The Finest Little Honky Tonk on Skalga [4]

Thank you to u/SpacePaladin15 for the universe and thanks to the other fanfic writers for giving me the inspiration for this little masterpiece of nonsense I have cooked up.

Intro: Few other genres of music can show life at rock bottom better than Country music. The Outlaw movement in Country music sought to separate itself from the clean and polished image perpetuated by the “Nashville Style”. Artists like Hank Williams Jr, Waylon Jennings, and David Allen Coe pulled no punches in putting their lowest of lows into music much to the disappointment of the established Country culture found at the Opry.

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Memory Transcription Subject: Tiltva, Unemployed Venlil,

Date: [Standardized Human time] December 20, 2137

I stare up at the collage of pictures on the wall besides my bed. A host of familiar faces glare down at me. Faces that seemed so happy to see me just a few paws ago and in return I cherished their presence. Now they reveal their true feelings, disappointment.

whir, thunk, click… whir, thunk, click… whir, thunk, click

My unsteady eyes bounce between pictures of my father and I. The newest one was taken only just over a rotation ago. And there will never be another. 

whir, thunk, click… whir, thunk, click… whir, thunk, click

Releasing a wavering breath, I glance towards the few pictures of my mother. A face I barely remember, but a hug I will never forget. Like you deserve that hug anyway.

whir, thunk, click… whir, thunk, click… whir, thunk, click

A singular, puny tear rolls from my eye to the sheets below, no more left to give. Finally, my eyes settle on the pictures of myself with Halin, some also include Harvid and Kerila. All you have left, yet you’d rather rot than be happy. Loser.

whir, thunk, click… whir, thunk, click… whir, thunk, click

“Brahk you and your construction…” I mumble to myself regarding the new grating noise coming from the hallway. Oh do you need more sleep? You’ve been wasting in bed for paws now!

whir, thunk, click… whir, thunk, click…whir,thunk…knock,knock

I bolt upright to the knock on my door. Turning my ear and eye towards the door, I wait for them to give up and walk away. Any effort is wasted on me. The person at the door knocks even louder this time. In turn, I try even harder to ignore their attempt. An unexpected, but familiar voice tries its best to shout through the door. 

“Tiltva, it’s Halin! You haven’t responded to any of our messages or calls in four paws! You’re going to get up and unlock the door for me!”

I gradually slump back into my bed, and wrap myself in the tear soaked blankets. I attempt to make as little noise as possible, banking on my silence driving him off. He doesn’t deserve to deal with you and your failures.

“Tiltva! Respond to me! I know you’re in there! OPEN THIS DOOR!” he begins to jiggle the handle and rattle the door as his tone becomes more panicked and angry. 

“You leave me no choice, I-I-I’m using the spare key…Okay?” His voice makes a complete tonal shift as he now sounds, terrified? Wait, the spare? I can’t believe I forgot about the… oh Stars, he’s going to see me like this. If I’m lucky he’ll-

The key chimes against my door, and the door shakily slides open, some form of terror apparent in his motions. I peek an eye out from under the covers to watch him enter my dark apartment. He does a thorough scan upwards across the ceiling of the room before releasing a held breath and turning his focus towards me on the bed. I quickly hide my head again, trying to hold in another set of sobs. Before I know it, I feel a trembling paw squeeze my shoulder.

“T-t-Tiltva?” He barely squeaks out, closer to a Dossur pitch than a Venlil.

“Just go away” I mumble back at him.

“Stars blessed.” He sighs and steadies his grip. “Why is your pad off? We’ve been trying to contact you.” Of course they have, perpetually cursed to deal with this useless sack of wool.

I take in a wavering breath before peaking my eye out again and trying to respond, but nothing comes out. Defeated, I elect to lower my ears and try sinking deeper into the mattress.

He sits down beside me on the bed and lays his tail across mine before softly speaking. “How about this? Get up and take a bath, and we’ll talk after that. For me? Alright?” I barely acknowledge his proposal with my ears as I slowly rise, remove myself from the warmth of my blanket, and make way to the bathroom, taking care to not meet his judging gaze. I need to ignore him, if I don’t he might not ignore me.

Entering the bathroom, I shut the door behind me. It connects with the catch much harder than I intended. He’s here to help and it looks like I just slammed the door behind me like a moody pup. Slinking to the tub, I attach an inline soap dispenser to the hose and step into its waist high walls. The hot water generator only allows the cold water to flow for only a moment's notice before steamy, sud-filled water pours from the brushed nozzle. From top down I drag the brush through matted fur. The familiarity of the routine and flowery scented soap pulls tension from my paws. My mind wanders to old memories of myself and Halin getting hosed off in his backyard after playing in the mud of a rare rain storm. You can't go back, it's gone forever. The last of me sudded, I switch to rinse and drain the bubbly mess off my now shiny but damp coat. Holding on to the warmth of the water for a few moments more, I let out a lung-shaking sigh. In a single motion, I turn the water off and step out from the tub to the drying machine.

The jet wall finishes its cycle as I brush out the last of my tangles. I do feel better after washing up. The construction noises from before continue, but it sounds like… They’re coming from inside my apartment? I slowly shuffle towards the bathroom door. Placing my ears to the surface, I focus on the strange noise most definitely emanating from the other side. My paw hovers over the handle, hesitant for the deserved verbal beatdown I know is coming my way. My curiosity for the source of the sounds wins the battle of wills and I gingerly slide the door open. Looking out into the kitchen and living room, I see Halin cleaning up the dusty counters and visually taking inventory of the moving boxes that have remained unpacked for herds of paws. Watching more intently, I notice he is limping, badly. My focus slides down to his legs, which dually reveals the cause of his impeded movement and the noise. One leg is in a flexi-cast and has a mechanical mobility assist. A gasp escapes my lips. It must have been a massive accident for that much damage. Stars, how long have I been hiding myself? He could’ve spehing died and I would been still wasting in that bed. Hearing my gasp, Halin stops his task and his head whips sideways, the rage in his eye freezes me to the floor where I stand.

Before I can get a word in about his condition he erupts in fury. “Just how long were you planning on living like this? Just going to sit here and waste away without ever reaching out? Have you even been going to work?” You deserve this, you failure. “There are people who care about you! My mom and dad care! I CARE!” As he spits his last few words, tears start flooding his eyes before he leans back into the counter and sobs into his paws. Lifting his face out of his paws, he looks back at me, myself now weeping again. “We’ve always said if you needed help just ask, it wasn’t a spehing joke! We just want you to be happy…” His last comment cuts through any strength I have left. Closing my eyes, I collapse against the wall and down to the floor. 

I know you care, you always have. You’re just wasting it on the wrong person.

Finding myself at a loss for words again, I hear Halin limp over and feel his warmth as he kneels down and pulls me into his chest in a hug while wrapping me with his tail. I don’t know how long we stay like this. After a while of us sobbing into each other, he wearily whispers to me “I’m so, so sorry for yelling. I was just so… scared when you weren’t responding or opening the door. I thought that you had… that you might’ve…” Stars he thought I had given up and- ”Anyway you’re here and safe, that’s all that matters.”

I pull myself away from him and wipe the tears first from his eyes and then my own before making my worthless apology. “No… no, I’m sorry for scaring you.” A deep breath fills my lungs before continuing. “A few paws ago I got fired, we all got fired. Exterminator supplies have been on the downtrend for a full rotation now and I just ignored the change in the wind till the whole business went under. Rebranding wasn’t worth a speh.” His eyes widen and ears perk at the mention of me losing my job before refocusing on me, motioning to continue. “Without the job I’m going to lose the apartment. A stars damned apartment that I don’t even want… After getting laid off, hiding seemed like the only option to not bother anyone else, but look what that got me! You could’ve died and how would I have known?! What even happened? Are you okay?” My mind races as I suddenly realize that I still haven’t asked about his condition.

His eyes shift downwards from me to his leg and a small wince crosses his face before manually re-perking his ears and looking back towards me. “It’s no big deal, just an accident after work a few paws ago. A small crane fell and crushed my leg. The city is going to pay for it. Although you’re not alone in being out of the job. I got fired after going back in to work last paw because of a ‘wrong shipment’. A speh-filled lie, it’s about my lack of mobility.” His words bring no comfort to my guilt. Shaking my head, my head falls back into his chest, now bawling over my paws long selfish tantrum while he suffered from real problems. He hugs me tighter than even before and continues, “Hey, hey, it’s really not that bad. I should be walking normally again in only a herd of paws. Though I have to say, the residency surgeon putting me back together sucked speh.”

I can’t help but let a little bit of a giggle out at the thought of Halin chastising some poor med student as they rushed to save his leg. I feel him scoff as he annoyedly continues “It’s not funny, they clearly had no idea what they were doing! They wouldn’t believe me that I needed more anesthetic!” Thinking of him begging for help all by himself quickly spoils my little moment. Not by himself. You know Harvid and Kerila were there, just not you.

Abruptly, a solution for our unemployment floods my mind. Ray Oakley offered you and Halin a job at a moment’s notice you just have to go and ask. Stars, that’s it! I pull myself away and an involuntary wag takes over my ears and tail as I excitedly look into Halin’s eye. Thinking it over just a second more to make sure I was remembering correctly, I begin to beep out my plan. “Halin, remember when I was on stage with Ray Oakley? Well I don’t know if you heard what he said, but he offered the both of us jobs. We just need to go and ask!”

I expect some excitement out of Halin, especially considering how much fun he had at his birthday celebration only a few sets of paws ago, but he just sinks into himself. Disappointment and worry again take over his ears and tail before he responds. “I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”

“Why not? We need jobs!” I curiously quip back at him.

“I’m guessing you didn’t see the news. Ray Oakley attacked some Venlil man at the restaurant a few paws ago and then tried to drown them in the lake. It’s apparently all on video but I couldn’t bring myself to watch it.” Okay that does sound like a problem, but beggars can’t be choosers. 

“Halin, we’re neck deep in a river of speh as it stands. It can’t hurt to go and try for the jobs.”

“No see that’s the issue with ‘attacked a Venlil man’, it can hurt to go and try if we also get attacked.” he beeped back as he stood up.

“It will be fine. Let’s just go and try our luck.” I say as Halin reaches out his paw and pulls me up.

He lowers his ears and tail before pointing to the door. “Can you go and call the elevator? I need to make a call before we go.” I eye him for a moment before stepping out of my apartment into the hall. At the elevator, I interact with the interface to call it up to my floor. It arrives surprisingly quickly, but I hold the door for an uncomfortably long time before Halin exits my apartment and locks it behind him. He now carries a much happier demeanor. What could have got him in such a good mood with that short of a call?

He notices my confusion before adding even more to it. “I can’t solve all our problems, but I think I at least just took care of one. Still need jobs though.” I signed with my tail to continue but he just signals back a clear but happy “No”. I flatten my ears in annoyed disappointment. Stars, give us strength on this paw.

The gods of the elevator seemingly punish us for holding the door too long as it takes its sweet time descending to the lobby below. During the unrushed decent, I lean my head into Halin. His eyes pivot to me and a smile creeps across his eyes and ears. He turns and pulls me into a hug and whispers again “You don’t know how thankful I am that you are okay.” My snout and ears erupt into bloom as the elevator doors slide open. Exiting, Halin misses a step and I barely catch him from a fall. His eyes dart to the watching receptionist and security guard as it becomes his turn to bloom. 

The stairs prove difficult with his leg but we manage nonetheless. A short but slow walk takes us to the bus stop to Grand Central, from there the route out to Little Branson. “Halin, before we talk with Mr. Oakley I think we need to watch the video. To see if his actions are reconcilable.”

“Agreed, let's pray it's not too bad of a scene. I mean how much damage can a human do to a Venlil anyway?”

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