Morning Chores (open)

[alaurasmith]

Aroya was dressed for once in a more feminine outfit that included a blouse with a shirt that we're tan in colorings due to the fact she was cooking. She had come here only a few days ago to trade dried fish and ended up staying after being chosen to be a candidate. The sad situation there we're no eggs on the sands just missing by a few weeks and would have to wait for a while. In the mean time she meant to kill time learning new things and had been put to work in the kitchens. While she seemed to develop a interest in it there was something just daunting about all the cooking that this place seemed to require. It started with morning making stew and klah then baking bread it never seemed to stop and was currently baking bread.

Her long brown hair was done up in braids that we're tied up around her head to keep out of the way and wiped the sweat off her forehead. She continue to bake as she looked around it was early morning and no one seemed to be up right now. The only other person in the room was a young man that was odviously a rider and seemed to just be returning with all his riding gear on. She personally appreciated all the dragons no matter the color and just smiled at the though of impression before continuing to knead the dough. Her father hadn't even giving her any grief in leaving and some thought in her head was maybe he wanted her to go.

When she turned around to put the dough on a piece of wood then shut the old iron door and sighed before sitting down to rest. Aroya wasn't used to working in the kitchen though everybody had to earn their keep and sighed then went to get up to stir the klah. When hearing a noise went back to work that was the sound of people coming probably to eat and just went back to getting busy. In a essence she had chosen to stay here until another clutch was on the sands and vowed to make herself at home here.

The young woman would not go back to her father begging for a place to stay and settle down to just to have many children which lead to women dyning all the time. She had heard horror stories and just made her work harder for fear of that being her fate. While she focusing all her attention on that a few more people came in and even Aroya had to smile everyone was waking up to greet the world. Sounds of dragons waking up and of people talking this place was never quiet for long.

[Requiem]

"I said they didn't assign me here!" the boy protested loudly. He looked much like he'd just woken up (true) rolled out of bed (true) and run in front of a snowblower (not quite as true). In all actuality, the candidate had been sneezed on. Little known fact about dragons: some had hoards. He had a nice little bauble in his pocket now. Of course, it was as wet as the child who had been knocked off the low ledge directly into the river by the sweep of a dragon tail.

This mishap, apparently, had convinced the drudges working on the riverbank who'd fished him out that Armind was 'up to no good' and 'needed to be put to work'. Of course, when he'd nearly escaped a third time from their evil sudsy clutches, a fat old frau had taken him by the arm and frogmarched him over here to the true terrors of the world of drudgery. Whatever had he done to deserve such treatment?!

The child was fairly certain that it was against some sort of law or statute to put kids his age in the same room as pmsing women with blades the length of his forearm. An opinion which he announced quite loudly. It also earned him a rather resounding slap across the face for such insolence. (One never accused a woman of pmsing, especially when she was, but Armind had the misfortune of forgetting that rule entirely too often.)

He yelped and rubbed at his stinging cheek. The next step was the death glare of doom. Okay, so it hadn't exactly killed anyone yet, but Armind was pretty sure that if he just practiced long enough eventually it would be developed to perfection. While his death glare was struggling toward success, the oldest and crustiest of the women pushed him over toward a girl - ew, cooties! - with braided hair and grumbled, "Help her with the klah. If you boil yourself don't come crying to me."

"Well maybe I just will boil myself. Then you'll be sorry!" He crossed his arms and directed a very unhappy look at Aroya. "Why do you have to be a girl?" If she touched him there were going to be problems. Caden was now a girl. This proved that all the stories about cooties were true! Armind definitely was not turning into a big old nasty girl. Yuck!

[alaurasmith]

Aroya had to smile at the young boy who had been sent to help her and smiled, "Thanks, for the help," then went on to stir the large pot of klah. She had to smile at him about being a girl and said, "Last time I checked that's what I am my name is Aroya,". The young boy was very full of himself reminding her of the young brothers left behind and smiled at those memories. One younger brother Motorick was her favorite and vowed to one day after impression to visit him. "What is your name," asked Aroya as she went to stir another kettle then throw some wood on the fire? It's flames seemed to dance in the air and then added more warmth with a smile went back to stirring because if it sat for too long it would be ruined. Aroya didn't need the wrath of the head woman coming down on here any bad impressions might keep her from standing next time.

She started to study the boy's features for a moment he looked like any twelve or maybe thirteen year old who was around here. The thought crossed her mind he probably was the offspring of a dragon rider as many we're around here raised by the kitchen help. Dragonriders didn't have time to care for children and she smiled at the thought of always having someone around to help with the children. "Are you hungry I can get you some bread," asked Aroya trying to make friends she was new here and wanted to get to know some new people? The place seemed to get louder as more riders came in and demands for food started to grow.

The young woman took another inward breath and smiled at him trying to block out noisy riders coming in no doubt bronze the way they carried themselves. She did appreciate the browns in one way they seemed to carry themselves with just the right amount of pride.

[Requiem]

"Don't thank me. I didn't want to come here," Armind muttered rebelliously. He thought that this smiling person must not be very smart. She kept on saying stupid things, after all. His none-too-pleased look went to not-at-all-pleased when she decided to be snotty and smile stupidly. "I asked..." he reiterated very slowly so that she wouldn't misunderstand this time, "why you have to be a girl. Not if you are one. Not blind."

For a moment he thought about just not answering her. Then maybe she'd stop talking to him. Of course, with his luck she'd probably just think he couldn't hear her and keep repeating the question louder and louder like a retard. "Armind," the boy returned shortly. After watching her go around with that stupid smile some more as she stirred and fussed, he wrinkled his nose. "It must be stuck that way. Your face, I mean. That or you've a hollow head. Don't you ever stop smiling?"

Was she offering him bread now? His eyes narrowed suspiciously. But his stomach chose that moment to rather noisily remind him that he hadn't taken breakfast before going dragon hoard raiding. Maybe retards could be good for something? "Maybe. Are you going to spit in it?" But before he could continue to wage war against all things pink and flowery, the demanding men wandering through caught his attention. Even cheeky little things tended to know better than to get in the way of power like that.

Armind shrunk around Aroya and made a show of doing something with his hands. Not that it was likely to fool anyone watching closely because he had no knife with which to chop, making the chopping motions look rather silly if you got a proper eyeful. As soon as they'd passed out of the 'danger' range the child dropped the charade. "Okay, I'll eat the bread. But you'd better not spit on it. I'll know." He put small hands on equally small hips.

[alaurasmith]

"Here you go," said Aroya as she cut some bread placing it on a pan and then put some butter on it while handing it to the boy. Aroya knew that this boy wasn't very trustworthy then sat the pan on the table and would let the boy take what he wanted. She went back to stirring the stew then grabbed some bowls and started to put stew in a few then take them to the tables. It was becoming busier and she started to hand out the bowls of soup to the riders with an occasional glance at the boy. He seemed to put on a tough act and it made the young woman just laugh while serving the dragon riders. While the room became crowded with riders coming in to get ready for the day and noticed the nearby kettles had started to boil over.

"Hey, stir those kettles," yelled Aroya over at the boy not really caring if it got him angry or not because he seemed just like her little brother. Aroya was used to little boy with their personalities and nothing really bothered her when they didn't really listen. She was not going to have morning meal ruined however by someone not wanting to do their share. The woman didn't want to get in trouble and later it ruin her chances of becoming a candidate just because of one small incident. When a man yelled for bread she rushed over to get a few loaves and started to chop them as sweat came off her brow.

Her smiled would not falter though determined to work through anything no matter how difficult a situation and would glance once in a while at the boy. It would take a lot to break her and would not break for anything no mater what happened. In an attempt to grab a hot pan she didn't grab a cloth and burned her hand dropping the pan with a bite of her tongue. Her eyes we're welling up with tears as the entire hand was blood red and went to put it in a bowl of water nearby.

[Requiem]

She was laughing at him. Really? Armind settled for scowling at her, because she was still being a nice, obedient girl and getting him that bread. The child munched on it and glanced around with some curiosity. Quite a lot of bustle at this time. It was actually one of the best times to be working here if you knew how not to get underfoot. Everyone was too busy with their own things to notice a boy wandering around. Glancing around quickly, he moved to stuff a large serving spoon in his waistband.

Only to let it fall to the floor with a clatter at Aroya's exclamation. His eyes darted to her, but she was only being bossy like older girls liked to be. Armind rolled his eyes and quickly bent to snatch up the spoon, covering it with his shirt. There. Heist complete. He glanced from side-to-side to be sure no one had seen, a self-contented smile spreading across his face. (Nevermind what Aroya had been yelling for him to do. If adults didn't scare him, why would a pimply girl?)

Boy was this girl trying too hard. Did she think dragons would be impressed by how obedient she'd been serving a bunch of pompous asses in flight-jackets? His small arms crossed over his chest when she burned her hand. "Well, that was brilliant. Maybe you'll get lucky and it won't blister to the point of being completely stiff and unusable...don't do that." Armind wrinkled his nose. Stupid girls.

He cut her off, grasping her wrist well above her burnt hand. "Cool water. Not cold. Not room temperature. Don't you know anything?" Armind tugged her over toward a basin of water supplied by the river, testing it first, then eased her hand into it. "Stop crying. It's not even that bad. Scalding water or oil might be worth crying over." Armind released her and began vigorously wiping his hands off on his trousers. Great. Girl cooties.