“Are you alright, Teekay?” Arkadin asked as he sat on the bed next to the young Skyavok.
“Define “alright”, because that could mean a lot of different things right now…” Teekay sighed.
Arkadin rolled his eyes. “I’ll take that as a “no, I’m not alright” from you. Are you pissed off because Elkay’s here and you feel less important all of a sudden? Or because Elkay is producing a large array of pheromones that are making him appear overly attractive to those around him? Or is it because that’s the third time he’s been in the shower this morning?”
Teekay glared at Arkadin, then made a long, deep sigh. “All of the above. This is the fourth time I have had to change his bed.”
“You know…” Arkadin smiled just a little. “You know, Elkay is capable of changing his own bedsheets, right?”
“Yes but he does them wrong.”
“How so?”
“Not neat enough.”
“You only ruin the sheets by sleeping in them anyway…” Arkadin muttered. “Or by extruding huge amounts of slime…”
Teekay sat up straight and looked directly at Arkadin. “What is the cause of all that slime anyway? How is his body even producing it?”
“How it’s being made, I don’t know yet…”
The Thantophor was interrupted by a door creaking open. Elkay had exited the bathroom and was standing in the doorway, acutely aware that people were talking about him.
“Oh, hiya!” Arkadin beamed. “Nice and clean now?”
“Not for long…” Elkay hissed. “Give me twenty minutes and a heightened emotion and I will have to shower AGAIN.”
Arkadin’s smile dimmed. “Yeah, I know, it sucks. You’re basically permanently on the defensive and you have a LOT of blocked up emotions. Your body thinks you are constantly under attack and the slime is a very weird defensive mechanism designed to protect you from injury. Honestly, that slime has genuine healing and anti-ageing properties.”
Elkay’s shoulders drooped. “So you do not know how to make this stop happening?”
“I might know, but I don’t think you’ll like it. Actually I have several ideas but you won’t like any of them.”
“And why not?” Elkay snapped, being careful not to uncover himself. He had already noticed that Teekay was staring again. Actually, the Thantophor was looking as well.
“Because you don’t let yourself loosen up!” Arkadin explained. “You are always on alert, always on the defensive. You trained yourself to be like that, so your body is constantly instinctively trying to protect you. The slime that you create makes your wounds heal almost instantly and also has a sedative-like effect on beings you preserve to be a threat. Which is why Teekay’s a lot more tired than he normally is.”
“You consider me a threat?” Teekay growled.
“No! I…” Elkay hesitated, then gripped his towel tightly. “I… I do not know what I am thinking. Too much stress…” He paused again, then sighed. “You are right, Arkadin, I am on edge. And I think I will need yet another shower soon.”
Arkadin got up and patted Teekay on the shoulder, then put his arm around Elkay. “It’s fine. You’re not well. We’re going to fix this. It’s just a funny time. Right now though, I need you to go to your room and follow the instructions I left in there for you.”
Elkay hesitated a little, then edged away from the Thantophor. “What instructions did you leave me?”
“Why don’t you go and find out?” Arkadin tutted, then grabbed Elkay and pushed him into his room, slamming the door shut. “Go on. Get yourself sorted. I’ll be back in half an hour to see how you’re doing.”
“Should I prepare yet more sheets?” Teekay asked.
“Yeah,” Arkadin sighed. “But give him some space and privacy. He needs it badly right now…”