Spring Cleaning

With a breath of air, a whirl of dust floated about the room. Shira began to cough, twirling their paw to disperse the cloud of grime they stirred up. Well, that was a mistake. Even more so was letting that much pile up over the last few seasons. They were just so busy, especially having Sif around the house. The red mantibab sighed and continued trying to tidy up their room as much as possible and even the rest of the house.

The jars of old experiments littered the shelves that could house so much more vibrant trinkets. They were removed and shoved out. Books that once laid flat along a desk felt better in the nooks of a shelf freshly swept of dust. The wood wet with oil and wax shined with a bit of elbow grease and enthusiasm. Shira tried hard to make their room livable again and aesthetically pleasing.

Perhaps later they could travel to town to buy a few trinkets to liven up the place. Sif sure would enjoy a shopping trip. That meant street food snacks; Sif's favorite aspect of any shopping trip. He was a growing babling after all. Food was most of his current interest.

Shira spent a few more hours dusting and sweeping their room before moving on to the hallway. They wiped down the walls, mopped the floors, and cleaned the corners of cobwebs. Little by little, the house was starting to come together. Throughout that time working on their room and the hall, Shira didn't hear a peep from Sif. They didn't notice any sounds of cleaning or rustling of belongings being moved out of the way.

"Sif?" Shira called, rapping lightly at his door. They started to open the door before it was slammed shut.

"Don't come in! I'm not done yet!" he yelled, now running around, shuffling items around.

"Hurry up," Shira called. "Or you won't be able to eat dinner."

Shira smiled as he called once again, stating he was working on it. The red mantibab then moved to the living room to tidy up there as well, making sure the entire house was ready for the coming seasons. They didn't want to live in filth until summertime when it would be too hot to clean and they had other, better things to do with their time. Shira would, however, leave the kitchen cleaning to tomorrow. It was a bit too late to start on that project, especially since it was about time to prepare dinner.

So, they moved to do so, hoping Sif would be done by the time supper was ready. Putting up the broom and dumping out the water bucket, the day of cleaning was done. Shira chopped veggies and meat, boiled water, and shuffled around spices. The nice clean hovel home soon filled with the scents of a delicious home-cooked meal. Shira filled a couple of bowls with rice and plated the meat along with the veggies, placing them on the table. As they walked back to grab some drinks, they would call Sif.

"Dinner is ready!"

They hoped the babling had made some progress on his room. The whole point of this day was to clean! If not today, then definitely tomorrow.

Sif came scrambling out as Shira seated themself at the table, scooting in. "Ah, there you are. Did you finish cleaning your room?"

"Yeah, almost. Just have a few things to do still..." Sif replied, sitting down in a hurry. He pulled the bowl of rice to his chest.

"Sif," Shira spoke, pulling meat on top of their rice. "I will need help with the kitchen tomorrow, so make sure to finish your room tonight, or else you'll have to tomorrow. After that, we can go into town for a bit of shopping."

Sif perked up some. "Shopping? Can we get some street food?" he asked, shoving a piece of veggie into his mouth.

"Yes, but do make sure to finish your room." Shira smiled as Sif bounced in his chair happily.