Piece of...Pie? [Vaelya]

It had been a long afternoon of rooting around out near the rivers and fields, trying to find berries and fruit to bake with. This time of the year wasn't the most ideal for them - it was too wet, or too cold, or this that and the other. Casa hated hearing she couldn't do something, though, and was determined to find SOMETHING to put in a pie. She had been promised the ability to make pies - and keep one for herself, a treasure among weyrbrats - if she could find something to do so with. So off she had gone, looking for anything to make into a treat. After a long search, she had managed to gather enough supplies to make several pies.

Victoriously sliding into the kitchen, she slunk her way over to one of the quieter corners of the large kitchens and dumped out her bag. Several redfruit came tumbling out, along with a (slightly smashed) variety of berries. Grinning triumphantly, she began to pull down bowls and baking dishes, setting aside everything she would need to make her pies. However, as she gathered more and more ingredients, she realized what a mistake she may have made. After all, it was mid afternoon now, which meant dinner was not too far off...and she had said she would make them by dinnertime?

Sighing, she began to frantically scurry around the kitchen, pulling ingredients from here and there. This had been a bad idea, in retrospect...but the thought of pie was too good to pass up! She groaned and begin to mix together dough, knowing it would take a while for the dough to set up and rest. Maybe she could find someone to help her...she might even share her pie, though she was loathe to do.

Vee had drawn kitchen duty, which of course was perfectly fine with her. It was the one place that she actually felt 'at home' at the weyr, where she actually felt useful considering she had yet to Impress, and knowing her lucky wouldn't. As much as that bit of self doubt tended to bother the young woman, she tried to keep it locked away and not let it bother her. Thinking about one sad thing tended to lead to others and then she would become depressed and most likely would find her seeking comfort from K'ton, and that just wouldn't be helpful to anyone. Except maybe him.

Shoving her thoughts away she made her way into the kitchens, tied her hair back so that it was out of the way and found out what she would need to do for the night. She was given greens and tubers, oh yay, to clean, peel if needed, and cook of course. The task wasn't the worst one she could have received, she loathed scrubbing kettles, so she took the task with a smile and went to get started, however there was already someone in the space she needed.  This in itself didn't bother her at all, she had come to the kitchens early so it wasn't imperative that she start right away anyway. What she did do was walk over and be slightly nosey. The girl, who was obviously quite a bit younger then her looked to be working on dough. Looked about the area she pulled together the idea that she was making pie.

Vee moved away, not wanting to bother her, and went back to the pile of tubers and found a large bowl and a large kettle. She found a peeler, and eyes on the young girl started the entirely too boring task of peeling the tubers. She stopped after a few however, seeing the girl run around the kitchen hurriedly. She looked at her own task and sighed, setting the tuber and peeler beside and moved back over to the girl. "Hi...do you need help?", she asked a bit quietly, not wanting to startle her. If she was like herself, she might get engrossed in her work and forget about the world.

Casa squeaked when Vaeyla approached, whipping around in surprise. But after a moment, her face softened to a big smile, relief obvious on her face. The lady in front of her seemed pleasant and more than willing to help...who was she to turn it down? Glancing past the woman, she saw a large stack of tubers waiting for peeling. Well then, maybe she'd be willing to trade help for help. The Weyrbrat was a pro when it came to tubers, and more than willing to trade work when the opportunity arose.

Bobbing her head politely, she brushed some flour off her tunic with a nod of her head. "If you want to help, I won't say no...I'll even help you with your tubers! They are quick and easy, unlike pies." She grinned sheepishly, pointing to the pile of fruit with her thumb. "I've almost got the crust done...can you start slicing the fruit and putting it together in a bowl with some of the sweetener?" She blinked her eye innocently enough with a devilish grin on her face.

As she went back to pounding the dough, she hummed idly. "I'm Casa, by the way. Most call me Dae though. It's an easy enough name - like day time outside! What's your name? Are you one of the Candidates for the eggies on the Sands?" She raised her eyes and glanced at the woman as she slid two thin pie crusts to the side to work on the next set. "And thank you for your help...I'll split one of the pies with you! That's what we get for our hard work, a whole pie to ourselves."

Vee flinched a bit when the girl squeaked. She had tried so hard not to startle her, and failed apparently. "Oh! I am so sorry! I didn't mean to startle you! I really didn't!" She felt slightly better that the girl smiled at her after turning to her and she offered a smile in return. She caught the girl's glance behind her and, even though she was sure she already knew what she was looking at to looked back at her stack of tubers. Yaaay....

Looking back at the girl she couldn't help but smile again at the enthusiastic nodding of her head in response to Vee's offer to help. She chuckled a bit and nodded. "I will take that offer on the tubers! I don't mind them but they can take a while" At the request to work on the fruit Vee nodded, grabbed a bowl and a knife and got started on cutting the fruit into small chunks.

She looked up when the girl introduced herself and went on a question asking free for all. Vee couldn't help but laugh brightly and attempted to answer all the questions asked. "Nice to meet you, I'm Vaeyla, you can call me Vee if ya like.", she answered brightly. "Yes I am a candidate, though I am not certain if I will ever Impress at this point, and you're welcome for the help!" She chuckled again softly at the girls enthusiasm. "Oh! You wouldn't have to do that! Although, pie is always tastier than tubers, no matter how you cook them!"

She was glad Vaeyla seemed to relax after a couple moments; Casa, in turn, mellowed out a little, putting her excess energy into the crust. It had to be done just so - otherwise it would not be flaky and crusty. As she focused on this batch, she carefully rolled it flat and laid it over the first pan, delicately tucking it into the bottom so it wouldn't tear. Once it was laid just so, she cut the excess off, set it aside, and grabbed another large ball of dough, beginning the process again.

She was quiet for about 10 minutes while she did this; she worked faster than most, having offered to do this so many times in the past. At last, she had 7 pans filled with bottom crust and a huge excess of scrap to the side. She carefully took them two by two into cold storage, along with the ball of scraps, before trotting back to Vee's side, beaming. "Oh, you are almost done! Thank you for your help. It looks so good." She picked at the last of the pile, slicing the fruit and tossing it in with cinnamon and sugar to help. She also threw in the berries, squashing them slightly for juice.

"These are going to be so good," she sighed happily, slipping into the cold room to carefully bring the pie back out. Having firmed up, she slipped them into the oven, one by one, to brown. "We gotta let the dough pre-brown before we put the fruit in it," she explained, covering her hands with flour and rolling out the scrap. She took a knife and began to cut the dough into long strips. "So...tell me about yourself?" Her eyes were warm and friendly, encouraging Vee to open up.

Though the pair of them worked in relative silence Vee was glad to be helpful and just as glad to get away from her tubers for a while. Pie was always much more fun to make, as well as eat. Every so often she would look up and watch Casa work the pie crust. She gave a small smile as she dropped her gaze from the pie crust being made to the fruit under her hands. "Look's like you're a pie crust expert.", she gave the girl another smile, pushed aside the cut up fruit and grabbed another, cutting off a bad spot and tossing it aside before cutting up the rest of the fruit and adding it to the pile she had.

When the pie crusts were done and Casa picked up the rest of the fruit Vee finished the fruit in front of her and gave a nod. "It does look good indeed, I am sure it will look even better once you've baked them.", she gave another friendly smile then set about cleaning up as Casa mentioned letting the crusts brown. She only nodded and finished cleaning up the mess the fruit had made as the other girl started making strips of dough, most likely to cover the pies with after they were filled with the cut up fruit. Vee was actually starting to get hungry, not something that needed to happen before her chores were finished. Selfishly she snatched a piece of fruit and popped it into her mouth with a bit of a childish grin.

When asked to tell her about herself she paused in her cleaning and blinked. No one ever asked her about herself, she had been around so long most people knew her even if they didn't actually speak to each other. "Oh..well, not much to say honestly. I've 21 Turns, no formal training, and I have stood for a few hatchings." She gave a bit of a shrug at the last bit. She hardly saw herself being a candidate much longer and she would be subject to a long life of drudgery, which honestly candidacy wasn't much different, just a great deal of lessons and classes to go along with it.

OMG..this is the worlds worst reply and I am so sorry...o.o I had....no clue what to type. x.x I will do better next time! <3

Casa frowned thoughtfully, setting aside the strips almost automatically as she worked out more dough. "Were you born here? Do you have any firelizards? What's your favorite color?" The woman seemed to almost not consider herself more than a drudge awaiting either magically blossoming into a dragonrider or staying a drudge forever. She had to have more to her, and Casa felt like maybe if she just gave the right kind of encouragement, she would open up a little. Then again, maybe she was a more private woman. She'd know one way or another pretty soon.

As she awaited the woman's answers, she popped over to check on the crusts. Pie making was one of her favorite things to do; when you loved eating pies and were good at sneaking them away with a charming look, it helped your cause if you just learned how to make them yourself. Her first couple attempts at making pie had ended...well, there had been nothing but a mess. And once in a while, she just got the ratio for the crusts mixed up, and it ended up being too dry, which made the pie no fun whatsoever.

However, this seemed to be perfectly golden brown. Giggling to herself, she carefully took them out one by one, setting them to cool on the counter. Once the steam had stopped rising, she gleefully scooped the thick, sugary fruit mixture into each pie. Once the fruit was evenly distributed, she carefully lay the strips over the top, shrugging when the lattice work came out slightly skewed. She then put them into the oven to bake for a while longer, licking the bowl while waiting for Vaelya's answers.

Vee looked up and considered the blonde young woman for a moment, then smiled slightly. "You sure know how to dish out some questions!", she said with a slight laugh before answering. "I was born in Southern Boll, never left there until I was brought here. I don't have any firelizards, but I do adore the little dears and...favorite color? Hmmm I don't know, never really thought about it I suppose." It was an odd sort of question, but she supposed a valid one if you wanted to just chat with someone, which Vee did not mind in the least little bit. "What about you? What is your favorite color, maybe I can sort mine out then.", she offered quietly.

She continued cleaning the counter then went back for her basket of tubers and pulled a couple of pots to put them in. She leaned on the counter after moving the tubers and filled a sink with water so that she could rinse the first batch and tossed them into one of the pots as she did so. "Where are you from?", she asked absently after a couple minutes of quiet. She used the back of her hand to push some hair away from her face then moved the pot full of whole unpeeled tubers aside. They were set to be roasted as far as she knew and since there were so many she needed to get moving.

When Casa giggled she paused in the middle of washing a large tuber and lifted a brow at her. She couldn't help but give a smile at the look on the girls face. She watched her fill each pie and was glad she seemed to enjoy the chore. "Do you make pie often? If you do, you may find yourself making it more often than even your used too.", she said, teasing just a bit before going back to washing tubers, which she did as quickly as possible considering she still had the greens to cut and wash.

Please excuse me and my teenie tiny reply... x.x

Is not tiny! Is a good post!

Casa licked her lips thoughtfully, setting her now-empty filling bowl aside. She loved lots of colors. Colors were what made the world beautiful. She shrugged and rinsed her hands and the bowl out, grabbing at the tubers that had been washed and starting to peel them with a quick efficiency. "I like all colors. If it weren't for colors, the world wouldn't be so beautiful as it is." She smiled, nodding to herself. As she set aside a tuber and grabbed another, she added with a grin, "But as far as dragons go, browns are my favorite. They are noble creatures. All dragons have their place, though."

Shaking her short blond hair back out of her face, she considered what Vaeyla had said. Southern Boll - that was up North. She had a very basic understanding of the Northern lands, nothing detailed; the teachers never really spent much time discussing it, as they seemed to think it was impractical. "Tell me more about where you're from," she asked simply, head tilted curiously at Vaeyla. "Is the weather different? What does the land look like?" The tubers were starting to go a bit faster now, and she continued peeling until she smelled the sweet scent of pies.

"Mmm! They are done!" She dropped the tubers without a second thought, bolting to the ovens and carefully lifting each treasured pastry out and onto a counter. She hissed when the heat caught her fingers, waving them to cool them between each pie. At last, they were all out, and the smell of fruit rose to fill the kitchen. She sighed in admiration, examining each one before picking out the finest of the bunch and carefully carrying it over to where Vaeyla was standing. "Tada!" she said with a beam, setting it down and picking the tubers back up to help finish what she promised she would.