Charles Patricius

Anais's logic was sound, yet lacking. One might wonder if she'd truly seen an excited Renaud, to be thinking a wedding would be the first thing seen after he found a suitable partner. That wasn't what Charlemagne was worried about at all. No, the thing of concern came long before any wedding, and in fact seemed rational as a mid-fight interruption. "That'd be fine... except I think there's something else likely to happen during the stalemate, before anything resembling a wedding happened. Well... I guess that's still a magical world wedding after all─" he said, clearing his throat thereafter. Martha then chimed in to argue semantics about pouting. She really was being adamant about that, but so was he. "Has anyone ever told you you've got a man's ego? Arguing semantics is pouty behavior, y'know?" he retorted.

Yume was even responding to the elf's thoughts now. Wonderful. Apparently, he'd be fine. Her mention of starting at the deep end, he interpreted as Yume and Anais being the most extreme of the apprentices. Somehow, he couldn't believe that. What sort of ridiculous techniques and approaches would the others have? He had much reason to believe it would be baffling regardless of their extremeness. 'Allow me to kindly disbelieve your every word,' he requested. The demoness didn't even release him once he spilled into her throat. No, she opted for additional stimulation with her throat. Even when that was done, the girl would be found lapping away the residual ejaculate before returning him to a normal state and... shuffling away as if nothing happened. Ailen was left breathless and aghast, with only gratitude left behind for a 'snack' he never offered. Obviously, however, he wasn't complaining. 'Yes, of course... all in the spirit of... learning, I believe. Now, where was I─' he stated, returning then to the cooking process. He did have to assemble the almond tofu at some point, so he supposed that would be done while he wasn't being effectively distracted.

It seemed that Charles point about Renaud was about his activities during the stalemate being the potential problem. Well, given what Renaud was like and the implications surrounding the 'magical marriage' Anais could only nod. "Well, I mean it's possible to avoid observation of that directly... and I still think it will be fine overall," she said with a pointed nod. She go quiet soon after, given her own reactions to the antics of Yume but the final decorated cup was finished. If one was paying attention and it seemed even Anais wasn't, there was a ninth cup which had been grown from the tree. It was still blank with nothing in particular on it, but there it sat, at the bottom of the stack. Meanwhile, Charles took to arguing the point that Martha apparently had a man's ego. "Has anyone ever told you, it's sexist to assign firm egos to men only?" she asked in return. "Besides, my ego is way less fragile than a man's~" she countered. It seemed the confidence Martha had in her own battle prowess and teaching ability had just been something her new form was steeped in, not that she noticed much if any difference, between this interaction and any random one in the past with Charles. Sakura for her part in this remained quiet, she'd studied the violated taboo, but the conversation between Martha and Charles was also interesting, was this how people interacted when they were friendly? She was sure some of what they were saying was sarcasm and yet it still sounded fairly earnest. How did one tell the difference?

The end of this little snack time between Yume and Ailen was one which seemed to come with quite a few words shared telepathically between them. She'd warned him that he'd met the most extreme personalities and he wanted to be allowed not to believe the words she'd spoken to him. 'I suppose you can believe what you wish. I'm feeling generous~' she teased ever so gently. With the elf properly back within his pants, she'd come out from around the other side of the pantry as if that had been her placement for the last few moments. Oddly looking rather pleased with herself, before she'd go on to join the group once more, while Ailen recovered and went back to his actual cooking. She'd end up slipping into the front room taking her seat besides Anais and meeting her obvious stare with nothing but an amused smirk. 'Mi-chan, when you stare at me like that it makes me excited!~' she teased the other girl who knew she wasn't lying but the sudden tightening within her loins caused by the other girl's eye related fetish. In this moment Anais left brow rose. How as she meant to take that statement and its accompanying feeling? Was her friend flirting with her? No, that couldn't be the case right? The confusion suddenly present in Anais was something that Yume looked at oddly as well. She could see the blankness of the girl's expression while her brain worked behind the scenes. Did she really not understand that she was being flirted with? Perhaps that trip into the girl's mind space was one she'd be taking sooner rather than later. "So, did I miss anything?" Yume asked as if she'd been anywhere but in the kitchen for a few minutes.

True enough, it could be easy to avoid witnessing any debauchery in the midst of that hypothetical battle. To do so, however, would ideally involve not observing the fight at all. Most important was how casual Anais was about the situation they discussed. A few days prior, she would have been the one most likely to avoid the topic entirely. Such was confirmation of something Charlemagne had been considering since observing a few recognizable changes in the lass. "Hmm..." he mumbled. Perhaps there would be a conversation between them at some point, but some things were best addressed in private. Instead, his gaze shifted toward Martha. According to her, he was exhibiting sexist behavior. She further claimed her ego was not as fragile as those of men. "You're definitely defending yourself like one~" he countered. She definitely wasn't disproving his point by continuing the topic in her own defense. "But no worries, bro! We're still cool~"

Yume's 'generosity' was in Ailen's favor, apparently. No matter. Knowing the other Myouou and what their ideal apprentices had to put up with, he imagined a great amount of physical torture was ahead of him ─ especially when dealing with his own understudy. At any random point, it seemed the elf was likely to roll from one experience directly into another, with both being something ridiculous. Whatever the case, he was currently content to finish cooking... possibly in peace, even, while Yume returned to the others. Ah, a lucky break. Sadly, peace could not return to the elf. He was beginning to think. That one little stunt had him realizing how much could have been done within this kitchen, while food cooked and others had an obscured view. They could have enjoyed outright intercourse. That certainly wasn't a thought natural to him, but perhaps the demoness had limited range to her telepathic ability and could not use that thought against him... though did he really want that to be the case? What a problematic train of thought he was prone to lately. While Ailen cooked and lamented, Yume offered a casual question to the future diners. The answer, this time, would come from Astolfo. "Charlie's sexist, Martha's a man, and Annie wants to see a fight turn into sex," he said ever so casually.

Anais was strangely also looking forward to a not so thinly veiled conversation with the leader of her party. At the very least, she figured the lad could use the the knowledge that he wasn't the only one being thrown for a loop by this world's rather indecent mechanics. Even if, she was realizing that she likely would have gone along with them regardless of her current happiness if a few criteria had been met. Perhaps she could also bounce a few things off Charles as she felt that he'd know if she was spiraling out of control. "Defense of a sure self isn't strictly something a man would do either... still sexist," Martha concluded. "But yeah, we're still cool... kid~" Martha emphasized. If they were going to be pushing buttons she might as well keep pushing. Yes, there was a certain forwardness that males from their original world were encouraged to have, but that didn't mean that girls and women weren't just as confident. They also in general had their insecurities manifest in different ways, but that was neither here nor there.

And Ailen was busy lamenting and beginning to think more like a pervert with access to horny teen girls. Good. It would be better for both him and his apprentice if they let themselves fall a bit more often. At least this was the thought that Yume had, as she felt her work this day was done. Well, except for an adventure into Anais's soul, but she thought she'd take that later. But upon returning to the table she'd reinserted herself into the conversation by asking what she'd missed. it would be Astolfo who summarized the situation. "Sou ka, leave it to Sai-ni to have a succinct wrap up..." she said looking at the group at large. Anais would soon be found pinching the bridge of her nose and shaking her head. "I don't know why I didn't notice this before. That is such a Chi-chan summary..." she mumbled still annoyed by her friends twin just being around her and the same kind of annoying that her friend was in general. Maybe she really should go through some meditation so no one else surprised her? Sakura kept watching the group at large and wondered several things, "Martha-nee is a spirit not a man..." Sakura said seeming to count that as a gender instead of a type of existence. All the while Anais breathed a sign of relief because no one seemed to be talking about her past that little statement of Astolfo's she wondered if she should be more worried about that but decided to lay low until it was necessary.

Still, there was talk of sexism on Charlemagne's part. He was beginning to wonder why she kept bothering, not that it really mattered. Furthermore however, she was still going on about age. Frankly, Charlemagne wasn't sure which thing to address... or if addressing either would just keep the back-and-forth going for eternity. "Are you done?" he asked instead. A heavy sigh left the lad then; there was no way he'd continue entertaining this discussion. On the other hand, there was one more thing he thought to squeeze in whilst leaning against his own fist. "At least I'm not old in both worlds. Grannies sure like sticking to a subject," he concluded.

In the meantime, Astolfo was being compared to a familiar name. Well over a thousand years ago, an individual called Chi-chan had been very important to the pink-haired lad. Ah yes, it was his sister! "Oh! Her! We shared wombs," he blurted out in recollection. His phrasing aside, Astolfo had nearly forgotten about his original life. Perhaps the firm memories were somewhere on the moon with his sense of reason. One might have considered Astolfo's outburst to be a convenient change of subject for Charlemagne, but lo... Sakura commented on Martha's existence, claiming she was not a man, but a spirit. "Et tu, Saku?!" Charlemagne exclaimed in familiar fashion. "Man-Spirit Gorilla-Goddess Martha!" added Astolfo.

There was an very easy answer to Charles's inquiry. Martha kept talking because he did, it wasn't as if she was going to let him have the last word. He'd started this little spat of theirs and by her own logic he could have ended it. "Are you?" she asked him. They could have been fighting by now, or he could have stopped egging her on, but he kept it up, by her logic he was stuck with whatever consequences he ended up with as far as the conversation was concerned. At his last statement, Martha scoffed. He couldn't well claim to be happy not to be old in both worlds when his original point was trying to pull rank as such. An eye roll followed those words, "Maturity is what you make of it... Though you seem to have forgotten you started it, gramps..." she commented almost absently. She could always add this to the tab of his future beating. Yes, that seemed like the right way to deal with him.

As for the moving rest of the conversation, apparently Astolfo only remembered his sister as someone he shared a womb with. That wasn't really surprising, he didn't seem to have much if any connections left to his previous life. Still... "I don't know if I feel better or worse about my memory now..." Anais murmured. Just the same Yume seemed to want to comfort her friend and thus slid into her lap to give her a hug, which Anais accepted not seeming to care much about the invasion of her personal space. Meanwhile, Sakura was once again referred to in the manner she'd found most interesting from their drinking game and surprisingly enough it led to her face reddening. "I didn't do anything, Char-kun... she is a spirit," she managed with an emotional reaction which was observed directly by both Yume and Anais. Interesting. Beyond this another tension breaker occurred as Astolfo commented about Martha's status in a way only Astolfo could. "And now I'm gonna kick his ass again. Nice." concluded Martha, yes... all was right in the spirit lady's world.

"We could all be done if you shut up," Charlemagne said with another sigh ─ one that seemed slightly more exasperated than its predecessor. At the current rate, a more legitimate spat was all but inevitable. He seemed to be having those with greater frequency as of late, though not with any idea why that was the case. Either way, Charlemagne would speak further only when Sakura claimed she'd done nothing. The young goddess reiterated Martha's state as a spirit, which Charlemagne deemed entirely irrelevant for the topic they were discussing. "Ugh! No. I'm not going to ask how you're talking about spirits and genders as if they have anything to do with each other. Not curious, don't care, moving on," he griped. That elf couldn't be done cooking quickly enough. "Is it dinner time yet?!" he called out.

In fact, the group's meal was another ten minutes away. Luckily for everyone, Ailen had recovered well enough from an earlier distraction, and managed to make some decent headway. "Never rush an alchemist. The difference between a draught of regeneration and a crippling poison can be as simple as a drop," the elf said flatly while whisking some white liquid. Meanwhile, Astolfo was given more reason to be excited. From someone like Martha, a threat of violence meant much-desired physical contact. He'd take that abuse with a throbbing erection, and his day would be made. "You smell that?! It's the smell of victory!" he shouted, both arms triumphantly thrown overhead.

Something interesting was being noticed by both Yume and Anais though one with a bit more context than the other. Anais noticed that Charles was still not quite himself, he seemed way more snippet than he was before and more over, seemed to be lashing out at large. Martha for her part in this found herself staring at the lad. She began to wonder how he'd gone from joking to cross in such a short amount of time, over something so trivial. Besides all of that he definitely needed to be the one to back down in this case. Martha remained quietly analyzing the lad, wondering if she was about to simply reach across the table and start the fight he so obviously wanted to have. She even looked at him oddly as he snapped at Sakura who for her part in this conversation hadn't actually said anything but what could have been an easy segue for him to take. What was more he seemed to know he could have gotten an explanation but was choosing to ignore it. Strangely, it would be Yume to speak but only on the state of Charles as she saw it and directly to someone who knew him better... 'Those emotions of his are pretty strong. He's lashing out quite a bit for someone who was in a good mood and drinking earlier...' she mentioned to Anais. 'Hai, but I am pretty sure the grail might have been helping to balance him out,' Anais commented knowing what it looked like when someone was coming down off mood stabilizers. Aloud it would be Sakura... "That mood shift is more notable without my soul active," she commented as if it was a normal part of her day.

Apparently, even Ailen wasn't safe from Charles's mood swings, and then he was. The elf wasn't taking sass from the lad and shot back at him almost immediately. Anais processed the words of her mentor while her friend continued resting in her lap and spoke. "Huh, that's pretty accurate. I have those in my head..." she said thinking it was a rather nice and firm threat. Moving on from that, before all else could be spoken on... it would be Astolfo seemingly happy to be the target of another beating from Martha. No one could even comment on his happiness. "Huh, is that the guy version of that? Weird," Yume commented about the way that statement seemed to hit her ears. Whatever the case, the balancing of Charles was something necessary.

Finally, there was silence. It wasn't silence of any normal sort, though. Someone, Martha in particular, was staring at him. No matter; it seemed that annoying discussion was over. Charlemagne chewed his inner cheek as the satisfaction of an ending overtook him, but as always, there had to be something else added to the mix. According to Sakura, some sort of mood shift had become more obvious to her. She could have said nothing at all. In Charlemagne's decision, it would have been better to say nothing at all. Alas, everything had to be some kind of observation, didn't it? "If it's a problem, turn it back on," was all he said about her gatherings.

Ailen kept himself separate from the current topic, though there was a notable moment that had him glancing in Charlemagne's direction with curiosity in his visage. Perhaps this was a study opportunity, or perhaps it was something else. Whatever the case, he briefly took solace in his apprentice's retention. That statement offered by the elf was one made purely in minor annoyance, but there was truth to the clause as realized by Anais. "Excellent recollection. You're doing well," he offered as praise. That information had come from a rather obscure recipe, yet she managed to hold even that. Whenever the elafia created her own vial of something, he was sure it would be spectacular. Moving on though, Ailen thought to offer something for the sake of diffusion. "This mermaid egg is a little on the sweet side. Does everyone want balance, or would someone like sweetness to every component tonight?"

If Charles thought that the staring of Martha was something, the eyes of all the other girls in this room also settled on him the moment he snapped at Sakura. Sakura from a point of sheer curiosity. She was busy trying to process the lashing out of the lad who seemed even dissatisfied by the silence he'd received. Sakura was busy thinking and processing, turning on her soul wouldn't necessarily change the fact that his mood was swinging it would only make it something that she was less likely to empathize with. That wouldn't do at all, besides she'd not mentioned it like it was a problem at all... it was simply an observation. Meanwhile, Martha let out a breath. It wasn't her normal motivation to interfere with how people interacted with each other, and she was trying to be reasonable when considering that Charles was still only a few days out from a life altering event, even so... he was acting in a way that annoyed her for the people he was talking to. It would be something that caused a strange amount of silence, which was pregnant and uncomfortable among the group but still it would continue as something of a standoff.

Oddly enough the first voice Anais heard aloud would be Ailen as he commented on her retention. Anais would have normally been quite pleased by that, she still was, a gentle blush creeping onto her face. "Arigatou, Shishou..." she murmured. 'Aww!~ So cute!~' Yume communicated to the girl directly. 'Still are we gonna let him keep lashing out at people? I feel like Martha-san's gonna reach across the table and smack him...' Yume mused resting her head on her fists on the table in front of the pair from her perch in Anais's lap. 'Yeah, I know... maybe he should be weened instead of cold turkey?' she thought given her current knowledge of potions and the like that seemed pretty reasonable. Before she addressed that though it would be one more tension diffusing moment that happened, while dinner flavors were questioned. "If it wouldn't be too much trouble can mine be spiced," she asked about her own food. "Second that one!~" Yume mentioned. "Salt I think sweet and salty..." Martha managed though her eyes hadn't shifted. "Sweet is fine for me," Sakura managed. After those were spoken it was a suggestion which came from Anais with a strange amount of firmness. "Charlie, I think you should drink from your grail..." she offered the lad for his obvious switch in mood. Oddly enough though it was phrased like a light suggestion, Anais often spoke that way when she meant for someone to do what she said. Sakura heard this and looked at the other girl, wondering what the depth of her sensory abilities. Well she was the apprentice of her father, her being bright wasn't surprising.