Relkir sighed to himself as he wandered up and down the aisles of this nonsensical supermarket. The Thantir Two was currently docked at the Miassivio Pleasure Mall, the biggest and only mall in the Shadowvern Straights, a piece of the Periuniversal Void not too far from the Thantir’s normal roaming grounds. Things had been rough on board and Galyn had decided to treat his two Decay Lords, Decay Lady and six Decaylings, taking them somewhere more normal and relaxed for a bit. While the ladies, Phovos, Elksia and Seimeni, were all resting in the nearby Life Oasis (due to Phovos and Seimeni being Life Goddesses and not allowed in the mall proper), everyone else was free to do as they liked, as long as they returned to the ship at the time Galyn specified. He’d even given the Decaylings some spending money, since none of them owned any currencies they could actually use in the Periuniversal Void.
Originally, Relkir had been following Retvik and Litvir around. The three of them were Rethavok, at least formerly, and they all had similar interests. But somewhere along the way, Relkir had lost track of both the Flamebearer and the Souldrainer and found himself somewhat lost inside a shop that sold pretty much everything, but mostly stocked a myriad of weapons. That was fine though. Relkir wanted to shop for weapons. He was looking for something in particular.
Well, two somethings. A pair of daggers. Unfortunately, Relkir hadn’t found what he was looking for yet. He didn’t know whether he was being fussy or not, but he was looking for two identical daggers that fit a myriad of criteria. They had to be pretty and delicate but also perfectly usable in combat. They also needed to not be too large or too small. Relkir had always been almost embarrassingly small as a Rethavok, and while he had grown slightly upon becoming a Divine Guardian and later a Decayling, he was still a good half a meter shorter than his half-brother Retvik. Then again, only one of these daggers was for Relkir to use.
There were two other things Relkir required from these daggers. The first was that they needed a way for Relkir to customize them a bit. Nothing special, Relkir just wanted to add his own spin to them, as most Rethans did with their weapons. Luckily, he’d already picked up some shimmering silver ribbons and chains from somewhere else in the massive shop, and he intended to buy a couple of small weapon charms. The biggest problem though was the price. Relkir didn’t have that much money on him. Which was a shame, because he’d just spotted a pair of rather simple, curved daggers that he really liked.
Luckily though, slightly further down, Relkir finally found what he was looking for. Two straight, silver daggers with plain handles that Relkir could wrap the ribbons around, and a loop on the handle of each, which he could attach the chains to. Amazingly, they were also just within his budget, but he’d have to skip the fancier weapon charms he also wanted to buy. That was fine. He ended up picking out some simpler charms, with glass gems instead.
It took a little too long to find the checkout, but Relkir didn’t care. He was happy, which made a pleasant change. While the other Decaylings had all adapted well to their new life, Relkir was still struggling with a few things. He’d been nailing the theory exams they’d had to do, but he lacked a proper place. Phovos and Tenuk were far better at adapting and changing their forms than he was. Teekay and Eksi were far better telepaths than Relkir was. Elksia was perfectly navigating the whole “time not being constant” thing while Relkir had consistently been early or late to every single meeting. Relkir was a bit of an all-rounder but no one really needed that on the Thantir Two. On the plus side, Relkir had more money leftover than he expected. One of the items he had picked up, the silver ribbon, was on discount.
And he really, really hated being bossed around by Retvik and Litvir, who were now his superiors. He definitely wasn’t used to that yet. It used to be the other way around.
Either way, with everything paid for, Relkir exited the impossibly large shop and looked around for somewhere to sit down. There was a nearby cafe with some tables in front of it. Relkir used some of his extra money to buy himself some kind of drink, then sat down with his new purchases. It didn’t take long for him to delicately wrap the handles of the daggers in the silver ribbon, then tie the silver chains and weapon charms to the hooks on the end. Once he was satisfied, he placed the daggers back into his bag, then pulled out his communicator.
“Where are you?” Relkir typed, sipping his drink (which turned out to be some kind of fruit juice) while waiting for an answer.
“Back on the ship.”
“Why?”
“Too bright. Needed somewhere dark. You know what we’re like.”
“Is there anything you want?” Relkir quickly checked his funds. He had plenty left.
“Snacks please. Maybe some alcohol too if you can afford it.”
“Alright. I will be back soon.”
Relkir closed his communicator and finished his drink. However, he didn’t want to go back into the impossibly large supermarket. He had put aside some funds to buy alcohol anyway, so picking up a few extra bits wasn’t a problem. Luckily, there was another, second supermarket slightly further down, this one being a tad more colourful and less full of weapons. It also wasn’t impossibly large, Relkir could see the back walls from the entrance. Despite this shop being smaller though, it took way too long for Relkir to locate the alcohol section and find something that didn’t look too toxic. Mead was Relkir’s alcohol of choice, but he couldn’t seem to find any plain meads, they were all flavoured with things Relkir didn’t even recognize. In the end, he picked out two bottles of a lavender-flavoured mead, as well as what Relkir hoped were meat-flavoured potato chips. While he had picked up the spoken Decay Lord language pretty quickly (apparently one of the quirks of being a deity), his understanding of the written form still left a bit to be desired.
Still, Relkir had everything he wanted to buy, so it was time to make his way back to the ship. He didn’t care if there were still three hours to go before they planned to leave, Relkir wanted a bit of time to himself. The parking area underneath the mall proper was huge but also clearly marked, and Relkir had noted down where the ship was parked in the Decayling group chat, as well as in the private Rethans-Only chat that he, Litvir and Retvik pretty much never used. Mostly because Relkir hardly considered himself a Rethan any more, and the two Decay Lords had their own separate chat.
Holding his wristband to the cargo bay door, Relkir waited patiently for it to open, then stepped inside. Before he did anything else, he wanted to check and see who else was present. This wasn’t too big a task, since the Thantir Two consisted of one main corridor and the majority of rooms stemmed off from it. Relkir also had low level telepathy, which made this job even easier, so he could check through the closed doors.
Only two others were present, fellow Decaylings Teekay and Eksi. Eksi seemed to be asleep in his bedroom, while Teekay was in the Decaylings-Only observatory. Perfect.
Relkir used his rudimentary telekinesis to lift himself in the air, to disguise his presence. He first made his way to the kitchen, where he grabbed two glasses and a plastic bowl, which he filled with crisps. Relkir then tiptoed back to the observatory where, surprisingly, Teekay hadn’t noticed him.
“Uh, hello.”
The lights in the observatory were dimmed, but there was still plenty of light to see. Teekay was sitting in a large beanbag chair with fabric covering his eyes, which he immediately removed upon hearing Relkir’s voice.
“Hey, darling! Did you have fun?” Teekay smiled wearily. Unlike Relkir, Teekay was a Skyavok, a member of a race that was very similar to the Rethavok, just a lot smaller. When Relkir found himself at his weakest, Teekay had looked past their differences and helped the lost Rethan. Even when Relkir went through hell and back, Teekay was there for him, waiting on the other side. In repayment, Relkir made himself honour-bound to Teekay, promising to protect Teekay with his life, and, over time, the two of them had grown incredibly close.
Relkir nodded timidly, his normal, powerful confidence having suddenly disappeared. “I did. I, uh, also, uh, brought something… for you…”
With some hesitation and a tad too much effort, Relkir pulled over a nearby coffee table and placed the two bottles of mead, two glasses and bowl of crisps. He then kneeled in front of Teekay, wrapping his tail around himself nervously, fidgeting to the bag by his side.
“Oh?” Teekay sat forward. He knew something was up, but was being polite enough to not use his far superior telepathy to find out. “What did you get me?”
Relkir hesitated again. He hadn’t really planned this far ahead. With an awkward smile, he opened up the bag and revealed the two daggers. He held them both in front of him, the handles pointing towards Teekay.
“I will… be blunt. I… I do not really know or understand Skyan customs when it comes to this sort of thing, so I, uh, defaulted to what I know as a Rethan… So, uh, please, forgive my ignorance…” Relkir lowered himself a bit, so he was looking up at Teekay. Teekay was quite small, at least compared to Relkir, so this was quite tricky to do. He placed one dagger in his lap, then held the second in both hands, presenting it to Teekay.
Teekay eyed the daggers, slowly trying to work out what Relkir was doing. “Uh…”
“I have been thinking about this for a while, dear…” Relkir swallowed nervously and started to explain. “In Rethan tradition, the symbol of partnership is a pair of daggers, generally decorated in some way to make them unique, with a simple chain that represents togetherness and unity…”
Teekay’s eyes widened. He was starting to get it.
Relkir closed his eyes, lowering himself down further. “We have been through a lot together. I spent most of my life believing that I would never find love, that I never deserved love. You changed that. You saved my life, I am honour-bound to you. But… well…”
Teekay edged forward, climbing out of his seat so he was standing in front of Relkir, taking the dagger from Relkir’s hands as he did so. In Teekay’s claws, it was a little large, but it still seemed to fit.
“You are… proposing to me.”
“I am…” Relkir was trembling and he wasn’t sure why. “Teekay, I humbly ask of you that you… allow me to be your partner, your other half.”
“I…” Teekay couldn’t help but stutter. “I… uh… I… Yes. Yes, I want you to be my partner.”
“You allow me to be your partner?” Relkir couldn’t help but repeat himself.
“Yes!” Teekay smiled, wiping away a stray tear, before putting his arms around his best friend. “I love you, Relkir. I want us to be together.”
“I… thank you… I love you too…” Relkir’s words faded as he held Teekay close, sobbing gently.