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 Posted: Thu Jul 02, 2009 7:11 am
Well...this was unfortunate. Velrun was sulking quietly in one corner of the dining hall. With a bucket perched nearby on one of the long benches and a dripping rag in hand he scrubbed roughly at a resistant spot of something or other that had been spilled the night before. It came up, bit by bit, revealing the clean wood below. When it was done, he'd move on to the next spot, and then the next. He'd do a good job, but he wasn't happy about it.
Today he'd been supposed to help clear out some of the litter and debris that had accumulated around the edges of the Weyr bowl. It had been a cool day, ideal for that sort of chore. Many other candidates would return from the same task on warmer days with sunburn, but he'd gotten a lucky draw. Or so he'd thought. Not an eight of a candle mark into the work and those puffy white clouds overhead had drawn together, darkened, and started pelting them with rain. And he'd been reassigned to the dining hall, scrubbing tables with the rest of that crew.
Feh. He thought to himself. And I suppose when the day comes I'm to help with the dragons again, there'll be thread. That would figure, wouldn't it? Sharding weather. Ah well, I suppose it can't be helped. He took out his irritation on a smaller, but much older spot. This one had resisted the scrubbings of many candidates before him, and though he managed to get a bit up, it would live on to pester many more.
((BA HA HA RAIN.))
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Posted: Thu Jul 02, 2009 7:19 am
( EWEWEW RAIN DD8 )
Since the wee hours of the morning, Kella had been working in the kitchens. It was the same as any other day. The young woman never seemed to do anything BUT kitchen work. Doesn't it get boring? Nah. Kella liked things in a certain order; she had routines, and LOVED it when they were followed to a 'T'. Her day had begun normally; she'd woken up, gotten dressed, washed up, and made her way from the candidate barracks to the kitchens. That had been something that altered her routine- moving into the candidate barracks. She'd sulked and complained about it for a few sevendays, but it was now nothing out of the ordinary.
After doing the chores that needed to be done immediately (taking out the trash and setting up the dining area for breakfast) she began the other, lesser chores. One of which was helping clean up after breakfast. The Weyr residents inadvertantly made a mess of things. Every day. The tables were littered with crumbs and little bits of food, splashes of klah and juice. The wood became sticky and discolored, and needed to be wiped down several times. Usually there were several candidates set for the chore, but today it seemed like there were only two. Kella, and another- named Velrun? Something like that. Kella knew faces, but tended to forget names.
"Hey- do you have an extra rag?" Kella asked as she came sauntering into the dining area from the kitchens, bringing with her a bucket of warm, soapy water. She quickly surveyed the hall, and drew up a plan. She'd start on the opposite end, and work her way towards Velrun. They'd meet in the middle. Hopefully, by the time they were done, it would be time to start setting up for lunch.
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Posted: Thu Jul 02, 2009 7:44 am
Velrun didn't bother to glance up when he heard someone approaching. It could only be one of two people after all. Another candidate come to do the same thing he was at, or a regular kitchen worker passing through. It was too close to breakfast for it to be someone here for a snack, and too far from lunch to be the candidate master come to tell him to be done. As it turned out it was the former of the two options, a girl he recalled as being Kella.
"There." Ne nodded over his shoulder at the bucket. Through the thinning slick of bubble along the top could be seen a second rag, drifting near the bottom of the bucket. Not one for much chatter, he slowed his scrubbing only long enough to see where she would go. He hadn't yet talked to this candidate (or many for that matter) and thankfully she seemed the kind to not let babble get in the way of work.
Bending back to his task, he seemed to ignore her for the time being. He'd long given up on the one resistant spot, but another had caught his eye, and he tackled it with the soapy rag, eager to have it cleaned and gone. There were plenty more tables to wipe down before lunch, and as far as he was concerned there was little time to spare.
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Posted: Thu Jul 02, 2009 8:06 am
It was rather unusual for Kella to not be prepared for her chores- but forgetting a rag was only a minor inconvenience. The boy she asked didn't seem too keen on talking, but Kella didn't mind. She wanted to get this chore done quickly so she could move onto the next! Before grabbing the rag from Velrun's bucket, she moved to the opposite end of the hall and set her own down. She then sashayed back to where Velrun was enthusiastically scrubbing away at one seemingly stubborn spot. "Elbow grease'll do the trick," she assured him, then bent down to snatch away the spare rag.
Kella was more than happy to skip over the small talk and focus on the task at hand. But after a few minutes, scrubbing tables became REALLY boring. The young woman found herself letting her mind wander- and day dreams were never conducive to being productive. Her thoughts wandered to (what else?) the eggs on the sands. She'd heard that someone had touched them, and that Favan and Cheoth were in QUITE the state over it. Kella snorted, shaking her head. "Unbelievable," she muttered.
EVERYONE in the Weyr knew the rules- no touching the eggs before the queen allowed it. That wasn't one of the rules meant to be broken. It was put in place for a reason. Who knew if the eggs could be harmed by such interaction early on, or possibly influenced? Kella scowled, frustrated with the stupidity of one person. It jeopardized more than just her- the girl who had touched the egg. Kella wasn't sure of her name, nor did she really want to know.
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Posted: Thu Jul 02, 2009 8:39 am
Velrun had paused in his scrubbing when the girl had said something to him. He blinked up at her owlishly, almost looking confused at her. Did she think he didn't know how to scrub or...? No, probably just trying to be helpful or comforting or some other such nonsense. With a mental sigh he got back to work and with a liberal amount of 'elbow grease' as she'd put it, the spot was gone.
He almost didn't hear her the second time she spoke, but he was certain he knew what she was thinking about. It was what the whole weyr was thinking about now really. That and the strange illness popping up here and there. And how hot and crowded they all were. Vel'd begun to wonder if the dragons that might have gone on to hatch despite the touching would find the place to their liking. So many angry, hot, bothered folk, it couldn't seem like a nice place to be born into.
Rewetting his rag, he made quick progress down the table. With luck things would go on this way. It wasn't that he disliked being social, but things were easier when one didn't talk too much. He glanced up at the girl and noted her scowl. Perhaps a word now would be for the best though.
"Worry is the price one pays for problems that might never come. The eggs will hatch or they won't, and thinking negative thoughts now will do nothing but hamper your own morale and make you more likely to be slipshod in your chores."
Okay, so maybe that was more than one word.
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Posted: Thu Jul 02, 2009 3:56 pm
The fact that some silly girl had chosen to break one of the cardinal rules was, really, the least of the Weyr's worries. There was sickness, overcrowding, and the ever-persistent heat to deal with. All together! Kella sighed, tossing her near-dry rag back into the bucket of soapy water while she wiped off her forehead with the back of her forearm. "Man, it really is gross today," Kella grumbled. Despite the insistent rain, the young woman felt as though the humidity persevered.
But she picked her rag back out of the bucket and resumed her scrubbing. The tables wouldn't clean themselves! If she, and Velrun, didn't finish their cleaning in a timely manner, it was likely that the tables would remain dirty until someone found time to clean them the following morning. Kella tried her hardest to push all the negative thoughts from her head and focus solely on the chores at hand- but found it rather difficult. Being Weyr-born and -bred, it was only natural for the young woman to thrive on the Weyr's goings-on.
Velrun surprised Kella from her thoughts and chores, however. She definitely had not expected him to speak to her- nor did she expect him to be perceptive enough to pick up on her negativity. Then again, the scowl permanently etched on her face gave it away. "It isn't just the eggs," was her only response. Where Velrun spoke volumes, Kella was succinct. She didn't even look up from the table- she just kept on scrubbing.
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Posted: Sat Jul 04, 2009 3:46 pm
Velrun had returned to his scrubbing as soon as he'd finished his bit, and had worked a few more feet down the table. A few more areas and spots and they'd be on to the next. It was much faster with two, and part of him hoped the rain would slow or stop as they finished. A little free time in better weather would be good for the people of the weyr. Being cooped up indoors in such numbers had to be a hassle.
"Oh?" Sure there was plenty to be cross about these days. Cramped quarters (Velrun was now sharing a room with three others, not the usual one) and disease, the heat of the day despite the rain, proddy dragons and broken rules...Had he been the type he would have laughed at what a sorry state the weyr had gotten into. They needed relief soon, if not immediately.
Spotting a drip left on a bench, he kneeled to wipe it clean. Messy messy...it was amazing that with the benches packed so tight there had been room to make a drip. Someone had likely left the meal with a lap full of food to manage it. He frowned slightly. A food shortage from wasters WOULD be just what they needed now, wouldn't it?
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