Work, at least it's something. (Rida)

Harriett's morning had gone as it had gone in the last year. She woke up, got dressed, didn't bother eating since she never felt like it, and then went to work in the dining hall. It wasn't until almost a year ago that she had Trinket to take care of. Thank God for Trinket, she didn't know what she would do without the little green firelizard.

She was working on scrubbing some dirty dishes from the night before. Why they hadn't been cleaned the night before she wasn't sure and she wasn't happy about it in the least. She was a cook, not one of the kitchen help whose job was this type of drudgery. So on top of her normal melancholy mood she was irritated. Trinket chirped soothingly to her from her shoulder, before hopping down and trying her best to scrub the pots too. "You silly green. You don't have to do that." Harry said, giving the slightest of a smile. Trinket merely trilled at her.

Finally she got those dishes and pots done and set about to peel some potatoes for tonight's meal. She decided to sit down in the dining hall instead of staying back in the kitchen. It was getting warm in there and a bit too crowded for her liking. The dining room wasn't full this time of day, in fact she would be surprised to see anyone there. So she sat at a table near the hearth and started peeling. Trinket kept herself busy playing with the scraps that fell to the floor.

It was well beyond the time she should have been there. Ali had been tired last night, and figured she would finish the pots and dishes in the morning. But she had slept in, even through Leaf's anxious chirpings, and now was late to 'work'.

She grumbled and had dragged herself out of bed, halfheartedly gotten dressed and cleaned, then out the door. Hopefully her boss, Harriet, would not be in yet, and she could get the dishes done without getting yelled at. But given the rise of the sun and all, she doubted she would be that lucky.

With Leaf chirping in her ear to get going, Ali finally got out the door and down to the dining caverns. As she pushed into the doors into the cavern she spotted Harriet and froze. "Um.... morning," She said in a quiet tone of voice.

Harriett was thinking of nothing, or at least trying not to. Trinket was being fairly amusing, so that was making her mood a bit more agreeable. Trinket was having a grand old time trying to catch the pieces of potato peels as they fell to the floor.

About that time one of the kitchen workers came bursting through the doors. It was Ali, one of the girls that was suppose to make sure all the dishes were done for the morning crew. Apparently she had been put on day shift today. "Ali, come here." Harriett said beckoning her over with a nod of her head.

Once the girl came over Harriett looked at her with that boss look that says, 'I'm not very happy'. "Weren't you suppose to make sure the dishes were done last night?" She asked, though she already knew the answer to that question. "Since it wasn't done, I'm behind on my work this morning. So you get the fun job of helping me with these tubers." She told her without room for argument.

Ali took her time walking over to Harriet. She dragged her feet and did her best to hide a scowl. Just great, great, just what she needed. Lots of work with an angry boss first thing in the morning.

"Yes, I thought to finish them this morning. I figured it would be best to do them when awake and not do a half job when tired," she said sullenly. Ali glanced at Leaf, who had when entering the dining cavern dove right into the trailings of the tuber peelings, chirping at Trinket as they played in the pile. With a gusty sigh Ali sank into the chair opposite Harriet and began to peel the tubers. "Sorry," she finally mumbles.

"Procrastination is not a good habit to obtain. Next time perhaps you will just do them before you leave, that way you will not have to worry about them later." Harriett said solemnly, but with logic. Harriett might not be that much older than Ali, but she certainly acted like a woman in her forties if not older.

Trinket was very happy that a friend had come along and was playing with her now. Not that she hated playing by herself, but it was always more exciting with another. She trilled excitedly at Leaf as she pushed a big pile of peelings on top of the other flit.

"Just don't do it again. If you want to go farther than being a kitchen worker you'll have to take a bit of initiative." Of course Ali wasn't that bad a worker, but Harry liked to make sure she got her point across. After that she sat in silence as the both of them peeled more tubers.

"Yes, Harriet," Ali mumbled quietly. She only peeled with the bare minimum of effort, taking her time in peeling each tuber. She made sure to sweep all the scraps down into the growing pile, without trying to appear too lazy about it.

Leaf was more than happy to have another firelizard to play with, and had been busy arranging various peelings into small piles when Trinket buried her under more. She let out a little shriek of playrage and surged out of the pile, sending scraps everywhere and most of them onto Trinket. The little flit began to fling more pieces at the other green, chirping her victory.

Ali looked up suddenly. "Why are you up so early?" she asked, thinking about something. "I thought the roster said you were off today." The younger girl straightened her back a bit and paused in peeling, as though chatting gave her the excuse to hold on her work.

Trinket screamed in defiance at Leaf's victory and immediately came back with her own barrage of scraps. Of course it was all in fun, she was only playing with her new friend.

Harriett stopped what she was doing when Ali asked her wasn't she suppose to be off today. She thought about it and yes, she wasn't suppose to be here today. 'Shit..' She thought to herself. She could've been doing other things than this today. Oh well she was here now, might as well not leave. Harry wasn't really surprised, work was all she had to occupy her time these days. So there was no reason for her to take a day off.

"I just decided to come in anyways." She answered quickly, hoping that Ali wouldn't catch that she was caught off guard.

Leaf eagerly kept throwing scraps, and in a short time they had turned their piles into a scattered field of tuber castoffs. She had some draping over her back and one slid down her face. The little green shook herself off and trilled at Trinket, and then grabbed a scrap and flew up, divebombing it onto Ali.

At Harriet's response Ali had tilted her head. "If I had a day off I would be sleeping in or swimming in the lake or something. Why would you come in? Don't you have anyone you could go hang out with?" Ali asked curiously. But just as she finished Leaf's little scrap landed right on her nose. She tilted her head up and called out, "Leaf, behave! Stop throwing things at me, throw them at your friend!"

Harriett just sort of looked at Ali for a moment. Ali was young, so Harriett could understand fully why the girl wouldn't come into work if she didn't have to. "Not really. My days off are normally very boring and dull. Hence why I'd rather come into work." She explained nonchalantly.

Trinket trilled back at her and picked up a huge arm load of scraps and flew up higher than Leaf. After her friend had thrown her scraps on her owner, Trinket through her huge arm load onto Leaf. Harriett saw that and scowled at her flit. "Trinket! Don't do that." She scolded.

"Go play somewhere else Leaf." She picked the little scrap and threw it at her flit, where it missed. Leaf caught it though and chattered at Trinket, and flew off to another part of the dining cavern.

"That just seems weird to me," Ali finally said. She reached for another tuber and began to slowly peel it, her gaze drifting down to the root vegetable. The younger girl then looks up and grins at Harriet. "Maybe sometime you'll have to hang out with me. Its never dull when I am around."

Trinket followed her new found friend to another part of the dining room. Of course she gave a chirp to Harriett to let her know she wouldn't be far before flying off. Harriett simply grinned at her green, the little thing was so protective of her.

Harriett didn't really show any emotion to Ali's offer. It wasn't that she wasn't appreciative, she just wasn't social and the idea of spending time with people made her feel nervous. "Thanks." Was all she could muster to say. Since her family's deaths Harriett's been too afraid to get close to anyone, sure that something terrible will just happen to them too.

Leaf flew around the dining caverns for a few moments, Trinket on her tail, before she spotted her most favorite thing in the world. With a shriek of delight the green flit dove down and landed on a table, darting into a sack someone had left out. She twirled around and around inside it, then stuck just her nose out, eyes gleaming as she looked for Trinket.

"Umm, you would be welcome to come anytime. Okay." Ali said quietly, not quite sure how to react to someone not wanting to hang out with her. She continued peeling the tubers in silence, until after a bit longer she reached and found none!

She glanced at the pile of peeled tubers and the pile of scraps. "I can take the tubers to the kitchens," she said quickly, realizing how much a mess Trinket and Leaf had made of the scraps and knowing it would be a slow, dull job cleaning them up. Harriet would be able to order Ali to clean them, and she wanted the easier job! Before waiting for an answer the younger girl reached for the tubers to begin carrying.

Trinket wasted no time in dive bombing the sack her new friend was playing in. She didn't hit it hard, but enough so that Leaf would know that she was on top of her. Giving a loud cry of victory, she playfully stuck her head into the sack to see Leaf.

"I'll think about it." She said, but it was mainly to just be nice and not hurt the girls feelings. Even if she was Ali's boss she didn't make it a habit to hurt her employees, as it were. Who knows, one day she might actually take her up on the offer. "Okay that fine. Make sure you wash them good and then come back here to help me clean up our pets' mess." She said as she started cleaning up the peelings.

Leaf quickly squealed as her bag was landed on, and darted out to bat her wings at Trinket. Then she realized she had left the bag open to be taken, and made a mad dash to try and get inside it before Trinket could.

"We were thinking of going swimming in a few days," Ali said quickly, grabbing the last of the tubers and wandering into the kitchens. She got them soaking in cold water at one of the sinks, before grabbing a bag and a few wet rags, returning with a slow pace to see how much of the scraps had been cleaned up. "Umm... here," she spoke, sticking her hand with the rags out, and leaning down.

Trinket seized her opportunity and quickly darted into the opened sack. She then twilled in utter happiness that she had won the bag. The small green then spun a few times inside of the bag and then peaked her head out to see what Leaf was going to do.

"Uh, swimming?" Harriett stammered a bit unsure of herself. She really hadn't been invited to anything in months that wasn't with her parents. She took the rag that was offered to her and started cleaning the spot where the scraps had laid now that they were all cleaned up. "Thank you. I'll think about swimming." She said, not really sure if she wanted to go swimming with this girl or not, but also not wanting to hurt her feelings.

Leaf was not going to stand for anyone else in -her- bag! She gave a squeal of indignation and pounced on it, jumping up and down to try and get Trinket to run out. When she finished with that she quickly darted into the sack as well, attempting to nudge the other flit out.

"You should come, its a lot of fun and sometimes the boys come to watch us. I think they just like seeing us in our swimsuits," Ali went on, trying to continue the conversation. "Last time one of my friends got asked out by one of the boys. It was funny how she turned him down. He looked so annoyed." She quickly began to scrub at the spot where the scraps were too, in order to at least look like she was doing something.

Trinket, as fast as she could, flew out of the bag. She did not appreciate being jumped on constantly by anyone. As soon as she was out, she turned on her friend and tackled her. Not too hard so she wouldn't hurt her, but she did pin her to the ground.

Boys? That was the last thing she needed, boys looking at her. As if she didn't already always see her husband any time she looked at males. She didn't need more opportunities to allow that to happen. Of course she couldn't be mean either. "I'm sure they do. Boys are like that. How old are you Ali?" She asked curiously.

Leaf gave out a startled squeal at being jumped upon. She was pinned for a few moments, but once she detected a moment of release she darted out from under the other flit, and straight into the bag. A satisfied cheep of victory, somewhat muffled by the fabric, came out as a lump swirled about and about inside, showing Leaf was running in circles.

"Yeah, its kinda nice knowing they like you an all," Ali continued obliviously. "And I'm 17!" She said proudly, as if this were the pinnacle of age importance. The spot where the scraps had been had finally been scrubbed clean, and she stood up.

Trinket at first thought to dive right in after her, but then she got a great idea. Instead of right away pouncing on top of her, she quietly hovered the sack waiting till Leaf let her guard down to attack her.

Ah seventeen, Harriett remembered that age. Well kind of she did. When she was seventeen they were getting ready to head to Pern and things were a bit hectic. Eighteen was when she met Bobby, that was the happiest time of her life. "Well, don't get taken over by boys too easily. You've still got a lot of life ahead of you." Harry advised.

Leaf was suspicious, but not suspicious enough. She slowly turned about in the sack, curious when nothing happened, then began to inch towards the opening, until her snout poked free. She blinked, not spotting the other flit hovering right above her.

Ali looked shocked. "But there are -so many- boys out there, how will I know which one is the right one for me if I don't spend a nigh-- I mean time with each of them? I don't wanna choose wrong and wind up like my friend Karen, who dated a total loser!" She seemed to think of the idea to NOT get taken over by boys as one of potential crazy talk. She continued looking at the older woman, mouth slightly agape.

Trinket waited until she saw the tiniest bit of Leaf and once that green snout poked out she attacked. The green ducked into the bag with her and started playfully nipping her.

Harriett sighed loudly, "It's not a bad thing to look around, but there's no need to fully commit to one boy or even two boys for that matter. I swear, young people these days just jump full into a relationship when not even two weeks has passed. How can a relationship survive if it's moving faster than the speed of life. Slow down a bit and think carefully once in awhile. You'll find you'd be happier for it. A cute face and a penis isn't all a relationship is about." That was probably the most she had ever said to anyone in a long time.

Leaf wasted no time, beginning to nip back here and there at the other green. She then grappled her and they both rolled in the bag, dangerously close to the table edge. A squeak escaped and Leaf suddenly stilled her motions.

Ali looked confused. She opened her mouth to say something, close it, opened again and once again shut it. She couldn't think of a word to say in response to this revalation from an older woman, not to mention the bluntness of it.