Zhutkiy's Eve

     Tomorrow was a holiday.

     That normally meant that she and Vasya would get the day off, and they’d be able to do things on their own.  Like talk or play cards, or she’d find something in a random alley she could burn.

     But no, Vasya just had to go and be nice.

     “It’s Zhutkiy’s Eve,” they’d said with a grin, “it’d be boring to be all alone.  Besides, if we’ve got the whole shop to ourselves, we might as well make use of it.”

     “Fiiiine,” she’d replied, snorting smoke, “but do you have to invite Solomon, too?”

     “I’m pretty sure he can hear you,” Vasya’s voice was cheerful, “don’t be mean.”

     Teacup puffed out a ring of smoke at them, “I’ll be mean if I want to, you can’t stop me.”

     “Please?”

     “...alright.”

     And then she’d followed them over to the table where Solomon and his kids were still studying.  She’d said as much to him before, not really intending much other than they were young and near him, but he’d reacted in such a fun way to that, she couldn’t stop.

     “Hey guys,” Vasya had started.  She settled down by the floor to wait and see what would happen.  She vaguely remembered that Vasya often tried to invite Solomon over on holidays.  “Tomorrow’s Zhutkiy’s Eve!  Do you have any plans?”

     Teacup decided to encourage Solomon a little, breathing a small bit of fire onto the heel of his shoe.

     “Not really,” he kicked at her, and she fluttered away, satisfied with herself.  Now, would she have to do that to the others…

     “I need to send a letter home,” Arista said, “but, uh, other than that…”

     “Oh, excellent!”  Vasya turned to where Petar and Bozhi were sitting.  Teacup darted behind them and hissed something about eternally burnt toast and they immediately said that they did not have plans.

     Teacup sensed that Vasya was aware of what she’d just done, but they only grinned a little wider, “that’s awesome!  The shop’ll be closed tomorrow, but you guys should come by!  We can have some fun and,” they gave Solomon a pointed look, “not study Runes for the entire day.  I’ll cook, all you need to do is wear a costume!”

     Arista looked distressed by that, and Teacup wondered if she would have to threaten them, too.  “A costume?”

     “It’s Zhutkiy’s Eve, you’re supposed to dress up, remember?”

     “Oh,” they looked thoughtful.  Teacup felt a little disappointed they hadn’t said no because she was fairly sure all it would’ve taken was flying past them to get them to change their mind.  “Okay.”

     Vasya sighed, “you don’t have anything, do you?”

     “No,” Arista looked down.  “I - I’ve never really celebrated that.”

     “Oh no,” Vasya frowned, “that’s terrible!  Give me a minute, I’ve got something you can wear.”

     Teacup watched with delight when they returned from upstairs with a glittering, yellow silk robe patterned with black flowers.  Arista stared at it in dismay.

     “I dressed up as the Augury a few years ago!”  Vasya handed it to them with a cheerful smile, “it should fit you just fine.”

     “Thanks,” Arista said, grabbing it from them and staring at the sparkling fabric like it was going to try to eat them.  “It’s… pretty.”

     Solomon laughed and Teacup loomed behind his shoulder, “Vasya has another upstairs,” she said cheerily, “I can tell them that you’d love -”

     “Shut up,” he growled quietly.

     “Yeah, I’ll come,” Petar said, “I’ll have to go see my dad later for dinner, but it’d be nice to see you guys.”

     Bozhi nodded, “same, but I can definitely come by for a few hours.”

     The delight Vasya felt at that was almost worth having Solomon in the store for another day.  Almost.  They went about the rest of the day until closing humming to themselves and being very cheerful.

     Okay, fine, she admitted to herself.  It is worth it.

     What was slightly less worth it was Vasya insisting on staying up to an unholy hour preparing.  Why did they need different-shaped cookies, they already had plenty?  And they didn’t even know if Arista and Solomon would stay for dinner, why are you taking food out for them SLOW DOWN Vasya.

     Vasya did not slow down.

     “Are you going to bed, now?”  She asked when they’d finished the last batch of cookies, “you really ought to sleep.”

     “Oh, right.”  They looked up at the windows, “oops.  It’s later than I thought.”

     “I did tell you.”

     “You did,” Vasya yawned, “oh, I forgot to show you!”

     They got up with a burst of energy and rifled around in some boxes before pulling out a floral-patterned shirt in familiar colours, “it’s you!”

     Teacup stared at it and laughed, “you’re dressing up as me?  What am I going to be this year, then?”

     “You can wear one of my skirts,” Vasya said, “or a hat?  I know you don’t want to be a pumpkin again.”

     “Hat, please.”

     Vasya rolled their eyes and yawned again.  Teacup grumbled, flying a circle around their head, “time to sleep.”

     “Okay, okay,” they gave her a look, “and don’t even think about threatening to burn the cookies if I don’t.”

     “I would never.”

     They sighed, but went upstairs and into bed, so hey, no harm done.  She could leave the strangely-shaped cookies perfectly alone and nothing would get burnt.  Even if she did really want to burn something.

     I’ll find something, she thought as she settled down beside Vasya, who had fallen into a deep sleep already.  Maybe Solomon will wear some new shoes.

     The next morning came, and Vasya slept later than usual; this time the sun was actually up, which, if you asked Teacup, was a far more appropriate time for humans to be awake.  They couldn’t see in the dark, after all, so why not wait until it wasn’t dark anymore?

     “Good morning, Teacup,” they said, wandering around half-awake.  “Maybe I shouldn’t have stayed up so late.”

     “I did warn you,” she said smugly, and Vasya responded by throwing a hat at her.  She chuckled and awkwardly manoeuvered so it was sitting on the ‘lid’ of her shell.  “Is this my hat now?”

     Vasya grinned, “yeah!  You can burn it after if you want.”

     Oh, this is the best costume yet, Teacup twirled around happily, “can I set the pumpkin one from two years ago on fire, too?”

     “If you want to!”

     “Yessss,” she hissed, flying downstairs to wait for Vasya to finish getting ready.  Holidays were nice, maybe.  Especially when she got to burn things.  Once they’d gone downstairs, she helped them shuffle most of the tables into the back room.  They didn’t need them today, and Vasya thought that more space would be nice.

     Teacup examined the shop.  ‘More space’ started to feel like ‘too much’.  “We’re only having four people today, are you planning on dancing or something?”

     “Oh, dancing would be nice,” Vasya said absently, then looked up at how empty it felt and laughed, “alright, maybe this is a little too much space.”

     But someone was knocking on the door.  Oops, they’d forgotten to unlock it.  Someone wearing a dark robe with a hood over their face and some weird… thing in their arms.  Teacup hissed out a flicker of flame; she couldn’t tell who it was, but they were Solomon-height.

     “Don’t be like that,” Vasya said, adjusting the hat on her, which had started to fall off, “it’s probably just one of the others.”

     Teacup lingered behind them, just in case it wasn’t Solomon, but as they got closer, she could see his face and relaxed a little.  Wonder what he’s supposed to be.  A creep?

     “Oh, good morning, Solomon!  I wasn’t sure if it was you with that hood,” Vasya said, opening the door.  “Come in!  I just finished moving stuff.”

     Once he was inside, Vasya wandered off to grab the things they’d made the night before, leaving her alone with Solomon.  Delightful.

     “And what are you dressed up as?”  She said, hissing out smoke at him.  Unfortunately, the stupid robe was already soot-coloured.

     Solomon scowled at her, “what are you?  You’re just wearing a hat.”

     “I,” she said, in a very serious tone, “am a wealthy businessman.”

     That made him snort and Teacup let out a threatening bit of flame.  “Well?  What are you?”

     “The grim reaper.”

     “Of course,” she growled, “what else would you dress up as, after all.”

     “Are you two fighting already?”  Vasya returned, balancing an impressive array of trays and placing them on the set of bunched-up tables in the middle of the shop.  They sighed, “can you get along, please?  Just for one day?”

     “Fine,” Teacup said.

     Solomon muttered something close to, “sure.”

     “Good,” Vasya said, squinting at them for a minute before laughing and shaking their head.

     “What?”  Solomon sounded annoyed.

     They grinned, “you guys are great, you know that?”

     Whatever he might’ve said to that, there was the sound of the door and a very uncomfortable looking Arista walked in.  Vasya went to greet them.

     They were wearing the robe, much to both her and Solomon’s amusement.  The thing glittered in the light so much that she could see little golden spots reflected across the ceiling, shifting as they had a very awkward conversation with Vasya.

     “I, uh,” Arista walked over to say hello to her and Solomon, “the Augury doesn’t actually dress like this… does she?  Isn’t she an old lady?”

     Teacup snorted, which made them take a step back.  Arista was wearing a shirt under the robe, since it was designed in a manner that would’ve shown down to their stomach, “never met her.”

     Solomon laughed, which made Arista back up again and turn slightly pink.  “Who knows.”

     I said get along, not team up to bully Arista, Vasya thought at her in annoyance, “when do you think the others will get here?”

     She caught herself before she could spew smoke into Solomon’s ear and flew over towards the window, “I can see Bozhi down the street.  There’s someone else with her?”

     “Oh?”  Vasya joined her and smiled at the sight of someone walking beside Bozhi.  He was a bit taller, but had the same colour hair and eyes; perhaps it was one of the mysterious siblings she talked about sometimes.  Teacup could feel the excitement rolling off of them.  “That’s wonderful!  Oh, but he’s not wearing a costume.  Maybe he’s not going to stay.”

     She was dressed in a very strange manner.  Talons uniform, some part of her said, recognizing it, even though she wasn’t sure where from.

     “Hello,” the young man opened the door for Bozhi and grinned, “I hope you don’t mind me dropping in for a bit.  Bozhi stole my uniform so I have to annoy her for the rest of the day as revenge.”

     “Shut up,” she growled, “you’ve got a spare.”

     “Yes, but that one’s my favourite,” he poked a mark in the sleeve that looked like it was made with a knife, “such fond memories.”

     Bozhi punched him on the shoulder and walked in past him, which just made him smile wider.  Then he turned to talk to Vasya, “I’m Dimitar, by the way!  I visited before, but I don’t think I introduced myself.”

     “Oh, nice to meet you!  You’re Bozhi’s brother, right?”  Vasya looked delighted to have a new face around.  Teacup sighed, but then a flicker of recognition stirred in her mind; didn’t Solomon almost stab you last time you came in?

     Dimitar nodded, “I am!  I hope she hasn’t been too much trouble.”

     Bozhi snarled something delightful and Teacup filed it away for later use.

     Vasya laughed, “oh, well, you’d be welcome to stay for a bit, if you’d like!  You don’t have a costume, but I’ve got a spare upstairs.”

     “Costume?”  Dimitar looked around the room, taking in the way everyone was dressed.  His face twitched very slightly when he spotted Solomon, but he said nothing.  “Oh, sure.  That’s very kind of you.”

     A moment later, Vasya returned with another version of the robe Arista was wearing; much to Teacup’s disappointment, Dimitar just grinned and pulled it on, poking at the glittery fabric with amusement, “it’s like a disco ball, that’s amazing.”

     Dimitar walked over to join the others by the table, and Vasya poked their head out the door.  “Do you think Petar got lost?”

     Maybe.  Maybe he’s just too scared of Solomon to show up.  “I can go look?”

     “Oh, no, nevermind, I see him now!”  Vasya walked out and down the street to greet him.  Teacup sighed; Petar was harmless, despite his size, so she turned to watch with great interest as Dimitar was trying to introduce himself to the others.

     “I’m Dimitar,” he said, wrapping an arm around Bozhi and leaning on her, “Bozhi’s brother.”

     “Looks like we’re both the Augury, huh?”  He grinned at Arista, “we’ll have to duke it out later to see who’s the best one.”

     Seeing them go completely pale, Dimitar added quickly, “oh, no, that was a joke!  You seem like a nice kid, I wouldn’t want to fight you.”

     “Oh,” they said, relaxing, “sorry.”

     “Don’t worry about it,” Dimitar shrugged, and then Bozhi shoved him off of her shoulder.  He caught himself and laughed before turning to Solomon and saying, in a carefully neutral tone, “and you’re the grim reaper, very cool.”

     He squinted at Teacup for a moment, “fancy hat.  A rich person?”

     Teacup puffed out a bit of smoke, “yes.”

     Dimitar smiled, “nice!  And my sister’s dressed up like me, of course, because obviously, she looks up to her big brother very much.”

     Bozhi sighed, “only because Denica would’ve strangled me if I took her uniform.”

     “Ouch,” Dimitar said, “that’s cruel.”

     She giggled at that and patted him on the shoulder, “sorry, it’s not my fault Denica’s cooler.”

     “Hmm, if you say so,” Dimitar frowned, this time a little more thoughtfully.  He opened his mouth to say something else but was cut off when Vasya returned with Petar behind them.

     “Hey, sorry I’m late,” Petar said, and Teacup turned to see what he was wearing.  For a moment she was confused, then - OH.  He was dressed like that man who had shown up a few days ago and humiliated Solomon in front of his students.

     “What kept you?”  Teacup wondered if she’d have to make good on her threat regarding the toast.

     “Oh, I bumped into my dad on the way here.  He thought it was funny I dressed like him.”  His face twisted with confusion when he noticed Dimitar standing there, “oh, hi.  You’re Bozhi’s brother, right?”

     “Indeed, I am the brother,” Dimitar grinned, “and you’re Roman’s son, right?”

     “Yeah.”

     Vasya shook their head, “well, I made cookies last night!  For everyone,” they glanced at Solomon as they said that, “you don’t have to just stand there, have some!  I’ll go find some cards or something.”

     Solomon picked up one of the jack-o-lantern shaped ones.  Vasya was out of earshot now, so Teacup hissed with laughter, “that one looks like you.”

     From the other side of the table, Dimitar coughed, and Solomon glared at him.

     “If you stab him and ruin Vasya’s day,” Teacup whispered cheerfully, “I will set your ass on fire again.”

     He grumbled but stopped reaching for a knife.

     Vasya returned then, carrying their extra packs of cards, “just a warning, I have no idea how to play properly so we’ll just be making it up, okay?”

     “Sounds good,” Dimitar said, taking a seat, “I can shuffle for you if you need.”

     “Oh, that’d be nice,” Vasya grinned and handed him the cards, “I’m not very good at that.”

     Teacup watched with amusement as the others tried to understand the card game.  It was simple; you just pretended you knew what you were doing and did whatever you liked.  It seemed like that was the very thing messing them up, though, because Arista kept trying to play it like it was Go Fish, and Bozhi kept trying to make bets, and Petar just looked puzzled.

     They played like that for a few hours, chatting quietly about meaningless things, and Teacup felt boredom overtake her.  She wondered if Vasya would mind if she slipped out and found something to burn when there was another knock on the door, and half the table flinched and looked up.

     Roman!  She felt an evil sort of delight at the sight of the man.  He opened the door and had to duck to get inside.  Please pick up Solomon again, that was amazing.

     The sun was setting, she realized.  Had time really passed that quickly?

     “Looks like you guys are havin’ fun,” Roman peered down at the table in confusion, probably trying to figure out what game they were playing, and then shrugged, “oh, hello, Solomon.  I didn’t recognize you.  What are you wearing?”

     “A costume,” Vasya said, in delight, “he’s the grim reaper!”

     “Hah, that’s fitting.”  Roman patted Petar on the head, “c’mon, we’re going to be late to dinner with Valentin.”

     “Oh, right,” Petar said, with a look of dismay on his face.  “Uh.  I’ll see you guys tomorrow.”  If I survive, his tone suggested.

     Once they’d gone, Bozhi sighed, “we should probably get going, too, if we don’t want to be late.  I’ve got to change, still.”

     Dimitar frowned, “you can go without me.  I think I’ll stay a bit longer.”

     “Hey, no,” she poked his shoulder, “mom and dad’ll be pissed if you don’t show up again.”

     “Bah, they’re used to it by now,” he glanced over at the others, “that is if you don’t mind me sticking around?”

     “That’d be great!”  Vasya said with a grin before anyone else could reply, “I’ve got enough food that you could stay for dinner, too!”

     Bozhi groaned, “alright, do what you want.  I’m not covering for you this time.”

     “Fair.”

     Rolling her eyes, she said goodbye to everyone, and walked out the door, giving her brother a nasty look as she left.

     Wonder what that was all about.  Teacup settled down on the table to get a closer look at Dimitar’s face.  He didn’t look sad, just lost in thought, and then he blinked, “sorry about that.”

     Solomon also appeared interested, “what was that about?”

     “Hmm?”  Dimitar looked up in surprise, “oh, you know, just avoiding my parents.  They’ve got expectations, and I’m afraid I haven’t quite met them.”

     “Oh,” Arista said, “that sucks.”

     He shrugged, “it’s not that bad.”

     “I see,” Solomon wasn’t done with his questions yet, “so that’s why you came by the other day?”

     “Yeah.  Bozhi tries really hard, it’s amazing,” he sighed, “but she hurts herself, sometimes.  Thanks for teaching her, by the way.”

     “Don’t thank me,” he grumbled, and Teacup laughed, “the higher-ups didn’t give me a choice.”

     Dimitar blinked slowly and glanced at her with a somewhat skeptical expression.

     Vasya stood up, “well, I should probably get started on dinner!  Solomon, want to help?”

     “Uh,” Teacup shifted slightly closer to him.  “Sure.”

     She had to see this.

     Vasya didn’t seem to think there was anything funny at all about the fact they forced Solomon to wear an apron to ‘avoid ruining his nice costume’ and they went about cooking dinner without commenting.

     Oh, it was bright pink, hahaha.  Vasya was already wearing the orange one.  Teacup considered dragging Arista and Dimitar over to see, but then Solomon would probably murder them, and that wouldn’t be fun.

     She settled for sitting on top of one of the cabinets and cackling.  Solomon glared at her, muttered something about ‘stupid teapot’, and then focused on aggressively cutting vegetables.

     Vasya looked over at him a minute later, “oh, I think those are done.  I’ll put them in the oven.”

     Once that was done, Vasya got the rest of their dinner ready; salmon with spices and lemons.  Teacup stopped laughing and just focused on the smells she could pick up through them.  She was glad she didn’t need to eat, but the food did smell nice.

     Bored, she flitted out of the kitchen to see what the others were doing.

     Arista and Dimitar were talking quietly about something, something, parents, which was interesting.  She landed on the table, making both of them jump, and laughed, “are you two having fun?”

     “Oh, uh,” Arista fidgeted nervously and she felt annoyed.  She hadn’t even burned them, just given them extra motivation to enter the shop.  Stop being an idiot.  “Yes?”

     Dimitar tilted his head at her, “everything okay in the kitchen?”

     “Only the vegetables have been stabbed,” she said, puffing out smoke.  “Solomon’s wearing an apron.”

     “What?”

     She snickered, “don’t tell him you know, he’ll probably kill you.”

     “I’ll keep it between us, I promise,” Dimitar said in a very serious tone, even if he’d started grinning the moment she’d told him.  “I’d rather not get stabbed.”

     “Good.  Vasya would be sad.”

     “Dinner’s ready!”  Vasya called, and both Arista and Dimitar looked up to see them and Solomon leaving the kitchen.

     Teacup muttered at them to clear the table and tried to ignore the disappointed expression on Dimitar’s face when he saw that Solomon’s apron had vanished.  I thought you said you didn’t want to get stabbed.

     Dinner was exceptionally boring for Teacup.  Dimitar and Arista said complimentary things about the food, and from what she felt from Vasya, it was good.  But nothing interesting happened, other than watching Arista’s face every time Solomon used his knife, so she settled for sitting by the window and looking out at the city streets.

     Vasya started to fall asleep once the meal was finished, and Dimitar got up without a word and started to collect the dishes.

     Arista stood as well, but he shook his head at them, “no, don’t worry about it.  I find it relaxing.”

     Teacup hummed with interest but didn’t follow him into the kitchen.  Dishes were boring, and she wasn’t worried about him stealing anything from the shop.  If she noticed something missing tomorrow, she could always tell Solomon, and that would be that.

     “Well,” he said, coming out a few minutes later.  Vasya was deep asleep now.  He smiled at that, taking off the sparkling robe, folded it carefully, and set it on the counter.  “I really do need to go.  But this was nice.  I’ll have to return the favour, sometime.”

     Solomon snorted after he’d gone.

     “Oh, no,” Arista said suddenly and leaped to their feet, “I forgot about the letter.  Bye, Solomon!”

     They almost ran out the door without returning the costume.  Then they skidded to a halt with an embarrassed look, took it off, and placed it next to Dimitar’s.  And then they left.

     “Vasya?”  Teacup nudged them, but they didn’t respond.  She sighed, “they didn’t sleep much last night.”

     Solomon shook their shoulder gently, which made her want to set his hand on fire, but Vasya just kept breathing steadily and didn’t react.  He glared at her, “I’m just going to bring them upstairs.  Don’t try to set me on fire.”

     “Fine,” Teacup grumbled, only agreeing because the way they were sitting did not look comfortable.  With one last suspicious look at her, Solomon picked up Vasya and carried them up to their room.

     They didn’t wake at all.  She felt a little guilty for not forcing them to rest earlier the day before.  Once Solomon had set them down in their bed, she swept in and awkwardly pulled the blankets over them.

     “Goodnight, Solomon,” she said, with a sigh, because she couldn’t be rude to him after that.  Teacup would have to at least wait a few days before she could set his shoes on fire without feeling bad, gross.  “Don’t forget to lock up.”

     He rolled his eyes at her and left, careful not to close the door too loud.

     Vasya absently wrapped an arm around her and then settled.  Well.  That was an interesting day.