Being large, heavy creatures, Rethan cities were built to be very wide and not very tall. After all, when the average height of a Rethavok is 2.5m, it gets expensive building skyscrapers that can contain said large beings. The roads in Rethan cities though were even wider, designed mostly for foot traffic, public transport and the heavy duty tricycles some Rethans used. Again, their size was the reason for most of this. Building an affordable motor vehicle like a car for an armoured brute was basically impossible, and most Rethans were quite happy to stand in buses or walk everywhere anyway.
The positive side to all this was that Rethan cities were less polluted and had massively wide pavements with plenty of trees to provide shade. This meant that walking through even gigantic cities like Phos, the Rethan capital, was genuinely pleasant. Even to Relkir, who was almost a dwarf of a Rethan.
Normally, Relkir would wander the streets a little on their walks to and from the Kentron, the governmental buildings where they worked. And while doing so, they would play games on their communicator. Relkir’s favourite game was a territory control game, but based on real world locations. Three teams, two player-controlled and one NPC-controlled, would capture ‘nodes’ across the virtual landscape and create ‘power meshes’, which was basically territory for their respective teams. Teams could also fight and steal nodes from each other, as well as set up booby traps and pitfalls for less aware players.
Considering how Relkir consistently made and held pretty much all the power meshes surrounding the Kentron though, fighting for team blue, the Resistance, they were pretty sure they were the only major Rethan player in the city centre. The more heavily contested areas were around the space port, and Relkir was certain that the fights there were between Lanex and Skyan workers at the embassies there. Most of the time, Relkir just fought off Machina, the evil red NPC faction.
Today though, for the first time in at least a decade, Relkir was not walking alone. They were walking to one of their favourite hotspots, a pretty flower park, cheerfully explaining to the Keeper of all people how their silly little game worked. Gath was admittedly a little slow and was not really understanding the lore or more detailed background gameplay mechanics, but they had at the very least managed to get the game working. Relkir had hoped that Gath would join team green, the Enlightened, so they would have some friendly competition (and so Relkir would be able to fight other players more regularly) but Gath liked blue more than they liked green and had picked the Resistance, same as Relkir.
Thankfully, the flower park was always contested by Machina, and that meant that Relkir could show Gath the main gameplay loop. Relkir had been playing for years, was nearly max level (the XP needed per level increased exponentially) and had admittedly forgotten what it was like to be new and lack resources, however Gath managed to get to level 3 quite quickly, thanks to Relkir weakening some Machina resonators and having Gath finish them off.
“So, you do this often?” Gath asked as they claimed their third node and created their first power mesh.
Relkir nodded. “I do, yes. I think I am the only active player in this area though, and I have only met a handful of other players. Honestly, if I did not play this and one other game, I would not leave my damn home ever. I am small and weak enough as it is, I do not wish to add “overweight” to that list.”
“Ah, fair. I admittedly do not really play games. I am too impatient for the popular sniper games and I am too slow for that super popular game that the younger ones all play.”
“Which game?”
Gath shrugged. “The one with the green exploding thing.”
“Oh…” Relkir smiled, knowing what game Gath was talking about. “The mining game. I have not played it in a long time, I ought to check it out. Would you like to play it with me?”
“I think I prefer this game. The, uh, display thing feels better suited to me and my stupidly massive claws…” Gath trailed off. They seemed to be slowing down. Relkir peered behind them and noticed that Gath had made their way to a nearby bench.
“Are you… are you alright?” Relkir almost whispered as Gath sat down. However, Gath waved their hand dismissively.
“I am fine. Just a bit tired. We have done a lot of walking, and I am admittedly not as fit as I used to be.”
Relkir shrugged, then sat down next to Gath. The size difference was immense, and Relkir was certain they looked stupidly impish next to the gentle giant. More impish than usual. “Well, that is somewhat understandable. The average Rethan weights between 150kg and 160kg, and you are 70cm taller than the average Rethan and carry a lot of extra weight. I would not be surprised if you had heart troubles as well.”
Gath frowned, the first time Relkir had seen them frown all day. “Sadly, you are absolutely right. I have a lot of health issues, and my heart is the biggest one. Unfortunately, due to my sheer size, combined with… other problems, I will most likely die younger than normal.”
“Oh… That… is very unfortunate…”
“Hmph, yes, it is. It is also why I am taking a week off work. Sure, what I do is mostly motivational, but I do need to reduce my stress levels.” Gath sighed, then fiddled with the game on their phone, before glancing at the time and sighing again. “That being said, I probably ought to make my way home. It is… a bit of a trot back to my place, and early nights are good for me. As is lying down, helps my aching back and legs.”
Relkir looked up at Gath, but they didn’t respond at first. Relkir was busy going through their own thoughts. After all, Relkir had worked overly hard their entire life. And it seemed they had a lot in common with Gath, despite the Keeper physically being Relkir’s exact opposite. Relkir was scared to admit it, but they genuinely really liked Gath. More than they’d liked anyone else.
After some more thought, Relkir shrugged, and decided to say something stupid that they would probably regret, but would otherwise never have the chance to say again.
“You, uh, could come to my place, if you want… It is much closer, after all…”
Gath blinked and glanced down at Relkir, before smirking. “Ah, I wondered if you had that Rethianos courage. Of course you do! I would accept your offer, but I have another medical appointment tomorrow morning…”
“Oh…”
“That being said, perhaps you would like to meet me in the evening for dinner? There is this strange restaurant near my apartment, called The Gravitational Fork. It is a place that apparently serves weird Lanex food as well as standard Rethan dishes and I have been meaning to go there for years. Would you like to accompany me?”
Relkir bit their lip, then nodded. “I would love to! What time?”
“About 1800 hours?”
“Sure!” Relkir leaped up from the bench and held out their hand. They were way too small and weak to actually help Gath up, but they wanted to be polite anyway. “In the mean time, may I walk you to the nearest bus station and see you off?”
Gath staggered to their feet, still smirking. They very gently took Relkir’s hand and allowed the impish Rethan to lead them away. “That would be lovely, dear.”