The Stray

2-5: Tea For Two

Thursday Morning, October 7th

'How' would actually come from th' kinda dumb luck Timothy thought he was long out of. He slunk down the stairs at six-thirty that morning, with a plan to... well, to be honest, without much of a plan at all. I'm a witch— there's gotta be something I can do to get ahead of my enemies. And not just his enemies— he wolf felt it was best to be one step ahead of everyone, as much as y'can be.

Maybe he'd try and sneak about town with a bit of bread and bribe some birdbeasts or something. Maybe he'd send out some spider sentries to spy on people. Maybe he could figure out a good enough glamour to do some personal recon. He just needed a little luck.

Which, of course, was a dumb thing for him to count on. Just as he was grinning about having memorized which stairs creaked last night, he slammed right into missus Ashborne's back as he rounded the corner. Ack!

"Eep! S-sorry!" Timothy hopped back, with exactly the same panic he felt when he felt a spellmine click underfoot! No, no, no, he couldn't get himself kicked out now! He wasn't ready! V was gonna crush his head for ambushin' her mama! Frass, frass, frass! "R-really!"

The rhino, however, just sort of blearily stumble-turned, and blinked down at him. "Oh, g'morning, dear. You're up early..." she mumbled. Uhh...? Timothy lowered out of his cower, blinking in confusion. Uh. Now that he was really lookin', Mama Ashborne looked like she was still sleeping. She hadn't pulled her wig on, for starters, and her buzz of natural hair looked like wild dried grass. Take it from someone who made time to tie his hair into braids, she was normally way more tidy up top. Plus, her eyes were barely open, and she was wavering a little on her feet.

Timothy'd heard her boast about her schedule before— she was a morning person, loud and proud, and... she woke up earlier than this, right?

So the wolf rubbed his arm awkwardly. "Um, are you alright, ma'am? You don't look so good."

The rhino yawned, deep and slow. "Don't mind me, dear... 'm just tired..." The rhino drunkenly tottered over to the table. "Just a minute..."

...Right. Timothy glanced around. Had Cpt. Ashborne left already? Ugh, she probably had, what with everything going on. And he'd bet a pile of hamburgers that the Ashborne siblings were still conked out, what with everything going on. The wolf ran a hand through his hair. Should I, er... do something?

Missus Ashborne'd fed him lots in the last few days. Helping her was helping himself, even if he didn't like her (which he did, he realized with a wince). But he wasn't exactly up to casting a Refresh spell. Well, where magic failed, a witch always had her brew. The wolf smiled.

He turned to the counter, where the coffee pot sat. He was pretty sure he'd seen V kiss the thing at least once: Timothy didn't trust it, and wouldn't use it. Instead, he spent a few minutes scouting out the kitchen. He found what he was looking for atop the fridge: an old-fashioned teapot, made of durable and pretty pink and white clay. Seemed well-loved, though he hadn't seen any of 'em drink tea.

Setting it down on the stove, he then sniffed around for their tea supply, and was pleased to find it in an, enchanted, airtight jar. Someone here knew their tea. He took a nice deep whiff of the goods... lovely. And they had plenty of herbs he could use to make the blend even better. Honeyloop flowers, coiled up nice and thick. Sweetlawn, still green and fragrant. Cinnamon and ginger, spicy and warm. Perfect.

Tea was a tricky and delicate thing, at least if you wanted to make it right. And as any witch knows, you can't trust a witch who can't make tea. He felt Mandy roll her eyes inside her sheathe at his 'snobbery,' but it was true. On a cutting board, he carefully shaved the ginger. He unspooled the honeyloop blossom slowly, so it wouldn't snap, and picked out the bitter seeds with the tips of his claws. While he did that, Mandy washed up, and then chopped up the sweetlawn into fine green flakes. This is luxury. He thought to her. Imagine having all this stuff all the time.