“Oh, another new look?”
Elksi waltzed into the room, her wings neatly tucked away and her arm-bladed retracted back into her forearms. Tenuk had caught a glance of Elksi coming in via the mirror, but hesitantly turned towards her to see Elksi properly.
“Yeah, another new look.” Tenuk found it somewhat odd that Elksi immediately recognized him. “Do you need something?”
“Nope! Just checking in!” Elksi chirped, closing the door behind her. “Wait. Yes, I do want something!”
“What do you want?”
“Fun!”
Tenuk sighed loudly, turning away and throwing himself into a nearby chair. “I’m not in the mood. Unsatisfied with my own skin.”
“You wanna talk about things then?”
“Eh, sure… Help yourself to some cake too if you want.”
Elksi glanced around the room then cheerfully put herself a nice, big slice of cake. After a moment, the cake began to regenerate, as if healing itself and filling in the gap where Elksi had taken her slice. Tenuk on the other hand had grabbed some paper and a pencil, doodling in his chair.
“What is bothering you, dear?” Elksi asked, sitting down next to Tenuk. “Is your shape-shifting not working?”
“My form-changing is working fine. I just don’t know who I want to be.”
“You don’t want to be you?”
Tenuk scrawled out a rough sketch, then turned back to Elksi. “You know Akah? The Lanex Guardian? Turns out, he and I share a common ancestor, billions of years old. So old in fact that the Lanex believe they were born outside of the universe, then dropped into our universe as baby deities.”
Elksi blinked. “Huh. So you want to be a Lanex?”
Tenuk shook his head. “No, I don’t. But I want to be closer look-wise as someone who is outside of all universes…” Tenuk paused, then sighed again. “The Lanex’s theory on being seedlings from another place is… somewhat correct. Thanks to the now definitely and wonderfully deceased Kenon.”
“What does that mean?” Elksia blinked some more. “You want to look like a Voidborn?”
“Yes.”
“Oh. Cool!”
“What do you mean, cool?!” Tenuk exclaimed. “I have a weird desire to turn myself back into an ancient yet confusing form that comes from a dark past. I want to see myself as a monster.”
Elksi shrugged. “You’re not a monster.”
“I keep seeing myself as a Voidborn.”
“Yeah but you’re Tenuk.”
“Elksi…”
“What?” Elksi smiled. “You’re a god. You can be you. And you can look like whatever you want. Just look at the Life Goddesses. As an example.”
“What about the Life Goddesses?” Tenuk asked, rather perplexed.
“They can be… nasty naked lizards. A lot of them are!” Elksia tutted as she took a bite of her cake. “But some are good and some are bad. You can and will be you. No matter what you look like.”
Tenuk fell silent and went back to drawing. He started sketching some ideas, crossing several out, then got up to grab more paper. As he did so, clearly he’d had an idea, so Tenuk started to really scribble more. Eventually, Tenuk settled one one design, then lifted it up to show Elksi.
“So, what do you think of this?”
Elksi eyed the picture. It was of a tall, skinny being with thin, elegant limbs and delicate claws.
“Oh!”
“You like it?” Tenuk asked.
“I do! But I think… it needs something…” Elksia grabbed a pencil of her own, then made a very quick adjustment on another scrap of paper. “You look too naked.”
Tenuk put his and Elksi’s pictures together, then smiled. “Hm, much better. I know exactly what I can wear.”
“Good! Do you want some privacy while you change?” Elksi asked.
“Oh no, stay here and close the door,” Tenuk’s smile grew. “There’s… a few other things you can help me out with…”