Greed God chapter 231

April 14th 2016 Brightedge City, Hall of Nevers, 9:00 AM EDT

The  next morning was actually pretty pleasant. I woke up, went down to get  something to eat, and sat at the table alone to have a bowl of cereal  (Booberry, because Cherry thought it was hilarious to buy ghost themed  cereal for me to remember her by). I gave a sigh of contentment as I  shoveled in the food. Eating a nice bowl of cereal and chilling at my  giant ass dining room table alone was pretty relaxing.

One  huge downside to the not having any humanity is that introspection and  alone time have far less value. Just sitting and taking stock of things  isn't stimulating when you feel no real satisfaction from  accomplishments aside from a momentary bit of amusement. One of the  things Ingrid had stressed in our session was that to be a functional  person, regardless of morality, being able to sit with yourself and  contemplate your direction in life was key.

I still felt  pain about my dad, but there were other things I felt too. I was pretty  satisfied with the way I'd been handling things in my life. Talking to  Ingrid, working with Raven, making things right with my girls, I kind of  regretted not being there for the whole Trevor thing, but Cherry had  filled me in on the whole thing in detail, and I was really proud of how  creative she'd been when she tortured that guy to death.

There  was a thump across the table as someone thumped down a bowl of  Frankenberry, and I looked the rest of the way up to see my redhead  smiling at me. "Penny for your thoughts?" Her smile was tentative, and I  was pretty sure she was worried about my heart to heart with some of  the other girls and not her.

I smiled back. "Sorry, this  is a high income household, my thoughts sell for a minimum of a hundred  dollars a pop." I winked at her. "My girls have expensive tastes, and I  need to keep them living in the standard to which they've become  accustomed."

She winced a bit at the mention of money, and  I frowned at her, raising an eyebrow. "I...needed to talk to you about  that." She said quietly. "Or rather. Someone else did. We got a call on  the house line from an attorney. He says he's representing your father's  estate, and he's inviting you to a reading of Max's will at one of his  old estates. He didn't say which one."

"He didn't need  to." I said grimly. "It's Rosewood. My grandmother's old place. The old  man kept it around for family functions, and this would definitely  qualify. What did he say about the reading? When is it happening? Are  there any others coming?"

Knowing the old man he wouldn't  miss a chance to suck a bunch of people into his bullshit. I doubted he  was going to make this easy on anyone, and knowing how performative he  could be there would probably be not just allies but enemies there.  Still...I felt compelled to go. He'd been the closest human version of  what I was before the seal broke, but he HADN'T been that. Not  completely. I'd seen it in his eyes when he died. He was...not happy,  but serene. Like he was leaving it to me.

That wasn't  something the past me could have understood from that look, which made  me wonder how much else about my dad I'd missed growing up thinking how I  did. Would seeing him through the eyes of the others that would be  there make a difference? Would it help me learn more about who he was?  Maybe not, but it was something worth doing.

"It's  tomorrow." She said quietly. "A private ceremony at the property. They  said they would send directions later today, though I'm not sure why on  earth they would do it so last minute."

I was. He'd have  arranged it that way. Inviting enemies would make them interested enough  to attend to see what they might get from the will or just to be sure  he was dead, but the more time he gave them to adjust to the idea the  more likely some of them would back out. He always did like to keep  people off balance.

"Will you go with me? You and Amy?"  I'd have liked to take Dinah, but I refused to put her in the middle of  one of the old man's bullshit plans when she was pregnant and human. My  redhead and my wife were the best choices for companions, bringing too  many would be a sign of weakness, whereas a woman on each arm would just  be seen as arm candy or showing off.

Barbie looked at me  with a...weird expression. Somewhere between adoration and pity I think,  though I wasn't incredibly well versed in either. I was still decent at  reading people, but trying to contextualize their emotions through my  own instead of just use them as strike points to manipulate made  interacting about a million times more complicated. "Oh, Nicky. Of  course I will. I'd be happy to come with you to bury your dad."

I  thought it was sweet how innocent she was to think that Lord funeral  wasn't going to be a fucking mess. I didn't mention it though, she'd  just assume I was paranoid, and Barbie was always ready for anything  anyway.

Despite everything, I was curious what the old man  would leave me. I'd have expected him to sell everything off and just  dump the money in my account. He hadn't known about the system and he  wasn't normally sentimental. Grandma's house was probably the only real  attachment he had to his childhood. She'd inherited it when Grandpa died  and had raised dad there all alone aside from servants.

Grandma  had been...kind of a frigid bitch. Grandpa dying broke her from what  dad said, but he still cared about her. Said she made him who he was,  and he'd passed those lessons on to me. The same lessons that told me  that we would be walking into something crazy.

"What about  attendees? Did they mention who would be there?" It seemed unlikely,  but the only other person I could ask was Sasha, and I somehow doubted  she was going to let on any information my dad had wanted kept secret.  His attack dog was loyal to him, not to the family.

She  shook her head. "No. But I did a little asking around. It's not just  going to be supervillains or criminals. Carol Ferris, Alan Scott, and  the former Blue Beetle, Ted Kord, will all be there. probably more  people from the criminal side of things but my connections there aren't  enough to confirm anything in such a short time."

That  was fine, I'd see who was there when I arrived. I was a literal fucking  dragon, I wasn't scared of a few mob bosses. "Alright. So what did the  lawyer tell you about the actual ceremony? Are they handling the  arrangements personally?" I had no clue who my dad's lawyer was, but  they must have been a damn competent attorney to arrange something like  this on such short notice.

"The  lawyer's name is Katherine Spencer. She said she represented your dad  for a few years before he died. The ceremony is going to be an overnight  affair. People will arrive over the course of the day, at nightfall  there will be a reading of the will, and then people will retire to  their rooms and the burial will take place the next morning."

I  nodded. "Probably in the rose garden. Grandma loved those damn roses  almost as much as she loved dad. The rose maze on the grounds contains  over ten thousand varietals. If he's being buried there he'll be doing  it in the clearing at the center of that maze."

The  reading of the will was interesting. I had a feeling that it wouldn't  be a quiet affair, giving everyone their bequeathals in front of each  other was classic dad, stirring shit up to see who would make a move.  There was zero chance that the items and exact order of the will wasn't  perfectly calculated to be the most irritating and offensive setup  possible, and to turn everyone against each other. I was kind of looking  forward to it.

Call  me sentimental, but getting to see the old man make the puppets dance  from beyond the grave sounded like the perfect way to honor him, and I  couldn't wait to watch him twist their brains into knots without them  even knowing it was happening.

Barbie  seemed thrilled by my interest in going, and in taking her, and she was  happily chowing down on her bowl of cereal now as she filled me in on  any details she'd been able to uncover through conversation and  investigation. Barbie was a true blue genius at this stuff, and  analyzing even a ten minute conversation had enabled her to dog up quite  a few implications and unspoken bits of information, which she was  happy to share.

It  was nice, really. Seeing how happy she was getting. I knew why too.  Barbie was completely and utterly head over heels in love with me.  Playing with girls was fun for her, but she was pretty much obsessed  with me specifically as I'd already confirmed. Seeing me able to care  meant I was able to care for her, maybe even eventually love her back,  and she was over the moon about it.

I  wasn't sure what love would be like, or if I'd ever love anyone, though  it seemed likely now, but I knew it felt good to see her so excited and  hopeful. I hadn't realized how...broken down she was with our old  arrangement. She took it because it was all she could get and she loved  me, but seeing her now was like night and day. This was the kind of  energy I'd seen from her when she was doing or about to do her cape  work, and knowing she was like that over me was pretty intoxicating.

She saw me staring and stopped eating and talking. "What?" She said in puzzlement. "Something on my face?"

Grinning  at her I raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, you spilled gorgeous all over it." I  ran my eyes over her. "You're beautiful, you know that?"

Barbie  preened. "I...I mean, yeah, but not from you. I don't know if you've  ever said something like that to me. Your usual terms of appreciation  are along the lines of calling me sexy or telling me I'm a hot little  bitch during sex."

I  grinned wider. "Oh you ARE a hot little bitch during sex, and most of  the rest of the time too. But you're also a beautiful girl with a  brilliant mind. I'm glad you're mine."

Her  cheeks heated up, her face flushing so obviously you could have used  her to taunt bulls. "What brought that on? Not going soft on me are  you?" She sounded...hopeful, rather than teasing or worried, but sadly I  couldn't let her believe that even if she wanted to.

"No."  I said gently. "But you mean more to me than you did before. Having no  gag reflexes and letting me fuck you in the ass aren't the only reasons  you matter to me now." I paused. "Though I'm very fond of both of those  qualities so don't go changing them. I'm still the same old vicious  bastard, I'm just a vicious bastard who can't stop smiling at how much  you care about me."

She  shrugged. "Nicky. We've been over this. There are a few lines I won't  cross, but for the most part you mean more to me than staying on the up  and up. Be as vicious as you want, unless you become a complete monster I  could never stop caring. The thought that you might care back someday  is...it means more to me than I can possibly say."

I  nodded. "Sounds good. Good talk by the way, it's nice to know where we  all stand on things." I paused to mull it over. "Huh, that was a bit  heavy though wasn't it. Let's do something a bit more relaxed. Finish up  your cereal and get under the table. Talking about how beautiful you  are got me all turned on. Put that pretty mouth to work for daddy." She  squealed in delight and slurped down the milk before diving under the  table cloth. As I leaned back to let her start I smiled. It was nice to  know I made her happy, and that she definitely still lacked a gag  reflex.