[img]https://i.imgur.com/roaeg9T.jpeg[/img]
[right][img]https://i.imgur.com/9qIY4OK.jpeg[/img][/right][right][sup][color=#d4af37][b]#d4af37[/b][/color][color=2e2c2c]...[/color]|[color=2e2c2c]...[/color][url=https://i.pinimg.com/736x/9d/6c/dd/9d6cddf90421ceb4a4114345d38541ee.jpg][color=9b9b9b][b]outfit[/b][/color][/url][/sup][/right]

[indent][indent] [color=#ffffff]The second shot glass sat untouched before Elias, its contents shimmering under the bar’s lights like a liquid dare. He rotated it slowly between his fingers, watching the light refract through the alcohol in hypnotic patterns. Part of him knew he should stop as the first shot hadn't exactly improved his situation. Yet another, louder part argued that maybe the solution was simply more alcohol. After all, bad ideas could eventually run out and turn into good ideas, right? So with that obviously flawless logic in mind, he’d just about raised the glass halfway to his lips when sudden movement to his left made him pause.[/color]

[color=#ffffff]A guy he didn’t recognize appeared like some kind of cheerful, forest-themed mirage: well built, big smile, and a whole-ass box of bottles and a potted plant in hand. Elias blinked rapidly, wondering if the tequila was playing tricks on his vision as he began unpacking the bottles and arranging them like precious artifacts in a museum display for everyone’s apparently easy consumption. Then, unable to resist his inquisitiveness once he finished, Elias leaned forward, squinting at the mysterious containers.[/color]

[i][color=#d4af37]...Is that... wine? No, not wine,[/color][/i][color=#ffffff] he thought, nose wrinkling at the golden liquid inside one of the bottles. [/color][i][color=#d4af37]Why does it look like pee in a fancy bottle?[/color][/i]

[color=#ffffff]His eyes scanned the elaborate labels until the word “mead” jumped out at him in swirling calligraphy. A memory appeared in his mind when it did. Something about Vikings drinking honey wine from horns? Or was that from that fantasy game (Skyrim, maybe?) he'd pretended to like for that guy last year? He'd never actually tasted the stuff before, only knew it existed from historical dramas and nerdy conventions.[/color]

[color=#ffffff]Elias glanced from the mead guy to the nearest partygoers, waiting to see if anyone else would acknowledge the fact that a walking renaissance faire had just shown up and started unpacking like he was about to open a pop-up tavern. However, people were already reaching for their glasses. So….[/color]

[color=#ffffff]Elias reached for one of the bottles himself. After doing so, he squinted at its label – another blueberry one? – just as a woman nearby practically sang out, [/color][color=#00ffff]“Jesus Christ, that’s good, child of Dionysus for sure.” [/color]

[color=#ffffff]His eyebrows lifted after that one. Dramatic much?[/color]

[color=#ffffff]Elias hadn’t seen her grab the bottle, but she was already two sips in and waxing poetic like this was some kind of divine nectar. He half-expected Gordon Ramsay to emerge from somewhere with a tasting spoon and a crisp “Finally, some good fucking alcohol.” But, alas. This was no Hell’s Kitchen. [/color]

[color=#ffffff]Still, curiosity was a hell of a thing. He poured himself a cautious amount,  just enough to taste, not enough to commit. Although before he could even take a sip, the shattering of glass made him turn his head to the side to look further down the bar’s counter from where he sat.  [/color]

[color=#ffffff]And then he saw her, up on the bar, legs spread enough in offering to a man in between them. The girl with the rhinestones.  [/color]

[color=#ffffff]Elias blinked, watching in both shock and awe (because what the actual fuck?) as the man’s tongue appeared to slide up her thigh, licking her like she was the last drop of something precious. He swallowed hard, staring with something bordering on fascination as the rhinestone girl, obviously enjoying what was happening to her-what was being [/color][i][color=#ffffff]done[/color][/i][color=#ffffff] to her- grabbed at his head to do- [/color]

[color=#ffffff]Well, Elias wasn’t quite sure since he’d forced himself to look away at that point, clearing both his throat and his mind of what he’d just happened to witness. A lesser man would have walked away entirely, he decided, so he stayed, swirling his glass of blueberry mead and finally bringing it to his mouth. The flavour hit like a punch to the taste buds, too sweet at first, then with this weirdly understated honey aftertaste that seemed to remain in his mouth long after he swallowed. It was... not bad. More interesting than what he’d just seen, he told himself. [/color]

[color=#ffffff]After a short time, Elias made sure to keep his eyes firmly on his drink, determined to ignore the vision of rhinestones in his periphery. He practically [/color][i][color=#ffffff]felt [/color][/i][color=#ffffff]t[/color][color=#ffffff]he girl saunter by with her venator right on her heels, clearly unwilling to give up his prey (or was it the other way around?). Once he was sure the two were gone, he placed his focus back on the mead guy, holding up the bottle he’d taken while catching his eye for a moment. [/color]

[color=#d4af37]“Pretty good stuff. Thanks for sharing.” [/color]

[/indent][/indent]
[hr]Location: Bar
Interactions: Forest (briefly at the end) ([@NoriWasHere])
Mentions: Lily, Blair, Ace, + General Bar Crew