A Promise Worth Keeping?

[amanika]

Tugger rubbed a hand across his eyes and forehead as he walked down the stairs, his features creased into a frown. He'd been awake for twenty minutes or more and for the first time in a while, on his way to being properly dressed; braces pulled up properly over his undershirt, and a shirt and vest over the top, though admittedly he had yet to button up either. There was even a jacket dangling over his arm.

The effect was rather spoilt by the still untidy headfur and mane, but Tugger had decided he needed food, or at the very least, coffee, before he attempted to tame his fur. Despite the time that had passed since the shrill bell of the alarm clock had woken him at an hour he'd almost forgotten existed, Tugger swore he could still feel it ringing in his ears.

Reaching the bottom of the stairs, the maned tom crossed the front room and headed stright for the kitchen.

[Meadowlark]

Munkustrap had been up for an hour, making sure everything he needed for work was ready. His suit coat was draped over the back of one of the kitchen chairs in such a way as to avoid most potential wrinkles. He was pouring himself a cup of coffee to have with the toast made from one of the few non-moldy pieces of bread he could find. It wasn’t much but it would have to do, he’d find something more edible later. The tabby looked up as the kitchen door opened, nearly burning his paw on the hot liquid as he startled, sloshing it out of the cup a bit. “Do my eyes deceive me or is Rum Tum Tugger up before the sun today?”

[amanika]

Tugger's jacket was tossed over another chair in a way that would probably make Munkustrap cringe, "No need to rub it in, getting up this early shouldn't be legal."

For a second Tugger looked at the chair he'd put the jacket on then thought better of it, if he sat down now he probably would give up on all idea of moving from that spot. Instead he made his was to the icebox in hope of food.

[Meadowlark]

Munkus grimaced at the haphazard tossing of the jacket as he poured another cup of coffee for his brother. “There’s some not too questionable bread in the bread box at the moment.” He took his plate and cup over to the table, sitting down. “What does bring you downstairs this early?”

[amanika]

Tugger nodded, taking his brother's advice and picking through the contents of the bread box. "Guess it would be too much to hope there's anything to go with it?" he finally found a section that wasn't mouldy and managed to cut himself two slices before returning to the icebox and grinning triumphantly as he found the remains of a stick of butter.

It wasn't until he was rummaging around the cupboard to locate a frying pan that Tugger answered Munkustrap's other question, "I told you last night, gonna see if I can do something about a job." Tugger's way of holding on to his pride when he admitted this was to make it sound like it had been his idea in the first place.

[Meadowlark]

The lawyer nearly choked on the bite of toast he’d been in the process of swallowing. After taking a drink of coffee to calm his throat slightly he finally turned to look at his younger brother, something akin to disbelief shining in his eyes. “You’re actually going to go through with it?”

[amanika]

Tugger shrugged, "I got nothing better to do, so might as well."

Finding the frying pan he was looking for, Tugger proceeded to melt the butter in it and tossed both slices of bread in flat. "Besides," he added, his back firmly to his older brother as he spoke, "I said I would, didn't I?"

[Meadowlark]

How was he supposed to respond to that? To say ‘yes, but..’ meant he didn’t trust his younger brother to keep his word—which he wasn’t sure he did, but to say ‘no’ was a blatant lie. Munkus’ tail curled around the worn leg of the chair he was sitting on as he finally sorted his thoughts out enough to form what he hoped was a reasonable sentence. “Yes, you did. Any idea where you’re going to start looking?” There, that should be safe enough.

[amanika]

Somewhat placated by not recieving sarcasm or doubt in response, Tugger was actually inclined to be honest, "Not really," he admitted, "maybe look up a couple of friends, see if anyone can hook me up with something. I guess short of that, hope there are places who need cats to work." rather than bother to find some kind of untensil, he used his claws to flip the bread over in the pan, swearing when the hot fat caught his fingertips.

[Meadowlark]

”Well, there’s always something, and usually somewhere’s hiring downtown if nothing else turns up.” He looked up in mild alarm at the curse. “Cold water on the burn.” The elder brother instructed out of habit.

[amanika]

Tugger ignored his brother's suggestion, sucking briefly on his fingers instead, "It's fine." he turned to look for a plate, "Well I'm not exactly cut out for much more, it's not gonna be something that involves skill, let's face it."

[Meadowlark]

“You’re not completely incompetent. If you put your mind to it you could probably find a way to make almost anything work out.” As soon as he said it Munkus realized it could be taken either way, he really needed to stop saying things like that.

[amanika]

Luckily for Munkustrap, Tugger was too distracted by transferring the bread from the pan onto a plate with just his claws and bare hands again to take offence at his brother's words.

A moment later Tugger came to sit down, putting the plate of fried bread on the table in front of him, for a second you'd almost think he was after some sort of approval for producing it. "I guess," he picked up a slice of fried bread, only to drop it back on the plate a second later, "depends what it is." he added, as he shook his hand in the air to cool it.

[Meadowlark]

“Well, preferably something legal, since you need some sort of cover for the fact that you’re doing something illegal with your evenings already.” The tabby finished his coffee, rising to deposit his cup and plate in the sink.

[amanika]

Tugger nodded, reaching for the coffee Munkustrap had left for him and sipping it whilst he waited for his food to cool. "I know that." actually, he'd been entertaining the thought of bar work, forgetting that these days, even bartending wasn't something exactly legal, unless all you were serving was milk, back to square one then.