A flock of candidates
Who: Balkaiv, Hattie, Kiah, Sulisah, Winston
Where: Candidate barracks
Where: Afternoon on day 10, month 1, turn 19
What: There is a gathering of candidates at the end of the day. Laundry is delivered, teasing occurs, and Kiah is brought in on the robe work. Oh, and a flower gets delivered.
Kiah is puttering about her cot. The way Kiah putters, cleaning is happening. Her blankets and sheets are eyed and measured so that they fit exactly in the middle. Can't have too much overhang on either side. The floor is swept, her trunk is dusted -- and nothing... NOTHING, hides under her cot.
Sulisah had laundry duty again today - another day of folding and delivering, but at least this batch had to be delivered to the barracks. Balanced carefully in her arms are three little packages, though they may not stay neat and tidy for too much longer as she looks around for an empty cot to dump them on.
Kiah looks up in enough time to notice Sulisah and darts over to help her, offering to take one or some or all of the packages. "Can I help? You look like you're about to drop everything."
"Oh hi!" Sulisah tries her best to not look too obviously stunned by the offer, and her smile of thanks if definitely genuine. "Sure! I was just going to put them down and see who gets what, but if you could grab the top one?" Each of the little parcels is thankfully labeled in the launderer's neat handwriting - the top one being Balkaiv's, then comes Suizen's, then Hattie's on the bottom.
Kiah reaches for the top bundle, reading the name and then turns to look at the room. "Oh, I haven't been paying attention. Which cot belongs to Balkaiv?" She reads the name on the label carefully, as though its difficult for her to translate the name to the word.
Balkaiv could probably tell her which cot is his - he enters just then, looking as stormy as he has all day, which is stormier than usual. He stops just behind Sulisah and her bundles with a grunt, but doesn't either step aside or actually -ask- the other Candidates to move.
Sulisah begins heading over to Suizen's cot. "Um... you know I have no idea." Her reply is accompanied by a bright giggle, turning to look around the room. "Maybe have a look in... actually no that would be a bad plan. I think it's that one?" She points over towards the boy's side of the room and nearly gets it right, she's only two cots too close to the door. The grunt behind her makes her take a quick step to the side, but it takes a moment for it to register who is behind her.
Kiah walks over to the boy's side of the room, holding the bundle and peering at it with remarkable focus. "I'm having a terrible time saying his name, does anyone know how to say his name? Or maybe he has a nickname or something that will make this easier." She seems to wander over to the cots Sulisah points her to and looks between them all, as though trying to decide which one gets the bundle.
A whole rest day to himself, other than a grumpy writing lesson, has left Winston cheerful as always. Even mending his old clothes cannot dampen his spirits. He strolls into the barracks whistling a jaunty tune with a flower from somewhere warm tucked into the lapel of his jacket.
There's Kai, large as life and twice as natural, frowning down at Sulisah. "What you got there?" he asks with a nod to the bundles. He reads the top name, "Sui...zen," and looks back to Su. For a moment his attention gets caught by the wandering Kiah, but nothing in her manner makes him linger, so back to Su it is.
"Kai!" Sulisah answers and greets at the same time. "Hey, it's laundry. She's got yours, it's all wrapped." She waves a finger of greeting towards Winston, before asking of Balkaiv, "You okay?" Balancing the laundry she still has she reaches a hand out towards his arm, looking to give a quick and gentle pat.
Kiah turns from her spot in the midst of the boy's cots, looking entire too uncomfortable surrounded by all the mess. Boys are almost always messy. "Does anyone know where this Balaclava's cot is? Balk.. Balakaiv." The more she butchers the name, the more distressed she looks. "Oh dear. I hope no one tells him I keep mangling his name."
Balkaiv echoes, "Laundry?" but there's Su nodding to Kiah, and his own name being minced and sliced. His eyebrows draw down as he strides quickly to intercept her, hands stretched for his things. "Balkaiv," he says firmly, two syllables and simple. "Or just Kai. Which one are you?"
And yet the boys cots are actually not messy. Inspections seem to keep the mess and clutter to a minimum. Winston's cot is, like him, always impeccably clean. He doesn't stop on his way in until he's reached his cot and then he settles down on it to stretch out and just grin. Someone had a good day.
Sulisah's hand doesn't quite reach Kai as he moves off, so she uses it to wave to Winston properly instead seeing as it's free. She heads quickly over to Suizen's cot, dropping off her bundle at the end, then heads over to Hattie's to do the same. For now she keeps quiet, though she does keep looking over to Kiah and Kai.
Kiah looks up at Balkaiv, and then up and up some more. She blinks, going a bright red as she suddenly realizes this is the person whose name she's made quite a mess of and she holds out the bundle with both hands, dropping her head to look between her arms at her feet. "I'm sorry," is her soft apology. "If you don't think it forward, Kai is much easier for me to say. Its not that different from my name. I'm Kiah. Apprentice Baker."
Sitting up Winston leans his head down to sniff at his flower before he scoots to the foot of bed and asks Kai, "How went the trip to the bar?" The ladies get a grin and a wink each.
Balkaiv takes his things - not roughly - and tucks them under one elbow. A second later, he tosses them onto his cot, a few down from where Kiah was looking and past Winston's head, instead. "'F you're in here, you're one a' us. Candidate." One shoulder shrugs, displaying his own Candidate's knot. "Kai - Kiah. S'kinda cute." His eyes flick over the red head to Winston, and he meets the other man's grin impassively. "Dunno. S'closed. Somethin' 'bout fixin' it up."
Sulisah lets out a little breath of relief as Kai and Kiah's meeting doesn't turn into a growl-fest. In fact as he mentions the names being cute together she giggles, "Abandoning me already Kai? I'm hurt." She doesn't seem it, in fact as she heads over to her own cot for a seat she's grinning, though it turns to a quick look of curiosity. "It's closed?"
"Not sure what you mean," Winston says with a shake of his head and a grin at Kai. "Meant your writing lessons. Master those paragraphs and I got more to share." He then asks, "Bar's closed? Wasn't there today. Heard a rumor, but wasn't sure. Lots to do and only so many rest days to do it in."
Kiah goes even more red at the correction and then glances at the cot that is the correct one. She seems to suddenly realize that she's still in the boy's section and darts out of it like a person possessed. "Writing lessons? And what bar? What's closed?" Seems Kiah hasn't gotten the memo, or didn't read it.
Balkaiv says, "Huh?" cleverly at Winston, but his attention gets pulled away from the other man by the darting, and he turns to follow it, instead. "Yeah - table in front a' the door. Things being took down. Somethin' bout...." He squints, trying to think, then shrugs instead. "Gonna make the place look different."
"Really?" Sulisah bounces up to her feet again, determined to take a quick detour to the bar on her way back for the next load of laundry. She pauses at the door long enough to give the others a quick wave before vanishing.
Kiah wanders over to the table to read the notice. She stands there for some time before she turns back to the room. "Oh dear. I'm not good at any of the things they'll be wanting us to do to help. Do you think I can just bake treats for everyone else working?"
"You have to learn new things, Kiah," Winston says with a shake of his head. "Can't keep getting out of things because you don't know how. Gonna have to learn all sorts of new things if you impress." He opens his clothes press and pulls out, yes, his sewing and mending work. "Suppose now's the time for you to learn too."
Balkaiv sends Su off with a wave before heading back to his cot. Sitting on the edge, he flips over his bundle of laundry and undoes the knot holding it together, looking between Kiah and Winston with only vague interest.
Kiah looks apprehensive for a moment and then clears her throat and turns. "Well, I guess so I shall." She settles down gingerly on the side of her cot. "I spent the morning cleaning the stores and counting items in one of the trunks. Cleaning I can do. What are the sorts of things we would have to learn?"
The other male candidate gets a look, but Winston lets him go sit for now. Instead he looks at Kiah and grins at her. "Well, sewing if you can't already," he tells her with a wink. "You spoken to Rhodya about that bit yet? She's got a plan for the robes." He starts to poke in his sewing basket and pulls out a small bag that winds up containing buttons. "As for the Leaking Cavern I imagine hammering, polishing, maybe sanding? Scrubbing."
"Carrying," Kai interjects, leaning over to flip open his clothes press one-handed. "Dunno all what they got in mind. Probably ain't gonna..." He starts, then stops with a rueful eye on the chores list and snorts yet again. Instead of continuing down that path he starts putting his laundry away instead, if 'putting away' means 'dropping it in folded and that's it'. "Been a long sharding day."
A soft groan escapes from the redhead's lips before she claps her hands over her mouth, only moving them to note. "What about robes? No one's said anything to me about robes." Kiah starts to chew on her bottom lip, absently watching Kai drop his clothes into the press. "I can sew a little bit. I'm not very good at it."
"Rhodya had the idea that with the fabric shortage we ought to make sure we all use robes already used." Winston examines a shirt and begins to carefully remove the buttons from it to change out. "So we're going to get all the used robes and make sure everyone has a working on that will not be an embarrassment. And then Sulisah and Hattie suggested we do it all in the evening with some cider and snacks and have a little sewing party. Like a quilting party." Yes, he is man enough to know what a quilting bee is! "Those that can sew well will do that. Some can take out seams, gather thread, all sorts of things."
Kai says, "I can't sew," which probably isn't a surprise to anyone who's known him longer than a minute. His last piece of clothing, probably a shirt, gets dropped into the chest; he nudges the lid which falls shut with a muffled bang and stands. "I'm gonna go see what's up with the bar." He nods once, generally, and strides out of the barracks without looking back.
Kiah still looks a bit shellshocked, but nods at Winston. "Alright. That sounds reasonable. I'm sure old shirts could be pieced together too, so long as they were white, right?" After a moment, she gets tired of yelling and goes to sit on a cot on the girl's side that isn't too far away from Winston.
Having made it safely out of the Stores in one piece, despite numerous not-quite-arguments over the course of the day, Hattie strides through the barracks in silence and flops onto her cot without a word. It's a moment or several before she raises one hand to wave from there without sitting up. "Hey."
"Think we just need to use robes," Winston says with a shake of his head. "Everyone and their worry we'll need to use other stuff. Not like they'll not have plenty of old robes." But he grins as he continues to work on his button removal. Kai gets a manly nod goodbye and then when Hattie comes in she gets a grin and a wave. "Hattie, darling. Was just telling Kiah about the robe party."
Kiah looks over at Hattie as she settles down onto a cot nearby and she smiles at her tentatively. "Hey," she greets in return. "I think I found a few old robes when I was in the stores today. I can gather them up and pile them in here. When is this party?"
Hattie rolls over onto her stomach and kicks her feet up into the air, lying the wrong way round along her cot, feet towards the pillow. Kiah gets a nod and another wave divided between her and Winston. "Ah, enlisting more people?" she says, obviously rhetorical. "I don't know if we've set a date for it, yet," she goes on. "Does everyone know about it, or are there still more people to pounce on?"
Winston looks at his shirt and starts checking buttons on it. Like now he cannot decide which he wants to use. "Think between Rhodya and I we might have most everyone covered. Figure we should do it sooner, right? Too long and we'll be running out of time." His eyes shift towards Hattie and he grins at her. "Feet bugging you? I'm happy to offer my services as foot rubber to give a bit of peace to them. You can check with Rhodya and Suizen I have great fingers. And they're quite proper." He looks at Kiah and winks at her. "Gather up any you can find. That'd be great."
Kiah hops to her feet and darts toward the door. "I'll go get them right now!"
Hattie watches Kiah go with a slightly baffled expression that fades to a faint, approving, smile at such enthusiasm. "Hope she logs them out right," she murmurs under her breath. She looks up and across at Winston, a little wary, which makes, "My feet are just fine, thanks. You concentrate on that work you've got over there," come out more sharply than it's supposed to.
A wave is given to Kiah as she gets excited and runs out. "Kids and their enthusiasms," he says with a chuckle despite not being hardly older at all. Then his eyes shift to Hattie and he just nods at her. "Sure thing, Hattie. Not trying to make you uncomfortable. Just trying to make sure if your feet bother you that you don't let them suffer. I really do good with feet."
She blinks down at the blanket on her cot and twists her fingers together before her, choosing to study them intently. "Used to being on my feet all day," Hattie states. "They don't bother me much. Don't have much time to think about it, really." A sharp breath out and she looks up again. "What've you been doing all day whilst I've been trying to placate the fabric-deprived masses?"
And like that he lets it drop. If she doesn't want a foot rub Winston is not going to try to push her. But he cannot help but steal a peek at her feet anyway. Then he's looking at his buttons. "Clothes," he admits with a roguish grin. "Trying to update my wardrobe. New buckles and buttons and such. Helped Kai with his writing earlier." He touches the flower he tucked into his indoor jacket with one finger. "Getting a flower," he tells her. "For a lovely lady. But to spare her embarrassment I have been holding on to it for her."
Hattie stirs, rearranging herself to prop her head on one hand and swing her feet a little. "Left half my wardrobe at the Hold," she muses. "Suppose I should send for some of it, but I doubt anything I've got would look well on you," she goes so far as to tease, one corner of her mouth lifting slightly. The beginnings of that smile are soon gone, replaced with a frown as she says, "I didn't know Kai was having that much trouble..." with presumption, as though she should have known or done something. "Anyhow, who's the lucky lady?" doesn't quite make it back to teasing.
Winston's fingers deftly dig in the bag of buttons until he's found enough the right size and shape. Gold colored if perhaps not gold exactly he double checks and then sets his bag back into his sewing basket. "I am pretty sure we're not the same size," he agrees with a chuckle as he sorts through his carefully hoarded thread. "And he was having enough trouble he got pulled off his regular duty today to sit in with the harper. Tried to give him some help with it, but I think he doesn't like me." Who could not like him? He doesn't sound upset about it though. He looks over at his fellow candidate and touches the flower. "For the prettiest woman I've met so far in my three turns here at Fort," he tells her in a low, serious tone.
"And I don't think you're really the sort for skirts," Hattie returns. "Unless you can pull off miracles with thread." She rolls over onto her back, restless, head tipped over the foot of her cot, so the world winds up upside-down. "People don't like having flaws pointed out, 'specially if they're trying to work on them," she breathes, gesturing aimlessly with one hand. "And offering help is as good as pointing things out, sometimes. It's hard to... accept," trails off, voice growing faint. World upside-down or otherwise, her eyes seek out Winston's when she says, "I hope she's worth it," in just as serious a tone.
While Winston might shift his seat so he can watch her he doesn't keep his eyes on her. He has sewing to do and the first button is lined up so he can place the first stitch. "Well, he's also a bit prickly to begin with," is his statement about Kai. Not that the former heir to Two Trees sounds upset about this. Just amused mostly over the whole bit. But down the needle goes and he looks over at her upside down head and grins. "I look forward to finding out if she is," he says softly as he lets the needle dangle on his shirt, button forgotten. But only for a moment and then he gets an embarrassed look as he ducks his head and says, "But I don't really have doubts on that regard."
"He is, at that. I don't think he's a bad sort, though." Hattie blinks up at the ceiling whilst she ponders that and dismisses it all with another wave her one hand, more twitch than actual wave. Her gaze wanders towards Winston again, focused, like she's conducting a study. "If she can get you that flustered-" she grins for the word, "-yes, flustered, boy, then I'd find out sooner rather than later before your reputation begins to fade."
"Hard to be a bad sort around here," Winston says with a chuckle. "They tend to get sorted out right away." He's back to sewing not even stealing peeks over at the other candidate. Not a lift of his eyes or a twitch of his fingers to indicate that he's bothered by her words or her presence. But when he gets the button sewed on he looks up and grins fleetingly. "Well, I aim to find out, but we're kind of stuck right now. She won't even give me a kiss. Because she takes her work so seriously. And I don't want to push it because I don't want to get her in trouble." He stops and then he gives up on sewing as he looks right at her. "But I dream about it. About her and what it might be to kiss her. To dance with her. To find out if she has any interest in me."
When he looks right at her, she has to look away, because the ceiling is just that fascinating and contains many hidden secrets. Hattie carefully folds her arms behind her head, only just balanced on the foot of her bed still. "Well," she tells the ceiling, humour gone and seriousness once again steadily setting up camp, "in that case, I would just get on with it. I mean, if it's only a kiss, what's the harm in that? Can't be too much trouble involved. And you'd pretty much get your answer there and then. Catch her by surprise or something."
Carefully, so carefully, Winston puts his sewing up. He has to stand to open his chest and put it back atop his clothes. But through all of this he looks over at Hattie who stares at the ceiling. "Only a kiss," he repeats and there's a small smile curving up his lips. "One little kiss to find out the answer I need." He takes the flower from his coat and sets it on his cot as he looks over at her. "Think I'll get myself a walk. Let you rest." His coat is picked up and he heads for the exit but before any other candidates might interfere he he says, "No trouble, Hattie. Not for you. The last thing I want is that." Which does not mean he won't surprise her or that he might be hoping she'll pick that flower up for herself while he's gone.
'Not for you' has Hattie bolting all at once from her lounge across her cot, rolled over and up to sit properly on its very edge, startled look in her eyes. She watches him head for the exit and watches him go, gaze fixed and intense, but there are no words and she doesn't or can't move until she's sure he's gone. She stays there, just staring, with her back straight and fingers curled back into fists, trying to ignore the looks she garners from some of the other Candidates. When she finally stirs again, it's to wander ever so casually to gently pick up that flower and thread it though her hair, expression daring anyone to say anything. And when he comes back, if he notices it there, then that's something of an answer, isn't it?
Where: Candidate barracks
Where: Afternoon on day 10, month 1, turn 19
What: There is a gathering of candidates at the end of the day. Laundry is delivered, teasing occurs, and Kiah is brought in on the robe work. Oh, and a flower gets delivered.
Kiah is puttering about her cot. The way Kiah putters, cleaning is happening. Her blankets and sheets are eyed and measured so that they fit exactly in the middle. Can't have too much overhang on either side. The floor is swept, her trunk is dusted -- and nothing... NOTHING, hides under her cot.
Sulisah had laundry duty again today - another day of folding and delivering, but at least this batch had to be delivered to the barracks. Balanced carefully in her arms are three little packages, though they may not stay neat and tidy for too much longer as she looks around for an empty cot to dump them on.
Kiah looks up in enough time to notice Sulisah and darts over to help her, offering to take one or some or all of the packages. "Can I help? You look like you're about to drop everything."
"Oh hi!" Sulisah tries her best to not look too obviously stunned by the offer, and her smile of thanks if definitely genuine. "Sure! I was just going to put them down and see who gets what, but if you could grab the top one?" Each of the little parcels is thankfully labeled in the launderer's neat handwriting - the top one being Balkaiv's, then comes Suizen's, then Hattie's on the bottom.
Kiah reaches for the top bundle, reading the name and then turns to look at the room. "Oh, I haven't been paying attention. Which cot belongs to Balkaiv?" She reads the name on the label carefully, as though its difficult for her to translate the name to the word.
Balkaiv could probably tell her which cot is his - he enters just then, looking as stormy as he has all day, which is stormier than usual. He stops just behind Sulisah and her bundles with a grunt, but doesn't either step aside or actually -ask- the other Candidates to move.
Sulisah begins heading over to Suizen's cot. "Um... you know I have no idea." Her reply is accompanied by a bright giggle, turning to look around the room. "Maybe have a look in... actually no that would be a bad plan. I think it's that one?" She points over towards the boy's side of the room and nearly gets it right, she's only two cots too close to the door. The grunt behind her makes her take a quick step to the side, but it takes a moment for it to register who is behind her.
Kiah walks over to the boy's side of the room, holding the bundle and peering at it with remarkable focus. "I'm having a terrible time saying his name, does anyone know how to say his name? Or maybe he has a nickname or something that will make this easier." She seems to wander over to the cots Sulisah points her to and looks between them all, as though trying to decide which one gets the bundle.
A whole rest day to himself, other than a grumpy writing lesson, has left Winston cheerful as always. Even mending his old clothes cannot dampen his spirits. He strolls into the barracks whistling a jaunty tune with a flower from somewhere warm tucked into the lapel of his jacket.
There's Kai, large as life and twice as natural, frowning down at Sulisah. "What you got there?" he asks with a nod to the bundles. He reads the top name, "Sui...zen," and looks back to Su. For a moment his attention gets caught by the wandering Kiah, but nothing in her manner makes him linger, so back to Su it is.
"Kai!" Sulisah answers and greets at the same time. "Hey, it's laundry. She's got yours, it's all wrapped." She waves a finger of greeting towards Winston, before asking of Balkaiv, "You okay?" Balancing the laundry she still has she reaches a hand out towards his arm, looking to give a quick and gentle pat.
Kiah turns from her spot in the midst of the boy's cots, looking entire too uncomfortable surrounded by all the mess. Boys are almost always messy. "Does anyone know where this Balaclava's cot is? Balk.. Balakaiv." The more she butchers the name, the more distressed she looks. "Oh dear. I hope no one tells him I keep mangling his name."
Balkaiv echoes, "Laundry?" but there's Su nodding to Kiah, and his own name being minced and sliced. His eyebrows draw down as he strides quickly to intercept her, hands stretched for his things. "Balkaiv," he says firmly, two syllables and simple. "Or just Kai. Which one are you?"
And yet the boys cots are actually not messy. Inspections seem to keep the mess and clutter to a minimum. Winston's cot is, like him, always impeccably clean. He doesn't stop on his way in until he's reached his cot and then he settles down on it to stretch out and just grin. Someone had a good day.
Sulisah's hand doesn't quite reach Kai as he moves off, so she uses it to wave to Winston properly instead seeing as it's free. She heads quickly over to Suizen's cot, dropping off her bundle at the end, then heads over to Hattie's to do the same. For now she keeps quiet, though she does keep looking over to Kiah and Kai.
Kiah looks up at Balkaiv, and then up and up some more. She blinks, going a bright red as she suddenly realizes this is the person whose name she's made quite a mess of and she holds out the bundle with both hands, dropping her head to look between her arms at her feet. "I'm sorry," is her soft apology. "If you don't think it forward, Kai is much easier for me to say. Its not that different from my name. I'm Kiah. Apprentice Baker."
Sitting up Winston leans his head down to sniff at his flower before he scoots to the foot of bed and asks Kai, "How went the trip to the bar?" The ladies get a grin and a wink each.
Balkaiv takes his things - not roughly - and tucks them under one elbow. A second later, he tosses them onto his cot, a few down from where Kiah was looking and past Winston's head, instead. "'F you're in here, you're one a' us. Candidate." One shoulder shrugs, displaying his own Candidate's knot. "Kai - Kiah. S'kinda cute." His eyes flick over the red head to Winston, and he meets the other man's grin impassively. "Dunno. S'closed. Somethin' 'bout fixin' it up."
Sulisah lets out a little breath of relief as Kai and Kiah's meeting doesn't turn into a growl-fest. In fact as he mentions the names being cute together she giggles, "Abandoning me already Kai? I'm hurt." She doesn't seem it, in fact as she heads over to her own cot for a seat she's grinning, though it turns to a quick look of curiosity. "It's closed?"
"Not sure what you mean," Winston says with a shake of his head and a grin at Kai. "Meant your writing lessons. Master those paragraphs and I got more to share." He then asks, "Bar's closed? Wasn't there today. Heard a rumor, but wasn't sure. Lots to do and only so many rest days to do it in."
Kiah goes even more red at the correction and then glances at the cot that is the correct one. She seems to suddenly realize that she's still in the boy's section and darts out of it like a person possessed. "Writing lessons? And what bar? What's closed?" Seems Kiah hasn't gotten the memo, or didn't read it.
Balkaiv says, "Huh?" cleverly at Winston, but his attention gets pulled away from the other man by the darting, and he turns to follow it, instead. "Yeah - table in front a' the door. Things being took down. Somethin' bout...." He squints, trying to think, then shrugs instead. "Gonna make the place look different."
"Really?" Sulisah bounces up to her feet again, determined to take a quick detour to the bar on her way back for the next load of laundry. She pauses at the door long enough to give the others a quick wave before vanishing.
Kiah wanders over to the table to read the notice. She stands there for some time before she turns back to the room. "Oh dear. I'm not good at any of the things they'll be wanting us to do to help. Do you think I can just bake treats for everyone else working?"
"You have to learn new things, Kiah," Winston says with a shake of his head. "Can't keep getting out of things because you don't know how. Gonna have to learn all sorts of new things if you impress." He opens his clothes press and pulls out, yes, his sewing and mending work. "Suppose now's the time for you to learn too."
Balkaiv sends Su off with a wave before heading back to his cot. Sitting on the edge, he flips over his bundle of laundry and undoes the knot holding it together, looking between Kiah and Winston with only vague interest.
Kiah looks apprehensive for a moment and then clears her throat and turns. "Well, I guess so I shall." She settles down gingerly on the side of her cot. "I spent the morning cleaning the stores and counting items in one of the trunks. Cleaning I can do. What are the sorts of things we would have to learn?"
The other male candidate gets a look, but Winston lets him go sit for now. Instead he looks at Kiah and grins at her. "Well, sewing if you can't already," he tells her with a wink. "You spoken to Rhodya about that bit yet? She's got a plan for the robes." He starts to poke in his sewing basket and pulls out a small bag that winds up containing buttons. "As for the Leaking Cavern I imagine hammering, polishing, maybe sanding? Scrubbing."
"Carrying," Kai interjects, leaning over to flip open his clothes press one-handed. "Dunno all what they got in mind. Probably ain't gonna..." He starts, then stops with a rueful eye on the chores list and snorts yet again. Instead of continuing down that path he starts putting his laundry away instead, if 'putting away' means 'dropping it in folded and that's it'. "Been a long sharding day."
A soft groan escapes from the redhead's lips before she claps her hands over her mouth, only moving them to note. "What about robes? No one's said anything to me about robes." Kiah starts to chew on her bottom lip, absently watching Kai drop his clothes into the press. "I can sew a little bit. I'm not very good at it."
"Rhodya had the idea that with the fabric shortage we ought to make sure we all use robes already used." Winston examines a shirt and begins to carefully remove the buttons from it to change out. "So we're going to get all the used robes and make sure everyone has a working on that will not be an embarrassment. And then Sulisah and Hattie suggested we do it all in the evening with some cider and snacks and have a little sewing party. Like a quilting party." Yes, he is man enough to know what a quilting bee is! "Those that can sew well will do that. Some can take out seams, gather thread, all sorts of things."
Kai says, "I can't sew," which probably isn't a surprise to anyone who's known him longer than a minute. His last piece of clothing, probably a shirt, gets dropped into the chest; he nudges the lid which falls shut with a muffled bang and stands. "I'm gonna go see what's up with the bar." He nods once, generally, and strides out of the barracks without looking back.
Kiah still looks a bit shellshocked, but nods at Winston. "Alright. That sounds reasonable. I'm sure old shirts could be pieced together too, so long as they were white, right?" After a moment, she gets tired of yelling and goes to sit on a cot on the girl's side that isn't too far away from Winston.
Having made it safely out of the Stores in one piece, despite numerous not-quite-arguments over the course of the day, Hattie strides through the barracks in silence and flops onto her cot without a word. It's a moment or several before she raises one hand to wave from there without sitting up. "Hey."
"Think we just need to use robes," Winston says with a shake of his head. "Everyone and their worry we'll need to use other stuff. Not like they'll not have plenty of old robes." But he grins as he continues to work on his button removal. Kai gets a manly nod goodbye and then when Hattie comes in she gets a grin and a wave. "Hattie, darling. Was just telling Kiah about the robe party."
Kiah looks over at Hattie as she settles down onto a cot nearby and she smiles at her tentatively. "Hey," she greets in return. "I think I found a few old robes when I was in the stores today. I can gather them up and pile them in here. When is this party?"
Hattie rolls over onto her stomach and kicks her feet up into the air, lying the wrong way round along her cot, feet towards the pillow. Kiah gets a nod and another wave divided between her and Winston. "Ah, enlisting more people?" she says, obviously rhetorical. "I don't know if we've set a date for it, yet," she goes on. "Does everyone know about it, or are there still more people to pounce on?"
Winston looks at his shirt and starts checking buttons on it. Like now he cannot decide which he wants to use. "Think between Rhodya and I we might have most everyone covered. Figure we should do it sooner, right? Too long and we'll be running out of time." His eyes shift towards Hattie and he grins at her. "Feet bugging you? I'm happy to offer my services as foot rubber to give a bit of peace to them. You can check with Rhodya and Suizen I have great fingers. And they're quite proper." He looks at Kiah and winks at her. "Gather up any you can find. That'd be great."
Kiah hops to her feet and darts toward the door. "I'll go get them right now!"
Hattie watches Kiah go with a slightly baffled expression that fades to a faint, approving, smile at such enthusiasm. "Hope she logs them out right," she murmurs under her breath. She looks up and across at Winston, a little wary, which makes, "My feet are just fine, thanks. You concentrate on that work you've got over there," come out more sharply than it's supposed to.
A wave is given to Kiah as she gets excited and runs out. "Kids and their enthusiasms," he says with a chuckle despite not being hardly older at all. Then his eyes shift to Hattie and he just nods at her. "Sure thing, Hattie. Not trying to make you uncomfortable. Just trying to make sure if your feet bother you that you don't let them suffer. I really do good with feet."
She blinks down at the blanket on her cot and twists her fingers together before her, choosing to study them intently. "Used to being on my feet all day," Hattie states. "They don't bother me much. Don't have much time to think about it, really." A sharp breath out and she looks up again. "What've you been doing all day whilst I've been trying to placate the fabric-deprived masses?"
And like that he lets it drop. If she doesn't want a foot rub Winston is not going to try to push her. But he cannot help but steal a peek at her feet anyway. Then he's looking at his buttons. "Clothes," he admits with a roguish grin. "Trying to update my wardrobe. New buckles and buttons and such. Helped Kai with his writing earlier." He touches the flower he tucked into his indoor jacket with one finger. "Getting a flower," he tells her. "For a lovely lady. But to spare her embarrassment I have been holding on to it for her."
Hattie stirs, rearranging herself to prop her head on one hand and swing her feet a little. "Left half my wardrobe at the Hold," she muses. "Suppose I should send for some of it, but I doubt anything I've got would look well on you," she goes so far as to tease, one corner of her mouth lifting slightly. The beginnings of that smile are soon gone, replaced with a frown as she says, "I didn't know Kai was having that much trouble..." with presumption, as though she should have known or done something. "Anyhow, who's the lucky lady?" doesn't quite make it back to teasing.
Winston's fingers deftly dig in the bag of buttons until he's found enough the right size and shape. Gold colored if perhaps not gold exactly he double checks and then sets his bag back into his sewing basket. "I am pretty sure we're not the same size," he agrees with a chuckle as he sorts through his carefully hoarded thread. "And he was having enough trouble he got pulled off his regular duty today to sit in with the harper. Tried to give him some help with it, but I think he doesn't like me." Who could not like him? He doesn't sound upset about it though. He looks over at his fellow candidate and touches the flower. "For the prettiest woman I've met so far in my three turns here at Fort," he tells her in a low, serious tone.
"And I don't think you're really the sort for skirts," Hattie returns. "Unless you can pull off miracles with thread." She rolls over onto her back, restless, head tipped over the foot of her cot, so the world winds up upside-down. "People don't like having flaws pointed out, 'specially if they're trying to work on them," she breathes, gesturing aimlessly with one hand. "And offering help is as good as pointing things out, sometimes. It's hard to... accept," trails off, voice growing faint. World upside-down or otherwise, her eyes seek out Winston's when she says, "I hope she's worth it," in just as serious a tone.
While Winston might shift his seat so he can watch her he doesn't keep his eyes on her. He has sewing to do and the first button is lined up so he can place the first stitch. "Well, he's also a bit prickly to begin with," is his statement about Kai. Not that the former heir to Two Trees sounds upset about this. Just amused mostly over the whole bit. But down the needle goes and he looks over at her upside down head and grins. "I look forward to finding out if she is," he says softly as he lets the needle dangle on his shirt, button forgotten. But only for a moment and then he gets an embarrassed look as he ducks his head and says, "But I don't really have doubts on that regard."
"He is, at that. I don't think he's a bad sort, though." Hattie blinks up at the ceiling whilst she ponders that and dismisses it all with another wave her one hand, more twitch than actual wave. Her gaze wanders towards Winston again, focused, like she's conducting a study. "If she can get you that flustered-" she grins for the word, "-yes, flustered, boy, then I'd find out sooner rather than later before your reputation begins to fade."
"Hard to be a bad sort around here," Winston says with a chuckle. "They tend to get sorted out right away." He's back to sewing not even stealing peeks over at the other candidate. Not a lift of his eyes or a twitch of his fingers to indicate that he's bothered by her words or her presence. But when he gets the button sewed on he looks up and grins fleetingly. "Well, I aim to find out, but we're kind of stuck right now. She won't even give me a kiss. Because she takes her work so seriously. And I don't want to push it because I don't want to get her in trouble." He stops and then he gives up on sewing as he looks right at her. "But I dream about it. About her and what it might be to kiss her. To dance with her. To find out if she has any interest in me."
When he looks right at her, she has to look away, because the ceiling is just that fascinating and contains many hidden secrets. Hattie carefully folds her arms behind her head, only just balanced on the foot of her bed still. "Well," she tells the ceiling, humour gone and seriousness once again steadily setting up camp, "in that case, I would just get on with it. I mean, if it's only a kiss, what's the harm in that? Can't be too much trouble involved. And you'd pretty much get your answer there and then. Catch her by surprise or something."
Carefully, so carefully, Winston puts his sewing up. He has to stand to open his chest and put it back atop his clothes. But through all of this he looks over at Hattie who stares at the ceiling. "Only a kiss," he repeats and there's a small smile curving up his lips. "One little kiss to find out the answer I need." He takes the flower from his coat and sets it on his cot as he looks over at her. "Think I'll get myself a walk. Let you rest." His coat is picked up and he heads for the exit but before any other candidates might interfere he he says, "No trouble, Hattie. Not for you. The last thing I want is that." Which does not mean he won't surprise her or that he might be hoping she'll pick that flower up for herself while he's gone.
'Not for you' has Hattie bolting all at once from her lounge across her cot, rolled over and up to sit properly on its very edge, startled look in her eyes. She watches him head for the exit and watches him go, gaze fixed and intense, but there are no words and she doesn't or can't move until she's sure he's gone. She stays there, just staring, with her back straight and fingers curled back into fists, trying to ignore the looks she garners from some of the other Candidates. When she finally stirs again, it's to wander ever so casually to gently pick up that flower and thread it though her hair, expression daring anyone to say anything. And when he comes back, if he notices it there, then that's something of an answer, isn't it?