Arkay almost jumped as his communicator rang. He wasn’t expecting any calls or anything, so he picked it up quite slowly, glancing at the number displayed. It was one he didn’t really recognize. Then again, Arkay always had trouble recognizing long numbers.
“Hello? Arkay speaking!”
“Oh, hi Arkay, it’s me, Phovos.”
“Phovos?” Arkay exclaimed, feeling incredibly surprised. “How are you? Also, how did you get my number?”
“Uh, I got it off Galyn, who said he got it off someone called Vikalos.”
“… Huh…” Arkay trailed off. “Why did he give you my number?”
“Because he said that we have something in common and that I would, well, be able to ask for advice and stuff like that.”
Arkay frowned. This seemed kinda suspicious to him. He and Phovos never really had that much in common, and he was unsure what thing in common Phovos was going to ask about.
“Huh, I see. So what is the problem? I assume something is wrong?”
“Well…” Phovos lowered her voice slightly. “Yeah, kinda.”
“What’s the problem?” Arkay asked. He may have been sceptical, but he didn’t want to leave Phovos with her problem, whatever it was.
“The thing is, I’m… kinda a Life Goddess.”
“You didn’t know?”
“No, I knew, I’ve known for a while. But I don’t like it. Not at all.”
“Why not?” Arkay was curious now. He hated the fact that he was a Life Goddess. Maybe that was what he and Phovos had in common.
“I don’t want to be a Life Goddess. Everyone expects far too much out of me and it’s all just… I don’t even really know how to control it, aside from just bottling up that Life Goddess stuff and being a… well, I was going to say “normal person” but I’ve never, ever been normal. People have all these high expectations and I just want them all to go away.”
“You know what, I totally understand that feeling. Exact same sort of thing happened to me.”
“Really?”
“The whole situation that got me stranded on this Deathven ship billions of lightyears away from you is because someone had expectations of me and I refused to meet them.”
Phovos paused. “I thought you ended up out there because you flat out murdered another Life Goddess?”
“Well, yeah, I did kinda say “no” a little too hard. But she wanted me to help her make a universe and kept on pushing me, ignoring my “no”s and just, well, she was being a horrible person and only stopped when I made her stop.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah.”
“Was it fun, murdering her?” Phovos whispered.
“Honestly? I was so furious that I don’t really remember. I then went all Arkidetelos on everything until Retvik made me calm down and turn back.”
“That kinda sucks.”
“It does. But I’ve learned to say “no” more often and be more forceful in a non-violent way. So I guess it all turned out alright in the end.”
“So is that what I should do?” Phovos asked. “Say no more often?”
“Yeah. And stand your ground as well. Don’t let them bully you.”
“That makes sense…” Phovos sighed. “I do wish people would stop pestering me.”
“I hate it too. Just want to be a cute little death god and live my own happy life. Which I am trying to do now.”
“How so?”
“Well, I have a place of my own now. Which is good.”
“Oh nice!” Phovos perked up. “I kinda have my own place but I’m sharing with Retvik a lot so it’s not all peace and quiet.”
“You’re with Retvik?” Arkay blinked.
“Kinda.”
“How is it?”
“It’s nice.”
Arkay shook his head. “Well, stay with him. Don’t do what I did.”
“I know.”
The line went quiet as both ends didn’t really know what to say.
“I gotta get going now…” Phovos eventually replied. “Got a team meeting. Maybe a new mission.”
“Oh, that’s good. I hope you have a good one!” Arkay smiled. “If you need to talk, I’m here to listen.”
“Thank you, Arkay. I’m here to listen too if you need it.”
“Cheers. Have a good one!”
“You too!”
Arkay smiled some more as he ended the call.
“Well, that was nice.”