Spiral of Ants

Answers to Everything

Evelyn started to get... used to Aktal. She hesitated to use that term, considering he never really felt normal. Like Apollo, it was a little obvious he wasn't human when you spent extended periods of time with him, and not because of their unnatural abilities or weird markings. There were things both him and Apollo just... didn't grasp. The way they talked or worded things, body language that made it clear they were imitating humans, not moving naturally, ect.

With Apollo, Evelyn always felt there was a certain degree of incompetence involved. While he was a god, one that she admired at that, it was no secret he wasn't... the brightest.

Aktal on the other hand, was more unnerving. He was a lot more aware than Apollo. He understood what he was doing or what he was saying. He knew where he was and why. So when the little quirks emerged with him, it was almost like the gravity of it all felt more intense for a moment.

He started spending a decent time around Evelyn, however, causing her to at least adapt to the god.

Usually he didn't announce when he would come by or give her a heads up, but to give him credit he only ever showed up when she had nothing else going on and wasn't in the worst mood. Initially this off put her, wondering how he knew her schedule, plans, or moods before quickly realizing it was a stupid question. He was, you know, a god.

Aktal was at her place, again. Her place wasn't really a great hang out spot, let alone for something like Aktal, but he never commented on it. Plus, he was just inviting himself, she reminded herself. She didn't owe him anything.

She had to admit she was thankful for the company, though. Things had gotten very lonely, since Aseil got so busy.

"So you remember it?" She asked, breaking the silence that had been hanging in the room for a while as she had checked her email.

"Be more specific," Aktal said, resting his chin in his hand.

"Before you came here. Wherever that is" She clarified.

"Of course I remember it." He responded.

"Apollo can't"

"Well he's been here much longer than me. I don't blame him. I'm not sure if I'd be able to function on the most basic levels if I was stuck here as long as him"

"What do you mean?" She asked, closing her laptop, now very interested. This was another perk of letting Aktal hang around. He was never too reserved, when she asked questions, meaning she quite literally had access to some of the greatest questions of the universe. It's a dangerous thing to have access too, however, she very quickly learned. There's somethings she realized she didn't want to know.

The god paused for a moment. She noticed he did this a lot when trying to explain larger concepts, trying to construct a way to explain he believed she could understand "You humans have figured out that atoms never really touch by now, yes?"

She nodded "Yeah"

"And you are made up of atoms, correct? So there is a... relatively large amount of just space making up your body"

"I guess so. I never thought of it that way but that makes sense."

The god nodded upon confirmation that she was following and continued "The reason atoms don't touch is because they repel each other with magnetic forces. This doesn't bother you because there's a balance. The material that makes you has the space that it needs. You are exactly what you need to be to function in the way humans function. However, if these atoms become condensed, if you squeezed all of them together till they were touching to make yourself smaller, it would be an extremely unpleasant experience. Like consistently forcing millions of magnets that are trying to repel together."

She hesitated "Yeah, that sounds pretty bad..."

"Of course we're dealing with proportions you can't even begin to comprehend, comparing what I really am to this" he said, gesturing to himself. Or what he was, at least. "But I believe that thought experiment is a start to understanding what I mean, at least"

That was something else she was struggling to get used to. Despite how much he hung around, initiating it himself usually, he never really hid his opinion on human significance or the lack thereof. He didn't seem to actively dislike humans. He never personally insulted her or cared much about how humans thought of themselves, but he also seemed to not really value them.

Was it bad that it almost felt flattering? The god who believed humans were insignificant actively spent time around her. Meanwhile she never really got a chance to talk to Apollo. He was always so busy with Aseil, or jumping around from conversation to conversation, unfocused

Aktals attention felt more valuable. He wasn't necessarily nice, and she wouldn't call him a friend, as she was sure he wouldn't call her. But he still chose to spend his spare time with her, for whatever reason. He was the only person who actively initiated interaction with her these days. Maybe that was worth something.