I do not own Chaotic nor anything related to it. It belongs to TCDigital.

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The Lying Game

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Time 14;

"You did well for a first day," Sett muses as he looks in his glass of kainekot brandy. "You need to remind people to hurry up a bit more, though. Crack that whip a bit."

We're back at the bar Sett brought me to yesterday. He's starting his critique on my performance.

"Do you mean that literally?" I ask.

"Yes," Sett says before taking a drink. He clears his throat and continues, "The runners are called runners for a reason. I took it easy on you humans at the beginning because you all looked horribly new at it, but now we need results."

I nod. "I see." I chew on the inside of my cheek for a moment. "I'll try to be less hesitant with the whip in the future."

Sett opens one eye and looks at me. "I've heard from other humans about the stigma attached to whips. Let me remind you that you aren't overseeing a slave labor force. Everyone at the dew farm chose to work there, and they can quit at any time."

"Right," I mutter. Still doesn't make it any less creepy.

Sett swirls his drink around inside its glass for a moment before draining it. He sets down the empty glass and clears his throat. "Michael," he begins. "I've heard maybe two others with that same name."

I chuckle a bit. "It used to be the most common male name in the country I was from. I forget which is most common now."

Sett raises his brow and taps a finger on the table. "Hmm. What was your world like?"

Oh. Well, I knew questions like that would come up eventually. "Well, we came from a world we call Earth, like the element."

The barmaid performs one of those appearing acts. I still don't know how she does it. "It's a lot like Perim, actually, minus all the magic and a lot of the wonder." She sets a glass in front of Sett.

"Sounds boring," Sett mutters. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." The barmaid turns to me. "Can I get you anything else?"

I glance at my half-full glass of kainekot fresh brandy. "I'm not done with this one yet."

Sett snorts and clears his throat. "Bring him a harder one. I'll pay for it."

"But I don't-" I begin.

Sett knocks the table hard, and I close my mouth. "We'll talk about that nonsense later," he frowns.

The barmaid bows and heads for the kitchens. Sett clears his throat. "Now where was I? Ah yes, your world."

I bite my lower lip. I can feel an awkward question coming.

Sett picks up his glass. "You must have had some family. You miss them?" He lifts the glass to his mouth.

I was right. Awkward question.

The honest answer is that I don't. Out of context, it sounds callous, but with what I know about all of this...

I can't tell the truth on this one, though. "I miss them a lot."

Sett puts the glass down and looks at me with one eye. "You don't sound like you miss them."

I wave my hand around a bit. "All of this? It's not exactly conductive to acting like I feel."

Sett frowns. "I don't follow."

I sigh and lean on the table. "Every day in Al Mipedim is some kind of struggle to survive. I can't go moping about the life I lost on Earth, or else I'm going to lose the one I have now in Perim."

Sett nods with a satisfied expression. "Ah. Yes, I've seen a few humans wasting away pitying themselves." He clears his throat a little.

"Here's your brandy," the barmaid says while placing a glass in front of me.

I jump a little in my seat. "Stop doing that!"

The barmaid chuckles and smooths out her tunic. "But it's so fun! Back home I had to wear one of those stupid short waitress skirts, and I was supposed to be all pretty for everyone to look at."

Oh. "And here you get to be a ninja waitress."

The barmaid grins. "Pretty much. Anything else?"

Sett raises a hand. "We're good."

The woman turns and walks off. I glance down at the brandy in front of me. It's true, I don't drink alcohol. Not back on Earth, anyway. Given what's really going on, it wouldn't hurt here in Perim, but...

Sett clears his throat and points at my glass. "Aren't you going to drink that?"

I grimace. What's a believable lie here? "Er, alcohol makes me sick."

Another of Sett's one-eyed stares. "How so?"

Crap, um... "I can't keep it down at all."

Sett shrugs and reaches over for the glass. "I guess I'll take it then."

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Sett has reached the point where he's telling dirty stories again. I'm not really paying attention, I'm just nodding every time he pauses for breath.

A thin Mipedian with bright red scales walks up behind Sett and puts a hand on his shoulder. "Hey, Sett, how many drinks have you had?"

"Not enough," Sett chuckles drunkenly before coughing into his fist. "Can you get me another one?"

The Mipedian looks at me. "How many has he had?"

I count on my fingers. "Four."

He shakes his head. "You've had enough for tonight, Sett."

"Oh come on," Sett grins. "Just one more? One of them was a pansy drink that guy didn't want."

The Mipedian pats Sett's shoulders. "Not until tomorrow."

Sett sighs and sags in his seat. "I see." His face brightens, and he smiles at the other Mipedian. "You coming to my place tonight, Rasha?"

The Mipedian rolls his eyes. "Yes, Sett, I'm coming over."

Sett giggles a little strangely. "I'll be looking forward to it, sweetheart."

I raise an eyebrow. Hadn't seen that coming.

The Mipedian that Sett had called Rasha sits next to me. "Just so we're clear," he whispers, "My name is not Rasha, it's Shasta."

I give Shasta or Rasha or whatever he's called a look. "Right. Why's he calling you Rasha then?"

The Mipedian rolls his ruby eyes. "He's confusing me for my sister, his wife."

I blink, then glance at Sett. "Um... how hard is the hardest kainekot brandy here?"

Shasta points at a human across the bar. "He only managed to finish half a glass of it."

The human Shasta is pointing at is out like a light, drool leaking from his mouth onto the table. I blurt, "And Sett drinks four on a regular basis?"

Sett laughs, then has a small coughing fit. "Hey Rasha, you know I don't mind you hitting on the human there, but save some lovin' for me."

Well, that's a strange image in my head. I shake it out of my mind, then ask, "So... where is Rasha?"

Shasta clicks his teeth together a few times while he glances at Sett. "She... is away."

Uh oh. "...I take it's something she... can't come back from?"

The way Shasta sags in his seat tells me all I need to know. He stands up. "I need to get back to keeping the bar." He walks off.

I look at the cheery Sett with a different opinion of him. He's trying to drink away the pain of his wife's death.

I close my eyes and rest my head on the table. I wonder how she died...

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Up next: The Ninth Time

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Like I said before, Chaotic belongs to TCDigital.

Poor Sett.

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