11th Day of Summer, 513 AV
Sybel passed the gallon of Smokey Blue Ale to the raucous cries of the Akalak all around, a treat she’d so generously offered to her fellow patrons for the night. It’d been a long, hard day of work at the Sanctuary, and the heat of the sun had driven to her old favorite haunt – the Blue Bull. As always she sat amongst the men, pale blue eyes alight with humor. They’d just finished a joke-telling contest, the winner of which who was now pouring ale down his chest and singing loudly.
”I still say Erasil and Belar had the best one,” she said, receiving the gallon back at last, now half-empty. Many murmured in assent around her. ”So a night-lion walks into a bar..” They all laughed, already leagues ahead to the punch line. ”And he asks for a beer, but the bartender says –“ An older Aklak, weathered from sunlit toil jumped in. ”I’m sorry,” he intones in an outrageous Drykas accent, ”but we won’t serve beer to a lion.”
”But the lion replies,” Sybel cut back in smoothly, ”I ain’t a-lyin, give me a beer!”
Ruckus ensued once more, drunken mirth soaring through the air. ”You’re not half bad for a human girl,” Erasil said, grinning from ear to ear. ”Ey, she’s with that Drykas I heard. You better leave her be, lest you get your kneecaps broken!” They all laughed once more. ”So who’s gonna buy the next round?” She asked before draining her cup. There were a few nominations, but no one seemed to bite. ”Huh,” she said, mopping the beer from her chin. ”I tell you what. Whoever can out drink me, gets another round. If I beat them, they do the same.”
And of course, all of them took the bait. ”Out drink you, little girl? I’ve drunk whole ale kegs to myself!” And another, ”you’ve got guts, but you’ll be out back passed out in one of the waste bins before you finish your next drink!” They nearly cried with amusement from the thought of a lithe little Benshira outdrinking a fully-grown Akalak. ”What, you scared?”
One man simply shook his head with a smile. ”You’re asking for trouble.” But Sybel smiled earnestly. ”I’ve had nothing but trouble since the day I was born, so I might ask well ask for it. It’s only polite.” He chuckled. ”Whatever you say.”
”Well,” she prompted. ”Any takers?”
*Coin deducted!