Apparently it was night time. But there was no sun, no moon, and the handful of twinkles in the sky that Phovoula could see from her tiny bedroom window weren’t stars, they were the glows of distant universes. Sure, occasionally strange, pink, nebula-like clouds would blow by, thanks to the void winds of the Athata Rift, but Phovoula was struggling with all these sudden adjustments.
The lack of night and day and the constant drifts of the floating island of Savepoint would have made her feel queasy, but Phovoula had noticed that her organs had… done something. She didn’t really seem to have many of them any more. Her lungs had almost completely vanished, her heart barely beat and her digestive tract seemed to have turned into a single tube that lead to a furnace where her intestines used to be, which perfectly converted anything into energy. In fact, Phovoula found she had lost most of her organs, and was surprised to find that she still somewhat had a vagina.
A knock on the door distracted Phovoula from what she was supposed to be doing. Something about studying manuals on the use of weapons in void-space. She didn’t really care. She was stressed and angry and the distraction was a new nuisance. Sure, everyone had accepted her, despite her being different, but Phovoula felt so out of place.
With a snarl, Phovoula decided to go and see who was knocking. As she opened the door though, Phovoula immediately dropped her attitude. In fact, she almost felt submissive.
“Hello…”
“Heya, how are you doing?”
Phovos was, apparently, Phovoula from another timeline. Or another universe. Or… something. They were similar entities. Not identical. Among the newer members of the Thantir, there were suddenly two Tenuks and two Retviks, not to mention two Vohra who were suddenly best friends forever, but all of them had lived different lives. It was something to do with how Kairos, the Time Dragon, used Arkay, the Death Wolf, as some sort of anchor between universes, thus causing things to repeat somewhat. According to Kaytee, who knew the Death Wolf when he was mortal, there was a third Phovos, an original Phovos, but they were male and more like a Temthan than a Ksithan. Phovos was a Ksithan too, but she wasn’t completely furry. She had a mane and the short pair of horns, but she didn’t have external ears and there were scales running down her shoulders, back and chest. She also lacked the raptor talons that Phovoula had on her feet.
“Ugh… I am angry, all the time. And… scared…”
Something about Phovos though made Phovoula always tell the truth. Made Phovoula think of other things too.
“Yeah, I get that. You and me, we’re the freaks and loners around here. Weirdly, even more so since we have two Time Drakes and a ton of new mimics… uh, Synaisthyns now. Keep on forgetting that Elkay wanted me to use his new term. Are you busy right now?”
Phovoula sighed. “I am supposed to be studying.”
“Do you need a break? It is pretty late and everyone else is resting.”
“I… don’t seem to get, well… tired. I’m… cold.”
“Inside, right?”
“Yes.”
Phovos frowned. “Yeah, that happens. Elkay turned himself into a Voidborn once. He felt cold. But I know you’re not feeling right and I wanted to… make you feel better.”
“Uh, how comes? I’m a psychopath. An old, insane warlord. And now I’m a Voidborn. I belong to a race of monsters.”
“Hah!” Phovos laughed. “Most Voidborns are only monsters because they are trapped in cults and don’t know better. That Theocydes guy? He was in a cult, he’s only half decent because he managed to escape. Life Goddesses? They are way worse. Anyway, there’s a bit of a tradition around here that people called Phovos get their manes brushed. I wanted to offer to brush your mane, because you clearly have the same problem I do. I also brought snacks.”
“Oh…” Phovoula moved to one side and let Phovos in. “I like snacks. I haven’t had my hair brushed in… a very long time though.”
“Well, let’s change that!” Phovos smiled. She took Phovoula’s hand and sat her down on the bed, before handing her a small basket of snacks. “Take what you want. I haven’t seen you eat yet.”
“That’s because my digestive tract got replaced by a furnace. Eating and drinking is weird when it all just instantly disintegrates, and I no longer need to eat or piss. I… kinda notice you still have toilets here.”
Phovos shrugged as she turned Phovoula around, grabbed a brush and started dealing with Phovoula’s mane. She was very gentle, doing her best not to pull. “Most of us here were mortal once, so we still instinctively do things like eat, drink, sleep, fuck and go to the bathroom. Including Arkay, although I don’t think he fucks or goes to the bathroom because he’s been alive for so long and is a bit Life Goddess-y himself. Vikalos and Saahro were never mortal but they do mortal things to fit in with us, Kal are robots, always have been. Itaviir was apparently born as a deity too, but he and Galyn are from, like, a species of deities. And Galyn was born mortal the same way we were.”
“Ugh… those two still scare me… I hate… I hate being scared. I’m not supposed to be scared…” Phovoula frowned, then closed her eyes. She was enjoying the hair brushing. She was probably enjoying it a bit too much.
“You’re allowed to be scared. A ton of terrifying shit happened to you. According to Sini? The fucking Whenvern got corrupted, your universe nearly ended and was saved by Sini and Arkay agreeing to an unfair deal.”
“Fuck that bastard. I hate him. He’s a pompous prick and I’m glad I dumped him.”
“Oh… the bastard tried to date you too?” Phovos asked.
“He… dated you?”
“Briefly. It was stupid. I realized he was an asshole and we stopped seeing each other. Worst person I ever dated.”
Phovoula shuddered. She was enjoying this a lot. Especially the tougher pulls. It was nice. “Have you dated many people?”
“Not really.”
“Single life forever?”
“Mostly. I dated Retvik for a bit, that wasn’t bad, he’s a sweet, caring guy, but in bed we were just too incompatible.”
Phovoula blinked, then turned around. “You… dated a Rethavok?”
“Yeah. You take what you can get out here. And even back when I lived in a universe? I was a thousand years old and infamous. Getting dates was hard.”
“Well… I get that bit at least. I had a couple of boyfriends when I was young. But after I reached the age of 100, despite looking like a teenager, I… it just didn’t work. And I had a LOT of blood on my hands. I was unapproachable.”
“We both are. Vicious monsters learning to readjust and not be evil.”
“Yeah… I guess…” Phovoula fell silent, and concentrated on enjoying the hair brushing. Phovos hummed to herself as she worked, only pausing occasionally to steak some snacks for herself. Whenever she did so, Phovoula found herself… staring. And thinking… things. Awkward things. Inappropriate things.
After a short while, Phovoula decided to say what was on her mind.
“Can I be really honest for a moment?”
“Sure!” Phovos smiled. “What’s up?”
“I… I feel wrong for saying this… but… I find you attractive.”
“Hah…” Phovos hesitantly replied. “You know what? I find you kinda attractive too. I do like how you’re completely furry, while I’m just patchy.”
“Thing is, I… I haven’t been in a real relationship in a long time. And I… I am stuck in the past. Homosexual stuff is… well… I am old-fashioned and struggle to accept these things.”
“You dated Kairos…” Phovos tutted.
“He was a god. I wasn’t going to say no. Maybe I should have. But I wanted to be loved.”
“I get that. And, frankly, I want to be loved too. Been a while since I’ve had someone to hold. We could hold each other.”
“It… it is…”
“Different. And a little weird. Out here, everything is fucking weird. But I’d be happy for you to lean on me while you work out your own weirdness.”
Phovoula hesitated, then smiled. “I… I’d like that… I’d like that a lot…”