Distractions

Well, wasn't that great. The President's announcement came pretty soon after Tinker figured the planet would be good for the odd visit. Sure, he could probably kajigger his ship to bypass any detection in the future, and he could probably do some work helping others with that, but it was still annoying!

Naturally, one of the results of the announcement was increased scrutiny of the various aliens who were here already. Fortunately, the Fauxbian could kinda blend in, unlike most aliens. Animal people were native to Earth already, so he didn't stand out that much. Sure, most were taller than him, but it wasn't that big a deal. It was easy enough to just put the hood up and stay outta people's way. It was boring, but he wasn't in too much of a hurry to start trouble. For the time being, he'd decided to hang out at some bar. He didn't actually drink, generally, but he was just here to relax, get a plan for what he was gonna do, and maybe watch some drunk idiots fight or do something else amusing. The Fauxbian had positioned himself out of the way of the regulars, keeping to himself with his hood up and headphones on. 

Eventually, something did happen, punctuated by a loud crash as someone stumbled through the doors directly into the countertop. Looking at the sight, Tinker couldn't help but be surprised by how he actually recognized the figure. It sure seemed like that hapless human from back on Konats who crash-landed in the desert. Sure, it had been a while, but Tinker was pretty sure this was the same guy. He seemed drunk, which was pretty strange, considering how he barged into the place and was stumbling about, seemingly on a mission to knock every bottle possible over. Maybe he'd been kicked out of some other bar already. His voice also seems off somehow, though it was difficult to place why. Then again, it had been a while, so maybe he was misremembering what the guy sounded like...

The bartender had slowly backed away and was already on the phone, dialling for someone. Probably calling authorities about the fact some guy burst in and broke a bunch of his merch. Standing up, Tinker decided to approach the human causing this mess, most from having nothing better to do. Also because no one else seemed ready to approach.

"Hey! Been a while, uh..." Tinker started casually before remembering... he didn't really remember too much about their last meeting. Well, not past a certain point, anyway. He really had to ask Zricha how that actually went; he thought it ended with him unconscious and the human fleeing, but he wasn't too sure about any of that. There was an awkward pause as the short crocodile tried to recall if he'd even heard the guy's name. Eventually, a name came to mind. "Um, Yogu, right?"

The reptilian alien looked at the shattered glass scattered at the boy's feet, the consequences of his reaching for the high bottle. Honestly, maybe he should have led a bit differently, but oh well. "...Err, you good, man?"

"Uh, yeah. Been a while." Tinker answered awkwardly, trying to process what was supposed to be the same guy he met on Konats. Sure, they'd only met once before, and they obviously weren't being threatened at gunpoint this time, but it still felt off for him. From his limited experience, Yogu seemed the kind to stumble into trouble rather than intentionally start it. "Sure y'ain't drunk or somethin'?"

Tinker knew he could easily be wrong about Yogu, though. Maybe this was what he was generally like, or perhaps this was what he was like when he was hammered. Alternatively, Yogu could've changed since then. It had been more than a year, after all. There were lots of normal-ish reasons for what he was doing.

And then he ignited a flame at his fingertip. Tinker didn't recall him doing that before, but that meant little; again, the Fauxbian had no idea what happened after he started to fight Zricha, so he wasn't gonna point that out as odd yet. The far more relevant fact was that he promptly set fire to some of the alcohol. There was plenty of fuel, considering how much alcohol he'd spilt already, though there wasn't enough to destroy the place with that if it was handled quickly. Some people were already panicking and trying to leave.

Despite the risks, Tinker took the offered bottle. He wasn't planning on drinking, though he was considering it. He'd never really had alcohol himself but was open to trying it. Maybe right now wasn't the best time, though. During that moment of consideration, the human vocally noted a change in his own wording before asking the croc to watch something cool. "Alright, what're ya...?"

Before Tinker could finish the question, he started a much greater fire. One that probably wasn't gonna get put out by the hapless bartender, despite his panicked efforts. Now, at this point, Tinker knew he should probably leave Yogu to his rampage, going their separate ways. He didn't exactly want to get the Earth's police on his tail if he didn't have to, even before the president's new laws. Not that the reptile cared for the laws, but part of that was that no one around here had a reason to care about him enough to see him flaunting them. That'd probably change if he was seen chummy with Yogu while the human broke stuff.

Also, Tinker didn't exactly want to paint anything with blood. Sure, he was alright with causing some trouble; he wouldn't complain about a scrap here or there, but he drew the line at murdering people who didn't deserve it. A tiny part of him was a bit more flippant on the subject, but not enough to matter. Given the fires he was setting and the language, others living didn't seem to be of concern for Yogu.

There were two main reasons he didn't just run at this point. First, he wanted to make sure this was actually Yogu, not someone mind-controlling the guy. Now that he thought about it, the words he was saying earlier were weird, weren't they? He'd only half-paid attention to the words earlier, more noticing the change in voice. Now that the surprise of him bursting in and wrecking the place had faded, that left the complaints of a boy being short as rather odd. Second was the thought that he should consider maybe stopping him before he actually killed someone. Tinker wasn't exactly a hero type, generally, but again. He preferred random people to not die.

"I mean, ain't like there's much left 'ere right now. No reason to stay now." Tinker rumbled casually, walking out of the burning bar with the guy and suppressing his desire to just run for the moment. Internally, he was panicking a bit, but he was hiding that pretty well. The hand not occupied with a bottle casually went into one of his hoodie's pockets. "Don't recall ya bein' like this last time we were in this city. Somethin' got ya pissed off?"

Of course, it was a lie, but he figured Yogu would at least remember they met on a completely different planet, among many other facts about their meeting. If someone was controlling him, though, they shouldn't know any better unless they could peek into his memories. Also, maybe he'd learn why he was breaking stuff this way.

Yeah, okay, definitely not Yogu, but someone puppeteering his body and not too happy about that fact. Tinker was prepared for them to either question what they were talking about (as he should have, considering the blatant lie), or to try and keep the charade going. Instead, he began to rave about things that a human probably shouldn't be ranting about. At the bare minimum, not a human Yogu's age.

On the one hand, that left...way too many questions. Tinker didn't even understand half of what the deal really was, despite his attempts to listen to the screed. Those were questions he'd probably want to ask Yogu at some point, assuming that he knew what was even going on with his body. Much as he'd like to ask whoever was in control, it was probably best to avoid pissing the guy off further. That said, it was a little reassuring that they weren't even pretending to be Yogu. He'd probably be a lot more ready to fight if he made the attempt.

"...Yeah, alright. Ain't even gonna pretend I understand yer issue is, but sounds like it sucks." Tinker answered with a shrug, taking it as in stride as he could. There were plenty of ways he could answer the rant, but just leaving it for now was probably for the best. Actively antagonizing him was probably a worse plan than that. Sure, Tinker could probably fight him if he had to, but honestly? It seemed a good idea to just let him be for the moment. Safer for him and everyone in the city block. He just hoped Yogu wasn't really aware of what was happening right now.

Before the Fauxbian could consider that further, he felt his hoodie getting pulled as that anger gave way to drunken curiosity. "'Ey, ya don't need ta drag me, ya know!" Tinker yelled back, batting at the hand, but not putting real effort into stopping whoever was using Yogu's body at the moment. He wasn't gonna stop him as long as he didn't start too much trouble, and getting him to sing would probably be entertaining if nothing else. There was the small issue that he still set fire to the last place, but hopefully they didn't actually know he did that yet. "Look, you wanna sing? Sure, just don't burn this place down, alright?"