“Next rounds’ on me, youngins!”
The bar erupts into cheers of appreciation at Initae’s declaration. She is currently heavily inebriated. Which I didn't even know was possible. I think she has drained several casks of liquor.
Naturally, when you visit the Pota-Human Embassy you must partake in a ludicrous quantity of Potanian liquor. It just wouldn't be right otherwise.
“Yeeeehaw! You can do it girl, just keep the liquor flowing.” Says Ray, who is leaning heavily into my side. So drunk that I'm not sure how she is remaining conscious, it defies all laws of physics.
Naturally, she proceeds to pick up yet another bottle of liquor. I'm pretty sure if we were normal humans, a single bottle would kill us. But luckily we are sovereign humans. Basically gods (physically) compared to a normal human.
Over the past few days we have journeyed around various places. Initae had a few great recommendations and we did some camping and picnicking on some uncolonized planets. Naturally, Emil came along with us, I think he really enjoyed himself. All this adventuring sure must beat sitting in that temple for who knows how many millions of years.
By the way, Emil is also here. He is sitting at another table, surrounded by quite a few women of various species. It seems when he lets the liquor flow he has a bit of a silver tongue. Which makes sense, from his story he shared with me, he used to be a prince and even briefly emperor. Being raised as royalty would instill some amount of social affluence into even the most incapable.
So yeah, we had a fun time and are now on a station that houses the Pota-Human Embassy complex. Today at 12:00 UTC we apparently have a big event to finish off the first trial officially. Everyone reading this should know that the best way to prepare for an official ceremony is to get extremely drunk.
The bar is quite crowded, it seems that just the mention of the moonlight duo is enough to attract a massive drinking crowd. Our reputation in that regard has also spread I guess. Which isn't a bad thing, there are far worse rumors to be spread around.
I look over to Initae, only to find her surrounded by a group of Arkan. She is levitating an entire cask of wine above her and guzzling it straight out of the tap. “Chug! Chug! Chug! Chug!” I can hear them chant as she keeps going. She is so much smaller than the cask, ive got no clue where it can possibly be going. It's not like she has a stomach, she must just absorb it as soon as it enters her body.
As Ray finishes her current bottle, I can feel her leaning more heavily into her. After a few minutes it appears she has fallen asleep.
“Always getting drunk and leaving me with the baggage, eh. Some things never change.” I mutter.
I then motion to Initae with a gesture that says I am going to take Ray back to the ship. I, without even using inae assistance, haul her onto my back and leave the bar. I just leave Emil to his own devices. He seems to be integrating fine on his own, almost a bit too well if anything. I heard that Initae gave him some pretty thorough coaching to help him catch up.
I carry Ray back through the station to the ship. The rail system is quite hard to use with someone on your back. But after repeated practice I think I have managed to get the hang of it. Now, I could just let Alex or Duck carry her. But that feels strange somehow.
We arrive back at the Sycos and I dump her into her bed. She can rest for a while, we've got about eight hours until the event. With alien tech it shouldn't take her two hours to get ready anymore… probably.
So naturally, I do the most normal thing when you've got a drunk passed out and a massive ceremony that the entire universe will be watching coming up.
I make waffles. After all, I did kinda promise her some back on Valker, though I may be a bit late I will uphold my promises even if I die trying!
I spend about two hours making the most delicious waffles she will have ever tasted. Nothing like those bland ones that the fire god wanted. What a strange guy, I mean, completely bland waffles. The madness! I make sure to add my special ingredient into the waffles, it makes them taste far better than anything Ray will ever taste. Though, it's so top secret I wont even write it down here.
I walk back into her bedroom, a plate stacked high with waffles. To my surprise, she is sitting up and is conscious.
“Agh! You did it again. Always with the food after I've passed out drunk. I even remembered to set a timer this time so that I'd have time to get ready!”
“Well, if you do remember, these waffles were promised to you. You should know that I always keep my promises.”
“What about that time-” I stop her speech by taking some waffle and shoving it in her mouth. She quickly forgets her rebuttal and starts to enjoy the delicious waffles. Is it moral to constantly compliment my own cooking? Well, I'm going to do it anyway.
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“Gesh Theas are soh gud. Watever your secret ingredient is, it must be revolutionary.”
“Im still not going to tell you. No matter what technique you try to use.”
“Is that a challenge I hear in your voice?”
“Go ahead and try if you want. I'm not gonna break so easily.”
After a few seconds, she blushes profusely and dives below the covers of the bed. I cannot figure out what I did to provoke this reaction. Perhaps she just really loved the waffles.
“If you want more you can't hide under there all day. We've got about six hours until the ceremony.”
“Gah, fine.”
She must still be a little bit drunk. She slowly peeks her head out of the covers and opens her mouth. Guess I've gotta feed her. Whatever I do to get stuck in such a fun scenario. I'm going to have to get her back, I should reach inae burnout more often. Make her feed me instead, then maybe she'll act more her age.
Though, given her history, I honestly don't expect that to be the case. I have lost track of how many times I've carried her home, even before she could drink. She would always expend too much energy and get very tired.
Not that I particularly mind though.
I finish feeding her but then she just flops back into bed and pretends to sleep. In order to get her to wake up I start to play with her hair. Which has grown quite long since our reunion. It's now down to about the middle of her back.
It somehow is better long, not that I'd ever tell her that. She would probably cut it all off just to spite me. Hair this good cannot simply be wasted on spite, thus I shall remain silent.
We stay like that for about two hours. But I finally give up and address the root problem.
“Enough slacking, we gotta go prepare for the ceremony!”
“But I don't wanna, parties are fun, but can't we just sit in here for a while longer. It's very cozy, almost as though everything else doesn't exist.”
“Do you want Initae to tease us again? Imagine what she’ll say if we only appear moments before we have to leave.”
“Hmm, it'll probably be something like, ‘hope you had a good time totally-not-flirting whatsoever, now get yourselves into this antechamber before you delay the ceremony even further.’”
“I suppose that does kinda sound like her. But I think she would do it in a more suggestive tone. She really tries to see things that don't exist.”
“Like what?”
“Like the fact that our normal banter is flirting, like that was such a weird misunderstanding.”
“Sure.”
I then practically drag her out of her bed. I understand it's super comfortable and all. But she should be excited to show off to the crowds. I mean, it's our time to shine.
I wonder how well the other contestants did. Somehow they have kept all such bits of information from reaching us. The IEC truly is scary, to have such power that people will allow for such intense information control.
About the only thing we heard about the other contestants was that they made it back. Not even about how they did during the trial.
I manage to push Ray into getting ready. I let her be to get back into her persona while I go to the bridge. There I find Initae and Emil chatting about things.
“Why hello there little Ko. Did you two have fun? I heard some pretty loud clanking in the kitchen, please don't blow up the ship with your culinary creations.”
“Pfft, I'm a great cook. It's not like I'm making thermite like that time back in high school.”
Emil:”Admiral, when you casually mention making thermite, it doesn't help your case. In fact, it makes us doubt your skills even more.”
“Hey! Don't look at me like that, it was Ray’s idea! She basically pulled me into doing it against my will!”
Initae:”I bet you had a bunch of fun though. The entire time you were probably totally-not-flirting too!”
“Well, maybe. But it was pretty safe. Just like my cooking! I have yet to blow anything up. Plus the chef is also giving me lessons to help me improve.”
Initae:”Well, I suppose it can't be worse than that secret ingredient you add in every time.”
“Wait, how do you know about that? It's a secret!”
“You do realize I can sense exactly what is happening everywhere on this ship at all times, right?”
“What, you can do that? You can truly sense, uh, everything?”
“Yes, everything.”
“Oh.”
The room goes dead silent as we just stare at the monitors awkwardly.
Several minutes pass but Emil finally breaks the silence.
“So, Admiral, what's the plan? We've got this big ceremony thing coming up.”
“Well, you see Emil. It's very simple.” He nods, as though excited for me to continue, “Ray and I will walk out onto the stage and dazzle everyone. Then we will proceed to absolutely dominate the dance floor at the gala. Everyone will focus their entire attention on us. Boom, plan successful.”
“That seems rather simplistic and not very well developed. Shouldn't you put more thought into it?”
Initae:”Dont worry, when he says they will do something, they will do it. And expect them to add on an extra five hundred percent above your expectations for good measure.”
“Really, how are you so sure of this?”
Initae then goes on to explain what we did at the new year’s gala. How we absolutely astonished everyone and made ourselves known universe-wide.
I head back into the officers lounge and chill with Ray. Who seems to have gotten back into her persona after her recent bout of drunkenness. She has never been able to keep it up while drunk. Perhaps the one flaw of her otherwise perfect mask.
We sit down and catch up on some of the season anime we have been missing. After about two hours we head back to the bridge to meet up with Initae and Emil. With about an hour left, we head down to the place where the ceremony will be held. Naturally, we are relentlessly teased by Initiate the whole way there. Emil seems to look upon us with newfound respect, perhaps Initae enlightened him to our awesomeness.
We enter the antechamber, and instantly we spot none other than Luna Aurora.
”Well, look what the trash collector dragged in. It's none other than the Moonlight Duo, tsk”
This event is sure to be a fun one. So I can't write about what kind of shenanigans we will get to pull off. Together, Ray and I will get through anything, so long as we are together. So, bring it on.
End of Chapter 44
A/N: Hiya dear reader. Author here once again. Hmm, is that a bit of romance I smell upon the air. Whatever could be happening with Ray and Ko? What will come next? Who will be declared winner of the first trial? Only time will tell, so be sure to stay tuned! The first volume is coming to a close, but don't be afraid, there are still many interesting developments left (plus several more volumes planned!).
As always, if you are enjoying this fiction, do be sure to follow/favourite/share with a friend, it is always appreciated! See ya next time, dear reader.
- Cathrix