Burnt water for missing spoons~ (Shiny

[dragon]

Sometimes, it was quite annoying to be so very young. This L'nu decided, as he found himself standing there holding a large iron kettle in some confused bemusement. What was he supposed to do with it? He hadn't exactly caught the instructions that had been garbled at best due to their hasty nature. Apparently the cook had thought he was a candidate, or weyrling, or drudge or something.

Granted, that was probably partly his fault. He'd been in the kitchens and without his knots. Mostly because he had been trying to be sneaky. Needless to say it had backfired. He'd found a collection of forks and spoons in his laundry again, much to his dismay. He really needed to get a pet that he could blame this on. No one would believe him if he blamed it on Rose. Gold flitters didn't swipe stuff the way, oh, say, mandyrs did. So, he'd gathered them up and tried to sneak them back into the kitchens, all without bothering with formal attire in any fashion. Which meant he was without knots, and appearing to be sneaking about the kitchen like a goody-hungry kid.

-Sigh-

He stared into the iron pot for a moment, before exacting a herculean strength to lift it high enough to slide it onto a worktable. His problems seemed to be mounting upon each other. Worse, in having the pot shoved at him so suddenly he'd never noticed that he'd automatically stuffed the spoons and forks back into his pockets ... which was ultimately a very bad place for them to land. They'd only end up back in his weyr again! If and when he did eventually notice they were there.

Rose landed on the far rim of the pot and looked down into it before looking at L'nu and peeping an inquiry; by far the mildest sound she'd made all month.

"Shards if I know. I don't cook. I've never cooked. How would I know what they want done with it?" L'nu asked. "I'm not even sure what that's supposed to be! It doesn't look like any food I've ever seen before. It looks kinda ... runny. Mushy. Um. Lumpy?" He reached over the lip and poked the contents cautiously with a finger. It glooped. He yanked his hand back out of the pot and wiped his finger on his pants. "An unknown viscous liquid." L'nu decided.

Rose cheeped in answer, though he didn't have the first clue what she meant by it. While he stared at the pot trying to decide what to do with it, Rose leapt back into the air and winged her way overhead all the way across the kitchen. Backwinging into a landing there, she uttered a throat-ripping scolding. Purely and simply because she recognized her current auditory victim. How dare he stay missing for so long? Slaves shouldn't go missing!

[Shiny]

J'ash opened his mouth to ask a Drudge something, but was promptly hushed by a screaming Gold firelizard. The loud screech made the blonde nearly jump out of his skin, and once his heart had returned to its rightful place from his mouth, he blinked, recognizing his lecturer to be Rose. Rose... that means L'nu must be here! J'ash thought, smiling (a little apologetically) at the Gold flit before taking a few steps deeper into the kitchen, looking for his friend. The Brown that had been sitting on his shoulder leaped off and fluttered up to perch next to the Gold, chirruping in a wooing fashion. Hello, pretty pretty! Drama's eyes whirled, deciding that Rose would be his momentary obsession. Rolling his eyes at the promiscuous Brown firelizard, J'ash leaned to the side, trying to see through bodies. The Bluerider spotted the teen staring almost wistfully into a large iron pot. He darted around some bustling kitchen workers, smiling broadly at the teenager he hadn't seen in ages.

"Hey, long time no see!" J'ash hung his arm briefly around L'nu's shoulders in a sideways half-hug. He would have hugged him fully if the situation didn't seem somewhat time-sensitive. Judging by the look on L'nu's face, J'ash was going to get to cook today, whether or not he got a Drudge to teach him, as he'd originally planned.

Gray eyes slid to focus on the contents of the pot. "Um..." Reaching back quickly, J'ash pulled his hair back and tied it into a ponytail, and then leaned in to get a better look at the goop sitting on the iron lifelessly. "...What is that? What are you supposed to do with-" the look on L'nu's face said it all. "Oh."

Well, this was quite the predicament. J'ash didn't know how to cook (in fact, he was here to ask for lessons, but he supposed that plan was moot now) and it didn't seem L'nu did either. But he couldn't just leave his friend to suffer; and anyway, he hadn't seen the Bluerider for a long time, so it was doubly necessary to pitch in. "I'll try to help!" J'ash exclaimed, tapping the counter nervously as he looked around for something he could use. Ah, there was a drawer of spatulas, and a rack with powdered things, and over there was a metal frame with a fire crackling underneath it.

"Help me lift this, I think cooking this on the stove would be a good idea. It looks raw." Slowly and carefully, he transported the pot and its contents to the stove top, then darted to his findings. He quickly gathered two large spatulas, grabbed a random bottle of puke-green powder (hey, spice was always good no matter which one it was, right?), and set all of the stuff down beside the stove. "Here, I think you'll need this." He handed L'nu one spatula, wielding his own at the pot as if it had looked at him the wrong way.

"We can do this! Just gotta watch it carefully..."

[dragon]

Rose was momentarilly mollified by the appropriately contrite expression ... and brief utter horror ... that had crossed J'ash's face. Settling down where she was, she flicked one wing and then the other as she looked around for someone else to correct back into proper line and fashion. Everything must go just so to be perfect, after all!! She meeped when J'ash's brown fitter turned up at her side, cooing like a deranged bat. Turning her gaze sideways to regard the brown, she arched her neck. Pretty?! Who was he calling pretty? She wasn't pretty! She was gorgeous. After all she was the only REAL Queen in the whole place! Even the big ones were just impostors, after all. Never even think of the little mutant worms. EUgh. But ... well ... any praise was good praise. Rose preened a bit, flicking her rose-colored tail to one side as she licked the leading edge of one wing, flaring it to show off the heart shapes emblazoned upon it. He would do as a peanut gallery ... for now.

L'nu practically screamed he was so startled to suddenly be attacked from the side ... or ... er ... okay. Not attacked. It made him glad his voice had stayed caught in his throat, though the deer in the lanternlight stare he gave J'ash wasn't much help. Swallowing his guts back to where they belonged, he grinned. "Hi, J'ash. Where've you been?" He asked. "I've been hearing some pretty wild tales, and some people swear up and down you're the one in them."

"This?" He flicked a hand at the pot. "I have no idea what it is ... or what it's supposed to be." He admitted with a shrug. His mouth formed an 'O' as J'ash suddenly took off with it and hefted it over to the stove. Well ... he probably should have done that. It didn't take a genius to notice that he'd apparently done a lot more growing lately than J'ash had. But J'ash already had it licked, and was soon shoving a spatula into his hand. L'nu gave it a strange look as if he expected it to start writhing around on him. "Uhhhh...." he trailed off, uncertainly. "What is this? It looks like something I might have maybe used to shape the inside of a deep vase..." he suggested, before following J'ash over to the pot. He gave the jar of green spice an uncertain look as well. Why did that jar scare him?

But boy howdy was he glad to see J'ash ... and also very glad to think that J'ash knew what he was doing! Because L'nu certainly didn't have a clue. "Where did you learn to cook?" He asked, because he was pretty sure he remembered J'ash saying something a long time ago about not knowing anything about it. But he wouldn't swear to it either. Maybe it had been someone else. It had been a long time after all. Stepping over to the stove, L'nu poked at the spice jar with the other end of his spatula. "What is that?"