“Hi, I’m here to pick up Phovos.”
The Rethan, the Banikan and the Temthan all looked unamused. A little black and red Skyan pointed towards the row of individual apartments, six upstairs, six downstairs. None of them seemed impressed that the Whenvern had landed in front of them.
“She’s in the very top left one.”
“Thank you.”
Kairos slithered off, dragging himself up the stairs with his winged arms, being careful not to smash anything with his annoyingly long tail. He knocked on the door, then opened one of his little space pockets and pulled out a box of caramel-filled chocolates.
After some awkward rummaging around inside, the door opened and Phovos appeared.
“Happy Veeayelen Day.”
Phovos blinked. “I’m… not a Skyavok.”
“Doesn’t mean I can’t take you out on a date!” Kairos smiled. He really liked Phovos and she seemed to genuinely like him back. But there was something very off about her today.
Phovos hesitated as Kairos shoved the chocolates into her hands. That was when she spotted Kairos’s lack of rear legs.
“Uh, what happened to you?”
“Kinisis took my legs.”
“Why?”
“I don’t fucking know. Apparently I’m as much to blame for this mess as Epani and Yisini are, even though I did nothing wrong and briefly had Yisini controlling me too. But it’s fine. I am coping. It’s temporary anyway.”
The Raptor continued to blink.
“Am I interrupting something?” Kairos asked. “You don’t seem right.”
“Uh…” Phovos kept on hesitating. Was she in pain? “It’s just… I have my… monthly right now. Stomach cramps and stuff. Makes me snappy and weird and gives me emotions I don’t like. I mean, I’d love to go on a date with you but I could turn into a rage beast at the drop of a hat.”
Kairos thought for a moment, then sighed. “I never understood why Yisini thought it was a good idea to make some types of female mortal bleed from vulnerable areas. Seems like a forced pregnancy mechanism to me.”
Phovos shrugged, then moved out of the way so Kairos could come in. While each of the apartments looked the same on the outside, the insides both taunted the laws of space and were designed with each individual in mind. A simple open-plan home with a bathroom at the back and a small living area and kitchen, which also doubled as a bedroom. Phovos’s room didn’t have a sofa at all, just a large, round bed covered in cushions and a small desk to one side. On the desk was a computer with a large screen, showing a selection of screens.
“So…” Kairos trailed off as his eyes scanned the room. It was a lot like Phovos’s old place, if Phovos’s old place had been stripped of most of its charm. The fact that the home was very messy didn’t help. “Uh, so, you don’t want to go on a date?”
“I’m really not in the mood for getting changed.” Phovos’s garments were all very fluffy and woolly. She looked cold and was trying to keep herself covered up. Kairos didn’t want to say it out loud but Phovos looked rather bloated too. She threw herself on the bed, holding a cushion to her stomach.
Kairos wriggled his way over, leaning on the edge of the bed. “Well, we don’t have to go anywhere special. Heck, you could come to my cushion palace and we can play games and eat junk food.”
“I can’t, I’m supposed to be on screen duty in an hour.”
“There’s like…” Kairos quickly scanned the area. “There’s plenty of people here who can do that for you. And frankly…” Kairos then glanced at the screen. “Is he sleeping again? I swear, that’s all he does.”
Phovos also looked at the screen. “Yeah. He spends most of his time in bed now. Kinisis keeps on giving him something to make him more… compliant, I guess.”
The Whenvern tutted. “Disrespectful. He deserves… well, he doesn’t deserve better but he also doesn’t deserve to…” Kairos sighed, not finishing his sentence. “I don’t want to bother you with retarded family issues. Would you like to join me on an evening of ice cream and electronic games?”
Phovos hesitated, then smiled. “Yeah. I’d like that. I don’t have to get changed, do I?”
Kairos smiled back. “Not at all.”
“Cool.”
The Whenvern wrapped his tail around Phovos, and in a sprinkling of godly glitter, the two beings disappeared.