Kinecha stifles a yawn as she enters the kitchens. Her first time on kitchen duty too. "I can't believe we have to do this," she mutters, glancing around at the others here. Others including Reiko. Which didn't improve Necha mood any. Trekking to the nearest oven, she peers inside, looking over her shoulder at the nearest cook. "This done?" she asks him, pointing at the bread inside.

Into the kitchen Xaner goes, a few firelizards fluttering about his head which are mostly ignored. No, the neon candidate is rather caught up in a conversation. A conversation...with a rock. "Oh yes, I think you're quite lovely. And you look so much like me! The resemblance is startling you know." Yeah, more like his head is full of those. He glances up though once totally in the kitchen. He's wide awake. Or..well, something. Come on, he's talking to a rock!! "Hey Necha, Reiko!"

Reiko looks up from the pile of tubers she is scraping to eye the others narrowly... mostly because her eyes are barely open. "Morning," she murmurs, not bothering to snap.

Marianne heads in from the Caverns.

As she gets an affirmative nod from the quiet cook, Kinecha grabs the thick cloth beside the oven and uses it to pull out the freshly baked bread. "Does smell good," she mutters, setting the loaves down on the rack to cool of. Turning to the cook, he point to the other end of the kitchens, where dishes are waiting. "Great," she groans, "thank you ever so much." Rolling her eyes, she motions to Xaner to come along. "C'mon, Xaner. You can help me with those dishes.."

Xaner grins and nods, setting his new 'friend' in the crook of his arm. "C'mon Rock. Let's go help Necha." Yes. He named his rock...Rock. So original isn't he? He promptly heads after his fellow candidate to help with the job of washing dishes, seeming to grin even more. There's definately something wrong with him! "Here, I'll scrub 'em and you can dry if you wanna?"

Kinecha nods, giving Xaner a sidelong look and halfsmile. Well, drying dishes were better than scrubbing them, at least in this Candidate's opinion. "You have a rock too?" she asks, digging hers out of a pocket to show the other. "It was under my pillow when I got to bed last night..."

"Well, everyone... what are we making this morning?" Marianne calls as she enters the kitchens. Oooh.. Mari's in a good mood... scared yet? Whistling a jaunty dance tune, she wanders through the doorway, her fingers busy at the crown of her head as she ties up her long hair. "Oh? You all have rocks as well? And here I thought it was just my luck that I'd been sleeping on a rock.. I didn't figure it out until about midnight last night.. I thought there was something under my bed moving around," Marianne laughs slightly and tosses greeting waves and smiles to people as she comes near them.

Xaner nods quickly, setting his blue, green and white rock on the counter beside the washing basin. His grin lingers, gaze on the rock for a moment before he gets to work, hands submerged in suddenly soapy water, scrubbing at dishes. "Yeah, and Rock is such a nice rock too!"

Reiko winces a little as a jaunty whistle pierces her skull, emerald gaze sliding sidelong for an appraising look at Marianne. Really, nobody should be that cheerful at this hour. "Morning," she murmurs. Again. Slowly the conversation sinks into her head and a twisted halfsmile curls her lips. "Did everyone get a rock?" That's kind of... weird. But it's the thought that counts... right? She eyes Xaner narrowly. "You named it.. 'Rock'?"

Kinecha eyes Xaner with a strange look on her face, "it's just a rock..." Over her shoulder, she calls out to Marianne, grinning at her as she points at the busy cook, "ask him. Doesn't say much, but he'll point you in the right direction." Turning back to the wash basin, she looks around for a towel or the like to dry those wet dishes. "Ahh, there it is.."

Squaln heads in from the Caverns.

Xaner blinks a little at Reiko over his shoulder, looking a little confused. "What's wrong with that name? It's a nice name! Rock is dignified!" Hands still scrubbing, he looks once more at Necha as he hands her something to dry off. Gasp! "Just a rock?! No Necha! Rock isn't /just/ a rock! Rock is special. He's my friend." And Xaner, is a nutcase.

"Rock? You named you rock? And you named it Rock?" Marianne puts her hands on her hips as she looks at Xaner. "If I were a rock, I'd be insulted that I didn't have any unique qualities to make me named anything else by my owner." But then again... do rocks have feelings? Beh. Maybe they do. Tossing her long hair over her shoulder as she finishes, Marianne looks over to Kinecha with a mock shocked expression. "/Just/ a rock? Well now, I'm sure you've hurt Rock's feelings.... I think you owe Rock an apology," Marianne says solemnly to Kinecha, her eyes dancing in merriment as she walks past.

Squaln enters the kitchen with a broom in hand, intending to start sweeping the floor and finishing chores early. And the /first/ thing he hears upon entering is something about Xaner's friend 'Rock'. Ahem. A wave is given to those here and the lad starts sweeping particals out the door. "I won't ask.." he says, looking down as he sweeps. No, really, he *doesn't* want to know..

Kinecha nods slowly, taking a minute step /away/ from Xaner, suddenly getting an image of him Impressing a green dragon. Skeery. Looking over her shoulder again at Marianne, she visibly shivers as she takes the bowl handed to her from Xaner. Maybe it was just the early hour of the morning, but people were definately acting strange. "I wouldn't /name/ a rock. Shells, we didn't even name our runners back when I was travelling with my family.." So why on Pern name a /rock/?!

Reiko smirks, carefully scraping her knife over tuber number... nevermind, she's not counting. A lot. "I just expected a more creative name from someone with such interesting hair," she remarks lightly, fixing glittering eyes on the neonCandie. Yes, she's awake now. It's too much work to ignore this many people. "Morning, Squaln." Smart boy. Don't ask. You probably don't want to know.

Xaner hmpfs a little, still washing dishes. "Well, Rock /likes/ his name, Marianne. He thinks it's a very nice name." He glances at the rock quickly, nodding. "Yes, yes, I know. It's ok. And you /did/ hurt his feelings Necha. You really should apologize to Rock. He's very emotionally delicate." Grin. And there's Squaln! "Hey Squaln!"

Anyways, Squaln sports his new 'do! His normally chesnut brown hair is now shorter, spiked, and with green tips to it; he likes, he likes. A smirk is given and he continues to sweep the floor, disposing of the dirt and stuffs collected. "So what're all of you doing here this early?" he quips. They can't /all/ have kitchen duty..

Passing by Reiko, Marianne mumurs softly to the other candidate, "Well, /everyone/ around here is suddenly getting interesting hair.. so I guess it's not so interesting anymore." Eh.. words of fashion wisdom from the woman wearing a jumper and a kercheif in her hair as she looks over to Squaln and gives him a smile/wink of greeting. "Oh, we decided to get up and put hot spicy sauce in everyone's morning klah," Marianne says lightly, her eyes innocently beaming. Surree you did, Mari. That's what you were thinking when that rider dragged you out of bed..

Kinecha eyerolls again. She was /not/ going to apologize to a rock. "A rock? Emotionally delicate," she says, looking into the other candidate's eyes. "You're not really serious, are you Xaner?" Maybe they ought to get him to a mindhealer, or something? Speaking about a rock as if it were alive just wasn't right for a grown(?) man. Looking over her shoulder at Marianne again. When did they decide to do that?

Mechelle heads in from the Caverns.

Squaln blinks and stops sweeping, gazing at the fellow candidates with an evil grin. Getting into trouble this early in the morning is good.. it'll enhance his rep. Setting the broom aside, he meanders over to them all and rubs his hands together. "Can I help? I can make a mean batch of /real/ hot sauce in minutes.." Evil laughter!

Xaner frowns at Necha, looking perfectly serious. "Of course I am! Rock is sensative and you hurt his feelings." He takes his hands out of the soapy water and dries them off, moving to pick Rock up again and cradle him close. "It's ok. I know she's mean to you. There there." Tongue is stuck out at Necha before he promptly grins again. There's those mood swings of his! Hot and spicy? Gasp! He zooms over to the other candidates, beaming. "Oo. Need any help with that?"

Blink. Blink. Well... Marianne /was/ kidding, and so she thought the teasing tone of her voice would give away that much, but hey... if they want to get into trouble.. "Why, Squaln, I you harbour hidden talents away from us! Do that! What do you need for ingredients?" Marianne rolls up her shirt sleeves to above her elbows and tosses long locks of hair away from her face. Oooh.. let the fun begin.

Mechelle looks around as she comes into the kitchen. "Any of you seen Hiliza or Surupa this morning?" Well, they /could/ be hiding in among this big group of candidates. Maybe not... "What're you all doing in here? Not making another mess, I hope?"

Kinecha blinks slowly as Xaner darts away, leaving her to do the rest of the dishes. Well, at least it was only a night's worth of dishes, not too many. "It's just a rock," she mutters, sticking her hands into the hots, soapy water, finding a plate there to wash off.

Squaln rolls up his sleeves as well and wipes his hands with a clean wet rag. The lad reaches for a mixing bowl and spoon, placing them in front of him. Motioning towards the spice cupboard, he smirks. "Hand me an assortment of hot spices from there. I'll have to see what I'm working with in order for a good batch of sauce." Squaly looks around again. "Oh, and a cup of water for starters."

Xaner lightly pets Rock as he stands there, eyes hopeful with the promise of mischief. Yay! Finally something to /do/ that he can laugh about later. Not that he isn't laughing a whole lot of the time anyway..but that's another story. At any rate, Rock is happier now..or at least he looks happier. Actually, he looks about the same as he did when he was upset. He looks..rockish. Devilish grin is directed towards Mechelle. "Oh of course not! No mess!" He darts off to get some water for Squaln. "Here ya go."

Reiko peels the last tuber, getting up to drop the knife into the dishwater and rinse off her hands. "Couldn't you poison the tea instead?" Figures. Well, now that she's finished her assigned chore, maybe she can get a bit of klah before there's no decent stuff to be had. Even Reiko would notice hot sauce, after all. Shaking the water off her hands and wiping them on her skirts, she slips out of the kitchens.

"Kinecha, would you hand me some spices from over there?" Marianne questions, not wanting to lean over the other cnadidate into the soapy water as she points just over the other woman's shoulder at a little container of spices green and brown and gathers up some other ones from the counter, sending Reiko a wave as she wanders out with one free pinky. Well.. maybe she won't see it, but Marianne's done her duty.

Reiko leaves, faster than they arrived.

"Poison?" Mechelle eyes Reiko with one of her famous glares, Xaner gets a glance. She stops where she is by the door and won't move until she decides they aren't doing anything /horrible/. "You better not be doing something that will get everybody in trouble..." she warns.

Kinecha eyes Reiko as a sharp knife suddenly drops into the dishwater, then the eye is turned on Marianne. She expected Necha to take part in some prank? Even if it was just handing over some spices, that made her guilty be association, right? "Yeah, sure," she says, finally making her decision and reaches out with a dripping hand to get the container for Marianne. "Here.." Handing it back to the other candidate, she keeps her eye on the dishes. She had nothing to do with this, okay?

Squaln nods to Xaner and grins, taking the cup of water and pouring it into the mixing bowl. Grabbing for the spices, he looks over their labels and decides on a certain few that are worthy enough to be included. Cracking his knuckles, he adds a few more 'special' ingediants to thicken the sauce and he finally starts to mix. Evilness. This stuff is going to be so hot that whoever drinks it in their klah with have their tongues burning for sevendays..

Xaner leans against the counter/table where the mixing bowl is, grinning as he watches the mixing process. He even holds Rock up so that he can see as well. "Oh, by the way, Rock says that if we get caught, we can blame him for it. He doesn't mind." Of course he wouldn't mind! Who's gonna believe that a ROCK did this?! Xaner definately likes this rock way too much.

Squaln quirks a brow at Xaner and.. Rock.. as he mixes. Ahem. Turning back towards the others, he nods his head in the direction of a cupboard to his left. "In there is another spice tucked way in the back that the cooks use for special occasions." Mixmixmix. "That's going to be our secret ingrediant.." Oh yeeeaaah, Squaly's evil. He's been in the kitchen enough to know where all the cooks stash their secret stuffs. Mwa ha ha.

Marianne takes the spices from Kinecha with a litlte wink and a smile, and then transferring them over to Squaln with a little cautionary, teasing smile. "Don't kill anyone with this stuff, eh?" she asks, raising one eyebrow as she leans against the counter. Well. What had started out as just her teasing has developed into... this. "Unfortunately, I can't stay to watch the fruits of your labour. I promised that bluerider that I'd report to his weyr to collect his laundry now. And he's on a short sleep span, so I'm afraid he'd eat me if I didn't show up," she laughs slightly and gives Squaln a teasing pat on the shoulder and everyone else a wave as she makes her smooth, dancing way off.

Mechelle crosses her arms over her chest, one eyebrow slightly raised as she looks from one to another of the candidates. "If you get into trouble, I won't be a part of it." she warns, as if this isn't heard from her /all/ the time! 'Rock' is eyed slightly and she grins, "So did /everybody/ get a rock from Hiliza and Surupa?" At least she's /guessing/ that that's where he got it.

Xaner glances back towards Mechelle a little, grinning, and holds up his blue and green rock for viewing. "Yes! Isn't he just the cutest thing? Rock here has taken a liking to me very quickly." Someone just smack him over the head with something...the weirdo. He glances into the mixing bowl a little. "Hm...need anything else in there?"

Kinecha gives herself a satisfied smile as she gets done with the dishes, then moves to the other Candidates, doing their evil deeds. "Careful /he/ doesn't see what you're doing," she says, nodding toward the silent cook, who's busy with making the morning's fresh meatrolls. "He may not say much, but I doubt he'll be happy with you guys messing with the klah." Just a friendly warning, see. Since she was somewhat implecated in this now.

"Yeah, I got a rock from them." Squaln says with as he continues to mix. Eyeing the contents in the bowl carefully and slowly, the herder-candie nods his approval. "I think it's done. Now we just need to pour it into some klah, stir and serve!" An evil snicker escapes him as he goes to collect the mugs of klah. Pause. Squaly perks up and smirks, turning back around to face the others. "Hey, no one's taste tested it yet.." A challenging eye trails to Xaner..

'He'? 'chelle frowns slightly as she eyes Xaner and his 'Rock' a bit closer, "Cute? It's a /rock/, Xaner...What's cute about /rocks/?" She takes hers out of a pocket, "They /did/ do a good job on them, though..." she eyes it a moment before putting it away. Attention swerves, however, at Squaln and Kinecha's conversation, "Put /what/ in the klah? You're going to put that in the /klah/?" it finally gets through to Mechelle's poor, slow mind, "Don't you /dare/! What if..what if..." She lets it trail off. Okay, so they /do/ dare...Don't they always?

Xaner eyes Squaln for a moment, turns, and walks away, grabbing a large glass and filling it with water. All innocently and casually of course. He blinks towards Mechelle, and gasps. "Mechelle! Don't be so mean! Rock can hear you, you know! Why are you so mean to Rock? He didn't do anything to you. He's a sensative, and caring person!" Right... He quickly heads back over to Squaln and nods. "What the heck...I'll try it.." He's got a big thing of water to help him with that, too.

Squaln waves a hand at Mechelle and walks back to the bowl of hot sauce. "Aww, stop worrying, 'chelle! Nothing's going to happen." he says in reassurance. "Live a little, eh?" And this is coming from the Weyr's most bad/naughty/sinister pranking candidate? Cough, ahem. Squaly's gaze returns to Xaner with a huge smirk on his face. "Try it Xaner! Tell me what you think.." This ought to be rich..

Kinecha grins at Mechelle, shaking her head slightly in an indication not to persue the topic of Xaner's Rock. "You'll not have me taste tainted klah," she says, voice low, not wanting Silent Cook to overhear her. "And, yeah, I got a rock too," she continues, turning an eye back on Squaln. "They'll know who's been on kitchen duty, y'know?" Always the sensible one, Necha is.

Mechelle eyes 'Rock' for a moment, then grins mischeiviously, "He has /ears/? Let me see! Mine doesn't have /ears/...I can't believe that yours does.." she teases him. "From the smell of that, it could /kill/ someone." she warns both Xaner-the-taste-tester and Squaln-the-mixer. "Stop worrying? How can I /not/ worry? You all are /always/ getting into /something/." She can /never/ stop being a nanny, huh? "I came in here to get some fresh klah for the caverns, but I don't think I'll get any now...I can wait until someone /else/ comes and makes some..." she decides, noting Kinecha's warning look a bit too late.

Xaner is the brave one, right? I mean, he sits inside dragon's mouths after all! Ok..so maybe he's just the dumb one. At any rate, he does take a moment to set Rock down gently, throwing a near glare at Mechelle. She's hurting poor Rock's feelings.. Oh well. Head shakes a bit, and he takes the 'tainted' klah, looking at it a moment. Hm..safety precautions.. "Guys, if I pass out or anything..um..well..I dunno. Do something, I guess." And....he drinks! Whee!

"Then I'll take the rap!" Squaln replies to Necha and 'chelle with a proud expression. "They know me so well that they /want/ me kicked out of their kitchen. Besides, I'm getting use to latrine duty." Snicker. It's true, he's such little teaser too. "Maybe you two can just serve the klah, 'not knowing' that it's filled to the brim with hot sauce. They would never suspect you two anyway!" Arms folded across his chest, he continues to watch Xaner.

"That's okay, Xaner," Kinecha smirks, looking at the 'brave' one, testing the klah. "If anything happens, I've learnt a bit of First Aid from Elehu." Nodding solemnly, eyes dart from one to the other of the other candidates. "But then, the Infirmary's not far away...."

Mechelle rolls her eyes at Xaner and then watches, waiting for him to fall over in a faint, or something of the sort. "I'd /never/ do such a thing! And now that you are in here, I won't serve /anything/ from this kitchen!" she decides that she /will/ walk a bit closer to them, though, instead of just leaning against the doorway. "I don't know, Kinecha, perhaps if he /does/ pass out, we should just leave him where he falls. After all, it's his own fault...He knew what it was."

Xaner puts the mug down...blinking a few times. "Hey! That's pretty good!" Well..it is at first anyway. That, or he's weirder than anyone might've thought. ...Nope. After a few more seconds the neon candie nearly falls over, eeping slightly, and promptly grabs his rather large glass of water, gulping it and coughing at the same time. Whee! Good stuff! ^_^;

Squaln erupts with laughter as he watches Xaner pucker and twitch from the hot sauce. A little too loud, he tones it down a bit to a few snickers and snorts when the Silent Cook glances in their direction for a brief moment. Tears coming to his eyes from the with held laughter, Squaly grips the side of the counter with one hand as he watches Xaner. Trying not the draw much attention to them all, the herder-candie just nods a few times. "You like?" he squeaks to Xaner, trying not to let the roaring laughter escape..

Kinecha look from Xaner to Squaln and back again, wondering who to help first. They both seemed to have trouble breathing right, didn't they? Grinning at Mechelle, she decides to let the two fend for themselves, since it had been their own idea. "Just remember, I had nothing to do with this..."

Mechelle just shakes her head, "Well, it hasn't killed him /yet/." she intones sarcastically. She, too, looks from one to the other, and, as laughing can be contagious, a small grin erupts on her face, followed by a giggle. Just a small one, of course. "I think they both should have to drink it /all/ just because they were thinking of putting it in the klah. Maybe I'll suggest that if they get caught." Note : She's not gonna threaten to turn them in /this/ time...

Xaner takes a few deep breaths, grin directed towards Squaln as he himself has slightly watered eyes. "Whoa." He shakes his head slightly, regaining his composure, grin only widening. "Not bad! It actually tastes pretty darn good!" Beam. And to prove his point..he takes another slight drink from it. Not a big gulp like last time though. Mmm. Weirdo.

Squaln nods his approval again and motions towards the gathered mugs. "C'mon, lets get this stuff ready so it can go out with the morning meal." Squaly smirks and starts pouring klah into a few designated mugs and cups, glancing up at the rest every now and then. "This is going to be good. I wonder who the first person to drink it will be?" Shrug. He wants to watch..

Kinecha raises an eyebrow at Xaner's comment, convinced by now that the man /must/ be insane. "Well, I'll have no more part in this," she says, spinning on her heal, to walk right out of the kitchens. So what if she'd be skipping chores. Better to skip chores than poison half the people in the Weyr with tainted klah.