Van breathed a sigh of relief and sat down. There was definitely something wrong with Mar, and once he spoke, it was apparent. Though he knew Van's language, the possible Oligarch was also decidedly confused, and sounded... drunk. His voice was at a higher pitch, and his accent fell in all the wrong places. To Van, Mar's new "accent" was plenty comparable to his own native style. Just hearing the man talk made Van want to shake him, and yell, "Snap out of it!", but he resisted the urge.
Van was too used to the way the Oligarch he knew spoke. Over there, Mar's voice was low, and measured, with a deep vibrato that emphasized certain tones. To native Beryllians, he sounded stereotypically "evil", a side-effect of which planet he came from. Van had long suspected that Mar was one of his own kind, from some other conquered planet elsewhere in the galaxy.
He simply hadn't kept tabs on who's who or which planet was a Beryllian colony or not, mostly because to Van, that information was irrelevant. In the little pocket of stars the government claimed as their own, Beryllia had no power, and their conquest had failed. Van was never really impressed with his own race, which was ironic, because everything about him screamed "Beryllian". His ship, style of dress, behavior, and even his tendency to speak his native tongue gave away his racial origins. He couldn't quite escape the world he tried so hard to reject, and honestly, only to another Beryllian would he appear bitter about his home world.
That aside, there was something wrong with Mar, and Van positively loathed the idea of figuring it out. It would force him to bring all those sour sentiments back to the surface, and relearn his culture, which not something he was keen on doing.
Mar mentioned the Hegemony briefly, but then said he didn't know what it was. He also sounds positively drunk, and I swear, that Elayne chick reminds me too much of someone I already know! Argh, why can't life be simple? Why is my life never simple?!
... Emal ishvisaa! If I wanted a simple life, I wouldn't have tried so hard to complicate it, nen!
Van shook his head, and grinned. There was no point in bothering Mar anymore: he had his fill of seeing the man wounded, and honestly, all Mar's presence did was make Van feel even more confused.
"Mmm, Marzhen! I gotta run, now. Go have happy fun-time with your chick, I've got... girls to meet."
Van turned, a nervous smile still on his face, and looked for Ewa. Anh, there she is! At the Bar, eh? She appeared to be somewhat engaged with a conversation with others. Van figured it would be best to approach the Bar anyways, and maybe get a drink. A shaken Dalcasian Spice, like he had last time, perhaps?
...Or maybe something stronger?