Belenus kicked at some leaves below him, his head turning up and then bowing back down shyly.
"Am I the only one who thinks it's weird that there are leaves in a pub?" Chloe, putting a finger to her cheek, tilted her head. "Also, are you going to finish your drink?"
The deity of fire, slouching over his mug of beer, rested his chin on his palm. "When will the Bubbled Goose be ready?"
"Oh, neat. Some other type of cuisine that I barely remember." Chloe rolled her eyes.
"Forest Goose that has just been boiled separately, my dear." Belenus flicked a blonde strand of hair out of his face.
His hair was ungodly long.
"Separately?"
"Meaning, when it was... butchered... it had its parts boiled separately and for different times, instead of all at once in some giant pot. The head is boiled the longest, until the eyes bubble up-"
"Oh, okay, no, nevermind, thanks, I don't need to hear anymore." Chloe put a hand to her mouth, eyes low.
"Oh, I forgot. You humans get squeamish over the silliest things. I almost can't believe I fell in love with you. Well, almost."
Chloe looked over to the other parts of the tavern they were eating at. It functioned as a dimly lit cave with a wooden ceiling. Despite being in the middle of a forest, the architecture was pristine with odd types of rocks. Green quartz, scarlet phyllite, brown marble, a usually dark basalt, and etchings of ivory. Through all of the acacia and dark-oak wood mixed in with the stone, Chloe couldn't help but notice that there was no metal.
Indeed, all the physical qualities of the tavern were but rocks and wood.
The ancient look gave the place its rustic charm, or so Belenus would have told Chloe on a multitude of occasions.
In spite of that, Belenus looked around the pub, just as Chloe did, to suddenly slam his head sideways on the dry-rotted table. This loud thud had everyone turn to them, which made Chloe uncomfortable. Every single entity went about turning their heads to the deity of fire, only to then turn back to their own conversations.
"Hm, that's right. This place makes an 'L' sort of shape." Chloe noted aloud. "By the way, that was a bit dramatic, dude. Are you, like, actually asleep?" She glared.
The girl's question fell on deaf ears.
Or, more precisely, sleepy ears.
"What good are a fire-god and an apple-god to do with one another, other than make delicious strudel cakes." Belenus mumbled.
Chloe shook her head, looking up to the ceiling. "Oh just what the fu-"
"GAH!"
"AGH!"
Belenus blinked a few times. "Ah, you screamed because of my scream. How... screamy. Well, I guess I have some explaining to do."
"After deciding to take me to a fancy restaurant, and then falling asleep from only drinking two beers? Yeah, I'd say you have a story, or five, I'd like to hear."
As Belenus opened his mouth, his burgundy robes blew from a force of wind in the restaurant. "Oh hey, our Bubbled Goose is ready."
In a hot and floating, stone cauldron, which still boiled, came the meaty remains of a once proud, majestic bird, which were spinning around.
"Oh, that's why they call it bubbled." Chloe smiled at the entree. "Awfully magical, this place is."
Though her moment of enchantment was going to come to an end, as she caught a glimpse of the goose's head.
Belenus had begun to warn her about this, but she didn't want to hear any further. It had been too late, however, for in front of her sat a pair of wide eyes that bulged out from vein-filled, stressed eye sockets.
"Th- That goose looks fuckin' pissed!" Chloe jumped back in her chair.
Belenus laughed into his sleeve. "Oh, you are just the most innocent little thing, aren't you?"
________
All seemed well for the two adventurers, Chloe tepidly snacking on buttery goose legs, and Belenus practically swallowing whole beaks.
"They fry the beaks in the oldest of oils, you see." The deity of fire winked at the girl.
"Yeah. What a way to saute, eh?" Chloe shrugged her shoulders, slightly unimpressed.
"So, as I was saying earlier. Right then! You see, alcohol actually makes me incredibly sleepy." Chloe tilted her head. "Whoa. Really?"
"I know, I know. The master of fire could not possibly be thwarted by potions of fatigue -- which in the end would be none other than flaming beer -- but it's a truth."
"That's-"
A man who wore a white and purple cloth about his torso sat down, staring at Belenus. The fiery god didn't move and simply continued to stare at Chloe, though his expression waned. He no longer held eye contact with her because of her figure or face, but because the stranger that had approached him gave off an uneasy feeling.
"Funny I find you here." The stranger, whose hair, green, stretched down the sides of his face.
Belenus turned to a man that had small, yet purple, eyes. "How do you do, Master Mylas?"
"As troubled as ever, and I see this is to be the case with you as well, Dear Belenus. You are keeping your actions on, as they say, the 'down-low', because you do not want to be discovered by the Seelie Court. So you have been traversing the Unseelie Court, what's left of it anyway, and the Herbstwald, in the hopes of finding Morrganne. Did I get all of that correct?"
The man pulled out a deck of fifty-two playing cards and began to shuffle them furiously.
"Your mind-reading skills are painful." Belenus rolled his eyes, gulping.
"Painfully accurate, it would seem."
Belenus picked at his ear just then, slouching his shoulders. "Well, right, let's cut to the cheese then-"
"The chase." Chloe moved her head forward.
"Right! Yes. Let's stop chasing each other around the bush-"
"Beating each other around the bush- Wait, no, fuck!" Chloe sunk into her chair.
Mylas, the man with a sense of fashion that could blast away any vagabond, winked with a seductive grin. "Beating one another around a bush sounds violent, Dear Belenus. I would not wish to partake in that. I do not believe you would, either, if you fancy the ladies as you do."
"What I mean is, you as a wizard do not normally speak with us deities unless you need more power. And what could a wizard like you need more power for?" Belenus squinted.
Mylas' irises spun around just then, as he put a finger to his fair-skinned forehead. "Trust me, this one is annoying. Don't bring the girl, though."
Belenus shook his head, his hair waving around. "I'm afraid I cannot move along on that condition. This girl has stolen my heart!" In that moment, the fiery god turned to the female who sat across from him, his bronze eyes glowing. "Besides, I need to inform her on the contract which her and I have."
________
YOU ARE READING
Final Phenomenon: E-Lunar, Route A (4) (MANUSCRIPT)
Fantasy2071. The legendary God of Apples, Abellio, was kidnapped from Earth and taken to the Otherworld. Though this world is his home, he seeks to track down and destroy those who have wronged him as they reside in this world. No man nor deity...
