"Tying — what?" Unfamiliar as the phrase might've been, Orion's clever enough to pick up on context. "That some kind of Unovan slang?"

He tilts his chin up in appreciation of the ordered drinks — Shochu with a splash of fruit juice, because he wasn't miserable enough to want his liquor straight today. He finishes off his second glass so that the barkeep can take it away.

"Some Rocket fuck got out of an arrest," the Ranger grumbles, "fried my radio so I couldn't get back-up." He didn't actually know that Isaac Merlo was Rocket, but his anger toward the organization that'd cut off his arm leads him to paint most criminals with their same brush. "Taking the edge off."

He shakes his head when Arashi asks if he minds the smoke, considering the offered pack. Why not?

He coughs on the inhale, blinking from the intensity of it. "Arceus. Haven't had a cigarette since high school." That doesn't stop him from taking another puff. "Why're you here, then?"

mission: sleepless in slateport

Orre? Why, then, had he assumed Unova? Ah, right. Because he associates a brooding, smoking guy with Slateport's Ranger Captain, Tam Fawley, who hailed from somewhere in Unova.

He laughs at the expression on @arashi's face.

"You can order it straight, but I'm not drunk enough yet."

Arashi expresses his sympathies toward Orion's missed mark, and Orion only grimaces. "Fucked up my damn arm trying to stop the chase. It's been stiff since." That would explain the jerkiness and stilted movement of the metal limb.

Laid. Orion's astounded as to how someone could be so bold.

"Good luck," is laughed off a little awkwardly. "I can keep you company 'til then."

mission: sleepless in slateport

Though he wants to express proper thanks for the alcohol, Orion can't quite find the words. So he says nothing, because that's how anxiety is sometimes. He follows @arashi to the booth.

"You told me you were juggling chainsaws for charity," Orion remarks, dry, "but something tells me that was bullshit." He hadn't pressed the issue, though, because he understood more than most the trauma that could accompany such a loaded question.

Of course, he is still curious...

"Deal. I'll even go first."

It was information that could be gleaned if you asked the right people, less secretive than Arashi's own tale, and so it only seemed fair for Orion to lead the charge.

"Rocket. THEO BECKETT, one of the ones that was on the news? Anyway, they were gonna carry out an attack on civilians if I didn't cooperate and I didn't want that shit on my conscience." Had he known what would result from his cooperation, he may well have taken the risk. "Some sick fuck locked me up in his basement and tortured me for a while. I don't even think he was looking for intel." His expression darkens and withers with disgust. "Had some chip on his shoulder about the League and was taking it out on someone who couldn't fuckin' fight back. He, uh," and Orion could simply say that Chu-e Choi had amputated the arm, but with a sip of whiskey, he admits, "fed it to my fucking Silvally. Can't eat meat after that." He looks a little queasy even mentioning it.

He downs the rest of the glass, desperate to feel numb to it.

"So. You?"

mission: sleepless in slateport