"Your temple's in a bathroom," Thanatos said. It was an observation. It sounded like an observation, if observations were to come off with an underwater sort of wavy movement. The way the words were slipping out reminded him of ocean blues and greens. Everything here was gold and orange and bright, seductive red. His words wiggled through the air like snakes made of ribbon and they stood in stark contrast and that was hilarious. He didn't belong here, but Bast didn't seem to mind. She wasn't treating him like an intruder. That made him like her more. "I'd build you a bigger temple, if I knew how to build. I could fly you to the top."
Than had no idea what made her smile at him. He wasn't keeping track, he couldn't keep track. She moved like lightning, everything was fast and dangerous and full of spark. Than wondered if someone could bottle that. But then he decided no, it was better they didn't try. She wasn't the kind of lightning you bottled. "Well okay," he laughed. Bast sank out of view. Then Than remembered how to bend his neck.
It was very odd. The cracks in the floor beneath his discarded shirt were spreading. They were trying to circle her as she unbuckled his clompy boots. His gaze kept snapping from the cracks to Bast, back to the cracks, back to Bast. "I don't want you falling through," he said. Thanatos didn't feel panicked. He wasn't even concerned. Nothing felt bad, but he just needed her to know. His hand touched her shoulder. Then his clothing disappeared. That just made him chuckle.
"Okay," he said. It was different from before. A different kind of okay. "How come I can't have clothes?" he asked as he stepped backwards. He forgot that she'd said step out, not back, but his feet seemed to remember, at least partially. Mixing out and back didn't work well. His foot got halfway stuck in his boot, and then he stumbled in the pool of boxer fabric, and then gravity broke. He was floating. His wings caught him briefly, then the drugs seemed to flow through them, too, and somehow Than ended up on his back, flopped along the curve of Bast's tub, booted feet sticking over the edge.
And he laughed. His eyes shut and his lips spread into a smile and he laughed. This was wonderful. "You should come. Here. Just don't fall." Than opened his eyes and kept on smiling. The way he was slumped was oddly comfortable, even if his feet weren't in the tub.