[PRP] Responsiblities on Free Day (Rizdax & Nalacko)

[Hattaki]

Dusting the last of his day's work off of his pants, Rizdax rubbed his temples and suppressed a sigh that threatened to bubble up from him. If he was even remotely capable of feeling irritated at his fellow Candidate that had been so cold they'd disappeared after a jacket hours ago, and then somehow never reappeared, he would be seething in just anger right about now. Instead he was stuck dusting off his pants with the sleeves of the jacket he still hadn't given back to Renose... now that he thought about it. Riz looked at the dusty ends of the sleeves and realized that this was altogether too large for him as well, but at least it was just the length and not the size, unlike his last jacket that had reached all the way to his knees and made things utterly impossible to accomplish.

Still, wasn't his jacket so it wasn't a good idea to keep it for much longer than he had to, even if his... were they even friends yet?... had insisted upon it.

"Oh well, I know where to find him at least." Riz flapped out the sleeves of the jacket and stored the brooms he'd been cleaning with carefully in the nearby closet. Once that was handled he pulled a necklace out of his jacket and tied it tight around his neck, never one to wear any sort of jewelry when he was cleaning especially when it was the glass beads that R'gan had given him.

If he hadn't already been experimenting with them he wouldn't have known what colors he liked himself, though any of the glass beads were beautiful enough for him to turn into jewelry. Maybe he would experiment with some more styles of knots to make for any of the weyrbrats running around that wanted another necklace. It gave him something to work towards at least and kept his mind off of everything else that still threatened to blacken the edges of it. Since he'd been at this Weyr he'd come to make some friends at least, he could list off three that he spoke to on a daily basis and that fact alone actually filled Rizdax with some pride and happiness. Maybe if he stayed here for a bit longer he would make some more.

Rolling his shoulders to crack them he took off down the hall to find something around the Weyr that he could clean or help out with to make up for the hours he'd spent cleaning up two people's worth of mess that should have taken much less time.

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[magnadearel]

Hattaki

The young girl Nalacko had a cherished rest day. Unfortunately, now that her best friend R'gan was a fledged rider, he had a whole different schedule. She was sad she wouldn't get to spend time with him and his beautiful blue this day. Instead she'd decided to spend some time in the pottery shed, as it had been awhile since she'd been down there. Plus it allowed her to use to rejected glass beads R'gan gave her, permitting her to feel close to her friend despite being apart.

She was carrying a bag of less than round beads. They made perfect accents to her pottery and made them one of a kind gifts. Nalacko was trying to decide what she could make for Basanuth. What did one get or make a dragon? They had very simple needs. Perhaps a container to hold stuff? Brushes or oils? If she asked R'gan the surprise would be spoiled.

As she turned a corner, she nearly ran into boy who looked a little worst for wear. It wasn't his dusty appearance that immediately caught her eyes. It was the string of beautiful beads around his neck. "Those are R'gan's!" She blurted out. She could spot his work anywhere. Who was this boy that R'gan had given him some beads?  

[Hattaki]

Somewhat unprepared for the words that were all but shouted at him in something that he narrowed down to shock, Rizdax's eyebrows shot up towards his auburn hairline as a stray piece of hair fell down from the rumpled mess and across his forehead. Tired eyes took in the smaller girl before him and the bag that seemed to be taking up all of one of her hands, he tried to figure out where he had seen her before. Was she a fellow Candidate? Riz hadn't memorized every face and name just yet and honestly he felt rather bad about that, she seemed to be right about the same age as his little sister Xazri, so it melted the aggressive remark in his mind instantly as the face of his sister overtook hers a bit. It hurt though, so he shook his head to clear it and leveled his eyes at her.

"They're mine now. He gave them to me." it had come out a bit shorter than he intended but... Rizdax didn't really know her well enough to formulate something better. It was clear that she knew who the Weyrling was but it was uncertain to him who she was.

Maybe he could pull her name from her, but it seemed more prudent not to say anything else until she offered up more than three words for him to respond to. He had done the same thing with his siblings when they had tried to lure him into answering and talking for them, that had been when they were toddlers thought, this was a teenager. Albeit a smaller one than himself and that was rather hard, given his short stature.

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[magnadearel]

Hattaki

Nalacko flushed and looked down as she realized how rude she'd been to this boy she didn't know. "I'm sorry. I wasn't trying to imply you'd stolen them. Only that R'gan had made them." Her fingers tightened just slightly around the bag she held, making the beads rattle softly. The beads in the bag were precious to her since R'gan had made them, even if they were mostly useless to him.

For a moment she felt a bit of jealousy, that R'gan had given this unknown boy some of his perfect beads. She'd already put her foot in it quite well for this first meeting. Nalacko worried he thought badly of her already. Maybe if R'gan had a moment free, she could ask about him. Someday, some when. Who knew when he'd next have a day off?

"Sorry to have bothered you," she said softly keeping her head down. It'd probably be best if she got out of his way now. She moved to edge around him and make a dash for the safety of the pottery room. At least there the clay and the beads wouldn't judge her.  

[Hattaki]

Heart lurching up into his chest, he realized exactly how harsh his curt words must have been for the younger girl to hear when her face turned nearly as red as his own hair. An embarrassed flush came to his own pale cheeks and darkened the scar that traced over his right cheekbone a bit as his ears turned the color of his hair. Rizdax felt miserable instantaneously, he had caused this by not reacting as he should have even if she had only issued him an outburst at first. Everyone deserved the respect of level words.

"I... no, you aren't bothering me!" Riz waved his dusty hands in the air and the sleeves of his jacket fell to his elbows. Looking down at the sleeves as though they'd betrayed him in some way, the boy managed to stutter out an elaboration past his embarrassment, "R'gan makes some really... really good beads when he has some.. free time, you know? If we get the... the chance we meet up and make some jewelry. For the weyrbrats running around!"

Running a hand over his face he screwed up his emotions and tried as hard as he could to break down the rocky armor he'd spent the past couple of years erecting. It wasn't the easiest of things to open himself up to people that he just met but he certainly couldn't let this girl who looked so close to his own sister's age be hurt by his sheer idiocy. Pulling back his hands he at least managed a slightly warmer look, even if it wasn't a smile and he pulled in deep breath.

"To be honest I don't usually keep any of R'gan's beads for myself, I'd much rather give them away, that's what this one was meant for but it didn't come out right the first time so I had to fix it up." Riz pulled it from around his neck and held it out to her. "I was waiting to find someone that might want it and it seems I finally met someone that knows R'gan's work well enough appreciate it."

He wasn't a total fool, he could hear the little glass beads in the bag she held in her hands, that meant that she was someone important to the busy weyrling. If anyone he'd met deserved the necklace he'd been wearing moments before it was her and Rizdax was actually quite relieved that he'd remade it with as much care as he had.

magnadearel

 

[magnadearel]

Hattaki

Eyes still down, she couldn't see his own flush of embarrassment. Nala couldn't help but noticed the waving dusty hands as they impeded her progress past him. Her brown eyes glanced at his face as he protested she wasn't bothering him. She felt he was telling the truth. He did earn himself a brownie point by complimenting R'gan's bead work. It still felt odd, that she'd known R'gan most of her life, and yet she'd never heard of him making jewelry with this boy.

Nala slowly gave him a shy smile. She could easily like someone who appreciated R'gan's work as much as she did. "Why not?" Surely if he worked with R'gan to make the jewelry, he could make one for himself. Her eyes widened as he took the beaded necklace from his own neck and held it out to her. "I... I shouldn't." She looked at the beautiful necklace a moment longer, then shook her head. "What I mean is, I have a lot of R'gan's beads myself." Carefully she opened the bag and poured a small pile of the oddly shaped glass beads onto her hand to show him.

It didn't matter to her that most of these would be given away when she gave the pieces of pottery away. To her, they were still hers. She even had a couple very precious beads squirreled away in her barracks as keepsakes. "I'm Nalacko."  

[Hattaki]

The shy little smile on her face was mercifully nothing like his younger sister's emotions had been, but Rizdax felt a constriction in his chest all the same for seeing it on her face. It meant that some small part of her had eased up a bit on the fear, maybe a tiny bit even if she wasn't entirely warned to him just yet. How could she be though? This far he had only spoken in a mix of curt and awkward, probably none of the words earning him an ounce of respect but he at least was earnest in his desire not to further hurt her feelings. Hopefully she picked up on that and not his slowly growing embarrassment or sadness from a resurgence of memories that were always hard to repress anyway.

"You do have a lot of lovely beads, but those are the secondhands in that bag. Certainly he'd be happy for you to wear the beads he worked on around your neck, you know him after all!" without accepting another refusal of denial he took the necklace and placed it carefully in her outstretched hand, making sure it didn't clatter roughly against any of the other beads there in the process. "R'gan has a heart as big as this whole Weyr so I just know that one of his friends shouldn't be walking around without some of his hard work on display."

Rizdax offered her a wink and stepped back so she couldn't thrust the necklace back to him, something he found quite common among those that oddly didn't believe that they deserved something they had just received. No, Nalacko was not giving back that necklace, it was hers now in his eyes and he could never accept it back.

"My name is Rizdax, it's nice to meet someone that shares a common friend."

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[magnadearel]

Hattaki

Bead can look like whatever you want. XD

Nalacko considered his comment on her beads carefully. "Maybe you consider them second hand, but I don't." Her pottery looked all the more lovely for the addition of each unique bead. She was surprised when he placed the necklace in her hands and stepped back. Carefully she picked out one bead and put her others back before admiring the necklace for its beauty.

"Thank you. I will treasure it always." She put it on, then reached out to take his hand and place it in it. "You must keep it." Nala had no idea what he might use it for, but if he made these other ones into a necklace, he might be able to do the same or perhaps a bracelet. Her gift wasn't nearly as fancy as his and suddenly she worried he might really not like it. Who wanted a stupid odd shaped bead anyhow? She bit her bottom lip softly as she struggled with what to do now. Should she offer to take it back, or let him keep it and throw it away when he wanted? Oh why had she given him that stupid bead?!

"A pleasure to meet you Rizdax. It is. I'm sure I'm holding you up. You look dustier than a runner, surely you were heading for a bath when I ran into you."  

[Hattaki]

Golden eyes watched with a careful interest as Nalacko fished through the beads in her hand for some reason. Yes he considered them seconds, that's exactly what they were. He himself had made plenty of secondhand botched and attempts when crafting jewelry so he knew them when he saw them, however it was clear that this girl loved them just as much as any fully made beads and that alone filled with a bit of regret for his words. Maybe it was his years in the Hall that had taught him to respect art no matter the form it took, maybe it was that look of admiration that stayed in her face no matter what beads she was looking at, whatever it was it kept him from pulling away when he would have otherwise. Rizdax wasn't overly used to others just touching him though he was certain that he deserved it for just grabbing her hand earlier so he didn't pull away or show his discomfort outwardly in any way. Nalacko had been shy enough around him as it was.

Studying the bead out in his hand before he commented, Riz was pleased to find that it was almost completely round and the color was as brightly blue as it could be. For a second it was well crafted and likely almost made it's way to him so that he could make something from it. Maybe R'gan was much more picky than he'd originally thought, there were those out there that sought perfection in their art after all. Personally he just enjoyed creating, though it made him happy when he could make something perfect it truly was just the act of crafting that made him happy. A tugging smile came to his lips and Riz pulled a few bits of cord from his pockets, deftly twisting them together until they were thin enough and bound tight enough to slide through the bead and then tied it securely to his thin neck. Blue reminded him of his sister and her desire to see the ocean, so it was only fitting that he accept the beautiful bead and just be grateful that it wasn't red to match his unruly hair. It would be like keeping a part of Xazri with him.

"To be honest with you Nalacko, I prefer secondhand things. I always have, especially now." Rizdax gestured to his mismatched clothing that was too big for his frame, " That's why I had no intentions of keeping that necklace in the long run. It looks much nicer on you. Thank you for this bead, it reminds me of someone from long ago that I loved very much."

He managed to be completely oblivious to her internal struggle, simply happy to have received something if only because he had given something in the first place. Supposedly gifts worked this way, but he wasn't at all ready for it.

"You aren't holding me up, I was just on my way to find someone that might need some help cleaning or doing chores. I probably won't get a bath until much later." Riz did peer down at himself and take in the dust with a certain level of annoyance. How was it that winters in this Weyr were just as dusty as summers?

magnadearel

 

[magnadearel]

Hattaki

Before she could worry herself into a true state, he accepted her gift. She watched delighted as he pulled out some cords to string it right then and there. "I think R'gan will like seeing you wear that." Nala eyed his clothes, but they didn't look too second hand to her. Dusty yes, second hand no. It might certainly well be, but she just not know it.

"I'm glad it has meaning for you," she murmured. Other than just some strange girl giving him a bead. It meant he would be more likely to keep it after they parted.

Nalacko wrinkled her nose as he mentioned cleaning. "We always have cleaning at the workshop." By the time she was done working on her projects, there was usually twice the mess anyone else seemed to make. At least it seemed that way to her. It was all part and package of working there. You could work on your projects, but then you had to clean up your mess.  

[Hattaki]

If he was able to blush he would have but Riz's ears did tinge a bit in embarrassment for her attention as he wound the two cords together. It had never once occured to him that he'd end up with one of R'gan's beads to wear for himself, especially from someone that had known his friend longer than he had. Nalacko certainly had known him for a while if he trusted her so much, that made it all the more interesting that she gave him one and of such a color. Blue calmed him when he remembered Xazri and he felt himself slowly warming to the smaller girl before him.

"I don't know that he'd be happy you gave me something that he gave to you, but I'm happy to accept it." Riz winked sheepishly and a small smile wound up on his face. "Cleaning seems to be the natural order of things around the Weyr, but when it comes to art of any type it gets that much worse."

Personally he had spent many a Turn cleaning up in Telgar when he'd begun to apprentice there, it hadn't been the greatest of times but he had never once complained. Mostly that was because he had to clean to learn and if you learned to clean then you learned to create at the same time. His master had told him that the very first day.

magnadearel

 

[magnadearel]

Hattaki

She snorted with amusement, "then you don't know R'gan very well. He'll be happy to see anyone enjoying his stuff no matter how they came by it." Nalacko looked down at the bag still in her hands. "He knows I add these to my pieces which I usually give away. He's never seemed upset about it." At least he'd never given her any sign he disappointed in her use of his beads. They weren't just going to waste to be remelted down.

"And a candidate's life is full of it," Nalacko sighed. When she'd first started, she'd been cleaning up so much clay that usually by the time she was done she'd looked like she'd rolled in mud and then let it fully dry. Now she got more time to create and she really enjoyed it, even with the cleaning that came with it. She looked at Riz from under her eyelashes.

What to do now? Her master was expecting her soon. She didn't want to offend Riz by making him think she had better things to do than talk, but she didn't know if she should invite him along. If he helped R'gan with the glass beads, would he even be interested in clay?  

[Hattaki]

Taken a bit aback by the noise she made, it took everything in his body not to respond in a way that might make her run off and never speak to him again. Rizdax did genuinely like her, he saw a lot of his sister in her, but he also wasn't a naturally easy going person and a flash of anger bristled down his spine that he squashed with every fiber in his being. Making girls upset was never a secret joy of his like it had been with some of the boys he'd seen about the Weyr, his own sister had always put him off his normal guard when she'd gotten upset and cried. To do that here would fluster him beyond words and probably end with his escaping from her, add that to her being R'gan's friend and it just spelled trouble.

Swallowing his brief anger spell so that he could speak civilly and not come off as being a rude and somewhat aggressive jerk, Riz nodded his head slowly and ran the bead around his neck between his fingers. It was truly a beautiful blue, maybe R'gan would forgive him for having received one, after all he'd never kept one before this and the two had never talked about what would happen should he end up with one. "You're right, I haven't known him as long as you have after all..."

That had come out more curt than he'd meant it to even, what was he doing? Trying to intentionally make her angry when she was just expressing her understanding of a mutual friend? Rizdax ran both of his hands over his face and felt exhaustion flood through his entire body as he remembered how long he'd been doing this. How long he'd been here and only made a handful of friends. Oh how he wished Shar was here, she knew everyone even if she often took the initiative to get everyone to work their hardest against some of their wills. That was why he liked her, that and the fact that she had the ability to make him mellow so quickly in her presence.

"You're exactly right, a candidate's life is full of cleaning and studies. But it sounds like you've found a way to do the thing that you love in spite of it all." In itself that was commendable. "Pottery was never a skill of mine, anything with that I just broke everything. I did try really hard not to, but my hands aren't used to that kind of fragile."

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[magnadearel]

Hattaki

"That's alright. I didn't mean to imply you didn't know well." She glanced down and dug her toe bashfully into the rock. Luckily it didn't get far. This really wasn't going well, but at least he was wearing the bead. Nala watched him from under her lashes as he rubbed his face. "You look tired, if you don't mind my saying so." Now what? Oh she wished R'gan was here! He'd know exactly what to do.

She blushed faintly at his praise. "I've broken some beads when I was first learning. I think glass is so much more fragile than pottery." R'gan's work always looked so delicate and beautiful! She was afraid to breath on it sometimes. "Would you.... I'm... I'm really sorry, I'm expected in the pottery room now."  

[Hattaki]

Yes, he was extremely tired. The Weyr was his new home and everything here was so different that it was as if here were being jerked in multiple directions at once just trying to learn how to navigate everyone's status, rank, and feelings. Rizdax had been brow-beaten before for not being delicate enough with a rider or a superior, none of that he'd ever had to worry about in his Hold. Usually the rule of thumb was not to step on the toes of the lordholder or any of the masters at the craft hall, but otherwise it was fairly even in rank between all those living. As long as he'd shown an interest in working he had been left alone and been fine, here it was so different. He offended everyone just by breathing it seemed.

Rubbing the back of his neck as his head hung a little in shame, "Yeah... I guess you could call it tired. It's more societal than physical though." A rough laugh pulled from him and Rizdax bowed to Nalacko carefully.

"I didn't mean to hold you up from your duties. If you like I can walk you down there and then go find my next chore. No free days for the wicked after all." Gold eyes flashed in amusement.

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