Adopting A Cat

Natasha frowned a little when Kiyomi mentioned she had been hungry since the hospital. She wondered then what they had given her to eat and when. Aware that quite a few hours had passed since then.

Pulling out a dish she had made earlier, after checking what foods nekos could and couldn't have, Natasha had decided on making her a simple chicken and rice dish. It was something the vampire - who didn't cook that often - could actually handle.

Grabbing a plate, she warmed up the dish for Kiyomi in the microwave and poured her a glass of water from a bottle she kept in the fridge. When the microwave dinged, Natasha took the dish out and places it with some cutlery, a napkin and the water in front of her.

Taking a seat in front of her, Natasha decided to have some tea. It gave her no nourishment, but it was warm and comforting and the fact she was mimicking the motions of human consumption, often put people at ease around her.

"I hope you enjoy it," she said as she encouraged Kiyomi to eat up. "I haven't cooked for someone in a very long time," she confessed with a smile.

Natasha let out a tiny laugh. "Yes, you are probably right, blood doesn't need cooking," she mused. Kiyomi was correct, Nat didn't have to cook blood. Although if she were honest, even before she was turned, Natasha rarely, if ever, had seen the inside of a kitchen. Luckily, making tinctures, poultices and other herbal remedies had given her decent enough cooking skills.

"Well, when I lived in Spain, shortly after I left Russia," Nat commented, her Petrograd accent a bit more pronounced on "Russia", as she sipped her tea.

"There were these things called, filloas de sangre, like crepes really, made from pigs blood. And I know there's blood sausages, and I believe, there was a soup my parents used to make using ducks blood," she said as she thought about old recipes that she hadn't thought about in decades.

"We could try them too, see if you like them or not," Natasha remarked agreeably as she watched Kiyomi eat her dinner.

The only sign Natasha gave to Kiyomi licking the plate clean, which she had to admit was adorable, was a small, rather amused, hint of a smile. But before Kiyomi could notice, she took another sip of her tea, enjoying the warmth and the smell of it.

"Kiyomi does, in fact, have a room of her own," Natasha explained with a grin, her tone light, as she slid out of her seat. "Come with me," she said still holding her mug of tea as she led the young nek0 down a long hall to a bedroom that, like her own, had direct access to the balcony terrace area through patio doors and was full of daylight.

"This is your room," Natasha said as she walked into the room, "there is a tiny walk-in closet, some drawers, a bathroom, a desk for studying - which incidentally had a laptop on it along with a lamp - a bed," she said as she pointed things out to Kiyomi.

When Kiyomi launched herself onto the bed, cat wiggle and all, Natasha just laughed. She couldn't help thinking that Kiyomi reminded her of a true cat at that moment. Watching her reappear from the blankets moments later, so excited and so adorably cat-like, Natasha tried to contain her mirth.

"I am extremely fine giving you these things," Natasha said. "And no, of course, you don't owe me anything for them," she added gently, now a bit concerned that the nek0 would believe that what Nat saw as basic necessities, had to be repaid.

"Can I ask why you'd ever think you owe me anything for this?" Natasha asked in a gentle and patient tone as she sat down at the foot of the bed.

"No," Natasha agreed, "That's not how it works here. I don't expect anything in return, except maybe a simple "thank you" and to know that you are pleased or happy with things," she told Kiyomi kindly.

"I never want you to feel beholden to me, Kiyomi. I have lived that life myself," she confessed with an understanding look as she gently brushed a piece of the nek0's hair back over her shoulder.

"I am not giving you things because I want you to feel indebted to me and I most certainly do not want you to think it's a conditional thing, that you get something because you smiled prettily, were quiet or complimented me," she said, remembering how at court everyone vied for the Tsarina's attention, and with hopes that with an exaggerated compliment, pretty smile and demure nature, she might give them gifts or find favour with them.