“So, are you going to still call it the Thantir Three?” Kaytee asked as he and Arkay inspected the ship. The paperwork had all been signed,, and now the little ship belonged to Arkay properly. Kaytee was currently hanging around, having offered to help Arkay look things over. One or two of Kal would have helped, but they were all helping Vikalos work out what his new ship (well, technically, his old ship) required to get it running again.
“I don’t know yet.”
“It’s a kinda lame name.”
“It is, yeah. Is changing a ship’s name hard?”
Kaytee shrugged. “Not really. Some folks get through a lot of ships. The Phantai’s flagship is on like its ten billionth version or something because it kept on getting blown up by Voidborns.”
“Oh…” Arkay didn’t know how to respond to that, but suddenly came up with a memory. “I vaguely remember someone trying to blow up the Thantir One twice. First time was some Life Goddess blowing up the medical bays to try and kidnap me, the second time was when the Golden Defenders attacked while Retvik, Tenuk, Elksia and I were doing chores. But I don’t think the ship blew up, it was just heavily damaged.”
Kaytee briefly turned to Arkay. “The Golden Defenders?”
“Yeah.”
“I thought you destroyed the Golden Protectors? When they attacked your universe?”
Arkay immediately frowned. “I did both.”
“… What?”
“The Golden Defenders had a massive pyramid mother ship or something. Retvik, Tenuk and Elksia helped me blow it up, and the Thantir in general shot down most of the Voidborn ships, and whoever survived, they scattered and didn’t come back.”
Kaytee stared at Arkay some more. “Fucking really?”
“Yeah. Their leader, Olohmega, tried to convince me that I was a Voidborn and I had a mental break down after it all happened, but yeah, I kinda nuked the place. Pretty sure I may have broken some sort of weapons-based rules in the process, but they attacked first.”
“Wow…” Kaytee calmed down. “You’re… something else.”
“You only just noticed?” Arkay growled a little. “I’m a monster.”
“You’re not a monster, you acted in self-defence. If someone attacks you, you defend yourself, that’s how it is for everyone!” Kaytee quickly changed the subject. “So, what do you want to do with this ship?”
“I kinda want it to be both a comfy, cosy camper sort of thing but I also kinda want to make it into a party ship.”
“A party ship?”
“Yeah. Like what we did in the old classroom but for just me, Retvik and Litvir. And whoever else I invite on board, if they’re cute enough.”
“Does that include me?” Kaytee asked.
Arkay smirked. “Maybe.”
Kaytee laughed. “Hah! Well, I’m free whenever. Anyway, so, just to confirm, you want to make this ship into a camper?”
“Yep.”
“There’s not a lot of rooms to work with. This thing doesn’t have a kitchen and the bathroom is kinda small. No bath, just a toilet and shower.”
“That’s fine. We only need one bedroom, I was thinking of converting the second bedroom into a cosy observatory filled with cushions, and the two gunner rooms, I want to convert one into a kitchen and the other into a food and drink storage room. Means we can spare some room in the little cargo bay as well.”
Kaytee shrugged. “You’ve thought this through. Can you afford all of it though?”
“Um… I’m thinking I need to refill my coffers before I start doing the major changes. But there’s a few things I am considering doing now.”
“Like what?”
“Well, the bedroom stuff can be done on a small budget. All I have to do is buy a large bed and a fuckton of cushions.”
“I guess…” Kaytee went back to eyeing Arkay. “Can I ask something stupid?”
“Sure.”
Kaytee’s gaze switched between Arkay and the ship. “You’re a mimic thingy, you can make yourself into a Life Goddess, right?”
“Yeah…”
“Why can’t you just make yourself into a Life Goddess and just… make things exist?”
Arkay rolled his eyes. “I’ve had a few people ask me that. Litvir used to ask it a lot when we were Decaylings. It turns out most Life Goddesses spend a lot of time making random stuff in advance then shoving those things into hammer spaces. I’m not a very good Life Goddess and any Life Goddess powers I get tend to be temporary, so I kinda haven’t had a chance to just make a ton of potentially useful items and throw them into a storage space or something. That and I hate doing anything Life-Goddess-y. Hurts my brain and makes me feel weird.”
“It makes you feel weird?”
“Yep. Life Goddesses have a desire to create, to create universes and stuff, and that feeling just doesn’t mesh well with me, a former death god.”
“Oh.”
Kaytee fell silent. Arkay grunted and fell silent too. But eventually, Arkay got over himself and changed the subject.
“I also want to paint the ship.”
“Oh?” Kaytee snickered. “Is it going to be yellow?”
Arkay rolled his eyes for a second time. “I’ve already heard that joke. And I find it a tad weird because I don’t wear much yellow at all. Most of my armour is black or silver and the fabric stuff I wear is mostly black or blue.”
“Still.”
“I actually want to paint the ship to be quite bright though. Well… I’ve been wondering if I can replicate the nebula effect I create in my cosmic flames, but along the side of the ship.”
“Should be doable with some airbrushes.”
Arkay nodded. “There’s an old Decay Lord pit stop in the middle of the Kinigian Wilderness… Could do it there maybe?”
“That one with the Matanaiai, right?” Kaytee suggested. “Pretty sure they do ship repaints there all the time We could go and get a quote or something.”
“I’d like that.”
“Cool. We kinda have to take Akah with us though.”
Arkay paused, then turned to Kaytee. “How comes?”
“Akah’s friends with them. And he needs to get out more.”
“Oh!” Arkay beamed. “That’s fine, he can come along. Might bring Tanos too, because he and Akah like doing stuff together. I’ll arrange a date or something, for when all four of us are free.”
Kaytee grinned. “Awesome.”