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 Posted: Fri Mar 13, 2009 10:27 am
This was no kitchen. This was clearly some sort of hellish afterlife for those who had committed sins so vile that they deserved to do extra crusty dishes. The kitchens of the Weyr were full of several things: smoke, steam, noise, and people. Everywhere people were bustling about, never pausing even to shout out orders to other people. It was like a chaotic miasma, with extra disorder. Cilyme paused in the doorway, suddenly re-thinking the wisdom of attempting to find Anne. But he did have some pressing business. Quite pressing, actually. The young man eyed the heat-filled room uneasily, cradling the clay sand-filled bowl in his hands carefully. Lytah, lovely little Lytah, simply looked quite pleased with herself as she perched on her owner’s shoulder. Occasionally she’d attempt to nuzzle Cil, or get some sort of attention.
Cil was less pleased with his firelizard and ignored her attempts. It was her fault that he had this mess on his hands now. Quite literally, actually. Lytah, like most green firelizards, had all of the mothering instincts of an average brick. She had Risen recently and… well… most of the eggs were gone now, simply because she would hide them somewhere and then forget all about them. They’d then become mere food for predators. But not this one. Cil had managed to save one, only through careful stalking of Lytah.
“Umm…” he tried to stop someone, but the cook merely pushed past him, barely even acknowledging his presence. “…alright then. I guess I’ll just wait here…” it rankled his pride slightly to be made to wait, but he was getting used to it. Back home, someone would’ve been waiting on him hand and foot. Here, it was all about independence. “Excuse me!” he said in a louder voice that was quickly lost to the kitchen once more.
With a sigh, he finally just tapped someone on the shoulder and found himself face-to-face with one of the most massive women he’d ever had the misfortune of encountering. She wielded a wooden spoon, no doubt used more often to ‘urge’ her subordinates than to stir soup.
“Well? What do you want? Hurry up and say it, boy, or get out,” she roared. No doubt the yelling was an adaption to the constant cacophony of the kitchens.
“Umm…I’m here to see Annelie?” Cil said warily, holding up the bowl as proof. “I have a gift for her.”
“Ha! Is that what kids are calling it these days? I’d suggest you find some other girl to chase. She won’t go for it. But if you’re intent on getting yourself burned… she’s near the back, washing the dishes.”
Washing dishes? Oh dear… that didn’t sound good to Cil. That meant Anne would have plenty of things on hand to throw at him if necessary. He flushed at the woman’s words and stammered, trying to explain that he was just interested in a friend. But the words just wouldn’t come.
That only made the woman more convinced that Cil was just after Anne’s panties. Her grin was horribly lewd, showing all of her teeth. Cil, wisely, backed away to find Anne. It was just such a pity that he had to descend deeply into this Hellish kitchen.
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Posted: Fri Mar 13, 2009 1:27 pm
The kitchens of the Weyr were indeed a Hellish sight to behold, and when coupled with a person like Anne -- someone quiet, grounded and sane -- they created a possible paradox. But that is off topic.
In the back of the frenzy, Anne stood at the large tubs of grimy dishes. Her sleeves were rolled up past her elbows and a long, gray apron was tied up at her neck and waist. With water already down most of her front, she seemed almost careless in her handling of the dishes as she scrubbed at their dirty surfaces and plunged them in and out of the bubble-less, oily, luke-warm water.
The state of the wash-tubs and the water were things that most people should never really... know about. They were nasty and it was a wonder that anything could actually be cleaned in there, but Anne continued on and after a few separate dips in an adjacent steaming tub, the nice, semi-glinting dishes were placed to dry with deft hands, hardly a clink to be heard.
...That is, until the voice of the Head Kitchen Woman rang out over the busy and bobbing heads of the workers. Anne turned her head sharply to look over her shoulder, almost cricking her neck in the process. She winced for a moment, but got over it quickly. Conditioned to always check out what the Head Woman yelled about, Annelie bobbed her head this way and that to try and get a glimpse of her through the sea of moving bodies.
And how she wished she hadn't done that...
Her heart gave a sudden, nervous and almost horrified leap in her chest when she caught sight of Cil talking to the Head Woman, and she dropped the plate she had been working on back into the sink with a loud 'c***k.'
Annelie winced once more, but there was no time to doddle. She immediately began to look both left and right for something else to do that would hide her in some way or another. ...She wasn't finding anything, though.
She looked back through the crowed and almost gave an ACK! when she noticed that now Cil was attempting to head in the direction of the tubs. ...AKA THE DIRECTION SHE WAS IN OH CRAP.
"Umm...oh crackdust..." Anne mumbled to herself again as she now whipped her eyes over every inch of the kitchen that was in her immediate vicinity for something to DO AND GET HER OUT OF THERE.
Dealing with cheese? No. Washing more dishes? No. ...Cutting vegetables? ...No. Dishing out gravy for tonight's supper and bringing it upstairs? OH HECKS YES.
Anne made a mad dash to the gravy train, stepping around bodies and other obstacles with surprising grace and nimbleness.
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Posted: Fri Mar 13, 2009 5:44 pm
Contrary to popular belief, running does not allow a person to remain inconspicuous. In fact, it rather achieves the opposite effect. Even among the bustle and hustle of the kitchens, Cil could still see a sudden movement by the washing basins. Only one person, as far as he knew, would have any reason at all to run from him: Anne. Not that she really had a real ‘reason’ at all, beyond her usual timidity. He did, however, think that it was rather odd that this young woman-----the same one who had once poured hot soup all over him by accident----had suddenly contracted a serious case of Amazing Agility and Grace. Still, he didn’t dwell on it.
“Wait, Anne! Stop!” he tried to yell, but most of his voice was lost to the noise all around him, the constant clanging of the dishes and slopping of various liquids. He sighed and said, in a much quieter voice, “Why do girls always run from me? Am I really that scary-looking or something?” Distressed about this for a moment, he simply stopped. If he really terrified Anne that much… well, he didn’t want to cause her any more distress… Lytah nipped at his ear, trying to regain her owner’s attention.
Aha! Of course! No doubt, Anne was afraid of the firelizard! After all, Lytah had accosted the poor girl at the Gather. Cil waved a hand vaguely at Lytah, who was simply happy to get any attention at all, even attempts to shoo her away. Well, even if Annelie did run, he couldn’t give up now! If he gave up now, he’d have two little terrors to look after. Cil attempted another yell, but he could tell that this was only making poor Anne more terrified.
So he decided to run after her. Because that wasn’t scary at all. Clutching the bowl tightly to his chest, the young man dodged and wove between the various servants of the kitchen. Surprisingly, he was actually rather good at it. Once he was a little closer to Anne, he made another attempt at conversation. “Wait! I have a present for you!”
…Because that also wasn’t creepy. At all.
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Posted: Fri Mar 13, 2009 6:22 pm
Not creepy at all. That totally didn't sound like some sort of ploy a rapist would pull on a child. Course not.
However, Cil was not a rapist. ...But even with that possibility being shot down, Anne still ran to the gravy area with enough force that when she grabbed the edges of the table -- as if she had just reached the "SAFE!" zone in a game of Tag -- she slid and skidded around on the mucky floor. When she came to a stop, hands still with the table, hair fell in her face in a frizz and she looked at Cil with an almost haggard look.
She said nothing, though, and gave no indication of having heard the whole "Present for Her" thing. However, even if she had, her actions would have most likely been the same anyways. ... She was a rather easy book to read.
So, in this chapter, now that she was faced with something of a dilemma... she grabbed a small pitcher-type vessel of steaming gravy and straitened her posture. Now it was just to determine where to "spill" or "drop" said gravy boat.
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Posted: Fri Mar 13, 2009 6:31 pm
Naturally, the chaos of the kitchen didn’t slow for one minute, not even when two young adults were running around and shouting. Why, if the kitchen had to stop every time something like this happened, nothing would ever get done! This was a Weyr, after all. Cil was just learning this now and barely managed to dodge a pan that someone had just taken off a stove. At least Anne was finally slowing down, he noticed with relief. He let out a sigh and approached more slowly and cautiously.
Then he saw the gravy boat. “No! Anne. Put. The gravy. Down. I am not here to hurt you. I promise.” Every single muscle in his body---particularly the ones in his arms---told him to cover his crotch while he could. Unfortunately, his hands were still rather occupied with holding the bowl of sand. There was no way he was going to let it drop after all this work. Desperate for anything to get her to put the gravy down, Cil held up the bowl in his hands. “See? My hands are full. I can’t do anything if my hands are full.”
Lytah tilted her head to one side and let out a curious trill. All around she could smell food, food, food! Delicious and glorious food! And, hey! There was that nice lady girl person! Lytah didn’t remember Anne in particular, but she did remember her smell. She had been nice at the Gather, which meant, to Lytah, that she hadn’t tried to swat the little lizard. More importantly, Anne was holding a bowl of water-food. The green firelizard gracefully flew up from Cil’s shoulder to land on the edge of the gravy boat, her tongue eagerly flicking out to take a taste of the delicious ‘water-food’, as she thought of it.
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Posted: Fri Mar 13, 2009 7:16 pm
Anne froze at the sudden "NO!" with the gravy-vessel held several inches above the table top. Her eyes then flicked to the gravy, then to Cil, to the gravy and then back at Cil until she just stared at him for the longest time, her chest rising and falling now after her frenzied "OHCRAP" run.
She really didn't want to be there. She just wanted to run off, go do something else. What did she want to do? Anything; she had no idea. Why? She wasn't all too sure of that herself, actually. The poor boy had never done anything to her that warranted scalding liquids being "spilled" on him, so why she was seriously thinking of doing it (again) she didn't know. It was just instinct, unjustifiable instinct.
However, even with that instinct pounding at her brain and body, she gave quiet sigh, looked at the bowl he held up, and gingerly (though still reluctantly) set the gravy-vessel back on the table.
...Only to have it be tipped over as Lytah landed on its edge.
With a 'c***k' of ceramic-wear, the hot liquid slooshed out of its pitcher and oozed onto the wooden table top. Anne gave a sudden jump and a gasp, her eyes growing wide at the sudden accident. She immediately righted the vessel and then lunged to the end of the table, using her apron front to catch liquid that had already started to try to ooze onto the floor.
...Which rendered her incapacitated to do anything since the apron was still tied to her. Great...
"Shards..." she hissed under her breath before giving a sigh and sagging her shoulders. "Towel, please," she added, her voice semi defeated.
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Posted: Fri Mar 13, 2009 7:25 pm
Gravy. Cil. Table. Cil. There was a distinct pattern there as Anne seemed to try and decide where the gravy truly belonged. For his part, Cil didn’t dare make a move, practically even holding his breath as the girl made her decision. The dish clinked softly as it finally landed on the table. He let out a breath, but was quickly holding it once more as Lytah tipped the boat over.
Lytah chittered with anger at the gravy boat, enraged that it should do such a thing while she tried to feed. It also burned her feet a little. Flaring her wings and standing up on her hind legs, she screeched at the spilled gravy, trying to make it back off. Unfortunately, the gravy wasn’t willing to listen to reason. Puffing herself up, the little firelizard attempted to flame at the liquid. This didn’t work out too well, thanks to Cil’s careful attention to keeping her far away from firestone. She only ‘blurped’ at the gravy instead, which was far less intimidating. With a huff, the flitt turned her back on it and walked to the edge of the table to nurse her light burns. Also lick the gravy off of her. Mmm… food!
Aha! Cil didn’t miss his opportunity to make a move on Anne, but probably not the sort of move that the audience was hoping for. By now, the pair of young adults had gathered a few interested eyes, mostly belonging to those who had nothing else to do at the time. “While your hands are free from anything you can throw at me…” he showed her the sand-filled bowl and started to explain, “You see, Lytah is a horrible mother, she always loses her eggs but I managed to save one and Iwantyoutohaveit.”
The last part was a little garbled; he really wanted to get out the whole story before Anne got her hands on anything that could be thrown or dropped on him.
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Posted: Fri Mar 13, 2009 7:35 pm
Anne had ignored Lytah's scolding chitterings at the gravy, though now that she was in her current situation, she wished that the firelizard had been able to somehow magically stop the flow.
...Though... All that didn't matter when Anne heard the last part of Cil's garbled and rushed speech. 'Iwantyoutohaveit.'
...
"NO," Anne said flatly. She suddenly stood up straight and ignored the whole fact that gravy was now dripping onto the floor. She also ignored the fact that there was also gravy dripping down her front and that a good number of people were starting at her and Cil.
She set her mouth in a straight line and furrowed her eyebrows slightly in what looked like embarrassment and some worry. Why those two emotions? Hell if she knew; she didn't have control over those things. What woman did?
She did have control of her feet, however, and she moved those 'round and made to walk off without another word. And quickly at that.
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Posted: Fri Mar 13, 2009 7:46 pm
Cil pouted. There was absolutely no other word for the expression on his face other than ‘pout’, although someone kinder----with a good education----might have called it a ‘moue of discontent’. It turned the young man into someone far more childish, as if someone had just taken away his favorite dragon toy. He looked from Anne to the egg and then back again, as if perplexed why anyone wouldn’t want a free firelizard.
On her table, Lytah finished cleaning herself and went to work at the edges of the little lake that had collected. It had cooled off a bit by now, allowing the flitt to drink her new meal safely.
Now Cil looked at her and suddenly wished he had a better representative of firelizards with him. She probably wasn’t the best-behaved one… and Anne’s last encounter with flits hadn’t ended any better either; she had been the battleground, so to speak, of a little blue and Lytah. Cil tried again. “W-well… most firelizards are better behaved than Lytah, Anne. I promise you that. Come on, I can’t let this little egg die and I can’t take care of it myself. Nor do I trust Elae with it.” It was hard to admit, but one had to make tough decisions sometimes. Cil really did care for the health of that little egg and he knew Elae. Maybe one day she would be a good firelizard owner, but that was not now.
“Come on, Anne… please? If you don’t accept it as a gift, I’ll be forced to get creative in figuring out how to give it to you.”
That phrase caused several titters throughout the crowd, murmurs that brought a blush to Cil’s ears as he heard them. What!? How could someone even think that?! Gritting his teeth, he tried to ignore it. “I-… I’ll have no other choice but to get it into your room. I’ll even let Elae figure it all out. And you’d know just how much fun she would have.”
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Posted: Fri Mar 13, 2009 7:56 pm
Because 'I'll be forced to get it into your room' was a line that totally would not cause even more tittering amongst the crowd. ...Totally.
Anne blushed at the entire situation and once more let her shoulders visually just sag. She stopped walking only a few paces away from the table and turned somewhat slowly, her arms crossed.
The thought of him sending Elae into her room made her question the whole offer for a moment or two, and she stared at the oily ground and at her feet as she did so. She watched gravy drip between her shoes as it slid off her apron. It seemed like she would say yes; she raised her eyebrows now and then, made a head tilt once. Finally she spoke.
"Cil, I can't," she answered , stressing the last word in desperation to perhaps get him to change his mind. She knew it wasn't the answer he wanted to hear, but there was no way she could accept the egg.
"I'm a servant. ... In THIS place. I know nothing of dragons o-or firelizards. It'd just die under my care."
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Posted: Fri Mar 13, 2009 8:13 pm
Shard it all, why did people have to go on break now?! Just a few moments ago, the kitchen had been the very center of activity, the eye of th… actually, no, that didn’t work. The eye of the storm was the calmest part. Well, perhaps it was more like the wall of the eye then. That definitely explained why, all of a sudden, everyone could take a precious few moments and watch a few young adults. Because watching young adults was totally more important than feeding the entire Weyr.
Aha! Cil could see that his threat had made some ground, even as it caused amusement. He had no doubt that Elae would love a chance to practice her ‘mad thieving skills’, but he honestly doubted she could actually pull it off. She’d probably get distracted by something shiny on the way there. But Anne didn’t know that. Not yet.
“Well… I didn’t know anything about firelizards either, before I got Lytah. Besides, you’ve lived in this Weyr for years. You probably learned more than you think. Besides, if you don’t take the egg, I don’t know what I’ll do. I can’t take care of another firelizard---especially if it’s a Queen----but I don’t know who else can. Elae can’t, I know that much. And neither can Raena; she already has her Blue to worry about. Please, Anne? Take it?”
Meanwhile, Lytah flew off the table and landed on Anne’s shoes. After all, there was gravy there too. Also, it gave her a perfect opportunity to use the ol’ Big Eye technique on the girl. The trick was to look extra pathetic and let out a little ‘meeeew’ noise.
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Posted: Fri Mar 13, 2009 9:30 pm
Anne shook her head at Cil's reasons to why she should take the egg. Ha. No. She SO did not know a THING about dragons or firelizards or ANYTHING of the living kind. She knew dust. And dishes. And oily, murky waters and soap.
She sighed once more and turned to look at some distant spot on the floor as more and more pairs of legs of workers became stationary. Damn, now half the kitchen was probably staring and listening and watching and UGH. She turned her attention back to her feet...
And met the evil, but very affective, Big Eye technique of Lytah as she sat at Anne's shoes. Anne hadn't noticed the little flitter move off the table, and she wished she had to some degree so that she didn't look down and suddenly get BOMBARDED with that stare ... and those eyes... and... Oh CRACKDUST. Firelizards were certainly the little catalysts for making annoying events happen, weren't they?
With a large, audible sigh, Anne let her arms fall limp as her sides as she tilted her head back a little to look up at the ceiling of the kitchens and ponder the sanity in her next move.
...She found none. And so she stuck out her open hand to Cil and dropped her head. "Give it to me," she said, her voice even more defeated than it had been when she had asked for a towel earlier to catch the gravy.
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Posted: Fri Mar 13, 2009 9:46 pm
While Anne was busy battling Lytah’s evil and adorable technique, Cil was making a study of the little egg in the sand-filled bowl. The last surviving egg of Lytah’s clutch… despite all of the drama that had ensued from his frantic attempts to find just one home for this one. He supposed that he could have just sold the egg. It could’ve easily fetched a hundred marks at least, despite having a ‘mere’ green for a mother. But that just seemed wrong somehow. He wanted to make sure it had a good home, someone who would love it. Clearly, its home had to be with Anne, the girl who clearly didn’t want it.
Because, you know, girls totally mean ‘yes’ when they say ‘no’.
At Anne’s words, a whoop went up from the watching crowd. “Give it to her!” some anonymous voice from the back cried. “All night long!” This resulted in the predictable laughter and ‘advice’ to Cil.
Cil, blushing furiously, attempted to ignore it as diplomatically as possible. Weyrfolk were so… strange! Didn’t they have any values at all? Was nothing sacred? Despite having lived in the Weyr for a while, Cil still naturally thought of himself as a member of the Holdfolk. Still endeavoring to ignore the advice shouted at him---but also take note of some of the more promising bits of ‘information’----Cil simply offered Anne the bowl. “Just… umm… it should hatch in a week or so, I think. Just keep it in front of a fire. And rotate the egg every twelve hours or so. Keep an eye on it; before it hatches… well, you’ll know that. And after it hatches, just give the firelizard a bit of food. Anything will do. They love eating just about anything. And thanks, Anne. I don’t know what I would’ve done with this poor little egg.”
Lytah, however, was rather disappointed. Usually when she did her Big Eye technique, the human gave her food-bits. But it didn’t seem to be working here… the idea that Anne might not have any food on her didn’t occur to Lytah, since people, in her experience, always had food. She contented herself with attempting to lap up the gravy still clinging to Anne’s shoes and apron.
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Posted: Fri Mar 13, 2009 9:59 pm
Anne blushed a deep, maroon red at the comments from the crowd and the laughter that ensued. She smacked a hand to her face and shook her head in total embarrassment before she finally inched back to the table and took the sand-filled bowl, not paying attention to where Lytah was on her person.
As Cil talked, she nodded and listened while she looked at the little egg that had caused her such a problem and had caused the kitchen a good amount of amusement and her's and Cil's expenses. ...Stupid little troublesome egg.
She couldn't help but give it at least one thoughtful glance, though, but dismissed that as some action of her female psyche. Totally uncontrollable.
"Yeah... Sure," she said, eventually. She looked up at Cil and also added, "thanks... I think."
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Posted: Sat Mar 14, 2009 11:24 am
Very troublesome little egg. It had barely started life and it was already the center of a custodial argument, a grand chase, and it had its own audience. Without a doubt, it would grow up to be a troublesome little lizard as well. Not that Cil, Anne, or even Lytah had any way of knowing this at the time. Actually, Lytah only knew one thing; the feet she was perched on kept moving. Once again, her wings flared and she tried to stop them from moving. When they refused, she huffed and winged her way back to Cil’s shoulder, getting little gravy-footprints all over his clean tunic.
Cil merely sighed and scratched Lytah’s eyeridges. “They’re really worth it, you know. For all the trouble they cause, they bring… well… they’re great little pets. Even Lytah can carry messages. Sometimes. If she doesn’t get distracted by something shiny or edible…” he trailed off there, realizing he was probably only worrying Anne more or something. “Anyway… uhh… thanks for taking it again. I’ll leave you alone now.”
Those last words brought a groan of disappointment from the crowd, who had apparently been looking forward to seeing Cil harass Anne. Well, that was just rude. Cil frowned once more and sent a mild-as-milkwater glare at the surrounding faces, wishing that they would find something else to do. Honestly, where was the work ethic?! Which reminded him, he had to get back to his duties as a Candidate. “I’ll see you around. And, hopefully, your little lizard too.” Then the boy turned around and wove his way around the kitchen once more, feeling rather pleased with himself: a mission well-done.
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