no bourbon, no scotch, no beer

[kingsroads]

Who: the idiot brigade aka Lambert & Strange
Where: Strange's trailer
When: backdated to late on Day 77
What: errybody in the trailer got tipsy
Warnings: alcohol use

( continued from here )

[ Taking the White Gull, Strange carefully puts two small drops of the alcohol into his mug of wine. His hands are steady, like he's used to doling out entirely small doses of liquids. Really, he doesn't believe this is as potent as Lambert says it is. After all, the other man can drink it and he...well, he's Lambert so who knows what sort of witcher nonsense makes you resistant to weird alcohols. Still, he can always add more later if need be.

As he finishes adding in the White Gull, Strange caps the flask and sets it on a nearby, hella cluttered table. Moments later, he raises his mug as well. ]

To your new appointment.

[ Might as well make an ATTEMPT at a toast. Strange downs a healthy serving of his wine...then just starts coughing a bit because wow, even with just two drops that stuff is surprisingly potent. ]

Good Lord.

Comments

[whattaprick]

Isn't it in bad taste to toast yourself?

[ It's a good thing Lambert has more sense than to waste alcohol by doing something unfortunate like get it up his nose, but it' a near thing. As it is, he lowers the mug from his mouth, laughing at Strange's expense as he sputters. It's not that bad, really -- the potion really is more like a concentrated form of herbal liqueur, flavor-wise -- but it's unmistakably alcohol. Although it probably wasn't meant to be mixed with wine, the witcher's drinking it like he doesn't have any tastebuds at all...

Which is probably the case. Refined choices of vintages are Geralt's purview, not his. ]

Really packs a kick, doesn't it?

[kingsroads]

And you willingly drink this? In large doses?

[ Strange has taste buds. The potion is really for people without taste buds and the mixture of grapes and some herbs that don't really go with grapes is enough to have Strange making a face like a small child who's just eaten something disgusting. It's certainly not the flavor taste he was expecting.

Still, Strange isn't going to let this go to waste. He takes another, more tentative sip. He's had odder tasting things in his life. The more Strange drinks, the more he finds that it's weird, but doable. He's slowly getting used to the taste and imagines that by the end of the night, he'd only slightly dislike the lethal mixture. ]

[whattaprick]

Takes too much time and too much coin to get drunk like everyone else.

[ Lambert shrugs. In truth, the likelihood that he'd had exactly the same reaction as Strange did the first time he tried it. Thanks, fellow witchers, for training him in the secret of how to get wasted super fast even if your metabolism doesn't lend itself well to it. ]

Goes better with spirits. There's one you can make out of potatoes ... should try making that sometime. That's something that actually wouldn't poison you.

[ He can't cook for shit, but alcohol brewing is close enough to alchemy that he's great at it. ]

[kingsroads]

Making spirits out of potatoes...is that something someone taught you or something you learned by accident?

[ It's slightly teasing but also a bit curious. After all, Strange knows next to nothing about Lambert's world and even less about the man himself. Don't mind him if he turns the conversation to slightly nosy questions. ]

[whattaprick]

You can make alcohol from just about anything, if you're determined enough and don't care about the quality. Don't get a lot of fancy wines out in the countryside.

[ Lambert shrugs, taking another swig of his drink. Unwilling to sit on the floor or keep leaning on the wall forever, he decides to sit on the edge of Strange's bunk, tail absently thwapping against the sheets. ]

Did a contract for a distillery, once -- cleared some Nekkers off their property. Paid me in coin and a lesson in brewing my own booze.

[kingsroads]

[ There's a chair in here somewhere, currently playing host to a notebook and a small jewelry box, covered in Atlantean shells, absolutely useless for holding anything. Strange sits the notebook and jewelry box on a nearby table as he moves the chair, facing Lambert.

Sitting down, he takes a tentative sip of the drink before he asks, ]

What on earth is a Nekker?

[whattaprick]

Ugly little bastards, about this high. [ Lambert makes a vague gesture indicating a point about two feet of the floor. ]

They're like ... small ogres? And they like to work in packs. There's never just one of them.

[kingsroads]

[ Having never actually met an ogre in person, Strange's interpretation is a little too children's story. Big teeth, possibly green, things like that. That's what ogres looked like, right? ]

And they...what, squat on property and cause trouble?

[whattaprick]

More like jump on drunk townsfolk and tear them apart for dinner. [ Lambert answers, frankly. Hope you weren't feeling too queasy there, Strange. ]

Happened to a few too many patrons who stopped by to have a drink. Place was starting to get a bad reputation, losing business. That always makes people more anxious to reach for the purse strings.

[kingsroads]

[ Yeesh. Strange takes a sip of his drink as he frowns. It's easy to forget that Lambert's world has all sorts of things that were ready as hell to kill you. ]

Griffins, nekkers, vampires...it's truly amazing just how many different creatures your world has and how many different ways they want to kill you.

[ He's not jealous or anything. Truth be told, Strange is perfectly fine with the humans and faeries of his world. But a little bit of awe creeps into his tone whether he realizes it or not. ]

[whattaprick]

You have no idea.

[ Lambert laughs into his cup, though it's a low, bitter sound. Strange can be awed all he wants, and Lambert can't argue it keeps him in business. Boring, repetitive business, but even so... he takes a deeper gulp of alcohol, then continues. ]

Got the Conjunction to thank for that, or so the stories say. Same thing that brought magic into the world brought the monsters with it.

[kingsroads]

[ Strange can infer that the Conjunction = when magic and nasty critters got brought into the world, so he doesn't have to ask that question! He'll just badger Lambert with other questions of all sorts. ]

Out of curiosity, how long ago was the Conjunction?

[whattaprick]

Happened about fifteen centuries ago, if you believe the books. [ Yes, surprise, the man reads books. He sets down his mug on a clear spot on the table, raising both hands and touching fingertips to thumbs to form two circles that he guides towards each other. ]

Scholars say the Conjunction was another world overlapping with our own. One where all the creatures we find in our world before. [ He's taken on a lecturing tone of sorts, like he might be reciting a lesson from a long time ago, and he brings his hands together -- overlapping circles, framed by his talons. After a moment, he drops his hand and shrugs.. ]

Human scholars, anyway. Heard the elves say humans were just as much an invasive species as the monsters.

[kingsroads]

[ Strange just listens like a dutiful pupil, watching Lambert as he describes the worlds overlapping. How interesting. Something like that could be possible back in his world, a unification of faerie and England but, at least at this canonpoint, it's all hypothetical. To be from a world where it actually happened... ]

It's a pity there's no one alive who's witnessed it, [ Strange can't help but muse. ] It must have been astounding.

[whattaprick]

I think a lot of the witnesses died during all that. Don't think they'd see it that way.

[ Always a regular ray of sunshine. Still, he smirks, picking up his mug again and taking another drink. ]

Still, you could say it worked out in the end. World's still around, all these years later.

[kingsroads]

[ Strange just shrugs because yeah, it would suck to die but that doesn't really change his point. ]

It's a pity none of your books are here. While I greatly appreciate your unique way of explaining things, I'd love to see just what other scholars from your world thought.

[ there's just a hint of sarcasm in that 'unique way' part ]

[whattaprick]

Who knows? Maybe the Carnival will swing by my world one day and you can buy as many books as you can carry.

[ He taps a claw at his chin. ]

So... two at most?

[kingsroads]

I can carry at least four of them, thank you very much. Besides, I'll just rope you into helping me carry them if they get too heavy!

[ there is no use trying to deny the fact that Strange isn't the most physically strong of people. Homeboy can't lift. Still, that's why he's got friends like Lambert and Childermass who can lift and Strange can at least attempt to bother into lifting things. ]

[whattaprick]

You should know witchers don't work for free. What's in it for me?

[ Although honestly, the idea of Strange trying to futz around with magic from his world is ghastly. ]

[kingsroads]

I'll let you read the books once I've finished--and don't act like you wouldn't want to read them, you're the one who brought it up in the first place.

[ he'll just accidentally set things on fire, nbd. ]

[whattaprick]

[ Groooan. ]

Like you'll pick anything I want to read. Anyway, they weren't my books. Kaer Morhen had a library -- mandatory reading for all witchers in training. Knowing that the difference between a specter and a wraith could mean life or death is an effective incentive.

[kingsroads]

I assume Kaer Morhen is where witchers get trained? Is there a witcher school or something like that?

[ better stop him now Lambert because given the opportunity, Strange will ask so many questions. ]

[whattaprick]

Schools, actually. Kaer Morhen's where witchers from the School of the Wolf get trained.

[ This should explain the wolf heads on his swords (well, just the singular sword now) and the medallion, which he taps with a claw. Also yeah, nosiness is a given because it's Strange, but he also has booze so he's a little more amenable to questions. ]

[kingsroads]

And here I thought the shape was simply a personal choice, [ said with a gesture to the wolf medallion. Because yeah! He's noticed the wolf motif all over Lambert's stuff. It's a bit hard not to.

He takes another sip of the wine/white gull combination as the nosiness continues. The fact that there's multiple schools is interesting--it's something that makes sense, considering how many witchers Lambert's world probably needs in the first place. ]

How many schools are there in the first place?

[whattaprick]

Besides the Wolf? The ones I've heard of are the Cat, Griffin, Viper, and Bear.

[ He shrugs, lightly. ]

There were probably more, but they might have died out a long time ago. Not even stories left, now.