We Hope Your Rules And Wisdom Choke You

Chapter 5: There's such a chill

Occasionally, when a person wakes from their sleep, they will have a faint memory of the dream they had. It's so clear in the person's mind that they can near re-live the fictional events that their mind conjured. But, after a while, they'll start to forget. Nobody can help forgetting things, it's only human, but they wish it wasn't. So they'll cling desperately on to that memory, eager to share the experience with their friends, or anyone who will listen, but eventually, it slips from them until it's nothing but a word on the tip of their tongue.

Usually, Lloyds mornings started like this.

Unlike this morning.

Lloyd's slumber was dreamless and deep, a result of exhaustion. So rather than trying to fall back into a calm dream, he slowly arose, well-rested and clear-minded. Despite sleeping in his Gi, pauldron and all, he felt as if he'd had the most comfortable sleep in his life. He felt fresh, like his day was going to be great.

He knew not to jinx himself, but still, was being positive so bad? He needed this.

Once he was fully awake, he tread his way from the bunk room. He carefully and slowly opened the door, stepping out into the damp hallways and feathering the door closed.

Wait- why was the hallway so damp?

Lloyd decidedly ignored the phenomenon.

The flaxen-haired boy continued his voyage down the hall, footsteps significantly less quiet than before. He's sure they won't be woken from so far away.

Through the hall, into the kitchen.

Yes, Lloyd has decided that he'll make himself some morning tea. Start the day well, finish the day well.

The kettle boils in relative silence

Udder, painful silence, spare for the echoing creaks of the bounty, and the whistling of the gas element under the kettle. He taps his finger against the bench in silence, patience draining.

He nudges the teapot towards him the second the whistle of the kettle cuts through the silence. Filling the base of the pot with green tea leaves and jasmine petals, he covers the herbs with a steady stream of hot water.

While it brews, Lloyd scours the kitchen for teacups and saucers. They have a plentiful supply of them, he knows they must do, he's just not sure where...

He flings open a cupboard behind him and he is greeted with stacks apon stacks of teacups, all that same shade of blue. He smiles, grabbing just one for himself.

He returns to the bench, pouring himself a cup. A part of him is grateful that the teapot is self-straining, so he didn't have to bother with straining the leaves and petals from the pot. He could simply pour it into his cup, ready to drink.

With his tea in hand, he saunters to the table, pulling a chair out to sit on.

The chair skids the floor, an uncomfortable noise echoing through the bounty. He quickly takes the seat, cringing.

He'd probably just woken someone up.

He sips his tea a guilty man.

-

Later, the ninja are all together in the monastery. They're seeing half the team off on a trip to the explorers club. From what Lloyd vaguely understood, Kai, Zane, and PIXAL were going to investigate the club on Kai's hunch; "if it's not Clutch, then it's at least someone he knows."

They wave to the bottom of the stairs, where fire, ice, and Samurai-X stood, small blurred figures far below them. Lloyd watches them clamber awkwardly onto the Dragon Raider.