|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Thu Mar 04, 2010 4:53 pm
Well past dinner service, Belhec was finally finishing up with the evening's dishes. He'd allowed the children to go a while ago, they were tired and small. There had been a lot of dishes tonight, he'd decided, and the small children needed to go to sleep. That aside, tired children tended to do a shoddy job anyways, and there was no point in having them wash if he only had to rewash everything. Besides, washing was the only thing in the entire kitchen the young man could handle, and if word got out he was letting dirty dishes slip? That would be the end of him, surely!
Sighing softly to himself, Belhec wiped his hands on his grungy apron. Tucking his honey-blond hair back into the bandanna wrapped around his head, he pulled the towel off his shoulder and settled back in to dry the looming heap of mugs and plates, stacking them neatly, lest they collapse upon him and the floor, leaving the boy to clean them again. (And it had happened. Everything Belhec learned, he learned from experience.)
"I hate dishes," he admitted to himself, mouth fixed into a grim line as he stacked another mug upon its kin. Watching it teeter precariously, the baker wrinkled his nose and decided today, he was living dangerously. It was time to play a game of how high!
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Mar 08, 2010 2:22 pm
"Belhec, you will not arrange those dishes like that unless you want to be hauling materials for the potters to fix them all. And the glass smiths. Plus doing your normal work on top of it all."
Jali, arms folded over her chest, glared balefully at her grandson. From beside her, Jalisk stood with one of her hind legs cocked, looking about as dangerous as an overstuffed pillow. (That was all right, however. The old woman was scary enough for both of them). Still frowning, she shuffled over, eyeing the leaning tower of dishes with a kind of intense trepidation.
"I thought we already had a conversation about stacking dishes, or did you forget what we talked about already?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
Dragonriders of Pern Shop Captain
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Mar 08, 2010 2:42 pm
Belhec jumped and dropped the cup he was holding, barely reacting fast enough to catch it in the other before the entire tower of dishes came crashing down upon him. "Grandmother!" he yelped, quickly dissembling his trial in engineering. She was very sneaky for an old lady, wher and all. "Grandmother, I thought you were, uhhhm, you know. Gone. It's late." It was late, wasn't it? The boy frowned a little more, rubbing an eye as he peered at Jali.
She wouldn't be checking on him for new reason, would she?
"Uh, did you need me to get something for you?" he hedged, licking his lips nervously as he clutched some glassware to his chest. "Or run an errand...?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Mar 11, 2010 2:17 pm
…
Hoooo boy.
Jalisk made a sound that may have been a snicker until her handler shot her a dark look. Even so, if it was possible for the lazy wher to look anything other than sleepy, she was certainly doing it now. Amusement was clear as day on her face as she eyed the silly boy that had failed so badly at the dishes. Even she could have stacked them better than that.
"It is late," the old woman conceded, still eyeing the mess. "And I came by to see why you were taking so long to finish the dishes. Now I see why." Judging by the thin line of her lips her conclusion wasn't a very pleasing one. The mention of an errand only made her shake her head, moving across the kitchen to settle down on her favourite stool. It was the sign for 'we are going to have a discussion.'
"No, no, I don't need you to do anything for me. I'm here to talk to you about your work. As a baker." The last part needed definitely clarification.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Mar 13, 2010 7:14 am
Belhec licked his lips again, gently setting the mug he'd been grasping down next to what remained of his stack. The dishes lurched ominously and the brunette almost jumped out of his skin, nostrils flaring as he did his best impression of a startled runnerbeast. He was probably was useful as a runner in a ceramics workshop, really.
Glancing around for something to steady him, the only thing in the baker's reach was his rag, so that would have to do. Picking up the damp towel, Belhec settled on wringing it nervously, glancing up at Jali every now and then as she slowly made herself comfortable on a stool. Not just any stool. Her favorite stool. Oh, boy. It was going to be a very long night. Hands jerking in what could be labeled a nervous twitch, the youth finally glanced up to meet his grandmother's gaze.
"...m-my work? As a baker?" Belhec's first thoughts were 'what work' and his stomach dropped and he blurted, "You can't kick me out of the family!" That would be awful!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Mar 14, 2010 11:30 am
Was there an echo in here? Jali's gaze remained firm even as her grandson fidgeted, knowing that if she faltered he would never change his ways. It had already progressed to the point that he was borderline abysmal, which meant it had gone on far too long. She'd left his parents to deal with him and they hadn't gotten anywhere. Now, as both his grandmother and the kitchen manager, she had to step in.
"I'm not going to kick you out of the family, Belhec," the old woman replied, a small frown forming on her face. "But I have yet to see any kind of improvement from you. I am aware that your sister's nervous temperament prevents her from reaching her full potential, but at least she displays some potential. You, on the other hand cannot even manage to wash dishes properly." It was very clear what she thought about that.
"I need to know what it is that you need in order to excel. That, or that you have no potential and I will have to reconcile with myself why my grandson cannot even manage spit dogs."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Mar 14, 2010 1:39 pm
"Oh, I was just. You know." He glanced at the large heap of dishes, feeling himself shrink as his grandmother's gaze did not falter. "I...was just...bored," he squeaked, wrinkling his nose as he picked a dish up and began to scrub furiously, unable to contain the nervous energy any long. He remained silent for quite a few moments, his terrified mind taking longer than usual to process Jali's question.
"I...what I need?" Belhec glanced up, brows knitted in confusion. Blinking his soft brown eyes, he tipped his head and worked his lip, trying to discern what exactly his grandmother was trying to ask him. What he needed was to not be in this kitchen anymore! "I'm...just....you know. Seventeen. And still washing dishes. And like, I like working with Fenta and the kids and stuff, it's just..." The youth turned bright red. "...I get bored?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Mar 29, 2010 1:56 pm
So far, Belhec was definitely just digging himself deeper and deeper into a pit of doom.
Jali slowly got to her feet when he resumed washing the dishes, moving to his other side to begin rinsing and drying them off. What her grandson needed was a sense of purpose and pride in his work. She had begun by washing dishes just as he had. True, she had been much better at baking that he was, but that was why she was kitchen co-ordinator and his mother was not. Perhaps if she led by example he would stop being so wishy-washy. No doubt his grandfather just wanted him to be a dragonrider.
Like that would happen any time soon.
"Well, since you are ill suited for virtually every other task in the kitchen, what do you propose I let you do? I can put you on floor mopping if you would prefer."
Jalisk gave another snicker.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
