Difference between revisions of "Logs:Impressions"

>---< Candidate Quarters, High Reaches Weyr(#286RAJ) >-----------------------<
  Two caverns lead one right into the other from a hallway just off the     
  Common Room. Taking advantage of the high, vaulted ceiling, bunk beds     
  march in five neat rows of five beds each allowing up to fifty people to  
  sleep in one cavern, although one of those caverns is presently largely   
  closed off. Functional and spartan in atmosphere, there's little in the   
  way of decoration here, just the one tapestry depicting a hatching on the 
  wall of the first cavern and eggs on the sands in the second.             
                                                                            
  Each bunk is made up when there are candidates in residence, with standard
  sheeting, gray woollen blankets and somewhat lumpy pillows. A trunk stands
  at both the head and foot of the bunks, providing a little space for the  
  occupants to store their belongings while the wait for the eggs to hatch. 
  The archway between the two spaces is covered over with a hide hanging,   
  easily hooked back when both caverns are in use, but tacked into place    
  when only the first is needed. A proper wooden door closes out noise and  
  drafts from the hallway.                                                  
 -----------------------------< Active Players >-----------------------------
  Keysi        F  16  5'7"  athletic, brown hair, blue eyes              13s 
  Laine        F  17  5'4"  trim, dark hair, grey eyes                    0s
 ----------------------------------< Exits >---------------------------------
                                  Common Room                               
>----------------------------------------< 5D 6M 37T I10, summer morning >---<

It's late in the morning on this sunny, early summer day. Breakfast has passed, and candidates with scheduled chores have trickled out to tend to their duties, leaving the barracks somehwhat more vacant than usual--especially considering the candidates' low numbers, overwall. There's about a half-dozen or so others, however, on their free days or having snuck a break, who remain behind. Two girls, Yesia and Paz, have crowded themselves onto the bunk above Laine's. They're holding their hands up, with a few fingers each curled into their palms. Paz is giggling, "Okay--okay. Never have I ever... had to hide a hickey." Yesia groans, and folds down one finger. Laine smothers a laugh into her pillow.

Keysi arrives in the barracks with her cheeks flushed a bit red, droplets of sweat on her brow, and the ripe odor of her chore today- feeding ground cleanup. Oh yes, early morning and she's already ticked something off the list. Or, at least what she could get done at this hour. Getting to her bunk, she tosses open the chest at the front of it, digging out some clothes that aren't quite as saturated with various stains and scents as her current. By now, she's used to random giggling around her, though for some reason the topic makes her cringe. Hickey. Ugh. Given her pause, she takes the moment to look up at the adjacent bunk, observing for a moment before asking "Laine, isn't it?"

The free time has given Farideh an opportunity to enjoy a midday bath, and now that she's back in the candidate quarters - moving slowly between the bunks and attempting to towel-dry her damp hair - she's looking much more fresh and content than earlier. It seems she too overhears the game the girls are playing on the bunk above and rolls her eyes ceiling-ward. "Hickeys? Really? How old are you two? About twelve?" Farideh makes a face, having stopped by the bunk to give them both her best glower for their intrusion on her perfect summer rest day. Her eyes drop to Laine trying to suffocate herself with a pillow, and then flick to Keysi, curiously.

Yesia manages a spectacular eyeroll in Farideh's direction, although crop-haired little Paz hunches her shoulders and looks deflated. Yesia grumbles, "Nevermind her," and, louder, says: "I've never had sex with a pirate." This rouses Laine, who sits upraight, her gravity-defying hair brushing the underside of the top bunk, and she thumps her fist into the wooden slats so the two girls above jump. The tanner apprentice scrubs one hand through her hair, and grins drowsily at Keysi. "Yeah. Keysi? You're never here, huh? --Hey, Farideh." She wipes what might be drool off her cheek. From above: "I've never peed in front of someone." Now it's Laine's turn to roll her eyes.

A quiet sigh joins a slight shake of her head as Keysi takes a step behind her bunk to exchange her shirt. She needs a bath badly, not just a change of clothes. But this apparently will have to do for now. A simple "'ey." towards Farideh is her greeting with an added "Sounds like it." and an unamused tilt of her head towards the pair on the top bunk, in reference to Fari's comment. The thump of Laine's hand on the bottom of the bunk to hush the pair have the healer silent a beat, studying the tanner with her overly stern eyes. "Aye, that's me. I do keep a bit busy. Sounds like they're trying to spread some rumors of you." Keys notes in regards to the hint at a pirate story.

Color creeps into the former laundress' cheeks, but she slants the two girls on the top of the bunk a narrowed look. "Like one would ever want you to begin with," is so elegantly mature, with a stubborn lifting of her chin. "You look like a dirty-faced little boy." Farideh gives them one last glare for good measure and then moves to sit down on the end of Laine's bed; without an invitation, even! "How'd you get such annoying neighbors? Can't you bribe Giorda to have them thrown out? What would a dragon want in them anyway?" She looks sulky, while she listens to Keysi. "Feather-brained little girls."

Yesia's halfway through her next ("--had a crush on someone way older--") when Faridah's barb strikes just the wrong--or right, maybe--chord. The redhead gasps and swings her legs over the bunk, wriggling down. Before she goes, she says tartly: "At least I'm not some- some... floozy. C'mon, Paz." Hold-bred Yesia sniffs, tosses her long hair, and stalks off. Little Paz follows in her wake, with a helpless glance over one shoulder. It looks like she even mouths "sorry" before she goes. "It's Yesia that sucks. Paz is actually pretty sweet," Laine comments as Yesia shoves angrily out the doors. "They can actually be pretty entertaining, if you don't think too hard about it. Sorry about the--" Laine grimaces, waves her hand. "Pirate thing. Dunno where they get that stuff."

Stern eyes get a severe touch to them as Yesia strikes again at Farideh. There's a moment that the healer stands quite rigidly still, as if there's a beat of a thought to go after her. In theory just to talk, of course.. in theory.. But given the pair's departure, the brief flare of intent passes, "I doubt they'll agree to kick anyone out at this point, given our numbers." Keysi, the rain on the parade, says as she shuffles away her stained tunic. "Unless they do something particularly rule-breaking." Obvious enough. "They should at least busy themselves with all the chores they should be doing, not wasting their time trying to cause problems." She mumbles, as if more irritated by it than she at first seemed.

The other girl's insult it met with a displeased mien, but Farideh wisely holds her tongue until they've exited stage left. "But," she points out to Keysi, trying to get her to understand, "who wants them on a dragon? They'd go around the Weyr, causing trouble, calling people floozies just for having sex, and there's a lot of that that goes on around here, with flights and--" She sucks in a breath and lets it out slowly, her face falling into hands, elbows on her knees. "Pirates?" Her eyes flick sideways, to Laine, one brow lifted dubiously. "Itsy and Drex, pirates? That's absurd. I know they're a bit unpolished and crass, but it's not like they go around murdering people and stealing things."

Laine, her cool grey eyes trained on the healer, offers a barely audible, "it's not worth it," to Keysi. The following. The 'talking'. The tanner, flicking a last look back to where the two have disappeared out the door, scratches at her chin and shrugs. "Paz is okay," she insists, "and Yesia, I think she's Hold-bred. Hasn't been here long." It's not intended an excuse for their behaviour, despite her words, and the apprentice flicks her fingers, dismissively, and meets that look from Farideh with a crooked smile. "Don't mind 'em. Anyway, could you imagine Itsy as a pirate? She's adorable. No one would take her seriously." Then, up to Keysi, Laine says uncertainly, "there's time yet. Maybe they'll bring more candidates in. Less like them, with any luck."

"But who wants hatchlings going Between." Is returned to Farideh, though Keysi raises a hand slightly as if she agrees with the alternate opinion more. "Drex.. the one at the stables? Seemed like he was working on looking like one." That may not have been as helpful as her statements before, though it's out of her mouth before she thinks about it. Laine's words, soft as they are, and perhaps moreso her stare, draw an intense and curious look in return. The healer folds her arms, leaning back against her bunk's rail. "Maybe they will. Though it's seemed to slow down as of late."

"Go between? Wouldn't they just--" Farideh frowns, shaking her head slowly from side to side, as though she's unsure what they would do if there's no one there to claim them. "That isn't an excuse. I'm Holdbred," conveniently forgetting her own epic arrival to the Reaches; time wears on the memory. "You can't go around people floozies unless you have a very good reason, like they slept with your boyfriend." She chews on her lower lip thoughtfully, slipping into her own musings, while the other two girls talk. Then, glancing up at Keysi, and to Laine next, "Yes, that guy. Drex. I know he looks like he has no morals, and really he probably doesn't but--" Her lips twist into a smile. "He said Itsy was going to be the Captain of their ship. She's the fearsome one. She pulls all the strings, you know. Tells him what to do."

Laine's own doubtful frown matches Farideh's. The tanner apprentice chews on one finger, listening, though she's not oblivious to Keysi's sharp gaze, and she turns her uncertain expression between Keysi and Farideh, looking for confirmation. "They don't," (go between, that is) "do they? Rather have Yesia calling me a floozy than a dead dragon." The thought gives Laine pause, her thick brows drawing together over troubled grey eyes. "That's not--they wouldn't let that happen." Whoever they are. That unseasiness clears slightly as Laine's mouth curls at mention of Itsy As Captain. "She would."

"Where else would they go? They can't wait on the Sands forever, and they won't just take whoever is.. left over." Keysi looks down to the floor in thought, "I've never seen a Hatching myself. I've never seen it happen." She doesn't seem entirely disturbed by it, though her neutral demeanor hides anything well. "I've not met Itsy." She shifts subjects as she rather idly scratches at a stain on the floor near her with the toe of her boot. "But perhaps she can help him be a bit more.. productive." Given she's only seen him once, her thoughts on him remain as 'that lazy guy with the broken nose in the loft.'

"I don't remember any stories about dragons that just--" Farideh stops, looks up, exhales loudly. "Go between, and wouldn't we? If it was something that happened? Maybe they do just pick whoever is there. If not Yesia, then maybe someone smarter, nicer." It's an optimistic thought, certainly a happier ending than the insult-happy holder girl Impressing one of the hatchlings in Niahvth's eggs. "Itsy's a sailor too. She's best friends with Drex, and they sail together. She's only so tall," with her hand at the right height, "and has interesting hair." Of Drex's lack of productiveness, there's a secretive smile, but a touch of agreement as well. "They've been together a while. I doubt if she hasn't helped him by now, she'll change anything in future, though I think he's supposed to help here and there around until their ship is finished."

Swinging her legs, her socked feet brushing across the floor, Laine wraps her arms around her chest. "That's awful. I've never seen a hatching, either," she adds to Keysi, looking visibly more blanched at the prospect of a dragonet going between than the healer. She looses one hand to rub at her nose, nodding at Farideh. "Or pick someone from the stands. I've heard that happens, sometimes." In any case. Laine chuckles for the description of Itsy and Drex. "Not sure I've ever seen Drex do something that even smells like work," the candidate says. She sucks her teeth. "Wasn't that ship supposed to be finished ages ago?"

"That's true. I've heard of people in the stands Impressing as well. I guess that adds quite a number of potentials, even if not officially candidates." Keysi doesn't seem to really enjoy that concept, but it's something. Better than the more morbid note she was on, anyway. "Keysi." A voice calls from the doorway, and a timid assistant has his head through but seems scared to enter all the way. "We need you in the infimary for a few hours. The other apprentice is sick." Not entirely unexpected, Keys shifts to walk out. Smelly as she is, maybe they'll send her away to at least bathe before being up close and personal with people. "Apologies." She offers the pair as she grabs a clean jacket from over her head on her bunk and steps away.

"I hope one of the dragons Impresses someone in the stands, and not Yesia," Farideh says snottily, not even pretending to hide her pout. "Better a stranger than her. Better anyone than her. I think I'd rather see H'vier Impress again, with me, than her." Someone has a new nemesis, it would seem. Still, there's the slight tilting of her head towards Laine. "I figure he must, on a ship, otherwise they would throw him overboard, but there's no sails to climb or anchors to drop here." She's pensive, for a moment, and then: "Oh. Yes. It was supposed to be ready in the spring, but it's--" not, obviously. Her brows draw together and her lips curve into a frown, that follows Keysi as she leaves.

Laine chuckles softly, ducking her head and scrubbing fingers through her hair as she eyes Farideh sidelong. "Easy. We'll put itching powder in her cot, or something, okay? This one's Paz's," the tanner hurries to point out, flicking her index finger at the bunk above, tracking Keysi's departure with a turn of her head, "so don't, like, light it on fire or anything." Draping her arms back, now, Laine sprawls out on the cot. "Poor Drex. Lost at seas. Sailor without a ship. Like a Weyr without a gold." The candidate doesn't sound... entirely... genuine in her sympathy, but hey--she's met the guy. "Huh. Wonder what happened."

The suggestion brings genuine amusement to Farideh's face, in the brightness of her eyes and the curl of lips. "That has merit, or--" She flicks her eyes to the side, at some inscrutable point off in the distance, "--shove a tunnelsnake in her pillow. It's only fitting." She stands up, then, and combs fingers through her mostly-dry hair. "Maybe Lord Devaki never intended to give them a ship. Maybe after the last one crashed he thought better of it. Maybe after Lady Issedi was murdered--" She winces. "They might just have to find a new ship or a new benefactor, or accept Weyr life." That makes her giggle a little, but she's already turning away, moving towards her own bunk. "Later?" Later.

For all those suggestions, Laine just grunts thoughtfully, although she drawls dryly (apparently to the bunk above her): "You get the tunnelsnake, I'll get the pillow." Then she's silent, with nothing to offer for the fate of Drex and Itsy's boat. She kicks her feet around, so she's lolled out on her own bed, the lazy candidate manages to lift one hand and twinkle her fingers in parting. "Later," she echoes.