Side Story 002 - Fine Wine Maker

Ren was surprised to find out that the people leading him were Fatty and Skinny!

Showing a surprised expression Ren slightly raised his voice, “Didn’t you have three more days in the hold until you could leave, Fatty?!”

Slightly coughing, Fatty’s face was red with embarrassment, “Wine Elder Absinthe came and spoke on my behalf. My sentence got shortened by half and I was allowed to eat, meaning I didn’t lose a pound!” Fatty’s embarrassment over the matter soon turned to pride.

Skinny smacked his forehead and thought to himself, ‘Only this idiot would be proud of his fatness.’

Ren's lips twitched as he resisted the urge to laugh, following his two guides as they proceeded towards a tightly sealed doorway.

An organic red eye appeared on the door's surface and moved about eerily before staring at the three. Creeped out, Ren stepped back and went on guard as Skinny laughed and took out a small yellow card and held it up to the eye.

Fatty glanced back at freaked out Ren and laughed, “Don’t worry your head boy! Though you better be able to hold your booze!”

The eye focused on the card and shot out of the door with a sickening pop. Skinny hurriedly yanked his hand away as a line quickly split the eye in half and revealed razor sharp teeth that immediately sank into the yellow card and the place where Skinny's hand once was. The card vanished into the eye's slobbering mouth and crunching sounds were heard as the eye's iris changed from red to green. Moments later the card shot out of the eye's mouth and towards Skinny, who luckily caught it before it slammed into him. The eye gave an unsatisfied growl but sank back into the door, quickly vanishing.

As the eye faded into the door, a click sounded and the door slid into the walls, releasing a mostly green gas that covered the three before they could react. The intoxicating smell of licorice with a rich assortment of herbs and spices swarmed Ren’s senses, making his mind turn sluggish as an instant buzz hit.

Various tools and strange objects littered the room, and colorful flames lit up ten large metal barrels branded with formations that lined the sides of the room, each with twelve orange-robed youths sitting crossed legged and eyes closed before them.

The orange clothed youths let off streams of Qi from their bodies, feeding the flames that spanned the colors of a rainbow underneath the barrels. At the other end of the large room was a massive barrel five times the size of the others. A prayer mat floated silently before the massive barrel, and the man upon the mat channeled a steady stream of green flames shaped like fairies towards the large barrel in the effort to create a masterpiece.

Fatty pulled an amber leaf out of his bag and handed it to Ren, “Place this upon your forehead or else you might die from the high amounts of alcohol content in the air.”

Ren didn’t hesitate to place the leaf on his forehead, instantly removing the buzz that made him smile like a fool and made his vision a slight blur.

Now clear-headed, Ren turned towards Fatty, “Is that Elder Absinthe?”

Fatty nodded deeply, “Yes, that is my master! Don’t speak loudly and wait for him to finish brewing, or master will beat all of us senseless!”

The man seemed middle aged, wore a black and green Taoist robe, and his long, slender black hair came over his shoulder. His face was a pale color of devilish white, and he was handsome to the extreme. Elder Absinthe's figure could only be called sickly, and if not of the large amounts of life force pouring out of him with every movement he made, he might've given off the feeling that he could drop dead at any moment.

As if hearing Fatty's words, Elder Absinthe opened his right eye, revealing a crystal blue iris lined with gold, and stared straight at Ren.

A shadow seemed to appear over the man before reaching out and pulling itself free without much difficulty. It quickly gained the Elder's features, and soon the only difference between the two were the switched colors upon the clone's robe. With a smile on his face, the clone drifted down in a seemingly slow manner and landed before the startled Ren.

Ren found himself locked in a space filled with a dense alcohol mist, unable to move any part of his body. The smiling clone before him placed its hand upon its chin, not making a sound as it observed him.

Somewhat frightened and with no clue what the Elder wanted, Ren watched in fear as the clone pulled a long and wide stick from its bag of holding and began poking his body in various places with it for around the time it takes to brew a cup of tea.

The clone smiled, seemingly satisfied, and released Ren, allowing him to move once more. He then turned around and made a motion with his hand, encouraging the three to follow him.

Ren, who had a slightly pale expression, turned to Fatty, “What was that about? What did the Elder do to me?”

Fatty placed a hand on Ren’s back and laughed, “It seems Master took a liking to you, haha! This is good fortune for you, little Apprentice brother. Come! Let us make haste, we can’t keep my master waiting!”

Skinny nodded his head and agreed, following behind his master. Ren hesitated for only a moment before firmly planting his foot forward and walking towards the side room that the other three entered.

The room came off as plain, simple, and refreshing to Ren. Elder Absinthe’s clone sat at the head of the table with Fatty and Skinny flanking his sides, sitting on prayer mats in the lotus position.

The clone motioned for Ren to sit at the other end of the table, and Ren sat down, silently waiting for some form of explanation. Yet the clone didn't say a word and instead stared intently at Ren, making the hairs on the back of his neck raise.

He took so long that Ren couldn’t take it anymore and bowed his head, almost slamming it into the table, “Great Elder Absinthe, after hearing that you make the best wine in the entire sect from Elder Apprentice Brother Fatty, I couldn't resist coming over in the hopes of tasting some!”

Apparently awoken from his thoughts, Elder Absinthe’s clone gazed blankly at Ren for a moment before he held his side and laughed like a roaring dragon, shaking the room slightly, “GAHAHAHA! I expected nothing less from a sword soul! Actually, I was thinking of what alcohol to give you as a gift, my new disciple!”

Ren stared in shock at Elder Absinthe, “Disciple?!”

Backdrop information:

"A good absinthe will have a licorice flavor from green anise, and if that's not your thing, well, I understand. But a really good absinthe will carry other herbal flavors as well, balanced with the anise, resulting in a bittersweet spirit tasting of licorice and herbs." info from Jay-Senpai (A stupid duck that thinks it’s a platypus and inhabits the RRL Chatroom)