Firaga's Amaretto

 "One fiery Manhattan coming right up, sir!" Firaga prepared a drink for a gentleman at her bar. "Did you ask her out yet?"

"Ah, not yet, you know?" The man chuckled as Firaga mixed the liquor. "I always get the jitters when I'm around her, thinking what to say."

"Well, just say hi, tell her your name, and ask if she wants to hang out with you!"

"No fancy catchphrases?"

"Just be yourself, and don't pretend or play games. Girls like me can tell, alright?" Firaga gave him the glowing orange Manhattan in a fancy triangular glass.

The man drank. "I got it, but you make it sound so easy. I'm not ready yet."

"My man, let me tell you something. Either take your chance or lose it. If you wait until you're ready, you'll never talk to her. There's no such thing as being ready."

"That's a good point, but what if she says no?"

"If not, so what? You can't let your fear of rejection stop your chances. If you live by that, there's no adventure. Now go! There she is! What are you standing around for?"

"Wha-wait!"

Firaga elbowed the gentleman towards his crush. While she served a girl a mojito, she smiled when she saw the gentleman finally talk to his crush. Not only that, they were laughing and having a good time.

"Huh, about time. I saved ten episodes of pointless fluff! You're welcome, viewers!" Firaga proudly drank a shot of red wine. "Great job, Firaga. You made another man's day today. Keep it up."

A robed lady sat at the counter before Firaga.

"Hello! What can I get you?"

"The amaretto orange."

"Coming right up! How was your day today?"

The lady didn't say anything until her drink was ready.

"Quite the humble place, dear Firaga," The lady folded her hood down, drinking the amaretto.

Firaga flinched, recognizing the six-horned Wendigo named Jezebel. "A humble place to make your income. How noble you are to inspire others in such an unassuming space."

"What are you doing here? Aren't we supposed to fight? Where are we?" Firaga couldn't find her weapons.

"Relax, dear. I wanted to take a little trip in your life!" The wendigo riffle shuffled a deck of tarot cards.

"You know nothing about me!"

"I know everything, dear. The cards from Baal tell me," The goat-skulled lady drew a random card from the deck, showing it to Firaga.

The card showed a picture of a young Firaga and her father, which made her gasp. "I know only your father cared for you since birth."

"Your mother abandoned you and your father when you were very young," Jezebel flipped the card to show a picture of a faceless woman. "She thought it was too much of a burden to care for a baby and left your father to do the work while she traveled for selfish entertainment."

"S-so that's why I didn't know my mom..." Firaga realized.

Jezebel shuffled the card into the deck, flipping the pictorial cards that animated Firaga's father caring for his little daughter in a small house.

"Firaga, you were your father's pride and joy! Even though he was alone and poor, your diligent father worked his butt off to care for his little fiery baby and led you to be an amazing woman. He did his best to teach you to be a good, honest, and righteous woman for a husband and find one who cared and provided enough for you and his future grandchildren."

Jezebel stopped flipping and drew a card that became a report card with an F grade. She flipped it again to show a rejection letter from a job interview. Firaga closed her eyes, not wanting to remember her school years.

"The only challenge, of course, was your academics. Firaga. Dear Firaga. Nobody except your father believed you could have a job! Your teachers said you had an intellectual disability as your classmates scoffed at your abysmal scores. You went to interviews only to be laughed at and rejected. Your father paid many tutors to get you to barely pass through college, but he had to work harder at the graveyard shifts at the dusty factory to provide for you."

Firaga cried, remembering the merciless labor her dad had to tolerate to make income for her life without any support from her mother. The wendigo flipped the report card to a picture of Firaga serving drinks.

"So, you found your humble role as a bartender to start making your income. Classmates laughed at you, but your father told you to make the most of it, no matter if it wasn't a high-paying job. He taught you to use your fiery social skills to inspire others, tell stories, give customers a good time, and make people laugh! Just like you helped that man find the courage to talk to his crush! And you helped Valiesha understand her wrongdoing in her relationship with Chirus. You truly are a noble one working at a humble place, Firaga."

"What's your point in slapping my past in my face?" Firaga wiped her tears.

"Because I feel you deserve a much fancier life than being, pfft, a lowly drink girl," Jezebel aligned her tarot cards in a single file line. "Firaga, you are a woman of adventure! You're the type to go from place to place! To experience amazing things! A happy life with a husband! Of course, all that takes green..."

Jezebel rubbed her skeletal index and thumb together before flipping the line of cards into green cash. "Don't you want to venture past the naysayers and find a more... valuable role for someone like yourself? A dancer? A popular model? Someone of influence or fame?"

"If you're asking if I want a better job, no thanks," Firaga crossed her arms. "True, I'm not great in school. Serving drinks is certainly not the most flashy job, but Dad knew my social skills could make others' day. And you know what, I like serving good cocktails and happiness."

"Ahh... such a humble woman of Yahweh. I admire that, but didn't your father also wish you could have a husband who would care for you and provide enough income for you? You've been looking for one, yes?"

"Yeah, so what?"

The wendigo stacked the cards back into a deck and overhand shuffled it. She then drew ten cards that flipped into pictures of Firaga's previous dates.

"You had your adventures, and yet none of them were the one! You must be tired of searching for the husband your father wanted to care for you."

"Well, we just knew we couldn't make it work," Firaga shrugged. "They were good men, but I dunno how to explain it. Maybe God didn't mean for those dates to work. Nonetheless, I learned a lot from them and how amazing the boys are. I helped many girls not lose hope in their boyfriends. Maybe that was God's purpose for me."

Firaga turned pale when Jezebel united the cards into a single card with Tynan in it.

"Ah, yes. You promised to date Tynan. Shyrin's most mischievous brother who was also a failure in school like you," Jezebel flipped Tynan's card to show a report card with an F. "What a shame. How can someone of his... pathetic intellect and education provide for you?"

"What's that supposed to mean? He's an author! Shyrin said he's very creative in making fictional stories."

"All for a measly low pay. Independable to provide for your future children," Jezebel scoffed. "A doctor would be much more preferable, right? Think of your father's wishes. Would he think Tynan would be a good match if he was alive? Would he think Tynan could provide for the future grandchildren he was denied the right to see in his life?"

Firaga remembered her father, who died in a factory accident shortly before Senri came into power. Her father worked so hard to provide and lead her without the help of her mother. She wondered what advice her father would give if he was still alive.

"Poor girl, you'd be doing a dishonor to your father if you bear children with a garbage collector," Jezebel shuffled Tynan's card into the deck, bridge shuffling them.

"Don't worry, I can help you make Tynan into the desired image, Firaga!" The wendigo stood and threw a card into the floor that became a life-sized figure of Tynan without a missing leg. "Perhaps he could be a doctor. Maybe a scientist? A professional teacher?"

Firaga watched Jezebel activate cards that changed the fake Tynan's outfit into white coats and professional business attire.

"Of course, he needs the intellect for any of that!" Jezebel spun a card in her finger, which became a spearheaded key. "Let's change the nature of his brain!"

Jezebel's key pierced into Tynan's head, making his eyes roll as his head bled. Tynan screamed when Jezebel twisted the key clockwise.

"Wait! Stop!" Firaga jumped at Jezebel. "What are you doing?"

The wendigo drew a card, activating it to petrify Firaga in place. The bar melted with green flames as the customers within melted into bass-singing voodoo and tiki masks. The faces of Baal had nails impaled in their faces and arms protruding where the eyes should be. They chanted in a wicked chorus as Tynan's blood was spilled.

"Don't panic, Firaga. I'm molding a perfect husband for you, dear! Now, he has the intelligence of a doctor like Chirus. Tynan is rather short, isn't he? Perhaps he could be taller!"

Jezebel drew cards that morphed into chains that covered Tynan's body and forced it to stretch in height. The nasty crackling of his limbs and muscles sounded as his stretched skin bled apart. As the masks joyfully sang with Tynan's suffering, red-eyed magnet dolls arose to smash mallets onto their giant tiki drums in rhythm.

"Stop it! Please stop!" Firaga sobbed.

"His belly is a bit flabby, allow me to change it for you!" Jezebel lifted a card that became a scythe. "He should be more fit!

Tynan squealed in agony as his belly was slit open. Jezebel held another card that turned into metal tentacles that stitched the open belly into a six-pack. The masks bellowed louder with the booming of the tiki drums.

"Don't you dare change Tynan! He's fine the way he is!" Firaga declared in tears.

"Your father won't agree!" Jezebel lifted cards that turned into surgical tools. "Not unless we use Baal's power to mold Tynan in our image!"

"Dad himself wasn't rich, but he still worked hard for me. Just because Dad didn't have the highest-paying job doesn't mean he wasn't a good man. I'm sure Tynan is a hard worker too. Dad would think so, too! Don't use my father to trick me! The power to manipulate men to our liking is evil! Get lost, Jezebel!"

The giant black tarot cards that encased Firaga within the illusion shattered. She broke free, ready to give Jezebel a piece of her mind.