Fruits of our labors [Closed]

[Greenie]

"A bit of rodent fur, a bit of sour lemon.." Zulimar muttered as she essentially slammed a tea kettle onto the range in front of her. "... and maybe a bit of phegm, just for the after taste." The leveret had the water to a boil already and was putting the tea itself in--but wasn't actually putting rodent fur, lemon, or anything else besides tea leaves.

She was daring, but she wasn't that daring. They'd probably make her drink it herself, and she wasn't about to drink something so foul.. because if Zuli made it bad, it would be bad.

Once the leaves were in the kettle she plopped onto the stool behind her with a loud sigh, and absently grabbed at the counter behind her for where she'd thought she'd left some crackers. Crackers, crackers, bowl of sugar? Not crackers. Crackers, crackers.. crackers! Zulimar grabbed one and stuffed it into her mouth, then absently pondered what tea would taste like if it had dissolved cracker in it.

Probably like tea with cracker. Not exactly noxious.

Ten minutes later the tea was done. Zulimar grabbed the pot and whipped around, only to find that Heike was right behind her. She managed to stop her momentum and held the scalding pot to her to prevent it's contents from spilling all over the two of them, and set it down on the counter with a raised eyebrow. "Sweet sons of the White Rabbit, Heike, don't scare me like that!"

[Kari Muffin]

Heike had been reorganizing the study. With a bit of help from the new staff member he had a bit less to worry about. However, if she screwed up it generally reflected ill on him. He sighed as he slipped into the kitchen. Nadja was busy with setting up the dinner table which left Zulimar with getting drinks for the Does and Master.

He watched her quietly as she banged around the kitchen for things. How she didn't notice he was around he would never know. He was bright green and cream for goodness' sake.

Slipping up behind her he was about to say something when she turned around nearly spilling tea on him. Oh whatever.

"I do hope you're planning to give that to Miss Ashta because Master dislikes tea unless he's planning to go to bed, and Miss Igni likes her tea iced." He said raising an eyebrow. "Or are you actually fixing tea for yourself?"

[Greenie]

Zulimar stared at him with an annoyed look, though it was for the tea, not him. "What if I tell them it's actually coffee, will they drink it then?" She sighed and dumped the tea into the pitcher she had ready. "I'll drink it, if no one else will, or I can put ice in it and give it to them later.. really, I don't care.."

She morosely stared at the tea pitcher and forcibly had to stop herself from comparing her life to it's--boring, apt to be tossed about, and who knew when someone would do something strange to it? Instead, she poured herself a cup and made a show of drinking it. "Want some? I promise, I didn't do anything to it." The leveret sighed again and pushed the pitcher over to him, then grabbed another cracker.

Crackers, tea, and making tea for other people. What a life.

[Kari Muffin]

Heike snorted. She was a special one wasn't she? "I suppose I can take a break before I'm run into the ground. So much has been going on lately I'm surprised that I've been able to sleep." He poured himself a cup as well, carefully he brought himself to the floor.

He raised an eyebrow at the thought that went through his head. The Czar would have tried to woo Zuli more than once now. They probably went right over her head... that or the Czar didn't bother because of her past. She seemed more troubled than he himself.

Which said a lot. After his crazy past he honestly couldn't think of anymore more bitter then him. Haha. Wow.

"I never got the chance to ask, why are you staying here if you dislike it so much?" She absolutely couldn't be in the same situation he was. After all, he had his sister to worry about when she... only had herself.

[Greenie]

"It's awful hard to serve food if you're passed out in the kitchen, I agree," Zulimar replied with a less-than-sincere sage nod. She snorted at the second half of his statement. "Who needs to sleep anyways? Give me a pot of coffee and I can make tea alllll day!" She absently waved her cup of tea a bit for emphasis, but was careful enough not to spill any.

They lapsed into silence for a moment, and she drank some more tea. It wasn't coffee, and tasted like shit from the bottom of a cesspool (but what tea didn't?) but it kept her awake just as well, provided she drank enough of it. Zuli wasn't planning on going to bed tonight, as she still didn't trust her surroundings, so she'd be drinking and peeing a lot this evening.

The leveret narrowed her gaze at him when he asked. Why? Fucking hell, that's why. "It's this or get my limbs torn off, and I don't mean my ears. Death isn't a choice, or I'd pick that one, believe me.." Zulimar dropped off into a mutter, and turned her head just enough so she could see one of her wings.. and shuttered, mentally picturing going without one of them.

[Kari Muffin]

"You're luck you're female, at least you have a chance of keeping the Czar entertained until you can find an escape route. I'm not as lucky," His voice had dropped to a hushed whisper out of habit. He and his sister had to drop their voices more than once for fear that the Czar would surprise them. He had once that was how Heike's gender had been found out.

"Being alive is better than being dead. You have options when you're alive, even when they seem bleak it always can get better. Like... now. My life is a lot better than it was." Heike said with a small nod before drinking his tea.

He liked tea, but this was that Morganberry blend that Igni was so fond of. It was a little too sweet for him, but at least the caffeine would keep him up for a while.

[Greenie]

Zulimar nearly groaned when he brought up the word 'female'. Didn't he understand that it was worse, that she didn't want to be wooed and be a doe, even more lifeless than she was now? "I can't get away, Heike, don't you understand?" She said, a tone of helplessness in her voice. "He'll come and he'll rip me apart but keep me alive and force me to live.. live and be here, no, I have no choice, no escape route. It would be easier if I were male, so I didn't have the Czar breathing down my neck, but he keeps watching me, so I can't even pretend I don't exist!" Her tone was just as hushed as his but rapidly became louder as her words became more incensed.

After a minute she realised that she'd been hurting her hands by clutching the cup so badly, and released her grip, and with it, her angry. "I'm sorry, Heike, I don't mean to blow up on you." She sighed, and smiled a bit in apology.

[Kari Muffin]

"As fond of disfigurement as our Master is, he would never harm someone who could be a loyal Doe. The only reason I'm alive, and the only reason why I'm here at this warren is because of my sister." His ears flicked back to press on his skull. "But I won't let her become a Doe. I would rather become a Jack before that happened."

Sometimes he entertained the thought of becoming a Jack. It would have saved him a lot of pain and trouble if he didn't have to do work like this for the rest of his life. He would have also stuck it in his father's face rather nicely if he could manage to make a Warren all his own. He shook his head. The problem was that he wouldn't be able to find a Doe without consequence and that the Czar was a bastard.

"And we're only Leverets. What respectable Jack would go out of his way to steal one of us? Master would never lower himself to that."

[Greenie]

Zuli dismissed the Czar with an impatient wave of her hand. "Not him, I'm not talking about the Czar." She grimaced, and looked away. "I'm talking about my father." The leveret didn't elaborate and her expression stated she had no wish to do so, but after a minute she looked back up at him.

"Is she going to be okay here, for a while longer?" Zulimar asked, meaning his sister. She vaguely wondered why Heike didn't just become a Jack, but answered it herself; it wasn't that easy, probably. Zuli was unsure of exactly what had to happen to become a doe herself, but betted it had a lot to do with her lack of desire to become one.

Though, knowing her luck, she'd wake up one day, twice her current size and with shiny fur.

Ha.

[Kari Muffin]

"Your father must be a bad pushy Jack then," the Avington snorted. Well, no one was bad as his father, but that was a completely different story wasn't it? Something he didn't feel like sharing or reflecting on. The Leveret brought up his paws to rub his eyes. Guh, why did he feel so tired. He shouldn't.

"She'll be fine. As long as we have so many Does and so few servants everything will be fine for a long while." He shrugged. Nadja had a lot more work to do, so the Czar paid less attention to her. Even though Heike still had quite a bit of work to do all on his own, he still had plenty of time to see his sister and not go into horrible paranoid fits.

He still went into paranoid fits, of course, but they weren't nearly as bad when it was just the two of them and that bloody Yarrow.