Coffee hunting [Hollow Bastion. Complete]

[absitomen]

The only thing running clearly through his mind was the fact that he needed to get back to his office to get the paper replaced. As soon as possible. So his journey to the kitchen seemed to take longer than usual. Much too long. It didn't help his mood, although he managed to retain enough composure to give off the appearance than despite his rush

Comments

[contraryxwise]

My, today was a busy day! Alice had been working all morning on one of the many puzzles she had, and before she knew it, it was already past noon. She had missed lunch!

She refused to pass up her afternoon tea, however. She willed herself to take a break from the puzzle, and left her room to head toward the kitchen. Dinah followed her out of the room, so Alice scooped her up and brought her with her.

She wasn't expecting anybody to be in the kitchen, so she was a little surprised to find a man standing in the middle of it.

"Oh, hello Mr. Rufus. How do you do?" Alice said politely, recognizing the president of Shinra. She gave him a small smile and a curtsey.

Then she grabbed a kettle out of one of the cabinets, and started boiling some water.

[absitomen]

A little edgy already, the sudden unexpected visitor in the kitchen caused him to jump. Only slightly. Rufus hoped that little embarrassing display went unnoticed as he turned to face the blond girl.

Aha.

It seems he would not be able to just crawl back into his office unnoticed.

"Princess Alice, good afternoon to you." This time he dipped his head in greeting, respectful before he turned to his mug and his coffee. "Busy, as expected. Although surely you must be very occupied yourself too." Placing the cup on the counter he began searching for the precious grains to make his much needed drink.

[contraryxwise]

Luckily for Rufus, his little jump when unnoticed by Alice.

"Please sir, just Alice is fine." Alice smiled again and crouched down to pat Dinah on the head. The cat purred contentedly and nuzzled her head into Alice's hand. Once Alice stood back up again, she spent her time rubbing against Alice's legs.

"Oh, I'm not that busy, really. I think I'm too young to get real work like you must get, Mr. Rufus. You always seem busy, you should give yourself more breaks!"

The tea kettle whistled, meaning the water was hot enough. She took out her favorite tea cup and poured some water into it. Then she went to the cupboard that stored the tea and coffee and took out an Earl Grey tea bag to place in the cup.

[absitomen]

Just Alice? Eh... Rufus didn't think he could so: "Miss Alice. Sorry," the apology was out of politeness not necessity but it was better to do with niceties than to miss out on them. "Call me Rufus." After all, she was a princess of heart, member of the council.

He offered a polite smile, "We all have a lot of work, this is a war." Not like he was going to admit defeat by a bunch of little pieces of paper. Or that ShinRa was in need of employees.

"Oh, that is where they keep the coffee." Stepping towards the cupboard he reached inside to pull out some instant coffee. Rufus brightened hope at the prospect of well made coffee went down the drain. No wonder it never tasted right.

With a resigned sigh he glanced down at what Alice was drinking. "Perhaps tea would be a better idea."