Ravens of Eternity

184 Hardly Working, Pt A little over a dozen rowdy (and thoroughly inebriated) bar patrons cheered at a couple of people seated at a small table in the middle of the whole bar. Of the two people seated opposite each other, the first was a big hunk of a man with an imposing barrel chest, and whose biceps were larger than his opponent’s head.

The other was Eva. Though she had a bit of a sly grin, she yawned a bit and taunted her opponent

“Is that all you’ve got, big guy?” she asked. “I’m starting to get real sleepy over here.”

Both their hands were locked, and their elbows were solidly on the table in front of them. And on each side of the table were small piles of coins and paper currency. The rules of their arm wrestling match was simply whoever made their opponent’s knuckles touch their own bets won the whole pot.

It was a simple game that had persisted throughout human history across millennia. It was certainly no stranger to the big hunk, though it was clear what he was currently experiencing was a first.

“Raagh!” he cried out.

The big hunk strained his neck and grit his teeth as he poured in all his energy into simply moving Eva’s arm. And bit by bit, slowly but surely, he was able to get her hand halfway to her bet.

“You really oughta put in more effort,” taunted Eva. “I mean, I’m hardly sweating here.”

“What the hells are you,” said someone in the crowd, “onna those synths?”

.....

Eva’s hand immediately stopped falling, and she looked over at the person who said it with annoyance in her eyes.

“Do I look like a blond-haired, blue-eyed scumbag to you?” she said. “To hell with those murderers. And if any of you are fans of theirs, to hell with you, too.”

A mutter spread through the crowd, then a cheer.

“Yeah, to hell with them!” someone said.

Eva quickly lightened back up, then turned towards her beet-red opponent. He looked as though he was struggling greatly. Almost constipated.

“I guess I oughta stop teasing you,” she said.

She took a deep breath in, curled her fist forward, then began to push her opponent’s hand back. As she exhaled, she steadily pushed his hand further and further towards his defeat. Towards his own pile of coins.

He could do nothing but watch – no matter how much energy he put in, she barely lost her momentum. His bicep burned with pain as he struggled against her, but it was absolutely no use.

It only took a few seconds for her to rap his knuckles on his own bet. Everyone around them cried out in celebration of her win – even the ones who initially rooted against her.

Having lost, the big hunk slid his bet pile over to hers, and acknowledged her win.

“Thanks for the beer money,” she told him.

“Hah, glad to lose it,” he replied. “So I’m guessing you’re one of them refugees?”

“Exactly that. I didn’t mean to trick ya or anything, but right now I’m off duty and need a good distraction.”

The big hunk chuckled as he rubbed the soreness out his arm. When they first got into the bet, he felt bad for her. He felt like he was the one who was pulling the wool over her eyes. She simply looked so... fragile.

“I figured you were one,” he said. “A few have come around, traders and truckers mostly, and they tested me just like you did. And, honestly, you’re the first that’s won against me.”

“Glad to be your first,” she replied, a mischievous grin etched on her face.

Then she grabbed her winnings, walked over to the bar, and slid it all in front of the barkeep.

“A round on me,” she told him, “with whatever’s on the top shelf.”

The patrons quickly cheered, then crowded around where Eva stood at the bar. She realized just how happy these people seemed to be, despite where they were. They were all so far away from Helios, and had so much going against their survival.

It certainly wasn’t like Helios – there weren’t constant Federal patrols that looked out for their safety. The whole settlement could be wiped out by some unknown danger at any given time, and no-one would even know about it for weeks after the fact.

More than that, they didn’t have the technological advantages that Helios had. There, there were machines that helped people do the simplest of things – reading, shopping, walking. Assistance drones were practically everywhere.

Out here, all these people had were themselves. Most didn’t even have any cybernetic implants on them – there wasn’t a cyberdoc in the settlement that could help maintain said implants in the first place.

She supposed the reality of their situation, combined with their will to survive it all was what kept their hearts light. They had to actively maintain their positivity, if they wanted to see through to the next year.

The barkeep lined up a dozen or so snifters along the bar, one after another after another. Then he reached back to the shelves of alcohol bottles, opened up a velvet-lined case, and pulled out a faceted decanter with a vibrant green liquor in it.

All conversations from the crowd immediately stopped. Every patron then watched in awe as the barkeep worked his magic. Most knew what he was making, and were wide-eyed out of absolute surprise.

“Does this mean a visit from a refugee’s a special occasion?” asked a patron. “Not that I’m complaining, of course.”

“First time anyone’s given their winnings back to you all, ever,” he replied. “I think that’s cause for celebration, don’t you?”

The barkeep chuckled as the rest of his patrons quickly came to the realization.

He poured out what was left of the green liquor into each of the snifters, until each one was filled up by a third. He then grabbed another bottle, this time it was filled with a clear lavender liquor. This, he poured carefully into the snifters, so it sat in a layer above the green.

Now, the snifters were half full.

Finally, he grabbed a third bottle and put a third and final layer up top, though it was thinner than the other two. It was a clear light blue liquor, and had a flowery, but powerful scent.

“Alright everyone, grab your drinks,” he said.

The barkeep picked one up and handed it to Eva directly. As he did so, everyone else picked theirs up. Some were clearly giddy with anticipation, and their mouths watered just looking at the drinks.

“What is it?” Eva asked.

“Best damned drink you’ll ever have in your life, that’s what it is,” the barkeep replied. “Best be sure to hang on to something so you know which way is up.”

They looked at their snifters, raised them in the air, and toasted.

“To Freya!” they cheered.

“No, no, no,” said Eva. “To Parnos!”

“To Parnos! Hurrah!”

Then, they collectively took a sip of their drinks, and were immediately hit with its potency. Eva’s mind spun immediately, as whatever intoxicants flooded her system. The sensation caught her off guard not just because of its speed, but because the flavors within the drink were actively enhanced by her level of intoxication.

Basically, the more they drank of it, the more of it they could taste.

She felt the different flavors as they wove around her tongue, even as the world blurred further and further with each sip. The effect was both mesmerizing and beautiful and addictive.

There were the bitter yet spicy notes of anise, but it was lightened by a tart citrus. Both were balanced by something potently sweet, like candied figs. Underneath all of those were hints of a half dozen other herbs and spices, along with a certain nuttiness that she couldn’t place.

But everything gave the drink an unbelievable airiness combined with a solid earthiness, all packed with a potent punch and a sweet kiss.

For some reason, Eva felt a real connection to the drink, of everything it was trying to say about itself. And also what it tried to say about the one who mixed it together.

As she took sip after sip, her tastebuds explored more and more of the drink’s complexities. The nuts began to reveal themselves, along with all the other herbs.

“So amazing,” she slurred.

She turned to her EyeCast, and did an embarrassingly poor job of explaining the drink. But her enjoyment of it made her more and more unintelligible. Perhaps hilariously so.

When she realized just how sloppy she had gotten, she asked the barkeep to take over for her and explain to her ‘Cast. She absolutely needed a breather.

He laughed with pure amusement, and happily agreed.

“The green liquor,” he began, “is a drink that originated from Gaea, who knows how long ago? Though I’m using herbs I grow myself, of course. It’s distilled from wormwood, anise, and fennel. It’s normally very expensive to make. So I keep it in this little crystal decanter to highlight that fact.”

He produced his faceted bottle and spun it in his hands slowly. The light danced off each surface with tantalizing brilliance.

“The blue liquor,” he continued, “is a sort of sweet mulled wine out of the Hegemony. I don’t know what’s in it, exactly. It’s supposed to be a secret. Also pretty damned expensive.”

He grabbed the bottle of the lavender liquor, and poured himself a shot. His cheeks reddened slightly as the drink’s intoxicants swept through him.

“This is the real secret ingredient,” he said. “The lavender stuff is my own concoction. I made it specifically to complement the other two. Without it, they’re great drinks, but hardly life-changing. In my opinion, how I mixed them is the only way to enjoy this drink.”

While he spoke to her EyeCast, Eva closed her eyes, breathed deeply, and activated her Ascendant Form.

She wove through her own body and watched as the barkeep’s drink seeped into her. How every drop shook up her senses and numbed her receptors at the same time. She also saw how overworked her liver was, and how intoxicating the drink truly was.

So, she threw a little extra power into her liver, which helped clear her mind a little bit faster. With that much more leeway, she took another delighted sip and savored all its flavors unabashedly.

“So, was I right?” the barkeep asked Eva.

“Right about what?” she replied.

“Is it the best damned drink you’ve ever had in your life?”

Eva chuckled with a sloppy drunk sort of charm.

“Gotta hand it to you,” she replied. “It really is the best drink I’ve ever had. Not that I’ve had too many, nor have I gone everywhere, so don’t get too excited now.”

Both of them laughed at her levity.

“I’ll take the compliments wherever I can get it,” he said.

She took yet another sip, and rolled the liquid all over her tongue.

“That stuff you made,” said Eva, “the purple stuff, I mean. You oughta bottle it up and sell it along with the recipe. You could find ridiculous success with it.”

“Sure, that’s probably true,” he replied. “But I’d need a lot of stuff to line up before I can even think about doing something like that. I need a dedicated distillery for one. And of course, a distributor. It’s not like I can run a few bottles to Helios myself.”

He poured himself another shot of his lavender liquor, and slugged it back. He poured one for Eva to drink, then he corked his bottle and set it back on the shelves behind him.

She took it and poured it slowly across her tongue so she could taste it.

And it was a vast cornucopia of spices and herbs. There were a few bitter notes in there, but hardly noticeable in comparison to its sweetness.

“Most importantly,” he continued, “I need real demand. No point in making crates of this stuff when no-one even knows it exists, much less would wanna buy it. All I can really do is sit here, make drinks, and serve whoever comes through my doors.”

.....

His words tumbled around in Eva’s mind. No way could she allow a drink of this quality remain undiscovered. She then polished off her drink, wobbled slightly from the intoxicants, then steadied herself with the bar’s counter.

“How ’bout this,” she said. “How ’bout I buy a few bottles off you. And I happen to share a bit of it with whoever I come across? I mean, we’re probably gonna be in all corners of the galaxy, and that means a whole lotta people everywhere might get to taste your drink.”

“Hey, if you wanna buy drinks off me, who am I to say who you can or can’t share them with,” he responded with a grin.