It was a Saturday morning and Auren groggily realized he didn’t have any decent clothes other than his work uniform.
He woke up instantly, thinking that he had his own money for the first time!
He jumped out of bed and quickly got dressed, putting on the tattered brown cloak that was given to him by the military officers that dropped him off on this planet.
The cloak was much too hot to wear in the weather of this planet. He urgently needed to get an outfit that wouldn’t make him feel like a boiling frog in the daytime.
He hid his money bag close to his body, something that his boss advised him when he got paid, and locked the door as he left his small apartment.
It was a short walk to the CBD of the town.
Along the streets, the same zergs laid on the ground dying. He averted his eyes, knowing that he could not do anything for them. He suppressed the nausea as he had become accustomed to doing.
Although it was technically the central business district of the town, it’d be equivalent, or even less than, a little scattered mall area of the capital.
Actually, it was definitely less than that.
There were some small shops, old buildings that looked ancient, as well as many street stalls that sold everything you would need in daily life here.
He walked past te street stalls. Many of them were selling food, small trinkets, soaps, or other small items.
One of the old shops sold clothing.
The fashion style was very outdated, but it matched what the zergs were wearing on the Border Star.
Many of the clothes were too large for him. Not just by a little bit, but by multiple sizes. Even the smallest female zerg clothing would drag on the ground if he wore it.
Mixed in were a few sets for sub-females. They were quite rare, not being able to defend themselves like female zergs, so they mostly died young. At first, he was surprised because on the capital, they were the most common gender.
The sub-female clothing was cheaper, being that there weren’t many customers. Many sets were still too large, but he was tall for a male zerg and could fit into some of the smaller sizes.
He was looking through the clothes very attentively, failing to notice the zerg next to him until he bumped into him and fell to the ground.
He was a bit bewildered and a bit embarrassed.
Auren looked up, only to find out that he recognized the zerg he bumped into. It was the old bar owner, completely unaffected by his weight bumping into him. It seemed like he was the only one that could completely fall over from that.
His boss grinned, like an old fatherly zerg, and reached out a hand to help him up.
“You okay kid?”
He took his hand and got up and patted the dust off his clothes. The stores left their door open during store hours, so the wind blew in large quantities of dust inside from the streets.
“I’ve been meaning to talk to you about… your coworker.”
He looked like he was uncomfortable with the way he addressed him. Auren automatically assumed that his coworker was definitely hiding his name from him for some reason.
The two zergs, one young and one old, walked up to the counter together and paid for their clothes.
Auren thought it was strange.
He didn’t feel scared of this boss like he did with the other zergs in the town. His speech was just as rough as the other residents, but there was something like a remnant of something clean in his heart.
“If you’re done shopping, accompany this old zerg for a walk.”
The bar owner walked far into an older district, with not many zergs on the streets. Auren followed close behind, curious as to where they were going.
“Many years ago, when I retired from the military, I settled down on this little planet. I didn’t have much choice. My rank was low and I didn’t get much in compensation.”
“One of my wings was torn apart by alien beasts in the war back then. Of course I had to retire then, there was no hope for me as a soldier.”
Past the cramped old buildings, they came up to an old hut. The roof caved in long ago and nobody had lived in it for many years.
The boss pointed at it and continued.
“I lived here while recovering.”
Auren looked at the hut. It was very small; maybe enough for one zerg to live in, but barely. He was shocked, but his experience on this planet so far told him that it wasn’t strange.
“Then one day, I picked up a little starving orphan. The brat climbed over me all day and I was spending too much money feeding him. Tsk.”
“That’s when I started the bar. I barely recovered enough to walk properly, but I knew I couldn’t wait much longer, or I’d really be out on the streets.”
“The brat was quite cute as a cub. You might have noticed already, but brightly colored eyes and hair are very rare on these third tier planets.”
“Serving drinks to the lonely female zergs with his red hair and violet eyes, he got super popular. That kid turned out to be quite reliable.”
Auren came to to a sudden halt and almost tripped. He knew who he was talking about.
“He left for the military when he was old enough.”
The old zerg shook his head sadly.
“I never expected him to come back like this.”
Auren didn’t know why he said all this. The old zerg patted his shoulder.
“Nobody here has had it easy. You two are both good kids, even if you don’t get along, I hope you don’t hold it against him.”
Auren nodded.
He followed the boss back to town in a trance.
He hadn’t thought about what anyone else had gone through to come here. He had accepted that his coworker was just a bit eccentric and he was going to avoid him, but it seemed like he wasn't always like that. Maybe there really was a reason why he avoided him. Maybe he should try to get along, but he didn’t know how…
Auren looked back and forth, shocked at how far they’d walked.
By the time he finished thinking, the old zerg already walked him back to his apartment.
“Pay attention when you walk home, you never know who else is around in these parts.”
His boss chuckled at him and turned around, going back to the bar.
The dirty town that was foreign and unimaginable at first became a familiar place.
Although it still felt like a dream sometimes, Auren had accepted that he really wasn’t a prince anymore, that he had lost his home and family, and that he had to find a way to survive on his own now.
Between early and on time, he arrived at the bar for his shift the next week.
Ever since that incident, his red haired coworker wouldn’t look him in the eyes.
It almost felt like he was having some sort of internal conflict, but what kind of internal conflict could it possibly be?
The old bar owner would occasionally look at the female zerg and shake his head with a “Tsk. Tsk.”
Auren would just sigh inwbardly and give up on talking to him.
He really didn’t understand what was going on, before he didn’t want to question things too deeply and lose his only chance at a job.
Things went slightly different this day.
He arrived earlier than usual.
At the door, he overheard the owner talking to his coworker.
“Kid, it’s been a month! I don’t care if you don’t want to talk to him, but at least introduce yourself!”
“…”
Auren didn’t want to eavesdrop, but he gave in to his curiosity and silently leaned against the thick wooden door.
He could almost see those dejected violet eyes as the red haired zerg got scolded.
“…I don’t want to get close with a male zerg.”
Huh?
What did that have to do with learning his name??
The old bar owner seemed to have the same thoughts as he did.
He heard a smack, presumably the owner smacked his coworker’s shoulder.
The old zerg sighed, barely audible behind the door.
“I know what you’re thinking, but he’s a good kid with no connection to them. I don’t want to keep hiding your name, it’s driving me crazy! Coworker this, male zerg that! I can barely tell who we’re talking about. Go tell him today or I’m doing it for you!”
The inside of the bar got quiet after that, as if his coworker had accepted his task.
Thinking back to the day before, while walking through town with the boss, it must have something to do with why he came back.
But, he wasn’t well versed in what kinds of things could have happened. He knew that he was too sheltered to have learned.
He waited a few minutes at the door, unsure about whether to open it or not.
As he was about to pull it open, it slammed open with a Swoosh! and he found himself almost kissing his coworker in the neck.
“…”
“…”
His face turned red and he awkwardly looked away.
“Sorry, I didn’t realize you were there.”
“No, I didn’t either…”
Auren, embarrassed, was about to step around him and run straight to the back to change into his uniform.
“Excuse m-”
“Wait! Can… Can we talk about something..?”
Faious could feel the old zerg glaring at him, urging him to make friends with this male zerg.
He was very unsure about how to introduce himself after a month. Even telling himself not to think of this zerg as a male, just a coworker, it was still just awkward.
He spent many of his teenage and young adult years in the military. He solved arguments with his claws and mecha. He never told his adoptive father what happened to him, nor did he know how to.
The boss, an old zerg that had spent much of his life on the crime filled Border Star, of course had some guesses. But, he thought this young zerg shouldn’t spend the rest of his life running away from and scared of male zergs.
Auren felt relieved to get away from the awkwardness of their encounter.
“Yeah, sure!”
The two young zergs continued to stand at the doorway.
“…Faious.”
His red haired coworker mumbled something, but he couldn’t hear it.
“Huh?”
“I said, you can call me Faious.”
The boss gave Faious a thumbs up. Faious glared at him and prepared to open the bar.
