Booze Makes You Happy?

Year 2222

A bar named “Stanley’s”

“So June, how’s the nerves feeling? You head to ZX7 tomorrow. Nervous?” A blonde girl with hazel eyes stares over at June, her face recording every movement. “Me? Nervous? Pfft, I was bloody made for this!”.

June glances over at the rest of the people at the table, Eddie directly to her left. A man with with brown curly hair and a large frame laughs loudly, shouting across the table “Ahaha, June, nervous? Your crazy Aery, June’s too good to be nervous!” His smile pulsing rapidly with each bellowing laugh.

June looks over at Eddie, thinking of the fact that she's never seen them so unprofessional. “Hey, do ya want a drink June? This is the only time you’ve ever joined us on one of our bar nights, and you’ve been an honorary member of Data and Research Team A14 for years now!” Junes turns, looking at Eddie picking up his second drink of the night and finishing off the glass of “Rye Rum and Rocks”.

She looks at the menu, trying to understand the whole thing. She turns back to Eddie, feeling more nervous about this moment than she does about leaving for her mission tomorrow morning. Noticing everyone else at the table seemingly caught up in individual conversation, she realizes Eddie's conversation is with her and he’s waiting for her to respond.

“Bloody Hell, What’s a ‘High Hops and Star Soda’? That sounds like a magic potion, not a Bevvy!” Eddie laughs harder than what seems usual at her confused remark. “What’s so funny, I was seriously askin’ These don’t make any sense to me!” June feels herself smile a bit, not even noticing that she’s been hooked into conversation by the drunken allure of her coworker.

“Ah hahaha, June”, Eddie laughs, attempting to catch his breath, “Have you ever been to a bar or even out for drinks before? Granted, I think you're funny in general June, the drinks make me laugh at even Willy and we all know how flat his jokes land at work.”.

The large man with curly hair yells from across the table “Hey, I’m funny and you kno-”. June stares for a moment, genuinely confused. For some reason, this explanation of how drinking alcohol affects your body doesn’t make sense to June.

Sitting here watching her coworkers all enjoying themselves, having a good time drinking and getting drunk, a ringing in June's ear silences all of the conversation around her. Completely zoning out, June’s mind disassociates.

Year 2211

New Scotland

“Get the hell off of me!”, A gravely, gruff voice booms from the heavily intoxicated man. A stumbling barrel of booze shouting and throwing its weight around and sloshing bile and booze onto the floor.

“Rich, June is standing right there! She needn’t see this! You're a damn mess again!” The woman pulls on the arm of the man in an attempt to take the bottle from the drunken man's grasp. In reaction to the woman's attempts to take the booze from him, the drunken man throws his arm over in a heavy motion, flinging the woman into a pile of dirty dishes like a mosquito, glaring at her like a pest that won’t stop bugging him.

“Get off of me I said!” The slurs soon drowned by the finishing of the bottle. As the slobbering booze barrel finishes his bottle, he slams it aggressively down onto the counter, and turns to the young June, cowering with tears in her eyes in the corner of the living room, clutching a couch pillow against her shaking body,

“Yer right, June’s here. Thank ye for reminding me Wilma, I forgot lil’ ol Junie was sittin’ here.” He stumbles over to the young girl who sits crying and hyperventilating in the corner.

As he stumbles into the living room, he dizzily kneels onto one knee and screams, spewing spit, vomit, and booze from his mouth, “YOU DID THIS! YOU CAUSED ME TO BE THIS WAY! IF YOU WOULD’VE JUST LISTENED AND KEPT YOURSELF PROPER BEHAVED, YOUR SI-” His words slur as tears beam down his face. “MY DAUGHTER’S DEAD AND IT’S ALL YOUR FAU-!”

Without the barrel of booze or the young June noticing, the woman had managed to pick herself back up and rush over to the drunken bastard and smash the empty bottle of booze into the side of his head before he could finish his sentence.

Broken pieces of glass fly through the air as the sound of the shattering glass is soon followed by the thud of the unconscious man hitting the carpet. The sound makes June’s eyes bolt up. Through blurry, teary-eyed vision, June sees Wilma reaching out to her, grabbing her moments later, pulling her into her body, and hugging her tightly.

“Junie, it’s ok. I’m here, I’m here. Don’t listen to him. It’s not your fault I promise you, It is not your fault. Please just hold me for now, He’s not waking up for a while. I’m here darling.” The woman, through tears and sobbing, reassures June, squeezing her even tighter now. “I’ll get you out of here, ok? No more. You deserve better than us”

Wilma stands up and begins walking out of the room holding onto the distraught and broken little girl. “C’mon darling, you need to get away from here for right now.”. June looks back as she leaves the room. Catching the disgusting, broken barrel of booze on the floor.

The last thing the young June catches from the scene in the living room is the broken piece of glass lying on the man's back. Her eyes read over the label, “Vosco’s Vodka”.

Year 2222

A bar named “Stanley’s”

“June? Earth to June~. Are ya in there?” June’s mind floods back to her, seeing Eddie’s attentive brown eyes little right at her. “Aye, I’m alive. I zoned for a minute there, but I’m back on earth now.”

Eddie looks down at the menu and points to an option, then looking back up into June’s jade eyes. “I was thinking about it, and since you don’t seem like much for the wild and excentric drinks, why not try out something more plain? It’s strong though but this is your big night, I figured if you tried something stronger maybe you’ll ease up a bit.” He’s eyes shift as he grins at her, clearly hoping she says yes.

Looking down at where Eddie’s finger is pointing, she lands her eyes on the option. “Vosco’s Famous Vodka”. Seeing the name labeled on the menu, the memories of that night briefly reawakened in her mind. A sick, twisting, nausea gnarled away at June's stomach.

“Whaddya say??”. Wide eyes survey through June's movements like surveillance cameras. “Be right back” June's momentary facade, taking everything out of her, only buying her enough time to make it to the bathroom before throwing up into the olden-style wooden toilet.

After time passes and the nausea subsides, June pulls herself up to the mirror, staring into the Jade eyes of the young girl. “Damnit, damnit damnit damnit! What the hell? Get it together June!”. The young girl's eyes swell with tears. “I said get it together. Why are you like this damnit..” June closes her eyes, and pushes tears fully out and down her cheeks.

Year 2225

Planet Bonnie

Weary-eyed, June woke up from a dream, her face plastered to her arms, hunched over at her desk. “Ughh, I hate sleeping at the desk. Peewee, ya gotta wake me up when I do that.” Hearing no squeaks, June turns around and sees Peewee isn't in the pod.

“Now where’d they go? Ughhh” June walks over to her bed and lays down, passing out again moments later.

After several hours, a wet nose pressing up against her cheek, wakes up June from her slumber. “Huh, Peewee? Hey, you’re back. What’s up?” June opens her eyes and sees Peewee sitting on her chest with both their goggles and their cap on, with June's headgear hanging from their mouth.

“Wh- Huh? Now? Dude, yer off yer trolley, I just opened my eyes. I haven't even ate ye-” Peewee swings the headgear over onto her face, smacking her with them. “Ow damnit, you're feisty right now, what’s the deal, Peewee?” June leans over to see their beady little eyes staring at her through the goggles, filled with boiling excitement.

June realizes the moment's seriousness, swings her legs over, and gets some stuff around. “Oh, you found something didn’t ya buddy?” Peewee aggressively nods their head in confirmation just before darting out to the rover.

Once she finishes packing, June runs out of the pod and sees Peewee on their seat, pridefully wagging their bushy tail and staring at June with a tiny red crystal in their mouth.

“Nuh uh, You bloody didn’t. You found a new crystal? And by the looks of it, you’ve got more you wanna take me to.” June watches Peewee’s proud expression blur as they swiftly nod their impatient little head. “Well, don’t make me wait, lemme check it out dude!”

June puts her hand under Peewee’s snout and they drop it right into her hands. The red tiny crystal pulling June's hand down with it, as its weight seems incredibly deceiving. “Bloody hell, this thing is dense! Wait..” June holds it up a little closer to her face and notices a striking resemblance to a certain blue crystal they found a while back.

June’s eyes widen as she makes the connection. “Peewee, hop in, We’re leaving now. If my assumption is correct, I have a feeling you're trying to show me that this crystal is more than just dense.”

The two adventurers fly from the hill, fearless and ambitious, into the setting night. Their journey beginning to become illuminated by the Festival of Dancing Lights. The Twins blessing the journey with their fantastic light show.

“Just Bump into my leg every time you want me to change directions, you're the one leading me now Peewee!”. June yells over the sounds of wind in their ears. Looking up at June, Peewee nods.

Through various directions, snoot boops to June's leg, and letting her know which way to go, Eventually, the two explorers make their last turn. “How long until were there, you couldn’t have gone that far with the rover!”.

With that very turn, June sees a red faint glow coming from a crater, over the horizon. “Uh-huh, I knew it. You freaking found it. You’re bloody wonderful you little bastard!”

Moments later, the rover drifts as June stops the rover abruptly just outside of the massive crater. Looking down inside, her eyes scan over and lock on to a Giant red crystal embedded deep into a crater, with little red crystal clusters surrounding the giant one. “Peewee, how the hell did you find high-gravity ones!?”