milliways_bar | (no subject)

(no subject)

(OOM: I have many sorrows; I know how long the night is.)

Wei Wuxian, wrapped in his more rough robes in dark greys and dull reds, steps up to the bar. He has a heavy sheaf of papers, which he attempts, momentarily, to straighten with tired fingers when he sets them on the polished wood.

After a few moments of conversation, the papers disappear, and Wei Wuxian bows, carefully. Then he takes the bowl of lotus soup the bar gives him in return, he retreats to his usual seat by the fire, but once there is more interested in putting a fresh edge on the trowel he digs out of his sleeve's pocket than eating.

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"No, he's young for that," Zenigata agrees. He's raised -- or is raising -- three children over the span of his life. A daughter who stopped speaking to him before she was twelve, a son who is legally debt but haunts Zenigata with the knowledge he is alive, somewhere, and he has no idea where or why, and now Ami, a girl who was trafficked, only to have her Zuckerbergian father attempt to take advantage of it for press surrounding his stupid data aggregation social media bullshit.

It hurts, knowing there's one so little, that needs so much, but-- Zenigata knows he has limits. That's another world's child, and too young besides. Ami at least is half-grown, forced too soon to be mature and survive, but only learning now how to make friends and feel her feelings. He doesn't have room, time, or money -- and if he understands Wei Wuxian at all, the man would never, ever let A-Yuan go anywhere he couldn't keep watch.

So he keeps his tongue still in his mouth for a moment, reaching out to take up the beer on the side table and drink it. Then he pauses, and asks, "Anyone given you a proper beer yet, Wei Wuxian?"

"Beer?" Wei Wuxian echoes, pulling a face. "It's a bit sweet for my tastes."

Of course, the beer he knows is an entirely different beast than the one Zenigata refers to, but how is he supposed to know that?

Zenigata makes a face. Sweet beer? "The hell are you people drinking?"

He flags down a wait rat, and asks for a Japanese beer sampler.

"You aren't drinking beer. Don't know what this is translating to, but beer isn't sweet."

"We are drinking wine - if I am going to drink your beer, you are having some of Yunmeng's wine. Hey!" He calls after the rat, and once getting it back, asks for a jar of wine from Lotus Pier, and another of Emperor's Smile.

The rat gives them a 'anything else?' look, before scurrying off again.

This is rapidly becoming a culturally significant boozer.

"Ah, and bring the Japanese whiskey sampler I served, some time ago?"

The rats just roll their eyes. Anything else? Seriously, humanoid men, what are they good for?

"If you have some of Uncle Four's fruit wine, that would also be good!" Wei Ying calls, utterly shameless. What? Uncle Four made good wine. The Burial Mounds ought to have at least one export that isn't painful, right?

Radishes aren't painful, they are good.

"Lotus chips with Anzu sauce!"

The rats are downright perturbed as the two men generously try to one up each other. Before another round of one-upping happens, they just flat out LEAVE. Maybe later, boys.

Radishes are Nasty, and no one can tell Wei Ying otherwise.

"Ah, that should get us started properly, though why you want to include beer of all things..." He sighs, realizing that everyone has their one weird quirk.

"Beer is-- hoppy! Bitter, sour, but not sweet!" The hell are you drinking, Wei Wuxian!? "Ugh. Sweet beer! If I wanted to suffer I'd drink some American hipster pisswater IPA, but it still wouldn't be sweet."

Zenigata has Thoughts on Booze, and they often are The Kids Are Wrong, Beer Was Fine, Why Are You Making It Fancy?

Edited 2020-10-04 05:36 (UTC)

"... What are you drinking? Beer is... alcoholic gruel with aspirations of one day being an acceptable drink." Wei Wuxian complains, as someone who has at least once been forced to Drink That Shit because it was the only alcoholic thing available.

"Beer is not gruel!" Zenigata is shouting now, because his default volume is set to Really Loud, and now he must raise the stakes -- and the needle -- to Shouting Loud to get his point across. "Beer is a perfectly good drink! It's inferior to whiskey, but sometimes you need something that's good for large, social drinking and something that's good for sipping or shots!"

Wei Wuxian has never seen a hardworking Japanese man strapping in to teach another person about Japanese drinking culture. If he isn't hungover tomorrow, Zenigata will have not done it right.

Wei Wuxian is a disciple of Yunmeng Jiang - loud is a way of life.

"How many people that you hate do you drink with, to make it a social drink?" He shoots back, astounded. Clearly it's not something you'd order for a friend.

"You are going to both eat your words and drink your beer," Zenigata says; the rats are returning with samplers -- one for each, two glasses apiece. Not full tall pints, but tumblrs filled with beer to sample. They place down fried lotus root with spicy-sweet Anzu sauce beside it.

"Normally, I would pour for you, and you for me, if we got bottles and glasses. But these are pre-poured! So, it's kampai and down the hatch!"

He picks up one glass of deep golden-brown beer, and lifts it, enjoying the sheer sight of the deep liquid and the foam that tops it, before he takes a drink.

"Aah, yes. God, I miss home sometimes," he says, looking down at the glass. "And food that tastes just right."

There is a certain tightness across Wei Wuxian's shoulders, across his expression, at the mention of home. Of missing home.

This is... unwise. He knows this is unwise - he is not tucked behind his wards, not secure in his surroundings...

But he is so very tired of being wise.

So very tired.

He tilts his glass back, downing the unfamiliar liquid with the ease of a pro. And he makes such a face at its bitter bite.
"What is that, medicine?" He demands, popping a fried lotus chip in his mouth to wash out the flavor.

"It's beer. A hoppy one, bitter. Some people like it that way. Try the very dark one, they tend to be richer and smoother." He gestures to the darkest one. "Try that. It'll be more malt, less hoppy."

When he will happily bring up and drink, and happily enjoy. Beer's great, Wei Wuxian just doesn't know how to drink.

Wei Wuxian protests strongly this slander against his drinking skills. Or he would, if he knew about it. As it is, he downs the second offered drink as easily as the first.

The resulting expression is less hateful than the first, he's still not at all convinced this is 'good'.

"Come, come, let me pour you some Emperor's Smile, that is a good drink." Maybe if Wei Wuxian teaches Zenigata the error of his ways, he'll stop forcing this bitter muck on people.

"Okay, okay. Acquired taste, I know," Zenigata grumbles, beer having lost this round. It's okay, whiskey will remain the best thing to drink, ever, fuck anyone who disagrees. "But it's still not sweet!"

But the rats have brought the wine, and they'll go get the whiskey sampler next. In the mean time, lotus chips and anzu are a good way to clear the palette from one liquor to the next.

"If I wanted to drink bitterness, I would go back to Golden Koi Tower." Wei Wuxian huffs, helping himself to more lotus chips, the spicy sauce a new favorite.

"I have no idea what that means," Zenigata says in all truthfulness. "But I'll take your word for it. Now, is one jar for each of us?"

Because that's a lot of wine and Zenigata is here for it.

Wei Wuxian eyes the bottles, then turns those Terribly Sad Eyes on Zenigata.

"The bottles could be shared... I suppose..."

Nope, one bottle -- and a shit-eating grin -- is now Zenigata's, though he does wag the finger of his other hand.

"Just remember," Zenigata admonishes him, looking Wei Wuxian dead in the eye. "I'm an old dog and you're a young pup. You'll bethe one under the table at the end of the night."

Then he pops the cork, takes a whiff, and then pours himself a glass. "KAMPAI~!"

"As a..." Wei Wuxian trails off, momentarily lost - he can't say he is disciple of Yunmeng Jiang anymore, can he? It's for the best, it is - Lotus Pier has only just started rebuilding, and Jiang Cheng would not be able to defend him against the Jins.

Still.

Anyway.

"As the Yiling Patriarch, I will endeavour to make you eat your words." He promises, uncapping his jar and pouring a healthy portion down his throat.

And that's how the wine goes, with pointing and laughter. At least, the first jug of Yunmeng wine. Zenigata laughs and coughs once before he says, "I recognize this-- not this flavor, specifically! It's baijiu in my world! The Koreans have soju, and we have shouchu!"

He's very pleased to have figured out the closest thing he knows as an analog.

Wei Wuxian is happy to wax lyrical about the flavors of Yunmeng wine, and his contributions to its manufacture - it's not exactly a notable accomplishment for a cultivator, but it's one that Wei Wuxian takes pride in. By the time they've finished the Yunmeng wine, Wei Wuxian's posture has notably melted into a much more comfortable sprawl. He's not drunk, far from, but his thoughts have comfortably muted a little, and the ache in his bones seems a little more distant.

When he pours the last of it down, it with a semisweet smile - it is so good to have it, but so sad to see it gone. He grabs a few chips to keep from being too sentimental.
"Now you must admit, that is a much better alternative."

"Ah, but that's not the drink you have with just any meal! That's hard liquor. Beer isn't, and it accompanies a variety of foods well!" Zenigata protests, though he is still far more upright than the boy, he is definitely got the drunk flush that folks like him get: hard drinkers who have damaged blood vessels in their cheeks.

"I got us more whiskey, too," and it appeared at some point, while words were being spilled and wine swallowed down. "You said you liked that, yes? You were looking for fruit wine, but -- I think after the whiskey maybe you should slow down."

Not him.

You.

Zenigata can go take three whiskey bottles down off the shelf and give everyone around him a huge scare (and honestly, flirt with major harm) but he's pretty sure Wei Wuxian won't be able to do the same.