II: Guilt [Alcohol]

- I generally don't care what you do, but try not to sit in a tavern from morning to dawn, - the man said as he stood up and put his cloak on, his gaze still on the elven woman that practically slept on the table in front of him, - just remember that you are still young, drinking your life away isn't the answer. -

- Urgh, - the elf moaned and waved with hand in hopes that her this morning's conversation partner would leave faster that way. Why would he care about her health? Why would he care about what she did with her life? And she was hundred years his senior anyway, so him calling her 'young' was quite weird anyway. He should just go somewhere and enjoy that short human life of his, since he had lived nearly a half of it anyway.

- Right, - the man just said, - then I hope to still see you, as you usually say, 'alive and kickin'' tomorrow, Secina. Unlike you, I have a job to do. - The sound of heavy footsteps signalized that the man had left her alone with the lone empty bottle in front of her.

The lone empty bottle needed a friend. As soon as possible, Secina thought while a smirk found it's place on her face. She found the strength to lift her head and look around the tavern that was empty save herself and the waiter whom she had never seen before. Was he new here? Secina thought that she had already seen every employee here, so this fox-kin waiter, who seemed to be about fifteen, so barely could be considered as an adult, must have been a recent addition. Perhaps, this was the boy's first work-day? Well, then she should make this day more special.~~

She waited until the pretty-boy waiter went right past her table to lazily and incredibly rudely grab his tail – she knew from her former team-mate that touching a beast-kin's tail, ears, or any other animal part without their consent was considered to be really~~ rude. - Eh? - As expected, the fox-boy let out a surprised gasp and turned around to face her, and only then she released his tail from her grasp. - Hey there~~, - she started while trying to mask the drunken tone, that she acquired while drinking until the morning, with an off-tune singing, - could you be so nice and bring me something... nice to drink? -

What a disappointment! The waiter just nodded and left to bring her something, not even commenting anything on her rude behaviour.

After few minutes of just sitting and staring at nothing, the fox-boy returned with a bottle and a glass on the plate, so image of him being a waiter now was complete – nice black vest, a buttoned white shirt with a black bow around his slender neck, a long apron that was tied around his waist, and a plate. Cute. And pretty fancy for a tavern.

Well, she came here exactly because it was fancy here. - Now, now, what did you bring me, dear, mm? - Secina immediately asked as the boy put the bottle and the glass in front of her. Right, she did see that it was a wine, but she really wanted to hear the fox's voice.

- An apple wine, miss, - a quiet voice returned the answer to her question. Ah, she once knew someone who was good at making apple wine – was this a cosmic sign that she should visit her former team-mate?

While she wondered, the bottle had been already opened, and, with a polite smile forced by his job as a waiter, he turned around to walk away, but, no, Secina won't let him do that – it would be way too boring to drink alone. Once again her left hand found its way to the fox-boy's tail. - Hey, hey, there isn't any other client here now, so why don't you sit with me? - she offered as she released his silky silver tail. - You wouldn't make a lady drink on her own, would you? - Heck, she didn't need him to drink, it would be fine if he just sat across the table and occasionally nodded his head while she told her drunk-tales.

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The waiter just stood there for while, as if thinking if it really was fine to provide his company to a client, but (Oh! It must have been her lucky day!) in the end he decided to take a seet across her. - I'm not going to drink, miss, - he finally said, but Secina celebrated her victory with a wide predatory grin on her face.

- Anyway, I haven't seen you here before, - the elf said as the boy poured her glass with the apple wine. Did he forget to do that before? So it seems. - Are you new here? -

- Yes, I started this morning, although I don't intend to work here for long, since my objective is to pay for my staying within the tavern's inn with working, - he nodded. Ah, so honest! And, despite giving the vibes of being a person that doesn't speak a lot, he still made a nice answer. Should she feel special? No, no, perhaps 'the vibes' and the actual personality were completely different.

She warmly smiled as she drank the wine. - But you know what? - she didn't really want an answer to this. - It's weird how people just assume that dark elves are, well, dark. It's not true, - she pointed at the waiter with her right index finger, - fine, dark elves don't really like being out during day-time, but there is no need to ask me if I'm a moon elf. Seriously. Moon elves don't even exist! There are only dark elves and surface elves! - She quickly poured another glass of wine. - And what's with the stereotype about us having black skin and white or grey hair? Look at me! My skin is fairer than any nobles! Seriously, - Secina said grumpily as she started to empty the glass.

- Ah, and here I was blabbing, but I didn't even introduce myself, did I? - Once again, she didn't need the fox-boy to actually answer. - My name is Secina, and, yes, I'm a dark elf. I came to the surface world about 30 years ago and decided to became an explorer, so I could see more than I could ever see if I had stayed underground. It wasn't long before I found a group of three that were looking for a rogue, thief, or scout, so I joined them. Well, although we were travelling for a long time, I didn't really have good relationships of any of them, but at least they were more tolerable than any other party that I had tried to join. -

The woman downed the glass.

- My team-mates were quite the bunch, actually. We had two swordsmen – Peleex was a full-front attacker who loved anyone with boobs and Grey who was a defence-type and seemed to like bad-puns despite his calm and responsible guy attitude, seriously, I really want to know how he gets rid of all the accumulated stress.~~ And the last one, our magician, Fel. She's specialized in fire and wind spells, and she's a wolf-kin. You know how rare it's to find a beast-kin magician, don't you? So we called her 'Precious', heh, - Secina laughed and waved at the bottle so the waited would fill her glass again.

- So, we travelled, and at some point we kinda decided to enter a rank three dungeon, - she continued, - and, well, we cleared it really~~ fast. - Here she made a pause so that the fox would understand that clearing a rank three dungeon was a big deal. - So our party, too, was promoted to third rank, and you know well enough that any explorer of that rank is really strong, really experienced, and really awesome, - she grinned, - look at me, aren't I awesome? -

Now, she wanted an answer to her question, this one wasn't metaphorical, so Secina stared intently at the boy's pretty light-blue slit eyes. - Oh? - he exclaimed in rather calm voice. - Yes, indeed, miss. - Wasn't he adorable? Agreeing so readily.~~

She took another long sip from her glass, while gazing at an empty bottle, that had gained a friend in form of an apple wine bottle that still wasn't even halfway, as if she was in deep thought about what she should say next so that her story would sound better. - At the time we thought that we were The Shit, like, seriously, that we were super important, super cool, super strong, and that the whole world was our to take, and that we were so totally ready to take on a rank two dungeon, yeah, we totally thought we were The Shit, - another long sip, - hic, - another sip, - but we totally weren't. -