Carth's magical adventure, ROUND TWO, MOTHERFUCKERS!

[Anastasia]

"Noodles," she sighs. "I'd kill for a good stew or salad about now," she notes, complaining a bit. "I feel like a college studen on this diet."

[Carthrat]

"Everything else is expensive," notes Carthrat, starting to work his magic fingers on the kitchen. "Besides, I'm a lousy cook."

[Anastasia]

"Amen," she agrees, althought it is said with a smile. Glancing back over at the prone woman, Rachel goes on. "I could cast a simple healing spell on her if that will speed affairs up."

[Carthrat]

"Knock yourself out," replies Carthrat. "There's no rush, really."

[Anastasia]

"I'll wait until after we eat," she decides. "If we do get this ship, where do we go from here?" Rachel asks, curious. "It gives us mobility, but what do we do with it?"

[Carthrat]

"Away from here," notes Carthrat. "I've a number of options, however.

I could go back to my old university. Being recieved with a friendly face is another matter.

Or I could sell myself to some kind of industry, then get them to build what I need from within. Even out here, people with my kind of skills are in demand.

Or I could blow enough shit up to earn enough money to outright buy what I want. There's no problem money can't solve."

[Anastasia]

Latching onto the first comment, Rachel responds. "Things went sour at your old university?" she inquires as you prepare the meal.

[Carthrat]

"A combination of jealousy and bad luck," replies Carthrat, shrugging. "I was, of course, the most brilliant student they had, so of course, when one of my experiments went *slightly* wrong, they decided to advise me to take a 'long journey'.

I wonder if, oh, 9 years was enough?"

[Anastasia]

"Of course," she replies dryly before going on to the meat of it. "How much is slightly wrong, Carthrat?"

[Carthrat]

"I swear, this one *was* only slightly wrong. I made a mistake and managed to produce some smoke," replies Carthrat. "Nothing life-threatning.

Except, of course, for the deans favourite rabbit.

He valued his *pet* over *me*, the most brilliant and probably the only willing student the university ever had."

[Anastasia]

"Heh," she says. "So you got the boot for just that?"

[Carthrat]

"Essentially. There was a whole lot of bullshit, too. All sorts of 'Potentially Dangerous Experiments- well, what the fuck do you expect when I'm working for a military firm?"

Carthrat rolls his eyes. "These people have -no- appreciation."

[Anastasia]

Rachel giggles, amused at how you've worked yourself up. "Anyway, is dinner done yet?"

[Carthrat]

"Oh, yeah, have some," replies Carthrat, producing a bowl of noodles. "Dammit. It's just not fair. It *never* works out for me, I swear."

[Anastasia]

She takes the bowl, digging into the noodles. "What doesn't?" she inquires neutrally, waiting for Carthrat to show his hand more.