Monkey see, Monkey DON'T! |JOB| Strange Vulcans pt 1

Romulus sat in the Tavern of the Black Rose Guild Hall, his head and shoulders collapsed on the bar front and his ever present trench coat slumped down off his shoulders down to his elbows, revealing the staggered sleeves of the shirt he almost always wore, one sleeve going to his elbow and the other being nonexistent so his cobalt blue guild mark was plainly in view. The flared bottoms of his black gi pants pants were covered in a thick layer of brown dust and his constantly bare feet were in a similar predicament. Romulus, the night before, had decided he needed to prep for his upcoming C rank exam, so he had the best, or, more correctly put, worst, idea of his life. He forced himself to go running through the forest surrounding Lavantir for 12 hours straight with no breaks, and he now felt absolutely dead. He was panting hard and his legs still felt like all of his weight was pushing down on them, not to mention the burning sensation radiating from his muscles. As he sat there Romulus could feel that all eyes in the room had been on him at least once, a fact that normally would have made the mage climb the wall, but at the moment he was so wore out he couldn't even climb off his barstool with a step ladder.

"Hey there buddy. Try some of this. Should perk ya right up." a voice said from behind the bar and with a small thud a glass of what appeared to be milk, but it seemed to sparkle as if there was gold dust in it. The person behind the bar was none other than Magna, the cooking mage, and a recent addition to the guild of Black Rose. He was more of a cook then a guild mage preferring to use his magic to cook rather than to beat up monsters or anything like that. In truth, he felt he still had a long way to go before he acheived his own goals, but he was happy to make others happy. That was the greatest joy for him. He'd prefer it to be his cooking that made them smile, but if he saved a town or whatever then it worked almost as well. After all, in a way it was still his cooking that saved the day or helped save the day. The concoction he had placed on the bar was a special mixture he liked to call Chateau Victoria. It was a special mixture that featured milk from some specially bred cows he'd found on his journies. Mixed with a few rare herbs and spices it made a rather revitalising drink. It only worked for physicality, but it was pretty useful. It had seemed ideal for the situation. He'd seen the weary mage slump down and had made it to help perk him up.

"Hope it helps." Magna said with a smile as he began to wipe down the bar. "Anyone else need anything?"

Romulus looked up slightly. Some mage he had never seen before had sat a strange glass of liquid in front of him. Romulus was always weary of people that were overly perky, they were so contrary to how he acted that they were hard to trust. But seeing as Romulus felt like he had one foot in the grave already, it was worth the risk. If it was poison, Romulus would be happy to be dead, and if the stranger was telling the truth, then Romulus would be glad he had been relieved of his bodily ailments. Romulus tried to say thank you, but the words came out as a horse mixture of a groan and a sigh. Romulus picked up the glass and used the very last of his energy to rock backwards and slug down the drink in one drink. It wasn't the most immediate effect, but it certainly wasn't long until Romulus felt the effect. He coughed hard, but that cough couldn't have been better. It cleared his throat of its rough qualities and sent a wave of relief that could only be described with the phrase "Oh god yes." Romulus looked to the man and gave a very rare sintament, a smile. He knew that the sheer weight of the sintament would be lost on the stranger, but it meant a lot to Romulus.

Magna smiled and swung both his arms out. "Happy to serve." he said cheerfully. He was always very happy when he could help people and this didn't seem to be an exception. What's more, this man who had seemed practically dead on his feet and couldn't even thank him for the drink initially was now smiling. That made it all worth while in his opinion. He took the glass and observed the man for a moment before pouring him a drink of a rather special alcoholic beverage. It was coloured like the rainbow and when drunk would have seven different complimenting flavours. It was coloured like the rainbow and its flavour would change as drunk to reveal seven different, but complimenting, delicious flavours. It was a special drink known as a Rainbow Wine. It was made from the nectar of a rather rare and delicious fruit known as the Rainbow Fruit. Once concentrated and prepared in the right way it made a high-alcohol beverage that barely tasted alcoholic. It was downable by most and even when downed it flavour would change multiple times.

Magna was quite gifted at being able to tell what people might enjoy. IT came with the territory of being a high class chef. In a way he supposed he could also be classed as a sommelier. He'd considered using non-concentrated rainbow fruit nectar(whose flavour was so powerful it could turn a 25-meter pool into fruit juice and mixing it with alcohol to make the far less strong Rainbow Cocktail, but he felt that this particular patron of the tavern would want something a bit stronger. "So you been in Black Rose long?" he asked.

Romulus had his eyes locked on the obviously fruity drink the man had in front of him. Romulus really didn't like sweet drinks, except for the occasional Wave Island Ice Tea, but his wallet couldn't handle too many of those in a row. Regardless, the stranger had helped him before, so this drink couldn't be that bad. Romulus lifted the glass and took a sip. The drink certainly didn't taste alcoholic, but it had the same effect on his eyes that a shot of a stronger liquor would have. The sensation confused Romulus, and he was not a big fan of the sweet flavor so he slowly sat the drink back down. That's when the man behind the bar asked a question Romulus didn't know he never wanted to hear. Romulus twisted his face into a scowl and he just stared at the layered colors of his new drink. He started to remember the night he tried to leave the guild. "I'm really not sure. Definitely longer than I should have been though," he said to the inquisitive stranger, and he followed it with a rather somber pause. He could feel this depression setting in physically weakening him immediately. To try to prevent that, he forced his face into a smile and looked into the strangers eyes for the first time.

"My name is Romulus Lupin. Enough about me, tell me about yourself," Romulus said quickly, as he extended his right hand to the stranger. Immediately after the words had left his mouth, he used his left hand to bring the glass to his lips so the stage drink could take their place. He found, as he finished the drink in a swift drink, that the sweet flavor changed. Multiple times. The heavy barrage of flavors on his tongue was a strange mixture of bliss and pain. It tasted absolutely eond wonderful, but it was a bit of sensory overload. Romulus' eyes opened wide, as he sat the glass back down, trying not to pant from the shelling his mouth just received.

The man seemed oddly depressed by the question Magna had asked and didn't seem to like the drink at first. He felt like he had been at the guild too long? Was that it? So far Magna had found that the guild was like a big family and he had no issues with that. A group of people working together was like a bunch of ingredients coming together to form a great recipe. He'd only been here a few weeks, maybe a month, and he'd already bonded well with one of the other members of the guild Jin. At being asked to talk about himself he thought for a moment on how to answer and was surprised as the man suddenly downed the rest of the drink.

Judging by Romulus' reaction it seemed that the rainbow wine had been a bit overpowering for his senses. It sometimes took people that way. Perhaps it was an overload of sweetness or perhaps the sudden changes in flavour hit them quite hard. It took a bit of getting used to, but it seemed the sensory overload had done what the Chateau Victoria had not. That had woken his body and this had woken his mind. "Hit you pretty hard huh? Next time i'll make you the Rainbow Cocktail instead. Its a bit less of a taste bombardment. Though perhaps sweet things aren't what you like in your glass?" He was quite intuitive about these kinds of things. He'd suspected sweetness wasn't right, but it was the first thing that came to mind and it complimented the Chateau Victoria's creaminess nicely. It was like peaches and cream or strawberries and cream or both really and a bunch of other fruits besides. Still, it had worked and that was the main thing though he wondered if the rainbow cocktail would of been as effective. It really depended on what alcohol you made it with.

"As for me. I'm Magna Victus. I'm a chef by trade and training, but i'm also a new member of the guild." he replied with a smile as he polished some glasses and considered if he should make the man another drink to help soothe his tongue. "Making people happy with my cooking or doing a job makes me happy. The money is a nice addition too...though I mostly spend it on ingredients and utensils."

"You're right. My magic kind of boosts my senses a bit, and all of those flavors made it feel like my tongue was under siege. I'm really not a big fan of sweet drinks either. I didn't group up around sweet things, so I don't have a taste for them. Hell, the first truly sweet thing I ever had was a red velvet cake Jin Okura gave me, that's how me and him became friends actually. I much prefer salty flavors, and the burn of a strong liquor when I'm drinking. I'll teach you how to make my favorite drink one of these days. As for money, I know how you feel. Most of my money ends up going to coffee or drinks. I've actually been rushing through job after job recently. The reason I was ninety percent dead when you found me was because I was training all night. Kakuma told me I would have me C rank exam here soon," Romulus said to the man he now knew as Magna.

Romulus couldn't help but feel that the two men's names shared similar origins, but he shook the thought from his head. At that moment he was more concerned with the fact that he just gave a speech worthy in length for a member of the Magic Council. He slammed his mouth shut, looked straight down so his stark white hair fell over his face and mouthed a silent apology to the stranger. Romulus was nowhere near a talkative person and he didn't know what came over him in that moment. If anyone ever asked, he decided, he would blame the new booze. Or the milk. Something.

A magic that boosted the senses. Damn, that would be an interesting ability for a chef to have. He was half tempted to request to learn a few tricks from this man already purely for that reason. His sense of smell, hearing and taste were already very good. However, that was focused mostly on cooking. If he could enhance that in some way then perhaps he could do even greater cooking feats. When the man mentioned teaching Magna to make his favourite drink the mage's smile broadened. "That would be awesome Romulus. I'm always looking to add new recipes to my repertoire." he said quite honestly and happily. It was 100% accurate. He spent most of his life travelling and looking for new recipes and ingredients. He wanted to be the best chef in history after all. "Definitely need to boost my knowledge of cocktails and the like if i'm going to spend some time working here." he chuckled at the thought of a 15 year old like him not only working in a bar, but on top of that being knowledgeable about alcohol. He didn't even drink the stuff himself and instead relied on others to tell him if the booze was good or not.

"All night training huh? Sounds like me when I feel i'm close to perfecting a new recipe but its not quite there yet." he said with a thoughtful tone of voice. He could remember being up for days altering and re-altering a dish to try to make it that much better or to mimic something he had tasted. It was a difficult life being a chef anyway, but when you were like Magna and wanted to be the best and know how to cook as much as possible it was even harder. He was a bit of a perfectionist as well. "So they have exams to rank up here. Don't really know much about them. Sophie said I was strong enough to start off as a C rank and registered me as one."

He was quite curious about the dynamic between Sophie and Kakuma. Sophie seemed to be, in his mind, the guild master whereas Kakuma seemed to be the guild's pet or something. It was rather odd considering she seemed perfectly human. He'd have to bring it up with jin one day. "Ya know...red velvet cake is one of the first meals I shared with Jin as well. Just before our second job together. That guy really loves his red velvet cake"

Romulus looked up slightly. The man didn't seem to be judging Romulus, so he decided he shouldn't feel too bad about his rant. He listened as Magna talked, responding one at a time to all the things Romulus said. Magna managed to mention that he was already a C ranked mage. That surprised Romulus. He had yet to meet anyone that hadn't worked their way up the ranks. Romulus was a bit offended by this fact. He saw himself as one of the strongest D rank mages, and he knew ge could beat a vast majority in one on one combat, especially since he had a magic specifically designed to hurt and kill single targets. But Romulus digressed. Over all he had worked up the ladder decently fast, so it wasn't like he was at a disadvantage. The man behind the bar also let on that he was extremely passionate about cooking, maybe even more so than being a mage. When Romulus heard this, his heart and soul, both frozen from years of hatred towards most people mixed with rivers of blood he had left behind, warmed slightly. Meeting someone that used their magic as a secondary part of their life to enhance their true passion hit extremely close to the human part of Romulus Lupin. A part very rarely explored or mentioned. When Magna finished speaking, Romulus felt it would be okay for him to respond. "You," Romulus paused to gather all his thoughts as he stood up slowly and breathed deep. "You remind me a lot of my brother, Magna. I'll tell you what. You're a C rank, and I need some experience with that caliber of job, so why don't we go on one. You can pick it, I don't care. And while we're out traveling, I can teach you how to make my very simple order of choice. A drink that no one else on this world will order, let alone drink. What do say to that?"

So Magna reminded this man of his brother? That was an interesting thing. On top of that he wanted to go on a job with Magna. Well, his shift was about to end so he didn't have anything better do to other than practise recipes. So perhaps it was a good idea to go on this job? It seemed the mage wanted to become stronger and Magna going with him would help him do so. IF it was a way to make this person happy then it was all good with him. Whilst he was considering this he saw his replacement walk in and saw that his shift had now ended. "I reckon you'd be a pretty fun brother to have. A job sounds good to me so i'll be right back." With that he walked round to the side of the bar and flipped it open. As he did so he clocked out. He headed over to the job board and looked at it. The first job to catch his eye was another vulcan job. He'd dealt with them once with Jin. Well, this guy wanted to learn from Magna's experience so this made sense to him. He walked back to the bar and showed the job to Romulus. "I'm thinking this one. Should be an interesting one. What do ya think? If you're up for it i'll go get the clearance from Sophie and meet you at the dock"

Romulus was happy that Magna agreed to go on a job. But what he said before hand bothered Romulus a bit. Romulus was kicking himself over having brought up two rather touchy subjects in one rather productive conversation. As Romulus shook of Magna's first comment, the aforementioned mage made his way over to the job board and picked one out. The half mage half chef attempted to show Romulus the request but Romulus stopped him before he could. "I said you could pick. If you like it, go find Sophie and get us clearance. I'll be waiting down by the living tree boats" Romulus said, and he then immediately set out towards the edge of the island.

While Romulus was making his way through the streets of Lavantir, he had two revelations. The first was that he knew the streets extremely well during the night time, but he was a bit hopeless during the day. He just made sure he stayed pointed in the general direction of the port. Romulus' second epiphany was that some comments are not so easily shaken. Anytime his focus drifted from navigating through the town, it moved to Magna's comment about how Romulus would have been as a brother. As a general rule he refused to think about his time with his brother, but when the rule was broken he had normally thought about the more negative times they shared instead of all the happy times. Romulus might have begun to reminisce but he managed to arrive at the port before that could happen. He glanced over and found the living tree boats, thanks to their large size, fairly quickly.

So it seemed that this man, Romulus, didn't mind what job he did. That made things a bit simpler. It seemed that the comment about brotherhood had bothered him a bit. Perhaps it was due to bad memories. A rather touchy topic anyway. He'd have to remember not to bring it up unless Romulus did first. He headed off to get clearance from Sophie and was immediately given it. It seeemed, from her comments, that he had gained a bit of a reputation in the guild for getting the job done. Particularly when working in a team. So she was happy with him taking someone on a mission. Particularly as that member was someone coming up for an exam soon. The more that person learned before the exam the better.

As he headed down to the docks he thought about this a bit further. He had been on a few jobs and he was C rank, but to think he'd be trusted enough to lead a mission already? That really perked up his spirits a bit. So much that he broke into a light jog as he headed for the docks. He wanted to get this job started. He was really looking forward to it now.

"Hey Romulus." he called out when he saw the mage by the boats. "Got the clearance so let's find us a captain going that way."

Romulus was sitting on the begning of the pier that all the living tree boats docked ar, leaning his back against a post when Magna showed up. The mage was perky as ever, and seemed really eager to go on this job. That's when Magna said they needed to find a boat heading towards their destination. A shock went through Romulus that obviously hasn't went through Magna. Romulus never looked at the request, so he truly had no idea where on Earthland they were supposed to be headed. Romulus had finally got his passport, so there truly was no limit on where he could go. When he was growing up, he never really payed attention to borders, and might have crossed them a few times on accident. Romulus stood up and looked at his companion, "Well I certainly hope you know where our destination is, because I never saw the location. And really, the only boat I know around here is the one that goes to Rose Garden," Romulus said as he was standing up. It was at this moment that Romulus really noticed the height, and possible age difference between him and Magna. It already felt awkward, having a younger mage being a rank above him, more like half a rank but Romulus didn't think of offending things in that specific of terms.

"Its at the spooky forest." he said remembering the job request flier. He looked about and saw a large board with ship departures and a map. He pointed at the location and frowned. "The nearest port to that location is here." he added to explain his frown. "Which means we have to either find transport once we dock or walk a good distance. At the earliest that's going to take us around two days I think." It was a rather long journey time and much longer then he had remembered. Unfortunately, the whirlpool sea and the volcano made it incredibly hard to get to directly by ship.

"Well, I can practise cooking on the way so i'm not too bothered about the distance. How about you?" he said. If worst came to worst they could always cancel the job. He'd rather not do, but that was an option. Or he could solo it he supposed because with Aegis he felt he could handle some vulcans. Still he'd told Sophie he was taking Romulus and he didn't want to go back on his word. "The earliest ship leaves in about ten minutes from over there." he added pointing towards one of the larger ships. "Perhaps you can teach me that recipe on the way. I should have time to perfect it before we get to the forest."

Romulus shrugged off the duration of the trip. He liked traveling by ship, so two days really wasn't a bother to the wolf mage. "Don't worry about me. I can handle myself fairly well. I've been doing it all my life. If you're worried about me surviving a boat trip, then how are you going to act when we are in combat?" Romulus asked as he looked into his companions eyes. Romulus was worried about the younger mage. Too much worry on a combat mission hindered one's ability to perform effectively. Romulus knew that better than anyone. He had a tendency to worry too much about his team mates while he was on a mission.

Romulus began heading towards the boat Magna had pointed to. If the ship was departing that soon, they needed to board quickly or they would have to wait even longer. Sometimes the isolation of Silver Moon Island was a blessing, but other times, such as this one, it was a curse.

As Romulus stepped aboard the ship, he found it completely empty, save for one or two crew members. It wasn't uncommon for ships to have very few people on them, but empty was not common at all. The fact bothered Romulus for a bit, but he was able to forget it, and shove it into the back of his mind. He made his way over to the corner of the deck and took a seat there where he would have a place to brace his back in the off chance he had a chance to drift off to sleep during the multiday trip.

"It was more the boredom...and the boat journey is not too bad. Its the walking/coach ride thats going to take the time." he said with a raised eyebrow. "So was just checking if you were ok with it. " He shrugged and then the two of them began to head off towards the ship quite quickly. To his surprise the ship was almost completely empty except for the crew. That was rather unusual. The times he'd been on these ships they had quite a few people on them even if he didn't interact with them. Perhaps it was due to the location they were heading for. Though that didn't make as much sense because the location they were boating too was pretty safe. Maybe something was going on? He wasn't sure and it didn't bother him.

"So what's this drink recipe of yours?" Magna asked sitting down on the boat and conjuring up a cocktail mixer. IF they had a while for the journey then they might as well do something productive. "Or any other recipes you enjoy. Be good to expand my repertoire." He smiled at the man and thought about other things he could do on the journey. He could practice some other recipes. That was his usual go to when he didn't have much to do.

Romulus looked at the cocktail mixer that had appeared in Magna's hand. It had never occurred to Romulus to ask what Magna's magic was. He made that cocktail mixer appear at will, so Romulus jumped to the conclusion that the teenaged mage had to be a ReQuip mage and didn't put any more thought into that topic. "I am afraid you won't need that cocktail mixer. This isn't really a mixed drink. All you need is a tall chilled glass, you put some salt around the rim, and pour chilled vodka in it straight up, no ice, no nothing. And as for other recipes: I am a vegetarian. I normally just stir fry some vegetables and or some noodles, normally without sauce. I eat very plain. A bowl rice is also a favorite if mine." Romulus hoped he was clear in what he said. It was simple, but sometimes the simple things in life were the hardest to explain. Romulus relaxed into his chosen spot on the ship, stretching his legs out in front of him and putting his arms out to his sides on the railing of the ship, and shrugged his jacket off of his shoulders and down onto the deck if the ship. The sun was beating down with no clouds to stop it, and the salt air from the ocean, while fun to breathe, was not helping the situation as it pertains to heat. "I know that you probably won't have fun much fun doing it, but I would be grateful if you would cook something like that for me. If you don't wish to though, don't worry, I won't hold it against you."

Magna considered the drink and dispelled the mixer. The drink that had been mentioned was simpler then he thought, but it was also one he hadn't served before. He was also surprised that Romulus was a vegetarian. It didn't bother him as most of the dishes he made had vegetarian versions. Before he began cooking though he did decide to ask a rather simple question. "What about eggs and fish?" he asked curiously. "Do you eat them?" If he did then Magna had a very good idea of what to cook. If he didn't then it would be a bit more difficult. "Oh and what about dairy products?" It would be good to know exactly what he had to work with.

Whilst he was asking these questions he summoned up a chilled glass and rimmed it with salt. Then he summoned up some chilled vodka and poured it in before handing it to his new friend. Unlike most vodkas this was made with a flavoured vodka. The flavour in question was citrus. It was a very mild flavour, but would hopefully add do it nicely. All the while he began considering the dish.

Perhaps a terrine? No that wasn't really the sort of thing he could picture romulus eating. Hmmm, rice and eggs. Perhaps, yes perhaps that would work. He needed to know the answers to his questions first though.

Romulus watched Magna as he made his mixer disappear and summoned exactly what Romulus had ordered. The specificness of the items that had been summoned astounded Romulus. This man could not be a ReQuip mage, because there was no way he would have things that specific. Romulus was again absolutely befuddled by what Magna's magic could be. Romulus' train of confusion was derailed when Magna handed the freshly made drink to Romulus. He took a cautious sip, to check the flavor of everything, and he found it to be same blissful river of burning ice that he loved so very much, but there was also a hint of sour in it, as if there was a squeeze of lime. The new flavor was not unwelcomed, but it was a bit of a surprise. Romulus had to pull his attention away from the drink when Magna asked him a question. "Huh? Oh, I'm sorry. Eggs and dairy I do I eat, but I'm not a big fan of eggs. And fish is definitely a no go. I stay as far from any type of meat as I can. It just... It just helps," Romulus said to his partner, though he did feel bad for ending on such a cryptic statement. Then Romulus went back to his drink, sipping it occasionally and feeling the motion of the water toss the ship ever so lightly. Magna was undoubtedly deep in thought about what to cook for Romulus, but the wolf mage really didn't pay much mind. He couldn't be of any service to someone with much more talent in the field than he had. Romulus leaned his head back and slightly arched his back to stretch just a bit and soak up as much of the sun as he could. The heat from the ball of super heated space plasma helped to play a parallel to river of ice that flowed into his body every time he sipped the drink, and also helped to keep his muscles from stiffening up, which was definitely going to end up coming in handy on this job.

No fish. That made things a lot more difficult. Also eggs would not be usable. He grinned as an idea came to him. He stood up and walked away. "I'll be right back with your meal. I want it to be a surprise." With that he headed away into a cabin and began to cook.

He summoned up the ingredients he began to prepare the dish. First he kneaded noodles using yuzu juice to make them easier to eat and what's more to make the diner want to eat them. The noodles were quite thick, but would be easy to eat. He then prepared a soup using soy milk and parched flour miso. Into this was grated some shrimp taro. Into this he also added grated ginger and garlic. This would make a thick, creamy and easy to drink soup that would slowly warm the body and revitalise it. Lotus roots and burdock were fried perfectly and carrots and turnips were cooked on a conjured up charcoal fire until ever so slightly burnt and then seasoned with rock salt in order to bring out their sweetness. The most important piece though was the replacement for the meat. This was tempeh an indonesian dish made from soybeans fermented in banana leaves using fungal spores. The stock for the soup was made using kombu and shitake mushrooms with a bit of sake and soy sauce to make it a bit more aromatic.

He eventually left the cabin carrying two bowls. One for himself and one for his new friend. "Enjoy. Its a dish I learned on my travels. Its perfect for those on a macrobiotic diet or vegetarians. Even vegans should be able to eat it." he said presenting his new friend with the bowl on a plate, with chopsticks on the side. "Its my Special Tempehral Ramen." It was a dish he'd heard was said to make one feel younger.

Romulus cocked an eyebrow as Magna walked away from where the two were previously sitting. The chef had made a drink in front of Romulus, so why secrecy now? It didn't matter, honestly, but Romulus couldn't help but be confused as the younger mage walked away.

Romulus stayed in the same spot he was previously and continued to nurse his drink while pondering on various things to occupy the time before Magna would return. Almost all of the salt from the rim of the glass was gone by that point, and the glass and alcohol had both warmed due to the sun, taking away the pure chill of the inebriating beverage and the crystalline ice patterns the chilling had caused on the glass itself. Regardless, thus allowed Romulus to pay more attention to that strangely sour note in the Vodka. It was a very citrus heavy note, and Romulus began thinking how will it would pair with many heavier dishes he had eaten.

Just as the wolf mage had his mind drifting to food, he saw Magna walking up to him carrying two plates, each holding a bowl on top. Magna extended one of the plates towards Romulus and it was accepted relatively quickly. Romulus bowed his head as a sign to give his thanks and gratitude to the man who had prepared a meal out of the kindness of his heart. This kind of kindness was very foreign to Romulus so the antisocial antipersonnel mage didn't truly know how to act in those types of situations.

When Romulus got the bowl near his body, he instinctively sniffed it a few times to observe it. He could smell the sheer amount of ingredients that went into the dish and even identify quite a few, though many were too subtle to be identified so quickly. Romulus sat his drink beside his leg so he could maintain easy access to it while still freeing up his hand to be used on the chopsticks sitting next to the bowl of soup Magna had given. Romulus madeca silent blessing over his bowl to give thanks to any life involved in the production of the soup before he began to eat.

Romulus' sense of taste was almost immediately overwhelmed. Hecwas not used to that much seasoning in his food and found his heightened sense of taste to not be used to it either. Despite that small bit of sensory overload, however, the food was quite good. The thickness of the broth made the soup extremely satiating, while not overly heavy. The crispness of the flora used in the dish coupled very well with the soft chew that came with the noodles. Romulus very much enjoyed it. He paused his eating for a short time to look over at Magna and give a true thanks. "Thank you so much for this gesture. It truly means a lot, and it is quite delicious, if I do say so myself," Romulus said as he cracked a small smile, more akin to a smirk than an actual smile, before he returned to eating as his languid pace, slowed even further during this meal to avoid a complete sensory overload from the rather complex dish he had been served.

The meal had gone down very well.  At one point it seemed that the subtle yet varied combination of tastes might overwhelm his friend's sense of taste. That was something he should of considered and perhaps not put quite as many powerful ingredients into it. Well, they were subtle, but combined they provided a powerful taste. However, it seemed that when he got used to the taste that Romulus had throughly enjoyed the dish. As he ate so did Magna however rather than eating for enjoyment or to satisfy his hunger. No, he was instead eating to critique his own food. He hadn't used quite enough yuzu juice for the noodles. Perhaps an extra millimetre or two and their flavour would of been heightened. The tempeh should of been fermented for three more seconds. The soup had a little too much soy milk in it. This as causing the warming effect to be far reduced. That was his opinion though. Perhaps, as he heard the critique, that the mistakes he had made, at least in his opinion, might of made the dish slightly more suitable for the diner's palate. Perhaps he would remember that in the future and create a 'light version' of the dish.

"Happy to serve." Magna said with a smile. It was at that point that the boat rocked into its port. Fortunately, the two had finished their meal so it was an ideal time for the boat to dock. He thanked the captain of the ship and disembarked.

"Now all we need to do is find some transport to get us to the spooky forest. See anything?" He looked about looking for any obvious sign of somewhere for them to get transport. He'd prefer a carriage, but if necessary they could take horses. He'd spent a bit of time with Jin learning how to ride a horse. He wasn't the best rider ever, but he was getting there slowly.

Romulus finished his meal and his drink just shortly before the ship he and Magna had taken arrived in the port. As it pulled up to dock, Romulus stood up and completely fixed his outfit back to how he was normally dressed, and then proceeded to flatten out his hair as he departed from the ship. Romulus began to search for some easy mode of transportation when Magna pointed out that they probably needed one. Romulus was content with traveling by foot and was not the biggest fan of using animals to do manual labor. Not based of off principal though. Romulus was completely for man and beast working in harmony, so long as it was harmonious. However, most of the time the owner of the beasts of burden treated them as items instead of living creatures.

Regardless, Romulus kept his eyes out for a carriage they could take to the forest. Romulus looked over the town as he and his partner walked through it, and could not see a carriage or coach to save his life. As the two Black Rose mages neared the end of town, Romulus finally spied a stagecoach. The more Romulus looked at it, the more he learned of it.

The stagecoach was rather old and a bit run down, with faded paint and slightly warped boards. The horses were old looking mares, and the driver was certainly no spring chicken. Romulus saw no other option, so he got Magna's attention and, very literally, pointed it out to him. Romulus hoped this stage would suffice.

Magna was pointed out a stage coach by Romulus. It wasn't in the best of condition and nor was the driver nor the horses. There wasn't much he himself could do about the coach, but he could do something about the latter. He walked over to the coach driver and raised a hand.

"Hey there buddy. I know its a bit of a journey but mind taking us to the spooky forest or as close as you can get?" Magna asked with a smile. The man raised an eyebrow and scratched the stubble on his chin as if thinking about it. "We've got some food and drink we are willing to share as well." The man's eyes seemed to perk up this especially when Magna pulled out, seemingly from behind his back, a bottle of what appeared to be whisky.

"Well, I suppose I can take ye as far as the beanstalk village. These old bones cannae really handle much more than that." he said as he took the bottle of booze off of them and took a swig. The man suddenly gasped and leapt up as if his whole body was revitalised and began to do a dance. That was because it was not whisky, but shochu and a very particular one at that. It was guarana eel shochu. The eels were pickled for two full years in shochu to release all the caffeine and tannin from their body, which made them a food based energy drink, into the alcohol. Thus the alcohol became incredibly reviving and incredibly tasty. It also provided an increase to blood circulation. "WOOOOOH. GET ABOARD BOYS. ITS TIME TO RIDE to the SPOOKY FOREST!!!" the man shouted forgetting entirely that he said he would only take them as far as the beanstalk village.

Magna grinned, but didn't get onto the stage straight away. Instead he went round to the horses and wafted something under their noses. Immediately they began to rear up and stamping ready to go. He grinned and hopped aboard the stage. "Gurana eel shochu for the driver and a waft of my special Hyper Thunder Peppermint Endorphin concoction for the horses. Should speed things up a tad." He rarely used either the Hyper Endorphin or Thunder Peppermint ingredients in his dishes unless he was looking to either null pain in the case of the first one or wake someone up in the case of the second. They were useful if used the right way. Combined they allowed one to exert more power and ignore pain and gave one the energy to stay awake for five whole days, if they did nothing. In the case of horses galloping it would probably only last about 12 hours. Fortunately, with the boost they were provided it should be just enough to get them there.

Romulus watched in awe as Magna single handedly turned a run down stage into something worth envying. Two old nags were turned into rearing race horses and the old man gained the energy of a teenager hopped up on hormones. Magna explained how he did it as he boarded the stage and Romulus just smirked at the slightly devious nature of what his partner had done. At that moment the stage had jerked forward and the mages were off to their target area. Romulus managed to sleep a majority of the trip, and that would prove to be a blessing at that moment but a curse not to long later.

Later that day as a run down stage neared the Spooky Forest, the new and unwelcomed inhabitants of the land took notice. They sensed an easy target in the dilapidated stage that drew near to their newly claimed home. They followed it as he traveled by the forest towards a small town that lied very slightly outside of the forest on the path the stage traveled. The creatures did not wish to wait any longer and risk losing the mark, so they sprung at that moment. Completely unaware of the fact two mages were inside of the old coach. Two mages that were sent specifically deal with those invasive creatures.