25 [Ch. 25] A Drinking Contest To Remember (Past)

Korph and I looked at each other and simultaneously drained our bowl. He smiled and held up his empty bowl, "19!"

As we started drinking again, Korph began to sway more noticeably. He hiccupped, "I think I, I will-*hiccup* I will break – *hiccup* break my record."

Raylon moaned, "You two are dueling. Not trying to break your record."

Korph continued to slur his words as if he didn't hear, "My- my record *hiccup* is-is 23."

I drank the entire contents of the bowl in one gulp. I responded impassively as I played with the bowl, "I think you can do it."

He smiled with his eyes closed, "Let's do it!" He put the bowl to his lips and continued to drink. He finished it and shook his head, "Whoo!"

He filled his bowl as I did the same.

Korph looked at me in a drunken haze, "D-do you like it?"

"Mmn."

He smiled with his eyes still closed, "It-it's a specialty of the-the dragon clan."

"Mmn."

He continued, "Di-did you know? We real-really like spicy foo-things."

A slamming noise interrupted, catching our attention. Mona had passed out on the table. Raylon sighed, "She can't handle alcohol. She passes out."

Amanda walked over to Mona wobbling. She sat down next to her intending to help her up, but quickly collapsed on top of her. She looked over at me with her head perched on Mona's shoulder, "I'm just going to take a quick nap."

"Mmn."

She didn't even wait for my approval before falling asleep.

Korph chuckled, "Wha-what lightweights."

"Mmn."

The boisterous laughter next to us soon grew quieter. I looked over and noticed the Phoenix group all passed out. The other table with the Dragon clan still had two awake and drinking, but they were clearly drunk as they were spilling the contents of the bowl everywhere. Korph chuckled as he gulped down another bowl. He looked over to Raylon, "Hey-hey."

He poked him in the chest until Raylon finally stirred. Raylon looked at him with exhausted eyes, "What."

Korph puffed his face, "Yo-you haven't even smarted, uhn, started on your sec-second bowl!"

"Yes. I have. It's gone."

"N-no it's snot! It-its full!"

I listened to him slur and held my drink to my lips, "One more."

He smiled, never opening his eyes, "Yes sir!" He paused with the bowl at his lips. I reached forward and pushed his drink into his mouth. His head dipped down before crashing into the table. Raylon looked at him and jabbed his face.

"He's asleep." He looked over at me and noticed I was staring at him with a blank expression. "What?"

"Drink."

"Huh?"

I repeated, "Drink."

He looked at his bowl and took a deep breath. He managed to throw back another gulp before throwing his bowl back down on the table. He made a disgusted face, "I hate this stuff."

"Mmn."

I drank the bowl without hesitation. Then, I reached over and drank the rest of his. He noticed that my lips touched the same spot as his did. His face flushed a darker red. He wasn't sure if it was from embarrassment or alcohol.

I flipped the bowls over on the table.

He looked away from me trying to hide his shame, "I can't believe you aren't even drunk."

I abruptly stood up and began to search around the area.

He tilted his head in confusion, "What are you looking for?"

I found a trunk and began to dig through it. After finding a brush and ink, I walked back. He watched as I dipped the brush in ink and wrote on Korph's forehead. Raylon read 24 and looked at me with an eyebrow raised. I stared at my masterpiece with pride.

My voice remained apathetic despite the twinkle in my eye, "He beat his record."

Then, I pressed my hand over his mouth and a beam of light flashed underneath it.

Raylon leaned forward in surprise, "What was that?"

"So I don't forget."

"Forget what?"

I ignored him and moved to the other people in the group. I bent down and wrote numbers on the foreheads of everyone else who had passed out.

He watched skeptically, "What are you doing now?"

"Letting them know how much they drank."

"How do you know everyone's number?"

"I remember."

"How?"

I stopped momentarily before walking back over to him. I spoke as I drew a number two on his forehead, "I remember every second of every day."

He chuckled, not believing me, "That sounds like an amazing gift."

I hesitated for a brief moment, "It's a curse."

I put the ink and brush down, satisfied with my art. He made a face, "Why did you write on my face?"

"Why not?" I looked over at Amanda and jabbed at her face. My face didn't change as I stared at her sleeping expression. I mumbled under my breath, "Adorable."

Raylon stared at me in confusion before coming to a realization. He nearly shouted, "Are you drunk?!"

I cocked my head, "Your mom is drunk."

"My mom- what?"

I stood up again and walked over to the jugs of alcohol leftover. I surveyed them carefully as I mulled over something. He watched my actions as he tried to determine if I was drunk or not.

I turned back to him, "Do you think they would notice these nine jars missing?"

He looked at the large jugs still confused, "What do you mean? There's only four of them."

I looked back unnerved by this. I could have sworn there were nine… Is there really four? Eh, who cares. They won't notice them missing.

I cracked my knuckles and held out my palms to the jugs. A black circle of magic appeared out of nowhere and swallowed the jugs up. I brushed my hands on my dress after they disappeared.

Raylon's face dropped, "How-how did you-what did you?"

I looked over with a blank face and tapped my finger to my lips, "Secret."

He shook his head in disbelief, "How long have you been drunk?!"

I came back over and stared deeply into his eyes. He shifted uncomfortably under my unwavering stare. I reached out towards his face and grabbed his cheeks. I pinched them playfully, "Won't tell."

I pulled away and turned to Korph. A moment of silence passed before I spoke again, "I'm going to draw a [censored] on his face."

Raylon nodded before stopping in shock, "A what?!"

Before he could react, I already started defacing Korph with ink. After finishing, I stood back and nodded in approval. Raylon looked at the obscene drawings and realized that Korph was going to be incredibly unhappy in the morning.

He watched as the drunken monster started drawing on everyone else.

I sat back and nudged him. I pointed at my drawings, "Do you like it?"

He didn't know whether to agree or disagree, laugh or cry. He stood up and pushed me, "Alright, let's go find some water and lay you down."

I nudged him off. "Boring."

I turned and began to walk towards the gate. He looked at my retreating figure and jogged to catch up with it, "Where are you going?"

I ignored him as I walked with a purpose. He noticed I was walking away from the dorms and towards the barns. He watched as I walked up to the stables and opened the door. I began to usher out the animals, "Be free beautiful creatures."

Raylon reached out to stop me, "Hey, wait! Stop!"

I grabbed his outstretched arms and threw him over my shoulders. He flew into the concrete wall, causing a dent. He gasped for air as he clutched at his sides. When his vision returned to normal, he struggled to stand up. I stood watching as the animals, who looked very confused, slowly walked out of the stable.

I motioned to them, "Freedom."

Then I turned to walk towards the town.

Raylon rubbed his back in pain, "Ugh. Please just stop."

He rushed after me as we made our way into town. He sighed in relief when he noticed there was no one on the streets to witness my embarrassing display. I turned and walked into someone's yard before he could catch his breath.

He quickly rushed over, "Wait! You can't just go into someone's yard!"

A dog-like creature with red eyes ran out towards us barking viciously. Raylon jumped back instinctively as I looked down at the dog. I held a finger to my lips, "Sh."

The dog stopped barking instantly and started to shake uncontrollably under my gaze. It ran off yelping. Raylon stared at me in disbelief, "Aren't those spirit dogs specifically used for guarding? How did you chase it away?!"

I muttered with a frown, "Boring."

I started walking again through the town without a care in the world. I abruptly stopped causing Raylon to nearly run into me. The next moment, I jumped up into a tree without warning. He spun around in a panic looking for me before something hit his head. "Ouch."

He looked up to see a body jumping down. I had successfully dropped down from the tree without injury. I took a bite from the fruit in my hands, then pushed the rest of it into Raylon's mouth.

"Apple."

Raylon took the apple out of his mouth after nearly choking on it.

I continued deeper into town before stopping and summoning a knife out of the air. I began to carve into the pole in the center of the town. He rushed over, gasping for breath, "Stop! Now what are you doing?"

I stepped back and pointed to it.

He looked at the foreign lettering, "What is it?"

"It says: I am a donkey."

"In what language?"

I frowned, realizing it was in a different language. "I guess you don't have this language here."

This only confused him more, "Wha-"

I began to shuffle off once more. He was still gasping for breath. He stood up, "Wait. You know what would be really fun?"

My interest was piqued. I stopped and looked at him expectedly.

He took a deep breath, "If you go back to dorms and go to sleep."

My excitement was lost instantly, "Boring."

"Wait! Wait!" He shouted, but I didn't slow down. He gritted his teeth, "If you go back, I will bring you an entire jug of your favorite alcohol."

I stopped and held up a hand, "Five."

"What? Five?! No way."

I turned around to leave once more.

He reached forward to stop me, "Wait! I will do five. That's fine. Is it a deal?"

I gave him a single nod. I allowed him to hurriedly drag me back to where we came from.

Raylon muttered to himself, "Why is she expressionless even when she's drunk!?!"

Once we arrived back, I noticed everyone in their respectful positions without moving an inch. He shuffled me to one of the bunks in the tree. He motioned to it, "Alright, now sleep."

"That wasn't the deal."

"Huh?" He replied gawking.

"You said to return here. Not sleep."

He knitted his brows in irritation, "I will give you six jugs if you go to sleep."

"Deal." I climbed into the bed suspended amongst the trees. I looked back at Raylon who had turned to leave, "Pillow."

I grabbed him by the waist and flung him onto the bed.

"Oi! What do you think you're doing?!" He struggled to get out of my iron tight grip, "Let me go!"

"Sleep." I ordered.

He felt a wave of magic surge over him knocking him into a deep sleep. I snuggled into my pillow and fell asleep as requested.