Another image popped in Lunie's mind, which was that of a tree somehow trying to clamber its way through the thin, winding corridors of the academy. For some reason, this image was exceptionally hilarious, and he couldn't restrain the additional amused giggle under his breath. "Yes, is very super lovely!"

He looked entirely concerned as she exclaimed her desire to drink once more. But as she offered for him to accompany him, he let out an excited gasp, nodding fervently. "Yes! Would love to see where you find this tea! Maybe I could find some too? I have never found tea before!" His tail swished amiably behind him.

Almost automatically, his hand would attempt to worm into hers. Hand holding was always necessary. His looked up to her expectantly, awaiting her to lead the way to... wherever.

"Maybe you could!" She replied jovially, pleased he would be accompanying her.

The unexpected sensation of someone trying to grasp her hand caught her off-guard and the lioness nearly pulled away. But she blinked, smiled warmly, and curled her fingers acceptingly around his. Holding hands carried a welcoming perception of friendliness, she found with some mild surprise, and her smile was genuine as she lead the way towards the breakfast room.

"You have never found tea you say? Well, maybe you'll find it to be something you enjoy. It's made from leaves, after all, and you are so fond of nature. Maybe it tastes like what the trees taste when they drink through their leaves."

Since the day was demonstrating unusually fine weather, the lioness decided that they should have tea on the breakfast room's veranda. After acquiring the beverage, of course.


(( I don't think we need to move locations, since the veranda is in the courtyard.. x3 Even if they go inside for a minute what do you think? Unless you'd prefer a new location, or to stay in the kitchen or something? ))

((...N'awh, we needn't move. x3))

Lunie seemed pretty satisfied with himself for latching onto Nef's hand for some reason - his head held slightly higher than usual. It was possibly because of the fact she was so incredibly amazing, and somehow connecting with her hand gave him some association with her. It was like... being accepted onto the higher ground of a deity - although perhaps not as exaggerated as that.

"Oooooh," he 'ooh'd in wonder, looking up to her with wide, interested eyes at her description of the substance. Why had he never encountered this before?! Of course, he knew that the sphinx's genius would never fail to amaze him. "I not know that trees make drinks for us! That's so kind of them! Sometimes I just think they aren't doing much but looking pretty but.... they make tea too?!"

As the deadly obstacle known as the 'breakfast room door' approached them, his hand wriggled out of hers, and he skipped over towards it, swinging said door open wide to allow her to enter. He beamed. "Ladies go first? ... Or is lion... humen...person!..."

The lioness simply smiled at Lunie's revelations about tea and shook her head fondly. Her hands found her hips with a lifted eyebrow, impressed when her new companion slipped ahead to open the door. Playing along, Nef tossed her hair and raised her chin importantly before sashaying--as best a lion can--into the breakfast room.

"Thank you, Sir." She nodded mildly as she passed him. "Such gentlemanly manners are so hard to come by in this age. How lucky I am to have met you today Lunie!"

The breakfast room fireplace was still fighting to remain alive, dwindling flames licking at the last bit of wood left over from the late morning's breakfast rush. Neferure retrieved a dry log from the modest pile beside the fireplace and fed the modest flames.

"We need some heat, and this kettle with water in it." She decided to explain a little while she performed hte task of making tea in case Lunie decided to make it himself some time, granted that he enjoyed it. "And then we wait until it's boiled. In the meantime, you just need a cup and some tea leaves. The hot water makes all the flavor come out, so there's nothing else you have to do."

In the fireplace was already a very small cast iron table with a kettle settled on top, also remaining from the morning. She simply left it to reheat over the fire while she motioned to a some dainty porcelain mugs on display in a hutch nearby. "Could you be a darling and grab us a couple of those?" She meanwhile would find some tea leaves in the decorative clay containers sitting on the mantel.

She smiled pleasantly. "Simple, yes?"

Lunie would've tried to keep up his gentlemanly act, but his expression was anything but solemn - the straight face he tried to keep would twitch as if he were struggling not to break into a childish grin. It was so difficult not to against his nature of smiling at nothing.

Walking inside after her, he closed the door carefully as if it were made of thin, delicate glass. His eyes skimmed around the room with interest, and one might've thought he'd never been in this room in his life. Well, he had, but never with the knowledge that Neferure seemed to present. He'd maybe nab some fruit from a bowl, the occasional cereal, but nothing much more.

The fireplace - he'd always skimmed around it as if he expected it to lunge out its flickering fingers and latch onto his feet. Neferure, however, had no problem in taming the firey beast with clumps of wood. How brave!

Nodding at her instructions, he gave something vaguely reminiscent of a salute at her instruction. "So simple! I shall do it so well!" he promised, before skipping away to do his assigned duty.

As he approached the cupboard, he plucked two of mugs out and was about to make his merry way back to Nef... until he thought. Didn't she have two bodies? Would that mean she needed another cup? He scooped up another one. But what if they wanted more tea? Would they need more? He cradled two more in his arms. But what if someone else came and they also wanted tea? It would be such a shame if they were left out...

By the time Lunie was returning to his friend, he was carrying so many mugs that his upbeat pace was reduced to a waddle. The Leaning of Tower of Mugs wobbled precariously in his careful hands. A mug was stuffed beneath each armpit, and one dangled by its handle from his teeth. Somehow, it hadn't occurred to him that this wasn't what she meant by 'couple'.

An obliviously optimistic smile emerged on his face as his head peeped around the tower. "Any'hing elsh?" he chirped through the handle.

The pot of tea leaves had been moved to the nearest table, then the fire was prodded unnecessarily with a poker while Neferure waited for her friend to return with the mugs.

"Hmm?" The lioness hummed questioningly at the muffled question before finally turning her head to look to the feluis. Her eyes instantly widened in alarm and and couldn't deny some earnest laughter at Lunie's endeavorous behavior. "My! I underestimated you, didn't I?" she exclaimed amusedly. "Look at all those mugs!" She beamed approvingly at his feat accomplished and was quick to move forwards and try to relieve him of some of his burden. "Here, let's set these out on the table."

She wasn't terribly concerned that they would be making way more tea than was at all necessary. Worse case, it went cold and they would have to dump it, but she was fairly confident that 'sharing' it with garden would probably distract Lunie from the fact that they were in fact wasting the beverages. But there was always a chance they would find someone to share with instead, so she made no mention of it just yet.

The pot of tea leaves had it's lid removed and she gestured to it with a small nod of her head. "Would you help me fill all of these cups? Just a pinch of leaves in each one." She took a pinch from the pot to demonstrate.

Behind her, the water in the kettle was nearing completion.



(( my apologies for the delay ^^; ))

Lunie beamed with pride at Nef's reaction - he'd done such a good job! And besides, he hadn't dropped a single one. It was enough to make him feel incredibly successful.

He was relieved however when the burden was lifted from him (though he did feel capable enough to have managed himself). He laid out the remaining few mugs on the table, needlessly paying particular attention to how equally spaced they were, and the direction they faced.

Lunie looked up to Neferure, his ears swivelled attentively towards her. A new task! Yet again, a determined sort of look overcame his expression, as if he'd been bestowed with a world-altering responsibility. Tea leaves. Sounded simple enough.

He began with the nearest, pinching a tiny amount before sprinkling it over the mug like it were fairy dust. Needless to say, barely any actually landed inside, which made the whole experience just a fraction less magical. He tried again with more before moving onto the next.

When each cup had a sort of sufficient amount, he noticed that some still remained in the pot. No, there was a lot left. Was that meant to happen? He looked around indecisively, before plucking another bit between his finger and thumb. Curiousity struck him in an instant, he just really wanted to know what it tasted like...

Placing it on his tongue, it took moments before his face screwed up in apparent disgust. That was strong. He spluttered it out, wiping his mouth against the back of his wrist before plopping the lid back on the pot. He gave Neferure an endearing, innocent sort of look like he hadn't just been trying to eat the leaves.

She'd had every intention of helping the little feluis fill the mugs with tea leaves. But he had so quickly seemed to lose himself in this determined state of completing the new task that she found herself merely sitting back just slightly behind him, one arm crossed over her ribs, and the other hovering over her mouth as if to try and hide the affectionate smile there.

One brow rose with timid interest when Lunie made to taste the raw leaves, but she made no move to stop him. Let the boy be curious. Of course, she had to muffle the guiltily amused laughter in response to his expected reaction.

"Not so good by themselves are they?" She laughed and wrinkled her nose to display her sympathy. "That's because the trees make them so strong, that it only takes a very little bit to be delicious. That way, they last so much longer. Isn't that thoughtful?" Again, she made up some hopefully realistic information to keep the pair of them entertained.

She pivoted enough to gather up the hot kettle from the fire, hand protected carefully by a folded cloth. "Here, now I'll do my part. Be mindful, it's extremely hot." She claimed the pouring of the kettle since she didn't want to risk the poor boy burning himself. Glancing down at him again as she passed the water from cup to cup, she lost herself briefly to another muffled snicker, and reached her free hand forwards to try and fondly ruffle his furry head between those massively adorable ears.

"Let's let them steep a couple minutes then, shall we? And cool just enough to enjoy."

Lunie looked mildly surprised as she spoke - he hadn't expected her to be watching at all, in fact, he thought his little experiment had been completely subtle. Foiled!

He nodded with a smile. "Wow, trees are just so smart!" Blinking shyly, his gaze looked off the the side. "...When I grow up, I wanting to be a tree." Tittering lightly to himself, he shook his head. "Silly, yes. But I would make such nice tea for people and make them happy..." True, he hadn't even tasted it yet, but be was almost completely certain that they would taste wonderful, even despite the strong taste that stuck in his mouth still.

Hot? He watched with amazement as Nef reached in and easily plucked the kettle from the fire...she never ceased to amaze him. Tapping his fingers impatiently on the table, he stooped over the cup, feeling the rising steam waft into his face. "W...wo[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] he drawled, wanting just to have a small taste... but he kept to Nef's instructions, not really wanting to screw up his chance to impress her.

"...Is it done yet?" he chirped moments later, staring intently at the cups as he leaned his chin atop two hands.

"You would make a wonderful tree, Lunie. It's not silly at all," she assured factually. "Hasn't anyone told you that you can be whatever you want when you grow up?" It was true she didn't know how old Lunie was, or enough about his species to know when they were full-grown. But hopefully, this applied, since it felt safe to assume that Lunie was rather young. Or, at the very least, naive enough for this to apply all the same.

When she was through pouring, the empty kettle was returned to the fire and the cloth to the table. SHe smiled down at Lunie, then glanced into one of the mugs, visibly thoughtful about his question for his benefit. "Ohh, I don't think it's ready just yet. Let's wait until the water gets just a little bit darker." She wrinkled her nose apologetically.

"Tell me, Lunie, while we wait; do you prefer things to taste very sweet?" There were smaller jars that had accompanied the larger jar of tea. Surely one of them would have either sugar or honey. If not, she was certain there would be some in the kitchen.

A bashful smile crept on his face at her encouraging words. Although, truth to be told, he wasn't quite sure how he'd go about becoming a tree but... there would have to be a way. And that way involved somehow being as nice, kind and smart as possible. He blinked, looking up to Nef. "I can? So if I want to be big fire breathing dragon, I could be?" He giggled at the ridiculous thought - because for some reason, it was more ridiculous than being a tree. "But I won't want to be one, they're a little scary."

He reached out a finger, tempted to feel one of the cups just to see how hot it was, but he somehow miraculously managed to restrain his curiosity as he was temporarily distracted by her question. He nodded eagerly. "Oh yes! I love sweet things! Like... sweets. And cake! Oh, I make a cake once, I'd give you some but... I eated it." He smiled apologetically. "Sugar is sooo nice too! And honey! And... and sugar!" He lovingly drawled on about the sweet consumable with a theatrical enthusiasm, his hands waving around extravagantly.

A pair of eyebrows rose up beneath the lioness's bangs. "A dragon?" She hummed in thought and began to slowly nod her head. "That would be quite the aspiration. But I agree, they are a bit frightening aren't they? And rather large. And I'm sure breathing fire would eventually give you a terribly sore throat. Maybe that's why dragons always seem so angry." She pouted, as if in pity for the poor beasts, even though she had never actually met one and was pretty certain that their fire probably didn't actually hurt their throats. But it was just an assumption.

As Lunie rambled on about how much he did indeed enjoy sweet things, the corners of Nef's mouth curled in fond amusement and she turned to the other jars to investigate. Predictably, it was as she thought, and the jars that had been beside the tea were indeed sweeteners and flavorings. One jar even looked like ground coffee. She took a small jar that smelt like honey and turned back to place it on the table.

"A cake, you don't say!" She paused a moment to make a display of pouting in a put-out manner over the fact that there was none left. "Well, I can hardly blame you. Maybe next time you make cake, I'll get to try some then," she teased. "Here now, I think it's been long enough. Pick whichever one you like and give it a try. We'll add some honey if it's too bitter."

The lioness chose a cup and rose it to her face to breath in the warm scent before taking a small sip. "Mmm.. This is just perfect! Lunie, you're tea-brewing skills are marvelous!"

Lunie subconsciously rubbed his throat as she spoke. Well, now that she mentioned it, fire breathing sounded horribly uncomfortable. In fact, anything to do with fire in itself was enough to make him cringe. The added plus of apparently being 'constantly angry' alone was enough him to deter him from the idea altogether. "No dragons!" he gulped. "They so horrible!"

His expression was temporarily pitiful at her remarks. "I be sure to make you another cake! But I make new one ten times bigger and tastier than the one, I promise!"

His attention was soon averted to the cups on display, waiting eagerly as Nef sampled her own cup. They were ready! An excited look crossed his face, like a child who'd just been granted tickets to Disneyland - his jaw open in a silent cry of happiness, his eyes wide and bright. And when she gave her approval of the tea, Lunie's heart felt as if it were about to burst from his ribs. He could contain himself no longer.

As he reached, he could already feel the hotness radiating from the cup before he'd even touched the handle. Eyeing it with awe for a moment, he finally raised it to his lips for a sip. "Ah, hot!" he gasped, placing it down again, wiping his mouth on the back of his wrist. He paused though - despite the hot, tingly feeling in his mouth, it didn't taste that bad at all. Actually, yes... a smile blossomed on his face, and he took another tentative sip.

Squee'ing slightly, he held out the cup in anticipation towards Neferure. "Honey!" he demanded, before breaking out into a larger smile - ultimately, the kind of smile that looked rather forced. "Pleeaaase!" he added. It wasn't too bitter - it was lovely - but... he just really wanted honey anyway.

The promise of a new cake drew a small laugh from Neferure and she nodded to silently accept his vow. "I shall look forward to it!"

She watched curiously as Lunie went about almost tentatively taking his cup up to his mouth and trying it for the first time. A flash of concern crossed her features when he exclaimed at the temperature, but it vanished with a small sigh when he didn't linger on whether or not it had truly hurt, and eventually took a second sip. The smile returned to Nef's face and the corners of her eye crinkled in amusement.

"Yes, sir!" She exclaimed with a laugh, and used a small silver spoon to deliver a dollop of honey into his tea. She left the spoon inside for him and gestured to it. "Stir that up a bit and try it to make sure it's enough." His forced smile made her wary that he was lying and saying he liked it merely because she did. She didn't want him to drink it if he hated it, but moreso, she really wanted him to actually like it, since her whole story about how it came from trees was a little romantic and she didn't want him to come to the conclusion that trees made awful beverages. But if he enjoyed sweet things, surely the honey would be enough to make the tea enjoyable enough for him.

"But my goodness, what are we to do with all of these other teas?" The hand that wasn't holding her tea came to rest a thoughtful fist on her hip. "I'm not sure we have enough room in our stomachs to drink all of this, and it was be very selfish of us to not share. What do you think, Lunie, any ideas? I suppose we could just leave them here and people can take them as they find them.."

Lunie probably wasn't aware that he was making any noise, but if one listened, then they could probably hear a distinct, continuous 'eeeeeee' of excitement radiating from him as the honey sploshed into his drink. He stirred furiously and brusquely, tea droplets sprinkling places before raising the cup to his mouth to --ow. The handle of the spoon poked him in the eye, and he frowned at it, before picking it out of the cup and leaving it on the table.

Finally, he was allowed his drink without interruption. He tentatively licked, before his pupils dilated in amazement Then he sipped, the heat from the tea no longer bothering him at all, and by the time he removed his face from the cup, he was wearing a dopey grin of awe.

He turned to Nef, holding out the half-empty cup towards her, motioning towards the honey with his eyes. "...Mooore?" he begged, trying to adorn a 'cutsey' sort of smile, his ears tucked low. If honey made the tea taste better, then by all means it followed that more honey would make it taste even more better!

He glanced down to the other cups. Although Lunie was more than ready to admit that he could manage them if he really wanted to, he found himself reluctant to say so as she noted the selfishness. Well, she was sort of right... "But then how they know it was us who make them?" he countered to her suggestion, seemingly wanting recognition for his expert brewing skills.