“Damn, Kuta and Retvik are at it again…” Tenuk muttered as he played with his bowl of cereal. He was feeling hungry only in his stomach, his mind hadn’t decided he was hungry yet, so that made actually wanting to eat something difficult.
“They’re in love. As Sini praises. They’re fine!” Nyssi smiled. She was working her way through a rack of sweet and spicy BBQ ribs, her favourite meal. The fact that the Thantir had machines that produced most basic food stuffs was a blessing to Nyssi. Sure, the ribs were apparently cloned flesh and she didn’t know what the original animal actually was, but it was tasty and free.
“I’m kinda scared Retvik is getting addicted though…”
“You can’t get addicted to love, silly!” Nyssi beamed. “But they’ll calm down. They’re just having a little honeymoon period. They’ll get over themselves eventually. I’m more worried about my own prospects. I’m not used to there not being other Temthans around at all. Apart from old ugly Tenuk when he’s fucking around with his own shapeshifting.”
“Ugh, did he try and shapeshift into you and badly attempt to seduce you again?”
Nyssi glanced up, not realizing Akah was there. Out of all the other older Thantir around, Nyssi and her team weirdly seemed to relate to Akah the second most, after Elkay, who just reminded them all of a sterner, weirdly older (and in Retvik and Kuta’s eyes, a more attractive) version of the old Death God that made them immortal in the first place.
“Oh hey gurl, didn’t realize you were there!”
Akah shrugged. “I just got here. Mind if I join you all? Not that there’s anyone really here apart from you, Tenuk and Kayel anyway. The second Tahvra finishes his work, he checks to see if Talok is busy and then they go and play bricky toys together.”
Kayel frowned somewhat as he got up and sat Akah down next to Nyssi, then fetched everyone fresh drinks. “I’m sorry. We totally ruined your friendship.”
“It’s fine. Tahvra found someone who matches how he thinks. I mostly just miss him sitting on my lap and me petting him while I play video games, or me helping him combine his bricky toys into some sort of large monstrosity.”
“We’ll be your friend, right guys?” Nyssi exclaimed.
“Oh, totally! Thought we already were your friend!” Kayel added. “You’re totally the most chill guy around here. And probably used to being the weird one too.”
Tenuk pushed his bowl to one side in vague annoyance. “What do you mean by that? He’s a Lanex! They’re not that weird!”
“Actually, all things considered, Lanex-like beings are pretty common out here. There’s a bunch of Matanaiai that are like much more mechanical Lanex that work at a nearby pit stop, and one of them looks exactly like a mechanical version of my long dead brother Atuho.”
Kayel and Tenuk glanced at each other, neither of them sure why that name sounded familiar. Nyssi though had an answer.
“Wasn’t Atuho the name of that Lanex Imperator who was in charge of foreign relationships with other races?”
“Oh!” Tenuk suddenly exclaimed. “I met him! Big scary guy but friendly too! Dad took me to meet him when I was a proper little kid. I think I met all seven of the Imperators, and one of them… looked like you, Akah.”
“Looked like him? Was basically an older version of Akah here! And had the same name! Akah, gurl, is your surname Icebreaker?”
Akah hesitantly nodded. “Uh, yes.”
“Before you ended up out here, were YOU an Imperator?” Nyssi asked.
“Uh, no.”
“You were mortal once though, right? What were you before you ended up out here?”
Akah frowned. “I was former forced soldier who escaped and spent twenty years in hiding trying to flee into safer territories. My life as a mortal was awful.”
Everyone found themselves somewhat unwillingly staring at Akah.
“Dude, you were a slave?” Kayel asked.
“Yes.”
“That’s awful!” Nyssi snarled. “Absolutely dreadful!”
Akah didn’t seem too bothered. “It was, most Nexian races were enslaved to the Anexartans or the Kronospasts. The Lanex were the only race to eventually be freed, and I escaped slavery thanks to Arkay liberating the camp I was trapped at, but the universe kinda… ended before we could develop a new society for ourselves… Hang on, were the Lanex a properly functioning society in your universe?”
“Mhm,” Kayel nodded. “There were twelve races, we all mostly lived in harmony when the Torr weren’t being cunts. The Lanex were split between seven or eight different tribes that all did different duties, each tribe was led by an Imperator. One of the Imperators is Akah Icebreaker, and he is in charge of the Lanex military and police force, I think.”
“And was Atuho this other Akah’s brother?” Akah asked.
“No, don’t think so.”
“Oh…”
“Can I ask?” Tenuk altered the conversation somewhat. “How old are you, Akah? Because all the Imperators were absolutely ancient, at least in Lanex terms, all close to 300 years old.”
“Um… I’m not really sure myself. My memories are hazy, and it’s made worse by the fact that I was cursed. Whenever I would have died, I would instead resurrect myself, rising from icy ashes, and find myself being a teenager again. My best guess is about 300 years old, but I have no idea. Ironically, out of the Thantir Eight, I’m right in the middle.”
Tenuk hesitated, then glanced around, then counted on his fingers. “So… Teekay, Eksi and… and Tahvra are younger than you?”
“You think Elkay is over three hundred years old?” Kayel rolled his eyes. “He’s a Rethan, they barley make it to 200 years old!”
“Hah… Tahvra is actually older than me,” Akah explained. “Tahnahos Tenuk and Phovos are both the same age and Tahvra is about 500 years old because he used to reach the age of 50, turn into an egg then grow up again. Elkay says he’s about 83 years old.”
Kayel stopped rolling his eyes and started blinking. “Damn. I would have guessed that Elkay was Retvik’s age. Our Retvik.”
“How old are you all?” Akah asked back.
“I’m 58, Retvik’s 52, Nyssi is 37 and Kayel’s 32!” Tenuk chirped.
“Oh. You are all pretty young then. I admittedly thought your Retvik was older because I know Kuta is 100 years old, since they and Litvir are twins.”
Nyssi and Kayel both giggled.
“Kuta is a bit of a cradle snatcher! But Kuta also looks really young, all things considered. And, weirdly, old Retvik looks older than Litvir. But that might be because he’s both massive and on fire. But, like, old Retvik is the only one of you lot who wears his magical powers on his arms all the time.”
“Yeah…” Nyssi shrugged. “Like, Litvir doesn’t always have those cool glowing tattoos, but old Retvik is always on fire.”
“Retvik lost the organic plating on his arms, and uses the flames to hide the small patches of tattered, uneven plating that is left.”
Kayel immediately felt bad, and started rubbing the plating on his own arms. “Wow, that sucks. I’ve had gashes cut into my plating, but… having no arm plating is… I can’t imagine that. And I’ve been tortured.”
“It’s troublesome that quite a few of us have been tortured here…” Tenuk muttered. “I woke up in the middle of open chest surgery that I didn’t need.”
“It is, unfortunately, a common theme. It’s only really Eksi who hasn’t had a traumatic past around here-”
“So THAT’S why he’s an asshole!” Kayel hissed. “I dunno why, but I really just don’t get along with him.”
“He’s not that bad…” Tenuk shrugged.
“Eh. I don’t like him. He’s the sort of folk who’s never faced genuine hardship and hasn’t grown because of it.”
“Could say the same about me.”
“You HAVE suffered though!” Kayel countered. “You got tortured by Sini with the rest of us, you ran away from your dad who treated you like shit, you, a child, had to make a whole new life for yourself. And you got sucked into our stupid adventures as a team.”
“I guess…” Tenuk turned back to Akah. “So, uh, do you want to be my friend? I don’t really play with those brick toys, but I’d be happy to play video games with you. You can pet me too.”
“You should pet Tenuk, he’s soft as fuck!” Nyssi smiled.
Akah thought for a moment, then shrugged. “If you don’t have a problem with it, sure. I was going to go and play some video games in a bit anyway. For now though, I just want some ice cream or something.”
“Oh, you eat mostly sugar too?”
Akah nodded somewhat. “I eat a lot of sugar, yes. More than I ought to, but, like, why not? Plus, ice cream is great. You want to come and get some with me?”
Tenuk smiled as he leapt to his feet and wagged his tail. “Yay, I like that.”