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.
Ah yes, the kitchens are a wonderful place this time of day. The noisy chaos making it a perfect time to slip in uninvited. Sure it's almost dinner time, and there's bound to be snacks in the caverns for those hungry before hand but… this food is fresh! Rhalin's candidate knot even seems to give him a free pass as one of the cooks readily assumes he's helping out as chores and is pointed towards a bowling pot. Winding his way that direction the boy bypasses his designated task and continues onwards, snagging an slice of orange on his way.
Calandria bursts into the kitchen, her expression hovering between annoyance and worry. Crooked in one arm is a tiny little green firelizard, only a few days old - this would be the cause of the worry. It looks about as unhappy as it's owner, and is shrieking louder than something that small should have any right to. Cal should be washing laundry right now, but had to leave on account of the small creature. She was already thoroughly dressed down by the laundress in charge for not having dried meat strips with her, thus the annoyance. She ducks around cooks and assistants, looking for something with meat.
"Git that outta here!" comes the sound of one angry cook, who disagrees with having firelizards around all the food-making. But there's so much to do, that the cook doesn't actually follow Cal to make sure she obeys. That soup is starting to boil over… Rhelia turns with a pan in hand, drawing up short as she nearly plows over her brother? "What are /you/ doing here?" she hisses at the boy, offering a scowl. Such sibling love they have indeed. Lucky one he is, that pan of hot stuff could have spilled onto him.
Rhalin isn't paying attention to /who/ is being scolded, though he glances around just enough to notice the cook isn't speaking to him. Technically the phrase doesn't work for him simply being in here, but logically thinking things out and sneaking through a busy kitchen don't go hand in hand. Especially when you're being trampled by your large lout of a sister moments later. The boy gives a dignified squeak and steps back into a shelving unit causing the pans that hang from it to clatter above his head. "None of your business." is the snapped reply as he crosses his arms over his chest. Mainly the two have managed to avoid eachother. "Surprised they let /you/ in here after what you cooked up for that contest."
Calandria offers a dark look at the cook as she finally locates a plate of steaming meatrolls. They were made for human consumption of course, but that doesn't seem to bother the dark-haired girl. As soon as the cook's back is turned she grabs one and hastily breaks it up into bits for the light green flitter. At least this stops the shrieking as it greedily gobbles down the offered food. And now Cal finally has a chance to look around her, although with all the bustle its hard to keep track of everything. She is about to turn around and head back to the drudgery of laundry cleaning when she catches a glimpse of Rhalin. Oh good, an excuse not to go back to work. Not a good excuse, but when has she ever needed a good excuse? Holding the now sleepy firelizard to her she ducks and weaves around the throng of people, trying to get to him.
Rhelia looks indignant at that comment, "And what's /that/ supposed to mean?" she snaps back. The pan in her hand is set down harshly on the stove, sloshing some of its contents onto the stovetop and extinguishing the flame of the burner it rests on. "Unless you're on duty in here, you shouldn't be in here. And if you are on duty, then you're late!" she says imperiously. It's that bossy tone that Rhalin, of all the other candidates, would be most familiar with. Poor thing, related to a wench like her. Then again, their whole family is full of cranky and angry people. He should be used to it. "Now quit slackin' off and get out of here!" If you were wondering, that's an order for you, Rhalin.
Rhalin gives his shoulders a shrug, not wilting at all under Rhelia's gaze. After all, he should be used to it by now, and he's no longer a little kid, really! His sister knows full well what he meant, so he doesn't bother with an explanation. "I'm not slackin', and I don't gotta take orders from you." Oh yes, the volume is raising in his voice and he's quite indignant.
Calandria finally catches sight of Rhelia as she gets closer to the pair and hears the tail end of her 'order' and frowns. She's actually had very little contact with Rhelia, but hates her just on principle since Rhalin does. She slides up to Rhalin as he delivers his forceful reply and nods along with him, doing her best to cross her arms with a sleepy flitter occupying them. Skipping chores /and/ a shouting match, this just keeps getting better and better. And no, she isn't being sarcastic. After the frustration with having to put up with the laundress' nattering over her care of her firelizard she could use a good outlet.
There's a finger wedged in between Ryski's lips and teeth as he wanders into the kitchen area. Picking, he pauses after a while once he seems to have gotten what he's after. His tongue moves, giving a little lick over his front teeth, and then simply looks around, wiping the used finger on his pants lightly. No need for excess spit. A brow is lifted at the snarking going on, although his eyes give a slight roll. "Never shuts up, does she?" He offers in passing toward Rhalin, giving the older boy a flash of a grin. There is at least a place for him to /wash/ those hands nearby, hand both palms promptly dunk into the water.
Rhalin will always be younger than Rhelia, and therefore he will always be her 'kid brother.' That's how things work. It's just like how children are always their parent's "babies" even if they're in their twenties and away from home having babies of their own. While Rhelia is glaring at Rhalin and preparing to dig into him for that refusal, one of the cooks comes over and takes up the pan she was overseeing, replacing it with another pot and then says, "'ey, get this oven lit and that meat baking!" And off the cook goes. Not one to talk back to those who clearly outrank her, just the young candidates that think they can disregard her, she spins around and takes up a match to light the pilot on the stove to get it going. And well, that extinguished burner is still on and issuing forth gas, and so there's quite the noise as it all catches on fire rather quickly and there's loud BOOM… the pot on the stove goes flying, Rhelia screams, and there's the smell of something singed, most likely her apron. The commotion is enough to cause one of those nearby to step in and turn the stove /off/, and then the damage surveying can begin…
Rhalin will grow up to be older than Rhelia, he will! Actually, if he causes her demise than he will manage, that is if he doesn't kill himself in the process. Obviously it's Rhelia's demise he's having a hand in right now. Well maybe he'd have wandered his sister of the hazard if he'd have realized it himself, instead he's continuing to glare. Calandria manages to distract him momentarily though, and she's turned to with a brief grin. Look, he's got backup! And Ryski gets a definite nod of his head. "Least you never had to live with her…." blink. "Oh." Right. They're /all/ living with her now. And then… kaBOOM! Another squeak is issued as he steps back, shoving Cal back with an arm as well in attempts to move her behind him. "Watch ou—" Clank! Clank? Yeah, the sound of that pot meeting a certain boy's head. Luckily? Empty pot and rather small pot, light enough to issue that style of noise. No screaming on his end, instead stumbling backwards and possibly right over Cal to fall on his butt (and the other candidate?)
Calandria smiles back at Rhalin and glimpses the other candidate who walked in, and then Boom! And then suddenly she is getting shoved back, what just happened? And then her flitter is back to shrieking, even a notch or two louder if thats possible. Ugh, and she had finally just fell asleep! And then her brain puts things together and something snaps inside her. Its a combination of things really. The injury to Rhalin of course, but other things too. The seemingly endless chores, the having to be nice to the weyrlingmasters - one of whom seems to be openly breaking one of the rules of candididacy by flirting with a candidate yet receives no punishment, and the candidates themselves for that matter, with their bickering, and alliances. Oh how greatly she would like to slap a few of them. And it's something else too, dating back to her first night at Xanadu when she stumbled out onto those sands for her first touching and found none of the eggs to her liking, something she's known in the back of her mind since the beginning: She wasn't going to be impressing. And she had been telling herself it didn't matter, but it did. And so she quickly passes her squawking green to Rhalin, and she winds back her arm to punch Rhelia.
Ryski jerks with that sudden booming and shrieking, gripping the edge of the basin tightly. Though really, he's quite thankful that nobody falls over him or into him. His injured back is still quite vulnerable, after all. The last thing he needs is anything ripping open. Still, he does whip around to see what happened, hands simply dripping at his sides. "What the shardin' bloody Faranth eyeballs was /that/!?" The pot that clunked into Rhalin's head gets a slight stare then, before Calandria's off and launching herself at Rhelia. Catfight! Does he make a move to intercept the girl? …Of course not.
Nalkor is one of those who got slotted for dishes. The only reason why he's doing them now is that he wasn't around in the morning, having duties with his craft that required attention more so than dishes. Though he's there now, making up for lost time. Wandering into the kitchen with an arm full of dirty plates, he immediately pauses at the seen before his eyes, plates doing a bobble as he steadies them. The scene as he sees it, is a that of a young girl hurling herself toward another with arm fisted and aimed to punch…
Luckily, Rhelia makes it out of that brief explosion with nothing more than a singed apron and skirt. And an awful fright. Extremely lucky, considering all the potential for disaster that a gas stove can cause if used improperly. Before Rhelia can do much to get over her shock, or even see the damage it caused to that annoying little brother of hers that is always underfoot, there's a fist that comes from seemingly out of nowhere and connects with her jaw. That's going to hurt. It seems Calandria is also extremely lucky. How many other candidates want to punch Rhelia but haven't had the opportunity to? Rhelia stumbles back with the shock of the punch and cries out, blinking tears away before she launches herself after Calandria for retaliation. "You /brat/!" she yells. Of course, the small explosion, the noise, and the ensuing fight have attracted a fair amount of attention by now, and the cooks begin to yell at them all to stop and get out of the kitchen. But if you have too many cooks yelling, how can you hear what any one is saying at all?
Rhalin finds himself on his butt and promptly a screaming green in his lap. Obviously the boy's still perfectly conscious as he stares as Calandria takes after Rhelia. Jumping to his feet little flapping firelizard is juggled in his arms and transferred to one as a hand goes to his head for a moment. Yup, there's a little wince and a little blood from what has to be a cut of some sort on his forehead, right above the eyebrow. "Oww…." Oh yes, full whine right there, thought at least quietly. That hand goes to grab Cal's arm after punch to attempt to pull the girl back. "Cal… stop it!" And Rhelia is launching as well. "Stoppitstoppitstoppit…" ad nauseum with that one as the firelizard scrambles up onto his head, via his shoulder and not his face thankfully. Least this gives him both hands to tug… though Rhelia advancing wouldn't help that. A shot is given to Ryski in desperation.
Nalkor blinks. He debates turning around and walking right out of the kitchen the way he came in - obvious by the plaintive look over his shoulder, a 'what have I walked into' look on his face. Yet, he stays. Eyes catch the punch that connects, subsequently causing the man's brows to flick up high on his forehead. The stare he holds is one of disbelief. For whatever reason the fight started, the uproar it is now causing makes him immediately press back out of the way, setting the plates down in a safe out of reach place. As they are loaded out of his arms, he frowns at the scuffling youngsters, not willing to get involved by the stance he takes on the outer edge of the fight.
Calandria pays no mind to the shouting cooks, and curious looks. She only has eyes for Rhelia, the current scapegoat for all her teenaged troubles and fears. Even her best friend Rhalin's cry to stop is ignored and she grins fiercely as her punch connects. Somewhere in the back of her mind a little voice is telling her this is going too far, but that voice is all so easily ignored. Cal is in her element now, having gotten into numerous fights in the course of her rather short life. Then the older, and taller, girl lunges forward and try as she might, Cal is unable to dodge her and gets caught. She attempts to squirm out of her grasp and lashes out with arms and legs, but its all random and rather ineffectual.
An angry roar comes from one of the bigger cooks, clearly disturbed by the scuffle that has broken out in his kitchen. "Shardin' candidates! This ain't no place fer ya to be havin' yer fights!" he yells, pushing his way through the crowd to get to Rhelia and Calandria. It's the older one that he grabs first, being as how she's the one doing the lunging and most of the yelling. It's debatable as to whether Cal could have escaped Rhelia's lunge or not, for there really was little time that Rhelia had her in her claws before that cook intervened. Cal owes him her life. After she's given a shake Rhelia pipes down, only to have the cook roar in her ear, "None of that in here!" And then she's being marched out of the kitchen roughly. But Calandria isn't to be spared, in his wake another cook comes to bodily remove the other culprit from the kitchens. And the onlookers? Well, they're all 'no good candidates,' so it's good-bye to them. Depending on their proximity and involvement, they can either flee on their own, be escorted out, or be hauled off like Rhelia and Calandria.
And..the whistle is blown on the whole event. Good thing, too, because Ryski was about to hop on in there. But..with that cook raining down terror..the boy just steps back, lashes lowered a bit. He's more than content to let /them/ take the heat for their own actions, after all. He just glances at Nalkor, brows raised. "I would've had marks on Cal there."
Nalkor considers the scene now with a less than interested eye, perhaps seeing that some sensible man had come to break things up - as it were. A shrug later and he goes back to dealing with his stack of dishes. Not all the candidates are mishandled because frankly, they're supposed to be helping out. Only the few that got involved are grabbed by the scruff and booted out. Too bad for them. Casually Nalkor brings the pile of dishes over toward the sink, "Well that was as exciting as two chickens fighting over a piece of corn." That spoken to Ryski as Nalkor starts rolling up his sleeves, smirking slightly at Ryski's mention of having 'marks' on Cal, uttering, "Better things to spend your marks on."
Rhalin is shoved aside as the cooks arrive to drag the catfighters out. So there he's left with a squawking and flapping firelizard on his head, a bump forming on his forehead and quite possibly a black eye. Blink. It'll take a moment but the green's grabbed from his head and he's quickly following out… Cal's got a puppy dog it seems. Admittedly a "Yeah, Cal'da won." of course has to be said as an aside as he moves along after.