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 Posted: Thu Jul 09, 2009 5:08 pm
“Hmmm…” This was clearly a very serious issue and needed a very serious person to solve it. Unfortunately, C’ym was busy taking care of Hanumanth, which really only left Elae, who was currently convinced that she would do a much better job if she could wear a silly hat. How could she be expected to solve the mystery of the Missing Personal Affects if she couldn’t wear a hat?! It was a very important issue, of course, especially since a few of her personal items had gone missing as well.
Very serious business, this. Stroking her chin, Elae attempted to think about the likely suspects. Most of the other girls had disappeared from the barracks, eager to comb the beaches for this supposed Gold firelizard who had laid a clutch there. Elae didn’t think they’d have much of a chance of finding anything, honestly, which was why she had elected to stay behind and handle this mystery. She stalked the Candidates barracks, trying to find clues. Unfortunately, this was more difficult than she had thought it would be. In the stories, clues always just jumped out at people.
In real life, it was actually a lot of waiting around and doing nothing. But that was alright with Elae. She could make her own excitement. Idly, she wandered into one of the little rooms and started to poke about one of the chests with a certain amount of enthusiasm. “Oh, wow! I had no idea she wore this sort of stuff under!” she said to the world at large, comparing the amount of lace to the, haha, strait-laced nature of the owner. How very fascinating!
Folding the clothes back neatly, she sat on the box and tried to think about the likely suspects. Well, of course, stealing girly clothes was practically a tradition for the boys. It was simply part of being one, she suspected, right up there with grunting as a means of communication and scratching oneself in public. But they reported missing things too.
How very interesting… “You know, this really WOULD be easier if I had a silly hat.”
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Posted: Thu Jul 09, 2009 5:44 pm
Laughter was the best medicine when you were sick. That's what Sen believed. This place obviously needed more of it, what with all this noise about illness she'd been hearing about. Something about thieves too, and eggs. Whatever. Her perpetual good mood had taken a back seat in favor of old fashion moping. In a sense, she too was ailing Not physically ill, no. Not even home sick. Her parents weren't wretched beings but she'd never felt that attached to them. Hey, don't judge, they'd have wished for a better daughter if they could. Or a daughter at all, according to her father. Weren't men supposed to want sons? So what if people got her confused for a man sometimes?
He'd have been proud. No one was going to make that mistake now. Sen, too caught up in her musings to acknowledge her company at first, entered the room in choppy shorts and what barely qualified as a shirt. She had her favored wardrobe and this? This wasn't it. The only similarity was the cloth tied around her head. The weather sucked. The weather always sucked. Rain, shine, she wasn't about to walk around wearing this any longer no matter the penalty. Flu? Heat exhaustion? Bring it on. --Wait, what the Hell?
Her arrival had been near in sync with Elae's outcry. Over... Wow, really? Over that? For a time, Sen stood in silence, observing the other woman with raised brows. Everyone here had a case of the crazies. No wonder no one felt well. Unknowingly, this finally derailed her train of thought heading straight to My Friend Still Isn't Here station.
"You know, if you wanted to fondle my stuff like that, you could have just asked." Who was she to stand between someone and their hobbies? Sure, she'd rather not have other women--or even men for that matter--shifting through her few, blush-worthy belongings, but it wouldn't kill her. She could deal. "A hat? Isn't there one in there?" Sen, too, had a fond affinity for things that went on one's head.
"Are you the one taking everyone's things?"
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Posted: Thu Jul 09, 2009 5:55 pm
Aha! So, Elae wasn’t alone after all… how very devious of this thief to come back while everyone else was looking for the firelizard eggs! Why, if Elae was the suspicious sort, she might just assume the rumor of a Gold ‘lizard was merely made up just to keep people out. “Aha! It’s you!” Elae whirled dramatically on the newcomer, still holding the rather embarrassing clothing in her hand. It would have been very theatrical, if there had been a breeze. Unfortunately, the Istan environment wasn’t exactly conducive to such things.
Well, this was one girl who wasn’t willing to give up. She looked the newcomer up and down suspiciously, hoping that the mere force of her stare would cause the thief to give up. Actually, at first she would have assumed the newcomer was a male. And, just because of that, she assumed the newcomer was actually female. Apparently, it was very much the Cool Thing to Do, a note that Elae had never gotten. “These are yours? Oh! My bad,” she said, although she didn’t sound----or look---particularly sorry about it. “I thought they were someone else’s.”
Although she couldn’t really imagine this girl in these clothes either, actually. Well, it took all sorts, right? “No, I’m not here to take anyone’s things. The last people who did that got months of latrine duty. I’m here to catch the culprit! Everyone else is out looking for firelizard eggs so it seemed like the perfect time to catch the thief in action! Are you sure you’re not the thief?”
Elae, once again, looked the other girl over carefully. She even raised on eyebrow, on the basis that it made everything seem so much better that way. “I guess you’re not… I don’t recognize you. By the way, I’m Elae. It’s nice to meet you, especially if you have a hat.”
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Posted: Thu Jul 09, 2009 6:15 pm
Sen was ready for anything now. She didn't so much as startle when Elae span to face her and started jumping to conclusions; upping both the volume and minor amount of tension in the room. Tension from being aggravated, not disturbed. Again, what did she care? So long as they weren't ruined she could do what she wanted. Use them as a hat, maybe. That'd be one problem solved.
Was she checking her out now? Honestly, these women. The fact her more-male-than-female mode of dress was more trendy in these parts didn't escape Sen's perfectly functional common sense. But, the difference was that she wasn't trying to lure other women in with it. The same time Elae was assuming her to be fashionable, Sen was assuming her to be a skirt chaser.
"I'm not a thief at all," she promised in a tone more amused than defensive. She hadn't been here long enough to get a rep like that; Elae had caught onto this before she could say it herself. The bad mood seemed to diminish somewhere between Elae's introduction and hers. Yeah, they were insane, but what was so bad about that?
"I'm Senra. And... I think I do?"
As luck--or something--would have it, Sen searching through her chest of belongings did turn up a hat. It was at the bottom, buried beneath the puffy and baggy selection of clothes. Not just any hat, either, but the ugliest thing you would ever lay eyes on. It was the most hideous shade of green, the unattractive pattern of dots almost enough to be offensive. If eyes could sue...
"This should help. I don't think we can catch anyone with it. They'll probably go running in fear from my aunt's fashion sense."
This was now a 'we' matter.
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Posted: Thu Jul 09, 2009 7:00 pm
This was certainly great news! Elae wasn’t alone after all and the new person wasn’t a thief. This was clearly a cause to celebrate, even if she hadn’t managed to do anything other than violate someone’s privacy. Speaking of that, she figured she ought to apologize or something. “Sorry about rifling through your stuff,” she added as an afterthought with a sort of shrug. “If you don’t want more people going through it, you ought to get a good lock. Or put up a sign, perhaps.”
‘Beware of Hideous Clothing’ might have been a good one, Elae considered after seeing the Hat. It fully deserved the capital letter, having a sort of hat-like nature around it and colors that should not, under any circumstances, exist in nature. “You know, I bet the thief would surely give up his or her ways if we showed him or her this hat. Or perhaps we could use it as a threat. Resign from your evil pastimes, we can say, or else you will be forced to wear this hat!”
Ah well. It was still a hat, which was quite good enough for Elae. Plucking the hat from Sen’s fingers, she plopped it on her head, where it continued to clash horribly with… well… everything in existence. Elae did her best, however, trying to put on her serious business face, because this was indeed a very serious matter. “So, you’re new? I guess that explains why you’re still here. Just about everyone else is out looking for this gold firelizard clutch, you know. But I don’t think it’s real. I think it was just made up so the thief could get everyone out of the Weyr. Then he would have total access to everything!”
This explanation was accompanied by much flailing, as Elae firmly believed that everything dramatic became more so with enough hand gestures. Unfortunately, the only one she had really mastered was the flail. “It makes sense, doesn’t it? Also, it’s a better story that way.”
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Posted: Thu Jul 09, 2009 7:23 pm
It wasn't a big deal. Maybe she should have said that instead of thinking it over and over again. What she did say was, "Uh... I did?" Before anything else, Sen stood before her possessions, pointing with her thumb at the wall. Above the chest, albeit written in some what poor handwriting, was a note. It had some words crossed out and, to be fair, might have been hard to notice in the heat of the moment when someone was hot on the trail of a criminal. Not quite the warning Elae felt should be issued, but close enough.The words etched across the paper read:
Senra's things. Don't touch steal touch OR steal.
Oh well. There were more important things than notes and harassed under garments that needed tending to. Influenced by those dubbed 'downers' Sen was not. Influenced by those passionate about something this stupid? Oh, you know it. When she spoke up again her voice had the same enthusiasm as her new... New what? Friend? Eh, who cares? "We're trying to make them confess, not kill themselves. Then we'd be even worse." A luminous pause. "That would make for one kickin' story, though..."
There it was. Talk of that stupid clutch again. Why were people so up in arms over that? Those things were four times less cute and a million times less useful than the bigger ones. Those were the only ones worth going into a frenzy for. "I don't need any runtlizard," explained Sen with a wave of her hand. It'd just be something else to feed even if she did find one. Given they were even there. What if they were a mere decoy?
"If they steals everything, isn't someone going to figure out who he is because he'll be the only one who has anything?" Or she, Sen added mentally. It wasn't really comforting to go around assuming your gender did things like this. It was just hard not to after you'd found someone raiding your unmentionables. Somewhere mid-sentence she was dodging hand-flails to the face, trying not to laugh and finding it a chore. "I guess he could stash it all away somewhere. What are we wasting time standing around here for?"
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Posted: Thu Jul 09, 2009 11:16 pm
At the mention of the note, Elae glanced at the scrap of paper. “Oh! I assumed this was just a clever ruse,” she explained with another half-hearted shrug. “You never know. These criminals can be extremely devious. It’s a very nice note, though. Says everything that needs to be said, although it doesn’t give sufficient warning about the possibility of being assaulted by bad fashion. But, I guess a thief doesn’t really need a warning. They deserve what they get.” Senra’s aunt would probably send the thief away weeping, actually.
“It would make the most glorious ballad ever!” the girl eagerly agreed, still fussing over the Thief Hat as she now thought of it. She wasn’t certain if that made complete grammatical sense, but that had never been her strong suit anyway. Math was still her favorite subject ever. “We should present the idea to a Harper after we’ve caught the thief.”
Not that there was much of a risk of that happening, thankfully for the burglar. He---or she----would probably commit suicide out of shame. Or just out of the need to look away from the Hat. Hmm… Elae actually rather liked the little firelizards, but she didn’t want to go through the trouble of finding one in the wild. Why bother? C’ym had a little Green who was bound to Rise eventually. The only problem was that Lytah had all the mothering instinct of a piece of grit and about as much brains. The eggs were almost inevitably lost.
“Maybe the thief tells others that they have lost something but they didn’t really lose it?” she suggested after a moment of thought. “Well! Good point, Sen! We won’t solve anything by standing around here. Quick! To the kitchens!” She struck what she thought would be a dramatic pose, complete with one hand on her hip, slightly tilted body, and one hand pointing dramatically at the door. “…What? We need to eat something, don’t we?”
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Posted: Fri Jul 10, 2009 1:54 am
A ruse? A note like that? Right away, Sen found herself wondering how. She peered at the poor excuse for handwriting in a yet untried frame of mind, doing her best to figure out how that could possibly be part of some clever scheme. They could have hid the things they stole in there, she concluded. Looking at it that way, it made sense to think that. Kind of.
Her eyes were still squinted and observant when Elae began her rantings. Or had she just never stopped and the noise was drowned out in favor of her own mental voice? Sen laughed again at the outburst, feeling a twinge of inner discouragement at the mention of Harpers that fluttered away as quickly as it had come. What was she worrying for? She would be here in time. Why not enjoy herself till then?
"That could be," she agreed after a second or two of consideration. "But, if it's a smart enough thief to get away this long, I'm sure they'd be smart enough to blackmail someone else. I bet that's what this has been about all along!" However long 'all along' was; like she knew. The dramatic pose was matched with one of equal flair. The sudden mention of food did nothing more than energize her. Of course they needed to eat!
First...
"I've decided I want a ballad about me, too, so I'm going to become a thief. Starting with... this!" The word 'this' was accompanied by her hand shooting out and snatching the Thief Hat. Oh, the irony! Sen plopped the appalling headpiece on her noggin and made a dash for the kitchen.
Wow, this life of crime was fun!
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Posted: Mon Jul 13, 2009 12:57 pm
Oh my! Senra was extremely devious and clever to come up with such a theory. She was lucky that Elae had already eliminated her as a suspect, otherwise this would have been bona fide proof. At least the other girl was interesting! After Nan Impressed, Elae had been downright bored! Of course, that was mostly because all of her time had been spent in the Infirmary and oh! That reminded her! She just had to tell Nan about the new Healer at some point and…
“Eeee!” Elae squealed-----there really was no other word for it----as her pilfered hat was re-stolen by its true owner. She promptly went into a sprint after the other girl, enjoying this game thoroughly. “Oh, you just wait! I’ll get that hat back!”
And a song would most certainly be written for Senra’s nefarious deed. Oh… oh! Dear… the real proof that the girls had wandered into the kitchen was the sudden influx of people and, more importantly, the dreaded heat. Steam hung over miscellaneous pots and pans, making the place horribly humid as well as blocking some bit of visibility. The entire place was alive with noise. But Elae knew something about this place…
It was Mirelle’s lair, and she would not take kindly to two Candidates running about and making a fuss of the place. “Senra, wait!” she called out, slowing down. Besides, running in the kitchen was just asking for a face full of boiling water. People were awfully clumsy these days, especially as they tried to annoy the Weyrleaders into submission. The girls’ best bet was to grab some food and get out of there quickly and quietly, unless they wanted to be sentenced to tuber peeling duties.
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Posted: Wed Jul 15, 2009 3:32 am
Weyr life hadn't been the glamorous shower of attention she'd for some reason been expecting. Talk about misinformed. Too bad there was no Nan back home to tell her how it really was. She hadn't had a bit of fun since she'd gotten here! Not until now. For such a simple game, it was a fun one, bringing with it relief from the tension and boredom she'd felt the past few days. Senra laughed at an almost obnoxiously loud volume sprinting through the halls, around the corners and through doorways.
--Hot!
Had Elae not encouraged her to stop, she'd have done it of her own accord, anyway. Was it always this hot in here? She felt a twinge of regret for changing into her current attire--something she often did, yet continued dressing in such a way--as the steam clouded some of her vision.
Then, she stopped. She stopped suddenly, and fast. Perhaps, too fast?
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Posted: Fri Jul 17, 2009 6:58 pm
In accordance to the Hilarity Principle Article LOL dash ROFL sub-clause JK, when Sen stopped, Elae didn’t.
“Oof!” was about all she could say as she smacked into the other girl’s back. While she had slowed down a little earlier, it just wasn’t enough. Besides, the Hilarity Principle demanded it. On the bright side, she didn’t have enough momentum to knock Sen over. Ugh, and the heat was just immense! Elae attempted to think of cool things, but even the best imagination in the world couldn’t save someone from something like this.
“Sorry about that!” she said with her best apologetic grin. Without waiting to see if Sen accepted the apology or not, Elae continued. “Let’s quietly get our food and get out of here,” she whispered to Sen, being terribly conspicuous. With the cacophony of the kitchen, a ‘whisper’ was really more of a quiet shout anyway. Even as she spoke, she tried to walk all sneaky-like, which only made people look at her funny. Even the spit-dogs----who ignored most things except for food---looked curiously at the girl.
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Posted: Sat Jul 18, 2009 1:56 pm
Placed not too far in front of Sen was a pot of water. Boiling water. When Elae ran into her, she did two things: One, she stumbled. Two, she saw her life flash before her eyes. This was most unpleasant not because of the impending doom, but because the flashbacks didn't have much content worthy of a death scene in them. She and Nasundu sitting. More sitting. Talking about how they really needed to do something more productive than sit and throw rocks in water.
Wow, her life was lame.
Her sense of distance, it seemed, was not much better. Only when she gained her balance again, standing awkward but steady on one foot, did she realize the pot was still a safe distance away. Cough cough. No one needed to know.
"It's alright," she offered sincerely. The thought of getting mad over something like that wouldn't cross her mind. If Elae had done it on purpose, it probably still wouldn't have. Both feet now on the ground, she turned back to her new friend and current partner in crime (solving?), canting her head in a way that much resembled a curious dog. Her? Quiet?
All she could think to say was, "Why?"
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Posted: Sat Jul 18, 2009 2:21 pm
Why? Why?! Elae looked at Sen as if she had suddenly sprouted two heads, a couple of horns, and a tail. Who actually asked things like that anyway? Oh… right. New people. They didn’t yet know about the horror that lurked in the kitchen, just waiting to snatch up lazy helpless Candidates who looked as though they weren’t currently embroiled in a crime-solving scheme. “Wow, you are new!” was all Elae could say at first.
Although she had already arrived at that conclusion earlier, so maybe it wasn’t much of a revelation… but, come on. Give her a break; it was her first revelation of the day! Conspiratorially, Elae glanced around the kitchen, just to make sure no one had seen them yet. Actually, a lot of people had seen the girls. They just didn’t care. A pair of Candidates didn’t matter much at the moment, not with meals to prepare and people to feed.
“Well… it’s Mirelle,” she said, as if imparting state secrets. “She rules over this kitchen with a wooden spoon. That’s like an iron fist, only more useful because you can stir things with it. And if she catches us, we’ll be sentenced to tuber peeling for weeks.” Or, you know, until they were done. But with Elae’s habit of doing more talking than peeling, it always took longer.
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Posted: Thu Jul 23, 2009 8:00 am
Bah! This was getting to be so annoying! Sen made note to just start pretending like she knew everything and she'd always been here. Was everyone a Weyrbrat? How was it the Weyr suffered from overcrowding because of new candidates, yet everyone she ran into was a veteran resident! It was almost enough to make her pout.
Sen, too, looked about. Was she serious? At least five people had just seen them! It must not have mattered unless it was this 'Mirelle', she figured. She wouldn't ask. There was no time like the present to start pretending she Just Knew.
"Peeling might not be so bad..." Stacked against other chores she'd done. Being stuck inside all day doing the same thing, over and over--Wow, yeah, that would be terrible! "Let's just grab something really quick and go then. I don't want to have to do that!"
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Posted: Sun Jul 26, 2009 2:10 pm
Of course, some people made tuber peeling work. Nan certainly had! But… she was special, and Elae just couldn’t imagine sitting around for long periods of time, even if it was a perfect set-up for trading rumors. Elae looked around carefully, ignoring the fact that several people were now nudging each other and pointing at the strange girls. Well, one strange girl and one Elae anyway. “Just stay casual,” she whispered to Sen.
Straightening, Elae brushed off her clothes and sauntered to the nearest pan of meatrolls. Mirelle always made sure meatrolls were available, so it wasn’t really stealing. But it made it so much more exciting to think of it as such! Elae grabbed two meatrolls and ran back to Sen with a squeal, “I got them, I got them!”
The kitchen workers ignored this, on the basis that… well… it wasn’t really important.
Still, Elae felt horribly proud of herself. “Now let’s get out of here! And don’t mind the burnt bits, ok? Because of the overcrowding and everything…” she trailed off into a shrug. What she really wanted to say was ‘the kitchen workers here suck rocks’, but she wasn’t going to say that in front of them.
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