One of the perks of being a Prefect was the room. Whereas most students had shared room, facilities and the like Anne had been given her own small suite. While not in the same league as Vera's own, it was still a scaled down version which included separate rooms for her living room, kitchen, bedroom (that included a huge king sized bed) and her own bathroom (complete with an impressively sized bathtub). It even had a balcony like Vera's own (although the view was no-where near as fine) but being able to open it and sit out with the warm tropical breeze tickling her after a long day was heavenly.

With Kite still chattering away Anne unlocked the door and invited Kite in. The faint smell of sweet-pea greeted them as she stepped in and as the door shut she closed her eyes and took a small breath in. There was nothing quite like being able to shut the door and from the time she share quarters she hadn't even come close to getting tired of that simple act.

This time though she wasn't alone though and Anne showed her guest around briefly, leaving the kitchen to last. As always the place was spotless, everything in its place. The room was mostly as it had been given to her although, Anne had made a few homely touches, such as a vase of flowers on the side by her sofa (procured from the botany department), a small picture of Vera by the side of the bed and the plush rug by the balcony. Curiously though, despite her now having access to a TV or radio and other tech she hadn't actually bothered to acquire any, much preferring the quiet. The exception to this was the small computer on the side which was required for her work as a Prefect. For Anne, the small things just made this room much more like a home and she found it so much easier to unwind, even when her duties caused her to work into the night on occasion.

"Now… did you want to make those cookies Kitten?" Anne asked with a smile, having watched her guest as she showed her around. Having a love of baking (although rarely the time) herself, all the ingredients necessary were already in her cupboards, unless of course that Kitten changed her mind, or wanted to try out one of the inventions she had been talking about on the short walk here. She did wonder what some of the things, such as the vaunted cookiecake explodorama would actually taste like, although with the same thought she was rather glad that she wouldn't find out any time soon.

Kite followed Anne around the suite, briefly reflecting internally that she was actually quite glad a change of rooms hadn't been part of things during her own (exceedingly brief) time as Resident Advisor for the dorms. Then again, what little sleeping she used to do tended to happen in a coiled and curled pile of 4-8 people (usually depending on how many 'guests' one of her sisters had brought to bed a given night, or if someone sought one of them out for comfort), so 'personal space' was something that she cared about far more while out and about than in private space. Private space felt safer the smaller it was.

Kitten was not, however, prone to introspection. She was prone to cookies. "Yes please sis! Let's make the cookies!!" Though apparently despite her scatterbrained nature, evidently she had a good enough memory to carry the recipes she was working on her head, rummaging to find mixing bowls and ingredients and tools, and setting to work making the dough, sifting, mixing, huming cheerfully all the while. Though it's something of a bizarre and perverse sight that her body language simultaneously, but very clearly separately is screaming both of giddiness to be baking, and intense chagrin of having to clean this up later...

Anne stood back and watched Kite bustle around. She seemed like a demented ferret how one second she was measuring out flour and the next shredding chocolate with utter glee. For a few minutes she thought that she would simply watch until called in with the tin foil as Kite had everything under control, albeit in a rather disorganised (but fun looking) way. It was the duality that moved her into action.

The kitchen wasn't big enough for two, so she disappeared, letting Kite crash around. When she returned she had removed her shoes and had a couple of towels, which she spread out on the ground. Pushing into the kitchen itself she filled a tub of water with suds and got back out of the tiny open space, placing it on the towels. From there she started taking the used equipment, washing it and replacing it whenever an gap in Kites frentic motions availed itself.

She worked with a smile, actually enjoying herself, until all too soon the cookies dough was made, dollops of it on greased baking sheets and solidly in the oven. Anne had torn off some tin foil which sat in little domes over each one and the tidying up had taken a mere few minutes, since all the washing up had been done as they went.

"Okay!" Anne said, still smiling happilly "Timer set - How do you think these will come out? Good enough for m.. our Mistress?"

There was a somewhat perverse genius to the recipe. Finely grated white chocolate, being nearly all cocoa butter could almost replace shortening or oil in a normal cookie recipe, and would be completely invisible to the eye, compared to the big, chunky, dark chocolate chips. One could make all sorts of metaphorical comparisons with the concept of an explosively sweet surprise lurking within a calmish exterior. Luckily, Kitten did not yet know what a metaphor was.

Once the oven was closed, Kitten had crouched, face pressed close, but most definitely NOT touching, the glass front of the oven, staring at the cookies within until Anne's voice pierced her reverie, turning to look up at her sister, "i really really hope so sis! If they do, do you wanna take them to her together? i never woulda thought of tinfoil anti-madness hats for the cookies without your help!"

Then, suddenly, Kitten's expression briefly become one of almost paralytic confusion. "What's a timer?"

Anne blinked, surprised. For a moment she thought that there was something seriously wrong, or something she had compeletely overlooked. As it turned out Kitten-Kite had the damnedest gaps in her vocabulary.

"Just this" Anne replied, gesturing to the little red timer on the kitchen top "It'll ring when the cookies are done and it will prevent us from forgetting about them and letting too much madness in. I think you should get the credit for the cookies though Kitten - they are all your hard work after all."

Anne couldn't stop smiling - There was something so endearing about Kitten that Anne found simply wonderful. It was difficult to believe that she was the same person as Analyser, and also Sword (who she was still curious about). Anne couldn't help but find herself wondering if she would purr if she sat her down and stroked her hair. The idea of taking the cookies up to Vera was really appealing, if only for the look on Vera's face as they burst in on her brandishing them. The only reason she was a bit reluctant about going to Vera with the cookies was just the newness of their relationship. There was a lot about Kite that she didn't know and those uncertaintanties made her cautious where it came to her Mistress. What she had said before was still true - she would certainly not interfere but right now it just felt too soon...

"So, what do you want to get up to for the next twenty minutes or so? I'm afraid I don't much entertaining here as I don't normally have guests, and thus i'm badly prepared..."

Abruptly she cut off and thumped her forehead as she realised something. "I'm sorry Kitten! Where are my manners - do you want a drink or something to eat, aside from the cookies?"

"Oooohh!!" Kitten's glee in discovery was almost ridiculous, "That's WAY easier than staring! 'Specially with the anti-madness hats meaning there's nothing to see! Analyzer always said 'a watched pot never boils!' and that didn't make any sense. Even for baked pasta you don't put a pot in the oven!"

And so she got up, turning to face Anne as she listened, shrugging a bit. "Mm, thankyou! But i'm not really hungry. i always carry LOTS of snacks! Just in case!" Suddenly the eagerness was gone from her voice to be replaced by a hollowness that sounded almost dead and a faraway glaze to her eyes, her body trembling violently, "You never know when you'll be cold and alone and helpless in a hole in the ground for so long you forget you're a person." Then like flicking a lightswitch, Kitten was giddy and grinning again as though the brief interlude hadn't even happened. "But that won't happen again! Mistress isn't like that! i'm a good pet, and good pets don't get thrown away! And we're both good pets for Mistress, right sis?" At this Kitten moved forward to hug Anne tightly once again with a tiny moan, murmuring a little, "Still a good idea to carry snacks, though."

Her smile remained on her face, but flickered and died inside. She had known what it was like to be alone, desperately seeking light, not knowing what to do aside from putting one foot in front of the next and moving on with no end in sight... But the pure emptyness of that voice made her believe deep inside that whatever had happened to her was merely a shadow of a shadows compared to what Kite had been though.

Her arms wrapped around Kite, not saying anything and giving her what comfort she could. Her doubt of standing aside and not interfering between her and her Mistress eroded further, and her hug was heartfelt, more earnest, squishing Kite closely as if the proximity could drive away some of the darkness.

"We are Kitten. We are." There was nothing else to say, not really and just stood there with Kitten-Kite compressed tightly against her until she tried to move.

All of Kite was surprised by the sudden gesture, and the earnestness of Anne's embrace, gently squeezing back, it was impossible to say which, or what combination of them cried for a few moments, face buried in Anne's shoulder.

But it was only a few moments. Horrid the memories might be, but they were not the now. In the now, an unasked question was being answered. Kitten most definitely was prone to purring as a response to acts of affection. And while purring, she murmured softly, "Thankyou, sis."

The purrs reverberated through Anne and she didn't move, shutting her eyes. There was a moistness to her own although she couldn't tell why. Seconds turned into minutes and they stood there unmoving, wrapped up. Anne had no idea what Kite was thinking but those purrs were amongst the most oddly relaxing thing she had ever come across.

Those minutes ticked away, one adding to the other as time passed in silence, just the breeze from outside and the gentle hum of the refrigerator surrounding the two students. For all the world time stopped for her.

The alarm, when it came made Anne jump a mile, startled. She had been caught up in her own thoughts of her past and what Kite had said about hers and she couldn't believe that quarter of an hour had passed... it had felt like no time at all!

"Oh Gods!" Anne exclaimed as she let Kite go, embarrassed. "I'm sorry! The cookies are done!" The comment was more reflexive than meant, not quite sure what had happened to the time and while not sorry per se, she felt that she should be apologising, just in case.

Truly, as with almost any creature that does so, a purr indicates a singularity of thought and desire which is either "keep doing what you're doing," or "i am attempting to lull you into a false sense of security and plan to eat your face."

And if any of Kite were capable of true duplicity, it most certainly was not Kitten.

Anne's exclamation did get Kitten to let go, quivering some and stretching. "Sorry for what?" Kitten scampered back into the kitchen to turn off the oven and, upon finding an oven mitt, taking the cookie sheet out to start to cool. "It's been... oh, way too long since we've had any chance to have a really good sisterly cuddle." Kitten turned back to Anne, her expression much more speculative, and almost penetrating, than she'd yet seen on her, but the pitch of her voice was still most definitely Kitten. "i think the same is true for you too, isn't it sis?"

The casual scurry (there was no other term for it in Anne's eyes) of Kite took Anne by surprise and she stood there, unsure of herself. It wasn't a bad feeling by any stretch of the imagination, in fact it felt warm and forgiving. It didn't change the fact that she was uncertain what to do or what to say so instead she watched. Kites next words pinned her to the wall as well as that speculative look and they punched a hole a mile wide in her defense.

The blush that emerged was honest and heartfelt. It burned up her cheeks and her pale skin flushed crimson. For a moment Anne quite lost the ability to speak and she stammered over her words, the normally confident Prefect taken onto the back foot by something as simple as that.

"I.. er... I... I mean... I've never.. I... Yes...?"

Her blush burned bright in the light and she stumbled over her words. She really wished she could do something with her hands but Kite had beaten her to the cookies and that left either turning her back (which was grossly impolite even if she wanted too - which she didn't) or standing there floundering, not certain what to do with herself. She was embarrassed over her own reaction - In truth she couldn't remember the last time she was hugged like that and she hadn't really wanted it to stop... but equally she now didn't quite know what to do about it! She had learnt how to order, how to lead. She could split up a fight, she could cow rowdy students and work long hours without batting an eyelid... But it seemed that the lesson of "how to accept a cuddle" was lacking from her internal dictionary.

Kitten simply nodded. For her, this was familiar territory at long last. She remembered before the long blackout that Analyzer and Sword absolutely refused to tell her anything about, their prior sisters, that exact blush on all their faces, even hers, as they discovered affection and open, honest love for the first time together as they clung to each other in the darkness.

"We could change that, you know. For both of us." Kitten got a spatula, and lifted one of the cookies gently off the sheet, still quite soft and gooey, and too hot to eat. "Analyzer spends most of our days researching or doing the student council stuff our Mistress wants her to do, and at night Sword likes to do her hoo-rah martial-ninja stuff." She paused to blow on the cookie gently to cool it faster, then taking it between her fingers to carefully tear it in half, "But i know neither of them will object to us finding times we can meet up to just relax and cuddle and whatever else we want, sis." And reaching out, offering one half of the first cookie to Anne. "That is, if you want?"

Anne took a step forward and lifted her hand towards the proffered half-a-cookie. She was really quite gratified to see that they had turned out really well. Perhaps they could have used another couple of minutes, just to give them a little more firmness but that thought was right at the back of her brain. The main part of her consciousness was taken up knowing that this was something important but, lacking the right frames of reference it was also something alien – something that she didn’t understand. But, she really felt that she ought to.

She hadn’t felt this unsure of herself since she had agreed to serve Vera!

“I.. I think I would like that very much Kitten” Anne replied taking the cookie gently from her fingers. Her blush started to fade, but her smile, small but perfectly honest stayed as she looked at Kite, wondering just what she was accepting.

It’s not every day you someone shows you a door that you never even realized existed. Especially when you thought you already had everything you already wanted. Anne didn’t know what to make of it, but she wasn’t going to turn and walk away, leaving those purrs, that peace which had enfolded her for the last twenty (twenty! How?!) minutes behind.

Kitten smiled almost serenely, shifting closer to Anne so they stood shoulder to shoulder in the small kitchen, bending down to nibble at the cookie-half. "Then that's what we'll do, my sister. We have a good Mistress. That means that part of our duties are to take care of ourselves, to better to be ready to serve her." Kitten turned her head suddenly, quickly kissing Anne on the cheek before turning back to her half-a-cookie.

"Ourselves... and each other." And she started to purr again, after all... in this moment, they were sharing the same sort of peace and warmth.

Vera had told her the same thing, ever worried that Anne would overwork herself and simply burn out. She had no intention of such a thing occurring but the thought of taking a night off and spending it with Kitten-Kite was rather appealing. The impression of her lips on her cheek felt entirely different from Vera's. Her Mistress's made her knees weak and she wanted to bow, to serve her. Those kisses claimed her, somehow latching onto her soul and she always wanted to do whatever she could to gain more, like a drug she couldn't get enough of. Kite's on the other hand made her want to wrap up the girl with hugs, cuddles and spend the night in a large pile of entangled limbs, a bit of sweat and a lot of happiness... Which was a profoundly odd feeling as her heart and mind were so wrapped up in one person. For her to want to do that to another. To perhaps love another... She really wasn't certain what was going on, but she found that she didn't want it to stop.

Her free hand absently stroked the spot where Kite had kissed, while a bemused look flickered across her face. She wished she had an idea of protocols, of dos and don'ts. Without it she only had who she was, and that meant she simply had to do what felt right. Slowly, hesitantly she turned towards the happily purring Kitten beside her and wrapped her arms around the student. Her half-cookie was still in her hand but she had forgotten its presence as her heart fluttered madly in her chest, drawing her own lips towards Kite wondering if she will pull away... or what would happen if she didn't.