White box

Filming fluid

It looked like she did get full eight hours of good sleep as when her nose was tickled by a pleasant scent of eggs benedict and her favorite matcha latte, she felt fully rested. Opening her eyes, she saw Carl having taken a seat on one of the armchairs and having a coffee.

Stephanie cast a purification spell over herself and sat up to take up her own drink. Even if they were short on time judging from their use of haste potion for getting sleep, they still took their time eating.

Stephanie did not ask why. That's how having a high level of appraisal made you be and, perhaps, that's the kind of person you needed to be to even develop the skill at all.

There were many things Stephanie could ask, but first - "What are we trying to make?"

"A potion that stores a record of astral projections and illusions," Carl replied. "In other words something that could properly store a record of whatever happens in that Boundary Cafe."

"Purple's commission?" Stephanie checked although she was pretty sure it was that.

"It's not like anyone else could even bring anything like that in," Carl replied. That was something that would only be useful for Purple. "He's having someone from Ahea build the camera and I'm developing the film, in human terms."

It must be pretty important if they were in such a rush, but Stephanie figured it was better to ask Purple about it in more detail.

"Was August staying here?" Stephanie asked as they left the room to walk through the illusion pond again.

"Yes," Carl replied. "I wouldn't have him stay in other rooms, even I'm not sure what sort of traps each of my ancestors set up in those."

"Are alchemist houses like this, usually?" Stephanie asked.

"In a sense," Carl replied entering the workshop. "I wouldn't risk wandering about any."

And they returned to potioneering at full force, till Purple's mid-grade wisp popped in. Purple waited for some process to finish, then spoke up. "If Carl wants to look at how ambrosia is made in around 50 or so minutes, I'd suggest pretending to be an elf. I'll take Stephanie now, though."

"Ok, pick me up in half an hour," Carl said and ran over to some cupboard, found an inconspicuous looking bottle and downed it.

And then Stephanie was back in the middle of the mayhem of preparing for another event, Purple seemed completely buried in stuff, though, so she joined her parents with making decorations. Around fifty minutes later August and his family teleported in - August had five siblings + married into the family extra sibling.

Stephanie knew August's father was a deviant exorcist who married a ghost, and she also knew that the ghost had ascended to be a muse, or a low-rank god, but Sarah, August's elder twin sister was a famous figure. She did look powerful, there was that air of complete confidence to her. The surprising part, though-- on her own she would be a beauty, but August might pass for an even more beautiful girl when next to her. They looked like twin sisters - Sarah was the handsome one, while August was the frail beauty one.

Gaius could also pass for a girl, but Ceruleum, who almost matched his looks, (although Ceruleum looked to be in his mid-twenties, not late teen like Gaius) would not. And by the same token - Reagan, August's father, also had the same kind of face to Sarah and August, but he was clearly manly. Perhaps it was a dryad trait to look ambiguous as heck gender-wise? That said, elves also seemed to be like that - it was hard to tell if they were male or female until they spoke to you and even then Stephanie wasn't always sure.

Stephanie only recognized Carl when August was brewing the ambrosia and even then, only by his gestures, even his presence had changed to match that of an elf's.