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As Okassis quickly learned, through the curses and growls of the poor sod set in charge of the little early-morning cleaning crew he was assigned to, some fardling bluerider and careless goldrider let their dragons go rolling off through the mud. Which was well enough until, either by design or supreme dimglowedness, they'd chosen to pay no heed when they went gallivanting off through the Weyr. The end result was that the entire Lower Caverns was coated in a layer of mud deep enough that it almost had to be shoveled, rather than scrubbed, and Okassis was one of the lucky fools expected to make it cleaner than a Thread-razed field before the noontime crowds made their way through for lunch.

He didn't care much for the task at hand; it was just another chore to him, to be borne without love, as all work at the Weyr had devolved into. In fact, Okassis hardly seemed to be listening as they were given instructions on what to do about the mud. He was too busy trying to pretend he hadn't seen who else was on the working roster with him, the young Cotholder girl that he hadn't seen since the uncomfortable events at Gather.

It wasn't that he'd been purposefully trying to avoid Inaari - at least, not before now. But it had been awfully convenient for him that their paths failed to cross while he was keeping his head down. The last think that Okassis wanted was to be connected to the fight at Gather - for personal reasons, political, whatever. Bad enough that the Healers awarded him a reputation as a troublemaker, without it spreading to the rest of the Weyr!

But it had been a week or so already, and sure Inaari's memory wasn't so long that the first words out of her mouth would be, what the shards is wrong with you, picking a fight at Gather?! And if they were, well, that was just proof that it didn't matter how long he kept his head down, he'd have to face the music someday.

And so when they were released at last for work, Okassis bucked up and made a point to find a place to work near her - though he pretended not to notice her just the same, at least not yet. Better if she started a conversation with him than the other way around, so that he could measure her reaction and get an idea of what she'd walked away from that conflict thinking of him....

Well, at least she was happy to see him. Okassis had been suspicious that the straight-laced Holder girl would have to turn her nose up at him after the squabble, and it pained him to think how much he'd have had to tease her to get her to loosen up if that were the case. Instead, he only had to act surprised as she approached him - as if only now noticing she was there - and pause in his work to greet her.

"Oh, they got you on scrubber duty too, huh? Would've thought they couldn't spare you from klah duty," he grinned cheekily and held his mop in such a way that invited her to work nearer to him, if she'd like. Which was probably a good idea, if they were going to be talking in low voice about things that, well... were better spoken of in low voices.

In a minute gesture, Okassis waved off her concerns dismissively. "It'd be pretty dimglow of me to skip out on work over my own stupidity, wouldn't it? Besides which, I'm plenty fine. Jaenel's got an arm like a lame wherry." He shrugged and smiled, as though he were just as unbothered by the affair than that. "Say, you get started on that dress of yours yet?" he asked, deflecting the conversation onto something new.

It wasn't a small bit noticeable, either, that Inaari was more relaxed now than at their prior meetings. Or maybe relaxed wasn't quite the word; she wanted to be relaxed. It was good that she did, Okassis decided. Where else could a Cotholder girl find to indulge in those forgotten hopes for spontaneity and irreverence, if not at a Weyr? One virtue he was willing to chalk up for the system, then.

"Hey, hey now!" Okassis cried out laughingly, cringing away as Inaari kicked at the unfortunate mess, "be careful with that! A few of us here can only get by on our looks, you know, and can't afford to get splattered up!"

The few tiny dots of muck that had joined the globs already on his pantsleg didn't seem worth complaint - but of course, picking at them, Okassis had to act as dramatically compromised as if it were wherrydung. "I suppose those poor folks on laundry duty are going to have a hard time of it today, too. Ah well, as long as it isn't just us!"

With that, he cheerfully began scraping up the muck again, helping to consolidate it onto a piece of filthy cloth which would bear it out of the Weyr.

"Planning for Feast already, eh?" Okassis mused. It made sense, he supposed. That way, as few Candidates as possible would be forced to work at the party after, which would either be their victory or, more likely, defeat - and in either case, a poor time for labor. "Well, I'd ask if you folks needed any extra hands, but I've been well banished from kitchen duty by now. Though bet you could ask S'van, he spends enough of his time there already!"