This is kind of a one shot that’s still in the Jayruta Universe but different character pov I suppose. Enjoy.
A young Orthoian approached hesitantly, his hands gingerly placed against the cool metal bar as he waited for the bartender to finish their rounds. Carri looked over at the human who seemed to be conversing with the bartender. He had a sly smile as he talked and his hand was loosely holding a glass that seemed recently drained of its contents. Carri’s ear twitched as he listened to the two, the bartender was muttering in a casual manner to the man. He could only catch a few snippets of what the two said.
"I don't mind you being here Arrwell, but-" The man hushed the bartender before continuing.
"C'mon, it's not like I'm scaring away customers." He motions for another drink. "Yknow, I can pay for it too."
"With how much you drink, I think you should have to pay to restock us sometimes." The bartender said with a snort and tucked their rag in the half apron. Arrwell rolled his eyes before he sat back in his stool, and gave a chuckle. “Ok, that’s fair. I’mma stop... eventually.”
“Eventually is when you’re laying face down in a ditch, terran.”
“To prove it to you, I’ll just ask for juice next time or maybe water.”
“Whatever, I’ll go get that Garthanian Whiskey,” the bartender said with a sigh as they moved to other patrons.
Carri felt guilty for eavesdropping on the two, although, eavesdropping in a place like this wasn’t difficult. His four blue eyes turned towards the human, he seemed to have gone quiet and the previous flame had cooled. His head was bowed as he looked down at his phone, the faint light emphasized the laugh lines that weren’t hidden behind the stubble. He looked to be in his mid 30s, perhaps older, Carri was unsure when he spotted gray in his hair. The air of the terran certainly seemed to change when he wasn’t interacting with someone, the energy was drained from him and he looked resigned and... tired.
“What can I do for you today?” The bartender gave Carri a smile as they placed their blue hands on the bar as well. The Orthoian pulled back from his thoughts before muttering a mixed drink, a nod was given and the bartender walked away. Carri had only arrived a few days ago and was looking for a job, or something that would quench the hunger that had begun to pool within him when he was on Ortho. He was a long way from home, but he felt perhaps it was time for him to spread his wings, so to speak. His caretakers fought against it, as they should. There was a wide world out there that he wasn’t prepared for.
“Aren’t ya a lil’ young to be looking so worried?” A slight gravelly voice surprised Carri and found the terran looking at him.
“Excuse me?” Carri said, baffled at the question.
“You’re sitting in a bar, all four of your hands are balled up and the knuckles are white, and you’re staring off into space. Plus you look to be only 20, which is a bit young for you to be leaving Ortho. What’s up? Running away?” That seemed a bit invasive, Carri thought. But from getting a good look at the terran now, he was surely drunk, Carri was sure he meant no harm by it.
“I... Am looking for myself,” he said unsurely and the terran seemed to have picked up on that immediately. His face seemed to soften before his attention was brought back to the drink being given to him.
“Aren’t we all looking for ourselves in the end?” The terran said quietly at his glass. There, his face dropped again like he was remember something. They both sat in silence, and a thought struck Carri.
“I-I heard earlier the Bartender called you “Arrwell”? Like the pilot that used to be associated with the Traitors of the State 10 years ago?” Carri said mainly because it had been on his mind since the bartender said his name. The terran remained silent almost hesitant to answer him but his gloved hand seemed to have clench instinctively. Carri was taken back and he turned over to apologize but the terran sighed.
“It was 12 years... but yeah, I am.”
“...Why?” Carri asked and Arrwell took a sip and visible irritation seemed to form.
“I worked for them before I knew their past. ”
“Then... when you knew, why didn’t you leave? They were traitors that deceived Jayruta and put everyone in danger to the Thoch!”
“ There’s always two sides of the same coin, kid. They’re not as bad as everyone painted them to be,” Arrwell looked over at Carri, there was desperation in his voice, hidden pain.
“How, how can they NOT be bad?” Carri pressed.
“For starters, they were betrayed too, hell everyone was lied to.” The Orthoian pulled back at the fierce words and was about to interject before Arrwell continued.
“Look, you’re young and I get that. You believe what you’ve been told but... To tell you the truth, they knew they were betraying the Jayruta, Aurora. They knew they couldn’t go back either, and it wasn’t by choice. There were too many things in motion that they couldn’t control, and it wasn’t their fault. Months, years prior, the Jayruta was dealing with the whole xenophobic human expulsion plan of the VRA. The ‘research’ the crew was running away with, they didn’t know the Thoch wanted it until after. They were told that Aurora was just going to take it away from them and lock them up.” Arrwell breathed before rubbing his neck. “What can you do when everyone is against you? Knowing that there’s no way out, and you have no control of your future anymore. They didn’t know... we didn’t mean for it to turn out the way it did. But...” He stopped and finished the rest of his drink, he set it down on the bar gently.
“What does it matter, they’re all dead now anyway.” Arrwell turned towards Carri, his hazel eyes were almost unfathomable. Was this really the truth? Carri watched as Arrwell paid for his drink and he stood to leave. He gently placed a hand on Carri’s shoulder and looked down into his eyes.
“I’m sure you’re not gonna believe a drunk terran, right? Just...” He gave a slight squeeze.
“Don’t end up the way I did, alright?” And with that the terran left the bar and Carri sat there, staring at his own drink.
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