Take your shirt off

Things were a lot quieter these days. No matter the turmoil certain events had brought with them, Míngzé finally felt at peace again. Gone was the torment that plagued his mind. It meant he could finally enjoy his life a little. Which was exactly what he planned to do that night.

The place was busy that night. A lot of people from the university came here as it was not the most expensive place and close to their school. Which was exactly how Míngzé knew about this place. Someone had helped him towards an empty table, which he thanked them for. His cane was folded and lay on top of the table to the side. As the place was booming with life, there was also a lot of noise. If he was not mistaken, he could even hear bad karaoke in the background. It was exactly what he needed.

When someone approached his table, Míngzé straightened his back, ready to place his order. He opened his mouth to say something, but closed it as he heard a chair being pulled back. This ‘Charlotte’ had taken it upon herself to join him. As he stared towards her, he blinked a few times in surprise. Her rambling continued, which only left him more confused. What was she on about?

A silence fell over the table when she ended up asking what he wanted to drink. “Okay so uhm— I’m not sure what you are talking about?” Míngzé looked around himself, trying to hear if perhaps this was some kind of joke. Nothing. The idea of introducing himself went completely over his head. “No one has told me anything.” This also could not be a setup, as he had not mentioned going here to anyone. Was this how people hooked up these days? “But I suppose a Desperados won't hurt?” He never had beer before, at least he could not remember what it tasted like if he ever had. By now he knew he liked cocktails and he wanted to try something new.

Míngzé was unable to keep the confusion from appearing on his face. This must be some kind of mistake as he had no idea what this girl — Charlotte — was talking about. It was like all of this was planned. A laugh filled the air around them, resulting in an awkward smile from Míngzé. She got it? At least one of them understood the situation. “What d—” The waiter showed up, cutting off his sentence. An order was placed for both of them and the waiter was off again.

Perhaps his back was a bit too straight, his whole posture too tense. Míngzé felt uncomfortable to say the least. His lips were pressed into a thin line as he sat there. The thought crossed his mind that he should probably say something, but the words were lost to him. When she took the lead, a breath that he did not know he was holding escaped.

“Hospitality Management, at least I used to. I dropped out of university at the end of last year, that might explain it,” Míngzé admitted. It was not something he was proud of, but back then it had been the right choice. Things had not been going according to plan and he could not take the extra pressure. “The plan is to start anew in September. If I ever figure out what I want to study.” Míngzé gave her a quick and small smile. With things as they are now, Míngzé felt like it could work. “How about you?”

The waiter returned, placing their order on the table before disappearing once more. His fingers traced the wooden table until he felt the cool touch of the bottle. Míngzé grabbed the bottle and raised it a little. “Cheers?” To a strange evening or something. He should probably ask her what was going on here and soon.

Míngzé flashed the waiter a quick smile before he could hear them leave. The bottle was cool to the touch, a different kind of coldness than the one he recently walked around with. Before he drank, he brought it to his nose. The smell was horrible and it cost him some effort to keep a straight face. Surely it could not be worse than tequila.

Amused he raised an eyebrow. “No, not exactly.” Míngzé shook his head. “It is more about running a business, for example a hotel or restaurant and making sure guests and staff are happy.” Something he thought he could do. And in a way he could, he was in his last year and then he just quit. His ray of thoughts got interrupted when Charlotte started speaking again, telling him about a friend. “It’s fine,” Míngzé assured her when she stopped her rambling. “What would you recommend?” Curiously he looked at her. They did not know each other, he still had no idea why she’d joined him, but he kept that question to himself for now.

A hum escaped when she told him what she was studying. “Make sure you stay away form the affinity research institute, I worked there for a while and I can’t recommended it.” With this warning, it was finally time to try his drink. “How do you like Sanctum City so far?” Míngzé asked and then drank. The taste was overwhelmingly bad. With a loud thud he placed down the bottle as he forced the liquid down his throat. The coughing that followed was unavoidable. He leaned forward on the table by placing one arm on it. “That’s disgusting,” he muttered through coughs as his eyes started watering.

Míngzé pushed his drink carefully away from him. No way he was trying another sip. This was disgusting and he did not understand how so many people liked it. Or was it simply because a lot of beers were very cheap? At least cheaper than everything else you could buy. It did not matter, he was not touching it again.

Softly he hummed. “Interesting is good,” he said with a smile. “And where exactly is back home?” He could imagine Sanctum CIty was not like the rest of the world. Not with the giant tree in their midst. “I grew up here, my parents decided to move here from fènghuáng when I was still young.”

It should not have come as a surprise that affinities were part of the reason she was studying science. These days it was normal. Pokémon were still being researched too, but most wanted to know more about affinities. Míngzé did his best to keep the expression on his face as neutral as possible. There was however the small hint of him clenching his jaw. “It’s mostly the people there that make it rather unbearable. Not really the nice friendly types.” Although, maybe that was because they were scientists. People who always locked themselves up in a lab. “Why affinities?” He had to ask, curious as to what her answer might be.

This whole situation was strange, but Míngzé did not mind. Having someone to talk to was nicer than sitting here alone. It was exactly why he decided to come here. “Is there a reason you decided to move to Cerynia?” Míngzé asked genuinely interested in her answer. He also hummed softly in confirmation when she noticed he was local.

The moment she started talking about affinities, he could hear the passion in her voice. Softly he clenched his jaw, trying his best not to let his own discomfort shine through. Meanwhile someone came to take their order once again and he simply asked for something sweet. He truly did not know what to say to this as he could not agree at all. The moment however that she mentioned she liked to have one, his eyes shot up. “Don’t.” He said it way too quickly and Míngzé noticed his mistake in this too. Reacting like this meant he would have to give her an explanation. He cleared his throat as he thought about a possible explanation. “It is not worth it. How beautiful it may sound, nothing good ever comes out of it.” By now he had his own experiences and had heard enough stories that only confirmed his beliefs.

His hands had found the cold bottle again and he was moving it between his fingers. “I guess,” Míngzé said with a strained voice. It did not matter how hard he tried to appear neutral on the subject, he could not hide his disgust and discomfort surrounding the subject. “Good things might come out of it in some way.” But they were not talking about the same thing here. If they researched it enough, they might find a way to remove them.

There were a few nods when Charlotte explained her choice. When she worded it like that he could understand why anyone would be drawn to this place. “It is rather unique from other places, is it not?”  Míngzé mused. There was a magical tree in the middle of this city that people prayed daily too. It couldn’t get more unique.

His golden eyes were directed at the girl in front of him as she explained her vision, her passion unwavering. While he found it admirable, it was not anything he could agree with. Yet her words kept echoing in his mind. Meaningful connections and experiences. Míngzé had to refrain himself from reaching to his chest where an empty feeling had made room for coldness not so long ago.

As his thoughts wandered, he was unaware of the silence that fell over them. It took a few seconds before her voice pulled him out of it. Blinking a few times, he tried to come back to the world entirely. “I’ll take the same as her,” Míngzé said, still feeling a bit out of it.

“I never experienced any of those meaningful connections or experiences.” It was as if he himself was sitting at that table and could hear someone else say it, but no, it had been his own voice. He drew a long and deep breath. “Would it be that my approach was wrong?” Míngzé asked with an arched eyebrow, his voice calm and collected.