Konstantin turned around briefly to get one last look at Julian, who by now was conversing with two women.
Good. he thought. He was glad that Julian had some company and wasn’t left completely abandoned.
Having downed his Zyr, he made his way towards the tennis court. Although he’d heard of it and researched the rules before coming here, Konstantin had never seen or played it, as it didn’t exist in Stratarin. He was looking forward to giving it his best try, though.
Leon continued relaxing, his ears picking up the occasional snippets every now and then. Although the Vulpine couple struck him as odd, his years in the intelligence field screamed something was familiar, but was later dismissed. Mentally he said to himself, “So what if it’s someone famous or powerful. I’m here to relax.”
After several minutes he got up and began walking to the bar, nodding towards the three customers, two women apparently hanging on one, and shifted focus over to the bartender. It was obvious that the six foot, two inch tall man dwarfed the others in size. Surk made an order, “Hey, can you get me a John Daly? In a grand goblet instead of a highball please.”
The Shangolese bartender looked at Leon with the look insane people would get. He responded in a thick accent, “Sur bout dat mon?”
Leon chuckled and replied, “Yeah, I’m confident.”
He responded, “Sur sur.”
Leon looked over to the other male and asked in a pleasant manner, “What’s your business here bud?”
Julian leaned backwards to talk to the man, clearly confused at all the people talking to him at once.
“I’m Lieutenant Julian Kranz, SMDF. I’m basically decoration for that bloke who’s still chilling on the beach chair” He pointed with his thumb behind him.
“Just having a drink and a chat while I wait for him to finish soaking up sunlight” By this point, he had stopped and rubbed his head. He finished introducing himself and leaned back into a sitting position.
Leon listened carfully, every word being soaked into his mind. The brain-cells began chewing on the signals the eardrums sent. Mentally he thought, “Why the hell are SMDF here on vacation when there’s a civil war brewing in their country?”
Despite the internal thoughts of how amateurish the Setzna are, his face resumed being a symbol of pleasantness. His inner Drill Instructor from his years in the Veridian Empire then transformed into the Northern Gondwana Union screamed every bit. The urge the educate his conversation partner was surpressed. Leon parted his lips, “Oh really? What’s two members of Setzna’s military doing here?”
“The bloke’s a civilian, some big shot up in the government,” Jack waved again and went back to his business “I got put on standby and at first I thought I screwed up somewhere. Then someone from Foreign Affairs sent me along to keep watch over him, though I see no reason why though, the security here is pretty top notch. Could be one of the safest places on Urth.” Julian finished his scotch.
— Begin quote from ____
A special forces unit started to move up without permission, ignoring orders and advancing on the rebel positions. The roaring of jet engines could be heard closing in on the position and explosions carpeted the enemy fortifications. The dropped bombs also hit the friendly special forces, wiping out the unit that just advanced.
— End quote
“I do need the break though. One of our units ignored orders and got bombed to shit by friendlies, hell that wasn’t a pleasant sight.” He replayed the events of Luzen in his mind. After being depressed, Julian noticed that the man gave off an aura of someone who shouted at you from sunrise to sundown. Now who would give off an aura like that?
“So, if I may ask, who are you?” He asked, this time in his hand was a cup of water. He took a sip and waited for an answer.[edit_reason]Fixed some things here and there, might have to fix it even more.[/edit_reason]
The words “this is probably one of the most secured places on Urth” rang in his head. It was shocking to hear this, but it was further reinforced with the serviceman regaling the time of friendly fire. This meeting was definitely gonna go back to his associates in the Union, another shred of information that would be invaluable to the situation ongoing in Setnza.
On the outside his left eye twitched ever so slightly in frustration, just before focus was placed upon the two other companions. He asked in a cheery voice, “So what brings you two here?”
"Ay. I’m Saite, or you could call me “Say”. The human girl waved as she introducted herself to the two guys. “This is my new friend, Alex.”
“Hi!” The vulpine chirped.
“I’m from Emberwood. I see you’re military?”
Leon laughed, switching his weight onto one foot. After a few seconds he responded, “Oh no, that was a long time ago. I’ve been out.”
The vulpine bartender returned with a 30 oz goblet of John Daly. An sweet tea and lemonade mixture, with a shot of vodka or two. Surk took a few sips before resuming, “Heard of Emberwood, haven’t been there yet. I’m from the Veridian Empire, but that was way before your time. Now I’m just traveling from country to country. Take in the sights and whatnot.”
“I wish I had the time to travel the world.” Saite mused. She drained her glass and stuck out her hand. “Anyhow, it’s nice to meet you!”
Julian stood up, “I’m going to go and check on my buddy…” He walked off towards Jack who just got off of the chair.
“See ya…” Sai waved after the guy. So dutiful… She thought to herself, before turning to Alex to get more drinks for the two of them. Out the corner of her eye, she spotted a Vekaiyun couple.
After laying in her chair for awhile, Susan slowly sat up and looked at her empty glass. She wasn’t much or a drinker, but she decided to make an exception for her stay at the resort. “Well, time to get more.” She stood up from her resting place and made her way to the bar where a few other guests were chatting. Ignoring them, she went over to the bartender to order a drink.
“Hi, I’ll take the peach one again.”
“The Bellini, ma’am?” The young man responded.
“Yes, that one.” As Susan waited for her drink, she couldn’t help herself from eavesdropping on the other customers’ conversations. None of what they were talking about were too interesting, but she was intrigued at all the different of places each guest was from. Since there are many restrictions on who can come and go back in Fortuna, she rarely got to meet any foreigners. So seeing this many people from different countries was quite new to her. Susan was interrupted from her eavesdropping “operation” by the bartender.
“Your drink ma’am.” The young bartender said as he handed Susan her drink.
“Oh, thank you.” Once she got her drink, she decided to hit up a conversation with one of the other guests. She went over to the large man who appeared to have ended his conversation with the couple.
“Hi there. So you’re from the Veridian Empire. Didn’t they join up with some union a while back?”
“From there, yes. And they did join the Union in the 80’s. Why do you ask?” responded Leon to the new woman while taking a sip. His drink was in a rather large goblet, but the alcohol content was so watered down by the lemonade and sweet tea mix it’d take five of them to get even remotely tipsy.
“Just out of curiosity. I don’t usually hear much on what happens on the other side of Urth.” She took a sip of her drink, starting to feel a bit awkward from asking such an odd question. “Oh yeah, where are my manners. My name is Susan, sorry if I came off as a bit nosy.”
Yensey made eye contact at the individual who glanced at the two and smiled back, making a sort of half-wave while Ikrisia waved with her fingers.
Surk replied once more, “Oh that’s normal. Not much other than wanting to introduce new client states. Politicians are in the middle of trying to connect Oynenyua to the rest of the Union. Less political stuff to argue with other nations and whatnot.”
Leon shifted his weight again and took another sip, “So you must be from Fortuna right Susan?”
“Yeah, yeah I am,” Susan replied slowly. She was caught off guard at this person she just met a few minutes ago knowing where she was from. “Yeah. ‘Yasteria’s Gate to the Pacific,’ or that’s what I like to call ourselves anyway. Just a small nation trying to survive in a large, competitive world.” She trailed her last words out as she took another sip from her drink. Susan took this time to take a look around even though nothing has changed except for a vulpine couple walking nearby. Once done with her quick inspection of the area, Susan returned her attention to the man. “What was his name? I don’t think he mentioned it. I guess I’ll ask later,” she thought to herself as she put her glass down.
“Out of curiosity, again, how did you know where I was from? Because that is quite the talent you have.”
Leon shrugged, his grey yet short hair-topped head tilting to one side. “I could tell from your accent,” Surk mentioned casually.
“Used to be an intel man myself, but those days are long gone. Now I just travel around, thinking of writing a book or starting a club,” he said half lying. The truth was the long-gone part, but he did organize a club. The more accurate term would be an multi-national club.
It was a few seconds until a second thought came into his head. It was sudden realization which prompted a quick correction and an extended hand, “Oh I’m sorry. Forgot to introduce myself, I’m Leon Surk. Although you can just call me Leon. What brings you out here?”
The vulpine couple Saite has seen waved, and the two girls waved back. They wandered over to say hello after getting another pair of drinks.
“Leon… Alright. Well Leon, I’m here on vacation, a treat I rarely get to experience. My position back home keeps me busy day and night, so I finally found a break in my schedule to do whatever I want. When I heard of this resort opening up a while back, I decided that I’d like to spend my vacation here. How about you, are you here on vacation or just looking for another story for your book?”