Stephanie continued walking through the wet forest, looking for any Roman camps.
Ever since the last one, Stephanie was a little uncertain about attacking the next one, since she lost her temper with the general.
But she took a deep and calm breath.
"Hey, excuse me?" Stephanie stopped in her tracks and turned around, looking over at Obelix, who was following her with Asterix. "We didn't get your name back at the village."
A light blush appeared on Stephanie's cheeks when he mentioned that, chuckling slightly.
"Sorry about that," she apologized as they came up to her side. "My name is Stephanie, Stephanie Nova Rose Allen."
Obelix and Asterix looked confused as they glanced at each other, as Stephanie stopped a little when she noticed their reactions.
"What's wrong?" Stephanie asked.
"It's your name," answered Obelix. "It doesn't have an 'ix' at the end of the words."
Stephanie thought to herself for a moment before chuckling softly.
"That's because I am an American," Stephanie explained, before glancing away from them, blushing again. "Do you mind if I explain why I look different and named differently?"
They nodded their heads, and Stephanie started the story while walking.
She explained to them about the helmet back in 2022 in the shop in Denmark during one of her adventures.
Stephanie also explained that after she had touched the same helmet that Asterix was wearing, Stephanie suddenly teleported into their time.
At first, they were skeptical about her story, but shrugged it off their shoulders and asked questions.
They asked if there were any Vikings left over, any Romans, or any villages.
Stephanie explained to them that there were not many Vikings left over, but there were decants and some Viking fairgrounds.
This made Asterix and Obelix perk a little from Stephanie's explanation about what her timeline was like.
She told them what her life was like in her timeline, but paused a few times during the storytelling.
Occasionally, Stephanie would rub her right arm with her hand.
Asterix noticed this sign from Stephanie and asked her, which was off-topic, "Did you get that arm from an accident?"
Stephanie glanced at him after he had asked with a slightly puzzled expression on her face, before glancing down at her arm.
She moved her fingers for a moment as she stared at it before looking back at him.
"Yes," Stephanie answered. "It was terrible."
Asterix's wings on his helmet drooped down after Stephanie answered.
"But, I can't explain it," Stephanie moved her arm down from looking at it, moving forward. "It brings back too much."
Stephanie walked away from them after she had explained to him, but Asterix seemed to notice something from underneath her low ponytail.
Underneath looked almost like a strange symbol with tiny numbers.
Stephanie moved her hair over it from being stuck in her sweater and was hidden out of sight.
"What's wrong, Asterix?" Obelix asked, noticing his suspicion.
"Nothing," Asterix answered, shaking his head. "Step-"
Before he could call over to Stephanie, he stumbled a little from his footing, but luckily Obelix caught him in his hands.
Luckily, Stephanie heard him and turned around, noticing he was leaning against Obelix's hands.
Stephanie quickly ran over to Obelix and asked, "What happened to Asterix?"
"He didn't eat any more food!" Obelix panicked slightly. "I ate the rest of the food back in the village! I should've saved it for him!"
Stephanie placed her hand on Obelix's shoulder and said, "It's okay, it's not your fault. Maybe my magic sweater pockets have something inside."
Asterix lifted his hand up before Stephanie could reach into her pockets and said, "No, we need to keep moving."
He got out of Obelix's hands and forced himself to stand on his feet, despite his shaky legs.
"But, you only ate a chicken leg and an apple!" Stephanie exclaimed worriedly. "That's not enough to keep you moving!"
She sounds as panicked as Obelix for Asterix's health.
"If we stop to eat, the village might perish." Asterix pointed out, walking past Stephanie and headed towards the direction. "We have to keep moving."
Stephanie and Obelix glanced at each other after Asterix walked away from them, looking worried for a moment.
But, eventually, they followed behind Asterix, as Obelix was behind him just in for if he falls from exhaustion or hunger.
Soon, they reached the next Roman camp that was in another empty clearing.
When they took a step in the area, a strange odor came from it from the other side of the fortress.
'What's that smell?' Stephanie thought to herself, sniffing a few times.
She could smell roasted turkeys, boars, chicken, and many other types of roasted meat.
Some smells of wine were strong too.
"Oh, that smells good!" Obelix remarked, moving forward slightly before Stephanie placed her hand against his chest.
"Wait," Stephanie spoke. "Something's not right."
"What is it?" Asterix asked, cocking his head to the side.
Stephanie pointed at the entrance of the camp, and they could see there were no guards.
The last campground Stephanie went to, had guards guarding the entrance of the forest.
"That is odd," Obelix remarked. "No Romans are guarding the entrance."
Stephanie nodded her head in agreement and said, moving past some bushes, "Let's take a look inside and see what's going on."
Asterix panicked a little and moved in front of Stephanie, saying, "Wait! We don't have our potion with us from Getafix! Obelix can manage to defeat them, and I don't know about you, but," He took his flask off from his belt and shook it gently. "I'm out of the potion. Geriatrix has the last of the potion which he is back at the village."
Stephanie rolled her eyes after Asterix explained to her about her plan.
She was slightly irritated at him for pointing out some obvious reasons why they should do another plan and making herself look less like an average person.
"Just follow me," Stephanie sighed, walking past him and headed up to the entrance of the camp.
Asterix was surprised by Stephanie's stubbornness as one of the wings on his helmet twitched.
Then, he groaned in frustration and marched over to Stephanie as she was almost close to the entrance.
Obelix followed behind him, looking slightly confused about what is going on between the two of them.
When Stephanie reached the entrance, Stephanie placed both of her hands against the door and pushed with one mighty heave.
She managed to open the door without using anything and peeked inside.
Behind her back, Asterix and Obelix were surprised at how powerful Stephanie was of how she was able to open the door without effort.
After Stephanie peeked into the fortress, she glanced over at them, with a confused expression on her face.
The aroma of the food from the other side of the fortress was powerful, but the odor of wine was intense.
"What is wrong?" Obelix asked.
Stephanie glanced over at them for a moment before glancing back inside the camp.
Then, she glanced back at them as she leaned her shoulder against the door of the campground, laughing.
"What's so funny?" Asterix asked.
A Roman guard came out of the campground to answer their confused question.
He was drunk as he was holding a tusk that was filled with wine inside.
The Roman guard's cheeks were red, and he looked at Asterix and Obelix, who looked confused.
"Hey, hic!" he hiccupped in his words. "Look who's, hic, here!"
Stephanie was laughing in the background as her hand covered her mouth, watching as he stumbled over to the two confused Gauls, pointing at them with a finger.
"Did you both, hic, came for the, hic, party?" He asked.
"'Party?'" Asterix asked. "When was this?"
The Roman guy did not answer as he drunkenly glanced at them, blinking with stupidity.
"I don't know," he answered while hiccuping between his words. "It's just the, hic, general who invited all of us, hic, to a feast with wine."
Stephanie perked from her laughter and came over to the drunk Roman.
She had an idea that could help Asterix to eat some food over his stubbornness.
She stood by Asterix's side and asked, "Can you lead us to the feast? We're actually invited by the general himself!"
The Roman blinked a few times, before grinning with a drunk smile.
"Sure!" he drunkenly beamed. "Anything for the… pretty lady!"
Stephanie looked surprised from the response the drunk Roman guard said, as he turned around and started stumbling towards the half-open entrance.
On the other hand, it looked stupid to Stephanie's point of view, as she tried not to laugh.
Asterix and Obelix could not help themselves but chuckle from the stupidity too.
Soon, the drunk Roman guard entered the campground, and Stephanie, Asterix, Obelix went inside with him.
"Hey, guys!" he drunkenly called out of them. "We, hic, have guests!"
They all glanced over at the sober people, as Stephanie positioned herself slightly to attack them when they realized they were enemies.
Unfortunately, the drunk Roman guard that led them inside was so drunk, he passed out in an instant.
"Hey!" one of them exclaimed. "It's the, hic, Gauls!"
Stephanie got herself ready to attack with Asterix as he fumbled with his sword a little, as Obelix positioned his fists.
But, they noticed they were extremely drunk.
They could not stand on their feet, and their spears were out of line.
Their shields were drooping slightly too, as some went onto their backs.
"Wow," Stephanie chuckled. "They are both drunk and stupid."
"Who are you calling stupid?" snapped one of the soldiers.
Another pointed at her with his spear and said, wobbling a little, "We are not… drunk!"
"Can you tell the time?" Stephanie asked, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Yes," the drunk Roman soldier turned around to the sundial and said, repeating himself while pointing at it with the spear in his hand, "I am not… drunk!"
Stephanie could not help herself but laugh from the stupidity the Roman soldier said to the sundial, facepalming herself.
Obelix snorted for a moment after the Roman soldier snapped at the sundial before all of them passed out from the drunkness.
After a few minutes of laughter, Stephanie left Obelix to look for what could have given them the wine and the food.
They all did not know that Asterix had gone missing.
Stephanie walked up to the main tent and opened the curtain, as a wave of an overpowering stench of meat including wine hits her nose.
First, Stephanie was surprised by the overpowering smell, feeling like she had walked into a kitchen.
But, from the look of inside the tent, it looked like a buffet more than a kitchen.
There was food scattered all over the place, and there were goblets, including tusks.
Stephanie could guess they were filled with wine inside.
But, the most surprising thing, that takes the cake, was the passed out general in the back, snoring as his head was in the fruits, and in front of him was Dionysus's cornucopia.
Stephanie glanced down at her bracelet from underneath the sweater sleeve and shirt, seeing the symbol was the same one of the cornucopia.
Smiling, Stephanie reached over to the cornucopia with both hands, ready to take it back to the gods.
Just before her hands could grab it, however, the general's hand suddenly shot up from the table and grabbed it, making Stephanie freeze.
Slowly, he moved his head up from the plate of fruit, looking wasted and full.
"Leave it alone," he growled. "It is mine!"
Stephanie yanked her hand away from him, resulting in getting her wrist to disconnect from her hand and in the Roman general's hand.
He looked drunkenly surprised from the chain connected to her hand, but mostly to the disconnection to her arm.
Taking this chance, Stephanie flicked her arm to the chain, making it snap up and smacked him in the face.
He yelped out in pain after being smacked in the face from the chain and released her hand, covering the mark on his face.
Stephanie flicked her chain again to the left, as her hand grabbed the cornucopia and yanked it back with one swift move of her arm.
The general noticed her hand grabbed the cornucopia and tried to snatch it back, but his clumsiness made it difficult for him.
Besides, Stephanie's fast tactics were also too fast for him.
Stephanie's chained hand returned to her and clicked back into her arm, connecting into one.
After Stephanie had grabbed the cornucopia and returned her hand back.
Then, her clothes, eyes, and hair started again with the color-changing transformation.
Her long hair turned into the color of apricots, and her eyes turned orange.
The design of her sweater turned into leaves that are in the colors of bronze, honey, yams, fire, and amber.
The hems of her sweater turned into cantaloupes, and her pants transformed into the color of rust.
Her shoes turned into the color of sandstones as her shoelaces transformed into marigolds.
After the color transformation, Stephanie glared at the general with an angry look as her left arm held the cornucopia.
The general, on the other hand, looked scared of her, moving up from laying flat on the table.
His uniform was covered in food, and wine dripped everywhere from the struggling to get the cornucopia.
"Uh, check please?" he asked, looking worried.
Outside, Obelix was looking for Asterix, wondering where he could have run off too when he heard something smacked and an object coming out of something.
Then, Stephanie's voice yelled out with anger, "EAT THIS INSTEAD AS DESSERT!"
With that, a thump was heard, and Stephanie marched out of the tent that has the general inside.
She was holding a cornucopia in her arm, and her face looked angry.
"What happened?" Obelix asked, turning his attention towards Stephanie.
But his face looked more confused when he noticed the color change of her hair, eyes, clothes, even the design of her sweater!
"Oh," Stephanie answered with irritation as she jabbed her thumb over her shoulder. "The general in there got a little stuck in something. Best to have a quick look."
Obelix looked confused as Stephanie left him and walked away as he glanced over at the tent.
He walked over to the tent and pushed back one of the curtains, before bursting into laughter.
Apparently, Stephanie shoved a pumpkin on his head as he was lying flat on the table that has food on it.
"Oh," Obelix chuckled. "Now that's funny, right, Asterix?"
Then, he remembered what he was looking for.
"Oh, Asterix!" He turned around and whistled, calling out, "Dogmatix! Here, boy!"
After he called out that name, the sounds of yipping came from the distance, and a small white dog with black-tipped ears and tail, came running over to Obelix.
He jumped into Obelix's large hand, yipping happily and licking his face.
"Now, now, Dogmatix," Obelix placed Dogmatix down on the ground. "Go and find Asterix."
With that, Dogmatix yipped and ran off, sniffing the ground on his way.
Meanwhile, Stephanie was standing outside the campground, looking up at the sky in thought.
Taking the cornucopia from her arm, Stephanie aimed the cornucopia into the sky, and automatically, it fired light orange sparks into the air, before disappearing into thin air.
After that happened, Stephanie disappeared into thin air as Dogmatix passed by where she was, still sniffing the ground.
A confused expression appeared on the dog's face for a moment before snorting and walking away, sniffing the ground again, searching for Asterix.
Meanwhile, Stephanie blinked and noticed she was teleported to another temple.
But, the temple has the same smell as the Roman general's tent back at the campground.
The decoration was the same, with the carved rocks and the stitched murals like Zeus's temple.
But there was food and barrels of wine decorated all around her and looked overplied.
No voice called out to her, so Stephanie shrugged her shoulders and went deep into the temple, glancing around.
A few times, Stephanie stopped to clear some food off the ground to continue walking, but it did not matter to her.
When she reached the central part of the temple, Stephanie saw Dionysus sitting on his throne, eating a platter of grapes that was held by a servant.
"Excuse me?" Stephanie called out to him.
Dionysus glanced over at her after Stephanie called out to him, and she bowed to him.
"I brought something back for you." Stephanie smiled.
He cocked his head to the side, before holding up his first finger as if to wait a moment.
Stephanie nodded her head and patiently waited for him to finish.
After a few minutes of chewing the grape in his mouth, he gulped and asked, hiccuping a little, "Is it my cornucopia? Or, hic, dubbed from the Romans, 'The Cornucopia of Everlasting Festivals?'"
Stephanie nodded her head and stood up from her bowing.
"May I place it on your altar?" Stephanie politely asked, mentioning over to the altar with her free hand.
It was covered in food on top and had no room for the cornucopia.
"Oh, hic," Dionysus snapped his fingers as a normal-sized servant came by and bowed slightly to him. "Could you clear the food off? Hic! I really need to, hic, clean this place."
Stephanie rolled her eyes while he was distracted with slight amusement before walking up to the altar.
She placed the cornucopia on top of the altar, as the colors of her hair, eyes, and clothes turned back to their original colors.
Dionysus lifted his hand up, and one of the servants picked it up from the altar and gave it to him, after growing to his size.
He grabbed it with both of his hands from his servant and kissed it gently and gave it to another servant that was almost his size.
"Thank you, hic," he thanked. "Now, allow me to give you something in return."
Dionysus stood up from his chair, and stumbly walked over to Stephanie, kneeling down on one knee.
Automatically, Stephanie lifted her arm up and patiently waited for him to give her the gemstone.
With his finger, Dionysus gently tapped the bracelet Zeus gave her, and the cornucopia gem slot was filled with the missing gem.
After the gemstone was placed in that gem slot, he stood back up from the ground and said, waving his hand, "Continue on with your work, hic. Oh, hic, one more thing; be careful with Poseidon's trident. It contains a lot more power than any other powers."
Stephanie smiled and bowed to him again, saying, "I will, Dionysus." and with that, Stephanie disappeared in a flash of orange.
He smiled to himself and leaned in his chair, saying, "She is an interesting 21st-century girl."
Then, he snapped his fingers and called out, "Hey, where's my blueberry muffins?!"
Meanwhile, Obelix continued searching for Asterix, wondering where he could be.
Not only that, now Dogmatix has disappeared too.
Obelix continued looking around for both of them when he felt something tapped his back.
"Obelix?" Stephanie asked.
He turned around and noticed Stephanie.
This time, Stephanie was back in the original colors that Obelix saw her before when she was walking with them through the forest.
"Oh!" he wrapped his arms around Stephanie tightly and started hugging her. "Don't ever do that to me ever again!"
Stephanie looked squished against his stomach, but smiled sheepishly and said, through grunts to push away from him, "I got another, mhf, gemstone from the gods, Obelix!"
Obelix looked confused and finally released his grip around Stephanie, allowing her to be free from him.
She sighed after he had released his grip from around her body and pushed back a strand of hair.
"Look," Stephanie pushed her sleeve down and showed him the gemstone. "See? That means the food returned!"
Instantly, Obelix remembered something.
"Of course!" he exclaimed, placing a hand against his forehead.
"What?" Stephanie asked, cocking her head to the side.
"Food!" Obelix answered. "Asterix maybe went off looking for food! The whole camp has food from that gluttonous general!"
Stephanie understood what he meant and said, "Which tent?"
They both thought for a moment before hearing a loud belch.
It was loud, but not monstrous.
"That was Asterix!" Obelix smiled before running off.
"Wait, Obelix!" Stephanie called after him, before running towards him.
Obelix reached the main tent where the general was inside, before opening the curtains.
There, standing in the front of the table, was Asterix, eating through a leg of a chicken.
Sitting next to him was Dogmatix, looking surprised at the empty tables that were once covered in food, but covered in apple cores, bones, except the dates that are left untouched.
He glanced up at Obelix once over his shoulder, before a second time.
"Oh, Obelix!" he beamed, his mouth, the tips of his fingers, and mustache were covered in food. "You should try this food! It's delicious!"
Stephanie popped her head in the tent and was surprised at what she saw with Obelix, exclaiming, "Holy schnikes! Did you eat all the food?!"
Asterix looked confused and answered, turning his body towards them more, "Yes, why?"
"I was about to collect all of it to bring it to your village, so they could eat!" Stephanie exclaimed. "Mostly to let you have some since you stubbornly refused to eat earlier!"
Asterix immediately spat out what he had in his mouth out of surprise.
"Oops." Obelix glanced away with a nervous expression on his face.
"By Toutatis!" Asterix exclaimed, before placing his food-covered face in his semi-messy hands. "I should've listened to you, Stephanie!"
Stephanie thought to herself for a moment, before glancing down at her wrist thoughtfully.
"Now that I ate everything from the camp, we are not going to find any more food without livestock!" Asterix moaned.
"Actually," Stephanie spoke, kneeling down to his height. "I'm glad that you ate all that greedy general's food."
Asterix glanced up at her from his hands, looking confused.
"What do you mean?" he asked.
Stephanie smiled and reached into her sweater pocket, taking out a clean towel.
She gently took Asterix's right messy hand and started wiping the food off.
"Listen," Stephanie began. "I know you are stubborn and is a 'village-first-me-later' type of person, but sometimes you have to listen to your friends."
Stephanie switched to the other hand and wiped the food off.
"As you know," Stephanie spoke. "We were worried about you when you refused to eat. My plan was when we entered the camp and defeated the general, giving you some time to eat some food to get your strength back."
Asterix blushed with shame as Stephanie moved from his hand to his face, gently getting food off from him with the towel in her hand.
"But, since you pigged out on all the food, I guess it doesn't hurt to cook for the moment." Stephanie chuckled after she had finished wiping the food off his face and hands.
"Cook for the village?" exclaimed Obelix. "How?! There's not even a boar close by!"
Stephanie glanced over at them with a slight grin on her face and said, "Watch."
She pulled her sleeve up from her right arm and revealed the bracelet.
Looking at the cornucopia gemstone, Stephanie tapped the gem with her finger of her left hand, as it glowed.
The color of her hair, eyes, and clothes changed into the same colors before.
Including the design of her sweater, too.
Stephanie glanced down at her sweater and smiled, "Hey! It worked!"
Obelix's jaw dropped after the colors of Stephanie's sweater changed magically.
"So that's what happened?!" he exclaimed. "I thought you changed clothes and wigs!"
"Do I look like I'm wearing a wig?" Stephanie asked, crossing her arms over her chest.
Obelix shook his head no.
Stephanie sighed and turned to Asterix, who was leaning against the table and blinking sleepily.
"Are you alright, Asterix?" Obelix curiously asked, picking up his friend.
She chuckled and placed her hand against his side, saying, "He's alright, just having a food coma."
Obelix glanced over at Stephanie with a concerned expression on his face.
"What's a 'food coma?'" he nervously asked.
"It's a feeling where you eat a lot, and after eating, you start to feel sleepy and fall asleep." Stephanie described. "It lasts about an hour or more for Asterix to overcome his food coma."
Obelix sighed in relief after Stephanie explained to him before he looked confused as they exited out of the campground filled with sleeping Romans and a knocked out general.
"How come I don't get a food coma?" he asked.
"Maybe you have a bottomless pit?" Stephanie suggested with a slight chuckle.
Obelix blushed from the response Stephanie gave him, still carrying his sleeping friend in his arms.
After a few minutes of walking, Obelix asked, "Stephanie, do you normally eat as much as we eat?"
Stephanie paused for a moment as she thought, humming to herself.
"Not as much," Stephanie sighed. "I don't usually eat that often either. It only happens if I am upset over something or just hungry in general."
Obelix thought to himself after Stephanie explained, as Dogmatix followed behind.
"What about you?" Stephanie asked in return, turning towards him slightly.
He glanced away for a moment before answering, "I sometimes sulk about it."
Stephanie softly chuckled and pushed back a strand of wire from her face.
"Sometimes you could try talking about it to your friends, instead of sulking, Obelix." Stephanie smiled. "It's better to do that than to be quiet."
Obelix blushed with embarrassment as he continued following after Stephanie, before reaching the village.
They were outside since everything was not covered in the snow anymore and looked hungry.
Stephanie felt sorry for them before remembering.
She walked up to the chief, named Vitalstatistix, sitting at the large table, hungrily staring at his empty plate.
"Excuse me?" Stephanie asked, standing in front of him.
Vitalstatistix glanced up at Stephanie and perked slightly, asking, "Did you bring food?"
Stephanie winced and rubbed the back of her neck with her hand.
She wanted to say that Asterix had eaten all the food back at the camp out of hunger, but she did not want to make Asterix look disowned.
But, Stephanie lied for Asterix to not make him feel disowned.
"The Romans guards back at the camp had eaten all the food," Stephanie sighed. "There was not enough for feeding the village."
Vitalstatistix sighed and placed his head in his hand as Stephanie continued rubbing the back of her neck.
Obelix felt confused about what Stephanie said to Vitalstatistix, but stayed quiet as silence fell between both of them.
"What happened to Asterix?" Vitalstatistix asked, mentioning over to sleeping Asterix with a finger.
"He passed out from exhaustion," Stephanie lied. "I told him to wait until his strength returns. That healing only lasted for an hour or more to get more food inside."
Obelix glanced away from Asterix in thought, wondering to himself why Stephanie kept lying for Asterix.
"What can we do now?" Vitalstatistix groaned, rubbing his forehead with his fingers.
Stephanie smiled gently and reached into her sweater pockets, pulling out something from inside, and showed it to Vitalastiatix.
It was a whole ham wrapped in cooking rope.
"I have magic pockets." Stephanie smiled as Vitalstatistix's jaw dropped out of shock. "It's not cooked, but I would like somewhere I could."
Vitalstatistix turned around and whistled, calling out, "Hey! Open the kitchen! She's-"
"Stephanie," Stephanie responded before he continued.
"Thank you. Stephanie's going to cook for us!" Vitalstatistix called out, finishing his sentence.
Heads popped out of the houses of the village, looking over at Stephanie with confused expressions on their faces.
Even the three Romans Stephanie allowed them to follow her peeked out of a spare house with the same expression on their faces.
"'Cook for us?'" repeated one of them. "How is she going to do that if she only has that ham in her hand?!"
Stephanie chuckled and reached into her pocket with her other hand, pulling out an onion from inside.
Their jaws dropped in sheer shock after Stephanie had pulled the onion out from her pocket.
"I have magic pockets!" Stephanie called out to them. "It's easy! But there is a problem. I can't bring anything bigger out of them, but someone could help me get them."
Obelix placed Asterix gently down on top of an empty bench and walked over to Stephanie.
"What is it you want?" he asked.
Stephanie hummed to herself for a moment before snapping her fingers.
"All I need is fish, 6 or 9 big boars," Stephanie explained as she tapped each finger of her left hand after putting the two items she had pulled out of her sweater onto the table. "And the rest I can do from my pockets."
Obelix nodded his head and ran off into the forest, leaving a trail of dust behind his feet.
A fair-skinned man with blond hair in two braids, including a mustache, walked up to Stephanie.
He wears a no sleeved black-furred vest with a brown belt around his waist, red pants, and no shoes.
"How many fishes do you need, uh," he asked, before pausing for her name.
"Stephanie," Stephanie calmly answered as she continued reaching into her sweater pockets to pull out ingredients for the food. "Stephanie Nova Rose Allen."
"'Stephanie,'" he repeated in slight confusion before shaking his head. "My name is Unhygienix."
Stephanie bit the bottom of her lip to not laugh from the names.
"Pleased to meet you," Stephanie smiled, holding her hand out for him.
Unhygienix took Stephanie's hand and shook it with slight confusion, noticing her metal hand.
"What happened to your hand?" he asked, tapping it with his finger.
The next man came over to see what Unhygienix was looking at, gently feeling her fingers.
He has short blond hair with a mustache and has fair skin color.
The second man does not wear a shirt but wears a brown smith's apron, with red pants and brown shoes.
"It looks well crafted," he remarked, rubbing his fingers. "It almost feels like real skin!"
Stephanie blushed slightly as she patiently waited for them to finish looking at her right hand.
By the feeling of their hands, Unhygienix's hands felt like he had cut himself recently a few times as she could feel some scars.
Not only that, it felt slightly slimy, and a faint odor of fish came from it.
For the blacksmith's hands, they felt rough, and hard, as there were some scars of burns.
There was a faint smell of soot and charcoal, including melted metal.
"I suppose one of you is a fishmonger, and the other is a blacksmith?" Stephanie asked.
Unhygienix and the blacksmith glanced up at her after she had asked.
"How did you know I was a fishmonger?" Unhygienix asked, pointing at himself as he released Stephanie's hand.
"And me as a blacksmith?" the blacksmith asked, also releasing Stephanie's hand and pointing at himself.
"Well," Stephanie pointed at their hands. "By the feeling of your hands, one of them has a faint smell of fish along with cuts, as the other has some burn marks and odor of charcoal with melted metal."
They both glanced down at their hands with a slightly confused expression on their faces, sniffing and feeling them.
"You can smell them?" Unhygienix asked in confusion.
"I have a good sense of smell." Stephanie chuckled.
They both glanced at each other as Stephanie continued pulling out some more ingredients, struggling a little with her hair.
"Dang it," Stephanie groaned, stopping and pushing back a strand of hair. "My hair is getting in my way."
After Stephanie took a rubber band out of her sweater pocket and was about to put her long hair and wires up, when a voice asked, "Let us help you with that."
Stephanie glanced down and noticed a group of beautiful young ladies standing behind her, as some were holding hairpins and others with combs.
The first lady was shorter and round than the others and looked beautiful.
She has fair skin and hazelnut brown eye color.
The woman wears a fuchsia tank top-like dress with black and white lines.
Underneath her long blond hair, she has small hoop earrings.
Topping things off, she wears brown slippers underneath her dress, and in her hands is combs.
The second woman has fair skin and beautiful emerald-green eye color.
She wears a lime green tank top shirt tied around the waist and a long flowing shamrock green dress that is in a mermaid's tail style.
The dress has white lines, and her ears have hoop earrings, along with a bracelet around her left wrist.
Her long blonde hair was pulled up into a high bun and was holding hairpins in her hands.
"Oh," Stephanie turned around to the two ladies and knelt down on one knee to them. "Thank you."
The first woman smiled and handed the combs over to the second lady, starting on gently combing Stephanie's long hair up into a bun.
She had turned Stephanie around to face back-first to her and kneeling down on the ground to let her work her magic.
Stephanie was surprised at how delicate her fingers were as she brushed her fingers through her thick hair and wires.
Then, she used the comb to put her hair up into a bun, being careful with scratching her.
Once all the strands of Stephanie's hair were up, she brought her hand out and asked, "May I have that band in your hand?"
Stephanie slowly and carefully nodded her head and handed her the rubber band she had pulled out of her sweater pocket, patiently waiting for her to finish her magic.
At the same time, Stephanie kept a careful eye on the food, making sure no one in the village could eat it before she could cook it.
After she put the long hair up into a ponytail, she twirled it around in her hand as it reminded Stephanie of her mother.
Usually, when they are ready to go places, Stephanie would watch her mother put her long brown hair into a bun, twirling it around in her hand and placing bobby pins inside.
It made Stephanie feel a little homesick as the woman put her twirled hair up into a bun shape, being careful with her fingers.
Once it was up into a bun, she turned to the other woman and said, "Hand me a hairpin."
She nodded and went through the hairpins in her hands, mumbling to herself thoughtfully.
"What about this one?" she asked, holding one up to her.
"No, too fancy." the first woman shook her head no.
Stephanie listened to their conversation with slight curiosity, wondering what they were doing to her as she knelt there.
The second woman went through the pins again and held up another one.
"This one?" she asked.
"No, it looks ridiculous on her," sighed the first woman.
"What about a moon-shaped one?" Stephanie suggested to the two.
A pause came from between the two, and the second woman pulled out a silver moon-shaped hairpin that has a Tanzanite gemstone on it as part of the moon.
"How did you know there is a moon-shaped hairpin?" the first woman asked, sounding as surprised as the second one.
"I guessed." Stephanie shrugged her shoulders.
They both glanced at each other after Stephanie had answered their question before shrugging too.
The first woman put the pin into Stephanie's bun, and underneath the rubber band she had handed over to her, clipping it tightly, so it would not fall off from her head.
Once Stephanie's hair and wires were up into a bun with the hair clip, Stephanie stood up from kneeling to their height from the ground, stretching out a little.
"Thank you," Stephanie thanked, bowing slightly towards them. "And may I add you both are gorgeous?"
Both women blushed from Stephanie's remark, confusing Obelix as he was holding over 6 or 8 wild boars in his arms and over his shoulders.
"Er, thank you?" thanked the first woman.
"You're welcome!" Stephanie smiled before turning around and went back to collect the ingredients.
Asterix, on the other hand, had finally woke up from his food coma and noticed Stephanie collecting ingredients for food.
Confused, Asterix got up from the bench Obelix placed him down on and stretched, before watching his friend walk over to Stephanie, holding wild boars in his arms and over his shoulders.
"Why did you flirt with those women?" Obelix asked, sounding confused.
"Well," Stephanie began, blushing slightly. "I couldn't help myself! They are very gorgeous!"
Asterix looked more perplexed as he glanced over at the two females that were in front of Stephanie, blushing slightly from the remark from her.
'I must've slept past something that happened.' Asterix sighed to himself as he rubbed his temple.
Obelix placed the boars down on the ground as they were knocked out and noticed Asterix awake and looking confused.
"Oh, you're awake, Asterix!" beamed Obelix. "Stephanie has an idea of feeding the village!"
"What's that?" Asterix asked, getting off the bench.
"She has magic pockets!" Obelix smiled before picking him up from the ground and turning him around. "Watch."
Asterix watched as Stephanie reached into her pocket and pulled out a large cucumber from her pocket, looking at it for a moment in thought.
"Hey," Stephanie called. "Does anyone want any cucumbers as a side since it's going to take a long time?"
A pause came from the village after Stephanie asked, and she shrugged her shoulders.
"I guess that is a yes," Stephanie sighed, placing it down on the table.
Asterix was more surprised than confused after Obelix explained and showed him what happened while he was out, blinking a few times.
"Okay," Asterix rubbed the back of his neck. "This is getting more… confusing…"
He trailed off when he noticed something on the back of Stephanie's neck.
Now that no hair or wires were covering it, Asterix could see it looked like a symbol.
It had many lines in a straight line across that moves down, but there were numbers underneath the symbol that Asterix can not see clearly since how faded it looked.
"Asterix?" Obelix's voice slowly snapped him back into reality. "Asterix! What are you doing staring at the back of Stephanie's neck?"
Stephanie immediately stopped after Obelix asked, reaching behind and felt the mark on the back of her neck quickly.
"Y-You were staring at it?" Stephanie stammered, clenching it.
Asterix blinked with confusion after Stephanie asked, responding, "Er, yes? Why?"
Stephanie fell silent for a moment, gently rubbing the mark on the back of her neck, saying, "Just… don't ask about it, okay?"
Asterix felt like he wanted to ask about it, but instead, he responded with, "Alright, I won't talk about it."
Stephanie removed her hand from the back of her neck and went back to the cucumbers asking, "Excuse me? Can I borrow a cutting board?"
The blacksmith came over to Stephanie in an instant, holding what seemed to be different types of cutting boards that are made out of metal.
"Which one?" he asked, as Stephanie looked impressed at his ability. "I have plenty of these back in my workshop."
Stephanie paused for a moment as she thought, wondering which one to pick.
"Ooh," he picked up a more extended cutting board from the table in front of her and showed it to her. "This one is the perfect one."
Before Stephanie could respond to his row of cutting boards, a lot of fish in different sizes, shapes, and colors landed on the left-hand side of the table, startling Stephanie slightly.
"Actually, what about these fish?" Unhygienix suggested. "They were stored recently before any of this happened in the first place!"
He picked up a large Rainbow Trout from the table and said, showing it to Stephanie, "This could be fine for a-"
"What about this cutting board?" suggested the blacksmith, showing a different board.
"That one?" scoffed Unhygienix. "It looked like some other tin, Fulliautomatix."
"It's not just some other tin!" Fulliautomatix, the name of the blacksmith, snapped. "It's a cutting board that is-"
The sound of a knife slamming against a metal chopping board snapped them out of their argument and silenced everyone.
It caused them to glance over at Stephanie.
There was also a small crack noise that came from it too.
Recently, Stephanie had pulled out a knife from her sweater pocket, which was sharp, and looked like one that can fillet a fish.
"Enough," Stephanie growled, seemingly calm without showing signs of immediate rage at the two. "This is enough for the feast for the village. Please move away so that you won't get hurt."
Without saying a word, they both put down the fish and the cutting board back down on the table.
They have shocked but terrified expressions on their faces, and walked away from her, looking scared of her.
"Wow," remarked one of the ladies Stephanie flirted with. "She knows how to handle them easily."
"Yes," nodded the second lady. "I bet she is married to a man that is like them."
Stephanie's shoulders hunched up a little after they gossiped to each other about her, feeling like she is a stranger in a different world.
She was used to hearing gossip behind her back when she walks around, but this was the strangest she had ever heard.
Usually, people who saw her would make rude comments and spread rumors around that she is a monster or an alien in disguise to kill everyone.
Stephanie ignored them and continued with her work, starting with the vegetables.
Taking two peelers out from her sweater pocket, she absent-mindedly popped her second pair of arms out from underneath her first pair and started peeling them.
The peeling took Stephanie 3 seconds to finish, before moving onto the next.
She picked up one of Fulliautomatix's cutting boards and started cutting the vegetables into regular-sized pieces for them to eat.
After stalling for a minute or more earlier from two Gauls that wanted to impress her, Stephanie was fixated on making the food.
That means she had canceled out what was going on around her.
In the background, Asterix, and the others, including the three Roman soldiers were surprised to see Stephanie's second pair of arms working separately than her first pair.
They watched as Stephanie's first pair grabbed some fish, and started working like how Unhygienix worked on cutting fish.
But, the second pair of arms worked on the meat Obelix caught.
She skinned them and took the organs out, placing them into a separate bowl and worked on the others.
Stephanie had her sleeves rolled up to her shoulders, along with her second pair, and continued working.
Despite the staring from behind her back from everyone else.
When she noticed she was being stared at, Stephanie sighed after cleaning the cutting board.
Without glancing over her shoulder, Stephanie asked, "Is there something wrong?"
Everyone snapped out of their staring and stammered, "No, no, not really. Just watching."
Stephanie shrugged to herself and went back to what she was doing, as everyone watched again.
Once the last plate of vegetables was placed down on the table, Stephanie said while pointing at it with a finger.
"Go ahead and enjoy it," Stephanie spoke while still fixated on making the rest of the food. "The rest will be coming soon."
Everyone glanced over at the plates for a moment, before each one of them took one, except Obelix and Asterix.
Soon, Stephanie was rubbing seasoning all over the prepared boars and placed them over the fire, in separate positions.
When one of the boars was cooked, Stephanie placed it down for them to enjoy after they had eaten all the vegetables she had peeled.
Asterix and Obelix were surprised at how fast Stephanie was working on the food, placing down each freshly cooked boars for the village.
"Mamma mia!" exclaimed Infirmofpurpus. "She is fast!"
Asterix nodded his head in agreement.
"Ooh, those boars smell so good!" Obelix moaned gently.
"By the smell of it, yes," nodded Cubitus. "I had never seen this before in my whole life!"
"What? Seeing a whole family of Gauls enjoying the food?" Obelix asked, mentioning over to the table with a hand.
Cubitus nodded his head in response.
"Me either," shrugged Infirmofpurpus. "Usually, the ones we have at home are a little smaller than that."
Obelix slightly grunted as he crossed his arms over his chest.
"I know," he huffed. "I have been in the camp before."
Confused expressions appeared on their faces after Obelix grunted.
"How in Zeus' name did you get in?" Cyprian asked in confusion.
"Obelix was dressed like you were and was able to sneak in like that," Asterix explained. "I was pretending to be his prisoner until things were out of hand."
"Oh, I remember!" Cubitus exclaimed. "You were that smart Gaul in the area!"
Asterix blinked with confusion.
"You do?" he asked.
"Yes, I was there," nodded Cubitus. "Well, stuck, but I did see what was going on." he paused as he shuddered. "Those spiders were terrifying!"
Obelix shuddered slightly along with him too.
"Me, either." Obelix agreed. "I don't like them."
Cubitus was surprised that Obelix agreed with him about spiders, feeling less tense but confused.
"Mamma mia," shuddered Infirmofpurpus. "I was glad that I was on guard duty outside."
Asterix rolled his eyes about the story of the area, before perking when he noticed Stephanie stopping after the last boar was given to the village, sighing.
Her hands were covered in food for preparing, almost reaching to her shoulders.
But the front of her sweater was not covered in any of it.
She walked away from the table, and Asterix, Obelix, Infirmofpurpus, Cubitus, and Cyprian followed behind.
Near the stream, Stephanie washed her hands and arms from being covered in seasoning, still having her long hair up in a bun.
During her washing, Stephanie's clothes, the design of her sweater, hair, and eyes returned to their original colors.
She liked the hairpin the ladies gave her but wondered about keeping it since they allowed her to have it for the moment since she was cooking food.
Soon, Stephanie noticed there was a small group of people behind her, and she glanced over, seeing Asterix, Obelix, Infirmofpurpus, Cubitus, and Cyprian.
But, the most part was that her second pair of arms was out.
A blush appeared on her face when she realized she was caught.
"That was amazing back there!" Obelix remarked. "But, were you born with a second pair of arms?"
Stephanie glanced down at her second pair of arms and shook her head no.
"It's… not normal for anyone else," Stephanie slowly explained. "No more questions, please."
Obelix looked slightly confused after Stephanie answered his question, continuing to wash her hands in the stream.
When she pulled her hands out, she noticed the water was staining her hands instead of cleaning it.
Confused, Stephanie glanced over at the stream and noticed that it was dirtier than clean.
"This must be the work of Poseidon's trident," Stephanie spoke out loud to herself, mostly to her friends behind her. "Guessing from my calculations, the next Roman camp that has the trident is northeast from here."
Obelix beamed and happily clapped his hands together.
"Does this mean we could thrash some Romans?" Obelix happily asked.
Stephanie thought to herself for a moment before glancing over at Infirmofpurpus, Cubitus, and Cyprian, who is cowering in fear.
"Yes, but not these three." They blinked in confusion when Stephanie said that, perking a little. "You may thrash the others, but not them. I have a feeling that they have more to understand what is truly going on."
With that, Stephanie turned around and walked towards the direction she said where the next Roman camp is.
Infirmofpurpus, Cubitus, and Cryrian looked confused about what Stephanie said about them, as Asterix and Obelix followed behind them.
They wondered to themselves about what she meant by 'understanding what is truly going on?'
But, they shrugged to themselves and followed after them, deciding to see what will be going on during the adventure.
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