Kass stood by the doorway, holding a large tub of milky yogurt mixed with shredded cucumber – a dip called tsatsiki. In the bathroom behind him, Psiksi had been throwing up violently. He had been doing so for the last half an hour, and Kass had no idea what had set him off.
Looking back at his partner, Kass saw that Psiksi was waving his arm frantically, his head still in the sink. Ideally, Kass would have preferred that Psiksi throw up in the shower, it would have been easier to clean up, but the sink was fine. He handed over the tub of yogurt, sighing. Psiksi leaned up, scooped a load of yogurt out then rubbed it on his mouth.
“You feeling any better?”
Psiksi shook his head and put the tub down. He spat something into the sink then turned on the tap, washing away a putrid brown mess.
“I’ll take that as a no.”
“My throat is on fire…” Psiksi reached back for the yogurt, pouring it on his hand then sucking it off. It was making him feel sick, but he needed something to counteract the horrible taste of his own vomit, and hopefully lessen any damage caused by the incredibly acidic stomach juices he had just ejected via his mouth.
“Do you want some water?”
“Yes please…”
Kass left the bathroom and headed over to the kitchen. As he did so, he glanced into the living room. Psiksi had done his best to minimize the mess, but he had left a small puddle of sick by the sofa. He didn’t quite make it in time. Left behind was a movie, playing to itself, and an assortment of food and drinks, all abandoned.
He grabbed a large glass of water and headed back into the bathroom, where Psiksi was cleaning himself up. A small dribble of acidic drool had dripped onto his silver neck piece, tarnishing it.
“Better?”
Psiksi shook his head again.
“What happened? Do I need to take you to see a medic?”
Psiksi took the drink, gargled some of the water and spat it down the sink, then swallowed the rest. He then washed his face, picked up the tub of tsatsiki and stumbled back into the main living area.
“Psiksi?”
Clearly, Psiksi was ignoring him. He wandered into the living room, picked up the drinks that they’d had earlier then threw both the drinks and their contents into the kitchen sink.
“Psiksi!”
Finally, Psiksi spoke.
“Those fucking bastards…”
“Which fucking bastards?”
“The ones that programmed me to fucking violently throw up should I drink alcohol!” Psiksi picked up a drink and threw it in the sink again. Thankfully, it was a plastic cup, so it didn’t shatter everywhere. “That’s how fucked up us Ksa are. Everything fucking fine tuned and controlled! I literally took a gulp of your drink by accident and boom! Projectile vomiting!”
Kass sighed as he put an arm around Psiksi. “It’s fine. It was my mistake, should have used a different glass…”
“That’s not the point…” Psiksi grunted. “I shouldn’t have to be ill, just because I drunk something I shouldn’t. It’s not like I have an allergy to alcohol or anything, my yearly medical tests would have picked that up when I was little…” With a sigh that turned into a yawn, Psiksi gave up and went back into the living room, throwing himself on the sofa.
“You sure you’re alright?” Kass couldn’t help but ask as he joined his partner.
“I’m fine, I’m fine. Let’s just go back to watching the movie…”
“Very well,” Kass smiled as he grabbed something off the table and handed it to Psiksi. It was a bucket of popcorn. “Want a snack?”
“Sure, why not?”