“Gothic flavor♪
How I miss you♪
If I only, once cou–“
“–You’re still here?” interrupting the humming Shiryu Aki trots into the empty upper interior of the grand tent
“I mean it’s not like I could go anywhere for the night,” Shiryu looks from being sat in a crossed legged positon
“If there were still guards here like usual you would not be able to even enter this place,”
Brushing past, him Aki signals for the trapdoor in the floor to open
Tap-tap-tap. tap tap-tap tap. tap. tap. Tap
{--- .--. . -.}
“In.” she gestures for Shiryu to go down
“Are you letting me in again?”
“Before I change my mind”
…..
…..
Shiryu follows the woman down the passage and through a long series of barren dim lit corridors that twist and turn annoyingly to anyone that would be going through them for their first time,
Aki however used to it easily navigates around the underground tunnels,
Shiryu in an awkward silence and Aki in a quiet nonchalance….
….
….
Eventually they arrive at the double doors at the end of the tunnel,
Shhhkk
Aki slides them open
Jingk♪
Some bells chime the moment they step inside a brightly lit room, the light brown birch wood shows in some area underneath the burgundy carpet
On the wooden wall across from the doors is a large life-like picture of a night sky overlooking a valley of forests and gorgeous waterfall,
Besides for a few cushions on the floor and this first room is quite bare.
“I’m going to bed” Aki yawns heading off through a door on the left side which seems to be a corridor leading to the personal quarters of this strange underground ‘home’
“Wait!” Shiryu calls behind her
Slam!
It slides shut
(At least tell me what I should or should not do)
Jingg♪
The bells above on the wood layered stone ceiling ring again, the crystal lights above look down on the stranger new to this habitat
(What do I do here alone?
Should I follow her down the passage?
….
No, what if I catch her changing or something?
I’d be put to death)
…..
Uncomfortably Shiryu stands looking around the room, he notices that is another door opposite to the one Aki went through
(Should I take my chances?
Nooo, Shiryu stay here
You could run into that old man)
Ignoring his inner thoughts Shiryu edges to the door
Shhccckk
Jinggg♪
Just as he does the entrance opens to the cold stare of the shaven head muscular young man, Bane
“Ahh!” Shiryu jumps
“I, I, Aki let me in”
“?” His gray eyes staring bullets into Shiryu
“The kitchen and storage rooms are there” he monotones
“Are you looking for something?”
“Nn,no I was just looking around” Shiryu stutters still under the eye of Bane, he can’t tell from his voice or gaze what he’s thinking in the slightest
“Hmn” Bane grunts closing the door behind him and heading to the other
“Come with me” he says sliding it open,
Shiryu follows him into a room of similar size of the prior,
Along the side walls are shelves of utensils and dishes
A few large basins line the walls, of rice, flour and an assortment of peas, beans and nuts,
The center of the room a moderately sized counter across from it to the north is a magic stone furnace next to a magic stone burner (stove)
The south a door-less doorway that goes out to a corridor leading to the storage rooms,
Click♪
The burner lights aflame
Tsssszzzz♪
Bane places down a pan then pouring peanut oil into it.
Opening a satchel that he had been carrying, the man takes out a sum of wet herbs, tomatoes, peppers, onions and garlic
Chop♪ chop♪ chop♪ chop♪
He begins to chop them on counter before–
Tchhssszzzz!
–frying them up in the pan,
Next Bane opens a barrel full of brown rice, taking out a few scoops
….
“What do you dragons eat?” his question surprises Shiryu who had for a while there thought he’d gone invisible
“Huh?
What I eat?”
“Yeah besides humans of course,”
“ehhem well first of all, I don’t and have never eaten people, given that would be cannibalism,
And I don’t eat often, I can sustain myself consuming magic stones”
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“How do magic stone taste?” Bane asks with his head down to the pot
“I don’t know…
Like rock I guess,”
“How does rock taste?”
“Doesn’t really have a taste,
I would call it a non taste”
“I see…” Bane goes quiet again for a while leaving Shiryu just standing there watching him semi uncomfortable
….
….
….
….
Tssssshhhh!♪
The rice now sizzling brown in pan gets water added to it
“When this is done I will soft-scramble some eggs to go on top” Bane speaks more to himself than he is Shiryu
(……)
“If I used my rock magic on you dragon, could you just eat it?” Another random question comes
“My name is Shiryu and that would be a no…”
“Ok.”
…
(What do you mean ‘ok’?)
….
….
….
“So did you just ask that question for no reason?” Shiryu unable to take the awkwardness any longer finally presses
“Yes.” comes Bane’s stone-faced response
“I–” Stammers Shiryu unable to reply to that,
And he doesn’t…
.......
…...
He just watches and waits for the man to finish cook
…..
…..
…..
…..
…..
“Taste it.”
Bane slides a finished plate across the counter to Shiryu who takes a spoonful semi-reluctantly
(….)
The seasoned taste of the warm fried rice melts onto his tongue giving a rush of flavor that had not been know to Shiryu before
(What is this?)
He takes another scoop along with a tender fold of fired egg,
The soft somewhat gelatinous texture of the egg coupled with the sharp spice of pepper and salty umami contrasts the pop of the fried rice that sparks the zest of fresh paprika, culantro, and the onions giving it what you could describe as an unsweet sweetness
“It’s …
I like it.” Shiryu says mouth full and eyes teary unbeknownst to himself
The boy had never experienced the luxury of food before that now as he does get this moment, the sad realization of how much as human he’s never had
It….
…..
“Personally I think this is average to bad” Bane shakes his head
“I would give it a five out of ten, but since you reacted this I think that warrants giving it a five, point five out of ten.”
“Wait this is bad?” Shiryu already halfway through his serving
“Doesn’t matter of you like it personally,
I wasn’t sure about you Shiryu even if the Chief said you were human,
But your reaction here is not something a beast could fake,
The art of cuisine is something we humans appreciate solely”
“So you were testing me?”
“No, I just like cooking and you just happened to be here so I pondered to myself whether to kill you or to feed you then kill you,
But your reaction has convinced me otherwise,”
(Thank Kage (God) I reacted the right way)
“I don’t the Chief would have allowed you to do so” Shiryu now gains a bit more confidence to talk back
“My sister would be mad if I did yes, but she wouldn’t kill me”
“Is it because of your requiem ability?”
“She wouldn’t be able to kill because I’m the one that cooks around here,
What do you know about my requiem?” Shiryu gets suspicious
“Natsu told me about his and Aki’s, and Fuyu told me hers as well,
From what I’ve seen/heard about it you four have requiems that counter each other in niche ways.”
“You know that much….hmm…
My ability is called speak no evil, by silencing myself and my thoughts–focusing on only one thing I can turn my body into an invincible statue of diamond for as long as I hold my breath.”
“You all seem to have a disadvantage with your requiems,”
“Power doesn’t come cheap” Shrugs Bane disinterested in continuing the talk of requiems
“I don’t understand why people want it then if you ultimately lose something,
Everyone in this nation seems to be obsessed with gaining strength.”
“That’s because it is a must for our survival” the young man already beginning to clean up
“This nation doesn’t appear to be struggling from the little I’ve seen so far”
“We are not struggling true,
But by survival I mean against other humans
We are in a situation here where if we are not strong our enemies will not hesitate to erase our nation from existence.”
….
….
….