The Great Fridge Heist (O)

[Alexi Jankovic]

Alexi peeked through the door of the kitchens, it was dark inside but the small amount of light that came through the small circular window of the back doors. The fridge's were large and most likely contained what he and his sister were looking for. He opened the door slowly and sneaked into the room. The young man was looking through everything for the delicious objective of the twins' mission. Jelly Donuts, the crisp, fluffy fried dough filled with purple or red jelly. He remembered the first time they had found a jelly doughnut, they had been searching for food as they normally did and they found a table with a cup of coffee and a Dunkin Donuts box. The only one left was a sugar jelly, Alexi snatched it and ran to his sister and held it up to her. "Zaria! Zaria! Look it's a whole one and covered in sugar!" When he broke it in half some of the jelly started to drip out and his eyes widened in surprise. After that they tried to grab any jellies they could find, it became an addiction for the two and it brought them closer since it brought back so many happy feelings. Alexi turned to look to see if his sister was following him.

[Zaria Jankovic]

Ah, good old American capitalism. Even in tiny countries in Eastern Europe weren’t safe from the McDonald’s and Subways. Or, in the twins’ case, the Dunkin Donuts shops. She still remembered the first time they had found a box with the distinctive logo on the side. It wasn’t long after they had run away from the orphanage they had been raised in, and they had been skulking around the streets a little before sunrise. Zaria usually didn’t like being out so close to dawn, but Alexi had insisted, and she knew he liked to watch the sunrise even if it was dangerous for him. They needed food anyways. So the two children had scavenged around, looking for the scraps left by the early risers, only to happen upon the cup of coffee and the box. It was the first time they had tasted anything like jelly donuts before, and it was safe to say that the twins were hooked after that. It had quickly become their favorite dessert, though burnt marshmallows were a close second for Zaria. She had even tried to combine the two when they were traveling with the circus, having access to both. She thought the gooey consistency and smoky sweetness of the marshmallows paired quite well with the pastries when spread over top of one.

 The ghost girl padded along behind her brother, wearing red and black striped socks not only to keep her feet warm, but to muffle her footsteps. They were silent enough already, having learned to be such at an early age, but you could never be too careful. Especially since it was only their second night at the Academy. She doubted late night food theft would make a good impression on the disciplinarians of the school, which would make their lives all the harder if they got caught.

She followed her brother closely as they both entered the kitchens, only to spread out when he went for the refrigerators. Donuts did not have to be chilled, so she somewhat doubted that the object of their quest would be hiding in there. However, the filling might be... A smile spread across her lips at the thought, but the jelly alone did not make the donut. The fluffy, only slightly sweetened dough along with the thin sugary glaze made the whole thing come together, and a component on its own could only be so good.

She scoured the pantries, looking for the one belonging to the baker. Surely they had bakers here, in order to make the bread and the pastries and the other confections. Or maybe they had them shipped in? No, she couldn’t imagine the Academy going through such trouble as to have such things ferried out to the island instead of just employing a team of bakers and bread makers. "Are you having any luck yet, brother?" She whispered to her twin, her distinctive accent apparent even then.

[Alexi Jankovic]

Alexi smiled as his sister asked on his progress, he produced two plastic jugs of purplish red liquid, one with a raspberry sticker, the other with an apple. He put the jugs down on the counter and started helping her look through the different cabinets for the donuts. He opened up one of the baking boxes, huge fridge like boxes that were used to keep bread and pastries warm and soft. The first three rows were uncut slices of bread or buttery crepes then, on the fourth was the motherlode. Four separated rows of donuts and on most he could see the red puncture marks of the jelly and the small powdery sugar. His proboscis whipped out and impaled a donut on it's teeth and pulled it into his mouth. He grabbed some of the other donuts and laid them out on the counter. "Well sister, It looks like we got what we came for." He smiled and grabbed his sister around the waist and lifted her off his feet, spinning her around and laughing. "My sweet sister, at least there is some good to be found here." He set Zaria down and hugged her tightly.

[Zaria Jankovic]

She watched as her brother pulled two jugs of the jellies, another grin spreading across her lips when she saw the one labeled raspberry. While she liked things like apple juice and cran-apple juice, her favorite filling was and always had been raspberry. She like the little bite of tartness it had, making it not too sweet like others jelly fillings and other similar substances were. She went back to her searching as he set the two containers on the counter. Soon enough they came upon the loaves of fresh bread and the crepes, the latter of which she would remember to come back for. The red eyed and pierced girl had a bit of a sweet tooth, but not too sweet, and as such liked her crepes to be filled with soft cheeses like ricotta and mascarpone. Topped with a raspberry sauce, of course. Thankfully there were a more than a handful of bakeries in Zagreb, most of which the twins were able to sneak into and find such things as crepes and other such desserts. Though she did enjoy candy here and there, like all children.

When they found the donuts she grinned again, stopping herself from clapping a little in celebration. While they were sneaking out after curfew, she doubted that the Academy would have prefects or guards patrolling such things as the cafeteria kitchen. What would be the point? To safeguard candy bars and ketchup containers? She chuckled softly to herself as she saw her twin impale the poor defenseless pastry on the teeth of his proboscis. She couldn't blame him, really, she was just as excited for the donuts as he was. "Indeed we did." She was just about to take some donuts as well and lay them on the table alongside the ones he gathered up, but she didn't have the time to even pick one up before she was being spun through the air. She laughed with her brother, the sound jovial and happy as it always was around him.

She hugged him back just as tight, nodding in agreement. "Yes, it is not so bad now that we have our donuts." She chuckled again before pulling away and reaching for one such pastry. She picked one that had the puncture marks on the side, little droplets of jelly leaking from them. She took a big bite and closed her eyes, savoring the tart flavor. Before they had come to Ashford they tried to at least have one jelly donut a week, though because they traveled so much it wasn't as easy as it seemed some weeks. As such, this was the first donut she had eaten in two weeks.

[Alexi Jankovic]

It always delighted Alexi when he was able to make his sister laugh, even if they were the same age he always saw her as his little sister, still five years old and bubbly. He bit into one of his stock of jellies and hummed in delight. He kissed his sisters cheek with his jell covered lip, leaving a smudge like it always did. They were all eachother had for the most part so he wanted to make sure she had the best life he could give her. That's all he ever wanted for his sister, for her to be happy and if just sneaking some juice and donuts every once in a while from the kitchen was able to do that then he'd keep doing it until they were both too old to eat a jelly doughnut. Alexi tapped his sister on the nose and flipped up onto the counter. "Sister, remember when we found music to dance to, we had no idea how at the time, being five years old so you just stood on my feet and we wobbled around to it." He chuckled, the moment feeling like only seconds ago. They could both dance quite well now and usually did whenever there was music to dance to, like almost everything else they always danced together since they seemed able to predict one anothers next move seconds before.

[Zaria Jankovic]

The ghost girl laughed softly when her brother kissed her cheek, not minding the smudge of jelly he left on her pale skin. When they were little she would fuss at him, only to wipe some the jelly off of her cheek and smear it across his cheek while he was distracted and then laugh at his expression. Though she seemed to be aloof now and even cold or harsh, as a little girl she was a feisty thing. She wasn't a manipulator, but she could deceive people. When times were truly tough for them, before the Romani took them in, they had to resort to begging at times, especially during the colder months. They would take their coin and spend it on bits of food or use it to procure a cheap blanket so they wouldn't freeze during the night. She finished off her first donut, washing it down with a gulp of cran-apple juice.

She kept her smile as he tapped her nose, watching him flip onto the counter with a small shake of her head. Alexi, always the showman. Even when the only person to see his theatrics was herself. She liked to think of herself as the more understated of the twins. She didn't mind not standing out, as her own personal act in the time of the circus was disappearing all together. She liked her act well enough, but it did come with some...side effects? She supposed that was the right word. She became so used to fading from existence for periods of time that she began to believe that she didn't really matter as much. People mostly came for Alexi, at least in her mind, because of his more thrilling personality. Compared to him, Zaria's own seemed somber and almost melancholic. Perhaps it was only because she was more quiet, and preferred to watch things play out rather than participate in them most days.

"Of course I remember," She stated with another small chuckle. Indeed, those moments felt like they happened yesterday instead of what must have been many years. They were not particularly graceful then, and wouldn't fully be for the next few years, but to their credit they didn't fall down very much. Even if Zaria had no idea what she was doing and because of that had decided to just stand on poor Alexi's feet and make him do all the work for her. Thankfully though by now the two had become quite the dancers. Of course the two preferred to dance together, as they were more accurately able to guess how the other was going to move thanks to them being connected as they were. Twins certainly were closer than other siblings were, at least that was what she believed. She had proof, after all.

"We should take some of the donuts back with us." She said, knowing that the two of them would undoubtedly want more of the confections soon. Maybe even for a second time this night. Though they of course had different rooms, one twin usually snuck into the others. In Zaria's case, she simply wasn't used to sleeping in the same room with a stranger. It made her feel vulnerable, a thing in which, like most people, she didn't like.

[Alexi Jankovic]

Alexi didn't suspect anything of his sister's insecurities, he was too wrapped up in his dreams of fame and stardom to even notice how much his extravagant personality made it seem like he stole the show or even purposefully upstaged her. He never would want his sister to ever feel like she wasn't as important as him or that she wasn't the most important person in his life. She'd always come first, no matter who he met or fell for, she'd always be his other half that he couldn't live without. Dancing showed that perfectly, the way they matched eachothers moves perfectly and in perfecting keeping with time. Alexi doubted they'd ever be able to move away, spend lives without eachother around, they were a group, The Janlovic twins.

"Those are always great times." Ah donuts, of course he'd want more for their sleepover, they rarely went to bed before it was almost daylight when together which was almost always. "Of course I want more, when have we ever stopped at one?"

[Zaria Jankovic]

Zaria knew her brother never wanted her to feel left out or more in the shadows than he was. He never intentionally did anything to harm her or hurt her feelings, so of course she wouldn't even think of holding it against him. How could she? Alexi was her brother, her twin, her closest friend. If anything it could be said that she was the selfish one, feeling like her act as the Ghost Girl wasn't really an act and wanting to be seen. It wasn't Alexi's fault that he was the more showy twin, the one that caught and held the attention of the public more than she ever could. She was content to stay in the background. Truly she was.

"I couldn't agree more." She smiled, though it turned into a chuckle at his comment about the donuts. He couldn't be more right in that regard; the twins could put away donuts like no one's business. It was a wonder they were able to still do their acts at all some days. Zaria used to tease her brother about turning into donuts themselves because they ate them so often. "One box or two?" She asked, knowing that they would be able to polish off either amount come morning. They were both night owls, obviously, seeing as one of them had an allergy to sunlight. As a little girl she had been adamant about staying up with him, feeling like she was abandoning him in favor of sleep to deal with the sunlight when morning came. Of course she did indeed fall asleep during the night a few times, that was to be expected, but she did her best to stay up with him and keep the hours interesting for the both of them.

It was just no fun staying up all night by yourself.

After a few minutes she stepped away from him to begin filling the first box with the jelly filled delights, knowing that they would leave the kitchen with one full box at the very least. They might even begin to keep the jellies in their rooms, creating their own secret stash of the donuts that they could raid at any time instead  of having  to wait in order to sneak into the kitchen to get their fix. It would be pretty easy to pull off when she thought about it, and it wasn't like it was any big infraction of the rules she was sure. Besides, she had her doubts that would get caught in the first place, much less be punished severely for keeping donuts in their rooms.