<With some discussion and collaboration between hellcatyoukaigirl, I will be adding a new character to this blog to accompany Alice and her future interactions. She will be free to interact with, though it will have to be on request. Profile addition to the About page will be added soon.
Actual drabble follows below the cut. >
How long had it been?
It was now, one full week. Yes, that seemed about correct. One full week since Alice had agreed to the deal with Orin to take in a new apprentice from one of the kasha clans down in Chireiden. Since then, she had steadily making preparations to accommodate for two residents in her home--herself and her guest, who was certainly going to be around for a while--as her home in its current state could only effectively accommodate for one.
During the course of the week, she had been thinking over her decision. Not that she wished to take back her decision at this point, but... she couldn't help but think about how things might be having somebody else living under the same roof as her. Living on her own meant that she didn't have to lay out any ground rules, unless somebody came to visit, or she had to provide temporary accommodations for some lost child, or something along the lines of that.
But this... wasn't a visit, or a person that'd only be staying for a day or two, no. This would be somebody who'd be staying for years in her home. Years upon years upon years. Alice herself was quite aware of that when she agreed to this--it didn't take her a decade or two to get to the level of expertise and skill that she was at now, as a magician. And that's what lingered on her mind: just how would things fare for her, for this upcoming guest once they finally met?
By all accounts, Alice had no reason to believe that it wouldn't go badly. But on the same coin, she had no reason to believe otherwise too. Orin couldn't provide too much information on the individual herself, something about her being in a different clan entirely to hers and that was it. It was a bit of a concern (though it wasn't a fault on Orin's part, since what could she have done about it?) to Alice to have a lack of information on just who she'd be taking in as her apprentice, so it became a constant on her mind as the days progressed. After all, things would be likely to go a lot smoother if she were to be able to get along with her to-be apprentice.
Though in the end, all of what lingered on her mind were but baseless worries. After all, she really had no way of knowing otherwise, and no way of what to expect anyway. Besides that, she had already agreed to it, and it would look bad on her to get cold feet now. And at this point, it'd be a waste of money as well. With a week's worth of preparation coming to completion, why back out now?
That was what she was telling herself to counter the thoughts of question and worry. And by all means, it was... doing rather well to keep her mind both occupied and thinking more positively of the situation. Which in turn, helped to keep her focused on making sure everything would be a-okay for when the time came for the two of them to meet. On that note, that time should be relatively soon now, if she remembered correctly.
Relatively soon being... maybe a couple of hours to tomorrow, Alice figured. That sounded right enough in her head, and there wasn't much else she needed to do--most of what she felt would be necessary to provide was already covered--an extra bed, extra food, sheets and spare clothing, toiletries, and all other sorts of supplies to create at least some level of comfortable living.
... wait. She wasn't going to Alice's for a vacation! Certainly not, no! Perhaps she got a bit carried away in planning and preparing physical necessities, not quite thinking about what things she might need to teach or knowledge to pass on.
Though... now the question was of what she would teach. Orin didn't inform her of any prior experience in magic, so she had little idea of whether or not this to-be apprentice had any magical experience--if at all--and what kind of magic she may or may not prefer.
The major concern there was that Alice simply had no information on her to-be apprentice other than that she was of one of the Kasha clans down in Chireiden, one that Orin was not a part of. And Orin herself stated that she personally did not have much information to begin with because of the clan difference, and so many questions from there would be impossible to answer from the spot. So it was merely an expected reaction to debate over the state of such topics and try to prepare for them as best as possible.
And yet... how would she prepare for something as intricate as magics? Alice herself was quite specialized, and she had no knowledge of any of the kasha's preferences whatsoever, so... she could be optimistic about this, and by all means, she should be--except that she couldn't help but worry about these things. The little information she did have was likely not even equivalent to what one would consider a tiny morsel, and did little to quell her thoughts as she worked about in her house, finalizing what needed to be done.
Frankly, all this worrying and fretting was doing nothing for Alice but getting her nerves to act up. And slow down her progress at finishing her preparations, which she planned to have finished by the end of the day, which was of far more importance than mere worries and fears, that were, due to a lack of hard information, completely baseless by all accounts.
She gave herself a moment's pause to get a breather. Just a little break to ease the overactive nerves and mind. Who knows, she might have ended up fumbling on something. Whatever it was she was working on, she had put it down for now to free up her hands, and allow herself a breather.
Breathe in, breathe out. In, out. In, aaaand out. Once more for good measure, and a second just because. And once more, she was on her way to finalizing everything. Food was all set and ample in supply, bedding was set and sheets in place, dolls reorganized to look less imposing--rather, she reduced the number of dolls that were sitting around among the shelves and ledges in her house. Hopefully, it'd look a bit less creepy or a bit less like any visitor would feel like they were being watched.
And finally, she was finished. Alice took a step back to give herself some space from the bed that was now set close to her own in her room, putting her hands to her hips. With a nod, a smile made its way onto her face as she opened her mouth to say something.
"Alright."
There was a wave of content that washed over her as she made her way out of her bedroom and down to her living room, a smile on her face and the thought in her mind that she did a good job. Taking a look around her living room once more, she nodded to herself, feeling that she did do well in setting things up.
Now, there was only one thing left to do. And that was to wait. Sit down, get comfy and wait. She'd be expecting her soon, and she'd like to greet her new apprentice with a smile.
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New Character Unlocked! In a discussion and agreement with the mun behind hellcatyoukaigirl, Alice's new apprentice, Raika; a Kasha that comes from the Shurei Clan (Check hellcatyoukaigirl's blog for more information on clans and Kasha society).
She'll be making her appearance as an addition to this blog soon! As stated before, you can interact with her on request.
