“Sorry if this sounds weird, but… you smell nice.”
Litvir looked up from his desk. He had been doing some calculations based on the number of beings that had passed through the Kinigi Life Oasis, searching for a way to streamline beings entering and exiting the site. Standing in front of him was Eksi, the brand new recruit, chosen to replace another guard, Litvir’s sibling Kuta.
“That is a weird thing to say,” Litvir tutted as he went back to his work.
“It is, because it’s true!” Eksi piped up. “You smell desirable and confident.”
Litvir closed his eyes, grunting. “Are all Skyavok like you? I am clearly busy working and you come here saying you like how I smell. Is that not awfully strange to you?”
Eksi shrugged. “You not been around Skyans before? We lifted you up, you tore us apart. Now we’re your randy little maniac cousins, trying to repopulate before the universe gets destroyed again.”
With a rather defeated sigh, Litvir pushed his paper to one side and leaned over his desk. “I am genuinely wondering why Kuta picked you, of all beings. You cannot be a famous vok, otherwise I would not recognize you.”
Eksi continued to smile, allowing Litvir to hear what he was thinking. “I’m one of the four Ξ-Class Ksa. I was famous. Still kinda am. Now I’m a god like you. Not that it matters.”
“Is there a point you are trying to make?” Litvir asked. “What does any of this mean?”
“I think Kuta chose me to be your little boyfriend. It was at least heavily implied by the handbook Kuta gave to me.”
Litvir froze, unfroze, fell back into his chair then froze again. Eksi wasn’t quite sure how to deal with the situation.
“Can you…” It took a little too long for Litvir to say what he wanted to say. “Do you… have evidence for this?”
With a nod and a smile, Eksi pulled out a small booklet from the backpack he had slung over his shoulder. The booklet was wrapped in white and blue ribbon.
“This is what Kuta gave to me.”
Litvir hastily snatched the booklet from Eksi’s hand and started reading through it. Not only was Eksi telling the truth, he hadn’t even touched the main point of the booklet.
“He was… matchmaking me?” Litvir eventually whispered. He had no idea how to feel about any of this. The fact that Kuta had already left to have his own life made it all much harder to swallow.
“Seems like it.”
“But…” Litvir fell silent again. “I had no idea that Kuta would… go through my brain and all of that. He covered, well, everything… All to make me happy…”
Realizing that he may have upset Litvir, Eksi backed away slowly.
“I’m sorry, Litvir. I thought you kinda… already knew.”
Litvir sighed some more, then straightened himself up. “It is not your fault. I feel upset because Kuta just wants to make me happy, but I do not deserve said happiness from him, considering what I did.”
Eksi shrugged. “Kuta clearly thinks you do. I mean, he even wrote that he had been hiding inside you and read all your mind or something like that. It’s pretty wild.”
Feeling somewhat defeated, Litvir passed the booklet back to Eksi.
“Thank you for letting me know about this, Eksi. I need some time to think about things before we go any further.”
“Sure, no worries, boss!” Eksi smiled again. “Whatever you need. Just as long as you keep on wearing whatever body perfumes you are using.”
Litvir let out a tiny smile. “Fair enough. Now, if you do not mind, can you leave, please? I have work to do.”
“Of course! See you later!”