Investigating [Invite only. NK]

Sephora stared out the window for several minutes until the sound of cracking knuckles drew her attention: Kin was apparently awake. Sephora glanced back behind her and towards the doorway before turning her attention back to the window. She watched a bird nearby as her head tilted like a curious child's. She blinked several times, and then yawned suddenly as she brought her hands up to her face and rubbed at her eyes.

Finally, she would turn away from the window, feet shuffling as she walked her way across the bedroom, out the door way, and into the living room. Another yawn caused her to pause, reaching up with her left hand to cover her mouth, before she looked around with a sleepy blink. It was still hard to believe she hadn't spent the night in her usual cave: staying in a house was something that was going to take some time to adjust to.

Her sleepy gaze would turn towards Kin and she would smile slightly. ”Good mornin'.”

Word Count: 171 + 3,648 = 3,819

He was in an awkward position; his arm all the way to his shoulder slipped into a small pantry type cabinet; he was reaching far onto the back of a shelf to get at the special ceramic bottle of honey he kept in there. Well, one of them, anyway. He was a bit of a... well, connoisseur in the fine arts of desert honey; and he kept many different containers of various styles near his person at all times. He was running a bit low, hence the need to reach so deeply. He'd need to hit the market and trade for some of the new wild flower honey coming in from the northern plains; he was rather fond of the jasmine and honeysuckle varieties. Finding the container he wanted, he pulled it out and set it down on the counter top, "Hello, child. How did you sleep?"

Already sitting on the counter was a large bowl of local dates; partially rehydrated after soaking in a sweet rose water all night, and now drained and ready for a slathering of honey. He was basically a whore for honey coated dates, it was his absolute favorite food, and food any time of the day or night. Oh, he ate plenty of other foods; but if left to his own devices, he'd die in diabetic bliss after a week long binge on the foodstuff. The smell of bread cooking in the wall oven, as well as a pile of fruits and fresh milk in a pitcher spoke of his breakfast tastes; healthy, with a leaning toward sweet and high energy.

"Please, sit. I will have food ready in a moment."

WC: 285

285 + 4812 = 5097

Sephora found herself actually having to think of how to answer. How did she sleep? Normally she never slept more then fifteen minutes at a time, and when she did sleep she dreamed of horrible things. But not last night: she couldn't remember waking up once. She had slept far longer then she ever could remember doing. And she hadn't had a single bad dream, or any dream at all. ”I slept... good. Weird, but good. Normally I only sleep for about fifteen minutes, and then wake up a lot, and then repeat that a few times. Especially when I have bad dreams. But, I don't remember waking up even once; and I don't remember any dreams at all, especially not any bad ones.”

With another yawn she went and sat herself down. She rubbed at her eyes a bit more, trying to get used to actually feeling rested. It was a strange mix of feeling tired and feeling full of energy – tired because she had over-slept what she normally did and her body was confused, and full of energy because she had actually gotten a proper nights rest.

She pulled her tails in her lap as she sniffed the air – she had been forced to live like nothing but an animal for so long that it was second nature now. The smell that hit her nose caused her stomach to roar to life, another strange one as she often only ate every few days, not every few hours. ”Weird... I shouldn't be hungry again for another two days...”, she muttered to herself while poking herself in her roaring stomach. Was this how a normal person ate, slept, and lived? It was all rather strange to her, and fascinating at the same time.

Word Count: 297 + 3,819 = 4,116

"Safety will make it easier to sleep, I'm told. I've never been one to sleep for longer periods, and I grew up on the back of a camel, so I can sleep just about anywhere now. It makes me glad that you are able to feel safe in my home; I am little more than a kind stranger to you, still; so I would have been entirely understanding if you would have had issues." He began covering the dates with the honey from the little pot; he had all the 'special' tools and such you needed to properly use honey, even the special 'wand' with the strangely shaped bulbous head that made drizzling honey easy. That didn't take long, he never wasted the precious substance, and it didn't take much to properly cover the dates the way he liked. Once that was finished, he moved on to the various fruits; slicing and dicing them as was appropriate; leaving the smaller berries intact and setting them into large bowls and onto a tray. The bowl of dates joined the fruits on the tray, and he moved to the oven to retrieve the fresh loaf of bread. He'd made the dough the day before; leaving it to rise and settle overnight so that it could bake while he was working. He made a special bread that only his clan knew of; it took hours to properly bake, and he never half-assed anything he did.

"When given the chance to acquire a meal regularly, you will feel hungry far more often. It is a survival mechanic; your body will want to 'gorge' basically, whenever it can, to better prepare for the lean times. You will adjust, slowly; as you become more accustomed to having access to a proper meal consistently." With the bread retrieved, he set it on the tray and pulled a bread knife from the special wooden block he kept his large knives in, and brought the entire mass to the table. Setting it down within reach of both of them, he returned to the small kitchen area to retrieve the fresh milk, as well as a smaller container of juice; he'd come across a large bag of oranges freshly imported from the coastal regions near the Port of Dreams, and had squeezed many of them so that he would have access to a supply of the tasty juice for a few days. A treat, as citrus fruits beyond the locally grown lemons where a bit of a luxury item. Taking his seat, "Please, enjoy as you see fit."

WC: 444

444+5097 =5541

She listened as Kin explained both why she had slept so well and so late, as well as why she was hungry already despite it not being the norm for her to eat more than once every few days. Both explanations made sense and they appeased her curiosity. She was sure her body would make more random and strange changes the more comfortable she got, perhaps even her appearance itself. She was at least prepared for this now, so hopefully it wouldn't be such a shock.

Despite being hungry it was the juice she gravitated towards first; the smell of it appealed to her senses, as well as it made her curious. She sipped it slowly before starting on the actual food; bread and fruit both consumed slowly and gradually. She might be hungry, but she still didn't trust her stomach not to revolt if she ate too much too fast. She ate tiny bites, and chewed well, simply enjoying and savoring the taste of everything. She kept silent while she ate: now that her stomach wasn't roaring she found herself thinking about what was supposed to happen today. She had no idea what would be said, but she found herself feeling hopeful that she would no longer be in trouble.

She finished eating and simply sipped the rest of her juice while randomly playing with a bit of fur on her tail. At least she was calm enough not to be chewing on them for once.

Word Count: 250 + 4,116 = 4,366

The sliced fruits and bread was for her benefit, really; all he wanted was the honey coated dates and some cool milk; that was breakfast for him most days honestly. Oh, he'd make use of whatever they didn't eat, he never wasted food. What was left would be used for a fresh salad for supper, as well as to be dried and stored for later use. The fresh bread would last them several days, and would be useful for every meal. Utility was the key to the desert beasts survival.

The dates where eaten with much enjoyment, one at a time he popped one into his mouth and worked it over; they where soft, but chewy, and sweet without being overly so. Deliciously perfect. He did take a bit of the bread for the sake of balance; the starch would kick his energy up to normal levels faster than the fruit and honey, but the energy won't have faded by the time his body was working on them. He knew his body well, he could pick his meals to keep his energy levels constant throughout the day. It kept him from overeating, or from snacking unnecessarily. He was silent as he ate, a habit of his, really; only actually speaking once he's noticed she'd finished, and he'd chased the last of the honey and dates down with his second cup of milk.

"I hope the meal was enjoyable. I tend to be a tad... simple, with my meals. I received a response from the guild early this morning, they're prepared for our audience, whenever we arrive. We can depart whenever you feel you are ready."

WC: 285

285+5541=5826

Sephora gave a nod: the food had been good – she had no complaints. It was glorious; and far better then what she was used to. When he mentioned that he had gotten a response from the guild she tilted her head a bit like a curious child who was thinking. She was nervous, yes, but she also knew that to get this over with sooner rather then later would be best. If she waited then she was only delaying the inevitable, and she would worry about it the entire time. Kin claimed that given all of the evidence of what had happened to her she would be forgiven for what she had done to survive; and she kept that thought at the front of her mind.

”We can go now... I'd rather get it over with then wait any longer.”, she said softly. At least she wasn't chewing on her tails, yet. As it was she was running her fingers through the fur of one of her five tails as if petting it. Much, much better then biting herself at least. She then gathered all five tails to her chest as she often did and hugged them with a sigh: self comfort, a way to make her feel better.

Word Count: 217 + 4,366 = 4,583

He had to agree with that; it would be better to be done with this sooner rather than later, for both their sake. He wasn't worried about himself really; he'd taken no real risks by taking her in, not really; the absolute worst that would happen was he paid off her debts himself, and be done with it. It didn't effect him; he had plenty set aside to cover losses of various kinds, and her debts would be little more than a singular mark in his book for the day. Nothing to worry about.

He rose to his feet and gathered the remnants of their breakfast; filling his bowl with warm water and a bit of soap to soak, and storing the fruit and bread for later. It was a quick diversion, only a few moments, and he was back. He was ready to go, now that he'd taken care of that. "Take the cloak from yesterday; it will keep eyes off of you until we reach the guild hall. It's not far away, just outside of my clan's compound really. It would be inside of it, if not for it having been built after we created the compound itself." He moved to the wall and took the cloak off a small hook, handing it to her to put on and moving toward the door. He'd wait for her to follow, then show her out; leading them down the walkway and back to the street, and off toward the building they needed to reach.

-Exit-

WC: 265

265+5826=6091

5000/5000 Ninjutsu D-B
1091/1000 Suiton D-C

Her heart beat accelerated as she watched Kin get up and clean up the breakfast dishes: she would have been more then willing to help – it was second nature for her to do stuff like that – if it weren't for the fact that the nervous feeling meant she likely would have accidentally dropped and broke something. When she had the shakes that sort of thing just tended to happen a lot. She held back her whine of nervousness, and refrained from chewing on her tails like she so often did – but only just. She still ran her fingers through her own fur, her fingertips moving faster the closer to leaving that they seemed to get.

She stood up when Kin made it clear he was ready to go, surprised that her legs were even willing to hold her up, and she nodded to his instructions about the cloak. When he handed it to her she took it and put it on. She pulled the hood up and then followed him out of the building: as hidden as she was when he had brought her into the village to begin with. Each step felt heavy; as if something were attempting to drag her down – but she knew it was just her nervous mood messing with her mind. There was nothing holding her down, nothing holding her in place, it was just her mind trying to trick her into believing it was.

As they reached the street it seemed the opposite affect would begin to happen: everything going by so quickly, so fast. As if time itself sped up as she neared their destination. Still, she had been right in her own words: it was indeed better to get this done sooner then later. If things worked out like Kin had said they would then she would be 'off the hook' or 'free' in a manner of speaking. If not... Well, her mind was more then capable of playing around with that scenario too – being imprisoned, or maybe even put to death.

Sephora shook her head slightly, pushing the thoughts away – she didn't need to be thinking like that right now. Not with this meeting so close in a very literal way.

Word Count: 378 + 4,583 = 4,961

~Exit~