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 Posted: Sun May 11, 2014 6:20 am
Zena was so far away.
Biroki could feel its distance strongly in his soul in the damp, foggy Jahuar morning. His wife and children were in that far-off land, and every day he felt more bereft, more horrible.
Despite reassurances that they would return, he still feared - in the deepest depths of his being - that they would not. He was sure they - the three of them - would stay there. Either some terrible catastrophe would occur, preventing their return for a time (or, he feared, indefinitely), or Zuri would keep them all there. Again, forever.
The house had been ringing in his emptiness and, despite the foreignness of his houseguests, he was glad to have them there. They had business in Ast, and he had rooms to spare. It worked out well: He kept out of their way, and they kept out of his. It helped that he had switched back to his old schedule of being active in the evening - foreigners were strange in their limitations to the day hours. It was sad, in a way: They didn't get to properly experience the night. He was sure it was beautiful in Sauti, the Tale, and Zena as well.
He was up a little 'later' than usual - the morning rays of the sun were just beginning to grace the canopy, and he was normally asleep before then. But the night had been particularly busy, and he had simply been kept longer.
Besides, he needed his tea. It would help him sleep and not have nightmares.
He set the kettle to boiling, laying out the herbal mix he wanted to use...
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Posted: Thu May 15, 2014 11:25 pm
Viveka was known to be an early riser, the frigid temperatures of Zena having been the conditioning factor from an early age. However, the aroma of herbs from outside the door was what drew his attention away from his lover's side, who wasn't due to wake up for the next three hours or more. The deep haired man gave a yawn as he meandered out into the kitchen and brushed his hair back from his face.
"Good morning, Biroki." He greeted, smiling. "Natsu's still not with us quite yet, he likes to sleep in when he can."
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Posted: Fri May 16, 2014 2:13 pm
Biroki was a little startled, but not by much. It was rare to see either of them awake at the same time that he was, but it had happened before. And it wasn't as if he hadn't met the men when they had been moved in.
"Good Morning" he said, setting out another cup. He put the herbs in: Revitilization, Complexion, Relaxation, Stress Relief, Flavor... he thought, mulling through the spice combination in his head, and their effects. Likely as good for the fine-skinned ice man and his mate as for himself.
On a whim, he got out one of the pans that Zuri had brought - Zena make, great for meat and vegetables - and began to heat it. "Breakfast?" he asked, "And, uh... Thats fine." Biroki didn't care that much about how late the wind man slept. He himself should be sleeping now.
"How is your business going...?" something about... asking a woman to surrogate for them?
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Posted: Sat Jun 14, 2014 10:31 pm
Viveka watched Biroki place the herbs inside of the cup with an almost child-like curiosity, before peering up towards the pans. Hm, breakfast would be nice.
"Oh, yes!" He chirped, heading over to Biroki's side. "Would you like some help with making it? I'm a better cook than my brother, as Natsu always says."
He chuckled a bit, before jumping a little at Biroki's next question. Uh... It was... Going?
"...It's going somewhere?" He replied, his words tapering off into an awkward smile. "Natsu's assured that this one girl will do just fine for him, but, I feel she's a little too young at the moment. Poor girl was so scared when I asked her, she turned as red as a berry!"
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Posted: Thu Jun 19, 2014 8:53 pm
"Yes, don't ask a shifter something that will make them blush in the nighttime... its v-very..." he laughed "Uh, visible." He remembered all too well the many times he had turned colors in more ways than one. Especially around Zuri. He couldn't believe how long ago it had been, and how different things were now. Back then, he blushed a whole lot. Now? Hardly ever. "Well, keep at it, if she's willing..." he said, pouring the water in the cups to steep, "Trust me, children are... Well... Its nice to have little ones of your own..." he smiled quietly to himself. He was happy to be Ikkio and Ikuri's father, and he never regretted the decision to have them, even if Ikkio was a terror.
"Its a 'midnight snack' for me... thats the term, right?" he said, putting a bit of plant oil on the pan to test it. "Maybe you can teach me a few tricks."
He liked the way the oil sizzled and spat, even thoughthat made it dangerous and hot. He was a fire mage, though. He liked it dangeorus and hot....
...
He missed Zuri so much. When she got back, he'd apologize to her and...
Right. Breakfastdinner. "What would you like for breakfast, anyway?" Biroki had no idea what he would have before bed, and it was easier - and less exhausting to just ask the man.
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Posted: Sat Jun 21, 2014 12:55 pm
Viveka couldn't help but beam as Biroki spoke about how nice it was to have children. Becoming fathers was something that he and Natsu wanted very much, and if Finnley was willing to be that crucial piece of help that they needed, they would be eternally grateful.
"Yes, but I don't usually eat past eleven, I'm usually fast asleep by then." He replied, nodding. "Hm? Tricks? ...Well, what would you like to learn about cooking? Spices? What vegetables go best with certain meats?"
He observed the oil carefully and moved his hair away from the flames, before pursing his lips at Biroki's next question.
"Mmm, we usually have some meat and eggs, as well as some small vegetables on the side." He said. "Juice, too, but only if the fruit is ripe enough. Unripe fruit juice is too sour."
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Posted: Sat Jun 21, 2014 7:05 pm
"I'm actually pretty good with spices..." said Biroki, "Not so good at cooking the meat... Not much meat here." aside from insect, but they didn't have insects in Zena, did they...
"Well, what you do with the unripe fruit is you keep it until it ripens..." or fermented... that was pretty good too, especially for cooking. "I know how to cook with fruit..." he pointed to his stores of fruit, ripe and bursting with juice, ready to be eaten, in case the ice tribesman wanted it. "And Roots." He put some insect eggs into the pan, watching them sizzle into a bubbly pancake. He was sure that this wasn't what Viveka meant, but... They were eggs. Sort of.
"But Meat... I just can't get to come out right." he said, shaking a rich bitter-spicy spice mix onto them, "Its either n-not cooked enough or..." he made a face, "overcooked, which is just as bad."
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Posted: Sat Jun 21, 2014 7:27 pm
Viveka blinked. Not much meat in Jauhar? He had heard that there were plenty of beasts roaming around, wouldn't they hunt those? or was that too dangerous? The ice tribesman watched as Biroki tossed some odd looking eggs into the pan and tilted his head. What were those?
"Oh, well, it's important to keep tabs on the meat as you cook it." He said, wandering over to where the fruit was. He grabbed a few good looking ones and brought them back over to the table. "Do you have a knife to cut these with? I could make us some juice."
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Posted: Sat Jun 21, 2014 7:46 pm
"A knife? Oh, sure." Biroki pointed to his modest set - all crystal, all crafted by Dyakida as a wedding present. It was interesting having an alkidike friend, especially one as strange as her. Somehow, he thought that the knife set was less for him and more for the occasion - he didn't think she liked him much, in that way that friends did. Either that, or she had been sending him a literal point.
Didn't matter, they were fine knives. "I do like juice... Do you not eat them straight?" he asked, surprised, "I-I mean, can you not eat Zena fruits straight? Are they tough?" he thought for a moment, "Actually, what sort of fruits are in Zena? Zuri never, uh..." he turned his attention back to the eggs, flipping the whole mass with a practiced movement and seasoning the other side. They weren't spitorog eggs, but they were clumped similarly. It had to be the one tender thing about the little beast. Again, though, these were insect eggs. It was beautiful, he thought, how two very different animals - a beetle and a frog - could be so similar in this one way, and different in every other.
"Zuri never mentioned the fruits and... uh... you don't have to answer that..." he said, backing down. He shouldn't ask so many questions, not in the morning. Evening. Whatever it was. Nobody liked questions in the morning.
"Can you hand me that p-plate? Over there?" he gestured. He needed something to put this eggy thing on, so he could split it between them.
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Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2014 8:51 pm
"Thank you." Viveka replied, taking the knife with a smile. He moved back towards where he had left the fruit and prepared to chop them in half in his usual way, only to pause at the questions poised to him. He paused and looked to Biroki blankly, as if the other male were speaking gibberish, before chuckling.
"Yes, yes, we do!" He laughed, cutting into one of the fruits as he spoke. "But, typically, our fruit is imported, or very small, like berries. We might have big trees in the mountains, but they don't bear fruit like the ones you have here." He cut up the remaining fruit and reached for a set of glasses close to his side, in which he squeezed the juice from the fruit into. It filled the glasses to about half full, which was decent enough for breakfast, at least in his eyes. He set the glasses upon the table and grabbed the plate that Biroki ask for, before returning to the conversation.
"Anyway, Natsu and I live in Mez, which is Sauti. So, we actually eat a lot of berries from nearby lakes, and barter for other fruits from traders." He explained. "It's a bit of give and take for certain things. If you want a basket of fruit, you'll need to have a bundle of special cloth, or medicine, to trade. I find it fun, but to some, it can be stressful."
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Posted: Thu Jul 24, 2014 12:51 pm
"Oh..." He slid the eggs onto the plate, their sizzling, richly colorful mass giving off the savory odor of cooked protein. A few of the eggs in the clump had broken, and the inner portions formed a puddle around the eggs like a delicious, sunny sauce.
"So you have to trade for your food?" Biroki said, handing the plate back, filled. He put another smaller clump of eggs in the pan and began cooking them for himself.
"Where is Mez?" he asked, "In Sauti, I mean. Whats around there?" he flipped and seasoned his portion of eggs - he had given Viveka a large portion by tendajiian standards, but the man and his mate had negotiating to do, and negotiating was hard, hungry work.
When... if... Zuri came home, he would have a lot of that to do himself. He shook the eggs gently, checking their doneness. "I've never been away from Jahuar, you see." he said, "Never left it, not r-really even once."
He got his plate himself and put the eggs on it, setting the pan in a safe place to cool and taking one of the glasses of juice for himself.
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Posted: Sat Jul 26, 2014 11:29 pm
"Primarily, yes." Viveka replied, nodding. He took the plate with a smile and placed it on the table, before moving his glass of juice next to it. "Natsu's older brother hunts with a group of rangers, though, and brings back most of the meat and local commodities. Some of it we keep and some of it we trade or sell away to others. Like I said, it's a lot of give and take."
He sat at the table and adjusted the utensils while listening to what Biroki was saying.
"Sauti is..." He pursed his lips. "A lot of orange mist and giant craggy rocks...It's far cooler than Jauhar and far warmer than Zena, so... It's sort of the in-between of the world. But, Mez is closer to Zena, it's on the northern tip. It's cold in the winter, but wonderful in the summer because it's close to the water. Natsu is obsessed with beaches, so, I couldn't see us living anywhere else, really."
Viveka chuckled nervously, feeling as though his explanation was weightless, and wiggled his legs against his chair.
"I've never been to Jauhar before, but my brother has been quite a few times." He said. "He's a Monk and a competent tradesman. He likes to come around here and bother a mutual friend of ours, as of late."
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Posted: Tue Aug 12, 2014 8:39 am
”I've also never been to the beach. N-not to an oceanside one: just the lake shore.” Biroki commented, starting on his midnight snack. It was a bit heavy for just-before-sleeping, but why not?
He didn't ask about the man's mate's 'obsession' with beaches (just like he didn't talk about his and Zuri's thing for, ah, 'sleeping' on fluffy raoti furs), or what 'winter' and 'summer' were (He assumed that was what seasons were outside of the stable rainforest of Jahuar).
”Oh? Your brother? Might I know him?” asked Biroki, curious. He immediately thought of Rastian, the young trader who had been by a few times, but banished the thought due to the sheer unlikeliness of it... though... there was a vague similarity to the shape of Viveka's face...
Its probably just the ice tribe blood he thought dismissively. ”Would I know this mutual friend?” he asked. No real reason, just curiousity.
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Posted: Sun Sep 28, 2014 4:57 pm
"Oh, well, maybe Natsu and I could take you to the shore one day?" Viveka replied, offering Biroki a smile. "While lakes are lovely, I find the sunset at the beach far more beautiful."
He began to chew on his food as Biroki continued to talk and tried not to make a face at the consistency of the eggs. He had never eaten bug eggs before, and while nothing was wrong with the taste, the way they felt against his tongue made him a little uncomfortable.
"My brother is called Rastian. He's probably been through here a few times on his trade route, I wouldn't be surprised if you ran into him." He said, nodding. "And our friend is called Yaholo, a Massif that lives among the Alkidikes in Andile. He's a really friendly sort who my brother likes to hang around when he comes through the forest. They get along well."
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Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2014 3:05 pm
Wait, so it was Rastian?! Or someone sharing his name, though that couldn't be a coincidence.
”I think I know him!” Biroki remarked, ”He comes by Ast to trade sometimes. And Yaholo... I know him as well! He's a friend of mine and of Z-zuri...” a slight, barely-perceptable pause, ”My wife.”
He forced out a laugh, determined to not think about Zuri just now. Leave that for when he half slept and longed for her warm, familiar form next to him...
”And Yaholo is very friendly.” Biroki agreed. Yes. They were talking about the same person. ”Tendaji is a s-small world after all, huh...” he joked, laughing.
He was still thinking about whether he wanted to take Viveka up on that offer of going to the shore, but fortunately the conversation had turned and he could be excused for 'forgetting the question.'
”Do you know a Dyakida? She's a friend of mine and, I think, of theirs too...?” he had vaguely heard her mention a Rastian when they had last met for Mancala. That had been long ago, when his daughters had been young... or before they had been born? Biroki couldn't remember...
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