+- World of Pern (https://pern.second-pass.net/forum)
+-- Forum: Telgar Weyr Boundaries (https://pern.second-pass.net/forum/forumdisplay.php?fid=109)
+--- Forum: Telgar Hold (https://pern.second-pass.net/forum/forumdisplay.php?fid=117)
+--- Thread: [G] [C] [EVENT] 740.07.17 | Boring Baker (/showthread.php?tid=4455)
740.07.17 | Boring Baker - C'dhin - 17.Jul.19
“You really don’t have to stay with me,” C’dhin stated for about the fifth time since landing in the field near Telgar Hold all of twenty minutes ago. C’dhin had given Misharan a ride to the Gather since he was also going and that was just what friends did. He supposed he would have offered the ride or agreed to give one if asked even if he wasn’t going since he liked Misharan and some of his other friends enough to do such a thing and not think of it as being used.
But that didn’t mean he expected company the entire time. Oh, he knew Misharan would find a friend or six and disappear eventually—he was way too popular for his own good sometimes in C’dhin’s opinion—but he wasn’t the most exciting man around, despite the assurances from the Candidate that stated otherwise. C’dhin was still reeling from their weird confessions to each other and wasn’t about to put any label on what it meant. He assumed, and was fine with, they were still good friends that had great sex. The only difference was they knew there was more to like than just sex and cookies.
They were currently at a stall that sold honeyed breads and C’dhin was popping a chunk of the sample product into his mouth. It was his goal to try as many of the baked items he could that day so he could analyse them and mentally compare them to anything he made that was similar. If he found something he liked that seemed to do or have something different, the plan was to purchase the item and bring it home to further dissect and create his own recipe. It was a bit sneaky but also par for the course when it came to the craft. He really didn’t think it would hold Misharan’s attention for long though he really did appreciate the effort.
"But since you’re still here, try this and tell me if you like it,” C’dhin held up another piece of bread to Misharan’s mouth. Thanks to the way the man reacted to his baking, C’dhin was confident he’d be able to read the expressions and exclamations even if no coherent word came with it.
RE: 740.07.17 | Boring Baker - Sh'ran - 18.Jul.19
“Hmn, but see, consider this; I want to,” Misha said, getting a little tired of being told he could leave and do something else, though so far it had stayed ‘endearing’ and hadn’t reached ‘frustrating’ yet. Not annoying, he didn’t find it annoying, really, it was just that Misha thought C’dhin was great and the greenrider seemed to put himself down a lot, and that wasn’t great. Misharan would just have to show him otherwise, possible multiple times. But that wasn’t really something for a Gather, so until they had time for that conversation Misharan was just going to have to obstinately insist on hanging out with his friend for a while. There was plenty of time in the day to spend with whoever he wanted, and it was C’dhin’s turn for a while.
Besides, he was having fun wandering around as C’dhin investigated all the food stands. It got him lots of free samples of lots of really tasty things — though he still thought C’dhin was the best baker of any of the ones here. Partially because he was really good at making amazing treats and partially because most of the people selling the baked goods at the Gather were old and not nearly as attractive. Apparently Holders were missing out on hot bakers, which Misha felt was a real tragedy. Not that he was willing to share.
He happily accepted the next sample, a bit of some sort of bread. Misharan had made it into a game to try to catch C’dhin’s fingers every time he held something up to his mouth that he wanted Misharan to try. It was fun, and he had gotten a few good expressions out of the greenrider. The Candidates had all be repeatedly — excessively — been reminded to behave, and while it was probably preferred if they didn’t do anything to scandalize the Holders (which greatly limited fun things, in Misha’s experience), Misharan figured teasing C’dhin a little was fine. Being overly physically affectionate was also fine, he decided. People could just think he’d been drinking. At noon. It was a Gather, there were definitely people who started early and it was probably expected of Weyrfolk anyway.
“Oh, wow,” Misharan exclaimed, still chewing the bread sample, “that is sweet. Like being punched in the face with sugar, wow.” It was pretty good, and Misha liked it alright, but damn, he didn’t think anyone could have much at once. Did the baker actually sell any of this bread or did people eat the tiny sample and decide that was enough sweets for a week and move on? It didn’t sound like a good business model. Or maybe it was intended for kids, and they would badger their parents into buying some because kids love sweet things. Or something.
RE: 740.07.17 | Boring Baker - C'dhin - 18.Jul.19
C’dhin flushed yet again when Misharan’s mouth caught his fingers, knowing the man was doing it intentionally to flirt with him. He did his best not to further react to it and simply chuckled and nodded in agreement with Misharan’s assessment of the bread when it came. “I imagine some butter would help neutralize it,” or simply less honey but he wasn’t about to say that out loud in front of the vendor. Instead, he purchased a loaf, tucking it into the bag he brought solely for the reason of collecting items he wanted to dissect and duplicate. In a little notebook he brought, C’dhin jotted down the name of the bread and their initial reactions to it so he could remember later when he went back to analyse it and reverse engineer it to the basic components.
As they walked on, passing some stalls that were meats and things he didn’t have an interest in, C’dhin sighed and gave in. “I know you want to, Mish, but I’m not exactly being the most entertaining of friends right now. I’m doing what I do, playing baker even when I’m not baking. I mean, how one dimensional can I be?” He did have other interests but he simply enjoyed baking and loved that he had people to feed that appreciated his work. Baking was also a weird craft that didn’t have an actual Hall and unless he wanted to come up with his own recipes—which he did do—he had to try other people’s work and figure out their secret on his own because bakers were dicks and didn’t share unless they took on an apprentice.
“I just don’t want you to miss out on actual fun because you’re helping me taste things.” Suddenly feeling bad and worried Misharan might think he was trying to get rid of him, C’dhin stopped, grabbing his friend as he did so to ensure he also stopped. Despite the rules running freshly around his head thanks to a final reminder that morning, C’dhin decided he was a greenrider and had already been judged as a whore and so scandalizing, he pulled Misharan in for a gentle kiss, keeping his arms looped loosely around his friend when he ended it with a smile. “But I do like having you with me so I’ll enjoy your company before something more exciting steals you away.”
RE: 740.07.17 | Boring Baker - Sh'ran - 18.Jul.19
“Ohh, yeah, definitely,” Misha said with a nod at the suggestion of butter to tone down the sweetness. A butter with a good amount of salt in it would be especially good with the bread. He’d probably never have thought of it himself, of course, but he had C’dhin to let him in on all the ‘how to make these baked goods taste even better’ secrets. Or, some of them at least. A lot of the details of baking were beyond him, but ‘put butter on overly sweet bread' was simple enough for Misharan to understand why and how it worked.
He poked around the stall at all the other treats on display while C’dhin bought some of the honey bread, trying to count how many different breads this stall had on display and wondering how long it took to bake everything there. Was it all from the same baker? Did he have apprentices? Because seemed to have too much available for a single person to bake fresh in one morning.
Once C’dhin had paid and written down something or other that he felt was important about the bread — he took baking notes, it was so terribly endearing — Misha followed him onward, past a number of stalls C’dhin didn’t seem interested in when C’dhin decided to start being self deprecating again. He pursed his lips and was about to start on that conversation that apparently couldn’t be put off until later after all when C’dhin stopped, pulling Misharan to a stop with him. Again, he was going to start saying something when C’dhin pulled him in for a kiss. Not what Misharan had been expecting, considering their location, but he had no complaints at all. If he were honest, it gave him a bit of a thrill to be kissed by a man in plain view of Holders who probably said the same kinds of things he’d heard growing up. It was a nice ‘fuck you,’ and if Misha didn’t want to avoid being banned from future Gathers he absolutely would have kissed back enthusiastically. Instead, being mindful of propriety for once in the past four turns, he refrained, and settled for leaning into C’dhin and smiling at him.
“You’re getting there,” Misharan said, moving his arms to rest them around C’dhin’s shoulders, “Stop thinking about what I could be doing, alright? This is what I am doing, and I’m having fun because I like hanging out with you and if I didn’t I would already be somewhere else. Besides, you know I’m insufferable when I’m properly bored, and I’m not being insufferable because I am, in fact, enjoying myself. Now if you’re done being silly, let’s go find some more free samples, yeah?” He maintained eye contact with C’dhin until he received some sort of agreement, at which point he gently stepped out of C’dhin’s arms so they could keep walking.
RE: 740.07.17 | Boring Baker - C'dhin - 18.Jul.19
C’dhin ducked his head and nodded, grinning but a bit embarrassed. Not over his actions but over being told yet again that he was worrying over nothing and that maybe someone actually did want to spend time with him and didn’t find him or his weird activities boring. As they started walking again, C’dhin found a bit of his usual carefree confidence and finally replied, “but what if I want to think about what you could be doing but with me and later?” Was he being a horrible flirt? Yes. It wasn’t like he was particularly skilled in that area and as clumsy as he seemed to be with it, it also seemed to work with Misharan and if his friend didn’t end up with plans for the night, he knew he had a greenrider that would be interested in it.
“We also need to stop at a jeweller. I promised Ceiry I would get her something special as a congratulations on getting to Stand now that she’s twelve. She’s excited she gets to Stand with you in Ista as well,” C’dhin laughed, though he was about to tell his daughter’s biggest secret. “She has such a crush on you but I can’t blame her for having good taste, now can I?” He was also meeting up with her later that evening to bring her back to the Weyr before he likely returned again. It was nice to get out and socialize, even if he currently wasn’t doing much more than his usual baking gig. But he knew Mylorah was around and he’d take her up on her constant threats of getting him to have more fun and dance with her, maybe even find a card game to try his hand at. But that was after his impressionable daughter was safely back in the Weyr.
RE: 740.07.17 | Boring Baker - Sh'ran - 19.Jul.19
Misharan grinned at C’dhin’s attempt at flirting, linking their arms together and letting C’dhin pick which direction they went. It may not be the most artful flirting but it was genuine, and Misha liked knowing C’dhin meant it, however silly it may be. “That kind of thinking about what I could be doing is acceptable. You’ll have to tell me what you imagine me doing, and I’ll see what I can do about it,” he teased.
“I have no idea what a twelve turn old might consider ‘something special,’ but I’m happy to look at shiny things with you. Tell her congrats from me if I don’t see her myself today,” he added. Misharan was not the greatest with kids as a rule, given that he’d been the baby of his own family and had little real experience with children. He liked Ceiry, but she also terrified him a bit. Kids were so odd and he had a bad habit of freezing up around them. What was he supposed to do with them? Ceiry was almost at an age that she could be considered a proper human, but she was still young enough to make him nervous. “I can’t blame her taste either, but I’m not sure how I should feel about that.” Like, someone having a crush on him was flattering and all but she was twelve and, well, she, and then he was also in some sort of… thing with her dad, which made it all kind of awkward. Oh well, Misharan was sure she’d get over it eventually and he wouldn’t have to worry about accidentally leading on a twelve turn old girl. He had better things to focus on for the moment, like her immensely sweet dad.
RE: 740.07.17 | Boring Baker - C'dhin - 19.Jul.19
“I will definitely tell her but you’ll probably see her around here later. And I won’t let her crush get out of hand. Right now it’s just adorable and innocent. She knows she’s too young for any relationship least of all one where the boy is a good ten turns older than her. Me being nine turns older than the boy is totally okay though.” C’dhin smiled at Misharan before returning to his scanning of stalls for the next location to try. He hoped Ceiry outgrew her crush sooner rather than later because C’dhin had a feeling his luck would have her walking in on daddy making out with her dream boy or he would simply have to explain Misharan was too old, too much into men only, and too much in daddy’s bed for her to date him. Neither scenario sounded fun.
“I’m thinking of maybe a necklace with a leaf. She was born in Katila and she’s my little jungle girl that liked playing amongst the trees. Besides, something dragon related might be a bit too cliché.” Not that he really looked down on dragon trinkets but it was a bit overdone. Besides, what if he jinxed her by giving her a dragon bauble and then she never Impressed?
“Oh, finally. Cookies. Get your taste buds ready!” This was what he was really looking for. Cookies, cakes, and more recently bars were what he specialized in. He was interested in expanding his repertoire like with the sweet bread but he wanted to learn what others did for his favourite things. He, rather arrogantly, believed that he wouldn’t find anything close to what he already did but perhaps a new cookie recipe would be discovered or Misharan’s honest buds would betray them and C’dhin would spend the next month improving on what he thought was rather close to perfection.
RE: 740.07.17 | Boring Baker - Sh'ran - 23.Jul.19
“Eleven turns older than her,” Misharan corrected with a laugh, elbowing C’dhin lightly. “C’mon, you baked that stunner of a cake for me, you should know how old I am,” he teased. C’dhin was sort of right, eleven could probably be included in ‘a good ten turns older,’ but Misha couldn’t resist being cheeky about it. “And you’re not quite nine turns older either.” It was pretty close, really, but still under nine turns. Misharan had been an assistant bookkeeper for a few turns in Crom before he was Searched, he tended to be very specific about math. Bad habit.
“A leaf is cute, I like it,” Misha smiled, nodding in agreement with C’dhin’s jewelry idea, “I bet all the other girls her age will have little dragon things too, so she’ll have something unique and special. “Oooh, you know what I saw at a shop in Crom once? It was like, a pendant in the shape of a tree, and the trunk was like, a tiny carved piece of wood, and the branches were wire, and wrapped around tiny green stones. It was super pretty. I’m sure it was pricey, but I bet there’s really cool leaf or tree themed jewelry you can find here.” He kept nodding enthusiastically, definitely liking the leaf idea.
The word ‘cookies’ had Misharan turning his head to find the right stall, happy to continue sampling all the baked goods and telling C’dhin his cookies were the best ever, hands down, none of these Holders even slightly compared. Misha wasn’t even slightly biased, nope, completely impartial cookie judge.
RE: 740.07.17 | Boring Baker - C'dhin - 23.Jul.19
“That is a brilliant idea! I hope they have something like that here. If not, I might have to venture to Crom to see if it’s a local thing and the crafter didn’t make it down here. You can come if you want,” C’dhin wasn’t sure how Misharan would react to the idea and asked it hesitantly. He knew a lot of people that were Searched traditionally once more often agreed to go to get out of a situation they weren’t happy in and many never looked back. Still, what he knew of Misharan, the idea of showing up with a male dragonrider—even if only a green one—and being as close as they typically were with their interactions might appeal to his friend and his desire to be himself in the open. He wouldn’t press the idea either way and it could be a moot point if he found a necklace in Telgar.
He bought a cookie, since this stall didn’t do freebies, meaning they already had a strong reputation or were confident enough in their skills to let word of mouth spark interest from those that purchased early on. He broke the cookie in half and handed one over to Misharan before taking a bit of his own to enjoy the overall experience of texture and flavour. C’dhin then nibbled on his half, taking his time to dissect each flavour he could detect while watching for Misharan’s reaction. Currently he was in the camp of supporting this baker. It was a pretty damn good cookie and C’dhin was close to buying a couple more to take home for his own uses.
RE: 740.07.17 | Boring Baker - Sh'ran - 25.Jul.19
Misha made a face, scrunching up his nose at the idea of going back to Crom. “If you don’t find anything here, I can tell you where to find the shop, but I said I wouldn’t go back until I went back on my own dragon.” That was the excuse he’d given his family, anyway, for why he never visited. None of them had pressed him on the matter, except his favorite brother, who had tried to convince him to come back and meet his new nieces and nephews. If he showed up without a dragon, his excuse would become terribly see through. Even if he didn’t visit his family, they would know — somehow, they would know. Bleh. Misharan didn’t like dwelling on Crom. “If I’m lucky, that will be sometime in the next few turns,” he said, going back to grinning. Talking about his future was easier. His future that would obviously involve him Impressing.
Cookies were a better topic too, and Misharan eagerly took the half that was offered to him, turning it around in his hands, looking for…he didn't know, he didn’t know enough about baking to tell much of anything other that it was a cookie and it looked really tasty. He took a bite and made a pleased noised. It was good! The texture was different than most of the cookies C’dhin made, and while Misharan would forever staunchly say C’dhin’s cookies were best, this one was pretty good too. He answered a few questions C’dhin had about what he thought of it, and they moved on to try a few more of the stall’s goods, Misharan letting C’dhin do whatever baker espionage he wanted and simply enjoy the very tasty cookies he was being provided with. Being friends with C’dhin was going to make him fat, and it might still be worth it anyway.