""Mate, that's your fifth shot. You sure you're up for it?" The bartender spoke in a low voice, locking eyes with two of Spooky's. Such a typical human habit - this compulsive need to make eye contact. It would have been far more practical to focus on the tentacles he used to communicate rather than struggling to pick which eye to look at."
"Soon, a small glass of clear liquid was placed before him. The bartender struck a match, and blue flames licked the surface. Spooky flared his pores, greedily absorbing the rising fumes. His entire body shivered in pleasure. Immersed in the heady haze of Smokey Blast, he could almost believe he was back in his reef - rooted, at peace, at home."
Spooky is a Quadrinocularis, a tentacled, quadranocular alien known for color-changing pores and an irascible reputation. He sits in a bar and orders multiple Smokey Blast shots, prompting the bartender's cautious remark about his fifth drink. Visual communication via tentacles contrasts with humans' eye-contact habit, which Spooky finds inefficient. He inhales the blue-flamed fumes, experiencing intense sensory pleasure that conjures memories of his reef. Those memories include synchronized color-shows with twenty to thirty kin, warm currents, and communal harmony. Spooky longs for the rooted, peaceful sensations of his former life while navigating alien bar rituals and personal longing.
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