[PRP] Holding up (B'gian & Taibbi)

[Princess_Feylin]

There wasn't a great deal of downtime for a candidate at High Reaches. The structured schedule kept the hopefuls busy enough that the best way to have free time was to slack off and hope that nobody noticed, or to sacrifice sleep, either at the beginning or the end of the day. Taibbi, not interested in reclaiming the troublemaker title she'd acquired at the Hall, preferred to give up sleep. Which was why the teen was up before the sun, creeping into the kitchens.

Unlike most candidates who might sneak into the kitchen, Taibbi wasn't after snacks. She was trying to clean up a mess she'd made at the end of her evening shift and hadn't felt like dealing with it at the time before any of the lower caverns workers discovered what she'd done. Being generally average and on the slovenly side, she had little difficulty blending in with the earliest arrivals to the kitchen, though her "Sneaking" gait was actually far more attention-grabbing than a regular pace would have been.

As soon as she was able, she slipped off to the supply closet where she'd left the mess. Somehow it had gotten worse overnight, she observed with a sigh. Or maybe it had always been that bad. Either way, she wanted to be sure she got it cleaned up before anybody came and yelled at her. She still had a regrettable tendency to yell back when yelled at, after all, and doing that was a guaranteed way to earn more chores. Worse chores.

She crouched on the floor, wiped her nose on the back of her hand and got to work collecting disarrayed pots, bowls, and buckets by size.  

[Bronze Coffee]

B'gian stretched his arms out over his head as he wandered around for a quick minute. Toddling after him was the very round Molihuth who seemed content for the moment to follow. At least she wasn't giving any signals she didn't want to. B'gian knows that she'd definitely tell him if she was hungry or needed to be oiled down.

He wanted to get a few moments alone before he went to go find something to tide them over until the real breakfast began. He passed up R'am, who had just headed out of the kitchen with what looked like a full days worth of goodies. It made B'gian roll his eyes and smile.

So we're not the only ones up! Molihuth chirped through their bond, her eyes swirling with the happy colors. He could feel her laughter and amusement.

"Seems that wa-" and that's when he'd rounded the corner to see someone crouched over some pots in the kitchen. B'gian bit down on his lip and then cleared his throat so they didn't startle this poor candidate too much. What was she even doing here? It wasn't time for her to be awake yet. Did she slip in when R'am slipped out?

He had so many questions.

Thank ask those questions, dear! Do go on. I'm curious too.

Molihuth was so helpful. He stifled a snort and grinned. "Well hey there, friend. What're you doing up so early? Hungry too?" His frizzy red hair was quite the sight when he hadn't even bothered to tame it down this morning.

Molihuth put her head on his hip and crooned softly up at the candidate.  

[Princess_Feylin]

So, Taibbi was not stealthy. Other things which were not stealthy include: baby dragons. The candidate heard the young dragon coming long before she sneaked a furtive glance over her shoulder and caught sight of the vibrant green toddling. It took her several more moments to notice the green's bondmate, even though she had known to expect him. Young dragons were so rarely seen without their riders, after all.

Even being aware of the pair, Taibbi nearly jumped out of her skin when B'gian addressed her. She had been under the impression that if they noticed each other, they would all pretend otherwise in the interest of preserving plausible deniability if anyone later asked after their whereabouts. Evidently she'd been mistaken there.

"Eep!" she exclaimed, starting and knocking over a haphazardly stacked column of bowls. "Hi! Sorry. Hi. Um. Hello."

Oh, shells, she chided herself mentally. Do you think you've greeted him enough.

"I'm just...here. Y'know. Cleaning..." she gestured toward the mess. Her efforts actually seemed to be making it worse. Even before she'd jumped and knocked things over. Which made her realize someone might've heard. Maybe they'd blame Molihuth. Dragons made messes, right?

"You're hungry? Or she's hungry? You're both hungry?" Stop babbling, Taibbi! Stoppit!  

[Bronze Coffee]

He'd been trying to avoid her being this startled honestly. He winced when she knocked over the bowls, watching Molihuth start, wings going up to make herself bigger, she puffed out her chest and he just put a hand on her head and pet her softly.

Molihuth calmed down and seemed to act embarrassed over her actions, pushing her face into B'gian's back and sort of hiding behind him.

"She's hungry yeah. I wouldn't mind some bread to tide me over!" He grinned at her a little and hopped up on one of the counters to sit there. Very clearly the red-head was acting like he was planning on staying a while in here. His feet swung, heels hitting the cabinets under him even in the soft shoes he wore.

Molihuth honked at him then, her eyes glaring up at her Bonded.

Get down from there! That can't be sanitary. Look at the left over food! Please do come down, B'gian-mine...

"Fiiiine." To make her happy, he hopped back down and sat on the floor next to her, where Moli prodceeded to curl up in his lap. Or attempt to. Really what happened is she sat down in front of him, staring up at the girl.

Yes! I would love some meat, please. And this dear looks like she could eat more and use a friend.

He laughed and looked up at Taibbi. "Sorry! She said she'd love some meat. And she says it looks like you could use a friend, which means she wants me to offer to help. Soooo....? Need help?"  

[Princess_Feylin]

This was what came of sneaking. Taibbi knew she should've just done the extra work last night. Not that she minded talking to B'gian. He was nice enough, she guessed, though she'd had minimal opportunity to talk to him since her arrival at the Weyr. She'd been searched right before the hatching where he Impressed, and so there had been almost no period when they were both candidates.

"I'm not sure there's any fresh bread yet," Taibbi said, recovering herself. "But there's leftovers from last night, probably."

She pushed herself to her feet and dusted her hands off on her already dusty trousers, then pushed a lank clump of hair behind one ear. Unfortunately, her timing was poor and the weyrlings had settled themselves on the floor just as she gained her feet. Taibbi looked at them appraisingly.

"I'll get something for both of you. If you want to help...I guess start by grouping the pots and stuff by size?" She couldn't remember how they'd been organized before. "I'll be right back."

So saying, she grasped a bucket from the debris on the floor to carry Molihuth's meat and went off to hunt down some of last night's bread and then cut some meat from the ever present slabs kept around for hungry weyrlings. She would return soon.  

[Bronze Coffee]

No fresh bread? B'gain's happy smile turned into a big, huge pout that was obviously supposed to be comical. He huffed and then got to his own feet yet again, seemingly always switching his position, and made no qualms about it.

Molihuth too, didn't mind. She figured the other girl was going to get her some meat because who could resist a weyrling? No one. Especially not her.

Then she disappeared with a bucket and B'gain looked down at his soulmate with a wide smile.

"She's really nice, I think!"

She is rather nice! A bit.. quiet. She doesn't really have much confidence in herself yet.

"Well, I think she's new. I don't remember her in my classes before the Impression. I'd have remembered her." The red-head got this smile on his face that made Molihuth step directly on his foot. Not enough to do damage, but enough to snap him out of it.

Why was he thinking about some girl when he had Molihuth? She butted her head against hip afterward and sighed.

Well, she can be our friend.  

[Princess_Feylin]

Taibbi completely missed B'gian's pout. She had found a temporary way out of doing stupid cleaning and be helpful. The day was looking up, she decided as she slammed a heavy blade down on some bloody meat, startling a number of slumbering flies. She repeated the process so that the meat would be in chunks that looked as if they'd fit in Molihuth's mouth. Taibbi remembered the way the dragons had eaten at their hatching and doubted that the green would choke on the meat even if she hadn't cut it down, but she thought it might also be neater this way.

Her next move was to grab a leftover half-loaf of bread which had been wrapped in cloth to keep it moist. She poked it with one bloody finger to check how effective the cloth had been - not especially - and shrugged. He'd said bread would be fine, and the fresh stuff was still in the oven it smelled like. B'gian would just have to make do, and if he had complaints she would talk to someone and see if she could get him something better, using his status as a weyrling as leverage, maybe.

"Back!" she announced a little unnecessarily, as she was obviously back.

Immediately she began doling out snacks, placing the meat- and blood-filled bucket on the ground beside Molihuth and handing the somewhat bloodstained loaf of bread to the green's rider with a smile. She had recovered her equilibrium and felt equal to the task of having conversations and cleaning up.

"Let me know if there's anything else I can find for you," she instructed. "I'd be delighted to have an excuse to get away from this closet."