CitrusArms

Foxes in SPAAAAAAAACE (Xaltwind and CitrusArms)

The containers had been sent away with the drones for processing. Out in space, salvage and destruction operations were underway, dealing with damaged and destroyed friendly craft while obliterating Scourge contamination. The rest of the fleet was requesting aid in post-battle operations. The ship had been a support vessel during the battle, hanging back and providing for the rest of the fleet, instead of engaging directly. Crew on the bridge were able to direct the ship without needing her attention - she did not need to be there for everything. Certain things still had to go through her constant communion with the ship and shrine, but she could do that from here.

"Ooh, you noticed, did you?" Yumeiko couldn't help the smirk, as Miyuki emerged from her bedchamber. The rice was cooking already, and she was frying the shrimp - when did she change clothes? She looked just like an old-fashioned fry cook with an apron and a bandana and everything. Her hair was put up, her tails were in fur-nets.

She was a little proud of how effectively she'd cleaned up, if she was completely honest.

The priestess gathered two bowls, served up helpings of the rice as the cooker clicked done. The shrimp from the pot of oil went on top.

With a bowl for either of them, Yumeiko strode past Miyuki with a pleased smile and set the table with their bowls, and chopsticks. Soy sauce and saucers had already been set out. She rested against the table for a moment, as she set the second bowl down. She only allowed herself an instant before righting herself, then taking a seat at the table.

As she sat and waited for Miyuki to join her, Yumeiko looked the other over. Miyuki's hair and fur were still a mess, but at least she was dressed. Sort of - Yumeiko found only part of herself hoping Miyuki had some things that were longer than that. Had she forgone socks or lost them all? Whatever.

"Tempura shrimp with sticky rice, right?"

Foxes in SPAAAAAAAACE (Xaltwind and CitrusArms)

"They are," Yumeiko answered the query confidently. That they were all alive and relatively unharmed was something she could check fairly easily. The question did, however, earn a stern look from the priestess.

Yumeiko's movements slowed only slightly at Miyuki's denial. The other had frozen, stunned. "No, I understand, Miyuki. To stand us next to each other and say we are similar is," she grinned, seeing the disparity that most would observe, "comedy."

A moment of silence passed between them before Miyuki continued. No, she didn't seem the type to care, but her living conditions had changed drastically since the old days. "You should care because you live here, or you have been, and you requested food from me. I'm not asking you to change, just clean up."

Miyuki announced she would be changing, interrupting her thought. The priestess's blush returned and she quickly turned away again. The last of the rubbish had gone into the bin and the various hardlight depositories in the chamber lifted to float behind her. "N-no, I will.." she took a breath to calm herself, "prepare our meal."

She opened the partition in front of her so that she would not need to show Miyuki her reddened cheeks again, stepped out, and closed it behind her. The cleaning outside of Miyuki's bedchamber had been mostly done. There was a bit in the forward living area to be done yet, but that would be for after they'd eaten.

They were very, very different, but similar in ways Yumeiko found difficult to find. She had not seen another of their kind in a long time. Was Miyuki even aware of what that could mean?

For now, however, there was a meal to prepare. Miyuki had wanted Tempura shrimp with sticky rice, that's right. Easy enough.

Foxes in SPAAAAAAAACE (Xaltwind and CitrusArms)

Yumeiko initially turned only enough to see that Miyuki had emerged from under the bed before she turned to face her more fully. That was a fair question, one Yumeiko could answer with another.

"Do my followers often come into your space unannounced?" The priestess studied the more traditionally-behaved yokai for a moment. "You don't terrorize them or do anything to them if they enter, do you?"

Yumeiko moved to the other half of the room, examining the mess and forming an empty hardlight bin, since the other had been filled. "You're right, though. I probably shouldn't be seen cleaning this. Yet, also," she turned and looked at Miyuki, "I would rather you not be associated with it, either." She formed a broom in her hand and laid the fresh bin down to sweep the debris in. The hardlight filtered out mugs and washable things that should be kept.

She blushed, disguising a turn away from Miyuki as a turn in her sweeping, even as the familiar task lowered her guard a little. "We're very similar. It wouldn't do for either of us."

Foxes in SPAAAAAAAACE (Xaltwind and CitrusArms)

Man, working in this heat is exhausting. I took a big nap earlier, it was necessary

Foxes in SPAAAAAAAACE (Xaltwind and CitrusArms)

Yes, she was trying, at least. Yumeiko tried her best not to let any pity through as she smiled at the other fox. As she turned away from Miyuki, she considered the rest of the mess. There was quite a bit, and judging by how much cleaning had been done, they would be here for quite some time.

Quietly, Yumeiko closed the partition so Miyuki wouldn't see the drones getting to work. She would have Miyuki clean her bed chambers while she used the drones to clean the rest herself. She'd even clean the galley. However, she would leave some mess and have Miyuki continue the chore after a meal. She didn't plan for too much, but she felt it necessary to reinforce just how much cleaning needed to be done.

The dark fox's musing brought the blond's attention back. The sight that greeted her meant it was Yumeiko's turn to blush - her cheeks flushed, her ears perked, her tails stilled. Then she caught herself and looked away sharply, even as her heart beat fast in her chest.

Damn, it'd been lonely, these centuries - and despite the obvious differences, here was someone very much like herself. The blonde decided she would help directly - she'd leave the laundry to Miyuki, and start picking up the empty containers and bottles within the bed chamber.

"It could only have been you, Miyuki." Gracefully, Yumeiko settled herself to her knees with her feet tucked beneath herself. Once situated, she would begin rapidly tossing rubbish within reach around her into a hardlight trash bin. Despite the need to catch Miyuki's laundry from beneath the bed, she had to continually remind herself not to turn around.

Foxes in SPAAAAAAAACE (Xaltwind and CitrusArms)

Oh. Oh no. Oh no!

It was worse than she feared. It wasn't just that Miyuki didn't know how to do any sort of proper living, it was that she had no concept of what the work of proper living even looked like! If she had had servants, previously, she might have understood that those servants did laundry and cleaned dishes, etc. Instead, it sounded like she terrorized people into providing things for her, reducing housework to a false magic.

This was about to be a lot of work.

"Wh- n-no, you, uh," Yumeiko's frustration seemed heavier than the tired sigh she released, "this is for your clothing. Gather your clothing in this basket and I'll have it," her hardlight flickered as she hesitated. She shook her head and it steadied, she continued, "I'll have it washed. We'll get around to you washing it yourself, later. The other containers will be for your rubbish. I can," something in her balked at the idea, "make more baskets, more bins."

She almost missed the soft blush on Miyuki's cheeks. Poor thing, she was trying. The hardlight strengthened.

Foxes in SPAAAAAAAACE (Xaltwind and CitrusArms)

"Yes, somehow or other, the name of my reclusive guest reached me." Yumeiko watched as Miyuki finally pulled herself up, only after being excavated. As the bedding fell away, Yumeiko restrained the sharp breath she took and busied herself with coming down from the bed.

It was short! And lacy! She couldn't let anyone else in here to see Miyuki like this, absolutely not. She had worked hard to maintain an air of dignified grace. That meant a certain sacred professionalism. Modes-

Mm! Modesty!

Her eyes darted away from the woman and out to the mess. "I have the time. The crew will take care of any maintenance or repairs I cannot complete by communing with the ship. I do not have time to do your cleaning. Er..." Yumeiko watched the centuries-old woman fold her dirty clothes as though to put them away. "M.."

No, no, it couldn't be. "Miyuki, that's been worn, right? We have machines for washing, though I think you'll have to do the process more than once to get through all this. You don't have a basket or a hamper or-..."

Yumeiko began to fear what she was realizing about Miyuki. "Miyuki, you wouldn't, perchance, be accustomed to... servants?" Already, she was reaching through the ship to summon servitor drones. The shrine, itself, didn't have any, but there were access corridors to let the roughly spherical, floating utility nodes in from the surrounding vessel. As she summoned them, she held her own hand out with the palm down. A hamper of hardlight would form under her palm, which would present itself to Miyuki for her to deposit her laundry. The drones would come and form containers for the rest of her rubbish, though neither Yumeiko nor her drones would yet move to do the cleaning for her.

Foxes in SPAAAAAAAACE (Xaltwind and CitrusArms)

"No, it was not like this when you got here." Yumeiko took a moment to get the proper leverage with her arms, careful of the soft legs under her. "If you want me to cook for you, I'm going to need you to prepare the space," she found the proper leverage, and let her exertion punctuate her speech, "properly."

The High Priestess pushed her body up from the blanket of unwashed clothing, taking a deep breath of the relatively fresh air as she did.

"I know I granted you this space, but this is still my shrine. Can we pick up, please?" Yumeiko looked out across the wasteland of rubbish and chaos. If it weren't for the partition, you might not be able to tell one space from the next.

Miyuki had been in Yumeiko's care for a long time; long enough that folks, and Yumeiko, had realized her longevity. The blond had expected some amount of decorum from her fellow, and yet here they were; covered in her dirty clothes.

"C'mon, then, up you go." She started to dig the black-furred fox from her fresh, used imprisonment, knowing she absolutely could not introduce anyone to this unkempt mess of a yokai before she was cleaned up.

Foxes in SPAAAAAAAACE (Xaltwind and CitrusArms)

What a nostalgic food order.

Miyuki was fine, she'd worried for nothing. The dark-furred fox was hungry, perhaps, but unharmed. Yumeiko sighed softly and rolled her eyes at the demand. Well, perhaps she could make something out of the situation.

As a being apparently not unlike herself, perhaps she could extend the courtesy. "Breakfast? Yes, I suppose I could make breakfast for you. On one condition." Yumeiko shifted, her tails flicking behind her. "You clean." A particularly strong flick of one of her tails punctuated her demand and caught a can, sent it sailing through the air. It tapped the unstable wall of clothing that had been shifted away from the partition by the jostling earlier.

Cloth can be surprisingly dense, when you have enough of it on top of itself.

"Start with your galley, then I'll start co-uhg!" The mountain of her failed perception caught her in the back and pushed her forward, onto the bed, while it buried them both.

"Actually, start with this."