Who

Amani, Elonoora

What

Just appreciating all the finer things in life, like painting and sculptures and dessert

When

It is evening of the tenth day of the tenth month of the thirteenth turn of the 12th pass.

Where

Southern Weyr - Harper's Solarium

OOC Date 21 Apr 2018 05:00

 

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Harper's Solarium

The sunlight never shines so bright except when to showcase the displays of art and hand-wrought delicacies that man can bring to bear: here, then, it shines the brightest, through sweetly cunning skylights slanted through the roof high above, producing a quality and quantity of light that is an unnatural marvel given just how cozy this room is well-within the boundaries of the craft complex. It is a long stretch of a room, capable of handling several exhibitions simultaneously, and often filled with people admiring the pieces displayed — and Harpers hovering to guard these treasures from sticky fingers. To the south, a discreet doorway exits into the craft shops; to the north, the bold blue of the Harper's Wing beckons.


Amani is restless, even after a day filled with duties that should make her feel quite the opposite. Dinner seemed to be enough idle time for her, and now she's walking off the meal in the Harper's Solarium, someplace she hasn't ventured into more than a handful of times. She is, however, making herself go slowly, hoping it will help her be less preoccupied. At least some of the displays seem…unique enough to give the young goldrider contemplative pause every now and again.

Considering there are no performances scheduled in the solarium today and half the Weyr may even still be at dinner, it's not surprising that the relatively vast stretch of room is practically deserted, so the sound of Amani's foot steps from further down carry enough that Elonoora quickly stifles her giggles and turns away from the painting she had been inspecting to see just who is also in the room. Once spotted, she'll give the goldrider a smile and a wave. "Good evening, weyrwoman. Looking for something in particular?" She might not be a harper, but it is still in the craft complex, so she's at least familiar with where things are.

Being addressed automatically brings Amani's attention up from the little plaque on the base of a sculpture she'd been reading, a few rapid blinks focusing her dark eyes on the girl doing so. "Good evening, Elonoora. No, nothing in particular…" she replies as she drifts toward the baker. "A little peace of mind, though I hear it can be difficult to come by." She smirks wryly, then glances past Elonoora at the painting the girl had been giggling at a few moments ago. "Anything good and distracting over here?"

"I don't think peace of mind is something I can really help with…" Elonoora is pretty sure that's not part of a baker's duties unless comfort eating is how someone plans on getting there. For real mind issues, the mindhealers are down the hall and to the right, but she's not going to recommend that, so instead she just shrugs. As for the question about distractions, she glances back over her shoulder and then back to the goldrider with a little bit of a blush. "I uh… that depends?" The artwork behind her doesn't really seem to extraordinary or shocking. Fort's fireheights are clearly visible, although the girl herself is blocking most of the rest of the painting from view for the moment.

Amani shakes her head at Elonoora's first, her smile wry. No help expected, of course! The blush that colors the baker girl's cheeks, however, only piques her curiosity about the painting behind her. "Oh? Nothing scandalous going on at Fort there?" she teases, jerking her chin subtly past the girl. "I doubt I'll be shocked. Especially after finding some of the books that keep getting left around." It can't possibly be as bad as certain things she's glimpsed in those.

Elonoora isn't used to getting teased by folks with big fancy knots. Mostly because she rarely sees folks with those big fancy knots since most of her time is spent in the kitchens. For someone normally pretty talkative, she actually struggles with words for a moment, doing a good impression of a stranded fish before coming up with, "Oh… it's nothing like those books." And yes, she's read quite a few of them herself. "It's stupid really…" But she does take a step to the side so Amani can at least get a glimpse at it. Nothing salacious to offend any grannies that might wander through (which might in itself offend some of the ones just looking for something to complain about!), as the painting just has a group of youths in the courtyard clustered together and a few of them are actually climbing on the others shoulders.

When she's not dealing with other fancy knots, it's easy for Amani to ignore the fact that she's wearing one herself. Hence the teasing, especially since Elonoora seems to be so close to her own age. Once the baker girl sidesteps, Amani takes a closer look and ends up mildly disappointed. Still, she smirks. "Makes you wonder what the game is, I guess," she notes. "It looks almost like one I saw some boys playing when I was little, in Igen. I think they called it…Wherry? Or something like that." She shrugs. "Which I only remember because they were doing it next to a giant pit and I thought they were stupid for it. Anyway. Anything else here that's caught your eye? I admit I haven't been through here in a while."

Hair just doesn't want to stay into nice tidy runnertails, but that's fine for Elonoora at the moment as she idly twirls one of those runaway strands around her finger. "Not quite… although they definitely played Wherry as well." Because it wasn't just boys in the painting, although the girls were mostly in the crowd around rather than the ones doing the climbing. "What you can just barely see is where they got a hold of one of the masters drawers…" She points to a tuft of fabric under one of the boys elbows. "And some rope…" That another boy is carrying. "This was well… I know the harper. He's still back at Fort. Hear he just walked the tables actually." As for what else, she blinks a bit as she thinks. "What do you find more interesting? Paintings or sculptures or other?"

When Elonoora points out what she hadn't spotted about the painting, Amani has to get closer to look, grinning when she notes the drawers and rope. "You've got a good eye," she notes with a little chuckle before considering the other girl's last. "Honestly…they interest me equally. Which I know isn't helpful," she notes somewhat ruefully. "I wasn't exposed much to Harper works before coming to Southern, so coming in here, seeing everything that they do… There's something new to find every time."

"I was at Fort for about six turns," And it's possible one of those dark haired girls in the back may have been a younger Elonoora. She's not exactly claiming that she had any part in the Raising of the Drawers, but she does know an awful lot of details. But she does nod as Amani says she likes both. "Well, since we looked at a painting…" She waves at the one behind them. "How about this hangy thing?" If there was a harper around, they would probably be wincing, but the term is clear enough even if it's not technically what the mobile should be called.

Even if Elonoora doesn't admit to having taken part, Amani definitely forms a bit of a guess in her mind with the information provided and gives the baker girl a sly look. "Hangy thing?" she echoes amusedly as she turns to look at what Elonoora indicates. "Oh! Sort of like what I've seen here and there in the creche," she notes, folding her arms. "Though obviously some people make them as entertainment for adults rather than babies." She studies it quietly for a moment, squinting a little as she focuses on the object hanging nearest to them. "That…looks like a piece of a flamethrower," she observes, tilting her head to look at it as though it will help confirm that it is what she thinks it is.

There are probably some signs hanging about saying things like 'don't touch the artwork'. Elonoora is only going to heed them enough to give a quick look around to make sure there are no watching harpers around before giving one of those pieces of the sculpture a tap since the Solarium is a bit low on wind, just enough to get the pieces moving slowly. "Kinda, although the ones in the creche tend to be a lot smaller. Guess so they don't like crush the babies if they fall or something." She carefully inspects those moving pieces with a tilted head as Amani calls out her guess. "And that red piece of glass is the flame, right?"

"And so they're sturdier against little baby hands. And mouths," Amani speculates, glancing around before giving the nearest piece of the mobile a tap of her own. She eyes the red piece of glass, tilting her head again. "Maybe… Though there's red glass used in some of the gauges on an actual flamethrower." And she's still thinking this hangy thing just might be made of pieces of said contraption. Still… "You could be right, though."

Elonoora nods her head in agreement. "Although if they make it too small, eventually some kids gonna stick it in their mouth and choke." El's got at least a good dozen and a half of younger siblings between both her parents and her foster parents. She can speak about this with a certain air of experience. As Amani offers the possible correction, she tilts her head the other way. "Huh… I haven't really used a flamethrower, but the kitchens has this torch thing that's supposed to be like a mini one. Used for some of the fancier desserts."

"Hopefully they're smarter than that," Amani drawls as she wanders beneath the mobile, or as close to beneath as she can get, at least. "The makers, I mean." Learning that Elonoora has never used a flamethrower earns a surprised look from the goldrider. "You've never done ground crew?" she asks, and then considers what dessert could possibly benefit from a miniature version of what she fights Thread with. Presently, her brows arch as she comes up with something. "There's a custard with sugar like…brown glass on top of it that I remember having once. Would that be one? I was trying to figure out how the cooks had done that exactly."

"The babies?" Elonoora is incredibly dubious of babies intelligence as far as what is or isn't edible but lets out a bit of a sigh of relief when Amani does clarify she meant the makers of mobiles, not the infants they're intended to captivate. "Ooooooohh… yeah. Hopefully they are." As for not doing groundcrew, the girl shrugs. "I mean… not like out with the groundcrews, but I definitely help out!" She's not that much of a slacker that she could have avoided living in weyrs or major crafthall for all her life with avoiding all threadfall duties. "Sometimes helping with keeping the younger kids occupied. Or helping running for the healers." As for the guess about the dessert, the baker claps her hands together in an affirmative. "Yes! That's the one. The brulee! I've been trying to make one with nut fruit juice but that hasn't worked out well so far…" Unless you count charcoal as edible.

"Brulee," Amani echoes a bit wistfully when Elonoora puts a name on the dessert. Apparently they're done talking about flamethrowers; dessert is far more satisfying. "I hope the nut fruit juice works out for you eventually, though. It'll be amazing for the people who can't have the regular sort. But speaking of the regular sort…" Eager now, she turns to face the baker more fully. "Do you do alright with that? Because I will most definitely repay you in marks or whatever you like if you'd get some made. I only had it the once, and any time I've thought of it since, I've wished for it."

To be fair, the main reason some of the works of art that dessert creations can be aren't on display in the Solarium are because they'd be eaten too quickly to be displayed. And also some harper yelling 'Do you want ants crawlers? This is how you get ants crawlers!'. And the whole bakers not being Harpers thing. But Elonoora is also very easily distracted into talking about her craft. Dessert is definitely one of her favorite things. "Its more about the different kind of sugars… I need to get them balances just right." She shrugs though and then blinks in surprise at the impromptu sort of commision. "Uhhhh… I've made it like, once? But like… I'm trying." Eventually she'll get it right! But there is a lot of error involved in trial and error.

"Ah. Well…" Amani shrugs again, giving Elonoora a somewhat sheepish bit of a smile. "I'd be safe to practice on, if you feel like it. Otherwise, if you'd be more comfortable with me asking someone more experienced, I can do that, too." Either way!

"Well…. if one of my experiments comes out right, I know who to call?" Elonoora is also a bit sheepish with that and back to nervously twisting that wayward strand of hair. "Although if you really want some, there's this place up in Fort that specializes in that sort of stuff! They also make these fancy little cookies out of meringue and all sorts of flavorings!"

Amani grins and nods to Elonoora's first. "Just tell me the name of the place, and I will definitely make a point of going then next time I visit Fort." Faranth knows when exactly that will be, but it's bound to come up on the agenda sometime soon. Presently, she gives a distracted blink and takes a half-step back from the baker. "I'd better go see to what Zymuraith is prodding me about. But it was good chatting, Elonoora. And poking things we probably weren't supposed to poke." She winks as she gestures to the mobile and starts away. "Have a good evening."

"Flan-igans," Elonoora offers the name up with absolutely no hesitation. Sure, its giving up some potential business, but it's for a good cause! The cause of just desserts! As Amani takes her leave, the baker gives a bit of a bashful smile at the mention of poking things and places her hands firmly behind her back. She can be good, promise. "You too, weyrwoman!"

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