Tea Time!

Morgaine leaned forward over the table and inhaled deeply, breathing in the scent of steeping tea as it slowly but surely permeated the apartment. Dove bustled around, setting out trays of pastries and finger sandwiches; he’d offered to help them carry some of it, but they’d insisted that he ought to just sit and relax, as a guest.

To be honest, part of the desire to help was to get to the actual drinking and eating part faster. Everything Dove had prepared smelled really good. Waiting wasn’t too bad though, with the welcoming scents of the tea and pastries enveloping them and the sound of the radio turned down low, filtering a bouncy pop melody into the room. It was a bright, soothing atmosphere in contrast to the busy nightlife that usually engulfed Morgaine’s routine.

Finally, Dove finished the preparations and returned to the table to actually pour the tea. “Would you like anything in yours? Milk, sugar, honey?” They asked.

“Of course, sugar. Honey would be great.”

Dove, already reaching for the sugar before he was done speaking, paused and looked up at him questioningly. Morgaine smiled at them, realizing the confusion.

“Sorry- I was calling you sugar. I’d like honey.”

“Oh! Oh, that makes sense,” they said and quickly grabbed the bottle of honey on the table instead to drizzle it into Morgaine’s cup with a deft hand.

“Thank you thank you, sugar.” He picked up his teaspoon and stirred, watching the honey dissolve into the drink with satisfaction, leaving a faint golden tint underneath the color of the tea. Dove set about preparing their own drink, though Morgaine noticed that they held off on drinking until he did. (He considered making an off-color joke about whether they were waiting to poison him, but he wasn’t sure how they felt about that kind of humor. Best to save that for later on in the visit when they might be less inclined to ask him to leave.)

When he took a long, appreciative sip and nodded, Dove smiled and took a sip of their own. For a few minutes, the quiet was only broken by the sound of the radio and the clink and rustle of their cups and plates of snacks.

“Do you refer to everyone as sweets?” Dove broke the silence, resting their chin on their hand and looking at him curiously.

“Most people. I’ll stop if it bothers you.”

“No, no, it’s okay!” They waved their hands quickly as though chasing off the notion that it did. “It’s just unusual- to me, that is!”

“It’s not something that most people do, you’re not disrespecting a core part of Burrowgatory’s culture if you dislike it,” Morgaine assured them, amused.

“I don’t mind, really! I was just curious.” Dove still looked a little on edge, more like they were worried about being a bad host than that they were lying to spare his feelings, so Morgaine opted to throw them a bone (ha) and change the subject.

“You know a lot about tea, right? What’s the difference between the different colors of tea - you know, green, black, and so on? Are they different plants?” Technically, Morgaine’s bar did serve tea, but it was generally plain black tea, hot or iced, as an option for those not in the mood for a stronger drink. He knew vaguely that there were many more complexities to the drink, but that was as far as his knowledge went.

“Well!” Dove brightened immediately. “Some people think that, but it’s actually all the same plant. You get different varieties of tea based on how you process the leaves. It’s actually a really complex process-” They launched into a lengthy explanation which, true to their claims, was complicated enough that Morgaine only somewhat followed all the steps as Dove explained them.

He didn’t mind so much; listening to someone ramble off information that was new to him was one of life’s little pleasures. Other pleasures included the miniature tea cakes that Dove was not eating while they talked, which meant more for Morgaine.

“Anyway,” Dove said, once they’d gone on for a while. “That’s- that was a lot of information, sorry.” They laughed a little self-consciously. “I just really like tea.”

“I can tell. I appreciate the enthusiasm, it’s not my area of expertise at all.” Indeed, Morgaine had been listening for a while with his chin on his hand, once he’d had his fill of pastries.

“Is it a similar process with the drinks you make? You know- alcohol?” Dove’s voice lowered almost involuntarily as they said it, like it was a dirty word. Morgaine bit the inside of his cheek so as to maintain a polite smile and not laugh.

“Well, it depends on the type of alcohol,” they said, leaning back in their chair. “You have to have something to ferment, but some things can just be left, and others need to be distilled and specially brewed.”

“What kind of things?”

“Oh, all kinds of things. Fruit, grains, some vegetables like potatoes, sugar or some tree saps, honey-”

Dove’s eyes got steadily bigger as Morgaine rattled off ingredients. “Honey too!?” They interjected.

“Oh, sure. You can make a few different kinds of alcohol from honey alone. Mead, infused liqueur, things like that.”

“That’s- so many kinds of intoxicants.” Dove looked like they needed a minute to absorb it all.

“Heh. I guess it’s not much use to you, huh?”

“I’d still like to try it sometime,” Dove said wistfully. “Not too much! But just a bit, to see what the appeal is. Ah well.”

“Well come on down to my work sometime anyway, and I’ll at least make you something virgin.”

“Virgin-!!” Dove jumped in their seat unexpectedly; for a moment it even looked like their fur was standing on end. “I’m not-” They caught themselves abruptly, apparently realizing what they were saying.

There was a long pause as the two of them blinked at each other.

“...I wasn’t calling you a virgin,” Morgaine clarified, wondering if they had taken offense or had just been surprised at thinking he was addressing them that way, assuming that it was something like calling them “sugar”. “A virgin drink is non-alcoholic.”

“O-oh.” Another long pause. “I knew that,” Dove added unconvincingly.

Morgaine took a long sip of their tea to avoid replying.

Congratulations, Jackal, they thought. Probably wouldn’t get away with saying that to her face.