"Helping" in the Kitchen {Wide Open!}

[kira]

Z'ech grinned again as he started in on another potato. There was a group of kitchen girls gathered near him, ranging from plain to pretty, and he was thoroughly enjoying himself. Peeling potatoes had never been this much fun back home, to be sure. Whoever said that chores were boring had obviously just didn't have that great of company! ...And he quickly scribed that on his slate before grinning to the girls again. Two of them couldn't read - one of whom had gotten him to half-promise to teach her later - but their friends helped them out by reading it aloud.

More giggles abounded as he finished off the potato in his hands. While there were always people who were put off or annoyed by his disability, there were also always people who were fawningly sympathetic. (And probably even a few more now that he was a dragonrider, actually.) He was just a 'poor sweetheart,' according to one of the ladies. The cooks looked over at the small group on occasion and either rolled their eyes or glared. He rather figured that most of them were glad to have a few of the flightier ladies out from underfoot, to be honest. So he did his best to charm them and keep them occupied as he diligently kept to his task. A Weyr full of people required a lot of potatoes, after all.

He was fairly certain that there were others assigned this task around, but thus far he hadn't glimpsed any of his fellow Weyrlings. He could only flirt so much with the same group before it got a mite dull, and a guy could only take so much concentrated female attention at a time. Having someone else to stir things up a bit would definitely be welcome.

[HG]

Or'yn had sort of whizzed through chores with the help of some friends. Who wouldn't want to lend him a hand now that he had his wonderful Rath? Rank meant nothing to him but other people were much more moved by the whole Bronzerider thing. He had no choice but to let them help him. The problem now was figuring out what to do with the extra time on his hands. His stomach quickly answered that problem with a low grumble. Whistling to himself, Or'yn walked down the corridors from his designated chore to the kitchens. He was always welcome in the kitchen.

The young man waltzed right in and looked around for something fresh out of the oven like he owned the place. Although he knew he did not, he was accustomed to the kitchen drudges knowing him and treating him like a kid instead of a young man. Being a charming young man and short for his age gave him certain priveledges. Besides the cooks were determined to get some meat on his bones! Spotting Z'ech with a good number of young ladies he waved. “Hey Z'ech!” Or'yn spoke loud enough to be heard over the people working in the kitchens.

As he walked over to the other boy he snatched a redfruit from the nearest counter. He stopped briefly to examine the fruit for blemishes or rotting and then took a large bite. His mouth crunched on the redfruit as he approached. He was smaller than Z'ech by a good bit and younger. However he found the other youth amusing and rather amiable.

“I see you're being kept busy...” He said after swallowing his first mouthfull of redfruit. Or'yn was not suave enough with girls to know how to treat them. Certainly he had no intention of greeting them himself. He was only fourteen and while he was curious of them he was much to cautious to talk to them. At least not without being involved in a conversation. The only young woman he felt truly comfortable around was his sister. Mostly because he found her to be too closely related to be attractive in any way.

He took another bite, not saying a word to the girls. They might be put off by it but he was not in the mood to care much. Z'ech and he were dragonriders and the girls would have plenty of time to get to know them better when their dragons were mature. For now though they were a part of a chaste group of people. This made them safe to flirt with though, he supposed swallowing the next bit of redfruit,