The Amaryllis Project [ Chapter Three ]
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
"Good morning!" Hence came the shrill salutation. Iriel turned to the voice, only to be interrupted.
"Good morning," the second greeting was remarkably softer, if a little shy.
"Good morning." This time it was a prissy, self-confident remark rather than a polite greeting.
"Ah, good morning..." Iriel replied when he could finally find his voice. The three speakers that preceeded him, had now gathered at the same side of the table, furtherest away from him. There were three girls, all looking to be from the ages nine to twelve at least. All of them, were brunettes. So that mysterious girl was not here. Iriel decided that he had done a pretty good job of masking his own disappointment, if he was a little surprised.
"Can Kichirou come for breakfast Auntie Letty?" That voice, Katsurou. Definitely. Unless the girl had had the exact same voice as he did. Just to make sure, Iriel turned towards the source of the voice. Nope, it was Katsurou alright, coming out of the kitchen with a decent litre-size pitcher of milk.
"Not until he's apologized to Mimi Catique and Otto Von Schnurmeister first," sniffed the hag as she too emerged from the kitchen behind Katsurou.
"But you know Kichirou," Katsurou was saying, with relative calm as he set the pitcher down on the table and adjusted the plates with military precision, "If he gets hungry, he gets cranky. The last time he got cranky, he broke that pulchritudinous antique plate of yours..." Iriel had to admire his nerve as he watched Katsurou say that, with a completely straight and nonchalant face while the Aunt looked positively flustered now. Speaking of which, what did 'pulchritudinous' mean anyway?
"Oh, alright then. He can have breakfast. But he better leave Catique and Schnurmeister alone from now on," she grumbled finally, as she took a seat. "Naomi, Lira, Amaia to your seats. Adair, you go get Aiden over. You there," she jerked her head at Iriel, "Take a seat wherever you fancy."
There is was, her strange way of referring to Katsurou and whoever that Kichirou fellow was. The name sounded masculine enough, and it sounded distinctly related to Katsurou's name. Triplets maybe? Iriel thought, as he took a seat at the furtherest end of the table,directly opposite the eldest of the three brunette girls. Or at least, she looked to be the oldest. Before Iriel could pay more attention however, all three of the girls had started to speak, in unison. "Please, Auntie Letitia!" They chimed, cheerfully, in a practised manner before they reached for their cutlery and began their meal. It was perhaps the strangest scene Iriel had ever witnessed.
"Oh, the Sleeping Prince has awoken. Good day to you," there was someone placing their hand on his shoulder as the same individual slid into the empty wooden chair next to him. Iriel turned to glance at him, and was met with the sight of Katsurou. His eyebrows furrowed a little at the mismatched conversation and appearance. Behind him however, there was another identical image who had just taken a seat to the right of the hag Letitia. "I'm Kichirou, I think you've met my younger brother Katsurou. These are my cousins," he gestured at the three girls as he turned and settled in his chair, hands coming to a rest on the table, "You're sitting opposite Lira, the eldest. Naomi's in the middle for both and Amaia, the youngest, is next to Aunt Letty. And from your look, yes we're twins. Now would you perhaps like some toast? I assure you they are very finely... er, toasted." Like Katsurou, this Kichirou character was rather chatty, though he was a lot more charismatic than the awkward younger twin he had. Nodding as politely as he could, Iriel adjusted his chair and faced the table.
"Please, Auntie Letty," Katsurou mumbled from his end of the table, while Kichirou nodded politely at her. Iriel, more than a little unsure, simply inclined his head politely at the withered old woman and picked up the cutlery. In spite of this, he was uncertain of what he was supposed to eat, staring at the laden table groaning with dishes of delicious looking food... Which was he supposed to eat first? Iriel was still staring when Katsurou seemed to notice. Immediately he stood up, and reached over for his still empty glass. "You're not lactose-intolerant are you?" He asked conversationally, tipping his head slightly and tilting the empty glass towards the pitcher that was now only half-full. Iriel blinked at him once, then shook his head. "Well, then have some milk." He said this while pouring the milk carefully into his glass, without spilling a drop and barely touching the lip of the glass with that of the clear glass pitcher. When he set the glass down carefully, he reached over with the pitcher to also refill the mugs of the three girls, especially that of Naomi and Amaia. He tilted his head at Kichirou for a moment, then decided against it and replaced the pitcher, sitting back down on his chair and resuming his breakfasting.
"Aren't you hungry? Here, try the toast. Which of you was in charge of the toast this morning?" Kichirou used the tongs to drop at least three slices onto Iriel's assigned white porcelain plate with a solid chinking sound, as he then haughtily fixed the three sisters with a suspicious look.
"Amaia did!" piped Lira in her shrill eager voice, "Naomi set the table while Auntie Letitia and I cooked the eggs."
"Oh you did, did you?" Kichirou asked, as he also filled Iriel's plate with an omelette and several slices of ham, he peered over his own shoulder and fixed his younger brother with an evil look, "And what was Kats doing? Slacking off as always right?" This response elicited several giggles from the younger ones as Katsurou continued to nonchalantly chew. When he saw the lack of response however, he directed his attention back on Iriel, giving him an impish grin, "Enjoy your breakfast. Don't stand on the ceremony, yeah?"
With lack of a better response, Iriel nodded.
.x.
Breakfast in their house was a very straightforward matter. This Iriel recognised and understood almost immediately. Many hands made light work, and many hands was what they had here. As soon as they finished breakfast, they each brought their own plates individually to the kitchen. If there were any empty plates on the table when they left, they would take it along with them. By the time the last person left the table, there was at most two plates to clear, not including their personal one of course. Judging by the clink that came from the kitchen every time someone went into the kitchen, the solid porcelain dishes ended up stacked in the sink. Thus, when Iriel finished his meal, he was pretty sure where his plate was suppose to end. Excusing himself from the table like how Naomi and Letitia had done, he headed into the kitchen. Here however, he met a fumble. Where was the sink? He glanced left, looked right, but ultimately failed to find the sink. Even the tell-tale faucet was missing from view.
"Need help?" Iriel turned, and was stuck for a moment trying to figure out which of the three girls it was. He was saved the trouble when she smiled as impishly as Kichirou had done, revealing two rows of very neatly aligned pearly teeth, "It's Amaia," she said reproachfully even as Iriel sheepishly chuckled, "I'll show you where to put your plate." And so, with a plate and a glass balanced carefully in her two hands, she tottered over to the end of the kitchen, and simply set it down in a cavity on the counter. Something Iriel had completely failed to notice. With another sheepish grin, he scratched his head with his left hand, and followed suit. The faucet, had been set in the wall, in such a way that it was neatly hidden by the kettle set on the stove just one counter top away. Where Iriel had been standing, he had been completely blind to the deep metal-lined cavity in the counter and the solid cast-aluminium faucet.
"Oh, thanks."
"Don't mention it. A friend of Katsurou's, is a friend of ours." She flashed him another one of her adorable grins, "You did catch us by surprise when we woke up this morning to see you out of nowhere. Katsurou told us you were supposed to come do a project with him for Mister Channing, but you couldn't sleep so you came too early." Iriel nodded at her, though he did not understand much of her kiddish chatter, "But in the end you were sleepy, so you fell asleep. Katsurou had to share with his brother you know, cause you slept in his bed."
Something went 'ding!' in his head then, loudly and obnoxiously. "I slept in whose bed?"
"Katsurou. You forgot? He was the one who saved you from Auntie Letitia early this morning when you came." Here, her smile faltered a little. "You don't remember? I saw you, you know. I was supposed to be sleeping, but Auntie Letitia's voice woke me up. I saw you out there by the gate."
"Oh... Oh, I see. Yes, I remember now." He feigned, though it was probably convincing enough, for Amaia's faltering smile resumed its mega-watt brilliance, "That girl I saw yesterday was actually Katsurou—!"
There was a pregnant pause for a moment, where Iriel clapped his hand to his mouth rapidly. The girl seemed to be deciding what to make of it, but in the end, she ended up in a fit of giggles. "Oh oh, don't worry. We make that mistake the first time too. We used to think Kichirou and him were sisters... They certainly look a little bit like that don't they? Especially when its darkish..." Suddenly, she tiptoed and glanced behind Iriel, making him peer behind as well, following her gaze, "Ah, Katsurou!"
And so it was. The teenage boy was there, with a pitcher in one hand and a glass balancing on his plate in the other. He seemed quite taken-aback, as though he had heard majority of their conversation. There was a slight pause, before he apparently recovered. The blond inclined his head, "Naomi wanted to tell you something, Amaia. She's in the study," he added as he resumed, walking towards the both of them and brushing past Iriel to place the soiled dishes into the sink as well. Amaia blinked, looked at Katsurou, then at Iriel before she shrugged.
"Bye bye!" she quipped, waving at Iriel before she pattered out of the kitchen and out to wherever the study was. The silence resumed after she left.
"Um, about just now..."
"Don't worry about it," Katsurou said, this time he was engrossed in the dishes, scrubbing the alabaster porcelain pieces with a sponge. "It's like she said, I'm pretty used to it."
Iriel glanced at his hands, now coated with foam from the dish washing liquid, then back up at his face, "Really?" He pressed, as cautiously as he could.
Katsurou seemed to ponder it a bit more, "Yeah. Me more so than Kichirou. Nobody in the right mind would consider him a girl. I, however... Different story." He shrugged, "It's almost always like this." He didn't sound too bitter about it, in fact, even to an untrained listener like himself, Iriel couldn't detect any traces of angst or even distaste at this. He simply sounded as he was, neutral and matter-of-factly. He, added more dish washing detergent to the bright yellow sponge, and went on scrubbing the dishes. There was a silence as Iriel pondered about this discovery, but the silence was broken when Kichirou waltzed in, setting down all the remaining plates into the sink of unsoaped ones and trotted out without a care in the world. "So," Katsurou began again, "Are you going to help with the dishes, or stand there until I'm done? If it's the latter, it'll be another fifteen minutes."
"O—Oh, right."
.x.
"So, Iriel, what do you have to say for yourself?"
In the safety of the twins' room, with the door shut tight, and the two brothers present, the situation seemed far less estranged than serious. Despite this, Kichirou, who was perched casually on the writing table without the vase, seemed rather bemused by the turnout of the matter. "You, ran away from home. Without a plan. You ended up at our doorstep, and Katsurou managed to cover up for you. Really, now!" Kichirou looked positively ready to break into spontaneous laughter. Iriel tried very hard not to sulk. Not just because it was ridiculous for someone his age, but also because of the impression it gave. Or maybe he was just being too self-conscious.
"It's not like they'll notice," he protested heatedly, "Brianna is getting married in a month's time, Irene is getting engaged on Friday and Victoria is going to have her first child. I don't know when, but soon enough. Everybody's busy, they won't notice if their son went missing for a few days." He ignored Kichirou's badly-masked chuckle, "I am almost a legal adult anyway, I'm able to take care of myself."
"But, you're homeless and here you are," Katsurou nodded, sagely. From Iriel's point of view, the sight of him cross-legged on the bed and nodding in that funny know-it-all manner just made him look ridiculous rather than wise. "But you can't stay here forever," Katsurou said, watching as Iriel looked up inquiringly, "We're moving off to a boarding school for the summer starting tomorrow."
Iriel blanched, though he wasn't exactly sure why. "I don't want to go back home!"
Kichirou had somehow managed to straighten his face in the span of time where Iriel had retorted, and now cleared his throat loudly to get both their attentions. "You know, I kind of like this guy. He and I could make real good pals given the time..."
Katsurou's eyes narrowed dangerously, "Your point being?"
Kichirou steeped his fingers, and fixed his younger twin with an intense stare, "Here's my proposition. We send this guy home, or at least make him write a letter and drop it off at his house. Since his family doesn't really care if he's not around, they won't mind if he voluntarily vanishes off to a boarding facility. I dare say, they'll probably feel more at ease if they know where he is, than to have him here as he is now."
"That actually does make sense, but the tuition fees and all?"
"That's what the letter is for chibi-otouto," Kichirou remarked coolly as Katsurou bristled at the last, foreign, word. Iriel could only blink in response at the daring brilliancy of the idea.
Thus, after another short pause where the twins glared intensely at one another — as though attempting to read each other's minds or at least see who blinked first, Kichirou coughed. Once. Twice. "Iriel, what do you think?" The eighteen-year-old shrugged. "I'll take that as a yes. So if you'll pack up, we'll drop you home and help you out. How's that sound?"
"...Actually, that was one of the best plans I've ever heard."
.xxx.
Labels: T.A.P.
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