Galaxy's Edge Space Bar (archive)

[Chad32]

To Belzar's disappointment, Terenia seems to want to be left alone. Even though she seemed friendly, she wasn't entirely generous. "Where's a proper translator when you need one?" He says quietly as he walks away from her.

[KitsuneMarie]

"Easy there," Elayne said, her own eyes widening as she saw the injured man; he looked like he was about to fall to the floor, which was certainly something she didn't want, especially after taking all that effort to help him. "I'm sorry we had to leave him there. I'll find some help to give him a proper burial." She walked to stand near the table where he was sitting. "Was he your friend?" Her eyes traveled to his bandage, and she sighed in mixed disappointment and amazement that it was already ready for a change.

[Terenia]

Terenia notices Belzar make his way over, then turn and leave again abruptly. She sighs a little, cursing herself for having the small conscience that she does.

"Hey, Belzar," she calls in Galard, knowing he probably won't understand her, "come on back, I'll translate for you."

---

Now that he is in the light of the bar it is apparent that he is quite young, probably no older than fifteen or sixteen years old. More boy than man, really, although his tattered, official-looking uniform and several day old stubble were a bit deceiving. He would have been attractive for a young man such as himself, if he were not covered in blood and bruises, or if his face was not frozen somewhere in between horror and nausea.

When Elayne speaks his eyes snap back up to her face. He tries to speak, but leans over and abruptly throws up off the edge of the table instead. When he finishes noisily he doesn't even apologize for the mess, but instead coughs a little and responds to Elayne's question in a voice wrought with confusion and pain.

"He...he's my dad..."

[Chad32]

Belzar heard terenia say something, but it was verbal instead of telepathic and he couldn't understand it. "I wanted to ensure that the alien knows he is not to move more than necessary. Since his fluids are trying to leak out and he may have suffered damage to his core processor. I wonder if it is possible to give him fresh fluids, though we would need to know what type he takes."

[KitsuneMarie]

Elayne sighed as the man threw up, then nodded slowly. "I'm sorry about your dad," she said quietly. "Let me get you some water." Walking to the bar, she asked the bartender for a glass from the tap, which he silently offered with more of a glower than even usual, presumably because of the mess the person with whom she had been talking had just made all over his floor. "I'll clean it up soon enough," she told the bartender as she too the drink and walked back to the young man. Standing on the other side of the table so as to avoid the vomit, she offered him the glass of water. "Drink it; you've lost a lot of fluids from bleeding and getting sick," she said in the stern voice her mother had often used with her as a child.

[Terenia]

Terenia nods and calls over to the new guy, who has just thrown up everywhere, "hey, dude, be careful. You might make the whole head wound thing worse."

The young man seems too distraught to answer, and she shrugs and flashes a thumbs up to Belzar, to indicate that she had passed the message along. She has no idea if he will understand or not, but until she demorphs their communication is stuck going one way.


----

Trey reaches out and takes the water without looking at Elayne, unable to take his eyes off of the dead man on the floor. He brings the glass to his lips and starts by sipping it, but quickly guzzles the entire thing. When he finishes he sets the glass on the table next to where he is sitting.

"Thanks..." he croaks, voice raspy from being sick.

[Shenmue654]

((Huh. Keshin and Joanne's post was tricky to write. Not sure how in-character I played it in the end, but I did my best. : ) And I figure Mar wouldn't have heard him clearly enough before Belzar picked him up to hear his real name. ))

Keshin watches carefully as the entire process runs itself along and decides that he really doesn't want to interfere with whatever is happening. Keshin then leans his elbow on one of the tables. From this position, he can make out at least Elena's responses to the teenager. <So...that dead guy is this kid's dad.>

<.....oh man....I feel so bad for that kid. Sometimes Dad and I didn' get along, but he was still my Dad. Back in the days when he was there for me. Let's see what we can do for 'im. >

<We can't get involved with this, Joanne. Every time we get involved it just spells trouble.>

<But---->

Joanne's body twitches ever so slightly, but Keshin retains clear control.
*******************************************************************************
Mar snorts. All this work over a little worthless runt. The boy doesn't look much older than some of the fresher recruits in his army. He has found from experience that such people are either irritating or good cannon fodder. Or possibly both. Still, he is easily controlled and may yet bear some fruit. Elayne certainly seems to be doing an admirable job cleaning him up. And the confusion in his eyes when I said his name bothers me....

Mar bends over Treyliss and states, "Treyliss, are you conscious this time? You seem terribly distraught considering you've managed to survive the crash of your ship. Is it about that dead man? Your father, was it? Terribly sorry about that.....do you happen to remember what occurred?"

[KitsuneMarie]

((Same with Elayne -- she didn't hear that he goes by Trey))

Elayne gently put a hand on the young man's shoulder to steady him as she removed the soaked bandage and replaced it with a new, medicated one she had taken from the first aid kit on his ship. She gave a little frown that could been from the amount of blood or from Mar's strange tone; he certainly did not sound as sincere as the words he was uttering. All the same, she was interested in hearing the man's response to Mar's question. She balled up the dirty gauze in her hands, needing to wash them, but too curious to leave now.

[Terenia]

Trey looks up at Mar. If he senses the lack of sincerity in his tone, Trey does not show it. He merely shakes his head and squints a bit, as though doing so will bring the past events into focus.

"It's Trey," he corrects first. He rubs the back of his neck, unable to keep his gaze off of the dead body for more than a few moments at a time. "We were...about to launch into Z-space when we were attacked by one of the NAT ships. They were one us, and I was piloting. It was my first time, but we thought we were in the clear, thought that it would be alright. Then-" Trey cuts off, breathing heavily, almost as though he had just relived the moment, "then, all I remember is being jostled around. I was sure we were done for, but then everything turned white, just before I passed out." He looks around blankly, "I must have hit the nav controls at some point, because this sure doesn't look like the Homeworld. Where am I?"

Before the others have a chance to answer him, a terrible notion crosses Trey's mind. He grabs his right wrist with his left, almost protectively, and looks at Mar with terrified eyes, "you aren't one of them, are you? You aren't going to take me. I was only doing what he told me to, I swear! I wasn't going to leave. You can't lock me up for following orders, you can't!"

[Shenmue654]

Keshin frowns as he listens to the young man's sudden paranoia and odd behavior towards Elayne's boyfriend of sorts. <I wonder if he thinks that there's a Yeerk inside him.>

<An' is there?>

<I don't think so. There's something way off about that guy. Something that makes me think it might be tricky to infest him. That, and he doesn't act like an Imperial.>

Keshin then wanders towards Terenia and states casually, "So your freakish sister's taking a while. And instead this crazy kid's shown up. Ah the many wonders of the Space Bar. Joanne's worried about the kid, but we can't get involved again. What are you gonna do? Just sit here?"
*******************************************************************************
Mar laughs out loud at Trey's comment and states with clear amusement, "Whatever you think I am, dear boy...I cannot be. At least not here, and not now. I came into existence in this form barely a week ago. And I doubt, if you are worried that I can be controlled...that any Yeerk could infest me without becoming...let us say disturbed in the head." Mar's toothy grin widens.

Mar then shakes his head and says with more strength, "But what is this NAT? And what are you...afraid of? Your own father called you Treyliss before he died. Is Trey some sort of nickname? Treyliss sounds...Yeerkish."

[KitsuneMarie]

Elayne remained beside Mar, watching Trey. Not that Mar's tone seemed to bother the young man, but she used a soothing voice anyway, certainly not wanting to frighten him into not giving away information, especially after what it had taken to get him safely inside the Bar. Besides, he was still losing blood, and she wasn't sure how long he'd be able to remain conscious. "No one here is going to hurt you or turn you in. Do tell us about this NAT... and the homeworld you mentioned." Mar was right: his name did sound Yeerkish, and the term "homeworld" did not sound particularly human; she had never known a human to call Earth by anything but its name. "Are you a Controller?" she added. If there was a Yeerk in his head, Elayne thought that he must be as young as his host.

[Terenia]

Terenia scowls at Keshin's mention of her 'freakish' sister, but glances back at the boy again, then to the dead man as though contemplating action. Finally she shrugs and looks back at the bar.

"Kid just lost his dad," she says roughly, "looks like he took a nasty blow to the head, too. I'm willing to bet he's stranded, seems like most of us are. That's a pretty ****ty situation all around, and I'm not very good at doling out sympathy. The girl - Elayne? - she seems to have it under control."

<You just don't want to go near Mar,> Efaen accuses.

<He gives me the willies,> Terenia admits, <besides, he doesn't particularly like me.>

--------

Trey looks at Mar with a bit of a guilty expression, "yeah, it's Yeerkish. I prefer Trey, though, that way they don't know I'm one of the grubs. I mean, they know anyways, but sometimes they forget if my name is something more...normal."

When Elayne speaks Trey gives her a bit of an odd look, "neither of you know what the NAT is? But...everyone knows about it. The Nothlit Assimilation Team, working to make everyone an equal citizen, one Yeerk at a time," he says the last bit with contempt, and spits out a mouth full of blood and bile. Suddenly, he comes to a realization, and the pain in his eyes is overriden with curiosity and excitement "you aren't human are you? Neither of you are. That's why you don't know about the NAT, you aren't from Earth. Who are you? What are you?"

[Chad32]

Belzar stands by patiently with nothing to do. The strange tentacle creature hadn't shown up again, and he couldn't join in the conversation. Why had his people not shown up yet? How many places were there to search between here and there.

"I miss my home." He said aloud without knowing, as he fiddled with the loose metal pieces he had covering the holes in his plating.

[KitsuneMarie]

"Nothlit Assimilation Team," she echoed, frowning. "Wait--what?" she asked abruptly, blinking in confusion. "Not humans? Well... I won't speak for Mar, but I'm human, of course. I'm from Earth; I hadn't even left the planet until recently. So are you saying you're a Yeerk nothlit?" she blinked again. She still held the bloody gauze between her hands, but she hardly felt it anymore, far too interested in Treyliss to think about how dirty she was getting. Between Treyliss' blood, the stain his father hand left on her white shirt when he had tugged her down to speak in her ear, the dirt from where she had fallen in the ship, and the grime already there from her mechanic work, she was an utter mess.

[Terenia]

Trey shakes his head, looking even more confused, "of course not, I'm much too young for that. The youngest human nothlit has got to be around forty, and of course most of the ones that morphed cats and dogs and stuff have died out. But if you're from Earth, you should know that, shouldn't you?" He looks at her suspiciously, "this isn't some sort of trap, is it?"