There was a dragon on the roof of Phovos’s apartment building. This wasn’t that unusual an occurrence in the city of Palaestra, as there was a small Thraki colony that lived somewhat nearby. No, the unusual thing was that this was not a Thraki but a fully fledged dragon god, with four legs, wings, heavy scales, the works. That sort of dragon was rather rare around here.
Phovos though just ignored the dragon at first. She had not had a good day and just wanted to go home and take her clothes and armour off. Luckily, she didn’t need to go to the rooftop. Phovos was currently residing in the basement apartment of the building, mostly alone, trying to live a quiet life. A recent health scare had forced Phovos to hand the reigns of Palaestra to her collection of advisors while she did less stessful work.
Today’s work had been very stressful though. Phovos was supposed to have finished work for a summer break on Friday, but others had kept on letting her down. At the rate she was going, she wouldn’t finish properly until tomorrow morning, and none of it was her fault. Phovos still felt shitty about it all though, she couldn’t relax until everything had been finished.
Of course, as Phovos headed down the ramp to the entrance to her home, the dragon disappeared. And of course, it reappeared, waiting by the front door, just in a different form. Upright, like a Ksithan, but with silver scales and crystal blue scutes running down his chest and stomach.
“What are you doing here, Kairos?”
“How did you know it was me?”
Phovos sighed. She didn’t want any of this. Not right now while her blood was seething with different emotions.
“It’s pretty obvious. There are no pretty dragons. Only you are so fancy.”
Kairos shrugged. “Sorry, I didn’t want to disturb you or anything. I just wanted to make sure you were okay. I haven’t seen you in a while and… well, you know I like you…”
Phovos tutted. Kairos realised he was in the way and stepped to one side, allowing Phovos to open the door.
“May I come inside?”
“As long as you are brief.”
Kairos nodded, then followed Phovos inside. The front door led directly into a kitchen and dining room. On the side was a plate with some frozen meat slowly defrosting, what was clearly supposed to be Phovos’s dinner.
“Ugh… I knew I should have gotten that out this morning…” Phovos grunted as she picked up the plate and threw it into the sink. She then turned her attention to the fridge, opening it up and sighing. “Guess it’ll be plain ham again…”
“I can get some take away dinner for you, or take you out to a restaurant?” Kairos shrugged, trying to be helpful. But Phovos’s reaction wasn’t what he had expected.
“No. I don’t want any help, be beholden to someone or anything like that! I just want things to work and to be left alone!”
“You had a bad day?”
“I’ve had a bad week!” Phovos snapped. “And frankly, Kairos, I like you, but the last thing I need right now is to have a time drake being all lovey dovey with me…”
Suddenly, Phovos paused. She had realised what she had said. “I’m sorry. I’m being a massive cunt and I’m taking it out on you.”
The Whenvern though simply shrugged. “It’s fine. I think I’ll just leave you to it. But would you like to meet up at some point?”
“Can I think about it? I’m not… a nice person to be with right now…”
“What about when you turn back into a nice person?” Kairos suggested.
“I guess…”
Kairos flapped his wings, smiling. He handed Phovos a small, paper card. “You know what, I’ll leave you to it. When you’re ready, give me a call.”
And just like that, the Whenvern disappeared in a puff of blue glitter.
With a final sigh, Phovos placed the card on the table, then went back to the fridge, regretting not accepting Kairos’s offer.