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 Posted: Thu Jul 16, 2009 3:28 pm
A short, attention-grabbing rap against the rock of the Candidate's living-quarters by the hilt of her knife and Kess was leaning a hip against the entrance, her black eyes meeting blue when they made their way to her.
"Hey. Uuni, is it?" A brief tug at the corner of her full mouth that could've been a smile. "They told me I might find you here," It was the older girl's cot, supposedly, that rested here after all. Her face was familiar to Kesslan, as well, as she'd been a candidate for many years now, just as Uuni had.
"We've letter duty." The task of handing out messages throughout the weyr. It was a good exercise for the candidates, helping them learn faces and names, and also showing themselves to the other residents.
It was certainly better than latrine duty.
Holding up one of two large bags, she lifted her shoulders in a casual shrug, ready to toss it to the brunette.
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Posted: Thu Jul 16, 2009 3:41 pm
Ah, and here she thought she'd escaped from chores for the day. Rolling her eyes at herself for the thought - she'd been here far too long to actually believe it - she pulled her seemingly heavy weight from where she'd been sitting and made her way towards the knocking sound.
Unlike Kesslan's, Uuni's smile could easily be distinguished as one, or perhaps it was more of a broad baring of teeth. And for a moment, she had hoped that this young woman was here for something entirely different, but no, chores would always be her one and only true lover here at the Weyr.
"Yeah, that's me," she answered as she returned the gaze and shrugged.
"Do we really?" The grin that had been there earlier could possibly be seen to grow as she reached across for one of the bags of letters. They were big and made her look ridiculous, but she could ignore it in light of the fact that it meant seeing quite a few people in the Weyr. Yes, she enjoyed letter duty.
"About time they gave me something interesting. I feel like I've been stuck in the kitchen for weeks." Heaving the bag over one shoulder, she took in a deep breath and adressed her chore-companion with a more scrutinizing look.
"Don't tell me we have to sort them, too." Usually it was someone else's job to organize according to location on the Weyr, but they'd been known to make mistakes, and she'd heard there were times they had to be completely reorganized unless the holders wanted to run up and down the halls in repetition to deliver letters.
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Posted: Thu Jul 16, 2009 3:53 pm
"Aye, I'm sure I've been on latrines far too long for someone that's not in some sort of trouble." A sudden flash of a grin and she stepped back to politely let Uuni through into the hall first.
"I sorted them myself before fetching you." A low, soft chuckle. "It got me out of another round of latrines." Of course, lately, she'd been doing them with Rin and that made it so much easier. Part of her thought Z'nal only gave them the task so they could complete it quickly and have a bit of relaxing time. Most of her knew it was just his favorite to assign to nearby candidates.
Letting her dark eyes linger on long hair and wide hips, she thought it proper to introduce herself formally, whether or not the other could recall her name.
"It's nice to have a chore-partner with a smile. I'm Kess."
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Posted: Thu Jul 16, 2009 5:45 pm
Uuni thought about ignoring the polite movement and making Kesslan go first for about five seconds. It would have been more hastle than it was worth to play the 'polite' game, and she wasn't about to start one of those now.
She did, however, give the girl a raised eyebrow and a slightly offended look as she mentioned working in the latrines. "You sure you're not actually in trouble and don't know it?" she asked as the confusion slowly changed once more to her typical, joyful attitude.
Moving the bag off her shoulder once more, she pinned it against the wall and supported it by bending her leg and placing the heavy object there. She funneled through a few of the letters, but her eyes were constantly looking back over at the young woman.
"You know, if people stare, I think they want something. You don't want anything, do you, Kess?" There was a light laugh at that before she reshouldered the letters and started off down the rock-faced corridors.
"Alright, I give. Just where are we going first?" She liked this girl already. She was outgoing, and she sorted the letters ahead of time. The latter probably held most of the reason for this liking, but Uuni only counted points, she never counted where someone had gotten them. "Thanks, by the way, for sorting the letters. You're a lifesaver." If Nan were here, she'd likely have to write that one down. It had been a long while since Uuni had genuinely thanked someone; a thanks that didn't involve necessity that was.
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Posted: Thu Jul 16, 2009 5:57 pm
"I think Z'nal considers the Candidates as a whole to permanantly be in trouble, no matter our personal offenses."
Kess wasn't very easy to rile, usually one could only work up either amusement for their efforts or a stony stare before she went back to her task at hand. Uuni, though, received the first in the form of a slow, lazy grin.
She didn't answer her second question, calmly meeting the brunette's gaze without hesitation. Kess wasn't the shy sort, she was just quiet. Letting Uuni continue the conversation without the blonde's commentary, she waited until they were partially down the corridor before responding.
"I figured we'd stop by the kitchens. On my way over I noticed a large group of riders going in, so we should be able to catch many of them now." As for the letters. "I like to stay organized." A slight smile. "And I don't waste time."
It would've been silly to wait for Uuni's company to sort the letters, after all, she'd had to divide them evenly into their carrying bags anyway. Still, many of the candidates just tossed them in, despite the efficiancy that was possible.
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Posted: Thu Jul 16, 2009 6:15 pm
The lazy grin and her gaze being met got a wink in response.
Uuni never really needed or desired too much response to take it as a lot. Hell, she spent her whole life living off of the tiniest responses.
Damn these bags were heavy. Shifting it higher onto her shoulder as they went, she only half listened to Kesslan's words. She heard 'kitchens', though. The word that came in response was, "Damn kitchens."
Still, Kess was smart enough and as much as Uuni wanted to avoid the kitchens, the other woman had a very logical point. "That makes one of us. As you saw earlier, my living quarters are a mess."
It was nice when other people were organized, but could Uuni do it? No.
"So, permanently in trouble, but not really in trouble at all, Kess, what things do you do in your spare time?" Oh, she deserved to be slapped for that question, but for once it really was just a tease and not a double entendre.
Over that matter, she added. "Kinda funny we haven't met before. I know I've seen you around."
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Posted: Thu Jul 16, 2009 6:36 pm
Kess didn't seem to have quite the same struggles with the bag, but being born in the weyr and a candidate since fourteen could make a girl quite strong. Forward in her own way, she wasn't afraid to work for what she wanted, and to make those desires clear, however the blonde was rarely blatant. Uuni seemed to be making up for that fact.
Another one of those small, contained smiles as Uuni continued to question her and they drew closer to the kitchens. Close enough to hear its familiar noises in the background of their quiet conversation. She rather liked talkative companions.
"Spare time? I've forgotten what that even means." She seemed about to say something else, something more playful, when her gaze shifted from the older girl to scan the kitchens.
"I've been around enough to know your name." She had, indeed, recognized it when her messanger task had been assigned, and had also matched it to a face in her mind. From there it'd only taken a question or two to find the girl's quarters.
Absently, she answered Uuni's other question, with a real answer. Real enough, anyway. "I relax, seek pleasure. Music." A laugh. "Tease the flits."
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Posted: Thu Jul 16, 2009 6:48 pm
Uuni let out a rather unwomanly snort at Kess's small, witty comment on spare time. "Haven't we all," she muttered under her breath. Speaking of breathing, she was glad the kitchens weren't up a giant uphill ramp, or she'd sound like an old man who had gone running. Had she gotten this out of shape? It didn't seem possible.
"Mmm. . . I can't say I'm good with names," she answered as the steady drone of conversation started to take over one pathway in her mind.
Leaning against one of the entryways, she paused to catch her breath and look back at Kess before she made her way in. She finished her sentence there inbetween breaths. "So it's good you told me yours, but I'll probably forget again later." Which was really a horrible thing considering 'Kess' wasn't a very hard name to remember.
Oh, but did she smile at how Kess phrased how she spent her free time. "Gotta be careful with that pleasure word there, Kess. I'd be liable to take it the wrong way." She shrugged and stepped the rest of the way into the kitchens.
That was when she stopped and realized that splitting up wasn't going to work. "I need your miracle ability to match names and faces right about now, I think." The color had washed from her face in slight embarrassment. There was one very large reason she never made it "easy" for herself by heading to the dining areas first. Perhaps she'd seen everyone there, and had physical encounters with more than a few, but if she'd been asked to give names, she might have managed four or five.
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Posted: Thu Jul 16, 2009 7:01 pm
"I can't say that bothers me in the slightest." It was unclear to which of Uuni's statements she was responding to, and Kess left it that way. To be honest, the blonde rather prefered staying out of the spotlight, in many senses. Drama was not her forte.
Really, though, if it was, she and Nan the Nose would make quite the team. The blonde not only remembered names and faces, but she was quite observant, noticing details that others might not and picking up almost instantly on body language. Call it intuition, or the perks of being quiet, perhaps.
"Alright, well. Let's start over there." A gesture toward one group of riders. "The wings I noticed coming in, well, I grouped their letters together." Pointing out the riders in a clockwise fashion, she gave Uuni a few pointers, including the colors of mustaches or eyes along with their names. "... And that letter goes to the fellow whose expression makes you think he found trundlebugs in his Klah."
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Posted: Thu Jul 16, 2009 7:23 pm
Where drama might not have been Kess's forte, it was most certainly Uuni's. Her family had generally lacked it whenever she wasn't around, but the moment her presence had entered the household, all the chaos in the world dumped right down in an instant. It had ceased to bother her.
Leaning back a little so she could follow Kess's gestures and eyeview more easily, Uuni let her own intuition work as they scanned the room together. Kess really did have it down to a science. Was it bad, then, that she was listening (and enamoured) more by the sound of the girl's voice than what she was actually saying?
By the time she'd caught on, she realized she should have been paying more attention. Under a stroke of luck, the hollowed out sounds were still running round in her brain and she was able to decipher what Kess had said after a pause and a long period of heavy thought.
She had to laugh at the way Kess described things. It was a solid, shameless laugh as she flicked the letter between her fingers and shook her head slightly.
"That helps." She gave a nod and tapped her fingers over her lips. "And then, maybe I'll teach you the secret art of winning a cup of wine from richer rider or two. Fair trade?" She raised the opposite brow that she had earlier that day and offered her hand for a shake.
This could work out very well indeed, and would certainly be a lot more efficient that stumbling about with no idea what letters went where. She would like letter duty with Kess more often, she decided. It hardly felt like a chore at all.
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Posted: Thu Jul 16, 2009 7:34 pm
Kess was happy to have so much laughter during a chore, finding her own coming yet again, soft and husky as she reached for Uuni's hand, squeezing slightly as they shook on it. "Agreed, though I can't say I'll be any good at it."
Somehow, Kess thought she and the brunette had very different ways of getting that cup of wine. A smile tugging at the corners of her mouth at the thought she nodded, stepping away slightly.
"Aye, we'll have the kitchens handled between us before the hour is up." Letter duty could be quite a long task, luckily there were many other candidates doing it was well, so it wasn't as if they'd have to cover the whole weyr. Most of their targets were actually in the kitchens, so then it would just be about finding the stragglers.
Tilting her head to the side to signal which part of the kitchens she'd be in, the blonde headed off to get rid of a large portion of her own messages.
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Posted: Thu Jul 16, 2009 7:50 pm
Uuni found herself giving an amused sound at this prospect, too. No, she couldn't say she forsaw Kess brilliantly seducing away wine, but there were always other ways, and Kess had an agreeable nature. Between the two of them, Uuni didn't think it would be anything but easy.
The most exciting prospect about this whole thing, however, is that if they did indeed finish their duties early, they might get an undetermined amount of 'free' time. That was, until someone caught wind and sent them off onto some other duty.
Uuni nodded as Kess mentioned where she was heading to, and then she went about her own tasks.
Damn; she was already forgetting a lot of what she'd been told.
Instead of fretting, she took a deep breath and headed straight 'into battle'. At the end of that hour, she must have had seven eighths of the bag empty, but there were a few more that she was struggling with.
Since she didn't have that many, she decided to take a rather unconventional method to the end of her task. She found a fairly unoccupied part table and used it as a vantage point. A shrill whistle to get the halls attention and a few names shouted thereafter left her duty done. And no, she didn't mind any looks up her garments that any lower-sitting individuals might have gotten as she got down off the table.
Now. . . to find Kess again.
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Posted: Thu Jul 16, 2009 8:05 pm
Kess, on the other hand, simply went through, speaking quietly with a few of the riders she knew, as well as several candidates. Letters were handed out quickly, some of them handed off to close friends or weyr-mates of the person receiving the letter.
Before Uuni had finished, Kess was already leaning against a wall, taking slow drinks from a mug of klah while she read a letter of her own. From Korist, her twin, who would be arriving in time for the hatching yet again.
She was excited to see him, though she hoped he wouldn't see her fail to Impress yet again. In fact, she was so enthralled with the letter, a wide grin on her face, that she didn't notice Uuni until she was quite close.
Blinking, she folded the letter, sliding it into a pouch at her hip as she pushed off the wall with a foot. "Finished, then?" A chuckle. "I suppose we should return these bags, then."
Running a hand through her bangs, she shook her head slightly. "Actually, if you fancy a break, hang on to the empty one, or someone might see fit to refill it if we get back to the sorting room so quickly."
A pause, and the blonde had an amused glint in her dark eyes as she spoke, soft voice surprisingly teasing. "It's Kess, by the way, if you've forgotten."
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Posted: Thu Jul 16, 2009 9:06 pm
Uuni was quiet when she saw Kess reading the letter. Believe it or not, she had some semblance of decency, and she had mind enough not to interrupt people over personal matters. She had quite a few letters of her own. She'd stopped opening them a few years ago, and on occassion a bit of guilt would arise with the thought.
She nodded, and was thankful that Kess's voice chased away the sudden melancholy that had settled.
But did she ever fancy a break. What she said earlier about loving giving out letters? Yeah, she was getting rather tired of it. Such was her nature.
It took Uuni about three seconds to register the joke. At first she looked only confused, and then she caught on with a grin and one of those characteristic sounds of amusement. "Yeah, thanks."
The smile lingered there for a little while as she let her eyes wander for a brief moment. It was really an excuse to think.
"You're not afraid of heights, I hope?" It was said suddenly, and there was clear excitement in her body-posture as the words slipped from her tongue.
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Posted: Fri Jul 17, 2009 9:21 am
The two shared a brief, silent moment of musing as they regarded each other quietly, the blonde's brows raising at Uuni's sudden excitement.
"I'd be a sharding excuse for a candidate if it were so." Kess's soft voice was laced thickly with amusement and she shouldered the still awkward, now empty letterbag, downing the rest of her klah in one smooth movement.
Dropping the mug off with the dishwashers, she nodded a greeting or two to several candidates, letting herself be led from the 'dreaded' kitchens by the brunette. Sometimes it was really nice to have company on one's short breaks.
She didn't bother to ask where they were going.
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