Rumblefire whiskey turned out to be an absolute delight to the senses. The drink kissed the tongue, hugged the throat, and tickled the stomach. Liquid settled in my tummy and heat spread all over my body, making the experience even better. After that, a growl left my throat.

The same happened to everyone around the table.

Yolin laughed and, to my absolute shock, a stream of fire left her mouth.

“What-” I began, but saw fire leave my mouth as well and covered it with a hand.

It wasn't hot, skin-searing fire, however.

The name's not a joke! I thought and glanced at the barrel next to me.

It had 'Rumblefire Whiskey' written on it and nothing else. It was a perfectly unassuming cask.

“That's pretty cool,” Pokora commented with a smile, exhaling fire.

“Fireee!” Bonte dramatically roared with his own fire-breath.

Alyssa giggled and flames escaped through her nose.

I looked at my glass and blinked a few times. “This makes no sense,” I muttered, and that time nothing came out of my mouth.

“Interesting,” Lapia observed and took another sip. She sighed and nothing came out, then nodded. “I see.”

Elena coughed a few bouts of fire and shook her head. “This is pretty strong...” she choked out. “I'll stop after this one or I think I'll die.”

I chuckled and nodded in understanding.

“How about we play a game?” Bromisnar offered with a playful smirk.

Alyssa nodded. “Alright, which one?”

“How about 'bans and rules'?” Pokora supplied.

“Sure,” Yolin nodded and took another sip, then let out a long sigh.

“Everyone agrees?” Lapia looked around the table.

Nods were given.

“What's that about?” I inquired.

Thelea came to the rescue, “We choose three actions for each player and ban them, or give them a rule they have to follow. If they perform them, or don't, they have to drink a full glass of alcohol in one gulp.”

“Appears to be quite the entertaining activity,” I immediately formed a strategy.

Pokora chuckled. “Simple but tricky.”

“Alright,” Yolin started with a big laugh. “Let's begin with me.”

“No laughing like that,” Alyssa ruthlessly declared with a smile.

The Oni winced at that. “No giggling,” she challenged back.

Lapia turned to me. “No sighing.”

I smiled.

“No patting my head,” Bonte told Thelea.

The Goliath's eyes widened in surprise. “No dramatic acting for you,” she pointed out.

We went around banning each other's actions for a minute or two.

In the end, they banned me from sighing, staying silent for more than ten seconds, and one-word sentences.

Yolin's bans were laughing loudly, using her hands to drink, and sitting down for periods longer than thirty seconds.

Lapia could not smirk, tease, nor tell dirty jokes.

Alyssa got banned from giggling, using her arms to interact with objects, and healing herself to last longer.

We banned Pokora from cringing, rolling her eyes, and had to phrase everything she said as a question.

Bonte's overly dramatic antics were banned along with bringing up anything related to shadows, and had to dance every time someone else drank.

Bromisnar was banned from using formal language, calling anyone 'lady', and had to yell when talking.

Thelea could not cross her arms whenever she wasn't part of a conversation, being silent for more than ten seconds, and patting Bonte's head.

Elena wasn't playing so she didn't get any bans that would get her to drink but I forbid her from using 'Your Excellency' when referring to me. For the night at least.

“Now for general rules,” I announced.

“You want more?” Pokora blurted out.

I nodded, then continued “Every sentence must have a swear, otherwise you drink. If you are oath-bound for any reason, I personally pardon you as a Higher Being.”

Bromisnar sighed, then yelled, “FUCKING FINE!”

Yolin exploded in laughter but covered her mouth with wide eyes.

Alyssa giggled, “You have to drink.”

Lapia smiled. “You have to drink two fucking times. You forgot to swear and you giggled.”

“Those are two sentences, for fuck's sake,” Thelea pointed out with a complicated smile. “You only swore in one, fucking hell.”

Bonte sighed and stood up, “This is going to be so fucking confusing.”

Alyssa frowned and downed her drink using her tail along with Yolin who cleverly used her tusks to drink. The Luzo then poured one more and quickly drank it, both times using her fifth appendage.

“That's the good shit,” I chuckled.

The Tigea danced for a while, clapping and twirling.

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Yolin stood up and then sat down.

Lapia drank her glass and shook her head.

“You're going to get drunk in no time,” Elena pointed out with a worried expression.

“That's the whole fucking point,” I laughed and another idea popped into my head. “How about we also avoid calling each other by our given names and use nicknames instead?”

Bromisnar pointed at me with a big smile. “FUCKING DRINK!”

I sighed and brought my glass up.

“That's two fucking times, Futasha,” Pokora giggled.

“Fuck you, PokoPoko,” I muttered and drank.

The Archer's face twisted in cringe, then groaned and drank.

I laughed and poured myself another glass.

Alyssa sighed and shook her head.

Thirty minutes later we were all pretty tipsy. The more we drank, the more we forgot about the rules and bans.

Alyssa actively chose to not swear and took the punishment of drinking like a champ.

I caught the Cleric healing herself once when her eyes glowed with a white light and called her out with no mercy.

Her surprised face was incredibly cute: like a puppy caught when taking treats without permission.

Yolin got drunk pretty quickly after standing up and sitting down every thirty seconds.

Thelea, just like me, forgot to speak every ten seconds and we regularly downed our respective glasses with similar looks of despair.

Nothing I can do there. I'm not much of a talker.

After a few slips of the tongue, Bonte had to drink and dance, which got his mouth looser, resulting in more drinking and dancing.

Bromisnar constantly reverted to formal speech, even while yelling. That got him drinking pretty often.

Lapia failed several times as well, teasing and smirking every other time one of us drank.

I rubbed my face to chase a little of the drunken stupor away and noticed Pokora staring into her glass.

The woman spent a total of two minutes in that position wearing an unchanging, blank face. Then, out of nowhere, she took a deep breath and looked around the table until her eyes met mine. “Futasha, truth or dare?” she slurred.

“I didn't know we were fucking teenagers,” I shrugged and held a sigh back, then half-drunkenly muttered, “Whichever, I don't give a fuck.”

“Truth, then. Who do you love the most?” The Archer gave me a cocky grin.

The rest slowly turned to me and waited with drunk, half lost eyes.

“Myself, obviously,” I replied with certainty. “Can't love others if you don't.” Then shook my head and muttered, “Stupid fucking question.”

“What's this 'truth or dare' business?” Alyssa inquired with half closed eyes.

The swearing rule had long been forgotten.

Pokora shrugged. “Basically you ask that to someone and they pick one of the two, then you dare them to do something, or ask something they have to answer,” she explained. “You can opt out but you have to drink if you do.”

Lapia's eyes flashed with interest. “Can it be any type of dare?” She probed with a cheeky smile.

“Within reason,” I supplied and took a sip of my whiskey, then laughed as I came up with something, “PokoPoko, I dare you to do a flip.”

The Elf considered for a second, then shook her head. “I'm gonna throw up if I do that,” she concluded and took a long sip of her glass.

Lapia hummed. “Not as fun as I initially thought,” she lamented with a sigh.

Pokora shrugged. “The questions are supposed to be spicy, but we're adults.”

“Sounds like a game for young people,” Thelea pointed out, a bit tipsier that me.

I nodded. Self-aware people wouldn't have that much fun with the game if it went the cliché route.

Yolin placed her chin on her hands. “Pokora, truth or dare?”

The Archer looked surprised for a second and replied, “Truth.”

The Oni pondered and nodded. “Would you fuck anyone present?”

Pokora snorted, then drank another sip.

Lapia nodded with a mischievous smile. “I see,” she muttered.

Thelea patted my shoulder.

I turned to her and saw her blushing.

“Natasha, I dare you to kiss me,” the Goliath challenged me.

I looked into her eyes and frowned. “Just so you can say you kissed a Halve?” I inquired with a raised eyebrow.

“That's right,” the woman replied truthfully.

I shook my head and grabbed my glass. “Then no,” I denied her and took a sip.

Yolin laughed, then sighed and bent over the table, grabbing her glass with her lips. “Fuck,” she muttered and drank.

“Natasha's kisses are a privilege,” Alyssa chastised Thelea in an overly serious tone. “Don't think you can get one so easily.”

Bonte laughed and patted his girlfriend's arm. “Tough luck, I guess,” he jokingly comforted her.

I chuckled and patted the woman's back. “For someone who thought I was doing the nasty with your boyfriend, you're quite adventurous.”

The tall woman shrugged. “What can I say? You're hot,” she simply stated the truth.

I nodded in understanding. I am an absolute twelve out of ten, after all.

“Eugh!” Bromisnar heaved.

We all turned to him with wide eyes.

The man had cloudy eyes and spit was dripping from his lips.

“Thought so,” Elena muttered and stood up, then walked over to the Satyr and rubbed his back.

Alyssa imitated her and went over to the Performer, then started healing him.

“I guess that's a wrap,” Yolin muttered and stood up as well. “We had fun.”

Bonte nodded and turned to his buddy. “It's okay, Bromy,” he comforted him while holding his chin. “We can clean up.”

The Satyr blinked and heaved one last time, then threw up all over the table.

Fortunately Lapia was sober enough to react in time and raised a hand.

The ejected matter halted mid-advance and gathered in a single spot.

I produced towels from my storage and covered the incident.

After a few minutes of the man emptying his bowels, he blacked out and went limp in Bonte's arms.

“Time for bed, I guess,” Bonte chuckled and stood up. “Can you help me, Thelea?”

The Goliath nodded and gently picked the Satyr up, then walked towards his bedroom.

I gathered the glasses and cleaned them, then took the towels to the washing machine in the main bedroom's bathroom and worked the contraption for a deep-cleaning cycle. By the time I returned to the table I had sobered up considerably.

Pokora stood up unsteadily and wobbled a little, then supported herself on the table. “Shit,” she chuckled.

Elena gave her a hand and they both retreated to their room.

Yolin yawned and let out a long sigh. “Let's go to sleep,” she muttered and put an arm around my shoulders. “We need energy for the following days,” she muttered and gave me a kiss on the cheek. “The Whiskey was delicious. Thank you, Natty.”

I gave her a smile and picked her up. “You're welcome, Yolin.”

“No nickname?” She pouted and let out a cute, out of character whine, wrapping her arms around my neck.

I chuckled and walked over to the bedroom following Alyssa and Lapia. “I'm not good at coming up with nicknames,” I argued.

The Oni shrugged. “Anything is fine,” she insisted.

I hummed. “Don't get mad, though.”

“Boo! Come on!” she cheered with a big smile.

“Yoyo?” I offered with a wince while entering the bedroom.

“Eh, could be worse,” she shrugged.

“You little...” I chuckled and threw her on the bed.