Death yawned and stretched, then reached for a glass of something to drink. But as she did so, she realised something was missing. Her new little friend who had been chained up next to her was missing.
“Where the fuck have you gone?” Death tutted. She got up and headed downstairs, only to be pleasantly surprised. Her little friend was in the kitchen.
“Good, uh, morning, I guess…” Arkay smiled weakly as he poured something into a bowl. “Your kitchen is weird. I don’t know what any of this stuff is. I took what I think are eggs and started making an omelette.”
“Why?” Death was confused. Arkay hadn’t done a single nice thing for her while during his Vethic journey, and there he was, making breakfast. And it wasn’t just for him, there were two plates on the side, both garnished with golden cinnamon bark, for some reason. Clearly the idiot didn’t know what golden cinnamon was. “And how did you escape your chains?”
“You were the one who gave me form-changing powers, silly.”
“Yeah but… the breakfast?”
Arkay arranged the omelettes on the places, then looked around for some sort of dining table to put them on. He quickly gave up and instead called Death over.
“I want to teach you a lesson about consent,” Arkay explained as he pointed at the omelette on his plate. “And for this example, I’m using omelettes in this example. Now, I just made you breakfast. But let’s assume that you don’t want breakfast. Would it be wrong if I forced you to eat this omelette?”
Death stared at Arkay. “Of course it would be wrong.”
“Good. Now, imagine that you’re eating breakfast but you get full and don’t want any more. Would it be wrong for me to make you finish?”
“Of course.”
Arkay smiled slightly. “You get it. Now, in another situation, I make you breakfast but you’re asleep or unconscious or otherwise not in a position to say that you want breakfast. Should I force this omelette down your throat?”
“That would be silly.”
Suddenly, Arkay flipped the plates over, throwing omelette all over Death. “SO WHY DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND CONSENT WHEN IT COMES TO SEX?”
Death smiled. “It’s not torture if you consent.”
“Why do you torture me? You want me to be loyal to you, yes? THEN WHY? SERIOUSLY, DID YOU DO THIS WITH ALL YOUR DAMN VETH? WHY HAS EVERYONE GOT TO USE TORTURE? HOW THE HELL IS THAT GOING TO MAKE ME LOVE YOU WITHOUT ANY SORT OF REWARD TECHNIQUE? I SHOULD KNOW BECAUSE I WAS TRAINED TO WITHSTAND BOTH TORTURE AND BRAINWASHING METHODS!”
The Lady of the Circle just continued to smile as she licked omelette off herself while Arkay ranted.
“You done yet?” she finally ask.
“I guess…” Arkay sighed. “I just… don’t get it. You want me to be a loyal Veth but your actions are just making me into an angry monster who hates you.”
“I want you to not like me so that we disagree on things. I don’t need another Veth to say yes all the time.”
“Breaking your promise to me was enough to make me question everything you say.”
Death shrugged, then picked up one of the dropped plates and put it gently on the side. “So you already question everything?”
“I don’t question when someone says no to me because they don’t want sex…”
“Hah, nice one!” Death laughed.
“Listen, Death, I don’t like you. I’m angry. And I take it out on you and your other Veth. Because you deserve it. You make me suffer. It’s bad enough that I was doomed to this fate, but you’re eternally rubbing salt in my wounds…” Arkay sat down, sighing loudly. “I mean… I will serve you. Forever. That was my end of the deal. I always try to keep my promises. But at the same time, I’d like it if you treated me… not as an equal, but at least… Just treat me nicely, alright? And maybe, just maybe, we’ll reach a position where I no longer feel betrayed and you can trust me.”
Kinsis looked Arkay up and down. As a Veth, he was astoundingly cute and deadly. She’d modelled his new form and based him off herself, complete with shadowy tendrils. But getting Arkay to this point had been tedious, and she knew that she had to get started on on designing the version 8 Veth, considering how awkward Arkay’s version 7 type was.
All of this though, this was a huge step forward. Not only had the V7 Veth maintained his previous form’s intelligence and strength, but Arkay had proved that she could at least start to trust him. After all, Arkay escaped and had the chance to run, but didn’t.
“Alright, kid. You got me…” Death finally relented. “I’ll stop with the torture. But as my Veth Prime, I will still want you to sleep with me occasionally.”
“As long as you ask me first,” Arkay tutted.
“Good…” Death spun around and headed outside, hinting for Arkay to follow. “Now, since we’re both up, I’ve got some… training for you…”