Breakfast (OOC Welcome)

[Faye]

When Shadiyah awoke, the bed was empty, but that was nothing unusual. The Keeper of the Moon, naturally, dozed late into the day, and Melfice could never seem to keep away from his work for long, always wandering off to his study or the laboratory, leaving the Miqo'te to find her own entertainment. What was unusual, however, was that there came no servant to her bedside to greet her with breakfast.

 

Dead servants. A ghost. Right.

 

Her crimson lips curled into a grimace as she recalled the recent events and she pushed the blankets aside, standing from the bed and stretching out her limbs. She dressed--if tossing on enough clothing to cover the essentials and little more could be considered dressing--and made her way downstairs, discovering the kitchen was not empty.

 

Unmei stood at the counter, smothering a piece of fresh, buttered toast with entirely too much rolanberry jelly. It was likely the most the poor thing could cook for herself, after all. Shade eyed the Seeker of the Sun skeptically. "Is it not a little late for you to be making breakfast?" she questioned.

 

Mei jumped at the sound of the voice, not realizing the other woman was there until she had spoke, the butter-knife she'd held clattering down upon the plate before bouncing off the counter and falling to the ground. "Oh, s-s-sorry!" she blurted out immediately, dropping down to pick up the knife before grabbing a napkin to wipe up the sticky residue of the jam now on the floor.

 

"Y-yeah, I, umm... overslept. Guess I was tired after all that... umm... y'know... spooky stuff," the younger Miqo'te spoke as she scrubbed at the floor. She could have told the truth--that she'd been reluctant to leave her room until her hunger was strong enough to force her out. However, the answer she gave seemed a more convenient--and not entirely untruthful--excuse. "An' the servants aren't working, so, uhh... I-I made toast."

 

"Mmm," was all Shade offered in response, opening the icebox to look inside at its contents, paying little attention Unmei and the girl's answer to her own question.

 

Seizing the chance to escape, Mei scurried to the adjacent dining room with her plate of toast in one hand and a glass of orange juice in the other. She froze once she'd stepped into the room, finding the large dining table impaled with dozens of forks and knives, chairs overturned, and nearby what appeared to be the remains of a lalafell. The girl paled as a sudden wave of nausea swept over her, and she turned around on her heels, hurrying back into the kitchen.

 

"IchangemymindI'mnothungry," the Seeker somehow managed to fit the entire span of her sentence into a couple seconds, making her way for the sink and trash bin. She was intercepted, however, Shade stepping away from the bacon and eggs she was cooking upon the stove to grab the redhead by the arm and halting her, the strange spark as their skin touched causing Mei to flinch.

 

"No. Eat your breakfast," Shade demanded, wearing her usual scowling expression and suddenly looking every bit like a nagging mother. Mei nodded meekly, tugging free from the woman's grip and wasting no time in backing away. She rested her glass and plate upon the counter, plucking a slice of toast from the plate and nibbling on it as commanded. Apparently satisfied with this, Shade turned back to continue cooking her own breakfast.

 

A silence befell the two, save for the crackle of fire and grease, before Mei hesitantly spoke up. "Hey, umm... th-thank you... fer helpin' me back there... I, umm... I probably would've died 'f it wasn't fer you."

 

"My Master cares about you, and I care about him. That is all there is to it. You do not need to thank me," Shade answered indifferently.

 

"R-right, umm... still... thanks anyway... H-he's lucky t'have you lookin' after him. He doesn't go out much, as 'm sure you know, an' he's kinda... uhh... mean sometimes an' a little scary, so I was afraid he'd never make more friends, but 'm glad he found you."

 

"I am glad, too," despite the answer, the tone of her voice didn't seem to change, her dark eyes focused on her cooking the entire time.

 

"But, umm... all this stuff is... pretty sad, isn't it?"

 

"What stuff?"

 

"Just, ummm... y'know, the ghost stuff. Chandra. They were in love once, y'know? An' she was so... unhappy... Dying's not easy. She'd been trapped here the whole time... she couldn't do anything but watch the person she loved be miserable an' then fall in love with someone else an' be happy again an' eventually decide t'let go of 'er. I-I mean, he did everything he could fer 'er, but I dunno 'f she knew that..."

 

The frown on the Keeper's plump lips deepened, but having already devoured her toast, the Seeker had nothing to do but persist in her troubled rambling. "She couldn't tell 'im how she felt. He didn't talk t'her. I don't think she got any closure. In the end, she was jus'... banished... by the person she loved."

 

Shade turned off the stove, lifting the pan and scooping half the bacon and eggs she'd prepared neatly onto her plate, remaining silent as Mei continued, the girl's voice beginning to crack as if on the edge of tears. "She was... so... upset that we're here with 'im... an' she's not... I jus'... feel bad. She didn't do anything t'deserve that. I mean, she tried t'kill all of us, but she's not herself anymore, s-so I can't really hold that against her..."

 

Her voice trailed off as she noticed Shade moving toward her, hot skillet in hand, the bacon and grease still sizzling. Mei immediately fell silent, mismatched eyes widening. Had she said something wrong? This was it, she thought. This was where she was going to die, again. She had just narrowly avoided death at the hands of the specter of Melfice's first lover only to die at the hands of his s--her thoughts were cut short as the woman tilted the skillet over the plate that had held her toast to scoop the remaining food onto it.

 

"Eat some real food."