Motley Crew [Req and Rii]

[Lotty]

A playful swipe at the air pushed away the harper's commentary. Needling? He always manages to put things into a negative light, she would never ever say that she was "needling", but then that was just her. With a hop and a skip she followed the boys to the kitchens, surprised - though she didn't know why - that the wherling pair had taken the initiative. She rather thought he would be loathe to head that way on account of the wher...she didn't think that even the low light of the hall at night would be too good for the lovely blue of his, but then she also wasn't one to argue about this. She was much too delighted by the idea of dining with the guys.

Stepping into the kitchens she first began poking around the leftovers, and finding pieces to give to the bird of hers. When she found wherry eggs - after failing to find fish - she was quick to also start scrounging for a pot and some water. She intended to boil them of course because Cap'n just adored the egg whites and had since he was just a little hatching. Odd to her since he came out of an egg himself, but that was what she was told to feed him, and it seemed to have worked just fine. Unfortunately her rudimentary cooking attempts just lined up perfectly with Rulven's next question. Hmmm....well boiling an egg was one thing, but cooking? She wasn't exactly the best at that...and to think they probably expected it out of her!

"Well, don't look at me!" she said as she hid her utensils behind her back. Oh please oh please don't! She could cook down numbweed to a paste, but actual food? Not since she was a little kid... Smiling she passed off the question to Dmitri, though she had a sneaking suspicion he might not be much better. Between the three of them though maybe it was possible to put together something? After all drudges managed to cook all the time! And here were three totally capable people, there was no way any of this could go wrong, "How about you Demi? Though I don't want your hair to wind up in any of it..." another tease despite the fact she was so fond of those pretty blonde locks of his, "just not very tasty I would guess."

[Requiem]

Once they were within sight of the Main Hall and you had to be stupid and blind not to be able to find your way, Dmitri paused, making a vague motion with his hand (that may or may not have been seen) for the other two to continue. His hand ran lightly along the wher's spine, Dmisk shifting his weight just enough to bring his back more firmly into contact with the boy's fingers. "You gonna be all right out here?" The blue didn't make a sound, nor touch him with even an inkling of emotion. Not a touch, either. He simply turned his head and fixed Dmitri with a placid stare. Snorting, Dmitri shoved firmly at the wher, who of course wasn't at all dislodged. "Of course not. Fine. Tch. I was just worrying about you. My bad." The wher's tail brushed the back of his leg, and Dmisk disappeared into the trees.

Entering the kitchens to find his two - friends? - rummaging through everything, he caught the latter part of Rulven's question. Raebeli's response was downright amusing, and he couldn't resist a chuckle. He slid up behind her and plucked the utensils from her fingers, turning them over with a raised brow. "They made of gold or something? Sure doesn't look it." Dmitri handed them back to her and looked for some sort of larder door...there. He peeked his head inside, commenting as he did so, "At least if my hair gets in there, you're likely to notice it before you eat it."

His eyes were more accustomed to the dark than these others, for good reason, but he still couldn't make everything out. The wherling stole a glowbasket. "One of you, check the ovens. If they've any leftover bread they usually leave it there, over the coals, to keep warm." The boy disappeared inside, scrounging around. When he returned, it was with a few redfruit, some dried meat and a wedge of cheese. "Nope. Don't cook, but I'm the master of midnight snacks," he concluded with a small grin.

[rii]

Raebali's don't look comment had entirely the opposite effect. Rulven twisted around from his crouch to view the mind healer – apparently hiding something behind her back. His brows met thoughtfully, peaking in his forehead as he tired to come up with a reason to explain her behavior. Dmitri's intervention brought forth the answer, and Rulven merely chuckled with a faint shake of his head.

It had been a simple hope that one of them cooked. Rulven could, to an extent, but food always tasted better when made by the hands of another. At the mention of bread the candidate wandered over in the direction of the ovens without a word. Indeed the harper had spoken truthfully – must come from numerous night time feedings. After retrieving a towel, Rulven wrapped up the bread and returned to set it on the counter alongside Dmitri's collection.

"You really should eat proper meals, not just snack.. " He said this to the harper, poking a finger at his ribs to illustrate – in a mild way – the other male's almost too slender physique. With that height Dmitri often looked like he would be just bones if not clothed. Rulven moved past him, snagging a red fruit (he really wasn't that hungry. It turns more into a problem of being unable to turn down a meal) he peered over Raebali's shoulder at her current utensil and task.

"So what are you planning to burn?" Rulven felt only a little odd teasing the mind healer. Dmitri was one thing, he knew the harper more. He offered her a quick grin while continuing to look over the counter – maybe offer a helping hand if she did intend to try and not burn something in a cooking attempt.

[Lotty]

She just did her usual school girl giggles when Demi prodded at her supposed utensils of gold before pulling back her wooden spoon again and turning to the little cauldron. She actually didn't need the spoon for stirring or anything of the sort. All she had done was drop some wherry eggs in there after all, so the spoon would only really be helpful in getting them out. Nonetheless, having it in her hand gave her a certain sense of authority that she so rarely felt so she sort of relished having it in her hand. The harper was half wrong after all, it might not be made of gold, but it certainly held the same weight.

She dropped in a couple extra eggs into the pot...she figured that maybe they would like some hardboiled eggs to go with whatever it was that Demi had been putting together. Of course she didn't ask, but what they didn't put to use would just go to her oversized avian anyway. Another second in she felt the smith lean over her shoulder - which honestly isn't that hard to do - and while some might be a little perturbed by such infringements on private space Raebeli was most certainly not. If anything she relished such attention and rewarded Rulven with a perky bounce and grin, "Water of course!"

Yes, if there was a way to burn water then Rae was going to find it...in the name of science? Hmmmm. Well, really all that was at risk was the eggs and at the rate this was going they weren't even going to get warmed up. After all a watched pot never comes to boil and here they were staring at the thing. She turned away from her project hoping to find something to distract her for a moment. She cocked her head at Dmitri, "So master of midnight snackery...what are you going to slap together?" From a quick guess she would venture to say he was making a sandwich. What else would require a loaf of bread? Still she was holding out until she found out the final word from the man himself. She turned her attention to Rulven again, "So I take it that you ate all of your vegetables as a kid?" Obviously a reference to the young man's physique.

[Requiem]

Dmitri cast about for a good knife to suit his purposes, pausing and shooting Rulven what was clearly an indulgent look as the smith ran a finger down his ribs. No, he didn't actively have an issue with being touched, but it wasn't exactly something he went looking for, either. The look might have been more a reaction to the smith's comment, however. "I'm not as slight as people seem to think," he responded mildly. He couldn't cook, and it wasn't as if the drudges manned the kitchens at night. Wherhandlers were left to fend for themselves. In general, Selenitas weyr seemed to forget their existence outside the odd Hatching. Out of sight, out of mind.

So yes, the harper tended to snack. He did at least attempt to keep his meals balanced. They just weren't the nice, freshly made, warm meals that the dragonriders were treated to.

Scoffing softly at the teasing conversation between Rulven and Rae - he was silently grateful that they were getting on, since it could be argued that, aside from Eikane, these two were his only real friends - Dmitri sliced the bread deftly, moving on to the meat. "Nothing really. Just stealing leftovers." He ducked into the pantry again, returning with butter and some dried greens. It only took him a moment to locate the seasonings. Butter and seasoning for the greens (dried greens didn't tend to taste particularly good without some sort of help) and more laid out for the bread if anyone wanted it. He set the platter near Raebeli's pot of water to burn.

"When I get bored, I sometimes rearrange things in here, then wander in for breakfast to see how much of a tizzy it gets the drudges in," he commented cheerfully. "I think they're onto me now though. A shame. Still, a flaming pot of water might be enough to do the trick."

[rii]

Rulven pulled back when Raebali jumped – in fright? No, the grin spoke of a different reaction. He gave the bubbly mind healer an almost awkward smile in return, his hand come around and pushing at the brandished wooden spoon. She held it with such importance, as if she had intentions of smacking his hands if he made a grab at her – he peered into the pot – her eggs.

With a slight twitch of a smirk, Rulven moved on to again poke through the dry storage. Palming something, the former smith moved around to sit at the counter near the cooking mind healer but still off to the side to be out of the way. He lazily folded the one arm across his lap while munching on the red fruit with the other.

"If I only ate leaves I'd probably look like him." With a raise of his chin he gestured toward the harper, redirecting Raebali's attention to the approaching Dmitri and his platter. The simple phrase served a series of purposes, but the one that Rulven took advantage of was to have Raebali looking the other way. His hand snuck over, using the distraction to smear the bit of solidified lard behind her pan.

Smoke, or catch fire... if she wanted to tease about burning water..

"Oh, so that's been you getting the drudges all fired up in the morning," Rulven picked back up on the conversation, leaning back in his stool seat and returning to his redfruit. Mischief? Him? Certainly not. "They are a fussy sort to begin with. I was wondering why they were being more curt with me than usual.."

[Lotty]

She never saw the grease hit the pan. Even if she did she wouldn't know what to think of it; two and two would have never come together. No, she was too busy keeping her attention on her company. People were what interested her after all, so of course the pot went unwatched as she regarded her friends. They were friends right? She definitely considered Demi one, after all they used nicknames with each other, but Rulven, he could be friends too even though they had just met. It wasn't like there were limits on how many you could have...just as long as you loved them all. And don't begin to think that the girl could possibly run out of love.

She was poking at the platter and pilfering a piece of bread when she faintly noticed the smell of burning fat. It caused her to crinkle her nose but nothing more before she replied to Demi's confession of troublemaking, "Oh so that is your doing? I should have known..." she had been witness to the upheaval it caused one morning...though she couldn't say that she was alone in this sort of mischief, "Now now Demi. How do you feel when people do those kinds of things to you?" She really only wanted to know for the laughs.

Ironically, she was about to learn exactly what it was like when she was the butt of the joke. That smell was overwhelming and she heard that sound of fire fluting up and she spun aroud to meet the red and blue flames. Oh no oh no oh no oh no! In just an instant everything had changed. She had actually caught water on fire! All she could do is flap around like a hen and plead, "What do I do!? What do I do?" Rulven...he would know surely. She ran behind him and used him as a human shield while she winced and wished her mistakes away.

[Requiem]

Dmitri shot Rulven a long-suffering look at the comment about leaves. Really. All this insistence that he was so skinny. For a six foot tall fifteen turn old, he was actually quite well filled out, even if his frame hadn't broadened any. At least he didn't look like a growing pup, all lanky arms and legs and tripping over himself. Femininely slender, perhaps, but definitely not twiggy. They both seemed to react to his comment about messing with the drudges at once, in similarly teasing ways, which he couldn't help but find amusing...only there was something bothering him, and that was clear in the distracted look to his eyes. His nostrils flared. Burning. Fat. What? There shouldn't be anything like that to burn.

The burst of flame had him shying back reflexively, throwing an arm up in front of his eyes, and he growled in a sound that much more closely resembled a wher than a human. Dmitri was becoming sensitive to sudden light - the light of day, which he was finding progressively distasteful, wasn't so much a bother to him because you could expect it, but sudden flares of light almost sent him into twitch fits. The joys of being a wherhandler.

He was grateful for the thin gloves he usually wore as he reached out to remove the pot from the flame. Water and grease never mixed well, so he bypassed that for the flour, dumping more than was probably necessary on the base of the flames and jerking back with some truly colorful words spilling from his lips. Smoke filled the room almost instantly, as well as enough flour to produce sneezes for a good few minutes, but the fire was decidedly out. "Don't they clean this place before leaving at night? Highly irresponsible. What if it had sparked when no one was here? We're in a tree for Faranth's sake. For that matter, what idiots decided to build kitchens in a tree?"

Whirling, he clamped down on his annoyance long enough - after a couple more choice words that sounded much more like he'd picked them up in the alleys of Fort Hold than at Harper Hall - to ask, "Are you all right, Rae?" Those flames had sprung up quite suddenly.

[rii]

Rulven caught Dmitri's look, but only smiled in response. If people kept on insisting that he was so large and huge, he would return the musing in reverse. The harper just happened to be present and Rulven felt more comfortable teasing him instead of Raebali – females often took harmless humor poorly and blew things out of proportion.

Raebali's question of ethics piqued Rulven's interest, but alas an answer (sarcasm if he had to make an educated guess) would not be heard as the flame cut through the darkness. The smith merely narrowed his eyes at the slight change in light – and Raebali. He should have felt a little bit guilty, and he would apologize for it later, but at the moment he couldn't help but break out in laughter. The fact that she ducked behind him only had him nearly roaring.

At least until the general vicinity erupted in a puff of white powder and his laughter quickly transformed into hacking coughs that doubled him with hands on his knees. Really? Rulven managed a softer chuckle and he tried to wipe the white dusting from his face. It was just a tiny little flame and Dmitri sounded so outraged, then concerned for the mind healer shying behind him.

"You should –" Coughing, Rulven straightened somewhat. "–should –" Another cough. Bother. Rulven trailed off in a quiet mixture of snickering and coughs. Could probably do with some water, but he best save the coals of the fire before it was too late. Raebali still had to finish cooking those eggs, after all. The tall candidate knelt in front of the stove and began to clear out the flour and salvage the embers.

[Lotty]

When the flour dust settled all Rae could do was cough. That couldn't be good for the lungs! Doubled over she emptied her lungs a few times, still completely frightened by her new found ability to set water on fire and trying to convince herself that everything is ok. Everything was fine - she didn't engulf the entire kitchens in flame. So while Dmitri let his mouth run with criticisms of the kitchen staff she thanked all of her lucky stars that the harper, the smith, and herself were all alive. She was horribly concerned about the entire crew really, but that was a given. What she didn't expect was for Dmitri to show so much concern for her....

She put her her hand to her chest and looked at Demi with nothing short of shock and delight. He was a life saver. He saved her! But even more important he was concerned about her! He asked if she was alright and just the notion that he cared enough to ask had her almost squealing in a giddy schoolgirl fashion, "Demi! You care! You asked about me! That is so so sweet of you!" And she couldn't help it, she most definitely had to hug him, squeeze him, and possibly strangle the life out of him just to show how thankful she was. She was able to cross the distance between them with a swiftness associated only with salamandyrs and wrapped her arms around him...despite the fact that this would only mean covering herself in even more flour

Raebeli couldn't hold grudges. She didn't hold grudges, but that didn't stop her from giving Rulven a slightly disapproving frown. What was so funny about any of this? Although she didn't implicate the man in the crime, his laughter did not let him off the hook and innocent. She pulled away from the harper boy so that she could waggle a finger at the smith and let him know a thing or two about the seriousness of this all...and well since Rae couldn't stay serious for long, we all know how intimidating this really came out to be, "Shame on you Rulven! Somebody could have gotten hurt! You aren't supposed to laugh about such dangerous situations even if they are slightly funny and...." she could feel how caked on the flour was sitting on her cheek, "I look like a ghost don't I?"

[Requiem]

He may not have seen the smith in action, but he wasn't slow in the slightest, and he didn't have the benefit of Raebeli's oh-so-sweet spirit. Dmitri suspected Rulven instantly. No way was it that funny unless the smith had had some sort of hand in it, even if he was likely mostly immune to the effects of a fire suddenly springing up, being comfortable around a forge. (Dmitri had a long list of grievances against fire, not the least of which being caught in a house that had - purposely or coincidentally - taken flame from a dragon in the midst of a battle carrying on overhead. He did not like fire.)

Before he could react, however, he had a mindhealer clinging to him and exclaiming, the teenager stiffening in surprise and the fact that her - femaleness - was a bit overwhelming at such close proximity. To say that he had it on the mind constantly like most teenaged boys seemed to would have been a lie, but neither was he immune, and the harper swallowed thickly, pushing her back, though gently. His eyes narrowed. Cared about...? Tch. Wouldn't do. He had a reputation for a selfish, immature asshole to maintain, after all. "Care about you? It would just be exceedingly inconvenient to have to explain why I'm returning a mindhealer to the infirmary all crispy."

A ghost. He snickered. "I think we all do, a bit," Dmitri commented dryly, ever-so-casually upending the rest of the flour on Rulven's head for his delightful little prank. He returned the jar to the counter and shook his head, causing the flour to cloud around his face and send him into a fit of sneezes all his own. His mouth formed in a little moue of distaste. "Going to take forever to get that out," he grumped, once again considering the wisdom of wearing his hair long enough to play jump rope with. This would be the work of candlemarks. Oh well. What really had he to do? Roivao had gone missing - perhaps scared off by the unruly wherling class - and they were left mostly to their own devices. He certainly preferred the bathing rooms over the hazing - there was really no better term for it - he was frequently subjected to in the barracks. It seemed being an immature, selfish asshole had it's drawbacks.

Who would have guessed?

[rii]

"No one was going to get hurt," Rulven countered Raebali's scolding as he moved around the coals to center back under the pot of water. Blinking, the smith turned his gaze to the mind healer to examine her ghostly exterior. He grinned, opening his mouth to speak but only getting a mouth full of flour when it suddenly rained down on him.

More coughing ensued, dropping Rulven down onto his hands (already on his knees) as he tried to clear his wind pipes. "Bastard." He managed to choke out, fingers scraping the caking flour out of his mouth. Shame he didn't have a shirt to use to at least wipe his face. Tears had leaked out the corner of his eyes from his mixture of laughing and fit of coughing. It was starting to make his lashes stick together.

Easing himself, a bit wobbly, back onto his feet, Rulven took a few small steps over to another counter. His hands traveled over the surfaces, patting as if in search for an objects he could not see. Considering the lack of lighting and the blurry vision he did have at the moment, he may as well been blind. Need to wash up – too late to go to the river – a wry grin spread at the idea of using the communal baths. It would end up make a soupy batter in one of the pools.

"Now the drudges are really going to be an uproar – " And suddenly they had become accomplices, hadn't they. He rubbed unsuccessfully at one of his eyes, squinting at the other two. "I'm going to scram before–" He sneezed, loudly, sending up yet another puff of white haze to add to their guilty cloud.

[Lotty]

Oh Demi. He could never fool her. Despite having to be pried off of him - though gently - she didn't think of it as anything other than the boy being a brat for show. He was in the presence of another male and she just knew how weird they got about displays of even innocent affection around each other. So was she offended? Oh no. Hardly did the idea ever register in her brain, she might not even know what it is to take offense to something, so she just continued on her own little bout of happiness. If only her spirits rubbed off onto more people....

She had begun to attend to fixing her new ghostly complexion with a rag and a bucket when Demi had gone about dumping more of the white cooking dust all over Rulven's head and hence causing even more of a mess despite his grumping about it all. Oh boys. Why could they never just put things back where they found them? She paused half way through her virtual spongebath so that she could scrounge up a broom and dust pan. Even if it really would take hours to clean up the entire mess, they could at least put forth the effort to tidy up.

Raebeli looked every bit like a happy homemaker as she began sweeping up flour and wagging her finger at Rulven's use of the word bastard. She could care less what foul words came out his mouth, but it was still fun to tease, "Language Rulven..." She didn't force a broom into either of their hands nor did she protest when the smith said he was going to run off...because she flly expected them to be guilted into staying and helping. She could look rightly pathetic when she wanted something, just cue the quivering lip and face to the floor. Don't mind me...just hiding the evidence of /our/ mischief.

[Requiem]

Stealing the rag from Raebeli as she went to locate a broom (ha! as if that was likely to do more than just swirl the flour around) and tossing it at the smith's face, he pushed the flour from his clothes, stopping when it just kept putting more white powder back into the air. "It's hardly language when it's the truth, Rae," he stated drolly. Bastard child for the win. Although his grandparents had been good enough to him, so he supposed there was no real reason to be bitter about it.

"Before they come in and discover us? Good idea. We could help the crazy woman clean, but it won't be done, and I doubt they're going to be terribly forgiving just because we're scrubbing things." A moral creature? Dmitri? Not when he could help it. He glanced at Raebeli, then mentally shrugged and wrapped an arm around her waist. She clearly didn't mind contact (see: earlier attempt at crushing his ribcage) and didn't look like she'd be easy to talk into leaving.

Tugging the mindhealer along, the wherhandler quickly vacated the kitchens. He couldn't resist teasing her, though. "You know, you'd probably upset the staff at the baths, making a mess of their water. A dip in the river would likely be better." The oh-so-evil harper pulled up right at the edge of the dock, pressing her toward the edge, though he didn't quite put enough force behind it to drop her in. Dmitri smirked. Flailing women amused him far too much.