“Uh, were you expecting anyone, Retvik?”
The exhausted Rethan peeled himself off the sofa, giving Nyssi a tired tut as an answer. While their battle today had only lasted half an hour, the crowds continued to cheer for nearly an extra twenty minutes, demanding to know who they had just witnessed. It had gotten so bad that the Raptor had shut off the cameras and had guards start escorting people out of the arena, while Retvik and Kayel had had to sneak away. Just getting back to the house fighter training areas had proven problematic, and the following two shows, featuring some beast battles and a handful of 1v1 fights, had to be pushed forward to keep the crowds entertained. On top of that, an extra show was put on between the two top Temthan Dessaron teams, just to calm folks down.
In order to escape the Arena completely, the Raptor arranged a private bus service to take them home, meaning they had to leave Nyssi’s truck in the arena parking lot, to be picked up on Monday.
Even now that the four of them had had a good night’s sleep, they were all still rather tired and overwhelmed, to the point that none of them had really spoken much.
As Retvik opened the door though, he was surprised to see a familiar face. Not exactly someone one would normally want to see, but, well, they seemed happy.
“Congrats, guys!” the Thantophor smiled, standing in the doorway, carrying a blood-soaked gunstaff and a bag of shopping. “I didn’t mean to invite myself over, but I wanted to congratulate you in person. That was a great match!”
Retvik blinked several times. “Who are you and what are you doing here?”
“I just told you. I wanted to congratulate you. In person!” Arkay was still smiling. Today, he had taken the appearance of a Rethavok, and Retvik had completely fallen for it. “Oh, sorry. It’s me, Arkay, your local friendly death god.”
Again, Retvik blinked. He was more tired than he thought. Luckily, Kayel was on hand to help out.
“Oh hi Arkay! Why are you a Rethan today? Also, come in, you’re letting all the warm air escape.”
Kayel nudged Retvik to one side, so the Thantophor could enter. Arkay handed the bag of shopping to Kayel, then delicately leaned his gunstaff against the wall, next to Retvik’s collection of other gunstaffs.
“Fancied a change. You don’t mind me stopping by, do you?” Arkay made his way to the seating area, dragging Kayel and the bag of shopping with him. He opened it up, revealing a bottle of berry-flavoured vodka, two bottles of diet lemonade and five sugar-free energy drinks.
“Of course not!” Nyssi beamed. “We always love to see our weird death god friend! Did you see our match?”
“Not live, sadly…” Arkay paused for a moment, watching as Retvik slowly made his way over and sat down opposite him. Kayel disappeared to grab some glasses, then poured everyone a drink. “I had to deal with some horrible corruption that was trying to get in all day yesterday, ended up missing it by a couple of hours. But I watched the replays and you guys did insanely well for your first match. I couldn’t have picked a better group of completely random strangers to accidentally make immortal.”
“You say that as if we are like this on purpose…” Retvik muttered.
Arkay leaned forward, looking somewhat concerned. “Seriously, I still haven’t worked out how you all work, and the others have been of no help either. But you, Retvik, what’s wrong with you?”
“You make for a very attractive, very convincing Rethavok. My brain is very confused right now.”
Suddenly, Tenuk shapeshifted himself into a Rethavok. He made himself exactly like Retvik, but with lighter skin and blue armour. “May I confuse you further?”
Retvik stared at Tenuk briefly, then tutted. It occurred to the Thantophor that the four of them had already started drinking before he had even arrived.
“No. You are too obvious.”
“How so?” Tenuk adjusted his form a few times. Each time, Retvik simply tutted, clearly not convinced. Eventually, Tenuk faded back into his normal Spast form.
“You keep on copying my chipped shoulder strips. Only exiles like me have chipped shoulder strips. Arkay looks like a higher caste Rethan and somehow, I do not know, sounds and smells the part too. And he has a realistic-looking cut on his lip.”
Arkay though shrugged, then rubbed his lip, not having noticed the minor injury. He had realized exactly why Tenuk wasn’t quite managing it, but he didn’t want to out Retvik on something that he had no control over. “Difference is Tenuk is still a Kronospast, even if he does create the right hormones and pheromones, but I am literally just a Rethan. Or whatever I decide to form-change into. Although the cut is unintentional, must have happened while I was dealing with that particularly pesky corruption… Anyway!” The Thantophor decided to change the subject. “How are you all? You all actually seem pretty fucking glum.”
“We’re just exhausted…” Kayel sniffed. “And a tad drunk.”
“When did you start drinking?”
“Lunch time. We’re all kinda just amazed at how everyone reacted and it’s kinda weird and stuff…” Kayel explained. “Since the Raptor didn’t want vok knowing who we are, we basically all left wearing hoodies. Except Retvik because everyone knows who Retvik is. It’s kinda made weirder now that we’re friends with our Lord of Darkness.”
“Are you here to get drunk with us?” Nyssi asked, nonchalantly sitting with her legs wide apart. One of the nice things about living with three non-Temthans was that no one cared about her not being very lady-like, as long as she kept her underwear on.
Arkay hesitated. “I, uh, don’t really drink.”
“You didn’t say no though!” Nyssi smiled. “Come on, you said you wanted to celebrate with us!”
“Can you even get drunk?” Kayel added, looking rather curious.
Again, the Thantophor hesitated. “Yeah, technically I can get drunk, yes…”
“Do you have any plans or anything?” Retvik perked up slightly, now he was more aware that this was the Death God and not just a random, attractive Rethan in his presence. “Because I can understand not wanting to drink if you are busy.”
“No, no, I don’t have any plans actually. It’s just, well, no one’s ever really asked me to stay over and get drunk with them before.”
“First time for everything!” Tenuk beamed as he got up and started rummaging through Retvik’s cupboards. Retvik, already being slightly tipsy, clearly didn’t seem to care. “Come on now, come chill with your friends. You deserve to have some fun too!”
“Why is that?” Arkay blinked in confusion.
“Well, you’re the crazy guy that brought us idiots together!” Tenuk grinned. “Come on, get wasted with us.”
The Thantophor thought to himself for a moment, then smiled, just a little. “Sure, why not? Not like I’ve got anything more important to do right now…”