Five sandwiches.
RL Date: 3/31/09
IC Date: 5/6/19
Kitchen, Fort Weyr
Fort's kitchens are both immense and well-appointed, which ensures that the kitchen staff is able to feed the Weyr's populace as efficiently as possible. The counters are carved out of the native granite, smoothed and polished through turns of use; there are several stoves and ovens placed along the walls, leaving plenty of room for various cooks to do their job and not be tripping over their fellows. Any ingredients or tools they may need can be found in drawers and cabinets, either within arm's reach or within reach of drudges. Hanging from the ceiling and on hooks on the wall are copper utensils, pots, and pans, all quite well-worn, but still serviceable.
In the middle of this room are a couple of 'islands', composed of wood and with marble countertops, to allow assistants to prepare things and not need to get in the way of the cooks using the main counters. Dumb waiters are located out of the way, but still convenient for getting food down to the living cavern, rather than needing to send people down the stairs. Despite the constant motion and activity -- which slows only at night, but never fully ceases -- everything is meticulously kept clean, from top to bottom.
Well after most people have eaten lunch and the living cavern is quiet, Y'nolek sidles into the kitchen on silent feet, then stands there in the doorway waiting to be noticed, lanky limbs in the way of anyone that might be going in or out. His hair, too long, flops into his eyes, and his clothes have seen better days; there's a giant patch across the butt of his pants that doesn't even match the fabric, and his shirt is stained.
Jaeyi, with her apron on, with her skirt accidentally hitched up to one side, is busy giving the dishwasher a free show. She's totally clued-in to the interest he's paying the leg he can see just up to the knee, though she pretends-- the way she's leaning over her work station-- to be absolutely absorbed in turning the pages of a big, well-read, oft-used book open on the counter in front of her. Then there's a glimpse toward the doorway, her chin lifting to peer over, her expression asking the question she doesn't voice: Yes? Does he need something?
Y'nolek's eyes gravitate, automatically, to where the dishwasher is looking. Woo, leg. He does have the grace to look sheepish and even perhaps apologetic when Jaeyi meets his eyes. "Uh, hi," he says, flashing a friendly smile at her. "I was wondering if - well, I saw there was some stew out there, but uh, some of the other weyrlings asked me to bring back some food to the barracks and uh, I can't really carry a bowl of stew. I was wondering if we could maybe get some sandwiches, or something?" He looks almost wistful, on the heels of his request, as though he expects to be summarily chased out of the kitchen.
"Uh, hi." Jaeyi probably doesn't mean that to sound as mocking as it does, but she's sixteen, and mockery just comes with the territory. Straightening, which ruins things for the dishwasher and has him shooting Y'nolek a black look, she beckons with a bend of her fingers for Y'nolek to come the rest of the way into the room, perhaps? That after listening to his request. "You seem awfully afraid for someone who's just asking for sandwiches," she points out with a questioning tease in her tone, patting the end of her work-station as a place for him to wait, please.
Y'nolek blinks once at Jaeyi's response, but he steps into the room and heads to the indicated spot at the end of the work-station. "Oh, well, you know," he says, waving a hand, "I didn't want to -- annoy anyone. I know you guys work really hard, and all." The dishwasher gets a blank 'What'd I do?' look.
Hip leaned against the counter for a second, head tilted just right, Jaeyi says at her most charming, "How considerate of you." Since he's come as beckoned, Y'nolek can now be left standing at the work space while she turns to get the lay of the land-- sandwiches involve bread, some sort of meat, presumably cheese, she casts a visual about the room to locate the fundaments. "How many?"
"Four people," Nolek says, and then remembers to include himself: "Five, I mean." He looks sheepish again, as he now leans against the counter, but he says, "We try. To be considerate. No point turning everyone's life upside down, right?" He scrunches up his nose.
Upside-down. Jaeyi's chuckling quietly over that while she sets off to collect the necessary ingredients for five sandwiches. It's obvious, despite the fact that she clearly belongs in the kitchen, that she's not wholly familiar with the layout of this one, and she has occasion to open a couple of cupboards that do not contain anything useful before she's got it all together. Bringing the lot of it back on a tray, which she sets down closer to Y'nolek than is strictly necessary considering how much space that counter boasts; "Gotta name, slim?"
"Y'nolek," the tall one says with another of those friendly smiles. "Or just Nolek if you want. My dragon's Agrith. You?" He gives the tray a brief glance, but it's clean and un-noteworthy, so he returns his attention to Jaeyi. "I can help with that, if you want," he offers, gesturing toward the sandwich fixings.
Jaeyi, a knife, and a sweet smile to cut any worry that girl-with-knife might provoke-- "You think you can handle cutting bread, Y'nolek?" She holds the knife back somewhat, like she's not sure she ought to go relinquishing it to the young man just yet, even while the other hand slides over an unfinished loaf of morning bread so that it comes off the tray and just in front of the weyrling. "I'm Jaeyi, and we'll shake hands when neither of us is wielding a serrated blade, hmn?"
Y'nolek smirks, momentary amusement that fades from his face quickly. "Yeah - I think I can probably handle that," he deadpans. "It's been a whole six months since I accidentally stabbed anybody."
"That's..." Jaeyi looks for the word while she draws her arm back fractionally, looks down at the knife she still technically controls, then the young man to whom she's about to relinquish it. "Let's call it reassuring," she settles eventually, and sets the knife with deliberation on the counter between herself and Y'nolek. "I'll just work over here." And takes a big step to one side.
"Don't worry," Nolek says as he scoops up the knife, still with a perfectly straight face. "It's been a whole /year/ since I stabbed anybody on purpose." He starts slicing up the loaf into generously thick portions, and passing them down to Jaeyi in pairs.
Jaeyi, with her own knife, more for slicing meat off a cool roll of salami on the table in front of her, quirks one eyebrow at his clarification. "I wish I could say the same," she answers smoothly, and slices off the end of that salami with disturbing relish. Symbolism! "How did you get pushed into the errand-boy role, Nolek?" If she wants.
Y'nolek laughs. "I was the hungriest," he says easily. "And Agrith's asleep. So." That about sums it up. "Not like it's a bad thing. It's nice out." He gestures toward the book she was reading. "What were you looking at? When I came in?"
A little drawl, "Aaggrith. He?" She could look to his knot, could answer the question for herself, but then she wouldn't have occasion to give him her pretty, questioning look, eyes cast sideways beneath stupidly long lashes. "I'm supposed to be learning certain practical aspects of Bakering that I seem to have missed thus far in my apprenticeship." Like sandwich-making, look at her go.
Y'nolek smiles, at the lowered eyelashes - third time in ten minutes! "He, yeah. Bronze," he says, and ducks his head a bit. "Dasarth's the other. W'ton." He passes over another pair of bread slices, and asks, "So did you just come to the weyr, then?"
Alas, Jaeyi's not aware of Y'nolek's general predisposition not to smile, so she can't even pat herself on the back for the three-in-ten-minutes. To her, boys smiling is just part and parcel. "Ah, congratulations then. We'll set this one aside for you," while she fillets the salami with particular deftness, slicing delightfully thin layers off the end. "Bronze Agrith. And Y'nolek. What were you called before? Yarnolek?" Which thought makes her eyebrows twitch, her grin brighten while she lays layers of meat across the bread he's liberated for her. "Mn, a week ago? Ten days? It all blurs together." Kitchen life.
Y'nolek shakes his head. "Yinolek. Nolek's better, though, isn't it?" He waits for the opportunity to arise, and liberates a piece of salami, popping it into his mouth. "Wow, so you're brand new then," he says as he chews. "Welcome! Where were you at before?"
"So, why not... N'olek?" A name that Jaeyi seems to think is particularly clever, and one over which her voice lingers with amused smoothness. His quick liberation earns him a warning look, and her knife comes down hard on the edge of the cutting board-- well after he's retreated to safety. "Fingers, bronzerider!" Tsk! Then, like she hadn't just been threatening his digits, "Boll. Have you been?"
Y'nolek shakes his head. "That's like chopping my mom's name right off my name. Or most of it, anyway. Y'nolek is a good name," he says firmly, a little bit defensively even. "Agrith likes it. And everyone can call me Nolek. I mean, I could have been N'lek, but who can pronounce that?" When the knife comes down, he hides his hands behind his back, with a little smirk. "To Boll? A few times. Mainly just to go to the beach."
In an ego-placating drawl, "I didn't say it wasn't a good name." Jaeyi just clearly thought her name was better, or else why linger over it like that? The knife goes through the meat so easily, so readily, imagine what it could do to fingers. "Everyone says that, as if Boll's all beaches and umbrella-drinks and not humidity and jungles."
"Well," Nolek points out seriously, "nobody really goes anywhere for humidity and jungles, do they? ...did you like living there?" he asks.
"Mmn," answers Jaeyi with a bright little nod. "So much so that I'm living here now." Look! Five finished sandwiches, one in particular set aside for Y'nolek. Whoever the other weyrlings are, better if they don't get a look at that overflowing bit of tastiness, replete with all the trimmings. "You're the hungriest." Leaning her weight on her elbow, she pushes the plate toward him with one finger, spins it on the way so the special sandwich arrives before him.
Y'nolek beams and reaches for the sandwich. "Hey, thanks," he says, taking a big bite. And another. He eats quickly and efficiently, and doesn't even drop food on his shirt. He /was/ hungry.
"Ah--" No, whatever Jaeyi was going to say, she leaves it without voice. Just leans and watches a man eat the way only a Baker can: satisfied.
"Nice," Nolek says with a happy sigh, when he finishes the sandwich. "They'll love 'em. Thanks, Jaeyi!" He picks up the plate and prepares to depart and carry sandwichy goodness back to the other hungry weyrlings. "See you around, probably?" He does linger long enough to wait on her answer.
Smile. Such a dangerous thing with eyes as dark as hers, lashes as long, the whole package. "Very likely, Nolek," Jaeyi answers, lifting her fingers to wiggle a farewell to the weyrling.
Y'nolek gazes for a moment, appreciatively, and then tips his head - since his hands are full - and takes his leave.
IC Date: 5/6/19
Kitchen, Fort Weyr
Fort's kitchens are both immense and well-appointed, which ensures that the kitchen staff is able to feed the Weyr's populace as efficiently as possible. The counters are carved out of the native granite, smoothed and polished through turns of use; there are several stoves and ovens placed along the walls, leaving plenty of room for various cooks to do their job and not be tripping over their fellows. Any ingredients or tools they may need can be found in drawers and cabinets, either within arm's reach or within reach of drudges. Hanging from the ceiling and on hooks on the wall are copper utensils, pots, and pans, all quite well-worn, but still serviceable.
In the middle of this room are a couple of 'islands', composed of wood and with marble countertops, to allow assistants to prepare things and not need to get in the way of the cooks using the main counters. Dumb waiters are located out of the way, but still convenient for getting food down to the living cavern, rather than needing to send people down the stairs. Despite the constant motion and activity -- which slows only at night, but never fully ceases -- everything is meticulously kept clean, from top to bottom.
Well after most people have eaten lunch and the living cavern is quiet, Y'nolek sidles into the kitchen on silent feet, then stands there in the doorway waiting to be noticed, lanky limbs in the way of anyone that might be going in or out. His hair, too long, flops into his eyes, and his clothes have seen better days; there's a giant patch across the butt of his pants that doesn't even match the fabric, and his shirt is stained.
Jaeyi, with her apron on, with her skirt accidentally hitched up to one side, is busy giving the dishwasher a free show. She's totally clued-in to the interest he's paying the leg he can see just up to the knee, though she pretends-- the way she's leaning over her work station-- to be absolutely absorbed in turning the pages of a big, well-read, oft-used book open on the counter in front of her. Then there's a glimpse toward the doorway, her chin lifting to peer over, her expression asking the question she doesn't voice: Yes? Does he need something?
Y'nolek's eyes gravitate, automatically, to where the dishwasher is looking. Woo, leg. He does have the grace to look sheepish and even perhaps apologetic when Jaeyi meets his eyes. "Uh, hi," he says, flashing a friendly smile at her. "I was wondering if - well, I saw there was some stew out there, but uh, some of the other weyrlings asked me to bring back some food to the barracks and uh, I can't really carry a bowl of stew. I was wondering if we could maybe get some sandwiches, or something?" He looks almost wistful, on the heels of his request, as though he expects to be summarily chased out of the kitchen.
"Uh, hi." Jaeyi probably doesn't mean that to sound as mocking as it does, but she's sixteen, and mockery just comes with the territory. Straightening, which ruins things for the dishwasher and has him shooting Y'nolek a black look, she beckons with a bend of her fingers for Y'nolek to come the rest of the way into the room, perhaps? That after listening to his request. "You seem awfully afraid for someone who's just asking for sandwiches," she points out with a questioning tease in her tone, patting the end of her work-station as a place for him to wait, please.
Y'nolek blinks once at Jaeyi's response, but he steps into the room and heads to the indicated spot at the end of the work-station. "Oh, well, you know," he says, waving a hand, "I didn't want to -- annoy anyone. I know you guys work really hard, and all." The dishwasher gets a blank 'What'd I do?' look.
Hip leaned against the counter for a second, head tilted just right, Jaeyi says at her most charming, "How considerate of you." Since he's come as beckoned, Y'nolek can now be left standing at the work space while she turns to get the lay of the land-- sandwiches involve bread, some sort of meat, presumably cheese, she casts a visual about the room to locate the fundaments. "How many?"
"Four people," Nolek says, and then remembers to include himself: "Five, I mean." He looks sheepish again, as he now leans against the counter, but he says, "We try. To be considerate. No point turning everyone's life upside down, right?" He scrunches up his nose.
Upside-down. Jaeyi's chuckling quietly over that while she sets off to collect the necessary ingredients for five sandwiches. It's obvious, despite the fact that she clearly belongs in the kitchen, that she's not wholly familiar with the layout of this one, and she has occasion to open a couple of cupboards that do not contain anything useful before she's got it all together. Bringing the lot of it back on a tray, which she sets down closer to Y'nolek than is strictly necessary considering how much space that counter boasts; "Gotta name, slim?"
"Y'nolek," the tall one says with another of those friendly smiles. "Or just Nolek if you want. My dragon's Agrith. You?" He gives the tray a brief glance, but it's clean and un-noteworthy, so he returns his attention to Jaeyi. "I can help with that, if you want," he offers, gesturing toward the sandwich fixings.
Jaeyi, a knife, and a sweet smile to cut any worry that girl-with-knife might provoke-- "You think you can handle cutting bread, Y'nolek?" She holds the knife back somewhat, like she's not sure she ought to go relinquishing it to the young man just yet, even while the other hand slides over an unfinished loaf of morning bread so that it comes off the tray and just in front of the weyrling. "I'm Jaeyi, and we'll shake hands when neither of us is wielding a serrated blade, hmn?"
Y'nolek smirks, momentary amusement that fades from his face quickly. "Yeah - I think I can probably handle that," he deadpans. "It's been a whole six months since I accidentally stabbed anybody."
"That's..." Jaeyi looks for the word while she draws her arm back fractionally, looks down at the knife she still technically controls, then the young man to whom she's about to relinquish it. "Let's call it reassuring," she settles eventually, and sets the knife with deliberation on the counter between herself and Y'nolek. "I'll just work over here." And takes a big step to one side.
"Don't worry," Nolek says as he scoops up the knife, still with a perfectly straight face. "It's been a whole /year/ since I stabbed anybody on purpose." He starts slicing up the loaf into generously thick portions, and passing them down to Jaeyi in pairs.
Jaeyi, with her own knife, more for slicing meat off a cool roll of salami on the table in front of her, quirks one eyebrow at his clarification. "I wish I could say the same," she answers smoothly, and slices off the end of that salami with disturbing relish. Symbolism! "How did you get pushed into the errand-boy role, Nolek?" If she wants.
Y'nolek laughs. "I was the hungriest," he says easily. "And Agrith's asleep. So." That about sums it up. "Not like it's a bad thing. It's nice out." He gestures toward the book she was reading. "What were you looking at? When I came in?"
A little drawl, "Aaggrith. He?" She could look to his knot, could answer the question for herself, but then she wouldn't have occasion to give him her pretty, questioning look, eyes cast sideways beneath stupidly long lashes. "I'm supposed to be learning certain practical aspects of Bakering that I seem to have missed thus far in my apprenticeship." Like sandwich-making, look at her go.
Y'nolek smiles, at the lowered eyelashes - third time in ten minutes! "He, yeah. Bronze," he says, and ducks his head a bit. "Dasarth's the other. W'ton." He passes over another pair of bread slices, and asks, "So did you just come to the weyr, then?"
Alas, Jaeyi's not aware of Y'nolek's general predisposition not to smile, so she can't even pat herself on the back for the three-in-ten-minutes. To her, boys smiling is just part and parcel. "Ah, congratulations then. We'll set this one aside for you," while she fillets the salami with particular deftness, slicing delightfully thin layers off the end. "Bronze Agrith. And Y'nolek. What were you called before? Yarnolek?" Which thought makes her eyebrows twitch, her grin brighten while she lays layers of meat across the bread he's liberated for her. "Mn, a week ago? Ten days? It all blurs together." Kitchen life.
Y'nolek shakes his head. "Yinolek. Nolek's better, though, isn't it?" He waits for the opportunity to arise, and liberates a piece of salami, popping it into his mouth. "Wow, so you're brand new then," he says as he chews. "Welcome! Where were you at before?"
"So, why not... N'olek?" A name that Jaeyi seems to think is particularly clever, and one over which her voice lingers with amused smoothness. His quick liberation earns him a warning look, and her knife comes down hard on the edge of the cutting board-- well after he's retreated to safety. "Fingers, bronzerider!" Tsk! Then, like she hadn't just been threatening his digits, "Boll. Have you been?"
Y'nolek shakes his head. "That's like chopping my mom's name right off my name. Or most of it, anyway. Y'nolek is a good name," he says firmly, a little bit defensively even. "Agrith likes it. And everyone can call me Nolek. I mean, I could have been N'lek, but who can pronounce that?" When the knife comes down, he hides his hands behind his back, with a little smirk. "To Boll? A few times. Mainly just to go to the beach."
In an ego-placating drawl, "I didn't say it wasn't a good name." Jaeyi just clearly thought her name was better, or else why linger over it like that? The knife goes through the meat so easily, so readily, imagine what it could do to fingers. "Everyone says that, as if Boll's all beaches and umbrella-drinks and not humidity and jungles."
"Well," Nolek points out seriously, "nobody really goes anywhere for humidity and jungles, do they? ...did you like living there?" he asks.
"Mmn," answers Jaeyi with a bright little nod. "So much so that I'm living here now." Look! Five finished sandwiches, one in particular set aside for Y'nolek. Whoever the other weyrlings are, better if they don't get a look at that overflowing bit of tastiness, replete with all the trimmings. "You're the hungriest." Leaning her weight on her elbow, she pushes the plate toward him with one finger, spins it on the way so the special sandwich arrives before him.
Y'nolek beams and reaches for the sandwich. "Hey, thanks," he says, taking a big bite. And another. He eats quickly and efficiently, and doesn't even drop food on his shirt. He /was/ hungry.
"Ah--" No, whatever Jaeyi was going to say, she leaves it without voice. Just leans and watches a man eat the way only a Baker can: satisfied.
"Nice," Nolek says with a happy sigh, when he finishes the sandwich. "They'll love 'em. Thanks, Jaeyi!" He picks up the plate and prepares to depart and carry sandwichy goodness back to the other hungry weyrlings. "See you around, probably?" He does linger long enough to wait on her answer.
Smile. Such a dangerous thing with eyes as dark as hers, lashes as long, the whole package. "Very likely, Nolek," Jaeyi answers, lifting her fingers to wiggle a farewell to the weyrling.
Y'nolek gazes for a moment, appreciatively, and then tips his head - since his hands are full - and takes his leave.