<p><strong>Setting: </strong>Home of Yin Alstrasz and surrounding area<br /><strong>Notes: </strong>Private for Muse</p> <p>Yin knelt with her hands buried in the dirt as she tried to wrench one of her prized plants from the ground. The root itself tasted something foul, but when cut into slivers and candied it was absolutely delicious. She wore no gloves, her fingers already covered in multiple bandages, but she disliked not being able to feel the earth, afraid she might miss something. The plant came free suddenly, enough so that she ended up falling backward squarely on to her behind. She sighed and dropped the root into a nearby bucket. It was full to the point that a mound of the roots were placed in a precarious pyramid. If she pulled anymore from the ground she wasn't sure she'd be able to preserve it all before it went bad.</p> <p>The orange Lukuo wiped her forearm across her brow in a futile attempt to wipe some of the sweat away. Being just over a week into the summer heat her garden was in full bloom and the temperature was almost unbearable. She looked over her shoulder, Hasha was sleeping in a heap beneath one of the trees at the edge of her property. As though he felt her gaze, his eyes opened lazily and he got up, stretching and yawning, revealing a mouth full of sharp teeth. Yin watched him saunter off in the direction of the front yard and picked up her bucket, going into her house through the garage.</p> <p>Her jeans were worn, threadbare patches along the front of her thighs that gave way to full on holes at the knee. She shimmied her knee pads down and tossed them into a small wire bin along with the near-useless trowel she had foolishly brought out. She even took off her dirt-caked boots before going up the stairs and through the screen door that led into the house proper. She emerged in her kitchen and immediately dropped her bucket of roots into the sink. She fished around in a lower cabinet for a bowl and placed it on the counter. Humming, she began the process of washing the plants she had grown and cutting the stalks away before dropping the clean roots into the bowl.</p> <p>A large creature brushed against the backs of her legs and she looked down at her other beast. Kirsha placed her paws on the counter and pulled herself up, easily looking into the sink and sniffing at the roots. Yin held a cleaned one next to her nose and the dakesto sniffed it and opened its mouth.</p> <p><strong>"You want to eat <em>this</em><strong>?"</strong></strong> she asked.</p> <p>Kirsha looked up at her, cocking her head. Yin sighed and broke off a small piece of the root, dropping it to the floor next to her pet. The creature ate it without so much as a second thought. All of a sudden it began coughing, not liking what her owner had let her eat.</p> <p><strong>"Bitter, isn't it?"</strong> she said. Kirsha glared at her and stalked off into the living room.</p> <p>Yin went back to cleaning the roots, humming again, when there was a tentative knock at her door.</p>
