Smelly Weyr... (Open)

[Shiny]

So, she'd finally made it. Selenitas Weyr.

Brown-black eyes swept the room from above an upturned nose. Didn't seem to be anyone ready to assassinate her. Not yet.

Syrene walked into the room slowly, the hardened hide of her boots hardly making a sound on the rock floor. Her nostrils slightly flared; this stench was clearly Selenitas. Disgusting, but she would have to live with it. After all, it was her decision to come here, even if it wasn't for necessarily truthful reasons.

There was a trunk at the end of the bed. The darkly dressed female crouched in front of it, pulling a dagger from her boot. She undid the latch with her right hand and held her blade in her left; creaking it open carefully, she inspected the darkness within before opening the chest all the way and tucking her weapon back into its sneaky hideaway. Precautions, precautions. They took up time, but she had learned them necessary at Fort Weyr. And she had lots of time to kill here, so why not make such precautions? Not only was she a Candidate with no important duties, but she was actually free to do whatever she liked in this Weyr. No forced labour, or anything. Her mouth twitched a condescending smirk.

Selenitas and its weak political system. No wonder it was a dying Weyr.

Checking the room once more for any sign of life with her peripherals, Syrene slid a small bag from her shoulder and opened it, transferring its contents to the trunk. A long black cloak, closely resembling the one she currently wore, and some undergarment things that need not be mentioned in greater detail were both placed inside the large container. Placing the empty bag itself into the trunk, she closed it silently. Smaller pouches made from hide hung from her belt, hidden most of the time by the black cloak she wore; at least when she stood, anyway. In them, she hid small throwing knives, matches, some length of coiled rope, long strips of cloth, and a nicer quality cloth that was used to polish her blades. One of the pouches acted as a canteen, useful if she ever had to go on some kind of mission. Hidden in her clothing were a few blades similar to the one residing in her boot.

All in all, she was a prepared person. You always had to think a step ahead at Fort, or you were dead. Syrene preferred not to be dead.

The furs of the bed were soft and inviting. At least, to a regular person. Syrene didn't care for the extra frills, but slowly walked to the bedside, forcing herself to avoid boredom for a moment longer. The tiny figure gracefully sat down on the bottom bunk (although she would sleep on the top bunk - it gave her the advantage position if anyone ever barged in to attack her during the night), hand slowly stroking the furs next to her. Hn. Fort's fur is better. That was probably accounted for by Fort being in the North, where furrier creatures actually lived, but no more thought was devoted to the comment.

Her extremely heavily-outlined eyes shifted to take in the room once more. Anyone watching would have labeled her a villainous raccoon up to no good.

Well... At least mind-numbing freedom gave her time to polish her blades, her babies. They were in dire need of care, as they had only been polished two days ago - which was unacceptable to the young, pale woman.

And she had a room all to herself, so she could practice her weaponry skills, so long as no one barged in.

She should also spend some of her time trying to adjust to the smell of Pathetic; otherwise, she wouldn't last more than a week in Selenitas.

[heisokufire9]

Ashlyn sighed as she walked into the candidate barracks. It was here first time here, not that she didn't know her way around Selenitas though. She'd grown up here so she knew the Weyr like the back of her hand. She noticed that there was another girl already here. She looked to be around Ashlyn's age and had short black hair and fair skin. 'Well it'll be nice to know someone.' Ashlyn thought. She shifted the bags in her hand so they weren't pinching and went over to the girl. "Hi I'm Ashlyn. Is the bottem bunk taken?" she asked a tentative smile on her face.
She had noticed the trunk by the bunkbeds and figured the coveted top bunk had already been taken. It figures but being so late in arriving she couldn't expect to get a good spot. Ashlyn didn't care though, as long as she had a place to sleep.

[Shiny]

Syrene's posture went rigid as someone walked into the room, a hand reflexively reaching behind her cloak to grab the hilt of one of her blades. Eyes fixating glaringly on the approaching girl, she rose, spine straightening with 20-turn-old Fortian superiority, nostrils flaring slightly. Tch, just great. Another Candidate to share the room with. Ashlyn smiled. Syrene did not. She hardly ever did, unless it was a cold, condescending one. And not even that crossed her lips.

Naïve, Syrene thought, soul-sucking eyes analyzing the younger girl before her. The hand that held her hidden blade's hilt pulled, withdrawing the weapon from its sheath - not to attack Ashlyn as was the original intention, no, but to clean it. She pulled a good-quality cloth from one of her hide pouches and gently started polishing the reflective, already-clean surface, dark eyes not once drifting from Ashlyn's face.

She couldn't be her usual hateful self if she was supposed to actually blend in here. "Syrene," a condescending smirk stretched her cold lips around the hiss. Her usual glowering scowl replaced it quickly, and she stared into the blue eyes of the other Candidate intimidatingly. Voice cold, uncaring, and monotonous, she spoke. "No." She could have the bottom bunk if she wanted, although Syrene much preferred her to choose a different bunk. (Why would anyone in the right mind choose to bunk with Syrene when there were other empty bunks available?) Syrene couldn't stop her from claiming the bottom bunk (well she could but that would result in her knife getting dirty and her being kicked from the Weyr), so she shrugged a shoulder sharply. Besides, she couldn't just flat out reject Ashlyn's wish to bunk with her if she wanted to blend. (She sure was doing a great job so far.)

She glided a step to the right, cloak hanging from her small frame like a black waterfall. The polishing cloth soothingly carressed her knife, her baby, over and over again; Syrene kept her eyes trained on the Candidate, waiting to see what she would do. Had Syrene scared her off? (She secretly hoped she had.) Or would the Candidate be brave stupid enough to bunk with her? If she still, for some reason, chose this bunk, Syrene wanted to see what the teenager was carrying in her bags. Not to say that Syrene had trust issues, but she had biiiiiig trust issues. Any knives the girl might be carrying? Syrene would snatch'em while the girl was asleep. No chances would be given.

[heisokufire9]

Ashlyn blinked surprised at the knife but relaxed when she realized Syrene was only cleaning it. At the condescending look from the other girl, Ashlyn's spine straightened. She was a weyrbrat after all, not some random hold girl but she would be cautious. There was something about this girl that made Ashlyn want to tread carefully.
The raven-haired teen set her two bags down on the bottom bunk and opened the larger bag. She pulled out a few changes of clothes and put them away.
She could sense the other girl watching her. "I don't have any weapons if that's what your wondering." Ashlyn said calmly as she sat the empty bag under the bed. "I used to but after my parents died I needed money, so I had to sell them." she added, though she didn't know why she was telling this to Syrene.
Her other bag had her was stuff and a necklace that belonged to her mother. She pulled out the blue crystal that was on a black string. She sat the bag under the bed with the other one and glanced at Syrene. "I'm going to go get something to eat. You want anything?" she asked.

[Shiny]

Syrene watched as the girl placed her bags on the bottom bunk, brows furrowing in frustration. Ashlyn was a little tougher than she originally thought. But still, why hadn't her scare tactics worked? Either Ashlyn was stupid or she wanted to get stabbed in her sleep.

Her eyes narrowed at Ashlyn's comment. No weapons? Well she was a Southerner... From what she'd seen, many people here found it unnecessary to walk around armed. They were all just asking for trouble. The urge to give them said trouble arose, but Syrene huffed at it and slid her knife back into its hidden compartment. She wanted to avoid dirtying her blade again for a while, even if she did want Ashlyn to cower in fear.

A blank, somewhat bored look crossed her face as she listened to the rest of the girl's story. Promptly after its end, Syrene looked down, running her eyes quickly over her own form. Did she look trustworthy all of a sudden? Friendly, maybe? Ah, maybe her eyeliner had come off. That tended to decrease her scariness level a little (though she was still one hell of an intimidating person without it). Withdrawing the knife from its sheath for a moment, the reflection that glared back at her did indeed have eyeliner. Now, the goth girl was just plain confused, even if it didn't show much on her face. Nevertheless, Syrene didn't care about what Ashlyn had said. It could've been a lie for all she knew.

The inquiry of food only served to irritate Syrene further. She cocked a thin eyebrow slightly, her scowl frozen on her face. "No," she said, although her stomach disagreed. It was rather empty. Thankfully, it didn't protest loudly, and Syrene's decision would be deemed believable. She didn't like the food here, and she especially didn't like being helped by people. Especially people she didn't know.

While Ashlyn was gone, Syrene would search her bags for anything dangerous, despite the girl having claimed she had nothing of interest in them. It was better to be safe than sorry. Cold dark brown eyes stared at the girl, watching to see what she would do now. Would she leave?

[heisokufire9]

Ashlyn shrugged as the older girl turned down the offer of food.
"Suit yourself." she said and slipped on her mother's necklace before heading out to get some food for herself. She was hungry after all.
The teen ran a hand through her long hair. Why had she talked so easily to Syrene? Ashlyn didn't know and didn't really want to find out. She suspected the older girl would look through her stuff while she was gone. With her being so suspicious it didn't really surprise Ashlyn. 'She probably wasn't raised in Selenitas then.' she thought and shrugged to herself. It wasn't her business so she wouldn't ask.
Ashlyn sighed as she headed down the hall. She was seriously doubting that bunking with Syrene would end well but it was a little late now. Ashlyn snorted. 'Though I don't think she'd try to stop me if I did move.' she thought a wry smirk on her face. She hadn't expected being a candidate to be this interesting.

[Shiny]

Syrene waited a moment after Ashlyn had left, making sure the girl didn't decide to come back in for some reason or another. Her small, thin form darted towards the bed, eager to start digging through Ashlyn's stuff. She reached under the bed with her left foot and kicked the light bag out, hauling it up to sit it next to the second bag on the bed. She opened the first and peered in, before cautiously sticking her hand in the bag. There was nothing in this bag, never mind weapons. She huffed and knocked it to the floor, kicking it back under the bed to where it belonged. She repeated the search on the second bag and found that Ashlyn had been telling the truth all along.

With hands on her hips, she stood, watching the bag on the bed with an irritated expression. Well, this was boring. There was nothing to discover, and Syrene found herself annoyed that the girl didn't have a weapon on her. What was there to steal now? Nothing of importance. The image of the beautiful necklace Ashlyn put on just before leaving popped up in her mind. It wasn't a bad idea, but stealing a necklace was not the same as stealing a weapon. One could live without jewelry, but without a way to defend oneself, it was over. If the necklace was important to her, though, it might just do the same amount of damage.

Placing a hand over her stomach to silence its pleas, she took a few steps backwards, exhaling deeply. She would have to think about the necklace and decide what to do about it. If she did end up trying to steal it, she would probably sell it and not bother to wear it. It didn't really matter now, though; all that mattered was that Ashlyn did not have any weapons, and that left her harmless and vulnerable, just the way Syrene liked it. And she wouldn't kick the other Candidate from the bottom bunk now; she would rather have a weaponless girl bunking with her than someone who was actually potentially dangerous.

She backed up to the ladder and fluidly threw herself up it. She shifted to sit comfortably on her high perch, legs crossed, boots still on. She was not going to put her boots in her trunk lest someone steal them. She scanned the room, feeling safer from her vantage point. It almost made her feel like she was omnipresent. Keeping an eye on the door for the return of her bunk-buddy (she sneered at the fakely sweet nickname), she just sat, breathing, glaring at everything. Now what?

[heisokufire9]

Ashlyn sighed as she returned back to her room. 'Well here goes nothing.' she thought as she went in. Syrene was perched on the top bunk like a cat waiting to pounce. Ash tilted her head.

"You don't like people much do you?" the raven-haired teen asked only slight amusement in her blue eyes. No she wasn't going to waste her time trying to be friends with Syrene if the older girl didn't want it but no one said Ash couldn't be cordial did they?

Ash sat down on her bunk without waiting for Syrene's answer to the question. If Syrene wanted to be anti-social for lack of a better term (for the time being) then that was Syrene's problem wasn't it? Yes it was and Ash wasn't going to push her company on her bunkmate.

She curled up on her furs. It was times like these she wished she had a pet. Of course now that she though about it, a firelizard might try and bug Syrene which probably wouldn't end well. She sighed softly and closed her eyes. Oh yes being a candidate was going to be interesting.

[Shiny]

"You're a genius," Syrene said dryly, face blank as she both figuratively and literally looked down upon Ashlyn. The blue-eyed girl was right - she hated people. They were always getting on her nerves, and they screwed up everything. The world would be such a better place if it was just her, and no one else. But clearly, all of these people refused to die. Oh, well. At least she could try?

She watched Ashlyn disappear from view and heard her lie down on her bunk. Well, it looked like she wasn't going to be moving any time soon. The girl was foolish. Annoyed at her lack of control over the girl, Syrene snorted and scooted a little to the side of her bed. She rolled to rest on her knees and elbows. Grasping onto the side with her hands, she pulled herself forward and leaned down, extending her slender neck. Gravity pulled her hair away from her face; it hung like a foot long black veil, which would have appeared in Ashlyn's line of view first. She stopped leaning when her heavily-outlined eyes poked just past the bed frame to look at the other Candidate upside-down.

This girl was not scared of her. Her raccoon-like eyes narrowed. Maybe she could induce some fear, or at least some worry. It would sate her desire to be evil, at least for a little bit.

"That necklace is nice," she said monotonously, eyes drilling into the younger girl's form. "Where did you get it?"

((I'm sorry for the short post D8))

[heisokufire9]

Ashlyn heard her bunkmate moving around and was surprised when Syrene peered over the side of the bunk at her.
"That necklace is nice. Where did you get it?"

Ashlyn blinked looking up at the pale older girl. A flicker of pain passed through her eyes as she clutched the necklace possesively.

"It was my mother's. It's all I have left of her." the raven-haired teen replied softly. It was worth more than gold to Ash. She wouldn't give it up easily.

"My mother left it to me." she explained and added, "My father didn't leave me anything." her voice was bitter. It had always rubbed her the wrong way that her father had never wanted anything to do with his daughter. After losing her adopted parents, her birth father was her only living relative...if he was still alive.

Ash held hopes of meeting him one day but whether or not that would happen was anyone's guess. She wondered why Syrene wanted to know about the necklace. It wasn't really worth anything other than it's sentimental value to Ashlyn. The naive teen shrugged it off as curiosity. 'Maybe we can reach a truce of sorts.' she thought.

(( Tis okay ^.^ am working on making mine longer.

[Shiny]

Syrene watched the girl upside-down with a look of blank boredom as Ashlyn reacted to her question, clutching at the necklace that she was considering stealing and explaining all about her relationship with her parents. What a shame Ashlyn had been through such a thing, Syrene thought with a yawn. But didn't everyone have screwed up pasts these days? She herself had lost her parents but she didn't really care much. Both of them weren't exactly the nicest people on Pern, having been raised in or around Fort. Her mother died in battle against Benden as a Greenrider, leaving behind only a legacy of cruelty for Syrene to try and surpass. Her father just up and disappeared a few turns after that, leaving nothing tangible behind, either. Syrene suspected he didn't disappear willfully, but she didn't question it. You didn't ask questions in Fort, or you would go missing, too. It was all in the past now anyway; nothing she could do about it.

Oooh, was that bitterness in the girl's voice? She had more to her than appearances, it seemed. Well, whatever. Syrene didn't bother to poke at the girl any more. No need to learn more about her life than was necessary. The necklace looked pretty enough to earn some marks if sold, but Syrene knew with Ashlyn's possessiveness of it, it would be hard to steal (well it certainly would be for regular people. Syrene would have to expend a little more energy than usual if she attempted it, but it was doable). She stared at the downcast girl for a few unblinking moments longer. "Move on," she said in a stiff, flat voice. The slightly older girl fluidly pulled herself back up and readjusted her position, gently setting herself onto her side. "That's what I did."

Why exactly she'd bothered to say anything was a mystery to her. Maybe because she'd been there, done that. And it would make that necklace easier to steal, if Ashlyn wasn't so attached to it.

Syrene closed her eyes and burried the side of her face deeper into the pillow, a silent, long exhale leaving her nose. Thoughts of Selenitas and Fort floated around in her mind, reminding her that life was just great.

[heisokufire9]

Ashlyn frowned at the older girl's words. The harsh statement stung but Ash realized that it was true. It would probably be better if she moved on. Her father hadn't come looking for her so odds were she would never meet him. Still, she had clung to the hope that he did care for so long that it was hard to just give up on it. She heard Syrene sigh after the girl disappeared to her bunk and wondered if the conversation had brought up unwanted memories.

Probably but the older girl wasn't talking so Ash didn't press further. She rolled over onto her stomach and curled up in her furs. Maybe some sleep was what she needed. Ash doubted it but what else was there to do? The teen buried her face in her pillow. Life was just sharding great sometimes.

((Sorry it's so short but my muse is kinda dying.... XO ))