Galaxy's Edge Space Bar

[Myitt]

<Why did you run away from your home?> Corliss asks gently.  <I know you've hinted at pieces of it, but I can't imagine what sort of family would drive you away.>


Mike watches Tamora confess her feelings for the Sub-Visser in her head with wide-eyed surprise.  He'd never heard anyone outside of the rebellion, except perhaps for that turelek's host, talk about a Yeerk with such...

Adoration? he wonders internally.  Hell, she's gushing like a bloody school girl.  I reckon he's really letting her do it, too.

He shakes himself out of his funk and clears his throat.  "Hey, listen, I believe you," he says earnestly.  "Of course Zorish wants what's best for you, you're sort of in this whole thing together, aren't you?  But Tamora, what I just don't get is why he's keeping you in the Empire when everything he does is going to destroy your bloody planet?  Isn't that, in the long run, far worse than a few scraped meals?  We're not all that bad off, in the rebellion, you know.  We haven't survived this long by being in total abject misery."

Not that you'd be able to join us in a million years, his darker conscience adds. 

[Terenia]

Terenia is quiet for a few moments. She pulls away from Corliss, breaking physical contact.

<My dad was in the military,> she says at last, in flat, removed thought-speak voice. <Up until I was about eight years old we lived in Minnesota and he was gone overseas a lot. It was okay then. My mom had her hands full, with my brother and sister and me, but we managed.>

She sighs, drifting uncomfortably. Suddenly the pool liquid feels cold around her. <Then my dad got transferred to a base in California. At first it was great. We got to see him and didn't have to worry that he was going to be dragged off again at a moments notice. But, well, then we stopped seeing him quite so often. And when we did, he'd always have a beer bottle in his hand or be rushing off to play poker with his Marine friends.> The disgust in her voice is practically tangible. <The night I ran away my mom was trying to stop him from going off. She told him that he had a responsibility to his family. To us. He hit her across the head with a glass beer bottle and knocked her unconscious.>

She pauses, allowing the story to sink in for a minute. <I left to get help. I left because I was scared and Danny wasn't home and Tammy was crying and I didn't know what to do, I just knew I couldn't stay another minute. So I promised Tammy that I'd go get help. Only, I got lost and...> she laughs harshly. <Well, I didn't have to worry about returning home, at least, after that.>


Tamora looks surprised. "Why would I care about the planet being destroyed?" she asks. "Nothing good ever came from it. All we humans do is destroy one another over stupid things that don't even matter. And break promises. And use one another. I don't want to have anything to do with that place." She wraps her arms around herself, looking at the bar counter miserably.

[Myitt]

It's Corliss' turn to be silent, mulling over the story that kicked off Terenia's trauma. 

<I'm sorry,> he says finally, lowering his palps.  <None of you deserved to go through that.  If you could...change things, make it so that you were never found by the Andalite military...would you?>


Mike stares at Tamora like she must be insane.  "Yeah, but did you ever reckon the other six billion people who want a lot to do with that place?  Six billion people who will be dead or enslaved, if the Empire wins?  Not to mention all of the bloody ecology and whatever?" he demands, trying not to let too much of his incredulity come out in his tone.  "Tamora, the Empire will destroy everything we have.  Isn't it better to let us destroy ourselves, or save ourselves, or whatever will happen because we aren't afraid to be in control of our lives?"
 

[Terenia]

<Of course I wouldn't,> Terenia sneers. <I just traded one hell for another, but at least this has some sort of purpose. On Earth it was...just abuse for the sake of abuse. I had no control over anything. I could have stayed on the Andalite Homeworld when I got there, though. I could have maybe even been happy there. I chose to enter this war. If I had to decide between the hell I was born into and the hell I chose? I'll take this one, thanks.>

She hesitates, then adds. <Of course, if you asked me that before I came to this damned place I may have said differently. It seems that...that meeting you has put a bit of a new spin on things.>


Tamora shrugs, her eyes glistening with the beginnings of tears. "Who says we deserve to destroy or save ourselves?" she asks thickly. She looks up at him, biting her lip to keep from sobbing. "I'm not a politician or...or an environmentalist or anything. I just know that I'm trying to get through this war alive and I don't want to be taken away from Zorish. If the Empire loses, if Earth wins, then we'll be separated. I can't lose another person that I love."

Zorish watches Tamora with some mix of disgust, sympathy and curiosity. He does not take over, though. The act of letting Tamora express herself outwardly is strangely pleasing to him.

[Myitt]

Corliss is silent for a moment.  <I'm glad to have met you, Terenia,> he says finally.


"How can you know that?" Mike demands.  "Do you reckon I want to lose my closest friends?  If the Empire loses, life will be better for the bloody planet and if the rebellion can help it, better for Yeerks as well!"

[Terenia]

<You are?> Terenia sounds utterly disbelieving. <All I've done is make your life more complicated. I mean...I'm glad I met you too, but wouldn't things have been so much simpler for you if I hadn't come to this stupid rock?> She laughs flatly. <And now you're going to be dragging me back to your base where I'll just mess things up even more and...> she trails off, sensing that she is rambling.

<I just don't want to end up hurting you,> she concludes lamely.


Tamora flinches away from Mike's anger, blanching. "I don't know," she whispers, blinking away a few tears. "I just want things to stop being so hard. I want to be safe and I want to be with Zorish. That's all."

Zorish decides that he has heard enough and gently, but firmly retakes control. He sniffles, brushing the salt water tracks off of his host's cheeks. "You humans," he says quietly. "I don't think I will ever fully understand your species, no matter how many hosts I take. She truly thinks that she is in love with me." He laughs hollowly. "The foolish girl."

[Myitt]

<I can't say whether you'll hurt us or not,> Corliss protests.  <All I know is Mike and I?  We're willing to take the chance.>


Mike watches Tamora's eyes as Zorish reassumes control.  He swallows hard. 

"She cares about you more than anyone who's stolen her life away has a right to be cared about," he says coldly.  "You might call her foolish, but she's made your life awfully easy, hasn't she?  And you call her a fool.  You're the only creature who's said a kind word to her in, what, her entire life?  You created this, Zorish, and you're a bloody fool yourself if you take her for granted."

[Terenia]

<Then you and Mike are idiots,> Terenia says matter-of-factly. <I'm not complaining, but honestly the last thing I deserve is...this. You. Either of you.>


Zorish stares straight ahead, examining the wall of liquor bottles in front of him. When he responds his voice is carefully level. "I have stolen nothing from her," he says. "Unless you count a broken home and a lying family. I have saved her. I took her out of that vile cesspool of false love and allowed her to move on with her life." He licks his lips, aware of the fact that his voice is shaking slightly. Must be the alcohol, he dismisses, turning to face Mike. Tamora's sadness and fear is completely gone now that Zorish has resumed control. In its place is the cold, deadly expression of a Sub-Visser.

"Don't you dare imply that I take Tamora for granted, human," Zorish says lowly. "I have kept all of the promises I made her. That is more than anyone else in this galaxy can say."

[Myitt]

<Oh, yes?> Corliss replies coyly.  <And what if I disagree?  Hm?  What if I believe your luck is going to change?  Terenia, I know what it's like to be torn from everything you've ever known.  To be forced into a war.>  He laughs harshly.  <Even to kill your own sibling.  Your own people.  I know from experience that the last thing you should do is convince yourself that you deserve the misfortunes in your life.>


"And you reckon you can live out your life with her, in some happy post-war Imperial paradise?" Mike asks, incredulous.  "That is, of course, until it's determined just how much of Tamora's feelings for you are mutual.  Or are you still trying to convince yourself otherwise?"  He scoffs, but his voice loses its bite.  "No, mate, I know where your plan to keep Tamora safe and alive is leading you, and I'm sorry to say it doesn't have a happy ending."

[Terenia]

<What if I do?> Terenia asks stubbornly. <What if I'm just doomed to hurt everyone I care about? You know as well as I do what the others here at the bar think of me. I'm selfish, only out to please myself. Maybe they're right and I don't even realize it. Maybe my luck won't change and you'll end up dead too.>


Zorish's throat works as he struggles to come up with a cogent response. To buy time, he pours himself another glass of water and sips on it slowly.

"And in your ideal little world, what happens?" Zorish asks. "I run off to join your little band of terrorists and take up arms against everything I know? Against my own people?" He laughs coldly. "And for what? To lose everything that I have worked for since I was a grub? So that Tamora can be around people who approve of the way we...the way I-," he stutters, then finds his voice again, "the way she feels for me? We have survived nearly eight years without issue. I do not see why that must end with the war."

[Myitt]

<Maybe I will,> Corliss replies, his somber tone giving way to a bit of his humor.  <Then again, maybe I won't end up dead because of you.  I believe this war is likely to catch up to me long before you do.>  He maneuvers his body to face hers more fully.  <Anyway, I don't care.  I'd rather take the risk.>  He laughs.  <Maybe I really have lost my mind.>


"No, I don't reckon there's a bloody snowball's chance in hell that you'll be allowed to join us," Mike says matter-of-factly.  "What I'm telling you is that we intend to win the war, or at the very least prevent the Empire from taking Earth.  What do you reckon will happen if Earth wins out?  Would you rather be around people who won't force you to hide what you feel?  Zorish, what if the Empire does win, and you're forced to take another host, have you ever thought about that?"

[Terenia]

<I really think you have,> Terenia says, but there is a smile in her tone over the self-deprecation. <I suppose I'm not going to change it, though, am I?>


Zorish presses his lips together, hugging Tamora's arms in an imitation of her earlier position, as though he can physically cling to her. "I won't lose her," he says matter-of-factly. "That is unacceptable." The laugh that squeezes out of his lungs is forced. "You are telling me, essentially, that I have zero choice. That I cannot leave the Empire, even if I wanted to, and that staying in the Empire will eventually force our separation." He eyes Mike warily.

"You are a cruel human," he decides. "You understand these emotions far better than I ever could. These human emotions that no Yeerk is meant to have. And you are using that knowledge to provoke me. For what purpose? What do you hope to gain out of this conversation, beyond convincing me that everything I've worked for is foolish and that this...affection... I feel for Tamora is more than mere sympathy?"

[Myitt]

<Nope,> Corliss replies, scrunching forward and brushing himself along her back, before curling back up to face her.  <Not a chance.>  His ultrasonic chirps are, in their own way, coy and a little embarrassed, but not at all ashamed.


"That's all I hope to convince you of," Mike replies, his smugness replaced by the beginnings of guilt.  "As long as you quit fooling yourself, that's a step in the right direction.  We're trying to create a place where Yeerks and humans can forge a peace, and if it's got to start between one human and one Yeerk, why hide it?  That's what we're on about, Zorish.  The Empire is just keeping you alive, keeping you under a false sense of security, while it takes away your ability to be yourselves." 

He sighs and pushes back his empty beer glass.  "Look, mate, I know what it's like to feel ostracized for what you believe in," says Mike quietly.  "But who knows what kind of future we can create, if more of us work towards the same goals?  Even Corliss was in the Empire, for ages and ages, and it wasn't easy for him to leave his life behind.  Perhaps...if one side or the other doesn't **** things up...perhaps we can create a solution where you can stay with Tamora and all me mates can have a decent life, too.  A peaceful bloody life, better than all this rot.  But it's not going to work if we keep drawing lines between each other."  He cools a little, realizing the couple of beers might be loosening his tongue a bit more than he'd like. 

"Maybe you can still survive, in your own version of things," he adds sullenly.

[Darth Revan]

With Silver resting comfortably in his arms, Parker smiled behind his helmet and could hear what Thor would've said, had he been still in his suit. His eyes widened, remembering that he was still in the Cursed Pride. He asked Silver, "Do you mind if I pick Thor up first? No doubt he's figured out that I'm here. I don't want to leave him in that ship for too long."

[Terenia]

If Terenia had lips, she would certainly be smiling. As it was she merely brushed her palps along his skin, finding a strange sort of intimacy in their closeness that she had never expected to feel in Yeerk form.

<Okay,> she says. <Yeah. Alright. Then...I guess I'll stop trying.> She sighs a little, but it is a happy sigh.


Zorish's eyes darken, his brows drawing together. "Very well, human," he says coldly. "I admit to entertaining feelings beyond mere sympathy for Tamora. I care for her deeply. I may...I may even love her, if such a thing is possible." He blinks, his expression blanching slightly as his alcohol-sodden brain catches up to his mouth a few seconds too late.

<<You do?>> Tamora asks, and Zorish must fight to keep her giddiness from affecting him. He ignores his host, standing abruptly with the intent of leaving before he can incriminate himself further. Unfortunately, as soon as he gets to his feet he sways, the alcohol still deeply infecting Tamora's functions. Heavily, he sits back down on the stool.

"Dapsen," he hisses, not sure if he is cursing himself or Tamora or Mike. Perhaps all three.