Logs:Where Are The Dusters?
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| RL Date: 13 March, 2013 |
| Who: Alida, Sabella, Xhaeon |
| Involves: High Reaches Weyr |
| Type: Log |
| What: Xhaeon and Sabella escape dusting duty. Alida sows chaos with a tunnelsnake. Maybe, possibly, something gets lifted by light fingers. |
| Where: Inner Caverns, High Reaches Weyr |
| When: Day 20, Month 3, Turn 31 (Interval 10) |
| Weather: Windy. |
| Mentions: Nicky/Mentions, Wakizian/Mentions |
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| Inner Caverns, High Reaches Weyr(#270RJs) Within the labyrinth of interconnected chambers that make up the inner caverns, this large, long cavern serves both as a crossroads and a comfortable place for weyrfolk to sit, talk, and keep a nosy eye out for who's going where. Colorful, seasonal tapestries add warmth to the smooth walls and reduce echoes, while large niches house clusters of chairs, and a waist-high stone shelf along one wall provides a perch for drinks or work for residents on the go. Worn brass hooks often hold jackets or other outerwear with workboots stationed beneath, the transitory nature of the cavern lending itself to being treated as a sort of communal foyer where snowy or muddy gear can be kept outside of living quarters. Smaller, higher niches at regular intervals hold glowbaskets kept fresh during the daytime and allowed to dim somewhat at night. The largest tunnels lead to the main living cavern, to the bowl and to the Weyr entrance, but it's still easy for the uninitiated to get lost within this maze.
She hasn't been in the candidate quarters too long, so Sabella and her still fresh white knot might be a new sight to the journeyman. The teenager comes more or less wandering out of one of the side tunnels, trailing her fingers along the stone wall. She's a swish of long skirts and her knit hat hangs from one of her hands, lightly gripped. It doesn't seem like she really has any destination in mind, but she slows and watches Xhaeon help with those glow baskets with some mild interest. His commentary generates a short little laugh and as she passes, she'll chime in, "You're tall enough, I hear they keep dusters down the way there." And she'll point in some direction before turning her back on him and continuing on. "You could go get it for him, then, now couldn't you lass?" The woman who comandeered Xhaeon has no problems with also comandeering Sabella into this whole operation. The greyhaired woman has her own hands full with carefully handing over glows and trashing the ones that have gone out. Xhaeon straightens from leaning up to tuck the current glowbasket into place, and turns grey eyes to lasso'd Sabella with mild amusement (ha! he's not the only one shang-hei'd!). Eyes land on her knot, and amusement shades into a bit of sympathy; "New, are you?" His baritone marks him from Telgar, his knot twining candidate-knot with Smith cords. Oh, damn it. Thankfully that woman won't be able to see the way that Sabella rolls her eyes up towards the ceiling just now. She'll only get the flash of a smile as she turns around and nods. "Of course I could." Cheerful agreement as she steps back to journeyman-candidate, slipping her arm through his. "We'll just go find that duster right now. And I'll take that from you, so you don't have to hold it for him anymore." She's all bustle, smiles and getting them down whatever passage it was that she pointed them towards. Away from the taskmaster, far away. Then somewhere in all of that she'll manage to answer, "You could say that. I've been here for a little while. Sabs. I'm sorry, I never got your name?" Her voice lifts at the end in question, tipping her chin up to regard him. The matron is probably a little gape-jawed at how quickly Sabella has reappropriated Xhaeon's book (and Xhaeon himself), but Xhaeon won't quite know, since he's being steered down some kind of back alley. His amusement is now focused downwards at the girl, lips quirked in a crooked grin. "Xhaeon," he fills in easily enough; "Thank you for rescuing me, Sabs. Or were you more interested in rescuing yourself?" A glint to that grey gaze, lips tugged up even more on one side: irrascible really is a good word for that particular expression. He'll rescue his sketchbook from her after a moment, should she give it up, but not bother with stepping apart, as if he escorts sweet little things about the lower caverns on a daily basis. "Allow me to welcome you to High Reaches?" Sabella will toss the matron a little wiggle of her fingers over her shoulder as they're walking away. Bye. The passageway she leads them down doesn't seem likely to be bringing them anywhere near some sort of supply closet however. It actually is rather back alley-ish. "Lets just say that I'm a very generous girl and I rescued you out of the kindness of my heart." The smile she delivers now is sly and she accompanies it with a wink. For fun she doesn't release his sketchbook right away, tugging back on it playfully before giving it up into his hands. "Oh, thank you so much. Do you do this sort of thing often, welcome new people to the weyr?" Glancing back the way they came, she tips her chin up at him again and her look is a bit mischievous. "Can I confess something to you, Xhaeon?" Walking a pretty girl down a back alley isn't necessarily the worst thing that Xhaeon's done today. The new hair-cut came in timely, even if his shoulders are dusty and he has a smear of something-or-another high on one cheekbone where he accidentally smudged dirt trying to wipe away cobwebs. He'll stop when she tugs, arm still-linked, the motion one of those to swing her around to face him, the better for him to step back and offer an exaggerated sycophant's bow. "I find myself indebted, m'lady, for your services, and await your confession with eager ears." He stands expectant, glancing over his shoulder and stepping in closer again - perhaps closer than before - and dropping his head closer as if discussing a truly confidential matter, laughing eyes light upon Sabella's features. Making her way through the inner caverns - a few heavy rucksacks and what looks like a three-tined mini pitchfork over shoulder and in hand - the alert form of Alida appears around a bend, the holder gal's features tensed in concentration. The reason for such might soon become apparent to anyone looking her way, as the young woman has finally cornered a rather large tunnelsnake in a very shallow niche in a wall...her pitchfork-like apparatus of about three feet long hefted like a javelin in the blonde's right hand. A loud and very aggravated hiss is given off by the scaly beastie, who's already reared up and begun weaving its upper section through the air. She laughs, giggles rather when he makes that sudden motion that has her swinging in front of him. The broad smile is schooled down into a more serious pursing of her lips, though her dimples are still readily apparent on her cheeks. Sabs doesn't seem too concerned with the close proximity and steps forward herself, putting one hand onto his shoulder and leaning in to whisper, "I have no idea where the dusters are." The tone she conveys makes it sound like that was news of the upmost importance, even if it was most certainly teasing. The candidate would be pulling away now but instead her breath hitches and her fingers tigthen on him, "Ugh, I hate when they stab them." Her voice is vaguely horrifed and pitched low. "Honesty is the one of the finest traits a young woman could possess," Xhaeon intones with the studied nasal tonality of a pompous Harper, not minding the closeness of Sabs or her girlish giggle one whit. His infectious smile changes into an expression of mild alarm when the hiss is heard, and unthinking he draws her to a side, imposing himself between the unknown threat and the girl. (This is why heros die, guys. They don't ever think.) But it turns out that it's just Alida and a tunnelsnake, and he shakes his head. "Oh. Well, we don't have to watch it," he offers, keeping himself between her and the situation-at-hand; but honor dictates that he calls out, "Alida? You okay?" with a glance towards the larger-than-normal tunnelsnake. If she could spare a look, ALida might just eyeroll and smirk at Xhaeon's antics with Sabella, but she's utterly rapt, her green eyes narrowed some, features slightly tensed, body thrumming like a bow string. At the Harper's call down the short tunnelway, the guard clips off an intense, low, "Got it..." though her eyes never leave the fanged serpent threatening her. Oops... apparently it almost got *her*, actually, because for that one moment of slightly lesser concentration when she was answering Xhaeon, the holder is almost nabbed by aforementioned fangs upon her weapon-holding hand. "*Fuck*..." is barked out in an odd, slightly angry growl, the palest-blonde's lips thinning as she jerks back. It's at this point that the tunnelsnake tries to make a run (or would that be a slither?) for it, hurling itself forward out of the niche, and towards the pair of other humans. She's not afraid of the tunnelsnake or anything, just expressing a certain strong distaste for seeing it impaled right in front of her. Sabella wrinkles her nose and doesn't object when the large man draws her off to the side. She doesn't quite end the contact of her hand to his shoulder either, instead using it to draw herself around and peek past him to see what's going on. "That would be really just, amazing. So totally amazing if we didn't have to watch it. She looks like she's got this." ...Or does she? Sigh. The brunette watches how it all unfolds from around Xhaeon, eyes rapt to the animal as it slithers down the passageway towards them. Her mouth turns into a grimace and should the thing get too close to her, the hairdresser will have no qualms about directing a booted heel right at it. Even if it is gross. So gross. The Smith watches Alida a moment longer - and a good thing, since the tunnelsnake is heading their way right after escaping from the Parsian candidate. With an exasperated sigh, the man does something he isn't seen often in public doing: he responds to the situation with a level of controlled violence that could be frightening, given Xhaeon's size, if the target wasn't something like the tunnelsnake in question. He's wearing boots, see, and is never far from his bootknife, so when the damn thing comes at him he's stomping hard on the head of it with a well-placed stomp to pin it in place, reaching down to start the onerous task of sawing the head off the body. It's gruesome, yeah? And the sounds are horrible. The damn thing's hisses sound like screams, and the body jerks around frantically, though Xhaeon's steady hands and balanced weight make it obvious that it's not going anywhere until the job is done. (Poor Sabs. She may want to back away. Ichor's going everywhere.) Pouncing in her own controlled fashion after the fleeing tunnelsnake. Alida misses stabbing its tail with her weapon by a hair, ready to call out to the pair beyond her... And then Xhaeon's drawing on the slithery thing and stomping and hacking its brains out/off. With a slight brow-lift and a cessation of her forward motion, 'lida simply watches the Harper take care of business - albeit in a pretty gut-splattering fashion - her greens glittering for a moment. Once the noise has died away some comes the Pars hold gal's laconic alto quip, "Someone should drink less klah..." Smiirrrrk. Clear, deep green eyes flick from Xhaeon to Sabella, studying the newer candidate in general fashion. Oh, so gross. So gross. Really. Ugh. Sabella retracts her hand from Xhaeon and turns away. There's no screaming or squeals of protest from the girl, just silence as she bites down on her lower lip. Hard. Now and again she glances back to him to see if he's still working on killing it. Ichor gets on her boots and once she notices her expression falls even further. "Oh. These are my favorite." There's a bit of a sigh there and once the job is done she drags her eyes away from the floor, sweeping past her protector and along to Alida. The smirk garners something of a frown, one that she schools away quickly. She reaches into her jacket and pulls out a handkerchief and kneels down to wipe off her shoes. Silent, she reaches over the still kneeling smith to offer it to him. The job is done, even if it takes him a moment to hack through the rest of it. Once done, Xhaeon kicks the head of it up the tunnel with an expression of disgust, looking down at his now-quite-ruint clothes with a deepening of the expression. When Alida speaks, he focuses grey eyes - suddenly as chill as sterling - up and over to the guard-candidate. "Someone should be more careful," is his level-voiced reply, before he turns back to check the status of his erstwhile linked-arm companion. "I'm sorry," so apologizes Xhaeon to Sabs and her crestfallen attention to her boots; "I'll have them cleaned if it looks like they may stain." He's holdbred. He knows about these things. He waves off her hankerchief in favor of shirking out of his outer shirt and using the relatively clean inside to wipe down arms and hands and blot the worst of the mess off his pants. It's a little chill for the undershirt he's wearing underneath, but beggars can't be choosers. "Are you okay, other than your boots?" His voice has only a lackluster attempt at the humor of prior-to-tunnelsnake attack. Well now, that reaction is different, coming from Xhaeon, and to it, Alida offers another bit of a raised brow, plus a smart-assed, "Someone also needs an attitude adjustment..." Sure isn't her, for once. Noting the gross leftovers of the former tunnelsnake, the blonde simply shrugs and pivots about, intending to walk back off where she originally came from, and leave the cooing pair of candidates to each other... and to cleaning up the mess that the Smith made. The chill that falls between the two candidates has Sabella darting her gaze between the both of them. She slips her quiet attention back onto Xhaeon and watches as he removes that outershirt. For his offer on getting her boots cleaned, the twitch of a smile works its way onto her face once again. "Oh, don't worry about it. I think that I got it off quick enough. They're made of tougher stuff than they look." Alida is speaking again and the newest candidate is giving the other girl a long assessing look. It comes with a flick of her eyes up and down, then dismisses her entirely without saying a word. Instead she pulls her own jacket off and offers it to the smith. "I'm fine. Do you want to wear my jacket? You look like you're going to be cold." It's a completely ludicrous offer, he obviously won't fit into it. So the lift of her eyebrows and the tiny smile are a teasing invitation for him to try and shake off that lackluster cloud that has taken him on. Adrenaline does strange things to a person. Anyhow, it's not like Alida hasn't already vocally spoken her (poor) opinion about Xhaeon anyhow; the young man doesn't seem anything more than exasperated when she slinks off to leave them with the mess. He watches her go for a moment, then shakes his head and tosses his balled-up overshirt on top of the carcass. Any frustration that may continue to perculate disappears at the offer, and his laughter rings loud for a moment: "Oh, sure, let me just rip the side out of it and the arms down the sleeves," he laughs in response to Sabella, shaking his head with a grin. Alida is gone and she gives a quiet sigh of relief. "I noticed her before, but. She's always like that?" It's asked in a way that's prompting for confirmation on some conclusion that she's likely already reached all on her own. When his laughter returns, her smile broadens and she responds in kind. Sabella glances down at his shirt on the floor and she shakes her head. "Well, I have more just like this one. I'd willingly give it up to you out of the kindness of my heart. Remember, I'm very generous." She's ready to return to the light hearted banter of just a few minutes ago. Reaching out she pokes at his upper arm and then nods, her mouth pulling to the side. "See, you look like a Smith." Evidently she recognized the dual-knot on him earlier. "No, she can be worse," Xhaeon replies, Telgar accent carrying a wry twist of droll humor. "She's always skulking around. Doesn't like to talk much, and when she does, she's ..." He gestures off after her, vaguely, in a 'well kind of like that' way. "Most of the others are remarkably good kids," he comments, the absent tone to his voice indicating he's not really thinking about what he's saying. Sabella's other words prompt another laugh, though, and he shakes his head again. "Very generous. My thanks double, m'lady Sabs." He just likes calling everyone lady. Ask Waki. "Could be that I am," he comments to that last; "Just maybe." Light amusement. His head cocks to a side and he assesses the girl for a long moment. "You don't look like a crafter," he announces after a moment. Her jacket is shrugged back on around her shoulders."A bitch?" Sabella puts out there bluntly, one eyebrow lifting. It's enough. She gives a wave of one of her delicate hands. "We were having a good time until she strolled along. Lets not talk about her." Since it doesn't seem right to just leave the mess there on the floor, even if it is covered with a shirt, she takes a breath and kneels down. Her skirts cover the floor a bit, possibly obscuring his sight of some things that have been left laying there. With tentative hands she pulls the mass of fabric, ichor and dead animal body together into one messy bundle. She tips her gaze up to him and laughs, "Could be that you are? You're much bigger than the other 'Smiths'." Quotation marks used, yes. "Oh, I don't?" Sabs shoots up to him airily, a teasing smile presented up to him now. "What do I look like?" "Yeah, I guess so." Xhaeon seems to be reluctant to say so, even though Alida is a great demonstrator of that personality type all on her own. He's quick to help when it's obvious she means to put things aright as far as the mess on the floor, too; the big man stoops, shooing her hands away from the ichor-stained mess. "You shouldn't be doing this," he chides, because obviously she doesn't look like a cleaning lady, either. He's sopping at the mess with what-used-to-be-his-shirt, trying to make it more compact and with less overall horribleness. He's only halfway succesful. He pauses, almost up to his elbow in gore, to cock his head at the girl in thought. "What other Smiths have you run into?" is a little teasing, followed by a more thoughtful, "You look like..." A heartbreaker? He doesn't go for that. Or for the future-bad-decision, either. "You look like a hold girl," he finally says, "But you don't act like one." Since one of those would likely have gone shrieking running away from the tunnelsnake, aye? "Doing what?" Sabella puts back innocently enough, batting her 'lashes at him with wide green eyes. But she once again doesn't argue, deferring to him as he shoos her hands away. She doesn't get up out of her kneel however, just shifts carefully away from him and the mess. And should her hands touch the ground, touch her skirts and arrange them carefully... What of it? "Nicky. But well. He said he wasn't a Smith-Smith in his defense. And he brought up that Waki- Waki-whoever and said he wasn't all muscled up. Actually-" Her eyebrows draw together thoughtfully. "Actually, he said that he wore dresses sometimes. I've never met a Smith that was a man that wore a dress." Her mischievous smile returns, "So, not like you. Since you're not skin and bones and you're not wearing women's clothes." She settles her arms across her knees and watches him. What he says garners a laugh, it sounds almost delighted. "Well, I am a hold girl. I can give you that much. What does one of those act like though, if I can ask?" "Nicky..." Xhaeon's bright laugh is just that - bright - at the comment of Wakizian and his dresses. "He dressed up as a woman on Turn's End," he explains. "We call him Lady Smith, from time to time." No. He's not ever going to let it die. It's too funny! He can't help but be charmed at the compliment - what red-blooded man wouldn't be, right? - and lose track of where things may be. Like something he'll be missing a little later on... "Hold girls? Well. They... range." He glances over his shoulder at the sound of feet approaching -- a different lower-caverns worker, clucking over the mess. "It was very nice to meet you, Sabs. Maybe next time will be over better circumstances, aye?" His flashed grin is rueful, before he carefully gathers up the dripping bundle of shirt-and-tunnelsnake and follows the clucking hen... er... assistant headwoman off to dispose of said mess. He'll even toss a last rueful expression over one shoulder in departing, an exaggerated 'why me' kind of expression, before disappearing behind a curve and into a different cavern. "Oh, Lady Smith. I'll have to remember that when I get the chance to meet him personally." Sabella has her own bright laugh for that, endlessly amused by the stories she's been hearing. She remains there listening to the rest of his explanation, "...Range." It's responded to a little dryly, but then there are lower-caverns workers wandering through, so it probably can't be helped. "Well, hopefully they'll be over less bloody circumstances. At least." She flashes him a cheerful smile and gets to her feet after he does. And so he may never even notice that she's once again holding his book, tucking it quickly under one arm and disappearing down a seemingly random side-side passageway. Xhaeon is notably clueless. Then again? Most men are. |
Comments
Comments on "Logs:Where Are The Dusters?"Alida (Alida (talk)) left a comment on Wed, 13 Mar 2013 04:53:14 GMT.
She's a biiiiiiiiiitch! :D
Azaylia (Dragonshy (talk)) left a comment on Thu, 14 Mar 2013 00:31:39 GMT.
Alida sure is friendly. Not. :D
XHAEON. A MAN OF ACTION. Sabella! A lady of... stealing things. >:l Bad candie! No biscuit!
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