The news of what happened at the Red Banquet seemed to spread like wildfire in only a week. Soon everyone was informed of how much a threat the Eggpire was and knew to stay away from anyone associated with it. Niki & Sam informed Tubbo & Ranboo what had happened and the idea of safety in numbers since there were five members and they could be anywhere. Though they were on the fence at first, they thought it was the best choice since Michael & Tommy were too young to defend themselves. Fortunately, when Foolish was able to recover from what happened at the Banquet, he finished everything in the mansion and the duo could move in. The small group helped move things into it, though keeping the small cabin as a safe house. When they finished that, Tubbo said he would let Puffy and Sam come stay in the mansion if they needed a place somewhere to stay. It was a very generous offer and they accepted it but tried to avoid trying to be such a burden on the teens, though it was a nice reason to come visit them.
Such as now, Puffy was making her way over to the mansion. Sam had gone "missing" since he said he skipped out on a few warden work days and Niki had gone back to doing whatever she did during the day, so Puffy had been spending most of her days in her house with just Tommy. Spending time with the small blonde kept some of her spiraling intrusive thoughts at bay. Though she decided it would also be a good idea to be outside of her home a little, which is why she went walking around Snowchester. The streets weren't too busy so it was a nice day to be out. She had stopped by the market to grab some items to make lunch since Ranboo had called and said he was going to experiment with some recipes that he got from Niki's old books. He needed her assistance since Tubbo was out working on his nukes with Jack. He didn't specify to Puffy what he was making but he needed a lot of vegetables, mushrooms, eggs, and fish. Weird combination but wasn't anything crazy so she purchased it for him.
Finally approaching the large double doors, she fixed her hold on everything in her arms so she could knock. There was silence for a moment as she waited. She knocked again but a bit louder, hoping it would echo into the small building. Just as before, there was a moment of silence. That was before the door slowly creaked open as an expected host answered the door.
"Michael, hi sweetie" greeted Puffy, looking down at the young piglin.
"Puff!" exclaimed Michael, his eyes lighting up.
"Gold" he added, his small tail wagging.
"Yeah, we came by to see your dad, Is he here?" stated Puffy, looking past the small boy.
Michael nodded and pushed the door open wider. Puffy nodded her head as she walked past him inside. As she entered, she was amazed by the vast interior of the mansion. She had visited the construction site with Foolish occasionally but seeing everything completed was astonishing. Especially since he said that he had a lot of issues with the chandelier, which was hanging beautifully. Everything was beautiful in just the front entrance alone. Though that did make getting around an issue since she wasn't familiar with the layout of the mansion just yet. So she just allowed Michael to lead the way to where Ranboo was. They headed down a long hallway and passed a few open spaces. One was a lounge room where a small fireplace was burning that had kid toys scattered around on the floor, another was a study space that had lots of books stacked on a desk, and lastly was a dining room with a large window to the front yard. Micheal tugged on Puffy's jacket as he pointed towards an area inside the dining room.
Through an arch doorway was the way into the kitchen. Standing in the kitchen by a pot was Ranboo. His focus was switching between a slip of paper and the steaming cauldron he was stirring. Puffy knocked against the wall as she made her presence known. The enderman teen's ears perked as he looked over his shoulder at them.
"Puffy!" exclaimed Ranboo, turning around completely.
"Hi Ranboo!" waved Puffy, as she placed the market bags on the nearby counter.
"When did you get here? You didn't get lost, did you?" questioned Ranboo, placing the spoon he had in hand down.
"No, I actually just got here, Michael answered the door and brought me to you" assured Puffy.
"Oh okay then, Tubbo and I planned to make a map for the mansion but haven't gotten around to it just yet" breathed Ranboo.
"It's fine, What are ya cooking?" asked Puffy, as she walked over to the stove.
"Mystery stew, Tubbo dug out some old items from his days in Pogtopia when we were moving in and he said he found some recipe notes that used to belong to Niki. I've needed a new dish to try out so I went through and was trying to combine all of them" explained Ranboo, gesturing to the scattered papers nearby.
"Combine all them?" parroted Puffy, with a concerned tone.
"Yup! I've been tossing in what sounds good. Which is why I needed the fish, eggs, and mushrooms. The vegetables are just for a side dish or if this stew fails'' nodded Ranboo, as he went back to stirring.
"I see," muttered Puffy, lifting a brow at the steaming pot.
"Well I'm gonna set Tommy up in the lounge room with Michael, so I'll be back in a moment" she stated, turning towards the door.
Ranboo gave her a thumbs up before he picked up one of the recipe notes to look at. The duo-haired woman gave him a concerned look but exited the kitchen. She looked down at the blonde child in her arms. Tommy was chewing on her shirt as he made small babbling noises. She shook her head as she tried to loosen his tiny grip on it. He made quite a fuss about it but he soon calmed down when they entered the lounge room where Michael was. He squealed loudly at the sight of the piglin boy, which was reciprocated since Michael quickly moved away from his toys to Puffy's side.
"Gold!" chirped Michael, happily.
"Yeah, I need you to watch over him while I help your dad in the kitchen. It's probably gonna get hecticate because I've heard the horror stories of Ranboo's cooking experiments" remarked Puffy, as she handed Tommy over to the piglin boy.
"I've heard of the cake incident when he tried to make the wedding cake for their wedding," she added, with a slight chuckle.
Michael gave a confused snort as he looked at her sideways.
"Nevermind, you weren't when it happened but just don't let him cake on his own" state Puffy, as started pulling items from the baby bag.
She pushed some of Michael's toys to the side into a pile so that Tommy wouldn't be able to get to them. She then placed a blanket on the floor for the small blonde to rest on without rubbing against the tough carpet. Lastly, she put a few of the toys he was familiar with so he was comfortable.
"Alright, now Michael" started Puffy, turning towards the young piglin.
"You must make sure Tommy doesn't roll off the blanket because he could get hurt. Also remember to be very gentle with him" she proclaimed, patting the floor.
"Yes Puff" nodded Michael, fixing his hold on the infant.
"You can sit with him on the blanket if you want" assured Puffy, as she reached out to support the child.
Michael made a huff sound at her before pulling away. He then made his way around the blanket before setting down on the other side of it. Puffy sighed and nodded her head. He's a piglin and Tommy's blonde reminds him of gold, so of course he would be protective. She stood to her feet, pushing the baby bag over to the couch, and headed back towards the kitchen. There was a feeling stirring in her stomach that this was going to be quite an experience helping Ranboo cook.
~~~
"This is ridiculous" groaned Jack, as he kicked up a pile of snow.
"To you it may be but this is important, Jack, You heard what Niki said and she has never steered either of us wrong" remarked Tubbo, as he pushed his hood off his head.
"Yeah but this could damage my business, Bad & Ant have been spending lots of time at my hotel and paying a lot of money to stay in it" proclaimed Jack, crossing his arms.
"And them staying at your hotel is going to hurt your profit even more considering the Banquet. If that doesn't upset you, then what about the fact they celebrated when Tommy died? That's some psycho asshole behavior" argued Tubbo, narrowing his eyes at the cyborg.
"You had me in the first half to be honest, that second part sounds like biased reasoning since he was your best friend" replied Jack.
"The hell is that supposed to mean? He was also your friend and we all fought alongside each other back in L'manburg and Pogtopia " retorted Tubbo.
"Yes but I've grown indifferent towards him. He was quite ass to me for awhile when he was, how do you say, normal? I don't honestly know what to call whatever he is right now" uttered Jack, shrugging his shoulders.
The goat teen just shook his head as he continued down the path. He had spent most of the morning and lunch hour working on his nuke projects with Jack. He was also trying to convince his cyborg friend to not allow Badboyhalo and Antfrost to stay at the hotel. It was all to make sure they didn't try anything on him, even though Jack was obvious about how much he dislikes it. He meant no harm but Jack got quite defensive. Tubbo tried a different method of trying to convince, which led to the odd conversation just a moment ago but he tried not to think of it. Jack was just stubborn and he'd eventually come around.
For now, the two were on their way to the mansion since they had finished up for the day. He invited Jack over for dinner since the cyborg needed some repairs and maybe some companionship. They had enough space in the mansion for another person to stay in. They already had Puffy and Sam occasionally staying over. Foolish only ever stayed one night before going back to summer home. Same with Niki but she went off to do her mysterious tasks. She'll eventually reappear at some point.
Finally the duo arrived at the top of the hill and looked down upon the mansion. Tubbo steadily headed down the path to it with Jack wobbly following behind. Once at the door, the goat teen pulled it open. He shook the fallen snow out of his hair while Jack shrugged off his jacket. Though he expected to be greeted by the squealing of his piglin son, instead Tubbo could hear loud commotion echoing from down the hall. He exchanged a confused glance with Jack before heading towards it. They followed it, as it seemed to be coming from the kitchen. They passed the lounge room where he briefly saw Micheal in there, along with Tommy. He almost stopped to drop in them before he noticed black smoke coming from further down the hall. Quicking his steps, he rushed into the kitchen. He began to cough profusely as he entered. He wasn't the only one either. He waved the smoke out of his face to see a familiar duo colored haired figure opening the windows.
It was Puffy, but her hair was tied upwards into a high ponytail.
She was waving out the smoke with a towel in her hand while placing a cover over a pan that was nearby. With that, it seemed like all the dark colored smog was starting to air out faster. The coughing seemed to die down as everyone was able to re-focus.
"Tubbo, your back!" exclaimed Ranboo, looking up from over the stove.
"With Jack" he added, with a confused tone.
"Yeah, I was bringing him over for repairs and dinner, I'm guessing it's not coming along well" remarked Tubbo, lifting a brow.
"Not well but not terrible either" claimed Ranboo, awkwardly.
"We got vegetables that aren't horribly burned" proclaimed Puffy, gesturing to a pot on the stove.
"They are salvageable," agreed Ranboo.
"Let me guess, you tried using the Pogtopia notes I found and failed?" inquired Tubbo, crossing his arms.
The two nodded their heads silently. The goat teen just sighed as he tried to hold in a laugh.
"We'll just grab dinner from a restaurant in town," chuckled Tubbo.
"Also those recipes were Niki's fail notes, so you failed your task successfully" he included.
"Oh" hummed Ranboo and Puffy, in sync.
"You two can clean the kitchen while I get Jack fixed up. Then we can go out and pick up actual food" stated Tubbo, as he turned towards the door.
The two duo colored hybrids gave him a thumbs up before getting up to look for the cleaning supplies. Tubbo exited the kitchen with Jack in tow.
"Is it always this chaotic?" questioned the cyborg, turning towards the teen.
"Is that even a real question?" joked Tubbo.
"Touche" muttered Jack, as turned to face forward.
As they walked down the hall, Tubbo stopped to look into the lounge room. Michael was laying on the floor as he let Tommy roll around and on him. He gave the two an affectionate look and was tempted to join them. It was only when a random spark from Jack caught his attention. Unfortunately, he had to get his cyborg friend fixed before accidentally exploding. Either from his damages or short-tempered patience.