Teyo's Tale

Posted on Mon Aug 19th, 2024 @ 6:00pm by Lieutenant Xavier Leiko & Ensign Kateyo Fenn

Mission: Character Development
Location: Legoria II's Moon
Timeline: Before The Party
1422 words - 2.8 OF Standard Post Measure

“Honestly, he wouldn’t shut up. It was Conrad this and Conrad that, it was enough to make you sick.” Teyo stopped long enough to finish the last of his drink and slam his glass down heavily on the table which shuddered under the abuse. The quiet after the loud noise made him realise that his friend hadn’t replied in a while and so he looked up at him. “Are you even listening to me?”

“Yes,” Xavier replied, though a little too quickly to be true.

Teyo narrowed his eyes slightly in disbelief. “Mmmh,” he replied, an undertone of sarcasm embedded in the sound. “So what do you think?”

“About what?” Xavier replied distractedly.

Teyo noticed that Xav’s head was whipping back and forth every few minutes, as though he were looking for someone. “Loverboy, Liam,” he said, exasperation in his voice. “I knew you weren’t listening.”

“Yeah, yeah…sleep with him, whatever.”

“I don’t want to sleep with him, he wants to sleep with Conrad,” Teyo almost shouted so that he could get and keep his friend’s attention. “Who are you looking for?”

“Oh,” Xavier said, his gaze landing on Tey. “They should hook up, she’s nice.”

“What!? No!” Teyo all but yelled. “She can do way better than him,” he added, his voice at a more reasonable level as though he had realised he was making a fool of himself.

“Is that right? Like… I dunno, you by any chance?”

The smile on Xavier’s face annoyed Teyo, he preferred it when the Betazoid was only paying half attention. “No,” he said, a little too quickly to be true.

“Good, cause she can do better than you too,” Xavier said, his smile widening at the scowl he got from the Trill. “I thought you were into Wrea anyway?”

Teyo definitely preferred it when Xav wasn’t paying attention. “She’s cool too, I can like more than one person.”

“You often do,” Xavier muttered under his breath but loud enough for Teyo to hear.

Teyo ignored the comment and continued. “Conrad doesn’t let up, she’s a badass but there’s a soft interior, I think.” He played with his empty glass, tilting it one way and then the next. “Wrea is a little harder to work out, she’s hot and cold. She loves the chase but that might be all it is. I think I’m permanently friend-zoned.” He looked up, waiting to see what advice Xav would offer, to see him searching the room again. Teyo sighed and called the waiter over.

The waiter popped up immediately and Teyo had to admit the service in this place was second to none. The waiter was topless and slightly bigger than the other servers in the establishment. Teyo marvelled at his deep orange skin that glistened under the lights of the club. He couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like to be wrapped in his powerful arms. He pushed his empty glass closer so that the waiter could top him up with the same purple drink he had been enjoying but when the waiter went to top up Xavier’s glass, the Betazoid placed his hand over the top and shook his head. Teyo shrugged, a mere apology for his friend’s rudeness, and the nonplussed waiter moved to another table.

“You had enough already?” Teyo asked, struggling to keep the disappointment out of his voice. He had been thrilled when Xav had asked him to join him for a few drinks before Zora’s party. It had been a while since the pair had spent some real time together and this was exactly what the Trill had needed. However, instead of choosing one of the many bars that were on offer on Legoria II, Xav had chosen a seedy bar on one of the moons. Teyo didn’t mind the change of pace, a seedy bar was more interesting anyway, but Xav’s attention was less than ideal and Teyo was starting to get annoyed.

“Erm…what? No. Sorry, I’ll be back soon,” Xavier quickly replied as he hopped off of his stool and headed to one of the corners near the bathrooms.

“Where are you going?” Teyo asked but Xav either didn’t hear him or ignored him and before the Trill could follow, Xav was gone. “Great,” he muttered to himself as he drank the purple liquid. It felt great on his tongue, cool and refreshing, but it wasn’t enough to cheer him up. The pair had been here for just over an hour and he had been unable to get more than a few words out of Xav. As he thought about it, this wasn’t an isolated incident. His friend had been off for some time now. It wasn’t something he could clearly explain as such; it wasn’t in the man’s actions or even with what he had said, it was more of a vibe. Xavier just wasn’t acting like himself. He was distant, irritable, and unfocused. Teyo hadn’t thought too much of it, after all, Xav had had a very difficult few months with some real trauma thrown into the mix. Anyone who had been through what his friend had would be off too. But this felt different, this was different. If only he knew how. He wanted so badly to help his friend, but that was easier said than done when Xav had raised his shields to 100%. Sparring with Zade again would be more fun he thought to himself, sulkily.

To pass the time, Teyo watched the other people in the dimly lit bar. He watched as his orange waiter fought off the advances of a larger Bolian with a leering smile. Behind them, a group of Nausicaans huddled around a dabo table, their volume escalating as they lost another spin at the wheel. Something about the house cheating them out of their latinum and burning the place to the ground. Sore losers, Teyo thought to himself. Sat in one of the booths, on the other side of the room, were a pair of Andorians whose public display of affections was enough to make him blush. He spotted a shifty-looking Toroxian coming from the very spot where Xavier had disappeared. This intrigued him, Toroxians were not known for travelling too far beyond their sector. They were mostly medicinal drug suppliers due to Toroxi V’s lush herbal vegetation. Now that he thought about it, Teyo had never seen a Toroxian in person, So what are you doing here? He thought.

Teyo watched as the Toroxian finished his conversation with someone he couldn’t see from his angle and then walked towards the exit of the bar. Teyo’s dark eyes followed the man across the room, intrigued and curious.

“What are you staring at?”

Teyo jumped, not seeing Xavier come back to his seat. “Damn, Xav. I’m too young for a heart attack,” he said as he dramatically clutched his chest. “Where the hell have you been?” He asked, angrily. Xav had been gone for nearly half an hour and this was not how the Trill had wanted to spend his evening off.

“Around,” Xav answered nonchalantly. “I’m back now, let’s get the party started.”

Teyo eyed his friend suspiciously. The Betazoid’s dark eyes were beaming with mirth, his smile was wide, and his cheeks were rosy pink. He looked almost giddy. “Your mood has improved,” Teyo remarked, a note of scepticism in his voice.

“Are we going to talk or are we going to drink?” Xavier asked as he pointed at the drinks that had appeared on the table.

The orange waiter, who had escaped the Bolian’s web, looked just as perplexed as Teyo as he emptied his drinks tray onto the table. Teyo knew this behaviour wasn’t normal for his friend, something was going on and he knew he should question him here and now. But he also knew his friend well enough to know that if Xav didn’t want to talk about something he wouldn’t, and if he did, you couldn’t shut him up. So after a moment’s hesitation, Teyo reached for one of the drinks and held it high above his head, “here’s to a good night,” he toasted before finishing the drink in one gulp.