A bit o' dis, a bit o' dat (OPEN_

[Epic Squid of Legend]

There was a great commotion in the kitchens, pots flying everywhere and big bags of flour being spilt onto the floor. Yelling ensued, a bitter female shout that no one seemed to recognise. "YOU INFERNAL CLOUT! THAT IS /NOT/ HOW YOU MAKE THAT!" rang the voice up and through the Weyr, the owner of said voice continuing to throw ingredients at one of the morning cooks. A slab of very nice meat flew by the poor things head, splattering against the stone wall and sliding to the floor with a nasty squelching noise.
"LOOK AT THE SHAPE OF THESE PANS!! DO YOU CALL THIS ///CLEAN///?!?!?" continued the voice, and by now a small crowd was developing neae the entrance to the cooking part of the kitchens, the people gathering to watch a /very/ fiery brunette rage and fit about small things... though no one knew who she was. One of them finally thought to speak out against her, but was quickly quietened by a porjectile tuber smacking them against the face. "GET OUT OF HERE YOU USELESS WHERRIES!!!" Liza shouted at the crowd, continuing to throw anything she laid her hands on... and some sharp knives made contact with the stone wall above several people's heads.

The crowd scattered... or most of it anyway. One tall (but not as tall as Liza), and thick girl remained. She was looking enragedly at the woman, her thumb and forfinger on her left hand twitching irritably as her right hand balled into a fist. People knew who /she/ was... but no one knew who the other raging woman was.

N'nika stepped into the room, multi-colored eyes blazing with her fury as she side-stepped a thrown refruit, turning to watch it splatter against the wall. She marched up to the taller but slimmer woman and grabbed her wrist roughly, "That is ENOUGH!" she snarled, brows done in a furrow between her eyes. She grabbed at the knife in Liza's hand, yanking it roughly out of her grasp and crashing it to the counter-surface before whirling her mother... yes- her mother... around to face her.

Liza began to snarl, but then quickly hid her ill-placed rage behind a mask of contempt towards her only surviving daughter. "Ahh, Jannika, how good to see you up! And so early, at that! It must be after sunhigh! Gee, isn't that amazing?" she asked, her eyes still flashing dangerously as she looked to where N'nika's hand was grasping her wrist, "You might want to let go before you hurt your old mom."

N'nika snorted, "My name isn't Jannika anymore, /Liza/," she spat back, putting influence on her mother's name instead of calling her mother, "It's N'nika, and you know quite well!" she finished, completely ignoring the other statment. "What are you doing in my Weyr?" she asked finally, keeping her grip on her mother's wrist... just in case.

"Oh, it's /your/ Weyr? Here I thought New Cove was Queenless-- oh, I'm right? Oh, gee, isn't that amazing?" she said, the cruelty very clear in her voice and very clear on N'nika's face as the poor woman jerked back as if slapped, "It was never your Weyr, sweetie, you just fooled yourself into thinking it was," her voice was too sweet, too mocking, but N'nika had been stunned by the ferocity of her words.

"I take care of what goes on here," N'nika tried, only getting a laugh from her ever-cruel mother.
"Take care? Why, not even your cooks are good at what they do!" she said, actually enjoying the look of pain on N'nikas' face.

"But, anyway, I have some business to attend with you. Yaozek!" she said, turning her head back towards the feasthall.

Of course N'nika recognised him, though he looked strange without his twin near him. She offered him a small smile, and he lifted a hand in greeting before looking at his grandmother with a barely concealed look of hatred. Liza then turned to N'nika, smiling her fake smile once again, "Yao and Yim are here to stay, I'm much too busy to deal with them. Derrika is going to Stand this turn, Brone-material, he is," again, taunting.

N'nika growled at her mother, "That punce is worth nothing more than a Green, and then he'll not be your oh-so-bright-and-spoiled one, will he?" she shot back, earning her a slap across the face. She glowered at her mother, left hand fidgeting all the more and her right hand's nails biting into the flesh of her palm.

[esper]

Of all the figures in the kitchen, only one seemed entirely disinterested in the cyclone of yelling, and throwing things, and... yelling...

When Liza had first started, Yimnion had glided out of the way with the ease of someone accustomed to vanishing when necessary. While a crowd gathered, he wandered, moving constantly and sticking to conspicuous things that he didn't stand out against; if anything could hide an eight year old with a lock of white hair. His face was impassive, but at every new shriek a tiny flicker passed over his features until he got it under control. He stared at something without seeing it, but with a look of intensity that suited him, but, once again, was unusual on one his age.

A new voice joined the shouting, and he tried not to listen, fully expecting this new voice to be reduced to tears in minutes, possibly less. It wasn't, however: the shouting actually stopped.

Should he go back? Should he see? Yimnion considered it carefully. No, why should he? It wouldn't do any good in the long run, and-- He heard Liza's voice rise again, and was pleased to find he didn't flinch at all. It wasn't even needed for her to yell! The general murmur of the crowds had dropped to almost nothing with the exchange between N'nika and Liza; no one in the room was deaf, surely they would have heard if she had whispered it!

Yaozek! Yimnion's heart lurched hard enough to cause a physical twinge in his chest as his head snapped around to find his brother. With a brief moment of despair, he saw how far away he'd wandered in his attempt to escape Liza's temper. He made off, edging his way around the crowd as fast as he could as Yaozek greeted N'nika.

N'nika. For all that he'd demanded to accompany Yaozek to live with her, Yimnion actually cared nothing for her other then as a means of escape. Judging by her clenched fists, he saw as he slipped out of the crowd to stand just slightly behind and to the left of his twin, she might be no better then Liza.

Yimnion did not greet N'nika, but merely looked at her in a distant, measuring kind of way. His face was somber, closed from the inside. This was an ugly situation.

[Epic Squid of Legend]

(eheheh... sorry for the long wait x-x)

Liza retreated from N'nika with a sudden look of uneasyness with her daughter's newest "I will kill you in your sleep" look. She quickly regained herself, as she always did, turning to the crowd and shooing them away with her hands. It didn't work, of course, as she had no power in New Cove and they all knew it. They were there to back N'nika up if need be, and several of the Weyrfolk had actually stepped forward with the slap. A simple look from their chosen Leader made them hesitate before re-joining the group.

N'nika now looked at them again, "To your duties, folken," she said, her voice a controlled thing just below a normal speaking voice. The main crowd paused for several seconds before a few singles left, shortly followed by the rest. The cooks remained, hovering near the door as if begging to be able to leave. N'nika nodded at them, and they darted off.
She turned back to her mother, her face calm and determined. "Why should I sit the twins? Are they not your grandchildren? Did you not care for Jazmyn enough to care for her blood, your blood?" she asked, dismissing the notion with a wave of her hand and turning to leave the kitchens.

She made it into the common eating area- the dining hall- before Liza stopped her, "Oh, but my dear Kingrider, are they not your blood as well? Was Jazmyn not your twin? Those two might as well be your children, much good it does them."

N'nika sighed, shaking her head slowly, her rage slowly subsiding as the conversation became more civilized... slightly. She looked over her shoulder at the twins, her memory going back to when she and Jazmyn were young and friendly towards each other. She knew full well that the twins would hate to be seperated... which was what Liza was going to do if N'nika took only one or none.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yaozek, almost sensing his brother behind him, reached a delicate hand behind his back. His fingers found thier way to Yimnion's hand, just gently brushing the tips against his twin's flesh. The action made him feel better, made his nervousness fade somewhat. It let him know that his twin was there, by his side, and things would undoubtedly go well in the end.

He watched as N'nika advanced first towards him then by him, turning to watch her before leaning in to whisper into Yimnion's ear, "Let's go before they start yelling again." His eyes were alight with eagerness to get out and away, far far away from the raging tyrant Liza. And while he didn't have much knowledge of N'nika, surely she was better than her mother? He hoped so, he'd rather not die before he could be free of the Queenless exile....