Nezuko and Resourcefulness?

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The ceramic tealight holder had been a gift from one of Lady Elara’s many guests, once upon a time.  It stood atop a beautifully ornate table that was central to a handsome lounge suite, resting next to assorted other trinkets and gifts from the chronomancer’s friends and suitors in their adventures abroad.  

This particular craft was made of glaze dipped clay, its texture resembling grey and white stone, fashioned into the shape of a garden lamp from the East.  When the halls had once been filled with music and merriment, Elara would bring her guests to this lounging room to let them recline in the dim, mellow glow that the tealight holder and other fancies cast, the candle in its interior lit with matches and tapers that were placed nearby.  The room had smelled of wisteria and pine and lavender, soft scents from incense cones that coiled fragrant smoke into the air.

When time had stopped and the guests had vanished, the light and fragrance lingered.  And it was the scent of the smoke that had first drawn Nezuko to creep beneath the drafty gap in the lounging room’s door.  

Freshly wound, the wide-eyed minikin had scuttled across the floor, ticking softly and wondering what sort of candle could cast such strangely shaped shadows across the walls.  The smell of resin and flowers was soothing in a way they couldn’t put their claws on, and inhaling breath after breath of it made their naturally tense muscles begin to relax.  Something about this exotic room felt comfortable and homely, and as Nezuko clambered from the leg of a divan to the pearl-inlaid top of the low table, they found themself peering cautiously at the small stone building and its glowing light within.

To a creature as small as a minikin, the ceramic tealight holder seemed as big as a house!  Perhaps it was a bit exposed in the center of the table, but those high, smooth sides seemed protective enough, and the glow in the open door was welcoming to a tiny creature seeking shelter.

They had to investigate!  For curiosity’s sake!  Were there other minikin inhabiting this room already, or was this strangely scented find alone for Nezuko to claim?  Brimming with hope and holding their breath, they vaulted over scattered plates and playing stones that dotted the table, stumbling on the carved wood and mother-of-pearl inlay that spanned across the floor like a great, ornamental path.

A half-burnt taper made a decent walking stick for navigating the table’s polished surface, and Nezuko soon found themself using it to poke into every nook and cranny, at every sparkling game piece made of glass or ivory, and at the dotted pools of wax to test if they were safe to walk across as they made their way to the strange little ceramic at the center of the room.

And approaching it after the laborious walk, taper in one hand and a pretty marble tucked under their arm for Bartholomew, they found themself gazing at the flickering candlelight that illuminated the tealight holder, head tilting back and neck craning as though to check for any other minikin or minikin belongings  inside.

There was a puddle of wax beneath the candle and nothing more.  Nezuko couldn’t believe their luck!  Could a cat locate them easily here?  Yes, but cats were lazy and the burner was of a sturdy sort.  From this hiding place they could force any foe back with brands of flame from the matches in a large saucer nearby!  Not to mention all the ammunition in the form of the game pieces and spears they could make from the tapers too… Nezuko thought they had a pretty good throwing arm when things came down to it, and now that they’d found this makeshift lantern home, they were prepared to defend it with their life!

But first a little housekeeping was in order… 

The minikin set about building a set of stairs from ivory mahjong pieces and boxes of matches so that they could better examine the tealight’s interior.  The floor was sticky with wax but that could easily be scraped up and put to use elsewhere - a little fabric in the furthest corner and some stuffing and crinkly tissue paper from various spots about the room would turn this stony place into a comfortable minikin home!  Perhaps it was a bit simple but… well, simplicity was functional and that was all that nezuko needed right now.

They skittered about the table and darted about the room, spending the rest of the time-stilled afternoon gathering supplies and building up a little garden of go pieces and incense cones, cementing the stairs to their new hideaway with pawfuls of wax and crossbeams made of taper lengths.  Nobody would miss a corner of the elegant drapes if it was torn from the ones at the furthest spot from the door!  And the stuffing that was spilling out from beneath the sofa here?  The big folk definitely weren’t using that…

By the time Nezuko’s energy had run down, they had a fluffy, downy nest in one corner of the tealight holder, a pillow made of rolled up tissue paper, and a blanket made from the scrap of curtain, which gleamed brightly in the flickering candlelight.  The candle had been blown out with some careful puffs, a matchstick lying nearby in the off-chance nezuko would need to light it again.  They flopped into the pile of cushion stuffing and incense shavings, heaving a big, comfortable sigh as the scent of incense rose all around them.

Maybe the shadows outside still leapt too high and stirred frighteningly from the corner of their eyes, but here in the tealight holder with the soft ticking of their clock bouncing off the little interior’s walls, Nezuko almost felt… safe and cozy.  

What a chance luxury for a minikin to stumble across!  What luck and good fortune!  They wrapped themself sleepily in the curtain scrap, thoughts ticking in time with their clock.  There was more scavenging to do, of course, more of this room to explore and take inventory of, and definitely more work on their new home to do before it was secure but… but that could wait for just a little bit…  yawning widely, Nezuko allowed themself a moment to close their eyes.

A curl of smoke from the extinguished candle drifted out of one of the tealight holder’s small, cutout windows as the sound of tiny snores began to emanate from within.