There was definitely a rush to get off the ship that had just landed in the Thantir members’ parking lot. Kuta was never quite as overly emotional as their twin sibling Litvir, but Kuta was very openly displaying how upset they were as they charged towards those who were waiting for them and immediately hugged their darling partner.
“I am so sorry! I am so sorry!”
Ret held Kuta tightly, not sure why Kuta was apologising. “It is alright. I am sure you have done nothing wrong.”
“Letharus kissed me and I did not want them to and I feel bad!”
“It is fine.”
“I broke your trust!” Kuta whimpered. “I was bad!”
“You were not bad. It was an accident. You did not want Letharus to kiss you. It is fine.”
“I… I…” Kuta was struggling with their words. Admittedly, Kuta was still very drunk. “I am sorry…”
Ret wiped the tears from Kuta’s eyes. “It is fine. I forgive you.”
“You… you do?”
“Of course I do!” Ret smiled. “It was an accident. And you are a very cute person who deserves kisses, so I understand why someone else would want to kiss you! But it is fine! I forgive you and you do not need to be sad. I am just happy you are back!”
“Huh… We are back… I am very tipsy.”
“It is alright. Let me take you to your room and I will give you water and you can sleep off the drunkenness, alright?”
Kuta seemed to settle down. They hugged Ret tightly, then allowed Ret to pick them up and carry them off.
“That was cute…”
“Cuter than us…”
Unlike Kuta, Litvir was very wobbly. And far more drunk. He was mostly leaning on Arkay, since the floor was moving far more than Litvir liked.
“Did Letharus kiss you too, Litvir?” Retvik asked.
“Yes. Thyel kissed me as well. I am a very attractive person! I think. Sometimes. Maybe not right now. But other people find me attractive and I like that a lot…” Litvir trailed off, then glanced around. “Oh. We are back home.”
“Bloody Light, you are drunk!” Retvik tutted.
“I am. But I found the name of that mead you liked… Thyel knew of it. I… I wrote it down somewhere…”
“We’ll find it later!” Arkay tutted as well, but he was also glancing around. Unlike Litvir though, who had just forgotten that he had been on a ship five minutes ago, Arkay was silently scanning the place for any potential problems. “Retvik, you’re better at dealing with Litvir while he’s drunk, do you mind being all cute and sweet the way Ret was and taking Litvir to his room and… I don’t know, trying to sober him up a bit?”
Retvik smiled, but his smile was a little awkward. “I think I am going to have to sober Litvir up a lot. And make him drink lots of water.”
“Why?” Litvir asked.
“So you do not get the multiverse’s worst hangover!”
“Oh. OH!”
Retvik suddenly grabbed Litvir and picked him up, scooping him into Retvik’s powerful arms.
“I am not… touching the ground…”
“You are so, so drunk…” Retvik shifted his weight, so he could better carry Litvir. “Come on. Let me fix you up and put you to bed.”
“Alright!” Litvir beamed. “Fly me awaaaaay!”
Arkay couldn’t help but snicker as Retvik dragged Litvir off, following the same route Ret and Kuta took. Once they had left though, Arkay straightened himself out then headed off as well, back to Savepoint’s centre. He was going to go to the offices to check in on Itaviir and Vikalos, but a couple of odd thoughts redirected his path, and Arkay started heading to the table at the back of the canteen area which was now technically a classroom.
Sitting there were Vekeus and Elkay-En, both going through various forms and stuff, while Elkay, the other Synaisthyn, looked on, occasionally answering questions.
“Hi guys!” Arkay smiled weakly. “How are we doing?”
“Welcome back, Arkay!” Elkay smiled back. “We are going through potential scenarios for their Decay Lord Trial. How was your trip?”
Arkay’s smile flickered. “It was… alright…”
“Did something happen?” Elkay-En asked. “You have some specks of blood on your shoulder plate.”
“I… I thought I managed to clean that all up… Um… Well… Vick and I went camping and some murder hobo decided to try and kill Vick so I somewhat instinctively reacted badly and smeared the murder hobo all over our camping site… I… I didn’t mean it.”
Vekeus shrugged. “Eh, it happens. I won’t lie, I have definitely killed a few people who would have killed me had I not killed them first. The Ventra Expanse is a lawless place, even if it has unwritten rules.”
“I guess. I don’t feel great about it though. Ruined what could have been a nice experience for me.”
Vekeus shrugged some more. “I guess, but maybe that guy shouldn’t have tried to kill the General. Anyway, Rethan Elkay here managed to get a list of recent Decay Lord Trials done by pairs of Decaylings and we’re going through them. Elkay-En’s ability to create meat monsters will be very useful.”
“Veekay!” Elkay-En hissed. “You weren’t supposed to tell Arkay about that!”
Arkay turned to Elkay-En. “What do you mean? Did you work out some Life Goddess stuff?”
“I… I did… Not in a good way…”
Elkay-En fell awkwardly silent, so Elkay decided to explain for him.
“You remember how Yisini had those meat fortresses, yes?” Elkay asked.
“Yeah. They were weird but also pretty well built.”
“Well, Elkay can create entities in a similar way. None of it is sentient or capable of any thought, but, well, it is a very visceral interpretation of the word “meat shield” and potentially rather useful. Also, it glows when Corruption is near.”
“Huh…” Arkay thought for a moment. “That does sound pretty interesting. Care to show me, brother?”
Elkay-En shook his head. “Not right now. I just want to go through these reports. We are getting close to our own trial, after all.”
“Oh… They’ve been set a date?” Arkay blinked in confusion.
“No, but Elkay-En and Vekeus are pretty much ready.”
“Really?”
Vekeus grinned as he leaned back, not at all stressed. “Yep. We’re ready. Just waiting for confirmation. We’ll be fine…”