Choke

Xanadu Weyr - Kitchens
The kitchen is large and well-stocked with technology as well as those with culinary skill. State of the art equipment has been brought in from the various crafts to be used - stoves and large ovens replacing the hearths that used to be in here. Three baking ovens are usually going full bore half the day, from early morning through to mid-afternoon. Large windows take up the entire of the western wall, generally open wide to the mountainous landscape beyond allowing the cool breezes in to keep the kitchen's temperature to a desirable level.
Tables, cabinets, and counters take up the remaining spaces and walls. Various spices, herbs, and other foodstuffs are found here, and what's not ready at hand is tucked away back in the storage caverns or the massive cold-room large enough to walk inside.
The night hearth beside the door to the main caverns has been kept out of a sense of nostalgia, but the smaller stove set beside it is what's actually used to prepare late-night food. This is where you find late night meals of stew and soup simmering in pots, and pitchers of klah and tea in their electric units to be kept warm.


Even those candidates having the busiest chores day deserve a break! Having worked the caverns (and no doubt worked them well in his own opinion), Quillan is taking some time off his feet to grab a bite to eat out of the way, next to one of the wide-open windows. It lets a chilled breeze through, but in the heat of the kitchen, in full swing for preparing the dinner rush, it's certainly refreshing. Quill's got himself a tall glass of juice and a plate of leftover lunch things, which he's fastidiously turning into a sandwich.

The kitchen tends to be busy at any time of the day, and Maorin ducks his way through with a few good-natured apologies to anyone he happens to bump into. Forgive his presence in the land of cookery! Though not a part of his job to be there for the day, he's made his way in with an empty platter. "They were all out of the biscuits out there, ma'am." Mission accomplished as he hands it off to one of the ladies present. Soon, there will be biscuits for all!

Biscuits for all, and a Quillan nursing a bruised ego. He overheard that little exchange between Maorin and the cook, and he quickly swallows down a mouthful of sandwich to retort. "It was full when I took a break, ma'am!" And therefore it's not his fault that people are eating biscuits like they're going out of business. Fishboy gets a glower for interrupting oh-so-precious food time. "Can I refill it when I'm done eating, ma'am? Or maybe Clea can take it out?" He gestures over to where another of the candidates, a slightly older girl, is finishing up her own break.

Maorin looks over, brows lifted ever so slightly. "Who said it was your fault?" Defensive Quill is defensive! There's a slight shake of his head though, and the candidate laughs. "I said I'd be right back with it, nobody's making you stop eating." Maorin's doing the work here! He doesn't seem to mind, anyway. "It doesn't take long to go grab something like that, after all. My food isn't gonna get cold in the meantime. Now…someone else eating it, that's a different story. Some people out there are like vultures!"

Quillan looks warily at Maorin. This is… banter. And he's unsure of how to react to it at the moment, so he fills his mouth with sandwich, instead. Chew. Chew. Cheeeeew. Chewcoughchokechewswallow. Sip juice. Watch Fishboy over the rim. Scrub mouth with back of hand. "I'm on kitchen duty." Wait, that's wrong. "Caverns duty. I'm on caverns duty. You're doing my job. Why?"

Well now there's some confusion. Confusion and amusement on Maorin's face, anyway. "I'm not 'doing your job'. I was out there, eating, minding my own business, when suddenly I hear 'Oh no! There's no biscuits!'." And yes. His voice /does/ go high pitched in imitation of a girl's voice. "So, being the upstanding guy I am, I offered to get the plate refilled. Just because we're assigned one job doesn't mean we can't help out elsewhere. When I was at Monaco, I remember one of the weyrwomen telling me that I could use the candidates if I needed anything. That's how I figure we are, ya know? Useful all around."

"Damn, you can squeak like a girl." Quillan isn't sure whether to look impressed or not with Maorin's vocal flexibility, so instead he just bites into his sandwich again. More chewing, swallowing, etc, follows. "So if you're doing other people's chores, why don't you start clearing up the tables, too? I'll give you a quarter mark if you finish three tables. Miner's honour." He draws a cross over his heart, with the hand full of sandwich.

"I might take you up on that, if it weren't for you doing it to weasel out of work." That's something Maorin apparently doesn't take kindly to. He shakes his head just a bit, looking over to where the ladies are laying out a new batch of the very biscuits he came to get. No wonder they were tardy getting them out. They were still in the oven!

"Oi, I've been on my feet waiting tables, filling dishes, clearing plates since I woke up. I'm not shirking, I'm taking a break." Quillan huffs, offended by the suggestion that he's trying to skive off. "Caverns work isn't easy. You're not Weyrborn. You never did it as a brat, so you don't know."

Maorin tilts his head just a bit, offering a slight smile. "You're offering to pay me to do the work assigned to you..sounds like shirking to me." And hey, meal breaks are completely allowed! No reason to try and shove work off. He looks a little surprised though at the amount of offense taken. "Cavern work or not, I didn't just play in the sand and do nothing as a kid. We all do what we need to."

Quillan snort-laughs. "You just swam in the barrels of fish and got tugged along behind a boat, right? Fish don't like sand." He's so amused by himself! "I didn't think you'd do it anyway. Your name was down for laundry, I saw it this morning. Pretty cushty job, laundry. Easy to shirk off… not like in the caverns, where you've got people watching and looking all the time."

Maorin is absolutely, completely…silent at Quillan's barbed..impression of his upbringing. Dangerously silent, given the way he stares right back at the other candidate with eyes narrowing ever so slightly. He is /not/ amused. Not at all. And yet it…passes, and the teenager stands up a bit straighter to take back the platter laden with biscuits that's being handed to him. "Just because something is easy to get out of, doesn't mean you should. And sure doesn't mean I will. I've gotta get back to it once I'm done with eating, and I've wasted enough of that time already. S'cuse me." The triumphant hero shall return with his spoils of war!

"I excuse you, Fishboy! And don't forget your biscuits!" They're probably still hot from the oven, but they're at least not still baking, right? Quillan smirks, gesturing to the warm treats… and that smirk earns him a clip from one of the more matronly kitchenhands. "Ow," he mutters glumly, looking down at his sandwich. Must finish lunch!


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