“What are you… uh, doing?”
Arkadin hovered nervously over the barren planet. Yisini was sitting on a mountaintop, rolling her eyes, while Epani played with a collection of various toys. Diggers, trucks, drills, the works.
“Playing!” Epani beamed. Her smiles though abruptly stopped. “Oh no. We were supposed to follow the flat plan.”
“You mean the fap plan…” Yisini was still rolling her eyes, flicking bits of rubble with her tail.
“No, not that… Latfap? Something along those lines. It was an acronym Kairos made up…” Epani tried to explain. “A plan for us to leave you alone. But you come to us. Kairos did not mention what to do if you came to us.”
The Thantophor blinked. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“We had a plan! One to leave you alone! You do your thing, we do ours!” Yisini shouted. “But you’re not leaving us alone!”
“I just wanted to ask a question or two…” Arkadin sighed. “Guess I won’t bother.”
“What do you want to know, Arkadin?” Epani asked. She couldn’t understand why Yisini was so upset. She also didn’t want Arkadin to be upset.
“I was wondering if either of you had seen my Theokton Blade. When I went all angry and destroyed my house, I buried it in a certain spot but I went to dig it up earlier and it was gone.”
Epani shrugged and turned to Yisini.
“Kinisis took it.”
“She did?” Arkadin shrugged. “Oh well. I’ll just have to make another one. Thanks!”
“Whatever.”
The Thantophor shook his head, then disappeared. Yisini turned back to Epani.
“He’s dumb.”
“Why?” Epani asked. “Did you just lie to him?”
“No. I told him the truth. Mum took it because she didn’t want someone to accidentally find it. I just don’t like him.”
“Maybe you should get over yourself, Yisini?” Epani suggested, before going back to her toys. She was very happy, creating large craters and slowly filling them up with water. Normally she would spend a lot more time on a planet, letting it build up slowly and naturally, but Yisini had asked her to play and that was what Epani was doing.
Yisini grunted. “Maybe everyone else should listen.”
“We did. Your suggestions made the other deities angry and made Kinisis take strange and unusual actions.” Epani picked up a yellow digger and used the end to scoop out a path for water to trickle through. “Tell me, sister, are you happy right now?”
“No. I thought we were going to screw.”
“I thought you wanted to play with me.”
“Not in the way you imagined.”
Epani sighed. “Aside from your desires to lay with anything and everything, are you happy?”
Yisini hesitated. “I… I guess?”
“Are you happy?”
“Yes.”
The Panelix smiled. She started digging out streams and rivers, this time just using her claws in the wet dirt and clay.
“What are you getting at, Epani?” Yisini hissed.
“If you are happy, why are you complaining?”
“I’m not complaining.”
“You really are. You should relax.”
“How?” Yisini was rolling her eyes again. “Everything I make, he eventually kills. I can be happy now but I won’t be later.”
“Then do that. Be happy now and be sad later. Then use the sadness to learn and make something better. That was how you always were, what changed?”
“Nothing changed…” Yisini sighed. “I guess you’re right…” With another sigh, Yisini picked up a drill and started fiddling with it.
After a moment of silence, Yisini glanced over at Epani.
“You, uh, want some help?”
“I would love some help!” Epani beamed as she moved over. “Perhaps together, we can make this planet more beautiful than ever…”