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Post by L'can and Tanemoth on Jul 9, 2010 11:46:15 GMT -5
After turns of neglect, the lower caverns were filthy. They needed a good cleaning out and many of the weyrfolk had been deployed to sweep the floors, dust the walls and ceilings, and wash the windows that weren't broken. Lorcan could think of a few uses for whatever hatched out of those eggs. If they could fly, they could bring a dust rag to a ceiling or a high window.
Carrying a broom in one hand and a basket of glows in the other, Lorcan walked away from the group to look in another room. He entered what might have been the kitchen at one time, judging by the space for a hearth. Currently the alcove was covered in dust and cobwebs.
Lorcan swept his broom over the cobwebs. When he brought his broom out, there was a tunnel snake attached to the end, clinging to the straw bristles with its little legs.
"Shards!" Lorcan jumped back, dropping the basket of glows in surprise. The glows tumbled everywhere, casting a pattern of life around the floor. Now Lorcan was in the dark with the snake! He backed towards the door, sweeping around wildly with the broom as he did so. Tunnel snakes were the one creature that Lorcan just couldn't stand. He hoped that someone had heard his yell and would come to help.
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Post by Senyrae on Jul 9, 2010 17:43:18 GMT -5
Senyrae sighed as she held up the glowbasket to her eye level, trying to discern whatever was under this mess of dust and cobwebs. It appeared to be a basket of some sort, with a few scrolls and tarps that were left unattended and unfinished for what seemed like a couple turns. It wasn't too appealing, to say the least, but perhaps she should report these back to one of the riders once this was all said and done. It could probably be of some use to them to better understand their new home.
Walking into another part of the caverns, she noticed a few spinners, and... was that a tunnelsnake? Senyrae was never too fond of the creatures, they were nothing but a bunch of pests. This place had truly been neglected for some time now. Why was it though? She didn't want to find out, and continued on her merry way.
A scream and curse alerted her of another being below with her. Running down the hall, she came across a young lad in what seemed to be a kitchen of some sort, his glows scattered around the floor from his scare and batting at the floor with his broom. Looking around wildly, she finally pinpointed the subject of the boy's distress. A tunnelsnake had attached to the end of his broom peering up at him with glowing eyes. And he looked none to happy to see it.
"Stand still!" Senyrae ordered as she grabbed the creature in her hands and opened a nearby window to toss it out, watching as it scurried away through the undergrowth. Turning to the terrified lad, she grinned and scooped up his dispersed glows back into his lantern, handing it back to him. "There, let's just hope there's none of them around anymore. Not too fond of them, huh?"
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Post by O'rion and Serenith on Jul 10, 2010 12:58:43 GMT -5
The young man had been tasked with cleaning the lower caverns. Sure, he wasn’t the only one cleaning out the lower caverns but no matter who was with him, he still didn’t feel comfortable. It was the lack of the sun and the air swirling around him that he missed, and he felt deprived. Being a Trader, Oskarion had grown with the sun in his face and the wind at his back, or to his front, depending. He was used to sleeping inside, but mostly it was inside a cave with the wind howling around it, and he could always see the night sky.
This was different than being in a cave at night. First, it was dark, even with the glows lighting the way. Oskar had always liked the dark when it was nighttime, but this was not nighttime, so the darkness was not needed. But what got him most of all was the mustiness of the air. It was a relatively clean Weyrsite, or so he thought, since Oskarion had never been to a new Weyr in his life. Neither, he realized, had most of the people he had arrived with. This was, as everything had been the last couple sevendays, a new experience for all of them. He managed to get past the odd smell the caves gave off, which was, to say the least, different than any caves he’d been in before.
Oskarion was helping with the menial chores, chores he could probably have done with his eyes shut, hands tied, and gagged. But he was a Trader, and, as a Trader had menial skills in most classes of work, and haggling and bargaining were not needed as of now, he accepted what he was to do with no hassle and little complaining. This was his new home now. This was his home and this was Olivia’s home, and if he didn’t do it for himself, he certainly did it for his younger sister.
Oskarion had just cleaned out a particularly ugly crag when someone yelled two rooms away. Alarmed, the young man stopped what he was doing and raced to the scene, eyes wide with worry. But a girl had beaten him to it, and threw the tunnelsnake out into the hall for another person to pick up and put away. (Hey, Senyrae, there are no windows as of yet, so I slightly modified that so it made more sense.) He stopped in the archway to the room and stood there, “Is everything alright?” He asked, eyeing the younger boy who stood, looking shaken. The girl who had thrown the tunnelsnake out had asked a question to the boy. Truth be told, Oskar disliked tunnelsnakes as well, but not as much as this boy.
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Post by L'can and Tanemoth on Jul 10, 2010 16:26:06 GMT -5
Lorcan watched as a girl ran in and grabbed the tunnelsnake. Other boys might have been embarrassed to be rescued by a girl, but Lorcan was weyrbred and used to seeing women lead the Weyr, so he had no qualms with it. Really, a half-wit drudge could have saved him and they would have become his hero.
"Thanks," he said simply, taking a deep breath. Even though he was grateful, he was a little embarrassed that anyone had witnessed his fright. Then a young man walked in, wondering what was going on.
"It's okay," he said, blushing a little. "It was just a tunnel snake. They just...they creep me out. More than they should. I can't control it." He smiled a little and leaned on his broom. "I'm Lorcan by the way. Should we finish cleaning this kitchen up? It looks like it's a big job." It was true, the kitchen area was filthy and he would need help, but he also wanted the others around in case more tunnel snakes showed their ugly heads.
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Post by O'rion and Serenith on Jul 11, 2010 17:32:01 GMT -5
Oskarion looked at the boy as he answered, saying everything was okay. He looked the boy over—he couldn’t have been much older than thirteen, maybe fourteen Turns—and nodded. It was horrible, having to do this, having to start over, when one was so young. That was how Olivia was, but Olivia was coping better than Oskarion would have thought she would have. “I can understand that, Lorcan.” Oskarion said, and inadvertently shivered himself as he remembered the night when several dozen tunnel-snakes decided to ransack the Trader’s caravans. Not a fun night.
“I’m Oskarion, nice to meet you.” He said, dipping his head to Lorcan and the girl. She was okay, around his age, but she was too, he couldn’t quite place his finger on it, but he didn’t particularly care for her at first look. He wasn’t going to say anything, as he was always the nice person, and maybe his initial reaction to her would prove that he was just being mean. Oskar didn’t try to be mean, especially not to women, but… uh… he realized he shouldn’t delve deeper into it than he was now.
“I’d like to help you clean the kitchens, but I’ve been tasked with cleaning out a store room a couple rooms down, Lorcan.” He continued, an answer to Lorcan’s question. He shrugged helplessly and waved to the two, “I’ll be seeing you around, nice to hear you’re okay.” Then Oskar trotted back to his storeroom. He realized he hadn’t even gotten the girl’s name.
Tag Any/End Oskarion
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Post by Senyrae on Jul 11, 2010 23:20:07 GMT -5
Nodding to the younger lad, she replied, "Well, everyone has their fears. Tunnel snakes are a little creepy." She stuck her tongue out to express her displeasure.
"Pleased to meet you, Lorcan. If you need any help, I'll be happy to be of some assistance!" Picking up her glows and broom, she trotted alongside him to head out. She turned towards the other boy and smiled. "Like to come along?"
He introduced himself as Oskarion. A fitting name for him, she thought to herself. He unfortunately couldn't tag along with them and promptly excused himself while giving a funny look to Senyrae. She waggled her eyebrows in surprise, wondering what was wrong. Did she have something on her face? A slip of the tongue, perhaps? Whatever the case, he didn't voice it aloud and left, leaving a bewildered Senyrae to help out Lorcan.
Turning back to look at Lorcan, she voiced her concerns aloud. "Did I do something to upset him?" Backtracking her thoughts for a moment, she thought of it. All she did was get rid of a tunnel snake. She gasped. Was he afraid of them too? She wouldn't think someone like him would, but perhaps he didn't want to say anything. She did wave it around a little haphazardly, practically throwing it in Oskarion's direction. She should apologize later, that she should.
Grinning back to Lorcan, she said, "Oh, where are my manners? I haven't even introduced myself. Name's Senyrae, from Ista." She peered at the boy quizzically before asking, "Are you perhaps a Candidate here as well?"
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Post by L'can and Tanemoth on Jul 12, 2010 12:17:57 GMT -5
Lorcan relaxed a little, seeing that Senyrae wasn't judging him for his fear of tunnel snakes. Oskarian made a hasty retreat, and even though the man had a decent excuse, he could tell from Senyrae's expression that she didn't quite believe it. As soon as the man left the room, she asked what she had done wrong.
"Dunno...maybe he wanted to be the hero, but you beat him to it." Lorcan shrugged. The idea that Oskarion could be afraid of the tunnel snakes too didn't cross his mind, since he hadn't seemed to concerned about it when he arrived. But then, Lorcan tended to leap to the worst case conclusion.
He smiled a little when Senyrae introduced herself, asking where we from. "I'm from Fort Weyr," he told her, his smile fading a little then. Just saying the word brought back powerful memories of everyone that had been left in Fort. "Am I a candidate? Well, I suppose I am. I'm weyrbred, and I'm 13, so it's my right to Stand." He traced his finger along the dusty table, making a clean line. "I hope we get the Hatching Sands cleaned up in time, if they're as dirty as this," he remarked.
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Post by Senyrae on Jul 12, 2010 14:48:52 GMT -5
"Fort Weyr, huh? Must've been nice there..." Senyrae noticed the gloomy look on the boy's face and immediately corrected herself. "I-I'm sorry if I upset you! It is a little early to be thinking of these things right now." Shards, she just couldn't say anything right without making someone upset.
Ah, so he was weyrbred as well. That made her more at ease around Lorcan. A lot of people she met so far had mostly been holdbred, besides her mother and the Weyrleader and Weyrwoman. Along with the other dragonriders. It was a little uncomfortable to talk to them since she was weyrbred, so they had somewhat different views about some things. "You're weyrbred as well? Well that's nice to know. At least there's someone amongst here that's like me. Not a lot of weyrbred candidates, it seems."
The mention of the Hatching Sands made her smile. "Hopefully it won't be as bad as this. If it is, I don't how we're supposed to clean up sand, if there is any." She pictured someone using a broom around the Sands trying to clean up loose debris and such, which made her giggle. Hey, it was a funny thought.
Wiping up some of the shelves, she hummed a little tune she heard the other day from one of the harpers. It was pretty catchy, and she had memorized it almost instantly. It kept her mind off of the recent events and let her work become much easier and enjoyable.
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Post by L'can and Tanemoth on Jul 15, 2010 16:42:21 GMT -5
Lorcan shook his head when Senyrae apologized for bringing up Fort. There was no sense getting upset. He would have to get used to thinking about the past. The only way to do that was to focus on the present.
"Yeah, it seems like we'll be sharing the barracks with a lot of different kinds of people," he agreed, also glad to find another weyrbred candidate. It would nice to meet some more Holdbred and Craftbred people, but Lorcan was used to being surrounded by weyrbrats. Weyrbred candidates usually had a different philosophy, and they were less nervous, so having a big group of Holdbred candidates would be a little difficult. Lorcan was sure that everyone would pull together, though.
He swept around the room as he spoke, gathering dust and debris into a pile. Among it was more than one dead insect, but that didn't bother him at all, unlike the tunnel snake.
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Post by Senyrae on Jul 15, 2010 23:18:36 GMT -5
It took about three times until the person calling her name finally got her attention, being so immersed in her humming as she was. Turning to look to the individual, he stated, "Senyrae, we need some help cleaning up what's to be the Candidate Barracks. Sorry, but we need you there as soon as you can." With a curt nod, he left.
Turning to Lorcan in surprise, she said, "Well, that was a little unexpected!" Her eyes became solemn as she looked to the dark haired boy. "Sorry to leave you on such short notice, Lorcan. Seems my cleaning expertise is needed elsewhere." Picking up her broom and glows, she scurried over to the entrance but stopped just a sliv from the door to look back at the younger lad.
"It was nice talking to you, Lorcan. I hope we can be friends here, and have a nice chat again, at least under different circumstances." With a wave and smile, she finished, "See you again." And with a skip, she was gone.
Tag Any/ End Senyrae
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