Part 5: Girls' Day Out

Starcohol





: Do you expect it to?



: Well... I guess you got me there. What did you even eat that wasn't typical bar junk food?

: Nothing. Not that I remember.

: But I distinctly remember them having a real menu, offering steaks and pastas and the like. And I do remember thinking, 'Man, I'd totally order that if I didn't think I'd throw it all up in a few hours.'

: So, here I am, wanting to order it. Is that a good enough reason for you to come back?

: It all works for me. I haven't eaten all day; I'll take anything.



: Oh, this is why you wanted to come here.





: Can you calm down with the innuendos for a bit? We're in public and it's the middle of the day.





: Anyway, let's start over. Isol, pretend that I didn't arrange this.



: *Ahem*





: I had recalled that you and Ezra had started your crawls here, and I wanted to, you know, see where the wonder had started.

: Us encountering each other here is strictly chance, I assure you.

: Last night, if I remember right, you said that you studied war rations and nutrition. Is that right?

: Yes! It's nice that you recalled.

: This is probably a little presumptuous, but you'd think a nutritionist wouldn't be so keen on, well, getting drunk and eating junk food at a bar.



: You know what? I honestly can't.

: That said, when it's cuisine that you're trying to get, you could just ask.



: That actually sounds like a good deal to me. It'll probably be cheaper, too.

: Carla, let's leave and go to Isol's, or whatever it is she wants to do.

Read the room, Ezra, damn! And inviting yourself to someone's place is such a social faux pas, no matter how far in the future we are.

: Oh, come now, Ezra. Going to a bar or restaurant for the food is only half the experience.



: But she also said–

: Isol, what would you rather do?

: Eat here. Cooking at the dwelling is untidy and costs ingredients. I can do greater than this kitchen; that's not to say that I want to.

: There, riddle solved. Now untwist your panties, Ezra.

: I can't. My panties are chronically knotted.

: And since you brought it up –



: What? What's so wrong about me asking some questions?

: The woman's been here for less than five minutes, and you're already going to badger her about what she has planned for the future. Let her at least pick out something from the menu first!

: You're the one who invited her here! It's been, what, five hours since we all woke up in the same bed?

: Listen to you two!

: You two trade hits like you had known each other your whole existence. One knows what the other is going to say and the other knows exactly how to counter it.

: It's cute, in its own way.

: We've known each other since before the war, actually. So... yeah. Most of our existences, at this point. It's gotten pretty easy to pinpoint exactly what makes Ezra tick.

: And you, Ezra? Can you cause Carla to 'tick,' too?

: Not as well as she can.

: It's all in good fun, anyway. I could call her a messy, smelly bint and she'd know that I still love her.



Jeez, Ezra. That seemed a bit too much.

: In any case.

: Ask your question, Ezra.

: Thank you.

: Carla's right, though. I've been asking this question a lot, not just to myself, but to... well, you'd be the third person I asked, after Carla and... someone else I had met this morning.

: Was this 'so'one else' the earliest character you had seen today?

: ... Yes, in fact, they were the first person I saw.

: Hahaha!

: Hah... sorry. I just imagined you walking down the street, grabbing the first person you found by the collar, looking them dead in the eye, and saying "But what comes next?!"

: Hahaha! Glad I wasn't that unlucky last night!

: I mean... that's nearly something that I did, I won't deny it. Although I sort of danced around the question and Nikita asked it for me.

: Somehow, I don't believe that helps your case, Ezra.

: Anyway... ever since last night, I've been wondering what might come next for us.

: As a whole?

: Well, yes, for all of us – but I was actually referring to us individually. What you, me, and Carla are going to do now that... our whole 'reason for being' for the past thirteen years has gone.



: Not me, no. I've been asking people for their own takes on it ever since last night.

: Well, by 'people,' I mean three people total. You know what I mean.



: Nope, and I haven't put nearly as much thought into it as Ezra has.

: Don't get me wrong, it's not that I don't care.

: It's that I... don't care yet. I just want to keep living my life, at least – you know what? At least for the summer. Give me two hot months to go to beaches and hike in forests and get real lazy in between all the swimming and hiking.

: I just want to not worry about it for now. I get where Ezra's coming from, really... but she and I just have different approaches to how to handle life-altering, the-world-is-spinning-the-other-way good news.

: That's not a wrong idea to own, I should think.

: It narrows down to the one you're asking, Ezra. There is no wrong way to take the news and how to answer it.

: Right, which is why I'm asking you. It's why I've been asking it a lot.

: Maybe I should stop after you, if I'm honest. The more I think about it, the more I think Carla is right, and I'm being some weirdo that walks down the streets asking people what their opinion is on something... abstract? Is that the right word?

: I'll answer it, at least.

: The truth is, I started thinking likewise thoughts earlier today. And I think the conclusion I had was that... I won't change what it is I had studied to do since the start.

: Really? You're going to keep being a war ration nutritionist?

: Nutrition is what I originally studied. Using that knowledge on war rations started later.

: Though, yes: I intend to continue. The war ending doesn't change the... zeal I own with the study.

Before we continue, let me just mention I'm very impressed with how the writer is avoiding certain sounds or letters in the writing for Isol. She has that strange affect and strange alternate vocabulary that implies she is a second-language speaker, but also it makes sense because she doesn't have lips to form those sounds with. Nice!

: Huh.

: Isol, you're the first person I had asked that decided that they're going to be sticking with what they had been doing before news of the war's end reached us yesterday.

: Carla wants to forget all about it for a bit and the other person – Nikita is his name – he seemed pretty relieved to be able to choose another path for his life.

: Was Nikita training to join the struggle?

: You mean, to fight in-person? Yeah, he was training to be a pilot.

: Then there's no need to wonder there! Surely all the soldiers and warriors are all relaxed at the good news!

: Studying nutrition was always a cushy, no-risk trade in the war industry. I didn't need to worry on relocating to Earth or its stellar area to do it.

: Yet, it was always what I wanted to do. Earthlings and Ghians are two unlike genera, though the one thing we all share is that we enjoy a good dinner.

: The way you talk, Ezra, suggests you think that our trades decided during the war industry were decided in our stead. It's like you're asking the traditional 'destiny against choice' question, and you're unsure that we all had a choice at all.



: Well, I don't study psychiatry. There's a good chance I, as you Earthlings say, 'talk out the ass' on an issue as intrinsic as this one.

: In the end, the answer I can grant is that... I don't intend to change, war or not.

: ... Hmm.

: I had never thought that I was framing it as a question of free will. I thought I was always framing it as... well, as a simple question on what it is we do now.

: That doesn't mean you are framing it that way, Ezra. It's just another viewpoint.

: And Isol is answering by saying the concept of 'fate' can shove it. She wants to study food because she wants to study food. I want to take time off because I want to take time off.

: Whether you want to keep studying robotics, war or no war, or if you want to do something else entirely, is something that you'll have to decide for yourself eventually.

: It all loops back around to the main point I've been making, though: the choice is ours to make. Nothing and nobody says that we have to go back to school next semester, and if we do, it doesn't have to be for what we were studying.

: Is that what this is? Do I feel like I'm having this crisis because I need to keep preparing for the war effort? Is some part of me resigned to feeling like the decision was never mine to make?

: Or are these just... residual feelings towards the work I've put in this past decade? It's only been two days. In a way, I still feel like I'm a coil that's been wound too tight, ready to snap.

: Maybe I just need a bit more time.

: While we're on the issue, I was thinking on storing adequate credit to start a Ghian restaurant here. Ghian eateries are so scarce, what with a journey to Ghi taking a little longer than three years one-way.

: In that case, wouldn't it be next to impossible? If you wanted to open a Ghian eatery and have it be an authentic experience, importing the right food and spices would be... exorbitant.



: I imagine Isol's thought about the logistics by now.

: It's true; I would struggle with creating truly authentic Ghian quality cuisine.

: That's why I study what I study. There's a way to... denote correct Ghian tastes and textures in Earthling sustenance. I just need to locate it.

: All without risking our health, naturally.

: Well, that'd be pretty exciting! You could invent new foods or toppings or spices that taste just like what you eat on Ghi.

: Although, that sounds like chemistry, not culinary arts.

: Yes, well... one challenge at a stage, you understand. I'll need to get real, authentic Ghian ingredients until I can recreate their likeness. I can't rely on recollections alone.

Hasn't it been over three hundred years that the Ghians and humans know each other and have been to both planets? A sort of cultural exchange of cuisine, music, fashion, and more would have taken place way earlier, and Isol's plans to make artificial food would probably have been achieved by now. Maybe in this place, wherever we are, there was no effort to import or promote Ghian culture? Or maybe the Riklid War just completely stuffed any sort of thought about this in the new generation and now there needs to be a rediscovery of the arts?



: Do I have it right?

: I await the struggles. The cost alone would shock anyone.

: Yet now that there is no war and no direction laid out, I think it's a good way to use what I learned.

: A Ghian restaurant could also assist likewise Ghians in dealing with...





: Uh...

: Oh! Homesickness?

: Yes, that!

: While we're talking on it: Ezra, what did you study on during the war? Was it a thing that you wanted to do? Or was it a thing that you were told to do?

: Oh! Oh! I know this one! Pick me!

: Now, now, Carla, you'll get your turn. I asked Ezra.



: I was a tinkerer when I was a kid. I liked to pull things apart and put them back together to see if they still ran as well as they did before.

: Not a lot of electrical-based toys were interesting to do that with – I'd find a circuit board and I wouldn't know the first thing that I was looking at.

: But if, like, a toy had a button, and the button was connected to the board with a wire, then a five year old could figure out that if you disconnected the wire, the button would stop working. And it'd start working if you plugged it back in.

: And then I'd start seeing what would happen if I plugged a different button's wire into a different slot, and, well, now I study robotics.





: Yeah, that's fine. I understand the context.

: That's good.

: Androids, huh? That sounds like a nice, cushy trade that's not on the lines.

: Taking a job that wasn't directly on the front lines was a perk, I won't deny that, but studying robotics – everything from the design and engineering to the learning AI that went into operating them – is a fascinating subject to me.

: Using advanced artificial intelligence to help humans and Ghians with their daily lives had been a goal since as early as computers were a thing. We've had robots since as early as the two-thousands, but the technology in those science-fiction stories always felt so distant.

: Up until the Riklid invaded – then, there was a huge push towards using every resource that we had to help with the war effort.

: War has a tendency to quicken the study and research on certain things that can later assist with general health and wellness. It's likewise on Ghi, too.

: Your study in the area will likely realign towards society now that the war struggle has ended.

: That's what I'm hoping for, too.

The cynic in me says that all those shiny tools and war machines are going to be turned inward.

: With any luck, I'm hoping that we recall the latest Gen Three models that were recently put into production so we can refit them for helping civilian life. Now that the war is over, they don't need those shoulder-mounted gatling guns or the metal-piercing thermal vision.

: And, well, while we're at it, I'm hoping we redesign them. They look really creepy and off-putting. Which was an intentional design feature to unnerve the Riklid, but if they're going to live with humans, ideally, they'd, uh, not carry such an 'expressive' array of details.

: If I were Isol, I would have accepted a 'yes, Isol, I like robots.' We didn't need your student's thesis in response.

: Luckily, neither of us asked you!

: Don't misunderstand me – I think it's endearing. I said I would have accepted a five-word response, but this works too.

: ... With all that said...

: Robotics is what I've been studying, but you might understand why I'm having such a difficult time coming to terms with what it is I'm going to do now that the war is over. Going from war robots to, I don't know, vacuum cleaners or something else is a bit of a... change.

: I had spent thirteen years of my life – my entire teenage life – on studying robots meant for war. Do I change course entirely?

: It's what I know, and even if making killer robots wasn't what I wanted, it's what I'm good at now. Do I stick with that? Or do I try to, like, pick up an art or something? If I can even figure out which one I want. It's easy to think that I'm too old and it's too late.



: Ezra, you're in your mid-twenties. Your life hasn't even started yet. I don't want to hear any nonsense about how you think it's 'too late' to change course if you want.

: First of all, it's never too late, and second of all, you're practically still a baby.

: ... Then what does that make you?

: I'm also a baby. A baby that needs coddling and pampering and occasionally someone to burp me.

: Point is, you have your whole life ahead of you, and that hasn't been more true than any other point in the last thirteen years. I know you're struggling to come to terms with that, but if you just remind yourself every now and again, you'll eventually drill it into yourself.

: ... Yeah, you're right. I just need to keep that in mind.

This is true no matter your age. I mean, you may be over forty and reading this, but it's never too late to change what you want to do with your life. Good advice on the writer's part.

: ... Ezra, on curiosity's sake, do you know what the destiny is with the current Gen Two androids? And the Gen Threes that are already in circulation?

: Well, the war only ended yesterday, so it's tough to say.

: Gen Twos and Gen Threes were designed specifically for the Riklid War. We had already started slowing down production on Gen Twos when their successors started rolling out. I imagine we're going to stop production on all of them altogether.

: And for the ones that are already out there... I imagine they'll probably be broken down and recycled. There's a lot of expensive tech in each of their bodies that could be repurposed for other stuff now that the war is over.

: Although, if they could feel humility, I imagine it's going to be a bit of a downgrade, going from a machine built for war and defending the cradle of all humankind... to having your parts converted into a foot massager or something.





: Have we decided what it is that we're after tonight, or do we need a little bit more time?

I hunted down an "anime waiter" image for this character. Credit (?) goes to Kyoukashirayuki and their tumblr page where I found it.



: ... We haven't even looked at the menus yet.

: You know, having sat at this table in this busy restaurant for a while now, I had been getting the impression that we had forgotten something!

: We'll, ah, need a bit more time.

: Yes, of course. Can I get you three something to drink while we're at it?

: I'll take a Crackle Rain with extra ice.

: Do you have any Grit?

: Not since the lawsuit last year. Is Freddy's okay?

: ... Water it is.

: Haha, you'd be surprised how often I have this exact same conversation with customers. And you, hon, what'll it be?

: Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, I dunno, we're still in the middle of a system-wide party, but it's also the middle of the day, so... something chocolatey. A chocolate milkshake? I'll take that.

: Coming right up. Take your time looking over the menu, there's no rush – not anymore.

*Time passes...*



: ... What?

: Carla picked this place because she was curious on how the bar food tasted.

: You go to drinking holes to taste the cuisines?

: Yeah, I thought it lacked imagination, too.

: Oh, cram it. The mouth knows what it craves and it craves bar food.

: Was it even any good, in your opinion?

: It doesn't exactly hold up to the legends I've heard regarding some of the restaurants on Earth, but it was alright. I ordered food and they fed me.

: They certainly fed me better than I could have fed myself, I'll tell you that much! And it would have taken me hours!

: I could do that too, you know. And greater than they did.

: And they do the cleaning for you.



: I wouldn't need cash as a reward, in that case.

: Hmm. Free food, but we'd need to do the dishes.

: I dunno, I'm kinda liking the idea of throwing money around and being serviced instead.

: You're getting it, Ezra! They've got the pampering and the coddling down pat; you think if I tipped extra, the staff would burp me?

: Only one way to learn.

: Hah, are you going to do it? You're a grown woman, Carla; are you going to ask the waiter to burp you for the giggles?

: Hmm... it would be funny....

: Nah, not this time. And I'll need to get drunk first.

: That milkshake of theirs tasted really good, actually. Do you think I could get them to spike it?

: Yeah, probably. And if they won't, what's to stop you from ordering two drinks and mixing them together yourself?

: ... My god.

: What are you two doing once we're done here?

: I got a thing I need to do, unfortunately, so I was going to bail after this and leave you two alone.

: That sounds like you're trying to hook us up.

: That's because there's some truth to that, Ezra.

: Not that we need excuses to see each other again.

: There are... certain social exclusions that don't relate any longer once you see each other naked.

: I like this one, Ezra. Let's keep her.

: B'yeah, it's starting to get a little late. That thing of mine that needs doing isn't going to get done any sooner the longer I keep sitting here.

: And the sooner it gets done, the sooner I can go out drinking again!

: Man...

: Hmm?

: Is this just what life is, now? Spending the days celebrating, meeting new people, exploring our own backyard, and spending the nights getting drunk and having dinner with people we just met?

: I don't think so. I don't think this isn't what existence is going onward.

: At least... not eternally.

: It's likely that this is existence at least until next week or so, I'd guess.

I'm not quite sure what Isol is trying to say here. She's disagreeing with Ezra, but then uses a double negative? I think she ultimately means loafing around isn't the future past a week.

: I'd give it... a couple of days minimum.

: We're going to run out of confetti eventually.

: Hah, and that's when the party is over, is it?

: Well, it'd certainly be the beginning of the end.

: Anyway, I'm gonna dip. You two have fun without me.

: But not too much fun.

: Or do! I'm not your mom.

: Leave if you're going to, already.

: Don't stay out past curfew!

: Byeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee



: She didn't used to be this pushy. Back when we were still young, she was actually pretty quiet and timid. It's wild what a bit of time and a change in atmosphere can do to a person.

: But she isn't, like, malicious about being pushy. And she's never, like, pushed it too far, you know? She knows just how much gas to give.

: That sounds really annoying.

: It sure as hell can be, but... well, I keep her around for a reason: she's a good friend. I wouldn't have made it this far in life without her and her energy.

: She's the reason why you and I are here together at all, and she's the one who instigated... the incident last night, so, I can see what you say.



: I wouldn't have kept her around as long as I have if I couldn't keep up with her.

: Not that the choice is yours. She'd stick to you like glue whether you want her to or not.

: It's clear that she enjoys your attendance.

: We've been friends for a long while, now. We found each other pretty quickly during our studies when the war started and we've been hanging around each other ever since.

: ...



: You don't engage in a three-way with a girl and stay as 'just acquaintances' with her. You're either greater than that, or it's a 'throw away' and you stay strangers later.

: Not necessarily. There's another term for that.

: Who are you trying to kid, Ezra?

That's facts, although what does this mean to Isol? She's the one who actually instigated the threesome by propositioning us. Carla and Ezra agreed to it, but it seems a bit hypocritical or judgmental of her to comment on Ezra and Carla's relationship. Maybe Ghians don't believe in friends-with-benefits after all?

: ...

: What about you and me? Are we just 'acquaintances?'

: We aren't throwing each other away yet, so that's a good start.

: Though... I think that's what Carla wants us to learn.

: Let's walk and talk, you and I. There's a garden that I want to go to. The night is young and there's a lot to talk on.

*The screen fades to black. The music and ambience fade out.*