Events of Arrival

Episode 7: Divine Friendship

They stayed at the bar for somewhere close to an hour, nursing their drinks--Oblisk got a second glass of wine--and chatting, eventually leaving when the late-night rush poured in and they had to yell over the crowd to hear one another. Calder lamented the fact that alcohol was so expensive in Cier, if only because the continent's currency was less valuable than that of Almarice and Hythia.

"I don't know what you're whining about," Oblisk said as he held the door for her. "Shuoda uses Rice, too. I've had to pay that price for alcohol my whole life."

"Your whole life?" Calder deadpanned. "You mean, the whole eight months you've been old enough to drink legally?"

"Three years. Is that worse than your whole five years?"

"Drinking age is eighteen in some parts of Upper Almarice."

"It's the same in Shuoda, you asshole. I should've expected you to drink your sorrows away throughout your exam season."

"I was eighteen before the school year even started," she snapped. "And I wish I had, but even I'm not sneaky enough to get that much booze past my mom. She didn't drink enough for me to hide it in her own stash."

"What about your dad?"

She shrugged. "Dunno. Haven't seen him since before I started high school. If I were him, I'd probably have become a depressed, raging alcoholic."

His pace slowed considerably.

"Sorry," he said. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to strike a nerve."

"This is why I don't drink very often," Calder murmured, eyes locked on her feet. "I say shit. It's not your fault. It just slipped out."

"Yeah..."

The conversation lapsed for a while. At least a few blocks, until Oblisk broke it again.

"It's kinda bold of me to say, but you've got your work cut out for you."

"Whad'ya mean?"

"I mean you catch attention like flypaper catches flies--bad analogy, but you're attractive. Good luck with that."

"Nah, nobody's getting anywhere. I'm ace, and everyone'd do pretty well to remember that."

"You are?" She nodded. "Same! And nobody gets it."

Her curiosity piqued, and she turned to face him with a grin spreading across her face. He kept talking.

"Like, everyone isn't hot!"

"Right?!" They whooped and fist-bumped without a second of consideration. Calder twirled up on one toe and laughed as she stomped back into a walking beat.

"Ace bros!" Oblisk chucked, falling into pace beside her. "I didn't know that about you, but I'm glad I do now."

"When your best friend is bi, you get kinda tired of playing wingman."

Oblisk snorted. "How long you been playing wingman?"

"Not a single day since 2016. But before that, it was once a month or so since summer of 2013."

"Yeesh. If Jasper ever drags me along like that, I'm leaving her alone in the hotel room and moving on without her."

Calder snickered at first, but it quickly tapered off as she realized she had no idea what that sentence meant.

She chose to start with "Who's Jasper?"

"Hm? Oh, a friend I picked up on my way through. I-" he rolled his shoulders. "I won't be here forever. I've got some other stuff to do, and all I can say is that it's important, that I'm passing through slowly, and that hopefully the training and detour'll be worth it."