In looking at this naga at first: Ooh, Prostap has a naga! Wonderful! :D The 'hair' is interesting, I'm not sure if it's actually hair in dreadlocks, or snake-tendrils, like some snaketails hanging from the head, sort of. Also, that thing on the tip of the tail, seems like a rattle, almost.. but not really. Perhaps it's some baubles that this snake wears?

Double-tails, though! Very cool. :>

And, of course, hypno-eyes. @u@

~

In reading the story: Hotch-Potch? Isn't the term for a motley mix of mismatched miscreants meant to be 'Hodge-Podge'?

Wow, I honestly didn't think that the story would so perfectly address the hair/head-tails/dreadlocks question. Thanks Prostap!

I like the sly trickery. I also want to imagine that with someone more adventurous, Xekese would have given them a drink that TFs them into some kind of hodge-podge-creature or has some other fun effect, but since you didn't want to do a whole TF scene in this intro passage about the naga, you just demonstrated that boring people who only want water will be tricked into leaving and not coming back in. >:}===<

Aw thank you for the nice comment, and for the fave too! It seems you like this one a lot... but then of course, it must be nice to meet a fellow naga, eheh~
And yes, the double tails are tipped with rattles, though I guess they are heavily stylized in the lineart base I used 😅

As for the language: turns out both spellings are correct! I just checked online on the Oxford Dictionary and it says hotchpotch is for British English, while North American English usually writes it hodgepodge. That's some cool trivia I guess, and a new word for me to learn XD
I was originally looking for a proper translation of "miscuglio" (the word I had in my head) and apparently Google Translate defaulted on British English. Other translations were suggested but this is the one truer to my meaning, plus I like how the word sounds, I think it really sells the idea of a "motley mix of mismatched miscreants" as you said ;)

But silly you, there's already a naga who does such TF concoctions, and it's called Amethystine! Xekese can't handle such strong competition, not even with his 4 hands ;P

Well, if Xekese were to _also_ be someone that made TF drinks, he and Amethystine could team up! :}===<

But if that's not what Xek does, what DOES he do with his interesting brewing/mixing skills?

He actually does a lot of real bartending, searching new tastes and cocktails while using his skills and magic to enhance the flavour or give incredible properties to the drink. You could say that he's more interested in selling you a peculiar "drinking experience" rather than a potion's effect. Though he's also into the Coffee-Shop business (and it's implied that where he does it, it's still illegal or at the very least frowned upon 😅)

So our protagonist here had almost equal chances of getting a drink whose refreshing aftertaste keeps coming and coming, keeping them hydrated for the rest of the day, or some cannabis-infused tea XD

Hmm, I see. :}===<