“Hi.”
“Hiya!”
Arkay wasn’t sure what to write. He hadn’t expected his new best friend to reply so quickly, and had intended to use the five minute pause to think of something to say.
It wasn’t so much that Arkay had nothing to talk about. He had lots on his mind. He just didn’t know whether he wanted to dump his thoughts onto someone else. Especially someone like his new best friend.
“How are you?” Arkay eventually typed.
“Oh, busy. Got a meeting in a bit, so can’t chat for long.”
“What sort of meeting?”
“Work one. Boss wants to discuss a bunch of video stuff.”
Arkay hesitated before asking his next question. “So, uh, what do you actually do?”
“Me?” came the swift reply.
“Yeah, you.”
“Video editing and stuff. Someone’s gotta make all the flyers and campaign ads and stuff like that to market Deathven.”
Not quite sure how to respond, Arkay just replied with a simple “huh…”
After a brief pause, Arkay spotted a new message. Teekay was asking him how he was.
“Uh… Complicated.”
“Oh, why?”
“Eh…”
“You can tell me.”
Arkay hesitated some more. He did want to tell Teekay. But he also didn’t want to burden him.
“I…”
“Yes?”
“I don’t want to burden you.”
“How is it burdening me?”
“… Fair, I guess…”
“Seriously, what’s bothering you?”
Arkay sighed, then started typing. “Not feeling well. One thing I’ve had to find out the hard way is that being part Life Goddess means I get a bunch of the downsides as well. Like the mother-like desire to create a universe. Which I had no idea was so… so much like… having a kid, I guess.”
“You mean you have a cycle of fertility for making a universe, the same way we did as mortals for having kids and getting preggers? Also you’re part Life Goddess? That’s so cool.”
With a roll of his eyes, Arkay kept on typing. “No it fucking sucks. I’ve had stupid bastards wanting me dead or hurt or whatever because I’m part Life Goddess. And not to mention this stupid stomach pain.”
“It’s literally like… you know?”
“Apparently that’s how it’s manifested in me. Because I’m a dumb half-and-half.”
“You’re not dumb…” Teekay was doing his best to be reassuring. “And you’re also probably hating yourself extra right now because of that Life Goddess stuff, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Aww. That sucks. Wish I could come over and give you a hug right now.”
That last sentence made Arkay smile a little. “I’d love to hug you back.”
“A nice big cuddle makes everything better. Just gonna have to have digital cuddles for now though!”
Arkay sighed, then typed a little smiley face. After he typed that though, he saw a message he really didn’t want to see.
“Oh piss, didn’t keep track on the time. I gotta head off otherwise I’m gonna be late. See you later, Arkay!”
Almost instantly, the green symbol next to Teekay’s name disappeared. Arkay didn’t like this. He could still send messages, but he had no idea when Teekay would see them. Not that Arkay had time to write anything, since someone was knocking on the door. It was Galyn, requesting that they all head to the cockpit.
“I’ll see you later!” Arkay awkwardly typed, before turning off the chat app. He’d have to deal with the thoughts in his mind later. The little Decayling also had work to do…