Policeman and the cat

55 - Friday conversations

"Have you ever worked in a Restaurant?" Ian asked.

"No, but my previous group was over three hundred people big and I was making food for them all, with help, of course," Kenneth said. "My appraisal was worse then, but it was the best in the group still. Alchemists are not the types to join underground leagues."

He added that those guys ate from his hands, but the police bunch didn't even show up for meals half the time, took ten years for a twenty or so to reliably show up, near-perfect attendance came with aether infused cooking because to them it's like free aether essences in a delicious form. He said that to most people, developing appraisal is a slow-burning chore, but they can get under meals that make them stronger bit by bit with no extra effort included.

At breakfast, Kenneth announced that - "As you all know our Ian is Lorenz's long lost little brother, he's taking him on a dungeon raid to develop their brotherly bond after twenty-three years of being apart, so he'll be away for around a month or so."

Ian wondered why Kenneth phrased it like that, but then he learned the horrors of what it looks like when people's cook is taken away - they looked like they would forgive Lorenz only due to the circumstances. Ian was happy he was so wanted, but also-- Kenneth would need a lot of skill to brush it over if this doesn't end up the only raid.

"But I'll have Ian make a lot of desserts, so unless anyone eats a cake a day, there should be enough to last that long," he added and that brought the mood back to normal, showing how phrasing things could let things pass over far easier than otherwise. Then he directed Adrian to handle buying three more fridges and where to set them up before lunch-time and adjusted meal times to account for the time it would take to brew two batches of ambrosia. The Oracles handled and managed their tasks, so that was about it.

Even if Ian, Nelly, Chilli, and the newcomer three were the newest additions, their group of six ate with Kenneth, because anyone could tell all of them were developing appraisal. Chilli too fit in completely normally as if she'd always been a hot red-haired human girl, her gestures and how she checked her phone from time to time in no way hinted at the fact that she was actually a dustbun. She was more human-girl-seeming than Nelly, even adding painted nails on her shape-shifted form and twirling her hair between her fingers from time to time.

"Is your Mom alright?" Lorelei checked with concern and the other two also seemed that way.

"She is," Ian said reaching out to ruffle Chilli's hair to which she smiled, "It was a bad situation, but thanks to Chilli's foresight there might only be some mental damage, but-- my Mom has a lot of guts, Dad is likely trying to stop her from running out and doing her stuff," Ian added that Knox, Kenneth, Nelly and Madison dealt with everything after so smoothly like they had rehearsed.

"Dad is not--" Penelope started asking.

"No, he's not," Ian guessed what the question was. "My Mom's current surname is Rones, thankfully."

Lorelei tilted her head. "It's not the investor family, right?"

"It probably is," Ian said. "My dad is Milo Rones, Grandfather is--" and as Ian listed Lorelei's forehead scrunched.

"My--" Lorelei said. "Right, there's a rumor that the new Rones family member is actually Nicolette Chardon."

Not that there was any meaning to hide something they could easily figure if they looked up pictures of his grandfather-- "Yeah, mom was in hiding to protect me from getting involved into a family mess, never met him, but I inherited my appearance, alcohol tolerance, and love for cats from Michael Chardon."

Lorelei let out a breath. "I had a feeling there was something in your manners that reeked of my upbringing."

Ian tilted his head.