Drink Water
Nannaras X
June 30th YC 120
“Regrets? Oh…I got plenty of those.”
“Tell me then my man, we can help each other though these regrets weighing us down!”
Monden adjusts himself, he tosses aside the comforter covering him and sits firmly on the edge of his bed “Why do you even care so much?”
“Like I said! I lov-"
Despite this being a call and there being no one to gesture to, Monden lifts up his hand as if to signal Auljam to stop speaking “That’s not what I mean. Why do you care so much about regrets? What’s done is done.”
“It’s about liberating ourselves from the guilt man! To own up to our poor decisions and recognise that the fault lies in our actions. Otherwise, it’s just gonna eat at us from the inside, man.”
“That so?” Monden let’s out a short lived chuckle “Well, wanna know my biggest regret then Auljam?” Monden stands up from his bed
“Hey! That’s why I’m handing the floor off to you man! Tell me what’s up, what do you regret the most?”
Monden walks over the windows that offered a scenic view of Hoiyori. It wasn’t a bustling metropolis of skyscrapers, while few existed it was largely made up of medium sized buildings that were mostly constructed with wooden materials “I regret ignoring my Father’s advice.”
Auljam is slow to respond “…Eh?”
“I told my Dad that I wanted to start a company, specifically in raw planetary materials so I could fuel the industry of the Federation… My Dad told me I should’ve just enlisted with the army, or gotten a comfy and safe job as some pencil pusher at Material Acquisitions, but that wasn’t me. I wanted to be my own boss and I wanted every hover-car, building and device ever produced in the Federation to use materials my company dug up…”
“What good is a factory if they don’t got any material to build with, right?”
Monden’s eyes dart over to an arc of lighting that strikes in the distance “Exactly, that’s how I’d give back to my homeland.”
“But what was your father’s advice about this?”
“He said it was a foolish idea, because in time Capsuleers would eventually start rooting themselves into the market I’d hope to make an impact in. At the time I never thought it’d happen, they were space-bound afterall. On top of that, there weren’t that many of them back then, they weren’t that huge of a factor in the grand scheme of things. They were still just strapping mining lasers to their gold-plated battleships to mine veldspar. I thought they couldn’t possibly care about planets and would sooner start bombing the surface before trying to excavate the resources on them.”
“Well, they were bombing the hell out of planets in low security space during some period…”
“Right…”Monden steps away from the window and walks over to a door on the left side of the bedroom “But not before starting to excavate planetary resources…”
Monden steps into a hybrid of a room, directly to his left was a floor-based dining table with four cushions on the sides and one on each end. A continuation of the windows in his bedroom stretched out behind it. Monden never bothered using the table as he hated the idea of sitting on the floor to eat dinner. To the right was a small little circular hole he could step down into, half of it was lined with a sofa that was aimed at a holo-screen projector on the wall across from it. Obviously it was intended for watching shows, but it was impractical as he could only use the holo-screen for a maximum of three hours before it locked itself and he would be greeted with a message from the Ohrion board of health to go out and exercise, or enjoy some other indoor hobby, this was standard for every household. To the north eastern part of the room was the kitchen area that was walled off with counters, with all the basic utilities, sink, fridge, stove, dishwasher.
Monden makes his way towards the kitchen area as he continues to vent to Auljam over the phone “As my old man predicted, Capsuleers began dominating the planetary resource markets, the stocks in their corporations became immensely more valuable than that of a lowly baseliner owned organization such as mine.” Stepping onto the role floors of the kitchen, Monden makes his way over to a cabinet that holds all his cups, taking one out he wanders over to the sink to fill it up with tap water.
“Yeah that blows man…Not sure how that feels as Capsuleers never really tried that hard to get a grip on the holoreel market…Then again the Clear Skies trilogy was a smashing hit success, but honestly not sure if a Capusleer directed that…Oh! But there are those countless recordings of fleet battles that plenty of my colleagues use as B-rolls in their productions.”
“Oh don’t get me started on that ■■■■…” Monden turns the sink’s nob to stop the flow of water and takes one long sip from his glass. His headache was the product of a hangover from the several shots of whiskey he had used to put him to sleep. He was in dire need of hydration. He lowers the drink with a gasp and begins his rant “Capsuleers are so ■■■■■■■ clueless about these battles they wage, wasted life and resources is what they all are. All they do is treat it like some sick ■■■■■■■ game by glorifying it all. These wars aren’t for some greater good. It’s all for “Lols” for “Content” or to link clips of Jin-Mei cartoons in a ■■■■■■■ comms channel! We’ve handed these monsters so much power! So much importance! So much ■■■■■■■ independence that they’ll soon have control over everything! We’ll all be looking up pledging allegiance to a flag with some dumb ■■■■ on it like a bee or a literal ■■■■■■■ phage virus ten or twenty years from now.” He resumes drinking the last bit of water in his glass
“Monden! Come on man! You know that’s all Capsuleers, some of them are good guys"
Monden lowers the now empty glass and places it under the sink nozzle “Oh, ■■■■ off with that “Not all Capsuleers” ■■■■■■■■!” He turns the sink back on to fill the cup back up “These “Good Guys" you’re talking about are the fucks that go posting on their Intergalactic message board to boast about how morally superior they are and brag about what they’ve done for us mortals. Pretending that they’ve never once ■■■■■■ one of us over for their own gains! It’s all just one big contest to see who can be more morally correct than the other, they all want to be the heroes the media covers in a news article! Because God knows a fart can’t pass though the ass cheeks of a Capsuleer Alliance director or fleet commander without twenty news reporters catching wind of it!” So caught up in his rant, Monden was oblivious to his cup overflowing with water. He even had no concern for the liquid splashing all over the counters (and himself) as he raises it up to take another swig.
He slams the cup back down, causing more water to splash on the counter “And the worst part about it all? Not a ■■■■■■■ thing I could do about it… I lied to you Auljam, the number one regret I have was thinking I could beat these Capsuleers at their own game.”
Auljam is slow to respond “…Shitposting?”
“No, at business…I once owned a house Auljam. Wasn’t a mansion or estate, just a normal ass house, but this was a house I owned. I lived there with a wife and two kids…I had money, to put food on their table and take them places. I could afford to put my kids in the best ■■■■■■■ private school on our homeworld so they could have a good education. I lost all of it! I had too much pride to just accept that my company was about to be throttled by the Capsuleers! I had too much ■■■■■■■ pride to look my staff in their faces and tell them that I was selling the company! No! Instead I just told them some sweetened lie that we’d make though this storm! That we’d survive! Instead we’d just slowly bled out! I lost my money and house to the banks! I lost friendships with people I’ve known since college! My ■■■■■■■ marriage! My own bed! I was sleeping under my god damm desk for five ■■■■■■■ years!”
“Monden! Man! You need to breath!”
Monden ignores this suggestion to hurl out one last statement “Now?! Now after all the pain and loss?! I’m here! On this ■■■■■■■ planet because I went bankrupt and my company got bought out!”
“Exactly! Y-You’re here now man! It’s all good here man! There’s far worse places to be in New Eden, consider this an upgrade, yeah?
Monden holds up his palm, as if Auljam was right there in front of him. For once, Monden’s tone is soft “Auljam, I cringe at this entire place.”
“…It ain’t that bad man!”
“Auljam!” Monden shouts and aims his hand towards the dining table “I’m looking - at a dining table that you sit down on the ground to use! Who the hell has a table like this in YC 120!? This is just one example! This ■■■■ about honor, the kimonos, this spiritual significance about weather conditions?!” Monden lowers his tone “All of it just makes me cringe… And my son? He’s trying to be like these ■■■■■■■ people. Talk like them, dress like them, use these ■■■■■■■ ground-level tables like them! I don’t understand this place! But I’m stuck here. Because I can’t bring myself to let go of my company.”
“…Holy ■■■■ man. Well you know, it could be w-"
Monden lowers the phone from his ear and closes the call. Tossing the device aside he lowers his face down into his hands and sighs deeply. Deep down he felt sort of relieved that he managed to finally get that off his chest in a way that didn’t involve him shouting into a void. But at the same time it opened up some old wounds and brought back some painful memories. Looking over to the windows, he saw the thunder had cleared up and the dark sky slowly lightening up as the sun comes ever closer to shining over them. It was a new day.
Looking back down to the counter, he looks around at the wet mess of water he caused in his ear blistering tirade. Sighing, Monden looks around for some cloth to clean it up with.