“You’re a mess.”
Phovos had been sitting alone in the Decaylings-only observatory when a pair of yellow eyes lit up the darkness. She had planned to spend the evening with her close friend Retvik, but the other Decay Lords had dragged him away, clearly about something urgent, and now she was on her own. The only other Decayling that hadn’t obviously paired up with anyone was Eksi, and he was now standing in the entrance, holding a large box.
“I am not a mess.”
“Mhm.”
Most of the crew didn’t really understand Eksi. He had a weird, utterly casual relationship with Decay Lord Litvir, but his ascension to godhood was even stranger than everyone else’s. Sure, he’d been one of the many beings the Great Whenvern briefly uplifted, to fight the Golden Armies that had invaded a weakened universe, but the majority of those beings had been turned back into mortals and sent back home when everything was over. Eksi was one of them, he admitted so himself. Yet here he was, a replacement for someone Phovos had only met once. Apparently Litvir had a twin brother, one that desperately hated being a god and just wanted to live a normal, mortal life, and he had picked out Eksi to be the perfect companion for the vampiric Decay Lord.
Eksi didn’t seem threatened by Phovos’s presence. He stepped into the observatory and sat down right next to the Raptor. She’d been sitting on a large pile of cushions, wanting to just relax and be on her own for a bit. The company however was appreciated.
“When was the last time you brushed your mane?”
Eksi’s question felt rather random. And somewhat embarrassing. Phovos hadn’t been looking after herself that well lately. Sure, she was clean, but her fur was tattered, her mane was unkempt and she did the bare minimum.
“It’s alright. Let me brush it for you.”
“Why?” Phovos couldn’t help but ask.
Eksi just shrugged, pulling a brush out of his box. It wasn’t one Phovos recognized. “I’m a Skyavok. Or, technically, I used to be before we all ascended. We don’t have hair, not a single strand of the stuff on our bodies. Kinda makes me envious, to be honest. Sure, we’re rounder than Rethavok but we’re still all rubbery skin and hard armour plating. Must be nice, being completely soft, even if you have scales mixed in.”
Phovos hesitated some more, expecting Eksi to tug on her mane, but he was in fact very gentle. Perhaps a little too gentle. He muttered a couple of apologies as he pulled on a rather tough knot, but otherwise continued to gently brush her hair. Phovos found herself enjoying the sensation, it had been a long, long time since someone else had brushed her mane for her.
“Why are you doing this though?”
Another shrug. “I’m an empath, I pick up on other beings’ emotions. You were feeling bad about being on your own. Retvik felt bad about not spending time with you, so I decided to come along and make you feel better. And I have my own, somewhat selfish reasons to be here as well.” Eksi paused, and reached inside the box. He pulled out two hastily made sandwiches. Just two slices of bread with some sort of meat spread between them. He handed one to Phovos, putting his own to one side so he could continue brushing Phovos’s mane.
“Uh… thanks…” Phovos took a bite. It was fine. Could have done with some butter though. Eksi tutted, then continued with his thoughts.
“It’s funny, I’ve talked multiple Ksithans and even a handful of Temthans out of killing themselves, and now I essentially live with one, and I have no idea what you lot actually eat. Are you just pure carnivores? I’m not too sure…”
“You talked people out of-”
“Used to be my job!” Eksi smiled, baring his teeth slightly. “After Arksi got married and Psiksi started doing that Dessaron stuff, I went back to studying, finished up my degree in mental therapy and went back to helping people. And when the universe blew up, there were a lot of people who needed helping. Can’t really do that any more, but, well, there’s people here who need helping. Seimeni wanted help over losing her beloved Time Drake boyfriend, I helped Litvir in assisting Galyn in getting over his guilt. And you need help too.”
Phovos snorted, then finished off her sandwich. “I’m fine.”
“You’re doing the bare minimum to keep yourself healthy. You’re a mess. And you’re also kinda lonely and feel like you don’t fit in. Because you don’t fit in, you’re the only being on board with fur and completely lacking in some sort of organic armour. Elksia’s a Vrekan, they have some natural plating, and Tenuk shapeshifts some plating onto himself to match everyone else…” Eksi paused. “Now that I think about it, Tenuk’s probably struggling a little, what with being the only bonafide singular male on board, but I suppose he has a nice, singular female Time Drake to screw around with…”
Again, Eksi trailed off. He stopped brushing Phovos’s hair and started twisting it around his fingers. It took Phovos a moment to realise that he was trying to braid her hair, but wasn’t quite sure how to. Not that Phovos expected him to know, she’d never figured it out herself. Either way, the feeling was definitely enjoyable, so Phovos left Eksi to it. Eventually, Eksi started talking again.
“I’m going to be blunt. Which isn’t a particularly Skyan thing to do, but hey, when you spend time sleeping with two Rethans, you pick things up from them. Retvik and Litvir like us, but they’re, like, soul-bound or something, and no matter what we do, they want each other more. They also want a familiar yellow friend to rejoin them, that’s what they’ve secretly been working on, because it almost physically pains them to not have their ‘missing third’ around.”
“I…” Phovos hesitated, completely unsure what Eksi was going on about. She was aware that Retvik still had feelings for the lost death god, but did he still have feelings for his fellow Decay Lord too? In a way, it made sense, after all, Retvik and Litvir had a storied past together. And there were definitely some compatibility problems between Phovos and Retvik that they still hadn’t managed to sort out. Still, Eksi seemed to be suggesting something else completely. “I… I really don’t get what you’re on about.”
“I want to get to know you better and I want to make you feel better. In case Litvir ditches me, in case Retvik ditches you. I think I’m fine, Litvir’s a mental minefield, to put it politely, but he is completely fine with polyamory. Mostly because he doesn’t know any different. You and Retvik though, anything could happen, and, well, I like you and I don’t want you to get hurt.”
Phovos pulled away from Eksi, then stood up, snarling slightly. “You really think Retvik would hurt me?”
Eksi didn’t seem at all threatened. “He’d never hurt you intentionally. But, well, the space between universes is pretty empty, and, like I said, I like you a lot more than you think and I want you to have options…” Eksi fell silent and started rummaging through the box again. He pulled out two bottles of caramel soda, as well as a small canister of oil.
The Raptor bared her teeth, but Eksi still didn’t see it as a threat. He just sat there, calmly sipping his drink, waiting for Phovos to sit back down. Unlike everyone else on board, Eksi was a stranger to Phovos, she had no idea how potentially dangerous he was, and that bothered her.
“How the hell can you like me? You’re a Skyavok.”
“You’re literally dating a giant, flaming, more heavily armoured version of a Skyavok. Plus, well, I got weird tastes in, uh, beings. I gravitate towards people that need a gentle push in the right direction, that just need a little help. I got some nice hair oil stuff that Seimeni recommended, do you want me to run it through your mane?”
“I… I don’t get any of this…” Phovos sat back down, feeling weirdly… defeated.
“It’s fine. I kinda just threw a lot at you…” Eksi went back to brushing Phovos’s mane. He seemed to be enjoying himself. “Thing is, you’re hurting and I don’t like that, so I’m here to fix it. And I want to be friends as well, because, well, you’re a fucking cool girl… I can call you a girl, right?”
Phovos grunted, slowly relaxing. “Yeah… I’m kinda a tad too old to be a girl, but that’s fine… I’m sorry I snarled at you.”
Eksi waved his hand dismissively as he put the brush down, then dabbed some oil on his oddly clawed fingers. He ran them through Phovos’s fur down her head and neck, before wiping down his hands and pulling out a bottle of something sweet-smelling. “You’re fine. I pushed a little too hard. We’re cool. Now, how about a massage? You would like that, right?”
The Raptor’s frown faded away. She took a deep breath, finally accepting Eksi’s help. “I would like that, yes…”