Chores and Chuckles: Irina and Zhara's Aussie Showdown

The sun was going down in the west. The sky was turning to a dark purple and blue, the clouds were rolling in, and the wind had picked up. Irina Kostoff stood on her porch looking at the sky, dreading the night ahead. She looked back at her house, it’s roof was just barely visible over the edge of their hill. She didn't want to go inside, but she knew she should.

The two goats who were lazily munching on grass by the side of their house looked up at her expectantly, as if to say “Let’s go inside already!”. Irina sighed and walked towards the door.

Irina opened the door and entered the small building. It was made out of wood and mud, with a dirt floor. There was no ceiling, so that when it rained they could collect rain water from the roof for later use. A good amount of light came through the doorway, but once she closed it all that remained was the flickering candlelight that cast eerie shadows around the room. There was a pile of straw on one side of their house which served as a bed; there was a small table next to it where they kept some food and other things they might need throughout the day; in front of that there was a fireplace where Irina cooked most of their meals; against another wall there were two chests that held everything they owned. A few pieces of clothing, some dishes, a sewing kit for mending clothes, an axe for chopping wood, two knives for cutting vegetables and meat... Everything they needed for living out here in this remote area where not many people lived anymore.

Zhara sat at the table reading a book by candlelight while eating from an old bowl she had found in one of those chests earlier today. Some water from yesterday's rain still sat in there, so Zhara hadn't drunk yet because she preferred not to drink any water until they had boiled it first to make sure it wasn't unsafe to drink. They did have some kindling left over from last night since they had been too tired to take care of it then and therefore used what was left for lighting a fire for cooking dinner today instead of using their flint stones; however now she didn't know how long until more would be ready again so she used her knife to cut up some old dry grass from near their house into tiny pieces before she set them on fire in an attempt to re-ignite them herself so she could warm up some water before drinking anymore or doing anything else tonight. Since they didn't have any money they couldn't buy any fuel like oil or coal or anything like that anyway, only mud which is what their house was made out of.

She remembered how Irina used to tell her stories about how easy life used to be when people could just go into shops and buy whatever they needed whenever they wanted it; Zhara even laughed at those stories sometimes because they sounded so silly to her now that that life no longer existed; Nowadays if you wanted anything you would have to work hard to earn it yourself or steal if you were desperate enough... Or you could do like them and live off what nature provided you with: Goats for milk and cheese, chickens for eggs, pigs for meat... And yourself for labor if your body still works well enough after all these years.

Irina started coughing badly just then as if on cue; Zhara looked up from her book suddenly worried. Even though Irina had many health problems she usually tried not to show it except when something got really bad; Zhara dropped her book on the table and rushed over to her mother who had collapsed on top of one of their chests now trying desperately not to cough anymore while Zhara gently patted her back with one hand while fanning away smoke with another hand since Zhara started this fire right next to them again without thinking about how close all this smoke would get to Irina... But now wasn't the time for guilt though since now they might actually have something serious going on here!

“It's... Ok... I'm fine...” mumbled Irina between coughs while attempting to wave Zhara away with both hands while still laying prone across their chests; Zhara wasn't having any of this though since she knew better than anyone how much this disease got worse every year until eventually Irina might not be able to move around anymore if nothing changed soon! So despite knowing how much her mother hated being treated like this Zhara decided that her mom wasn't going anywhere until someone examined her properly! Time for drastic measures indeed! >_>;;