Fable - Ask 1/365th

[Takashi]

The day started early in the Kubo household. Like all in the Lower District it was a humble abode of only a few rooms that led onto the shop of the family store, a botanists.
Takashi always woke early, especially on this day of the year. It was a special day in more ways than one.

He plodded down from his room and ignored the scuffing on the stairs of fresh dragon claws.
Hands worked on their own to start the fire in the main room that would boil the tea and reheat the last nights congee, which with a bit of added crispy chicken would make up the days breakfast.
As it was heating he set the table and positioned it so that his seat looked at the wall with Ayane's ink portrait. She had it made when she found out she was pregnant. Almost as if she knew ahead of time but she often did things without his understanding.

"Another year."
He spoke to the portrait candidly and without prayer or ceremony. It had become his way over the years.
"Seventeen already. I barely noticed the time go by."
It was true, he was always so busy, twin daughters was one thing but with the added complication of dragons it seemed he never knew a moments rest save for this early time of the day. He rubbed his shaved head and let out a sigh he had been holding in all year.
"Agh, I wish you were here to teach them how to be proper young women. With them and the shop and the dragons, a man can only do so much!"
His eyes went to his tea as he betrayed a simple thought, one he had many times before.
"Perhaps if I had married again then..."
He slapped his forehead with his palm in embarassment.
"No, no, no, sorry, I'm sorry I just... It is hard and I sometimes feel I need a bit of help."
Another long sigh deflated him as he prostrated himself before the portrait.
"Forgive me. My heart is still buried with you."
Rising he poured himself some tea and raised it to the portrait of the woman he married.
"Please My Ayane, watch over us again this year!"

Stirring upstairs ended his morning solitude and broke the peaceful spell of the morning.
The dim light became clear and the musty air was cleansed by the breeze that seemed to start up time again and snatch the last of the world from the previous night's grasp.

"GIRLS! GET UP, YOUR BREAKFAST IS GETTING COLD!"

Usually it was the girls job to feed the dragons but on this day Takashi put out bowls of chicken bits mixed with wildberries and goats milk.

Yuriko
Airen

 

[Yuriko]

A pair of deep amethyst eyes appeared at the window to the small house almost instantly at the scent of food. They tracked the man from his place sitting at the table as he made his way to the door, her quills standing up along her back in anticipation. Suddenly, she vanished from the window. There was a chittering noise and a scampering sound of claws on wood and stone, moving from the window to the door. Indeed, as soon as Takashi opened the door the pink spirit dragon was upon him, her two front sets of talons on either side of the man's shoulders likely sending him crashing to the floor.

The dragon's tongue rolled straight over his face and then she was bounding past him and up the stairs that were technically forbidden.

Upstairs, Yuriko groaned at the noise coming from downstairs. She rolled over, tugging the pillow over her head in a hope to muffle the noise, muttering beneath her breath about lay-in's being a part of birthdays. Of course, none of them had ever had such a thing as a lie-in even before the arrival of dragons. The botanists shop was open from dawn to dusk to take the most advantage of people on their way and way home from work wishing to buy flowers for any occasion.

The door burst open a second later and then the next thing she knew she was being assaulted by a big, wet tongue and talons that scratched away her feeble protection of blankets and pillows.

"Alright! Alright! I'm getting up," Yuriko laughed as her dragon buried her head beneath the piles of quilts and huffed.

 

[Airen]

Dawn had been the first thing Airen had seen when she opened her eyes. The second was her bonded dragon circling the skies, just waiting for their bond to awaken when she did. It was good of Blueberry to remind her of the time, and appreciated the soft wakings every morning to start their routine.

Airen liked serving the shrine in the early hours, when not many souls visited to pay their respects to the dragon goddess Rhaylaeris, one of the oldest white dragons in Thanasian history. She liked to sweep the walkways at this time, before the sun grew too hot to work under, and by the time her father would have organised breakfast for the household, she would have finished up her other duties and start the short walk back home.

It was nice to have a routine.

She could hear her father call to them, calling them all to spend a few moments as a family. Routine and tradition. Nothing was out of place, everything was just the same.

"I have cherries, fresh from the shrine." She greeted Pahpi, smiling and adding the basket of the small bunches to the set table. Blueberry decided it best to stay outside and catch a snooze in a sunny spot, especially after spending the whole morning messing with Airen's chores.

 

[Takashi]

"Agh!"
Takashi had never grown used to Bubblegum's eager affections and had scolded both Yuriko and the Pink Dragon many times she was not to jump on people.
Then it was away, ruining his floorboards with its claws.
"No not up the stairs!"
But the dragon was already gone.
Takashi lay on the floor for a moment and wiped his face with a sigh.
"You see what I have to put up with?"
Glancing up at the picture of Ayane again he rolled over with a grunt and stood himself up again then went to the foot of the stairs to examine the damage. What he saw made him hang his head, three new scars on the steps.
Letting out another sigh he gave the portrait one last imploring look.
Airen entered then, greeting him and with her own contribution to the morning meal.

"Ah, Airen. Good morning and Happy Birthday."
His face smiled, always happy to see her and the tension melted from him a bit.
"Cherries, oh these will go well thank you."
Sitting at the table he poured some tea for Airen from the still hot pot and beckoned her to sit with him.
Sometimes he wondered if she ever slept at all, she was often up so early but he had decided long ago that it was no bad thing. Despite being twins, Yuriko and Airen were still very different in many ways.
It was a wonder to him but he never questioned it, especially since their difference in mannerisms seemed to be reflect in the dragons and it meant that Blueberry tended to not invade the house as much as Bubblegum, most of the time at least.
"How was your morning?
Everything well at the Temple I hope!
Are the goffer's gone yet?"
He was determined to get as much peace out of the morning as he could but his eagerness showed in his small barrage of questions.

 

[Yuriko]

"Pahpi, let her at least have a cup of tea first," Yuriko yawned and threw herself onto one of the last rickety stool, though not before pressing a kiss to her fathers creased cheek. She pinched one of the cherries out of the bowl and popped it in her mouth. Bubblegum snuck down the stairs after her bonded - or snuck as much as a dragon could - and curled up expectantly at Yuriko's feet, though her wide pink eyes took in every movement that included food.

"You know it was our day off today, right? The Daishi said so," the kindly old man who ran the temple saw the girls as fondly as his own grandchildren and doted on them often on such special days as these. Out of most of the neighbourhood children it was they who had spent most of their time helping him tend to his place of worship. He hadn't hesitated in agreeing to them taking the day off when Yuriko had asked. But here was her twin, going without her! She shot a playful glare at her sister then subtly fed the dragon a cherry from her plate.

 

[Airen]

Airen gave her Pahpi an exasperated look, silencing herself with her tea, but her twin spoke for her. After warming herself with the perfectly prepared tea, she took a spoon and gently mixed the surface to her bowl of congee. "Yes, I know that, Yuri. I... was awake already and could not get back to sleep."

"Besides, Blueberry needed the stretch." She smiled, small but sweet.

It was only in the last couple of years that Airen began to shy away and become quieter, and her dragon did the same, although matched Bubblegum in energy when it builds up. But the youngest twin was happy to take things alone, to take solace in the peace she sought after.

"Who knows how many more mornings we have left to tend to the temple. It is our birthday and soon the Thunder will be recruiting us... have you heard anything yet Pahpi?"