Arkay sighed as he stared at his reflection in the mirror. He had put on weight. A lot of weight. Sure, Arkay was a former god-like entity with the power to shapeshift, but he had definitely put on weight.
But weight wouldn’t have been a problem back when he was a deity. Now he was without a universe and essentially on his own, he was somewhat stuck with his current form. He had solidified. Combined with the huge amount of comfort eating Arkay had been doing? A recipe for disaster. He was fat. And he was getting fatter. There was no denying it.
Thoughts began to bubble in his mind. Arkay knew he needed to slim down. Even a little bit of weight loss would do him wonders. Maybe he’d even feel a bit better about himself. The thoughts drifted, with makeshift ideas on how to lose that weight, what would be the best way to do so, what would be the quickest or cheapest. Because it wasn’t like Arkay had much money right now. He was kinda… broke. Enough to stay afloat but that was about it.
Sick of the sight of himself, Arkay pulled away from the mirror and stepped out of the bathroom completely. He returned to his bedroom, where his little personal computer lay open, decorated with crumbs from a bag of snacks Arkay had failed to open. Vaguely annoyed, Arkay ignored the mess and plonked himself on the chair, only to hear something creak.
“Oh. Of fucking course.”
The chair didn’t collapse or anything, but Arkay knew he’d need a new one soon. But it simply added to Arkay’s problems.
Still sighing to himself, Arkay started to clean up the mess around his desk. As he did so, thoughts started bubbling up again, thinking about the easiest and simplest way to lose weight. He could theoretically just stop eating. But that would be too depressing. Even for someone like Arkay.
Plus, Arkay liked food. He liked food a lot. He wasn’t just going to give that up.
So Arkay would probably have to do some combination of food and exercise. But what sort of combination? And what exercise was right for Arkay? He wasn’t someone who could really get behind weights and heavy lifting. Or yoga or stretching. Really, Arkay was only good at walking.
But as Arkay cleaned and tidied, another thought began to bubble in his mind. Arkay knew exactly what the thought was, so he tried to push it back down. That turned out to be a mistake, as the errant thought simply got bigger and stronger and louder.
“You’re no good. Why are you bothering? You have no spine. No will. You’ll give up. You’re not worth it. You’re pathetic. You know you’ll just quit.”
The words bombarded Arkay’s mind. He tried to shut them out, he tried to distract himself from them. But those thoughts were stacked against him. Deep down, Arkay knew those were his own thoughts, his own beliefs. And they… were probably right.
With a defeated, blank stare, Arkay got up and made his way into the kitchen. He needed something to eat.