9th of Zi'da, Arc 720
Continued from here.
Continued from here.
Delilah carefully put the sugar coated plate in the sink and figuratively washed her hands of it.
“I’ll leave it for the next guy,” she whispered to Cierne, nudging her playfully in the process.
Delilah then reached above her and grabbed a bottle of liquor with a slender spout used specifically for pouring cocktails. She dutifully grabbed a new glass from the drying rack and set both objects down in front of her on the counter top.
“There are so many bartending tricks we like to use to add a little flair and finesse to our jobs. Sometimes just pouring and pouring and then pouring some more gets a bit mundane, so we like to mix it up.”
Delilah’s head shot up and a large grin embraced her lips.
“Get it? Mix it up? Because we make mixed drinks? Oh man, I crack myself up!”
Cierne didn’t quite understand the joke until it was explained to her but when it had, she couldn’t contain her laughter. It was a terrible, terrible joke. Something a father would say to his kids just to sound stupid. Regardless, she couldn’t stop herself from laughing. A few snorts interrupted her laughter which made Delilah laugh and before either of them knew what was happening, they were doubled over, wiping their eyes.
Cierne was the first to come to. “I’m sorry, but that was so stupid it was funny.”
Delilah regained her composure next and gave Cierne a warm smile before sticking out her tongue in a playful manner. “I try. Gotta keep the spirits up on stressful nights you know, and there sure can be a lot of those!”
“Agreed.”
“Now, the trick.” Delilah picked up the liquor bottle and held it firmly in one hand. She began to pour the contents of the bottle into the empty, awaiting glass. The bottle was completely parallel to the floor before she swept her hand down so that the bottle followed at a forty-five degree angle. The stream of liquor was thereby cut off as she swung the bottle across the top of the glass without hitting it. It was a difficult trick to explain without actually having done it, but Cierne was eager to at least try.
“Your turn,” Delilah said, handing over the bottle.
Cierne grasped it firmly with the same hand her coworker had used. She began to pour slowly into the glass, paying close attention to the horizontal angle of the bottle. However, she was paying too close attention to where the bottle was that she forgot to look at where she was pouring. The glass overfilled and quickly spilled over the rim and onto the counter. She also managed to pour directly onto the counter as she adjusted her arm to find the perfect angle.
“Watch it!” Cried Delilah, stopping Cierne from continuing any further.
“It’s difficult, I know, but you have to make sure you’re multitasking efficiently or else you’ll make a mess.” She pointed limply to the mess her coworker had just created.
Cierne apologized feeling stupid that she had made such a novice mistake. Then again, she was still training and had a lot to learn before she was even remotely experienced in anything that had to do with mixology.
Delilah emptied the glass into the sink, muttering something about how she was glad she had chosen a cheap liquor before placing the now empty glass back on the counter.
“Try again, but this time watch carefully as to where you’re pouring. And maybe pour a little faster? You were a little short on getting the liquor into the glass when you first started.”
Cierne acknowledged the advice and corrected her actions as she began her second attempt. She poured quicker first starting out and then moved her eyes from the bottle to the glass and back again repeatedly. Once she had the bottle parallel to the floor, she snapped her wrist and swiped her hand across her body (and the glass) so that the bottle was cut off from its pouring. From her perspective, it didn’t look like much, but the reaction from her teacher told her otherwise.
“Very good!” Delilah praised, raising her hands in a lame form of a cheer. “It’s the swipe that gets most people. You really have to tilt the bottle back to stop it from pouring anymore before you do that or else the liquor gets everywhere!”
Cierne smiled and sat the bottle down. She listened as Delilah described her faults and congratulated on her right doings.
“You’ll get the hang of it when you practice more. But word of advice, don’t practice during your shift. Not only does it cause a mess if you fail, but it also kind of makes us look bad.” Delilah finished, but quickly amended herself realizing how rude she might have sounded. “Not that it’s your fault though! You’re just learning,” she added with a tentative grin.
Cierne gave her a lopsided smile in return by way of telling her that she was fine for saying what she had and that adding anything after wasn’t necessary.
“What’s that technique called anyway?” The Naer asked as she watched Delilah clean up.
“Huh? Oh, it’s called the hinge cut. Or at least that’s what we call it. Pretty neat, right?”
Cierne imagined herself pulling all sorts of stunts. In her little daydream she pictured herself as a master mixologist serving drinks left and right with a myriad of flourishes.
“Very,” she replied, hoping she would become better at fun techniques like the one she just performed very soon.
“How are you with your glass knowledge?” Delilah suddenly asked once she had finished cleaning the mess Cierne had made.
A little befuddled by the question, the Naer allowed a lame ‘huh?’ to leave her lips.
“Believe it or not one glass does not fit all,” Delilah remarked with a wink. “Sometimes we like to pour beer or ale into a chilled mug while we like to pour margaritas into a wide mouth glass like this one.” She pulled a glass from the drying rack that fit her exact description.
“When I serve whisky, I personally like to use what we call a rocks glass. It’s relatively square, stout, and offers enough room for multiple cubes of ice.” Delilah spent a moment searching for the glass she had mentioned, but when she came up empty in her investigation, she simply shrugged. “You know the term ‘pouring over rocks’, right?”
Cierne nodded her head. “Pouring over ice,” she explained while feeling a twang of frustration. She wasn’t so incompetent as to not understand that particular phrase.
“Good, I figured you did, but I just wanted to be sure.”
After Delilah had said that, Cierne felt a little uneasy for having judged her so harshly so quickly. She looked to the ceiling by way of clearing her mind of the incident and continued to listen to what her mentor had to say. The fact that there were so many glasses for so many different drinks was fascinating to her.
Before Delilah had time to continue, the Naer abruptly asked, “How long have you worked here?” She was genuinely interested in finding the answer to her question. Her coworker seemed to know so much, and Cierne hadn’t actually taken the time to properly get to know her after having been hired.
Delilah stopped whatever it was she was doing and smiled. “Don’t you remember? A little over an arc now. Perhaps you weren’t listening to Jacque’s and my complaining when we were discussing how unfair we thought we were being paid last season.”
Cierne nodded her head, mentally going back in her mind to that particular day. It was blurry, but she did recall the moment that Delilah had mentioned. She hadn’t been paying much attention then. Hearing others complain wasn’t one of her favorite pastimes and she had soon had a patron come up to the bar with a drink request.
“You know, you remind me of myself when I first started working here.”
Cierne quickly snapped out of her reverie. “Why’s that?” She asked, hoping the answer was a positive one.
“Eager to learn,” was her coworker's short response. Thankfully, it provided the Naer with enough reassurance that what she was doing was a good thing. If she reminded Delilah of herself, then she must be doing something right. Delilah was a wonderful employee; at least in her opinion!
“Well, I hope I continue to remind you of yourself because I really do enjoy what I do here,” Cierne said sincerely.
Delilah snickered and gave a small smirk. “Suck up,” she sneered with a hint of playfulness in her voice that was too difficult to miss.
“I mean it!” Cierne cried feeling a little exasperated. She had heard the friendly banter intended in her coworkers tone, but still felt an inkling of skepticism. Was Delilah being silly because she felt embarrassed by the Naer’s implicit complimenting or was it something else?
“I know, I know,” Delilah cajoled, her small smirk now growing to reach her eyes. Her eyes were pulled taught at the corners and her cheeks had filled with a lovely blush color. Again Cierne felt a pang of jealousy at how beautiful she was. If it wasn’t her laugh, it was her smile.
“I’m just messing with you,” she finished, giving Cierne a bump with her hip. “Now, how about we change gears and talk about what you should talk about with a guest when the silence between you two gets to be a tad bit unbearable.”
Cierne nodded her head vehemently. There had been so many times when that type of situation had occurred. She leant towards her friend and opened her ears.
Her shift was still not even halfway finished.
Hinge Cut
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