Um, Eww? {chores//open}

[Sheari]

A smelly, messy job latrine duty was. Downright vile but those who crossed Emoyan, even in jest, had to do it apparently. Not too far removed from gutting fish, she thought bitterly. Not like she would know, though. Anusha huffed, lesson learned. As she continued on to clean some more Akos stirred in her pocket. A tiny white head popped out and he rubbed against her (or rather the fabric) affectionately and then returned to "hiding" in her pocket again.

In a way the candidate was happy she'd held off her extra chores until after the salamandyr clutch hatched. Now she had a friend to keep her company. Absently she gently patted the pocket Akos was in, to let him know she had acknowledged him and then got back to work. She fought to keep her mind from wandering, humming a faint tune that she couldn't remember where she learned. In a way she wasn't so happy she'd procrastinated. Two weeks was two weeks and she didn't know how these chores would interfere with other things.

She growled under her breath as something vile hit her cheek. She took the cloth she had with her and wiped it off, not daring to look.

Ugh, latrine duty.

[Avu]

“I’m sorry…it’s our fault, isn’t it?”

Rusahre crinkled his nose slightly, apologetically. The Candidate had just turned the corner of the hallway, a basket of glows dangling from his wrist making it very obvious what he was doing there: Changing glows for chores. He leaned against the wall, and his expression flickered into distaste as he eyed exactly what it was that Anusha was doing. Latrine duty? Really? Oh, gee – mature, Emoyan. Reaching up to flip open the lid of the nearest glowbasket and snatch out the dimming glows and stuffing them into his pocket (who knew? He planned on breaking curfew, and dim glows worked better than bright ones; easier to go unnoticed), Rusa replaced them with the fresh glows – and then stifled a curse as a plaintive squeak emerged from the glowbasket, plunging his hand back into the basket and wriggling his fingers; a second later, a pale green streak darted from his hand, down his arm, and to his shoulder, where Sylph sat straight up, eyeing Anusha curiously.

The green Salamandyr, whom he had Impressed only a while previously, had already proved herself – as Rusa had put it the first time she’d streaked across the floor – ‘wicked fast’, and adept at tearing apart papers. He suspected deeply that she had been the one responsible for ripping up the sheet that proclaimed the rules for Candidates on the bulletin board – either Sylph or Emoyan’s Skink. He wasn’t sure which would be funnier, but either way he wasn’t complaining, especially since she’d managed it so adroitly that there was no proof against her – and Rusa would have lied for Sylph anyway; he absolutely adored the little green; there was no denying that she could do practically anything and get away with it, as far as he was concerned.

Smells bad, what for doing? was the green’s offered comment; she fell back onto all four paws, her tail arching over her head and flicking from side to side curiously as she eyed Anusha, and then slid to Rusa’s other shoulder. Bad smells, she repeated firmly. Rusa awarded the Salamandyr a wide smile; he was pleased beyond words by her eloquence. He’d heard of Salamandyrs who did nothing but gabble – not his Sylph, though; she knew exactly what she was saying and exactly what she was doing: In his extremely biased opinion, the green was clearly the most intelligent Salamandyr ever shelled, the most beautiful, the fastest, and so on and so forth. He’d expressed his opinions to Sylph before – and had received delighted preening from her, as well as a statement that her twin sister, Skink, was a close second – which Rusa was agreeable to; he didn’t dislike the Salamandyr – just her Bonded.

“I’ll help you, if you’d care to explain exactly what we’re doing,” Rusahre offered, leaning forward cautiously over Anusha’s shoulder and promptly scrunching his nose up in distaste. Urgh – did it have to be latrine duty? He usually wouldn’t have offered, no matter who it was, Anusha or Anz or Emoyan or a perfect stranger – but he felt kind of responsible for the chore. It was his – and the other boys’ – fault, wasn’t it? They’d been a horrible influence on her and Mer, they had…a slightly crooked grin crossed his face at the thought, and he slid the basket of glows off of his wrist and sat down cross-legged across from Anusha, eyeing her work warily. “Saw you at the Salamandyr Hatching,” he added as a side note. “Did you Impress…?” He hadn’t really remembered; Rusa had been focused more on Emoyan. Side effect of all but being attacked and almost gutting said person.

[Sheari]

Anusha looked up after wiping whatever-it-was off of her cheek at the sound a voice. It was Rusahre with a green salamandyr on his arm and basket of glows on the other. "No, it's not your fault," she knew she had brought this upon herself. As much as she wanted to blame someone else for this she knew she couldn't and right now she was too frustrated to admit that she could have possibly been in the wrong after all. Looking at the green creature and her comment she said "Because Emoyan said I had to." Saying he was stuck up and bitter would prove a bad influence and wasn't something she really wanted on her name if this little thing spread her words.

"Um, well right now I'm cleaning," Anusha said, gesturing to around her. She dropped her rag into a bucket of water. The candidate hadn't expected to be offered help, especially not from one of the boys, but she wouldn't turn it down. She didn't know really what Emoyan had wanted her to do. Cleaning seemed the obvious option so that's what she was doing. He'd been vague and hadn't specified any particular way of going about her extra chores. I could use that against him, she mused and kept it noted should he walk by.

Rusa asked if she'd Impressed at the Salamandyr hatching and a warm thought from Akos filled her mind. The white wiggled in her pocket and his head popped out. "I did," and she reached over to pick him up and place him on her shoulder. She'd learned that when she was alone and encounters with one other person were safe. He didn't between back to her bunk unless said person made a sudden movement in his general direction. When around crowd he remained snug in her pocket, listening to her as his way of knowing what was going on.

"His name is Akos," she said. Akos watched this new person with speculation. There was a question to who this new one was and what he was about. He sent an image of Sylph to him. Who was he? The white had gotten that he was the green's person but that was all he'd gotten. He nudged Anusha's shoulder to reassure himself.

[Avu]

Rusa didn’t answer to Anusha’s statement that, no, it wasn’t their fault – there wasn’t much to say. He knew it partially was, but on the other hand, they hadn’t actually asked her to do anything – or even suggested it. But they’d definitely been part of it. The Candidate half-smiled at her, shrugging; it wasn’t like he could really change that, now. He could, however, get revenge on the Candidatemaster – an idea which struck him as perfectly delightful. Public humiliation was preferable, hmm. Sylph would help him – he was sure of it; Emoyan had firelizards and if he could convince her to do it to spite the firelizards in question, he was positive she’d help him. The Salamandyr in question made a low noise in her throat that could only be described as purring at the thought, her tail arching playfully over her head as Rusa leaned forward to examine the contents of the chamberpot and then jerked back, crinkling his nose in distaste. Honestly? It surprised him and annoyed him to no end that Drudges (and Emoyan) gave them chores such as this: If they Impressed, they’d rank them – and what, honestly, was stopping them from turning around and ordering them around once they’d graduated?

Bad Skink’spet, makes bad smells does him, Sylph stated pleasantly, bouncing up and down slightly on Rusa’s shoulder. Emoyan was, to Sylph, Skink’spet. Nothing more, and nothing less, than that; Skink liked him and Rusa didn’t, so those canceled each other out – Sylph had no opinion (outwardly) on Emoyan – but she had taken Anusha’s answer to mean that Emoyan was the one who had made the bad smells. Silly make smells, why want to? she added curiously, nipping at Rusa’s ear lightly, affectionately. Make smells bad… Rather distressed by the proximity of the smells, the green Salamandyr jumped upwards, sliding neatly through Rusa’s hair and twisting the long dark strands around her paws to curl up draped over one of his ears; head peering out past the curtain of dark hair.

Neglecting to correct Sylph, Rusa nodded, scooting a little closer in order to examine the chore more closely. The change in distance did not change his opinion on the chore, but Rusa had volunteered to help – he was hardly going to leave now, just because the chore was an unpleasant one. “Do we have an extra rag lying around somewhere?” he asked quietly, brown eyes flickering around to examine the ground in case one had been dropped there for whatever reason. The thought of actually touching the stuff without gloves on made him want to vomit, though, and Rusa couldn’t help crinkling his nose slightly. Was it wrong that he didn’t deal well with – with excreta? He could deal with blood and with raw meat, and he had absolutely no problem with trash or anything – but – this was different, and he added, a wry note in his voice, “Gloves would probably be nice, too…you haven’t been touching that without gloves, have you…?”

He put his distaste on momentary hold, however, to prop his hands on his knees and examine the little white Salamandyr that Anusha pulled out of her pocket. Akos? – a nice name, but Rusa’s interest snagged entirely on the creature’s color. He’d heard there were white Salamandyrs before – the Junior Weyrwoman had a white one, and there’d been some ridiculous one involved in the Siege – but he’d never seen one before. Dragons and firelizards didn’t come in white…it was interesting. Confusing, to be sure, but interesting nonetheless. And – Anusha had called it a he…? “Hi there,” he said playfully to the Salamandyr, nodding diplomatically at him as the image of Sylph was offered to him. What, no words…? “I – uh, yes, that’s Sylph – ” Mine Rusa, the green interjected, leaning forward to eye Akos, as curiously as Rusa was. “ – yes. I’m Rusa, and it’s absolutely wonderful to meet you, Akos.” He nodded solemnly – Rusa wasn’t a suck-up when it came to people, but he was nothing short of it when it came to Salamandyrs; he found the little creatures absolutely adorable. “Don’t tell anyone or they’ll get jealous, but I think you’re the most handsome Salamandyr ever shelled…” He was pretty sure he’d said almost the exact same thing to Sasheen’s brown, hmm hmm…

[Sheari]

Akos nervously watched Rusa as he watched the 'mandyr. The white half listened as he nudged His. This person was new and the green in his hair was new but not as new. He listened as they spoke. Names, he wanted names he did. He had a name, and his bonded had a name. Did these not? Then they came, Sylph and Rusa. The nervous Akos flashed the man a faded image of his face. It looked more like an old memory that one couldn't quite recall clearly. He did not know these but at the compliment he received he flashed another image. It was an image of himself. The white was blinding on him, yes, he was handsome, yes.

Anusha was amused by the antics of Akos. He was a funny little thing and she felt him return to nudging her shoulder. However she forced herself to get back to the task at hand and scrunched her nose in response. The sooner she..or they...got this done the sooner she could get herself clean. She had not be given gloves but had been trying her best not to touch anything. She'd failed, however, and the thought of whatever had hit her face earlier made her taste bile. "Unfortunately I haven't any gloves," she said with distaste. "As for washing it I just empty it then slosh water in it and when it's mostly clean I wipe it out with the rag." She would admit the water was not the cleanest but luckily this bucket was fresh and not yet dirty. However the rag she'd just dropped in it was not. She allowed herself to feel a bit smug at the fact that if Rusahre intended to help, as he had said, he would be helping without gloves.

Anusha offered him a rag with a sympathetic, almost apologetic, look. She'd asked for gloves and had explained why but the drudge she'd asked just shrugged her shoulder and walked off. Too frustrated to do anything at that point in time she simply stormed off with bucket and rags in hand with a little bit of soapsand for the water when she got it. She hated it when things backfired on her and she mused that next time she would be a little more assertive with her needs. She would be doing this for two weeks and was going to probably get help on this one day only. Might as well make the best of it.

"Be carefull," she said, "it can be messy."

[Avu]

Images. Rusa didn’t quite understand the ones that Akos offered him, but he nodded nonetheless; it didn’t seem like an insult, so he was okay with it – and likely he wouldn’t have minded insults, either: Akos had the excuse of being a Salamandyr. Salamandyrs and firelizards were possibly the only creatures that Rusa would good-humoredly allow to torture him without question. He considered them very intelligent, but they were also adorable. And – honestly, it was perfectly okay with him if he had to spend a day pampering one of them. He would for Sylph any day. Or Skink, too, but that was less because he just wanted to and more because he didn’t trust Emoyan to take care of the little green properly himself. Not that he stuffed food at her, but he did always offer just in case. He nodded at Akos as the white offered him the image of himself, Akos. “Yes. You are handsome. I’m jealous; I wish I were as good-looking as you. I’m going to blame my mother, clearly she sat on my egg at some point…” Because, yes, humans definitely came from eggs.

Handsome, Rusa is, objected Sylph (privately; she was aware that Rusa was just trying to inflate Akos’s ego and was okay with that, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t comment, did it now?). Rusa handsome very is. Silly silly Hers, thinking he wasn’t handsome. Of course he was handsome! Definitely not biased at all, Sylph wasn’t. The green Salamandyr bobbed up and down on Rusa’s shoulder absently, her tail flicking animatedly over her head as she crooned thoughtfully at Akos. Well – yes, she supposed she could help Hers flatter the white if it made him (Rusa, not Akos) happy. Handsome is ‘kos, too, she offered. It sounded sincere enough, if lacking in the purring quality she’d offered to Rusa. Fortunately, since her previous comment had been private, Akos never needed to know that she had less enthusiasm praising him than she did Hers. ’n pretty Yours, she added, bouncing once again as she spoke. Flattery she could do, see? And flattering Akos was just fine: He was a Salamandyr. Good. Yes. Good.

What, no gloves?! Rusa crinkled his nose, making a face that adroitly expressed his distaste for the idea, before he leaned forward and grabbed one of the dirty chamerpots, sticking out his tongue meaningfully at it. Just because he tended to be quiet around superiors that he had yet to form an entire opinion on (and downright rude to those that he didn’t like; see Emoyan for reference) didn’t mean he was quiet around those that were roughly his rank and age. See, he could be friendly, Benden or not! “Okay, sure. I’ll have to drown myself in redwort or something afterwards, but that’s okay. I can deal. If Sylph tells me off for smelling bad, though, I’m blaming you. Or Emoyan…preferably Emoyan. Hnn.” Empty it, slosh water in it, wipe it. Not too hard, he supposed, but this chore just made him despise Emoyan even more. Derogatory, latrine duty was – extremely derogatory, in his opinion; he could’ve given her something that was actually a worthwhile chore; couldn’t people empty out their own chamberpots? Really?

Still, her comment drew a wry smile as he dumped the contents of the chamberpot into the bigger pot that served as a giant trash of sorts. “You don’t say,” he answered dryly, nose wrinkling at the foul smell, though the smile that he flashed at Anusha took away from any sting that the words might have offered. “So…upcoming Hatching. What do you think…?” And then he added, wryly, “Making conversation is probably preferable to discussing in detail what we’re doing here – if I think too hard about it, I’m sure I’ll end up vomiting, and I doubt that’d help you any. So, yeah. Hatching. What color were you aiming to Impress…?” There might be a queen egg, surely? Both Hepaticath and Ciceroth were positively mammoth, from what he’d heard, and it wasn’t unheard of for a girl to Impress brown or blue as well as green – it gave her some choice, didn’t it? He didn’t expect to Impress at all, but surely Anusha did – it was probably her first time Standing, since she’d had to do Candidate Lessons; what were the chances she’d come from Fort Weyr? First-time Candidates typically did expect to Impress something…

[Sheari]

The antics of the green Salamandyr were amusing to Anusha. The compliment offered by her made the candidate smile. Akos however had decided he'd had enough. After bobbing his head a few times he scampered back into "his" pocket. After getting himself comfortable he curled up a little on his back and began to fidget with a string, sending Rusahre a more clear image of his own face. Then he broke contact with him and sent Sylph a picture of her. It, too, was a little faded but still clear. This was how he communicated.

Anusha shook her head with a smile on her face. "He a nervous little thing," was all she offered in explanation. She personally didn't know what had made him so skittish a creature but skittish he was. As far as she knew the most traumatic thing to happen to him in his life was to hatch and have to then find her. Beyond that...? She mused that he was either really shy or just really introverted. She guessed the former as he did communicate outside of her and himself. The conclusion she reached was a mental shrug and a reassuring thought that she loved him just the way he was and always would no matter what.

Anusha grabbed another chamber pot and frowned in distaste at the obvious signs of an upset stomach. "Um, the closest I've ever been to a hatching was writing down who Impressed whom from what clutch." She poured a little water in the pot to make it's contents easier to dump out. "As for colour..." she paused, "I guess m highest hope would be for Gold but Green will do just fine." The thought was pleasant. When she found her mindmate she was sure that if it was green she would be happy and if it was gold be happy. "What about you? Heard you lost your candidacy at the 'mandyr hatching but didn't hear anything beyond that."

The refuse from the pot dumped out nicely and she continued with the slightly cleaner next step. "Are you still hoping to Impress?" She hadn't checked for knots when he'd walked up and right now was a bad time to look with her hands full. Personally she didn't think hatchlings cared about that status of Theirs. Quite obviously Salamandyr's didn't, one had even Impressed to Emoyan!

She grabbed her rag to wipe out the pot. Ew.

[Avu]

Images again. Rusa sent an inquisitive glance towards Akos, only to find that the white Salamandyr had disappeared from his previous perch. Deciding that looking for the creature was not in order, as it would undoubtedly appear that he was looking Anusha up and down for no apparent reason, Rusa just nodded absently; Sylph, however, had not lost track of Akos, and the green chirruped at him thoughtfully, latching her claws into the fabric that was Rusa’s shirt and then skittering to the top of his head, pulling herself up by tangling her claws into the long black locks until she could flop directly on top of Hers’ head, looking down happily from her perch, tail arching over her head. Nervous little thing, is, she echoed Anusha, apparently assuming that if the Candidate had said it, it must be true – and not an insult; surely the Candidate wouldn’t insult Akos, since he was Hers, so it was all right to say it. Silly silly, she chided absently. Why nervous? He was so silly, though; he was a Salamandyr – what did a Salamandyr have to be nervous of? They were so obviously the best! Hers had told her that before, Rusa had…

Rusa nodded (rather harder than he usually did, just to make Sylph slide forward a little) and was rewarded by the green’s squeak of protest before he smiled slightly at Anusha, lips parted slightly so he could breathe through his mouth and not inhale. It bewildered him slightly that Salamandyrs should be so shy. He knew Sprite was, but Sprite – Sprite looked distinctly odd, with the hump in her back and her crooked tail and whatnot. Otherwise, he’d become accustomed to Sylph and to Skink. Destructive little pair of arrogance, they were, and he absolutely adored both of them. Sylph had never doubted herself; since birth she’d insisted she was better than any firelizard and was determined to prove it to Rusa – it was simply baffling that they could differ so. Dragons could, and firelizards, and he’d always considered Salamandyrs as varied as people, but somehow a downright shy Salamandyr seemed so wrong. They ought to be arrogant and bratty and eloquent and whatnot, it seemed – biased, who, Rusa? Of course not!

Anusha’s words made him nod, a wry smile flickering across his face. “You’re getting pretty close,” he commented drolly. “Hepaticath’s eggheavy; she’ll be clutching soon…I’d say that’s a lot closer than rewriting musty old records…” Still, Rusa clicked his tongue thoughtfully before he nodded again. Green or gold, would she settle for? “What about blue?” he suggested, flicking a glance at Anusha before his gaze dropped back to the task at hand; Rusa pushed his bucket away after upending it to get rid of the extra water and dropped the chamberpot on the pile of already-cleaned ones, reaching for another and beginning to repeat the process. If he thought about it as something less disgusting, like – like washing dishes, or something, it helped immeasurably. “Sometimes girls Impress blue…” Hopefully she wouldn’t take offense and think he was implying she was bisexual or something, because he wasn’t. Heterosexual girls could Impress blue too, couldn’t they?

Her questions to him made Rusa snicker despite himself, and he glanced down at his own shoulder; there were no knots marking him as a Candidate. “Emoyan wanted to take away our Candidacy,” he corrected, shrugging one shoulder absently. “Regardless of the fact that half the Candidates did end up Impressing Salamandyrs…” Rusa’s gaze flicked up and down again deftly, and he went on, “Anz brought it up first – we all went to see Savitri. You know, the Junior Weyrwoman – we asked to be reinstated, and she did. Emoyan was probably furious…” He didn’t point out that Emoyan was probably less furious about their being reinstated and more so about the fact that he’d been tripped publicly – because that would mean saying that he, Rusahre, had nearly gutted the Candidatemaster purely out of instinct in the middle of the Salamandyr Hatching. Some things simply didn’t bear mentioning. “I…suppose I’m still hoping to Impress, yes,” he finished, shrugging neutrally. Hoping to Impress – it was true. Did he expect to Impress? Quite honestly, he didn’t. It seemed foolish to hope after four Turns as a Candidate. He’d stick around, because the dragons said he was dragon-sensitive, but he was nineteen: In less than three Turns, he’d age out of Candidacy anyway, and he had Sylph now.

[Sheari]

Blue. A pretty colour that came in many shades ranging from darker than navy and lighter than sky. Most people associated the colour blue with boys and thus almost no one thought of a girl when they thought of the colour blue. Sadly, though she had written Impressions between girls and blue dragons, neither did Anusha. "I hadn't thought about a blue, but then they usually only Impress to males," she said, bemused. Yes, she was most certain she sounded stupid. What would one expect from a girl who had spent her life in a records room with only one real companion only to be "girlie-fied" when her sister eloped and then Searched and thrust into a world she'd only recorded?

A mental shudder at how bluntly she'd processed herself made for a concerned Akos. He climbed to her shoulder with a piece of string in his mouth; he held it up rather victoriously in fact. The small giggle she emitted was apparently the desired effect he'd been hoping for and he continued to wave it about in his mouth.

Anusha ignored the creature and got back to her work, setting aside yet another clean pot. "I glad Savitri let you guys stay candidates. What are you expecting to Impress?" she asked. She didn't know why she was happy they were candidates, really. Was it because they made class interesting? Was it because she found the boys to be funny? She cared not and really wanted Akos to stop waving the string. It kept catching her eye and distracting her.

[Avu]

Well, he couldn’t blame her for thinking that; most blueriders were male. Rusa flicked a slightly amused glance at Anusha; the expression in her voice made him want to actually chuckle out loud, but he refrained from doing so: It was sure to hurt her feelings. Most people didn’t like being laughed at for what they didn’t know – and Rusahre knew that. He was just naturally smug about what he did know and other people didn’t, though it rarely showed unless he wanted it to – he’d just secretly be amused at their expense. For Anusha, it wasn’t so bad; he was well aware that people didn’t associate blues with female Riders, and most Holders would be bewildered by the idea. He wasn’t, but he’d lived at Benden Weyr for quite some time; he’d seen female blueriders and even a female brownrider. Said brownrider happened to be one of the cruelest and most ruthless of all the Riders he’d known, but that was beside the point.

“Usually,” he agreed, pushing aside another chamberpot and pulling a face despite himself. “They can Impress to girls, too…I’ve met blueriders that are female before.” The words were deliberately designed to be vague. He had met them – but not at Selenitas. Here, he’d met very few people in the way of Riders; Rusahre wasn’t social by any means and aside from a small group of Candidates that he was okay with (namely because they had one thing in common: Distaste for Emoyan), he kept mostly to himself around the Weyr. You leave me alone, I’ll leave you alone. Either way, the wording was meant to make it sound like it was a Selenitas Rider he was talking about. He’d admitted he was Northern-bred, but he had never specified that he was from Benden Weyr and he didn’t want to – though if it came up, he wouldn’t lie. He’d lie for Mikail and Crystoph, but not for himself, because it didn’t matter anymore. “Greens and blues,” he went on smoothly, “are the most versatile as far as Riders go. Browns can Impress to girls, too, though.” He shrugged one shoulder absently, dumping out the contents of another chamberpot. “Would you protest to a blue…?”

Akos’s antics drew a brief smile to Rusa’s mouth, and the Candidate tilted his head to appraise the white creature for a moment before he bowed his head back towards his task. He didn’t want to risk looking away too long and accidentally spilling it or something; that would be downright disgusting and disastrous. String, observed Sylph (oh-so-intelligently). What for? Her tail waved slowly from side to side in her curiosity, and Sylph squirmed forward slightly, crooning pleasantly at Akos. He was nice, was the white – in his own way. She kind of preferred it when they talked; images were so – so firelizard-like – but she’d take what she could get. String make trouble? she offered hopefully, trying to imagine how a string could possibly come in handy with anything at all. She failed; the string was so tiny and it couldn’t possibly do anything: Her claws were much better when it came to that. Want trouble make too? she added generously to Akos. She and Skink usually went on their…ahem…missions…alone, but Skink wouldn’t mind if Akos came, she wouldn’t~

Anusha’s question drew a wry smile from Rusa, and he answered without thinking: “Nothing, but I’m hoping for a dragon.” Not your typical answer to what are you expecting to Impress, but – it was true. That was all he could say, honestly. He didn’t have any preferences of any kind, because he’d been rejected so often that it didn’t really matter anymore. Greens he didn’t really wish to Impress (if only because of their Flights), but he doubted he would; it usually took a bisexual man to Impress to a green at the very least, and Rusahre wasn’t. Part of that was his upbringing in the North (not that he treated women in any deprecatory manner, either), but part of that was just because he’d never thought about any men. So – blues, browns, bronzes. Any and all would be accepted…? He didn’t think he’d Impress any of them, but – still. “You’ve left a spot…” he added, gesturing with one hand at Anusha’s chamberpot before he went back to his.

[Sheari]

Anusha casually reached over and wiped the spot up wit her rag. She then promptly rinsed it in the water to get rid of the foul substance before grabbing a new pot.

Unfortunately the spot had been just that and not a stain. Some of the older chamber pots could have very interesting stains because they were so old. Once she'd found what looked like a very crude silhouette of a dragon; or was it a wher? She couldn't remember since most of the "images" to be found weren't defined or crapped in with love. Most of the time they were just blobs without any suggesting shape, though some varied in colour. Some even looked like mottled eggs.

The thought of finding images stained into a chamber pot was both amusing and disgusting and she averted her mind from the private subject.

At the acknowledgment of his prize Akos bobbed his head and looked at Sylph. Yes, yes it was string and it was his string. Trouble? String wasn't for making trouble, was it? His hadn't told him anything about string other than it was...string. The Salamandyr waved the coloured string (which was the only stitch of colour on him) and scrambled down Anusha's arm to rest on the edge of the water bucket, precariously balancing on it's edge with the string held over it. What did he intended to do with it, nobody knew. Would he drop it in the dirty water? That was a definite no since it was his string.

He looked at Sylph, the strand held firmly in his mouth, daring her to take it from him.

"I would not protest to a blue," she said. She swirled water in her new pot to loosen things up and to assure she did not leave any spots. When she dumped it the contents plopped, almost neatly, into the bigger pot. Save for the rim, the one she was holding now looked clean. "A blue is simply one of the colours I don't exactly prefer," she finished. For starters, if she did Impress a blue, she'd have to deal with more awkward Flights than she would have with a green. Unless the Green's rider was male she'd feel less awkward but it would still be weird because the Green's rider wouldn't exactly like women.

[Avu]

She hadn’t asked him, pressed, about his answer, and for that, Rusa was glad. Rusahre did not, simply put, lie if he could avoid it, and usually he could – half-truths were just fine with him, morally, as were evasive answers – but the fact that he simply did not think he was capable of Impressing a dragon was unavoidable. The reasons, he could be evasive to, but he was almost a-hundred-percent certain he was the only Candidate Standing who absolutely didn’t expect to Impress. Oh, Rusahre hoped, which was probably why he was still there, but another reason (much more logical) that he didn’t leave was because he had nowhere to go, nothing to do. He’d had the vague notion to go into Beastcrafting if he couldn’t Impress; Dolphineering would have actually been preferable, but Rusahre liked being able to blend in, and he wouldn’t. Not at Blossom Hold. So yes – he didn’t think he’d Impress, but at least he had a backup plan, of sorts. Nobody knew about it; there was nobody he wanted to tell, or felt the need to tell, and it wouldn’t be too much longer before he had to go anyway; he was already in his nineteenth Turn. How…absolutely depressing. Rusahre bowed his head towards the chamberpot absently, stacking the finished one on top of the stack again and eyeing it warily lest it totter and fall.

When it stayed upright, he reached for another, dumping it out as rapidly and neatly as he could manage, before Anusha’s comment made him flick a glance towards her. “I get it,” he answered seriously, nodding absently. “I’d rather not Impress a few colors, too…won’t object, obviously.” Personally, he didn’t prefer to Impress green, and honestly, he didn’t much fancy bronzes either. Too arrogant, shiny bronze brutes. At least queens had a reason to be arrogant, but bronzes were arrogant just because they were shiny and big and queens seemed to favor them, and Rusahre – well, he was arrogant in his own way, and the thought of having a bronze attached to his mind was not altogether pleasant. Neither did he want to have that level of power over the Weyr, because, simply, that would mean standing out to an absolutely ridiculous degree. But he wouldn’t reject them, even if he could, because they were dragons – and if they wanted him (which they wouldn’t; it was purely hypothetical), that single compliment would be worth more than anything else in the world, their colors included.

“You ever Stood before, or is this going to be your first time?” he added absently.

Was that – was that a challenge?! Sylph’s frill came up, her eyes brightening at the idea of a game, and the green took one step forward before she dropped to Rusa’s shoulder; she went ignored, and tilted her head, eyeing the string for a moment. Now, what could she do with that…? Catch you, I do, is mine? she asked, just to make sure. If she could snatch it, then it would be hers, yes yes? But Sylph didn’t wait for a reply; almost negligently, she looked away, as if she couldn’t be bothered to look, let alone care about the string (after all, Hers was wearing a shirt and she could always get a piece of string there, hmmph!). It was a façade. Of course it was! Whether or not Akos expected it to be or not, Sylph didn’t wait to find out; in a flash, the green had snaked down Rusa’s arm and leapt onto the water bucket, her claws grating against the clay; wings splayed for balance and she skittered around it towards Akos. It was a lightning-fast maneuver; one second she was on herpet, the next on the bucket: Sylph’s entire body was made for speed, for agility, and she fully intended to display it. Ha! Let Akos see what he’d just challen –

“What in Faranth’s name do you think you’re doing?” Rusa objected, leaning over and plucking Sylph neatly off of the water jug; the green emitted a surprised squawk before squirming avidly. He’d get away! Ruuuusaaaa, Rusa no Sylph drop! Drop! Catch Akos, must I, get string, get it get it Ruusaaaaa, Sylph droooop~ Rusa eyed the green in slight annoyance, and then twitched his nose indignantly. “Not on the water bucket, you’ll fall and I’ll have to fish you out and do you know how disgusting that water probably is – ?” But he did set Sylph down again, and the green frilled before she skittered to the edge of the bucket, rearing up to place her forepaws against it and look at Akos. Down, down come please? Will play here. Not there, fall, we will. Said Rusa, she explained (rather ungraciously; she’d been so close to getting it; now he’d be on his guaaaaard. Silly Rusa!), frill rising slightly. She wasn’t sure why she wanted that string. She just knew that she was supposed to get it because he’d challenged her.

[Sheari]

Akos bobbed his head once more in a taunting fashion before deciding to paddle through the disgusting water, holding the string high and dry. Why couldn't she play on the bucket? Yes, the water smelled funny, but this who section of the Weyr smelled funny right now so why was the water so different? The Salamandyr failed to comprehend why Sylph's had taken her from the bucket. Upon reaching the other side he stood again on the rim and shook water off of himself. Tiny droplets flew every where but didn't hit anyone. He then spread his wet wings and glided to the ground and taunted Sylph again.

This was fun it was.

Anusha scowled when she saw Akos swim across the bucket. He was not riding in her pocket on their way to the bathing rooms. He could fly there. She chided herself a little though; she should have done what Rusa had done and plucked him off before this happened. The unfortunate truth was that she'd seen this only in hindsight.

"No, I've not Stood before. If I don't Impress soon, however, I'll age out of candidacy." The end was a bit of an afterthought. She knew she was a little on the older side to be a candidate and she was surprised to have been searched at all.

"Have you Stood before?"

She felt stupid for asking but she just couldn't help herself. She had the impulse to ask the question. To justify it a little for herself she mused that, if he had, she might get some pointers on what to do. Like what to do for the Queen before approaching and what to do if you were in the way of a determined dragonette.

Her biggest fear, however, was if she'd get mauled. It wasn't exactly a fear, per se, just a nervous thought. Writing down records gave you a lot of information but it was never the real thing. When you live the moment you don't think about recording it.