The diner was currently somewhat empty. Only moments ago, it had been not busy, but definitely rather populated, as locals helped themselves to a large breakfast buffet. Now, only a few beings remained, and the majority of those were hiding in the kitchen.
“I love how my parents enjoy blowing my cover…” Arkadin sighed as the black flames that covered his limbs flickered, blown around by a draught from the open doors. “They could have turned us back any time they wanted, they could have had us teleport back into that dark room in Kenon’s void spaces, but no, they have to zap us back into existence right in the middle of my brunch.”
Sitting opposite Arkadin and nodding in agreement were Tenuk and Elksia, two of the very few mortals who considered themselves close friends to the Thantophor. They had originally met to have a meal together and catch up, as neither Arkadin nor Tenuk had seen Elksia in a while.
“At least ya got ya god stuff back!” Elksia smiled, still shovelling ice cream into her mouth. Being a rather hyperactive Vrekan, she basically ran on sugar and meat. “Means ya can go back home!”
Arkadin sighed. He did enjoy Elksia’s constant optimism but right now wasn’t a particularly good time. Especially since he would have to do some awkward messing around to make sure the whole universe didn’t put things together and work out that Arkay and Arkadin were the same person. He was pretty thankful though that no one really recognised Arkay coming in and most would probably just report the Thantophor “popping out from nothing”.
“You’re right, but I don’t really have a home, Elksia. Not any more.”
Elksia finished her bowl of ice cream then started on a plate of pancakes, smothered with syrup but without any butter on them. “Yeah ya do! We all got the ol’ Dessy HQ! That’s always gonna be our home! Like, worst case thingy, ya just copy-pasta it into some dummy space and live there!”
“True, I guess…” Arkadin trailed off. He swore he could hear screaming, but neither Tenuk nor Elksia had noticed, so he assumed it was just the cries of the dead echoing around his mind again. “But it’s… it’s just not the same as it used to be…”
“Do you even know what made you change back?” Tenuk suddenly asked. “Because you had a list of tasks and I am pretty certain you didn’t find love in the space between us chatting yesterday and us chatting now.”
“Exactly!” Arkadin exclaimed, nibbling on a piece of bacon. “I didn’t do what they wanted! Yet I’m back! I mean, I’m not complaining, but I don’t like being fucked around either! I didn’t fall in love with anyone!”
Elksia though just smiled as she swallowed a piece of pancake that was a little bit too much. “Yeah ya did!”
Arkadin and Tenuk both stopped chewing and stared at Elksia.
“I’m telling you, I didn’t, Elksia!” Arkadin grunted. “I didn’t fall in love with anyone.”
“Ya fell in love with yourself!” Elksia continued to beam. “Or at least ya had a good little wank.”
Arkadin frowned. “Really?”
“Yeah. That’s fallin’ in love with yaself.”
“How comes we didn’t think of that?” Tenuk muttered. “I feel like my evening researching Skyan dating sites was wasted…”
The Thantophor sighed, then bashed his head against the table, feeling very annoyed.
“If only it’d been that fucking obvious from the start! I wouldn’t have had to spend all these weeks babysitting my retarded siblings!”
Elksia shrugged a bit more, still smiling. “On the plus side, you got to have bacon and ice cream like a normal being! That’s always a good thing, right?”
“I guess… Can’t ever have too much bacon…”
Tenuk though remained silent, just for a moment, lost in thought. He took a bite out of a slice of bread, then blinked in confusion. “What about your siblings? If you turned back, then they all probably turned back too.”
“Eh, fuck them…” Arkadin grunted as he picked up his fork. “They can look after themselves.”