“Kyr Teekay, are you busy?”
“I’ve literally got my head stuck in an engine, I’m a tad busy!”
“Oh. Sorry.”
Teekay tutted to himself, then pulled himself out of the engine. There was a piece of Voidborn stuck in it, and this seemed to be a really common occurrence that Teekay was normally rather good at fixing. However, in this engine, it was actually a problem that Teekay couldn’t just teleport out, so he probably needed to call Kaytee or whoever for assistance.
With more tuts, Teekay picked himself up and straightened himself out, before finally turning to look at who had spoken to him. However, considering how they had referred to Teekay, it was pretty obvious that Ret was speaking to him. As far as Teekay was concerned, Ret had just called him “sir” and clearly saw Teekay as some sort of superior. Which was weird.
“Hi, Ret. You don’t need to call me Kyr or anything. We’re all equals around here.”
“I… I guess…” Ret seemed a little nervous. And embarrassed. “You said you are busy though.”
Teekay glanced at the engine, then at Ret. The engine belonged to a small Phantai border patrol ship, and those ships routinely visited Savepoint if they were damaged and closer to the Kinigian Wilderness than their HQ deep in the Goldtorn Remains.
“I was, but I need to call someone to get some help with this. I’m starting to wonder if there are patches of Voidborn shells littered across space and this is a regular occurrence everywhere in the periuniversal void, or if the Phantai intentionally try to hit Voidborns with their ships.”
Ret thought for a moment, then grunted. “I will assume both. We once hit some Corruption with the Thantir Three on the way back from a Corruption Purge. I assume it is also just a lot of bad luck, due to how big space is.”
“Eh, probably!” Teekay shrugged. “We’re also in a reasonably high traffic area, and we did blow up a Voidborn mothership so that’s gonna cause a lot of shrapnel too… Anyway, what’s up?”
Ret paused, caught off guard at how Teekay had suddenly changed the subject. “You are not busy?”
“Nope. Not now. You need something?”
Ret put his hands together nervously. Teekay found that somewhat endearing, because it reminded Teekay of his wife.
“You’re embarrassed.”
“A little, yes.”
“And scared.”
“Somewhat.”
Teekay smiled. “You don’t need to be scared of me. Just think of me the same way you think of Kayel, except I’m orange, silver and married.”
“And slightly taller. You are rather tall for a Skyavok.”
“I guess? But yeah. No need to be scared of me.”
Ret seemed to settle down. “That is true. But what I wanted to ask is embarrassing.”
“Can’t be that bad.”
“I… I wanted to ask if Kuta and I could borrow your partner for a few hours.”
Teekay couldn’t help but laugh. Once he had straightened himself out, he smiled and nodded. “Yeah, sure, you can borrow Elkay. Is that why Kuta isn’t here?”
“Kuta asked me to ask you for permission to borrow Elkay before they went and tried to… uh… seduce Elkay.”
Teekay snorted again. “That’s hilarious. You guys planning a threesome again?”
Ret hesitated, then shook his head. “Uh… we… Kuta wants… to try a foursome… And… I feel bad because I did not want to include you but did want include Arkay when he is shaped like a Rethavok.”
“Honestly, don’t feel bad. Interspecies sex is weird, interspecies marriage is weirder. And it’s harder to deal with when I’m a lot smaller than you. You’re only capable of making the gap with my babe because Elkay is still essentially the same species as you and Arkay literally turns himself into a Rethavok.”
“I guess… So you do not have a problem with us borrowing Elkay?”
Teekay nodded. “I’m totally fine with it. Elkay and I love each other dearly but there are some things we can’t provide for each other. My only request is if you can just let me know in advance when you’re going to borrow Elkay, because he has a fear about being interrupted during sexy times.”
“I see… Actually, no, I do not see… Elkay is scared of being caught in a compromising position?”
“Um… yeah, basically. Elkay and I were caught… uh… Actually, since you’re borrowing Elkay, you can ask him about it. But also, since you’re borrowing Elkay and potentially also borrowing Arkay as well, can you finally get Elkay to claim his freebie?”
Ret was now even more confused. “Freebie?”
“It’s a… a Skyan thing. Partners kinda… agree that you can have one “freebie”, one person that your partner can sleep with without any anger from you or any accusations of cheating or anything. Admittedly, we made our freebie choices when we were mortal and we both picked someone completely outlandish. It’s just sheer luck that Elkay’s freebie is actually alive and available to be fucked.”
“Oh… I still do not see, but as long as you are happy, I guess…” Ret frowned briefly, before shrugging and moving on. “So you are fine with us borrowing Elkay?”
“One hundred percent.”
“And you are not bothered?”
“Not at all. I got plenty of things to do in the mean time. You have fun!”
“Ah…” Ret trailed off again. “Alright… Kuta heard us so they are going to ask Elkay now. Do you need any help with this… engine, while I am here?”
Teekay thought for a moment. “Depends. How good are you at moving things with your mind?”
“I can manipulate gravity.”
“Can you do so in a small environment?”
“How small?”
“Like, inside this engine here?”
Ret blinked. “Is there something inside the engine that needs moving?”
“Yeah. A piece of Voidborn. I need a hot laser or something to cut it in half then remove the two pieces.”
“Oh!” Ret perked up. “I can do that! I am very good at lasers.”
Teekay smiled, then led Ret to the engine’s front. “Alright, come here and I’ll show you what to do…”