Rewarding Cleanup with Cookies
Location: Redwall Abbey
Characters: Dulce, Elienna
RW Abbey: Great Hall
Blinking behind her spectacles, a mole ventures once more into the Great Hall for the first time in quite a while. Her new glasses are thicker than her old ones, and she's convinced they look absolutely terrible, thus the vain molemaid has been mostly hiding herself away. Now though, uncomfortable as she may be, Dulce has come, hoping to find a lunch. A mumble, and twiddling her digging claws, she crosses the hall, making for a table seat.
Elienna is picking up dishes from the table, but stops to smile at the molemaid. "G'afternoon," she nods, then goes back to picking up dishes and placing them all into a large bucket, looking debateable whether or not the petite mousemaid can carry it thusly stuffed.
Dulce blinks as a young mouse smiles at and greets her. It is still odd, for all those blurrs to have been replaced by only slightly fuzzy representations of the beasts around; she still is not used to seeing features, so well, upon faces. "Hurr. G'day thurr, young m'zzy. 'At lookz 'm 'eavy barkest, thurr. Y'm be needin' paw wi' a-cleanin' oop 'e disherz?"
Elienna shakes her head, smiling still. "Thankee, but nah, I got it. Tryin' ta get a little stronger, an' carryin' dishes is probbly best way to do it." She looks at the mostly empty table, then back at the mole. "Cin I get you something? There's plenty of food in the kitchen still."
The mole smiles at the mouse's words and then shakes her head. "Burr, nae mizzy, don' 'e be trubblin' yerzelf zo. Oi be more 'an 'appy t' be agerrin' moizelf zummat t' eat. Oi amember whurr 'e ki'shen beez. Thankee though, mizzy."
Elienna nods, hefting her bucket with a quiet grunt, and the bottom barely leaves the floor with both her paws holding the handle - just enough for her to move along without scraping the floor. She heads for the kitchen herself, stopping every eight or so steps to set the bucket down and heave a couple breaths.
Dulce follows, though is sorely tempted to help the little mouse with her bucket. "Hurr, y'm don' be doin' 'ezelf 'n inj'ree, mizzy... Oi'm more 'n 'appy t' 'elp 'e wi' it..." She wrinkles her snout and gives a short nod.
Elienna is determined to carry her own dishes, but finally sets it down and looks at the mole. "I guess I did fill it kinda full. If you wouldn't mind... I guess I do need help." She takes it as well as anybeast does, forced to ask for help when they don't want to.
Dulce simply smiles in the kindly, crinkly way that moles often do, and dips her head. "Hurr. Zurrently, mizzy. 'Z no 'arm t' be arsk'n f'r 'elp w'n zummat'z too 'eavy. Hurr, 't iz woise, 'n fac'." She moves forward, reaching a digging claw down to share the load with the mouse. "Oi'm Dulce, boi 'e way. 'N whom be oi a-meetin', mizzy?"
Elie's smile widens at the kindly mole (despite the funny speech) and shares what little weight of the bucket the mole lets her take. "I'm Elie. I help in the kitchens during the day, cuz I don't like my reading lessons. I do a lot better when I get help from friends, but they're usually busy during the day." Sure this is a normal introduction. "Nice ta meet you, Dulce."
The mole wrinkles her snout again, nodding as she listens. "Burr. 'Z n'ver did be learn'n' t' read, moizelf... Oi'm reloi'blee ennaformed 'at 't be 'e uze'f'll skill, though, mizzy Elie... 'Nd 'tz be a pleasure t' be ameet'n' 'e too, mizzy Elie."
Elienna noddles as she heaves a sigh. "That's what everybody tells me. So I'm doin' what I'm told an' tryin' to learn. But when Sister Roswitha teaches it, she says a lot o' things I don't get. So I ask Missus Teela to help instead, then just give Sister my homework. She argues a little, but I've gotten out of it so far."
"W'll. Et be vurry good o' yer t' keep on wi' 't. 'Nd, surely, mizzy Elie, zeek'n' out a beaster who'm be able t' 'elp y' bedder wi' 'e sub'ect 'z 'n adm'rabl'bl' uze o' 'e inisheetative..." That last word is a struggle. Sounds like it's not one the mole has known for too long a time.
Elienna looks at the mole, but seems to understand her well enough. "I guess I hadn't thought about it that way. Maybe I'll tell Sister than next time, see if she'll stop ordering me to come to class." This brings a brighter smile to her face, and she steps quicker. "Let's see if the cookies are done!"
Mole logic, of course. As useful as ever, it seems. "Hurr, may'ap she moight, mizzy. Y'm be a-currful in 'e word'n' it though. Wouldn' wan' t' be a-gerrin' 'e 'n trubble f'r 'e mizundererstand'n wi' th' ziz'er." She matches the increase of pace, nose twitching. "Hurr, cookiez?"
Elienna grins up at the mole. "I helped Rosa mix up cookie batter before I ate lunch, they should be ready by now." She leads the way into the kitchen, leaving the bucket to Dulce in her eagerness (and knowing that her little paw isn't really doing much), looking around at the various kitchen staff, then making her way over towards a mouse bending to check the ovens. "Rosa, Rosa! Are our cookies done?"
RW Abbey: Kitchen
Dulce follows, not minding at all to be left with the bucket. The bespectacled mole blinks around as she trundles after Elienna, careful not to get in anybeast's way. "G'd arft'noon." She greets quietly to beasts who might look.
"Slowly, Elie, slowly," the mouse addressed as Rosa cautions with a laugh. "They look good to me, why don't we try them?" The cook looks up to blink at the mole, then smile. "Thank you for helping with cleanup, you didn't need to. If you'd put the bucket over there," she points towards the scullery door, "We'll take care of it." So saying, she grabs a dishtowel tucked into her apronstrings and opens the oven door, bending to take a thin pan from the oven, setting it on the top where it can cool.
Elienna looks a little guilty, both at being cautioned, and that Dulce is carrying her dishes. "Thank you, Dulce," she agrees, nodding in mimic of the older mouse. But she doesn't budge from Rosa's side, keeping out of the way of the oven door and other beasts, but not moving further than she must from the fresh-baked cookies.
Dulce dips her head again, still smiling and dropping the bucket where indicated. "Hurr, don' menshunn et. 'z moz' wellacomed." She, then, toddles back over towards the two mice, a little quieter now, with all these beasts around. She raises a paw to fiddle with her spectacles self conciously.
Elie looks up while Rosa fiddles with the cookies, lifting them from the parchment on the tray with a spatula. "Those're pretty. Where'd you get'em? My granma needs glasses, I think. She can't see so well anymore, even if she tries to pretend she can."
Dulce blinks, and... looks a little surprised. "Hurr. 'Pretty', mizzy Elie?" A puzzled look, her paw runs over them. There's a touch of embarrassment at the description of Elienna's Grandma. "Hurr, miz'er Kolya... 'M be havin' a frien'... Makez 'em... Hurr, Oi, um... Oi 'ave not 'ad 'm long... Moi old pair, 'Ey wurrent gudd 'nuff, 'n'more..."
Elienna nods, and though she drops the subject, seeming to pick up on something, she doesn't look like she knows what it is. "Yeah, pretty. Sparkly an'... I dunno. Rosa, cin I taste the first one?" She begs (yep, like a dibbun) of the cook. "Pleeeease?"
Dulce huhs and runs her paw over the frames. Well, that's not the reaction the mole expected from anyone... She smiles, though, as the mouse begs for a cookie. She doesn't comment though, content to watch.
Rosa offers the dibbun a cookie with a barely suppressed smile, glancing up at the mole with laughter in her eyes, but says nothing. Elie, however, dances. "Ooh, hot. Thank you, Rosa!" She nibbles the edge, and the cookie is still very soft, judging by the way the center moves whenever her little teeth bite down. "S'd'lish'iss!" she announces.
"Hurr, th' highest 'f complimen'z, Oi'd be a-thinkin', t' recieve f'r one'z work frum 'e young'n'." The mole comments, truthfully to Rosa, smiling at the reaction and the dancing that the cookie elicits from Elienna.
Rosa nods, offering the mole a cookie. "Perhaps you'd care to try one and give me a more stable judgement?" she asks with a smile, taking one for herself as well. "It is generally hard to trust a dibbun's opinion when sweets are involved."
"Hey!" comes from Elie, mouth no longer full. "I said it was delicious, an' it was! I'm not just a dibbun when I'm workin' in the kitchen."
"Oh. Um, hurr, thankee, mizz." She accepts the cookie, chuckling then, at Elienna. "Hurr, quoite zo, mizzy Elie. Oi'm sure we'd no' truly be adoubtin' y'r judgemen'z." She bites into the cooking and then nods in agreement with the little mouse, commenting to the older one. "Hurr, she'm be roight, mizz. 'Z be vurry gudd."
"See?" Elie says with a little annoyance, but it disappears rather quickly. "I like the candied nuts in the batter, Rosa. Thanks for suggesting them. They wouldn't have come out so well otherwise."
Dulce munches on her cookie, offering a little nod, but watching the rest of the kitchen for a moment. She turns her attention back to the two mice after her wandering gaze. "Hurr. Y'm two alluz be a work'n' 'n 'e ki-shen? Y'm zeem vurry... apt at 'e cook'n'..."
Elienna straightens up proudly. "I been cookin' since I could hold the spoon for mum. Rosa lets me help more'n the others, she trusts me. The others will let me stir, or carry things, but not /cook/." She takes Rosa's paw and hugs it. "Rosa's a good cook, too. An' she reads good, so she an' I go through the cookbooks."
Rosa smiles down at the dibbun's head. "She's very good," she agrees. "I haven't taught many, but I've had helpers before, and she's better than most twice or three times her age. It lets her cook and hide from Sister Beverly, who won't let her cook on her own."
Oh 'eck... Sister Beverly! Where?! The mole does shifty eyes for a moment. No overbearing squirrel immediately visible. Good. "Hurr... 'Z a vurry gudd partn'ship, 't zoundz. Hurr, if'n a beaster c'n be a-cook'n', Oi'd s'poze 't 'd no' makin' zenze not t'be a lettin' 'em, if'n 't be zafe. Hurr."
Elienna nods happily. "We make more food this way, between us. If Sister Bev'ly has noticed, she hasn't said anythin'." Rosa grins before turning back to place cookies on a plate, then toss out the parchment they were stuck to. "I want to cook, so I'm gonna cook."
Dulce nods. "Hurr. 'Z vurry gudd plan, mizzy. Makez a beaster happ'est t' be a-doin' zummat 'ey be a-want'n' t' do." She wrinkles her nose, noticing how long she's spent talking, and feeling a little guilty. There is dusting and sweeping that is not getting its usual mole treatment... That must be fixed. "Hurr. 'm zorry, b't Oi'd better be off t' get on wi' zumm chorez. 'T waz vurry noice t' be a-meetin' 'e both..."
"It was nice to meet you, Dulce," Elie replies, the cook turning to nod amiably. "Maybe we'll see you around... we're usually here. Right?" Another nod from Rosa. "Right." Elienna gives a little wave after Dulce before turning her attention back to the cookies. "So... cin I have another?"
