Midnight Tea Frog

[Richard Wallace]

Yes, Richard was English enough to love tea, but he was himself enough to avoid drinking it without any 'additions'.

A kettle was placed on the stove. On the counter directly next to it stood a porcelain tea pot, looking sufficiently antique, and a mug full of freshly squeezed lemon juice. One useful part of having superhuman strength was that you could squeeze lemons to the last drop, and the skins Richard discarded into the bin were impressively dry. He was smiling contently as he took out a box of black tea and put it next to the items already on the counter. The final ingredient - a bottle of fine gin - was still in the vampire's hand, and it joined the others as well before he walked off to occupy a chair by the table.

He would return to his office as soon as the drink was prepared. He took his time, though, as making drinks was one of the few things Richard actually cared about. A good few decades he had spent as a bartender and it never bored him. Maybe, just maybe, he even felt a bit passionate about it.
A small chuckle escaped him and he started idly tapping out a marching rhythm with his fingers on the table as he waited for the water to boil.

[Spyridon]

Why was tonight of all nights a night he couldn't sleep? For once he wasn't feeling his usual upbeat ready-to-train-at-the-drop-of-a-hat self. He just wanted to chill out in his diamond and get some much-needed sleep.

But apparently sleep hated him at the moment.

And when he couldn't sleep he'd make himself some herbal tea. After a few cups of that he was usually relaxed enough to attempt to sleep again.

He stalked into the kitchen like a man on a mission, heading towards where he had found the kettle while preparing for his date with Ndale.

After a few steps, he stopped and turned his eyes to the other occupant of the room.

[Richard Wallace]

The fact that he was tapping his fingers meant that he had not heard the footsteps from as long a distance as he normally would. When they were close to the door, he picked them out between the beats and stopped, tilting his head a little to listen. Unfamiliar. A man. A quite heavy, but rather gracefully moving individual.

Before he could reach other conclusions, the door opened and a tall, gray-haired male walked in. Well, that height explained the weight. Richard observed him as he paced across the room, not particularly bothered if he decided to go in and out without addressing the other person. Different cultures, different manners, he supposed.

The kettle was still a fair moment away from boiling. Richard glanced to his prepared ingredients, then to the man again. Hm. Perhaps...
"Good evening." he said, smiling. "Care for a drink?"
He didn't let any excitement seep into his voice, as that would be likely to scare the man off. The prospect of brewing a drink for somebody other than himself was definitely appealing, though.

[Spyridon]

His cyan eyes flickered over the man, sizing him up.

He really didn't look like all that much. He was shorter than himself and just didn't look scary. But those were the supernatural creatues you had to be wary of. And he knew he was supernatural just by the simple fact that he could see him.

Unlike many Jinn, he didn't use the glasses or contact lenses that had been developed to help them see humans. So he knew whatever being he saw was supernatural.

"Evening," he responded quietly.

At the offer he lifted the small cloth bag he had in his hand, strolling forwards. "Do you know how to brew herbal tea?"

[Richard Wallace]

The slight wariness was noted, and frankly, approved of. It was a respectable habit. He himself, of course, swore by it. He kept smiling politely as the man looked him over. What was he, anyway...? He did smell ever so slightly of wolf, but Richard wasn't about to jump to conclusions from that fact after that one incident.

Ah well, he would find out later.

His smile wavered a bit at the mention of herbal tea. "Of course." he said with some disappointment. "However, wouldn't you prefer something to, say, warm up?"
He threw a thumb over his shoulder to point to the counter.
"I'm preparing something quite tasty."

[Spyridon]

When he was close enough he tossed the bag onto the counter.

"I had originally come here to prepare myself something to help me sleep." But it was rather rude to just appear, do what he needed to do then disappear with little to no conversation.

His eyes flickered to what was already laid out on the counter.

"All right. I can brew my tea at a later time."

He could almost see his brother grinning widely, patting his head like some damned dog and congratulating him on actually speaking to a person instead of ignoring them.

[Richard Wallace]

He hummed. "I see... Sleep problems?"
Alcohol didn't necessarily help with that, but it could. Black tea, however, would likely have the opposite effect.
Richard turned in his chair to sit in it sideways, facing the man. "Perhaps you should stick to your concoction, then. Mine will contain caffeine."
He seemed genuinely disappointed. Glancing to the side at the counter, he furrowed his brow, then looked to the man again. "Or... We could be recklessly adventurous and brew a tea frog with your herbs? What exactly are they?"
As it seemed that the man wouldn't be leaving that soon, Richard finally rose from the chair and took a step forwards, outstretching a hand to shake in a casual, non-rigid manner.
"I'm Richard, Richard Wallace. I assume you are one of the students?"
He hasn't seen enough of him to base an opinion on, but so far, the gray-haired individual seemed entirely agreeable.

[Spyridon]

"My body's disagreeing with my want to sleep." It did so often enough for this to just be a mild irritation instead of the full-blown frustration he used to treat it with.

"No, its fine. Speel can wait. It definitely won't come upon me tonight." He didn't care much for his lack of sleep. And it didn't really affect him all that much. He'd just be yawning a little during the day.

He raised a brow and his eyes flickered to the bag. Now, what had the Old Man put in there...? "Valerian... passionflower, skullcap, chamomile and... catnip," he muttered, eyes sliding closed as he tried to remember the herbs. "And possibly one or two more."

He gripped the offered hand and gave it a firm shake. You could tell a lot about people by the way they shook your hand. Don was immediately put off by limp handshakes so strived to never deliver one.

"Yes. I'm Spyridon from the Caora'Dobhran house."

[Richard Wallace]

"Ah, I'm sorry." he said, shaking his head. "I imagine that's a bother."
Perhaps he should have protested and refused, but Spyridon looked old enough to make his own choices. Plus, it meant that Richard would get to serve somebody a drink, and he wasn't about to deny himself the pleasure.
He frowned as he listened to the list of herbs. Far too many flavors to risk mixing with gin just like that, it could very well end up tasting repulsive. Frankly, it didn't sound very appealing with or without the added alcohol.
"I think we will stick to the traditional recipe." he said in a slightly amused tone. The embrace on Spyridon's hand was confident, not squeezing too strong or too light; perfectly and unassumingly average.
"I'm the school counselor." he said just as the kettle began to whistle. Richard nodded, then approached the counter to pick up the kettle and pour water into the tea pot. "My office is near the classrooms, should you ever feel the need."
He glanced sidelong at Spyridon, giving him a small smile. "Not that you look particularly troubled..."

[Spyridon]

"A slight annoyance."

His lip twitched upwards. "Yes, that may be for the best." His brother had been experimenting with different alcohols and teas and such and always warned him away from the combinations that turned out not-that-great.

Of course he didn't usually try anything that his brother produced. He stuck to what he knew he liked. Wine, brandy and the occasional beer. He wasnt all that adventurous.

"Frustrated at times but rarely troubled."

He tutted slightly and pulled on the leather thong that was currently failing in keeping his hair braided, tossing it onto the counter and running his fingers through the loose almost-braid, fingers snagging a little in a few small knots. "Honestly..." he sighed, splitting his hair and braiding it again.

"Perhaps, if you wouldn't mind the company, I may find my way there on nights that I cant sleep."

[Richard Wallace]

After the water was poured, he flicked up his sleeve to glance at his watch, then turned around and leaned onto the counter. The lemon juice had already been ran through a strainer to rid it of all bits and seeds, so there was nothing much to do but wait.

"Frustrated, hmm? It happens to the best of us." he said with a light huff, then looked at Spyridon curiously. "If you don't mind me asking... What do you find yourself frustrated about? I know it's hardly a question to ask somebody you've just met, but you could say it's my job to know these things."
He smiled brightly. "I would not mind at all. I myself am entirely sleepless, so feel free to come around whenever insomnia strikes you."

Richard watched the man tend to his hair with a slightly quirked brow. He himself had never had such long hair, and of course never would, so he found himself interested in what it would be like. Especially to somebody clearly physically active like Spyridon. Did it get in the way much? Judging from the rather disenchanted way the gray hair was treated, it was less than perfectly practical.

[Spyridon]

His eyes flickered over the man silently for a few moments as he finished braiding his hair and tied the thong again, making sure to pull it tight and glare down at it as if that would entice the braid to not come loose. Sometimes he wondered why he humoured his hair-obsessed brother and kept it long.

"Nothing particular. Work and my brother. Younger siblings are notorious for causing stress and frustration." Having well over fifty younger siblings in his time he had had more than his fair share of sibling related stress.

But he hadn't seen most of them in years. Mihai was the only one he could really tolerate. Even his only living elder sibling (that he knew of) had become unbearable since he had become Alpha of the pack.

He gave a slightly nod. "I may take you up on that offer. Sometimes the company of my bo-staff isn't enough."

[Richard Wallace]

Yes... the hair was definitely not a favorite of Spyridon's.
"Work, you say? Do you mean school work, or rather some personal occupation?" He tilted his head slightly. What other work could one be doing while enrolled in a boarding school? "And I'm sorry about your brother. Surely he means no harm."
Briefly, Richard wondered if he himself had any siblings. He probably did. They never mattered enough for him to bother remembering them through the ages, though.

He looked to his watch again. It was essential for the tea to not be over- or under-boiled, as both too much and too little bitterness would ruin the delicate balance of flavors. There was still a moment left, though.

A bo-staff... It was a martial arts weapon, wasn't it? Ah, the wonders of friendship with inanimate objects. Richard could definitely relate.
"I can understand that..." he said. "Once in a while, it's good to have company that you can actually talk with, not just talk to." He grinned in amusement. "Unless your staff answers you, in which case you might actually be in need of my counseling services..."

[Spyridon]

"Personal. A project, if you will." He wouldn't elaborate. He'd possibly ask if the man had any knowledge of a person here named Ray but he wouldn't let on what he was planning on using the information for. Ndale had made it quite clear Ray had friends here and this man could quite possibly be one.

"He means as much harm as he can get away with delivering." A small, fond smile tilted his lips. As much as Mihai got on his nerves he'd live an extrememly lonely life without the pup around.

"Though most of the time you can hold a better conversation with the objects than with people." An amused noise rumbled in his chest. "As much as I wish it did at times, it has yet to answer me back. I haven't quite gone round the twist yet."

[Richard Wallace]

He hummed. If Spyridon wished to keep his project secret, then Richard wasn't one to pry. "I do hope your work brings your enough enjoyment to compensate for the frustration..." he trailed off, allowing for the sentence to seem like a vague question, if Spyridon felt like elaborating. If the man wanted to drop the subject, he wouldn't be obliged to answer.

With another glance to his watch, Richard let out a chuckle. "I suppose that's fair. Does he attend the Academy as well?"
The way he was speaking of his sibling certainly hinted to that.

"Indeed. No back-talking, no flat jokes, no inane details about personal lives... What more to ask for?" He shrugged, looking to Spyridon jokingly. "Though, to be honest... With the amount of magic around here, if an object started to talk insanity wouldn't necessarily be my first guess."
He stole yet another look at the watch. Perfect. He turned around and removed the tea strainer, putting it onto a small plate on the counter. Though the thought crossed his mind, he wasn't going to show off any bar tricks. This wasn't the right place or time, plus this needed to be served hot.

A spoonful of lemon juice and gin. Richard didn't need any measures to know exactly how much to pour. He opened the cupboard and produced two teacups, then placed them on the table. He then took the teapot and filled the cups elegantly, some excitement showing in the glance he gave Spyridon. Lastly, he pulled two leaves off a potted mint plant and dropped one leaf into each cup, more for decoration than for the flavor.
"There." he said with a satisfied smile. "I hope you enjoy."

[Spyridon]

"It will." He was certain. He had spent years fantasising about it, after all. It had become a minor obsession.

He nodded. "Yes. In Eala'Sionnach. Though, if you met him you wouldn't notice a physical similarity." Between the dark skin, the dark hair and their closeness, to anyone outside of their small circle, they'd look more like partners than siblings. But they smelt so similar to each other that it was near impossible to mistake them as siblings if you used your nose.

A smirk spread across his lips. "A good date and you'd be set." His tongue ran over his lower lip. "My first guess would be my brother trying to cause trouble." How many times had his brother waited inside an object for the opportune moment to try and scare him? The same number of times he'd suffered through a good number of bruises as consequence, he answered himself with another small smirk.

He lifted the cup and just held it for a few moments, enjoying the heat that radiated from it before taking a small sip. "Thank you."

[Richard Wallace]

He looked at Spyridon for a moment in silence.
"Well..." he finally said and gave a small shrug. "I certainly hope the chase won't turn out to be better than the catch, as is the case sometimes."
How well did he know that...

"I'll keep an eye out for him." he said, smiling lightly. Even if they looked drastically different and didn't have much in common scent-wise, Spyridon and his brother were of the same species. On some level they would smell alike. He was pretty sure he would recognize Mihai if they met.

"A date..." A stifled laughter shook his chest and he bit into his lip a little. "Forgive me for assuming, but I think a date with your bo-staff would be somewhat... stiff."
Richard shook his head and picked up the cup. "What do you mean?" he asked. "Does he have some power over objects?" He took a whiff of the drink's aroma, then set the cup back down and moved a chair to sit down by the table, gesturing for Spyridon to do the same. Might as well enjoy some company before returning to duty, right? Actually, come to think of it, he basically was working now, just outside of the office.
"My pleasure." He smiled to Spyridon and nodded, watching his reaction to the tea frog carefully.

[Spyridon]

"I expect a decent fight." He'd be disappointed if the well renowned Sheep didn't fight him back. "The chase is generally most of the fun, but I believe the catch may match it this time round."

A small smirk twitched one corner of his mouth. "I would suggest that you do the opposite and try to pretend that he doesn't exist." He took another sip of the warm liquid in the cup warming his hands.

Alcohol had very little effect on the Jinn. It took copious amounts to get him drunk. The small amount that was in the tea wouldn't do anything for him. He enjoyed the taste, though. Gin wasn't something he usually drank.

"It's about as loose as I am on a date." Spyridon, for all his years, still felt terribly uncomfortable when going out on a date. He was not date material.

He nodded, strolling over to take a seat at the table. "All Jinn do. We inhabit objects. Usually for protection or, for the more childish, a challenging game of hide and seek."

[Richard Wallace]

His brow quirked slightly at the words. A personal project... that he expected a decent fight from. Odd. To say that it sounded suspicious would be an understatement. Hm. Maybe he'll touch on the subject later, after they talk some more... and drink some more. Spyridon might be more likely to spill some more information at that point.

"Ah, you see, I can't do that. If one day he turns up at my doorstep seeking counsel, I won't very well be able to turn him down..." He cocked his head a bit. "Why do you say that, anyway?"
Siblings, always trying to dig holes underneath each other. Richard shook his head and chuckled.
"If that's the case, I am not surprised dating your staff seems a pleasant prospect." His eyes crinkled with good humor. "Maybe you'd like some advice on that..."

Finally he took a sip of the drink. Perfect. And as stoic as Spyridon was, he seemed to approve of it as well. He exhaled a contented sigh and leaned back in his chair.
"And you can talk while possessing an item, you say? I'll remember that."

[Spyridon]

Spyridon snorted into his cup. "I can only dream." The day Mihai went to someone else with his problems and didn't bug the older Jinn, Spyridon would celebrate.

"He's the type of person than can grate on your nerves from the first meeting. He's like a cockroach; try all you can to get rid of him but the little bugger still lingers around to annoy you." He scowled, glaring at the wall opposite. Yes, Mihai did have a few good points, but the bad points far outweighed the good. If they weren't brothers, Spyridon wouldn't have let that little wide-eyed pup follow him when he left the pack.

His eyes flickered up to Richard and his lips twitched into a phantom of a smile. "I've gone a hundred and sixty years without dating advice. I think I'll live without it for a little longer." He had no wish to date anyone. Why search out dating advice if you weren't going to use it?

At the question, he nodded. "It takes great concentration and most of the time Mihai's too lazy to do it, but if its for the sake of annoying someone he'll put forth the effort."

[Richard Wallace]

He snickered lightly. "Well, I have seen all types turn up, and I'll admit without any fake modesty that most of them I was able to get along with. We shall see."

With all that Spyridon was saying, it would seem like Mihai was the bane of his existence. Richard was pretty sure, however, that underneath all that laid some genuine affection, even if Spyridon would never admit it. After all, the world was huge. The two brothers wouldn't have ended up on the same tiny patch of land if they didn't want to.

"As long as you're happy." he said with a light shrug, though a slightly raised eyebrow questioned the fact. The Jinn didn't seem like an individual leading a completely fulfilling existence.

Even if the man was exaggerating Mihai's pest-like qualities, Richard was still glad to be warned of the possibility of speaking objects popping up all of a sudden. All joking aside, he would probably be a bit surprised.

[Spyridon]

He nodded silently. Yes, we'll see, he thought, eyes turning from the wall and landing on Richard again.

"I wouldn't go far as happy. Just content." He didn't lead a happy life. He just... existed. He was a pawn for the HA and put his efforts into improving his fighting. The only things he did for himself were his music and reading. Everything else he did was for others.

Even now, sitting at a table, sipping spiked tea and talking with Richard, he was working for others. He was becoming friendly with the authority of the island, searching for Ray through them. And when the deed was done, he'd slip through their grasp quickly because they'd know 'him' well enough to put any thoughts of him being the one that killed the dangerous Jinn.

Between searching for Ray and throwing himself in martial arts, he had no time for a lover. And a lover wasn't a pleasant thought for him. Lovers just played with you; he'd seen enough of Mihai and his lovers to know that much. And in his own experiences, any relationship he had had ended terribly.

Life was just a game of manipulating people and being manipulated. And he was content going through life as another pawn to play and be played.

[Richard Wallace]

"Content..." he trailed off for a moment. "...is more than some have."
Was that enough, though? Sure, he himself abandoned some bigger ambitions to lead a life that was filled with, more or less, just killing time - but he would never settle for being just content. Being happy was the one true goal that remained after all others crumbled into pieces. The only thing that took precedence was staying alive.

He watched Spyridon over the rim of his cup as he took a sip of the tea frog. What were the man's goals?

"Would you say that the completion of this personal project of yours will make you happy?" he asked quietly, setting the cup on the table with a click that sounded loud in the nighttime silence. There was no movement at all anywhere within the range of his hearing, no life anywhere in the castle other than the two, talking over a warm drink all on their own.

[Spyridon]

"I'm easy to please. As long as I'm helping my people, I'll be content." His lips curled into a small smile.

He mulled over the quiet question, running a tongue over his teeth. "Will it make me happy...? No. No, it won't," he finally decided.

"I'll be satisfied that I could do my bit for the HA, but that won't last long. Pretty soon they'll give me another job and I'll go back to just existing to help keep people safe." There was nothing really to feel happy about. Yes, there was the fact that he was making life a little safer for people and he supposed he should feel happy for that. But that safety came at the cost of a life. As jealous as he was of The Sheep and as enthusiastic as he was about killing him, he'd still feel some remorse when he killed him.

[Richard Wallace]

His brow arched slightly. Ooh, new information. So, his project had something to do with keeping people safe, and it was assigned to him by a certain 'HA'. Possibilities for what the acronym could mean started rolling through his head. The second letter probably stood for 'Assembly', or 'Association'... As to the first word, he had no idea.

Ah, well. Not everything could be guessed.
"HA?" he asked in a casual tone, like it was just another conversational subject that didn't matter much. Which, in a way, it didn't. Richard saw no reason to meddle in the Jinn's business, even if it did sound terribly suspicious. He mostly just wanted to satisfy his own curiosity.

Richard tapped his fingers on the table in thought. Jumping from job to job was no way to live... It's not a bad thing in itself, but never stopping to enjoy the sights leads to missing out.
"If I may ask you such a personal question... Can you recall a time when you were truly happy?"

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