A small fire crackled, heating up a pot of Weedling, a popular marijuana-like drug among the locals. It was evening, Keith had closed up early and no one else had even attempted to pop by. It was just him, Arkay and the relaxing smoke coming from the pot of drugs.
Opposite Keith, Arkay was sitting cross-legged, staring at the flames. There was a hint of worry in his eyes. Keith could tell this was his first time getting high. Which was weird, considering Arkay was some sort of angel of death being. Surely this vok had taken some drugs before?
“No. Not willingly… Sorry, guess the fumes are messing with my telepathy.”
Keith smiled. “It’s fine, kiddo. Take a deep breath, then just talk.”
“About what?”
“Anything you want.”
Arkay did as he was told, taking a deep breath. Keith did the same, then poured himself a cold coffee with several almond alcohol drops, topped with cream.
“It’s funny,” Arkay eventually spoke. His words were already rather heavy. Maybe Keith should have started him on something lighter. “You ask me to talk, but I can’t think of anything.”
“Maybe talk about your life? You don’t do much talking about yourself, kid.”
The little yellow vok sighed, then took another deep breath. He seemed to immediately regret taking the second breath, but tried to hide it.
“My life was shit. My post-life is shit. Not worth dragging you down with it all. I’m not even alive. Normally this wouldn’t even affect me since I don’t breathe. But here I am, as I looked before I died…”
Keith noticed that Arkay was slowly loosening up. He wasn’t sitting bolt upright any more. He was leaning forward, slouching slightly. He reached for a bowl of sweet potato crisps and placed it between him and Arkay. They were both going to get hungry soon.
“I think you’re a lovely little vok!” Keith wanted Arkay to feel good about himself. That way he would open up.
“I never got that,” Arkay shrugged. “I’m ugly. Yet beings of multiple species find me attractive. To the point they want to stick things in me. I’m a catastrophe on legs. Going from one horrible thing to another.”
“Really? How so?” Keith asked. Arkay had started talking. He wanted him to continue to do so.
“I don’t even know. Everything that can go wrong, it goes wrong. I always just wanted to keep my head down and live a normal life, but nooooo, I’m not allowed…” There was a crack in Arkay’s voice. “I just want a normal life. Like you. Like everyone. I want to be the 99% not the fucking 1%. But here I am, a fucking idiot who literally goes around murdering people because some inky bitch tells me to. It’s that or another decade of fucking torture. I swear, I have spent like a third of my life being tortured…”
Arkay paused and stared at the bowl of crisps. He took a massive handful and shoved them all into his mouth. Keith noticed that he was even chewing angrily. He’d hit a nerve.
“Thing is!” Arkay accidentally spat crumbs everywhere. He wiped them away with his hand then continued. “Thing is, that fucking Thraki is fucking right!”
“Why?”
“Because we all just want to be happy and live long lives! Alright, maybe not live forever, because living forever gets depressed if you’re a slave like me. But A long time. A happy life. With a family and money and someone who understands that you love them but you’re traumatized by past experiences and don’t really want to sleep with them…”
Arkay suddenly stopped. As if he had suddenly realised something. Keith used this opportunity to get up and fetch some leftover spiced ribs from the fridge. When he came back though, Arkay was staring at him.
“You alright, kiddo?”
“How…” Arkay rubbed his eyes. He looked exhausted. “Uh… How comes we can kill and eat whatever meat that is but we can’t die?”
“That’s a good question, mate!” Keith grinned as he awkwardly sat back down. Clearly having an extra set of legs made sitting difficult. “You want one?”
Arkay nodded and reached up. He took a single rib and sniffed it, then took a massive bite out of the rib.
“Wow, these are nicer than I remember. Guess the whole not dying thing only affects sapient beings…”
“Possibly…”
With a sigh, Arkay leaned back, finally feeling somewhat relaxed. He finished tearing off the meat and started gnawing on the end of the bone, which had some sauce caked onto it.
“You know what? Maybe I’m looking at this all wrong…”
“How so?” Keith blinked.
“Maybe I should just, as the Whenvern said, go with the flow? I mean, it’s not like I can do anything right now. Might as well just let everyone be immortal and enjoy myself, right? We’ll just stay here, I’ll help you with the bar then re relax in the evenings. How does that sound?”
Keith grinned. He’d finally gotten through to the little vok. “Sounds like a great idea, kiddo!”