I didn't know! (Aug Chores)

[Ember]

Eikane sighed and managed a weak grin up at Rulven despite his predicament. "Was planning on a quick escape until the big guy decided it'd be fun to knock us over," he commented but he quickly turned to look at the woman bearing down on them. Oh dear. Could he squirm out of this one somehow? He was - heh, oil - kind of slippery. The reply and movement from below him made him smirk a bit and he considered getting off Dmitri. Hmm, harper pancake? He was fairly certain his expression wouldn't be noticed. Just to be more of a pain he pretended to ignore the squirming lad.

The older Harper spared only a glance at the injured man who had been attacking them a moment earlier. Well, for now they were safe from him. Eikane sstruggled to hide his amusement at Dmitri's story. Yes, because the 'brute' would just randomly attack him right? Eikane settled for a mock solemn expression and nodded. "That's right. The big guy just wouldn't stop attacking though. We were really lucky Rulven helped us." So far neither of them had told a lie. It just...wasn't all of the truth. He gave Rulven a curious look, wondering if he would help them or betray them. Even he agreed the reason Dmitri was attacked was foolish, right?

Eikane pretended a surprised look down at Dmitri and smiled sheepishly. "Sorry. Thanks for the softer landing," there was amusement and disbelief in his voice. Like he really believed Dmitri was suffocating, as he said. The man pushed himself up and off the other Harper and stood. Generally he would have brushed the front of his pants and shirt after getting off the floor but with the oil...he just didn't see the point. He grabbed an oily lock and pulled it into sight. Sigh. He needed a bath. Now. Judging from the woman's expression...he doubted she'd let them go to clean themselves off first.

[rii]

"Rulven?" The woman's stern voice did not allow him to slip away. Grudgingly the smith lifted the water bucket and returned to the scene of the crime. His brow was heavily crease in a mild scowl of irritation. "What happened here?"

"He broke my hand!" That would be Warren, yelling up at them from his spot still on the floor. But he didn't say much afterward, due to a stream of dirty water being dumped over his head--compliments of the tall candidate. He sputtered on the spot while Rulven merely looked to the scolding eyes of the head of staff. Whoops? But really, Warren needed to cool down.. judging by the deepening red tinge to his face, water had not done the trick.

Probably shouldn't have done that. Another sigh. "He--" he pointed to Dmitri, "--was flirting with this guy's girl and the big guy over reacted. He was going to smash the little guy. He kind of missed.. " Rulven torqued his torso, showing the woman the forming bruise on his lower back. "So.. yeah, I intervened.. "

And he was not going to apologize about breaking the man's finger. The smith stubbornly crossed his arms in front of his chest and waited for the verdict. The woman shook her head, muttering curses under her breath. "Warren, get yourself to the infirmary---DON'T argue with me. You three--" the wooden spoon regarded the rest. "I will be speaking with the candidate master about this. You two may go clean up, I don't want you making a further mess than you already have. I expect you to return here to make up for lost time, unless you want me to have it arranged for you to be in here scrubbing floors every night. And you--" the spoon honed in on Rulven. "--finish cleaning up the floor."

How.. unsurprising.

Rulven didn't argue, merely knelt down and reached to retrieve his two scrub brushes..

[ ooc: Unless you guys want to interact with Rulven, this will be my last post in the thread. So don't feel you have to wait for my turn :3 ]

[Requiem]

Playing innocent, was he? Dmitri was half-tempted to bite Eikane. It would be interesting to see how well the older harper could ignore all his squirming then. Barring the unlikely chance that he could have jarred himself into becoming a parapalegic in that fall, Eikane definitely knew that he'd pinned Dmitri beneath him. Of course, the harper was oily and generally nasty, not at all a tasty mouthful, and you never knew where he'd been beforehand, so the youth refrained.

And who said he had no self-control?

At least the man was backing him up in that totally unbelievable way of his. Dmitri settled for lying still and glowering over Eikane's shoulder at the ceiling. Smoke stains, and was that? Oh, yuck! There was some sort of fungus growing all in the cracks, and no doubt spreading spore in everything purportedly edible that left this kitchen. That was it. He was going vegetarian and ferreting in the woods from now on. Now he just needed to find someone who knew what vegetation to look for so he didn't poison himself-

Grunting as the air above him suddenly became much much lighter, Dmitri rearranged himself to leave his head cradled in the crook of his arm, eyeing the woman gesturing with the spoon warily. If he was down here she'd have to bend over that gut of hers...and he'd bet she'd go for the easier way out and simply whack Eikane upside the head. Such a nice friend Dmitri was. "Happy to oblige. Please don't come again," he commented beneath his breath to the older harper, gaxe flicking briefly toward Rulven as the swarthy candidate plodded back their direction.

Oh! Nice! The boy deserved applause for that one. Dmitri smirked at the spluttering Warren then quickly feigned innocent attentiveness as the kitchen drudge started snapping out orders again. Flirting with Warren's girl...as if Dmitri had known she was already claimed. Honestly.

Writhing like a snake, he scrambled on the oily floor for a moment before finding his footing, then quickly beat feet out the back of the kitchens and toward the river. Many things might be said of Dmitri, but he did understand the concept of loyalty when he bothered to care. With little regard for his person, he plunged into the cold waters and promptly shot out again, chattering nonsense syllables and shaking himself off like a common mutt.

If Eikane had followed him, Dmitri didn't take note of it. The harper had it coming to him - just as soon as Dmitri came up with an appropriate revenge. Which likely would be never, in all honesty, but he was an optimistic sort. Drenched, he strode back into the kitchens, located a few more scrub brushes and plunked himself down near Rulven unceremoniously.

"Hey. Thanks, I think," he stated, a genuine smile lighting up the delicate face. "Couldn't let you clean up this mess by yourself. I'll tell Emoyan it was purely my fault and you two just got sucked in. He'll believe me, I'm sure; didn't seem too fond of me last time we spoke." Dmitri scrubbed vigorously at the floor, occasionally shaking some of the excess water from his clothing to help remove the oil. Everything could be useful if you just...took the time to think about it.

He tried another smile on Rulven. "I could use a little bulk...if you have any secrets?" Preferably something other than 'become a smith,' as that certainly wasn't happening.

Dmitri glanced over his shoulder to see if Eikane would be joining them or not.

[Ember]

Eikane offered a grateful smile towards Rulven as the bigger lad corroborated their story. Nice to see a big guy standing up for a little guy. Well...sort of little. He refused to let himself think about comparisons and laying them out on a table. Absolutely refused. Anyways, the woman finally seemed to accept at least a bit of what had happened. He wondered if she believed the mess was solely from the fight or if she knew that one had thrown oil in self-defence and the other a goop in revenge? Who knew!

Dmitri's comment in response to letting him drew a slight upwards twitch from Eikane's mouth but he really was more worried about the punishment the woman would unleash on them. When she told them she'd be talking to the candidatemaster one of his brows quirked upwards. Obviously she did not know he was more Harper than he was candidate. Emoyan wouldn't press any real serious punishments on them right? At least Warren would be out of their way since he was being sent to the infirmary. The woman had inadvertently saved Dmitri's life...for better or for worse.

Eikane was relieved to hear that he could go get cleaned off. The sooner it was off the happier he'd be. He hadn't forgotten despite the rather amusing turn of events. The older Harper followed Dmitri to the river and ducked under water to scrub at his hair. How he wished there was some sweet sand around! As he surfaced he sighed at the poor state he was in, dragging himself back to the kitchens very unwillingly. Dmitri offering to cover for both of them caught him off guard and he couldn't resist commenting. "Very generous of you." Though the words could be wrongly construed it would take a very poor Harper not to notice the subtle gratitude in Eikane's tone.

Dmitri need not have looked at him so. Eikane knew when a favour was owed. He grabbed one of the scrubbing brushes and settled a slight ways away from the two. Within easy talking distance but very clearly seperate. He didn't really know either of them well enough to want to spend much longer than neccesary on this chore. When he was done what he'd been assigned and this floor cleaning he intended to go take a nice long bath and then play some music. As any good Harper ought, he kept an ear on the conversation.

[rii]

Scrub. Scrub. Rulven worked back into the pattern he had kept up before. The oil and paste proved to be difficult to clean and what once seemed a simple task became the bane of the smith's existence. The brushes did little to pick up the filth--perhaps he could just create a giant dirty puddle and slowly push it out the kitchen and to the river. He'd look absolutely ridiculous doing the task, but at least it would get done!

Rulven was in deep thought of this task when he noticed he was not alone on the floor. He sat back on his legs and looked between the two harpers. Had the kitchen lady order them to help, or did they come on their own accord? A poorly veiled sense of suspicion crossed his face but faded just as quickly. Why complain and possibly lose the extra hands?

"Thanks," He replied, then echoed Dmitri's words with a smile. "I think."

Both the scrub brushes rest against his thighs and Rulven paid no mind to the water soaking into his pants. "Don't worry about me. I don't think you could take the blame for breaking that guy's hand." A hint of something like sadness touched those words. Rulven frowned and went back to mindlessly scrubbing. Truth was he was worried about losing his candidacy over attacking Warren--even though the man rightly deserved it! The frown slowly turned into a scowl and Rulven began to put more and more effort into the washing. Surely the wood would begin to splinter apart under the rough strokes.

Quite suddenly he was brought out of his brooding by Dmitri's words. He blinked a few times at the wet floor before raising hazel eyes to the young harper. He glanced at Eikane off to the side, oddly quiet, then back to first harper. A grin slowly stretched across his face as he reached over "Sure, you just.. " He put his large hand over Dmitri's smaller one plus the scrub brush. He jerked the brush forward, then push it back in one long stroke instead of a tiny scrub. "Work hard, put your back into it."

[Requiem]

Dmitri flicked Eikane a searching glance, before apparently deciding to take the older harper at face value. He wasn't, to put it simply, a model anything, but the youngest of the gathered candidates certainly stood the best chance of getting himself back out of trouble once he was in it. Gilded tongues had their uses. (And he was a fair enough sort, willing to acknowledge that, yes, pretty much the whole thing wouldn't have happened if he hadn't been all too willing to let the woman snuggle close. Not that he'd take a lot of blame for something he couldn't possible know, thank you much.)

At Rulven's comment, Dmitri smiled ingenuously. "Oh, I don't know. I'm sure I could flail with the best of them. Never know when a lucky break's going to come your way." Leaving off of the joking (and a rather poor pun it was, at that, but weren't all puns poor?) Dmitri waxed momentarily serious. "He likely would have made my life rather uncomfortable for an undeterminate amount of time, had you and Eikane not intervened, so it's the least I can do. Not much of a one for owing anyone anything."

The younger of the two hadn't really meant that he needed bulk in scrubbing the floor...he was more referring to the fact that he seemed to be growing at an unseemly rate, just up and up. Being slender enough to turn sideways and disappear behind a sapling wasn't nearly as glamourous as some might believe. Thus he was a little surprised to find Rulven's hand dwarfing his. Dmitri was tactful enough, however, not to embarrass this new - friend, perhaps? - by pointing out that his meaning had gone entirely over the smith's head. Anyway, it was useful information after the initial surprise; Dmitri wasn't adverse to manual labor, but he hadn't been required to do much of it and the concept of a proper technique for scrubbing the floor was rather odd to him.

Obediently, he put more than just the strength of an arm behind the brush, and it was working better. Glancing up past the long hair that managed to sweep the floor, he returned Rulven's grin, his own somewhat cheeky. "Is that what they teach smiths these days?" He didn't wait for a reply, however, blowing the curls from before his eyes to direct his gaze toward Eikane. "I just bathed, and I can vouch for Rulven; we don't smell all that bad," he commented dryly. "This is when you should regale us with your great wisdom and talk of...oh, I don't know, why it's better to talk out your problems? You're the adult here; give us a good talking-to. If you make it harsh enough and she overhears, it might not even get back to Emoyan at all."

What had started out as merely a joke was now developing into an actual plan. Sure, a rough plan that probably wouldn't work, but it couldn't hurt to try, and besides...Dmitri wasn't the sort to simply work in silence. That was boring.

[Ember]

A fleeting grin crossed the older Harper's face as he heard the other two's conversation. Dmitri wanted get built up? Eikane was firmly of the opinion that the weedy look suited the lad better but...oh well. Perhaps if he got built up like a Smith usual was he'd discover that having such huge muscles general marked him as a threat, or at the very least harder to ignore. Also the earlier comments about flailing around succesfully seemed to be purely out of arrogance. Hah.

Evidentally Dmitri had no intentions of letting him go about his own task in peace. Ah well, he'd get bored if those two ran out of things to talk about so he figured throwing something in every once in a while couldn't hurt. He chuckled for the comment about smell. "Perhaps you didn't think that I have a more cultured nose than you? What's smelly to you may not be the same to me," he commented with mock loftiness. He wasn't really that stuck up. He made a show of pinching his nose and using the brush hand to pretend to wave away the smell. "Really, I'm surprised the headwoman didn't kick you both out for smelling up her kitchen!"

The mere idea of him imparting wisdom to anyone older than 10 made him snort in disbelief. They were on their own past that age. "As if I could stuff any wisdom in your head Dmitri. Its probably thicker than Warren's head," he drawled. "Rulven, however, I might be able to..." Thankfully he'd caught the candidate's name earlier. "Except that we," why yes, Eikane was admitting his part in the mess, "messed up your floor, sometimes its best to stay out of other peoples' quarrels." He turned back to Dmitri with a pretend long-suffering sigh. "Do I really have to try and set you on the right path again with my amazing wisdom, Dmitri?"

Honestly though, if he had to try and give wisdom to Dmitri he'd rather Impress a 'mandyr than suffer the headache. Lesser of two evils. Also Dmitri could call Eikane an adult all he wanted, the Harper still felt much too young to be considered one.

[rii]

Clearly unaware of Dmitri's misunderstanding, Rulven went back to his own scrubbing. He had meant exactly what he said: Work hard. The smith had never set out to 'bulk' up himself. It just happened naturally through years of work. He never skirted his duties and always put his heart and soul into the task. Still he smiled, unable to resist teasing the young harper. "No need to owe me. You're like my little sister. I feel I have to protect you, regardless of how annoying you may be."

He patted Dmitri's shoulder with the wet scrub brush, unable to hold back his grin. Back to the floor. Scrub scrub. A curious glance passed between the two harpers and Rulven commented quietly in regards to Dmitri's words. "Don't vouch for me, I'm pretty sure I do smell bad." Ever the honest one. He had be diligently scrubbing the entire floor afterall. The smith gave Eikane a curious look at the jest, then turned his head to smell at his shoulder. Rulven looked worried that the other could smell him across the room--but his tell-tale smile soon came through.

"You probably should," Rulven nodded sagely to Eikane. "He's obviously out of control. Best to teach them while they are still young." Idly the smith wondered if the two knew each other well; at least it seemed they did from his perspective. Hm.. Rulven quieted down to listen. It was nice to have some sort of conversation going on--but never slack on work. Scrub scrub. The floor was nearly clean again. Oooh yesss, Rulven grinned broadly at a sudden realization, he could eat lunch afterward!

[Requiem]

Dmitri's eyes narrowed and he smiled sweetly at Eikane, even as he continued to scrub the floor vigorously. This was rather fun, actually. Not that he was going to mention that; they might get the idea that he wanted to do this all hours of the day, and that would get old pretty fast. "It might help," he commented lightly, "if you got your nose out of the air. Less chance of catching all those pungent odors." The boy flicked a glance at Rulven. "He's just being an ass." Well. That more or less proved that Eikane and Dmitri were at least moderately familiar with one another. He wasn't pulling any punches.

Dmitri was no fool, actually. He knew that part of the reason Eikane had been sent here was to keep an eye on him, and the boy was going to make him pay for that for as long as it amused him to do so - likely forever. The young harper shot Rulven a clearly affected 'hurt' look, eyes wide. He then glanced down and muttered rebelliously, "I'm not a weyrbrat," in such a petulant manner that he could do nothing but remind people of the very thing he claimed not to be. Intentional? Of course. Dmitri was given to entertaining himself and others...constantly.

"How amazing is it?" Dmitri asked Eikane suspiciously. "Life-changing amazing, or merely epiphany amazing? Because I'm not paying in blood curses." No, that didn't make any sesne, but he continued scrubbing the floor as if it did. He slid on the slick floor and caught himself just before faceplanting. That would have been lovely. "You're really no help at all. What good is having an older person around if he doesn't get you out of things?"

[Ember]

Eikane chuckled at Rulven's reply. In truth they all probably smelt bad...at least a little. The kitchens were burning hot and some of the tasks they were given could work up a real sweat. Washing pots and pans hadn't been one of the really smelly-making jobs...Figures he'd have one of the easiest things interrupted by his Harper partner. He huffed as if in annoyance at the idea Dmitri threw his way. "Like I should be stuck here with smelly people in the first place!" The grin was the only thing that ruined his otherwise perfect acting.

Dmitri would be right about the reason Eikane was sent along too, but he'd only be half right. So the older Harper wasn't too thrilled about being in a weyr but he was born to hot weather so it wasn't too bad for him. In truth, Dmitri wasn't all that bad to watch over. A bit of a pain sometimes, but who isn't at one time or another? At least life was never boring! Eikane feigned annoyance at the childish attitude, shaking his head and shrugging his shoulders.

The Harper sat up straight for a moment, mimicking a habit an old Master always showed when he was about to lecture someone or tel lthem about past days. He wondered if Dmitri would recognize the pose and the way he purposely gathered a huge breath in his chest. "How amazing, you ask? Clearly any wisdom I give is of life-changing quality!" He turned to Rulven. "You know, he may really benefit from my wisdom! Except I think it'd only sink in if there was a threat of violence if he forgot my words."

[rii]

That looked good enough to him. A twisting hunger in his gut agreed with the work done, but Rulven still paused to scan the wooden boards to ensure no traces of the paste were left behind. He grinned lopsidedly at Dmitri's comment regarding Eikane. "Really?" And to be fair, he addressed his next question to the older harper. "So if you're the ass, what does that make him?"

Rulven mopped up the remaining water on the floor, quickly and with a goal in mind; to eat. He dropped his two scrub brushes into the bucket and sat up on his knees, slowly flexing his fingers to get the stiffness out of his joints. And with little regard to what may be on his hands, Rulven brushed one through his short hair while he swiped his brow with the other forearm. He grunted at Dmitri. "No, you're not a weyrbrat. On the level juuust above that. More like a weyrbrat that suddenly noticed the drudge has a nice perky pair." He tapped his pects as if to make a point before rising to his feet.

Casually he looked around to make sure the said drudge didn't hear that comment. Rulven was a man of manners. Never say anything impolite to a lady.. but if they aren't around to hear him, and if there are no other females about to pass on his words. Beside, his comment had been mild. He could have been a lot more lewd. Although, they were harpers. Rulven gave them both a suspicious look over. They may have been worse than a gossiping gaggle of women--and Rulven first hand of how vicious those got. Perhaps he shouldn't get too comfortable around them..

Eyebrows then rose at Eikane's words. Threat of violence, eh? "Is this where I come in, put him in a headlock while you lecture him?" Two large hands began to extend to seize the small harper..

[Requiem]

Dmitri's eyes turned up to Rulven in all seriousness, one delicate arm uplifted. "The ass's marionette," he commented, before Eikane could have a chance to reply, his head lolling bonelessly to one side as he let his arm fall into a limp, bent position just above his shoulder as if it were on a string. Of course, he still had the brush in hand, and it dripped dirty water right onto his face. The boy shook his head as it splashed his nose, sneezing and trying to stifle a giggle. It wasn't very successful.

The androgynous-looking harper went back to studying the floor with a critical eye, reaching much the same conclusion as Rulven and concealing the desire to dissolve into titters behind the spill of his overlong hair. He caught up part of it to eye the sodden ends, pulling a face. Oh yuck. He'd apparently been mopping with his hair this whole time. A grin was flashed at Eikane. Not a bad imitation of the man. Not at all. Dmitri stretched his back and leaned toward Eikane cattishly, eyes wide and fluttering as if in rapt attention as he fiddled with the strings of his tunic. Bealla, a better-known harper amongst the journeymen training at the same time as Eikane and Dmitri, had taken to flirting with the master in just such a way. The boy's eyes sparkled in amusement.

To say that Dmitri was pleased with Rulven was something of an understatement. The man had seemed so dour and standoffish the last couple of times they'd crossed paths, but, between the two of them, the harpers seemed to have managed to pull him out of his shell a bit. He was actually rather interesting - unlike some who, once you finally got them to be a bit more animated, proved to have not a thought in their head worth the contents of a chamberpot.

Wait, what? Blinking up at Rulven wide-eyed, Dmitri scrambled backwards and landed fully on his seat, hands splayed behind him and face only half-visible behind all the wet curls that clung to cheeks, neck and chest. Hard to tell whether it was real or acting (perhaps because Dmitri wasn't sure himself.) He really didn't know Rulven when all was said and done, and there was a reason he was as sheltered as he was; the Masters truly did think he might be in some danger outside the walls of Harper Hall. Dmitri himself tended to believe no one would care enough about a dragonrider's bastard son to mess with him, no matter how high-profile the rider.