“Arkay, may I ask you a question?”
Arkay was minding his own business, swapping between watching a video and keeping an eye on the autopilot, when Retvik decided to interrupt the peace and quiet. Not wanting to seem mean though, Arkay glanced up and nodded.
“What’s up?”
“I…” Retvik stuttered then frowned. “I wanted to know approximately what the date is… back at home…”
“Hm… good question…” Arkay tapped on the screen on his little tablet, pausing the video, then swiped everything to one side. He tapped on a calendar, then shrugged. “According to this, it’s about the 27th of Marti, 2021 PDW. Neat.”
“Oh…” Retvik responded with more frowns. “I should get in touch with Gath and-”
“Oh pleaaaase!”
Before Retvik could finish his sentence he found himself interrupted by a familiar, purple view. Litvir pulled his cape to one side, being incredibly overdramatic.
“Get ooover him. He is married to someone else now! Live your new life as a Decay Lord!”
The Flamebearer snorted and crossed his arms angrily. “Gath has a child. I owe it to him to keep an eye on him.”
“Is it your kid?” Litvir snarled. “No, it is not. Let Gath worry about Gath.”
“They named that kid after me.”
Litvir blinked, then let out a hearty laugh. “Pffft, that is hilarious. I still do not understand what you both s-”
The cockpit door slammed shut, opened up again very briefly then slammed shut once more. On the other side, Litvir could be heard, cursing loudly about his claws.
“He can be such a cunt sometimes…” Arkay tutted, before turning back to Retvik. “He is right though, you should leave Gath alone. Just not for the reasons Litvir suggested.”
Retvik closed his eyes, blowing hot air through his nostrils in an attempt to calm his temper. “Why?”
“Because godly interference has a habit of fucking things up!” Arkay dutifully explained. “That’s why you’re here with me, in the vast depths of outer space; and your brother Elkay is working for Kinisis, being her cute little Rethan guardian or whatever. Gods are fucky beings and the last thing Gath needs is a godly being fucking things up.”
“Hmph…” Retvik sighed. “Maybe I will just… send him a postcard or something…”
“Good idea,” Arkay beamed. “However, your asking about the date has reminded me of something I kinda forgot about. Technically, April 1st is my birthday.”
The door opened up again, but this time, standing there was a Litvir who looked very confused. “You know exactly when you were born, despite being, what, 14 billion years old?”
Arkay shook his head. “Nah. Also, I’m only 2 billion years old. Before then, I wasn’t a sapient being. But that date is the date that I started pretending to be a mortal, it’s on my fake Skyan birth certificate and everything. So I kinda declared it as my actual birthday. Except I’d forgotten up until Retvik mentioned it.”
“Do you… want to do something for your birthday?” Retvik asked.
“Nah, not really…” Arkay trailed off, turning his attention back to both the autopilot and his video. “It’s a stupid date anyway.”
Retvik got up and shrugged, before deciding to head off. “Alright. Thank you for the advice, Arkay, I shall leave you to it.”
Arkay waved a half-assed goodbye, then waited for Retvik to leave so he could close the door.
“Sooo, you thinking what I am thinking?” Litvir asked as he and Retvik walked down the corridor.
“I do not know, you annoying telepath. What are you thinking?”
“We should do something for Arkay’s birthday.”
“He literally just said that he did not want to do anything.”
“That is just his small, attention-avoiding voice speaking. He wants the attention and is too scared to ask. We should do something.”
“Like what?” Retvik grunted.
Litvir shrugged. “I do not know. But we will think of something…”