[O] A Newcomer's Ambush

Daji grinned as well, pleased by that reaction. It was funny when people were frustrated by their antics, but it was nice when people also found the humour in them.

"Do you think we'll be punished for using up all these ingredients?" they asked. For once they were actually thinking about the consequences of their actions.

Ti shook his head in response.

"I always use the ingredients and I've not been punished yet." Ti had done a lot of experimenting with cooking and baking and he had used (and unfortunately wasted) a lot of ingredients in his year and a half here. Not once had it been bought up.

"We might get punished for feeding them to Liq," Ti mused.

If Liq didn't give them both a slap for it, Rai probably would after she'd dragged herself off the floor. Poisoning her boyfriend probably wasn't going to make her happy.

"Oh, that's a relief then!" Daji would hate to be punished for something as boring as using up ingredients.

They would, however, gladly hold out their arms for the handcuffs for feeding gross soup to an apparently annoying guy.

"Well, let's just hope we get put in the same prison cell!" the fox joked.

"I don't think Rai will be dumb enough to do that," Ti giggled. Putting two partners of crime in the same cell? No, Rai would avoid that at all costs, he was sure.

A thought hit the shifter and his eyes lit up.

"Oh! Get a can of tomato soup out of the cupboard." He pointed to the cupboard directly behind Daji's head as he turned and dashed to another cupboard to get another pan.

"Well, I bet I can outsmart Rai," they boasted. Not that they had ever met her.

"Oh?" Daji was impressed now. It seemed that Ti had some kind of scheme going on in his head.

They opened up the cupboard and took out a tin of soup. If they were going to be eating more, the fox had no complaints. Their stomach was a black hole.

Ti laughed and shook his head. "I haven't been able to outsmart her often."

Rai was a sharp woman. Kind of scary sometimes.

"If we make untainted bowls for ourselves and for Rai, Liq wont be as suspicious." Ti was too much of a scaredy cat to give Rai any tained soup. He'd be sleeping out in the garden for a month knowing his sister's temper.

"Oh, clever plan!" Daji clapped for a second. "You said that Liq was easily fooled. But might as well make our plan secure."

The fox pulled the ring on the can and poured the contents into the pan that Ti provided. Then they turned on the heat on the other ring on the stove.

"Let's get this done quickly before they get back!" they said, in an eager yet hushed tone.

"If we don't rush and they get in before us, then we can make it seem like we were being nice." It was good at this tactic to get certain things done.

He didn't want to admit that he had used it a lot in the past few years when he had to.

"If we're too eager, Rai might figure it out."

"Yeah, but they might be suspicious the soup is in two different pots..." They hummed with concern. "We should pour out a bowl of the bad stuff already prepared and pretend it was one of ours and give it to Liq."

Daji was prepared to put on the innocent-child-offering-soup act for when they arrived. Not the usual first impression they tried to give.

"Looks like this soup's starting to bubble a bit."

"I was going to dish it all up before we went up anyway. Taking the pots to the bedroom is too much hassle."

Dishing the bowls out now and just carrying trays with the four bowls on them would be a lot easier than carrying the pots up there.

Ti stirred both pans of soup, smiling a little.

This would be fun.

"Let's dish up and head up in a few minutes."

"Oh, right!" Daji really wasn't used to sharing food with anyone. Well, not for a few decades.

They ducked down and picked four bowls out of the cupboard, soon accompanied by spoons.

"Let's put the bad soup in this black bowl, it's different from the others," the fox advised. Daji would certainly not like to have a taste of that mysterious potion themself.

Ti shook his head at the suggestion.

"Rai would notice." Rai was a sharp woman. Their best bet was for Daji or himself to have the black bowl. That way neither Rai or Liq would have a different bowl and Rai wouldn't get suspicious.

"We'll dish Liq's up in a white bowl, and spill a drop on the rim. If we keep everyone else's clean, we'll know which one is Liq's."

A drop of soup on the rim of the bowl wasn't something that would cause suspicion.

"Oh... okay." Disheartened to have their idea dropped so quickly, Daji put the bowl back down.

"It feels more like planning a murder at this point," they joked.

"Come on then, serve it up!"

Ti gave a little laugh as he reached over to pull a soup ladle from a pot of utensils.

"You have to take pranks seriously when you're trying to prank someone with Rai in the room. If she likes the person and finds out you're pranking them, you might end up being murdered." A playful over-exaggeration. You'd likely get a good slap, though.

He began doling out the tomato soup onto bowls.

"We should leave the rest of the bad soup in the fridge for someone else to get hold of."

"So we're doing this to get murdered? Not one of the reactions I have ever previously received of course. I guess it shall be my first an last."

It was unclear as to whether Daji really believed they were going to be murdered by the neutrality of their voice.

"Yes, that's a good idea. That'll teach those guys that apparently steal other people's food in here."

"Well, hopefully we won't get murdered."

He didn't want to get murdured, but ther safety all rided on whether Rai thought that torturing Liq like this would be funny or not.

Hopefully he'd find it as funny as the two of them.

After dishing up the tainted soup, and making sure there was a drop of soup on the rim of the bowl, Ti grinned.

"Let's go upstairs."

Daji nodded excitedly. Finally their plan was going into action.

They loaded all of the bowls onto a tray and held it in their hands; they had pretty good balance. The fox wasn't quite sure about what the path back to the dorms was.

"Lead the way!"

Ti led the both of them upstairs to their room.

When he got there, he was a little disappointed to see the room empty. They weren't back yet. What a shame.

"We'll just start eating. Its pretty late so they should be back very soon."

"Okay. I hope they're not rolling around in the bushes somewhere, " they quipped.

Taking their own bowl and sitting on their chosen bed, they scooped the soup hungrily, as if they hadn't eaten not long ago.

"I'll never go hungry here," they said, red around their mouth.

Ti gave a little huff of agreement. Yeah, he hoped they weren't either. But, knowing them (and he knew them both quite well after a year adn a half) it was a possibility.

The boy took a seat on the edge of his bed with his own bowl in his hands. He just sat there, enjoying the feeling the hot bowl against his hands gave him.

"I like that about here, too." Not going hungry was a good feeling.

The fox licked their lips. "I've never had tomato soup before."

In fact, they rarely ate anything but meat. It was a nice change, although they weren't quite used to eating liquid.

"Hey, is this technically eating or drinking?"

The two partners in crime had only just beaten Raise and Liq home.

A few minutes after they had entered the room the sound of Rai's heavy, booted footsteps sounded.

Zeus gave a whine and barked happily at the sound of his mother's voice beyond the door.

"Come on Liq, I wanna take the pups out before it gets dark."

She called out before entering the room.

"Hey Ti."

She greeted, tossing her bag and jacket at the door before actually looking up.

"Hello?"

Her tone was questioning, she hadn't been expecting a new roommate, they bedroom was fairly occupied.

"You havent?" That was a shock to Ti. Tomato soup was a staple in Tis diet. He ate it like it was goinf out of fashion.

Liq followed after Rai like a puppy, his hands stuffed into his pockets.

"Hey Ti. Hey...new person," the tall Necromancer greeted as he ducked under the doorframe.

"Hey," Ti chirped. He set down his soup and held out the two bowls, making sure the messy one waz I Liqs grabbing range. "We made you two dinner."

"Hello," the fox greeted the two newcomers. They looked a bit scarier than they'd been expecting, but that didn't deter them.

"My name is Liu Daji, but call me Daji, or Beautiful or Cutie or any other nickname that fits me." Already getting across the fact that they were obnoxious, it seemed. "I'll be staying here."

Daji tried not to stare at the bowl aimed towards Liq, and they were practically shuddering trying to suppress their excitement.

Raisa eyed the soup for a moment but took it, sitting on the bed as she ran a spoon through the mixture.

"Would be better with meat in it."

That was her usual complaint about anything vegetarian, she adored meat so going without it in a meal was a bummer.

"Hey Daji, so you're our new roommate huh? Hope you like dogs."

After all, they had a room full of them.