Most Decay Lords and Decaylings seemed to have their own personal computers. The majority owned these trendy, tablet-like devices made of seemingly magic paper, capable of being folded or rolled up and out away with ease, with everything accessible via the fancy, accurate touch screens. Litvir thought these personal computers were very neat and got one for himself as soon as he possibly could. Unfortunately, he had lost most of the vast amounts of data he had collected as a mortal, but his personal computer was very handy in a lot of his private research.
Arkadin on the other hand didn’t have a magic, paper-like computer. What he had was definitely thin and folded in half, but was more like a large, flat book. The more interesting thing about Arkadin’s computer was how it had a physical keyboard and a pointing device connected via a wire, attached to a port on the side.
What was also surprising was how quickly Arkadin slammed down the ‘lid’ of that computer as Litvir entered the Decayling public quarters.
“Are you well?” Litvir immediately asked, picking up on Arkadin’s rather scattered and confused array of emotions. “What is the matter? Why the sudden slam?”
Arkadin looked up at Litvir, then sheepishly lifted up the lid, checking to make sure his computer was alright.
“I hate to be blunt, but what in the name of the Light were you looking at?”
“Nothing…” Arkadin stuttered.
“You were-”
“I was playing a game when I’m supposed to be studying…” Arkadin didn’t need much coaxing to admit what he was really doing. “I thought you were one of the Decay Lords at first and didn’t want them to be angry at me.”
Litvir skirted round and sat down next to Arkadin. This time, Arkadin didn’t bother hiding what he was doing. It took a while for Litvir’s eyes to even work out what was going on within the mess on the screen, let alone understand what game Arkadin was playing. Either way, it wasn’t something Litvir recognised.
“So, uh… what is this?” Litvir asked.
“Space Ninjas…” Arkadin replied. “Not the real game though. Some solo-mode bootleg copy of another, ancient multiplayer online game that I don’t know the name of.”
“It is very… fast… How do you follow this?”
“You get used to it.”
Suddenly, the game slowed down. Whatever Arkadin was doing, he had been successful and was now back at the menu. With a sigh, he closed down the game, revealing some study papers underneath.
Litvir rubbed his eyes, then leaned back, smiling. “Do you mind if I make an observation of you, Arkadin?”
Arkadin grunted, then sighed some more. “Is it going to be some sort of obvious stupid thing I do that’s bad for me and I know it’s bad but I’ve been like this for so long that it’s hard to change? I would rather you not mention anything like that.”
“No, no. Not at all!” Litvir lied, but only partially. “I was actually… going to say that you are much more attractive than you let on. But you have a self-destructive attitude that stops you from thinking you are attractive.”
The little, yellow Decayling eyed Litvir. “You know that thing I just asked you not to do? You just went and did it.”
“Well, it is accurate and it does lead on to my second point. Are you sure you do not want to join Retvik and I in our little trysting sessions? Because you genuinely are attractive and both Retvik and I would like to see more of you.”
Arkadin was visibly shocked by Litvir’s statement.
“What?”
“You heard what I just said.”
“Yeah but…” Arkadin tried to think but words failed him. “No one… has actually said that… out loud… Well, apart from Retvik…” After a deep breath, Arkadin finally managed to put a sentence together. “I’ll be honest, your offer sounds really nice. Very tempting. But I… I can’t right now.”
“May I ask why?”
“It’s… well, it’s that thing we both said earlier. I am still not ready.”
Litvir shrugged, then smiled some more. “Understandable. When or if you choose to be ready, will you let us know?”
“I… I guess…”
“Good enough!” Litvir beamed as he got up. “I shall leave you to it. Enjoy your, uh, studies!”
Arkadin watched as Litvir slinked out of the room, then rubbed his eyes, not entirely sure whether that conversation had really just happened.