Chapter 74: 16.5 Preparations Complete
When it came close to the hour of their appointment the rain had halted to a soft drizzle and the day had brightened considerably though still a bit overcast. They could work with that and it was decided that they would not put off their trip to the airsoft arena. Stanley was relieved by this outcome because as much as he told Ezraphel that the main point of their visit was to introduce her to his friends he would have been disappointed if he brought all his equipment for no reason.
Speaking of equipment Stanley has sequestered himself in his room checking over and doing some last minute maintenance on his weapons and gear. As an airsoft enthusiast with both the time and wealth to indulge in his hobby Stanley had a sizeable collection of airsoft weapons, gear and memorabilia. These he kept in his rather spacious basement which he had reconstructed to act as a repository, display room and target range all in one.
It was the only room in the house where Ezraphel was explicitly not allowed to enter for any reason whatsoever on the threat of no sex for an extended period of time. He even went so far as to have her cast a spell on said room to preserve it in a state that would keep it clean thus eliminating the only reason for her to ever want to go in there. To dissuade her from just using her powers to enter he secretly placed several surveillance tech in the room that would immediately alert him to any unauthorized entrance and even bribed her with sex.
Was he taking it too far?
Maybe, but the thing is Stanley can tolerate her showing up unannounced in his private office whenever she just happens to forget how much he disliked it but no one and he meant no one was allowed in his 'armory' without his express permission. Stanley only had two things that gave his life meaning before Ezraphel came and slotted herself into the mix, videogames and airsoft. The former was his original love, his muse and the thing that allowed him to escape the adversity of life and eventually became the gateway through which he started on another path that wouldn't have him live a miserable existence.
Then there was airsoft and unlike videogames it was an acquired hobby. Acquired in that he was practically forced to accompany his uncle Collin to an airsoft field because his mother thought he was spending too much time on the internet/playing videogames. As someone who bought into the media propaganda about videogames being responsible for violence she didn't appreciate her brother taking her son out to shoot fake guns at a local target range.
The chewing out he got for that stunt was legendary but he remained unrepentant of his actions…to his grave. Collin Berkowitz's death didn't hit Stan particularly hard initially but that was because he had trouble really processing it. He didn't react to the news with much grief nor did he cry at the funeral, not even when he went up to the casket to see his uncle's body inside or when his mother broke down. It only really hit him when he got his uncle's airsoft collection as part of his last will and testament.
The result was…let's just say he didn't really sleep that night and leave it at that.
What this all boiled down to was that airsoft held a rather special place in his heart and has become an integral part of his life. The reasons for not allowing Ezraphel into the room have changed over time. At first it was basically an armory housing the weapons he used to keep her at bay. Then it was due to her expressing distaste for guns and violence in media which he assumed would transfer over to airsoft. This assumption would be correct as just a few days ago she revealed to him her genuine distaste for the sport of airsoft.
Fair enough he didn't begrudge her for it but that did mean that he was unlikely to ever let her into that room for the foreseeable future…if she hasn't already taken a peak inside. His precautions can only go so far and it was already well established that magic is bullshit so for all he knew she already had the grand tour of the place. That was fine because she didn't get caught and as far as he could tell nothing was out of place.
Shaking his head of those thoughts Stanley focused on the task at hand.
As a general rule Stanley carried two weapons, his primary main and a secondary sidearm. One reason for this was adherence to the standards of competitive airsoft but really it harkened back to some advice by his uncle.
"If you're in the middle of a shootout and run out of ammo it's better to swap to a sidearm than to reload especially if the enemy is close. Don't want to get caught with your pants down."
In any case his gear consisted of a pair of dark shooting glasses, a lower face mesh mask, a helmet with a go-pro attachment, a tactical plate carrier vest with pouches to carry rifle magazines, a 'battle belt' with sidearm holster and an assortment of pouches. All of the gear are colored black or navy blue and to complement this he wears black fingerless gloves, dark blue camo-patterned pants, a matching hoodie and boots.
After donning the clothes including the glasses Stanley packed his gear into a backpack and weapons into a carrying bag before leaving the room. Arriving at the living room Stanley walked in just in time to see Amelia with her phone out taking selfies. Not out-of-character for her at all however alarm bells began ringing when he saw that Ezraphel was being included.
OH. SHIT.
"HEY!"
Both Amelia and Ezraphel startled at his sudden yell snapped their gazes towards him with the former scowling "Jesus Stan."
Ignoring her Stan placed down his carrying bag before approaching with a scowl "what the hell do you think you're doing?"
"What does it look like?" Amelia sarcastically retorted "I'm taking pics for the gram."
'Yeah no shit.'
"And why are you roping Ez into your Instagram bullshit."
Amelia cocked a hip to the side as she literally looked down at him "why not? What you don't let her-" she cut herself off with a scoff "look who I'm talking to of course you didn't let her use social media, she doesn't even have a phone."
"Yeah and I definitely don't need Ez's pictures circulating through your socials Amelia. People might get the wrong idea."
She raised an eyebrow "that what you think? Contrary to the little headcanon you have going on in that pea sized noodle of yours Stanley I keep my work socials fairly sanitized."
"Doesn't matter, I don't want some random assholes on the internet perving on my girlfriend!"
Stanley only realized what he said when the words had already come out of his mouth and his eyes widened.
Amelia blinked "wait…what?" and as the realization of his words sunk in Amelia let out a guffaw "a-are you being serious right now?"
He tried to put on a stoic front however that plan went to shit when Ezraphel, moved by his words, went ahead and glomped onto him.
"Aw, Stanley~ I love you too~"
It's a good thing that he has super strength now because having his near 7 foot tall busty girlfriend practically hanging off of him like limpet would have created a very comical tumble. Instead he made for a comical sight as he bravely stood his ground with a reddening face. In the face of this embarrassment Stanley closed his eyes and began to mumble to himself.
"1…2…3…4-"
*Click*
Stanley's eyes snapped open to see Amelia with her camera up, a shit eating grin on her face as she looked at the screen.
"You two are unironically adorable. If Stan's not going to share what you two have with the world then I'll do it."
The carrying bag dropped as Stanley's expression turned murderous but unfortunately whatever his threat would have been was interrupted by Ezraphel who spoke up "that is a great idea!"
"What!?" Stanley looked to his girlfriend "what the hell are you doing?"
"I want to show the world our love~"
It wasn't her words that caused his stomach to drop so much as it was how her eyes light up when she said them.
"Ezraphe-UMPH!" his words were further cut off by Ezraphel shoving his head into her cleavage "take the picture."
Stanley started to struggle but to no avail, it was more than just her arms at play since he could feel some kind of invisible force holding him in place.
"Hold that pose" Amelia spoke while getting an angle with her phone and Stanley felt some kind of invisible force hold him place "perfect."
*Click*
The invisible force let him go and Stanley glared into Ezraphel's eyes through his dark shades "you…bitch…"
"Let's get another one" Amelia suddenly spoke up with a devious grin and a glint in her eyes "this time of you two kissing since some people are already asking if you're single."
Stanley's eyes widened "Ezraphel no!"
"Ezraphel yes!"
And once again he was rendered paralyzed as Ezraphel assaulted his lips to the tune of a clicking phone camera and Amelia's giggles.
A Short While Later…
"RAAAAAHHHHHH!!!"
Kendall flinched at the window rattling howl of rage that seemed to pass over her like a physical force.
"The hell was that?"
Leaving her room she arrived to see Kendrick, Liam and Jamie crowding the doorway to the living room with the former having his phone out obviously recording the goings on. As for what he was recording…
"YOU'RE BOTH DEAD!"
It was of course an irate Stan chasing Amelia and Ezraphel around the room. Stan was red faced, spitting profanities and moved with the intent to do copious amounts of harm. Meanwhile the two girls were happy laughing and giggling as they avoided him. For a big girl with big 'assets' Ezraphel moved with a surprising amount of speed and agility, even more than the lither Amelia. It was actually graceful how she moved.
After taking in the sight she finally pose a question "so what's going on?"
Jamie chose to answer that "I'm a little iffy on the whole lore here but from my understanding Amelia roped Ezraphel into a scheme and they managed to piss Stan off so now he's trying to kill them."
"Amelia posted pics of Ezraphel and Stan on her Instagram and Twitter" Liam clarified whilst looking through his phone.
As he said this both Kendall and Jamie took out their phones to see that "oh wow."
Kendall silently agreed with Jamie's sentiments. There were quite a few pictures of Amelia, of Ezraphel, of Amelia and Ezraphel and then of Stan and Ezraphel. It wasn't just the volume of pictures but the fact that the ones of the women especially Ezraphel were less cute and more risqué. The type of risqué that would have people doing a double take and considering Ezraphel's beauty and Amelia's fanbase comments were already flooding in asking questions about her identity, relation to Amelia, relationship status as well as general commentary.
Unfortunately for them the next set of pics with her and Stan made it quite clear that she was not on the market so to speak.
'That's why he's pissed' Kendall thought as she looked at the pictures where Ezraphel was figuratively and literally all over him.
He was wearing those glasses making it so that you could hardly identify him. A good thing since he was vehemently against posting his face on social media. Kendall figured he was a bit self conscious about his appearance but now…
In any case thing were getting a bit hectic in there "shouldn't we do something about this? Stan looks like he really wants to kill those two."
"LIAM'S GONNA BE SCRAPING YOUR CHUNKS OFF THE WALL WHEN I'M DONE WITH YOU!"
Kendall cringed and Kendrick scoffed "you want to get in there be my guest."
"Well I already did my part to de-escalate the situation." Jamie commented.
"What's that?"
"I braved the battlefield and took Stan's airsoft equipment."
"…good thinking" Kendall muttered before turning to Liam who was watching the proceedings with folded arms, one hand cupping his chin and a contemplative look "and what about you? Aren't you going to stop your fiancée's potential homicide?"
"Uh…"
Just then Amelia's voice rang out "hey Ezraphel some people are asking about socials, what should I tell them?"
"Tell them I will be making some very soon~"
"Done~"
"I'M GONNA SHOVE THAT PHONE SO FAR UP YOUR ASS YOU'LL BE SPEAKING IN RINGTONES!"
"Aah! Liam help!"
"…not yet" Liam deadpanned.
Kendall could only nod with a mirroring expression as the four watched the chaos unfold.
~To Be Continued~
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone