[X] Let him go alone. He'll need to stretch those huge muscles somehow, and imagine the damage the others could do if left in your kitchen unsupervised!
- [X] Recommend him a nice route. Ideally, one that avoids your nosiest neighbours. Remind him to take hisExchange Visas with him.
Changing votes cos I remembered that Clyde is a centaur and likely jogs at, or faster than, our running pace, and also would likely jog far farther than we would be able to keep up with. Something which would likely result in us being carried back by Clyde, which while likely amusing, is not really what I'm about, especially this early in the game.
There are also the arguments above, which helped to convince me.
[X] Let him go alone. He'll need to stretch those huge muscles somehow, and imagine the damage the others could do if left in your kitchen unsupervised!
- [X] Recommend him a nice route. Ideally, one that avoids your nosiest neighbours. Remind him to take his Exchange Visas with him.
I'm convinced too. Fair enough, he's probably one of the guys we can trust most on his own.
[X] Let him go alone. He'll need to stretch those huge muscles somehow, and imagine the damage the others could do if left in your kitchen unsupervised!
- [X] Recommend him a nice route. Ideally, one that avoids your nosiest neighbours. Remind him to take his Exchange Visas with him.
BTW, do the neighbours know we're going to be hosting liminals? Unlike with Darling this had been properly planned a month in advance, so I thought they probably would have been told.
BTW, do the neighbours know we're going to be hosting liminals? Unlike with Darling this had been properly planned a month in advance, so I thought they probably would have been told.
You notified the Homeowners Association (because you had to), but it wasn't like you went door-to-door warning everyone. Your schedule means you aren't the most social person, so the majority likely only heard it through the grapevine, if they heard it at all. Since even you didn't know they were coming last night, the fact that they're already here will be a bit of a shock for them.
You notified the Homeowners Association (because you had to), but it wasn't like you went door-to-door warning everyone. Your schedule means you aren't the most social person, so the majority likely only heard it through the grapevine, if they heard it at all. Since even you didn't know they were coming last night, the fact that they're already here will be a bit of a shock for them.
[X] Let him go alone. He'll need to stretch those huge muscles somehow, and imagine the damage the others could do if left in your kitchen unsupervised! -[X] Recommend him a nice route. Ideally, one that avoids your nosiest neighbours. Remind him to take his Exchange Visas with him. No. of votes: 12
"You should be fine going alone," you decide after a moment's thought. "If I could offer some advice, hang a left out the driveway, then hook left again. That'll give you a better run. If you go right out the drive, you'll just hit a cauldisac and have to turn around, and going right on Tanglebrook will just put you on the main road in a half mile."
"Thank you kindly, doc. Anything else I should know?"
"The roads back here are kind of confusing, so I'd suggest sticking to Tanglebrook until it splits and then going left onto Mal Bay Road. There's a creek and a small lake along that way, so the scenery will be good. Just after you hit Mal Bay you'll probably want to stick to the left side of the road though: the Masons have a German Shepherd they never bothered to socialize properly. They leave her chained up in the yard, so she'll probably bark at you if you get too close."
The route you outlined would also keep him away from the densest clusters of houses and the few members of the community you knew were likely to be awake at this hour, which was definitely a bonus.
"Mal Bay road, avoid the dog. Got it," Clyde says, fishing a blocky smartphone from inside his kilt. "What's your number? I'll call if I run into any trouble."
"Oh, sure," you reply, pulling out your own phone to enter his number. "You'll need this as well."
You slide his Exchange Card over the counter to him, and he scoops it into a pocket.
"Heh, forgot they didn't actually issue these directly to us. Thanks, doc."
In a few minutes, you both had each other's numbers (you'd have to remember to grab everyone else's when they woke up) and Clyde was on his way, trotting along at what would have been a brisk pace for you but was probably somewhat leisurely for him. You sigh. He was a great guy, but it was still nice to have the house to yourself again for a little bit. The others were obviously still asleep and probably would be for at least another hour. What to do...
After a brief burst of cleaning to straighten out the kitchen following Clyde's breakfast, you take the liberty of pulling out the things you'd need to make food for everyone else. Zophar and Georgia were both carnivores, so you ready your full arsenal of breakfast meats. Most snakes were fans of eggs, and it would at least break up the monotony of everything else, so you pull up a few egg dishes as well. Honey was a bit tricker, but fortunately you planned ahead. Homemade nectar for hummingbird feeders was a simple recipe to make, involving nothing more complex than boiling sugar in water. It might be a bit plain by your normal standards, but Honey would almost certainly be able to eat it.
With a few minutes, you have a small pot of nectar cooling on the stove and all the accessories you need for a variety of meat-heavy breakfasts. You decide to hold-off on actually cooking until they start to wake up thought: no point in letting things get cold. The hard part now finished, you grab your tablet from where it was charging and retreat to the nearby sunroom with your next cup of coffee.
Sinking into your usual seat, you put your feet up and resume spending your Sunday morning as you usually did: sipping coffee and reviewing articles in various veterinary journals. Doctors were lucky, you reflected as you read about a new operation someone performed on a rhino up in Ohio. They only had to worry about the biology of one species. You built your practice on simple promise that you would never turn a patient away, no matter how odd its species, and thus far you'd managed to keep that promise. Unfortunately, that meant that a depressing amount of your free time was spent doing research so you could treat such a wide variety of creatures. If you didn't keep such long hours, you'd probably never have been able to manage it.
It wasn't until an hour and a half later that you began to hear signs of life from upstairs: a strange shifting sound, like someone dragging a heavy sack across the floor. A quick bit of mental math tells you that this must be Georgia. The noise was coming from the right area of the house, and while you'd never heard what a giant snake tail sounded like from below, that was probably it. By the time she slithers down the stairs, you already have a pan warmed up over the stove.
"Morning!" you call cheerfully. "Eggs okay for breakfast?"
"That would be perfect, thank you," she politely responds, bowing her head. She's wearing a long sundress in a neutral cream color, with a matching wide-brimmed sunhat. Her hair, you can't help but notice, appears to be entirely tucked away beneath the hat.
"Perfect. How do you usually have them?"
"Omelet, if it isn't too much trouble. Oh, do you have Tabasco sauce?"
"Fond of spicy food?" you ask with a smile, and she blushes.
"...a little. I can't really taste mild flavors very well."
"I suspected as much." You sweep over to the fridge and pull out some chorizo sausage that you had set aside for just such an emergency. "I've got a recipe I think you'll like. To confirm, how are you with vegetables?"
"Oh, they're fine as long as I don't try to eat a lot of them," she replies, and you nod. Within moments the sound of sizzling sausage and sauteing onions fills the room as you set yourself to work mixing milk, egg, salt, and pepper. Georgia watching what you are doing intently, her golden eyes taking in every detail.
"So can I get you anything to drink?" you ask, putting the freshly cooked onions and bell peppers aside as you pour the egg into the now empty pan.
"Tea will be fine," she answers softly. "I can make it though, I know you're busy."
"Please, you're a guest and I'm your host. I'll take care of it in just a moment."
"Um...I'm not really a guest, though, am I?" Georgia ventures uncertainly. "I mean, I'm going to be living here for a year. You can't cook us breakfast every single morning, it wouldn't be fair."
You admit that she does have a point, and you do sort of have your hands full. While the chef in you rebels at the very idea of making the person you are cooking for get part of their own meal, she looks so very earnest. The way the light catches her eyes almost seems to make the sparkle, the golden flecks dancing-
A stabbing pain from your finger breaks the spell before it can begin, and you glance down to realize as the paralytic trance had started to set in you accidentally managed to cut into your hand. Sliding the wound out of sight, you smile kindly at Georgia and gesture toward your Keurig machine.
"Tea bags should be in that cupboard there," you explain, pointing with your uninjured hand. "I'd pull out a pot, but the stove's sort of full at the moment."
"That's alright, hot water is hot water," replies the lamia as she slithers past you. Now that her eyes were off you, you hastily reduce the heat on the burners and wipe up the blood with a nearby paper-towel. You're sure she'd just blame herself if she knew you got hurt making her food. "Hmm... Oh, excellent, you have chai!"
"If you like chai, try the metal tin in the back," you suggest, stalling while you pull an adhesive bandage from a nearby drawer and place it over your cut. "That's where I keep my homemade teabags."
"You make your own tea?" she asks in wonder, leaning over more to hunt for the tin you mentioned but being deflected as the brim of her hat gets in the way. "Oof! ...damn thing-I didn't know you could do that!"
"Definitely. Tea's ancient, and back in the day you couldn't just buy it in stores."
By the time she straitens with her tea bag, you've already resumed cooking as though nothing had happened. The many coils of her tail were starting to make your kitchen feel rather crowded, but you're almost done anyway. Pulling the finished omlet off the stove, you sprinkle in the meat, cheese, vegetables, and a dash of oregano before throwing the whole thing into the oven. Georgia eyes the oven oddly as she slides over to finish her tea, but you just smile.
"Not all my tea experiments turned out as well as the others, but the chai was a definite success," you relate, carefully threading your way over her tail to the sink to wash out some of the dishes. "Do you take it with sugar?"
"Just a scoop, usually."
"White jar on the left."
"Thank-oh! You have sugar cubes! How wonderful!"
"They aren't as popular here in the States, but I've always found them to be much classier than simple scoops." You bend over and retrieve the finished omlete from the oven, presenting it to Georgia with a flourish.
"Oh my, that looks excellent!" she exclaims, her forked tongue flicking out to taste the steam wafting off the skillet.
"It's a Hungarian recipe, apparently." You slide the finished omelet onto a plate at the end of the counter, and Georgia glides over to it with her tea in her hands. Like Clyde, most chairs wouldn't really work for her, and she seems to have little problem eating while standing. "I found it on the internet a while back, and have been waiting for an excuse to try it."
"Happy to be of service then," she says with an impish smile before taking a big bite of her food. "!!!!"
"Too hot?" you ask as her eyes go wide. Gold...such an odd color...how... She shakes her head frantically before you can fully freeze again and frantically takes another bite.
"Nuhuh! Shoo god!" Georgia attempts to reply around a mouthful of egg. She realized her mistake and blushes, hiding herself behind her wide hat. "Um...I mean, I like it! It's really, really good."
"Have at it then!"
You hear a slight scratching above you, so you pull a pack of bacon out of the fridge and begin tossing individual slices onto a pan. You're not sure how sensitive an arachne's nose was, but if it was anything like a human one, this would probably bring your next guest running. True to your prediction, no sooner are the first pieces ready than a small form bounds into the kitchen, black eyes wide.
"I smell bacon!" Zophar exclaims, his fingers twitching nervously. He had traded the black shirt he wore yesterday for one of dull gray, which wasn't much of a shift in wardrobe. You barely have time to reflect how odd it is that such a colorful person dresses so plainly when the arachne literally leaps across the room to balance on the side of the counter and grab the plate of bacon in both hands.
"Careful, that's still-" you warn, but he's already begun shoveling it into his fanged mouth.
"OW!"
"...hot," you finish belatedly. "You know, if you two wanted, you could take your food to the dinning room. I'll come in just a minute."
"You'll come," a voice repeats, and Honey slides languidly into the kitchen, a grin on her perfect face.
"Glad you're doing better," you say, not rising to the bait. You slide a glass of the nectar you made over to her, and she surprises you by sticking her entire hand into the glass, merging with the liquid with a squelching sound. "Go on, I'll bring more for you and Zophar."
Fifteen minutes later the four of you are sitting (or standing, in Honey's case) in the dinning room. Across from you, Zophar is almost literally shredding his way through the plate of bacon, sausage, and ham you provided for him. You hope that will have all the vitamins he needs, wild carnivores ate quite a bit more of their prey than was conventionally sold at supermarkets.
Beside him, Georgia has cleared her plate and is sipping her tea calmly, tongue occasionally flicking out to savor the aroma. You decide to call the dish a success, considering she finished before you managed to arrive with your own meal. Honey had absorbed her second glass of sugar water and now scanned the room with a vacant smile, her expression and posture occasionally twisting to mimic one of the three of you.
"So-scrumph-where's the big guy?" Zophar asks, not bothering to swallow before speaking. "I though-omphnomph-thought I heard him-crunchcrunch-clomping around earlier."
"He already ate," you say, taking a bite of your toast. Your breakfast is rather simple compared to theirs, but toast, bacon, and eggs is always classic. Besides, someone has to be omnivore in the house. "He left to take a run about two hours ago, so he should be back any minute. Frankly, I'm surprised he isn't back already."
"Eh, he's got big legs," the arachne replies with a shrug. "Probably takes him a while to fully stretch them. Anyway, did you know you've got a tree down in the backyard?"
"I do? I didn't see anything."
"It's actually in that little line of woods at the back of your property. It was a small tree, not surprised you missed it."
"At the back...You can see that far?" you ask, surveying his large eyes carefully. His primaries were a bit oversized for his face, maybe some kind of complex internal lens setup?
"Oh yeah, no problem at all. I've always had great vision, most of us smaller arachne do," he admits, puffing up somewhat. Georgia's eyes narrow slightly at him behind her thick lenses.
"We'll need to take care of that then," you say with a sigh. "I've got a saw in the shed, shouldn't take more than a few hours. It can probably wait until afternoon though. Did any of you have anything you wanted to get done this morning?"
"Not particularly."
"Eh, whatever you want's fine. Hey, you gonna finish your bacon?"
"Get done..."
You sigh. Guess it was up to you then...
Morning Activity: [ ] Take care of the fallen tree and clean up after the storm.
[ ] Play a game!
[ ] Let them unpack and relax.
-[ ] Help Zophar
-[ ] Help Georgia
-[ ] Help Honey
-[ ] Help Clyde (when he gets back)
-[ ] Let them do it on their own
[ ] Write in: _______________________
We really have to teach Zophar that he can't keep jumping onto people and using them as launch pads, especially in a kitchen. That's just asking to get cut or burned.
[X] Take care of the fallen tree and clean up after the storm.
When the tree was pointed out I my first thought was that Clyde had some how gotten into shenanigans and accidentally knocked it over. :lol
We really have to teach Zophar that he can't keep jumping onto people and using them as launch pads, especially in a kitchen. That's just asking to get cut or burned.
[X] Take care of the fallen tree and clean up after the storm.
When the tree was pointed out I my first thought was that Clyde had some how gotten into shenanigans and accidentally knocked it over. :lol
Oh shit~ My stylus totally slipped~ Ooopsie what a thing to doooo~ \(*・3-)☆
(Later if I have time, I'll do the rest of the cast, because Georgia's picture is a little bit silly and I have a whole other image of her, Clyde's picture is not nearly anime enough, Zophar is probably a lot younger looking, and also Honey...Honey can lose the tail. )
I wouldn't feel like doing heavy labour first in the morning, and at some point we should take a walk around the neighbourhood with all of them (so not now, since Clyde). Tell them where stuff is (stores, bank, post office, eateries, library, bus stops, etc.), say hello to any neighbours we meet, that kind of stuff. Probably best if this gets done today, since tomorrow's a work day and they're going to have to fend for themselves while we're busy. I think we could probably fit at least two activities before midday, if it's about an hour and a half since Clyde left then it's around 7 AM - still pretty damn early.
@Kaelor, do you intend to have a set schedule for actions? I mean, something like we get to do 'one thing' in each timeslot (morning, midday, afternoon evening, for example). Just trying to figure out how our schedule could work.
Oh shit~ My stylus totally slipped~ Ooopsie what a thing to doooo~ \(*・3-)☆
(Later if I have time, I'll do the rest of the cast, because Georgia's picture is a little bit silly and I have a whole other image of her, Clyde's picture is not nearly anime enough, Zophar is probably a lot younger looking, and also Honey...Honey can lose the tail. )
This is quite literally the coolest thing I've seen all week! Thank you so much! I'll have to switch out the official profile picture for this one when I get a chance!
