"Just thinking," he says, shaking his head. "Wine's pretty good. Who would've thought the spirits could come up with something like that?"

Now, he doesn't require food be especially tasty in order to just eat it and move on. He's had his fair share of meals that were just rice, or overcooked white fish - but there's still a difference between those bland flavors and the emptiness this drink seems to have. At least it's not bad, so he'll drink it. He does still want to get at least a little drunk, and maybe that will help. Maybe he'll root around in the storage later and see if he can't find some leftover roast from one of Soldat's group meals. Maybe that will be good enough.