=== Alfred & Bunet ===
--- C ---



[Bunet]
Prince Alfred. Might I ask you for a quick lick?
[Alfred]
Run that by me again, Bunet...
[Bunet]
Forgive me, sir. I can explain more clearly.
[Bunet]
Those flowers you're wearing. I should quite
like to acquaint one of them with my taste buds.
[Alfred]
You wanna taste a flower?
[Bunet]
Hm, I seem to have crossed a line. Please
disregard my request.
[Alfred]
Hahaha! You're a riot, Bunet!
[Alfred]
It's no big deal. I'll see if I can get you a flower
like these.
[Alfred]
You can taste it to your heart's content.
[Bunet]
Thank you.
[Alfred]
Speaking of which, Bunet, you're looking
pretty beefy.
[Bunet]
Beefy, you say. Do you mean you would like to
have a quick lick yourself?
[Alfred]
Uh, no, I'm good. I was just paying you a
compliment.
[Alfred]
Wish I could get muscles like yours, but they
never seem to develop for me like they should.
[Bunet]
Hm... Perhaps you could bulk up by changing
your diet.
[Bunet]
If you'd like, I can cook up something nice and
hearty for you.
[Alfred]
No fooling?! I'd love that!
[Bunet]
Understood. Think of it as payment for one of
those appetizing flowers.
[Bunet]
I will begin gathering ingredients. Please, give
me some time to prepare.
[Alfred]
If it fixes my muscle problem, you can take
all the time you need!
--- B ---



[Bunet]
Hmm... A note of sweetness...
[Alfred]
That the flower I got you from Firene? Does
it, uh, taste as good as you'd hoped?
[Bunet]
Yes. Like a lavish royal dance on the tongue.
I expect it will go well in a salad.
[Bunet]
So this is how Firenese royalty tastes.
[Alfred]
Well, it's just a flower.
[Alfred]
Anyway! I hear you've been busy.
[Bunet]
Yes.
[Bunet]
I have been hard at work preparing a dish to
round out your muscles.
[Bunet]
It is ready at last.
[Alfred]
Thanks!
[Alfred]
And eating this will give me the firm muscles
I've wanted for so long, right?
[Bunet]
In theory, yes.
[Alfred]
Sure. Nothing's guaranteed, after all.
Still worth a try.
[Bunet]
Indeed. In that case, I will bring it out for you.

[Alfred]
Hmmm...
[Bunet]
How does it look?
[Alfred]
It looks like...meat.
[Alfred]
Meat, cooked in meat sauce, on top of a bed
of thinly sliced meat.
[Bunet]
Well, yes. Meat, being muscle, begets muscle.
Such was my uninformed hunch.
[Bunet]
Thus I figured that the more meat you ate,
the more muscle you would grow.
[Alfred]
That math checks out. I can tell you thought
pretty hard about all this!
[Alfred]
And to show my thanks, I'm gonna destroy
this meal!
[Alfred]
Time me!
[Bunet]
What an appetite he has. I am glad to see my
dish being enjoyed so...immediately.
[Bunet]
We can only sow these beefy seeds and wait,
hoping that a bounty of muscles springs forth.
[Bunet]
I have no evidence it will work, but well...
Miracles happen.
--- A ---



[Alfred]
Hey, Bunet.
[Bunet]
Your Highness.
[Alfred]
All those dishes you cooked up, and I'm still
as scrawny as ever.
[Bunet]
I failed, then. You have my deepest apologies.
[Alfred]
Aw, it's not your fault! You went all-out and
it showed.
[Alfred]
Plus, every dish was good eating.
My compliments to the chef.
[Alfred]
No, the real trouble is just that I'm weak to
the core.
[Bunet]
Please, do not be so hard on yourself.
[Bunet]
These dishes may have failed in bulking up
your slender form.
[Bunet]
But it was not for nothing. All that meat did
result in a different sort of change.
[Alfred]
I'm not following you.
[Bunet]
Our flavor. Yours and mine.
[Alfred]
We have a flavor?
[Bunet]
You see, we were once dry and bland, but as
our bond deepened, our taste became richer.
[Bunet]
Perhaps that was a bad way to put it...
[Alfred]
No, I see what you mean! We brought out
new flavors in each other!
[Alfred]
Before, we were raw ingredients. But now,
we're, uh, what do you call it? Fusion cuisine!
[Bunet]
Yes, my thinking exactly.
[Bunet]
And now I often find myself fondly thinking
about your vibrant zing.
[Alfred]
I guess it's true what they say, "the way to a
man's heart is through his stomach."
[Bunet]
I have always thought so. To that end, I should
quite like to cook for you again.
[Alfred]
Oooh, really? What did you have in mind?
[Bunet]
I was planning to make a vegetable dish with
one of your sweet flowers ground on top.
[Bunet]
And perhaps some grilled fish to counterbalance
all the meat from last time.
[Alfred]
I'm working up an appetite just listening to you.
[Bunet]
Continue to eat my cooking and...who knows?
[Bunet]
You may one day have the body you desire.
[Alfred]
Here's hoping, Bunet.
[Alfred]
Someday, my muscles are gonna be as strong
as our friendship!
--- S ---