Tale as Old as Last Wednesday [Maid IC]

[Deme]

"Something on your mind, Hani? If you object to my proposal, I'd ask you to say so now."

Leon folded his hands and smiled.

[Hawkflight]

"N-No, Leon," she said. "I just ... don't know how I c-can ... help. I'm ... not very strong...."

[Deme]

"Oh, don't worry about that. I'm sure there's a lot of things that aren't too heavy, and Terran can help you. Do you know how to sweep with a broom or dust?"

Terran didn't seem to mind being volunteered. He was still looking at Leon as if waiting for something.

[Hawkflight]

"A ... a little. We ..." Hani glanced over at Ante. "W-Well, we were always ... dismissed before very long. And I never had to before that."

[Lycan 01]

Yuki narrows her eye a bit at all this talk of baths. "I see," she factually remarks. "I have no qualms with assisting in the restoration project. I have at least a rudimentary knowledge of basic carpentry and repair tools." There's probably a zany story behind that. Or maybe the assassin just likes to do home improvement in her free time? Who knows.

[Trobby]

"I assure you, Hani is capable of sweeping dust, and much more." Ante chirps up, squeezing her sister's hand reassuringly. "We are more than happy to help restore the bath, Master Leon."

After all...Ante feels like she could really use a bath after nearly three days of traveling and all of today working without a bath...especially after the Gophers incident.

[Deme]

"...'Tis the nature of apprenticeship; to acquire new skills, refine that in which confidence is lacking. If thine intent is to shy away due to uncertainty, then it is no different from not being an apprentice at all, and wallowing in idleness."

Terran pointed out.

"That's a little forbidding, don't you think?...But he does have a point. If you're not sure about something, it's everyone's responsibility to teach you...Still, it sounds like your sister has you covered."

Leon said with a bright smile. He turned to Yuki and added,

"...You certainly have picked up every skill under the sun, haven't you? Your apprenticeship must have been ferocious."

[Hawkflight]

"...'Tis the nature of apprenticeship; to acquire new skills, refine that in which confidence is lacking. If thine intent is to shy away due to uncertainty, then it is no different from not being an apprentice at all, and wallowing in idleness."

Terran pointed out.

Hani shied away from Terran. "I-I'm sorry," she said quietly.

[Trobby]

"I assure you, she's completely capable of helping out." Ante says, with perhaps a slight edge in her voice as her sister's honor is insulted.

and...perhaps because a small part of her really wants people to believe in her, particularly, Hani herself.

[Deme]

Terran looked a bit embarrassed and taken aback at this.

"I...There's no need to... Ah, please, bear not that expression!"


"Terran's not scolding her or insiuating she can't; quite the opposite. Believe me. You'd know." Leon leaned forward to tell Hani in mock-confidence, his voice light and joking, "Even I'm spooked when he really lays into me."

Terran flailed his arms about ineffectually, looking unusually distressed.
"Don't tell her that, Leon! She's terrified of me as matters stand!" He sighed and almost slumped his shoulders. They were less overwhelmingly squared, anyway. "I can barely speak to her..."

Leon sighed and smiled affectionately. He added, in a still somewhat light voice.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry... He may be a stern teacher, but it's hard to find a man with a kinder heart than my brother."

[Hawkflight]

"Um ..." Hani glanced back and forth between Leon and Terran, sensing the latter's distress. She decided to change the topic.

"Um, L-Leon? ....What will happen to the gophers?" she asked.

[Deme]

"...The gophers? Charming fellows, really."

This seemed to deflate Terran out

"...Well, anyway..." Terran recapped the state of things.

"I'm sure something can be arranged -- it's not as if we want for resources. As long as they don't steal from us, they can live where they want. Good work, Hani."

(1d6)[1] favor.

[Hawkflight]

Hani blushed at the praise, not used to it from people who aren't Ante. "Th-Thank you," she said.

[Benson]

"Mmm..righth..yegh...I'llh helph too..with bathtubh..." Merry nodded her head, looking up at everyone, her mouth stuffed with food, her cheeks like a chimpunk's. She didn't pay too much attention to most of the conversation, she was too busy pigging out.

[Deme]

"...Well, then I guess we'll begin..."

He looked over at Merry, a little smirk on his face.

"When all you ladies have finished eating."

[Trobby]

Ante nods, and finishes up her food...eating perhaps a little more than she should, still used to being opportunistic when being given food. She likely encourages the same for Hani. It...will take a few days for her to re-adjust.

[Lycan 01]

Yuki doesn't respond to Leon's remark about her training. Talking about her learning experiences would probably be awkward for everyone at the table.

She simply listens to the back and forth banter, eating her lunch. Once her plate is clear, she'll look around to see if there are other empty plates, which she will proceed to start stacking.

"I will return the dishes to the kitchen for cleaning, once everyone is done," she flatly observes.

[Benson]

Merry nearly choked sputtered when she caught him glancing at her with her cheek's stuffed the way they were.

[Trobby]

Oh right, the dishes. Sometimes it got cozy enough here that Ante could forget that they were technically all just staff.

"Yes, we shall all clean up togethe...does anyone know where Lune might be?"

[Deme]

"She's resting. The day took a rather strange course for her, it seems...I'm not sure I understand it all myself just yet."

Leon covered the bottom half of his face with a hand, going so far as to even stifle his discomfort with his little claw-talon things in order to hide some of the concern there. It...didn't really work.

[Lycan 01]

Once everyone is done, Yuki tries to gather the plates and whatnot without causing too much of a disturbance, before swiftly taking them to the kitchen. "I shall return shortly."

Once in the kitchen, she looks around for a sink or washing area.

Spoiler

Show

Skill: (4d6)[15]

[Benson]

Merry glanced as Yuki left with a bunch of dirty dishes on her own just as Ante suggested they work together on them, what a chores hog.

[Deme]

THE DISHES GLEAM LIKE THE SUN! BEHOLD THEIR RADIANCE!

----

"Anyway, I think it may be a good idea to split into smaller groups, as we have before, since there are a few things that need doing to restore the bath."

Leon explained. He pulled out a collection of straws from his pocket. It's probably worth wondering why he had them with him.

[Lycan 01]

Yuki returns, partially blinded by her own dishwashing skills. Blinking the spots from her eye, she notices the straws. "Oh, we are drawing lots? As to what purpose?" she asks as she plucks a straw.

[Deme]

"To decide what everyone will be doing. There's some heavy rubble that needs clearing out and so on, there's lighter sweeping and dusting and scrubbing to be done... And there's the matter of figuring out how exactly water is supposed to get into the bath. It's too big to fill by man-power alone."

He smiled and put a hand on his hips as he rose from the table.

"I intended to do that, but with a companion, I think it'd go much more quickly."

[Trobby]

"...You DO realize that certain members of your staff are better and worse suited to such tasks, yes?" Ante is quick to point out, thinking immediately of her sister getting stuck trying to lift huge boulders, while she and Yuki sweep up dust.

[Deme]

"Oh, don't worry; whatever team Hani's on, it won't be the team that does any heavy lifting, and if someone can't do something, things can be re-arranged."

Leon said. Terran pulled a straw with a blue end. Terran then took it and shuffled the straws around, with Leon closing his eyes so he could pull a straw with a green end. Then Terran presented the straws to everyone.

[Hawkflight]

When the straws were passed to Hani, she eyed them with a hunter's eye. Her tail twitched as she eyed them, holding herself back for a moment. Suddenly, she POUNCED ... pulling out a straw with her teeth. She crossed her eyes, eyeing the red tip in front of her.

[Trobby]

Ante rolled her eyes. she had tried numerous times to convince Hani that it was not proper to 'swipe' a thing that was offered to you....but she supposed it couldn't be helped. It was in her sister's instinct.

More normally, Ante drew a straw with a blue end.

[Benson]

Merry scrunched her face at the thought of being stuck doing heavy lifting or any sort of hard laborious work, but she stepped forward and plucked a straw anyway.