The night was soon to end, and Sil got ready to head to the Lupanar zone. He got his protection, and beast crystals for currency. He was going to be prepared for his scientific exploration, and knowing Logan, he probably wanted Sil to investigate it.
He went around the corner, and spotted it. There appeared to be different colored lights as compared to the rest of the city, using yellow tinted lights instead of red ones. Not only that, but there was a faint fogginess to it, as if the area was incredibly humid.
—
Elsewhere, Swinn just got back from his job, and was more than exhausted. When he spotted Sil of all people far off in the distance, he was happy to see him. He was about to wave, until he saw the blonde man enter the Lupanar zone.
"Sil, wait! That's the—" He stopped when he realized that someone like Sil most likely didn't have great hearing like the others of his race, and began to run towards him.
Sil went into the zone, and suddenly noticed the intense scent. It was causing a strange effect on him as he noticed he was a little warm. Before he could continue further, his arms were grabbed by another person, and he was dragged out of the area.
"Sil, what's wrong with you! I just told you not to go here!" Swinn yelled, with his face all red.
"I know, I was trying to—" before Sil could finish, he noticed Swinn acting a little strange.
"D-damn it, I was only there for a few seconds…." Swinn breathily mumbled as his nose began to twitch, "You smell… really nice."
Swinn was finding it hard to think straight, especially since he barely had any energy left to fight back against it.
Sil would've been confused by the response, but he thought that Swinn smelled nice as well. It wasn't like Sil didn't take notice of his smell before, he had a nose after all, but now Swinn's earthy aroma was drawing him in.
Before, Sil thought that Swinn looked pretty nice, but now, he thought he was the most handsome person he had ever come across. A few particular thoughts came to mind.
"What did that place do to me?" Sil asked, slightly concerned.
Swinn was breathing heavily, "D-don't tell me it got you too."
They both suddenly felt even more drawn to each other, amplifying their feelings as their hearts beat louder and louder. The two started to inch a little closer together without thinking about it.
Sil tried to reach a hand out to him, but Swinn smacked it away, "G-go home, we'll talk tomorrow."
Before Sil could say anything else, Swinn began running far from Sil.
Not wanting to waste this trip, Sil tried to go back to the Lupanar zone, looking in from the outside. He was looking around trying to investigate, but he couldn't stop thinking about Swinn. The wafts of the mist spread through the air.
Eventually, the humidity of the zone started to affect Sil more than he liked, and teleported back to his hotel room. He was feeling really warm and had certain… feelings. Frustrated, he took out the messaging device and began to type away at a new log.
[Log 208,756] {Sil} Fuck you.
He quickly closed the log. Sil sighed, then unzipped his pants.
—
Day 4
—
It was the morning of day 4 at planet Umbrae. Sil woke up in his bed with a box of tissues and lotion next to him. He really shouldn't have gone back to that Lupanar zone, but alas, science sometimes needs risks.
He checked his messaging device, about to make a new log, before he saw a message from Swinn.
{Swinn} Sorry about how I acted last night.
{Swinn} I thought you wouldn't go back there, but there's these perfumes that get used in that area.
{Swinn} The business, y'know, brothels, strip clubs, that sort of thing, always spray them out to get customers.
{Sil} Oh, kinda like what they do with restaurants back at my home planet.
{Swinn} They do that!? Don't children go eat at these places?
{Swinn} Is that a Birth thing?
{Sil} Birth?
{Sil} Oh, OH! You meant Bearth? yeah, it's a Bearth thing.
{Sil} It's to get people to eat food, not get horny.
{Swinn} Right…
{Swinn} It's not still affecting you, right?
{Sil} I'm doing fine. I'm pretty sure it's not affecting me anymore, what about you?
{Swinn} Ugh, this is embarrassing… It still is. Not as much as before at least. I should be fine in a bit.
{Swinn} That perfume stuff affects my species more than others, so it just takes longer.
{Swinn} I couldn't stop thinking about…
{Swinn} Ah— Nevermind.
{Swinn} I had to take the day off, but my boss is not happy about it.
{Sil} Why would they? It's just a day off.
{Swinn} I hate my job, I wanna just leave, but I need the money.
{Swinn} He keeps making me work the difficult jobs, and that would be fine, I love doing what I do, except I barely get paid.
{Swinn} and I never get a break…
{Swinn} It's so… exhausting!
{Swinn} I'm basically doing manager level work for just a basic appliance inspector's salary.
{Sil} What do you do?
{Swinn} I do inspections, repairs, maintenance, and a few other things. Just technician things.
{Sil} Lemme see if I can do something.
{Swinn} ?
[Log 208,757] {Sil} Logan, can you purchase a company all the way out here?
{Logan} First you send an insult, then later ask me to do an impossible request.
{Logan} Sil, are you perhaps stupid?
{Logan} How am I meant to purchase a company of an alien race all the way out there?
{Sil} Whelp, It was worth a try. I just wanted to help someone.
{Vicky} Ooohh? A certain someone? Like…. Duck guy?
{Sil} I hope to god you accidentally short circuit Logan again and you're unable to fuck for a month.
{Vicky} Okay! See you next log!
— VICKY HAS LOCKED THE LOGS FOR 3:59:59 HOURS —
"What?!" Sil was genuinely confused on how Vicky was able to do such a thing, until he remembered that his sister basically had Logan's ability 24/7 with the way they are. Of course she would've figured out how to use it.
Sil just rubbed his eyes as he decided to get back to his conversation with Swinn.
{Swinn} Are you still there?
{Sil} Yeah, I tried to pull some strings, but my friend can't do anything.
{Swinn} Friend? I thought you were traveling alone?
{Sil} I am, I was just chatting to him.
{Swinn} Oh…
{Sil} His wife brought up an embarrassing memory, and locked me out of the chat room before I could ask for advice.
{Swinn} He has a wife?
{Sil} That wife is my sister.
{Swinn} You have a sister?!
{Sil} She's a freak I swear. Those two are always up to something with each other. One time, I was on a voice call with someone I know, and I didn't hear him for a while until my sister unmuted him, and I heard them—
{Sil} Well, y'know.
{Swinn} Oh geez.
{Swinn} Anyways, I'm pretty sure I'm cleared of that perfume now, so we can chat again if you like.
{Swinn} I pretty much have all day free.
{Sil} Same here. I'm still waiting for my gear to get finished.
{Sil} How about we meet that bar?
{Swinn} Alright, see you there.
Sil slightly smiled at the thought of seeing Swinn again. He quickly got ready, and walked out to the bar.
—
Sil arrived at the bar, and saw Swinn immediately at their usual spot. He sat opposite to him and noticed he was drinking a blood red beverage. Sil thought about a dream he had way long ago, but shook his head. He was over Quinn now.
Setting down his drink, Swinn smiled at seeing Sil, "You're here pretty fast."
"Oh I get around a lot, so I've got to be pretty fast," Sil smiled in return before pointing at the bottle, "What flavor is that?"
Swinn picked it up and examined the name. "It's uh… blood melograna."
Sil almost did a spit take upon hearing this, "BLOOD melograna?"
"It's not actual blood, it's just named that cause of the color," Swinn clarified, "This is a pretty popular flavor here. Oh, did you know that blood melograna is one of the oldest still living fruits on Umbrae? There's evidence to suggest that it was around for the Mero period."
"I see…" Sil's heart ached a little, remembering a particular person at the mention of blood, "Hey, are you alright from the perfume?"
Swinn covered his face, "Don't remind me… I'm reminded enough by my job…"
Realizing what he might've implied, he quickly uncovered his face and added, "It's because I work nearby! I don't do that kind of thing! I'm not that kind of person!"
Sil chuckled a little, resting his head on his hand as he smiled at Swinn.
"Anyways, you said you might pay me to do something for you?" Swinn asked, desperate to change the topic.
"I do, I need some things fixed around my ship. There's a weird plumbing issue, and some electrical stuff."
Then an idea popped in Sil's head. He liked Swinn enough and wanted to see him a bit more, "I could give you… a salary. Actually hire you, at least for a bit."
Swinn's ears perked up, and his eyes went wide. Was he hearing this right? Of course he was, his ears never failed him before.
"What's the pay!?" Swinn blurted out, almost slamming his fists against the table.
Sil was taken aback, "I would need to figure that out first, how much do you get paid?"
Swinn blinked, then quickly realized his behavior before relaxing himself. He had a claw pick at his snaggle tooth as he thought about it, "I need to check up on your ship first, and if it's a multinight job— then I would have to check in with my boss and my available dates… things replaced would affect price too…"
He was mumbling, calculating the technical aspects of everything.
"I could stay for a few extra days," Sil added.
"No no— I wouldn't want to keep you here. I'm sure you have jobs you need to do," Swinn replied.
"I'm kinda on my own, and I'm in no rush. I guess you could say I'm self employed?"
"You're self employed and you're stupid rich?!" Swinn almost yelled, "Where'd you get your beast crystals from?"
Sil winked as he flexed his arm, "I'm just that kind of guy."
The mechanic's face flushed a dark reddish brown, which was saying something as his face was covered in fur. He quickly shook his head, dismissing the thought.
"W-well, uh, I could check up on your ship for today. Like I said, I'm free."