Teekay glanced at the little shopping list that Elkay was holding, written on a piece of scrap paper torn from a notebook, then glanced at his own shopping list, neatly typed out and printed on standard A4 computer paper. On both the Shimmering Blade and the Thantir Two, there were multiple easy-to-use, easy-to-access printers, and Elkay was generally known to be very tidy and organized. So Teekay found it a bit weird that Elkay’s shopping list was so messy. It was also much longer than Teekay’s list.
Then again, Teekay was quite a satisfied being overall. His list only consisted of a few things: some orange and silver fabric to make some new stomach wraps and loin cloths for himself, some memory sticks for his personal communicator and wristbands and some stuff for the bedroom, most importantly some condoms for both him and Elkay. And they’d already crossed all of those things off Teekay’s list.
That being said, they’d also managed to cross quite a few things off Elkay’s list too. Elkay had also wanted to buy condoms and fabric, although Elkay had settled mostly for a mixture of black, dark grey and red, and some of it was to be made into several capes. That being said, they still needed to find somewhere to buy Elkay a mask for part of the Thantir’s secret project.
While they’d walked though, they’d gotten a lot of awkward stares. Both of them. Mostly from the handful of Life Goddesses that were wandering around. Both Elkay and Teekay were under the impression that Life Goddesses were rare in Phantai territories, but Elkay was pretty sure he had counted at least 10 of them, all doing ditzy, girly things in pairs. Being former Divine Guardians, Elkay and Teekay could see through standard disguises used by Life Goddesses to disguise themselves from Decay Lords, Voidborns and Time Drakes, but the Life Goddesses could also blatantly detect Elkay’s and Teekay’s presence too. And, of course, when they did exactly that, they’d spot Elkay’s pink paper wristband, look at him and generally do something rather rude, whether that be laugh loudly, state that Elkay was the ugliest Life Goddess ever, send Elkay some cruel telepathic messages, make a joke that Teekay was a pointless Divine Guardian, stare menacingly or do some or all of the above.
Of course this had quickly gotten to Elkay, and a few times Teekay had teleported them to somewhere quiet, in order for Elkay to clear his head. As Life Goddess number 11 insulted both Elkay and Teekay, Teekay found himself teleporting them to safety yet again. Although this time round, he’d miscalculated and they had ended up in a shop selling gear for a specific type of Divine Guardian known as a Melek-Glatoran. They had also teleported in front of someone they knew.
“Oh, hey Akah.”
“Hey guys. You look upset.”
Akah wasn’t a Melek-Glatoran, he was a Lanex, but the two species were similar in appearances, and Akah was just happy to see stuff that he could actually make use of. Well, he was until he saw the price tags on everything.
“Ugh…” Teekay sighed. “Everyone keeps on calling me a bad Divine Guardian and Elkay the multiverse’s ugliest Life Goddess and it’s driving us mad.”
“Well that’s just rude!” Akah crossed his arms. “You’re NOT a bad Divine Guardian and Elkay is not ugly in the slightest! I take it you spotted a few of them as well?”
“We’ve seen eleven in total.”
“Oh, I’ve only seen four. One of them approached me and asked me if I wanted to serve her…” Akah frowned, adjusting his mask somewhat. “Either way, Life Goddesses seem to stay out of the weapon and armour shops, so you guys can take a break in here, I guess.”
“Have you been tracking their movements?” Elkay asked, his confusion giving him a quick break from his anger.
Akah nodded. “I think it’s a mixture of my Divine Guardian programming and my old mortal mercenary ways, I’m basically scouting for danger, and the obvious danger here is Life Goddesses. But enough of that, you enjoying the shopping?”
“Would be better without all the judgemental stares…” Elkay growled. “But we did get the thing I wanted the most. Still have not found a mask, but we appear to be in the right place. You?”
“I did all the required shopping. Kal’s stuff cost exactly what they gave me. The stuff we needed? Cost a bit more than I’d like but I covered it myself. There’s not really much I was considering buying myself though, apart from maybe some armour, but this stuff is pricey. I’m thinking of just buying some small Beh’evok armour pieces I like the look of and adding that to what I already have.”
“Do you want some company while you browse?” Teekay asked. “I know me and Elkay were supposed to be having some private time together, but private time sucks when Life Goddesses exist.”
“Eh…” Akah hesitated. “I think I’m okay for now. We can look at masks though. Tah did say I can use the couple of depowered Canoh they have but those masks are insanely heavy.”
“Where are they?”
“Up ahead.” Akah led Elkay and Teekay down two aisles then took a sharp left. This aisle, which ran across the wall of the shop, was lined from floor to ceiling in masks. Many of them were similarly shaped to Akah’s own mask, but messier, with far more augmentations and extra connections.
Teekay wasn’t really sure what he was looking at, but Elkay immediately spotted a problem. “These are way, way too messy.”
“That’s exactly what I thought!” Akah exclaimed. “They do have some unsocketed masks on the end, but we’d have to fill in all the gaps anyway. Thing is, I kinda need to buy a new mask, because I am NOT welding horns or antlers to this one.”
“What’s stopping you from buying an unsocketed mask and some separate camera augmenty stuff from the tech shop downstairs?” Teekay asked. “You build and augment your own stuff anyway.”
Akah’s shoulders dropped. “I either buy the augments or I buy the blank mask, can’t afford both. Can barely afford one.”
Teekay glanced at the prices of some of the masks, then sighed. “Yeah, I can see what you mean. We’ve kinda gone through more of our money than we’ve liked as well. You wouldn’t believe the price of condoms here…” Teekay trailed off, inspected some of the masks again, then turned to Elkay. However, Elkay wasn’t there. Akah also quickly noticed the sudden lack of weird hybrid mimic presence.
Elkay didn’t stay gone for long though. He quickly returned, but from behind Akah, putting a hand on Akah’s shoulder and definitely making the otherwise stoic Lanex jump.
“Dude, where did you go?” Teekay hissed. “You scared me!”
Elkay smiled. He didn’t answer at first, and started inspecting the blank masks. “So, Akah, do you like any of these masks?”
“Babe, if you were here literally a few seconds ago, you would have heard me and Akah talking about not being able to afford anything.”
Elkay smiled some more, then raised his free arm, showing off the pink wristband. “I spoke to the cashier. With this wristband I can get 50% off if I buy two or more masks. I am happy to pay for a mask for Akah alongside a cheap mask for me for our plan, on the condition that you buy Teekay and I a drink.”
Akah blinked. “Uh, really? That is… very kind of you.”
“Of course it is!” Teekay chirped. “Elkay is a very kind guy, right babe?”
“If you say so, dear.”
The Lanex blinked, then smiled. “Wow, uh… thanks, you two! Let me just have a quick look at the blank masks, and I’ll pick a couple out… You guys are all so weirdly kind to me.”
Teekay shrugged. “Hey, we’re Thantir. Us Thantir Decaylings gotta stick together, right?”
“Definitely.” Elkay nodded in agreement, then started browsing through masks. “So, Akah, what mask do you like..?”