“Tennypoo!” Death smiled as she wrapped cling film-covered arms around the bewildered Kronoreth and pulled him inside. “Tennypoo! I missed you so much!”
Tenuk struggled to break free from Death’s grasp, but finally relented and let the monstrous thing hug him.
“You seem happy today.”
Death didn’t reply. She squeezed harder, making it hard for Tenuk to breathe. Being a Deitic, he absorbed some of the gasses he needed to survive via his skin, but as a Rethan, he also kinda needed those three lungs of his.
“Death, you’re…”
Tenuk paused. He was about to take a huge risk.
“Death, you’re killing me, here…”
Suddenly, Death let go of Tenuk and slapped him round the face.
“Don’t you DARE do jokes like that!”
“It made you let go of me though…” Tenuk shrugged. A slap to the face was better than Death accidentally killing him. He watched as Death removed the vast amounts of cling film from her arms. She then wandered into the kitchen to make herself a tea-like substance to drink. After a few minutes of Death being frustrated and unable to find where the teaspoons were located, she gave up, created a couch made out of some sort of bacon then sat on it.
“You not going to join me?”
“Um…”
All Tenuk could do with hesitate. There was clearly something wrong with Death. Maybe that was why Stasis had asked him come here. Not like the last time though, where Stasis was all menacing and threatening. There had been concern in Stasis’s voice. Actual emotion rather than the hatred that always oozed from his words.
Finally, the Kronoreth sat down next to Death. She didn’t hand him a drink, and instead nodded to the kitchen. “You want something, go get it.”
“You don’t know where anything is?” Tenuk asked as he got back up and walked to the rather modern-looking kitchen.
“No.”
“Why not?”
Death growled. “My… my kitchen Veth… she got hurt. Had to reabsorb her. Had to… reabsorb a lot of Veth…”
Tenuk sighed. He knew what Death was talking about. The Corruption. He’d only really heard about it from other Deitics though, he never saw any of it in person. His mortal friends were adamant that he stay with them for a while. A good number of Deitics had also been destroyed in the event, including an old relative Tenuk wished he’d gone and visited sooner.
“Well, at least…”
“At least WHAT?” Death suddenly snapped.
“At least you’re alive… You escaped a fate worse than…” Tenuk decided not to finish his sentence and change subject. “How long will it take for your, er, kitchen Veth to reform?”
Death rolled her eyes. “I won’t reform her. Too painful right now. I… I don’t want to make more Veth… I need to rest…”
Tenuk couldn’t think of anything helpful to say. “So… why don’t you rest then? Get your top Veth, your Veth Pri-”
“DON’T MENTION HIM!” Death screamed. “DON’T MENTION THAT CUNT.”
“Why?”
“BECAUSE HE HURT ME. YES, HE SAVED ME, BUT HE HURT ME…” Death took a deep breath, then calmed down. “He embarrassed me. He did what I could not do. He sacrificed a part of himself to save everyone. I couldn’t do that. It hurt too much. And now I’m angry at him. I just want that bastard to go away but I can’t bring myself to do it. I owe him and I can’t repay him, so I just hurt him…”
The Kronoreth remained silent.
“I’m training a new Veth Prime. To replace Arkay. But I can’t replace him because as much as I hate to admit it, he’s damn good at everything he does. He’s a stupid little ovum…”
“Did you just… call Arkay an ovum?” Tenuk interrupted.
“Yes, why?” Death asked, confused. “That’s what they are.”
“I don’t follow. That’s a weird insult for a vicious, immortal predator.”
“Well, they’re… more than that. When it all happened, I had to get Kairos ready. Made him find the best Veth and prepare them… for their proper jobs, I guess.”
“I still don’t follow…” Tenuk admitted.
Death sighed, then laid down on her bacon sofa. “No one follows. No one gets it. Veth have a lot of jobs. They’re like my immune system. But they’re more than that. They’re, I don’t know, undeveloped ova. Eggs without sperm. Veth are unborn universes…”
Tenuk blinked. “U-unborn universes?”
“Yeah…” Death looked up at Tenuk. “I’m sorry. I’ve said too much. I’d… I’d wipe your memory, but… you won’t tell anyone, will you?”
“O-of c-course not, Death…” Tenuk muttered.
“Good,” Death tutted as she stretched out on the sofa. “You should probably get going now.”
Tenuk nodded as he slowly walked away. “That’s a good idea… Have a nice day, Death…”
“You too, Tenuk…” Death sighed.