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 Posted: Wed Feb 10, 2010 5:27 pm
Lelia was very engrossed in the task of cleaning the floors. She'd already swept them, but had decided they just weren't clean enough, and had quickly fetched both bucket and brush and was going about scrubbing them, humming a little to herself while she worked. Life was good. There were eggs on the sands, dragon eggs! And a queen egg, which meant she was allowed to stand! The Telgar bias was strange to Lelia, and she didn't agree with it, but it wasn't in her power to control. She was of the opinion that girls could make just fine green and blue riders; but that was an issue for another time. She could stand this time, and she was hoping to impress, no matter the color. A dragon was a dragon no matter its color, just as a rider was a rider, no matter their gender. It seemed simple enough.
Scrub scrub scrub
She attacked the floor with the bristles, every so often stopping to get a little more water and soapsand spread around. Cleaning was a good way to get the mind off of things. Things like dragon eggs and...boys. Lelia knew as a candidate she shouldn't have an interest in boys. Lessons first, chores second, and boys last. It was easier said than done, however. Lelia had an active imagination, and unfortunately, it was all to happy to conjure up vivid fantasies of romance and drama. Neither of which were very realistic or probable but hey, no one said it had to make sense; it was a teenage girl's fantasy, after all.
Shayle chirped from her lounging place on Lelia's shoulder, in response to the subtle feelings of longing and loneliness Hers gave off. Even for a flit, Shayle wasn't terribly intelligent, and failed to understand why Hers was lonely. Lelia had Shayle with her now, why was she lonely? Shayle pressed her head into Lelia's neck, humming soothingly. Hopefully that would fix her Human. Shayle didn't like it when her human was sad, Shayle's human should be happy!
Lelia smiled and laughed a little in turn. She was being silly, she knew. She reached a hand up to stroke Shayle for a moment, before returning whole heartedly to her work. She was fine, really. She had her firelizards and she had her friends. Boys could wait, right?
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Posted: Wed Feb 10, 2010 5:41 pm
Jug of klah in hand, Kaatan hurried through the tunnels from the kitchen. He had been asked to bring it up to a lounge area, and was rushing through the tunnels to deliver it promptly when he heard the soft, quiet sound of sandsoap and bristle upon rock. Taking note that someone was washing the floor, he slowed his pace.
The slowed pace brought his mind to other things, no longer occupied by his quick-moving, soft-shoed feet against the tunnels that he knew so well. The warming clutch in the hatching grounds had had the entire Weyr abuzz for quite some time, and for various reasons, he had not Stood. His interest was still high, but not so near as when he had Stood in the past, and he brushed it off when asked about his absence.
The sound grew louder as he was nearing the sprawling series of open rooms, and when he saw the small halo of light extending from the first, the glowbaskets emitting a warm light, he slowed further, the gleam of wet floor and the girl scrubbing it coming into view. "Gotta be careful around here, it looks like," stepping carefully around the water, paying close mind to the state of his jug of klah. "Don't want to slip!"
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Posted: Wed Feb 10, 2010 5:55 pm
So involved was she in her work that Lelia didn't notice the sound of footfalls approaching. That voice, it cut through her calm like a chilled knife. Of anyone who could have passed, did it have to be him? And just when she'd gotten her mind off of the whole boy topic too! Of course it was Kaatan, with her luck. Kaatan in all of his tall, dark and handsome glory. Her eyes lifted to his face, to those sharp, steel eyes, and she fought to keep her eyes from flickering elsewhere, lest they betray her feelings.
She wanted to say something; anything was better than silence, but the normally collected, pleasant Lelia was out of her element now, and in a rare case was caught speechless. She stared for a minute, with a wher-in-the-sunlight sort of expression, before she caught herself and mangaged to choke a few words out. "Oh, I'm sorry!" she apologized, managing to gesture to the wet floor despite her disorientation. "I, uh, didn't mean to inconvenience you." Did she really just apologize for inconveniecing him? What was wrong with her?! Lelia cringed inwardly. She must look so foolish right now, in her chore frock, wet from scrubbing and with bits of sand stuck to it; not at all the glorious, well-dressed figure she wanted him to see.
Shayle was further confused at this. What was Hers doing? Her emotions were all mixed up, and this was making it hard for Shayle to relax. It must be that boy! The gold stared at him and took wing, fluttering and flying circles above the two of them, unsure what course of action to take. Should she bite the boy? Would that make Hers happy? Would that make him go away? If he went away, would Hers go back to normal. Shayle didn't know. It was difficult to make decisions with her intellect, and she found herself thoroughly undecided. She whined anxiously, hey eyes taking on a yellow hue. This was not good at all!
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Posted: Wed Feb 10, 2010 6:08 pm
"No inconvenience at all," he replied easily, offering her a cool smile. She seems nervous... I hope I didn't interrupt an important thought or something. "The chores need doing, can't expect a little klah to stop that!" He chuckled a bit, but looked up when the girl's firelizard began flying above them. He recognized the meaning of the yellow color to her eyes, and shifted the jug from one hand to the other, careful not to slosh it onto the newly washed floor.
"So," he continued, raising his voice slightly over the whining of her fire lizard. He wasn't sure what was making her react in such a way, but he felt like moving on to his klah delivery might exacerbate the reaction, even though the pair waiting for the klah was just in the next room. "you're, uh... Lelia, right?" He was fairly certain they had never met, but a couple of his friends had tossed the odd joke around about having heard she had had an interest in him. I doubt that, though... We're both candidates. It's probably just goofing around.
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Posted: Wed Feb 10, 2010 6:35 pm
OHMYFARANTH HE KNEW HER NAME AND- Calm. Right. To say Lelia felt awkward would be a gross understatement. She was supposed to be calm, she was collected, she was reasonable, rational and kind. Who was this strange person dictating her actions? Who was causing her to fuss and stumble on her words and act like a child? She took a deep breath. She had to focus, if she wanted to salvage the situation and have any chance of impressing him.
"Yes, but I should have assumed someone would be walking by and left an easier way through." she glanced about, dismayed that she'd allowed her supplies to sit around in such a haphazard fasion. Argh! This would be so much easier were she have to approached him at some other time. When she was dolled up and looked nice. She looked like a soapy, blustering fool, she was sure. Life was good, but it wasn't always fair.
Shayle's behavior was not acceptable, and Lelia locked onto it, as it seemed to be the one thing she could immediately get under control, unlike her feelings. Unlike Kaatan, Lelia knew the exact reason Shayle was upset. <> she scolded Shayle mentally, standing up to offer a hand for the flit to land on. Unfortunately, the floor was wet, which she'd managed to forget in her flustered state. She stood up too fast, almost jumping to her feet, and when she threw her hand up to practically snatch Shayle from the air, she lost her balance. Reaching out for something, anything, to right herself; but felt the soapy floor got the better of her, and she started to fall, hopefully not onto Kaatan.
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Posted: Wed Feb 10, 2010 6:53 pm
She's talking to me like I'm a superior or something... he considered, her formal speech and apologies wearing on his mind and making him wonder if his friends were serious, of if they were the deadglows he considered them half the time. The thought tugged on the edge of his mind. Sure, he was a candidate, but that hadn't exactly stopped him in the past...
You let your mind talk most of the time, why divert from that in the first casual meeting with someone? Focus. She's probably just uneasy at having been caught in an odd place, not to mention having her firelizard get all worked up...
"If cleaning were not messy, nothing would ever be clean," he responded, glancing up again at her firelizard and pushing the previous thoughts from his mind. When he looked back to her, he saw the determination on her face that often occupied those communicating sternly with firelizards, since it often took a strong willed mind to command them quickly. Next thing he noticed was her foot slip with the motion, and his muscles tensed up with reaction.
"Oh!" he exclaimed sharply, reaching out to grab her, the jug of klah slipping from his hand. It clattered to the ground, the pool of the warm liquid spreading across the stone floor away from the scene. Shards! You'd think soapsand would help catch feet, even in water. Poor design! He could see her falling, and his reflexes weren't quick enough, his grasp awkward, his left arm under her own left, his right wrapped loosely around and clutching the back of her frock at her waist.
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Posted: Wed Feb 10, 2010 7:50 pm
Lelia gasped, and her eyes went wide with surprise. Clatter! went the jug. SCRREEK! went Shayle. Lelia herself was quite for a moment. She could only try and blink away the surprise as she tried to take in what had just happened. Shayle had been bad, she'd stood up, she'd tripped, Kaatan had caught her, and now there was a mess everywhere. Just thinking about how long that would take to cle- wait what?! He was touching her? She'd tripped and he'd caught her, albeit awkwardly and now she was touching him! A small piece of her fantasies fulfilled, it took her another moment to collect herself. Just thinking of that strong arm around her, holding her frock at the waist... Lelia melted a little on the inside, and her legs felt momentarily soft.
Oh crap. Right. There was sort of a situation going on. It was too bad she didn't have more time to savor the moment. She quickly slipped from his grasp, and eyed what she'd done with horror. "I am so, so sorry," she apologized fervently, clasping her hands together as she could only look around at what she'd done. She looked Kaatan over to check it he'd gotten wet at all, and restrained herself from enjoying the view too much, lest she give away just how up in the clouds she was right now.
Strangely enough, this poor turn of events shocked her enough that she became more detached, and more of a human being, rather than an obsessed, dreamy girl. And when Lelia was a human being, she was more relaxed. Okay, Kaatan probably hated her now, but she would try and fix it. She put on an awkward smile and rolled her eyes, gesturing to the Klah covered floor. "My mistake," she began, feigning sheepishness. "I should have been more careful. I'm just lucky you were there to compliment me," she added, because after all, what guy didn't like to be complimented, especially after demonstrating some of their manly woman saving abilities?
"Rather than freak out, I have a proposition," she continued, holding up a forefinger knowingly. "We can run back to the kitchen and I'll explain what happened, we can grab another jub to bring to, wherever it was you were going, and then maybe grab some biscuits with jam or whatnot as a treat to go with it for being so late? Considering what I've done and the delays I've caused, it'd be a shame if I didn't help repair some of the damage," she offered, as she stooped over and scooped up the nearly empty Klah jug. Ah, it felt good to be back to normal. She was sure she'd have a good laugh later and tell her friends all about it, but for now she could go back to calm, back to what she considered her pleasant reasonability. Back to solving problems like any logical being would do; and that was a good thing.
Shayle was very confused. There was falling and dropping and catching and talking, and this was too much for her. She dove to Lelia's shoulder, claws digging into the fabric as she tensed about her human, long tail curling tightly about Lelia's neck. She would have to keep an eye on this boy. All of this emotional stuff was making it hard for Shayle to relax, and the flit didn't appreciate that.
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Posted: Wed Feb 10, 2010 8:07 pm
It took a moment for Kaatan ot grasp what had just happened. He was currently holding a girl in a way that even made him uncomfortable... It surely wasn't his first time, but the whole way it had come about made it a bit uneasy. Then there was the klah spilled all over her newly cleaned floor, the warm liquid cooling and seeping into the stone as the dry, thirsty surface drank it greedily. And then there was her firelizard, who now looked panic-stricken while she clung to her shoulder.
A few weyrfolk from the next room peeked in, but quickly became scarce when they noticed that everything was all right (and when they saw him holding the girl, albeit in a strange way in a strange situation). He was grateful that the folk who were his destination had gone back to their table, apparently not annoyed by the loss of their klah - maybe they didn't even know it was theirs.
When she pulled free of his hold, he released easily and straightened his shirt as she complimented him. He accepted it easily but quickly brushed it off as he tended to - compliments weren't really his thing. And besides, who wouldn't catch someone who had slipped? It wasn't a particularly unusual thing to do, in his mind. "And after all that," he replied, nodding at her suggestion of the klah and biscuits, "I'll help you wash the floor in here again... It was my klah that made the mess!"
They would surely get a very good talking-to at the spill, but it was an accident, and that at least held some merit. He just hoped that the recipients wouldn't be too angry about the delay - they were two riders, after all...
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Posted: Wed Feb 10, 2010 8:23 pm
Lelia smiled and waved off his offered help, flashing him a grin to show there were no hard feelings. "It's okay, really. You don't need to do that for me, if I hadn't tripped you wouldn't have dropped it anyway. Don't worry about it," she stated, turning and waving at the people who peeked at them for a moment, in an effort to reassure them that everything was okay. Thankfully, they didn't press or butt their way in, and that made this all earlier.
"Come on, time's not a'waitin'," she declared, turning on her heel and sashaying down the hall, mindful of where she put her feet and to keep her footing. It wouldn't be good to fall again. She cast a look over her shoulder, eyes locking onto Kaatan's face for just a moment, enticing, requesting that he follow. Not that he would need prompting, he seemed eager enough to get the work done, and that required a trip to the kitchen.
Her hand reached up to loosen Shayle's tail from her neck, where it threatened to choke her. She sent reassuring feelings and thoughts Shayle's way, and felt her relax a little. Not entirely, but Lelia was confident Shayle would return to normal soon. Like Lelia herself, Shayle wasn't one to stay upset or angry for long.
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Posted: Wed Feb 10, 2010 8:33 pm
Stepping carefully around the mess, he followed after her eagerly, since she had left him no time to respond. She's a determined one, that's for sure! Once he caught up to her, his learned feet finding his footing easily, he spoke through the darkness, letting his voice adjust to the newly enclosed space before his eyes adjusted to the darkness.
"It's really not a problem," he said, running his hand along the wall for a moment. "Besides, you had just cleaned the floor. I'm not going to make you do it again." He wouldn't even think badly if she moved on to other tasks, really, and left him to re-wash the stone. Even if she had slipped, it wasn't her fault. Firelizards are great, surely, but there are times when they cause more problems than they're capable of solving... huh! He was momentarily amused that he even considered this a problem, until they arrived at the kitchen with the empty jug.
"We, ah, need another jug of klah," he said easily, gesturing to the object in Lelia's hand. "And a plate of biscuits to accompany it, please?"
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Posted: Sat Feb 13, 2010 8:51 am
Lelia laughed, not at Kaatan, but his appearant unease in the kitchens. Did he spend a lot of time in here? Lelia couldn't recall seeing him much in her frequent kitchen hours, but that didn't mean much. The kitchen was an awfully busy place in a Weyr, it was easy to miss somebody. Lelia didn't expect anyone to wait on them; they were candidates, it was there job to do the waiting, the serving, the cooking, cleaning, and whatever else there was to be done. Rather than bother anyone, she would see to their needs herself. "I'll be right back," she said to Kaatan, as she slipped through the bustle of bodies, manuevering her way through the crowd like a snake in the grass, until she came to the communal klah pot, kept warm for all the riders and weyrfolk alike who might come in chilled and needing a drink.
Lelia recognized one of her friends tending to the pot, and engaged in hurried whispers with her even as she filled her jug. The pair of them shared a fit of muted giggles when Lelia's friend realized whom Lelia had come in with, and Lelia promised to explain the whole story, why she was wet and with Kaatan, when she came back later; for now, she had a fine piece of man to accompany. On the return trip to Kaatan, she took a detour, stopping to request a platter of biscuits and butter from one of the bakers, who complied readily enough and with minimal questioning. Another bonus to being a kitchen frequenter, people were more friendly and less suspicious. She set the jug of klah on top of the tray, net to the biscuits, butter, and wooden knife, and sashayed back to Kaatan, winking once she got close enough to make eye contact. "Did j'a miss me?" she teased good naturedly, laughing a little.
Shayle chirped, eyes once more sky blue and happy now that Hers was happy. Shayle liked the kitchen, she and Zev spent a lot of time in here with Lelia, watching her cook and wash and all those silly human things. The noises and smells, they were comforting and pleasant. She eyed the biscuits, butter and klah with flitt distaste. How did humans eat that stuff? It was gross.
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Posted: Sat Feb 13, 2010 10:23 am
Watching Kaatan flit off into the bustle of the kitchen, he waited by the door. He had spent time down here as just a kid, but not much in the past few years. No, longer than that... Ten turns, has it been? Probably something close to that... There were a lot of new faces, most of which he didn't recognize at all, even from around the Weyr. She, however, seemed comfortable grabbing the klah and biscuits, and even stopped to chat with someone. I guess every time I come, I'm following a request that's already been sent and prepared... I never thought about just grabbing it, I guess. The mistake suddenly made him uneasy, and his shifted nervously until she returned.
"Not at all," he replied, a half smile on his face accompanied by a wink. "In fact, I even thought of leaving you here, you seemed so at home!"
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Posted: Sat Feb 13, 2010 10:48 am
Lelia laughed and waltzed past him, giving him an exaggerated swing of her hips in response, all the while keeping the tray balanced. "I like the kitchen. It's my thing, much more prefered to, you know, deliveries or scrubbing floors. I don't know how I got assigned to do that in the first place," she mused, stopping to think about it only now. Hopefully after that particular endeavor was done she could return to the kitchen. "Of course, deliveries are enjoyable if I'm in...the right company," she ended vaguely. Let him make of it what he would, it was good to keep the guys wondering sometimes.
After a moment of walking down the hall, and plotting a return course to the location of the klah spill did Lelia realize she didn't actually know to whom they were bringing the goods. However, she didn't want to seem foolish for having taken the lead and then admitting to that mistake. It wasn't that she was proud or didn't like to admit her mistakes, but...she didn't want Kaatan to think she was silly or bubble-headed. "Kaatan, perhaps you should take the lead. If they see me bringing the stuff first, they might assume you were slacking off. You should go ahead of me for posterities sake," she suggested, pausing for a moment to look over her shoulder at him.
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Posted: Sat Feb 13, 2010 11:10 am
Kaatan followed after her in the dark, her voice really being the only thing to let him know she was still there. "I don't mind deliveries," he said with a shrug. "Or scrubbing, really. These tunnels give a good place to think, especially scrubbing them under the light of a single glowbasket." He was usually pretty confident in what he said, but he gave himself a mental kick for that. I wouldn't say I'm particularly romantic... That was a bit sickening. I didn't even mean it to sound like that! As for her comment about company... he completely missed it. Or rather, he heard it quite clearly, but his mind hadn't caught what her intention had been, and had moved on.
When they arrived at the disaster site, he took nodded and took the tray from her. "They're just in the next room, actually. Poked their heads in at the clatter... I don't think they'll be suspectful." Regardless, he continued through the room into the next lounge where the riders were sharing a conversion across a table.
"Sorry for the delay," he said, lowering his eyes and his shoulders slightly, as he had begun doing five turns ago after Standing for the first time. He didn't look them in the eyes as they accepted the tray. "We brought you biscuits as well, as an apology."
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Posted: Sat Feb 13, 2010 1:44 pm
Lelia took reassurance in his comment, which she interpreted as romantic. Who knew, perhaps he had more romantic potential than she thought! She stored the thought for later use, however, as now wasn't time for that. Now was business. Later on she would fawn and giggle like a girl. Work came first.
Oh goody, he'd taken the tray, and had assumed the lead. Of course it proved that they were just in the next room but...whatever. Her clever use of words had averted a potentially embarassing situation for her, she felt; all without compromising the situation with Kaatan. But what was this? Her tall, dashing hero was acting sheepish to these riders? Lelia knew people gave riders a good deal of respect, but Kaatan was acting downright skittish? Was he nervous? She didn't want him to feel awkward or anything, so she made up her mind then to step in for him; and that was just what she did.
She stepped forward and gestured to the tray of treats. "We're terribly sorry for the delay," she began, making use of what she called her 'public speaking' voice and attitude. "There was a bit of a mix-up, but it's been taken care of. Please, enjoy the warm biscuits and butter as compliments of the kitchen staff and my friend Kaatan here," she explained, giving the riders a little curtsey and smile. "And please, if there's anything else we can get for you, don't hesitate to ask," she finshed, with a nod for emphasis. Was that suitable? Hopefully she'd clarified or fixed the situation enought that Kaatan wouldn't need to feel awkward anymore.
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