Relkir heard his bedroom door creep open, and someone step inside. The softness of the footsteps, plus the scent and mind patterns, all suggested it was Teekay. Of course it was Teekay, Teekay was the only other Guardian allowed in Relkir’s room, aside from Relkir. But something seemed a bit off in the way Teekay was snooping about.
“Can you not sleep?”
Teekay jumped in surprise, despite knowing that Relkir was present and clearly somewhat awake.
“No. Can’t. Been playing too much block game, I think.”
Relkir smiled as he turned over and clicked his tongue against his teeth, the sound of which snapped the lights on. He make the clicking sound a couple more times to dim the lights, before flopping over his blanket, giving Teekay some space to lay down next to him.
“Do you want to chat? Or do you want cuddles?”
Teekay immediately climbed into bed next to Relkir. His plating seemed a little cold. Relkir assumed he hadn’t even tried to sleep, and had just been wandering around the tiny guard tower.
“Both.”
“Then you shall receive both…” Relkir smiled a little more, wrapping his arm around the little Skyavok. Sure, Relkir himself was considered small by Rethan standards, but compared to Teekay, he was almost a giant. “What is on your mind?”
Teekay pulled the blanket over himself and Relkir, then snuggled up tightly in Relkir’s side. The way Teekay was acting was giving off a few red flags to Relkir. Maybe something genuinely was wrong?
“Eh… Hard to explain.”
“You know you can tell me anything. Even if it is hard to explain.”
“Nah, this is something stupid.”
“Again, I will listen. Even if you think things are stupid.”
Teekay sighed, taking a moment to get himself more comfy. Rethan armour was much harder and denser than Skyan armour, so it took a moment find the optimal snuggle position.
“What is wrong?”
“I… I’m not sure. I keep on wondering if what Tahnahos is right. Like, what if Kinisis did leave us here? Like, forever?”
Relkir shrugged. “Aside from the boredom, would it be really that awful?”
Teekay paused, then sat up, turning to face Relkir. “You think she’s actually abandoned us? That we are stuck here? Perhaps forever?”
“I very much doubt that we are stuck here forever, but yes, I do believe we will remain here for a while.”
Relkir felt Teekay’s shudders. The thought of being stuck in this little outpost seemed to bother him far more than he let on. Not wanting to stress out his partner, Relkir decided to try and calm his nerves.
“I very much doubt Kinisis has abandoned us though. She has always been very scatterbrained. She will return at some point. But in all honesty, we are not really trapped here. We just have not left because there is no obvious place to go.”
“I… don’t follow…” Teekay hesitated. “We are free to leave?”
“Do you see any chains?”
“No, but all that’s out there is darkness.”
“To our naked eyes, yes. We are essentially deities though, and we know there is an entire small universe on the other side of our outpost, so it is not like we cannot go anywhere.”
Teekay tutted. “Seems like it’s intentionally a pain in the neck to do so though. Almost like a prison.”
“If it was a prison, we would most certainly be locked inside.”
“True…” Teekay trailed off, seeming to have calmed down a little. He cuddled back up next to Relkir, slowly relaxing. “On the plus side, we’ve got plenty of privacy here…”
Relkir grinned, running his fingers down Teekay’s back. “You are absolutely correct. Do you want to… indulge in that privacy?”
Teekay’s soft murmurs answered his question for him. “Mhm… that’d be nice…”
With a final little smile, Relkir turned off the lights, then started massaging Teekay’s shoulders in the darkness.
“Your wish is my command, my dear…”