Kuta breathed a sigh of relief as they sat down in the large, soft chair, one that was actually large enough for their Rethan body. Not only had the kindly old All-Ksa of the Skyavok helped Kuta get on a flight back to the Rethavok home world, but Elkay had also paid for a business class ticket, meaning Kuta could avoid the stares of other, somewhat concerned beings. Sure, Rethans weren’t too uncommon in the Voidlands, they were mostly employed as heavy duty body guards to the vast data centres that filled many a Skyavok city, but Kuta couldn’t help but look somewhat out of place. The majority of Rethans doing exo-territorial protection work wore blue, purple, green or yellow armour, depending on which species they were working for, but Kuta was wrapped up in black and wore a cape, so other beings knew to keep away.
Still, Kuta could settle down. All they needed to do was set foot on their home world, find a nearby shadow and just jump straight back to their office, where a mountain of work was almost certainly waiting for them. In the mean time, Kuta planned on relaxing and having a bit of a nap. Between the massive, out of place shadow jump, being electrocuted and sedated, sitting naked in a cold interrogation room and all the normal awkward airport security stuff, Kuta was admittedly rather tired.
A Temthan air hostess wandered by and offered Kuta a blanket. It was somewhat late, and the blanket was pretty much perfect, especially since Kuta was planning on using their cape as something to sleep under. Kuta smiled and the Temthan smiled back, showing off her own fangs. Being the most numerous and varied race in the universe, Temthans weren’t particularly judgemental when it came to appearances and Kuta definitely appreciated that.
The ship took off, disappearing into the darkness, and once they were moving, Kuta ordered a drink for themselves before settling down. However, as Kuta’s eyes started to close, they noticed something flickering in the empty seat next to them. Kuta couldn’t help but emit a squeak of surprise as a black Spast with a yellow mane exploded into view, covering the seat with fur.
“Hello, Kuta.”
Kuta shrank in their seat. “Uh, hello, Thantophor. Why are you a Spast?”
Arkay growled, but it was weirdly not very threatening. Spasts weren’t known to be particularly scary, since they lacked proper claws and had small, blunt teeth. “Because I am very angry and the last thing we want right now is an angry deity in the shape of the second most dangerous race in this small universe.”
“Understandable…” Kuta frowned as they reached to their side and pulled various things out of their satchel. “Do you want your laptop back? I did not want that oversized Thraki to incinerate it.”
The Thantophor blinked as he inspected his belongings. “Oh. I thought Kairos DID incinerate it… thank you… Guess I owe Kairos an apology for breaking my stuff…” Arkay paused for a second. “Huh. My charger cable isn’t here. Guess I don’t owe Kairos an apology because he certainly must have incinerated that.”
“I apologise, Kyr Arkay, I saved what I could.”
Arkay’s shoulders dropped. He then reached up and patted Kuta on the shoulder, which was a little bit tricky to do, since he was a tiny Spast. Kuta hadn’t ever met a Spast before, outside of the peculiar one they had seen when they first met Arkay, so they didn’t know if this was normal.
“Please don’t apologize. You didn’t do anything wrong. Honestly, I’m amazed you’re even alive. If Kairos hadn’t been utterly plastered, he would have attacked you before you even had a chance to react.”
“The Whenvern was drunk?” Kuta blinked. “You deities can get drunk?”
“If we allow ourselves to, definitely…” Arkay sighed. He was clearly still angry. “I asked Kairos to do one thing, to not hurt my friends, and he couldn’t even do that.”
“To be fair, I do think this was all a bit of a misunderstanding…”
“How so?”
Kuta tutted. “Imagine being drunk, returning home and finding a weird Rethan in your living room. As you said, we are among the scarier intelligent races in the universe, and, what with the Whenvern being a colossal, territorial Thraki, of course it would immediately attack what it assumed to be a threat. As far as the Whenvern was concerned, it was just defending its home.”
“Yeah, but Kairos isn’t a Thraki, he’s a deity. The fucking Dragon God of Time. He could have slowed time down, frozen you in place, asked you who you were and then sent you home. But he didn’t, he went straight to murder…”
“Still, if I were in the Whenvern’s foot plates, or whatever it is Thraki wear on their feet, I probably would have reacted the same way.”
Arkay hissed, but didn’t respond at first. They tapped the button that called over an attendant, then immediately asked the Temthan air hostess that appeared if she could bring two bottles of mead. The Temthan scurried off and swiftly returned with two plastic bottles and two polystyrene cups, which she placed in front of Kuta and Arkay. Arkay pulled a small card out of the toga he was wearing, paid for the drinks and politely asked the Temthan for some privacy before he turned back to Kuta.
“I don’t really now how to put this, and it makes my really sad that I have to say it, but I don’t think I should see you any more, Kuta.”
Kuta crossed their arms. “I very much disagree, Arkay, I think you should continue seeing me.”
This rather abrupt statement caught Arkay by surprise. “But… I put your life in danger. Knowing me is dangerous. I’m literally the God of Death, and you nearly died because you got too close to me. Same thing happened to my little Dessaron team, Sini kidnapped them because they just visited my apartment. I’ve been trying to limit my check-ins on them lately, despite the fact that I enjoy spending time with them, because I don’t trust my fellow deities to keep their promises. And Kairos just proved that I was right to not trust them.”
“It was a misunderstanding. And you claim that you put me in danger, the damn High General put me in danger by making me go and visit Retvik Rethianos in person, while being blatantly aware that you are protective of them. On top of that, I am a General myself, I am trained in combat and I can walk through shadows. I can defend myself, I have proven that I can defend myself…” Kuta trailed off. “Plus, it is pleasant knowing that someone finds me attractive and I have enjoyed our rather weird dates. And you are an attractive Rethan. I… cannot comment about your current form though.”
The Thantophor closed his eyes, then began to pick at the skin on his hand. To Kuta’s surprise, his skin came away incredibly easily, revealing a new form underneath. Not the yellow-plated Rethan Kuta was used to though.
“I’m not a Spast, I’m not a Rethan. I don’t want to pretend, so I’m showing you what I really look like. So you don’t get the wrong idea.”
Kuta looked Arkay up and down. He was a lot shorter now, about 2m tall. Skyavok-sized but with plating very similar to that of a standard Rethavok, although Arkay did lack the small shoulder strips that upper caste Rethans like Kuta had. His skin wasn’t completely black, more of a dark grey, but the skin on his lower arms, legs and tail were much, much darker, with a flame-like tattooed effect where the black skin and dark grey skin met. And, just like Kuta, Arkay had a pair of fangs, although Arkay’s fangs were shorter and metallic, like the claws on his hands and feet.
“You are still very attractive!” Kuta beamed. “A bit short, yes, but, being a bit short myself, that does not bother me.”
“So, despite all of this, you… still want to be with me?” Arkay asked.
Kuta nodded. “I do. And I have the added bonus of not having aged since I was 30, so I will last a while too.”
“That… is a really good point…” Arkay allowed himself a small smile. “Alright, fine. We can be boyfriend and girlfriend. Or boyfriend and boyfriend. Or girlfriend and girlfriend. I have no idea what the correct term is for Rethans.”
“Poten-partner…” Kuta shrugged. “I will be honest, this is all somewhat new to me as well.”
“Yeah, well, we can learn together then!” Arkay raised his little cup and grinned. “Cheers!”