Clothes are [important]
WHO: Xeoshen, Saliqa, Warucori, Eldena, and Taikrin
WHERE: Hatching Galleries, HRW
WHAT: The Cromite candidate delivers hope in the form of fashion, the convict candidates want to believe they're not being punked, the youngest girl finds an ally, someone takes a nap, and everyone enjoys not being cold.
Hatching Galleries, High Reaches Weyr
Ringing the southwestern side of the hatching sands are ample tiers of carved stone benches, the lowest of which is some six feet off the ground -- just high enough to separate wayward hatchlings from unwary viewers, and vice versa. A metal railing on the outside helps prevent anyone from falling off; it also extends up the stairs that lead the way higher into the galleries. While most of the area is open seating, ropes section off some of the closer tiers when dignitaries are expected; those areas even feature cushions in the Weyr's blue and black.
The higher one climbs, the more apparent the immense scale of the entire cavern becomes. The dragon-sized entrance on the ground is dwarfed by the expansive golden sands that glitter in the light. Everything on them is easily visible from the galleries, whether that's a clutch of eggs and a broody queen, or simply its emptiness and the handful of darker tunnels that lead to more private areas than the bowl. Wherever one sits or looks, however, one thing is constant: the overwhelming, suffocating heat.
With blowing wind, and snow, there's not a much better place to be in the weyr, than surrounded by the warmth of the hatching grounds. Infact, there's a group of convicts turned candidates, up in the galleries, with a guard nearby. Aparently they're taking advantage of their added free time, to comee look at the eggs that're giving them a bit more freedom. Xeoshen is there among the small group, leaning on the railing as he eyes the eggs, though he doesn't look intent to steal any of them, more curious.
As she's coming in from the outside bowl with a knit hat pulled low over her forehead and nose still red from the weather, Saliqa likely agrees as to the warmth. All the bundling up she's done has created a kind of tunnel vision, so that she plods down the stairs of the galleries without even a curious glance to the other group until she's stepped up right next to it. Raising a gloved hand to tug down the scarf about her neck and mouth, she attempts a maneuver of glancing seriously over at Xeoshen a couple of times; the attempts are broken up into smaller looks to prevent staring, but that only makes her look a touch more furtive.
Eldena climbs the steps slowly. "Oh.. so this is where you all..." she says in a cheerful voice. Climbing the steps made her smile. The group of people she recognized.
Warucori is just coming in as well, bent low against the wind and stinging rain. She hurries through the cold and moves close to the edge of the galleries to soak in the warmth. At the sound of someone coming in at her shoulder she tips her head, offering a smile. "I hope it isn't going to get any colder than this."
Eldena thinks. "Its High Reaches. Dress warm." she says moving to take up a space. "It depends, it could get colder or could warm a little bit. I assume it's probably going to be jsut very very cold for away. Always assume it's gonna be cold. I've lived up here my entire life and I am not used to it."
Xeoshen turns, and eyes the new comer, nodding to Saliqa. "Hello." He says simply to her, in greeting. He blinks at Eldena for a moment. "No duh, about it beeing cold here." He tells her, and then looks to Warucori as well, giving her a nod. "Ya had the same ideas, eh, ta get out of the cold?" He asks the group. The rest of his own small group look up, and nod in greeting as well.
Shedding a bit more of her outerwear, Saliqa twists in her new seat to see how others have entered behind her. The strict face she was wearing for the weather melts into the trim smile of polite society. There's only a little brightness in her eyes to betray her excitement as she waves the other girls down. "Why, it's Warucori," she nods to one, "Eldena," and the other. Pull of eyebrows into concentration heralds her turn back to Xeoshen. "Yes, umm. I'm sorry, I think we spoke earlier but I... don't have a name for you. I'm Saliqa." She offers her hand delicately in the air in front of him, palm down for gripping fingers rather than a full-on shake.
Warucori gives Eldena a puzzled look at her statement, "well, alright then." she says at last with an unsure smile. "I will be sure to look into a heavier coat I think." To Xeoshen she bobs her head, sweeping a hand through her damp curls, "I thought I would take a walk and watch the littles in the snow....they don't seem to feel anything." She lifts a hand to wave to Saliqa when the other woman says her name. "Oh, hello to you too."
Eldena nods. She moves to find a seat. "The Sands, some of the warmest places in the Weyr." she says. "You know minus being infront of a stove." She grins. "Well I was always taught it can always get colder, and its easier to wear more than & to take it off if your to warm"
Xeoshen nods, and takes the hand from Saliqa. "Xeoshen, uh, well met." He says, though he says it for the other two as well. "Nice ta meetcha all." He adds to Warucori, and Eldena. "Aye, them kids seem ta not notice anything about thee weather. This is a good escape though." He moves to take a seat on one of the benches.
"And to you," Saliqa imparts to the man, adjusting her weight with an air of self-satisfaction. The fingers she draws back soon enough, though, to give a second, more insistent wave to suggest Warucori come down and sit right near her. "I think I've added a layer for every day I've been here, though I'm not a stranger to climate and all." A cheerful glance over her shoulder at the others, "Children seem hardly troubled by anything. That's their job now, as well as being serious will be when they're older." Because, you know, she's so old, herself.
Warucori rubs her hands together a few times, now and again holding them up towards the heat of the sands. "Dressing in layers doesn't seem that bad an idea either." She grins an aside towards Saliqa, "ah, to be carefree like that again huh?" Including the others in the idea as well, "what would you do right now if you had no weight of responsability?"
Xeoshen nods to Saliqa, and pulls off his jacket, his white knot visible now. He snorts. "Too much is better than too little." He agrees, and leans back in his seat. "Aye, ta be kids again." He says, and snorts in amusement. "If I 'ad ta be 'ere, probably play in the snow too, or something." He says. "I aint complainin' about my cirrent situation though."
Saliqa's mouth forms a soft 'o' of surprise and whatever more judgmental reaction she fights away with the help of a distracting wave of the hand. "Oh, look. You, too, and... the others?" She stops short of pointing directly at the rest of the convicts nearby, instead redirecting fingers into her lap. "No responsibility?" She echoes, wrinkling her nose like the sound of it tastes bad. "That's how we know what to do in life. It's quite unfortunate not to have any... but layers! Yes, layers are quite functional. And if you know how to coordinate them, quite lovely." Incase anyone cares to notice that all of her own current layers are in matching colors.
Warucori looks between Saliqa and Xeoshen as she asks 'the others' and shoots a look at the convicts worriedly, catching her lower lip in her teeth. "oh, it's just a question Saliqa--a 'what if' question. I'm not suggesting that you -would-, but it's fun to think about." She does look over Saliqa and her layers and admits, "I don't know much about such things....coordinating." She looks down at her clothes--plain and dull but work-ready.
Xeoshen blinks at Saliqa, and nods. "Aye, Z'yi, and his blue, offered it a few days ago." He explains, the rest of the group giving similar comments about being searched. "Ah, sorry to startle ya with it." He says, sounding a bit genuine. "Don't worry, young ladies, they're not completely free. They are still under guard, just not as heavily." The guard nearby makes himself known. Xeo eyes him a moment, before he looks back to Saliqa, and Cori. Xeoshen just shrugs. "Not everybody knows what to do with their lives."
Judging by that stubborn set of the jaw, Saliqa finds the 'fun' aspect of this either thoroughly debatable or she wants herself to. Either way, she moves on to only comment, "It's quite fun, you know, arranging your outfits. I know... well, I do know some other girls here from Crom and we know all about clothes and-- you know, we should sit down sometime about it." Bright and perky again, she gives a gracious nod to the guard and then to Xeoshen. "Well, I'd like to think I was taught well, and that says you should always try and bring honor to your home with what you do." This makes her give the convicts another sweeping look, but her wide eyes are hopeful.
Warucori smiles to Saliqa, a woman she can relate to very well indeed. She nods her head, smoothing hands over her smock as she stands there. A shy look is given one of the under-guard convicts and she blushes and quickly looks away with the grizzled looking young man looks her way. With a little gulp she turns so she can't keep sneaking looks that way and stammers, "M-maybe you can introduce me to your friends. I don't know how I'd ever be able to aford more clothes...but it would be nice to learn." She smiles to Xeoshen too, "I don't think clothes are nearly as interesting for men."
"You can sit," Saliqa offers, running a hand along the spot near her then giving it a pat. She even tries to sit up a bit straighter to put herself as a barrier between Warucori and the convicts -- though, at her height, she barely makes a shadow on them, much less a wall against. The mention of her friends causes some deflation of that posture as she gears up with a heavy inhale. "Yes, well... maybe I can." A quick smile, "Anyway, it's always possible to make the most of what you have. As for men, they may not think it, but dressing can be just as important. We just have to figure it out /for/ them sometimes." She aims a conspiratorial wink at the other girl.
Warucori settles beside Saliqa, all impressed at her upright sitting and her regal manner. It helps that the other girl seems so worldly wise as well. The grizzled convict is forgotten, for the time being, "That is so true. When my sister got married, she told me just how awful her new husband's manner of dress was. But then....it cannot be expected that men care as much as women, they should be focused on making a honest living and providing for family. The wife should see to his .... married education. That is how my sister put it. Our hold wasn't nearly as fine as Crom though."
Perhaps it's the heat of the caverns, but Saliqa's eyes brighten like something's emitted a beacon of light over Warucori's head. Her smile stays light and distantly friendly for several more seconds before, twitch by twitch, it can even be called excited. Immediately, her hands dart forward to rest on the edge of her knee in eager fashion. "Your sister sounds like she was raised quite well! And I learned these things from my father in our little but honest farm, so you know that proper values can happen anywhere with the right upbringing. It's truly the responsibility of the woman to see after the man or he'd never do it, himself. That's why a proper union is so im... portant." Ignore that hesitance; Saliqa bypasses it with a tight swallow. "Anyway, my own sister had a bit of experience, herself. He thought 'women's things' weren't as respectable as men's duties, but, boy, did he get it when he had to meet with a holder who knew how to balance a jacket and vest!"
Warucori lifts her chin slightly, "We might be a family of meager means, but my mother and father spent every bit of their time and energy on us." She shoots a look over at the convicts covertly and lowers her voice, "you would think others might walk a different path if their parents were half as thoughtful." She blushes at her hurtful words though, "How many sisters do you have? Are they older or younger than you? Will they come to the hatching?"
Saliqa's hands slide forward, looking to take the tips of Warucori's fingers between them in a comforting manner. "It shows, Warucori. I think your parents would be very proud to have raised a young lady." Though her head turns slightly at the other commentary, she avoids peeking a glance at the convicts; her eyes dip to the floor then back to the younger girl -- and up, because Cori's got some height to her. "It's a terrible thought that not all homes are as they should be. I have two sisters, then, both are older. And a wonderful little brother who sometimes lives with us at Crom and sometimes visits the farm. I..." That light in her eyes dims and she scoots backwards on the seat sheepishly. "I'm not sure, to be honest."
Warucori smiles at the friendly touch from Saliqa, "Thank you. I feel so out of place here most of the time. Everyone in such a tussle and so keen on getting you on their side for their lifestyle." her nose crinkles slightly, "I just....yes, not all homes are as nice. Why...one boy went on and on telling me stories and I never did catch his name...just all these horrors his life are. I don't know where manners go sometimes." She gives the fingers on hers a reasuring squeeze as she notices the look in the other girl's eyes, "I don't know if my family will come either." She lowers her eyes, "I have to find someone to write a letter for me first...to even let them know."
"Honestly, sometimes I think they all like to talk it up just to make us react," Saliqa informs solemnly, leaning in a bit more so that her lowered volume still carries, "I just try and keep a fair face for everyone. I mean, otherwise it'd be stooping to their level, wouldn't it?" Her lips perk up at the reassurance, head tilting wistfully to match the accompanying sigh. "This is all just a test." Without turning her body, she angles a look at the hot sands, the eggs sitting out amongst each other. Her fingers twitch against Cori's. "Write a... oh!" Eyes back on girl. "Well, have you seen the harpers? That's their job."
Warucori nods her head, "I don't want to be a sour-faced-holder either. As you say it /is/ like stooping to that level, but I just get a fire in my belly sometimes. Back home was /so/ much easier." her shoulders slump forward slightly but she smiles anyway. "If it is a test...do you think there is a fair way to win it? I will miss the good food and all the plush comforts here--but it hardly seems fair to....shirk responsabilities." It's her turn to look tight in the jaw as her smile faulters. "As for harpers? Well...I was offered to be taught writing and reading....I'm not so sure about it..."
Saliqa presses her lips together and nods several times in understanding. Claiming her own hands briefly to tuck her hair hastily behind her ears, she shuffles forward that distance she lost in shame and then takes up the hand-holding again. "Sour faced? Don't be silly. You seem very sensible to me. You just have to remember yourself and what your duty is. If you've agreed to responsibilities here, you fulfill them and then... well, then you return home to the ones waiting for you." The breezy way her tone drifts off, almost more thoughtful than lecturing, starts to give the impression she's not exactly talking to Warucori anymore -- until 'harpers' brings her back around. Self-consciously, she tugs at her skirts and nods a few more times to make up for it. "Oh, I meant they can write something for you. I was going to have them write /my/ letters home, but then it was asked of me to learn instead."
Warucori smiles and confesses, "well....the way the care-free weyr-lot go around with all this attitude that the life here is so much better...trying to explain how good life is 'outside' seems to be a disapointment to some folks. Perhaps I'm reading too much into it. Just...if I'm going to be told how much I should relax and 'follow my heart'...well, I'm going to remind people that some of us have other obligations." She sneaks a look at Saliqa and there are questions in her eyes but she gives a small shake of her head to dismiss it, "we have /so/ much in common. It is like having one of my sisters here." She admits, scooting to be knee to knee for the moment. "What did -you- tell the harpers when they asked you to learn?"
"Maybe you're just so nice to talk to," Saliqa returns, though the comment has gotten her sitting straight and proud again, with chin perked up. "Oh, no, you see, it wasn't the harpers who asked, it was my step-father back at Crom. He thought it would be best if I could tell him regularly how things were going... I don't know why I couldn't ask the harpers to do it... but it wasn't my place to ask. So there it is. I know how to read, and how to write. A little. You know," she flexes out her fingers, absently examining nails that have become dirtier and shorter since she arrived but are at least free of grime for the moment, "If you'd like a lady's privacy in the matter, I might be able to help you."
She'd been lost in thought, her eyes focused on the sands. She'd sort of drifted off she realized. Nodding off sleeping. "I guess." she whispers. Shel ooks up and blinks. Eldena glances around had the others seen her nod off?
Warucori blushes and doesn't bother trying to hide her embarassment, instead she explains needlessly, "I didn't have much reason to back home...to learn you see. I wouldn't want to trouble you Saliqa, but if you had time..." she looks hopeful for the lesson, or perhaps the privacy? As Eldena 'wakes' up, she can't help but giggle softly. "You'll hurt your neck sleeping that way."
Xeoshen has been here the entire time, yeah, talking with the other cons, and, well, doing the manly thing, of ignoring the dreaded /girl talk/. Eeek, anybody else feel the testosterone dropped in here just a bit? He does turn his attention toward Cori, and Saliqa for a moment though.
Movement around them seems to break up the girl huddle; at least, Saliqa shifts her knees more in front of her to turn and see who Warucori is addressing. "Sleeping?" She pipes up, brow wrinkling gently, "This seems like a really terrible place to fall asleep." Apparently, she missed that bit, because her gaze sweeps the area for the culprit, even passing over the convicts who have been so righteously ignored for a while now. Catching Xeoshen looking back, she blinks a couple of times and the upturn of her mouth slips downward. "Maybe you'd like to learn more about coordinating outfits, too, Xeoshen?" Sweetly innocent, eyelids batting.
Eldena smiles. " A little feline napping never hurt anyone and the warmth was part of it. I enjoyed." She stretched. "So what are you all doing here you know? I mean.. I thought you all would have left me to nap." She stretches and walking around trying to stretch her legs.
Warucori smooths the front of her apron down primly as she settles back from the forward, confiding, lean she'd been making towards Saliqa. While the other girl addresses Xeoshen she turns to Eldena, "we were...just talking about our homes and exchanging a few like-minded ideals."
Xeoshen blinks, and winces at Saliqa. "I think I'll have to turn that that down, I like how I dress, just fine." He says n reply, and raises an eyebrow as he looks to Warucori. "About yer homes?" He asks the girl. "So nona of yas from here, either?"
A tinge of bemusement threatens to turn Saliqa's good-natured smile into a smirk at the man's response. "We were having a nice conversation," she says to either the convict or Eldena. "No reason to leave, I assume, since the talking didn't seem to disturb you and, well, it's a public arena." That definitely to Elena, who she watches walking a while before unconsciously mirroring Cori's movement in running her hands along her skirts. "Actually, I believe Eldena is... but Warucori and I are from the holds. I think I've mentioned it before, being from Crom. Yes, we were all at the lunch table together." A spark! She wags a finger of revelation in Xeoshen's direction.
Eldena waves her head. "I am from the Weyr." she says clarifying politely. "If you wanted to know more I could yell you what you wanted to know."
Warucori continues to smile at Eldena, "I think I have heard you say that before....that you know 'everything' about the weyr. That must be very gratifying." She pauses a moment, as though tasting the tone of her words and not finding them very satisfactory. "And it's no use bothering with making a man change his mind in such a direct manner. You have to show him how it could benifit him...you know, to get a leg up with someone in power, or perhaps earn some respect or some-such." She sneaks a look over at the young man, "I hardly think they allow -them- fancy clothes though."
Xeoshen shakes his head. "Right, nice conversation." He says, and shakes his head. "Right, ya were from Crom, I aint heard where she came from." He points at Cori. "Bye, aye, we did have lunch together, that was before I was searched, guess we'll be seeing more of each other now, eh?" He asks Saliqa with a grin, though it earns him a pointed look from the guard, which makes it waver. "Yerah well, facy clothes don't last long in the mines." He waves a finger at Cori. "Fancy baubles or what ya wear with them, aint gonna do ya much good down there." He smirks. "And I aint planning to change how I dress, till I'm free." Though some goodd, nice looking, clean clothes could probably help the appearence of all the cons.
Saliqa may as well be on a swivel for all she now has to turn her head between smiling at Warucori and eyeing Xeoshen. First to the girl, "Oh, I know, I just find being direct is the best way to deal with possible eavesdroppers." Then tot he convict, "I guess we will." She manages to artfully sound neither positive nor negative about that, though some skepticism leaks in afterwards for, "Now, you're the second person to make reference to what I could or couldn't do in the mines. Honestly. Besides," she adjusts her posture haughtily, "There's no reason not to start thinking about turning things around already. It could be very uplifting. In fact, your figure is very..." Her jaw clamps shut awkwardly over the end of that.
Warucori blushes, "I'm Cori--Warucori. I thought we'd been introduced." Color stains her cheeks and over the bridge of her nose, "how rude of me. I'm sorry." The last a little stiffly from her resulting embarassment. As Saliqa addresses Xeoshen her expression turns more than a little awed and inspired by her words and a smile sneaks back onto her features. Until she compliments his figure and then she's blushing again.
Eldena laughs. "I don't know /everything/. I know what I know. But that's about it." She grins. "Eldena," she saysp olitely. "We've been introduced but... I think it's good to hear names more than once and repeat them considering we hear names everyday... and new faces."
Xeoshen shrugs. "I aint sayin' you gotta dress like me, but we don't exactly get paid ta work, we take what we get." He says a bit curtly. Beggars can't be choosers after all. "And I still aint got money to buy any clothes." He adds truthfully. "So, why bother?" He says, and leans back in the bench. Oh yes, give them more to look at, why not? He'd take off his shirt if it wasn't so cold outside.
Warucori lets out a soft sigh and gets to her feet, "As much as I'd love to stay, I should go and check on my auntie before I do evening chores." For all the time she's been out there, she's not even oggled the eggs--if anyone was paying attention to notice that. "See you all at turndown I'm sure."
It is a furtive Taikrin indeed who has found her way into the cavern today. Her jacket -- oddly ripped in the back -- is pulled around her tightly, the collar flipped up in an apparent attempt at anonymity. Dark gaze is fixed quite firmly on first the ground before her, then, as she summits the stairs, at the eggs just on the other side of the railing. And there she remains, hands gripping tightly to the railing, attention fixated on the sands as though her life depended on it. She's not even noticed there are others in the cavern, yet, much less others with whom she is acquainted.
Eldena looks up in her slow circles around the group to see the other young woman look at the eggs. "Enjoying the view?" she asks politely. She glances to the chattering group, and then bakc to Taikrin.
No, Saliqa is definitely /not/ staring at Xeoshen while he goes on display; she only glances over her shoulder briefly to acknowledge his existence while she opines, "Because it's good to look to a future where you can make something of yourself again." Her stuttering hesitance is only building vaguely towards her old confidence when her girl buddy gets up to leave. "Oh! Warucori! We'll speak again soon..." Head turned to watch where the other goes, she misses the corresponding entrance, so, when she decides to look away, it's back to Xeoshen. Sort of. Those eggs are mighty nice to look at, too.
Xeoshen Waves to Warucori as she leaves. "See ya around." He remarks after her, before he looks to Saliqa. "Yeah, well, if ya wanna buy me clothes, go ahead, just don't be expectin' them ta stay clean fer long." He says, waving a hand, and looks toward those eggs. "Wonder if the beings in them things know they might be givin' freedom ta some people." He asks, more to himself, though loud enough to hear. He does catch Taikrin out of the corner of his eye. "'ey, they letcha off duty for a while, already?"
Taikrin jumps as though goosed as Eldena addresses her, whirling about so that her back is pressed against the railing. "I got /just/ as much... right..." She begins with a heated defense, and slowly petters out once Eldena is spotted and given a quick once-over. "... uh. Yeah." A hint of color stains her dirt-smeared cheeks, and her voice drops to a mumble. "Yeah, it's fine and all." Xeoshen's attention only seems to make the matter worse. Arms wind tighter across her chest, apparently in an attempt to mask the betraying white knot. "Uh, somethin' like that. Oi, Xeo." Beat. "Saliqa."
"You know, you're not actually supposed to wear the nice clothes /all/ the time," Saliqa remarks, rolling her eyes from eggs to Xeoshen then back again. She has no such know-it-all comment about what's behind those shells, however, and only works her teeth over her lip to cover for it. Something's itching at her, even though she's not one of those looking for freedom - at least, not like that. Greetings going out to some other person, and then her own name, beckon a glance in Taikrin's direction. The concerned look on her face evens and then goes a touch curious. "Taikrin, hello." A small pause, then, "Are you going to join us?"
Xeoshen raises an eyebrow at Saliqa. "Really? Seems ta me that people wear fancy clothes often enough." He says to her. "Will keep thart in mind, though it would be nice ta have some clean clothes atleast." Even if their clothes probably get washed often, since they got to the Weyr. He looks to Taikrin, and raises an eyebrow. "Right, where's yer guard?" He asks her, and looks to the guard who's with his group, they never go without the guards, right? "Yeah, why not join us, in escaping the weather." He says, and looks back to the women.
"Sent me over here, they did," Taikrin admits grudgingly. Her steps are gallows-slow as she mounts the stairs towards the other two, her posture reeking of caution. "Said I might as well get a look, like, an' there'd be someone here." The guard is acknowledged with the barest flick of her gaze, then dismissed. "Maybe just fer a minute. Weren't gettin' nothing good done, anyways."
Perhaps it's the return of that tunnel vision, but Saliqa has only a keenly interested air in the face of the female convict's suggestions. "Might as well?" She expresses wryly, "That almost sounds like they're resigned to the idea of somebody nabbing one." Her hand waves hurriedly in Xeoshen's direction and, by proxy, those other convict-candidates grouped near him, "Not that I'm... saying that's what you're do-- I shouldn't have said anything at all." Pulling her legs closer, she heaps herself up in the seat, full skirts billowing out around her feet. "You'll need the clothes," she attempts, "Should one of those down there sniff you out, or however it is they do these things."
Xeoshen snorts. "'ey, considering that as candidates, we get a little more freedom, then we do as convicts." He says, and nods to Saliqa. "Yeah well, if ya can get me some clothes, or where I can get some without somebody callin' me a thief, let me know." The guard simply nods to Taikrin as well, but leaves her be for now. "Yeah, if, and a big if too, there's only so many eggs, ya know." He remarks.
"Think they might be gettin' used ta'it," Taikrin allows, her tone still uncertain. "It still stealin' if they're puttin', uh, people out there voluntary-like?" Eyebrows draw together, uncertainty giving way to outright confusion. "Why's Xeo need clothes? Ain't everyone got t'go out there lookin' the same? Don't think a hatchling cares 'bout what yer wearin' or yer- yer smell?!" The tone of her voice shades upwards with disbelief. "Ain't it the dam what tells 'em where t'go, anyways? She ain't gonna be steerin' 'em our way, promise you that."
"But a less of one, by merit that you'll be out there," she offers, Saliqa weighing this one visibly in her head after, but not going back on it. Instead, she plants her hands on the bench and adjusts herself to sit more towards Taikrin-- all the better to watch her as she speaks. "I said 'should', so what I mean is, afterwards. If it happens. Everyone goes out there looking the same, at least, but they don't all leave that way. And, I'm not sure I understand what the queen's got to do with it. If it were her job to steer 'em, as you say, wouldn't she just go about picking all the candidates she liked? Seems a heap less roundabout. I'm almost positive someone said the babies hunt you out. And that sounds like sniffing. Like canines who go out with the men, right?" Right? Menfolk? Xeoshen?
Xeoshen nods in agreement to Taikrin. "Well, what can they do? I mean it aint like we're makin' the dragons search us or nothin'." He remarks, and then pauses, waaaiiiitttt. "You got /searched/?" He asks Taikrin with a blinks, and laughs. "I thought ya hated the idea." He remarks, and shrugs. "I heard the dragons choose ya, not their dam, if the queen was the one pickin' people for her babies, she'd be the one sniffing us ta stand, not the other dragons." He agrees, and looks out at said queen on the sands. "I dunno, do I look like ever been ta a hatchin' before?" He asks Saliqa. "I still wonder how they pick anybody, when they aint met them before."
Taikrin props legs up onto the bench in front of her, allowing her to remain with arms loosely folded across her chest-- though more comfortably, now. "Dunno, just what I heard. That th' dam gets final say on what people end up with what hatchling. Pretty sure they don't go sniffin' around like canines, though." Xeoshen's announcement brings a flush of ruddy color back to Taikrin's cheeks once more, though she endeavors to keep her voice above a mumble, this time. "Uh. Guess so. Last night." Her gaze slides towards Saliqa, then jerks away to focus fixedly on the sands instead. "Figured, you know, maybe might keep all that food comin', after I get released. Six more sevendays, you know? Warm bed, free food... could be worse." A pause, then, as a note of befuddlement enters her voice. "Uh. You know when they're supposed t'hatch, anyways? Nobody told me. Didn't think t'ask, before."
It takes the observation from the other in combination with that shifty look at her before Saliqa's jaw sinks down in realization. "Oh!" She exhales, an exclamatory noise free of any kind of emotion either way; that's a skill. For a few more seconds after that, she attempts a maneuver of leaning to the side and pinning down Taikrin's gaze, but constant failure pulls her away. "Six sevendays isn't so very long..." Is her dejected addendum. "I suppose not," she offers, instead, to Xeoshen as she slides back against the seat behind her to be able to eye him once more. "Just seems to be what... they /do/. Although, I've heard some-- umm. Nevermind. What's that, when? Oh, I suppose I have no idea... Honestly, I haven't a single notion how this all goes. We're all on even ground there." And she raises a hand and cuts it across the air in a straight line. Even.
Xeoshen nods. "Aye, six seven days aint long at all." He agrees, and eyes Saliqa. "Ya've heard what?" He asks her, as he peers at her. "Some kinda secret information we aint supposed to know, or somethin'?" He asks her, and then looks to Taikrin. "Really? Huh, I got searched earlier yesterday, like at dinner time. Uh, congrats to you then." He says. "So, for this hatchin', ya think they'll have guards tagging with us." He hooks a thumb in the guards direction. "Or let us go out there on our own?" His tone implies he thinks it'll be something more toward the first option, after all, this is pretty much a new thing for everybody, have there ever been criminal candidates before? He snorts, though. "I still say they'll have candidates like her." He motions at Saliqa. "On one side of the sands, and us on another, or behind them or something." After all, less chance of them impressing, right?
Taikrin is not completely oblivious to Saliqa's maneuvering; eventually a hooded gaze slides back towards the other girl, her face a mask of wariness still. "Suppose we might be, maybe. Think they're gonna honor our release dates? Or we gonna be wandering around under guard pretty much forever?" As neither of the other two candidates seems to be outright mocking her, some of the tension slowly drains out of Taikrin's thin frame. "Bronzerider got me pretty late, way after dinner; we was finishin' up that spot of repair on late detail." A measuring pause, then: "Prob'bly they'd be right t'put them first. They ain't never gonna think of us as nothin' but slime, even if we're here ten turns and all bronzeriders besides." Now /that/ would be an interesting feat...
"It's not /secret/," Saliqa insists, "I just don't... /like/ spreading stories around. Please, ignore it." She wiggles the tips of her fingers at him: shoo, shoo. "They should indeed honor, it's the right thing do. You'll have worked for it and being asked to Stand, it's... an honor, itself, right? Them gets asked is them got potential or something." Her peppy attempt at a motivational speech falters and dies, her hands curling up in her lap sheepishly. "Suppose they'd have to Search some guards, too, but that would sort of be defeating the purpose of what I just said..." She spends some time puzzling this out, her mouth pulled to the side, and some of her attention remains there, so that her next comment is rather absently spoken, "Segregation on the sands might be for the best, but discrimination turns after is silly. Everyone deserves another chance."
Xeoshen shrugs. "'ey, most of us are gonna be at the end of our sentences after this anyway not like they'd have a reason ta keep us after we're done." He shrugs. "Ya know, maybe we oughtta use this like a restart? Maybe people'll make us look better." He remarks, and shrugs. "We been segregrated everywhere else since we arrived 'ere, why should standin' out there be any different?" Right? Right, it only makes sense. He shrugs to Saliqa. "Probably aint stories I heard before." He says. "I had heard a rumor, though. that if we do impress, our sentences, no matter how much longer they are, are basically eliminated." He gives a snort of disbelief though.
"I dunno," Taikrin draws out into a sigh. "Still kinda sure that bronzerider's laughin' at me. I keep expectin' him t'jump out an' tell me it was all a big joke an' just /look/ at how many marks he won on the gullible criminal." Thick brows draw together into the beginnings of a glower. "Pretty sure they ain't gonna see it that way, like a second chance. Pretty sure they're gonna start how they intend t'continue. We came in different, we're still different, an' we're gonna stay different. Only this time, I bet half o'Pern's gonna know who we are. Ain't gonna be able t'get honest work after this."
"Eliminated?" By the scrunching of her nose towards her equally pulled eyebrows, Saliqa isn't all into that idea, not completely. Though she sucks in a preparatory breath, something in what Taikrin is saying causes her to huff it back out again with not a single negative retort. To fill the time, she stretches her legs out and daintily crosses one ankle over the other. "You're awfully negative about it all," she pipes up after a bit, quieter, more cautious than her usual, "With a lot of things to say about how everyone will react this or that way. I'm fairly certain you haven't met everyone there is to meet... maybe you could try, oh, using this as a positive change."
"I seen the attitude up at the top," Taikrin counters Saliqa quickly enough. Her embarrasment, it seems, has finally eroded away. "Ain't too kindly. Can't count on them bein' generous, it ain't safe t' assume." A long sigh escapes, just as Taikrin shakes her wildly sheared head. "It ain't so easy. I done stuff they don't look kindly on. We all did. Folk don't forget that sort of thing." A pause, then, with an odd look to Saliqa: "'Least, most don't."
Saliqa's hand pops up, offering palm top towards the other female, "See, 'most' is not all." Staring off in front of her, she appears to have missed or ignored that odd look there and so doesn't return it nor react to any pointedness. "I wasn't saying it was easy, either, but at least you're looking at it as something to do. You know, be out and about with everyone else," in this she includes a glance over at Xeoshen to group him in that evaluation. "Anyway, look," she threads her fingers through her knot and gives it a tug, "We have something in common now. Will you consider sitting down and telling me something about yourself? It can be anything. You choose."
Xeoshen shrugs at Saliqa. "Tha's what I heard, probably just some stupid rumor ta get our hopes up anyway, just so they can come crashin' down when it doesn't turn out that way." He says. "I aint assumin' nothin', after all, aint we like the first criminals ta ever stand fer a clutch before, or somethin'? They probably won't go that easy on us." He snorts. "Aye, I dun think it'll be easy either, but, ya know, there are people here that like us, like Saliqa here."
Taikrin says, "Ain't all," Taikrin allows grudgingly, "But it's /most/, and especially the ones what got power t'do somethin' about it." She considers Xeoshen for a moment, eyebrows twitching together with a sudden thought. "You know, it ain't possible we're the /first/ /ever/ people what did some crime and ended up standing, is it? Maybe we're first who're still doin' time, but..." Head is shaken a final time, and her attention returns to Saliqa. Confusion returns to the fore at the girl's interest, and she takes a good, long second to think before responding. "But... what could y'possibly want to know? Ain't nothin' that interesting, really.""
At being pointed out thusly, Saliqa's gaze darts to Xeoshen, to the group of convicts lounging beyond him, and then to that guard ever hovering, as if she's having some crowning realization that she is, in fact, surrounded by criminals. It only causes conflict in her expression briefly before she schools it away to wherever rejected emotions go. "The Weyr's very... open. I find. Seems to me, marks to meatballs, one or two's got something they had to serve punishment for. But the sentence is really the thing, isn't it. Everyone's got to do what work they deserve. Only right and all, I mean..." Feeling the rambling quality of her words, she kneads her lips together and, clearing her throat, returns to blinking widely at Taikrin while the decision to respond is made. After all of it, she only tilts her head challengingly. "Try me."
Xeoshen nods. "Aye, that's true, but obviously somethin' change their minds about lettin' us stand, or else we wouldna be here in the first place." He says in reply. "Eh, true, but probably the first to still be sentenced." He agrees, a bit begrudgingly with Taikrin, and then nods to Saliqa. "Obvviously, or we woulda been kicked out of the weyr, a long time ago." Hee smirks. "I can't complain though, thaat I'm sleepin' in a nice warm barracks, on somethin' besides just a matress, and blanket." Nice little upgrade, indeed.
Taikrin can do nothing but grumble in the face of her companion's optimism: "Still pretty sure someone's gonna come and tell us it's all a big joke. Any minute now." It'll take more than a day for the sudden change in prospects to really sink in, apparently. "Almost done either way, I guess. Just about two turns, now." Saliqa's challenge is met with a hint of exhasperation. "Shards, I dunno, what d'you want t'know? I like playin' dice? I got a coupl'a little sisters? I'm real good with a pickaxe?"
Saliqa watches the female convict steadily for several seconds after her answers. Then, smacking her lips together in satisfaction, she declares, "Oh, that works. Thank you for sharing with me." The bright peppy look is gone the moment she swivels to eye Xeoshen, though. Not that she's entirely unfriendly, there's just a critical, wary edge to the way she narrows her eyes towards him. "S'long as you're using the time for improvement and work, of course, not just taking it to slack off. That'd be the shame, it would."
Xeoshen nods to Taikrin. "Good a reason as any, ta enjoy it while we can." He says to her, cause, you know, she's right to a point, wouldn't that just be their luck? They did it to get their guard down. He turns to Saliqa. "Slackin' off? Hardly, aparently they aint got us doin' normal candidate chore, they got us still doin' what were was doin' before we were searched, so it aint like everythin's changed."
"Are you serious?!" Taikrin blanks at Saliqa, still more than a little baffled by the other girl. "You really-- huh. Kay." A sigh is given, then she slowly rises to her feet. "Speakin' of work, I should prolly get back t'the ol' pickaxe. Didn't say I could take /all/ afternoon off, rain or no rain." She takes a few steps back towards the stairs, then pauses, half-turning towards the group again. "Uh, guess I'll see y'all back at the barracks tonight. Huh." And thus she heads down the stairs and back out into the bowl, shaking her head all the while.
There's this tiny little smirk appearing at Taikrin's exclamation, but since Saliqa happens to be turned in the other direction, the female isn't privy to it. It's up to who's looking where if any of the other convicts are. The Cromite only glances over her shoulder for the obligatory, "Oh, goodbye, then. Yes, I suppose we will be seeing each other..." That minute press of the mouth again; her eyes grow doubtful. But a deep breath pulls it all inside until she's ready to aim a satisfied dismissal at Xeoshen. "If you're still working the convict line, that means you're still doing your sentence, then, doesn't it? So... I don't know. Six more sevendays. Maybe eggs take that long to hatch? Actually, that was for her, wasn't it. How... ummm, if you don't mind me being personal like... how long for you?"
Xeoshen blinks, and waves to Taikrin. "Aye, probably not much longer till I should get back too. See ya later, Taikrin." He says, with a sigh, and looks toward the guard a moment, before he looks to Saliqa. "Aye, guess it does, I guess they wanna make sure we don't get too comfortable, and think we can get away from it." He shakes his head. "Eh, me? Less than half a turn left, or till the project is over." He admits, which ever comes first, and assuming the people keep their word.
"Well, you shouldn't," Saliqa puts in carefully, stumbling a bit to hurry and explain, "Get away with it, I mean. Just like they shouldn't cut you short when it comes to getting done and being free to lead an honest life and all that. That's how it's done." Seems easy enough to her, though her accompanying shrug fancies one side higher than the other. "I keep meaning to go back, you know, see how the work's going on that rock, but all these things keep coming up. Oh! But your night off. Like that, that's coming up." She pauses, tracing a finger against her jaw, "Since you still work as a convict, you can still break with them."
Xeoshen blinks. "I didn't want to get away with it, but four turns for stealing clothes, was crazy." But then he nods, and listens. "Yeah, well, let's hope they keep their word about the release." He chuckles. "Which rock?" He asks. "I've been cracking plenty of rocks since I started working here." He admits. "They all start lookin' the same after a while." He remarks, and nods. "Eye, break rocks, and whatever they want us ta do." He pauses. "What did ya do again, before ya were searched?"
Saliqa returns to the practice of looking casually interested but not too invested in anything. Practice, because she's not an expert at it. Some modicum of disillusion passes by her face. "Four turns? For clothes. My. And here you were trying to tell us clothes weren't that important." When she teases, it's cautiously, her tone a touch gentler than makes a good joke, but only to keep any false mocking from it. "As for rocks I mean the meteor bit that came down, but who knows. A bit of digging, anything can be stuck inside where you least expect it. I've worked a bit with gems, see. I, uh, I made jewelry. For women. Actually, I still do, it's just become my first duty to do the chores instead."
Xeoshen snorts. "When I was a poor holder, and later a thief, we got clothes where we could." He remarks, andd shrugs. "They became not that important in the mines, because as I said, down there, nobody cares how you look, or what you wear, as long as it's sturdy enoughb to survive the work." He runs a hand through his hair. "I dunno, if I impress, or even durin' this 'candidacy', I might change my mind about clothes. Depends what happens."
"Seems to me you could do a little caring for yourself," Saliqa ventures, just as quickly shrugging this one off as well. It's unclear whether the gesture for him or for herself, to tell her to move on. Either way, she's doing that. Pushing off of the bench, she sets her hands at her waist and regards the gathered convicts, the guard - Xeoshen last. The tip of that smile sneaks back onto her face. "If you'd like a good mind for it not been in those mines that whole time, well, I guess I'm volunteering. I get paid for my fashion, so it can't be too bad." Humility spoken too prideful to be quite that. But she does dip her head sheepishly and then roll her neck and face up again in the scarf in preparation to head out into the cold.
Xeoshen shrugs. "Not like I had much use of it before." He says, and then raises an eyebrow. "Yer...volunteering?" He asks, and leans forward in seat. "I can't pay ya, but, if it would be nice ta have some nice clothes, whatever happens with me here." He admits, and looks to the guard, and then back to Saliqa, tilting his head. "Uh, thanks, it..would be appreciated." He says after a moment. At a gesture from the guard, he, and his group, get ready to go out. "Looks like our times up too, see ya later at the barracks."
"Volunteering," she repeats, "Seems right." Saliqa hovers long enough by the group as it gets to its feet to curtsy politely at several of them before the guard beckons for her to get the first step out of the galleries. Nodding at his manners, she flashes a last look over her shoulder for Xeoshen and then makes her way out into the bowl and its High Reaches weather.
WHERE: Hatching Galleries, HRW
WHAT: The Cromite candidate delivers hope in the form of fashion, the convict candidates want to believe they're not being punked, the youngest girl finds an ally, someone takes a nap, and everyone enjoys not being cold.
Hatching Galleries, High Reaches Weyr
Ringing the southwestern side of the hatching sands are ample tiers of carved stone benches, the lowest of which is some six feet off the ground -- just high enough to separate wayward hatchlings from unwary viewers, and vice versa. A metal railing on the outside helps prevent anyone from falling off; it also extends up the stairs that lead the way higher into the galleries. While most of the area is open seating, ropes section off some of the closer tiers when dignitaries are expected; those areas even feature cushions in the Weyr's blue and black.
The higher one climbs, the more apparent the immense scale of the entire cavern becomes. The dragon-sized entrance on the ground is dwarfed by the expansive golden sands that glitter in the light. Everything on them is easily visible from the galleries, whether that's a clutch of eggs and a broody queen, or simply its emptiness and the handful of darker tunnels that lead to more private areas than the bowl. Wherever one sits or looks, however, one thing is constant: the overwhelming, suffocating heat.
With blowing wind, and snow, there's not a much better place to be in the weyr, than surrounded by the warmth of the hatching grounds. Infact, there's a group of convicts turned candidates, up in the galleries, with a guard nearby. Aparently they're taking advantage of their added free time, to comee look at the eggs that're giving them a bit more freedom. Xeoshen is there among the small group, leaning on the railing as he eyes the eggs, though he doesn't look intent to steal any of them, more curious.
As she's coming in from the outside bowl with a knit hat pulled low over her forehead and nose still red from the weather, Saliqa likely agrees as to the warmth. All the bundling up she's done has created a kind of tunnel vision, so that she plods down the stairs of the galleries without even a curious glance to the other group until she's stepped up right next to it. Raising a gloved hand to tug down the scarf about her neck and mouth, she attempts a maneuver of glancing seriously over at Xeoshen a couple of times; the attempts are broken up into smaller looks to prevent staring, but that only makes her look a touch more furtive.
Eldena climbs the steps slowly. "Oh.. so this is where you all..." she says in a cheerful voice. Climbing the steps made her smile. The group of people she recognized.
Warucori is just coming in as well, bent low against the wind and stinging rain. She hurries through the cold and moves close to the edge of the galleries to soak in the warmth. At the sound of someone coming in at her shoulder she tips her head, offering a smile. "I hope it isn't going to get any colder than this."
Eldena thinks. "Its High Reaches. Dress warm." she says moving to take up a space. "It depends, it could get colder or could warm a little bit. I assume it's probably going to be jsut very very cold for away. Always assume it's gonna be cold. I've lived up here my entire life and I am not used to it."
Xeoshen turns, and eyes the new comer, nodding to Saliqa. "Hello." He says simply to her, in greeting. He blinks at Eldena for a moment. "No duh, about it beeing cold here." He tells her, and then looks to Warucori as well, giving her a nod. "Ya had the same ideas, eh, ta get out of the cold?" He asks the group. The rest of his own small group look up, and nod in greeting as well.
Shedding a bit more of her outerwear, Saliqa twists in her new seat to see how others have entered behind her. The strict face she was wearing for the weather melts into the trim smile of polite society. There's only a little brightness in her eyes to betray her excitement as she waves the other girls down. "Why, it's Warucori," she nods to one, "Eldena," and the other. Pull of eyebrows into concentration heralds her turn back to Xeoshen. "Yes, umm. I'm sorry, I think we spoke earlier but I... don't have a name for you. I'm Saliqa." She offers her hand delicately in the air in front of him, palm down for gripping fingers rather than a full-on shake.
Warucori gives Eldena a puzzled look at her statement, "well, alright then." she says at last with an unsure smile. "I will be sure to look into a heavier coat I think." To Xeoshen she bobs her head, sweeping a hand through her damp curls, "I thought I would take a walk and watch the littles in the snow....they don't seem to feel anything." She lifts a hand to wave to Saliqa when the other woman says her name. "Oh, hello to you too."
Eldena nods. She moves to find a seat. "The Sands, some of the warmest places in the Weyr." she says. "You know minus being infront of a stove." She grins. "Well I was always taught it can always get colder, and its easier to wear more than & to take it off if your to warm"
Xeoshen nods, and takes the hand from Saliqa. "Xeoshen, uh, well met." He says, though he says it for the other two as well. "Nice ta meetcha all." He adds to Warucori, and Eldena. "Aye, them kids seem ta not notice anything about thee weather. This is a good escape though." He moves to take a seat on one of the benches.
"And to you," Saliqa imparts to the man, adjusting her weight with an air of self-satisfaction. The fingers she draws back soon enough, though, to give a second, more insistent wave to suggest Warucori come down and sit right near her. "I think I've added a layer for every day I've been here, though I'm not a stranger to climate and all." A cheerful glance over her shoulder at the others, "Children seem hardly troubled by anything. That's their job now, as well as being serious will be when they're older." Because, you know, she's so old, herself.
Warucori rubs her hands together a few times, now and again holding them up towards the heat of the sands. "Dressing in layers doesn't seem that bad an idea either." She grins an aside towards Saliqa, "ah, to be carefree like that again huh?" Including the others in the idea as well, "what would you do right now if you had no weight of responsability?"
Xeoshen nods to Saliqa, and pulls off his jacket, his white knot visible now. He snorts. "Too much is better than too little." He agrees, and leans back in his seat. "Aye, ta be kids again." He says, and snorts in amusement. "If I 'ad ta be 'ere, probably play in the snow too, or something." He says. "I aint complainin' about my cirrent situation though."
Saliqa's mouth forms a soft 'o' of surprise and whatever more judgmental reaction she fights away with the help of a distracting wave of the hand. "Oh, look. You, too, and... the others?" She stops short of pointing directly at the rest of the convicts nearby, instead redirecting fingers into her lap. "No responsibility?" She echoes, wrinkling her nose like the sound of it tastes bad. "That's how we know what to do in life. It's quite unfortunate not to have any... but layers! Yes, layers are quite functional. And if you know how to coordinate them, quite lovely." Incase anyone cares to notice that all of her own current layers are in matching colors.
Warucori looks between Saliqa and Xeoshen as she asks 'the others' and shoots a look at the convicts worriedly, catching her lower lip in her teeth. "oh, it's just a question Saliqa--a 'what if' question. I'm not suggesting that you -would-, but it's fun to think about." She does look over Saliqa and her layers and admits, "I don't know much about such things....coordinating." She looks down at her clothes--plain and dull but work-ready.
Xeoshen blinks at Saliqa, and nods. "Aye, Z'yi, and his blue, offered it a few days ago." He explains, the rest of the group giving similar comments about being searched. "Ah, sorry to startle ya with it." He says, sounding a bit genuine. "Don't worry, young ladies, they're not completely free. They are still under guard, just not as heavily." The guard nearby makes himself known. Xeo eyes him a moment, before he looks back to Saliqa, and Cori. Xeoshen just shrugs. "Not everybody knows what to do with their lives."
Judging by that stubborn set of the jaw, Saliqa finds the 'fun' aspect of this either thoroughly debatable or she wants herself to. Either way, she moves on to only comment, "It's quite fun, you know, arranging your outfits. I know... well, I do know some other girls here from Crom and we know all about clothes and-- you know, we should sit down sometime about it." Bright and perky again, she gives a gracious nod to the guard and then to Xeoshen. "Well, I'd like to think I was taught well, and that says you should always try and bring honor to your home with what you do." This makes her give the convicts another sweeping look, but her wide eyes are hopeful.
Warucori smiles to Saliqa, a woman she can relate to very well indeed. She nods her head, smoothing hands over her smock as she stands there. A shy look is given one of the under-guard convicts and she blushes and quickly looks away with the grizzled looking young man looks her way. With a little gulp she turns so she can't keep sneaking looks that way and stammers, "M-maybe you can introduce me to your friends. I don't know how I'd ever be able to aford more clothes...but it would be nice to learn." She smiles to Xeoshen too, "I don't think clothes are nearly as interesting for men."
"You can sit," Saliqa offers, running a hand along the spot near her then giving it a pat. She even tries to sit up a bit straighter to put herself as a barrier between Warucori and the convicts -- though, at her height, she barely makes a shadow on them, much less a wall against. The mention of her friends causes some deflation of that posture as she gears up with a heavy inhale. "Yes, well... maybe I can." A quick smile, "Anyway, it's always possible to make the most of what you have. As for men, they may not think it, but dressing can be just as important. We just have to figure it out /for/ them sometimes." She aims a conspiratorial wink at the other girl.
Warucori settles beside Saliqa, all impressed at her upright sitting and her regal manner. It helps that the other girl seems so worldly wise as well. The grizzled convict is forgotten, for the time being, "That is so true. When my sister got married, she told me just how awful her new husband's manner of dress was. But then....it cannot be expected that men care as much as women, they should be focused on making a honest living and providing for family. The wife should see to his .... married education. That is how my sister put it. Our hold wasn't nearly as fine as Crom though."
Perhaps it's the heat of the caverns, but Saliqa's eyes brighten like something's emitted a beacon of light over Warucori's head. Her smile stays light and distantly friendly for several more seconds before, twitch by twitch, it can even be called excited. Immediately, her hands dart forward to rest on the edge of her knee in eager fashion. "Your sister sounds like she was raised quite well! And I learned these things from my father in our little but honest farm, so you know that proper values can happen anywhere with the right upbringing. It's truly the responsibility of the woman to see after the man or he'd never do it, himself. That's why a proper union is so im... portant." Ignore that hesitance; Saliqa bypasses it with a tight swallow. "Anyway, my own sister had a bit of experience, herself. He thought 'women's things' weren't as respectable as men's duties, but, boy, did he get it when he had to meet with a holder who knew how to balance a jacket and vest!"
Warucori lifts her chin slightly, "We might be a family of meager means, but my mother and father spent every bit of their time and energy on us." She shoots a look over at the convicts covertly and lowers her voice, "you would think others might walk a different path if their parents were half as thoughtful." She blushes at her hurtful words though, "How many sisters do you have? Are they older or younger than you? Will they come to the hatching?"
Saliqa's hands slide forward, looking to take the tips of Warucori's fingers between them in a comforting manner. "It shows, Warucori. I think your parents would be very proud to have raised a young lady." Though her head turns slightly at the other commentary, she avoids peeking a glance at the convicts; her eyes dip to the floor then back to the younger girl -- and up, because Cori's got some height to her. "It's a terrible thought that not all homes are as they should be. I have two sisters, then, both are older. And a wonderful little brother who sometimes lives with us at Crom and sometimes visits the farm. I..." That light in her eyes dims and she scoots backwards on the seat sheepishly. "I'm not sure, to be honest."
Warucori smiles at the friendly touch from Saliqa, "Thank you. I feel so out of place here most of the time. Everyone in such a tussle and so keen on getting you on their side for their lifestyle." her nose crinkles slightly, "I just....yes, not all homes are as nice. Why...one boy went on and on telling me stories and I never did catch his name...just all these horrors his life are. I don't know where manners go sometimes." She gives the fingers on hers a reasuring squeeze as she notices the look in the other girl's eyes, "I don't know if my family will come either." She lowers her eyes, "I have to find someone to write a letter for me first...to even let them know."
"Honestly, sometimes I think they all like to talk it up just to make us react," Saliqa informs solemnly, leaning in a bit more so that her lowered volume still carries, "I just try and keep a fair face for everyone. I mean, otherwise it'd be stooping to their level, wouldn't it?" Her lips perk up at the reassurance, head tilting wistfully to match the accompanying sigh. "This is all just a test." Without turning her body, she angles a look at the hot sands, the eggs sitting out amongst each other. Her fingers twitch against Cori's. "Write a... oh!" Eyes back on girl. "Well, have you seen the harpers? That's their job."
Warucori nods her head, "I don't want to be a sour-faced-holder either. As you say it /is/ like stooping to that level, but I just get a fire in my belly sometimes. Back home was /so/ much easier." her shoulders slump forward slightly but she smiles anyway. "If it is a test...do you think there is a fair way to win it? I will miss the good food and all the plush comforts here--but it hardly seems fair to....shirk responsabilities." It's her turn to look tight in the jaw as her smile faulters. "As for harpers? Well...I was offered to be taught writing and reading....I'm not so sure about it..."
Saliqa presses her lips together and nods several times in understanding. Claiming her own hands briefly to tuck her hair hastily behind her ears, she shuffles forward that distance she lost in shame and then takes up the hand-holding again. "Sour faced? Don't be silly. You seem very sensible to me. You just have to remember yourself and what your duty is. If you've agreed to responsibilities here, you fulfill them and then... well, then you return home to the ones waiting for you." The breezy way her tone drifts off, almost more thoughtful than lecturing, starts to give the impression she's not exactly talking to Warucori anymore -- until 'harpers' brings her back around. Self-consciously, she tugs at her skirts and nods a few more times to make up for it. "Oh, I meant they can write something for you. I was going to have them write /my/ letters home, but then it was asked of me to learn instead."
Warucori smiles and confesses, "well....the way the care-free weyr-lot go around with all this attitude that the life here is so much better...trying to explain how good life is 'outside' seems to be a disapointment to some folks. Perhaps I'm reading too much into it. Just...if I'm going to be told how much I should relax and 'follow my heart'...well, I'm going to remind people that some of us have other obligations." She sneaks a look at Saliqa and there are questions in her eyes but she gives a small shake of her head to dismiss it, "we have /so/ much in common. It is like having one of my sisters here." She admits, scooting to be knee to knee for the moment. "What did -you- tell the harpers when they asked you to learn?"
"Maybe you're just so nice to talk to," Saliqa returns, though the comment has gotten her sitting straight and proud again, with chin perked up. "Oh, no, you see, it wasn't the harpers who asked, it was my step-father back at Crom. He thought it would be best if I could tell him regularly how things were going... I don't know why I couldn't ask the harpers to do it... but it wasn't my place to ask. So there it is. I know how to read, and how to write. A little. You know," she flexes out her fingers, absently examining nails that have become dirtier and shorter since she arrived but are at least free of grime for the moment, "If you'd like a lady's privacy in the matter, I might be able to help you."
She'd been lost in thought, her eyes focused on the sands. She'd sort of drifted off she realized. Nodding off sleeping. "I guess." she whispers. Shel ooks up and blinks. Eldena glances around had the others seen her nod off?
Warucori blushes and doesn't bother trying to hide her embarassment, instead she explains needlessly, "I didn't have much reason to back home...to learn you see. I wouldn't want to trouble you Saliqa, but if you had time..." she looks hopeful for the lesson, or perhaps the privacy? As Eldena 'wakes' up, she can't help but giggle softly. "You'll hurt your neck sleeping that way."
Xeoshen has been here the entire time, yeah, talking with the other cons, and, well, doing the manly thing, of ignoring the dreaded /girl talk/. Eeek, anybody else feel the testosterone dropped in here just a bit? He does turn his attention toward Cori, and Saliqa for a moment though.
Movement around them seems to break up the girl huddle; at least, Saliqa shifts her knees more in front of her to turn and see who Warucori is addressing. "Sleeping?" She pipes up, brow wrinkling gently, "This seems like a really terrible place to fall asleep." Apparently, she missed that bit, because her gaze sweeps the area for the culprit, even passing over the convicts who have been so righteously ignored for a while now. Catching Xeoshen looking back, she blinks a couple of times and the upturn of her mouth slips downward. "Maybe you'd like to learn more about coordinating outfits, too, Xeoshen?" Sweetly innocent, eyelids batting.
Eldena smiles. " A little feline napping never hurt anyone and the warmth was part of it. I enjoyed." She stretched. "So what are you all doing here you know? I mean.. I thought you all would have left me to nap." She stretches and walking around trying to stretch her legs.
Warucori smooths the front of her apron down primly as she settles back from the forward, confiding, lean she'd been making towards Saliqa. While the other girl addresses Xeoshen she turns to Eldena, "we were...just talking about our homes and exchanging a few like-minded ideals."
Xeoshen blinks, and winces at Saliqa. "I think I'll have to turn that that down, I like how I dress, just fine." He says n reply, and raises an eyebrow as he looks to Warucori. "About yer homes?" He asks the girl. "So nona of yas from here, either?"
A tinge of bemusement threatens to turn Saliqa's good-natured smile into a smirk at the man's response. "We were having a nice conversation," she says to either the convict or Eldena. "No reason to leave, I assume, since the talking didn't seem to disturb you and, well, it's a public arena." That definitely to Elena, who she watches walking a while before unconsciously mirroring Cori's movement in running her hands along her skirts. "Actually, I believe Eldena is... but Warucori and I are from the holds. I think I've mentioned it before, being from Crom. Yes, we were all at the lunch table together." A spark! She wags a finger of revelation in Xeoshen's direction.
Eldena waves her head. "I am from the Weyr." she says clarifying politely. "If you wanted to know more I could yell you what you wanted to know."
Warucori continues to smile at Eldena, "I think I have heard you say that before....that you know 'everything' about the weyr. That must be very gratifying." She pauses a moment, as though tasting the tone of her words and not finding them very satisfactory. "And it's no use bothering with making a man change his mind in such a direct manner. You have to show him how it could benifit him...you know, to get a leg up with someone in power, or perhaps earn some respect or some-such." She sneaks a look over at the young man, "I hardly think they allow -them- fancy clothes though."
Xeoshen shakes his head. "Right, nice conversation." He says, and shakes his head. "Right, ya were from Crom, I aint heard where she came from." He points at Cori. "Bye, aye, we did have lunch together, that was before I was searched, guess we'll be seeing more of each other now, eh?" He asks Saliqa with a grin, though it earns him a pointed look from the guard, which makes it waver. "Yerah well, facy clothes don't last long in the mines." He waves a finger at Cori. "Fancy baubles or what ya wear with them, aint gonna do ya much good down there." He smirks. "And I aint planning to change how I dress, till I'm free." Though some goodd, nice looking, clean clothes could probably help the appearence of all the cons.
Saliqa may as well be on a swivel for all she now has to turn her head between smiling at Warucori and eyeing Xeoshen. First to the girl, "Oh, I know, I just find being direct is the best way to deal with possible eavesdroppers." Then tot he convict, "I guess we will." She manages to artfully sound neither positive nor negative about that, though some skepticism leaks in afterwards for, "Now, you're the second person to make reference to what I could or couldn't do in the mines. Honestly. Besides," she adjusts her posture haughtily, "There's no reason not to start thinking about turning things around already. It could be very uplifting. In fact, your figure is very..." Her jaw clamps shut awkwardly over the end of that.
Warucori blushes, "I'm Cori--Warucori. I thought we'd been introduced." Color stains her cheeks and over the bridge of her nose, "how rude of me. I'm sorry." The last a little stiffly from her resulting embarassment. As Saliqa addresses Xeoshen her expression turns more than a little awed and inspired by her words and a smile sneaks back onto her features. Until she compliments his figure and then she's blushing again.
Eldena laughs. "I don't know /everything/. I know what I know. But that's about it." She grins. "Eldena," she saysp olitely. "We've been introduced but... I think it's good to hear names more than once and repeat them considering we hear names everyday... and new faces."
Xeoshen shrugs. "I aint sayin' you gotta dress like me, but we don't exactly get paid ta work, we take what we get." He says a bit curtly. Beggars can't be choosers after all. "And I still aint got money to buy any clothes." He adds truthfully. "So, why bother?" He says, and leans back in the bench. Oh yes, give them more to look at, why not? He'd take off his shirt if it wasn't so cold outside.
Warucori lets out a soft sigh and gets to her feet, "As much as I'd love to stay, I should go and check on my auntie before I do evening chores." For all the time she's been out there, she's not even oggled the eggs--if anyone was paying attention to notice that. "See you all at turndown I'm sure."
It is a furtive Taikrin indeed who has found her way into the cavern today. Her jacket -- oddly ripped in the back -- is pulled around her tightly, the collar flipped up in an apparent attempt at anonymity. Dark gaze is fixed quite firmly on first the ground before her, then, as she summits the stairs, at the eggs just on the other side of the railing. And there she remains, hands gripping tightly to the railing, attention fixated on the sands as though her life depended on it. She's not even noticed there are others in the cavern, yet, much less others with whom she is acquainted.
Eldena looks up in her slow circles around the group to see the other young woman look at the eggs. "Enjoying the view?" she asks politely. She glances to the chattering group, and then bakc to Taikrin.
No, Saliqa is definitely /not/ staring at Xeoshen while he goes on display; she only glances over her shoulder briefly to acknowledge his existence while she opines, "Because it's good to look to a future where you can make something of yourself again." Her stuttering hesitance is only building vaguely towards her old confidence when her girl buddy gets up to leave. "Oh! Warucori! We'll speak again soon..." Head turned to watch where the other goes, she misses the corresponding entrance, so, when she decides to look away, it's back to Xeoshen. Sort of. Those eggs are mighty nice to look at, too.
Xeoshen Waves to Warucori as she leaves. "See ya around." He remarks after her, before he looks to Saliqa. "Yeah, well, if ya wanna buy me clothes, go ahead, just don't be expectin' them ta stay clean fer long." He says, waving a hand, and looks toward those eggs. "Wonder if the beings in them things know they might be givin' freedom ta some people." He asks, more to himself, though loud enough to hear. He does catch Taikrin out of the corner of his eye. "'ey, they letcha off duty for a while, already?"
Taikrin jumps as though goosed as Eldena addresses her, whirling about so that her back is pressed against the railing. "I got /just/ as much... right..." She begins with a heated defense, and slowly petters out once Eldena is spotted and given a quick once-over. "... uh. Yeah." A hint of color stains her dirt-smeared cheeks, and her voice drops to a mumble. "Yeah, it's fine and all." Xeoshen's attention only seems to make the matter worse. Arms wind tighter across her chest, apparently in an attempt to mask the betraying white knot. "Uh, somethin' like that. Oi, Xeo." Beat. "Saliqa."
"You know, you're not actually supposed to wear the nice clothes /all/ the time," Saliqa remarks, rolling her eyes from eggs to Xeoshen then back again. She has no such know-it-all comment about what's behind those shells, however, and only works her teeth over her lip to cover for it. Something's itching at her, even though she's not one of those looking for freedom - at least, not like that. Greetings going out to some other person, and then her own name, beckon a glance in Taikrin's direction. The concerned look on her face evens and then goes a touch curious. "Taikrin, hello." A small pause, then, "Are you going to join us?"
Xeoshen raises an eyebrow at Saliqa. "Really? Seems ta me that people wear fancy clothes often enough." He says to her. "Will keep thart in mind, though it would be nice ta have some clean clothes atleast." Even if their clothes probably get washed often, since they got to the Weyr. He looks to Taikrin, and raises an eyebrow. "Right, where's yer guard?" He asks her, and looks to the guard who's with his group, they never go without the guards, right? "Yeah, why not join us, in escaping the weather." He says, and looks back to the women.
"Sent me over here, they did," Taikrin admits grudgingly. Her steps are gallows-slow as she mounts the stairs towards the other two, her posture reeking of caution. "Said I might as well get a look, like, an' there'd be someone here." The guard is acknowledged with the barest flick of her gaze, then dismissed. "Maybe just fer a minute. Weren't gettin' nothing good done, anyways."
Perhaps it's the return of that tunnel vision, but Saliqa has only a keenly interested air in the face of the female convict's suggestions. "Might as well?" She expresses wryly, "That almost sounds like they're resigned to the idea of somebody nabbing one." Her hand waves hurriedly in Xeoshen's direction and, by proxy, those other convict-candidates grouped near him, "Not that I'm... saying that's what you're do-- I shouldn't have said anything at all." Pulling her legs closer, she heaps herself up in the seat, full skirts billowing out around her feet. "You'll need the clothes," she attempts, "Should one of those down there sniff you out, or however it is they do these things."
Xeoshen snorts. "'ey, considering that as candidates, we get a little more freedom, then we do as convicts." He says, and nods to Saliqa. "Yeah well, if ya can get me some clothes, or where I can get some without somebody callin' me a thief, let me know." The guard simply nods to Taikrin as well, but leaves her be for now. "Yeah, if, and a big if too, there's only so many eggs, ya know." He remarks.
"Think they might be gettin' used ta'it," Taikrin allows, her tone still uncertain. "It still stealin' if they're puttin', uh, people out there voluntary-like?" Eyebrows draw together, uncertainty giving way to outright confusion. "Why's Xeo need clothes? Ain't everyone got t'go out there lookin' the same? Don't think a hatchling cares 'bout what yer wearin' or yer- yer smell?!" The tone of her voice shades upwards with disbelief. "Ain't it the dam what tells 'em where t'go, anyways? She ain't gonna be steerin' 'em our way, promise you that."
"But a less of one, by merit that you'll be out there," she offers, Saliqa weighing this one visibly in her head after, but not going back on it. Instead, she plants her hands on the bench and adjusts herself to sit more towards Taikrin-- all the better to watch her as she speaks. "I said 'should', so what I mean is, afterwards. If it happens. Everyone goes out there looking the same, at least, but they don't all leave that way. And, I'm not sure I understand what the queen's got to do with it. If it were her job to steer 'em, as you say, wouldn't she just go about picking all the candidates she liked? Seems a heap less roundabout. I'm almost positive someone said the babies hunt you out. And that sounds like sniffing. Like canines who go out with the men, right?" Right? Menfolk? Xeoshen?
Xeoshen nods in agreement to Taikrin. "Well, what can they do? I mean it aint like we're makin' the dragons search us or nothin'." He remarks, and then pauses, waaaiiiitttt. "You got /searched/?" He asks Taikrin with a blinks, and laughs. "I thought ya hated the idea." He remarks, and shrugs. "I heard the dragons choose ya, not their dam, if the queen was the one pickin' people for her babies, she'd be the one sniffing us ta stand, not the other dragons." He agrees, and looks out at said queen on the sands. "I dunno, do I look like ever been ta a hatchin' before?" He asks Saliqa. "I still wonder how they pick anybody, when they aint met them before."
Taikrin props legs up onto the bench in front of her, allowing her to remain with arms loosely folded across her chest-- though more comfortably, now. "Dunno, just what I heard. That th' dam gets final say on what people end up with what hatchling. Pretty sure they don't go sniffin' around like canines, though." Xeoshen's announcement brings a flush of ruddy color back to Taikrin's cheeks once more, though she endeavors to keep her voice above a mumble, this time. "Uh. Guess so. Last night." Her gaze slides towards Saliqa, then jerks away to focus fixedly on the sands instead. "Figured, you know, maybe might keep all that food comin', after I get released. Six more sevendays, you know? Warm bed, free food... could be worse." A pause, then, as a note of befuddlement enters her voice. "Uh. You know when they're supposed t'hatch, anyways? Nobody told me. Didn't think t'ask, before."
It takes the observation from the other in combination with that shifty look at her before Saliqa's jaw sinks down in realization. "Oh!" She exhales, an exclamatory noise free of any kind of emotion either way; that's a skill. For a few more seconds after that, she attempts a maneuver of leaning to the side and pinning down Taikrin's gaze, but constant failure pulls her away. "Six sevendays isn't so very long..." Is her dejected addendum. "I suppose not," she offers, instead, to Xeoshen as she slides back against the seat behind her to be able to eye him once more. "Just seems to be what... they /do/. Although, I've heard some-- umm. Nevermind. What's that, when? Oh, I suppose I have no idea... Honestly, I haven't a single notion how this all goes. We're all on even ground there." And she raises a hand and cuts it across the air in a straight line. Even.
Xeoshen nods. "Aye, six seven days aint long at all." He agrees, and eyes Saliqa. "Ya've heard what?" He asks her, as he peers at her. "Some kinda secret information we aint supposed to know, or somethin'?" He asks her, and then looks to Taikrin. "Really? Huh, I got searched earlier yesterday, like at dinner time. Uh, congrats to you then." He says. "So, for this hatchin', ya think they'll have guards tagging with us." He hooks a thumb in the guards direction. "Or let us go out there on our own?" His tone implies he thinks it'll be something more toward the first option, after all, this is pretty much a new thing for everybody, have there ever been criminal candidates before? He snorts, though. "I still say they'll have candidates like her." He motions at Saliqa. "On one side of the sands, and us on another, or behind them or something." After all, less chance of them impressing, right?
Taikrin is not completely oblivious to Saliqa's maneuvering; eventually a hooded gaze slides back towards the other girl, her face a mask of wariness still. "Suppose we might be, maybe. Think they're gonna honor our release dates? Or we gonna be wandering around under guard pretty much forever?" As neither of the other two candidates seems to be outright mocking her, some of the tension slowly drains out of Taikrin's thin frame. "Bronzerider got me pretty late, way after dinner; we was finishin' up that spot of repair on late detail." A measuring pause, then: "Prob'bly they'd be right t'put them first. They ain't never gonna think of us as nothin' but slime, even if we're here ten turns and all bronzeriders besides." Now /that/ would be an interesting feat...
"It's not /secret/," Saliqa insists, "I just don't... /like/ spreading stories around. Please, ignore it." She wiggles the tips of her fingers at him: shoo, shoo. "They should indeed honor, it's the right thing do. You'll have worked for it and being asked to Stand, it's... an honor, itself, right? Them gets asked is them got potential or something." Her peppy attempt at a motivational speech falters and dies, her hands curling up in her lap sheepishly. "Suppose they'd have to Search some guards, too, but that would sort of be defeating the purpose of what I just said..." She spends some time puzzling this out, her mouth pulled to the side, and some of her attention remains there, so that her next comment is rather absently spoken, "Segregation on the sands might be for the best, but discrimination turns after is silly. Everyone deserves another chance."
Xeoshen shrugs. "'ey, most of us are gonna be at the end of our sentences after this anyway not like they'd have a reason ta keep us after we're done." He shrugs. "Ya know, maybe we oughtta use this like a restart? Maybe people'll make us look better." He remarks, and shrugs. "We been segregrated everywhere else since we arrived 'ere, why should standin' out there be any different?" Right? Right, it only makes sense. He shrugs to Saliqa. "Probably aint stories I heard before." He says. "I had heard a rumor, though. that if we do impress, our sentences, no matter how much longer they are, are basically eliminated." He gives a snort of disbelief though.
"I dunno," Taikrin draws out into a sigh. "Still kinda sure that bronzerider's laughin' at me. I keep expectin' him t'jump out an' tell me it was all a big joke an' just /look/ at how many marks he won on the gullible criminal." Thick brows draw together into the beginnings of a glower. "Pretty sure they ain't gonna see it that way, like a second chance. Pretty sure they're gonna start how they intend t'continue. We came in different, we're still different, an' we're gonna stay different. Only this time, I bet half o'Pern's gonna know who we are. Ain't gonna be able t'get honest work after this."
"Eliminated?" By the scrunching of her nose towards her equally pulled eyebrows, Saliqa isn't all into that idea, not completely. Though she sucks in a preparatory breath, something in what Taikrin is saying causes her to huff it back out again with not a single negative retort. To fill the time, she stretches her legs out and daintily crosses one ankle over the other. "You're awfully negative about it all," she pipes up after a bit, quieter, more cautious than her usual, "With a lot of things to say about how everyone will react this or that way. I'm fairly certain you haven't met everyone there is to meet... maybe you could try, oh, using this as a positive change."
"I seen the attitude up at the top," Taikrin counters Saliqa quickly enough. Her embarrasment, it seems, has finally eroded away. "Ain't too kindly. Can't count on them bein' generous, it ain't safe t' assume." A long sigh escapes, just as Taikrin shakes her wildly sheared head. "It ain't so easy. I done stuff they don't look kindly on. We all did. Folk don't forget that sort of thing." A pause, then, with an odd look to Saliqa: "'Least, most don't."
Saliqa's hand pops up, offering palm top towards the other female, "See, 'most' is not all." Staring off in front of her, she appears to have missed or ignored that odd look there and so doesn't return it nor react to any pointedness. "I wasn't saying it was easy, either, but at least you're looking at it as something to do. You know, be out and about with everyone else," in this she includes a glance over at Xeoshen to group him in that evaluation. "Anyway, look," she threads her fingers through her knot and gives it a tug, "We have something in common now. Will you consider sitting down and telling me something about yourself? It can be anything. You choose."
Xeoshen shrugs at Saliqa. "Tha's what I heard, probably just some stupid rumor ta get our hopes up anyway, just so they can come crashin' down when it doesn't turn out that way." He says. "I aint assumin' nothin', after all, aint we like the first criminals ta ever stand fer a clutch before, or somethin'? They probably won't go that easy on us." He snorts. "Aye, I dun think it'll be easy either, but, ya know, there are people here that like us, like Saliqa here."
Taikrin says, "Ain't all," Taikrin allows grudgingly, "But it's /most/, and especially the ones what got power t'do somethin' about it." She considers Xeoshen for a moment, eyebrows twitching together with a sudden thought. "You know, it ain't possible we're the /first/ /ever/ people what did some crime and ended up standing, is it? Maybe we're first who're still doin' time, but..." Head is shaken a final time, and her attention returns to Saliqa. Confusion returns to the fore at the girl's interest, and she takes a good, long second to think before responding. "But... what could y'possibly want to know? Ain't nothin' that interesting, really.""
At being pointed out thusly, Saliqa's gaze darts to Xeoshen, to the group of convicts lounging beyond him, and then to that guard ever hovering, as if she's having some crowning realization that she is, in fact, surrounded by criminals. It only causes conflict in her expression briefly before she schools it away to wherever rejected emotions go. "The Weyr's very... open. I find. Seems to me, marks to meatballs, one or two's got something they had to serve punishment for. But the sentence is really the thing, isn't it. Everyone's got to do what work they deserve. Only right and all, I mean..." Feeling the rambling quality of her words, she kneads her lips together and, clearing her throat, returns to blinking widely at Taikrin while the decision to respond is made. After all of it, she only tilts her head challengingly. "Try me."
Xeoshen nods. "Aye, that's true, but obviously somethin' change their minds about lettin' us stand, or else we wouldna be here in the first place." He says in reply. "Eh, true, but probably the first to still be sentenced." He agrees, a bit begrudgingly with Taikrin, and then nods to Saliqa. "Obvviously, or we woulda been kicked out of the weyr, a long time ago." Hee smirks. "I can't complain though, thaat I'm sleepin' in a nice warm barracks, on somethin' besides just a matress, and blanket." Nice little upgrade, indeed.
Taikrin can do nothing but grumble in the face of her companion's optimism: "Still pretty sure someone's gonna come and tell us it's all a big joke. Any minute now." It'll take more than a day for the sudden change in prospects to really sink in, apparently. "Almost done either way, I guess. Just about two turns, now." Saliqa's challenge is met with a hint of exhasperation. "Shards, I dunno, what d'you want t'know? I like playin' dice? I got a coupl'a little sisters? I'm real good with a pickaxe?"
Saliqa watches the female convict steadily for several seconds after her answers. Then, smacking her lips together in satisfaction, she declares, "Oh, that works. Thank you for sharing with me." The bright peppy look is gone the moment she swivels to eye Xeoshen, though. Not that she's entirely unfriendly, there's just a critical, wary edge to the way she narrows her eyes towards him. "S'long as you're using the time for improvement and work, of course, not just taking it to slack off. That'd be the shame, it would."
Xeoshen nods to Taikrin. "Good a reason as any, ta enjoy it while we can." He says to her, cause, you know, she's right to a point, wouldn't that just be their luck? They did it to get their guard down. He turns to Saliqa. "Slackin' off? Hardly, aparently they aint got us doin' normal candidate chore, they got us still doin' what were was doin' before we were searched, so it aint like everythin's changed."
"Are you serious?!" Taikrin blanks at Saliqa, still more than a little baffled by the other girl. "You really-- huh. Kay." A sigh is given, then she slowly rises to her feet. "Speakin' of work, I should prolly get back t'the ol' pickaxe. Didn't say I could take /all/ afternoon off, rain or no rain." She takes a few steps back towards the stairs, then pauses, half-turning towards the group again. "Uh, guess I'll see y'all back at the barracks tonight. Huh." And thus she heads down the stairs and back out into the bowl, shaking her head all the while.
There's this tiny little smirk appearing at Taikrin's exclamation, but since Saliqa happens to be turned in the other direction, the female isn't privy to it. It's up to who's looking where if any of the other convicts are. The Cromite only glances over her shoulder for the obligatory, "Oh, goodbye, then. Yes, I suppose we will be seeing each other..." That minute press of the mouth again; her eyes grow doubtful. But a deep breath pulls it all inside until she's ready to aim a satisfied dismissal at Xeoshen. "If you're still working the convict line, that means you're still doing your sentence, then, doesn't it? So... I don't know. Six more sevendays. Maybe eggs take that long to hatch? Actually, that was for her, wasn't it. How... ummm, if you don't mind me being personal like... how long for you?"
Xeoshen blinks, and waves to Taikrin. "Aye, probably not much longer till I should get back too. See ya later, Taikrin." He says, with a sigh, and looks toward the guard a moment, before he looks to Saliqa. "Aye, guess it does, I guess they wanna make sure we don't get too comfortable, and think we can get away from it." He shakes his head. "Eh, me? Less than half a turn left, or till the project is over." He admits, which ever comes first, and assuming the people keep their word.
"Well, you shouldn't," Saliqa puts in carefully, stumbling a bit to hurry and explain, "Get away with it, I mean. Just like they shouldn't cut you short when it comes to getting done and being free to lead an honest life and all that. That's how it's done." Seems easy enough to her, though her accompanying shrug fancies one side higher than the other. "I keep meaning to go back, you know, see how the work's going on that rock, but all these things keep coming up. Oh! But your night off. Like that, that's coming up." She pauses, tracing a finger against her jaw, "Since you still work as a convict, you can still break with them."
Xeoshen blinks. "I didn't want to get away with it, but four turns for stealing clothes, was crazy." But then he nods, and listens. "Yeah, well, let's hope they keep their word about the release." He chuckles. "Which rock?" He asks. "I've been cracking plenty of rocks since I started working here." He admits. "They all start lookin' the same after a while." He remarks, and nods. "Eye, break rocks, and whatever they want us ta do." He pauses. "What did ya do again, before ya were searched?"
Saliqa returns to the practice of looking casually interested but not too invested in anything. Practice, because she's not an expert at it. Some modicum of disillusion passes by her face. "Four turns? For clothes. My. And here you were trying to tell us clothes weren't that important." When she teases, it's cautiously, her tone a touch gentler than makes a good joke, but only to keep any false mocking from it. "As for rocks I mean the meteor bit that came down, but who knows. A bit of digging, anything can be stuck inside where you least expect it. I've worked a bit with gems, see. I, uh, I made jewelry. For women. Actually, I still do, it's just become my first duty to do the chores instead."
Xeoshen snorts. "When I was a poor holder, and later a thief, we got clothes where we could." He remarks, andd shrugs. "They became not that important in the mines, because as I said, down there, nobody cares how you look, or what you wear, as long as it's sturdy enoughb to survive the work." He runs a hand through his hair. "I dunno, if I impress, or even durin' this 'candidacy', I might change my mind about clothes. Depends what happens."
"Seems to me you could do a little caring for yourself," Saliqa ventures, just as quickly shrugging this one off as well. It's unclear whether the gesture for him or for herself, to tell her to move on. Either way, she's doing that. Pushing off of the bench, she sets her hands at her waist and regards the gathered convicts, the guard - Xeoshen last. The tip of that smile sneaks back onto her face. "If you'd like a good mind for it not been in those mines that whole time, well, I guess I'm volunteering. I get paid for my fashion, so it can't be too bad." Humility spoken too prideful to be quite that. But she does dip her head sheepishly and then roll her neck and face up again in the scarf in preparation to head out into the cold.
Xeoshen shrugs. "Not like I had much use of it before." He says, and then raises an eyebrow. "Yer...volunteering?" He asks, and leans forward in seat. "I can't pay ya, but, if it would be nice ta have some nice clothes, whatever happens with me here." He admits, and looks to the guard, and then back to Saliqa, tilting his head. "Uh, thanks, it..would be appreciated." He says after a moment. At a gesture from the guard, he, and his group, get ready to go out. "Looks like our times up too, see ya later at the barracks."
"Volunteering," she repeats, "Seems right." Saliqa hovers long enough by the group as it gets to its feet to curtsy politely at several of them before the guard beckons for her to get the first step out of the galleries. Nodding at his manners, she flashes a last look over her shoulder for Xeoshen and then makes her way out into the bowl and its High Reaches weather.