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.
Breakfast has been served for the early risers, and candidates are starting to trickle into the kitchens to help wash up and prepare breakfast for the later risers of the Weyr. Among those, Karona, mug of klah still in hand from her brief breakfast, though it does nothing to prevent her from yawning. She holds it up to her face in both hands, glugging the barely steaming beverage greedily as she walks. She very nearly bumps into a few people, the smith really ought to watch where she's going.
One of those people the smith-candidate nearly bumps into is totally Iessrien, sneaking past the cooks as he tries as nonchalantly as possible to sidle into the kitchen. "Ack-" sidestepping Karona, only to elbow-nudge a stack of baking pans on the nearest counter, Iessrien reddens as the metal dishes clatter down to the floor all too loudly. Eyes close slowly with a barely-suppressed grimace, the holder lad's shoulders hunching ever so slightly. "Terrific.." is muttered under his breath, letting his breath out and glancing past Karona to give the nearest cooks a somewhat sheepish look, "..Sorry about that. I'll pick them up." And hastily he leans down to do just that, though not before a flicker of recognition crosses his features, for the other candidate. "Oh, you," is added so terribly enthusiastically. He couldn't /still/ be embarrassed about the other day.. could he?
Karona's eyes go wide as she nearly bumps into Iessrien, but she doesn't stop sucking that mug dry, not even for the clatter of baking pans - that only earns a wince. It doesn't take long until her mug is empty, and she places it on a counter, kneeling down without a word to help Iessrien pick up those pans. An eyebrow is raised at the recognition. "Yes, me. Hi, you." she responds, expression blank. There's no flicker of recognition there, but give her a bit, her brain probably isn't functioning beyond monosyllabic this early in the day.
Iessrien gives the woman a sidelong look, but he certainly doesn't complain about the help. Straightening up with an armload of trays, admittedly a bit stiffly, the holder boy places them carefully back on the countertop. The smell of numbweed lingers on him just faintly, though with all the smells of breakfast being made already in the kitchen, it might be difficult to descern. What is obvious though is the slight wince as he rolls a shoulder back, offering a less stand-offish, "Hi," back, at the woman's greeting. Eyelids lower for a moment, Iess taking a second to ponder the other candidate, before he mumbles, "Kitchen duty?" As if that weren't obvious. Well, she might just be in there /lurking/, too.
Karona wrinkles up her nose when she gets near Iessrien, picking up the numbweed scent? Perhaps. Once the trays are picked up though, and she's able to step back to a more normal distance (arm's length at the least, she doesn't get close to anyone) the nose no longer wrinkles. "Mm, yeah. Kitchen duty. Any other reason to be in here, this time of day?" she wonders, already picking up her empty mug and heading to a sink. She stops a few steps later, and turns to eye Iessrien, with a sudden dawning of recognition. "Rumpled hiccup boy!" she declares, triumphantly. Wait. No. That's not right. Did she say that out loud? Whoops. The woman's face colours, and she turns on her heel, quickly picking up the pace to the sink. Nothing to see here!
"Pastry pilfering?" Iessrien offers up absently, in answer to Karona's question, eyes flicking around the kitchens as if contemplating just that. If he notices the nose-wrinkling, he doesn't show it, moving off toward the sink as well, and shoving his sleeves up to the elbows, with perhaps a darting look toward the nearest cooks. He's here to be useful - really! The eyeing is taken in stride, though the woman's words are not, Iess blinking with a very slight twitch of irritation in his face. Eyebrows lowering to a line above his eyes, he mutters a thoroughly unamused, and rather flat, "My name is Iessrien." He stares after her, when she turns on her heel and flees to the sink, the holder boy instead moving over to claim a dishcloth and begin drying some plates.
Karona grunts at 'pastry pilfering'. "This time of morning?" she mutters, stifling a yawn. She's focusing on the sink though, filling it with hot water. Doot de doo… It takes a while, large sink, and her attention wanders. There's a rather sheepish nod for Iessrien's name. "Right. Iessrien. Sorry. Not good with names in the morning." she mutters, face still red. She does at least seem embarrassed for her error, for whatever reason. Some cog whirrs into motion in her brain, and she eyes the stiffly moving candidate. "Did you ever go to the healers?" After that incident with the runner, and all.
Iessrien focuses on drying plates, stacking them neatly for some other candidate to set in the cabinets. At least it keeps his soft holder hands out of the sudsy water. "Apparently," he mutters dryly about the woman's ability for names in the morning, not bothering to look her way. Shoulders tense when she mentions the healers, though he does nod, jaw working a few seconds before he answers in a level voice, "Yeah.. they gave me numbweed and stuff that smells like the backside of the infirmary." Sounded none too pleased by that, he at least isn't wincing every time he moves his shoulders. "How'd the cot-moving go?" is asked after a few more dishes are dried, Iess keeping his gaze on the plates before him, careful not to drop one.
Karona focuses on the sink, pulling plates into it as fast as Iessrien is drying them, though she takes a little time scrubbing them, so the stack of plates does go down faster than she's adding to it, just. Mustn't rush cleaning, everything must be /spotless/. Her cot in the barracks is one of the neater made ones, it almost looks unoccupied. "Iessrien…" she repeats quietly to herself, setting it firmly in her mind. Iessrien. Right. She glances over at Iessrien, surprised, at the confirmation that he'd gone to the healers. "Huh. Bet you're feeling better for it, though." she says, nagging perhaps, just /slightly/. When cots come up, she scowls, scrubbing extra hard at the plate. "I'm next to a chatterbox now. Had a talk with /her/ the other day, kept her quiet a few days, but…" she shrugs. No longer? Evidently not. "…I'll give her one more chance, talk to her again later. If she doesn't quit it though, I'll be going to the AWLMs!" she states, grumpily. That's the lack of sleep talking, surely?
As the plate stack decreases, Iessrien slows slightly, flicking a glance towards Karona and her soapsuds. It might be the repetition of his name, or it might just be the boy checking to see how full the sink is - either way, he turns back to the dish-drying, still careful as he handles the slick but clean items. The nagging earns another irritates twitch of the lips, Iess merely lifting his shoulders briefly and not answering. Admit to feeling better? Never! It might be unmanly. Ahem. An eyebrow arches for her complaint of the chatterbox, and this time his lips twitch upward at the corners, amusement instead, the holder commenting absently, "Still, it has to be better than the snoring?" He might smirk a little there, adding wryly, "I doubt baby dragons will give any of us the luxury of a full night's sleep," though really, he wouldn't know.
Karona scrubs at the plates, one by one, slowly working away at the pile of dirty plates. Slowly but surely. She doesn't seem to have much to say this morning, though she seems to be yawning rather a lot. There's another one. "Mm, better than the snoring, in that I can tell her to stop. But so much more annoying. I get that she's excited, I /get/ that, but Faranth, /breathe/ once in a while! On and on and on…" she shakes her head slowly. "Worse are the ones that chatter /back/, they're only encouraging her! No-one encourages the snoring candidate." Karona sighs heavily, and shakes her head. "Hopefully one of us, or both, won't impress, and it'll be my last time stuck in a barracks with /her/." she snorts. "But… yeah. Baby dragons might be a problem, if they're anything like firelizards. Some are fine, some keep you up at night. But I'd at least like to go /into/ the hatching well-rested."
Iessrien totally catches himself yawning, bringing the back of his wrist up to his mouth and then looking vagiely irritated again, lips twitching at the corners. As the girl continues to complain, a brow arches slowly with another flick of a glance at her, though Iessrien himself makes no comment on Karona's neighbors in the barracks. "Some people don't need encouragement," he murmurs wryly, more to mhimself than Karona, "Sounds like my sister." He might smirk a little there, though eyes flick to the dishes again, carefully stacking the next dry plate. He nods somewhat about the hatching, commenting idly, "I've heard the hatching can happen anytime.." though he's then moving further down to help put away some of the other dishes.
Karona nods slightly at Iessrien, though her eyes are on the plates she's scrubbing. "Yes, any time…" she says, glancing up to find she's talking to a kitchenworker. "Er… right." she murmurs, turning attention back to scrubbing, looking a little sheepish. The work /does/ go faster now that she's not chatting.