[x] A drink or two wouldn't hurt.

You don't see any harm in having a drink or two. In fact, in your experience, taverns are the best place to learn the true nature of the citizens of a nation. On top of it, you were invited in despite being a human. It would be rude to turn down a gesture, especially when you are currently seeking to raise your personal image among the youkai of the mountain. You step through the doorway and a cheer rises around you as you cross the floor towards the tall, horned woman. She smirks as she clears you a spot at a table towards the rear, with two other patrons seated at it smiling drunkenly as you approach. Hazuki pours you a mug of whatever alcohol is in the barrel and passes it off to you with a smirk as you reach the table. You take the seat prepared for you as Momiji steps up nearby, and you raise the mug to your mouth. You only get a mouthful of the brew down before you have to stop, barely managing not to sputter. The booze is much stronger than anything you've ever had before. Hazuki chuckles.

"Too strong for you?” she asks. You opt to take another drink rather than answer, and this time you fare much better, which serves to grow the barmistress' smirk.
"I've never had a drink so potent before that I choked on it,” you comment, “then again, I've never drank anything meant for youkai.”

"Haha, being a youkai has nothing to do with it,” Hazuki comments, “youkai can get drunk on sake like anyone else,” she punctuates with a shake of the barrel, “but my regular customers come here for this.”

"Nothing quite like a strong drink now and then,” you say, taking another mouthful of the strong booze.

"It's good to see a human in here for once though,” Hazuki mentions, her smirk continuing, “though it's obvious you're the outsider we've all been hearing about.”

"News travels fairly fast, I suppose,” you respond, but Hazuki shakes her head.

"I could tell when you actually accepted the invitation to a drink. No native would be brave enough to step in here and have some of Oni Hazuki's house blend, let alone allow themselves to be surrounded by youkai,” she replies, “even though I'll always welcome a customer, youkai or human, and they can always expect to have a good time here.”

"Is that so?” you ask, a little surprised to hear an accepting attitude from a youkai. “You don't have a problem with humans?” Hazuki sets down her barrel for once, leaning against it as a makeshift seat.

"Oni, more than any other youkai, understand how humans like to throw the blame for their problems on youkai. I don't particularly hold it against them, as they are weak in comparison to all other spiritual creatures, it's only natural they'd feel frustrated over it and take out their problems on those above them,” Hazuki explains, “the problem we face though is that with Gensokyo sealed off from the rest of the world as one of the last remaining bastions of magical and spiritual energy, the local humans have power on a level typical of youkai, but still continue to act the underdog. The tensions rise due to the number of humans that want to use their power against all youkai, rather than just the ones that cause them grief. This particularly bothers the Tengu, as they've been here longer than humans, and suddenly they're having to face the idea of being forced out of their ancient home.”

"Seems like quite a problem these youkai of the mountain face,” you say. Hazuki nods.

"Quite a problem for sure, one that I understand quite well. Oni used to be the rulers of this Youkai Mountain with the Tengu serving under us, and our own conflicts with humans caused our race to leave it to the Tengu and relocate rather than continue to face conflict with humans who would abuse our honesty and honour to destroy us with underhanded tactics,” Hazuki reveals.

"And humans are doing the same thing again, even though there are youkai that remember this?” you ask for clarification. Hazuki nods. You notice now that a few patrons nearby have joined in on listening too, taking solemn expressions compared to the rest of the patrons enjoying their time.

"They just want to remove youkai from Gensokyo so they can have it all to themselves,” one of your inebriated tablemates declares, “they want the resources and land for themselves.”

"Of course, they can't afford an actual war,” Hazuki interjects, “not all the humans support the idea of a conflict, but they're still a minority. If they did trigger a war with any of the youkai factions, there's no guarantee they'd leave any survivors, even among non-combatants.”

"Surrounded by potential enemies on all sides, but still refusing to back down,” you note aloud. You have to admit, the potential challenge in raising against such a situation appeals to you, though you still want to gauge more of the 'political' situation, as well as gaining whatever power you can.

"It's a bad situation for them, and unfortunate. Which is why I welcome humans along with youkai. If anyone could use a good drink around here to forget their troubles, it'd be a human,” Hazuki says with a smile. “Besides, if everyone gets shitfaced, they could forget about their problems and possibly facilitate a joining of human and youkai races.” Hazuki chuckles again, and you laugh a bit as well, glancing at Momiji, then back to Hazuki.

"If it did come to war though, what would you do?” you ask.

"I'd leave, go back to my kind. Even despite what they did to my kind in the past, I can't help but feel sorry for them, but at the same time I couldn't sit by and let them push the Tengu off the mountain. I wouldn't feel right fighting for or against them. Some of my kin would easily return to battle the humans though, which would make for a very short war,” Hazuki states.

"Are you that confident in the strength of your kind?” you query. You immediately note the several amused glances you get from patrons in earshot. Hazuki seems pretty amused too.

"A single Oni could lay into a few hundred human soldiers and crush them all without losing their buzz,” Hazuki declares. You almost feel like calling her bluff on that, but hold your tongue. You cannot possibly accept the idea of a single being able to hold off hundreds of soldiers alone, but you can't disprove it either. You can't help but feel like having a demonstration, however. Such strength would be an absolute rush to face.

[] Request a simple demonstration of strength.
[] Request a test of combat.
[] You'd rather take her word for it, as unlikely as it seems.

---

Puppies are a lot of work. Add a 5 and 6 year old pair of female cats and suddenly the problems multiply.