34 Braised basilisk

Mandy let out a breath. August relied on her, Albus and Leum to figure out what to do with the future people. They were refugees according to Leum so it was likely they would be staying in this time.

"Was that house also August's domain?" Mandy asked as that might solve the first pressing problem - where would they sleep?

Albus and Leum nodded.

"Can we have them sleep there?" Mandy asked.

"Yes, that house has a lot of bedrooms, it used to be an elf guest house," Albus said.

"What about food?" Mandy asked next.

"It grows things," Albus said.

Hmm, that sounded interesting! Mandy wanted to see! "Well, since we'll have them stay there, perhaps we can all go and take stock?" She looked over at Leum since it felt like Leum could move there.

"Sure," Leum said, then looked over at the people gathered. "I'll move you over to another house, don't panic."

First, he took Mandy and Albus by their wrists and pulled them there, then quickly moved others over in the same way. Some kids yelped at the movement, some ended up stumbling and falling into the soft moss.

The room they arrived at was spacious - one wall was missing, making something like a natural window towards the lake, and a transparent orb-like spirit was floating by the missing wall leisurely. The charged fog was filling the space just the same way as it did with the apartment and some of it gushed over the edge but didn't go far off. There were many lounging chairs formed of elegantly grown branches and covered in soft moss. Flowers too were scattered around filling the space with a refreshing floral scent.

Mandy could now take a proper look and ah, so this is how a properly set up living space in dryad or elf style looked like. The apartment was a mess, way too wild, this place had logic in its design.

"What's that?" Mandy asked pointing at the floating orb.

"Wind elemental," Leum replied. "It keeps the house well ventilated, the right temperature and also bug-free."

Hoh! That was one heck of a convenient pet to have.

"Okay," Albus spoke up, then waved to attract attention. "Safety first - you can walk wherever there's charged fog, don't go out for now. You can look around if you want or follow us along. Bedrooms are upstairs, don't disturb the family already staying there, otherwise feel free to occupy any free rooms you want."

Everyone was looking, some were nodding.

Kiri, the kid with cat ears, raised up a hand. "Is there a toilet here?"

"Yes," Albus replied, "go past the stairs, turn right."

Two more kids joined in that - Claire and Mirose.

"Where's the kitchen?" Mandy asked. Might as well head there right away, the kids would probably find them.

Albus started walking rather than responding and everyone followed just like kids on an excursion would.

The kitchen was spacious just like the other room with a working table in the middle and all kinds of plants growing around, but it wasn't just that - there were also crystalline terrariums with wood pieces and other substrates where various shrooms were growing, also crystal jars with dried teas, fruits, berries and even, unexpected for elves - a sectioned off space with cured meats of game animals. There were oils, seeds, seasonings in peculiar crystal containers and carved wooden tableware. The pots were carved out of stone and knives were sharp crystals of some sort woven into tightly knotted branches.

As Mandy kept running around she also found various grains in crystal containers, a peculiar form of storing potatoes, carrots and other root plants in drawers inside the soil and with small plants/leaves on top to indicate what's where.

Mandy also found some wooden barrels with sauerkraut and various pickled veggies, also some mixes she hadn't seen before, they had a nice scent, even if unfamiliar. The one taking care of this place had set things up in a very thoughtful manner. It was true that on the first look it seemed like the house grew things (and it did), but there was also a caring hand present.

The only thing this place was missing was dairy, but this place did properly demonstrate how to set up a kitchen in spaces like this. Let plants be plants, tightly separate off the rest, don't rely on metal. There was a space for fire in the middle as well, Mandy could tell that the stone pots and pans went over the openings snuggly.

Two kids were kind of tailing Mandy as she snooped around - Alan and Ray. "Let's make dinner?" Mandy asked those very same two. It was likely that these two were into cooking if they followed along like this.

Alan and Ray exchanged glances and nodded.

But first. "Does anyone have alergies or strong dislikes, any vegans?"

By now the toilet people had all returned.

"Vegan," Claire raised up a hand.

"No pickles, if possible," Lai said. Now that Mandy took a more proper look... there was something similar to August in his looks, proportion? He was Asian and short for a male, but very cute looking.

"I don't like garlic," Seraph chimed in.

"I can go hunt something, if needed," Leum offered.

Oh! That sounded good, but Mandy felt like it might be better to keep things light, unless.."Are there any carnivores here?" She asked.

"Cumimi are typically omnivores, but some of us do like meat a lot," Neo replied.

"Now that I think of it I have a half basilisk stored, this room is too small to take it out, though," Leum said.

"Basilisk?" Mandy asked.

"A big snake," Leum said. "Tastes pretty good."

Snake tasted kind of like fish, right? Then braising it might taste good. A menu started forming in Mandy's mind.

"Can you bring me a chunk about this big?" Mandy showed with her hands and Leum left for now.

"How about salad, puree soup, and braised basilisk?"

No objections came and when Mandy asked who wanted to help Neo and Evelynn offered their hands as well. At this point, most people went upstairs to find a bedroom and some went to explore the house.

Mandy talked the recipe over with her helping hands and all of them went to get tools and ingredients.

"Maybe it would be good to ask the people who are staying here if they want some as well?" Mandy asked to Albus as Leum brought in the chunk of snake meat. It was thickly marbled and pink, looked like something between an extremely huge tuna and chicken, taste was-- good! This could be even eaten raw, but not many would go for it so braised it is.

And, good timing, the brown-haired girl came downstairs and curiously observed the animal eared people, then ran up to Albus.

"Hello again," she said. "More guests?"

"Yes, they will be staying for health reasons," Albus said.

"Cool!" the girl said. "Hey! I'm Stephanie," the girl introduced herself to Mandy and Leum, who also named themselves in return.

"Good timing, should we make some extra food for you guys as well?" Mandy asked.

"What'cha making?" Stephanie asked as she watched the meat chunk Mandy was floatin next to her.

"Puree soup, salad, and braised basilisk," Mandy said.

"Sounds good," Stephanie said not even asking about the basilisk. "I'll tell Marcus, mom, and dad. Thanks!"

Then an apparently sixteen-year-old youth with metallic silver hair and equally metallic colored eyes made a few steps down, he was dressed in a format outfit that would fit into a science fiction imperial army.

"Are they from the past or the future?" He asked Albus, as both Stephanie and Mandy cast curious looks at him.

"That's Marcus Revo Turoleo," Albus said, seeing those looks. "Hadean second prince."

"Eh!?" Stephanie was shocked. "Ho-didn't--"

"I thought I'd go for a small astral trip to see where this house is," he said, looking a bit flustered.

"And then the fog filled in for your missing body," Albus said, guessing what had happened. "If you want to enter that body again, carry it outside the fog, then it should work out."

Marcus let out a relieved breath.

"You actually look like a prince," Stephanie said, shaken.

"...I am one," Marcus said.

"But weren't aliens like-- uh-- y'know--" Stepanie mumbled.

"Albus is also an alien," Marcus said.

"EH!!!" Stephanie gave up.

Mandy could get the feel. You wouldn't think Aliens would look like this. Marcus clearly wasn't human, but he was hot even by human standards. (For a kid, that is. But that said you could smell August's DNA on all the animal eared people - they were all way above average in looks, so Marcus actually fit in like normal.)

"Marcus, will you eat?"

"YES." Was an instant reply. Before there was even an explanation about what it was he would be eating. Someone sure was hungry!

"Right," Stephanie turned to run up to tell her parents and Mandy started slicing the meat. The kids had chopped up the vegetables for the soup already and Alan took charge of frying and mixing.

They were good at this. Mandy had to conclude. It even looked like they might be fine with preparing their own meals at this rate. Many took up as much space as possible with the pans and started braising the meat. Others meanwhile set out to make salad, and so, in a short while the food was ready and they ended up going to the widest room by the lake view to eat.

Neo had run around and called everyone to come down (even the visiting family) and they all ended up sharing the meal, even Mandy, Albus, and Leum had some just for company's sake.

The amusing bits were Marcus choking up when Stephanie said Timothy (the body he was taking over) was napping so soundly she didn't have the heart to wake him up and the mother asking if she was seeing all those animal ears on the kids or if they were real. Stephanie said they were accessories, that only the tail wagging and the like were something they imagined seeing. (Mandy had no idea how that would count as believable, but if it worked, then who was she to argue.)

Everyone who ate it praised the meat, Leum only shrugged at that saying 'I said it was good.'

After eating and cleaning up, Stephanie's parents left to sleep, but Marcus and Stephanie stayed behind almost like expecting something. Did they expect to just blend in? Fine, prince or not, they were both kids by Mandy's standards and it had been the said prince who told them about the kids and co. being time travelers so what point would there be in trying to be secretive.

While everyone seemed rowdy still Mandy leaned a bit closer to Leum and Albus and asked. "What do you think would be best for August, I mean, when it comes to them all." If Mandy had to guess then 1) not taking up August's time, 2) not leaking their origin - the time leaping and them being engineered from August's future DNA, other than that nothing came to mind.

"Some of them might be good familiars," Leum said.

Albus nodded at that. "Some of them have insane aether circuits. If they learn to properly channel aether, they would quickly become a great asset."

Oh, so that's the direction these two were taking it in. "Albus, how long do you think it would take them to stabilize?"

"A week for some, up to a month for others I guess," Albus said.

"And then few more months for them to learn the proper use of aether," Leum added.

"Plus, a few more months to learn common sense?" Mandy asked, noticing that there was silence in the room. From which point they had been listening?

Looked like Leum and Albus had already realized they had ears on them.

"Rather than common sense, since they all have dark alignment perhaps we could teach them shapeshifting then do the same thing elves do with their young?" Albus asked.

Right, August had mentioned something about it. "Transfer students?"

"Mhm, if they also learn astral shapeshifting on top, they can pass as dark elves," Leum said.

Albus squinted "Wouldn't it be more reliable if you crafted some artifacts for them. I don't think it's normal to be able to maintain two spells of that type at the same time. They aren't d-" Albus noticed her mistake and paused.

Leum made a feline smile at Albus.

Albus coughed, looking over at the travelers. "How does that sound so far?"

"Up to a month to stabilize can't be helped, I guess no one wants to be clueless about magic," he seemed to be carefully gauging the emotions of those around him. "I guess university transfer students for adults?"

"Good point," Mandy admitted. "Nothing teaches more about the limits of human society than student drinking parties." Mandy's eyes scrunched up, though, she recalled something she would rather not.

"If we regain magic use, what sort of future paths are possible for us?" Neo asked.

The kid asked some real adult questions there. Eh - all of them were intent to know? Just what sort of hardcore world had they come from? Mandy didn't even know if she could properly answer that.

Leum stepped in. "Church won't consider you due to your alignment, Guild is one option - August is also in it, it has various jobs dealing with human/astral conflicts, exploring dungeons, hunting for rare materials or magic beasts. Witch community is another option - they mostly tame magical beasts and negotiate between humans and non-humans. If you want to live a life of a magic scholar away from humans then Mages might take you in, most of you also have light alignment, so necromancy is also a possible path - basically a magic doctor. There's also alchemy if you want to brew potions or create homunculi or golems."

Dangit. Didn't Leum have a complete understanding of things? What's with this overwhelmingly capable air-- Mandy wanted to both congratulate him and do nudgies.

"What was that bit about familiars and being a great asset?" Neo asked politely. "August asked about that to those three girls he named, right?"

This kid was razor sharp-- but he did seem to raise topics all of them were interested in, judging from the looks in their eyes.

Leum smiled. "Many of the abilities you gained, later on, were possible due to inheriting a damaged, corrupt form of divine authority, I wonder what shape they would take with a flawless divine authority. Does that explain the asset part?"

Eh-- that made absolutely no sense to Mandy, but the kid nodded and it seemed like many of the travelers in the room were shaken up by that notion.

Stephanie was just as confused as Mandy was while Marcus was interested.

"Familiars also inherit an additional shape and the lifespan of their master and gain an unbreakable connection," he said. "Master takes in a part of their familiar's soul so no matter what they can't help but feel warm towards their familiars and familiars can't help but feel at home next to their masters."

The warmth in Leum's voice was so apparent that there was no doubt he meant every single word he said. Only now Mandy realized just how sneaky both Leum and Veri were at the moment they tricked August into being their master and it also spoke volumes about the confused expressions August showed soon after.

Leum was, actively at that, expanding August's family. A selfish monopolizing kind of love would desire to keep the family small, but the way he spoke was influencing these travelers of a broken off future branch. Mandy caught an unmistakable sense of longing in many of their eyes.

Sneaky. How very sneaky.

August was their ancestor, in a sense, their family by blood and now Leum was selling them the connection and the warmth.

Even Stephanie who had nothing to do with it seemed moved and Marcus was amazed, pleasantly so. Not quite there, but there was a faint trace of a budding smile on his lips.

"I suppose it's time for you to sleep, you can think it all over for as long as you desire," Leum said, thus ending the conversation and the travelers started to get up in a bit of a daze, deep in thought.

Leum caught on to Mandy's and Albus's hands and stepped backward, pulling them both back to the apartment where August was typing away in high speed, looking like a video recording with speed multiplied by three.

His hair was now braided with flowers in it and a flower crown was on his head and all around him, curled up, slept three girls who no longer had that powerful presence, bits of plucked flowers were scattered about and it was obvious who had messed with August's hair while he worked.

Just moments after they arrived, Veri dropped in along with another girl who also, despite looking unhuman and mysterious had no presence. In a single day, August's family had grown by four.

And, if Mandy's suspicion was spot on, it would grow by fifteen eventually, if not more.