Sharing Over Lunch

Western Weyr - Kitchen

Perhaps you followed your nose here.. the cooking aromas are tempting. This is the main kitchen of the Weyr. At any time of the day or night you find cooks and drudges busy making meals and preparing foodstuffs for storage for later use. The cavern has been shaped into a huge room with a domed ceiling. The huge ovens and cooking stoves line the outer wall, their perpetual fires fueled by natural gas from a nearby well. Vent holes pierce the cavern walls, keeping the room amazingly clear of smoke. The inner wall has long counters of smooth stone, carved from the walls. You see a large, heavy looking metal-clad door. This is the large cold storage room, much like a man-made ice cave. The walls are made of volcanic rock, known for it's insulating properties. The heat exchanger is also powered by natural gas.


Another day of working in the kitchens. It's these chores that Keelyra could get used to. The girl isn't at her usual prep station, no. She's back by the cold-storage room where the butchering happens. She's working with the meat, preparing it for the afternoon and evening meals. Sure, she's covered in gore, but she doesn't seem to mind. One less thing to worry about /should/ she Impress: there won't be any girly 'eeeew!' at having to prepare meat for a dragonet.

Kilarden is usually all about responsibility and punctuality, but there comes a time in probably every candidate's life when the tediousness of chore-tasking becomes just a little bit too much to bear. Once Kil was sure that the coast was clear for momentarily abandoning the gardens to their own fate, he'd snuck his way into the kitchens (trying to look as non-chalant as possible) in the hopes of finding one candidate, and one candidate only: Keelyra. He spots her almost immediately, hiding a smile behind one grimy hand before moving as silently as possible to stand behind her. Once there, hands come up to cover her eyes as his own take in the scene of gore. "I saw you had kitchen duties on the chore board, but I wouldn't have come if I knew you were slaughtering already dead animals." He releases her then, strafing to stand alongside her as he leans over to inspect the meats. He's in an apron that must've been white only earlier today, smeared in garden dirts that branch out to climb up his forearms and just under his right eye. "Can't exactly ask to be slipped any of that." Foiled!

There's a squeak that's just a smidgen shy of extension of sound to be a squeel. Keelyra is good though: the knife does not rise again. Or perhaps Kilarden picked just the right moment. When he pulls away, her features extend in a grin and she looks the other candidate over. "Looks like neither of us have the cleanest of chores today." A sidelong look to the meat, then back over the kitchens… until she catches sight of one of the other workers: "Hey Cally, I think I'm ready for those sandwhiches now. Think you can add more for Kil here?" The worker nods and is off gathering sammich makings.

"Neither of us may have landed a tidy chore, but at least yours smells considerably more pleasant." All that garden dirt? Fertilizer, and probably not the most flattering of scents for Kilarden to be sporting. When Keelyra hails another worker, he reaches out to catch her along the side of her head and pull her just slightly toward him. He lands his forehead against her temple with an easy affection one would usually see reserved for Kiltara, and grins. "A girl after my heart," he teases, but releases her in favor of settling on the floor, knees to his chest while he waits for sandwich makings to be delivered, and sandwiches to be made. "Kiltara has been asking after you, Keelyra. She keeps shooting me suspicious glances like I got you thrown out of the weyr or something."

"It does smell good, doesn't it? I always thought I was /weird/ for liking the smell of raw meat." Keelyra looks a bit surprised as she's pulled in close to Kilarden. Eyes fly a bit wide, but she soon relaxes and rocks back on her heels with a smile, watching him settle in. At mention of his sister, there's a bit of a giggle. "Oh dear. Well, howabout this. My next day off, I'll find somethin' to do with her. Especially if you're busy, kay? Maybe I can show her the treehouse. I bet she'd like that."

"Raw meat smells like home," Kilarden admits, looking at his dirty hands before rubbing them a tad bit cleaner on one of the few remaining white spots his apron has left. "I was getting ready to return from a hunt when T'yr asked me to stand, actually. There's times when I miss that freedom, but mostly I just miss the feel of pulling a string taut and letting an arrow fly." Pause. He turns a grin up and onto Keelyra, as if catching himself in the midst of sharing /too/ much. "But if you're weird, then at least we can be weird together." He doesn't seem to notice the wide eyes, of even the smile offered to him thereafter. His glances are only brief before grey eyes are once again focused on the task of attempting to make his hands reasonably presentable. "Ahh, she would probably like that, actually. She's not very good at climbing, though, so as long as you promise to catch her, you have my permission to take her where you want."

"The treehouse is pretty easy to get into. I'll help her," Keelyra assures, moving some freshly cut meat into a tray to be taken off by one of the workers. She begins working on more; bits and parts to be used for meatrolls, likely. "What's hunting like? I've seen some of the hunters go out… it looks like it could either be really fun, or really boring." She glances to Kilarden rubbing at his hands, lips quirking in a smirk. "Y'can always wash up in one of the sinks." It's a kitchen. There's at least a few of those. And ahha! Sammiches are being delivered now. The worker sets down a tray with various sammiches and even a couple glasses of juice.

"It's probably not the most exciting thing to do," Kilarden admits, laughing. "Some animals are pretty dumb, really, so there's no sneak-and-pull tactic to down them. Others you have to catch, and those are the fun ones. I was actually out with Velrich when we were lucky enough to encounter a wild cat. /That/ was exciting, except for the part where we almost died, of course, and Kiltara being in just as much danger as we were." Isn't it obvious yet that Kiltara goes everywhere that he does? "Maybe if we can land a day off at the same time, I can teach you how to pull." When Keelyra mentions sinks, there's a suspicious look that one of the aforementioned contraptions is eyed with. "I'm trying to look inconspicuous…" But there are /sandwiches/, and one cannot possibly hope to hold and enjoy one of those with hands that look as though they just may be rotting off. Begrudgingly he pushes himself to his feet, moving to clean his hands thoroughly before turning on the tray and grabbing some goodies. "What's it like being a dragonrider's child? Do you get left alone a lot, or what?"

"Is that why he," meaning Velrich, likely, "has all those scars?" Keelyra isn't leaving him to the sinks by himself. She goes to clean up her hands from meat-goo as well. "It'd be fun to learn how to hunt." There's a flash of an excited grin and she nearly /shivers/ with it even. The last question brings a pensive expression as she moves for the food, snatching up a sandwhich. She takes a bite and considers as she chews. Finally, there's a shrug. "Depends on the parent, I guess. My mom was more than happy to just dump me with the nannies and only pay token visits. My dad is really… he wants to know what's going on and be involved. It's weird to get used to."

One of Kilarden's shoulders comes up in a shrug as he takes a bite of his sandwich, chewing slowly as he considers the question of Velrich. "To be honest, I don't really know anything about Velrich. Kiltara is the one who took a liking to him first, but he's a better hunter than I am. The only scar I've seen is the one on his side, and that's because we were having some show-and-tale with Tineska." The sandwich in hand is given a rather appraising look, brows arching high into his hairline before those grey eyes are shifting back onto Keelyra and he's canting his head to one side. "Does he have more?" He's silent when Keely offers up her experience with being raised by dragonriders, looking as if he's digesting the most interesting tid-bit of information. "So which one do you prefer, then? Your mother's style, or your father's?"

"I think only the one. I only saw it very briefly before he jumped into the water, but it looks like it came from something with claws." Keelyra gives a little shrug, finishing off her sandwhich. She picks up the juice, taking a long drink to wash it down. "Uhm…" Her brow furrows as she thinks, leaning to rest hip against the cutting table. "I'm not really sure. Maybe if I'd grown up with both, but… when I was younger, I always wanted a parent who seemed to, y'know, /care/… but now it just feels weird."

"Water?" Kilarden inquires, suddenly looking for all the world as if Keelyra has just offered him some kind of ammunition. "What were you all doing around water?" If he's taking more interest in Velrich's scars, it surely doesn't show, and while Keely contemplates the answer to whose parenting she prefers, Kilarden finishes his sandwich and retrieves another. He watches her as he takes a bite, chews, swallows… "I can understand that. I wanted both of my parents gone, until they really were." He picks up his own juice, taking a sip of the contents before leaning back against the counter behind him and swirling the liquid inside slowly. "What do you plan on doing if you impress, Keelyra?"

"I was on lookout duty the other day," Keelyra explains, giving a little shrug. "Guess some folks wanted to swim." She sets down her juice, picking up her other sandwhich. Mmm, lunch! Lunch on the go, but still lunch. "I'm not sure… Guess it depends on /what/ I Impress? It'd be neat to be part of a search and rescue wing, but… diplomacy would be nice, too. I really want to see the world." She picks a piece off her sandwhich, pops it in her mouth, and chews. Once she's swallowed, she asks: "What about you? What do you plan on doing if you Impress?"

"Swim," Kilarden parrots, the look on his face bordering mischievous. He takes another quietly contemplative bite of his sandwich then, but pursues that line of conversation no further. Instead he focuses on the ambitions of the girl before him, considering Keely's answers with a nod of his head here and there, but no offering no input or advice. "I plan on taking care of Kiltara," he answers immediately to the returned question, as if the answer to this doesn't require any further consideration on his end. "Other than that, I've never really considered being a dragonrider. Standing in and of itself was something that seemed like an impossibility to me, to the point of thinking that K'yr was having a laugh when he asked." Still, something that he seems to find amusing comes to mind, because after a moment he's laughing, shaking his head before adding, "I can't see you playing politic or rescuing people, Keelyra. You'd probably just start more trouble." It's good natured teasing, of course!

"What's wrong with swimming?" Keelyra isn't quite forgetting it; especially since he's said something about it twice now! She smirks a little at his dedication to his sister; it's a kind smirk, though. "Well, I dunno, but… I mean, even if you don't Impress. I think you should stay here. So much traveling… it must be hard on Kiltara." Plus, it means the pair would be around for Keelyra, too! But she's not going to mention that. "Hey now!" The teasing gets big eyes and an over-exagerrated lip quiver. "I'd be /great/ at both. People like me!" As if that's all there is to diplomacy.

"Oh, nothing. I just didn't believe Velrich when he told me that he could swim," Kilarden says, amused. He's finishing off his second sandwich in the silence of contemplation, considering Keelyra's advice to stay at Western when shoulders finally come up in a shrug. "I like it here," he settles on, though elaboration is not given as he drowns the last of his juice instead, settling the glass back on the counter where it'd been originally retrieved. "You need more than a cute face and a winning personality to save people," Kilarden responds, catching the younger candie under her chin and tilting her head up but for a second. "But I agree. You'd be good at both." With that, he's catching up another sandwich, holding it up in the air as he pushes away from his lounging spot and waggles fingers on the opposite hand at her. "I'd better get back to my chores before somebody misses me, Keelyra, but thank you for the impromptu lunch."

"I didn't watch him, but I'm gonna assume he can swim as we didn't hear anything about a drowning candidate." That'd have been quite the gossip. A candidate jumping into the water… and drowning himself. Keelyra looks pleased as Kilarden admits to liking Western. There's a little flush at her cheeks that edges its way up to cap her ears. As Kilarden steps away, she clears her throat a bit to try to regain composure. "Anytime. Iff'n you're ever stuck at a chore and want food, lemme know. I can at least try to get someone to bring it out to you."

Blushes? Kilarden seems oblivious to those, really. The invasion of personal space is not really something he ever /thinks/ about before he does it. "Sure thing," he smiles, responding only to the bit about her getting food to him should the need arise. "Thank you again, Keelyra." He's making for the exit again, raising that arm above his head with splayed fingers as he gives a lazy wave and makes his way back outside. Gardening… Bleh!

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