The Rough Life [Open]

[Ruby]

Her hair was a disaster.

Ten didn't have the most cooperative hair even at the best of times - Bushy and thick, it changed from a wave to a curl halfway through, and became ridiculously staticy any time she brushed it. With certain serums, she could tame it a little, but usually she'd just tie it back either in a bun or a runnertail - they didn't look great, but that kept it out of the way and under control. Unfortunately, her serum had been left at Selenitas, along with every single one of her hair ties and pins. Every one. Her hair had been loose when she'd mounted Rajnith - and it had been loose ever since.

As far as she knew no one really had an adequate brush, although some things had been purchased at Blossom. Ten, of course, had no marks, and wasn't about to barter her Glasscrafting tools. She had nothing else of value. It had been a week, and the rats nest growing on her head was getting seriously extreme. She had to do something... but what?

It was Darya, Nephele, and Merridan who had given her the idea, albeit accidentally. Ten hadn't had much cause to know any of them before now, but Burimyu had a very limited population. Pretty much everyone knew everyone now, by sight at least, and for the first time Ten had realized how short their hair was. Nephele's not so much, but even hers was a good deal shorter than Tenlie's own mid-back length locks. Rajnith approved of the change, so Ten was decided. She'd cut her hair off.

All she needed now was scissors.

That was not something you normally needed in glasscrafting - sure, she had a pair, but they were with her larger tool set, not just the belt she'd brought along. She had various things that could work like knives, but they weren't really meant for hair, and she didn't want to have to replace the blades. She really didn't care if she gave herself a silly-looking cut, she just needed the hair gone without a large expenditure of marks, thanks.

Currently, she was ransacking the kitchen, looking for scissors mostly. Big Brother and Cujo were looking on, the younger Blue from Ten's shoulder and the older from the rafters. She'd found a few knives that she could 'borrow', mostly serrated things meant for cutting meat, but they'd do in a pinch. Just to make sure she didn't lose track of them, she had one stuffed in a back pocket, a second in her hand, and a third clenched between her teeth, which she periodically grabbed to examine. No, this one was too dull, this one too long, she didn't want to poke out her eye! There had to be scissors around her somewhere.

[Kisha-Ra]

It had to be said that this new, or rather old, Weyr lacked something very important from K’fuzzi’s point of view. It lacked the huge kitchen staff of Selenitas, and thus it lack items which the greenweyrling found to be essential to his life. Items such as small pies and cakes that could be pilfered by an enterprising lad and spirited away. Sadly it did not lack that most formidable of foes in his life, Hoayamae was still at large in her efforts (unfortunately successful) to stop random food thieves.

However as formidable as the cook might be, she wasn’t here right now, and thus she didn’t occupy more than a passing thought of K’fuzzi’s. His classmate Tenile was present, and did have his attention. K’fuzzi leaned against the doorframe, idly stroking the head of his brightly coloured firelizard as he watched the other weyrling methodically going through the drawers and selecting a bewildering variety of knives.

‘If you’re planning a mad killing spree may I advise against it?’ The young man asked with a touch of bitter humour in his voice. ‘Or at least suggest strangling your victims? Much tidier, and of course the evidence is much easier to get rid of if it’s not staining the floor.’ K’fuzzi pushed away from the doorframe, ignoring the soft chatter Jubilee gave in greeting to the pair of blues that also occupied the room. ‘I trust you won’t stab me with one of those terrible blades if I take this chance to search for something to eat?’ K’fuzzi didn’t bother waiting for an answer, aside from the fact that Tenile seemed quite mentally stable and wasn’t likely to go around stabbing people just because she was bored, she was currently holding a knife in her mouth so until she organised herself an answer was unlikely.

‘Soooo…’ K’fuzzi drew out the word as he began hopefully opening cupboards and peering into them in search of something that could be eaten on the spot. ‘What are you really doing with all those knives? I’m guessing your dragon wouldn’t let you go on a stabbing spree, there’d be that many less people around to appreciate her.’ K’fuzzi gave a genuine smile, he rather liked Ranjith’s looks now she was a mature dragon but he was careful not to mention it where the green might hear him, she did have quite some personality. He was glad to have his sweetly annoying Balath rather than that one.

[Ruby]

Ten hadn't noticed K'fuzzi come in, but Big Brother and Cujo did. Big Brother, in one of his moods, ignored the Greenweyrling in favor of investigating the rafter - it must be hiding something, and if he could just figure out what, he could figure out what K'fuzzi was doing there, too! Clearly they were in cahoots. Cujo, on the other hand, craned his head around backwards, letting out a very feline hiss before gently nibbling Tenlie's neck to get her attention. Not now, Cujo, she said, slipping into mindspeech automatically, now. Everyone was supposed to stay quiet, if they could, so if she could speak mentally to something, Ten did. No need to go about shouting and bring the whole of... whoever down on their heads.

So K'fuzzi's voice made her jump, one of the knives clattering out of her hand and back into the drawer. Cujo replied with another hiss in K'fuzzi's direction, flaring his wings in a clear display of threat. Ten, on the other hand, turned and tried to smile around the knife - she recognized her classmate's voice, by now. She just hadn't expected anyone to be there at all. As he went on, though, she paled, trying to mumble something around the handle that sounded more like "Mmnnugh - nny mmmnt-" than actual speech. Scrambling to get her hands (and eventually her mouth) clear of knives, she started to speak just as he asked what she was really doing. Ooohhh, it had been a joke. She'd thought he looked too casual.

Given that she had a little extra time to prepare, Ten didn't simply splutter and apologize, like she would have normally. Instead, she leaned back against the counter, contemplating the knife she'd taken out of her mouth. "Hmm, I had no planned on a killing spree, but now that you mention it, this place do be pretty boring..." Pausing for a second, she set the knife back down on the table, reaching up instead to feed Cujo a bit of sticky fruit that tended to glue his jaws shut (no reason to let him bite K'fuzzi just yet). "Although I do think less people would make it more boring, so there goes that idea. And of course you do be right, Rajnith would no approve. She'd probably go on a much more specific killing spree." With a significant glance and her own chest, Ten returned her attention to the knives. Maybe one of these would be good enough?

"Really though, I do be trying to cut my hair," she clarified, "But I can no find any scissors, and I do no know anyone who would cut it for me. I do no exactly want to attack the back of my head with a naked blade and no mirror." Twisting her mouth to the side as she tested one knife's blade, she added, "How do Balath be? She made it here alright, I trust?" Rajnith didn't like her sister green much - never had, never would - but Tenlie thought Balath was sweet, and wished Rajnith would consent to work with the pair more often. K'fuzzi she didn't know well at all; in her mind, he was relegated to the ranks of 'younger' weyrlings in her class (even though he was probably closer to her age than the others'), while she and Jazz made up the remaining 'older' weyrlings. A classmate, nothing more - for now, anyway.

[Kisha-Ra]

K’fuzzi didn’t respond to Cujo and his hissing, Jubilee however turned her head to keep the blue in sight and gave him a bright chirp. They were friends, see? No need for all that. K’fuzzi was just to busy looking for those sweet things he liked so much to pay attention to firelizards right now, he’d like to be friends really.

Since Jubilee and her unswerving conviction that everyone was or wanted to be her best friend were nothing new to K’fuzzi his only concession to her noise was to make sure she was staying put and not antagonising Tenlie’s blues, he could only see one of them right now, but that didn’t mean the others weren’t there. ‘I’d have to agree.’ He commented once Tenlie had organised her collection of blades enough for a reply. ‘A few really messy murders might provide passing entertainment but it would leave less people to talk to at the end of it, and as you said; it’s boring around here already.’

A haircut? Well now that he came to actually pay attention to Tenlie’s hair he supposed it did make sense, it did seem rather unmanageable, and it certainly was long. Jubilee certainly thought it was a good idea, and expressed her enthusiasm by hopping up and down on his shoulder, trilling softly, K’fuzzi however was not certain that his pet really counted as a style guru. ‘I suppose scissors aren’t exactly the first thing people think of when they’re told to evacuate, but I can’t think why there wouldn’t be any in here.’ More than likely they were in the least likely place, either that or someone else had already borrowed them.

At the mention of his dragon K’fuzzi’s face broke into a broad smile, the kind that made it painfully obvious where all the young man’s affection lay. Balath was the first love of his life and even Jubilee played a poor second fiddle to the striped dragon. ‘Oh yes, Balath made it here. She’s bored though and I think she misses the younger weyrlings. She likes having people around to play with.’ K’fuzzi might have said more on his best loved topic but he was distracted by the firelizard on his shoulder. Jubilee was prancing in place and projected images of scissors at him very insistently. It was imperative that scissors were located upon the instant, if not sooner! K’fuzzi could see that, couldn’t he? good human…

‘Well, I guess I’ll help you look for those scissors.’ K’fuzzi chuckled slightly. ‘I always thought I’d be able to send a firelizard to find things though, not the other way around.’ He grumbled as he pulled open a drawer at random. ‘I could probably manage to cut some hair off for you anyway, provided you weren’t looking for anything fancy. If it’s just shorter hair you expect to get out of it I can manage that, even if we can’t find any scissors.’ Ten was right, wielding a knife at the back of your own head with no mirror was definitely a risky propostion.

[Requiem]

It was little wonder that they hadn't noticed their third addition right away. Seven-turn-olds were not particularly big creatures, after all, and Miguel was an unusually quiet one at that. More quiet since leaving Selenitas than ever before. He was standing wide-eyed behind a convenient piece of furniture, having ducked behind it at the sight of knives everywhere. A small tremble had taken hold of his limbs. Talk about killing everyone didn't help stop the shaking, either, but as he listened the boy slowly began to calm down. They were just...joking. He understood the concept of jokes. How going around killing everyone was in any way funny, though, was beyond him.

The child's hands tightened slightly on the scissors. He should just give them to these two. That was his reason for coming to the kitchens, after all. K'lir was asleep. He'd be upset if he woke up and noticed Miguel missing (which he would). The boy steeled his nerves and slid around the chair to stop behind Tenlie uncertainly. He reached out and tugged lightly on her sleeve near her elbow. Without uttering a word, the blue-eyed boy extended the scissors up and toward her, handles first. Miguel had been taught never to point sharp things at anyone. He almost always remembered everything that was said to him.

As he stood there offering the weyrling the scissors they'd borrowed, though, his stomach protested very loudly. Miguel didn't eat much. He ate when K'lir did, and K'lir hardly ate. Nor did the child feel like bringing it up if it wasn't pressing. He didn't want the greenrider to think that he wasn't being a good father. K'lir was, really...but it did mean that the child often went to find food when his caretaker was asleep. His eyes drifted between the two for a lingering moment. "Where's Mae?" he asked quietly. He glanced around the room one more time, just to be sure she wasn't hiding anywhere. She couldn't hide behind furniture very well like he could, though.

Another little tummy rumble. Miguel sighed. Really, he'd just wanted a piece of bread or something. Or maybe fruit. Even some of those nasty greens would have been nice. Nothing big. Only Mae wasn't here, it seemed.

[Ruby]

Cujo was not impressed - Jubilee and K'fuzzi weren't close enough to bite, yet, but if they even looked like they were threatening His, they'd be out of luck. For now, though, he disappeared, only his eyes reappearing in a shadow off to the left. They were a baleful red, tracking K'fuzzi's every movement, until - what was that miniature person doing, hiding what His was looking for?

He flashed an image of scissors in Ten's direction, ignoring the human that was holding them. The child held little interest for Cujo, as long as he remained far away. Ten, however, didn't take his meaning, turning back to a drawer. "Right? I managed to bring most of my glasscrafting tools, but even I did no bring scissors. They do seem like something a kitchen should have, though," she added, frowning at the drawer she had open now. This one was full of obscure utensils she'd never seen before, most likely for some baking process she'd never bothered with. Idly, Ten wondered if any of this was left over from when Burimyu was built. Then even Hoayamae might not know what they were for!

Giving up, she turned around just in time to catch K'fuzzi's smile. Matching it with one of her own, she offered, "Well, if Balath do ever wish to be belittled and ignored, Rajnith does offer her service. Although even she may appreciate the distraction, these days. Without a mate to dote on her she do be quite at a loss for what to do... Luckily Dhavalth did make it out, although she has been strange towards him since her flight." Smiling at Jubilee's visual intrusion - and Cujo's echo, that silly blue - and returning to the search, she added, "Any hint of a glow from Balath yet, if I may ask? Rajnith's head does get bigger every day her sisters do not rise." Maybe it was a personal question, but Ten had never been good at telling what was and what wasn't.

The other Greenweyrling's offer caught Ten a little by surprise, but in a good way. "Nothing fancy by any means," she confirmed, unable to stop herself from tugging on the end of a lock that fell forward over her shoulder. "Simply... short. I will be happy to return the favor when your hair does grow out, if you want," she added, then sighed. "Looks like a knife it do be..."

Her vague annoyance was interrupted by a slight tug on her sleeve, and she glanced down, expecting out of habit to see Ugly Duckling asking for a treat. But of course the swan had been left at the Weyr, something that caused a little pang of fear and sadness in her heart of hearts. Instead, it was... "Miguel?" Her shock was evident, but she recovered fairly quickly when his stomach growled. "I did no see you there! Do you remember me, love? We met at, oh, Rose's hatching, I do believe," she asked, not really expecting him to. He was a little boy, after all, and while she'd spotted him during the evacuation, she hadn't had a moment to speak with him. "And you did find the scissors, good boy. Mae is no here at the moment, but I believe you deserve a treat for this... spotted anything, K'fuzzi?" she asked, glancing over at her companion. The whole class knew of his extraordinary love for pies and the like - if there were any here, K'fuzzi would find them. No doubt that's what he'd come for in the first place.

[Kisha-Ra]

K’fuzzi shrugged and peered over Ten’s shoulder as if he might be able to see scissors where she could not. ‘At least you’ve got most of your craft tools here.’ He pointed out positively. ‘I’m sure once things get going you’ll even have some place to work with them too.’ There was bound to be the right room somewhere in this warren, just like there were bound to be scissors in the kitchen somewhere. It was just that neither of them had turned up yet. Idly K’fuzzi wondered if the tools in this drawer were for some long forgotten craft that people no longer practiced.

Normally K’fuzzi might not have nodded so eagerly at the suggestion, Balath was a sensitive little dragon at heart and being belittled by her sister too much probably wasn’t good for her. However his green did have a bright nature and maybe her eagerness to play and socialise could brighten Ranjith’s mood a little, it must irk the large green dreadfully to have managed to catch herself a bronze and then have to leave him behind.

‘Not a hint of a sparkle,’ the greenweyrling answered in a wry tone, ‘and while I’m sorry I don’t have anything to stop the swelling of your dragon’s head for you I must say I’m glad. Rising greens do tend to be on the conspicuous side. ‘I might not even notice if she didn’t start glowing though.’ K’fuzzi added after a moment of thought, though it was all on what a greenflight would do to this place rather than anything to do with him. ‘I mean Balath’s so intent on cuddling with every male she can persuade that I doubt there’d be that much change in her behaviour. She just loves to cuddle.’

Any comment K’fuzzi might have had on Ten’s hair was forestalled by the appearance of a child from, K’fuzzi wasn’t too sure actually, he hadn’t seen this one when he came in but lads were little sneaks it was a well known fact. Jubilee greeted the child’s appearance with rather more enthusiasm than her bonded, chirping her usual greeting, and when she realised he had the scissors fluting and gliding down from K’fuzzi’s shoulder to perch on Miguel and chatter to him. What a lovely child he was!

K’fuzzi’s face definitely took a nervous look at the boy mentioning his archenemy; he didn’t care where Mae was, as long as it was nowhere near here. Come to think of it how did that child expect to filch anything if she was here? ‘Well now the mystery of the missing scissors is solved I can get back to my primary search.’ He replied and turned back to the cupboards, moving swiftly through the kitchen until he had a full inventory of what could be eaten right away. ‘There’s bread, a little cold meat, plenty of fruits, and some biscuits.’ He finally announced to his companions. ‘That’s about it unless we want to risk Mae’s wrath by attempting to cook.’ K’fuzzi absent mindedly helped himself to the biscuits as he spoke and paused to nibble on one. ‘So, Miguel was it, what would you like?’

[Requiem]

Miguel smiled slowly. He nodded his small head at the woman. Yes, he did remember her vaguely. Not just from the Hatching, though that was the only time he could recall having spoken to her. "Tenlie," he stated. The child jumped slightly at the weight that found his shoulder. His smile took a decidedly sad turn as he stroked the flitter gently along her spine. It made him think of Lord. That was sad.

In silence, Miguel slid his hand into Tenlie's and clasped it lightly. He was very trusting of anyone who spoke to him kindly. None of them had ever done those terrible things. The child's eyes went to the boy he didn't know. Greenrider like his K'lir was. Miguel liked greenriders in general, and especially male ones. They were...nice. This one was too even if he didn't seem to want to have too much to do with a random kid he didn't know. The child couldn't blame him for that.

He was getting food anyway, though. "Could I have fruit and a biscuit, please?" he responded politely. His hand tightened a little on Tenlie's. "What is his name?" the child asked her in a near-whisper. He didn't want to offend the boy by not knowing his name already. Miguel usually did know a lot of people, if only because he had a habit of wandering off on his own and using all known adults as surrogate relatives. Weyrbred indeed.

[Ruby]

It wasn't until Ten picked up what seemed to be a round, rotating knife with a wavy edge to examine it that she realized exactly how close K'fuzzi had gotten. She had never paid much attention to the boys in her Weyrling class - or boys at all - but since Rajnith's flight, she kept becoming suddenly, uncomfortably aware of the males of the Weyr, especially when they were, for some reason, close to her. This was particularly annoying since Mi'rah was nowhere to be found, and didn't seem to be abandoning Selenitas to come find her any time soon. Really, the Greenweyrling couldn't figure out if she just missed the Bronzerider, or if she was actively mad at him. With a little annoyed frown, she tossed the strange tool back in the drawer, wrenching her thoughts away from Selenitas. K'fuzzi wasn't Mi'rah, but he was here, and he deserved her full attention.

Inching sideways so he was a little less close (and a little less distracting) under the cover of pulling a new drawer open, Ten sighed. "We have no turned up a usable forge yet, but I hear there is plenty left to explore. We shall see, I suppose." Fiddling with the contents of the new drawer, she closed that one too, giving up for a moment and leaning back against the counter. Her eyes found Rajnith through the wall, mouth turning up in a smile. "Hmm, true. I do suppose it is good Raj rose when she did; it would be just like her to do it now, and head straight for home as she did. The Burimyu males do be in luck, though," she added, stumbling only slightly over the new Weyr's unfamiliar name. "If they do not wish to join Rajnith's cuddle entourage, there do always be Balath's harem!"

She had barely opened another drawer before Miguel appeared, and she quickly squatted down to his level, all thoughts of rising Dragons forgotten. The scissors she tucked into her back pocket so they would be safe, then reached out to squeeze Miguel's hand again. "Exactly right," she praised when he remembered her name, smiling and reaching out to lift his chin a little when his face turned sad. She didn't comment on his expression, but she did eye the hissing Cujo, who was flaring his wings and snaking his head back and forth in a clear display of threat. He did not like it when people touched His, and only Ten's firm mental command kept him away.

When Miguel asked for the other Weyrling's name, Ten leaned in with a subtle smile for K'fuzzi, who would certainly hear everything. "That do be K'fuzzi. Green Balath is his dragon, and that is his firelizard on your shoulder. Mine do be hiding in the shadows, being generally awful, as usual. Jubilee do be much nicer; she do fit K'fuzzi very well." Raising her voice, she looked up at K'fuzzi. "I would love a piece of fruit, as well. Now that we have found the scissors, my hair can wait."

[Kisha-Ra]

K’fuzzi gave the tool in Tenlie’s hand a strange look (what possible purpose could that have?), then shrugged and pushed the drawer shut as the other greenweyrling moved on. If there were scissors in that lot they were well hidden. Recalling the drawer he’d left open when he came over K’fuzzi turned back and gave it a push shut. ‘Yes, it’s certainly bigger than it looks. I can’t imagine how many people used to live here. I can imagine how often they got lost though. This place is a real maze as well as being huge, so there probably is a forge in here somewhere, it’s just that you can bet no one will run across it unless they’re hopelessly lost.’

‘That’s exactly what I’m afraid Balath would do.’ K’fuzzi replied with a shudder. Selenitas Weyr had always seemed a little down on it’s luck and it would be running true to apparent form for a Rising green to lead a bunch of the invading dragons back to the exiles with her Flight. The next comment drew a slightly nervous laugh out of K’fuzzi, he was amused but having his mind drawn to possibilities like that was slightly nerve wracking. ‘I hadn’t considered that aspect but you’re right, if the male dragons here like to cuddle as much as the females they must be very happy.’

K’fuzzi shook his head a little over how friendly Jubilee could be to anyone who had something she considered important, or any interesting gossip Currently she was responding to the little bit of attention she was being given by arching her spine up into the caress like a little winged feline and leaning over to preen the boy’s hair gently.

Pretending that he couldn’t hear the conversation going on behind him, though he had to agree that Jubilee was nicer than Ten’s firelizards, K’fuzzi reached into one of the cupboards he’d passed by earlier for a plate, and picked up one of the smaller knives Tenile had discarded. A few moments later he offered Miguel a quartered fruit on that plate, with a biscuit neatly balanced on the edge out of range of the juice. ‘Jubilee go and sit somewhere else for a bit. It’s hard for people to eat with you preening them and the poor boy sounds hungry enough already.’ He commanded the firelizard affectionately, handing the plate off to the boy with a slight smile but no further comment. Jubilee chirped brightly, fluttered her wings, and remained exactly where she was as K’fuzzi turned back to get fruit for Ten, Miguel was her friend..

[Requiem]

The boy naturally smiled in response to Tenlie's smile. He'd known he had it right, of course, but he was still proud to have remembered the name if it pleased her so much that he had. Her hand on his chin had his blue eyes focusing on her rather quizzically. There was a certain wideness to them, a hint of dismay that she'd caught him thinking his sad thoughts and worry that she might ask about them. Cujo, however, provided a suitable distraction.

"Am I upsetting him?"

K'fuzzi. He really couldn't help himself. A rider with the name of Fuzzy? The boy giggled, quickly covering his mouth with his hand and shooting a glance at the male greenrider to be sure that the furry one hadn't heard his breach of manners. K'fuzzi seemed intent on rooting out the food, though. He'd probably gotten away with it. Thankfully.

By the time the greenrider returned with a plate, Miguel had recovered himself enough to accept it with a straight face and a quiet 'thank you.' His attention had returned to his small green companion. Even if she made him remember things he didn't particularly like, Miguel had never been anything but gentle with pets. He loved hatchings, too. Watching the babies hatch and Impress always made him feel happy.

The boy broke off a piece of the roll and offered it to Jubilee in silence. Maybe she was hungry, too? "You want to cut your hair?" he asked of Tenlie. His small face screwed up a little. "I like it now." A hand moved to play with the tips of what he could reach. (Miguel wasn't sure why he liked long hair, but he seemed to remember that a woman he was close to once had long hair. Gold hair, though, not dark like Tenlie's.)

[Ruby]

"Aye, likely," Tenlie sighed, staring vaguely in the direction of Burimyu's tangle of corridors as if just looking that way could summon up a forge. She'd give just about anything to have somewhere to work on her craft - it would give her a way to be useful, here, where no one seemed to know what to do with anyone.

It was Cujo's hissing that brought her back from her mental exploration though, literally forcing her to pay attention to the world at hand. The blue was about ten seconds away from attacking a small child, and only Ten stood in the way of that. She tried not to let Miguel see that, though, glancing over at the agitated firelizard with a little touch of mirth. "No, it is no you. Cujo does no like when anyone gets close to me, much less boys. He thinks you do be a threat to his position, or some such. Silly creature," she added.

Miguel's laugh made her smile, though she leaned in with a quiet little "Shhhh, he did no pick it any more than I picked Tenlie." Her own full name got a grimace, which she exaggerated with a stuck-out tongue. "At least Miguel do be a nice name... although not especially easy to shorten. 'Guel?" she tried, distracted by food before she could pass judgment. She thanked K'fuzzi, then started to straighten from her floor-level position before she changed her mind. Instead, she seated herself cross-legged on the ground, balancing her plate on her knee so she could gesture K'fuzzi down next to her.

Polishing off a bit of fruit as Miguel fed the firelizard, Ten tilted her head a little, looking down to consider her hair. "Well thank you, love." The word 'love' was off hand - something she'd used when talking to the few children at the hall - but she wouldn't have taken it back, given the chance. Her hair had more of her attention anyway. "I do like it too, but see here, how it do be all tangled? It do be too hard to care for here. If -" Urgh, that was the wrong idea, there "- when we go back to Selenitas, I shall grow it out again. Until then, though..." she picked at a hopeless knot, giving up after a minute.