“We should start the Dessaron again…”
Retvik blinked several times, caught by surprise from Phovos’s statement. The pair had been relaxing and staring out into the darkness, after having had a nice little picnic.
“Start… it again?” Retvik straightened himself out. “Like, properly? I do not follow.”
Phovos rolled over, snuggling up slightly. “The void doesn’t seem that empty. I’d love to go and explore it. Like back in the old days.”
Retvik was still a bit confused. “You want us to regroup and explore?”
“Yeah. Get ourselves away from the same old system, get away from the monotony.”
“I suppose…” Retvik grunted. “But I do not know if Tenuk and Elksia are-”
“Tenuk is bored out of his mind. Elksia would probably be up for anything since she’s a chaotic whirlwind.”
“And you… you would replace Arkay?” Retvik asked, somewhat awkwardly. “That seems… I mean, I understand what you mean, and I am still unhappy with how Arkay dealt with everything. But replacing him with you…”
Retvik paused, sitting up straight and glancing down at Phovos.
“Am I too early?”
“No, it is just…” Retvik was now stumbling over his words. “Sorry, I have no idea why this subject is somewhat bothering me. It almost feels wrong to replace Arkay. No matter what happened. Does not compute for me. It is as if my stomach is upset.”
Phovos shrugged, also straightening herself out. But she was also still staring out into the darkness.
After a moment of calming silence, Phovos decided to explain a bit better.
“I totally get that…” Phovos muttered. “The feelings of loss are very strong. It’s hard to forget, harder to forgive. He hurt you and the memories are most likely still fresh.”
The Decay Lord rolled his eyes, grunting and tutting. “I am admittedly still angry at Arkay. What he did was both wrong and dangerous. It still… hurts…”
Phovos patted Retvik on the shoulder, wanting to comfort him. “We can always just… shelve the idea for now. No need to do anything urgent and all that. Especially since it is clearly bothering you.”
Retvik let loose a small smile. “You are very kind, Phovos. And you are right, it is somewhat bothering me.”
“Do you hate the idea?”
“No…” Retvik went back to tutting. “If anything, I do genuinely love the idea. Especially since Tenuk and Elksia are a thing. My thoughts are, well, conflicted, since I like you more than normal.”
“Like me more than normal?” Phovos giggled. “That’s… a funny way of putting it.”
Retvik let out a small laugh of his own. “You are right, that is an odd way of describing things. Our relationship is rather unusual.”
“But not as unusual as Tenuk and Elksia. I mean, I’m 99% certain Tenuk uses his shape-shifting to do some… unusual things.”
“That is a very Tenuk-y thing to do…” Retvik continued to smile. “But all that being said, maybe when things are more settled and I feel less… bad… them maybe we could try and revitalize the Dessaron.”
“Really?” Phovos exclaimed.
“Really. After all, there is definitely… stuff out there. We just need to explore more…”