When Chores Collide!
Who: Avey, Jakkal, Javeri, Sunniva
Where: Bathing pool
When: Afternoon on yet another sunny chore-filled day!
What: Chores collide in the bathing pool as Javeri runs into Jakkal and later Sunniva and Avey join them. The candidates discuss chores and what dragon colors they think of impressing. Civil disobedience is discussed. (See next log for that!)
Juggling a trio of towels while moving towards the shallow bit of the bathing pools is Candidate Jakkal, a mildly amused expression on his face as the three boys scrub off the mud and stray they'd accumulated during the afternoon. "Behind your ears too, Lorqain," his voice booms through the chamber causing all three boys to jump before the two who are obviously not the still-mud-incrusted Lorquain.
It's not Javeri's job to deal with kids today thankfully. Because she still harbors ill will towards a certain girl who likes to bite. What she is doing is laundry however and it's that task that brings her to the bathing pool. There are fresh towels in the basket she carries and she needs to trade them for the used one. However she was not expecting there to be a passel of kids. In the door she pauses and suppresses a sigh before heading for the pile of towels to begin her work. Halfway there she stops when Jakkal's voice makes his presence known. "Wow," she says with a little laugh. "No wonder they jump. Inside voice," she teases.
Jakkal turns at a familiar voice and simply offers a grin and wink in return to Javeri's comment. He crouches near the pool, shaking his head at the boys with amusement. "And I think even Lorqain had the lesson of why you don't try to ride a male herdbeast, well, ever, pounded in his hard head?" it's mostly a question, though the man's voice doesn't fall more than a degree lower. "I stayed on plenty long!" comes the youth's reply and Jakkal's laugh is a sure indication that there was no harm done to the children or the 'beasts due to the foolishness.
The basket of towels gets set down near where she'll do the trade. Before Javeri gets to it she begins to circle the room looking for towels left in inappropriate places. Under benches, tucked into corners, hiding in cubicles reserved for clothing. Who knows where inconsiderate people might leave them? "Ohhh. That's a hard lesson to learn," she says while circling the pool. "I am so glad I got laundry duty instead of more stable mucking. Or nursery duty." She gives her fellow candidate a sympathetic look for his bad luck.
It has been an eventful day to say the least and it's only the start, to boot. Sunniva heads to the bathing pools with an audible sigh, fingers working to release her bun and green eyes seeking only the nearest section of pool to claim as her own. Tending the aunties and uncles isn't usually a dreadful task, but today has resulted in her clothes being soiled with things best not given much consideration. Fish oil was clearly involved from the smell wafting from her. She's just seeking to claim a spot as quickly and unobtrusively as possible.
Jakkal grins at Javeri and shakes his head. "The older sort aren't that bad," he offers. "At least we're not _girls_!" one of the other boys counters, ducking at Lorqain tries to duck him under the water. "Despite their attitudes, you're allowed to show them more useful skills, so long as you don't actively try to kill them." The boys snicker, even as the first pulls himself out, reaching for a nearby towel.
"Eww. What's that- Oh, Sunniva! I'm so sorry. What got you?" Javeri's nose wrinkles up as she bends down to pick up a towel sitting in a puddle. As she holds the towel she looks at the boy who comments about her gender. "Oh, yea?" she counters before sticking out her tongue. "At least I don't have to listen to the nannies about when bedtime is." So, there, take that! "Well, laundry is good for hearing gossip," she tells Jakkal with a grin. "The laundry and kitchen are the best two places I guess no matter where you are."
Caught. Sunniva winces, nose crinkled, and glances over at Javeri with a sheepish, "It is a dreadfully long story that I think I would rather forget right now," she doesn't-really-explain. She strips down and slips into the water quickly, her clothes being heaped near the edge of the pool for no reason other than that's where they were dropped. In her haste, she forgot about a towel -- but definitely did not forget the sweetsand, which she's now using. "But, suffice it to say, it involved a quantity of fish oil and some terrible prankster of an uncle."
Jakkal glances over as he hears another now familiar voice followed by a splash. His gaze darts quickly to the trio of pre-teens in his care. "You so much as glance that way I'll take you porcine hunting next time. And that is _not_ allowed under the earlier mentioned condition of _not_ getting you killed, understood?" Either it's the volume, the tone, or both but the boys seem to get the message rather clearly, even before it has finished echoing off of the stone walls of the cavern, and keep their gaze away from the bathing Candidate's direction.
"Oh, eww. Fish oil." Javeri is properly sympathetic and asks, "Was it Old Nistrum?" Old Nistrum because his son was also tended in there and called Young Nistrum. "He tried to trade medicines with one of the other uncles once knowing it would give him horrid stomach troubles." She picks up another towel to add to her growing pile and carries them to dump by her basket. While there she picks up a couple of clean towels to carry back to Sunniva. On her way she laughs at the boys Jakkal watches. "Psst," she tells him with a grin. "They're going to peek no matter what. Boys will be boys." And she winks at one of the boys as she goes past. "Best bet is to take turns distracting your keeper," she tells them in a pseudo whisper. Not that she necessarily wants them peeping at Sunniva, but it's a good lesson for later at least.
"Oh, of course it was him. Dreadful, /dreadful/ man." Thank-yous are murmured to Javeri when she drops off the towels, a weak smile being flashed her way. And Sunniva proceeds to be oblivious to anything going on around her for some time, while she settles into the task of cleaning herself up, rinsing, and repeating the process a few more times for good measure. Her clothes, by contrast, may never be properly saved.
Jakkal glares at the trio of boys and even Lorqain's grin at Javeri fades at the expression in the hazel eyes. "Um, actually, I think we're clean." The other two boys nod in agreement. "I concur," Jakkal's low rumble replies as the other two boys scrambles out of the water, snag towels and rush off to change. Once they are out of the chamber, the Candidate chuckles deeply. "Wow. That wouldn't have worked on me when I was younger."
Javeri watches the boys go and waits to laugh until they are gone. "They are timid, aren't they?" she remarks as she scoops up another couple of dirty towels to bring to the steadily growing pile. One more circle of the room makes sure all the dirty towels are gathered and so she begins to trade her basket out. Clean towels get put away as she talks. "Have you had a run in with Old Nistrum yet?" she asks Jakkal as she pauses by where he is at. "I cannot imagine the terror he was when younger. At least now he can't chase you around."
Jakkal shakes his head. "I don't have trouble with the Aunties and Uncles," comes his echoing reply. "Only people who complement me on speaking clearly enough for them to understand." He frowns, narrowing his eyes at Lorqain as the lad pops his head in for an attempt to peak at Sunika. The lad ducks back out of sight with a yelp (and the audible laughter of his companions). "Hmm... Wonder where a good spot for porcine hunting would be..." Jakkal muses, offering Javeri a wink just as another yelp and the sound of wet feet pound a retreat comes from the exit.
The towel collecting candidate laughs quietly again as she stacks towels up. "Well, that makes sense. You can project. I bet even a harper would tell you that." Grabbing another armful of towels Javeri goes to put them up, saying as she walks, "Poor boys. Terrorized by the cruel heartless candidate. I don't mind working with them, but kids...wow. Give me laundry any day!" She disappears to put the towels up and reappears saying, "It'd be great to get a day off. I know they're working us to death for a reason, but surely an afternoon free wouldn't kill them?"
Jakkal offers a deep chuckle and nods, "That's the story they'll tell, certainly. Might get me off the rotation." He manages to maintain a stoic expression on his dark face for about three seconds before he winks and a great grin breaks the facade. It fades after a moment though as he looks thoughtful. "Doubtful though... They put me with the older children now as my voice tends to make the younger ones cry..." He frown, glancing in Sunika's direction as he remembers the conversation they had in the stables soon after the dinner. "Hopefully, I won't make any of the Hatchlings creel..."
"Can you do that?" Javeri asks thoughtfully. "I mean the hatchlings. Sometimes it seems like they don't quite tell us everything, you know? I suppose there's always surprises, but surely it seems like there's always something more to wonder about? Maybe it's just me?" She shakes her head to get the next to the last set of towels out of her basket to put away. "Older children are vaguely more tolerable, but maybe it's because I am an only child that they bother me so much? I much prefer my own company. Kids are...kids." She makes her next trip to put towels away.
Jakkal nods thoughtfully, "Me too... Though the 'beasts don't mind my natural volume." He shakes his head, making an attempt to keep it low, though it still echoes. "Those eggs can't harden fast enough... I'd like to go back to my old life if I'm not chosen to start a new one."
Javeri's arms are free of towels just long enough to finish putting up the ones in her hands and take the last of the clean ones out. "Me too! I miss home, you know? It's so weird how so much seems the same and is still all different than the way things I am used to." She pauses in her work to muse, "Maybe I am just too old for it all? I wonder what they see? The dragons when they pick someone to stand."
Jakkal shakes his head, "I don't know... I lived here for five Turns and yet I get Searched for this Clutch." He shakes his head, "Well, best I can hope for is that each Hatchling finds a partner out there, and that if one finds me, it's not the prissy sort." He smirks and offers a wink at that.
"They're supposed to pick someone who fits them though right?" Javeri asks as more horrid scenarios fill her brain. There are too many bad things that might occur to not consider at least some. The potter looks at her empty basket and the stack of dirty towels. "This is so going to take more than one trip. I don't know what's worse right now. The thought of impressing or not impressing? Each has all sorts of horrid things that can come of it. The worst, I guess, would be a mauling and then not even impressing I imagine."
Jakkal tilts his head to the side and offers Javeri a grin, still giving Sunika her privacy as the scent of the fish oil continues to permiate the air. Then again, he's used to the stabes and corrals, so the scent doesn't appear to bother him much. "I can't see how Impression could actually be a bad thing," he offers, "I mean, even if I do get a prissy one by accident, we'll complete and love each other completely, right?" He shrugs, "As for maulings, well...I've had my ribs cracked by an angry male herdbeast before, and my calf was slit open by a porcine when I was much too young to go hunting one and too stupid not to tag along in secret anyway." He looks thoughtful, "As for not Impressing... Some of us will be there for the sole purpose of giving them more selection than they actually need, no?"
"I don't know if I like the idea of just being an extra though," Javeri says with a shake of her head. "That's probably what I'll wind up being, but still. It seems like...I mean after everything we've done...Oh, well. I'll either impress or not. I can't keep wrangling the idea to death in my head!" She tosses more dirty towels in her basket and sighs. She's down here collecting trading clean towels for dirty as part of her chores in the laundry. Jakkal's been watching kids, but seems to have chased them all off. Sunniva is not readily visible, but she could be somewhere near the faint scent of fish oil and the pile of clothes in that same area. "What color do you want the most?" she asks Jakkal curiously. "Have you thought about it?"
Stable Mucking + Feeding Grounds Cleanup = Smelly, Grubby Avey. She's got dirt (one hopes it is dirt) smudged on her arms and face, and she smells like sweaty dead runner poo. But she has her towel with her and she is ready for a bath. She shucks off her dirty clothes and leaves them in a sad pile on the floor, and trudges toward the water.
Sunniva has, indeed, been off washing in this little niche over here. Well, more like she's been scrubbing until the skin's gone red in a futile effort to get the last lingering traces of fish oil smell out. She has, for the most part, been lost in her thoughts and the task of cleaning, but as satisfaction in her cleanliness sets in, she slows and finally lifts her head to look around. The conversation between other candidates draws her attention and she turns to better listen, arms folding on the pool's edge and her modesty thus protected while her curiosity is sated.
Jakkal gives Javeri a big grin, "Exactly. Hatchlings choose, not us." He tilts his head, apparently listening to the echoes of his reply as he considers Javeri's question, but he's saved from replying by the arrival of the familiar scent of the Stables. Oh, yes, and Avey with it. He offers her a wave, but quickly diverts his gaze as she shucks of her clothing in preperation for her bath.
"Sure, they choose and we just kill ourselves doing chores before," the potter says with a shake of her head and a grin. Javeri tries to stuff a few more towels into her basket, but likely makes it too heavy for her to carry in the process. "Eww, stables," she says as she looks around and then waves to Avey. "Oh, hey, Avey! Man, fish oil and runner poo. How delectable." Looking at her basket she tries to pick it up and then lets it fall back down. "So, what?" she asks Jakkal. No getting out of answering. "I was just asking Jakkal what color he thinks he'd like to impress the most," she Avey. When Sunniva's head pops up again she gets asked, "And you? What about you?"
Avey waves cheerfully. "Hi!" she says, and hops into the pool, sending out little ripples. "Ahh, I love you, bath! I love you," she declares, making a show of kissing the surface of the water. "Mwah! Mwah! Mwah!"
"I do not know," is Sunni's simple answer, narrow shoulders lifting briefly as her attention flicks to the questioning Javeri. "But, even at High Reaches, I did not know." For that memory, her smile momentarily tightens ... and then releases into something more amiable, a bit more relaxed. "I could not see myself with a blue or brown, for whatever that might be worth, but one might well choose me. Or none at all."
Jakkal frowns, "I've never really thought about it. I suppose brown, maybe a brawny blue? I'm not the sort for a bronze, and certainly hope any greens out therre will understand enough to pick anyone but me once they crack shell." He shakes his head, his voice echoing over the chamber for a few more moments. "Want some help with that? Seeing as how all the girls in the Weyr have decided this time to bathe and all." He grins, still diverting his gaze from the female Candidates in the water. "But who knows, the dragons chose. There have been all sorts of goldriders, and just about every sort of any other colours, I'd imagine."
"What about you, Avey?" Javeri asks as she turns to the other bathing candidate. "What color would you like to impress? I mean if you had a choice? Do you have a favorite?" A few towels are taken out of the basket before she looks at Jakkal and grins. "You're such a gentleman. No, I'll just take a few less and make extra trips. It's not a big deal." Stretching her arms over her head as she straightens up her back makes a pop. "Man. I am about done in and not even close to being done for the day."
Jakkal narrows his eyes at Javeri with a smirk, "You can't excape your own question, Candidate Javeri. What do you look meeting your gaze and changing your existance out there?"
Avey blinks at the question, and scrunches up her face thoughtfully. "I don't know!" she says after a pause. "My dad's a brownrider but - I'm not really very much like him. I don't know, it's kind of hard to picture myself as a rider at all. I guess whichever dragon picks me will be just fine," she says, and shrugs.
Idly, Sunniva drags her hands through her freshly washed hair, then her arms drop back to fold on the edge of the pool again. Her gaze passes from candidate to candidate, listening with a faint smile in place. "I really do wonder if it runs in families like some people say," she remarks casually, then flashes a grin at Jakkal for his comments.
Javeri's basket gets a few more towels taken after it and she looks up, almost surprised at being asked the same question. "Oh, I don't know," she answers with a thoughtful frown crossing her features. "I think maybe one of the smaller dragons." She gives this some more thought and then nods her head. "Yea. Like a blue or a green. Not just because there'd be way less to take care of either!" Although it would certainly be a plus in her mind. "And they can do the really neat tricks in the sky. When you watch them it's the smaller ones who get to do what looks like the fun stuff!"
"I think riding /any/ dragon would be fun," Avey says stoutly. "But a nice pretty fast green... that /would/ be pretty cool." She looks over at Sunniva. "Do you have riders in your family?" she asks her.
"Just one of my younger sisters," Sunniva replies to Avey, sliding a look her way. A shallow shrug follows and she sinks a bit further in the water. "She is the Senior Weyrwoman of Fort." And while the others discuss the benefits of the smaller dragons, she just lapses into silence, her gaze distancing and chin settling on her folded arms while she listens.
Jakkal shakes his head, moving over and taking up an armful of the towels that Javeri was unpacking to lighten her load. "Come on... I'll help you with this," he frowns and shakes his head when his reply continues to echo through the camber, "I need to track down my young wards." He shrugs at that and picks up the last of the discarded pile or dirty towels.
"Thanks a lot!" Javeri tells Jakkal with a grin. "Hey, you can get the basket if you want," she teases with a wink. "And I can just follow along. No, I'm kidding. I'll do my work. Thanks for the help though! I'm going to wait and get the towels these guys leave and then be along. So, you know, if you can drop those by the laundry?" She wouldn't ask him to do her work, but she does. At least a little of it. "My mom's a rider. Here," she offers with the slightest of frowns during her words.
Avey blinks a few times at Sunniva, and looks newly impressed. "Your /younger/ sister?" she repeats. "Wow.
Jakkal nods in agreement with Javeri, "Certainly. I'll leave it near the washbins on my way to track those boys down." He gives a general wave in the direction of Sunniva and Avey. "Take care." He's out the door, beating a semi-honourable (and quite useful, see the armful of dirty towels?) retreat from the bathing cavern.
"Well, Berit is one of the two younger than I am. Ella is the youngest." Sunniva's mouth draws a bit to a side, her attention flicking briefly from Avey to Jakkal and then Javeri. Jakkal is given a finger-wiggling wave of farewell and a soft, "Do take care," then her gaze shifts to Javeri. "Is she? What does she ride, if you do not mind my asking?" And that slight frown is duly noted, though not commented on.
A wave is given to Jakkal as he takes some of her load and since she'll be waiting she goes ahead and sits down near the edge of the pool. Off comes her shoes and she drops her feet into the water with a sigh. "Oh, man. That feels a whole lot better." She doesn't seem overly concerned about the shirking of her duties at the moment. "My mom? Oh, green," she answers. "I don't know her though. She doesn't want anything to do with me."
Avey looks over at Javeri with a raised eyebrow. "Really? Sounds like my dad," she says with a shake of her head. "See, if I'm a rider and I have kids, I'm not going to run around acting like they don't exist or something. That's just not fair."
"Oh, I see," Sunniva murmurs, intending for it to be toward both of them. "How strange, then, that the riders in our lives -- the ones linked by blood, at least -- all want nothing to do with us at all." It might have been bitter once, but now it's rendered with matter-of-fact indifference, her nose scrunching up for a moment before toying a bit as the devil's advocate, "But, I suppose, some riders are far more busy than others. From what I have heard, the dragon's needs are greater than the rider's own -- and then all of the other duties, on top of that, even in an Interval."
"I am not having kids. Ever," Javeri says with a shake of her head. Her feet wiggle in the water and she lifts one up to look at it. Down it goes back into the warm water. "I definitely needed this," she says with another content sigh. "Yea, well, I don't know why someone has kids if they don't want anything to do with them," she says in reply. "I think kids are a pain, but at least I'm not gonna make the mistake of having a single one of them. I suppose it's fine for riders to be too busy, but...I don't know." Shaking her head she looks at the other two. "You busy for the rest of the afternoon? Cause I am seriously thinking of sneaking off to the beach and forget the rest of my chores. Surely they won't kick us out for missing a few hours."
Avey perks up. "Especially not if a bunch of us did," she says brightly. "Where would they get that many extra candidates at the last minute?"
"I would like children," Sunniva admits, "some day. Not now, of course, but- I have always wanted them. One or two, perhaps, but I would want to raise them myself." But, she leaves that topic there, head canting, birdlike, at Javeri's suggestion. For a moment, her lips purse, as if preparing to balk ... but, then, with a sudden and very playful smile: "Well, I have custodial duties next -- I do not see why those duties cannot include cleaning the beach of seashells or making sure the glasses at the Sandbar are free of chips -- of course, we would have to drink from them to be absolutely sure."
"And I can always run down to the Sandbar to collect, I don't know, dirty wash rags or something!" Javeri tells Sunniva with a chipper smile. "And Avey can, umm...I don't know. Assist us! Cause we could have stuff to carry and all!" There see? They would just be doing their proper candidately duties! Pulling her feet from the water she shakes them to get the water off before reaching for her sandals. "Oh, You guys are going to need clean clothes though! I can run get them for you if you want? Maybe see if there's anyone else who'd like to come along." She pauses as she stands up. "Someone who would understand the work we were doing of course." None that might run tell on them.
Avey looks dubious about the idea of someone else digging around in her press. "Oh thanks, I can get my own clothes though. Are we going to go now, or -- soak a little while longer?" she asks with the air of someone who'd rather not move from where she's sitting, thanks.
"Oh, I can get a few things of my own." Sunniva clambers out of the pool, quickly wrapping herself in one towel and using another to wrap her hair up. "Ought we see about getting a few things to eat and drink, while we are at it?" What with their 'chores' being /so/ hard and all. "I am ready whenever either of you are, but I would like to be dressed beforehand ... perhaps we ought to meet somewhere and proceed from there? That way, you can still soak a bit longer, Avey?"
"Ok, I can sneak to the kitchens. One of the cooks has a crush on me." Javeri rolls her eyes at this information, but grins anyway. "He'll get us some snacks no problem!" She heads for her basket of towels. "I better at least get these back though. I can do it without being seen. The laundresses mostly complain about candidate helpers anyway saying we don't know anything." Hefting her basket she considers and then says, "Maybe we outta meet outside the Weyr? So it doesn't look suspicious us all leaving at the same time?"
Avey looks relieves at the suggestion. "Yeah!" she says to Sunniva. "Yeah, we should meet up... that'd be just right. Where?" she asks Javeri.
"Oh, that is good," Sunniva remarks of Javeri's dubious luck, the young woman dipping her head thoughtfully. "I shall have to get whatever they need me to get, at least, so they cannot say I did not do /that/," those things being whatever she'll need for her custodial tasks, that is. As for the meeting point, she rests a hand at her hip, fingers tapping idly there "Well, we cannot stray too far from the Weyr proper, even if the eggs are not due to hatch for a few sevendays at least." Which leads to her looking at Javeri as well with a mildly expectant look.
Somehow Javeri seems to be the ringleader? Well, ditching was her idea so it is probably fair. And she is nearly a local. "Umm. You know the first bend in the path on the way to the beach? We could meet there. There's a place to step off the path so we can wait without being spotted. Then it's not that far to the beach. Quite within range of the weyr I think. A couple minutes run back if something happened." She looks to the other two to see if this is agreeable.
Avey sinks lower into the water, eyes half closed in relaxation. "The first bed. You got it," she says. "So I'll meet you guys there... in a little while." Then she gives a huge earsplitting yawn.
"I know where that is." Sunniva bobs her head, then adjusts her towel, glancing around before her gaze flicks to Javeri. "So, you have the food and drinks and there might be a few candidates in the kitchens that might like a break. I shall see about any in the barracks?" Any that would be sympathetic to their 'cause' of course. She does start toward the exit shortly after, though not so quickly that she'd be out of earshot in order to hear the other woman's answer.
With her basket in hand Javeri heads for the exit as well, although at a slower pace. "Ok, see you there, Avey." Although the look she gives the other candidate makes it seem like she's more sure there'll be napping than sneaking off. "Sounds good!" she calls to Sunniva. "I'll try to get enough for a few of us. This is going to be SO much better than what I should be doing. Improvised chores! A brilliant idea."
Where: Bathing pool
When: Afternoon on yet another sunny chore-filled day!
What: Chores collide in the bathing pool as Javeri runs into Jakkal and later Sunniva and Avey join them. The candidates discuss chores and what dragon colors they think of impressing. Civil disobedience is discussed. (See next log for that!)
Juggling a trio of towels while moving towards the shallow bit of the bathing pools is Candidate Jakkal, a mildly amused expression on his face as the three boys scrub off the mud and stray they'd accumulated during the afternoon. "Behind your ears too, Lorqain," his voice booms through the chamber causing all three boys to jump before the two who are obviously not the still-mud-incrusted Lorquain.
It's not Javeri's job to deal with kids today thankfully. Because she still harbors ill will towards a certain girl who likes to bite. What she is doing is laundry however and it's that task that brings her to the bathing pool. There are fresh towels in the basket she carries and she needs to trade them for the used one. However she was not expecting there to be a passel of kids. In the door she pauses and suppresses a sigh before heading for the pile of towels to begin her work. Halfway there she stops when Jakkal's voice makes his presence known. "Wow," she says with a little laugh. "No wonder they jump. Inside voice," she teases.
Jakkal turns at a familiar voice and simply offers a grin and wink in return to Javeri's comment. He crouches near the pool, shaking his head at the boys with amusement. "And I think even Lorqain had the lesson of why you don't try to ride a male herdbeast, well, ever, pounded in his hard head?" it's mostly a question, though the man's voice doesn't fall more than a degree lower. "I stayed on plenty long!" comes the youth's reply and Jakkal's laugh is a sure indication that there was no harm done to the children or the 'beasts due to the foolishness.
The basket of towels gets set down near where she'll do the trade. Before Javeri gets to it she begins to circle the room looking for towels left in inappropriate places. Under benches, tucked into corners, hiding in cubicles reserved for clothing. Who knows where inconsiderate people might leave them? "Ohhh. That's a hard lesson to learn," she says while circling the pool. "I am so glad I got laundry duty instead of more stable mucking. Or nursery duty." She gives her fellow candidate a sympathetic look for his bad luck.
It has been an eventful day to say the least and it's only the start, to boot. Sunniva heads to the bathing pools with an audible sigh, fingers working to release her bun and green eyes seeking only the nearest section of pool to claim as her own. Tending the aunties and uncles isn't usually a dreadful task, but today has resulted in her clothes being soiled with things best not given much consideration. Fish oil was clearly involved from the smell wafting from her. She's just seeking to claim a spot as quickly and unobtrusively as possible.
Jakkal grins at Javeri and shakes his head. "The older sort aren't that bad," he offers. "At least we're not _girls_!" one of the other boys counters, ducking at Lorqain tries to duck him under the water. "Despite their attitudes, you're allowed to show them more useful skills, so long as you don't actively try to kill them." The boys snicker, even as the first pulls himself out, reaching for a nearby towel.
"Eww. What's that- Oh, Sunniva! I'm so sorry. What got you?" Javeri's nose wrinkles up as she bends down to pick up a towel sitting in a puddle. As she holds the towel she looks at the boy who comments about her gender. "Oh, yea?" she counters before sticking out her tongue. "At least I don't have to listen to the nannies about when bedtime is." So, there, take that! "Well, laundry is good for hearing gossip," she tells Jakkal with a grin. "The laundry and kitchen are the best two places I guess no matter where you are."
Caught. Sunniva winces, nose crinkled, and glances over at Javeri with a sheepish, "It is a dreadfully long story that I think I would rather forget right now," she doesn't-really-explain. She strips down and slips into the water quickly, her clothes being heaped near the edge of the pool for no reason other than that's where they were dropped. In her haste, she forgot about a towel -- but definitely did not forget the sweetsand, which she's now using. "But, suffice it to say, it involved a quantity of fish oil and some terrible prankster of an uncle."
Jakkal glances over as he hears another now familiar voice followed by a splash. His gaze darts quickly to the trio of pre-teens in his care. "You so much as glance that way I'll take you porcine hunting next time. And that is _not_ allowed under the earlier mentioned condition of _not_ getting you killed, understood?" Either it's the volume, the tone, or both but the boys seem to get the message rather clearly, even before it has finished echoing off of the stone walls of the cavern, and keep their gaze away from the bathing Candidate's direction.
"Oh, eww. Fish oil." Javeri is properly sympathetic and asks, "Was it Old Nistrum?" Old Nistrum because his son was also tended in there and called Young Nistrum. "He tried to trade medicines with one of the other uncles once knowing it would give him horrid stomach troubles." She picks up another towel to add to her growing pile and carries them to dump by her basket. While there she picks up a couple of clean towels to carry back to Sunniva. On her way she laughs at the boys Jakkal watches. "Psst," she tells him with a grin. "They're going to peek no matter what. Boys will be boys." And she winks at one of the boys as she goes past. "Best bet is to take turns distracting your keeper," she tells them in a pseudo whisper. Not that she necessarily wants them peeping at Sunniva, but it's a good lesson for later at least.
"Oh, of course it was him. Dreadful, /dreadful/ man." Thank-yous are murmured to Javeri when she drops off the towels, a weak smile being flashed her way. And Sunniva proceeds to be oblivious to anything going on around her for some time, while she settles into the task of cleaning herself up, rinsing, and repeating the process a few more times for good measure. Her clothes, by contrast, may never be properly saved.
Jakkal glares at the trio of boys and even Lorqain's grin at Javeri fades at the expression in the hazel eyes. "Um, actually, I think we're clean." The other two boys nod in agreement. "I concur," Jakkal's low rumble replies as the other two boys scrambles out of the water, snag towels and rush off to change. Once they are out of the chamber, the Candidate chuckles deeply. "Wow. That wouldn't have worked on me when I was younger."
Javeri watches the boys go and waits to laugh until they are gone. "They are timid, aren't they?" she remarks as she scoops up another couple of dirty towels to bring to the steadily growing pile. One more circle of the room makes sure all the dirty towels are gathered and so she begins to trade her basket out. Clean towels get put away as she talks. "Have you had a run in with Old Nistrum yet?" she asks Jakkal as she pauses by where he is at. "I cannot imagine the terror he was when younger. At least now he can't chase you around."
Jakkal shakes his head. "I don't have trouble with the Aunties and Uncles," comes his echoing reply. "Only people who complement me on speaking clearly enough for them to understand." He frowns, narrowing his eyes at Lorqain as the lad pops his head in for an attempt to peak at Sunika. The lad ducks back out of sight with a yelp (and the audible laughter of his companions). "Hmm... Wonder where a good spot for porcine hunting would be..." Jakkal muses, offering Javeri a wink just as another yelp and the sound of wet feet pound a retreat comes from the exit.
The towel collecting candidate laughs quietly again as she stacks towels up. "Well, that makes sense. You can project. I bet even a harper would tell you that." Grabbing another armful of towels Javeri goes to put them up, saying as she walks, "Poor boys. Terrorized by the cruel heartless candidate. I don't mind working with them, but kids...wow. Give me laundry any day!" She disappears to put the towels up and reappears saying, "It'd be great to get a day off. I know they're working us to death for a reason, but surely an afternoon free wouldn't kill them?"
Jakkal offers a deep chuckle and nods, "That's the story they'll tell, certainly. Might get me off the rotation." He manages to maintain a stoic expression on his dark face for about three seconds before he winks and a great grin breaks the facade. It fades after a moment though as he looks thoughtful. "Doubtful though... They put me with the older children now as my voice tends to make the younger ones cry..." He frown, glancing in Sunika's direction as he remembers the conversation they had in the stables soon after the dinner. "Hopefully, I won't make any of the Hatchlings creel..."
"Can you do that?" Javeri asks thoughtfully. "I mean the hatchlings. Sometimes it seems like they don't quite tell us everything, you know? I suppose there's always surprises, but surely it seems like there's always something more to wonder about? Maybe it's just me?" She shakes her head to get the next to the last set of towels out of her basket to put away. "Older children are vaguely more tolerable, but maybe it's because I am an only child that they bother me so much? I much prefer my own company. Kids are...kids." She makes her next trip to put towels away.
Jakkal nods thoughtfully, "Me too... Though the 'beasts don't mind my natural volume." He shakes his head, making an attempt to keep it low, though it still echoes. "Those eggs can't harden fast enough... I'd like to go back to my old life if I'm not chosen to start a new one."
Javeri's arms are free of towels just long enough to finish putting up the ones in her hands and take the last of the clean ones out. "Me too! I miss home, you know? It's so weird how so much seems the same and is still all different than the way things I am used to." She pauses in her work to muse, "Maybe I am just too old for it all? I wonder what they see? The dragons when they pick someone to stand."
Jakkal shakes his head, "I don't know... I lived here for five Turns and yet I get Searched for this Clutch." He shakes his head, "Well, best I can hope for is that each Hatchling finds a partner out there, and that if one finds me, it's not the prissy sort." He smirks and offers a wink at that.
"They're supposed to pick someone who fits them though right?" Javeri asks as more horrid scenarios fill her brain. There are too many bad things that might occur to not consider at least some. The potter looks at her empty basket and the stack of dirty towels. "This is so going to take more than one trip. I don't know what's worse right now. The thought of impressing or not impressing? Each has all sorts of horrid things that can come of it. The worst, I guess, would be a mauling and then not even impressing I imagine."
Jakkal tilts his head to the side and offers Javeri a grin, still giving Sunika her privacy as the scent of the fish oil continues to permiate the air. Then again, he's used to the stabes and corrals, so the scent doesn't appear to bother him much. "I can't see how Impression could actually be a bad thing," he offers, "I mean, even if I do get a prissy one by accident, we'll complete and love each other completely, right?" He shrugs, "As for maulings, well...I've had my ribs cracked by an angry male herdbeast before, and my calf was slit open by a porcine when I was much too young to go hunting one and too stupid not to tag along in secret anyway." He looks thoughtful, "As for not Impressing... Some of us will be there for the sole purpose of giving them more selection than they actually need, no?"
"I don't know if I like the idea of just being an extra though," Javeri says with a shake of her head. "That's probably what I'll wind up being, but still. It seems like...I mean after everything we've done...Oh, well. I'll either impress or not. I can't keep wrangling the idea to death in my head!" She tosses more dirty towels in her basket and sighs. She's down here collecting trading clean towels for dirty as part of her chores in the laundry. Jakkal's been watching kids, but seems to have chased them all off. Sunniva is not readily visible, but she could be somewhere near the faint scent of fish oil and the pile of clothes in that same area. "What color do you want the most?" she asks Jakkal curiously. "Have you thought about it?"
Stable Mucking + Feeding Grounds Cleanup = Smelly, Grubby Avey. She's got dirt (one hopes it is dirt) smudged on her arms and face, and she smells like sweaty dead runner poo. But she has her towel with her and she is ready for a bath. She shucks off her dirty clothes and leaves them in a sad pile on the floor, and trudges toward the water.
Sunniva has, indeed, been off washing in this little niche over here. Well, more like she's been scrubbing until the skin's gone red in a futile effort to get the last lingering traces of fish oil smell out. She has, for the most part, been lost in her thoughts and the task of cleaning, but as satisfaction in her cleanliness sets in, she slows and finally lifts her head to look around. The conversation between other candidates draws her attention and she turns to better listen, arms folding on the pool's edge and her modesty thus protected while her curiosity is sated.
Jakkal gives Javeri a big grin, "Exactly. Hatchlings choose, not us." He tilts his head, apparently listening to the echoes of his reply as he considers Javeri's question, but he's saved from replying by the arrival of the familiar scent of the Stables. Oh, yes, and Avey with it. He offers her a wave, but quickly diverts his gaze as she shucks of her clothing in preperation for her bath.
"Sure, they choose and we just kill ourselves doing chores before," the potter says with a shake of her head and a grin. Javeri tries to stuff a few more towels into her basket, but likely makes it too heavy for her to carry in the process. "Eww, stables," she says as she looks around and then waves to Avey. "Oh, hey, Avey! Man, fish oil and runner poo. How delectable." Looking at her basket she tries to pick it up and then lets it fall back down. "So, what?" she asks Jakkal. No getting out of answering. "I was just asking Jakkal what color he thinks he'd like to impress the most," she Avey. When Sunniva's head pops up again she gets asked, "And you? What about you?"
Avey waves cheerfully. "Hi!" she says, and hops into the pool, sending out little ripples. "Ahh, I love you, bath! I love you," she declares, making a show of kissing the surface of the water. "Mwah! Mwah! Mwah!"
"I do not know," is Sunni's simple answer, narrow shoulders lifting briefly as her attention flicks to the questioning Javeri. "But, even at High Reaches, I did not know." For that memory, her smile momentarily tightens ... and then releases into something more amiable, a bit more relaxed. "I could not see myself with a blue or brown, for whatever that might be worth, but one might well choose me. Or none at all."
Jakkal frowns, "I've never really thought about it. I suppose brown, maybe a brawny blue? I'm not the sort for a bronze, and certainly hope any greens out therre will understand enough to pick anyone but me once they crack shell." He shakes his head, his voice echoing over the chamber for a few more moments. "Want some help with that? Seeing as how all the girls in the Weyr have decided this time to bathe and all." He grins, still diverting his gaze from the female Candidates in the water. "But who knows, the dragons chose. There have been all sorts of goldriders, and just about every sort of any other colours, I'd imagine."
"What about you, Avey?" Javeri asks as she turns to the other bathing candidate. "What color would you like to impress? I mean if you had a choice? Do you have a favorite?" A few towels are taken out of the basket before she looks at Jakkal and grins. "You're such a gentleman. No, I'll just take a few less and make extra trips. It's not a big deal." Stretching her arms over her head as she straightens up her back makes a pop. "Man. I am about done in and not even close to being done for the day."
Jakkal narrows his eyes at Javeri with a smirk, "You can't excape your own question, Candidate Javeri. What do you look meeting your gaze and changing your existance out there?"
Avey blinks at the question, and scrunches up her face thoughtfully. "I don't know!" she says after a pause. "My dad's a brownrider but - I'm not really very much like him. I don't know, it's kind of hard to picture myself as a rider at all. I guess whichever dragon picks me will be just fine," she says, and shrugs.
Idly, Sunniva drags her hands through her freshly washed hair, then her arms drop back to fold on the edge of the pool again. Her gaze passes from candidate to candidate, listening with a faint smile in place. "I really do wonder if it runs in families like some people say," she remarks casually, then flashes a grin at Jakkal for his comments.
Javeri's basket gets a few more towels taken after it and she looks up, almost surprised at being asked the same question. "Oh, I don't know," she answers with a thoughtful frown crossing her features. "I think maybe one of the smaller dragons." She gives this some more thought and then nods her head. "Yea. Like a blue or a green. Not just because there'd be way less to take care of either!" Although it would certainly be a plus in her mind. "And they can do the really neat tricks in the sky. When you watch them it's the smaller ones who get to do what looks like the fun stuff!"
"I think riding /any/ dragon would be fun," Avey says stoutly. "But a nice pretty fast green... that /would/ be pretty cool." She looks over at Sunniva. "Do you have riders in your family?" she asks her.
"Just one of my younger sisters," Sunniva replies to Avey, sliding a look her way. A shallow shrug follows and she sinks a bit further in the water. "She is the Senior Weyrwoman of Fort." And while the others discuss the benefits of the smaller dragons, she just lapses into silence, her gaze distancing and chin settling on her folded arms while she listens.
Jakkal shakes his head, moving over and taking up an armful of the towels that Javeri was unpacking to lighten her load. "Come on... I'll help you with this," he frowns and shakes his head when his reply continues to echo through the camber, "I need to track down my young wards." He shrugs at that and picks up the last of the discarded pile or dirty towels.
"Thanks a lot!" Javeri tells Jakkal with a grin. "Hey, you can get the basket if you want," she teases with a wink. "And I can just follow along. No, I'm kidding. I'll do my work. Thanks for the help though! I'm going to wait and get the towels these guys leave and then be along. So, you know, if you can drop those by the laundry?" She wouldn't ask him to do her work, but she does. At least a little of it. "My mom's a rider. Here," she offers with the slightest of frowns during her words.
Avey blinks a few times at Sunniva, and looks newly impressed. "Your /younger/ sister?" she repeats. "Wow.
Jakkal nods in agreement with Javeri, "Certainly. I'll leave it near the washbins on my way to track those boys down." He gives a general wave in the direction of Sunniva and Avey. "Take care." He's out the door, beating a semi-honourable (and quite useful, see the armful of dirty towels?) retreat from the bathing cavern.
"Well, Berit is one of the two younger than I am. Ella is the youngest." Sunniva's mouth draws a bit to a side, her attention flicking briefly from Avey to Jakkal and then Javeri. Jakkal is given a finger-wiggling wave of farewell and a soft, "Do take care," then her gaze shifts to Javeri. "Is she? What does she ride, if you do not mind my asking?" And that slight frown is duly noted, though not commented on.
A wave is given to Jakkal as he takes some of her load and since she'll be waiting she goes ahead and sits down near the edge of the pool. Off comes her shoes and she drops her feet into the water with a sigh. "Oh, man. That feels a whole lot better." She doesn't seem overly concerned about the shirking of her duties at the moment. "My mom? Oh, green," she answers. "I don't know her though. She doesn't want anything to do with me."
Avey looks over at Javeri with a raised eyebrow. "Really? Sounds like my dad," she says with a shake of her head. "See, if I'm a rider and I have kids, I'm not going to run around acting like they don't exist or something. That's just not fair."
"Oh, I see," Sunniva murmurs, intending for it to be toward both of them. "How strange, then, that the riders in our lives -- the ones linked by blood, at least -- all want nothing to do with us at all." It might have been bitter once, but now it's rendered with matter-of-fact indifference, her nose scrunching up for a moment before toying a bit as the devil's advocate, "But, I suppose, some riders are far more busy than others. From what I have heard, the dragon's needs are greater than the rider's own -- and then all of the other duties, on top of that, even in an Interval."
"I am not having kids. Ever," Javeri says with a shake of her head. Her feet wiggle in the water and she lifts one up to look at it. Down it goes back into the warm water. "I definitely needed this," she says with another content sigh. "Yea, well, I don't know why someone has kids if they don't want anything to do with them," she says in reply. "I think kids are a pain, but at least I'm not gonna make the mistake of having a single one of them. I suppose it's fine for riders to be too busy, but...I don't know." Shaking her head she looks at the other two. "You busy for the rest of the afternoon? Cause I am seriously thinking of sneaking off to the beach and forget the rest of my chores. Surely they won't kick us out for missing a few hours."
Avey perks up. "Especially not if a bunch of us did," she says brightly. "Where would they get that many extra candidates at the last minute?"
"I would like children," Sunniva admits, "some day. Not now, of course, but- I have always wanted them. One or two, perhaps, but I would want to raise them myself." But, she leaves that topic there, head canting, birdlike, at Javeri's suggestion. For a moment, her lips purse, as if preparing to balk ... but, then, with a sudden and very playful smile: "Well, I have custodial duties next -- I do not see why those duties cannot include cleaning the beach of seashells or making sure the glasses at the Sandbar are free of chips -- of course, we would have to drink from them to be absolutely sure."
"And I can always run down to the Sandbar to collect, I don't know, dirty wash rags or something!" Javeri tells Sunniva with a chipper smile. "And Avey can, umm...I don't know. Assist us! Cause we could have stuff to carry and all!" There see? They would just be doing their proper candidately duties! Pulling her feet from the water she shakes them to get the water off before reaching for her sandals. "Oh, You guys are going to need clean clothes though! I can run get them for you if you want? Maybe see if there's anyone else who'd like to come along." She pauses as she stands up. "Someone who would understand the work we were doing of course." None that might run tell on them.
Avey looks dubious about the idea of someone else digging around in her press. "Oh thanks, I can get my own clothes though. Are we going to go now, or -- soak a little while longer?" she asks with the air of someone who'd rather not move from where she's sitting, thanks.
"Oh, I can get a few things of my own." Sunniva clambers out of the pool, quickly wrapping herself in one towel and using another to wrap her hair up. "Ought we see about getting a few things to eat and drink, while we are at it?" What with their 'chores' being /so/ hard and all. "I am ready whenever either of you are, but I would like to be dressed beforehand ... perhaps we ought to meet somewhere and proceed from there? That way, you can still soak a bit longer, Avey?"
"Ok, I can sneak to the kitchens. One of the cooks has a crush on me." Javeri rolls her eyes at this information, but grins anyway. "He'll get us some snacks no problem!" She heads for her basket of towels. "I better at least get these back though. I can do it without being seen. The laundresses mostly complain about candidate helpers anyway saying we don't know anything." Hefting her basket she considers and then says, "Maybe we outta meet outside the Weyr? So it doesn't look suspicious us all leaving at the same time?"
Avey looks relieves at the suggestion. "Yeah!" she says to Sunniva. "Yeah, we should meet up... that'd be just right. Where?" she asks Javeri.
"Oh, that is good," Sunniva remarks of Javeri's dubious luck, the young woman dipping her head thoughtfully. "I shall have to get whatever they need me to get, at least, so they cannot say I did not do /that/," those things being whatever she'll need for her custodial tasks, that is. As for the meeting point, she rests a hand at her hip, fingers tapping idly there "Well, we cannot stray too far from the Weyr proper, even if the eggs are not due to hatch for a few sevendays at least." Which leads to her looking at Javeri as well with a mildly expectant look.
Somehow Javeri seems to be the ringleader? Well, ditching was her idea so it is probably fair. And she is nearly a local. "Umm. You know the first bend in the path on the way to the beach? We could meet there. There's a place to step off the path so we can wait without being spotted. Then it's not that far to the beach. Quite within range of the weyr I think. A couple minutes run back if something happened." She looks to the other two to see if this is agreeable.
Avey sinks lower into the water, eyes half closed in relaxation. "The first bed. You got it," she says. "So I'll meet you guys there... in a little while." Then she gives a huge earsplitting yawn.
"I know where that is." Sunniva bobs her head, then adjusts her towel, glancing around before her gaze flicks to Javeri. "So, you have the food and drinks and there might be a few candidates in the kitchens that might like a break. I shall see about any in the barracks?" Any that would be sympathetic to their 'cause' of course. She does start toward the exit shortly after, though not so quickly that she'd be out of earshot in order to hear the other woman's answer.
With her basket in hand Javeri heads for the exit as well, although at a slower pace. "Ok, see you there, Avey." Although the look she gives the other candidate makes it seem like she's more sure there'll be napping than sneaking off. "Sounds good!" she calls to Sunniva. "I'll try to get enough for a few of us. This is going to be SO much better than what I should be doing. Improvised chores! A brilliant idea."