Arkadin sat on his little stool in the corner, sipping a glass of water, wishing he was anywhere else in the multiverse right now. This was not the sort of party he had imagined it would be.
All around him were drunk, female deities, dancing and chatting and chittering to one another, as if they had been besties for millennia. Everyone knew everyone else. Most of the party was split in two though – half for the universe-creating Life Goddesses, and half for the little deities they had brought along. Deities who were much, much older than Arkadin. Considering Arkadin was about two billion years old (at least, that was how long he’d been sapient for), he was clearly the baby of the room and completely out of his depth.
Thankfully, most of the party had ignored him. Kinisis had been welcomed right in to the group of Life Goddesses, she knew them as well as they knew her and they were all coming together and discussing latest news and gossip and things like that. Arkadin had tried to get in on those conversations, but Kinisis kept on insisting that he stop following her around and try and make some friends.
That seemed like a nigh impossible task for Arkadin. Especially since he had heard the other deities all saying how bad death gods were, whenever the party host wasn’t around. Speaking of party hosts, Arkadin hadn’t yet seen anyone who looked like they owned the pl-
“Boo.”
Arkadin very nearly fell off his stool as something popped through the wall next to him. A being with pale grey skin wrapped up in strips of pure white fabric, with equally white armour plating covering their large chest and groin. This being didn’t seem to have feet, instead it had long, slender points.
“Uh… hi…”
The being smiled. Unlike the other goddesses, this one seemed slightly more… deadly. As if they knew how to look after themselves. They also vaguely reminded Arkadin of… something. It was almost as if he had met this being before.
“Not enjoying the party?”
“Unfortunately, no, I’m kinda… out of my depth…” Arkadin decided to be honest. He’d been sitting on his own, it was clear to everyone that he wasn’t having fun.
The being pulled up a stool and sat down next to him. “Yeah, I get ya. Kinda bold of Kinisis to drag her death god here rather than, I dunno, that weird snake girl who likes to party.”
“I’m sorry, do I know you?” Arkadin suddenly exclaimed. “I feel like I know you. But I don’t know from where.”
“Oh!” The being smiled, crossing her legs and leaning closer to Arkadin. “I’m Seimeni. You’re Arkadin, right?”
“Uh… yeah…” Something about Seimeni’s presence was extremely distracting.
“We met when your universe was really young. I’m pretty sure you had a different shape though. Like, you were a little armoured wolf that kept on barking or something. But yellow and black, of course. Glad to see you joined the rest of us in being an intelligent deity!”
“Uh… thanks…” Arkadin was doing a bad job at remaining calm and amiable. Clearly Seimeni had noticed. “It’s nice to meet you too… Very kind of you to host this party.”
Seimeni shrugged. “Eh, it was my mum’s idea. I’ve not been doing the Life Goddess stuff for very long. Don’t even have life in my current universe yet. Kinda hoping that one of the many deities here might leave something behind that spurs life. Or…” Seimeni turned back to Arkadin. “Maybe someone here might turn me on…”
Arkadin shifted to the edge of his chair. Seimeni sighed, realising that she was almost certainly scaring the young deity.
“Let me guess, you’ve been stick with your parents for a long time and you’re only just moving away to do your own thing?”
“You could say that.”
“You want to talk about it?”
“I… I don’t follow…” Arkadin shook his head. “I’m sorry, I’m somewhat hypnotized by how nice you are. I kinda feel like I’m a pain in the butt normally but you’re… really nice.”
Seimeni glanced behind her, back at the rest of the party, then sighed a little. “You’re a nice guy too. You’re a bit messed up and grumpy, but you’re nice. You have external universal communications, right?”
Arkadin nodded. Seimeni reached into a little interdimensional pocket then pulled out a slip of paper.
“I got a stupid party to run. But when things are settled, send me a message. Because I think we’d make good friends, but you’re not feeling well outside of your own universe. This really isn’t the place to chat.”
“Wow… thank you…” Arkadin stared blankly at the piece of paper, before finally accepting it. “Thanks…”
Seimeni smiled again, then disappeared into the crowd, leaving Arkadin on his own. But unlike before, this time, Arkadin no longer felt… alone.