“Hey little bro, saw you coming!”
Arkay smiled a little as he climbed into Elksia’s little guard tower. For the longest of times, Elksia had been the head of security around Savepoint, using her short-duration Time Drake powers to warn whoever was on guard of any immediate dangers just before they happened. But ever since Arkay had essentially returned home, Elksia found that Arkay was catching things at almost the same speed she did. In fact, Arkay’s quickness and adaptability had garnered him a new title, that of the Guardian of the Thantir, since he felt uncomfortable being considered one of the Thantir leaders, the way Retvik and Litvir were.
“Heh. Guessed as much. How you doing, sister?”
Elksia quickly checked the screens all around her, then twisted round to get a better look at Arkay. Today, Arkay was in a much more Skyavok-y form. Almost the way Elksia remembered him, back when he’d gotten her, Retvik and Tenuk together to lead a campaign against the old Whenvern.
The young Time Drake didn’t answer at first. Her eyes briefly glowed blue as she glanced into the future. “Huh. You… came here to apologize to me. That’s weird. And pointless…”
“How is it pointless? I’ve done a lot of things wrong by you.”
“You haven’t, really… Come though! Let’s talk!” Elksia shrugged, then beckoned Arkay to join her. There were always two seats in Elksia’s guard tower, mostly because her boyfriend Tenuk would join her after he’d finished his shifts. But Tenuk was in bed right now. As soon as Arkay sat down though and went to open his mouth, Elksia stopped him.
“Uh…”
“Don’t apologize.”
“Why?”
“You don’t need to. And, like, whatever, I accept the apologies anyway. Not like you did much anyway. My problems are my fault.”
Arkay looked Elksia up and down. “What do you mean by that?”
“I waited too long. Didn’t commit. Was scared. But also, I didn’t go back when I had the chance. But that’s all in the past now. I accept and forgive my mistakes. And Sini will help me fix my last problem eventually.”
“You… want kids.”
“Yeah. But it’s cool. Sini will help. I can wait a bit longer!” Elksia chirped, before suddenly pausing, her eyes glowing blue again. “As to why here? Wanted to cover the bad spot. Oh. Sorry. Didn’t let you ask.”
“Do you do that a lot?” Arkay asked. “Seeing things and speaking ahead?”
Elksia smiled. “No, actually. I think it’s excitement. You and I, we don’t have much time together. Me too busy fucking Tenuk. You dancing around Retty.”
“Yeah, fair…” Arkay frowned slightly. “I wanted to… try and fix that though. But…” It was Arkay’s turn to pause. His eyes glowed blue briefly, the same way Elksia’s did. “Well…”
Elksia smiled some more. She knew what Arkay was about to say, but kept her beak shut.
“Sis, you’re a fucking genius.”
“I am, aren’t I?”
Arkay nodded. “You’re the best Time Drake I’ve ever met. You’ve somehow created your own insanely clever, insanely fast time management and manipulation system that’s also stupidly efficient and clean enough for an idiot like me to pick up.”
“Is it that good?”
“As someone who’s always mimicked time control from a stupidly ancient Time Drake who is stuck in his old, slow ways, your system is insane. I thought Elkay was just really good at mimicking time stuff, but if he’s been mimicking you this whole time, no fucking wonder he picked it up so easily!”
Elksia’s smile turned into a grin. “Heh. I knew you’d approve. And I knew you’d realize Elkay ain’t as perfect as you thought.”
“Well… he is pretty perfect…”
“Not completely! Also he has the hots for you.”
Arkay’s smile turned into a tut.
“You should fuck him.”
“I’m not getting between Elkay and Teekay.”
“Teekay wants to watch.”
“Everyone keeps on saying that!” Arkay tutted some more. “You’re all under the impression that I’m some sort of stud and Elkay’s some sort of stud and both of us can perform while being watched by others!”
“You don’t know until ya try.”
Arkay eyed Elksia. “I find it awkward that folks not only want to fuck me but also want to watch me fucking someone else.”
Elksia leaned back in her chair. “You’d be surprised. Death god sex isn’t that niche a porn category. And you are hot. Not as hot as Tenuk or Retty, but still hot. I would.”
“… Really?”
“Totes. You know us four had stuff going on. Never acted on it until Kinisis made you into a nuke though.”
“Are you glad you did?” Arkay asked.
“Mhm!” Elksia grinned again. “Tenuk and I are very happy. And he does fun things in bed. You’d be surprised. Retty was.”
Arkay opened his mouth to speak, then paused abruptly. “Wait.. what?”
“We made a Retty sandwich a while back.”
“… What?”
“Did Litty not tell you?”
“Uh, no…” Arkay glanced around awkwardly. “I’m… trying to work out how the fuck you convinced Retvik to sleep with both of you. Especially since he’s only recently allowed himself to not be monogamous since I’m around now.”
Elksia shrugged. “Was kinda easy. Retvik was horny and depressed. He wasn’t getting any from Litty. Tenuk made himself into a super hot, Gath-sized Rethan. I got my tits out. Retty won’t ever admit it but he does like tits. He dated Phovos after all. And Seimeni. Litty was also totally chill about me and Tenuk fucking his boyfriend.”
“I… forgot about that… Still, I’m… amazed. Not at all amazed that Litvir was fine with it though. Kinda ironically, outside of the “having lots of kids” thing, Litvir’s outlook on romance is weirdly similar to Sini’s…” Arkay sighed. But before he could continue, Elksia put a finger to his lips.
“Shush.”
“Elksia…”
“You’re gonna apologize again! Stop it! You ain’t done anything to me. You ain’t done much wrong in general, really. Mostly folks dragging you to the edge. And pushing you off. I saw what happened. Athanatea fucked you sideways. Made you do things you’d never consider if you were sound of mind. But it’s all in the past now. You paid for your imagined sins. We good.”
“Are we?”
“Yeah. You gotta get your butt out of the past. Kinda hard to do sometimes, but it’s important.”
Arkay sighed, then nodded in agreement. “You’re right, Elksia. Also, you’re way, way smarter than you let on.”
“I guess. I got a question though.”
“Sure.”
“Why did you replace me with a hot, sexy Temthan in your new universe?”
“Uh…” Arkay stuttered. “Um… I… didn’t exactly have much choice in that lost. I think Kairos, who I am certain is the cause of all the repeating stuff, tweaked things and married new-universe you off to King Ver, and also made a few other changes so Psiksi wasn’t around either. Nyssi and Kayel both just got… stupidly lucky… or unlucky…”
“Huh. Kairos interfering to stop another me from happening makes sense. Sooo… You think Nyssi would be interested in a threesome?”
Arkay went back to blinking in confusion, with a hint of shock. “Bloody darkness, Elksia, you need to go to horny jail.”
“You totally stole that from Litty.”
“I did, because he’s right. But I can’t answer that question. You’re just going to have to ask Nyssi yourself. But don’t let Tenuk ask. I think the Decaylings find him a bit creepy because he so openly shapeshifts and flirts with everyone.”
“Fair enough!” Elksia grinned. “In the mean time… Wanna stay here? We can watch shit together. I have a spare screen. For watching TV. Ain’t much to watch out here though.”
Arkay thought for a moment, then shrugged. “Yeah, sure, why not. I can teleport out there if they need me anyway.”
Elksia put an arm around Arkay and dragged him close. “Yay. Love ya, little brother from another mother.”
“Love you too, Elksia.”