Bartender Bunny

As Hops shakes the cocktail mixer, she can’t help but bounce a little on her feet, hopping in time to the same rhythm as she shakes the mixer. Holding it out with a flourish, she deftly pours the mixture through a sieve into an awaiting glass. Removing the sieve, she adds a little more ice. Adding the soft drink mixture, she twirls it around expertly with a plastic stirrer. Finally, she adds a lemon and lime garnish before handing it over to the latest patron. She smiles as they take it gratefully, giving a tip to the carat jar by the side of the bar. 

With a sigh, she leans back against the bar counter. All this to-ing and fro-ing is such hard work! Spotting her favourite scotch, she bends down and grasps the bottle. One sneaky drink won’t hurt. She giggles to herself as she adds ice to a little glass and adds a measure of scotch. She stirs it around with a cute little bunny stirrer. Taking a sip, she smiles. Delicious! Hopscotch on the rocks, her favourite. 

She swallows another mouthful when another patron approaches the bar. A keratini and something of Hops’ choice. Her own recommendation. Interesting choices! Taking another sip of her scotch, she sets her glass aside and gets to making the drink orders. The patron waits patiently, idly chatting to Hops. She loves to experiment with her drinks, and has a knack for creating delicious concoctions, but sometimes the classics are the best. She serves up one classic keratini, and starts experimenting. Hmmm! 

She looks at this patron and tries to guess what sort of drinks they might like. Maybe something like her very own hopscotch? A sinammon whiskey? She pours together a couple of different whiskeys, trying to figure out what might work best. Of course, she has to sample the whiskeys to accurately judge what might be best. The patron laughs as she takes a sip from three different small measuring glasses. 

Tasting her favourite scotch, she decides to go with that. Scotch flavoured with… sinnamon? Ooh, yes. Sinnamon, some ginger ale, and maybe a squeeze of lime? Hops gets to it right away, bustling about her bar. She grabs half a lime and squeezes it into a juicer, pouring the liquid into a measure of scotch. Stirring it up, she adds ice, ginger ale as a mixer, a slice of lime and a sprig of mint. Delicious! She serves it to the patron with a flourish and mixes one up for herself, just to be sure it’s delicious. She downs the remainder of her own hopscotch, savouring the flavour. Quickly stirring her newest creation, she takes a sip for herself and is enthralled by her own genius. How delicious! She’ll talk about putting it on the menu. What to call it…? Well, the name can come later. 

Hops takes another drink and savours the taste in her mouth. It really is delicious, but there’s nothing like her favourite hopscotch. Is three in a row too many? Absolutely not. She puts aside the special drink and mixes up another hopscotch for herself, minus the cute bunny stirrer to speed things along. It won’t hurt, right…? She takes a drink and sighs happily. It won’t hurt. She deserves this. That’s what she tells herself anyway.

She’s about to take another sip when she hears someone clear their throat behind her. Uh oh. Turning around slowly, she’s caught red-handed (or rather, cold-handed) with her glass of hopscotch half raised to her mouth. Angora stands behind her with a stern expression, her arms folded. 

“Just what do you think you’re doing?”