Participants:
| Date: | August 19, 2010 |
|---|---|
| Location: | Eastern Weyr: West Hallway North |
| Synopsis: | Uveline and Zen are sweeping the hallway; Nenienne comes in after bathing, and Andi passes by briefly. |
| Rating: | G |
| Logger: | Uveline |
Day 14, Month 09, Turn 01, AIVAS Reckoning, First Long Pass
Eastern Weyr: West Hallway North
The northern half of the western hallway is just as rough and unfinished as the rest of the weyr. Glows line the walls at economic intervals. There's technically enough light, but spaces of shadow are frequent as well. On the western side, several doorways open to - from south to north - a stairwell leading up to the Upper Bowl and the entrance to the Baths. On the eastern side, a set of stairs leads down into the Lower Caverns.
The afternoon is coming to a close on a warm but clear day at Eastern Weyr, and several candidates are rushing to finish chores so they can enjoy the first clear evening in several days. Among these is Uveline, once again stuck sweeping and scraping mud off the floors in the Weyr - this time in the west hall, where traffic to the baths has caused a large buildup of mud and muck on the floors. The harper-candidate looks much the worse for wear, with dirt and dust smudging her normally tidy clothes and sweat streaks in the dust on her face - sweeping is dusty work!
Nenienne had an even dirtier job — latrines. She is currently headed to the baths to clean herself off, gingerly carrying her clean clothes so as not to get the stink on them. At least her hands are clean.
With dinner preperations finished, Andi was sent on her way - fingers still intact thankfully and surprisingly non the worst for the where - and she's cutting across the Weyr with somewhere in mind perhaps - or another chore to be accomplished before she's truly free, but her footsteps come to an abrupt halt as she comes across Uveline, eyes darting to the floor, to her fellow candidate, and back to the floor. "I… Ex-Excuse me.." She offers, not wanting to cut through.
Merendezen is with the group cleaning the floors, idly sweeping thought entirely bored. His motions are slow, and perhaps annoying to the others around him as he carefully and neatly piles up whatever dirt, dust, and garbage are along the floors of the hallway. While he is not entirely near Uveline, he is close enough to spot Andi and Nenienne. "Andi." He greets, and then offers a wave for Neni.
Uveline glances up as Nenienne enters, her nose wrinkling at the smith-candidate's pungent odor. "Oh dear, you had latrine duty, hmm?" she asks sympathetically, moving out of her way. "Have a good bath," she offers as she turns back to her sweeping - just in time for Andi to enter. "Huh? Oh, sorry," she says with a blush, stepping well clear of Andi's path. "Watch your step at the other end, there's a bit of gravel that hasn't been cleared out yet."
Nenienne nods ruefully. "Sorry about the smell," she offers, then carefully puts her clean clothing in one hand and waves to Zen. Then, without further ado, she slips into the bathing room.
Skirts are carefully gathered, lifted high enough to keep the hem out of the files, and the fabric's passing from disturbing the neat little piles of debris. "I.. I'm sorry.." Andi murmurs to Uveline with a bob of her head as she's sneaking by her, sneaking to the other end of the hallway, lips slipping into a shy smile at Zen, a bit of a blush coloring her nose.
Merendezen watches Neni depart with a lift of his brow, turning a look to Uveline for only a moment before green eyes move to watch Andi. "How were your chores?" He questions, giving her a curious look as he pauses his sweeping entirely.
"It'll fade," Uveline assures Nenienne as the soiled candidate moves on. To Andi she says, "What's there for you to be sorry about? I'm the one who was in the way. You're causing no trouble to me, Andi." Uveline moves to continue sweeping, pushing together the neat piles Zen has made and chasing them into a collection pan. She doesn't comment when Zen pauses, and tries not to listen to their conversation.
"I.. I hope I never need to cook for myself." Andi murmurs, embarrassed as she shakes her head, glancing over her fingers once more just to be sure they are still intact. After another moment, she glances over her shoulder, and whispers. "I.. I gotta drop something off.. I'm sorry, Zen.." And she nods quickly to Uveline, before she's mouthing a soundless word to Zen and sneaking on down the hallway.
Merendezen scoots aside as Uveline works, opening his mouth to say something but then leaving it only in silence as he turns attention back to Andi while attempting to look like he's working, if only somewhat. "You probably won't have to cook for yourself." He states before she starts to take off and then he nods in response. "Later, little one." And he returns to cleaning, looking to Uveline. "How are you?"
Uveline looks up again as Andi departs, waving at her absently before propping her chin on her broomstick. "That was brief. I thought she'd be around longer," she notes briefly before shrugging. "Well enough, though I'm getting blisters from the broom again. Darned mud keeps my hands too soft. Yourself?"
Nenienne returns from bathing, all squeaky clean (and still showing scrub-burns from the soapsand), drying her hair with a towel. She's carrying her dirty clothes gingerly, and with a wave heads off to deposit them in the laundry.
Merendezen chuckles, "She tends to do that." He shrugs and continues to sweep, "Sorry to hear about that. I try to avoid the sweeping as much as I can." He admits, grinning widely to the other. He watches Neni pass, raising a brow and freeing a hand to wave in farewell.
"Really? I would find that terribly difficult, not having a full conversation," Uveline replies, lips twitching with amusement. "Hmm, yes, the sweeping is certainly not fun, but it could be worse. I could be digging again," she adds, the word 'digging' said in a dramtic tone. Neni's passage is noted with a nod as Uveline stays out of her way. "So, you're doing well, I take it?"
Nenienne jogs back from the laundry room, empty handed and still slightly damp, but towel-less. All of this work has done her good; she's not panting like she used to after such a run.
"A conversation is what you make it. You can have a whole one in a short span of time. Found out she was doing fine with her chores, and that was good enough, at least." Zen smiles in response before shrugging. "Could be worse. Digging isn't too bad…" He blinks, watching Neni return again. "Staying put this time?"
Nenienne was about to pass through, but at Zen's question she pauses. "I can, if there's a reason to."
"I'm verbose by nature, so short conversations don't work well for me," Uveline says ruefully. "Well, digging isn't something I'm all that good at. I do more good moving rocks than digging itself, but, well, it isn't always up to me." She too looks toward Nenienne, tilting her head. "Better now?"
Merendezen shrugs at Neni, "No. Maybe to talk… But." He rolls his shoulders to consider Uveline. "Some people just don't talk a lot. Andi talks more after you can get her to stay in one place for awhile. And after you become a friend, I suppose." He considers the other then shrugs, "If you ask nice, they generally allow you to work where you'd like, so long as there's someone to take the place that you've left unoccupied."
Nenienne nods to Uveline. "I feel human again, so I guess I can talk." She doesn't smile, but her tone is humorous.
"Ah, I see. Makes sense," Uveline says with a nod. "Well, as I said, I can't always manage it. Sometime yes, sometimes no. All depends on who is in charge," she adds before smiling to Neni. "Good to hear. You're doing well?" she asks the smith-candidate, resuming her sweeping.
"She's shy." Zen notes, giving Nenienne a curious look and then resumes his sweeping of the floor. "Well, if we get stuck working at the lake at the same time, I'll switch you digging for moving rocks. No problem."
Nenienne says, "I'm doing well, thank you. And you, not counting the sweeping?" She glances back at Zen, also curious, and then asks politely, "And how are you doing?"
"That makes even more sense," Uveline notes with a smile for Zen. "Ah, I would appreciate that, thank you. I'll make sure I keep an eye out for you, then." With a few more broom strokes Uveline sweeps the rest of the dirt into her pan and dumps the load into a wheeled bin. With a grimace she eyes the bin. "Full. I'll take this out, then." To Neni she nods slightly, saying "Doing fine, thanks," as she leans her broom against the wall and wheels the bin toward the stairs - ah, yes, she gets to drag that up the steps. Fun.
Merendezen says, "Fine. Thanks." Green eyes flicker downwards towards the ground and the little piles are again compiled into one bigger one and scooped away. "You're welcome. I'll be sure to keep an eye out as well." He gives her a salute as she starts out with the full bin. His own sweeping is finished and the others are beginning the mopping of the dirtied areas, cleaning away the mud. Green eyes turn to consider Nenienne again. "How do you feel human for bathing?"
Nenienne says, "I feel like I don't smell like something which crawled from a latrine — and humans hopefully fall into that category at all times."
"You'd be surprised about how stinky people will allow themselves to get." Zen notes, lifting a brow. "And then how long they will refuse to bathe after that. Honestly… It's more of a matter of preference. Humans will be whatever they want, so.. Calling yourself inhuman because you stink is rather odd."
Nenienne shrugs. "Whatever. It's a common phrase where I come from, with which I quite agree. I feel less-than-human when covered in muck and grime."
Merendezen gives her a look before nodding slowly. "Alright…" And then, he gives her a little salute. "Just sounds strange." And off he goes, down into another hallway to finish sweeping.
Nenienne follows, apparently intrigued. Or something.
Eastern Weyr: West Hallway South
The southern end of the western hallway is very nearly the same as the northern. The eastern wall is broken only by an opening and a set of stairs down into the Living Cavern, while the west wall is dotted with marks for future rooms; measured and ready for the cutting. The stone here is rougher on both walls and floor, interrupting the glowlight almost as much as the small stalactites hanging from the fairly low ceiling.
Merendezen continues his sweeping in the hall, despite the fact that there isn't much to clean in this hallway. But there's enough to warrant the continuation of the chore. If Nenienne has followed, he hasn't taken notice yet.
Nenienne stays silent for a bit, then asks conversationally, "Was there anything you wanted to talk about?"
Merendezen blinks, looking over his shoulder and giving her a look. "No. Nothing really. You don't seem like the very talkative sort. Would rather not waste your time."
Nenienne nods once, then says, "Fair enough. I imagine I'll be seeing you around. Clear skies." Even if the last is a bit ironic here.
"Of course. We're sleeping in the same area." The Weyrling Barracks. Another salute is given, "farewell." And the sweeping resumes.