Logs:Abusing Perks
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| RL Date: 22 October, 2015 |
| Who: Nikalas, Rategar |
| Involves: High Reaches Weyr |
| Type: Log |
| What: Nikalas and Rat chat about their 'charmed' lives while washing up from chores. |
| Where: Bathing Pools, High Reaches Weyr |
| When: Day 23, Month 1, Turn 39 (Interval 10) |
| Mentions: K'del/Mentions, Milani/Mentions, Kasey/Mentions |
| OOC Notes: Language. |
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Bathing Pools, High Reaches Weyr
Omnipresent clouds of steam slink across the tops of three naturally warm
pools, set into the floor of this kidney-shaped cavern. Near the entrance
the ceiling is high and polished, gleaming with little mineral specks as
it sweeps downward into increasingly ragged, uneven steps. The foremost of
the pools is squared off with wide steps leading down into the water and
has faucets for bringing in cooler water from a rain-catching cistern.
Primarily used for laundry, there's an almost constant film of suds along
its surface until the circulating current clears it at the end of the day.
Four sinks line the nearest wall and various tubs stored beneath allow for
the washing of delicates. Laundry bags can be dropped off in the bins near
the door and clean, folded laundry is stacked in rows of tall cubbies for
easy pickup.
The bend in the cavern leads to a rougher-hewn part of the chamber where
the two circular bathing pools welcome those in need of a wash. Towels and
washcloths are kept in neat stacks on shelves along the wall, along with
sacks of sweetsand and a few bars of precious soap. Stone benches provide
a place for sitting to remove shoes and clothing, while a row of gleaming
brass hooks stand above, ready to hold clothes and robes. It was a hard, grueling day of work. It's left some candidates dirty and itchy, Rategar among them, so it's no wonder that the whole lot ends up in the bathing pool to wash off and feel human again. He commands the second pool to himself as the other (younger) candidates group off in the other pool, laughing and chatting and baiting each other once the most of the grime is gone from their skin. He's well scrubbed by now himself and is settled at the edge of the pool, arms propped back with his head leaning back with half-closed eyes. Amazingly, Nikalas doesn't think to ask first as he drops into Rategar's pool; he'd messed around with the others, with the usual hijinks, but maybe they smell funny now. Maybe cleaning up made them smell funny. "So what's it like to be Blooded?" he asks, as though descended from a cousin removed counts. Rat doesn't even bat an eye once he gains someone in his chosen pool. He's still lounging like he has no care in the world, and so when the question comes, it's with the calm ease that he answers. "About the same as it is to be related to a Weyrleader." One blue eye cracks open to look right at Nikalas. "But not removed. I don't get all the fancy perks. It almost feels like I'm not blooded at all, in fact." Imagine that. As a teenager, Nikalas has a daily allowance of eye-rolling. He indulges in some now, casually, no animus there; Rategar might as well be a hairier adoptive... cousin. "Yeah, like I have a lot of fancy perks," he scoffs. "So what's the difference over there? Pretend I've never seen a holder in my life," said with a good-humored smirk through the steam. "You don't?" Rat eyes his fellow candidate now, his head turning towards the young man with a lift of brows. "Because, I'd be pissed if I was the son of a Weyrleader and didn't get to do something with that. You know. Throw my weight around, pick up the tastiest ladies, not have to pay for drinks..." Apparently those are his perks, anyway. To answer his question, though, "Well, the non-removed part of my family gets to wear the good finery," he tells Nikalas like he's indulging him in a secret. "They get the best seats at the races and my cousins get the hottest girls. They don't have to dirty their hands like I and my father, and they can walk around the Hold all day, learning fancy shit and shitting on fancy toilets. Life is bliss for those holders." He gestures at himself in contrast with the misshapen nose and the Bitran accent. Nikalas just grins at him, wide and easy and so totally genuine; "You've got a great shtick, you know that?" He scratches an armpit, grabs some sweetsand and goes for a second round while he listens. He doesn't argue the seats at the races, maybe even gives it a moment's thought, but-- "Yeah, fancy toilets, pull the other one. What, are they painted with girls or something?" "I tell nothing but the truth, man," is all Rat says to him in return, hands lifting from their dip in the pool. He's totally innocent. "As I live and breathe." As for those toilets, "Nothing as great as that," he lets him know with a shake of his head as he idly scratches at the hair on his exposed chest. "They're just all nice and clean. Got to sit on one, once. Made me feel pretty damn special. What's it like being the Weyrleader's kid?" he asks now. Nik's would-be guffaw has a crack in it; he doesn't redden-- they're just guys-- but settles for a snicker instead. "Special pot," he says. But for the question, "Aw, shells, some people just play real close attention, like they want to catch me up, but actually mostly those are those who want to make nice with my mom. There are a lot of us, anyway, though only Kase and me are old enough to Stand." Not that he puffs his chest out any; maybe it's no big deal, maybe his chest's still too narrow what with all the getting tall. "There must be a Weyrleader toilet around here," Rategar goes on to say, since it's a perk. "Why your mom? I mean, yeah, I can see all the attention. If you're not going to abuse the system...." Well. "Does Kase live here with you? The others?" he asks now as the other candidates shriek and play in the other pool. "Yeah, he's got one, but it's not like he's got his name on it," though by Nik's smirk, that might be pretty funny. "She's Milani." Assistant headwoman, surely Rat knows that?! "Kase is-- around here somewhere." He levers up on his elbows, looks around, shrugs and drops back in. "Maybe he left. There was this girl." "A shame," Rat tells Nikalas about K'del not naming his toilet. "What if some random stablehand like me gets a hold of it?" Significant, this. His mom's name is given and the candidate nods a few times as he seems to jog the name through his mind before he says, "Hmm. I might have heard of her. I haven't been here all that long. Lucky you have a mom that's still around, though." It's a little subdued, that, but he doesn't linger on it in favor of the last. He clearly smells a story since he says back, "This girl. Do tell." Nikalas stares at him, just stares, not laughing but his mom has dimples, his dad has dimples, he's just doomed. "It doesn't move, dimglow," said not like a real insult but just the sort of thing boys say to their friends. "It's just there, a hole, nothing to get a-holed of." This makes him snicker too, or maybe it's the pun that inevitably follows. "She's an," the! "assistant headwoman. Sorry about your mom, though, man." If there's a story about the girl, perhaps he doesn't know it, or doesn't care; he just shrugs, "Some girl?" "No, I mean," because this is important to Rategar, see, "I could see his toilet, and, not knowing it was his, I would sit on it. If that was my toilet and I was the Weyrleader, I wouldn't want some random stablehand like me taking a piss in my own toilet." But there's talk of moms - really - and the roughened candidate finally straightens up from his lounging as he says, "Assistant Headwoman. Man, you're charmed. And you're not an asshole?" There's a whistle for that, as if he's impressed. "Don't worry about my mom. She's not around to worry about me. Worried about the next hatching to come like some of these-" he makes a face and nods sharply towards where the other candidates are. Nikalas is listening, but-- "So you want your ass where the Weyrleader's was. You realize I can't unthink this now, right?" His grin would be wider if it weren't for, y'know, Rategar's mom. "She's back at Bitra or something? I mean..." he hesitates. "She is alive, right?" Wait. Rat has to actually stop as if he's replaying everything he's said in the last few minutes back in his head now before he backtracks with, "Not exactly me," but the damage is probably already done. He gives a slightly guarded shrug on his mom before answering. "My father says I was too much for her so she died having me. I still kinda think he's lying and she's probably alive somewhere, sipping fruity drinks while she's supposed to be serving drinks at some dive. I think she left because he's a dirtbag, but I'm still working on getting evidence." "What a shitty thing to do," Nik leans forward, grimacing. "Shells, man. I mean, my mom, she had real problems with me and that's why she didn't have any other kids after, so she could've--" has it ever occurred to him quite like this? he certainly looks pale-- "but your dad? Saying that? I like your idea better. Maybe she's even getting to drink those drinks at that dive." "Some parents really are the pits," Rat shakes his head at the injustice of it all. "Because of him, I don't get to sit on fancy toilets or sit at the grand table with the Lord Holder, my relative, eating great food. He's a bastard. Would be just like him to lie to me about my mother, too." There's a quick study of the younger candidate though for something said before he adds, "Sorry about your mom, man. I don't know how women do it. But she's alright now, right? Milani?" as for his own ideal mother, "Yeah," he says to that, the smile stealing over his features as if at a memory. "I bet she's a shitty barmaid." Nikalas grimaces again, something discomforted in his expression. But, "Yeah, she's all right. Things are going swell--" at least, he assumes so, and there's that visible point where he must realize he's assuming. "Shitty barmaid, happy barmaid." That's much better. Maybe it's time to go by now, probably it is with the other pool gradually emptying; he'll just get out in a minute. Grinning, "She could've worked here if she wanted to," Rategar says on barmaids. "Swell is good though. Could be worse." Then he's up, climbing out of the pool and grabbing a towel as he says, "Think I'm going to grab my hammock and nap somewhere. Get some food later. See you around, right?" "Yeah, sure." Nikalas grins up at him even. "Have a good one." He'll just marinate a 'little longer. He's been going and going all day; what could another minute hurt? |
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