Difference between revisions of "Logs:Suspicions (2)"

It's been a long day, for a certain former-baker candidate. While Razi's still tending to his baking duties (which means rising pre-dawn), his afternoon consists of reading old, boring treaties, which might explain the faint smudges of inks on one of his cheeks. Having gotten a little nap during the lesson, he's still relieved when the harper releases him, slouching his way into the barracks and making a beeline for his cot, one over from Dal's. Almost immediately, he collapses onto his cot, letting out a big, dramatic groan.

Dal, whose duties have had him in the storage caverns for most of the day, must have been released earlier than Razi, because he's already back in the barracks, and even (more or less) /clean/. Sitting cross-legged upon his cot, his attention is focused upon the stick of apple-wood he's whittling at, wood shavings caught in the rag he's spread upon the covers. Still, Razi's dramatics have his dark eyes lifting. "You've ink on your face," he points out.

Bria's entrance follows a few minutes after Razi's and she looks just as bright-eyed and bushy-tailed as usual. Whatever duties she had today must not have been physical enough to drain her of any happy energy. Her steps are light as she moves through the barracks toward where her cot is, waving to Dal and Razi both with a bright smile. "Wonderful day, isn't it?" That's probably a rhetorical question.

"Huh?" Razi lifts his head blearily from the pillow to squint in Dal's direction, and makes a halfhearted swipe at his cheek that probably only just spreads it more. "About to go to the baths- when I can get up again," he says. "Maybe I can find some cute girl to scrub it off for me-" and then he goes quiet, because Bria's coming in and, "Oh, hi, Bria," without a trace of embarrasement.

Dal gestures with his hand as if to give a better indication of where that ink stain is, though evidently he changes his mind on the use of it; a moment later, he's shaking his head and returning that hand to his carving. His eyebrows do raise at Razi's remark on cute girls, but Bria's arrival forestalls any remark on /that/ front. "Evening," he offers, neutrally. "It's been too nice a day to be indoors, certainly."

If Bria hears anything about cute girls washing anything, she pretends that she didn't, pausing near the end of the boys' cots because talking to her is *obviously* an invitation of sorts. "You look tired," she says to Razi, eyeing him for a moment before smiling at Dal. "Well, it's a little cold outside for my taste. I think curling up by a nice fire would be very nice." And since she's already standing there, Bria moves around to settle herself on the edge at the end of Razi's cot.

Razi's Fort Sea accent is less apparent at the moment, sliding more into a drawl reminiscent of Bria's Bollian- or maybe he's just emulating her again. "Won't miss being outdoors in a few sevens, it'll be cold as-" there might've been a curseword about to be voiced, but he doesn't continue, instead futilely scrubbing at his cheek again. With his height, he has to bend his legs for Bria to have enough room to perch there, though he doesn't seem possessive about his cot. "Used to finishing work by early afternoon and having time for a nap," he adds, punctuating this with a yawn.

Although Dal /had/ been glancing at Bria as she made herself comfortable, his gaze abruptly slides back to Razi when the younger man speaks, a deep furrow marring his forehead. "I'll grant you," he says, sounding placid enough despite whatever caught his attention, "now that the sun's gone down, it's definitely nicer indoors. It won't be long before winter, now. You're a... baker, aren't you, Razi? No wonder. /I'm/ used to being outdoors all day. In the orchards. Or out on the docks, when I was at Fort Sea."

Bria tilts her head to keep Razi in view as she pulls her legs up to settle in cross-legged. She's definitely not shy and she's probably curious about his drawl. But she doesn't say anything about it right now. "I'm not looking forward to winter," she says with a brief wrinkle of her nose. "Almost enough to make me consider going home." But only almost. "Oh! You're a baker? That's so sweet. What did you do before?" the last question is directed to Dal.

"Uh-huh," Razi's grunt confirms Dal's speculation. "Oh, you're from Fort Sea... too?" He pushes up onto one elbow to squint at Dal, his expression briefly uneasy. After a brief pause, his gaze flickers towards the girl perched on the end of his cot, kind of quickly, "Hey, Bria- have you teamed up with anyone for the assignment yet?"

In comes Elise, tugging the ribbon that ties her hair back and up and away from her face, to get it to come undone. She finds her cot, having to bob and weave around a couple of the other candidates as they make their way out, and sets herself down primly there atop the quilt. She begins braiding her hair, though isn't so internally focused that she doesn't watch the others as they talk.

"No," says Dal. "No, I'm from Fort Hold. But I spent a few turns at Fort Sea." It doesn't seem to be in his nature to be /suspicious/... and yet, there's something in his expression, even so. Something /watchful/. Still, as he goes back to whittling, turning the piece of wood in his hands as he works at it with his knife, he's easy in his answer to Bria: "Orchard worker. Would've been out collecting the last of the apples, today, if things'd been different."

"Uh," says Bria at the question offered by Razi while she's still working out the nuances of his exchange with Dal. "No. I guess I haven't." Since she's mostly focused on the boys, she doesn't really notice Elise in particular among the other candidates in the barracks. Dal's answer piques her curiosity and she asks, "Would you rather be picking apples than being here?" It's pretty obvious that an affirmative answer isn't what she's expecting.

"Oh, right." Razi's suddenly very interested in Bria- or maybe he's just avoiding Dal's gaze all of a sudden. He lies back down, sticking one hand under his head so that he can kind of watch the others, but he goes abruptly quiet, occasionally absently scrubbing at his inked-cheek.

The potential for growing tension in the room isn't lost on Elise, who watches between Razi and Dal while she does up her braids. And then there was Bria. "You haven't a partner yet? Want to be mine?" Because maybe that's a fun kind of distraction or something? Maybe? If there is need for one. And she finishes both braids, folds a leg up under her and clasps her hands in her lap. "Apple-picking seems a terribly boring job."

It's only when Elise actually speaks that Dal seems to register her presence - but at least when he does, he goes far enough to glance in her direction and give her a little nod. Hi. "Apple picking's not so bad, really. It's - well, you're /outside/, and it's physical, but not so difficult you don't have time to think. I miss the outside. I'm not unhappy to be here, though." Maybe there's long enough, as he says that, for Razi to think he's off the hook. But then? "Razi, you and I should be partners, since the girls have paired up."

Razi, too, was unaware of Elise's presence, and startles a little, peering in her direction. When she asks Bria to be partners, there's a hunching of his shoulders, and when /Dal/ asks, a long, awkward pause. AWK-WARD. "Uh, yeah. I guess," barely murmured, in that awkward Fort Sea accent of his.

Well, Bria hadn't *responded* to the question yet but since the boys are going to be like that (and probably because she would have said yes anyway), Bria glances over at Elise, smiles brightly and says, "I'd love to be your partner. And I'm sure you can go pick as many apples as you like after this is all over. Maybe you won't even Impress and you can go back to them." Again to Dal, though Bria makes it would like it's something she thinks he might actually like.

There, that's settled, and Elise doesn't really notice if she just ruined any team-making plans. And as for anyone noticing or not noticing her, she doesn't seem to notice or not notice that, so. A wry little smile curves her mouth when she thinks on what Impressing, then picking apples for a living might look like, and she adds, "You could have your dragon help. 'Reach the tall ones for me'."

"But then I'd miss out being up in the trees," points out Dal, cheerful enough (even if he's not actually smiling - his smiles are pretty rare). "And my dragon might damage the trees." He barely even glances at Razi, now, despite the younger man's awkward agreement... but that doesn't mean he hasn't noticed, oh no. "It feels strange, saying 'my dragon'. Or is that just me?"

"What do you do for the rest of the Turn? When the apples aren't ready to be picked?" Razi asks, perhaps to keep the apple-momentum going. Elise's comment for a /dragon/ helping earns a startled look. "Do you think dragons would do that? They always seem so... lofty and..." he trails off, "Ivwynoth was kind of frightening, though." He shakes his head briefly at Dal's comment, presumably in agreement.

"Well, you don't have one yet so saying it probably shouldn't feel very normal, should it?" At least that makes perfect sense to Bria. "I'm sure they'd be willing to help, though. Dragons are wonderful like that. Maybe one could help you plant your own orchard somewhere, even." And maybe Bria has a very naive view of the world. And dragons. And riders. But at least she sounds happy about it!

Elise seems pleased about this turn of conversation, her little smile lingering. "Oh I don't know," she replies to Razi, playing with one of those braids. "I think yours would, if you asked. And yes," that's for Dal, "it's weird. It's why I don't say it." When Bria agrees, or says like things, she nods along, see? "Exactly."

Dal sets down the knife he's been whittling with, and glances in Razi's direction again, casually. "There's always work to be done," he says. "Pruning, preparation, things like that. Trees need to be cared for. Like... fishing boats, even when they're not being used. I think," and now, he's shifting his attention around, glancing at one face and then the next, "dragons can be whatever way they like. From what /I/ can see, anyway. My point was that I don't know if I can see myself with a dragon. Can you guys, really?"

If Razi seems more awkward at the discussion of dragons, well - who wouldn't be, right? He pushes up into a seated position, tugging a hand through hair, frowning. "Dragons planting orchards? No," he's quick to refute Bria, like he's some sort of expert, which he's probably not. Again, in that Bollian sort-of-drawl, "But dragonriders get to do /anything/. I mean, it's like being a Blood without actually needing to be Blood, but better. People do /everything/ for you." Nevermind that there's a couple of Bloods in the room, he's oblivious to that - and he's sounding rather jealous, too. As for Dal's question: "I dunno - I can. I think I'd be good at it," and it's not exactly arrogant, just, /certain/.

Backed up by her fellow female, Bria's confidence in her 'knowledge' of dragons is only encouraged. "I've been dreaming about being a goldrider since I was a little girl. Getting whisked away by a handsome bronzerider." Does E'ten know he's become her handsome bronzerider? Probably not. Poor guy! Fortunately she's distracted by Razi's comparison of dragonriders to Blooded with a wrinkle of her nose and briefly narrowed eyes at his Bollian inflection. "People don't do everything for anyone." So there.

Yes. There /are/ a couple of Bloods in the room, aren't there. Elise's eyes narrow on Razi, not aggressively, like maybe they might have before, but... /narrowly/. "Yes, being Blood must be wonderful. You get all of that attention, and the /wealth/. And being able to do whatever you please. And having every decision made for you before you're even aware of it. /Yes/." That. She nods again at Bria, as if giving her the go-ahead with her comment. In agreement again~ "/I/ haven't thought about having a dragon. It's too strange a concept. Right now, the eggs are pretty to look at and I'm sort of... happy. Here."

Clear and impossibly blue skies lead to a rest day in the sun, though you couldn't tell it by the stack of hides and rare book that Oreithiya carries back into the barracks, towards the cot assigned to her. She pauses at the entrance to the Barracks, to get a better grip on her bundle, before stepping carefully through the crowded room to ensure nothing falls. Rei just doesn't /quite/ have the luck, as the top-most hide wobbles and trails off as the girl walks, pulling another, and another, until there's a little trail of work following her until she dumps it all onto her cot. Catching snatches of talks of dragons earns a curious look shot to the group, though she merely greets, "Hello," as she goes about collecting her breadcrumb-style hides.

Dal opens his mouth, as though he intends to say something on the subject of Bloods, but the two girls get there first; he shuts his mouth again, listening. Afterwards, in a measured tone, "I don't think dragonriding is quite as easy as all that. Especially goldriding." His fingers grasp for his knife again, though the piece of wood remains flat upon the cloth covering his bed. It's rude of him, perhaps, to do nothing more than glance vaguely on Oreithiya's direction as she passes, but he's abruptly distracted: he's back to giving Razi a wary, wary look. "You don't sound much like you're from Fort Sea," he remarks. Subtle... well, no. Subtle he is not.

"What do you think /we're/ doing right now?" Razi counters to Bria, although he's kind of- well, he backs up a little on his cot to leave some space between himself and Bria. Not that he's scared of her or anything, no. To Elise, without sensing any of her emphasis, "They get /everything/, and so do riders." He sounds anticipatory, if anything. He's lifting a hand in vague greeting to Oreithiya, but before he can voice anything, Dal's, well- "Of course I am," he insists, narrowed gaze on the other candidate. "You only spent a few Turns there, what do you know?"

Still sitting quite comfortably on the end of Razi's cot, Bria looks over to Elise on her own cot and has to ask, "Why are you Standing if you haven't thought about having your own dragon? Isn't that sort of the point?" Never mind that she's here in part because she's avoiding her life. Dal only gets a small sniff for his comments on riding. Especially goldriding. She'll just keep her wonderful ideas, thank you very much. "*We're* helping the Weyr run. Just like people in Holds help the Holds run." She'd probably say more about that but the exchange between Dal and Razi is becoming interesting.

Elise watches Oreithiya go by, wiggles her fingers in silent greeting, but she's mostly too caught up in the back and forth between Dal and Razi, gaze moving from one to the other. She lifts her eyebrow in reply at first to Bria's question, then shrugs. "Not to me," she answers easily, then looks to Dal since it's his 'turn'.

A smile and little wave is offered to Elise as well, though Oreithiya is /also/ looking between Razi and Dal as she coops up her hides. With the armful of escapees, she makes her way back to her cot. Once again, the second handful of hides is dumped on the bed, which happens to be within conversational range of Bria and Elise. "What are they going on about?" she asks, tone quiet while shuffling through her work. Belatedly, "Welcome," is offered with a smile. Which could also include Razi, if he happens to glance at her.

Dal's peacemaker tendencies are set aside so that he can focus, instead, on Razi's response. He's not defensive, though: his voice remains quiet. "Sometimes, you sound more like, uh, /Bria/ here. That's all. I don't know. It was just a comment. Anyway," and abruptly, he's got the faintest of rare smiles on his face. "She's right. We're helping the Weyr run. Someone commented to me that for every Dragonrider, you need a bunch of support staff, too, just to keep them flying. More of them, I guess, when there's Thread, but even now. It's everyone's duty to help support the Weyr."

Razi's looking distinctly uncomfortable at all the attention he's getting. "Why did you agree to stand, then?" He asks Bria, likely in an effort to distract the focus from him. The 'welcome' from Oreithiya earns a furrow of brow, but he doesn't seem inclined to ask, given Dal's follow-up comment. While his jaw does tighten, he doesn't respond - instead slipping off his cot and moving to the press at the foot of it to rummage around.

"What's the point for you?" Bria is curious about Elise's response. Genuinely curious. The idea of not Standing for the purpose of actually possibly becoming a rider seems foreign to her. Even if she herself is motivated by more than that one thing, too. Oreithiya finally gets more of a direct look and a smile blossoms on Bria's lips. "Oh, thank you! You were the one with the towel, aren't you." And that is forever how she will remember Oreithiya. Sorry! "I'm Standing because Weyrwoman Bria has a lovely ring to it. Don't you think? Maybe they'll write songs about me and people will sing them for the rest of forever." Think big, right?

When things start to dissipate again, and after making sure Dal isn't going to raise any more questions, Elise relaxes and looks over at Oreithiya to reply, as easily as if it /were/ the truth, "Bria." They're going on about Bria. Which lines up well with Razi addressing the very Bria she's talking about, and she smiles smugly at that, tickles the underside of her chin with the tuft of her braid. Bria's question deserves a more in-depth response than what she's willing to give here, with everyone /here/, so she just says, "Later, I'll tell you later." And as for the rest? She just smiles her mysterious little smile and shakes her head, tipping herself onto her back with a sigh.

"Bria," Oreithiya murmurs the name, turning to the flesh-and-blood girl. "Yes, I'm the one with the towel," she answers with an amused smile. "I was in a hurry! And I forgot to bring my clothes to the bath..." She shrugs as if to say 'what's a girl gonna do?' "The name's Oreithiya," offered with a smile. As Elise lays back, the girl turns attention to Razi and Dal, brows lifting. "Are we talking about the merits of being a dragonrider versus being... weyr residents?"

Dal may not be looking in Razi's direction, now, but there's a definite /something/ in the way he's sitting that suggests he's not wholly comfortable. Still, as he scrapes some more shavings from the piece of apple-wood he's been whittling, he sounds cheerful enough. "There was an implication made that dragonriders have everything done for them; that it's an easy life," he explains. "And that Bloods do, too. Some of us disagreed. No blows, though. We're all friends, right?"

Speaking of towels - Razi finally emerges from his press, throwing a towel over his shoulder as he straightens, then glances at Oreithiya. Yeah, he remembers her from the other night, now. To Bria: "That's if one of the eggs is a queen. Normally they're bigger than the others, but they all look the same size to me." Like he's an expert! He looks a little more at ease now that Dal's less focused on him. The baker's pointedly quiet on the /other/ discussion, though, even if he can't help the grimace at Dal's explanation.

Bria glances one last time over at Elise, considers the comment for a moment and then nods. She can wait till later. Once the other has laid back, Bria returns her attention to the others. "Oreithiya. I'll remember that. It's lovely." Since it's difficult not to be one of Bria's friends, Dal gets a quick look that suggests she doesn't really understand how everyone isn't already. "Maybe she's just *small,*" she finally says to Razi. Don't crush her dreams, man!

"Thank you," Oreithiya says to Bria with a smile, though Razi's comments on the eggs earns a slight bob of her head. "My first Candidacy hatched a gold egg, and that egg was definitively larger than the others." And very definitively /gold/. She doesn't add that part, but the uplift of her brows could say as much. "Is there? I suppose it might look like that from the outside, but from the riders I know, they work hard at what they do. True, it's a different type of work, but no different than the work I do as a beascrafter versus the work a kitchen worker does." As the hides are organized, the girl agrees, "We /are/ all friends here." Hopefully. "I suppose she could just be small..." don't mind the slight doubtful look cast Bria's way.

"Being a Weyrwoman sounds like an awful lot of work," is Dal's opinion on the subject, for all that it doesn't sound like he's /daunted/ by work, as such. "Or - maybe it's just that it seems like complicated work? I don't know. Better you lot than me!" He lifts his carving up towards the light, examining it thoughtfully, and then adds, "I guess we'll see, when they hatch. We'll be /close/. I've never seen a hatching before."

"Small," echoes Razi, without any real belief, either. He's listening to Oreithiya, but there's a set to his jaw that's maybe covered by his tugging the towel off his shoulder and absently folding it up. He flickers another look in Dal's direction, but now that the subject is off him, doesn't seem inclined to stick around, "Got to grab a bath, see you," he mutters, turning to slouch off towards the commons. Definitely a /Fort Sea/ accent, so there!

It's difficult to change the mind of someone that is willing to look past the little details for the possible realization of a life long dream. Especially someone that thought it was always going to be just a dream and not a possibility! "Everything can be work. But it's not work if you love doing it, right?" Because Bria knows so much about being a goldrider. Or a rider in general. "Good luck," she calls after Razi, not looking like she has any intention of getting off of his cot any time soon.

"It /is/ an awful lot of work," Oreithiya concurs with Dal when she's finished sorting her hides. "And not work I'd /want/, although I suppose if there is a gold egg it's something you've got to be prepared for." Well not Dal, specifically, given the fact that he's quite the wrong type to Impress any gold-sheened eggs. "In my first Candidacy, all of us girls were required to write a report about being a Weyrwoman." As Razi leaves, Rei waves a little farewell before turning her attention back to Bria. "What if there is no gold and you Impress green? Or blue?" Finally, to Dal, the girl grins wide, "It's /amazing/."

Dal sounds quietly distracted, glancing after the departing Razi, when he says, "It /sounds/ amazing. I'm looking forward to it. Hey -" Abruptly, he turns his attention back towards the two girls. "I'm not wrong, am I? Sometimes it sounds like he comes from Fort Sea, and sometimes he sounds more like... well, you. Bria, isn't it? Doesn't that seem... suspicious, to you?"

"How many times have you Stood?" asks Bria, wide eyes turned on Oreithiya, who has unveiled herself as a wealth of information about the subject via experience. "Oh, I'm not sure that would happen. Would it? I mean... I don't think that would happen." There's a real possibility that this isn't something that Bria has actually considered before now. "Especially a blue. I don't think they'd like someone like me, you know? And greens, well..." Her voice trails off like she ought to have an opinion there but none actually manages to come out of her mouth.

"I don't know him well enough to know," Oreithiya comments, with some apology, to Dal. "I guess I haven't paid attention..." But now that her attention is caught by this little idiosyncrasy, the girl's going to be focusing on it. Her determined expression says as much. "It could happy, Bria," Rei states, plopping down on her cot, swinging her legs. "I've stood two times, and this is my third Candidacy." She's totally an old hat.

Shaking his head, Dal admits, "I hadn't noticed myself, until now. Maybe it's nothing, but with everyone so jumpy... I promised the Junior Weyrwoman I'd keep my eyes open." And ears, clearly. He's distracted enough by that to have, apparently, not much more to say on the subject of Impression, though Bria's remarks make him blow out a long breath - one that doesn't seem entirely approving. In the end, his remark is a simple, "I suppose it's entirely up to the dragons to decide. We'll see. I should clear this up before dinner." Wood chips.

"Maybe he's just one of those people that picks up accents easily, you know?" Bria, always willing to reason out oddities in peoples' behavior. Her own Bollian accent has a strange Fortian twang itself. But it's pretty consistent most of the time and easily explainable considering where she is; Fort. "Well, maybe if I think really hard about not wanting anything but gold, they'll stay way from me, right?" Flawless plan in flawless. "I can't imagine Standing that many times, though. Are you sure there's a dragon out there for you?" While that question could easily be taken the wrong way, there's nothing malevolent in the way Bria asks it.

"No, it's good to notice," Rei states quietly, slightly disturbed by the prospect of someone lying about their accent, or their place of origin. "Okay, see you at dinner," she nods as Dal indicates he needs to clean up his whittling debris. Turning to Bria, the girl says slowly, "I... don't think it works that way. Just wishing for a /color/. They Impress to /you/ and you impress to them, their personality. It's like... " She struggles to find words to express what she can't even imagine and only comes up with: "It's complicated from what I gather." Beat. "I don't know," answered honestly, "But I'll never know if I don't try."

Dal nods, once, in Bria's direction, but doesn't seem convinced: he seems as uncomfortable with it as Oreithiya is, despite his silence. Without saying anything more, he gathers up the cloth covered in his wood scraps, and tidies away his things; then, he climbs off the bed, and heads for the door, expression a mask of serious consideration.