“AHHH!”
A gust of wind slammed the door shut as Arkadin scrambled to find something to cover himself up with. In his panic, he had forgotten that he was a shape-shifting deity that could just magically summon clothing onto himself. Arkadin ended up grabbing a blanket off his bed and wrapping it around himself.
The door opened up again, but this time it wasn’t a gust of wind. Kinisis, the Allmaker, was standing in the doorway, tutting and sighing.
“You make me sad, Arkadin.”
“You have no idea about privacy!” the Thantophor snapped back, once again slamming the door shut. Again though, the door opened up and Kinisis was still standing there.
“You’re making me more sad, Arkadin…”
Arkadin sighed. Regaining his composure, he shape-shifted some armour onto himself, covering himself head to toe in sharp plates. He was feeling defensive and wanted to show it.
“I always make you sad, Kinisis. That’s what I was designed to do, clearly. Why have I made you sad today?”
Kinisis raised her hands, pointing around her. “I think you know why I am pissed off at you.”
Arkadin sighed, then walked passed Kinisis, into the living room. He grabbed himself a drink and threw himself on the sofa.
“Arkadin, I asked you to do one thing…”
“And I did the thing. I have stayed here in my prison, as you asked. I haven’t left the place, except to stand on the top step to tell those twelve mortals to take a day off because they were all angry and pissed off and tired and stressed. I’ve done exactly as you asked.”
Kinisis followed Arkadin into the living room, her hands on her hips in anger. Arkadin noticed she was actually wearing clothes that covered her sensitive parts today. That was how angry she was.
“You kicked out your guards, you bent the rules and you left yourself completely unsupervised!”
“Yeah but I’m still IN this fucking prison. I’ve had no time alone and I needed time alone, so I took some time alone. Because everyone needs time alone. That’s just how it is!”
Kinisis continued to be angry, standing in front of Arkadin. “I don’t care, you ignored me yet again! You disrespected me!”
Arkadin finished his drink then took a long, deep breath. He got up and stood in front of Kinisis.
“I disrespected you? Really?”
“Yes.”
“Really?”
Kinisis stared at Arkadin.
“I have done everything exactly as you have asked of me!” Arkadin snapped. “I try to do everything right! I act kind and merciful! I don’t try to kill the other gods except when they try to kill me! I do my duties as a death god cleanly and properly! You asked me to stay here and that’s what I did! So why are you complaining at me when I do exactly as you ask?”
The Allmaker sighed. “You should have asked me.”
“I shouldn’t have to ask you just so I can have a few hours on my own. And anyway, why are you even here so early?”
More sighs. Kinisis remained standing but her attitude had clearly changed, she had realised that she might have been slightly wrong.
“I wanted to tell you in advance that your siblings and your father will be joining us. We all need to talk.”
“Ugh…” Arkadin growled. “Again? It’ll be the same old thing…”
“I know.”
“So why are we-”
“Because it’s important to me.”
“But it’s the same old thing, over and over again. Everyone else sits around saying how horrible I am, I say that I know I’m horrible and ask them to stop, then you get a bit sad and tell them to stop…”
“Yes, I know, but it’ll be different today… Do me a favour, set up a table and get everything sorted for midnight.”
Arkadin grunted. “They’re coming here?”
“Yes.”
“That’s… not a great idea.”
Kinisis put a hand on Arkadin’s shoulder. “It’ll be fine. They’ll behave. I’ll make sure of it.”
“Yeah well…” Arkadin grunted some more. “I’m going to hold you to that. This time had better be different and they had better behave. Because if this meeting goes badly, I’m going to consider my terms of imprisonment void.”
“You… can’t do that…” Kinisis whispered.
“And why not?”
Kinisis gave up and began to fade away. “Whatever. Just make sure everything is sorted for later.”