“Well, piss.”
Arkay’s shoulders dropped as he realized that the coffee shop he had brought Kayel to was closed. And had been closed for a good couple of months.
“So, uh, was there a reason why you brought me here?” Kayel asked.
“Yeah. I found this place when I was looking for an apartment to rent nearby. It’s quiet, no one comes here and I’d be able to talk more freely without being overheard. I guess, because of that, they shut the place down.”
“Oh well. There’s a billion coffee places in Palaestra and you don’t even seem to drink coffee anyway.”
Arkay frowned some more, but quickly let up. “You’re right. But I want to go somewhere quiet, where we won’t be noticed. So that Epani doesn’t notice me bunking off.”
“Actually, you say that, we’re better off going somewhere busy, like the Queen’s Avenue Mall. We’ll blend in better as two random Skyavok since it’s a multi-species space, and since there’ll be so many people around, you’ll be harder to spot in the crowd. Sure, you’re bright yellow, but you’re wearing generic dark blue Skyavok clothes and loads of Skyavok and Rethavok go to the mall on Saturdays anyway.”
“That’s… a good point. Alright, we’ll go to the mall!”
Arkay did seem to quickly cheer up. He grabbed Kayel by the hand then pulled him through a nearby shadow. The pair of them reappeared in the basement of the mall, in a dark corner in the car park.
“So, uh…” Kayel was aware he’d already said that before, but, despite knowing Arkay somewhat, he didn’t really know how much Arkay had changed. He seemed tame right now, but there was still something off about the Thantophor, different from what Kayel remembered. “Why did we reappear down here?”
“Do you shadowjump into open public places?”
“No. But you seem to.”
“I’m pretending to be a normal Skyavok…” Arkay frowned slightly. “Just let me pretend.”
“Fair enough.”
The two of them made their way through the car park and headed upstairs. As predicted, it was busy, but not as busy as Arkay expected. It was 2pm, most people had already had lunch and had gone back to shopping, so the restaurant and cafe area was empty.
“So, which cafe do you want to go to?” Kayel asked as they wandered around.
“Not that place!” Arkay tutted. “They don’t serve anything that’s sugar-free. I like my drinks to be sugar-free. Actually, I’ll be blunt, I don’t like coffee. I like what Rethans do and they have cookies.”
“There’s a bakery, we could get some cookies and a drink and just sit in the main hall?”
Arkay smiled. “We should do that, but sit by the water fountain instead.”
Kayel smiled back. “We definitely should.”
The bakery wasn’t busy at all, and Arkay bought eight massive cookies, two chocolate chip, two oatmeal raisin, two chunky caramel cookies and two ‘rainbow cookies’ with sprinkles and chocolate smarties on them. Kayel bought two sugar-free energy drinks, a lemony flavour. However, as they were paying, someone spotted Kayel and came over.
“Oh, heya, Eksi!” Kayel beamed.
“Heya, Kayel, who’s your friend?”
Kayel expected Arkay to panic or something, but instead, Arkay stepped forward and smiled some more.
“Hiya! My name’s Arel, I’m an old buddy of Kayel’s, here on holiday.”
Eksi eyed this weird, yellow Skyan. “Well, damn, pardon me for saying this, but for L-Class, you’re jacked.”
“Yeah, well, I don’t have the dexterity or coordination for the more active Classes, and teaching kids is way more energetic than you think.”
Kayel nodded in agreement. “Dude, you have no idea what kids can be like.”
“Heh…” Eksi giggled as he pulled a small card out of his pocket and nudged it towards Arkay. “Fair enough. I’ll leave you both to it! Have a good one!”
Kayel waved back, as did Arkay, however Arkay’s wave was much weaker.
“I think I need to make myself less hot…” Arkay muttered as he glanced at the card and memorized Eksi’s contact details. “I’m way too obvious.”
“I dunno, you lied pretty convincingly there!” Kayel was still smiling like a lunatic as he finished paying up and they headed to the water fountain. Luckily, there were plenty of free seats available. The water fountain was rather pretty, a strange contraption which made it look like water was freely dripping from the ceiling, passing through both main floors of the mall through a large, stained glass gap.
Arkay was clearly scanning the area as Kayel sat down and opened up his drink, and there were certainly things on the Thantophor’s mind.
“I don’t really like lying…” Arkay finally admitted as he joined Kayel. “So easy to slip up. Doubly so when you’re being watched.”
“Are you… being watched right now?”
Arkay nodded. “Not watched, specifically, but definitely tracked. I had to discreetly ask Sini to not tell everyone my whereabouts. I know she sends reports to various government agencies about what we do and where I’ve been and all that.”
“Would it be awkward if Kuta told Retvik and Retvik told us that you suggested those agencies be set up?”
The growl that slipped from Arkay’s lips was genuinely terrifying.
“Sorry.”
“Ugh. It’s fine. It just… sucks… Being so fucked up, the way I am.”
Kayel sighed, then put his drink down and held Arkay’s hand. “It’s not your fault though.”
“It was. It must have been my fault. Apparently I asked to be reset.”
“Sure, but just because you asked, doesn’t mean you wanted it. You could have been tricked, coerced or manipulated into making such a request. Wouldn’t surprise me, considering what I’ve seen of your fellow deities.”
“I guess…”
Arkay sighed. Kayel sighed too and decided to change the subject, by taking a cookie from the bag Arkay had been carrying and commenting on it.
“These are nice.”
Arkay took a cookie and bit it. “Mm. Yeah. Can’t go wrong with a fresh cookie!”
Kayel went back to smiling. “You’ve cheered up already.”
“I’m trying. I want to make the most of this. Just sitting here, talking to a normal person, watching normal people walk by, living normal lives…” Arkay trailed off. “I was mortal once. I remember almost none of it, but I was mortal. But I wasn’t a normal mortal.”
“Were you, like, semi-famous like me, or something?”
“I don’t know. I just vaguely remember the first time I died, before everything went bad, I briefly tried to live a normal life. It was ripped from me.”
Kayel tilted his head to one side, giving Arkay that confused look that most Skyans (and occasionally Rethans) did, that Arkay found endearing. “Do you remember the first time you died?”
“Vaguely… I take it you want to know?”
“Only if you’re comfortable telling me…” Kayel whispered. “I mean, I’ve… nearly died. Multiple times. I’ve also taken the lives of others. Sentient and sapient.”
Arkay sighed, bit his cookie and sighed some more. “I don’t really remember much. I was trying to protect a family. The wife and kids made it. The husband didn’t. I was shot. Didn’t hurt that much, I was in shock more than anything else. The only other thing I remember is that… I was on my way to a restaurant, for a date.”
Kayel didn’t mean to blink and gasp somewhat, but he couldn’t help it. “Has, like, anything good happened in your vast, endless, depressing existence?”
“Well, I assume so. I just… tend to not remember those good things.”
“How about anything good happening recently?”
Arkay thought to himself, munching through another cookie as he did so. After an awkwardly long silence, he turned back to Kayel and smiled. “Well, I met you.”
Kayel immediately smiled back. “There you are. I knew the real you was in there somewhere.”
“I mean, I’m not here really, I still am missing a year’s worth of memories where I clearly became a better, happier person, but, well, I have to start somewhere, right?”
“Yeah. You… wanna do something else? Something more fun? I’ve asked you probably too many questions.”
Arkay glanced around, then shrugged. “Honestly, I’m just happy to sit and talk. It’s… refreshing.”
“Well alright!” Kayel beamed as he scooted closer to Arkay. With a smile, Kayel held up the bag of cookies and put an arm around Arkay. “If that’s what you want, that’s what we shall do. Cookie?”
“Yes, please!” Arkay grinned as he pulled Kayel closer. “Thank you. I needed this.”
“You did. It’s good to see you happy for once, Arkay.”