Cinnamon Apple Spice Tea

Blessings a plenty and tea shared amongst family.
==Meta==
For artificiallifecreator. I was super sneaky and I got you~ So, as requested, no Newt and some sweet, sweet floof.
I should probably mention that pieces of Tea Verse have and possibly will continue to be written at different times.
-October 27, 2019; PPDC Recovery Lodge; Tamsin's Cabin, O'ahu, Hawai'i-
==Text==
The ride from the ferry is filled with the driver's chatter as Mako takes in the mountains and the lush greenery that still seems to thrive in this new world of Kaiju. She stares at it in wonder, the difference between The Icebox and here a stark one. It feels, briefly, like Tanegashima with how the forest invites her in.
Mako imagines how Tamsin will look with her sharp red hair, broad smile and the spicy scent she carries with her at all times. The gift sits in Mako's lap, emanating that very same smell, putting a smile onto her lips.
"Mako?" Sensei asks as she does so. She points to the gift and Sensei cracks his own smile, wide and happy. "Tamsin will love it."
"I know."
"Vid-cons and chat isn't the same as seeing someone," he [points out softly. "The last time you two saw each other was a while ago."
"But she will recognize me?" Mako blurts. 
Teacher laughs. "Of course she will." He reaches back and she holds onto his hand for the remainder of the ride.]
.
Mako's lingering fears of being forgotten are immediately assuaged: Tamsin runs full pelt and hugs [her] close.
"Mako!" Tamsin pulls back, bright green looking Mako over before crinkling at the edges in a smile. "You're beautiful. Stacks, what've you been feeding our girl?"
"PPDC special, Tams," he teases and it's like the weight of the world has left the broad shoulders ever so briefly. Sensei and Tamsin have always been close but the stress of separation must have been great. They hug, Tamsin wrinkling her nose at Sensei's official travel uniform. "What?"
"Get out of your blues and Mako out of her fancy gear and then we can have small talk. Mako, room's on the left, shower's on the right if you need one. Stacks, guest suite for you but if this is anything like the last time we saw one another..."
"There's a huge pullout couch in the living room isn't there?" Stacker snorts as he pecks Tamsin on the cheek, blowing her regrown hair away from her face to do so. "I know you, Tams."
"You do. Now scoot!" Tamsin turns to Mako and holds out her hand. "He knows the layout. We had a vid-chat while you were sleeping in the plane. I'll teach you how to run the shower/tub combo."
Mako takes her hand, turning their joined hands to examine all the freckles Tamsin seems to collect like fireflies.
"I missed you." Mako says quietly as they walk through the warm hallway turning right with Mako's suitcase bumping against her thigh and Tamsin's.
"Me too, luv." Tamsin hugs her again, pressing a soft kiss to Mako's forehead. "Sorry I don't have any cats." They both giggle at the memory of the kittens piled onto the bed and Lin. Tamsin blanks out for a moment, Mako patiently waiting for her to come back. She's seen it a lot on pilots with high sync-rates so she doesn't understand it but she also doesn't mind. "Sorry."
"No need to apologize." She hums lightly.
"Where did you get all that patience from?" comes the teasing reply as Tamsin shows her how to turn on the shower/tub.
"Sensei mostly."
"Mostly?"
"Among others." Mako's cryptic hints make Tamsin shake her head with a fond look at Mako, leaving her to relax and change.
.
After her shower, Mako (with her towel hanging over her hair) pads into the kitchen where Tamsin is poking at the gift.
"What is this? I don't know how to open it without breaking it." The tip of Tamsin's tongue is sticking out of the corner of her mouth as she concentrates.
"Here," Mako guides Tamsin's thin fingers to the catch on the edge of the folded paper box. "It's for us to share."
"Oh Mako, thank you." Tamsin folds around her, long limbs curled tightly around Mako as she sways them in place. "We're totally in season for it too."
"Sensei and I agreed that it was a good catch. Someone in the Icebox ordered extra but left it behind." Mako hums as she leans back carefully in Tamsin's strong grip.
"Luv, I'm fragile but I'm not made of glass. Lean back." Tamsin chides as she pillows her chin in Mako's crown, looking out at the blue, blue sea. "It's nice to look at, hmm?"
"Hai." She slips into Japanese on pure habit, blinking in surprise when Tamsin carefully replies in the same tongue.
"It really is," Tamsin murmurs, "I've been practicing. Stacker's a good teacher."
"Did you do it for yourself?" Mako worries that she oversteps but—
"It's for all of us," She admits while detangling from Mako and switching back to English. "I'm not as good as Stacks but I'll give it a try."
"It is appreciated." She says but her eyes convey far more.
"I know, luv." The green gaze softens as Tamsin gently squeezes Mako's shoulder and pulls out food. Mako finds she's hungry faster than she can blink. "I figured you two might be hungry after that long flight and the stops in between." She pulls out large containers of fruit and various foods. "Got 'em from the facility."
"Uh-huh, sure Tams. When have you ever let someone do something you could do yourself?" Sensei counters as he steps into the kitchen, his eyes flicking to the opened box and then Tamsin's cat-like smile. "I see you couldn't stand not having it open."
"It's my favorite. I would know the smell of it even from a mile away." Tamsin snorts as she hands out plates so that Mako and Sensei can eat to their hearts content. She scoops up a portion for herself, eating the fruit with a toothpick as she watches them.
"Cat."
"Dog."
Both of them start laughing, the comments part of an inside joke that Mako doesn't know.
"Tamsin used to have this habit of sleeping on Coyote at the highest possible point like a cat." Stacker explains with a grin.
"Stacks used to sleep on the pedes, especially if it was a heavy patrol. The early days were full of a lot of false alarms. We were so tired half the time they had to feed us our lines at interviews." Tamsin elaborates as she ushers them into the living room. "Mako, come here." Mako obliges in sitting on the pull-out, tilting her head back with a happy sound as Tamsin carefully dries her hair for her.
"Thank you." Mako murmurs as Tamsin ruffles her slightly wavy hair.
"Stacks..." Tamsin trails off and Sensei hums thoughtfully. "Really?"
"Yes, Tamsin. Ask Mako first."
Mako gets the feeling that she's missing part of the conversation even though she doesn't know how.
"How do you feel about dying your hair?" Tamsin looks at her with hope as green eyes glance over Mako's hair.
She finds approval in Sensei's gaze so she asks, "What color?"
"Blue!" Tamsin blurts while bouncing in place on the pull-out, the springs of it creaking as she moves.
.
The next morning finds Tamsin cheerfully dragging Mako and Sensei along for breakfast. For someone in remission, Tamsin has a lot of energy, Mako muses as they eat warm pastries directly from the cloth-bottomed basket. She chats with the waitress and talks her way into some hot water, a teapot and some mugs.
Sensei murmurs something about shameless flirt in Japanese, only shaking his head when Tamsin pokes her tongue out at him when the waitress leaves.
"Shameless flirt, hmm? Well then I guess you're not having tea with me and Mako," Tamsin waves three of the cinnamon apple spice packets with a taunting expression. Sensei feigns disinterest before moving quick as a snake strike, coming away with two of the three packets.
Mako covers her laughter with her hand as Tamsin blows a spectacular raspberry at Sensei.
"Eh. Win some, lose some." Tamsin shrugs as she accepts the teapot and mugs with a blinding smile.
"Did you need anything else, Tamsin?" The waitress returns the smile, looking hopeful.
"Your number?" The question has the waitress giggling as she writes it down. "Err, see you after your shift?"
"Sure thing." The laughing response is said over the shoulder, dark eyes expressing mutual interest.
"Stacks, look. I thought that was way too cheesy to work on a chick that pretty..." Tamsin turns the paper around with astonishment and no small amount of pride.
Noelani - 555-7263-5698
"I guess our tour can wait." Sensei teases and Tamsin flushes nearly as red as her hair.
"Shut up, Stacks."
Sensei does, the upward tilt of his lips meaning he's amused. They sip at the tea, the blue water on the horizon bright enough that Mako swears for an instant that Blue has reached it.
"The water's always that color." Noelani murmurs as she watches Sensei and Tamsin catch up on news. "You said it out loud."
"Oh."
"You're the one that came out of a Kaiju attack alive, yeah?" Brown meets black in a flash of understanding.
"Yes."
"My cousins think you're awesome," she says and Mako cocks her head to the side in confusion. "You've seen one up close. They're kids, so the bigger the thing, the cooler."
Mako nods her understanding as Tamsin and Sensei both reach for her hands absently, the attention of her family making her hum softly with contentment.
Noelani gives Mako a smile as she tends to other customers of the beach-side shop.
"So, are we going light blue or dark?"
"Dark, like Coyote's glass." Mako replies and Tamsin agrees with a kiss to Mako's forehead.
.
Mako warily eyes the blue powder that claims it's bleach as Tamsin whistles out a tune. The flap of the cape makes Mako blink and sit still while the snaps were applied after the towel around her neck.
"Is it bleach?"
Tamsin hums as she takes the powder and mixes it with developer, "Yes."
"Why is it blue?"
"I dunno. Chemical in it, maybe. You're sure about them being up front?" She asks Mako and Mako agrees. "Here we go." Tamsin paints the bleach on with a stiff-bristled, flat brush and then immediately covers each piece with plastic bags.
Mako has to sit for thirty minutes so they crowd around Tamsin's laptop to catch up on Is It Wrong to Pick Up Girls In A Dungeon? as the bleach works. They make it through an episode before Mako begins to feel it work. "It's itchy."
"I'll just take a peek and see if it needs to sit a little longer." Tamsin clucks her tongue as she checks. "I'd say half an episode."
"Alright." By the time they pause, Mako is more than ready to get it off. Tamsin rinses out Mako's hair and pumps her fist in victory.
"Light enough to get in the blue. I'll teach you how to maintain it too." She hums as she gently combs out Mako's hair, pinning back the unnecessary sections to get to the bleached ones. The deep blue dye is sitting on the counter, another brush (similar to the last one) sticking straight up out of the bowl.
She paints it on carefully, still managing to get blue under the lip of the counter and on her wrist.
"It's two strands of hair, Tams. How are you getting it all over you and the counter?" He rolls his eyes while using a wet papertowel to clean Tamsin's wrist and maintaining that the counter has lost to the blue. She sticks her tongue out at him and he does it in return, making Mako giggle.
The press represents Sensei as a stark figure but that isn't all he is. He's warm and kind and makes the best tea when she's feeling homesick. Mako allows Tamsin to re-cover the sections before she hugs Sensei. He smiles down at her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders as they finish the episode.
.
Mako swishes her head from side-to-side to see the clean blue streaks and smiles at the sight. It's thier last night with Tamsin; she doesn't want to leave her but Sensei has responsibilities back at the Icebox. She runs her fingertips along the golden walls, a lilting hum coming from her as she makes her way towards the smell of umeboshi, rice and scrambled eggs.
Tamsin's watching Sensei scrape the eggs around the pan, careful to cook them just the right amount.
"Morning Mako."
"Ohayo, Tamsin," she yawns widely as she settles into the cushioned island chair, dragging the tea Tamsin gives her close to her face. Mako cradles the hot liquid as she mirrors Tamsin. "Ohayo, Sensei."
"Ohayo, Mako. Breakfast for my favorite pair of ladies," Sensei teases as he settled on the other side of the kitchen island, digging into his eggs after serving both Mako and Tamsin with plates of food. "Anything special planned, Tams?"
"I hope you brought hiking boots." The mischievous grin makes both of them eye her warily. "Come on, eat up!"
"Oh no, don't tell me..."
.
All three of them are panting by the time they reach the top of the hill.
"Oh... That's... beautiful." Sensei pants heavily as Mako nods her agreement of the rock cove with a waterfall roaring down the side to tumble into clear turquoise waters.
"Yeah?"
"Yes." Mako's the quickest to recover her breath. She scrambles down to the water's edge and cups her hands to scoop up the water, humming it falls through the space between her hands.
"It's safe to drink," Tamsin stoops down to slurp a handful of it, wiping her lips on the back of her hand. Red glints in the sun as Tamsin scrapes her hair back with the edges flopping forward again. Sensei reaches over and does the same, all three of them sitting together as they watch the waterfall.
Mako digs around in her pocket and snaps a pic with her cell phone of all of them. Tamsin pillows her chin on Mako's shoulder as she peeks at it.
"That's a good one. We'll print that one out for the scrapbook," Sensei murmurs as the dappled sunlight filters through the trees, casting everything in a golden glow.
Mako nods her agreement as they go back to enjoying the cove, whispering softly in Japanese, "I love you."
"Love you to the moon and back." Sensei chuckles as he presses a kiss to Mako's forehead and Tamsin hugs her closer.
"I think you mean to the sun and [back," comes] the teasing reply.
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