>>31064
Ah my friend I do enjoy your questions! As it happens, two out of the three do indeed have an answer!

While Mollie, Lydia and Natahsa are also in the pot, it will be just gently simmering water with perhaps a little herbal seasoning. Once they get out, all the additional ingredients including vegetables and what is currently a thick paste which will dissolve into the water turning it essentially into tomato soup that they are boiling in will be added, compensating for the displacement caused by extra bodies.

Although it has never been explicity stated in any of my stories that I can remember, the further into the future we go with the Sidneyverse, the longer the human lifespan becomes, although scientists and social commentators are torn as to whether this is a direct result of the widespread cannibalism or just a step forward in human evolution which happens to correlate to the new dietary habits without having a direct causal link.

The upshot of this is that humans age what we would consider "normally" up to about thirty then plateau there for ten, thirty, fifty, even seventy years depending how far into the future we're travelling, before resuming aging, meaning that any couple could have several "batches" of children which they raise to at least teens before eating. Also, Megan is their only child at the time of this story but that does not mean she is their first-born ;) They will easily be in a position to pop out a few more over the next five years or so!

Glad you are enjoying the story so far! :D