Charles Patricius

[Bloodedge]

More curiosities were expressed by the elafia. Mantlebloom was a plant that thrived when cared for more meticulously, so there was more information he could give her. In terms of the sounds specific to tending Mantlebloom, she had nothing to fear; however, there were some benefits to the additional care. "It is widely believed that the types of sounds have no effect, but that is a misconception. In truth, it does seem to react to various pitches. As different pitches are indicative of different vibration frequencies, it is very possible to stress the Mantlebloom," he explained, taking a moment thereafter to search for analogies in his mind. In a matter of seconds, he managed to come up with something. "Think of it like hyperextending a muscle, or perhaps fueling a spell too quickly. The spell can still function as intended, but one may notice some unintended, and perhaps undesired, alterations."

Ailen considered that his explanation was fully given. Another moment of consideration, however, had him thinking there were a few more brief points to address. "Ah! But that isn't to say high pitches are not good. I would suggest small amounts of sound treatment to learn this specific Mantlebloom. Its environment affects how it wants to grow; that should answer your other questions. Size, texture and growth are all determined entirely by its environment, including the liquid mana source it uses as food."

[Apollymi]

There were curiosities expressed and then answered. Watching Anais listen to her mentor and learn the proper ways of caring for a Mantlebloom was interesting to Yume. The other lass was so excited and Ailen was equally as excited and distracted as his student. He gave her a fairly good analogy to work with as well, about potentially stressing her new pet project. "Okay, I understand that... nice analogy," she said. She wouldn't want to stress her Mantlebloom, even just now she could already tell it was going to be something she loved beyond reason. "Oh? Mi-chan has had Mantlebloom for three seconds and she's already obsessing~" Yume teased the other girl.

Anais listened to the last of the things said by Ailen. It seemed he remembered quite a few things. Anais was capable of following his thought patterns even without him directly implanting information into her mind. She finally did what she was going to do the entire time. Placing the Mantlebloom into the pool of liquid and leaving it to begin the process of growing. She made no assumptions about the nature of its growth, she'd spent all night making that puddle she didn't assume it'd be growing instantaneously "Hai, I can work with that. I'll see what kind of thing it does on its own. I'll spend some time thinking about sounds. I could probably sing to it," she murmured. These were her thoughts about the potential of Mantlebloom. it began its own box of thought processes. Anais stood finally stretching. She was still prancing about on her tiptoes but headed for the bath which was connected to this particular bedroom. It was oddly the sort of setup she recognized as a wall shower with a stool and a deep soaking tub. What an oddly modern looking thing though Sakura did say she took these sorts of things from the minds of those present. This could help them move right along, towards the creation of breakfast and the rest of the day.

[Bloodedge]

Now that Anais had her new plant in place to clean her... excess mana, Ailen was indirectly reminded of his plan to bathe. Of course, said reminder only came in the form of seeing the elafia saunter off to the bathroom. After a quick, yet thorough cleansing, Ailen was found in the kitchen once more. Charlemagne was already present in the sitting room, holding his sword over the table and giving it a thorough inspection. He'd been quite busy during his most recent waking hours. Now, he almost seemed to be communing with his recently-upgraded weapon.

While looking over the sword, Charlemagne did notice the elf walking into the kitchen through his periphery. "Cooking again?" the younger male wondered as he sat around in only a pair of blue shorts and a sleeveless white shirt. "Of course," Ailen replied. "I was thinking of preparing Dragon's Breath Sausage to start the day. Perhaps Glimmergrain Crepes to pay homage to the culture three of you share," he muttered while sorting through ingredients. He was quite married to the ideas already in place, leaving only... a decision of meat. "Hmm. But, as for the sausage itself... perhaps the Vulcanian Swine. That would pair will with Sunfire Tea as well. . ."

[Apollymi]

Anais also emerged from her room, a while later, completely washed from her rather arduous night. She was putting her hair up into a ponytail, noticeably missing her usual hood. It would seem a certain amount of comfort was reached by the elafia in present company and she wasn't actively trying to hide anymore. Her eyes still maintained that glowing quality they always seemed to have but for the most part she seemed to be quite relaxed. Her outfit had also reached a certain amount of change. Instead of the neutral brown corset and its accompanying tights. She was wearing a similarly designed dress with a long splits up to her hips. She was notably barefoot but still prancing about on her toes. She was oddly at ease as she approached in time to hear what was for breakfast. "Ooh? We're having crepes? I haven't had crepes in ages.... getting Livvy to make them is difficult. Though, I was supposed to get some after our most recent mission," Anais mentioned at random. It was sad, that falling out of the sky had kept her from one of the Peers best rewards. Still there was the here and now and Anais would appreciate it. She wasn't completely familiar with all the ingredients but she fully intended to help. "Good Morning, Charlie..." she offered the lad who was apparently still communing with his sword.

The day was quite interesting. It would be a while yet before Yume joined, as she'd decided she wanted a long soak in the bath. And Martha was rather busy beating up a punching bag within this space's gym place. Sakura... was making her way towards the front room as she had finally finished whatever it was she was working on. That being said, breakfast was indeed something everyone would be looking for, eventually.

[Bloodedge]

Anais joined the elf within the kitchen, making a specific mention of crepes as something she'd gone without for a very long time. Ailen figured as much. "It's always good to have a taste of home after being away for some time. Since you offered to help, I figured there was a chance I'll do it justice," Ailen claimed. His searching paused briefly as he took special note of the elafia's... unexpected state of dress. She had obviously become more comfortable since even the previous day, so he wouldn't be bringing any additional attention to it... apart from his own. "I do also wonder if there are any authentic techniques I'm missing. But first the sausage. This is Vulcanian Swine, which should bring a smoky flavor that I intend to bring heat and lift back to with Dragon's Breath. We just have to form it into sausages first ─ which we do with our hands before applying cold to force form retention," he explained quickly while laying out a large slab of crimson meat that looked as if it had been dropped into magma.

Meanwhile, Charlemagne looked away from his sword due to the greeting of Anais. "Morning, Annie," he said initially, taking pause upon realizing she wasn't wearing that hood for once. Unlike the elf, Charlemagne would be bringing attention to this change immediately... as any good friend would. "The hell, Annie?! We've been here a day, not a month! I've never seen you get comfortable in less than six years!" he announced while pointing his sword at the lass, almost as if he'd discovered an imposter among their ranks.

[Apollymi]

Anais had officially joined the front room and in the kitchen with Ailen she was hearing out his ideas for breakfast. She wasn't completely familiar with all of the ingredients, but looking at the piece of meat she could get a general idea of how this sort of thing was to work. "Food nostalgia is quite strong..." Anais said about the taste of home. As far away as a few days ago felt to her, she remembered that she really wanted to have Japanese food after finding herself in Munetsuchi. Regardless. "Also I am sure you would do it justice regardless of me. My understanding of the general techniques involved is fairly easy to explain and understand," she added. Though she did know a bit about crepes and making them, it were things she'd learned from their resident dominatrix. Who summed up dessert creation as control and accuracy. Moving on from that though, there was a this new kind of meat and the formation of sausages. "That looks like it was bathed in lava... still sausages will make a great breakfast food," she murmured, while making sure she didn't think too long about sausages. Still, she'd commit this information to memory and maybe learn how to handle meats which didn't look like they should be edible.

Before that, there was a morning greeting. The one offered by Ailen was seemingly without notice of her change in appearnace. No that wasn't right, he noticed and he didn't say anything. In the exact opposite fashion, Charlemagne said good morning but also immediately drew attention to the amount of comfort being shown by the girl who rarely went without hiding in plain sight. "Waah! You can't just call me out like that, Charlie. I'm sure I don't take that long to get comfortable..." she murmured in a manner most shy with a blush crossing the bridge of her nose. "Besides, I think it says more about the people than me that I feel comfortable right now," she offered. The truth of the matter was that she woke up feeling more like her human self. Something that likely would have happened just by exposure to Yume alone, but it seemed to be sped up by her previous night's dreams. Now, she was going to be herself to a certain extent.

[Bloodedge]

Ailen nodded. Rare was it that he enjoyed the various cuisines of his own homeland. Whenever he did, though, it was always a treat that took him back centuries upon centuries... upon centuries. Actually, now that he was thinking about it, he'd enjoy the idea of showing this group his culture's foods. There was one that came to mind for the current breakfast plan; maybe this lot would be accepting of it. "Nostalgia is quite the potent thing. If you all would like to indulge me, I could show you something from my childhood. The Moonblossom Salad is an integral dish to my culture ─ particularly in the dynasty I remember. It is light and elegant ─ reflective of our once-reveled connection with nature," he explained. "Though I'm sure I cannot make crepes as well as a native, I am quite confident in this salad the way my line constructed it," he added, nodding as he went about cutting that strange meat into seven equal, large chunks. "The Vulcanian Swine is, as its name implies, a creature that thrives in the hottest environments; it typically sleeps deep within dormant volcanoes. The meat carries the most delicious smoky flavor, though it requires knowledge to be capable of cooking it at all. You'll notice it is always slightly hot to the touch, like warm coals."

While the elf took up one of the meat slabs and molded it between his hands, Charlemagne looked toward Anais as if passing judgment. His eyes were narrow, his brows completely horizontal, and then... "Annie, I've seen you wearing full armor and a hood to sleep before," he said plainly. Perhaps there was a story to that scenario, but Charlemagne wouldn't be the one giving it. He would, however, comment on the idea of having some unknown salad with breakfast. "After what I ate last night, you could feed me almost anything and I'd eat it," he said. Of course, some days... that would be the case regardless of any previous experiences. The elf didn't need that information.

[Apollymi]

Ailen wanted indulgence for some food from his homeland as well. Anais was excited by the prospect and she was sure others would be happy too. The way she and her friends generally treated others meant that anyone who cooked as long as they could actually cook, had nothing to fear as far as their menu choices was concerned. "I'd try it, and Yuyu would too... " Anais said confidently. "Cook privilege includes self-indulgence~" she commented warmly. There were few things she knew as well as her friends. Just the same, Ailen was now cutting meat, seemingly he was confident in his ability to make the salad even if he was less confident in his crepe creation. According to Ailen the type of swine he was about to cook slept in dormant volcanoes and as such had a very specific kind of flavor. Anais ever studious watched the way he handled the treatment and butchering of this particular food. He claimed these pieces were always warm to the touch, Anais would test this, only after watching him make the first of the sausages. "Sou ka, is that how it works..." she murmured. She was watching the man create sausages, but at the same time, she was thinking of handling a different kind of meat. A side eyeing would occur as she considered making breakfast making something of an ordeal for her mentor. And maybe she would...

If Charlemagne let her off the hook. And that wouldn't be currently as the lad seemed content to continue teasing his comrade. She'd mentioned it was a matter of comfort with this group of people which left her uncovered and unarmored for the day. Charlemagne pointed out a situation in which the girl had gone to sleep, completely armored and with her hood on. "I told you then I had a bad feeling about that place. I wanted to be ready to run without having to get ready..." she said in a huff. "I was right about that too," she said her own brows coming together. She seemed almost pouty that anyone had noticed the strangeness of her habits so clearly. She figured she likely seemed a bit weird, but their entire friend group was weird. Even so, Charlemagne claimed that after the previous day he'd eat just about anything created by the Elf in question. At the same moment Sakura would finally emerge from their room, sitting to join Charlemagne and commenting absently about what she'd heard. She was still wearing her dark dress but was also barefoot and seemed rather comfortable as well. "Sleeping in full armor seems like it would be uncomfortable," she said. "Ohayougouzaimasu, minna..." she added at the end for effect. "Iia, it wasn't really bad, I was sleeping upright with my back against a wall..." Anais mentioned which likely put her paranoia on display. "But I really don't sleep that way often," she added quickly. "Good Morning, Sakura-chan," she added.

[Bloodedge]

"Interesting. I assumed any number of you would be adverse to having a salad for breakfast. I suppose I didn't give enough credit, sticking instead with the typical meathead adventurers and warrior tropes. Seeing humans who don't rely on magic choose vegetables as a primary feature in a dish is... unusual," Ailen explained as his hands continued to work around a quickly-forming tube of meat. He set the aforementioned cylinder aside once it was complete, then went about grabbing the next slab to repeat the process. Anais seemed to be picking up the method from observation, stating what sounded like her understanding of sausage-forming in this particular case. "Indeed. Care to try? The chunks are already appropriately sized; you need only mold them to shape."

Meanwhile, Charlemagne was leaning back in his chair while a feint glow encompassed the blade of his sword. He wasn't doing much of importance with it at this point; he instead focused mostly on chatting. "You did say that, and you were right about it. That still doesn't change the facts," he said casually. With that, Charlemagne stared into the ceiling, seemingly in thought. "I really wasn't expecting the uncle, but it made so much sense after everything was said and done..." he mused. Just then, Sakura arrived and sat next to him, as could be expected of her at this point. Upon hearing her general greeting, Charlemagne looked away from his sword to the lass. "Morning. Did you finish your thing?"

[Apollymi]

Ailen had a set of preconceived notions about the types of humans he was currently surrounded by. It was all pretty fair as a set of assumptions, but there were lots of different kinds of humans in the world and the type they were kept them from being hardcore stereotypes. "Hm, well I wouldn't say it's unusual. Most of us wouldn't choose vegetables as breakfast, but some people are raised not to waste stuff and those hungry enough not to question most food as long as they don't have to make it themselves," Anais mentioned, knowing that she had friends that fell into various versions of those categories. "Oh, and the ones that would try it, to just not be rude," she said that last one being the sort of individual she was in general. Beyond these points, her observations were noticed and as such she gave minor consideration to the help she would offer. Perhaps she should actually help? "Hai hai, I can try..." she murmured. Perhaps she should actually try to create food before moving on to tormenting someone, besides, she had to check and make sure she wasn't being directly observed still.

And lo, Sakura showed up just in time. Hearing the logic behind Anais's choice to sleep in full armor made it make more sense to the lass. The last sentence of Charlemagne's before she sat, implied a certain amount of problematic nature applied to whatever adventure caused the girl to do this sort of thing. "I mean it doesn't change the fact that I did it, but I didn't do it for no reason, Charlie," she said still pouting lightly. "The uncle weirded me out," she stated plainly, remembering that man looking at her in a way which made her want to crawl into a corner and die. Her hands had picked up a single piece of meat which she began moving her fingers around. She molded it into a sausage while noting the meat itself was indeed warm to the touch. 'I'm really a pervert, even doing this I'd rather be touching a dick...' she thought absently. In truth she was pretty decent at making the shape of the sausage match the other he'd already created by feel alone, even while toying with the idea of touching something else. 'Hell yeah, wash our hands grab his dick, ruin his concentration!~' Sinais was such an invasive creature, but with Sakura present it became less odd as a thing to do. "Sou ka, I guess if there was some kind disturbance happening, sleeping in full armor is less concerning," Sakura said understanding the other girl's logic, and catching a hint of her desires. Interesting how quickly the feelings around humans changed. As for Charlemagne's question it was easily answered. "Hai! It didn't take as long as I thought it would. I tried my hand at a more random thought progression to achieve the type of evolution I was searching for," she explained of her little project.

[Bloodedge]

Anais understood what the elf was getting at; many humans did shy away from any great quantity of flora in their diets. She then went on to list several types of people who would instead accept vegetables ─ all of whom he could easily tolerate. "Those kinds of people are interesting, I suppose. So long as someone isn't an imbecile about their intake preferences, I can always work with them. Though... I doubt I would care to do much more than what was requested of me, if this happened to be a job I was given," Ailen declared with a fair amount of thought. While he worked on the second of seven sausages, Anais took up the third to begin shaping it. From the looks of things, she was doing quite well already. "That's the way. You've got it under control," the elf commented as he moved on to number four.

Charlemagne shrugged. Maybe Anais did have a viable reason for her uncomfortable behavior during their earlier adventures; he still thought her execution was a little extreme. "You could've just been more vocal about it, you know? We could have slept in shifts or..." He paused then, remembering who their group consisted of during that recent long journey. He'd seen what an Astolfo guard shift looked like. "... You know what? Never mind. Maybe under different circumstances," he said finally. Moving on to Sakura's apparent experimentation, the goddess claimed she was done with it. "Awesome. I finished working on some of my stuff too. At least... the party buff is done, and uh... I think my sword likes it? I feel like that shouldn't make sense, but I think it makes sense."

[Apollymi]

Ailen had some pretty thoughtful things to say about being a chef and dealing with the masses. Anais could understand what he meant, and would comment while working on her sausage, which was coming together nicely. "Well, you aren't alone in that... and no one likes a picky eater," she commented knowing how he felt. If it was simply a job it would be easy not to go out of one's way to complete things. Anais could agree though she didn't have much experience with such things. What was more, the lass received more praise, which only served as motivation. "Hai!" she confirmed. Maybe she should be worried by how easily she was motivated by someone of importance telling her she was doing a good job? Or maybe she should just accept it? 'Accept it, do more work then grab the dick!~' Sinais was full of interesting quips. Oddly enough, Anais planned on doing exactly what her internal voice wanted from her. After finishing the sausage she was working on, she moved onto another... she did actually offer to help with breakfast, she should help before doing anything else.

At the same time, she was still having a friendly conversation with Charlemagne. The lad claimed she could have simply been more vocal about her distrust in that particular situation and he was right. He even suggested the potential of having slept in shifts, but took that one back after a moment of consideration under different circumstances he claimed. "Yeah, I know. I've been working on trying to speak up more. It was a little more difficult for me then..." she admitted. Their group for that extended mission was a bit more, chaotic than Anais would have normally wanted to deal with as her then self. Right now, she felt like she could handle many things much better. Her current level of comfort would have put others of their friend group at ease considering how very withdrawn she was most of the time. Moving on from this, Sakura received a bit of praise about the work she'd put in, and Charlemagne explained what he'd been doing. He said something which might have been considered odd to at least Anais the previous days, but now she understood. It would be Sakura however who commented. "It probably does like it and it makes sense. Otou-sama says that all things have souls, and weapons act as extensions of their wielders souls, depending on their nature. It is best if you and yours are getting along...." she expressed happy for him to have come up with something. "A new party buff... yours were always pretty good. I am curious about the connection to your weapon, I have a new one too now it'd probably be good to test it a bit later~" Anais offered. As she finished work on her second sausage bringing the grand total up to five. Somehow having more than reasonable dexterity made this task feel rather easy... or maybe it was something else. 'It's something else~' her internal voice was quite aggressive today. Oh well, their current trajectory would leave the pair with one each sausage to make at the end of this round.

[Bloodedge]

"I have no real issue with picky eaters. Desires of the soul are not to be argued with," Ailen clarified. If picky eaters were such due to what their souls needed for completion, he was fine with it. Ah, but there were some exceptions. "Mind you, I will not abide those... vegans. Ever," he added firmly, a flame of distaste dancing across his irises. Those individuals would never receive anything more from the elf. Nevertheless, he was content to almost mindlessly mold sausages one after another ─ soon moving on to his fourth, and one of the last two.

Charlemagne could only wonder how their most recent party became such a ragtag group, even among the Peers who already fit that particular bill as a collective. Just about any other combination of their members would have created a better set to guard one another in shifts. Anais may have been the most balanced option among them, but the other two... "Astolfo Crash!" Speaking of the other two, one happened to be entering the sitting room at present. Specifically, the pink-haired lad was being... launched? Somehow, he was flying straight into the space between Charlemagne and Sakura, squeezing rapidly between the two and crashing the table... and, worse still, accidentally hitting the flat of Charlemagne's sword with his forehead. "Owowowowow!" he chanted as Charlemagne scooted away. "Yeah, I think I'm understanding that whole 'extension of soul' thing," he said, as if to credit his sword for striking the invasive Astolfo. "Just one time, can you just... do a normal thing? You know, like maybe walking into a room?"

[Apollymi]

Ah, Ailen thought that picky eaters weren't really problematic because of the desires of the soul. That was likely true, even so they were annoying as people. Still, the elf had a hard no to offer, and it was to vegans. Anais looked up from the work of her hands to see the pure distaste dancing across the man's eyes. "Alright, Shishou's not allowed internet access~" she murmured. If he didn't want to encounter vegans keeping him away from the unfiltered chaos of the internet and vegans as a whole. She supposed all of this was fine and was soon forming her last sausage just in time to see Astolfo's major entrance.

Sakura also saw this entrance, and soon found the lad launching himself between herself and Charlemagne. A gentle movement would have her sliding to the side as the lad's head hit the flat part of Charlemagne's sword. She looked confused, as his announcement included his name an the action that went along with it. Though he seemed a bit hurt by the physical damage he didn't seem at all discouraged. "Curious, that reaction implies this is normal..." Sakura observed. "Though why did he choose between us?" Sakura wondered aloud. Perhaps the amount of invasive someone like Astolfo was would remain lost upon her. "Very normal... and he likely can't stop, as for why, that one is up in the air. I'm going to friend jail for not noticing how familiar this is," Anais said closing her eyes and shaking her head. "Good morning, Asta. Are you hurt or do you count that as your normal brain jarring wake up?" Anais added, though she made sure to ask the lad about his wellness. She wouldn't let him suffer, even if it was his own fault. She wasn't rude even when she was distressed by the strange antics of her friends. Just the same she finished the last of the sausages and then went on to wash her hands of any implied residue in so doing, she had a proper look around and being plotting against the elf at her side. 'Fuck friend jail, slut hell we're ruining Shishou's breakfast making~' mused Sinais.

[Bloodedge]

Whatever the internet was, Ailen would avoid it like the next plague if it had anything to do with those vegan creatures. Anything so repulsive could be kept far, far away from him. "That sounds excellent, given what I've managed to interpret," he said as the final sausages were placed. Anais went on to begin washing her hands, and the elf had one final thing to do before joining her. He moved all seven sausages onto a large tray of ice, which would eventually force them to maintain their form... among other things. "That's all of the sausages," he surmised while joining Anais in handwashing.

After Astolfo landed between the pair, both Charlemagne and Sakura were shifting away. No one could really understand why he did the things he did... including Astolfo himself. "Sometimes, it's better not to question it," Charlemagne stated. Astolfo rubbed his forehead repeatedly, feeling a lump forming from that sudden impact. Anais was the only one checking his wellbeing, yet... all he could do was smile. "That one felt like Olga!" was all he said. Apparently, Astolfo was fine. Charlemagne expected as much, and was already moving to the other side of the table ─ all to avoid any further Astolfoisms. "So anyway, everything's finally coming along at a reasonable pace, I think. It's pretty refreshing."