Uriel had sowhat guessed the man sitting next to him couldn't possibly be a regular human, but he assud the worst case scenario was him being able to conceal his flux energy signature. Never did it cross Uriel's mind that he could be in front of one of the most mysterious mythological creatures.
"Now it makes sense why you challenged to sothing this stupid."
"What is your obsession with calling things stupid? Are you, perhaps, trying to convince yourself that you're not?"
"I would offer you an answer, but only if you beat in a aningless challenge I'll have the advantage in." Uriel snarled in annoyance then started raking up his brain to better understand his situation. 'I found a weird man fishing by the shore with no success.
He said fishing can't be rushed, but then started taking fish out of the sea like they were...' his own thoughts sparked a revelation on Uriel's face and a smug appeared on his face.
"Let get this straight, I can only use my fishing rod to catch the fish and that's the only rule?"
"Sure," The man shrugged, then watched in disbelief how Uriel cast his line not on the sea, but rather on the man's bucket and it wasn't long until he caught the first one. "hey! That's cheating!" The man growled.
"It's just like fishing fish in a barrel!" Uriel laughed. "I think I get it now, the challenge was never about whether or not I was able to catch any fish, but rather if I would be able to keep my mind clear when cryptids show up. Yes, I can feel them drawing near.
But then again, this isn't a challenge either since no matter if I win or lose you'll still tell what you want to say and nothing more. This is a lesson."
"Very good," The man clapped disgruntedly, then continued. "now you ruined it and won't get the lesson, though."
"I think there's several things to be learned from this exercise. First, to not turn to violence as a first option. Second, to be patient and let things progress at their own pace and third, to not approach a weird man who's obviously acting suspicious."
"Not bad, but not great either," The man smiled with a cocky grin."there are things that can't be rushed, but so that can't be avoided either. You can't make the fish take the bait, but it's in their nature. What you can do, as you so cunningly proved, is rig the ga to your benefit. Patience is one thing, but if you do nothing then nothing will happen."
"What is this all about? And how do you know my na?" Uriel asked now in exasperation.
"I know your na the sa way you know mine. We are, in a way, connected since we both went to the sa place. Does Chichén Itzá ring a bell?"
"I don't recall you being on the research team. I would have noticed you."
"You and I both know that isn't true," The man scowled then continued. "so people know as Ponce de Leon. About why bother doing all this it's pretty simple, actually. If I approached you and told you this, you wouldn't have believed . I hear you're quite distrusting of strangers."
"You're telling that acting suspicious was your way of luring ?" An astonished Uriel asked.
"It's in your nature, after all. I knew you couldn't resist a mystery and what can be more mysterious than acting suspicious in the middle of nowhere while also appearing to be completely harmless."
"You could have told you were an angel." Uriel rebuked.
"Which would have made you distrust even more. Besides, it's not like I can just materialize my wings for sothing so trivial, they're pretty costly. Also, the mont I started channeling flux you would have either attacked or run away. Instead, I taught you how to see the true nature of things. See how this works?
I couldn't force you to take the bait, but I set the conditions for us to et in the best possible scenario for everyone."
"So what happened in Chichén Itzá? Did you really find the fountain of youth?" Uriel asked.
"I did, how else do you think I look this good after five hundred years?" The man chuckled.
His easygoing attitude certainly helped Uriel to not feel threatened by him and by that point he already knew that if Ponce de Leon ant any harm to him he would have made his move already. Playing directly into his 'trap' was annoying, but Uriel had to admit the man took the best possible course of action to ensure a peaceful eting.
"How did you know I would take the bait?" Uriel asked.
"I sort of guessed it when I learned you went to Chichén Itza and the incident with the tejuino that stung you. I still laugh every ti Friedriksen tells the story."
"You know Professor Friedriksen!?"
"Sure, I have a life outside keeping humanity safe. That is what all this is about. You see, after I found the fountain of youth I decided to live my life among the locals. I was happy, everyone was happy and I even had a family. But then, a nasty old man forced out saying I was trespassing on his territory and I was forced to leave the country.
After a couple centuries of making hiding in a monastery to make myself stronger, I changed my na to Saint Germain and did my own thing traveling around the countries and gathering artifacts until I felt I was powerful enough to challenge him."
"Saint Germain!? Okay, now I'm curious." Uriel said as though it hadn't been his curiosity what brought him into that situation in the first place.
"Yes, well... after spending so much ti in hiding it kind of felt good to be famous for a while. I think you'll understand this soon enough, though." The man chuckled.
"One second..." Uriel lingered for a few seconds as he tried to put his own thoughts in order. "Saint Germain ans Saint brother, right?" And when the man nodded in reply, Uriel's face went blank as he rembered the horror level skinwalker ntioning that Sam was looking for his 'brother who was a saint and lived in Europe.
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