The Finest Little Honky Tonk on Skalga [8]
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: The last chapter of the morning at Ray’s arc! Today we will discover what will come to be a foundational song in the lives of our Venlil. Enjoy.
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Memory Transcription Subject: Tiltva. Venlil Country Singer in Training.
Date: [Standardized Human time] December 21, 2137
This app sucks. This job sucks. I suck. Why couldn’t I have been more interested in Xeno language courses?!
Ding
Sure I was born here and never will live anywhere else.
Ding
And not to mention the visual translators make new languages nearly irrelevant to learn.
Ding
But it sure would make speaking this “English” a lot easier.
Ding
I swivel an ear back to Thyla sitting across the recording studio. Despite spending the past half-claw in here together, I don’t think we’ve said a single word to each other. From over her shoulder, I recognize the homework assignment app on her pad from my own school days. There is however a rather big difference. If those math problems are what I think they are, then she’s doing them faster than I’ve ever seen before.
Ding
Okay, I understand that the sound was designed to keep pups engaged in their assignments, but does she really need to have the volume on that loud? I’ll just ask her to turn it down, or maybe if she has earbuds?
“Hey Thyla?”
One of her ears raises as she turns to look my way.
“...”
“Sorry but could you please turn down your pad? I’m having trouble with the language program and the dings are making it hard to concentrate.”
Her shoulders tense a bit and a look of annoyance and blue embarrassment flush across her face. She doesn’t say or sign anything, but she does reach for the volume buttons as she turns back around to her pad.
Well at least she’s doing that. Hate to think about it this way, but I’m glad she’s a bit tense because you know what else is tense? The effects of drinking cattle milk. Bleh. Okay, back to trying to pronou-
DING
The pad goes off somehow louder than before and I whip my focus back to Thyla to see her staring at me and sticking her tongue out. Before I can even begin to plead or yell, she reaches into her bag beside the desk and pulls out an earbuds case.
“Thank you Thyla. You know, I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone so fast at math. You must be a very smart girl.”
Again she doesn’t respond, but her tail wagging says everything I need to know.
Speh, she’s really good at being cute despite the whole poisoning me thing. I think we can be just as good friends as we are enemies.
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{Advance Time 2 stdh}
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I’ve been at it for a whole claw now, but I think I can almost, kind of, sort of, maybe, sing the entirety of Delta Dawn. Of course assuming that it was just me by myself and no one around to listen to me vocally crash and burn. Speh, this is embarrassing.
Thyla fell asleep on the desk not too long ago and hasn’t stirred even a bit while I’ve been practicing. Repeatedly listening to the song's original recording is beyond uncanny. The long dead human woman sounds nearly identical to myself. Or I guess I sound like her? Hmm. A soft click behind me grabs my attention as Ray slides open the door and lightly walks into the room. He turns towards me and whispers.
“Hey Tany-Tiltva, just comin’ in to check on you and grab the sleepyhead. Need help or anything?”
“I need to learn how to sing in an entirely different language, but besides that? No. Also how did you know she was asleep?”
“Hah, good luck on the singin’. And as for how I knew? Just call it a father’s intuition.”
There’s no way right? He even purposely opened the door as quietly as possible. He probably wouldn’t do that to sneak up on me, right?
“I’m messin’ with ya. I checked in on you guys with the cameras and unsurprisingly she’s back asleep.”
“Cameras?”
“Yes ma’am. The whole property has cameras and microphones monitored by a home security AI for safety and legal purposes. Well, almost the whole property. Nothin’ of that sort in the bedrooms or bathrooms or dressin’ rooms for obvious reasons. Oh! Just to be clear so I don't get anything confused, you and Halin aren't datin’ or mates or anything like that, right?”
Oh Stars, are my feelings to Halin obvious enough that even a human can tell? Why doesn’t Halin just… Brahk me... Wait... Oh my...
My face erupts orange as I nod my head yes and flick my ears in agreement. Ray then creeps over to Thyla and strokes the crown of her head. Wordlessly, she looks up at him and reaches her arms out to be picked up. Ray readily complies and lifts the girl out of the chair and up into his arms with her head resting on top of his shoulder.
He nods to me as he walks back towards my desk. I can’t help but audibly gasp as Thyla’s dress droops down just a bit, revealing a collection of faded scars on her upper back. Ray looks to me and gestures towards her back with a hand as he shakes his head. I feel myself going wall-eyed trying to think of a reason for a little girl to have suffered so. Are those PD Facility scars? She's a bit obnoxious but to deserve that? Ray waves a hand in front of me to regain my focus and points towards a song on the program.
“You’ve been doing real well with Delta Dawn, but I think this would be a good one to listen to and practice. Might help you… convey some things. Songs have a funny way of helpin’ us find the right words.”
As Ray leaves with Thyla, I turn my focus back towards my new song to learn but the thought of Thyla’s scars and Halin as my mate fog my mind.
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{Advance time 2 stdh}
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“Would you lay with me in a field of stone
If my needs were strong would you lay with me”
Would you Halin? I think so, but how can I know?
“Would you go away to another land walk a thousand miles through the burning sand
Wipe the blood away from my dying hand
If I give my self to you”
What did Ray mean with this song!? Does he want me to spiral again? I just recovered last paw! Does everyone but Halin know I love Halin?
So, just tell him then? No! Why not? Because! Ahh!
While shaking my head, I power down the station and collect my things to make my way out of the studio and back to the living room of the house. Halin had messaged me saying that he was done with his workday and that it was time for us to go home. Down the hall, I see Halin amusedly swishing his tail as he stares at something just out of my sightline. When I join him in the living room, I immediately discover what Halin finds so interesting.
Ray is sleeping lengthwise down the couch with his face covered by his hat, but that in itself isn’t funny. It’s that Thyla is lying perpendicular on the reclining portion above him and is slowly kneading the top of her father’s head as she sleeps.
Awww, just like a newborn pup. She really is a sweet little girl.
Halin and I share a glance before simultaneously starting to giggle. This seems to be a mistake as Ray slowly raises an arm to his face and pulls the hat off to look over at us. Halin and I quickly cease our giggles and thank the Stars that Thyla doesn’t also wake. Ray whispers our way once more.
“You know, we wouldn’t normally be sleepin' this time of day and especially not as hard as the kiddo is if not for a certain two folks giving us an early rise.”
An early rise? What is he talking about- oh…. yeah…
“Listen I’m not mad, but I’d say definitely download a human time app on your pads. I know this is your planet and all, but I’m runnin’ my home and business on human time. I’ll send you more info on scheduling when Girly and I settle in back on Earth later today. Additionally, while we won't be back for it, feel free to come back here in a few days for the company Christmas party. If you don’t, you're on paid holiday for the next two weeks. No workin’, okay?”
With a quick nod and ear flick, we exit the house and instead of the normal property entrance, Halin limps and leads me around the house where the hovercar is waiting. As we walk, I try to engage the unusually quiet Halin.
“So, how was your first work paw?”
“Well, I figured out why they called me ‘fancy’ and ‘tuxedo’ the first time we were here. Apparently my wool pattern looks like standard human formal wear, so that’s neat. I also had some interesting talks with Ray about a lot of uh… things. How was your paw? Did Thyla give you anymore trouble?”
“Just a lot of time trying to sing in human. Oh, the language is called ‘English’ by the way. In terms of Thyla, she didn’t say a word to me, but I was watching her do homework and honestly, she might be the smartest person I know. Or at least she has the most potential. Which is amazing considering she also has these scars on her back.”
“You mean like PD Facility scars?”
“Yes and no, they’re mostly in the right spot but they’re not the right pattern. More of long and crisscrossed rather than electrical patterned. Anyway, awful things aside, what interesting things were you talking about with Ray?”
“Oh uh, a lot of things-” What are you hiding? Ah, he’s in that ‘I’m not going to budge’ mood. “-and when he left, I looked closer at the finances and they… they are not good. Ray can barely afford to employ everyone and that’s with him using the money from his cars design jobs. I almost got upset on behalf of him, but he at least has a small retirement allocation for himself and a sizable education fund for Thyla. Overall, this place is somehow scraping by, but only barely, and I don’t think the lake incident is going to help. I’m thinking of reducing my own pay to something more reasonable, but I have the feeling that would offend him. Beyond that, are we going to the Christmas party?”
“I guess? Should we not go? I don't want to hurt the finances any further.”
Halin and I make it to the hovercar and climb in on the wool seats. This time he sits further away from me than he ever has before and starts to stretch and massage his poor leg. A sudden rush of inspiration overcomes me as I slide to his side and pull his leg into my lap. With gentle motions, I begin to work across the slowly-healing wounds with my own paws.
I’m so, so sorry I wasn’t there for you when this happened. I don’t deserve to…
His face and ears contort in pain as I work the lacerated muscle. I’d expect some type of bloom to rush across his face from me touching him, but he only sorrowfully stares towards me.
“Thank you Tiltva, I…”
Suddenly, he stops speaking and says nothing more. He jerks his head to the side as he turns to look out at the rushing landscape. Maybe it’s a trick of the tinted light through the windows, but the glimmer of a tear seems to appear below his eye before it disappears as he rubs his snout into his shoulder.
Oh human musician from days gone by, what wisdom do you bring for me?
“Will you still love me when I am down and out
In my time of trials will you stand by me”
What a question… I think I know my answer. Maybe he does too…
Posted Dec 20, 2024, 12:08 PM UTC