Log: Covering Tracks
Who: Amerie, Milani
When: Lunchtime, day 22, month 5, turn 14 of the 10th Interval
Where: Common Room Balcony, High Reaches Weyr
What: Two little assistant headwomen doctoring ledgers and talking over the botched Crom raid.
Common Room, High Reaches Weyr(#868RIJLs)
This small cavern has the crisp smells of a recent cleaning, mingled with its more usual smells of klah, woodsmoke, and people. Baskets of glows are scattered about the room, lighting up dark corners and generally providing a cozy atmosphere. Several chairs sit at a large, round table, and more chairs are against the walls, waiting for use. A large, soft fur is spread out in front of a small stone hearth which keeps the cavern warm for its occupants.
Balcony:
Rough hewn stairs worn smooth through the turns climb along the northwest wall of the cavern to a balcony which overlooks the common room from the north. From here you can just make out passages to individual rooms and offices.
Lunchtime gives Milani a little break from duties, though it might not be welcome for once. Skirts swishing as she paces back and forth up in the common room balcony, the assistant headwoman's chewing on the side of one finger, pausing occasionally to lean over the bannister and look down below, before she resumes pacing.
Entering from the headwoman's office with a ledger tucked firmly under one arm, Amerie seems less agitated and more cirumspect as she briskly moves into the common room. She pauses to watch Milani pace for a moment or two before shifting to the bottom of steps to the balcony; in an even calm tone, "Pacing won't help. You're getting worked up, Milani."
Milani makes a face at Amerie's words and flops down onto the top step of the balcony stairs. "I hate not being able to /do/ anything. And well it's all rumors and gossip and no hard facts." She huffs out a short breath and folds her arms atop her knees. "Which one is that?" abrupt topic shift as the girl nods towards Amerie's ledger.
"The one that we're going to check over to make sure we don't get hauled into this too. I have no intention of going /back/ to Crom for an extended stay." Amerie's full lips purse as she takes the steps two at a time to perch herself next to Milani, back straight and tossing dark hair from her eyes. As she opens the ledger in her lap, "They got caught. And they were well aware it was a strong possilbility." The tall girl's got a new piece of jewlery, perhaps noticable; a glittering carved black onyx ring.
Milani takes a deep breath and chews on her lip eyeing the ledger and her head bounces up and down a few times. "Okay. Yeah that's something to do." She casts a look over the railing towards the common room below then looks back Amerie's way. "Think they'll be able to pin it back on us?" she murmurs softly and leans back a little to rummage a pencil out of her pocket, apparently intent on getting down to the business of scrubbing evidence. "I don't want to get stuck at Crom either." The fair-haired girl's eyes are indeed drawn to Amerie's finger and she juts her chin out at it. "Got a sweetheart?"
Amerie quirks a tiny, thin smile; "I thought it would be best. We'll do no one any good being caught - this way, it might be possible to get over there. If there's a way to do so without getting them or us in trouble." Sliding the ledger so it sits across both their laps, she takes out her own pencil noting, "You take that side, I'll take this one? And..." She's bemused by the question for a moment arching a brow at Milani; then follows the other assistant's gaze. "Oh, no. No. Payment, apparently."
Milani's head bobs up and down. "I'd like that actually, if we can swing it." Determination enters the younger girl's voice and her hand braces the side of the ledger that's been slid across her lap. "Got it." She starts skimming the columns first, eyes quick on the numbers and she makes a few small marks here and there then starts reading top to bottom and over again more thoroughly. "I hope they're not like, beating them up or anything over there." Lips purse a little and she ticks another column. Amerie's answer draws a smirk out on the girl's face and she eyes the ring again. "That's some sweet payment."
Tone now thoughtful as she skims over her page, Amerie murmurs, "We might not be able to, but we can certainly see if there's any possibility. At the same time, there's no /real/ reason for either of us to do so..." She trails off, offering a diffident little shrug. Less concerned than Milani, "Oh, I don't think they'd risk beating them; I'd imagine the dragons are still there?" With a sidelong glance for the smirk, dark eyes narrow a touch, but she simply says, "At least I got it /before/ all of this. It makes me think that they wanted to get busted."
"I guess that depends on what a real reason is. I mean, no, not to sort things out or anything, but we've got friends in the slammer. Friendship counts for something right?" Tick, tick, tick and then she underlines a number. "And they'd better not anyway. And who knows. Nikoth's not back, so I assume yeah, they're staying close." She chews on the end of her pencil thoughtfully, brows lifting at the eye-narrowing. "It's a nice ring Amerie, that's all I meant." Her own eyes widen just a little at the other girl's last. "No way ..."
"I doubt that 'we want to see our friends and give them things' will go over well with those who are holding them, but..." Amerie shrugs again - you never know. "It's worth seeing if we're permitted to leave in the first place. If I know the guards, it might help." She doesn't sound all that certain, though, instead finding an irregular column; changing numbers. And that gives her something to look at while she seems a touch embarrassed, muttering, "My apologies. It is nice. There's a few other things you might like, some stones. I'll take a look, perhaps there's sapphires." Glancing over finally, her dark eyes serious enough, "I don't think they wanted to consciously, but N'thei was rather set on the plan."
"I know. But it's a /reason/," Milani insists. "I'll ask Hayda I guess. Or Shanlee. And I'll bet my mother would take me if we're allowed and I ask." She makes another correction in a column and makes a face. "There's a lot to muck with in this one ..." Curiously she slides another look Amerie's way. "Blue's nice. I like blue. I s'pose I oughn't ask about where these stones came from?" The serious look from Amerie turns down the corners of Milani's mouth. "Hmm. Well. Yeah. He's kinda ... something. Y'know?"
Amerie offers Milani a quirk of a smile. "What you and I consider a reason might be somewhat different than Lord Crom's definition. But if the Weyrsecond agrees, it would be - nice of us." The girl has an odd look for the idea of 'niceness', but still. Wrinkling her nose, she makes another small correction, adding dryly, "And you know where they came from, likely." As for the leader of the criminal enterprise, Amerie smirks. "One way of putting it."
"Sure. I wouldn't know about what a Lord thinks is a right or wrong reason. That's all like, politics and higher-up stuff." More changes made to the ledger sheet and Milani makes big eyes at it. "Shells Amerie ... I knew there was a lot of stuff ... but wow." The nose-wrinkling earns another look from Millie. "Well yeah. I mean, A'son and Joe are my friends. If I were locked up, I'd sure hope they'd visit." The younger girl makes another face and nods. "Gotcha. Well. If you've got blue, blue's nice." That smirk draws out a giggle from Milani. "Yeah. Scary might be another. Depending on who you are."
"Usually 'good' reasons involve a political motivation; it would make sense for the Weyrleaders to visit them. Less sense for us." Flicking a glance between the pages, Amerie seems a bit irritated, admitting, "I thought we'd done a better job of this. Oh well." There's time to cover tracks, at least. Musingly, "I'd think they would. I can't say the same myself. But I do like the opportunity to say I told you so." Her words are light, half-joking - and she actually cracks a smile for the giggle. "Depending on who you are, yes. Scary is not the first word to come to mind."
"Well yeah, I guess the Weyrleaders will be going over to talk to the Lord at least. I mean ... they'll be coming /back/ won't they? N'thei and Ays and Joe." Milani's pencil halts and she starts worrying at her lip with her teeth again, she drags her attention back down to the page and sighs again. "Yeah, I think ... this was my page." She admits this with a blush, makes a few more corrections and looks up and over at the other girl apologetically then she blinks in surprise. "I told you so? Huh." Then she laughs again and nods. "Yeah I guess it was too good to last." Beat. "What word would you pick for N'thei if you could pick just one?"
"I don't think they can be held indefinitely." For the other girl's embarrassment, Amerie's only got a bit of a shrug, noting, "I likely haven't done the best job either. We'll see soon enough." Gaze now focused intently on the columns, trying to concentrate and chat at once; "I like to be able to say I'm right. I think N'thei would be surprised if I didn't - which honestly, may be reason enough to do so. And one word? 'Piece of work' doesn't count?"
"No idea how this works. I mean, how often is it that a bunch of riders go off and raid a hold that's supposed to look to the Weyr huh?" Milani finishes up with the sheet before her and pushes back loose strands of hair that have escaped her braid, pencil tucked over one ear in the same motion. "Sounds like you know N'thei pretty well. And yeah, that's a good description. I'll take it, even if it's three words instead of just one. I'll have to ask my brother. He'sa harper. He's good with words. 'Criminal' just isn't enough, y'know?"
Amerie nods. "Exactly. How often do riders get into this sort of trouble /at all/?" Flipping to the next page, she looks over to Milani with a surprised expression. "Does it? I don't think I'd agree. If it were one word, I think 'stubborn' would fit well. Perfectly. It's how he wound up at Crom at all, in /my/ opinion." With a purse of her lips, she considers. "I don't know about criminal. This seems like it was borne of necessity... Well, on his end. Unlike B'yan...." Pause. "Why didn't /he/ get busted?"
"Well, all three of 'em are now." That's ofered more bleakly by Milani. "I mean, caught red-handed thieving and locked up. Criminals." She stares off into space for a minute then gives herself a little shake. "N'thei's more'n just stubborn. I'm stubborn. I guess the guy just defies easy definition. And yeah. Criminals by necessity." She frowns down at this new page, trying to make sense of the numbers. "Dunno. Did he even go?" Millie eyes Amerie curiously.
With a moment to soberly consider the other girl's words, Amerie's attention drifts away from the ledger to stare into space. With a blink, she admits, "I don't imagine that it will go over well - people will put it that way when they're talked about, for the most part. And I suppose so." Her dark eyes flick to the ring, then the ledger before; "He was supposed to have gone."
Quicker now to spot where some things need tweaking, Milani makes three changes to the page she's on. "Yeah. This hasn't done any wonders for anybody's reputation. The Weyr's either as a whole." The girl rests one hand against the back of her neck and rolls her head, pausing as Amerie says what she says. "Was he? Hm. Well. If he went, I guess he's just a slipperier fish than the rest of 'em. He's got experience after all, doesn't he?" There's a hint of sly teasing in the younger girl's voice as she states then, then falls quiet, setting to amending the ledger with a will, in hopes that neither of the assistants winds up joining the thieves in lockup.
When: Lunchtime, day 22, month 5, turn 14 of the 10th Interval
Where: Common Room Balcony, High Reaches Weyr
What: Two little assistant headwomen doctoring ledgers and talking over the botched Crom raid.
Common Room, High Reaches Weyr(#868RIJLs)
This small cavern has the crisp smells of a recent cleaning, mingled with its more usual smells of klah, woodsmoke, and people. Baskets of glows are scattered about the room, lighting up dark corners and generally providing a cozy atmosphere. Several chairs sit at a large, round table, and more chairs are against the walls, waiting for use. A large, soft fur is spread out in front of a small stone hearth which keeps the cavern warm for its occupants.
Balcony:
Rough hewn stairs worn smooth through the turns climb along the northwest wall of the cavern to a balcony which overlooks the common room from the north. From here you can just make out passages to individual rooms and offices.
Lunchtime gives Milani a little break from duties, though it might not be welcome for once. Skirts swishing as she paces back and forth up in the common room balcony, the assistant headwoman's chewing on the side of one finger, pausing occasionally to lean over the bannister and look down below, before she resumes pacing.
Entering from the headwoman's office with a ledger tucked firmly under one arm, Amerie seems less agitated and more cirumspect as she briskly moves into the common room. She pauses to watch Milani pace for a moment or two before shifting to the bottom of steps to the balcony; in an even calm tone, "Pacing won't help. You're getting worked up, Milani."
Milani makes a face at Amerie's words and flops down onto the top step of the balcony stairs. "I hate not being able to /do/ anything. And well it's all rumors and gossip and no hard facts." She huffs out a short breath and folds her arms atop her knees. "Which one is that?" abrupt topic shift as the girl nods towards Amerie's ledger.
"The one that we're going to check over to make sure we don't get hauled into this too. I have no intention of going /back/ to Crom for an extended stay." Amerie's full lips purse as she takes the steps two at a time to perch herself next to Milani, back straight and tossing dark hair from her eyes. As she opens the ledger in her lap, "They got caught. And they were well aware it was a strong possilbility." The tall girl's got a new piece of jewlery, perhaps noticable; a glittering carved black onyx ring.
Milani takes a deep breath and chews on her lip eyeing the ledger and her head bounces up and down a few times. "Okay. Yeah that's something to do." She casts a look over the railing towards the common room below then looks back Amerie's way. "Think they'll be able to pin it back on us?" she murmurs softly and leans back a little to rummage a pencil out of her pocket, apparently intent on getting down to the business of scrubbing evidence. "I don't want to get stuck at Crom either." The fair-haired girl's eyes are indeed drawn to Amerie's finger and she juts her chin out at it. "Got a sweetheart?"
Amerie quirks a tiny, thin smile; "I thought it would be best. We'll do no one any good being caught - this way, it might be possible to get over there. If there's a way to do so without getting them or us in trouble." Sliding the ledger so it sits across both their laps, she takes out her own pencil noting, "You take that side, I'll take this one? And..." She's bemused by the question for a moment arching a brow at Milani; then follows the other assistant's gaze. "Oh, no. No. Payment, apparently."
Milani's head bobs up and down. "I'd like that actually, if we can swing it." Determination enters the younger girl's voice and her hand braces the side of the ledger that's been slid across her lap. "Got it." She starts skimming the columns first, eyes quick on the numbers and she makes a few small marks here and there then starts reading top to bottom and over again more thoroughly. "I hope they're not like, beating them up or anything over there." Lips purse a little and she ticks another column. Amerie's answer draws a smirk out on the girl's face and she eyes the ring again. "That's some sweet payment."
Tone now thoughtful as she skims over her page, Amerie murmurs, "We might not be able to, but we can certainly see if there's any possibility. At the same time, there's no /real/ reason for either of us to do so..." She trails off, offering a diffident little shrug. Less concerned than Milani, "Oh, I don't think they'd risk beating them; I'd imagine the dragons are still there?" With a sidelong glance for the smirk, dark eyes narrow a touch, but she simply says, "At least I got it /before/ all of this. It makes me think that they wanted to get busted."
"I guess that depends on what a real reason is. I mean, no, not to sort things out or anything, but we've got friends in the slammer. Friendship counts for something right?" Tick, tick, tick and then she underlines a number. "And they'd better not anyway. And who knows. Nikoth's not back, so I assume yeah, they're staying close." She chews on the end of her pencil thoughtfully, brows lifting at the eye-narrowing. "It's a nice ring Amerie, that's all I meant." Her own eyes widen just a little at the other girl's last. "No way ..."
"I doubt that 'we want to see our friends and give them things' will go over well with those who are holding them, but..." Amerie shrugs again - you never know. "It's worth seeing if we're permitted to leave in the first place. If I know the guards, it might help." She doesn't sound all that certain, though, instead finding an irregular column; changing numbers. And that gives her something to look at while she seems a touch embarrassed, muttering, "My apologies. It is nice. There's a few other things you might like, some stones. I'll take a look, perhaps there's sapphires." Glancing over finally, her dark eyes serious enough, "I don't think they wanted to consciously, but N'thei was rather set on the plan."
"I know. But it's a /reason/," Milani insists. "I'll ask Hayda I guess. Or Shanlee. And I'll bet my mother would take me if we're allowed and I ask." She makes another correction in a column and makes a face. "There's a lot to muck with in this one ..." Curiously she slides another look Amerie's way. "Blue's nice. I like blue. I s'pose I oughn't ask about where these stones came from?" The serious look from Amerie turns down the corners of Milani's mouth. "Hmm. Well. Yeah. He's kinda ... something. Y'know?"
Amerie offers Milani a quirk of a smile. "What you and I consider a reason might be somewhat different than Lord Crom's definition. But if the Weyrsecond agrees, it would be - nice of us." The girl has an odd look for the idea of 'niceness', but still. Wrinkling her nose, she makes another small correction, adding dryly, "And you know where they came from, likely." As for the leader of the criminal enterprise, Amerie smirks. "One way of putting it."
"Sure. I wouldn't know about what a Lord thinks is a right or wrong reason. That's all like, politics and higher-up stuff." More changes made to the ledger sheet and Milani makes big eyes at it. "Shells Amerie ... I knew there was a lot of stuff ... but wow." The nose-wrinkling earns another look from Millie. "Well yeah. I mean, A'son and Joe are my friends. If I were locked up, I'd sure hope they'd visit." The younger girl makes another face and nods. "Gotcha. Well. If you've got blue, blue's nice." That smirk draws out a giggle from Milani. "Yeah. Scary might be another. Depending on who you are."
"Usually 'good' reasons involve a political motivation; it would make sense for the Weyrleaders to visit them. Less sense for us." Flicking a glance between the pages, Amerie seems a bit irritated, admitting, "I thought we'd done a better job of this. Oh well." There's time to cover tracks, at least. Musingly, "I'd think they would. I can't say the same myself. But I do like the opportunity to say I told you so." Her words are light, half-joking - and she actually cracks a smile for the giggle. "Depending on who you are, yes. Scary is not the first word to come to mind."
"Well yeah, I guess the Weyrleaders will be going over to talk to the Lord at least. I mean ... they'll be coming /back/ won't they? N'thei and Ays and Joe." Milani's pencil halts and she starts worrying at her lip with her teeth again, she drags her attention back down to the page and sighs again. "Yeah, I think ... this was my page." She admits this with a blush, makes a few more corrections and looks up and over at the other girl apologetically then she blinks in surprise. "I told you so? Huh." Then she laughs again and nods. "Yeah I guess it was too good to last." Beat. "What word would you pick for N'thei if you could pick just one?"
"I don't think they can be held indefinitely." For the other girl's embarrassment, Amerie's only got a bit of a shrug, noting, "I likely haven't done the best job either. We'll see soon enough." Gaze now focused intently on the columns, trying to concentrate and chat at once; "I like to be able to say I'm right. I think N'thei would be surprised if I didn't - which honestly, may be reason enough to do so. And one word? 'Piece of work' doesn't count?"
"No idea how this works. I mean, how often is it that a bunch of riders go off and raid a hold that's supposed to look to the Weyr huh?" Milani finishes up with the sheet before her and pushes back loose strands of hair that have escaped her braid, pencil tucked over one ear in the same motion. "Sounds like you know N'thei pretty well. And yeah, that's a good description. I'll take it, even if it's three words instead of just one. I'll have to ask my brother. He'sa harper. He's good with words. 'Criminal' just isn't enough, y'know?"
Amerie nods. "Exactly. How often do riders get into this sort of trouble /at all/?" Flipping to the next page, she looks over to Milani with a surprised expression. "Does it? I don't think I'd agree. If it were one word, I think 'stubborn' would fit well. Perfectly. It's how he wound up at Crom at all, in /my/ opinion." With a purse of her lips, she considers. "I don't know about criminal. This seems like it was borne of necessity... Well, on his end. Unlike B'yan...." Pause. "Why didn't /he/ get busted?"
"Well, all three of 'em are now." That's ofered more bleakly by Milani. "I mean, caught red-handed thieving and locked up. Criminals." She stares off into space for a minute then gives herself a little shake. "N'thei's more'n just stubborn. I'm stubborn. I guess the guy just defies easy definition. And yeah. Criminals by necessity." She frowns down at this new page, trying to make sense of the numbers. "Dunno. Did he even go?" Millie eyes Amerie curiously.
With a moment to soberly consider the other girl's words, Amerie's attention drifts away from the ledger to stare into space. With a blink, she admits, "I don't imagine that it will go over well - people will put it that way when they're talked about, for the most part. And I suppose so." Her dark eyes flick to the ring, then the ledger before; "He was supposed to have gone."
Quicker now to spot where some things need tweaking, Milani makes three changes to the page she's on. "Yeah. This hasn't done any wonders for anybody's reputation. The Weyr's either as a whole." The girl rests one hand against the back of her neck and rolls her head, pausing as Amerie says what she says. "Was he? Hm. Well. If he went, I guess he's just a slipperier fish than the rest of 'em. He's got experience after all, doesn't he?" There's a hint of sly teasing in the younger girl's voice as she states then, then falls quiet, setting to amending the ledger with a will, in hopes that neither of the assistants winds up joining the thieves in lockup.