World of Nibel - Exploring the Princess's Estate

[BonsaiLily]

Just as Casimir thought he had life under control, there was always something that derailed his control. He thought himself to be clever to have some contingency plans in case things went south. However nothing could have prepared him for the events of the Inter-dimensional Train. People disappearing from thin air, memories being manipulated, forms being shifted into an awful stiff form. To top everything off, the daring prison escape led by the blonde brute, Florentina who conquered the train and forced it to board on her world.

To Casimir, this predicament was as if the universe was shoving a middle finger in face. This time he was displaced away from friends, family, and responsibilities. This feline found himself in a totally alien world. The people, the culture and the technology was completely foreign to him. It was as if he started back at square one. A lost kitten with nowhere to go, and no place to call home. Thankfully Florentina was extraordinarily generous and kind. Guiding and leading the lost people to her Estate until they could find their feet.

On the positive side of things, It was a fresh start for the group. No baggage to unpack, no ends they needed to meet. It was an opportunity for them to become anyone they wanted. A chance for them to experiment and learn the ways of this world. Casimir was wholly ready to take advantage of it. The only problem was figuring out where to start.

The feline began to wander through the giant's estate. He stuck close to the walls as he took note of the architecture. There was a distinct focus on organic shapes and greenery. It felt as if this estate was craved and grown out of the earth. While it was aesthetically pleasing and homely. The nekomata couldn't help but think about the future mold issues this place might have in the future.

Eventually the little kitten found himself in the trophy room. He brushed his hair out of his eyes in disbelief. Dinosaur heads mounted for display as well as their skeletons. Cautiously the feline approached one of the displays to touch. In the world he was from, dinosaurs were mere fossils. Often arranged carelessly and without thought. They were often illustrated by artists who gave it their best guess with outrageous colouration and anatomy.

"No way this is actually real."

He put his hand against the bone expecting it to be some sort of plaster or resin. However it was clean bone, ridges and all. He was lost for words. Dinosaurs were real and very much alive.

 

[PaperShoggoth]

Etienne groaned as he sat up, having woken on the floor that he'd been generously allowed to stay in. The bed was nice, but he didn't feel like mussing it up with his admittedly dirty self. Even after showering, he knew he was strange to this place and could be seen with disgust by many. He likewise knew nothing of the world he found himself in, and was likely never to return to his home swamp. At least he found himself in the swamp of this new world, though at the mercy of his kind, yet also violence prone new... could he call her a friend, patron, just host, he wasn't sure yet what he could or should call the muscular Florentina.

The mutant also wasn't sure how he could fit in here, and upon tour to the estate where he would be allowed to stay for at least a little while, found that the Gators and Crocs of this world were easily five times the size of those of his home, if not much greater. The hunting methods used by his people to harpoon the lizards and anchor them to his boat would not work here. If he wished to stay in his profession, he would need to learn the technology and magics of this world, which while seeming simpler in complexity, vastly overshadowed his own home in their utility and versatility.

Figuring that studying the trophies that Florentina herself had hunted, Etienne would wander to her trophy room. Stopping to admire the mounted heads which in some places along the way had been tastefully mounted, such that the animals held a place of respect along the walls they inhabited between his guest room and the trophy den.

Entering the room, he spied that Casimir had also found himself in the main trophy room, which instead of taxidermied bodies, held the skeletal frames of various beasts. Etienne couldn't recognize many of the animal skeletons, with exception to those found with similarities to prey from his own swampy home, but the mutant could tell that each bone had been carefully aligned in space to be as accurate as possible to it's living form.

Looking closer among the bones, Etienne could see that instead of wire, the bones were held in place by some kind of silk. He would liken the material to spiderweb, but surely there aren't spiders large enough to create this amount of web so as to be used in such a way.

Hearing Casimir's words of incredulity, Etienne would turn to the cat, not knowing if Casimir had noticed his presence yet, nor the reason of his disbelief at the reality of the trophies.

"Florentina must be one helluva hunter to bag these, eh, boyo."

Etienne also gave a small wave as he greeted the cat.

 

[BonsaiLily]

Lost in thought the feline was startled when the mutant spoke. His ears immediately shot up as his body jolted up straight. Quickly Casimir withdrew his hand from the skeleton and shoved into his pocket and turned around to face Etienne. The feline smiled and waved back with his other hand.

"I reckon. I don't think I could take one of these down by myself. I've never seen a skeleton like this in such pristine condition. Where I come from, creatures like these have been extinct for over a millennia. So we just find fossilized bones and do our best to put them together. Compared to this specimen, it seems like our archaeologists did a shockingly poor job."

The nekomata paused for a moment and walked towards Etienne. It was a small comfort knowing that there were some familiar faces in the same predicament as him. Despite the differences between the cat boy and the crocodile hunter, it seemed to Casimir that their improbable situation would make them fast friends.

"Speaking of which, how have you been holding up? So far for me it's all been a lot of take in all at once. It's all a bit of a shock. This place is so much different to the other places I have seen. It's hard to wrap my head around. Where I come from, magic is scarce. But here, it seems like everyone knows some kind of magic. I will have to ask the princess next time I see her about how magic works in this world. "

 

[PaperShoggoth]

The mutant put his hands up, in apology, not intending to startle Casimir. As the cat withdrew from touching the trophy and spoke, Etienne pondered whether his world had any such archaeologogical pursuits. It was a word he hadn't recognized. His world may have been more primitive than the cat, and wondered as well about whether he would have even cared, had he not been taken off his own swamp.

He scratched his head and smiled at the cats concern for him. "I'm holding up alright as I can, I guess. Just my luck that we find us in a swamp, so I'm not totally out of sorts, compared to that living train. Though, the Gators here are much larger than those of my mud. I wonder what kinds of engines they must use to pull them home, if they use boats at all. Maybe they don't need them, if the size and strength of Florentina and Kan-Zib-Yui is normal here. Although Magic might make it easier too."

Etienne pointed at a different trophy in the room, of a crocodilian. The monster would have been large enough to easily eat him whole without swallowing, were it alive. "We hunt by harpooning crocs, where I come from, so they can't escape, and so we can see em comin' to get us back. T'won't work on these bigguns. gonna need to learn some magic, If I wanna make any names here."

The mutant said this last bit, not knowing that his culture of naming their dead prey as a form of respect might not be shared by either this world or Casimir's home.

 

[BonsaiLily]

Casimir smiled and patted Etienne on the back. It seemed like the mutant was adjusting well to all the rapid changes and he even had a path to follow to get back up on his own feet. Though the feline couldn't help to be slightly envious that Eitienne was used to the dreadful hot and humid climate. Meanwhile the cat was more used to colder and drier climates.

"I'm glad you're settling in. Once we are more situated, I would love to see how you actually wrangle one of those huge crocodiles. It would be a sizable achievement for us 'little guys' to take down." he chuckled.

The cat boy placed both of his hands in his pockets and looked towards the trophy that the mutant pointed at. He tilted his head to the side. Compared to crocodiles that he knew from his homeworld, they were mere tadpoles. If everything was bigger in this world, Casimir hoped at least the bugs wouldn't be massive.

"Wonders never cease. I am actually not sure what their technical advancements are in this world. In some aspects they seem behind and primitive. Yet…" He points to the crystal light fixtures. "More advanced in other areas."

The cat boy placed both of his hands in his pockets and steadily walked out of the trophy room. He looked back at Etienne with a playful smile.

"Wanna check out some other rooms?"

 

[PaperShoggoth]

"Not sure if it's even possible for just'n you and I to take one on. Least till we learn magic, but quite a feat it'd be for sure." He reciprocated the the pat on the back, leaving his hand over the cat's shoulder as they walked out. "As for rooms, I'm starting to feel peckish. Lets find a kitchen. Hopefully ther'll be something to snack on in the meantime, and I'll make my mama's gumbo recipe."

The mutant would take a glance back at the gator skeleton in the room, and begin to think on what kind of magics he might need to learn to take on such a beast. Hopefully he could make use of his experience in throwing a harpoon to do so. Maybe actually wrangling it and using a harpoon to attach a climbing rope, but rodeo and wrestling weren't his forte.

Even as he suggested the kitchen, having not known where it might be, he would follow the cat's lead. He didn't want to end up getting lost in Florentina's house, without at least a partner in crime to joke around with. Florentina had given them the run of the place, but he really didn't want to go wandering alone in the place by himself. And as far as company would go, Casimir was much more likable than if he'd been stuck here with anyone from home.

 

[BonsaiLily]

With Eitenne's hand on Casimir's shoulder, the feline nodded along with the idea. Thus he ventured forth through the hallways and main rooms to find the coveted room. The kitchen was always a magical place. Plenty of food to eat and cupboards to hide in. Ever since he was a young kitten, all he had to do was display his roguish charms and people would basically give him what he wanted.

This simple technique changed over the years to accommodate his humanoid form. Yet the basics always remained the same. Be nice, be friendly, be socially affectionate and most of all be patient. No matter how agonizing the patient cat gets what they want over the impatient one.

"Sounds good. What kind of dish is it?"

Casimir looked at the hand on his shoulder and gave a mischievous grin as the two of them walked through the estate. Perhaps this was a custom of his people or something else entirely.

"Wouldn't it be better if you held my hand instead?" He chuckled as he offered his hand for the mutant to hold.

Whether Eitenne's took the cat boy's hand or not he continued his walk. He wandered through the estate, looking through each room one by one. The living rooms were cozy and inviting, the perfect place to entertain guests. The bedrooms were finely decorated with comfortable and sleek spider-silk linen. Eventually the pair found themselves in the kitchen.

Pots and pans lined the walls as the shelves were stocked with all manner of food and ingredients. Casimir tilted his head in confusion. The usual panties he saw were usually stored mostly carbs, this one stocked with all sorts of meats. It sort of made sense considering the trophy room and how the blonde princess herself boasted her finely sculpted muscles.

"This looks like this place. Do you need a hand with anything?"

 

[PaperShoggoth]

Etienne would be mildly confused by the offer to hold hands. Maybe in Casimir's world it was normal for friends to do such, but in his own home, holding hands was seldom done by his people. The webbing between fingers made it slightly uncomfortable to interlace fingers, even between couples, who often would lock arms instead. Whilst friends would often lean on and let eachother lean on shoulders as a form of physical bonding.

Etienne felt awed by the fineness of the furnishings in the estate, but his eyes were drawn moreso to the more subtle trophies which interspersed each rooms to accentuate the furniture, and the fine handicraftsmanship of the various pieces of shaped bone which made up the bulk of the fitments carpentry.

Before the mutant could answer, they entered the kitchen, and Etienne couldn't help but stop in his tracks. Surprised at both the cleanliness of the kitchen, and the variety of unknown ingredients that met his gaze, he would likely need to sample things to make something resembling his mother's recipe. Having not been a chef, and only cooking at home to feed himself and his friends, he wouldn't be able to do much more than attempt to recreate what he did know.

"Well, I reconize some things here", Etienne would say and quickly gather a slew of vegetables, which were at least similar to some he knew. The closest approximants he could find to celery, bell peppers, chives, parsley, garlic, and flour, "I'll have you chop these, if you could. I'll need to make a roux, and hopefully I can find a broth or stock, since gumbo is kindof soup. Be a pain to make my own."

After making his request, he would find some butter, which had a slighly gamey smell to it, having come from sloth milk. And after locating some kind of flour, he would start a fire under the stove and begin melting the butter in a pan off side, so as not to quickly burn the butter over the heat, but slowly brown the melting oil.

 

[BonsaiLily]

Vegetable chopping duty. Casimir's ears drooped backwards as let out an inaudible sigh. To the feline, vegetables were great at one thing. Giving the food extra flavour. Besides that they were just torturous roots that people expected him to like, eat and enjoy. All under the guise of the white lie they tell everyone. 'It's good for you. It's healthy.'

Disgruntled, the obligate carnivore took the vegetables and began his search for a knife. Every kitchen was different and had its own system. Every drawer was a guessing game. Was it spoons or cake forks? Curiously one thing Casimir did notice in his endeavors was that not only was there fine dining ware, there was also a matching set that was a lot smaller. How strange. Did the giantess want to make her smaller guests welcomed? The feline thought. Perhaps there was more to the Princess than he initially thought.

Eventually the nekomata found a suitable knife and returned to the vegetables. He paused for a moment to look for a sink. Haphazardly the feline washed each vegetable to get the last residual bit of dirt off from them. A ritual he had witnessed thousands of times from his humans. Once done he looked at the vegetables, displeased at their meager existence. Casimir's mind wandered on how to exact revenge on evil plants. A conversation with a young mother sprung to mind. A mischievous smile drew upon his face and he began to chop the vegetables and herbs into tiny shreds. If cooked they would simply dissolve away.

"So, who taught you how to cook? Is there a cool story behind this recipe or something?"

The chopping noises continued, usually the simple home cook would have been done with their roughly chopped vegetables. However the vegetables that the cat boy had were starting to lose a lot of moisture as it started seeping into the cutting board. The feline simply shrugged as he took the cutting board to the mutant. The desecrated remains of the vegetables sat there, almost pleading for the cycle of abuse to end.

"I'm not really much of a cook." he admitted

 

[PaperShoggoth]

Etienne began Stirring the melted butter, whilst gradually adding the flour he'd located, which on tasting might have been some kind of corn flour. He'd not really paid attention to the fact that Florentina strangely had utensils suited towards a smaller race amongst the rest. He'd simply grabbed the first wooden spoon he saw to stir the roux with as the flour began to toast.

The mutant would look over at Casimir's chopping and would be pleased at the fineness of the cut, not knowing, but having a similar disaffinity to vegetables that the cat had. His mother might have complained, but they're already improvising on ingredients, may as well make modifications to suit their tastes too. Upon hearing the neko's question, Etienne would stop and think a moment.

"Not really a story, but my mama taught me this recipe, because she says i'm dumb as algae on a rock. Wanted to learn gator eclairs, but said I'm only smart 'nough for gumbo and things like."

As he spoke, Etienne took a quick search to find a premade stock, finding none, as it wouldnt be available in a world like this. Stirring the roux to prevent it from burning, etienne would fill a large pot with water from a barrel in the room, and put it overtop the fire to boil. He'd need to make a simple stock quickly, due to his oversight of expecting a premade stock. Putting some vegetables that had been cut by Casimir, once delivered, as well as a whole carcass from some kind of small animal that had hung over the stove, about the size of a dog, but was more reptilian.

"I'm not much of a cook, neither, but that just means we gotta eat it no matter how bad it ends up. The vegetables are cut nicely, by the way. My mama always said some of them needed to be bigger for texture, but never told me why. Not like I'm throwing a raw and crunchy green in there, right to serve."

 

[BonsaiLily]

Casmir raised his eyebrow at the remark that Etienne gave. Where the feline came from mothers often sheltered the kids for as long as they could from the harshness of the world. For a mother to call their kid 'dumb as algae on rocks' either the statement was true, or she was an awful parent. There was only one way to know for sure.

"Thanks I guess, normally people usually shoo me out of the kitchen. But I learnt to make myself useful where I can." he added.

The feline watched as the mutant chef started assembling his stew as he took a seat on the countertop. The mutant chef's choice of ingredients were questionable. Yet it was evident that Etienne at least had an idea of what he was trying to cook.

"So in your world was there a schooling system in place? How well did you do? For me, I took a linguistics course. Ended up flunking out." He chuckled while scratching his head. "So all I got out of it was neat handwriting."

To the feline, he sometimes found it advantageous to lie and start with a point of failure. People often loosen up about their failures or boast about their successes. Whichever came first depended on the person.

 

[PaperShoggoth]

Etienne didnt see the feline's expression from the mention of his mama's less than kind appraisal of the mutant, due to now stirring, both the simple broth he was bpiling and the roux, in an alternating pattern. Nor did he mind that The cat decided to sit on the counter, since most of the rest of the work would be done over the stove.

He tasted the stock as the roux finished up, finding that it was a mellower flavor than he had hoped with the veggies and spices he'd had Casimir cut, or paste as it were. He started slowly ladling the stock into the pan with the roux, adding more of the cut veggies and stirring each in, as he answered his co-cook's question.

"Schoolin' where I'm from is for smart folk after bout fourteen. After that's optional, but one's gotta have a job or trade regardless. We get taught basic maths and how to read, write, and talk. How to let the govies steal our money and pay 'taxs'," he put up a hand and wriggled his index and pinky fingers as if to sarcastically mock the mispronounced word, "and we's all learn how to fix our clothes, house, n' boats, if'n we have em. Plus stuff for whatever jobs we choose to go into. Outside the swamp, the normies have school till like twenty, but none've em know how to patch a hole in their waders."

As he spoke and continued mixing stock into the pan, he slowly revealed the animal which he'd used to make it, and ripped meat from the bones to throw in the pot as well, since he didnt have sausage or the ability to make it in this kitchen, chunks of meat would have to work. Once the pan was full and he'd taken all the meat from the animal into the pan, he would stir and cover the pan with a cutting board made of bone to hold in heat, but allow the liquid to boil down and infuse the flavors into the meat.

"Wish we'd had some cream or milk to mix in and some spice from home, but this is gonna be the closest we can make now. With this pan, should feed you and i for three meals each, so if Florentina joins us she can have some. Just gotta wait for the soup to simmer down and thicken up, n' then we eat."

 

[BonsaiLily]

The nekomata nodded as Etienne replied to his question. Casimir's suspicions were confirmed. The mutant human wasn't the brightest crayon in the box. It seemed like education was very much an afterthought as practical skill appeared to be more valuable to his swamp fairing kind. If the mutant wanted to live his simple existence, he should be free to do so.

"A 'city cat' like me didn't really have to learn how to repair waders. Those who were uneducated couldn't earn the money they needed to buy food. Sure there are some lower paying jobs. But if you wanna climb up, nose to the grindstone and study."

His eye wondered around the kitchen, and his attention was caught on a lone salt shaker sitting in the middle counter. Helpless, unmoving, begging to experience the joy that was falling through gravity would provide. How could the cat refuse such a simple request? The cat boy carefully twirled the salt shaker with his hand. He inched the object closer and close to the edge, teasing the innocent salt shaker. With one playful tap, the ivory salt shaker clamoured to the ground, spilling some of his contents. Casimir simply stared at his mess, the primal urge satisfied.

"Woops. I am so clumsy." He said, attempting to sound remorseful for his actions.

The feline hopped off the table and picked up the salt shaker and placed it back on the counter.

"Considering the princess's physique and the fact that you found butter…"

Casimir paused his thought as he started to rummage around the pantry. He opened the lids of a few containers and jars. There were some that were filled with oil, grains, and preserved foods. Eventually he found a container filled with white liquid. The feline dipped his finger in the liquid and gave it a lick.

"Wow, that's actually nicer than what I am used to."

Rather than give the jug of milk to Eitenne, instead the cat went to go look for a cup to pour himself a glass of milk.

 

[PaperShoggoth]

"I'm sure the uneducated could still find work. Laborers are always necessary to do the dirty and hard jobs. Just a few smart ones might get 'em all to stop work till they can afford to live. Nobody to clean the shitter makes the stank spread, an' all. Don't take an edication to keep a rich man's house clean or dig holes. Only takes a little on the job training to learn to hunt or fish."

Etienne watched the feline play with the salt shaker and knock it to the floor, chuckling lightly. It was funny to him that even a man-cat like Casimir still liked annoying small things like that, and could even imagine the cat hunting small animals for fun, had he not called himself a 'city cat'.

The mutant wondered as Casimir rummaged through the pantry, and could not see what kind of liquid the cat had withdrawn from it, but had been able to hear the rustling of some kind of grain. Allowing the neko to take, what he hadn't known yet to be milk, Etienne eent and looked, finding a container of what looked to him to be some kind of threshed grain which he would believe to be a rice.

"This might be perfect for adding that texture my mama would've complained about back into the pot. What'd you find there?" The mutant would ask as he shoveled a few handfulls of the germ, which he would stir into the simmer as he added it. At this point he knew he was improvising, but he'd eat it anyway. Just in case, he'd give the stock another quixk taste after adding the 'rice', before recovering it.

 

[BonsaiLily]

Rummaging through the kitchen once more, Casimir found the object of his heart's desire, a simple, yet large cup made from some sort of bone. The cat poured himself a glass and contently started to sip the delicious drink. Oh how his heart sang, even in this strange foreign land, he didn't have to give up his favourite beverage.

The feline simply shrugged at the mutant's remarks. While he may be right, at the end of the day, hard laborious jobs out toiling under the blistering heat of the sun wasn't easy living. Especially the untold toll it took on people's bodies.

"Just have to wait for the bureaucrats who don't understand how hunting and fishing works to make weird laws and rules to ruin people's livelihoods. I knew a fisherman who had to retrain into a new field because of that."

Casimir raised his eyebrow as Eitienne started to add the random grains into his stew, all in the name of texture. While Casimir often left the cooking to other people in his life, he did manage to pick up a few things. For instance, some ingredients like potatoes if cut and boiled long enough would dissolve into the broth and thicken it.

"You know, I think I saw some potatoes over there in that crate. Some thin potato cuttings would add some perfect texture to the dish. I wonder if there are any truffles nearby. I know people in my family often put mushrooms in the soups and stews to flavour it."

The devious feline took a sip from his large cup. After all, how could a suggestion go awry?

 

[PaperShoggoth]

The mutant didnt complain that Casimir didn't tell him what he'd been drinking, nor was he mussed by the cat's remarks on laws. People would do what they could to survive, laws be damned. Any lawmaker that tried to stop it would simply paint a target on his own hide. As equally as the swamp man didn't know the full world and people, so too, it was obvious that casimir knew the other half better.

It would be more painfully obvious that the overlap that neither knew was the areas that would intersect both worlds between urban and rural. Namely for now, culinary. At the mention of ingredients by the cat, Etienne would quickly chop up some of the named tubers and throw the starchy bits into the pot, further bastardizing his mother's recipe.

"Ain't what mama makes, but too late for that now. If you can find them, mushroom you're talking about, throw em in. Hopefully they ain't the magic kind." The mutant shrugged, deciding to give free reign if ingredients to both of them, rather than trying to just stick to his homestyle. Whatever madness they concocted, he would stomach and expect the cat to as well.

 

[BonsaiLily]

Casimir took a swig of milk as he watched the mutant grab and chopped up the potatoes. The feline raised his eyebrow in confusion. While he wasn't a chef the people around him always either washed the spuds or peeled them. One thing was certain. This strew was going to carry a very earthy flavour.

The feline put his cup down and dusted off his hands. With a bright smile on his face he picked up the vessel filled with milk and marched over the stew and poured a small amount in without warning. Without uttering a single word the feline walked away to return the container to its resting spot.

From there, Casimir continued to poke through the pantry looking for aromatics to throw into the soup. That's when he found a brown coarsely ground up powder that had a sweet, earthy smell, yet a bitter taste. The cat shrugged and took the container and grabbed a spoon and gave a generous two scoops into the stew.

"I figured this will give it a more… down to earth flavour and colour."

The mischievous cat gave the stew a stir in an attempt to incorporate the ingredients together. Once he took the spoon out the cat idly gave it a lick. Immediately he regretted it. It took all of his will power to not react. He nodded stiffly and walked back over to his cup.

"The… ingredients need more time to get to know each other." he added, feigning confidence.

However the ruse would eventually come to an end once the mutant did a taste test of the stew. Currently the ingredients didn't work together. It would take a master of all chefs, blessed by the gods to fix whatever culinary monstrosity the two of them concocted.

 

[PaperShoggoth]

Etienne shrugged as the cat added more earthy flavour to the soup, and milk. He thought the dirt from the potatoes would be enough earthiness, but the mutant knew Casimir would eat it, no matter how bad the food turned out. The cat was right, the flavors needed to steep together, which would take a few minutes at best. Etienne would look for something to drink.

After a moment of searching, the mutant would find an already open barrel of what smelled like beer. After finding a cup, and wiping the tap, he would pour a frothy, and room rempurature batch of the dark liquid into the cup and take a swig. It seemed to be an ale made with some kind of grain and cocoa, and the bitterness made him wince for a moment, before taking another swig and topping off the drink.

"Let's have a smoke, while we wait for the food to mingle." He'd say to the cat and offer one of his last two cigars that he'd bought on that cursed train that brought the two offworlders here, whilst lighting the other over the stove which cooked the soup and biting off the cap to draw the thick smoke into his cheek.