Dragonmaid Château II: Full Course Boogaloo

"Aw, she's still super cute, though! Hey, hey, Springy, you wanna be friends?" Anika extended her pinky to the small doll, wanting to shake hands or something. Sierra was so interesting and Spring Rose was too precious not to adore, how could she pass up an opportunity to be friends.

Spring Rose responds to Anika's pinky by flying up to it and hugging it, clinging to it.

"Does that answer your question?" Sierra says with a grin.

"Awww, you're such a cutie! Thanks, Spring Rose! I promise we'll be the best of friends!" Her only disappointment was that she couldn't properly hug such a small doll, but this would have to do for now. "Let's work real hard to win these games!"

"Shouldn't be too difficult to do. Though I don't think we can be complacent. If we wish to win, we'll need to bring our A game, as they say."

"Just make sure to also enjoy the time here as well. If it is just about the game, then it would not be fun. Aside that, stress free is a good state of mind to be thinking clearly for it." Sierra stretches out a bit.

"In any case, we should finish unpacking and get some rest. Tomorrow we can see what we will be doing. Hey Spring Rose." She waves over to her daughter who is busy hugging Anika's hand. At her mother's call, the doll flies over to Sierra and settles onto her shoulder.

"Go ahead and wave to your friends." Spring Rose takes out a sign of a hand and starts waving at Anika and Robin with it.

"Sounds good to me!" Anika cheered, waving goodbye to the little doll, eager to see her again later, as well as to play those games. "Alright, I'm gonna go enjoy a nice lounge!" The nekomata took off to her room, waving goodbye to Robin as well on the way there.

With a small laugh, Robin waved to Spring Rose, and then to Anika. They had a point. The best thing he could do now is take this as a small vacation. The game would come, yes. But for now, they had the chance to recuperate...And he'd gladly take it.

The first night passed without much happening, the games were yet to start so it was pretty uneventful. The sun rays passing through the windows announced the beginning of a new day and, with it, the beginning of the games.

As Anika, Robin, Sierra and little Spring Rose woke up, they found in their rooms a note, explaining the different areas of the manor and also indicating the times at which breakfast, lunch and dinner were being server and, speaking of breakfast, a delicious aroma was starting to make its way to the bedrooms. Also noises of footsteps coming and going revealed that the maids were already up and about performing their daily chores.

Anika was excited to start the day, finding the note to be a thrilling addition to her morning. The most important thing to her, though, was that tasty smell she caught once she was fully awake. "Oo, oo! Food!" She excitedly rushed to her door and opened it up quickly to catch a glimpse of her breakfast as quickly as possible.

Ah, breakfast. The most important meal of the day. As Robin stood up and performed his morning routine, he allowed his thoughts to wander. There was a game. A game with an interesting reward. And yet, at the same time, they were on vacation, of a sort.

"Hmm...I think what I should do is... and then...." Already, the tactician began to ply his trade. Ideas were brewing. Ideas on how to actually enjoy himself, primarily. After getting ready, he began to head out of his room.

Sierra yawns as she shakes out the mist from her head. The crafter takes a moment get her senses back as she starts planning for what to make for her next breakf- before catching herself as she sees that she is in the her room in the manor, not at home. This is emphasized by the scent that was lingering nearby of someone else that is cooking other than herself.

At the same time, Spring Rose starts to wake up herself from the doll sized bed on the drawer next to her mother. She yawns in a very human-like manner before flying out of bed and started to make her bed. Sierra does the same thing out of habit, even if the maids are going to do so later on.

After some morning hygiene, Sierra gets dressed in a creamy color blouse with a white bangles and blue slacks with Spring Rose in her trademark red blue and white/blue dress with embraided rim. Just as she is about to head out of the door, she pauses as she notices a note near the door. After a brief look over, she decide to pocket the note as the layout and schedule would be useful if she is in need or anything.

As the three guests headed back to the lobby, they crossed paths with Sylvia and Philia, who where carrying new sheets, so they probably were heading to the rooms, to prepare and clean them for the night. Once they arrived at the lobby, the smell of food was so close and inviting, whatever they have prepared for them, it smelled delicious.

Following the delicious aroma, Anika, Robin, Sierra and little Spring Rose arrived at the dinning hall, just to be surprised by the display of the breakfast in front of them. Several plates aligned in front of the their seats, with Ruby and Hara awaiting for them to sit down. "Ah, welcome, breakfast is ready. I have prepared a few different plates for you all to choose from. Please, take a sit."

Anika waved happily to Sylvia and Philia as they passed by, wishing she could stick around and enjoy some chitchat, but she could smell that breakfast, and she was not gonna wait for her food. "Everything smells so good. You don't need to tell me twice!" She rushed to one of the seats, every inch of the neko brimming with enthusiasm.

"Thank you very much. It looks and smells absolutely divine." Walking over, Robin moved to take a seat, nodding in thanks to both Ruby and Hara. "I don't know about you folks, but I havent slept that well in a while. I usually just fall asleep at the library."

Sierra waves at Sylvia and Philia as follow the other two down into the lobby while Spring Rose was hitching a ride on Sierra's shoulder while trying to draw something on a notebook. Even before they arrive,Sierra's nose could pick the scent of food that lies before then, more importantly which food as been prepared. The sight of the breakfast prepared for them all but confirms the choice of meal that the maids have prepared.

"Thank you for the meal." She says with a warm smile. She was looking forward to trying others' cuisine and mentally take notes on how they would compare to her own cooking.

Spring Rose looks quizzically at the food though doesn't seem to react as strongly as the others as she doesn't have the need or capacity to eat regular food. Instead she flips to a new page and tries to draw a random food instead.

As they sat on the table, Hara bowed at them and excused herself as she had paperwork to deal with, leaving the guests in Ruby's care. "For breakfast, we have miso croque madame. A simple yet delicious twist on the usual toast. I have switched the regular bread for flatbread and the butter for miso paste to add a hint of exotic, Taiyang cuisine." It wasn't a very complicated plate but it did smell and look, delicious nonetheless. "There's also some fresh fruit from our gardens in case you prefer that to the toast. For drinks we have have several choices: juices from different fruits at your choice, coffee and milk." The red haired maid waited for her guests to decided what they wished to drink before serving them, she was actually curious about little Spring's drawing as she approached the little doll and looked at what she was doing.

"Juice, please!" Anika announced, wanting to feel a bit closer to home for a bit. She usually preferred it over other beverages, reminding her of the fruits she enjoyed back at Demeter Woods. "It looks soooooo good! Don't mind if I do!" She reached for some of the food and prepared to pile up her plate, seemingly ignorant to proper table manners.

"Flatbread and miso paste for croque madame?  Huh, never tried that before.  Usually I go with sourdough and bechamel."  Sierra remarks curiously.  Mentally she laments that she hasn't been able to get access to miso paste of late to try this new recipe variation out.  "And I will have orange juice if you have it please, thank you."  After the request, she takes her seat though she opted to wait for Robin to sit down first before she takes her helping.

Meanwhile Spring Rose is still drawing the food on the table, erasing a little, and then redrawing something.  It when she notice that Ruby is nearby that she smiles brightly at the maid before showing her what she is drawing.  It was a simplistic bread with a more stereotypical kid drawing of 2 circles that resemble the egg white and yolk.  Right next it is a smiling circle of a head with a maid headdress.

Sitting down, Robin attempted to process their food. Croque madame? He had never heard of such a thing. But it looked and smelled amazing. "My compliments to the chef." At the very least, he'd get himself situated before sinking his teeth into this meal.

Ruby smiled and gently patted Spring Rose before serving each of the guests their drinks. "Please enjoy the breakfast and take your time." The red haired maid picked up a little flower and fixed it on Spring Rose's hair. "Here, for making such lovely drawing." She added with the same radiant smile.

As they ate breakfast, several maids came and go into the kitchen, probably to grab breakfast for themselves, none really stopping since they didn't want to bother the guests and they probably had tasks of their own until the guests started roaming the manor in order to begin the games. It looked like it would be a lovely day as well, and everyone had time to relax and enjoy some nice breakfasts.

(Feel free to have them enjoy breakfast and let me know once you want to continue)

Munching upon the food, Robin looked about. The locale was quite nice, at least. Everyone seemed quite friendly, too. Swallowing his bite, he looked over to the others. "I may see about helping the maids out after this. I know this is meant to be a vacation of some kind, but... I feel restless doing nothing."

"I wanna get to the games as quick as possible! It sounds so fun, and I could make some new friends too. I'm so glad I left the forest!" She happily ate her food, smiling big and brightly at the other players. "I hope we can all be good friends!"

Spring Rose flies and gives Ruby a hug on the shoulder after receiving the flower with a wide smile.

"I myself am actually interested in comparing notes with some of the maids."  Sierra remarks.  Her focus however is primarily on the meal as she constantly takes small samples of the food, stopping to thoroughly eat the food and discern the taste in an attempt to reverse engineer it.  "Maybe after when it is all said and done, I may be able to get permission to do a collaboration dish."

As the doll hears this, Spring Rose promptly draws Sierra's head on the same drawing she has shown Rose while drawing a stereotypical chicken drumstick next to Ruby's egg and bread before showing to everyone.

Robin nodded along at the picture. "Ah, so you are a cook, lady Sierra? That's quite admirable. My attempts at cooking have gone...poorly. Apparently a bowl of milk can indeed catch on fire.....And magic does uh..." An awkward cough. "Doesn't...really aid in cooking."

"Oh wow, you cook? I'd love to try your cooking whenever, if that's okay with you!" She was excited now, making her eager to see what kinds of goodies Sierra could whip up. Robin seemed an interesting type as well, but more in the fact he was a fellow spellcaster. She never even thought of using magic to cook before, so he must've been super clever!