Casually standing at the bar, Cana looked around the quiet room. Only a few patrons, none of which were hardcore dedicated drinkers at all hours of the day like Cana. There was never anything like the taste of alcohol on her lips to soothe her and make her happy. Approached by the waitress, Cana frowned as the bartender stopped making her drink. “What a way to start a job by taking my drink away. For needing my assistance so bad I’d think Aether be more accommodating....”she sighed, following the waitress to the back. Cana was immediately hit with flashbacks from the other day.
Entering the room, expecting Aether to be alone and just looking for an excuse to see her again, Cana instead raised an eyebrow in confusion as the men stood around a table with bottles of wine. “If his idea was to get me drunk and try to take advantage of me....I’ll kick their asses the instant they lay a finger on me”she angrily thought to herself before realizing the situation was actually legitimate.
“Yeah yeah....so you want me to tell you which bottles are the real stuff and which aren’t right?”her tone a bit casual given the situation, looking at Aether. “Well I don’t recognize these bottles....but then again there is quite the selection. Just needs more of the hard stuff if you ask me.... Come on then, let’s get on with it. I already lost my first drink here so I’m already behind as it is.”
Taking a seat in front of the three men, Cana was a it annoyed by the older man but couldn’t blame him. She would be outraged by bad alcohol as well or in this case, watered down alcohol. Lining up the shot glasses between the bottles, Cana cracked her knuckles before pouring into each. “And nobody disturb me while I do my work. Just so you know it might take more than a shot from each to get the full effect...”she grinned.
Taking the first shot, Cana paused a moment, savoring the taste of the wine before grabbing the other shot. “Mmm”she smiled, placing a white card down, confirming the bottles were the same. She then proceeded to do the same with sets two and three, placing a white card for those as well. Set four, Cana was growing bored of having the three men staring at her while she drank, even though this was for an actual purpose and not for pleasure, so she was sure to take two shots of wine from both bottles before happily placing yet another white card.
“This is by far the best job I’ve ever taken on. You’ll have to send a few more personalized jobs my way more often.”she said with a wink to Aether. “I’m just said there’s only two more shots left.....”. The first shot went down smoothly. Cana’s taste buds savored the taste of the wine and knew for certain what she was drinking. Grabbing the final glass, Cana could sense a small hint of magic as she lifted the glass to her mouth.
Right away Cana could tell something was wrong with the shot after taking nine consecutive “good” shots of wine. It looked like a bottle of wine but it definitely was not wine at all. All of a sudden it hit her why the job existed in the first place to investigate the Fiore Fountain. It couldn’t be as simple as this though. If she called Aether out now, there’s no way anyone would get to the bottom of what was really going on around this bar. Looking at Aether she swallowed the shot and gently placed the glass down.
Pausing briefly, Cana still contemplated on what to do. She then reached for the cards and placed a white one next to the last set, confirming there was no tampering and the bottle was not watered down. “And there you have it, some fine tasting wine from ten different bottles!”she yelled with excitement having both completed the job and enjoyed free wine shots. Abruptly getting up from the table, Cana, with a slight of hand, made it look like an accident and knocked over the bad bottle, the contents spilling everywhere. “Shit! Sorry, guess I got a little too excited.....you’ll probably take that out of my pay now won’t you?”she looked over at Aether. “I’ll be in the bar if you need me for anything else or are offering any more free shots”she laughed, taking one more look at Aether before leaving them to finish their business.