Avoidance Theory

Sighing, Misa pulled out a bar stool and sat down, wriggling around in the seat for a moment to make sure that she was definitely comfortable. She wasn’t known for being a super heavy drinker. In fact, if it was up to her, she’d probably avoid drinking more than a glass or two of any alcoholic beverage at a given time. It was almost unheard of for a Succubun.

There was a reason for that though, of course. Once her faculties started to go, it was no longer possible to maintain an accurate record of, well, anything for her notebooks. How in Burrowgatory was one supposed to gain more knowledge if one could hardly hold a pencil, let alone remember what to write down with it? It was irritating at best.

Not only that, but she just didn’t care for the feeling of losing control. The idea of being trapped somewhere without the ability to run away always set her hair on end. She’d had nightmares about it on many an occasion. Losing the ability to walk because your legs simply won’t function correctly beneath you was about as close as you could get to that without something truly heinous happening.

Before she could let her brain talk her out of it entirely, Misa forced her negative thoughts away and plastered a smile onto her face. “Yeah, sure, I’ll help you taste test the drinks, Hops!” she replied cheerily to the barkeeper. “I’m sure they’re all lovely. Just don’t pour me more than I need to get the idea, please. I have a busy schedule tonight.”

Hops nodded, grinning, and pulled out several glasses before turning away to grab the necessary ingredients. Misa watched her work silently, running her fingers along the tip of her tail. There was something to be said about watching a master in action, regardless of what the profession was. Hops knew exactly what kind of drinks she wanted to serve and wasted no time in crafting the perfect blend of ingredients to elicit those flavors. Misa knew that it’d be rude to write everything down for review later, even if it was simply for her own use, but she couldn’t help but take as many mental notes as possible.

There was just the slightest hint of rum in this one. Another would have been overwhelmed with the taste of absinthe if not for the several whole sugar cubes added to the mix. Misa’s eyes grew wide when Hops whipped out a miniature blowtorch to set several ingredients on fire. She wouldn’t have thought adding a slight char to them would have made that much of a difference to the taste, but she was sure it would now.

Before long, she was clapping with sheer delight every time Hops shook a tumbler and expertly poured out another drink, bouncing along on the stool. She hadn’t expected the other bun to make such a wonderful show of the whole event. It really seemed like Hops had read the reluctance on her mind, devising a plan on the spot to get her to relax and enjoy herself while she waited. She probably had, actually. Well, read some almost invisible tells, not her mind, of course. She’d had this job for long enough to get really good at reading people, Misa supposed.

When all of the glasses were full, Hops took a moment to put everything away and clean up before returning to lean on the bar near Misa with her elbows. Her hands were clasped, her chin resting on her knuckles, and her expression was blank. The only thing that betrayed her mood was her tail slowly waving back and forth behind her, playfully. “You ready?” she asked.

Misa nodded and picked up the first glass. It was a pale pink concoction. Bringing it up to her nose, she sniffed delicately. She caught the faintest whiff of watermelon. Interesting. Without further ado, she tossed it back into her open mouth, pausing to let the flavor roll over her tongue in its entirety before swallowing.

She blinked. It smelled vaguely of watermelon but tasted like...chocolate? How did that work? She had no idea. She tried to run through the ingredient list in her mind, but nothing could explain the change. Perhaps she had missed something along the way? She closed her eyes and shook her head, frowning. It wasn’t like her to miss important details like that before she was even drunk. She silently scolded herself.

“Did that combination not work?” Hops asked, concerned. “I wanted this batch of drinks to be really surprising, but maybe I overdid it.”

Misa opened her eyes and saw the disappointment etched across Hops’ face. Oops. “No, no!” she cried. “It’s perfect! I just needed a minute.” She laughed, reaching for the second glass. At least this would be worth it. She was sure of it.