Topic: Dusting off the Past

Amber Vanlaer

Date: 2009-10-29 22:41 EST
Eyes ripe and proud as any harvest moon followed along the familiar, lank form of Garret as he bounded up to the door and stretched it open for her. Amber moved past him through the building's frame and into the wide, empty sprawl of the commons. It was afternoon, she mused inwardly; it would be quiet for a while still. The Red Dragon wasn't exactly a hot spot for its lunch specials.

All the while, Garret chuckled as he wound his way in behind the she wolf and through the establishment. Headed for the kitchens behind the bar, the swinging door was shrugged past and immediately, the shifter went for the fridge, tugging it open and digging through for something edible.

Amber herself wasn't too far behind the shifter in his beeline for the kitchen. Soon behind him, she surveyed the heavily stocked pantries with wide eyes. It was magic, no doubt, because the kitchen almost seemed smaller than her own at home, yet it held a seemingly infinite stretch of stock. Fingers ticked along various ingredients before she aimed her steps towards a big, walk in freezer. Eyes like saucers, she went over the various packages and racks of meats and battered, ready to fry snacks. "Ooo.." With Amber's jibing and back sassing temporarily forgotten for the moment, the scruffy shifter had found his mark quickly.

Fruits.

He found a bag of grapes and another of oranges. Snagging as much as his hands could wrap about, and pulling it out, Garret glanced over his shoulder while munching away. He wouldn't be eating too much, there were still runs to complete later on in the day. Even Garret could pace himself from time to time. Grinning, he mimicked her soft exclamation. "Ooo?"

"Chicken..." Came her quick word over the curve of a shoulder. A bag was snatched, and out the she wolf came. Garlic was found, as was cayenne pepper, butter, and some other saliva inducing ingredients. Flour tossed inside the bag of frozen wings, Amber shook up the mess before dumping them into the delightful, modern convenience that was the kitchen's fryer.

As munching, snacking, and playful bickering ensued between the pair a third figure slipped onto the scene through the Inn's front door, looking a cross between following a dream and following her twitching nose. Half lidded eyes were slowly popping into full blossom. Muddy brown saucers were searching in all directions as flaring nostrils lead her towards the kitchen's swinging door with its oval window. Fingertips barely pressed against the wooden plank with vertical grooves, her ankles rolled before she pushed up in tiptoe to let inquisitive eyes peer into the kitchen where the smells reached their climax.

Through the kitchen's portal, those wide, brown eyes would see the two shifters luncheoning within. Garret was scratching at his chin, "hmmming" to himself as he glanced down at his bag and opened it, shuffling through. "Got about five more runs after I eat." He offered as Amber fired off some question or another to the remainder of the day's work. Lifting his apple for another bite while closing the bag, his nose started going, sniffing as he glanced towards the door. "Then m'done for the day."

Pleased, the she wolf gave her companion the full brunt of her pleased expression. "Not bad Garret....Maybe yer not a lost cause after all..." Back came that impish grin again as the she wolf licked a bit of sauce from the pad of her thumb. Setting the bowl down, eyes flicked towards the door again, harvest golden hues curious as they peered to the murky mahogany's that peered through the door's portal window.

The peering Tabitha was not a graceful creature. In momentary alarm at the sight brown eyes beheld the muscles in her left ankle gave way and she swayed violently to one side. Her hip collided with the corner of the back bar and grasping fingers barely had time to grab hold of the counter's edge to keep her from falling to the floor. The door had been inadvertently kicked and it swung a bit on its hinges. At some point she had exclaimed in her own surprise, but the louder noise had been body colliding with whatever was in its path. Tabitha didn't really have time to chastise herself for such clumsiness. She was scrambling to get up and not knock over any bottles in the process

During this poor display of prowess, Garret merely smiled from behind the other side of the door, his toes aiming a poke at the she wolf's rump as she scowled and growled her warning disapproval. Him' He just shoved more fruit into his mouth then started out kitchen door. "M'g'nnna g'n f'n'sh t'd'li'very." He mumbled through the mouthful of food, pausing to swalow it down before repeating. "M'gonna go finish the deliveries." Garret said as he stepped out the room and carefully avoided the stumbling Tabitha with a curiously quirked brow. "Careful. Glass is sharp." Duh. Then out of the establishment he went.

Chicken abandoned for the moment, Amber nudged an elbow to the easy swing of the door, looking down, up, and for signs of shiny, sharp shards. Instead, the she wolf blinked at the wiry length of young woman half clawing her way back up from what was obviously a quick tumble. "Hey....Ye' all right?" Though even to her the words sounded a bit distant; the recognition was almost instantaneous, and jaw dropping.

Mean while, the clutz's feet skittered to find any sort of anchoring and they eventually leveled between the anti-stress mats of black rubber and the floorboards in desperate need of a thorough sweeping. A plastic container of toothpicks, a stack of order sheets, and an empty bottle of grenadine were knocked over in the process. Thankfully, the grenadine didn't roll off the ledge of the bar. Tabitha was somewhere between crying and screaming whenever she smiled at the familiar face gawking at her display. Somewhat shakily her voice sounded as hands shook a moment from side to side. "Heh....yeah. Umm, I'm good."

Muddy brown eyes took a moment to survey the damage she had done. This wouldn't even qualify as her biggest mess of the day and it was still early afternoon.

Though Amber, herself, had those moments of unruly clumsiness, it'd never been so pronounced as Tabitha's, she noted with a mental thankfulness. Still mildly wary, as if she expected some secret trap to spring out from some side of the building at any moment, the she wolf moved carefully, a hand extended as she meant to dispell the mirage she believed the brown eyed girl to be. "So far from the clan, cousin..." She mused aloud, refusing to let this moment go; it was too bizarre.

Tabitha couldn't sit still to save her life. Always fidgeting, always creating messes. She had to learn quickly to clean them before anyone else noticed. From the waist she bent to start scooping up individual toothpicks wrapped in plastic casings. There had to have been at least a hundred. Thankfully they could be salvaged well enough. As for her cousin's comment, well, she could handle that and clean at the same time. "Yeah, well, I'm just striking out and doing that whole thing."

A nervous smile and quick breath broke her comment. Muddy brown eyes flicked upwards for a moment and then back down to her mess. "Besides, they said it would be good for me to get some outside kinda experience." Maybe if she said it with enough conviction she'd be able to believe it herself. The toothpicks were ushered into their cup holder.

The conviction in her kin's voice was thick enough to spread on toast. Brows knitting, clearly not near any level of convinced the clumsy she wolf across from her was, Amber felt her blood pressure ticking. Hands to her hips, she took a lean backwards against the wall of the bar. "Not a similar incident I'd hope..."

"Hah." The younger girl's body almost shook as she considered the notion. One palm pressed against the floor to help push her upwards. The collected toothpicks were set back in their proper place. "As if Eric would even look at me let alone..." Tabitha then decided to leave the comment hanging in the air and she shook her head from side to side. "No, nothing at all similar." A hand reached for the empty grenadine bottle on its side and she tossed it in the trashcan. Surely no one would need the empty bottle. Amber's ostracized status from within her and her cousin's blood pack was no longer a secret she'd be able to keep, not with poor Tabitha around, oddly, the she wolf found she didn't give a damn.

"Blood's blood..." Amber replied with a soft, bitter tinge to her voice as she shook her head, lips catering to a rueful curl as she shoved back off the wall and opened arms for her fellow castaway. "Ye' never said ill about my choices, Tab....I have no ill will fer ye'."

The younger and less talented cousin was all too happy to fold into the embrace of open arms. Blood's blood. You never know how much you're going to miss family until you're a thousand miles away with no one there to care. She pressed her cheek against the she wolf's own and squeezed for a lingering moment. "Thank you." Tabitha didn't know what else to say. When Amber had left Tabitha wasn't allowed to discuss it, at least, not in a positive light. During that dark time no questions had been asked, she'd just put her head down and waited for the next in a line of orders.

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