Gotta Get My Drink On!; [GF, otherwise Ask First]

Takes place after Floral Garden

Almost right after 'stopping by to smell the flowers', Aspen grabbed Aleph by the collar and yanked him into a random tavern where a lot of people were already enjoying their drinks. She had slammed the door open and several people looked her way before she let go of Aleph and started walking towards the bar counter.

"I need whiskey!" she shouted rather loudly, very contrasting to her usually hushed and blank tone. "Lots and lots of whiskey! Or absinthe if you have it, I don't care!"

A tall, middle-aged man in a white shirt behind the counter turned to face her. He hair gelled up and a goatee on his chin. He didn't look too shabby and looked even a tad bit attractive by the standards of bartenders.

"What's that?" the man asked in a husky voice.

Aspen lifted one foot and propped her boot on a bar stool. She leaned forward, looked the man in the eye and dropped a bag of gold coins in front of him.

"Whiskey. Lots of it. And some other of your strong stuff, magic or not. Don't disappoint me," Aspen said.

The man raised his eyebrows even higher upon seeing the gold and smugly slid it off the table and into his palms.

"I'll be right back then," he said. "And anything for your friend?"

Aspen looked at Aleph.

"I dunno. He's a bit of a pansy. Get him some rosewater for all I care," she grumbled. She then jerked her head in gesture for him to come closer. "Come on, pink hat. If I'm going to get so drunk I'll be mistaken dead by assassins, I need to start soon."

After the weirdness that happened in the floral garden, Aleph needed some time to relax and process the newfound information. Apparently, he and Aspen had met a very nice and very handsome man named Duke. Said man named Duke had a brother named Harking. Harking tried to court the princess at some point, but failed tragically. And Duke was forced to watch his brother get beheaded. And now, it turned out Duke was part of the princess' royal court.

This could either be a very good thing, or a very bad thing. Hopefully, it would be the former, if Aleph managed to play his cards right. He would rather not think that Duke would ever betray him and Aspen to the princess. He could be wonderful, as both a friend and as an ally. Aleph saw it. Hopefully, Aspen would see it too.

But that wasn't important right now!

What was important right now was that Aleph and Aspen were in a tavern, ordering drinks. He sat down on a stool next to Aspen as she ordered her drink. He angrily puffed his cheeks as Aspen called him a pansy in front of the bartender. Normally, Aleph would try to shy away from alcohol, if he could help it, but he just couldn't let that slide!

"I am not a pansy! I can take any drink, any day! In fact," He said, then took out some gold coins and slammed them onto the table. "Give me the biggest, strongest drink you have! I don't care if it's magical or otherwise!"

And another day in the fair greeted everyone with radiance. All including Goibniu, who was coming from a strange event near the food stands, and was in need of refreshement. And what better location to get some grub than a tavern?

Entering the place, he saw that in the counter there were two individuals that were particularly rowdy. And one of them had a... Familiar looking hat.

"... Wowsers, is the salamander kid." He thought to himself.

Well! No sense having them hog all the beverages.

As he approached the area where Aleph and Aspen were sitting at, he made a heartly laugh. "My! I didn't picture you as someone with an iron liver, Sir Aleph. Are you certain you can withstand it?" He asked, before turning to Aspen. "Ah, my apologies. Greetings! I'm Goibniu, an acquaitance of Sir Aleph here, and I couldn't help but hear you two were aiming to test the strongest liquors this bar has to offer."

Aspen's eyes narrowed as Aleph called out to the bartender as well.

"Hey, no stealing my line," she said with her head resting on her curled hand.

It wasn't long before an Enkidu came around, which personally made Aspen wary. While Enkidus were more or less common now, she didn't feel all too comfortable around them...most probably because often they had several traits similar to animals she hunted. Heck, the one right now had deer antlers.

Not that I'd want a human face propped on my wall even with antlers as nice as those, she thought to herself.

To her surprise, the Enkidu was making his way to her. Or rather, to Aleph. The two seemed acquainted and the Enkidu, who introduced himself as Goibniu, later confirmed this.

Aspen lazily rested her cheek against her palm and looked at him.

"Pleasure to meet you," she said. "My name's Aspen. And yes, we are going for the strongest liquors. Nothing like alcohol to get the festive spirits up, right?

Aleph turned to the source of the voice that called him out, then noticed a very familiar man. Saints alive, it was Goibniu! The mustachioed deer man from before! Aleph smiled as he saw the man, then nodded.

"Yep, I sure can! I have the strongest liver known to all of humankind!" He said happily, then turned to Aspen. "And I can definitely drink more than you can, that's for sure."

"Hoho, right! Nothing like refreshment after a hard day's work!" He said, pretty much in agreement to Aspen, before turning to Aleph. "Oooh, a strong liver you say? It just so happens that my family has a story of having sturdy livers themselves. I may be young, but I ain't so far behind either!"

And then, he had an idea. A bit of a bonding exercise. "Actually? Bartender, get me the strongest mead you have, would you kindly?" He said, taking a handful of coin from his pocket. "This is a fair meant to celebrate the joy of peace, why don't we have a friendly spar while we are at it?" It wasn't very common for Goibniu to challenge someone to a drink off, but at the same time, why not having a bit of light hearted fun? It was a fair after all.

Plus it'd prove to be a perfect opportunity to keep an eye on Aleph.

Aspen stared blankly at Aleph.

"You did not just challenge me to a drinking contest," she said with narrowing eyes. She raised a finger and pointed at him. "Alright, pink hat. Let's do this. Looks like our little stag friend is going on, too. Losers have to split the pay, and winner is entitled to free drinks care of the losers for a month."

"Well, well, don't you three have the festival's spirit," the bartender said. "How about I be the referee? We'll start of simple. Moving slowly up until we get to the more...magical stuff. First up, mead, plain and simple. Branbury makes the strongest, so we're going for his."[/color]

He set out three drinks in front of them which. Aspen took her glass and brought it to her lips, drinking it very casually and placing it down. She raised her hands up with her palms open.

"Boring. Let's move on," she said cockily.

"Alright! You're on!" Aleph said to Aspen. There was a bit of excitement in his eyes as Goibniu also threw his hat in for the drinking contest. They were both boasting that they had strong livers, but Aleph would show them both! Plus, the prospect of free drinks was on the line! He couldn't give that up!

He smiled as the first round of drinks was handed out. Aspen already finished hers, and didn't seem to be phased by it. And Goibniu had yet to drink his. Aleph rubbed his hands together before picking up the glass and drinking it with as much enthusiasm as one could expect in a drinking contest. He placed it back on the table and smiled.

This was going to be so easy! He totally had this in the bag!

"Right-o!" With the bartender as referee, this match was given a proper start. The 3 of them were presented with a drink, signalling the beginning of the first round. Aspen and Aleph already rushed at their drinks, and this left Goibniu with his own.

With a smile, he picked up the glass, and drank down the mead with consecutive gulps, not exactly in a rush, but still at a relatively quick pace. Once he was down, he made a sigh of refreshment before putting his glass down. "Piece of cake!" His enthusiasm was such, he didn't care if future drinks would be magical. The match was on, and he was not going down without a fight.

Aspen, who usually wore a blank expression, couldn't help but pout.

"Oh, you fellas say that now, but just you wait," she said.

This time the bartender put twelve glasses in front of them in a row.

"Same thing's inside," he said. "But you all have to finish it."