AN: Hey all. Been a while. I've been stuck on this chapter for a long time, but I finally got through. Huge shoutout to my Beta, Plum.
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Three notes:
1 - Every author of fanfiction has their own interpretation of Hestia. Some go full ditzy Danmachi, others go full serious 'Harry Potter Squatter' style mother master chef Hestia. I will not put down other authors, but I choose a character somewhere in the middle.
2 - Every scene with Em has her wearing glasses that protect from her eyes, that's a detail from older chaps that is prob forgotten by now.
3 – Images are on QQ (QuestionableQuesting).
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Chapter 5: The Lion, the Lamia, and Little Red Riding Hood
It was the early afternoon when the bar's front door opened with a jingle as Em walked in, shaking the fallen snow from her purple locks with a shake of her head. "Sheesh, it's freezing out there."
Dressed in a turtleneck sweater and jeans with headphones hanging from her neck idly playing the lyrics to [I don't want to be – DeGraw], and holding a bag of takeout, she looked around the dim bar. "Leo?"
[Insert Image #1]
"In the kitchen, babe." His voice called from the back.
"Squawk!"
The beautiful lamia put the food down on the bar top and narrowed her eyes at the second response, eyeing the lime green parrot on a perch in the corner of the bar with a tuft or orange chest feathers. The color was visually insulting, and the eyes of the avian were particularly degrading as it looked down at her. "Hello, Jack."
The bird squawked. "Captain!"
Em rolled her eyes and walked past it. "Yeah, yeah."
The bird cat-called her as she passed, and Em fought down an urge to turn it to stone, simply flipping it off as she pushed through the back door leading to the kitchen, where she found Leo standing over the island counter covered in an assortment of glowing potion and liquor bottles as his ghostly grimoire floated around him.
"Why do you keep that infuriating creature again?"
Leo looked up from where he was stirring different liquids together with a chuckle. "He's funny."
Em scoffed and draped herself over him, wrapping around his back like a serpent and resting her chin on his shoulder, happily digging into his body heat. "Maybe for you. He insists on his captain title."
Leo twitched at her cold touch but got over it with prolonged exposure to dating a lamia in the middle of winter. "Well, it IS his name, after all."
"Couldn't you give him something less aggravating?"
"I thought it fit him perfectly."
Leo thought back to a week earlier when the bird showed up.
Flashback:
He had just opened for the day when the door jingled, and he turned to greet his customer, only to find a lime green bird standing tall on his bar top, staring at him intently.
His gaze moved from the ajar door letting in the cold and back to the bird a few times before he spoke. "…Can I help you?"
The parrot tapped a claw on the bar as it spoke in a craggy voice. "Rum."
"Rum?" Leo repeated with a raised brow.
"Rum." It confirmed.
Leo calmly held up a finger to pause and light a cigarette, taking a deep breath and exhaling. 'Going to be one of those days then.' He had seen enough weird shit by then to learn to roll with the punches. "Can you pay?"
Weird or not, he was running a business, not a charity.
The bird narrowed its eyes before raising a claw in a universal gesture for 'one moment', and then took off back to the door, nudged it open, and flew out.
Leo shrugged at the scene and went back to setting up when a few minutes later, he paused at what sounded like a car crash nearby before the bird flew back in through the door and dropped an object on the bar.
"Rum." It stated simply while looking him dead in the eye.
Leo picked up the watch the bird dropped in bemusement. "Is this a Rolex?"
The bird croaked. "Pay."
There was a bloodstain on the watch's band. "Did you steal it?"
"…."
"…."
"RUM!"
"….sure."
Flashback end.
The bird didn't leave after having its drink; in fact, it stuck around while Leo went about making drinks for customers and began singing sea shanties the more it drank.
Surprisingly, it was a great singer while drunk. Unfortunately, it was worse than Justin Bieber being choked out while having his ass penetrated by a dominatrix while sober.
But if that all wasn't enough, it managed to both start and end a bar fight with a satyr, knocking the timid creature out with a beer bottle to the head.
Leo was so amused by the thing that he decided to keep it. Well, not so much keep it, as put up a perch for it at the bar and watch as the bird didn't seem to have any inclination to leave from close proximity to its favorite drink.
He had to set down some ground rules about not taking bottles without permission or leaving droppings inside the bar, but the Rolex it had paid with set the bird up with a hefty tab for rum, and Leo had no intention of short-changing someone who paid, no matter how it was paid, as long as it matched the value for the drink.
The bird didn't even seem to consume anything but rum and peanuts Leo left out for drinkers, as far as he could see anyway.
He named it Captain Jack Sparrow in honor of its habits, and the bird seemed highly taken with it. Despite the fact that Jack seemed to be an asshole to everyone he met, he listened and never acted up against Leo, so Leo found it even more amusing and always had an extra distinguished set of taste buds to help him try drinks.
He came back into focus when Em whispered in his ear with a plea. "Are you sure I can't make a statue out of it? Realistic parrot statues could fetch a decent price."
Leo withheld a chuckle and shook his head. "Nah, he adds some entertainment to my days."
"Am I not enough entertainment for you~?" Em flicked out her tongue to teasingly poke at him, making him turn his head to steal her lips with her tongue caught between his lips.
He pulled back with a smirk. "You're my favorite entertainment." The look in his eyes sent a tingle of pleasure down her spine as Em pulled him back in for a soul-searing kiss.
"Keep saying stuff like that, and I might make a mess of all these fancy bottles covering that table."
Leo chuckled and ran a hand down his girlfriend's side, feeling her shiver in delight as he moved beneath her shirt, and taking a great deal of pleasure in the smooth and supple skin beneath his palm. He pulled his head back with a smile to stare into her sunglass-covered face, marveling slightly at how this beautiful creature ended up as his woman. "Down you, I'm trying to focus here."
She raised a delicate brow in amusement and looked over his shoulder at the counter. "Hmm, you seem to be doing your best impression of a mad scientist. Is science more interesting than me~?"
"Different kinds of science there, babe." He answered shamelessly and turned back to his work. "And, I've been up since sunrise working on this." Over a dozen mixing glasses were set before him on the kitchens central island counter, all glowing with assorted colors, and surrounded by racks of potion vials and liquor bottles, all while half a dozen portable butane stoves lit up cast iron pots glowing with various neon lights.
It was a sight fit for a mad scientist's chemist lab mixed with a witch's hut.
Em decided to return the favor and snuck her hands through the bottom of Leo's shirt to run her fingers along the muscles she could feel there with a delighted hum, the weeks of potion usage having done wonders to restore Leo back to his peak and allowing him to grow beyond. "I thought you were trying to be frugal with the liquor supplies."
He withheld a shiver as her hands teasingly traveled southward but made no move to stop her as he went back to focusing on his work. "Azazel came through the other day with his shipment, so I've had a lot of bottles to play with. I want to make official pairings for the potions before I put them back on sale."
"You ran out again?" Em asked incredulously. He had explained how ravenous the demand was back on New Years, and if he kept running out in the weeks since, the demand must have shot through the roof.
Leo confirmed her guess with a tired sigh. "I get dozens of requests every night, and with all my failed attempts to create drink combinations, my stock keeps getting depleted." He jerked his chin toward the row of portable stoves. "I've been using those to help lately, but I can't do more than six at a time." He had slowly improved with consecutive batches and familiarization with the recipes, slowly increasing the number of pots at once, but he was still limited by his mana, and pushing past six risked lowering the quality of the rest.
"How long does it take to brew a potion?"
"Twelve hours per batch." Leo pulled out a cigarette from behind his ear. "Each batches vary in quantity and quality." Em helpfully held up a lighter for him, which he smiled at as he lit it. "So, at worst, I can make forty-eight vials a day, or seventy-two at best." He blew out some smoke. "I could try to double that output, but I do like sleep, plus I have a few other priorities on my time these days." He gave Em a meaningful look that had her flushing happily before finishing. "So I needed time to build up a stock."
Em hummed and pressed her cheek to his own in appreciation, her hair slithering with a mind of its own to wrap around his neck comfortingly. "I guess I should be glad you're not rushing to make money then."
"You should." Leo replied with a smirk and went back to messing with the mixing glasses. "Although, you could help me taste test if you're feeling particularly apologetic."
A melodic laugh rang in his ears as Em kissed his neck, very deliberately running her hands through the waistband of his briefs before coming around his side to stand next to him. "Sure, why not? I've never been one to turn down your concoctions, but no feeding me strange potions without warnings, mister."
Leo shot her a semi-annoyed look at trying to get him worked up, a look she shamelessly ignored with a smug flick of her tongue. "Don't tempt me."
"Hm, coming from the guy who drugged my drink the first time we met, that doesn't seem like an empty threat."
"That's old news. And I did it so you wouldn't eat me."
"Oh, but baby, that hasn't stopped me so far~."
The seductive look she sent him sent a pleasurable heat southward, and Leo had to physically tear his eyes away from the sinfully attractive woman to regain control of himself. "And she says I drugged her." He muttered to himself lowly, but she heard it just fine.
She knew exactly what she did and took immense pleasure in getting a rise out of him.
Em tried to hide a laugh as she nudged him playfully with her hip. "So, what did you want me to try? I can't tell what's what in this chaos."
Leo cleared his throat and put a shot glass of murky brown liquid before her. "Try this one first; I'm thinking of calling it 'Wake-Up-Punch,' 'Pack-A-Punch,' or 'Rise-And-Shine.'
Em raised a delicate eyebrow as she observed it. "What's in it?"
"Drink it, and I'll tell you."
"What did I just say about surprises?"
"Trust me."
The two matched eyes behind Em's glasses as she measured him for a moment before raising the glass to her lips. "Putting me on the spot much?"
"I'm good at finding the right spot." He responded while blowing out smoke.
Em snorted in humor and downed the shot before her eyes flew wide open beneath her protective cover.
A mix of exquisitely roasted coffee beans, smooth Irish whiskey, and a tart nutmeg-like flavor she couldn't place mixed together to give her a shot of pure energy straight to her system, like static electricity to her nerves. "Wow! I feel like hunting an elephant. What was in that?" She held a hand to her lips and shivered at the energy coursing through while Leo chuckled and ashed his cigarette in a tray to the side.
"An elephant, Em?"
"Answer the question, Leo."
He smirked around his cigarette and listed off items with raised fingers. "Irish whiskey, freshly roasted coffee beans poured over a frozen metal ball and strained, and an eighth of an Invigoration potion. Gives a drinker a shot of pure energy to wake them up without going too far. I wanted to make a dedicated drink for the potion, but even drinking half of it will give people too much energy to sit in a bar, and it has an annoying side effect of making the drinker crash when it wears off. So, I had to shrink the dosage to a shot mix. What do you think?"
"What do I think?" Em's hair twitched as she could barely control herself from fidgeting. "I think you need to dilute that before someone drinks it and gets halfway to work before forgetting they forgot their car."
Leo laughed and idly took back the shot glass. "Duly noted. How about the flavor?"
"Delicious." Her tongue rubbed along the bridge of her mouth as she considered the question. "The nutmeg really tied into the coffee, whiskey, and the tartness of the potion."
Leo wrote down her comments in his grimoire with a nod. "Got it, I'll play with it some more. Want to try something else?"
Em rubbed her legs together through her jeans in restraint. "Sure, but make it fast. I have a lot of energy right now, and I know exactly how I want to spend it."
Leo raised a brow at her slightly desperate tone. "Something stressful happen today, babe?"
Her lips turned downward, and she frowned as she grumbled. "A batty old Karen thinking she could criticize my lovely statues."
"Ah. Is she still breathing?"
"For now. I was tempted, though."
Leo chuckled and gave Em a side hug. "You're getting better at restraint."
Em leaned her head against his shoulder with a sigh. "Your potions help. But even without the curse, I can still get annoyed like anyone else."
"Normal people don't turn others to stone, Em."
"Who wants to be normal?"
There was a pause before they both snorted in humor, and Leo continued. "I don't mind what you do, Em. It isn't my job to control you, but it is to listen if you want to talk."
Em smiled genuinely at that and buried her head in the crook of his neck. "And that's why I just might keep you."
"Just for that?"
"Among other things. Finish playing mad scientist, and I'll show you the other reason." Her hot breath on his ear was pushing him toward his limit, but he wasn't going to be the one to give in first in their little game.
"If that's not motivation, I don't know what is." He turned back to his work and flipped through a few bottles to prepare a new shot with an artistic touch as Em watched him work. Even for a millennia-old woman who had seen much, it was still entrancing to her to see him in his element. There was just something about the focused look in his eyes that made her want to turn his gaze on her and never let it go. A feeling that slowly grew with each passing day. "Done." She snapped out of her trance a moment later when he pushed a shot glass her way.
A two-layered shot with clear blue liquid on top of a layer of clear white had a trail of odd smoke in a serpentine fashion going through the blue. All poured into a scale pattern shot glass.
[Insert Image #2]
Em gave off an appreciative hum at the design. "And what is this little beauty called?"
A smirk stretched across his lips. "The Snake Bite."
"Oh~?" Em returned the smile with a playful tint. "If you wanted one, all you had to do was ask."
A chuckle was his response as Leo softly jerked his chin at the glass. "Try it."
"This better not turn my head into a pumpkin again."
"I wouldn't dream of changing that face."
"Charmer." Em's delicate fingers wrapped around the glass before she knocked it back. "Huh, smooth. I was expecting…" Her eyes dilated as her world blurred violently for what felt like moments before the world snapped back into focus with her wrapped up in Leo's arms, staring up at his face in confusion. "What?"
Leo grinned down at her. "Welcome back. Did you enjoy the ride?"
Em blinked twice before narrowing her gaze on her boyfriend. "What was that?"
"That, my dear Em, was The Snake Bite." Leo's lips widened around his cigarette as he explained. "I got some pretty intense stuff from Azazel. Aged Absinthe with a brand I don't recognize from the Underworld, but it packs an almost instant punch that would take a professional drinker down Alice's rabbit hole and put them in an 8-hour drunken coma. I mixed a small portion of it with an Antidote Potion to immediately counter the effect, but for a few seconds, it takes you on a ride. Took a few tries to get the right ratio." He finished with a grimace of personal experience.
"You're telling me." Em held a hand to her head. "That was….odd. Why would that even be popular?"
"For the trip?" Leo shrugged. "A brief but powerful trip with no hangover should be highly attractive to late-night guests."
"Hm, you may have a point."
"Of course I do." Leo smirked down at her. "You planning on standing up on your own?"
"I think I'm comfortable here." She smirked right back as her arms bonelessly snaked around his neck. "And I think you're overdressed."
"I still have shots to experiment with."
"There's only one shot I want to experiment with right now." Em pulled him down by his collar, her plump red lips inches from his own. "And I'm out of patience."
Leo's only response was to steal her lips in a passion-filled kiss as the two melded as one, and Leo mentally tacked another victory under his belt at making her give in first.
00000
A pleasant afternoon of pleasure passed before the night came, and it approached opening time.
"Leo, did you add something to that body wash?" Em asked as she plopped down on the bed, patting her hair with a towel from her shower, and dressed only in a simple black thong. "My skin feels incredible."
[Insert Image #3]
"Hm?" Leo looked over from where he was putting on a fresh white button-down shirt and paused at the entrancing sight of his girlfriend, watching a drop of water roll from her damp hair along her curves.
"Leo?" Not getting an answer, Em looked over her shoulder and flushed under the focused look Leo was giving her. "Haven't you had enough yet?"
"If that day ever comes, feel free to eat me." He had to tear his eyes away from the divine sight of his girlfriend's ass to answer, but he barely managed.
"Flatterer." Em giggled and walked over to kiss his cheek, letting her hair take the shape of snakes to playfully snap at him. "There's only one kind of eating I have in mind."
Leo's arms naturally wrapped around her waist, pulling her against his naked chest as he grabbed what was his in a firm grip, sinking his fingers into her plump cheeks. "Who's the one who hasn't had enough again?"
Her breathing picked up as she pressed her hardened nipples against his chest and flicked her tongue like a snake tasting the air. "How many Invigoration potions do you still have?"
"Enough."
The two's lips pressed in a chaste kiss as Leo sucked on her elongated tongue, eliciting a moan from Em that she only barely resisted giving into. "As much as I want to, you have to open soon."
"It can wait."
"But your body can't." She pushed back gently with a final kiss and moved his open shirt to the side, where a series of bruises ran along his waist from their recent fun. "We need a few hours for the healing potions to finish up anyway. We can have more fun tonight~."
Leo huffed at that, dropping his head to her shoulder in a near-silent groan of acceptance. "You won't have to hold back forever, babe."
"I know." She gave him a heartfelt smile and stepped back. "But for now, chop, chop. Go open up. I'll be down in a bit."
"Yeah." He ran a hand through his hair with a sigh and withheld a wince at the pain in his bruised hips. "You sure you want to help out tonight? You know you don't have to."
Em scoffed and stepped over to the dresser she kept in his place. "And leave my man defenseless to the whims of all those salivating nymphs? I think not."
Leo chuckled at that. Em had met the Elementario not long after New Year's, and Sylphy's ability to keep her group's desire to sleep with Leo hidden was non-existent. While Earth and Water backed off after meeting Em, Fire just took it as a challenge to bed both of them, and Sylph was Sylph.
Shaking that off, Leo buttoned up his shirt and threw on his vest. "There's only one ass I'll be thinking about tonight, babe, and I don't think I need to spell out who it belongs to."
"Good." Em smirked over her shoulder, playfully bouncing in place for a moment to suck in his gaze. "You didn't answer my question about the body wash, though."
"Oh, right." He slipped on his dress shoes and headed for the stairs. "I added some potion to it. Helps in keeping skin clear and smooth."
He wasn't going to admit he mixed a Cure for Boils potion into his body wash, as while it was highly effective, the name didn't inspire confidence, so keeping it vague was best.
"It doesn't have a side effect this time, right?"
"Not unless you dump the whole bottle on you."
"In that case, thank you, darling~."
"Heh, not like you need it, Em."
"Keep saying stuff like that, and you might get lucky tonight."
"I thought I just got lucky on the couch? And the bed. And the shower. And the-"
He had to duck under a thrown hair brush. "You know what I meant!"
Seeing her flushed face, even after everything they had done together, just made him want to tease her more. "Never change, Em."
Leo shook his head in amusement at the adorable sound she made as he headed down to the kitchen. Three weeks since New Year's, and he was still marveling over how seamlessly the two fit together.
It wasn't love. Neither were premature teens with delusions. But there was something powerful at work between them, and both were fully willing to ride out the wave and see where life took them.
Em's interest might have started with Leo as a simple supplier of a potion that could let her live free of her curse, but his acceptance of her true nature had her digging into his personality and finding what she liked.
And her body aside, Leo found Em's true personality, hidden beneath Medusa's legacy, to be both endearing and highly interesting, as she had seen various points in history.
Their first night together, tumbling under sheets of her empty home before the hearth was heated and full of passion. Her body was like a drug to Leo, and her moans were a symphony he never wanted to stop hearing.
Sadly, no matter how good of a lover Leo was, there was only so long he could keep up as a normal human to a demigoddess and ancient lamia. Thankfully, Invigoration potions helped along with his stamina. Leo had long learned that taking portions of a vial gave a partial effect without the one-hour cooldown, and he had abused that as much as he could.
But his frame was vulnerable to her sheer strength, and he was often left bruised by her, requiring him to use healing potions to recover.
It was a slightly frustrating fate for both of them, yet Leo was growing stronger with each passing day. His daily workouts, his time with Em, and his rapid healing from potions were doing wonders to improve the quality of his body, and Em was more than vocal in her pleasure from those facts as she could let go just a tiny bit more every day.
But it wasn't only his physical abilities that were developing rapidly, but his potion craft as well.
Stepping into his kitchen, Leo hummed to himself and moved to the row of boiling pots. 'Ah, just in time.' The final minute on the time ticked down, and Leo took up his mixing spoon, long since used to the exact directions he had to stir.
One by one, he inserted his mixing spoon and let the mana flow from his tattoo into the pots at a rate far quicker and smoother than his first fumbling attempt over a month before.
His mana spread a film over each pot, like a lid of blue water covering the steaming mixtures before it seeped into the mixtures and rapidly cooled the contents.
With each pot completed, his mana dwindled further, and his head pounded harder as he forced himself to concentrate until he was done.
A breath exploded from his lungs as he inhaled deeply upon finishing the last one. 'It slowly gets easier.' With progressive repetition, he gained greater control over his mana flow to eliminate much of the waste, slowly stretching the ability to make only two pots to six.
According to the 100 point mana bar in his grimoire, he had gone from spending 50 points per potion, to 15.
He still couldn't control the mana separately from his system to do anything else, but during potion creation, his system let him take the reins.
'Another two batches of Wiggenweld, Satiety, and Invigoration Potions complete.'
The pots glowed neon from the fizzling light green, pink, and dark green liquids, and Leo smiled as he moved over to where a row of vials sat on a rack with funnels held in place. 'I wonder if people would think I'm making meth in here if they saw this.' He poured out the pot's contents and was left with eleven and a half vials worth for each pot.
'Twelve vials worth is supposed to be perfection, so I'm just shy of mastering Novice grade potions.'
The last month was filled with a nonstop crafting of potions. Due to each batch taking twelve hours to make, he simply left them to cook as he went about other things, returning only every few hours to stir and add mana.
He was finally approaching an area where he could have some excess stock.
'Not to mention the quest progress.'
His ghostly grimoire was summoned with an idle thought as the pages turned, and Leo eyed up the results of the last few weeks of selling potion-mixed drinks.
[Quests:
Path of Craft: Novice Potions.
Sell 500 potions. 489 of 500 sold.
Reward: 1 Path Point.
Time Limit: None. ]
His progress was slowed by the simple fact that each drink had around a fourth of a vial in it. The counter only went up when a full vial was sold, but even with that, he had made rapid progress. It was only increasing as his bar became more popular with the supernatural beings in the area who all viewed his drinks as a fun activity for the night.
The variety of customers had grown from the Fallen Angels, Elemental Nymphs, Vampire Hunters, and Yokai he had first encountered and spread to beardless dwarves who bought out his top shelf of hardest mundane spirits, devils who Leo was half convinced were trying to subtly make him contract offers, a queen elf in high heels with rainbow hair, and an honest to god fat pixie.
The variety had only grown with time as Leo became more and more exposed to the supernatural nightlife of New York City, a melting pot of not just mundane cultures but supernatural ones as well, and everything that lived in between, or so it seemed.
Shaking his head at the wild ride his life had become, Leo grabbed the new rack of vials and walked into the hallway, stopping to enter his storage room between the kitchen and bar.
The room was only around four hundred square feet, but it was filled with shelves along the walls. When Leo moved in, the shelves were empty as Mr. H didn't leave anything for him, but with the increase in income, Leo had slowly filled them with crates of various liquors and liqueurs. And thanks to Azazel's contact, many of them were brands only sold in various areas.
He still kept a stock of human-made spirits, but now he had Japanese Sake brands made only in Yokai territories. Wine's aged for centuries from the Devils. Spirits the Fallen Angels have played with over the years. Mead from the Norse territory. And whatever else Leo found interesting. The guy he ordered from had sent a catalog to browse, and the vast majority of Leo's income had gone in that direction.
Leo couldn't really express how happy he was changing out the shelves of bottles at the bar, but now, out of the four rows of shelves holding liquors, only two held human-made brands.
Pushing aside his inner joy at seeing a stocked storeroom, he moved over to a row of open crates filled with dividers and carefully put the new Potion vials into the slots. 'Finally have a reason to use these crates.'
He dedicated a corner of his storeroom to stocking potion vials, but due to the demand and brewing time, he could only slowly add in the leftovers.
Counting over his stock, he wasn't sure if he should grumble or be proud he sold as much as he did.
[Inventory:
Wiggenweld x28
Antidote To Common Poisons x19
Sleeping Potion x14
Dreamless Sleep Potion x12
Pompion Potion x22
Hair Raising Potion x23
Forgetfulness Potion x9
Invigoration Potion x31
Satiety Potion x27
Cure For Boils x9 ]
He made some potions more than others, barely ever making Sleeping, Dreamless Sleep, Forgetfulness, or Cure for Boils during the times he wanted to mix things up. Most of his time was spent on the other six as they were his more common types to mix with drinks.
Add in the daily need for Wiggenweld, Invigoration, and Antidote Potions for Leo's own use, the Satiety Potions he made for Em, and all the vials he wasted in experimentation, and the current stock was what he was left with after selling the rest.
Leo had even found that the stronger his body became, the less useful the healing potions were in his recovery. He went from healing nearly instantly from an intense workout to healing over minutes to healing over hours. Still far faster than the natural process, but it was slowing as he grew. He could offset it somewhat by taking more Wiggenweld Potions after the hour cooldown, but it was telling him he needed to increase the potency somehow.
The healing factor barely did anything for someone like Em, only giving her a pleasant warmth, while other potions like the Satiety potion satisfied her curse for a whole day. There seemed to be some variety in what kind of effects were more effective.
So, increasing the potency of his potions or getting his hands on potions beyond the Novice level were goals he was trying to work toward.
Whether that came from his quest completion, or perhaps from the real world. Leo had learned that as long as he was attempting to make a potion, his tattoo allowed him to use mana in the creation process, although it hadn't led to anything useful aside from how to make a semi-conscious slime that he was only 50% sure was dead and not currently living in the NYC sewers after he flushed it.
Covering the lid to the crates, Leo kept thinking about how to solve his problem as he left his storage room and entered his bar, where he was promptly interrupted from his thoughts by a flutter of feathers landing on his shoulder.
"Squawk. Rum."
"Hey, Cap." Leo idly raised a hand to scratch Jack's head. "Having a good day?"
"Rum. Good."
"I probably shouldn't be the one to judge, but I think you have a drinking problem, bud."
"Douche."
"Pft." Leo chuckled in amusement and entered his bar. "Where did you learn your vocabulary?"
"Ra. Salty Sailors."
"Is that so?" Leo hummed and grabbed a bottle of Bacardi. "How about some Gran Reserva Diez, then? Aged ten years in a barrel soaking in the Caribbean sun and filtered through charcoal for a smooth finish."
Captain Jack's response was a rapid fluttering of his wings.
"You better sip this one. No chugging."
"Sip. Sip." Jack nodded like a gentleman and moved to his perch, where a glass drinking bowl was set up for his refined tastes.
Leo filled it up and watched in amusement as Jack clicked his tongue, took a tiny sip, savored it, and then did that weird head shake thing only parrots do before burying his head in his bowl with a squawk.
"Why did I expect any different?" Leo chuckled and reached for his cigarette case, lighting it up with a puff of satisfaction as he looked around his bar, his eyes catching the far wall with a row of picture frames that were slowly filling up over time.
The first was set aside, but the second was with Em, the next from the Nymphs, one of Azazel, and it slowly filled with notable people who stopped by. He smiled lightly at the first one, a simple image of a faceless, well-dressed man behind a bar cleaning a glass, a tribute to Mr. H, the man who gave him the push he needed to find his own happiness.
Shaking off such thoughts, he focused back on the moment. "Alright, let's get things going."
He moved around the bar, setting down the stools, wiping down his counter from any dust, and flipped the closed sign to open.
That was pretty much it. Anyone who complained about setting up should trade places with the ones who clean up at the end of the night.
The sun was already setting, and it didn't take long for his first guests to come through with a jingle of the doors bell.
"Yo." A Japanese salaryman walked in with slumped shoulders and deep eye bags. "First one of the night?"
"Aren't you always?" Leo eyed up the guy, wondering if he was about to collapse. "You sure you don't want to go home, Rock?"
"And do what? Curse god? I'd rather drink my woes away." Rock denied it and took an end seat at the bar. "Give me my usual."
"Sure."
Leo reached for some Scotch with a trace of sympathy. The guy, Rock, as he was nicknamed, was a foreign, overworked corporate slave working in the city. He got his nickname when he came in, drank an entire bottle of forty-proof to the cheers of others, and then proceeded to drink a fallen angel under the table.
The simple fact that he was both alive after that and could even enter the bar in the first place went a ways to telling Leo he wasn't a simple human, but he sure as hell acted like one.
He slid over a type of Old-Fashioned he named 'Forgotten Times.' A mix of scotch, unflavored seltzer, and a square ice cube made from frozen Forgetful Potion poured into a warm glass. As the ice slowly melted, the potion slowly seeped into the drink, allowing the drinker to enjoy momentary glimpses of freedom from worldly concerns.
The depressed guy's face immediately relaxed, and Leo left him in peace as the door opened again.
"Ah, Leo, dear."
Leo resisted the urge to twitch as he faced the queen elf with flowing rainbow-colored hair. "Victoria."
"My, my, I told you to call me Vicky~." The elf sashayed up to the bar with a smirk as high heels clacked on the wood. "But it's wonderful to see you, again~." A deep purr followed the voice as Leo deadpanned and blew out some smoke.
"What can I get you?"
"You with a cherry on top." A light feminine giggle left the elf's lips. "I'm kidding, of course. Your dear Em has her claws in your yummy self. I'll take an Appletini for now." A sharp, manicured finger tapped on the bar. "Some of the girls are going to join me shortly. Do you think you can bring over those fun little shots of yours after they order?"
"Sure thing." Leo nodded and jerked his chin toward the booths. "Sit wherever you like; I'll bring it over. And thanks for the business, Victoria."
"Mu~, so mean." A pout followed him refusing to use the nickname, but it wiped away with a wink. "And no thanks necessary. Drinks like yours deserve the attention."
Victoria waved and moved into a booth as Leo turned away with a grimace. 'It's not like I care what people choose, but can a dude not flirt with me, please?'
Victoria, the male queen elf, was a hostess at a particular club in the city, and her co-workers were just as varied as she was.
Shaking his head, he went about making her drink as more customers came in.
"Leon!" Sylph and the Elementario.
"Leo." Jeff, the Vampire Hunter armed for war with a love for Midori Martini's.
"Bartender." Greg and two members of his werewolf pack.
"Hey." Jace and Alec, Demon Hunters.
"Yo." Satoru, another strange Japanese salaryman working overseas, went to sit next to Rock.
"Leo~!" Enko, a seductive fallen angel who embodied the phrase 'whispered temptation,' led in a duo of fawning men.
"Bartender." A trio of young male devils talking loudly about a recent Rating Game.
"Boy!" Brum, a rambunctious beardless dwarf with a liver he was determined to kill.
"Boyo." Andrew, an overweight pixie with a mustard stain on his shirt.
The bar was in full swing, with regulars coming in and going about their nights, and Leo was in his element, pulling off showman tricks with shakers and glasses as he expertly made one drink after another.
"Need a hand, dear?" Em's voice drifted in an hour after he opened as she slid up behind him and kissed his neck.
"Think you can take the drinks out and clear the tables?"
Em eyed up the filled booths as her gaze landed on the Elementario. "Hm~, I think I can manage that."
"No statues." He didn't even need to look to see where she was looking.
"No promises." She playfully nipped his neck to leave a mark and moved to help.
It was looking to be a long night, but Leo didn't mind that as he eyed his quest counter going up out of the corner of his eye. For every three drinks ordered, one his potions went with it.
'Almost there.'
0000
A few blocks over, a certain woman of a….moderate height….was walking down the street in a sour mood. Dressed in a skirt with a red cloak and her hood up, the seemingly young girl walked on without a single gaze of passersby's turning her way.
In fact, they seemed to turn away entirely from her presence, unconsciously clearing a path for her to walk.
'Stupid idiot brothers. How many times are they going to argue over petty nonsense? They know what they're doing wrong, yet they still do it! And then they have the nerve to talk as if I'm in the wrong for trying to stop them? I'm the elder! Listen to me, damn it!'
The air practically steamed from her annoyance, yet that little of a physical reaction was already showing incredible restraint for a heavily ticked-off goddess.
'Ugh, I need a break from their nonsense. Maybe I should visit mom?'
She debated where to go before pausing as a tingling feeling reached out to her. Narrowing her blue eyes, she felt out the evident divine influence and scoffed. 'Hermes? No, this is just an effect of one of his domains, not an active influence.' Thinking her nephew was up to something she would have to scold him for, she did the equivalent of mentally grabbing the divine threat by the ear and followed its trail back to its source. 'Huh?'
The sign for a bar flashed in her eyes. 'Where Roads Mead?' She studied the enchantment further to look for a prank, yet all she found was a simple guideline. 'Attracting those who need a moment to rest?'
Almost unconsciously, her frowning lips twitched in a half smile of slight pride. 'I'm proud of him for doing something nice for a change.' She considered it for a moment and shrugged. 'A drink does actually sound nice at the moment. Why not?'
Hestia changed her direction on a whim and unknowingly changed the fates of not only herself but her family.
0000
The night was in full swing as the door chimed, and Leo turned away from an odd sight of Rock, Brum the dwarf, and Andrew the pixie, getting into a drunken argument about whose boss worked them harder to find a strange sight at his door.
A barely five-foot-tall, seemingly young girl with black pigtails dressed like Little Riding Hood was looking around the place with a smile. She turned as she felt his gaze, and Leo saw honest surprise in her blue eyes as she walked over, staring unnervingly at his forehead in confusion.
"Can I help you, little lady?"
"Huh?" She snapped out of her trance at his call. "Oh, are you the owner here?"
"Nah." Leo shook his head and ashed his cigarette. "Just watching over the place. You know, Mr. H?"
"Mr. H?" The girl puffed out her cheeks in restrained amusement. "I guess you can say that." She hopped into a chair. "I'm sort of related to him."
"Oh? Are you his niece?"
"Neice?!" Her voice raised an octave with a flush. "I'm his elder!"
"Uhu." Leo made a height gesture. "Pull the other one, kid."
"Kid?! I'm older than your entire family line!"
"Mhm. Want some apple juice?"
The air heated from the look she gave him, yet Leo felt no actual threat from her and an almost unconscious desire to tease. It was strange. Absolutely nothing about her raised any flags in his mind other than the fact that the second he started talking to her, no one else seemingly looked his way or paid them any attention.
The girl took a deep breath, and the temperature returned to normal. "Are you done?"
"Yup." Leo smirked around his death stick. "What can I get you?"
She growled at him and smacked the bar with her palm. "One White Russian, please." Even angry, she was still polite.
Leo raised an amused brow at that but shrugged. "Coming right up."
Reaching for a Rocks glass, he quickly cracked a large ice cube into it and measured and mixed together two ounces of Vodka, an ounce of Kahlua, and an ounce of half-and-half cream.
[Insert Image #4]
"Oh! Let me mix it up." Hestia's voice cut him off right as he was about to stir the contents together.
"You know it's not served layered, right?"
She waved a hand. "I know, but it's more fun this way."
Shrugging in acceptance, he slid the drink her way, and she smiled happily as she stirred all three layers of the drink into a white milky cocktail before knocking it back. "Ah~, that hits the spot." Leo barely blinked before the glass was emptied. "Another!"
"…ok." He restarted the process and eyed up the red riding hook look-a-like. "Having a long day there, Red?"
"Red?"
"Well, you haven't introduced yourself."
"Oh." Hestia flushed. "It's been a while since I've had a conversation with someone who didn't seek me out." She sat up and straightened up her skirt. "I'm Hestia; it's nice to meet you."
"Leo, and the pleasures mine." Leo slid over another White Russian and watched her knock it back like a shot glass. "You didn't answer my first question."
"Hm? Ah, yeah, a long day. You could say that." Her mood dipped. "Just some idiots in my family needing a good scolding they're going to ignore anyway." She sighed and waved a hand. "I'd rather not talk about it."
"Hn." Something about the frown on the small woman didn't feel right to Leo. Not in an attractive way, but in a feeling that tickled brotherly instincts he didn't know he had. He looked around the room to see everyone seeming pretty content for the moment, with Em in the kitchen helping to wash a round of dishes for him, and eyed Hestia's empty glasses. "You know, the White Russian is a pretty boring drink."
"Excuse me?" Hestia looked up in challenge. "I happen to greatly enjoy it, thank you very much."
"I wasn't judging." Leo shrugged and took her empty glass back. "Just saying it was pretty boring."
"It's not boring. It's a great drink!"
"It's a drink from over thirty years ago, made in the 70's by a guy in the middle of ass end nowhere with three of the only things he had available. It's boring. It lacks innovation."
"Like you could do better."
"I can. I know three variations off the top of my head that can top it."
"Oh yeah? Bring it on then!"
Somehow, seeing Little Red Riding Hood throwing her arms up in a boxer pose, ready for a fight, was just far too amusing to turn down.
Leo blew out some smoke and smiled at the challenge. "Very well. You still have to pay for them."
"Do I look broke to you?"
"Well-…"
"Don't answer that!" Hestia smacked a palm on the bar with a zero damage indicator floating away from it.
Chuckling at how easy to rile up she was, Leo grabbed a shaker and started gathering a few bottles while talking. "Did you know the White Russian was originally called the White Caucasian?"
"It was?"
"Yeah. It sounds racist, but it's actually due to the creator being from the Caucasus Mountain region of Russia. It traveled through word of mouth all the way to the US during the '70s and became part of a bad generation for cocktail creation, which is where it got its bad rep from." Leo measured and poured an ounce of Vodka, an ounce of Saint Goerge Coffee Liqueur, a quarter ounce of Luxardo Espresso Liqueur, an ounce of cold brew coffee, and three ounces of whole milk into his shaker. "But it's really just a coffee milkshake for adults, a comfort food if nothing else."
"It is comforting." Hestia admitted with a hum. "Makes me feel like I'm drinking something from Starbucks without the sugar overdose. I don't really like strong spirits."
"Nothing wrong with that." Leo admitted. He added the ice and started shaking. "But maybe because it's such a comfort food is why it got taken down from the international official bartender's list of cocktails."
Hestia blinked at that. "Wait, so it's not an official cocktail anymore?"
"Nope." Leo cracked open the shaker and set the strainer, pouring out a frothy concoction into a Lowball glass. "Oddly enough, the Black Russian is still on the list, but it's just the same as a White Russian without the creamer, nothing more than a straight black coffee with vodka and rum." He grabbed a can of powdered chocolate and lightly tapped it over the glass, dropping a rain of cocoa powder atop the frothy white layered drink, garnished it with a cherry, and slid it over. "One revised White Russian, enjoy."
[Insert Image #5]
"Ohhhh." Hestia's eyes kindled with inner fire at the sight of the drink. "It looks so fluffy." She lifted the glass to her lips to take a sip, and Leo got to enjoy the satisfying sight of a customer's eyes literally sparkling with flames as Hestia squeaked in pleasure. "Yum! It takes all my favorite things about a White Russian and just improves it with hints of chocolate and anise, kind of a dark licorice flavor." She damn near poured the glass down her throat in her excitement.
"Heh." Leo chuckled and blew out some smoke. "Looks like round 1 is my win."
"Ah." Hestia blinked owlishly before slamming a tiny fist on the bar. "Damn, I got lost in the flavor. There's no way you can do that again!"
"Are you sure about that?"
"Er…"
Leo didn't give her a moment to argue as he went into the next variation.
He spun a Rocks glass and half-filled it with Sam Smith Nut Brown Ale before grabbing his shaker. He threw in an egg white, a quarter ounce of Nocello, a quarter ounce of honey syrup, and an ounce of coffee-infused Vodka, which was just a liquid made from soaking coffee beans in Vodka for days to months, depending on how strong you wanted it.
He shook it dry first, letting the egg white mix before adding ice and shaking it a second time.
The mixture was strained and floated atop the dark beer, creating a two-layered drink that quickly became three as the egg white foamed at the top.
[Insert Image #6]
"Order up."
The glass was presented to a nervously sweating Hestia, eyes glued to the glass like a broke coke addict to a rich guy's pants, full of hesitation yet knowing they were about to take the plunge anyway.
"Oh my."
"Go on, be my guest."
"What big teeth you have, grandma."
"Pft." Leo damn near choked out his cigarette as Hestia giggled.
"You think I haven't heard the little red jokes before?" She stuck her tongue out at him cheekily and experimentally sipped at the drink before her eyes flew wide open. "Oh wow! It's like the perfect mix between bitter coffee and nutty beer without being overly sweet. How did you balance them so well?"
"Cheap shot." Leo wheezed out and had to dislodge the ashes that got stuck in his throat before he could answer, thoroughly giving up on the destroyed cigarette he bit through, and reached for another. "And it was the coffee-infused vodka." He lit the death stick and calmed with his steady supply of nicotine. "Depending on how long you infuse them, what kinds of coffee beans, and the ratio, you can get various kinds of infusions to play around with."
"Wow." Hestia marveled and sipped at her drink with a happy little sway and red cheeks, the drinks getting to her since she wasn't actively trying to fight the effects, just wanting to enjoy a nice haze. "That's impressive. I haven't played around with cocktails much, but just imagining the dozens of combinations a single ingredient can have is intriguing."
"I know, right?" Leo lit up at someone who shared his interests. "There's so much to combine, so many flavors to bring out with the slightest of changes. Liquor is about more than simply drinking; it's about soul-satisfying flavors, like learning how to pull a rainbow apart and figure out every shade of a color."
"Heh. You sound like me when I talk about food."
"Oh? You cook?"
"I have a preference toward baking, but I'm not too bad with cooking."
"You any good at it?"
"I wouldn't call myself a master." Hestia hiccupped and puffed out her chest in pride. "But my cookies could start or end wars."
"Is that arrogance I hear in Little Red?"
"Ha! It's only arrogance if it's not true. People would line up in rows for my cookies." She lifted her glass to take another sip and confusingly pulled it away when nothing came out. "Wuh? Where's my drink?"
"You drank it." Leo chuckled and pointing his burning stick at her. "And I believe I'm two for two, Red."
Hestia blinked and looked between Leo's smug face and her empty glass in betrayal. "Damn it! You can't do it a third time!"
"Is that denial or hope I hear in your voice?"
"Shush. Makey with the drinky!"
Leo shook his head in amusement. His third variation had a very interesting name, and he was interested to see Hestia's reaction to it.
A tall glass was set down, and Leo put on a little show for an excitedly clapping Hestia, who easily fell into the mood despite her earlier words.
Not bothering with a shaker this time, Leo cracked ice into the glass and then poured an ounce of Kahlua, one and half ounces of Apple Estate Rum, and filled it to the top with Main Roots root beer.
Topping it off with some heavy cream and a garnish of nutmeg, he dropped in a tall spoon to stir and slid it over.
[Insert Image #7]
"Order up. Enjoy."
Hestia's hesitance was apparent, her eyes darting to Leo's feline grin and back to the tall glass she was half sure was singing to her like a siren. "Arh! Screw it!" She growled, grabbed the drink, and chugged it like a champ.
Leo's eyes opened progressively wider at her downing the whole thing in a single run, slamming the glass down, and releasing a mighty burp to make an Asgardian proud. He honestly wished someone else would have noticed, if only so he could have someone else to share the hilarious memory with.
"YUM!" Hestia vibrated in her seat. "That's the one! I can't drink a White Russian anymore after having that. That was like an alcoholic root beer float. The taste of nutmeg, the roots, and the spices mix together in a harmony that just can't be beat. I need another!"
Leo blinked and almost lost a second cigarette as Hestia went a mile a minute. 'I might have made a mistake.'
"Drink! Now!"
"You sure you don't want to take a break-.."
"No breaks!" Tiny palms smacked on the bar top as Hestia swayed with a flush. "This is my night to forget my troubles. Hic. I don't want to think about how much trouble my family gives me or how insanely lonely my life is. I just want to drink and forget it all!" Her last phrase was said so strongly, she actually managed to pierce through whatever weird perception barrier she had going on, making her voice heard by the other customers, and getting a round of cheers in reply.
Rock's cheer of 'HELL YEAH' was the loudest, and Hestia blinked in first shock at the responses, before a smile grew on her lips and she waved her empty glass in the air. "Another drink!"
""Another drink!"" The cheer was taken up by a dozen voices and Leo deadpanned at the small goddess.
"You did that on purpose to avoid admitting you lost the challenge. Didn't you?"
"Nooo~."
Leo huffed in amusement, blowing out a cloud of smoke as his eyes nearly glowed with his own passion. "Fine. Bring it on."
The bar cheered as Leo continued his show, dishing out shots and drinks of high quality at a pace that put three bartenders to shame.
Hestia soon had her refill, and Leo got his revenge when he leaned in to whisper. "By the way, that last drink is called, 'The Naughty Dog'."
Her eyes widened as she did a spit take that landed on Andrew, the fat pixie, who got a sudden shower yet, rather than be offended, only turned to look at Hestia before shooting her a shining eye thumbs up that she thankfully didn't see.
She was too busy rapidly smacking Leo's shoulder like a machine gun with no more force than a light tap. "Leo! That is not the name!"
"Oh, but it is." Leo's self-satisfied smirk said it all, and Hestia collapsed backward in despair over her new favorite drink.
"I don't want to live on this planet anymore."
Leo's smile only grew wider as he heard a ding in the back of his head. He turned his eyes downward to see his grimoire appear under the bar, flipped open to a certain page.
[Path of Craft Quest Complete. +1 Path Point.]
'It's about time.'
"Leo?" Em's voice drifted from behind as she came back from the kitchen with a tray of clean glasses. "What's all the commotion out her-?"
Her words cut short, and Leo turned away from his grimoire only to have a bare moment to process that Em and Hestia were matching glowing gazes before he had to swan dive to save the tray of delicate, and expensive, glasses Em dropped in her shock. He slid across the bar mat and slammed his back against the bar, but the tray was secure. 'Phew, safe.'
A flare of pressure from the two women cracked a martini glass. 'Ah, spoke too soon.'
Chapter End.
Spoiler for Chapter 6:
Leo wasn't really sure how to describe the first confirmed meeting between Hestia, goddess of the Hearth and Greek fire, and Medusa, feared monster of Greek myth, yet somehow, it reached the current result.
"Two cups of sugar, dear, be generous with it."
"Oh, I always used one. No wonder it came out bland."
Hestia and Em were baking cookies in his kitchen. His Kitchen
They were just staring each other down, and then one minute, he's turning away from the two to stop Jeff the Vampire Hunter from staking a friendly vampire through the heart in a booth while drunkenly chanting 'Kali Ma,' and the next, the two women were somehow friends, with Em being hugged by a drunk teary eyed Hestia.
End.
AN: Thoughts?