"What is this?" Hades demanded, his tone dripping with annoyance. "Azem, I am a busy man. I have my duties to the Convocation and can ill afford whatever flight of fancy afflicts you today. Much less this..." He gestured with his hand. "Whatever this is."

A small, furry creature, the likes of which Hades had never seen, sat on his lap, purring contentedly. A "gift," Azem had called it. "Nuisance" was the more appropriate term. Supposedly, some...creative or another had thought up this creature in some faraway land. Hades hadn't quite caught where, not that it was important. Then again, hardly anything Azem ever had to say was important, in his very informed opinion. "I care not where in your travels you found this thing. Take it back."

Curiously, his fingers were idly scratching behind the animal's ears. It was...pleasant. And there was a vague sense of fulfillment in how the tiny thing leaned into his fingers. What a foolish, trusting creature. Clearly it was unsuited for life in the wild.

Hades would also not admit that he was, perhaps, feeling a minuscule amount of contentment at Azem's visit. They rarely saw each other anymore, now that his—the word "friend" displeased him, but admittedly it was the correct one—friend's wanderlust was further fueled by duty. In a very minor and unimportant way, he missed having his friend around. And maybe there was a minute amount of envy tucked away somewhere over Azem's (and Hythlodaeus's, for that matter) free spirit. Hades was all decorum and propriety and grumbling, and his two closest friends were all chaos and whimsy and smiles.

Maybe he liked the smiles. Maybe his annoyance was all for show.

"Well? Are you taking back your furry creature, or shall I unmake it?" He wasn't actually going to unmake it. "Look, it makes rattling noises. Clearly the creature is defective."