Craft Dinner and
Meeting
Annik - Saturday, July
26, 2003, 2:43 PM
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Smith Dining Hall
As you step into this large room, rows upon rows of tables first
greet you. The scars and spots in the wood and the benches distinguish them as
apprentice benches, victims to younsters' curiosity about their first blades.
Farther into the hall are groups of round tables with chairs, journeymen tables
it would seem, and finally across the far end of the room sits one long table.
The master's table is on a slightly raised dais, no doubt to allow the masters
to keep a better eye on the apprentices during the meal. A swinging door near
the apprentice tables gives a glimpse into the bustling kitchen.
A large metal door to the west leads out to the main meadow.
Contents:
Wen
Kuroyi
Obvious exits:
Kitchens Main Meadow
Annik walks in and smiles at those already gathered. "Good
afternoon, everyone," she greets cheerfully. She moves toward the Master's
table and sits down, immediately pouring herself some klah.
Kuroyi responds with the muttered greetings of everyone else,
"Afternoon Craftmaster Annik." A sidelong comment from the girl next
to him causes him to stifle a chuckle.
Taria comes out from the kitchen, leaving the doors swinging.
Taria has arrived.
The kitchen door bursts open and a line of cooks come pouring in.
The first dish to be set down is a mix of seasoned vegetables, followed by
bowls of rivergrains. Then comes the main entree: platters of grilled packtail.
Taria brushes dust from her fingers, and slips into a seat at her
table, hoping she isn't too late.
Carissa comes out from the kitchen, leaving the doors swinging.
Carissa has arrived.
Annik glances up towards the chuckling apprentices, but doesn't
comment. Instead, she grins as the food is served and begins to fill her plate.
Wen takes each dish as it is passed to her and puts a small
portion on her plate, quickly passing the rest on to the next person.
Kuroyi oos as he sees the packtail coming in. "My favorite. It's
so much better than wherry and herdbeast," he comments, eagerly putting a
big piece on his plate.
Taria grins widely as she chatters back to Kuroyi. "Well, I
like fish too, but nowhere near as much as roast wherry." she notes,
spearing a large helping of everything as it comes past.
Annik begins to munch on her food, listening to the conversation
around her, but never having an empty mouth to speak with.
Kuroyi makes a face at Taria as he swallows down some food before
talking, "Yeah but we have wherry all the time, packtail is like special.
That's why it's soo good."
Carissa settles down into her seat a little more firmly and begins
putting things onto her plate, eyeing it the way a starving canine might eye a
wherry steak. "Ah, food.. its been so long since the last meal, I'd
forgotten you."
Wen cuts her food into tiny squares and eats daintily, one bite at
a time.
Annik grins over at Carissa. "Been awhile since you've had
time to eat a proper meal?"
Taria leans back. "Well true, but there's wherry, and then
there's wherry." she says, laughing. "Say, did you hear what old Umal
was saying about the summer... 'gonna be a hot one this turn'" she mimics
"I swear he says that every turn." she notes, digging into her tubers.
"You think this one's gonna be any different?"
Carissa looks up and declares, "They just don't feed us often
enough, Anny!" She shovels a forkful of rivergrains into her mouth and
chews thoughtfully.
Kuroyi gives Taria a look, "Well he does say that every Turn.
And he also says that it's going to flood on the Keroonian riverplain, and be
horrible blizzards at 'Reaches, and that Ista's volcano is going to blow up.
Does he ever have good news?"
Annik nods at Carissa. "Not always. But then again, sometimes
we just don't have the opportunity to get to the food when it's around."
Carissa sighs, "You know, by the time I've got Tarila fed and
all is said and done, I can't even imagine eating.."
Kuroyi scrapes his fork acrsos his plate, "I can *always*
imagine eating," as he pats his stomach for extra emphasis. A few
apprentices around him agree.
Taria grins. "Oh and don't forget the giant waves overtaking
Southern Boll's beaches..." she adds and shakes her head, then changes her
mind and nods. "Well, he /does/ predict some of the hall's birthings quite
accurately." then she blushes slightly. Her noting stuff like that.
"What, I was in the kitchen's grabbing a late night snack and I overheard
it..." she mutters in her defense, but is thankful that the conversation
has shifted to another line of chatter. "Oh yeah."
Wen is quiet as she continues to eat, bite by bite. She neatly
wipes the corners of her mouth with a napkin, all the while keeping an eye on
those apprentices.
Annik nods again as she finishes off her rivergrains.
"Sometimes all the hidework has a way of blocking my office door so I
can't get out," she replies with a half-joking smile.
Carissa grins, "I'd believe that.." She sighs, "You
know, if you retire before me, promise not to name me your successor?"
The cooks return, carring the dessert. On each table, they set
down dishes of a fruit salad drizzled with fresh cream.
Kuroyi pushes his empty plate aside with a happy sigh. "I
don't think I can eat another bite," he mutters, before sitting up as the
desert comes out. "Ohh it has cream on it." He snags some fruit and
picks up his fork.
Annik grins at Carissa. "I'm not thinking of retiring anytime
soon, so you shouldn't have to worry about it for a while." She scrapes up
the last bits of food on her plate and smiles as she sees the dessert.
"Ohh, that looks good."
Carissa eyes the fruit and quickly finishes off her dinner so she
has room on her plate, "Well, good. Just had to make sure, you
know.."
Wen finishes her dinner and moves her plate aside. She peers at
the dessert for a moment before taking a few pieces of fruit and carefully
avoiding the cream.
Taria smiles charmingly at the Apprentice Master, then voices an
audible oooh of delight at the desert. "Oh my, I'm going to get fat just
/looking/ at that thing." not that the fact that forge work doesn't burn
most of the energy off a smith. "Save some for me too." she notes
with a half-concerned look as she wipes up the last juices from her plate.
Kuroyi is among the first to finish his dessert, it seems to be
gone just a breath after the bowl is set before him. "Ok, now I *really*
can't eat another bite. Unless they have a second dessert of course," he
says with a grin.
Annik quickly eats up her dessert and frowns as her plate is empty
so quickly. She shrugs and sips her klah, waiting for a few others to finish as
well.
Carissa looks about ready to eat her plate along with the fruit.
She sets her fork down finally and sighs, "Mmm. That was good.."
Taria looks at Kuroyi. "You know, one of these days I'm
betting you're going to do it too, just to see how much food /will/ fit in your
belly before it bursts." she rolls her eyes, and grins amicably at her her
fellow apprentice. "But oooh, I could eat this till the wherries come home
to roost, and then some." she says, slurping sloooooooowly at the cream on
her spoon and savouring every last drop.
Kuroyi nods eagerly, "I would. And I'd love every bit of it
too," he grins. "There's always room for one more bite."
Taria giggles and retorts. "Kuroyi, I do believe your eyes
are bigger than your stomach."
Annik looks down the table at the other masters and smiles,
perhaps some kind of signal.
Kuroyi looks doubtful. "If they were, they'd be the size of
dinner plates."
Carissa eyes her plate sadly one more time before pushing it away.
Taria looks, and starts to hiss back a reply, before she catches a
movement at the other tables, and cranes her head round quickly, looking the
model of rapt attentativeness.
Annik stands and walks around to the front of the room. "It
is time to do something that is long past due. There is a certain Smith who has
been a part of this craft for a long while, and this person has put in a
considerable amount of effort for so many turns. But now, it is time for that
person to move on and take the next step." Here, she pauses, looking
around at everyone.
Kuroyi looks around as well, trying to find the victim. Er, lucky
person.
Wen keeps a perfectly straight face, betraying nothing.
Carissa folds her hands in her lap, watching Annik and smiling
slightly.
Annik turns to look at Carissa. "Is there anything you'd like
to mention about this person?"
Taria grins, looking around the tables as well, wondering which
victim they're calling up. Probably that journeyman who's been slated for
master. Oh yeah. She quiets to listen.
Carissa chuckles, "They do beautiful work. I'm very proud of
them, and they should be proud of themselves. Its a hard craft we do.."
Annik smiles and turns back to the others. "I certainly agree
with that. This person is very skilled at this craft and has been improving
those skills to the point where this individual has earned a special
honor." She begins walking slowly towards the journeyman tables as she
pauses again.
Kuroyi whispers, "Who do you think it is?" to Taria,
darting a glance around again.
A glint of something appears in Wen's eyes. Could it be pride?
Happiness? Whatever it is, it seems to brighten her face just a little.
Taria whispers back at Kuroyi. "Dunno. Someone who's obviously
being singled out for something big..." she says, peering intently at the
masters where they're passing glances between each other.
Annik walks right through the journeyman tables and suddenly turns
around to head for the apprentice tables. "This person is more than ready
for the next level of this craft, and every master has deemed her capable to
practice on her own as a journeywoman." As she ends her sentence, she
halts, right next to Taria.
Wen's mouth twitches a bit at the corners. It almost looks like
the beginnings of a smile.
Kuroyi gasps, and looks over at Taria, "Ha! It's you!
Congratulations!" he grins at her.
Annik takes a journeyman's knot out of her pocket and offers it to
Taria. "Congratulations, Journeywoman Taria," she says with a bright
smile.
Carissa claps loudly, grinning from ear to ear.
Taria gulps. There's a Craftmaster standing in front of her.
"Me-ee!" the apprentice forces herself not to duck down into her
chair and shoots Kuroyi a 'soooo not helpful' glance. "A Journeywoman...
um, thankyou Craftmaster Annik." she says, and then manages a grin from
ear to ear as she takes the new knot.
The apprentices begin to stamp their feet and clap, chanting,
"Walk, Taria, walk! Walk, Taria, walk!"
Kuroyi chants along with the rest of the apprentices, still
beaming at Taria. He does stick his tongue out at her for the 'look' though.
Annik grins and motions for Taria to stand. "C'mon, you've
got a seat waiting for you at your new table."
Taria nods, and stands... and does the long walk, getting to hug a
few of her former apprentice friends, and shake hands of others as she follows
the CM dutifully... with the smile that won't go away... fixing her knot in
place as she joins the ranks of journeyfolk.
Kuroyi whoops and cheers as Taria reaches the Journeyman table.
Annik grins at Taria. "Congrats, again. You've more than
earned it."
Annik lights the OOC lamp.
Carissa cartwheels
Taria fetches popcorn and juice for all.
Annik brings out the pillows and stretches out. Woooo.
Taria and beanbags. :) oooh too slow...
Kuroyi says "Hehe"
You say "I have to be quick about this, cause RL is trying to
drag me away, but I've got some things I'd like to mention."
You say "First of all, the apprentice promotion requirements
have been changed to something a little less structured. Basically, the point
of it is to contribute something, and I don't really care what that is, as long
as it's something. RP counts for a lot of points, but there's descing, coding,
organizing events, etc."
You say "The new policy can be found at
http://www.geocities.com/sm1thcraft/app/promoreqs.html and I'm completely open
to feedback."
You say "So let me know what you think (those of you who I
haven't already asked) and you can always +mail if you think of something
later."
Kuroyi says "I like what I see"
Kuroyi says "I've always found that the part about manning a
tent or doing a class can be difficult if there's no tent to manage and you
can't find people to come to the class."
You say "Another part of that new policy is the option of
getting a promotion with Honors, which can be earned when an app goes above and
beyond, doing several projects instead of just one thing. A promotion with
Honors can include getting some extra privilege, though what that is exactly, I
haven't decided."
Taria nodnods.
You say "I'm open as far as ideas about that, too."
Taria grins. "Getting let out of hall is a pretty big extra
priviledge."
Kuroyi nods
Taria giggles. "Anyone got a pin... or maybe just a tether...
it feels pretty good up here on cloud 9."
Kuroyi laughs!
Annik sorries and thwaps RL.
Taria giggles. "You know what the worst of it is..."
Taria grabs out a netstapler and sets to on the poor CM...
You say "The other thing I wanted to mention was the little
notices I've been posting with the turn of each season. Does anyone read those?
Do you like them? I'm trying to start putting up RP hooks and things like
that."
Taria nods.
Kuroyi says "The one about going out to holds and weyrs since
it's summer?"
You say "There are two up right now, one for spring and one
for summer."
Taria thinks those are very useful.. but that's just me. :)
Kuroyi says "I have a problem finding rp at the smith hall
since I play at odd hours, but usually there isn't oanyone online for me to eve
go to one of the weyrs."
Annik glares at her connection.
Taria gets out the superglue?
You say "Anyhow, as I was saying... I also had another
thought that people could tie into their RP. I figured that the class schedule
here could follow a quarter system like a lot of schools do, so there would be
four different class sessions per turn. And at the end of each quarter, there
would be exams... and we could keep those an off-camera thing, or perhaps do
something on-camera."
Taria and Kuroyi says...
Kuroyi says "That sounds good.."
Taria smiles, and Taria started to say "Sound cool."
You say "Some other quick announcements, and then I've gotta
go. TGW is planning a gather for August 7th to the 9th, and they'd like a
fireworks display, as well as the tent, and Tarien mentioned that she knows of
people who are interested in asking for commissions. So, help with firework
emits would be much appreciated. Unfortunately, I'll be out of town those days,
but I would like us to have some representation there if possible."
Taria might be able to make the 9th
You say "Also, the TGW weyrling graduation is this Tuesday
the 29th at 8pm ET, and ICly everyone would be welcome to go to that."
Kuroyi says "I can make it the 8th"
You say "I think that's about all I've got right now. Anyone
else have anything they'd like to mention or talk about?"
Annik is probably forgetting something...
Kuroyi says "Mail the firework emits to you?"
You say "E-mail is best."
Kuroyi says "Alright"
You say "Okay, if there's nothing else, then I want to thank
you all for coming, and congrats again to Taria. Stick around, maybe even do
that RP thing. If anyone thinks of something that I should mention at the other
meeting on Monday, send me a +mail or something."
Annik adjourns this meeting and gets pulled back into RL.