The smell of coconut wafted through the air, and that was when she appeared.
Cassandra adorned in a knee length purple cloth dress, with black slacks tucked into a pair of shin high boots making her dress out to be a tunic, as she came waltzing on into the dining hall. Her eyes shifted over the absurdly long rectangular table, her eyes tracing over the two elves and two human girls, before looking to her own family.
"Seems like almost everyone is here..." Her head shifted to the side as she went to look over her shoulder, but no Jack was behind her. "Huh," her eyes trailed towards the ground, her eyes taking in the familiar surroundings that she saw every morning, and every night at supper..
The floor was covered in flat tiled slabs of polished slate, the walls were covered with dark chocolate colored wood panelling and a decorative wainscoting of unpainted cherry wood.
The support beams for one of the many internal balconies could be seen lining the walls evenly every eight feet apart.
Various portraits graced the walls above the wainscoting.
Gilded oil lamps, truly made of iron were attached to the walls, but were unlit as their glass covers were burnt black by their previous flames.
Above the massive, unneeded and expensive, table was a large chandelier made of ivory and gold with red wax candles and black wicks contrasting with the walls. It's only purpose truly is to bring light into the otherwise naturally unlit room. All the same, its very existence was an exaggeration as the room was still dim and practically unlit.
Runa turned her gaze towards Cassandra as she sniffed the air, as did Vivian, blinking at the scent that it seemed only Runa and Kokei could recognize.
Kokei made his sudden appearance, seamlessly entering from the kitchen door attached to the room with a pair of trays carrying platters of omelet rice, with a red condiment in a small glass beside each dish. It was ketchup, or at least a thick homemade variant of the sauce.
Cassandra blinked several times seeing this and even smelling it. The red sauce had a citric scent to it, similar to a tomato which was commonly thought to be poisonous or bad for one's health to those who don't study. However there was plenty of salt in it too. She licked her lips slightly at this unhealthy flavor enhancer as she would quickly make her way over towards her parents and sat down boyishly with a heavy emphasis behind a simple flop.
The moment she was seated, that was when Jack decided to make himself known as he too came out from the kitchen as Kokei stood beside the table.
"I see you're done your bath," Jack chuckled, "Did you enjoy the sweet scented soap?"
Cassandra nodded wildly at this, "Yes. Yes I did! Where did you get it?"
"From an Island… I don't quite remember the name of it however," his head lulled to the side before he gazed over towards the tray in the hands of Kokei. "Ah, you made ketchup!"
Kokei chattered his jaw a bit excitedly, since he couldn't taste it, this was a test to see if he could still cook without the sensation of taste.
Oddly enough though, he had the ability to smell through the ambient use of magic that his body uses to remain animated. He was still getting used to the strange floating sensation as he couldn't feel very much unless it was an intense feeling.
"I found some tomatoes in the kitchen repository." He shared telepathically as he began to place each plate down in front of the people before him. "I hope you all enjoy omelet rice. The cook was 'wise' enough to let me borrow the kitchen for this meal."
Jack grinned a bit at the genuine happiness the Lich seemed to be having just cooking food for people. "You seem to be afraid of combat, but you are definitely in your element when it comes to cooking."
"I… Trained as a cook in the Master Chief program," Kokei centered this message on Jack alone, "Not that it would be effectively useful where we came from, but now at least I can have someone else taste my food for real!"
Jack tilted his head to the side slightly as he listened to this, and nodded. There were many things that he was hardly noticing. Like the food was real here. He hadn't really tried it yet, though he had plenty of it in his inventory.
In the game there would be monsters who dropped food and ultimately that food would have healing properties. Combining those ingredients would further the effects once made into a meal.
Jack was actually now wondering if the skeleton had used eggs from his inventory, or ones from the Kitchen. It was likely that they'd be worth much more here if they were from the game itself.
Though Jack hadn't tested or appraised any of the food from their world to know if it was the same, or changed from what it used to be.
Jack began to caress his chin in thought before his eyes locked with that of Cassandra's who was staring at him from across the room. Apparently she had been doing so since he had named the sauce in the small glasses.
"You should eat the omelets before they get cold," He'd advise with a small snicker before looking to the Lady Carmichael who was glaring knives at him through her eyes.
Vivian pulled herself out of her chair and walked up to Jack, her head dropping back a bit so she can look up at him as she stood only five feet and he was two feet taller.
For the first time since he walked into the room, Jack was beginning to notice she was wearing a simple dress rather than the gambeson that he had her wearing the day before. Not that it mattered, he just hoped that it wasn't laying around somewhere.
Everything she had been wearing was expensive in this world, and likely hard to come by unless taken from a dungeon.
Seeing the worry on his face, her small smile became rather bright, "Don't worry." It seemed she knew what he was thinking, "Runa is holding onto my things." She raised her hand slightly, revealing the rings still being on her fingers. "I'm not taking these off though, heehee~"
Jack placed a hand on the top of the little elf's head and ruffled the little amount of hair that was there. "Good to know," he then turned his head to look towards Runa who was giving him this bland look.
It appeared that the Lord Carmichael had given away the tale what he had supposedly done with Cassandra last night.
A small bout of laughter erupted in the back of his throat as he shook his head.
Runa raised a brow at this, crossing her arms and leaning forward, as if asking him to share.
Jack just shook his head at this and turned his gaze to Reign and Snow.
Unlike everyone else who had their eyes on him, these two were scarfing down the omlets.
"Sister! This tastes amazing!"
"I know right! I never had eggs before!"
"We never had any kind of food before, dummy!"
Jack just watched the two of them playfully bickering at one another as they had their mouths full of food. It was rather entertaining to watch, especially when they started squealing the instance in where they added the ketchup to their omletes.
Clearing his throat, Carmichael would look up at Jack, "Are you going to sit down and join us for the meal, Jack?" He addressed him casually, similar to how Jack referred to him as Ivan rather than Lord.
Though it was also partially because Jack had told him to call him by his name.
Jack nodded slightly before pulling out the chair, and casually slipping into the seat. The minute he had sat down, he could hear the clambering of the dishes and utensils. They immediately started to chow down. He couldn't help but gaze over everyone, the only person who wasn't eating was boring holes into the side of his head.
His eyes rested on the Lady Carmichael, "Is there something I can help you with?"
"Do angels truly sleep with the Daughters of Lords? Or is it a demon dressed in feathers, and golden lights?" Lady Carmichael asked as she pointed her sterling silver fork at him.
"Do you think that I, a revered being am innocent and free of flaws, free of monstrosities?" Jack asked curiously as he plucked his own fork up from the table, the long fork beside the short one.
Lady Carmichael blinked at his words, as the scripture has depicted the use of massive magical weapons that could obliterate an entire city or flood an entire world. Though of course, those monstrosities had justifications, not that they truly mattered in the first place as they were just stories in a book fed to generation to generation.
"I--"
Jack cut her off as he waved the head of his fork around slightly, dismissing what she was about to say. As if saying it wasn't important to even hear it. "We Angels are Monsters, our natural enemy just happens to be everyone else's enemy, Demons."
Bringing the fork down he would cut open the omelet with the side of the instrument, easily bisecting it to reveal the gooey innards and beautiful golden white rice beneath. His tongue traveled along the interior of his lips.
Lady Carmichael just remained seated there, glaring at the angel, the skeleton and the two elves. She hardly minded the over reacting sisters at the other end of the table.
Nonetheless, when she went to look to Cassandra, the outgoing and arrogant bookwork seemed to be coyly flashing glances towards Jack. Even visibly biting at her lip between bites of food, squirming in her seat. It was as if the person she had seen as her political tool and hostage had some sort of interest in the angel who had suddenly shown up on their doorstep.
Visibly, the Lady wasn't very happy.
Pushing her plate forward, she went to stand up until a fist came crashing down on the table.
Lady Carmichael froze as she looked down towards the Lord, her Husband.
"Woman! Sit down and eat your breakfast!" Ivan shouted with his mouth full, food returning to his plate and the table itself.
She blinked several times looking at him, he had never actually asserted himself in this manner. He had become more confident overnight it seemed. All this time before, his interjections were merely advisory.. Now he was ordering her around?
Lady Carmichael flickered her eyes towards Jack who was plaining eating his omelet, hardly giving her the time of day. The gaze she wore, blamed him.
"My Wife! Sit down and eat!" He went to reach out to grab her by the skirt, only for the lady to smack his hand and storm off and out of the room.
Ivan grunted and watched as she left, only to murmur under his breath and go back to eating.
Cassandra completely blocked it out. Her feet swaying back and forth, her heels hitting and bouncing off the ground each time as she hummed.
"So what're we doing today anyways?" She suddenly spoke up as she looked to the other people, assuming the guests would be including her in whatever they were planning.
"Talking to your father about starting some local reforms, starting with finance." Jack's eyes moved from his plate and over towards Lord Carmichael who nodded as he poured some water down his gullet.
"Ah..." Cassandra pursed her lips at this old news, since she already knew what Jack wanted to do with the City itself. "Perhaps..."
"How about you two go on a date?" Runa leaned over the table, her plate was completely clear of food, not even a grain of rice to be seen.
Jack glanced over towards Runa with a dark gaze, not wanting to feed the idea of them going out, despite his actions earlier when he practically assaulted Cassandra in bed.
"...Or not?"
"I want to go on a date," Cassandra curled her toes in as she leaned in towards Jack, her hands resting on the edges of the table. Her two toned eyes shooting through him like high powered lasers.
Jack let out a quiet sigh and replied monotonously, "Alright?"