Jae and Kay have a lot to say.
RL Date: 7/20/09
IC Date: 4/5/20 --I stole this log from Kaida, btw. :)
Commons Cavern, Fort Weyr
While not nearly as large as the living cavern, the commons do serve something of a similar purpose as a gathering point for residents. There are a few scattered tables and chairs, with a section of counter carved from the native granite for general use. The typically cool floors are covered with a handful of rugs, while tapestries serve to blunt the chill emanating from the walls. Lighting is provided through glow baskets for the most part, although some individuals might bring in a lantern if they think to.
It's a fair bit quieter than the living cavern and is designed more as a location for residents to meet and work on whatever work needs to be done -- mending, cleaning, and tending to children are only a small sampling of the things that can be seen going on here. It's most active later in the day, after the bulk of the work is done and people start to settle in for the night, but it's never empty of people.
It also serves as a hub for a variety of useful caverns -- the nursery is located across from the residents' dorms, with the bathing cavern situated between the two. The candidates barracks are somewhat off to the side, closest to the tunnel that leads back out to the inner caverns.
A cheerful, chirpy, slightly damp morning puts the Weyr at odds, some people grumbling through breakfast and others going happily about their lightly-rained-on business. Rather than have to weigh in about the weather, Jaeyi chooses to take her breakfast in here. She must be mostly finished by now, just scraps of eggs and toast and now a teacup sitting on the arm of the deep chair she occupies. She looks pretty happy there, now toasting her shoe-less toes toward the fireplace.
Someone's gotten a rather early start, as has become habit in recent days, despite the weather. And so while somewhere in between the grumbling and the happy, Kaida is at least alert, fed and bathed, and freshly dressed with her damp braid coiled and pinned at the back of her head. Spinning wheel carried with one hand, small bag in the other, she walks out from the direction of the residents' quarters. Time to seek a seat, but as her eyes scan the fringes of the caverns, she by-passes the friendly greetings of a small group of seamstresses and approaches one hearth in particular. "Mind if I set up here?" is asked of the toe-toasting baker.
Over the rim of her teacup, tracking the weaver's progress with a half-hopeful look, Jaeyi's rewarded with the request to sit, and she even tucks her feet in a little to make progress between her and the hearth that much easier. "If /you/ set up here? Absolutely not," she answers happily, making plain the implication that anyone else would just have to go off and find some place else to sit, thank you very much. "I've hardly laid eyes on you for weeks," she adds at her most woebegone.
Kaida's eyebrows lift slightly, a faint quirk at one corner of her mouth that's probably a smile too sleepy to come out yet. "Was gone for a while, not that our schedules ever bring us together that often anyway," she notes dryly as she steps towards the chair across the way. Or, more accurately, that chair's footstool, so she won't have to be bent double after setting up her tiny wheel. "Word got dropped that it was, or will be, your turnday soon?"
Kaida was gone for a while, she says, and Jaeyi answers with a quick, "I know! I was lonely." Which probably isn't at all true, but she says it with such conviction, and adds on a quick offer for, "Tea? It's from Boll." As if that makes it particularly tempting to anyone but her specifically. Attending the setup of the wheel, interested in an idle way, she answers to the last, "It was my turnday on the 24th, actually. It's T'rev's today, did you know?"
"As lonely as a green about to rise, I'm sure." Kaida believes that far more likely, laughter hiding behind her voice. She tips her head, sliding a bobbin onto the spindle and hooking the leader thread through the orifice. "What, you have a spare cup hiding up a sleeve or something? I thought the hidden pockets was my thing. But, if you -so- have a spare cup, I'd love some, thanks." Bollian tea, or just tea no matter where it's from, is always welcome. "So I've missed it. Not that I had the first clue what I could have gotten you. Request something, if you like." Off-handed, as if it's really not all that important or like her time isn't at a premium. Yes, she's weird. "No. I knew it was early this month but he didn't tell me the exact date. Damn, his present is going to be later than I thought."
Jaeyi makes a face at the bit about the green, acknowledging the quip as having been fairly close to the mark. "I," she begins importantly, sets aside her own teacup to start sliding off the edge of the chair, "have an entire tea set just in my room." Which means she'll be off to collect said cup shortly, waving aside the offer a belated gift. "I've had all my presents, so we'll consider it a gift to sit and have tea with you, yes? Yes." Starting off for a teacup, she adds over her shoulder, "I'm sure you can attest to the fact that he's not likely to complain if it's late. Thought's what counts." The last in a fair imitation of a familiar Neratian drawl.
At least there was no malice behind the quip? "Much better place to keep one than in pockets," Kaida notes, completely deadpan as she tweaks a knob and tests how easily the flyer will spin. A slight twist of her mouth - those who'd consider her company a gift and not be entirely sarcastic are few. But her voice remains light, or at least as light as a somewhat gravelly rasp can be, "I'll make up the difference next turn then." Glancing up, she chuckles after that imitation. "That's mildly frightening. But, true."
Likely, Jaeyi's acceptance of Kaida's presence as present was entirely genuine. Or at least as genuine as usual. She's only gone a few moments, time enough to slip to her room, collect a teacup and return. The kettle waits by the hearth in the common room, so she pauses there to fill it with tea-- jasmine tea, for the scent-savvy-- and holds the girly teacup-and-saucer for the Weaver to claim. Chatty; "I thought for sure you'd come back with a new knot. Su, too, though I've heard she hasn't got one yet?"
The gentle whir of the spinning wheel will have started in those few moments it takes Jae to return, Kaida's head bent as fingers deftly and swiftly draft a ridiculously small amount of fibre with each measured press of her foot on the treadle. The resultant thread is very fine. Not entirely scent-savvy, but appreciative none-the-less, she pauses to twist the thread around a tiny hook to keep it from unwinding. "Thank you," as the dainty cup is accepted. "Me? I was only at the Hall for some specialized classes, not exams as such. I've got another turn yet, at least, before they'll consider me." Blowing across the surface of the tea to cool it, she shakes her head, "She thinks they'll wait until after her twentieth turnday, minimum. If they give it to her at all, which is just silly thinking on her part. But she doesn't believe she did so well on her written tests. Have you not caught up with her yet? I thought she'd made the rounds to everyone by now."
"Written exams," echoes Jaeyi distastefully, resuming her chair to take up her own teacup with covetous enjoyment to find it still warm enough to be pleasant. "I still think that's a stupid idea for anyone who's not, like, a harper or a healer." As to catching up with the vintner in question, she slants a look toward the door to the girls' room, then ends over a shrug; "I haven't. But, then, unless she puts her head in at breakfast, it's no wonder." It's pertinent, really; "I'm getting a promotion in two and a half months."
Kaida laughs quietly, lifting her cup in a little toast. "There's very little point to them in the Weavercraft. There's not all that much about what we do that can be properly written out, so mostly we get practicals. Describing a bust dart or a centred triple decrease..." she wrinkles her nose. "Mnph, Su and breakfast haven't been formally introduced, I don't think." Grey eyes lift, seek out Jae's and she grins. "Are you? Jae, that's great news!" Of course it's pertinent. "That much closer to being able to chart your own course, hm? T'rev must be pleased."
Musing; "Do you think she'd eat breakfast if we disguised it as something else? Soup or a sandwich or something? It's really not good to skip breakfast." Sip. "That's probably why she's so skinny." Because of course it can't just be good genes and a decent metabolism and less tendency to sit around drinking tea and eating cakes. Jaeyi beams at the response, which is pretty much what she was expecting, thank you. "That much closer to being able to tell people to stop bothering over my business, at least. Journeymen are still crafters, still go wherever they're told." A bemusing thought, but apparently an accepted fact, judging by her tone. "I haven't told him, actually," she adds, a little confused-sounding about the admission. "But, anyway, it is delightful aside from that I'm /so/ /tired/ of making bread. Now I know how you feel about doing alterations."
Kaida tips her head, thoughtful at first but the expression slowly grows into a frown. "I don't... think so. Su's a nibbler. I don't think I've ever seen her actually sit down and eat what anyone could call a full meal." The frown lingers for a few beats longer, before she shifts around to set the tea cup on the floor next to the footstool. "Which is all we can ask for, regardless of rank. Go where we're told, fine, but the rest of it is just so much nosy bother." Sigh. And, speaking of nosy, "Oh? Why not?" Before a wry twist of lips and a nod, "Do what you have to, not what you want to."
"It's funny, isn't it? They want to be sure apprentices know how to do what they're told, when really they only reason we're doing it is so we can get to a point where we don't have to be told what to do any more. It's like teaching a dog to sit then never asking him to do it again." Jaeyi's simplified version of apprenticeship leaves her shrugging, putting aside her teacup with a soft sigh. The sigh probably has more to do with the why-not. "No time, I guess. He's, uhmn, well, the Weyrleader now. Anyway. Maybe I'll wait till the knot's in hand or something. --Are you going to the First Day party?"
"In that so funny I'm not laughing way, yes," Kaida agrees, hands reaching to her spinning again. Multi-tasking, yay, but it'll make her feel less guilty about chatting. "But I guess it tests our dedication to our chosen Craft. After all, we could just quit." Could. Won't. With a gentle nudge of her hand to her wheel to set it spinning in the correct direction, she starts drafting that little puff of wool again. "Make time. You can't let this change destroy what you two have. Even if you can't really be together as such, going to the opposite extreme is a bit. Well." Daft. To put it mildly. "Please tell me you aren't just going to give up?" A shrug, a shake of her head, "Maybe. Depends on how busy I am. I might just take advantage of the Weyr all being outside and get some work done."
Like this is even the smallest selling point, like even Jaeyi doesn't realize how stupidly ludicrous it is, "You should come, I'm making sandwiches." Whisper. "And pastries, but shh." She sits back in her chair, putting the more difficult issue of, well, make-time well after the simple matter of party planning. She plucks at the arm of the chair a few times, exhales, says fretfully, "We're not just gonna give up." Give the people what they want. "But it's complicated. We can't-- it's just complicated. And really difficult."
Eyebrows lift, fingers catching at her new-spun thread and the tiny tuft of wool left at the end. "Sandwiches." Well, in that case! Kaida dips her fingers in her bag to pluck out another little 'sausage' of carded wool, teases out a few long hairs and joins them carefully with the remaining tuft and begins spinning again. Flick flick flick, it's slightly ridiculous how fast her fingers move given how little she appears to be actually doing. "Good. Of course it's complicated, and difficult. I'm not trying to imply that it isn't." A flicker of a glance takes in Jaeyi, a quick once-over and then down again. "But everyone always says love is worth fighting for, don't they?" Not that she can really understand the desire to do so, from the almost absent tone of her voice, but that doesn't alter the fact that on some level she agrees.
Busying herself with the collection of fresh tea, rather than sitting there fidgeting with a chair that really never did anything wrong to anyone, Jaeyi agrees over a distracted nod. "Everyone does say that. It's probably true. And if, mmn, it was something we could /fight/ for, I'm sure it'd be different. But it's not the kinda struggle you get to win or lose at the end." There's a look to Kaida then, before she straightens back up with her teacup, like maybe she realizes that the weaver's clinical outlook may not be the most forgiving to the subject matter. "Really," she summarizes upon resuming her seat, "I'm just lonely, you know?"
Kaida's foot stills, fingers catching the thread deftly as she gently eases loose an inadvertant slub before it can get spun too tightly to be fixed. "You can fight to keep some presence in each other's lives, if not the way you'd like to have him." No, her outlook is not very forgiving, nor even particularly empathetic. She breathes out, a sigh that acknowledges her complete failure in this emotional regard. Quietly, "I know he's hurting. It follows that you are too. I don't know -what- but if there's anything I can do, name it." Sincere, that, as the wheel is once more set to spinning. Her chin lifts, drops again in a nod, "To a degree. But I'm rather used to it, so." No surprise there. She does have some tact, at least, and doesn't make a perhaps logical comment about Jaeyi's ability to find company to ease her loneliness. Weren't they talking about parties, earlier? "So these secret pastries of yours... as deadly as the rest?"
Although she says it toward the cup, the recipient should be fairly obvious; "Thank you. It's just nice to know not everyone thinks it's no more than we deserve." Beat. "Also, uhmn, you shouldn't-- well, I suppose it's sort of moot right now, but you don't need to, like, ask my permission? It was a sweet thought, but I /hope/ you'll be walking the tables before I am..." And she trails off, presuming the implications will make themselves plain, since airing the weaver's laundry in the common room may not be particularly kosher. /Jaeyi's/ rep is shot to hell, but Kay may still be respectable in most people's eyes. Brightening, "They're like the ones from last year, only these are Rebellious Pastries." Capital letters implied. "My journeyman's trying to make it so I have no time to make the things I like to make, but he hasn't figured out yet that I have /nothing to do/ with my spare time except cook. So!"
That poor little spinning wheel has done absolutely nothing to deserve the flames that should be setting it ablaze right now from the force of Kaida's glare. Best hope no one ever thinks to gloat to her about the forced change in circumstances between newly-minted-Weyrleader and baker. Another twist and she gives her spinning a break, leaning back and folding her hands in her lap before she snaps the thread or something else fixable but annoying. "I'm not going to go into details, but suffice to say that -I- felt it necessary, out of respect for your feelings." She takes a breath, holds it for a little, and smiles somewhat wryly. "It's inconsequential in the face of things. And a lot will have changed between now and then. There's only one-" But she shakes her head, let's that little bit of unprompted sharing go unfinished. "I never tried the ones last turn," she points out with a chuckle. "So you're going to make sure he finds out and suddenly you'll have -no- free time?"
Jaeyi looks to be absorbed in the sipping of her tea, certainly not catching a sideways glimpse of the way Kaida's staring hatefully at her spinning wheel, certainly not lifting her brows in a daunted expression. "It was sweet," she reiterates once there's a response. "I mean, it was a lot nicer thing than most girls would've done." Considering the subject in question, that's probably more like 'than most girls /have/ done,' but... moving on. "There's only one--? I'm pouring out my heart here, Kay, you may as well finish the thought." 'Cause she's only going to flutter her fingers dismissively at the big-old-flaw in her logic that's just been pointed out; no no no, it won't happen like that at all. Surely.
"I'm not most girls," which is really stating the obvious, but. Kaida will look up to meet Jaeyi's eyes if she can at that, before offering a quick flash of a crooked smile. "Might as well. Only one person I've ever gone back to." Dismissive fingers see arching eyebrows. Of course it won't. And Mecaith'll wake up blue tomorrow. "Why is it you have nothing else to do with your time but cook? Isn't there anything else you enjoy doing?" Other than the obvious, ahem, hobbies.
Jaeyi's, "Really?" is hardly authentic. Kay? Not like most girls? Unheard of! Maybe it's the whole incredibly-smitten factor talking, but she has to pass along a disbelieving glance to Kaida, lean her head doubtfully aslant, point out, "But he's different, hmn? Not to say that you'll suddenly change the ways you seem really set-in." She noticed. "But he's not just some-random-guy." Other than the obvious, ahem, hobbies-- that would be exactly the reason she settles for a little smirk. "Oh, yes. But I'm having a sort of drought at the moment, so. And you're one to talk." With an accusing nod to the spinning wheel.
Kaida laughs, giving a playful nod of her head. Yes really. A further lean backwards, and she slips one foot out of a shoe to resettle her heel on the footstool and wrap her arms about her leg. "He is insofar as he's become a very good friend, yes. I became attracted to the person, not the body. And I haven't lost -him- just the sex. So." She can really only shrug her shoulders. No use crying over spilt milk. Or something to that effect. "I dance." Rarely. "I read. It's not -always- work, though that seems to be what you're best at catching me doing." And back-tracking a little, eyebrows lifted for the drought comment and a vague little sniff. "I could teach you to knit. It worked for Su."
Jaeyi really has a thing about projecting, by the way. "Stilllll, one twitch of dimples, one glimmer of those bedroom eyes, tell me you'd really be able to say no?" And, yes, she does manage to curl her own toes at the thought, adding over a slow-spreading grin, "We write letters." Letters that should hardly take a vivid imagination to realize. "When was the last time you read a book that's not about, like, dyeing this or crocheting that or something weaver-ly? Tell the truth." It's a roundabout way of declining the knitting offer, but thanks anyway!
Eye contact is necessary for this one, because there's no lie when Kaida says, quite seriously, "Yes, I would." He can be pretty at a distance all he likes. It's when he gets his hands on her that she starts having problems. "Letters... oh shards, please don't tell me. I know what kind of smarmy books he likes to read." Nose wrinkle and squinchy eyes, eeeeew. And again with the honesty, less serious than the first as the yuck-face transforms into an amused smile. "Last night, actually. A rather interesting bit of history that my mother sent me, about Big Bay Hold during the sixth interval." Because history is so much more fun than weaverly stuff, really!
Jaeyi looks right back for the duration of that oath, but-- when her own eyes lower to the setting aside of the teacup-- it's fairly obvious that she's not convinced. Still, she utters a wholly coy, "Mmmmhmmn." Perhaps Kay would like to sell her a bridge while she's at it? "Oh, no. They're not smarmy. That's, like, laying it on thick, right? No no, these are more like... Well, the last one had these categories. 'Doing to Me' and 'Doing to You.'" Why it's better tha Kaida knows that than goes on believing they're just sentimental drivel... "Which is a lot better reading than the history of Big Bay Hold. /That/ is your hobby? Really?"
Kaida won't be attempting to sell any bridges today, no. She just chuckles softly and smirks a little bit. If that sort of preoccupation is what being in love brings, thanks but no thanks. "Between you and me, Jae, pretty faces don't usually do it for me. Not on men, anyway." And there goes her eyebrow in a skeptical lift, "Uh huh. Because reading about it instead of doing it is just oh so tittilating." If you're anyone not her, it's likely a true statement. "What's wrong with history? At least the people and events are actually real and not so much fluff-brained imaginings."
"Ah! But he's not just a pretty face, is he? Because I'm a pretty face and /I've/ made eyes at you and it didn't really accomplish anything, did it?" But Jaeyi knows full well that tawny-hair-and-dimples succeeded where she failed, ergo-- "There's gotta be more to it." Putting her chin on her hand, her elbow on the arm of the chair, she tries the lash-batting thing right now, even, but it's sort of a ruined effect when she tacks on, "Kwei's a harper, and /he/ doesn't even like history. That's saying something, if you ask me."
"I told you already, I became attracted to the person, not the body," Kaida points out with a grin. "No, but you're entirely too forward for my tastes." Definitely more to it, but does Jae really want to sit and dissect What Turns Kaida On? Please say no. Sure enough, the lash-batting earns nothing more than an amused roll of eyes, a nice try but not buying expression. Especially given the tack-on. "Maybe it's just an acquired taste. My mother's an historian first, actual singing-and-playing Harper second. Our bedtime stories were as much schooling as entertainment." Head tips, questioning lilt, "And from these protests of yours, you don't like it either. How did you get through lessons as a child?"
Jaeyi drawls a lengthy, "Riiiiiiight. Which is kinda the point I was making. He's still gonna be that person by the time /you/ walk the tables." The dismissal of her flirting lashes is met without disappointment, certainly not a serious attempt-- one would hope. "Well, I can see how history lessons would be good for putting little kids to sleep. Do you read in bed, then?" A shameless nod answers the bit about don't-like-it-either, just as shameless as Jaeyi's smiling, "Charm, mostly. I can read and write as well as the next person. Has it ever really served you to know, oh, whatever trivia you have filed away? The lineage of Big Bay Hold or whatever?"
Kaida lifts one finger, fair enough. But, "Still has nothing to do with the dimples." Stubborn, just a tad. Serious attempt or not, she wouldn't - doesn't - much mind either way. She's just not going to respond to it. "Usually, but it doesn't make me sleepy. Unless whoever authored the history starts going into the family lineage of whatever area. -That- will put me to sleep in a heartbeat." A soft 'heh,' why isn't she surprised? It doesn't take much of an imagination to picture what a demonically cute child Jae must've been. "I read it because I enjoy it, it doesn't need to serve any purpose beyond that. How people lived, what's different, what's the same. It's interesting." And people long dead are way easier to relate to. Enough about her: "So who or what, then, prompted you to become a baker?"
Jaeyi continues not to buy it about the dimples, but she lets it go at least. Not without a sort of she-knows-better smile shading her expression, but no further arguments. "This is gonna sound a lot more callous than I mean it but... for some reason, I'm really not surprised that you spend your spare time reading about a bunch of people who died, like, a thousand years ago or whenever." The words aren't all that kind, no, but the tone is fond enough to sugar-coat them. "That's a very sordid tale and not one that will improve your mental image of me, I'm pretty sure. Soooo, why weaver?"
Kaida tips her head back and laughs. "Don't worry about it." She doesn't need the sugar-coating. But ah, not so fast there. That leg she's had her arms draped around gets shifted as she tucks her foot beneath herself, leans forward with one elbow propped on sideways knee. "I doubt it will change my opinion of you, either. So? Since we're sharing." Her own reason why is nothing exciting. "My father's a Weaver. I started learning from him, had a knack for some it and discovered I really liked it. It was a logical choice, once my mother was finally convinced I wouldn't die five minutes after leaving for the Hall."
Jaeyi makes a face, could have seen that extra prod coming a mile away and still sticks out her tongue a second at the receipt of it. "See, if I had a nice little family story like that, I'd tell it all the time. I should just start telling people 'because some random relative was a baker and so I did it, too!'" She sighs, reinserts her chin on on her palm adamantly, and gives a very brief rendition; "I slept with someone who was a lot older than I was, only he didn't know that, and I think he felt bad afterward, so he was trying to take care of me, and he let me be an apprentice." Ta-dah.
Her own fault for avoiding the question with such a tempting dangle that included the word 'sordid.' Kaida can't help but roll her eyes a little though. "Yes, because 'aww, isn't that sweet dearie!' and getting your cheeks pinched or your head patted is just ever so much fun. Like I'm doing this to make him proud or something." Eyebrows lift, but not in anything resembling surprise. Just, attentive for that brief rendition. First, "Why does everyone get so bent out of shape over age differences? Lord Holders marry girls half their age or more all the time and no one looks sideways at -them.-" Why should the rest of Pern have such a hangup? Clearly, she finds the whole thing baffling. "And you discovered a latent talent, previously unknown passion? Because I get the idea you wouldn't have stayed with it if you didn't enjoy it."
Payback for the 'spill' moment a second ago: Jaeyi brightens and even leans forward, reaches across like she's all set to bridge the distance between her chair and Kaida's perch. "Can I pat your head? Oh! And pinch your cheeks? Pleeeeeeease!" Why she keeps believing those damn eyelashes are going to have an effect on the weaver is anyone's guess, but there they go. So taken with the cheek-pinching is she that she just rattles off, "Oh, I dunno. It doesn't bother me now. I'd have nailed Rodric if he didn't have a smile I was already smitten with. But, in this case, the man was thirty-one and I was thirteen, so I think maybe he had a reason to feel a little bad about it."
"I bite," Kaida warns, with a sidelong and suspicious look as she leans away from Jaeyi. But something's tickled her somewhat strange sense of humour, lips twitching as she tries to keep a smile under wraps. At least until that unthinking rattle, when her resultant grin is one part disbelieving and one part -highly- amused. "T'rev's father." Just in case there's another Rodric out there who would fit that smile description. "Somehow I think that men thinking you're older than you are is a common thing. But shells. Thirteen?" Which is apparently way more pertinent than thirty-one.
That doesn't really waylay the approaching hand. "I told you I'm lonely, Kay. I might like it." Jaeyi leeeeans far, gives up on leaning and just scoots right off the end of the chair there, knee-walks her way over with every intention of patting Kaida on the head and, provided she still has a hand afterward, pulling the old-auntie-cheek-pinch maneuver. "Mmn, thirteen. If it helps, it was the Very First Time. So, y'know, it's not like I already had a string of men by that age." Thank god.
Kaida is not resigned to her fate according to Jaeyi's desires, but she's also not going to lean so far as to topple off the footstool either. Instead she reaches out towards that approaching hand, aiming to divert it physically since the warning of teeth didn't work. "It wouldn't be the fun kind of biting," the weaver notes, with a wary eye out, because the baker does after all have two hands. "How about I just offer to give you a hug instead, and you can save the scary-auntie impersonation for when you have an honest streak of grey in your hair?" From her tone, she doesn't think she's going to escape quite so easily, but hey it's worth a try. "Well, I guess someone older is probably slightly better than some over-enthusiastic teenager who can barely last two minutes?"
Merry; "You're making assumptions about what I might think is fun. Tsk." But Jaeyi's hand is pretty easily diverted, and she drops it down to her lap with a thoughtful slant of her head to one side, reassessing this frontal-assault strategy. "Will you still bite?" she asks after the compromise, scooting over just a tiny little bit closer like just maybe she'll accept this in lieu of pinching Kaida's cheek. At which she's still staring with commendable tunnel-vision. "And, having had my fair share of the three-thrust-groan boys since then, I can honestly say yes. It could have been much worse-- though I probably should've warned him first, in retrospect." Shrug; hindsight.
"Most people find blood a bit disconcerting." So there. Kaida -really- doesn't want that cheek to get pinched, no. Wrinkling her nose a little, she presses her lips together for a moment. That was the perfect opening for the 'only if you want me to' line, and she recognises it enough to find it amusing. But instead, "Only if you insist on pinching." And with a questioning tilt of her head, she lifts her arms up slightly, hands held palm up. Apparently ready to make good on the hug. "Should you have? Some men seem to get a bit weird about the whole thing. Like it's, I don't know, some sort of victory or gift, or something."
Jaeyi makes a show of realizing, "I really ought to start saying 'nibble' instead of 'bite,' huh?" Then, with the arrival of a perfect little pout; "You wouldn't really bite me hard enough to make me bleed, would you?" She's already taken Kaida's hands by then, but she leans a little away to get that quick double-check out of the way. It's while leaning, which really accommodates giving a very clear and frank look up at the weaver then. A very straightforward question, "Did you? The first time?"
Kaida smirks, nodding as she deadpans, "It makes all the difference to us literal-minded types. And no, I wouldn't really." Joking, "I'd have at least half the Weyr after me if I did anything to leave any scars on that sought-after body of yours." Just because Jaeyi can't help the trail of drooling, lolling tongues she frequently leaves in her wake doesn't make the phenomenon entirely off-limits for teasing. Hands caught, finger curl reflexively into a gentle hold. Her mouth twists sideways, "Stupidly, yes."
"Mmmn, the other half of the Weyr would probably be too busy daydreaming about you giving me teeth-marks, so you'd at least have a fighting chance?" Jaeyi is, yes, just lonely enough to welcome a hug-- at least partially 'cause the usual suspects for hugging her are of a gender that would get her in trouble, and (for whatever reason!) it's all well and good to hug other girls. Speaking of gender biases. So she scoots the rest of the way over, draws on Kaida's hands to help fold them around her shoulders, looses one of her own, and loops an arm around the weaver's waist. It does, to the third party, look very sweet and consoling, Jaeyi on her knees getting aw-hugged by a friend like she needs petting. "Why stupidly?" A little muffled, but let's not lose the thread of conversation.
"There is that. And I can probably outrun all but the dragonriders who still keep in shape." For all her resistance to the formidable power of Jae's eyelashes, it doesn't take much effort for Kaida to rearrange her arms into that hug. Even dropping her cheek to rest against the baker's hair. Such a pretty picture they make, hmm? Even in a Weyr, the blind spot is peculiar. Only men get to be sly, and women remain oh-so-endearingly hetero outside of fantasy. Really, you'd think people would know better. "Because he seemed to think that gave him some claim over me, like I was a pretty prize he'd won." For all the left-over ruefulness, the chuckle that comes is just a teensy bit mean. "Telling him he was nothing more than a convenient tool to get a job done was rather satisfying, though."
Jaeyi nods hurriedly about outrunning people, likely felt as much as seen as close as she tucks into that hug. She is a poor-little-thing at the moment, and-- despite the countless fantasies such an encounter could no doubt stir-- it's probably the most warmly chaste hug the baker's given or received in ages. Then there's a laugh, and she carefully draws her head out from beneath Kaida's to look up, her expression both a little wary and delightedly impressed; "Shells, Kay, do you always go right for the jugular?" Metaphorical biting rather than literal.
For all her standoffishness and twitching away from being touched, once Kaida does allow someone to invade that very clearly marked out area of personal space, she stops holding back. So Jae'll have met no resistance for that close tuck, no matter the chaste quality. Tipping her head a little and leaning back to meet that look, the weaver grins, which might not be the most reassuring expression she can wear right about now. "Pretty much, yes. I have no patience for fools." And she's really not all that nice, unless someone's managed to wriggle their way into her affections. "It was the truth though, not just calculated meanness. I mean, it was bound to happen eventually so I figured it might as well happen on my terms, you know?" Which begs the question, "You? Accident or design?"
Jaeyi's, "I beg to differ," is a quiet, amused addendum to Kaida's lack of patience for fools. An amusement she'll explain shortly. With a sigh, with her head leaning just briefly against Kaida's arm, she says in that same sorta-fond, sorta-confused way, "That's a very, uhmn, practical way to accomplish losing your virginity, I guess. Me? I was a little fool and thought we'd be together forever." All dreamy and nauseatingly infatuated. "Alas, neither that nor this was meant to last." That is to say, "I better go. Thank you for listening. And hugging me. I miss being petted, even if I did have to keep all my clothes on." Ho-hum.
Kaida's grin fades into a smile that's got some sort of quality of fond to it, slightly startled though it may appear. Sometimes, it's hard to care about one person without coming to care about those that person cares for - not that Jaeyi isn't deserving of affection in entirely her own right. "Insufferable fools, then," she obligingly clarifies, though that might possibly just be to make the baker feel better. "No one's yet accused me of being a romantic," sounds only slightly less mercenary than anything else that could be said on practicality. "You're welcome. And hey, whenever you need a hug, you know where to find me. Even if I will insist you continue to keep your clothes on." A friendly sort of wink, as she nods for the pending departure. "Have fun with the baking."
"Have fun with the--" She gives the spinning wheel a look, very likely having failed this whole time to really pay enough attention to it to really grasp what it's there for. Jaeyi pushes up to her feet, putters around to collect the dishes, being /her/ teacups and not just random belongings of the Weyr, and strolls off to have them washed. But not without a parting, "Really, Kay. Thank you. Just-- yeah." There's a good, bright smile there before she disappears in the general direction of the kitchens.
IC Date: 4/5/20 --I stole this log from Kaida, btw. :)
Commons Cavern, Fort Weyr
While not nearly as large as the living cavern, the commons do serve something of a similar purpose as a gathering point for residents. There are a few scattered tables and chairs, with a section of counter carved from the native granite for general use. The typically cool floors are covered with a handful of rugs, while tapestries serve to blunt the chill emanating from the walls. Lighting is provided through glow baskets for the most part, although some individuals might bring in a lantern if they think to.
It's a fair bit quieter than the living cavern and is designed more as a location for residents to meet and work on whatever work needs to be done -- mending, cleaning, and tending to children are only a small sampling of the things that can be seen going on here. It's most active later in the day, after the bulk of the work is done and people start to settle in for the night, but it's never empty of people.
It also serves as a hub for a variety of useful caverns -- the nursery is located across from the residents' dorms, with the bathing cavern situated between the two. The candidates barracks are somewhat off to the side, closest to the tunnel that leads back out to the inner caverns.
A cheerful, chirpy, slightly damp morning puts the Weyr at odds, some people grumbling through breakfast and others going happily about their lightly-rained-on business. Rather than have to weigh in about the weather, Jaeyi chooses to take her breakfast in here. She must be mostly finished by now, just scraps of eggs and toast and now a teacup sitting on the arm of the deep chair she occupies. She looks pretty happy there, now toasting her shoe-less toes toward the fireplace.
Someone's gotten a rather early start, as has become habit in recent days, despite the weather. And so while somewhere in between the grumbling and the happy, Kaida is at least alert, fed and bathed, and freshly dressed with her damp braid coiled and pinned at the back of her head. Spinning wheel carried with one hand, small bag in the other, she walks out from the direction of the residents' quarters. Time to seek a seat, but as her eyes scan the fringes of the caverns, she by-passes the friendly greetings of a small group of seamstresses and approaches one hearth in particular. "Mind if I set up here?" is asked of the toe-toasting baker.
Over the rim of her teacup, tracking the weaver's progress with a half-hopeful look, Jaeyi's rewarded with the request to sit, and she even tucks her feet in a little to make progress between her and the hearth that much easier. "If /you/ set up here? Absolutely not," she answers happily, making plain the implication that anyone else would just have to go off and find some place else to sit, thank you very much. "I've hardly laid eyes on you for weeks," she adds at her most woebegone.
Kaida's eyebrows lift slightly, a faint quirk at one corner of her mouth that's probably a smile too sleepy to come out yet. "Was gone for a while, not that our schedules ever bring us together that often anyway," she notes dryly as she steps towards the chair across the way. Or, more accurately, that chair's footstool, so she won't have to be bent double after setting up her tiny wheel. "Word got dropped that it was, or will be, your turnday soon?"
Kaida was gone for a while, she says, and Jaeyi answers with a quick, "I know! I was lonely." Which probably isn't at all true, but she says it with such conviction, and adds on a quick offer for, "Tea? It's from Boll." As if that makes it particularly tempting to anyone but her specifically. Attending the setup of the wheel, interested in an idle way, she answers to the last, "It was my turnday on the 24th, actually. It's T'rev's today, did you know?"
"As lonely as a green about to rise, I'm sure." Kaida believes that far more likely, laughter hiding behind her voice. She tips her head, sliding a bobbin onto the spindle and hooking the leader thread through the orifice. "What, you have a spare cup hiding up a sleeve or something? I thought the hidden pockets was my thing. But, if you -so- have a spare cup, I'd love some, thanks." Bollian tea, or just tea no matter where it's from, is always welcome. "So I've missed it. Not that I had the first clue what I could have gotten you. Request something, if you like." Off-handed, as if it's really not all that important or like her time isn't at a premium. Yes, she's weird. "No. I knew it was early this month but he didn't tell me the exact date. Damn, his present is going to be later than I thought."
Jaeyi makes a face at the bit about the green, acknowledging the quip as having been fairly close to the mark. "I," she begins importantly, sets aside her own teacup to start sliding off the edge of the chair, "have an entire tea set just in my room." Which means she'll be off to collect said cup shortly, waving aside the offer a belated gift. "I've had all my presents, so we'll consider it a gift to sit and have tea with you, yes? Yes." Starting off for a teacup, she adds over her shoulder, "I'm sure you can attest to the fact that he's not likely to complain if it's late. Thought's what counts." The last in a fair imitation of a familiar Neratian drawl.
At least there was no malice behind the quip? "Much better place to keep one than in pockets," Kaida notes, completely deadpan as she tweaks a knob and tests how easily the flyer will spin. A slight twist of her mouth - those who'd consider her company a gift and not be entirely sarcastic are few. But her voice remains light, or at least as light as a somewhat gravelly rasp can be, "I'll make up the difference next turn then." Glancing up, she chuckles after that imitation. "That's mildly frightening. But, true."
Likely, Jaeyi's acceptance of Kaida's presence as present was entirely genuine. Or at least as genuine as usual. She's only gone a few moments, time enough to slip to her room, collect a teacup and return. The kettle waits by the hearth in the common room, so she pauses there to fill it with tea-- jasmine tea, for the scent-savvy-- and holds the girly teacup-and-saucer for the Weaver to claim. Chatty; "I thought for sure you'd come back with a new knot. Su, too, though I've heard she hasn't got one yet?"
The gentle whir of the spinning wheel will have started in those few moments it takes Jae to return, Kaida's head bent as fingers deftly and swiftly draft a ridiculously small amount of fibre with each measured press of her foot on the treadle. The resultant thread is very fine. Not entirely scent-savvy, but appreciative none-the-less, she pauses to twist the thread around a tiny hook to keep it from unwinding. "Thank you," as the dainty cup is accepted. "Me? I was only at the Hall for some specialized classes, not exams as such. I've got another turn yet, at least, before they'll consider me." Blowing across the surface of the tea to cool it, she shakes her head, "She thinks they'll wait until after her twentieth turnday, minimum. If they give it to her at all, which is just silly thinking on her part. But she doesn't believe she did so well on her written tests. Have you not caught up with her yet? I thought she'd made the rounds to everyone by now."
"Written exams," echoes Jaeyi distastefully, resuming her chair to take up her own teacup with covetous enjoyment to find it still warm enough to be pleasant. "I still think that's a stupid idea for anyone who's not, like, a harper or a healer." As to catching up with the vintner in question, she slants a look toward the door to the girls' room, then ends over a shrug; "I haven't. But, then, unless she puts her head in at breakfast, it's no wonder." It's pertinent, really; "I'm getting a promotion in two and a half months."
Kaida laughs quietly, lifting her cup in a little toast. "There's very little point to them in the Weavercraft. There's not all that much about what we do that can be properly written out, so mostly we get practicals. Describing a bust dart or a centred triple decrease..." she wrinkles her nose. "Mnph, Su and breakfast haven't been formally introduced, I don't think." Grey eyes lift, seek out Jae's and she grins. "Are you? Jae, that's great news!" Of course it's pertinent. "That much closer to being able to chart your own course, hm? T'rev must be pleased."
Musing; "Do you think she'd eat breakfast if we disguised it as something else? Soup or a sandwich or something? It's really not good to skip breakfast." Sip. "That's probably why she's so skinny." Because of course it can't just be good genes and a decent metabolism and less tendency to sit around drinking tea and eating cakes. Jaeyi beams at the response, which is pretty much what she was expecting, thank you. "That much closer to being able to tell people to stop bothering over my business, at least. Journeymen are still crafters, still go wherever they're told." A bemusing thought, but apparently an accepted fact, judging by her tone. "I haven't told him, actually," she adds, a little confused-sounding about the admission. "But, anyway, it is delightful aside from that I'm /so/ /tired/ of making bread. Now I know how you feel about doing alterations."
Kaida tips her head, thoughtful at first but the expression slowly grows into a frown. "I don't... think so. Su's a nibbler. I don't think I've ever seen her actually sit down and eat what anyone could call a full meal." The frown lingers for a few beats longer, before she shifts around to set the tea cup on the floor next to the footstool. "Which is all we can ask for, regardless of rank. Go where we're told, fine, but the rest of it is just so much nosy bother." Sigh. And, speaking of nosy, "Oh? Why not?" Before a wry twist of lips and a nod, "Do what you have to, not what you want to."
"It's funny, isn't it? They want to be sure apprentices know how to do what they're told, when really they only reason we're doing it is so we can get to a point where we don't have to be told what to do any more. It's like teaching a dog to sit then never asking him to do it again." Jaeyi's simplified version of apprenticeship leaves her shrugging, putting aside her teacup with a soft sigh. The sigh probably has more to do with the why-not. "No time, I guess. He's, uhmn, well, the Weyrleader now. Anyway. Maybe I'll wait till the knot's in hand or something. --Are you going to the First Day party?"
"In that so funny I'm not laughing way, yes," Kaida agrees, hands reaching to her spinning again. Multi-tasking, yay, but it'll make her feel less guilty about chatting. "But I guess it tests our dedication to our chosen Craft. After all, we could just quit." Could. Won't. With a gentle nudge of her hand to her wheel to set it spinning in the correct direction, she starts drafting that little puff of wool again. "Make time. You can't let this change destroy what you two have. Even if you can't really be together as such, going to the opposite extreme is a bit. Well." Daft. To put it mildly. "Please tell me you aren't just going to give up?" A shrug, a shake of her head, "Maybe. Depends on how busy I am. I might just take advantage of the Weyr all being outside and get some work done."
Like this is even the smallest selling point, like even Jaeyi doesn't realize how stupidly ludicrous it is, "You should come, I'm making sandwiches." Whisper. "And pastries, but shh." She sits back in her chair, putting the more difficult issue of, well, make-time well after the simple matter of party planning. She plucks at the arm of the chair a few times, exhales, says fretfully, "We're not just gonna give up." Give the people what they want. "But it's complicated. We can't-- it's just complicated. And really difficult."
Eyebrows lift, fingers catching at her new-spun thread and the tiny tuft of wool left at the end. "Sandwiches." Well, in that case! Kaida dips her fingers in her bag to pluck out another little 'sausage' of carded wool, teases out a few long hairs and joins them carefully with the remaining tuft and begins spinning again. Flick flick flick, it's slightly ridiculous how fast her fingers move given how little she appears to be actually doing. "Good. Of course it's complicated, and difficult. I'm not trying to imply that it isn't." A flicker of a glance takes in Jaeyi, a quick once-over and then down again. "But everyone always says love is worth fighting for, don't they?" Not that she can really understand the desire to do so, from the almost absent tone of her voice, but that doesn't alter the fact that on some level she agrees.
Busying herself with the collection of fresh tea, rather than sitting there fidgeting with a chair that really never did anything wrong to anyone, Jaeyi agrees over a distracted nod. "Everyone does say that. It's probably true. And if, mmn, it was something we could /fight/ for, I'm sure it'd be different. But it's not the kinda struggle you get to win or lose at the end." There's a look to Kaida then, before she straightens back up with her teacup, like maybe she realizes that the weaver's clinical outlook may not be the most forgiving to the subject matter. "Really," she summarizes upon resuming her seat, "I'm just lonely, you know?"
Kaida's foot stills, fingers catching the thread deftly as she gently eases loose an inadvertant slub before it can get spun too tightly to be fixed. "You can fight to keep some presence in each other's lives, if not the way you'd like to have him." No, her outlook is not very forgiving, nor even particularly empathetic. She breathes out, a sigh that acknowledges her complete failure in this emotional regard. Quietly, "I know he's hurting. It follows that you are too. I don't know -what- but if there's anything I can do, name it." Sincere, that, as the wheel is once more set to spinning. Her chin lifts, drops again in a nod, "To a degree. But I'm rather used to it, so." No surprise there. She does have some tact, at least, and doesn't make a perhaps logical comment about Jaeyi's ability to find company to ease her loneliness. Weren't they talking about parties, earlier? "So these secret pastries of yours... as deadly as the rest?"
Although she says it toward the cup, the recipient should be fairly obvious; "Thank you. It's just nice to know not everyone thinks it's no more than we deserve." Beat. "Also, uhmn, you shouldn't-- well, I suppose it's sort of moot right now, but you don't need to, like, ask my permission? It was a sweet thought, but I /hope/ you'll be walking the tables before I am..." And she trails off, presuming the implications will make themselves plain, since airing the weaver's laundry in the common room may not be particularly kosher. /Jaeyi's/ rep is shot to hell, but Kay may still be respectable in most people's eyes. Brightening, "They're like the ones from last year, only these are Rebellious Pastries." Capital letters implied. "My journeyman's trying to make it so I have no time to make the things I like to make, but he hasn't figured out yet that I have /nothing to do/ with my spare time except cook. So!"
That poor little spinning wheel has done absolutely nothing to deserve the flames that should be setting it ablaze right now from the force of Kaida's glare. Best hope no one ever thinks to gloat to her about the forced change in circumstances between newly-minted-Weyrleader and baker. Another twist and she gives her spinning a break, leaning back and folding her hands in her lap before she snaps the thread or something else fixable but annoying. "I'm not going to go into details, but suffice to say that -I- felt it necessary, out of respect for your feelings." She takes a breath, holds it for a little, and smiles somewhat wryly. "It's inconsequential in the face of things. And a lot will have changed between now and then. There's only one-" But she shakes her head, let's that little bit of unprompted sharing go unfinished. "I never tried the ones last turn," she points out with a chuckle. "So you're going to make sure he finds out and suddenly you'll have -no- free time?"
Jaeyi looks to be absorbed in the sipping of her tea, certainly not catching a sideways glimpse of the way Kaida's staring hatefully at her spinning wheel, certainly not lifting her brows in a daunted expression. "It was sweet," she reiterates once there's a response. "I mean, it was a lot nicer thing than most girls would've done." Considering the subject in question, that's probably more like 'than most girls /have/ done,' but... moving on. "There's only one--? I'm pouring out my heart here, Kay, you may as well finish the thought." 'Cause she's only going to flutter her fingers dismissively at the big-old-flaw in her logic that's just been pointed out; no no no, it won't happen like that at all. Surely.
"I'm not most girls," which is really stating the obvious, but. Kaida will look up to meet Jaeyi's eyes if she can at that, before offering a quick flash of a crooked smile. "Might as well. Only one person I've ever gone back to." Dismissive fingers see arching eyebrows. Of course it won't. And Mecaith'll wake up blue tomorrow. "Why is it you have nothing else to do with your time but cook? Isn't there anything else you enjoy doing?" Other than the obvious, ahem, hobbies.
Jaeyi's, "Really?" is hardly authentic. Kay? Not like most girls? Unheard of! Maybe it's the whole incredibly-smitten factor talking, but she has to pass along a disbelieving glance to Kaida, lean her head doubtfully aslant, point out, "But he's different, hmn? Not to say that you'll suddenly change the ways you seem really set-in." She noticed. "But he's not just some-random-guy." Other than the obvious, ahem, hobbies-- that would be exactly the reason she settles for a little smirk. "Oh, yes. But I'm having a sort of drought at the moment, so. And you're one to talk." With an accusing nod to the spinning wheel.
Kaida laughs, giving a playful nod of her head. Yes really. A further lean backwards, and she slips one foot out of a shoe to resettle her heel on the footstool and wrap her arms about her leg. "He is insofar as he's become a very good friend, yes. I became attracted to the person, not the body. And I haven't lost -him- just the sex. So." She can really only shrug her shoulders. No use crying over spilt milk. Or something to that effect. "I dance." Rarely. "I read. It's not -always- work, though that seems to be what you're best at catching me doing." And back-tracking a little, eyebrows lifted for the drought comment and a vague little sniff. "I could teach you to knit. It worked for Su."
Jaeyi really has a thing about projecting, by the way. "Stilllll, one twitch of dimples, one glimmer of those bedroom eyes, tell me you'd really be able to say no?" And, yes, she does manage to curl her own toes at the thought, adding over a slow-spreading grin, "We write letters." Letters that should hardly take a vivid imagination to realize. "When was the last time you read a book that's not about, like, dyeing this or crocheting that or something weaver-ly? Tell the truth." It's a roundabout way of declining the knitting offer, but thanks anyway!
Eye contact is necessary for this one, because there's no lie when Kaida says, quite seriously, "Yes, I would." He can be pretty at a distance all he likes. It's when he gets his hands on her that she starts having problems. "Letters... oh shards, please don't tell me. I know what kind of smarmy books he likes to read." Nose wrinkle and squinchy eyes, eeeeew. And again with the honesty, less serious than the first as the yuck-face transforms into an amused smile. "Last night, actually. A rather interesting bit of history that my mother sent me, about Big Bay Hold during the sixth interval." Because history is so much more fun than weaverly stuff, really!
Jaeyi looks right back for the duration of that oath, but-- when her own eyes lower to the setting aside of the teacup-- it's fairly obvious that she's not convinced. Still, she utters a wholly coy, "Mmmmhmmn." Perhaps Kay would like to sell her a bridge while she's at it? "Oh, no. They're not smarmy. That's, like, laying it on thick, right? No no, these are more like... Well, the last one had these categories. 'Doing to Me' and 'Doing to You.'" Why it's better tha Kaida knows that than goes on believing they're just sentimental drivel... "Which is a lot better reading than the history of Big Bay Hold. /That/ is your hobby? Really?"
Kaida won't be attempting to sell any bridges today, no. She just chuckles softly and smirks a little bit. If that sort of preoccupation is what being in love brings, thanks but no thanks. "Between you and me, Jae, pretty faces don't usually do it for me. Not on men, anyway." And there goes her eyebrow in a skeptical lift, "Uh huh. Because reading about it instead of doing it is just oh so tittilating." If you're anyone not her, it's likely a true statement. "What's wrong with history? At least the people and events are actually real and not so much fluff-brained imaginings."
"Ah! But he's not just a pretty face, is he? Because I'm a pretty face and /I've/ made eyes at you and it didn't really accomplish anything, did it?" But Jaeyi knows full well that tawny-hair-and-dimples succeeded where she failed, ergo-- "There's gotta be more to it." Putting her chin on her hand, her elbow on the arm of the chair, she tries the lash-batting thing right now, even, but it's sort of a ruined effect when she tacks on, "Kwei's a harper, and /he/ doesn't even like history. That's saying something, if you ask me."
"I told you already, I became attracted to the person, not the body," Kaida points out with a grin. "No, but you're entirely too forward for my tastes." Definitely more to it, but does Jae really want to sit and dissect What Turns Kaida On? Please say no. Sure enough, the lash-batting earns nothing more than an amused roll of eyes, a nice try but not buying expression. Especially given the tack-on. "Maybe it's just an acquired taste. My mother's an historian first, actual singing-and-playing Harper second. Our bedtime stories were as much schooling as entertainment." Head tips, questioning lilt, "And from these protests of yours, you don't like it either. How did you get through lessons as a child?"
Jaeyi drawls a lengthy, "Riiiiiiight. Which is kinda the point I was making. He's still gonna be that person by the time /you/ walk the tables." The dismissal of her flirting lashes is met without disappointment, certainly not a serious attempt-- one would hope. "Well, I can see how history lessons would be good for putting little kids to sleep. Do you read in bed, then?" A shameless nod answers the bit about don't-like-it-either, just as shameless as Jaeyi's smiling, "Charm, mostly. I can read and write as well as the next person. Has it ever really served you to know, oh, whatever trivia you have filed away? The lineage of Big Bay Hold or whatever?"
Kaida lifts one finger, fair enough. But, "Still has nothing to do with the dimples." Stubborn, just a tad. Serious attempt or not, she wouldn't - doesn't - much mind either way. She's just not going to respond to it. "Usually, but it doesn't make me sleepy. Unless whoever authored the history starts going into the family lineage of whatever area. -That- will put me to sleep in a heartbeat." A soft 'heh,' why isn't she surprised? It doesn't take much of an imagination to picture what a demonically cute child Jae must've been. "I read it because I enjoy it, it doesn't need to serve any purpose beyond that. How people lived, what's different, what's the same. It's interesting." And people long dead are way easier to relate to. Enough about her: "So who or what, then, prompted you to become a baker?"
Jaeyi continues not to buy it about the dimples, but she lets it go at least. Not without a sort of she-knows-better smile shading her expression, but no further arguments. "This is gonna sound a lot more callous than I mean it but... for some reason, I'm really not surprised that you spend your spare time reading about a bunch of people who died, like, a thousand years ago or whenever." The words aren't all that kind, no, but the tone is fond enough to sugar-coat them. "That's a very sordid tale and not one that will improve your mental image of me, I'm pretty sure. Soooo, why weaver?"
Kaida tips her head back and laughs. "Don't worry about it." She doesn't need the sugar-coating. But ah, not so fast there. That leg she's had her arms draped around gets shifted as she tucks her foot beneath herself, leans forward with one elbow propped on sideways knee. "I doubt it will change my opinion of you, either. So? Since we're sharing." Her own reason why is nothing exciting. "My father's a Weaver. I started learning from him, had a knack for some it and discovered I really liked it. It was a logical choice, once my mother was finally convinced I wouldn't die five minutes after leaving for the Hall."
Jaeyi makes a face, could have seen that extra prod coming a mile away and still sticks out her tongue a second at the receipt of it. "See, if I had a nice little family story like that, I'd tell it all the time. I should just start telling people 'because some random relative was a baker and so I did it, too!'" She sighs, reinserts her chin on on her palm adamantly, and gives a very brief rendition; "I slept with someone who was a lot older than I was, only he didn't know that, and I think he felt bad afterward, so he was trying to take care of me, and he let me be an apprentice." Ta-dah.
Her own fault for avoiding the question with such a tempting dangle that included the word 'sordid.' Kaida can't help but roll her eyes a little though. "Yes, because 'aww, isn't that sweet dearie!' and getting your cheeks pinched or your head patted is just ever so much fun. Like I'm doing this to make him proud or something." Eyebrows lift, but not in anything resembling surprise. Just, attentive for that brief rendition. First, "Why does everyone get so bent out of shape over age differences? Lord Holders marry girls half their age or more all the time and no one looks sideways at -them.-" Why should the rest of Pern have such a hangup? Clearly, she finds the whole thing baffling. "And you discovered a latent talent, previously unknown passion? Because I get the idea you wouldn't have stayed with it if you didn't enjoy it."
Payback for the 'spill' moment a second ago: Jaeyi brightens and even leans forward, reaches across like she's all set to bridge the distance between her chair and Kaida's perch. "Can I pat your head? Oh! And pinch your cheeks? Pleeeeeeease!" Why she keeps believing those damn eyelashes are going to have an effect on the weaver is anyone's guess, but there they go. So taken with the cheek-pinching is she that she just rattles off, "Oh, I dunno. It doesn't bother me now. I'd have nailed Rodric if he didn't have a smile I was already smitten with. But, in this case, the man was thirty-one and I was thirteen, so I think maybe he had a reason to feel a little bad about it."
"I bite," Kaida warns, with a sidelong and suspicious look as she leans away from Jaeyi. But something's tickled her somewhat strange sense of humour, lips twitching as she tries to keep a smile under wraps. At least until that unthinking rattle, when her resultant grin is one part disbelieving and one part -highly- amused. "T'rev's father." Just in case there's another Rodric out there who would fit that smile description. "Somehow I think that men thinking you're older than you are is a common thing. But shells. Thirteen?" Which is apparently way more pertinent than thirty-one.
That doesn't really waylay the approaching hand. "I told you I'm lonely, Kay. I might like it." Jaeyi leeeeans far, gives up on leaning and just scoots right off the end of the chair there, knee-walks her way over with every intention of patting Kaida on the head and, provided she still has a hand afterward, pulling the old-auntie-cheek-pinch maneuver. "Mmn, thirteen. If it helps, it was the Very First Time. So, y'know, it's not like I already had a string of men by that age." Thank god.
Kaida is not resigned to her fate according to Jaeyi's desires, but she's also not going to lean so far as to topple off the footstool either. Instead she reaches out towards that approaching hand, aiming to divert it physically since the warning of teeth didn't work. "It wouldn't be the fun kind of biting," the weaver notes, with a wary eye out, because the baker does after all have two hands. "How about I just offer to give you a hug instead, and you can save the scary-auntie impersonation for when you have an honest streak of grey in your hair?" From her tone, she doesn't think she's going to escape quite so easily, but hey it's worth a try. "Well, I guess someone older is probably slightly better than some over-enthusiastic teenager who can barely last two minutes?"
Merry; "You're making assumptions about what I might think is fun. Tsk." But Jaeyi's hand is pretty easily diverted, and she drops it down to her lap with a thoughtful slant of her head to one side, reassessing this frontal-assault strategy. "Will you still bite?" she asks after the compromise, scooting over just a tiny little bit closer like just maybe she'll accept this in lieu of pinching Kaida's cheek. At which she's still staring with commendable tunnel-vision. "And, having had my fair share of the three-thrust-groan boys since then, I can honestly say yes. It could have been much worse-- though I probably should've warned him first, in retrospect." Shrug; hindsight.
"Most people find blood a bit disconcerting." So there. Kaida -really- doesn't want that cheek to get pinched, no. Wrinkling her nose a little, she presses her lips together for a moment. That was the perfect opening for the 'only if you want me to' line, and she recognises it enough to find it amusing. But instead, "Only if you insist on pinching." And with a questioning tilt of her head, she lifts her arms up slightly, hands held palm up. Apparently ready to make good on the hug. "Should you have? Some men seem to get a bit weird about the whole thing. Like it's, I don't know, some sort of victory or gift, or something."
Jaeyi makes a show of realizing, "I really ought to start saying 'nibble' instead of 'bite,' huh?" Then, with the arrival of a perfect little pout; "You wouldn't really bite me hard enough to make me bleed, would you?" She's already taken Kaida's hands by then, but she leans a little away to get that quick double-check out of the way. It's while leaning, which really accommodates giving a very clear and frank look up at the weaver then. A very straightforward question, "Did you? The first time?"
Kaida smirks, nodding as she deadpans, "It makes all the difference to us literal-minded types. And no, I wouldn't really." Joking, "I'd have at least half the Weyr after me if I did anything to leave any scars on that sought-after body of yours." Just because Jaeyi can't help the trail of drooling, lolling tongues she frequently leaves in her wake doesn't make the phenomenon entirely off-limits for teasing. Hands caught, finger curl reflexively into a gentle hold. Her mouth twists sideways, "Stupidly, yes."
"Mmmn, the other half of the Weyr would probably be too busy daydreaming about you giving me teeth-marks, so you'd at least have a fighting chance?" Jaeyi is, yes, just lonely enough to welcome a hug-- at least partially 'cause the usual suspects for hugging her are of a gender that would get her in trouble, and (for whatever reason!) it's all well and good to hug other girls. Speaking of gender biases. So she scoots the rest of the way over, draws on Kaida's hands to help fold them around her shoulders, looses one of her own, and loops an arm around the weaver's waist. It does, to the third party, look very sweet and consoling, Jaeyi on her knees getting aw-hugged by a friend like she needs petting. "Why stupidly?" A little muffled, but let's not lose the thread of conversation.
"There is that. And I can probably outrun all but the dragonriders who still keep in shape." For all her resistance to the formidable power of Jae's eyelashes, it doesn't take much effort for Kaida to rearrange her arms into that hug. Even dropping her cheek to rest against the baker's hair. Such a pretty picture they make, hmm? Even in a Weyr, the blind spot is peculiar. Only men get to be sly, and women remain oh-so-endearingly hetero outside of fantasy. Really, you'd think people would know better. "Because he seemed to think that gave him some claim over me, like I was a pretty prize he'd won." For all the left-over ruefulness, the chuckle that comes is just a teensy bit mean. "Telling him he was nothing more than a convenient tool to get a job done was rather satisfying, though."
Jaeyi nods hurriedly about outrunning people, likely felt as much as seen as close as she tucks into that hug. She is a poor-little-thing at the moment, and-- despite the countless fantasies such an encounter could no doubt stir-- it's probably the most warmly chaste hug the baker's given or received in ages. Then there's a laugh, and she carefully draws her head out from beneath Kaida's to look up, her expression both a little wary and delightedly impressed; "Shells, Kay, do you always go right for the jugular?" Metaphorical biting rather than literal.
For all her standoffishness and twitching away from being touched, once Kaida does allow someone to invade that very clearly marked out area of personal space, she stops holding back. So Jae'll have met no resistance for that close tuck, no matter the chaste quality. Tipping her head a little and leaning back to meet that look, the weaver grins, which might not be the most reassuring expression she can wear right about now. "Pretty much, yes. I have no patience for fools." And she's really not all that nice, unless someone's managed to wriggle their way into her affections. "It was the truth though, not just calculated meanness. I mean, it was bound to happen eventually so I figured it might as well happen on my terms, you know?" Which begs the question, "You? Accident or design?"
Jaeyi's, "I beg to differ," is a quiet, amused addendum to Kaida's lack of patience for fools. An amusement she'll explain shortly. With a sigh, with her head leaning just briefly against Kaida's arm, she says in that same sorta-fond, sorta-confused way, "That's a very, uhmn, practical way to accomplish losing your virginity, I guess. Me? I was a little fool and thought we'd be together forever." All dreamy and nauseatingly infatuated. "Alas, neither that nor this was meant to last." That is to say, "I better go. Thank you for listening. And hugging me. I miss being petted, even if I did have to keep all my clothes on." Ho-hum.
Kaida's grin fades into a smile that's got some sort of quality of fond to it, slightly startled though it may appear. Sometimes, it's hard to care about one person without coming to care about those that person cares for - not that Jaeyi isn't deserving of affection in entirely her own right. "Insufferable fools, then," she obligingly clarifies, though that might possibly just be to make the baker feel better. "No one's yet accused me of being a romantic," sounds only slightly less mercenary than anything else that could be said on practicality. "You're welcome. And hey, whenever you need a hug, you know where to find me. Even if I will insist you continue to keep your clothes on." A friendly sort of wink, as she nods for the pending departure. "Have fun with the baking."
"Have fun with the--" She gives the spinning wheel a look, very likely having failed this whole time to really pay enough attention to it to really grasp what it's there for. Jaeyi pushes up to her feet, putters around to collect the dishes, being /her/ teacups and not just random belongings of the Weyr, and strolls off to have them washed. But not without a parting, "Really, Kay. Thank you. Just-- yeah." There's a good, bright smile there before she disappears in the general direction of the kitchens.