One and Done

Goro'd actually never had booze before.

He'd been around it of course. He particularly remembered watching his old man tend to a bottle of his own every time they drifted to a new town, and he usually kept it around wherever they were staying: in the house, at camp, wherever. As a kid, he never really paid much attention to it. He'd always been fond of cold drinks himself. Water, juice, that kind of thing. So he just figured his dad was having grown up juice.

But now he found himself in front of the Steamrise Inn. It was a place that he knew had hard drinks, as he'd heard as much around town. And given the past few weeks that he'd had, now was as good a time as any to give it a shot. He was a big boy, now. And he'd kicked plenty of ass since he left home. He fucking deserved to try it. Plus no one was here to stop him.

The croagunk shuffled into the inn looking equal-parts determined and lost, cradling his broken left hand a little bit closer to himself than his right. He wore a stained ribbon on his bicep, serving as the only thing to really distinguish himself from others of his kind. Inside the inn, he saw a healthy crowd of patrons; It was getting late, after all. People were flocking for a place to stay and something to fill their bellies. His gaze was naturally drawn to the bar, and he slowly shambled toward it.

He saw no bartender present, but there were more than a few folks tending drinks already. Maybe they were running an errand, or on break. The croagunk seated himself quietly and waited, placing his right hand on the counter and drumming his fingers anxiously.

There was a bug at the bar practically face-deep in a slice of cheesecake. Bet you didn't know it, but the grump himself had never had a dessert ever. In his life. His parents were never really inclined to provide such things for him, considering they were very preoccupied with things like fighting his brothers and sisters and him and then making the siblings fight each other. The only desert he had ever gotten was a swift kick in the head, which could actually taste sweet from time to time if it did the right brain damage.

Real dessert was blowing his mind. It was sweet without lasting cranial damage. It was soft and it was also anything but sticks and moss. He loved it. Girly shit be damned, dessert was awesome. He was having trouble eating it without becoming a giant mess of course, because bugs aren't incredibly well-adapted to bars. That said, he wasn't trying especially hard to keep himself from being a mess.

Lennox hadn't picked cheesecake for any particular reason. He'd never had cake and he wasn't particularly fond of cheese. He hadn't liked the sound of the "Pecha Pie" they wanted to poison his type with for some reason, and cheesecake had just been the next thing on the list. It wasn't something he regretted in the slightest.

He heard a squeak on the barstool next to him and emerged from his cheesecake to find a pretty okay-looking dude taking a seat next to him at the bar. The purple guy looked like Lennox's kind; he had a down-to-earth kinda look about him and he smelled like home. Probably had been around the Mire. "Mmm-mmph, pardon me," he mumbled through a very cheesecake-y face, scooching over to provide some more bar space to the newcomer. He gave him a knowing nod and returned to his cheesecake.

Chiyako was up on stage playing some non-descript ballad that she had written just to keep the guests' minds entertained while they slumped into their personal stupors. It was just a nice melody to keep the mood light while the patrons were enjoying her drinks. It wasn't her favorite thing to do - she preferred the flashy stage shows and the big performances... but honestly any time she got to spend with her lute was good time. It was cathartic, she could have her mind at ease even while she worked.

…ooop, a new guy at the bar. So much for that.

She hopped off her stool and let the fill in musician take over as she returned to her post at the bar. She fastened the lute over her shoulder so that it would stay on her back while she worked the mixers. "Evening sir, welcome to the Steamrise Bar," she said with a friendly tip of her hat. "My name's Chiyako, I'm the manager and the bartender. If you need anything don't hesitate to ask me." She wasn't overly-enthusiastic, nor was she dismissive. She treated everyone with the same kind of common curtosey that she treated normal people.

She pulled out a menu and a tumbler. "Shout at me once you find what you're looking for. I do recommendations as well, if you're not sure what to order."

Goro looked down when he heard a voice murmur at him, and low and behold there was a bug making out with some kind of cake. The stranger offered him a nod as he scooted down a bit to make room, and Goro found himself instinctively nodding back. He seemed cool. Bit of a messy eater, but Goro was the last person in this town to judge someone for something that silly. It was actually perfectly understandable. The cake thing looked pretty good, and the guy was a bug. No arms to speak of, just lotsa legs. How else was he supposed to go about it? If one was gonna go down on their dessert of choice, they might as well go down enthusiastically. He approved.

The croagunk was drawn from his silent sympathies when a fuzzy pink-purple kinda cat with a neat hat hopped off stage and slipped behind the counter. She was the bartender, apparently, and friendly enough. Between her nice demeanor and the music she was playing, he liked her immediately. Goro attempted to smile back but nice smiles weren't something that he had a lot of practice with. His face felt funny so he let it drop a moment later, feeling awkward.

He took the menu from her and was stupid enough to actually look at it. There were words on it. A lot of... a lot of words. Words that he never learned how to read. The poison-type's face flushed and he put it down quickly. That was a reminder that he could have done without. He slid it back to her silently, not making eye contact.

"Um, just some - somethin' strong, maybe? Whatever you got that sounds like that." He'd heard that term to describe booze before. Strong. He liked how it sounded, a strong drink for a strong guy. He laid his left hand on the counter gently and rested his chin on his right hand, propping that elbow up on the counter. He'd forgotten how bad he was at talking to people.

Ah yes. Strong. An adjective commonly used to describe things that came from Chiyako's bar. Her eyes took on the soulful understanding of one who also worked an unreasonably demanding job just to live a modest life. Hell she needed to drink an entire scorpion bowl herself just to be around Iva for an extended period of time. "Aaah, don't worry. I goccha." Some nights people wanted to taste the alcohol. Chiyako had a feeling this was not one of those nights for this fellow. She turned around and grabbed several bottles from the shelves behind her. She turned back around to check on the other cups on the bar, and noticed that the Venipede did not have a drink. She gave him an inquiring look.

"Mmna?"

"Drink?"

"Oh uh," Lennox grunted, clearly caught off guard, ""I'll... have what he's having?"

Chiyako nodded.

While Chiyako busied herself with her work, Lennox looked over at the neat guy beside him. He really didn't have much else to do besides eat this cake; maybe he could dust off his barely-functional social brain cell for a little bit. ""Name's Lennox. Did you know they put cheese in cake?"

The pinnacle of class.

The thug felt a strong sense of relief when the bartender took his order/question with ease. He was a bit out of his element here, but it was nice to see that he was capable of at least walking into a bar and getting a drink for himself. She even went so far as to ask the guy next to him if he wanted something. That was just thoughtful, right there. He could probably use something to wash all that food down. He liked this lady so far - she was good at her job. And nice.

Goro reeled back at the bug's introduction. Cheese. In cake. Goro's right arm dropped to his side as he turned to face the pokemon that spoke to him. His head cocked slightly and his hairless brow furrowed, portraying a face of bewildered confusion. It was obvious that the frog pokemon was actually putting brain power into comprehending what he was just told and something wasn't clicking right up there.

"That don't sound too good." He'd had a couple cakes before. Sticking cheese in one didn't sound appetizing at all. His gaze lowered from the bug to the cake being destroyed, taking it in for a few seconds. It didn't look too bad, actually, as far as cakes went. Maybe the guy was just pulling his leg. "There any cheese in that?"

"There sure is," Chiyako and Lennox answered at the same time as Chiyako turned around with two very vibrantly blue drinks. They looked at each other awkwardly, unsure of how to negotiate the situation. Chiyako pointed at Lennox. Lennox shook his head. Chiyako pointed at herself. Lennox nodded. "I mean, you'd prob'ly know better. You made it," he said Chiyako nodded in understanding, and then turned back to the Croagunk.

"It has a special kind of soft cheese that's savory until you add cream and sugar," Chiyako explained as she pulled out a block of cream cheese from under the counter. She spread some on a cracker and passed it over to him. "You can try some if you'd like. It won't taste sweet, but, y'know. It's different."

Lennox promptly polished off his cheesecake and looked up at the two drinks that Chiyako had produced. They were... well they were almost frightening in how saturated they were. Lennox had never seen anything like it before; it practically glowed. He was just mesmerized by this goo. "What is that? Is it... edible?"

Chiyako suddenly remembered she had drinks for them. "Oh! Yeah, here you go. This'll pretty much end any problems you're having," the feline explained. "It's one of the specials, 'Blue Tiger's Blood.' I'll punch you right in the mouth if you don't have the stomach for it. It's strong." She made sure to put plenty of emphasis on how seriously it could fuck them up.

Savory. What the fuck did that mean. He pondered that silently as he stared at the vividly blue drinks that the bartender produced.

Goro shrugged his shoulders and took the cracker-and-cheese. If she said it went good with cake then he was inclined to trust her. Her bar and all that, no doubt she knew better than him. The only cooking experiences he ever had was roasting dead wild pokemon over a fire in his front yard before he ripped them apart and ate them. And even then they were just the pokemon that gave him shit in his home dungeon. Poliwags, froakies and frogadiers, surskits, that kind of thing. Especially surskits.

Comparatively, the cheese was great. He popped the whole thing in his mouth and hummed appreciatively, closing his eyes as he savored the flavor. "Mmm. Fuck, that's good." He drew back and looked at the block of cheese that the cat pulled out - where did she get that shit? He could just, like, slather that all over the stuff he ate. Fuck.

He would have asked but Lennox cut in and asked after the blue liquid they'd been served. That was probably a good thing because he was otherwise inclined to just down it. But she claimed it was strong and that it would end any problems he needed to, and honestly, that sounded fantastic. Goro could understand why his dad was so fond of these kinds of drinks if that was the case. But all the hype the bartender put behind the little glass had him feeling slighted - did she think that a tiny glass of whatever the fuck was gonna be too much for him? To hell with that.

The croagunk reached out with his good hand once more and took up the drink. He didn't down it straight away, paying a little bit of respect after the fuss that was made. He simply brought it under his face and inhaled deeply, smelling it as a frog does. But even the scent seemed - for lack of a better word - forceful. He was leaning back in his stool before he knew it, his eyes wide and leaking slightly as he stared at the drink in his good hand. Still, he wasn't gonna get punked out by no strong smellin' blue water in a glass. He was a bonafide professional now. He'd been places, done things, lost some fights and won some more of 'em. His expression became determined and there was a resolved look in his eye.

Goro leaned back and downed it in one go. For one split second, he seemed fine. The next, a powerful pressure was rising up in his throat and he was pretty sure his eyes were leaking water again. (Not crying tears. Leaking water.) It took everything he had to not just spit it right back out. The croagunk's face contorted and creased, his eyes clenching shut and flushing a deep color. It took a long moment for it to settle, and after that he was suddenly coughing out his lung, slamming his glass down on the counter and covering his mouth with his good hand as he did so. His face felt like it was on fire and his mouth felt like it was full of alcohol-smelling lead.

"Shit, that's what-" He coughed, coughed, and coughed again. "-what booze is like?!" He coughed some more, turning his back to Lennox and the bartender. He bent over and tried not to heave. Fucking hell.

Lennox watched the cool dude examine his glass with a "delicate" eye and immediately felt like he needed to do the same. He didn't want to make himself seem weak by not also immediately stepping up to the challenge. He has to awkwardly reach with his entire body to reach the top of the cup (and also Chiyako migh have had to poke it closer to him while he wasn't looking), but he finally made it to the brim. His antennas picked up a vapor so potent he could almost taste it, and he had to stifle a wince in his body language. What was that?? Lennox had been around plenty of alcohol; hell he had practically been drinking old malted swamp water since he was a kid due to the non-existent family budget. But this.

This was not like that. This was... pure.

For a moment, he even hesitated. He knew what this stuff did to people. He didn't know if he wanted to be like the people who practically bled the stuff, and he didn't know exactly how much it took you to turn into one of those, either. He lost all hesitation when he saw Goro going in for the kill, however. He definitely didn't want to get left behind, make himself seem like less of a man in front of this guy who was clearly not hesitating. He was just as good as that. And so, he swigged his share.

It really did punch him in the mouth. He felt a pressure in the back of throat, right at the base of his cranium that made him choke. He was without words for many moments.

Tasted kinda good though.

Chiyako grinned as Goro enjoyed the cheese. "I thought you might like it. If you're thinking you might like some cake I can give you a slice; it's on me. Nobody's gonna eat the leftovers before the bar closes, anyways. ...Aaaaand you might want something to eat with that." She was enjoying herself as well. The Croagunk was a pretty simple guy; he didn't have a lot of words but that was okay. The bud was the same, but they both had enough curiosity to make things interesting when she was around to serve them.

It was honestly nice, she could easily keep up and enjoy herself without missing too much while serving the other customers. ...Which she had to disengage and do everyone and a while. When the tasting began, however, her paws remained planted to their spots. Her tail flicked behind her as she watched the two pokemon navigate their way around the blue. It was a pretty notorious drink in all honesty; many pokemon came to the bar just to see if it was real. Lots of confident alcohol enthusiasts tried their hand at it, and equally as many had their livers handed back to them on a pike. She wondered how the frog who had never eaten cream cheese and the bug with a sweet tooth would handle the glorified acid.

"This ain't like no alcohol I've ever had," Lennox croaked through his scorched throat. He realized he was sounding a little bit weak, and quickly moved correct his language. "Not that I haven't had a lotta alcohol, and -uhrm- stronger stuff even. But this- is different. It's not like normal alcohol. It's... mega."

Chiyako's ears flattened as she heard what Goro was having to say. "Sorry… Is this your first drink??" She already sounded apologetic, and also a bit mortified. She would have never started a new drinker off with the Blue knowingly.

Goro felt heartened when, as he was dying, he noticed the bug named Lennox at his side going through the exact same thing. It made him feel good to know that he wasn't the only person in the room reacting this way to alcohol. When his dad used to drink, he did it slowly, deeply, and often. But with a great, familiar sense of balance, like circus folk sneaking across a tightrope. At least he assumed circus people walked on tightropes. He'd never been to one. Point is his old man was hardly ever affected by this shit, and Goro felt like his life was ending.

He turned back to the bar as the pressure in his everything died down some, and was able to only nod weakly at the bartender's question. It was definitely his first drink. He leaned heavily against the counter, bracing himself with his good hand as he stared at the little glass cup that just tried to take his life. 'Strong' was right. Legendaries, that was awful. But the slivers of taste that survived the fire were nice, and he was feeling... warm. Very warm. Slightly flushed, kinda. It was nice if you ignored the past thirty seconds of death.

"Cake sounds, ugh, great. I gooot-" He was cut off by something weaker and shorter than a cough. The feeling in his throat was indescribable. He wanted another drink to fix it, but not the same kind. Definitely not the same kind. "I got money. Shit.

"Lennox, right?" Goro was sweating lightly, and he didn't know when he started. He turned his head to look at the guy next to him, feeling a camaraderie that was new and foreign to him, one that was born between two folks fucking up together. "You want another slice?"

Lennox too was sweating. He wasn't even aware he could sweat. Exoskeletons don't normally sweat, right? Lennox didn't know enough to say otherwise. "Oh man, you knowme so well already," the bug sputtered. "Cake would be the best in the world right now; the BEST. Do you want some cake? Maybe we shoul' share a piece... you know, like, I dunno..." Lennox had the feeling he probably said something that should have embarrassed him, but honestly he was hardly aware. All he could think about was sharing cake with friends now.

Chiyako could only stare at these two knuckleheads patting each other on the back. They were gone. There was no logic or brains left in them. She felt... pretty bad. Irresponsible. It was a pretty big oversight to have given such fresh drinkers what amounted to Satan's fermented piss... but on the bright side they looked happy. She was probably a terrible person for it, but looking at them was kind of making her smile too. They were pretty wholesome drunks.

"Oh, I don't doubt your financials, sir..." She didn't what she was doing. Reason would not hold up in this drinking environment. She shook her head and went to the kitchen and just grabbed the entire cheesecake. She brought it back with a nice and split the dessert neatly between the two of them. "Here, you two can have this. Really. It's on me, partially as an apology for... well, giving you Blue." Feeding them more sugar probably wasn't the greatest of ideas, but hey it was anything but alcohol. She also gave them some softened water to take the burn out of their throats.

Lennox could not believe his eyes. The huge portion of cake nearly had him in tears. Also probably the massive dose of depressants coursing through his system making him overly-emotional. "Hah, oh..." He panted mostly; hardly capable of words. "Ha.... hoo my... gawd, shees buddy can't you even believe this?" He nearly sobbed to his booze-bonded brother.

Fuck yeah, free cake. He tried to offer to pay, too, so that meant she knew that she could make money off the cake. And she was just gonna give it to 'em, how fucking nice was this lady? First, she gave him cheese, then she gave them both drinks, and now cake. She'd said her name but it was slipping his mind. Chiya somethin', Chi, Chi, Chichi. Somethin'. She was a good person. He hoped his boss never felt the inclination to burn this place down or anything because he really didn't want anything to happen to this cat lady.

"Yer gonna take my fuckin' money one way or another, Chichichi." Goro slammed his good hand on the counter next to his giant cake slice and stared down the bartender in an attempt to make his point clear. "Might be me and my buddy here are gonna need somethin' to wash down all this cake with.

"Somethin' that won't kill us, though. Not the blue." Just the thought of another blue drink had his guts clenching uncomfortably. To distract himself from that thought, he shoveled a bite of cake into his mouth, and gee fucking golly if it wasn't even better than the cheese. Another long moment was spent simply appreciating the flavor. He shoveled, barely chewed, swallowed, and repeated several more times. Goro'd never had something so rich and unique tasting.

His happiness overcame what remained of his emotional inhibitions for a moment, and he spared a full-spread smile at the emotional venipede next to him. A big, booze-smelling smile full of flat teeth and smeared cheesecake. He liked this guy. He liked both these people.

Lennox was gone. Physically, this time. Into the cake. He was pretty much completely on the bar at this point, letting his tiny mandibles scoop up as much cake as he could fit into his mouth. If they thought he had been cheesecake-y before, well, he had basically just given himself a cake dye job. "I love my life!" the bug exclaimed. "I ain't never... never loved my life like this. This is the best moment. You're..." he gestured to Goro with a floppy stub leg, "You're a good man. You're a great man. You're the reason I'm so happy. Thankya." And of course, he couldn't forget the founder of the feast. He swiveled around and pointed a stub leg at the blurry red cat next. "Don' think I forgot about you, too. You're the greatsest bartender in this courtry. Country. You deserve... a fuckin' medal for your service."

"Thank you," said Chiyako.

"No need to thank me, I'm too busy thankin' you."

Chiyako rolled her eyes. These were probably the two nicest, most endearing drunks she had had in the bar in a month. The Croagunk insisted on paying her, adding an extra "Chi" on the end of her boss's choice nickname for her. She could accept that. It was almost better that way even. "If you insist, I'll make you one more. But I'm gonna have to cut you off after that; for your sake. I don't want to see good men die." She took only enough money for the two drinks that she was going to give them, leaving whatever else there was on the table to entertain the boys while she made up their last rounds. She hated to constantly be a normie and pick off of the special drinks, but this was a situation that called for a Bloody Siren. The one good thing about that drink was that it was full of enough pulped-up tamato berries to basically replace one whole pokemon's electrolytes. God knows these two were going to need it, lest their hangover blind them. She really liked making the base for the Bloody Siren anyways. It was spicy, savory, sweety, and just downright dynamic. It gave her a chance to really flex her creative muscles. Once the taste was balanced the way she liked it, she dumped in a modest portion for fermented tuber juice and garnished with a Cacnea Spike.

Lennox was practically chanting for the oncoming round as Chi brought the two tall glasses of the lifesaving liquid over to the two gentleman. He quieted as she slid the robust red drinks over to them. "Here you go, a house favorite. Just watch the first couple of sips, they'll be spicy."

Lennox's first sip confirmed this. "Hoo, YOW!! Oh man that'll wake ya up!!" He exclaimed as he yanked his head out of the glass.

Goro smiled even wider when the bartender set about fixing another drink. He set about finishing his cake before she got it to him because he wanted to have something to wash down in the first place. And it wasn't even hard to do so - the cheesecake really was that good, and he'd always been a ravenous eater when he got the chance. In fluid, swift, brutal, and probably rude fashion, he slaughtered the cheesecake that was set out for him and was found waiting contently when Chiyako turned with another pair of drinks in paw.

Lennox was every bit as enthusiastic as he felt, and while normally chatterboxes quite annoyed him he couldn't help but feel happy at the sound of the bug's voice. He followed the other guy's lead on this one and merely sipped this drink, taking his time with it.

The red drink was very different from the blue in ways that he would have trouble putting into words. It was layered and faceted, with many different flavors. It was tangy, strong, sweet, and spicy all at once. He felt it in his mouth as much as he tasted it. He grunted lowly before nodding at the experience. This was much better than the other drink. Not as strong, and he had learned that this was a good thing.

"Hey, Lennox, yeah?" Goro sunk down into his seat and rested his chin on the bar counter, his arms pooling around him. His head rolled toward the bug pokemon next to him. The bartender worked at the inn, obviously, so if he ever wanted to feel like this again then he just needed to come here. But Lennox was new and he knew nothing about him - where was he supposed to go if he wanted to find this guy again? "Where'd you come from, man?"

"Owwah?" Lennox asked as he pulled up from his drink again. ""Oh well, uh, that depends on whether you're talking about now or then." He took a much-needed pause to consider the last of his cake with his mouth. The way the creamy dessert cooled the tingling burn that the drink left was a sensation thoroughly enjoyed. He was almost sad he didn't have enough cake to finish the drink with. Mostly he was sad about the lack of cake.

"...oh right, well, where I'm from... Just recently fulfilled an old dream of movin' up to the mountains." He explained. "Love it up there. A guy can really feel like he's livin' up there. Makes a man tough." He downed the last of his drink with a satisfying *glug.* "'For that, well, I was kinda homeless after I struck out of my 'rents home in the mire. Nasty pieces they were. Ruined a perfectly good plot of swamp." He started to wobble in his seat, staring into the mesmerizing reflections on his glass. There were nice ones on the cool Croagunk's glass too, all glimmering in the light 'n shit. Lennox's eyes were smiling as much as his mouth. He started to push his glass over to the frog's absentmindedly.

"Hey good buddy; one last csheers."

Clink.

Whump.

Lennox was now blacked out on the floor.

Chiyako watched with concern, but also with some content as the bugman collapsed into a much-needed coma. The falling on the floor was not good... but at least he had a good time. "Well I should probably get a couple of open rooms ready for the night. Probably not the best idea to have you two gentlemen walking home when you can't see two feet in front of you." She hopped down from her spot behind the bar and walked around, pulling up the venipede and at the very least setting him back up on his stool. She grunted and strained a bit; he was a rather dense bug and she was but one cat. She managed, however. She would without a doubt be having some of the stronger bar staff escort the men to their rooms at the end of the night.

"I'll be back once you're accommodations are set. Don't worry about anything else tonight; we can settle up in the morning." She gave them one last happy look before going off to find them appropriately sized rooms. These moments were the ones she worked this job for.

The mountains sounded nice, but Goro was really elated to find another swamp dweller like himself. He perked up when Lennox mentioned as much, and would have gone on to tell him about his own plot of swamp, but the venipede crashed and burned shortly thereafter. Goro smiled at the unconscious bug guy on the floor one last time. He appreciated the drink and started nursing them both. The red really was that good - the spiciness he could normally do without, but it was so muted compared to everything else that it was honestly pretty good.

He was silent as the bartender looped around and set Lennox back up where he belonged, next to him. Contentedness and comfort oozed oof of the warm frog, and the expression on his face said as much. Going home was the least of his concerns, honestly. Drunkenly fighting his way back to his swamp shack in cattail marsh would be an adventure, sure, but he wanted to be there when his new friend woke back up. Maybe they'd chat a bit and do this another time.

The croagunk waved blindly in Chiyako's direction as she departed to go find them rooms. A small voice in the back of his head whispered something about him not having that much money, but it fell silent when he picked up his glass again. It'd been a long time since he slept in an actual bed. Home was home, but all he had was a straw one. Didn't even have a blanket anymore, because a tiny pink fluffy fairy girl torched it.

His head sure felt heavy, though. It was a good thing that he had the foresight to lay it on the counter. His arms wrapped themselves around his head and he nestled into them, closing his eyes. He was so warm. Maybe he'd just rest his eyes for a bit. He'd get up when the nice bartender lady came back to take them to their rooms. Totally. Goro breathed in, then he breathed out.

A few minutes after Chiyako had left, he'd fallen silent, his steady breathing evident by the rise and fall of his torso. Out cold after his first two drinks - strong ones - and a lot of cheesecake.