Tricksters are often the most reviled of all the Gods. They are most commonly found meddling in the lives of mortals.
Victor brushed his hair behind an ear and took a sip of bourbon. A double with a single ice cube. The bar he sat in was quiet, with only a handful of people in the place, and none of them near the booth Victor sat in. Victor was, by all accounts, a pretty man. He was not feminine, but a lean figure, a head of long, red hair, and a meticulously trimmed, "oops, I forgot to shave" beard did little to fend of the ladies. Actually, no, pretty was not the right word. The right word was
dashing
. He wore a waistcoat over a black silk button-up shirt, his sleeves rolled up, with matching slacks, and shiny black oxfords. Empirically, Victor was a dashing man.
"God, its just not fair," his partner for the evening, Dana glowered over her own drink, a brightly coloured thing in a tall glass. "How does an overly manly man like you have such gorgeous hair?" Dana was a woman best described as lithe, narrow of shoulder and hip, with her dark in a short pixie cut, and a diminutive stature. She was certainly easy on the eyes, but she was a candle beside a torch when she went out with Victor.
Victor chuckled and scrubbed a hand through his long, coppery, hair. It fell down to his shoulders and curled slightly at the ends. "It's not that great, Dan, and I'm not that masculine." His fingers rasped through his short cut beard. "I mean, I'm a decorator for christ's sake."
"You've got a beard, you drink whiskey straight and you're taller than most buildings," Dana shot back.
"I'm only six foot, Dee." Victor grinned and tossed back the drink, the ice clinking against pearly teeth. The glass hit the dark wood table with a clack. "I'm the shortest guy in my family, except Mom."
"Just face it," Dana said haughtily, drawing herself up and looking down her nose at him with faux superiority. "You're the picture of modern masculinity and you've got it easy."
Victor barked out a biting laugh. "Hah! I've got it easy? How do I have it easy?"
"You're beautiful, you're successful, you can drink twice as much as me and not get drunk, you're strong, you don't have to worry about people slipping things into your drink..." Dana ticked off her fingers as she spoke.
Victor raised his empty glass "That last one is only because I have an exceptionally sensitive palette, I'd taste any shift in the flavour profile." Victor grinned and raised a hand to attract the attention of their waitress. "If anyone has got it easy it's you, women," Victor said. "How often do you pay for a drink when you don't want to?" Dana opened her mouth to speak but Victor cut her off. "I mean, even when you were dating, she paid for everything."
"It's not that simple and you know it." Dana snapped, with more venom than she meant. Victor frowned slightly. Dana sighed. "Sorry," she said tiredly. "I just don't want to talk about her."
"It's been months, Dee," Victor said, waving again to try and get service. "You gotta move on."
A woman wearing an apron approached with a notepad. She was a plain looking woman, nothing stood out at all. In fact, she was so ordinary that she was hard to focus on. Was she even their waitress? Didn't their server have black hair before? Victor shook his head, it felt light and heavy at the same time.
"She's right, you know," The plain woman said, her smile was wide and bright, it stood out, how could Victor have thought she was plain? Her eyes as well, they were a warm, glowing gold. Victor looked over at Dana, she swayed in her seat, her eyes heavy and lidded. "You should be more understanding, perhaps I will make you understand." The woman's voice coiled in his ear, like a snake slipping into his mind.
Victor's head took an age to look back at the new woman, barely comprehending that words were coming out of her mouth. "More... Bourbon?" Victor asked. The words felt far away, muffled like he was hearing them underwater.
"Right away!" A black haired young beauty wearing short shorts and a black tank top bobbed away through the sparse crowd. She was exceptionally pretty, Victor frowned as he watched her leave. What just-?
"Jesus, Vic, you stare any harder and her ass is gonna burst into flames." Dana scowled at him from behind her drink. She didn't seem to have noticed that anything strange had occurred. "I mean, she looks a decade younger than you. I'd be surprised if she's allowed to buy the liquor she's selling."
Victor looked away from the retreating waitress with wide eyes. "You didn't see that?" He asked.
"You undressing that poor girl with your eyes?" Dana raised an eyebrow. "You had better leave her a good tip, you practically drooled."
"What? No! The woman with the smile, and the eyes!" Victor's voice raised, "Tell me you saw the eyes."
Dana narrowed her eyes at Victor, confused. "Her eyes? What, did you 'get lost in the endless sea of her eyes?', please tell me you didn't use a line like that. It's cheesy and you can do better." She tapped her chin with a lacquered nail, considering, "better than staring at her tits, I guess."
Victor shook his head again. "No... that wasn't..." Did it even happen? Victor looked down at his empty drink.
Had
the profile been off? He asked himself. No, it was perfect. Sharp on the nose and the pleasant spice of a good rye.
"Are you alright, Victor?" Dana looked genuinely worried now.
"Yeah," Victor looked away from the glass. "I'm going to head out, though. I'm done for the day."
Dana pouted, "It's still early! What am I going to do?" She asked.
"Stay?" Victor suggested with a shrug, "You're a big girl, Do whatever you want. I think one of the other waitresses was eyeing you."
Dana fidgeted in her seat for a moment and took a sip of her drink, now nearly empty. "No," she said. "I'll leave with you, I don't like to drink alone."
Victor swung his coat over his shoulders and waited for his friend to get ready. "It's not a big deal, I go out alone all the time."
Dana sighed. "You're a man, It's different," she said tiredly. She'd had this discussion before. "Look, just accept there are some things that you're not equipped to understand."
"Ahh, yes," Victor mused. "The magical tits of understanding, No man may acquire them."
Dana grinned, "Exactly. You gotta get the goods before you know how it is." She jostled her own slim endowment.
Victor chuckled but kept his eyes up and away from Dana's chest. They were good friends, Best friends, but Dana was most definitely a confirmed bachelorette. A fact he learned the hard way after half a bottle of scotch and a knee to the groin. Their friendship endured, however, and they grew quite close, even wingman'd for each other when they found time to go out together, as they had planned to do tonight. As he waited for Dana to get ready, Victor's eyes scanned around the club, it was a quiet night, there wasn't much in the way of women. The waitress caught his eye again, slender, but with curves in the right places.
"Horndog," Dana said, following his gaze as they began to walk. "How long has it been since you've actually been on a date?" They approached the waitress at the bar. "Our bills?" She said to the waitress, "Separate." The young woman nodded and busied herself finding the card reader. "Having only empty sex can't be healthy."
