Muddled Doorway Soap? (Rei)

[Ember]

Iskierka hated cleaning. She really did. The dust sweeping kicked up bothered her nose and eyes and she absolutely hated washing clothes...oh and don't forget how weird everything smelled afterwards. All soapy and...bleh. Made her nose twitch, that's what it did. But...at Burimyu there was no one to do any cleaning for her and she found herself with the pressing need to get her weyr cleaned. It was too damn big for her tastes. In large weyrs like Benden blueriders like herself usually got small, single rooms. None of this multi-roomed weyr crap. Feh.

If she had actually needed so much space then she could understand having to clean it. The bluerider, however, was alone save her dragon and pets. Plus she was a minimalist to begin with. She didn't keep company either so she felt like her weyr was simply too huge for her needs. Fighting a sneeze, Iskierka finally put aside the broom. Or broom equivalent anyways. She'd simply improvised with some wood from the jungle and an old shirt. It'd have to do under the circumstances.

Onto her least favourite part, despite it arguably being the easiest. She shook the makeshift broom off outside her weyr -hey, the hallway was none of her business in the first place. Someone else could damn well do it - before dunking it in a bucket of soapy water. Much to her displeasure she had to squeeze the shirt out a bit with her own hands before beginning to slide it over the floor in her weyr. Testament to how little she cleaned, she started right at the door so by the time she back tracked to the bucket her socks were soaked and she was even more annoyed.

As if that wasn't enough, Iskierka let out a muffled yelp of surprise when her left foot suddenly slid back too far due to the slick floor/sock combo. She actually let loose a harsh string of curses when she realized the bucket had tipped over when she hit it and sent the soapy water all over the entrance to her weyr and a good bit of the hallway nearby. Hair down around her face, she glanced one way down the hallway and was relieved to see no one, only to let out a harsh breath when she looked the other way to see she had a spectator. "What?" She all but growled at them.

[Rei]

Much too busy. Everyone was much too busy. Especially Sel’n himself. With the new weyrlings he hardly had much time to himself anymore. And what time he did have was usually spent either with Kaaoloth or sipping at his ever dwindling stash. Oh he still mingled on occasion with the other riders. But S’rei and E’rro were busy with council things and Nephele was rather depressed as of late. Made for him feeling even more lonely. It was times like this when he missed Kalierre like hell. And though he’d never admit it out loud he’d even maybe talk to F’lix at this point. Bah. The older man had always considered himself strictly a loner. He stayed away from people on purpose but there was some comfort in the normal hustle and bustle of a busy weyr. Something that was distinctly lacking here at Burimyu. The hallways were much too empty here there were no running young kids, no hurried drudges, nothing but the echo of his boots against the stone floor.

Turning the corner Sel’n stopped dead in his tracks and silently regarded the only open door in the hallway. Hmm. Now who lived in that particular weyr? It didn’t take long for him to figure it out. All the current residents of Burimyu had their weyrs in the same wing for convenience. With such a small group it hardly made sense to spread everyone out. So then that would be Iskierka’s weyr. Curious as to what she was up to with her door wide open, the brownrider moved closer. He really couldn’t help it. He was bored for one, and the bluerider was such a private person anyway. How often was her door really wide open? It was enough of an oddity to draw the older man’s attention certainly.

The sudden explosion of curses from Iskerika’s weyr had Sel’n all but running the final steps to her door. Only for him to come face to face with the woman herself, looking rather pissed off and flustered and with her hair all a mess and frazzled around her face. Freezing at the sight for a moment the brownrider tried to fight it he really did. But in the end he couldn’t help it. Especially not when she growled that one word at him. The bluerider’s answer was loud and deep laughter. Her demeanor and appearance was just a bit too much.

Half doubled over Sel’n finally got a some control after a moment, enough to comment anyway. “You get into a battle with the bucket or the mop?” Suppressing his mirth he straightened up, only to catch sight of her wet socks and start chuckling again. “You want some cleaning tips? I’m sure I can have one of my weyrlings give you some...”

[Ember]

Shit, shit, shit. Iskierka was very rarely actually embarrassed. Even Ka'rys using her as an example to the Legatus members as some sort of punishment - evidence that she'd changed since then, she could actually understand now why they'd been pissed at her - hadn't phased her all that much. She wasn't exactly a quick learner but the new things they'd been taught hadn't been too difficult in the beginning when he'd still had a problem with her. Now, as she sat on the floor before a laughing Sel'n, clothes and even hair kind of wet from dirty mop water she was mentally running through all the curses she knew. Bitrans could have damn foul mouths and she'd learned from the best.

The bluerider tried to school her expression to one of indifference but there was still a definite pout on her lips and her eyes were still swimming with far too much emotion to make it work. It occured to her, though, that standing in the puddle of water was not helping so she moved to get out of it. That the shortest route out of the water was towards Sel'n was just simple bad luck. "None of your damn business," she snapped in answer to the brownrider's question. She was quite aware she was being rude to a brownrider but colour rank hardly seemed to matter anymore, not with Darya on the council and Meira's words.

Meira...Iskierka was most definitely not fond of the woman but all the same she...regretted her death. It was an unusual feeling for her and she constantly tried to push it away. The woman had been gone for...what, five months or so already? It was pointless to keep on caring about anyone for that long. Dwelling on the woman was equally pointless when there was a mess to clean up. Oh, and Sel'n's continued presence. She shot him an icy glare at his suggestion. "I'm equally sure you're suggesting making one of your weyrlings do it because you can't be bothered to," she said, an odd drawl in her voice.

It wasn't like she really had any problems with the Weyrlingmaster. She'd actually worked under him as the Assistant Weyrlingmaster until he'd been...well, until she had taken over. She hadn't cared to follow the rumours about him. Or anyone other than her students at the time. She said it almsot as a peace offering, to show she didn't actually hate his guts (though why she did it she wasn't sure; she blamed Ioth for being a sap) Iskierka added, "What are you even still doing here? Don't you have weyrlings to torture or something?"

[Rei]

Perhaps this was why many wouldn’t call Sel’n much of a gentleman. Instead of offering to help the poor woman all he could do was stand there and laugh at her. To be fair the sight of the normally cold, professional, and emotionless Iskierka bested by a bucket of water and a makeshift mop was quite hilarious. The brownrider really couldn’t help it. Even if a part of him felt a twinge of pity for her and her wet socks. Dark blue eyes regarded the woman with repressed mirth as the man struggled to compose himself into something more practical. It helped that she was finally moving and even snapping at him. There now she wasn’t quite so hilarious looking. An Iskierka with her feathers ruffled was a rather rare sight. It was actually nice to see that the woman was capable of an emotion other then ice.

A grin was given the bluerider. “Oh come now Iskierka. No need to be so snappish. Besides hallway hazards are everyone’s business. Someone could break a leg.” A glance was given her feet. “Or Faranth forbid soak their socks and that would just be tragic.” If her snappish comment had bothered Sel’n he gave no indication. Instead he merely brushed it off. Emotional like any woman. Not something he would normally call Iskierka but in this situation it was accurate. When she again spoke up again Sel’n offered her a crooked smile. “Oh that’s exactly what I was suggesting. In fact I have a little blueweyrling by the name of T’ri who is looking like he will make an excellent drudge considering he can’t bother to show up to even one lesson. Suppose he thinks they are above him. Well we’ll see how far that gets him with any of our Wingleaders.” The words where given in a rather cheerful tone, though there was an underlying thread of frustration that the brownrider didn’t quite bother to try and hide.

Another glance was given to the soaked floor before Sel’n stepped over the puddle and shrugged one shoulder. “Actually no they have the day off today. I find myself in the rather peculiar position of actually having a bit of free time and having nothing to do with it. Though I’m sure I could find something to do around this place if I half tried. Supplies are running low again.” The weariness attached to the last sentence was almost tangible. For having such a small population supplies were still needed and rather hard to come by. They were going to have to eventually risk another tithe theft and that was not something the older rider really wanted to think about. The last one had gone alright but Selenitas had increased sweeps since then. Increased them by a fair amount too.

Picking up the bluerider’s makeshift mop he squeezed the excess water into the now almost empty bucket and let the cloth pick up more from the puddle before he repeated the process. Giving her a slightly amused look he shrugged. “What? Never seen a man mop before?” Came a light tease. “Why don’t you get on it woman and show me how this ‘woman’s work’ is actually supposed to be done.” Why he decided in the end to help her Sel’n wasn’t exactly sure. But he blamed it on boredom and loneliness. Besides there were worse people then Iskierka to be stuck with and leaving her with such a huge puddle to clean alone didn’t really sit well with him. Bah.

[Ember]

Maybe if I ignore him he'll go away, Iskierka thought, turning back to the spilled bucket and makeshift mop with an internal sigh. Sometimes, just sometimes, she wondered what she'd done to deserve any of this. She'd been tentatively happy at Selenitas so why did that mean she had to run away and go into hiding? She probably could have talked her way into the Wasteland ranks if she'd tried. She was old Benden, after all. Some drivel about being loyaly to C'leon and not J'lorin probably would have been enough. Then she could have stayed and watched over the weyrlings.

Not because she cared, of course, but they'd been her responsibility. Her eyes flitted over to Sel'n again as she righted the bucket and rose a brow at his comment. Rebellious weyrlings? "If he won't even go to lessons I doubt he'll bother with drudge work. He'd be more useful trussed up and used to bait those whatever-creatures," she said with a wave of a hand as she stripped off her soaked socks. Lot of good they were doing her now anyways. Though it was hard to tell if she was being serious about her comment or not, the bluerider was joking. More for her own amusement than Sel'n's, but still.

Iskierka was surprised and wary when Sel'n stepped forward to help. She couldn't even manage an eye roll at him having free time from his weyrlings as she stared at him. She was trying to figure out his motive for helping her. Making her indebted to him? Getting on her good side? Or simply trying to be nice even though it wouldn't have any benefit for him? She may almost always do something to benefit herself but she'd discovered that other people at Selenitas were not so selfish.

She snorted at his comment about woman's work and stood up. "Considering you stole my mop..." Iskierka trailed off and drifted into her weyr for a moment, always in sight of the door, before returning with a plain white shirt. She didn't wear white so she could really care less what it would look like after. She dropped it into the puddle and moved it around a little with her foot. "There. Mop versions 1 point oh," she commented as she slipped her foot under the fabric and lifted it enough for her to grab with her hands.

Now then, what was the conversation about again? Oh right, it had drifted to dwindling supplies. She offered up a smirk at the brownrider and said. "Don't worry, old man. The younger generation will go out and get your alcohol, never fear."

[Rei]

Sel’n was just starting to mop up the water on the floor when Iskierka commented on T’ri. A soft chuckle left his lips before he turned an amused half smile onto her. “Oh now that is a good idea. Not sure how well that would pass on a council vote but it’s an option I’ll have to consider.” It was really too bad that he was only joking about that. But really he had to figure out a way to get a fire lit under that kids ass. Hmm there had to be something the brownrider could exploit. Everyone had their buttons after all. The Weyrlingmaster made a mental note to outright confront the young man again. If his classmates couldn’t motivate him maybe the blueweyrling just needed a harder hand. For all his grumbling Sel’n really did love his job and he took pride in it. Now that he had the position back damn if he was going to mess up now.

Blue eyes flicked back to Iskierka as she shed her socks and the man took a moment to subtly examine her feet before she was staring at him like he was some bizarre creature that just crawled out of between. Momentarily he debated asking her if he had grown a third eye sometime in the past few minutes. But instead he just offered her another half smile and went back to the floor, a soft hum in his throat. He wasn’t quite sure what was going through her head but he figured in time she’d figure it out. Really wasn’t his place to pry. Much as he almost wanted to. Bah normally he was quite fine with being aloof but when your weyr was so tiny you couldn’t help but pay more attention to your fellow exiles. For example he was pretty sure that Iskierka didn’t get much company. Not that he thought this would brighten her day or anything but loner as he was even he got lonely at times. Why wouldn’t the bluerider?

Wringing out his mop again Sel’n tilted his head slightly as Iskierka spoke and then actually grinned. “Stole it? I’m only borrowing it dear.” He watched her as she fetched a shirt and began to help him. Spinning the makeshift mop around before settling back into the puddle he winked at her. “I obviously have the more modern version. Mine still pretty archaic though. Maybe we can perfect the design and make a name for ourselves in the tiny community of Burimyu.” He teased before setting back to removing the water from the hallway and entrance to her weyr. Pausing for a minute as Iskierka spoke he snorted and then unclipped his hip flask from his belt. “Relying on them doesn’t sit too well with me. Heard I got unloading duty though.” With that he tossed her the flask and smiled. “That’s also providing the caravan is actually carrying any. My stash can hold up for another month or so I think. Providing little greenrider women stop stealing from me. Sad really. I’m usually terrible company sober.”

[Ember]

Iskierka blinked but said nothing when Sel'n actually found her joking suggestion amusing. That was the intended point but...oh whatever. She really couldn't care all that much. True to her former Weyrlingmaster role, Iskierka found herself offering some more genuine advice simply because it came to mind. "He seems rather unshakeable as far as shame goes, but you could try shaming him in front of his class. It's usually a good motivator. If not the best motivator is fear." She paused to glance at Sel'n for a moment before shrugging. "I highly doubt you'd be able to scare him though."

The bluerider found the almost-silence almost more unnerving than them talking relatively normally. Not necessarily unwelcome but...strange all the same. Iskierka let her eyes drift away from Sel'n. She'd eventually come to the conclusion that he was simply helping out for the sake of it. She couldn't care less about what feel-good feelings he might have been searching out or whatnot. Those didn't directly impact her so they didn't matter. Iskierka found herself brokenly humming along with Sel'n if only to fill the silence. If there was silence near Iskierka it usually meant she was alone.

Did he...? He did too, she thought with amusement. She'd never been called 'dear' before, even in jest. It was not a word anyone had ever either bothered or dared to attribute to her. To his pretend idea of perfecting the mop she dryly said, "Do go on, darling."Be cause she totally caught that term earlier and was compelled to let him know that. She wrung out her shirt into the bucket before dropping the offending fabric back on the ground with a wet little plop. At the very least company made work quicker, she noted.

Iskierka caught the hip flask when it was tossed to her dextrously. Hand-eye coordination had always been one of her strong suits. Unsure what to do with the flask once it had been given to her (was she supposed to take a drink? She assumed yes) she bought herself some time by responding to his worries. "They'll do well enough. Most of Ka'rys' old wing is going to provide cover." Iskierka shrugged then. If they couldn't manage a tithe theft they couldn't manage retaking the weyr. Also...little greenrider women? "Nephele?" She was the only one who made sense.