Log: Innocuous Conversation
Who: N'thei, Milani
When: 19:54 on day 11, month 8, Turn 14, of the 10th Interval
Where: Kitchen, High Reaches Weyr
What: Late dinner for N'thei, end of day cookies for Milani. And a mostly innocuous conversation.
Post-dinner, clean up's just about done and the kitchen staff are knocking off gradually for the evening. Millie finishes wiping down a dish, oulls off her apron and liberates some cookies from a basket. "There you go Asalia, all set!" She gives a little wave and then marches over to one of the nooks, sliding into it and kicking her sandals off, puts her feet up on the bench opposite, legs stretched under the table. The assistant headwoman lets her head loll back against the cool stone of the divider between nooks, cookies spread on the table in front of her.
Late for dinner, N'thei trudges in from the living cavern, dressed for flying. Someone who didn't know him better might assume he was drilling, complete with the stink of firestone clung to his flying leathers. He's first on his way to collect whatever food is left out for the late-comers, meatrolls and bread, then to find somewhere to eat it, and it's that last step that brings him around to Milani's table; "Seat taken?"
Milani's eyes fly open and she sits up a little at the sound of that familiar voice. "Oh, hey N'thei. Um ... sure." Hastily she drops bare feet down to the floor so there's room for him to take the opposite bench. "You smell like you've been chasing Thread. But the wings didn't go out today." The girl fixes him with an intent look, head tilted to the side. "Want a cookie for after you're done with that?" And she starts to slide one of the ones she just grabbed across the table.
N'thei takes a whiff of his wrist while he sits and commits a grave nod to Milani afterward; "I do, but I wasn't. Really just nothing like a flaming bronze dragon to impress the pan--" He stops, ostensibly because he bites a meatroll in half and it would be rude to talk with his mouthful. Somehow he manages to smile like that though, to gulp down his bite, slide the cookie the rest of the way to his side of the table, and pat his belly. "My doughy physique thanks you for your charity, m'dear."
Milani giggles a little at the wrist-sniffing, the sits the rest of the way up straight and pulls her legs back to her side of things, folding them indian-style beneath her. "Pansies?" she supplies a possible ending for the meatroll-interrupted sentence and reaches up behind her head to ler her hair loose from the two chopsticks that held it up today, rubbing at the back of her head. The barrettes are still in place though, they've been a fixture lately, someone was happy with their payment it seems. Blue-green eyes follow the path of his hand and she smirks a little. "You're welcome, gotta help you keep up appearances and all. 'Course, me I just eat them by the handful and it doesn't make the slightest bit of difference. A'son told me I was going to blow my heart up though I eat so much junk. So I told him I'd eat apples instead. What do you think? Can too many cookies explode your heart?" So saying she's nibbling on one of the ones she still has on her side of things.
N'thei takes another mouth-stuffed bites and nods hurriedly at Milani's guess, pansies was absolutely what he was going to say, uh-huh. His notice of the barrettes is minimal, maybe a glance or maybe he just caught site of something over Milani's shoulder? Another quick-swallow later; "I've never heard of anyone's heart exploding from it, but I have to assume that stranger things have happened. Take a ninny like A'son Impressing bronze, for example."
Milani eyes the bronzerider again, perhaps not buying this one. "Uh huh. Whereabouts was this? Or is this one of those don't ask, don't tell situations?" Her arms fold across her chest brows raised but then he's going on and she huffs out a short breath. "Figures. He's always treating me like I'm still twelve." Eye roll. "You think he's a ninny? Or is that just fondness pretending to be an insult?"
N'thei doesn't tell, again with a seemingly obvious reason: he's busy answering the latter of Milani's questions instead of the former. "I do think he's a ninny most of the time, yes. --Who made the cookies?" Now that he's got around to eating that too, he may as well look around the kitchen for any potential benefactors.
Milani purses her lips, narrows her eyes, but doesn't press. Clearly, this is a don't ask situation. "Why?" For the ninny part. "And Gebert was on cookie-duty tonight. The /really/ doughy guy over there." She points said red-faced round-bellied cook out. He's working on bread dough for the morning already.
Not the kind of benefactor that N'thei would bother to thank, aside from an across-the-room smile and wave of the half-cookie in his possession. "Why not? Name me a ninny-free thing the guy's done." He's not especially adamant about the subject, now kicked back comfortably and eating his cookie with slow relish. It's just small-talk at A'son's expense.
"Was he being a ninny when he helped you out?" Milani takes a healthy bite out of her cookie and fixes N'thei with another one of those intent looks. "Or y'know any of the other times he's done nice things for people?" She licks cookie crumbs off her thumb and jostles her knee a little. Too much energy stoked by too much sugar. When do teenagers ever learn?
"You weren't there when he was 'helping' with sacks of cromcoal." N'thei only has one free hand, with the cookie situation still ongoing, but he makes an air-quote out of his empty fingers. "You leave me wondering if you defend my honor as staunchly when I'm not around?" The look he gives Milani is half-scrutiny, half-sorrow; "I bet you don't."
"So is he a ninny, or just lazy?" Milani poses the question around the disappearance of the rest of her cookie. "Do you have honor to defend?" A wicked grin from the girl follows but she rolls her eyes a little and follows that with assent. "Actually, I have. 'Course you have to do something worth defending first. But you have, so." Both of the girl's shoulders lift as if that explains it all and she slides another cookie across the table. "I think I'm going to need more of these."
Melodramatic; "You wound me. It's not as if I'm a crimin--" N'thei stops himself short again, this time very much on purpose and with a bright-eyed but deferred grin, the kind that would go well with a blush if he was that good of an actor. "Thank you, though I'll wind up like the doughboy over there if you keep shoving these at me." He eats it though.
"Want a bandage for that?" The quip is offered with a matching bright-eyed look and a charming little smile and then Milani's sliding off the bench, padding across the kitchen barefoot with a little swirl of short skirts, to bold-faced get cookies out of the cookie jar. On her return she counts them out. "Two more for you and two for me, and then y'know we should pay mind to your handsome figure." Beam. "And you're not a criminal, you're a folk hero." Plunk. She sits back down, folds her legs back up.
N'thei waits till Milani returns to get back to the conversation; "Funny how often those two manage to coincide, isn't it?" Though he takes the next two cookies, he doesn't go right to town on them, just collects them up with long fingers. "My handsome figure will eat these later. Seeing as you could actually use some meat on your bones, you probably ought to stick around here and plow through as many as you can scarf."
"I guess. But see, defending your honor," she points out with another grin and munches away with a nod of approval for cookie-stockpiling. "I used to do that. I'd filch them and stow them. I used to have caches all over the dorms and the store rooms. It's part of how I got to know Stores so well." Her eyes drop downward. "Yeah, well y'know, I keep trying but the meat doesn't want to stay on my bones. My mother says it won't until I stop growing. Which, hopefully, will be soon." She hovers a hand over the top of her head with her lower lip caught between her teeth. "I swear, I'm turning into a /tree/."
N'thei stands up then, as opportune a moment as there's fit to be. "Are you trying to say there's something wrong with being tall?" He measures down three or four inches from his own height, his palm flattened in the air to indicate his guess on Milani's stature, then his hand wobbles uncertainly. "Nice not to have to stoop to look a girl in the face from time to time, don't worry." He must be set to leave soon, since he's got his cookies stowed and he's on his feet.
"Most /girls/ aren't this tall. It's handy for reaching things." Milani hops up again though and straightens right on up. Four inches down, pretty much even. She considers that statement for a moment then nods. "Got a point there." Her smile makes an easy comeback and she leans one hip against the table. "Still, isn't it easier being tall and a guy? Or is it just as tough finding pants that're long enough?"
"Easier than what? Putting together a puzzle? Baking a pie?" N'thei makes a never mind flap with his fingers at Milani, irrelevant question, and he matches her smile for smile for now. "I need to bathe before I get sick of myself. Thank you for the cookies, dearie."
Milani just shakes her head with a grin playing around her mouth again. "Yeah, you do at that. And you're welcome." Just as he's about to leave she asks one last thing, head tilted slightly to the side. "Are you still after B'yan?" The cookies in her hands are flipped one over the over like playing cards.
N'thei pauses on his way out, already managed to take a half-dozen steps away from the table when Milani's question brings him to a momentary halt. "No such thing as an innocuous conversation any more, is there?" His back to Milani, his expression hidden, it's up to his tone to convey a stilted response; "We've... made our peace. --Permission to depart?"
She's chewing on her lip as he pauses and she actually almost looks sorry she asked with that answer. Milani's face splits into a brightly sunny smile though. Apparently that answer sets all back to rights in her world at least. "You don't have to ask. See ya N'thei." And she's not far behind him, taking the cookies with her though she's headed in the opposite direction once she hits the hallway.
When: 19:54 on day 11, month 8, Turn 14, of the 10th Interval
Where: Kitchen, High Reaches Weyr
What: Late dinner for N'thei, end of day cookies for Milani. And a mostly innocuous conversation.
Post-dinner, clean up's just about done and the kitchen staff are knocking off gradually for the evening. Millie finishes wiping down a dish, oulls off her apron and liberates some cookies from a basket. "There you go Asalia, all set!" She gives a little wave and then marches over to one of the nooks, sliding into it and kicking her sandals off, puts her feet up on the bench opposite, legs stretched under the table. The assistant headwoman lets her head loll back against the cool stone of the divider between nooks, cookies spread on the table in front of her.
Late for dinner, N'thei trudges in from the living cavern, dressed for flying. Someone who didn't know him better might assume he was drilling, complete with the stink of firestone clung to his flying leathers. He's first on his way to collect whatever food is left out for the late-comers, meatrolls and bread, then to find somewhere to eat it, and it's that last step that brings him around to Milani's table; "Seat taken?"
Milani's eyes fly open and she sits up a little at the sound of that familiar voice. "Oh, hey N'thei. Um ... sure." Hastily she drops bare feet down to the floor so there's room for him to take the opposite bench. "You smell like you've been chasing Thread. But the wings didn't go out today." The girl fixes him with an intent look, head tilted to the side. "Want a cookie for after you're done with that?" And she starts to slide one of the ones she just grabbed across the table.
N'thei takes a whiff of his wrist while he sits and commits a grave nod to Milani afterward; "I do, but I wasn't. Really just nothing like a flaming bronze dragon to impress the pan--" He stops, ostensibly because he bites a meatroll in half and it would be rude to talk with his mouthful. Somehow he manages to smile like that though, to gulp down his bite, slide the cookie the rest of the way to his side of the table, and pat his belly. "My doughy physique thanks you for your charity, m'dear."
Milani giggles a little at the wrist-sniffing, the sits the rest of the way up straight and pulls her legs back to her side of things, folding them indian-style beneath her. "Pansies?" she supplies a possible ending for the meatroll-interrupted sentence and reaches up behind her head to ler her hair loose from the two chopsticks that held it up today, rubbing at the back of her head. The barrettes are still in place though, they've been a fixture lately, someone was happy with their payment it seems. Blue-green eyes follow the path of his hand and she smirks a little. "You're welcome, gotta help you keep up appearances and all. 'Course, me I just eat them by the handful and it doesn't make the slightest bit of difference. A'son told me I was going to blow my heart up though I eat so much junk. So I told him I'd eat apples instead. What do you think? Can too many cookies explode your heart?" So saying she's nibbling on one of the ones she still has on her side of things.
N'thei takes another mouth-stuffed bites and nods hurriedly at Milani's guess, pansies was absolutely what he was going to say, uh-huh. His notice of the barrettes is minimal, maybe a glance or maybe he just caught site of something over Milani's shoulder? Another quick-swallow later; "I've never heard of anyone's heart exploding from it, but I have to assume that stranger things have happened. Take a ninny like A'son Impressing bronze, for example."
Milani eyes the bronzerider again, perhaps not buying this one. "Uh huh. Whereabouts was this? Or is this one of those don't ask, don't tell situations?" Her arms fold across her chest brows raised but then he's going on and she huffs out a short breath. "Figures. He's always treating me like I'm still twelve." Eye roll. "You think he's a ninny? Or is that just fondness pretending to be an insult?"
N'thei doesn't tell, again with a seemingly obvious reason: he's busy answering the latter of Milani's questions instead of the former. "I do think he's a ninny most of the time, yes. --Who made the cookies?" Now that he's got around to eating that too, he may as well look around the kitchen for any potential benefactors.
Milani purses her lips, narrows her eyes, but doesn't press. Clearly, this is a don't ask situation. "Why?" For the ninny part. "And Gebert was on cookie-duty tonight. The /really/ doughy guy over there." She points said red-faced round-bellied cook out. He's working on bread dough for the morning already.
Not the kind of benefactor that N'thei would bother to thank, aside from an across-the-room smile and wave of the half-cookie in his possession. "Why not? Name me a ninny-free thing the guy's done." He's not especially adamant about the subject, now kicked back comfortably and eating his cookie with slow relish. It's just small-talk at A'son's expense.
"Was he being a ninny when he helped you out?" Milani takes a healthy bite out of her cookie and fixes N'thei with another one of those intent looks. "Or y'know any of the other times he's done nice things for people?" She licks cookie crumbs off her thumb and jostles her knee a little. Too much energy stoked by too much sugar. When do teenagers ever learn?
"You weren't there when he was 'helping' with sacks of cromcoal." N'thei only has one free hand, with the cookie situation still ongoing, but he makes an air-quote out of his empty fingers. "You leave me wondering if you defend my honor as staunchly when I'm not around?" The look he gives Milani is half-scrutiny, half-sorrow; "I bet you don't."
"So is he a ninny, or just lazy?" Milani poses the question around the disappearance of the rest of her cookie. "Do you have honor to defend?" A wicked grin from the girl follows but she rolls her eyes a little and follows that with assent. "Actually, I have. 'Course you have to do something worth defending first. But you have, so." Both of the girl's shoulders lift as if that explains it all and she slides another cookie across the table. "I think I'm going to need more of these."
Melodramatic; "You wound me. It's not as if I'm a crimin--" N'thei stops himself short again, this time very much on purpose and with a bright-eyed but deferred grin, the kind that would go well with a blush if he was that good of an actor. "Thank you, though I'll wind up like the doughboy over there if you keep shoving these at me." He eats it though.
"Want a bandage for that?" The quip is offered with a matching bright-eyed look and a charming little smile and then Milani's sliding off the bench, padding across the kitchen barefoot with a little swirl of short skirts, to bold-faced get cookies out of the cookie jar. On her return she counts them out. "Two more for you and two for me, and then y'know we should pay mind to your handsome figure." Beam. "And you're not a criminal, you're a folk hero." Plunk. She sits back down, folds her legs back up.
N'thei waits till Milani returns to get back to the conversation; "Funny how often those two manage to coincide, isn't it?" Though he takes the next two cookies, he doesn't go right to town on them, just collects them up with long fingers. "My handsome figure will eat these later. Seeing as you could actually use some meat on your bones, you probably ought to stick around here and plow through as many as you can scarf."
"I guess. But see, defending your honor," she points out with another grin and munches away with a nod of approval for cookie-stockpiling. "I used to do that. I'd filch them and stow them. I used to have caches all over the dorms and the store rooms. It's part of how I got to know Stores so well." Her eyes drop downward. "Yeah, well y'know, I keep trying but the meat doesn't want to stay on my bones. My mother says it won't until I stop growing. Which, hopefully, will be soon." She hovers a hand over the top of her head with her lower lip caught between her teeth. "I swear, I'm turning into a /tree/."
N'thei stands up then, as opportune a moment as there's fit to be. "Are you trying to say there's something wrong with being tall?" He measures down three or four inches from his own height, his palm flattened in the air to indicate his guess on Milani's stature, then his hand wobbles uncertainly. "Nice not to have to stoop to look a girl in the face from time to time, don't worry." He must be set to leave soon, since he's got his cookies stowed and he's on his feet.
"Most /girls/ aren't this tall. It's handy for reaching things." Milani hops up again though and straightens right on up. Four inches down, pretty much even. She considers that statement for a moment then nods. "Got a point there." Her smile makes an easy comeback and she leans one hip against the table. "Still, isn't it easier being tall and a guy? Or is it just as tough finding pants that're long enough?"
"Easier than what? Putting together a puzzle? Baking a pie?" N'thei makes a never mind flap with his fingers at Milani, irrelevant question, and he matches her smile for smile for now. "I need to bathe before I get sick of myself. Thank you for the cookies, dearie."
Milani just shakes her head with a grin playing around her mouth again. "Yeah, you do at that. And you're welcome." Just as he's about to leave she asks one last thing, head tilted slightly to the side. "Are you still after B'yan?" The cookies in her hands are flipped one over the over like playing cards.
N'thei pauses on his way out, already managed to take a half-dozen steps away from the table when Milani's question brings him to a momentary halt. "No such thing as an innocuous conversation any more, is there?" His back to Milani, his expression hidden, it's up to his tone to convey a stilted response; "We've... made our peace. --Permission to depart?"
She's chewing on her lip as he pauses and she actually almost looks sorry she asked with that answer. Milani's face splits into a brightly sunny smile though. Apparently that answer sets all back to rights in her world at least. "You don't have to ask. See ya N'thei." And she's not far behind him, taking the cookies with her though she's headed in the opposite direction once she hits the hallway.