The coffeepot in the fantasy percolator had been allowed to boil almost to dry. Merle stared as Taako refreshed the coffee grounds and filter, and filled the boiler with more water. It was nine at night, and Taako shuffled towards his bedchamber.

“Uh. You didn’t clean out the pot,” said Merle.

“Shyeah. Duh. I want some really strong fuckin’ coffee, my dude.”

“That’s gonna be almost boiled dry by the morning,” he warned.

“That’s my plan.”

He got up early enough to see Taako stumble out of bed and refresh the grounds and filter again before adding even more water to the fantasy percolator before re-crashing onto the couch.

“Just how many more times are ya gonna do that?”

Taako gave him the finger.

Snocoun Ton, rooming with Magnus for reasons, emerged from her bunk and busied herself with some seemingly random things. A middle-sized pot, some tea leaves, herbs and spices, a healthy chunk of lemon. All of that went into the pot and she added a lot of water.

She set that on the hotplate to boil.

“That’s… not how you make tea,” said Merle, feeling weak at the knees.

The fantasy percolator finished its current round and Taako rose from his near-coma. He stirred up the hellaciously caffeinated mess and poured the resultant thick, black mess into a large mug with the legend, Yes, I do need this much coffee.

Next, while Sno was poking herbs in her boiling water, he approached the sugar bowl. He extracted two lumps with the delicate tongs and poured the rest of the cubes carefully into his pitch-black mud.

Sno’s concoction was so aromatic that it offended the wallpaper, and she poured hers into an equally large mug that read, Warning: undertow.

Neither Taako nor Sno looked at each other as both raised their mugs to their mouths, and drank.

The world closed in as Merle’s legs gave out from under him. He never felt the fall. All he knew was that his head stung and Magnus was leaning over him. “You okay, old man?”

“I dunno what’s got him fussed,” said Taako from the kitchen as he put on a new pot of coffee for the same cycle all over again. “I’m just havin’ my coffee an’ Sno’s having her fuckin’ tea.”

“…the horror…” Merle gasped. “…the horror…”

[TAZ Prompts Remaining: 2]

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