Kayel paced up and down one apartment, before deciding to shadowjump to another. He wasn’t going to be able to get these troubles out of his head on his own. But as Kayel made his way down the stairs of Retvik’s nice, four-bedroom home, he realized there were three people in the living room and one of them wasn’t Retvik.
“I take it you saw the news?” Tenuk asked as Kayel stared at the third person.
“What the fuck is SHE doing here?” There was a clear snarl to Kayel’s words as he pointed at Talok, who was sitting calmly on the sofa, rocking back and forth.
“I, uh… invited her over. I got lonely while house-sitting…” Tenuk immediately admitted.
Kayel stared at Talok some more. “If you dare fuck with my head, I will fucking stab you, got it?”
Talok quickly noticed that Kayel was on edge and shrank in her seat. “I swear. I will not. No mind reading. Is bad. I know. I promise, mister Kayel.”
Tenuk stared back at Kayel, clearly angry at Kayel’s words. He shapeshifted into a large, dark blue Ksithan, then into a light blue Temthan, then into a two-tone blue version of Retvik, before sighing and turning back to his normal, fluffy Spast self.
“I yet again feel bad.”
“Oh for fuck’s sake!” Nyssi suddenly snapped. “It’s not your fucking fault someone tried to kill Retvik’s brothers!”
“Siblings…” Tenuk muttered.
“Same fucking thing. You weren’t to know. And you convinced Retvik to spend some quality time with both his stupid family and his stupid boyfriend. This was a completely fucked up thing that could have happened had Retvik not gone!” Nyssi continued to snap. “It’s not your fucking fault! Plus, Retvik’s fine anyway! He’s immortal like us and he saved his brothers’ lives! They fucking owe him.”
Tenuk frowned. “Yeah, maybe, but Retvik’s stuck in a strange place on his own right now. I want to see him and talk to him and be a fluffy kitty for him and I can’t.”
“Well, at least Retvik’s not completely alone…” Kayel sighed. “He has Kuta at least.”
Nyssi and Tenuk both snorted.
“They took Kuta in for questioning…” Nyssi tutted. “I kinda get why Kuta embedded themselves so deep in the Rethan government, they hoped to protect themselves while hiding in plain sight, but, like, they’re a shadowjumping Rethan who was seen shadowjumping when this happened and, worse, apparently Kuta was part of some 606th Legion or something at some point and apparently that’s bad.”
Kayel joined in on all the frowning. “Well, that’s… uh… that’s pretty bad. The Legion of Hidden Blades. I mean, it makes a ton of sense, but still. Is Kuta, like, a suspect or something?”
Nyssi shrugged. “No idea. Report just said they were taken in. Kayel, tell me, you’re a former assassin, would Kuta really wait the 30 years they’ve been a high ranking General just to shoot at the High General from across the late and also miss?”
“No, of course not. Kuta has the same shadow powers that I have. They probably know where the High General is at all times, they’d wait until they were asleep or something and kill them in their bed. Or just give them an aneurysm or something because Kuta has telepathy.”
Talok raised her little claw. “Excuse me, mister Kayel?”
“What?”
“Who is this mister Kuta? A Rethan with telepathy? I must see them! I…”
All of a sudden, Talok leaped to her feet and plodded over to the door. Just as she got there, someone knocked, quite gently. Not caring that this wasn’t her house, Talok excitedly opened the door and squeaked with joy.
“Mister Arkay! You came to see us!”
Standing at the door was a tall, muscular, utterly gorgeous Temthan in rather odd colours. Temthans could be almost any colour, but they were never pure black or white. The one present was almost black, and he (he was definitely, definitely a he) had golden yellow scales running down his body. This Temthan was shirtless but was wearing baggy pants and a Rethan pauldron on their left shoulder.
“Sini’s fucking scales you’re fucking hot…” Nyssi gasped.
Yet again though, Talok found someone was staring at her. “Um, mister Arkay? Are you well?”
The Thantophor stared at Talok some more, clearly trying to work out why he somehow recognized this weird, spayed Vohra, before shaking his head and turning his attention to everyone else.
“Hi, Arkay…” Kayel eventually muttered. “What are you doing here and why are you a Temthan?”
“A super fucking sexy Temthan with a fucking massive package that I want to mount?” Nyssi accidentally added.
“We’re in Palaestra, in a mixed race sub-district, I didn’t want to wander around as an obvious Skyavok?”
“So you are wandering around as an obvious Temthan instead?”
Arkadin sighed then made his way inside, pausing briefly to inspect the nice house he had walked into. He then dumped a large box in a carrier bag on the table and sighed some more.
“I went to your place, Kayel, and you weren’t there, so I spoke to the Raptor and she said you live here with Retvik now. I wanted to come by and tell you that your friend is fine, still asleep, a little drugged but absolutely fine. Honestly, he has some insane reaction times, especially for a Rethan.”
Kayel sighed back. “I appreciate the heads up. Can you, like, teach me how to do interplanetary shadowjumps so I can go and visit him?”
Arkadin eyed Kayel, frowned, then tutted. “Technically, you already can. You just need to know how far you are shadowjumping and have a very, very clear image of where you want to go in your head. But I really, really wouldn’t recommend trying to visit Retvik. The whole planet is on lockdown and…” Arkadin trailed off. “Alright, I need to ask you something. About this year. About that white-plated Rethan with fangs. Is that Kuta?”
Kayel, Nyssi and Tenuk all nodded. Talok blinked blankly.
“Why do I feel like I know them from somewhere? Like, I feel like I know all of you, even you, Talok, from somewhere, but I feel like I know-know that pretty little guy in particular. I’ll be honest, I stepped in when I shouldn’t have, found some information and dropped it off so the Stratos can find it, to give that cute Rethan some space. The problem right now is that Sini and I don’t know if Epani did this specifically, if someone did this for Epani or if it was someone thinking they were doing it for Epani…” Yet again, Arkadin trailed off. “I just said way, way too fucking much.”
“Oh, hey, you were nearly the old, good you for a second there!” Kayel smiled.
“I used to blatantly talk about this stuff with you lot?”
“Well, not with Talok but you did with us, quite regularly…” Kayel quickly turned to Talok. “You, no talking, alright? This is secret Xeno Dessaron Stuff and you’re only allowed to listen because you’re immortal too and you’re Tenuk’s friend.”
“Understandable!” Talok clicked. “I will be quiet! Anything for best friend Tenuk and Sini’s Shadow.”
“I appreciate that, little one…” Arkadin hesitated, checked the band on his wrist, then sighed. “I’d love to stick around and have you all reveal awkward facts that I don’t remember from the last year or so, but I have to go. Epani’s calling me.”
“Aw, that sucks!” Nyssi protested. “You never get to have fun! Also, can I please, please at least touch those amazing abs of yours or SOMETHING before you go? Like, normally you’re a cute Threanic but right now you are so damn hot that I am losing my inhibitions.”
“Um, I guess you can touch me?”
Nyssi didn’t need telling twice. She rushed over and immediately ran her hands down the Thantophor’s perfect, chiselled abs, before gently rubbing the scales on his arm. Nyssi did quickly realize that she was making Arkadin very uncomfortable, so she gave him a quick hug then backed off.
“I clearly need to spend more time around Temthans and get better used to them because that was very awkward for me…” Arkadin took a deep breath as he changed his shape, back into a Skyavok. He realized the error of his ways though as he noticed that Kayel was now looking at him with that look. “Alright, I really, really need to go. Was nice meeting you all… again, I guess.”
With one last sigh, Arkadin walked out the front door, took a few extra steps towards the pavement then disappeared in a puff of black smoke.
“I think I may have been a bit over the top…” Nyssi muttered to herself.
“Oh, 100%!” Tenuk snapped. “Also, you need to go and change your knickers.”
“Tenuk, between us girls, you’re supposed to point out pant splotches a little more discreetly…” Kayel whispered. “But I don’t think Arkay is even aware that he makes himself so damn attractive.”
“Yeah…”
Everyone remained awkward and silent for quite a while. Well, Nyssi, Tenuk and Kayel all did. Talok didn’t seem to care, she was way, way more interested in the box of treats that Sini’s Shadow had left behind.
“Yay! Donuts!”
Talok’s excitement calmed the others down. Nyssi headed upstairs to change her clothes, while Tenuk and Kayel joined Talok on the sofa.
“I think our old Arkay is still in there…” Tenuk smiled weakly as he took a bite out of a chocolate-filled pastry. “We just need to dig him out.”
“Yeah, you’re right. But it’ll be easier when Retvik’s back…” Kayel sighed. “I hope Retvik’s alright.”
“Mister Lightbearer is big and strong! Of course he is fine!” Talok beamed. “Anyway, donuts more important. Nom.”