IncogNeat-o (Candie Chores)

[Requiem]

They'd banned her from the kitchens, most likely just so they could imprison Laddy where she had no chance of rescuing him, which was not very nice in Ximera's opinion. Of course, right now she wasn't Ximera. No sir. She was...um...well, she should probably think up a name for herself before they asked! Aremix. There, that sounded male, didn't it? Because it had to sound male, since she was oh so certain no one would expect a boy to be hiding a Ximera.

Certain enough, in fact, that she'd gone quite out of her way to dress the part, complete with raggedy, half-torn trousers a couple sizes too big, slightly large, worn working boots, and a button-down shirt trailing shirt tails from beneath the wide belt slung jauntily about her hips. Of course, she also had to add a large floppy hat to help hide her face, using one from the Gather at Southern, huge sweeping blue feather and all. A mustache had been carefully scrawled above her upper lip, curling neatly on either side, and the shadow from the brim of the hat should make the fact that it was charcoal rather than hair less than obvious. Laddy was tucked into her belt, hidden beneath her shirt against the small of her back. (He absolutely refused to be left alone, despite how hard she'd reasoned with him.)

Ximera - no, Aremix now! - tucked her thumbs into her belt and swaggered into the kitchens, glowering about her like all strong manly men (5'2" as (s)he might have been) were wont to do. Yes, and what did men do in kitchens? Hm. Another question she didn't really know the answer to, but she figured standing around like she hadn't a clue in the world would fit into 'male' and 'candidate' well enough. One of the drudges glanced over curiously, asking if she was a candidate, to which 'Aremix' nodded, adding a masculine grunt. Oh, she was good at this! Should join an acting troupe! After she Impressed her wher, of course.

[raii]

Strange. Where could those fire lizards be?

Eselda could swear she had seen the blue and the green fly through here just moments ago. Who could miss Renn's almost white coloring? Who could miss Loli's minty hue? It was them, all right, only to figure out just where they had gone. They had managed to evade her vision for quite some time now. Of course, they had to be trying. Playing a game of hide and seek, perhaps. Either way, it worried her.

Regardless of fire lizards' beauty and kind hearts, many disliked the tiny dragonoids. They tended to get in the way, or so people thought. Really, you could train them to help with your trade. Of course, any creature could be unruly at times, and inappropriate as well, even, she suspected, gold Millieth. Perhaps not to the same extent. Dragons were, after all, gifted with more common sense than the playful flitters. Also, of course, the stronger bond allowed for more control.

It didn't matter. Eselda didn't want to control them.

Their antics amused her to no end. Of course, control was necessary for help with tasks, relaying messages, and acting appropriate in extremely important times, like the Hatching. She had that control, of course, but desired no more. She feared to crush the kind, pure, playful spirit that belonged to her two fire lizards. She did, however, need to find them.

She tapped on the shoulder of a strangely dressed man. He was shorter than her, but certainly looked grumpy. He was wearing worn, old clothing, quite ratty indeed. Perhaps her mom would let her have some money from the sales to buy this man a new wardrobe. The clothing appeared to be hand-me-downs of some sort, as they were also far too big for him. Even more curious, he had a floppy had with a huge blue feather. Hilarious, yes, charming, no.

"Have you seen my fire lizards?" she asked.

[Rei]

Darmori wasn’t really bored. He knew the kitchens. Had been a drudge there since leaving the crèche. Left only upon becoming a candidate. So it was almost second nature for him to want to do his chores there. He knew the kitchens. Currently he was bustling around checking on things. Fires needed to be built, food prepared, vegetables chopped, floors scrubbed, drinks poured. The list went on and on with seemingly no end. His gold mandyr Harmony sat upon his shoulder playing the role of overlord of the kitchens.

Anything there that was not supposed to be there was ordered away. Salamandyrs politely and sweetly. Flits with death threats and promises of pain. The massive gold was temperamental lately. Might have a tiny bit to do with the soft glow that was brightening her hide. A glow Darmori was trying in vain to ignore. Kind of hard to do when it was staring you in the face every morning. Staring you in the face and demanding your attention in voice that was sweet and yet somehow also threatening. It was frightening in a way. Where had his sweet Mony gone?

The mandyr absolutely refused to be covered as well. Loved to be looked at . So it meant he had to look at her horrid coloring all the time. Good thing was the candidate was slowly getting used to it. At least he could look at her for more than a few seconds now. Sighing the candidate returned to chopping vegetables, only looking up when a strangely dressed figure entered the kitchens. Harmony was nibbling on the edge of a soup bone. Darmori had shoved it at her after a particularly harrowing incident with a green flit. Mollified by food only was his angel. Please Faranth no more flits. The gold looked up gave a disinterested huff and returned her attention to her meal. Darmori put the knife down and gave the figure a curious look. It seemed familiar in a way. Maybe…

Before he could decide whether or not to approach the strangely dressed man?, another girl had approached the figure and asked about flits. Oh great. Faranth help the things if they made their way here. He gave a sideways glance at his gold who merely gave a sedate croon and continued to worry the meat off the bone. Her little claws bloodstained and little contented growls emerging from her chest. Just darling really was his angel.

[Requiem]

The tap on her shoulder was unexpected. Who was behind her? Well, Ximera was certain they hadn't seen through her disguise - certainly not from behind! But now what? How did a man respond to a shoulder tap, she wondered? The young girl turned slowly, allowing her eyes to creep upwards. Then she punched the girl's arm lightly. Manly greeting! Did they do that to women though? She couldn't remember. Oh well. Too late! Still not quite sure her voice would hold up under intensive scrutiny, she grunted in pure manly fashion, shaking her head with serious deliberation. No flits. Unless one of them was the green that had winked Between screaming just a moment ago...

Speaking of, she'd never seen what it was that had - catching sight of the gold again (the yellowy gold) for the first time she noticed the owner. Her eyes widened. Darmori! Without a moment's thought, she dropped flat onto her belly, wriggling backwards until the counter concealed her. (All but her bobbing blue feather, actually, but 'Aremix' wasn't aware of that.) Slowly she ventured a peek around the edge of the counter. Had he seen? Darmori would surely recognize her and frog march her out of the kitchens - worse yet, he might let the drudges do it! - and what if they found Laddy? The Candidatemaster would be so upset if she didn't do her assigned chores.

Whoa, wait a second. She was in disguise! Oh dear, why was she hiding to begin with, this was definitely not manly behavior. Making all kinds of mistakes, oh dear, oh dear. Aremix made a show of scrambling around on the floor for a moment, before locating...a carrot. "Found it!" she exclaimed in her deepest rumble voice, waving the carrot around. No, it wasn't at all weird to dive on the floor in search of a carrot. Not at all. Standing, (s)he brushed himself off, wiping the carrot on his shirt. "Hungry?" he questioned Eselda, offering it to her.

[raii]

He punched her. It was light, yes, but strange. Strange greeting from a strange little man. She glanced at him questioningly. He dropped onto his stomach and wiggled behind the counter. What the shards? Then he popped up with a carrot, offering it to her. "Uhm, no thank you?" She asked, a bit confused. "So, who are you? I'm Eselda." She looked at the strange young man for a moment, as if she could figure out why he was so strange from his appearance.

She shook her head. Didn't matter. Everyone was a bit strange. She, Eselda, was also strange. Before the boy could answer, she went on. "I'm looking for a green and a blue, my Loli and Renn. Do you have any fire lizards? Aren't they just so sweet? They get into all sorts of trouble though, so you can imagine why I must find them! They are playing hide and seek, I think, but I worry they might hide in someone's food and make a mess or something!"

She sighed. Strange little creatures, fire lizards were. Cute and sweet, of course, but still strange. Certainly a handful. She couldn't count how many times the creatures had flown off or gotten into trouble. She loved them, certainly, but wished they would listen a bit better. "You don't talk too much do you. Or am I just talking too much? Ah well, talking is quite a good thing. Communication with fellow people, you know? Why don't you talk a bit, hmm?"

She paused to let him speak. Quiet ones were often the most fun, especially when they had a strange underside like this one seemed to have. For the moment, her fire lizards were all but forgotten. She was more interested in hearing what this strange young man with the carrot had to say. She smiled encouragingly.

[Rei]

Darmori’s eyes slid back from Harmony as no screeches suddenly emerged. Involved was the chubby gold in her ‘treat’ and he couldn’t blame her. It was almost cute to see her worry and gnaw at the bone. Almost if not for the little bits of flesh now clinging to her lightly glowing hide and making her look a tad ghastly. Ewww. Oh well. At least she was content. That was what really mattered in the long run. Giving a final light smile to his pet he picked up his knife and returned to chopping vegetables.

Only his attention wasn’t totally on what he was doing. Nope he was being sidetracked by the two figures conversing not far away. The strangely dressed guy (?) and some candidate girl, by her knots. While normally the ex drudge didn’t really pay much attention to the gossip this meeting was interesting, if only because the short figure with the hat looked so familiar. Huh, he could swear he had seem them before. A mild frown touched his features as he watched. Chop, chop, chop…

The punch to the girl’s arm was noted with a frown. What was the guy daft? Who went around shoulder socking girls? Before he could further debate that the figure looked over at Harmony and then hit the ground. Huh? If that wasn’t odd enough by itself the guy continued to squirm backwards until he was all but hidden, besides the big gaudy feather on the hat. Darmori couldn’t help but chuckle at that. It was amusing.

But far more curious was how the guy had reacted to Harmony. Maybe he was afraid of yellow to? Or maybe his lovely angel had insulted or attempted to crush one of the guys flits before? Was entirely possible he supposed. Harmony did hate firelizard with a passion for whatever reason. Probably because her mother had mistaken her for one at her hatching. If he had to rationalize it he would bet on that. Listen to him. Spending to much time around Raebeli apparently. At least his fear of Harmony’s (hideous. The candidate kept that thought locked away from her) color was bearable now. He didn’t feel like he was going to run away screaming or vomit when he looked at her anymore. That was always a plus. See mindhealers did have their uses.

Darmori’s attention went back to the vegetables then. He could have continued chopping without looking but well he realized he was probably being a tad rude. The conversation really didn’t involve him and the last time he had stuffed his nose where it didn’t belong he had been snapped at by an angry blind guy with the most beautiful hair he had seen in turns. Sigh. If only he had been able to get a lock. A shout grew him out of his temporary day dream and he watched curiously as the guy brushed off the root and offered it to the other girl. The one who was looking for her firelizards.

The thought about looking for firelizards drew and angry grumble from Harmony and she scampered up onto the soup bone. Flopping on top of it possessively, she extended her wicked looking spines, obviously full but refusing to relinquish her prize. Cue threatening mandyr glares at passerby. Darmori resisted the urge to sigh knowing it would set the mandyr off and instead went back to chopping with renewed vigor every now and again flicking a glance at the two figures. He wanted to go over and see what was up but he didn’t want to intrude. At least not yet. Especially with a grumpy gold to baby-sit.

[Requiem]

Oh dear. So chatty. Normally Ximera loved chatty, but not when she was having trouble with her 'manly' voice. Hard to make little lungs sound like big ones without turning it into a raspy whisper. Fortunately, she didn't actually have to speak, because this Eselda forged ahead without a pause to actually hear her answer. (Something Ximera was thankful for.) It was ever so easy to answer the question about the flits with a negative shake of her head as the girl tucked the carrot into her belt where a blade should have been. As if anyone would trust Ximera with a knife. Ha!

At the third of Eselda's questions, Ximera admittedly waited perhaps several seconds past a normal pause, just to see if the other girl would forge on ahead and therefore rescue her from Eselda once again. But no, nothing more came after the question. Ximera fiddled with the carrot at her belt, trying to think up something good and hopefully off-putting. Hm. "Laryngitis," she grated, clawing at her throat a little and wincing slightly - not that Eselda could really see her expression. That was definitely a good reason not to talk, now wasn't it? Proud of herself for such a clever answer, she jerked her head toward Darmori. They should help that other candidate over there. Yes, yes.

Then Eselda would have someone else to direct her inquisitiveness at.

Not waiting to see how the other girl would respond, Ximera spun on a heel and sauntered as cockily as she could manage in the direction of the boy with the yellow mandyr-thingy. Darmori was too tall to be able to see her well past her hat, so she wasn't too worried. Just so long as she remembered not to floor dive anymore. Now that was just silly, wasn't it? Laddy agreed, and she wrinkled her nose at the ladle. As she reached Darmori, she extended the tuber toward the gold that seemed to be in the middle of a very impressive eating binge. "Gift?" she offered the gold.

[raii]

Laryngitis. That made sense. Suddenly, the strange candidate jerked his head towards another candidate. Without anymore warning, he started walking towards the other boy. Well, if you could call it walking. This really was a strange one, but everyone differed a bit from normal, right? So she followed the candidate, who gave a "gift" to the gold. Oh, she should give a gift too, right? She wasn't exceptionally fond of salamandyrs, but she certainly did not want to appear rude or mean. She dug into her pockets, stumbling on a shiny stone she had found by the coast.

Naturally polished stones made good gifts, right? She offered it to the gold, smiling sweetly. She turned to the candidate. "Hi, I'm Eselda, what's your name?" She glanced at the boy. "Oh, and you never told me your name, mister...?"

She looked back to Damori. "Oh, have you seen my fire lizards? Loli's about this big, she's really pale, and really cute. Renn's this big, and he's also pale. He's almost white. Have you seen him?" As if mocking her, the two fire lizards flew behind Eselda's back, twisting and chirping softly to each other. Meanwhile, Eselda looked eagerly at the boy for an answer.