“Retvik! Come with me! Right now!”
Retvik grunted as he picked Kuta off the floor. Kuta had just shadowjumped into his bedroom, but everything was currently a mess. He and his friends had literally returned from their stupid trip to Thalsa Two an hour ago, it was evening and Retvik needed to go through his suitcase and work out what needed washing. Although Kuta had shadowjumped to Retvik’s place a few times, they normally gave Retvik some warning.
“Come! Now! Or, uh, come in a minute or so, once I have regained my bearings…” Kuta was a bit wobbly. Long-distance, interplanetary shadowjumps were both dangerous and strenuous.
“Why?”
“I have some time off! And I want to bring you along with me!”
Clearly Kuta was also somewhat delirious. They weren’t making much sense. Retvik placed his hands on Kuta’s shoulders, straightening them out.
“What is going on?”
Kuta sighed, then took a deep breath. “I apologise, things are… complicated. Unfortunately, our mutual friend Arkay has… woken up and run away. But as a thank you for keeping an eye on her comatose sibling, the Allbirther is giving the 11th Legion, as well as the Skyan, Ksithan and Banikan groups that assisted us, a week’s stay in a fancy resort on Kolasi. And I wanted to bring you along, to spend time with me.”
“Oh.”
Kuta looked Retvik up and down. “Is something wrong?”
“I am tired and grumpy. I had a bad time on my recent trip and I have not fully recovered, mentally, at least.”
“Well, that is completely understandable. You went Defensive Stance in a place where no one knew how to treat it. But that is beside the point. I want you to come with me. We can spend some proper time together in a luxurious resort, away from stupid death gods and annoying team mates… I mean, Nyssi is perfectly nice, but Tenuk and Kayel are a little annoying…” Kuta realized they were rambling. “Either way, you should come with me. Even if it is just for a couple of days. This is a chance for us to be together and be happy and I am NOT letting it slip through my stupid claws.”
Retvik took a deep breath, then sighed. “Alright, fine.”
Kuta bounced up and down excitedly. “Wonderful! Pack your things! We shall head off as soon as I have taken five minutes to recover from my previous shadowjump!”
“You know…” Retvik tightened his grip on Kuta’s shoulders, stopping them from bouncing. “Considering you hit triple digits this year, you act weirdly. Almost like a kid at times.”
“Well, of course I act weird. I am a hundred years old but am physically and mentally only in my thirties, I have telepathy and Phantasma-like abilities, was part of the old, now-dismantled 606th Legion before working my way up the 11th Legion and I have a paralytic venom that can affect deities and I am pretty sure it sometimes makes me feel like I am high. And that is on top of the whole me-dating-a-death-god thing and meeting you and your team of immortal freaks…” Again, Kuta trailed off. “Would I be able to get a glass of water before we head off?”
Retvik sighed, then nodded. “Of course. Let me pack up some fresh armour and wraps and let the others know what I am dong…”
Retvik let go of Kuta then made his way out of his bedroom and headed downstairs. Nyssi was lying on one sofa, naked apart from a pair of knickers, Tenuk was sitting on the sofa opposite trying not to look at Nyssi, while Kayel was absent-mindedly doing the dishes and cooking dinner.
“Oh, hey…” Kayel abruptly paused. He’d spotted Kuta peering out from Retvik’s bedroom. “Uh, when did you get here?”
“About 3 minutes ago!” Kuta beamed. They then followed Retvik downstairs.
“I thought you were supposed to be babysitting the death god or something?” Nyssi asked, not at all caring that Kuta could see her pretty much naked. Admittedly, Kuta didn’t care either, being a Rethan, Kuta had no interest in bare breasts.
“Oh, yes, yes indeed. But Arkay has… uh… gone away. And the Allbirther is rewarding us for our wasted time. I wanted to invite Retvik to join me in a nice resort on Kolasi.”
“Which resort?” Kayel blinked. “The one we stayed at was pretty nice… Also, you were on Kolasi! Did you see Thassalin?”
Kuta nodded. “I did, yes. Somehow Thassalin knew about my being a Decayling. Also Thassalin fought the Whenvern, which was both scary and impressive. His size-changing abilities are amazing.”
“He can… uh…” Kayel paused, then turned to Retvik. “You’d better fucking go on this trip with Kuta, or I’ll go back to my apartment, grab my whip and come back and whoop your ass.”
“You own a whip?” Tenuk immediately asked Kayel.
“Yeah.”
“Why?”
“Uh… personal reasons. Anyway, Retvik, pack your shit, take Little Bitey’s hand and let the weird bastard drag you through a shadow and go on holiday. Like, right now. You didn’t get a real holiday, now one’s landed on your lap, fucking take it. Right now.”
Kuta raised a finger. “Well, in about five minutes. I need a moment to recover from my shadowjump here in the first place.”
Kayel stared at Kuta, then shadowjumped upstairs, grabbed Kuta’s hand, shadpwjumped them back downstairs, sat them on the sofa then forced a can of something cold from the fridge into Kuta’s claws.
“Alright. You get yourself all recovered, THEN you and Retvik go on a romantic holiday away from both us bastards and the bastard death god!” Kayel seemed almost annoyed.
“But what about work?” Retvik asked.
“Fuck work!” Kayel exclaimed. “You’re ill. You went Defensive Stance and had a fucking drug overdose. I’m sure Phovos can find the three of us some work when she’s not busy dumping the Whenvern. Honestly surprised she accepted a date from that prick anyway… Actually, I wonder if they slept together? And I wonder, if they did sleep together, what form the Whenvern took.”
Kayel glanced at Kuta. Nyssi also sat up and looked at Kuta. “Would you know?”
“That is a really good question!” Kuta uneasily smiled as they downed their drink. “Unfortunately, not having dated the Whenvern myself, I would not know! Anyway, thank you for the drink, we must be leaving now!”
Kuta proceeded to drag Retvik back upstairs. The bedroom door slammed shut, some rummaging was heard as things were packed away, and then, after a moment, there was silence.
Nyssi grinned as she laid back down. “Heh. I like Kuta. For a Rethan, they’re a pretty quick thinker. And they clearly seem to adore Retvik.”
“Yeah, but you two were pretty mean to them…” Tenuk frowned. “Still, what are we going to do while Retvik’s gone?”
Kayel went back to cooking dinner. “I’m probably going to either spend some time at my own apartment, or see what Psiksi and his friends are doing, and Nyssi’s heading back to the Torn Islet. You can house-sit for Retvik or something, I dunno.”
Tenuk shrugged. “Yeah, I can do that. Either way, I hope Retvik has fun.”
“I’m sure he’ll have a fucking awesome time!” Nyssi beamed. “He’s with his cute new boyfriend, after all.”