"Did you just… summon a kitchen?" Hikari wondered, following him through the arch. What a fascinating ability to have; did they all get something like this? Hmm, if that was the case… no, it didn't feel like she got anything quite so drastic in her own reincarnation. Hopefully, she got more than just cooking knowledge, or this would be an awfully unfair trade in comparison.

It was a nice kitchen; looking around she could see no shortage of tools – most of which she had never used, and some that she had no names for – but was immediately aware of something that wouldn't have ever been a problem in a kitchen before now but was quite the obstacle for a small, young fox girl…

"Ah, do you think there's some steps I can use? Doing preparation sounds like something perfectly within my capabilities, but…" she moved over to one of the counters for demonstration. If she stretched, sure, but that wasn't the right way to cut anything at all…

The smartest and cutest doll - Lena
@FujiwaraPhoenix@VitaVitaAR@Crimson Paladin

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"Hmhm, as it should be. I am pretty great, aren't I?" Lena, of course, was completely oblivious to the elfs indifference as she went around checking the supplies. It was easy enough to gather up what she could, make a few makeshift bags out of the materials laying around. Nothing spectacular, but something that could help keep them alive for now, at least. She of course, also made sure to take a healthy helping of alcohol and refrained from indulging then and there just in case. Wouldn't do to get flat drunk in case this body could and its tolerance was zero.

Of course, leaving couldn't be easy.

"Hmm...flexible...?" Lena would proceed to test this. She'd stretch her arms, the ball and socket joints that made up her elbows allowing for her arms to bend in ways that would be difficult for normal bones to do. Her legs were much similar, as she'd be able to easily lift her foot right to her ear. "Hmhm, yes, it seems I am very flexible. Interesting. I could more easily work on smaller or hard to reach spots on machines, yes? Ah, but Javal, perhaps it would be best for me to scout over. I am lighter and smaller, aside from the fact that rubble looks unstable you should stay down here in case the zombies see us before we get over."

If nothing else, perhaps she could use that ability of hers to use the rubble to form some sort of barrier or wall, perhaps?

"I just learned how? Of course I did. I didn't look like this before. I don't even know where we are." Jor said as she was massaging out her legs. "That was my first time turning into a snake and back, though I can say for sure that I was quite adorable." She said proudly before most the rest of the room headed off toward the kitchen. Her legs stopped tingling so much so she attempted to stand though it was slightly troublesome for her still.

"So, uhhh..." Jor stumbled out, looking toward the familiar bird. "Delicious-looking bird woman." The snake wasn't fully sure in what manner she meant that... But she did feel a small bit hungry. "Pardon, Relki was it? You're a familiar? I'm a bit jealous of that little witch of yours. I kinda wish I could summon a little birdie too." Jor mentioned as she finally started to get the full feeling back in her legs and tapped each foot on the ground a few times to make sure it felt right. "I hope I get more use to this whole shapeshifting thing." She couldn't help but look at Relki and ask another question. "I think it'd be safe to call you my senior in shapeshifting. Any advice for a newbie?"

"Steps?" Nick parroted as he placed the first batch of ingredients he had taken from the witch's pantry down onto one of the countertops inside the kitchen. "Your guess would be as good as mine, but let me take a look around."

With the question as to whether or not Hikari would enter being a rather definitive "yes", though, the young man took a mental note to maybe experiment with this newfound pocket dimension at a later time. Regardless of how useful (or not) it might be in combat, having a little place to duck into wouldn't be as great if people could just bust the door down and loot the place anyways.

It didn't take too long to find something that filled Hikari's request, at the very least; the room with the massive pot that he had mostly glossed over had also come with a small stepstool with which to make reaching (and seeing) the top of it easier. Grabbing that and bringing it over for the foxgirl maid to use in her own efforts, therefore, was a no-brainer.

"I think that should be sufficient," he remarked before walking over to the nearby sink and turning the water on. The fact that it functioned was... To be expected, in a sense, but Nick was still left to wonder about why exactly that was the case.

For the moment, though, justifying everything with 'it's magic' would have to do. Regardless, the fox hadn't exactly given him any frame of reference for her confidence as to cooking, but it didn't hurt to try and request what he needed done before anything else.

"You can probably get away with kicking that to move around, so after you've cleaned up, could I ask if you could prep the mushrooms and beef?" the young man asked as he approximated the size of what he needed with his hands. "If you know what a beef wellington is, that's our goal for the main. Something about... That big will do for the meat. Mushrooms, fine dice and cook them off with some shallots. I'll handle the puff pastry, but otherwise we should have more or less everything we need for that... I think. Appetizer, probably going for something with cucumbers, dessert would probably be fine reusing any spare puff pastry for some fruit tarts? Yeah, that sounds about right for now."

If anyone else chose to hop in to watch or explore, though, Nick wasn't exactly in any position to stop them. As long as they didn't mess with anything or put them in danger, he had no reason to kick them out.

@VitaVitaAR@Raineh Daze@Pyromania99



Despite the shakiness of the stability of some of the footholds that Javal had taken to scale the rubble, in the end he managed to successfully climb to the top without causing any incident to alert the undead nearby. Whether or not that was by sheer luck of something naturally intuitive was something the man himself would have to find the answer to himself, but at the very least he would be provided with a vantage point from which to view the area past it.

Luckily enough, there were no undead to be seen on the other side of the roadblock here; only a massive hole in the side of the opposite building, the wall from which one would assume must have been what made up the blockade in the first place. Peering inside would reveal a shop that had most certainly seen better days; even from here, the half-destroyed countertops and displays were rather evident, though it was another question entirely if there were even any goods left inside—and even then one would have to wonder if the elements hadn't rendered them unusable by now.

If there was a basement here, then maybe the goods would have found similar reprieve as the store of preserved goods in the inn; who could say?

Supposing that exploring the building was deemed too dangerous to proceed with, though, the alleyway did seem to lead out towards an empty side path. Whether or not it was just as dangerous as walking out the other way was a risk that the group would naturally have to take, but it was still an option to pursue if they were so inclined.

@VitaVitaAR@Crimson Paladin@Rune_Alchemist