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Erend, who professed himself to be an expert on all things pertaining to drinking, had assured her that this drinking game he had discovered while going through old data on his Focus was a worthwhile use of the group’s time. Aloy disagreed, but she was overruled by Varl, Zo, and Alva. The only other member of the group had agreed that they had more important things to do than play games was Kotallo. Beta had refused to venture upstairs to weigh in on the matter. Typical.
Aloy had half a mind to leave them to it and set out on her own to track down and trap Hephaestus, but GAIA had yet to produce any real leads, and she hesitated to let Erend drink unsupervised in case he ended up with a broken arm or nose. Again.
The game was called Never Have I Ever, and Erend insisted that drinking was strongly encouraged per the rules. To this end, he had acquired a considerable amount of ale, and, per Zo’s request, a bottle of elderflower wine. Aloy had never been particularly fond of alcohol, but between the two, she trusted Zo’s taste more than Erend’s. Anything had to be better than scrappersap.
The residents of the base—minus Beta—had gathered in the central hub and positioned themselves around the room in a loose circle. Aloy frowned as she took a seat on the floor between Alva and Kotallo. She wasn’t entirely certain on the rules of this game, but she trusted the Tenakth to have her back.
“Okay, who needs a drink?” Erend said, already grasping a tankard of scrappersap.
In the spirit of comradery, Aloy attested that she did, and Erend passed around ale and wine to those who asked for it. Aloy held her goblet of elderflower wine, sniffing it suspiciously. It smelled acidic.
“Wait,” Alva said. “So we drink if we haven’t done the thing or if we did do the thing?”
“If you have done it,” Erend said. “I’m going to say something that I haven’t done, and if anyone here has done it, then they have to drink.”
“So the objective is to not get drunk while trying to make everyone else get drunk?” Alva said. “With the added challenge of not revealing too much personal information?”
“Uh, yeah. But ideally everyone will get drunk,” Erend said. “Trust me. It’ll make sense once we start playing.”
“Alright,” Alva said, nodding. At least she seemed happy to be here.
“Okay, we’ll start with an easy one,” Erend said. “Never have I ever lied about having a partner.”
“A romantic partner?” Alva clarified.
“Yes, a romantic partner,” Erend said.
“Why would you lie about that?” Aloy said dubiously.
Alva sipped her drink. “Before I met Federa, I lied about having a partner so men would stay away from me back home.”
“Oh,” Aloy said, understanding.
Zo and Varl sipped their drinks as well but did not elaborate, proving that Aloy had made the right decision to sit next to Kotallo.
“Varl, it’s your turn,” Erend said.
“Oh, uh, sure. Let me think,” Varl said good-naturedly. “Oh, I know. Never have I ever kissed someone while drunk.”
Zo sighed as she sipped her wine, but she looked amused.
Erend drank too which didn’t surprise Aloy though it did pique her curiosity.
Varl laughed. “Erend, you dog.”
“You drink as much as I do and you make every mistake in the book at some point,” Erend said.
“Alright, my turn,” Zo said. “Never have I ever… been to Meridian.”
Aloy drank. The wine was sweeter than she was expecting. Erend and Varl drank too.
“That’s the Carja capital city, isn’t it?” Alva asked. “I’d love to examine their archives someday.”
“No Tenakth has ever set foot in Meridian,” Kotallo said.
“Oh, is it my turn?” Alva said. “Um… Never have I ever been attracted to men.”
Erend laughed and did not drink. Neither did Varl. Zo and Kotallo both did. Aloy hesitated.
“Do you still drink if you’re not sure?” she asked.
Erend raised an eyebrow at her, and she looked away.
“It’s just a game,” he said. “Do whatever you want.”
Aloy held her drink in her left hand. “Never have I ever been hungover,” she said.
“I take that personally,” Erend said, drinking.
Everyone else drank too except for Kotallo. Aloy smiled, amused.
“What gives, Kotallo?” Erend said. “I’ve seen you drink enough to drown a small Scrapper.”
“I don’t experience hangovers,” Kotallo said. “Perhaps I simply know my limitations.”
He looked thoughtful for a moment before he said. “Never have I ever lost a fistfight.”
“Now he’s just showing off,” Erend said, taking a hearty gulp of his ale.
Aloy drank as well, ruefully recalling sparring with Rost and tussling with the Nora.
“I’ve never been in a fistfight,” Alva said cheerfully.
“Are you an only child?” Varl said, drinking.
“No, why do you ask?” Alva said.
“Ah, don’t worry about it,” Varl said.
“I get the impression playfighting is common among the Nora,” Zo said, amused. Her glass of wine remained untouched.
“Yeah, Vala got me good a few times,” Varl said wistfully. “Did you and Ersa ever fight, Erend?”
“Are you kidding me? We’re Oseram. We fought as soon as we could walk,” he said.
Varl laughed and raised his glass. “Sisters,” he said.
“Sisters,” Erend agreed.
Aloy looked down at her drink. She wondered if Beta could hear them from downstairs.
“Alright,” Erend said. “Never have I ever… stayed awake more than two days in a row.”
Aloy rolled her eyes as she sipped her wine. “You try sleeping with the fate of the world at stake.”
“I’ve been sleeping just fine these past few months,” Erend said with a grin. “All this reading and worrying just makes me want to sleep more.”
Kotallo sipped his drink as well. “When I undertook the March of the Ten, I did not sleep for several days.”
Alva sipped her drink as well but did not elaborate. Aloy imagined her staying up for days on end poring through records and data from the Old World with her Focus.
“Never have I ever,” Varl began, “single handedly killed a Thunderjaw.”
“This feels targeted,” Aloy said as she drank.
“These days I win all my battles single handedly,” Kotallo said.
There was a beat of silence before Aloy realized he was joking and laughed. The others joined in. The stoic Tenakth cracked a smile.
“Your turn, Zo,” Erend said.
The Utaru hummed in thought for a moment before she said, “Never have I ever had a bad breakup.”
Aloy smirked as Varl, Erend, and Alva drank.
Zo shook her head pityingly. “What did you do to that poor girl, Erend?”
“Why you picking on me?” he said, faux outraged. “Who knows what sordid affairs Varl’s gotten up to…”
“Varl’s too kind for sordid affairs,” Zo said.
“Ouch.”
“I’m teasing you, Erend,” she said.
“Oh, yeah. I knew that.”
Aloy exchanged a glance with Kotallo who looked similarly amused. She believed that he’d never ended a relationship badly. He was too honorable, if he even pursued romance at all which was uncertain. It was difficult to imagine him pursuing anything that wasn’t battle.
“Hmm,” Alva said as everyone looked to her. “Never have I ever gotten a tattoo.”
Aloy smiled, pleased to be let off the hook once again.
Kotallo raised an eyebrow, but his face was calm as he drank.
“Only Kotallo?” Alva said.
“It’s war paint,” Varl said, and Zo nodded.
“I haven’t gotten around to it yet,” said Erend.
“What’s your tattoo going to be?” Alva asked.
Aloy caught movement out of the corner of her eye as Erend started to answer, and she turned to catch sight of Beta creeping up the stairs. Beta froze like a startled animal.
“Ersa’s name probably,” Erend said, oblivious.
Aloy jerked her head at Beta like, Okay, go on .
The girl nodded and continued creeping up the stairs before slinking along the outside of the circle.
“It’s your turn, Aloy,” Erend said. “Hey, what are you looking at—?”
“Oh, hey Beta,” Varl said, turning to face with her a smile.
“Oh… Hi Varl,” she said, fidgeting with her hands. “I was… looking for a snack.” She gestured vaguely at the bar in the common room that served as their food reserves.
“Oh, yeah, no problem,” Varl said. He got up and went behind the bar and returned with a bowl of Lowland trailmix and a slice of Mesa bread. “We’re playing a game if you want to join us.”
Beta took the offered food hesitantly. “Um, sure, I guess.”
Aloy let her gaze wander as Beta took a bite of the bread and sat down between Erend and Varl.
“Why are we sitting on the floor?” Beta asked.
“It’s traditional,” Erend said. “I read about it in an Old World datapoint.”
“Do you want a drink?” Varl offered.
“Isn’t she a little young for alcohol?” Aloy said. “Rost told me you have to be grown to drink wine or ale.”
“Not in my culture,” Zo said. “For an Utaru, she’s the perfect age to start drinking wine.”
“Consuming alcohol has negative effects on your cognition, inhibitions, and perception,” Beta said. “It mostly fell out of favor with Far Zenith. They preferred drugs that were far worse for them.”
“So is that a no?” Varl asked.
“I’ll have something… I doubt I’ll drink much anyway,” she said. Her eyes were focused on something over Aloy’s shoulder. “I haven’t exactly done a lot.”
Erend poured her a glass of wine.
Aloy shifted on the floor where she was sitting and accidentally made eye contact with Varl who nodded encouragingly.
“Okay, never have I ever celebrated my day of birth,” she said. She’d only learned when it was recently.
Erend groaned as he drank. “Not fair, Aloy.”
Everyone drank except for Beta which surprised Aloy who had trouble imagining the Tenakth celebrating anything.
“What do the Tenakth do to celebrate?” she asked, turning to Kotallo.
“On the day a Tenakth child turns thirteen years of age, they are given their first real weapon. Previously, they have only used training weapons,” Kotallo said. “I still have the spear I received.”
“Yeah, sounds like a great time,” Erend said, shaking his head. “Remind me to take you all to an Oseram coming of age celebration someday.”
“The Utaru honor each year a child survives and grows,” Zo said. “We bake barley cakes and pay visits to the Land-gods to ask for their blessings.”
“I only know my birthday in interstellar standard time, and we, uh, we never celebrated it,” Beta said. “I don’t know when that falls on your calendar…”
“GAIA could tell you,” Aloy said. “I only learned when my day of birth was a year or so ago.”
Beta looked like she wanted to say something but then thought better of it. Maybe she was worried about their chances of living to see another birthday.
Everyone turned to look at Kotallo.
“Never have I ever been to a wedding,” he said after a moment.
“The Tenakth don’t do weddings?” Erend said. He topped off his tankard which must have been running low and took another swig.
“No,” Kotallo said.
“The Quen do,” Alva said, sipping her drink.
“So do the Utaru,” Zo said. She drank from and refilled her wine glass.
“The Nora don’t call them weddings…” Varl mused. “A couple might ask All-Mother for favor in conceiving a child, but we don’t have marriage contracts like the Carja.”
Erend rolled his eyes. “Carja weddings are the most pompous thing I’ve ever seen. I didn’t know one person could talk about the Sun for that long uninterrupted. Now Oseram weddings—okay, they’re not great either, but the alcohol is better.”
Aloy laughed. “Sounds like we’re not missing much.”
“Yeah, okay, you’re probably right.”
The game passed back around to Erend who said, “Never have I ever learned to play an instrument.”
Zo drank which didn’t surprise Aloy at all what with the Utaru’s love of music, and so did Alva which did, considering the Quen’s stranglehold on knowledge.
“Diviner training is very extensive,” she said by way of explanation. “We have to be prepared to interpret any data that we come across.”
Erend turned to Beta who was next in the order. “You want a turn?”
“Oh, uh, never have I ever… killed a machine?” she said.
Aloy laughed, surprising herself, and drank alongside the rest of the group.
“Nice one, kid,” Erend said.
They played a few more rounds, and everyone got progressively more intoxicated, even Aloy. Beta didn’t drink much, but she was so small that even the few sips of wine seemed to be affecting her a bit. It occurred to Aloy that she should have asked how strong elderflower wine was before she started drinking it.
Erend had no such concerns. He was happily drunk and asking more and more outrageous questions. Even Kotallo laughed at one point.
After a while, it came back around to Aloy’s turn, and she held her glass of wine thoughtfully, frowning as she said, “Never have I ever… been in love.”
Varl and Zo drank immediately which made her smile as did Alva. Erend thought about it before drinking. Beta didn’t drink, and neither did Kotallo.
Aloy nodded at both of them, feeling fond. Maybe it was an effect of the alcohol.
Kotallo went next. “Never have I ever ridden on the head of a Tallneck.”
“Best way to see the sights,” Aloy said, drinking her wine. “I recommend it.”
As the evening wore on and their glasses ran dry, the warmth of alcohol and comradery made Aloy grow weary. She slumped against Kotallo, her heart beating slow and steady in her chest. The others seemed to grow languid too, and Beta leaned against Varl who had an arm around Zo. The Utaru laid her head on her lover’s shoulder.
Aloy blinked slowly, half-asleep in the haze, and twitched, struggling to sit up, as she jerked herself back awake.
“I should go to my room,” she muttered, rubbing her eyes. She hadn’t realized how tired she was until now.
“If you wish,” Kotallo said. “Though no one will mind if you rest here a while.”
Aloy cast her gaze around the room and found the game had dissolved into drinking and laughing and talking. She sighed.
“Maybe just for a bit…” she murmured. Her eyelids were too heavy, and her limbs were too leaden for her to put up much of a fight. It was easy to let her eyes fall close and her body rest against the floor and Kotallo’s side. The sound of Erend’s laughter brought a sleepy smile to her face, and Zo’s calm reply soothed her worries. She could afford to rest for a little while.
She fell asleep there, on the floor surrounded by friends, and when she woke up the next morning, she found herself safely in bed with the taste of old elderflower wine on her tongue and no memory of how she got there.