus on not falling asleep on her way home. Once there, she made a beeline for the bedroom, completely physically and mentally exhausted from her shift. She didn't sleep well and woke up around noon, way earlier than usual. Having little energy for much else, she spent most of the day just reading and trying to nap.

Soon enough it was time to head to work again. The walk to the bus stop felt like marching to her funeral, not helped by the fact that it had decided to rain that day. This had the additional effect of making the bus more full and forcing Divna into more proximity to strangers than she could handle. She hoped she had enough fortitude to not lose her shit during work.

When she arrived, one of the day shift workers informed her Sfikos said he would be late. Secretly, she hoped he wouldn't show at all or just quit entirely, but that hope was dashed an hour later by the arrival of his car. Divna was intent on continuing to ignore him for the rest of the shift — the rest of their lives, even — but he caught her attention by sliding a box towards her across the counter.

"Listen," he said. "I realize I was acting like a creepy asshole last night. And I don't expect us to be friends any time soon, but I hope this helps at least."

Divna finally looked at his face and was momentarily startled by how haggard he looked. "Are you—"

"Don't worry about it. Just open the box."

Divna wasn't too keen to do so after everything that had happened and how his weirdness had taken yet another turn this night, but there wasn't much else she could do. She gingerly lifted the top of the box, expecting some sort of unspeakable horror, but was only met with an elaborately decorated watch.

"Um," was all she could manage to say.

"It lets you stay out of the time loop without me having to hold you. I busted my ass working on this, with help to be fair, so I hope it works. If it doesn't, I'll let you stab me for real this time."

Divna gave him a disturbed look. "Are you serious?"

Sfikos rubbed his eyes, clearly tired. "Yes, about everything I just said. You wouldn't actually be able to kill me, for the record, but I know how to make myself bleed now."

"And you figured all this out in less than a day?"

He snorted. "Fuck no. It's been, um... longer than that, I dunno. Can you please just put the watch on?"

Divna finally complied, deciding he had to be sincere considering the tiredness and the addition of the word 'please' to his vocabulary. As she took the device out of the box, she was surprised at how lightweight it was. She easily put it on her right wrist and felt no different after. She looked at him with a quirked brow.

"Okay, I'm going to start a loop now, going back an hour, and two things are supposed to happen. One, you're supposed to be able to see and talk to me normally. Two, the watch should reflect the time change by going backwards. Ready?"

All Divna could do was nod. As he waved his hand, she looked down at her wrist. Just as he'd said, the hands of the watch moved counterclockwise. When she looked back at him, he was staring at her expectantly.

"It worked?" he asked.

"I think so..." 

"Thank fuuuuuuuck." He groaned as he sank down to his knees, rubbing his face in his hands. "I finally did something right in my fucking life."

"Congrats?" Divna had no idea if there was anything better to say.

He suddenly stood up, startling her. "We have an hour. I'm going to take a nap. You do whatever."

Without another word he made his way to the break room, shutting the door behind him.

After overcoming her bewilderment, Divna decided to take the time to nap too, resting her head on the counter.

Author's Note

The first thing I'm actually publishing on here! Yay!

I think there are improvements to be made, especially when it comes to the tone, but I ultimately decided it was better to call it good enough and move on. Maybe one day I'll come back to it, though, who knows.

Fun fact: when I said this was loosely based on that nosleep story, I mean it's based off where I thought it was going when I originally read it - that Jeremy would be drinking the motor oil for some weird reason?? And I somehow managed to convince myself for literal years this is how the story actually went and it wasn't just something I made up. I also don't know what my young mind was thinking, but clearly it amused me enough to make it into a character trait of one of my OCs, so here we are.