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"You really do have alcohol here," Bayley chuckled as Father tipped a bottle into two glasses filled with ice. "Somehow I imagined it'd be beneath you all to drink."
"Humanity's true calling is fermenting plants and getting drunk. Even as humanity's best, we still unfortunately fall prey to man's condition." Father set the bottle down next their glasses as Bayley peered at the clear liquor. "We just do it best. It is brewed right here in the Insitute's BioScience division. To the highest purification standards."
"Ah, then I'm sure it'll be as tasty as the nutrient bars you're calling edible." Bayley wanted to wait for Father to make a move and sip his drink, but curiosity got the better of him and he lifted the glass to his nose. "What is it? Vodka?"
"It's a gin. Put your glass down I'm not done."
Bayley squinted and set his glass down as Father pulled out a seperate bottle from the cabinet. He cracked the cap and a sharp hiss escaped. Even Nuka Quantums never sounded so fresh. He tried to not act impressed.
"It's traditionally served with lime, however as limes are not avalible, synthetic lime flavoring has been infused into this." Father topped off each of their glasses with the carbonation and then gestured to Bayley. "You've probably never had a proper gin and tonic. It's one of my favorites. I think you'll like it." He offered a smile and took a small sip of his drink.
Bayley harumphed at Father's assumption. Well. He'd be correct but he didn't want to admit that. "I've plenty of drinks mixed with Nuka." Bayley took a sip of the drink but the bitterness gave him a surprise.
Father's delighted smile softened with endearance as he watched Bayley hide his emotive face. "I'm afraid tonic is flavored a bit differently than Nuka Cola." The soda's brand name was tainted with his usual disdain for surface-made food and drinks.
"It's really good." Bayley took a second real sip to punctuate his pause. "The gin and tonic's okay too."
Father appreciated his own drink. "Like you've had anything other than hodgepodge moonshines and irradiated flat sugar water."
"I think this synthetic gin isn't as good as the three hundred year-old genuine Italian wine I've had before," Bayley cooly said, leaning back in his chair slightly. Ah, the perks of being an influencial trader's ex-son. Fancy aged wine honestly didn't mean much to him but it seemed like something that would get under Father's skin. He admired the ice cubes in his glass, now that was a small luxury he rarely enjoyed. The closest he'd gotten to that recently was a frosty beer from that one new robot in Goodneighbor.
"I think we may have a bottle or two of vintage wine," Father stumbled, hoping to impress Bayley. "If that is your poision of choice."
"It's fine, you said this was your favorite."
"It is," Father started, starring down at his drink, cupped by his two long hands. Condensation already began to bead up along the outer edge of the glass and he swiped at it with his leathery thumb. "It was the first drink my adoptive father let me have. My, it was so long ago. I must've been in my twenties. Twenty-three maybe?"
Bayley barked a laugh. "Sorry, sorry. Twenty-three? Your father graciously allowed you to drink at twenty-three?"
"Well what age did you first drink?"
"I think I was fifteen. My sister would have been nineteen then, and she swiped us an entire bottle of scotch from our mother's liquor cabinet for her birthday. We shared it all night and got sick and were punished miserably the next morning by both the hangover and our mother."
Father shook his head with a sigh. "Alcohol does such terrible damage to a young man's mind. I'm shocked to hear you were a troublemaker when you were young, Artemus."
"And yet here I am, still such a troublemaker, and currently sitting in the Institue Director's personal lion's den so I can't be too shabby from a few drinks now can I, Shaun." Bayley took a big gulp of his drink, letting it sit in his mouth for a moment, now enjoying the flavor. "Its moderation. Drink too often and you'll end up a drunkard with a poor heart, drink too little and you can't loosen up."
Father nodded. "There aren't strict limits in the Insitute but each order of alcohol is tracked and tallied to your name. If it ever becomes an issue, you're immediately cut off. So there are never 'drunks' to worry about."
Both men took another sip.
"Shaun, that is the definition of strict, believe it or not. But I wouldn't doubt there's someone here hidding a problem, now that I know you have vices to indulge," Bayley mused. "There's always a way around."
"You've reached the end of your glass, Art," Shaun noted as he topped off his own drink and paused above Bayley's. "Would you care for another?"
Bayley found himself having a decent time just going back and forth with Father, and the drink was pretty good. So why not? "I think I will."
