Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Fable.
It was early in the morning now and most of the customers had retired to their beds. The only exception was one lady who had been drunk since six the previous morning.
"Maxiey, you've been a very good server these past few years," said Mr. Pooplewagon, his bushy moustache jumping for joy.
"Yes, it's been a few years now. Don't question the outrageous time system in Albion. And since you've been such a good employee, I've decided to promote you."
Maxiey grunted.
"You're welcome. I've decided to consider your debt paid with all the extra customers and such. I'll pay you if you want to continue working."
Maxiey grunted.
"You're not so bad yourself. If you're really staying, then I've decided to promote you to assistant manager. If anything happens to me, you have control of the tavern."
Maxiey grunted.
"No one's told me that in a long time. Fran Fran and I are planning to hold a little party to congratulate you."
Maxiey grunted.
"It's going to be in a few days. In the meantime, we should think of something to serve. Serving nothing but beer may sound nice, but actually isn't. Trust me on that one; I've had past experiences."
Maxiey grunted.
"I've never heard of that dish before. It sounds very delicious. You better get started right away."
Maxiey went to work on his new creation: a signature dish that would revolutionize Bowerstone forever.
With his superior knowledge of culinary skills and a traditional hobbe recipe, Maxiey mixed boiled tofu, minced raw fish, cooking apples, flour, fried carrots and chocolate to give it the extra "umph". Maxiey called it "Maxiey stew" (although Maxiey had brains enough to make his stew, names were not his strongpoint).
Little did Maxiey know that many years later and somewhere far far away, the raw fish, apples and fried carrots would be liquefied to make what we now know as Red Bull.
The whole of Bowerstone simply loved Maxiey's dish.
"It revitalizes body and mind!" the drunken trader yelled out.
The crowd cheered raucously at this observation as the trader sprouted wings and promptly soared out of the building and disappeared to Fisher Creek, living off raw fish and bait worms, only ever to be found in the annals of Albion's history and remembered forever more. Those annals were burned down when Jack of Blades invaded.
Maxiey stew became so popular that Mr. Pooplewagon decided to serve it on normal nights as well, keeping with Albion's tradition of drastically overpricing goods. The dish, while a much sought after delicacy for normal citizens, became a favourite of Albion's heroes and fishing junkies.
Neither Mr. Pooplewagon nor Fran Fran could make Maxiey stew with quite the same "umph" as Maxiey, who was left to run around making his trademark snack.
This caused Maxiey to eventually start smelling of boiled tofu, raw fish, cooking apples, flour, fried carrots and chocolate to give it the extra "umph". Soon enough, people commented on Maxiey's pleasant, refreshing and pleasantly refreshing smell and asked him how he achieved it. Although Maxiey could have said that he was born smelling fantastic (or maybe it's Maybelline), he decided to go the way of the businessman. Using his hobbe skills, Maxiey captured the pleasant, refreshing and pleasantly refreshing smell of Maxiey stew and bottle it to sell.
Little did Maxiey know that many years later and somewhere far away, Maxiey's pleasant, refreshing and pleasantly refreshing smell would be the inspiration for what we now know as cologne.
Like everything else the hobbe touched, it became an instant hit. All of Bowerstone wore the pleasant, refreshing and pleasantly refreshing cologne (or at least the guys anyway) to make Bowerstone the winner of the Most Pleasant, Refreshing and Pleasantly Refreshing Town Award. The title had been previously owned by Oakvale (those Oakvale fools, they don't know nothing about pleasant, refreshing and pleasantly refreshing) and was now the pride of Bowerstone. Everyone credited this win to Maxiey, insisting his new invention still smelled best on him.
It was only a matter of time before Maxiey's pleasant, refreshing and pleasantly refreshing smell began to attract many secret admirers, at whom Fran Fran arranged her rather unattractive features into a scowl.