“Wow, this is all going way faster than I expected!” Lissandra beamed as she put together a pile of chairs, hammering them together then attaching a cushion to each one. “Way, way faster!”
Vexer tutted. He was behind the bar, setting up all the alcohol barrels and putting up shelves to put drinks and spirits on. “Of course it is. We’re helping a Life Goddess. One who made and destroyed an entire damn universe in like a few days.”
“Well, technically, it was one million years!” Fragiir grunted as he hauled in some massive kegs. These were currently filled with several common types of alcohol. Two extra barrels, one red and one blue, containing syrups that could be made into carbonated beverages. “A million years to save the old Thantophor.”
“It was technically still only a few days in our time scales though, right?” Lissandra asked. “We all experience time in slightly different ways.”
Vexer grunted. “I hate all this time stuff. Makes no sense.”
“Still, we have got like, most stuff together already. We’re making super good progress.”
All of a sudden, Sini popped out of thin air.
“Hello, kiddos!” Sini beamed. “How are you three little devils doing?”
Fragiir placed the kegs in the bar area, tucked to one side so Vexer could sort them out, then turned to Sini and smiled back.
“Well, I’m doing awesome and so is Lissandra. Vexer is being a bitch as always.”
Sini immediately turned to Vexer. “You being a whiny little bitch again, Vexer?”
Vexer sighed, then apologised. “Sorry, I’m in a bad mood.”
“You’re always in a bad mood.”
“I know, but I haven’t felt right in a long time. Kayenus and Lissandra got over the fact that their kinds don’t exist at all any more. I can’t get over it. I feel like I don’t fit in and am completely alone.”
Sini frowned, then slithered over and patted Vexer on the shoulder. “Don’t worry, darling! Once we’re up and running, I’m sure that we’ll get visitors similar to you. We’ve already seen quite a few sexy snake goddesses, same shape as me and Lissandra, we’ll find someone armoured and pointy like you.”
“I guess…” Vexer grunted. “I also just don’t get how everyone else is fine, and I’m not. We haven’t found any Banikans or Athrens out here, but Atteh’Kus has been dong well the whole time.”
Sini patted Vexer some more. “It’ll pass, my dear! And I’ll try and help out how I can, once we’ve opened up. I have a few ideas. And you won’t be waiting too long. We’re making very good progress.”
Vexer wondered how Sini could help him out, but he decided not to comment. “I appreciate that, Mistress Sini. I’ve also got most of these kegs sorted out, how do you want me to arrange them?”
Sini peered over the bar, then shrugged. “However you think is easiest for you all to manage. You six will be taking it in turns to run the bar, clean the place, helping me in my lab, keeping tabs on the living areas and generally maintaining anything I’m too busy to do myself.”
“Oh. Alright…” Vexer inspected all the kegs, then started putting them all in order. He originally thought about putting them in alphabetical order, but after a quick glance outside, where Vexer could see Atteh’Kus and Kayenus working on digging out a lake to make into a bathing area, he decided to lay them in the order of colours of the rainbow, something Vexer was certain Kayenus knew better than the alphabet. Admittedly, Vexer felt bad thinking about that, but Kayenus wasn’t the smartest person around. Definitely the sharpest though, with those massive hand-claws of his.
“So, when do we plan on opening up?” Lissandra changed the subject. “Like, I guess we can open up as soon as possible, but like, we can’t even really advertise this stuff outside of maybe buying ad space in a local magazine.”
“Are there even magazines out here?” Fragiir asked. “Or radio stations or whatever?”
Sini shrugged. “Not really, but the thing is, we can’t really advertise anyway, because where we’re located isn’t really marked on the map in general.”
“Those Thantir guys though, people know where they are!” Vexer exclaimed. “Surely we can do some flyers or something?”
“People only know where the Thantir are because their base is in an already established location, in the Athata Rift, and is the only actual place within that area!” Sini explained. “And also, while there are sites for Decay Lords, but for the Three Main Types, we have nothing centralised, and almost nothing local either.”
“So how ARE we going to get people to come here?” Fragiir asked. “With pop-up ads on websites? A local directory? Annoying unskippable ads at the start of videos on popular media platforms that take money even if the video creators get none or otherwise opt out of getting paid per click?”
Sini and Lissandra both eyed Fragiir.
“That was very specific…” Sini muttered. “But no, I won’t be doing anything as obnoxious as that. I’m simply just going to put up some very nice bright pink lights to lure people in.”
“Is that all?”
Sini shrugged. “Well, I am going to take out some adverts in local Decay Lord media, but yes, my main plan is the bright pink lights, because bright pink lights don’t occur naturally, and that will lure in passers-by, because they’ll want to investigate. Plus, Life Goddesses love the colour pink. They’ll want to take a look too.”
“Still, we have a lot of work to do…” Vexer tutted. “Outside doesn’t look oasis-y at all.”
“We just need a little more time!” Lissandra smiled. “Not that there’s a time limit on this anyway.”
“True…” Vexer suddenly paused. “Huh… I just had a thought…” He turned to Sini and smiled. “You mentioned the Thantir, right? Maybe you could invite some of them to the grand opening of our oasis? And also maybe put some flyers or something at their base?”
Sini’s eyes lit up. She slivered over and hugged Vexer tightly. “Darling, that’s a WONDERFUL idea!” She quickly let go of Vexer, then turned to Lissandra. “My pretty little snek, can you do me a favour and grab my-”
Lissandra immediately knew what Sini wanted, and instantly summoned Sini’s communicator and handed it to her. “Here you go, Mistress Sini!”
Sini grinned, hugged Lissandra, then headed outside. “Thank you, my dears! Just need to make a couple of phone calls. Feel free to finish off here and take a break, and I’ll be back with you in a bit.”
Fragiir, Lissandra and Vexer all bowed. Sini saved at all of them, then headed off outside. She had a little sister to talk to.