Who Carellos,Phineas,Aignes,Kezresan
What Candidates, cookies, anxiety, early morning.
When Spring.
Where Fort Weyr, Kitchen

filename.tld


Fort Weyr - Kitchen
// After rising up an imposing flight of steps you enter an elaborate vaulted ceiling. The delicious smells that gently infuse the air drift out from this portion of the cavern. The head cook, Rickard, bustles about creating the masterpiece dishes that the weyr as a whole consumes. His extensive collection of prized copper cookware hangs upon their custom-made racks, reflecting soft light back out into the cavern proper. A handful of sub-cooks and helpers are engaged in an variety of food preparations, moving briskly but efficiently about their work. A pair of spit canines trot in their wicker wheels, continuously turning the spits with their slowly roasting joints that hiss and crackle over the fires.//


Not only is it an early morning, it's one of those awful hours that no one should be forced to wake up for unless the weyr is either in a massive flood or fire. Unfortunately for Carellos, he wakes up and this horrible hour on his own and just like that, he's on his way to the kitchens. Some other troublesome brats are being saddled with the Candidate chores for the next day or two, so the Candidates are needed elsewhere. For now, the ovens are on, nice and hot and the separate room where the bakery takes place is cleaned and ready for use. Notes have been reviewed, cookie dough prepped and made, in and out of the oven are a few batches already. While the last batch bakes, the baker turned candidate sits on a stool in the corner, arms crossed over his chest while he gently snoozes. Spice? Sitting on his shoulder on high alert. When the hour glass is empty, he'll wake his hoomin.

Phineas has a sixth sense when it comes to cookies and it is that sense that eventually wakes Finn up and has him creeping across the barracks to shake both Kezresan and Aignes awake. "Care snuck out," he whispers. "There are so cookies being made." And /clearly/ they need to check that out. Dressing with a quickness, Finn scoops up Ferb, the roly poly blue meeping mildly before curling back up and snoozing in the potter's palm. And, just like that, he's loping out the door, heading for the kitchens with a quickness.

Being as contrary as Aignes naturally is, it's probably not surprising that her first reaction to being woken is protest. At the glow lights, at Finn, at the world in general. You name it, and she's protesting it all as she tries to hide her face under the pillow but a few minutes later, the rest of her brain finally processes those words. "Who sneaks out to make cookies?" She rubs at her eyes and there's a quick wardrobe change from granny-gammies into something a little more like work attire. And for some reason, off she trails after the potter, mutter words like stupid and not get caught all along the way.

Kezresan might have been awake. Or he might have not slept in the first place. Still, there is undoubtedly a complaint in the form of, "So?" for the mention of Care sneaking out. And a follow-up, "Then go eat them," for the mention of him making cookies. But still. He gets up. He gets dressed. And he trudges along grumpily in the wake of the cookie monster. Aloe? Not a morning 'lizard. She happily took over Kezresan's abandoned pillow to wallow in. There's a heavy sigh as they wander into the kitchens, Kezresan's fingers in his hair as he tries to sort it into some sort of order. There are circles beneath his eyes that have nothing to do with the ungodly hour of the morning, but he's here so… "I hope there's Klah," he mutters in an aside to Aignes.

Of course there's klah! How else do you think Carellos gets his usual morning started? If the kitchens want their bread loaves, dinner rolls and desserts, they know to keep the bakery well stocked in supplies! The last little bit of sand from the hour glass finally trickles down so Spice, being the adorable bronze firelizard that he is does what he does best. CHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP! Care flails in his stool, nearly tipping over and the man rights himself before slipping off, reaching for a mitt. When the oven doors open, a wall of heat greets him and he carefully takes the cookie sheet out and places it on the counter. Cookies are moved to a cooling rack and the heavily yawning Candidate moves to the cooler for the premade colorful piping bags. Emerald eyes glance between the hues and after selecting a dark green bag, Care gets to work on decorating the first batch of cooled cookies.

Finn is on those cookies before frosting colors can be chosen, Ferb chirruping excitedly as his human scoops four still hot cookies right off the rack. "Wait, Ferb," Finn laughs as he struggles to keep the roly poly little blue from charging the to hot to eat goodies. "Morning," is called toward Care only seconds before he shoves a to hot cookie in his mouth and starts rapidly sucking air to try to cool it. Amusingly enough, Ferb manages to snag a mawful of cookie at the same time and is engaging in the exact same cooling process. "To'd ya," Finn points out to the firardlizard.

"If there's not, you can make some," Aignes waves towards the door to the rest of the kitchens. Somewhere in there has got to be giant vats of klah just ready for the Weyr to arise and claim it's breakfast. She's still all grumpily frowny faced from getting up all early and Pin is probably busy snoozing away like a sensible lizard. "How long have you been up for??? And why all this…" Her eyes go towards the trays of cooling cookies Carellos had been so carefully preparing.

Frosting on top of cookies is just way too much sweet for Kezresan. So he'll snag an un-iced cookie from the 'cool enough to eat' rack, as well as a mug of Klah (that comes with a brief scowl for Aignes and her hand-waving) "Apparently, some is already made." It's only after a little bite of cookie and a good, long swallow of Klah, that he thinks to offer a quick, "Thanks," to Carellos. Leaning on a counter, he eyes the frosting of the cookies and the open-mouthed cooling process, the latter of which gets a grimace.

"Morning," Care says sleepily through a crooked smile, pausing only to return the greeting before moving onto the next cookie. Fortunately for Finn, there's plenty of cookies to be made so he can eat his fill. "So you guys haven't got the word, then?" Cause Candidates should but are never often kept in the loop when it comes to changes. It's more of a baptism by fire thing. "Some of the weyr brats got into trouble so they're doing our chores for the next day or two, so we're on kitchen duty. Since I'm a Journeyman, I made sure kitchen translated specifically to 'bakery' and not out there cutting tubers. They can handle that mess." Care came early and prepared! Not just for baking, but for hiding out. "There's meat rolls and klah right over there, Aignes. Our own personal kettles." Four should be enough, right? "At some point, I'll have to help unload the next shipment of flour into the stores…"

Phineas grins around a mouthful of cookie, Fern's little frosted blue head popping up to warble at Care before he steals more cookie from Finn. "No chores sounds like a win to me," he admits as he settles his hip against the counter. For the time being, meatrolls and klah are ignored in favor of stuffing the remaining cookies in hand into the mouth of both himself and Ferb. "I'll help you unload," he volunteers as he leans over to grab a pair of frosted cookies. Setting one on the table, he plops Ferb down next to it while going about the business of eating his own.

Aignes was just about to resign herself to eating a cookie before her stomach was to do something unseemly like growl it's hunger to the world. And then Carellos mentions the meatrolls and her hand promptly swivels away from the unfrosted cookies and towards the real food. "I think I was on caverns anyway. Maybe dealing with people will teach them to behave better." Cause really, who wants to deal with cranky, groggy people complaining the klah is luke warm or something? "I'm pretty good at making biscuits. Not rolls though…" Working with proper yeast is a whole 'nother skill she just hasn't acquired.

It is the mention of being on 'kitchen aka bakery duty' that halts all of that cookie-chewing Kez had going on. A very flat, disapproving look is leveled at the journeyman baker as the healer puzzles out the likely hood that he is teasing versus being serious. "That… no." Nope. No. Just… no. "I'll be in the infirmary." Because cooking, and Kez? Oil and water. They just do not go together. He's also grumpy faced, stressed-out and looks like he could use a long walk on the beach or a good cuddle beneath a blanket. Meaning Kez is in NO MOOD to be baking cookies or frosting cakes or even washing dishes. It's been a rough few days. Which is probably why he's nomming a cookie at all. Said cookie is shoved the rest of the way in his mouth as he shoves away from the counter. A pit-stop to top off his Klah mug comes before Kezresan is making good on his threat and high-tailing it right out of the kitchens. Peace-out! Much love.

Carellos moves to the next row of cookies, and he places down the dark green icing, swapping it for a light shade of yellow. Before he begins, he moves to the cupboards, removing long handled pins and he moves back to his work. Yellow is piped and with the pin, he carefully moves the colors around so the two different hues touch, then he moves onto the next. "Some days, I'm glad when I can just pipe one color and that's it on a cookie, but no. It's gotta be spring so gotta do a little," he pauses, rubbing his nose with the back of his hand to deal with an itch. There's too much blood in his klah stream! "Do a little spring scenery so morning sky and day light instead of snow on the tree tops for the sevenday, then I can switch back to solid colors and no designs. This is time consuming, but hey, it's what I'm paid for." Kezresan's departure? Well, suppose that's what he's paid for, too. If someone is happy to do all the unmentionable, stinky, nightmarish gross things required of the Healers, it might as well be that guy. <3

Phineas watches Ferb devouring the frosted cookie on the counter, an amused smile dancing on his lips. "That's all your getting, Pudge, so make it last." In the wake of the words, Ferb looks up and warbles a complaint before turning back to his prize. Distracted by Kez' hasty retreat, Finn gives a wry shake of his head before stepping away to fill a mug with sweetner and a bit of klah. Returning to the table, he peers over Care's shoulder at the cookies before oh-so-slickly reaching for one of the piping bags. And yes, if he gets it, he's squirting right into his maw, thank-you-very-much.

Aignes is just going to be over there in the corner, stealing the stool, since where else would she drink her klah? "But you could make so many more cookies if you frosted them all a single color." She mimes putting a dollop on the cookies and spreading it. Kezresan's rapid departure is met with an eyebrow raise and a shrug. "He acts like a little flour will kill him."

Carellos turns, raising his brow at Phineas and his piping prowess. Rather than taking the bag back, he reaches up and squeezes it a bit harder to squirt the poor man in the FACE before turning and picking up his next intended piping bag. Once selected, he hoards it while he moves over to his own mug, taking it to the kettles for a refill. "If I could just make them a solid color, I'd just assembly line them. Though, I don't think I have to do too many of these decorated ones." Care double checks the notes and those tired eyes skim line for line through the headwoman's notes. "Yeah, I don't have to do all of them. Just a few dozen for the leadership tables. The rest can have a basic icing. Just make a circle, fill it in, use the tooks to smooth out the gaps so they come out clean. Easy peasy."

Phineas exhales a spluttering laugh as the frosting is suddenly overflowing from his lips. It does not stop him, however, although he's slowed a bit by having to lick it off his face. "Whut?" Nudging Ferb away from his cookie long enough to add more frosting to it, Finn wipes his lips on his sleeve before stepping over to examine the neatly frosted cookies. "I like the designs," he decides. "Course, I mean, I'd like em better if there was more frosting, but.." Hey, this is Finn, after all. "Okay," he decides as he sets the piping bag down and goes to wash his hands. "Put me to work."

"Alright," Care says, rubbing his hands together as he moves to the cooled cookies. "Take a cookie like this and…" He does as he mentioned, outlining the cookie in a simple circle and filling in the circle with more frosting. His pin tool is taken up, and he uses it to smooth the frosting across to keep the gaps filled and circle neat. "That's all you do. Doesn't matter what color, you can use any of those on the tray. Just one color per cookie. Those other darker ones, just use the plain white frosting there, make a thick circle in the middle, then sandwich them together."

"Got it," Finn notes as he steps up to the table and snags a bag of frosting. "How many do we have to do?" Setting the first cookie aside, he glances over at Ferb to make certain he's alright before reaching for another cookie. It is in the wake of the third that blue eyes slant a glance at Carellos, one brow twitching mildly. "How are you holding up?" Everyone has been getting tense of late and Finn's kinda made the rounds making sure they're all good.

"See those trays stacked up on the racks over there? We just have to fill all of them." Nevermind that they're six foot tall racks, each holding twenty four shelves. They're going to be there for a while. "I only have to fill the first row going down on the left side of that far rack with the detailed ones, then I can jump in and get with you on the solid coloring. You don't have to help me with the whole thing, but I do appreciate you here helping me at all." Carellos grins, moving over to his mug and he takes a quick sip before carrying back over beside Phineas. The mug is quietly placed down, and he leans against the counter, rubbing the back of his neck. "I think everyone's anxiousness is starting to get contagious. I mean, it's been long enough, it could be any day now at this rate. At any hour. I should be excited, but…" He takes up his mug and takes a slow sip.

Finn glances toward the stacked trays, his chin dipping in a nod. "Alrighty then." Looking back the tray he is working on, he carefully frosts a few of the cookies before smoothing the frosting out. "Don't be silly," he snorts. "I've got nothing else to do and I'm not going to leave you in here to do it all yourself. Sides," he admits. "I kinda like it, it's soothing." When the mug is set down and there is a Carellos leaning next to him, he looks up smiles, pale eyes crinkling at the corners. "It's hard," he provides. "Letting yourself get excited for it. I know. I feel the same way," he admits. "Like, if you give in to that excitement and start looking forward, it will end in disappointment." Falling silent a beat, he touches up one of the cookies, his shoulders rising and falling in a slow shrug. "I hate that I have no control over what will happen and no way to effect the outcome."

"Yeah." That pretty much sums his concerns, and Carellos tilts his head to watch Phineas work with a warm smile. As soon as the other candidate finishes frosting the cookie, Care takes it and simply sticks it in his mouth. Quality control testing~ "It's like, I'm hoping everyone impresses and we could all spend weyrlinghood together because after this? I think I'll be too old. No dragon will be looking for me out there after this." Care pushes away from the counter top and moves back over to his own work, continuing where he left off. "I didn't realize how much I really did care about it. Beyond just, 'Hey, I get to experience this rare and amazing thing and what ever happens happens.' It's feeling real now, you know?"

Phineas exhales a quiet laugh when the cookie is taken and consumed. "You realize that between me, you and Ferb very few cookies are going to make it to the living cavern, right?" And true to his words, Ferb is ever so slowly working at tugging a frosted cookie off the tray for himself. It's slow going, but he's definately making progress. "I think the whole experience line is a load of runner crap," Finn snorts. "I'd have gone on with my life just fine without ever experiencing crushing disappointment, thanks." Pausing a beat, he nudges the cookie to Ferb before shaking his head and adding frosting to another. "I don't know I'm feeling," he admits. "It's all a jumbled mess. I mean, I agree with you. I want to see us all move forward together." Going still, he frowns down at the cookies, his head giving a slow shake. "I think anyone who says they not upset at being left behind is being dishonest. I'll be…. I dunno, hurt, pissed off, sad.. I'm not going to pretend otherwise. I mean, at the same time, I'll be glad for those who do impress.. but. Eh. I'm just tired of trying to pretend this is an experience I'll be glad for either way. I doubt that that is true for /anyone/."

Carellos slowly nods his head, taking a deep breath and he holds it for a moment with his eyes closed. Then, he slowly lets it out once more, hissing through his teeth. He picks up another frosted cookie and this time he holds it out for Phin. "I guess all we can do is enjoy the time we have now together, huh?" Once the cookie is out of his hands, he dusts them off and returns to his own. Frosting cookies and other pastries is always rather soothing. That repetitive mindless task that can go on for minutes or hours and Carellos wouldn't know if it was day or night until he stepped past those doors. "Just promise he something," he says without stopping his work. "If you make it and I don't, please don't forget about me."

"What do you mean," Finn laughs as he takes the cookie. Breaking it in half, he pushes it into his mouth, pausing to suck frosting off his thumb. When the explaination comes, Finn snorts and leans over to press the cookie to Carellos' forhead. Leaving it stuck there, courtsey of the frosting, he shakes his head. "Now you are being ridiculous," he points out. "And I could say the same thing, you know? To address the point, however, it is very unlikely that anything, including a dragon, could overshadow my love of sweets. Just look at Ferb," he points out with a chuckle. Course, Ferb looks up at the sound of his name, his snout covered in frosting and cookie crumbs. "And you, my dear, are the source of all things sweet. It's not going to happen," he adds in more serious tones. "Course, /you/ might not be so anxious to wait for weyrlinghood to get over with," he points out.

Well, at least he knows he made the frosting right since the cookie is sticking rather well. Either that or he needs a better moisturizer or something. Carellos smirks, chuckling quietly as he plucks it from his forehead and pops it in his mouth. "Weyrlinghood can last for turns. In the beginning, it's just you and your dragon. No guests, no outsiders. Complete isolation, for good reason. A lot of changes happen during that time… I better stay on top of my bakery game so I can always have a chance to see you. If I can't, then Sugar and Spice will have to make special deliveries for me." Good Cares don't let weyrlings go without cookies, cakes or pastries. Unless they piss him off, then it's just tuber bread for them. Not the sweet tubers, either. It'll be the bland tasting stuff.

Frowning, Finn twists around to lean his hips against the table, his arms folding over his chest. "You're talking like you'll have time to bake. Which, according to everything you've said, is ridiculous given you'll be busy with a dragon of your own." And he's going to firmly stick to that. "I can't say what is going to happen, Carellos," he admits. "But I can tell you that I am not the sort to walk away from, or forget people I care about. I care about you. So." That's that as far as he is concerned. "What worries me more is that, should we impress, everything gets larger, more involved. Flights happen. I mean, I'm good with that, you know? But, are you? I mean, lets say I do impress and it's green? Or you do. Proddy is going to be a whole part of our lives." And as ridiculous as it may be to even be discussing this stuff? It's a distraction. "But, I'm not going anywhere, I have confidence that you are not, either. Whether one of us, or both of us, impress? It's no big deal."

"Flights. Right, those things. I'm usually down in the kitchens and the few times I've been caught outside, I've been too busy to deal with that." Carellos puts the piping bag down, then reaches over and grabs a kitchen towel to dry off his hands. Nervously. "If I do impress, I'm not going to have much of a choice now, will I? I'll just have to hope that you're within arms reach and not someone old enough to be my great grandma." The towel is tossed to the side and he picks the piping bag up once more. "Or my great grandpa. Or that one old uncle that randomly comes up out of the bushes with that dead rat that he talks to. Looking for pretties. Augh." There's even a visible shudder coming from Carellos, a tiny little dry heave even. "You're right, though. We'll manage."

Finn slants a lopsided smile at Carellos, blue eyes twinkling with amusement. "I promise to be around to save you from the dirty old men," he notes with a wink. "But you need to promise me that you are not going to convince yourself that this will end poorly. It might. One, or both of us, could be left standing on the sands. I hope that won't happen," he admits. "I hope that none of us are left standing. But no matter what happens, we have agree that we're not going to let ourselves fall apart. I honestly think that that happens because people convince themselves it will and then make that their truth. It's a crappy truth, Carellos. I have no intention of letting it be mine. Or yours. Or Aignes. Or Kezresans." It's frustrating for Finn, and shows on his face. "At this point, I just want this to be over, regardless of the outcome."

Carellos takes the finally full tray of decorated cookies, and he moves it over to the rack. Out of sight, out of mind, and less likely to be eaten. There's more cookies to decorate and when these get low, he'll have to go through the motions to make another batch, and another. While he still can. Kitchens will be out of the question if he becomes a Weyrling. "I just want this to be over, too. Soon, so we can move on with our lives. Waiting sucks." To put it eloquently. He moves over to Phineas, resting one hand on each shoulder of the other man and he squeezes them while he thinks for a moment with eyes glancing at the floor. After a beat, those light eyes glance up and he inhales slowly. "I think… I'm just scared because things have been. Just… a mess for me. I'm finally at a place where I'm. I-I'm just in a better place and now that the eggs are going to hatch soon, it's all on the line and I could just lose it all. I know I won't lose you, but I just can't shake the feeling. I dunno, I'm sorry. I just need to hold out that everything is gonna turn out alright." He just lets his hands slide free and he takes a step back, turning towards his counter top. Another tray of cookies is put in position and he begins to decorate them, one after another.

Phineas listens, one hand raising to lightly grip Carellos' elbow as he offers a slow nod of his head. "I understand," he assures. When Carellos returns to his station, Finn scoops up a complaining Ferb and steps over to lightly bump Care's shoulder with his own. "We all have history," he reminds. "The trick is not to let it repeat itself, right?" Drawing back, he tucks Ferb into the crook of his arm and steps toward the door. "I'm going to put him down to nap in the barracks. When I get back, we'll knock these out and get that flour unloaded and put away." Glancing over his shoulder, he flashes a smile and a wink before breaking into a jog toward the barracks.


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