"Electric current and caffeine generally. Any more stupid questions?" He answered sarcastically. Seemed he had taken the question pretty literally.

She resumed the whole 'arm on the shoulder' act she had pulled a short while ago. "Why do you insist on being a bummer?"

He sighed loudly.
"Why do you insist on being so annoying? What were you even trying to get out of a question like that?"

"I'm bored, and you are not doing anything to fix it, so I'm fixing it myself," She said bluntly. Honestly, she was pushing all his buttons just to test the waters and see how far she would get with him before he snapped. She didn't meet people who could tolerate her very often, in fact, if was quiet the rare occurrence.

"Sorry, didn't know it was my job to keep entertaining idiots."
He laughed a bit, keeping his eyes alert for any other lurking Exterminators that might pick up on their location by the conversation.

"..Just hadn't really thought about that question before. Guess I don't really.. have anything?
Most I care about is just getting through the day without a bullet through my core or a knife in my back. I haven't really had time to sit around and think about anything else."

She hid a chuckle at his joke. "Ya, I understand." she replied, putting more meaning behind that phrase than she let on. "How long were you an Exterminator...I heard stories about you, and you were kind of a big thing not to long ago." She said as she remover her arm from his shoulder.

"I don't know? Maybe like 4 years..? A lot of that time frame really got messed up for me being in and out of army experiments, you know?"
He slowly returned his core to his shoulder with her hand now removed, seeming to wrack his brain for something.
"Honestly had no idea anyone even cared what I was doing other than the Commanders. I never really chose to be an Exterminator either. I was just trying to survive, especially after I thought the only people I knew on this planet were already dead. Staying with the army was just the best shot I had at the time in staying off their hitlist. Can see how that turned out."

What he was saying made perfect sense, but she was going to keep denying it. She knew who her allegiance was with, didn't she? She was starting to really question things, and that might not be the in her best interest... "What made you quit? What drew the line?"

"Like I said earlier. Getting sent after little kids." He shook his head.
"There was this girl, a half-breed, they kept running experiments on, trying to figure out her psychic powers and everything. Umbra wanted her power at his hands personally for some reason, but I was stuck in a dream simulation with her for probably 5 or 6 months while they tried to break her down.
My memory's really spotty for that period though from all the times they reset it. Something about trying to keep the experiment clean or something, but I think they were mostly just trying to keep me in line."
He grimaced slightly.

"Just.. hit a little too close to home. On my planet, if we ever have to execute one of our own for seriously breaking the law, our Council just flashes their memories until they forget who they are. For us, it's normal, but seeing it happen to any other alien just really sits weird with me."

"Ah, I see" what he had said was not nearly enough to make her regret her life choices, but she certainly did question them. Zethrin decided the best idea was to laugh it off. "Ha, so basically you wimped out." she teased, clearly uncomfortable with her own joke.

Change the subject...but to what...Got it!

"You mentioned your home planet. Tell me about your species. What are you like? What are your typical traits?"