James loved whisky, maybe too much. He drunk it nearly none stop at home, out in public, and at the work place. He would get drunk, but that would be by the end of the day. and still he was the soberest drunken alive for the most part. His step never faulted, his speech never slurred.

Give him water, however, and he can't stand it. It burns the insides of his mouth to crisp, or at least that's what he will say. Who knows where this actually traces back to. Not his childhood because he lived next to the channel.

It must of been the war.

And indeed it was.

During the height of the war the German gas attacks would seemingly always hit the supply dumps, and most of the water would be tainted and un-usable. But for some reason the Whisky in the thick bottles were left untouched. As such the whisky was sent to the front to be used. It worked just as well as water, and even made it a lot easier since it could be used on wounds, that decision alone probably saved a few thousand young boys from dying.

But there were those who still wanted water, and sometimes tainted water got mixed into the midst. And for those poor, poor souls that ended up drinking that water. Their mouths did burn until they blistered and bled for days, and whisky did not help these wounds.

James took a whole flask of tainted water into the trenches and guzzled it, not knowing that it was tainted until he couldn't eat and barely drink regular water. From that point on he was deathly afraid of water itself.