Xanadu Weyr - Kitchens
It seems that with the fire that destroyed much of the kitchen, care has been taken to restore it to a condition well beyond what it was orignally. And thus state of the art equipment has been brought in from the various crafts to be used - stoves and large ovens replacing the hearths, while thin metal sheets have been installed over each countertop, for both ease of use and ease of cleanup. A large pantry remains generally open, containing a all the nonperishable goods, while a similarly large icechest contains the perishable goods.
It's just after dinner and the kitchens a chaotic with the after-dinner cleanup and the prepartions for tomorrows breakfast well underway. The baker's corner is quiet however, with the bakers all asleep, resting for their early morning bread-baking shift. The table in the center is loaded with a few huge bags of flour, sugar, eggs, leavening and salt. In the quiet corner is Thea, awaiting the help that was promised her, seated at a stool by one of the counters pouring over a recipe. "Shells. 20 pound of flour? How do ya…" muttermutter.
On the positive side, it saves Rogawani from having to be dragged into doing the laundry again, for the second time in a week. On the negative side, it seems to involve the kitchens, so he's just a bit hesitant at the door. "Spent half the day in this sharding place. I really hope there's no more beasts to chop up." The boy mutters this much under his breath, not exactly dressed for bovine slaughter at the moment. Pushing the door open, Ro' steps in, his hair still wet from the bath he'd had to take to get the gore off of his skin. "Thea?" He asks, hesitantly, and then tries to scan past the prep workers.
Still looking moderately cheerful, one Riyontali moves into the kitchens. However, this newfound cheeriness is now tinged with that faintest of smirks. "You know," The candidate drawls as she stands nearby, hands clasped lightly behind her back. "I dunno when you weyrfolks are gonna learn what I'm just not good at. I told 'em the other day I wasn't good at mendin' and now I say I'm really no good at baking and…" Still, apparently baking at least doesn't /scare/ her, as she just grins faintly. "How can I help ya? Hey, Ro. Least y'didn't have to clean baby bottoms. I don't know what those brats eat, but they need to stop it." Huff, snort.
Rei heads into the kitchens, humming along. Rei is no stranger to the kitchens, she spent a lot of time in them both before and during her own candidacy. There weren't too many outside tasks at High Reaches, so it was the kitchens or the nannies generally. She's got her own little apron on in preparation for whatever it is she plans to do here. Spotting Thea and two candidates she gives them all a wave. "Hello weyrwoman, candidates. How's it going? What's on the agenda today? Pie eating contest?"
Kire sneaks into the Kitchen with some of the drudges, it's the only source of the raw meat that he can get his baby firelizards so they will grow up to be big strong firelizard. He slowly moves over towards were the meat scraps are stored. He sees that the candidates are out in force as he dodges a pair of boys with white knots on their shoulders. His brown firelizards are close by the larger sitting on his shoulder as the smaller one is carried in the crook of his left arm.
Sabrina shows up a bit after the other's who'd said they'd help, stepping into the kitchen looking just a tad daunted by the flury of activity. When she spots Thea though; she walks on over to her, skirting by busy cooks and dishwashers. "Goodness it's a little crowded." She notes, even as her eyes are settling on the ingredients on the table. She was begining to regret agreeing to help, she isn't exactly good at cooking, to put it nicely.
"Over here!" Thea's heard her name called and she's swiveled around and waving from her one corner of peace in a chaotic world. "That makes two of us," this is reply to Riyontali. she slides down off her stool, "The sweets cook is ill, but she said just follow the recipe…" Her voice trails of uncertainly. Rei's voice is heard above the clattering din from the rest of the kitchen, "Pie eating. I -so- wish!" She rolls her eyes and waves the paper. "Baking cupcakes tonight. We need four hundred." Another roll of the eyes and she's scanning the directions, "Well, uh…Rogawani can you crack um," she peeks down, "forty eggs into that bowl? Ah, Riyontai can you find me four large mixing bowls?" Kire's arrival barely registers but there must be a firelizard squeak or something and she's giving the starcreafter a half-smile or greeting. Sabrina's here and Thea throws her a grateful smile, "Uh, are you any good at mixing things?"
"Guess I'll take kitchen duty over babybutts any day." Rogawani replies in an undertone towards Tali, smirking a little bit. Of course, this is from the boy who earlier said that he'd trade mending for mucking stalls. He pushes himself around another boy, finally ending up in a spot with a little bit of elbow room so he can see what's going on. As soon as he can spot Thea, he's being given orders. "Fourty… eggs." He says the two words with a distinct pause in between them. The boy stares for a moment, and then realizes just what an undertaking he's been dragged in to. "Uh, sure." He finally replies once the stunned feeling passes, grabbing up the bowl, and then heading to procure the eggs. "Eggs, eggs…" He mutters, trying to find enough for the ridiculous recipe.
Riyontali flashes a rueful smirk at Ro, then smiles at those around them — many and varied though they may be! There's a Rei, there's a Kire, there's somebody who she hasn't met yet — "Evening!" Is all she can squeak cheerfully to them, with a happy little smile. "Busy. Yes. Busy." Muttered with a faintly mystified smile. People /everywhere/! Somebody makes a comment about pie, and the girl sighs wistfully. "Pie." Is her only comment though, a drawn out and longing word. Pieee. But then she's giggling at Thea, wrinkling her nose delicately. "Oh. Well. That's good." Sarcasm drips, but there's a giggle all the same. "Four hundred. Four hundred cupcakes. Of course we need four hundred cupcakes." The girl winces, then shakes her head and chuckles once more. "Bowls. Gotcha. Big bowls." And she's off to find those bowls!
Rei blinks at more people heading into the kitchen. "Wow, popular place today. And most baby butts aren't that bad. They're cute at least, once they're clean." She chuckles a bit. "Ooh, cupcakes!" Then she blinks and stares at the goldrider. "Four hundred! Oh Faranth! Whatever do you need that many for?" She does chuckle as the candidates get put to work though. "You probably should try making them in smaller batches… I don't know if we can fit four hundred cupcakes in the oven…" But they were going to try, apparently! She grabs a bowl from Riyontali when she heads back and starts to help Rogawani crack eggs.
Kire gets a poke on his shoulder that the firelizard is not sitting on, from an older drudge which cause Kire to stiffen up and he slowly looks over his shoulder. He's sure that he's been caught and about to get kicked out. "Weyrwoman Thea is waving to you. You might want to go over and see what she wants from you." The drudge tells him. Kire whews softly, "Ah…thanks. I'm go over as soon as I'm done getting meat for my firelizards." He holds up the brown in his left arm to show that he's telling the truth. The drudge nods, "Well you should still go and see what she wants after you've gotten your meat." Kire ums. "Thanks I will." He quickly gathers the meat into a container that he has brought with him in his carrying case. He moves over towards the group of candidates and Thea. He nods politely to everyone. "Good day to you all. What are you making?"
Sabrina looks blanched at the thought of making four-hundred cupcakes, and then at the announcment of forty eggs needing to be cracked. She looks slightly releived though when all she's asked to do is stir. Nodding, she tries to smile. "Actually yes. I /am/ fairly good at stiring." She's got to mix up all that hair dye after all, and she makes it in fairly large batches, so she should be able to handle this. She smiles at Riyontali and nods her head lightly. "Evening." And catching that remark about baby butts from Ro she grins at him lightly. "Personally I think I'd prefer the babies." When Kire comes over to the table she nods politely at him, smiling even.
Thea moves to the oven to check that it's hot, she opens the door and a hot blast of air in the face assures her it is ready. She slams the door shut, "Good they left it on." As Rogawani and Riyontali are off to get their supplies, she scans that recipe. "Ooh, smaller batches, yeah. We'll put them in a few pans at a time. Good idea, Rei." One of the cooks passes by with a handful of whisks and long wooded spoons, hands then to Thea, "Thanks," she calls to the retreating cook's back before muttering, "Uh, Sabrina can you get fifty cups of flour measured into the bowls Riyontali brings? Um, I dunno how, but split it evenly among the four bowls?". She heads towards Kire, "Hey Kire, scuse me." She reaches past him to open a cubboard for some large baking tins.
Rogawani certainly seems greatful for the help as Rei comes over towards him. He pulls out two large trays of eggs, setting one in front of her while he takes the other, trying to do a quick count of them. "Think that should cover it." He looks between the two trays, doing a double check, and then ends up distracted as Kire greets him. "Oh, hey Kire." He offers, and then looks back, eyebrows furrowing before he just gives up on pre-counting an starts to crack eggs. It goes reasonably fast, but then one egg catches the side of the counter wrong and ends up splattering. "Shard it." He curses under his breath, reaching for a rag to wipe up the egg goo before it drips down onto the floor. Once he's through rinsing out the rag and has time to look back at the bowl, the boy has totally lost count. He curses again under his breath, this one far more profane, as he tries to count the yolks with little luck.
Riyontali returns with the biggest bowls she can find, though one is a good bit smaller than the others — the Weyr *does* seem to have a moderately sufficient supply of big bowls! They are distrubuted as needed, before she's turning to giggle at Rei, shaking her head. "Nah, then they just make more mess! Euch." Woefully, the girl shakes her head at Sabrina, who seems to agree, glancing sidelong at Ro; he's her only ally! Woe! But there are likely more imperitive things to focus on than icky baby bottoms, and Tali passes Kire with a cheerful, "Evening, Kire — or is it morning, for you? We're making cupcakes. Lots. Lots of cupcakes." And she's off again, trotting over to Thea. "Alright, bowls gotten. I suppose I'll have to do something that involves th' cupcakes, now?" A faint snicker. "At your service." At least she sounds sincere and not irritated?
Rei giggles a bit at Thea. "Were you going to do them all at once? We could give Dalriath some firestone and let her cook them." She looks over the egg supply. "Oh… in a recipe this big if you're off an egg or three it won't matter too much… I don't think. Do you?" After cracking so many eggs your hands get slippery! Even Rei drops one. "Ooops. Oh well! I'm sure that won't uh… affect the batter much." She chuckles a bit. "Should we beat these eggs, Thea? What does the recipe say?" She looks at the bowl. That was a lot of eggs to beat!
Kire moves back away from Thae to get out of her way. He watches as she ges out the cupcake baking tins. He watches the candidates as they start to make whatever they are starting to make until Tali tells him about the candidate project, "I see cupcakes for what?" He smiles, "Today it's morning for me. I'll be staying up to look at the stars. I was just getting a refill of meat for my firelizards when they get hungry later tonight." He looks to the candidates, "Be careful you don't make a mess, the consequences could be dire." He looks around to see if anyone has noticed him yet.
Sabrina nods lightly at Thea's request for her to measure out the flour. "Sure thing." She says, takesing a measureing cup and popping open a sack of flour, already begining to measure the powder when Riyontali brings the bowls over. She counts softly to herself, ten cups of flour in each bowl first, then she'd worry about spliting the remaining ten between the four later. When the sack starts to empty a little however, it starts to puff out of the bag when ever she pushes the measuring cup in. She even squeeks a little when a large puff has flour showering all over her and whoever is unfortunate enough to be near her. "Ooops." She says, blushing faintly as she tries to brush the flour out of her hair, only succeeding in spreading it around a bit. Guess none of them keeping from making a mess was goign to be a possibility tonight.
Morlanol enters the cavern and immediately begins coughing on the clouds of flour. After he regains his breath, waving his hands wildly in front of his face, he says, "Shells, what're you doin' in here? I was tol' t' come help, bu' this is ridiculous."
Thea nearly steps on Rogawani as she rounds the table with the tins, but she catches herself juuuust in time. Might be the stream of colorful language coming from the floor. "Uh, you can count the yolks?" She suggests with a bit of a laugh. "Thanks Riyontali," this as the bowl arrive, "Can you follow Sabrina with the sugar? We'll need," a quick glance at the list, "Thirty-five cups of sugar, divide it among those four she's putting flour in?" She's beginning to look a little frazzled by now, but Rei's comment about Dalriath causes a bark of laughter and a grin, "Uh, I was just gonna put them all in, yeah. But then again, maybe not?" She's eyeing the size of that oven. No way they'll all fit. Someone has asked about the why behind this madness, "Uh, I duuno. It was on Cooks To Do list?" Morlanol joins them, "Oh, hey, can you go get a bottle of rum from stores? We need a cup of it in with the eggs. Thanks." Eggs, that reminds her, "Yeah beat 'em."
Thoughts about messy babybottoms have no place in Rogawani's already too full head, which is currently juggling around numbers as if they were eggs, cracking at the sides of his mind and then dripping ooze into his brains. "One or two off won't matter?" He asks, looking at Rei with an almost paniced expression. It takes a lot to frighten Ro' and apparently cooking is one of the few things that does so. "You sure?" He seems unsure, trying to count again. Eventually he gives up, picking up a few more eggs to crack in to the already filling bowl. He barely notices the fluff of flour that ends up making his hair look nearly white, a few specks falling down into the egg-mixture, causing him to peer upwards. "See, I'm going gray already from the stress." He mutters, trying to keep his tone light. He ignores Kire's quip about not making a mess, tossing an egg in his hand once as if pondering tossing it at the starcrafter. And that's just about when Thea almost hits him, and the egg goes falling, right onto his shoe. "…Faranth save me." The boy mutters.
"Faranth ain't gonna save ya, but I bet one'a the cooks'd be happy to brain ya with a frying pan…" Tali mutters to Ro', glancing over at Rei with a blink. "Cool." The idea of a dragon breathing fire is an excellent one, as far as /she's/ concerned! "Dunno. Probably for eating." Kire gets with a flashed, mischievous grin. "Good luck — I'll prob'ly have to do the same, don't wanna come down here and fall asleep at a table again, still have a sore neck from that shardin' idea…" Morlanol gets a wave, even as there is a cloud of flour nearby that she…is apparently going into? "Right." Thea is agreed with absently, with a weary shake of her head. "Thirty-five. Into four. Gotcha." Maybe. Hopefully. Wouldn't do to be /too/ off with the sugar! She drags the sack of sugar and sets to doling out sugar between bowls, counting each with narrowed eyes.
Rei points into her bowl. "Uh… some of my yolks broken in the process." Hence the yellow swirls throughout the bowl of egg goop. Rei giggles to Thea and looks to the oven as well. Nope, no way they were all fitting in there. She grins and shrugs to Ro. "Nah, I don't think so. Do you?" There's a bit of a giggle from the greenrider. "Candidates don't have any stress. They're just supposed to do what they're told." She waves off some of the flour, though some of it is wafting into her strawberry locks. She points to Ro's shoe. "Ew." Out comes… a hand mixer! Because there was no way she was going to be able to whisk that many eggs.
Sabrina blinks at Thea when she pronounces the amount of sugar they would need. "Wouldn't it have been easier to seperate this all into five bowls?" She's good with her numbers, knowing full well numbers like fifty and thirty-five devided up better in fives than fours. She laughs lightly at Ro's attempt at keeping things light. She grins at Morlanol though. "I'm sorry. Didn't mean to get flour all over the place." She says looking apologetic, as she tries to rufffle some of the flour out of his hair. She goes back to scooping out flour though, glad she at least has a mind for measuring dry things like this.
Kire chuckles a little bit as Rogawani mock threatens to throw at him, "Told you so.' He says cheerfully as for the moment he gets to step back and watch the crazy baking disaster in the making. If Pern had popcorn he'd be eating it. He hmms, "Do you even know what rum looks like Morlanol? And if you do why do you?" He asks as the firelizard on his shoulder chirrups happily at home in all the kitchen chaos.
Morlanol gulps, then takes the rum. He looks at it for a second before looking at the crowd. He tries to work around one way and runs into Sabrina, he tries going another way and runs into Rogawani. After a second or two he tries to catch Thea's attention, "Does this nee' t' go in now? 'Cause I migh' ruin ev'rythin' if I try t' go in there now."
Thea walks into the cloud of flour and it settles upon her hair, face and shoulders. Now she has a ghoulishly pasty-white complexion from which even her pale-colored eyes stare darkly. She's oblivious to this, lucky her, since there are no mirrors about the place. Rogawani's egg troubles are missed in the haze. "Huh?" Rei's talking and Thea steps over to peek in the bowl. "Uh.. lets go with an estimate?" Like Rei said. Her hand mixer though, is eyed with trepidation. "Didn't have those in my home hold." She's backing away like it might bite. Or splatter everywhere when it is turned on. "I'll just grease the tins." That's safe, right? Sabrina's question is cause for pause, "Yeah, sure, make it five bowls." Morlanol is asking her something but in the chaos it's had to tell, so she just nods, "Yeah, dump it in with the eggs." All of it? She doesn't say. Now where is the lard? She wanders off in search of it.
"Yeah, I'm not that lucky." Rogawani mutters, shooting a bemused look towards Tali before reaching up and trying to fan some of the flour out of his own hair onto her. "But neither are you." He taunts, cracking what he hopes is the last egg into the huge bowl. He waggles his shoe a bit, letting the egg dripp off on to the floor with a somewhat disgusted look on his face, and then pulls out a big wisk. It certainly doesn't work as well as Rei's mixer, but at least the hard elbow-grease does something. That is, up until he gets ran into by Morlanol. "Gah." As he flails to grab on to the bowl and keep it from going all over the floor. In the process, the wisk, complete with lingering egg-goo, ends up flying right at the ex-miner.
Riyontali is dutifully counting out sugar, muttering as she goes a number for each cup. Talk of moving things into different bowls has her blinking, wide eyes narrowing for a moment. "Uhm. I'm not so good at counting. Got eight cups in right now though…" The girl mutters, watching enviously as Thea moves off to grease pans. As she gets flour flicked at her, the girl squeaks, and absently pitches a pinch or two of sugar at the other candidate, sticking out her tongue. "Pffft!" She giggles, but then squeaks as he gets run into by Morlanol with rum — for her? Maybe not — and the whisk goes flying, at which point she shies away sharply to avoid it. /Not/ getting egg all over her, ew!
Rei peers at Morlanol. "Hey, careful now!" She giggles down at the bowl. "Good thinking." Then she holds up the hand mixer with pride. "Me either! But they're really helpful!" She turns the crank to spin the blades a bit. Then she goes to town. Completely harmless! And she doesn't even make too much a mess. When Rogawani's whisk goes flying she ducks instinctively, even though it's heading in the opposite direction. It's not until after this that Rei gets a good look at Thea. "Oh Faranth! Rogawani! You've killed Thea with that whisk and now she's /haunting/ us!"
Kire continues to watch the going on and he is glad that he doesn't get hit by the whisk. He snickers a little bit as he sees Thea come out of the cloud covered in the white powdery cooking ingredient. "What kind of cupcakes need rum in the recipe?" He wonders out loud to no one in particular and looks around to make sure he isn't going to get hit by anything or covered in some some baking goop. "So who are these cupcaking going to be for? Just anyone?" He asks as the large brown flies off his shoulder to flap around the room checking out what else is going on.
Sabrina makes a little oof sound when Morlanol runs into her, earning a bit of a grins from her as he moves off looking for another way at the bowls. When the whisk goes flying, she also ducks, as she's in the same general area that it's flying, but she is not as lucky in her escape of the whisk. Oh it doesn't hit her, but she does get egg goo on her. "Ewwww." She says, wiping her face and smearing flour is with the egg. grabbing a bit of flour out of the sack and tosses the bit at Rogawani. "Thanks a lot." She's pursing her lips at him, but anyone could tell she wasn't really angry or anything, particularly as that grin pops up on her face before she goes looking for the whisk.
Morlanol dodges the whisk, getting some goop on his legs. Then he manages to sneak around the edges of the room until he reaches the offending egg bowl and upends the entirety of the rum into it causing it to splash all over the place
"The good kind," Thea answers Kire on her way back with a crock of lard. "They're for D'had, I've heard he has a thing for cupcakes." There's a smirk with that answer, so likely the truth she speaks has nothing to do with tonight's baking spree. She's passing right by Morlanol as that egg-laden whisk goes flying, but she ducks and it speeds on its way towards Kire. She is peppered with tiny grains as Riyontali's tossing sugar at Sabrina. Aaaand Sabrina's throwing flour at Rogawani. "Hey hey, no throwing food!" Is that a bit of alarm in her voice? Likely the situation is already out of hand, but there's no sense helping it, right? Rei is talking about a ghost-Thea, "Huh?" She looks down, "Oh." An ineffectual hand pats at the flour-dusting and little puffs of white rise. Not at all helpful. Morlanol's addition is going to insure that these cupcakes are indeed the BEST. She makes it to the counter with the lard and begins greasing tins. "We'll be needing twenty tablespoons of the leavening, too. Four in each bowl."
Just as Rogawani turns to follow the path of the wisk, he gets flicked in the face by a few punches of sugar, and then a bigger bit of flour. His eyes force shut quickly, and his nose twitches. He takes a breath, and then it catches as his nose crinkles up and a small squeeky sneeze follows. Blowing a bit of flour out of his nose, he sticks his tongue out in return at Tali. "Hey, blame the human bounce-ball over there, not me." He tries to say in his own defense, but it's hard to take him seriously when his face is covered in flower. Turning back to his bowl, the boy is just in time to be informed that his wisk brought about the untimely demise of the Weyrwoman. "What?" He blinks, and then looks at Thea piteously. "Oh no, 'Kav's going to kill me." He says in a joking tone. He looks back down to his bowl of eggs just in time for the rum to get poured in to the bowl, and nearly down the front of his shirt in the process. The splash of rum joins the already floured, sugared, and egged candidate. With a wry, somewhat exhasperated expression on his face, he mutters. "Well, looks like you've got almost all your ingredients in one place. Just stick me in the oven and call me cupcake."
Rei peers at Thea. "Wait, /all/ of these cupcakes are for D'had?" That was a /lot/ of cupcakes! Though the closer to completion they get the less Rei thinks she wants to be taking part in the actual eating of anything being made here. But she's too distracted as bits of powders are being flung this way and that. "Hey now, you candidates knock that off, or you'll be doing double chores until the eggs are cracking!" Such a threat from Rei's tiny person! Though she was a weyrlingmaster, so there needed to be some point where she put her foot down, right? She peers at Rogawani and shakes her finger in his face. "Don't you get smart now, or you /will/ be in the oven!" Even she is splashed with rum though. "Gah, what's next, Thea?"
Kire smiles, "I sure hope so. Are you making huge ones or just a lot of them?" He asks before he sees the whisk flies towards him and he ducks it as it hits the wall behind him. "Hey watch it! You almost hit me." He looks around to who had the boomeranging whisk that's flying around the kitchen." He looks towards the pre-baked human cupcake, "I guess so. Although I don't think you'd be that sweet tasting."
Sabrina blushes fiercly when they're scolded for throwing food. "Sorry, won't happen again." She says, hurrying to dump the last few cups of flour into the last bowl so she can close up the sack. Then to Rogawani she sticks her own tounge out at. "He bumped into me too and I managed to hold onto the flour." She says before making quite the face when more ingredients are splashed on Ro. A chuckle comes from her though at his declaration of being a human cucpcake. "So you won't mind if I start calling you cupcake will you? Since you suggested it." She says looking somewhat innocent, but not quite.
Morlanol retreats as soon as he's done pouring the booze into the cupcakes. He gives Thea an odd look, "Anythin' else, Thea? Otherwise I'ma stay over here 'til yer done. There's way too much goin' on here for m' safety."
"Somehow Rogawani, I just don't think you're D'had's sort of cupcake." Thea manages to say it without laughing, but it's close. "Settle people!" The oft-soft-voiced junior can occasionally raise her voice and she does so now, but only a little. Into the hopefully-restored peace she answers Rei, "Not really, no. They're for dessert tomorrow. D'had likes cupcakes with legs, these do not have any." Unless you count Rogawani? "Ah lesse. Salt, ten teapoons in with the flour. Sabrina if you can do that? Two gallons of milk, in with the eggs. Rogawani if you can get that?" She dips two fingers into the lard and begins on the tins. "Morlanol, if you can help grease the rest of these?" She points to the stack of cupcake tins beside her, then mutters to herself, "No wonder cook is sick."
The threat is all too real for Rogawani, especially knowing that there are some things he just can't take double duty on. So, the boy turns back to his bowl, and glances at Rei with a more serious expression. "Can I borrow the mixer?" His face turns innocent, at least as innocent as possible when it looks as if the kitchen had a bad bout of stomach flu and had thrown up on him. "I'm not starting anything." He glances over his shoulder towards Sabrina, a wry smile pulling up the corner of his lips as he reaches for the mixer. "Coming from you, nope. I don't mind at all." If it were a male candidate, well… that would be another story all together. His nose twitches again, but this time from the smell. "Gah, I smell like booze." He mutters, bringing his sleeve up in an attempt to wipe his mouth. Unfortunately, all he succeeds in doing is clearing a strip just above his lip that looks like an odd, inverse mustache. "Right, milk." He looks at the still unmixed eggs and gives his best pleading expression to Rei. "Can you mix these while I go get the milk?" He claps his hands together, throwing up a cloud of flour in a begging motion before heading towards the ice box.
Rei laughs at Thea. "Candidates aren't /anyone's/ cupcake. At least now while they're candidates." She chuckles and winks to Rogawani. "Maybe after you impress… and then graduate. You'll be old enough by then, right Thea?" She snorts a bit. "I'm not too familiar with him, but I'll take your word for it. We're going to need a bigger bowl I think. Or maybe one of those big old soup pots or something. There's got to be one around here someplace." She nods to Rogawani. "I'll mix, grab one of the big pots from the other side of the kitchen if you would?" She gets to mixing up the eggs and the booze. "Oh Faranth this smells horrible right now."
Kire snickers a little bit and then he ows loudly. One of the cooks has him by the ear, "I thought it was clear that you are not welcome here Kire. Shards we have enough problems with the candidates being around with out you exploding the kitchen again." He is dragged out by his ear and pushed out of the kitchen. "Out Kire and don't come back!"
Morlanol moves over to Thea. He looks at the pans, then at her, then back at the pans. He speaks quietly, "Umm… how do I grease a pan?"
"Barely, he's just a babe. Might in several years," Thea winks in Rogawani's direction. How to grease tins? She blinks at Morlanol, "Like so." And she scoops a fingerful of lard and slathers it inside the small cup-shapped cupcake tins. "Not hard, here ya go." She leaves the task to him, wipes greasy hands on a towel, then takes a peek at the recipe on the counter. "Oh, shards I forgot the butter. We can add that with the flour mix, right Rei?" She begins cutting chunks of butter into the bowls. "They can make the frosting in the morning, all they asked is that we bake them."
The glare that Rogawani shoots Thea and Rei might have been scary under other circumstances, but it's impossible to take him seriously, at all, with flour covering his face except for the mustache like stripe above his lip. "Someday." He shoots a finger at the two of them. "I'm going to be hot, and you're going to be sorry." It's hard to tell if he's joking or not, as the boy turns his back to the two of them and stalks off trailing egg off of his boot as he moves to the ice box. There is a clanging of metal pans, and the wooshing shutting of the icebox door, and the boy returns with a pot big enough to roast a small ovine in and two bottles of milk thrown under his other arm. He slides forward at one point, slipping on his own egg-trail, but manages not to drop anything. "Big pot. Milk." He says, setting the two jugs down and unscrewing the cap off of one.
Riyontali finishes doling out sugar and steps back to the side for a moment, eyes scanning the situation. She keeps out of the way for some time, careful not to get stepped on or bowled over, but eventually, there's no choice if she's going to be helpful but to jump back into the chaos. "How can I help?" She poses to nobody in particular, glancing around with a hopeful expression — hopeful for what? That they'll decline? Probably. Bless her.
Rei chuckles to Thea. "Yeah give him a few turns, he'll work out. Maybe." She grins to Rogawani. "I sure hope so, cupcake. I won't be sorry at all, just make sure you catch the eye of a boy dragon." Oh come on, he set himself up for that one! Rei then blinks at Thea. "Er, does it need to be cut in? Yeah it should work, make sure it's softened up a bit so we can work it in." Rei smiles to Rogawani when he comes back, and pokes a slender finger into his side. "We're just teasing you, don't take it seriously." Then she finds a stool to stand on. "Let's put the dry stuff in here first, I guess. I'll cut in the butter? If someone can bring it to me?"
"Maybe you will be a stud muffin instead of a cupcake, huh Ro? I'll have to mourn then." Thea twinkles at Rogawani's back in the midst of her butter, cutting. "All we have to do is mix the wet and dry stuff together and we'll have the batter ready to bake." Riyontali's asking what she can do, "Uh, can you help Morlanol grease the tins? I'm done with those two bowls." The last is in response to Rei.
Morlanol starts greasing the pans like Thea showed him, only with about twice as much lard as she was using. Partway through he gives Ro an odd look, "'Course y'll be hot, th' sands're hot an' th' sun'll make y' hot too."
For all the teasing, Rogawani takes it in as good graces as one could expect, rolling his eyes as he begins to pour the milk in with the egg mixtures. "You know what, Morl." The boy looks up, and gives the ex-miner a bit of a scowl. "I don't need to hear anything about me being hot coming out of your mouth. It's bad enough that sharding healer…" He lets that discussion trail off, not about to get into that too much further. Then, he just shoots a smirking half-smile at Thea and Rei. "Yeah yeah, I know. Just teasing." He gives the weyrlingmaster a bit more of a serious expression, and a lift of his eyebrows, then concentrates on pouring the rest of the milk in. "There, all set. I'll go take these out." He runs a hand through his tussled hair, and sends a bit of flour into the air. He slides forward, almost down on to one knee from the still slick floor, and then hops to his feet again as if nothing happened. Nope, no messenger being clumsy here, move along.
Riyontali listens to the banter with a little snicker, shaking her head and smiling. "Oh, Faranth." The girl laughs, watching the boy leave with a snicker. She quickly hops to greasing tins. Her own job of it is pretty decent — they're a little lumpy and streaky, but she doesn't at all seem to mind that her fingers are all greasy. "Poor Ro," The girl chuckles, but doesn't sound too sorry, really, just grins absently. "So…do we have /tins/ for that many cupcakes?"
Rei laughs at Thea. "That's good, Thea. Why would you have to mourn? You like your little cupcake?" She nods to Thea. "Alright, lets get them mixed in the big pot I guess?" There's a bit of a chuckle to Morl. "Now you /are/ too young to be saying things like that." Rei raises an eyebrow at Ro for a moment. He wasn't /that/ much younger, though at their age a few turns seemed like a lifetime. "Careful, cupcake. Don't hurt yourself." There's a bit of giggling as he heads out. "Ah, I think maybe he's earned a day off from chores for the teasing he got. This is… gonna take a while to get them all into tins."
Morlanol continues to over-grease the pans, but he looks confused, his eyebrows nearly meeting as he thinks before asking, "Why's he so mad? Th' sun makes me hot too… I've had th' burns t' prove it."
Thea laughs at Rei's question, "No need at all. I just wanted to make him feel better." As if it would. She moves the bowls of flour, sugar butter mixture towards that big pot. She shakes her head at Riyontali, "No, not nearly. Got enough for about fifty it looks like. We'll need to wash them between batches, I guess." She peeks over at the tins, "Oh, waaaay less lard there, Morlanol. Here, scrape off some of that and use on those others, k?" She just shakes her head at Morlanol, explaining it as clearly as she can, "Because he's not into guys, see? He's not that way." She shakes her head in wonderment at Morlanol.
Riyontali eyes Morlanol with a semi-exasperated sigh and faint smile, then grins at Rei. "That'd put him in a good mood." She agrees cheerily, busily greasing the tins. "Oh, really?" A wince for Thea, then snicker, as she watches them dish out the batter. "Nah, prob'ly won't need to wash them…just re-grease a little and let 'em go back in, probably quicker…" And time is important, after all! Cough.
Rei grabs the wet mixture and moves it over to the big pot to start slowly dumping it in. "Er, can out of you guys stir?" She chuckles a bit to Morlanol. "He thinks you're making a pass at him, that's why. Sounds like he might have been the victim of one earlier." Rei shakes her head as well. "I'll explain it to you in greater detail if you impress, okay?" The greenrider chuckles to Tali. "Well, I'll see what I can do for him." She nods a bit about the tins. "This is a lot of cupcakes. We're all going to need to do the ladling."
Morlanol continues greasing, following Thea's instruction to cut down and re-use the lard. He gives each of the girls an odd look in turn, suddenly realizing that he's the only boy in the room. He was about to speak to Thea when Rei spoke. He looked at her quizzically for a second, then his eyes widened in understanding, "He though' I wan'ed t' kiss him?!? Tha's crazy! I don' wan' t' kiss anyone, 'specially 'nother guy!"
Thea considers Riyontali's suggeston. "Works for me." She's not a baker, she doesn't know if they'll stick or not. She eyes that handmixer dubiously. "Uh, I could…try?" She reaches for the thing and sticks it into the pot, "Now?" Nothing happens and Thea is patting the thing all over to get it to turn on. Her hand hits the switch accidentally and it whirs to life. She's got her eyes squinched shut. When nothing explodes or splatters she cracks one eye open to peek, "Oh, hey. This is easy." She loses Morlanol's words in the noise and her concentration, but when it lugs down, she catches the last of them. Her eyes flick over to him, "Good."
Riyontali eyes Rei curiously. "Explain what better?" The girl asks Rei, apparently not having understood the conversation so far. "I don't mind ladling. Or — stirring —" But then Thea is there, and she cheerily goes about her greasing of the tins, apparently unconcerned. "Oh! Speaking of, I didn't get to dinner in the caverns…how was dinner, Morlanol?" Carefully neutral, she smiles over at the boy. The mixer is eyed curiously, but not really warily. "Whoa."
Rei chuckles to Morlanol. "Relax, I don't think he thought you were being serious or anything, just more teasing really. Unless you do want to kiss him?" She giggles a bit. "Nothing wrong with a boy kissing another boy. Right Thea?" Sure, like Thea would be the perfect vouch for homosexuality. Then she coughs. "But wait until you're not a candidate. Or a weyrling." She chuckles at the goldrider's use of the handmixer. "Just…. keep it straight up and down. Trust me." Then there's a smile to Tali. "I can explain it to you later, too."
Morlanol blushes a deep, deep red at Tali's comment and mumbles something that sounds like "was fine" and continues greasing with a bit more gusto. At Rei's comment the impossible happens, he blushes more, "No! I don' wan'a kiss him."
Thea knows the answer to this one! She studied for this test. She switches the mixer off. "As long as the other doesn't mind." She eyes Morlanol significantly, "Mind being the key word." Someone's still thinking of Cenlia, it seems. She's not really noticing the blushing he's doing, she's turning to get several ladles. "Might want to stop protesting so much, then Morlanol, just gives folks a chance to needle you. Y'know?" She returns with the ladles, offers them to whoever wants to help snags some pans and starts ladling batter into the cups.
Riyontali's eyes narrow curiously at Rei, obviously almost not prepared to let the issue drop. "But —" But Morlanol distracts her, and she can't help but giggle a little. "Aww, good! I'm glad." With expansive innocence, she smiles, then giggles over at Thea. She says nothing, however, gratefully taking a ladle and begining to ladle the messy mixture into the tins she's just finished greasing. "Will we get to eat 'em all?" Asked cheerily for Thea, with a somewhat mischievous grin. "I dunno, I can't decide if I want a cupcake or never wanna eat one again."
Rei nods after Thea's comment, but doesn't have anything to add there. Plus Morl was still young and she didn't want him to feel ganged up on. Thea was capable. Though she can't help chuckling when she start to pick on him again. She takes up a ladle to start her own tray of cupcakes. "He's tried a girl, maybe he wants to try a boy?" She chuckles and waves Tali off. "You don't want to hear the birds and the bees from me, I learned through flights." She giggles. "All these cupcakes are for D'had. They're her dowry or something."
Morlanol grimaces, finally done greasing and moving to help ladle, "I'll vote never see one again. I didn' even know someone coul' make this many cupcakes."
Thea finishes with her first tin, slides it down the table, reaches for another, giving Riyontali a half-grin, "Could eat 'em all, but cook would kill us." Her hands move faster this time, used to the task. Rei's comment now has her giggling, "Just find a willing one, huh Morlanol?" She takes two tins to the counter, returns for two more. The four are popped into the oven. "Say what?" The comment about D'had has her confused. "Nono. Not for D'had. You misunderstand, I'm not-" She's the one blushing now. "Enkavir's my- What would I need a dowry for now?" The look on her face!